I don't own the characters, just the plot.
The next morning I woke up and I felt better than I ever had before; a miracle since I had only gotten about five hours of sleep. I had a grin on my face through my whole morning routine. I got to Java Juice before Eric, a rare occurrence. I turned on the lights, and put the premade pastries in the oven. Soon I delighted in the smells of cinnamon and sugar. I was prepping the coffee for brewing when Eric came in.
"Wow Bella," he said suppressing a yawn, "I'm impressed. I think this is the first time you've gotten here before I have. And half the work is done already!"
"What can I say? I woke up on the right side of the bed this morning," I grinned at him.
"Oh I see. This wouldn't have anything to do with your outing last night would it?"
"Maybe. How'd you find out about that anyway?"
"Please. You know not only are we friends, but we're friends with some of the same people. Word gets around. If anything I'm insulted that I wasn't invited."
I laughed, "Ok Eric, next time."
The morning went by pretty quickly, I kept busy right up until opening. Then there was nothing. I sat at the counter, drumming my fingers against the counter, willing someone, anyone, to come in and get coffee. I kept looking at the clock; I was certain time had stopped moving entirely, and it was only 6:32.
"Geez Bella, you look like you're trying to set that clock on fire with your mind. You're acting like you've never opened on a Saturday morning before. You know how slow it starts out."
I let out a sigh, "I know, you're right, somehow it just seems slower this morning is all."
"Maybe because for once you're actually looking forward to something."
"You know that actually makes sense," I nodded at him, "It's like for once I'm looking forward to leading my life instead of having work be my life."
"Exactly!" Eric came up behind me and grabbed my shoulders excitedly, "Bella I've been waiting for this day to come! That rare spark in your eye has come out to stay!" He shook me a little, and I wiggled out of his grasp.
"God Eric, you're acting like I've been reborn. Calm down a little yeah?"
Eric laughed at me and shook his head. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead waved his hand at me and turned away. I took a step closer to him, and was reaching out to grab him, and then the bell tinkled, signaling our first customer. I soon forgot Eric's overexcited behavior as our morning took off. We weren't swamped by any means, just busy enough. I knew that would change and we would become busier after 8, after most of the shops had opened.
It was a little after 7:30 when Edward came in. I had never really noticed how he had dressed the previous days he had come into the shop, but after seeing him yesterday, he somehow looked out of place in his clothing. Don't get me wrong, he looked good, but the emerald green button up, black slacks, and now dull black work shoes, but they just weren't him. He had small bags under his eyes and it looked like he had barely gotten any sleep. His hair was in disarray, not like it normally was, but instead it appeared he had tried to comb it, but had failed and given up. He's still the most attractive man I've ever seen.
"Hi," he said softly, his voice sounding groggy as if this was the first time he'd spoken all day. As he cleared his throat, it occurred to me that it probably was.
"Hi. You look so tired, what time did you get home last night?"
"Oh well you know, it was after three. We ended up staying until the bar closed, and then we had to deal with the instruments. Of course I woke Jasper up when I got home, and instead of helping me with his bass, he just grumbled at me about losing his beauty sleep, like he had anywhere to be today," The last bit he said bitterly and under his breath, not intending for me to hear it, "So by the time I actually fell asleep it was probably just after 4."
"And I thought I got no sleep. Lots of coffee then?" He nodded hopelessly, getting out his wallet, "Oh no, don't worry, this one's on the house," I said patting his hand.
"I bet you didn't get much more sleep than I did and you still look fantastic, and I look like this," he took a step back, gesturing at himself.
"Oh please. And you yourself, you look fine," I said, handing him his coffee, "However, your eyes are a dead giveaway."
He shrugged sipping his coffee, "I imagine they'll perk up after seeing you." I couldn't help but blush a bit at that one.
"What a line! I'll have to remember that one later when I start wanting to pull my hair out this afternoon."
"Who says it's a line? I could find something about you to compliment no matter how tired I was."
"And they said I was the charming one," I snorted, "You must have an advanced degree in flattery."
He pouted, "But I mean it! They're sincere compliments, no matter how cheesy they sound."
"Alright, alright, I believe you," I said putting my hands up as a sign of defeat, "I guess I'm just not used to being flooded with compliments. The attention is more than I'm used to."
"I don't know why. I'm surprised you don't have guys lined up the block trying to get a chance to talk to you."
I blushed again, "That's ridiculous. I'm nothing special."
"You just don't see yourself clearly do you?" Edward frowned.
"I really don't know what you're talking about," I said firmly, "I see myself just fine."
"Look, I'd stand here and argue with you about this all day until you were able to see yourself through my eyes, but unfortunately, I have to get to work." I frowned. I didn't want him to leave yet, he only just arrived.
I sighed, "I guess you do have to go huh?"
"Unfortunately," he nodded his head, "Thank you for the coffee, it should get me through my shift until I can go home and take a nap."
"Lucky you," I mumbled, "I'll still be here suffering." He just gave me a goofy grin and leaned in and kissed my cheek.
"You should text me when you get home. I'd like to know that you survived your afternoon. Then I can plan out where I can next bump into you," He winked at me. I rolled my eyes at him, but I was smiling anyway.
"Have a good morning Edaward."
"You too, Bella." And then he was gone.
"So that was him huh?" Eric questioned, standing behind me, making me jump. I had forgotten about him.
"Jesus Eric!" I smacked him, "You scared the shit outta me! Don't sneak up on me like that. But yes, that was Edward." He rubbed his arm where I had hit him and nodded his head.
"So when you gonna sleep with him?"
"You are just as bad as Jess!" I shouted at him, pointing my finger in his face.
"That's right! I've now seen him before Jess has! YES!"
"You don't know how happy I am that I was here with you when you achieved such greatness."
"Oh shut up, you know she's going to be so jealous. Then I'll finally have something to hold over her head for once."
"Maybe if you started thinking before you act, or speak for that matter, she won't have anything to make fun of you for."
"You know that's not going to happen Bella. It's just part of who I am, I can't help it. Do you think it's too early to text and brag? I mean if it was just Jess I'd do it, but I don't want to wake up Mike if he's still asleep. I can't handle him being pissed at me again. It's terrifying."
"Maybe you shouldn't text her at all. We are at work you know."
"Pfft like that makes a difference to anyone. You know as well as I do that it doesn't matter. As long as I'm able to serve the customer and get my job done." And then a crowd walked through the door.
"You were saying?"
"Just take their orders would ya?" Eric sighed.
We had quite the morning rush, there was a pretty steady flow of customers, and by the time he would have been able to text Jess, Eric and I only cared about taking a moment to relax and catch our breath. Eric left shortly after my lunch break, and Angie came in to replace him. She looked as if she had just woken up. I took over making the drinks, something I rarely did, and Angela took over the register. Around one o'clock I got a text from Edward.
Ahhh, nap time. Hope your afternoon doesn't suck.
I was tempted to text something snarky back, but I decided against it. I couldn't think of anything else to text him, so I decided to just not respond. After all, I had lectured Eric earlier about texting at work. Though, it had been pretty evident that I just didn't want to get Jess more involved.
The afternoon wasn't so bad. It wasn't quiet per say, but we didn't have any more rushes. Angela and I barely talked, but it wasn't an awkward silence, it was comfortable. Rosalie came in, just as she'd promised, but only for a moment. She apologized for not being able to stay, and asked me if I'd seen him again. I gave her the condensed version of what had happened. She squeed and gave me a big hug, telling me I was on the right track. She gave me her number and insisted I text her as soon as something new happened. Then she was off, she was vague, saying she needed to apologize to her cousins for blowing them off.
I ended up having to stay past four, Lauren was running late for her shift. When she got in, I was tempted to tell her off, but I didn't. I just didn't care enough to bother.
When I got back to my apartment, after my shoes came off, I sank down into the couch, cuddling with one of my throw pillows. I took my phone off of silent and texted Edward.
Home, where my couch is my best friend.
I put the pillow to the side, stretching my whole body, bits of my back cracking as I went. I curled up again, and turned on the TV. I was in no mood to read, I didn't want to think about anything. I flipped through the channels, hoping to find a movie, or something that I could leave on and not worry about. My phone went off, just as I settled on Jurassic Park.
Funny you should mention that, earlier my bed was my best friend. Maybe we should get them together sometime.
I know it was stupid, but it made me laugh.
Sounds like a good idea, I'm sure they'd hit it off.
I kept looking between my phone and my TV screen, waiting for him to text me again. Luckily I didn't have to wait too long.
As long as we're not on them when it happens. I don't fancy being tossed onto the floor by my furniture.
I laughed, more so at him than at what he said, and my phone went off again.
I can't believe I sent you that message. It was too cheesy. Can we pretend I didn't say anything?
At least he knows how ridiculous he sounded. I grinned. I liked that he said stupid cheesy things, it made me feel better knowing that I would do the same thing at some point.
Nope, the damage has been done. Your cheesy-ness is known.
I had considered telling him that I liked him even more for it, but I decided that was too much.
And you're still talking to me? You don't hate me?
Yes, still talking to you, and no, don't hate you. For now. Although I will be telling my friends later ;)
Good to know. They can't be as mean as my cousin. She got here when I was asleep and woke me up when Jazz told her there was a new woman in my life she didn't know about. It wasn't pretty.
I assume Jasper is in trouble?
Yes, but he thinks I'll be nice. He got some of Rose's wrath when he wouldn't give her any details about you, before she woke me up of course. If she hadn't smelled like coffee when she woke me up, I would have put up more of a fight against her.
She brought you coffee? Doesn't sound so bad.
Oh no, she didn't bring any, she just smelled like it. Reminded me of you.
Good to know that I now need to take showers when I get home from work so I don't smell
Oh no, don't. I like your coffee smell. Although Rose had a similar reaction when she found out she smelled like coffee. She was cursing her friend she visited at some coffee shop before she came over.
Wait Edward is Rosalie's cousin?
She wants to meet you by the way. I told her it was her own fault for not coming to the show last night like she had planned, which is ironically why she came over this afternoon.
Well that confirmed it for me. Instead of responding to him, I texted Rose instead.
Rose, by any chance are your cousins Edward and Jasper?
The response was almost instant. She must be attached to her phone like Jess.
Um yeah. How did you know?
Well, Edward is the guy I was telling you about. He was just texting me about his mean cousin that came to visit.
NO WAY! Kismet! Also, did he actually call me mean?
He did actually. Complained about you waking him up, and said something about your wrath.
What a baby. I am not mean, I just work hard to get what I want.
Well now you know they're related. That kissable lip thing must be genetic. Not so weird that you wanted to kiss her too. Edward texted me again, bringing me out of my daze.
Oh no don't tell me that I've scared you away already. My family isn't so bad, I promise! And you don't have to meet her right away…
I bit my lower lip, trying to decide what to do next. Should I play with him a little bit?
I didn't know we were in the 'come meet my family' direction.
I did scare you away. I'm sorry, I'm didn't mean it like that, I'm not trying to be pushy. I just really like you and I guess I got nervous.
Well I really like you too. And you didn't scare me away, I've just never moved this fast in a relationship before.
I'm sorry. We can slow down. I've done the too fast thing before and it didn't end well.
Well I've done the too slow thing before, and that didn't end well. So maybe a happy medium? Besides, I enjoyed kissing you too much to give up on that.
You enjoyed my kisses huh? I enjoyed that myself. Happy medium sounds good, I am a gentleman after all right? I'll just tell Rose she has to wait.
A real gentleman wouldn't talk about kissing so much, it's distracting. And ironically, I know Rose. We met earlier this week.
So I'm assuming you were the friend she was visiting? Less weird that the way she smelled reminded me of me as I completely disregard the last five minutes of my life. Can we rewind a bit, to my cheesy comment?
Disregarding is ok, so long as it's not forgotten. Rewinding is fine.
Good. So Bella, how was your afternoon? And more importantly do you have any plans for this evening?
My afternoon was alright, pretty quiet. My friend Rose came to visit but that was it. Currently I'm watching Jurassic Park, but right now my stomach is telling me it's about time to do other things. However I have no actual plans.
Jurassic Park huh? You have some goat in your apartment for dinner?
No, no goat. In fact I have no idea what I am going to do for dinner.
Maybe I can help. If you don't mind that is.
What did you have in mind?
I'm a decent cook, if I say so myself. I'd invite you over, but I'm starting to think Jasper may have gotten infected last night….Would you mind if I invited myself over?
He wanted to come over and cook me dinner? My life was turning into a romantic comedy. I thought about it for a minute, was my apartment presentable? Was I ready for him to come here? Is this a happy medium? I texted Rose again, to get her opinion. She got back to me, and I promptly texted Edward my address.
I'll be there in 20. You might want to have a snack.
I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to eat at all, I was so excited, but then my stomach growled. Snack it is.
Thanks for reading! I'd love feedback. Reviews encouraged :)
