Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, I just use their creations to have my wicked way with them. No copyright infringement is intended.
This story wouldn't be what it is without my wonderful beta, The Real Teacher, holding my hand and correcting my many errors. Thank you so much!
As always, pictures of all sights, people, clothes and vehicles mentioned in this chapter can be found on my blog. The link is on my profile page.
Chapter 9 – The City that Never Sleeps
Probably because it has as much on its mind as I have.
"No way!" I chuckled as I listen to Edward rant on the other end of the line. "That's a bloody travesty, Bella, and you know it!"
"Hey!" I defended myself. "I'm entitled to having my opinion! My mom taught me better than to meekly follow the rest of the sheep."
"In this case sheep are right," Edward insisted. "Sean Connery had more 'Bond' in his bloody toenails than Roger Moore in his entire body."
"Come on, Edward!" I huffed. "He had the tall, sleek body and the 'gentleman act' down to a 't', even you have to admit that. Besides…..The Spy Who Loved Me happens to be my all time favorite Bond movie and he's in it so, by association, he has to be my favorite Bond."
Edward groaned audibly. "For such a lovely girl you sure have a piss poor taste in movies, love."
I was barely able to suppress a gasp. Love. He'd called me love. The rational side of me was quick to kick in and tell me that it was just a pet name and that it didn't have to mean anything but it was already too late to stop my heart from fluttering and spreading warmth all through my body, from my cheeks to my toes.
"Next thing you're going to tell me you cried watching Titanic," Edward went on, completely oblivious to my little moment.
I rolled my eyes, back in command of my senses. "Everybody cries watching Titanic."
"I didn't," Edward countered.
"Fine, every girl cries watching Titanic,"' I specified. "Though I happen to remember that back when I watched that movie in Port Angeles with some of my friends, there was this guy sitting a few rows behind us who started blubbering the minute Jack and Kate stepped onto that railing and didn't stop until the credits rolled in."
Edward chuckled. "He's a disgrace to the male species. I only saw that movie once – mind you: only because my mum and my baby sister forced me to – and all I could do to jump up and fist pump when I watched that tosser sink to the bottom of the ocean was the fact that I knew mum and Bea would have my guts for garters if I did."
I shook my head, rolling my eyes at him for the second time in a short while. "You're such a guy!"
"I know," he chuckled proudly and I could almost see the smugness on his face even though there were thousands of miles between us at that moment. "You know….one day you're going to very happy that I am 'such a guy'."
I blushed, figuring what he was hinting at. "You're awfully certain of yourself."
"I've had no complaints," he countered lightly.
I didn't know what to say next. I mean, I couldn't respond with a witty comeback because, with my lack of experience and complete lack of confidence when it came to everything sexual, there simply was none.
I had no idea how to do this…..this fast-and-witty-banter-with-the-other-sex-that-mostly-came-down –to-innuendo kind of thing. There had only been Mike for me. He'd been the only man I'd ever had sex with. Hell, he'd been the only man I'd ever even kissed before I met Edward.
My whole experience with men came down to him and, though we'd had a very satisfactory sex life – at least, I thought we had – Mike had never been too forthcoming with compliments or anything else that could boost a girls confidence in the bedroom.
"Sooooo," I drawled, trying to change the subject as well as steer the conversation into a different alley. "You used to watch movies with your mom and sister?"
Even though Edward had been more forthcoming with details about his life during our phone talks, he rarely ever mentioned his family or the life he'd lived before he ended up in Rome. Sure, I'd found out through his answers that there was a mother, a father and a sister living in England and that most of his friends resided in Berlin but as far as details went, that was pretty much it.
I had a feeling though that whatever happened between him and his family wasn't exactly pretty. He hadn't given me much to go on in this but what he had said as well as his whole demeanor whenever our talks brushed on the subject of family made me think that there was some major pain between them.
Something he wasn't ready to talk about.
I only knew too well how that felt so I gave him his space, even though it made me feel frightfully uneasy and more nervous about this whole bi-continental relationship thing than I already was.
"Yeah," Edward answered his voice heavy with nostalgia. "Wednesday used to be our movie night before I left home. That is…mum and Bea usually picked a movie and then harassed me into coming down to watch it with them."
"Poor you!" I snickered.
"I guess it was alright," he admitted. "We usually had a lot of fun, even though I still shudder to think of the amount of chick flicks I was forced to watch!"
"Again: poor you!" I rolled my eyes, thinking it couldn't have been too hard on young Edward to watch a few romcoms with the people he loved. "Though really, don't you miss it?"
It took him some time to answer and when he did his voice sounded far away; further than the many miles already lying between us. "Sometimes."
I sighed. "You're going to tell me one day, right?"
"One day," he repeated, another awkward silence falling in the wake of his words. "I'm sorry. I don't want to give you the feeling I'm keeping you at arm's length or anything it's just…"
"It's okay, Edward," I spoke, interrupting his ramblings. "I understand."
I'd always had a great relationship with my parents and brother, even though I also kinda liked not having them that close by at times, but I could imagine that talking about those kinds of problems wasn't exactly easy, especially not when the person you were talking to was too far away to gauge his or her reaction.
Hell, I still didn't know what came over me that day when I told him about me and Mike and Edward had been sitting right across from me that night. I'd never done that kind of thing before and I didn't see myself doing it again.
No, if there was anything my bitter divorce from Mike had taught me, it was that it took time – and sometimes a hell of a lot of time – before you were at the point where you wanted to 'talk about things', even though it seemed to be all the rest of the world wanted to do.
"I just…." Edward went on. "I really like you…you know I do…. but….." His voice trailed off and if I wasn't mistaken I could hear a little growl of frustration on the other side of the line.
"This isn't something you just blurt out over the phone?" I offered.
"Yeah." He chuckled nervously. "Look. Can we talk about something else? I shouldn't be dumping this crap on you in the first place, not with you being all jetlagged and shit."
"The time difference between New York and Costa Rica only is one hour, Einstein. I don't think that's going to do much damage to my sleeping patterns!" I chuckled, hoping Edward wasn't going to catch me on my little white lie. Truth was, I still felt pretty tired after coming in late last night, even though I was only working a half day today. Six days of hanging suspended between two fucking high trees on a flimsy bit of rope did that to you. "I have to go, though. My cab is just pulling up in front of work."
"I'll let you go, then." The smile in Edward's words was so clear I could almost see it if I closed my eyes. "Have a great day, Bella."
"You too, Edward. Good night." I sighed as I ended the call, blushing as I caught the cab driver roll his eyes through the rearview mirror. He looked like he was about ten seconds away from making some sort of sarcastic or crass remark.
"Keep the change." I narrowed my eyes, throwing some cash at him to keep him distracted as I headed for safety, waiting until I was out of earshot before I added a well deserved 'asshole' under my breath.
Gosh, I was getting more like the snappy New York girl my dad had warned me about every day!
Should I be worried?
I thought about that all the way up to the 22nd floor, absentmindedly waving at the receptionist as I walked past her and into the open plan office space, only stopping when I'd reached the comfort of my own trusty little cubicle. Hello, desk. I've missed you.
I let out a content little sigh as my ass made contact with the soft covering of my desk chair, the office appliance squeaking with delight (and old age) as I rolled it towards my desk.
"No girl should have any business looking like you do just from sitting in a chair," Riley's voice sounded from awfully close. "Girl, you look like someone just gave you the biggest 'O' of your life!"
I cranked one eye open, looking straight into his face as he smirked back at me. "Get lost Biers."
"Ooh! Someone's letting the fame get all on up in her pretty little head," he sang, twisting his body out of range just in time to avoid a fist flying at him, though I had to admit that my attempt to slap him away was halfhearted at least. I still hurt too much to do any sort of physical labor right now.
"Not now, Riles," I groaned. "I'm way to tired and sore to fight with you."
His eyes shone with glee as he waggled his eyebrows. "Looks like Miss Swan got a good workout on her trip to Costa Rica."
"I did," I snorted, "but not in the way you're implying." Not when Edward was still stuck on the other side of the Atlantic.
"So talk to me, gorgeous," he insisted, scooting his chair over from his cubicle to mine. "What was your trip like?"
"It was amazing," I gushed, thinking about how only yesterday I was surrounded by the lush greenness of the rainforest, kicking it back in my tree cabin after four days of hacking my way through the trees. "A bit hands on at times, though."
Riley arched his brow. "Hands on can be good…so what did your guide look like? Was he a hottie?"
That, right there, was exactly why I'd never told him about Edward. Ever since he'd learned of my messy divorce and subsequent four year dry spell he had made it his personal endeavor to get me laid. Seriously, I was beginning to suspect he and Rose were in cahoots or something.
I just knew that if I told him about Edward and the possibility of sex somewhere in my (hopefully) not too distant future, he was going to post it all over the bulletin board. Seeing as I was still in my probation period and 'screwing around with the tour guide' was bound to be in violation of some office code of conduct, Riley would be better off not knowing.
"Not that hands on!" I groaned. "And my guide was a man of about forty with a whole wallet filled with happy, smiling kids and a pornstache that would make my dad see green with envy."
"Hmm." Riley had the nerve to look disappointed. "Maybe better luck next time, Swannie."
I rolled my eyes. "Maybe."
"So….were there spiders?" Riley went on, getting back on topics.
"Yep."
"Big ones?"
I shifted around in my seat, the nightmare-of-all-fucking-humongous-spiders I'd encountered somewhere in the thick Costa Rican jungle on my second day out still fresh in my mind. "Yep."
Riley's eyes almost budget out of their sockets. "You didn't get bitten, did you?"
"Nope," I chuckled. "Though it may have been awesome to end up having superpowers. It would have made the ziplining and canyoning that much easier if I wasn't so afraid of faceplanting into an untimely death."
"Get out of town!" Riley cried, jumping up from his chair much to the shock of half the office space. "You went ziplining? I thought you were afraid of heights?"
"I used to be afraid of everything," I chuckled, feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment as I thought back on my treetop adventure. "Not anymore, though."
"I bet you didn't think that when you were standing on the ledge and getting ready to jump!" Riley teased.
"Hell no!" I snorted. In fact, standing on that ledge looking out over the very pretty but also very high treetops of the Costa Rican rainforest I had been quick to make up my mind and decide that there was no way I was going to leave the safety and security of the platform for a stringy bit of rope, suspended between two trees high above the ground.
In the end, all pep talks and words of comfort from my guide aside, there had been only one thing that had made me take the plunge. "If I wasn't so scared of what Jane was going to say if she found out I'd chickened out, I would have walked away right there and then and never regretted it for a single second."
I smiled more memories of that day flooding back into my brain. "I'm glad I didn't, though. Conquering your fears really rocks and the view…." It had really felt like I'd been on top of the world and yet I'd also never felt so….surrounded by it either.
"I'm glad we have you back in one piece, Swannie," Riley smiled, ruffling my hair even though he knew I hated it when he did that. "Now go write some kickass article about it before Jane walks in and finds us slacking it up….again."
"Asshole!" I grumbled, tentatively brushing my hand over my hair only to feel a complete rats nest where only moments before a not-great-but-not-completely-horrendous-either hairdo had been. "Now I have to schlep my sore ass all the way to the ladies room to fix this mess!"
All I got in response was a distant snicker, as Riley had already retreated back behind the safety of the wall separating his work space from mine.
As soon as I got back from fixing my hair I set to work at outlining my Costa Rica article. I knew it wasn't going to go to print in quite a while but I wanted to get a rough draft out while everything was still fresh in my mind. There would be plenty of time for adding, scrapping and fine-tuning later when distance had made me more objective. Right now I just needed to write down everything I remembered.
I was so caught up in my work that I didn't even hear Jane and Rose get back in, the only thing reminding me of my four o' clock appointment with the boss being my Blackberry, ringing me annoyingly out of my trance and Rose's face appearing only minutes later.
"You'd better get your ass in there now, Bella," she urged me on. "We've just been upstairs and you know how those meetings make her feel….."
I sighed, not really loving the fact that I was going in there when Jane was probably still all cranky and annoyed form having the big boss and his team of accountants telling her for the millionth time that she had to cut back on the costs. "Wish me luck."
"I'll have an ambulance on standby," Rose snickered, pushing me in the direction of Jane's office as she slid into her own work space.
Luckily she was only able to push me so far, my feet faltering on the doorstep giving me just enough time to suck in a deep breath, pull my shoulders back and plaster a look of fake confidence on my face before I went in.
"Isabella." I jumped at the sound on my voice, appearing seemingly out of nowhere until Jane swung her seat around, revealing herself. "I'm happy to see you're back safe and sound."
With her I was always wondering whether she said that because she was genuinely happy to see me safely back or because she knew that my death or injury would mean more costs and more paperwork. "I've already started my article," I stated, knowing that this was what she wanted to hear, not me gushing about my trip.
"Good." She pursued her lips, her fingers rifling through a small stack of papers on her desk. "Have a seat."
The fact that she asked me to sit down did nothing to quench my nerves. In fact, the knowledge that she was apparently foreseeing a lengthy conversation had me doing a mental inventory of all my sins, wondering if this was the day I was going to get sacked.
"You know I've just come from upstairs?" Jane asked, seemingly unaware of my quiet state of panic.
I nodded, not quite knowing what to say.
"You'll be happy to know that they were very satisfied with the quality of your work." I breathed a sigh of relief knowing I might not get fired after all.
"They did, however express their concerns about the cost of your travel column," Jane went on, her lips pulling into a small smile, "which I have to say rather surprised me since it was they who actually pressured me into doing this in the first place and your articles – though on the costly side – still coming in under the budget we used for the fashion shoot it replaced."
I cringed slightly, remembering how Alice's enthusiasm about my new career opportunity had diminished slightly when she'd found out how it went at the expense of hers.
"I did manage to make them see reason in the end," Jane went on, sitting back as she proudly regaled her battle with the accountant-army, "though this means that, once you've completed your trial period, you will probably have to combine trips to save some money on airfare."
I nodded. "I can do that."
"Good," Jane replied, though I doubted her last remark had been up for discussion even if I did have an objection to spending more time abroad. "I liked what you did on the Hong Kong article. The theme of urban estrangement really worked with the pictures you used. Have you decided on an angle for your Costa Rican article yet?"
I swallowed, now used to getting compliments from my boss. "I…I was thinking about using nature and the destruction of rainforests as my staring point?" I stammered, looking for clues in Jane's carefully botoxed face.
"Hmm," Jane pondered, her eyes tightening as she thought about it though I wasn't sure whether that was a good or a bad thing. "Make sure it doesn't venture into the world or the overused. No one needs another lecture on how bad men are killing nature. That's been done too many times…..and honestly? Most people would just find that annoying to read."
I nodded, not quite knowing what to make of her comments. Did she want me to follow through on this or abandon my plan because it was too corny?
She remained silent for some time, angling her chair so that she could look out the window while still keeping an eye on me.
I frowned, wondering if this was the time to quietly bow out or whether she had more to discuss with me. I was too chickenshit to ask, though.
"This Edward Cullen." I looked up, patiently waiting for her to say more, her statement coming completely out of the left field. "Did you enjoy working with him?"
I blushed, not really knowing what to say. "He's …erm….very good at his job," I finally spoke, settling on something so commonplace not even Jane could find fault with it.
"He is," she acknowledged, narrowing her eyes as they drifted back to the pages in front of her. "He reminds me of Jasper Whitlock back in the day when I'd just discovered him."
I sucked in a sharp breath, knowing Jane's approval could mean so much more to Edward's career than just a flattering compliment. It could make him.
"Would you be interested in working with him again?"
I looked up, my mind still playing catch up as Jane kept on talking. "W-what?"
Jane's eyes narrowed again, her flawlessly ageless head tilting to the side as she looked at me before turning to its normal, neutral, businesslike state. "You've got the Paris trip coming up next, don't you?" She waited for me to nod. "What would you think about taking this Edward Cullen with you for a repeat performance?"
I swallowed hard, barely resisting the urge to belt out a 'hell yes' as I weighed my words carefully before speaking. "I think that would be a good idea."
"Good," Jane answered, not that I expected anything other than that (or she anything other than meek subjugation from me, for that matter).
I was too much in my own mind to care, though, my thoughts already running back in Edward's direction. As if they'd ever left.
Jane liked his work.
I couldn't even begin to describe how big an opportunity that posed for him.
He'd never come out and flat out admitted it but I knew Edward was struggling back there in Rome. There were these tiny clues, one being the fact that he was almost always available as he had been when Angela had made that last minute appeal on him to step in as my tour guide, the second being his humble apartment in Trastevere. I somehow doubted Jane would ever set foot inside that building without a constructional surveyor checking out the place to see if it was safe first.
From what I knew – my experience with the world of photography mostly consisting of the stuff Jasper had told me or the things I'd found out through Alice – most successful photographers led a life that was even more nomadic than the one Edward had been living up until now; living out of a suitcase and moving from one shoot to the next until they had a small gap in their busy schedules to come up for air.
Take Jasper, for instance. Ever since we'd said goodbye at Bergstrom International Airport following the week we'd spent touring Austin and Texas he hadn't even set foot back into New York, his job taking him first to Chicago for the opening of his first gallery exhibition, then to Mexico for a shoot and finally to Australia for his next project.
Not that my own schedule had been any less hectic.
I smirked, feeling the strain for my first two months as a travel journalist in my body. It had been amazing, that much was for sure, my new job allowing me to see and experience places I'd never imagined visiting. After Rome and Texas, my third trip had taken me to Hong Kong where I'd experienced the surrealism of a modern cityscape that might even put the skyline of New York to shame, set in an ancient eastern tradition that flowed through the modern architecture like a visible undercurrent of culture, learning and ….being.
After that, finding myself exploring the caves beneath the Arizona desert was almost surreal; the humid, earthy surroundings offering a stark contrast to the almost clinical modern architecture of the city. And, of course, my latest adventure in Costa Rica.
I loved it…..every aspect of it, even though there were still moments – a lot of moments – that had me freaking out and wondering why on earth I'd ever accepted Jane's proposal in the first place. Still, those thoughts never lasted for long. In spite of all the hard work and long hours I felt as though finally, for the first time in my life, I was coming to life.
I was really living.
And I had Edward to share all of this with.
Sure, we still had a lot of hurdles to take on our way to having a 'real' relationship – the distance thing being only one of many – but right now, after all the time we'd spent talking and chatting, I had a feeling that we at least stood a chance.
There was something as opposed to the nothingness I'd left behind when I got back from Rome.
Besides….I was also coming to the conclusion that I was growing more and more dependent on our talks. Talking to him made me feel like everything was possible…like I wasn't just some small town girl trying to make it in the big city but that I was really something.
Someone worth knowing.
Someone worth loving.
The thought of love; that four letter word popping up in connection to Edward when – in all honesty – I barely even knew the guy, was enough to shock me out of my thoughts.
Really, Swan, what were you thinking? It's waaaaaaay to soon for that. And in your boss' office none the less. Next thing you know you'll be conjuring up all sorts of schemes for him to barge in, chuck her out and have his wicked way with you all over this lovely glass desk….
Fuck!
I swallowed hard, shifting in my seat as I noticed that, mercifully, Jane was too busy studying the papers on her desk to notice the blush on my cheeks. As soon as she heard me move, one of her hands came up, waving me away without even looking up from her work. "That will be all."
I nodded even in spite of the fact that I knew she wouldn't be able to see it and hurried out of her office, as always more relieved to be making my way out of there than I ever would be making my way in.
"Still employed?' Rose asked, craning her slender neck away from the flat screen for a few seconds to see if I'd come out of the office unscathed.
"Yep," I grinned. "She even gave me a compliment."
"No shit!" Rose's eyes went wide with surprise. "This calls for a celebration. Call the midget and set something up."
I chuckled, pulling my blackberry out of the pocket of my cardigan. "How about I do it now and you get a say in the venue?"
"You know me so well, Swan," Rose grinned, both o us waiting for Alice to pick up.
"I'm here but make it snappy. We're just about to run our second set of frames." Alice spoke a mile a minute as she finally picked up the phone.
"Good day to you too, Tinkerbell!" Rose teased. "Bella and I were thinking of hitting a bar later on to celebrate the fact that our little girl got the thumbs up from Jane. You game?"
"Of course, count me in!" Alice squealed, followed by a virtually inaudible string of praises directed at me. "Look, I've gotta go," she finally continued at a slower pace. "How about we meet up at Prohibition on Amsterdam when you get out? I've already promised the guys from the shoot I was tagging along with them but we can always see if we want to stay or not….."
"Works for me," Rose said, looking at me for confirmation. "We'll see you there. Now go kick some butt, Tiny Tim." She broke the connection before Alice could go off on another rant about being called Tiny Tim.
"You know how much she hates that!" I chuckled, pocketing my phone.
"I do," Rose grinned, looking rather smug. "I figured that with the shoot gearing up, Ally would benefit from having someone light a firecracker under her ass."
I shook my head, laughing at Rose's tactics. "Poor models. They won't know what hit them."
I went back to work after that, trying to focus on getting my outline done but finding it harder and harder with every minute that passed. Not with the news I was sitting on.
I couldn't wait to tell Edward.
In fact….I might even…
A throat was scrapped before I could finish that sentence in my head, Rose's Amazonian figure leaning against the wall of my cubicle. "As much as I hate to disrupt a good daydreaming session when I see it, I was kinda wondering if you were ready to head out to that bar Alice mentioned. I'm thirsty."
"I'll just lock up here and I'll be good to go," I answered, quickly saving and closing the document and logging off for the day.
We took a cab to the Upper West Side, neither of us feeling much like walking even as far as the next subway station; me because I was still feeling the legacy of five days of hands-on rainforest and Rose because….well, she never walked.
"Is Ally there yet?" Rose asked as the cab bypassed Central Park.
"Don't know," I shrugged. "I'll give her a call."
"Hey Bella!" Alice's voice screeched over the background noise as she picked up. "Wassup?"
"You there yet?" I asked, the sounds of laughter sounding the background already answering the question before Alice confirmed it. Not only that, but she'd been there long enough to get at least two drinks into her system because there was no way Alice Brandon was talking ghetto speak if she was still completely sober.
"Oh, fuck," Rose muttered as a booming guffaw echoed through the background noise. "Ally? Please tell me Hansel isn't in there with you?"
"Hansel? Hansel? Who the hell do you mean?" I was trying to hold in my laughter but Alice wasn't making it that much easier. "I've never worked with anyone called Hansel."
"She means the guy you used of the shoot in the Japanese Garden," I explained. "You know, the one where Rose and I brought you lunch?"
"Ah! You mean Emmett?" Alice squealed.
"The steroid freak, yes," Rose scowled, probably guessing by the tone of her voice that Alice's thoughts had wandered into a direction quite opposite from hers. "Is he there?"
"He's here, yes," Alice answered cautiously, probably having picked up on the decidedly icy undertone. "Is that a problem?"
I chuckled as Rose grumbled something under her breath, figuring Alice would probably be better off if I answered that question. "Not as long as you keep him away from our Rosie. Emmett took quite a shine to her the last time they met but unfortunately he knew how to put all the wrong things together in one sentence."
"I see," Alice giggled. "Well, I'll see what I can do to prevent this from turning into a bloodbath."
"Thanks!" I smiled, watching Rose sulk as she stared out of the window. "I'll see you in a bit."
I turned my attention back to the pissed off blonde next to me after I hung up. "Get a grip, Rose! No guy can be that bad!"
"I bet he is," Rose scowled. "You were there, Bella. You heard him!"
I rolled my eyes, really not seeing her point. "All I heard was how he tried to make small talk with you during a dead moment on the shoot."
"He called me pretty!" Rose seethed.
I rolled my eyes, my voice dripping with sarcasm as I spoke. "The audacity! He should be shot!"
"Seriously, Bella," Rose insisted. "I don't see how you can defend him. The guy is 175 lbs of pure, unadulterated windbag!"
"And if he hadn't been working as a model, you would have taken him home without a shadow of a doubt!" I countered. "By the way….how do you know how much he weighs?"
Whatever flashed through her eyes, Rose was able to contain it before it would make itself known to the rest of the world. "Just an educated guess," she snapped. "I'm just saying: make sure that guy stays out of my hair tonight or I won't be held accountable for the consequences."
I snorted. "Duly noted."
We pulled up in front of the bar a few seconds later, the green and brown interior and the twenties style murals giving it a cozy feel while the crowd was definitely hipper than the one you'd find in your average neighborhood pub. I could see why Alice had picked it, seeing as it looked like the kind of place where models and noted fashion photographers would kick it back after a hard day of work.
When we got there, Alice was floating around us on a pink cloud immediately pulling me aside to announce that – finally – Jasper had asked her out.
Jasper winked at me from across the room, knowing that no one was paying attention to him – except me – and I knew he'd gotten my not-so-subtle hint back in Austin. "That's great, Ally!" I cried, hugging my cousin. "I'm so happy for you!"
"I can't believe we both managed to find such great guys, Bella!" Alice squealed.
"Great guys?" We both looked up as Rose let out a very unladylike snort, her fierce eyes zeroing in on me. "What? You're back with that spineless twerp from Rome?"
I sighed. "He's not a spineless twerp, Rose. He explained it all to me and…"
"I still can't believe you're giving that jackass another shot, Bella!" she cried, sipping on her dirty martini. "If he was so quick to blow it the first time, there's a pretty good chance he's gonna do it again."
Alice rolled her eyes in annoyance. "It's always the silver lining with you, isn't it Rose?"
"Seriously, Bella," Rose went on. "You'd do good to get out before you get too attached or you'll only set yourself up for heartbreak."
"I believe in him," I replied with what conviction I could muster.
I sighed, brushing my hair out of my face. The truth was, that after a month of talking to him almost every day – whether online or on the phone – I still didn't have him figured out which meant that I still wasn't completely sure whether or not I could trust him not to break my heart. Which had me in kind of a conundrum. Not that I was going to tell Rose. "He promised me he wasn't going to do that shit again and I believe him."
Rose's eyebrows shot all the way into her hairline. "You believe him?"
"I have to," I said before Rose could say something about my naïve trust in the other sex. "Because when it comes to getting attached…..it's already too late."
"Well I think it's romantic," Alice gushed.
Rose looked at her as if she'd gone completely mental before shaking her head. "I'm going to need another drink if you two bitches are going to be like this all night….all loved up and boy crazy."
"She's saying that as if that's a bad thing," Alice snorted as we watched her sashay across the bar, much to the delight of most of the male clientele.
"It could be," I muttered, sipping on my glass of wine.
"Don't worry, Bella," Alice said softly, her hand slipping around my shoulders. "I have a good feeling about this."
I smiled, shaking my head. "You know? No matter how many times you repeat this, I still don't believe you have psychic powers. Never have, never will."
"Aunt Renee thinks so," Alice pouted.
"My mother also thinks she can summon the rain by dancing around naked in our backyard."
"It worked, didn't it?" Alice countered.
I snorted. "We live in Forks, Ally, the town with the most overcast days in the whole continental US! Which means that if it isn't already raining, it's going to do so pretty damn soon. She would have earned more street cred if she would have made the rain stop."
"Touché," Alice grinned, her eyes darting across the room to the place where Jasper was talking to a bunch of guys from the shoot. "Thanks Bella."
I frowned. "For what?"
"Seriously?" Alice smirked sarcastically as she looked at me. "Jasper Whitlock gets back to New York after being away for five weeks and the first thing he does is ask me – little old me – out on a date? That's no coincidence, especially not when he spent the first of those weeks traipsing around Texas with you."
I shrugged. "Just looking out for you."
The pressure on my arm as she wrapped her tiny hand around it was a little too much for comfort. "What did you tell him?"
"Not that much." I knew she wasn't going to believe me, even if it was the truth. "I just asked him if he was ever going to grow a pair and ask you out and then, when he didn't seem too opposed to the idea, I told him that if he did, you'd probably say yes."
Alice's eyes grew to the size of saucers. 'No, you didn't!" she gasped, clamping her hand over her mouth, making the rest of what she was saying inaudible.
"I did," I chuckled, as I wrestled my arm free from her chokehold and patted her on the shoulder. "And one day soon, you're going to love me for it."
Alice opened and closed her mouth a few times without any actual sound coming out of it, making her look more like a fish on dry land than the kickass art director she really was. "I guess so," she finally conceded with a goofy smile.
I laughed along with her, knowing just how she felt. "Believe me, you will."
"I hope Jasper…" Alice started, the sentence abruptly ending in a loud gasp. "Oh my God!"
I looked up, my face contorting into a grimace of pain as Alice grabbed hold of my arm again my eyes following Alice's to the bar to see what all the fuzz was about.
"Is that guy suicidal?" I breathed, watching mutely as, on the other end of the bar, Emmett slowly advanced in the direction of where Rose stood, having been sidetracked by one of the female models working on the shoot.
"I don't know," Alice answered.
"You did tell him about….."
"Of course I did!" Alice scowled. "Who the hell do you think I am? I may be known as a tough shoot director but I'm no Idi Amin or something!"
She took a few seconds to breathe before she continued. "I kinda like Emmett and his adorable small town ways. I'd never send an innocent little lamb like him out to meet a big hungry beast like Rose."
I knew that to the outside observer we weren't making that much sense at that moment. Sure, Rose may have been standing tall at an imposing 5 ft 10 of leggy blonde seduction but she was no match for Emmett and his huge, hulking, All American linebacker posture.
"I do hope she isn't going to go for the face," Alice whimpered as Rose squared up, her body exuding hostility as she angled it towards Emmett. "Emmett told me today that he's going to fly out to Florida tomorrow for a Ralph Lauren shoot which could be so good for his career…"
"Unless our dear friend roughs him up," I finished as Emmett, obviously either really brave or really dumb (or a combination of both) started to speak.
Rose's reaction was imminent. We could almost hear her hiss from across the crowd, her Amazonian frame rearing up for battle in the same way we'd seen her do so many times we could almost sketch what was coming up next.
But it didn't.
"What the hell…" Alice started as Emmett leaned in and whispered something in Rose's ear. "Do you…."
"I have no idea." I shook my head, my eyes widening as Rose, instead of kicking his ass or breaking his nose started to laugh, her shoulders dipping down from battle mode again as she said something to Emmett, gathered her drink and sashayed away in the way she usually reserved for guys she was interested in.
"Rosalie Lillian Hale, you have some explaining to do, young lady!" I cried as Rose finally joined us again, her cheeks a little flustered from her run in with Emmett.
"What?" she scowled.
"What?" Alice snorted. "You had a guy you hate coming onto you and all you did was wink at him and walk away? Are you feeling unwell, Rose?"
"No?" she replied, but the slight waiver in her voice told us everything we needed to know.
"What did he say to you?" I demanded.
"Nothing important," Rose hissed, her annoyance seeping in through her voice. "He's just some dumb little upstart model who thinks he's a major player."
She huffed, her eyes narrowing as they zoned in on Emmett across the bar. "I'd pity him if he wasn't so annoying."
Pity or not, it didn't escape our notions how, every time she thought we weren't looking, her eyes would drift back to Emmett, her eyes growing more pensive and less annoyed every time they did.
Still, they both went back home alone a couple of hours later; Rose to her swanky Upper East Side loft and Emmett to the downtown model apartment he shared with a bunch of other guys without any more words shared between them and with Rose still shouting from the rooftops how annoying he was.
"Do you think he'll be able to win her over?" I asked as Alice and I made our way into the subway station on 86th.
"I hope so," Alice answered, smiling as she looked out over the platform. "It would be so romantic….."
I snorted, rolling my eyes. "Only you would say that!"
"It is!" Alice defended herself. "Just think about it: the brave knight…or model in shining…erm….designer clothes moves in to thaw the heart of the ice maiden; forever condemned to a life of meaningless one night stands by the ghosts of disastrous boyfriends past."
I rolled my eyes. "Now all you need to figure out is how to throw an Ebenezer Scrooge type character in there and you're all set up for the next huge Christmas story."
"You may laugh, Bella," Alice huffed. "But don't go telling me that shit isn't romantic."
I had to admit she had a point, somewhere deep beneath all of the bullshit. Not that I was ever going to say that out loud. "So are you up for a movie or are you just going straight to bed?"
"Depends." She arched her brow, tapping her lips as she looked at me. "Are you going to let me pick?"
I chuckled. "Sure, as long as you won't make me watch anything too….Disney."
"Fair enough," Alice chirped. "You make the popcorn?"
"Of course."
We were quiet as we rode the subway back home, both of us working on autopilot getting ourselves, the snacks and the movie ready before meeting back up on the couch twenty minutes after we arrived at our apartment; Alice, like me, clad in shapeless sweats as we huddled under the beautiful quilt my mom had made as a housewarming present.
"What?" she scowled as she caught me looking at her well worn university sweats.
"I sometimes wonder if Jane knows how you're slumming it up in your free time."
She shrugged. "I don't really give a shit if she does or not. I've already spent my entire day up to my elbows in fashion. When I get home I just want to be comfortable."
"Hey, you won't get any argument from me on that one!" I chuckled, holding my hands up in surrender. "So what are we watching?"
Just then the warm sounds of accordion accompanied by a deep voice speaking to us in French drifted through the room. "Ah! Amelie. " I grinned, sitting back with a handful of popcorn.
I should have known that Alice would have picked this movie. After all, she was taking my upcoming trip to Paris even more seriously than I was, her longstanding history with the city – ranging from a semester spent studying fashion to the annual trips to Paris fashion week with Jane – made her quite a connoisseur on all this Parisian. "I was wondering when you were going to start giving me homework for my trip to Paris."
"I can't very well send you off unprepared!" Alice giggled as we watched the intro to the movie with a half eye. "There are so many places you should see…..so many little boutiques and shops and…"
"Hold it right there!" I snorted. "I've already got a guide, remember?"
He grin grew even wider if possible. "Oh, yes. Edward!" she cooed, barely avoiding the pillow that flew her way.
"Shut up, Ally," I warned her, "or I'm going to return the favor and tease you all night long about your date with Jasper."
Alice, however, was on a roll, her whole body buzzing with happy energy as her eyes flittered from me to the screen and back to me again. "You're going to Paris with Edward Cullen, Bella!" she squealed as the camera's zoomed out to the beautiful Parisian skyline.
"Yeah," I gushed, barely containing my enthusiasm as I scooped another handful of popcorn out of the huge bowl resting between us on the sofa.
We were silent after that, both of us getting caught up in the movie we must have already seen a gazillion times. It didn't matter, though. I still loved every bit of it; the story, the atmosphere; the colorful people, the thought that even slightly eccentric girls like Amelie would one day find the man of their dreams…
It made me feel oddly hopeful.
It wasn't until the final scene, the one where Amelie and Nino were finally united that Alice broke the silence.
"Oh my God, Bella," she whispered, grabbing my hand and squeezing it just a little too tight for comfort. "You are going to have sex in Paris. Can you get more romantic than that?"
It was a good thing the lights were off or Alice would have been able to see my look of blind panic, my body freezing up at the thought of my own inadequacy. Oh my God! What if she were right? What if Edward expected me to put out in Paris?
In my heart I knew it wasn't a question of not wanting to. I mean, if Edward had wanted to he could have had me mind, body and soul back in Rome when we'd only known each other for a couple of days. It was more a question of whether I could get through it – get naked in front of him and allow him to so see me – really see me – without ending up in a full blown hyperventilating-and-vomiting-all-over-the-poor-guy panic attack.
Alice, however, was blissfully unaware about the fact that I was silently freaking out next to her.
Nope, she kept prattling on about how romantic it would be to have sex in the 'city of love' and how she and I were going to go out the next day and buy a whole new wardrobe of naughty unmentionables seeing as my current underwear drawer only contained underwear that was, indeed, unmentionably horrid and completely unsexy (her words, not mine).
I, on the other hand, could only pray that a few pieces of satin and frilly lace could somehow prevent this trip from turning into a complete disaster.
Who's your favorite Bond?
Absolution got through the first round of the Avant Garde Awards and is now up against some other amazing stories in the final round. I still can't believe it. I'm so excited! Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me. It means the world to me. I'll keep you posted on when voting for the final round begins.
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