Disclaimer - All characters, etc. belong to Stephenie Meyer. I do not own Twilight, or anything for that matter.
A/N - This chapter and the next were originally set to be one chapter, but this got a little long, so I am breaking it up. I plan on getting the next one up in a day or so. I am hoping things will pick up now. I've got the outline done for the rest of the story. Review me and tell me what you think!
Chapter 9 - Dinner Companion
I didn't like the way the waitress was ogling Edward. How rude to blatantly stare when he was obviously here with someone else. I had to fight to not roll my eyes at her. I could imagine what she was thinking. What is a girl like her doing with a guy like him? I mentally chided myself. It's not like this was a date or anything. I felt very annoyed with myself.
Once we were seated, Edward said, "Some friends you have there."
"What do you mean by that?" I said, feeling offended. I agreed they were kind of flaky, but they were my friends after all.
"Well, if they were so worried about you, why did they sit down and eat instead of going to find you? They knew where you were going to be, right?"
"You have a point there."
"Which brings me to something else. You seriously don't have a cell phone?" he asked me amazedly.
"Nope," I replied.
"Why in the world not?" he pressed. "It's not safe for a girl to be walking around in Port Angeles by herself without at least a phone in case of an emergency."
"Well," I explained, "Charlie had mentioned buying me one, but honestly, I didn't want one."
Edward raised his eyebrows. It probably did sound odd. After all, every teen in Forks walked around with one of those things glued to their ears. Heck, I used to do the same thing back in Phoenix, until James. Now I found freedom in the idea of not being able to be reached.
"Do you have some kind of problem with modern technology?" Edward asked me, curiously.
"Not particularly. I have my reasons, but they're... complicated. Besides, it's not like Forks is that big. They still have pay phones, you know."
"Still, you really should think about getting one. Just to be safe."
I didn't put too much stock into the safety measures of a cell phone. It hadn't helped me in the past.
Just then the waitress came to take our orders. I hadn't even had a chance to glance at the menu. Thankfully I had paid attention when she rattled off the specials.
"I'll take the mushroom ravioli, please." She didn't even look at me as she wrote it down.
"And for you?" she asked Edward, batting her mascara-caked eyelashes, voice dripping with seduction.
"I'll have the same," he answered curtly.
She walked off swaying her hips more than was necessary, looking back to see if he was paying attention. He wasn't. In fact, he was staring at me. I had a sense of self-satisfaction at seeing her pout.
"I'm sorry for that," Edward said.
"Sorry for what?"
"The waitress. How absolutely uncouth to sit there and try to flirt with me while I am sitting with the prettiest girl in Forks."
I almost choked on the sip of soda I was in the process of swallowing.
"Rude, yes. I'm not too sure I agree with the last part though," I said, recovering myself.
"Well, we all have our opinions," he said flashing me a crooked grin. "So, tell me something about yourself, Bella," Edward said. "I've been sitting next to you in biology all this time, but I still know hardly anything about you."
"Not true," I countered. "You know that I don't own a cell phone."
"True. I do know that. I also know that you have an aversion to prom and that you love books, but really, that's about it. Why did you decide to move to Forks?"
"That's kind of complicated." For some reason, I couldn't stand the thought of lying to Edward, but I certainly didn't want to get anywhere close to the truth either.
"Hmmm, you seem like a very complicated girl. But, we've got time and I'm all ears."
He looked at me then with those piercing eyes and I decided it wouldn't kill me to give the bare minimum of details.
"Well," I began, trying to figure out how to formulate my thoughts into words. "Let's just say I was having a rough go of things there and I decided I could really benefit from a change of scenery."
"Now you've got my curiosity peaked."
Our waitress chose that moment to bring out our food and I hoped he'd forget what he just said and we'd have a change of topic. No such luck.
"Mmmmm, this is delicious!" I declared, stuffing my mouth putting off the inevitable.
"Now, now, Bella. I'm not going to let you off that easy!" Edward chuckled. "I've got all sorts of possible scenarios running through my head and I'm dying to know if I'm close with any of them."
"No fair. You have to tell me some of them. Now I'm not going to let you off easy. You tell me three, I'll tell you if you're close."
"And then you tell me the real reason? You know, in case I'm way off base?"
"Deal." I regretted never talking to Edward before. He was a very easy person to talk to, and I almost cringed at how willing I was to open up to him.
"So you needed a fresh start. You don't look like the type to have been in any kind of criminal trouble, so I can cross juvenile delinquent off of my list."
I chuckled. "Nope, no criminal activity. I've never even had so much as a speeding ticket. My father is a police chief, you know."
"Good point. Okay, you won the lottery and the fame was so great that you couldn't take it anymore and had to move to where no one knew you."
"I'm not old enough to play the lottery, Edward. Besides, if I had an exorbitant amount of money, I would surely pick someplace cooler than Forks to move to!"
"Okay, down to my last guess then. You had a sex change operation. You used to be "Bill" but now you're "Bella" and due to the scandal, you had to leave town."
I burst out giggling at the obscenity of that thought. "Okay, funny boy. Nice, real nice, but nope, not even close."
"So, Bella," he asked, more sincerely now that the ice was fully broken. "Why did you move to Forks? I really can't think of what more Forks has to offer than Phoenix."
"I had a boyfriend," I began, trying not to sound as flat as I felt inside. "It was a pretty serious relationship and -" this was harder than I thought it was going to be. I took a sip of soda and continued. "The break-up was pretty bad. So, I decided to move here to Forks to stay with Charlie, er, my Dad, so I could have a change of pace." There, I'd said it. I purposely left out the part about the abuse and the stalking, but I'd done it. A smile lit up my face as I realized how good it felt to tell someone that. Edward was the first person in Forks to know my secret.
"Boy trouble. I guess that doesn't surprise me," Edward said.
"Why is that?" I asked.
"Bella, you're beautiful. Any boy in Forks would be happy to have you as a girlfriend. I'm sorry you got your heart broken. It must have been awful to pick up and move," he said sincerely.
"Thanks. There are other details, but I really don't like to talk about them."
"I understand." And he did. He reached out as if to touch my hand, but had seconds thoughts and withdrew it. "Well, you told me a bit about you, so it's my turn to tell you a little about me."
Edward told me about his childhood, how his father had died when he was a child in a work-related accident. How he and his mother became this strong unit, always saying they could conquer anything as long as they did it together. Then he talked about how his mother had fallen ill and by the time she got medical attention for herself, it was too late. I felt my eyes getting wet. His aunt and uncle, his father's brother and wife, Esme and Carlisle Cullen took him in, and he'd lived with them ever since. Having been an only child, he said it was hard at first to get used to having two "brothers" as he referred to them, and 2 "sisters," but he said they were wonderful and he was so thankful to have been given that second chance at a family.
When he was done, I felt the tears slipping out of my eyes. It was my turn to reach for his hand, and then pull mine away, wondering if it was inappropriate or not.
"Thank you so much for sharing all that with me, Edward. It really means a lot to me. I know you hardly know me, but, it was like you just showed me part of your soul."
"You showed me part of yours first, Bella," he said. We sat there for a few minutes before the waitress came over clearing her throat, impatient for us to leave because we had finished our meal long before.
"I guess we should get going," Edward said.
We walked out of the restaurant and I was amazed at how chilly it had gotten. I shivered deeply, thinking of my jacket, which I had left in Jessica's car. It was probably back in Forks already.
"We should get in the car and turn on the heat!" Edward said. "Come on, I'm parked over down this way."
I stopped, frozen in my tracks. Having dinner with Edward hadn't bothered me. It was in a nice public place. But I had forgotten about transportation home. The thought of being alone, in a car, with a boy made my inner conscience scream. He stood there looking at me, probably wondering why I wasn't walking. I took several deep breaths, trying to push down the panic that was rising inside of me. Edward is not James. Edward is not James. Edward is not James. I repeated that over and over in my mind.
"Um, are you coming?" Edward asked me.
"Yes, I am," I responded, gritting my teeth and fighting my inner turmoil.
