Chapter Ten: Phone Calls and Jitters

The next two days were incredibly uneventful. I mostly stayed in reading, it was relaxing. I talked to Angela a few times, and avoided all calls from Jess, Lauren, Mike and Tyler. I wasn't in the mood to answer their questions. I was still trying to decide how to handle them.

I was sitting on my bed Monday afternoon reading one of my favorite books when my phone started ringing. At first I assumed it was Jess again and was going to ignore it, but I decided to check the caller I.D. first. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw who was calling.

"Hello?" I choked out.

"Hi. Bella?" his musical voice sounded unsure.

"It's me."

"How are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?" I answered. I was beyond good, I was in shock. I couldn't figure out why he was calling me.

"I'm good. I was wondering…." He trailed off.

"Yes?" I asked, instantly nervous.

"Would it be all right with you if I took you to dinner tonight?"

I couldn't form an answer. I was frozen, my mind racing. Edward Cullen was asking me to dinner? I'm not sure how long I sat there without answering him, but I was suddenly pulled from my frozen state by the sound of his voice.

"I mean, it's okay if you don't want to. I wouldn't want to force you to. I just, I…um-" He sounded….worried.

"No, no. I'm sorry. I spaced out a little there. Dinner…yeah….that sounds good. When were you thinking?"

"Well, maybe tonight if you aren't busy?" The relief and excitement in his voice was hard to miss.

"Uh," I glanced at the clock, it was already two, "I'm kind of far from Seattle." I could hear the disappointment in my voice. That was embarrassing, but I knew I couldn't possibly shower, get ready and drive to Seattle in time for dinner.

"I could come to you? I don't mind the drive I've honestly been needing to get out. Getting away from Seattle would nice." He sounded like he meant it.

"If you really don't mind." I replied.

"I don't mind at all."

"Do I have to get dressed up?" I asked reluctantly. I really hated dressing up.

"Not if you don't want to." He chuckled.

"Good."

We chatted a little more about things. I gave him directions to my house. He asked where there was to eat around here. We ended up deciding on the local diner. It really was the only decent place in town that wasn't expensive. I also told him he was going to have to meet my dad, since he insisted on picking me up.

I quickly showered and dried my hair to straightened perfection. I was trying to distract myself from thoughts of Edward and my father in the same room. It wasn't that Charlie was….difficult about boys, just that, well, to be honest he'd never had to deal with them before. How wonderful for Charlie that the first boy he has to deal with isn't even a normal boy. This was going to be a disaster!

I chose a dark blue blouse and a pair of black pants, casual yet classy. Once I was ready I went to the kitchen to make Charlie dinner. Maybe a nice dinner would soften him up and he'd go easy on Edward.

I was finishing up the cooking when I head Charlie come in the front door. Immediately, my heart started racing. I was truly nervous of Charlie's reaction to what I was about to tell him.

"Smells good Bells!" My dad commented as he walked into the kitchen. The kitchen looked the same as it always did. There was a small wooden table with three mismatched chairs, a sink, the refrigerator, an oven and stove, and the cabinets my mom painted a cheery yellow before she left. Unfortunately there was no dishwasher.

"Thanks." I didn't say anything else, I was mentally preparing myself for the hysteria to come. I was sure Charlie would blow a gasket or something. I could tell he had been secretly pleased by my lack of interest in boys, this was going to be a shocking change.

"How was work?" I asked, putting off my news as long as possible. I put a plate on the table in front of him.

"Good. Not eating?" Charlie asked, noticing I didn't join him. Ugh, of course he'd be observant tonight.

"Um, no. I….I have a date." I stuttered and mumbled.

"With who?" Charlie asked, obviously suspicious. He knew everyone in this town, being the chief of police and all. He was probably wondering how I could have changed my mind about any of the boys here.

"Um, Edward Cullen?" It sounded more like a question. I knew this piece of information was going to make him freak, even if he didn't recognize Edward's name from the movies. It would be the fact he didn't recognize his name.

"Don't think I know him." Charlie commented. It was a pointed statement, he knew that I knew he knew everyone, and if he didn't know this person, it was going to be trouble. Stupid small towns.

"He's not from forks…..he's, um…..well, he's….."

"Just spit it out Bells." Somehow despite the serious subject, my dad still found my sputtering funny.

"Famous." I said barely louder than a whisper.

"What?!" Charlie choked. Obviously he hadn't been expecting that.

"He's famous. In movies." I tried to explain without making it a big deal.

"And how did you meet this 'movie star'?" Of course Charlie would think it was some guy lying about being in movies to get to his naïve young daughter.

"At the club last weekend with Jess, Lauren and Angela."

"Bella, how do you know you can trust this guy?" Charlie asked. I wasn't expecting that. A flat-out refusal, yes, considering my judgment, definitely not. The only way I was going to win him over on this one was to tell him what really happened last weekend. I didn't want to do that, but I did want him to trust me and trust Edward.

"I can trust him dad, you can trust him." I started. Charlie looked at me incredulously so I continued before he could interrupt.

"Last weekend, at the club, Edward came over to our table and wanted to hang out with us, well, me, but us." I glanced up at my dad, he seemed to be taking it well so far, so I kept on going.

"Anyway, he just sat and talked with us. Angela really liked him and you know she has a good judge of character." I added for my dad's benefit. He was always going on about how sweet Angela was and how she was such a great judge of people. He merely huffed in response.

"Okay, so Lauren and Jessica got jealous and started making fun of me." I refused to see what my dad's expression would be. He had constantly worried that moving here would be hard for me, I didn't want to him to feel bad about what they had did.

"So Edward took me on the dance floor, just to get away from them. Well, that just made Jess and Lauren madder, so they told Mike and Tyler they were leaving. Angela and Ben tried to tell them they had to wait for me, but Jess and Lauren told Mike and Tyler to drag Ang and Ben out if they had to." I felt like such a child, telling on my friends, but I shook it away and kept going.

"Ang sent me a text, telling me what happened. I panicked and Edward took me to the side to see what was wrong. I showed him the text. Of course Angela offered to come back for me, you know she would never have left if they hadn't made her." It was true, my dad knew Ang was just too good of a person to do something like that.

"Well, Edward, stayed with me and gave me a ride back to the hotel. He even walked me all the way to my door to make sure I made it in safely." I finished and finally looked up at my dad. His face was one of utter concentration. He was probably processing the whole story still. I did kind of rush through it. Finally, he sighed.

"Bella, first, it wasn't very smart, getting in a car with a stranger." He reprimanded, but his tone was too relieved to be harsh.

"I know."

"Then why did you?" He asked.

"Well like I said, Edward is famous. A lot of people recognized him. Lots of pictures, too many witnesses. He's too high profile to be that stupid." I answered nonchalantly. My dad looked like he was turning red from my casual answer.

"And he seemed to genuinely be worried about me." The obvious honesty in my new answer eased him.

"Ok and one other thing about last weekend." Charlie said.

"Yes?" I waited.

"Why didn't you tell me those girls left you like that?! I should call their parents!"

"Dad! That's exactly why I didn't tell you." Charlie just looked at me with confused eyes.

"Dad I'm eighteen. I don't need to tattle on my friends. I don't want their parents getting involved. Please promise me you'll just let it go?" I asked with such a determination Charlie could tell I wasn't going to back down on this.

"Fine." He huffed.

"Thank you, and now that I've told you that you can trust Edward, can I go tonight?" I asked with slight petulance. This was a long conversation for Charlie and I, and I was getting anxious.

"Sure, but I get to talk to him first." Charlie said with a playful glare that turned into a smirk when the doorbell rang.

I groaned audibly and went to the get the door before Charlie could.