Bpov
We were all crammed together at a long table at one of the more popular campus pizza places. I would have felt silly, but we were surrounded by equally as inebriated costumed coeds looking to end their night with a slice of greasy pizza.
We made a relatively clean get away from the party, and now I could add "successfully eluded the police" to my growing resume of college experiences. Ben was familiar with the neighborhood and navigated us through the maze of backyards, skillfully avoiding fences and dogs. The only injury was a long scrape on the back of Jessica's leg where she had run into a particularly nasty hedge. She had just excused herself to assess the damage in the bathroom.
I was quickly learning that my friends had interesting personality quirks when they overindulged. Jasper and Alice might have been the most entertaining pair. Alice, who was normally mothering and loving, became overly so. She had told everyone in the group how much she loved them at least twice on the way to the pizza place, hugging some of us to drive the point home.
Jasper, on the other hand, turned into a military man, special ops style. It was also possible that he was trying to channel James Bond, I wasn't sure yet. He insisted on pushing us into shadows and ducking behind trees when cars drove past even after we had cleared the cops at the party…just in case we were being tailed. Before we went into the restaurant he had insisted on scoping it out for "potential trouble."
At least I no longer had to deal with Emmett's not-so-helpful encouragement. Some texts exchanged after we finished running confirmed that he and Rose were also in the clear and on their way back to the dorm.
The guys were all sitting together at the other end of the table playing some game that involved sugar packets. I'm not sure that there were actually rules or a point to whatever they were doing but they all seemed rather entertained and totally engrossed in it. Well, with the exception of Eric, who was sitting slightly behind Ben and eyeing Edward warily. The bruise under his eye was darkening, and I couldn't help but wonder if Edward had something to do with it. He had seemed really agitated about the whole watching me sleep thing, but maybe I was making more of that than there was.
I was sitting on the opposite end of the table, wedged in between Alice and Angela. The two of them were talking animatedly about the sculptural aspects of the human body. To be honest I wasn't really following the conversation. When they started talking about chests and shoulders I immediately started to daydream about Edward's chest and shoulders. I wasn't one for girly fantasies, but for some reason I got lost in this one.
Edward, dripping with sweat, stripping off his t-shirt and walking towards me, wearing only a pair of tight running shorts. He stalks in my direction, his beautiful green eyes narrowed in a predatory way. He reaches out to me, and—
"Don't you agree Bella?" Angela asked, interrupting my daydream at the worst possible moment.
"Huh? Sure," I replied. Alice laughed lightly.
"Angela was just saying how she thought that the penis was the most beautiful part of the male form," Alice said smiling wickedly. How had I missed that? I started to feel the blush creeping up. Figures they would start talking about penises while I zoned out into my first ever sexual fantasy.
"Seriously, they're beautiful," Angela said dreamily. "I remember the first time I saw Ben's—"
"You know Jessica has been gone for awhile. I'm gonna check on her," I said excusing myself from the table. Just because I was officially thinking dirty thoughts didn't mean I was ready for that particular conversation. Angela just nodded and continued her story. Alice was listening intently and nodding along. I wondered if Ben knew about Angela's tendency to over-share when she drank. Maybe he did, and he just didn't care. She was highly complimentary, after all.
I opened the bathroom door and heard Jessica sniffling. I found her in front of the mirror dabbing the back of her leg with a wet paper towel. Maybe she was hurt worse than we thought.
"Hey Jess you okay?" I asked. It was an innocent enough question. But when she looked up at me tears spilled over and she drew in a shaky sob.
"NO!" she cried.
"What's wrong? Are you really hurt? Do you need stitches?" I looked closer at her exposed leg. She wasn't bleeding. I mean, it really just looked like a scratch.
"Why don't you like me?" she sobbed. Ummm, what?
"I... I like you Jessica," I responded. She sobbed again and fell into me, grabbing my shirt.
'No, no one likes me! You guys don't ever ask me to hang out with you." Her body shook as she cried into my shirt. I wrapped my arms around her tentatively and patted her on the back. I had never been very good with crying people.
"That's not it, of course we like you. Aren't you hanging out with Lauren?" I was grasping at straws. She was all out bawling now.
"Lauren's a bitch!" she wailed. I looked back at the door willing Alice to come through it , or anyone who could help me.
"Umm, okay hon. I know you two had a fight. Uh…It's okay though everyone really likes you. Trust me," I said tentatively. I was on rocky footing here. What do you say to a drunk, hysterical girl? She stood back up and looked at me. She had mascara running down her face. I managed a covert glance down, the side of my shirt she'd been crying on was covered in black splotches. Someone was going to notice that.
"Do you know," hiccup, "I'm eighteen, Eighteen!" She stumbled slightly and grabbed onto the counter. "And I have never had a boyfriend…NEVER!" she bawled.
"Jessica, I've never had a boyfriend. We could probably start a club, it's not that bad," I said. In truth I had only been kissed by one boy, well two if we were counting Edward. What was I thinking? I was definitely counting Edward. Not helping, focus on Jessica.
"It's not the same thing!" she wailed. I wasn't sure how it could be different.
"No really Jessica, I've been on like one date ever. I'm sure you're going to find a great guy," I assured her. She swallowed loudly trying to bring her breathing under control. Tears and snot mingled as they ran down her face. She was really a mess. I turned and started pulling out paper towels for her.
"Please, Bella, I'm not like you. I heard what Edward said to you!" She drew in another chocked sob. "He called you his nucleus!" The tears started flowing again as her shoulders shook. I stopped in mid-turn with fistful of paper towels.
"Wait, did you understand where he was going with that?" I asked. Maybe it was some kind of drunk speak, you had to be impaired to understand it. Unfortunately, my question seemed to only make the situation worse. She covered her face and started blubbering incoherently.
I couldn't really make out what she was saying. I caught an "Edward," and she went on about something or another being soooo obvious for awhile. This was a lost cause. It had been at least ten minutes and our absence wouldn't go unmissed forever. I needed to figure out a way to stop Jessica's crying and lure her back out of the bathroom.
"Listen Jessica," I said pulling her hands away from her face and starting to dab her face with paper towels, "I promise we'll get together and do something, the two of us. Because we're friends, right?" She nodded slowly. It seemed like her tears had stopped.
"You know what would be good now? Pizza. I think we should go get some pizza. Huh?" I asked. I didn't want to leave her too much of an opening just in case she decided she would rather spend the rest of the night in the bathroom. I cleaned her up the best I could, but her face was still red and splotchy from crying, there was no helping that.
"Okay, if we're really friends," she eyed me suspiciously. "Let's go get pizza."
"Great!" I helped lead her out of the bathroom and back to our table.
Three large pizzas and a cold walk home later we were standing in front of the dorm. I was a little relieved the night was over. I started pulling Alice toward the door, when Jasper swooped in front of us.
"We should all stick together," he whispered. Despite the pizzas and time most of the group was still pretty trashed. "Come on," he signaled for us to follow him. Alice gleefully skipped after him, now towing me behind her. We got inside the dorm and I noticed a very bored student manning the front desk. He eyed us up and turned back to his magazine.
Jasper made his way toward the guys' side of the dorm pressed tightly against the wall, and the rest of the group followed suit. I'm not sure if they thought it was necessary for stealth purposes or just thought it was funny. Either way, I found myself scooting against a wall in a line of eight people. Alice was still holding my hand and tugging me forward, and then a couple things happened at once: Jasper reached the door to the tower and stopped the movement of the group to unlock it; Edward leaned down over my opposite shoulder and started humming the Mission Impossible theme song; and I turned my head to make sure the group was still intact. The chain of events brought Edward's face centimeters from mine. Our noses brushed, our lips practically touching. For a second neither of us moved.
"Come on! We got to get moving," Jasper whispered loudly as he pushed the door open. Alice yanked my hand and the moment was gone. I watched him while I was dragged into the next hallway. His eyes almost looked darker and the side of his mouth was slowly creeping up. He strode confidently toward the door and followed me through it. Jasper was holding the elevator open and we all piled in. I concentrated on calm regular breaths. I just had to get the guys into their rooms, and then I could retreat to my room and pray for dirty dreams about Edward. Breathe in and out.
Ding. The elevator doors opened and we all stumbled out onto the guys' floor. Alice was still holding my hand and started skipping down the hall.
"Bella," she stopped and turned to me, "I really do love you!" I smiled she really was a sweet little drunk.
"You know what?" I heard Edward's voice behind me. "I luh-." Huff. The sound of the air being knocked out of Edward was quickly followed by a large thump. Alice and I spun around to see Jasper and Edward wrestling on the floor behind us. We looked at each other and shrugged. Emmett emerged a couple doors down with just his jeans on.
"You guys finally back?" he asked as he made his way to us. He reached Jasper and Edward and easily lifted Jasper off Edward. "Hey Jazz, pick on someone your own size," he said laughing. Jasper shook himself loose.
"Trust me he'll thank me in the morning," Jasper replied. Edward stood up, brushing himself off and grumbling about how a thank you was unlikely.
By the time I collapsed onto my bed thirty minutes later everyone was safely tucked into a bed, alone or otherwise. Alice passed out the second she got into her bed, one leg dangling off the side of her loft. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My brain hurt. Tonight had been…interesting. I just wanted to sleep a couple hours before I thought about it. Who knew having friends was so complicated?
***
Epov
This first thing I was aware of was how horrifically bright it was. I rolled over to shield my eyes. Ohhh. Bad idea. The movement was too sudden and I was faced with the very real possibility of hurling. I held very still and tried to take deep, even breaths. I was hot and uncomfortable. Once I got my stomach somewhat under control I slowly opened my eyes. I was in my room, up in my loft. How had I gotten up here? I shifted out from under the blanket that was thrown over me very slowly, trying not to move my head. I was still in my jeans from last night.
I stretched my legs slowly. Everything seemed sore. I felt like I had run a marathon the day before without stretching. My stomach did another flip and I let out a low groan.
"You still alive up there?" Jasper's voice came from below me. I jumped at the unexpected sound and regretted it immediately. The quiet throb that was growing in my head hit the back of my eyes. I squeezed my eyes closed and slowly sunk into my mattress.
"No. Everything hurts," I grumbled. "What are you doing here?" I asked, probably a little too harshly. I heard a low laugh.
"Well Emmett was, ummm, using our room. I didn't think you would care. You didn't care about much by the end of the night," Jasper answered. I groaned again and rolled to my back. Okay my stomach was in no condition to keep moving. I was going to have to choose a spot and wait to die. Estimated time of death: ten minutes, tops.
I ran through the night in my head. It started out well enough. Bella had looked incredibly hot. I was determined to have a successful night with her. I wanted to tell her that I was interested. I was pretty sure it was mutual. And then Ben had insisted his buddy had something we couldn't miss out on.
So I found myself jammed in a smoky room with Emmett and Jasper, drinking out of a bottle of who-knows-what. Yeah, things went downhill from there. I jumped again at the sound of loud knocking at my door. It echoed in my head. Thankfully Jasper was up and had the door opened by the third knock. I'm pretty sure my head would have split open at the fourth.
"Hey boys!" Emmett called.
"Seriously, can we please use our inside voices?" I whimpered. The rhythmic pounding in my head was getting steadily worse.
"You guys have got to see this!" Emmett slid into my desk chair and started up the computer. Even the sound of the clicking keys was getting to me.
"Can't we do it later? I just want to die for a while," I muttered. My stomach lurched again.
"No way man, you're gonna want to see this. This is why we have the buddy system. I can't believe I missed it, I'm just glad a friend from class was in the kitchen with a camera phone!" he answered.
"You got that on tape!" Jasper shouted.
"I'm serious! Not so loud! How are you guys not hung over?" I grumbled. Then I processed their words. "Wait, what? What did you get on tape?" From this angle it looked like Emmett was pulling up a video on his Facebook page. I'm sure this could wait. They obviously had no idea what kind of pain I was in. Jasper looked up at me.
"No man, you should probably see this," he said seriously. I exhaled slowly. I could do this. I swung myself of the bed, moving as slowly and carefully as I could. Dropping to my feet, I stood very still for a moment. My head was refusing to reorient itself to an upright position. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a few deep breaths. I could feel a cold sweat breaking out; I felt clammy and gross. Deep breath. I opened my eyes slowly and walked over to the desk.
"This better be good," I muttered.
"Trust me, it'll be worth the trip down," said Emmett. He clicked play and a grainy bouncing video started. It looked like the kitchen from the party last night. It was our group; the girls were easy to pick out. I was standing in the middle of the group facing Bella. What the hell was I yammering on to her about? Oh my God.
Emmett was barely containing his laughter and Jasper was silently shaking next to me. The video froze on Bella's confused expression and they both broke out laughing. I stood very still for a moment.
"You're a lion. Oh, that was the best one!" cried Emmett.
"Did I rawr at her?" I asked slowly. Jasper started laughing harder while shaking his head yes. "What am I doing with my hands?" Jasper slowed his laughing for a second.
"Those would be the scary claws," said Jasper.
"I can't believe you actually did the scary claws too!" Emmett exclaimed, imitating the movement and taking a swipe in the air. I don't know that mortified even began to cover it. Maybe she wouldn't remember, maybe no one would remember.
"Emmett you have to take this down right away!" I yelled. Mistake. My head and stomach seized simultaneously.
"Oh, no way. This is too good." He shook his head.
"On the off chance Bella doesn't remember this either, I don't need anyone else seeing it and reminding her." Something else slowly dawned on me. "Oh my God, Emmett! Government programs don't accept people who do shit like this!" How had I been so stupid? I managed to single-handedly ruin my love life and career all in one night. Emmett let out a deep sigh. I glared at him. Maybe not so single-handedly.
"Well I guess we can't have our future astronaut benched. But don't worry about Bella. She remembers everything," he giggled. A grown football player sized man was giggling. What had he said earlier?
"Emmett what do you mean 'the best one'?" I asked. My eyes bugged slightly as a sudden memory flashed through my head. "Did I call Bella a nucleus last night?"
"Yeah, but only after you told her she smelled good and rambled on about her in the shower," answered Jasper.
"Oh, but before you punched Eric for watching her sleep… which was after you told her you wanted to watch her sleep," threw in Emmett. I groaned and sank to the floor. There was no fixing this. This was a mess. I caught sight of the back of my arms. They were both scraped up.
"What happened to my arms?" I asked. I tried to remember falling, but my head was currently too full of thoughts of Bella and clips of our conversations from the night before.
"I had to tackle you in the hallway," answered Jasper matter-of-factly.
"Why?" I asked simply.
"You were about to tell Bella you loved her. I didn't think that was the best idea," he said. I tried to focus on the memory but the end of the night was still fuzzy.
"I'm sure I wasn't, I'm not that stupid," I grumbled. Emmett snorted. I glared at the back of his head. At least it looked like he was pulling the video down.
"On the bright side, everyone, with the possible exception of Bella, knows you are mad crazy head over heels for her," Emmett chuckled. I groaned again.
"How could she not know?" Hadn't I made ridiculous metaphors for my feelings all night? She had to have picked up on something.
"Yeah, sometimes that girl is amazingly unperceptive," said Emmett. I growled at him. He shrugged his shoulders. "Just saying."
They both finally left me to wallow. I slowly moved around the room, blocking out every source of light before curling up on my futon and praying for a deep dreamless sleep. Instead I lay awake for hours and stared at the door, thinking about Bella and the mess I made.
Around four I made up my mind to face it straight on. I would pick myself up, go over there, and apologize for being…a crazy drunk. I spent 45 minutes showering, dressing and trying to tame my hair. I was stalling.
I pulled open my door and found a stick figure drawing of a lion on my dry erase board. This was going to be no good. Maybe I could get someone else really trashed next weekend and convince them to do something stupider. The idea had promise, but further brainstorming would have to wait. I was a man on a mission.
By the time I got to Bella's door I was losing my confidence. I knocked lightly. The knob started turning. What if it was Alice? Do I ask for Bella? What if Bella was mad at me? Shit. The door swung open and Bella stood on the other side. Her hair was loose and she was wearing a pair of light gray yoga pants and a baggy old T-shirt. I wished we could skip this part. Go straight to the comfortable part. I wanted to sweep her up and hold her against me. We could waste a Saturday morning lying in bed. This girl was seriously getting to me, I never lounged. She shifted slightly. Oh right, I should say something.
"Hi," I squeaked. She smiled.
"Hi. How you feeling?" she asked. I looked down sheepishly. At least it was an opening.
"Listen about that. I…um…well you know. I was…" I should have prepared something. What was I going to say? I was trashed, but I do really like you? I took a deep breath. I was staring at Bella's bare feet trying to come up with something wonderful and eloquent to say. Something the exact opposite of last night.
"Edward? Would you… wouldyouliketogooutsometime?" she blurted out. I snapped my head up. She was clutching the door knob and looking at me hesitantly.
"What?" Her face fell and her eyes widened in terror.
"Never mind! Forget I said that!" She looked panicked.
"No, no! I just… I thought you would be mad at me," I stuttered, smiling meekly at her. Worry was still etched in her eyes. She opened and closed her mouth a couple times. I was waiting for her to say something and then it occurred to me. Had Bella just asked me out? And I had left her hanging. Way to go, Romeo.
I took a deep breath and regrouped. This isn't what I had planned but it was way better than apologizing for drunkenly making wild life noises at her.
"Bella, will you let me take you out? On a date. Just the two of us. Somewhere without a keg," I smiled hopefully at her. There. There would be no confusion about what I meant. She laughed lightly and turned pink.
"I would like that," she whispered. I grinned broadly back at her.
"Good, we can talk about it Monday? I'll see you at lunch right?" I was suddenly concerned she wouldn't want to be seen with me after the public scene I caused.
"Of course, Edward. I'll see you then," she said.
"Okay good. I'll see you then." I said starting to walk backwards down the hall. Quick exit so she didn't think better of this. I tripped slightly over my feet. She giggled softly.
"I thought I was the clumsy one," she called. I watched her close the door slowly. Then I spun around and booked it back to the elevator. I had to come up with the perfect date plan by Monday.