Previously, in Chapter Eight …
"Mama, can you look up some dress shops around here on your phone?"
Mama shoots me a bewildered glance, but pulls her cell from her pocket.
"Why am I looking for a dress shop in Seattle?"
I make a choice in that moment, a choice to get over Cullen the best way I know how. A choice to take the reins from Cooch, the no-good, orgasm-withholding whore.
"Because I'm going to the Homecoming Dance with Jasper Whitlock."
Pre-read by my baby mama, Jonesn. Beta'd by the baddest biznitch in town, Sunflower-Franny-Fran-Fran.
This chapter and the one to immediately follow (because yeah, you're getting two back-to-back chapters today) is dedicated to the two Heathers, Midnight Cougar, and all the other tat-loving girls in my Hoodfabulous Facebook group. Come join us as we drool over Stephen James pictures. **drools**
Chapter Nine: Say Wha?
It's surreal driving to Sue's diner, the place where I first met Cullen, but that's where Angie's insisting we eat tonight. She's itching to gossip about my impending date with Jasper, and what better way to do it than over some burgers and shakes. I'm not actually in the mood to talk about dresses and hair styles, but considering I'm so hungry that my stomach is eating out my spine, I have no room to complain.
I try to occupy my mind as I drive to the tiny, fifties-style diner on the outskirts of town. My gaze travels between the road and the sparkling sky above. I count the stars that twinkle the boldest. I tap my fingers against the steering wheel, keeping rhythm with the old-school hip-hop softly echoing from the speakers of my ancient truck. My left foot taps along with the beat as well, my body and mind constantly in motion as I dread entering the same social establishment that holds such supreme embarrassment.
I can only pray that no one in the diner tonight brings up the milk shake incident. I'm sure it will be at the forefront of everyone's minds, but surely they'll keep their traps shut. I haven't really met anyone yet who would do such a thing, other than Lauren Mallory, Jessica Stanley, or the rest of their crew. Just today, I overheard them talking smack about an underclassman that they planned to give hell. I'd rolled my eyes and tuned them out as they pass by, snarling as Jessica's purse 'accidentally' slammed against my back.
The memory fades away once I'm inside the diner. The room isn't brimming with the same amount of teenagers tonight as they did the night of the milk shake incident, but there are a few, familiar faces occupying the room tonight who were there to witness my first of many, embarrassing moments since moving to Forks. They glance up with only a mild sense of interest about them, but quickly turn back to one another once they realize I'm not that interesting of a person.
A quick glance around the room reveals an overly anxious Angie sitting alone at a booth near the back, impatiently flailing her arms around. My cowboy boots make sticky noises against the black and white squared linoleum as I pass the now-familiar bar where I once paid for my burgers and shake.
A girl around my age, with dark, curly hair and a matching shade of eyes smiles as I pass her by. Her hands are busily drying a glass with a dishtowel, but her curious gaze never leaves me. The penetration of her eager eyes burns the back of my neck all the way to the booth.
"What's her deal?" I question Angie once I'm sitting across from her in the ridiculously uncomfortable 'cushioned' seat.
Angie doesn't have to ask who I mean. With an irritated frown, she shoves her sparkle-rimmed glasses further up her narrow nose. Leaning forward, she whispers to me in a hushed tone.
"That's Sue's daughter, Leah. They own this diner. She's sweet, but nosy as hell. Hit me up on the first day of school with all kinds of questions, wanting to know my life story. Then she proceeded to gossip about everyone who walked-"
Angie's voice suddenly drifts off, and I gaze at her in concern.
"Oh, shit," Angie murmurs, glancing over my shoulder, her voice edged with excitement. "Jasper and Cullen just walked through the door."
Of course, Jasper's here. He turned into a drug dog after I agreed to go to the dance with him, sniffing me out as if I've got coke stashed inside Cooch. The bitch doesn't appreciate it either. Not at all. She's been stubbornly burrowed up inside me waiting on him to knock down her door like the DEA.
The whore is barricading herself in, and I don't blame her.
Suddenly the room is abuzz with activity. An occasional chair scrapes against the floor as kids turn in their seats. The low rumble of noise quiets to an awed hush. I resist the urge to turn in my seat, deciding that my sticky, one-page, laminated menu looks hella more interesting than the two boys who just stepped inside this fine establishment.
I'm in the middle of deciding between a bacon cheeseburger and a barbeque sandwich, because mmm … food, when the familiar burn blushes over my skin. The fine hairs on my arms stand up, brushing against the soft, cotton sleeves of my shirt, peeking up from the goose bumps beneath. I drop my menu and briskly rub my arms, ignoring the enticing smell of Cullen's cologne, infused with weed and a hint of white grape cigarillo. Angie's eyes widen across from me as he eases in the booth beside her.
The toe of his boot nudges my leg beneath the table, then easily rests against it. I narrow my eyes at the smirk on his face and at the way he drops his arm across the back of the booth behind Angie's head. Angie turns brighter than the shade of a tomato and her eyes practically bulge behind her glasses. Not that I can blame my friend. If Cullen was that close to me, I'd turn red, too the way I usually do.
Cooch doesn't appreciate my bestie's reddened cheeks. She arises, peeping through her cotton prison to shoot Angie a critical stare. Angie doesn't see her, of course, since she is hidden behind my underwear and all. Cooch has the upper hand that way, the cunty bitch.
Jasper's profile is in my peripheral, entering the booth beside me. I tear my eyes away from Cullen's rain-slicked, bronze hair and smirking, green eyes. Jasper doesn't toss an arm around the back of the booth, instead, he's slumped beside me with his hands resting on his legs. The innocent brush of his pinky against my thigh causes my eyes to narrow and Cooch to snarl. And Jasper's warm breath against my neck brings out her switchblade.
Gangsta Cooch.
"Miss me?"
Jasper's got a lazy grin on his face, and it's obvious the two boys are flying high. Their pupils are dilated, and they both have shit-eating grins on their faces. Cullen doesn't seem as angry as he usually does. He's more relaxed, and his cockiness has taken on a whole new level. I can tell that just from the way he carries himself: chin up, cheesy grin, lusty eyes.
I shift in the booth, cringing as what feels like an old spring nudges me in the ass. My leg moves away from Cullen's boot with the movement, but it's only moments later that it finds its way back beside my leg once again.
I hate the way his slight touch makes me feel, and the way my body shivers from the hardened leather of the toe of his boot rubbing against the softness of mine. Boot to boot, but so much difference between the two.
As different as night and day.
As different as he and I.
I'm beginning to think he's onto Cooch, and he's using his pretty, peen powers and his persistent touch to persuade her to join team Edward. The shivers and tingles travel up my leg and straight to the Pussy Palace where Queen Cooch awaits, gracing Cullen with a vertical smile. The hussy silently begs Cullen to stroke my calf a little harder. It's either her telling him that or the voice inside my head. Hell, maybe they're one in the same. Either way, he's driving me completely insane, but hopefully he only picks up the irritation in my posture and not the way I wiggle against the seat searching for some relief.
"We were just trying to decide what to order," Angie finally replies in an unwavering voice.
What is she talking about?
Did someone ask a question?
Oh, yeah. Fuck. I can't even think straight. Not when his hands grab the menu from in front of me.
"Yeah? Whatcha getting Bella? A salad?" he asks, snorting at the end as if he's so fucking funny and in touch with what a girl like me would eat.
"Nah. Probably a bacon cheeseburger. And onion rings. And a Coke … no, make that a chocolate milk shake. Nah, a Coke," I ramble, my stomach quietly rumbling in agreement.
"Damn, girl. Where do you put all that?" Jasper questions, smiling at me from behind weed-hooded eyes. He sort of nudges me with his arm, then lingers there, resting against me.
"It all goes to her ass."
Angie gasps at Cullen's softly spoken words, but he never glances up from the menu. There's a secret smile on his face that grows larger and larger, the longer my face burns hotter and hotter.
"You called me skinny at one time," I remind him.
"In most places," he responds in a low murmur.
"Are you calling me a fat-ass?"
Cullen chuckles, which only adds fuel to the fire. I seriously want to smack him right now. Just reach out and smack the shit out of his beautiful face.
"There's nothing wrong with your ass," Jasper whispers, his quiet words reaching out and ripping Cullen's eyes up and away from the menu. "Your ass is perfect."
"So I've been told," I grumble, raising an eyebrow and shooting Cullen a pointed look.
My muttered words tug at Jasper's forehead, bunching his eyebrows together. Cullen shields his face from me and his friend with the menu, his defined cheekbones and elegant nose suddenly out of view. Jasper relaxes into me more and then shakes his head. Something akin to realization dances across his features. That hand that was once resting on his lap is suddenly weighing heavy on my upper thigh.
I jump at the contact and have an overwhelming urge to remove his fingers from where they're slowly stroking my jean-clad leg. But then I remember a mantra that I chanted to myself throughout the entire night as I lay in bed after Jasper asked me to the Homecoming Dance.
Give him a chance, give him a chance.
"You excited about the dance?" Jasper questions, as if he were a mind reader or something.
"Yeah," I say. A one-word lie, that finally causes that grease-stained menu to fall from in front of Cullen's face.
"You're going to the dance together?" Cullen asks, but it comes out sounding more like a statement than a question. An accusatory stare is thrown across the table at his friend, and Jasper catches it easily. He tosses back a stare of his own, but this one is more gloating, more self-assured.
Jasper edges closer.
"Yup, and we're gonna have such a kick-ass time, right Jasper?"
My faux enthusiasm has swelled into a big, fat lie. Jasper's only response it to ghost his fingers further up my thigh. Cooch is tingling, but it's not from the contact. She's shaking in disgust, throwing Cullen some pointed stares of her own and sighing at me in exasperation.
"I'm sure you and Lauren will have an amazing night."
Leah arrives just as the last word leaves my mouth. Tall and thin, she smacks her gum, holds a pen and pad in her hands, and takes turns checking out Cullen and then Jasper. For some reason, this irritates me. I blatantly stare at her until she feels the weight of my glare. The girl doesn't even have the audacity to look abashed. Instead, she shoots me a grin and asks for Cullen's order, creeping closer to him. There's a hint of annoyance on his face, and I can't make heads or tails of it.
Is he annoyed by this girl? By what I said about Lauren?
Leah gloats at the ridiculous amount of food that I order, but I don't give a shit. I suck the cold Coke through my straw and snap at Jasper after I catch him staring a little too long at my lips as they wrapped around my straw. He thinks this is funny.
The table's sort of quiet and uncomfortable after that. Angie keeps kicking me and tilting her head in Cullen's direction, but I don't know what the fuck she's getting at. This frustrates her, making her frown, huff, and roll her eyes at me.
It takes two trips for Leah to bring back all of our food, and I grumble below my breath as Cullen reaches for the same onion ring as I do. Our fingers bump against one another, our oil-slicked fingers slipping and sliding, skin against skin. Cullen releases the onion ring first, then drags his tongue over his fingertips. My face goes slack at the way his pink tongue darts across the pad of his thumb, mesmerizing me as he licks the grease away. My mouth snaps shut, and I drop my head once he catches my prolonged stare.
I guess the fact that the boys are sitting at our table is some sort of big deal to everyone or something. Even though my back is facing the rest of the diner, I can feel the stares and hear the curious whispers. Jasper has been watching me as I devour my burger with gusto. I'm secretly hoping this disgusts him and makes him run away with his tail between his legs, but no. There's something to be said about a girl with a hearty appetite, I guess. He's looking at me as if he's holding back a fist-bump, and Angie's staring as though I'm Mike Tyson biting someone's ear off mid-fight.
Occasionally, the bell above the diner door chimes, the sound almost completely snuffed out by the increase of idle chitchat surrounding us. People have gotten used to seeing Angie and me sitting with Cullen and Jasper by now. The excitement has drifted away, and the back of my neck no longer stings from the stares.
But, that feeling eventually returns. The bell chimes once more and the chatter-filled air fizzles away. Angie's normally tan-kissed skin blanches, turning a ghastly gray as her eyes dart over my shoulder. Edward shifts beside her, but still seems relaxed. In fact, his trademark smirk rises, and his eyes seem less hazy than they did earlier. The click-click-click of heeled shoes echoes around us, each tap of the sole against the stained linoleum a gunshot sounding throughout the room.
"I've been calling you all day long," a voice accuses, the annoying sound curling the food in the pit of my stomach. "What in the hell are you doing here … with them?"
I suck the remains of my Coke from the bottom of the ice-filled glass. The sickening, slurping sounds are the only ones in the room, aside from Lauren's ragged breath. I feel her icy stare on me, but I ignore it by rattling the ice inside my glass.
"Where's a waitress when you need one?"
Jasper snorts beside me as I pointedly shake my glass in Leah's direction. She's standing behind the counter staring at us, staring just as hard as everyone else does. All eyes turn in her direction, and she practically trips over her feet, darting to where we sit. Annoyance rolls off the tall blonde in torrid waves of heat, but I couldn't care less. I don't like this girl, I hate the way she's always glaring at me, and people with superiority complexes piss me off like nothing else.
"Guess you're slumming it now, huh Cullen? What, you've had your fill of the Forks girls so now you're looking for a new piece of ass? I knew you and Platt had a something going on. I see the way you look at her. Everyone sees the way you-"
I laugh, the sound causing Lauren to pause from her rant. I can't help it. I laugh so hard that I snort, and Jasper's snort has nothing on mine. Lauren's fists are clenched at her sides, clenching so hard that her knuckles go white. I almost feel sorry for how delusional she is.
Almost.
"If Cullen and I like each other so much, why am I going to the Homecoming Dance with Jasper?" I smirk up at the girl and tilt my head towards the boy sitting to my right.
From the stares I get, you would think I just announced that I have a nasty case of the clap. People openly gape. First at me, then Jasper, then Lauren and then finally, Cullen. Angie no longer looks pale, in fact, she looks downright smug if you ask me, grinning and shit, as though I just put Lauren in her place. I guess I technically, kinda did since the girl's mouth falls open, only bobbing shut occasionally.
"Besides, aren't you two going together?"
Lauren finally closes her trap, pressing her thin lips in a rigid line. Cullen's suddenly bored with the tense conversation around him. He pulls his cell out of his jeans and lazily thumbs through it as Lauren mumbles something below her breath that I have to strain to hear.
"What did you say?" I ask.
"He didn't ask me," she repeats, and I finally feel a little sorry for the girl. She sounds utterly disheartened.
"Like I told you at the dealership … I'm already going with someone."
Cullen's breezy answer takes us all by surprise, snapping not only our attention to his uncaring facade, but also the attention of everyone in the room.
"You said you were going to ask someone out," Lauren grumbles in a sour voice. "Not that you had."
"You're going with someone else?" Angie questions, the first to speak. "Who?"
Cullen finally looks up from his cell and gives her a perplexed look, a look that indicates she should already know.
"You," he tells my friend with a simmering smile, shaking his head at her stunned face. "I'm going with you."
Hoodie … you promised us a dance!
I did … and you're going to get it in just a few, short minutes. I loved all the positive feedback I received soooo that much that I went a little nuts with my writing. When I finally finished chapter nine I realized I had over 9,000 words written, so I decided to break it into two chapters. The next chapter should pop up in just a few minutes, unless fanflunction decides to be a bitch again today. :D