Chapter 11— In the dark
Previously…
I got up then, and let my son be with the one he held dear, without his mother hovering over him
EPOV
"Where are you going?" I asked
"Just to check on the kitchen, she should wake up soon. And then I might swing past and have a little chat with Alice" Esme avoided my eyes very carefully at this point and I knew she was planning something.
I sat down on the bed and looked at Bella for a quick second.
"Mom, don't. I will happen, or it won't. Don't bring Alice into this, please." I was practically begging, but I knew it was too late, Alice already knew. Ever since I made the decision to be with Bella, as soon as I knew that I couldn't leave her.
"Edward!" She said in mock horror, placing a manicured hand over her chest, "I am shocked and disappointed that you think that your own mother would be planning something." Her voice was laced in innocent sarcasm and a rolled my eyes good-naturedly.
"And since when can't a mother talk to her daughter?"
I sighed heavily
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever mom." She smiled and walked over to me.
"That's my son" she said as she kissed my forehead and walked away, closing the door on her way out.
I stared at the door for a few seconds, before I became painfully aware of the sleeping girl on the bed next to me. She seemed to be slightly distressed; she was frowning and whimpering slightly. I smoothed her hair off her face and hummed the melody that I had written the night I knew that I was in love with her.
She was everything I wanted. Everything I could ever hope for in a woman. I know that she had so much of a past that came with her perfection, but that just made me want her more. The fact that she was flawed and in fact, not utter perfection only made her more faultless in my eyes.
This seemed to calm her and so I settled in next to her and waited for this sleeping beauty to awake. (Corny, I know)
BPOV
I felt the stirrings of consciousness and groaned. I didn't want to wake up. I really didn't want to wake up. Because if I woke up I was sure that the arm wrapped around my waist and the warm chest that was pressed against my back would disappear. I was so comfortable.
I turned over and pressed my face against the person's chest. I deeply inhaled, and the scent was distinctly masculine. I heard a ghostly chuckle and I felt the faint sensation of remembrance and then shot up abruptly when I realised who it smelt like.
Edward.
I groaned as I realised what happened. He looked at me with inquisitive eyes and opened his mouth to speak; I cut in, uncomfortable to be in this position.
"Sorry! Gosh I am so sorry, I'll just be going. Jessica's going to kill me, I'm practically already dead. I'm fired aren't I? I am so fired…"
As I was ranting, mostly to myself, I threw back the covers and realised my uniform wasn't on my body anymore. I blushed profusely and glanced around. Embarrassed at being practically naked in front of Edward I pulled the covers back over me.
"Um…where are my clothes?" my blush still hadn't receded and it flamed up again when I noticed that he was staring at the spot where my bare legs had been exposed to him before. I would be perfectly decent by Californian standards, but here in late autumn it was too cold for it to be socially acceptable to be wearing shorts and a t-shirt.
He sat up too, his tousled copper hair looking even more messy than usual. Maybe he had been sleeping too.
He looked around the room, seemingly confused.
"I don't know. I think my mother may have taken them somewhere." he said shrewdly, scowling in the general direction of the door.
"Your mom?
"Esme"
"What's she like?" I looked down and picked at the blanket.
"Esme is..." he seemed reluctant
"Yeah?" I encouraged
He lay back down and I felt the need to do so as well.
"She's of medium height; she has caramel coloured hair and brown eyes. She loves to do interior decorating." He paused for a moment and sat up. I remained where I was.
"She is also one of the most compassionate people I know. She is a very loving person, even though she has been through a lot in her life. Did you know that she was in a previous marriage? She was quite young, only twenty. They conceived a child, but as soon as he found out, he left her. She got the divorce papers two weeks later. She signed them and never saw him again; the one who had said that he loved her again and again."
I craned my neck to look at his face, and, even though it was upside down, his green eyes seemed speculative, like he was wondering if he should have told me this or not.
"She worked so hard to make sure that her baby would have the best possible future. And in the end, I think it was the hard work that caused her the problems. There were complications in the birth, and her little son died two days later. "
"That's…" I was at a loss for words, "She didn't deserve to go through that."
"No one deserves to go through that." He met my eyes and there was something in them that I didn't understand.
"She was depressed, for a very long time…but eventually she pulled her life together. She was able to sell her engagement ring and she bought a small house, which she fixed up, and sold for a profit. She then bought another house and so on."
He brushed a stand of hair away from my face and a slight blush rose to my cheeks.
"She met Carlisle at a charity fundraiser. It took him a while to get her to trust him, almost a year. They married by the time she was twenty-four. She's never been happier"
"I'm glad that worked out for her. It's a nice story…like saying no matter what happens, hopefully you can rectify your mistakes and start again."
He placed his hand under my chin and lightly tipped it up so he could see my face.
"Most people don't have demand engagement rings worth ten thousand dollars to get them started."
His eyes burned into mine, or maybe I was just imagining the scorching heat that his eyes were oozing. We stayed like that for a few moments longer until he moved his hand and cleared his throat slightly.
My face tingled where he had touched it and I bit my lip.
"So will I ever meet her?"
"Who? Esme?" He got out of the bed and I sat up. He rummaged in his drawers for a few moments.
"Yeah. Esme"
"She was already here" he said, turning to me.
"What?!" I squeaked
"You don't think that I undressed you did you?"
He had a playful glint in his eyes and I calmed down a little bit, formulating my own plan.
"I dunno, Mr Cullen. I wouldn't know what to think after all those nightclub romps that I've heard about" I bit my lip and smiled slightly.
"Bella, those tabloids are a falsity and exist only to drag people's names through the mud. There never has and never will be a nightclub…romp." he paused and spat the word, disgustedly, "associated with me, or any of my brothers and sisters."
He was silent for a while and I couldn't help but laugh at his outrage. His eyes softened and he smiled a little.
"Well, perhaps Emmett and Rosalie could cause a media flurry, but I assure you that the rest of us aren't so flamboyant about our relationships." The outrage had faded from his voice and I had to wonder…
"Your relationship? How has that managed to escape the media? The notorious bachelor Edward Cullen finally has a girlfriend. I can see the headlines now."
A part of me was joking, but there was a larger, very jealous part of me that waited in anticipation for him to dismiss the motion of his being in a relationship.
"I don't have a girl friend. I've never had anything of the sort." He said adamantly.
"Oh, well the way you said it…" I bit down on my lip to suppress the smile that was forming.
I didn't like the relief that I felt as he dispelled any rumours of his having a girlfriend.
"No, I've never felt this way about anyone before."
My heart stopped, had he just said what I thought he said?
(A/N I was going to be evil and leave it there, but it's not a very long chapter)
EPOV
"No, I've never felt this way about anyone before"
Shit. Had I just said that? Gathering by the shocked look on Bella's face; yes, in fact, I had just blurted that I was practically in love with her.
Screw practically.
There was a knock at the door, and I used the distraction to throw a pair of sweats and a zip up hoodie at Bella. I knew she was embarrassed by her lack of clothes.
"Thanks" she said, pulling on the clothes quickly.
If I had my way than those ugly clothes would never have the privilege of residing anywhere near her body. I would much rather seeing her in the tight jeans and shirt combo that I had seen her in the first day I met her. The first day I laid my eyes on her exquisite beauty.
I pulled myself from my thoughts and opened the door a crack. This would be a very compromising position for Bella, if she were to be seen in my room.
It was the kitchen staff, naturally. I opened the door a little wider to allow the girl with the breakfast tray laden with food through
"Thankyou for this, and your discretion" I said, slipping her a one hundred dollar bill.
"N-n-no problem!" she exclaimed and practically ran from the room.
I shut the door and turned the light on. As the lights came on, the awkwardness settled in. The darkness had created a cool, peaceful atmosphere and the fluorescent lights had the adverse effect. I was suddenly convinced that I was far too forward with my actions, and what I had said before did nothing to dispel the feeling of unease. I would now have to either explain my actions to her, or make one giant cover up.
"I've never felt like that before, I mean"
Cover up sounded good. Explaining myself to her might involve her running and screaming, and that was certainly not the objective I wanted to achieve.
I had to do what I could to try and make things right. I was not thinking, nor acting like a gentleman lately.
"Of course you did." She said brusquely, drawing the hoodie around her.
Her small form was almost completely enveloped by my over-sized clothes; oversized for her; I had grown out of them a while ago. I couldn't help but to smile, she was nothing short of adorable in the clothes, and I detested what I had thought earlier.
Although no clothes would certainly look better on her exquisite form. It was a moot point; there was no way that I would allow myself to see her without clothes. No. Way.
I groaned softly and set the tray down in front of her.
"Esme was thoughtful enough to have the staff prepare lunch for you"
"Oh! No. I have to go Edward! I don't know my schedule and it must have been ages since I clocked out. I have to get back to work. And I don't know where my bag or uniform are."
At that moment I received a text message from Alice. Why in the world would Alice be texting me?
It's in the closet, next to the ties.
And don't worry about that cow
in tour admin, I took care of it.
Love you
A
"Just eat Bella. I have a feeling that it's all been taken care of." I sighed exasperatedly
"Alice?" she asked knowingly, with an incredibly tempting smile on her face.
"Yes. How did you know?" I was genuinely shocked, Alice was very careful with who she let in on the secret.
She picked up her fork and twirled the spaghetti around it. She chewed thoughtfully, and a small smudge of sauce was left on her chin.
"Emmett" she said, as if it explained everything, and of course it did.
She took another bite of spaghetti and this time, I had to fight the urge to lick the sauce off her chin.
Just because I was a gentleman, didn't mean I wasn't a man.
Be warned…long A/N here where I am talking about crap. You can just skip to the last 3 lines.
I would like to say that I haven't been neglecting this story, I have been finalising the plot for the past three days. That's right. I now have a sequence of events that's over 3000 words long…and it's not finished…oops. I probably should have done that before I started writing. Oh, well tomorrow's another day, and hopefully another update.
Also, that I have come up with another plot for another story! YAY! But I would like to get this one's plot done before I post it…so yeah. But I have a good feeling about this next one…lol. It should be up in the next couple of weeks.
I am so weird.
I would just like to point out, that this chapter was like, 6 pages in Microsoft Word. And for some reason, this chapter was really hard to write. Sorry about the wait, but this story is up to the transitional point—
you know…the part before they jump into the relationship— for a couple of months…to make it seem more believable. This is the part where I always get stuck writing stories…so there will probably be a time-jump after two or more chapters. My chapters are way too long. Do you realise that one chapter is roughly only 4-5 hours? That's insane, I'm way too descriptive.
OK ANYWAYS
I tired to make Edward more…cough manly cough in this chapter…and yeah.
Do any guys even read this story? Drop a line in if you do ; )
