The original characters belong to .. the new characters and plotline are all mine.
Summary: Bella falls in love with Edward, her best friend's older brother but he doesn't see her that way. Or does he? All Human. AU. All Canon couples eventually.
Welcome new readers. I hope you are enjoying the story as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Please leave a review and let me know what you think
: - )
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 11
Edward's POV
It had been a week since I'd left for Seattle. I still hadn't heard from Bella and if it hadn't been for Alice and Rose letting me know she was "managing" in their words, I would have turned around and gone back to Forks. I'd started classes which were pretty easy so far, but they were just 1st year classes so didn't really challenge me.
I couldn't keep my mind on anything but Bella. This being patient was wearing on my nerves. How long should I wait? Should I go home this weekend and see if she'll talk to me? Both Alice and Rose kept telling me to give her "time". That she would come around and be willing to talk to me.
After much thought and actually talking to Angela about what happened, I finally clued in on what might be going on through Bella's mind. Angela just happened to be the one there when I totally broke down the night after I arrived. She and Ben came home after going to the movies and found me in the living room listening to some pretty depressing music and almost crying in my beer. Ben went to have a shower and Angela sat next to me and asked me what was wrong. It was like a dam broke when she asked that question. It all spilled out from the time of the party to finding out the results of the pregnancy test.
She looked at me like I was a little dense with the same look on her face that Alice had when she left me to go back into her room. Okay, obviously I was a real idiot when it came to understanding women. I admitted to myself before we got the results that I was beginning to really care about her but I still didn't really believe that she was "in love" with me. I even confessed this to Angela during my verbal diarrhoea. She almost slapped me she was so furious at me. I remember every single word she said to me.
"Don't ever question how a woman feels Edward. It sounds like Bella has felt the same way for 2 years. You even said she'd tried to go out with other boys but never dated for more than one or two dates. That means something. I'm sure there were tons of clues you didn't even see that told you how she felt about you but you had your head too far up your own ass to see anything, besides the fact you were treating her like crap at the same time."
I'd found myself blushing at her tirade. I knew I'd been an ass and at least I knew Bella was aware of how sorry I was about that. I hoped so anyway.
She then proceeded to tell me her take on Bella's reactions. I was lucky she was actually willing to share her thoughts on the matter since my sister and cousin were being as tight lipped as a secret agent on the matter.
Angela figured that Bella was probably thinking that because there was no baby, I'd want nothing to do with her, (which couldn't be farther from the truth, but of course given my past behaviour how could she think otherwise.) .
I wasn't sure what I could do with this theory on the situation but I was glad that at least someone gave me a little clue. I wasn't scheduled to go home until Thanksgiving weekend which had been the plan since I was first accepted into the university. My parents didn't want me to run home every weekend but to set up some kind of schedule at school around my studies. I just wasn't sure that I could stay away from Bella for so long. I felt that the longer I was gone, the further away she moved from me.
Bella's POV
I hadn't heard from Edward since the night before he left for Seattle. I knew he had left it in my hands to contact him but my stupid emotions figured that he should have made another effort to call me or something. My subconscious just kept telling me that it knew this would happen when he found out there wasn't going to be a baby. Alice and Rose kept telling me that Edward cared about me but it had been a week and not even an attempt on his part to talk to me.
I could feel myself getting more and more depressed during the week. I barely made it to school and couldn't concentrate on anything while there. Everyone including Jaz and Em were getting worried about me but I couldn't seem to shake the feeling.
I missed Edward. I missed the way he smelled. I missed the way he had held me when I told him that it was me he had been with that night. I missed his crooked smile. I felt like a vital part of me was missing and it was a part that I couldn't live without. It was strange how deep the sense of loss went. Edward have left town on trips out of town in the past and I hadn't missed him this much.
I finally got the guts to pick up the phone and call his cell phone number. It went straight to voice mail and I hung up. Looking over at the clock, I realized he would still be in class. I noticed his class schedule on the fridge at the Cullen's the other day. Now that I had made the attempt to contact him, I started to feel a little better. I'd try later when I figured he was home.
Now that I'd made up my mind to talk to Edward, I felt a sense of purpose. I would find out what he thought about what had happened and where we went from here. It wasn't like Alice and Rose hadn't been badgering me to get on it and call him and to not just imagine what he was thinking.
I cleaned up around the house, got dinner started for Charlie and myself and went upstairs to check my email and do my homework. At least I had been able to slightly keep up with the classes I was in, mostly due to Alice and Rose taking exceptional notes.
Charlie got off work on time for a change and after dinner I decided to call Edward again. This time I called the land line number he'd given me the night before he left. It rang about 4 times before someone picked up. I almost dropped the phone when a woman's voice answered.
"Uhm, is Edward there?"
"Oh, he's just in the shower getting ready to go out."
I gasped. "Oh. Uhm. Okay then." I didn't know what to say, my mind was still hung up on the fact that Edward was in the shower, there was a girl answering his phone that knew that and they were going out.
"Can I get him to call you back? It's no problem."
"Uh. No. That's okay. I'll try another time!" I quickly hung up the phone and sat there somewhat in shock. My eyes filled with tears and I found myself slumped on my bed sobbing. He'd moved on. He was with another girl. One of the things that I had deeply feared had happened. What was I going to do now?
Shakily, I grabbed the phone again and dialled Alice's cell. As soon as I heard her voice, I broke down in sobbing tears again.
"Bella? What's wrong?"
I couldn't answer through the sobs that tore through my body.
"Bella, don't move, I'll be right there!"
Not 15 minutes later, the door to my bedroom was flung open and I felt her wrap her arms around me. I turned my face into her shoulder and couldn't stop crying.
"Bella. Honey. What's wrong? Please tell me!"
"Edward. Girl. Phone." Was all I could force out .
"Okay. I think I have it. You called Edward and a girl answered the phone?"
I nodded silently against her shoulder.
"Did you leave a message for him to call back?"
I shook my head.
She leaned away from me to look at my face and sort of shook me.
"Why not? How's he going to know you called?"
I looked into her eyes and hiccupped. "But Alice, a girl answered the phone."
Alice shook her head. "Bella, his roommate's girlfriend, or fiancée or whatever she is, lives with them. Of course a girl might answer the phone."
My eyes wide, I looked at Alice for a few minutes then buried my face in my hands.
"Oh my! I think I'm going crazy!"
I heard Alice laugh at me and put my phone in my hand. "Phone again"
Edward's POV
I saw Angela putting the phone down as I walked out of my room into the living room.
"Who was that?"
Angela looked down at the phone with a quizzical look on her face and turned to me, "I don't know. She asked for you and when I said that you were in the shower, she just hung up. Could it have been Bella? She seemed surprised."
I wandered over and grabbed the phone and checked the caller ID. Crap. It had been Bella! Of course she would phone when I was in the shower, isn't that just how it would have to go. I looked up to see Angela looking at me and realised that I hadn't told Bella the living arrangements here so she didn't know that I was actually sharing the apartment with a couple. What was she going to think when a girl answered the phone? CRAP!
I stared at the phone for a few minutes, wondering if I should actually phone back now or wait until she did. I grabbed my cell off the coffee table realising that I hadn't turned it on when I'd left my last class today. I turned it on hoping she would call back and I could explain why a girl had answered.
"Okay, well Ben should be ready in a few minutes. Are you still coming with us or are you going to stay home now?" Angela asked with a bit of a smirk on her face like she already had figured out the answer.
"I actually think I'm going to stay home in case Bella calls back, Angie. I really don't want to miss her call if she's going to make the effort to talk to me."
Angela smiled. "I completely understand Edward." She wandered into their room, yelling at Ben to hurry up.
I wandered into the kitchen to see if there was anything at all to make for dinner for myself but apparently none of us had thought to go shopping yet. Take out it was but would have to wait a bit. I didn't know if Bella would call back but I didn't want to tie up either the land line or my cell in case she did.
Ben and Angela left for dinner and kindly offered to bring something back for me which I graciously accepted. I was happy to have them as roommates. I may have not known them long but we had just clicked when we met and I felt like I'd known them longer than just a week. It was a nice feeling to have someone I could trust away from home.
At a loss of what to do now while I waited to see if Bella called back, I wandered into my room, grabbed my guitar and wandered back into the living room. Playing seemed to calm my nerves and I really needed that right now. I hadn't been playing much lately and I missed it. I'd actually delved into writing some songs earlier in the summer and I decided to see what I could do with them. I got lost in the music for a while and the phone ringing actually startled me. I grabbed it, checked the caller ID and breathed a sigh of relief.
It was Bella.
Bella's POV
It wasn't long after Alice left that Charlie came home so I couldn't phone Edward back right away like Alice wanted me to. I had to admit that by the time dinner was done and Charlie was ensconced in his chair to watch some sort of sports on the TV, I was getting quite anxious about calling Edward again. Did he really want to hear from me?
Once in my room, I sat and stared at the phone for quite awhile. I finally realized that sitting there wondering what he would say wasn't being very proactive so I took a deep breathe, picked it up and dialled his number again.
It rang a couple of times before it was answered. The instant I heard his voice, I melted. My senses were awash with him. How could someone' voice affect this way. All he had to do was say hello and my body reacted. After the stress of the last few weeks, I allowed myself to just enjoy these feelings for a minute.
"Hi, Edward."
"Bella, I'm so glad you called back! I'm sorry I couldn't grab the phone earlier. That was Ben's girlfriend, Angela, that answered. We share the apartment."
I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was anxious that I believed him and I did. Whatever else Edward had done, he was always honest with the people around him.
"I know. Alice told me when I talked to her."
"Are you okay?"
"I'm better."
There was silence on the line for a couple of minutes. I wasn't sure what to say to him now that he was on the phone with me.
"Bella? You still there?"
"Yes." I answered in a low voice. I decided to be honest with him. "I just don't know what to say."
"How about I start? I'm very happy that you decided to call me tonight. I was starting to be afraid you weren't ever going to want to talk to me again. I know your emotions are all over the place right now and I want you to know that I'm not going anywhere. I know we've only been really talking for the past week but I really want to get to know you more. I may not remember much about the night we spent together Bella but I do remember the intense feelings I had at the time. I would like to explore those feelings with you, if you want. I know that you have had feelings for me for years now and I feel bad about the way I behaved regarding that. If you still feel the same way, that is."
I was stunned into silence. Edward really sounded sincere in what he was saying. Maybe he wasn't actually just hanging around last weekend because of the possibility of a pregnancy. Maybe he did actually care. Was this what Rose and Alice was trying to get through my thick head? That Edward did want to be with me.
I took a deep breath and tried to figure out how to put everything I was feeling into words.
2634 words
Posted November 12, 2009