Words with Strangers Chapter 12
"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty." Something hard hit my shoulder and I groaned and tried to bury my head in my pillow.
"Go away, Emmett."
"Oh no, little bro, I got your phone and your computer, now get up and tell me what all this is for? I know it has to do with that girl that's got you all worked up, but I want details. Now."
I flung my hand up and tried to burrow under the covers further. It was bright but I still needed a good few hours before I would be ready to get up. My internal clock was all sorts of fucked up.
"Fine. You might want to charge the phone if you're using it tonight, though." I felt around for it and then felt my bed shift as my brother put his significant weight on it. "I'll do it, loser. Your laptop, too. Guess I can take the old one, then?"
Right. He could take it, that stupid piece of shit that took so long to load that I nearly had an aneurism. Why else would I be getting a new one? The only thing on there was….Bella! I shot up and reached out blindly. Emmett laughed and danced out of my reach, clutching my computer in his hands. It was open and he'd turned it on. "What are you hiding?"
"Give it to me, Em." I was groggy and I tried to get up but my legs were tangled in the covers and I was having a hard time moving.
"I just want to see….holy fuck, is that her?" I groaned and stopped struggling with the covers. It was too late now.
"Yeah, that's Bella."
"Well, shit, no wonder you're obsessed. She's the hottest thing I've seen all week, and I banged Gianna before she went back to New York two days ago."
I glared at him. "Do not talk about my girl like that."
"Your girl? Well, isn't this interesting." He dropped onto the edge of the bed and I could see Bella's picture over his shoulder.
"Yes! No! I don't know what she is, but I don't want you looking at her like that."
"She's covered, barely. And she's hot as fuck. Look at those tits!" I elbowed him and he grunted and turned to grin at me. "Seriously, she is hot. Let's go up to Washington to meet her."
"I'm going up to Washington and you're staying here." Oops.
An eyebrow lifted. "You are? You've gotten that far with her? Does she know who you are?"
I sighed and shook my head. "Not yet. I was waiting until after we talked at least once. I want to see if we have the same chemistry there as we do in email and stuff. If it's all weird and awkward, maybe we'll need to slow down." I loathed the very idea of that. I wanted Bella to know me and I wanted to see her and touch her and kiss her and do all the dirty things we'd discussed, but even without all that, I just wanted to talk to her. She made me smile and laugh. I needed that. I needed her.
Emmett was watching me with interest. "So, you had me get you the phone because you want to call her from that instead of your regular phone? Smart." I thought so. It wasn't that I didn't trust her. I did. But if she found out who I was and she freaked out, I didn't want her to have my private number to run to the press with or whatever. I didn't know. This was all so weird. "What makes you think she won't know it's you?"
I shrugged. "Why would she?"
Emmett snorted. "Uh, maybe because every single article about you mentions your velvet voice, whatever the fuck that means, and how you can make girls come just by saying hello."
I stared at him. "There has never been an article that said I could make girls come just by saying hello." The velvet voice stuff was true enough, and I didn't get it either. I mean, I had an okay speaking voice but it certainly did not make girls come. Maybe it could make Bella come. That would be okay. And I was getting hard again. Great.
"Okay, maybe no official article said that but I've totally seen it online." Ugh. No wonder Kate banned me from Googling myself.
"You're disturbing. Why are you looking me up online?"
"I need to keep my finger on the buzz around you. What if you're no longer the flavor of the month? I might have to make alternative living arrangements." He laughed when I kicked him through the sheets. Jackass.
"You might have to do that anyway, jerk. Give me back my computer."
"Relax, I don't want your girl. I mean, she's hot, but you're so gone over her you're getting new phones and computers. I can't compete with that, even if I wanted to."
"You couldn't compete with me for Bella. She wants me."
"I'm sure she does. Just what have you been telling her?" He waggled his eyebrows at me and I shook my head. He wasn't going to get that information. "Well, clearly you told her about the teacher fantasy. You already admitted that, and then she goes and gives it to you. That's awesome. I like this girl. When are we going to meet her?"
"I am going to meet her in two weeks, provided things go well on the phone tonight. She has Spring Break."
"Awesome! Let's go to Cabo. Or Ft. Lauderdale!" Typical Emmett, he was raring to go.
"We are not going anywhere. Why do you want to come anyway?"
"Um, have you seen your girl, Edward?"
So many times I could picture her with my eyes closed and see her perfectly. "Yes."
"Well, it's a proven fact that hot girls are friends with hot girls. It's like a rule. They hang together in packs. And if your girl is this hot, then her friends have be nearly this hot. Therefore, I need to meet them." He said this like it was the most logical thing in the world.
"First of all, I don't know where you got that but I doubt it's true."
"It's absolutely true. Girls are competitive. They like to out-hot each other. Everybody knows this."
I just stared at him. "Whatever. Second, we haven't solidified anything yet. We still have to physically speak to one another and then we have to make plans. I don't know if we can really hang out at her place during Spring Break. Me in a college town might not be the best idea."
Emmett lit up. "Exactly! So we'll go somewhere private! You, me, Bella and her hot friends. We can rent a house or something."
"Why are you so anxious to go, beyond the hot girl thing?" He was way more interested in this than he should be.
Shrewd blue eyes cut through me and his smile faded. "Okay, simple fact. You're a celebrity. You don't know this girl. Yes, you think you know her and you like her and that's great. But she could be a raving psycho and there's no way I'm letting my little brother head off to God knows where with God knows who. You may not think you have a need for a bodyguard but you do. You can either hire some random person you don't know or you can take me along. I'm a hell of a lot more fun and if she's cool, I'll leave you two be."
I blinked in surprise at the vehemence in his tone. "Em, she's a twenty-two year old girl. Not Kathy Bates in Misery."
"You don't know that. You don't. Maybe she's part of some secret ring that lures men out to nowhere and chains them in the basement and forces them to have sex with them and all their friends because they're a weird cult that want to have babies together and…wait, that wouldn't be so bad." I laughed as he grinned at me. "Seriously, though, you need to be careful. It's either me or Gambino the Goon. You pick."
"Emmett, you're nuts. I'll be fine. I'll just go and…"
"I'll tell Mom if you go alone." The look of triumph on his face said he knew he had me.
Shit. "You wouldn't."
He smirked. "Wouldn't I?"
Damn him. "Ugh, fine. I'll talk to Bella about it. We haven't solidified anything other than I might visit and when. It has to be then, because I start shooting Steele next month and it's back to Europe." I was going to be far away from her again. If we hit it off like I thought we would, that separation might very well kill me.
"That's all I ask. Once she knows who you are, she's not going to be surprised if you need to bring someone." He smiled. "First Washington and then Europe. The Cullen brothers are getting around."
I grinned back. One of the best things about the Steele movies was that Emmett did the stunts in them. He wasn't my stunt double, because he was too big, but he always stood in for the bad guy in the film, plus he coordinated everything. He was the best in the business. "It'll be good to work with you again."
"Yeah, just don't blow me up. Mom will be pissed if her favorite son dies keeping her other son's movie career alive."
I snickered. "You keep telling yourself that."
"I know what I know." He looked at Bella again. "And I know why you're so damned determined to go to Washington if this is waiting for you. What do you know about her friends?"
I rolled my eyes. "Her roommates are named Rose and Alice. Rose took this picture, apparently."
"Hot," Emmett decided. "She's got a good eye."
May as well have a little fun with him. "In the other picture Bella sent me, which you're not seeing," he scowled at that, "She's on her stomach wearing a t-shirt and nothing else. Rose apparently smoothed it down for her."
Emmett's eyes widened comically. "Really hot. Is she a teacher-to-be too?"
I tried to remember what Bella had said about her. "She said she was loyal and the most beautiful girl she knows."
Emmett whooped. "I told you! Hot girls band together!"
"She also said she's the scariest and she threatened to injure me if I hurt Bella."
He nodded with approval. "Feisty. I like it. Maybe I can distract this Rose for you."
I laughed. "You might need to. She hasn't talked about Alice as much but she said she's her oldest friend and she just kicked some guy in the balls because he told her she could date some other guy as long as she fucked him or something."
Emmett let out a low whistle. "Double hot! See! You need me there! Those two could take you down and take you out before you even laid a hand on this Bella."
"So you're willing to take the beating for me?" It might not be so bad, really. We'd each have friends around to make us more comfortable.
He laughed. "I'll wrestle with two hot girls for you. But I might have to get a cup or something just to be safe."
"Better safe than sorry," I told him.
"Seriously, it'll be fun. I'll keep the friends busy while you and your girl get to know one another a lot better." He waggled his eyebrows again. Ugh. That was a problem. How would we get privacy in her apartment?
"Don't be thinking you're going to bang both of Bella's friends. Even one is too many." She'd get pissed at me if he screwed and then screwed over one of her friends. I loved my brother but he was hardly the settling type.
"Hey, I can't help it if they'll both want me. Isn't college about experimentation? Maybe they're into threesomes."
I chuckled. "You're watching too much porn again."
"A guy can dream, Edward."
"Hands off the roommates." He just grinned. "Give me my computer, you gave me an idea."
He handed it over this time and I brushed a finger over Bella's cheek before pulling up the net. "What if we went to the mountains and got a cabin or something? It'd be quiet and isolated." I pulled up Mt. Rainier cabins and there it was. "Lazy Bears Creekside Cabin. Sleeps ten. Four bedrooms, a hot tub, a fire place, a pool table…"
I broke off as he shouted with joy. "You had me at hot tub, dude. We're there."
I laughed. "It's a three hour drive from Seattle, so we can easily fly in and drive there in the same day. I'll have to run it by Bella."
"You run it by her, I'm making reservations. We can always cancel if need be. This place looks pretty badass. A room for you and Bella, a room for each of her friends and a room for me when I'm not going between her friends' rooms. Perfection."
"Keep on dreaming, Emmett." Though the idea of sharing the master bedroom with Bella was very appealing.
"If you don't dream, you don't achieve, Edward. When is Spring Break?"
"Uh, two weeks from last Friday."
"I'm on it. You go back to sleep so you can be ready for your girl later. You look like shit. Don't do face time."
I smirked. "I can't do face time until I tell her who I am."
He stood, my laptop in his hands. "What are you going do to about your voice?"
I shrugged. I hadn't really considered it. "I'm an actor, so I can act."
He laughed. "What, you're going to do an accent? Will you be French politician? A British musician? Or a southern gentleman?" He put on all these ridiculous voices and I glared at him.
"That's just dumb. She'd be pissed when I did come clean. I can talk a little higher or a little lower."
"Or you could just talk like you and see if she recognizes you." I could. That had been my plan until he started worrying me about it.
"I might." It would be interesting to see if she did recognize me and what she'd do if she did.
"Alright, I'll arrange our trip. Plug in your phone and rest up for your girl."
I knew arguing with him would be useless. If Bella didn't want to do it or if we didn't hit it off, we could always cancel as he said. I felt a pang at the thought of us not hitting it off. That wasn't possible. It just wasn't. I plugged in the phone and lay back down. We'd find out soon enough.
Xoxoxoxox
A ringing phone cut through my sound sleep and I groaned and searched for it. I opened one eye, squinting against the sunlight, and picked it up, smirking when I recognized the ringtone. "Janie's Got a Gun" was for one person only.
"Hey, Janie," I rasped into the phone. What time was it? 2:30 PM. I'd had about twelve hours sleep, even with the interruptions. Not bad. I might be almost human tomorrow.
"You sound like you're having sex or I just woke you up. Please be the latter," she begged.
I laughed and brushed my hair out of my eyes as I sat up. "Yeah, sadly it's the latter. How are you?" I'd yet to talk to her since Em told me about her and Demetri. The time differences had us playing phone tag.
"I've been better but I'm surviving," she replied. I heard the sadness in her tone.
"What happened?'
She snorted. "You know that new girl on his show? Hot blonde with a killer body?"
I searched in my memory banks for her name. "Something weird. Wren?"
She laughed at that. "Renata, with only one name, of course. Young, beautiful and stacked. Did I mention young? Yeah, well, she happened."
That sucked. "I'm sorry, Janie. I don't know much about her but you're way prettier."
"That's the thing. She's me about ten years ago. Same color hair and eyes, same body albeit enhanced," she hissed the last word and I felt myself smiling. "She's Jane 2.0 but younger. Clearly I'm too old for him."
"Jane, you're twenty-seven. That's not too old."
She sniffed. "In Hollywood, that's practically ancient. Next thing you know they'll be asking me to play some teenager's mother. You wait and see, Edward. I'll be Justin Bieber's Mom in his debut film."
This time I did not hold back a laugh. "You're only nine year older than him I think." I really didn't know how old that kid was. I really didn't want to. "And didn't he have some movie already?" I vaguely remembered something about it in the trades.
"Yeah, but that was like his life story or something. I'm talking about the inevitable teen romance movie, in which he's the school stud," I snorted at Bieber being called a stud, "and all the girls want him but he'll fall for the nerdy girl played by Emma Roberts or Emma Stone or whoever the teenager du jour is at that time. You mark my words; I'll get a script to play his hip mom."
"Well you'd be the hippest since you would have conceived him when you were eight. Slut."
She sighed. "I wish. Do you know how long it's been since I've been laid?"
Uhhhh, no. "I don't really think I want to know that, Jane."
"Stop being such a prude, Edward. Let's just say the sex dried up before the relationship officially ended. Now I know why. Have you seen the latest Us Weekly? They're making out at some bar."
Though she was trying to sound flippant, I heard the pain beneath the words. I remembered how I felt the first time I saw Irina plastered all over some guy in magazines. And I hadn't been in love with her. Jane had loved Demetri forever just about.
"I'm sorry, Janie. Anything I can do? Kick his ass? Better yet, send Emmett to do it?" He was bigger, he should do the hitting. I had to get with Alec and train some more before I got in any fights, on or off screen.
She laughed lightly. "He already offered. I'd rather not call attention to how pathetic I am. That's why I was hoping to take the hottest guy on the planet with me to the People's Choice Awards."
"We both know you don't think I'm hot," I told her.
She laughed. "Conceited much? Maybe I wasn't talking about you." I waited. "Okay, so I was, and I do so think you're hot, in a 'he's my little brother, stop drooling over him sort of way.'"
I grinned. "That could be insulting but I'll choose to take it as a compliment."
"Good, does that mean you'll be my date?"
I hesitated. Yes, Jane and I were just friends but the press wouldn't let that stop them from speculating, which meant Bella was likely to catch wind of it, not that she knew who I was yet. But when I told her, would she remember me dating Jane while we were doing whatever it was you'd call what we were doing and get mad? This was so complicated.
"Hello, anybody home? I just asked you out, Edward, the least you could do is pretend to be flattered."
"I am, but…"
"Who is she?" she demanded.
Damn it, why did everybody read me so quickly? "What?"
"The girl? Why are you hesitating? You have somebody else to go with?"
I sighed. May as well get it over with. "Not exactly. I've been talking to someone but she's not going with me or anything."
"Okay, I'm going to need more details than that but I don't have time to pester you about it. I've got to get back to the set. Just tell her I need to borrow you for the night and I'll return you in the pristine condition in which I found you. I just need to rub it in my ex's face that I'm not at home crying over his cheating ass. She'll get it, if she's ever been dumped before."
I had no doubt she'd understand the sentiment, it was just…"It's complicated."
"What's so complicated about it? You're going to the awards, right?"
"Yes."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
"Then let's just go together, as the friends that we are. You can tell me all about her while we pass the boring night. I'll expect details."
I blew out a breath. "Alright, I'll go with you."
She let out a triumphant cry. "Thanks, Edward. I promise I'll be the best date you ever had. Hands to myself."
I chucked. "You better."
"Scout's honor."
"You were never a girl scout, Jane."
"Hell no, I wasn't. They're boring. Unless they gave badges for making out with boys, I was so not there."
I laughed. "I'll see you on Wednesday. Am I coming to get you or…"
"My limo will pick you up by three. I love how friggin early we have to have these things for the east coasters," she griped.
"Eh, at least we get home early."
"We will. I'm not doing any after parties; let them wonder if I took you home to have my way with you."
I gagged. "Gross, Jane."
She giggled. "You're right; I totally just shuddered when I said that. Okay, I've gotta go pay the bills so I can afford the limo for Wednesday night."
"Go be the hottest Mom you can be, Jane."
"Fuck you, Edward." But she was laughing as she hung up. Mission accomplished.
I got up and wandered into the kitchen. A glance in the fridge showed that Emmett had been living on takeout since I'd left for my press tour. I opened a pizza box and nearly gagged at the dried mess in front of me. Never mind. I stuck it back in the fridge and made a mental note to order my brother to clean it out before I looked in there again. I grabbed some bread and jelly and peanut butter and made myself a sandwich. I still had five hours until I talked to Bella. Why couldn't time go faster? I knew what I should do to pass part of it.
I got my cell again and dialed my mom. "Well, there's my little boy! How are you?" I rolled my eyes at the way she answered her phone.
"I'm good, Mom, how are you?"
"You're jet lagged, aren't you? I can hear it in your voice."
I chuckled and sat at the kitchen table to eat. "I slept for twelve hours. Another night like that and I should be back to normal."
She clucked her tongue. "They just run you ragged, don't they? Maybe I should talk to Marcus."
Oh, hell no. "Mom, I don't need you calling my agent. I can handle him myself."
"Fine, but I don't think you should go on quite so long a tour again. You looked tired in the clips I saw."
I rolled my eyes. "I was tired and I was dodging the Irina questions. Happily, I won't be making another movie with her again so she won't be an issue."
She sniffed. "Damn right you won't. I'll see to it she doesn't land another good role in this town again."
I chuckled. She would, too. My mom was a very powerful casting agent. "You don't need to blackball her for me, Mom. I really don't care."
"She deserves it after the way she treated you. Did you hear her marriage to James isn't legal? Rumor has it she took off the ring already."
I smirked, even though she couldn't see me. "That's no surprise. Poor guy. I bet he's surprised, he's just dumb enough not to have seen it coming."
"Poor guy, my fine ass."
"Mom!"
"What, Edward? I do have a nice ass. Ask your father." I spluttered and she continued on. "Anyway, he knew what he was getting himself into. I don't feel sorry for him." She paused. "Hmm, I have a role in the new Apatow movie that requires a straight man that has a lot of bad luck. He gets covered in shit! I'm going to make sure James gets an audition."
I laughed my ass off. "Mom, you're killing me."
"Just getting a little revenge, Cullen style. When are you coming to dinner?"
I shrugged. "I don't know what my schedule is yet. I'm going to the PCA's with Jane on Wednesday night. What about Sunday like usual?"
"That works. Poor Jane, how's she doing?"
I sighed. "About as well as can be expected. She's pretty crushed but she's holding up. I made her laugh a few times."
"You're a good guy, Edward. One day, the right girl will see that." I wisely held my tongue, even though my mind was on Bella.
"Alright, Mom, I gotta go eat and wake up a bit. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay. Love you." She blew a loud kiss into the phone and I chuckled.
"Love you, too." There, sonly duties are done and she won't call or come over tonight and interrupt my conversation with Bella.
Speaking of Bella, I opened up my email. I smiled when I saw her name.
Edward,
Hopefully you're home safe and sound and sleeping. Your body has to be all messed up from the time changes, huh? I know when I went to Florida it took me days to adjust and I wasn't all over the globe the way you were.
Anyway, I figured since tonight is the night we're finally going to talk; I should send you my number. Are you nervous at all? I am, which is weird, because it's so easy to talk to you now. I guess I just want it to be the same when I actually hear you. You know what I mean?
Sorry this is short but I've got to hit the library and get this paper done before our talk tonight. I've missed you and I look forward to catching up.
My number is 206-555-2382. I'll talk to you at eight. Can't wait!
Love,
Bella.
I smiled and dropped her a quick response from the phone.
Bella,
I am alive and well. Better than well, actually, now that I have your number. I'm grinning like a fool in my kitchen. I'm very excited to talk to you but yes, I'm nervous as well. Just be you and I'll be me and we'll be okay, right? That hasn't gone wrong for us so far!
I can't wait to hear your voice. I've imagined it countless times in my head but there's no way of narrowing something like that down, even knowing what you look like.
You finish up your paper like a good girl so I don't have to punish you, unless you want me to, of course. I'll talk to you in a few hours.
Love,
Edward
I opened up WWF and cursed it for the twentieth time in the last couple of days. The server had been messed up and then my phone wouldn't pull up the app so I had yet to see her response to my response to the whole crazy anal thing. I should know how she felt about it before we talked, so I didn't say something stupid. I hoped.
You can definitely have my ass in the non-literal sense. I don't know quite what came over me when I asked that question last night. Not that I might not want to do that, someday, but I definitely wouldn't want to over Spring Break, if that happens. You know? Like you said, it's a matter of trust. But I'm flattered that you'd do it if I wanted to. You're such a gentleman.
Ha! I called you a gentleman for wanting to fuck my ass. That has to be a first! I kinda love it though!
I laughed out loud at that one. A gentleman! I'd done my best but there was no way to be a gentleman when you were discussing anal sex.
I want you to hear me as well. And I want to hear you, too. Maybe Monday? Maybe later? I guess we'll see how it goes. You can't really plan phone sex can you? We'll see what happens, right?
Christ. There was the million dollar question. Were we going to have phone sex tonight? God knew I wanted to hear her come, but I didn't want to come off as some pervert who only liked her because she was the sexiest woman on the planet. I liked her for other reasons too. She was smart and funny and very kind as well. Like she said, we'd have to play it by ear.
Your shower fantasy just about killed me, Edward. It's long been a dream of mine and something I've never done. I'd love to have you lift me and fuck me while I wrapped my legs around you and we got all wet and slippery under the spray. Let's add that to the list, shall we? I'm eating an apple right now, you know!
Apples would probably make me hard for the rest of my life. It was ridiculous. And yes, shower sex was definitely on the list.
Soon, Edward. I could grow to love that word.
Me, too, Bella, along with other things.
A gentleman? I admit, I tried my best. You're right, maybe someday we'll get to that point but for now I think we'll stick to showers and desks and hot teachers, okay? Those are enough to nearly kill me anyway; we don't need to up the ante any further!
I'm going to talk to you in a few hours, which feels like a lifetime from now. I guess you can plan phone sex, but where's the fun in that? If it happens, it happens. If not, I'm sure I'm going to enjoy just hearing you, Bella. It feels like I wanted that for years instead of days. Eight PM cannot come soon enough!
The shower is very much on the list. It's starred in my fantasies every time I've stepped into the water. You just don't know what you do to me, do you? Or maybe you do and you're having fun torturing me. That's another punishable offense, you know.
Soon, Bella. I can't wait.
She'd played laved and I groaned. She was definitely doing it on purpose. I didn't have anything great but I could play horsed off of laved and did so. No more horsing around, Bella. It's about to become as real as it gets. I hope this goes well. It has to.
A/N I think Edward's nearly excited for the phone call as the rest of you! Next week, all E&B all the time. I'm probably going to post WWS and WWF simultaneously on Wed (no that does not mean you'll get an extra WWF chapter on Friday, nice try some of ya!) since they'll be the same convo with different thoughts. Might we get some phone sex? We'll see!
The Tomato Soup awards voting is live and I'm up for more than I knew about, so thank you all for that. First, WWS & Muse all got nom'd in various categories! That means more to me than I can say! thetomatosoupaward dot blogspot dot com Tons of fun categories and nominees to check out. I don't know about you, but I often find things to read from award nominees.
Alright, that's it for this week. See you with the "call".
