Word Prompt: Signature
To say I was mildly upset once I got back to the dorms was an understatement. Too many things swirled in my head and part of me wanted to call Alice, but I decided against it at the last minute. Technically, I had gotten myself into this mess; surely I could get myself out of it, right? I thought so, but it wouldn't be that night.
First, I had to get through Friday and then I had to get through Saturday, and then I would focus on Edward. Maybe I'd be too late and maybe he was already interested in someone else, but I would try to talk to him with words actually coming out of my mouth. At least, that is what I told myself.
I hadn't even realized two hours had pasted since I had started staring at my ceiling, resolving to make a plan in my head. My emotions were starting to catch up with me and it had completely slipped my mind that I was supposed to be meeting Alice as soon as we were done with tonight until loud banging radiated from my door.
"Bella," I heard a muffled Alice and moved to open it. As the door swung open, I realized she wasn't alone. Next to her stood Jasper who, for the first time I'd seen him, was wearing an angry look on his face. I wasn't really intimidated, but I did kind of cringe.
"Come in," I whispered as I moved away from the opening. "Why are you here?" I looked towards Jasper and then to Alice, and it finally dawned on me that Alice looked upset too. Were they having a fight? Did I need to mediate or something? I really wasn't trained to do that yet, nor was I really capable of it emotionally, but I guess I could try.
"Bella, I'm sorry," Alice croaked before launching into this entire story about Jasper confronting her the second he met up with her after her meeting. I had assumed I was beating Alice home, but in reality, Alice got held up. Jasper was outside waiting for her, but I never saw him, nor had Edward. So when I whispered to myself about having to stay away from Edward, I wasn't alone.
My eyes immediately snapped towards Jasper, "Stay out of it." I wasn't sure where my confidence had come from or whether or not I meant it to sound as harsh as it did, but this was complicated enough without bringing someone else into it.
"It's a little late for that," Jasper informed me as his face softened. "I have only one question for you and then I'll leave you. I want to know who told you to stay away from Edward, and I want to know the truth."
My eyes snapped towards Alice and I had assumed she'd told him all the details, but she shook her head no. "She won't tell me," Jasper answered my unasked question.
"Then, I think that is for the best," I replied and dared him to question me. Of course, he did.
"Bella, tell me who told you to stay away from Edward," he pressed again, and I shook my head no.
"You're not going to give it up?" he pushed one last time and I shook my head.
"Okay then, Edward will figure it out," he announced before turning to leave.
"What?" I screamed. "You can't tell Edward, I'm ordering you to stay out of it. I already planned on talking to him after Saturday; please just give me the weekend. If you tell Edward now…" I trailed off because I wasn't quite sure what Edward would do. The guy I thought I knew wasn't going to wage a war or anything, but maybe he would? Would it interfere with the relationship between the Tri-Deltas and ASP, regardless, I couldn't let that happen…not over me.
"Bella, you're new to this, so I'm going to chop it up as naïve. Edward is my brother, and when he hurts, we all hurt. I have sat by long enough watching him second guessing decisions for the past month and trying to dissect what he had done to offend you. I never went to Alice because I didn't want to be a spy, though I guess I should have sooner, but my point is, this has gone on long enough. Whoever told you to stay away or warned you of whatever they did crossed a boundary that Edward himself would never cross, and it was wrong. If you don't like him and don't want to be his friend, fine, that's whatever, but this is more than that. This is someone specifically attacking him, even worse they did it behind his back. So tell me who yourself and I take it to Edward, or I still take it to Edward and he comes to hunt you down for the name," Jasper warned and I sat back down on my bed.
Alice had remained quiet the entire time, but came to sit next to me and wrap her arms around my shoulders. I was happy that she was somewhat taking my side, but I wished she would have gotten Jasper to me immediately and not let him interrogate her first.
"Good evening, ladies," Jasper spoke again before walking out the door. No name had left my lips.
"It'll be okay, Bella," Alice soothed me after the door shut with a thud.
It was the last thing I heard before falling asleep.
The next morning, I walked around campus jumpy as hell. After Jasper left, I expected Edward to storm in like he warned, but he didn't. I expected a phone call, maybe even a text, but I got neither. Instead, I got nothing. I didn't have classes, but I still ate in the cafeteria and he became a no show. I wasn't walking anywhere near the houses today so I knew I wouldn't see him on the street.
Alice hadn't talked to Jasper at all and he had warned her that he'd be busy setting up for their first pledge meeting that next night so she already expected it. Around 5 I asked her if she wanted to go and grab some supplies for tonight, which she readily accepted, so we drove to Target.
"I can't decide if I'm more nervous or excited," Alice exclaimed while throwing some snack food into the cart.
"I'm pretty sure I'm just nervous," I answered as I grabbed for my own comfort food.
"Well, don't be, tomorrow we'll each get a phone call, I just know it," she replied as we moved to the drinks. Since neither one of us was of drinking age, we were stuck with soda.
"You ready to go?" I asked as we trailed out of the soda aisle, but Alice decided she wanted to look at clothes so we started walking to the opposite side of the store.
"Hey, Books," I heard my name be shouted as I spun around. "Funny seeing you here, what are you two up to tonight?"
"Just grabbing snacks for our movie night," Alice answered for us as I just sort of stood there.
Coming up on Emmett's left was Edward and his right was Jasper…fuck.
"Don't forget to sleep," he teased as he looked down into our almost half full cart.
"Sleep is overrated," I jumped in with a shrug. I looked at Jasper first and then over to Edward before settling on Emmett who seemed like the one clueless one of the punch. If Emmett knew of the behind the scenes drama, he wasn't showing it.
"Where are you headed to next?" Jasper asked from my side, and Alice pointed to the clothes, causing him to laugh. "I should have figured."
"What about you guys? What are you shopping for?" I asked to be nice and social. Nice and social, I could do this.
"Pencils and notebooks," he answered. "Getting ready for tomorrow night."
"Sounds interesting," I mused before putting my hands back on my cart. "I suppose we should let you get back to that."
"Yeah, it was fun seeing you two out," Emmett announced before walking away and towards stationary, leaving Edward and Jasper staring at me and Alice.
"Why don't you go ahead?" Edward turned to Jasper who then moved to Alice who then took our cart and walked away. I glared at Edward for a minute before deciding hostility wasn't going to work to my advantage.
"Are you hungry?" Edward asked and I shrugged. "Come on, I have an addiction to their popcorn." I chuckled to myself before following behind. As we walked toward the food court section I noticed Edward send out a fast text, but I wasn't going to be rude and ask who it was too.
As we stood in line behind an older couple giving their order, we didn't speak. In fact, until Edward asked what I'd like, he hadn't said anything else to me. I simply asked for a smoothie and, for a second, it looked like he wanted to argue with me, but didn't.
When we took our seats towards the back of the little area I almost expected him to blow up. He was calm, almost too calm, and it was slightly eerie, but then I figured Jasper wouldn't lead me into a lion's den in the middle of Target either.
"I want to know who," he said simply as I sighed. He sat back in his chair, his hand inside his popcorn, and his eye's focused solely on me.
"I'd prefer not to tell you," I answered just as quickly before taking a sip of my strawberry banana smoothie. The truth was, I didn't think I could win either way. I wasn't going to get the guy, so protecting Rosalie was my next best option. She and Emmett were dating, so I didn't want to cause issues there, nor did I want to cause a gift between the two organizations. Looking back, I realized I should have pressed Rosalie more or asked why, or hell simply told her I couldn't promise that, but I didn't, so if it meant me protecting who I hoped was my future sister, I was willing to do it.
"What is it you fear by not telling me? Is it getting a bid, was it somebody in a sorority?" he pushed, as I looked down knowing my resolve would fade if he kept on. "Okay, fine, you won't tell me who, but will you tell me when?"
"The night you walked me home," I answered honestly almost immediately. I'd been to five houses that night; surely he'd not be able to narrow it down too quickly with just that.
"The night I walked you home," he repeated almost like he was trying to comprehend it. "So, before meeting up in class and going to lunch, then?"
"Yeah," I replied and shifted in my seat. My resolve, though strong, was starting to waiver. I could see the hurt in his eyes and it upset me that I put it there. Edward hadn't done anything wrong, at least, not to me, why did I listen?
"Thank you for your honesty," he said very diplomatically and moved to stand up.
"That's it?" I asked incredulously. I almost didn't believe it was that easy, but the look on his face told me there was more to it.
"Yeah, that's it," he announced. "I'll figure it out, but it doesn't really matter anymore, because you listened."
"What do you mean I listened?" I questioned and immediately stood up in front of him. My head became a fog, only this time I felt far more defensive than I had the last time. I didn't appreciate being walked on, and I certainly didn't appreciate whatever assumption was going to come out of his mouth.
"You had gotten to know me as a person and you still listened. You didn't have to, you could have told me, confronted whoever came to you, but you didn't. You took the advice blindly, Bella. It's not like I was some random guy you had never met or spoken more than two sentences too. You made your choice," he explained while staying as composed as ever. I, however, was not nearly as lucky as two tears fell from my eyes before I looked away. "Why are you crying?"
"I'm not," I lied and slightly hiccupped completely embarrassed that I couldn't hold it together for a whole five minutes in his presence.
"You're obviously crying," he deadpanned and I looked down.
"I don't cry," I hissed as my own defensive walls were starting to surround me again.
"Okay, so you're not crying, but you're obviously upset. I thought you'd be relieved," he pointed out as I gasped.
"Why on Earth would I be relieved? I'm the one being told that the one decision that I made, which for the record I thought was the right one, was now going to be held against me indefinitely. I didn't stay away from you because I wanted to; I did so because I was told to. I didn't want to be rude and decline the lunch invite, but I also didn't expect to walk away and like you. I figured you'd give me some indication that you weren't as good as you come off as or you'd do one annoying thing that would make me want to write you off, and it'd be over. Joke was on me, because in the end, I'm the only loser. Now excuse me, while I find Alice and get the hell out of her. At this point, I don't even know if I want a bid anymore, maybe my mom was right?" I snapped and turned on my heel to walk giving Edward absolutely no time to come after me without causing a scene.
I texted Alice to get to the front now or I was leaving her. Three seconds later, I watched her fly out of the jewelry section and to a register. I didn't even bother glancing up at Edward, who remained near the food court, as I signed my name on the dotted line and loaded our stuff back into our cart before walking out of the door.
Oh Rosalie, you don't even know what you have done. I won't pinky promise, but you'll probably see Chapter 14 tonight :) Enjoy.