God's Gift
"Will you meet my parents?"
I swear to God, you sleep with the man you're in a relationship with and he gets all kinds of crazy ideas.
"What are you talking about?" I gave Edward a tired look as I prepared a latte for the woman at the counter.
"There's a fundraiser this weekend for Mom's charity. I actually forgot about it but Emmett said that he's taking Rosalie and I was wondering if you would come too, so I can introduce you to my parents."
"Your parents, the mother who runs a charity for the homeless and the father who performs life-changing surgery on children?"
"No, I meant my other parents." He said dryly and I narrowed my eyes at him, leaning over to steal a sip of his coffee.
"Are you sure you've thought this through? You could be in a post-sexy times state of delirium."
Edward chuckled, taking back the coffee cup as I straightened.
"I'm sure. I think you've been softened through the sex though as clearly you're considering it."
"Who said I'm considering it?" I raised an eyebrow and he smirked.
"You didn't say no straight away. I've got to get back to the office."
"What am I supposed to wear?" I called after him as he reached the door and he grinned over his shoulder at me.
"Surprise me."
Luckily, Rosalie agreed to go shopping with me as both of us now needed black tie suitable clothing.
"I think you should wear blue." She told me as we scoured racks, "You look good in blue."
"Do you not think it's weird that they want us to meet their parents?" I asked her, "It's not like either of us have been dating them for that long."
Rosalie was silent and I looked at her. Her cheeks were reddening and I paused at the end of a rack of dresses.
"Rosie?"
"…He asked me to marry him." She whispered and I managed to choke on thin air as a saleswoman gave me a look of disdain. I grabbed Rosalie's hand and dragged her into the corner of the store.
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"We've been out every day, Bella. Every day. He stayed over a few nights ago and it was…" She smiled helplessly, "We were in bed and I was almost asleep and he asked me to marry him."
"What the hell did you say?"
"I said no, of course!" She laughed delightedly, "I've only known him a couple of weeks."
"Was he pissed off?"
"No. He said he'll ask again when I'm ready."
I stared at her and she laughed again, shaking her head.
"What is wrong with these Cullen men?"
"I think the question might be what's wrong with the women who choose to date them." I said dryly and Rosalie laughed.
I stopped by Edward's office on the way home and when I waltzed up to his office door, Tyler looked up, flushing.
"M-Miss Swan!"
"Hi, sweetie." I grinned at him, "Is Mr CEO busy?"
"He's due back from a meeting any second."
"Perfect, you can keep me company." I said, sitting on the edge of his desk. The telephone rang and Tyler snatched it up, his fingers twitching as he straightened his pencils.
"Mr Cullen's office… Yes Mr Cullen. Of course. Um…" He looked at me and I beckoned for the phone, leaning over to take the receiver.
"Hi Edward."
"Bella?" He sounded surprised, "What are you doing at my office?"
"I stopped by for a nooner but I guess you're busy."
Tyler went a shade of red that I would need a paint chart to name.
"Stop embarrassing my assistant."
"But he's so cute when he's embarrassed." Tyler ducked underneath his desk and I laughed, "OK, I'll leave him alone. I'm guessing you're not coming back to the office?"
"No, but I'm only a few blocks away if you wanted to get something to eat before your shift."
"I'll meet you at Martin's Deli in ten minutes?"
"See you soon. Please tell Tyler I'll be gone and I'll text him when I'm coming back, without giving the poor kid a heart attack."
"Bella, I swear to God, I'm leaving in exactly three minutes." Edward called through the bedroom door and I rolled my eyes as I pinned back my hair into a bun, smoothing it back.
I could look pretty damn classy when I wanted.
And if I was going to meet my boyfriend's Picture Perfect Parents, I wanted to look at least halfway classy.
I fixed my eyeliner and examined the final result. Shiny bun in my hair, relatively tame makeup, a blue halter neck dress with a floor length skirt that fell in soft folds. I had left my earrings in but replaced the hoops with the simple diamond studs.
"Bella!"
"Calm your ass down, Edward, I'm ready!" I shouted back, grabbing my purse and stomping towards the door, "Jesus, you're grumpy when you haven't eaten."
Edward stared down at me, his mouth hanging open slightly and I smirked.
"We're going to be late." Too late, his mouth was on mine and who was I to turn the man down? His hands ran down my back to my ass, pulling me tight against his hips and I groaned, pulling his face down to mine.
God damn, the man could kiss.
After a few minutes, I pushed him off and straightened my dress. He grinned and tugged his tuxedo jacket back into place.
"Well… we'd better get going."
"I guess so." I said, looking for my keys, "Are we going back to yours after?"
"Yes, because my place will be closer and I really need to get you naked as soon as possible." His hand started wandering back to my ass.
"And that thought won't at all be on my mind when I meet your parents." I said dryly as we went downstairs to where Edward's town car was waiting.
The fundraiser was being held in a hotel. There were plenty of people milling around outside and Edward glanced at his watch.
"We're not too late. I think the dinner starts in ten minutes. Mom is still going to kill me though."
"Shit, are Rosalie and Emmett already here? I wanted to meet your parents first. There's no way I'm going to make a good impression once they've met Rose." I cursed. Rosalie was too perfect. Edward laughed, helping me out of the car and hurrying me up the steps of the hotel.
"Don't worry – if anything, Mom is going to be pissed at me for not telling her about you."
Wait.
He hadn't told her about me?
Before I could question him on that, we were ushered along into a ballroom, tables dotted around and people in designer clothing greeting each other.
"Edward, your mother does know I'm coming, right?" I hissed and he looked down at me, looking sheepish.
"She knows that I'm bringing a date, yes. But like I said, I forgot this event was even on until Emmett mentioned that he was bringing Rosalie so I had to kind of call last minute to let her know to set an extra place."
I was not impressed and Edward did not seem to notice because we were being born down upon by a petite woman with Edward's hair and Emmett's sparkling blue eyes, a blond man with Edward's jaw trailing behind her.
"Edward, where on earth have you been?" She scolded, pulling him down. He kissed her cheek sweetly.
"Hi Mom. Hey Dad. Everything looks fantastic."
"Emmett and Rosalie have been here for half an hour already." She said sternly and then she saw me standing beside her son and stopped short. Her eyes took in my face, my hair, my dress.
And then they shot to the piercings in each ear, the tattoos that were exposed on my shoulders and arms.
Her eyes widened and her lips pursed.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
His mother thought I was some kind of Hell's Angel, here to corrupt her innocent son.
"And you've brought a guest." His dad stepped in, as clearly Mrs Cullen was too shocked to speak. I held out my hand to him.
"Bella Swan. It's nice to meet you, Mr Cullen."
"And you." He said, although he seemed surprised too. His wife, who was still gaping slightly, blinked up at Edward.
Edward cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Should we be sitting down for dinner?"
"Oh… yes, yes, I've put you with us, as well as Emmett and Rosalie. There are a few family friends at the table as well." Mrs Cullen chirped, turning towards a large table near the top of the room, where I could see Emmett and Rosalie sitting already.
Thank the lord for open bars.
It became quite clear early on in the meal that 'a few family friends' consisted of two of Edward's ex-girlfriends and their parents, all of whom had a similar reaction to Edward's mother upon seeing me.
If I had to give the look a name, it would be the Who-the-hell-is-that-and-why-is-she-with-HIM look.
Rosalie, god bless her heart, insisted on sitting next to me although she became incredibly flustered when anyone tried to talk to her.
At least they tried to talk to her. Not a single person engaged in conversation with me. I was the elephant in the room.
"Are you OK?" Rosalie whispered as they took away the main course, which I had barely touched.
I didn't really know how to answer.
My boyfriend had gone from doting and adoring to barely acknowledging my existence. He had spent the past half hour making conversation with his ex-girlfriends and talking business with their parents while said ex-girlfriends cooed over him. His own mother kept occasionally gawking across the table at me while his father made feeble attempts at conversation with Rosalie and Emmett before falling silent again.
So no.
I wasn't OK. Not really.
I was hungry and humiliated.
I didn't want to be in this big fancy ballroom in an expensive dress next to a man who was too embarrassed to tell his parents about me. I wanted to be in my apartment with Chinese take-out and reruns of The Big Bang Theory. I was not fucking Cinderella and I didn't want to be at the goddamn ball when Prince Charming was too busy making nice with his ex-girlfriends, Kate and Carmen.
One of whom was leaning across the table to pat his arm, fluttering her eyelashes. I'd never had the impulse to rip someone's eyelashes out before. I did not like Jealous Bella.
I just wanted this fucking dinner to be over.
"Ladies room." I murmured to Rosalie and she nodded, touching Emmett's arm. He stood and kissed her cheek as she rose. Edward looked up as I stood and offered a quick smile before looking back at his mother, who was talking about the work her charity was doing with the other people at the table.
Rosalie took my arm and we walked out of the ballroom to the foyer, where the door to the ladies room was.
"Bella, what's going on?" She asked after checking that all of the cubicles were empty, "Did you and Edward have a fight or something?"
"No." I said flatly, leaning against the row of sinks, "I have no fucking idea what is going on apart from the fact that Edward didn't even mention me to his parents."
"Why not?" Rosalie seemed perplexed and I sighed, looking over at her.
"No idea. Maybe he's slumming it with me to piss off Mommy and Daddy Warbucks. Maybe he's trying to piss off one of his many ex-girlfriends who seem to be in attendance."
"But you've been dating for weeks now." Rosalie said earnestly, "Bella, he's crazy about you."
"Rosalie, I've become a neurotic girlfriend. This isn't me. God, I actually want to punch myself in the face right about now! I disgust myself." I groaned and she rolled her eyes, taking my hands.
"Bella – there is an explanation for this. I don't know what it is, but there has to be one. Let's… let's just finish the evening and then you and Edward can go home and have a mature conversation about this."
Pfft. Mature conversation. I'd rather just smack him upside the head and tell him to grow a pair.
That was why Rosalie was giving me her 'teacher-look' – because she always knew what I was thinking.
We started making our way back to the table. Plenty of people were moving around and Rosalie was soon whisked away by Emmett to meet some of his colleagues.
Edward wasn't at the table and I was going to look for him when I heard Mr and Mrs Cullen talking on the other side of a guy holding a tray of champagne glasses.
"Why is she here? How did she and Edward even meet? Do you not think it's strange that he's never mentioned her before and now she's coming to public events with him?" Mrs Cullen was saying and I heard Edward's dad sigh.
"Esme, I have no idea. But Emmett didn't mention his young lady either and she's charming."
"But we know who she is, how they met and what she does for a living, Carlisle! We don't have a clue about this Bella girl! She's nothing like Kate or Carmen." She gestured at her arms, clearly indicating where my tattoos lay.
The champagne guy moved and I cleared my throat. They both turned to look at me. Anger and something like humiliation were stirring in my chest as I looked at them both with as much dignity as I could muster. Before I could say anything that I would either regret or greatly enjoy saying, Edward appeared at my arm.
"Bella, I was looking for you."
"For the first time this evening." I said dryly and threw his parents a glance before looking up at him coolly, "I'm going home, Edward."
He made a flustered noise and I quickly turned, trying to walk out without tripping over anything or making too much of a scene.
"Bella, what's going on?" He demanded as we reached the foyer, where a few people were talking quietly. His hand came to a rest on my arm but I pulled myself away, trying not to let tears of fury water in my eyes.
"You tell me, Edward! What is going on? You don't tell your parents that I exist! You've spent the whole night ignoring me! You haven't even made an effort to introduce me to your parents and yet you're the one who insisted on me coming to meet them! What the hell is going on?"
"Bella, there's no need to get upset." He said in a far-too-fucking rational tone, "I already told you – I forgot about tonight which is why I haven't mentioned you to my parents."
"We've known each other for over two months, Edward!" I pointed out and he at least had the grace to look slightly embarrassed.
"OK, yes, that's true-"
"And then to have to sit through dinner with your ex-girlfriends and their parents, who you've spent more time talking to than me-"
"I've known Kate and Carmen for years, we're old friends!"
"And your mom just loves them, doesn't she? After all, it's not like they've got piercings or tattoos that mom and dad disapprove of."
"Bella, that's ridiculous." Edward said tiredly and I glared at him.
Ridiculous. He thought I was being ridiculous. Well, he hadn't heard what his mother had just said or seen the disdain in her eyes when she'd looked at me.
I took a deep breath, stepping forward and pointing at him, fixing my eyes on his.
"I have never felt ashamed of who I am or the way I look, Edward. I have never changed myself to suit someone else and I'm not going to start for you. I quite obviously do not fit into your little world, so either you take me as I am or we're done here because I am not going to go back into that room and pretend that I'm someone else."
"Bella…"
Edward stared at me.
And then he sighed, rubbing his jaw as he glanced at the doors to the ballroom. I followed his gaze and saw that his father was standing in the doorway, looking from Edward to me.
"It's time for your mother's speech about the new charity centre." Mr Cullen said quietly before disappearing back into the room.
Edward ran a hand through his hair but didn't meet my eyes.
Pain spiked in my chest. Tears pricked at my eyes.
I turned and walked out of the hotel.
A/N: Bella has a history of getting the wrong end of the stick, doesn't she? Or has Edward effed up this time?
God's Gift made it into the top 5 at The Lemonade Stand and got a shout out – you are all absolutely amazing! I cannot express how much this means to me! I would get all gushy but I really need to go to bed, so just know that I love each and every one of you
Love
That English Writer