Nowforruin betas this. Thank you.
I don't own Twilight. Any similarities to actual persons or events, alive or dead, real or fictitious, are merely coincidental, and most likely the product of my feverish imagination.
20.
September 15, 2008
Alice doesn't pick up. I don't leave a message.
Hitting Fifth and crossing the street to walk along the park, I smell burned bread and charcoal coming from the pretzel stand; it's making me salivate, reminding me that I haven't eaten since five o'clock this morning.
I press call again and hear some noise at the other end of the line, indicating that someone has picked up.
"Alice?"
"Why are you calling me?"
I consider hanging up, doing what she obviously wants me to.
"Listen-"
"No, you listen. The last time we met you called me mentally unstable, in urgent need of some meds, so why the fuck are you calling me?"
"I'm sorry." I don't know what else to say. I feel a tinge apologetic for calling her crazy, but she was wearing my patience thin last winter with her mission to get Jasper fired in the hopes that they'd live happily ever after.
"I don't know if I can believe you."
"I am. I shouldn't have said those things."
"Okay. I'm sorry, too."
"About Jasper? Nothing to be sorry about. It worked out fine, at least in some respects." I don't go as far as telling her about my business venture with Jasper.
She sights loudly. I'm not sure whether it's because I mentioned Jasper or something else. "So how have you been? I heard what happened today. You're going to be okay though, right?"
"I'll be fine." I pause, suddenly wavering whether bringing up Bella is a good idea. "So I haven't been able to reach Bella all day. I know you guys had a fight a while back, but …"
"Yes?"
"I was wondering whether you've heard from her?"
"No, I haven't. In fact, I haven't spoken to her since January."
"I see. Well, okay, then." I've officially run out of things to say.
"So you two are still together?" she asks after what seems like a long pause.
"Yeah, of course," I answer quickly. "Why wouldn't we be?"
"You're right. Never mind," she answers quickly. I want to ask her more questions, but before I can, she continues, "Well, I really have to run. Bye, Edward."
"Sure."
The line goes silent.
I call Bella again. I leave her a voice mail message telling her I love her and to call me as soon as she gets it.
The feeling that I'm missing some piece of the puzzle, something that would point me in the right direction, is getting stronger.
Alice. I should have asked her more questions.
Right before Christmas last year, she started calling me incessantly, sometimes four or five times a day. She even showed up at a Wohlfmann holiday party.
~o0o~
December 2007
When I walked late into the restaurant where the party was held with the intention of making the rounds quickly and disappearing, I spotted Jasper standing near the bar with Alice clutching his arm tightly. I talked to some of the big wigs first to get it out of the way, and then made my way over to the table where Jasper and Alice had been seated.
"Happy holidays," I said, clinking Jasper's glass. "Do you mind if I take this seat?"
"No, not at all," Alice answered with a smile on her face.
"One down, two more to go. Cheers to that." Jasper raised his glass and chucked back the contents, referring to the two other holiday parties we still had to attend.
"Come on guys! This isn't so bad. At least they didn't skimp on the food," Alice commented with a too cheery attitude, digging with a mother of pearl spoon into the black goo.
"I can't wait till January," Jasper noted. Not only were the holiday festivities done with, but it was also bonus time.
"Me neither," I agreed.
"You're over it?" Jasper looked at me with a curious smile on his face.
"I'm going to run to the girl's room. Edward, will you still be here for a minute? I want to talk to you."
"Sure." I watched Alice walk away.
"Sooo … you are thinking about switching firms?" Jasper leaned closer when she was gone.
"I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders.
He nodded. We both started staring at Alice, who'd emerged from the restroom quickly and was making her way back to where we were sitting. Thankfully some girl, a couple of table away from us, held her up for a while.
"I don't know how to get rid of her, anymore. She's become my tail," Jasper lamented.
I laughed. "Do you want to? Get rid of her, I mean."
"She's nagging me all day. Drink less … do this, do that. She goes through my medicine cabinet searching for God knows what. I can't fucking take it anymore. She wants us to move in together. Don't get me wrong—Alice's nice and I'm sure she means well—but this ain't for me. Not now and maybe not ever."
"Maybe you should let her, you know, in on that."
"I tried, but, man, she doesn't get the hint."
I agreed with him silently, downed another drink, listened to some banter and got up thirty minutes later to head out.
"I'll see you tomorrow," I said to Jasper.
"Sure."
"Alice." I nodded in her direction, hoping to escape another discussion about Jasper.
However, before I managed to get my coat, Alice was at my heel. "Edward, wait!"
"What now, Alice?"
"Have you found out anything? I feel like I'm putting my life on hold to deal with this …"
"Do me a favor, just live it."
"What the hell? Don't you think I want to?"
"Alice, I can't help you with this, do you hear me?"
"I can't believe you'd do this to me."
"I'm not doing anything to you. You're doing this to yourself. For the record, I doubt he has a problem. At least it's not what you think it is. So can you just lay off and let it go?"
"How would you know? You don't live with him. I see all the symptoms and have experience with this."
"Alice, go see a shrink. I don't know … get some Prozac. This is nuts. You're nuts." Before she could respond, I said, "Good night," and walked out the door, straight into my waiting car.
I'd had it. I shut all my phones off that night and decided to ignore her from then on. If she chose to tell Bella anything, I'd deal with it when it happened.
Fortunately Alice got what she wanted without me lifting a finger, and so it never came to that. At least that was what I'd thought ...
About two days after that holiday party, I noticed a security guard in front of Maria's office. I knocked on the door, ignored the guy and walked inside.
Maria was standing behind her desk putting framed pictures into a brown box. She looked tired, but as put together as always, wearing a tight black suit, with her long, black hair straightened and impeccably applied makeup.
"What happened?" I asked, despite the fact that it was obvious.
"Get your head out of your ass, Cullen, and stop asking dumb questions for which you already know the answers," she snapped.
"Did you get a decent package?" I closed the door behind me, earning me a nasty look from the security guard.
"I'll be fine. It's not me you should be concerned about."
I raised my eyebrows questioningly. She sighed.
"You gotta know this is just the beginning."
"Why did they sack you, if you don't mind me asking? Your division being scrapped?"
"Not for now, from what I know." She straightened herself and looked me squarely in the eyes. "You've been working on those trusts, right? I saw your name on one of the e-mails," she explained.
"So you already know I do."
"Did they seem like a good investment to you?"
"Not particularly."
"Yeah, I didn't think so either. I think some other people have the same view, but let's just say I made the mistake of mentioning it to Sam." Maria sat down in the chair behind her desk, and mechanically started removing the few personal items she'd stored on her desk and loading them into another box.
I sat down in a chair across from her. "Nobody else said anything?"
"Yeah, two other guys did. One of them was sent packing two weeks ago. The other one was getting his paperwork right before me."
"What exactly did you say?"
"I warned them. I told them anything with mortgage-based derivatives would soon become toxic—heck, it already is—and paying premium for real estate deals right now was the wrong move. It's a deal with a fat tail."
"I agree." I'd done the analysis myself. "That's all you said to them?"
"Yes."
"I see."
"Want my advice?" she asked.
"Not particularly."
"How could I forget?" she said with a wry smile on her lips. "I'm talking to the know-it-all wonder boy who can't be defeated." I didn't respond and she shook her head. "You're probably right not to take advice from me. You're like a cat; you'll land on your feet, I'm sure."
"Just how bad do you think it will get?"
"Bad. There won't be a reversal. At least, I highly doubt it. I'd start watching the firm's balance sheet."
"Yeah, I'm starting to get the feeling, too. How long?"
"Before they start chopping?"
"Yeah."
"Maybe a month. They'll give them the bonus as a payout."
We both got up and I started to exit the door.
"It's been a pleasure," I said. "Keep in touch?"
"I'll see you around, I'm sure."
Had it not been for the fact that I'd early on learned when to keep my trap shut, I would have been in the same position Maria found herself in and maybe that would've been a good thing. From what I heard later on, she was shrewd enough to negotiate a sweet golden parachute for herself, which was no small feat.
Upon returning to my office, I sent Alice a text, telling her she'd get what she wanted by the end of January, and then I did what I possibly should've started months earlier: I gradually dumped all my company stock. When the stock started tumbling in the late spring, I'd already gotten rid of most of my shares.
I wasn't too far off on my estimate about Jasper's lay-off. His whole division was eliminated after one furious sell off that sent the market temporarily plummeting in mid-January. He received nearly a million as a bonus and wasn't too concerned when they told him it would be his last day.
"What are your plans now? Moving in with your girl to save money?" I asked him, half-joking, over a drink after work on his last day.
"Hell, no. First step will be to get rid of the tail. Second will be to take a vacation."
"You're leaving town?"
"Just for a week or two. Visiting my family in Texas. Haven't had a chance to do that in forever. Don't worry, I'll be back."
"Yeah?"
"Don't look so surprised."
"I'm not."
"I'm looking for some sort of business to start. Just haven't figured out what."
"What?" I laughed. "Don't tell me you're going to start a food truck?"
One of the lawyers working in compliance had done so six months earlier, and Jasper and I had both harpooned her idea.
"Honestly?" Jasper turned to me with a serious expression on his face. "I'm tired of playing the game. I've made some money, saved up some. I don't know … food truck? restaurant? It all doesn't sound like such bad idea anymore."
"Mmm, maybe. Let me know if you know what you're doing, all right?"
"Sure."
True to his word, Jasper dumped Alice the next day and boarded a flight to Texas. Bella went over to Alice's place to console her over a bottle of Patron. I didn't expect her back until late and was surprised when I found her sitting on the sofa with a glass of wine in her hand when I came home from the office around ten.
"Hey." I tossed my stuff on the floor and walked over to her, happy about finding her on my sofa. We were still in the in-between phase where she hadn't moved in with me. "Alice, okay?" I asked.
"Not really." She turned the volume of the TV down as I slumped down next to her.
"Shouldn't you be consoling her?"
"We had a fight."
"About what?"
"Stupid stuff. I don't have any use for people who're never on my side. I don't want to talk about it," she whispered and kissed me. "I think I want to focus my attention on someone else today."
Straddling me, working to undo my tie with agile fingers, she distracted me quickly.
"I can't complain about that." I slid my hands up her legs.
"Stressful day at work?" she asked, unbuttoning my shirt.
"Not too bad." She unzipped my pants and reached inside. "And getting better." I sat back and relaxed, feeling the day melt away into obliviousness.
Two days later she left to join her group on the campaign trail and between the stress at the office, which was mounting by the day, and the daily grind of her new assignment, we never talked about it again.
~o0o~
My phone rings and I grab it hastily, hoping it's her.
"Bella?"
"Nope." I hear a familiar, deep laugh. "It's just me."
"What's up Emmett?" I want him to get to the point and off the phone.
"Not much. Just wanted to see how you were doing and whether you've got everything under control."
"I'm fine," I answer tersely. He knows what I've planned, and I told him what was likely coming.
"And Rose wanted to know whether Bella and you would wanna come over next weekend for a barbecue? I think she wants to offer Bella her help with the wedding and all. You know Rosie. She loves that kinda of stuff. Flowers, food... Well, you get what I'm saying."
"I've to talk to Bella about it. I'll let you know. I gotta run now, okay?"
"Okay, talk to you later."
A chuckle escapes me as I hang up the phone. I've reached Fifty-Ninth Street and sit down on a green park bench. If it's one thing Bella would definitely not be keen on, it's help from Rose. She tries to be polite whenever she sees Rose, but truthfully speaking she has nothing in common with her.
I think it was obvious from the moment they were introduced to each other on Super Bowl Sunday last February. Emmett had been bugging me for weeks to bring Bella over for dinner and so I finally relented.
Dinner with Carlise in December had gone smoothly. He liked her immediately.
"I like her. She's a solid girl who knows what she wants. You can rely on her. It's important," he told me when I walked him to his car, padding me on the shoulder. "And you love her."
What seemed funny to me wasn't that he was able to detect so quickly how I felt about her, but that he saw qualities in her I'd never noticed.
Our afternoon at Emmett's wasn't a disaster. They got along fine and I didn't expect Bella to become best buddies with Rose. They were from two different worlds. Rose barely finished community college and never wanted anything but to have kids and take care of them.
Bella hardly said more than ten words during the afternoon, moving around the plastic covered sofa in awkward silence, while Emmett told tales of our youth. I tried my best to humor him.
In an effort to be friendly with Rose, Bella even went to get her nails done one afternoon with her, only to come back home with a bottle of nail polish remover in hand to wipe the rhinestones off her fingernails.
"Honestly?" she said to me with resigned sigh. "I just don't get her. All she talks about is what Emmett is going to buy her and how she hopes you're paying for the shoes I'm wearing. Oh, and kids of course! And who the hell would want all this gunk on their nails?"
Scrawling down the list of numbers in my phone, I notice how few friends Bella has. I'm wondering whether this was always the case or whether I have something to do with it.
When the phone rings again, I check the screen. It's nobody from my contact list, but judging by the number, someone is calling me from Charles Swan's office.
Where the hell is Bella, right? Mmmm.
The very sweet and kind DreamOfTheEndless nominated Crash for a Sunflower Award under the category Best Drama. If you're enjoying this tale and think it merits your vote, here's where you can do so:
sunflowerawards(dot)blogspot(dot)com