AN: Hey guys. Sorry that it's been a week since an update. Still sick with the flu, and it is kicking my butt. Hope you guys like this chapter! Hopefully I'll have another one to you soon.
Edward was gone when I woke up, making me wonder if it had all just been some drunken delusion. Sitting up in my bed, a ran a hand through my messy curls and looked around, spotting my phone on the nightstand. Grabbing it, I saw that I had two messages. The first was from Alice, asking if I was alright. I sent her a message back confirming that I was, though I knew her brother had already informed her last night. The second was from an unknown number.
Unknown: Hey, Bella! This is Mike. We met last night at the party, not sure if you remember. I got your number from Alice. I just wanted to make sure you made it home safe! :)
Well, that was certainly sweet. I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. I texted him back letting him know that I did make it home safe, and apologizing for my abrupt departure and Edward's behavior. With that all said and done, I suddenly realized that I was starving. Pushing back the blankets, I headed into the kitchen and rummaged around until I found all the stuff needed for waffles.
I opened up Spotify and put on one of my carefully cultivated playlists before getting started.
Dancing around the kitchen, I felt surprisingly light-hearted as I made breakfast.
"That smells good." The plate that I had just grabbed from the cupboard fell from my hands, shattering at my feet.
"Geeze!" I exclaimed, looking from the shattered plate to Edward.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." He said, smiling sheepishly.
"No.. no. It's fine." I said, kneeling down and collecting the broken pieces carefully in my hand. "I just didn't realize that you were still here." Suddenly he was in front of me, helping me collect the rest of the broken pieces.
"Yeah, I was on the couch. Once I knew you were asleep, I went back to the living room." He didn't say it out loud, but his tone suggested that he hadn't wanted to leave me alone after my little episode last night.
"Oh, yeah. I guess I should have expected that." We both stood up straight and I took the pieces from him, taking them over to the trash. "Well.. sit down. I'll get you a plate." For once, he did as instructed and took his place back at the breakfast bar while I grabbed two more plates and put some waffles on each one.
"Why's Newton asking if you want to grab dinner tonight?" When I turned to hand him his plate, I saw that my phone screen was lit up and he was looking at it quizzically.
"Uh.. I'm not sure." I admitted, setting the plate down in front of him and snatched my phone off the counter, opening the message. Mike was in fact asking me to dinner. He wanted to get to know me better, and be a friendly face that I could rely on when I was on campus. It seemed innocent enough. When I finally looked up from my phone, Edward was watching me with his eyes narrowed.
"He just wants to meet for a friendly dinner..." My voice sounded nervous, even to me, though I wasn't sure why I needed to explain myself to him.
"Well don't go. I know Newton, and he's just another stereotypical frat guy looking for a hump and dump." He said.
"I mean.. he didn't seem like it. He was actually being really sweet last night before you came along and dragged me off." I huffed indignantly and crossed my arms, leaning back against the counter. "I don't see what the big deal is. It's just dinner. And he knows that Alice and I are friends. I doubt he'd be stupid enough to try anything."
"You're the one being stupid." He muttered under his breath, and I narrowed my eyes at him.
"What is your problem with me?" I demanded. "All you do is call me stupid and treat me like I'm a major inconvenience in your life. If I'm really that much of an inconvenience, then why don't you just stop butting into my life?"
Several emotions flashed through his eyes, anger being the dominant one, but there was something else there too that I couldn't put my finger on.
Finally, after several moments of tense silence, he pushed his chair back and grabbed his jacket, heading for the door.
"Don't say I didn't warn you." Were his parting words, along with a slamming of the door.
"I'm not going."
I had just gotten out of my psychology 101 class when Alice caught me walking across campus. She'd ambushed me, begging me to go to some club with her tonight. It had been three weeks since Edward and I's little spat, and he hadn't come around since then. Not that I was complaining. I'd been on several dates with Mike, and things were actually going well. He was a nice guy, and treated me so sweetly. Which means that Edward had been completely wrong.
"Bella, please? I don't want to go alone." She whined, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout. "You and Edward just need to make-up already." She added grumpily.
Edward had been charged with opened a new club under the families enterprise, and the grand opening was tonight. The entire family was going to be there, and Alice had been asking all week that join her.
"You'll hardly be alone. Your entire family will be there. Plus Jasper." I pointed out.
"Yeah, but my family will all be busy helping Edward. And Jasper can't come. He had a family thing come up. Please Bella? Please? You probably won't even see Edward the entire night. And, you can totally bring Mike!" She added the last incentive as if it would change my mind. And I guess it sort of did.
"Okay, fine." I sighed after several second of silence, and Alice squealed in response.
There were people lined up spanning down several blocks to get into Exodus, and I wondered why the even bothered. I could never understand why someone would want to wait in line for hours knowing that there's a chance that they wont actually get into the club. It would be a total waste of time. But I didn't dwell on it as Alice and I were escorted from the car to the inside of the luxurious club.
Mike's name was on the list, and he was supposed to be meeting us here. The place was packed and I looked around to see if I could spot him, but found myself out of luck. I had allowed even allowed Alice to dress me to make a better impression that I had on our other dates.
Standing there in Slate & Willow Carlene mini dress that was covered and black and gold sequins and a pair of sky high Louboutin's, I felt a little out of place. I may not have looked it, but I felt it. I didn't belong in such a fancy place. Being with Alice was like being in Wonderland, and I had to remember to try and keep myself grounded to reality.
"Let's get a drink." I assumed she was going to drag us to the main bar to the side, but instead she lead me up a spiral staircase to a private bar where the rest of her family resided. It was balcony up above the dance floor where one could stand watch everyone, so maybe I'd be able to spot Mike.
Emmett handed Alice and I a shot, and I vowed it would be my only one of the night. I was not getting drunk. We took it, and I was surprised at how sweet it seemed to be. The bartender then handed me a vodka cranberry, and I wandered away from everyone towards the balcony railing while the chatted.
I felt like Gatsby standing alone watching everyone else lose themselves in the music and alcohol. I wondered if this was how Edward sometimes felt watching over everyone. And then I shook my head. There was no need for me to be wondering what he was thinking. Glancing back, I realized that Edward wasn't there, but I tried to clear him from my head and went back to looking for Mike.
I was just about to give up when a flash of blonde hair caught my eye.
Mike was in the the corner with Jessica, a girl Alice had introduced me to at the party a couple weeks ago. He had his tongue down her throat.
Admittedly, we hadn't defined what exactly our relationship was, but Mike and I had gone on at least 8 dates, and that didn't include getting coffee between classes or meeting up to study during our days on campus. In the past three weeks, I had begun to become comfortable with him and our routine. Not to mention we'd made out a bunch of times. He was the first guy I'd genuinely started to develop feelings for since everything that had happened with my last boyfriend back home, and it felt good. And now I felt like my heart was being stomped on.
"I hate to say I told you so..." The cocky tone of his voice made me want to whirl around and punch him, but I was too close to tears. I didn't even want to look at him right now.
Turning around quickly, I hurried past him, our shoulders accidentally brushing.
"Bella, wait." He reached out and grabbed my forearm to stop me, and I froze, my eyes going wide. His face flashed through my mind and suddenly I was petrified. Edward must've seen that, because he quickly let me go. Tears started pooling around the rims of my eyes, and it wasn't long before they spilled over onto my cheeks. This was all too much for me right now. I needed to get out of here.
I'd made it down the stairs, and almost out the door when I heard Mike calling out to me.
"Hey! Bella." I shouldn't have stopped, but I turned, tears streaming down my face so that he could see what he had done to me. "What's wrong?" He asked, his face falling. Man, was he good at pretending like he'd done nothing wrong.
"Really? What's wrong? I just saw you with Jessica." I snapped, wiping the tears angrily off my cheeks. It was pointless, though, because they just kept falling.
"Bella, no. That was.. I mean, seriously it was just... Like, you don't understand.." He was stumbling over his words, trying to form and excuse for his actions, but nothing was seeming to come out.
"You need to leave, Mike." Edward appeared next to me and rested a protective hand on my shoulder. As mad as I was at him, it did make me feel a little better.
"This is between me and Bella. Get out of here, Cullen." Mike had narrowed his eyes at the bronze haired man, his entire body tensing.
Apparently, Edward had no tolerance for Mike's words, because in a flash, Mike was on the ground with a bloody nose while Edward stood in front of me, glaring down at him.
