Chapter 7 - Ticket to Ride

EDWARD

To say I was a little nervous to be catching a ride home with Chief Swan would have been an understatement. I did my best to appear innocent of any and all crimes. I was guilty of a lot of things. I didn't think he could nail me for anything yet, I hoped.

I was guilty of jacking off to thoughts of his daughter's large voluptuous breasts and those big doe eyes. They would look so hot looking up at me as she was sucking my cock. She did say she was a sexually viable woman. Fuck, I wanted to fuck her, but I couldn't. It didn't make sense. No, she wasn't the prettiest girl in school, and she could be a sassy bitch, but I think I liked that, maybe.

"So, you're taking my baby girl on her first date," Chief Swan said. I looked at him like I was a retard, because I was surprised. She had to be what, seventeen now? I mean we were on the far end of our junior year.

I just nodded dumbly, because I realized this was Bella Swan, and no one wanted her.

"So, why did you ask my girl out?" the chief grilled me.

I panicked. "She's not a whore!" I squealed like a little girl.

His brow furrowed. "What's that supposed to mean? You think she's some kind of challenge to be won? Because if you do…"

"NO, NO, NO!" I cut him off. "I didn't! Shit."

"Language, boy, you kiss your momma with that mouth?" he asked.

I frowned and turned away. I shook my head no. "My momma's dead, Sir. I live with my aunt and uncle." I would have thought the small town gossip would have gotten around by now. I guess I was out of sight out of mind, being in military school.

I heard a sigh from the driver's seat, and he pulled the car off the side of the road, making me a little nervous. He looked at me a little sternly, but something was off. It was like he wasn't really pissed at me. I could almost feel it.

"I'm sorry to hear about your momma, Son, but still, I need to know why you asked my daughter out."

I bit my lip; truth was I wasn't sure. To piss off Carlisle and Esme? Because she had nice boobs and could talk about fucking rabbits for an hour? No, I couldn't tell him either of those.

"Listen, I just don't want my little girl getting hurt. I know she comes off as tough, but she really isn't. I see it now. I just…" He took a deep breath. "If you're planning something to make fun of her or hurt her, I'm asking you right now not to do it. You don't have to take her. You can tell her you're sick or something, but please, don't hurt my little girl," he begged me.

I looked at him shocked. I stared at my hands for a moment, as we sat in silence. "Sir, I'm not sure how to answer you. I didn't plan on doing anything mean to Bella. My mom raised me better than that. I know she's not here, but I'd like to think she was watching me."

He looked at me like he was waiting for me to continue, and I let out a sigh. "Look, I know Bella's not the most popular girl at school, but I mean, she's spunky," I said with a shrug.

A wide smile lit up his face, and he patted my shoulder. "That she is."

BELLA

Sunday was pretty quiet like usual. Dad was watching TV with mom, and I was sitting on the back porch, petting the Baker's cat. I had always wanted a pet, but my parents said we couldn't afford one. I was happy to borrow the neighbor's pets, though. I was actually planning on becoming a vet or zoologist, because I really loved animals. See, animals didn't care if I had zits or braces. In fact, I was pretty sure they liked the hand-me-down clothes I got from my mom, because there was room to hide in them.

Right now, Frisky was attacking the strings hanging from the bottom of my jeans, which he wouldn't have been able to do if they had been new. For some reason, animals loved everything about me, just the way I was. They gave me the break I needed from the mean human world. I laid down in the backyard after sharing my tuna sandwich with him. Yeah, we were good friends, me and Frisky.

"Bella," I heard my mother call me from the back porch. I didn't bother to look up, because I knew she could see me laying there, teasing Frisky with a string I had pulled from the bottom of my jeans. "Bella," she called again.

"What? I got Frisky," I asked, wondering why she was interrupting my Sunday playtime with my best friend.

"Telephone."

EDWARD

I was nervous as all hell. I wanted to ask Bella what color her dress was going to be, so I could get the flowers ordered. Esme pretty much insisted I get the order in now, so I would get nice fresh flowers, not leftover crap or whatever.

I called the Swan's house. Their number was in the phone book, which was only about twenty pages total. Yeah, she was easy to find. Of course, trying to sound like a gentleman was hard, when you were scared shitless of Chief Swan, and your voice was cracking.

I breathed a sigh of relief, when Mrs. Swan answered the phone, and she was really nice. I heard her call for Bella, and she didn't answer. I was suddenly worried that Bella was not there, and I was going to have to go through this torture of calling again! Then I heard her yelling that she was frisky. Holy hell! What did that mean?

"Telephone?" she asked confused. I realized now that no one ever called her.

"Yes, it's your date," her mother said, and I could hear the excitement in her mother's voice, and it made me feel guilty for some reason. She was acting like there was more potential beyond us being friends, and I really didn't see Bella and me hitting it off like that. Sure, she had nice boobs, but you needed more than boobs to be my girlfriend. I would be dating Lauren Mallory otherwise.

"Hello?" Bella said sounding confused.

"Hey, Bella, it's Edward."

"Edward? How did you get my number?" she asked, and I kind of felt like a dick for calling her.

"The phone book."

I heard her whisper, "Why didn't I think of that?" but I didn't think I was supposed to hear it.

"Did I hear you say you were frisky?" I mean she had said she was a sexually viable woman, but you didn't usually announce that kind of stuff to your mom.

"Ugh, oh, just a second," she said but her voice sounded a little funny. Then I heard, "Oh, oh, oh! Frisky!"

"Bella?"

"Hold on, I have a cat climbing up my pants," she said, and I was wondering if this was some kind of innuendo or what? I had no idea.

"Ugh, uh, silly pussy," she sighed. "Okay, I'm listening," she said, and I was a little stunned. Was she just getting off? That was what it sounded like. "Edward, are you still there?" she asked.

"Yeah, um, yeah." I just had to forget it and cut to why I was calling. "So," I pushed on, "I was wondering what color dress you had to wear to the dance."

"Oh," she sounded sad, but I didn't know why. "Um, can I get back to you?"

"Sure, but do it soon, I need to order your corsage," I explained.

"Oh," she said again, "Um, thanks." She hung up before I could say anything else. I didn't know why this bothered me. She didn't sound happy about the whole dress and flower thing.

Alice came bouncing into my room. "I'm going to get her new glasses, no, contacts. I mean it's the least I could do after practically knocking her out and busting hers. I know they don't have the money for a new pair."

Then it hit me. They didn't have money. I was asking her about a dress, and she probably didn't have one, or the money to get one. Shit.

"What?" Alice asked. "Don't you think she'd look good in contacts?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "She doesn't have a dress, Alice," I blurted out.

Her face contorted in pain, like I had just killed her puppy. "She isn't backing out is she? She can't! How could she dump the first guy who was nice to her?"

"She didn't dump me!" I snapped a little defensively. "She just said she had to get back to me about the dress color."

"Oh, so you think she doesn't have one?"

I shrugged.

"I'll feel her out when I take her to get her contacts, don't worry," Alice said cheerily and disappeared.

Somehow, I had a feeling this was going to be a lot tougher than Alice thought.