Okay, this is chapter 2 of my first fanfic. Hope you like it!! Reviews would be very much appreciated!
xoxo erica
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or the characters.
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The morning seemed to come too soon, and all I wanted to do was hide under the covers. But Alice had other ideas.
"Come on Bella! Up! Up now! Come on!" she shrieked, hopping up and down on the end of my bed.
I groaned and pulled the extra pillow over my head, "Alice… please, get out."
She sighed, "Bella, there's someone here to see you. He's brought a friend too. And he's quite a catch," she giggled and pretended to faint on the bed.
When would people finally get the point that I don't want to be pushed into a loveless marriage with a stranger! When I didn't respond, Alice continued.
"Fine, Bella. I won't make you get up just yet. But I am going to get Julie," she grinned.
"How can you be so happy and annoying so early in the morning?" I had an urge to throw the first thing my hand touched at my best friend.
"Awww… I know that's why you love me." With that, she skipped out of the room, leaving the door open. I really wanted to kill her. I closed my eyes and dosed off.
Before I could completely succumb, the blanket was stripped from my body. I glared blearily at the pixie smirking at me and curled up in a ball, trying to retain the little heat left.
"Up," ordered Alice. Seeing no point in lying in bed all day, I sat up stretched my arms.
"Do you realise how irritating you are?" I snapped.
"Am I really…?" She smiled widely, showing all her teeth.
I rolled my eyes and stood up to wash my face in the bathroom basin. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and my skin seemed paler than usual. I was also having a bad hair day. I guess I didn't brush my hair properly last night. My brown locks were in knots and I somewhat resembled Medusa.
Grabbing the comb, I untangled most of the knots and pulled my hair into a loose bun. I brushed my teeth and washed my hands before entering my bedroom again. Alice and Julie stood waiting for me by the window.
"It's about time you came out," said Alice, mildly annoyed, "Well, while you were getting ready, I've chosen two dresses for you. I think they'd both look great on you."
I looked at the two dresses she held up. They were almost identical; it didn't really matter which dress I chose. One was white and lacy with a few simple embroidered blue flowers. It had a V-neck and short flared sleeves. The other dress was creamy with a little bit of lace around the princess neckline. The sleeves were tight fitting and were elbow length. There were lilac ribbons criss-crossing at the waist section.
I pretended to think about the choice very carefully. Then I pointed to the creamy dress.
"Alright then! I'll wait for you downstairs. Don't forget your mother is also waiting," Alice skipped out of the room, humming to herself. Looks like she'll never change. She could be so annoying sometimes; but I never wanted it to change.
I turned to Julie, who was smiling gently, and let her undress me. Her nimble fingers were able to change me from my nightgown to my dress quite quickly.
When I looked decent, I made my way down the hallway to the stairs. I held onto the railing, afraid that I might fall down the flight of stairs… again. I had always been clumsy, often tripping over thin air. Sometimes it wouldn't be my fault, but most of time I would either get my legs tangled together or twisted with my dress. That was another reason why I didn't like wearing long dresses. When my perilous feet were landed safely at the bottom of the stairs, I entered the dining room, where I assumed my mother would be waiting.
The first thing I saw was my mother smiling charmingly at two gentlemen sitting opposite her. Where was Alice? Didn't she say that she would be waiting for me? I hesitated and Renée looked up.
"Oh good morning Bella. Sit down and have breakfast with us," she beckoned me with her hand to sit down next to her.
The two gentlemen turned around to look at me. I immediately recognised one of the men as the one I bumped into the night before. I had a better look at him. He had a boyish but quite masculine face, and his hair seemed lighter than the night before. Now it looked more like silver than yellow. He seemed friendly enough.
I sat down and inspected the other man. He looked bored and was playing with an apple in his hands. His hair was a strange shade of bronze. It was unique. In the sunlight, I could see streaks of brown and red. His hair was messily arranged but without making it look shaggy. As he looked down, his dark lashes made long shadows that reached his cheekbones.
"Bella, this is Mr Michael Newton and his acquaintance Mr Edward Masen," Renée gestured to the blond man and the bronzed hair man respectively.
"Please Renée, drop the formalities," Michael laughed before turning to me, "Feel free to call me Mike."
I smiled at Michael with as much charm as I could, "Hello Mike."
Mike seemed to recognise me from the night before because gave me a knowing smile and winked surreptitiously. His blue eyes sparkled with hidden humour.
I blushed and turned to Edward, "And you must be Edward."
He looked up and I immediately lost my train of thought. His eyes were bright green. They were mysterious but looked dangerous at the same time. He appraised me quickly before nodding and saying, "Hello Isabella."
"Bella," I corrected and looked down quickly at my plate. I could feel my face heating up. Suddenly, I wasn't hungry anymore.
"Bella, Michael will be purchasing a great amount of the produce from our vineyards in New York for his wine company. You may have heard of it, Vif. Did you know that his wines' name means vivid in French?"
I had heard of Vif. How could I not have? It had its reputation of being the richest and finest tasting wine ever made. And Renée already knew that I studied French at school. But I tried to look surprised and nod interestedly.
There was a short awkward silence, then everyone seemed to suddenly realise that there was food on their plates. Mike, Edward and Renée began eating their food slowly. I reached over to the covered basket in the middle of the table and took a small croissant. I began picking it to pieces and let the flaky crumbs fall onto the plate. Every now and then, I would put a small strip of dough in my mouth and chew on it. And every time I ate a piece of the croissant, I glanced up through my lashes to peek at Edward. Unlike Mike, Edward seemed uneasy and didn't seem too hungry either since he was still playing with the apple. He had taken a few bites from the fruit but he seemed more interested in looking at it than eating it.
The silence in the dining room was tense and it felt like as though the thin bubble would pop any moment. I glanced at the grandfather clock ticking softly in the corner, and realised that we had been sitting here for over twenty minutes now.
I glanced back at Edward and looked down immediately, blushing for the third time today already. I had caught him looking at me with an unfathomable expression. I diverted my eyes to my mother beside me and she seemed perfectly comfortable with eating in silence.
Finally, I just couldn't stand it anymore. The silence was killing me, but maybe I was just imagining the tension.
"So Edward, tell me about yourself," I said and looked squarely in his eyes, though it made me feel queasy in my stomach.
He looked surprised but answered my question. "I've just finished school and I'm planning to become a doctor like my father."
"That's… interesting. I would have thought…" I trailed off in thought but I was snapped back to the conversation when I noticed Edward staring at me questioningly. I cocked my head wondering why he was staring me that way.
"You would have thought…?" he asked in his velvet voice.
"Never mind. It's not important." I hoped that he would just drop the topic because I honestly couldn't remember what I was thinking before. All I could concentrate on at the moment were his mesmerising eyes. I felt like I could stare into them all day and never get tired.
But he was persistent to get me to answer my question. "What did you think Bella?" My name rolling off his tongue made my thoughts even more incoherent.
"Ummm…" I looked from Renée to Mike and they were both watching me expectantly. I returned my eyes to Edward's handsome face. "I would have thought… that you would have wanted to start a business or something like that." I said from the top of my head.
"Really? Why would you think that?" Edward asked. I glanced at Mike and he was still staring at me, waiting for what else I had to say.
"Well I just thought that your personality is more like a businessman's than a doctor's," I replied.
"My personality?"
"Yes… You have a… a very cold and hard personality that really reminds me of a tough businessman."
To my surprise, the curiosity in Edward's eyes suddenly disappeared and he glared at me. "You don't know anything," he hissed.
I started at him in shock. My mouth was agape like a fish. And I was sure my face was a pale as a fish too.
"I—I… I'm sorry?" I stuttered. I felt so weak, staring at his dangerous green eyes.
His eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened, making him look even more frightening. I shrank in my seat and the croissant dropped out of my hands. Edward's eyes followed the movement before they swivelled back to glaring at me.
Without another word, he rose and stalked out of the room. As he strode away, I stood up and tried to follow him. But Renée restrained me by placing her hand on my shoulder. I looked down at her but she was staring at the door where Edward had left. I heard the front door open and close with a slam.
Mike got up and smiled apologetically at my mother and I.
"I am so sorry, but I'll have to cut this breakfast short. Thankyou for your hospitality," Mike said then walked towards the dining room exit.
"Wait. I'll show you to the door," called Renée. She was obviously still trying to keep up her courteous façade.
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure I can find my way out. Have a nice day." Mike smiled once more before disappearing down the hallway. The front door opened then clicked closed. Renée and I continued staring at where the two gentlemen had just left.
What did I do? I ran through everything that happened this morning. I had just said that he reminded me more of a businessman than a doctor. Then everything seemed to get out of hand.
My mother was the first to break the silence, "Well that was sudden."
"Mmm-hmm." I was worried that my voice might crack so I resorted to using sounds instead of words.
"I guess I'll need to get one of the maids to clear the table, since nobody's eating anything," she said then she turned to face me. I knew that look on her face. She was concerned but knew better than to interrogate me with questions right now. "Are you hungry? You didn't eat much at breakfast. Do you want me get the cook to make you something special?"
"I'm fine. I wasn't that hungry," I mumbled, "I think I would like to go to my room now."
I didn't wait for her to reply before practically ran up the stairs to my room. I closed the door and leaned against it. Though I wasn't sure why, I could feel the tears coming. With quite a bit of effort, I blinked the tears back and took a deep breath.
You have no reason to cry. You did nothing wrong. You have to be strong. It was Edward, not you. I kept chanting this to myself over and over again as I searched for my copy of Pride and Prejudice amongst the piles of books on my desk. Looks like Julie hadn't had time to organise the rest of my books yet. At last, I pulled out the hardcover book and made my way back downstairs.
When I reached the porch at the front of the house, the morning Chicago air hit me and made me shiver. I quickly ducked back inside and grabbed my shawl from the hatstand. It wasn't cold enough to wear a jacket yet. As I descended the porch stairs, a familiar voice called out.
"So how was it?"
I spun around and it surprised me that Alice was still here. She was leaning against the oak tree outside my bedroom window.
"How was what?" I asked.
"Don't act dumb! How did the breakfast go?"
"Oh that. It was fine," I replied in a monotone.
Alice nodded and understood that it didn't go well. If she was sitting on the porch for the whole time, she would've seen Edward stalk out.
"Alice, were you outside for the whole time?" I asked worriedly.
"No. How stupid do you think I am? I live right next door for goodness sake! And if I were to wait for you, I would have waited inside. I can go into my house and come straight back out when I see you walk down the stairs with a book because that's when I know you'll be coming outside." She rolled her eyes probably at how silly my question sounded to her. She knew me well; I usually enjoy reading outside when it's sunny.
"Well, I was going to sit outside and read for a while but—"
"Jeez Bella. You're reading all the time. Every week, everyday. Don't you get bored of reading the same books ten times?"
"No I don't get bored. And I was about to suggest why don't we go down to the café in town," I said.
Alice perked up when she heard the word town, "Since we're going to town… you'll be doing some shopping with me. I think you need some new shoes, and definitely a new dress."
"What! I already have so many dresses and pairs of shoes. Do I really need so many new clothes each time we go to town?" I whined.
"Quit complaining and get your purse," Alice muttered as she checked her own purse for money. I sighed and went back inside to get my purse from my closet.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, Alice was waiting there, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Come on. If you go shopping, you should at least get ready faster than that!" Alice took my hand and dragged me out the front door.
We decided to walk to town since it was such a nice day and that the town was only half a mile away. At first, Alice had insisted that we take a carriage because she was scared that she would get blisters on her feet. I finally convinced her when I promised to try to be a bit more enthusiastic about shopping.
When we finally reached the town's shopping district, we headed towards a café first because Alice looked like she was about to faint from exhaustion. She was so unfit. We sat down at one of the outdoor tables at the café.
"Alice, what do you want? You can wait here while I go buy it," I suggested.
"I'll have a latte and a small slice of carrot cake," she said between pants.
I walked inside the coffee shop and ordered a latte, carrot cake and a glass of lemonade for myself. As soon as I received my orders, I picked up the two cups as well as the plate of carrot cake. I also had a bundle of serviettes tucked in my chin. My lemonade was balanced precariously on my hand that held the plate of carrot cake.
I made my way extra carefully and slowly to the table because there could be nothing worse than having hot coffee and carrot cake all over a cream coloured dress. I just had to pass two more tables until I reach Alice. I should have taken a tray.
Almost tripping over a cobblestone, I swayed, and the latte cup slid downwards on the saucer and the carrot cake was also slanted at a very odd angle. That's when I realised that I was going to drop all the food on the floor. I braced myself for the sound of shattering china.
But nothing was broken. A pair of large hands now held the latte and the carrot cake. I looked up at the person who had saved the food with a smile. My smile faded from my face when I realised who it was and the facial expression he had. His green eyes were still hard but seemed to have softened a bit with humour.
"Thankyou," I said quietly.
"No problem," Edward replied stoically, "Take better care next time."
He carefully placed the cup and plate back in my hands. The proximity of his body made my heart thump unevenly. I could feel the heat radiating from his body. His hand brushed against mine and I shivered, but not from the cold.
"Thankyou," I said again. I looked up and Edward's face seemed much closer than it was supposed to be. His eyes had softened entirely now and they seemed to stare deep inside my soul. Our breaths mingled and I could smell his cologne.
I gasped in surprise and his eyes suddenly returned to the hard emeralds they were before; impenetrable and unreadable. Edward stood up straight again, turned and walked away. I stared at the back of his jumper until he disappeared into the crowd.
I continued my mission to the table. Fortunately, I made it there in one piece.
"What took you so long?" asked Alice, annoyed. But when she saw my face, she gasped.