oOo

In the half-light, Bella could make out the silhouette of a man. He was lying on his side, his back to her.

She had seen Emmett McCarty before she had followed Rosalie upstairs, so it could not be him. Maybe one of the guests had wandered around the house? Maybe he had been drunk and fallen asleep on his host's bed?

"Um, Rosalie," Bella began, walking in the direction of the bathroom.

"Yes, does it fit?" Right then, Rosalie joined her. "Oh, you're standing here in the dark, let me see you." She switched on the lights.

"There's… there's someone…" Bella pointed in the direction of the bed, where the man was now moving, turning in their direction with a groan.

"For heaven's sake, Edward!" Rosalie didn't even flinch. "Why didn't you just say something?"

The man was rubbing a hand over his face. He was fully dressed in a grey suit and white button down. His hair was pointing every which way. He groaned again.

"Don't yell at me, Ro." His voice was husky. He sat up slowly and buried his face in his hands. He was wearing socks, and his shoes were placed next to the bed. Bella noticed that his feet were quite big.

Rosalie stepped to the man and sat down next to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I couldn't… it was just… Oh, fuck." He ran his fingers through the mess on top of his head and sighed deeply. Bella wasn't sure, but could it be that his speech was slow and ever so slightly slurred?

"Um, Rosalie," Bella made her presence known. "Thanks for the shirt. I'm, um, going to get back down…"

For the first time, the man – Edward – looked up. It appeared that he hadn't even been aware of a third person's presence in the room.

He was pale, and beautiful. His expression, though, was one of annoyance.

"Who are you?"

"I'm… I'm from the catering crew. I spilled wine on my shirt and…"

He watched her from bloodshot eyes, his face devoid of any emotion. He rubbed his forehead as if suffering from an especially awful type of headache that could only be caused by clumsy waitresses.

"Ro," he muttered. "Can you please, please send her away?"

He was talking about her as if she wasn't standing a few feet from them.

"I'm sorry, I was just – "

"Just GO!" he shouted, looking at her for a second before dropping his head back into his hands.

"I'm sorry," Bella said again, her voice low but strong. She was here as a waitress, not as a doormat, and she hadn't done anything to provoke this person's hateful attitude. "If someone ran over your puppy, don't take it out on me!" She moved to walk away, turning by the door and addressing Rosalie. "Thank you again."

Her face flushed from anger and adrenaline, she walked down the hallway. Laughter and voices met her from downstairs. Now, despite needing the money, she would have loved nothing more than to leave this house.

"Hey," Jasper said as she returned to the kitchen. "You look like new!" He smiled. Jasper was the most relaxed person she knew.

And one of the most intuitive. Of course he noticed that something was wrong.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Bella nodded. "There was just this asshole, Edgar or Edward or whatever his name is. He was asleep in Rosalie's bed and yelled at me for, well, basically just for being alive."

"Oh, Edward?" Jasper said, apparently familiar with his name. "Poor guy." He shook his head. "From what Emmett told me, life's not been easy for him lately. And then today, his dog died. Emmett said that he'd had him for like fifteen years. He's absolutely heartbroken."

Bella closed her eyes.

"Fuck my life," she whispered.

oOo