Disclaimer: I do not own, only play. These are Stephanie Meyer's characters.
She was stunning.
She was dressed perfectly, but she definitely stuck out like a sore thumb.
She was also someone Edward had no idea how to introduce.
Friend kept slipping off the tongue but even that sounded inadequate. Date sounded impersonal, and girlfriend sounded like he was pushing it.
She was the only one in white, or rather, the only one confident enough to show up in white as the female anatomy was all about hiding curves under dark colors. At least this was typically what Edward thought women thought.
But Bella's long sleeved dress extenuated them and otherwise showed off her pale complexion.
But it was also her hair and nose piercing that caught most of the attention; so would her tattoo if not for the sleeves covering it.
Edward's father's face was illegible as he greeted both his son and his son's plus one. Smiles and white teeth and champagne being exchanged, Edward trailed Bella around the party with nothing but a hand to the small of her back.
It was a quiet and delicate party, as most of them are. They were frequent throughout the year and were always held in the dining hall of the building' extension that was only a couple of blocks down the way. Now, these parties never held any crucial element to them however, it always shined appropriate light upon those who did attend because from time to time, the editor-in-chiefs and executive branches would make appearances. And it was good for Edward to be one of those faces to show up; to show that he cared about Sun-Time.
So sometime into the evening, Edward had wandered over to the bar to collect drinks when a long time employee and old time date of Edward's tapped him on the shoulder with a pink smile.
"Kate, how are you?"
"Good. You look good."
"Same to you, as always."
"Always the gentleman, Edward," she said lightly. Kate's gaze lingered over at his table where Bella sat and her thin eyebrow rose in delight of question. "Like the young ones, hmm?"
Edward looked from Bella to Kate and let out a sharp sigh. "She's not that much younger than you are, Kate."
"And she can drink?"
"You think I'd give alcohol to a minor?" His question was rhetorical as he didn't care for what her answer was.
"You did with me," Kate replied timely.
Edward didn't say anything back; he leaned away from the counter and took both drinks in his hands.
"Where did you find her, Hot Topic?" she laughed as Edward walked away.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just playing. I know she's a college student at CSU; your father told me about it."
"And why did we never work out before, Kate; you're just so charming with your introductions."
"Who's biting back now?"
Edward's reaction cooled, rolling his eyes at her but not officially blowing her off. He was professional and knew Kate's personality way too well to get as heated as he did.
Kate did the Feature stories; she was a pretty important aspect to the newspaper. Not a lot of people could do her job because some of the stories she took on were hard. 'Hard' was an interesting word because 'hard' didn't appeal to the work load, as in quantity, but just that sometimes the stories she had to cover were no easy feat. So he asked how things were on her side and she gave the same shrug that everyone else gave when one was asked about their job. Even Edward fell victim to it.
"Eh; sometimes I'd rather be on your end advising people rather than informing them of the disasters going on around them."
"Bad financial choices are the disasters going on around them," Edward commented.
"And that's why you do what you do so well."
Kate lifted her champagne flute to her lips, taking delicate sips as her eyes wandered around the room. Her hair had been a lot shorter since the last time Edward had seen her. Kate and her two sisters had same similar ice blonde hair and angled cuts that framed their angular faces. Kate was the youngest of them all and rather smart for her age. She impressed Edward the day he read her column in Sun-Time's magazine, back when she was doing puff pieces.
She was a cut throat worker now and people respected her for her job but Kate was never a 'nice' person. 'Nice' wasn't in her vocabulary.
"Pleasant to see you again, Kate."
"You too, Edward." Before he left her, Kate quickly grabbed him by the shoulder, catching his attention. "Oh, quick tip; if you want to be taken seriously as a journalist, maybe dating a My Little Pony isn't your best bet."
Edward's terse words were pre-planned since the day they stopped dating. "You're terrible at giving advice, Kate. You could never do my job."
Back at the table, Bella had been watching the exchange between Edward and the other woman whom Bella was not familiar with. She seemed very comfortable around him which led Bella to believe that they were old friends, maybe more.
Maybe less.
It didn't matter too much, Bella told herself, as they weren't dating. Bella agreed to come as a business deal; a sort of commonplace agreement. But it didn't explain her insides turning on her when she saw them talking. Bella was smarter than to trust her brain over her gut and she reminded herself of this when Edward walked back over.
He handed her a glass of champagne and gave a polite smile to her as she thanked him.
"Are you having a good time?"
"Yup."
The evening slowed after that; dinner being delicious yet drawn out with too many courses for Bella to finish. By dessert, the only thing she could filter was water.
"We can leave soon if you want," Edward whispered to her as he leant over in his chair.
She nodded to him but didn't give him an exact answer. She would leave when he was ready because this was his dinner, not hers, and she didn't want to be the cause of making him look bad.
However, they eventually did leave not too much longer after his nudge at the subject and in the car, Edward offered her to stay the night.
Bella declined unwillingly.
"Sorry, I have an in-class exam tomorrow. If it were any other night, I would."
"I understand." He kissed her on her lips after parking on the street.
"Thanks for inviting me. I had fun."
Edward looked at her with wonder. "Did you?"
"Yeah," she reassured him.
"I'm glad." Forced or not, she couldn't completely tell if his smile reached his eyes.
"Night then," she said.
"Night."
Over the next few days, Rose had informed her best friend that she agreed to go out on a date with Emmett. He had overly expressed his excitement for it; however, Rose's end was failing to reciprocate.
In the end, she asked Bella if she would feel comfortable double dating with her with Edward. Bella's automatic response was that the two weren't necessarily dating but looking at it from Rose's perspective, she begged much to differ.
Bella agreed only for Rose's sake.
Rose felt bad asking because she really didn't want to put Bella in a place of compromise, especially with Edward. Bella shared just about everything about their relationship with Rose and it seemed to her that they were just sleeping around, nothing too comfortable for permanency. But Rose knew her friend way better than Bella knew herself and what Rose depicted was that Bella really liked Edward, way more than she let on.
One of the signs included Bella's lingering in the hair color isle of the supermarket.
Another included Bella's constant phone-check during movies, studying, and even during class.
Rose briefly asked Alice about it when she came by the room to borrow Bella's Canon camera for a project shoot. Alice was uninformative about it just as she was with everything else. But Rose knew what was up.
The night of the double date, Rose and Bella got ready separately but met up in the same room before leaving. Edward thought it would be more appropriate to pick the girls up rather than leave them to taking the bus so both the girls occupied the back seat while Emmett sat up front with Edward.
Bella was offered the front seat next to Edward initially but knowing it might have been awkward with Emmett in the back seat with Rose, she chose the wiser option.
Everyone might have been flirty with each other the first night they all met but it was also with liquid encouragement that made it the night it was. Tonight, however, it was like Rose had never been on a date in her life.
Although, it came to Bella's attention that this may have been the first date she had been on since she 'came out'. And this date included a guy.
They equally chose a place that was less expensive; a place definitely not as extravagant as the Italian restaurant Edward took Bella on their first outing. It also gave Rose the excuse to wear her favorite jeans, instead of something like a dress.
And Emmett certainly liked this idea as well; he was thinking about what he wouldn't do to mentally freeze frame her ass.
Bella wore the same black and white striped pants Edward first saw her in and now at the table, complimented her on them. It was a quick moment, but it was a moment shared between the two that only Rose noticed. But it was quickly forgotten once the waiter came and went.
"So, you two have the same major; CTV?" Emmett asked, starting the conversation.
Both Rose and Bella nodded, setting down their sodas to answer.
"I originally started out as a theater major but I wasn't crazy about their drama program. I became more interested about what went on behind the camera so that's when I switched," Rose stated, surveying her answer as an appropriate one. The two guys then looked to Bella to answer, perhaps believing her answer would be similar to Rosalie's.
"I'm really into photography. Still photos. But I also really liked how movies are framed, what kind of lens they use, the editing process of it. Plus, I wanted to choose something that would piss off my dad. He'd prefer I be like my roommate; an English major."
Emmett laughed, finding humor in it as he looked to Edward. "Sounds like Jasper's kind of girl."
"Jasper's weirdly into literature," Edward added, pointedly speaking to Bella and Rose.
"By all means, do whatever to get her out of the room. She never leaves," Bella replied, sipping at her drink again.
"What do you have planned after you graduate?" Emmett inquired, looking to the doe eyed girl with her attention mostly taken by Bella and Edward.
"Oh. Um, Bella and I were thinking of getting an apartment together in L.A. and getting jobs somewhere in the movie industry. Maybe work backstage for a few theater productions, get our way inside and move higher up."
"Sounds productive, but what are you going to do in terms of money? The entertainment industry is wildly known for how difficult it is to get in, let alone it being shallow towards anyone trying to make it by themselves without references," Edward cut it.
Bella looked to him, a bit perplexed by his grab for curiosity; she couldn't help being bothered by his pushy attitude towards money.
"It's not like Rose and I are going in blind; we'll have money saved up by then. Other jobs lined up to support us," Bella replied, steering the conversation away.
"Sounds risky," Edward commented.
"Sounds like any other college student's plans post-school."
"Sounds fun," Emmett added, clearing his throat from the tension surfacing the table.
They all moved on from the subject that was otherwise beginning to become touchy towards Bella. They ordered their food, strayed from any serious conversation until the wine hit Rose's nervous system and calmed her down. By the end of the night, she was as talkative as she normally was.
Emmett still had it in his head that Rose Hale, the beautiful woman sitting next to him, couldn't have been into girls. Not that he felt there was anything wrong with that nature, but just that he didn't want that to be the case with her. Because even Edward could tell that this girl had his best friend wrapped around her manicured fingers and there was no undoing it. And Emmett wouldn't settle for anything else unless he was physically removed from it.
Nearing towards the end of the night, the double date slowly turned into two separate dates at the same table and it was Bella and Edward in their own conversation with Rose and Emmett in theirs.
And Bella still couldn't help but feel bothered by Edward's reaction towards her L.A. plans. So while picking at her dessert, she softly brought it up again.
"Do you really think it's a bad idea? Me and Rose, moving out to L.A.?"
Edward was surprised the topic was brought up again, but didn't really think much of it. He shared his fork with Bella's and picked at the crust of the pie.
"No. I just think you might have a tough time, and I wouldn't want you guys to struggle for months and then have to go back home because it didn't work out."
Bella arched an eyebrow. "So you automatically think we're going to fail?"
He shook his head. "No. But I'm being realistic by saying that it won't be easy."
"I know it won't be easy, but that doesn't mean we're going to fail."
He put down his fork. "I never said you were going to fail."
"But you did!" Bella's voice heightened.
Defensively, Edward put up his hands and backed off. "I didn't mean anything by it, Bella. Really. You asked for my opinion."
Bella cooled herself and took a drink of water. Momentarily she felt bad for fighting at him, but she still wasn't completely comprehensive with his wording.
"But Bella," Edward started, looking at their half-eaten pie rather than her face, "You really don't think you'll have a hard time?"
Her inhale was sharp as well as her sideways glancing towards him. "Is this a money thing again?"
"No."
She clicked her tongue. "You think I won't get a job because of how I look?"
"Now I'm not really saying—"
"Yes, Edward, yes you are. That is exactly what you are saying."
Rose and Emmett looked over cautiously at the two stubborn people across from them. At one point, Emmett almost felt compelled to intervene but also felt it might not have been any of his business. Probably Rose's business more than any of them. However, Rose wasn't sure what to say either.
"No, Bella, listen to me. I'm not saying you won't get a job. But maybe the hair and the nails and the piercings are a little much. Maybe toning it down when you get out there…."
"Do you think they're too much?" Her voice lowered, becoming soft and filled with emotion.
The brunette softened his face instantly, feeling sorry for what he had said. And the truth was he didn't regret feeling that way because his approach was always realistic. And if speaking realistically, no, he wasn't so sure if Bella would have a breezy time finding a serious job in the industry she wanted. But was his execution delivered poorly?
That he wouldn't fight on.
Because he didn't mind her looks at all.
But maybe this conversation wasn't even about her, but rather himself.
Because, would people take him seriously dating a girl like her, because of her looks? Well, Edward just wasn't that sure. Even with his realistic approach.
"No," he finally answered.
The dinner ended on a sour note for one half of the couples. The other half would beg to differ, or rather the other quarter would. Emmett thought it went brilliantly well. So did Rose, but it wasn't Rose pursing a second date.
Why?
Because at the end of the night, Rose received a text from Leah, and there really wasn't much left to say at that point.
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