Chapter 2 « Family dinner »
The next morning I woke up to a monumental hangover. I didn't remember a lot of things about the night before, apart from the sweetest and hottest kiss I ever had. I knew it was unlikely that I'd see him again, but the kiss left me with a feeling of longing: I wanted to have another one and God so much more! I replayed it a dozen times in my head before getting up, the way his lips felt against mine, his smell... I was starting to feel wetter in my lower region.
You need to stop this now! I thought. Or you're gonna need to use your old friend to find some release, and having your mom catch you once is enough! That thought alone brought me back to the present.
It was already three p.m., and I remembered that Mom wanted me to help her in the kitchen for tonight's dinner with the Cullens. I showered, dressed, and headed downstairs to the kitchen. The house was quiet except for the sound of running water.
"Hey, Mom." She was by the sink and the kitchen looked like a battle field.
"Hi, Bella, there's some Tylenol on the table. It will help with your hangover." She said pointing towards the table.
"Thanks. I really need it."
"When you feel a little better, do you mind helping me? I tried to make your famous chicken enchiladas but I burned my fingers, and the chicken too. I'm completely desperate."
After I swallowed two tablets with a glass of water, I helped Mom with the chicken like she asked. I did most of the work and left her to prepare the salad and set the table. Once the table was ready, it was almost time for the Cullens to arrive.
"Thank you, honey. You are my savior. Now go and put something nice on. Sweat pants and a tank top are not appropriate for tonight, beautiful."
"Why? They are so comfortable! I'm at home after all."
"Honey, please? Plus I know they are coming with their children, since they came to visit them. Their son is the same age as you. I'm sure you want to make a good first impression, don't you?"
"I thought they had young children..."
"Hurry up please, Bells, they are going to be here in ten minutes!"
I went up and tried to find something comfortable and "appropriate" to wear. I decided that a pair of jeans, my blue blouse, and my blue flats would be good enough. I didn't bother with makeup or my hair for that matter.
I heard the door bell, so I went downstairs to welcome our guests. The first Cullen I saw was tall, well-built and had piercing blue eyes. He introduced himself as Carlisle. He took my hand in his and kissed it. I felt the blush forming on my cheeks.
Then he introduced his wife, Esme. "And this is my beautiful wife," he said. His wife was actually really beautiful. She had brown hair and beautiful green eyes.
"Hello, you must be Isabella. I'm Esme,"she reached out to shake my hand. In her arms she held the cutest little girl I had ever seen. She had bronze curly hair and deep green eyes. She looked at me
and a timid smile appeared.
"Hi, yes I'm Isabella, but please call me Bella." I smiled to the girl. "Hey, sweetie, What's your name?" She looked at me with a tight smile and then tucked her head in the crook of Esme's neck.
"This is Elisabeth or Lilly," Esme told me. "She is shy but really sweet."
"I can see that..." I was interrupted by a big guy. I mean a really big guy who seemed to be vaguely familiar for some reason.
"Well, hello there. I'm Emmett and you are?" he asked extending his hand and staring at me. I shaked it.
"Hi. I'm Bella, nice to meet you." He smiled, showing me all his teeth, but someone hit him on his arm. She was tiny, with short hair, but very beautiful. I had noticed that all the Cullens were beautiful.
"You have to excuse my big brother; he can be a real caveman sometimes. I'm Alice, by the way."
"No it's okay. Don't worry. Please come in." I closed the door behind her and joined everyone in the living room. They were talking to my parents. The atmosphere was really great, until Mom directed the conversation around me.
"Oh really, Paris? Well, I've never been to France, but Bella spent two years there. Actually, she just came back yesterday."
I blushed and looked at my feet. I really don't like to talk to strangers about myself. Fuck, she knows that! I glanced at my dad, who looked at me with apologetic eyes. Then Emmett spoke.
"Where did you stay?"
"I stayed in Paris for two months to finish school. Then I went to work as a teacher in the South, in a small town called Aix en Provence." I hoped that they had learned enough information about me to satisfy their curiosity, that they'd let me be in peace. I was wrong.
"And did you like it there?" Esme asked with Lilly still in her arms. She was so young I wondered if she was their real daughter. Not that Esme was that old, but Alice was twenty-three, Emmett was twenty-four, so it seemed to be a little odd.
"Yes. It was really nice and warm," I replied.
"What did you teach?" Carlisle asked.
"English." We were interrupted, thank God, by Emmett's phone.
"Oh! I'm sorry. It's Eddie, Mom. I'm going to take this outside."
I took this opportunity to turn the attention off of me and turn it onto Lilly; I was really interested in learning more about her.
"And how old is Lilly?"
"She is four years old, " Alice said with pride. Was she her mom?
"She is so sweet! " Mom said. Lilly looked at us and smiled. She looked back at Esme, and we heard her voice for the first time.
"Nanna, where is Daddy?" So Esme is her grandmother.
"Oh, sweetie! Daddy is working, remember? You are going to see him tomorrow." Lilly looked so sad. I wanted to make her smile again.
"Well, Lilly, I might have something for you in my room. Do you want to come with me?"
She looked at me with fear, but I also saw curiosity in her deep green eyes. Esme whispered something in her ear.
"Wow, a surprise? Let's go!" Alice squealed and Lilly smiled.
"Okay," she said. She took Alice's hand and we went to my room. I loved painting when I was in high school, and I still had some paint, brushes and papers. I prepared everything for her on my desk and she smiled at me.
"Thank you, Isawella." I just had to smile at her.
"You are welcome, beautiful, but you know what? Just call me Bella, okay?"
"Okay."
While she painted, Alice and I went to my couch. She asked me about my life in France and I asked her about her job. She told me she was a stylist in Los Angeles and her boyfriend, Jasper, was a talent agent. They were engaged and were looking for a new house in the vicinity of Forks since her parents had moved here. So I thought it was a good opportunity to question her about Lilly.
"Forks is nice for holidays. And Lilly would probably have more opportunities to see her grandparents if you had a house here."
"Oh, no! I'm not her mother. She is my... cousin." She didn't look at me while saying this. I had a strange feeling that she was lying to me.
"She seems to miss her father a lot," I stated.
"Yes. He is not with her a lot. His work is very... hmm... absorbing. He has to travel a lot. So she stays with Esme and he comes to visit her..."
"What about her mom?"
"She...well let's say, she just... didn't want her..."
"Oh! Shit! I mean, wow! That's...hard. Poor little thing." My heart ached for her. Another ache, more ancient, made its way into my heart. Suddenly I felt angry, and sick.
"Yeah. She doesn't know yet. She is so small. Esme takes care of her. But sometimes it's hard. Her father was so depressed and surprised. I guess he still doesn't know how to deal with it."
I didn't understand everything but I didn't want to be too pushy or too curious.
"Anyway, Emmett and I wanted to have a last drink tonight after dinner. Do you want to come with us?"
I could use a drink, but I didn't want Emmett to stare at me all night. So I told her that I already went out last night, and I was tired.
"Please? I swear Emmett won't stare at you. He won't even talk to you! I don't even know what goes through his mind! He has a fiancée!"
"Oh, really?" Asshole! I thought.
"Yeah! So will you come?" She sounded so hopeful.
"Hmm... Okay, but I won't stay long."
"We won't, I promise!"
Once Lilly had finished painting beautiful flowers and rainbows, we cleaned her up an headed back downstairs to join the rest of the group. Emmett had returned and was sitting with everyone else at the table. We ate, talked and laughed. Esme told us stories about Emmett, Alice and their cousin's childhood while Carlisle and Charlie talked about sports. Lilly wanted to sit between Alice and me. She was really cute trying to imitate us.
After dinner, Emmett excused himself to make a call, while Alice said that I needed to change. We went back to my room so I could change. I put on a blue dress and my black Jimmy Choos. I applied some makeup and some gloss.
"You look really cute, Bella," Alice smiled at me.
"Thanks," I replied, blushing.
We joined Emmett in the living room and bid our goodbyes.
"Eddie is going to join us. He needs a drink", Emmett said.
"Is he sure about that? Forks is small, but..." Alice seemed to be stressed.
"Fuck off, Alice! Let him be! He had a hard time with them already. He needs to go out and breathe. Nothing is going to happen. It's fucking Forks!"
"I'm just worried about him. I don't want him to deal with another-"
"He won't," Emmett cut her off. His tone was final. "Plus he said he was with Rose on the phone all night, and she said it was okay as long as he stayed out of trouble. And I'm here. So relax!"
I didn't understand anything. It seemed that, that Eddie - whoever he was- had some problems...
We arrived at Black's, the only bar in Forks. We went to the bar to order our drinks and I noticed that Tyler Crowley was working behind the bar. I had gone to high school with him and we were Biology lab-partner.
"Oh! Bella Swan, nice to see you here. Long time no see!"
"So how are you, Tyler?"
That's when I felt it. The atmosphere around me filled with the same electric current that I had felt the night before. I turned around, and, sure enough, deep green eyes were staring at me. Alice screamed, "Edward!" and his head snapped in her direction.
"Hi, little pixie. How are you?"
"She missed you," she said.
"Yeah, I know. She called me. I went to see her, but she was already asleep." He looked devastated.
"It's going to be okay now. Let me introduced you to Isabella, my new friend! Bella, this is Edward Masen."
Now Edward and Emmett were both staring at me with wide eyes. I was going to say something, apologize or something, when he extended his hands toward me.
"Well, it's nice to see you.. again." He smirked at me, and Emmett laughed hard. I felt my cheeks grow warm, and I was sure I probably turned scarlet. I dropped my head, unable to look at any of them.
"Nice to see you too," I said.
"Well, well! Now, you know the name of your beautiful kisser!" I turned even redder. Emmett was there?
"Indeed," Edward replied, still staring at me.
"What's going on here? Can someone explain it to me?" Alice looked back and forth between Emmett, Edward, and me. Apparently, she didn't know about last night.
"Well," Emmett started while Edward kept smirking at me. I felt so ashamed...Please, kill me NOW!
"Our beautiful Bella came to us last night, while we were at the Volturi, and asked Edward to kiss her. I have to tell you that he was a little bit drunk, so he agreed, and she kissed him. He kissed her back, and Alice, let me tell you it was..."
"Okay, Em, I think she gets the idea..."Edward said.
"She didn't even ask him for his autograph or phone number! She run away after the kiss, and..." I couldn't listen to Emmett anymore. I was too ashamed.
Alice gaped at me, opening and closing her mouth, but nothing came out of it. I was so embarrassed. I couldn't let him think that I was an easy girl, or a whore, so I spoke up, cutting off Emmett.
"Yeah, well, about that, hmm...I wanted to...apologize. I mean, it's really not...I'm not used to kiss strangers. I was really drunk, and my friends dared me to kiss you...God! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I'm so sorry..."
"Strangers?" Alice said.
"Please! Don't. Really, I should have said no, but..." Edward tried to apologize.
"Well, you sure as hell weren't sorry last night, Eddie!" Emmett laughed.
"Stop for the hundredth times calling me Eddie and Bella, please let's start again and forget about last night."
He wants to forget about last night. Good, but am I able to forget? Not so sure...It was the first time I got kissed like that. But I have to tell him something...and everything Emmett said about autographs... Why would I want his autograph? Is he some kind of celebrity, or something? I'm completely lost. They are all waiting for me to speak... Speak Bella!
"Hmm...Okay. I'm Isabella Swan, and it's nice to meet you," I replied.
"Edward. But you already knew that, and the pleasure is all mine."
"Edward! Are you crazy? There were probably people watching you last night ! Taking PICTURES of you in that bar kissing a stranger! Did Rosalie call you? Oh god! Why didn't you tell me?"Alice seemed so angry.
"Alice, please, calm down. I spent my evening talking to Rosalie and going through the internet with Jasper. Nothing came out. I told you, nobody bothered me. I was a complete stranger. Now, you are supposed to take it easy, remember? So, relax, please?"
"God! I swear, you are going to be the death of me." Then she turned toward me. "Bella, please, don't tell anyone who you kissed last night. Who saw you?" I didn't understand why this was important. I was lost.
"Alice, I don't... I mean, I was drunk. I'm sorry. I was with my friends Jacob and Angela. I think they saw me, I don't know...Right after the kiss, I got sick and went to the restroom. Then, I took a cab to home. But I don't understand, what's going on?"
"What? What's going on? Bella, you kissed EDWARD MASEN last night! I mean, Hello!"
"Alice..." Edward groaned.
"AND? What's the matter? Is he..." I hesitated.
Emmett started to laugh, while saying, "This is too good man!" laugh, "One chick on this planet who doesn't know", laugh, "who you are!" laugh, "Too good!" laugh.
I was redder than ever. Edward looked at Emmett with daggers in his eyes. Alice stared at me with her mouth open, until she recovered.
"Edward, here, is one of the most famous actor out there right now. He was elected one of the most influential people by People Magazine a couple of months ago, and the most beautiful and sexiest man in the world. You have to have heard of him!"
It was my turn to gape at him. He looked at me shyly. How could I not know that? Oh, that's right! I had spent my last two years in France, studying, or trying to achieve my stupid dream of becoming a writer. I had made a few friends there but I rarely went out. I didn't even have a fucking TV during those years. I had totally lost myself for two years, writing, and trying to forget all the shit that happened with James. Yes, if I was honest, that's why I flew to France, to forget.
I was brought back to earth by Alice.
"Are you okay, Bella?"
Am I okay?