The phone in my pocket vibrated. I groaned, opening my eyes. Could they never just leave me alone?
Bzzzzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
I thought about snapping the phone in two. But that would upset Esme; and she was already upset enough. I sighed. It could be Esme on the other end. If I felt bad for anyone affected by my actions, it was Esme. It hurt to look her in the face; to know she loved me so much, and I was hurting her like this.
I sighed, removing the phone from my pocket and checking the caller ID. Alice. She was probably in one of her 'come home' modes again. This would make it the third call in a month. It was boring. I put the phone on the floor, and closed my eyes again, feasting greedily on the perfect, smiling face that hid behind my eyelids.
If I could not see her in real life, at least I could see her in my mind.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
I let ring. Bella's face was mesmerizing me; it hurt to look at, of course, but the feelings of pain it conjured up were equalized by the peace I felt at just seeing her…
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Oh, holy crow.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
With a flash of sudden irrepressible irritation, I snapped up the phone and accepted the call.
"Leave. Me. Alone." I hissed.
"I'm going and you can't stop me." Alice's voice was quick, like she was trying to get the words out before I could interrupt. Her sentence bemused me a little (which was surprising; I thought I was long past feeling any emotion other that the ones connected with Be- her). Where was she going? And why would I care enough to stop her.
"Bye," I said, and was about to hang up, when Alice spoke again.
"Edward, you don't know what I'm on about, do you?"
I rolled my eyes. "No, Alice, I don't, and I'm sorry but I don't care."
"Well, okay, and I'm sorry too, I wouldn't have rung if I didn't think you knew. But then, that was stupid, how could you have known, you've been keeping away from her."
Her? Which 'her' was she referring to? I had been avoiding quite a few.
"What?"
"It doesn't matter."
And she hung up on me.
Resenting my emotions, I dialled her back, curiosity eating away at my resolve. Her…
"You called me!" Alice was jubilant.
"Yes. Where are you going?"
There was a shifty silence from the other end. "Edward, you have to understand, I thought someone would have told you, Jasper wanted to, and Rose would have done, no doubt about it-"
"Alice, just answer the question," I growled, my patience fading. There was a time and a place for mindless chatter. She could gossip with someone else; I had a tight schedule of self resentment lined up for all the foreseeable future.
"Well…"
I tapped my fingers impatiently on the ground ( I registered that it was a wooden floor; I hadn't really taken much notice of my surroundings before I had settled here).
"Keep in mind that you've already agreed to let me go. Well," she said, correcting herself, "you didn't specifically say I couldn't, when you so rudely replied, so that counts as an assent."
I growled down the phone. How did Jasper stand this?
"I'm going to go to Bella's wedding, Edward."
What?
There was a long pause.
"You can't stop me."
More silence. I was only vaguely aware of it. My mind had gone blank.
"Edward?"
The phone went dead. It was a moment before I realised I had shut it off.
Wedding.