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Chapter Two

Now is a Good Time to Start Rehearsals

Answering my mother's questions when I came home last night made me cringe. I had to smile, just enough to make it to look convincing, and say good things about Edward Cullen. Muttered, to be exact. I would never gush about a guy after the second date, and I doubt I would ever gush about Edward Cullen. There were a few times I just shrugged, thinking it would be better if I make it look like Edward was into me than the other way around. Although how a guy would be into me, I had no idea. Renee ended the inquisition when I told her I gave Edward my number. She was quite satisfied with herself. I heard her stumbling over to the phone right after that, probably calling Edward's mom. Gossip Girls.

My night should have been peaceful, the blind date nightmare gone. Instead I dreamed of Jake.

It was worse.

The next day I tried, once again, to look for a summer job. I didn't have many options. There was just not enough activity in Forks, and I was afraid I'd end up doing nothing until September.

Renee didn't help either, trying to make me stay at home and chat about Edward Cullen. I declined. What was there to chat about? If I didn't know any better, I'd say she wanted to date him. Lately all she could talk about was guys – guys my age. I wonder how my dad felt about that. Not that my parents are an example of an old couple living in blissful love. Sure, Charlie and Renee are friends, but I never saw them as how I wanted to see myself years from now – married and living in blissful love.

Ugh. I couldn't believe I thought about that again. I had scratched that vision off a long time ago.

After my unsuccessful job search, I isolated myself in the comforts of my bedroom, door locked.

After two years of college, away from my parents, it felt so nostalgic to be in my bedroom. Bittersweet. Childhood toys and high school trinkets invaded most of the space, each one tied to a memory of the past. I eyed my cork board, which still held brochures of universities I wanted to attend, photos of my high school graduation, and a few 'to-do' lists I had back then. I should have thrown that out. I remembered clearing my cork board the summer before my first semester of college, pulling out photos of Jake and dramatically burning them outside, only to be stopped by the rain. It was futile, my clearing out of things that would remind me of him. Even though they were gone, memories of him still played in head, like a long sickening movie. It was sad, depressing, and annoying, playing over and over and over again.

Just like now. Sickening.

I rushed downstairs, hoping my mother could distract me. She looked up from the TV and smiled. "Bella, don't you have a date today?"

"No." I tried to hide the disgusted grimace on my face.

She looked confused then, and a bit pained. "But I thought you and Edward are getting along."

I rolled my eyes. "We just had dinner last night, mom."

Apparently, that wasn't enough for her. "Today is another day, Bella." She stood up from the couch. "I will go call Esme right now..."

"No!" I nearly screamed. Really, this mommy's intervention thing was so not cool. I did not want to see Edward Cullen three days in a row. "I mean, it's fine, mom. He's busy, I think."

"He's busy?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, he sent me a text earlier." Lie.

My mom calmed down, settling herself back on the sofa, smiling once again. "Really? That's so sweet of him."

Sweet? A text message? At least it was so easy to please my mother. Sometimes.

"What did he say?"

What did he say? "Um... just some stuff..." Renee kept looking at me expectantly. "...about him..." Huh? "...about his day..." I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I was usually bad at lying. I should have kept my mouth shut.

"Oh, I'm sorry, honey. I shouldn't pry." She giggled. "What happens between the two of you is private."

Huh. This may be easier than I thought.

"Yeah, mom. Private." I nodded, giving her a knowing smile, like being two friends sharing a secret. Relieved she wouldn't pry again, I settled on the couch beside her and watched TV.

Edward did have a nice car. I found myself seated beside him in his silver Volvo three days after our dinner. He called me last night and said he needed to go out with me. It was strange, having a guy say he needed to go out with you rather than he wanted to. Apparently, his mother suggested he'd take me out for the day since it wasn't raining. Because I still needed to look for a job, I said yes.

I decided to take my mom's advice and offer babysitting jobs for the summer. I was desperate. Renee's a pre-school teacher, and she gave me a list of my potential clients. Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to personally introduce myself to the mothers and offer my services.

Our first stop was the Stanley's. I got out of the car and headed straight to the house. It was Jessica, a high school classmate of mine, who answered the door. After a few awkward greetings and hair twirling on her part, I found out her mom was not around. I didn't bother giving her my number. I doubt Mrs. Stanley would hire me when Jessica's around to look after her siblings. Really, why haven't I thought of this earlier? Stupid Bella.

Just before I turn around, she noticed Edward's car parked on their front lawn. "Is that Edward Cullen?"

I nodded.

"He's with you?"

I nodded again.

She pointed one glossy pink painted finger at me. "You're with him?"

Please, no. I couldn't believe I was experiencing this. "Yeah, yeah. I know. It's funny," I said with a straight face. I should have known I would have to deal with this. Edward did say he had a lot of girlfriends, and then there's the fact that he looks way out of my league.

"No, no... that's not what I meant, Bella."

I raised a brow.

"It's just..." She looked behind me before meeting my gaze again. I was expecting jealousy or annoyance from her eyes, and yes there was jealousy and there was annoyance, but there was something else. "...nothing. It's nothing."

I nodded, confused, and said goodbye. When I was back inside the car and Edward drove us away from the Stanley's, I realized the other emotion in Jessica's eyes. It was pity.

After two more stops of my door-to-door babysitting campaign, I had Edward drive me to Newton's Outfitters a few miles away. It was my dad who told me to check it out. The store was small, but was fully packed with outdoor equipments. However, there was no one behind the counter. There was a door at the back of the room, and whoever was on duty must be in there.

I waited near the cash register, wondering if I really was up to a job in this kind of store. Anything outdoor is practically alien to me.

Surprisingly, Edward came inside with me. He has been so quiet today, only answering when I asked questions. He looked bored, so I was glad he got out of his car and looked around the store.

Not a minute passed and the back door opened. Mike Newton appeared. Huh. Today seemed to be my high school reunion. Then again this was Forks. Everyday could be reunion day. I waved when he walked towards me with a big smile. "Bella!"

"Hey, Mike."

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, I was hoping you'd have a job opening here that I can..."

One moment Mike was smiling at me, the next he was suddenly barking at someone behind my back. "Hey, you! No touching of the display!"

I turned to see Edward, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He immediately shoved his hands behind his back and slowly walked away from the shelf. He acted like it was no big deal, but I never saw him looking that weak and vulnerable before, like an insecure kid. Not that I've seen a lot of him, but I never thought I would.

I looked back at Mike and saw the obvious animosity in his glare. Before I could ask him what the hell just happened, he went back to smiling at me again like everything was peachy perfect. I knew Mike back in high school, and so I knew he could be quite annoying, but I never saw this hostile side of him. I forgot about the job, I just wanted to leave. I was disgusted."Mike, never mind... I'll just... um..."

His smile faltered. "I'm so sorry, Bella. Did I scare you?"

I was speechless.

"I'm sorry. You shouldn't have seen that."

I searched hard for my voice until I found it. "No. You shouldn't have done that."

Mike's smile was gone by now. "It's fine. It's Cullen." He shrugged, like that was supposed to be a valid reason.

"He didn't do anything wrong, Mike. He was just..."

Edward's voice was soft behind me when he interrupted. "Bella, can we just leave now, please?" He sounded tired.

I didn't turn away from Mike, determined to finish my speech, but then Mike was now looking like the deer that was caught in the headlights.

"He's with you?" he asked, looking quite shocked still. I've heard that question before.

I nodded.

He pointed a finger at me. "You're with him? You're with Cullen?"

Not again! I suppressed a groan.

He went on, leaning towards me. "Bella, you don't know what you're getting yourself into. Have you talked to half of the girls here recently? Cullen has only been here a couple of summers and he's already a well known shit. Sure he has the money and you girls dig his brooding looks, but seriously, Bella, he's fucked up. He'll just have you chase him around in a wild goose chase until he gets sick and tired of you, the way he did to those girls..." He paused to take a breath.

"Go on, Newton. Keep pretending I can't hear you."

I almost jumped to the sound of Edward's calm voice. Even Mike looked embarrassed for a second. I knew it was rude, but curiosity got the better of me. I was mortified with myself. I was actually paying attention to Mike and forgot Edward who was standing just a few feet behind me.

Mike cleared his throat. "So, Bella, let me talk to my mom. I can call you sometime and we could..."

"No, Mike. Thank you, but I don't think this is the right job for me." I gave him a weak smile and hurriedly walked out of the store.

Edward followed, not saying anything. When we got back to the car, I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes. He didn't seem to be mad. He looked downright bored again. At least he didn't have a temper.

He finally spoke when we arrived at my house. "You don't have to change your mind working at Newton's because of what happened today."

"It's okay. I wasn't interested at the first place."

He didn't seem to believe me. "Right." Sarcasm.

"Really. I mean, can you imagine me surrounded by camping gears all day, with Mike barking like a guard dog here and there? I have never even camped before..." I let that trail off, hesitant to mention anything more about Mike Newton. We fell into silence. I really wanted to ask him about what Mike said in the store, but was scared that would only trigger Edward to unleash some hidden anger or annoyance of the topic, or of Mike.

He was still quiet though, which was different from the other times I was with him.

It was after a moment when he spoke again. "Hey, do you really think this will work out?"

We were still in his car, so I turned to look at him, a bit confused. "What? Us?" Was he backing out? Is that why he was so quiet today? "Sure. Why not?"

He released his hold of the stirring wheel, and turned to face me. "Well, I don't know you." He made a little frown. "The other night, my mom kept talking about you during dinner, where you go to school, your favorite food, your strange fear of blood, even how you wanted your eggs to be cooked, everything. But I don't know you, and I couldn't say a single word back. I'm going to mess this up, and you'll be going down with me. I don't think I can..."

Okay. I agreed that was a problem, but not enough to give up the plan. "Don't worry. We supposedly just started dating. We're not supposed to know each other very well," I said softly, wondering how things became so depressingly serious. This was supposed to be just a game to fool our mothers.

He rolled his eyes. "Sure. Then I can assume from my mom's intensive knowledge on every aspect of your life, you two are more than tight buddies."

Huh. I had to admit it was kind of freaky having Edward's mother know that much about me. I haven't even met the woman. I needed to stop Renee from talking too much. Maybe my dad could help me with that. Our phone bill has surely skyrocketed because of her calls.

Anyways, that would have to be dealt with later. "It's not that big of a problem. We both knew this would entail some work. A little research, practice, and careful planning and they would never suspect anything."

He thought about it for a while before nodding. "Okay, okay. Just don't make me watch some cheap romantic flick for this..."

I glared at him. Like I though of that.

Silence loomed over us once again.

A moment later and I heard Edward chuckle. He was now smiling, his first today. Something seemed to be funny to him.

"What?" I asked.

"Are you... I mean, were you and Mike...?" He raised his brows suggestively.

Gross! "No!"

He laughed out loud then, obviously amused by the idea of Mike and me together, or the way I cried out no. I waited in silence as he went on laughing, not really seeing the humor. When he looked back at my direction, his laughter suddenly stopped. He was still smiling though, but I saw him looking a bit frightened for a second there.

"Your mom is looking at us through the window," he said.

Renee is watching us? I was on the verge of turning my head around when Edward stopped me.

"Don't look!"

"What? Why?" I felt my neck stiffen at the interdicted action, and I could admit I must have looked funny.

He chuckled, which was unexpected. My eyes narrowed at him.

"Well," he said. "Let's just say now is a good time to start rehearsals." A crooked smile appeared on his face.

"Rehearsals?"

"Uh-huh."

And before I could figure out what that meant, he was already leaning towards me. I still couldn't quite move my neck when his face came inches from mine; his lips gently touched my cheek.

It lasted for only a second.

He leaned back, still smiling. "Goodbye, Bella. I'll call you, okay?"

I had no idea how my face looked at that moment, but I was pretty sure I wasn't amused. A blush crept over my face without permission, and Edward Cullen had the nerve to wink at me. Speechless, I hurriedly got out of his car, almost stumbling in the process.

My mother's loud squeal welcomed me home.