Chapter 4

EPOV

The university had been out of session for a over two months now, and I was reveling in the sheer joy of not having classes to teach, papers to grade, I wasn't scheduled for the usual amount of presentations as in previous summers, and I wasn't required to be checking in on the lab with my team as much since Angela and Ben had requested time away for their honeymoon.

It wasn't even a week after the last day of the semester when Ben came up to my office and told me that he and Angela had decided to go to the courthouse that day to get married, and asked me to join them as their witness. I agreed instantly and I told him that is was about fucking time.

They didn't want an overly romantic honeymoon and had never been anywhere international so they decided they would try to backpack through most of Europe, but instead of hostels, they would stay at decent accommodations. I occasionally received text messages from Ben when they arrived in a new city where he asked for suggestions on restaurants I had dined at in the past. If he'd ask for advice on any sites of interest, I would have been no help since the only site I had ever seen on my lecture circuits was the view of the Eiffel Tower as I touched down at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport two years ago.

A half empty pizza box was sitting on my coffee table next to my laptop I worked on. I was making some last minute edits on the methods and results section of the journal article that was due for submission before the start of the fall semester. I was gnawing on the end of a pizza crust when a notification of an email from my father flashed on my computer screen. Thinking I was at a good place to stop editing for the moment, I opened my inbox to read his message.

"Edward,

I hope that you are doing well this weekend. Your mother and I want to thank you again for the generous anniversary gift. Esme has started to redecorate the library in order to accommodate the portrait. She says the varnish of the frame matches the book stacks. I have no clue, but you know how women are, or at least how your mother is. Anyways, we wanted to know if you will be able attend the Behavioral Sciences dinner next Saturday. I know you had agreed last month, but I just wanted to check and make sure that you were still available. We will be having drinks around 5pm and you mother expects the chef to have dinner ready by 6:45pm. Your brother is in town again that weekend so, of course, he will be there with Rosalie. There will be a new audience for them at this dinner, so if either of them start going into detail of their meeting like they did back at our family dinner in May, I think I might join you for cigars and brandy in the den. Oh, I almost forgot, Jasper will be there that night too. Since he was transferred to Chicago a few weeks ago, he's been around a lot helping your mother with errands in his spare time. He's such a nice young man. He'll make a great husband for some lucky woman. Well, I asked him if he would be able to pick up Ms. Swan from O'Hare that day and he agree, He'll be picking her up around 11am that morning and will escort her to the manor that night for the dinner and I told him he is more than welcome to stay. That poor Swan girl doesn't have a lot of time to settle and get situated before she's thrown to the sharks that evening. I'm sure she'll do just fine though. All of us and I'm sure you as well, are excited to finally meet her. Anyways, my son, drop me a line and let me know if you will be there.

Carlisle "

I opened my personal planner and cursed, I forgot I had to pick up Ben and Angela that day. Their flight was coming in around 4pm which would cut it close to cocktail hour. I knew that both of them were also invited and they would want to go to the dinner and catch up with the rest of the department, but we would be late since they would need to change for the dinner when they arrived home. I sent a quick text message to Ben asking if his flight was still Saturday and if he and Angela were still planning to go. In ten minutes I received a picture of a Swiss guard in the Vatican and a reply.

"Yep. Sat 4:10pm O'Hare. Need 2 stop by house 2 change after landing, but we want 2 go 2 the dinner. Thx. Ur the Best! : )"

Amazing how unintelligent text messaging can make a person who is trying to get their PhD sound. I chuckled and sent a quick email back to Carlisle.

"Dad,

I will be there on Saturday. Unfortunately, I will be late. I had agreed to pick up Angela and Ben from the airport around 4pm that day and they need to go home and change before coming to the dinner. We probably will not be there until 7pm. Please let me know if I need to grovel or bring an apology gift for mom. Hopefully I can miss the Emmett/Rosalie story hour, which I am sorry I won't be there to rescue you from.

My love to you and mom,

Edward"

I never really enjoyed the annual dinner my parents held every year since I was twelve. There were always a lot of people crammed into my parent's manor. Even though we had enough room to accommodate them and still have room to fit one of my developmental psychology courses, I would still feel claustrophobic and would go into a full on anxiety attack. I would need to pop two Xanax before the night began just to get through it as normal as I possibly could.

It was always better after the cocktail hour anyways when people's mouths would be full with the food my mother would orchestrate with her kitchen staff. Missing cocktails, I would miss that form of torture where everyone riddled me with questions and I would eventually try and sneak off to my old room. Another positive note was that Emmett and Rose would have finished their story long before I arrived for the dinner.

The last time I was regaled with their story was the family dinner I attended in May; it was for Jasper's poor benefit since he hadn't heard it from Emmett's point of view yet. Maybe he could accompany my father for a stogie during drinks. If he did, I would need to thank him for that in the future.

My father was right that I was anxiously excited to meet Ms. Swan finally. She seemed quite bright and possibly able to handle what she was about to be thrown into, but she was still green with this field. Sure I was only seven years older than her, but I had strived for years nonstop in my work and research. If she wasn't up to my level of standard after the first semester I would have to put up with subpar work until the next summer and once again have a setback in my research and would probably need to meet with my therapist more than once a week after that.

I was running low on my prescription and figured I would get my ass out of my house for a little bit and fill my scripts before the weekend was over.

My Volvo sat in the driveway waiting for me as she did every day. My one place I felt completely comfortable in. If I hadn't already set a place of solitude with my father before I bought the Volvo, I would have used sitting in her driver's seat as part of my visualization. The purr of her engine as I started eased away any tension I had.

I backed out into the street and drove to my local pharmacy. It was rather busy that day and the pharmacist said it would probably be one to two hours before my scripts were filled.

I decided to take a stroll in the downtown market place that was right next door to pass some time. I looked at the shops and the families and couples that I passed. I hated a lot of public places. It was surprising that I was able to teach with all my anxiety with being in public place, but scholastic setting was more soothing to me since I felt confident in my teaching.

I passed a small family owned store and looked in the window. The old white haired couple behind the couple were bickering and made me chuckle. I thought they looked cute. I walked past the store window and opened the door to enter.

It looked like their store was an eclectic antiques one. There were old dressing mannequins and kitchen decor from what appeared to be the 1950's. There where chotchkeys and old soda posters that covered the walls and shelves.

There was a nice set of dishes off to the right of the front counter and went to check them out. The set was simple and yet elegant. They would be good enough for someone to entertain guests and I felt that it would be a perfect gift for Ben and Angela when they came back. I carried the set over to the couple at the counter who broke up their argument when they saw me approach.

I swept a piece of my messy bronze hair out of my eyes after I set the dinning set down. I told them I was purchasing a wedding gift and they had offered to gift wrap the set for me. As I waited for the elderly woman the tie up and wrap the set that was now in a large box, her husband decided to entertain me by pointing at the collection of "rare" baseball cards locked up in one of the display cases. I "hmm'd" and "hawed" for his benefit since I wasn't too interested in them. After her finished showing me the cards, and probably noticing my disinterest, he went to check on his wife to see if she needed any help and I perused the rest of the display cases solo.

There were many jewelry displays and even though I truly had no interest, I thought I would look just in case I saw something that would make a nice Christmas gift for Esme or my soon to be sister-in-law. There were the usual costume jewelry, large ridiculous animal earrings and chunky god awful bracelets. I moved away from the trashy display to the next.

There were some decent pieces in this display, a nice topaz pendant that Esme might enjoy, but a particular ring in there drew my attention. It was on a small black cloth pedestal, illuminated by a display light. The thin gold band of the ring held a large round sapphire stone surrounded my many small elegant diamonds. It was different from all the rest of the jewelry pieces in the store and it actually appeared to be real and quite possible rather pricey.

I turned to walk back to the couple, now finishing the wrapping together with smiles towards each other, lost in a personal conversation of a memory of their past.

"Excuse me, I have a few questions about some of the pieces in that display" I pointed to the one that contained the ring.

"Yes, that display is for our fine jewelry. Every piece comes with a certificate of authenticity and literature of its journey into our little store." the older woman smiled at me. "Thinking about buying something for your girl, young man?"

I shook my head. "No, afraid I do not have a woman to put up with me that I need to buy something for." Her smile slowly changed to a sympathetic frown. "I do have a mother that might like a nice Christmas gift though."

"Well, you must be a thoughtful son if you are already looking for a gift and it's just the end of July." The old man replied.

"I do what I can to be in her good graces." I looked back over at the display, the reflection of all the gemstones meeting my gaze. "Well, I think I might just have to come back soon and pick something out. Thank you very much for your time and the information."

"You come back any time young man, here's our card." The older man placed a white business card in my hand and I read the names embossed on it. "You come in here and ask for my wife, Carmen, or me, I'm Eleazar," He pointed to his name on the card, "and we'll be more than happy to assist." Both their smiles made me smile back.

"Thanks, I'll be sure to visit soon." I picked up the heavy box that was wrapped in an elegant silver paper and had silver ribbon streamers cascading down its sides and left the shop. It was too heavy to carry through the pharmacy, so I took it to my Volvo and placed it in the back seat. Wiping the small amount of sweat that trickled down my face from carrying the weight I turned and walked to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription.

Twenty minutes later I was cruising on my way back to the townhouse and listening to the local classical station. I hope that Ben and Angela would like my gift. I wasn't sure if they would really needed it, but a set of dishes they could claim as belonging to them as married couple should be just fine. In fact I wasn't sure as to how many gifts they would receive anyways since their marriage was so sudden.

Today had been a pretty good day. My mind kept drifting back to the older couple, Carmen and Eleazar.

They were so sweet together, and I found myself wishing to one day find someone that would make me as happy as Eleazar seemed when he would give Carmen a short squeeze and soft peck on her forehead during their exchanges. That thought quickly disappeared as I realized I almost missed my street.

"Shit!"

I quickly turned the corner before I passed it, not even bothering to use my turn signal. I looked in my rear view mirror and breathed a sigh of relief that there were not police cars in sight. I really couldn't handle a ticket. I reached for my prescription and took a pill out and swallowed it quickly.

As soon as I pulled up my driveway I looked at the clock and saw it was around 5pm. I took the gift box out of the back of my car. Unlocked my door and turned off the alarm before setting the gift on the kitchen table. I had a long day and decided to take a quick shower before making some dinner.

I got up to my room I pulled out a pair of boxer shorts and a clean white tank top from my dresser and laid them on my bed. Lifting my gray v-neck shirt over my head I tossed it across the room into the laundry basket and my slacks and socks soon followed. I marched off to the master bathroom and started the shower to heat the water. After testing the temperature to make sure it was hot enough to my liking, I slid out of my boxers and into my large inviting shower.

As the hot water hit my face, my muscles relaxed. I leaned forward, placing my hands on the wall in front to brace me and bent my head down so my wet hair was hanging in front of my eyes. The water felt so good as it trailed down my back. I sighed deeply feeling in it flow over my shoulders, past my lower back and over my rear. I raised my head and groaned with relaxation. The water felt so comfortable and was slightly arousing me. It had been some time since I felt any arousal that I decided that it would hurt to relieve myself tonight.

I rubbed the palm of my hand down my chest and past my navel, over my pelvic bone until it was lightly resting over my slightly aroused cock.

Slowly I started to massage my member in the firm grip of my hand. Pumping it in a slow rhythmic pace to get me started. The sensations of the of the hot water hitting my bare skin and the pressure I placed around my lower extremity was having me at full mast in little time. My breathing started to grow heavier and my pace picked up. Since I had not rubbed one out in quite a while, I knew it wouldn't take me long to to reach my goal. Sure enough a few quick minutes later I was brimming on the edge of my peak, the muscles in my thighs tightened as I felt the pressure build and break through and emptied myself on the wall of the shower.

It took a while for me to drain myself completely and when I was done, I was completely exhausted. I lazily shampooed my hair and just stood under the running a water for some time, and rinsed all the suds off of my body. Wiping off my mess that I made on the wall , I shut off the water.

When I stepped out, I wrapped a clean towel around my waist and headed back to my room. Dropping the my towel at the base of my bed I quickly changed into my clothes I had laid out earlier. If I hadn't been so hungry, I would have passed out on my soft and cocoon-like bed, but since my stomach usually ruled me, I descended my stairs and whipped up a can of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.

Eating my dinner, I ran over the list of things I needed to do this week before next Saturday. I figured I would go into my office Monday morning and get the syllabi ready for my fall courses and to outline the expectations for my Master's student I would be mentoring. I also needed to make a copy of my undergraduate lessons and guidelines for my grading rubric that my new TA would need.

I couldn't believe that the semester was starting so soon. I was relieved that I would have some assistance, but I was terrified that if it didn't work out, I would be overloaded with trying to pick up the slack. I figured that when I did meet with Ms. Swan I would do my best to show her that although she didn't have any financial obligations to worry about, it was not a paid vacation and that I would not put up with any shenanigans. I hated to play the "dick" card, but if I didn't that person would probably take advantage of the money my family was paying them to help expand their education. Hopefully I wouldn't scare her away before she even gave it a chance.

When I finished my meal, I placed my dishes in the kitchen sink, and chose to watch a few hours of mindless television. I hated watching it, I preferred a good book usually, but there wasn't any energy left in me for the night. My sofa hugged me as I sank into it and I flipped on the TV to whatever movie was currently in progress. When the film finished I convinced myself that it was not a bright idea to sleep on the couch again and climbed back upstairs and threw myself in my bed, where my eyes instantly closed once my head hit the pillow.

The next week went by too fast for my liking since it would mean I would be back to my chaotic schedules soon. I had to make a quick turnaround trip to Austin, Texas on Wednesday for a speech at a psychology conference on my research in the Neuroscience field. I was glad that I didn't need to stay longer than a few hours; the heat was too much to handle.

By Friday night, I was ready to go for the start of the semester. The first two weeks of the month would be my prep time with my team and meetings with members of the board of trustees about expectations for the year and to find out about my annual budget for research. It was all busywork and I would hardly have time to hang out in the lab, but Angela and Ben would take good care of it as always. Besides Ms. Swan, we had acquired other new members to our team before the summer.

Mike Newton, another Neuropsychology Master's student transferred from UCLA and would be handling all the data entry and formulating our graphs and charts for findings in the study. Eric Yorkie was in the process of gaining a lab technician degree at a local technical school would be interning in the lab so he could get training with using an Electroencephalography (EEG) recorder. Rounding out our team were two undergraduate students signed on to assist with the preliminary testing of participants in our study for course credit. Tyler Crowley, a fifth year senior, and Alice Brandon, the most spirited and enthusiastic person I had ever met in my life. At barely five feet tall with short pixie-like black hair she could be from a Disney cartoon but was such a spit fire at times I knew I wouldn't want to get on her bad side any day.

I had a good team, and when we all met before the spring semester ended, everyone seemed to get along and were excited and anxious along with me to get to work when we would return in the fall. Since a majority of the team was not considered part of the academic faculty, they wouldn't be at the dinner tomorrow night, which I was a bit disappointed about, but I figured I could get something together once the school year began and hold it here at the townhouse. It would be more casual and I would feel more comfortable since there wouldn't be as many people.

When my dreaded alarm clock woke me up the day of the departmental dinner I got up and took my suit for the evening out of the closet and hung it up on my bathroom door to air out any wrinkles. After I took a quick shower to wake me up some more, I dressed in the casual clothes I would wear to pick up the newlyweds in the afternoon and drove to my office to pick up some mail I would sort through when I was home for the rest of the weekend. When I got to my faculty mail box it was full flyers and large envelopes which I recognized as invitations to other colleges to speak at events and some conferences.

Mrs. Alistair was in the front office already and looked up as I was about to leave "Ugh, sometimes I wish I could just chuck all these away." I told her as I passed.

"Then how else could we get you out of your house or the lab then?" She teased.

Rolling my eyes as I backed out of the office to face her, I replied with a chuckle, "You make a good point."

I went through most of my mail from the university at home then I saw it was time to head out to pick up Ben and Angela so I shoved the rest aside.

I texted my father that I was heading to O'Hare and told him would text again when I was on my way to the dinner later.

There wasn't any traffic on the way over to the terminals so I was early and waited in the pickup lot for Ben to call me when the two of them were outside. I started my ignition when his name flashed on my phone and started to pull out of the lot.

"Hey Edward, are you here yet."

"No, sorry Ben, I took off to Vegas for the weekend. Totally slipped my mind that I was supposed to pick you up." I laughed.

"Oh ha ha, aren't you a jokester. Well, we are outside terminal five if you want to pick up some world worn travelers."

"Already there." I honked my horn when I saw Ben's familiar bright blue backpack. He turned his head in my direction and waved while closing his cell phone. Angela was already sitting on a bench when he pointed me out to her.

I turned on my hazard lights for my car and got out to help put their luggage in my car. Once the trunk was loaded, Ben sat in the passenger seat and Angela was in the back sitting next to the wedding gift I had for them.

"What is that?" Ang asked.

"Just a little wedding gift for the best team members of my research team."

"Ed, man, you didn't have to do that." Ben turned and looked at the silver box. "What is it anyways?"

"I can't tell you that, what would be the point of having it gift wrapped anyways if I told you?"

Ben's apartment was close to the airport so it was a quick drive. I helped them carry their luggage and went back down to bring up the wedding gift so that they wouldn't "accidentally" forget it.

The kitchen table creaked when I put the box on it and when I was about to head out, they told me to hold up a second.

Angela started to unwrap my gift.

When she pulled out the dish set, there were tears in her eyes. "Oh thank you Edward. They are beautiful." She ran and hugged me tightly and Ben stood back and shook his head laughing softly as his wife. She pulled back ad swiped the tears quickly from her eyes. "Really, thank you."

"No problem Ang."

It was just a little after 5pm and I need to go home and change. "Well guys, as much as I really want to stay and chat about your trip, we will all be in the dog house with my mother if we miss the dinner."

"Did you want us to pick you up tonight?" Ben knew of my nerves with large crowds and probably figured I would need a drink or two to get me through the night so I would not be in the right condition to drive.

"Sure, I'll be ready about 6:30pm so just stop at my place and ring my doorbell. Hopefully I'll come outside." We all laughed at my joke. "Well, I will let Mr. and Mrs. Cheney get ready and I look forward to seeing you two later tonight." I waved as they said good bye to me when I exited their apartment.

I drove back to my place to shower and change into my navy dinner suit for the treacherous evening ahead of me. I prayed to God the entire time asking for this evening to be somewhat tolerable and that any distraction would be greatly appreciated.