MPOV

After making a deal with Shawnie that I would lug our suitcases to our respective rooms, I sat down on the couch for a moment. I closed my eyes and ran through the bazaar events of the day. I guess I had had certain expectations for our arrival and they certainly didn't include being given the old stink eye. I knew that sometimes people just flat out don't like you for no reason but was it necessary to cause a scene about it? "Gentleman my ass", I whispered to myself before I shoved off of the couch and made my way to the giant pile of suitcases. I grabbed two that I knew were Shawnies and dragged them through the living room and down the hallway. I peeked my head into both room to check them out. They were almost identical in size and decor and each had it's own bathroom. I hadn't expected that, I mean, I knew it was a two bathroom but I assumed that meant one main bathroom and one master bath off of a bedroom. I smiled to myself as I realized things must be different in guest houses. My Aunt Judy had sent me a picture of her house online before I came out but she didn't send me a photo of the guest house, she said she wanted it to be a surprise. It certainly was. It wasn't so much a house as it was a cottage. I would have to remember to take pictures tomorrow to send to my dad.

After a quick round of eeny-meeny-miney-moe, I dragged her two suitcases into the room on the left. The next trip I managed 2 more suitcases and, what I assumed, was a giant makeup case. This continued until all of Shawnie's stuff was in her room. I was so tired, I almost didn't care about my things but I had made a deal. I went out into the living room to collect my things and the smell hit me. I sighed. Shawnie was an amazing cook. The spices were making my mouth water. I peeked into the kitchen and Shawnie wasn't there. I thought I must be losing my mind. I went back into the living room, down the hallway and into both rooms and bathrooms. No Shawnie. I made my way full circle and made it back into the kitchen. I assumed she must have went out to the car for something so I rested against the kitchen counter for a moment to take in the full smell of dinner. I turned to the stove and lifted the lid off of the sauce and inhaled deeply. I went to grab a spoon to stir and sample it but when passing the sink something caught my eye. There was a guy outside, shirtless. Now, it wasn't like that wasn't reason enough for me to stare but it wasn't the reason why I was at the moment. It was Shawnie.

Shawnie was standing against the side of his red shed. I considered going outside to introduce myself but decided against it. I'm a master of reading body language and Shawnie's was screaming "HOT DAMN!". She had one leg propped back against the shed and her arms were crossed. There was a permanant smile on her face and every once in a while, a hand would come up and twirl a piece of hair. "Can't say I blame her.", I laughed to myself before heading out of the kitchen to both give her privacy and to finish my first task at hand, the suitcases.

After I got my things into my room, I started to unpack. I unloaded my bathroom things first. Next came clothing and shoes. My miscellaneous things came last. Finally, I stripped the bed and put all the linens into the hallway linen closet. I remade the bed with a set I had bought specifically for this trip. The room now looked like I lived there. I was sure after Shawnie did the same to her room, our rooms would no longer look identical.

I laid down on my new bed and fought falling asleep. I knew I'd have to get up soon and turn off the stove before our dinner burned. I was pretty certain it was the last thing on Shawnies mind at the moment. Just as I was about to get up and head in there, my cell rang. I rolled over and looked at the clock. It read 9:23pm. I assumed it was my dad since I forgot to call to let him know I was here and safe. Upon picking up the phone I realized that not only was it not my father, I didn't know who it was. It was a Forks area exchange so I assume it would be my aunt from her home line since I only called her cell. "Hello?", I answered. "Hello," the voice said, obviously nervous or uncomfortable, "may I please speak with Mandah?" Even though I heard him speak only one sentence, I knew who it was immediately. "Um, you, uh... you already are." I managed to choke out. This day was seriously never going to end I decided then. "Mandah," he breathed, "this is Edward Cullen, Esme's son." he informed me. "I'm sorry about the late hour but this couldn't wait til morning. I didn't want you to go to sleep tonight with a certain opinion of me and have it sealed." he spoke meaningfully. "Alright....", I said, still very confused. "I had a, um, a headache earlier tonight. I wanted to let you know my attitude had nothing to do with you. I was very rude and I apologize.", he offered. I sat for a moment thinking about what he said. If I were smart, I'd leave it at that and accept his apology so I could get him off the phone as soon as possible. Even on a telephone, miles away, he still intimidated me. I hated it. "Edward, I can't accept, I'm sorry." I told him. Silence. "May I ask why?" he asked. He had apparently been expecting a different reaction. "A headache is understandable," I began. "however, it doesn't explain why you were glaring at me. No one else but me. It can't be because you didn't know me, because you didn't know Shawnie either. So, you can tell Esme I accepted for her sake because you obviously humiliated her, which is the only thing I'm sorry for." I spat. I was getting worked up! How strange! "If you don't mind I've had a long day, I'm exhausted, mentally and physically, I'm starving and I have to go rip Shawnie away from a shirtless wood chopping indian." I slammed my cell shut before he could respond. My night was going to hell fast.

I flipped my cell back open as I made my way down the hallway and dialed Shawnie. I walked to the sink and looked out the window and saw her fishing her phone out of her pocket and holding up a "hold on" finger to the boy. "Yes?" she answered. "Yes, dinner is served ma'am. I know you're starving so if you can't manage to pull yourself away from Boy Wonder out there", Shawnie interrupted me "Jacob", she corrected me. "His name is Jacob." I could hear the smile in her voice. "Ok then, Jacob. If you can't manage to pull yourself away from Jacob, why don't you just invite him to have dinner with us. Either way, I'm eating now. You're stuffs in your room and ready to be unpacked. Also, you're never going to believe who just called me. I'll tell you when you get back in." I told her. "What? Who? Tell me!", Shawnie said, she couldn't stand a good mystery. "Sorry, you'll find out later, bye!" And with that I hit end and dialed another phone number. It rang once. "Mandah!" my dad yelled. "I'm here dad but before you start, I'm tired, cranky and starving. I just wanted you to know I'm here at Aunt Judys and all is well. I'll call you in the morning and give you details. I love you." He agreed, said he understood and I hit end.

I went to the stove and made myself a plate. I set it on the table before grabbed a fork and a glass. I set the fork by my plate and went to the fridge to see what there was to drink. I settled for water. On the way back to the table, I grabbed a napkin. I had twirled a good size mouthful onto my fork, complete with meatball and had it half way into my mouth when I heard the front door open. Shawnie walked in, followed right behind by Jacob. "Hi...", I said, mouth full of food. "Hey, nice to meet you" he said.

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