2
A few weeks later, I finally got a call from Cullen Inc.. I was sitting on the couch in my small livingroom, as the phone started ringing. I got up and rushed towards it.
"Hello?"
"Good evening, is this Ms Bella Swan?" an unfamiliar voice asked.
"Yes, this is she."
"I am calling about your job interview at Cullen Inc.. Mr Miller, he interviewed you, has made his decision. He wants you for the job." I stood there silently for a few short moments, blinking as I tried to understand what the person had said.
He wanted me? That couldn't possibly be true. I wasn't fit for the job at all, I'm sure he interviewed someone else who was better than me. But he chose me. Well, that was great.
"Thank you, this is fantastic."
"Yes, well, you have to start next week, if that is possible. My colleague will call you up for some further information. Goodbye," he said and hung up. I put the phone down and a big smile spread across my face. I was hired! I squealed and made a clumsy pirouette.
I laughed as I heard my stomach rumble and I prepared lunch for myself.
I sighed as I realised that I was going to be Edward Cullen's assistant, but that I didn't have any experience or knowledge. How was I going to assist him in running Cullen Inc., when this was my first job ever? I was trained for writing and analysing books, trained for understanding the English language. He couldn't possibly use any of my help.
I sighed and poured myself a cup of tea. I needn't worry so much, they had hired me for a reason. Perhaps the few skills I had, were the ones they were looking for.
Oh, I do hope he won't remember me from when we bumped into each other, I thought suddenly.
A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts and I put my tea down. I walked towards the door and opened it.
"Hi Bella!" Alice exclaimed.
"Hello, Bella," Jasper said, chuckling as he looked at Alice, who was bouncing up and down.
"Come in," I told them and I stepped aside. I quickly made some tea for them too and we sat down in the living room.
"How are you?" I asked them.
"We're fine, thank you. We came to visit you, because we wanted to tell you that this weekend, we'll be going to Paris!" Alice squealed. I smiled as I saw them looking at each other.
"This weekend? That's great!" I told them, feeling slightly sad that Alice wasn't going to be there when I had to prepare for my first job.
"Yes, we will leave Friday night with the plane and return Sunday evening," Jasper told me, still smiling.
"How wonderful, have you ever been to Paris before?" I asked him.
"No, this will be my first time, so I'm quite excited," he said, taking Alice's hand and squeezing it gently.
"Oh, Bella, now that I think of it. You haven't heard anything from Cullen Inc. yet?"
"I have, a few minutes before you arrived. I'm hired!" I said, grinning. They both congratulated me and Alice got up to hug me.
"Seriously? Why didn't you say so the second we walked in?" she asked.
"Well, you started talking about Paris and I didn't want to claim all the attention," I explained.
"Oh, nonsense. You should have," she said.
"This is important for you and we don't mind not having all the attention," Jasper said, chuckling.
"All right. Well, I got a call and they told me I was hired, that's pretty much it."
"When do you have to start?" Jasper asked.
"Next week, Monday," I told them, seeing Alice's face fall.
"Oh, but then I can't help you get dressed," she said softly.
"I can dress myself Alice. And you'll be in Paris! Don't be so sad," I told her.
"Yes, you're right. I'll write down what I think you should wear."
"That's really not necessary, Alice," I said.
"Of course it is. Now, what shall we do for dinner?"
"We could call Rosalie and Emmett," Jasper suggested. We agreed and I picked up the phone.
"Hello?" Rosalie asked as she answered the phone.
"Hi, Rose. Alice, Jasper and I were just wondering what you and Emmett were going to do for dinner."
"We haven't planned anything yet, we could go together?"
"Yes, that would be nice. Let's say, that nice French restaurant in one hour?"
"Sure, see you then," she said and hung up. I put the phone down and turned towards Alice and Jasper.
"We'll meet them at Savoir Faire in one hour," I told them. Alice immediately got up.
"Well, then I need to go now, if I only have one hour to prepare."
"Alice, you look fine," I told her, but she shook her head and grabbed her coat. Jasper stood up, giving me an apologetic glance and followed Alice.
I quickly changed into something more appropriate and, after an hour, made my way towards the restaurant.
Not surprisingly, Alice and Jasper weren't there yet. However, I did see Rosalie and Emmett sitting at a table. As the waitress asked whether I had made a reservation or not, I pointed at them and explained. She nodded and I walked towards them.
"Good evening," I said.
"Good evening to you too. Something good happened?" Rosalie asked. I shot her a quizzical look, how could she know?
"You're positively beaming," she said, laughing.
"I'm hired as Edward's assistant," I told her. She smiled and congratulated me. Emmett looked at us with a slight confused look.
"Edward?"
"Edward Cullen, from Cullen Inc.," I told him. He understood and congratulated me too.
I thanked him and looked around the room, trying to see if Alice and Jasper had arrived yet, as my gaze landed on a slightly familiar shade of hair colour. I looked closely at it and gasped as I realised it was, in fact, Edward Cullen. He was in conversation with a young lady, who seemed to be enjoying it immensely, as she laughed loudly and put her hand on his arm.
She was quite beautiful, she had a nice shade of blond hair, blue eyes and pretty features. I saw how her long fingers caressed his arm and I looked away, fighting the urge to roll my eyes.
She suddenly looked up and looked at me, as if she had known I was watching her and knew what I had been thinking. There was a dark look in her eyes as she stared at me. Edward said something and she turned her attention back to him. I was quite shocked and didn't notice Rosalie asking me something until Emmett patted my shoulder. I turned back to look at them, a confused look still on my face. I saw their faces, looking at me with a quizzical expressions.
"It's nothing," I said casually, waving my hand in the air. Rosalie arched one eyebrow and looked at me. Before she could say something however, Alice and Jasper arrived and sat down.
"I think we should dedicate this meal to Bella's new job!" Alice said, as we all had ordered our food.
"And the fact you two are going to Paris," I said. We all agreed and lifted our glasses.
Our food arrived and we all started eating. We were talking about a few random things, as I suddenly noticed Alice looking at something behind me. I already knew what is was, she was looking at Edward. She caught my gaze and indicated with her head to look behind me. I nodded and smiled, indicating I already knew, and she smiled at me.
While we were finishing our main courses, I excused myself and walked towards the Ladies' room.
On my way, I almost bumped into a waiter and I quickly stepped back, now only an inch removed from the person sitting behind me. I turned around and was faced with slightly shocked looking Edward. He let out an unbelieving breath as he saw me. I quickly apologized and rushed away.
When I walked back to my table, I avoided his table, but still felt his gaze upon me. I sat down and Rosalie shot me a look and I realised she had seen what had happened. I shook my head, feeling miserable.
Monday at work, he would probably recognise me and fire me immediately. I sighed and ignored Rosalie's curious look.
The waitress came to take our empty plates and we all decided not to have a dessert. We split the check and left the restaurant. We all went to our own home.
I arrived home, took a quick shower and immediately went to bed. Lying in bed, I couldn't fall asleep and decided to read for a little while.
Eventually, I fell asleep, still worrying about my job.
The next day, I went over to Alice's apartment to help her pack for her trip to Paris.
As I arrived, I laughed as I saw Alice's entire wardrobe on her bed. She was looking quite stressed and thanked me profusely as I walked in.
"Thank god you're here!" she exclaimed. She rummaged through the pile of clothes and managed to find the skirt she was looking for. I watched her in awe, until she ordered me to help her.
"So, I need to fit all of my important clothes into these three suitcases," she said, pointing towards three enormous suitcases. I laughed, but stopped as she shot me a glare.
"And with important clothes, you mean…?"
"The clothes that are appropriate for Paris, the clothes I love and the clothes I need to bring along, just in case," she said matter-of-factly. I nodded and walked towards the three suitcases, only to see they were already quite full.
"How much more clothes do you need to fit in there?" I asked here, slightly hesitant.
"Well, I still need to do my dresses and a few things from this pile," she said, pointing towards the enormous pile of clothes on her bed.
"Do you think you've got enough space for that?" I asked her.
"I'm not sure, but that's why I asked you to come over," she told me. I gave her a slightly confused and hesitant look.
"You are going to put all the clothes that are already in the suitcases, in there again. Only, this time, you will fold them neatly and make sure that you use all of the space in the best way."
"And why do I need to do this?" I asked her.
"Because you are really good at folding clothes," she told me. I wasn't sure if that was the kind of compliment I was happy with.
"And why should I do it?" She stopped taking her dresses out of her closet as she looked at me.
"Because you are my best friend and you want to help me, of course," she said with big eyes.
"I see. Well then, let's get to work." She beamed and continued throwing dresses on her bed. I sighed deeply and started on the first suitcase. I picked up the clothes she had carelessly thrown into them and saw they weren't folded at all. She had just pressed them together into a messy ball of clothes. I started folding them and placed them next to the suitcase. Once I was finished with folding, I looked at the suitcase and figured out the best way to put the clothes in.
I put them in, one piece of clothing at a time, and when I had finished the first suitcase, was satisfied to see the space I had created. Before I had started on this suitcase, you could hardly put another piece of clothing in them, but now, you could easily fit in four dresses. Alice looked at it.
"That's amazing, Bells! Thanks for your help," she said. I looked at what she was doing and saw that she had already made a pile with a big amount of dresses.
"Alice, I do hope those are the dresses that you aren't going to take to France," I said slowly. She looked at me, confused.
"There not that many, just a few necessary dresses. You can't expect me to go to France and not bring along any dresses." I sighed and looked at the large pile and then at the other two suitcases.
"Fine. I'll make as much space as I can, but I don't think you can bring along all of those dresses." She pouted, but didn't comment.
"Are you excited to spend an entire weekend alone with Jasper? And in Paris, too," I asked her. She stood up straight and looked at me with a happy smile on her face.
"God, I can't even explain how much I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be amazing. I do mind the fact, though, that I can't help you prepare for your job, but I've already decided what you should wear," she told me.
"Thank you, you shouldn't have," I said, meaning it literally. I could choose my own clothes perfectly fine, but it was nice that she wanted to help me.
"Now, you know I love talking to you, but I need to leave tomorrow evening and I need to get finished with packing today. So, if you wouldn't mind, let's continue," she said. I laughed and nodded, starting on the second suitcase. This one was even messier than the first one and it took me a while to fold all the clothes inside.
I placed them back and was, again, satisfied with the newly created space. Alice came up to me and dropped a load of dresses in front of me.
"Can you try to put these into the suitcases?" she asked me with big eyes.
"I'll try," I said, sighing. I first finished the third suitcases and then folded up the dresses. Alice was glad to see I could fit all of them inside the suitcases. She did have to make some effort to close them, but eventually, they were closed and we sat on the bed together, looking at the mess we had made. I thought about Alice in Paris and a thought suddenly came to mind.
"Alice, you know you're going to Paris, right?"
"Yes, I do…" she said slowly, confused.
"You also know that Paris is one of the best cities to shop, right?" I asked, watching how at first, she looked confused, then she understood and then she looked miserable.
"God, I have no space at all for new clothes," she whined.
"We could open the suitcases and take some clothes out of them," I suggested, but she didn't seem to like that idea very much.
"Then, perhaps, you could call Jasper and see how much space he has left. Maybe he can even take an extra suitcase with him." This time, she smiled at me.
"That's a great idea, I'll call him up right now," she said, reaching over her bed to grab the phone on her night stand.
"Hi, Jasper!" she said in an innocent voice. "Could you be a darling and check how much space you have left?" She didn't say anything for a long while. Suddenly she beamed and thanked him. She hung up and placed the phone back.
"Jasper says that he has more than enough space for the clothes I want to buy in Paris," she said.
"Are you sure he knows how much you are capable of buying in one weekend? Especially in Paris?" I asked. She laughed and rolled her eyes.
"I'm sure he is. Now, let's have some lunch, I'm absolutely famished."