The Man She Never Knew
AN: Well here is Chapter seven, I hope you enjoy it. things are going to start heating up with our heroes in the next chapters so keep an eye out. Also thanks to my reviewers, I love ya! Please keep it up so that I know I am doing a good job and making you proud of what it is you're reading! Take care!
Chapter Seven: Can't stand the heat, put on an oven mitt
We had arrived back at the house screaming at each other. "How dare you blame Gizmo for what happened to the gremlins! Gizmo was so cute and sweet. I bet you liked that freaky Rambo one." She wailed in my face. I just shrugged.
"Do you think it possible to lower the decibels? I don't think China heard you."
She looked at me with a glint in her eye which made me twitch. She was a scary woman, had a temper, was hot blooded, and I was falling in love with her. I was fucking screwed. "Lower the decibels? You just tried to kill me!"
I grabbed her by her shoulders. "If I wanted to kill you, I would have left you in the gutters!" I exclaimed. Anyone that was watching would think she and I were being serious, but in truth, this was all a game for us, to see who would be the one to crack first and succumb to laughter.
"Well thank you Mr. Higgins for taking a poor degenerate off the damn street!" she hissed. 'Good one on the my fair lady comment.' I thought to myself.
"God knows you aren't even worth the trouble, not even the two pence I paid for you!" Oh yeah I basically called her a prostitute. "I didn't even get my-"
"Don't you finish that sentence!" she exclaimed. I knew that was below the belt, but hey she called my car a piece of shit. She walked and stood right in front of me her hand reaching to ghost over my face and to cling to my neck as she pulled her lips to my ear. Giving my lobe a quick flick with her tongue she whispered. "Don't be jealous that someone more qualified to handle me got there first." And she backed away with a smile on her face. I couldn't help but laugh. Not only about what she had said, but also because everyone was standing on the porch watching us. All of them had looks of horror and shock upon their faces, it was priceless!
I walked to the trunk and pulled the latch. "Get your butt over here and do something useful, like carry my bags in wench." I said laughing.
"But I haven't even seen the tavern yet." She said through a pout.
I looked at her. "You'll get your lashes for disobeying me if you don't do what your master says." I threatened. It was then that my mother decided to make her presence known.
"EDWARD ANTHONY CULLEN!!! I KNOW YOU JUST DID NOT CALL BELLA YOUR SLAVE!" she screamed from the porch, which brought Bella into a fit of hysterics.
"I did mother. She is but an item. The scum beneath my shoes on the dirt. Speaking of which," I said keeping my voice level though Bella could see the laughter within my eyes. "I believe Isabella that you are to wash my feet when we enter my home. I want you to use your tongue."
That did it for Bella. She busted out laughing. "Alright Cullen," she said getting her laughing under control for a moment. "You win this round, but I will get you in the next one." She reached over me and grabbed half the bags and proceeded to the porch. She looked at everyone on the porch and smiled walking towards the door. "Emmet, Rosalie, Alice," and then her laughter began to come out again when she looked to my mother. "Esme." And she booked in the house.
I was trying to follow her when my mother grabbed my arm and held me there. "What was that about?" she asked.
I looked at her. "We created a game. It started at the grocery store, and we have yet to tire of it." I started laughing. "Bella's quite spunky." I added walking into the house and to the kitchen.
Bella was busy taking things out of the cupboards and putting them down on the counter she and I were going to be sharing. I had noticed that she had already put two large cutting boards onto the counter. Watching her in the kitchen was amazing, this was her element. She sped through the kitchen as if she had lived her all her life when only she had been here little more than a day. It was an amazing sight indeed. If I were being perfectly honest with myself, I was already worried about what life was going to be like once she left. I was not dumb enough to think that everything would go back to normal, and yet, I didn't want it to either.
How could someone have come to mean so much to me in such a little amount of time? I admitted that I didn't love her, yet, but there was no denying that within the weeks that she was here that I wouldn't, hell I would say within days.
I shook my head at the freak of nature in my mother's kitchen and laughed. "Everything almost ready?" I asked her.
She spun and looked at me. "Yes, now on to the rules. We are to make a snack, meal, and desert in ninety minutes, correct?" she asked to be sure.
"I thought we only had to do a meal and desert." I said confused.
"Yeah well they need something to munch on if they have to put up with us fighting over the paprika. I vote you put x-lax in their snack." She whispered loudly.
I laughed. "I'm trying to win, not get my ass kicked by my mother." I said back to her. "So what are you making?"
She looked at me. "Nothing you have ever heard of before." She said with a smile, though I'm sure you will be envious."
I wanted to kiss that smile right off her pretty little face. I would have too if my mother hadn't chosen that moment to walk into the kitchen and ask us when we were planning to start our war. I had decided to stay silent and see what Bella would say.
"The war will be starting shortly. I'm just pulling down the spices." She said sweetly.
It took about fifteen more minutes to get everything ready and then Esme, Alice, Emmet, and Rosalie entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. I'm sure they were hoping to see a show, and I was positive that Bella and I would be giving them one. Esme set the timer for ninety minutes and as soon as she said go Bella and I were zooming around the kitchen.
~ * ~
It was like watching the hummingbird flit around in the sky looking for the perfect flower. They were graceful and moved to each others orbit like they had been doing it for years. I wouldn't have ever thought I would see the day of an actual soul mate, but they had proved a liar out of me. "Edward! Give me back the rosemary! You don't even need it!"
"No, but you do!" he exclaimed. I watched as Bella grabbed his chopping knife and put it next to her salad dish. Bella already had her lemon pepper chicken in the oven, and almost done the salad when Edward stole the one spice she needed for her dressing.
"Edward! Give me the damn rosemary or I am going to destroy your stuffed cabbage!" she shrieked. Edward went to grab for the finished dish when Bella grabbed it off of the counter and threatened to dump it into the trash.
"You wouldn't dare!" he exclaimed.
Bella laughed. "Do you really want to test that theory?"
Edward stared at her for a moment and then sighed. "You don't play fair." He said putting the rosemary back on her side of the counter.
She handed him the stuffed cabbage and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "I never said I did." She went back to work humming some song.
"What song are you humming?" I asked her.
Bella looked at me and blushed. ""Oh it's a Tracy Chapman song, Alice." She said blushing further. "It's called Give me One Reason." Bella then went back to her task at hand by pulling six coffee mugs down from the cupboard and setting them up next to each other.
She grabbed the flour and started spooning four spoonfuls into each cup, then the same with the sugar. She continued putting the dry ingredients into each cup then mixed them well. She then cracked an egg into each cup and mixed that well. Finishing putting all the ingredients of the recipe into the mugs and stirring, she took the first mug and put it into the microwave starting it at three minutes.
She began cutting up strawberries still humming the song, then started singing it in the middle of the song. "I don't want no one to squeeze me – they might take away my life. I don't want no one to squeeze me – they may take away my life. I just want someone to hold me, and rock me through the night."
"I'll rock you through the night." Edward muttered, but Bella didn't hear him because she started dancing to the music that was playing in her head while singing the next part and continuing working.
"This youthful heart can love you yes, and give you what you need. I said this youthful heart can love you and give you what you need. But I'm too old to go chasing you around wasting my precious energy." Just then the microwave went off, and she danced over to it pulling out the first mug and putting in the second.
Edward was just staring at her. "You better hurry, she's going to beat you Edward" Rosalie laughed.
"That would be so damn funny." Emmet laughed. "Really puts all your cooking classes to shame if you think about it."
Bella looked at him. "You took cooking classes!" she exclaimed. "That gave you an unfair advantage!"
"Well, look at you!" he exclaimed. "Using the microwave as an oven?! Who does that?"
"Well as you can see, I do, so get the hell over it!" she yelled switching out yet another mug.
"God you're such a crybaby. Need some milk?" she laughed.
"Need a tampon?" he bickered back.
"Just shut it and finish cooking, we only have twenty minutes and I can't keep allowing you to distract me." And Bella switched out the last two coffee mugs. Edward was adding the sliced pears into the watermelon basket that he had carved then went to pull out his rigatoni from the second oven. He was putting it onto plates as Bella was taking the cakes out of the coffee mugs and putting them onto plates. She covered them with a frosting of chocolate sauce, strawberries and confectioners sugar. They finished at the same time.
Edward carried his dish over first, and we sampled everything. "This is really good." Esme said with a smile. "You used my recipe, didn't you?"
He smiled at our mother. "Of course I did, I needed some type of edge to this contest, and everyone loves your cooking."
"Stuck up cheater…" Bella mumbled slicing her lemon peppered chicken and placing it on to the plates. She brought over her salad and put it in front of them, handing Edward one as well. "Even though we are cooking for the judges, I couldn't let you go hungry too." She said walking over to her station and putting plastic wrap on one of each of her things. "I made Carlisle some too." She said when everyone looked at her.
Esme was the first to taste her salad. "Okay, I'm not a salad eater Bella, but this is divine. What's in it, cranberries, feta cheese, and something else…? What is it?"
"Pralines," Bella stated simply. "Coated in a light caramel sauce to bring out more flavor."
"Well dear, you have my vote on the first meal." Esme said with a smile. Edward scoffed. "I'm sorry Edward, but her salad tastes better than your stuffed cabbage."
Rose and I disagreed, but Edward knew that we would, we were meat eaters, and no matter how good Bella's salad was it couldn't replace the meat that was stuffed in the cabbage leaf. Emmet was the only one that hadn't given an answer to which was better, and for Emmet that was rather surprising. Emmet, like Rosalie and me was a meat eater, and didn't care for rabbit food unless it was on top of a juicy think burger. We watched him for a moment digging into his salad, and then finally said. "Bella, this is the greatest salad I have ever tasted! I want more! Give me more!"
"But is it better than Edward's stuffed cabbage?" I asked him.
Emmet looked at me as if I had three heads. "Better than Edward's stuffed cabbage would be turning this into an insult! Bella, this is better than anything aside from mom's home cooking that I have ever tasted, and coming from me that's saying something!"
Bella smiled and gave Emmet a hug. "Thanks Em, I'm glad you like it." It continued this way through the meal, and by the time we were done, the voting was dead locked. Edward had won the dinner but Bella took home desert. "So how are we going to be able to figure out who won?" Bella asked.
"Well, you could call it a draw." Rosalie mentioned.
"Or you could wait for Carlisle to come home and leave it to him to decide." Esme suggested.
"He'll pick Bella's because she's the guest." Edward complained.
"No he won't!" Bella exclaimed. "He'll pick mine because I am the better cook."
"In your dreams!" Edward fired back.
"You wish you were in my dreams." She called back.
"Brat!"
"Pansy!"
"Goody two shoes!"
"Momma's boy!"
"Snitch!"
"Candy assed punk!"
"Enough!" Esme shouted. "You two are acting like children instead of the twenty-five year olds that you are. There is an easier way to solve this. When Carlisle get's home, Edward you will carry Bella's dish in acting as if it is yours, and Bella you will do the same. Carlisle will pick the one he prefers and then you will have your winner. Are we understood?"
Bella nodded with a blush. "Yes Esme, you just might want to tell Edward to go and change into his big boy under shorts, don't want him being a baby when he loses."
Edward walked over to Bella and looked her in the eye. "Want to help me put them on since you seem so interested?"
I couldn't believe that he just basically propositioned her right there in front of everyone! What was that idiot thinking?! I stood there shell shocked wondering what was going to happen next, when I notice Bella square her shoulders and smile. "Sure Edward, if you really need that type of help I would be more than willing, let me just go and grab my scissors and hair dryer."
Edward just looked at her confused. "Why would you need that?"
"Because Edward," she said simply. "I need the hair dryer to burn your- cough cough penis cough cough and then the scissors are for snipping it off completely because I think I would be doing the women of the world a favor if they knew there was no chance in hell that you could pro create."
I busted out laughing. I couldn't help it. Bella was everything Edward needed in a woman, and I could see that they were going to make a great couple once they stopped fighting each other. Carlisle came in at that moment looking starved and tired. "So what's for dinner?" he asked.
~ * ~
I stared at Carlisle as he spoke. My mind was going haywire thinking about the possibilities of Edward and I alone. Though if I were being honest with myself, I knew if the opportunity arose, I would run from it. I have never been one for relationships. I just can't seem to trust the opposite sex. It wasn't that I didn't want to; it's just when every male species has found a way to let you down, why should you continue to put yourself through it?
Edward was the first to speak. "Well Dad, Bella and I made some dishes, and we want you to decide out of the two of us, who is the better cook. And you have to be fair. You can't pick Bella's just because she's the guest." He said, and I couldn't help but smile.
"And you can't pick Edward's just because he is a sniveling crybaby that thinks he's this oh so wonderful gift to the cooking world." I added which made Carlisle smile.
"Okay, bring in the meals." He said.
As was prearranged, Edward carried my meal in and I carried his. Carlisle took his time with each meal, enjoying it for what it was. I watched with abated breath as he finally got to the deserts, and totally skipped over the desert Edward made and went straight for mine. As he ate he sighed enjoying the taste of chocolate and strawberries together, and that made me smile. He then tried Edward's fruit salad. He seemed to enjoy that as well.
Edward and I stood there in front of him waiting. I hadn't realized I had grabbed his hand from the suspense that Carlisle was putting us through until I felt his thumb slide along my wrist. Normally I would have pulled my hand away, but it just felt too comforting to do so. Carlisle finally looked at us and sighed. "Okay, take this as two out of three. If I pick two out of the three dishes you win." He said.
"If that is how you want to judge this Carlisle then I am on board with it as well." I said in a smile.
"The stuffed cabbage was good." He said with a smile. "But the salad was better." Edward and I said nothing. "The lemon peppered chicken was a little dry, but was perfectly seasoned. I liked the rigatoni better though." Right now Edward and I were dead locked, and I hated the feeling. "The fruit salad was perfect, it had just the right amount of everything, but the cake beat it hands down."
"YES!!!" I exclaimed jumping up and down. "I told you I was better! In your face Mr. punk ass!"
Edward just looked at me. "Since I lost I guess I should hang my head in shame?" he asked me.
I looked at him and smiled. "Nah, then I couldn't rub it in your face with every chance I get." I then leaned in and hugged him. While in the embrace, I leaned close to his ear and whispered so that only he could hear. "If you wait until I am ready, I'll let you tell me about Charlie." I felt him nod as I pulled away. I think coming here was a good idea after all.