The Red Eye Chapter 3: Subterfuge
a/n: I don't own it, SM does. Also I don't know if I've mentioned the coolness that is EverlastingMuse, my beta. She's cool.
So the problem with trying to avoid someone is that the effort you have to put into avoiding them means that you are actually hyper-aware of them because in order to avoid them you have to know where they are. It's the grown-up equivalent of saying, "I'm ignoring you!" All of the steps and precautions that it takes to stay away from Isabella Swan (Bella, I soon hear she prefers) make it so I am able to think of little else.
It's ironic because I know less about her than I've ever known about a teenage girl because I can't read her mind.
Which is another thing that makes me anxious about this whole thing. I can't read her mind. And in the last few weeks while my family has been keeping me apprised of her location I have been torn between my desire to stay away from her and my curiosity about why I couldn't hear anything from her. Was it just that I was so focused on biting her? Or is there something different about her mind?
What I do know about her is that she likes to read. Besides school and the grocery store the only other places she seems to go are the library and the used bookstore downtown. Emmett in particular is intrigued by how much she likes to read, I guess since he's never particularly mastered the skill himself. He has started telling me what books she's reading.
"E. M. Forster, Edward? A Passage to India? Isn't that about a gay guy? Maybe she's doing some research on you." Emmett walks into the office one afternoon about 2 weeks after their surveillance started. He opens up a plastic bag and pulls out a sweater. I am hit by the scent of her coming from the garment in his hand.
"What the hell, Em…" I say as he tosses the sweater at my head. It's clearly something she wore recently and my mouth fills with venom. I leave it on my desk where I had deflected it away from my head when I jumped out of my desk chair.
"It's to help you get desensitized to the smell." Alice walks in and throws herself onto my couch. Emmett sits down on the couch too while I glare at the green pile of cotton on my desk. "Come on, Edward. It'll help. I've seen it." I shoot a glance at Alice.
"What have you seen?" Clearly if she's seen me being able to resist Bella Swan's scent she's seen me closer to her. Which is someplace I have no intention of being.
"Well, I told you I saw her working for us. And I've seen other stuff." Alice won't make eye contact. I try to get a glimpse of what is in Alice's head but she's blocking me with particle physics.
"That's great, Alice. Being evasive right now is just what I need. Maybe you should keep lots of stuff from me and then I can just end up eating the Police Chief's daughter and ruining all our lives." I slump down in the corner, as far away from the green sweater as I can.
Alice and Emmett laugh. "Edward, it's not going to be like that. All I'm hiding is that Bella and I are going to be friends. I just assumed that you would over-react but since you are over-reacting anyway I may as well tell you."
I am feeling embarrassed and I get up and walk back over to my desk, eyeing the sweater. I lean up against my desk and look at Alice. "Friends? Do you think that's wise?"
"It will help us know where she is and to get a handle on the situation. Plus Emmett won't have to sneak into her room as much to steal clothes." She shoots him a dirty look and he cringes. Great. My brother has been looking in a teenage girl's underwear drawer.
"How are you going to do it? I mean, make friends with her?"
"Are you questioning my ability to make friends with another female? Just because you are socially incompetent doesn't mean I am." Alice inspects her nails. "Oh, and I don't know why you can't read her mind. But you definitely can't."
"Get out! Edward! You can't hear her?" Emmett is surprised and amused. I shake my head.
"Nothing. Either she has no thoughts or she's the first person I've ever met that I can't read. Either way, she's like my arch-enemy. She's my Moriarty."
My sister snorts. "You are such a drama queen. It's a good thing I'm getting a new best friend because you are ridiculous." She gets up and grabs her purse. "I've got stuff to do, Sherlock. Don't forget to get those photos of Mr. Banner and that girl who works at the gas station. They'll be in the parking lot of the school tonight."
Alice walks out, leaving me sitting forlornly in my desk. Emmett is looking at me and then he looks down at my hands and smirks. I look down to see Bella Swan's green sweater in my hands. I am clutching the sweater in one hand and stroking it with the other. If I could blush I would. The same holds true of dying of embarrassment.
Alice's plan to befriend Bella Swan works out smoothly, as you would expect, since she must have seen it ahead of time. Because Alice and Jasper are posing as high school seniors it's pretty easy for her to approach Bella.
Alice charms Bella into agreeing to exchange phone numbers. Chief Swan already knows my family because of the dealings we've had with him as well as Carlisle's work at the hospital. I can't say that I'm pleased about Alice's interference with the Swan girl, but there is little I can do.
Alice is able to sneak me items of hers to continue to get my used to the smell of her but she keeps pushing me to start being in proximity to her. She threatens to invite her over for dinner or have her stop by the office. Only with the most petulant of temper tantrums am I able to dissuade her. I'm not proud of acting that way but a girl's life is at stake here, right?
Alice and I are sitting in the office one day discussing surveillance on a client when she brings up her new favorite subject.
"So, I'm going to sleep over at Bella's on Friday. I think I'm going to give her a pedicure." Alice inspects her nails.
"Don't care, Alice. Just keep her away from me." I don't look up from the document I'm typing, a spreadsheet for office supplies. Emmett keeps borrowing the cleaning supplies and then the windows in here are filthy and I don't even know I'm out of Windex. Maddening!
"Edward, I think I should tell you that…"
I cut her off in frustration. "Why don't you use your powers of persuasion to get her to move back wherever she came from? She has a mother, right? Why doesn't she go back there?" Alice shakes her head.
"She's not going to go back to Phoenix. In fact, that's what I wanted to talk to you about…"
Right then Emmett rushes in with a weird, surprised look on his face. He has been spying on Bella at the library again and has run here in a most uncautious way.
"'What to Expect When You're Expecting'? What the fuck?" Emmett turns his face from Alice to me. "Edward, did you know you tried to kill a pregnant teenager?"
"Alice?" I look at her with astonishment. "Bella Swan's pregnant?"
"I was trying to tell you, Edward. You wouldn't let me finish." Alice goes back to inspecting her cuticles.
"How did this happen?"
Emmett laughs. "Well, Edward. Sometimes men like to have sex with women…"
"Shut up, Emmett! That's not what I meant. Does Chief Swan know? She's not even eighteen, is she?"
"She just turned eighteen. I don't know if the Chief knows yet but obviously he will find out eventually. I don't know who the father is, my vision doesn't work in reverse." Alice looks at me curiously. "What's the big deal, Edward? You're not going to hurt her. None of us are."
"It's one thing to invite this girl into our lives, go to sleepovers and paint her toenails or whatever. It's another thing to get involved with a pregnant woman. That's two lives we are putting in danger by being involved with them."
"Edward, almost sixty years and you still don't trust me? I'm hurt." Alice gives me a pout and gets up. "I'm going to the drugstore to get some nail polish remover."
"Yeah, Edward, you're being a dick." Emmett gets up in imitation of Alice's angry flounce. "I'm going to steal all your scotch tape and go to work."
I shake my head as my siblings leave. After sixty years I do know Alice. I know she's going to be planning a baby shower. I try really hard to do my best "What would Philip Marlowe do?" but I doubt he ever had to deal with Alice, pregnant teenagers and office supply theft. This whole private detective thing is turning out way less glamorous than I thought it would be.
a/n: cringes. So, I did it. I inserted the greatest overused fluff plot device ever, the Bella pregnancy. Hopefully you can trust me not to turn it into a squishy schmaltz-fest of lameness. Thank you to all my early-adopters, it's scary to get into a story this early so I appreciate your faith. I'm still in hyper-organized mode so reviews, even if they just say "!#" get a teaser. JuJu