Thank you all for your lovely reviews! I'm pretty sure this is the fastest I've ever gotten this many reviews, faster even than for Hey There Bella! It really maks me smile. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's my favourite one so far (considering it's all I have written) but there are some things coming that are way more better than this. So, onward!
Chapter Five: List of Expectations for Approval
I woke up, early for once at around seven o'clock. In the sheets nearby me was my laptop, the cord tangled in my leg. I shook it out and opened it, turning it on. I don't know why I was trying, but I liked to be online, just incase Edward was ever on. To my surprise, and delight, when I opened messenger, I found that he was my only contact online. I smiled and opened a conversation window with him, and right when I was about to press the video call button, I heard a phone ringing, and saw the request to accept his invitation. He'd beaten me to it.
"Good morning," he said groggily, once we were connected.
"Morning," I said in a happy sigh. I saw my brown hair in a mess over my white pillows, the plain white comforter held close to my face. I was lying on my stomach, my head to the side as I faced him. Edward's position matched my own, only his sheets were black, his blanket quilted. "I didn't expect you to be up so early," I said.
He laughed lazily into his pillow. " I went to bed early with my cold. I had to get up now to finish emailing some clients."
"In any case, I'm glad you're awake. I hope you feel better soon, though." Edward smiled and nodded sleepily. The man was absolutely adorable. I was attracted to him, that was for sure. I'd catch myself thinking about him as the day passed, and whenever I wasn't talking with him or out with my friends, I felt so alone. I needed him, really, to help me feel whole and wanted.
He was, quite simply, amazing. Everything he did impressed me. His actions, his words, the conversations we had about certain things and the way he expressed his ideas to me made me want to swoon. I did swoon a couple of times. The added bonus to his amazing charm and personality, were his looks. His voice, oh sweet God. With that accent, I melted into a puddle everytime I saw him. Now, talking with him while he was so tired, his voice was husky and soft, it just made him sound even sexier. His face, his body, they were all great perks to such a wonderful guy. He was, hands down, the most gorgeous man I'd ever seen. And, I had myself to thank for introducing myself to him.
Edward stretched out farther, hugging his pillow and let out a small moan inside his heavy breath. I shivered. He was driving me wild. This crush I had just got worse by the day. Suddenly his beautiful lips curled into a smug grin ( Did I mention he has the most breath taking smile? it's just a little bit crooked but, God, it makes my heart stop) (HE'S SO FREAKING CUTE.).
"This is perfect," he said a little more coherently. "I've been wondering how it was possible to get you into bed with me." I laughed loudly, burying my face in my pillow and glancing casually at the window. It was a beautiful autumn day. I probably shouldn't spend it online like a social leper.
"I suppose I get breakfast now, do I?" I asked in, hopefully, an alluring tone. Edward's face grew serene and he stared at the screen.
"Absolutely," he murmured. I blushe, I could tell from the heat on my cheeks, and then my doorbell rang. We both frowned at being interrupted but when it rang again, ten times in a row, quick and angrily, I knew who it was.
"That's Alice," I said. "I should get it, they need to prepare for a wedding we're catering tonight." Edward nodded and I jumped out of bed to get the door.
I was right in my guess, but wrong in my reasoning as to why she was here. "Hello, Bella," she said, her tone a little frightening. Then, she held up and parcel in her hand. "Or, should I say, Mrs. Edward Cullen?!" I blushed wildly, frig that boy was amazing, and snatched the package from her hands. She stepped inside, eyeing me carefully.
"What's this all about, Bella?" She hissed. I cringed away and walked slowly to my bedroom, Alice was close behind.
"Um, Edward is a guy I met, and me being his wife is a joke we have. Do you want to meet him?" I asked innocently, hoping she wouldn't bite my head off. Alice's face softened slightly but she nodded.
"I need to make sure he's good enough for you." She said, stomping into my bedroom.
"Edward," I called. "There's someone here to meet you." Alice and I jumped onto my bed and put our heads together before aiming the laptop at us. I saw our faces fill up the box in the corner, and Edward sat up a little straighter, looking even more adorable as he rubbed his eyes to wake up. Alice shot me a look and smiled goofily before rearranging her mask of 'Don't-touch-my-friend-you-undeserving-pig.'
"Edward, this is Alice, my very best friend. Alice, this is Edward, my 'husband'," I said, making the quotation marks with my fingers. Edward smiled beautifully and chuckled. Alice pursed her lips as she pulled a notpad out of her purse and a pen and began to write.
I noticed the header she gave the notpad and blushed, giving Edward a worried look. His exression was worried, but he smiled at me all the same. 'Edward's qualifications for dating Bella' said the pad.
"Alice," I hissed. "We are not dating!" Although, I wished that was what we were doing. Alice raised an eyebrow at me as if to challenge her authority before she showed Edward the paper. He blushed. My goodness, he turned as red as Alice's shirt. When she seemed satisfied at his reaction she brought the pad back and began writing a few more things.
"Congratulations on the engagement, Alice," he said suddenly, a bright, genuine smile across his face. I smiled back at him, it was nice he remembered. Alice looked up slowly, her face was covered with awe.
"Thank you," she said gently, smiling widely at him. I saw her make a check mark and glanced over to see what it was. Next to 'Charm' she'd given a gigantic mark. Above it was 'Aesthetic Appeal' Which she promptly checked off. "He's cute," she murmured in my ear. I laughed which only made Edward look even more confused. He was sitting up in bed now wearing a navy sweater and had his arms crossed. His nose was red from being so sick over the past few days.
"Woo, Edward, you've got points for charm and good looks already!" I said, giving him a thumbs up. He grinned, looking pleased with himself.
"All right, bring it on. What else have I got to do?" Alice checked off another one, down towards the bottom." It was marked as optional and I nearly died from giggling when I read it. 'Sexy Accent'.
"You've got the optional sexy accent," I told him. He laughed warmly and Alice gave him a smug but pleased look before turning back to the pad. She was being professional and quiet during this whole process, it must have been important.
"Next, Edward. I need to know if you have a sense of style," Alice said formally. "Please, show us your closet and/or underwear drawer." I gasped loudly and smacked her. Edward blushed again but picked up the laptop and carried it towards his dark wooden closet doors. Alice made a little sound as she checked off one for 'Interior Design'. I glared at her.
"What does that have to do with date-ability?" I hissed.
Alice smiled; "He can't be a total slob, and his design tells me whether or not he's boring. So there. Now shush." We turned out attention back to the screen to find Edward had set the computer down on a chair or table and was opening his closet, revealing quite a number of suits and buttoned up shirts. They all looked very nice on the hanger, and the thought of him dressed in one made me begin to drool. He showed us some of his ties which made me squeal, especially since he could tie them himself. There were no silly patterns, only solid coloured, decent ties.
"Unfortunately, I don't feel up to showing you my underwear," he said kindly, settling himself back in bed.
"Fine then. What sort of pyjama's do you wear," Alice said, rolling her eyes as if him not showing his underpants was terrible and rude. Edward pulled his leg out to show his familiar blue plaid pants.
"And I wear a t-shirt with it most nights," he told her.
"Aww, you guys match," Alice cooed, looking at my own pink plaid pants. I poked her and she brought her attention back to Edward. "Occupation?"
"I'm an editor," he said simply. Alice stared.
"Like... for books? In a publishing house?" He grinned at her and nodded.
"A very big publishing house, we're opening a branch somewhere in the States soon, I believe," he said. I watched as Alice checked 'Stable Job' and 'Money$$$/€€€'.
"Alice, what does that have to do with date-ability?" I asked, irritated. Why should his money matter.
"He has to be able to take you out to nice places, okay? And he has to buy you nice gifts. So there." I rolled my eyes and fell back into the pillows. This girl was too much. "Edward do you have any special talents?" I looked up at him.
"Um, yeah I've played the piano since I was about five," he said. Be still my heart. Alice looked down at me again and I smiled, batting my eyelashes. He was probably too good to be true for her. There was one last field that needed checking before he got her approval which was 'Social Life'.
"Edward," she began, deathly serious. "Due to the fact that you guys met online--"
"We didn't meet online," we both said at the same time. Alice looked surprised.
"Oh? Then how did you meet?" she asked in interest. I blushed a furious red and glanced at Edward who smiled at me reassuringly.
"Back in March, when you guys were out for a job, I wrote a message in a bottle and got it thrown out to sea," I said quietly. Alice's hand collided with her mouth and she stared at me wide eyed.
"I found it on a beach near my parents' house in July and wrote back to her, and we've been talking ever since." Alice looked at me, tears in her eyes. She pouted and looked so sweet and innocent.
"Bella that is the cutest story ever!" she yelled. She threw her arms around me and sobbed into my shoulder. "You met your gorgeous husband by sending a message in a bottle!" I rubbed her back and stuttered to find something to say. "What a story to tell your kids." Alice pulled back and wiped at her eyes. She tossed the note over her head, hitting my lamp in the process and smiled widely at Edward.
"Because of that, and the fact that you're decent enough to write back, I so approve. Good job Mr. Cullen," she said, offereing him a high five.
"Alice, we're not going to run out and find a chapel," I hissed. She rolled her eyes. I was watching Edward for a moment, he was smiling brightly when he looked over his laptop and his face fell. Alice and I were both drawn in to what was happening. Edward let out a small yelp of fright as something launched itself onto the bed and yelled out his name.
"Emmett get off me!" He yelled from underneath his friend. Alice and I burst out laughing, as the large brunette looked at the screen curiously.
"What are you doing here, Ed?" he asked softly, staring at us. Edward managed to right himself up after pushing Emmett off and straightened up his computer.
"Emmett, this is the girl I met," he said finally, softly. I snorted back a laugh, remembering what had happened weeks ago. Emmett's eyes widened as he realised what we were thinking about. Then, he grinned devilishly at Edward.
"You sneak, you were having sex were her on this all that time?" Alice laughed loudly but Edward and I were appalled.
"NO!" we both yelled, and Edward smacked him. Emmett chuckled loudly at our reaction and Edward glared at him angrily.
"Anyway, it's nice to meet you," he said finally. "My name's Emmett, I'm Edward's only friend." Edward rolled his eyes and I giggled happily at him.
"Nice to meet you too, Emmett. My name's Bella, and Alice here is one of my good friends." Alice gave a small wave before pulling out the parcel from underneath her.
"Open your gift, Bella," Edward said happily. I gave him a look as I took the parcel from Alice. I told him to not give me anything and he did not heed my warnings. I pulled away the brown paper and opened the box carefully. After pulling away the newspaper placed to keep the object from moving, I gasped. A book.
"Edward, this is like the best thing ever! Thank you so much!" I exclaimed, turning it over to read the summary. I heard him laugh before he told me to check the acknowledgments. My eyes skimmed over the list of names until I found one that popped out of the page; Edward Cullen.
"You worked on this book too! That's so awesome!" I wanted to start reading it right away, but I knew I should probably pay attention to my friends.
"What's this?" Alice asked softly, picking up a few pieces of paper at the bottom of the box. We both gasped. Tickets. Freaking PLANE tickets!
I read the details briefly, two tickets to London, in three weeks, two return tickets for almost a month later.
Alice and I both screamed, holding onto the papers. "Edward!" I yelled. "You can't be serious! That's absolutely ridiculous, spending that much money on me. I can't accept this."
"No, you can and you will," Edward and Alice said at the same time, bossily too, I might add. "Going to Europe will be a once in a lifetime deal for you Bella," he explained. "I think you should take this chance, come see the sights, and meet your very best friend."
"Hey," Alice butted in. "I'm her very best friend, thank you." Edward chuckled. "Come on, Bella," she continued ernestly. "Think of everything there is to do in London. There's two tickets! You could take me! Think of all the marvelous shopping we could do!" She glanced back at the screen to Edward and Emmett, who was busily chatting away about his latest car project. "On second thought, bring Rose. She should probably meet that big guy. They'd hit it off."
"Telling the future again, are we?" I asked, laughing. Alice nodded. "I don't know. I mean, this'd be something big. And I have the shop to think about, London might not be good for my health too, what if I'm sick the whole time I'm there?"
"I'll take care of you," Edward offered. "My Dad's a doctor, we can visit him and Mum and he can check up on you. London could be spectacular for your health, you never know." I smiled warmly at him.
"Jasper and I can take care of the catering Bella. We just have to make sure you don't take anymore specialty orders, don't book any more in, and Jazz and I will only take a few jobs. Once a week or so. Small ones."
They presented really good arguments, and if I wanted to be honest with myself, I really wanted to meet Edward. I flipped the tickets around in my hand, a smile pulling up the corners of my lips.
"Hey guys!" Rosalie exclaimed, crashing on to the bed next to me. I yelped and she merely threw her hair over her shoulder and laughed. Alice pointed to Emmett on the screen. I could almost laugh at the expression Rose was giving. Edward smiled as he watched Rosalie stare at his friend, who was still talking car parts.
"Who is that..." Rosalie mumbled.
"That's Bella's husband Edward and his best friend Emmett," Alice chirped. Rosalie gave me a look to say 'way to get married to a cute British guy and not invite me to get any party favours' before she gave me a 'way to introduce me to a really cute British guy' look.
"We're not married," I said, exasperated.
"Bella sent him message in a bottle," Alice said in her cheesy soppy tone. I rolled my eyes again and waited for them to stop aww-ing.
"Hi Emmett," Rosalie called. Edward turned to Emmett who stopped talking and looked up quickly. His eyes widened at Rosalie and he looked like he was gasping for air.
"Hello," he said shyly. Rose smiled at him and I'm pretty sure I saw her blush a little.
"Guess what Rose!" I exclaimed in a mockingly cheery tone. "You're coming with me to England!" I flicked the tickets in front of her eyes. It was amazing how much she freaked out. Her eyes popped out of her head and she squealed loudly, burying her head in my pillow. Edward and Emmett grinned at each other, seeming very proud at what they had accomplished.
"I hate to say it," I called over Rosalie's freak out. "But they're here for a reason. We have to get ready for a wedding this afternoon, so I'll try and talk to you later, Edward." He looked sad for a moment, even stuck out his lips at me, but finally nodded and waved. Rosalie jumped up, grinning foolishly and waved at Emmett before running out of my room, screaming some more.
"You go ahead, Bella, I'll shut her down. You still need to get dressed," Alice offered. I accepted and gave Edward another 'bye' before hopping out of bed.
By the time eleven o'clock rolled around I finally made it back home. Jasper dropped me, and the catering van off before hopping into his own car and heading home to Alice. I stumbled into the house tiredly, kicking off my shoes somewhere near the second oven. I hobbled past the shelves and made it to the spiraling staircase, climbing it to get up to my bathroom. Inside, I changed into my pyjama's and dropped the work clothes into the bathtub before I made it to the bedroom, plopping into my big white bed, left unmade from the morning.
I opened up messenger on my laptop, my heart falling at bit at seeing he wasn't online. Of course, it was around two in the morning there. He'd be fast asleep. So, with a heavy sigh I placed the laptop onto the floor and pulled all of my blankets over myself, settling in for a long, dreamless night.
Then my cell phone rang.
I jumped about three feet and reached out to snatch it. I buried it between my ear and the pillow and asked a sleepy "Hello?"
"Good night, Miss Swan," a very lovely, musical, sexy-english-accented voice said. I wanted to squeal but I was too tired.
"How did you get my number," I asked, trying to sound angry, even though it was hidden by my delight and fatigue.
"Alice told me. I just called from across the Atlantic to wish you sweet dreams and a good night," Edward said sweetly. I could hear the sleep in his voice, too. He must have woken up just to make this call.
"You're ridiculous, you know that? I would never call you at two in the morning."
"Yeah, but that would be six here," he chuckled. I rolled my eyes.
"Your phone bill will be enormous," I said finally. He made a noise, like shrugging it off.
"I can handle it."
"Good night, Edward. Sweet dreams," I said, hoping he could hear the little bit of passion in my slurred voice.
"Same to you, dear," he said through a yawn.
And that night, my dreams were simply the best dreams on the face of the earth. If I didn't want to wake up and face the real Edward Cullen, I would have stayed in them forever.
So, because I decided to try and be nice and have this up for when you all wake up (2:26 am here, I told saranicole I'd update yesterday) I had to finish this chapter first, since I posted Chapter Four without this one being finished. Now, Because I did this quickly, I have to write all of chapter 6, so forgive me if its way late tomorrow night or Saturday night before you get it. THAT'S why I like having a few pages written. Word.