Night & Day
XxX
(Emmett: The night before the storm)
"Don't forget to follow through with your index finger. Point this one up and out, like a thumbs up." Emmett has a pretty girl pressed up in front of him who's angling for a bowling tip that gets her face-time with the best bowler in the league, figuring he knows what he's doing with a 250 average and a knock-'em-dead, dimpled grin that the bowling alley has seen fit to frame on their wall of fame.
But, so close, it's not bowling she's thinking about: being from the Bay Area, his scent reminds her of chocolate covered almonds. She closes her eyes for a split second before he moves her body with his and sends the ball directly into the gutter.
She feels his chuckle pull away behind her. "That's alright. Keep practicing, you'll do fine."
"When you're done playing Yoda with the young lady, pardon me miss, come say hi to your team and let's win this," says a Texan drawl, breaking and entering into their practice.
Sending off a pony-tailed, Little Kitty (he doesn't waste imagination on that moniker) with a pat on the shoulders, Emmett fist bumps his best friend, Jasper, before tying on his shoes.
League night is his favorite night. The boys come out from their desk jobs, just like him, and unwind with pitchers of beer, smack talk, and pretty girls that use their bowling stances to flirt – twisting, shimmying and wriggling on light feet, bending at their knees, their waist, or better yet, their hips before releasing the ball down the lane.
Their giggles, and claps, and bouncy-bouncy excitement make a long workday worth the extra meeting, the obnoxious co-workers, the drudgery.
Slipping on his wrist support and flexing his fingers, Cowboy pulls up beside Emmett, gearing up for the pending bowl-off. Tonight, it's their team against the Recharged Cobras, a formidable bunch of tools, sponsored by an energy drink maker.
Cowboy is Jasper's bowling name that didn't take long to catch on, being that he talked as easy and lilting as swaying Spanish Moss. Chicks swooned on it. "I think we have this, tonight. You ready?"
"Yeah," says Emmett, his face in both hands, centering his bowling mojo and coming up with a fist bump. They'll do that all night. But first, it's time for the warm up, taking turns knocking down some pins before the game begins.
Emmett takes his ball and cradles it with care. "Edward's coming in tonight. It's a good thing, too, they say it's gonna snow tomorrow."
Cowboy's lining up three spaces to the left of the floorboard, adjusting his stance for a hook throw, releasing the ball at his ankle, and coming up with his right arm in bull-fighter flair. Ole! And he gets a strike. Not only is it effective, but the girls love it.
Emmett rolls his eyes, taking his head along for the exasperated ride. "Show off."
Cowboy winks and blows Emmett a kiss that goes pointedly ignored.
Emmett gets up to roll, dusting off his hands on the soft pouch of a powdery rosin bag.
Picking up a towel, Jasper, the friend, picks up the conversation, asking what's been on his mind lately.
"So where's he been these last few months, anyway? Every time I call him, he's either traveling or busy."
"He's been all over. Remember that assignment in Colorado back in September? Climbing those 14ers?"
"Yeah. Sounded brutal."
"It was, and stupid. Apparently, it failed a month in. So he's been shuttling back and forth between here and Seattle, wrapping up his story since Trekker's offices are there."
This doesn't make sense to Jasper. It's February and Edward is still MIA after all these months? It must have been a crazy trek. "I called him for a few pick-up games but I never heard back."
Emmett tenses and his mood takes a sour turn that his friend is quick to catch.
"Yeah. It's Bella, his…shit. Not his…whatever, the girl he's been seeing. I told you about her, right?"
Not one to retain gossip, Jasper vaguely recalls Emmett mentioning a new girl in Edward's life. From the sound of it, it's serious, until he remembers that she's married.
Emmett doesn't wait for an answer. "He says he's going to cut her out."
"Who, the married chick?"
Putting his ball down gingerly on the carousel, Emmett palms Jasper's shoulder, looking around conspiratorially. He chides in a terse whisper, "Dude, don't say it."
"Say what? 'married girl'?"
"Shh," he admonishes with more force than he can convey, "don't say that shit out loud, man!"
Jasper steps out of Emmett's hold with a wicked gleam in his eye, a realization dawning on him.
"Right, 'cause these jokers really care that your brother's getting it on with a married woman," he goads in that annoying drawl of his. Before Emmett can interrupt, like he's preparing to do, with his shoulders tightening up and his body squaring, Jasper keeps the feel. "Look, man. It's no big deal. So what if he's got her riding his pony, it just means less fuss."
"If it were less fuss, then it wouldn't be a problem."
"Enlighten me."
"He's not himself anymore."
"What? Brooding and shit? Sounds to me like she's not so bad…"
"He's missed holidays." They move over to the bar during the break and order a pitcher of beer. "Mom was pissed when he didn't make it home for Christmas, said he missed his flight. This last assignment was brutal. I get that. But to miss Christmas and forget to call…"
"Maybe it was the climb. Your brother's pretty bad ass. He's asked me to go on runs with him, but fuck, your brother's intense, man." Jasper's remembering the five-miler he signed up for, only to have Edward take them off the trail, and make a circuit through the neighborhood, behind backyards with yellow leaves, through alleyways, under bridges not meant for pedestrians, always diverging toward the unpaved road. When done, Jasper was a soaking, unhappy mess.
He would have rather completed the loop at his local park where the girls run in tennis skirts.
"Or it's the girl. It's not right. What girl would just hook up with a guy while she's married?"
Not commenting on Emmett's logic, Jasper keeps it to himself. It won't do to argue when Emmett's on Team Edward, steadfastly. The game's about to start and he wants to quit this conversation, but Emmett won't bring his best game if his mind is on loop. "So, you're telling me she gets under his skin."
"Like, in his fucking bones, man. Freaky shit."
"Maybe it's alright then. He should go for it."
Swallowing the last of his beer and narrowing his eyes in disdain, Emmett's look is all about disagreeing. His silence only urges Jasper on; it's his opening. "No offense, but your brother's not shy about going after what he wants. Hell, he's got his own set of balls on the nature trail, but when it comes to women, he's a fucking cub scout. That doesn't add up."
"She's married, Jasper. Not a Boy Scout patch."
"I just mean, why not tell her what he wants, why not go after it, her, you know what I mean."
"What part of married, don't you get? It would be crazy of him. Hell, he is crazy, fucking loopy these days." Emmett signals over the bartender. He needs tequila for this shit.
"If it's not crazy, it's not love."
Emmett groans into his hands. Here comes Jasper-the-sidewalk-philosopher again. "I've seen stranger things happen. People meet over the Internet and get married now. The rules are different, sex is different. I can't get laid without a girl asking for my birth certificate and medical records. Used to be you could meet up for an evening and enjoy some adult company, nice-like. Win-win."
Emmett gives him a curt nod of solidarity but it comes up empty. He's never had a one-night stand. He likes to see a girl smile and know that he put it there; even if the moment is temporary, there's a real satisfaction in it, like waking up to your favorite song and your day just brightened up effortlessly. Simple.
Jesus, why does his brother always go at it the hard way?
In the end, Edward is still fucked up over witchy-pussy. Valentine's Day is around the corner and they're taking Mom out since Dad's at a conference. The last thing he needs is for his tender-hearted little brother to break down in his ravioli.
Emmett laughs wryly at the image. Nah, Edward's not that fucking whipped.
"Fuck it. I'm calling him in the morning," he says, closing the topic, the shot of tequila warming him. He's ready now. "Let's bowl."
XxX
(Rose: The morning before the storm)
"Let me get this straight." Alice's high voice streaks through the salon in her version of a whisper – agitated and pitchy. "She had sex with him before she got divorced?"
Alice's body language moves in righteous judgment; her shoulders lean in toward Rose, to the annoyance of the Korean beautician buffing Alice's toes.
They are indulging in pedicures in the middle of Winter. They made their appointment weeks ago and in spite of the chatter about a blizzard tomorrow, they decided to stick with the plan. Plus, it is Alice's treat. She is hungry for scoop.
Steeling herself, Rose defends her friend. "Jake had, basically, called it off. He ignored her when she wanted to go back to counseling. That was the end of the line for her. We went out to karaoke, because, let's face it, she and Jake were done longer than that. And that's where she met Edward. I don't think she meant for it to get far."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything. I mean, who does that? Sorry, Rose, don't look at me like that, I know you're her friend. But let's put it out there. She could have waited, right? Did she need to shack up with some guy so soon?"
"It's, B, Alice. Let it go. You've been griping about this since I told you." Rose was hissing now and wishing she stayed home. It wasn't worth the trouble, sitting in this chair, under a harsh light, held down by her foot, and entertaining Alice with Bella's problems. 'What a shit feeling' she thinks, looking out the window, wishing she had her own love-drama to gossip about instead.
The pedicurist wraps their legs in paraffin, setting their feet gingerly in a hot bath of bubbly water. It relaxes.
"Do you know how she met Jake?" asks Rose, calmer.
"High school sweethearts, right?"
"Yeah, something like that. They knew each other even before that, I think. She told me they bonded over cliff-diving." There were other reasons they stuck close in the beginning, but that's not for her to share with the likes of Alice.
"Cliff diving? I didn't know Bella even swam!" Alice snorts this out, as if the thought of Bella in anything other than her teacher clothes were ridiculous.
"She did, and much more than that. B was a reckless bitch," Rose recalls fondly, navigating through the various artifacts of their friendship. The bracelet they made out of river shells, the sloppy braids they gave each other by a campfire, the out-of-tune singing of a Cyndi Lauper song while canoeing.
"I'm not saying she's not cool. It's just wrong. She committed, and if a marriage like Jake and Bella's can't withstand, what's that tell the rest of us? I thought they were the real deal."
"She made a big mistake."
"Yeah, she did," Alice says, glad that Rose is finally getting it.
"Not in the way you think. She made the mistake of confusing absolute friendship with absolute love. They're not one and the same."
"A couple can be lovers and friends," says Alice, interpreting it her way. "Now. Ugh, I can't even imagine. No one hangs out anymore. I never see Jake or Leah. Bella's off in la-la land with this new guy, and it's like the whole group's just broken. I miss us."
'Your us and our us, isn't the same' thinks Rose. "Tough. It's her life and she got out. It wasn't good for her."
"Selfish."
"You're my friend, but cut the girl some slack. You saw how she was with Jake. She was lifeless. That the kind of friend you wanted? She wasn't selfish then; if anything, she was too fucking selfless. She never said 'No.'"
"I told you, it's how she said 'no' or whatever you're getting at. Jake's a mess since she left…"
"He agreed to the divorce. Who the hell is he to start reacting to her now? Too little, too late." Rose grits out, seeing her face stressed out in the wall mirror and knowing this will give her a headache later. She lowers her voice even though they are the only clients in the lonely salon.
They're interrupted by their pedicurists. "What color?" they ask, ready to paint toes.
"Well, you know what? Never mind. It's a moot point, right? Now she's with Edward and got her man. She's moved on. I'm sure everyone will just move on, do their thing," says Alice, selecting her favorite nail color from the offered tray.
Rose picks a neutral color and ignores Alice's backhanded whining. "It's not that easy," she ventures evenly.
"What do you mean?"
"Bella hasn't told Edward that she's divorced yet."
"She's been divorced for three months and he doesn't know? He still thinks he's with a married woman? Oh, that's rich. That's fucking brilliant. What else is she holding back, that she's carrying his illegitimate child, too?"
"Stop! Enough. It may be black and white to you, miss-I've-never-fucked-up-in-a-relationship. But we wish it were that easy. Let's not even bring up that guy who screwed you and 'dropped his cell phone in the toilet, sorry I didn't call you for months' while you waited night and day. Let it go. B takes her time, end of story. She may need a little push to get moving, but she does, eventually."
After a while. At some point. Soon. Rose hopes so. Bella's been different lately, in a good way. So, maybe.
'When do we stop being our own worst enemies', she muses wryly, returning her eyes to the window, wishing she were stocking up for tomorrow's storm, renting movies and snuggling up to some guy who finds her hot in sweatpants. If it were easy, she'd be in a relationship, too. How hard is it to land a decent guy when she's got the looks, career, and all her teeth?
Next to the window, to the side of the salon's small foyer, is a coat rack. Rose notices and appreciates a knitted lavender scarf with silver thread woven through it.
Alice has finally shut up in a posture that's bursting to say more behind those pursed lips.
"Where did you buy that scarf?" Rose asks, pointing to it.
"I didn't. Bella gave it to me," Alice chokes out.
"She did?"
"Um, she made it for me. It was a Christmas gift."
There's a small scratching noise coming from Alice's direction that Rose responds to. Her friend is looking down and picking at the vinyl on her stool. "I noticed it on you earlier," says Rose with a tiny side-smile. "It looks good on you."
"Thanks."
They sit in silent truce for a while. The pedicurists are finishing up, applying the final coat, slipping on uncomfortable foam slippers to dry their toes.
"Do you think they talk about us?" whispers Rose.
"Who? Bella and Edward? I don't even know…"
"Not them," she hisses, bemused by Alice's obstinacy. She'll never change. "Them," she corrects, gesturing furtively at the Korean technicians who have been speaking in their native language all the while.
Alice giggle-whispers. "I don't know. I wonder sometimes, though." Her eyes take in the salon and the ladies are at their stations, wiping down, putting away, chatting. "Maybe not." Alice reassures herself.
"Maybe," Rose echoes unconvincingly, checking out their toes.
Alice wiggles her black-painted toes in her flip-flops. She is happy.
A/N:
Shout outs to my two 'night & day' betas who help me keep the crazy to a minimum. They're awesome.