A/N: So it's been over a month. I'm sorry for the ridiculously long delay, it won't happen again!
Bella:
Since Edward has training today, I get the chance to meet up with my friends. And, of course, tell them everything that happened last night.
Well, not quite everything. I'll skim over the private times, but I do want to tell them about Edward's lack of serious relationships.
We all meet at this little cafe just across from our office. Although I want to tell them about Edward, I want to hear this news that Alice has first.
"So, what's new with you, Ali?" I ask.
Alice shuffles in her seat, for once not delighting in the limelight.
It must be serious.
"Tell her!" Rose urges.
"Fine," Alice huffs. "You know how I grew up in New York? Well, there's this guy I went to high school with, and when we went to that club the other night I saw him there. We, um, we'd kinda dated in high school-"
"Kinda dated?" I interrupt.
It's silent for a few minutes, until Rose decides to answer for Alice.
"They fucked," Rose states bluntly.
"Rose! I knew I shouldn't have told you first!" Alice whines, shooting a glare over at Rose. I snigger. "It wasn't just fucking, as Rose so nicely put it, he was my first." Yeah, I gasp. And Alice turns her glare to me. "We weren't properly dating, but I'd liked him for ages, and we were pretty much best friends."
"Um, without sounding rude, how did you go from best friends to losing virginities?" I ask, hearing Rose snort at my question.
Attractive.
"It was the week before I was leaving for Oxford. He organised this farewell thing for me, with all of my other friends. At the end of the party, I thanked him by kissing him. I was taking my chances with him, since I'd be leaving soon, so it didn't matter if I embarrassed myself," Alice begins to explain, much to my shock. "To my surprise, he, um, he kissed me back." Alice mumbles.
"And then what?" I ask, taking a sip of my coffee. I'm shattered from being up so late with Edward.
"Then it just sort of...happened. One minute we were kissing, the next we were naked together in his bed!" Alice blurts, gesturing wildly with her hands.
"Come on, tell her the rest," Rose says, glancing at Alice.
"Why did I think it would be a good idea to tell you first?" Alice mutters to herself. I laugh while Rose pouts. "After we…yeah, we fell asleep. I woke up the next morning because I heard his cell ringing, so I answered it, only to find there was a girl on the other line. Some chick named Lauren, and she was saying how she was his girlfriend. I lied and said Jasper – that's the guy's name – let me crash on his sofa. I felt so used," Alice says, finishing her story.
"Oh, Alice, are you ok?" I ask, reaching across the table to take her hand in mine. "How come you never told us about him before?" I add, offering her some of my cookie.
Alice shrugs, looking awfully miserable and totally unlike herself. "I felt stupid. He was my best friend, which I ruined, and I didn't even know he had a girlfriend!" Alice exclaims.
"And there's still more..." Rose trails off. "We were at this club and I saw this guy, who looked like he was arguing with Alice. I went over there to help her out," Rose tells me.
"Yeah, Jasper was pretty angry," Alice nods, in agreement with Rose's story. "He demanded to know why I left, thought that I'd used him! So I told him to ask his girlfriend, Lauren," Alice mumbles bitterly.
"And?" I prompt, now fully engrossed in this story.
And I thought my life was crazy.
"He told me he'd never dated anyone called Lauren." I gasp, not having expected that.
"So that girl lied?" I ask, confused.
"Yeah," Alice nods. "So, Jasper asked if he could take me out. So that we could reconnect. What the hell does that mean?"
"Um...it means he's not a dick?" I offer. Rose starts laughing loudly and Alice manages to crack a smile.
"Anyway, onto happier things. How did things go with you and Edward?" Alice asks, smirking.
"Well, his mother came round this morning, and asked me out to dinner with them!" I blurt, since I'm still shocked about that.
"Really?" Both Rose and Alice gasp out.
"Yep. Oh, and get this, his mum said that this past month and a half he's been miserable! It's not just me!" I exclaim happily. "Yeah, so, he made me dinner last night, and not so subtly asked me about my exes."
"How did he react?" Rose asks. Rose and Alice both know about my past two boyfriends.
"Remarkably well, actually," I tell them. "Though, he did tell me about his exes."
"Uh oh, this sounds bad," Alice murmurs, leaning forward.
"It's not necessarily bad. He told me that he'd never been with a girl longer than 6 months. That he's never lived with a girl, nor has he been in love."
I sit back and drink some more coffee, letting them digest this news. They seem to be thinking it through thoroughly.
"Did he say why?" Rose asks, finally breaking the silence.
"Yeah. Apparently none of his other girlfriends liked or understood tennis, and didn't like how he travelled all over the world, but would never go with him," I tell them, counting down in my head.
Three.
Two.
One.
And the squeals start.
"Oh my god you are perfect for him!" Alice squeals, clapping her hands together.
She reminds me of a seal.
"Seriously, it's like you were made for him!" Rose adds, also looking ecstatic.
I sigh heavily, thinking about Edward. It all still feels so unreal.
"I should probably call my parents," I mutter, since it's two times now that I've been in the press because of him.
"Yeah! You were in the magazine again!" Rose points out. "Have you read it?" she adds, pushing the magazine towards me.
I haven't actually read it, so I flick through to the article about me.
That's weird. That there's an article in a magazine about me.
Tennis hotshot (literally) in heated argument!
Remember a month and a half ago when Edward Cullen was pictured – rather intimately – with the brunette? Guess what, he's been pictured with her again!
Now, in the first picture, Edward claimed that the two were 'just friends'. Obviously, no one believed this (well, we hoped it was so. Does he hold all his female friends like that? If so, we want to be his friend even more!).
Anyway, after his amazing win in the third round of the New York Open, Edward was pictured arguing with this girl in the parking lot. Even more than ever, we want to know who she was! Why were they arguing? Did she want more and he didn't? We know from the past that Edward isn't big on relationships. Yes, he's been pictured with other women, but there's never been anything serious reported.
Sadly, we can't answer these questions, we can only guess. Though, we're also baffled at the fact that the first picture was taken in London, and this one was taken in New York. Is she a stalker or something?
If she is, we wouldn't blame her.
We'll, as always, keep you updated on this story! Our team our currently trying to work out who she is, and are eagerly awaiting another statement from our favourite tennis player!
I throw down the magazine on the table, thoroughly pissed off, worried and annoyed.
"So?" Rose asks, a knowing smirk on her face.
"Firstly, I'm not some stalker who's clinging to Edward who 'doesn't want me'. Secondly, if they find out my name I'll hunt them down; personally. And finally, he's off the market, so they can back off." Alice ends up giggling at the end of my rant, so I take my cookie away from her again.
"You're so possessive over him!" she sniggers.
"So, you're meeting up with that guy? What was his name…Jasper?" I deflect, raising an eyebrow.
"Possibly," she murmurs, a lot quieter than before.
"Why only possibly? I thought you arranged a date?" Rose frowns over at Alice.
"Yeah, but I'm not sure if I want to go…" Alice trails off.
"Do you like him as a friend?" I ask her. Alice nods, albeit hesitantly. "And do you like him romantically?" I add.
"Well, yeah, kinda, I mean, he was my first, you know? And he's pretty hot…" Alice admits a little reluctantly.
"Then meet up with him!" I practically shout. She glares at me. "Look, what happened before you came to England was neither your fault nor his. Ok, maybe you shouldn't have had sex without talking beforehand, but you weren't to know this girl was lying."
"I shouldn't have had sex without talking before? Isn't that what you and Edward did? Twice?" Alice frowns.
Ah, she's got me there.
"See, this is completely different," I say, trying to sound convincing.
"How so?" Alice asks, raising an eyebrow. I glance over at Rose, silently begging her for help, but she just seems to be enjoying herself.
"Because…Because Edward and I didn't need to talk, as it was supposed to be just sex. For you and Jasper, you wanted a relationship, so you should have spoken," I answer, hoping to sound convincing.
"It's kind of ironic," Rose comments. "What I mean is, Bella and Edward were just looking for meaningless sex, and you ended up in a relationship. Alice and Jasper were looking for a relationship, but ended up just having sex," she informs us both.
Huh.
Yeah, that's kinda true, actually.
"Fine, I'll meet up with him," Alice sighs heavily.
"When are you meeting up?" I ask her.
"Tonight. We'll all have to discuss how our evenings go. You're meeting the in-laws and I'm meeting up with Jasper," Alice says.
"And I'm going to call Cullen's hot trainer," Rose says, beaming.
I can't help but laugh.
Eventually we do have to actually do some work, so we leave the coffee shop and head over to our office. Things have pretty much all been set up – all the DIY thankfully now completed – and on Monday we're interviewing possible employees.
*******DEUCE*******
Waking up the following morning with Edward is honestly perfection. When I slowly open my eyes I see he's already awake, and he leans forward to kiss my nose.
He's too cute for words.
"Are you busy today?" he asks me, kissing all over my face.
"Maybe…why?" I tease him, snuggling back into the covers and closing my eyes.
"Isabel-laaa," Edward coos, continuing his kissing attack of my face.
I re-open my eyes to see him hovering above me, an adorable pout on his handsome face.
"What?" I grin up at him.
"It's the semi-finals today. I want you there," Edward says, kissing my lips fairly chastely.
"You do?" I know my face is covered with a massive grin.
"Yep. In the family box."
My eyes widen and I quickly sit up in bed, almost head butting Edward. Luckily, he moves out of the way before injury befalls him.
"What?" I shriek. Edward looks scared.
"I want you there but it's too late to get tickets, plus there's space in the box because there'll just be Mum, Angela, Emmett and some other physiotherapists," Edward explains quickly.
"Um…it's just…" I mutter, not knowing how to put it into words.
"I understand if you're busy or you don't want to go," Edward says, looking crestfallen.
"No! That's not it!" I quickly assure him, pulling him towards me and kissing him. "I've just never been with your family before, without you with me," I explain to him.
To my surprise, Edward laughs.
"They love you. My mum and sister. You'll be fine," Edward grins, kissing me again and then getting out of bed. "Usually my mum and sister come round here for breakfast with me, and then we head to the courts together," Edward tells me. "Right, I'm going for a shower, then you can go after me. Ok?"
He doesn't give me chance to reply before he's in the bathroom, leaving me alone in the bedroom.
Despite his words, I'm still nervous about being alone with his mother and sister.
A/N: Thoughts on Alice's news?
Looking forward to the semi-final?!
Please keep on reviewing, I love hearing all your thoughts about the chapters!