Oh, shit. Oh shitty-shit-shit!
Edward ran a hand through his hair as Bella looked up at him with a confused look on her face. He hadn't really counted on seeing her (poor planning on his part), so now that she was standing in front of him, he was at a loss for words.
After running to the parking lot and accosting Jacob into telling him where Bella ran off to, Edward got onto the next bus that passed by Northwestern…or at least, he thought it was the next bus that passed near the hospital. Never having used public transport in his life unfortunately made Edward a bit unaware of how bus schedules and routes worked.
Nevertheless, he made it in about half an hour, just in time to have Bella literally run into him.
"Jasper?" Bella sounded concerned now. "You okay? You're not here 'cause you're sick, are you?"
"No! No, nothing like that," Edward replied with a short laugh. "I just…came to check on you. You seemed really upset when you just up and left, and I was worried." He wasn't completely lying. Edward really was alarmed by Bella's reaction, but his worry was split between her, and what her visit would mean for him.
"Oh," Bella seemed taken aback by his response. "So, Uncle Peter didn't send you to get me?"
"No, I came on my own. I'm sure he's anxious about you, too, though."
For reasons unknown to him, Bella blushed and looked down shyly before speaking again.
"Yeah, he just called to let me know I'm needed urgently back at the café…which makes me wonder why he let you leave. Isn't it really busy back there?"
Edward truthfully didn't know. "Um, I didn't notice. I just kinda left after you did, so…I guess they don't even know that I'm not there anymore."
"Well, we better get back to Heaven, then. One of the chefs fainted, and I'm sure they need you back, too. C'mon."
Edward was surprised when Bella grabbed his hand and began tugging him to the elevators. Surprised in a good way, though. Definitely in a good way. The whole time he was in contact with her made him feel the tingles again, and this time, he could say for sure that he liked how they felt.
Both of them were silent once they were in Bella's car and en route to Heaven. Bella seemed content to wallow in her thoughts, but Edward was starting to get antsy; he had to know even just a smidgen of what had happened in his hospital room.
"So," he began. "Not that I'm trying to pry or anything, but who did you visit? I mean, she has to be pretty important if you left in the middle of lunch to go see her."
"Him, actually," Bella corrected him. "And it was Edward Cullen."
"Cullen…" Edward pretended to contemplate. "Cullen, as in the student body president and batch valedictorian?"
Okay, that may have been pushing my achievements a little, but hey, those are what most people remember me as, right?
"Yes, him," Bella nodded. "Jacob told me that he was…um, was caught in the middle of a car accident, and he's in a coma, so I figured I'd, y'know, come see him."
"He and Jacob are pretty close, then."
"Yeah, they've been best friends since he transferred to Forks High."
"But weren't you two close as well? You and Edward, I mean." And so began the subtle answer-fishing. "You and he were always together since freshman year."
When Bella didn't answer right away, Edward turned to look at her. Her face was blank, but the way she gripped the steering wheel gave away her real emotions.
"I guess you can say that," she said finally. "But sometimes, people grow apart, and unfortunately, that's what happened to us."
Grew apart? What the hell is that supposed to mean?
"So, it wasn't because he…did anything?" Yes, he was running out of shame.
Again, Bella became silent, and this made Edward even more agitated. Silence oftentimes meant yes, but now, he knew that wasn't the case.
"No, he didn't do anything," Bella said after a second more. "Not anything wrong, anyway. Things just…naturally progressed to how they are now, and it isn't anyone's fault."
Edward scratched the back of his neck to avert his hands from pulling at his hair. Why must girls be so cryptic sometimes? Was it so hard to say something like 'actually, Edward became a huge jerk before we graduated, so I stopped hanging out with him'?"
No shit she isn't going to say that, Cullen. Number one, this is Bella we're talking about; the girl couldn't confront, displease, or speak ill of anyone for the life of her…unless you count third grade when she shouted at Mary Hill, but that's beside the point. Number two, she barely knows Jasper, so it's not like she's going to be spilling anything personal…
"Did you know he's engaged?" Bella suddenly blurted, pulling Edward out of his internal monologue. "To Rosalie Hale. I – She was in his room when I went to visit."
"Oh," Edward replied. Of course he knew about the engagement, but he was surprised she would bring it up. He decided to feign ignorance to keep up the Jasper façade. "Um…no, I didn't know that."
"I guess it isn't much of a surprise. They've been together since our senior year, and they seem…happy. I mean, they were happy before, I'm sure, but they're still…just…and the way Rosalie talked about him was…well, like I said, they're happy…with each other. But of course they would be since they're getting married and all…"
Oh, Bella, if only you knew.
It didn't shock Edward that Rosalie would still be playing the excited fiancée card, but it saddened him to see Bella so affected by the whole thing. He knew for a fact that she rambled when she was upset to hide her feelings, so to hear her go on and on about how he and Rose were so perfect together twisted his heart a little.
"…and she asked me to cater some kind of party the company she works for's having. I don't think –"
"Wait," Edward interrupted. "You mean the anniversary ball?"
Cullen Architecture was going to celebrate its anniversary in about a week. It just figured that Rose would insist on having the festivities carry on despite her fiancé's current state.
"Yeah," Bella looked at him. "How'd you know?"
Ah, shit.
"I…read about it. Just by passing, y'know?" That information's up on the website, right? "The, uh, architecture firm where she works is about to have its fiftieth anniversary."
Instead of being satisfied by his answer, Bella just looked even more confused. "You know where Rosalie works?"
"Uh…yes. I also read about that actually…on her Facebook profile. Yeah, her, um, place of employment was mentioned. It's Cullen Architecture." Edward responded as smoothly as he could. He used to be the king of excuses and made-up stories in elementary school; he wondered briefly what had happened to that skill of his.
Cut me some slack, man. I'm working under pressure here!
With pressure or without, you better clean up your act or at this rate, I can guarantee that within a week, the whole of Chicago will know about how you possess some guy's body to get back to your own.
That's stretching it a little too much, don't you think?
Thankfully, Bella accepted his answer. She nodded and gave a short 'oh, okay' as she pulled into Heaven's parking lot.
…
That night, Edward idly played with his new phone as he stared at his body. Esme was taking a nap and Rosalie was taking a call outside, so that left him alone with his thoughts, or more specifically, with his tentative take-down strategies.
So far, nothing seemed to be a good idea. As Jasper, he had no access to company records or the company itself, no relationship with his parents, and basically, no credibility whatsoever. Still, he had to come up with some way to at least let either Carlisle or Esme know what Rose and Jacob were up to without blowing his cover.
A small part of him held out a little bit of hope that maybe those two would listen to whatever moral bone was left in them and abandon their plans, but the chances of that happening were slim to none. Edward groaned aloud and rubbed his face.
He was just about to get up and begin pacing when Carlisle entered the room. The sound of the door opening woke Esme, and Carlisle approached her to give her a kiss on the forehead.
"Hi," he greeted softly, stroking her hair.
"Carlisle?" Esme yawned. "Did you just get off work, dear?"
Carlisle nodded as he removed his blazer. "We're just so busy lately. I have to put in the extra hours if I want anything to get done."
"Honey, you work too hard," Esme scolded lightly as she rubbed his shoulders. "You should take some time off to recharge."
"You know I can't," he replied wearily. "With the ball coming soon, new clients coming in, and big projects that need to get done, there really aren't enough hours in a day to finish everything. Of course, it also doesn't help that one of our greatest assets is out of commission as of the moment," he glanced at Edward's body and sighed. "I feel like I'm going to collapse one of these days."
"Maybe you should start delegating tasks more. You're not a robot, Carlisle; you'll kill yourself at this rate."
"That's what I was thinking as well," Carlisle agreed. "Perhaps it's time I give some of the more…higher-positioned employees more responsibility."
"Oh no," Edward muttered. He could feel where the conversation was leading, and he wasn't liking it one bit. "Dad, please don't say it…"
"Esme, what do you think of giving Jacob a bigger role in the firm?"
Yep, he said it.
This chapter has been written amidst a massive writer's block and stressful accounting problems (one can only take so much computing for current liabilities). Feedback will be most welcome and appreciated as always :)