Summary—Bella and Edward meet, and then things get awkward. But I, Dumbledoor the author, refuse to end it there!
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Early December
It wasn't 'til six months later that Edward and I saw each other again. I was in line for movie tickets. Jess and Mike already saw the movie, as did Angela and Ben. It took a while to muster up courage to come here, but I figured I waited on this too long to just watch it online or something.
But when I saw Edward walk in with two of his friends, my first instinct was to forget the movie and just bolt.
But I was spotted.
"Do you always do things by yourself?" he greeted as he sidled up next to me. "Bella, these are my friends Emmett and Eric. Guys, Bella."
"Hey," they both said, staying behind Edward. They looked amused. It bothered me a little.
"Hi, nice to meet you," I said, pleasantly. "And no, I don't," I answered to Edward.
"Sure," he said, grinning.
For a minute I guess we just looked at each other, probably trying to figure out if anything had changed since we last met. His hair was longer, I noticed, and he looked kinda cool wearing a jacket and scarf.
Still handsome, I thought, with bitter remembrance.
It was my turn at the ticket kiosk, so I turned around and bought a ticket.
"Hey," Edward said.
"Yes?" I waited for the ding! in my phone to signal that the purchase was complete.
"You want company?"
"Oh, um," I said. I turned to see him smiling. His friends looked decidedly mischievous now. "You sure?"
"Yeah he's sure," one of them, the big guy Emmett, piped in, "Ed didn't want to see Interstellar anyway."
The other one, Eric, snickered. "Said the first two were mediocre enough."
Edward glared at his friends. "Go. Away."
Emmett and Eric went away.
I gave a nervous chuckle. Hopefully he wouldn't mind too much that I chose The Notebook to watch. If he did, he didn't show it as he bought his own ticket.
"Hey you want some popcorn?"
"No, thanks, I'm full already," I said. "Is this a date?"
"Not if you don't want it to be," he said, not missing a beat. "We just haven't spoken to each other much, you know, and then I saw you and thought this would be much better than spending the night with those two."
"OK."
We seated ourselves somewhere in the back.
"Can I just say," he talked close to my ear, after we settled in, "that I feel ridiculously lucky to see you again."
"Thanks," I said.
"And single," he added, smirking.
I scowled, but I laughed anyway. "What gave it away?"
He shook his head and laughed. "The fact that no one's beating me up right now for one. Also there is the fact that you're watching a remake of one of the sappiest romances ever, alone, on a Saturday night."
"I know, I know, my life is so sad." I nodded solemnly.
"Nah, you're all right," he said breezily, sitting back. "I like it, actually. A lot."
"It's not like I do this all the time. You just catch me at weird times. I swear this is the first time I've gone to the movies by myself."
"Well, I'm glad I caught you tonight."
"Me too."
"Why were you going to the movies by yourself? I mean, was there a particular reason, or did you just feel like it?"
Actually, there was a particular reason (sort of), I just didn't want to tell it.
He waited.
"I broke up with my boyfriend last week," I said in a small voice. "Well no, it's more like he broke up with me."
His eyes widened. "Wait, was it that guy from your work?"
He remembered that? "Oh, no, it wasn't. It was the guy after that, James."
"I don't remember you ever mentioning him," he muttered. "Wow, we really didn't talk for long, did we?"
I nodded. If I checked my phone, I knew that I'd find exactly five weeks' worth of messaging between Edward and me, after the night at the art gallery. I also knew that the volume of messages and word space that I responded with had declined by a lot after he'd told me he was interested in this one girl, Tanya.
I felt horrible remembering it. It had been childish and cruel of me to just stop responding to his texts.
"Sorry to hear that," he said. He shifted in his seat, looking uncomfortable.
"Yeah, I mean it's not a big deal. I'm pretty much over it," I whispered, because the lights were dimming and everyone was getting quieter. "But yeah, I kinda just needed to get out. Someplace that didn't involve alcohol or strangers." I shuddered at the pathetic attempt that was Jessica, Angela, and I at a club last week. Never again.
Edward must've been watching me. He laughed. "In that case, I'm really glad I bumped into you."
I really liked him. How could I not? I was stupid then; hopefully I wasn't being stupid now.
I bit my lip, feeling giddy with the butterflies dancing in my stomach. "... And single?"
He nodded. "And single."
We stayed quiet after that.
The movie wasn't bad. Not as good as the original, I guess, but not bad.
It was still seven in the evening when the movie ended, so we decided to get coffee someplace. But along the way, we ran into his friend Eric. He looked frantic, searching along the streets for something. Apparently it was Edward he was looking for because he ran to us when he saw him.
"Edward! Edward, I've been trying to call you, man!"
"Shut off my phone," Edward explained, glancing at me. "Why, what's wrong—"
"Emmett's in the hospital!"
"Why?"
Apparently, Emmett got in a fight with his girlfriend's ex, who'd also gone to see Interstellar 3 with his buddies.
"I swear to God Royce was drunk or something, he kept coming at us and insulting Em. He threw the first punch and all, and then everything went crazy!"
"Where's he now?" asked Edward.
"I told you, in the hospital! Someone called 911 and then the cops came and then the ambulance and they took both of them away! They were both pretty beat up—you know they're pretty big guys," Eric was breathing heavily, from excitement or exhaustion, I couldn't tell.
"Is he OK?" I asked.
"Yeah, he is," Eric said, looking at me. He seemed uncomfortable with my being there. Maybe he was just one of those shy guys. God knows I'm one of those shy girls. But I was kinda hoping I'd get along with Edward's friends. I realized I was getting ahead of myself.
My phone vibrated. It was a text from Jessica. Buy pasta and mozzarella! We're cooking tonight.
They must've thought I'd go straight home after the movie—which, in all fairness, was a really on point assumption.
"So? You coming, man?" I heard Eric ask Edward.
"Well, I don't know," replied Edward, looking at me.
"Are you kidding me? Of course you should visit him," I said, "Tell him to get better for me."
"I mean, are you sure? He's probably fine..."
"Edward."
He nodded, albeit begrudgingly. I was flattered.
"Go," I said, smiling. "I have to go buy some things at the store anyway." I waved my phone around, as if that explained it.
"OK then," he said. "I'll talk to you later."
His hand went and touched my elbow.
"Huh?" I said.
He pulled me toward him and quickly pecked me on the cheek.
"I had fun, Bella. See 'ya later." He pulled back with a grin, walking backwards to follow Eric (I didn't even want to know his reaction).
"Yeah bye," I could only whisper.
The next day, I couldn't keep my hands off my phone, although I knew better than to expect him to call me. He'd messaged last night saying he'd be busy because of Emmett.
I understood. Didn't stop my disappointment though.
"So did you kiss him?" Jess asked as we—Angela, Jess, and I—watched Prisoner of Azkaban.
"No!'
Angela giggled. "He sounds so sweet. Edward Cullen. I must've heard that somewhere."
"I mean, do you read The Paperweight? He writes for them."
She frowned, turning back to the movie. "Hmm, maybe not then."
"Anyway, you should totally invite him to dinner with us this Saturday. No more fifth wheeling for you!"
"You think so?"
Jess looked at me in a 'duh' sort of way. "Of course! I want to know who exactly can charm the pants off of Miss Prud-ey Two Shoes. I bet he looks way better in person."
"You looked through his profile?"
This time Angela grinned, "Guilty." We laughed.
"I guess," I said.
Jess giggled. "Oh, come on, Bella. I know you're more excited than we are. How long has it been since you slept with someone?"
I shrugged. "Um, James, hello? It hasn't been that long."
"James doesn't count; he never made you come."
"Oh, shut up," I mumbled. Mike Newton (her oh-so-perfect boyfriend) had turned out to be a decent lay (surprisingly), and, believe me, Jessica reminds us of this fact every single time, disgustingly divulging the intimacies of Michael Reginald Newton.
The weeks passed by. Edward and I progressed as typical couples did in their mid-twenties. We went on dates all over the city, as suggested by both our friends, and anything else we could think of.
We kissed a lot, in parks and malls and the streets and small get-togethers held in friends' apartments. I never thought I'd be the affectionate type, but then I'd never met anyone like Edward either.
I felt myself change day by day, smiling quite often and reading less depressing novels and even so far as liking my job the way it was.
I thought I was happy. And I suppose you could say that technically I'd never been happier.
One night, I was by myself at home when my phone rang. The number was Ben's, Angela's boyfriend. Strange.
"Hello?"
"Bella?" It was Angela. Her voice was uncharacteristically loud.
"Yeah?"
"Bella, oh my god Ben proposed! Ben proposed! I'm getting married! I'm getting married!" She screeched, and I heard laughter in the background, and loud smooching noises, and it clashed spectacularly with the silence of the apartment.
I said I was happy for her. I asked how he proposed.
I'll spare you the ohmigods and Can you believe its, and describe to you myself how Ben proposed.
They went to the Milky Way Diner, where they had their very first official date. It was their seventh anniversary, so she had an inkling he would do what he did. Halfway through the meal, Ben just stood up, got down on one knee, and, amid the cheers and whoops of the patrons and waiters, he'd gone and asked the question.
Cliche, I immediately thought. But that didn't stop the twinge of envy that struck me.
"That's so sweet," I had to say, because she sounded ridiculously happy and I would not ruin that with sarcasm. Maybe with Jess.
We hung up and I was left to my thoughts that night, left mulling over the strange and unwelcome reaction to my roommate's engagement.