Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse or Breaking Dawn. I do not own Edward Cullen or Bella Swan or any other characters you may recognize from the series. I do however own the one-shot this is based on entitled 'White Carpet and Wall Sconces'.
Of course Jasper was coming over. Jasper always came over. He and Alice would take over the living room for a few hours, and then they went to her bedroom where he probably danced around in his toga for her. That was how it had been for the past two months that they had been dating.
Jasper annoyed me. It wasn't that he was a bad guy, he just annoyed me. He talked about his fraternity brothers and they're fraternity parties and his soccer team. He didn't really seem to talk about anything else. Soccer and frat parties and beer. Always beer. And he always knew if something was wrong. We were sure to hear about it tonight since Emmett was overly tense about the whole Rosalie thing, and I was an internal disaster thanks to stupid Bella Swan and her stupid little finger wave and her 'maybe I'll see you around.'
Fuck that was my line. 'Maybe I'll give you a call.' 'Maybe I'll see you around.' 'Maybe I'll eat my hat for dinner.' Maybes never happened.
"Edward man! Good to see you. How's it going? Holy shit man, you don't look so hot." Oh great, it's Jasper. When Alice said a few she wasn't kidding. I hadn't even made it past the stairs yet when he came bounding up.
I mumbled an "everything's fine" and carried on to my room.
"Hi Jasper" Alice called, I turned long enough to see her reach way up and peck him on the lips.
"How's it goin' babe? Your brother looks like shit." I hate him, I hate him, I hate him.
"Edward's just a little stressed out today. Nothing to worry about." She pulled him into her room and I heard the door click. I shut all mental images of Alice and Jasper (in his toga, always in his toga) out of my mind and closed the door to my room behind me and lay face down on the bed. I turned the pink square of paper around and around between my fingers, staring at it, wondering what I should do. I couldn't call her. If I going to call her that would sound desperate, or needy, or…stalkerish? I couldn't just call her up and ask her to have sex with me. That would be weird, not to mention the fact that if she walked away from me in person how easy it would be to hang up the phone on me. If I called her up, and if she answered, what on earth would I say? 'Hi Bella, I was just thinking about fucking you on my bathroom floor and how great that was, and was wondering if you'd like to do it again? Oh by the way I think you have a cute smile.' Somehow, I wasn't seeing that going over so well.
Maybe I could call her and ask her about her coffee preferences. Or would that be weird? That would probably be weird. How was I supposed to know what to say? I didn't call girls back. I didn't call girls at all. Maybe I could just call her and say hi. Maybe that wouldn't be so weird.
I picked up the cordless phone on my desk and pressed 'talk', and was immediately greeted with Emmett's voice at the other end, loud and angry.
"No Rosalie! You listen! I DO NOT WANT A BABY!" I wondered where on earth in the house he was, considering I couldn't hear him otherwise.
"DO NOT YELL AT ME, EMMETT CULLEN! You are being so frigging selfish! We ALWAYS do what you want! We see your movies, we drive your car, and we listen to your music. ALL I WANT IS ONE LITTLE THING!"
I couldn't stop listening. This was far more interesting than pixie girl and toga boy, and as much as I wanted to try this phone call thing, I couldn't wait to hear Emmett's response to Rosalie's argument.
"ONE LITTLE THING! ONE LITTLE THING!? ONE LITTLE THING IS A SATURDAY NIGHT CHICK FLICK. ONE LITTLE THING IS SATIN SHEETS. ONE LITTLE THING IS NOT A GOD DAMNED BABY! BABIES AREN'T ALWAYS LITTLE YOU KNOW, ROSALIE!"
I hung up the phone. I was done listening to that for now. Emmett was obviously not dealing with this well, not that I would if I were in his position; but all the same, he wasn't being particularly mature about it. Sometimes I felt like Alice and Emmett were born at the wrong ends of the sibling line. Alice always seemed like the oldest, and Emmett always seemed like the youngest. I fit in just where I was supposed to. Right, smack dab, in the middle.
I dug my cell phone out of my jeans pocket and slowly dialed the number on the sticky note Alice had given me. I forced myself to press send and forced myself to listen to it ring. I heard the distinct, muffled click of someone answering and panicked. What was I going to say?
"Hello?" a sweet, soft voice asked. I swallowed. And then I hung up, panting, staring at the phone like it had shocked me. And then I realized what I'd done. I'd just hung up on her. On Bella Swan, the Bella Swan I wanted to talk to. I growled at myself for my stupidity. I was obviously not a phone man, and for that reason I was very glad I hadn't used the land line. At least she'd never know it was me that hung up on her.
I stared at the phone again, as though waiting for it to jump up and bite me for being such an idiot.
I looked at the number again, and realized that it was not a cell phone number that Alice had given me, but definitely a land line. You could always tell from the three digits after the area code, and I knew the area well. It was near the school. I realized, with some pride, that I could probably plug the number into four-one-one and find out her address, and then I could go to her house, and then I couldn't hang up on her. It would look way worse to run away. That's what I would do. Because that wasn't weird at all.
Bella and Jessica were in the four-one-one directory and I did find their address. It wasn't hard to find. I knew the area very well. I drove past their place every day on the way to school. I drove past their place every day and I'd never seen her before Friday night. Frankly, I thought that was probably a good thing. I couldn't imagine thinking about her this much and not knowing who she was. Thinking about her this much and knowing who she was, was bad enough.
It was decided, I obviously could not be trusted not to hang up on her and I no longer had Alice to ask for advice, since toga-boy was in her room doing toga dances and eating souvlaki or whatever it was that they did in her candy pink bedroom. I was going to find Bella at home, and hope to the higher power that she didn't find it totally weird. And so, with my coat on, my gloves in my pocket and my heart in my throat I headed for the nearest Starbucks.
Bella's Point of View
I rolled out of bed, after getting home from Angela's late the night before. I looked at my mountain of homework that I had yet to start and groaned inwardly, I hated doing homework on Sundays.
Jessica hadn't come home the night before- surprise! So I was left in peace and quiet at least. She'd left a text on my cell phone telling me she probably wouldn't be home until Monday morning. Sometimes I felt like the only thing Jessica did was pay the other half of the rent and make messes for me to clean up. She was never really at the apartment enough to call it home.
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and stumbled toward the bathroom. Shower first, then breakfast and homework. I was glad I'd done groceries Friday.
I let the water run over my tired body, rubbing shampoo into my hair slowly, massaging my tired scalp. The bottle said 'rejuvenating.' We were going to see if it worked. I eventually dragged myself out of the shower, the water starting to run cooler than I liked, and dug a pair of yoga pants and a hoodie out of my drawer. I was doing homework, what did it matter what I wore? I pulled my hair into a messy ponytail, hoping to keep it out of my eyes and spent too long looking for my glasses before I found them, sitting on the window sill behind a book. I turned three hundred and sixty degrees on the spot and took in the state of my room. Papers lay on every flat surface, my lap top was now on the floor, half under my bed, just begging to be stepped on. And there were clothes everywhere. Workout clothes thrown on the bed posts, jeans and sweaters hung on the back of the chair, and shoes, everywhere there seemed to be shoes. I was seriously going to have to clean this up soon before I went crazy.
I decided that homework in the bedroom was not going to happen, so I grabbed the lap top and the articles and padded out to the kitchen, fuzzy slippers on my feet, glasses firmly on my face, hoping I wasn't going to trip and fall on the slippery floor.
Edward's Point of View
I found the address but I kept driving, steaming lattes in my cup holder reminding me of why I was there. I turned around and drove past it again, looking up, double checking the street number. I wasn't sure I could have the right place. It was a house. A big, Victorian, red brick house, with a porch and a white front door and shutters on the windows. How could this be where Bella Swan lived? I kept looking, closer and closer and closer. There was a staircase up the outside to the very top floor. The house must have been converted into some sort of apartment building. There was a wide driveway, with a small
black, GMC truck and an old boat of an Oldsmobile parked side by side. I wondered if one of them was Bella's car. Would she be here? I finally pulled up to the curb and convinced myself to turn the car off. Driving back and forth was accomplishing nothing but making me look creepier. I looked down at the piece of paper I'd scribbled Bella's address on and double checked the street number again. This had to be the right place. I checked the apartment number. Maybe if I just went inside everything would fall into place. I wiped my sweaty hands on my jeans, and pulled a smoke from my glove compartment. I didn't smoke in my car, in fact I really didn't smoke that much at all, but this was a stressful moment, and desperate times called for desperate measures. I put the cigarette in my mouth, and held the lighter to the end. What if I smelled like smoke and she wouldn't let me in? What a stupid thought, but it stopped me and I pocketed the lighter and tossed the cigarette into the snow bank beside the curb. Waste of a good smoke, the things I'm apparently willing to do for this woman. I had no idea what was going on in my head. I wanted to go back to the way things were, and I wanted Bella Swan to throw herself at me, like every other girl I'd ever been with. I didn't understand why she was being so stubborn. I also didn't understand why I was taking Alice's advice and talking to her. She obviously didn't want to talk to me; she made that pretty damn clear at the marina.
I could do this. I could take her the stupid coffee I bought her and talk to her about my stupid feelings. I became vaguely aware that the coffee was going to be cold soon if I didn't get a move on and decided that I couldn't very well stand on the street looking confused much longer before someone came up to me and said something. The door was right there. I could just go inside where it was warm, and then, I could talk to Bella Swan. I could do what I came here to do.
I forced my feet, one in front of the other to make it across the street and up the narrow walk. The door was and I let myself in, staring at the big staircase in front of me and wondering if her apartment was on the ground floor or if I needed to go up. Or worse, if it was the third story apartment with the outdoor staircase. Apartment five. Five. I took a quick look around me, and noticed that none of the three apartments on the ground level were number five, and took the chance to climb the stairs.
Slowly, one step at a time, the stairs disappeared before my eyes, and far too soon I was at the top, staring at apartment number four. I turned to my left, and my eyes met a big, brass five, practically screaming at me. The dark, wood door loomed, it seemed huge and daunting as I stared at it, coffees in hand, thankful for the gloves that saved my fingers from getting burned. I wondered what I'd find on the other side of the door. I wondered if she'd even answer the door. Was she even here? Would she even talk to me? What was I supposed to say? I was back in the same predicament as I'd been in when I'd tried to call her earlier, except now; I was face to face with her, with hot coffee.
Come on Edward, you can do this. Just knock on the door. I'd never known myself to talk to myself before. I'd never known myself to do a lot of the things I'd done in the last two days before. Bringing coffee to the girl I'd fucked in my bathroom, at her house that I'd found on four-one-one was definitely a first as well.
I propped one cup of coffee between my forearm and my body and wiped the sweat off my brow with my free hand, and then I set it on the door and took a deep breath. In through my nose, out through my mouth. I could do this. I would do this. I made a fist and drew my hand back slowly, and then, I knocked.
Bella's Point of View
I heard a low, hollow knocking coming from the direction of the door. Seriously? I just wanted to do my homework. Why couldn't everyone leave me alone? Some moron had called and when I'd answered had hung up without saying anything, needless to say pissing me off. I had been thinking about what Angela had said, but I didn't have time to talk to Edward Cullen. I barely had time as it was to summarize my million pages on Marxism. And now some stupid person was banging on my door. Probably some religious fanatic trying to convert me.
I shuffled to the door, muttering to myself about deadlines and opened the door a crack, and when I saw what, or rather who, was standing in my hall, I clicked it shut again, leaning back against the wall, breathing heavily. What the hell? I stood there, breathing in and out, heart pounding at an alarming rate until the person knocked again. This time I inched the door open and peeked around it. I blinked twice. He was still there. Him, in all his godly glory. Edward Cullen. And he was standing there, feet apart, Starbucks cups balancing carefully in both hands, looking lost and awkward. His hair was disheveled and damp from the snow outside and his eyes were downcast and wide. His mouth was turned down at the corners and all the muscles in his neck were contracted. I saw him swallow purposefully. I opened the door a bit wider and leaned against the door frame, looking at his feet, afraid to meet his eyes.
"Hello" I said stiffly, shuffling my feet in my fuzzy slippers. What was he doing here? Why was he just standing there not saying anything? His eyes darted up quickly to my face, and then back to his feet.
"I brought coffee." He extended one hand with a cup in it toward me. I just stared at him. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say. How did he know where I lived? First he's at the harbour, now he's at my house. It was a little uncomfortable to say the least. When I didn't say anything he shuffled his feet and looked up again. "It's for you." His voice sounded shaky, not nearly the smooth, velvety tone I remembered. I noticed the hand holding the coffee out to me was quavering ever so slightly.
"Thanks?" I took it gingerly from his hand. "So…is there something you needed?" I was starting to get frustrated. I needed to get back to work. I saw him roll his eyes.
"Is this a bad time?" I thought about it for a moment. On one hand I was a little freaked out that he was at my house with coffee, but on the other hand, he had brought me Starbucks, and made the effort to come to my house.
"Um…"
He started to back up, his face wearing the same down trodden expression he'd worn when I'd walked away from him at the harbour. "Sorry" he mumbled, heading for the stairs.
Okay Bella, it's now or never. "Wait!" I called, pushing the door open a little more. "I have a minute." I tried not to think of all the work I still had to do. Another two hour night asleep on the desk was in order.
I watched his face very carefully as I said it. His eyes snapped up and locked on mine, as though wondering if he'd heard right, and the corners of his mouth lifted in a shadow of the crooked smile I'd found so attractive. His shoulders squared, and yet, he didn't walk forward towards me. He stayed where he was, his eyes alight but wary. I stepped to the side. And slowly, but surely he stepped into the apartment.
