Chapter 7: The V-Card Discussion and The Party Dress
My head is pounding. This head ache is the size of the Mississippi. It definitely doesn't help that Emmett has been singing Spice Girls at the top of his lungs for the past hour. I roll over with a groan and look through blurry eyes at my alarm clock. 9:45 a.m. Are you kidding me? Its not even ten in the morning yet, how can he possibly be this wide awake. I didn't fall into bed until after five, and after that I tossed and turned for two hours trying to get comfortable, trying to make my head stop hurting, willing myself to stop thinking about Jasper. The way his eyes shine when he looks into the light at just the right angle, or the way he runs his long slender finger through his hair. Seriously this is ridiculous. I roll over off of my bed and look at Jade, still sleeping peacefully, as if the sound of Emmett's obnoxious singing is lulling her like a lullaby, rather than disturbing her slumber. I walk steadily to the kitchen, my head pounding harder with every step that I take.
" If you want to be my lover, you gotta get with my friends, make it last forever friendship never ends," Emmett loudly sings while stirring a bowl of batter. He turns around and looks at me a broad smile crossing his face.
" Morning half-pint," He says, setting the bowl down crossing over to me. He wraps me in such a huge hug that at first I am so shocked I don't hug back. Finally I hug back and he releases me.
" How is it possible that you have so much energy this early in the morning?" I ask, trying to stifle a yawn. I reach up to open the cabinet that holds the coffee mugs.
" Sex. Plain and simple. It's the best energy booster," he answers, closing his eyes and smiles as if is remembering the actual act.
" I shouldn't have asked," I mumble, pouring coffee into my mug.
" Aww, come on half-pint, are you trying to tell me that you have an aversion to sex?" he asks, looking somewhat shocked by my reaction. I blush slightly before I turn to glare at him.
" It's kind of hard to have an aversion to something I have never done," I say, instantly regretting the fact that I opened my mouth. Emmett stands in front of me as his jaw drops.
" You mean you have never, not even once,?" he asks, suddenly becoming more interested in my sex life, more like my lack of one.
" Yes that is what I am telling you," I say, sliding onto the counter to dangle my feet. It grows silent for a moment, before Emmett just bursts out into yet another song.
"Lets talk about sex baby, lets talk about you and me, lets talk about all the good things, and the bad things, that may be, lets talk about sex," he sings, holding his mixing spoon like a microphone. I roll my eyes. I knew I shouldn't have said anything. Its bad enough feeling like I am the only twenty year old virgin left in the world without Emmett making things even more embarrassing for me.
" What are you singing about so damn early Emmett?" Rosalie's sleepy voice comes from the door way.
" Oh well at first I was singing spice girls, because come on lets all face it everyone had a crush on one of them at one point or another. Mine was Baby Spice by the way, and then half-pint here asked me how I could possibly this energized, and I told her. Sex. Because sex can energize and man on his death bed. But because Ana is a virgin she wouldn't understand," he says, easily, as if this is typical conversation. Rosalie's eyes widen as she looks over at me.
" Really, not once?" she asks, looking as astonished as Emmett did.
" Really," I say, sipping at my coffee.
" How is that even possible?" she asks, sitting across from.
" I don't know, I just haven't. Its not necessarily at the top of my priority list," I say, sincerely hoping that no one else comes into this totally random and embarrassing conversation. Of course all hopes of no one else coming into this fiasco were dashed when both Edward and Jade stumble sleepily into the kitchen.
" She cant be serious, come on Jade, she is your best friend, she is no virgin," Rosalie says, laughing as she eats her pancakes. Jade laughs along, while shaking her head.
" Yes, yes she is. Not that she hasn't had the chance to change that," Jade says, looking over at me. " Remember James, Mr. Romeo himself?"
" Oh God, please Jade, don't," I say, pleading in my mind that she just wont say anything.
" Oh come on, now we have to know," Emmett says, placing his hands under his chin like a child excited about a story.
" Okay so James, was the new boy in school. Seriously cute, like oh my God cute. And he took an immediate liking to Ana. So they started dating, and he would do the sweetest things, like bringing flowers to her, and love poems, and reciting her favorite passages from Romeo and Juliet. So six months into the relationship, she decides its time. She is going to give him her v-card. Well he sets the stage beautifully. Rose petals, great dinner, beautiful music. And five minutes into them getting hot and heavy he, well he erm," Jade leans over and whispers the rest of the story to her. Rosalie chokes on her juice and as she laughs until tears are streaming down her face.
" He did not," she chokes out through her laughter. I can feel the blood rushing to my face.
" Oh yes, he did," I say, starting to laugh along with them.
" What did he do come on you guys, what did he do?" Emmett asks, trying to figure out what was so funny. So Rosalie leans over and whispers in Emmett's ear, who in turn laughs just as hysterically, and in turn he whispers it to Edward. Soon the sound of insane laughter echoes off the walls.
" What's so funny," a thoroughly confused Jasper asks from the door way and the laughter dies. Like someone put the mute on. Not a word more was said. Instead Edward gets up and walks from the room, and Emmett and Rosalie exchange uneasy looks.
" Well thank you Ana, for the entertainment this morning, Emmett and I are going to, well we are just going," Rosalie says, pulling Emmett from the room.
" Aww but Rose, I want to see what's going to happen," Emmett says, standing perfectly still as Rosalie tries pulling him with all of her might.
" Yeah Rose, you guys don't have to leave just on my account," Jasper says, sitting down across from me.
" Oh but dear brother of mine, I think you would really like me to leave, because if I don't I will smack you from here to next Sunday. How could you do that to Ana, and over Alice? I'm sorry Emmett no disrespect, its just that Alice made her mind up a long time ago Jasper, you need to let that go," Rose says, looking angry.
" I know that Rosalie, you think I don't know," Jasper starts but I interrupt him.
" Listen I appreciate you guys sticking up for me this way, but really it isn't necessary," my voice is lost though, in the middle of Jasper and Rosalie yelling at each other.
" Shut up, shut up, just SHUT UP!" I yell finally, staring at the shocked faces of Jasper and Rosalie. " Listen Rosalie, I love you for sticking up for me this way really, I do, but it isn't necessary. I can take care of myself, and how in the hell did you guys know what happened?" I ask. There is silence. No one speaks, it looks as if they are afraid to breathe. " You know what never mind I don't want to know. I'm going, I just I have to get out of here." I rush upstairs to my room and slam the door behind me feeling totally and utterly angry. I hastily throw my hair into a ponytail and change into my favorite pair of gray jogging pant and my tennis shoes. I grab my I-pod quickly and I'm just about to turn it on full blast when there is a soft tapping at my door.
" What?" I ask, my voice coming out harsh. The door peaks open revealing Jasper, looking like a lost child.
" Can we talk?" he asks, and a part of me is screaming out telling me to just listen to whatever he has to say, and the angry side of me is telling me to just slam the door in his face. So I go with neutral ground.
" Not right now we cant," I say, pushing past him, and out of the front door, my eye pod screaming loudly in my ears " I'm running away, I'm leaving this place."
I sit staring out at the trees surrounding me, waiting for the moment when I will know what I am going to do. Part of me is wishing that I had never come to Washington. That I had never left the comfort of California, the heat, the desert, the familiarity. And the other part of me knows that if I would have stayed I would have never met him. Even now when my heart breaks over what I know will never be I cant imagine not being near him. 'Would you listen to yourself Ana, you are talking like you are in love with him,' I think to myself. Love at first sight, its so over rated. I scroll through my I-pod looking for something to lift my spirits. A shadow catches my attention, so I lift my head to see Edward sitting down next to me.
" Hi," he says simply.
" Hi," I echo back. Silence descends, but unlike the awkward silences that fall between Jasper and I it's a comforting one.
" I'm sorry about what Jasper did Ana," he says, looking at me with sympathy in his eyes.
" Edward you don't have to apologize," I say, pulling my head phones off.
" I know that I don't have to apologize. Listen there is something you need to know about Jasper, okay, he is so sorry for what he did," he says, staring at me. " You don't know how much he is beating himself up for it, he wishes that he could take it all back."
" Listen Edward, this is nice to hear and all, but I am not even mad anymore. I wish people would just drop the whole thing. I am over it," I say, which is true. I am not mad at him anymore for what he did. I'm just heartbroken that he doesn't want me.
" Then why are you angry?" he asks, pushing me to talk to him.
" I'm not angry, I am just, sad. It's no surprise that I have a crush on Jasper. Everyone in the house knows how I feel, even Jasper does now, but he made it more than clear that he doesn't feel the same way," I say, blinking back the tears that started threatening to spill over.
" Did he tell you that?" he asks, laying back in the grass staring at the clouds. I think about that for a moment and though in truth he didn't say he didn't feel the same way, but he didn't say anything.
" No, but his silence told me everything that I needed to hear," I say, laying back also staring at the dark ominous clouds hanging over my head.
" Well I am sure that if you were to just talk to him Ana, you guys could work through all of this," he says, looking over at me smiling.
" Yeah, maybe. Thanks Edward, for talking to me," I say, watching as he stands up. He reaches his hand out to me and helps me to my feet.
" Anytime. Your like another little sister to me Ana, so I mean it when I say, anytime," he says, and with that we walk silently back to the house.
I walk in the house and find it eerily quiet. No Emmett singing, or television playing. A note lays on the counter that reads, 'Emmett, Jade, and I have gone out. We will be back later, remember Edward tonight is the party Love, Rose.' The party? I think to myself. I walk up stairs and into my room where a long white box with a red bow wrapped around it sits on my bed. I feel my forehead crinkle in confusion as I look at it. I grab the card attached to it and open it. " Ana, you are going to need this for the party, hope you like it. Oh who am I kidding I know you will love it. Kisses, Rosalie." What is this party that I keep hearing about. Curiosity gets the best of me and I finally decide to open it. I pull on the ribbon and pull off the top, pushing the tissue paper back, and I gasp lightly to myself. On top of the dress is an invitation that says that I have been formally invited to the third annual Hale/Cullen Cocktail Party. I set down the invitation and pull out the long teal dress. 'Oh Rosalie,' I whisper to myself. 'This should be fun.'