The Twilight Twenty-Five
Prompt:
Morose
Pen name: ladyinblue6
Pairing: Canon and non-canon
Rating: M

I'm so good at procrastinating. I have up to chapter eleven handwritten as of now, and I'm going to continue typing until after supper. It's only English tomorrow. All I have to do is write an essay.



October and November were mostly uneventful. I forced myself to stay sober after the incident at Johnson's. Someone thought it'd be hilarious to spread a rumour that Edward and I were banging now, so I thought it would be best if I just stayed out of the lime light for a while.

Unfortunately, Edward figured out which number was mine only a few hours after I gave it to him and he immediately started a conversation with me. I didn't get it. It seemed like Edward didn't really like me before, so why would he text me constantly now?

Even though I wasn't Edward's number one fan, he did get me back into the social scene. He started asking me if I wanted to go out with him and his friends. Because of him, I became really good friends with Emmett, Jasper, Alice, and Rosalie. I quickly found a best friend in Jasper, a big brother in Emmett, and sisters in Alice and Rosalie. Edward, however, was still the person I loved to hate. We fought constantly over anything and everything. Edward hated Mexican food, I loved it. He liked Math, I liked English. I fell in love with country music when Jasper introduced it to me; Edward claimed that I made his ears bleed. We were polar opposites. North and South, black and white, winter and summer. People were crazy for thinking we'd ever end up together.

One night after the boys won a game against one of the team from Seattle, I took everyone out for a booze cruise in Charlie's F-150. Jasper and Alice sat in front with me while Edward got stuck in the back with Rose and Emmett, who were making out for the majority of the night. Jasper sat bitch and was the DJ for the night, which made Edward even more pouty.

The three of us in the front were screaming along to Taylor Swift's Fifteen, when Edward suddenly reached up and turned off the music.

"Hey!" Jasper exclaimed. He was easily the drunkest person in the truck, and his accent was extremely thick. "What's wrong with T Swift?"

"Her voice," Edward replied. "I'd totally plough her if she wasn't a country singer."

"Always the gentleman," I said sarcastically. "Jasper's the DJ for tonight, Edward, so back off."

"I haven't got to be the DJ once," Edward whined.

Jasper sighed, his eyes going out of focus. "He can be the DJ if it'll make him stop pouting."

I pulled over so Edward and Jasper could switch spots. Edward plugged in his iThing and started playing some Theory of a Deadman.

Eventually everyone fell asleep except Edward and I. I cursed my friends for being so inconsiderate. I started making my way back to town so I could drop everyone off.

"Pull over," Edward commanded. "I need to take a piss."

I pulled over to the shoulder of the road and hopped out for Edward. He stumbled away from me, unzipping his pants on the run. I waited for him to finish for what seemed like ten minutes. He stumbled back towards me and cornered me against the door of the truck.

"Why don't you like me, Bella?" he asked, his hot breath fanning my face. "Why do you keep fighting me?"

"I don't like you because you're a cocky asshole," I replied calmly. "Now get back in the truck."

Edward grinned before pushing away from me. "Fuck that just makes me want you more."

"Too bad I'm a tease, huh?" I joked as I got back into the truck behind Edward.

He didn't answer. He passed out instead.

I started driving home, dropping Emmett and Rose off first at Emmett's house, which was a farmyard I had been close to when I pulled over for Edward. Jasper hopped out of the truck to puke while Edward snuggled up with me in the front seat. If Alice hadn't been sleeping next to him, I would have shoved him.

When Jasper finally finished hurling, I took off for town. I didn't want Jasper to get sick again, so I was speeding down the gravel roads. We made it to Jasper's house without him puking in the back seat, thank God.

I dropped Alice and Edward off at their house before heading home. Before I even pulled out of the Cullen's driveway, I got a text from Edward.

"U wanna hang out tomorrow?"

I rolled my eyes. "Ya rite, edward. Ur drunk. Go 2 bed."

"Im serious, bella. Im reffing a jr novice game tomorrow. Come."

"If it'll make u go 2 bed, then yes."

"Im not going 2 bed til u come to bed w. me."

I laughed and shut my phone without replying. Texting sober Edward was one thing and texting drunken Edward was another.

My bed had never felt so comfortable. I had just changed into my pyjamas and crawled under the covers when I got another text from Edward.

"Y dont u like me?"

"Fuck," I breathed aloud.

"Edward, i like u as a friend. Sometimes u just get on my nerves."

"Im sorry."

"Go 2 bed."

I shut my phone off after that. If Edward had his way, we'd text every hour of the day. Sometimes I had to make up lies when I got sick of talking to him.

The next morning, I was woken up rudely at ten in the morning after getting less than seven hours of sleep.

"Come on, Dad," I whined. "It's Sunday."

"It's not the Chief," an amused voice replied.

My face, which was stuffed between my two pillows, was a mask of horror. I sat up quickly.

"What the fuck are you doing in my room?" I screeched at Edward.

He grinned lazily. "You said you'd come watch me ref. The game starts at 11:30. We need to get going, Sleeping Beauty."

"How are you not hungover?" I asked grumpily, wrapping my blanket around my shoulders.

Edward shrugged. "I don't really get hangovers."

"I hate you," I groaned, falling onto my back, covering my face with my hands.

The weight changed on my bed. I peeked out from under my fingers. Edward was lying down beside me in my bed.

"Get out," I grumbled, pushing him.

"Nah, I don't think I will," he replied, moving closer to me."Your bed's pretty comfortable."

I sighed. "You are so beyond frustrating."

"So I've heard."

"Okay, if I get out of bed, will you wait for me downstairs?" I bargained.

Edward stood up quickly with a cheerful smile. "Sounds good to me." He started leaving my room. "You're sure you don't want me to watch you change again?"

"No," I barked. "Get out!"

"Okay, okay, okay," Edward said with a smile while backing out of my room with his hands in the air. "I'll be rummaging around your kitchen." He shut the door and started running down the stairs.

I ran my fingers through my hair before I grabbed some clothes and heading to the bathroom. I showered and brushed my teeth quickly before coming down to the kitchen, where Edward was eating some Lucky Charms.

"Ready?" he asked with his mouth full.

"You finish eating," I urged him while I cleaned up quickly.

Edward cleaned out his dish and put it in the dishwasher soon after.

The tiny Kings of Forks were warming up when we got to the rink. Grandpa smiled and waved at me, I waved back. Edward talked to a few of the hockey dad's while I grabbed a coffee.

I stood by the booth and watched Edward interact with all the people in the rink. He was so…different when he around people he obviously respected, people he didn't feel like he needed to impress. He wasn't cocky anymore; he was acting like the kind of guy you wanted to take home to meet your parents because you knew they'd love him.

My breath hitched and my eyes widened when someone grabbed my free hand. Luckily, I didn't spill my coffee all over myself. I looked down at the hand engulfing mine and followed up the arm. It was Edward. I must have zoned out during my observations.

He grinned at my brightened cheeks. "Come on. I need to put my skates on downstairs in the ref's room."

Still shocked that Edward was holding my hand, I let him lead me across the lobby and down the stairs into a little changing room set aside for the refs and linesmen. Edward picked up the clothing set out for him and walked into the bathroom within the change room.

"Have you ever been down here before, Bella?" he called.

"Um, no, not really," I replied while I looked at the hand that had been held seconds ago. It made me cringe when I realized I missed the warmth Edward had provided. "Maybe a couple of times when I took my skating lessons."

"You took skating lessons in the old rink," Edward said, coming out of the change room. He sat down and started putting his skates on, tying the laces with ease.

"Why didn't you play on this team last year?" I asked, curiosity getting the best of me.

Edward shrugged. "All I used to care about was going out and getting trashed all the time. You can't pull shit like that on a AAA team. So I played A. It was fun, but I felt contained. It was so slow paced and everyone knew I didn't belong there. I finally decided to grow up this year."

"I'm glad you did," I murmured without thinking. My cheeks lit up. "I mean, I'm glad you're on the team because–"

"I'm hot?" Edward finished with a grin. The cockiness was back. "Aw, shucks, Bella. You're making yourself blush."

"Oh shut your mouth," I retaliated, standing up angrily. "We were actually having a real talk about something important and then you pull this shit. This is exactly why I don't like you, Edward. You act like I should be all over you, just like every other girl in Forks." I stormed out of the room, leaving Edward stunned.

I sat by myself in the bleachers in the lobby while the first period was played. Watching these young kids skate around made me feel less tense. They were so cute. Some of them could barely hold their sticks they were so small. And when one of them scored, all the kids on the ice went crazy. They were so excited to just be there.

Edward, unlike most people his age, looked like he was enjoying himself. Usually reffing a junior novice team was described as being as fun as watching paint dry. But Edward looked like he was loving it. That made me feel extremely guilty for yelling at him.

When the first period was done, I grabbed a mocha for Edward and took it downstairs for him.

"I'm sorry," I apologized when I handed it to him. "I feel horrible for yelling at you."

Edward held the cup with both hands, looking at me with an embarrassed smile. "No, you were right. I am a cocky asshole most of the time. You're the first girl that hasn't put up with my attitude." He took a sip. "I like it."

"I still feel like shit," I told him, sitting down. "I do like you, Edward, but sometimes you lay it on so thick I just want to smack you."

"Clearly I have to change my tactics," Edward murmured, his green eyes blazing as he looked at me. "I got you to notice me, but for all the wrong reasons."

I sighed. "Edward, I don't know why you're so interested in me. Really. I'm nothing special."

"That's just it, you are something special," Edward countered. "You aren't like the other girls from Forks. You don't put up with my shit. You're funny and half the time you don't even realize it. The fact that you don't try to prove yourself to anyone makes me so envious..." Edward shook his head.

"I feel like I've been in the spotlight since tryouts started. Believe it or not, my friends that I have now became my friends the day you moved to Forks. Before that, I hung out with people that got kicked out of school for drug possession and old losers. I was a loser before you came here."

"I find that hard to believe," I breathed. "You seem to fit in so well here. You couldn't have been a loser, Edward. You just weren't letting yourself be who you could be all along."

The players started going up the stairs.

"That's my cue," Edward said with a sigh. He brushed a hand down my arm. "Thank you, Bella."

The second period went much quicker than the first, and before I knew it, the game was done. The Kings won eight to six.

I waited for Edward at one of the picnic tables. He grabbed some food for both of us and sat down across from me.

"So you don't like cocky guys," Edward said as he dipped a fry in some ketchup. "What else don't you like?"

I shrugged. "Lots of things. Onions, cats, stale water–"

"I meant in guys, Bella," Edward interrupted with a smile.

"Thought so," I murmured. "Um, I guess cocky guys are the biggest turn-off for me. Sometimes it depends on the guy. My old boyfriend, Sam, he liked video games a lot, and it drove me crazy when he'd ditch me to go play Call of Duty. But, one of the guys I dated to make Sam mad let me play video games with him, so I loved the fact that he was a gamer."

"Okay. So, let's compare Jasper and me," Edward suggested.

I sighed. "Fine. Jasper's selfless and kind, but sometimes he's just too nice, you know?" Edward nodded. "I love that he introduced me to country music, but I fell the hardest for Rise Against when you made me listen to them."

"You're welcome," Edward said, pointing at me with a fry.

I rolled my eyes with a smile and continued. "I feel like I have to pretend to hate the things you love just so I can make myself believe you and I will never get along, and when Jasper plays the harmonica, I secretly want to strangle him, but I act like I love it." I shrugged. "You guys are so different. He's country, you're rock. He's laidback, you're driven."

"Interesting," Edward murmured. "Enough of this serious talk, though. Let's talk hockey."

We fell into the much easier conversation quickly. As much as I tried to tell myself I hated Edward, I knew that I was becoming fond of him.


On a sad note, I'm done Highland dancing (Google it) forever as of January 23. On a happy note, it's snowed like three feet in the past 30-ish hours. It's absolutely amazing! I love it!

Love,
Mary