Not that we don't already know this but Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight. I own the laptop I am currently typing on.
I'd like to welcome all the new readers who either put me Author or Story alert. I am so glad that you all are enjoying the story as much as I am enjoying writing it.
Sunday turned out to be relatively busy cleaning up around the condo, doing laundry and going to get groceries for the week. I made myself some dinner and sat down to watch the episode of The Big Bang Theory that I missed this week and was about to take a bite of my food when my cell phone rang. I groaned in frustration, although no-one could hear it, and went to get my phone. I looked at the caller ID and it was a number I didn't recognize. I picked it up anyway.
"Hello?" I said tentatively.
"Edward?" the voice on the other end responded.
"Yes. Who is this?" It was a woman and her voice sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.
"It's Alice, Bella's friend. Anyway, I'm with Jasper and he gave me your number, I hope that's okay?" she stated.
"Oh sure. How are you Alice?"
"I'm great actually. The reason I am calling is to talk to you about Bella." Alice said. Immediately I was concerned, why would her best friend of all people be calling me out of the blue?
"Is she alright?" I must have sounded frantic because she immediately told me she was just fine. I could hear her talking to whom I could only assume was Jazz since she said she was with him.
"So what is it you wanted to talk about Alice? I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I was just sitting down to eat dinner and it's starting to get cold."
"Oh, I'm sorry Edward. Let me get right to the point then. I talked to Bella today and she informed me that she had a date with someone tonight, seeing as she talks about you nonstop I thought it was you she was going out with." Wait, she talks about me nonstop? It's a good thing there is nobody here to see me because I am fairly certain that I have the worlds widest smile on my face right about now. "When I asked her who she had a date with she said it was that guy Seth from last night. I was talking to Jazz about it and I immediately noticed the grimace on his face when I mentioned Bella going out with him so I got him to tell me what was wrong. Of course it took lots of convincing and bribing to get him to spill, but I finally got it out of him." Shit, she's going out with Seth? Why is she going out with him, she didn't look remotely interested in him last night at my parent's house. She did give him her number; she must have been a little bit interested in him.
"What exactly did he tell you?" I sure as hell wasn't going to offer up the information that I was interested in Bella to her best friend without knowing if Jazz actually ratted me out. If he did, he will pay dearly for it though.
Alice let out a little musical laugh at that like it was the stupidist question she'd ever heard, which it probably was knowing Jazz and his inability to keep his mouth shut if he was bribed with the right thing. "Silly Edward, I think you know what he told me. Don't play coy with me."
"Alice, if you wouldn't mind, I would really like to get to eat my dinner while it's still warm, so could you just say what you want to say?" At this point I was getting frustrated. My chicken was probably already ice cold because this conversation was taking longer than it should.
"Fine! Jazz told me you have a thing for Bella and I personally couldn't be happier about it. Ever since she started working at your company she has talked of nothing but you, but the past few times I have talked to her about you she said she didn't think you were interested and NOW she's going out with Seth. This brings me to the reason I called. I wanted to offer up my services to help you get the girl." Okay, that's an interesting turn of events. I guess I could get any better than the girl's best friend for help. Play it cool Cullen, play it cool.
"What exactly are you offering Alice?"
"Not much, because I don't really think you need that much help, but I can give you an advantage that Seth doesn't have." She states. "Look, I really think you two would be fantastic together, even before I met you I thought that, but after meeting you I am sure of it. I just want my best friend to be happy and she's not going to be if she just settles for Seth because she thinks you aren't interested. Jazz told me that you may need a little push after you found out that she went on a date." That son of a bitch! Okay, so once I found out that Bella went on a date with Seth my instinct would to be to back off, but did they really think that I would truly give her up without a fight? Let's be realistic here, you know you would back off until she was available again.
I took a few minutes to think about it and finally relented and accepted the little pixie's help. Happy with this she eventually let me get off the phone to eat my dinner, however it was ice cold by the time I hung up the phone. I zapped it in the microwave and took it back to the couch so I could watch my show.
I must have fallen asleep on the couch at some point because I woke up from a dream I was having, Bella was Penny and I was Leonard and we were fighting because she was going to have her musician friend, Seth stay with her on her couch for a while. It wasn't that odd of a dream to have since the episode of Big Bang that I just watched had that scenario. I got up and took my dishes into the kitchen to clean up later and headed off to my bedroom and got into bed. It was 12:30 so I had plenty of time to get more sleep, unfortunately sleep never came. I laid in my bed thinking about Bella and the fact that she had a date with Seth. I kept going back to thinking about what they might be doing at that moment. Did she invite him into her apartment? Is he touching her the way I long to touch her, kissing her even? Alice had said she was only going out with him because she thought I wasn't interested and that she talked about me all the time. I tried desperately to focus on that thought and not the thoughts of his slimy hands all over her beautiful naked body. I looked at the clock and noticed my alarm was going to go off at any minute so I decided to just get up and get going. No use in laying there for 5 more minutes.
I went into the kitchen to start the coffee; I was certainly going to need the caffeine today after only 3 hours of sleep. I then trudged off to the shower to go clean up and get ready for my work day. Before Alice had called last night and informed me of Bella's date I had planned on taking her to lunch today to ask her out on a date and show her how I felt about her, but now I wasn't so sure. I would have to call Alice on my way to the office to get her take on it. After my shower I quickly got dressed and poured myself some coffee into a travel mug that my mother had gotten me for Christmas. She always told me that I spent far too much money on coffee at Starbucks and should just make it at home and bring it with me. I found this thought ludicrous at first because it wasn't like I was on any sort of budget and as far as I knew my parents had never been on one either. I still went to the coffee shops for my latte of course, no way was I going to try and make that myself, that no doubt would end badly.
Once in my car I scrolled through my recent calls and quickly found Alice's number, it wasn't too difficult since she was the last call I had received. She picked up after the second ring sounding far too cheery for this early in the morning.
"Hi Edward!" she immediately answered without even the usual hello that most people do when they answer their phones.
"Um, hi Alice." I respond lamely. Why am I so nervous, it's not like I'm talking to Bella right now, this is her friend for Christ's sake. Just chill out.
"..so excited to be going shopping with your mom, she's such a nice lady. You guys are so lucky to have Esme and Carlisle as parents and oh my god is your dad a DILF. Rose and Bella think so too, but don't worry because really Bella just talks about you like you're the bees knees. I wonder where that expression even came from 'Bees knees', do bees even have knees. Oh well, I digress, so what's up Edward? I can't imagine you just called to listen to my nonsensical ramblings at…what time is it anyway?" I didn't actually realize she was talking as I was calming myself down and wondered how long she had been going on before I had started paying attention; I also wondered if she even stopped to take a breath during the whole thing because I didn't hear any intake of breath. Wait did she say that the three of them thought my dad was a DILF, what the fuck is a DILF?
"Alice, what the fuck is a DILF?" I heard her laugh at my question.
"A DILF, Edward is a Dad I'd Like to Fuck. Your dad is a fine specimen and if you three take after him when you get older then we are lucky lucky girls." She answered. It's a little disturbing that they think that our father is a DILF, but whatever. I don't have the time to sit and chat, I'm almost at the office and I need to figure out my Bella plan for the day.
"Gross. Alright, well. I'm actually on my way to the office right now and don't have a lot of time so I'll get right to the matter at hand. I was planning on taking Bella to lunch today and ask her out, but after our conversation last night I am not sure that's a good idea anymore. I was just curious as to your take on it since you did offer to help me and all."
"Well Edward, I think that would be a great idea, however Rose and I are taking Bella to lunch today to get the scoop on her date. How about I call you after lunch and let you know what I find out and we can go from there?" she suggested. It was probably a good idea to get more information before I jumped into anything, but I just want to spend as much one on one time with Bella as I can and I can't do that until I take her out.
"Sounds like a plan Alice. I look forward to hearing from you." I said goodbye as I was pulling into the parking garage at work.
Walking into the conference room I saw Angela and Bella chatting while they got work set up. They noticed me immediately and said good morning, but stopped talking about whatever they were previously talking about. I wonder if Bella was filling Angela in on her date last night.
"Morning Bella, Angela. I hope you both had a pleasant weekend." I replied.
"We sure did." Stated Angela who winked at Bella.
Okay, that was odd, or maybe I just don't want to know. Soon after Jasper arrived and handed me a coffee, he had gotten one for everyone along with a box of donuts. "Thought you might need some sugar and caffeine after your talk with Alice last night." He stated after handing me a glazed donut, my favorite.
"You know me so well Jazz. Thanks." I said before I took a big bite of my donut.
"Thas wha brovers aw fo." He said with a mouth full of his own donut. If our mother could see us now. She didn't raise us to talk with our mouths full so she would be mortified to see Jazz and I doing it now, at the office and in front of co-workers no less. Emmett she expects it from though. "So…" he continued after swallowing his food and taking a sip of coffee to wash it down. "Alice said she's going to lunch with Bella and Rose today to discuss last night's happenings. How are you dealing with everything?"
"I actually talked to Alice this morning on my way here and she's going to call me later today with details. I had originally planned to take her to lunch today and just tell her, but it makes sense to wait and see where things stand with her and um…shit, she's coming over. We'll talk later." I said to Jazz. I hope she doesn't realize we were talking about her. She sauntered over to Jazz and I and smiled at me before turning her attention to Jasper.
"Thanks for breakfast Jazz. That was really sweet of you." She said and then walked away after Jasper accepted her thanks with the obligatory "You're Welcome". Tyler and Eric came into the conference room and grabbed their coffees and donuts before getting started on their work.
The morning seemed to drag on. I was anxiously awaiting hearing from Alice, even though they hadn't even had lunch with Bella yet. God I am pathetic. Lunch finally came and true to her word Alice strolled in with Rosalie to get Bella for their lunch date. Alice gave Jasper a chaste kiss on the cheek and grabbed Bella's arm to take her to lunch. She turned her head quickly and gave me a wink before the three of them went into Emmett's office, probably so Rose could say a quick hello. A couple of minutes later the girls were walking towards the elevators to go downstairs.
Jasper, Emmett and I had agreed to lunch together again today so we went to the deli across the street. They had the best sandwiches in Seattle and they even offered different sizes, one so big that it would fill up even Emmett, which I thought was a miracle seeing as my brother could never seem to get full no matter how much he ate. Once while he was in high school he had a couple of friends come over so my mom ordered 3 large pizzas for them and Emmett managed to eat all three by himself. My mother, the ultimate hostess, was so embarrassed that he didn't let his friends have any that she made them Emmett's favorite dinner, chicken alfredo, and then wouldn't let him have any of it. He pouted and sulked in his room as his friends ate all of the alfredo.
We sat at our usual table outside and started talking about football. Seth had apparently gotten tickets to the Seahawks game in a couple of weeks and wanted us to come with him.
"I thought his company only got basketball tickets, how did he get tickets to the Seahawks game?" I asked after I swallowed my bite of sandwich.
Emmett took a long sip from his soda before he spoke. "He said that his boss had gotten them for himself, but then his wife told him that he had to go to South Dakota or some shit for their nieces wedding that weekend."
"Yeah, I'm in." Jazz agreed enthusiastically.
"Maybe." Was my response.
Emmett shook his giant head at me. "Dude, don't pass up free seats at a football game just because the guy is banging your chick. Who was never even yours by the way."
"Shut the fuck up Emmett. That's not why I might not be able to go. I have tentative plans that day." I lied. I had no plans, I really didn't want to hang out with Seth if he was still seeing Bella. I would just be thinking of his hands all over her and it would make me want to rip his head off the entire time. NO THANK YOU!!!
"Oh yeah, and what are these so called 'plans'" He asked, even using the air quotes to make his point.
I was about to open my mouth with the fantastically witty retort of "Uh" when Jazz decided to join in the conversation, thankfully on my side, because I had nothing. "Em, lay off. Would you want to spend three hours with some guy, nice or not, who was banging Rose while you didn't have the balls to tell her how you felt?" Not exactly the support I was expecting so I punched him in the shoulder.
"Thanks a lot asshole." I muttered, but they both heard me and Emmett started laughing boisterously.
"Alright, I see your point Jazz. Sorry Eddie."
"So Alice said the girls think Carlisle is a DILF." I was desperate for a change of topic, why I chose this I have no idea. My brothers both threw down their food and groaned in disgust.
"Thanks EDDIE, just what I wanted to hear while eating my lunch." Jasper said. I'm actually surprised Alice never mentioned this to him before. I can't imagine that he's been spared from her ramblings. "Alice ruined a perfectly good blow job last night by mentioning this to me." Emmett and I winced at the thought of hearing that come out of your girlfriend's mouth while you are in her mouth.
"Yeah well listen to this fucked up shit. I was spending the night at Rose's and I woke up to her moaning. I checked and she was still asleep but she was touching herself, I sat and watched of course, it was a real turn on. I was rock hard and about to wake her up so that we could re-enact her dream when she screamed out 'FUCK ME CARLISLE!'" Emmett recounted his evening and both Jazz and I started laughing, if it had happened to either of us though it surely would not be funny.
"Shut the fuck up assholes. You wouldn't be laughing if it happened to you." Emmett said angrily before picking up his sandwich and taking a large angry bite out of it. This just made us laugh more and soon Emmett was laughing too.
"I don't know what to do here guys. Alice says that Bella talks about me all the time and she doesn't think that she's all that interested in Seth, she's just dating him because she doesn't think I like her in that way." I needed to get their opinions otherwise this was just going to eat away at me until I talked to Alice later today and God only knows what time she's going to call.
"Man the fuck up and tell her for fucks sake Edward. Stop over thinking things like you normally do and grow a pair. She obviously likes you, so do something about it before she goes out with Seth again. I think that's your only option." Emmett really was pretty smart and it was sound advice even though every other word was fuck.
"Yeah man. Just talk to her. I know you said you were going to do it today, so do it. No need to wait for Alice." Jasper had to put in his two cents as well. "Oh that reminds me, did you talk to dad about it?"
"Yeah, I talked to him before everyone got there on Saturday and he said to go for it but if I fucked up and Bella quit it would be my ass."
Emmett and Jasper both nodded. We finished our delicious sandwiches and stopped by the coffee shop to grab some drinks before going back to work. Once back in the office Emmett decided to join us in the conference room to see how the new campaign was going. He has known Jacob Black for a while, they'd been friends since college and he said he wanted to make sure that our ideas were up to par for his old college buddy.
"Bella Bean!!!" Emmett practically yelled once he spotted her in the conference room before he grabbed her into his Emmett hug, also known as a bear hug, we renamed it in high school when he started getting as big as a bear and hugging everyone like that.
"Emmett…I…need…to..breath." Bella choked out. He set her back on her feet and she smacked him on his bicep. He pretended it hurt for her sake and said he was sorry.
"I was just happy to see my little Bella Bean. I heard you had a hot date last night with Seth, how did that go? Did you get to see his toys for twats?" Bella groaned and covered her face. I could just make out a tinge of pink coloring her cheeks.
"Emmett, you can't say shit like that." I chastised. I actually wanted to hear her answer, but Emmett was clearly making her uncomfortable.
"It's alright Edward. And no Emmett, I did not see his toys thank you very much. What kind of girl do you take me for?" Bella told him. THANK GOD for small favors. "The date itself was nothing too exciting. He mainly talked about work and sports." She continued.
"What Accounting and football not your thing Bella?" Jasper said mockingly.
"No Jazz, not really." She rolled her eyes at him as if it weren't obvious by her tone that she didn't enjoy hearing about those things.
"So when are you seeing him again?" asked Emmett. I have to say I love my brothers right now. I would have had to wait to talk to Alice to hear all this and even then it would be her take. I'm now getting it straight from her mouth.
"I'm not actually sure. He said he'd call in a couple of days, but you know how that goes." We nodded, usually when a guy says that it means he'll call in 3 to 4 days. I personally don't adhere to those rules if I really like someone.
Angela, Tyler and Eric soon came back from lunch and our discussion was ended. Emmett stayed for a little while longer to see the campaign thus far.
"I think you guys have done an awesome job. Jake is going to love this." Emmett said as he patted me on the back. "I guess I should let you get back to it. And Edward, don't forget what I said at lunch." He stopped at the door and hit his fist against the door jamb to get everyone's attention. "See ya everyone, keep up the good work. Oh Bella Bean?"
Bella sighed, clearly not pleased with her new nickname and raised her eyebrow at Emmett. "Don't you worry about not seeing the toys yet. I'm sure you will soon." He was almost out the door when Bella threw a pen at him and it him square in the back of the head. "Hey, you'll pay for that Swan."
"Stop calling me Bella Bean Emmett or there's more where that came from." Called Bella. Everyone in the room chuckled and then went back to work.
Today had been really productive. We finished up the story board from last week and started on the second and final one. Alice finally decided to call me at 4:30 and I excused myself so I could take the call in my office, behind closed doors.
"Alice, what do you have for me?" I asked.
"Well it's not as juicy as I had hoped, but it looks good for you. Seth took her out to Pikes Place Market and they had lunch at Copacabana. She said it was a really nice place and would love to eat there again. Anyways, she said that the conversation was boring, he talked about work and sports a lot, which as you know doesn't hold any interest for her at all. They walked around a bit and he asked her questions about her childhood and all that. When he dropped her off at home he went in for a kiss and she turned her head, so he gave her a kiss on the cheek. She said she wasn't ready for that with him. She's not sure if she'll go out again with him, there wasn't a spark like there was with you. Oh and she talked about how hot you looked in your grey suit today. That's pretty much all I got from her. She doesn't seem that interested in him, so I think that tomorrow you should take her to lunch and talk to her."
She thinks I look hot huh, that's interesting. All in all it's what she told Emmett so there wasn't too much that was new. "Thank you Alice, I really appreciate the help. Listen, I gotta get back to work, I've been talking to you for forty five minutes and my assistant is up my ass because they need me. I'll talk to you again soon."
"Okay, bye Edward. Good luck tomorrow. I'm sure I'll hear all about it from Bella." Alice said before hanging up the phone. Okay, so this is good, tomorrow I will take Bella to lunch and I'll tell her how I feel. I walked out of my office feeling confident and headed back into the conference room. I saw Bella standing outside of the room and it looked like she was on the phone. Her back was to me so she couldn't see me. As I approached I could hear her side of the conversation.
"That sounds good Seth. Yes. Tomorrow at 12:30. I'll see you then. Bye." Bella closed her phone and went back into the room, still not noticing me. All the confidence I felt from my conversation with Alice was gone now. She's got a lunch date with Seth tomorrow, 2 dates in 3 days. I'm going to have to talk to her and soon if I want a shot. I'm going to talk to her tonight when I walk her to her car. There, new plan. I can do this; I can tell her that I really like her.
I told the team to finish up at around 7:30 and started packing things up. Once in my office I shut everything down and was waiting for Bella to come to my door like she usually does when we leave at night, but she didn't show. I went out into the office and looked for her at her temporary desk and found everything was gone. She left. Well shit!
With nothing left to do I went down the elevator to the garage and got in my car. I made it home in record time since there was barely any traffic this time of night.
The next few days came and went and I had yet to talk to Bella. She seemed to have lunch plans with Seth for the next three days. The guys was persistent I'll give him that. It was Thursday evening and I had told the team to go ahead and go home early since we were essentially done with the campaign. Tomorrow I would be doing a run through pitch with my brothers and my father to make sure everything was perfect. I was shutting down my office when Bella showed up looking like sex on legs. I immediately hardened at the sight of her in her blue wrap dress. I could only imagine what she was wearing underneath that dress and in order to see her all I had to do was pull one little string. "Edward, everyone left already, would you mind walking me to my car tonight?" Bella asked while she fidgeted, she did that a lot I noticed. I wonder if I make her nervous.
"Sure, not a problem. I was just closing things up here anyway. Meet you at the elevator?"
"Yeah. Thanks Edward."
I finished relatively quickly and headed to the elevators where Bella was already waiting for me. She saw my approach and pushed the button to call the elevator to our floor. As we waited there was an uncomfortable silence. I didn't want anything to be uncomfortable with us so I asked her how she liked working on a campaign from start to finish.
"It was fantastic. I loved every second of it. I know I keep saying this and you're probably tired of hearing it, but thank you so much for the opportunity to work on this with you." She had the biggest smile on her face and I could tell that she was sincere. "So you're pitching it to Carlisle and Emmett tomorrow, right?"
"Uh, yeah. 10 am actually. Would you like to come in and watch?" I offered. It would be a great learning experience for her if she truly wanted to do this, and I was pretty sure she did.
Her beautiful smile got even bigger, something I didn't think was even possible. She looked so excited. "Yes, Edward, YES!" she squealed. I wish I could hear her scream that exact phrase in my room, on my bed as I pound into her. At that moment I realized we were alone. DUH dumbshit. Now's the time to tell her. You've been waiting all week. The elevator finally arrived and we stepped in. She pushed the button for the garage and played with the handle on her briefcase. Bella must have found something very interesting about her shoes because she would look away from them.
"Bella." Her head lifted so she could look at me as I spoke to her and as she looked in my eyes my brain turned to fucking mush. How the hell does she do that?
"Yes?" she said expectantly.
"Huh?" Was I saying something? I couldn't remember. Oh wait, I was going to talk to her finally.
The door opened to the garage and she stepped out first with me following her to her car. When she stopped in front of it she opened the door and threw her things in the seat and turned to face me. Now is the time. I have to do it now.
I was standing really close to her now. I could feel her breath on my face and I am sure she could feel mine on hers. I have to tell her. "Bella, I've been meaning to talk to you all week, but have never found the right time."
"Okay. What do you need to talk to me about?"
Her scent was intoxicating and we had somehow managed to move closer to each other.
"Oh, fuck it." With that I leaned in closer to her and pressed my lips to hers. She let out a gasp, but didn't kiss me back. Just as I was about to pull away thinking this was a bad idea her lips started moving with mine. She grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me to her. I placed my hand on her hip and pulled her body closer to mine. My other hand found its way to her hair, holding her head in place. I licked her bottom lip and she opened her mouth to me and I slid my tongue into her mouth and began massaging her tongue with mine. She let out a moan and it was better than anything I had ever imagined. She tasted like spearmint and I wondered if she had just brushed her teeth. All too soon our lips parted, we were both panting and in need of oxygen. I opened my eyes to look at her and her eyes were still closed. She had her index and middle finger pressed to her lips, almost savoring our kiss for a little while longer. When she finally spoke her voice was so soft I almost didn't hear her. I wished I hadn't.
"Seth" she breathed. SETH, SETH. What the fuck. I have the best kiss of my entire fucking existence and she says Seth. I didn't say a word, I just walked to my car. I could hear her calling my name, but I didn't give a fuck. I started my car and drove home. I had a date with Jack Daniels tonight. I'd deal with this epic fuck up later. Right now I just needed to drown my sorrows.
I drove to the store located near my house and went in to get my bottle of Jack and some dinner. The idea of drinking heavily on an empty stomach was not at all appealing. I was in the frozen food aisle grabbing a frozen meal and I already had my bottle of jack in my hand when I ran into Tanya. She had a shopping cart full of groceries, probably doing her shopping for the week.
"Hello Edward." She greeted me with a large smile and batted her long, overly mascaraed eyelashes at me. It wasn't sexy at all, but I am certain that's what she was going for. She looked at the bottle of Jack in my hand and smirked at me. "Rough day?"
"Very. Well I need to get going. It was nice to see you Tanya. Have a good evening." I grabbed my sad little frozen meal and went to check out. Tanya called a "You too, good night" as I was walking away and without looking back I offered her a small wave.
I awoke to my alarm blaring in my ears, fuck, when did that thing get so loud? I immediately felt queasy and ran to the bathroom to throw up. I took a hot shower to make myself feel better and then went into the kitchen to make coffee. After the coffee was made I grabbed a tall glass of water and two aspirin. I drank the full glass of water quickly and swallowed the pills. The coffee was thankfully done moments later and I poured myself a cup and drank it greedily. I honestly don't know how I am going to make it through today with this massive hangover on top of seeing Bella all day no doubt looking all too fuckable.
What am I going to do? I avoided thinking about this situation all night while I drank myself stupid, alone. I guess I was going to just have to deal with it. I grabbed my phone and noticed I had quite a few messages, mostly from my brothers and a few from Alice. I decided not to bother with them and hit delete without even listening to them. I put some more coffee in my travel mug and headed to my car to go to work. I was nervous as fuck. I had no idea what to do or say when I saw her in the office. I thanked God that I didn't need to be stuck in the conference room with her all day since we finished the campaign. I did wonder how I was going to get through my presentation to my family for their approval with her sitting in on the meeting.
I stepped into my office and closed the door to get ready for my day. A few minutes passed before anyone bothered to talk to me. I heard the knock on my door and told the person to come in. I was concentrating so hard on the paperwork in front of me I didn't really notice the person come in and sit down in front of my desk.
"Are you going to look at me or just ignore my presence entirely?" Jasper said. I looked up and gave him a smile. "Uh, oh, what's wrong with you?" I didn't answer, opting for shrugging my shoulders instead. "Actually I already know what's going on, but why do you look like…" he took a sniff in my general direction "…and smell like you spent the night in a distillery?"
"I may have drunk almost an entire bottle of Jack Daniels last night to take my mind off things." I looked down at my paperwork. I didn't need to look at him to know he was scowling at me. "Did Alice talk to Bella?"
"Uh, yeah. She called her right after I got home last night. She was crying man. Alice talked to her for almost two hours last night before she finally calmed down. What the hell happened?"
"I finally got the balls to do something about how I have been feeling about her and I fucking kissed her. The best kiss of my life in fact. When we pulled away from each other she whispered 'Seth'." Jazz muttered a holy shit and I nodded my head in agreement then continued. "I didn't say a word to her, just took off. I went to the store and grabbed a bottle of Jack and frozen meal for dinner and drank myself into a stupor to get my mind off the situation."
"Fuck man. Alice said that you kissed Bella and then took off without a word, but that's all I got out of her. I can't believe she said Seth's name after kissing you. This is some really fucked up shit you've gotten yourself into." Jasper stated. No fucking joke this was fucked up. "So what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to try to get through my day without seeing her and leave as soon as I can to avoid it again until Monday." I replied.
"I don't think that's the answer man. You need to talk to her before the situation gets worse." Jazz suggested.
"I don't really want to think about it right now. I have to get this presentation ready to show to dad and Emmett. I'll see you in a couple of hours in there, alright?" Jasper said he'd see me in the conference room and left my office. I thought I was going to finally get some peace and quiet until Emmett came in and sat down in the chair Jasper was occupying not moments earlier.
"What the fuck did you do man?" He asked incredulously. I just stared blankly at him, confused as to what he was talking about. "Rosalie was over at my place last night and we were getting all hot and heavy until her phone rang and she picked it up to talk to a screeching Bella. She was pissed man, said something about you kissing her and then taking off as if it was nothing. I thought you had a thing for her? Why would you do that?"
"Em, I don't have time to talk about this right now. I have to finish getting this presentation ready for our meeting." Unfortunately that did nothing to deter him.
"Eddie, I don't give a fuck. You have that campaign in the fucking bag. Tell me what happened. I'm not leaving until you do." He crossed both arms across his chest and put his feet up on my desk, showing that he wasn't fucking moving until I gave him the story. I was beginning to wonder if I just needed to schedule some kind of town hall meeting so I only have to tell this story once.
I huffed in resignation since I was obviously going to get nothing done until he got what he wanted and told him exactly what I had told Jazz.
"Ooookaaay. That's just weird. Why would Bella being crying if she's the one who said someone else's name? That makes absolutely no fucking sense. You need to figure this shit out bro." was Emmett's oh so helpful advice on my predicament. No shit I have to figure it out. Thankfully he had gotten what he wanted so he stood up and gave me a pat on my back in support and walked out of my office.
"Finally" I muttered to myself. Now I can finally get some shit done. I glanced at the clock and it was already 9:30. "Well fuck me!"
"I was wondering when you were finally going to ask me to do that." I looked up and saw none other than Tanya standing in my doorway. Great, just what I fucking need right now. She sauntered over to me, swaying her hips while she did so and stopped right in front of me. She straddled me in my chair and before I knew what was happening she was kissing me. I felt absolutely nothing and didn't respond to it. I pushed her off of me and she fell on her ass with a loud thud. "What the fuck Edward? If you're worried about company policy I already talked to your dad and he's cool with this and even if he weren't today is my last day."
Did this woman not have a fucking clue? I didn't pay her any attention what so ever and yet she somehow managed to get it in her head that I wanted her.
"That's not the issue Tanya. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I have feelings for someone else." I said as nicely as possible. I really don't need her wrath right now with the other shit I already have on my plate.
"Who?!" she all but screamed. "Who is she Edward? I thought we had a connection." What the fuck? What made this loon think we had any sort of connection, I've maybe spoken to her a handful of times including this little interaction.
"That's none of your concern. I don't know what kind of connection you think you have with me, but I can assure you that I have not given you any signs that I felt that way about you." I was starting to get pissed.
"Edward, you've been giving me signals since I've been here. You look over at me with what I can only explain as longing every time you pass my desk." She told me like it was painfully obvious that I wanted her. I really didn't have time for this shit. I looked at the clock and it was already 10:05. Shit! I'm already late.
"Look Tanya, I don't have time to talk about this because I am already late for a meeting, however, just to set the record straight I have not looked at you like that. AT ALL!!" Sure it was a little harsh, but she just wasn't getting it and I needed to get out of here.
I picked up the things I would need for my meeting and exited my office. Jessica stopped me to inform me that my father had called to say they were waiting for me in the conference room. I thanked her for relaying the message and walked hastily to the conference room. Thankfully when I got there it was just my brothers and Carlisle. No Bella.
An hour later Jazz and I were getting handshakes and pats on our backs for the work we had done. My father was very impressed and Emmett assured me that Jacob was going to love the campaign. Jazz stayed to help me organize the materials for the actual pitch next week after Carlisle and Em went back to work. I thanked him for his help with everything and offered to take him to lunch. Once we landed the account I would take everyone on the team out for either lunch or drinks after work to celebrate. He accepted my invitation and we left at 11:30 to go to our favorite Italian restaurant. It always got really crowded at lunch time so it was always a good idea to get there a little early before the lunch rush.
"Hello, welcome to Bella Italia. How many?" The hostess was young, very pretty and very obviously checking Jazz and I out.
"Two please ma'am." Jasper drawled. You would think he was from Texas with that southern drawl he somehow mastered in his 27 years.
The hostess giggled and grabbed two menus. "Right this way gentleman." She led us to our table and smiled at Jazz before walking away.
"I don't know how you do that man? I bet she was ready to drop her panties for you just from that fake Texas drawl of yours."
Jazz smirked. "What can I say, the ladies love the southerners."
"You're not southern though Jazz." I told him. You would think we didn't grow up with the same family in the same city with the same parents our entire lives. I was beginning to think that maybe Jazz was adopted, hell he is older than me.
"I know, but it's not like I have the "sex hair" or panty dropping smile you've got going on. I gotta have something, even if it isn't real." He teased.
"Is that how you got Alice?" I laughed
"Nah, I knew the moment I laid eyes on her that she was the one. I didn't need to use any tricks on her." He paused briefly to look over the menu even though he gets the same thing every time we come here. It never, ever varies so I don't know why he bothers even looking at the menu. "Speaking of the one, have you decided what to do about your Bella situation?"
I groaned. I hadn't really had the time to think about it yet this morning with all my visitors and our presentation. "Jazz man, I haven't had time to think about it yet this morning. With the visits from you, Emmett and Tanya and the presentation I hav…"
"Wait, what? Tanya? Who the fuck is Tanya?" Jazz interrupted.
"Oh, she's dad's temporary assistant. Her last day is today, she was filling in for Bella. Anyway, like I was saying…"
"Are we ready to order gentleman?" the waiter asked.
Jazz went first "Yes, I'll have an iced tea and the Chicken Marsala please." The waiter took the menu from Jazz and then turned his attention to me. "I'll have the Chicken Saltimbocca and water is fine. Thank you."
"You were saying?" Jazz took a sip of water and raised his eyebrows at me.
"Right. Anyways, with all my visitors and the presentation I didn't have time this morning to think about it, but don't worry I have my weekend wide open so I'll have plenty of time to chastise myself for kissing a girl who is dating someone else."
"Okay, so we'll come back to the ridiculousness of you chastising yourself, but first I want to hear about your 'visit' with dad's assistant, I mean temporary assistant. What did she want? I had no idea you even talked to dad's temp."
"I didn't. Well I said hello to her once when I went to see dad after she got there and really that was it. Oh and there was last night at the grocery store. She ran into me as I was picking up my Jack and food. So anyway I was agitated after Em left my office because I hadn't gotten to review the presentation at all and I had 30 minutes before I had to be in the conference room. When I noticed the time I muttered, to myself mind you, fuck me. I had no idea anyone was even at my door and she said she was wondering when I was going to ask her to do that." Jazz spit out his drink all over the table at that and was practically choking. "Are you alright?" I asked, I was actually concerned because he seemed to really be choking.
"Yeah, that just threw me off. She actually said she was wondering when you were going to fuck her? Have you been flirting with this woman? I thought you only had eyes for Bella?"
"No, I haven't been flirting with her at all. The girl is crazy, she was talking about how we had a connection and shit. It was all really weird. But there's more." The waiter came with our food at that point so I waited until he was gone before continuing. "So after she says this to me she walks over, straddles me while I am sitting in my chair and kisses me before I can even blink." I took a bite of food because it smelled delicious and I was really hungry. Plus I thought I would give Jazz some time to process what I just said.
"She kissed you? In your fucking office? How was it?" I looked at him like he was insane. "WHAT?! It's a valid question, that girl is pretty hot and you know what they say about the crazy chicks."
"Yeah, yeah. I felt absolutely nothing and I didn't reciprocate at all. In fact I pushed her off of me and she fell on her ass. Boy was she pissed."
"I bet. Fuck man, it's a good thing nobody saw that. Dad would be none too pleased." Jazz said after he swallowed his huge bite of chicken.
"Oh no, get this. She talked to dad last week about getting permission to date me. She actually made it seem like I talked to her all the time."
"No fucking way? Are you sure you weren't flirting with this girl?" Jazz raised his eyebrows at me again indicating that he didn't think I was telling him everything.
"No, like I said I've talked to her maybe 3 times including the incident this morning. I never even really looked at her." I defended. There was no way I was giving this girl the impression that she had my attentions.
He got defensive and held both hands up, palms facing me in surrender. "Alright, alright. Well at least she's leaving after today, so that's one problem gone. I really think you need to talk to Bella though. Maybe this is all some big misunderstanding."
"What's to misunderstand Jazz, she said another guys name after I kissed her." I took the last bite of my food and waved the waiter over for our check. It was getting late and we needed to get back to work.
"I don't know, but it doesn't make any sense to me. If she was the one to fuck up, then why is she so upset with you?" He basically repeated what Em said earlier in my office. What if they were right? I guess I should just talk to Bella to get everything out in the open.
I paid the bill and got up to leave. "Maybe you're right. I should talk to her." Jazz nodded and got up. We were almost out of the restaurant when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID. "Alice" he told me then answered the phone. I could hear her screeching from where I was standing so I knew she was pissed.
"Alice, what? I can't understand you when you sound like a fucking dolphin. Calm down." He said to her. "Okay…what?...oh FUCK!!...Alice…ALICE!!...I just talked to Edward and he told me all about it and it's nothing for her to get bent out of shape over…If anything she said….ugh, STOP…I agree…alright, I'll get him to talk to her. Love you too, bye." Jazz hung up the phone after that.
I looked at him expectantly. "I Love you too? When did that happen?"
"Shut the fuck up man, you have bigger things to worry about." Jazz was upset and I could tell he was trying to figure out how to tell me what Alice called about. This couldn't be good news. What gave you that idea moron? Was it the screaming you heard from the other end of the conversation?
"And what would that be? I don't see how things could get any worse right now."
"Oh, no? Well let me tell you little brother, it gets a LOT worse. Seems Bella came to your office to talk to you about what happened last night and she saw Tanya mounting you and trying to suck your face off."
Next Chapter will be up soon. I've already got it in the works.