SM owns. Unbeta'd.
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Same day. Or night. Or whatever.
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Call me. -E
I patiently wait for her to call. As patiently as I can. Which is not patient at all. I want to hear her voice so bad.
Just when I think she's chickening out, my phone rings.
"Bella." I might sound a little out of breath.
"I didn't want to wake you."
"You didn't. I've been up. I was just studying."
"Oh, well, maybe we should later instead..."
"No!" I hear her gasp at my almost-shout.
"No, don't hang up. I need the break. I want to talk," I say, trying to even out my voice so she doesn't freak out.
"Tell me what's wrong, B?" I plead.
"I miss you." Her voice is small and almost like a child's. Her words make me smile.
"I miss you too, Angelgirl." I settle against the my headboard, setting my laptop aside.
"It's not all your fault, you know."
"What are you talking about?"
"What happened. Why it took so long. I haven't been completely fair to you."
"Bella..."
"Edward, please, just let me say what I need to say?" She doesn't sound mad, just determined. I can hear the exhaustion in her voice, though.
"Okay."
"All these years, I sat by... waiting for you to look at me that way you looked at all those other girls. And you're right, I completely set you up to fail me. Each and every time. Rose, Alice and even Em, they all kept telling me that I should just be honest and tell you how I felt. And I just couldn't do it."
"Why couldn't you?" I whisper, unable to find my voice.
"What if you rejected me? What if you told me we couldn't hang out anymore? You know how stupid we were in high school. And as we got older, I tried to move on, thinking that maybe all this was just some big crush. No matter what I did, who I let myself get close to, they weren't you. That's when I realized I was in love with you for real."
"But I should've been able to figure it out and not be such a punk, B. I claimed to know you so well. Fuck, I was too busy trying to be the big man on campus. It's funny. Rose mentioned a theory the other day."
"What's that?"
"She said that maybe I always had feelings for you and I subconsciously dated girls who were the complete opposite of you in every way..."
"Why would you do that?"
"She thinks that maybe it was easier to date girls who didn't resemble you in any way because that way you'd always be too good for me, or unattainable or whatever..."
There's a moment of silence on her end. I think maybe she's fallen asleep.
"Bella?"
"Yeah, I'm here. Do you think Rose is right?" She asks suddenly.
I don't know how to answer that. Do I?
"I don't know. Maybe. I'm fucking clueless half the time. I don't doubt that you women analyze everything to hell."
"Hey!" She protests before laughing. "We do, don't we?" She says with a sigh.
I've done it. Made her laugh. My lot in life. Sweetest sound ever.
I join her in laughing, and just like that, the heaviness is lifted and we're back to being Edward and Bella., talking about nothing... and everything.
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A/N: More phone convo later maybe. If not, then tomorrow. Making progress, no?