The Kindness of Semi-Strangers
By Freddie Stardust
Disclaimer: I own nothing – Stephenie Meyer is the genius behind the Twilight series. I make no money from writing this story.
Chapter Two – Uneducated Guesses
I didn't have much time to dwell on the Cullens over the next couple of days. Whenever I tried to imagine what could possibly make them so… unique, all I could come up with was some ridiculous theory based on the comic books I had shared with my best friend Dave from Phoenix when we were eight.
Edward wasn't in school the day after my – our – accident, nor the day after that. The rest of the Cullens – Emmett, Jasper, Alice, and Rosalie – stared at me each morning with a variety of emotions on their beautiful faces. Emmett seemed mostly amused; Alice looked as if she had a huge secret that she was bursting to tell; Jasper looked like he, too, was trying to contain himself, but not in the same excited way as Alice; and Rosalie looked at me with pure, unadulterated disgust.
School seemed to drag on the third day after my stitches. Jessica chattered away at Angela and me at lunch, but I wasn't hearing a word she said. All I could think about was my impending appointment with a gorgeous blond doctor and my conspiracy theories as to his genetic makeup. He was like my own personal Dr. Feelgood.
"Hello, Earth to Bella!"
I snapped my head around so fast I could have sworn I heard it pop. "Sorry, what were you saying?"
"We're going to go shopping in Port Angeles tomorrow for prom dresses. You're coming, right?" Jessica asked, raising an over-plucked eyebrow.
Angela gave me a pleading look, obviously not wanting to face the madness alone.
"Sure, I'll come. I'm not going to prom, but I'll try to help however I can," I offered, glancing over at the Cullen table. They were all talking quietly except for Alice, who was looking my way and gave me a small smile when she caught my eye.
"Great! I'll pick you up at ten, okay?" Jessica asked as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.
"Sure, great." I picked up my tray, mostly untouched, and headed for my last class before Dr. Sex-On-Legs.
As I parked my monster of a truck in the hospital lot, I took a deep, calming breath. It wouldn't do to look like a schoolgirl with a crush in front of Dr. Cullen.
Wait. I am a schoolgirl with a crush. I sighed and shook my head at my nonsense. My crush on the good doctor was completely irrational; I couldn't be lusting after everyone who helped patch me up after a fall, or else I'd have a dance card several dozen names long.
Besides, a man that looked like Carlisle Cullen had to be married to some supernaturally beautiful woman who was graceful enough not to trip on her shoelaces three times on any given day. Even though his kids were adopted, they were still my age, and it was still a little weird to think of sleeping with or even dating someone whose children sat in the same cafeteria as I did.
I tripped over the threshold as I passed through the automatic doors in the hospital lobby. A nurse stifled a laugh as she walked past, wheeling an elderly man away.
"Can I help you?" the receptionist asked as I drew near her desk.
"I'm here to see Dr. Cullen; I'm Bella Swan."
"Have a seat and a nurse will call you back. Fill these out while you wait." She pressed a clipboard and pen into my hands and gestured vaguely toward the waiting area before getting back to her all too important task – reading a gossip magazine.
Great customer service, I thought, sitting a few seats away from a man who was holding his leg in obvious agony. I tried to ignore his moans as I scratched out the usual information into the tiny boxes on the hospital forms.
"Isabella Swan," a gruff voice called out. I looked up and saw a tall male nurse holding a door open to my right. I stood, gathered my purse and the half-completed forms, and followed him past several rooms with rather sickly-looking occupants.
"Have a seat and Dr. Cullen will be right with you." The nurse swooped out abruptly and strode noisily back down the hall.
I rolled my eyes and picked up the pen to finish my forms. "Doesn't anyone have manners around here?" I wondered aloud grumpily.
"I'd like to think I have some," came a voice from the doorway. I looked up and saw Dr. Cullen leaning against the frame with a smirk. My trusty reflexes kicked in immediately, turning my face a bright red.
"Sorry, I didn't…" I was suddenly speechless.
"It's all right, I know what you mean. Everyone here is so busy caring for their patients that they forget their patients are human beings with feelings."
Dr. Cullen walked all the way in and shook my hand. "Nice to see you again."
"You too," was my devastating response.
"You haven't injured anything else while that cut was healing, have you?" he joked, running a thumb over the stitches as he examined them with a discerning eye.
"Only my pride."
He laughed. He should charge money to let people hear him laugh – he'd be a millionaire. That laugh made me weak in the knees, which, when combined with my natural grace, could be deadly.
"All right, lay back on the table and I'll get those stitches right out."
I did as directed, watching as he washed his hands and pulled on rubber gloves. I wouldn't mind him putting on a different kind of rubber…
"I should warn you, it might bleed just a little bit when I take the stitches out," Dr. Cullen said, cutting into my rather inappropriate fantasy. I blushed again and hoped it looked like a nervous blush rather than a caught-imagining-you-naked blush.
"I'll try not to pass out, but I can't make any promises." I gulped, biting my lower lip in anticipation.
Dr. Cullen's cold hands brushed against my forehead, and I thought of any innocent thing I could to distract myself from the incredible sensation – puppies, my grandmother, giggling babies, unicorns, puffy clouds…
"Done."
He offered me a hand to help me to my feet, which I gratefully accepted; there was a faint scent of blood mixed with hospital sanitizers in the air, and I wasn't completely steady.
"Thanks for fixing me up," I said awkwardly.
"My pleasure." He signed a couple of papers for insurance and handed them back to me. "Just hand these to the receptionist on your way out and you're good to go."
"Sure. Thanks again." I turned to go, but his hand on my shoulder stopped me dead in my tracks.
"Bella, could we talk for a minute? In a non-professional capacity, I mean."
I stared into his butterscotch eyes and found myself unable to resist. "Okay."
Dr. Cullen closed the door and leaned against it while I hopped back up on the edge of the examining table. He was silent for a moment, sorting out his thoughts, before he spoke.
"Do you remember what happened three days ago?"
I furrowed my brow, confused. "Sure. I almost got smashed by a van and Edward stopped it."
Dr. Cullen sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in deep concentration. "Bella, you're a smart girl. Trust me when I tell you it would be best if you forgot what happened regarding Edward."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean it's best not to mention that Edward stopped an out-of-control vehicle with just his hand. Information like that might…" He paused, considering his words. "It might cause you more harm than good. In fact, it can cause no good." He was by my side in the blink of an eye, hands on either side of my legs. I briefly considered yet another theory as to his identity – perhaps the descendant of a Greek god? A very fast Greek god… Hermes?
"Do you understand me, Bella?" His eyes seared into mine, his light, mint-tinged breath washing over me and rendering me speechless and senseless. I may as well have been a cup of Jell-o. "Will you forget about what happened, keep it locked away in the back of your mind?" His lips were inches from mine, and I longed to close the distance.
"I will," I answered breathlessly. Anything for him.
Dr. Cullen immediately stood up straight and put a respectable distance between us, leaving me completely dazed and disoriented. "Great. Your head will be just fine, Bella. I'll see you around." He gave me one last dazzling smile and opened the door, striding quickly from the room.
I sat on the table for a few more moments, trying to regain my senses. He had been so close to me, so infuriatingly yet intoxicatingly teasing me. I could hardly remember my own name; let alone what we had been speaking about.
Walking to the front desk, I tried to slow my heartbeat down from its current dizzying pace. I handed the insurance papers to the receptionist and wished her a good day, barely recognizing the whimsical voice that came out of my throat.
I woke up the next morning around eight-thirty, groaning when I realized it was Saturday – prom dress shopping day. I stretched, feeling my stiff back pop, and shuffled into the bathroom to take a quick shower.
When I came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a soft robe and my hair up in a towel, there was a note taped to my bedroom door. Apparently Charlie had to work early this morning and would be going to Seattle for a Mariners game with Billy Black immediately after his shift ended. Much as I avoided sports, I would rather be at a ball game than at a strip mall looking for a dress that I wouldn't even be wearing.
Jeans and a green sweater were the first things I found in my closet, and so became my outfit for the day ahead. I pulled on a pair of sneakers and grabbed my purse and a light jacket, then headed downstairs to have a bowl of cereal before Jessica and Angela came to pick me up.
Just as I was slamming the refrigerator door into my knee on my quest for milk, there was a knock at the door. I cursed as I hopped up and down on my good leg, but stopped when I realized that the cut on my forehead was still quite fresh and could reopen easily with any jarring movement.
A glance at the clock over the kitchen table told me that I had another forty minutes before Jessica was supposed to arrive. Had she called to change the time and Charlie forgot to give me the message?
I limped to the front door, still letting out an unladylike string of swear words each time my left foot hit the floor. I flung the door open a bit more forcefully than was really necessary, completely unprepared for my guest.
"Edward? What are you doing here?"
Edward Cullen stood on my porch looking incredibly attractive with his mussed-up hair and a leather jacket. "I'm sorry I didn't call before I came over, but I don't know your number."
I stood staring at him through the screen door for a good ten seconds before realizing I was being rude. "Um, do you want to come in?"
"Sure." I pushed the screen open, and Edward stepped into the foyer, taking in his surroundings. I suddenly felt very self-conscious; from what Jessica had told me, I knew the Cullens had a huge mansion, and he probably wasn't used to standing in a house that was probably smaller than just his room.
"It's not much, but it's home," I said shyly, gesturing wildly with a hand that proceeded to hit me in the side of the head.
Edward graciously pretended not to notice my clumsiness and gave me a small smile. "It's actually really nice. It feels comfortable, familiar even."
I smiled back and stared at him for another few seconds before realizing my social faux pas. "Can I get you a drink? Some breakfast? I was about to have cereal."
"No thank you. Please, go ahead and eat."
I felt disoriented as I followed directions from a near stranger in my own home, starting back into the kitchen and hearing Edward's graceful footsteps fall softly behind my clumsy ones.
I knocked the refrigerator door into my other knee as I resumed my Quest for the Forgotten Milk, and swore colorfully. Edward snorted, and I blushed red as a beet.
"Sorry. Rough morning."
He nodded in understanding and gave me a crooked grin. I finally poured milk into my cereal and began munching at it, feeling self-conscious again as Edward just watched me eat. I hopped up on the counter, swinging my feet lightly against the cabinets beneath me as I ate.
"So… What brings you over here this early?"
Edward flinched as if being disturbed from deep thought. "I'm sorry, it was rude of me to just stare at you eating without announcing my intentions… Well, anyway, I came over to apologize."
I furrowed my brow. "For what?"
"For ignoring you for the first few days you were here. It was very inhospitable of me to act as I did, and for that I offer my sincerest apologies."
His language almost made me laugh. "Geez, Edward, you don't have to go all Victorian-era on me. A simple 'sorry' is okay. And you already apologized the other day." I shuffled nervously from foot to foot. "I figured I must have somehow offended you, so I'm sorry if I did."
Edward shook his head vehemently. "No, you did nothing. It was my fault. I was unnaturally cold to you."
Unnaturally cold… His words brought to the surface what felt like a forgotten memory. What was unnaturally cold? What was my brain trying so adamantly to remind me of? I shook it off and continued to try to comfort the obviously remorseful young man standing in front of me.
"I barely know you Edward. It's really okay. I'm the new girl, you're established school royalty. There was bound to be tension. Especially since Jessica thinks you're into me."
Edward snorted, and I felt an angry heat rise to my cheeks.
"What, am I not good enough for you?" I snapped.
"No, Bella, no!" Edward was by my side in the blink of an eye, looking as though he wanted to place a reassuring hand on my shoulder, but not following through.
I glared at him. "Typical popular asshole. They're the same no matter where you go. Is the idea of someone attractive liking me really so out there?"
"Bella," he said calmly, as though speaking to a petulant toddler; granted, I probably seemed like a petulant toddler, but it seemed justifiable. I wasn't the prettiest girl in the world, or even in Forks, but I wasn't the attractiveness equivalent of a six-times-run-over possum. "Firstly, I'm not school royalty. My family is actually the school joke, a bunch of misfits. Secondly, it's not 'out there' because of you. It's 'out there' because of me."
"Meaning?" I said impatiently, tapping my foot.
He sighed. "Look, I don't like to go telling everyone, but…" He stopped, looking anywhere but at my eyes.
I raised an eyebrow. "What? It's not like I'm going to go gossip and giggle with Jessica and Lauren about what you say. I do have more respect for people's privacy than you seem to think."
Edward sighed again, the sound actually quite beautiful. "I like you. But I don't like you. I don't like your kind, actually."
"My kind?" I asked, confused.
"Your… gender," he clarified, running a hand nervously through his hair.
As soon as he said it, it made complete sense. He was far too pretty and sensitive to be the rugged manly-man Lauren and the other girls made him out to be. Hell, he was prettier than me. Plus, he never spared any of the girls a glance; I had even begun to consider him asexual, or perhaps just snobby, since no one seemed to catch his eye. "Oh," was all I could manage. Edward just nodded shortly.
"Yeah."
I tried to diffuse the situation. "It really doesn't matter to me. And I won't tell anyone. I swear."
Edward gave me a half smile, looking slightly convinced. "You sure?"
I nodded fervently. "I'm sure. Even though you completely ignored me and/or glared at me for my first few days in town, which, I might add, are when new kids are the most impressionable, I'm still completely willing to be your friend. That is, if you want to be."
The smile he gave me this time was genuine. "I'd really like that. But just understand this – because my family has been, er, isolated from everyone else since we moved here, I might not be the greatest friend to start out with. I might seem distant or cold." He patted my non-cereal-eating hand. "But I'm willing to try."
The moment we shared was suddenly interrupted by a honk from outside. I groaned and rolled my eyes, hopping off the counter. "That's Jessica. We're supposed to go shopping in Port Angeles today."
Edward gave me a sympathetic smile. "I know how you feel. My sister, Alice, loves to shop. She practically lives for Versace and Prada, and I somehow almost always get dragged along."
Another honk, and the vague sound of my name being called.
"I bet Jessica and Alice could form one hell of a bond over their love of shopping," I grumbled.
Edward looked skeptical. "Maybe," he said half-heartedly. I got the feeling that he wasn't Jessica's biggest fan; but then again, neither was I.
We walked to the front door, which I shut and locked behind me. Jessica was staring at me wide-eyed from the front seat of her car, which was blasting some sort of pop music from a Top 20 station. Angela had a more reserved look on her face, but she was obviously intrigued as to my early morning visitor, too.
"I'll see you later, Bella," Edward said, giving my hand a quick squeeze before walking down the driveway.
"Hey, do you need a lift?" I called after him, realizing his Volvo was nowhere to be found.
He smiled and shook his head. "I like to walk. Fresh air and all that." He waved and continued on his way.
I hopped in the back of the car and buckled myself in. Jessica and Angela had both turned around in their seats to stare at me.
"Like, what the hell was Edward Cullen doing here?" Jessica asked, her tone shocked. I suppressed a grumble at the fact that my suspicions were true – no one here thought I was good enough for a Cullen.
"We're just friends," I told her.
"Yeah, friends." She gave me a look that said she clearly didn't believe me. I gave her a mental gesture involving my center finger.
"I think it's nice that Bella's making friends with Edward," Angela piped up. "He's always so quiet; he could use a friend."
I gave Angela an appreciative smile, and she winked back at me.
Jessica put the car in reverse and backed out of the drive. "Whatever." She began singing along with whatever crap was on the radio.
As we drove down the road, I looked for Edward on the sidewalk, but he was nowhere in sight. I turned around in my seat, and then looked out to either side. Gone.
"He must be fast," Angela commented, reading my mind.
"Inhumanly fast," I murmured in agreement.
"If he's that fast, he should join the track team," Jessica said, turning onto the highway. "They could really use some cute fresh meat."
I exchanged a look with Angela, suddenly very glad I had accepted Jessica's invitation to go shopping. Not only was I sparing Angela the misery of being Jessica's sole gossip target; I could also tell that she and I were going to get along swell, and in this tough little town, I could use all the friends I could get.
A/N: A plea for reviews in haiku form:
Want more hot doctor?
Carlisle will rock your world;
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Many thanks to the following for their warm fuzzy-inducing reviews and words of encouragement: heartless13, roots19, Megara1, notashamedtobesoilyfan, Mysterious Angel-05, Jaspers Izzy, aerobee82, acw1, Dist12, B-RizzleDizzle, nhalbur, and Nevaefell. You guys completely made my day!
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Next up: The Wild and Wacky Adventures of Bella and Carlisle in Port Angeles.