Chapter 11
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Call me.
Edward
555-7162
I rub the card in my hands as I chant "oh my god" over and over in my head. He would leave it up to me to make the move.
Me. Who has a slower reaction time than oxidation.
But I have to do something. Edward has made his grand gesture - three, really - and now it's my turn.
Do I have to ask him out? Can I just text him? Is he really waiting by the phone, or was that just an exaggeration?
And who is going to answer all these questions? They're not rhetorical.
I have no clue what to do. I have only been on a few dates in my life. And Alice made me go on most of those. And none of those guys was nearly as hot as Edward. Or as romantic. The closest thing I got to a love note was a disclaimer form I had to sign before going out with one of Alice's law school friends. Yeah. He was fun.
"Hey, Bella. Get your mind off my brother and come over here and help before Jasper dislocates something," Emmett calls out, breaking me from my stupor. Glad to have a distraction, I start catching for Emmett as Jasper goes back to the equipment. I think he's trying to charm the baseballs to fly. I swear I heard him mutter a spell.
"So, are you gonna give my brother a chance? I heard how you blew him off." Emmett laughs. "Priceless." He continues hitting the ball to the kids as I catch their throws. Or more accurately, chase after all the bad ones.
"I, uh, didn't blow him off per se," I reply. "I thought maybe he was looking for something that I wasn't."
"You mean an easy lay?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah."
"He's not like that. I mean, don't get me wrong, girls flock to him. It's really easy to be a playah when you're a player, especially when you're reasonably attractive. I would know. I'm a reformed one. But since I met Riley's mom, I've been completely faithful."
"So what happened then?" The question slips out before I can stop it. "I'm sorry. That's personal."
"Nah. It's okay. She hated moving from place to place when I was traded. And there are lots of road trips. And she really resented that she didn't get to finish college. I quit playing and took a job as a high school coach so we could settle down, but she left me even before I started. Now I'm just trying to show her that I'd do anything for her and Riley. But she won't talk to me. Only with the lawyers present. Fuck. I just miss my family."
"I'm so sorry, Emmett. I know divorce sucks from experience. I wish things were better for you."
"Hey, thanks, Bella. There's nothing you can do except give my brother a chance. I'd be happy if he was happy."
We finish the rest of practice sharing small talk, and I learn a little bit more about the Cullens.
They're kinda perfect. Their only flaw might be that they're too good-looking.
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"Can you turn up that song?" Seth asks as we're driving home.
"Sure, Seth." I've noticed that he's started paying more attention to music nowadays. I sigh as I realize he's getting older.
"Riley sings this in the dugout. Did I tell you he's my best friend? He invited me to sleepover, but I have to ask you first."
I turn down the music a bit so I can talk to him. "That's good, sweetie. I'm glad you have friends."
"What about the sleepover, Bella? Please."
"I need to find out more details before I say yes." I see him pouting in the rear view mirror, but there's no way he's going to have a sleepover with a Cullen before I do.
"Fine. Can you put the song back up?" I know he's disappointed by his tone of voice. I sigh again and turn it up. He starts humming along with the pop song, and I know he's not mad. Before long he's singing at the top of his lungs - something about I just met you and here's my number and call me maybe.
We're a long way from the Raffi CD I used to play for him.
He stops singing about how it's hard to look right at you baby and says, "Do you know Alyssa gave me her phone number? Do you think I should call her?"
"Uhhhh..." I stammer, because what the fuck? My little brother has phone numbers? I mean I know who his parents are, but seriously. He's seven.
"She's got pretty hair. I might call her tomorrow night."
I don't respond because I feel like a giant loser. How is Seth going to call someone before I do?
Fuck that. I put on Raffi. He's not calling anyone's ass.
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I'm really agitated when we get home. I keep thinking about Seth having a date before I do, and I might lose my mind.
I get him in the bath and listen to him sing "here's my number so call me, maybe" over and over. I think the little brat is trying to tell me something. I put him in bed after promising that we would talk about the sleepover tomorrow. I can't deal with this shit right now. I need to make a call, but I'm not ready.
Fuck, where is the vodka?
I don't have vodka, just a bottle of peach schnapps that Alice left when she was in her fuzzy navel period. Seriously, her ex-boyfriend had the grossest happy trail ever.
After taking a drink or four, I'm calm enough to think about calling. Real cool. Like a cucumber. I bet Edward's junk looks like a cucumber. Like length and girth, I mean. Not green and bumpy. Ha. I laugh on my bed because I'm really hilarious right now. I should drink more often.
Edward should be done with his meeting or whatever by now. Maybe I should put on some sexy clothes or something. Or maybe I should be naked. No, what if he wants to FaceTime with me? I better put on some lip gloss. And cover my nipples. Maybe pasties with a tassel?
Where would one purchase tassels? I haven't seen a stripper store around here. Do they sell poles? I bet Edward's pole is long. I roll around laughing. I think I should be a comedian. And get laid because everything is making me think of dick. Which reminds me, I need to call Edward.
I finger the card on my bed and take a deep breath and tap in the number.
You can do it, Bella. You've solved complex equations. Calling a man is nothing.
I get voicemail. What the hell, Edward? You said you were waiting by the phone, liar. Damn, he sounds so sexy in his message.
I wait for the beep and...oh crap. What am I going to say?
"Hi, hi, hi, Edward," I squeak, growl, and cough out. Great. He's going to think three girls called him.
"It's um, Bella. You know, you sent me swoony notes. Oh shit. I didn't mean to say that. I drank a little before I called you because I was nervous. Peach schnapps. And I didn't even have any orange juice. Anyway, I missed you at practice. I had to shag with Emmett. I mean for Emmett. Ha ha. Cause we weren't doing it."
Shut up now, Bella.
"Okay...so um, call me. Maybe. Hahahaha. Like the song. Bye."
No, no, no. That was all wrong. I need to call him back. This time I'll be sexy. Not lame.
"Yeah, Edward. It's me again. Uh, the first time I called I didn't say thank you for the the notes and the gifts. So thank you. And sorry about the random comments. I get really nervous talking to new people and especially super hot guys, not that I ever talked to super hot guys, really only you, sort of, and that was embarrassing because you caught me staring at you but you're probably used to that because...you know what you look like...especially in track pants. So um, there's that."
Oh my god. What am I talking about? Abort. Abort.
I take a swig of schnapps straight from the bottle because this ship is sinking faster than a chunk of osmium in a beaker of water.
"I, uh...bye."
I pound my head a few times on my dresser. Okay. You can do this. Call him back and explain that you had an allergic reaction to the schnapps. He'll understand.
I call him back and take a deep breath, prepared to leave a really sexy, mature message. You know, minus the rambling and humiliation. But instead of the message I hear,
"Hello, Bella."
Fuuuuuuck.
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A/N: Thank you for your reviews. I love reading your comments. For now, I'm going to keep up to a weekly update on Mondays.
I used "Call Me Maybe" in this chapter because my sons and their friends always sing it in the dugout. My RL is inspiring parts of this story (obvi not the whole Edward part).
Cosmogirl7481 is the Hermione to my Draco (Ron is not hot).
Love goes out to my pre-readers: Rtgirl, Twilover76, and les16.