The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25 dot com
Prompt: 12
Pen Name: Glitterb1234
Pairing/Character(s): Bella + Edward
Rating: T
Word Count: 499
Photo prompts can be found here:
thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts
I have officially decided that stairs are the work of the devil.
Perhaps it's my own fault for living on the tenth floor of a building with a less than reliable elevator. Perhaps fate just hates me today. Whichever it may be, it doesn't change the fact that I'm now stuck at the bottom of a stairwell with my fussy five month old daughter and absolutely no chance of making up the stairs with baby, diaper bag, stroller and sanity all intact.
This isn't the first time since Ellie was born that the elevator's broken down, but every other time, I've had someone there to help me. But Riley and I broke up two months ago, and today I'm all on my own.
"What are we gonna do Jelly Bean?" I ask her. She just stares at me, then her face scrunches up and I know she's going to start bawling any second.
Just when I think things couldn't get worse, the stairwell door opens behind me and someone practically runs into my back.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry!"
It's Edward, my downstairs neighbour. Young, gorgeous, and miraculously single, this guy frequently stars in my dreams. Today he's dressed for the gym, his dark auburn hair still wet from showering and a weary but satisfied look about him.
I smile weakly – I think it's more of a grimace. "It's fine, totally my fault, I know I'm blocking the stairs."
"Having some trouble?" He smiles knowingly and bends down to tickle Ellie under her chin. "Is mommy in a pickle, princess?"
To my surprise, she calms down instantly. Her little mouth forms a little 'o' and her blue eyes open wide.
I gawk at him. "How did you do that?"
He shrugs. "My sister has a two year old. Can I give you a hand up the stairs?"
I blush and stutter that he doesn't have to, but he insists. Between us we manage to manoeuvre the stroller up ten flights; the whole time he's talking to Ellie, making silly faces. By the time we reach my front door she's actually laughing.
"You need to come round more often," I tell him. "You'd be a godsend when she's teething."
He laughs. "Well, to be honest, I'd actually really like to hang out more, maybe go out for coffee if you have the time."
I can only stare at him. I probably look like a complete idiot, but I'm too surprised to care.
I'm silent too long; he starts backtracking. "But if you don't feel like it that's fine too. I guess you're pretty busy with the baby, forget I even asked-"
"Edward." I cut off his rambling. "I'd really like to hang out too. In fact, if you don't have anywhere else to be, I was thinking you could come in and we could have that coffee now."
His smile could light up the Empire State Building.
Perhaps stairs aren't so bad after all.