Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.
Chapter Five
"You're home early," Rose noted, looking up from her laptop.
I hummed, tossing my bag on the floor. "It's only four, but yeah. I wasn't feeling too awesome so I left a little early," I explained, rubbing my temple.
"Bummer. I thought you'd want to spend a second night drowning your sorrows while consuming copious amounts of tequila."
"Negative. It literally hurts my body to hear you utter 'tequila'." I kicked off my shoes and laid on the couch, face down. After a minute of suffocation, I lifted my head and allowed myself to breathe.
"I hope you ate something greasy for lunch. That usually helps," she commented as she typed furiously.
"Actually, I had sushi for lunch. Not the best decision of the day," I mumbled, my stomach rolling at the thought of raw fish and the hostess who had her sights on Edward.
"Who did you talk into eating sushi with you?"
"I went to lunch with Edward today." Rose's typing came to a sudden stop. I glanced her way, jerking back a bit when I saw her wide smile. "What is that?" I sat up, pointing at her face.
"I'm smiling," she said, frowning.
"But," I inhaled a deep breath, "Why are you smiling like that after I mentioned having lunch with Edward?" She shrugged and went back to typing. "You realize you're being really awkward, right?"
"Me?" She gasped. "I'm being awkward?"
"Yes." I swallowed, not having enough strength to end this conversation and leave the couch to make myself a sandwich. "It's just Edward," I muttered after a minute, reaching for the remote.
"Just Edward? When has he ever been just Edward?" Her chuckle was condescending and it took everything I had not to chunk the remote her way.
"Yes, just Edward." I mocked her chuckle. "Edward, whom I've gone to lunch with hundreds of times. Edward, whom I've known for four years. Edward-"
"What can I say to ensure you'll stop using the word 'whom'?" she interrupted.
"I'm just saying it's creepy how much you're reading into my relationship with Edward," I accused, replaying the conversation she and I had this morning.
"And I'm just saying I think it's creepy you don't fuck the shit out of him every time y'all hang out," she snipped.
"Well, I think it's creepier," I emphasized, "That you're so interested in Edward and me having sex."
"So, y'all did fuck?" she questioned, sitting up a little straighter. "Come on. Just tell me!"
I blinked. "No. We didn't."
"Your eye is twitching," she snickered.
I picked up one of the pillows from the couch and tossed it her way. It fell short and landed halfway between us.
"I was blinking, not twitching."
"Only one of your eyes blinked. I'm only giving you a hard time because you getting so worked up is entertaining."
"Well, it's annoying. If I weren't lazy I'd put out an ad looking for a new roommate," I lied, giving her a satisfied smile.
She waved me off. "Oh, shut up. You're just mad because you know I'm right. You totally want to fuck Edward."
"No, you shut up. If Edward and I were going to," I lowered my voice, "Get together, don't you think that would've happened by now?
"Nope. You're both idiots, and this is the first time both of you are single at the same time."
I furrowed my brows, trying to figure out if she was right. "Really?"
"Yep."
"That doesn't really mean anything," I said quietly. "And we just-" I paused. "We aren't like that."
"Okay. You'll figure it out sooner or later." Just like that, she dropped the subject. Ten seconds later, I picked it up again.
"We'll figure what out? Stop being cryptic."
"How is saying 'fuck the shit out of Edward' cryptic? I'm pretty sure you understand what I'm saying." She huffed when I didn't answer. "Can you honestly tell me you are not attracted to the fine motherfucker who lives two floors above us?"
I scrunched my nose, not entirely sure she was talking about Edward. "Please don't tell me you're talking about Mr. Banner..."
"Are you being serious right now? Edward," she sighed, "I'm talking about Edward."
"He's attractive, obviously, but I'm not going to fuck everything up just because he's good looking and funny and does this little scrunchy eye thing when he laughs and-" Rose's laugh cut me off.
"See? Like I said. You'll figure it out sooner or later."
Before I could reply, my phone beeped, indicating I had a new text message. I stared blearily at the screen, caught off guard by the text Peter had sent.
Velcro? Do you really think all of that about me? Your not the person I thought you were.
I cringed at his improper use of the word 'your'. After I recovered from his terrible grammar, I immediately eyed Rose, but I knew she wouldn't have talked to him. Scrolling through my recent text messages, I was at a loss when I saw nothing indicating I had recently texted him.
Before I realized what I was doing, I ran up the two flights of stairs to Edward's apartment and pounded on his door until he answered.
"Christ," he groaned, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. He didn't greet me and immediately walked back to his couch. "What's is going on?"
"Oh." I walked in and closed the door behind me. "Were you sleeping? It's not even five PM."
"I crashed when I got home. Didn't get much sleep last night. You kept wanting to spoon," he said flatly, pinching my side.
"What? I did not," I argued, stepping back to pull out of his reach. He sat on the couch, gazing up at me. His smile was sleepy and his eyes were half opened and he looked so warm and-
"Are you going to sit?" I realized I was standing in front of him, not saying a word. He scooted over, making room for me on the couch.
"Yeah." I nodded, shoving my hands between my thighs.
"What's up?" he asked. I focused on his long fingers scratching the back of his neck. Screw Rose for putting ideas in my head.
"What do you mean 'what's up'?" I carefully asked, tossing my hair over one shoulder.
Edward chuckled lightly, furrowing his brows. "Not that I mind you pounding on my door, but I figured there was a reason behind it..."
"Right." I racked my brain. "Peter!" I screeched.
"Peter," he repeated evenly, rubbing a hand over his stubble. "What about him?"
"He sent me this." I opened my messages and shoved my phone in Edward's face to let him read the text. He enclosed my wrist with his long fingers to steady my grip, pushing my hand back and narrowing his eyes so he could read.
"What's the problem, other than his grammar?"
"You said I didn't drunk dial him last night," I explained, slightly annoyed, setting my phone on the coffee table. "Why would he say that? How did he know about the velcro?"
He laughed for a full minute. "Oh. I said you didn't drunk dial him, but I said nothing about drunk texting."
"Edward," I whined.
"Hey." He stretched his arm out along the couch, leaning closer to me. "I tried to stop you. Do you realize how fast your thumbs move?"
I sighed, pulling my feet up on the couch and tucking them under me. "That's just great. I guess I deleted the text after I sent it to him?"
Edward shrugged. "I guess. That's hilarious, though. I'd forgotten about that."
"God," I groaned. "I'm sure he hates me now."
"Why do you care? The dude broke up with you."
"Okay, but I don't want him to hate me," I explained.
"No one could ever hate you," he stated quietly, locking his eyes with mine.
"Well, I mean..." My stomach growled.
Edward laughed, scrunching his nose. "Hey, remember that one time we got really drunk and the next day you wanted sushi for lunch?"
"God, that is awful. Stop talking about it." I crossed my arms. "Speaking of sushi..."
He cringed. "This doesn't sound like it's going to be good."
"Why wouldn't it be good?"
"I don't know. That just sounds like a disgusting way to start off a sentence."
"Um. Okay." I uncrossed my arms and stared down at my hands, needing to focus on something. "I wanted to say sorry for being weird earlier."
"I'm going to need you to be more specific..."
I playfully slapped his chest. "At the restaurant, you jerk."
"It's amazing how you can insult the person you're apologizing to," he said in awe. "But it's fine. You weren't being weird."
"Okay." I hesitated, unsure of what to say next.
"Remember that one time you got jealous over the hostess hitting on me?" he asked, cracking a smile.
"Oh, God. Okay. I'm out of here." I left the couch, walking towards the door.
"Don't be embarrassed. It was cute," Edward called out. "Get back here."
"It wasn't cute," I groaned, stopping just short of the door.
"Sure, whatever you say," he agreed patronizingly. "You don't have to go, though. We can watch a movie or something."
"No more teasing?" I asked, slowly walking towards him.
"I can't promise you that," he said seriously. "It's just too easy."
"Edward."
"You can pick the movie." His smile was easy as he patted the couch.
"Fine." I sighed, plopping down next to him, silently cursing Rose for her stupid ideas.
A/N: This story is obviously fiction. There's no way B would've been able to last four years without hooking up with E. Thanks for reading!