A/N: Thanks so much for all your wonderful thoughts.
Most characters belong to S. Meyer. The rest belong to me. All mistakes are mine.
Chapter 8 - Serendipity. Perspective. Time.
September 13, 2024 – NYC, NY: 10:41 p.m.
I slid into the back seat of the Uber, next to Rosalie, who sat in the middle seat, and Alice, at the other end. Leaning into the open window, I shot grateful smiles at Quil and Embry. Both men leaned into the window frame from the opposite side of the passenger door, crowding together into the tight space.
Quil raised both brows. "Now, Bella, sweetheart, make sure you text us as soon as you're back at The Pierre."
"I will," I assured him.
"Then have yourself a nice glass of wine and a bubble bath," Embry suggested. "That usually helps calm my nerves after a stressful night."
"Good idea, Embry," I agreed.
"The tub in that hotel suite must be real nice, all claw-footed and gleamin' with gold fixtures," Quil mused, his gaze dreamy.
"Look at my husband, picturing himself in that tub. Quil, you do love yourself a bubble bath," Embry chuckled.
"Look who's talking, and, baby, who are you kidding with your 'have a glass' nonsense?" Quil grinned, returning Embry's teasing. "You know you'd be having way more than a damn glass after a night like Bella's here."
"This is true," Embry nodded. "Sweetie, go ahead and have the whole bottle," he suggested with a wink.
"I might have two," I smirked.
Embry offered me a thumbs up. "Oh, yeah!"
"Now that's our kind of girl, just going for broke and the whole hangover-and-a-half! Eff the world!" Quil shouted at the sky.
The three of us shared a hearty round of laughter.
"Seriously though," Quil said, sobering, "go de-stress, but then…" he quirked a brow, "consider what we talked about."
"I'll consider it," I said with equal earnestness. "I promise."
Embry, too, contributed to the much more serious discourse. "Sweetie, look at it this way. There are something like four thousand bars in this city."
Quil whistled sharply through his teeth. "Four thousand? You sure about that number, babe? That's a whole lot of liquor being served per square mile."
"I will reiterate: Four. Thousand," Embry reiterated. He lifted four fingers, moving them from side to side like a boxing referee announcing the round score. "I literally googled it to make this point."
"You prepped, baby!"
"Oh, I prep. You know this about me, Quil. So, I'll repeat it once again, four thousand, and to that, I'll add…" He paused, then lifting an additional finger for each, he added, "Serendipity. Perspective. Time."
We were quiet for a moment.
"But Embry, why do you have seven fingers up?" Quil wondered.
"I had the same question," I nodded.
"Four thousand," Embry stressed, stretching out the hand with the four raised fingers and then stretching out the hand with the three raised fingers, "plus Serendipity, Perspective, and Time,"
"But…that's five words," Quil pointed out, shaking his head. "I still don't get the seven fingers."
"Four. Thousand. Plus Serendipity, Perspec- you know what? The point is…" Embry's gaze met mine, "Bella, it's you who needs to add all these up…" – he wiggled all seven raised fingers – "and come up with your own total." Another pause. "And that's it. That's the talk. I'm done." Embry ended by throwing up his hands in a 'you figure the rest out on your own' gesture.
"Quil, Embry, thank you both so, so much for everything."
It was strange; in one night – less than an hour, more accurately – I'd come to feel as close to these two men as if I'd known them for years. Then again, the time I'd spent in their company was a critical period in my life: that post-sighting period of the one man whose sighting could unravel me. Throughout it, Quil and Embry had proved themselves to be exceptional individuals.
"Oh, honey," Embry said, waving off my gratitude. "What are new friendships for but to establish themselves into tried and true friendships?"
"Damn skippy," Quil agreed with a sharp nod. "Embry, baby, you are spot on tonight with the words of wisdom!"
"You really are, Embry," I concurred with a smile.
"Thank you, my loves. I gotta try hard to keep up with my husband." Embry winked at Quil, who responded with a raised brow and,
"Oh, you keep up, baby," Quil asserted, blowing Embry a kiss. "You keep up real good."
"Quil, I'm talking about keeping up with your wisdom!"
Quil grinned suggestively. "I'm not."
I laughed. "And that's my cue to get going."
Reluctantly, Quil and Embry agreed. Embry angled his head to see past me to where Rose and Alice sat. After the initial introductions, they'd remained unusually reserved throughout Quil, Embry's, and my banter.
"Rosalie and Alice, we'll relinquish our curly girl here back to you guys," Embry said.
"Take good care of her! She's had quite a night! But we'll let her tell it," Quil said.
I turned to look at Rose and Alice and found two jaws hanging ajar. "Ahh, so that's why you're both so quiet."
Quil moved in closer and stage-whispered, "Bella, sweetie, are they always this mum?"
"Baby, maybe we're scaring them," Embry whispered in the same easily audible manner. "I've heard say that we New Yorkers can be a bit loud and intimidating, and we don't even realize it."
"No. No, I promise you, that's not it. These two here are usually loud themselves. I think they're still in shock, comingled with lingering fury at my earlier escapade."
"Ahh, okay," Embry nodded. "Well, you did fucking run out on your fortieth birthday party at The Pierre, so. Now, go."
As one, Quil and Embry pulled away from the Uber. Each slid an arm around the other's shoulder. Then Quil smacked a palm against the car's side as a signal to the driver.
"Take them away before we keep them! Buh-bye, girls!"
"Bye, guys!"
"Quil, Embry," Rosalie said, with a genuine if delayed reaction and smile, leaning past me toward the window. "Thank you, truly, for taking care of her."
Alice added her gratitude. "Yeah. Thank you both."
"No problem!"
"It was our pleasure!"
"Guys, don't forget to check your calendars for next month!" I yelled out as the car pulled away from the curb.
"Oh, we won't!" Quil guaranteed.
"Woo-hoo! Watch out, Seattle, here come the boys!" Embry shouted before both yelled simultaneously,
"AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BELLA!"
Laughing, I sat back as the Uber sped off, situating myself comfortably over the back seat's cool leather. Through the front windshield, ambulances sped by, zig-zagging through traffic, then chasing recalcitrant motorists out of the way with blaring sirens. Police cruisers followed suit with whirring lights illuminating back alleys and darkened corners. Across my lap, I tapped out the beat of an old song.
You want another song?
Here, I'll play you a good one
if you just keep me hangin' on this ferry ride
Rose looked at me curiously. "What are you tapping out?"
"Just something that…came to mind." I shrugged, then flattened my hands across my lap.
The relative silence of a New York City night ruled for another half block before Rose settled my bag on my lap.
"Here's the stuff you left behind."
"Oh. Thanks, Rose." I stared at the bag but made no move to touch it.
"Quil and Embry seemed like cool people," she volunteered.
I looked up at her with a smile. "They were amazing people. I'm so lucky to have crossed their paths."
"They seemed genuine and like a really friendly couple," Rosalie agreed. Her slow manner of speaking highlighted the unspoken words. Still, we continued this way.
"So friendly. And so helpful. I invited them to Seattle next month."
"Did you? That sounds like fun," Rose nodded. "I'll-"
"Are we seriously going to sit in this back seat and pretend that you didn't disappear from your own birthday party tonight without a word to anyone and without a way for us to get in touch with you?" Alice asked.
I sighed. "I suppose we're not."
"What Alice means," Rose said gently, "is that we were super worried-"
"I saw Edward tonight."
The relative silence returned with a deafening roar. It overpowered the noise pollution outside the Uber's windows. It made my own voice sound all the louder.
"Edward…Cullen. Remember him?"
"Of course we remember Edward," Rosalie said. "He was our friend, too."
"Until he broke your heart," Alice murmured.
"Yes." I blew out a breath through narrowed lips. "Yeah, there was that, too."
"Where did you see him?" Rosalie wondered.
"In an out-of-the-way yet super cool bar slash venue I wandered into, which he apparently owns."
Alice quirked a brow. "Is that why you left the party?"
"No. No, I didn't even know he…" I exhaled. "For almost two decades, I've known nothing about him or his life beyond what played out on stage for a while."
"Yeah, neither have we," Rose said. She took me in with the wariness with which one observes an easily spooked bird. "Wow. Edward Cullen. World-famous singer/songwriter, chart-topper, and heartthrob Edward Cullen."
I swallowed hard. "Our bandmate."
"Our one-time bandmate," Alice corrected, "'til he hit it big and disappeared without a word to anyone before dropping off the face of the earth."
"Thank you for all those unnecessary reminders." I shot her a glare.
"Which aren't completely accurate," Rosalie added.
"They're accurate enough," Alice countered.
Another long beat of silence filled the back seat of the Uber.
"So what did he say?" Rose asked.
"We didn't really talk."
"How did he look?" Alice wondered.
"I didn't really see him. It was dark and smokey."
"Are you sure it was him?" Rosalie double-checked.
"Yes," I snorted. "Of course, I'm sure it was him."
"Well, when you say you didn't really see or speak with him," Alice said.
"I heard his voice and saw his eyes and…and that was enough."
"Did he recognize you?" Alice asked.
Swallowing hard, I inhaled then exhaled a long gust of air through inflated cheeks as if blowing out those birthday candles I ran out on today. My hands grazed up and down my thighs, wiping the sweat from my palms. All the while, my heart hammered.
I nodded. "He called me, 'Izzy,'" I breathed, "just as he used to. 'Izzy,'" I repeated with a wistful smile. "Then he shouted 'Bella.' And I panicked and ran out."
"Wait, you panicked and ran out?" Rose echoed. "Oh, my God, poor guy."
"Poor guy?" Alice scoffed. "What about poor Bella? You recall what he did?"
"Of course, I recall what he did, Alice," Rosalie bristled. "But that was a long time ago."
"And that changes things how?" Alice asked.
"Serendipity. Perspective. Time," I murmured after a few moments. Lifting three fingers in front of me, I stared at them before setting them back down.
Neither woman seemed to know what to say to that.
Alice, ever practical, cleared her throat. "So, we were able to put off most of the guests' concerns once everyone realized you were gone."
"We told them you developed a migraine and went back to your room to rest. Then we thanked them all for coming."
"Okay," I nodded dully. "Okay, thank you. And I'm so sorry," I said with more feeling. "I know you guys went through a lot of trouble to plan that party."
"That's the least of our concerns right now, Bella. We probably shouldn't have made it a surprise," Rose acknowledged with a faint smile.
"That was my idea," Alice admitted quietly, "and I probably should've known better. But I thought maybe for your fortieth…"
Yet another uneasy silence followed.
"Anyway, everyone bought the migraine excuse except Charlie," Rosalie said, changing the subject.
"Of course, Charlie wouldn't buy that. He knows I'm not prone to migraines." I rolled my eyes and snorted, but a soft smile lifted the corners of my mouth.
"We knew you wouldn't want him to worry too much, so I had to tell him I knew exactly where you were and that I'd have you text him when you were back in your room," Rose explained.
"So, if we hadn't found you, you need to know we were planning to throw ourselves into the nearest river because neither of us had the balls to face Charlie without his little girl in tow."
Despite everything, we shared a chuckle.
"My poor dad. I'll text him when I'm back in my room."
We fell silent once more. After a moment, Alice moved into my field of vision.
"Hey." She offered me a peculiar smile. A touch of sadness shadowed it, but more than that, it appeared clouded with a hint of something resembling guilt, which made no sense. Then again, it was dark in the back seat of the Uber. "Are you okay?"
"I will be," I smiled in return.
She reached for my hand, and Rose reached for the other hand.
"I'm sorry for snapping at you," Alice said, "but you really worried us when you disappeared and purposely left behind your bag and phone."
"I know, and like I said, I'm sorry."
She opened her mouth again, but I cut her off.
"And I really don't want to talk about the whys of it right now. I promise we'll talk more later," I nodded, "but right now, I've got things to think about."
Rose and Alice nodded, although in separate intervals and with obviously differing acceptance levels. I vaguely wondered if they found it peculiar that I'd poured my heart out to Quil and Embry, yet I couldn't quite get myself to do the same with them – not yet, at least. I couldn't understand why this was the case. Except that, sometimes, it's more complex to confide in those you've known forever, in those who were there for most of your life's most significant events, those who were witnesses to your hardest heartaches, than those with a fresh outlook.
Either way, I turned away from them in favor of New York City's colorful streets. They blurred by, melding with the raindrops that were once again falling. It created a watery canvas of the world beyond the Uber's windows, like wet paint dripping onto concrete sidewalks. When all was said and done, it was a beautiful city.
But, much like another beautiful nighttime city view once before, it couldn't hold my attention, not when I was distracted from sleek skyscrapers and twinkling lights by the same individual who distracted me on that long ago night. Whether physically present or in my mind, Edward Cullen leaped tall buildings in a single bound.
Once, Edward and I made young, passionate, foolish promises. Now, my friends, old and new, had differing opinions. But despite everything else that had happened that evening, the question still remained.
'…maybe why you left your party has less to do with where, what, and who was there and more to do with where, what, and who…was not.'
So, what, if anything, was I to do next?
A/N: Thoughts?
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"See" you all Friday.