Happy reading!
33
"Don't let this calm and collected exterior fool you, Bella. Eddie was so emo growing up." Alice is telling me later that night. Edward and I met up with his mom and sister after the grand opening was over. The four of us had been at Baron's for the last few hours, talking and getting to know each other. I'd learned so much about the man beside me as he and Alice bickered back and forth, telling stories from when they were growing up that were getting more and more embarrassing as time went on. "The amount of hours he spent locked in his room writing god awful poetry for this girl he was in love with in high school is down right mortifying."
"No, the mortifying part is that I put them in her locker." Edward added on, taking a gulp of his beer.
"Oh shit!" Alice is looking at him in shock. "I didn't know that."
"There's a reason for that." He tells her, making her flip him off.
"Were they signed?" I asked, needing to know all the details.
He closed his eyes, his face scrunching up. "Yes."
"Oh, Edward." I can't help but laugh at the thought of young Edward thinking he was being so bold and romantic. "There's no way that ended well."
"It didn't." He confirmed, laughing at himself. "She came up to me one day after school and told me she didn't feel the same. Then she asked me to stop putting creepy poetry in her locker."
"My big brother, ladies and gentlemen." Alice says, giving him a round of applause. "Damn, that's much more embarrassing than you running around with your underwear on your head."
"Is it more embarrassing than you serenading your crush during your middle school talent show?" He smirks when she blushes a bright red all the way to her hairline, looking victorious that he was able to one-up her.
"You promised you'd never bring that up!" She yells, slapping her hand against the table.
"And you said you'd never bring up the underwear thing." He shrugs, one of his arms coming to rest on the back of my chair.
"All's fair in war, Ali."
"It's all fair in love and war."
"Not the way we play."
"What do you see him? Because I honestly don't get it." Alice points at him while she looks at me, laughter in her eyes that she doesn't want to show. It was clear that they loved each other. Teasing and bickering was how they showed it.
I look over at Edward, not able to help the smile that comes to my face. "I don't know. I just kind of like him." He smiles back at me, taking one of my hands and kissing the back of it. I loved it when he did little things like that that showed his affection.
"You two make me feel forever alone." Alice looks between us wistfully.
"Ali, you're engaged." Edward sighs, exasperated.
"Yeah, but he's not here right now." And she called Edward dramatic.
"You're so fucking ridiculous." Edward tells her, which launches them into an argument over which of the two of them was the most ridiculous. I was happy to be an only child.
"Now, you see what I had to put up with." Esme says when our eyes meet, but there's a happiness in her eyes and smile that shows she doesn't actually mind her children's antics.
"Were they always this bad?"
"Oh God, yes!" She exclaims, rolling her eyes. "I swear they're worse now."
"Hey!" Alice interjected. "We've mellowed."
"Alice, you and your brother just spent the last two hours seeing who could embarrass the other more." Esme lifted a brow. "You haven't mellowed."
"At least we're entertaining." Alice shrugs, finishing off her cocktail, completely unbothered. "Besides, Bella needs to know what she's getting herself into."
"Why does your brother running around with underwear on his head when he was a young child need to be shared?" Esme inquires, truly curious.
"While Edward may be successful now, it shows he came from rocky beginnings." Alice can't finish saying it without laughing.
"What am I going to do with you two?" Esme pinches Alice's cheek.
We stay for another half hour, the conversation veering in my direction, with Esme asking me questions about my art and business. I tell her about Rosalie Hale shouting me out and how that led to me opening a physical store after things got too big for my Etsy shop. I give her details about my relationship with my mom and how she moved in with me so I could take care of her. The more I told her, the more impressed she seemed to be.
"Next time we do this, you should bring your mom along. I would love to meet her." Esme is telling us when we're standing outside Baron's. "I have a feeling we'd get along."
"You'd definitely get along." I confirm, thinking about how they both loved to tease and torment their children. "I know she would like getting to meet you."
"We'll set something up, then. After things settle down a little. I know the move has probably been a lot."
"It definitely has been." I look over at Edward, where he's leaning against his car, talking to Alice, and I smile. "Edward's been a big help, though. I honestly don't know how we would've gotten through it without him."
"My son is a good man, and you're a good woman, Bella. I can't think of a better person to be with him." Her thoughtful words have my throat closing up. "Now, before we both start crying, I'm going to give you a hug and say goodnight."
I smile as she brings me into a hug, squeezing me tightly.
"I'm sorry if tonight was too much." Edward apologizes once his mom and sister have left and it's just us. "I didn't want to overwhelm you."
I wrap my arms around him and place a kiss in the center of his chest. "It wasn't too much. I liked spending time with them and hearing about young Edward's terrible poetry." I laugh as he groans.
"How long before you let me forget that?"
"Never. I will never, ever let you forget it."
"Good to know." He pushes hair behind my shoulder, looking at me softly. "I love you."
"I love you."
"Let's get you home."
See you next time.