Keep Coming Back For More (Chapter 14)
Do you realize
Emmett
“Emmett? Are you there?” Edward’s voice sounded raspy and slightly panicky.
“Yeah, sure,” I answered him.
“Can you call over to my place?” he seemed a little bit sleepy.
“Give me the address,” I listened as he gave me directions and finished the call quickly.
Typically, I ran into Alice on the way down the stairs.
“Where are you off to this early?” she looked at me curiously.
“Just getting some fresh air,” I lied smoothly, “my head’s killing me.”
Somehow, I knew Edward didn’t want anyone else to know about this chat that he wanted to have. Luckily, Alice bought my story without her usual questioning and I wondered if it was only because she didn’t feel the best herself or if her mind was elsewhere. Judging by her happy smile as she bounced up the stairs, she was completely focused on Jasper. They were lucky: no issues, no complications, nothing standing in their way to happiness. Sometimes I was jealous of them, but mostly I was just glad that a part of our gang was stable enough to hold the rest of us together.
Edward was standing next to his window and pressed the buzzer to let me in before I could ring the doorbell. When I got to his door, he had it already open and handed me a cup of coffee as if he knew I would’ve asked for it anyway. Then again, his head must’ve been just as bad as mine and he was always surprisingly prepared for hangovers. Lord knows we fought our way through enough of them in the past.
“So what’s the emergency?” I looked at him questioningly.
His face dropped and I could see his cheeks turning red and his lips pursing slightly. Edward blushing, now that was a new one, this guy never did anything that would’ve made him feel embarrassed. Or even if he did, he wouldn’t let anyone see the harbingers of the humiliation.
“Edward?” I asked, lifting my eyes to meet his.
“OK,” he finally looked me in the eyes cautiously, “you have to promise you won’t kill me, though.”
“Why would I..?” I stopped as a warning sign flashed in front of my eyes, “Does this have to do with Rose?”
“No,” he almost laughed and I breathed a quick sigh of relief, hoping he wouldn’t notice it, “Though it’s interesting that it would worry you.”
“What is it then?” I was quick to change the focus back on him.
My eyes followed him as he paced around the room for a while, not saying anything and obviously preoccupied. Finally, he slumped into a chair and breathed out loudly, rubbing his temples with his fingers roughly.
“Edward, what’s going on?” I sat down across the room, “you’re making me nervous.”
“Sorry, Em,” he looked up at me, his eyes darting around the room.
“What did you do?”
“Promise you’ll listen to me first,” he pleaded with me, “don’t jump to conclusions.”
“I’ll try,” my lips curled up, but fell straight down, seeing his face.
“It’s about…” he gulped, “it’s Bella.”
I heard myself gasp and naturally, my brain immediately started churning out various different scenarios, none of which I was particularly impressed with. But before I could throw a number of curse words and insults at Edward I met his gaze and froze on the spot. It was obvious that he was well aware of my train of thought and probably could pick every single idea out of my head. He knew me as well as I knew him and he could read me better than anyone else. At the same time, his face was looking like the face of a martyr, if I’ve ever seen one. Not that I had really seen one…
“No jumping to conclusions, remember?” Edward whispered softly, his voice raspy.
“Talk, then, before I think any more,” I sighed.
“Well…” the words seemed to escape him, “she came home with me last night.”
For a second, I saw red again, but I allowed myself to calm down and let him finish what he was going to say.
“It wasn’t the first time, either,” his eyes met mine briefly, checking if I was still listening, “I won’t go into details, but… things happened.”
For once I didn’t feel like joking about this, since Edward seemed so worried and tortured by whatever was on his mind.
“Edward,” I waited until he looked at me and suddenly I understood his anguish.
The poor guy was head over heels in love with Bella and it wasn’t a new development either, by the looks of it. Before now, though, I guessed that he hadn’t been aware of his feelings for her and now he was in a bit of a shock.
“Emmett, I don’t know what’s happening…” he mumbled and my jaw dropped to the floor.
I was wrong, it seemed, and Edward obviously analyzed the situation to death and couldn’t see the forest for the trees. How he could not be aware of his feelings was beyond me, since it was clearly written in his face. Alice must’ve noticed at least, but I couldn’t just pick up the phone and call her now, as tempting as it was.
“Edward,” I waited until he looked at me, “what do you think is happening?”
His face was blank and I felt like slapping him so that he’d wake up and smell the roses… I stopped my train of thought before images of Rosalie flooded my head. The only one more oblivious from our gang was the one Edward was so oblivious about.
“Did Bella say anything?” I suddenly wondered.
“No, she… she left, thinking I was still asleep,” Edward sighed, “I heard her calling herself silly, so…”
“So you assumed she regretted anything that happened?” I almost snorted.
“What else?”
“It couldn’t possibly be that she might like you back, could it?”
“Emmett, this is not a joke!” he looked at me, obviously annoyed with the smirk in my face.
“I’m not joking,” I met his eyes, “women are weird that way. What if she does like you back, but assumes it was just a one night fling for you?”
“It wasn’t just…”
“I know that, but Bella doesn’t.”
“No, I mean…”
“This is not the first time?” my eyes popped at him and I felt the urge to strangle him for a moment.
“The night you were making us all drink shots…” Edward threw me an accusing look, like it was my fault, “I didn’t remember at first, but Alice…”
“Alice knows everything, as usual,” I rolled my eyes.
We sat in silence for a while and I tried to figure out what to tell Edward besides hammering into him how obviously he was in love with Bella. But I knew that subtle worked with him a lot better, since it didn’t result in immediate denial of his feelings. It used to be so much easier when Rose and me…
“Emmett?” Edward tore me out of my small reverie just in time.
“Yeah?”
“Rose and you…” I groaned, “sorry, I just…”
“What do you want to know?”
“Do you still love her?”
I didn’t expect a question this blunt so before I could control me reactions, I nodded and felt my cheeks going bright red. Rosalie used to be my world, my angel… until I messed up and left my priorities all wrong.
“Why don’t you tell her?”
“She made her decision, Edward,” I sighed, “she’s making that clear every day we run into each other.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
“What if you are?” I retaliated in self-defence, “What if Bella likes you, too?”
We both stared out of the window contemplating that possibility. I heard Edward stand up and pace the room a few times, then he fell back into the chair and his frustrated groan echoed across the room. But my mind was no longer on him and Bella. Once the first image of Rosalie jumped into my mind, there was no stopping the memories and pictures grabbing my attention.
“Em?” Edward stood up and paced the room again, “What do you think I should do?”
His eyes were filled with anguish and I could see his every thought in his face, from the wondering about Bella’s feelings, through the realisation about his own, to the possible scenarios that would answer the question he’d just asked.
“I don’t know,” I whispered, my voice echoing the same confusion, “I just… don’t know.”