April 29, 2010

She shook her long copper hair out roughly and tied it tight at her neck; it would need to be held in place well as she whipped through the forest. She worked quickly, gathering her backpack, books and a light jacket along with her iPod. The tears were beginning to sting her eyes and she knew she’d need to be quick. She didn’t want her tears to slow her down.

Their lowered voices this afternoon weren’t low enough to escape her fine hearing. She could hear them arguing, again, about her. Her father was so overprotective; he just wouldn’t listen to her mother at all. Her mother knew she was ready to go out on her own, but always the ancient worry would creep into their discussion and her father would win the argument. Even Jacob was on her father’s side. They didn’t trust her to protect herself. And so she’d just go. She’d be long gone before they could stop her.

She opened her window without the slightest noise and dropped to the forest floor beside the cottage. She froze, waiting for someone to find her. Her mother was in the cottage, but Renesmee didn’t hear her stirring. It wouldn’t have been surprising if someone was waiting for her, given the talents in the family. But no one showed themselves and she didn’t smell anyone around.

She ran. The wind whipped her face as the tears began to spill from her eyes. The salty tears never had a chance to make tracks on her face. They simply flew to the side of her face and then out into the forest, glistening as they went. She didn’t care now about the tears. They didn’t hinder her sight and she continued to run far away from the cottage. Someone was bound to come looking for her soon. The only thing working in her favor was that Alice couldn’t see her at all. Otherwise she would have been waiting beneath the window. As it was, her father was far enough away that he couldn’t hear her thoughts and her mother didn’t hear her leave. She had a good lead time to get where she wanted to go.

She ran through the forest, her tears drying and the smile of freedom curling on her lips. She would make it to the meadow and she would be alone. For the first time in her four years, she would be alone.

The meadow was exactly as she remembered it. Pale pink, yellow and blue flowers dotted the lush grass and dew drops threw rainbows around the clearing. She sighed. It was exactly as she remembered and yet it was completely different. No one was there to tell her what to look at. No one was there to direct her thoughts at all. Everything about the meadow was hers now. She dropped her bag with a thud and the books spilled out on the ground. She never looked at them.

She slipped her tiny hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out the white iPod. When the buds were in her ears she pushed play and the music filled her senses. A triumphant smile lit her lips. She was here, in her own amphitheater and she was ready to sing.

The irony of who was playing the piano as she sang didn’t escape her as she listened to her very own lullaby. No one could play like Daddy, she thought. She had composed her own descant to go above her father’s notes and she sang them clear and sweet and true. The tears were back in her eyes, this time because she was grateful and happy to be here singing in her own meadow.

Alice watched her from the edge of the meadow. Renesmee’s soprano was so clear and true that it nearly broke her dead heart to listen to the beauty of it. Of course, her vampire hearing allowed her to hear Edward’s piano as well and the two pieces meshed together seamlessly, creating a perfect union of sound. It was only a matter of time before Renesmee smelled her or turned to face her. She folded herself into a sitting position and watched her niece sing.

Several minutes passed before Renesmee turned enough to see her dark-haired aunt sitting in the spring flowers. She gave a small wave and a half smile; it was better Aunt Alice than her father. She plucked the ear buds out of her ears and dropped the iPod into her pocket.

“Sorry Auntie Alice,” she said.

“It’s OK, sweetie,” Alice said, flitting over to her side. “You sing beautifully. You know your father would love to hear that.”

She nodded.

“How did you find me?” she asked. “Or, how did you know to?”

Alice just shrugged.

“Edward and I were supposed to go car shopping,” she said. “And then suddenly my whole day disappeared and he was running around the forest like a mad man. I figured it was more prudent for me to go find you than for him to find you.”

She winked. Renesmee felt her stomach plummet.

“Is Daddy very mad?”

“I don’t suppose so,” Alice said, her chin pushed out. “After all, an aunt should be allowed to take her niece for a little walk every now and then.”

Renesmee looked at Alice warily.

“I left him a note, silly,” Alice said. “Next time give me a little more warning. I can’t see you, remember.”

“Why are you helping me?”

“I trust you,” she said definitely. “And I trust myself.”

Alice turned her to look her full in the eyes.

“I’d die before I let anything happen to you, Renesmee Carlie Cullen.”

“I love you, Auntie Alice.”

Alice ruffled her curly hair.

“Come on,” she said. “I want the new car your dad promised me.”

“I swear to god, Whitlock, if you even think about telling her, I’ll turn you into a fucking soprano faster than you can say “Maria Callas.”

“Maria Callas?” Isn’t she that hot brunette who works in the coffee shop on Market Street?”

“No, you idiot, Maria Callas was a famous op…”

“Relax, bro, I’m just yanking your chain. I know who Maria Callas was. You really are tense today, aren’t you?”

Pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes, I let out a groan.

“Yes, Jasper, I’m unbelievably fucking tense today.”

Jasper clapped a hand on my shoulder and squeezed.

“Listen, she’s just a girl, an ordinary person, like you or me. She’s not gonna bite. Well, maybe if you’re lucky, she will,” he said with a sly wink.

I rolled my eyes in return, but my balls tightened a bit at the thought.

“First of all, Bella is not “just an ordinary girl”. She’s the most intelligent, funny, sweetest, beautiful girl I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. I want to ask her out, but I’m afraid if I do and she turns me down, I’ll have fucked up our friendship forever, you know?”

Jasper nodded his head in agreement.

“I hear you, Edward, but seriously, how long are you gonna be satisfied with the way things are now? If you don’t ask her, you’ll always be wondering, “What if…” Can you live with that?”

I knew he was right, of course. I had to do this. It was becoming increasingly difficult to control myself around her. Whenever she would come over to my desk to review some documents, she would lean in close and I could feel the heat from her body, smell the shampoo in her hair and whatever perfume or other girly product she used on her skin. It was driving me fucking crazy and if not for the fact that it would be highly inappropriate, I wanted to clear my desk of its contents, lay her back and kiss her, suck her, lick her, bite her and fuck her—pretty much in that order.

I knew she liked me as both a co-worker and a friend. Sometimes I even got the sense that she was flirting with me, which is what put the idea of asking her out into my head in the first place. The more I thought about her, the more obsessed I became. If she said yes, well that would be fan-fucking-tastic. If she said no, well then…

I didn’t even want to think about that possibility.

“Well, I guess I should get back to work, those numbers aren’t gonna crunch themselves,” Jasper said, drawing me back to reality. “Good luck, Edward, and let me know whether or not I need to make a stop at the liquor store after work.”

Clapping me on the back, he walked out of my office, leaving me alone with my conflicting emotions.

Sitting down, I closed my eyes and leaned back in my chair, propping my feet on my desk. I folded my arms behind my head and contemplated my options.

I was just drifting into one of my favorite Bella fantasies when a knock on the door pulled me out of my erotic daydream.

“Come in,” I said, and lo and behold, in walked the goddess herself.

Bella always looked fabulous in my opinion, but the skirt and blouse combo she was wearing today was particularly sexy. Definitely one to store in my mind to use as future wanking material.

“Hey Edward,” she said with a glorious smile, threatening to reduce me to the maturity level of a 15 year old about to come in his pants.

“Hi Bella,” I managed to squeak out in a not-so-manly manner. “What can I do to…er, for you this afternoon?”

Shit.

If Bella noticed my little slip of the tongue, she didn’t let on.

“Mike’s division sent over the final report for the Walker account. I looked it over and it seems pretty good, but not perfect. I wanted to get your opinion on it, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure, let me take a look.”

Bella handed me the papers and sat down on the chair in front of my desk. I skimmed over the words and numbers, but frankly, I couldn’t have told you what the hell I was reading, because her very presence was distracting me to the point of complete stupidity.

She must have thought I was frowning at the content of the report, when in reality I was simply trying to get through the first few lines. I kept re-reading them over and over again. Nothing was making sense.

I was truly fucked.

“Is there something wrong, Edward?” Bella asked, her voice laced with concern. She stood and walked around the desk, stopping beside me. “You seem a little…perplexed.” She reached her hand out and gingerly touched my forearm.

Pulling my vacant gaze from the papers in front of me, I turned to look at her hand on my arm. Who knew such a simple gesture could feel so damn exquisite? If just the touch of her hand on my arm felt this good, what must if feel like to be buried inside her?

Swallowing that vivid thought, my eyes traveled from her hand, up her slender arm, past her sexy shoulder and delicate neck until finally settling on her beautiful face. If I didn’t know any better, I could have sworn I felt her hand trembling, just a teeny bit. A lovely blush crept across her cheeks and she suddenly pulled her hand away and started to retreat.

I knew right then, the time had come.

I grabbed her wrist before she completely bailed on me.

“Bella…there’s something I want to ask you.”

*****

Cigar Pub

She is tall curvy slim in a pants suit, and pretty with long straight brown hair. It is what the three patrons in lounge chairs watching television while smoking a cigar and at the counter Harry, the cigar connoisseur and cashier see walking into the pub.
“Hey Wylie,” Harry says. “How have you been?”
“Making it Harry,” Wylie replies. “The personal protection business is slow now a days.” She goes into the walk-in humidor. She stops at the box of Soprano brand cigars and with her fingers, she rolls six cigars into a clutch fist.
“You seem to like these?” Harry asks.
“Yeah, thought I try them for a while, they’re a good smoke.”
“Enjoying one here?”
“Yep, in the bar.”

“What can I get you?” the good-looking blonde barmaid asks Wylie.
“A double whiskey on the rocks.”
“Anything particular?”
“So long as it is top shelf.”

One of the two men at the bar studies Wylie with a menacing glare. She ignores him and cuts the head of her cigar then light the foot with fire from a wooden matchstick.
The barmaid arrives with her drink. She puffs on the cigar to get a burn.
The Man puffs heavy on his cigar as if it were an instrument to control his pending rage. He stares at Wylie. He stumbles off his chair but manages not to fall.
“Sit down Charlie and smoke your cigar and drink,” the other man says. Charlie ignores him. He strolls to the chair next to Wylie. He steadies himself and sits on it, in an upright manner to make it his throne. He glances at Wylie. Then, he scans her so she’d acknowledge his presence. She looks pass him at the show on the wide screen television on the wall.
“I see you like Sopranos,” he says.
“Yep, it’s a good burn with an earthly flavor,” she replies.
“It is like the show, stinks.”
Wylie breathes in deeply. “I never saw the show,” she tells him.
“Yeah, I don’t like it. I watched the first show and turned it off.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“You know what else I can turn off? Women smoking cigars, it’s okay to smoke cigarettes but cigars are for men.”
“Cigars are for gentlemen enjoyment and ladies can enjoy them also, if so desired,” she tells him.
“You got that from that singer Madonna that time she was on Letterman. She started it, seeing on national television.”
“No, I got it from Playboy.”
“What are you queer?”
“It all depends on how my party nights ends.”
Charlie studies her.
“Hey Charlie lets go it’s getting late,” the other man says.
“Yeah okay so it is.”

Sighing, I sat down on the couch and rubbed my temples a couple of times. I couldn’t believe the shitty day I have had. It’s seriously unfair how things go all smooth and normal one minute, and get completely fucking ruined the next. I was now entirely drained, and yet fully restless at the same time. I didn’t want to be here right now, not after the complete shit pie my day had turned into… especially since Edward wasn’t here at the moment.

I thought for a moment of different places that I could go, and got a beyond brilliant idea. My car’s tire was just finished being replaced, and I could leave a note before I go as well as a voice mail for Edward so that he wouldn’t freak out too much; I just hope he doesn’t get too mad at me for leaving… particularly since I was leaving to go to the meadow. That was always the one place that ensured peace within all of the mayhem.

I immediately raced up the stairs to put on some clothes suitable for a little hike, and was just putting my shoes on when I heard the door being unlocked, and my very own stress reliever walked in the door with a knowing smirk on his face as soon as he spotted me.

“The meadow?” he simply asked with a nod of his head toward the door, keys in hand.