Resident Geek: Chapter Four
Title: Resident Geek
Genre: Romance/Humor
Pairing: Bella/Edward
Rating: NC-17
Chapter: 4/?
Warnings: Strong language, sexuality, and underage drinking.
Summary: Geeky Edward thinks he has absolutely no shot with the popular, beautiful Bella. Is he right, or will she be one of the many girls who thinks geeks make for better lovers? OOC-AH.
A/N: Thanks goes to Smellyia and Withthevampsofcourse because I’m stealing some of their suggestions from the thread for this chapter. Love y’all!
~*~*~
Now, if she does it like this
Will you do it like that?
Now, if she touches like this
Will you touch her right back?
Now, if she moves like this
Will you move like that?
Come on
A shake, shake, shake, shake, a shake it
~"Shake It" by Metrostation~
~*~*~
Chapter Four
EPOV
There was no way this was happening. I was still reeling from that kiss and now she wants to go somewhere. With just her.
Maybe I had slipped on something and was actually unconscious on the ground somewhere. And this was all in my mind. Kind of like “Life On Mars” but without the going back in time bit.
My dream girl was not only at the stupid party I had been dreading to attend, but also approached me and then asked me to kiss her. Granted it was to trick a guy she didn’t want, but still. She picked me to ask, from all the guys here.
What surprised me the most was that I actually did it. I kissed her! It was the single best moment of my life and I had never wanted it to end.
Thank God it was so crowded in here so that nobody was really paying attention to the very obvious increased bulge in my pants. I sent another thanks up to God that Bella was leaning against my side and not in front of me. Because that would be beyond embarrassing if she knew how much she had affected me with such a chaste kiss.
Coma or not, I needed to answer her question before she lost interest.
“Yes. I would love to go somewhere with you,” I heard myself reply, slightly proud of getting that out without my voice trembling.
She grinned, which made her entire face light up and her beauty shine through in full force. She was so beautiful in that moment, it was almost painful to look at her. I felt myself grin back, giddiness spreading through my body at her response.
I love being in a coma.
She took my hand and started leading me out of the room, but before we moved a single step I remembered what I had been doing before Bella showed up at my side.
Emmett. I had been walking toward Emmett.
I spun my head around to find him in the sea of people and finally spotted him on a couch, talking (loudly) to a stacked blond. He must have felt my stare because he turned his head and gave me the biggest shit-eating grin I have ever seen from him. And a not so subtle double thumbs up.
Bella tugged on my hand, so I had no choice but to turn away from Emmett and follow her. Because there was no way I was going to lose her now. Coma or no coma.
We finally broke free of the stifling crowd of bodies and burst out of the front door together, each of us instantly inhaling the crisp night air. Bella turned to me and smiled again. Our hands were still intertwined, but I had no intention of letting go anytime soon. If she didn’t want me to, that was.
Honestly, I had no idea why she was talking to me, let alone allowing me to touch her. It was too good to be true. There had to be a catch, because the geek never gets the girl. Duckie loses out to Blane in the end. Every time.
“So what year are you?” Bella asked once the noise level dropped low enough to hear each other without yelling. She gave me a sideways glance as we walked away from the SAE house, which I saw because I was doing the same thing to her.
“I’m a junior. You?”
“Sophomore.”
“Hmm,” I responded quietly, unsure of what to say next. She didn’t ask a follow-up question so we fell into silence.
Will you fucking think of something to say?! I shouted at myself. You finally have the girl you’ve been thinking about non-stop for the past 32 hours alone and you’re not doing anything!
But the harder I tried to come up with something, the more nervous I became. It was a vicious cycle.
What did I know about talking to girls? I had never had a girlfriend before or any friends that were girls. And while that kiss with Bella hadn’t been my first one, it still fell into a single digit spot on my count.
Basically, I was pathetic when it came to girls. With the social skills of a two-year old.
It was then that I noticed Bella was leading me somewhere specific while I had been lost in my thoughts, so I asked, “Where are we going?”
“Oh. I thought we could hang out at my place since there’s nobody there and it’s so close,” she answered, biting her bottom lip. “Is that alright?”
Was she nervous? Because I did the same thing when I was nervous or unsure about something. Could she possibly be nervous about spending time with me?
Guh…
“Okay,” I finally sputtered out, falling back on the most overused word ever created.
Original, Cullen. Ask her something already! Anything! I didn’t think before I spoke, just let whatever my mind came up with out into the quiet.
“So, do you go up to a lot of guys and ask them to kiss you like that?”
The second I said it, I regretted it, wanting to hit my hand against my forehead and say ‘Du-oh’. A look of horror twisted Bella’s facial features and her mouth fell open, making me scramble to fix my completely thoughtless and heinous act.
“Oh my god! I was completely just joking around. I didn’t really mean that. In fact, it was kind of sexy. I wouldn’t blame you for doing that… uh, that’s not what I meant. I know I would never be able to do something like that because I don’t have the balls to ask someone out of the blue to kiss me, but…” I stopped short because I was rambling. Horribly. And it was not helping the situation. “Sorry. I’m sorry.”
“No. It’s okay,” she said barely above a whisper. “I swear that was the first time I have ever done something like that and I’m so sorry I used you like I did.”
“You didn’t use me. I promise,” I assured her, giving her hand a squeeze. Thankfully she hadn’t let go when I insulted her.
Bella gave me a small smile, but still looked upset. So I hastily changed the subject.
“Where do you live?”
“The KD house.”
The KD house?! So that made her…
“You’re a KD?” I demanded a little more forcefully than I had intended to. My voice broke on ‘KD’, which was rather embarrassing, but I didn’t care. Her words had triggered my conversation with Emmett yesterday. About him ‘setting something up’ with a KD member.
Was Bella a set up?
My mind roared in disbelief.
“Yeesss… I joined last semester,” she replied slowly. “Is that okay?”
I ignored her question and asked one of my own because I had to know. “Are you only talking to me because Emmett asked you to?”
My heart started ripping apart at the thought that the last fifteen minutes, the minutes that were forever seared into my mind as the greatest of my life, had been a sham.
“Emmett?” she repeated, confused. “The president of SAE? No, I’ve never spoken to him before. I started talking to you tonight, and I’m talking to you now, because I want to.”
“Truly?” I asked, coming to a stop in front of the KD house.
“Yes, truly,” she said firmly and with such conviction that I had no choice but to believe her. The ripping stopped and my heart swelled with utter happiness. And then the very next second my stomach dropped and I started panicking.
What the hell was I doing here? I can’t talk to this girl! This perfect, angelic, goddess! She’s at least three leagues above mine! I don’t know what to do! Why does she want to talk to me? She’s a beautiful, admired sorority girl, for christ’s sake! Who the hell am I?
I was a nobody. A nerd that worked in the dungeon.
I couldn’t do this. I was so far out of my league it wasn’t even funny.
“Edward?” I heard her say through the fog of my panic attack. She sounded concerned and let go of my hand to place hers on my arm, shaking me to get my attention.
And then I realized that was the first time she had ever said my name.
I never wanted anyone else to ever say my name again so as not to tarnish the memory of her voice wrapping around it. Caressing it.
I needed her to say it again.
Maybe if I didn’t respond, she’d say it again…
“Edward, are you alright?”
My eyes involuntarily drifted close as I replayed her voice saying my name over and over. Engraining it into my long-term memory. When I was sure I would never forget it, I opened my eyes and apologized.
“Sorry. I freaked out a little and needed a moment.”
“Why? Are you okay now?” Her brow furrowed. Somehow, knowing that she was concerned for me put me more at ease around her and allowed me to speak without stuttering or saying ‘um’ a lot.
“Yeah, I guess. I just…” - I paused, breathing in deeply and letting it out - “It’s hard for me to believe you really want to hang out with me,” I explained, shoving my hands into my pants’ pockets and staring at the sidewalk.
“Why is that hard?”
I shrugged, embarrassed to bring it up. “I’m not exactly the most interesting guy.”
Bella stepped closer to me and ducked her head until it was in my line of sight. I looked up and she smiled. “I think you’re very interesting and I want to hang out with you. Please believe me.”
I gave her a tentative smile. “Okay.”
“Good. Now… do you want to come inside?”
I nodded and followed her up the stairs of the front porch to the inside the house. It was the first time I had ever been inside a sorority house.
Taking a look around, I compared it to the ones I had seen in movies and on television over the span of my life. It seemed similar. There were even those large sorority group pictures hanging all over the walls.
I climbed the stairs, trailing behind Bella. She would randomly point out something that she liked as we walked down a long hallway, before stopping at the second to last door on the left.
“This is me,” she said hesitantly. I gave her a hopefully reassuring smile and she opened the door, allowing me to walk over the threshold first. My first thought upon entering her room was that it was very neat. Far more than my own room.
“That’s my side,” she clarified, pointing to the left side. “And that side is my roommates’s, Alice.”
I nodded and started wandering around the room, noting the large collection of books spilling out of a bookcase located along the left wall.
“Are all of these yours?” I asked, motioning to the bookcase, slightly impressed with the variety and scope of books it held. It showed she wasn’t a vapid girl. She had other interests than being in a sorority and making out with boys. I loved a girl with a brain.
“Yeah, they are,” she replied, a slight blush tinting her cheeks the prettiest color of pink. “I’m an avid reader, in case you can’t tell.”
“Me too.” I tilted my head to the side to better read some of the titles. “Though I tend to stick to more science fiction and fantasy than the classics you seem to favor.”
“Oh, like Star Wars type stuff?” Her nose scrunched up in the cutest way when she asked that question. It was beyond adorable.
“Yeah,” I chuckled. “Stuff like that.” If she had any clue as to the extent of my love for all things Star Wars, she would be laughing too. My room alone screamed ‘Star Wars Nerd’ with the life-size R2D2 I had in one corner and the light saber holder, with the special edition fully-extended green and blue light sabers it held, in another corner.
I looked at the pictures she had lined on her desk, trying my best not to comment on the offending piece of hardware she used as a computer. It looked like a relic from a museum. If she became a part of my life, like I hoped she would, in whatever capacity she wanted, I would be changing that out as soon as she’d let me.
Bella surprised me by coming up beside me to point and explain each picture. “That’s my mom with me on the left, and this one is my father. That one is from last year’s inductee ceremony. The pixie girl standing next to me is Alice, my roommate. She’s also my best friend.”
I tried to pay attention as she spoke. I really did, but her overwhelmingly tantalizing aroma sent me into a haze. All I could do was watch her.
She used her hands a lot. One was always in motion, be it pushing a strand of hair back from her face, or waving it around to emphasize something she was saying, or fidgeting with something on her person or near her vicinity.
Bella turned her head and caught me staring at her. We both looked away in embarrassment. I don’t know about her, but it made me blush.
Just being in a girl’s room, without coming in to fix something for work, was a huge deal for me. I wondered if she invited a lot of guys up here. There was no way I could ask her that, especially after my little slip of the tongue earlier, but I wondered nevertheless, and hoped fervently that it wasn’t true.
I liked thinking this was a big deal for her too. It made her seem more approachable in my mind and my heart calmed down considerably from the constant pounding state it had been in since when I had first heard her voice.
Turning my attention back to finding out more about Bella, I moved on from the desk to a rather tall dresser. On top were various hair accessories that I didn’t know the proper names for, a rather beat up CD player, and a small stack of CDs. I craned my neck to catch a glimpse of what the top CD was, and recognized it immediately.
“You have the She & Him CD?” I exclaimed, utterly surprised. I would have pegged her for a pop music kind of girl, or maybe country. But never something so indie as She & Him.
“Yeah. I love her voice. Do you like them?” she asked, walking over to her bed and sitting down.
Oh, god. Her bed…
My mind drifted away to lovely images of her sleeping in that bed, curled up to one side. Her getting so hot during the middle of the night that she kicked the covers off, exposing her body, which was only covered by a thin camisole and pair of boy shorts, to the cold air, making her…
Shit.
I was hard.
Turning quickly, on the pretense of examining a Monet print poster hanging on the wall, I shoved a hand into one of my pockets, trying to hide the fact I had a hard-on.
God, this was embarrassing.
Think about anything other than Bella! Now!
I searched my mind frantically for something to focus on.
The CD.
We had been talking about a band. Okay, music…playing the piano… good. A picture of sheet music appeared in my mind’s eye and I quickly went through a Mozart piece I knew by heart.
By that time, my heart rate had dropped significantly and my ‘problem’ had also gone down. I let out a sigh of relief and finally got around to answering Bella’s question.
“Yeah,” I choked out. Clearing my throat, I tried again. “Yes. I really like Zooey Deschanel.”
“Hmm… Do you want to sit down?” she suggested innocently, even though there was nothing innocent about that question. The only places to sit were next to her on the bed or on the chair pushed underneath her desk.
Which one do I choose? Would I offend her if I didn’t sit next to her?
Bella patted the space beside her, giving me the universally known signal for ‘sit here’, which saved me from freaking out anymore. If she wanted me near her, I would comply without hesitation. I walked over and sat down, silently thanking whoever was listening for the best night of my young adult life.
We sat on her bed in silence, exchanging glances at each other for what felt like forever. My brain was incapable of producing any thoughts beyond the obvious ones of ‘You’re sitting on her bed! She sleeps here! Her head lies on that pillow!’
I’ll admit it. I was a little ashamed of myself for being reduced to a mindless Neanderthal in Bella’s presence.
Finally, Bella cleared her throat, breaking the increasingly awkward silence between us. “So tell me about yourself, Edward.”
I reflexively smiled at my name tumbling from her lips and wondered where to start. Her encouraging smile helped me get past some of the insecurities I usually had about talking about myself, which made me open up more than I normally would around a girl like Bella.
“Well, I’m a computer science major and a junior, but you knew that part. I like working on computers and things of that nature. I couldn’t help seeing your computer over there and I was hoping you would let me take a look at it to see if I can upgrade it a little because I’m sure it’s not anywhere near the performance peak it could be at. And, um, I also like many different forms of science fiction and fantasy, not just books about them. So, basically, I’m a huge nerd.”
I ended my little spiel with a slight frown, staring down at her green comforter. Well, now she knows what a loser I am and she’s probably regretting inviting me here.
“That’s cool. Would you really want to update my computer for me?”
“Yeah,” I breathed, surprised she even had to ask.
“Thanks. That would be beyond generous of you.”
“It’s no problem,” I answered, picking at a spring I had found on her comforter. It was my job, after all. People asked me to look at or fix their stuff all the time, so it really was no problem for me.
“So, what did you mean by ‘different forms’?” Bella asked.
My eyes shot up to her face. I was skeptical that she was truly interested in my hobbies, but she looked genuinely intrigued and was even smiling at me.
Okay. Deep breath. Don’t reveal how big a geek you actually are. And whatever you do, don’t mention playing D&D because girls are never impressed with that, I reminded myself.
“Um, movies, television shows, games… that sort of thing,” I muttered in purposefully vague terms. “What about you? Tell me about yourself, Bella.”
She smiled quickly, then bit her lip and averted her face, a blush spreading across her cheeks. It was charming and made me want to kiss her again. Not that I hadn’t been thinking about a repeat performance all night, but I had no clue if she wanted me to kiss her again.
“What?” I asked, certain she was embarrassed about something. She had no reason to ever be embarrassed about anything though, so it must have been something I said or did to warrant such a reaction.
“Nothing,” she replied, shaking her head. “That was just the first time you’ve said my name.”
“Oh.” I paused a second to analyze her answer. “So you were embarrassed because I said your name?”
“No! I liked it,” she assured me hastily. “A lot, which is why I got embarrassed.”
Intense happiness spread throughout me and I smiled to myself. She had the same response to me saying her name as I did to her doing the same, which made my smile grow even wider.
“So tell me about yourself, Bella,” I restated, putting special emphasis on ‘Bella’.
She grinned back at me. “I’m a literature major and a sophomore, but you already knew that part. I know next to nothing about computers or how most technology works. On occasion I like to write stuff for fun, but nothing good ever comes from it. And I love to read, of course.”
“What do you write about?” I asked, hoping she might allow me to read some of her work at some point. I would love nothing more than to see how her mind worked and what better way than to read something that came 100 percent from her?
“Different things,” she replied, shrugging. “I’ve tried my hand at historical romance, contemporary romance, thrillers, and mystery, but nothing has ever felt right.”
“You should try fantasy. I bet you would be great at that.” I had no idea what possessed me to say that, but the second I did, it seemed right for her.
“Why fantasy?”
“Just a feeling I have,” I replied, smiling coyly. I was about to ask her if I could read anything she had written when there was a noise outside her door.
Then a girl I recognized from Bella’s picture as her roommate, Alice, ran into the room. She stopped short when she saw us on Bella’s bed.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she apologized, smiling brightly at Bella. “Who’s your friend, Bella?”
“Alice, this is Edward. Edward, Alice. Why are you back so soon, Alice? The last time I saw you, you were wrapped around some blond guy.”
“Oh, Jasper? Yeah, I would have loved to stay that way all night, but the party got broken up by the campus police when they called in the real police because there was some underage drinking taking place,” Alice explained, hopping up on the balls of her feet and back down again a couple times while she spoke, making her seem impatient about something.
“Really? That sucks,” Bella said slowly, frowning.
I frowned also, sad that my time with Bella had been cut shorter than I would have liked. But I knew I had to leave, now that Alice was back and the party was over. Even though I really didn’t want to.
I turned to Bella and smiled sadly. “I guess I should get going.”
“Yeah… let me walk you down,” she suggested, giving Alice a very pointed look before standing up. I had no idea what it was about, but I had a feeling it might have something to do with me.
“It was nice to meet you, Alice,” I said politely before rising from the bed as well.
“You too, Edward. I hope I get to see you again,” she said in an almost sing-song manner, making me wonder if she was a little tipsy.
I followed Bella out of the room and down the hallway. We walked side by side as we slowly descended the stairs. I very much wanted to grab her hand, which was dangling only inches from mine, but I suppressed my urge. Downstairs was quickly filling up with more girls, in various states of drunkenness, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself, or Bella, if she happened to refuse my advances.
Before I knew it, we were outside and facing each other to say goodbye.
“Thank you again for helping me out earlier,” she said earnestly. “And for hanging out with me, even though our time together wasn’t nearly as long as I would have liked.”
“It was my pleasure,” I assured her, smiling hesitantly. Should I ask her if I can see her again? I really wanted to. Did she want me to? Or was this a one time thing? If I went by what she had said, it had sounded like she wanted to hang out more. Or she might have just been trying to be polite.
“What are you thinking about?” Bella asked, her eyebrows knitted together with a slight crease appearing where one hadn’t been before.
“I, uh… I want to see you again,” I managed to get out in a rush.
She smiled and rocked up on her toes quickly, kind of like a tiny jump in the air. It reminded me of what Alice had done moments ago in their bedroom. “Really?”
“Yes,” I said, nodding.
“I want that too. Very much.”
A smile slowly spread across my lips. “Good. I’m glad. Are you, um, working tomorrow?”
“No. Are you?” she asked hopefully.
“Only until 2. Would you maybe want to do something tomorrow? With me?”
“Yes,” she answered without hesitation.
That single word elated me like none other had before. I could float home now because, as cliché as it was, I was on cloud nine.
“Great,” I gushed. “I’ll pick you up here? At 3 pm?”
“That sounds perfect. I’ll be here.”
“Okay. Good.” I laughed a little out of pure joy at my luck. I was going to see her again! “So… I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow, Edward,” she said, biting her lip.
“See you tomorrow, Bella,” I echoed, doing the same.
We stood there, staring at each other and smiling, in the most perfect moment ever created. I might have dropped my eyes down to her mouth a couple of times, and I think she did the same to me, but I wasn’t sure. God, I wanted to kiss her again.
But every moment must come to an end, no matter how perfect it is.
“Okay. Goodnight, Edward,” Bella said softly, ducking her head and stepping back toward the house behind her.
“Goodnight, Bella,” I said, mirroring her actions as I walked backwards so I could watch her until she disappeared into the house. She turned and ran up to the front door, opened it, and right before going inside, she looked back at me and gave me a small wave.
When the door closed behind her, I started back to my apartment, practically skipping. Images of tonight replayed in my mind, with the kiss Bella and I had shared at the forefront of my thoughts. Our perfect first kiss.
At least, I hoped it was our first kiss, and not our only kiss. I wanted another kiss. Desperately. But I had no idea how to go about finding out if she wanted me to kiss her again. There was no way I could just come out and ask her. What if she rejected me? What if she didn’t want to hang out with me anymore after I asked her, knowing I thought about her like that?
I couldn’t risk it.
What I needed was some advice. But who could I ask?
Emmett was out of the question. He would just tell me to ‘go for it’ and damn the consequences. But I couldn’t do that to Bella.
I could ask Ben. He had a girlfriend. And maybe he could ask Angela to talk to Bella about me and see if she liked me like I liked her.
Yeah, that’s what I would do.
Tomorrow.
Because tonight I had some serious blogging to do.
I finally had something interesting happen to me and I was damn sure going to record this night so future me could come back and read about it years from now. I would, of course, withhold using Bella’s name and some facts that would identify her since there were people that actually read my blog periodically, but I was still going to write about it. I had kissed a girl, damn it. And not just any girl, but a goddess of a woman.
That alone meant it had to be written about. Or rather, blogged about.
God, tonight had been a great night. I hoped tomorrow would be just as good, if not better, as I walked down the quiet street, grinning like a fool.
~*~*~
A/N: Defs/Refs -
Life on Mars - BBC show that’s awesome and stars the guy who played the evil Doctor in last season’s Doctor Who. (And if you don’t know what Doctor Who is, I’m weeping for you right now.) I sort of gave away one of the main plot twists in season one, so… sorry about that. I think one of the national TV channels is revamping it and making it Americanized for us, but I highly doubt it’ll be anywhere as good as the original.
Duckie/Blane - from the movie ‘Pretty in Pink’. (Ahhh… John Hughes) I always had a thing for Duckie and wanted Andie to end up with him in the end. And I heard somewhere that the ending was originally written like that, but they changed it after a test screening audience told them to. (:grumbles: Stupid test audience… what do they know?) Duckie was so much more awesome than Blane and should have gotten the girl.
Vicious cycle - stole that quote from ‘Austin Powers in Goldmember’. (Yes, I own that movie. Don’t judge me.)
Star Wars - needs no explanation. You either know about it or you’ve been in a coma since 1977. The things I put in Edward’s room I totes want. For reals, they make a light saber holder for the non-cheap ones that don’t fold into themselves. And I want it for the non-cheap light sabers I will eventually, once I have enough money to buy them.
She & Him - musical duo made up of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel. Sort of folksy sounding, but god, I love her voice. Zooey is an actress who was in ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ and ‘Elf’, in which she was sporting some blond hair.
Indie - independent, off the grid, not heard on mainstream radio until a year later when they’re ‘discovered’, but really they’ve been around far longer than most people know about. Basically, the stuff that makes up about 2/3rds of my music collection.
Blogging, or a blog - writing about something online, usually for public viewing. It can be done either on a website designed for that purpose, like Xanga or Blogger, or even Facebook with their ‘notes’ thing, or done on a website of your own making, like Edward’s. (You know he totes has his own website and maintains it religiously.)
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