Entry tags:

fanfic, resident geek

Resident Geek: Chapter Five

Title: Resident Geek
Genre: Romance/Humor
Pairings: Edward/Bella
Rating: NC-17
Chapter: 5/?
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.

~*~*~

Why don't you sit right down and stay awhile?
We like the same things and I like your style
It’s not a secret; why do you keep it?
I'm just sitting on the shelf

I got to get your presence
Let's make it known
I think you're just so pleasant
I would like you for my own

~"Why Do You Let Me Stay?" by She & Him~

~*~*~

Chapter Five

BPOV

I woke up the next morning eager for the new day, somehow managing to wake before my alarm clock went off. I jumped out of bed without needing any incentive or a pep talk, which was more than unusual for me.

Most mornings were like my own mini-hell because I hated waking up with such a passion, so I was just as surprised as Alice was when I smiled upon seeing her and said enthusiastically, “Morning!”

“Morning,” she repeated suspiciously, perplexed at my cheeriness. “What’s gotten into you?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m gonna take a shower.”

“Okay,” she mumbled as I walked past her to the bathroom.

Thank god we didn’t have to share a bathroom with anyone else. I had dreaded taking showers last year in the dorm’s community bathroom. You never knew what lovely surprise might await you in those overused, and hardly ever cleaned, stalls.

I shuddered at the painful memories and quickly erased them from the forefront of my mind by recalling last night’s adventures.

Mmmm… Edward…

It didn’t seem right that one guy could be that good-looking. And the best part was I was seeing him later. A thought which made me squeal like a school girl and do a little happy dance in the shower.

Okay. Regressing back to junior high now, Bella. Get a grip.

Finishing up with my shower and drying off, I wrapped a towel around me and went back into my room, only to find Alice perched on her bed, her hands folded in her lap.

“Hey,” I threw out there, not knowing what else to say. She appeared to have something on her mind, or was just really bored and had nothing better to do than wait for me to finish my shower. “What’s up?”

“You know what’s up, Bella Swan.”

Uh-oh. She used the last name. This was serious. I had known I couldn’t get away with it forever. Alice always found out.

Don’t panic. Just offer to get it fixed… and apologize. Profusely apologize.

“I am so sorry, Alice. I swear I’ll get it fixed and you won’t have to worry about a thing,” I pleaded with her, trying to use my pout and puppy dog eyes for my advantage as much as possible.

“What are you talking about? Fix what?” Alice demanded.

“Uh… what are you talking about?” I sure as hell wasn’t going to reveal anything more if we weren’t talking about the same thing.

“I was referring to your little rendezvous last night with Geeky McHottie. What were you talking about?” she asked, raising one perfectly sculpted eyebrow at me.

I knew that look. She wasn’t going to back down.

Crap.

Okay, deep breath, then just tell her. She’s small. What harm could she possibly do? Besides tearing me limb from limb.

“I sort of broke a heel on your blue Jimmy Choos two nights ago when I went out with Jessica,” I confessed in a rush with my hands clasped behind my back, staring down at the rug in the middle of the floor.

I tensed for the wrath of Alice and as each second passed in silence I knew she was building up a storm, just for me.

“Isabella Marie Swan! I cannot believe how careless you could be with my Jimmy Choos! MY JIMMY CHOOS!” she shrieked at full volume. I swear the walls trembled a little at her thundering.

I kept my head down in shame as I quickly proceeded to the ‘apologize profusely’ part of my plan. “I’m so sorry, Alice. Truly I am. I’ll buy you some new ones, if you want. Just please tell me how to make this alright.”

She didn’t make a sound after my apology, so I risked glancing up at her. Alice was giving me a narrow, calculated look, most likely trying to figure out how much she could get out of me this time around.

“Four shopping trips where I have complete control and two outfit decisions, to be chosen at my discretion,” she stated firmly after some time had passed.

Four?! Could I do four trips with her? How much could those shoes be worth anyway?

“Three trips and you’ve got yourself a deal,” I countered.

“Done,” Alice agreed, already gloating in victory. I think I had just been bamboozled, but when it came down to it, I didn’t care. Just as long as Alice didn’t yell at me anymore.

I sighed in relief, glad to be rid of the guilt that had been eating away at me for the past two days, and made my way over to my closet. While I was pondering on what to wear for my day with Edward, Alice worked her charm on me.

“Are you going to tell me about your Karl or not?” she asked, pouting.

“Karl? Who’s Karl?” I questioned.

Alice sighed. “Don’t you ever pay attention when we’re watching movies? Karl from ‘Love Actually’, which is only my favorite movie of all time? He’s the extremely hot guy that wears glasses in the movie.”

I vaguely remembered such a movie, but didn’t want this conversation to last any longer than it had to. I had already caught on to the fact that she was asking about Edward again.

“I distinctly remember introducing you last night. And I met him two days ago at the library,” I explained, finally deciding to wear a pair of khaki shorts and a brown tank top. Simple and comfortable, with just a hint of femininity.

“And you decided to bring him back to our room because…?”

“The party was too crowded. He helped me out of a sticky situation with that Jake guy, who I think is finally going to leave me alone, and I wanted to thank him.”

“Thank him how?!” Alice screeched.

“By saying thank you,” I said calmly, as if speaking to a slow person. “Seriously, Alice. Like I would have a random hook-up.”

“Just making sure. You’ve never brought a guy up here, so I was –”

“Being nosy?” I interjected.

“Concerned for you,” she retorted haughtily. “I love you like my own sister and I don’t want you to end up hurt like you were last year.”

Oh, yeah… last year. That had been as much fun as tying two venomous snakes together.

I turned to face her and smiled, thankful that she was my friend. “I know and I love you too, but Edward’s… different. I honestly don’t think he would intentionally hurt me.”

Alice jumped off her bed and walked over to give me a hug. “Just be careful, ‘kay? And if that Jake ever bugs you again, come find me. I’ll make sure he steers clear of you from then on out.”

“I’ll do that, Alice,” I said, suppressing the urge to roll my eyes at her. The guy had to be over a foot taller than her and at least double her weight, but somehow, I think Alice could take him if she really wanted to.

She was scary like that.

“Good. I’m gonna head out now. I’m meeting up with Rosalie to go over to the SAE house for clean-up duty.”

“Oh… clean-up duty? Really?” I teased. “It has nothing to do with maybe seeing that guy you were sucking face with last night?”

Alice grinned impishly. “He might have something to do with it.”

“Well, okay then. Have fun.” I swatted at her butt as she walked by, which Alice responded to by sticking her tongue out at me before exiting the room.

Throwing on the clothes I had picked out earlier, I finished getting ready. After I was done, I quickly realized I had nothing to do for the next four hours before Edward picked me up.

I was really quite anxious about this afternoon, so I decided to do something that would take my mind off it, but not require so much brain power that I would quickly burn out.

Picking up my heavily read copy of ‘Pride & Prejudice’, I laid out on my bed and proceeded to escape into the world of Elizabeth Bennett and her Mr. Darcy.

~*~*~

Two hours later, a knock sounded on the door. Looking up from my book, I called out, “Come in.”

The door was pushed forward and in walked Angela, my ‘big’ sister in KD. She had actually been the one to talk me into pledging KD last year, and since then she had become a great friend and kind of like my mentor since she was a year older than me and knew a lot more of the ins and outs of college and sorority life than I did.

“Hey Angela, what’s up?” I asked, placing the book on my nightstand and swinging my legs over the side of my bed so that I was now sitting up.

“Hey Bella, can I talk to you for a minute?”

She seemed to be nervous about whatever it was she wanted to talk to me about, so I rushed to assure her, “Absolutely. I always have a minute for you.”

Maybe something happened between her and Ben? Or maybe I'm going to be reprimanded for leaving the party early last night?

Angela walked over to my desk chair and sat down sideways, so she faced me. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it and started wringing her hands.

“Just say it, Ang. Whatever it is,” I urged impatiently.

“Okay. I don’t want you to think I’m invading your personal space because that’s just not me, but Ben called me this morning and told me something that I thought I should relate to you.”

That made no sense to me whatsoever, but I had picked up the part about it involving her boyfriend.

“Ben??” I repeated, completely confused. What ‘something’ did Angela think she should tell me in regards to Ben? I had only met him a handful of times, and even then the last time had been last semester before school ended for the summer.

“Yeahhh… The guy you were hanging out with last night? Edward? He’s Ben’s roommate.”

“Oh,” I said, stunned. “I… did not know that.”

Was Angela here to tell me that Edward was canceling on me? Was it something bad about him?

Oh, god. He has a girlfriend, doesn’t he?

I had wondered last night, but never got around to asking. Why the hell hadn’t I asked about that crucial bit of information?

Through my daze, I registered that Angela had started speaking again.

“It’s not bad. The stuff I have to say it not bad news, so please don’t freak out,” she assured me.

“What?” I asked, not sure I had heard her right.

“It’s not bad news. So don’t freak out,” she said slowly.

Does that mean he doesn’t have a girlfriend?

I let out a deep breath. “Okay.”

“So, Ben called me this morning, as I told you, and I went back and forth about talking to you about this. Finally, I figured it would be best if you knew. Because I wish I had known,” she said cryptically. She stopped there and looked at me expectantly, like she wanted me to give her permission to go behind Edward’s back and tell me whatever it is she wanted to.

What the hell did ‘because I wish I had known’ mean? Did I want to know? It was almost like she was trying to warn me about something, and that’s never a good thing. But she had just said it wasn't bad news.

So, did I want to know what it was?

Something that wasn't bad and regarded Edward... yes, I wanted to know.

Nodding my consent to Angela, I braced myself for the worst kind of 'not bad news' there could be, because really, everyone's opinion of good versus bad was weighted differently.

“How well do you know Edward?” she asked.

Here it comes…

“We met two days ago, but last night was the first time I talked to him.”

“Okay,” she said, nodding. “Do you like him?”

That stumped me for a minute.

Do I like him? I liked hanging out with him. I liked, no, I loved kissing him. And I wanted to repeat that action again and again. And I was excited about seeing him later. So, yes, I guess I did.

“I do like him. Well, as much as one can from the short time we spent together,” I answered.

“Good. I’m glad you do because he told Ben that he likes you too.”

That elicited a smile from me, and a little surge of happiness ran through my body. He liked me too!

I felt very junior high at that moment, for the second time that day. Next thing you know she’ll hand me a piece of paper from Edward that says ‘Will you go out with me?’ and a box for yes, no, and maybe.

Like you wouldn’t check the ‘yes’ box, if she did.

I ignored that thought and asked, “Was that what you wanted to tell me?”

“No, that’s not all of it. In the time that you spent with him, did you happen to notice his demeanor?”

“Uh… kind of shy?” I guessed.

“Yes. Shy is an accurate way to describe him. I’ve hung out with Edward a couple of times now and have had the pleasure of getting to know him, as much as one can get to know him. He tends to stick to himself, but I didn’t get the impression it was because he particularly likes being alone. More like it just became natural for him because of his place in the social outcast club.”

“Social outcast club?” I echoed, skeptical that she was talking about Edward. Did she not see that boy could be the poster boy for hot nerd?

Angela laughed. “Yeah, it may seem unbelievable now just by looking at him, but at one time, at least from what Ben has told me, Edward wasn’t the good-looking guy you know. He had some bad acne and top that off with playing D&D on a weekly basis… let’s just say, he wasn’t very popular in high school.”

It took me a second to process this new information. Hottie Edward used to be an acne-ridden teen? Who played D&D?

Does he still play? I wondered absently.

Not that I cared if he did. It was just I had never actually known somebody that played it.

“And he’s not exactly the most experienced guy out there, if you catch my drift,” Angela continued.

“You mean, he hasn’t dated a lot?” I asked, guessing again.

“Um… try barely. I think he’s had three dates in as many years.”

Three dates in three years? Was he really that shy? How could girls not be all over him?

“Why?” I inquired, hoping I wasn’t being too nosy. I reconciled my guilt at digging into Edward’s psyche and past by telling myself Angela had offered up this information freely, so really I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Right?

“If he’s anything like Ben was in the beginning of our relationship, he probably thinks girls don’t like him, so he doesn’t even try to get their attention. I know I had to be the aggressor with Ben at first because his self-esteem wasn’t anywhere where it should have been.”

“So, is that what I’m going to have to do with Edward? Be the ‘aggressor’?” I asked, wondering if I could do that.

“Yep,” she said.

“What did you have to do with Ben?”

“I asked him out. And made the first move. Anndd the second move.”

Okay… Edward and I are going out. Check. I made the first move. Check.

Surely I could make the second move. At least I think I could.

“And how long did you have to be the ‘aggressor’?” I asked, thinking it couldn’t possibly take more than another day or two until Edward was convinced I liked him.

“Three weeks,” she stated.

“Three weeks?!” I sputtered in disbelief.

That was unacceptable. I couldn’t wait three weeks for Edward to come around and kiss me of his own volition.

“Yes, three weeks. Of course, I didn’t have someone that told me what was going on when I went through it. I had to figure all of this out for myself, so I doubt it’ll take that long for you.”

“Oh, good,” I said, sighing in relief.

“So, do you understand what you need to do?” she asked.

“I think so… let him know I like him. And don’t play the little mind games girls sometimes play,” I answered.

“Exactly. And I’m really happy for you guys. Edward is a great guy and he could not have picked a better girl than you, Bella.”

I blushed and ducked my head, something I commonly did when faced with a compliment. “Thanks.”

“Okay. I think my work here is done. I’ll see ya around,” Angela said, getting up and pushing the chair under my desk.

“Later, Ang,” I replied, giving her a small wave. “And thanks.”

“You’re welcome, Bella. Anytime.” She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

I sat on my bed for a few minutes, running back through the conversation I had just had. I could totally be the instigator… couldn't I?

While I did have problems with compliments and generally being pretty shy, I had my moments of confidence. Like last night.

I think just being around Edward helped me more than anything. So, I wouldn’t worry about it now. If I felt I couldn’t make another move on him, the least I could do was tell him how I felt.

Sure, take the coward’s way out. Like you don’t want to press him against you on this very bed and kiss him senseless. Maybe his glasses would steam up from all the heavy breathing we would be doing…

I groaned, feeling a familiar ache between my legs. Glancing at the clock, I noted that I had a good hour and a half before Edward came by.

And I was hungry, as well as horny, damn it.

Okay, food first. Maybe some play time after.

I hopped off my bed and wandered downstairs, searching for something edible in the mess of a room we called a kitchen.

~*~*~

Two minutes…

Two minutes until it was 3 o’clock. Would he be late? On time? He seemed like an ‘on time’ kind of guy.

God, I was nervous about seeing him again. The stupid butterflies wouldn’t settle in my stomach, no matter how often I went to the bathroom to ‘release’ my anxiety and pent-up sexual frustration, which involved imagining Edward in various states of undress.

Or in the shower, naked, with water running down his body, which had become my favorite image, by far.

I glanced at the clock again and saw it was exactly 3 o’clock, so I figured it would be perfectly fine if I went downstairs to wait. I raced down the stairs and flew to the door, looking through the spy glass to see if he was coming up the walkway.

No such luck.

So I started pacing in the foyer. Four turns around the small area later, I heard a knock on the door.

Almost running to it, I wrenched it open. Edward stood on the porch, looking delectable in a pair of worn jeans and a simple black t-shirt. I could lick him, he looked so good.

His hair was sticking up even worse than it had last night, almost as if he had been running his fingers through it a lot today. And he was smiling.

Life was good.

“Hey,” I said softly, smiling back at him.

“Hey,” he replied. “You ready to go?”

“Yes.” I stepped over the threshold, shutting the door behind me. “Where are we going?”

“Uh… I thought I’d share something with you, if that’s okay,” he said hesitantly.

Angela’s words from earlier came back to me. Be the aggressor.

I placed my hand on his arm and smiled encouragingly. “That's more than okay. What did you want to share with me?”

“Have you ever played laser tag?”

~*~*~

A/N: For some reason this chapter didn't flow very well for me, but I had no idea how to fix it. I rewrote it three times and figured a fourth time would be pointless. So... don't hate me if you didn't like it. I didn't particularly like it either.

That said, who here saw them going to play laser tag? Anyone??

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter