New Girl

Dirty Little Secret

Sundays was Jessica's only real day-off. She had classes and rehearsals on the weekdays. She had rehearsals for most of Saturday. Sunday was the one day a week she could allow herself to not have to do anything but eat cereal around her house and not see Edward Cullen's stupid face.

Charlie would come over for breakfast once or twice a month. Sometimes he'd bring something from the bakery with him. When Joan was too tired to cook, they'd go out to have breakfast. It was a simple routine they've had the past few years.

This hadn't changed much since Bella moved to Forks except Charlie would bring her with him. After Bella broke her leg, Joan started making meals for the Swans since Charlie couldn't even boil noodles to make spaghetti and Bella couldn't stay on her feet for too long without being a hazard to herself. Sunday breakfasts were temporarily moved to the Swan residence.

On one particular Sunday, the doorbell rang as they were about to eat breakfast. Joan was almost done with the waffles and Charlie was busy answering the weekly crossword. And it would take Bella too long to get up with her leg so Jessica went to answer the door.

She froze when she saw who was on the other side of the door. "You."

Edward Cullen didn't even blink. "Good morning, Jessica."

"It's Sunday."

Which meant she wasn't supposed to see his pasty vampire self until tomorrow.

He nodded. "Yes."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to spend time with Bella."

Jessica looked behind her towards the kitchen then turned back to Edward. "It's family time. Come back another day."

"Who's at the door, Jessica?" her mother called out.

"Nobody!" Jessica replied. "It's just the mailman."

"But we don't get mail on Sundays," Charlie pointed out.

Jessica could hear them moving from the kitchen and she moved to shut the front door. Edward kept her from closing the door with one hand and his crazy, strong vampire strength. Jessica pushed at the door but it wouldn't move an inch as if it had turned into stone. She let out an annoyed grunt.

Her mother had left the kitchen and saw her daughter trying to shut the door on some random boy. "What are you doing?"

Edward moved the door backwards, forcing Jessica to take a few step back to avoid getting hit in the face with the door. "Hello. I'm Edward Cullen. I'm a...friend of Bella Swan."

Bella had limped her way from the kitchen. "I invited him over."

Joan gave Jessica a confused look before smiling at Edward. "Hello. I'm Jessica's mom. Will you be joining us for breakfast?"

Edward stepped into the house and Jessica glared at his profile. "I would love too, Mrs. Stanley."

Jessica stabbed into her waffles, annoyed that she had to sit across from Edward and see him stare at Bella like she would melt. He didn't seem aware how creepy he looked to everyone else. Charlie looked concerned at this strange boy his daughter had invited over. Jessica had to bite her tongue not to tell him what she knew about Edward Cullen.

Jessica stared into her plate and remembered Alice's warning about the future that would happen if she told anyone about the vampire secret. Knowing and having to keep quiet about everything was exhausting. She just wanted a quiet Sunday. Why couldn't she have that?