Roman Candle by nowforruin
Rating: M
Characters: Edward/Bella
Summary: Expansion of my entry from the "Geekward Shuffle" contest. Edward went to NYU dreaming of a future surrounded by academia. He ended up bartending in Brooklyn. Now he finds himself stuck with a bad job and a bad girlfriend
Roman Candle begins with a depressed and overworked Edward Cullen, a NYU drop out. He spends his days quoting literature in his head, being an alcoholic bartender in Brooklyn. He shares his life with Jessica Stanley, a princess who uses him, letting him do all the work to support her. She wants very badly to go back to Washington, but Edward isn’t so keen on it— he dropped out of NYU and his well-to-do parents cut him off. He believed he’d be able to make it in the big, bad world.
He spends all his time fantasizing about his co-barmaid, Bella. Bella’s a hard-ass, mysterious bitch with good taste in high heels who doesn’t have a lot of sympathy for his bullshit— like him being late all the time. She’s a tough nut to crack, and Edward hasn’t done it, yet.
Jessica starts fights with Edward that he’s cheating on her with Bella all the while trying to deflect her own affairs she’s been having on Edward. It seems a little too difficult to deny, lately.
They try to mend their relationship, but in the end, it seems pointless. Jessica leaves him one morning, and Edward pulls inside himself by drinking himself silly, throwing his own pity-party.
When he’s late to work, he calls Bella and tells her that he’s not coming into work tonight. She’s enraged at first, but then he tells her that she is the only person he has left to talk to and begs her to come over.
During the blizzard, she arrives at his apartment and they begin to forge an unforgettable bond and he begins to crack her hardened exterior, beginning a story with undeniable unresolved sexual tension. A must-read for the Twilight All Human Universe!
I'm really enjoying this right now!