FAGE 11

Title: Wild Night

Written for: Ankita Kaul/Ninkita

Written By: DaphneRene

Rating: M

Prompt used: 'Wild Night' Video by Van Morrison and Waltz Dancing.

Summary: To win the ultimate dare challenge against her best friend Rose, Bella has to seduce the most uptight guy she knows. Volvo sedan driving, bow tie wearing, Pharmacist Edward Cullen is in her crosshairs.

In high school, Edward was her friend Alice's brother and the biggest geek she knew. And hidden under his geek wrapper, she also knew he was the most beautiful boy she had ever seen. Then he was off limits, but now seducing him could win her some prize money and fulfill a dream of traveling Europe.

After one Wild Night will Edward be worth giving up her dream? Opposites may attract, but in the end, could a long-term relationship really be possible?

If you would like to see all the stories that are a part of this exchange visit the facebook group: Fanficaholics Anon: Where Obsession Never Sleeps, or add the C2 to get all the stories direct to your inbox.

I give Riley one last wave as I head to the abandoned warehouse. Rose's text, it couldn't have come at a better time. Riley—my best friend, he wants benefits…me not so much—has been getting on my nerves. I get that familiar itch that drives me to walk faster with each step.

Funny thing is that Riley got to pick the movie last night, and he picked Fight Club. What Rose has started is like a girl's version. Much like the difference between cats and dogs, our little version of screw society is not so violent, and more like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Yes, I now live in Southern California and Disneyland is my reference for most things. I've embraced it just like I have learned that In-N-Out Burger is the best burger in the world. It's true.

Anyway, back to Rose. I met her over a year ago, we both were working at some blood-sucking corporation, completely miserable. After sitting across from each other in the lunchroom each day for over a month, Rose befriended me. Later she admitted she recognized the bored hollow look in my eyes like she was in front of a mirror. That's when she pitched me QMF.

The woman is a genius. QMF stands for Quittitch Mind F#ck. When she explained what it was, I wasn't sure if I wanted to hug her because she was a fellow Harry Potter junkie or that her version of what some among us explain as Female Fight Club was the most brilliant idea I've ever heard.

The next day we both quit our jobs and cashed out what we had in sick days, vacation, and retirement. We put $10K in a bank account and she offered up the new Subaru Impreza her ex-boyfriend bought her.

Over time, we found some others, like us, who were sick of their hollow lives. I was twenty-five and acted like I was forty-five. No offense to people that age, my mom is that age, and she is one of the freest spirits I've ever met. Charlie blames her for my couch surfing, no job lifestyle. Jesus, if he knew about QMF he'd have a heart attack.

I tried to explain to him how I went from working my butt off in college to working and killing myself for some asshat male executives who treated their employees like shit. He shook his head and stated in a career cop authoritative voice that it wasn't normal. We Swan's are workers. He didn't say, but I know he was thinking, again. I had too much Renee in me. I told him it wasn't a permanent thing. Once QMF had a last girl standing, Rose and I both agreed it'd be over. And yes, Rose and I assumed one of us would triumph as the winner. I want that money. First, a trip around Europe and then I'll drive that Subaru to all the places in the US I've always wanted to visit. Giving her as little details as possible, I told Renee about QMF and she gave me a one-word answer. 'Bravo.'

I walk into the warehouse and only see Rose. "Where is everyone else?"

She takes a drag of her cigarette and shrugs, "well, Kate tapped out and Irina fell in love." She points to our message board and sure enough, their names are crossed out.

"No shit," I motion for her to give me one of her cigarettes. I don't normally partake in this habit, but damn this is now the QMF final.

"It's just the two of us now, kid."

"Yep." I'm dying to ask, but I don't want to look nervous about our final QMF task. Rose is devious, and she comes up with the wildest shit.

"From the beginning, I always knew it would be the two of us." She blows out her smoke and looks out the window. She looks back at me with that same gritty look in her eye. "Let the most determined girl win."

"So what crazy QMF plot do you have for us today?"

She pulls out a thick piece of paper, an antiqued brown that almost resembles animal skin. It has a red satin ribbon tied around it. "Take a look." She tosses it to me.

I unroll the scroll-like paper. My heart pounding so heavy I feel it in my ears like the beat of a drum. In perfect calligraphy script it reads:

The final QMF is Simple. Seduce the most uptight man (or woman) you know. The challenge will last three days/nights. To prove the deed was done, provide one pair of cum-soaked skivvies (or panties). Each participant will need to provide the details of their target to the others. Once every participant has gotten their mark agreed to by the group, the challenge begins. After three nights meet back here by 4 pm with your evidence.

My target comes into my mind immediately. Now to get Rose to sign off.

"So," Rose squints at me, takes a final drag of her cigarette, and stamps it out with the toe of her boot. "Who you got?"

"Edward Cullen." I thank the gods of wine and hot men that I never mentioned him by name to Rose. One drunken night when planning some of the QMF challenges, back when we had a full house of twelve, we sat around and talked about the one that got away, or in my case the one I never had.

With a bored expression, she motions for me to give her the deets. "He's Alice's brother." She smiles. Even though Alice was never part of QMF, she partied with us a few times. Alice always had a tale of her twin brother, her complete opposite. "He's a pharmacist and wears a bowtie daily. In high school, he would never share his Chapstick, not even with the girls he dated. He drives a silver Volvo sedan and despite having the most beautiful natural sex hair, he spends extra time every morning to slick it back so he can look professional to his customers."

She sniggers. "He sounds almost as good as mine." With a similar expression she gave me, I motion for her to spill. "Emmett McCarthy. He was the president of the frat I was a little sister for and Royce's former best friend."

That gets my attention. Royce was a Grade-A physically abusive asshole. He moved across the country after Rose and I took baseball bats to his precious sports car and threatened to have him arrested if he didn't leave Los Angeles; otherwise, I'd march over to his house this minute and do to him what he used to do the Rose. See as part of QMF, we don't hurt others, but we sure have hell figured out how to defend ourselves. Rose swore she'd never let another man hurt her. She and I took Krav Maga. It's not a martial art and there's only one rule: survive.

"And Emmett doesn't have the same tendencies towards woman as Royce?" I ask with a snarl imagining all the ways to kick Royce's ass.

Rose shakes her head and looks at the cracked, oil-stained floor of our QMF warehouse. "No." She looks at me and frowns. "There's a reason he and Royce are no longer friends and it has to do with the way he treated me."

I nod. My throat tight thinking about what Rose went through when she was with Royce. She would never give me the full the story, but I'd get bits and pieces when we were on one of our benders. "So you and Emmett…you…never."

"No," she shakes her head, her eyes glossy with unshed tears. I've never seen her cry. "I mean the attraction I think was always there, but no…" She looks down and traces a circle pattern in the gravel on the warehouse floor. "Emmett was always so focused on his career."

"In college. As a frat president?" I raise my eyebrows.

"Emmett was a football player. Despite being the frat president he never drank. He was always working out. Did everything right. All he ever wanted to do was play professionally." She shakes her head like she's trying to forget bad memories. "He would have never been the star of the team, but he would have been one of those consistent players that showed up every day, kept his head down, and worked harder than anyone." She grins. "They used to say he was always the first on the field and the last off of it. Real committed you know?"

I don't, not really, but I nod my head because I can picture it. Picture him. The way she describes him. This is serious for her. I wonder if she'll send me a heart emoji by the end of this challenge showing she fell in love like some of the others. That would be fine with me. I want that ten thousand dollars and that car. I want to travel. No, not a want. A need. Staying here, in one, place for so long is like wearing that itchy sweater my grams knitted me. It was the most beautiful color and design, but the yarn she used irritated the crap out of me. I still wore it. It made her smile, but towards the end of her life, I hated it. I dreaded when I'd see her and feel obligated to wear it. The day we cremated gram I said a prayer and lit that sweater up in flames.

"Then he got hurt," Rose says pulling me from my memories.

"Did he ever get to the NFL?"

"No." She sucks in a deep breath. "The second to last game of our senior year he hurt his back. Career ending injury. He finished school, but the last party of the year, when Royce was giving me shit for some guy flirting with me, Emmett punched him." A sinister smile transforms her model-like face. "Right on the button. Once perfect punch. Knocked him out. Emmett looked right at me and said these amazing words. I think after all these years I finally listened to them. They're what finally gave me the courage to leave."

"What did he say?" My stomach is in knots thinking about what she had to go through with Royce.

"He said, 'You may not believe it now, but one day you will. You deserve better. You are better.' He walked out of that frat house never to return and didn't speak to Royce…or me again."

"Shit, that's some story." But I'm not quite getting it. "So what makes him the most unattainable guy around?"

"Emmett grew up poor, really poor. He was a down-to-earth guy. I don't think he ever really fit in with Royce and the rest. They saw money like water from a faucet that never shut off. Unlike them, Emmett always had to work for everything." The more I hear of Emmett McCarthy, the more I like him. "I overheard him one time say that the only way out of a bad situation is hard work," she laughs without humor. "He's the reason I stayed in such a shitty job for so long. I thought working hard, no matter how miserable, I would be able to one day get the courage to leave Royce."

I nod and now it's my turn bust out a sinister smile. Memories of Rose and I quitting our shitty corporate jobs and her leaving Royce.

"He's now a sports agent, works all the time." She starts ticking off on her fingers. "No social media, no girlfriend, and he doesn't spend any money." She looks thoughtful. "He seems like the guy who maybe will work really hard until he's like thirty and then settle down, buy a house, fall in love, and have kids." She gives me one of those determined Rose looks. "I've reached out to him a few times via email. Let him know I left Royce. He told me congratulations, but the conversations in the emails stalled out."

"You want him."

"I always have." She sneers at me. "And you want Edward. Alice and her drunk mouth told me that much."

I rub my forehead to hide my lying face. "Edward is hot," I say, nonchalantly. "Always has been. Yes, it's true I've lusted after him. The idea of seducing the stuffy guy who you know probably wears the most boring underwear has always been a challenge for me." I shrug like I'm not imaging what he looks like in his lackluster underwear. I can't wait to get my hands on him, tousle his luscious hair, and sex it up.

I can't let on that my Edward is like her Emmett, I know Rose and her competitive side; I need to win this. Rose wants to win for her ego. I want to win to travel. Italy, Scotland, France…all of them. They're waiting for me. Like Renee, I don't want to be tied down.

I was five when Renee packed up the old Chevy truck her dad gave her. I remember Charlie and her fighting. He used the tied down comment and I'll never forget Renee's response. 'Why in the hell would a person like me, who just wants to see the world, want to be tied down to this wet, cold, and miserable place. Bye Charlie. You and Forks can kiss my ass.' After that Mom and I never stayed in one place for more than a year. I've been in Los Angeles for four and a half years. I need out.

"Fine." She narrows her eyes like her internal bullshit meter might not be working right. "I'll accept Edward and his lame ass bowties." She sniffs. "We'll see if you can get some of those boring underwear cum soaked."

I square my shoulders. "Oh, I'll bring it. And I'll accept Mr. Workaholic." I snigger. "He really chapped your ass. The only guy you want is too busy to notice what a catch you are." She narrows her eyes. I learned a long time ago the only way to keep Rose on my good side is to give her compliments while I mess with her.

"Don't worry. I'll bring it. Never bet against me, Bella."

Shit, I will never learn. She looks way too determined now. "What if it's a tie?"

"Then we go into a QMF Sudden Death Round."

I nod and don't dare ask. I can't even imagine what her wild ass brain would come up with.

"Good luck." I give her a wink and a finger point.

"Silly Bella. I don't need luck." She gestures towards her flawless body. I don't know why she doesn't model. I internally wince. Actually, I do know why. The scars Royce gave her. Asshole. "I have all the assets I need right here."

She blows me a kiss and I walk toward the bus stop. Once QMF starts, we can't help each other. So no asking for a ride. I ring Alice.

"Hey, Bella. What's up?"

I hear Jasper playing guitar in the background. "I need to call in that favor you owe me."

There's a rare pause between us. "Okay," Alice's voice shakes.

"Don't worry, I won't ask you to kill somebody and bury the body for me." She gives me a nervous chuckle. She's heard about some of our QMF hijinks. "I just need a place to stay starting tomorrow, in Seattle, three nights."

"You want me to call my permanent stick up his ass brother?"

"Yes."

She sighs, "I think I'd rather kill someone and bury the body."

"Just handle it, Alice. It's important."

"Okay, but only because I owe you."

I put Alice on speaker, open my browser, and confirm the bus schedule. "Thanks, Alice. Tell Mr. Bowtie I'll show up bright and early tomorrow." I hang up and use some money out of my sad excuse of a bank account to buy a bus ticket. I better win this, my bank account won't make it through a sudden death round. If I get a job that would result in a QMF forfeit. We've lost a few of the original twelve to the man.

I put my earbuds in, board the bus to Union Station so I can catch the greyhound to Seattle, and crank some angry music. You can do this, Bella.