Surviving the Teenage Dream Teaser

The house phone was ringing. I couldn’t answer it since I was watching the beans. Masen picked it up. “Hello? Cullen residence,” he said quietly. “Um, hold on, okay?” He muted the phone. “It’s the Illinois Department of Corrections. They have a prisoner who wants to speak to you, Dad.”

Do I ignore it or actually respond to my brother?

“Watch the beans, Mase. I’ll take the call in the office, okay?”

Masen nodded, handing me the wireless phone and I went into the office. Unmuting the phone call, I answered tersely. “This is Edward Cullen.”

“Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Cullen. Emmett Cullen wishes to speak with you. Do you accept the phone call?” the man on the phone asked.

I scrubbed my face. “Fine,” I spat.

“If you don’t want to speak with him, Mr. Cullen, you don’t have to,” the man explained. “You can decline the call and Emmett will be informed that you do not want contact with him.”

“No, I need to get this over with,” I sighed. “Put him through.”

“Hold please.” The operator clicked over and I heard him speak to my brother. “You have twenty minutes, Mr. Cullen. You will be reminded when you have five minutes and again when you have one minute remaining. If there is anything that is deemed unsuitable in your conversation, the phone call will be terminated with no warning and you will lose your privileges. Any questions?”

“No, sir,” Emmett said solemnly.

“Very well. Your twenty minutes starts now,” the operator explained, clicking off the line.

“Hello?” Emmett asked quietly.

“What do you want, Emmett?” I said coldly. Yes, I was acting like a douche, but I didn’t care.

“Thank you for taking my call, Edward,” Emmett muttered. “I wasn’t sure if you would. All of my letters have gone unanswered."