Christmas Eve.

A time for joy, anticipation, excitement, a time for family…oh, and last minute shopping…a lot of shopping.

That is my fate as we speak; going from store to store, looking for any possible gifts and trying to decide which gift will be for which person.

I wasn't doing this willingly of course, if it weren't for my psychotic, crazy, best friend Alice, I would still be in my bed, warm, comfortable, but for some reason, my best friend thought that we should go shopping, even though she's already gone shopping everyday this week claiming, that she's bought the 'perfect gift' for everyone.

-Flashback-

I was in my warm bed sleeping comfortably…when I was violently shaken awake.

"Bella!" Alice screamed in my ear. "Bella! Get up what are you doing?! Still in bed at 7 in the morning? Come on! You're wasting precious time! We need to get to the mall now! Do you have any idea how many sales are happening right now while you still lazy around?!"

I woke up from my slumber and looked up at her angrily. "Alice! What the hell?! It's 7 in the morning! And what are you talking about?" I said putting as much anger into the words as I could despite my hazy mind.

"I said hurry up and get dressed," she said jumping up from her seat on my bed and going over to my closet, "we're going last minute Christmas shopping at the mall." She said as she took out a pair of skinny jeans, my red Rudolph shirt, and a pair of green converse.

"You're crazy!" I said lying back down and covering my face with my quilt.

Alice wasn't having any of that, she came over to me and stripped me of my quilt, leaving me there, shivering. I curled up in my bed and put my pillow over my head to ignore her. She started shaking me again. "Come on Bella get up already," she shook me harder, "Bella…Bella…Bella don't make me get the water bucket!" Alice was getting frustrated.

I uncovered my head and looked at her seriously, "You wouldn't!"

She smirked, "Try me."

I met her look steadily, "Fine." I sighed as I got up and went over to the rocking chair that Alice set my clothes on.

15 minutes later, I was out the door, barely eating a slice of toast as Alice dragged me out the door.

-End Flashback-

Now 3 hours later, Alice was still dragging me from store to store, until finally, she said she was hungry and that we should go eat at the food court. Finally! A chance to sit down and rest!

I bought a Big-Mac and ate it while Alice went to a little boutique. After I finished my Big-Mac I was dog-beat tired so I laid my head down to rest for a few moments.

After about a minute, I heard Alice call my name and felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Come on Alice!" I said as I raised my head and swapped a hand away "I went all over this mall with you already! Why don't you give me a-" It wasn't until a few seconds later that I realized that the person who was in front of me wasn't Alice…It was Edward Masen.

I stared at him for a second.

What the hell is he doing here?!

"Masen." I said acknowledging him.

"So it is you Swan." He said smirking.

"Yeah, what do you want?"

"Nothing, just wondering if it was really you." He said.

I didn't notice Alice was with us until I heard her.

"Masen."

Edward looked up at Alice with an annoyed look on his face. "Brandon."

"Hey Edward, I was wondering where you went." Jasper Whitlock came over, Jasper and Edward had been friends since elementary.

Jasper looked over at us and raised his eyebrows. "Brandon." He nodded.

"Whitlock."

"Swan."

"Whitlock."

Jasper looked over at Edward, "Masen."

"Whitlock."

Jasper looked back at us. "Brandon."

"Ok. Can we stop this?" I said raising both of my hands.

Jasper shrugged his shoulders. "Fine."

"So…," Edward said, "what are you two doing here?"

"We're doing some last-minute Christmas shopping." Said Alice.

"Us too." Said Edward showing us the shopping bags he was carrying.

"Hmmm that's nice. Come on Bella." Alice grabbed my hand my and pulled me out of my chair.

"Hey Brandon!" Jasper called, "since all of us are doing last-minute shopping, let's shop together."

Alice looked at both of them "I don't think we're going in the same direction, we need to go to Claire's for a present right now, so I don't think you guys would want to go there." Alice said, clearly trying to avoid them.

"Oh, what a coincidence, we're going that way too," said Edward, "Jasper needs to get a gift for a cousin."

Alice plastered on a fake smile, "Great…ok …let's go." Alice turned around quickly to hide her scowl.

All four of us walked down the lane of stores heading for Claire's.

I whispered, "What do we have to get from Claire's?"

"Nothing," responded Alice just as quietly, "I just didn't want them to come."

As we entered Claire's, Alice went to the hair accessories while Jasper went to look at the earrings.

I was standing near the entrance waiting for Alice when Edward came over to me.

"So…" Edward leaned against the wall, "you're not gonna buy anything?"

"No."

After a while, Edward spoke again, "Is there anywhere else you're going to?"

"No, I'm just here helping Alice."

"Oh."

A minute later, he spoke again, "Hey, can you help me find a gift for my cousin? She's 11."

I looked at him suspiciously. "You serious?"

"Yeah," he said truthfully.

"Oh," I was extremely surprised, before this, Edward had never spoken to me, "well… what does she like?"

"Jeez, I don't know…she likes the color red…I guess I can get her something red…"

"Well that doesn't help much." I said chuckling.

"It's been a while since I saw her last." He said running his hair. He turned to me and his eyes widened a little, "Hey, where did you get that shirt?" He pointed at my Rudolph shirt.

"Oh, this? I got this at Macy's."

"Do you think they still have it in stock?" He asked hopefully.

"Oh, well, maybe…do you want to check?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Oh, well then let me call Alice and then we'll -"

"No. I want to go now, let's leave them both here."

"Oh, that's ok but I have to tell Alice." I said as I walked away from him.

"Alice, I'm going with Edward really quick to Macy's and see if they have this shirt he wants to buy."

Alice turned to me slowly giving me a look that questioned my sanity. "Are you crazy?! You're going to go to a store with Masen alone without me to help just in case something happens?!" She whispered-yelled, "Bella come on! Masen?!"

"Don't worry Alice, I have my photo incase he does try anything, and besides we're in the middle of a mall! Don't you think someone will notice?" I whispered. Alice sometimes was just too much.

Alice gave me a wary look, "Fine. But as soon as you're done call me ok?"

"Alright, don't worry Alice." I said as I turned away. But then she grabbed me by the arm, "Also, if he tries anything, anything at all call me right away. Got it." She said in her demanding final tone.

"Yes Alice you worry too much." I told her as I hugged her and walked away.

"Ok I'm ready, you?" I said to Edward who was patiently waiting for me.

"Yeah I'm good, let's go." He said kicking off the wall.

We set off for Macy's which was located on the other side of the mall.

On the way Edward and I attempted small talk, which soon turned into a full out conversation. We talked about everything and nothing at the same time. School, sports, movies, our families, music, and books…etc.

"So what's your favorite color?" He asked.

"It changes depending on my mood."

"Well what is it now?"

"Green."

He had a confused look on his face. "Why?"

It took me a minute, "Because since its winter, everything is white or grey. Before everything was green. I miss green."

He smiled, "Interesting."

We played 20 questions until we got to Macy's and I led him to the women's clothing section.

"Ok let's see," I said as I shuffled through the racks, "If I remember right, it should be around here." It took us both 15 minutes to finally find a shirt like mine. And I'm not sure if I was imagining it but I could have sworn that every few minutes he would look at me.

"I found it!" I yelled victoriously. Edward looked up from the rack he was searching and came over to me. I waved the shirt around proudly, "I got it!" I said as a held it out for him.

He smiled at me but didn't take the shirt, "Edward?" I said as I waved the shirt in front of him, "isn't this the shirt you were looking for?"

His eyes widened as if he had just awoken from a dream or something. "Huh? Oh yeah right." He took the shirt from me. "Good job."

"Thank you." I said. "Will it fit her?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah it'll probably will. Come on let's get it."

We waited in the check-out line and when Edward paid for it we both left and I started to pull out my cell phone.

"Who are you calling?" Edward asked.

"Alice, she told me to call her when we were done and going back." I said while I looked for her number in my phone book.

Edward grabbed my phone and exited out of my phone book. "Don't call her yet."

"Why not?!" I asked as I tried to get my phone back. Was he really going to try something?

"I want to spend more time with you. Let's hang out just a little while longer."

I know I should have said no. I know there was a very good reason why I should call Alice right now. But I couldn't deny his request. "Alright."

His smile was beautiful; he dazzled me on the spot. "Thanks." I couldn't get my voice to function properly so I just nodded.

We went window shopping for a while commenting here and there on what we like, what we hated. We came upon a cute little antique store and looked around a little. That's when I came upon a beautiful green jewelry box. It was round, about the size of my fist, and was decorated with green ivory vines and white ivory lilies with pearls in the middle of them. It opened up to reveal a small space big enough to put necklaces or small rings in. I loved it.

"Do you like it?" I hadn't noticed that Edward had come up beside me until I heard his voice.

"Yes. It's beautiful."

"Why don't you get it?"

"I don't have any money. Alice is the one who came to shop remember? I only came to help."

"I see." There was a certain emotion in his voice that I didn't recognize.

I was about to ask him about it when my phone rang. Edward continued to look around while I went outside.

"Hello?"

"Bella! Where are you? It's been almost two hours since you and Masen left!" Really? Time really flies when you're having fun. "Sorry, Edward and I were just window shopping." I heard someone scream in the background.

"Umm…Alice where are you?"

"Oh, I'm at the ice skating rink."

"There's an ice skating rink here?"

"Yeah. You should come over right now. Jasper's showing me how to ice skate."

"Jasper?" I said in a playful tone, "I thought he was Whitlock."

"I know, I km=now. But he's not as bad as I thought he'd be. I feel like such a jerk for not giving him a chance." Alice said with a tone of regret.

"Well, at least you're playing nice now."

"Whatever," she said dismissively, "anyway you should come here! Maybe Mase- I mean Edward can show you how to skate." She said excitedly.

I looked back at the antique shop and saw Edward at the register buying something. "Yeah, maybe…"

"Well then convince him to come!"

"Alice, calm down ok? I'll ask him and we'll see what happens." I hung up.

I turned around and started to walk back when Edward came out holding a new shopping bag.

"You bought something?"

"Yeah," he took out a beautiful picture portrait decorated with red marble roses around the edge, "this is for my mom, I'm going to put a picture of our family in it first."

"Clever." Why didn't I think of that?

"So who called you?"

"Alice." I said as we started walking again.

"Hmm, do I have to give you back now?"

I laughed. "She said she was at the ice skating rink with Jasper and that we should skate with them."

"Ice skating? That's cool with me, you?"

"I actually don't have a center of balance, so I don't really want to hurt someone, or myself on the ice, so I think I'll just watch you guys skate while I-"

"Nope." He interrupted while grabbing my hand and pulling me in a certain direction I'm assuming is the ice rink. "For me to skate you're going to have to skate too. Don't worry I'll teach you. It's not that hard."

Oh I doubt that!

-o-

The ice skating rink was a big room with the rink, a few bleachers, a snack bar, a few lockers, some arcade games, and filled with people.

Edward and I put his bags in the lockers and rented our skates. He paid for mine despite my protests. We were sitting on the bleachers putting on our skates when Alice thumped on the glass, gaining our attention. She started making hand gestures clearly showing us that she wanted us to come onto the ice. That is until Jasper came and took her away holding her hand. They looked cute together.

"It looks like Alice is in good hands."

"So are you," Edward stood up and took my hand as he pulled me toward the rink. "Don't worry I have a great sense of balance." He said as he pulled me out onto the ice.

For the next hour I held on to either Edward's hand for dear life. Not once did I let go. And whenever I felt like I was going to fall, Edward would stop and wait for me to regain the little balance I had, then slowly start to skate again guiding me. Afterwards, I thought I could do it myself so I skated a little without his help although most of the time I held onto the railing.

"Good Bella!" Edward cheered. "Now see if you can skate to me." He said as he skated about 6 yards in front of me and stopped.

'Ok Bella you can do this.' I told myself. No you can't! The voice inside my head said. 'Shut up!'

I started skating slowly to him, every few feet grabbing the rail. When I was about half way there I gained enough courage to speed up a little…dumb move…When I was about four feet away from him, the front of my skate got caught in the ice which made me lurch forward. Before I hit the ice though, I felt two warm arms wrap themselves around my waist securely. I opened my eyes and saw Edward's green ones boring back into mine.

We were incredibly close, the tips of our noses touching, his lips were less than an inch away from mine. I couldn't breathe. We stayed like that for a few moments until Alice came over.

"Bella are you ok?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine. Edward saved me before I cracked the ice." I said letting go of Edward.

"Are you sure?" She asked worriedly.

"Alice," Jasper said as he came up behind her, "I think Bella's safe with Edward."

As they both skated away, Edward glanced over at me and there were different emotions in his eyes but they all passed too fast for me to make out what they were.

"So…we should keep skating right?" I said trying to get ease the awkwardness of before.

Edward smirked, "sure." He took my hand and continued to skate.

After a while, I became extremely tired and stepped out of the rink to rest on one of the bleachers, while I watched Edward skate. It was then that Edward jumped up and tried to do a trick and fell on the ice.

"OH MY GOD!" I got up and wobbly skated over to Edward, "Edward! Are you ok?!"

"Yeah, I'm good." Edward said around his laughing as he got up.

"Oh my god!" I laughed. "I was so scared! What were you trying to do?!" I laughed.

"Just spin in the air." He chuckled.

"Epic fail!!" I couldn't stop laughing.

"Ok, ok I get it I should just stick to skating. And…" he said as he grabbed my hand, "teaching you how not to fall down."

We skated for another hour. When we left it was about 3. Wow. I spent more than half the day here. The boys walked us to our cars, we said our goodbyes and parted ways. It was kinda sad, I didn't want to leave Edward, I could have stayed with him all day.

-o-

Christmas Day

I woke up, got dressed in jeans and a green turtleneck sweater. As I came downstairs I saw Charlie eating breakfast. I ran back upstairs to retrieve his gift.

I gave him my gift which he accepted with a little embarrassment.

I watched him open his present with a bit of enthusiasm. When he un-wrapped his gift his eyes widened a little and a smile came onto his face. It was a brand new fishing kit.

"Thanks Bells, I love it." He said giving me a hug.

"I knew you'd love it."

He gave me my gift afterward. I opened it slowly, scared at what it might be. It was a new copy of Wuthering Heights.

"Thanks dad."

"I just thought you might want a new copy since your old one's getting a little bit tattered and such…I can get you another present - "

"No, no dad it's fine." I said truthfully, now I could read it without a page threatening to fall out.

"I love it. Really."

Around noon, Charlie left to go fishing with Harry Clearwater while telling him all about how his daughter got him a brand new fishing kit.

It was two hours later that someone rang the doorbell. I was currently cleaning the kitchen, I put the rag I was using down on the counter and went to answer the door.

I opened the door and saw, standing there, Edward Masen with his hands behind his back.

"Oh, Edward, hi."

"Hey."

After a few moments I spoke up again seeing as how Edward wasn't going to say anything anytime soon. "Um…not to be rude or anything, but what are you doing here?"

"Oh…right…I just came to…talk to you…and…well…crap," he put one of his hands in front of his eyes and ran it through his hair, "look, I came here because I wanted to give you this." He said as he pulled out a present from behind his back and pushed it towards me, the entire time he had his face turned down.

"Oh," I grabbed the gift with wide eyes but before I could take it out of his hands he grabbed mine, "I also came here to ask you if you'd go out with me." He said looking right into my eyes.

"What?" I said in complete shock.

"Will you please be my girlfriend?" He said slowly.

"Why?" I said not knowing what else to say.

"Because I have been head-over-heels in love with you ever since I saw you trip in the school parking lot and taking it all in stride and standing up for yourself against Lauren, for putting her in her place. Ever since then, I've been watching you, seeing how you don't let other people put you down, how you always did the right thing, how you always took care of your friends, seeing how beautiful you are…" he trailed off a little. He had a dreamy look on his face as he ran a hand through my hair.

Then, he let out a deep breath, closed his eyes, and leaned down to touch his forehead to mine. "So I made a promise to myself that I'll make you my girlfriend by Christmas. So yesterday, I went to the mall to look for the perfect gift for you and imagine my surprise when I saw you there with Alice. I told myself that I wouldn't approach you but I couldn't resist myself, I had to talk to you. Jasper almost punched me when I said he needed to get something from Claire's, but I had to find a way to spend time with you…so I said I needed a gift for my cousin that doesn't exists. But I got to spend time with you alone, it was the best time I've had in my life." He opened his eyes and looked in my eyes. "So now here I am confessing my love to you, will you accept?"

I forgot how to breathe, my throat was clogged, my voice wouldn't work. "I…I…"

The hope in his eyes died a little, "It's ok, if you don't feel the same - "

"No! No!" I yelled. I didn't want him to leave, "I just…need some time…"

The hope in his eyes came back brighter than ever. "Let's make a deal then." He said.

"Well…wha-what kind of deal?"

"The kind where, if I win, you become my girlfriend, and if you win, I leave but continue to love you." He said while holding one of my hands in both of his.

"What do you want to win in?" I asked whatever it was he would win, even if he doesn't I'll forfeit the win so that we could be together.

"You open your gift, and if you love it, you're my girlfriend, if you don't, I walk away." He said with a smile.

"Alright." I said looking at the gift in my hands. I started to open it with numb fingers. It felt like forever, until I finally got to a small white cardboard box. I started to open the box and came upon a beautiful green jewelry box. It was round, about the size of my fist, and was decorated with green ivory vines and white ivory lilies with pearls in the middle of them. It opened up to reveal a white gold heart shaped locket with the words 'I Love You' on the front.

"I saw how much you loved the jewelry box yesterday, so I got it for you while using the picture frame for my mom as a cover up. I already had the locket for you…" Edward said as he waited for my reaction.

I was speechless, I felt tears in my eyes, "I love it." I whispered not able to be any louder.

"Does that mean that I win?" Edward said with a smile.

I looked up at him; I could feel a smile on my lips so big my cheeks hurt. "You already won yesterday."

His smile grew wider than it already was. He swooped down to wrap me in a warm embrace and pressed his lips to mine.

After coming up for m=some much needed air, he leaned his forehead on mine again. "I love you." He whispered.

I looked up into his eyes, and knew that what I said was true. "I love you too."

~Merry Christmas!!

This story is dedicated to my very good friend who has been supporting my writing ever sice the start. You know who you are! Thank You!!

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