Author's Note-In this, Bella and Edward are both human, they are married, and both are twenty-two. Please read the whole thing. It takes a while to get to the fluff. ;) Not to mention I'm getting rusty with fluff.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Cherry Blossoms
Bella groaned.
She was having a very bad day. She had had no morning coffee, her truck had broken down, and she had a stack of papers she had to look over. Not to mention that the passage she was supposed to be editing had been written by a person with very bad grammar and spelling. How did someone even spell something wrong when they were typing it on the computer?!
She shifted in her seat and attempted, once more, to concentrate on the tiny, cramped, barely legible letters on the page.
"Mrs. Cullen," her secretary, Angela Chenley, stated. To Bella, it seemed as if Angela had called from the end of a very long, very stifling tunnel where noise was muffled and air pressed down heavily on the ears.
Bella shook her head slightly, trying to rid herself of exhaustion. "Yes Angela?"
"Your mother called." Angela held out the black phone, the extension cord dangling. She felt nervous, because she knew that Mrs. Cullen did not get along well with her mother.
Angela slipped away as quickly as she could, but not before hearing her boss mutter angrily into the phone, "I'm fine mother. No, Edward is doing fine too." She stressed the word "fine" as if Renee Swan did not believe her.
Back in the office, Bella set her paper down and wished with all her heart the she could hang up.
She and her mother had had a close relationship during her teen years. They were what you could truly call "mother and daughter." But after Bella had met young, charming, and undeniably handsome Edward Cullen, her mother had begun drawing away.
"Mom," she whined into the phone. "Edward is perfect. Why don't you like him?"
"You got married too young!" Renee answered shrilly. "Bella darling, I'm worried about you. I don't want him to hurt you. What if he files a divorce? You'd be devastated! I don't want my baby girl to have to go through that! What if he…what if…"
Bella growled, "Mom, Edward wouldn't. I love him. He loves me. Might I remind you that you and Dad married too young, and you walked out on him a year later? I know what I'm doing. Trust me. I know what I'm doing." And with that, she clicked the end button and hung up before her mother could answer.
Angela came in wordlessly and took the phone away.
"Mrs. Cullen," she said quietly. "You have a meeting with the McKrackens tonight."
Bella pursed her lips. Another meeting. More stress. "Thank you for reminding me, Angela," she said, though she spoke softly to hide her clear annoyance and exasperation. She was not the least bit thankful.
At exactly 7:00, Mr. and Mrs. McKracken swept through the door of the expensive diner that they were meeting at.
Mr. McKracken was thin, rod-like and sported a huge, overflowing, and very bushy red mustache. The hair on his head was a bright ginger, and he had a balding patch on the top. He wore a formal, tight-fitting business suit that was navy, and his black shoes were so shiny, they reflected the candlelight. He looked like the perfect businessman, except for the fact that his tie was lopsided. Bella held her hand up to her mouth to stifle a giggle.
Mrs. McKracken, too, was thin and looked as if the last few meals she had eaten consisted of rabbit food. She had platinum blond hair and rhinestone clips in her curls. Her dress was about two sizes too small, and a pale, pretty green. It would have been a beautiful effect if she did not look as if both the dress and the eight inch high emerald studded pumps were killing her. The lime-green choker looked as if it were slowly and agonizingly strangling her. Bella did not feel the need to mention to Mrs. McKracken that she was missing one earring.
All in all, they were the most ridiculous, absurd-looking couple she had ever seen.
"Good evening, my dear! You must be Isabella Cullen!" Mrs. McKracken rasped, throwing her stick-like arms around Bella. She then cleared her throat. Her voice came out deformed, because the choker was cutting off her windpipe.
Mr. McKracken looked like a zombie, holding out his hand woodenly and nodding his head jerkily to acknowledge her.
"My dear, you look lovely!" Mrs. McKracken yelled loudly. The other people in the diner looked over curiously. Bella blushed fiercely.
"Thank you, Mrs. McKracken," she said.
For one so thin, Mrs. McKracken sure had a loud voice. "Not at all, my dear, not at all! You must call me Jasmine. And my husband, Timothy! Say hello, Tim!"
"Hullo," Tim said sullenly.
Jasmine sat down and pulled her husband down next to her. Bella pulled out a chair and sat down across from them. An uncomfortable silence fell over the table, until the waitress bustled up and said, "What would you like to drink?"
"Water, please," Jasmine said.
"Water," Tim grunted.
"Um…a coke, please." Bella said politely. Mr. McKracken gave her a scandalous look. Bella looked at the ceiling where a chandelier held dozens of candles, giving off a flickering golden light.
The waitress feinted not seeing the exchange. "And what would you like to order?"
"Oh, the usual, Sharon," Jasmine exclaimed.
Sharon looked uneasily at Timothy McKracken. "And you, sir? The usual?"
Timothy jerked his head in what could be called a very graceless nod.
"I'll have a…" Bella surveyed the menu. Most of the foods were in Italian, so she chose the first English meal that she saw. "…a mushroom ravioli."
The McKrackens looked at her, shocked speechless. Bella pretended not to have seen that.
Sharon returned soon with the drink. Bella took a big gulp, bring very thirsty, and then saw that the couple in front of her was daintily sipping their water with, in Mrs. McKracken's case, the pinkie finger sticking out. Bella rolled her eyes. You would have thought they were having tea and scones in an elegant matron's house.
An hour later, after scandalizing Jasmine and Timothy McKracken thoroughly and repeatedly, Bella returned home with a heavy heart. She was tired, angry, and had a stressful day.
"One of these days, I'm going to spontaneously faint from the strain and then they'll all be sorry," she muttered grumpily to herself. She thought about taking a quick shower and then hitting the hay, but then decided against it. "I'm probably going to wake up dead tomorrow morning, or at least with some very tired limbs."
Her cell phone rang.
She picked up on the fourth ring. "Hello?"
A perky, energetic, and way too cheerful voice chirped back, "Hi Bells! How's my sunshine?"
Bella groaned and fell back onto her bed, clutching her phone to her ear. "Alice," she complained, "I'm tired. You sunshine has just experienced a very nerve-racking day that does not agree with her. Now if you love her, you'll let her get off this phone and get some sleep."
"I saw a fairy today!" Alice exclaimed, completely ignoring Bella.
"You mean the little people with wings?"
"Yes! She's waiting in your bathroom!"
Bella rolled over and got off the bed. "In my bathroom?"
Alice trilled in her high soprano laugh. "Yes!" Then she hung up.
Bella sluggishly walked into the bathroom, tugging off her blazer. Sitting like a queen on her bathroom shelf was a jar of…a dried something. In fancy handwriting on the label were the words "CHERRY BLOSSOMS" and underneath was a picture of a fairy curled up on a flower. Bella assumed that the flower was a cherry blossom.
Sticking out from under a jar was a piece of snow-white paper. Bella pulled it out and dropped her blazer on the tile floor.
Dear Bella,
I know you're having a rough day. Don't ask me how I know. Premonitions. Anyways, how about a nice soaking up in a cherry blossom bath? I promise you'll like it. And I swear you'll feel so much better when you're done. I do this with love in my heart.
Alice
For the first time during the entire day, Bella smiled.
She turned the bath water on warm and dropped her clothes. The entire jar of cherry blossoms was dumped into the water. She smiled wider as warm steam billowed from the tub, and mixed with it, the soothing fragrance of crushed flowers. She slipped into the warm water and sighed dreamily, her shoulders instinctively pushed back and her back arched in pleasure.
When was the last time she had taken a bath? It had been too long to remember.
Bella sat in the tub for a long time, letting the misty water lap gently against her body, letting the smell of blossoms calm her nerves. She was so absorbed in her leisureliness that she failed to hear the bathroom door creak open behind her.
"Hey love," a husky voice said suddenly in her ear. She jumped and the water sloshed noisily out of the tub. Without even turning around to see who it was, she knew. A slow smile curved up her mouth.
"Hello," she answered sweetly, knowing his green eyes were boring into her shoulder.
And she turned around and kissed him.
Their lips locked in an intense battle, pressed too tightly together, but never inflicting pain. Their arms, wrapped desperately around each other, sought something to grip. Their fingers memorized the other's face, tangling in the other's hair. Though she was wet and naked, and she knew that she was getting her husband's shirt wet too, she could hardly care. Edward was modest and a gentleman. She need not worry.
They surfaced briefly to gasp for air, then attacked each other again. Edward nipped Bella's bottom lip gently, playfully, and she responded with an aggressive bite. He moaned softly, his fingers trailing a path from her scalp to the small of her back, touching, feeling, passionate.
He was a gentleman. He would not make his wife uncomfortable.
But now he had to restrain himself, be gentler, be kinder. The fight went out of him, his bruised lips became tender, not so forceful. He brushed his mouth against her cheek, along her throat, planted an affectionate kiss in the hollow behind her ear. He kissed her bare shoulder and his fingers ran circles around the joint where her neck and shoulder met.
Bella hummed quietly, a noise she made unconsciously, a quick vibration in her chest. Edward purred softly like a satisfied tomcat, the throaty sound coming from deep within his vocal cords.
He kissed her one last time and then pulled back to admire her.
Bella gazed at Edward, neither saying a word, neither needing to express themselves verbally to understand each other. She touched his jaw, cupped his cheek, hungrily memorizing his sexy crooked smile. She then noticed the water spilled on the floor, the dark, wet stain on her partner's clothes.
"Edward," she breathed. "You're wet."
He looked down at himself and smiled softly. "It's okay, love."
They looked at each other silently.
Bella perceived the water droplets clinging to Edward's messy bronze hair. So handsome. But even more beautiful were his eyes, sparkling, green, so deep she felt as if she were drowning. But it was a good drowning, a pleasurable drowning. The type of drowning where you felt as if you could never get back to the surface, but you didn't care, because you didn't want to ever leave.
He dragged his eyes away with effort, and said, "You need to get dressed. And I need to change my clothes." He picked himself up from the floor.
Bella let him go reluctantly.
As soon as the door closed behind him, she threw herself out of the tub, pulled the drain, and toweled herself dry. She pulled on one of Edward's large T-shirts and a pair of boxers. Looking over the bathroom, she noted the film of water coating the floor, the wet cherry blossom petals lying at the base of the tub, clogging the drain, and the steam that clung to the mirror.
"I'll clean that up later," she commented to herself. "Right now I have more important things to do."
Bella found Edward lying on the bed, his hands tucked neatly behind his head, the picture of nonchalance. Giggling slightly, she pulled herself onto the king-sized bed, cuddling up next to her husband. He wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her chastely on the lips. He whispered into her hair, "I love you."
"Love you too," she cooed. He kissed her again.
Their lips moved together in harmony, like an unbroken song, like a dance where both dancers are so close, so close, yet never touch. Every passionate second, every fiery breath, fueled their love. Every motion was a dance.
A while later, they were under the covers, still wrapped up in each other. With his face pressed against the crook of her neck, Edward accused, "You smell like cherries."
"What's wrong with that?" Bella asked innocently.
"It makes you that much harder to resist," he murmured. "Damn that Alice. I know this was her doing." He sighed and rolled over, pressing himself more firmly against her. "But I don't mind," he added as an afterthought. "Cause I love you all the more because of it."
Wow, that has to have been the most passionate fanfic one-shot I've ever written. I know it has nothing sexual in it, but I can't help but be a little embarrassed. I mean, what if one of my classmates read this? They'd be shocked little Miss I've-Never-Had-A-Boyfriend even knows about kissing!
Reviews, lovely people out there! Though I'd probably trade a review for a cookie!