Story Title: Trust in Dreams

Summary: "And that was the first night I dreamt of Edward Cullen." One night, one meeting, and countless dreams of being together.

Word Count: 3,051

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its associated characters in any way. End of story.


Bella Swan:

March 15, 2010:

"Come on, Bella! One more drink, one more!" Alice cheered, shoving another shot into my hands as she laughed manically. As I started to shake my head, she interrupted me, shouting above the loud music in the club. "You just signed your divorce papers, Bella. Live a little!" She said, and her words made me realize that she was right. I did need to live a little. I needed to forget about my cheating ex husband, who I given twelve years of my life to, and get on with the rest of my life. My marriage to Mike was over and done with.

So I accepted the shot and drank it down.

-----

September 4, 2010:

I never really expected my life to be like this. I was a successful business woman, without a doubt. I was the Vice President of one of the top Advertising firms in the county, and I ran my office efficiently and with nary a hitch, so at least I had that. My personal life, however…

Mike Newton had really done a number on me. We had met back in college, and I fell for him because I felt like I had to. Things were just falling into place and progressing, and marriage had felt like the next practical step. I had always tried to be practical, even when the moment called for romance and passion. And my marriage to Mike had been, quite simply, practical. We weren't much of a couple. We shared a bed and ate meals together…but that was it. Things weren't right, and we both knew it.

But unlike my husband, I had been satisfied enough. Obviously, he hadn't been and that explained the twenty two year old blonde I had found naked in our bed, straddling that man that was supposed to love me. And it had been right then that I had realized…I didn't want Mike to love me, because I really didn't love him. It had hurt when he cheated on me, but oddly enough, I understood. While I had been perfectly fine with living a complete lie, Mike had at least sought some happiness in his life.

I still didn't find the cheating justified, but I was able to let him go. So now I was thirty eight year old divorcee in what was supposed to be my sexual prime…with no one here to 'get sexual' with. It had now been six months since my divorce had been finalized, and six months since I've even been out and about. Tonight, the only reason I'm here is to support Alice.

In the field of Advertising, everyone is supposed to be your competition. But it isn't like that for Alice and me. Although both of us are at the top of our field, our styles are totally opposites. We're like apples and oranges. While I stick to more subtle, elegant highlighting and an aggressive approach, Alice is flashy and fun and trendy. In her type of advertising, she's more like a party planner. And if it weren't for that, there would be no reason for me to even be here.

Everywhere I looked, I saw women wearing fancy dresses and elaborate masks and men in tuxes and simple masks. Although I represent the company, I can't remember for the like of me what product this 'Masquerade Ball' is even supposed to be endorsing. But tonight, it doesn't matter. This isn't my client, so I can just sit back and relax for once in my life.

And tonight, I also feel comfortable with myself. Thanks to yoga and a newly adopted diet, I look better and feel healthier than ever. The red dress Alice provided for me is beautiful, very tightly fitted at the top and flaring out towards the bottom. I also feel mysterious and powerful in my gold, heavily jeweled mask, which is supposed to be part of the fun. Alice Brandon is a genius. And speak of the devil…I saw a short woman in a gorgeous yellow dress and matching mask making her way through the crowd towards me, a bright smile on her face. That was Alice, without a doubt.

"Bella!" She shouted, throwing her arms around me and squeezing tightly. Yes, this was the Alice I knew. "You look amazing." She said happily, releasing me and then looking me up and down. "I knew that dress would do wonders for your coloring."

"Thanks, Ali." I said, blushing as always. "You look perfect…you're the only person I know who could pull off that shade of yellow!"

Alice giggled and twirled around, her full skirt billowing out. "Thanks. Jasper likes it." She said coyly, and I almost gagged. She doesn't look it, but Alice is forty, two years older than I am. And Jasper, her 'male friend' is…um, significantly younger. Twenty nine years old, to be exact. But I do have to admit that they are one of the cutest couples I have ever seen. When Alice had first told me about the enchanting Jasper Whitlock, I had assumed that the both of them were looking for a fling and nothing more. But…it had been almost six months now, and they were still going strong.

As I thought of Alice and Jasper, I sighed inwardly. It had been months since my divorce, I was feeling more sexual than I ever had, and still I was alone. Men my age are usually married, and I'm not about to become the kind of woman to break up a marriage just, because I knew what it felt like to be cheated on.

"There he is! Jazz brought his friend Edward, too." Alice yanked on my hand and I jerked my head upwards to come face to face with a man that made me…tingle. That was really the only way I could describe the tiny jolts of electricity going through my body, as childish as that all sounded. Jasper was at his sight, and both of them wore tuxes and plain masks. "Hey, Ali." Jasper said, bending over slightly to kiss Alice on the lips. "And…Bella. Nice to see you again." He said, nodding towards me.

I smiled back, but I glanced at the other man out of the corner of my eye. Jasper and Alice both noticed, and they looked at each other with a noticeable gleam in their eyes.

"This is Edward. We went to college together." Jasper said, gesturing to the man beside him.

With a shy smile on my face, I stuck my hand out towards him. "Hi, I'm Bella Swan." I said, trying to make my voice sound at least remotely normal.

Edward smiled right back at me, his green eyes shimmering through the holes of his mask. "Hi, Bella. I'm Edward Cullen. It's nice to meet you." He said formally, shaking my hand. As our skin touched, I shivered at the feeling of electricity. But he didn't even seem to notice. The four of us talked for a little while, until Alice hurried off to play hostess and Jasper tagged along behind her.

I glanced up at Edward shyly, crossing my arms across my chest. As I looked at him, I had to keep reminding myself that he had gone to college with Jasper, meaning that he was probably twenty nine years old. Almost ten years younger than me. Alice was totally fine with a big age difference in her relationship with Jasper, but I wasn't sure if I could do that. Would we even have anything in common?

However, after a little conversation, it was obvious that Edward and I did have very much in common.

"Okay, no way. I don't know anybody else over the age of twenty who likes that movie." I laughed, poking fun at Edward's taste in movies.

He shrugged, seemingly unabashed. "It was playing at the movie theater and Victoria wanted to see it…so I sucked it up and ended up liking Hairspray." He laughed, taking a sip of his drink and then running his free hand through his hair. I laughed too, but then realized that he had mentioned this girl, Victoria, twice now.

"Who's Victoria?" I asked casually, praying that he wasn't married.

"My girlfriend." Edward said easily, and my heart sunk a little. Sure, he wasn't married, but my past experiences had taught me that no matter what stage of the relationship you were in. cheating was painful and unnecessary. So I just nodded and we continued our conversation like nothing had happened. But all the while, I noticed that it was a little harder to smile.

-----

And that was the first night I dreamt of Edward Cullen.

I felt like my senses were on overload as his tongue dragged along the skin of my neck, teasing and caressing. As I moaned and writhed underneath his solid body, Edward's hand tangled in my hair and he finally kissed me, our lips molding together as our tongues met beautifully. My body was burning, my fingertips aching to touch him and my lips desperate for his as we continued to kiss passionately.

I couldn't breathe as his hands lazily left my hair and trailed down my body, easily slipping under the hem of my lacy blue boy shorts and right to where I needed him most. I was so surprised by the sudden, but definitely welcome intrusion that I cried out loudly, bucking my hips up into his hand as two of his fingers easily slid inside of my body, twisting and curling up to find my g-spot, making me fall apart underneath of him.

My chest heaving, I sat up in bed suddenly, sweating and feeling dirtier than I ever had. Edward Cullen had just given me an orgasm in my dreams…literally. Groaning, I fell back onto my mattress, staring up at the ceiling and willing myself to forget about him.

September 27, 2010:

It really was nauseating to be sitting with Alice and Jasper. They've been dating for six months and now, they're engaged. I am happy for them, but it seems to be a little fast. I mean, I was with Mike for three years before we had gotten married. Then again…a lot of good that had turned out to be.

Shaking away my negative thoughts, I focused on trying to block Alice and Jasper's pure mushiness out of my mind. It was a little hard, considering I was sitting at their engagement party, celebrating the union to come. As I glanced away from them to look around the room, I spotted Edward Cullen coming in through the door. Right when I saw him, I felt like my body was burning and I just wanted to be around him. Catching his eye, I waved him over to the sofa Jasper and Alice and I were sitting on, but the smile on my face froze when I saw Edward leading a buxom red head through the crowded room.

When Edward and the red head made their way over to us, Alice and Jasper finally stopped kissing so that they could great their two new guests. "Edward! Victoria!" Alice hugged each of the easily, which surprised me. I knew that Alice had known Edward through Jasper for the last six months, but I had no idea that she even knew about Victoria.

I shook my head, mentally scolding myself for being so ridiculous. I had met Edward one time, talked to him one time. So what if we had hit it off? I still hardly knew him, he still had a girlfriend, and Alice still was closer to him than I was. After all, I knew that she had hung out with Jasper and Edward and some of their other friends plenty of times before.

Surprisingly enough, Edward seemed happy to see me. He hugged me and asked me how I was, and then introduced me to his girlfriend. Victoria seemed nice enough, but still not the kind of girl I had expected him to be with. I knew that Edward was insanely smart, and Victoria seemed a little spacey. But I stayed out of it, acting nice to both of them and chatting politely before excusing myself when I saw someone from work who I could talk to.

-----

His touch was creating a line of fire down my body, spiraling me rapidly towards a deep abyss of passion that I had never even neared. One look from him could easily set me over the edge, create a fire deep within me, and basically just drive me completely crazy.

What in the world was he doing to me?

I panted heavily as his heavily lidded eyes met mine in the dark, and could hardly breathe anymore when he licked his pink lips. Edward kissed me deeply on the lips before easily undressing me, and then himself. I didn't really register what was happening until I felt an extremely intense wave of pleasure course through my body, making me scream out his name without him having to do hardly anything. His soft, amused laugh brought me back, and I gazed up at him, disbelieving as he pushing himself into my body and we became one in the most primal of ways.

It was the most delicious thing- how he stretched me and made me feel things I had never really even imagined. I could feel myself losing control, but I kept fighting because I liked Edward making me feel so crazy and unglued and out of control. It felt good, almost too good for it to be true.

And then, just as the best part was about to come, I was suddenly alone.

I jolted awake; trying to regain control of my breathing as I once again gazed up at my ceiling in awe. It really was too good to be true.

-----

November 14, 2010:

"Did you hear that Edward and Victoria broke up?" Alice asked me, her high pitched voice muffled by the padded table as she talked through our massages.

My head flew up so that I could gape at my best friend, but my masseuse stopped rubbing my shoulders briefly to gently push my head back down into the padding. "Really?" I asked, settling for this form of talking. Alice was silent for a little while, but then spoke up.

"Mmm hmm. Jazz told me that he doesn't know why, but Edward just broke up with her. It's really weird…they're been dating for a few years now, and suddenly he just ups and leaves. Maybe he met someone else." Alice said thoughtfully, and I immediately felt a blush fly to my cheeks, and I was grateful that Alice couldn't see my face. How I wished that I could be that someone else. But I had to remind myself that just because I had been dreaming about him giving me intense orgasms didn't mean that he wanted me in anyway. It just meant that he was slowly making me lose my mind without even knowing it.

-----

This time, I'm forcing myself not to wake up. This is getting way too good.

I must have sounded like a crazy person, moaning and groaning at the top of my lungs as Edward pounded relentlessly into my body. I shrieked embarrassingly loudly as I tipped my hips up to meet his and our pelvic bones collided erotically. Even more spasms of pleasure racked my body as Edward started placing wet kisses all over my chest and collar bone. His own groans, sexier than anything I had ever heard, mixed with the noises I was making and created a sound that was entirely animalistic and all our own.

Close…I was so painfully close that I could practically taste it. I squeezed my eyes shut and felt pleasure begin to explode through my body, knowing that the next thrust of Edward's hips would have me falling completely and totally over the edge-

Once again, I woke up a moment too soon, only to realize that it was always just going to be a dream.

-----

December 31, 2010:

"Only four minutes until midnight!" Alice said excitedly, clutching onto her husband of exactly six days. "Who are you going to be kissing, Bella?" She asked teasingly, and I blushed scarlet. It had been a mistake, admitting to Alice that I had a crush on Edward. As I just stared down at my shoes, I felt Alice grip my hand. "Jasper, will you hurry and get me a drink before midnight?" She asked, and then nudged him away before he could even respond. "Bella, look, I know I've been teasing you…but why don't you just do it? You're not in your twenties; you don't play those silly games of seduction. You're thirty eight years old, and you know what you want. And Bella…" Alice grabbed my chin and forced me to look her in the eyes. "You'll do what needs to be done to get it."

She then released her grip on me and pushed me into the crowd. Trying to gather my courage, I tapped the straw of my drink against my plump lips, surveying the loud, crowded room. I was not at all fazed by the pulsing music and the clamor of bodies all around me, nor did I care that people were starting to count down to the strike of twelve.

I know what I want, and I'll do what needs to be done to get it.

And then I saw him, with ten seconds left until the start of the New Year. I pushed through the crowd anxiously, towards the man I had fantasized about for three months, who I had dreamed about for three months, and who I had wanted for three months.

Right as I heard fireworks go off, right as I heard screaming, I reached Edward, throwing my arms around him and kissing him with all that I had without even a second thought.


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