Disclaimer: SM owns Twilight and the Twilight characters. SM owns the names, but these characters are mine. No copyright infringement is intended here. Edward, Jake, Bells, and Renee belong to SM.

Hi, this is my first attempt at writing anything other than English assignments. Enjoy and review, every comment and critique is greatly appreciated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Kiss ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a kiss. Not sexual, not romantic in any way really, but it was a kiss none the less. It was a kiss that did things to me it should not have. He is my husband's best friend. My husband… my Jake. We have been married for 10 years now. We have two beautiful sons. Our relationship is solid and I love him very much. He is steady and respectful. He doesn't go out with his buddies or take his responsibilities lightly. I don't have to worry about where he is or what he is doing. He is loyal and strong and a good provider. He is everything you would want in a husband. He is home and safety and comfort and… Jake. I have no rational reason to feel the way I do, but here I sit reminiscing about lips on my forehead that do not belong to him.

Jake and I met when we were children. I actually grew up with a crush on him. He would swear today that he had no idea, but let's just get one thing straight right now. He knew and he loved watching me squirm. He has always had this power over me. This charm that completely disarmed me and made forget to be angry or disappointed. I knew very early on that I was lucky to have him and I would do whatever it took to keep him. The problem, and when I say problem I mean the minor inconvenience, was that Jake knew he had this power. As strong and loyal as he was, Jake was a normal guy. He ran a little on the selfish side and wasn't the type to bend over backwards for you simply because you were about to start or something. If there was a problem, he was there, but if you were just being a girl, he wasn't always the most sensitive thing around. During those times, those times when I felt that love should just be something more, Jake used his charming self to make me forget I wanted something else. Never the less, I often found myself wanting something else. Whenever I would start to long for passion or a deeper connection, I would remind myself of all of the wonderful things Jake was and the words of wisdom my mother always said when I complained.

"Honey, Jake is a man. You are looking for something out of a book and you need to remember that those men are written by women. If you want a relationship like that, your only option is to become a lesbian."

Yeah, thanks mom.

As insightful as my mother could be, there was a major flaw in her theory. You see, I knew those men existed. I had watch one grow up right alongside Jake and I. He was by no means as stable and safe as Jake, he was by no means a better pick when it came time to settle down; he was not everything you would want in a husband. No, Edward was something else entirely.

Growing up, Edward was Jake's opposite. While Jake held down a steady job all through high school and spent his free time rebuilding his very hot '78 Camero, Edward took part in all night coke binges and hooked up with strippers. While Jake put his hard earned money in a savings account by his own accord, Edward spent his drug dealings on tats and said strippers. How they maintained the closeness they had was beyond me and while I longed to snag Jake's attention, I secretly harbored lusty bad-boy fantasies about Edward. Eventually I grew some boobs and caught Jake's eye. To say my dad was thrilled is a complete understatement. Jake had my dad wrapped around his finger and with me wrapped around his dick; the deal was pretty much done. We got married 20 days before my Twentieth birthday and have been in safe and secure wedded bliss ever since. Edward was there for every moment of it, being all cool and bad and sexy as hell.

So, here it is ten years later and while so much as stayed the same, quite a bit has changed. Jake is still responsible and likes to work on his cars (a truck now that I swear sometimes he would like to have sex with). He owns a shop and spends his days and a lot of his nights tweaking hotrods and over-priced Hemies to get the best times at the drag. He is really good at what he does and has built a reputation that enables us to live a nice life. I am still me, I read a lot, work full-time, and over extend myself at every possible turn. We take care of our house and our children and when the day is done, we regularly have some pretty hot sex. (Regularly: 10 years of marriage definition: three times a week if I have had time to shave my legs in the shower that morning. Hot: 10 years of marriage definition: we already know what gets each other off, so we don't waste time with foreplay. We are very busy, you know.) We don't really talk about anything personal or hold hands or cuddle or leave each other notes. Even though we are friends on Facebook, I don't think either of us has posted anything on each other's wall in a few months. Hell, I couldn't even tell you what his status is at the moment and I know he wouldn't know mine if I read it to him. All in all, Jake is the same man I married and I'm usually content with that. Edward on the other hand, there is a lot going on there. Once a reckless, drug addicted, getting tested every three months, stripper banger, he has settled down quite a bit. He's made a pretty good life for himself as a tattoo artist and has been clean for about seven years now. He and Jake are still best friends and those lusty bad boy fantasies still get me every now and then. Edward and I are really close, possibly closer than he and Jake. I mean, he subscribes to my Facebook feed and knows what is going on with my life on a day to day basis. Hell, when you think about it on those terms, I am closer to Edward than I am to Jake.

Edward and I have this weird connection. We make fun of each other and tell each other "Love ya" and I know we both actually mean it. We go out of our way to not sit next to each other and we never find ourselves in a room alone together for very long, one of us always finding an excuse to get back to the group or to find Jake. At one point, I found it odd, but now it's just the way it is and I've always tried not to question it. That ended yesterday afternoon. Yesterday afternoon, Edward kissed me.

It wasn't sexual, it wasn't romantic. It was Saturday. It was Saturday afternoon and I was asleep on the couch. I heard him knock on our front door and I heard Jake put down his video game to answer it. The conversation that came next made me a little sad.

"Is Bells asleep? Is she ok? Sick or something? That's not like her, man."

"Yeah, she's sick. She was throwing up earlier today. I don't know, I think she fell asleep about an hour ago."

"Is she running a fever?"

"I don't know man, she's sick so probably."

"If she's running a fever, you should make sure she's drinking something. You don't want her to get dehydrated. That shit's really not good for you."

"Well, when she wakes up, I'll tell her to drink something. What the hell, have you been watching House or something? Chill out, she's just sleeping."

"Whatever. She never 'just sleeps'. I don't know. I guess it's just weird seeing her sick."

"No. It sucks seeing her sick. You know how much stuff we needed to do today? Now, I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to get anything done."

"You're a douche, man. Your girl is sick and you're worried about the stuff you're not getting done."

"The weekend is only two days. I've got a lot of shit to do."

"So why are you playing games, then? Get your ass up and do your shit."

So right there is the difference between Jake and Edward. While Jake was playing his game worrying about missing out on weekend laundry, getting the bills in order, mowing the backyard, washing the ceiling fans, and power washing the driveway, Edward was worried I would get dehydrated from puking my guts up all morning and running a fever. While Edward probably wouldn't have considered doing those things even if I wasn't sick, Jake couldn't get passed the idea that because I was sick it couldn't get done. That is not what did me in, though.

After Jake took a seat and resumed his game, Edward came up beside me and rubbed his hand up and down my back until I opened my eyes.

"Hey there, you ok?"

"Hey Edward, I'm fine. Got a bug from one of the boys."

And then, it happened. He kneeled down on the floor beside where I was laying and pressed his lips to my forehead. I couldn't do anything; I just stared up at him and got lost in what had just taken place. I had never felt his lips before. I had stared at them, but have never felt them. They were soft and kind of cool. He smiled down at me and stood up. Slapping Jake across the head, he went towards our kitchen. He came back a moment later with two pills and a glass of ice water.

"Here, take these and drink that whole glass of water."

"Thank you, but I'm not thirsty. I'm too cold to drink ice water, anyway. I really appreciate it, though."

"I don't give a shit if you're not thirsty. You are cold because you have a fever. Take these and drink that whole glass of water, ok?"

"Umm… Ok."

He watched as I took the pills and drank the whole glass of water. It made me really cold and I was shaking by the time I had gotten it all down. Edward took the glass from my hand and nudged me so I would lie back down. He put the blanket back over my shoulders and pushed my feet out of the way so he could sit down beside me on the couch. Turning back to Jake, they started discussing how far along he had made it through the game.

I drifted back to sleep and when I woke up, Edward was gone. Jake was still playing the game and I was covered in sweat. The pills Edward had given me had broken my fever and after a nice shower, I was feeling like myself again.

I don't know how to bring this up to Jake, but I think something should be said about what went on yesterday. I'm just not exactly sure what it was or why I'm so upset/happy/disappointed/giddy about it. I do know that I hope it is a while before Edward drops by again, I'm not sure I can look him in the eye right now without blushing. The bad boy is always hot, but when the bad boy becomes sweet, what's a girl to think?