As I spent what little time I had left of the night walking home, I contemplated what excuse I could use to spend time with her. I remembered her trip to Seattle and I decided that, because Bella was obviously was a magnet for accidents and danger in general, it wouldn't be in her best interest to go alone. I would offer her a ride.
The next morning, as I arrived at school in my silver Volvo, carting the rest of my family, I looked around for the red Chevy. I didn't see it, so I parked in the first spot I saw. As the rest of my family scrambled to get out of the car, I took my time. Slowly removing my key from the ignition and ejecting the CD from the stereo, I wasted as much time as possible waiting for Bella to arrive.
My family - with the exception of Rosalie, of course - were all rather tolerant of my recent decision. I wouldn't be ignoring my seemingly random fixation with a human girl, and while most of them were incredulous at my obsession, they didn't make it a big deal. So, they quickly left the vicinity of the car, letting me do what they knew I wished. I ignored Rosalie's hissing and harsh thoughts.
At last, I heard the loud rumble that alerted me to her entrance get close. I looked up from my stalling just in time to see her drive past my car. She parked as far away as possible. Probably on purpose. Our last conversation was not all that pleasant, and I had trapped her here for an extra few minutes yesterday afternoon.
I finally got out of my car and raced too quickly to her truck. Although I tried to be as removed as possible, I was eager to ask her. I got there just as she was stepping out of the cab. She fumbled with her keys and dropped them into a puddle. I bent down to pick them up and I surprised her, as my white hand flashed out, grabbing them before she could. She jerked upright.
"How do you do that?" she asked, irritated, not really pleased to see me.
"Do what?" I asked, as I dropped her keys into her outstretched hand.
"Appear out of thin air."
"Bella, it's not my fault if you are exceptionally unobservant."
She scowled at me. I just looked back at her, patiently. Suddenly, she looked down.
"Why the traffic jam last night?" she demanded. "I thought you were supposed to be pretending I don't exist, not irritating me to death."
"That was for Tyler's sake, not mine. I had to give him his chance." I couldn't help myself. I snickered.
"You…" she gasped. She looked furious. It was very amusing.
"And I'm not pretending you don't exist." Not anymore, that is.
"So you are trying to irritate me to death? Since Tyler's van didn't do the job?"
That wasn't funny. She should know by now that her death wasn't my goal.
"Bella, you are utterly absurd."
Bella scowled at me and then turned on her heel, walking angrily away from me.
"Wait," I called. I still wanted to ask her to Seattle, even though it looked very unlikely that she would accept. I caught up to her in the rain, and matched her human pace. "I'm sorry, that was rude," I said, as she continued sloshing along. "I'm not saying it isn't true, but it was rude to say it, anyway."
"Why won't you leave me alone?" she grumbled. I couldn't even answer that question for myself.
"I wanted to ask you something, but you sidetracked me," I chuckled, evading her question.
"Do you have a multiple personality disorder?"
"You're doing it again."
I heard her sigh. "Fine then. What do you want to ask?"
"I was wondering if, a week from Saturday - you know, the day of the spring dance -"
At that moment she wheeled around toward me, serious annoyance flashing in her eyes as she looked up at me. "Are you trying to be funny?" she interrupted me.
I stifled a burst of laughter that threatened to explode. I didn't mean for it to come out quite that way.
"Will you please allow me to finish?"
She stayed silent, biting her lip.
"I heard you were going to Seattle that day, and I was wondering if you wanted a ride."
The shock on her face told me she was not expecting that.
"What?"
"Do you want a ride to Seattle?" I repeated.
"With you?" She was obviously still surprised.
"Myself, obviously. "
"Why?"
"Well, I was planning to go to Seattle in the next few weeks, and, to be honest, I'm not sure if your truck can make it. " That sounded reasonable enough.
"My truck works just fine, thank you very much for your concern." She started walking away again, and I easily kept up with her once more.
"But can your truck make it there on one tank of gas?" I asked, still trying, subtly, to convince her to come with me.
"I don't see how that is any of your business," she snapped.
"The wasting of finite resources is everyone's business."
"Honestly, Edward." She paused here and it made me wonder what she was thinking. "I can't keep up with you. I thought you didn't want to be my friend."
Oh. So, that's what she thought. "I said it would be better if we weren't friends, not that I didn't want to be."
"Oh, thanks, now that's all cleared up," she said, as we stopped walking. We were under the cafeteria roof now. She looked up at me.
I looked down into her surprisingly deep brown eyes. "It would be more…prudent for you not to be my friend," I explained. "But I'm tired of trying to stay away from you Bella."
I couldn't stop myself. Something about the way her eyes widened and her cheeks reddened when she looked at me made it hard to stay in denial. I hadn't forgotten, however, that she hadn't given me an answer yet.
"Will you go with me to Seattle?" I asked, again, unable to curb my intensity. I waited for her to speak.
She never did. Instead, she just nodded.
I couldn't stop myself from smiling. She said yes. But, I knew I had to warn her.
"You really should stay away from me," I said, seriously. "I'll see you in class."
And then I turned away from her and walked away.