Title: Criminal Behavior
Author: Skanky Frankie
Rating: M
Notes: Thank you for the reviews! Edward is twenty-one in this story... Obviously, Edward is way more mature than Bella in the books, considering the fact that he technically had over 100 years on her. Bella is seventeen in this story.
2
"What happened to you?" Jessica Stanley cried, the next morning when Bella got to school. It had been a long night, and she hadn't been able to retire to her bedroom, let alone get her phone onto the charger well past midnight. Charlie had been pretty hard on her - staying out late, ignoring the fact that her car was having some problems... He laid into her pretty well, which she knew was hard for him. However, he came to a pretty great conclusion that pleased him very much.
"You're going to fix the car. While you were getting all of you stuff out of it, I talked to that Cullen kid. Nice guy, if not a little rough around the edges." Charlie glared at her over the kitchen table, like he was interrogating some suspect. "He's agreed to take the car to his shop. And he's going to help you fix your car."
"What?!" Bella cried. "I can't fix a car." Not to mention, she added mentally, get dirty in the process. She knew that oil and grease was pretty hard to get out from beneath her fingernails...
"Well, you're going to learn," Charlie had said with finality. "Now go to bed. End of discussion." And Bella had trouped upstairs, stomping her feet the whole way. She wasn't excited about this - actually, it rather infuriated her. Once Jessica found out that she was going to fix her own car, not just have someone else do it... She'd never hear the end of it. There was also the fact that she was grounded, except for school and the garage. Which meant that no way was she going to be going to Mike Newton's party.
"I had some car troubles," Bella replied sheepishly as they crossed the schoolyard to the Spanish room. It was a little bit chillier today, and Bella was wrapped in a warm hoodie and cute little sweats. Her lazy day clothes, to match th messy ponytail on top of her head. Jessica was wearing jeans and a hoodie also - the closest she got to lazy day apparel. "Charlie had to come and save me, and he got real mad."
"He didn't ground you, did he?" Jessica's face was suddenly panic-stricken.
Bella gulped and nodded, her face turning beat red with embarrassment. Jessica prided herself in being able to talk any adult out of what they wanted to do, and hadn't been grounded since she was in sixth grade. It was a mortal sin to be grounded - it meant that she wouldn't be out and about in the Forks social scene.
"Unacceptable!" Jessica cried, throwing open the classroom door. Bella couldn't agree more - she felt like the world's dumbest girl, ever. Not only was she going to miss the biggest party of the semester, which everyone would be talking about for ages, but she was also going to be replaced by someone. Which was almost as bad as having to work on a stupid car all day with an unbearably attractive guy.
Edward Cullen was the only perk of the afternoon. The fact that she was going to be covered in gross substances by the end of her day, stuck in a boring mechanic shop, was only redeemed because Edward Cullen was such a pleasure to look at. She didn't want to tell Jessica about that. No matter how how a guy was, if he wasn't a university student, didn't drive a nice car, and came from - literally, because in Forks was really was the divider between the nice part of town and the bad one - wrong side of the tracks... Well, it would be a cardinal sin to let him even look at her twice, let alone hang out in his place of business for an afternoon.
Sighing, Bella followed her friend to their seats in class, thankful that the bell had rang. She opened her books and tried to push the thoughts of this afternoon out of her mind.
Edward was waiting for her, though he didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to think about the fact that he couldn't keep her out of his mind - those eyes, the long, silky curls, the legs... He shook his head, slamming down the hood of an old rusty truck with too much force. He heard his sister in law, Rosalie Cullen, flinch across the room. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a long plait, a baseball cap pulled low over her face. She was startlingly beautiful, with perfect feautures and an amazing body. It was hard for most people to believe that she chose to fix cars for a living - but like Edward, she had a true passion and almost instinctual talent to know just how to make it run better. A natural born problem solver, just like him.
"Don't take it out on the car," she teased, a radiant smile on her face. "It didn't invite the sheriff's daughter to come and get her hands dirty... No, that was you."
Edward rolled his emerald eyes skyward, wishing that Emmett had picked anyone but Rosalie to be his wife. But he knew that if any woman could tame his wild, muscular brother, it was her. She was different than most girls, strong and blunt, with an angel face to soften the rudeness.
"Yes, tease me because I was trying to be nice," he grumbled, wiping his hands on the blue overalls he wore. He glanced at the clock - it was three thirty, and Isabella Swan would be there any moment. He glanced in the window to the office, catching his reflection. His hair was untamable, as always, and he looked like he had been working since eight o'clock in the morning. There was no way to change that.
Shaking his head, he walked over to the white BMW. It was surprisingly spotless - most girls' cars he saw were messy, coffee cups still in the holders, clothes strewn in the backseat. There was nothing to signal anything about her in the vehicle, except for the empty CD case sitting on the passenger seat. He squinted through the glass to read the cover - The Beatles. One of his favorites. But it wasn't any key to say that she was some silly teenage girl, jailbait really, tempting him. It said that she liked a band that almost everyone enjoyed.
He opened the driver's door, leaning down to pull the hook to release the hood. He inhaled deeply, smiling. The car smelled like flowers, freesia's. He thought he had caught the smell of something floral last night in the bar, a refreshing scent. Most of the women smelled like nail-polish remover, the smell of alcohol for him, and overpowering perfumes like Obsession or White Diamonds. This was just a natural smell, he decided. Not a perfume or body spray.
He straightened up, closing the door, and found little Isabella Swan standing at the hood of the car. She was much less tempting, swaddled in cotton sweats and a hoodie, the top of her color bones peeking over the top of the zipper. Her hair was messy, wisps curling around her face gently.
"Not really great work clothes," he said, grinning at her in amusement. He could see the heat flood her cheeks, and she glanced at her sneakers. "It's ok, I have a spare overall for you." He gestured at the big blue mass of fabric hanging on a hook by the office door.
"Thanks," she said, glancing around.
"Bathroom is there," Edward said, nodding in the direction of a small doorway. Ever since Rosalie joined the payroll, they kept the bathroom a lot neater. He wasn't embarassed to send her in there.
She disappeared quickly, leaving her purse on the hook. Edward waited patiently, pulling the hood open. He heard the door click open after a long moment, and glanced over his shoulder. The overall was far too big. Her hands were lost in the long sleeves, and it gaped open in the front, where she had left it unbuttoned to reveal the sheer white wifebeater. She looked severely irritated, her pale cheeks flsuhed.
Edward swallowed hard at the sight of her. His mouth was practically watering at the sight of her bra, hot pink through the thin material. She was breath-taking, even with her figure swimming inside of the shapeless material.
"I look stupid," she grumbled, trying to push her sleeves up. Edwrd chuckled, shaking his head.
"You look - fine," he said, trying to even out his voice. He could hardly believe that this high school girl was making his body blaze. She wasn't even doing anything, not intentionally. Just... breathing in front of him was enough.
"All right, lets get this started," she said, casting a longing glance at the clock. Edward gritted his teeth, trying to hide the way his body was reaction. He was glad to have the car to lean against, pressing his painfully hard cock against the body of the car, hiding it. He sighed, and gestured for Isabella Swan to look over the car with him. It was going to be a long day, he thought wistfully. A long, hard day.
Bella watched as Edward explained the things under the hood. He gestured with long, elegant though grease stained fingers over the parts, explaining all of them to her in a calm, velvety voice. She was having a hard time concentrating. Cars were not terribly important. She knew all she needed to know for next time - when the little oil light came on, it meant take it to the shop. If she had known that this beautiful guy would be there, she would have done so eagerly.
But being on this side of the shop, listening to his hypnotic voice... It was making her feel funny.
"I'm leaving," the tall, beautiful blonde called. The shop closed at five, which meant that they had been working on her car for a while. Edward nodded, then glanced at Bella. She was leaning against the car, resting her head on her hand, her elbow on the body of the car. Her eyes met his emerald ones, which were blazing with undefined emotion.
"I should probably close all this up," he said, and Bella sighed. It wasn't like she had a lot else to do, other than her homework. Listening to Edward for a while longer would be heaven compared to coming home to cook Charlie's supper...
"Oh, ok." She couldn't help the reluctance in her voice.
"You're dad being rough?" Edward asked, smiling the crooked smile that made her heart thump against her chest.
"Um, kinda... I'm grounded, apart from coming here." She shrugged, feeling the shoulder of her overall slip down, revealing her shoulder. She didn't bother to push it back up, as it had been slipping down all afternoon long. She glanced up into his face, and saw him biting his lip, staring at her exposed flesh. Her body flushed red, and she gazed at his hands. They were tightly clenching the edge of the car.
Frowning, she wondered if she had said something wrong. But as quickly as the moment happened, Edward changed. He motioned for her to move away, and quickly closed the hood of her car.
"I'll give you a ride home," he said. Bella nodded, and went back into the bathroom to change into her sweats. She felt heat everywhere, a strange ache between her legs. She had never felt like sleeping with anyone before - not even after kissing Mike Newton the one time, she hadn't wanted to sleep with him. It had been a wet, disgusting kiss, which she pretended to enjoy and relived to all of her girlfriends enthusiastically. But it hadn't set her on fire like just gazing at Edward did.
She almost wanted to splash her face with water, but thought that if she was in the bathroom any longer, Edward would leave without her. She exited, and hooked the overalls back on the hook, grabbing her purse.
Eward was changed also, wearing worn jeans and a T-shirt that clung to the muscles in his arms and shoulders deliciously. His bronze hair was a mess, like he had just rolled out of bed... or like she had been tugging on it roughly...
"Ready?" he asked, smiling as she flushed - maybe because she was turning red. Bella nodded, not trusting her voice. He lead her though the office, hitting the buttons so that the gigantic garage doors slowly, loudly rolled shut. He grabbed his keys from behind the desk, and locked the door as they left. The only car left in the lot was a silver Volvo. The doors were unlocked, and as Bella slipped into the passenger seat, she realized it was meticulously clean. It was a nice surprise - messes made her strangely uneasy.
He started the engine, and loud music blasted from the speakers. He turned it down so that it was barely a whisper in the background.
"You live over on Jenks, right?" Edward asked, pulling onto the slow streets. Forks was a small town, and most of the people in it were home. There wasn't even a Wal-Mart in Forks, let alone a hot-spot for after work martini's.
"Yes," Bella replied. She relaxed in her seat, feeling oddly comfortable with him behind the wheel. She didn't know if it was because he knew so much about cars, or if it was just because he seemed like such a safe guy. Safe as in strong, protective... But dangerous looking, dangerous to her nerves and body... A girl could really lose herself in his emerald eyes.
"So... Did you have a nice day at school?" he asked, his liquid velvet voice giving her the urge to shiver.
"Um, I guess," she replied. "My friend Jessica was pretty pissed that I got grounded and everything." Bella shrugged her shoulders, wondering why she was even telling him this. He was definitely not interested in her simple high school life, the silly things she went through. She was seventeen, and he had to be at least twenty - one...
"She's mad?" Edward asked, pausing at a stop sign.
"There was this party we were going to go to this weekend... But now she has to find someone else to go with. I ruined her perfectly laid plans," Bella explained, letting the acid leak into her voice. "Which is not even my fault. How was I supposed to know that the oil thingy meant my car was on its death bed?"
Edward chuckled, shaking his head. He pulled up to the curb, and Bella realized that she was home. With reluctance, she unfastened her seat belt. "I'll see you tomorrow then," she said, smiling nervously. He cleared his throat, nodded.
"Yep. Um, I hope you have a better day tomorrow," he added, and Bella felt her heart flutter again, her shoulders sag. How nice, she thought. He's taking pity on me. Stupid Bella, she scolded herself. "Bye, Isabella."
"It's Bella," she corrected him, before swiftly climbing out of the car. She bumped her head on the roof, but ignored the pain as she slammed the door closed. She swiftly climbed up the yard, the front porch, and into her house. She didn't need anyone's pity, especially Edward Cullen's.
