Ch 3
Bella
"Holy crap!"
Seeing all the cameras in our faces, I immediately wanted to run back into restaurant and hide in the booth with Edward forever. That was until Edward wrapped his arm around my shoulders to protect me from the onslaught of questions and flashes being thrown at us from all directions. He tucked me in to his body and with a "come with me" whispered in my ear, directed us towards his car. I was so happy he took over in that instant; the yelling and bright lights were so overwhelming. Is this what he deals with on a daily basis? No wonder he seems so guarded and private.
Edward got us safely inside the Volvo. I never noticed before how dark the windows were tinted. I bet the paparazzi couldn't even see us from out there.
Running his hand through his bronze hair Edward turned to me and said, "I am so sorry about that. They didn't touch you did they?" Pure concern was etched all over his face.
"No, I'm pretty sure they couldn't have, the way you had your arm around me." I tried to reassure him of my safety by keeping it light. Apparently I didn't succeed.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that..." he looked down as his hands that were ringing in his lap.
"Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that, it was nice." I blushed, "I felt completely safe in the middle of all that chaos, thanks to you."
"Yeah, but you wouldn't have been in that situation if it wasn't for me," he continued to worry aloud.
"Edward, look at me," I said and he slowly turned to face me. "I had a great time with you tonight..."
"You did?"
"Of course, what made you think I didn't?" Was he insane?
He looked out the windshield before answering, "I don't know. I just feel like the paparazzi ruined our perfect getaway," he grimaced as he mentioned the paparazzi. It must really take a toll on him to have to deal with that all the time.
"They were a little unexpected, that's all. I really did have a great day with you." By this time we were already headed in the direction of my house. Edward seemed deep in thought, his eyebrows knit together and he kept tapping his chin with his forefinger.
"Do you have a driveway?" He asked as he looked at me. His face lit up by the dim light of the dashboard. I was immediately lost in a daydream of him by candlelight in a romantic restaurant. I was pulled from my dream by Edward clearing his throat.
"Uh, what?" I squeaked, causing Edward to laugh and repeat his question.
"Yeah, why?" I answered as I felt my cheeks turn crimson.
"Is there a garage?"
"Yes, it's in the backyard. Why?" I started to become really curious, what did it matter if I had a garage?
"Do you have a roommate?"
"Yes."
"Do you trust her?"
"Yea... It's Alice, from Starbucks. Why? What's up with the 20 questions?"
"I'm just trying to figure out a way of dropping you off without the guys following us knowing," he explained, looking in the rearview mirror.
"Oh" I said turning around to see who was following us. "How can you tell?" I asked. It just looked like regular traffic behind us to me.
"Watch this," he smirked as he quickly turned right onto a side street. Sure enough three cars followed us onto that street. He repeated this three more times, each time the cars followed quickly behind.
"Wow, I didn't even see them back there," I said as I turned back around in my seat.
"Yeah, you get to know their cars after a while."
"Isn't that creepy, people following you around all the time?" I shivered at the thought of someone following me.
"It's usually the same guys every night," he replied, "so it's not so bad. You get to know them after a while, and I've learned if you give them a little here and there they'll generally leave you alone. There are some that are more cut throat than others." It sounded like he didn't want to elaborate farther.
"Well, how about I call Alice and have her put her car in the street so you can use the driveway?" I suggested getting my phone out of my purse.
"Perfect." He gave me a panty-dropping smirk that I'm sure he must use for all the magazines. It was quickly becoming my favorite of his facial expressions. I called to relay the plans to Alice and she said everything would be ready for us by the time we got there.
A few minutes later I pointed out our house to Edward and without signaling he made a quick turn into our driveway, cut his headlights and pulled into the garage. Alice was standing in the shadows and closed the garage door before we had a chance to get out of the car.
"Thanks, Alice!" I said as I climbed out of the car and headed over to give her a hug.
"No prob. I like covert missions," she said as she aimed her gaze at Edward.
"Right, introductions, Alice this is Edward, Edward this is Alice." I said.
"Nice to meet you," he said shaking her hand, always the gentleman.
"You too... unlike my recluse roommate I've actually seen some of your movies, you're really good."
"Thanks." Edward replied shyly.
"Ok, now that's over with, how are we going to get out of the garage?" I asked.
"I'll go first," Alice said, "When it's clear I'll blink the back porch light once."
"When we come out of the garage, make sure the light is off. They won't be able to get a shot if the yard is dark," Edward explained.
"Sure" Ali said as she left the garage.
I looked out the window as Alice walked to the house, taking a good look down the driveway. I felt Edward come up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. "Ya know, I never did tell you that I had a great time tonight too." His soft breath brushed against my ear.
I turned my head to look back at him, and he was so close my nose skimmed his chin. His small stubble tickled me, causing a small giggle to escape my lips. He was right there... if I just leaned in a little bit we'd be kissing. The problem was once we started I don't know if I could stop myself. I didn't exactly want our first kiss to be me attacking him in my weird smelling garage.
"That's such a beautiful sound," he whispered and tucked my hair behind my ear.
From the corner of my eye I saw the porch light flash, causing me to blink and step back a little. "Um... the light." Wow, way to go, I sound like I can barely speak English. That's what this man did to me. But in my defense I was standing next to the hottest man in America and I was pretty sure he was about to kiss me. What was I thinking breaking that up?
"Right, we should head in there," he said, opening the door for me as Alice turned the light off so we could cross the backyard. I walked out and peeked down the driveway and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Edward was right behind me with his hand on my lower back. We crossed the yard and made it safely into the house without being seen.
We walked into the living room and sat down on the couch while Alice sat on the chair by the window. She already closed all the windows and curtains and locked the doors. "I don't think you need to go that far Alice, they're not going to walk right in the house," I joked. "Are they even out there?"
"There's a few cars parked on the street that aren't normally there," she said.
Edward got up and looked out. "Yup that's them."
"I bet it was the waitress," I blurted out.
"What?" he looked completely confused by my random thought.
"The waitress," I repeated. "I bet it was her who tipped off those guys," I said pointing out the window.
"Her?"
"You didn't see her looking at you?" I snorted. "It was rather pathetic," I continued to explain to Alice. "She all but stripped and laid down on the table for him."
"She wasn't that bad."
"She tried to give you her number!"
"What a skank." Alice chimed in.
"I've learned to block that kind of stuff out." Edward sighed as he sat down on the couch next to me.
"How long will they be out there?" Alice changed the subject as she peered out the window at the guys camped out on our curb.
"It's hard to say. Some will stay as long as I do, others will get bored and leave," he explained. "But because they don't know who you are, they will probably stay to see when or if I leave. If you're really lucky, they won't stay after I leave to follow you tomorrow morning."
"Me?" I squeaked. "Why?" I jumped up and began pacing. I always pace when I'm nervous. Charlie still swears I wore a hole in the carpet the night before my high school prom. I haven't lived that one down yet.
"Because you, dear Bella, went out on a date with America's most eligible bachelor," Alice chimed in from across the room. This stopped me dead in my tracks, so Edward pulled me onto his lap.
"I know we really didn't get to talk about this, but I had a really great time with you tonight, and I'd love to go out with you again," he said as he pushed my hair behind my ear.
"Me too," I admitted feeling like a school girl.
"Are you sure? Those guys out there are a part of my life. Do you really want to have them following you around?" he asked. "I'll do all I can to keep us away from them, but eventually they're going to find us and it will likely be more cameras than there were tonight."
"They don't matter. It might sound cliché, but I like you and you seem to like me, so…" I trailed off.
"You got that right."
"Well aren't you two just cute?" Alice chimed in from across the room.
"I'm just going to go and give you two some privacy." Alice winked and walked out of the room.
"Subtle, Alice" I mumbled.
"I see why you two get along so well," Edward joked.
"Yeah, she's like the more vocal version of me."
"You can say that again," he chuckled.
"This seems kind of weird under the circumstances, but can I have your number?" I asked.
"Yeah, sure. I can't believe we've already been on a date and had our first encounter with the tabloids, it's like we've done things backwards." Edward picked me up off his lap and sat me on the couch so he could get his phone out of his pocket.
"Sorry, I was probably squishing you." I took his phone from him and started to put my number in.
"Not at all; I liked having you on top of me."
I quirked my eyebrow. "Really?"
"Oh, uh… well yeah…" he stumbled along.
"I'm just kidding," I said as I handed his phone back. "You walked right into that one."
"I did." He replied looking at my number in his phone, "Why just 'B'?"
I shrugged. "In case anyone sees your phone, they don't know who 'B' is."
"You're getting pretty good at this stuff," he complimented me as he put his arm around my shoulder.
"I've got a good teacher."
An hour later we were still sitting on the couch, his arm around me, my head resting on his shoulder. We basically played a game of 20 questions. It started off with innocent questions about our past and quickly morphed into our most embarrassing sexual encounters. Luckily for me he had a ton of hilarious stories from the many movie sets he's been on, and we never got to my experiences. I had tears in my eyes when he told me about the director that yelled at him because he had an obvious erection in the church scene.
I was just about to get up and check to see if the paparazzi were still camped out on my curb when he gently took my chin and turned it towards his face. Once again we were nose to nose, this time on a comfortable couch.
I looked into his now dark green eyes and watched as he looked down to my lips in silent question. I bit my lower lip and nodded slightly.
We were just about to make out like teenagers when I heard Alice sing, "Oh Bella!"
I reluctantly tore my eyes from Edward's and rested my forehead against his. "Yes Alice," I rasped as I struggled to catch my breath. We hadn't even kissed yet and he had me all out of breath. Alice didn't answer me right away, so I turned towards the door where I found her staring at us. I knew that look on her face. It was the 'you're-going-to-tell-me-everything-later-whether-you-like-it-or-not' look.
Edward pulled back and started to fidget like we were caught with our fingers in the cookie jar.
"Come on in Alice, we're just sitting here talking," I said patting the couch for her.
"Uh huh," she said, completely not believing a word I said.
I looked at Edward for some backup, but from the smirk on his face, it didn't look like I was going to get any. "No really, we were just talking."
"With your faces centimeters apart? That's pretty impressive," Alice teased.
Busted. "Fine, believe what you want," I huffed turning a nice shade of red. Alice loved to tease me; it was her goal in life to see how embarrassed she could make me.
Alice turned to leave but stopped and poked her head back in the room with a wicked grin on her face, "The condoms are in the second drawer on the left."
