A/N I only own the plot eveerything else is Stephanie Meyers magic
We wandered out of the house through the kitchen door in complete silence. I shot a glance up at Edward through my lashes and was surprised to see him muttering silently to himself, as if he was having a mental argument and it concerned me somewhat after hearing what had happened in his past. We walked down to the creek that ran behind the Cullens house and he guided me to a large flat rock that turned out to be perfect for sitting on. Edward helped me onto the rock before lowering his long limbs and sitting beside me but as far away as possible. I felt my irritation prick again, it confused me because normally I am extremely hard to provoke, but I remain silent and wait for him to speak and when he does my heart constricts at the sound of his glorious voice. It was so full of pain and angst and it made me want to cradle him against my chest and rock him but I restrained myself, sitting on my hands to prevent me from doing just that.
"You heard most of this sad tale from Emmett no doubt." Edward muttered, turning his head away from me so that he was staring out into the darkness. I nodded before realising he couldn't actually see me so I said "Yeah he said some pretty sad stuff but I want to hear it from you. It's your story after all and I figured that there is more to it than even your parents know." This made his head jerk toward me and he smiled wryly saying "Yeah, there is but I'm warning you that it is really bad." I nodded and said "Well I got the cliff notes version back at the house, tell me." He bobbed his head and said "Okay, fine. How much did Emmett tell you?" I huffed in slight annoyance and said "He said you're crazy smart, like genius level smart, he said that you fell into drugs and that you had some sort of mental breakdown." I knew that my words were harsh and that maybe I should tread a little easier with a guy that supposedly had mental snaps but he just sighed deeply running his fingers through his already tussled hair, patting his hands over his pockets as if searching for something, not finding it he started speaking
"Yeah, okay. I am smart, really smart and I don't mean to sound obnoxious I'm just telling you the truth. High school was boring, exceedingly so, and within two years I had was being scouted by colleges. My parents were so gloriously proud; Emmett was a sports star, I was a genius and Alice was showing amazing potential in her music. I met this young woman my first day at college. I was barely fifteen and she was a TA, gorgeous and for some reason she showed me way more attention than she probably should have, her name was Tanya. We hung out all the time and within the first month I was following her around like a lost fucking puppy. She was so enigmatic, you know, and I didn't know it at the time but she was addicted to crystal meth. She always seemed so normal to me so I ignored the rumours I heard but it wasn't long before they became too loud to ignore. She seemed so smart and I was in need of friends who didn't treat me like a complete freak because of my age, even my twin didn't know how to cope with me, how fucked up is that? A few of the other TA's hung out in Tanya's dorm we smoked weed and I tried E and even cocaine. I wasn't really into any of it; I was already panicky and a little paranoid so the drugs made it worse but I wanted to be accepted, like any 'normal' fifteen year old so I continued to do them. At first my grades weren't affected and I maintained an awesome grade point average. I avoided contact with my parents, not wanting to seem like a needy little kid in front of Tanya. I found myself inundated and things started to fall apart, I was going to classes and finishing everything but my personal life was suffering. I wound up in Tanya's bed and passed around between her friends, a luxury problem for a horny teenage boy but one that spread word that I was basically a whore throughout campus. It caused many of the fights that I ended up in, but I have always been a physical person you know working out and stuff, so I won most of them." He paused and I knew he wasn't telling me any of this to boast but to help me understand. He continued "I came home for Christmas that first year but I couldn't function in the normal environment that was my family so I decided that I wouldn't go back again. I limited calls home after that and tried to avoid them, they made me feel uncomfortable. The only place I felt comfortable was with Tanya and her friends and I was so relieved to be back with her. That lasted maybe six months when suddenly Tanya started acting odd, she stopped throwing parties and she seemed less herself than ever. She avoided me for about a week and I couldn't take it anymore so I went over to her dorm room. Her room was trashed; every draw and cupboard was torn open their contents strewn all over and Tanya was lying naked on her bed like I'd seen her do a million times except this time she had a needle hanging out of her arm and she was dead."
I heard myself gasp at the flat way he announced that, basically, his only friend had died. "Oh Edward, I'm so sorry." He shrugged and said "I've dealt with it, now anyways not so much back then. I fell well and truly off the wagon with her death. I took the stash of crank that she had lying beside her and a needle too. I figured I couldn't handle life without her, she was my line to sanity and now she was gone. I went back to my dorm room and prepared the crank and injected it the way I had seen her do too often. As the drug spread through my body I felt escape and freedom for the first time in a long time. I wanted out, but it obviously wasn't my time because my parents barged into my room and raced me to the hospital. I recovered, obviously, but something within me was broken. I was ordered to see a shrink and for a while that worked. Until I realised that they didn't understand what was happening any better than I did and they treated me like a normal sixteen year old when my IQ was higher than most of theirs combined. It was then I decided that I wasn't going to put up with their shit but that I was smart enough to try and deal with my 'illness' as I saw fit. I pitched a fit, I know overly dramatic but whatever, I wanted to come home and it was then that my parents decided to tell me that they were leaving Alaska. We argued and it was far from pretty, Dad told me that if I didn't get my shit together that they didn't want me around the other two. I was on day-release and I told him to shove his house and his stupid rules along with some other things that I will never speak about. I left that night and up until about a month ago I had never even considered coming home. So here we are almost three years, thousands of miles and millions of stories later and I find myself sitting on a large rock in my parents' yard spilling my past to a young woman who probably hasn't done a single thing wrong in her entire life."
His accurate assumption that I had never done anything wrong in my life had me blushing. I hated being seen as this vanilla girl, sweet and innocent and harmless; I wanted to be more than that and the only way I can think of to destroy that image was the tattooed gorgeous man sitting beside me. My voice startles us both as we sit there "It sucks that you had to go through that but it seems like you've moved on and hopefully it's for the better. I mean there is only up after you've been down so low." Even to my own ears these words seem trite and over-used and I wish I had've thought of better things to say but it's too late now. Edward smiles and says in a low voice "Yeah, up. Do you know what'd help with up?" I wrack my brain for a few seconds before saying "Nope." Making my lips pop on the 'p' and I feel my body blush when he says "Burying myself inside of your gorgeous body but I think we'd better not do that right now." And before I can control it I moan, mentally slapping myself across the forehead, dropping my eyes to my fingers as they pluck at an invisible thread on my jeans. Edward shifts uneasily on the rock next to me and says "Jesus Peaches, fuck, don't do that. I'm trying to do the right thing here." I nod but my brain has other ideas "What if I don't want you to do the right thing?" Edward moans and before I know it I'm flat on my back against the smooth rock and he is attacking my mouth and I'm giving as good as I'm getting. It wasn't until we hear our names being called that we pull apart and hastily rearrange our clothing and I'm glad of that fact when Esme rounds the bend in the path and spies us sitting on the rock.
I could tell that she is alarmed at the idea of Edward and I being alone but she is trying her damndest to not let it show. Out of the corner of my eye I see Edward's shoulders tense before drooping in defeat, I wanted to pull him into my arms but I settle for reaching out and holding his hand. I know Esme sees what I'm doing but I don't care. Everyone is going to have to get used to the idea of us together, not that we'd actually talked about that but it was still early and a girl can hope. Esme came to a stop about a metre away from us and said "Hey kids, um, I'm making an afternoon snack. Come inside and we'll eat." Edward and I look at one another and we smile, a tiny intimate smile, before getting off the rock, still hand in hand, and helping me get to my feet. The friction of my jeans against my heated skin had me sighing, it pressed against my clitoris and it made we want Edward to bury his fingers inside of me like before.
We entered the house behind Esme and I could tell from Alice's guilty expression that it had been her idea to send Esme out to find us. I sigh quietly and just shake me head sadly at her. I know she understands that we'll have to talk about it later and that I was disappointed that she hadn't trusted me enough to 'behave' myself. My conscious pricks me sharply with the reminder that if Esme hadn't come looking for us Edward and I probably would've been having sex outside on that flat rock. Our afternoon snack turned out to be savoury muffins and hot chocolate and when Esme put it all out, declining my offer of help, all of us charged like starving animals at the food. I was suddenly starving and I couldn't understand why. I mean I ate my fill; I never starved myself, but man I was starving. A knowing look from Alice had me raising one eyebrow in question before saying quietly "Hey Ali, what's that look for?" she just chuckled softly, checking to see where her mother was before saying "As much as I cringe at the thought, I know the feeling. Sex does that to you, it makes you starving because it's the best sort of workout." I felt myself blush so hot that I swear my cheeks could've started a forest fire and I stuttered "I… We… It wasn't… Alice we never had sex!" I hissed quietly. Alice shot me a condescending look before saying "But you wanted to right and don't even bother to tell me that he hasn't made you come." I flushed again, positive I'd never get rid of the colour staining my cheeks, before saying "Alice, seriously can we please not talk about this here! Your mother is across the table and I'm feeling really uncomfortable." Alice chuckled and said with a wickedly sexual glint in her eyes "Sure thing Bells. Don't stress, as much as I wished it wasn't Edward I'm glad you've found out some of what I've been telling you." A sharp clearing of someone's throat had us jumping, we both spun our heads but were grateful it was only Emmett but the angry/ embarrassed look he was giving us told me that he had heard way too much. I shook my head, grabbed my muffins and chocolate and followed Jasper and Rose from the kitchen.
Apparently while Edward and I had been outside talking the others had decided that we were watching movies for the afternoon. All the lounges were pushed back and massive squishy bean bags had been spread over the floor, I snagged one with my foot and attempted to drag it along without dropping my plate or cup and without falling flat on my face, but being the uncoordinated person I am it backfired. The bean bag stopped sliding and I found myself stumbling, I was able to put the cup down on a table before I was falling unrestrainedly into the leather bean bag. Laughter followed my wonderful display of ungainliness but it stopped when a deep voice said "Cut that fucking shit out, I thought she was your friend. Who the hell just sits and laughs at their 'friend' after watching her fall over." Edward snarled angrily while depositing his own coffee and muffins on the table before coming to my side. In the silence that followed I swear I could have heard a pin dropped, it was completely quiet. He lifted me from the tangle my limbs had created, sitting me upright before saying "Are you okay Peaches?" I blushed at the nickname but nodded, I was mortified that he was there to witness my awkwardness but I tried to push it down and I whispered "Yeah Edward, I'm okay and I'm used to them laughing because I am extremely clumsy and accident prone." Emmett's booming laughter filled the room as he breathlessly tried to talk "Yeah Ed, you should have seen her last year when it snowed. That shit was legendary, we were at school and it iced over and Bells was on her ass more than she was off it. Rose and I were thinking of buying her snow shoes just so she could make it across the car park. I'm surprised she doesn't come with a warning label. Do you remember when…?" I smiled embarrassedly as Emmett extolled my clumsy virtues and the others joined in. I could tell that Edward was furious at them and that Emmett had lost him with all the names and places that were in the stories. He was cradling me against his chest I was happy to stay there. I could hear his heart beat, which had been racing when he had scooped me up, slow back to a normal rhythm. I could still feel his anger and, looking up at him through my lashes, I said softly "Edward, it's really okay. Honestly, I am used to it, I am very clumsy and most of the time it doesn't bother me and when it does I tell them and, even if it kills them, they stop laughing." Edward didn't say anything, he just clenched his jaw. He sat up straighter and passed me my cup of chocolate and my discarded muffin before settling back beside me, dragging my impossibly close, and it was then that he said "I don't care for 'normally' when I'm around no-one makes fun of you." The possessive tone behind his words should have made me uncomfortable and slightly weirded out but they just made me flush with happiness.
Possessive much. As someone who is completely uncoordinated sometimes I wish someone would stick up for me when my friends laugh lol
Please review
Cherie
xx
