Chapter 4

EPOV

Sitting on the couch with Bella's scantily clad body between my legs did nothing to alleviate a certain situation below. But, watching her stand and stretch her arms above her head made the situation that much worse because it pulled her tank top up to expose a sliver of creamy flat stomach and her little blue and white polka dotted sleep shorts fell down slightly exposing her hipbones. I groaned causing her to chuckle and turn to look at me. "Problems, Edward?"

I shook my head and stood myself, tossing the blanket that had been covering our legs up to the end of the couch. "Nope, no problems at all, princess. Where am I sleeping tonight?" I asked her since we finished with the movie and alone as Jasper and Alice deserted us almost an hour ago.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Why do you call me princess?" She asked facing me with her hands on her hips in a defensive stance.

I sighed. "I've always thought of you as a princess. Beautiful. Sophisticated. Unreachable. Untouchable." I told her quietly, honestly.

"Oh. So, the guest bed isn't made up as Jasper always sleeps with Alice in her room and we don't have guests normally. I can make it up for you really quick or you can sleep in my room, my bed is huge. We can talk for a little bit before going to sleep." She said nonchalantly as she folded the blanket that Jasper and Alice had been using.

I followed her cue and picked up the blanket that was covering us and started folding it back up too. "It doesn't matter to me, Bella, whatever will make you the most comfortable. Does it bother you that I call you princess?" I asked her as I turned to face her with the blankets draped over my arms.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm no princess, Edward, I'm just a normal teenage girl." She said quietly.

I shook my head. "No normal teenage girl picks up after her twin sister before going to bed. Normal teenage girls don't have to take care of dinner every night or boost their sisters cars off so they can have a way home. You are far from normal, Bella." I told her firmly.

She sighed and nodded. "I do all of those things because somebody has to. I want Alice to have a normal carefree high school career. To me, high school is just a stepping stone for my future. Alice lives in the excitable moments, I don't."

I nodded. "I can understand that, I do. I like to think I live a little in both of those worlds. Football is a means of escape for me, has been for many years now, but I also like to enjoy an occasional moment ever once in a while but Tanya is about to change all of that." I told her cryptically, not really wanting to spill all my beans just yet until I found out for sure if that baby was mine or even real.

She just laughed. "You have been a notorious partier with Tanya glued to your hip. You enjoy more than just an occasional moment, Edward, you enjoy all the moments."

I shook my head in denial. "Have you ever been to one of those parties where Tanya and I are were there together?"

She shook her head but otherwise remained quiet.

"Okay, we would show up together because we 'had to put in our appearances to keep up the façade' according to her. Once we made our rounds I would usually grab a few beer before finding a quiet corner or going outside to slowly sip on my beer alone and wander what the hell I was doing." I told her honestly letting her into my lonely world a little bit. "Tanya and I weren't as happy as she liked people to think we were. We fought all the time, she was jealous every time I even glanced at somebody because she was so insecure and lacked self-confidence." I continued letting her know that Tanya wasn't as perfect as she tried to make people believe.

"Really?" she asked in astonishment.

I nodded "Yeah, she feels like she has an image to keep because of who her parents are. Where do these go?" I asked her as she was finished righting the pillows on the couches.

She pointed behind her to the built-ins that surrounded the huge fireplace on either side from floor to ceiling. "Right side bottom drawer and that's crazy about Tanya. I would have never guessed she has image issues like she does. That would drive me insane." She said as she picked up the popcorn bowl and candy wrappers from earlier and headed for the kitchen. It seemed like Alice was the typical teenager, leaving her trash around for somebody else to pick up and Bella was acting like the adult.

After I had tucked the blankets into the overly organized drawer I picked up the empty soda cans she hadn't been able to pick up on her trip to the kitchen and followed her to the kitchen to see her already loading the dishwasher. "Don't count her as being completely sane. Do you always do everything around here?" I asked her as I tossed the cans into the aluminum recycling bin that was sitting right beside the regular trash can to change the subject back to her and Alice.

She nodded. "Yeah otherwise it doesn't get done. Alice is a notable slob in everywhere but the closet, her bedroom, and her bathroom but that's only because I refuse to clean those." She said as she quickly started the dishwasher before grabbing a dish rag to wipe the countertops down from dinner.

"This is a huge house for you to clean all on your own plus your school work and tutoring schedule you keep." I told her as I picked up things that looked out of place only to have her point where they went.

She shook her head. "Not really. I've learned to multi-task everything. I usually am studying or doing homework while dinner cooks or laundry is going." She explained as she rinsed the dishrag out and draped it over the middle of the sink.

I nodded. "I couldn't imagine doing all of this alone at our age." I told her as I took her hand and followed her around the house as she locked up, set alarms, and turned lights off before heading upstairs.

"I couldn't either six months ago but our parents didn't leave us much choice. Alice helps out when I ask her too but she's normally too busy or doing something with Jasper or her squad or her friends." She said as she walked down the hallway to the door at the end. "This is my room." She said as she laid her hand on the doorknob but hesitated opening it.

I laid my hands on her shoulders pulling her back into my chest. "If this makes you uncomfortable, baby, I can sleep on the couch or in the guest room. I can even make the bed myself." I whispered against her ear.

She shook her head. "It's not that. You are the only person besides Alice, Jasper, and my parents that has ever been on the other side of this door." She said quietly before taking a deep breath. I reached around and placed my hand over hers on the doorknob.

"Jasper?" I asked teasingly to break up the awkwardness of her letting me into her own private sanctuary and I was honestly curious about my brother being in her bedroom.

She just chuckled. "He often wakes me up on the weekends to come cook him breakfast. Don't be jealous. You will be my first at almost everything." She admitted softly.

"Really?" I asked her quietly against the side of her head.

She nodded before turning our hands and opening the door to her sanctuary.

I smiled as I walked us forward a little bit as she reached out and flipped on a light switch. Purple. There was purple everywhere with splashes of various shades of green and turquoise here and there. "I see you are not afraid of color after all." I commented as I looked around the room trying to take everything that was Bella in.

She shook her head. "Nope, I just don't like to stand out in a crowd, I prefer to hide in the shadows, but purple is my favorite color along with green and blue. Hiding in the shadows helped me avoid Tanya and her friends." She said as she stepped away from me to look me in the eyes. "This is all me, I don't hide in here. I don't have to." She said as she spun a little circle giggling lightly like a carefree lighthearted child.

I laughed at her antics before heading for the huge bed that had a huge padded purple headboard leaning against a turquoise wall and was covered in fluffy white bedding a bazillion pillows. The rest of the walls in the room were a deep purple. "Silly girl, let's get ready for bed. I'm exhausted from my argument with Tanya earlier and the game." I told her as I tried to hide a yawn in my elbow.

She giggled and headed for the door on the far side of the room. "I have a spare toothbrush if you would like to brush your teeth before bed." She said as she stepped through the doorway.

I laughed and followed her through the doorway. "Are you trying to say my breath stinks?" I asked her as I picked up the spare toothbrush package she had laid on the counter.

She shook her head and smiled around her toothbrush as she brushed her teeth. I smiled at her as I began brushing my teeth too. I felt like a whole new person once I had my teeth brush and my mouth rinsed out. "Ahh." I said elaborately as I blew my cinnamony breath in her direction as I put my toothbrush in her toothbrush holder beside hers. It was oddly comforting how much I liked that, seeing our toothbrushes together in the same holder.

She giggled. "All better." She said as she washed her face and tossed her hair up in a high ponytail.

I stepped up behind her and fingered her ponytail. "Why do you put this up? It's so beautiful down. It's like dark chocolate flowing down your shoulders and back and it smells absolutely amazing." I asked her, our eyes locking through the mirror.

She smiled at me. "I don't have to put it up, it just makes my morning easier. With it up it doesn't get as tangled while I'm sleeping."

I smiled back at her and reached up to gently pull her hair loose from her ponytail. "I like it better down, if it's too tangled I will help you brush it in the morning." I told her as I placed a gentle kiss on her shoulder beside the tiny strap of her tank top.

She sighed and nodded. "Sounds like a deal to me. Is this strange for you?" She asked me quietly as we stood looking at ourselves in the mirror.

I cocked my head to the side in curiosity at her question. "Is what strange?"

"Getting ready for bed with me instead of Tanya, talking to me, holding me in your arms, watching a movie with me in your lap, eating dinner at my house, helping me clean up after my sister and your brother, all of it." She said listing off our evening and night we had spent together that had changed both of our lives for the better.

I shook my head. "No, because I have never gotten ready for bed with Tanya because she didn't want people to see her without her face perfect and her hair perfect. We rarely watched a movie without her having ulterior motives behind doing it. We haven't done anything remotely fun or sincere in over a year." I told her honestly.

"Wow, why did you keep up the charade then? Why stay with her if you were so miserable together." She asked spinning to face me with a strange look on her face.

I cupped her face in my hands gently encouraging her to remain eye contact with me. "We weren't always miserable. When Tanya and I first got together last year it was all about having fun and being careless teenagers, it was that way for about five months. When we became our school's 'it' couple is when it really started to change and it all became about where we were seen and how we were seen and less about each other and our happiness." I told her quietly.

She nodded and leaned forward to kiss my lips gently. "Okay. Let's go to lay down, huh?"

I helped her off the counter and we walked back into the bedroom.