Disclaimer- all characters sadly belongs to the one and only Stephanie Meyer!
So this is another build up chapter. Their relationship is continuing to grow, so bear with me! Hope you enjoy, and please review!
Chapter 4
Edward's palms were sweating like crazy. Seriously. He was going to start a fucking river, the way he was going. Maybe it was because it was an abnormally hot day in Forks, and he was stuck in a pair of jeans, not anticipating the nice weather.
But he knew it was because he was nervous. He tried to relax, rubbing his hands against his jeans furiously, but all he could think about was- A) He was outside the Police Chief's house, B) He was going to be spending a whole afternoon with Bella Swan in his bedroom, and C) His car smelt like a goddamn locker room.
An idea popped into his head, and he quickly rummaged around the side compartment of his door.
"Aha!" he pulled out an air freshener still in its packet, triumphantly. He remembered buying it ages ago, when his mom complained about the stench of his car. Edward ripped it open, a whiff of mint entering his senses as he hung it on the mirror.
Perfect.
Then a flash of brown caught his eye. Bella. She wandered down the steps of her home, obviously looking fucking amazing – when didn't she? She had her hair down, in messy beach waves, pushed back by a pair of Rayban sunglasses. She wore dark blue denim shorts, and a v-neck sky blue t-shirt, which matched her chucks. He let out a deep sigh at the sight. Edward didn't believe that there would ever come a time where he wasn't stunned by her beauty.
He jumped out of the car, and raced around the other side, ready to open the door for her. She gave him a surprised smile. He bowed teasingly when she met him at the door, "Your carriage awaits Milady."
Bella giggled, sending Edward's heart into overload, "Thank you kind sir" she mock curtsied.
Edward jogged back to his side once she had gotten comfortable, rubbing his palms again. "Act cool, Edward" he muttered to himself, before getting back in.
Bella sat, a half smile on her face, "Nice car" she conversed, shocking him slightly. This was the first time she had voluntarily initiated conversation with him.
"Thanks. Not too ostentatious?"
"Have you met my sister?" Bella laughed, pointing over her shoulder at the red BMW as they drove off, "It's a Volvo XC90, right?" She further quizzed.
Edward was again thrown off by her. Yes, she worked in a garage, but it never occurred to him that she knew about cars that well. But this was Bella Swan – his dream girl.
"Right," he confirmed, he then took the opportunity to learn more about her; "what is your dream car?"
"The Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Volante" she said without hesitation.
"Okay, now you're just impressing me" Edward laughed. He couldn't help but agree, however. He imagined Bella naked on the hood of that car, pale white and chocolate brown against cherry red. Am I drooling?
Luckily Bella didn't notice, "Just a bit," she dismissed offhandedly "but so are you."
Edward took his eyes off the road for a second, looking at her bewildered "what do you mean?"
"You put that air freshener up before I got in the car." She commented, watching the green trees whiz past them.
"That's been there for ages!" He spluttered.
"Nope. It wasn't there when you offered me a ride yesterday."
"Perhaps you were being unobservant."
She quirked an eyebrow at him, and he mentally scolded himself. The girl had eyes on the back of her head – God help her kids in the future.
"The packet is at your feet, so you probably threw it away in a hurry, and the car still kind of stinks so it couldn't have been here for that long. Plus the tips of your ears are red."
He took one of his hands off the steering wheel to hide the ear in her line of her sight- "God damn it Swan, it's so hard to impress you!"
"I never said I wasn't impressed."
He turned to face her sharply, but she was still looking out the window, "Eyes on the road Cullen" she said absentmindedly.
…
When they approached his house, he heard Bella's quick intake of breath. He inwardly smiled; that was a typical reaction when people saw the house for the first time. It was built around the 1900s, and had that graceful yet timeless quality about it. It stood at an impressive three stories tall, painted a soft white, and had a cute porch at the front, with a swing seat at the far right. It looked like something out of an Austen novel.
"Wow" Bella breathed.
"Better than the library?"
She flashed him a gorgeous grin, "Marginally" she joked back.
Her laid back attitude made him feel increasingly more relaxed. He brought the car to a halt, and practically ran to open the door for her. He was awarded with another sweet smile when she got out of the car.
"I must warn you," he said, leading her to the house "my baby cousin is staying with us at the minute. She's a bit of a talker, so I am going to apologise in advance."
"I'm sure you exaggera-"
"Hi! You must be Bella! I'm Alice, Edward's cousin! Wow, you're really pretty, Edward said you were. Did he mention the party Friday? I bet he hasn't. Y'know he can be a real pussy someti-"
"OKAY! Bella this, as she has already pointed out, is Alice."
He ran a hand through his hair nervously, hoping that Alice hadn't scared her away. After a moment of silence, Edward was sure that Bella was going to make a run for it. But as always, she surprised him.
"Alice! It's so great to meet you!" Bella smiled, before taking his cousin into a hug… shocking the hell out of him. Where was his hug?
Alice smiled brightly at him over her shoulder, but even Edward could see the bemused look in her eyes. Not everyone took to Alice as warmly, often thinking her as a bit too eccentric for his or her tastes.
"How long are you staying here?" Bella continued, stepping away.
"Indefinitely," Alice replied casually "I'm starting at Forks High tomorrow!"
"What year are you in?"
"Junior"
"My sister Rose and her boyfriend Emmett are juniors," Bella smiled "you should sit with us!"
Both Alice and Edward's eyes widened in disbelief, and in Alice's case- delight. Edward couldn't believe what was going on. Here was the girl he had been obsessing over for a year, and trying to gain the attention of for a little under two weeks, and his baby cousin had not only got a hug and conversation with her, but an INVITATION to her goddamn table!
No one had ever been invited there as far as he knew. The Swan-Hale-McCarty table was almost as sacred as the Cullen-Whitlock table. Both were practically untouchable.
"I'd love that!" Alice squealed, jumping up and down wildly.
Edward continued to gawk at the scene.
"Great!" Bella said enthusiastically, "Edward and I better get going on this project, but it was really nice meeting you Alice!"
"You too! Thank you so much Bella! I'll see you tomorrow!" She gave Bella a huge hug, before skipping away.
Edward let out a hoarse cough, shaking his head "Well you just made her day"
She grinned, "She was really sweet."
Edward nodded, leading her up the stairs "Alice is like my sister; she is the coolest person I know."
"Does she come to Forks often?"
He looked back at her over his shoulder, "she used to come over a lot when we were younger. Every holiday, she would come and stay with us. She only stopped coming when we hit our teens, because of family stuff, but even then we'd FaceTime, call and Whatsapp whenever we had time."
When they finally reached the third storey, Edward gestured to the door at the bottom of hall. She opened the door almost gingerly, as if she was entering a secret lair.
"So this is my room"
"I… I like it" She said, as if surprised.
The room was massive, and made up of neutral colours – all browns and creams. He had a double bed, with gold sheets against the left wall, while the western wall was completely covered with shelf after shelf of CDs, DVDs, and even a few vinyls. It looked more like a display at a music store than a teenage boy's bedroom. A fancy stereo system sat amongst his vast collection.
The southern wall was completely made out of glass, looking over the lush green forest that surrounded the house. A desk sat against it. Edward loved sitting there when he was writing songs, looking outward for inspiration.
However, the most impressive object in the whole room was the black baby grand piano that was in the corner of the vast room.
Bella's eyes wandered around the room, as she walked in, not sure what she should first pay attention to. She looked up at the huge stacks of CDs, running her fingers along the cases lightly; "you have so much music."
Edward stuffed his hands in his pockets, waiting for her to continue.
"Why don't you just download all of it on your iPod or phone like everyone else?"
"I do have an iPod. But I don't know. There's something I like, about just going into a random music store and buying the record… it's stupid."
"I actually think that's kind of cool. I do the same thing with my books. I refuse to buy a kindle."
He gave her a small smile happy that there was another thing they had in common, besides cars and musical tastes.
She pressed play on the stereo, and the melodious 'Symphony No. 6, 4th Movement' filled the room. She let out a long sigh at the sound; "Tchaikovsky" she murmred.
"Surprised Swan?"
She shrugged, closing her eyes, swaying to the music. Edward debated on his next move, but sucked up his nerve and slowly moved behind her, pressing his body against hers lightly, moving with her; she remained silent, lulled by the music.
He scraped his nails faintly down her arm, and entwined their fingers together. He buried his face in her neck, inhaling her strawberry scent, scared that she was going to disappear any moment, because surely this was a dream… Bella Swan would never let him get this close to her.
The moment was intense but magical. He could have stayed I that position forever. Just him and her, the music caressing them as they, moved together. It did not fail to escape his attention that they were perfect in sync, completely in tune with the other. It was something he had never experienced before.
Stunned, Edward whispered a quiet "wow" into her skin.
"What?" Bella wandered, eyes still closed, fingers still entwined with his, as she stayed entranced by the flawless tune.
Edward looked for something to say, not wanting to sound an even bigger girl than he already was- "You're speechless."
He regretted it as soon as he said it. She snapped out from her trance, pulling her hand from his, and moving across the room. He missed the heat of her body, and delicious scent immediately.
"Am not" she said stubbornly crossing her arms across her chest.
"I can play the piano too you know." He added quickly in the hope of trying to regain the comfortable atmosphere.
She rolled her eyes, "I know."
"Of course you do," he huffed, frustrated "What gave it away? My long artistic fingers? The way I move with the music?"
"And the big ass piano over there" she said, pointing over to the baby grand.
He wanted to shake himself of his stupidity. The one time he actually thought he got her, and it fell flat; "Oh yeah… that too."
"Plus you're in my music class" She further remarked, grudgingly.
He raised an eyebrow at her, shock colouring his features.
She fidgeted uncomfortably; "Why are you so surprised?"
"I never thought you noticed me."
"Well, I think we have both established that I am pretty attentive Cullen."
"Understatement of the century" He muttered
"Can we get started on that project now?"
Way to ruin the moment Cullen.
…
"Beellllaaaaa" Edward moaned. They had been working for a solid three hours, pausing every once in while to consult the other on what to write next.
His ass was killing him as he had sat, crossed legged on the hard wooden floor, whilst Bella lay on her stomach, leaning on her arms as she wrote furiously.
"Can we have a break now?" he whined "We are literally over half way now!"
Bella looked down at her watch, "yeah, we can stop. I should probably go home now."
Disappointment filled Edward, as he was hoping that they would be able to talk more. She rose up, and stretched, revealing the soft skin of her belly and… wait.
"You have your bellybutton pierced?" Edward gasped.
There was no mistake. It was definitely there. A sapphire coloured jewel, stark against her white stomach. AS IF SHE COULD GET ANY HOTTER! NOW SHE HAS TO HAVE A FUCKING BELLYBUTTON PIERCING. MY FUCKING KRYPTONITE! His inner voice screamed at him.
She quickly put he arms down, and put her hand protectively over her already covered stomach, "yes. Why?"
"N-no r-reason." Think bad thoughts- Jasper in a thong, that one time you caught mom and dad doing the nasty… oh yeah that's done it.
She picked up the rest of the work as he got rid of his raging erection. How he walked around normally with this girl he never knew.
Bring up the party! Inner Edward whispered.
But she never comes to parties! He reasoned back.
Just fucking ask her!
"Uh Bella?"
Bella stopped and looked at him, "Yes?"
"So, do you remember earlier when Alice mentioned the party?"
"The one where she said you were too much of a pussy to ask me to?
Man overboard! Alarm bells were going off in his head, as his inner voices started going on a rampage. The woman said pussy! We need bad thoughts STAT! REMEMBER THE BREATHY MOANS OF YOUR MOTHER EDWARD! REMEMBER YOUR FATHER'S NAKED REAR!
Holy shit, my dick is dead.
"Yeah, that one" is it me or is my voice sounding like I am on helium? "So, yeah," he coughed, trying to make his voice deeper "We are having a welcoming party for Alice on Friday night, and I was wondering if y-you would like to come?"
Bella didn't say anything.
"Rosalie and Emmett can come too of course" he rushed, "I was going to spread the word tomorrow at school, and…"
"Sure,"
He stopped, "Really?"
"It's for Alice?" she repeated.
He nodded.
"Then we'll be there."
Edward's forehead scrunched up, "you'd come just for Alice?"
"Yes."
"But you barely know her." It didn't really make sense to him. He knew Bella had been invited to all of the parties since she had arrived at Forks from her fellow classmates; but she never accepted one. What was so different about Alice?
"I remember what it was like being the new girl. The whispers; the rumours; the question of who to trust. I want to be there for her."
Edward couldn't help but feel touched by this, and he felt an overwhelming gratitude towards her. He was glad that Alice had someone like Bella who was looking out for her. He loved Alice to pieces, but he knew that she didn't have many friends back in Mississippi. It was sad because she was so loveable, but people were too narrow minded to accept her bubbly, outgoing personality.
He couldn't control himself. He stood up and walked towards her, pulling her into a hug. He brought her into the circle of his arms and gripped her tightly, burying his face in her hair.
She stayed still for a moment, before slipping her arms around his waist.
They fit together… like puzzle pieces. His lines and her lines were completely equal. Her head fitted into the crook of his neck perfectly. They were perfect together.
"Thank you… thank you so much" he said brokenly.
She lifted her head to look into his eyes, "What for?"
"For caring. For being there for her."
A beautiful, genuine smile lit her face.
They were inches apart; one small move and they would be kissing, his fingers traced patterns into her back. Should I go for it? Is this it?
"Bella, would you like me to give you a lift… Oh!"
Alice stood in the doorway, frozen. Bella leapt away from him. If looks could kill, Alice would be on the floor.
"That would be great Alice!" Bella said, picking up the rest of her notes, and rushing out the door.
"For fucks sake Alice!" Edward screamed, pulling his hair.
"I really like her Edward."
"Yeah me too. And if you hadn't barged in…"
She ignored him, and marched up to him, a determined yet scary expression on her face "Seriously Edward. She may be my first real friend. And if you hurt her, I will kill you."
She then spun around, following Bella.
Christ, these girls are going to be the fucking end of me.