So Edward and I were friends now. I could deal with that. All except for the fact that my heart beat at twice its normal speed and my cheeks were a permanent shade of red when I was around him. I couldn't put my finger on why, but he made me so nervous! Maybe it was the way his eyes seemed to bore into mine, or maybe it was the way he always ended up standing closer to me than anyone normally would while having a casual conversation. Or maybe it was how the corners of his lips always turned up whenever he saw me, but of course all those things are normal between close friends, right?
I thought about Edward and my friendship with him as I lay sprawled out on my bed. I had just gotten home from my first day of school and I was completely exhausted. I glanced at the clock and realized it was only a little after four. Since it was only the first day, I didn't have any homework yet, and it was still too early to start on dinner, so I grabbed my book and a blanket and walked out to the backyard to read. It surprisingly hadn't rained all day, so the ground was dry enough to lie down on.
I only read about a page before I heard footsteps on the grass beside me, and felt someone plop down on the blanket next to me. I turned over to see Jacob smiling down at me.
"Jake!" I frowned, realizing my mistake, "I totally forgot you were coming over!"
"It's alright," he smiled back at me, "I have your attention now don't I?"
"Of course," I stated, shutting my book after carefully placing the marker in the crease between the pages and sitting up to be on his level.
"Aaww no lay back down, you looked so comfortable, I don't want to make you get up," He said, pushing me back down onto the blanket.
He laid back on the blanket beside me and sighed a deep, contented sigh.
"Can you believe we've been dating for 8 months tomorrow?" He asked, adjusting his shoulders so he could turn and look at me.
I smiled at the thought and pushed myself up on my elbow to give him a peck on the cheek before rolling back over onto my back.
"It seems like yesterday you asked me out," I laughed, remembering the beautiful rose stuck in the door handle of my truck with a note on it that just read, "Friday?"
I had glanced around the parking lot before turning and opening my door, getting ready to leave, when he was suddenly right there, leaning up against my truck with a mischievous grin on his face asking me "How 'bout it?"
I had thrown my arms around his neck right there and kissed him with a huge smile on my face. He had been my best friend up until that day, but then we became inseparable. My father liked him too, which was always a huge plus.
"I love you," he whispered, leaning up over me, interrupting my sweet memories.
"I love you too," I smiled back at him, reaching my hand up to pull his face down to mine for another kiss. Our kisses were passionate but sweet, and full of love.
He deepened the kiss and pulled me closer to him, but we were quickly pulled out of our own little world when I heard my name called by a high, all too familiar voice.
"Bella!" I heard my friend Jessica Stanley call.
I quickly sat up, confused as to why Jessica was here at my house.
"Jessica? What are you-" I stopped short when my mind processed the picture in front of me.
Jessica had come around the side of Edward's house to see me and Jacob making out in the back yard, but what disturbed me was Jessica and Edward. He had his arms wrapped around her waist from behind, slowly kissing her cheek down her jaw bone.
She giggled flirtatiously and told him to stop before turning back to me and Jacob. I quickly jumped up off the grass and walked over to where they were standing. Jacob quickly followed me and took my hand in his.
"What are you guys up to?" I asked, trying to think of some way to make conversation in this awkward situation.
"Well…" Jessica started, "We couldn't think of anything else to do after school so Edward brought me here!"
Sensing the tension in my voice, Jacob asked, "Would you like to come over here and watch some TV or something?"
"I don't think so," Jessica replied, "We'll find something to do over there," as she turned and smiled again at Edward.
I could only imagine what that implied. I gulped down a lump in my throat before I spoke again.
"Well have fun, I think I need to get inside and start fixing dinner anyway."
"Alright, see you tomorrow!" She chirped, turning back towards Edward.
"Bye Bella," Edward said, looking at me for the first time. His eyes met with mine, but they were expressionless, unlike all the other times he looked at me. "Jacob." He added on, giving him a nod.
"Bye guys," I mumbled, quickly pulling Jacob along with me into the house.
I woke up the next day in a bad mood. If someone had asked me why, I wouldn't have an answer, but there was still a miserable expression stuck on my face all day.
When I got to Biology, the only class I had with Edward, I sat down at the table next to him like I always did, but quickly absorbed myself into drawing a tiny sailboat on the back of my notebook rather than talking to him, but I could still feel his eyes on me. The whole class went just like that- I was completely focused on the lecture the teacher was giving, the worksheet he had just handed out, or, if nothing else, drawing more pictures for the back of my notebook.
When the bell finally rung, I breathed a sigh of relief and stood to gather my things and put them in my backpack, and started towards the door.
"Bella…" Edward started.
I turned back around to face him, looking at his face for the first time today. He had a hurt expression on his handsome, chiseled features, and it stung to think that the way I acted was probably the reason for it.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"Gym," I replied, and turned to leave again, "Just like always," I mumbled sarcastically, too low for him to hear.
"Do you think I could walk with you?" He asked. The miserable expression I had worn all day was wiped away with a look of surprise.
"Well," I replied, unsure of his intentions, "I guess that'd be ok."
A broad smile bloomed across his face, causing me to smile back at him. We started walking in the direction of the gym in silence, and when I glanced over at him, he looked absorbed in his thoughts so I decided to keep my mouth shut.
Finally he said something. "Bella, why were you so upset at me yesterday and today?" He asked.
I knew he would ask me that, and that of all things is the one question I didn't want to give an answer to.
"I don't know," I quickly replied and started walking a little bit faster.
His long strides kept pace with my shorter, faster ones easily and he gave me a puzzled look before saying, "Is it because of Jessica?"
I shot him a glare.
"No." I spat, and launched into an even faster pace, making it clear that I didn't want him to follow me.
He grabbed my arm and turned be back around to face him.
"Bella Swan tell me the truth. Are you jealous?"
My eyes widened as I faced what I had been in denial about since yesterday afternoon. A million thoughts went zooming through my head faster than I could fully process them all, every one of them circling around the boy standing in front of me with a shocked look on his face as he watched me react to his question.
I finally gained enough control over my mind to bring it back into coherence, but I still didn't know how to answer him. Instead, I just narrowed my eyes again and pulled my arm out of his grasp firmly and spun around to walk into the gym.
