The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25 dot com
Prompt: #5
Pen Name: SparrowNotes24
Pairing/Character(s): Edward / Bella
Rating: R
Word Count: 500
"Jesus, they're giving me belly ache." I pick the label off my beer and try to avoid the teeth-rotting display from Rosalie and Em.
Edward smirks, balancing the ice-cold bottle on his lips before taking a swig, his Adam's apple bobbing with every gulp. "They're in love."
"I wish they'd go be in love somewhere else."
"You're such a cynic." His eyes crease into the burnt-orange sunset when he laughs at me. I try not to smile, but my traitorous lips curl at the husky sound. I don't try to deny my cynicism. It's a trait I've cultivated with seeds of doubt from a great number of doomed relationships.
Rosalie squeals as Em straddles her on the ground, peppering kisses over her face. I turn to Edward with my eyebrow raised victoriously.
He holds his hands up in surrender, his index finger wrapped loosely around the empty bottle. "Okay, okay. Point taken. Should we stop them?"
His mouth quirks into a sliver of a smile as he eyes up the ice box. If it wasn't for the rising chorus of cicadas and squeals of puppy love, I would hear cogs whirring in his mind. "Shall I do the honors?"
"It's your death wish."
...
I perch on a log avidly watching as Edward skilfully erects my tent. My protestations about the dangers of blind dates had fallen from my lips when Rosalie had introduced us, but stubbornness is my strong suit, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let her get away with setting me up.
As if by magic, the devil disguised as a blonde, bouncy cheerleader appears by my side. "You might want to make it a little less obvious, Bella."
"What?" My whisper is lost in the hiss of the paltry fire at my feet.
"That you fancy him. I had to do a double take to check you weren't drooling."
I glare at her, hoping the flames dancing in my eyes make it menacing. She laughs.
"All I'm saying is play it cool. He's been watching you too. A lot."
I tamp down the flicker of attraction that flares, shooing her away back to her own tent. She bounds back to her mate, giggles and love-hearts.
Edward's face is shaded by the dusky night, but it doesn't hide the way his cheek dimples when he lazily lifts one side of his mouth into a grin. "You wanna go and get some wood?"
A grunt from the nearby tent shoots me to my feet. "Let's go. Do we need to drive?"
He gestures into the darkening woods. "There's plenty around here if you're not too creeped out. I've got a torch."
I shudder at the deep black swallowing the trees. "A torch. That should scare off the mountain lions, bears, snakes, and spiders—"
Edward grabs my hand, yanking me close. Flames of attraction lick across my skin when I feel the warmth of his body, firm and reassuring, pressed against my side. "I got you."