AN: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews.
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. All characters that have been mentioned in the Twilight series belong to Stephenie Meyer. Any other recognizable characters, publications and locations do not belong to me either. They belong to their respective owners. I only own the words and Courtney.
"So what was it that you thought we needed to do?" I inquired.
"This." Was all he responded and then his mouth was on mine.
Chapter 6 - Kiss-gin
EPOV
I was on my way to pick up Bella when my cell phone rang. I answered it when I saw it was Demetri.
"Good Morning." I answered cheerfully.
"You sound like you're in a good mood." he commented, his usual chipper voice now gruff with exhaustion.
"I am and you sound like you haven't had your morning caffeine yet."
"I haven't gone to bed yet, I've been busy letting the press know about your new relationship. I've actually just got the numbers in this morning and they've increased marginally since yesterday. You should have enough money by Christmas for…well you know what."
I sighed, I did know what I needed the money for. "So this is a good news call?"
He hesitated slightly, "Well, the press love making up rumors." No shit. "and I saw the pictures from this morning. Tell your girlfriend I said she looks hot by the way. But they're starting to ask me why there's no pictures of the two of you kissing."
"We've been dating for exactly two days, Demetri." I reminded him.
"I know. I know, but if you really want this money… there's going to have to be some PDA and I know you aren't one for that stuff but I know you've seen pictures of Bella at night clubs with various men."
"You make her sound like a slut,"
He laughed, "Sorry, it wasn't intentional. But I've received a number of questions asking if you're gay."
I choked on air, "They're asking what?!"
"Exactly. But never fear I have a few connections and all you have to do is try and convince Bella to kiss you today."
"Piece of cake." I grumbled sarcastically.
"Look I know you're not very experienced in the relationship department but she probably wont have a problem with it, it's not like your taking away her first kiss."
"I'm not worried about her first kiss," I mumbled almost inaudibly.
"What do you-?…Oh my God! You're a kiss-gin, you haven't had your first kiss yet!"
"Shut the fuck up, Demetri" I growled defensively. "and what the hell is a 'kiss-gin'?"
"A kiss-gin is a kiss virgin, oh my god, dude. I swear I had no idea!"
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Kiss her somewhere private, that way if you're really bad no one else will know."
"Thanks, you're a huge help."
"That's what I get the big bucks for. Good luck."
"Thank you. Oh, and Demetri?"
"Yeah…?"
"If you tell anybody about this, you're fired."
"My lips are sealed, sir." I swear I heard him snicker something like 'and so are yours' as I cut the call and took a few deep breaths to try and remove the red from my face. I swear the roles had been reversed since high school, usually Bella had been the one with the uncontrollable blushing syndrome.
I heard leaves rustling and a few twigs breaking under someone's foot behind me and turned to see two of Satan's helpers with their stupid fifty foot lenses that can take a close up of a booger in your nose and claim it's cocaine. One of them waved at me and I realized this was the connection Demetri had. I rolled my eyes at them and knocked lightly on the front door. The blind shifted and I caught a brief glimpse of brown hair before the door swung open.
"Hi." she greeted me with a celestial smile. My eyes raked over her body and I felt a little guilty and nervous as I thought about what I'd have to do in a few moments. It's for a good cause, Edward. Was the mantra in my head.
I smiled at her, "Hi there, mind if I come in? There's something I think we need to do."
She nodded and held the door open wider for me. I passed through and peaked out the living room window to see the two stalkerazzi's waving at her.
"Bella, stop flirting with the press." I called to her as I sat on the small loveseat after adjusting the curtain so they could see in.
"They're standing out there in the cold, Edward." She objected, walking into the room.
"They're the ones who chose to stalk us, I really don't care if they freeze."
"Meanie." she smacked my arm as she sat down next to me. "Make yourself at home, by the way." She added dryly.
I rolled my eyes, despite my nervous state.
"So what was it that you thought we needed to do?" she wondered, cocking her head to the side inquisitively.
Now or never. I thought.
"This." I responded and practically pounced at her, fusing my lips with hers.
She froze and I cringed internally as I realized I was probably doing something wrong already. I'd seen people kissing before and tried to remember what they did. Hesitantly, I pulled her full bottom lip into my mouth and sucked gently on it. She snapped out of her frozen state and pulled my top lip into her mouth. My hand rested on her hip and trailed up slowly. Her fingers twisted in my hair and I moaned at the feeling, startling myself at the involuntary sound I made. I ran my tongue along her lips and she parted them, allowing me entrance into her mouth. Her mouth tasted like a mixture of mint and caramel, the two flavors mingled together as her tongue came into contact with mine. That's when it hit me…I was kissing Bella Swan…and she was kissing me back!
Our breathing turned to gasping and she leaned in closer, sitting up on her knees so she could press her chest against mine. My hands moved from her hips and onto her back pulling her closer to me.
She gasped and my lips moved to her neck, sucking on the skin there.
"Oh. Fuck." she panted pushing away from me when we saw flashes of light and the sounds of camera's clicking feverishly.
I didn't release her, making sure they got a good shot of us making out. The same man that had waved at me earlier gave me a thumbs-up to tell me he'd got the shot. I broke away from her and she rested her forehead against my chest, panting heavily as she tried to regain her breath.
BPOV
Oh.
My.
God.
What the hell just happened?! I had my forehead placed against his chest as I slumped over trying to catch my breath. I growled when I heard the camera's clicking loudly and scrambled off his chest to pull the curtains closed, resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at them.
"Some warning would have been nice," I snapped folding my arms over my chest.
"I figured you'd probably slap me if I came right out and said 'put your lips on mine'." he defended, licking his lips.
"Yeah, I probably would have."
He smirked at me, "You're not the only one who's usually right."
I felt a small stinging sensation on my tongue and went to examine it in the mirror, a trickle of blood ran down the tip of my tongue as I squeezed it. "Ugh," I groaned. "You bit my tongue, jackass."
"Shit, I'm sorry. I've never…I mean I'm not the world's best kisser."
I patted his shoulder as I passed him, "You weren't too bad, now are we going grocery shopping or not?"
-x-x-x-
"Rocky Road or Cookie Dough?" I mused out loud, trying to decide between my two favorite flavors.
Edward slumped against the trolley, "Come on, just get both."
I settled for Rocky Road, "Stop complaining or I'll make you buy the tampons."
His eyes widened and he immediately shut his mouth. I smirked at him. Typical male.
He pushed the trolley as I skimmed through various magazines buying whichever one had an article about me, Rose or Edward in and then much to Edward's horror I made him accompany me to the 'girly stuff' aisle after we'd picked up enough chips, ice cream and chocolate to feed a small army of children.
"I thought models ate like one pea." Edward stated as we walked down the cereal aisle.
"Don't stereotype, Edward. Do I look like I only eat one pea?" I gestured to my body with my hand.
"I don't know what the hell you eat but it sure doesn't show."
I decided to play with him, "Are you calling me anorexic?"
"No!"
"So you're calling me obese?" I deduced.
"No! God! You're perfect, Bella. Your body's amazing."
I grinned evilly, "You been checking me out, Cullen?"
He scratched the back of his neck, unsure of what to say. The entire time he blushed.
"You're blushing." I sang softly.
He cleared his throat and picked up a box of Lucky Charms, throwing it into the trolley, "What else do you need?"
"Nothing," I said still smiling.
He scowled at me and reached into his back pocket bringing out his phone, he pressed a few buttons and then excused himself to make a call.
I took advantage of being alone and paid for the shopping. The guy at the check out was shamelessly checking me out. He looked oddly familiar and when I read his name tag I knew why.
"Oh my god, Mike Newton?"
He grinned, happy that I remembered him. Sadly I'd never be able to forget him, he was the guy I'd lost my virginity to at prom. "Hey there, Bella. Looking good."
"Thanks, er, you too," Lie. He had lost some of his sandy blonde hair and there was the beginning of a bald spot as well as a receding hairline and a beer belly.
"You coming to the reunion tonight?" he wondered, oblivious to the fact he was holding a pack of tampons as he asked me.
"Yeah, Edward's coming too. He's actually outside on a call."
He glanced back at the window and I saw his eyes narrow slightly, "Great. I heard you two were dating."
I nodded, "So are you still with Jessica Stanley?" The moment I asked I heard a high pitched, nasally voice call out 'Mikey'.
Mike grimaced and looked behind him at what appeared to be a walking carrot with boobs and a bleach blonde wig. I assumed it was Jessica because her face was similar despite the bad nose job. She'd had a boob job but the one was noticeably bigger then the other and the fake tan she'd used on her skin made her look like she had some sort of citrus poisoning.
She flashed a too white smile at me and dug her fake nails into Mike's flabby bicep, "Oh hey Bella,"
"Hey Jess." I handed Mike my black AmEx and her eyes widened at the sight of it. Yeah bitch, this is what real plastic looks like. But don't worry you'll be a walking orange Barbie in no time.
Edward returned and upon seeing Mike his arm wrapped around my waist possessively.
"Well, Edward Cullen, it's great to see you again." Mike extended his hand to Edward who tentatively shook it.
"You too, Mike. Hi Jessica. We'll see you tonight." And then he practically dragged me outside.
"They're probably going to tell the press you're the jealous type," I told him as I helped load the shopping into the back of his Volvo.
"I could tell you were uncomfortable with Newton eye-fucking you." he explained, putting on a pair of dark shades.
I frowned, a little disappointed that I couldn't see his eyes anymore, "Men eye-fuck me all the time, Edward. All they need to do is buy a magazine and Boom! Instant Bella in her underwear."
He smiled, bemused with my rant. "I don't understand what satisfaction you get out of it."
I gaped at him, "You're joking, right? It's perfectly simple, people call you beautiful and find you sexy pretty soon you start feeling that way." I paused, trying to find a situation that would relate to him. "That adrenaline rush you get what you're on stage performing, the crowd screaming your name, demanding more. It's exactly the same as how I feel when I'm walking down that catwalk."
"I understand that part. But surely you already know that you're beautiful, Bella. You just make it sound like you have low self-esteem."
I picked at the seam of my shirt uncomfortable with his observation. I didn't want him to know that he was the reason I was like this. That because he'd ignored me in high school I'd developed a psychological need to be noticed. I was lucky Rose introduced me to modeling otherwise who knows what I would have done for attention. The thought alone made me shudder.
He sensed my anxiety and let the subject drop, "Where do you want to get lunch?"
I shrugged, "I don't mind."
We dropped the shopping off at my house and then he drove us to a small, pokey looking diner called 'Sam's Diner'.
I groaned when I saw the white flashes and heard both mine and Edward's names being called for pictures.
"Don't these people have real jobs?" he growled placing his hand on the small of my back.
I blocked out most of the questions being shouted but when I heard, "Edward is it true you're still a virgin?" I snorted at the impossibility.
"That's one I've never heard." I thought out loud. He didn't respond.
"Can we have a couple shot of you two?" One of them shouted.
We paused outside the diner doors and he kissed my lips lightly. This time he didn't stick his tongue in my mouth and I was able to restrain myself from kissing him back too forcefully. The paparazzi got their shots and we managed to get inside the diner.
The waitress waiting by the door had eyes as wide as saucers as she took in our faces. Edward flashed her a polite smile, "Table for two please, maybe somewhere private."
She nodded a little too forcefully and fast, I was afraid she'd injure herself. I could see the headlines now : "Cullen sued for dazzling small-town waitress into a puddle of mush" Okay, so they'd probably be more creative and scandalous then that…
She led us to a small corner and introduced herself as Emily. Edward ordered us two cokes, a garden burger for me and steak and chips for him.
People seated in the diner were staring at us like we were the most enrapturing museum exhibit. Edward noticed them and reached across the table to hold my hand.
"Edward can I ask you a personal question?" I blurted out.
He sighed and squeezed my hand lightly, "Go ahead."
I bit my lip as I tried to decide which one to ask him, "Why is it so easy for you to talk to me?"
He frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"
"In high school…-" I was cut short by Emily bringing our drinks. I thanked her and he motioned with his free hand for me to continue. "In high school you wouldn't even look at me, you treated me like I was invisible. And now…" I glanced pointedly at our intertwined fingers. He was silent for a long moment, his eyes not meeting mine.
"Dammit, Edward," I growled quietly, shooting an icy glance at the people who were trying to eavesdrop. "Look at me."
He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, "Maybe this isn't…the best time to discuss this."
I squeezed his hand, "Okay."
His eyes slowly opened and I was surprised to see the moisture threatening to brim over. He gave me a weak half smile and nodded when I asked him if he was okay.
We ate in silence once Emily had brought our food, almost tripping over her own feet in the process. Luckily, since I had been so prone to clumsiness when I was younger, I saw what was about to happen and took the plates off the tray for her.
One of the men from the table next to us that was occupied by business men dressed in pinstripe suits and ties approached me with a camera.
"I'm sorry, do you think your we could have a picture? It'll make our day."
I looked at Edward to see if he was okay with it, he sighed but didn't object.
"Sure," I smiled and stood between two men who both put their arms around me. The man who had asked me seemed oblivious to the fact Edward was a celebrity too and asked him to take the picture.
So with an expression half between amusement and irritation, he happily obliged and took the picture.
"Those guys didn't even know who the hell I was." Edward grumbled as he drove us to the airport. I had just texted Rick to tell him where I was going and that he should do some sightseeing since the population of Forks is relatively harmless.
"Well, Emily obviously knew who you were." I pointed out.
He frowned, "Who?"
I rolled my eyes, "Our waitress. And don't tell me you never noticed her because that's just too sad, she practically melted when you smiled at her."
He chuckled softly, "I had other things on my mind."
" 'Things'? I never knew it was possible for you to think more then one thing at a time." I teased, narrowly missing a hand to the head.
"You're mean, you know that?" he said still laughing.
"Oh please, you know you love it."
He rolled his eyes and changed the subject, "Should I be scared of Rose?"
"Yeah, probably." I answered truthfully. "Imagine me: Blonde and having no brain filter."
He was quiet for a moment, his expression thoughtful.
"Oh I'm sorry, you should probably imagine it one-at-a-time," I teased again.
"I was actually picturing you as a blonde and then I got stuck on the image…"
I slapped his arm, "Pervert."
"Don't worry, I prefer brunettes but I can just imagine the headlines tomorrow about our abusive relationship, how many times have you slapped me today?"
I narrowed my eyes at him, "Not enough apparently."
He winked at me and began singing along to 'Starlight' by Muse, tapping his hands on the steering wheel to the beat.
"So who's your favorite celebrity that you've met?" I asked.
He thought about it for a moment, opening his mouth to speak and then changing his mind. "I'd have to say…Ellen DeGeneres."
"Why her?"
"She's hilarious I've never seen a woman dance as much as she does."
"You've obviously not been out with Rose and I, when we used to live together before all this celebrity stuff we'd dance around our apartment in our underwear…"
He groaned and gripped the steering wheel tighter, "I really don't want to meet your best friend after I've pictured you dancing in your underwear."
I giggled, satisfied with the response I'd received from him. "Don't act like you've never pictured me in my underwear before."
He raised his eyebrow at me, "I don't have to, you're in practically every single magazine and billboard in skimpy pieces of fabric."
"Don't over exaggerate,"
"Okay, maybe I was a little."
I huffed, "I'm really glad Rose is gonna be here, maybe she can put you in your place."
"I think you do a pretty good job, Bella." he admitted as he parked the car. I was waiting for the blinding white flashes and my name being shouted but much to my delight there was no paparazzi.
Edward and I stood next to each other at the front of the car, surveying the area in awe.
"It's quiet…too quiet…" he whispered.
"Where do you think they are?"
Before he could answer a blonde woman shouted out, "Hey, pretty boy come help with my bags!"
He narrowed his eyes slightly at her and I squinted until I realized who it was. "Rose!"
AN: And, Eh, there's nothing else I can say.
Review, please.