Okay! Here it is - installment number seven. I've changed the rating, as you may or may not have noticed... so expect some lime. Less than a lemon, but more than fluff. Heh heh. Oh, and if you're reading - hey Shoob!


ISABELLA SWAN

I drove home from school on Friday afternoon with Vanessa by my side and Edward following my truck through the winding streets. He had told me before we'd left school that he had a surprise for me and that I wasn't allowed to make dinner tonight. Vanessa and Charlie would have to pave their own path in the way of food, he'd said with a sly grin.

Usually I would have worried about such a request from my boyfriend, who seemed to get himself – wait, he seemed to get me in trouble with his strange little ideas – but tonight I was just too tired. The week had been long; I had a bag splitting with my homework load and a cousin who didn't seem quite here nor there. I wondered what was going on inside Vanessa's mind, sometimes.

We reached Charlie's house just as light sheetings of rain started to blanket the air. I pulled the truck in; cut the engine, made sure the lights were off and reached for my bag.

"Vanessa," I said just as she was reaching for her doorhandle. "Edward has something planned tonight, but I don't know what it is. You know I hate surprises-"

"He knows too," she chortled.

I rolled my eyes. "I know. Anyway, if you knew anything about what's in store for me, you'd tell me, right?"

"Probably not," she laughed, shoving open the truck door. "But in this case I actually don't know anything that's worth keeping from you. Sorry."

She jumped out, her bag sliding off the seat after her, and disappeared with her hood up in the direction of the house. I leaned my head back on the headrest and closed my eyes, mentally preparing myself for some kind of Alice-inspired surprise party for my not-birthday or to be told to get dressed up so he could take me out to dinner or something. All negativities aside, I was looking forward to not having to cook tonight. My limbs felt like lead.

I jumped when Edward tapped on the window right beside my head. I clutched my heart for dramatic effect before reaching for my bag again and hopping out, not having to open the door as Edward had already done it for me. He closed it behind me too.

"Excited?" he asked as we headed up to the house.

I looked sidelong at him. "Can't you just see how thrilled I am?"

He chuckled, and didn't say anything until we were in the house, coats hung up and bags making two sizeable divots in my mattress upstairs. Vanessa was downstairs, sizzling some eggs or something for an after-school snack, and Charlie wasn't home yet. I lay back on my mattress, arms above my head under my pillow, and closed my eyes with the intention of sleeping.

Edward, however, didn't agree with such a boring pastime.

"Let's get through some of this homework," he said, dragging his bag across the mattress. Then his bodyweight moved in my direction.

Even though my eyes were closed, I could tell he was leaning an inch away from my face. The warmth radiating from his skin and the lovely smell he exuberated were the biggest giveaways. The pillow beside my head sunk slightly and I knew his hand was there, supporting his bodyweight.

I couldn't stand how delicious he smelled, so I opened my eyes.

There he was. Eyes like liquid green fireworks on a night sky…and I felt innately calm just by looking into them. His skin was like some kind of honey glazed over the most perfect marble, light pink flushes along his cheekbones, a nose so perfect I'd have expected to see it only on the son of a plastic surgeon, and cheekbones and a jaw line that combined to rival that of a movie star.

All around, a face that I surely didn't deserve, but one that stayed with me anyway.

I grinned, and so did he, which shifted my attention to his lips. They looked glazed, soft; like light pink pillows. Wondering if my own looked anywhere near as appealing (I doubted it very much), I bit my lip self-consciously. His twinkling eyes darted to my mouth, and he slowly leaned down.

I pushed myself up slightly to meet him halfway, and when our mouths touched a shiver ran down my spine. His lips were strangely cold, like he'd just finished an ice-cream. I loved it.

We kissed for a long while, his hands exploring my hair and mine holding both his shirt and the back of his neck in an effort to get him closer to me. He was a drug that I couldn't get enough of, and never would.

I was beginning to feel confident, so, as I always did when the confident feeling hit, I slid the hand on his chest down the bumps of his abs, catching the hem of his shirt and raising it to touch the skin there. He shied away from the cool temperature of my fingertips for a moment, but then pushed his stomach against my hand as he slid slightly upwards, pressing every line of his body closer to me. A buzzing in my veins began circulating – perhaps a release of adrenaline? – and I raised one knee gently to push between his thighs. My hand was still flat against his stomach, but it'd moved around and was tracing alone the line of his muscular V.

Using my index finger, I allowed my hand to go down, further and further, past the waist of his jeans, and I was just manoeuvring the elastic of his boxers when –

"Charlie's home!" Vanessa yelled up the stairs. A moment later the sound of the front door opening and closing was heard.

I whipped my hand from Edward's hips and got out from under him so quickly I might have been pulled by a walking stick with a hook on the end, like in old cartoons. Edward groaned and flopped onto my comforter, face-down, and lay still for a moment. I could feel his frustration as my own.

Quick as a flash I ran to the bathroom, seized my hairbrush and tried to tame my mussed-up hair, then gave up and pulled it back in a smooth pony-tail. I reapplied some Chapstick and tried to calm my breathing, then smoothed my clothes and nervously pulled my pony tail tighter.

Back in the bedroom, Edward had sat up and was fiddling with the buttons on his trousers. I grinned and sat beside him, leaving the door open a few inches so Charlie wouldn't come barrelling in, demanding to know why the door was closed.

I shoulder bumped him playfully, but he didn't look at me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, scanning my actions for something that I might've done to upset him.

He shook his head.

"No, what's wrong? I want to know," I put a hand on either side of his face and made him look at me. "What is it?"

He sighed and put a hand over one of mine, then closed his eyes and leaned in to the caress. "I'm sorry. I should have asked you first. I don't want you to do anything you're not sure about, Bella."

I laughed at that, and his eyes snapped open, half-hurt and half-confused.

"What? What's funny?" he asked defensively.

I realised I'd offended him and stopped laughing immediately. "Edward," I lowered my free hand and put it on his knee. "I am very sure about you. I was sure about you the first time you kissed me on the hand. Anything we do together; I don't know about you but I mean every second of it. Besides," I added when he started to argue, "you weren't the one trying to take your p-"

"HEY Charlie!" Edward suddenly shouted over the top of me. I blanched and ripped my hand away from Edward's leg. Fortunately for me, blushing was a common occurrence, so the tomato state of my face wasn't much of a giveaway to my father.

Charlie was standing in the doorway, arms folded, and the door was open further than I'd left it. I wondered how long he'd been standing there for.

"Hey Dad," I said, standing up. Edward stayed sitting behind me. "What's up?"

"Nothing," he said, eyeing Edward behind me. "Just making sure you two were doing your homework. I know how tough senior year can be."

"Yep, we're getting in to the books right now," I said, lunging for my school bag in a bid at looking enthusiastic about my education.

"Hmm." He was still looking at Edward suspiciously.

"Was there anything else?" I asked, wanting nothing more than for Charlie to leave the immediate area.

He unfolded his arms and looked carefully between us. Edward was standing beside me now, his Music book under his arm. "So what's happening with dinner?"

"Edward's taking me out and Vanessa is cooking for the two of you. Unless you want to cook," I added cheekily.

Charlie shook his head. "Vanessa can have a go in the kitchen. I've gotta see what the rest of the Swan bloodline can do with a saucepan now, don't I?"

And with that he left, but not before pointing scissor fingers at his own eyes and then at Edward's, mouthing, 'I'm watching you'. I had to bury my face in Edward's shirt to avoid laughing too loudly.

Four hours later, during which Edward and I had probably spent only half our time actually doing work and the rest talking about anything and everything, Edward announced that he was hungry. I put away my art things, carefully hiding the drawings of him that I'd been perfecting.

"What?" I laughed at his grumbling stomach, confused out of my mind. "It's already past seven. We can't get to any decent restaurant tonight now, everything will be booked out! Friday nights are terrible for tables!"

He just grinned and took my hand, then led me down the stairs. When we got to the bottom, he said, "Stay here," very mysteriously. Then he disappeared out the front door.

I crossed my arms and waited for a few minutes until Edward came back. I was sitting on the bottom stair with my chin resting on my palm when he came through, a huge basket on his arm.

"We're going on a picnic?"

"Not your usual kind of picnic," he said, even more mysteriously.

I started laughing. "It's raining! We can't go on a picnic!"

"Au contraire, Isabella, I spoke to Alice and she said that there would be about an hour and a half of cloudless sky tonight."

Damn Alice. "Fine," I said, standing and heading back up the stairs. "I'm getting a jacket."

"I'll wait for you outside," Edward called up to me. When I turned back once I'd reached the top of the stairs, he was gone.

I checked my appearance in the bathroom mirror after I had a thick winter jacket wrapped around my torso. I looked as boring as ever – probably the most I could ask for – so I fiddled with my pony for a second before taking a breath and heading back down the stairs.

Edward was out the back of the house on the porch, staring at the bugs getting zapped in the hypnotic blue light hanging from the porch. When the screen door banged shut behind me he snapped out of it and looked over, smiling with such warmth that I may as well have been wearing a ball gown.

"The grass'll still be wet, you know," I warned, heading past him to the lawn.

He reached out to stop me. "We're not going on the grass, Bella." He had that mischievous glint in his eye once more.

"You can't have a picnic without grass," I argued stubbornly.

"I think you'll find that you can," he laughed. Then he let go of me and headed across the porch to the water tank.

"What're you doing?" I asked cautiously, following him at a small distance. "Get down!" I yelped when he started climbing up on top of it.

"Oh, right," he said, hopping down. "Ladies first." And with that he seized me around the waist, lifted me as if I were made of air, and sat me gently on top of the water tank.

"Edward," I gulped, my voice losing its ferocity, "I don't do well with heights."

"You'll be fine." He swung up so effortlessly that it made my heart ache, knowing I would have looked nowhere near as graceful as that. He was just too beautiful for words.

"C'mon," he stood up and reached down for my hand. I forced myself not to look at the ground, and not to think about how painful it would be when I fell (yes – when, not if), and stood up beside him. He put an arm around my waist and guided me across the iron roof of Charlie's house. Amazingly, I didn't slip down and break my neck. Probably because I was concentrating more on how close he was to me than how close I was to the edge of the rooftop.

"Here we are," he said after a minute of careful walking, and I peeled my eyes from his face.

Edward had set out a picnic on the roof of my house. There was a white and red chequered rug there, with four or five cushions for us to sit on, another bug zapper sitting a little way away from the setting, candles and three small lamps for light, and Edward had made a salad and cold chicken dish. The basket he'd been carrying earlier was sitting empty beside everything else.

The thing that struck me most, however, was how beautifully clear and sparkly the night sky was. I cast for a memory to compare it to, but other than ones involving Phoenix with my mother, I didn't remember ever seeing the night sky without clouds here in Forks. Edward had indeed picked the perfect night for this little date of ours. Or, Alice had just told him which night to pick.

"You like it?" he asked from beside me, uncertainty in his voice. He was afraid I wouldn't like it! How sweet.

"I don't like it," I said seriously, turning to him. His face fell. "I love it. This is incredible, Edward."

Relief broke the horrified mask and he slowly smiled. "That was evil," he said happily.

"Yep. Shall we?" I gestured to the setting.

"Aren't I supposed to say that?"

"Probably. I never was big on tradition."

He laughed. "I know."

We sat down side by side on the pile of cushions, and I was able to get a better view of the large number of things that were up here.

"How did you do this so fast?" I enquired, picking up a bottle of Solo and a pair of champagne glasses by the picnic basket. "I was only gone for a few minutes."

"I got Vanessa to help."

That was nice of her. "And she didn't trip and break her neck?" I said, but more to myself. "Cool."

Edward leaned forward to get the bowl of salad. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm a hopeless cook – so I got Esme to help me with the food. Therefore it had to be cold."

"You couldn't get Vanessa to warm it up for us?"

"She's not that spineless," he laughed. "Nah, not really, I just didn't want her to have to do too much for this. I wanted to do most of this on my own, just for you." He looked right in to my eyes as he said this, and my heart melted through my veins. I felt all googly and mushy; like old ladies with babies in prams. Or Alice and new shoes.

I leaned forward and kissed him gently, but pulled back when I sensed I was starting to kilter off-balance.

"Let's eat," he said softly, reaching for the plates.

A few minutes later I had potato salad, a few pieces of cold chicken, Caesar salad and a glass of Solo in front of me.

Edward raised his wine glass. "To a night as beautiful as you," his eyes twinkled at me, the candles and the lamp the only sources of light we had now.

I raised my glass to, cheeks pink from his compliment. "To no rain."

Our glasses clanked together, and as he drank he looked straight in to my eyes. I looked away, blushing deeper and feeling a tingle on the surface of my skin. Automatically, I pulled my jacket tighter around my shoulders.

"Are you cold?" asked Edward, already shrugging out of his jacket.

I waved him off. "I'm fine. I just got a shiver, that's all. Keep your jacket on or you'll freeze."

He kept taking the jacket off anyway.

"Well," he said, lying it down on the empty space of rug between us, "if you're not going to wear it then I guess it'll just have to stay there."

I lowered my eyebrows at him, sensing an oncoming eye-roll – but thought better of it as an idea struck. I unzipped my jacket and shrugged out of it too.

"What're you doing?" he snapped immediately. "Put that back on, you'll freeze!"

I laughed and shook my head. "If you're not going to wear a jacket-" I put it down beside Edward's, "-neither am I."

Edward took a big breath in, then let it out in a huff. "Fine," and he reached for my jacket, pulled it on and tried to do the zipper up. I broke down with laughter.

My jacket was at least three sizes too small for him. The neckline barely reached his collarbones as his shoulders were so wide, the sleeves rode up somewhere between his elbow and wrist and the bottom of the jacket only reached the lowest point of his rib cage. I tried to compose myself as he reached forward with his fork to take a bite, but the jacket wouldn't let him to it. He had to move like there was a coat hanger in his back.

"You look ridiculous," I said, wiping a tear from my eye.

"And you look cold," he countered.

As he said it, I shivered again. I couldn't stand the thought of him nursing me if I caught cold – which I was bound to do – so I reached for his jacket and pulled it on. I had to roll the sleeves up several times to free my hands. I didn't miss the smug look Edward was trying to hide, but I preferred not to comment.

Twenty minutes later and we were almost finished eating. Out of the blue, Edward asked me a question.

"So, that thing about the condoms-" I choked a little on my mouthful of potato at the word, "-how did the conversation with Renee go?"

I gulped heavily and dabbed at the corners of my mouth with a napkin.

"She seemed to think it was funny more than she was angry. That's not to say I didn't receive an embarrassing sex talk, however. It didn't last long. Unlike Charlie, she knows that I'm mature enough to make my own decisions – and that no parental chat will change my mind once it's been made up."

"So you've made up your mind about it, then?"

"Oh, don't be a pain," I scoffed, knowing that he was trying to get a rise out of me. "You'll find out one day."

"Will I?"

This time he sounded genuinely curious. I was confused, because I thought the topic had been cleared in the car after the episode with Charlie had occurred.

"Um, yeah. Maybe." I felt embarrassed now… I knew where I wanted my relationship with Edward to go, but the mention of eventual marriage at such a tender age was sure to scare him off. Hell, it was enough to scare me off, and I was the one thinking it.

"Cool." Edward grinned through a mouthful of chicken, reminding me of a monkey. I couldn't help it this time – I had to laugh. Unfortunately, the cherry tomato I'd half-chewed wasn't very accommodating to such a reaction.

"Bella?" Edward said when my coughs didn't subside. I put my plate down and doubled over, trying not to choke. "Bella!" he cried, clearly alarmed.

I couldn't see him as my eyes were tearing up now, but a moment later I felt his hand beating me between the shoulder blades. It took a couple of thumps before the tomato slid down my throat and I could breathe again. Edward quickly poured some water and gave me the frosty glass.

"You okay?" he asked as I drank.

I nodded, gulping the water down to soothe my throat. It felt terrible, but the water was helping. Once I'd drained the glass, I put it down and did something rather unexpected – I laughed.

"Are you mental?" he asked as I kept giggling, but I could hear the amusement in his voice too. He started chuckling. Eventually I settled myself down enough to speak.

"I can't believe I almost died of tomato consumption," I coughed, reaching for my Solo. "That would've made an interesting obituary column."

Edward just shook his head, flabbergasted at my weird behaviour.

"I wonder though, what would I want on my gravestone? Or at my funeral? It'd be pointless to have something fancy, I think, because I won't even be there to see it." I took another long drink. "What would you want?"

The middle of his brows rose while he thought. "I dunno. The only thing I'd really want would be for my favourite sad song to be played."

"What's that?"

"'Goodbye My Lover' by James Blunt."

"I love that song. It's beautiful – especially the piano. It makes me cry almost every time."

He laughed, a thought striking him. "You could always bury my piano with me," he chortled sarcastically.

"Yeah, right. I think you'd rise from the grave and save your pretty piano before it got a speck of dirt on it."

He thought for a moment, something which I found funny and started laughing. "I probably would," he said, stretching his arms to the sky, and yawning. "But that's enough about sad, funeral type things. I, for one, want my jacket back."

"Alright, you big baby. But I want mine then." I rolled the sleeves down and pulled it off, trading it with my own as he dangled it from the end of his finger. I pulled mine back on and zipped it up, ecstatic that it smelled just like him. Sweet, like red lollies, and addictive like chocolate.

I didn't have a lot of time to dwell on this, because Edward draped his arm over my shoulder and touched his forehead to mine. "You smell lovely," he complimented, and I giggled.

"I was just thinking the same of you, Eddie," I said, deliberately jibing him.

He rolled his eyes. "You know I hate that nickname."

"I know."

"So why-?"

"It's fun to mess with you."

"Fair enough," he said, but I didn't get a chance to respond because he leaned in and brushed my nose with his, then touched his lips to mine.

I kissed him back firmly, leaning toward him without thinking about it. One hand was in his hair straight away, and the other reached round to his lower back. I could feel the warmth through his jacket.

We kissed like that for a few minutes, Edward's arms pulling me closer so I was almost sitting on top of him. I had no problem with that. I pulled back when I really had to breathe, and was pleased to see him panting slightly too. The flush on his cheeks made me want him so badly it was like an ache in my chest, and his whispered words didn't help me self-control cause.

"You taste like bubbles."

I almost pushed him over when I kissed him again. He caught himself, and me, just in time, and began to straighten himself up. But he didn't stop leaning my way and soon I found the picnic rug at my back and Edward pushed up against me from almost everywhere else.

He began to plant light kisses down my neck and across my collarbone, giving us both a chance to catch a breath. I ran my fingers through his incredibly soft hair, and he slowly made his way up to my face along the other side of my neck.

When our lips were together again I nipped gently on his lower, and a frustrated growl rumbled his chest. The hand which was on my hip slowly slid down, excruciatingly slow, and when it reached the point just inside my hip bone I kissed him with such ferocity that I was surprised I hadn't passed out from lack of oxygen quite yet.

I wished I had changed from my jeans to my trackies (sweat pants) at that moment, craving his hand where he clearly wanted it too. But, his ability to infuriate me with his teasing shone through when he slid the tips of his fingers just shy of the hotspot, along the inner of my thigh, down a few inches and back up again. While I tried to breathe and kiss at the same time, one of my knees slowly rose up and touched his tender area. Even through the fabric of my clothes I could feel an admirable tent being pitched…Edward growled again, but in a more animalistic way this time.

My senses were on fire so I could feel all too clearly when his hand feathered back up to my stomach, brushing the heated skin there, and then with clever fingers he undid the top button of my jeans, pulled the zipper down and was slowly creeping his hand under the elastic of my Bonds –

"Ugh, guys, get a room!"

Edward jumped so badly he might have been taisered. Despite his fright and my instinct to hide my bottom half from Vanessa's head, which was peeking over the edge of the roof, Edward managed to turn around and keep my embarrassed expression hidden while I zipper up my jeans behind him.

"What is it?" said Edward, running a hand through his hair in clear frustration.

Vanessa held up something silver. "Alice called. Apparently it's going to rain in a few minutes and she will 'hunt you down' if you ruin her picnic rug."

"Oh, right. Thanks." Edward muttered some other words under his breath, but I was quite sure I wasn't meant to hear them. If Alice were to have heard them she most definitely would have aimed a kick at Edward's butt. With heels on.

Vanessa raised her brows for a moment before beginning to climb down, a suspect smile on her face. I wondered if she had known what she was interrupting.

"Worst timing ever," I grumbled once she was gone.

Edward nodded, but didn't comment. "We should pack this up. Alice usually isn't wrong about stuff like this."

I looked up as he spoke and just as I suspected, the stars were gone and the grey blanket of rain clouds had returned.

We quickly cleared everything up – Edward somehow managed to shove everything except the bug zapper in the picnic basket – and climbed down again. Edward went down first so he could catch me when I slipped off the edge of the rainwater tank.

"Thanks," I said breathlessly as he set me on my feet.

"Anytime."

We went inside just as the first drops of rain pattered on the roof tiles, and Edward set the bug zapper on the ground by the outdoor furniture as we passed. I looked at the clock in the lounge as we passed it, and noted that it was now eight o'clock.

"Time flies when you're having fun," Edward chuckled from beside me.

"It flew a bit too fast tonight," I retorted glumly.

Edward opened the front door to let me out on the porch first. I obliged, narrowly avoiding tripping over my undone shoelace, and turned to him once the door was closed and privacy was momentarily restored. I would have put it past Charlie to press his face against the glass of the lounge to spy – but he wouldn't be able to see us anyway. I hadn't turned the porch light on for just that reason.

"Thank you," I said quietly. "Dinner was delicious; thank Esme for me. The picnic was perfect and incredibly romantic. I'm still shocked you would go to such lengths!" I joked, touching my fist to his shoulder.

Edward's eyes still managed to twinkle in the darkness. "I'd do it a thousand times again, just for you."

My bones melted to a little puddle at my feet. I stepped forward and hugged him tightly, revelling in his chocolatey smell and the way he seemed to be surrounding me; protecting me from all sides. I felt his chin rest atop my head and closed my eyes, holding on for as long as I could.

Our moment was interrupted when the porch light flicked on, and I heard Charlie's unmistakable footsteps walk away from the door. I also heard his evil little father-interrupted-your-moment chuckle.

"I should go," Edward finally said, kissing the top of my hair. Reluctantly, I loosened my grip, but left my hands on the sides of his waist.

I reached up on my toes for a kiss, which he supplied. It was short and sweet, both of us painfully aware that Charlie might beat down the door at any moment.

"Bye," I whispered as he pulled his hood up. He touched his lips to mine once more, then he was gone, trotting out in the rain to his car. I knew he had reached it when the lights came on as he unlocked it, so I went inside, starting to shiver from the cold.

Upstairs in my room, I lay down on the bed and thought about what might have happened during one of the two times Vanessa had interrupted. True, it wasn't really her fault – but it seemed that she was coincidentally destined to disrupt my relationship with Edward.


Well there it was! I hope you're all okay with the uhh... intensity...?

This chapter's question is rather important and requires a back-story, so here it is:

In 2009 I will be a senior at school, and as seniors we get Year 12 jumpers. We also have a slogan for those jumpers. 2008's year twelves had their slogan as "Stand Up, Stand Out" - which is a bit corny to me. But whatever floats your boat. Right at the beginning of the year we're meant to come up with our own slogan - and so far, I've got nothing. I reeeally don't want to end up with a cruddy slogan - so if you guys could help, that'd be fantastic! Any slogans (except copyright ones); ones from famous people, films, celebrities, past school slogans that you know of...

Chapter 7 Question:

What should my 2009 Senior class have as their motto?

You guys are the bomb,

-Shaps