Disclaimer: Characters belong to Stephanie Meyers. Plot belongs to me.

"Are we going to let others drain [the cup] so as to keep the dregs for ourselves?" – Seneca the Younger, Letter CVIII translated by Robin Campbell

Chapter 7

It turned out that Bella was not, as Edward had believed, entering a sex shop.

The rare and used bookshop on the main floor happened to share the same entrance as the sex shop-cum-tattoo-parlor upstairs.

It wasn't until Edward spied Bella through the front window of the book shop that he breathed a sigh of relief.

Though why he should be relieved to find that Bella wasn't in a sex shop—his sex shop—was a problem in and of itself, wasn't it? Because it wasn't as if it was any of his business what she did with her spare time.

Nevertheless, Edward continued watching as Bella turned down a narrow aisle running perpendicular to the window. He watched her study the titles for a few moments, and he had very nearly convinced himself to leave her there, when he saw Bella freeze.

An elderly man had just entered the far end of the aisle. The poor tiny, inconsequential man didn't even notice Bella, pausing to examine the shelves, his fingers trembled over the books he was examining. But Edward could tell that Bella was aggravated.

She had turned away from the newcomer, as though trying to ignore him. As the little man shuffled towards her, she shifted, adopting a territorial stance.

The little man moved on to another aisle, and Edward observed in amusement as the tension immediately flowed out of Bella's form.

She obviously had no idea that she was being watched. A small smile was playing across her lips as she took down volume after volume, a stack of books already tucked under one arm. A rare ray of Seattle sunlight came through the window and cast a golden glow around Bella's shoulders, her hair glinting in the light. Dust motes spun in the air around her.

Bella's happy reverie was dispelled when a teenaged girl entered the aisle. The whole exotic dance from before was replayed before Edward's eyes, Bella clearly wanting to shoo the girl away but clearly at a loss for how to go about doing it. At one point, the girl bent over to retrieve a book from the bottom shelf, and Edward openly guffawed at the unrestrained hostility on Bella's face as she glared down at the poor creature.

Edward remembered the time that he caught Bella trying to steal a book from his stepmother Esme's collection. At least, that's how it had looked to him.

"I'm not stealing it!" Bella had cried, but her face was beet-red.

"If you're not stealing, then why're you creeping around?" Edward had asked.

Finding the two of them yelling at each other, Esme had told Bella to simply take the book, but Bella was so embarrassed, she declared that she had no intention of reading it in the first place, she was just looking at it.

Edward tried to remember the name of the book. But for the life of him, he couldn't. And he couldn't remember what Bella had done to him in order to get even. He was sure that she'd done something...

That was just the way they were back then. They were adversaries. Bella was the only one who'd stand up to Edward, the only one who'd call him on his bullshit.

Fucked up though it was, Edward couldn't help feeling like Bella had known him better than his own family.

Not quite knowing why, Edward entered through the shared entrance with the sex shop upstairs and continued on into the book shop.

Navigating several stacks, Edward planted himself at the end of the aisle Bella was working her way down, and nonchalantly pulled a book off of a shelf. Ovid's Metamorphoses.

"What are you doing here?" Bella hissed.

A carefully manufactured expression of surprise gracing his features, Edward turned.

"Why, Swan, how nice to see you," he greeted her with faux good cheer. He wasn't sure just what he was doing. It wasn't as if he and Bella were friends. Hell, Edward didn't even how to go about being someone's friend. But something drew him to her.

Bella was glaring at him with the open animosity. She looked like she wanted to stamp her foot.

And Edward couldn't help being amused. Seeing her like this, so worked up, and all over books, entertained him far more than it probably should have. But he couldn't help it.

He sobered up. "What's got you all hot and bothered? Don't want anyone to know your taste in reading?" Before she could stop him, he pulled the load of books right out of her arms.

With a cry of indignation, Bella tried to take the books back.

"Un uh," Edward chastened, clasping the lot of them to his chest and raising one over her head to read the title.

"Give it back," Bella ordered, yanking on Edward's arm.

"Be good," he admonished.

To an observer, it might have looked as though Edward was flirting with Bella. In fact, Edward might have been flirting, were it anyone but Bella with whom he was dealing. But they had too much history together.

Experts in the area of Edward's particular condition all agree that sex is just a substitute for an inability to form adequate relationships. A lack of genuine, healthy attachments is the real culprit behind the compulsion to settle for shallow physical contact. Subconsciously, a person knows that meaningless sex is a poor substitute for real relationships, and makes up the difference in quality through quantity. Addiction results, with an addict becoming dependent on the rush of biochemicals associated with satiation.

The recovery of an addict depends on his or her willingness to seek out and form genuine, healthy attachments, replacing cheap thrills with the more lasting joy of real commitment.

Unfortunately, Edward didn't know how to just come out and say what he wanted. Indeed, he would've denied wanting anything at all to do with Bella. Which any casual observer would've known at once was a lie.

So, because Edward knew that it would piss her off, because it was just too easy for Edward to fall back into his old adversarial stance when it came to Bella, he was acting like he wanted a fight with her. Like he wanted her to yell at him. When the truth was, Edward wanted just the opposite, didn't he? He wanted a little pat on the head, and someone to say that he was, in fact, doing better. Getting better.

But why Bella? Why choose her for such an endorsement?

While Edward wasn't quite ready for the more daunting task of developing genuine friendships, he had in fact developed a desire to repair his relationship with his family. After years of putting up with him, they had very nearly written him off. So Edward needed someone to testify on his behalf, and who better for such a task than Bella?

But he was going about it all wrong, wasn't he? Acting like this was a game.

Meanwhile, Bella was anything but amused. Fucking gaslighting, Bella thought. Edward was fucking gaslighting her. Bullying her and then acting like she was being childish for putting up a fight.

It was working too—she didn't want to cause a scene. Not here. Not in her favorite bookshop.

So Bella dropped her arms and crossed her arms.

And she was a sight to behold in her quiet fury. There were patches of pink on her creamy cheeks, brown tendrils of hair snaking around her neck.

Not that Edward was noticing or anything. "Well, well, is it the Marquis de Sade or Erica Jong?" he joked, glancing down to read the first title: Poems of Sappho.

"You've got to be kidding me," Edward chuckled, his mirth giving Bella an opening to snatch the Sappho away as he scanned the rest of the titles. Not recognizing a single name, he offered the books back to her.

Her chin went up as she snatched them from him, as if daring him to say another word.

But of course he couldn't hold his tongue. "I don't get it," he said.

"Get what?" Bella voice was careful, suspicious.

He jerked his head at the books. "The way you're acting. Like they're dirty tell-alls."

Bella sniffed imperiously. "I wouldn't expect you to have heard of them." She paused. "I wouldn't want them if you had."

Edward smirked and turned to investigate the shelves she'd been scanning. He was well aware of the fact that she was watching him, her head cocked to the side, like a wild bird wary of his next move.

"Don't you have something else to do besides watching me?" Edward asked, pulling a book off the shelf to examine. "I'd like some peace and quiet while I shop."

He heard her quick intake of breath. But instead of retorting, she spun on her heel, staying in the aisle to study the careworn volumes lining the top shelf of the opposite bookcase.

Abandoning his post, Edward turned and leaned against the bookcase she was studying, putting his hands in his pocket as he watched her.

Bella tensed. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Watching the animal in her natural habitat," he answered.

Her eyes darted between him and the bookcase. "Don't do that."

"What is it that's got you so worked up?" He glanced at the volumes she was looking at and shook his head. "Saint Augustine got your nether regions tingling?"

"Augustine was a prick," she retorted.

Edward leaned forward. "Maybe you like pricks," he suggested.

"I don't like you," she replied a trifle shrilly. "And I don't care what you do." She turned back to the shelf.

Edward didn't reply, opting instead to observe Bella as she endeavored to ignore him.

Her hand darted forward and froze in midair once, twice, and then again—he wondered if her hesitancy was born solely of the fact that he was watching.

Huffing, Bella finally pulled a book off the shelf. She pivoted away from Edward and flipped through the pages. Even with her face turned, Edward could see the lines of anger smoothing away from her brow as she studied the book.

Noticing that Bella was having difficulty balancing all the books in her arms he decided to make an offer, in part just because (naturally) he knew that it would annoy her. "I could hold them for you."

"No," Bella refused.

"But I could look them over while you peruse the shelves. Better my mind. Don't you want me bettering my mind?"

"Absolutely not!" she snapped, slamming the book she'd been studying closed and returning it to the shelf.

"Some teacher you are, denying me an education," Edward said as he pulled the books out of her arms. "Ever heard of this thing called the kindle?" he asked.

"I like to hold a book in my hand."

"You hold a kindle."

"I like the feel of a book."

"The feel?" Edward sounded surprised.

"The smell."

"The feel and the smell?"

"I like to run my fingers over the pages," Bella said. "Feel the grain of the page. And the smell—it's not for everyone I suppose. But it's"—she paused as though at a loss for words—"arresting."

Edward studied her for a minute. "Are you sure that you're talking about books?"

Bella's eyes snapped to his. "Of course Masen. What did you think?"

Edward ignored her use of the name Masen (which was clearly meant to insult him), and raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"Just books," she repeated.

"Riiiiight," he drawled.

Bella marched out of the aisle.

"Are you done shopping?" Edward asked as he followed a step behind.

"No I'm not done."

"Looking for more salacious debauchery?" Edward inquired, his voice a bit too loud for Bella's liking.

"Shh!" she hissed, glancing around to see if anyone had overheard.

Snickering, Edward dropped his voice. "Relax. It's not like it's a sex shop."

Bella did not deign to reply. Flipping her hair over her shoulder, she marched to the back of the shop, Edward following right along.

When she stopped in front of another bookcase, he couldn't help taking another jab. "Anything tempting?" he asked.

But she didn't take the bait. Doing her best to ignore him, she scanned the titles in silence for a few minutes.

When, with an annoyed huff, Bella pulled a volume off of the shelf and turned, she almost walked into Edward.

"What's with you?" she demanded.

"Nothing's with me," he grumbled, shuffling out of her way.

Bella re-shelved the book at far end of the row, where it belonged, then returned to her original spot, pausing to glare at Edward until he shuffled out of her way.

"Do you have to stand so close?" she whispered a minute later.

Edward didn't realize that he'd sidled back up behind her—he was trying to read the titles over her shoulder. "Do I make you nervous?" he asked, retreating a step.

"No. I just don't"—she moved three inches to the right—"see why you insist on stalking me."

"Stalking?"

She shrugged.

"I'm hardly stalking you," he lied. "If anything, you're the one stalking me, following my family around. I'm just here gathering data so that I know what I'm up against."

"You can gather data from over there." Bella waved a hand at the end of the aisle.

"Why can't I stand next to you? Don't you like me?"

"No." She straightened up. "No, I do not."

"But I can help you find a book." Grabbing a volume at random, Edward offered it to her. "What about this one? It's so big."

"You're not funny," she chastised, snatching the book away from him and returning it to the shelf.

"Come on, can't I tempt you with anything?" he teased.

"I hate you," she spat in a low tone.

Edward spied another book over her shoulder. "What about that one?" he asked.

"I wish you would leave me alone."

"Why?"

"Do I go to Breaking Dawn and critique your choice in women?"

"You could," he said. "I wouldn't mind. Maybe this time you could get the lap dance." He hesitated. "That might actually be a good idea. Maybe you swing the other way and just don't know it."

"What would it take to get you to leave me alone?"

Alas, there was absolutely nothing that Edward could think of that would get him to leave just at that moment.

So he told her that.

And she looked like she wanted to slap him.

But before she could, he made her an offer. "Have dinner with me."

"What?"

Edward was as taken aback by his suggestion as Bella appeared to be. But he repeated himself. "Have dinner with me. Tonight."

"Why?" Bella's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Why not? You're Alice's friend. And Alice is my sister."

"That doesn't seem like a very good reason."

"Alice thinks it's my fault that you didn't come to the last happy hour." Edward was still pissed about that. Pissed at Alice for not taking his side, pissed at Bella for not showing, and pissed at himself for pissing Bella off and then for caring whether or not she was pissed off. (He was also discouraged by it all, disappointed even, but not depressed. That would be taking it too far.) "Let me take you to dinner, and then I can tell Alice how very nice I was to you. Get her off my back."

"Just lie to her. Tell Alice we went to dinner and had a nice time. I won't tell her the truth."

Edward hadn't expected that. "Not good enough. I'm no good at lying to Alice." This was a lie.

"That's not my problem."

"Go to dinner with me and I won't bother you while you pick out the rest of your books." It was his original offer, but it was all he had.

"That's fucked up."

"Take it or leave it."

Sighing, Bella gave up. "Fifteen minutes," she said. "Give me fifteen minutes with your mouth shut and ten inches of breathing room."

"Just fifteen minutes?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"Ten inches?"

"At least ten inches."

He gave her a full twelve.

Taking a cleansing breath, Bella turned back to the shelves.

Edward could tell that she was fighting with herself over which books to choose. She kept coming back to the same books, pulling them off of the shelf, flipping through the pages, and then returning them to the shelves. When the fifteen minutes were up and Bella turned away, free of any new books, Edward pulled down the volume she'd tarried over the longest.

"What are you doing?" Bella asked, stopping to look back at him.

"Buying a book," Edward explained, passing Bella on the way to the register.

"You read Latin?" she demanded.

"Doesn't everyone?"

"Translate the first line," she challenged.

"Really? Rather petty of you, don't you think?"

"You don't know Latin!"

Edward handed a twenty to the sales clerk and smirked at Bella. "Nope, not a word."

"Then why are you buying it?"

"Because you don't want me to." Edward took his change back from the sales clerk, and gestured for Bella to put her books on the counter.

"I thought you were trying to be nice to me," she said, as she paid.

"How am I not being nice? I'm going out of my way to learn all about the things that interest my good friend, Isabella Swan."

She scowled at him, and then turned to head for the exit. Pausing on the landing, she looked back at him. "I have an errand to run now."

"Ok."

"So I'll just meet you for dinner."

"Can't I go along with you?"

Bella huffed. "Fine, I don't care. You don't bother me."

"Keep telling yourself that."

Not replying, she started towards the stairs.

"Where're you going?" Edward asked in surprise.

She squinted at him. "Upstairs."

"Here?"

"Yeah. Here."

Edward remained on the landing, gaping up at her.

She was going up to the sex shop.

AN: Posting early since I feel guilty for breaking a single day up into several chapters. I hope that you don't think that the tone has changed too drastically from the previous chapter.

My apologies for not replying to reviews. Will do so ASAP.

The book shop scene was again taken from outtake #6 of Gothic and was originally written for Corrupting Influence.

Gaslighting – from the movie Gaslight – starring Ingrid Bergman (only movie I like her in), Joseph Cotton (whom I love), and Charles Boyer. Highly recommended.

Marquis de Sade – wrote sadomasochistic sexual tales

Erica Jong – writes about erotica

Sappho – ancient Greek poet known for, among other things, erotic literature

Augustine of Hippo 5th cent. – Bella's opinion is entirely her own (it's Augustine's attitudes towards women that really annoy her). No offense towards Catholics intended.

Rec: Another Christmas fic as the season draws to a close: It Must Have Been the Mistletoe by KristenLynn Edward has avoided Bella—and her annoying crush—for three years. This year, an encounter under the mistletoe at the Chief's Christmas Eve party changes everything, in ways neither of them expected. Under the Mistletoe contest continuation, NOW COMPLETE Twilight - Rated: M - English - Romance - Chapters: 7 - Words: 32,234 - Reviews: 381 - Favs: 536 - Follows: 221 - Updated: Jan 26, 2011 - Published: Dec 24, 2010 - Edward, Bella – Complete