Chapter 7-

Edward awoke to the God-awful sound of his phone blaring. He rolled over, but it was not on his bedside table. In fact, he was not in his room. The events of the night before flashed through his mind. He sat up, and, after recovering from the movement, followed the sound of his ringtone to his jeans, which were in front of the bed. As he was searching for the phone, he heard Bella stir. Finally, he got the phone out of his pocket.

"Hello?" His voice sounded as awful as his head felt.

"Oh, you sound great," Rose said cheerfully into the phone. "Where are you? We said eight."

"I must have forgotten to set an alarm. I was really drunk," Edward replied. He looked over at Bella. She was awake. He mouthed 'sorry' to her. She just smiled.

"Edward, we all had the same wake-up call. You went back to sleep."

"Oh, yeah, probably. . . I don't remember." He sat down on the bed. He wanted to hit himself for forgetting that. Leave it to Rose to remember something that minor.

"Well, you better get dressed quickly. The parade is in an hour. I am pregnant and hungry. I need food."

He laughed. One didn't want to piss off Rose ever, especially when pregnant. "You guys go. Just leave my ticket at the front desk of the hotel. I feel awful. I think I'll skip food."

"I'll just run it up. I forgot my camera in the room, anyway."

Edward froze. "No it's fine. Just leave it at the desk."

"It's on the way, Edward. I'm already at the elevator. I'll be up in two minutes."

Edward had to give in. He looked to Bella and bit his lip. He didn't want to admit to his family that he was not in the hotel, but had no choice. "Don't flip out, Rose, but I'm not in my room."

"What do you mean you aren't in your room? Where are you?"

Edward opened his mouth to explain, but then heard another voice.

"Rose, give me the phone!" Alice demanded in the background.

Edward swore under his breath. Bella looked at him, confused. 'Alice,' he mouthed to her. Bella's eyes went wide and she buried her face in the pillow. He thought she was mortified at first, but he realized she was laughing.

"Edward! Are you at Bella's apartment?"

"Good morning, little sister. Tell the family I will see you all at the parade at nine. Enjoy your breakfast."

"But-" He hung up the phone before Alice could finish.

"Someone's in trouble," Bella teased from across the bed.

"I should make you come to the parade with me. They probably won't tease me as much if you're there."

Bella sat up, but before she could give him a smart-ass reply, she groaned, "Oh my God, I hate tequila," before falling backward onto her pillows.

"Tylenol?" Edward asked. Bella nodded, which made him laugh. "No, where is it?"

Bella sat up again, slower this time. She slowly got out of bed, pulled on an oversized t-shirt, and went into the kitchen. She soon came back with a bottle of Tylenol, a glass of water, and a bottle of Gatorade. Edward raised his eyebrow at the sport drink. "It's amazing. This drink, some greasy fast food, and a Tylenol- I'll be good as new."

"Please, don't talk about food," Edward groaned.

"Do you have a hangover cure? I can try to get it for you." She handed him the bottle of pills after taking one for herself. He grabbed the glass of water and then popped two pills.

"Coffee?"

"I can do that." She turned back to the kitchen, and after he put on his jeans, Edward followed. "Is instant okay?"

"At this point, as long as it has caffeine, I'll be happy," he replied as he came up behind her. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her close. "Have dinner with me tonight? I'd invite you to the parade, but we have bleacher tickets from the Stampede, and I don't know if we can get you one."

"Oh, that's fine, because, unlike you, I am going right back to sleep."

"Are you sure I can't join you?"

"Alice will find you."

"You're probably right," he replied as he grabbed his coffee. "After I drink this, do you mind if I take a quick shower? I don't want to go to the parade smelling like a brewery."

"For sure. Towels are in the cupboard above the toilet. My shampoos and body washes are pretty girly, but there's bar soap in there somewhere."

He quickly finished the coffee and headed to the washroom.

Bella watched Edward head to the washroom. A big part of her wanted nothing better than to follow him in there but reason got the better of her. One unplanned pregnancy in the last year was enough. She finished her Gatorade and sat down on one of the stools in front of her island counter. Edward was out of the shower in only a few minutes. Bella admired him from the kitchen. He came out in only his jeans, and there were still water droplets running down his front.

"You make it pretty difficult to practice self-control when you walk around all topless like that." She tried to play it casual, but she was more than a little terrified on the inside. She kept telling herself that this was just not like her. However, she couldn't deny that she was enjoying this strange new Bella that had inhabited her body.

"This coming from the girl wearing a t-shirt and a pair of underwear," he replied while he pulled his own t-shirt over his head. After it was on, he came up in front of her and put his hands on her knees. He pushed slightly, spreading them apart and stepped in between. Running his hands up and down her legs, he leaned in close to give her a kiss. "You still didn't answer me. Dinner tonight?"

"Okay, but only if it's on the grounds.; I'm not missing a day of Stampede. Besides, it's safe there."

"What do you mean safe?" He paused for a minute. "Listen, Bella, if you want to take it a bit slower we can. Last night was crazy - good crazy, but still crazy. I don't want you to feel rushed. I want you, bad, and I won't lie about that, but if you want a few days..."

"No, it's okay. I want to see you tonight. I want to see where this goes." She knew she still sounded a little unsure, but she knew she wanted it.

"Okay, how about I come pick you up here? What time?"

"I'm off at 4:30, so how about 5? That will give me time to change and get ready."

"You could show up dressed like a clown and I'd still be hard the moment I saw you." Bella's eyes widened. Edward regretted saying it for a second, but she leaned forward and kissed him, which reassured him that she did not regret the night before, even if she was not as open about it as he was. He needed to remember though, that sober Bella was adorable, but not as outgoing as drunken Bella. "I seriously am considering skipping the parade and finding the nearest drugstore," he groaned. "Fuck, I have to go."

"Yes, you do. See you later."

He headed toward the door, and she followed. "By the way, just so you have to suffer like I am right now, there's something you should know."

"Oh, yeah?"

He leaned in close and whispered in her ear. "I'm not wearing anything under these jeans. I left a surprise in your bedroom."

"Ugh, why can't you be like every other guy on Earth and carry condoms around with you?" She leaned against the doorway, bending her head back in exasperation.

"I'll make sure to stop at a drug store sometime this afternoon." He bent forward and kissed her forehead. "Until then, you can think all about how I am not wearing any underwear."

She met his eyes and decided it was time to tease him back.

She got up on her tiptoes and leaned in close to his ear. "And while doing that, I'll be in my bed. I'll be all alone, and there will be no one to tell me to leave my panties on." He could tell she was still somewhat unsure of what she was saying, but watching her try to be sexy was far more attractive and endearing to him than what she was saying.

Bella was a little shocked at the words coming out of her mouth. This was very un-Bella type behaviour, but she could see in his eyes that he was enjoying it. She wondered if she was still a little bit drunk, but the headache told her otherwise. Maybe the headache was causing her to act like a completely different person.

"Fuck me," Edward groaned as he headed out the door. He kept eye contact with her until he reached the elevator.

Bella closed her door behind him, and leaned against the door for support. She took a few deep breaths to get control of her libido then headed to her room. She went right back to bed. Not only had he left his underwear, but also his button down cowboy-style shirt from the night before. She considered sleeping in it, but it was still damp from the rain. Instead, she got back into bed with just her underwear on. He had definitely left her worked up, and unsatisfied, but her lack of sleep got the best of her. She crawled under the covers and went straight to sleep.

Edward hurried to the hotel. After a quick run upstairs to change, he hurried back down and grabbed his ticket from the front desk. When he arrived at the parade route, he weaved through the thousands of spectators, and finally found the bleachers that matched his ticket. Spotting his family was not hard, because Alice stood up and waved while yelling his name. A short climb later, he was sitting next to Jasper.

"How're you feeling this morning?" Edward asked his somewhat green brother-in-law.

"I feel like I was hit by a truck, you?"

"About the same; Alice, how about you?"

"I feel pretty good this morning, but for about an hour last night the toilet was my best friend."

"Our hotel room smells a bit like vomit," Jasper said with a sigh.

"Can we please stop talking about it?" Edward asked. "I've already got the headache; I do't want to add puke to the mix. I didn't even eat this morning just in case."

"Us either," Alice said. "Coffee is the only thing in my system right now." Jasper nodded in agreement.

"Apparently, you three need to learn when it's time to quit." Carlisle looked suspiciously like he was going to laugh at them.

"Oh, I know when we should have quit; we just didn't," Edward replied.

Soon after, the sound of a marching band started up, and the focus turned to the street in front of them. For the next two hours, they watched as several marching bands, plenty of community groups, countless floats, tons of entertainers, and hundreds of horses flooded the streets.

Children were laughing and cheering, and normally Edward would have enjoyed seeing everyone having a good time, but his thoughts were elsewhere. His first priority was trying not to be sick, but when he was not thinking about his hangover, he thought about Bella. He wished he could run to the local drugstore, grab a pack of condoms, and lock himself in her apartment for the next few days.

She was beautiful, that was for sure, and there was much more to her than that. She was sweet, but had spunk when the moment called for it. Edward knew she had some deep stuff in her past because she occasionally caught herself before saying something revealing. It was not that he expected to know everything about her after one day, but it surprised him that he wanted to know all those things, at all.

Every few minutes he would remind himself that they had just met. They were not a couple; in fact, all they really had was a drunken night at a bar, and some pretty great touching. Then his mind would wander to that specific part of the night before, and he would be rock hard again. It was hard to believe how easily his body responded when he thought of her. Never had a woman made him this horny; usually sex was just that, sex. The last time he was perpetually hard was in his teen years. In the past, when he wanted someone and could not have them, a quick shower and his own hand would do the trick. It had not worked that morning, but he thought that was probably because it had been in Bella's shower, and everything smelled like her.

The entire two hours of the parade, Edward only thought about Bella, it was a good thing no one could read his thoughts, because he was pretty sure they resembled those of an obsessive stalker. It was the sex, he decided – or the lack thereof. Because they had not been able to actually have sex, it was all he could think about. He tried to convince himself that it was just about sex, and if it had been anyone, he would feel the same. A little voice in his head kept telling him, though, that Bella was not just anyone.

The parade ended at eleven and the crowds began to disperse. Waiting for things to thin out a little, the family sat for a few more minutes. Alice said something to her husband, and the two switched spots. Edward waited for her to ask about Bella, and the night before.

"You barely watched the parade, you know," his sister commented. "I think you might be even less relaxed than you were yesterday." Edward couldn't help but laugh. "Maybe I gave you bad advice."

"I doubt it was your advice." He chose not to say anything else. "Alice, don't ask me about the last twelve hours, okay?"

"I do not want to hear dirty sex stories about my brother, but I'm possibly even more worried than I was yesterday."

"I'm fine, little sister. My mind is just elsewhere. Don't worry about me." He put his arm around her in reassurance.

"I just want to see you happy. You realise that I can count on one hand the amount of times you've truly seemed happy over the last year."

"Being determined and being happy are not opposites, you know."

"Edward, I've known you since the day I was born. I know when you're happy."

Edward wanted to reply, but the rest of the group was getting up and starting to climb down from the bleachers. They walked for a few minutes and then stepped off the main sidewalk to discuss afternoon plans.

Carlisle and Esme were heading down to the grounds to watch the rodeo for the day, Rosalie and Alice decided to go shopping, and Jasper was heading back to the hotel for a nap. Edward wanted to do the same. He was exhausted, but Emmett was bored.

"Are you hungry?" Emmett asked after the group split apart. "You look a little better than you did when we first sat down. Want to try to eat?"

Edward had not thought about food all morning. However, as soon as Emmett mentioned food, Edward's stomach reminded him how empty it was. He agreed and they headed to a nearby street where they could grab something to eat.

"So, you spent the night with that girl from the bar?" Emmett asked after they had ordered.

"Bella, yeah, at her apartment."

"Maybe it's because I've been married for a while now, but she didn't strike me as the one-night-stand type girl."

"No, I don't think she is; I'm taking her out tonight."

"Taking her out? Or sleeping with her?"

"What's that supposed to mean? It's none of your business, Emmett."

"No, but think of it this way: remember when we were at the finals in Vegas? The first time Alice met Jasper, we almost killed the guy for kissing her. Your Bella doesn't have any big brothers here to protect her. Jasper obviously turned out to be a good guy, and I know you're a good guy, but drunken sex at her place after one night at the bar is not really 'good guy' behaviour. We were taught better than that. I know I didn't talk to her that much last night, but like I said, she didn't seem like that type of girl either."

Edward sighed. He wasn't in the mood to hear this - mostly because it was true.

"Listen, I get it Edward, I know you didn't take advantage of her or anything, but our mom raised you to be a Southern gentleman."

"I know, but fuck, there is something about her. When I'm with her I can't keep my head on straight. I'm like a horny teenager. I don't get it."

"Well, figure it out. Don't treat her like she's some tour whore that you want to sleep with and then run off. I'm not saying start some serious relationship. You barely know each other, but at least take her out a few times before you sleep with her again."

Before Edward could answer, their food came, and they began to eat. Emmett was right and Edward knew it. He did not know anything about Bella, but he knew that the night before was not the way she deserved to be treated. His cock would probably kill him, but he was not going to go buy condoms for them before their date.

Bella had an easy afternoon at work, but as soon as it was 4:30, she was out the door. She had not been very productive all afternoon, and was glad there was little work to do. She was terrified about what would happen when she met Edward that night. He was expecting the Bella he met the night before, not the regular boring, sober Bella.

She hurried back to her apartment and got dressed and ready for the night. She headed down to the front of the building just before five to wait for Edward. When she arrived down, he was already there. He stood casually in a black Jack Daniels button-down shirt. It had white piping along the edges, and black snaps down the front. It was tucked into a pair of jeans that looked like they were tailored to him, and he wore the boots and hat he wore the day before.

"Hey ,you!" She approached him cautiously and he pulled her into a hug.

"You look great," he said, as he looked her up and down. She wore a flowered sundress and her brown boots. She had a jean jacket hung over her arm in case it got colder later.

Edward's eyes were all over the place. He couldn't seem to meet her gaze for any length of time. He removed his hat and ran his hands through his hair. "Before we go, though, we should talk."

"That sounds ominous." She stepped back and tried to read his expression. He looked torn, and somewhat guilty. "Please don't tell me you are married or have some girlfriend back in Texas."

"No, God no, there's no one back home. I'm not a complete ass. Ok, well, maybe I am, but not that bad." He was stumbling on his words a little bit and still not getting to the point. "Ok, I don't really know how to say this, but first, I didn't buy condoms."

"Okay," she said slowly. "We can always grab some later."

"No, the truth is that I purposely didn't buy them. I thought about it, believe me I did, but then kind of decided that maybe we shouldn't...you know...do you get what I mean?" He did not know how to continue.

"You know what, that's fine." She stepped back. "But seriously, if all you wanted was a one night stand, then why did you even ask me to dinner? Why would you get me all excited for the whole afternoon, then bail the moment we met up? Did you feel bad for almost fucking me while you were drunk? I don't want pity; I am sick of shitty guys messing with me. If it was just a one-night thing, you never should have slept over. You could have left in the middle of the night, or even just been like every other asshole out there and get my number but never call." She turned back toward her building. "Good luck next week; I'll try really hard not to wish for a horse to land on you, but only because I wouldn't want the horse to get hurt."

She reached her door when he got over the surprise of her tirade, and caught up to her. He got himself between her and the door. "Move," she commanded.

"Bella, let me finish."

"I got your meaning, now let me go home." She tried to get around him, but he refused to move.

"That's not what I meant." He put his hand under her chin and lifted it to meet his gaze. She had tears in her eyes, and he hated that he had screwed up so bad that she was going to cry.

"It's not?"

He shook his head. "No, it's not. Bella, I didn't buy them because I was trying to be a nice guy. Emmett reminded me today that my mother raised me to be a Southern gentleman. What happened last night was probably the exact opposite. A true Southern gentleman doesn't try to drunkenly sleep with a nice girl the night he meets her. He takes her out for a nice dinner – or a night at the fair – and then walks her home. Then he doesn't stay. I know we just met, but I like you Bella. I don't want you to just be some girl I slept with while I was on the pro tour. Maybe we won't fit at all. After one date we might realise we could never be together, but I think we should see."

Bella stood silently for a moment, taking in what he had just said. Finally, she nodded. "Okay, I take back what I said. I wouldn't want a horse to land on you because you might get hurt. But don't call the Stampede a fair. It's much bigger than that." She smiled, and used the back of her hand to wipe the tears that had formed during her freak-out. She wiped one eye, and he reached out and wiped the other with his thumb.

"Don't cry. I don't want to see you sad. You deserve better than what happened last night, and I intend to give you that." He pulled her close for another hug. "Better?" She nodded against his chest. "Good. Now, let's go get some greasy midway food.