Chapter 5: Perfect Day

"So, does this mean we're dating now?" I asked as I moved onto Patrick's lap, burrowing myself in his chest.

"Dating?" He feigned confusion, eliciting a shove from me before I kissed him.

"Yes, dating. It's what boys and girls do these days, or so I've heard." I giggled. "Maybe one day you'll even get to meet my family."

"I can only imagine what sort of people produced you and your brother." He wrapped his arms around me and sighed. "You probably would have liked my parents."

The mood turned serious. I approached with caution. "What happened to your parents?"

His face was pensive. "When I was 12 they got into a car accident. My parents didn't work that much, mainly we just traveled around the world. We were in London for a while and they were at the opera. The accident wasn't their fault. They were minding their own business when some reckless driver hit them full on. Carlisle was a family friend and he and Esme offered to adopt me. They've been very good to me, but sometimes I miss my parents."

"I'm sorry."

He smiled wistfully down at me. "It's in the past and I'm happy where I am right now. After all, I wouldn't have met you if I was still traveling around the world."

"My mom travels a lot, but it's for her work. She doesn't really know that much about me, or Jack for that matter."

His hand found mine and I played with his hand, tracing random designs. He cleared his throat. "What does your mother do?"

I laughed ruefully. "She's an actress and you've probably seen a few of her movies. Her name's Analise Trent."

"Ah, yes. That explains where I've seen you before then."

"What do you mean?"

"Alice reads a lot of celebrity magazines and I recognize you from a few of them. I guess I didn't put two and two together." He pulled away and looked me in the eye. "Is that weird for you?"

"No," I murmured. "It's actually kind of funny, if you think about it. I don't think many guys would admit that they've perused their sister's magazines."

"You're right, I don't think many guys would admit that." He laughed quietly. "So, what's it like having a celebrity for a mom?"

"Weird. When she's at home she's always constantly on the phone with her random people. Plus, since she's at home you always run the risk of getting photographed. I hate it. I hate her and her need for constant perfection." I was starting to cry and I tried to swipe away the tears before Patrick saw them.

"Hey, it's okay," Patrick whispered. "Don't cry, I don't want to see you sad."

I smiled through the tears as he kissed me again. I pressed myself against him in desperation, but he pushed me away lightly.

"What's wrong?" I demanded.

"Nothing's wrong. I just want to take things slow, is that okay?" He smiled tentatively, waiting for my response.

"Yeah, that's fine. We can take things slow. Just don't come begging me to go faster in two weeks," I warned him as he laughed. "You laugh now, but you wait, Mr. I've only been in physical relationships before this."

"I think you underestimate my restraint," Patrick chuckled.

"Teenage boys have restraint?"

"You have no idea," Patrick said darkly. He brightened and hugged me to him. "Come on, let's get you some dinner."

Since Patrick wasn't that hungry I had a light dinner and we made our way back to where we'd parked the car. We didn't really talk that much until we were almost to my house.

"So, are you and Edward the closest out of your whole family?"

"Yeah, probably. He's the closest thing to a best friend I've got, even though he thinks I make stupid decisions."

"Like what?"

"Oh, just reckless stuff, stuff that Edward would never do. Edward's a pretty conservative guy. He doesn't really date and he usually keeps to himself."

"So," I ventured. "Does Edward know that you like me?"

"No. Nobody in my family does."

"Why not?" I asked indignantly. "Don't I deserve mentioning in your best friend conversations?"

Patrick looked uneasy. "The Cullens are pretty private people and I'm not sure how to approach dating someone with them. It's probably best that we stay quiet about this at school. Clandestine meetings and such are going to be pretty useful in the next few weeks."

"Secrets are kind of hot," I grinned wickedly.

Patrick's eyes glinted with mirth. "I always thought so."

He turned his eyes back to the road. "Now, which house is yours?"

We came to a stop outside our garage and from where we were standing you couldn't really see either of us from any of the windows in the house.

"So, Sara," Patrick whispered in my ear. "Is this how you were expecting your day to go."

I smirked up at him. "Not at all, and you know it. You're lucky I'm such a good sport Patrick Cullen. Most girls would have just assumed we were dating."

"You didn't?" He tried to hide his laughter as he played with the ends of my hair.

"Well, I thought that maybe we were going to be dating later that day. There's a difference. In fact, if you hadn't talked to me before the end of lunch I was going to drag you into a closet and have my way with you. Then, naturally, we would be dating."

He laughed loudly. "I knew I should have resisted talking to you at lunch. It's all your fault, you're absolutely tempting."

I wrinkled my nose at him. "Jack's probably worried about me. I should go inside soon."

He took a step towards me so that I was forced to look straight up into his eyes. "Do you have to go?"

"What do you suggest? You come into my room with me?"

He shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"I thought you wanted to take things slow. Last time I checked girls who sneak boys into their rooms aren't taking things slow."

"We're only taking things slow on alternating days that end with the letter 'y'," Patrick loftily informed me. "And I thought I was the one who wanted to take things slow. This is exactly the right pace for me."

He pulled on my hand and slowly crept past the window. "Now which room is yours? I have to know where I'm supposed to get my inner cat burglar on."

I rolled my eyes and pointed out which window was mine. "You better hide your car. My dad's totally gonna notice in the morning that some random BMW is parked outside our house. Especially one as nice as yours."

Patrick rubbed his hands together and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "All in good time my dear, all in good time."

I kissed him and started to walk away.

"Good night," I said pointedly.

He laughed, his teeth shining in the dark. He pulled me back towards him and kissed my forehead. "See you in a little while."

"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled. "Just go move your car."

I waltzed into the house, a fat smile on my face. I floated up the stairs and barely knocked on Jack's door before stumbling into the doorway.

"Where were you after school today?" Jack demanded. "I tried to look for you, but some girl named Cindy mentioned that you had said something about the library for a school project, so I figured you were fine. Would it kill you to call?"

"Hi Jack, nice to see you too. Hope you had a great day. You're such a good big brother. See you in the morning." I closed the door on my way out and kept floating towards my room.

I opened and closed the door, throwing the bag on the floor and making my way towards the window, opening it for Patrick. I sighed and spun around once in glee. I turned on my iPod stereo and set it the mix I usually had before I went to bed.

"Hello again."

"Hi!" I spun around and into Patrick's arms. "I missed you. How did you get here so fast?"

He shrugged. "I'm a good climber."

"Hmmm," I muttered. "I'll bet you are."

"Come on," he tugged my hand. "Let's get you ready for bed. Where are your clothes?"

I showed him the pajama drawer and he covered my eyes as he picked something out. He moved his hand and held up his choice. I rolled my eyes. Of course he had picked the joke lingerie that my friends had gotten me for my 15th birthday.

"Let's wait until we've been dating for more than a couple hours before we pull out the La Perla. Okay?"

He pouted. "Fine, I guess you can wear the flannel pants and a shirt."

"Oh, you'll live. I'll find a way to make it up to you." I pushed him out of the walk in closet. "Now stay put, I'll only be a moment."

He clutched his chest. "Parting is such sweet sorrow. I don't know how I'll be able to bear it."

I shot him a glare. "You'll survive. I promise." I changed quickly, and threw the closet door open.

"Ta da!" I twirled around, posing. "How do I look?"

Patrick wasn't in front of me anymore. "Patrick?" I called out quietly. "Where are you?"

"Boo."

I jumped backwards into something hard. I spun around and was face to face with Patrick's chest.

"You scared me," I accused him, pointing my finger up at him.

He grinned and picked me up, carrying me to the bed. He deposited me on the right side and lay down on the left. I rolled over closer to his side. He smiled softly at me. "Sorry I scared you. It won't happen again I promise."

"It better not. Otherwise we may not being going out anymore. Secrets aren't very hot when half the secret disappears." I sat up and stretched my arms up, yawning. "I guess I'm more tired then I thought I was."

Patrick pulled me down on top of him. "What about homework?"

"My old school did half the stuff we're doing now second semester of ninth grade. Homework is a breeze here." I lay my chin on his chest and watched his face.

He propped his head up so he could look at me. His fingers grazed my cheeks and he stroked my hair. "Yeah, Forks isn't exactly an educational mecca."

"No kidding. At least I'm only here till the end of the year."

He paused. "What do you mean?"

"My mom's only going to be filming until the end of April, but my dad made her promise that we would stay here until the end of the school year, for Jack and I's sakes. My dad seems to like it here though," I laughed bitterly. "Maybe he'll finally work up enough courage to dump her. I'd probably live with him, since Jack will be at Yale by then."

Patrick stayed quiet.

"Hey," I said. "What's wrong?"

He blinked slowly and returned his gaze to me. "Nothing's wrong, just thinking."

I smiled at him. I rolled off of him and got under the covers. "Can you turn off the light?"

I heard him get up and flick off the light. Almost instantly he was back in bed and he got under the covers with me. His arm snaked around me and pulled me closer to him. He sighed. "Good night Sara."

I smiled. "You were right. This is nice."

"I usually am Sara, I usually am."

The next morning I woke up early, rolled over and stretched my arm, hitting something hard.

"Do you always greet your secret boyfriend in the morning by hitting him in the face?" Patrick said sarcastically.

"Only the ones I really like." I smiled up at him. "Hi."

"Hi yourself." I reached up and ruffled his hair.

"I have to shower," I commented offhandedly. "You should probably swing by your house and get a change of clothes."

"I have an extra pair of clothes in my car. Mind if I use one of your showers?"

"No," I murmured. "There's one in the guest room, it's pretty isolated from the rest of the house and you should be able to do it without Jack noticing. He's probably still asleep."

"Okay," he got out of bed and stood up. "That's where I'll be then. So I guess I'll see you at school then?"

"Only if you're lucky, and even then, it would only be in the closet. Since you know, secrets are hot and all."

"Ah yes, definitely the new black," he murmured. He bent down and kissed me. "See you at school."

"Bye," I whispered. I stood silently for a minute more before making my way to the bathroom for my shower.

I showered and got ready for school quickly and I grabbed a banana on my way out. Jack stumbled down a few minutes later and he started the car, but not before lecturing me on calling before I went anywhere.

School was pretty much the same as it was the day before. Bella and I chatted a little during lunch about gym. I told her about my sickness that had come on suddenly after French. She explained to me about Edward not talking to her at all. I commiserated with her. After all, secrets aren't meant to be shared.

I got a note from the office during fourth period to go the office at the twenty-five minutes of lunch. I was walking towards the entrance when I heard my name being called. I turned to see Patrick hidden close to the tree line. I walked quickly towards him and was rewarded with a kiss when I arrived. He picked me up and spun around, hiding us behind a tree. He leaned in playfully, effectively shielding me from any passerby.

"And how was your day?" He asked as he kissed the side of my neck.

"Oh, you know. The usual." I said, trying to focus on anything but Patrick.

He pulled away. "No, I don't know."

"I had a geometry test, and we got a lecture in English. Definitely not my idea of fun. What about you?"

He smirked. "First period I thought about you, same with second period. Third period I composed an ode to your t-shirt and fourth period I had a geometry test."

"An ode to my t-shirt, huh?" I raised an eyebrow and glanced downwards. It was an ordinary t-shirt with some random slogan displayed on it. "It is pretty spectacular isn't it?"

"Only when you're wearing it." He grabbed my hand and pulled me deeper into the woods. "Come on, I found a stream."

"We only have twenty minutes," I complained. "That's totally not enough time."

Patrick rolled his eyes. "Where's your sense of excitement?"

"Obviously not on the same page as yours," I retorted. "Plus, it's completely overcast so we can't bask in the sun."

His only reaction was to pull on my hand harder. He led me a little deeper in the forest to a little stream. Emphasis on little.

"This is nice," I said uncertainly. "It's very small."

Patrick sat down on the ground. "I figured we could go here for our secret meeting place. How does that sound?"

"I don't think I could find this place again."

"Nonsense," Patrick scoffed. "It's not that hard." He looked at me carefully. "Well maybe for you it would be, being a city girl and all."

"Is that a challenge Mr. Cullen?" I smirked. I crossed my legs and sat down across from him. "We only have a few minutes before we have to go back."

"Then let's make it worthwhile," he murmured into my shoulder.

"Yes, let's." I shifted to the left so that he was facing my back. "But first, it's time for French."

"I'll meet you there, it's better if we aren't leaving together. You know since this is a secret and all."

I smiled. "You sound like you might have done this before. See you later then."

I slipped through the trees and checked the buildings for people. When I didn't see any I walked quickly towards class. The rest of the day passed without much else going on, except more of Bella being really klutzy in gym. I felt bad for her, but couldn't really sympathize. Sports had always come really easily to our family. My dad had gone to Williams for football before he blew out his knee and focused on his grades. That's where he had met my mom. He was visiting the old alma mater between semesters at Columbia Law and she was at the summer festival for theater in between films. When I was 3 she had taken off for LA for a few years, leaving my dad to take care of the two of us. I don't think he's ever really forgiven her, but he stays with her anyways.

The rest of the week passed without incident. More secret meetings and sharing of information of one another were shared between the two of us. For a boy who claimed to want to take things slow, Patrick seemed to be getting pretty involved in the relationship. Not that I was complaining. As much as I wanted to deny it, in less than a week I had fallen hard for him.

It wasn't like I hadn't ever been in a relationship. There was Vince and then in the summer there had been the guy who had played my mom's son in a movie. Those were in the past though, and neither boy held any of the appeal that Patrick held. Vince had been cute, but Patrick was practically a male model in looks alone, plus he was one of the nicest boys I'd ever met. The only thing I had any doubts about was the Cullens not knowing about our relationship.

Playlist:

Perfect Day – Hoku

Morning Morgantown – Joni Mitchell

Such Great Heights – Iron & Wine

Edge of the Ocean – Ivy