Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...

A/N: I had a doctor's appointment this morning, so I was up early and decided to write another chapter.

I decided to stay up in my room until Bella left. It would probably be best. I got on my laptop and continued to look up random things, check e-mails, things like that. I reached in my bag I'd brought with me and pulled out a book that always comforted me, even though it was a little girly. Anne of Green Gables. I still remember when Bella let me borrow it and I had to go out and buy it after I was done. It surprised me that my mother didn't have it.

I got lost in the story and was to the part where Anne dyes her hair green accidently when I heard the phone ring. I stumbled around the house trying to find the receiver, eventually finding it in Alice's room. I picked it up.

"Hello," I said.

"Edward? It's Bella." Oh, my gosh. I had to focus on not breathing to hard. Gosh, I sounded like a girl... Just be casual, I thought to myself.

"Oh, hey, Bella. Wasn't Alice just at your house?"

"Yeah, but I have a problem." I panicked and lost my casual factor.

"What is it, Bella?" I asked urgently.

"It's not really a big emergency, I'm exaggerating," she said, causing me to let out a sigh. When did I start holding my breath?

"Bells, don't scare me like that. You're going to cause me to go prematurely gray," I said, laughing it off. I needed to help her out in any way I could, though. "So, what was it? Can I help?"

"Well, I just got the call that my truck is fixed and it's in Port Angeles, but I have no way to get up there because my parents are out right now, and I'm sure Alice would love an excuse to go up there to shop or look around, but apparently she's not around."

"I could drive you, if you wanted," I offered.

"Would you? That would be fabulous if you could!" she practically yelled.

"Oh, it's not a big deal, really. It isn't like I have anything better to do or anywhere to go. I'll be there in about five minutes, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be ready."

I hung up and rushed out the door to the Volvo. It wasn't rainy today, just misty, and I had heard it was supposed to go away. I sped the entire way to Bella's house. When I arrived, I ran to her front door and knocked urgently. Bella came out, looking beautiful, as always. Was that... eyeliner? And lip gloss? Since when did Bella do that? I asked myself. We got in the car, buckled up, and drove off.

"So, how come it took so long for you to get your truck?" I asked, trying to start a conversation as we got about ten minutes down the road.

"I think it's because my truck is so old. It's a-"

"1953 Chevy, I know." I was good at things like that.

"Yeah," she said. I decided I should probably be quiet for a while. The silence finally got to be too much for me, so I turned on my CD player. As it began to play, a classical piece drifted through the car. Crap. I reached out quickly to take it out. Bella probably didn't like things like that.

"Yeah, sorry, you probably don't want to listen to that," I mumbled, still reaching towards the button to take out the CD. Then, I felt Bella's warm hand on mine, pulling it away.

"No, I love Debussy! Honestly," she said.

"Really?" I asked, completely surprised. "You know this?"

"Yes." She giggled. What was she thinking?

"What?"

"Nothing. Just remembering my mom. She used to make me listen to this stuff for hours a day. I had to memorize what these sounded like and then memorize the composer. I never liked it, but I can appreciate it now. I just didn't like it when I was nine."

"My mom loves music," I said, smiling. My mother loved things like this too. I completely loved and respected her for all she had done for me. "She taught me everything I know now about music. I took lessons with her until I was fifteen."

"Really? You don't seem like the musical type. Well, you used to, before..." she trailed off. I knew what had been going to say.

"Yeah, before I started running. I looked like such a dork back then. Honestly, what was I thinking?" I said, reaching up to run my hand through my messy hair.

"You looked fine," she said. It seemed like she was defending the old me. "There was nothing wrong with it. That was who you were."

"Yeah. I still actually try in school, you know. Everyone on the team gives me crap for it, but I still really want to succeed and be a doctor. I won't be able to run like this forever, you know." I glanced over to look at her. I knew my gaze held a little of something it shouldn't: the love I felt for her. I'd never thought about it that way before. Did I really love her?

I realized that we were in town now, and I drove to the garage. We got out and Bella went to talk to the mechanics. We both looked under the hood and inspected the things they had put in. I wanted to make sure Bella was getting the best. Bella then payed the mechanics what she owed and thanked them. She started walking towards her truck. I realized, in the pit of my stomach, I didn't want her to leave me. I hastily reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Bella, do you want to do something today? I mean, do you have anything else to do? Because if you don't, I would love to just hang out, you know? I told you I wanted to get back to where we were, and this would be a start." I looked into her brown eyes and she seemed to get lost in my emerald ones. She was silent for a moment before responding.

"No, I don't have anything to do," she said, smiling up at me.

"Really? Well, what do you want to do?" I asked. Good work, I thought. I don't even know where we should go.

"I thought you were already supposed to know this," she said, raising one eyebrow.

"Not in the slightest. It's all up to you." I played it off coolly.

"How about we just walk around here? I know it's cold, but we can stop for coffee and just stop in all the little shops. We can just be tourists for today, if you want."

"As you wish," I said, like I was Westley from The Princess Bride. I knew Bella liked that movie. "Do you mind if we just take your truck and then stop back out here to get my car, since it's already parked on the curb?" I continued.

"Sure," she said, climbing in. We drove around the block and parked under a tree on the curb. We got out and walked down the street, stopping in almost every shop down the road. We laughed until we almost cried, made immature jokes, and we just talked about life and how we wished that we could go back. I loved the feeling that it gave me to see Bella opening up to me and letting herself be seen.

After visiting all of the shops on one side of Main Street, we went to the other. We stopped in the coffee shop, and I noticed Bella's low tolerance for caffeine. It was hilarious. When we left, we continued down the street, before I realized there was one place we hadn't been to yet.

"We have one more place to go," I said, turning to her. She looked confused.

"What? Where?" she asked.

"Come on." I grabbed my hand and pulled her towards our destination. Holding her hand felt so... right. Like it was what was meant to be, forever and always. I held the door open for her as we reached the bookstore. We walked in and the old woman greeted us.

"Hello! Oh, I remember you too! The girl with the broken truck and the nice, handsome boy!"

"Yeah, that's us, but my name is Edward and this is Bella," I said, introducing us to her.

"Well, my name is Janet. I'm going to let you in on a little secret," she said, looking around, making sure no one else was in the shop I guessed. "I have to say, you kids are my favorite customers. I don't know what it is about you two, but you guys stick out of the crowd, and I really like you both. You both seem like such nice, sweet kids, so tell you what: you guys pick one thing each out of here and you can have it for free." I looked down at Bella with the same love in my eyes that had been there earlier today. She looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Oh, thank you so much, Janet!" she exclaimed.

"Don't mention it, really. I like you kids."

"Hey, I'm gonna go look around, okay, Bella?" I told her.

"Yeah, hey, I'll be there in a second, Edward," she said as she was looking at a few books and bookmarks sitting around the checkout counter.

I walked off and heard Bella and Janet talking about something, but I didn't bother finding out what. I could have easily, but I wanted Bella to have her privacy. I meandered through the aisles of books. I then heard Bella walk up behind me. I turned to her holding two books I was torn between.

"So, which one do you think I should get?" I asked, holding up the books: one with a fiery pit on the front and one with a dragon.

"Neither." I knew she would say that. She smiled at me and it took my breath away. She then took the books from my hands and began reading the summaries on the backs. She handed them back to me, and chose the one with the dragon.

"That was the one I was leaning towards," I said. "We have another thing in common," he said, bringing back that old inside joke. We laughed. She grabbed a fairly thick book with a cover only using the colors black, white, and red. It was a supernatural romance and looked pretty good. I groaned as she said that was what she was getting. Some things never change.

We walked up to say goodbye to Janet. I walked to the door and held it open for Bella. We returned to her truck and drove back to the shiny silver Volvo on the curb. She parked in front of the my car and got out of the truck.

"I want something from the vending machine," she said, walking towards the ancient machine. I stopped her from putting her money in. Deflected, I thought.

"You shouldn't have to pay," I said. It was true. I wanted to buy her everything she ever wanted or needed.

"No, I want to," she replied, but my dollar was already in the machine.

"What do you want?" I asked. She pondered that for a second.

"Hmmm... I want a Caramello," I said.

"Me too," I said, pushing the buttons. "I'm gonna follow you home, just to make sure you get there okay, okay?" I said as I chewed on the chocolate and caramel goodness that was Caramello.

"Sure, that's fine," she replied. We got in the vehicles and started the long trip home. It was long, not only because Bella drove like an old lady, but because she wasn't there with me. The trip home seemed three times as long without my love by my side. Finally, we reached her house. There were no lights on and her parents' car was gone. I parked the Volvo behind her truck and got out to follow her.

"Would you like to come in?" she asked.

"Uh, maybe for a few minutes," I said, again, trying to play it off like I had nothing better to do. We headed into the warm house and she sat her things on the counter. She led me into the living room.

"You can sit down, if you want to," she said as I walked over to join her on the couch. She turned on the television to the History Channel. There was a World War I documentary on. World War I had always fascinated me and I always wanted to know about it. I was sucked into learning about it until the very end of the program. I reluctantly looked at my watch.

"Darn it," I muttered. I probably would have cursed, but Bella was a lady, and gentlemen didn't do that in front of ladies. Just another thing my parents had taught me.

"What?" She asked, concerned.

"It's ten. I probably should be getting home. I had fun today, Bella," I said. I got up, as did Bella. She walked with me to the door.

"Oh, before I forget, you should probably get this back," she said handing me my jacket. I had almost forgotten I'd let her borrow it. I wanted her to keep it forever, just so she could have a little part of me with her always. I took it from her, though. "So, I'll see you at school, I guess." she said sadly.

"Yeah. Come here," I commanded. She automatically walked over to me. I grabbed her fragile body up in my arms and held her close for a few incredible short seconds. It felt right to have her there, against me. She smelled of strawberry shampoo and freesia. Her head was on my shoulder and she looked so peaceful. I dared to do something I'd wanted to do from the moment I met her. I brushed my lips across her smooth hair before I pulled away from her warm body, not wanting to. I wanted to hug and kiss her forever.

"I've missed you, Bells. I'm glad we got to do something today," he admitted. I knew it was probably time for me to go, so I stepped out into the cold night. I drove home in a daze. I was euphoric when I reached the house. I walked in to see Alice and Jasper on the couch watching television, her head in his lap. I was grinning like a freaking idiot as I walked up the stairs.

"What happened to you?" Alice called to me as I continued up the stairs.

"Nothing," I lied. I fell asleep that night with a smile spread across my face.

A/N: Thank you and I hope you liked it!