Disclaimer: I swear this is the last time I'm doing this in this story until the last chapter so hear me out! I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT.
Edward smiled as he held the door open for us. "Welcome to the Masen apartment."
BPOV
I slowly walked into to the apartment after Alice and Jasper and took in my surroundings. It was a good-sized apartment with white carpets in the living room and leading down a hall to the right, with hardwood floors in their kitchen. The first thing you saw was two black couches turned to face the plasma screen TV around a small, knee-high center table. Next to the TV was a huge stereo system that looked like it took CDs and tapes and you could also hook your iPod or MP3 up.
I followed Alice and Jasper into the kitchen and leaned against the slightly cheaper looking counter. The living room looked a bit more modern than the kitchen but the difference wasn't too noticeable. Emmett was sitting in a chair at the medium-sized table talking into a cordless house phone to what sounded like a pizza place. Rosalie stood behind him with her hands on his shoulders, talking to her brother, Jasper. Alice sat in the chair next to Jasper, just listening to the siblings, and I smiled when I saw their legs touching under the table. I crossed my arms over my chest and watched them from where I leant against the counter.
Edward had disappeared down the hallway I'd noticed before and now reentered, smacking Emmett on the back of the head for no apparent reason. Covering the receiver he yelled "Hey, what the heck was that for?!" He rubbed the back of his head before returning to the phone, glaring at Edward who just smiled back cheekily.
"I was getting bored." Was all he said and Jasper chuckled.
"Hitting Emmett does seem a good way to chase away boredom." With that, Jasper reached over and punched Emmett's arm. Emmett didn't say anything this time but as soon as Jasper turned to look at Alice he whacked him in the stomach making Jasper double over and glare at Emmett. "I'll get you later." He growled and then Alice distracted him with some comment about their former conversation.
Edward leaned against the small island in front of me. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and crossed his arms in position similar to mine. We just stared at each for a moment and I noticed a long white scar that stretched down Edward's right arm, I couldn't see where it ended but it started from about his wrist to somewhere under his sleeve. Edward saw me looking at it, but upon my questioning look didn't explain or pull down his sleeves as expected. He just looked away and I saw his jaw clench. I took the chance to look for any more scars. What had he done to get the one on his arm? It didn't look like it had been a wound quick to heal. I saw another scar poking out from under his shirt, at his throat.
"Pizza will be here in twenty to thirty minutes. Pepperoni is okay for everyone, right?" Emmett asked, hanging up the phone. There was mumbles of "sure" from everyone. By some kind of unspoken agreement, everyone drifted into the living room where Emmett flipped the TV to ESPN. Alice and Jasper took one couch and Emmett and Rosalie the other, there was no room left for Edward and I so I sat on the ground and leaned back against the couch by Alice's legs. Edward just stood back against the wall and watched us all. He seemed really tense suddenly but I tried not to think on it too much. Jasper and Alice were whispering between themselves and Emmett and Rose were both watching TV. I sighed and curled my arms around my legs, resting my chin on my knees.
After a minute, Edward said my name and I looked up at him. "You wanna go see my room?" He nodded towards the hallway by the front door. I shrugged and stood.
"Sure." I followed him down the hallway to the last door on the left. He opened the door for me and followed me in, closing the door behind him. The TV was immediately muffled and I looked around the room. A queen sized bed with a deep blue comforter was shoved into a corner and another big stereo system covered most of the opposite wall, along with a rack of CDs. I looked at some of the titles, recognizing few and not knowing many others. There was another shelf, this one with books and I knew a lot more of those. "A home without books is like a house without windows." I murmured and Edward sat on his bed, watching me. "And I doubt there are books of any length or greatness to be found in Emmett's room." I smiled at Edward and he nodded.
"Not really, unless he took it from here for some reason, usually when he tries to annoy me he takes CDs though." He chuckled and shook his head. I smiled and padded over the soft black carpet to the window that over-looked a good portion of the city, a view like that usually made an apartment more expensive. Edward came over and stood next to me. It was dark outside and because we were in a fifth floor apartment, we could see the lights of the city, sparkling like rubies and diamonds.
"You're lucky, to have a view like this." I said and he smiled, nodding.
"I look out here every night before I sleep… I guess it calms me down. It's hard to think you're alone in a world like this when you can see so many people from your bedroom window, even if it makes you feel insignificant." He smiled again and I sighed softly, leaning my elbows on the window sill and my face in my hands. Edward leaned on the sill next to me and our arms touched sending tingles across my skin and making my senses seem hyper sensitive. I looked at him at of the corner of my eye only to see him doing the same, we both laughed at being caught but before we could say anything Emmett called from the living room.
"Dinner's here!" Edward nodded towards the bedroom door.
"Ladies first." He held it open for me and I thanked him. Abandoning the kitchen, everyone was eating pizza on paper plates on the couches.
"Hey, we put in a movie, James Bond Quantum of Solace, hope you don't mind." Emmett said when we entered and then took another huge bite of his pizza. It was in the middle of the first car chase and I grabbed a slice of pizza and tossed it onto a paper plate before sitting cross-legged against the wall. Edward sat next to me and held out a Coke which I took with a smile. We leaned back against the wall and watched the movie in silence, eating.
An hour or so into the movie, I yawned and Edward chuckled. "Already getting tired? It's only 11:30 on a Friday night." I shrugged one shoulder and took one last sip of Coke which wasn't doing much to keep me awake. I leaned back against the wall again and closed my eyes. "Why don't you ask someone to move and sit on the couch?"
I answered without opening my eyes "I don't want to be a burden or anything. Let the lovebirds sit together." We lapsed back into silence and I was falling into a very light sleep when suddenly I was being picked up. I jumped but didn't protest as Edward walked down the hall and into his room. Without turning on the light, he laid me in the bed and moved away, standing by the window. I rolled onto my side and watched him stare out at the city below. "What are you thinking about?" I murmured and he glanced at me before turning his green gaze to the window again.
"That doesn't matter. You should sleep now, Bella." I stared at him in silence, at first his face was an emotionless mask but it was slipping and a bunch of different emotions flickered across his face in a minute.
Pain. Anger. Sadness. Maybe regret. Just…conflict. My eyes were slits so when he looked at me, he seemed to think I was asleep and a soft smile graced his features. I almost smiled back, but I didn't want to get caught watching him when he thought he had privacy. After a minute, he walked over and sat down on the other side of the bed.
He sighed and whispered "I hope you never have to see all the darkness in this world."
All the darkness. He hoped I didn't have to see all the darkness. I'd seen more than he knew.
A/N: Okay, right after I posted that author's note I was hit by a stroke of inspiration and wrote this… What do you think? I thought it was okay for getting over writer's block and after having the kind of day I've had even though it's pretty short. Anyway, hope you liked it and I hope you'll review. :) Oh, and just because I updated now, I still haven't settled back into a routine so don't expect another update for a while. I have no idea when I'll have time again. Review please! We've reached one hundred and I have high hopes for this story!
