A/N: Seriously, I cannot thank everybody enough for the overwhelming response to the last chapter. I hope this chapter answers at least one of your questions, even if it stirs more.

Also, I think I will be revising my writing schedule so that Saturdays will now by my writing days. Friday nights are my chill nights after a long week of classes. Thanks for being patient with me.

Note: Stephenie Meyer owns everything. I just borrow the characters. If I owned them, I'd never let Edward come out and play. Edward Cullen does, however, own me.

Campus Liaisons

Chapter 8: Blissful

"See … that's a funny story," he said after his moment of silence.

I turned my body in his bed so I could face him and rested my head on my arm. I wanted to watch him as he told me whatever he was about disclose.

There was something my head that was telling me that what he was about say would change everything. That his disclosure would rock my world and suddenly tilt it on its axis completely.

Edward's green eyes were full of a look I don't think I'd seen in them before: sorrow. He was sad about something.

"It's okay, you know. You can tell me anything," I said quietly.

He smiled meekly and it pained me that it didn't reach his eyes. They were still distraught.

Edward inhaled deeply and raked his hand through his hair again.

"Well, no time like the present, I guess," he sighed. "And when I say 'funny' I'm not sure there's anything really humorous about it. I think I mean 'funny' in more of a strange and unusual way."

I smiled at him, encouraging him that he could tell me whatever he was holding back.

"You're right to say I'm not like the other students. There's a very good reason for that," he said.

My stomach twisted and lurched. I tried to keep the sick feeling off of my face.

"Which is?" I mumbled.

"I … uh … I took a few years off," he stuttered uncharacteristically.

I blinked a few times to process what he'd said and nothing seemed to be registering. A few years off?

"Um, what?" I finally asked.

Edward turned his head away from me and his eyes cast downward.

"I took a few years off of school between high school and college. I needed some time away from my life," he said and put his hand on my hip, starting to massage the skin there lightly.

His touch sent electricity through my body and I could feel the knot in my stomach dissolving. How could he do that? How did his mere touch calm me so much?

Despite the calming influence Edward was having on my body, my brain was still in overdrive. It was frantically searching through what he'd said so far, trying to make sense of his simple words that seemed to have such a much deeper meaning.

"Why did you need a break?" I finally asked.

Edward's eyes met mine again and I sensed pain behind them.

"For as long as I've been school, I've pushed myself. I always wanted to be something more, do something greater than myself. Give something to the world that nobody else could. The obvious choice was to be a doctor. My father's a doctor and I thought that was the perfect path for me to take. I could make sick people better. What better use of my time was there? But my senior of high school, something happened," he said and his face contorted into one of distinct pain.

I took my hand and ran my fingers up and down his jaw, trying to soothe his hurt.

"You don't have to tell me. I'll understand," I breathed.

"No, I want to tell you," Edward murmured. He paused and pushed his face into my hand lightly. His eyes closed and a much more serene expression found his face. "My mom died. My birth mother that is. I'm adopted. When I found out she had died, I was devastated. I hadn't really ever known her and there was just this intense sense of loss for me. She was gone and I would never know her."

My heart clenched for his pain. It was so evident on his face and in his voice that I wished with everything in me suddenly that I could take it all away.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered.

Edward opened his eyes and I found the emerald green clearer.

"Thank you," he said. "I took a few years off. I needed to get away, away from every pressure I had in my life. I traveled. I saw the world. Learning about everything. Looking for myself really."

I smiled at his words.

"What did you find out? About yourself, I mean," I asked.

Edward breathed in deep before answering me.

"I found I need stability a lot more than I thought I did. I found I needed someone to take care of. I needed less pressure. I needed to not be so serious about everything and just take life as it came to me. Roll with the punches, so to say."

"That sounds so …" I trailed off.

"Childish?" he snorted.

I shook my head.

"No, it doesn't sound childish. It sounds perfect," I replied and smiled.

"You think?" he asked and smiled back at me.

"Yeah, I do. I think I need to do that more too."

We laid there for a few minutes. Edward's hand was still gently massing the skin on my hip and our eyes were locked. I almost believed I could tell what was running through his mind, or at least what I hoped was running through his mind.

I wanted him to be comfortable with me. I didn't know what brought about this sudden change of heart, this sudden shift away from my normal view that there should be a clear and distinct line between the two of us.

Maybe it was the connection we had made. Sure, the sex was hot and his body called to me a lot more than any other's had before, but there was seemingly something more.

He had given of himself, shown me something that I'm not sure many others had before me. I now held something important of his. Something precious to his past. I wanted to be worthy of that trust he'd placed in me.

Everything he said swirled around in my head, mixing together with what I already knew about him. And then the first thing he'd said when he started his explanation came back to me.

"So you said you took a few years off. How old are you exactly?" I suddenly asked, breaking the silence that had dropped over the room.

Edward smiled tentatively at me before speaking. "You really want to know?"

"Of course I do."

"Promise me you won't be mad at me."

I smiled and a light laugh escaped me.

"Why would I would be mad?" I chuckled.

"Well, like I said. I took a few years off," he answered.

"Ok, so what. You're twenty. Twenty-two maybe. No big deal."

Edward inhaled sharply and grimaced.

"Do I really look that young? Did you really think I was eighteen or nineteen?" he asked.

"Um, I don't know. You have a baby face, I think."

It was his turn to chuckle at me and when he finished that broken smile returned to his face.

"I'm 25."

My breathing stopped cold and all logical thought ground to a halt.

25? He was 25?

Edward.

The same guy who was a sophomore in college. The same guy who I'd thought all along was maybe nineteen was now suddenly six years older than my original estimate.

What.

The.

Hell.

And then it hit me.

He was older than me.

I was 24. He was 25.

I was the baby. I wasn't the one taking advantage of him. Granted, he wasn't exactly taking advantage of me either, but this new revelation changed everything.

I was right to think what he would tell me would change everything. Because it did.

I was no longer the adult in the relationship.

Wait, did I just think the word 'relationship'?

"What?" I croaked out.

"I'm 25, Bella," Edward stated with more conviction. "How old are you?"

I stared open-mouthed at him. I couldn't find my words. I couldn't find my thoughts. I was only aware of Edward's hand still on my hip, a hand that was now dangerously close to my inner thigh and the feelings said hand were starting to stir within me.

"I-I … I'm 24," I finally managed to stutter out.

For seemingly the millionth time that night, Edward inhaled sharply.

"24. You're younger than me. That's … surprising," he drawled out.

My eyes narrowed on him.

"Why is that surprising? How old did you think I was? You know, that's almost mildly insulting," I quipped.

He chuckled at me, low and throaty. My annoyance melted. I just couldn't stay mad at him tonight.

"Well, I thought you were at least 27. You seem so adult. So grown up. So mature. I'm just surprised because I've never met anyone like you before. And I've met a lot of people. I've always been very good at reading people and you burst into my life upsetting everything I thought I knew about reading people," he grinned.

"Why?"

"Because you never do what I expect you to do. I always think you'll done one thing and then you just … do something completely unexpected that knocks the wind out of my sails," Edward said slyly.

"Like what?" I asked and furrowed my brow.

"Well, I expected you to completely cave to Tanya and breakdown crying, but you didn't. You put her in her place and told her the way it was going to be. I liked that."

"She annoyed me. I was having a bad morning and she hit the wrong nerve," I quipped.

"Bad morning?" he asked.

"Woke up naked and reeking of sex and tequila," I said quietly without thinking and instantly regretted it. I turned my head away, not wanting to see his reaction to my sudden revelation.

Edward was quiet for a moment and I had absolutely no idea what going through his mind. The prospect that I scared him by mentioning my one-night stand even in vague generalities was terrifying.

"Oh … uh … wow. Well, uh, I'm sorry," he stumbled over his words.

I yawned against my will and Edward grinned at me.

"You're sleepy," he cooed.

"No, I'm … fine," I replied, but the sentence was punctuated by a yawn. "Damn."

He chuckled at me.

"It's okay. You should sleep. I'm sure you had a long day. Collecting papers and all," he laughed.

My eyes narrowed on his gorgeous face. Papers. The paper he'd convinced me to take even though it was clearly in my syllabus that I wouldn't.

"What?" Edward innocently asked, but I detected he knew what was running through my head.

"I'm still annoyed at you for that, you know," I quipped and poked in him the chest with my finger.

Edward grinned again and leaned down to my face. His breathe was hot across my skin and the sensation was divine. He brushed his lips across mine slowly, delicately.

I felt like my insides were liquefying. My brain lost all sense of anything except the sensation of him being so close and his lips barely a hair's breathe away from being fully on me. His hand shifted and his palm laid flat against my back, pulling me closer to his body.

Unable to resist his pull, I moved in. His body was hot against my own already warm temperature. My breasts brushed his chest and the feeling made my nipples harden instantly.

God.

He was good.

His lips danced up my cheek, placing soft, delicate kisses along the way. Edward's lips found the space right below my ear and he kissed it, sucking on the skin. I could feel my own pulse beneath his lips, beating furiously.

My head titled to the side, giving him better access to my neck. Edward's lips continued to move against me, furiously lapping at my soft skin.

I don't know what he was doing, but whatever it was, it was working. Everything in my head was erased. Only the thought of him and what he was doing. His body pressed up against mine. His hand caressing the skin on my back. His lips pressed up onto my neck. His hips against mine. His growing hardness against my thigh.

The sensations. The feelings.

The overwhelming urge to just stay here.

In his bed. With him.

Forever.

My world fell by the wayside whenever I was with him. It was as if my vision tunneled and my thoughts were centered on him and him alone. I couldn't think, couldn't concentrate when he was around.

His body called to me, luring me in. The silent and strong tug I felt to be with him was something I just couldn't ignore. I'd tried for so long, but I had failed miserably.

There was something about him.

Something more than just hot sex and soulful insights into literature.

Something that made me want to stay.

Always in his arms. Always under his lips. Always next to him.

"Are you still mad at me?" Edward whispered into my ear.

"What?" I mumbled.

"I hope you're not still mad at me. I don't want you to be mad. I want you to be happy. Just us, here in this moment. Happy. Because that's what I am. So ridiculously happy I can hardly describe it," he breathed into my skin.

"Okay," I squeaked out.

"Are you happy? Here with me?" he asked and sighed.

"Insanely blissful."

I felt him smile against my skin and I couldn't stop my own corresponding smile as it raced across my face.

"That's all I want. I just want you happy."

I yawned again, and Edward chuckled.

He drew his head back and drowsiness pulled at the corners of his eyes. I traced the corners with his eyes with my fingers and he smiled under my hand.

The both of us yawned at that moment and I couldn't help but laugh. Edward responded with his own small laugh.

Everything seemed right in that moment.

Perfect.

He shifted again and laid on his back. His arm pulled me in the crook of his body and my head pressed into his shoulder.

I could feel sleep washing over me, taking me away from Edward into a land punctuated by dreams with him as the star.

Our breathing evened out and the quiet of his bedroom was soothing. His sheer presence next to me was enough that nothing else mattered.

Tomorrow was a new day.

But tonight? Tonight was ours.

I thought Edward was already asleep when he broke the silence.

"Sleep, my beautiful Bella. Whatever comes will come. Until then, we can be happy," he whispered into the darkness.

The last thing I felt before sleep consumed me was his lips pressing a soft kiss into my hair.

Blissfully happy.