XoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoX
Chapter 8: Besame Mucho
"Oh this joy is something new, my arms are holding you.
I never knew this thrill before."
XoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoXoX
Elena
"Mmmm, that smells good," my dad said entering the kitchen where Ethan and I were cooking dinner. Actually I was just watching, I'm not a good cook—I grew up with vampires so I never really had anywhere to learn.
Ethan was a great cook though, he always made everything special just for me. Tonight was spicy lime chicken with jalapeño rice and corn salsa. It smelled delicious.
"It'll be done in twenty minutes," he said turning around, my mom's adorable frilly apron covering his white undershirt.
"You smell like fuel exhaust," my dad said kissing the top of my head.
"Okay. Got the hint dad, I'm showering," I said rushing out the kitchen throwing Ethan one last glance before I left. He watched me go, a small blush creeping on the apple of his cheeks. Once I was out the room, I dashed up the stairs, my heart pounding so hard I could feel it in my ears.
Our hug wasn't like a normal hug, not like any hug I had ever had before at least. It was so warm and his hand resting on the small of my back was almost electric. The way his eyes lit up, almost as if they were on fire when we parted, it made my knees weak and I was still recovering.
When I got upstairs I took a cold shower, it was the kind of thing you always saw in movies but in practice it was pretty much useless. I was still burning, I never wanted anything so bad in my life—I didn't even know what I wanted for sure, but I did know it included his hands on my body. My sex education was minimal, I didn't know the step between kissing and fornication but I wanted all of that, I didn't want to miss anything.
When I finished showering I blow-dried my hair, it was getting too long—even though it was very curly it still reached my lower back and it was difficult to wash. I wanted to cut it, but I worried that Ethan wouldn't like it, he always played with my hair when we watched movies or read together.
I hurried washing everything in a fever pitch so I could get back to Ethan, I wanted to be in the same room, my whole body was screaming for it but I was nervous. It was silly, for almost my entire life I have had Ethan by my side, he was a constant fixture but now he made my hands sweat. I don't know why I was so nervous but I was. I kept my hands busy with a quick swipe of makeup: mascara, eyeliner and lip-gloss although I rarely bother with makeup.
"Knock knock," my mom said sliding into the bathroom from my room with a large white box.
"Hey," I smiled, tightening my robe and following her out of the bathroom into the bedroom.
"Alice sent this yesterday, for Ethan's homecoming. She told me to tell you if you didn't wear heels with it she would know," my mom said ominously.
"Heels?" I whined and she giggled heading to my closet. "Open it," she urged coming back out the closet with a pair of gold Versace strappy heels I had received as a well-intentioned Christmas present from Rosalie the year before.
I had a closet full of things I never wore, including at least twenty pairs of shoes I couldn't walk in because while I was part vampire I had not inherited the grace or coordination. I was told that my clumsiness and the curl of my hair were the only things I inherited from my grandmother Bella, unfortunately they were two of my worst qualities, thanks gran!
I turned to the box with trepidation, Alice's idea of an appropriate outfit for a welcome home dinner was probably made of material I couldn't even pronounce and cost a year's salary of two migrant workers in Tibet. Ethan had a special connection with Tibet and I knew more facts about their hardships than most scholars on the subject. We visited the year before last and the experience was heartbreaking for Ethan. I remember the horror filled eyes like it was yesterday and the helplessness I felt when he cried. Ethan like me, didn't cry often, so I held his hands and wished away the pain—I never felt so strong about a cause in my life. It was thrilling and terrible all at once, sharing Ethan's passion, but truly seeing the injustices he fought against. He was amazing and strong and compassionate and oh god so sexy!
"Open it!" My mother cried again. I flipped it open, lifting up the pink paper on top with a sigh. I would dell whatever was inside to the resale shop once I wore it, and give the money to Ethan for his charity pot. He kept a shoebox in his room and percents of anything he made went in there. At the moment Ethan was actually the only working member of our family, I admired that about him. My family had made enough money through stocks and investments to allow us a few lifetimes of luxury, but Ethan still insisted on paying his way.
"So do you like the dress or not?" My mother asked looking over at it. It was a two-tone yellow sundress. Yellow has always been my favorite color and I smiled as I pulled the dress out of the box. It wasn't sexy like a lot of the clothes Alice picked out of me, it had a fitted top and flowing bottom and it wasn't excessively short, but it was beautiful. Just holding it against myself I was amazed at how naturally it went with my light tan and black hair, Alice always knew how to pick the perfect outfit for me, but it was much more formal than I usually went for at a family dinner.
"These should work with that," my mom said passing the shoes to me. She was much better with these kinds of things than me, in fact all the women in my family including my grandma Bella were better at these kinds of things than me. Did I mention she has no style sense and Alice has to do all of her shopping?
"Don't you think this is a little much for dinner at home?" I said fingering the soft material.
"Don't get mad, okay?" She called as I went into the bathroom to change.
"What? What's going on? Are the Dracula twins coming because they give me the creeps and I don't think I want to wear anything so low cut with them around," I called back, zipping myself up. The dress was beautiful, the kind of dress I would admire in the store but never feel comfortable buying knowing that I could feed a village for a day with that amount of money.
"Rosalie set the veranda dining table for two," she said turning to look out the door as if Rosalie were likely to pop out at any moment, and as if on cue she did. Rosalie floated into the room in all of her glory, appraised me and smiled.
"How about you and dad?" Rosalie and my mother both ignored the question fussing over me.
"You look beautiful. Here, I thought you might need something for your hair," Rosalie said carefully arranging a gold clip with big green stones that matched my eyes on one side of my head near my temple. "You need more makeup," she sighed sadly and headed for my bathroom.
"I don't think I understand why I need makeup for dinner with my family," I said slowly, trying to keep my face still as Rosalie applied more makeup.
"Dinner with Ethan," Rosalie said as if she were annoyed with my stupidity, but I seriously had no idea what was happening.
"It's a date honey," my mom said from behind me as Rosalie cooed about the beautiful green of my eyes.
"A date? Does Ethan know that?"
"Your dad's telling him now," my mom said softly from behind me.
"And how does he feel about that?" I said nervously my hands starting to shake.
"If you two don't do it already, someone's going to explode from all the sexual tension in the room," Rosalie said with an entirely straight face.
"Do what?" I cried, pushing her hands away from my face. I turned around trying to find my mother, she sat chuckling in the corner of my room, her hand covering her mouth.
"Sex. I taught you about it already," Rosalie scoffed from behind me. Just the mention of that disturbing conversation made my palms sweat. Rosalie took me to Portugal for the weekend just before my tenth birthday with Alice and grandma Bella. It was supposed to be a girl's weekend but it basically turned into an eye opening experience where I was cornered by Rosalie with a detailed run down of sex that would scar me for life.
"Okay, maybe not sex, you could you know start with a kiss," my mom said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Rosalie.
"Okay, I sense a good mother daughter moment so I'm leaving. Good luck honey," Rosalie sighed kissing my cheek and wandering out the room. I didn't like the direction this conversation was going. Ethan and I had one hug where I felt that maybe, possibly he felt the same way about me and now I was going to get "the talk" again?
"We're not going to have sex. I'm not even sure if he likes me, so can I just go have dinner and pretend this never happened?"
"You're both being more than a little dense so let me just spell it out for you. He's in love with you. He's been in love with you for three years, maybe more and if both of you keep waiting for the other to make the first move you're going to be waiting forever because Ethan won't force it. So, go get him, tiger," she cried, pushing me towards the door, I stumbled on my heels rushing to get to him.
Did she know for sure? Was she privy to some inside Ethan information? I almost broke my ankle on the bottom stair and I ripped them off in frustration breaking into a barefoot run. He wasn't in the kitchen, I ran through the front crashing into Emmett.
"Whoa Little Bit," he called chuckling but I didn't stop, doubling back through the kitchen and out the back door.
"Ethan!" It was dark all around me, but I could smell him. I didn't have to track him, not that I was very good at that kind of thing, he was at my side in seconds, grabbing my arms with a worried expression.
"Are you—wow…" he broke off, his eyes roaming my body, self confidence aside, I never felt so self-conscious in my life. His eyes burned into me, hotter than his hands on my bare arms.
"Do you like it?" My mouth was getting drier by the second. Kiss him. Kiss him. Kiss him.
"Elena, you—" I didn't want to fight. I didn't want to misunderstand or miscommunicate, I just wanted him.
I threw my arms around his neck crashing my lips against his, they were soft and warm and gone too quick. He pulled away, his hands settling on either side of my hips, I could feel hit heat radiating through the soft fabric.
"Oh," he moaned, his eyes searching mine.
"Sorry?" I didn't know what else to say, I felt like the biggest idiot in the world.
"Sorry? You didn't—I… can we do that again?" he whispered, breathing in my ear, my entire body tingling.
"Please."
