Mine: The (500) Days of Summer soundtrack! The sadness that comes with the close of every weekend. A car badly in need of alignment… I'm not sure what that means.
Not mine: You know, the usual. S.M. owns. But Robert Pattinson's all mine : )
BPOV:
Dying. I was dying.
In the best way possible.
I couldn't comprehend all that Edward had just told me. I couldn't blame myself- his lips were moving against mine. If I hadn't bought this couch, this may have very well taken place on top of laundry piles, I laughed to myself. My body felt so extremely warm, like I was lit from the inside by a supernova.
Surreal. It was all so surreal. For a month I'd imagined Edward in this way, and now that it was here… I felt the need to pinch him to make sure it was.
I was satisfied with running my hands through his crazier-than-usual hair, though.
"Edward," I whispered, not making any efforts to conceal the huge, goofy smile which had overtaken my face.
He immediately pulled back and looked at me seriously. Did he think I wanted to stop?
"Where do you think you're going?" I almost purred. If I weren't so intoxicated by his presence, I would've laughed at how ridiculous I was being. One kiss and I was already flipping my shit.
I wrapped my arms around his torso and resumed our kiss, feeling his heart thumping as wildly as mine. His hands tentatively brushed over my arms, exploring the space between us. I found myself moaning to quiet any questions of whether this was what I wanted. Well, that and because I was fucking kissing Edward Cullen.
My hands roamed his body. His face. His hair. His abs. Holy shit, his abs. How had they been hiding so thoroughly?I lifted his shirt, needing to see them. About halfway up his chest, Edward grabbed the shirt, and more swiftly than I could ever describe, took it off and threw it against my wall. Good shirt.
I was touching Edward. He was definitely touching me.
He had moved his hands from my arms downwards until he reached my hips, grasping them as we started to recline in tandem.
MY COUCH. I was HORIZONTAL on MY COUCH with EDWARD CULLEN.
I reached down to pull my own shirt off when Edward's cell phone loudly vibrated from the pocket of his casually discarded shirt, now resting against my wall.
"Mmm, ignore it," he said as he wrapped his hands around the back of my neck and supported my head as the rest of his body leaned against mine.
No problem! I thought as I worked on memorizing the perfect shape of his torso. Like I could ever forget this.
Not even ten seconds after Edward's phone stopped ringing, I heard my own phone go off inside my bag. "To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die," the Smiths serenaded us as Edward smiled at me from above.
"One of us should probably answer," he said, standing up.
"To be continued? Nice ringtone, by the way."
Without saying a word, I was pretty sure he knew that the ringtone was chosen with him in mind. I guessed we were beyond pretenses now, so I smiled as I scooped my bag from the floor below, ignoring the crooked smile plastered on his face. I was momentarily distracted as he turned to retrieve his own phone from its resting place. Edward's back was as beautiful as his abs. I had it bad.
"Alice?" I read from the screen once I managed to tear my eyes away from Edward. "She called and texted me too," Edward called from across the room.
"Hello, Alice? Is everything okay?"
"Oh, it's fine, Bella! How's your day going?" she asked, sounding like maybe she was suppressing a giggle. Unless she was outside my window, though, I highly doubted she'd ever guess the truth.
"You know… it's a beautiful day," I said, eyes sparkling as I caught Edward's attention. "Certainly nothing but blue skies over here in Brooklyn."
"Glad to hear it!" Alice was the only person I knew who spoke in exclamation points.
"I was wondering…. Is Edward with you?" she asked.
"Yeah, do you wanna talk to him? Let me grab him," I said, handing the phone off to Edward. Let him be on the hot seat, I thought.
My mind was racing, imagining what Alice was saying on the other line. Edward was disagreeing with her over something, but not unkindly.
"I don't think so, Al," he began. "We already have plans, and…"
His face grew red. I seriously needed subtitles, something!
"If you insist… How about I check," he conceded. "I'll give you a call back in a little bit. GoodBYE, Alice."
He snapped the phone shut and handed it in my direction.
I waited for him to speak, not wanting to be invasive.
"Alice wants to know if we want to go to-" he paused, surveying my face. "Rebel with her and Jasper."
"What's Rebel?" I asked.
"I'm not supposed to tell you," he said, eyes twinkling in mischief. "But Alice says to wear the pink Betsey Johnson dress she gave you last week."
"That was a Betsey Johnson!?" I squeaked. Alice was constantly trying to sneak new things into my wardrobe. Sometimes I wore them, sometimes they made friends with the other rejects in the back of my closet. "I'm going to kill her," I promised.
"Believe me, I understand more than you know." Sometime during our conversation he had put his shirt back on, and was in the process of re-arranging his hair. Later, I promised to myself.
"Okay, well I'm gonna…" I awkwardly pointed into my bedroom. "Feel free to use my laptop or listen to some music," I said, running into my bathroom.
Breathe, I told myself. As soon as I saw my hair in the mirror, I laughed and all nerves dissipated. I hope he finds haystacks sexy, I thought as I jumped into the shower.
***
When I retreated from the bathroom fully dressed, I found Edward back on my couch, hunched over my iPod in a fit of laughter.
"And what is so funny?"
"…'Total Eclipse of the Heart'?"
"…HEY! It's not easy being a single girl!" I said, laughing as I tried – unsuccessfully- to grab the iPod from his hands.
"Well, I don't know much about that," he said as he caught my wrist in his hand and peppered my face with kisses.
"You look beautiful," he murmured, his lips brushing against my ear.
"You're going to kill me. KILL me," I said dramatically, touching his face. Just because I could.
"'To die by your side…'" he quoted with a smile. Oh, he was good.
"So, Casanova, what time are we meeting Alice and Jasper?"
"We should probably catch a taxi. She said they were on their way, and you know how Alice is about timeliness."
He wasn't kidding. She was downright scary when someone was late.
"As a fringe benefit, Alice will probably blow her gasket when she sees that I'm wearing a hideous old t-shirt and beat up jeans!" He channeled Alice convincingly.
"Do you want to stop by your apartment and change?" I asked.
"No, that's okay," he said quickly. "This will ensure that nothing will be boring."
"As if anything could be boring with the Cullens in tow," I said as I turned to lock the door.
It's a good thing that the taxi driver had a partition between him and us, because I'm pretty sure we were nauseating the whole way to Manhattan. As Edward sighed contentedly beside me, something suddenly popped into my mind.
"Edward, do we … do we say anything to Alice?" I asked. The whole situation was atypical. I wasn't sure what the proper protocol was for hooking up with your friend's sibling. Although, I really hoped it was more than just hooking up.
Edward laughed and looked at me like I had just said the funniest thing he had ever heard.
"Bella, do you really think Alice isn't going to notice something is different between us?"
She did seem super observant. I had noticed that Edward hadn't stopped smiling since our first kiss. If the aching of my face was any indication, I hadn't either.
"That damn pixie probably already knows," Edward said, possibly to himself.
"What do you mean? Did you have plans of Mrs. Robinson-ing me?"
"I wish I had that much foresight. Alice just has a knack of knowing these things. I'm prepared for her to pounce on us the minute we get out of the cab," he said, matter-of-factly.
"So what do we tell her?" I asked, heart in my throat as I hoped he'd say what I wanted him to say.
"Well," Edward began as he kissed the side of my neck. "I guess that depends on how you feel about … us." His voice sounded different as he hesitated with his words. Was he actually nervous!?
"Mr. Cullen, I'm quite aware how I feel about us. But I'm wondering… how do you feel about us?" Maybe I was a bit nervous too.
"It'll be fifty-eight bucks," the cab driver's gruff voice called out from the front.
WOW! Expensive, I thought as I tried to grab my wallet from my purse.
"Not necessary," Edward said to me as he handed the cabbie several bills.
"Edward!" I exclaimed. He wasn't paying for the entire fare.
"Out you go!" he said pleasantly as he exited the car and opened my door for me.
Exiting a cab was hard enough for me on a good day, excruciating in a fancy pink dress and low-heeled pumps. As my first foot made its way to the sidewalk, my second one got twisted on a seat belt on the seat, effectively making me trip forward.
"You're beautiful even when lacking grace," Edward said as he caught me mid-fall.
"Don't worry about Alice. I'll handle it. And we can continue this conversation later," he told me as we sidled up to a very long line.
"Edward…really?" I asked as I finally realized what was happening.
"Edward! Bella!" Alice screamed as she caught sight of us from her perch at the bar. She immediately bounded from her seat and wrapped us in a hug. Jasper waved, grabbed their drinks and suggested we go upstairs to escape the crowd.
Rebel was not the kind of place that I could imagine Alice enjoying; her sunny disposition and cheery wardrobe clashed with the dim lit and rocker attitudes of our fellow club-goers. The walls were black, appeared to be sticky, and were obviously to be avoided at all costs. I pictured Alice as more of a Waldorf-Astoria bar kind of girl.
"A nightclub, Alice?" I questioned. Edward's reaction to her invitation on the phone suddenly made sense.
"Oh, shush, Bella! You look gorgeous, by the way," she said as she stood on her tiptoes to swirl me around. Typically, my feet tangled together and I nearly ended up on the floor.
"I'm not here to dance," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm working on a new collection, one outside of my usual range."
"No sunshine? No rainbows? No puppies?" Edward joked.
"Edward, I am not Lisa Frank," she responded with a pout. "And I'll be speaking with you in a minute," she said in a lower voice.
"Bella!" Jasper interrupted, much to my pleasure. "Would you like to dance?"
"Jasper, I don't think I can dignify that with a response. You should know me that well by now," I said with a wink. "But how about we go get a round at the bar?"
"Perfect," he agreed.
I scrunched up my face and stuck my tongue out at Edward. Essentially, I was feeding him to the wolves. But if anyone could handle Alice, I knew it was him.
EPOV:
As Bella and Jasper retreated, Alice firmly planted herself directly in front of me.
"So, Edward…" she began. I knew she was going to enjoy this. It was like a python playing with a mouse in its cage before it became food.
"Have a pleasant afternoon?" she finally asked, raising her eyebrows suggestively.
"It was one of the better I've had in recent memory," I responded, playing it coy. The best thing about Alice's attempts at torture was that she was notoriously lacking in patience, making it hard for her to draw out any questioning.
"EDWARD! Just tell me! Are you and Bella together?" She demanded, clutching my arm with one hand while holding the other against her heart.
"My, Alice, you certainly have a flair for the dramatic."
"That doesn't answer my question!"
"Oh, that must be frustrating for you…"
So perhaps the position of python was a fun one to play in this scenario. Alice was sending up her best withering stare, but its strength all but dissipated in the twelve inches between our faces.
"I'm not sure of anything yet," I finally caved, slouching so she could hear me more easily.
"What happened?! Tell me everything," she growled in excitement.
"You know I'm not going to do that." Aside from enjoying teasing her, a gentleman doesn't kiss and tell. Especially when he was unsure about what the kiss (….or series of kisses) meant.
"But you want to be with her, right?" she questioned, looking hopefully into my eyes.
"I have never wanted anything more than to be with Bella Swan," I said earnestly. I found my admission answered with the clearing of a throat behind me.
"I got you a shot, man," Jasper said as he handed me a double shot glass with what I could only assume was vodka inside. I wasn't a drinker, usually, but for obvious reasons my nerves were a little frayed.
"To us," Alice said, holding her own shot at arm's length to toast the rest of us.
"To us," we repeated and threw back the shots.
"Burn," Bella said almost immediately, pointing at her throat. "Ouch."
Bella had never drank around me, so maybe she was a non-drinker also.
"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned.
"It's been a while since college. I guess I'm out of practice," she said, shrugging while still motioning to her throat. "I'm going to get a water."
"I'll come with you," I said while turning to Alice and Jasper.
"Go with her, I just really wanted to get you guys here so I could investigate," Alice admitted with a ridiculous smile on her face. Pixie, I thought as I shot her a look.
"Oh, shut up! You knew that before you got here." True enough.
***
Bella was trying in vain to get the attention of the bartender. Not caring anymore whether Alice saw or not, I wrapped my arms around her body and tenderly kissed the inside of her neck.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. Typically I didn't enjoy showiness with money, but with a supremely crowded bar, I knew it could be a while before we were served.
The bartender approached us almost immediately, and smiled widely as I gave him the $20 in exchange for a glass of water.
"You didn't have to do that," Bella said as she looked up at me through her beautiful eyelashes. "But thank you."
"You are more than welcome."
We found Alice and Jasper seated at a low table against a wall, Alice flipping through several pages of sketches that were strewn across the table.
"If this hemline were just a little bit higher, and the cut of the neck a little more.." Alice rambled, oblivious to our return. She was in work mode. Poor Jasper. Poor us.
"Alice?" Bella asked tentatively, not wanting to interrupt a moment of genius. "I'm not feeling well. I'm sorry to cut our visit short, but would you mind terribly if I left?"
Clearly I was mistaken. Bella was the genius.
"You know, Alice, I should really make sure she gets home okay, her not feeling well and all…" I added.
Alice peeled her eyes from her sketches and smiled knowingly at us. "I don't mind at all. I just hope you use your time together wisely!"
"ALICE!" I grimaced through my teeth.
"See you later, Alice, Jasper," Bella said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the staircase.
"Was that better or worse than you anticipated?" I asked, still unsure myself.
"You never know what you're getting into with Alice," was her only response.
As we stepped out onto the street, I heard Bella exclaim loudly.
"GROSS!"
"What?" I asked, somewhat amused.
"Why is there a pile of trash bags on the sidewalk?" She asked, disgust obvious in her tone.
"Welcome to Manhattan."
As I hailed a taxi, I made a split second decision. "Bella, I have to tell you something."
A taxi pulled up, and we both slid in. "Where to?" the driver asked. "Just follow me here," I told Bella.
"Union Square West at 15th, please," I replied.
"Where are you we going?"
"Don't get mad," seemed the best place to begin.
"So let me get this straight," Bella said, looking uncomfortable as her back pressed into the corners of the seat and the door.
"You don't live in Brooklyn. You only pretended to live there so you could follow me home. You didn't tell me the truth for… oh, I don't know, twenty eight days or so?" she shrieked. I felt terrible.
"I know it was wrong. After the first night when I escorted you home, though, I didn't know how to bring it up. I didn't want to seem creepy. I… I just knew I couldn't forgive myself if anything happened to you." It was all honesty.
"That doesn't make it right, Edward." She had now turned her back to me, watching the city pass by as we traveled in silence. Save for the unintelligible conversation our driver was having via his Bluetooth, that is.
"I understand if you can't forgive me," I said as I turned to look out my own window. Leave it to me to fuck up something in retrospect rather than the present moment. "I will pay for the cab to take you home if that's what you want," I told her as the cabbie slowed to a near stop at border of Union Square. I was typically not an emotional man, but I knew that if Bella left without forgiving me I was going to have a somber night to say the least.
She turned to look at me, eyes wet with tears.
"You lied to me," she whispered as she shook her head.
"If I knew-" I began to choke out, but I knew it wasn't enough. Words couldn't be enough. I dejectedly climbed out of the car. Fuck.
"I apologize, Bella. I would escort you home, but…"
"That's okay, Edward. I'll take the subway."
"Nonsense," I said as I handed the driver a far larger bill than our combined trips would necessitate.
"4th Avenue at 3rd Street. Brooklyn," I told the driver.
"Be safe," I whispered as I saw a tear roll down her face.
"Goodbye, Edward," I heard her say as the cab pulled away.
And so it seemed I was back to square one.
Author's Note:
WHOA! This is like three chapters in one, right?
Thank you to Edward5953 for the suggestion to make the chapters longer. It may take me longer to write them, but I think the flow will be much better.
AH! Those crazy lovebirds. They finally connect only to have it blow up in their faces!
Patience has never been a virtue I was particularly blessed with, but wait this one out.
I just saw (500) Days of Summer last night, and I completely fell in love with the soundtrack. Hence the inclusion of "There is a Light That Never Goes Out" (the Smiths) in the plot as well as the title. The Twilight version of Bella probably wouldn't listen to Morrisey or the Smiths, but since this Bella's musical tastes are selfishly modeled after my own, it stuck. I still haven't made my mind up about my overall opinion of the movie, though. I'd recommend it, but it made me sad. I'm not a fan of sad! (HAHA despite this heartfail of a chapter.)
Thanks to the kick-ass readers who have reviewed so far. I genuinely appreciate (and respond to) every one.
Review this chapter or any other chapter and I'll send you a sneak peek from Chapter 10!
Title From: There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by the Smiths
