Hey there! :D

Sorry guys, late update, don't hate me, hate my job… I know I do. x'D

Special thanks to my reviewers; Azra86, Bluemaybits, Lizzy, Jess, Marian Hood, Raybanlover, Cookies1500, Porcelain-Shadow, Gnomegirl13, AngelaK779, RangerRainbow, LoveTeamEdward and Lauren! :D

Free digital… oh god I have no inspiration today… *insert something you like here* for all my reviewers! I'm such a dork. xD

To Porcelain-Shadow: Omg, you are unbelievable! xD But here it is, especially for you, a digital Edward in Chippendale outfit. :p Have fun!

To Azra86: Yeah it's one way or the other. :p And it so happens that a lot of people prefer the daily updates. So I'm sorry, I can't make everyone happy, I guess. Which is too bad. xD But if it's any consolation, most of the future chapters are going to be a bit longer than the ones I've uploaded so far.

To Lizzy: Have fun with Jasper! :p Wow I thought it was a miracle that people are reading my annoyingly long author's notes, but you even like them. That's awesome. xD

To Cookies1500: Nah, I'm not trying to kill you… not on purpose at least. xD

To Gnomegirl13: The angry mob sounds good! :D I love angry mobs! *Grabs some torches*

To LoveTeamEdward: Haha, jaaa, ik ben echt evil. :p

Alright, chapter nine guys, enjoy!


The Misunderstanding

I thought I was going to faint. How on earth was I going to have a conversation with Edward Cullen, about the girl he had kissed?! Sure, I had decided that Alice could be my friend, but this certainly hadn't been in the job description of being Alice's friend.

Edward closed the door behind us and sat down on the edge of his bed, motioning for me to do the same. Sitting down was a good idea, my legs were getting more and more shaky.

"Alright… what did you want to talk about?" Edward asked, keeping his face straight.

Wasn't that just great, he was going to play dumb! I had to pull everything out of him, as if this wasn't hard enough without me grilling him. "Look Edward, Alice is worried about you, and so is the rest of your family…" I began cautiously. I was a genius, using the guilt-trick. It always worked when Charlie used it on me…

"And what makes you think that you can help me?" He challenged me.

I rolled my eyes. "The fact that I'm the only person that you aren't ignoring."

There was a rather long silence. "You win." He finally muttered.

"I do! So are you going to tell me, or do I have to beat it out of you?" I tried to make a joke, hoping to break the ice.

"I don't really know where to start." He mused, looking up at me from under those long lashes, making my heart go wild. Cheater.

"Stop that." I warned him in a reflex.

"Stop what?" He demanded.

"I don't know, you're making me feel all… weird." I blushed as I confessed this.

He smirked at me. The jerk smirked. "Really? I make you feel weird? A good weird, or a bad weird?"

"Whatever." I groaned. "Now tell me why you've been acting like a moron the last twenty-four hours."

"That's a nice way of putting it… Listen Bella, what happened yesterday… that wasn't… I didn't want her to… kiss me. She attacked me, just like that." He was almost whispering the last part.

Wow rewind, what did he just say? Did he mean it? He didn't want Tanya? Or was it a lame excuse? But still, one unwanted kiss wouldn't kill him, so I shrugged and raised my eyebrows in amazement. "You're locking yourself up in your room because some girl kissed you against your will?"

"No, Bella I… I saw you running, before I had a chance to push her away… And you seemed upset… I was feeling so stupid, and the idea of making you unhappy… I know it was an overreaction for me to act like this, but I felt so guilty…" He was still looking me straight in the eye, and it made me nervous again.

This poor boy was miserable because he felt guilty about getting me upset? He had every right to have a life, even if it made me upset. I had to let him off the hook.

"Yes I did see it… but it's no big deal Edward, I wasn't really… that upset." I lied bluntly. "I was looking for you because I wanted to have a chat with you… but then I saw you guys and… well I just felt concerned for you, you know how Tanya has a new boyfriend every other week… I didn't want her to break your heart. I mean, you can kiss whoever you want… " I was stammering a lot, but this huge lie came out pretty convincing, for a sucky liar like me anyway. Or at least I hoped so, no need to confess all sorts of embarrassing things when I wasn't even sure about my own feelings yet.

"Oh… either way, I just wanted you to know that I don't like Tanya in that way…" He sounded almost disappointed, although I couldn't imagine why. "Anyway… what did you want to talk about?"

"Ehm, about us." God no, that sounded wrong. "About us being friends, I mean." I added quickly. Nice save, Bella!

"Aha, what about us?" Edward asked, those green eyes were smoldering me and he was so close that his breath was fanning my face. I was on the edge of hyperventilation.

"We… I…" Shit. What were we talking about, again? All I could look at was his face. Why did he have to have such a nice face?

"Are you alright?" He asked, concerned. He put one of his hands over my right hand that had been lying on the bed, and he lightly stroked the back. Oh my god, did he want me to pass out?

"I'm perfect." I squeaked, trying to subtly remove my hand from his. "Listen, what it comes down to… I want to be your friend. I don't care about an annoying bunch of girls, stalking me. We get along, right? So it would be stupid to let our friendship be ruined by a few jealous girls."

A smile broke across his perfect face and his eyes were sparkling. "Yes, we get along very well, I'm glad you've changed your mind."

"Me too." I agreed. "So if I have to fight off some girls, or buy a new set of tires every week, then that's fine with me." I said in a mock cheerful tone.

He laughed, but his expression soon was back to serious. "You won't have to do that, Bella. I'll make sure to protect you from them." He said sternly.

He wanted to protect me? Nice! Maybe he could also help me with getting rid of the butterflies that were currently fluttering around in my stomach. "You don't have to do that, I don't want you to get into trouble because of me."

"And I don't want you to get into trouble because of me." He replied immediately.

I nodded, rolling my eyes in defeat. "Fair enough."

"In that case, I think it's settled." Edward said, smiling crookedly at me.

"Yeah, no more ignoring each other." I clarified.

"That seems like a good way to start." He agreed with a grin.

"It does… Okay, I'm going to help Alice out of her misery now." I said conspiratorially while lightly patting the back of his hand.

He chuckled. "Yes, you do that."

I got up from his bed, and I was already heading for the door when he called me back.

"Hey Bella… Is it alright if we do something fun tomorrow, just the two of us? I know it sounds weird, but I sort of missed you these last two weeks."

He had missed me? And he was admitting it out loud. This guy was too sweet, how could I ever resist him? "Sure, why not."

He smiled widely. "Good. I'll call you later about the details. You can go and save Alice."

"Alright, see you later. Bye Edward."

"Goodbye Bella, I'll see you tomorrow." His musical voice sounded almost excited, as if he was looking forward to it.

How anyone could get excited at the thought of seeing me, was beyond me, but I certainly didn't complain.

I made my way downstairs and Alice was already waiting for me in the huge, light hall.

"And? Did you knock some sense into him?" She asked with a huge grin on her face, probably already knowing the answer.

"Yes, I did, it's safe to talk to him now."

"Excellent! In that case, I'm going to kick his butt for ignoring me."

I snorted. "Good luck with that, I'm going home to make dinner for Charlie."

"Wait a minute young lady! Did you smooth things out with my brother?"

"Yeah… we're going to hang out tomorrow, so I guess we're good." I informed her.

"Well done, girl! Well done…" She said with a satisfied look on her face.

We said our goodbyes and when I got home I decided to make a simple salad for tonight, seeing as I didn't feel like cooking today. I was still too excited because Edward had asked me to spend the day with him, tomorrow. Which reminded me, he was going to call me tonight. That thought alone was enough to make the butterflies bounce around in my stomach again.

At this point, it was obvious that I was in love with Edward Cullen, even I couldn't deny it anymore. I had never felt anything like this before. The real question was, was I going to act on my feelings? Edward was something different, he truly was, but he was still human. He could change, eventually, and disappoint me again... No! I had to think more positive thoughts… not all people were the same, right?

I kept struggling with my own feelings while preparing dinner, and I didn't stop worrying until Charlie came home from work. I hadn't decided yet, whether or not I should tell him about my almost-date with Edward tomorrow. It wasn't really a date, but to a parent, this would sound dangerously close to a date.

It seemed that luck was with me, because Charlie immediately started to apologize for going fishing again tomorrow when he entered the small kitchen. Good! Now there was no need to tell him. I told him that I honestly didn't mind, and that was when he also confessed that he was going to watch the game over at his friend Billy's place tonight. That would make it even easier, now he wouldn't be suspicious when Edward called tonight. I assured Charlie that it was fine, waving away his worries about him leaving me alone too much.

"I'm serious dad, have fun tonight, I don't mind being alone, you know that." I said, practically pushing him out of the front door.

"Alright then, Bells, just call me if anything's wrong."

"I will, bye dad. Say hi to Billy for me."

"Will do, bye kiddo!"

I quickly did the dishes and after I was done, I was nervously pacing back and forth in the kitchen, glancing at the phone every ten seconds. I was so pathetic. After thirty minutes, I gave up and moved to the living room, where I watched television. Or maybe 'watching' wasn't really the correct word for what I was doing. I was restlessly flicking through channels, fidgeting with the remote in my hands.

I immediately sprang up from the couch when the phone rang, the remote crashing to the ground with a loud 'thud'. I sprinted to the kitchen and picked it up, smiling like a lunatic.

"Hello?"

"Hey Bella, it's Edward."

Be cool, be calm, I chanted in my head. "Oh, hi Edward! Still alive after getting your butt kicked by Alice?"

"Yeah, I survived." He announced proudly.

I snorted. "Good for you."

"Yes… so about tomorrow, what do you want to do?" Edward asked.

"Err, there's not that much to do around here." I admitted. "Let me think for a second."

"Tell me about it, after three weeks of living here I can officially say that this place is rather boring." He mused.

Suddenly, an idea hit me. "We could go to La Push, there's a nice beach there, and the tidal pools are very beautiful."

"Really? Sounds good to me!" He instantly complied. "So… is it alright if I pick you up?"

"Yes, that would be great."

"Alright, how about I pick you up at eleven?" He suggested.

"Eleven's fine… I think I can manage to drag myself out of bed around ten."

Edward laughed lightly. "It's a date then."

My heart spluttered at the word 'date', even though I knew that he meant something else. "Yeah… so I guess I'll see you tomorrow…"

"Yes, I'll see you at eleven… Sweet dreams, Bella." He said gently in his silky voice.

I managed to choke out a "Good night, Edward" before hanging up the phone.

Sweet dreams… well that wasn't going to be a problem. This time I was actually hoping that he would interrupt my dreams again...


That's it for today, thank you for reading! More Bella/Edward fluff tomorrow. =D