Chapter 9: Breakfast at Tif…Hell it was Mama's Cafe

I try and make sure that I have completely erased the feelings of hurt from my face before I head into Edward's bedroom. I stop and stare at him as he finishes getting dressed. He is wearing black jeans and is rolling up the sleeves on a grey button-down shirt. He squeezes some kind of hair product into his hands and then runs his fingers through his hair in an attempt to bring some kind of order to the brown and bronze savannah that sits atop his glorious face.

I imagine myself diving in a kelp bed of his hair, just swimming through the silky strands.

He turns and catches me starring at him and asks, "What?" and laughs a little as he continues, "I can never get my hair to go anywhere, I don't know why I bother trying." I smile in return and say, "It looks perfectly fine right now."

I will myself forward and get dressed, pulling on my own jeans and then I look to him and inquire, "Babe, could I borrow a shirt from you?" A look of embarrassment forms on my face as he asks, "Did you not pack enough shirts in your backpack?" My cheeks start to warm up as they become pink and I drop my head a little and just stand there.

Edward walks over to me and cups his hand under my chin, pulling it up so he can look directly into my eyes and says, "Jay is something wrong?" I see the concern on his face and in his eyes and I finally have to speak, "No…it is just…you are going to laugh if I tell you." Some of the concern drops from his face but he does not release me from his stare and says, "No I won't, I promise." He kisses my forehead and continues, "You know you're so fucking cute when you blush?" He rubs his thumb along my cheek and I finally relax and tell him, "Well, I just wanted to wear one of your shirts so I can smell you and have something of yours close to me."

He then grabs me into his arms and says, "You never cease to amaze me. " I rest my head in the crook of his neck and inhale his wonderful scent and squeeze him tightly next to my body. He then pushes back just enough so he can look into my eyes and ponders, "Hmm, I think I have just the shirt for you." and then turns to head to his closet. He comes back with black pullover shirt that has very thin vertical ribbing pattern to it. He hands me the shirt and I pull it on over my head, grab a small handful of it and inhale the scent. I laugh at him and say, "Well not as good as the real thing but it will do."

He laughs too and says, "Black really does look hot on you." Then that throw me up against the wall and lick me from head to toe, lopsided grin is back as he pulls me into his arms and presses his lips against mine. I immediately open my mouth to allow his tongue entrance and wrap my tongue around his. I drop my hands down to his wonderful firm ass, give both cheeks a firm squeeze and pull him closer to me. Our breathing is starting to become heavy when all of a sudden; my stomach lets out a noise that sounds like I had eaten a lion.

His mouth opens wide in a grin as he says, "Down Simba! Let's go and grab some breakfast shall we?" He gives me one more kiss on the lips and then pulls away to grab some socks and begins putting them on along with his worn-out tennis shoes. I do the same and grab some gel and head into the bathroom and try to tame my own mane of hair and just decide on letting it fall where it wants to.

Edwards grabs his keys and starts to head for the door as I ask, "Is the diner within walking distance or do we need to drive?" He replies, "It is just a few blocks away, we can walk there." I follow him out the door as we head to the elevator and descend to ground floor. We exit through the glass double doors and head up the street.

I am walking right next to him and have an overwhelming urge to reach out and grab his hand but instead, ball mine into a fist to keep from doing just that.

NO!! It is up to him to decide how public he wants to be about us, don't do anything to make him uncomfortable!

After a few blocks we arrive at the diner and head inside. The waitress from behind the main counters says, "Grab a seat wherever you want guys; two coffees?" Edward says, "Yes please." He heads towards a booth as I follow and sit down across from him.

Edward's hand is resting on top of the table and I place mine on top of his and say, "If I have not already told you this, I want you to know how thankful I am that you and I are spending all this time together. I know you have an intense schedule and getting some free time is something of a luxury for you. These past 2 days have been the most amazing and awesome time I have ever experienced."

The waitress is heading towards our table with two coffees and some menus when Edwards quickly pulls his hand back from under mine and places it in his lap. Another look of hurt crosses my face which he catches before I can remove it fast enough.

The waitress says, "Here you boys go as she deposits our coffees and menus on the table. Today's specials are the spinach and swiss omelet and banana and pecan pancakes. I will give you a few minutes to decide and be right back."

After she leaves, Edward looks into my eyes with a pleading stare, "I'm sorry Jay, please don't be upset with me. I…I just panicked when the waitress was heading this way. I didn't know if I was ready for somebody to see me holding another guy's hand." I can tell that he is really frustrated with himself and I try and put on my most positive face and say, "It is all right Babe, I understand and I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."

He then takes both of this feet and places one on each side of my left foot and gives it a squeeze and says, "This is all just…God this is tough to put into words…" he takes a deep breath and slowly exhales as he tries to get his emotions under control and continues, "I have never been good at handling public affection. Even when I was dating girls because you never know what kind of crap the Rags will publish based on a fleeting glance or an innocent conversation. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't want you to think that I'm embarrassed to be around you. I just don't want some tabloid rag to start printing bullshit about you and I because they will, believe me!"

Fortunately, the waitress returns and looks at me and asks, "What can I getcha hon?" I reply, "I will have the vegetarian omelet, no cheese and could I have tomatoes instead of hash browns?" She says, "No problem hon." She looks to Edward and he says, "I will have the omelet special please, with home fries and a side order of crispy bacon." She jots down our order and then heads back to the kitchen.

I sit there and struggle with my inner feelings of hurt as it wars with my common sense.

We sit in relative silence; each lost in our own thoughts when the waitress returns with our food and places it before us.

You knew he was an actor from the start. It is not his fault that he has a reputation to look out for and stop feeling so damn crushed because he is not calling out your name to everybody within hearing distance.

But that is what I want to do! I want everybody to know what a wonderful man he is and that he and I are…Shit! What are we?

I look up from my plate and realize Edward has not even touched his omelet and he is just staring at me with pleading eyes and he asks, "Jay, please say something, anything!" I look directly into his eyes and say, "Babe, I'm sorry too. This is new to me as well. I mean, I have been in past relationships but this one is so different from those. I have never wanted to be with somebody so much and want others to know that we are together. But I do understand that you need some time to adjust to this. I just need to ask you one question and then I can put this behind me." I pause and try and figure out how I want to phrase my question, "Edward, Babe, are we…umm…how, what do you think we have together?"

Damn It! Why can't I get my brain to think straight and get a coherent thought out?!?!

I don't know, when did you ever listen to me?

I'm going insane, I'm having arguments with myself!

Edward looks a little confused, like he is trying to decipher my babbling question and says, "If you mean, what do I see between me and you then I can honestly say, I have no desire to see or date anybody else. I would like to consider us…" he pauses a moment as he tries out a new word, "boyfriends?"

It is all I can do to restrain myself from jumping across the table and grabbing his beautiful face and giving him the most passion filled kiss possible!

As he says that magical word, my face lights up and I forget about all the angst that I was previously dealing with and say, "Babe, that is all I need to know. I know this will be tough for both of us as we adjust to where our relationship goes but knowing that you want to go through it with me, as your boyfriend…" I can't help but smile when saying that, "I'm positive we can make this work."

We finish eating our breakfast, our moods elevated from the dismal depths they were previously. The waitress returns and asks if we want anything else. We both shake our heads and she inquires, "Will this be one check or two?" I pull out my wallet, hand her my credit card and tell her, "One please." She then heads off to the cash register.

Edwards turns to me and says, "You did not have to do that, especially after the wonderful dinner you prepared last night. At least let me pay for breakfast." I smile at him and say, "You can make it up to me tonight for dinner. You pick the place and I promise to keep my wallet in my pocket." I take a sip of my coffee and notice that Edward has that fucktastic, lopsided grin on his face again as he starts to slide his left foot up the inside of my leg and then gently applies pressure to my crotch with his shoe saying, "I hope you are not planning on keeping that in your pocket later tonight."

Holy Shi…cough

I practically spit out my coffee on the table as I choke on it. We both start to blush at this point and can't help but laugh out loud which draws the attention of the waitress in our direction. From her angle, I'm pretty sure she can see where Edward's leg was perched and she smiles. I quickly wipe up the spilled coffee with my napkin and give Edward a glare, "You did that on purpose!" He still has that delicious grin on his face as he replies, "Next to your blushing cheeks when you are embarrassed about something, I just love seeing shock even more!"

We slide out of the booth and head out the door heading up the street. I lean into him and whisper, "You know she saw that little stunt of yours don't you?" He looks back at me with some shock in his eyes, "She did?" I nod my head and reply, "She had the perfect angle to see what was going on under our table. His face drops a little as he says, "Oh Shit." I then jab him in the side, causing him to jump a little and successfully get the chagrin off his face and tell him, "She smiled at the two of us." A smile forms on his face as he asks, "Really?" I say, "Yep!"

Hmm, maybe it won't be as bad as he thinks, coming out to other people.

My thoughts drift to Rosalie…yeah, she might be bad. I hope it is not as bad as he thinks it will be.