A/N: So, I am continuing the story, and since I am there will be longer chapters, I have gone back and revised this by combining chapters and so forth. I also added onto the ending, so I hope everyone enjoys. Next chapter should be up sometime next week, I am currently dealing with finals and a family tragedy, but I will be back full swing next week.

DISCLAIMER: Not mine at all.


The last three weeks of school seemed to fly by without anymore major surprises. Other than the fact that there were two days of sunshine in one week, which completely surprised me, Charlie said it got better during the summer that there was more sun than usual and the temperature was warmer but I was still having a hard time believing that. Edward had mentioned that Seattle was always pretty in the summer, and though it was often overcast it was fairly warm sometimes; temperatures reaching into the eighties, he figured since Forks and Seattle weren't too far from each other the weather couldn't be that different. My personal take on the subject though had been to tell them "I'll believe it when I see it."

"Trust me on this one; it's not going to be freezing all year 'round." Edward had explained; which had gotten him an eye roll from me a couple of nights ago.

School let out on June the seventh, once all finals had been completed. Edward and I both received A's in out Biology and English courses, Alice had gotten a B in math, although I figured it had more to do with her lecture on proper shoe wear, male or female, she had given to the teacher. Over all though, we had all done pretty well, earning us a night out in Port Angeles with Esme, Carlisle, Rosalie, and Charlie. They treated the four of us to dinner at a little Italian restaurant and then took us to a movie. Edward and I sat beside of each other all night with Alice on the other side of me. Rosalie however opted to sit with Esme, Carlisle and Charlie in the back of the Theater.

Since Rosalie had dropped the bomb shell on us, that she was pregnant, she'd become very withdrawn, opting to stay with her parents as apposed to interact with people from school. She'd yet to tell anyone we went to school with about the pregnancy, but they all knew something was going on. Rosalie Cullen was known pretty much as the Queen Bee, she dated the captain of the football team, Felix James, was too good to do any cheerleading, opting instead to do local modeling. (Alice had actually just told me that a few days ago when I'd discovered a picture of Rosalie hanging up near one of her favorite stores in the Port Angeles mall.) Needless to say she was always invited to all of the parties, and when she opted to go to dinner with family and friends of the family as apposed to going to the Alec's parent's cabin, for the big blow out, the gossip began.

Jessica and Lauren had actually three way-ed me the night before last to ask if it was true Rosalie had the Swine Flu. When I'd told them 'no' on that they were soon to ask if it was true she was having an affair with coach Clapp and had been caught on camera. Much to their dismay I had to dispel that rumor as well. It was almost as if they wanted these things to be true, wanted her to be anorexic, sleeping with one of the teachers, or the most creative I had heard yet, a part time porn star. Mike Newton had started that one only to have Tyler and Eric go right along with him.

Rose was already three months pregnant, and knew that she wasn't going to be able to keep it a secret for much longer, especially in a town the size of Forks, so she was planning on letting it out there by the time school started back in the fall – something I did not want to think about. It was only early June but I was enjoying the summer entirely too much to think about it ending any time soon. As I sat between Alice and Edward, our eyes focusing on the movie, I smiled, pushing all thoughts of summer ending and school beginning again from my head.

We'd settled on seeing the latest Brad Pitt movie, – Alice's choice – and I wondered if Charlie had dozed off yet, the image of him and Carlisle with their heads on each others shoulders as they snored away crept into my head causing me to – as softly as possible since we were in a movie theater – laugh. Normally Charlie wasn't one to go out to movies or anything like that, but tonight was a reward for the end of our first year of high school being completed successfully, so he'd been willing to miss out on the fishing tournament – which was being recorded by his friend Billy Black, out on the Quileute reservation, for him – and come out with us. Why anyone would rather watch the 'Hunting and Fishing' network as apposed to… well, anything else was beyond me, but it was one of his favorite channels; next to ESPN, of course.

I couldn't help but be aware of how close Edward and I were, of the electric current that seemed to stay at a low hum as we sat in the dark theater. If I moved my hand out just a little bit, I would be able to take his in mine, of course, I was too big of a chicken for that so I just sat there, thankful that he couldn't see the blush on my face while we were in the dark.

"I can't believe they killed him off at the end!" Alice groaned as we all made our way outside of the Theater. I just smiled and nodded, to be honest I wasn't quite sure what had happened in the movie, nor did I care. Being out with my father and my closest friends was what I enjoyed about the evening, it was nice to see a movie with everyone, but I didn't particularly care for the movie. Besides, how was I expected to concentrate on any movie with Edward sitting beside of me?

"Yeah, I completely didn't see it coming."

"Brad Pitt's amazing." She said as we made it to Esme's mini van. I just shook my head not wanting to get Alice started on a lecture of Brad Pitt's finer performances if she were to find out my own personal thoughts on him

Edward snorted and Alice gave him a puzzled look. "Bella hates Brad Pitt; don't ya Bella?" He asked me with an evil smile on his face.

"No she doesn't, every girl loves Brad Pitt." Alice stated firmly, turning to smile at me. "Right, Bella?"

I turned and shot Edward the dirtiest look I could manage before turning back to Alice. "He's right; I actually don't like Brad Pitt." Alice's eyes widened in shock as and I shot Edward a death glare, he was going to pay for that one later, "Your dead, Masen."

"What did Edward do?" Asked Carlisle as he and Esme got in the car, minus Rosalie, I furrowed my brow and turned to look behind us as the van roared to life.

Were they just planning on leaving her behind at the Theater? I knew they weren't happy with her for getting pregnant, but there was no way they would just do something like that. "Where's Rose?" I asked Esme, who was in the process of pulling her shoulder length caramel hair into a ponytail.

"Your dad took her home about half way through the movie," She explained as she pulled the final strands of hair through the black band. "Morning sickness isn't exclusive to mornings." So that was why Charlie hadn't been around when we headed out to the car, I thought he'd just gone to the bathroom or was maybe still snoozing in the theater.

"That's for sure," Alice chimed in; all talk of Brad Pitt obviously forgotten, to my complete relief. "She's woke me up puking at twelve thirty every night this week." My stomach twisted in uneasy knots at the thought of puking. Unfortunately for me the rest of the car ride home focused around morning sickness and how it was worse than the stomach flu, sometimes.

That statement was made by Carlisle; and immediately had Alice arguing, explaining how the stomach flu she had last year had been a lot worse than Rose's morning sickness now. I honestly thought I was going to have to let Carlisle pull the car over so I could throw up whenever they began discussing what Alice's stomach flu entailed compared to Rosalie's morning sickness, by the time we pulled into the Cullen's driveway I had vowed never to do anything in the medical field once I completed high school.

The cool air that greeted me as I stepped out of the van was an unusually welcomed relief, it helped cool me down and settle my queasy stomach before I headed into the house alongside Esme and Edward. Alice and Carlisle were still in the car arguing it seemed.

Charlie was sitting on the sofa; his face had a horrified expression, his eyes wide as he read Alice's latest issue of Cosmo. Clearly he was bored, I thought with a chuckle as I walked over to where he was and took the magazine out of his hand. "Trust me; it's too complicated to explain why anyone would choose to read this." I said, causing him to give me one of his typical Charlie Swan half-smile's. Edward went ahead upstairs after waving to Charlie from across the room and I knew it wasn't because he didn't like Charlie, rather that he wasn't comfortable around him, so I didn't press the issue.

Esme walked into the living room after slipping off her shoes in the Foyer. "Thank you for brining Rose home for us," Her cool blue eyes sparkled as the light from the overhead fixture caught them.

"It wasn't a problem, Mrs. Cullen." Charlie said as he rose from his spot on the sofa before he looked down at me. "You gonna come home with me tonight Bells, or do you want to stay here?" He knew the answer to that, I'd made it a habit to stay over at the Cullen's on Friday nights because he always went fishing all day Saturday, leaving at the crack of dawn and most of the time not coming home until late in the evening. By this point it was just expected that I was going to be with Alice and Edward on Friday's, but Charlie still gave me the option, even offering to stay home some Saturday's if I wanted to do something just me and him.

I'd taken him up on it a few weeks ago, agreeing to a simple day of eating at the diner for lunch followed by watching a movie on the big screen at home with Charlie's friend Billy Black and his two daughters Rachel and Rebecca. They were twins, both twenty two years old. After their mom died in a drunk driving accident a year ago, they both decided to move back home to help Billy run the 'Quileute wolf reserve'. The tribe had always put wolves on some sort of pedestal; some tribal legends even spoke of leaders being descended from wolves. The reserve ran a total of one hundred and thirty acres into the woods, with fencing all around.

It was a pretty big deal in the state; a lot of schools would make trips to visit and see the wolves, and hear stories about them. There was even an area with domesticated wolves for the children to play with. Rebecca was the on staff vet now, and when possible her and her father made sure to release the wolves back into the wild. The ones they kept in the reserve were rescued from Zoo's that mistreated them or found injured by hunters in the woods, people often hit them with their cars and called members of the reserve staff to come and get them. The ones who could not be rehabilitated enough to make it in the wild with a pack were kept safe in the reserve.

"I think I'll stay here," I told Charlie after a moment, a yawn escaping my mouth as I stood up. "I'll be home Sunday afternoon to fix dinner." Charlie smiled; he wasn't able to fend for himself in the cooking arena so I made sure to be home every Sunday so I could get dinner for him.

"Alright, love you Bells." The words were said very low, the showing of affection and emotion, was not one of Charlie's strong suits. I just smiled up and him and pulled him into a tight embrace before heading to the stairs.

As I made my way up white, cloud like staircase, I heard Esme tell Charlie to send Carlisle and Alice in on his way out. The thought of the two still in the van arguing over which was worse, morning sickness or a stomach virus both amused me and grossed me out.

Thankfully by the time Alice made it up to her bedroom she had her mind on other things, apparently Esme had invited her to come with her and Rose for Rose's first ultrasound tomorrow around noon. She had been hesitant at first, but I told her Edward and I would be fine at the house for a couple of hours and she should go with her sister. This pleased Alice, which in turn made me happy.

We chatted about Rose's pregnancy until about midnight when Alice fell asleep, I could feel myself slipping into the comfortable and welcoming darkness as well, so I turned over and snuggled into the plush pillow, drifting into a dreamless sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Music filled the entire floor of the house as I turned over in the bed, noticing that Alice was no longer there and that light was filtering through her light pink curtains. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I turned to glance at the alarm clock, it was ten a.m. already, I never slept this late normally, but had to admit it was nice to sleep in.

Stretching my arms, I pulled the warm pink comforter off of me and stepped out of the bed and onto the soft carpet, making my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth. The whole way there the music continued to play, the sounds causing a familiar lump to rise in my throat – my eyes pricked with unshed tears. Sadness was evident in every note that was hit, pain, suffering, and loss. The notes melded into one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking songs I had ever heard in my entire life. In that moment I wanted nothing more on earth than to wrap my arms around the boy I knew was in the other room playing that sad song, and make all the hurt he had ever felt go away.

As I made my way into the hallway after making sure my teeth were clean I heard the sounds of yet another song beginning. It began just as melancholy, wrenching my heart; but this time, instead of staying sad the notes changed, they morphed from pain and loss into something almost cheerful or happy.

Edward was sitting on the shiny black bench, hunched over as his fingers glided across the ivory keys, stringing together a beautiful melody, soft and sweet, almost like a lullaby. The urge to go to him was almost unbearable, but I didn't dare disturb his song. The notes surrounded me like a warm blanket on a cold winter night

"Why'd you stop?" I asked after the abrupt end to the song; my heart pounding furiously in my chest as I fought to keep my composure. Notes to a song had never had such an affect before, in truth, nothing had ever affected as much as that song right there. The feelings behind it ripped and tore at my heart, breaking it into a thousand pieces as I pushed back the impending tears.

The last thing I needed was for Edward to see me cry, sadness was clearly something he knew all too much about, it had to be in order to play something so deep – so moving. "That's all I have so far… it's not finished."

Shock flowed through my body and I could feel my eyes widen. My mouth opened, and then shut as I tried to form a coherent thought and sentence all the while my mind screaming the same question over and over again. "You wrote that?" my voice shook as the words escaped me and I knew I probably looked like some kind of an idiot.

His eyes darted down to the floor as he rose from his position on the piano bench. "Yeah, it's just something that's been in my head since I came here." He stated, his arms pulling across his torso as he glided across the floor so that he was standing closer to me.

"What about the song you were playing before that?" I asked, the masochist in me needing to know if he could have possibly written something so heart wrenching.

"I wrote it for my mother, it's Elizabeth's song." He said softly, his long fingers moving into his hair, a nervous tick he and I both shared, grabbing at our hair when things got too deep, or uncomfortable. That knowledge of him told me that pushing the envelope any further wouldn't be a good idea at the present time. His eyes locked with mine, silently pleading with me to understand, to not ask what had happened to his mother, at least not now.

Fighting against myself, I forced a smile and tried to take some control of my voice, knowing that it would be shaky at best with I tried to speak. "Do you want some breakfast?"

His eye's flooded with what I could only assume was relief at the subject change and he gave me a smile, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Actually I have a better idea," he began, walking from the piano room and to the large window wall at the end of the immaculate hallway. "Perfect." He said as he looked up to the sky, seeing barely any clouds. "Go get dressed, and wear tennis shoes, there's something I want to show you." And with that he darted into his room, I could only assume to dress as well.

It's easy for someone who has never been hurt to let you in, the trust is just automatically there. No need to fear the possibility of it being broken, no need to be scared that one false move and that person will leave you as well. It's a gift that can be given freely, one that comes without earning. But for someone who has so clearly been hurt to willingly to let you in, to show you parts of themselves that they keep hidden from most, is a gift that should be treasured, because that gift proves that you did something right, even if it was as small as being there and listening without speaking or pressing for answers when no one else would.

It was for that reason that I had a smile on my face as I walked down the Cullen's staircase in my favorite black chucks, Eagles T-shirt and stretchy jeans. A cacophony of clanging pots and loud beeping told me that either Edward was in the kitchen, or there was a burglar in the home who didn't know how to cook.

"If you wanted to show me a fire truck you didn't need to try and cook, we could just walk down to the fire station." I teased as I noticed he had water boiling on the stove with a box of Macaroni and cheese sitting open.

His face looked flustered as he turned to me, the harsh beeping of the fire alarm continued. "We'll need food; it takes like an hour to get there and an hour to get back. I figured a picnic would be kind of nice." He explained as his hands made their way to his perfectly tousled for the second time this morning, causing my stomach to twist and turn in the most pleasant of ways.

"Mac and cheese probably isn't the best picnic food," I began as I closed the box back up and stuck it in the cabinet before making it over to the pot of burning and boiling milk, immediately realizing why the fire alarm by the stove was going off. "Edward, you don't boil Mac and cheese in milk you boil it in water and then add milk after." I said, pulling the pot from the stove, trying to hold back the coughing and gagging. "Wave a rag in front of the fire alarm while I get some stuff to make sandwiches with out of the fridge." I instructed as shut the burner, which had been set on high, off.

~*~*~*~*~

The damp ground sloshed under my feet as I followed Edward up the slightly muddy path, over roots and rocks. The heavy leaf coverage from the trees had not allowed any of the sunlight through to dry up the ground. It was mostly flat land, and he held the limbs and damp ferns aside for me, which I was incredibly thankful for. I'd managed to slip once on a moss covered rock, but Edward didn't allow me a chance to hit the ground, as he kept his hand just above my elbow most of the walk, the bag of food in his other hand.

"It's just through those trees," I could see the sun reflecting off of the dewy grass, creating an almost rainbow effect, as he lead me to our destination. His hand dropped away from my forearm and I tried to mask the disappointment with a soft smile. My emotions seemed to be betraying me more and more around Edward, I just hoped he hadn't noticed the quick flash of sadness that I had let cross my face. The copious amount of tree's spread out before us in an almost circle, holding a serene and gorgeous meadow in the middle.

My breath hitched, and my heart sped up as I followed him off the muddy path and into the luscious green grass, my eyes roaming over the small slathering of purple flowers. Awestruck, I walked towards the small blanket Edward was spreading out over the soft ground. The sun was directly overhead by now, wrapping me in warmth as I sat down, tilting my chin to the blue and white sky, soaking in all the warmth the suns rays had to offer.

Edward busied himself by emptying the sandwiches we had prepared onto the blanket that I hoped Esme didn't mind us using. The fabric was old and a bit ratty, Alice and I had used it a few times when we watched movies in the living room and she'd mentioned that it was an old blanket they used to use for picnic's when her and Rose were younger, so I assumed it wouldn't be too big of a deal that Edward and I had taken it. His first idea had been to use the quilt that was on his bed, that I knew Esme wouldn't be too thrilled over.

It took a lot to make her mad, but using one of her nice new quilts outdoors would soon land you in the dog house – literally. I'd experienced it once, when Esme found Carlisle using the spare quilt to let the dog, he was watching for a friend, sleep on. Esme had threatened to let the dog have Carlisle's spot in the bed from now on and offered to even build him his own doghouse for further use if he so much as thought of using one of her nice quilts for something like a dog bed ever again.

Birds chirped in melodious cadence with the flowing water from the nearby stream, creating a natural and beautiful song. "How'd you find this place?" I wondered aloud.

"I needed to get out of the house a couple of weeks ago," he began, his voice a bit courser than its usual velvety tone. "I noticed a little trail out behind the house, so I followed it, if you stay on the right trail there's a small field with a swing set and stuff about five minutes out… I didn't feel like stopping though so I just kept walking and ended up walking right in the middle of the meadow." His eyes turned to face the sandwich he was holding, deliberately directing his gaze from my face. "It reminded me of the meadow my mom used to take me to back in Chicago; it was outside the city, on a small hill overlooking the local park. We always went there for ice cream or to play, on weekends." My heart clenched and I fought against the lump building in the back of my throat, swallowing it down like an unpleasant vitamin.

"Do you come here a lot?" I reveled in the fact that my voice was calm and collected as I asked, my fingers picking nervously at the crust of the bread, absentmindedly peeling it away.

His eyes were darker now, glistening a bit, and I knew he was fighting within himself not to cry. Every time he mentioned his mother, or his childhood he got like this. I both hated it and reveled in it; on one hand, he was opening up to me, letting things out and talking about something that he clearly needed to talk about. On the other though, talking about it brought up memories that clearly made him sad, the fact that he'd never actually dealt with whatever happened to his mother was abundantly clear to me in that moment. "When I need to get away…"

His voice trailed off, and he seemed to be shutting down as he always did. "Edward," I asked, unable to squelch the question that constantly nagged at me, like a child wanting a cookie before dinner. "What happened to your mother?" What appeared to be agitation spread across his face; but only for a moment, because the next emotion I saw was something I recognized all to well, it was despair and I wondered if perhaps I'd overstepped some unseen boundary line with out delicate friendship.

With my voice barely above a whisper I looked and him and said a quick "I'm sorry." Before looking back to the dark greens of the summer grass, running my finger over a blade of it before tearing it out of the ground like a child would a dandelion. Edward was still silent, and made sure to keep my eyes trained to the ground as I twirled the delicate weed in my fingers, it had quickly become the most interesting thing in the area.

"I shouldn't have -- "

"No, its fine," His voice interrupted my backing out of the question. "No one's ever actually asked what happened before; they just dance around the question or expect me to tell them my whole life story when I first meet them." He explained as my eyes left their study of the small blade of green in my hands to look into his exuberant, forest green eyes. It wasn't lost on me that the shade of his eyes was much clearer and prettier than the piece of grass I had just been admiring. My lips remained closed as I waited for him to continue, scared that if I interrupted now he'd retreat back into his shell like a turtle realizing it had been seen.

"It's not nice Bella, the story isn't just sad… it's, it's bad, if you want me to stop at any time just tell me." With those words spoken I was both intrigued and frightened. Lured into the telling of something I was aching to know, yet suddenly wishing I had left well enough alone. "My mom met Demetri after we moved to Seattle," He'd told me a few weeks ago about his mom getting a teaching position at a school in Seattle as a music instructor. "They got married when I was twelve; they met two weeks after we moved here and were married a month later." His voice dripped with irritation and I knew this was uncomfortable for him.

Part of me longed to tell him it was alright, that he didn't need to go on -- the selfish part of me who didn't want to see him in pain. It wasn't what was best for him though, this was something that had so clearly eaten away at him, something he needed to share, and as uncomfortable as it made me, I needed to listen and stop being so selfish.

His deep green eyes stared straight ahead; staring at me, he however wasn't looking at me, if that made any sense at all. His gaze was fixed on my own, but I could tell with one look into those depthless orbs that he was a million miles away. "I didn't like it, I told my mom as much but she insisted I needed a father figure around, she said Demetri was a good man and that he was going to take care of us." It was painfully obvious that his mother had misjudged the man she married by the acidic tone in Edward's voice whenever he spoke his name.

"For a few weeks things were okay, Demetri" his voice once again deepened into acidic anger at the name "and I didn't really get along, but my mom just figured it would take some time. After three months of their marriage I still hated him, I didn't know why, he hadn't done anything, I just had this…" He paused for a moment, appearing to be searching for the right word "This feeling, about him, ya know?" the question was rhetorical. "I knew something wasn't right, but I didn't want to upset my mom anymore than I already had, so I let it go…" His eyes filled with tears and I instinctively reached my hand over to his, wrapping my fingers around his stiff and frigid hand, in a silent form of support.

"I killed my own mother, I'm responsible for it, if I had told her about the weird feeling Demetri gave me things may have turned out differently," Bile rose up in my throat as the realization that the part of the story he'd warned me about was coming up.

Stiffening already rigid shoulders, Edward continued. "I came home late from school, my birthday was next week and Josh wanted me to stay after so we could make plans to go see a movie or something…" his voice trailed off for a moment, as if he were willing himself to continue, just as I was willing myself to not ask him to stop. "Demetri's car was in the driveway, he was never home that early, but still it didn't register that something was the matter, when I got to the door though and found it wide open, I knew something wasn't right." I felt a silent tear make it's why down my cheek, the wind blowing cold on the dampened trail.

"When I walked in there was blood all over the floor, I followed the trail of it upstairs, I could hear my mom crying and begging him to stop before I even reached their bedroom door." His face contorted into what looked like fear and agony, as the tears I'd seen forming in his eyes began to spill over his cheeks. "I got the door open, and he had her on the bed… he… he was raping her, she kept begging him to stop, telling him it hurt, but he wouldn't, her face was bruised and I could see blood spilling out of her side where he'd stabbed her."

In that moment I wanted nothing more than for him to stop talking, to make the horrible images go away, to hug him and whisper that it was all a bad dream and everything was fine. I'd never in my life wanted to make someone else's hurt go away as badly as I did his, if I could I would have gladly taken the pain from him and bore it myself. Anything to make this angle of a boy… a man, not feel sad anymore.

"I was able to make him stop, I yelled and he quit, told me it wasn't what I thought it was…" His words trailed off for a moment as he looked around, his eyes finally leaving mine. "My mom didn't want to leave him, she said he didn't mean it, that it was her fault, he got worse after that though. He made sure not to do anything when I could walk in, but I saw the bruises, I heard her crying at night, but it was too late, she was already too deep into the marriage then and she wouldn't leave." The chirping of a blue bird could be heard from the meadow, it was a perfect melody with Edward's quiet breathing and my pounding heart.

"What… what happened then?" I finally muttered; my voice thick with traitor tears and emotion.

"I came home one night and my mom wasn't in the kitchen like she usually was, I went upstairs to look for her and found her on the bed, she looked like she was sleeping," His voice cracked "so I tried to wake her up… she just laid there…. so I called 9-1-1." Fighting with myself, I managed to fight back a sob that was begging to break free. "The hospital said it was a brain injury, a forceful blow to the head caused swelling and bleeding… they don't think she suffered much." His voice was pure venom and I could tell why, 'they don't think she suffered much.' It was clear Elizabeth Masen had suffered more than anyone knew, anyone besides Edward that was.

It was without hesitation that I flung myself at him, my arms wrapping around the soft plains of his neck, pulling myself closer so that our chests were touching. He didn't speak, and neither did I, in that moment there was nothing that could be said, nothing that would do any good anyways. The words 'I'm sorry' came to mind and I debated on if I should say them or not, before finally giving up and whispering in his ear, "I'm sorry, I wish that could make it all better but it can't, just know that it isn't your fault." A sob finally broke free from Edward at this point so I stopped speaking and pulled him closer still, my left hand making small circles on his back as my right twined itself in the soft curls of bronze at the nape of his neck.

I don't know how long we stayed like that; when he finally went to pull away from me though, I felt an immediate sense of loss that I wasn't expecting. It was as if my body all of the sudden craved the feelings he elicited in me while he was near, some kind of an addiction, and I the desperate addict.

"I'm sorry for unloading all of that on you."

A managed to form a half smile, the tears from earlier having vanished leaving nothing behind but the redness in my eyes and the stains – I was sure they were there – on my cheeks. "Anytime… anything you need, I'm here." I said as reassuringly as possible before grabbing a container of apple slices from the bag of food that had been long since forgotten.

The silence was almost deafening so I decided it was best to try and change the topic, my mind raced for anything and everything that I could bring up before settling on; "I always liked the green apples better than I did the red ones…" was my brilliant thought, it seemed to do the trick though, because I heard a small chuckle erupt from Edward as he pulled one of the slices from the container and looked it over.

"I've always been partial the green ones too," he supplied before crunching the slice between his teeth and chewing it. "I think the red ones are too sweet."

"Sour's always better than sweet," I added, before taking another bite of the apple slice that was in my hand, crunching into it.

We continued like that for a while, just talking about random things. Edward told me that he hated tomatos, but loved ketchup and tomato soup; I had to agree with him on that. Charlie always got irritated that I forgot to buy tomatos at the grocery store so often, since he loved them on his sandwiches. He told me about his one and only girlfriend, her name was Heidi, and they were seven, it lasted from lunch until recess, when he decided that girls had cooties and he didn't like them anymore so he pushed her off of the swing set.

"It was the break up of the year," he said through peels of laughter, the sound a beautiful melody to my ears. "She retaliated the next day by pushing me off of the monkey bars, I ended up breaking my wrist and she had to stand on the wall during recess for the rest of the week." He finished the story, and I couldn't help but laugh right along with him, picturing the scorned seven year old getting even by shoving him off the monkey bars.

"I hope you don't still push girls you like off the swings." I replied, the smile never leaving my face.

"Nope, no more swings for me."

"You haven't shoved any dates off a slide or something, have you?"

"I haven't had any dates, actually." His voice was no longer alight with laughter, instead taking on a more serious tone, yet still with a light hearted air to it. "Have you had many dates push you off of slides?"

The question caused me to blush, as I looked down at my lap, a little embarrassed of my answer. "Uh… no, I've never been on a date…. Well, unless you count that dance at --" as soon as I realized what I was about to say I snapped my mouth shut, and studied the grass a little more closely than before.

"I didn't know that you thought it was…" my stomach dropped even more as he spoke those words.

"I didn't, I was just saying it was… like a date," I interjected "It's not a big deal."

"It was like a date," he added stoically. "If I'd known you considered it a date though, I would have paid for your ticket in, and bought your dinner that night." My brows furrowed, as I risked looking at his face.

"What?" It was the only thing I could think of to ask him; I thought he was going to tell me that he didn't see me like that, tell me he'd figured out that I got butterflies in my stomach whenever he spoke, and smiled more just because he was around… instead he told me he would have paid for my food beforehand if he had thought it was a date back then.

"I didn't think," he said, his eyes coming back to look at me once more. "I just thought it was a friend's thing, but you're right, it was like a date and I should have thought to get your dinner for you." He sounded almost agitated, and I wondered if that was directed at me or himself. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" By this point I was genuinely confused, and I could feel my brows furrowing together.

"For not being a better first date,"

"I… am… confused." I said each word slowly and drawn out, to accentuate just how confused I was at this point. The whole conversation had just gone off into left field, and it was all because of my stupid slip of the tongue, I shouldn't have even brought up the dance, he was right in his assumption, it wasn't a date, it was a friend's thing. I had just been trying to make my point that it could have been considered a date, that it was 'like a date', not an actual date.

"I didn't know you thought of it as a date, I didn't even realize it was like a date, until you pointed it out." He began, his eyes showing a hint of annoyance, and I hoped it wasn't directed at me. "It was like a date, it was like your first date and I didn't even pay for your dinner."

"You didn't know what I was thinking though," I began, my hands coming up to grip my mahogany locks before dropping them back down on my lap, silently hating my big mouth. "You were right the first time though, it was a friends thing, we went with Alice and Jasper, it can't be considered a date if other people are on it with you."

"Double dates…"

"Okay, but they weren't technically on a date, their just friends so it was just a group outing."

Edward laughed at this, and rolled his eyes. "Alice and Jasper are far from 'just friends'" he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. And it was, but I didn't think he had noticed it, heck, Alice hadn't even told me if anything was going on between the two of them or not, which most likely meant nothing was, since Alice told me everything these days.

"No, they aren't just friends, but neither of them realize it yet… at least I don't think they have." I said, before something hit me; how would Edward know they were far from just friends? Had Alice told him something she hadn't told me? "Wait, why did you say they were, far from just friends?" I brought my fingers up into air quotations as I said 'far from just friends'. "Did Alice say something to you?" I questioned, hurt fairly evident in my voice.

Edward shook his head no, and smiled. "She hasn't said anything to me, I just thought they were dating, their always together." I was about to add in the fact that, we were always together as well, but thought better of it. That was one can of worms I did not want to open now, the afternoon hadn't emotionally relaxing, or pleasant at some parts, but it had still been an amazing afternoon, and the last thing I wanted to do was complicate it any more by putting the thought in his head that.

"Oh…" was my brilliant response.

"First kiss?"

"What?"

Edward laughed a loud belly laugh, his eyes crinkling with the laugh and smile that was spread across his gorgeous face. "We already covered first dates," he began, before stopping for a moment. "Or, lack there of, I should say, so what about first kiss?" I moved my head to the side as I looked at him in confusion. If my only, sort-of-could-be-like-a-date date was with him, then shouldn't he know that I had never been kissed before? It was something that seemed incredibly obvious to me, actually. If I had never been on a date, then how could I have been kissed? Traditionally speaking, didn't the date come before the kiss?

"I told you, I've never been on a date before…."

"You don't have to go on a date to have a first kiss." He countered; I sighed in frustration, my hands crossing a bit nervously in my lap so that they wouldn't be free to grab my hair and stay there when I explained, in utter mortification, that I had no experience with boys whatsoever, not only had I never been on a real date or kissed someone, I had never even held hands, romantically, with someone before.

"When I was six, I kissed Tommy Matthews on the cheek," I could feel the blush growing on my cheeks, from the way my face burned I knew it wasn't just its regular light pink tinge, instead a deep scarlet or maybe already a purple color. "Other than that, no actual first kiss, no nothing," I could feel the chaotic beating of my heart as I risked a glance at his face. The fact that I was fifteen and had yet to kiss someone was an oddity these days; that fact was not lost on me.

His eyes showed a quiet intensity as he searched my face, and I couldn't help but wish that I was able to read his mind. "Bella," The elegant sound of his voice pulling a small fraction of my attention towards him, the rest of it still lost on the way his eyes seemed to change colors just the slightest bit whenever he was thinking about something. "Can I kiss you?" The words didn't register in my mind for a good thirty seconds, and by that time I could see that he appeared to be at least a small bit, apprehensive.

Was he serious; I wondered, my eyes widening, as they drifted from the slight pink tinge of his full lips and back to his eyes. I would be lying if I said I hadn't dreamt of him asking me something like that, in fact I recalled a dream very similar to this situation about a week back. "Yes," I whispered without hesitation, afraid to move my eyes from his for fear that the spell we seemed to be under all of the sudden would be broken.

As his face began to move closer to mine I found myself wondering if my breath smelled alright; had I brushed my teeth good this morning? Should I move my nose to the side? Would he use tongue; a lot of the girls at school talked about kissing with tongue, and while it sounded a bit gross to me, the thought of Edward using his to—my mind stopped mid thought as I felt the slight ghosting of his lips against my own, and I couldn't help but smile as I pressed my own against his, my eyes drifting shut as I sampled the flavor his mouth had to offer. His lips were soft and slow, letting me lead the way; and lead the way I did. Later I would probably be embarrassed to admit that I lost almost all control.

One minute I was putting gentle pressure against his lips, much the same as he was doing with mine, nothing more than testing boundaries, and the next my mouth was moving at an almost frenzied pace, opening the slightest bit as he moved in tandem with me. Noses collided, and I felt him gently bite down on my bottom lip, but it just seemed to egg me on. When he nipped, I nipped; his tongue moving out of his mouth every so often to run over the swell of where he'd bitten before pressing back against my own. Each time he seemed to press firmer than before; and if it wasn't for our need for oxygen, I swear I could have continued to kiss him for the rest of the night.

He was the first to move back, his forehead coming to rest against my own as our labored breathing slowed to a slightly more normal rate.

"We should get back, Alice and Esme will be home with Rose soon," The smooth perfection of his voice pulled me from my haze as I watched him jump up and begin packing the food from earlier away. Furrowing my brows, I too stood picking the blanket up with me and folding it. What had gotten into him; I wondered?

"Are you… are you alright?"

"Yeah, we should, we should," His voice was thicker than usual, and I could tell he was purposefully avoiding my gaze. Had I been that bad of a kisser? It was only my first time, and he had seemed to be enjoying himself earlier… My stomach clenched in uncomfortable knots as I watched him grab the last remaining items before walking ahead of me to the path. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, because it was clear there was something the matter, but my voice seemed to be caught in my throat as I forced the tears to stay away.

We walked back to the house in uncomfortable silence.