THE ANONYMITY OF BEING
10. The Past
"You, Bella Swan, are a lateral thinking puzzle."
"Just what every girl wants to hear."
Edward picked up his pace and skidded in front of her, blocking her path. Holding up his hands, his eyes danced with mirth. There was a tinge of secrecy under the amusement that oozed from his smile.
"You're playing hard-to-get," he declared as if he'd found the secret to the universe.
"I'm not," Bella argued.
"Then, why not go on another date?" Edward asked, raising his eyebrows in challenge.
"You are a hopeless case."
"No, I'm a hopeful," he corrected. "Tell me that you didn't have fun with me yesterday... oh and what about last night? Enjoyable?"
"You make it sound as if we spent the night together." She looked at him with narrowed eyes but his only response was a mischievous smirk, sent in her direction.
"You're the one who chose to interpret it that way. I guess someone has a little crush."
"Unfortunately, I don't," Bella stated as she transitioned into a jog.
He kept up with her, matching the fall of his footsteps with her frantic ones. He stared at her flustered expression before saying, "What are you running away from?"
As if the answer couldn't be more obvious. "You."
"I've already asked your mom, though," he blurted, all of a sudden.
Bella stopped so fast that Edward sped ahead before backtracking. She looked at him blankly, waiting for him to reveal the deeper meaning behind his oracular statement.
"She said that you should give me a chance," Edward confessed. "My grandparents raised me to be a gentleman. I'm not going to push you for sex or anything. I just want to court you."
He mumbled under his breath, about whether 'court' was the appropriate word to use whilst overlooking his laughable remark about sex. With a firm voice, he continued, "I've always admired you from afar. But you never appeared to notice me, even when we were in the same classes."
Edward would have kept listing more reasons for Bella to consider his offer if it weren't for the flabbergasted look on her face. He waved a hand in front of her eyes, wondering if the gears in her head had suddenly clunked to a stationary pause.
"My mother said what?" Her loud exclamation echoed throughout the leafy foliage.
"So you still haven't gotten over that part yet," he muttered. "Essie and Carl recently bought one of your mother's prints. It was a good icebreaker for when Renee and I talked."
Bella was so perplexed with the words that flew out of his mouth that she didn't even bother questioning why he nicknamed his grandparents such vibrant names or the fact that he was on a first-name basis with her mom. Bella admired Renee's profession and was often awestruck by the love that was captured through the lenses. While Bella enjoyed the camp activities, Renee was able to wind down and capture a different kind of beauty. Although photographing nature was a jump from her usual engagement and wedding shoots, Renee was talented in front of all subjects. She was able to memorialize pulchritude out of the living and the seemingly inanimate.
"-I thought she was pretty amazing. We talked for so long, this morning," Edward chattered.
"I've never really ventured into the dating scene. That's why," she interrupted quickly. "I talk about boys with Ma, all the time, but they're just jokes. I'm a skeptic when it comes to love... especially the romantic kind."
Almost immediately, she blushed at the bluntness of her forthright opinion as nobody had mentioned the topic of love. But Edward only smiled.
"That's okay," he replied softly. "Maybe I can change your mind."
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