Disclaimer: I do not own Edward. Sadly. If I did, he'd be here next to me right now, along with Jasper and Garrett...
A/N: Nothing...
I woke up before anyone else. I was cursed with the ability to stay awake for almost days at a time. Well, actually, I just needed a minimal amount of sleep to function. Sometimes it was a blessing, others it was a curse. Now, I was considering it a blessing. I looked down onto my chest to see that Bella still had not moved from where she'd laid her head last night. The mumbling had stopped and she was now sleeping peacefully. I laid there with my eyes closed, just feeling her against me.
"AAAAWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!" Alice whispered loudly, causing me to open one eye and look at her. I quickly closed it and she walked off. Slowly but surely the others began waking up and having the same reaction as Alice. They filtered out of the room to go get breakfast and get dressed while Bella still slept peacefully.
"Edward, we're going outside for a little while, it snowed," Jasper came in to tell me. "You coming?"
"Yeah, I'm just gonna dump Bella on the ground. No, you idiot," I said jokingly. We both laughed a little.
"Okay. Your loss, though," he said before heading out the door. It was nice and quiet in the house again and I listened to Bella's breathing. Finally, she started to move a little bit. Then, she bolted straight up in the air, looking around to see where she was, disoriented.
"What happened?" she asked, her voice trembling a little.
"Well, you're quite funny when you sleep," I said, not answering the question. She glared at me, or at least tried to. I busted into laughter at her attempt to be mean. "You talk," I said, finally answering her question. All the color left from Bella's cheeks and her breathing came faster and harder. When she spoke, she tried her best to sound like she didn't care, but she really did. It was very humorous.
"Oh, yeah, I know I do sometimes. So, uh, what did I say?" Color came back into her cheeks, turning them brighter than they had been before.
"Nothing, really. Just that you were cold. I said I could help with that and I picked you up and moved you over here." She looked down, finally noticing how the sleeping bags were arranged.
"Anything else?" She asked hesitantly.
"Well, just one other thing-"
"What was it?" she said quickly, cutting me off. She looked around, probably trying to see where everyone else was. Then, we heard someone scream from outside, and it sounded like Rose. Then, I answered her.
"You said 'I love you, Edward.'" If it was possible, Bella began breathing even harder. I put my arm around her soothingly.
"What's wrong with that, love?" I asked, wondering what could be wrong. And I called her love... because it was true.
"No, it's not that. It's just... so embarrassing to have you hear like that. I thought that the first time I would tell a guy I was in love with him, I would have a little more dignity," she said quietly. I had to laugh a little at that. That was it?
"I don't mind. I want to let you in on a little secret, Bella. I love you, too." There, I said it. It was out on the table for her to see. I wanted her to see how much I loved her. I had been denying it for too long. I was relieved now, as I had been last night when I admitted that I liked her back. I leaned over to kiss her warm cheek. We were both being very serious now, and we were too young to feel that way. "Hey, Bella, come here," I said, getting up and looking out the window. "Let's go outside!"
"Awesome, sure, just a minute, though," she said, crawling over to her bag and rummaging through it to get things. I went to my bag and grabbed clothes as well. My blue sweater that an emo kid would wear, my extremely dark blue jeans, and one other thing I hadn't used in a long time. I reached into my eyes and pulled out my contacts, placing them back in the case. I then reached in and pulled out my glasses with their thick, black rims and thick frames. I came out to wait for Bella. When she came down, she looked beautiful, as always. She took one look at me and giggled.
"What?" I said. "I'm just giving you your dream guy back. Plus, I need to use these things every once in a while. Contacts can get irritating." It was true. We walked over to put on our coats, scarves, and gloves and held hands as we walked outside. We were barely out the door when a big, white, cold ball of something hit me in the cheek. I knew automatically it was Emmett. I turned to Bella.
"Hold on just a second," I said, running towards Emmett and bending down to get enough snow for a snowball at the same time. I made it and threw it at the back of Emmett's head. But I missed slightly. I hit Alice and ran for my life as she turned around screaming.
"Oh, hell, no," she squealed, making a snowball of her own and accidently hitting Rose. Rose screamed with delight.
"It's on, bitch!" she screamed, throwing her ball and hitting Alice. I looked over to see Jasper sneaking to Bella and then she noticed him. She took off running as the snowball hit her on the back. She chased Jasper around the yard, just picking up handfuls of snow and throwing them at him. I continued my fight with Alice and Rosalie as Emmett went over to Bella. He picked her up and spun her around. She giggled loudly, screaming for him to put her down. Finally, he complied. We were all extremely out of breath and tired in a few minutes, one of the problems with getting old.
We laid in the snow quietly afterward. We stared up at the big, gray sky. I held Bella's hand, as she held Rose's, Rose holding Emmett's, Emmett's holding Alice's, and Alice's holding Jasper's. We sometimes made random remarks, but for the most part, we were silent, just thinking. It was good to be with people who we cared about and who cared about us. All too soon, we realized it was time for us to go home. We went inside to grab our things before heading out on the porch and hugging each other. I walked Bella to her truck. I had thought about what I wanted to do for our first date. I heard about it on the radio the other day. It was more than a month away, but I knew in my heart that it would be perfect for Bella and I to do on our first date.
"You still like Linkin Park, right?" I asked, clarifying as we reached the truck.
"Of course, always, why?"
"Nothing," I lied. I leaned down to kiss the top of her head. "I'll call you later, is that okay?"
"Yes. Edward?" she called as I began walking off.
"What is it, love?" I said, turning back towards her.
"Well, I want you to meet my parents." I was glad she had mentioned it. We were both old-fashioned, and before we officially went out, I wanted to meet her parents and make sure that they were okay with us dating, and the same for her and my parents. I'd almost forgotten about them. Esme would be thrilled for sure, and Carlisle would just want to make sure I knew what I was getting into.
"Of course I will! Don't worry about it," I said, kissing her head again. I looked at her smiling face. "When?"
"How about tomorrow?" she asked.
"Sounds perfect. Bella, would you meet my parents as well?"
"I'm going to have to sometime, so sure." She sighed. I knew it would be nerve-wracking, but she knew she'd have to do it sometime.
"I'll get back to you with the day and time, okay?"
"Sure." I hugged her and ran off to the Volvo. I wanted to drive off first to make sure the roads were okay. They didn't look very slick, but I wanted Bella to be safe. I made sure she got home before speeding off to my home. I walked in and sat my jacket on its hook and went to the living room. Esme was sitting at her desk in the corner, drawing something, probably designing another house or trying to figure out how to redecorate our bathroom. I leaned down to kiss her cheek.
"Hey, Mom," I said.
"Hello," she said, turning around to pull me into a hug. "How was it at Alice's?"
"Fine. There's something I sort of wanted to talk to you about," I said, my father walking in. He sat on the couch and my mother moved to sit by him. I stood in front of both of them.
"What is it, son?" Dad asked.
"It's nothing bad," I said before I began. They both were looking concerned, like I was about to tell them I was expelled from school or into hard drugs. They both loosened a little. "Well, do you remember Bella Swan?" They both nodded. When I was younger, she was almost all I talked about. She was my world, even then. "Um, I... Well, we're dating now." I smile as wide as the Grand Canyon spread across Esme's face. She jumped up, quicker than I'd seen her move in quite a while to pull me into a hug.
"Oh, Edward!" she exclaimed. "I want to formally meet her as soon as possible, you know. I want to see who is dating my baby boy."
"Ugh, Mom," I said, half jokingly. "I'm actually going to meet her parents tomorrow, but I promise you that you'll meet her before our first date." Carlisle now spoke.
"Are you happy with her?"
"More happy than I've ever been in my life." Carlisle nodded.
"Then I'm glad for you," he responded. I smiled at my parents.
"Well, I'm a little tired, and I didn't get much sleep, so I'm going to take a nap," I said, yawning and stretching my arms up over my head.
"Okay, darling," Mom called up the stairs. I went to my bed and fell asleep almost instantly. I slept until I was awakened to the sound of my phone playing "Papercut" by Linkin Park: Bella's ringtone. She told me the time to be over at her house, making the phone call as short as possible. I guessed that she sensed I was tired. I then slept until the next day, surprisingly without waking up or dreaming. I woke up and spent the rest of the day calming myself for the meeting I was about to have. I hadn't felt nervous when I agreed to this, but I was now. What about her dad? Was he going to be one of those dads that cleans the guns right in front of the new boyfriend? I shuddered to think of it. Finally, at about four, I went to take my shower and get dressed. I chose my ivory turtleneck sweater and blue jeans. It was nice, but not too formal, which seemed good. I drove over to Bella's house slowly. I did everything slowly. Unbuckling my seatbelt, opening and shutting the car door, walking to the porch, knocking on the door. Bella came to answer it. She was blushing lightly and wearing an ivory turtleneck and blue jeans as well. I smiled and kissed both of her cheeks before entering the house. She led me to the living room, holding my hand. I was surprised when Bella's mother came over and hugged me.
"Oh, I've been dying to meet you! I'm so glad that Bella finally got a boyfriend!" I could almost feel Bella cringe beside me. I just looked at her and smiled. Next, Chief Swan came over to give me a handshake. I shook his hand firmly.
"Nice to meet you," he said gruffly.
"Nice to meet you, too, sir," I said, using the best manners that I could. I looked down to see Bella beaming at me. I didn't know what for. Bella then took me to the kitchen where food was already on the table and plates and silverwear had been set. We made smalltalk all through the meal, which was nice and not as awkward as Bella and I had expected. After dinner, Bella went to do dishes and I went into the living room and watched the game with her father. After they finished up, the women joined us. We made more conversation as the night went on and it was surprisingly a lot of fun. The evening flew by and before we knew it, it was nine. I stood up, for it was time for me to get home.
"Well, thank you all so much for having me over, but it's about time I got home," I said politely. Bella rose beside me and Renee walked over to hug me one last time. Bella's father shook my hand again. I got the feeling he didn't hate me as much as it seemed. Bella walked me to the door.
"I'll call you tomorrow, I promise," I said. "I was thinking: what about February 25th? Are you available that day?"
"As far as I know. Why?"
"Because that's when our first date is going to be."
"So far away?" She grumbled.
"Time flies when you're having fun, Bells," I said, kissing her cheek and heading to the car and driving down the road, a big smile on my face. I was king of the world.
A/N: Okay, two movie references in there. Both of them were fairly popular movies, so if you want to guess them and find out what they are, just PM me and I'll tell you or tell you if they're right or what. At the end of this story, in my last little author's note, I'll say what they were.