'What's with the blush?'

Kings of Leon - The Bucket

Chapter 10: The Bucket

~*~Bella~*~

I kept dreaming of the Cullen brothers.

Yes, Jasper and Edward Cullen were starting to move in on my subconscious too, stealing the starring roles in the crazy concoctions of my mind.

It was bad enough that they took up a permanent residence in my mind while I was conscious. Bad enough that every time I'd have a quiet moment to myself, one of their gorgeous, albeit irritating faces would pop into my head. It was bad enough that I barely had these so called, 'quiet moments' anyway because I was either always with the CB's or one of the aforementioned Cullen brothers themselves. It was bad enough that the Cullens had a secret, and although I had initially thought it would be easy to do, I hadn't managed to work out what that secret was. It was bad enough that because of that reason – among many other reasons – I was fascinated by them and their every move, which is probably part of why they were constantly on my mind.

But now even my dreams were plagued with them? I couldn't catch a break while I was asleep? It was getting ridiculous.

Ok, I admit it. I sort of...liked them.

I mean, I had tried to resist the cool, confident charm that Jasper Cullen effortlessly possessed and unleashed on me whenever he was in my vicinity. I'd tried to not take notice of the potty mouthed, yet incredibly sweet and smart guy that Edward Cullen had turned out to be. I'd tried to be indifferent to the very obvious sexiness both of them emanated from every pore...

And I'd failed.

Miserably.

Now I kept dreaming about them. I dreamed about them basically every night. Even if a dream was completely unrelated to them, one of them would always somehow end up with a cameo role somewhere during it.

There was one dream in particular though, that I could not, for the life of me, get out of my head. I had that particular dream constantly, about four times a week, and sometimes I'd even have it twice in the same night! The details of the dream were always exactly the same, no slight alterations to them at all. It was like a movie being replayed over and over. I swear, I could probably recite it word for word.

It went something like this:

...I stood at the front door of their huge mini mansion, my bag in one hand as I raised a finger to the doorbell. Jasper opened the door before I could even get a chance to ring the bell. He smirked at me – his sexy, boyish smirk, took a brief moment to eyefuck me, and then stepped aside silently to let me in...

So at first, the dream would pretty much be a recollection of what had happened that Friday.

...Jasper and I walked through the beautifully decorated living room, our footsteps seeming to echo through the eerily silent house, and ascended the long, winding staircase to his dad's office. I sat in one of the chairs at the desk and Jasper sat opposite me – still in silence...

...I began removing my notes and books from my bag, and glanced up to find that I was being watched. Jasper was sitting remarkably still, so still that it made me uneasy, and he was staring at me, the all too familiar 'fuck me' look gracing his handsome face...

"What?" I asked, my voice sounding higher and seeming to echo in the piercing silence of the house...

...The next thing I knew, I was lying on my back on the large, wooden desk, legs apart, and Jasper Cullen hovering above me, in between my thighs. He gazed at me, clear blue eyes hooding as he leaned down and started kissing me – fervently...

And my goodness...Dream Jasper's kiss was just...wow. No words.

...His hands were suddenly in my hair, his fingers gently tugging the long strands as he stroked it to the rhythm of his tongue, which was stroking my own tongue languidly as he sucked at my mouth. His lips felt incredibly soft, but oddly they weren't warm, like I expected them to be. They were sort of, lukewarm, kind of like how Edward's arm always felt, whenever I accidently-on-purpose brushed against him in biology...

...I could smell Jasper's sweet, cool, air conditioning breath, mingling with the wonderful scent of his body wafting over me. I could feel every contour of his hard, yet soft, muscular body writhing over mine as he continued his impassioned kisses. I could also feel his very hard – and very large – erection pressing persistently between my thighs as he began thrusting his hips into me...

...It was hot, and sexy, and I couldn't help moaning in ecstasy. Dream Jasper's lips travelled to my jaw, his talented tongue tickling as he licked me. His teeth then joined his tongue, nibbling my jaw line, until I reached up to grab a fistful of his hair tightly, groaning my pleasure. He hissed when I tugged at his hair, mumbling something I couldn't decipher...

...I opened my eyes and peered down at his head, his lips now sucking hungrily at my neck – to discover that the hair in my grasp was no longer golden blond and in need of a cut...

...It was now reddish brown, equally soft and silky, yet shorter than Jasper's, straighter, and more tousled. I immediately knew who those locks belonged to...

...He lifted his head up to glance at me, and it was indeed Edward Cullen's beautiful face staring back. He was also completely silent, as Jasper had been, his face also donning the 'fuck me' look, hooded green eyes locked with mine...

...I found that I wasn't bothered by this chain of events at all. It was as if it was a regular occurrence for a guy to morph into another guy while you were making out with them. Edward's mouth descended onto my own and we continued, his lukewarm lips moving calmly over mine, gentler than his brother's, yet equally mind blowing...

...And then –

Here was where the nightmarish, though still somewhat sexy part began.

– Edward growled, that sexy, animalistic sound that I'd heard he and Jasper make a few times. The sound that made my girly bits tingle uncontrollably every time I heard it. It certainly didn't fail, the tingles between my thighs causing my body to tremble underneath his. I wrapped my legs tightly around Edward's ass, pressing his rock hard erection harder into me...

Dream Edward suddenly stiffened.

...He froze, halting his kisses to lift up his head and stare at my face...

...His eyes locked with mine again, smouldering and spellbinding, and it was impossible for me to look away. They began to dim as he stared at me intensely, gradually darkening until his forest green irises had disappeared completely, a solid onyx left in their place...

...I was terrified. I don't know why, but something inside of me was screaming, 'Warning! Warning! Danger! Danger!' At that moment I had no doubt in my mind that Edward Cullen was dangerous, that I shouldn't be here, in such close proximity with him, that I should run for the hills, as fast as my legs could carry me...

...My eyes grew wide in terror, and it was as if I could hear my own heartbeat, pounding thunderously in my chest. Dream Edward, however, remained unnaturally silent. I couldn't scream. I couldn't struggle under his fearful gaze or try to get away from him – or anything. I simply remained equally still under him, staring back as if frozen in trance. He smiled at me, his sweet, lopsided smile, now seeming incredibly menacing coupled with his peculiar black gaze...

...In what seemed like slow motion, he dragged his lips over to the side of my mouth, and then gradually down to my neck, planting cold, wet, tantalising kisses as he moved. His sweet, cool breath was shallow and I could feel his hard chest pressing against my breasts with every sharp exhale. I trembled again, in half fear, half pleasure as his tongue came out to lick my neck – right at the spot where my pulse was throbbing frantically beneath my skin. Although I was terrified, the ecstasy of his mouth on me overrode it, and I moaned his name, pushing his head into my neck even more...

...He murmured my name in response, over and over, his voice husky and strained as his kisses and licks on my neck became more frantic...

Then suddenly he stopped.

...I couldn't be certain, but I was pretty sure he muttered, "I bet you taste so good"...

...A split second later, I felt an excruciating pain in the side of my neck...

And that's when I'd scream and the dream would end.

Needless to say, I would always find myself, um, damp in several places when I awoke.

Was there such a thing as an erotic nightmare? Because that was the perfect description for it. It was hot, no doubt, I mean, I was making out and dry humping with Edward and Jasper Cullen, how could it not be hot? But the acute fear I felt when Dream Edward's eyes changed to black, and the sharp pain at the side of my neck at the end felt so...real. In fact, the whole dream had a sort of realistic feel to it, sort of like it could actually happen, you know?

And then there was the fact that I didn't actually know what happened at the end to cause that sharp pain in my neck. That part was like a blind spot. All I knew was that Dream Edward was licking my neck...and the next minute I was screaming in agony.

TTT

"Did you have another nightmare?"

I blinked at Seth in surprise, my spoon held in mid air; mouth slightly agape, as he nonchalantly continued to shovel cereal into his mouth. "Um, what?"

"Did you have a nightmare again last night?" he asked; too busy stuffing his face to even look at me.

How did he know I had nightmares?

"How did you know I had nightmares, Seth?"

He rolled his eyes. "Cos you're always yelling in your sleep. Sometimes you wake me up."

Damnit.

"Oh right, sorry. Yeah, I sort of did have a nightmare."

That caught my dad's attention. He peered over the top of his newspaper at me with a worried frown. "You having nightmares, kiddo? What about?"

I inwardly groaned. Like I was gonna tell my dad that my nightmares were some sort of twisted erotic fantasy about the Cullen brothers. I shrugged. "I can't really remember them, dad. It's no big deal anyway."

Seth, unfortunately, decided to finally tear his eyes away from his Rice Crispies at that particular moment, and looked at me, probably interested in hearing the gory details of my nightmare, morbid fourteen year old that he was. I sucked at lying, a fact that my mom, Seth, Sue, my friends, in fact, anyone that knew me really, was aware of.

Well, everyone but my dad that is.

Seth smirked at me, his dimples coming out at full force. "You so do remember them, Bella. And they must be a pretty big deal if I can hear your goddamn screaming all the way from my room. Why can't you tell us what they're about, huh?"

"Seth! Watch your mouth," Sue chastised, appalled.

My dad just grinned at him, ruffling Seth's dishevelled locks. He looked at me again; eyebrows raised in suspicion, eyes narrowed ever so slightly, a slight pout to his moustached lip. I called that look, 'The Chief', because he couldn't look more like a cop when he did that, if he tried. 'The Chief' always made me squirm nervously, and it would make me feel guilty of something, even if I wasn't.

"You sure you can't remember it, Bells?" he questioned.

I sighed, hastily getting up from the table and grabbing my bag – avoiding The Chief. "I'm sure dad, geez. Nothing to worry about, I promise." I picked up my car keys, which were in a glass bowl on the kitchen counter, snatched my coat, which I'd lain on the back of the couch, and was out of the front door before they could question me further.

TTT

Of course, the dreams made things...weird with Edward and Jasper.

I mean, I was cool with them. A lot of girls at school found it difficult to talk to them because they were so in awe of their mere existence, but not me. Maybe it was because my best friend back in Phoenix had been a guy, but I found it relatively easy to talk to, and get along with guys and the Cullens were no exception. Even after I realised that I might have a little crush on them, I was still pretty chilled around them.

I tutored Jasper every Thursday evening. We worked in the library, seeing as his house was a no-no after what had happened the first time I tried to tutor him, and mine was a no-no because the CB's usually turned up unannounced, and having Jasper Cullen over – the guy who ripped out Alice's heart and stomped on it, and almost ruined their friendship with Jessica – would definitely not bade well with them.

Like I said, Jasper was a charmer – and a huge flirt. From Rosalie's description of him before I had gotten to know him a little better, I'd wondered what the hell Alice had seen in him – apart from looks – that had kept her with him for eight months. Well, I soon found out. He was funny, could be pretty sweet when he wanted to be, and for someone who I spotted regularly skipping classes, he certainly seemed clued in to what he was doing in every class. I nosily flicked through his notes and assignments once and found that he was passing every class but algebra, and honestly, I don't think he really needed me to tutor him at all. I had a feeling he could pass algebra too if he wanted.

He flirted with me relentlessly during our tutor sessions. He'd lean incredibly – and unnecessarily – close to me whenever I was explaining something to him, his head practically touching mine so I was momentarily stunned by his exquisite scent. Or he would gaze into my eyes intently whenever he spoke to me, or find reasons to touch me, or brush against me. Once, he even attempted to play footsie with me under the table. I'd be a liar if I said I didn't enjoy it a little, but it made the actual tutoring part extremely difficult.

Edward and I became pretty good friends during biology. We talked a lot, about anything really, partnered up for assignments and helped each other out with notes if one of us happened to miss a class. He was still stiff for a while, still leaving a wide gap between us at our desk, but as the weeks went on his posture seemed to gradually relax. Heck, he even began leaning over to whisper in my ear occasionally, something I was sure he would have never done before.

I asked him why he seemed calmer around me than he used to be, and he informed me that the way I smelled wasn't as overbearing to him anymore as it first was.

After this revelation, he began to sit extremely close to me, and I discovered that he was also a flirt. His techniques were a lot more subtle than Jasper's, but I noticed them nonetheless.

My stool and his stool would actually be pressed together as we sat, so the right side of his body and the left side of mine were touching. He would do this thing where he'd look at me from the corner of his long lashed eyes whenever he spoke to me, keeping his head down so a lock of his hair would fall over his forehead and he'd have to toss it away. It looked so freaking sexy that I couldn't help gawking at him every time he did it.

I'd gotten a new, silver Tiffany bracelet as a gift from my mom and had worn it to school. He had slowly reached out long, lukewarm fingers to my wrist, lightly stroking the bracelet, tracing around the charms that dangled daintily from it. The way he did it was painstaking, as if every light brush of his fingers against my skin was intentional. My breathing faltered slightly at the feel of it, and he'd looked at me from the side of his eye and whispered a husky, yet nonchalant, "this is nice," before unleashing that adorably crooked grin at me.

And despite the fact that they both flirted shamelessly with me, I was never really uncomfortable around them.

Except after I started having the dreams.

Well, admittedly, things did get a little strained between the three of us after the whole first tutor date fiasco, but they didn't stay strained for long.

They were weird between Jasper and I because, well, when I actually thought about the events of that afternoon, I realised that I was about to kiss him. Or he was about to kiss me. Whatever. The fact was that, I'm pretty sure that I would have let him kiss me. And he knew it. I mean, God, what would have happened if Edward hadn't interrupted us? Would things have turned out the way they had in my dream? Minus the part where he morphed into Edward, of course.

So for like a week after the incident, I was unable to look Jasper in the eye, for fear of kissing him, or letting him kiss me again.

Things were weird between Edward and I because of the whole, him practically breaking the door open, running inhumanly fast, and lifting up his brother and slamming him into the wall as if he weighed as much as a bag of sugar and not roughly 175 pounds. Not to mention that frighteningly murderous look on his face that Friday.

In that moment – call me crazy – but I'd had the feeling that I was in serious danger. The feeling was remarkably close to how I felt in my dream when Edward's eyes turned that creepy black, which was another reason why the dream weirded me out. Whenever I thought about that moment, the look on his face, the way his body was so tensed I could see the coils of muscle bunched underneath his t shirt, it always brought a shudder to my spine.

I'm not sure how I knew this, but Edward Cullen was...dangerous at that moment. So for like two weeks after the incident, I was minutely afraid of him, and that obviously made things awkward .

But when the dreams started up, or should I say, when that particular dream started, I found myself behaving like those awe struck girls I scoffed at.

Tutoring Jasper suddenly became mortifying, because, you know, we sat at a wooden desk in the library – one that was similar to the one in the dream that we...dry humped on. I swear I had a constant blush during the hour and a half I tutored him for, and Jasper's flirting would definitely not help the situation. And as if things weren't uncomfortable enough, he would sometimes growl, and well, you know the effects that damn growl had on my body.

Things were just as mortifying with Edward. Biology would be another blush fest, and Edward would stare at me curiously – sometimes with the 'fuck me' look – as if trying to peer into my mind, obviously wondering why I was blushing. Sometimes he would return to his frigid posture, a fist grasping at his pen tightly, and he'd abruptly shift his stool back to the other end of the desk.

Needless to say, the dreams were driving me nuts.

TTT

"Mmm, my monkey man."

Jessica, Alice and I each turned to Rosalie, a stunned, questioning eyebrow raised.

She smirked, opening her crystal blue eyes wide in mock innocence. "What? He is my monkey man!"

We laughed.

We were sitting in the gym, watching the testosterone fuelled, half naked, sweaty guy fest that was basketball practice. Rosalie had dragged us along to watch Emmett in all his glistening glory as he thundered around the gym, his burly body surprisingly agile and fast.

Emmett was indeed a very good looking guy. He was very tall with glossy, dark brown curly hair. His eyes were a bright hazel, and his pretty smile was enhanced with deep dimples in his smooth, tan face. His body was equally impressive. Broad shouldered and incredibly muscular, I could see a light scattering of dark hair on his chest and across his lower abdomen. His muscles contracted and released as he bounded around the gym skillfully with the basketball, or slam dunked it into the net, sending a playful wink over to Rosalie whenever he did. She sat, enraptured, a proud smirk never leaving her pretty face as she gazed at him lovingly.

Yes, Emmett McCarty, captain of the basketball team, was a fucking hottie. But he was taken, and certainly not the reason why I allowed Rosalie to drag me along to watch their practice every Tuesday after school.

No, the reason I allowed myself to be dragged along to watch them every Tuesday, was because Edward Cullen was also on the basketball team.

I'm pretty sure that that was the reason Jessica came along too, and Alice didn't really seem interested in the gratuitous display of glistening man meat, so I guess she only followed because she had nothing else to do.

Ok, a lot of the guys on the basketball team were hot. There was Emmett of course, and another guy of similar stature to him named Jacob Black, whose shiny, ebony coloured ponytail was a beautiful contrast to his deep russet skin tone. He had full pink lips and smouldering brown eyes set in a ruggedly handsome face. There was Jared Taylor, baby faced, smooth, chocolate skin and long cornrows, with gorgeous almond shaped eyes and Tyler Crowley, dirty blond with striking grey eyes and beautifully sculpted cheek bones. All of these guys had an impressive body to match their faces, and although I spared them a few glances here and there, my main focus was on one particular guy.

Edward Cullen outshone the lot of them.

And trust me, with the amount of hotness packed into that one team that was no easy feat.

He practically glided around the gym, swift, and graceful, bouncing the ball as effortlessly as if it were second nature. And damn he was fast. Not as fast as how I'd seen him that day at his house, but faster than all the other guys. No one could get the ball off him while he had it, and he'd do all these neat tricks to avoid the other guys as they tried to tackle him.

He was statuesque, just as tall; yet leaner than some of the other guys, but his musculature was extremely well developed nonetheless. His skin was satin smooth, creamy perfection. Pale, but not pasty, and absolutely flawless. I mean, geez, would it have killed the guy to have a mole or two? His muscles were perfectly sculpted, each ripple and contour defined as if intricately molded by hand. His biceps bulged, and he had a six pack, and a deep v shaped muscle travelling down his hips and disappearing into his shorts. He had no hair on his chest, and only a trail of brown hair starting at his navel and working its way down into his pants, probably meeting the curly pubes which surrounded his gloriously long and probably thick –

"Bella?"

I was snapped out my shameless ogling of Edward Cullen by Jessica's annoying screech.

"Huh? What?"

"Didn't you hear what I just said?"

Obviously not. "Um, no. Sorry, I was miles away. What were you saying?"

She sighed dramatically. "I was asking if you were coming out for pizza with the team. Emmett asked us to come. Rosalie's going of course, so are Alice and I. You in?"

Um, duh! Like I would miss an opportunity to ogle Edward some more.

"Sure," I replied offhandedly.

We focused our attention back on the guys, and I noticed Rosalie down with them, sharing saliva with Emmett. As usual, most of the guys were topless by now, their damp basketball jerseys slung around their necks as they made their way to the locker room.

Edward knew I came to watch him every week, and his eyes would search the bleachers for me after they'd finished practice. He'd send me a lopsided smirk and a wink which – annoyingly – always made me blush, and I'd wave back at him. Today, however, he glanced up at me and mouthed something that looked like, "you coming?" with his eyebrows creased in question. I nodded at him, and he grinned, winking at me before striding off into the locker room.

When I'd gotten over the Edward Cullen induced heart palpitations a moment later, I turned to Jessica – and caught a glimpse of her bitterly glaring in my direction, before her face hastily smoothed into a strained smirk.

Woah.

"Edward Cullen likes you," she commented, eyeing my face carefully.

I shrugged, ducking my head to avoid her scrutiny. "Really?"

She rolled her eyes. "Duh, Bella. Don't pretend you haven't noticed. He's always staring at you whenever he's not paying attention to the ball – which is pretty often. And look at the way he smiled at you just now, when you said you were coming to the pizza place. And why did he only ask you if you were going, huh?"

I couldn't help flushing. Damn Jessica! Did she really need to point out this stuff to me?

I stood up, picking up my bag and casually stretching to distract her from my blush. "Honestly, I hadn't noticed," I lied.

The look on Jessica's face confirmed that I was undoubtedly a terrible liar. "So...what's with the blush then?" she asked, a sceptical eyebrow arched.

I didn't answer.

Needless to say, the blush remained.

TTT

A/N: This chapter was going to turn out way longer than I expected, so I had to end it there. There's gonna be a part two of it. Still in BPOV.