And with that, he hung up. His gaze was still on me but his smile expanded.

"Well?" I asked, impatiently.

When he didn't answer right away, I stomped my foot. "Okay, that's it. You can seriously go now." I pointed towards the door.

"I'll go alright. But you're coming with me." He bowed a little with a cocky smile.

"Why would-" I started to argue, but he interrupted, expectedly.

"Sshh. No one refuses to obey the orders of her majesty, Alice. She would be honored to have your presence at her house right now. I'm assuming that was your initial plan for tonight, the sleepover?"

I raised an eyebrow. Without waiting for me to answer, he continued, "Well hurry now, we wouldn't want to keep her waiting."

I sighed. "Only for you, Alice." I mumbled, as I made my way upstairs to get my tote bag which contained my essentials.

"Nice room." he said. I jumped a little, not expecting to be accompanied by anyone at that moment.

"Goodness gracious, Bella. I already told you, I don't bite." he said, grinning.

"Who knows? Creepy stalkers are capable of doing anything bizarre," I shrugged.

Tired of trying to fight his attitude, I let out yet another sigh and walked out of the room with my bag. "Let's get this over with." I said, in an exasperated tone.

"What's wrong? Just a little while ago someone was a little ecstatic about her sleepover tonight." He just had to say something, didn't he?

"That was before you sucked the attraction right out of it by getting involved." I snapped.

"I'm the one having to be a chauffer for such a feisty little lady, and you don't see me complaining." He shrugged innocently as we walked downstairs.

"Thank you very much for your superior services, I don't know what I'd do without you, Edward." I rolled my eyes, feeling strange as I said his name.

"Of course, that is why I'm here. Always." He said, quite jokingly, although for a second it felt like he actually meant it. But that was probably my stupid imagination at work. Or was it? Whatever, I thought, shaking the unnecessary worry away. I'd rather not think too much about it.

I was stepped outside as he stood by the door, just staring at me, leaning against the open front door.

"Uhm, what are you waiting for? A souvenir for the remembrance of my house?" I asked.

"No, although I wouldn't mind that," He smiled, causing me to roll my eyes again.

"Bella, will you do me a favor?" He asked, stepping out the doorway.

"Not if you want my keys as a souvenir." I said, locking the door as he stepped aside.

He chuckled. "Okay, this is a contradiction to my request, but first I want you to take me seriously for a second."

I didn't understand a word he was saying. I turned around to face him and saw that his eyes were staring intently into mine with a completely somber radiance. He put an arm over my shoulder to lean onto the door, getting closer to me.

"Okay, enunciate, please." I said, having kind of a bad feeling about his body language.

He suddenly softened his facial expressions and smiled kindly. Something strange was going on, and I couldn't tell exactly what it was. Maybe it was just that I was too used to his being a jerk all the time, that I never expected to see him like this.

"Bella, I want you to relax. Take it easy. Stop acting as if the burden of the whole world rests on your shoulders." He lifted his other arm and brought his hand closer to my face. His finger gently touched the area between my eyebrows.

"Take your glabella, for instance," he said, while smoothening out the frown lines between my eyebrows. "It must be getting tired of being pushed in by your worried look all the time."

I became suddenly aware of my worried facial stance and relaxed my "glabella". It felt so much better. Ifelt so much better. I couldn't believe I've been keeping my face so tensed this whole time!

"Good girl," he said, observing the little change in my face. "Now, smile."

I scowled. Was he seriously doing this? I'm not a two year old and neither am I in depression! I don't need his therapy. And I smile all the time, don't I? Disappointment hit me in my face when I tried to remember the last time I had smiled an actual, happy smile.

"No, no. You see, I said smile, not scowl." He said, trying to be funny.

I blinked at him.

"Okay, this is tougher than I thought." He mumbled.

Edward leaned away and said, "THIS is how you smile" as he pointed his fingers at his wide smile, revealing his perfectly aligned, bright set of teeth.

"Earth to Bella." He called. I stopped staring at his mouth and looked into his eyes. "It's your turn." He said. Did he really think I'd forgotten how to smile? I didn't like that at all. Not that he was implying that, but that I'd actually forgotten.

"Do I really have to make silly faces now?" He asked, losing his patience for once.

"Edward, you're wasting time. Remember, her majesty awaits?" I asked, finally snapping out of my thoughts.

Then his face showed utter disbelief and shock. "Firstly, Bella, I am not wasting time. This may not seem important to you, but it ..." he just stopped. He didn't say another word. This was the first time I witnessed Edward speechless. Then his expression hardened. At once, the thoughtful Edward and the egotistical Edward both disappeared and I was left with nothing but a stranger.

"You're right. Let's just go." He concluded, briskly making his way to his Volvo.