Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse or Breaking Dawn. I do not own Edward Cullen or Bella Swan or any other characters you may recognize from the series. I do however own the one-shot this is based on entitled 'White Carpet and Wall Sconces'.

Time seemed to stop. It was like I could feel every dip and swirl of his finger tip on the tips of my hair. It seemed to go on forever, and yet stop far too soon. And then he cleared his throat.

"It leaves at, uh, nine forty-five, so we should get going." He ran his hand through his disheveled hair and closed his eyes briefly. I wondered what was going through his head at that precise moment. He twisted his mouth into a look of disapproval and reached around me to pull the door shut. "We should leave them to it."

I felt a blush creep over my cheeks. Somehow I'd managed to forget about Jessica and Josh for the moment. He chuckled softly and waited for me to take a step so that we were stride in stride, his fingers at the small of my back, urging me forward. "Sorry about them" I mumbled as we headed down the stairs. I nearly tripped at the landing, but he caught my arm, righting me, before returning his hand to my back.

"Don't worry about it. I live with the incredible hulk; you wouldn't imagine what I've heard." I heard myself giggle. He must have been talking about Emmett.

"I didn't really need that image" I told him, stealing a look at his angelic face. No wonder he got all the girls. No one could resist that face. I felt my stomach sink and I lowered my eyes to my feet. He was so gorgeous, he would never want me. He was that guy that girls got with because they wanted to rebel. He was hot, and smart, and yet so rebellious. He was constantly in trouble. Last semester alone, his car was impounded twice…that I'd heard of. He didn't care, because he already had it all. What more could he possibly want? All the girls, all the looks, all the money, all the brains, all the means to do whatever he wanted. Edward Cullen was living the high life, so why was he spending time with me?

"I parked the car close, so we wouldn't have to walk far. It's cold today." He opened the door and guided me out to the street. Was I so incapable that I couldn't walk by myself? "Right there" he pointed to a silver car parked by the curb. It was a really pretty silver car.

"What is it?"

"My car." He looked at me like I had three heads. I rolled my eyes. "Oh, a Volvo?" I nodded.

"I thought they were like, old lady cars."

He feigned horror. "Never! Not anymore!" He opened the door for me and then went around the other side and climbed in himself. "Which car is yours?" He pointed to the driveway behind us.

"Why?" Why he cared about my car I had no idea.

"So I know when you're home of course." He grinned, but it didn't quite meet his eyes. I wondered what his problem was.

"You could call you know" I joked, clasping my seat belt as he pulled out.

"I'm not a phone man, remember?"

"You called last night."

He shrugged. "I got the machine."

I snorted at the absurdity of the situation. "Okay, so you'll leave a message that my roommate might hear, but you won't talk to me? What if you showed up and I had another guy up there with me?"

I was sure I saw the muscles in his neck contract and release, and I know his jaw hardened.

"Which car is yours, Bella?" His voice was hard.

"The black truck?" It came out unsure than I'd meant.

He nodded, more to himself than to me. I wanted to attack him, to kiss the frown off of his face. He needed to relax.

"I probably wouldn't have another guy up there you know."

"You can have whoever you want up there with you" he said, though his neck relaxed visibly. "Slippery" he muttered to himself, the knuckles of his left hand tightening on the steering wheel, his right hand tapped the gear shift, ready to shift at a moment's notice.

"Are you sure you're okay?" His face was tense, the hand on the wheel was white and he looked impatient. I reached my hand out tentatively and laid my fingers on the back of the tapping hand. He jumped but didn't resist my touch.

"The roads are slippery" he said tensely, turning off of my street and heading toward the highway.

"I guess 'cause it snowed and then it was warmer yesterday."

He nodded slowly, eyes never leaving the road, though his hand did stop tapping. He was silent as he drove toward the harbour, and he slowed carefully, turning into the parking lot and shifting back into first and pulling the emergency brake. "Ready? We need to hurry." His voice was back to its normal relaxed, smooth tone. "Stay there; we don't want a repeat of what almost happened on the stairs." He stepped out and tested the ice. Stupid boy, I can walk on my own. I opened the door and set my foot down. Not so bad. I stepped out and slid, feeling my feet go out from under me, and landing flat on my back, saving my head from impact at least. I growled to myself and heard him sigh. "Don't you ever listen?"

Edward's Point of View

I bit back a laugh as she sat up, looking haughtily in my direction and huffing loudly. "Are you alright?" I asked, stepping carefully closer to her.

"Haven't they heard of salt?" She bit her lip and I extended my hand.

"I told you to be careful" I reminded her, pulling her up. She brushed her backside off, looking grumpily at me. "If you're alright, we do have a ferry to catch." I helped her walk slowly off the icy parking lot and onto the gravel trail. It was much less slippery there.

"I'm fine. I fall a lot" she admitted. Her cheeks flushed, though I wasn't sure if it was from the cold or embarrassment. We were silent a while, as I paid for the tickets and lead her toward the boat. "How long is the ride?"

I smiled at her. She was starting to relax. Relaxation was good. "Only just over half an hour. But once we're there, there isn't another boat coming back until one o'clock. They don't run very often in winter. Too cold." She nodded mutely. She seemed unsure what to say. I had to admit, with three hours to kill on the other side in February; I wasn't sure what we were going to do. I hadn't planned for that when I'd invited her. This was starting to look a lot like a date, and for the first time since I'd laid eyes on Tanya, and then sent her out of my room, I felt comfortable with maybe, just maybe, this actually being a date with Bella.

Tanya. Every time I thought about it I felt cold. Everything she'd done to me was so incredible, and so fast, and so wrong. I didn't know why. Any other day I would have jumped at that opportunity. But then, I kept thinking about Bella Swan. I couldn't stop thinking about her. The way her cheeks blushed red and her eyes danced with excitement. The way she giggled, and the way she snorted. And the way her pants clung to her legs. And the way her hair twisted around in the wind.

I'd wanted to touch Tanya, but I wanted to look at Bella Swan more. Priorities are what Alice called things like that. I hated decisions and I hated priorities, and I hated how looking at Bella Swan was getting in the way of my physical pleasure. In fact it was causing me physical pain. A simple touch from her hand left me tingling.

"Come on, there's a restaurant. We can grab a drink."

She shook her head. "Can we stay out here?" Out here? In the cold? Was she crazy?

I nodded. "Sure." I was crazy too. She headed for the railing and looked out over the white capped, frigid water.

"It's scarier here. You know, on the boat instead of on the board walk. Like you're going to fall in or something." She leaned forward and clutched the railing in her small hands. How I'd love those hands to be wrapped around something else… "It'll be getting dark when we come back, won't it?"

I leaned into the railing beside her and turned my face to look at her. "It might not be today. Since it's sunny. The clouds seem to make it seem darker than it is." I looked down at her, taking her all in. How had I gotten her to agree to this? A week ago she wasn't talking to me and now I was standing, in her presence, on a boat and she seemed…peaceful. Her face was more relaxed than I'd ever seen it. "Where are your glasses?"

She looked up, startled. "I put in my contacts."

I shook my head. "Oh, I like your glasses." I reached out and touched the end of her long, mahogany hair, gently playing with one, loose curl. Her scarf was wrapped right to her chin, the turquoise of the scarf standing out against the paleness of her skin. Her cheeks were tinged pink from the cold, and the end of her nose matched. Her eyes were squinting in the brightness, but they were still bright and mischievous. Like she was thinking of something witty to say. Her long lashes framed them. Her face flowed together, brow bone to straight nose to full, curved mouth. Her cheek bones were high, but not extremely so. The darkness of her hair made her face appear even paler, but it had a glow that said she got more than enough light, she just didn't tan. The lines were soft and my fingers ached to trace the lines; to memorize every peak and valley.

"What are you looking at?" her voice was soft, and her eyes fluttered up to meet mine. I looked into them, feeling my breathing slow to a normal, very relaxed pace. I couldn't remember feeling this comfortable. I felt like I could just lose myself in the pools of brown forever. I vaguely recognized that this wasn't a normal thought process for me but didn't bother thinking about it at that moment. I was too concentrated on what was going on right in front of my eyes.

"You" I whispered. I didn't even remember consciously thinking up that answer.

"Okay" she whispered, equally as quietly, as she turned back to look at the water again.

I vaguely heard the announcement saying we'd be casting off soon, but I wasn't paying attention. I was still watching her face as she stared out at the water. What was she thinking? Why was she so quiet?

"Edward?" She didn't look at me, she didn't even move. She just spoke, eyes still somewhere in the distance.

"Yeah?" I leaned into the rail a bit further into the railing so I could see her face better. Her face had lost its relaxed look. It looked nervous, and she was chewing her lip again. "What's the matter?" I ran my fingers through the bottom couple inches of hair, looking concerned.

"Honestly?" I gave her a weird, questioning look.

"Of course." I saw her swallow heavily.

"Why'd you bring me on the ferry?" What? "Why'd you come to my house with coffee last weekend?" I felt my heart sink. Drop past the pit of my stomach. I felt it shatter with the impact of it hitting the ground beneath me. She didn't want to spend time with me. She obviously couldn't get past the Edward Cullen that fucked her in his bathroom a week ago. What could I say? Should I tell her the truth? I had to spend the next couple of hours with her. Could I lie and get in her pants one more time before she left me. I didn't want her to leave me. She was all I thought about. I wanted to stay here and watch her forever. I wanted to watch her breathe in and out, and play with her hair, and watch her mouth move as she spoke. Not that I didn't want to touch her. Of course I wanted her that way too. I would be absolutely insane not to. Truth. I should tell her the truth. That's what Alice would tell me. Alice was always right.

"Because I wanted to." Lame, Edward. I saw her face light up slightly. "I kept thinking about you." My voice was low and embarrassed. She looked over to meet my eyes.

"I'm pretty glad you did." Her words were off hand, casual, but her tone was nothing but serious. Part of me wanted to pick her up and swing her around and kiss her, and the other half of me, was terrified of what may have just happened.

Bella's Point of View

He kept thinking about me? Why? This wasn't making sense. He was Edward Cullen. He didn't think about girls. But the way he was looking at me said more than I want to throw you down and ravish you on the deck. His hand was still on my hair and his eyes were like two, piercing green beacons, leading me to shore. I wanted to swim for them. I felt like if I just got a little closer he'd take me where I wanted to go. His hair was ruffled from the wind and his mouth was curled up in the tiniest smile. Neither of us said anything for a long time. I shivered involuntarily, breaking the spell.

"Oh god, you're cold." He sounded genuinely worried.

"I'm okay" I insisted, wiggling my face down deeper into my scarf.

"Do you want to go in?"

I shook my head. "I like it out here."

He nodded slowly, thinking. He reached out and took my hands, pulling me into him, hard. With my lack of coordination I almost sent us both toppling to the deck. I giggled. "I'm okay, honest."

"I can think of a way to warm you up" he said with a wink. Oh yes! Yes! Yes! My bad half of my brain was screaming to take him up on it. Just the idea of it was warming me up.

No! Don't you dare! You could ruin everything. Good Bella made a good point. I wasn't sure what this new Edward Cullen was thinking, but I didn't want to wreck something that could be a good thing.

"Way to kill the mood Edward Cullen" I joked, grinning up at him and taking a step back. He chuckled and gave me that signature crooked smile.

"Couldn't last forever, Bella Swan."

A/N: Whoa! Another update. And a sweet one at that. Bainbridge Island next, and then….Alice's party. Stay tuned!