Edward showed up unannounced the next afternoon.
The white sheets were still smeared in an oily rainbow that would never really wash out and a girl with her name smudged down her thigh was curled up naked in the middle of them. Bella clapped a hand over his mouth and tried to drag him into the kitchen as Alice rolled over in bed, mumbling in her sleep. Edward's jaw dropped open. He faltered, staring at the beautiful mess the girls had made of the bed, most of Alice's modesty hidden beneath paint rather than the sheets. Bella grabbed him by the hair and hauled him the last few steps into the kitchen.
"Is that the toy?" Edward whispered theatrically, hooking a thumb over his shoulder in Alice's direction. Bella rolled her eyes at him but couldn't tell him off. She'd called Alice that first, but it didn't mean she wanted anyone else calling her that.
"She's not a toy, she's dot dot dot. You've seen her. The words, they're fucking everywhere." Bella was starting to suspect that Alice was trying to single handedly turn the city into the greatest quote book ever printed. Or painted. It was hard to miss them now, the thoughtful little quips that appeared in such ordinary one gracing a ragged crack in the sidewalk on Hemingway Street was her favorite so far.
You are a poem . . .
"Oh shit, that's her?" Edward muttered his appreciation and glanced toward the living room for a moment before leering back at Bella. "She must be damn good in bed. You look thoroughly fucked."
Bella punched Edward as hard as she could. Square in the chest so he staggered backward, but she didn't manage to knock the traitorous grin off his face. What she hadn't remembered yet was that she was still smudged in last night's activities. To Edward, she looked as though she'd rolled around in tempera paint and tried to turn her sheets into an art project.
The artistic render of fucking, all over that virginal white canvas.
"Yep, really good," he nodded. "You haven't had this much fight in you for years."
"Keep your damn mouth shut," Bella grumbled. "Felix cornered us downtown last night and I don't need him on my tail. Or hers."
"Felix? Where?"
"Southside, which was weird. He doesn't like the eyes, by the way."
Edward grinned, looking proud of himself. "Figured he wouldn't. They haven't been buffed yet and I bet it grates on him every day."
"Look, she hasn't exactly complied with the rules around here and I don't know what she's done to other people's work," Bella flung her arm in the the direction of the bed. "I'll let it slide, but you know they won't. Just try to tame your gossipy-girl side for me, please."
"Hey," Edward huffed, sounding a little offended. "I wear the hat. I ain't telling." He swung at her, playful, and she nearly fell flat on her face trying to duck his fist, tangled up in her sheet.
"You are such a asshole," Bella hissed, readjusting the fabric. It wasn't that Edward had never seen her naked, it was the blank look on his face when he did that she didn't care for. "What are you doing here anyway, besides torturing me?"
"I came to see if you wanted to bomb the heavens on that bridge over Masen Street," Edward shrugged. "But now that I've got both of you here, I'm thinking the three of us are gonna work some magic tonight." He clapped his hands and rubbed his palms together, a smirk picking up the corner of his mouth. "We've got ourselves a little crew. I know! Let's slam Rosehill! You know that wall is just fucking asking for it."
"That sounds dangerous, Edward. Jail time, for sure." Bella glanced toward the bedroom, Alice and the rainbow sheets she was wrapped up in. "Give us twenty minutes."
Edward was right. Rosehill really was just asking for it.
There wasn't a single splotch of paint for almost ten blocks in any direction and the botanical gardens sat right there on the top of a small rise in the earth, keeping silent lookout over their neighborhood. Surrounded by a high, pale wall that was achingly free of interest.
"Ok, one at a time, bam bam bam," Edward whispered in the dark and Bella shot out of the shadows like a misfired bullet, heading straight for a murky section of the wall. She tucked her can underneath her sweatshirt to shake it up, muffling the clamoring ball inside, and started her backgrounds, mindful of the end goal. Swirls of purple and yellow and key lime green. Done more by feel, than by sight, under a deep layer of night which had her following her fingers once again.
Edward stood back with Alice as Bella worked. Neither of them could understand her ability to simply draw from imagination and it frustrated Edward to no end that Bella never made a plan before she ventured out, always leaving her nights up to chance. Alice traveled with her book of words and images and was taken by surprise that Bella floated so recklessly along without rhyme or reason.
"I think you're good for my girl over there," Edward nudged his chin in Bella's direction, though he could barely make out her figure in the dark. "But, if you break her heart, I'll run you outta the state.
"Is that a threat?" Alice laughed under her breath, unable to wrench her eyes off the dark spot Bella had disappeared into.
"Consider it a dropsy. I'm not a total asshole," he muttered.
"A dropsy?"
"I'm bribing you, baby. You just gotta take it. Be good to her and we'll make you famous. That girl is an all-city queen and she earned her name fair and square."
"And that's makes you king?"
"In a way," Edward smirked.
"What's a toy?" Alice narrowed her eyes at Edward. She didn't know this guy enough to truly trust him, but his rep alone demanded respect. The fact that Bella painted only with him spoke to Alice even stronger. She hated to ask, but it was burning a hole in her. This was the same boy who had shown up at the ocean wall with Bella, the same one she had seen painting with her, their tags strung together like beads on a string.
She still didn't know what they meant to each other, but this lion was fiercely protective of his bee.
"Takes time to get up in this line of work, honey, you don't just become a queen overnight. Bee's worked hard to get where she is. You gotta sacrifice some blood for that shit," Edward pushed his glasses back up his nose and darted out into the open, just as Bella skidded to a stop beside Alice.
The Rosehill piece lasted precisely four and half hours before the city crews were on it like flies, crawling all over the carcass with their grey paint and spray guns.