BPOV
"Mr Mysterious, has got me so serious
Now I'm delirious
I try and try to just move on
But all I do is play this song
Mr Mysterious, has got me so serious
Now I'm delirious…" Oh how apt is THAT ring tone? Who in gods name is calling at this hour on a Sunday I thought as I flipped my phone open, scraping my hair out of my eyes as I did."Hello." My voice was gravelly and probably sounded like I'd been at the pub all night last night.
"Hey Bella, its Alice. Hope you had a nice time yesterday. Sorry I had to ditch you, I was throwing up all the way home." Why does she sound so perky at this hour? Maybe she needs a little Ritalin to even her out or something? She hums along on a different frequency to me, that's for sure.
"Urgggh, thanks for the visual Alice. Are you ok now though?"
"Yep. No problems today. Must have been something I ate." She giggled. "What have you got planned for today?"
"Not much. Laundry, chores, Geography assignment. What about you?"
"Same. So, sorry again that I ditched you yesterday, I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow?"
"Yeah Alice, see you tomorrow. Glad you're feeling better."
I rolled over and put my phone back on the bed stand next to the book list I'd written. Huh, I wonder how Edward knew I needed books? And how did he manage to sit only one palm frond away from us in the food court? His weird reaction to that Jacob kid, what was with that?
Oh well, these were all things I'd have to think about later. Today I had to get myself organized and ready for another week at school. My assignment wouldn't do itself and if I wanted to avoid wearing my old sweats I'd have to put on a load of laundry too.
My toiletries bag was on my dresser and I grabbed it and my robe on my way to the bathroom. I buried my nose in my robe and drank in Edward's heady scent. Whoa! Holy shit! Why did I do that just now? What the hell? How did I know his scent would be on it this morning? And apart from that, why was his scent on it this morning?
School on Monday was suddenly looking intriguing from where I sat.
EPOV"Dammit Alice leave the poor girl alone. It's early. She was only just stirring a few minutes ago, let her rest."
I was irritated this morning. It had been an awfully long night sitting in the rocking chair watching Bella sleep. I was glad she slept tonight, no tossing and turning as she had of late. I was pleased she got some good rest.
What was bothering me was my newly acquired reaction to her. Oh her scent had always tortured me, it was true. But last night I had felt another subtle shift in my reaction to her.
She had gone to bed in a new nightgown. All pale blues and creams with lace trimmings and ribbons at the shoulder.
It was very, very feminine and very, very beautiful. As soon as I took up my position in the chair I noticed it. I couldn't decide what was more delicious, the nightgown or her skin as it peeked out from under the lace.
It had bunched up around her hips in the middle of the night and I'd been forced to drape her blankets over her, despite her being too warm for her blankets in the first place, just so that I could stand to be in the same room for a moment longer.
Why hadn't she worn her usual sweats and stretchy t-shirt to bed? That was bad enough, the way the material expanded to take her shape as she slept. This new nightgown was a nightmare that seemed designed specifically for me!
All through the night it taunted me. I'd sat in the rocking chair shifting uncomfortably, my trousers becoming unbearably tight at one point, until I'd had to leave. I'd crept back out the window I'd entered by and had sat in the cold night air perched in the tree for an hour in order to cool down. Not literally, temperature didn't bother me, neither the heat nor the cold. I'd had to cool down my building desire.
I wasn't oblivious to sexual desire. I was a man after all. Albeit an immortal one. Desire was natural and it transposed my humanity and my vampiric nature. Even beasts in the forest experienced desire. It had just never occurred to me to think of Bella that way before. I had spent so many years protecting her it had never occurred to me to want her before, that's all. I had listened to so many idiotic schoolboy fantasies about her lately in the minds of boys at the high school; perhaps this shift in my awareness was merely a consequence of those trespassing thoughts? Sort of like transference, or my subconscious. I'd had to endure scandalous thoughts directed at Bella for a while now, maybe I was just reacting to those and the ones I was experiencing for myself weren't borne out of my own mind?
I only knew of one person who'd know and I didn't relish having to ask him about it. At all.
"Leave me alone Edward. Bella is my friend too now. Just deal bro." Alice said it in a perfect imitation of Emmett's voice and was laughing loudly as she skipped down the hall and back through her own bedroom door. She was so smug. She'd just spoken to Bella on her cell phone, something I couldn't do as yet and my jealousy was eating at me. It was just one more thing I wanted to be able to do, wanted her to expect me to do, as her partner. Aargh, partner. What an awful word. Boyfriend was worse. Soul mate was ridiculous considering the sorry state of my soul. Life partner was bloody atrocious as I wasn't even technically alive! Calling Bella my mate was also out of the question given the types of thoughts I'd had about her lately.
For now I'd have to settle for 'friend', the way she'd introduced me to the dog in the bookstore yesterday. I should be grateful that she even thought of me as a friend, for now. We'd only just met as far as she was concerned. I wondered for the hundredth time in the past few days whether she thought of me as the annoyingly clingy brother of her friend Alice, or did she think of Alice as my annoying and interfering little sister?
"Sorry Edward, I know you'd like to call her too. Oh, by the way, I hope you liked the new nightgown. Oh yes, Carlisle is about to call for you." My mouth hung open like a goldfish as I took in what she was saying. She knew about the nightgown! Oh please don't let her know about my less than gentlemanly reaction to it!
"Edward, I have a few minutes if you want to see me before my shift starts."
I'd have to stop worrying about that and see what Carlisle wanted first.
I found him on the back terrace, reclining in a deck chair looking out over the Sitka Spruce that lined our back territory.
"It's stunning out here at this hour isn't it son?"
I sat in the matching deck chair and stared out at the river flanked by the huge trees and sighed, "Yes, it is."
"Things have changed for you, again, haven't they Edward?" He asked. It shocked me to the core and for a hundredth of a second I wondered if he too had developed mind reading capabilities and I'd somehow missed the memo!
"How did you know?"
"It's nothing to be afraid of nor embarrassed about. Really, it isn't. It's normal. It's not only normal for 17-year-old human boys but it's also normal for 107-year-old vampires too. I'm sure you can recall the years we've all spent trying to avoid the obvious signs of the chemistry between Emmett and Rose? God knows they flaunt it enough. And whilst Alice and Jasper are more reserved they aren't any less desperate to be with one another Edward. It is a normal thing to desire Bella."
I thought for a moment about all he'd said and nodded my agreement.
"I might know all that Carlisle but that doesn't change the fact that to me Bella is still a girl. I've spent so long thinking of her as only a little girl that I can't now feel good about seeing her as a woman."
"It will seem odd for a while, I agree. It makes it doubly difficult to make the transition from girl to woman with Bella because we ourselves don't change or grow older, I can see that too. I believe that if you try to think of yourself more as a 17 year old boy rather than the man you are you'll get through this more easily."
"You assume I can do that though Carlisle. I can't read her. I don't know what she wants from me, or anyone else for that matter. I don't know if she wants a normal 17 year old boy, or someone who is older, more mature."
"Well son, I guess you are going to have to do this the old fashioned way. Find out what she wants. Find out what she needs. You've been so busy taking care of her you've forgotten to let her have a choice in what she wants. Perhaps it wont harm either of you to make a few mistakes along the way?" He was grinning as he said it but I knew he was right.
Bella was becoming a woman and I needed to become a man right along side of her.
BPOV
I was boring a hole in the classroom door while I waited for him to arrive.
I'd arrived early, wanted to be in my seat before he got here so that I could watch his expression when he saw me. I wanted the upper hand for a change.
I needed answers and I'd be damned if he'd distract me with his sweet smile today!
Oh those smiles. The thought of it as he leaned across me in his car, wow. His eyes had darkened noticeably when I stood to meet him as I got out of the car too. They'd gone from topaz to onyx as he stared into my own, then he took my hand. Of course I'd glazed over by that point, his nearness knocking the breath from my lungs refusing to let my brain function coherently.
I shook my head and rid myself of those thoughts. I wouldn't let him distract me from my mission today. I had to be strong. I'd focus on the table, yes. That's it. I'd ask my questions and I'd look down at my work or at the table so that his eyes wouldn't drag me off course. I squared my shoulders and returned to watching the door.
"Have you been in my room Edward? Why does my bathrobe smell like you? Did you follow us at the mall yesterday? Did you read my list of books?" I chanted that mentally as I waited.
He waltzed in a few seconds later, cheeky grin planted firmly on his lips. Oh those beautiful lips. Oh my. I shook my head again and castigated myself. Get a grip Bella!
He was staring directly at me as he came around to his seat. I heard the scraping of metal on linoleum as he pulled his stool out and plonked down on in it.
"Good morning Isabella." He breathed at me. I turned to face him and came face to face with his lips. He was leaning towards me and speaking closely into my left ear. I wasn't prepared for the flooding of desire that ran through my body as his breath floated by my ear and his smell caressed my senses.
I swallowed hard and replied quietly. "Good morning Edward."
He chuckled quietly and resumed his place further down the table. He took his books out of his bag and was facing the front of the room when the teacher began the lesson.
We had a lab to do today and I was grateful that we would be allowed to work and talk at the same time. Much easier to hold a kangaroo court during a practical lab than it would be doing bookwork.
He slid the microscope closer to the middle of the table and began setting the first slide into it. He began the lab and was intermittently staring into the microscope then writing in his book. I would have to say something soon. I was wasting time because I was nervous. I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answers to my questions. It wasn't like I was appalled that it seemed like he'd been in my room. In fact I was flattered, curious, but flattered. At first I'd thought it was a little creepy, but as I had gotten to know Edward I realised that he wasn't some mooching teenager, well he was a teenager, but not like the other boys at the school. He seemed more mature, definitely more serious, sedate even. I wasn't frightened by the idea of him in my room at night, despite the fact that I probably should have been.
I steeled myself for what I was about to do. I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, gave myself a second to chant my questions in my head again and turned to face him.
"Isabella, forgive me if this is too forward, but would you consider attending the school dance with me this Friday night?"
Holy shit! Where had that come from? What dance? Me? Go to a dance with Edward Cullen? Again, holy shit.
"Um, I didn't even know there was a dance this Friday Edward. Um. I don't actually dance, so…" How could I tell him that he'd probably wind up in an emergency room somewhere if he even contemplated dancing with me?
"I think I can keep us out of trouble if you agree to go with me Isabella. We don't even have to actually dance if you are that adverse to it. We could just attend, spend a little time together, if you'd prefer?" His warm, velvety voice made my head swim and I struggled to think of a good enough reason to decline.
"Are you sure you want to go with me Edward?" How could he want to go to a dance with me? I'm no one. Maybe he feels some sort of obligation because of his sister? Alice would be going, I was sure of that. She hadn't mentioned it and I hadn't heard any details, but I just knew that Alice would be in it. It would probably also involve dresses and make up. I groaned at that thought.
He flinched at my groan. Oh shit, I'd offended him. He thought I was groaning at the thought of going to the dance with him. Oh god, how can I make this right without seeming like I was fawning all over him? Before he had time to comment I added, "Sorry Edward. I didn't mean to groan. I'd love to go to the dance with you. I really wasn't groaning over going with you, I was thinking about Alice wanting to shop before it, that's all." I added hastily. I smiled up at him and hoped that he'd see I was sincere.
He smiled widely; it lit up his whole face, right to the corner of his gorgeous eyes.
"I agree, Alice is going to be insufferable till the dance is over. Did you know she is on the decorating committee? We've all had to put up with her endless chatter about what colour tissue paper to string in the gym." Though he smiled as he said it I could see the mortification on his face.
He was placing microscope slides back into their sleeves and I wondered what he was doing? I looked to the clock on the wall by the door and realised the whole lesson was gone. I'd wasted the better part of half the lesson mentally preparing myself for the conversation. What a waste. The bell would ring in a few seconds and I knew somewhere in the back of my head there was something I was meant to ask him about. For the life of me I couldn't remember what it was.
As the bell rang he lifted my bag off the floor and handed it to me, ushering me out of my seat and into the aisle.
"Shall I walk with you to Trig Isabella?"
"Yeah, thanks." Was all I could muster as we left the lab.
Damn, he was good at distraction!
EPOV"Eddie's got a date, Eddie's got a date, Eddie's got a date.."
Aargh, both of them were chanting it in their heads when I got to my next class. Emmett and Jasper sat with stupid crooked grins waiting for me with their hands held high waiting for a fist bump from me. I obliged. I could afford to be affable because it was true. I had a date. With Isabella Swan.