-1Disclaimer: ugh. You know I don't own it.
BTW, this is going to be a super long chapter in BOTH povs.
Bella POV
There was something cold brushing my cheek.
It was waking me up.
I groggily batted it away. Someone laughed. My eyes snapped open at the sound to find an amused Edward staring at me.
Why was Edward in my dorm?
When this thought popped into my head, I, for lack of a better word, freaked out. Not only was he in my dorm (which excited me), but he was also breaking rules. I didn't want to get him in trouble, but my conscious battled with me. And, I undeniably, wanted him there.
What to do?
"E-Edward, I think you should go. Fast, before Jake catches you…..oh." That was when I realized that this wasn't my room. It was his. Events of….when was it, today, yesterday?, crowded into my head.
Edward grinned and chuckled. He brushed his fingers gently across my cheek, his smile softening a bit as he did.
So that was the cold thing.
"Morning love. And be glad that it's the weekend, you slept in." he chuckled again, kissing my forehead.
But my thoughts were elsewhere.
If I slept in, that meant I hadn't taken my shift last night. Jake's going to be furious. Or worse, he could be hurt….
I bolted out of bed, throwing my blanket off of me, and ran towards the door. I ripped my knife from the inside pocket of my now wrinkled jacket and stumbled as fast as I could to the door.
Which wasn't very fast.
I felt two cold arms wrap around my waist and pull me into their chest from behind. Edward.
"Calm down love, the Headmaster already knows about the little…incident last night and agreed to let you stay here. No need to rush." he whispered in my ear, tickling every time his lips gently danced across it. For about two seconds, I listened to him, until I remembered with a jolt what I had been doing before.
"No, can't, Jake could be in trouble…."
"He's not, I didn't see it, and I checked for you Bella." Alice was in the doorway, smirking at my wild expression. I sagged with relief, but doubt was still seeded into my mind. Yet before I could object, my phone vibrated from inside the little pocket on my shirt. I grabbed it, fumbling until I flipped it open.
"Jake." I whispered, voice anxious. I didn't need to check the caller id to know who it was, Jake was the only one who knew my number.
"Bella, are you ok. The Headmaster told me what happened, but he wouldn't let me see you. Something about you needing sleep and I…"
"Jake, I'm fine. Nothing happened."
"Nothing my ass Bella. If you had just listened to me, this wouldn't have happened."
"Not now Jake, I don't want to deal with this."
"Well, I do. Bella, this isn't an option anymore. You're going to switch out of those classes and avoid those bloodsuckers at all costs…"
"I don't think so Jake. I'm staying." My voice was furious. For a few seconds, there was nothing but silence on the other end.
"Fine."
Then he hung up. I took the phone away from my ear and stared at it. Why was he making this so difficult?
I felt Edward reach from behind me and close my phone shut. He turned me around and tilted my chin up with his forefinger, forcing me to look in his eyes.
"Are you alright?" he asked, concern dripping from his every word. I nodded as best as I could under the conditions, but he got the point.
"Bella, don't do this for me. I hate to see you miserable." I looked at him in shock. I wasn't miserable. In fact, every second I was with him seemed to erase all of the times I have ever been miserable.
"Edward, I'm not miserable. And, although you are the reason I enjoy this part of the school more so than the rest, you aren't the only reason I'm staying here. In fact, even if you weren't….here" my voice broke at the thought "I would still keep these classes. It's for the…"
"greater good. Yes Bella, I know." Edward sighed at my slightly illogical thinking, but I noticed the way his eyes seemed to light up and sparkle of their own accord. I couldn't have possibly caused that, could I?
"You two are going to have fun today." Alice said. I jumped at the sound of her voice, forgetting she was there. She smiled at me, and almost danced out of the room. I looked to Edward, questioning him with my eyes.
"Well, Bella dear, it is the weekend, and since Jacob is supposed to cover your rounds today, I just thought that maybe we could do something. Just the two of us." he smiled down at me, especially after hearing my heart flutter at the words 'just the two of us'. suddenly, he frowned, eyes going a shade darker. "Of course, Jacob is right. You should change your classes and avoid this area of the grounds as much as possible."
I couldn't believe he was saying this. First Jake, now him? I understood Jake's inability to understand, he didn't know the whole story. But Edward, he did. Maybe he just didn't want me…
I tore myself away from his arms, staring at him in disbelief. I was hurt, and I'm sure that it leaked onto my face. I watched his eyes widen at the expression on my face as he stared at me in horror.
"Bella, what's wrong. Why are you crying?" he asked, terror and dread seemed to cascade from his voice.
"I'm….crying?" I asked, but by the way my voice broke, I knew I was. I hadn't even realized just how…fragile my emotions were. Fighting with Jake, classes, protecting humans, Hunter, and now this, well I just couldn't hold it in anymore. I started to sob uncontrollably, falling to my knees, and just sobbing.
I hadn't cried like this since just after my parent's death.
Of course, nothing had ever hit me as hard. But with Jake being so…hateful towards me, I almost felt like I was losing more family. And now Edward, trying to get rid of me…that was unbearable.
I felt him pick me up and carry me to the couch, setting me down gently when we reached it. He took me in his arms and rubbed my back soothingly. "Shh, Bella, shh. I want you to stay Bella, I do, it's just that you would be safer if you didn't. Bella please, don't cry. Please Bella, we don't have to do anything together if you don't want…"
I laughed a gurgling laugh at that. How ridiculous, not wanting to be with him. Edward looked at me confused, so I decided to elaborate.
"Edward, not wanting to spend time with you, that's absurd. Of course I do, unless you'd rather not…" I explained, voice darkening.
"Bella," he groaned. "how many times do I have to tell you. I. Want. To. Be. With. You."
I stared at him, calculating the truthfulness of that statement. His eyes held nothing but truth, and I had gotten very good at telling when someone was deceiving you or not. I knew deceit, it had stared me in the face. With those frightening red eyes, teeth dripping blood….
"Bella, come back to the present love. Don't think of those things." Edward muttered, stroking my hair. I looked up at him, surprised that he could tell that I was taking another unpleasant trip down memory lane.
"Good, you're back." he whispered pulling me once again into his chest in a tight embrace. "Bella love, I need you to understand. I want to be with you more than I've ever wanted to be with anyone. I'm just worried about you. God knows you're a danger magnet." at this he chuckled, his body shaking slightly.
I pulled away from him, a playful scowl on my face. He smirked and kissed my forehead making my heart back flip. I watched as his smile grew into my favorite crooked one, making my heart beat rapidly against my ribs. I looked down at the place where my heart was frowning. Must it always give me away?
"What are you doing?" Edward asked, trying to restrain his laughter.
"Well, it always does that, you know, goes crazy. I wish it wouldn't." I muttered, blood pooling under my cheeks in embarrassment. Edward ran the back of his hand across my hot cheeks, eyes closed. He leaned foreword then, eyes still closed.
"No, I like it." he muttered, as he put his ear against my chest, listening to the rapid beating of my heart. I stayed very still, not used to him being so forward. My heart eventually slowed, and I hesitantly put my hands in his hair, threading them into his bronze locks.
We stayed that way for a while, him listening to the beating of my heart, me running my hands through his hair. It was like heaven…
Slowly Edward sat up, smiling peacefully. He looked at me, and gently pulled the both of us to our feet. "We need to get going, the sun won't be out much longer." he said, still smiling. I looked at him confused, but he just shook his head at my questioning gaze. "You'll see soon enough. Here, the Headmaster had some of your clothes brought over. Get dressed. I'll be just outside. Come out when your ready."
And with that, he was just gone. Barely even a white blur and a breeze before he disappeared. I reached for the clothes, my favorite royal blue sweater and a pair of jeans that I wore whenever I got the chance, and quickly dressed.
I walked towards the door, excited and anxious of what the day held.
---------------------------------------------------------EPOV---------------------------------------------------------
I closed the door quietly, leaving Bella to get dressed. I listened for a second to the faint beat of her heart, remembering how it had sounded with my ear against it.
If ever it stopped its wondrous song, then I would cease to exist.
I had come to that decision last night, as I listened to her talk in her sleep. She had said some odd things, but one stood out above the others.
"Edward….love…" I closed my eyes, remembering her broken sleep talk, remembering how I nearly froze and would have been hyperventilating if I was human.
Of course, she might not have been saying that she loved me, I'm apparently unable to read her mind so I'll never know for sure, but she did make me realize that I loved her.
Of course, I think I always knew it, but tried to tell myself it wasn't so. I put her in even more danger, even if though she said it 'wasn't in my eyes' to harm her, I knew I was very capable, and that fact alone made me almost want to shy away from her.
Almost.
But, what she said, about being able to tell the killer by that look in their eyes, it made me realize that I wouldn't harm her. No, I was more worried about those around me than myself.
"You're very excited about your date with Bella. That much is obvious. But the rest of your emotions are harder to pin to something."
I spun around to see Jasper smirking from his doorway, Alice behind him. How long did it take Bella to get ready?
"Let's see, there's anxiety, most likely due to the fact that Hunter is still trying to…get to Bella. There's happiness, you always feel that whenever Bella's within a twenty foot radius, and then Edward there's on that confuses me more than the most." Love.
Thank God he said that in his mind. That was something I didn't want Alice to know. Which, she will probably see it if I decide to tell her.
Shit, she saw it. Me telling her, probably sometime today.
Edward, that's fantastic! She's perfect for you. Just…be careful not to eat her before you get married…..
Jasper scowled at me and stepped in front of her when I growled.
Completely unnecessary Edward. Such a short-tempered person, and don't deny it, of all people, I would know just how short-tempered you were….
"Jasper…" I stated warningly. I decided to tune out Alice, who had started to plan mine and Bella's wedding. They better not bother Bella about this….
How can you love her Edward?
My eyes snapped back to Jasper, who was looking at me questioningly.
How can I answer that? Even though I undoubtedly did love Bella, I didn't really know why. It was as wrong as wrong should be, this love of ours….yet still, I loved her more than anything, more than myself.
"How can you love Alice?" I asked, watching out of the corner of my eye as Alice's eyes narrowed and a slight growl sounded from the both of them. Of course, Alice saw my point ahead of time and relaxed, smiling once again as she rifled through wedding plans.
What do you mean by that, Edward. Jasper growled a warning, causing me to smile. He thought I was degrading his precious Alice.
"I mean that it's the same Jasper. I love Bella just like you love Alice."
It's not the same Edward….
"Bella will be out in five seconds. Jasper, honey, leave Edward alone. It's the same." and with that, Alice pulled Jasper into his room, closing the door.
I wonder why…….
Bella walked out then, in dark jeans and a deep blue sweater.
Dear Lord, she's beautiful.
That color blue, combined with her skin….exquisite.
I had to touch her, needed to.
So within a second, she was in my arms. There was enough common sense left in me to pick her up and swiftly run her to the place I had intended to take her in the first place. As soon as we got there, I couldn't resist any longer….
----------------------------(Bella POV/ A/N, I was going to end it there, so be happy-------------------------
He set me down, and boy was I thankful that was over. His speed terrifie….
My train of thought stopped as soon as his lips started to move along my neck. My heart raced and my breathing grew ragged.
I wasn't expecting that one.
He continued to kiss me up and down my neck, leaving trails of burning ice along my neck.
"You look absolutely lovely…" he murmured against my skin, causing my heart to go even crazier. I sighed, enjoying the new experience. Edward started to kiss upward now, kissing along my jaw line, the corner of my mouth, to my lips.
--------------------------------------------------(EPOV)-------------------------------------------------------------
She fainted. Maybe a second after my lips met hers, she fainted.
Did I do it wrong? Did I scare her?
I watched as her eyes fluttered open and a blush started to form under her cheeks. The red against her pale skin made me want to kiss her again. I restrained, however hard it was, and settled for stroking her now hot cheek. The feeling was pleasant against my icy skin.
"Bella, love, are you alright?" I asked. I didn't show just how worried I was, knowing that she hated people to worry about her.
"I'm fine." she muttered, going a little more red. She hung her head, refusing to meet my eyes. Maybe she really was scared…
"Then, pray tell, why did you faint?" I asked, watching as her face went an incredible shade of red. She shook her head in response to my question.
I gently pulled her face towards mine, forcing her to meet my eyes. I asked the question again, watching as her eyes unfocused. How odd….
---------------------------------------------(BPOV)----------------------------------------------------------------
He was dazzling me again.
He had done it a few times before, especially when asking me a question. I had no idea if he meant to or not, but I had no defense against it.
My last comprehensible thought: Damn him….
"You're too good at it."
-------------------------------------------------(EPOV)----------------------------------------------------------------
What? "I'm too good at….kissing." I couldn't stop the smile that crept across my face.
"Yes. You're too good at it. In fact, you're way at god damn thing you do!" I watched in amusement as she threw her hands up in the air in exasperation.
She was adorable when she was upset.
I put my face up close to hers and listened to her heart race. God I loved when that happened…
"We just won't kiss anymore." I muttered. I looked sadly at her lips in regret. Of course, I was hoping she'd cave…
"I didn't say that." Bella exclaimed. I saw how she too stared at my lips for a helpless second before meeting my eyes. The frantic look on her face was just as adorable as her angry one.
"Well then, we'll just take it slow." I muttered, leaning in and continuing to kiss her lovely neck. Her scent filled my nostrils, tempting me for just a second. But it was much more tempting to run my hands down her back and listen to her soft sighs of pleasure.
This was….
-----------------------------------------------------------(BPOV)------------------------------------------------------
…perfect. Just perfect.
Edward and I spent the day like that. Not just kissing, of course, (I had to breathe) but also 'quizzing' each other.
Well, he mostly quizzed me.
Things like our favorite colors, music, books, everything under the sun.
We also found out just how much we had in common. Although he was more the music freak and me the book freak, we realized that we both liked basically the same in either of them. I found out he played piano and he found that I actually knew how to use the knife I always kept with me. We both liked classical music, yet Edward didn't approve of my Wuthering Heights addiction.
We discussed his family, and, eventually, what I remembered of mine. I found out that Emmett was obsessed with his strength and Rosalie was an expert mechanic. Alice loved shopping and Jasper was once in the civil war. Esme, the mother figure, was very compassionate and loved to house clean while Carlisle (here's where I paid very close attention) was a doctor and practically invulnerable to the temptation of human blood.
Of my family, he found out that my mother was care-free and fun-loving and my father was a cop who was devoted to his family entirely. I also told him about how my mother always went to 'meetings', many a time with my father. The one time she was going to take me didn't turn out so well….
We talked about Jake and how I was going to solve the little problem he presented. Edward said Alice didn't see much of him in her visions, and if she did they were only at the most a week into the future at a time. In fact, trying to hard created 'something similar to the human headache'. I told them to just drop it then, but Edward said she wouldn't. She was 'curious' about why that happened.
One thing that stood out was when he was kissing my neck, how he paused to inhale my scent, before continuing.
"Edward," I had said, causing him to pause in his gentle caresses. "How do you do it? If my scent is so…tempting to you, then how can you…"
He stopped me with a finger held up, smiling at my question. "Well, love, like you said, I don't have it in me to hurt you. So, knowing this makes it a lot easier to do what we're doing. Thank god, for it really is enjoyable…"
"But isn't it hard?" I asked, still a little confused, but glad I had finally gotten through to him.
"It's gotten a lot easier." he murmured, leaning forward and placing his forehead against mine. "Anyways, why would I want to hurt the one I love."
I blinked profusely, not fully comprehending what he said. Edward Cullen loving me? Impossible.
He seemed to see the doubt in my eyes, for he frowned before continuing. "Don't ever doubt it Bella, ever. Honestly, how could you not know it. I thought it was fairly obvious." Still doubtful, which he saw. "Bella, if my heart could beat, it would burst every time I saw you. When you're away, I don't stop thinking about you. In fact, my siblings are annoyed with me, apparently I'm no fun anymore. Or so says Emmett. I guess I don't put much effort into wrestling with him anymore. You know what, I told you about Jasper gift to feel emotions. Just ask him. We were talking about it this morning. You still don't believe it? Bella, if you…you….died" at this he hissed, his face contorting into a mix of pain and anger "I would cease to exist. Isabella Marie Swan, I. Love. You. Now would you believe me, please?" he asked, only pleading a very little.
My god, he was speaking the truth.
Of course, he couldn't possibly love me as much as I loved him, just one look at him compared to me would still any doubts about that, but still….he loves me.
I realized about then that Edward was practically in pain waiting for my answer. He pulled away, masking the torment on his face quickly.
"Oh, Edward, I'm sorry. I love you too. I thought you knew…" I muttered, blushing a little. I watched as his face instantly relaxed and he pulled me into him, embracing me gently.
"Thank god." I heard him murmur.
After that, he walked me to the edge of his grounds, kissing me once more before I had to leave. Of course, it might as well have been a chaste kiss, we couldn't do much, it was apparently too hard on Edward.
But I'll take what I can get.
So I walked into my dorm, blissfully happy. I even hummed, despite my horrible voice, while I opened the door and stepped inside.
Jake was there.
I nearly jumped out of my skin. He was sitting on my futon, expression sober. Odd for him. He usually played the role of the care-free bigger brother, even though I was a few months older. Seeing him looking like that, it really hurt.
"Have fun, Bella?" he asked, his tone implying. He couldn't know….
"I guess." I tried to go for nonchalant, but I'm not sure it worked.
"Well, I'm surprised, hanging out with a bloodsucker doesn't seem like fun to me. But then again, you just love danger, don't you?" he asked, his tone growing more and more furious. I just stood there, eyes closed, waiting for the explosion that was sure to come. "I mean, letting a vampire kiss you, and on the neck even, god, the ultimate thrill. Tell me Bella, did you ask him to suck your blood too?"
My eyes snapped open at that, going into a full out glare aimed at my best friend. Or at least, once best friend. "No Jacob. I didn't. And I never would. It's something I don't plan on ever experiencing."
"Really? At the rate your going, you'll be drained in no time."
My mind completely shut down, refusing to see my parents dead faces looking back at me, refusing to see those red eyes. In fact, I wasn't even thinking when my fist connected with his face, hitting his cheek and making my entire hand throb. He stared at me in shock, hand on his cheek.
"What the hell Bella? God, it's true. You just don't understand…"
"I think I understand more than anyone else just how much danger I'm in. And guess what, Jacob. NONE of them are going to hurt me."
"How would you know Bella. You're too goddamned hypnotized by them to know that they just want to suck you dry…"
"I know for a fact that they don't Jacob. Would you like to know how I know?" I asked, voice dead calm. I was so sick of this, so very sick. I had been intending to tell him the truth anyways, now was as good as any time.
"Please, do tell Bella, Give me whatever sad excuse…"
"Because I've looked right into the eyes of one that wanted to drain me. Right into their fucking blood red eyes and watched as they drained my parents. NONE of them have that look Jacob, not like his. Now get the hell out."
He just stood there, staring at me in shock.
"Get the HELL out of my room!" I screamed. He flinched, then with downcast eyes left.
I cried myself to sleep.
-----------------------------------------------------(EPOV)--------------------------------------------------------
Alice saw the whole fight.
I felt horrible, knowing it was because of me. Knowing I was the reason Bella was so angry, knowing I was the reason she was now crying herself to sleep.
I wanted nothing more than to comfort her….damn these boundaries. I'd break them, but Bella would be even more upset.
I'm so sorry, love.
A/N: Took a while to update, but this is my longest one so…I don't feel so bad. Anyways, me madre kept kicking me off the comp.
I wasn't actually planning on Bella telling Jacob, but she kept telling me that it was time so… yeah.
Anywho, review please .