Chapter 11 - No Matter What

A/N: Still no reviews guys?! Come on, I'm going crazy here! Please?

"Alright, everybody's meeting at Alice's at six o'clock. Don't be late, Jake!"

"Yeah, yeah. See ya in a bit Bells" he said.

I hung up the phone and headed to my closet to pick out my evening attire. It was winter break and the whole crew was getting together for the winter festival. Ice skating, Christmas lights galore, and cocoa...what else could you ask for?

I pulled out my scarf, beanie hat, and gloves; I would definitely be needing them tonight since temperatures were in the 40's.

I heard two taps on my door and spun around to see Edward. My face lit up and I ran over to him. "Hey babe" I said, wrapping my arms around his waist.

"Hey" he replied, kissing my forehead. "You almost ready?"

"Yep. Got all my items to keep me warm" I said, holding them up.

"I'll keep you warm babe" he said with a crooked smile.

"Oh yeah?" I asked, biting my bottom lip.

"Yepp. You may even sweat." He pulled my hair to one side and began kissing my neck.

"Dammit E! Don't start something we can't finish" I scolded.

"Charlie's gone" he said, knowing exactly what I was thinking.

"What? You sure?"

"Mmm-hmm" he hummed, lips otherwise occupied.

There was no time to waste. We stumbled backwards, stepping out of our shoes simultaneously and pulling at each other's clothes. We fell onto my bed. "We've...got...to be...quick" I said between kisses.

Edward stood back up and pulled off his shirt. I was undoing his jeans as he undid mine. I shimmied out of them and that was all I had time to remove. Edward grabbed my legs and pulled me to the edge of the bed, pulled my panties to one side and entered me before I was even expecting it.

"Ohmygod!" I yelled, my hands grabbing at the sheets below me. He was really taking me seriously about being quick; his pace showed it...fast and hard. My thighs were squeezing his hips so tight, I thought it may have hurt, but he showed no signs.

"Yeah baby...uhh" Edward grunted through his teeth.

Even though the position itself felt fine, I hated not being able to touch or grab at him. "Stop...stop" I rushed out the words.

"What's wrong?" he asked, breathing heavily.

"Nothing. Lift me...I want to touch you" I said quickly, grabbing at the air.

Edward quickly scooped me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist and locked my arms tight around his neck. His strong arms moved me up and down on himself and I bit down onto his shoulder without thought.

"Ummph!" I heard from him before he slammed us down on the bed. I pushed him so that he was on his back and I was straddling him. His hands grabbed at my ass, his nails digging in.

A string of moans came from my mouth as I found my release; Edward followed. We laid together for a moment; our bodies recovering from all the excitement.

"That quick enough for ya baby?" he asked while I rolled off of him and got to my feet.

"Yeah, but now we've really got to hurry. Move it Cullen!" I called over my shoulder, making him laugh.

...

We pulled up to Alice's house, of course the last ones to arrive.

"Damn Bella, you told me not to be late and who's the last to get here? You!" Jake hollered as we walked through the door. He was joking, but he had a point.

"Sorry. Something came up" I said, trying to keep our little secret safe.

Alice eyed me and Edward and said, "Mmm-hmm, I know all about 'things coming up'."

Dammit...she always knew when I was lying!

I told her to shut up with my eyes. We could discuss it later, but I really didn't want it being done in front of Jake and Jasper.

Thankfully, the subject was changed quickly by Jasper. "All right, let's go!" he said as he clapped his hands together. He was clearly pretty pumped about this evenings activities.

We all loaded up- one big happy group! As I looked around I realized I really had some great people in my life.

"Christmas music!" Alice yelled to Jasper. She was crazy around the holidays. Everything had to relate to them.

"Ok...chill woman" Jas said, changing the station. How he put up with her sometimes was beyond me, but I loved him for it. A second later, the entire car was singing Frosty the Snowman at the top of our lungs. I could tell it was going to be a great night.

...

We had been at the festival for an hour and the crew wanted to head out to the tree lighting ceremony. Edward and I decided we would skip it and go for cocoa instead. We walked hand in hand toward the vender and once we had our warm treat, we sat down on a bench to enjoy it.

"Mmm, this is my favorite cocoa" I said, sipping my first sip of the year.

"Yeah, it's the best" E agreed. We sat people watching and I snuggled into his side trying to stay as warm as possible.

"Cold, baby?" E asked, looking down at me.

"A little" I said, before my teeth chattered and gave me away. "Ok, alot" I giggled.

Edward hugged me closer to himself and rubbed his hands up and down my body to create warmth. "Better?" he asked sweetly.

I smiled up at him, "Much".

"Good" he said, and kissed the top of my nose. "Can't have my girl freezing on me."

His girl. Yepp, I most definitely was his girl.

"So I wanted to talk to you" Edward said, while looking out at the activity going on around us.

"What's up?" I asked, trying not to sound worried.

"Well, I know we haven't really discussed next year, schools and all." His eyes finally met mine, and I could see they were worried.

"Yeah, I was just kinda waiting until my letters came in" I said back, setting my empty cup down.

"Well, I only applied to U. Dub. I'm trying to stay close for mom and they've got a great psychology program, so...yeah. I just wanted you to know."

I could tell he was nervous about what I would say back...hell, I was nervous. He set his cup down too and kept his eyes on it for a second, not wanting to meet mine.

"Ok. Well, I've applied to a few. I'm hoping for NYU...or I was. Now I don't know what I want. I mean, I applied before we were-"

Edward cut off my rambling, "Bella, it's ok!" I looked at him, not sure what to say. "It's ok. Whatever happens, we'll make it work" he said, moving his hand to my face and stroking my cheek. "I don't care if you move to Alaska, my feelings aren't changing for you and we'll figure it out."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, taking in his words.

"I love you Bella" he said.

The words rang in my ears and my eyes shot open.

Oh my God...he said he loves me!

A thousand butterflies suddenly took flight inside my stomach, and my heart felt like it grew wings and would fly right out of me. All I could do was look at him and smile. I put my palm on his cheek. "I love you too" I said back. It was true. I really did. I loved this boy so damn much it almost hurt. A smile took over his face and he leaned down to kiss me-one, two, three soft and slow open mouthed kisses that teased me before his tongue began to caress mine.

Our kiss broke, but our connection did not. Our foreheads were touching and E's hands were on either side of my face. He smiled and closed his eyes briefly. When he reopened them, they met mine. "Good. It's settled then. No matter what, we'll make it work."

I gave a slight nod to agree. "No matter what" I said softly.

A/N: Awww, aren't they just the cutest?! Finally, they said the "L" word! Eeek! :)