Chapter 11: Dirty Work

Edward lied.

He didn't come back the following day. He didn't come back for almost a week, but he came back eventually.

School started up again and, although it had only been a couple of weeks since I'd been bored out of my mind and antsy to get back, I was sort of regretting my eagerness now. School dragged and I found myself constantly checking the clock above the board in every lesson in the hopes that time would go by a little faster, so that I could get home and change into some old shorts and a ratty t-shirt and clear out the backyard with Edward.

He'd had made it his mission to come around every Friday after working at the garage all day to work on the overgrown mess that was our back lawn, and I was only too eager to help. Mom had offered to pay him, despite her not really having the means to, but he'd quickly shot her down anyway. He'd seemed a little perturbed at the idea and I knew he wasn't exactly well-off, but I didn't question it. I was just glad that he was there at all. It was the highlight of my week, which was just plain old stupid.

Normal teenage girls would be out there on the beach or shopping —although shopping in Forks couldn't necessarily be deemed "shopping"— or hanging out with their friends, anything other than counting down the minutes until they could work on a neglected, old garden. But then, I wasn't exactly doing it for the benefits of the garden, was I? No; I was doing it for my own selfish reasons.

I tried not to dwell on that though. It just made me feel even worse about what I was doing. And so I tried to focus on my schooling and my friends and… gardening, which was inadvertently the same as lingering on Edward, so I guess I was failing.

My thoughts always seemed to stray from where they were supposed to, in uncharted territory, but the girls didn't seem to notice my utter lack of awareness in our conversations or the way I seemed to zone-out a lot. It got worse as the week progressed towards Friday. I tried to be more involved, but when Alice had asked if I wanted to go for ice-cream after practice that Friday, I'd quickly shot her down. The pang of guilt that had surged through me at the look of dejection on her face had me quickly amending —lying— that I had a big test coming up and needed to revise.

"It's a Friday night, B," She'd shot back, eyeing me accusingly, "you've got all weekend to revise."

Leah frowned from besides her, "It's, like, fourth week back, how do you have exams already?"

"Banner." He was known for them, but, for once, it wasn't true. They hummed at the familiar name, understanding lacing their tones and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Besides, you know I've got to help out my dad at the bar for the next few weeks. I need to get my revision in whilst I'm off," I shrugged. I wrung my fingers at the lie. I did have to revise; a few small tests were coming up soon, but one Friday night wouldn't hurt my grades. Besides, I was pretty smart. I was no good at lying though, it had never been my forte, but lately that seemed to be the biggest lie of all. I was learning to lie, didn't all teenagers at some point? But I wasn't so sure that other teenagers had to go through quite the same situations that entailed lying as I did.

Alice's eyes flitted between mine, looking for a lie, but I was getting pretty good at this whole pokerface thing. I slid my sunglasses from my head over my eyes just to be safe and smiled appeasingly. She poked her tongue into her cheek, making it look like she had a big gobstopper in there, and then laced her arm through mine. Leah did the same on my other side, both sliding their own glasses into place and I tried not to let the lies swallow me whole.

I could have told them that I was gardening, but that would just lead to more questions. Probably a snort and a 'you're gardening?' and 'what on earth are you gardening for?' They'd look for a reason and they'd find it in Edward, so no. The truth was out of the question.

I smiled and laughed and commented when it was appropriate as we all but skipped over to the back entrance to the gymnasium. Alice and Leah shared a smoke and I claimed I was sitting away from the fumes to have a few minutes to myself before practice. Usually, I'd stand with them —the smell didn't phase me really— but I needed a reprieve. Mainly, I just wanted to evade them pressing on about going for ice-creams or any others plans that they could come up with that just so happened to fall on a Friday.

I could hear Alice saying she wanted her nips pierced and Leah was agreeing enthusiastically. I rolled my eyes because, although I believed that Alice would have hers done by the end of the week, Leah wasn't as sporadic as Alice and I just knew she wouldn't go through with it. They finished their smokes and crushed them with a twist of their feet and we headed back inside to Kate and Brady and Alice glaring at Irina; to the glaring truth of reality. Literally.

But my non-reality was all I could think about. I was growing frustrated, panning things out in my head, cutting myself off abruptly when I released what I was doing. Kate called my ass out on it, but there was nothing bursting through the little bubble of annoyance I'd shrouded myself in. Alice nudged me as we performed a series of twists and manoeuvres that had us standing side-by-side.

"Cut it out, girl," She said and I took a deep breath and focused on the recital after that. I tried to at least. The clock on the wall said we had another half hour to go, and my thoughts drifted back to Edward again. What we'd be doing later, how long this gardening thing would last, what I was going to do afterwards…

Dad was kind of gruff about the whole thing, muttering snide comments under his breath when Edward was non-deserving. He was helping out after all. I personally thought Dad was a little sour over the whole thing, like Edward was doing something for his family that he hadn't, but Mom said he was just stressed with work.

He'd had to put in extra shifts, even working the bar which he never did, because Sue had left last week after her husband had had a heart-attack, so she was staying home to care for him. Dad understood, but he wasn't exactly thrilled over the prospect of pulling pints and working the books in the back office simultaneously. Mom was helpless with Maggie still at home and they were thinking of enrolling her in a nursery before she started school, but that just added more burden with the extra money it would cost. I'd picked up another shift to lift a little of the load off of his shoulders, but he was still having a tough time.

The shifts were okay though. I was mostly with Rose on them and they made time go a little faster up until Friday came along. Then it seemed to speed up far more than I wanted it to. Well, in terms of my evenings that was. I wanted them to slow down. I found myself enjoying them far more than I should've.

After the first time of Edward and Mom insisting that I help out with the yard, it kind of stuck and I'd invariably found myself out there with him every time he was over. It was like an unspoken agreement we had.

After a couple of weeks of Edward helping out, Mom started setting an extra place up at the table for him. At first, he refused, saying he didn't want to intrude. But Mom insisted, and, after a while, he started staying for dinner, his eyes smiling as he ate with us. I think mine were, too.

He was perfectly polite and Mom ate it up like they were life-long friends. It still annoyed me, but I kind of liked the fact that she was starting to like him, enjoy his company even. The easy camaraderie between them was growing on me, despite it making me a little jealous. I wanted him all for myself and I knew it was greedy and completely absurd and ridiculous, but I just couldn't help it.

If Friday's were my favourite day of the week before, they were my everything now.

Sometimes, when he had time, he'd stop by the diner on the way over from work and get us both milkshakes. Just last week he'd done it and the kids had pouted and Maggie had cried, so he gave them his chocolate one to shut them up. He may've looked kind of scary with his tallness and his tattoos and cool, easy facade, but he was really rather sweet.

Practice finished and I all but raced out of there to evade Kate's lecture. I didn't bother changing and grabbed my bag, hoisting it over my shoulder, throwing a little wave to Alice and Leah. Leah waved bag slowly, half-hearted and confused at my dismissal, but Alice remained still, watching as I high-tailed it out of there.

I felt bad and I knew I'd have to make it up to them somehow. I'd been a little distant from them and maybe they were starting to notice something was up. I'd have to show them that everything was the same, even though it wasn't really, so they wouldn't start looking for reasons why.

Riley was waiting outside, leaning against the front of his car. Arms folded, legs crossed. He ruffled his hair when he saw me and smiled.

"Hey, babe," He simpered.

I offered a tight-lipped smile and kissed his cheek when he offered me his lips. He still wasn't forgiven.

Another lie, although I wouldn't admit that to myself just yet.


The doorbell rang, and I probably would've been down the stairs within a matter of seconds as I always was on a friday evening, but I'd been sweaty after cheer practice and needed a shower. I probably could've waited until after I'd finished gardening as I tended to get a little dirty and grimy from the exertion anyway, but Kate had really pushed us after the long break and I was much too aware of the smell emanating from me to ignore it.

I ruffled my hair with the shaggy towel and cursed as I tripped on the one barely hanging around my chest. I lowered my music down and listened to Edward's deep voice and my mom's high, trilling laughter in response to something that probably wasn't all that funny.

I dried off quickly and threw my towels onto the bed, dressing quickly in a pair of shorts and my dad's old Pink Floyd t-shirt. It was holey and too big, but I tied it up over my shorts and pulled a brush through my hair. I pulled on my sneakers and a smeared a little lip balm on my lips before running down the stairs.

Mom was in the kitchen, Maggie on her hip as she talked to Edward from the doorway. He was standing at the edge of the grass beyond the concrete patio, leaning lightly on a rake. I tried to duck past her, but she stuck her arm out, "What's this, young lady?" She said, picking up a strand of wet hair from over my shoulder.

"I've just got out of the shower," I explained and attempted to duck past her again.

She intercepted me again, "You'll catch the death of cold. Go and dry it before you even think about going outside."

I huffed and I could feel my cheeks grow red. I evaded Edward's eye as he peered at me with a small smile. He had a cap on today and, somehow, he looked even more appealing, if that were even possible. I was pretty sure Edward in a trash-bag would be appealing to me. He smiled a little and lifted his hand in a small wave, the other still leaning on the handle of the rake. I quickly looked back to my mom, "It's still warm out."

"It's not summer anymore, Bells. It's getting cooler and you can't afford to get ill. You've only just gone back to school," She persisted and I obliged with an eye roll and a huff and heavy footsteps as I stalked back to my room. I only half-dried it as a middle-finger to her authority. I knew it was childish, but I also really wanted to get back to Edward. I'd already missed a half hour of his company and it was such a rare commodity that I didn't want to pass up too much time with.

Mom pursed her lips when she saw the still damp curls at the end of my hair, but she didn't comment so I stole one of the grapes she was cutting up for Maggie and skipped out of the door.

Mom was right. With summer approaching its end, it was cooling down somewhat. The sun was still there, shining and warm on my tan skin, but it had diminished in its intensity.

I'd burnt my shoulders last week, but the redness had all but disappeared with the reprieve from the sun. In my haste to see Edward, I'd forgone the sunblock and paid the price in the form of the blistering red skin on my shoulders and the tops of my arms. I'd winced as I'd tried to get comfy in bed for a few nights afterwards, but it had abated now and left my skin peachy and soft with new skin. Edward's nose was still peeling and smattered with freckles. It was kind of adorable.

Edward chuckled when he saw me and I frowned at what he was laughing at when he tugged on his cap. I looked at it properly, a smile erupting across my face when I realised what it was. Faded black and worn with age, the familiar refraction of light through a prism and 'PINK FLOYD' printed across it. I smiled at the uncanniness of it all and looked down at my matching shirt.

"What are the odds," He smiled and fixed the cap back into place on his head. He gestured to the table by the porch and there was a cup holder filled with two drinks, "I got you a milkshake."

I smiled and picked up the strawberry flavoured one, knowing it was for me. Jake and Emily came running out, both with their own cups. Jake with his yellow banana flavoured and Emily with her pink strawberry. They smushed their faces up against Edward's stomach and wrapped one arm each around his thigh to a chorus of 'thank you, thank you, thank you'. Edward chuckled and patted their heads a little awkwardly and I had to hide my snicker behind my own cup. Edward caught it anyway and he glowered a little in my direction, pouting. It only served to make me laugh all the more.

The twins had taken up Taekwondo a few weeks ago and they'd clearly only just gotten home. Red faced and sweaty, their hair pasted to their cheeks, their baggy white suits a startling white next to their red cheeks. Emily rolled the cold, wet cup across her forehead to cool down and Jake commented on how gross she was, "You've got to drink out of that now."

Emily sneered at him, "I'll use the straw."

They bickered before running back inside, calling for Mom and pushing each other through the doorway.

I snickered and turned back to Edward, laughing and shaking my head, "Siblings."

Edward didn't smile though. He even flinched a little at my retort.

I realised something in that moment. I'd never once heard of him speak of his family, besides his late father. Nobody talked about Edward, where he was from, why he was in Forks, why he didn't have any family.

"Do you have any siblings, Edward?"

Edward's frame tensed, such a minute change that anybody else wouldn't notice it. But I was so attuned to him that I couldn't do anything but notice. It wasn't the same tension that rolled through his body when he was working around the garden, digging and raking and mowing and hefting. No, it was the tension that invaded when a touchy subject was broached.

I swallowed, "Edward?" A whisper, lost in the wind.

Edward's face contorted and the anger there was intense, searing, freezing me to the spot. The condensation trickled from the cup down my fingers. I ignored it, made immobile in Edward's glare, "No," He said quickly, and then something happened. Something internal that I couldn't see. I wondered what he was thinking. Something that could wipe the anger clean from his face so quickly and deftly and replace it with such pain, "Not anymore."

The pain dripped from those words, saturating me in something that constricted my heart so tightly in my chest. I wanted to walk towards him, do something to wipe that look from his face, that emotion from his voice, thoughts and memories that I couldn't see or know from his mind. Instead, I stayed still in my spot, unblinking and unmoving.

"I'm sorry." Small and meek.

His nostrils flared and the anger returned. I didn't know if that was better or worse.

He turned his back, biting his cheek, holding back a backlash of words spat and fumed at me. I was grateful, but more so confused and hurt.

Talk to me.

Don't push me away.

I swallowed and set the melting milkshake down, wiping my hands down my shorts, "Edward?" I said in a small voice, edging carefully towards him. His back was to me, still and taught. I watched his fists clench and roll before unclenching as the tension slowly eased from his body. A slow, controlled breath left him and he turned to face me. He kept his eyes on the floor, "I've left the sheers and the rake by the table."

I stayed still for a few seconds, watching him, trying to catch his eye, and when he didn't offer anything more, I turned away with a sigh.

The loud thrumming of the lawnmower starting up caused me to startle a little, and I froze, not turning around. I took a deep breath to calm myself before continuing towards the patio table again.

I did as he instructed, as he instructed each week, but whereas I'd usually be light and unable to stop smiling, I was unable to even muster a smile, a semblance of what I usually felt when I was with him on a Friday evening.

I stayed quiet as I trimmed the hedges and raked the grass that he mowed. There was no room for talking with the loud thrumming of the mower and I wondered if he'd done it on purpose, if he'd gone out of his way to prevent us from talking.

I sighed and propped the rake up on the wall, watching as he looped the orange wire of the mower around his arm and trudged it along, so that it didn't get caught in the lawnmower's blades. He was frowning as he moved, backwards and forwards, a straight line, impervious to me as absorbed in his work as he was. He'd turned his cap backwards and I could see something glistening on his cheek.

It was hot still, and with the strain of the work he was sure to sweat, but, right in that moment, all I could think about was the tear inked onto the back of his hand. I couldn't be sure whether it was simply sweat from the labour and the slowly diminishing heat combined, or something more profound. I thought to the back of his hand again and quickly shook the thought from my head. I couldn't have offended him, upset him even. I'd only asked a simple question, something lighthearted and non-invasive, or so I thought.

I watched as he swept his hand from his cheek up to his forehead, wiping away the glistening droplet.

Yes, sweat, it must be.

At least, that's what I kept telling myself.

I took a step forward and he must have caught my movement out of the corner of his eye because his eyes flickered to mine, away again, and then heaving a deep sigh, he turned his head to face me.

The groaning of the mower was loud and pounding in my ears, but it had nothing on the pounding of my heart. After a few seconds, he turned back to the mower and turned his cap back around, casting shade over his face. He lowered his gaze and I watched as another droplet fell past his chin, down his neck. I turned and fumbled to pull out the plug from the extension lead, the whirring of the mower dying with a low, idling hum.

When I turned back around, Edward was placing the circlet of wire on the handle of the lawnmower and his fingers were shaking, whether from exhaustion or anger I didn't know.

"I'm sorry for prying," I said, low and guilt-ridden.

He shook his head and a sadness had washed over his features, "I'm sorry for reacting like that. It wasn't fair to you. You did nothing wrong."

I shrugged feebly, "It's not a big deal."

I realised what I'd inadvertently said and my eyes flickered up to his, sheltered beneath his cap.

No big deal.

He took a step towards me, "It is a big deal."

It was silly of me to react the way that I did, my heart a runaway train in my chest, fluttering like mad. A caged bird, like that poem.

I smiled shyly and he offered his own back, "I feel like I'm always apologising to you," He said quietly, but the sadness had all but washed away from his face, besides his eyes. It lingered there a little, just beyond the surface.

I wondered what had happened. He'd said not anymore. What did that mean exactly? Where they estranged? I clung to that thought rather than even think of the alternative.

"I'm sorry that you're always sorry," I smiled coyly, attempting to rid that look from his eyes, and he actually busted a grin.

"I'm sorry that you're sorry for me always being sorry."

"Well, I'm-"

He put a hand up, cutting me off abruptly, but there was a smile hinting at his lips.

"Let's just agree that we're both sorry for the others sorrow," He interjected and I laughed at his joking. The sadness had all but gone now.

"Lets," I grinned and grabbed my milkshake from the side. It was sloshy and the thickness had gone from it in the sunshine. It was warm on my tongue and I pulled a face as I set it back down.

Edward grimaced, "Sorry, I forgot about those."

I raised my eyebrow, "Sorry, are you?"

He chuckled when he realised what he'd inadvertently said, "I think maybe I win that debate then."

"I think you're right," I snorted as he wiped his forehead with the corner of his t-shirt. I turned my head at the sight of the taught, inked skin that the action revealed. My eyes flickered back, looking at the swirls and images that were etched into his skin, but they were gone just as quickly as they appeared with the release of his fingers. The white fabric fell back into place and I gulped at the raised eyebrow he shot me, "but I wouldn't get too cocky about it if I were you."

I blushed because I'd just said cocky in front of Edward and that basically meant I'd said cock.

I pinched my palm to snap myself out of the stupid, childish thoughts in my head and focused instead on the pink and brown goop that was supposed to resemble a milkshake placed next to each other on the table besides us. I couldn't look him in the eye after that and I felt silly-stupid for blushing at the word cock.

"Thirsty?" He asked, noticing my lingering gaze on the warm, watery milkshakes. I nodded sheepishly, anything to stop thinking about that stupid word. Besides, I was kind of looking forward to my new weekly milkshake, but in all of the drama, I'd forgotten about it.

"I'm sure we've got something indoors," I said, using my thumb to gesture to the kitchen doorway. My voice was thick and heavy with equal parts embarrassment and frustration.

He moved his arm in the universal lead the way gesture and I grabbed the two plastic cups of milkshake and took them inside, planning on depositing them in the bin.

He walked slowly behind me, hands stuffed in his pockets I saw when I turned to see if he was following. His eyes were on my back but they slid to the floor when I caught his eye.

I pressed the lid on the bin and it popped open with a low hiss of air, and just as I was about to release the two ruined cups of sugary goodness, Edward's hands enclosed over my wrists.

"Don't throw them," He said and shot me a tight-lipped grin, "I have an idea."

He took the cups from me and set them on the counter besides the sink.

"What are you doing?" I said, as he took the plastic lids off of each and pulled the striped straws out. He poured the remnants of each down the sink and washed them out carefully with a pinched brow.

"Do you have ice-cream?" He asked, his back to me. When I didn't answer, he turned his head over his shoulder, his tongue smashed up in his cheek and his eyes dancing. Water had sloshed down the front of his shirt and I thought about the last time he'd been in my kitchen with water down his front.

I cleared my throat and he was staring at me with his eyebrow raised. God, that piercing. Was it possible to die from the sight of that little silver stud? My heart pinched in my chest and yes, yes it was.

"I think so." It sounded like a question. Edward Cullen was just the same; a big question mark.

He turned his back to wash out the lids and straws and I grabbed the ice-cream from the freezer, hidden away in the back from the kids. There was a decent amount left, "We only have vanilla."

"Perfect," He said, taking it from me and setting it on the side to defrost a little. He had me find some cream and milk, vanilla extract and strawberries that Mom had bought fresh that morning.

He spooned it all out with a look of pure concentration on his face and I wondered if he'd ever made such a thing before. He seemed so deep in thought.

When he put it all in the blender, it finally clicked what he was doing and I let out a little guffaw at his thoughtful scowl.

"You're making a milkshake?" The idea seemed preposterous for someone like Edward, but it warmed my heart all the same.

"Two actually," He smiled, his ears pink, "but I couldn't find cocoa beans, so strawberry it is."

"I thought you didn't like strawberry," I accused, lifting myself up onto the countertop besides him.

He was bent over, eyeing the measurement scale along the side of the blenders cup, but his eyes flickered to mine and a smile played on his lips, "It's growing on me."

I smacked his shoulder playfully and he rubbed at it like it hurt, standing to his full height, "What?" He laughed.

"We've already established that strawberry is the best." It seemed like a lifetime ago now. Sitting in that diner, the first milkshake he'd ever bought me. And now here he was making homemade ones for me.

He shook his head with a pfft, "No way. You were barely sixteen. I couldn't disagree with you."

"But you could now?" I edged, leaning forward on the palms of my hands. My feet were swinging in front of me, hitting the cupboard beneath me with a steady thud. It sounded like the beating of my heart.

I bit my lip and his eyes seemed to focus in on the movement. His voice was husky when he spoke, "No." His head shook a little and the implication of his words didn't go unnoticed by either of us. We just chose to ignore it.

I smiled, "Well then, I win."

He took his cap off of his head quickly, shaking his hair out and ruffling it with his free hand. I leant forward and snatched it from his hand, setting it lightly on my own head and sticking my tongue out at him. He pulled it low over my eyes and chuckled as I blindly smacked at him again.

"Oh, no," He suddenly exclaimed and I yanked the cap back up, alarmed.

"What is it?" I asked, but as soon as the words left my lips, a blob of cream hit me in the face. I squelched my eyes shut and let out a startled screech.

"I can't believe you just did that!" I chortled as I pushed it out of my eyes and licked a bit off of the tip of my nose.

He laughed at my scrunched up face and pouty lips, "You just licked your nose."

"Well, duh."

His eyes twinkled with something mischievous and then his hands were pulling mine apart and tickling under my arms, down my sides. I squealed and tried to shimmy out of his grasp, but he was merciless. I wiggled around on the countertop, attempting to squirm down in the small gap between our bodies.

"Is everything okay in there?" Mom called out from the living room and Edward let me go. His shirt was smeared with cream from my fingertips and he pinched it from his chest and frowned.

I was still laughing from the aftershocks of his sneak attack when I called back to her, "Yeah, we're just making drinks."

I heard the TV come back on and smiled demurely up at him. He didn't look embarrassed or ashamed of his actions like I'd expected; he was grinning at me with equally matched affection.

Sitting on the counter, we were level and I kind of liked it.

My cheeks were aflame and there was this feeling deep in my stomach, churning and swooshing around in there and maybe I was going to be sick, but I didn't think so. I turned to grab a teacloth to wipe my face clean when he grabbed my arm. I turned quickly, confused, but I didn't have time to question it because he swooped something along my face. At first, I thought it was his finger and my heart quickened and my breath completely left me, thinking he was going to lick it off. Or, better yet, he was going to suck his finger clean, but then I realised it was a strawberry… and had a fairly similar reaction.

He swooped it along my cheek, dunking it in the cream still smearing my face, and took a bite out of it, slow and deliberate and he was looking me right in the eyes.

I swallowed and blushed when I realised he probably heard it.

"You taste delicious," He hummed, laughing at whatever he saw on my face as he sucked each of his fingers clean like I'd imagined. My imagination was sorely lacking it seemed because it didn't hold a candle to the real thing. And there was that feeling again, deep within in, humming beneath my skin.

He laughed like he was funny, sucking the last little bit from his finger, but I couldn't smile. All I could do was stare and stare some more.

I reached my hand up and swooped my fingers along my cheek, collecting a lump of cream, and smeared it along his face.

He froze momentarily and his eyes darted to mine. He dropped the leafy part of the strawberry onto the countertop and took a step towards me. My knees brushed the tops of his thighs.

"I can't believe you just did that," He said with a smile and his eyes were squinty and closed.

"You got me first," I laughed, licking it off my own fingers. I grabbed the teacloth and wiped my face clean, leaning behind me to grab Edward a fresh one.

He shook his head and cleared himself up and I was admittedly a little sad that I couldn't do it myself. With my tongue.

Edward fixed the blender up, adding his little concoction of ingredients to it. I asked if he'd ever made it before because I wasn't so sure that his so-called ingredients were the right ones. He'd shrugged and admitted he hadn't. It was sugary, a little sweeter than we were accustomed to, and we simultaneously pulled a face after the first sip and laughed because he definitely wasn't a milkshake connoisseur.

"I think you need a little practice," I said and he wiggled his nose as he swallowed.

"Hey, I was trying to be nice. It's okay for a first attempt. Next time, I won't add the vanilla I think."

"Next time?" I echoed.

He frowned down at me, rubbing the back of his neck. I could see dark armpit hair peaking out from the sleeve of his t-shirt and I don't know why it made me blush. Riley's was sparse and blonde, nothing like his, "Well, I figured we could try again. I mean, I'm here every Friday for however long it takes to sort the backyard out."

I nodded mutely, my eyes flickering to that patch of hair before he put his arm back down.

I cleared my throat, "Yes." One word answers were all I had left it seemed. I cleared my throat and took another sip of the too-sweet milkshake.

"I don't particularly want to be working on it when it gets colder and milkshakes probably won't help with that," He mused with a soft chuckle.

The thought of my Fridays being once again boring and empty, no gardening or Edward to entertain me, had my stomach twisting and I wondered when and if I'd see him after that. We didn't see each other too often before he'd started working on the garden and I was sure after everything that had happened with Vickie and Riley that they wouldn't be too glad to see us hanging out outside of this little arrangement we had going on.

I hadn't exactly told Riley, or anybody for that matter, that Edward had been coming over every Friday for a few weeks. I wasn't sure how he'd react or how I'd take to it. I'd been kind of icing him out over the last few weeks after the birthday debacle and, although I felt bad for doing it, I also didn't want him to think I would forgive him so easily. I wasn't a pushover. At least, that's what I kept telling myself. Really, I just didn't want to deal with his drama anymore and I didn't want to put up with his moping.

I was still a little bitter towards Leah. She was the one who'd invited Riley that night anyway. If she hadn't invited him, things would be different right now. There would be no tension or arguments and cold-shoulders, no grudges and awkwardness and looks that had the power to shrivel my happiness. It was all wrong now and, although Riley was to blame for thinking those things and saying those things, Leah was the one who'd invited him. Of course, she couldn't have seen it coming. She couldn't have known he'd react that way to Edward with pure, unadulterated jealously and snide-comments and touches, looking for a reaction that Edward surely wouldn't give. She couldn't have known that I didn't want him there in the first place, regardless if it was my birthday and he was my boyfriend and it was completely normal. She'd assumed and maybe it could've been seen as sweet and sincere if things hadn't panned out the way that they had. But they had and they did, so I had the right to be a little sour with her. I wasn't completely shunning her out, Riley had gotten the brunt of that really, but I wasn't exactly all open-arms and forgiving either.

I wasn't sure if Edward had told Vickie. I assumed he had. After everything, I didn't think he'd risk not telling her. I'd only seen her in passing or in our little group since our conversation, our 'reconciliation' as Rose was deeming it, and I was sure things had blown over between us now, but things were still a little awkward. On my behalf at least. I felt responsible somehow, even though I knew it was Riley's big mouth that had gotten us into this mess. He was my responsibility, my boyfriend, and I was the one invariably responsible for him, in a way at least, not anyone else.

I knew Vickie worked Friday's and wondered if he really had told her as I watched him fix the mower away and rake the portion of the yard he'd gotten done that day, "Edward?" He turned his head towards me, over his shoulder, panting and squinting in the low sunlight, still raking as he did, "Does Vickie know that you come over here every Friday? I mean, to help with the backyard?"

Edward stopped raking and stood up straight, letting out a deep breath, "She knows I help your Mom with the gardening."

The emphasis on Mom didn't escape my notice and I understood then. I pursed my lips and set my rake in front of me, drawing it back and effectively scooping a pile of dead, yellowed grass towards me. I evaded his eyes for the remainder of the day.

Vickie knew that Edward was here every Friday, yes. She didn't know that he was with me though. I let the thought settle over. A giddiness overcame me and I felt stupid and vindictive all over again. And then I felt a little sad and Edward went mopey all over again.

He didn't stay for dinner.

In fact, he left entirely without so much as a goodbye. To me, at least. I'd gone for a bathroom break, resolving to get him to at least talk to me on my return, but when I'd made it down the stairs with steely determination, the backyard was empty, the tools set aside, and Mom was pottering about in the kitchen.

"Where's Edward?" I'd asked, confused and hurt because I guess I'd already known.

Mom stopped humming and set her oven-mitts on the side, "He's gone home for the day, sweetie. Did he not tell you?"

I swallowed past the tightening in my throat and nodded, "Uh, yeah. I must've forgotten or something."

That night as I crawled into bed, I was a live wire of thoughts and feelings and… impulses. My thoughts were jarring and I was wide-awake and needy. I thought of Edward working in the yard, both of us unintentionally matching in our Pink Floyd attire, him concentrating as he measured out ingredients for our impromptu, sweet milkshake —sweet in both ways. I thought about the way he concentrated on that a lot and imagined it was me, my body. I closed my eyes and pictured the way he'd lapped the cream from his fingers. You taste delicious. My hands slipped down my body, over my stomach and pressed over the seam of my panties. I gasped and pressed harder, searching for release with thoughts of strawberries, sweat and armpit hair fuelling me on.


A/N- Sorry for the delay. I've been getting over Endgame and GoT (Yes, its taken me that long). For those who've watched the former, I love you 3000 *sobs*. I'm currently ill and cooped up at home, so I've had a little time to look over this as its been written for a few weeks and just needed a little tweaking (the only good thing about being sick!) It's a little rusty, but there we are. RP as batman, anyone?

Chapter title inspired by song of the same name by Steely Dan. Depends on how you interpret the lyrics, but I thought it was pretty fitting. A little, but not really.

Thanks for reading, my lovelies.