Disclaimer: I still don't own Twilight, at all.
A/N: Hola IEWIS Land! Here I am again, apologizing for taking so terribly long to post :( At least it's here now, right?! Right. I started school 2 weeks ago, and I work the 3 days a week that I don't go to school... so.... it's hard to find time. But I did! And I promise I always will.
A few things of honourable mention in the A/N at the end of the story, make sure to check it out!
But for now, read!
Chapter 12 - C'set Si Bon
BPOV
I pursed my lips together and tried to hold in my laughter. I was failing royally along with Emmett, Rosalie, Romeo, and Juliet.
Edward and I had placed the Jack Daniels on the back of the toilet in his bathroom the day after Christmas. It's the only place that seemed appropriate for a giant bottle of whiskey that was not going to be drank anytime soon.
Yes. We made our very own Fork's version of Bathroom Whiskey. It was comforting to us, we really hadn't discussed what it would be like for one of his parents to discover it though.
"Well, mother," Edward began to explain, "it's Bathroom Whiskey. So, the back of the toilet was the only logical place for it to go." Edward smiled brilliantly - it still sent chills down my spine - and the five of us in the room that knew what Bathroom Whiskey was laughed and nodded. Esme looked even more confused. Tipsy Carlilse grinned like the Chesire Cat.
"See dear," Carlisle turned to Esme, "I told you there was nothing to worry about. It's Bathroom Whiskey!" He raised his hands up in about his tenth grand gesture of the night. Tipsy Carlisle had yet to disappoint me with his large, happy antics. The usually composed and refined doctor was Just so... full under the influence of the champagne fountain.
"Carlisle, Bathroom Whiskey doesn't make any sense," Esme scowled at her husband, no doubt not liking being the only one in the room that had no contentment from the term. It was the most beautiful scowl I'd ever seen and I almost felt bad for her not being in on the old Joke.
"It's an LA thing," I tried to explain to my second mother. "One day, pretty close to the time we moved here, Emmett wandered into one of the bathrooms in our old apartment, the one that rose and Emmett still live in actually, and he came out with a bottle of whiskey."
Esme's eyebrow drew up and Tipsy Carlisle nodded in agreement. At what he was nodding, I don't know, but he was fervently agreeing to something.
"It was no JD but it was mysteriously sitting on the back of the toilet so I had to give it some attention," Emmett explained in his big voice. Esme's gaze turned from Edward and I to Emmett and Rosalie. She still looked confused.
"Bella and I have no idea where it came from, even though it was in our bathroom," Rosalie said. We were all getting caught up in the memory as the story progressed.
"I wasn't even around when they found it, but I got asked about it once I got home from work," Jasper laughed.
Esme's stare completed it's route around the room as she turned it from Rose and Em to Romeo and Juliet who were all comfy on their side of the couch. Tipsy Carlisle was still nodding along to everything everyone said.
"Not one of us knows why a miscelanious bottle of whiskey was on the back of the toilet," Alice explained with a shrug. "We asked everyone."
"Or did we?" Jasper asked slyly. Suddenly his eyes turned accusingly toward Edward. I gasped to myself. Juliet may be on to something...
"Did anyone ever ask you if the bottle was yours?" I asked Edward.
His eyes got the tiniest bit larger as the accusation we were forming dawned on him. He held up his hands defensively and at the same moment Tipsy Carlisle pointed directly at his youngest son and yelled, "Ah-ha!"
"Oh my gosh, it was totally Edward's," Alice practically sang as she started bouncing where she was sitting on the couch.
"It was you?" I asked in bewilderment. It's not like this was betrayal of any kind, but I couldn't help feeling a little sad about not being in on a secret Edward had. It didn't seem right that he wouldn't at least tell me.
"No! It wasn't mine!" Edward defended loudly. The past few accusations had flown by in a matter of seconds and he was trying to retrace the steps that had so quickly gotten away from him. "I had nothing to do with the Bathroom Whiskey from Los Angeles, I'm just as stumped about it's origin as all of you."
The five of us who'd lived with him were staring at him in suspicion, Carlisle was now shaking his head in shame as if he'd concluded Edward was alread guitly, and Emse was now holding her head in her hands in an exasperated manner. I'm sure she hadn't expected Jack Daniels on the back of a toilet to lead to this.
"But you are the whiskey guy," I said quietly to Edward, slightly pulling out of his embrace and not wanting to believe he was the whiskey culprit, but also not wanting him to get away with keeping a secret from me for any longer. "There's the story of you being the whiskey guy...with the girl child, and the sex that never was, and the bottle of whiskey..."
"Don't forget the One is the Loneliest Number," Emmett interjected from across the room.
I felt my mouth open wider and wider as the pieces in my mind fit together and formed a picture of a very guilty Edward.
"No Bella, no," Edward half argued-half pleaded, reaching for me. I leaned back a little further, playfully, and the room laughed at our little display. "It wasn't me, love! I am most certainly not the whiskey guy. I'm not the whiskey anything, I abhor that story, that entire night in fact. You know I have not touched more than one politely sized glass of alcohol since then. And that's only on special occasions."
His eyes were pleading and he was looking around the entire room now, trying to convince the whole jury it seemed.
"You do fit the mold, man," Jasper said. He sounded like I felt. Right on the edge of believing and not believing all at the same time.
"How do we know you didn't do it," Rose asked.
"Yeah," Alice, Emmett, Jasper, and I all echied in various ways.
"Yeah, how?" Tipsy Carlisle demanded the loudest, a few seconds after everyone, again throwing his hands up in the air.
"Well, let's examine the time frame in which the whiskey appeared in the bathroom," Edward began. The whole room was focused on him, save for Esme who was now rubbing her temple with her fingers gingerly.
"Was there any moment during the days surrounding the discovery of the whiskey where I was not in Bella's company? Other than being at work, in bed, or in the shower, I don't believe there is."
I felt my face turn the color of the rose petals still littering the room at the mention of Edward being in the shower without me. Only because that indicated that the only other option would have been for him to have been in the shower with me... and yeah. Blood red cheeks it is!
Edward looked composed though, and I had to admit he had an excellent point. I thought back to those days. It was the very beginning of Edward and I being together, really, truly, officially together. The more I thought about it the more I realized he had to be innocent. There were very few instances when he was not with me.
"He's telling the truth," I said with conviction after a few moments of thinking. "Work, the bed, and showering were the only places he was ever alone those days... and even then I was frequenting his work, and, even though this sounds way off base from what it actualy is, I was with him for bedtime a lot too."
"But he did shower at our place a lot," Alice argued, still clinging to hope that the mystery would finally be solved.
"Yeah, but I was around for that too, and while I was never in the shower with him," I paused so the new wave of heat could make it's way through my face, "I was there when he went into the bathroom and not once was it with a bottle of whiskey."
Everyone's face fell then, and I knew we would never figure it out.
"So that's it," Alice almost squeaked in disapproval. "Our one and only whiskey guy-"
"I am not the whiskey guy!" Edward interrupted in agitation of his new nickname. I scooted back over to him and placed his arm back around me to soothe him. Or me. Whichever, he was touching me again so everything seemed better no matter how agitated he remained.
"Whatever, Edward, our one and only alleged whiskey guy has an alibi and that leaves us back at square one."
"Damn, we'll really never know..." Rosalie said in a far away voice.
We sat in silence for a few moments, all of us thinking about possible resolutions. It was hopeless. For some reason we weren't meant to know the answer to this one.
"The Mystery of the Bathroom Whiskey remains unsolved," Jasper said in a conclusive tone. Everyone nodded and the case of the Bathroom Whiskey closed once and for all.
"Where's the original, um, Bathroom whiskey now?" Esme asked, finally taking her head out of her hands and smiling again at all of us.
"Good point!" Tipsy Carlisle said to the room. Again, he wasn't really following along but just excitedly trying to egg on the conversation according to what he thought was going on. We all chuckled.
Four heads turned to Emmett and Rose, the current owners of the bathroom the mystery occurred in.
"It's still on the back of the toilet, of course," Emmett said. "Where else does Bathroom Whiskey belong?"
Full laughter broke out then and I kind of liked that we had this small quirk to our group's relationship. Good stories for the kids and all of that.
After that Esme decided that it was time to put Tipsy Carlisle to bed and she got him up and out of the room with little protest.
"Goodnight my children!" Tipsy Carlisle said with one last grand flail of his arms.
"Goodnight dad!" was the answering chorus, along with a roll of Esme's eyes and a lot of chuckles.
"Well look at that, drunk dad is almost as entertaining as drunk Jasper," Emmett laughed after Esme and Carlisle were out of ear shot.
"Almost," Alice giggled. She personally greatly enjoyed drunk Jasper from New York. He had, afterall, given her the kiss of her life in the middle of the street. That's how she explained it to Rose and I anyway.
"I miss drunk Jasper," Rosalie said. "I don't have to babysit him like I do drunk Emmett."
"You like it," Emmett teased.
"I like you enough to put up with it," Rose teased right back with a perfect smile.
"Mr. Pina Colada Ville didn't play with fondue like drunk Jasper did, though," I pointed out. I love everything about drunk Jasper. Drunk Emmett tries to kiss me too often, even if he does make me laugh a lot.
"Oh no, it's FUN-do, remember?" Rosalie said with a laugh.
"Get it right or get the chocolate death!" Emmett threatened.
"Ha. Ha. You're all just envious of how creative I get when I... loosen up," Jasper said as he flicked some hair out of his face with a small jerk of his head.
"Making fruit stuck to the ends of sticks talk is not exactly the epitome of creation," Edward said, throwing Jasper an uncertain glance. "Secret time, however, was genius."
"I loved secret time!" I clapped my hands and grinned like a little kid at Jasper.
"F'kin green margaritas..." Jasper mumbled, making us all laugh. He still had a bit of trouble coming to terms with our obsession with his drunkenness.
"What about the ladies," Emmett asked as he glanced to each of us in turn.
"What about us?" Rose asked.
"Any drunk stories in Ladyville?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and I rolled my eyes. Rose and Alice both laughed.
"One," Rosalie said seriously as she held up one finger. "It was on a date and I was foolish to have let him buy me alcohol in the first place." She shook her head to herself.
"Did anything bad happen?" Emmett asked in a fairly serious voice. He was concerned.
"No, unless you count me singing 'Private Dancer' in a karaoke bar bad," Rose laughed and Alice and I snorted out laughter of our own.
"I would have liked to have seen that," I said as I clutched Edward's arm to support my laughing fit. And because I like touching him in general.
"Bring on Tina Turner and Amaretto Sours and you got it," Rose winked at me playfully and we all laughed again. "Needless to say the guy definitely didn't take me seriously after that. I was drunk but I wasn't stupid enough to let anyone take advantage of me. It was the worst date of my life and it ended with me kicking him where it counts and then getting a ride home from my friend."
Rosalie shrugged and looked proud of herself. Emmett high fived her and then kissed her briefly, then whispered something in her ear that made her smile in a kinder way.
"That's funny, one of my best drunk stories stems from the worst date of my life!" Alice said.
"One of your best drunk stories?" Emmett questioned.
"Oh right, I forgot about 6 Shot Alice," Rosalie said darkly.
"6 Shot Alice?" Edward asked in an amused tone.
"She's never told you about 6 Shot Alice?" I asked him, truly surprised.
"No Bella, I haven't told most people. As much as I'd love to relive my glory days, I really wanted to change when I moved to Hollywood and I did." Alice was smiling kindly but she was also being completely serious.
She'd disclosed stories of 6 Shot Alice to Rose and I a long, long time ago when it was just the three of us. She informed us of her how her life back home had become nothing but bar hoping with the other spoiled rich girls in her community, and how she came to realize that she was miserable in that life. So Alice, being the productive soul that she is, packed up her bags one day and got Daddy to pay for an entirely different life in California. A life where she wasn't known as the Alice Brandon she had been before, but where could invent a new one. The one she actually wanted to be.
Apparently Edward and Emmett hadn't heard that story yet.
"6 Shot Alice was my nickname in Mississippi," she waved a tiny hand in front of her face to dismiss the importance of it all.
"I'm guessing the number in the name carries some sort of significant meaning?" Edward asked with a smirk.
"Of course," Alice smiled back. "I may be small, but I can hold my liquor. Better than any Cullen man can, that's for sure!"
Everyone laughed at that and I realized that thanks to tonight we now had some sort of drunk encounter with ever single Cullen man in our life. Granted Edward's was just a story, but oh what a story it was.
"I was christened 6 Shot Alice because that was always the number of vodka shots I would do before riding the mechanical bull."
Ok, had it been me retelling the story of my mechanical bull riding days I would have been blushing well into next year. But this was Alice. The pixie formerly known as 6 Shot Alice. She held her head high and ignored the gaping men around her. She sat there in a stunned Juliet's arms and looked like she had done nothing more than list off her grocery list.
"Mechanical bull?" Edward repeated quietly.
Alice nodded and he nodded back in an approving sort of way.
"That's hot!" Emmett boomed.
"Hey," Juliet was on the defense now, but looked like he was thinking the same thing about that image being hot. If Edward was effected by thought he was very good at hiding it. He stared expressionless at Alice and continued rubbing small circles into my palm. I figured he probably was imagining it, though. Even though his mostly always chivalrous he is a man. Suddenly I pictured the little gentleman inside of him jumping up and down in front of the image, trying to block his view of it. That little guy works over time sometimes.
"Sorry bro," Emmett defended. "It is hot. 6 Shot Alice should come out and play when we get back to LA!"
Emmett winked and Jasper dropped his head in shame, as he always does when it comes to Emmett.
We all blatantly chose to ignore Emmett's second vocal assumption that we were all going back to Los Angeles. He's so optimistic about life taking us all back there. It's not like I didn't think it could happen. It just didn't feel as plausible when I was worried about us all going our separate ways again in a week.
"No. 6 Shot Alice needs to stay where she is, all locked up in the past," Alice said with a bitter smile. "She was really good at a few things, like the mechanical bull, and shots, and taking her shirt off in public," this made Juliet's nose flare a bit, "but she was not good at loving people or being genuine." Alice looked a little sad but kept a small smile on her face. I reached across the couch to her with my foot and nudged her little leg.
"Well then, 6 Shot Alice be damned!" Emmett proclaimed. "I like Alice 2.0 much better, cause she loves me."
"What about that date and your drunk story?" Roslie asked with genuine interest.
"Oh, yeah! Ok, that was the one and only night the bull got the best of me," Alice began. The smiles were already spreading. "So I'd done The 6, as I often referred to the shots, and the boy that had taken me on the date, James I think his name was, was pretty P.O.'d that I was showing him up in the drinking department so early on. He decided to take 10 shots right off the bat, something I found neither impressive or attractive, but as I said before I wasn't genuine at all and he had Gucci on so I wasn't about to dump him..."
Laughter started building and even Jasper looked amused, though a flicker of Juliet in his eyes looked like she may be assessing whether or not her Romeo was still concerned about Gucci or if the Lynard Skynard shirt she was wearing would keep him satisfied.
"So I was in the middle of dominating the bull and James brilliantly decides he needs to rescue me and runs full speed at the thing. I started trying to kick him away because, one: ewe, don't touch me! And two: getting my foot to the face was going to be better for him than getting the bull's metal horns."
The boys were loving this and the laughter was pretty loud now. Alice was smiling at the memory and the fact that she was providing entertainment.
"So how did the bull defeat you?" Jasper asked.
"One of my attempts to kick James got a little too enthusiastic and threw my balance off. I went flying off of the thing face first into the matt. James actually laughed at me! Ugh, he was so irritable. He did not deserve to be wearing Gucci."
"Were you hurt?" I asked through my laughter.
Juliet alerted her ears, concerned again.
"No, I was pissed! Sure he had bought me The 6 that night, and one vodka cranberry on top of that, but he was in no way allowed to laugh at me!" On that last word she squealed in a way I hadn't heard before, an angry sort of way.
"Did you walk out on him?" Edward asked.
"No. I took my shirt off and attacked him in the middle of the bar. I attempted to twist his ungentlemanly head right off of his body, but some of the locals pulled me off before I could get the job done."
An evil glint passed through her eye and I knew she was telling the truth about wanting to rip his head off. I was always aware that my tiny, sweet, beautiful best friend had a feisty streak to her, but for one small second in her reminiscing Alice looked positively dangerous. Something might be wrong with me, but I kind of liked it.
"Wait, wait, wait," Rosalie asked as she put a hand over Emmett's loud laughter. "Did you say you took your shirt off and then tried to kill him?"
A new wave of humor washed over us and Alice nodded with a smirk.
"I told you taking my shirt off was one of 6 Shot Alice's special features."
She joined us laughing then and I watched the Romeo in her reach his hand up and caress Juliet's face, wiping away a silent tear. Jasper was laughing so hard he was crying.
"Well that is a pretty bad drunk date story," Emmett assessed after a few seconds of everyone calming down. "Bellarina, you're up," he smiled at me and I shrugged.
"I got nothin'" I said cheerfully.
"Nothin' ain't an option, sister! It's story telling time. Drunk and on a date, that's the category." He grinned at me in his adorable, huge way, and Rose, Jasper, and Alice started cat calling me.
Edward poked my side and said, "yes, love, do tell."
I laughed and then shrugged again, holding Edward's finger to keep it from poking into my side repeatedly. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I literally have nothing to tell. I have never gotten drunk and I have never been on a date."
"Really?" Alice asked with a scrunched up face.
"Really, really," I said, letting go of Edward's finger and instead holding his entire hand. "I've never had any interest in drinking and I'm not exactly Miss Popularity, therefore no drunk Bella, no dates, ever."
"You can't say no dates, ever," Rosalie said, rolling her eyes.
I grew confused.
"Yes I can. It's true."
Rosalie scoffed and held a hand out to Edward and I. She was about to change my entire night.
"What about Edward, Bella?"
I felt him tense beside me but I kept my eyes on Rose and silently cursed her.
"Uh...no, even including Edward.... I, uh... still haven't ever been... on...a..." I trailed off because I knew every word I said was only making it worse.
"Now you've done it," Jasper murmured under his breath.
I watched all of their faces watch Edward's face and I could only imagine what he must look like. Of course not going on official with Edward hadn't bothered me. But I knew that his inner gentleman was currently writhing around in inadequate agony.
"How'd you let that one go, Eddie?" Emmett asked with one short laugh.
Not helping!!! I felt like screaming.
"I thought you guys went out and, you know, did stuff together all the time," Rose said carefully.
"We do!" I sighed. "I just haven't ever been formerly asked out on a date by anyone, so I haven't considered anything I've done to be an official date. Not that it matters now because Edward and I didn't need any stupid official dates to fall in love."
Of course I was saying all of this more for Edward's benefit than anyone's, but I knew him enough to know I shouldn't put much effort into trying to comfort him. He's already knee deep in torturing himself for failing me and it's just a waste of time and effort to argue in the midst of his self torment.
I finally looked directly at him and he looked exactly like I expected him to: strained.
"Edward, stop looking at me like you killed my grandmother. So you haven't ever officially asked me on a date. So what? You asked me to marry you, which if you ask me, is just a tad bit more important."
Nothing. He gave me nothing.
I reached up to kiss him in comfort but his lips were unresponsive under my brief touch.
"Look Edward, it's no big deal, ok? I wouldn't be good on a date anyway. I don't like dressing up and I would knock everything over in a fancy restaurant."
I squeezed his hand and he finally looked at me. It was as if he hadn't heard a word I said. His eyes were dark and full of determination.
Ridiculous.
Adorable.
He leaned down towards me and said, "Next weekend we are going on a date." Each word was slow and true.
"Ok," I said with another sigh. I tried not to roll my eyes.
"Smooth, Eddie," Emmett chuckled from across the room.
I shot a death glare at him and Edward said, "Do not call me Edward, please." But he kept his eyes on me and smiled tightly when I turned back to him.
"Alright, well tormented Edward isn't leaving anytime soon so I think we should just head to bed," I said with a quick wink in his direction. I stood and held out my hand to him, which he took and used to lift himself gracefully up next to me.
"Us too," Rosalie said as she got up.
Edward trailed behind me like a sad puppy as I pulled him by the hand around the couch and towards the stairway.
"You two coming?" Emmett asked as he wrapped one arm around Rosalie and used the palm of the other to rub his eye sleepily.
"No, I think we'll stay down here for a bit longer," Alice responded as Jasper pulled her closer to him.
Ah, Romeo and Juliet want to spend some alone time in their engagement haven. The candles were still on and the flower petals were still everywhere. I would have wanted to stay and bask in it too.
"Ok kids," Emmett said as he followed behind Edward and I up the stairs, "don't do anything I wouldn't do! Or can't do thanks to the Sex ban."
Rose chuckled and then Emmett mumbled something that sounded like "...Sexiverse is way out of wack now...". I turned my head to smirk and him and saw even upset Edward found it amusing enough to smile.
We said our goodnights and Edward and I made our way into his room. I shut the door and he went directly into the bathroom to change into his pajamas. I quickly changed into mine and pulled on Hoodie 2 even though I totally could have gotten the maroon zip up for the night. I figured I'd be a good fiance and let my sad, sad boy have the favorite of the two while he was moping.
I crawled into bed and snuggled into the wonderful comforter, remembering that the forecast for the coming week involved snow. I shuddered just thinking about it.
"Cold?" the velvety voice whispered in my ear, sounding somewhat strained.
I simply nodded and before I knew it his arms were around me and his body was pressed against mine and I was consumed by him and I grew not only warm, but happy too.
We laid in silence for about a minute before he broke it.
"I mean it, love, I'm taking you on a proper date next weekend."
"I believe you," I said dryly, still not caring much for the idea.
"You don't sound pleased," he said in a confused tone. His hand started rubbing circles in my back.
"I mean what I said, Edward, I don't need to date you!"
We both kind of laughed at that, because, well, it's funny.
"You deserve this, Bella. It will be a perfect date, too. Just wait. You'll love it." He pressed a kiss to my temple and I think he intended to stop there, but didn't. His mouth started trailing slowly down the side of my face and I decided to try and protest one more time before I lost all ability to think due to his mouth.
"Edward, I don't want perfe-"
Of course I was cut off with a kiss. Not the worst thing that could have happened...
"Hush," he commanded, pulling away. "I am going to take you on this date, and it will make up for every imbecile that you met before me that was too dense to see they should have jumped at any chance to take you out."
I felt the smile raise my cheeks before I could remember to argue.
"That's not-"
"Isabella, that is my job, so please don't say another word against it. Please. I really, really want to."
He was close to whispering now, and definitely pleading. I closed my eyes and groaned.
"Thank you," he said simply, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The next morning sucked because it was snowing.
It sucked because it was cold, and wet, and cold, and icy, and I fell a lot, and it was cold.
It sucked because Emmett was really good at making massive snow balls and hitting everyone with them, and he let Alice and Jasper sleep in even though Edward and I were forced to get up and play outside with him and Rose, and because Edward's gentleman hid under a rock from the snow much like I did, so he threw snow balls at me too, apparently loving how "cute" I was when dodging them.
But that morning didn't suck because Carlisle and Esme came out into the snow with us and brought hot chocolate and heated up heavenly coffee cake, and because the already beautiful landscape of the Cullen's land looked like it was covered in magical, sparkly sugar, and because Edward and I got to wear our rabbit hats be purchased for us before we even moved.
Emmett ran by in an attempt to escape a snowball armed Rosalie and as I moved to dodge his massive body I lost my footing again and grabbed Edward fiercely, bringing him down to the ground with me.
His musical laughter cut off any distress I should have had due to being flat on my back in the cold, wet snow and I found myself laughing with him. I looked up into his eyes and they were sparkling out of control, seemingly reflecting the effect of the fresh snow all around us.
I grabbed the furry flaps of his silly rabbit hat and pulled his head towards mine, kissing him hard in the middle of their front yard.
His hands went under the flaps of my hat and held my face to his. They were terribly cold but I didn't mind at all. I'll take chilled Edward just as soon as I'll take regular body temperature Edward.
"Snow!" a high pitched squeal announced.
"Romeo and Juliet are up," Edward mumbled against my lips, kissing me three more small times before pulling back and smiling crookedly at me.
We laughed at our little joke and the he straightened my rabbit hat and helped me up.
Alice was already making snow angels and Jasper was shaking his head "no" at her request to join him.
After about an hour later we all stumbled inside, exhausted and cold and happy.
Alice requested we all meet back down in the living room after showering and changing, so we parted ways and decided to meet at the dining room in an hour.
Once Edward and I had both showered and dressed he sat on his bed and began to read as I started brushing the wet tangles out of my hair.
"Bella?" he asked in quite a quiet voice after a few silent minutes.
"Hmm?" I responded, looking at him through the mirror.
"I couldn't help but notice something this morning," he began as he set down his book. Well, my book. I had been forcing my literary beliefs on him lately.
"What did you notice, Edward?"
"Jasper still has his wedding ring on," he said simply, a little more quietly than before. I waited for him to continue but he just looked at me with big eyes.
I set the brush down and turned to him.
"That's very good, Edward. You know what I noticed? Alice still had hair!"
I laughed at my joke and he narrowed his eyes.
"Very funny, love," he chided. He moved to the end of the bed and reached out to me. He pulled me to him by my hips then he looked up at me and I ran my hands through his amazing bronze hair.
"So what's wrong?" I asked him. "I think it would be more alarming if he wasn't wearing the wedding ring."
I raised my eyebrows and Edward just shook his head and looked down.
"Edward, what's wrong?" I asked softly.
He lifted his head up and rested his chin on my stomach, again looking up at me with those eyes. For a few moments he just looked and said nothing.
"I..." he began, very, very quietly. He stopped and I tilted my head towards him to cue him that it was still his line. I was starting to get the impression he was some sort of embarrassed.
"I want to wear mine," he finally said, in the quietest voice yet.
I felt my insides warming up and I had strong sensations of both tears and laughter.
"You can't wear it yet, we aren't married yet," I said as gently as possible. This was way too cute.
"But Jasper gets to wear his," Edward said in the closest thing he ever gets to a whine.
"I know, but they are doing things differently. It's Romeo and Juliet, they are almost purposefully doing everything wrong. Just wait, I bet they'll find some way to mess up the traditional wedding ceremony too."
He smiled, still resting his chin against my stomach, and I smiled back but mine was more playful feeling than his looked.
"I still want to wear mine, Bella."
I sighed.
"Well I want you to wait, Edward. Honestly, I like that it's part of the official ceremony." Huh. I hadn't really known I felt that way until I was being forced to think about it.
Edward pouted an Alice worthy pout and I sighed.
"You get to wear one," he half Edward whined - half pleaded. He took my left hand in his and kissed my ring, the whole time looking up into my eyes.
He's good.
"That's part of the benefit of being the girl I guess," I said with a smirk.
He stood up faster than I could have been prepared for and my face was in his hands.
"Please, Bella?" he asked in a purposefully smooth voice.
"That's not the way it's supposed to be."
He cheated and started kissing me.
"Please?" he asked again, snaking a hand around my back and under my shirt.
"I know what you're doing," I proclaimed.
And I like it, I thought.
"I'm pleading with my beautiful fiance," he said as the hand started moving further up my back and his lips moved further down to my neck.
"You're.... cheating," I accused as his wonderful mouth pressed repeatedly to the spot below my ear. I sucked in a sharp breath and felt him smile. "You're good, but your cheating," I whispered.
"Please," was his whispered response, in my ear, right before he took the lope sensually between his teeth.
"Maybe," I moaned, my thoughts becoming dizzy and Edward filled. He smelled so good and I was suddenly wonderfully aware of it.
"Maybe as in, yes?" he asked with a smug chuckle.
That did it. His ego usually sets him a few steps back with me. This time was no different.
I pulled back and he pouted again.
"Ok, how about this..." I began. His perfect face lit up and it made me happy. "You can wear it in private, with me around."
I watched him consider that option and then decide it was the best I was going to offer.
"Let's put them on right now," he said through the crooked smile.
I laughed out loud and he almost ran across the room to the night stand drawer where he kept the little black box that our wedding bands were in.
He came back over and placed the small gold ring that was mine on my finger, after he'd already put his own on.
"Happy now?" I asked and noticed the sight of him in his ring did funny things to my stomach.
"Incredibly," he said before kissing me.
"You are so silly," I said against his mouth. "I love you."
The next 10 minutes consisted of Edward and I standing in front of the mirror watching ourselves wear our wedding bands. We held hands in them, pretended to make phone calls, I pretended to cook and he pretend played the piano, and we tried on the maroon hoodies to make sure nothing clashed.
After giggling like school girls at ourselves in front of the mirror we realized we were almost late to the family meeting Alice had called and we put our rings safely back into the box, put the box back in the drawer, and got downstairs just as everyone else was sitting at the big dining room table.
"Ok. We asked you here because we have an announcement to make," Alice said happily. She was literally bouncing in her seat and Jasper was making no effort to calm her like he usually does.
"We know you're getting married," Emmett said with a laugh.
Alice stuck her tongue out at him and Jasper smiled.
"Thank you Emmett," Jasper said. "The announcement does have to do with the marriage-"
"It's about the wedding itself!" Alice said, the bouncing speeding up just a bit.
"Oh, how nice!" Esme beamed at Romeo and Juliet, clearly pleased that all of family members were happy. "What about the wedding?"
"Do you have a date?" Rosalie asked.
"We have everything!" Alice responded.
"What do you mean, everything?" Carlisle asked with a confused smile.
All of us seemed to be thinking the same thing. How could they have everything planned when the engagements preceding theirs hadn't even gotten everything planned? I know Alice was good, but did I believe she was that good?
No.
I was wrong.
"We are getting married at my grandmother's church in Mississippi! In one month!"
Cue the squeal.
Viola! Chapter 12!
Hit or miss, tell it like it is :) I love me some nice long reviews, so don't get self conscious when you write them!
Alright, a few shout outs. First to ammglekim. I hope that your ankle is feeling better and I'm sorry your broke it! I'm glad my stories help you pass the time! Also to Mrs. Edward Cullen 4ever for out right proclaiming to be the biggest IEWIS fan ever! haha I love it.
I have to give major props to Steph and Miss Vans who are amazing, amazing fanfic friends and IEWIS Citizens :) Seriously girls, you make my IEWIS life happy with all of your review races, PMs, and "IEWIS in your real life" stories. I should start a special called "IEWIS in your real life" haha. It would be about people's stories of IEWIS influencing their real life, get it? What a good idea I just had... you girls are like my muses!
Last shout out for this chapter, but certainly not least, is ChinaDoll77 and all of the other ladies from They treat me very well over there and have amazing discussions and fanfic directories. Thank you for posting my story on your site and for being my last minute beta so I can try and get IEWIS on Twilighted :)
One last order of business: It has come to my attention that there is a story called Forms of Love that is about 14 chapters in at this point and has many similar details as IEWIS. I have spoken to the author and I have determined that it's just coincidence. There are also some major, major differences in our stories, so I'm not worried about anything. She's actually my little fanfic sister now, and I love all of you guys for having my back but we have nothing to worry about. Thank you MHA for looking out for me! I love you guys!!!
Ok, until next time! I promise I'll try to make it soon!
LOVE YOUS!
