Chapter 12
Edward
December 1998
"Jasper, has anyone ever told you how perfect your ears are?"
Bella and I share a curious look before we start to laugh out loud. Her forehead falls against my shoulder—we hold hands, because that's what we do.
Jasper blushes before he shakes his head.
"How old are you now, Jasper?" My sister scoots closer; Jasper stiffens.
"Umm … fourteen, like Edward and Bella," he answers.
We're in my sister's room. It's full of smoke, and we're all feeling a little funny. My parents went out to dinner with Jasper's parents, and they invited Bella's parents. Alice is watching over us, kind of. I argued that I'm fourteen and I don't need a sitter anymore, but Chief Swan tossed me the 'Boy' look and I shut up real quick. When I realized Bella would be spending most of the night over at my house, I really shut up.
"Fourteen? So we're, like, only five years apart." Her face is so close to his cheek. Jasper looks terrified. "Have you ever been kissed, Jasper?"
This is where Alice loses her cool and laughs smoke in Jasper's face.
He swipes the smoke away before he starts to laugh. Bella scoots closer ... a little bit closer until our legs are touching. I look through her aqua square glasses into her eyes. She runs her other hand—the one I'm not holding—through my hair, and it feels so, so good.
My Dad keeps talking to me about body changes, urges, and impulses. Lately, I've been noticing it all. But it's different than when Bella grew boobs. Now I notice the way she bites onto her bottom lip or the way she laughs. Sometimes her pants hang low or her shirt rises high. I like her neck. I like her eyelashes. Her teeth aren't perfect, but I like those, too.
She makes my body do funny, funny things. Things that my dad said are natural. Things that my dad said are okay to take care of myself.
"Don't be ashamed," he said. "It's a part of becoming a man. All men do it, son," he said.
I think of Bella when I do those things … and it feels great. The best feeling in the word after holding Bella's hand or riding her on my handle bars.
"Can I try, Alice?" Bella asks after looking away from me.
Alice searches the girl next door's eyes for a second before handing the herb over. I watch and become consumed as Bella touches her lips with the joint. Jealous … envious maybe? I want to touch her lips, too.
After Bella takes three puffs, she hands the joint to me. I look at my sister and she only shrugs, so I do it—if only to be closer to Bella. The effects take place quickly. By the time I hand it off to Jasper, I'm laughing and can feel my heart beating rapidly. My face feels numb, my mouth dry, but what's really zealous is Bella and the way she is looking at me.
We stare at each other for what seems like hours. Every once and while she'll blow a stray hair away from her face or I'll scratch my nose. It isn't until Jasper and Alice's ear shattering laughter comes to a halt that we break eye contact.
My sister is kissing my best friend.
Bella squeezes my hand, and when I look away from the insanity Bella's face is really, really close. So close I can smell her breath. I lean closer, and she leans closer. She licks her lips, and so do I. Our hands are still connected, and that's the only touching we're doing until our lips finally meet.
My eyes pop open for a split second after I feel her tongue touch my lip. Closing my eyes, I touch her lip with my tongue, too.
Then our mouths open.
Bella mouth is sweet; she tastes like bubblegum and weed. I feel her teeth a couple of times, but that's okay. Our tongues and lips glide and slide and wrap; they linger and brush and feel. There is a whole lot of saliva, but a whole lot of something else, too. My heart wants to detonate; her kiss gives me chills. Bella's kiss rocks through my foundation.
I never want it to stop, because she feels so … impulsive. Bella gives me urges and makes my body change.
And it's okay.
My dad said so.
