A/N: Thanks to all my wonderful readers! I'm trying to find better ways to get more reviews so I'm getting some feedback and know how I'm doing on this. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy! :) And I would love you forever if you left me a small message of what you think! Thanks!
Chapter Eleven: The Surprise
The next day passed quickly; Edward wouldn't tell me what the little surprise was though I begged him numerous times. He would just smile mysteriously and shake his head. For most, if there was something they looked forward to, time would slow. But for me, it would speed up. Hey, I wasn't complaining. It worked for me.
Soon, the last bell of the day rang and everyone rushed out the door, excitement of the weekend in addition to the dance the following day filling the air. Chatter swirled around me, about manicures and hair styles and corsages and dress styles and dates and pre-dance plans and post-dance festivities and so much more. Even I was looking forward to it a little bit, especially if it meant hanging out with Edward for the night. Wow, such a drastic turn-around from when we first met. He had a talent for weaseling his way past the walls I've erected around my heart and mind.
"So, are you going to tell me now?" I asked Edward hopefully as we walked out the door, his fingers twined with mine.
Edward just shook his head again, saying, "You'll see." I was about to pursue the topic some more but got distracted by his thumb making soft strokes up and down the back of my hand.
"God, you're too good at this," I breathed, turning towards him when we reached the bike racks.
"Good at what?" he asked innocently, taking a step forward to trap me between his body and the building of the school behind me. I seemed to get into this position way too much lately, but I didn't mind one bit.
"Hmm?" I hummed, inhaling in his sweet scent as I ran my hands lightly down his chest, being careful of where his bruise would be under his clothes. "Oh, uh, distracting me," I answered, remember what I had said before. Chuckling, I added, "See? Exhibit A."
"Well, good. You need to be thoroughly distracted," he murmured, running his nose along my jaw line, his hot breath warming up my skin quite quickly.
"Ah," I sighed, my fingers somehow finding their place in his hair, slipping into the softness and tugging gently. He kissed my jugular, where my heart beat soundly, and where he could feel the stutter of my heart at his touch. I could feel him smirking against my skin, and I gave his hair a little tug in retaliation. "Smug bastard," I breathed, not really having much fight behind my words.
"Oh yeah, Masen! Get some pussy! A reject like her has got to be better than nothing, huh?"
Edward instantly tensed, pulling away from me to confront the douche bag who called that out, eyes blazing. My cheeks filled with blood, as per usual, but I reached out to grab his arm and stop him from pummeling the guy for saying that. Stuff like that wasn't bothering me as much, not when I had him with me. Slightly curious, I glanced around Edward's stiff form, and sighed when I saw who it was. Mike Newton and his little posse. Really, he and Lauren should hook up. They'd be perfect for each other, with their "Let's Hate on Bella" club. Jesus.
They were laughing uproariously, as if what Mike said was the funniest thing ever. Curling my lip with distaste, I allowed my hand to slip from Edward's shoulder. Oops, I thought innocently. He was just too strong for me to hold back. Cough. Cough.
But before Edward could reach them, their confidence in their numbers high enough that they didn't even move when he approached them, another form beat him to it. There was a loud smack! and Mike's head looked like it did a full 360. He touched his cheek, shocked, as it began to redden under his fingertips. The other boys around him cowered, a few of them scattering from under Rosalie Hale-Whitlock's murderous gaze.
"You bastard," she hissed between her teeth, her great beauty just accentuating her fury. It helped that she beat Mike on height. "Speak to her, to them, like that again, and next time, I'll aim for your worthless balls. I'll castrate you in your sleep!" She spat out the last word like a curse, and with a funny noise in his throat, Mike scampered off after his friends, not even taking the time to turn around.
I closed my mouth - when had my jaw fallen open? - and watched as Rose took a deep breath through her nose before turning towards me. "You okay, Bella?" she asked, her voice softer and gentler. Her eyes were still hard with fury, but they eased up when they met mine.
"Y-yeah," I managed, still shell-shocked. "Wow, Rose. Thanks."
She merely shrugged, tossing her silky blonde hair over her shoulder. "Anytime, Bella. It's about time someone else stepped in to stick up for you. I'm sorry I didn't do it before."
I smiled back at her. "No worries. I gave you plenty of reason to dislike me, too," I added, referring to how I had treated Jasper when I first returned to school.
Jasper slunk over; I hadn't noticed him standing there before.
"Oh, hey, Jazz," I greeted, taking note of the slight frown on his lips. Before I could ask, he burst out:
"I can't believe my sister beat me to the punch! Literally!"
A surprised laugh escaped my lips at his words, gratitude warming me up from the inside.
"I didn't punch him," Rose commented, examining her nails condescendingly. "I only slapped him. He deserved so much worse though. Don't blame me for your turtle-like pace."
Jasper wrinkled his nose at her, punching her lightly on the arm. I had to laugh again at their sibling rivalry, hugging them both. I really did miss them. Well, him. I didn't really know Rose before, but it was nice to be in good graces with her.
"Oh, by the way, Bella," Rose turned towards me, "do you have any pre-dance plans yet? Because if not, you should come out to dinner with Jazz and I. There's a really nice restaurant that just opened downtown recently that I hear is getting spectacular reviews. I think Angela and Ben are joining us, too."
I grinned. "Hell yeah." I turned towards Jasper. "I'm glad you're going," I said softly, reaching for his hand. He just smiled slightly at me, giving my hand a squeeze before releasing it.
"Does that sound good, Edward?" When I didn't hear a response, I turned towards him, realizing that he hadn't spoken since before the Mike incident. "Edward?"
He finally seemed to break out of his stupor, gasping out, "Holy shit! I can't believe she beat me to him! I can't believe she slapped him before I could beat the shit out of him!"
There was a beat of silence before the three of us burst into laughter, Edward looking quite affronted.
I gave him a soft peck on his cheek before teasing him, "Rose, I think you broke both of these guys' manly self-esteem!"
Jasper now joined Edward in pouting at us as Rose and I high-fived in victory. I was looking forward to tomorrow night all the more now.
Back to the surprise issue. Edward said that he had to drop by his house for a second before coming over, which made me even more curious about what this surprise was. The whole bike ride back home, I was anxious yet excited at the same time. When he finally did arrive, I almost attacked him, trying to see inside the white, plastic bags.
"Whoa, there!" he laughed as he lifted the bags up so I couldn't see inside them. "Let's do a little schoolwork and trumpet first."
With a sigh, I reluctantly did so, but my mind wasn't in it. I kept sneaking glances over to the two mysterious bags that he stashed in the corner. Damn him for thinking about double bagging them so that I couldn't even see through the bags. He finally gave in an hour later.
"Okay, okay, fine. You win," Edward sighed exasperatedly as he set down his pencil. "I guess you'll just be eating a really early dinner."
It took me a moment to get what he was implying. "Wait, are you cooking me dinner?"
He winked at me roguishly as he led us towards the kitchen. "Nope. We are cooking dinner You're definitely helping if you want some food."
Pleasantly surprised, I pulled him towards me so that I could place a light kiss on his lips. "You're too cute," I murmured against his mouth, my smile evident. I could tell he was smiling against my lips, too. With one last brush of our lips, he pulled back, tugging on my hand. I followed him to the kitchen, admiring how his form-fitting sweater accentuated the muscles in his back. "I didn't know you knew how to cook," I commented mindlessly, wondering how he would act if I jumped him then and there.
He turned towards me, grinning sheepishly, his thumb rubbing circles over the skin of my hand. "I don't, really. I had my mom give me a few pointers earlier and I'm just hoping you know the rest." He began to pull out the supplies: chicken breast, a box of pasta, a jar of alfredo sauce—
"Chicken alfredo?" I asked in surprise, scrutinizing the ingredients.
"Yeah," he confirmed, turning to me, a worried smile on his lips. I wanted to smooth out the crease that had formed between his brows. "Is that alright?"
Pretending to consider it, I walked towards him, pursing my lips and tapping my finger against my chin. Once I was directly in front of him, I cocked my head. He watched me worriedly, his arms automatically circling around my waist. "Hmm," I hummed, torturing him for a moment before breaking out into a smile and pecking him on the lips. "Yeah, I love chicken alfredo." He growled at me softly for attempting to fool him before he turned back to setting up. "It's fairly simple, I think."
"Good," he commented, apparently a little peeved at my joke. I wrapped my arms around him, resting my cheek against his back. I could almost feel the muscles contracting under his sweater, and I could most definitely feel his thudding heartbeat.
"Don't be mad," I whispered, running my hands across his abdomen. He let out a sigh, turning his head to kiss me on the top of my head.
"Never."
We spent the next fifteen setting everything up, seasoning and breading the chicken and letting it bake in the oven, simmering the sauce and adding a couple more spices, and setting the pasta to boil. Edward actually knew most of what he was doing, surprisingly.
He kept distracting me as I worked, a fact that I wasn't going to complain too much about. Every time I had my back to him, working on stirring the sauce or adding seasoning to the chicken or whatever, he would creep up behind me and hug me tight to his body, brushing my hair to the side to press a kiss to my bare neck. Finally, I had to scold him that dinner would never get ready if he kept that up, and he relented with a mischievous grin on his lips. That little minx.
"Okay, now what?" he asked me when we were done as he washed his hands.
"Now we wait," I replied as I ran my hands under the sink as he dried his hands. I flicked a bit of water at him in retaliation of his distracting me which led to his trapping my hands between our bodies so that he could kiss my nose.
"Good," Edward replied as he pulled away, and I didn't miss the sly tone in his voice as he disappeared into the other room. More surprises? He returned a moment later with an iPod with speakers.
"What's this?" I asked, smiling. "Mood music?"
"Not quite," he answered as it set it up. "I was hoping we could practice for tomorrow."
"Practice?" I asked in disbelief, eying the iPod warily as he hooked it up.
"Yeah." Edward turned around, grinning at me. "Dance with me," he requested as he scrolled through the menu and found a song. Clicking the play button, he repeated those three words but softer this time so that a shiver trembled down my spine. "Dance with me."
As the sounds of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" filled the room, I smiled. How could I resist?
I went into his opened arms and followed along as he placed my left hand on his shoulder and took my right with his left, his right hand lightly hovering over the small of my back. To the beat of the softly playing music, Edward led me around the room in some form of a waltz. I burst out laughing half way.
"I don't think people dance like this at school dances," I said playfully as he twirled me once before catching me close to his chest.
"I know. That was just a warm up," he stated. "It was fun though, right?"
"Mhmm," I answered faintly. Edward had his arms around me now as I twined mine around his neck, resting my head against his chest. We rocked back and forth in this embrace in a more modern version of slow dancing. I sighed softly, content in his arms. He made me feel so protected, so adored. His warmth and his scent surrounded me, placing me in a haze of happiness. I could hear his heart beating under my ear. My fingers toyed with the hair on the nape of his neck. I could feel the light weight of his cheek resting against the top of my head and heard him let out a small content sigh of his own. My eyes slid shut, completely at ease.
"All that I am; All that I ever was; Is here in your perfect eyes; They're all I can see," he sang softly in my ear, slightly out of tune but it warmed my heart.
"You should be in choir," I murmured softly and he chuckled lightly.
The current song faded to a close and a new one started up. I tensed up three beats into it, recognizing the horrid song instantly. I moved to change the song but Edward tightened his arms around me.
"No," he muttered into my ear. "It'll be okay. It's only a song."
Holding my breath, I shut my eyes tightly as the lyrics began. I could feel the anticipation building as the words flew by.
How many times can I break till I shatter?...
I let out a muffled cry as the memories assaulted me, nearly collapsing. My fingers dug into the material of Edward's shirt as I heard the screeching of metal crunching metal, the beeping of car horns, and Alice's terrified screaming mixing with my own. I could taste the blood on my mouth and my head throbbing in remembrance of the impact as the second vehicle hit ours.
But it was fainter than usual. I could still feel the soft material of his sweater under my clenched fingers and his strong arms holding me up.
"You can get through this," Edward murmured soothingly into my ear. "Shh. It's okay. You're safe. I'm here. Shh."
I flinched as the lyrics repeated those nine words from hell. Edward's arms tightened around me.
As the song went on, I could tell that the presence of the accident grew fainter. I could hear the sizzling of boiling water over the chaotic sounds from that one day.
When those words reiterated once more, I still flinched. Every time they would repeat, it was like a wave of pain; coming then receding, coming and receding.
The song finally died down to an end, coinciding with the recall of the accident. Edward continued to hold me as I shook, feeling cold all of a sudden. I pulled away and let myself slid down to the tile floor, feeling the cold sweat on my face.
"Oh, Bella," Edward whispered as he joined me on the floor. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."
I took in a shuddering breath before opening my eyes and smiling weakly at him. "No, thank you for that. I got through the song without anything bad happening. It made me realize how silly fearing that song was in the first place."
Edward pulled me to him and I gladly rested my head against his shoulder. "It's just a mental thing. You just have to get through it."
"You have it sound so easy," I muttered. I glanced up to see the pasta boiling over. "Come on. I think we should tend to dinner if we don't want it ruined."
A/N: Nomnom. People who leave reviews get to keep Edward for a night. :) And he will even cook you dinner and slow dance with you in the kitchen and hold you tight in his warm, strong arms. Mmm. :)
The dance is next! :) Reviews make me a happy duck!