'Try to tell yourself you're not insane.'

Kings of Leon - Wicker Chair

Chapter 14: Wicker Chair

~*~Bella~*~

Edward Cullen sucked my hand.

Edward Cullen sucked my hand.

Edward Cullen sucked my hand.

Nope, no matter how many times I said it, it still sounded crazy. It was kind of like an insane person trying to convince themselves, over and over, that they weren't insane. It didn't matter how many times they said it... bottom line is, they were still insane. Just like no matter how many times and different ways I said, Edward Cullen sucked my hand wouldn't change the fact that it was more than a little odd.

I mean, who does that?

I thought the hand-kissing was already a little weird – though sweet too, admittedly – but the sucking? That was just... bizarre.

And arousing.

Oh crap, I so didn't wanna go there.

Ok, I admit that the hand-sucking turned me on a little. Or a lot.

But what kind of fucking weirdo am I if that turned me on? I mean, it hurt too, a lot, but I also sort of... liked the pain?

Kinky Bella.

Fuck.

No, this was too weird. First the old fashioned hand-kissing turned into a hand-sucking – which I really sort of liked – and then he did that superfast thing I've seen he and his brother do a few times, and then, when I caught up with him outside he looked like death warmed up.

Ok, he's really pale already anyway, but his skin looked almost grey. And he was holding his temples and squinting so I figured he had a pretty bad headache too.

Which was odd.

He'd been perfectly fine before the hand-sucking.

I peeled back the band aid on the back of my hand and looked at the bruise again. I'd had to cover it up, before my dad's 'The Chief' eyes caught a glimpse of it and started asking questions, questions I couldn't answer even if I wanted to.

The bruise looked like a hickey, which was understandable; I mean he was sucking my skin after all. But there was also something odd about it. It was a faded purply-blue now – except for two little dots of it, which were a deep purple, almost dark red.

The two deeper coloured dots were about an inch apart on the bruise, and they kind of stung a little, like when a bug bites you. In fact, they kind of did look like teeth marks, except they couldn't possibly be Edward's teeth marks because, well, if they were teeth marks they'd have had to come from incredibly sharp teeth. And no one had teeth that sharp.

But whatever, my skin's reaction to a bruise wasn't fascinating to me. I stuck the band aid back over it and carried on thinking.

Thinking – again – about what the fuck Edward and Jasper Cullen were.

And guess what?

I was coming up with nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch... You get the point.

I sighed.

Superfast. Super strong. Forever lukewarm skin. Edward's odd aversion to my smell, or attraction, as he put it. Their ability to hold their breath for long periods of time?

God, what were they?

The only plausible answer I was coming up with was super hero. But they didn't seem to be saving anyone. And what about the smell thing?

And the sucking?

And, oh my God, how could I forget the growling?

I shifted my hips a little on my bed – really needed to stop thinking about the Cullens right now.

It wasn't like I could, you know, do something if I got myself all worked up.

I mean, I didn't have time.

Dinner was in a few minutes.

TTT

"Isabella Swan."

Oh, fuck, what was he doing, talking to me while I was with the CB's?

I turned around to look at him. "Uh, yes?"

He was grinning in that sexy, smug way he always did, and I felt myself starting to get hot in the face.

He stuck his hands in his leather jacket pocket. "What kinda poison did you give my brother yesterday?" He grinned wider. "Cos I need to get me some of that."

"Excuse me?"

"He looked like he was on his deathbed. Told my mom he started feeling sick during biology – I figured you finally got sick of his annoying ass and poisoned him." He winked. "Nice."

"Oh my God, is he ok?" Jessica asked.

Jasper looked over at her. "He'll live." His voice lowered and he smirked at her. "How are you though, Jessicurl?"

Jessica blushed and looked down at her salad. "I'm fine."

Jasper pulled out a chair and parked his ass in the empty seat on the other side of me.

He looked at Alice, who had been silent the entire time since he'd shown up, and was also now studiously examining her lunch.

"Hey, Pixie."

She glanced up at him through her black bangs. "Hey."

Our table was in an awkward silence now: Jessica and Alice having stare offs with their lunch, Rosalie still eating, but stabbing at her meatloaf like the meat wasn't already dead and was trying to escape from her plate. I was blushing, like hard, from having Jasper next to me, especially because the CB's were not supposed to know I had a thing for him. Rosalie would hate me, Alice would probably kill me, and maybe Jessica would help her.

And God help me if they found out I tutored him too.

Jasper leaned over to me, bringing his nose right next to my neck – which of course, flushed harder.

"Mmmm, you smell really good." His voice was practically a purr in my ear. "What perfume are you wearing?"

Alice's head shot up at that, her eyes narrowing as they focused on me.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

I leaned away. "Um, I'm not wearing any."

"Oh, so that's your natural scent? Hot."

The asshole was fighting back a smirk. He knew he was making me uncomfortable. In fact, that was probably the very reason he was doing it. He knew I didn't wear perfume to school because I'd told him that on our first tutor session when he'd sniffed my neck then too.

Alice – and Rosalie too, now – was staring daggers at me. But really, it was hardly my fault if Jasper Cullen was flirting with me right in front of them. And besides, it wasn't like I was encouraging him.

Jessica, however, was still staring at her greens.

When the bell rang I stood up so fast I nearly lost my balance – which gave Jasper a reason to stand up really fast too and steady me before I did.

And while I was grateful to him for keeping me vertical, he really didn't need to wrap his arms around my waist.

TTT

Edward wasn't in biology, so I guess he hadn't come to school. I'd assumed he'd just skipped that class because he was embarrassed by the hand-sucking incident but his car wasn't in the parking lot.

I guess he really was sick.

And, for some reason, I had this odd sense that it was my fault, which was nuts because how the heck could I have made him sick?

Still, I felt bad so I decided to pay him a visit after school, you know, to give him some notes from class that he missed.

His mom answered the door.

She smiled, a dazzling smile that sort of took my breath away even though I don't, you know, go for girls. I mean, wow. I could see where Edward and Jasper got their smiles from. And I could really see where Edward got his amazing good looks from.

His mom was stunning. Seriously, stunningly beautiful. She looked about late twenties, early thirties at most, which was impossible unless she'd had Jasper when she was like, ten or something. And Edward looked just like her. He was a pretty guy, and the reason for that was obviously because he looked so much like his mom. The only difference between their faces was that he looked younger, and his jaw line was chiselled and squared, whereas hers was soft and rounded. I mean, shit, her eyes were even the same shade of green.

It was like Rosalie Hale all over again: I could totally go gay for Edward's mom.

Only... that was so very wrong because she was like, his mom.

Ah, fuck, I'm such a perv!

"Um, hi, Mrs. Cullen?"

She nodded.

"I'm Isabella Swan, from Edward's biology class –"

"I remember you, dear. How are you?"

I smiled. "I'm fine, thanks." I pushed my hair behind my ears nervously. "Uh, I heard Edward was sick? I thought I'd stop by to give him the notes from today's class."

"How thoughtful." She smiled and stepped back to let me in. "Go on up. He's in his room."

"Thank you."

I hurried past her – and caught a whiff of that wonderful smell her sons both smelled of too. What kind of soap did they use?

I hesitated outside Edward's bedroom door for no good reason. I guess I was a little embarrassed about the hand-sucking too?

"You can come in, you know."

How did he know I was there?

I opened the door and poked my head around it, expecting to find him tucked under his comforter, all pale and maybe even shivering or something – but he wasn't. He was sitting up on his bed, playing video games and looking in perfect health.

He paused the game and tossed the controller when I opened the door, and grinned crookedly at me.

"Hey."

"Um, hi. I thought you were sick?"

He shrugged. "I was. It was just a migraine though, I feel better now."

"Oh."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you gonna come in, or...?"

"Oh, yeah, Right." I was still standing with my head around the door.

I stepped into his room... and stood awkwardly just in front of the door.

Edward stared at me with furrowed brows. "What the hell is wrong with you, Bella? You can sit down, you know, I don't bi –" He cleared his throat. "You can sit down."

I sat on a leather couch against the wall. "Thanks. I uh, brought you my notes from today."

He smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem."

We were both quiet then, for a long while, and boy was it awkward.

"Bella."

"Hmm?"

Edward sighed. "I'm really sorry about what happened the other day." He ran his hand through his messy hair. "I mean, I don't know what the hell happened..." He frowned, as if in thought.

I nodded. "I know. It's ok, really."

He got off his bed and sat next to me on the leather couch.

"There's a band aid on your hand."

"Yeah, that's only cos I didn't want my dad to see it."

"I'm sorry."

"I know."

"Can I see it?" He held his palm out for my own.

I gave him my hand and he cautiously peeled back the band aid, grimacing when he looked at the bruise. "Ah, fuck. I'm really sorry, Bella."

I sighed. "You really don't have to keep apologising, Edward." I took my hand out of his and smoothed the band aid back over the bruise.

"Can you blame me?" he said. "Look at the size of that thing."

I just shrugged. "It'll fade."

"Does it hurt?"

"Not really."

He let up about the bruise after like, six more apologies, and then he went back to playing his game while I just explored his room, checking out his CD's and books. He had a fuckload of them.

There was picture on his desk, a picture of his mom holding a baby, who I assumed was him.

I couldn't help staring at the picture – in shock – because his mom in that picture, well, she looked exactly the same as she did today. And how the heck was that possible? I expected her to look younger, even just a little, seeing as she looked pretty young already, but she looked exactly the same.

I mean, her hair was even the same length, same colour, everything!

And then I had a sudden, insane thought:

They don't age. Edward's parents don't age.

Did that mean Edward and Jasper didn't age either? But then, if they didn't, how could there be a baby picture of Edward? And that time I was in his dad's study I saw pictures of Edward and Jasper as kids, on his desk... except, how did I really know that was them? It could be a way of hiding the fact that they don't age. Those pictures of those kids could be anyone. Plus, their parents look so young – what if they weren't really their parents? What if they were all really around the same age?

Oh my God. What if they were like, immortal?

What if Edward was really like, a hundred and seven or something?

I took a deep breath. Put the photograph back on the desk.

"Edward?"

"Yeah?"

I turned to look at him, and when he glanced at me he paused the game and frowned.

"What?"

I held his eyes, because if he lied that would be the only way I'd be able to tell.

"How... old are you?"

He raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Seventeen?"

"And how long have you been seventeen?" I asked.

He stared at me for a moment, confused – before he suddenly grinned.

He rolled his eyes. "Since June, Bella." He picked up his controller and started playing again, still grinning. "Got any more theories?"

TTT

A/N: Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed.