A/N: Thank you guys so much for all the awesome reviews! I think I replied to most of them but I lost track lol so this is just one big giant thank you to anyone who's ever reviewed on this story :) I just want you guys to know that every review literally makes my day and I appreciate all your feedback!

And before you read, I'd like to apologize for the extremely short length of this chapter. I wish I could say the next chapter will be longer, but it would be a lie. BUT (and this is a very big but lol), to make up for it, the next chapter will be posted in a couple days so stay tuned :)

Okay, I'm done. You can read the chapter now :)

Chapter 14

Sighing, I flipped over so I lay on my back. I glared at the dark ceiling, faintly lit by the pale blue glow from the alarm clock on my nightstand as I once again cursed Alice for forcing me to watch that stupid movie. I had been trying to sleep for the past three hours to no avail. Every time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing that creepy-ass doll and hearing the screams from the movie echoing in my head.

In addition to being bitter about the worst movie night ever, I was irritated about what had happened after leaving the Cullens' house. After specifically asking me to come home for dinner, the second my dad got a call from some old friends who wanted to catch up over drinks, he had ditched me, telling me I could go back to the Cullens' house if I wanted and if not, 'not to wait up'. I would have gone back, but I needed to spend some time alone, away from the Cullens - well, one Cullen in particular. I was still not sure how to act around Edward; the situation made much more complicated, for me anyway, after he'd held my hand.

I was still confused about that. Why had he done it? Why did he care? Did he care? Now more than ever when I craved the sweet oblivion that was sleep to distract me from my thoughts, my own mind was acting against me. Whenever I closed my eyes, my mind kept coming up with some disturbing visuals from the movie.

Note to self, learn how to sleep with my eyes open. Important life skill that is definitely worth looking into.

I would have pulled an all-nighter, but my overactive imagination kept seeing blurs of movement out of the corner of my eye, when really, there was nothing there.

Basically, I was at an impasse.

I eventually realized what I needed was a distraction, so I pulled out my phone to call Alice. If I was gonna suffer from sleep deprivation, she was gonna suffer with me. After all, it was her fault.

She answered on the first ring, which was weird considering it was the middle of the night, but I was so glad to have a distraction that I didn't really care.

"Uh, Bella, I can't really talk right now," she whispered.

"Who is it?" I heard a male voice say through the phone, and then something that sounded suspiciously like a slap over a mouth.

"Who was that?" I asked, interested now.

"No one." She said, a little too quickly.

"C'mon Alice! Don't hold out on me! I thought we were friends!" I whined, hopefully making her feel guilty.

"Seriously, there's no one. I'm talking to Edward." she lied.

Seriously, Alice, that's the best you can come up with? I knew Edward's voice, and that was definitely not it.

"Oh, okay." I was going to call her out on it, but decided against it.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" she said.

"Yeah, see you," I hung up. I was slightly miffed that she didn't trust me enough to tell me, but I let it go. She'd tell me when she was ready.

Even though the conversation with Alice had distracted me for a short while, the fear was slowly creeping up on me.

Rather than wallowing in my paranoid state alone, I started scrolling through my contacts list to find the only other person I could call.

I stared at the name for a second, having an internal battle with myself. Was I really desperate enough to do this?

Yes.

Taking a deep breath, I pressed 'call' and held the phone to my ear.

After a few rings, the phone was answered.

"Princess, you better be dying because there is no other valid excuse for calling someone at this god-forsaken hour." Edward said in a voice rough with sleep. I was ashamed to say I thought it was hot.

"I…" I trailed off, instantly regretting my decision to call him in the first place. There was no way I could explain myself without sounding like a baby.

"Wait, are you still scared because of the movie?" He asked, sounding amused.

Sometimes he knew me too well. "No," I scoffed, but my nonchalant tone was ruined when my voice wavered. I looked up to the heavens - well, my ceiling - and I prayed to the god I didn't believe in to smite me now to save me from any further humiliation.

"That's complete bullshit and you know it. Then why did you call at…" he trailed off. "three in the morning?" I could just imagine that annoying smirk on his face.

When I didn't deny it, he laughed.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"In my defense, that movie was creepy. Would you just talk to me for a while?" I hated how desperate I sounded.

"Princess, do you think I became this attractive staying up late to comfort people like you? I need my beauty sleep. Go bother someone else."

"Hey, you should feel honored that I chose you of all people to comfort me in my time of need." I said, trying to get on his good side by appealing to his vanity.

I waited for his usual smartass response, but nothing came.

"Edward?"

...

"Hello?"

The silence on the other end was quickly replaced by the dialtone.

Dammit. He'd hung up on me. Why had I expected anything less? Because we'd kissed in the library? Because he had held my hand during the movie? I was pathetic. I didn't used to be like this - it was sad how far I'd fallen.

Self pity wasn't doing anything to help me sleep so I put on some loud rock music, put my phone on the nightstand, and tried to drown my thoughts.

A few minutes later, I thought I heard something downstairs. It sounded like the front door opening and some footsteps, but I was probably just being paranoid. Just in case I wasn't, I shut off my music and quieted my breathing so I could really listen. When my bedroom door creaked open, however, I knew it was real. I slowly moved my hand under the covers and off the bed, feeling beside the bed for the baseball bat I kept propped in between the headboard and the nightstand. My dad had given it to me, insisting I would need it someday. I never actually thought I would use it and now here I was, gripping it for dear life. I heard the intruder walking towards me and braced myself. When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I did the only thing I could do: letting out a screech that was worthy of a banshee, I swung.

The first swing landed in what I assumed was the guy's gut. I heard a groan and took that as motivation to keep swinging.

"Hey! Bella! It's me! Dammit! Not the face!"

I stopped swinging.

"Edward? What the hell are you doing here?" I dropped the bat and reached over to turn on the bedside lamp.

"You call, I answer. Isn't that how it generally works? And it's not that hard to find your spare key, Princess. Under a flower pot, real original." He said, rolling his eyes as he plopped down onto my bed next to me. Leaning back against the headboard, he lifted up his shirt. I tried not to stare at his defined abs as he gingerly felt his abdomen.

"Damn, you got me good."

"Sorry," I said sheepishly. "I thought you were trying to kill me. What the hell are you doing here? I thought you couldn't be bothered?"

"What can I say, I'm a sucker for the damsels in distress." I rolled my eyes at that.

"Seriously? What are you, my prince charming?" I couldn't believe he'd shown up out of the goodness of his heart.

"I am herest to saveth thou, Princess," He said, in what I assumed was supposed to be old English, giving me a deep bow.

I couldn't help but laugh. "How do you expect to do that when you couldn't even fight me off?" I scoffed even though my insides were melting a bit.

"I didn't have this," he picked up the discarded baseball bat and started twirling it with his fingers.

"Now go to bed," he commanded.

I looked at him for a moment before giving him a smile.

"What?" he asked, immediately suspicious.

Winking, I gave him a hard shove, pushing him off the bed and onto the floor.

"What the hell?"

"I get the bed, you get the floor." I stated, throwing him a pillow, which he caught before it hit him in the face.

He mumbled something along the lines of "being a prince is so overrated" and I rolled my eyes, silently laughing.

As I lay back, for some reason with Edward there, I felt safe for the first time all night. Closing my eyes, I let sleep over come me.

When I woke up, my head was lying over something hard and I could hear a slow, steady thumping beat under my head. Slowly peeking one eye open, I realized I was lying on Edward's chest. My head and one of my arms was thrown over his torso. Somehow in the middle of the night I must have thought he was a pillow and slept on him. But that didn't answer one question - how the hell did he get in my bed?

As not to wake him, I slowly pulled away to my side of the bed. It was then that I felt something on my forehead. I pulled it off, wincing slightly as the adhesive was ripped from my skin. It was a post-it, and on it was a short message in Edward's messy scrawl.

Your floor is hard as fuck.

I chuckled. Who was the princess, now?

I shifted my weight to my elbows and looked at him. He was fast asleep. I gently reached my hand to his hair and gently moved it away from his forehead. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep. My eyes kept being drawn to his lips. Those distracting, corrupting lips.

I was drawn from my thoughts by pressure on my bladder.

I thought about how I was going to get up without waking him. My bed was pressed up against the wall. I usually slept in the middle of the bed so that meant Edward must have somehow moved me without waking me. I was sleeping on the wall side and at the foot of the bed was my desk, so the only way off the bed was to go over Edward. I lifted one arm over him to the other side of the bed and did the same with my leg. Holding my breath, I moved over him as gently as I could, so I wouldn't wake him. By this point I was basically straddling him and my face was inches from his.

"If you wanted to lie on top of me, all you had to do was ask," he mumbled, eyes still closed.

Startled by his voice, my arms gave out beneath me and with a gasp I landed on his chest. He let out a huff of air as I squished his lungs.

"Sorry!" I squeaked, before quickly scrambling off him. In my haste, I stumbled and landed in an awkward heap on the floor.

"Ow," I mumbled against the carpet.

I climbed to my feet and opened my bedroom door.

"Where you going," he mumbled again.

When I looked back, he had rolled onto his stomach and had pulled the covers over his head.

"Bathroom." I answered simply.

Just as I was finished washing my hands and reached for a towel, I heard a scream and some yelling. Eyes wide, I ran out of the bathroom, half afraid of what I was going to find. Where was my bat when I needed it? The door to my room was half open already so I pushed it the rest of the way, my jaw dropping when I saw what was happening.

A/N: DUN DUN DUUNNNN! Sorry for the minor cliffy but it was necessary. Well, not really...but you know what I mean. Leave a review :)