A/N: I own nothing!

BPOV

Day five was officially on full-on mode. I had spent a hell of a long time the previous night trying to plan my actions for today as well. I would get up late, around ten, and avoid the early morning conversation in the kitchen. I would stay in my room, have a nice, long shower, get dressed, check my e-mail, and then I would call Charlie to let him know everything was OK.

Of course my plan didn't work. I was so excited about having a day with Edward, a day he'd called ours, that I woke up early. So early in fact that by the time it was ten I had already done everything I wanted to do, and I still had two hours to kill before I left my room. But I wasn't bored. Not at all. Because if there was one thing that could entertain me for hours, it would have to be the sounds that I could hear coming from the kitchen.

Poor Edward was actually trying to cook.

Among curses and frustrated sighs I could hear cupboard and drawers opening and closing, the fridge beeping, signaling it had been left open for too long and other mysterious sounds of utensils being thrown against each other. On one hand it made me sort of guilty for letting Edward be in charge of the food, but on the other hand? It was freaking hilarious. I stood crunched with my ear pressed to the door, trying not to make any sound that would make Edward stop. And it went on for quite a while, as well. After about an hour of constant cussing, when I was starting to wonder if it wasn't best for me to give him a hand with the food so he wouldn't start a fire or something, I heard him pacing the hallways. Worried about being called out on being eavesdropping, I tiptoed away from the door and onto my desk, where I figured I could spend the rest of the morning surfing the internet.

I had devised a plan for a reason. I didn't want to have any free time on my hands, as that would allow my stupid brain to free itself and think about how the movies had gone last night. All the awkwardness, the half-hugs that went on for far too long, the sound of Sam and Leah making out, and everything else made my head hurt. I was proud of Edward and Jacob though. To their credit, they didn't start a scene.

And Edward. When he said he needed to do something, I figured it was either for himself or for the section of his life I have no partaking in. So when he stopped the car and gave me the food I could have kissed him. I really could. Maybe he was hungry himself, but it was still a really sweet gesture.

Hovering my hand on top of the mouse, I hesitated. For a second there I considered browsing through some help communities and posting my problems for someone, somewhere in the world to aid me. Pretty pathetic, but an impartial view might be vital at this point, and no one I knew was truly objective in this matter. Still, for some reason, "My best friend is in love with me, I think I may be attracted to a guy who used to hate me but now is my friend too, and by the way they also hate each other with a passion" sounded a little too shallow and didn't quite capture my issues with both of them. So instead I re-checked my e-mail and noted down some books I wanted to buy when I got the chance.

I heard my cell phone ring, and I ran to turn it off quickly. I had set my alarm for noon so I wouldn't get lost in thought or too distracted and left Edward waiting.

Throwing my cell phone in my backpack and my backpack over my shoulder, I noticed Edward's jacket from last night was still resting on the edge of my bed, since I had accidentally brought it to my room on the previous night. Pausing for a moment to look outside the window, I picked up my own jacket as well. The weather wasn't as nice as I had hoped. It had rained all through the night, and although the sun was starting to peek through the many clouds in the sky, in Ford you never really knew what to expect.

I anxiously strode downstairs, where Edward was already waiting for me with a huge grin on his face. I was glad that he dressed casual, because my moment of hesitation of whether or not I should wear something a little different was shot to hell when I noticed the only semi-decent item of clothing I owned had been used on the previous day.

Edward looked nice, though, in a button-down collar black shirt and black denim jeans. And he had been writing for sure. Because his hair was sticking out like he had been pulling it for hours, and I'd heard him shower since the kitchen incident/war. Which I guessed he won, since he looked pretty smug with a couple of picnic baskets resting at his feet. I wondered why the hell the Cullen's had picnic baskets at all, but I guessed they had enough money to indulge themselves in things like that, even if no one ever used them.

"Wow," I said as I stepped down the stairs, trying to remain with a straight face for as long as possible. "What are we having?" I noticed for the first time my ankle didn't hurt at all anymore. Maybe my body was getting used to being beat up so often it just healed a lot quicker. I handed him his jacket, whispering a thank you.

"That's a surprise."

A surprise? I nearly snickered. Because he looked so full of himself for being able to pull off this picnic lunch thing that I was just waiting for him to brag. And if the smell coming from the kitchen was any indication, there was a lot of burnt food in those baskets. He obviously had no clue I was listening in on his cooking attempts, but I had to give him credit for trying. Still, in an attempt to tease a bit more, I kept poking him. "So you actually cooked? I had no idea you could cook."

I saw diffidence hit his features, making me bite my lip to stop from laughing. "It was a challenge," he said with a dismissive shrug, as he placed his hand on my back to guide me to the front door. "You look beautiful."

It wasn't that I wanted to stop and make a big deal out of what he said, but my feet stopped moving. It was like my brain simply could not communicate to my legs that they were supposed to put one feet in front of the other. Because my feet were clearly not helping me in this one, I must have misheard him. I was 99% sure that was the case, but I wasn't going to ask him to repeat himself. What if that 1% was the reality and suddenly my brain gave away for good?

I paused to look at Edward, feeling terrible for creating the first awkward pause of the day. His hand was still on my back to guide me outside, but we both stopped when my feet stopped moving. Quickly willing my brain to come up with any excuse why I may have stopped other than his words.

"Did you leave the stove on?" I asked out of nowhere, hoping my being worried about it would be plausible enough.

His serious face turned into a smirk. "I didn't use the stove, Bella."

Well, at least it explained why there were no fires. But it really made me wonder about that burning smell. "Did you have toast for breakfast?"

When he nodded, surprised and a little dubious at how I had known that, I sighed. The freaking toaster always burnt the food. Every freaking day. Which is why at the Cullen's I had cereal or just plain old coffee in the morning.

While we walked out the door there was only one thing in my head: if he had indeed called me beautiful, shouldn't I have said thank you? It was at least the most polite thing to do. Still amazed at what I thought I heard, I stole a quick glance at my clothes, wondering if I was missing something. Loose flared jeans, a t-shirt and a baggy jacket. And my blue backpack to complete the outfit, of course. I raised a questionable eyebrow at my clothes. Had my style somehow become hip overnight? Or was Edward lying to make me feel better? And if he was lying to make me feel better, did that mean he thought I had dressed up? There were way too many questions going through my mind at the time, but he couldn't possibly think I had dressed up.

Edward reached for the door handle to open it for me, and I muttered another thank you, figuring maybe he would assume it was for both things. I wasn't very comfortable, yet. He was stealing a look at the rearview mirror to back down the driveway into the street, while I absently played with the heater to make us more comfortable.

"So where are we going? Or is it a surprise as well?" I asked with a mocking smile.

He poked me playfully with a finger, pretending to be hurt, but answered me without hesitation. "We're going to this little place on the back of my house. It's usually empty, and it has some picnic tables so we don't have to eat on the floor. "

I meant to point out that for someone like me being on the floor was probably the best situation. At least it eliminated the possibilities of falling on my ass, which so often occurred, Instead, I nodded and played with the car radio to put on some music. When I found an indie rock station, I left it there, figuring he was probably into heavier stuff, but this way we would probably both be happier. I was very curious about what Edward had managed to prepare for our lunch without using the stove. I could have sworn I had heard pans earlier, but maybe he was just going through everything in the kitchen in a wave of panic. Remembering his words in the kitchen earlier made me smile and I looked at him sideways, hoping for a clue about what he was thinking.

He always looked so intense when he was driving. Even now, that he was slightly bobbing his head to the music on the radio, he still had a serious, sober look on his face.

The drive didn't take long. In fact it was so short I wondered why we didn't just walk there. Not even five minutes later Edward was parking in front of what appeared to be a camping site with three picnic tables on each side, which were, as he had predicted, completely empty. I was getting tired of having to say thank you every time Edward did something chivalrous, so I pushed the door open myself and headed for the trunk to get our food, each of us picking up a basket. I furrowed my brow when I heard glass clinking around in the basket. I should have told Edward people usually brought plastic cups and utensils to a picnic.

Stifling a giggle, I trudged with over to the site with a basket in my arm while Edward closed the trunk behind me. Used to being an outsider, I headed straight for the table in the far right, and sat down.

Anxious to see what he brought I hovered over the basked I had carried and peeked inside. Two bags of chips, napkins, a plastic tablecloth, plastic cups and a few cans of soda. Not too bad for a newbie. I had a bet going with myself that he'd forget the tablecloth. Wondering where the clinking sound I had heard came from, I dug deeper into the basket, my hands feeling blindly for anything made of glass. And there it was. Two bottles of vodka.

Pulling one of them out, I raised an eyebrow at Edward. "Booze?"

Unaffected by my defensiveness, he gave me his signature smirk. "I didn't know how long we'd be here."

I didn't know what he meant by that, but things were going well enough so far that I didn't ask. It wouldn't be the first time I drank, although the fact that he brought two bottles for just the two of us worried me a little. I was sure about half of one bottle would be enough to send me into an alcoholic coma.

I saw him unwrapping a meat sandwich and offering it to me, which I took gladly. After all I didn't have breakfast. "You were writing," I started after I finished swallowing my first bite.

"I was," he nodded, with a confused expression on his face. "How can you always tell?"

"Your hair looks all messy. " I stated matter-of-factly, tilting my head to one side. "It always does when you write."

He ran a hair through his hair again, which I was sure he did unconsciously. He looked embarrassed, but I couldn't tell why.

"Tell me everything. What happens after Clark kisses Harriet? Have you figured out what she says?"

Shaking his head slowly, he remained quiet for a while. "I wish I could say yes, but I left that part blank. Harriet is fucking killing me here. It's so hard to figure out how a woman would react to certain things."

I bit my lip, embarrassed. He only had a problem because I couldn't tell him the way a normal, confident, tough woman would react. I'm sure if he would ask Tanya she would come up with a thousand comebacks for a sudden, surprising kiss. And they would be funny, and smart and perfect, too. Maybe not smart. I thought crossly to myself, but still. For a second I thought about suggesting he should ask Tanya, but I realized I was a little too selfish for that. I would think about it for a while again before I suggested something that drastic.

"I'll think about it again, Edward. I'm sorry I couldn't help."

He raised a doubtful eyebrow at me as his body tensed up. "I have no fucking clue what you're apologizing for, Bella. It's my story." The cussing had begun again, I noted. This subject clearly bothered him. Before I could tell him it would come to him eventually, I felt the tension leaving his shoulders and he started speaking again. "It feels a little bit ironic that I created a woman to drive Clark mad and now she's driving me mad."

My first thought was that it was about time a woman had an effect on Edward, but as a friend I shouldn't say that. So I laughed instead. "And what type of effect is she having on Clark?"

He ran a hand through his face, clearly frustrated by the subject. "I'm not sure yet. I've given it much thought, but I'm not completely sold on the romance angle, to be honest."

"Well, it's not like things can stay the same. A kiss changes things."

He narrowed his eyes playfully. "You would know. Jacob seems really pushy."

Damn it. Damn him for bringing Jacob and the previous night's events into the conversation. "That's different." I hoped my face didn't look as flustered as I thought it did.

"How so?" He asked quickly with an amused grin on his face.

I gulped, and sighed and shrugged. And I would have done anything else if it had bought me more time. Why was it different? It didn't really seem like the same situation in my head, and it wasn't only because Harriet and Clark were fictional. There was something else, I just couldn't quite put my finger on it. Finally, it came to me. "Harriet and Clark liked the kiss," I said quietly. "I…didn't. It only made our friendship…uncomfortable. Awkward. It didn't make me feel anything else for him." I uttered my words slowly; pausing to make sure I was saying what I really felt.

"Are you saying that if Edwin and Elizabeth kiss and she feels awkward about it then it shouldn't change anything? They should just pretend it never happened?"

"They pretty much live together now. Making things awkward between them could compromise his case…" I trailed off in thought. "Of course they were already awkward to begin with anyway, Edward."

He looked surprised. I wondered how he perceived his own characters. "Really?"

"Sure. They never know what to say around each other, like there are a ton of unspoken feelings or something. You can't tell me that wasn't on purpose, Edward."

His blank face answered me for him. "It's not awkward. It's angry. They don't like each other. Or they didn't. Fuck!" He was so stressed and jumpy I let out a huge chuckle in spite of his distressed state. He tried to pinch me from across the table, but even in my hysterical state I was able to move away in time.

Eventually he gave up and started laughing with me. "This is exactly why I wanted a male partner. If you like him you talk about chicks. If you don't you punch him in the face. There are no in-between subtle eye movements and touches or any shit like that."

I was literally in tears, and his words just made it worse. "That sounds very bitter for a seventeen year old, Edward"

He rolled his eyes and stood up. "OK, that's it." I saw him walking around the table to my side, but the laughter made my reflexes even slower than they usually were. By the time I saw he was about to tickle me, I started to struggle to get away. It was too late.

I had no clue I was ticklish. In fact I didn't remember the last time anyone tickled me, although I was sure someone must have done it at some point. Everybody apparently loves to tickle kids. Still, apparently I liked it. Because I was laughing so hard I was afraid the soda I'd been drinking would come flying through my nose.

While I was kicking and jolting around trying to get free and stop laughing so hard, I heard Edward's voice. "Say I'm not bitter." I wanted to make fun of him for being so authoritative, but I couldn't speak. He was laughing too, or at least trying hard not to and failing miserably. I could tell by the way he spoke. Unfortunately I was too far gone to do anything but what he "demanded", so I fought to find the strength to speak.

"Fine, fine," I said between gurgles of laughter "you're not bitter!"

He didn't stop. "That didn't sound very convincing, Bella."

"You're not! You're the opposite of bitter. You're sweet and sugary and bubbly!"

"I'm still not-" he interrupted himself and stopped tickling me. Trying to catch my breath, I sat up to see what was going on. He must have noticed the confusion on my face because he only said one word. "Rain."

I held my hand out suspiciously. It wasn't raining. I would have noticed. I always noticed. Sure enough, a few seconds I felt a couple of raindrops on my hand. I rolled my eyes at Edward. He was worried about that?

And then the rain started coming heavier and heavier. I turned around to look at Edward who was already cleaning up the table, and I started helping him quickly, realizing my mistake. In Forks , as cliché as that sounded, when it rained, it poured. By the time we took off, the rain was pouring down on us so hard I felt chilly in my bones. We both entered Edward's car quickly, and stood inside, breathing hard, looking at the rain hitting the windshield.

"Shit," Edward said, quite obviously in shock. "Shit, are you OK?"

Seeing his face made me want to laugh again, although I didn't know why. I chuckled and nodded, turning up the heater. "I'm fine," I said, laughing, as I fiddled with the buttons. I felt the first whoosh of hot hair and I shivered in reaction. I was soaked to my bones. I successfully took my jacket off in the passenger seat and threw it to the backseats and tried to remove the water from my hair. "Are you?"

There were drops of water all over his face, not to mention how his shirt was sticking to his body. I saw him nodding while I tried to dry my hair with my hands and I heard him stirring in his seat and starting the ignition.

"I better get you home before we both catch pneumonia."

***

"Here."

I clumsily caught the towel Edward threw in my direction and started drying my hair again. I was silently praying my hair would behave itself and not dry in any weird shapes. It's not like I usually took very good care of it, but I didn't want to be embarrassed by it either.

We were both in the living room trying to dry ourselves and I wondered if maybe I should go change. I saw Edward hesitantly picking up a bag that was next to the picnic baskets.

"Did you bring this inside?" I looked at the bag he was holding, clueless about what he meant. Once we had gotten home Edward and I had both run to the trunk of the car to get the things inside, but the rain was still so heavy I had just grabbed for whatever was in there and gotten my butt in the house.

Unsure of what to say, I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. I didn't really notice what I was carrying…"

His face looked unreadable to me again, which made me worry I had ruined the evening with something as mundane as this. "I can just go put it back if you want."

He held the bag in his hands for a few seconds and then finally handed it to me. "It's yours."

I grasped the bag in my hands, studying it carefully. I was sure I had never seen that bag in my life. "No it's not."

He snickered. "I meant it's for you."

I narrowed my eyes. Were we supposed to get gifts for each other because it was our day? "I…hm…I didn't get you anything"

His frown turned into a smile and I had to admit that made me breathe a little easier. "I didn't either, not technically." While he spoke, I started unwrapping the package. "See, when you fixed my face a few days ago I stained your nightshirt. With my blood. I figured I should get you a new one. It's pretty much like the other one, but you can exchange it if you want, it's not a big deal."

I had a vision of Edward trying to buy a nightgown and I had to bite my tongue not to laugh. Still, in spite of the hilarious imagine it gave me, I was so touched by his gesture I felt I couldn't speak coherently at the moment, I held the nightie in front of me to examine it. It wasn't like the last one. The other had long sleeves, this one had caved ones, which pretty much exposed all of my arms. And it was a little bit shorter.

I lifted my eyes to him and felt so sympathetic. He was blushing. And looking around the room, pretending like he didn't care.

"Edward…Did you get this last night?" He shook his head affirmatively and I sighed. "That's so..." I didn't have the words. Sweet? It had been sweet when he got me food. This was way beyond food, this was…Edwardly. But I wouldn't say that, not to his face. "This is great. But you didn't have to, I could have probably just washed the other one."

When he didn't say anything, I felt it was the time for a gesture. I walked up to him slowly, trying my best not to scare him off, and wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him tightly in my arms. He was stunned, and I couldn't blame me. I was surprised by it as well. Even so, I held on, trying to lure him into hugging me back properly.

And he did. A few seconds after I had crazily fallen into his arms, I felt his hands creeping up my back slowly, ending up covering my back with his large hands and holding me firmly in his arms. We were both still wet and tired and really, really cold, but it didn't matter. I needed to show him how much I appreciated everything. Not the pyjamas, necessarily, just…everything. Everything he was doing to make me feel better. I felt one of his hands lift to my head as he buried his face in my hair and I sighed when I realized I didn't want to let go.

Stunned once again, I loosened my hold on him. Damn it, I didn't want to let go. I pulled back suddenly, as if our contact had burned me, and tried desperately to look like nothing at all had happened. I was being so stupid. So freaking stupid. I wasn't in love with Edward, or anything like that. Of course I wasn't. Because it was too fast and I didn't even freaking believe you could fall in love that quickly. And I couldn't read his face. I didn't know why every time I got confused about my feelings for Edward his became a mystery to me, but there he was again. We were standing, looking at each other, and I had no idea what he was thinking. I felt like yelling at him, shoving him until he said what he was thinking. Maybe my needy girl act had just scared him off.

In an attempt to calm myself, I remembered it was day five. This close proximity thing would come to an end tomorrow. Freaking tomorrow. My mind went from considering the Cullen's coming back as something good to something back and back and forth again that I was sure my poor little brain was losing brain cells by the second at the fickleness.

Remembering I was still wet, I took a couple of steps back and smiled. Denial was always the best way to go. "I'm just going to change real quick, OK?"

I was turning around to go into my room, when, in a sudden move, Edward gripped my wrist to stop me. "Are we still on for movies and booze?"

Well, what the hell. Why not? Grinning, I nodded. "Give me five minutes."

***

Half an hour later we were both sitting in front of the TV looking much warmer. At least I was. Edward and I had both changed clothes, and I was wearing what you'd call sweat pants and a white t-shirt. Not particularly sexy by any means, but it was still better than putting on my nightshirt on in the middle of the freaking day. I desperately needed to do my laundry. Edward had changed into another pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

The movie was Scarface, which I had never watched, but Edward guaranteed it was "freaking awesome". I let him have his way because at the movies we had seen a typically female movie, so I guess he was due for some action. And since every other word pronounced in the movie was "fuck", I guessed it must be a pretty badass movie, and something Edward would like. That was the idea, anyway.

I didn't know the reason, but we had both started the movie each sitting on the edge of the couch. I blamed myself for getting carried away with the hug and didn't say anything. Still, as the movie progressed, Edward and I must have involuntarily changed our positions because he was right next to me. And when I wasn't able to get into the movie, I turned to Edward, opening my mouth to ask what the hell it was about anyway, I saw it.

He was asleep. He had actually fallen asleep. So much for it being the best movie ever, I mused, looking at his face. I shifted softly, very slowly, so I could reach for the remote to turn off the TV. Clicking the button I settled back on the couch on the couch and looked at Edward's face.

We were so close he was practically resting on my shoulder, so I could see every little detail of his face. I thanked God that he was asleep and couldn't say the same thing about me, though. Every little imperfection he had made him look so beautiful, so tortured, and so attractive, I felt my face turn into a frown. It didn't matter whether I was in love with him or not. It didn't even matter if it was a stupid crush. Because I would never be good enough for someone like him. Messed up, anti-social, Bella Swan.

I was going to wake him up. I was. But there was something irresistible about the way he looked when he slept. Figuring it wouldn't hurt anyone I ran a hand timidly over his face, studying the way every contour felt under my fingertips. I really thought he was asleep. Without warning I saw his eyes flutter open for a second, probably just long enough to see my terrorized face, and then he closed them again, tilting his head so he was leaving only an inch between our lips.

The kiss hovered there for a moment, and I knew I should be the one to stop this. And if he was even aware of what he was doing, this was the moment he was giving me to pull back. The ball was definitely in my court now. I could see his expression through my half-closed eyelids, and all I could think was that once we kissed he was going to tell me I sucked at this.

But I didn't have time to react. Or that would at least be my excuse when I replayed this moment in my head. Once I felt his lips tentatively touching mine, Edward's taste clouded my senses completely. Our lips were barely touching, and I knew for sure I wasn't doing anything. I was completely frozen. Edward just kept leaving light kisses on the corner of my mouth, on my bottom lip while I stood there, breathlessly panting and hoping that, if he was asleep, he wouldn't wake up. Shutting my eyes, I figured since this might be the only kiss we were going to have, we might as well make the most of it. I felt Edward brush the pad of his thumb in my chin tenderly, moving upwards to my cheek and finally to the crook of my neck. Pulling my lips to his, he finally started kissing me more passionately, more like I had imagined he would. I could feel his breath quicken as he dug his other hand into my hair, but he didn't push forward. He didn't go beyond a very clear line. No tongue.

As Edward nibbled teasingly on my bottom lip, I nearly lost myself. Everything was so unhurried it felt like we were in slow motion. I moaned Edward's name, and I realized his kiss wasn't possessive as I'd imagined it would be. It was persuasive, tempting me into wanting more, needing more.

And it worked, too. Because the light suction he was doing to my lips while he kissed me was driving me crazy, and I needed for him to kiss me. And beyond anything else, I needed for him to want to kiss me. With newfound confidence, I prodded my tongue out to meet his lips, hesitantly parting his lips with my tongue. I heard him gasp at the feel of my tongue on his lips, but I was too far gone to care. I cautiously ran my tongue over his lips, willing him to part them for me.

Suddenly, I felt him pull away from me and a wave of panic ran through my body. I had no clue how I was going to explain this to him. I mean he had been sleeping. It was all my fault. When I was about to open my eyes to face him I felt his lips on mine again. But it wasn't like the previous kiss. It was hot and needy and demanding a response I didn't know I had in me. Wrapping my arms around his neck to bring his body closer to mine I felt his tongue caressing mine gently, warmly and yet so intensely I let out another moan. I had been clearly missing out on a lot.

I don't know which one of us pulled back first. I know in one second I was so completely lost in our kiss I could have been hit by lightning and not feel a thing, and the next we were both standing on either side of the couch gasping, our eyes impossibly widened staring at each other, waiting for the other one to speak first.

What the hell had we done?