I am so, so sorry for the delay, guys! I got so sidetracked with this weekend. Some shit has been going down in my personal life that I have been consumed by, and my spring semester started today, so I'm going to be taking more than one class again, unfortunately. But, do not fret, I will maintain the whole 'at least two chapters a week' thing. I have not actually completed the next chapter, but I felt that you guys deserved this for waiting somewhat patiently.

So, without further ado, here is the much anticipated date. Enjoy :D

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

BELLA POV

The doorbell sounded throughout the apartment, and I tried to get out of my room quick enough to answer it myself. Rose, Alice and I were here and Em was at work, and I knew someone was going to try to meet Edward at the door. I was hoping it would be Rose, since she was capable of being a normal human being.

"I've got it!" Alice exclaimed, making me groan and cringe. I heard Rose chuckle in the living room, doing nothing to restrain the devilish pixie.

Thanks a lot, best friend.

"Hi, Edward," Alice greeted rather loudly. I hope she wasn't scaring him off with her boisterousness.

"It's Alice, right?" I heard him ask, his smooth voice music to my ears after Alice's shrill exclamations. I quickly grabbed the small backpack I was taking with me to hold my wallet, phone, water, and emergency sunblock. Oh, and the weed. Couldn't forget the weed.

I stopped at the end of the hall, watching as Edward interacted with my deranged roommate. He looked really great in his black joggers and grey pullover. He had sunglasses hanging onto the front of his collar, and his hair was in its usual disarray, forever making me want to run my fingers through it. Maybe he'd let me sometime soon. I had done it at the club quite frequently, but I wasn't quite sure what the rules were now that we were seeing each other as just Edward and Bella.

"Sure is," Alice responded, and I could here the large smile in her voice. "Bella should be ready soon."

"I'm right here, Al," I said, walking toward them. Edward's face lit up in a smile when he saw me. His green eyes roamed from my face to my body, and then back up again. I instinctively pulled my lower lip between my teeth as I could feel my face begin to get hot. I'd probably never get used to his obvious perusal of my body.

"Bella," Edward said, his voice sounding slightly breathy.

"Hi, Edward," I greeted him. "I'm ready whenever you are." I wanted to get away from Alice before she could say anything embarrassing. Not like I didn't do that myself enough.

He simply smiled at me and put his hand on my back as we walked out the door.

"Have fun!" Alice shouted after us.

"Be safe! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Rose added. I rolled my eyes.

"That's the worst piece of advice ever!" I shouted back. "There's few things in this world you wouldn't do, and most of them are punishable by twenty-five to life."

"Exactly," she said. I could just imagine the smirk that was plastered on her lips.

I huffed and closed the door, effectively stopping any more possible comments from my supposed friends. Edward chuckled at my flustered state, keeping his hand on my back as he led me to his car. His touch was warm, and I could feel it through the two layers I was wearing where he was touching me. His close proximity allowed me to smell him, as well. I loved how he smelled; that perfect mixture between his natural scent and whatever cologne he wore. It was lovely.

When we got to his car, he opened the passenger door for me, waiting for me to get situated before closing it. I was surprised by the modesty of his vehicle, given how much he had dropped at the club in just a couple of months. From Edward alone, I had made enough to have a savings of over three thousand dollars. Thankfully, I hadn't really had to touch any of the money he had paid me, since I made enough off of everyone else to pay for bills, loans, and food.

His mid sized vehicle was not a reflection of his wealth, by any means. I didn't know much about cars, but I knew it was a newer model Chevrolet SUV, which couldn't be more than $25,000. I honestly had been expecting some luxury brand, like Lincoln or Mercedes. A Chevrolet probably would have been one of the last guesses on my list, right next to Honda and Toyota. I mean, compared to the little Kia I drove, this car was kind of expensive, but to a person with a steady income, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Edward must have noticed the way I was eyeing the interior of his car, because he asked me, "What?" as he buckled his seatbelt and started the ignition.

I shook my head. "Nothing. Just pleasantly surprised."

He glanced at me with a raised eyebrow as he back out of his parking space. "About what, exactly?"

"Your car. Not what I expected." I shrugged. It wasn't a big deal, just interesting.

"Ah, the money thing," he said, a smirk pulling at his lips. "You expected me to drive, like, a BMW or something, right?"

"Yeah, kinda," I said, chuckling lightly.

"Sorry to disappoint," he said, flashing me a smile. "Flashy cars aren't my thing."

"Oh, I'm not disappointed. This is really nice compared to my first car."

"What did you drive?"

"A 1963 Chevy pickup. It was my sixteenth birthday present. I basically ran it into the ground," I told him. "I loved that truck, and it had surprisingly made it to Portland when I first came to college out here. It broke down beyond reasonable repair, despite Emmett's best efforts. I finally gave in and bought a new car, which was the one I have now. What about you?"

"My mom's hand me down Volvo when I turned sixteen. My dad bought her a new car, so I got that one. I had it until I bought this one a couple months ago."

I was a little surprised at his answer, again, but I had to try to hide it better than I did last time. "What made you get rid of it?"

"It needed a new transmission that I didn't want to deal with, so I just got this one and sold the Volvo online."

Before there was a chance for the conversation to lull, he asked about how I had gotten to know Emmett, Rose, and Alice. I explained to him how I'd dormed with Alice, shared a GE class with Rose, and by then she was already dating Emmett. He commended me on being able to live with Emmett for the last couple years, considering he could barely spend time with him at college and the one year they were actually in Kappa Sig together. I told him that Emmett and I actually got along really well when he wasn't teasing me mercilessly. When I told him we were TV show buddies, he vowed to never let Emmett hear the end of it, considering no one outside of our apartment knew that Emmett watched those shows with me.

Edward pulled into a small parking lot off the side of a highway. Glancing around, I saw very tall trees and hardly any other cars in the parking lot. It was a Thursday morning, and I hadn't really expected to see anyone else here. Upon further inspection, I saw an open field that had disc golf baskets set up at intervals, as well as soccer goals. It looked like a normal park with a giant ass forest backed up to it.

Edward came around and opened my door, which I wasn't really used to. I had never really had anyone do this type of thing for me, so it was strange. My dad didn't even open car doors for my mom.

"You know you don't have to do that, right?" I asked him as he closed the door once I stepped out. "I mean, I'm not telling you to stop, but I'm capable of opening a car door."

He shook his head at me as he went to open the trunk. "I know I don't have to, Bella. But I want to, and it's how I was raised. My dad still opens car doors for my mom."

"Your parents are really sweet together," I commented. He handed me the small bag I had brought, and he shouldered a larger backpack. "Your mom is a character." I internally cringed at Esme's drunken proclamation at Edward and I making beautiful babies. Better not mention that to him.

I followed beside Edward as he walked toward a marked path that led into the forest. "My mom said that she really likes you. And your parents." He turned to me and beamed.

"Your mom and mine are trouble together. Especially after a few glasses of wine." I chuckled at memories of Esme and Renee after dinner on Thanksgiving. Elizabeth had been irritated, to say the least.

"How did Thanksgiving go, with the two of them and Aunt Elizabeth?" he asked. I was kind of worried if he was able to read my mind.

"It was okay," I admitted. We started in on the trail, and I looked mostly at the ground so I wouldn't trip over anything. It was fairly clear right now, but I was accident prone. The band-aid covering the stitches in my thumb could attest to that. "Mostly Renee and Esme told stories and giggled together while Elizabeth sulked in the corner."

"Seems like the typical family gathering," he sighed. "I don't know why she's like that. Or how my uncle deals with her. Although, he seems to ignore her for the most part and talk to my dad. She'll talk to me about work, but that's as much interaction as we usually have."

"Has she always been like that?" I asked. I kept my eyes trained on the ground now that it was starting to get a bit steeper.

"I'm not sure," he answered. "I didn't spend a whole lot of time with them before we moved to Seattle. Em would come and visit for summers in Forks, but I never really saw my aunt and uncle besides Christmas. And I didn't spend a whole lot of time with the adults as a kid. I only ever had Emmett, so we played together anytime we saw each other."

"At least you had Emmett," I grumbled, half at my situation growing up and half at the bush that had swatted against my leg. "Both my parents are only children."

"Tell me about your parents," Edward requested. "I never met either of them while in Forks."

"Well, my dad is the chief of police. He spends his days off fishing, drinking, and watching sports," I chuckled. "He likes pretty much anything that plays on TV, so right now there's every possible football game airing. He roots for the Seahawks, but he'll watch anything. Charlie is a simple being."

"What about your mom?"

"Renee is a free spirit. She does any and everything she can. Right now she's really into crocheting. This summer she did a lot of bracelet-making and pottery. She paints pretty regularly, and she's pretty good at it. She takes dancing classes once a week in a studio in Port Angeles just because she can. She'd probably smoke weed if my dad wasn't so against it."

"I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure my parents do smoke weed," Edward said, laughing.

I joined him. "Esme seems like the type, honestly."

"I'm positive she did it in high school and college, there's photographic evidence," he laughed.

"I'm pretty sure my mom did, too," I said. "She's mentioned smoking before, but she hates cigarettes. She makes a scene when she walks by people smoking them."

I laughed at the memory of my mom coughing obnoxiously beside this man who had been standing near us when we were waiting to be seated while we were out to dinner with Rose and Emmett and his parents in Seattle. The man had given her an annoyed look, but he tossed it to the ground and put it out with his shoe as Renee gave him a satisfied smile.

We came up to a point in the path where it inclined quickly over a span of only a few feet, and I knew I was bound to fall on my face. I looked at the path hesitantly as Edward began to step up it easily, his long legs carrying him quickly over the steep ground. Being next to Edward without my Pleasers on made me painfully aware of how much shorter I was than him.

He looked back at me when he realized I wasn't right behind him. He raised his eyebrow as I shook my head.

"There's no way," I told him. "I'm gonna trip and die."

He held out his hand to me and gave me a small smile. "Here, I'll help you." He latched his free arm onto a tree limb nearby, anchoring himself. I hesitantly placed my hand in his, and his grip tightened, the warmth of his fingers radiating up my arm.

I tried not to show my reaction to his touch, but I knew I was blushing and I had a tight grip on my bottom lip again. I hoisted myself up the incline with his help. Once I was up to his level, he let go of the tree and tugged me forward on the path, not releasing my hand. His hand shifted slightly so that his fingers intertwined with mine, making my blush deepen.

Edward Cullen is holding my hand. Like, really holding my hand. Like how couples do.

We walked on for a few more minutes in comfortable silence, his hand still firmly in mine. He even stroked his thumb over the back of mine every once in awhile, making the area tingle, like a bolt of electricity was firing the nerves in that specific patch of skin. It was an odd sensation, but I wanted to experience more of it, and in other places of my body.

Eventually, he pulled me slightly off the path, which made me apprehensive at first. But after a few yards, I saw the trees break and a clearing appear. It was completely covered in a thick grass, with the forest circling around it. There were a few scattered trees in the circle, but it was almost completely open to the sky. It was mostly sunny today with a few scattered dark clouds, which was a bit unusual for this time of year. There wasn't even a chance of rain until early next week.

He led us until pretty much the middle of the clearing, under a tree to provide shade. He shrugged his backpack off and tossed it to the ground, so I did the same. He unzipped the largest pocket and procured a blanket, laying it out on the grass. He took my hand again and pulled me down with him.

"Are you hungry now, or do you want to wait a little bit?" he asked me. He took the sunglasses off his face and placed them inside his bag.

"I'm good for now," I said, shaking my head. "Maybe in a little bit."

He shrugged and laid back, stretching himself along the length of the blanket. He crossed his hands behind his head and watched me, probably waiting for me to join him. I pulled my bag toward me first, wanting to grab some water. My skin was way too hot for my own good, and I needed to try to cool myself off somehow. When I tugged the bottle free from my bag, the small tin container Emmett had put the weed in came with it, tumbling onto the blanket.

"What is that?" Edward asked, nodding toward the tin.

I rolled my eyes as I took a sip of my water. I tossed the box to him as I answered. "A gift from Emmett. He insisted I bring it with me."

His eyebrows furrowed as he sat up and twisted the lid off. He glanced inside and chuckled. Emmett had rolled two joints for me this morning and left them out for me on the kitchen table, leaving a note telling me to have a good time. There had been a lighter beside it as well, which I had put in the backpack before I left.

"Did Emmett tell you that I'm his supplier? For lack of a better term." He was smirking at me.
"Our supplier," I corrected.

He quirked an eyebrow. "You smoke? You don't seem the type."

"Funny, Alice said the same about you."

"I think the medical field thing throws people off." He shrugged. "Did you want to smoke today?" He held the tin out to me.

I shook my head, but took it from him anyway. "No, I'm okay. Em and Alice wanted me to show you one of my party tricks, but I figured it was a little much for our first time hanging out together."

"You have other party tricks aside from the pole dancing and tequila body shots?" he asked, amusement lacing his tone. He laid back on the blanket again, and I joined him.

I turned on my side to face him, my head propped in my arm. "The pole dancing isn't a party trick. Not yet, at least. Maybe once I stop working at the club. Plus, regular body shots are also in my repertoire. Those I save for special occasions, though." I winked at him and he chuckled. "But I have smoking party tricks for house parties and stuff."

"Well, you're just a jack of all trades, aren't you?"

"Gotta keep my options open, you know? Just in case the medical school thing doesn't pan out. I can't work at Lucky Devil forever." I grinned at him.

"I think the medical school thing will work out just fine for you, Bella." He turned on his side, mimicking my pose. "From what I can tell, you're very intelligent."

"Definitely not as intelligent as you," I joked. I knew he was embarrassed about his genius status, but it was his turn to be embarrassed about something.

I saw his ears turn pink and a sheepish look pass over his face, but he avoided the topic. "You'll become a great surgeon one day, Bella. I can just tell."

I accepted his compliment, my face only heating up slightly. Maybe I could get this perpetual blushing thing under control.

We spent the next few hours talking about everything and nothing. We played twenty questions back and forth, getting to know each other even better than we already did. It was the little stuff that we cleared up, really. Like how his favorite color was blue and mine was green (which had been a recent development), and how he had never had pets, but I grew up with at least two animals in my house at all times. His birthday was June twentieth and mine was September thirteenth. His first kiss had been with a girl named Taylor in the seventh grade, mine had been with a boy named Kyle in the eighth. He tried bringing up our first times having sex, but I quickly steered the conversation away from that topic, unwilling to tell him that I hadn't actually had sex before.

Edward had packed us lunch, which I discovered was peanut butter and jelly, sodas, grapes, and bags of chips. Turns out he couldn't cook to save his life. I liked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on an unhealthy level, though, so I genuinely enjoyed what he had made us. I told him so and he blushed, which was endearing. So endearing, I leaned in close and pressed my lips to his cheek while I giggled at his embarrassment.

I wasn't sure exactly what had possessed me to kiss him, but I was cursing it vehemently in my head as I pulled away from him. I mumbled an apology, taking sudden intense interest in the potato chip in my hand.

I was expecting to hear him accept my apology, or tell me that I didn't have to apologize, but no such words came. No words came at all, actually. Instead, I felt his touch under my chin as he nudged me to look up at him. His green eyes we intense, boring into mine before they dropped down to my lips. I involuntarily licked them before biting down on my bottom one. His thumb reached up and tugged my lip free. My heart began to thump loudly in my chest as his face got closer to mine.

He's going to kiss me. Holy shit.

Before I could process much more than that, I felt his lips softly brush against mine, almost teasing. My eyes flicked up to his as he pulled back slightly, and he searched my face for something. I wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he must have found it, because he leaned in again, capturing my lips in his, pressing into me firmly. His top lip fit between both of mine, and my bottom fit between his.

I had only kissed a few boys in my life, but they had never been as good as this. That surge of electricity that I had felt when he was holding my hand was making an appearance again. He was so close to me and I could feel his heat all around me. His hand moved to the back of my neck, his thumb stroking the skin on my jaw softly. Edward's tongue brushed against my lip and I sighed against him.

Finally, and much to my dismay, he pulled away from me, his hand still on my neck. He looked at me, his crooked grin on his face. I smiled back up at him, my face feeling flushed, like it always was when I was around him. It was getting, ridiculous, really.

Neither of us said anything for awhile; we just went back to eating our food until we were both finished. We agreed that it was a good time to head back, since it was already nearly two in the afternoon. I helped Edward get some of the stuff packed back into his backpack before we headed back onto the trail. He had grabbed onto my hand and interlocked our fingers as soon as we started walking and didn't let go the entire way back to his car.

So, what did ya'll think? Acceptable first date? Who was disappointed by them not smoking? Because, if you were, I have other plans for that, don't worry ;) I got you, babes.

As always, drop by and leave me a review, they are all greatly appreciated. There will be a slight time jump next chapter, because I'm anxious to get to Christmas-y stuff :) I have some plans for that as well, but not necessarily between E & B. So we have that to look forward to! Let me know what you guys want to see during the holidays, I want to include some of the things you guys want to see. This story is for you guys, after all!

Until next time, lovelies!