A/N: sorry guys if I haven't updated in ages but I have finally – FINALLY – finished my exams and I hope I can update on a regular basis… so, you know the rules now! R&R!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Twilight, or Edward – I wish I did! – or Alice – I'd love a sister like her – or Emmett and the rest of the characters… all I own is the plot and the surnames!
CHAPTER 14
EPOV
"You've got to relax, Bella!" I urged, wrapping my hands around her waist.
"I am relaxed." She whined.
"No you're not. Gimme your hand." I ordered. She held her hand out with a sulky expression and I guided it to the back of her neck.
"You feel these? These knotted up muscles have to disappear." I instructed. Bella whipped round and glared at me, crossing her arms over her chest. Her beautiful lips were pulled into a thin line.
"You are not the boss of me!" she snapped. I smirked at her and turned my back, muttering,
"Oh, fine then. Go look for someone else who will tutor you for free."
"You are so not tutoring me for free! If what happened last-" she stopped and abruptly stalked over to her bag.
I walked up behind her and nuzzled my face into her neck, making her blush.
"Go on." I whispered and kissed her neck.
"It's nothing… No, it's stupid." She muttered, dropping her head.
"Aw, it can't be that bad." I laughed. She shook her head and rested her head against my chest, watching us in the mirror.
"It's just something I heard." She whispered, looking away.
"What? What is it?" I asked, suddenly alarmed.
"You know… some girls say that you're so kind to them only so you can y'know…" I knew what she was getting at.
I dropped my arms and stepped away from her, hurt taking over my smirk.
"For someone who had sex nearly every fricking hour of the day, you seem like it's really hard to say it!" I snapped, taking another step back.
Bella bit her lower lip which was trembling and stuffed her hands into her pocket.
"It was just a few girls talking, Edward!"
"And you believed them?" I asked, astonished.
"No! I mean yes… I dunno. You do have a reputation, though" she ended.
"Oh, and so do you! So you really think I was nice to you because I wanted to shag you? If you think that, then you have to go and get yourself checked out! You didn't think for a minute that I might like you because of you?" I shouted, pulling on my leather jacket.
Finally, after years of trying, I had had Bella for me, myself, and I. and now it turns out she was freaking out coz she was scared I might pull her into my bed before she could scream 'fire!'
"I DID think of that, at first… but then I started beating myself up about it… I mean, why would someone like you be interested in someone like me?" she shrugged. I stood there, motionless, the anger washing out of me at the sight of two glistening drops of saltwater skidding down her cheeks.
"Why would someone like me be interested in you?" I whispered. She wouldn't look at me so I lifted her chin with the tip of my fingers and gave her a sad smile.
"Because someone like me has had enough of people in his group walking all over him and making him feel like seven shades of shit. Someone like me wants a new life, someone he can confide him and not fear that it would be all over the bulletin the next day; and when that person finds a girl he likes and she's taken- unreachable, then someone like me would do everything in his potential to get her, to make her feel happy when her boyfriend is a totally heartless arse." Bella looked away and tried to pull away from my grip but I wrapped a hand around her wrist and bought her closer so I could hear her heart beat frantically.
"and when his task is complete, he also hopes that the girl he like thinks more of him than just a passing crush, because this Bella," I pointed at my heart, "Is telling me that nothing like this – what I feel for you – could ever come close to a passing crush." I whispered, resting my hand lightly on her collarbone, making her look at me.
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
"Oh," was all she whispered. She didn't seem to believe me so I tilted her head back and kissed the small tracks the tears had made. She stood motionless until I kissed her on the lips and she finally wrapped her arms around me, holding me close.
I just wished everything could be OK between us, that she would forget who I was for one seconds before saying something that might harm us both. Sighing, she pulled away from me and walked over to her bag.
That's it. I've lost her…. That was what I was thinking before she turned round with a wink and asked, "Gonna gimme a ride home?"
I arrived 'home' later that evening and heard quiet laughter form the living room. I was instantly curious; I knew the laughter didn't match Bessie's.
"Jaz? You home?" I shouted out.
I heard scrambling around and then Jasper appeared in the living room doorway, pulling down his shirt, embarrassed. I eyed him warily and was about to burst out laughing when someone stepped out of the living room behind him.
The laughter died in my throat and I just stared.
"Hi, Edward." Alice muttered, blushing scarlet. She pressed the palms of her perfectly manicured hands to her burning cheeks and looked down, staring at her crumpled shirt.
I buttoned up my jacket again and growled angrily.
"Edward, we can explain-" Jasper started, reaching out to grab my arm. I jumped back and hit my bandaged hand against the banister of the stairs.
"Ow, fuck!" I hissed, looking down at my throbbing hand.
"Edward? Are you OK?" Alice asked, walking over to me and putting an arm round my waist.
"Of course I'm bloody OK! Why wouldn't I be?" I hissed, pushing her away.
"Just because you're acting like a jealous boyfriend!" she shouted angrily. I snorted.
"Edward, it's not what you think, we can explain-" Jasper started, grabbing Alice's hand and pulling her toward him, his eyes narrowed when I shouted again.
"Oh my God, I don't want to HEAR your bloody explanations, OK? Whatever you two get up to is your problem… one warning, Jasper. I'm giving you a warning now: you hurt her, and I'll hurt you twice as bad and ten times as painful." Jasper stared at me I shock, as if he couldn't believe what I had just told him.
"I would never hurt her." He said quietly, betrayal colouring his blue eyes. Alice reached for me but I turned away, leaving the house.
I went up to my favourite thinking spot. A great hill where I would just lie down and think things over, sometimes for hours on end. Jasper used to come with me before he got so complicated. Whenever Bella had been around, then it seemed like it almost embarrassed him that I was around so I came here more and more often.
The sky was dark, not a star in sight, but a large full moon to take their place. I lay down and covered my face with my hands, biting my lip when pain shot across my hand.
I slowly unrolled the bandage with great care, lifting the gauze that was strapped to my stitches ever so carefully.
The stitches were tight against my hand, pulling and itching like mad. I could see a thin layer of new flesh sewing up the cut, leaving a silver scar. When I went to visit my parents on Sunday my father didn't have time to check my hand, let alone assign me more painkillers or take out the stitches to see how far the wound had healed.
Stupid kitchen knife.
My thoughts riveted back to the apartment, where Alice and Jasper had seemed ever so cosy.
I had no right to feel angry. It was Alice's choice and I knew how much she liked him. I got my half of a happy ending, then why shouldn't she?
I rolled over onto my back and closed my eyes, hoping and wishing that the whole experience of walking in on your best friends when they were getting hot did not happen.
My stomach lurched when I heard crunching footsteps up the hill.
I jumped to my feet and balled up my fists, waiting, watching.
"Edward? Is that you?" a voice called out form the darkness.
"Whose that?" I called back.
"Emmett." I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding and slumped back to the ground, staring out across the valley.
Emmett sat next to me and wrapped a brotherly arm around my shoulders.
"What's the matter?" he asked shaking me a little.
"Nothing," I answered. An eyebrow shot up and I shook my head, "It's just… things between Bella and me are going pretty well, but it seems like Alice and Jasper are getting on too well. I'm just scared he'll hurt her. But then, who am I to talk? I'm going out with the girl he loved, who dumped him. He has a right to be angry with me, but…" I trailed off, thinking to myself.
Emmett gave a quiet chuckle and pulled me into a bear hug. For him being so big, it nearly crushed my bones.
"Can't- Breathe-" I gasped.
"Is that what you're worried about? Jasper becoming the Terminator on you?" his laughter boomed around the empty hill.
I huffed and stood up, pacing circles.
"What else should I be worried about?"
"Er, your exams next week? Finding a college? Making up with your mother?" he counted off his fingers.
"Huh… Jacobs British School of Arts sent their letter back to me today… they accepted me." I murmured.
"WHAT? And when were you going to tell me, eh?" he laughed again.
"Actually, I'm waiting for another college to answer my application… it's the Art and Dance College." A/N: I don't know if this college exists or not, but again, it's from my imagination only.
"The one in Rome?" he asked his brow furrowing.
"Yeah… apparently they only choose fifty students out of the two thousand that apply, so I'm wishing and waiting." I stopped pacing and tilted my head up to the sky… one star was glittering a few metres away from the moon. In the galaxy, that few metres could be a thousand kilometres or a thousand miles.
Strange how everything is so different from where we're standing.
"Oh. Ed?"
"Yeah?"
"I need to tell you something."
"Spill."
"Rosalie wants me to marry her."
"What?!" I whirled round to face him, and his face was pained.
"Will you be my best man?"
A/N: OK, guys! You know the rules! Leave a review and I'll update a.s.a.p