Incredible! You guys are seriously awesome, I mean, 432 reviews?! Wahhh!! Dancing on the ceiling right now!
Okay, down to business; the reviewers are:
Ghosts in the Snow, literatefanatic27, UnreliableVampire, Bethany Knight, x-aly-x, AlwaysAround888, sweet333249, BellaAtHeartt, dollegirl, edwardsfavouriteflavour, 143twilighter, laibballfan, Music ADD, LookAfterMyHeart, HarvestEclipse31, yaaaay, booknerd14, LivforLove (x5), Princess-Tinkerbelle, dot, Prince SILAS III, CarzZy-BunNy, bedwardforever, Grillllz, twilightaddict26, Intoxicated By His Presence (x2), mari alice, smile for the paparazzi, musicormisery4105, vampiressuck.
Special Mentions:
Thankyou for your summary suggestions! literatefanatic27, UnrealiableVampire, BellaAtHeartt, laibballfan, booknerd14, Prince SILAS III, twilightaddict26, smile for the paparazzi,
literatefanatic27: I reeeally wanted to use your summary suggestion, but the silly 255 character limit wouldn't let me -pouts- but I absolutely loved it!
x-aly-x: I always do that too!! I kick my parents off the computer cos, "I need to do school work." Ha! School holidays, anyone? How's your haircut? Do you like it? I'll do my best to throw Jasper back into the mix as soon as I can. Yumm... bad ass Jasper...
AlwaysAround888: Totally watch Win A Date With Tad Hamilton... it's so sweet! It seems very corny and horrid in some parts, but there are reeeeeally sweet bits which totally apply (as in the morals) to life too. Woo! I love pillow fights, they're awesome fun!
sweet333249: Nope, Carlisle and Esme are human.
BellaAtHeartt: Nope, the party isn't formal. More of a meet and greet, but with a lot of sugary lollies instead of sandwiches lol.
dollegirl: Aww... you're already hoping for a sequal? Lol. I'll have to see how people like this story, too, though. I'll probably end up writing a short sequal to pacify my insane friend Ally anyway, so if that happens I'll wing you a copy.
Music ADD: Ha, yeah, I reckont the treadmill incident counts as a near death experience!
HarvestEclipse31: Lol, I was doing my best to make Bella try and understand Edward's intentions, but no, she wouldn't hear of it!! I agree with you though on the 'why do we doubt ourselves?' point - hot (straight) guys have to take an interest in a girl some time!
LivforLove: Well, Bella knows that if Alice gets her hands on Jasper then Jasper will go crying to a teacher and probably get Alice a detention. Lol, I wouldn't hold her back either! Despite this, Alice likes to fight her own battles, so even though Emmett's been very close to breaking Jasper's nose, he's always waited for Alice's approval. So far, he hasn't gotten it, but he's ready to pounce. Heh, I call ladybeetles variations of the name all the time. I can't seem to make up my mind! I'll do my best with the masquerade ball :-)
Princess-Tinkerbelle: Heh, oh Ellie, your reviews are like the bright red light globe in a row of clear ones! A fabulously funny stand-out. I loved the Kim/Jared story too, and I was so proud that I thought of it on the spot! I wish there were guys like that at my school too, lol. Brave, rock climbing with tent ropes? I'd say it was more of a skillful stupidity, lol! Aw, don't hang your head, start dancing on the ceiling like I am! (Yeah, you already knew I was nuts.)
dot: Don't worry, all in good time! There will certainly be some lovin' soon!
Prince SILAS III: Lol, I'm glad you like this story! Thanks for both the story recommendation and the summary suggestion :-) I heart Emmett, he's such a sweetie lol.
CrazZy-BunNy: Bella's a silly girl, she doesn't seem to get it... Edward lurves her!! And she lurves him!! Get together already! You're going to Turkey? SICK!
bedwardforever: You're close, it wasn't Alice who told him - it was Leah (who was told by Alice, so you're technically right). But in true Edward style, he doesn't believe her, but he can try to make her see how he feels, right?
Grillllz: Lol, well, if you can speak-a da Spanish then go crazy! I know I would! You overlooked other chapter updates to read mine? Aww! I feel so special! Lol. Puppy eyes, love it!
vampiressuck: Mike's a sissy! He's used to being given everything he wants - he was the fat kid in the playground who would tell people he peed in the sand so no one would sit in the sand pit and he could have it all to himself; and he wouldn't want something unless someone else wanted it; and he always threw away his toys - they were never taken from him. But Bella took herself from him, so, he is (kind of) chucking a tantrum over the whole break-up.
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Now, I know this chapter isn't as well written as usual, so I'll apologise in advance. I read through it again just a few minutes ago, and everything pretty well made sense. But I had to read a bit slower than usual. Sorry again! Hope the chapter's okay :-D
Chapter Twenty: Pen Pal Meet Party
Angela and I leant to the left as inertia demanded as Alice turned into the parking lot of Forks High School. Tonight was the night of the 'big' Pen Pal Meet Party; a string of four words which had in the last five hours become extremely annoying to me. Angela and I looked at each other, seeing a slightly different face on the other than the ones we were used to looking at. Alice turned back to us from the front seat, jittery and excited as always.
Alice had abducted both Angela and I after school, following me home first then picking up Angela on the way back to her flashy mansion. Luckily for both Angela and I, Alice had picked out clothing that was quite tame considering her usual tactics. Beside me, Ange was wearing a multicoloured t-shirt dress over a pair of her own jeans. Her feet donned a pair of sandals which were rarely worn due to the usually unbearably cold conditions. She had her hair down tonight, and looked lovely. I'd managed to hold Alice back in the makeup department, so she only had on a bit of mascara and blush.
I, however, wasn't quite so lucky.
Angela's makeup had taken Alice no more than a minute to apply. Mine, however, took her more than ten minutes. I had been to afraid to look in the mirror, instead asking Angela for her opinion.
"You look good," she'd said.
I hoped like anything that she was right, because now there was no turning back. In front of me, Alice hopped out of her seat and stood outside the car, fumbling in her purse for something. While I watched, she unveiled a light coloured lipstick and applied it using her reflection in the window of the car.
Angela got out next, being careful not to catch her new shirt-slash-dress on anything.
Alice snapped her purse closed, lipstick safely inside, and waved the keys in my direction.
"Get out, Bella, or I'll lock you inside and you'll die a dishonourable death."
I paused for a moment, wondering if she was serious, but when she raised the automatic keys I threw my door open.
"Alright, alright! I'm out!" I brushed myself off, trying to maintain some dignity.
I looked down at my clothing, then at the school gym, thankful that the building had good heating. Looking back down at what I was wearing, I was convinced that this was not my body.
Alice had dressed me in a black tank top which was a little longer than conventional shirts. I was glad of this fact; if I needed to reach up for anything I wouldn't be exposing any stomach or my butt-crack. Over this I had a black jacket with a deep v-neck collar; red and white pinstripes giving it some dimension. Alice had been nice enough to let me keep my jeans, too, once I started complaining that Ange had been allowed her own pants. But, unlike Angela, I'd been given the luxury of closed shoes. My boots were black, went to my knees and had pointy toes. Alice had tried to convince me to wear them over my jeans, but it was extremely uncomfortable so I'd protested until she'd backed down.
"Come on," Angela's voice cut through my thoughts.
I looked up, and Angela was just in front of me with a hand extended in my direction. It was held up in a way that made me think she'd been waving it in my face to try and grab my attention. Way in front of her was Alice; so far ahead in fact that the light pouring from the gym was giving her a shadow so long that her elongated head was almost at Angela's feet.
"Coming, coming," I said quietly, taking a step to be beside Ange as we followed after Alice.
A minute later we were at the doors of the gym.
It didn't look much different than usual. There were tables set up beneath the basketball ring at our end of the court. Each of them had a teacher behind it, and each table had different kinds of baked goods or various bubbly drinks. The teachers were talking to each other, not really interested in what the kids were doing, nor whether people were waiting to be served or not. I doubted that any of them were here voluntarily.
The only teacher I could see interacting with the students was Principal Cullen, who seemed so at ease it was as though he were one of them. Mrs Cope was manning the punch stand, staring open-mouthed at him and all his strange glory. I smiled at the scene, and followed after Angela when I felt a tug of her hand on mine.
"Hey, guys!" Ange said cheerfully when we took our places in a group of people I already knew.
Alice was there, and Angela, obviously. There was also Leah, Sam, Kim, Paul, Ally and Tyler (who were holding hands), Bianca (Ally's bestie), Ben and Jared.
I was more disappointed than I ought to be to see that Edward wasn't there.
"How are you, guys?" Leah said to both Ange and I.
"Good," I replied just as Ange said the same thing. We looked at each other and laughed at the timing.
"Where's Edward?" Leah asked me. The question was innocent enough, and I opened my mouth to tell her that I didn't know and she would have far more of an idea than I would when I noticed her eyes flick over my shoulder.
I froze, sensing someone behind me, then screamed as I was lifted into the air and swung around. Edward laughed as my hands latched themselves onto his arms, terrified of going flying. If I'm going down, he's going with me!
"Edward!" I squealed breathlessly, and he put me down, still laughing. Everyone else was laughing too, Ally was doubled over and clutching to Tyler's arm to hold herself up. Tyler was looking down at her, an ear-to-ear smile on his face.
"You should, have seen, your face!" Ally managed to splutter out between bouts of uncontrollable laughter.
I tried to take a few steady breaths to slow my heart down. I turned to Edward, satisfied with my current heart rate.
"Edward," I greeted calmly.
I heard Alice on the other side of the circle whisper, "He's in for it now."
And she was right.
"Hello," Edward said, still smiling at me.
I was sure enough that his guard was down, so I leapt forward and started pummelling every part of him I could reach. "That, was, not, funny!" I said between punches. He held his arms over his head, retreating and laughing. He was keeping up a stream of 'ow, ow, ow's. His stupid torso was like a rock; I was convinced that I was hurting myself more than him.
He eventually got control enough to reach out and catch my wrists in his warm hands. I felt a tingle go up my arms and into my heart from where he had touched me, and I was suddenly very aware that he had caught me so my back was pressed against his front and I couldn't move.
I stared at our onlookers and had to laugh when I saw Ally sitting at Tyler's feet, inconsolable in her laughter. There were tears streaming down her face and she was shaking in silent giggles. Her hands were holding her sides, and I knew she was going to have a stitch once her breath returned to normal.
"Truce?" he whispered in my ear. I felt shivers work their way up my back, making my hair stand on end.
I tried to keep the internal tremble from my voice. "Truce."
"Well, if you're done trying to kill each other," Sam said suddenly, and the group's focus turned to him. (Other than Bianca and Tyler, of course; who were both trying unsuccessfully to get a nearly hysterical Ally to her feet.)
"Yeah," Leah agreed, looking over our heads toward the food and drinks tables. "I'm kinda thirsty."
Edward let go of me, and my back felt a little cold without his warmth there. Before I could linger on that fact for too long, though, we all turned and headed over to the snacks, filling our hands with chips and lollies and sugary things that I'd just spend my Sunday trying to work off.
"Got enough?" I asked Edward, who was beside me. He had his hands held against his chest, tons of junk food trapped against his shirt.
"Nah, of course not! I'll be coming back for more later."
"Uh huh." I rolled my eyes and picked up a red frog, popping it into my mouth. "How do you plan on actually getting those things to your mouth from your hands?" I asked, spotting a problem.
Edward didn't think it was a problem. "Like this," he said simply, lowering his head down and sucking the food into his mouth like a vacuum cleaner.
"Disgusting," I said as he raised his head and smiled toothily, revealing the spoils of his chewing to me. But I had to laugh, too.
We walked back over to where the group had been before but everyone had dispersed. Ally, Tyler, Kim, Jared and Ben were talking in an intimate little group by the entrance doors. Angela, Paul, Bianca and Sam were all talking together as well, sitting in a way that included no one else, over on the spectator stand on the side of the gym. I noticed that the 'GO SPARTANS!' poster hadn't been fixed yet. I assumed that Alice and Leah were here somewhere too; plotting their evil ways away from prying eyes and ears. So that just left Edward and I … alone.
"So," Edward said, and I knew that it wasn't a 'so… this is awkward' kind of comment. He wanted to say something.
"Yeah?" I prompted, probably a little too eager for his voice to sound again.
"Do you know somewhere we could talk, a little more privately?" He sounded serious. I was immediately worried.
"Is everything okay?"
He smiled, and I relaxed. "Everything's fine. I just have a bit of a headache is all." As if to prove his point for him, Mrs Cope laughed rapaciously at something, looking over at the principal to see if he was paying her any attention. The noise hurt my ears.
"Okay. There are benches by the doors to the canteen," I said, hoping that the hallways were unlocked.
I stepped toward the doors at the other end of the hall, and Edward followed me out. He caught up and walked at my side as I weaved through the poles holding up the verandas. We finally got to the set of doors leading into the hallway by my locker, and I put my hand on the handle but didn't open it.
"Fingers crossed," I said sarcastically to Edward, who smiled at my lame joke.
I shoved my body weight into the door, hoping that it was open. It rattled a bit, but didn't allow me admission.
"Damn," I muttered, planting my feet and pushing as hard as I could against it.
"Bella," Edward said, putting his arm out and pointing at a sign by the handle. My cheeks immediately burned.
"Oh, uh, right. Pull." I laughed nervously. "I knew that." I leaned away from the door and pulled it, holding it open for Edward to go in first.
"Thanks," he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
I closed the door behind me, and turned back to him, mouth half open to say, 'this way,' but Edward was looking at me with a most peculiar expression on his face. He turned away quickly though, so I couldn't decide what it was.
"Which way?" he asked, looking up one end of the hall, then down the other.
"Here," I said, pointing to the right.
There were lockers lining the right hand side of the hall, mine mixed in there somewhere. On the left were notice boards filling the intervals between classroom doors, messily filled with fliers and colourful notices. Below one of the notice boards about five doors down was the first of a few benches outside the cafeteria. I lead the way, Edward just a step behind me. I was very aware of this fact for the thirty seconds or so we were on our feet, and I felt unreasonably self-conscious about it.
We finally got to the old graffiti-covered wooden benches, and I sat down in the middle, giving Edward the option to sit beside me or leave a bit of space between us.
He sat down so closely that I'd swear I could feel his body heat; but we weren't quite touching. I very much wanted to wriggle over and close the small space between us, but didn't for the paralysing fear of rejection.
"So," I said after a minute of silence. This time, my 'so' was a 'so… this is awkward'. Edward cleared his throat and hung his head, his hands folded. He was leaning forward and I couldn't see his face properly. I wanted to see what emotion was painted across his features, so I leaned forward too.
He turned to me then, and I hadn't realised how close my face was to his. I was frozen there, like a deer in the headlights, and couldn't move. Edward blinked at me, but didn't move either. A loud beep went off in my pocket, and my heart almost screamed in my chest. I jumped, tearing my gaze from Edward's deep green eyes, and reached into my pocket for my phone. I was too embarrassed to see what expression Edward wore so I kept my eyes and face down. My cheeks were burning with awkwardness.
"It's Alice," I said. "She wants to know where I am."
Edward mumbled something in response, but I didn't hear him properly.
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
He'd definitely said something, but I let it go.
"I'll text her later. She'll get over it." I got out of the inbox and shoved my phone back in my pocket. Edward's expression was solemn; like he was battling with himself. "So," I started, hoping to distract him from whatever was bothering him. "How's your headache?"
He paused for a moment before answering. "Still here. But it's a little better, being away from the noise."
I couldn't think of a very good response to that. "Good."
Silence for three heartbeats, four heartbeats, five heartbeats…
"Bella," Edward said, and I knew he was getting to the point. I looked at him, showing that I was listening. "Do you mind if I talk to you about something personal?" he asked unnecessarily.
"No problem. What's up?" I was trying to keep the mood light, but Edward's sombre face didn't change.
"I was talking to my mother on the phone the other night. She mentioned something that worries me. I asked her if it was alright if I stayed in Port Angeles for a bit longer in the holidays because I wanted to go on a road trip with Sam and Jared and Paul, and she said that was fine, but I would need to ask my father first."
He looked at me, waiting for a response. I didn't understand the problem.
"I don't know why that's a bad thing…?"
He stared at me, the cogs of his mind turning. "Did I tell you that my dad's not around any more?"
One heartbeat. Two heartbeats. Three heartbeats. Four heartbeats. Five heartbeats.
Then I remembered. He mentioned it in one of his earliest letters, in passing. "I'm originally from Alaska though. My mum back there travels a lot with her work, and my dad isn't around anymore."
"Oh!" Now I understood.
Edward ducked his head down, hiding his face while he continued. "So I asked her what was going on, 'cos dad isn't around to ask permission from. She told me it wasn't something we could discuss over the phone, and I said that it was cruel to leave me hanging. So she sighed, and told me that she isn't my real mother. Aunt Esme is. And Uncle Carl is my real father. I dropped the phone and ran into my room. This is the first time I've come out in public since Saturday."
Whoa. Bombshell much? I wondered how he had managed to not tell me this in a letter; it would certainly have been easier – but then I remembered that he'd have handed in the letter on Friday last week. The day before he found out that eighteen years of his life were built on a fairly painful lie.
"Edward, I … I don't know what to say. 'I'm sorry' doesn't cut it."
He'd hidden his face in his hands, so I settled for putting my arm around him and leaning my chin on his shoulder. He slowly turned to me, but didn't lift his head. His arms wrapped around my torso, and I moved my own so they were around his neck. We sat like that for a while, my temple resting on his collar bone. He was so much bigger than me that I felt like he was comforting me, not the other way around.
After a long time which seemed too short to me, Edward loosened his grip on me and mine on him. His eyes were pained, but he hadn't had any tears betray him like I would have.
I didn't know what to say, and the silence was so pivotal that I was afraid of messing it up. Either he was going to push me away, embarrassed that he'd had such a moment in the company of someone he barely knew; or we were going to be fine, even better friends than before.
I waited, and waited. Finally he spoke, and my breath caught in my throat.
"Thanks," he said, grabbing one of my hands in his.
I smiled and exhaled as evenly as I could manage; relieved beyond belief that I'd not just lost him.
Edward looked down at my pale fingers. "You're cold," he commented.
I laughed quietly. "I'm always cold. It comes with the address."
Edward laughed too. "Give me your other hand." So I held out my other palm to him, and he clapped my hands together like I was praying. He then covered them with his own, making warmth and colour come into my face and the back of my neck.
I was horribly worried that I was going to mess up this moment, so I gently withdrew my hands from his soft grasp. "We should get back. Alice is probably ripping up the gym looking for me by now."
"Oh, yeah. Everyone else is still out there." Edward seemed to have forgotten that it wasn't just the two of us on our own lonely planet. He stood up and offered me his hand. I took it.
As we walked back, my hands still felt very warm. My cheeks, nose and lips were freezing so I pressed the back of my hand against my mouth, trying to warm it.
"What're you doing?" Edward asked from beside me. I looked up at him without removing my hand.
I rolled my palm around to warm my cheek. "My face feels cold. So I'm trying to warm it up."
"Oh." He walked in silence beside me, looking at our feet. "I can't really warm that up for you, can I?"
I smiled to try and dispel the looming awkward moment. "You probably could. Here, give me your hand."
We stopped walking and he gave me access to his warm skin again. I pressed the back of his hand to my cheek, and we stood right beside the doorway like that for a moment. He was staring into my eyes, and the serious expression had returned. The half smile was still on my face, but my cheeks slowly lowered as Edward brought up his other hand and held my face between his palms, warming my cheeks.
I couldn't have moved, even if I'd wanted to.
And I realised that when Alice, Angela and I had been talking about who we'd love to date, I should have only said one name. It wouldn't have mattered whether we'd been allowed to say a famous person, whether it was on looks or personality or both. Because I would have said the same name every time.
"Edward," I said quietly.
This, rather than bring him closer to me, made him draw back, his hands flying from my face like he'd been shocked. Suddenly, I was being yanked through the doorway. Edward was running ahead of me at a speed I couldn't have achieved in my truck let alone on foot. I tried to look behind me, but all I could see was the blurry outline of the building. Someone opened the door and called out to us, but Edward didn't stop. Who's he running from? We blitzed through the rain, which was kindly drenching me and my new clothes.
Then, we were inside again, bright lights making my eyes hurt for a moment.
"Bella!" a jingly voice shouted in my ear. "Where were you? Why didn't you text me back?"
"Settle, Alice, I was fine." I coughed and wiped my eyes, then wrung my hair out on the gym floor. The teachers looked on with disapproval at the mess I was making, but none of them cared enough to come over and voice it.
Angela was beside me then, her hands on my very-wet arm. "You're soaked!" She looked me up and down, her eyes lingering on the now ruined boots on my feet. I sneezed. Angela clucked her tongue. "You're going to get a cold. I think we'd better go," Angela suggested, looking to Alice for approval.
Alice was torn between helping an old friend and getting to know her new ones. The Port Angeles kids were all standing behind her, quietly chatting to one another. Edward wasn't with them. I looked around. He wasn't even in the gym! What the-?
"Bella, I'm going to drop you home. Do you think you'll be alright?" Alice pushed my matted hair out of my eyes and felt my head to see how cold I really was.
My throat felt icy, as usual, but my teeth were chattering. I tried to voice an answer but it wouldn't come out, so I just nodded. I just needed a shower and some dry clothes. It annoyed me that I was so delicate that fifteen seconds in the rain without a jacket was going to give me the sniffles. Wonderful.
"Okay," Alice said. "I'll be back in a moment. I'm just going to let everyone else know where we're going."
I nodded again, and Angela stayed with me to rub my arms while Alice delivered her speedy goodbyes.
She came back, and Angela became the new Entertainer from Forks for a while. Alice steered me toward the door, her arm over my shoulder to try and provide some warmth. We just stepped outside when Alice squealed in fright. A shadow emerged, and I saw that Edward had taken refuge outside for some bizarre reason. I didn't really care right now, though, because he was holding a jacket out to me.
"I'm sorry," he said, handing it to my now severely shaking hand. I took it and tried to smile, but didn't do so well.
"What happened?" Alice demanded.
For some reason, Edward lied.
"We were walking back from the … oval, and it started to rain so we ran back. I've got a bit of a headache, so I'm going to head off home now. Can you let Jared know that I'm crashing at his place tonight?" Alice looked thoroughly confused, but she nodded in obligation anyway. "Thanks."
Then he turned and headed for the edge of the sheltered steps, bracing himself to walk to his car, wherever that might be. I concentrated on pushing my arms through the sleeves of Edward's jacket. I only realised Alice had called Edward back once I'd pulled the zipper closed with shaking hands.
"So you know where she lives?" Alice seemed excited about something. I heard a response from Edward, but it didn't register because I was fiddling with the hood of the coat, drawing it tightly around my ears. "Cool. Thanks, Edward."
"No problem."
Then, I found myself leaning too far forward because Alice had dashed away, leaving me with no support around my shoulders. Edward took her place before I'd really moved at all, and we descended the steps together.
"Th- th- thanks," I stuttered through chattering teeth.
"Shh," he said quietly. "You don't have to say anything."
It started to rain heavier overhead, to Edward groaned, torn over something. A second later, I knew what it was, because my slow feet were swept out from under me and Edward was carrying me to his car. I don't know how he got the door open without dropping me, but he did it just the same.
I faintly noticed the smell of leather, and bright lights coming to life on the radio as the quiet motor under me burred. I only knew we were moving because my head moved slightly as he reversed then drove forward out of the car park.
The heaters thawed me out after a minute or so, quite a short time to me, so I was able to speak more coherent sentences.
"You're taking me home?" I clarified, thinking it was pretty obvious.
Edward thought it was acceptable to be sarcastic, however. "I'm actually kidnapping you. We're going to live in the forest like Tarzan and Jane. Do you have a problem with loincloths?"
I tried very hard to stop the picture of Edward's muscular body in a loincloth from entering my mind, but failed miserably. It was quite a nice image anyway.
"No, no problem with loincloths." We both smiled and stared ahead at the road. I saw my exit coming up. "Take the next right," I said, untangling my hand from the jacket to point. The indicator clicked quietly until we were cruising along the home stretch.
I realised that not only was I still wearing Edward's jacket, but the hood was drawn tightly over my head. Embarrassed, and hoping that in the dark Edward wouldn't notice, I loosened the little strings and pushed it off my head.
Edward laughed very quietly beside me.
"What?" I asked him.
"Nothing." I stared at him, and he knew that I knew he was lying. "Okay, okay, you looked cute with the hood on is all."
I laughed and hit him lightly in the arm. "Yeah, right."
Our smiles eventually faded, and we sat in a comfortable silence as Edward turned correctly onto my street. "This one?" he asked, indicating to Charlie's house.
"Yep."
He stopped, but left the car (and heaters) running. I unzipped his jacket and folded it in half, putting it between the seats.
"Thanks," I said, smiling at him and putting a hand on the door in readiness to get out.
Edward paused for just a moment too long before answering. "No worries."
I knew where his thoughts were, and though I knew I'd probably stuff up my intended comforting, I tried anyway.
"Edward," he looked at me at the sound of his name, and his lovely face was breathtaking in the bluish light provided by the radio. "There's a valid reason for everything. Someone once told me that life is one big coincidence. Maybe someone upstairs is testing you? I really don't know. But what I do know is that you're strong enough to handle this. And handling it doesn't mean blocking out any help that's offered. So if you want to talk, let me know. Okay? There's nothing wrong with being human."
I thought that it came out pretty well.
Edward smiled and looked down at his hands. "Thanks, Bella." He looked very sad, despite my would-be inspiring speech.
Then I did something that I hoped didn't give me away. I leaned over to him, and kissed him gently on the cheek. But I didn't pull away. He didn't move much, he seemed more stunned than disgusted. I'd take 'surprised' over 'horrified' any day.
"Good night," I said gently against his cheek. He still didn't move, so I pulled back sharply and stepped out of the toasty car, braving the wind to run up to Charlie's house. The fresh rain coated my face, mercifully hiding the tear that had escaped when Edward had all but rejected me.
I turned back to shut the door, and Edward was gone, leaving behind no traces of himself.
Right, I know you're all going to have questions for this chapter, so I'll answer the ones I can think of at the moment.
Yes, Edward and Bella were about to kiss before they were interrupted. Edward was running from Carlisle... I'm sure you've figured out why. Edward didn't make a move when Bella kissed him on the cheek because he was both stunned and afraid - but you'll have to wait for a few chapters to find out what he's scared of.
So, I guess this was a bittersweet chapter for you lovely readers.
And thankyou sooo much for your suggestions for a new summary for this story, I mixed most of them together and came up with this: "AU, OOC, All Human. "Dear Bella, My name is Edward Masen. I'm a student at Port Angeles High." Shopaholic Alice hates smart-ass Jasper, Jacob's a jerk, Bella's taken. Words both break and build relationships – so what will it be? BxE, AxJ". I really wish I could have had a longer one, because there were some bits that I absolutely loved that I didn't want to cut. Silly 255 character rule :-P
Review!! Love you all!
-Shaps