The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: 21 (Photo of Ferris Wheel)
Main Character/Pairing: Bella, Edward
Rating: K
Word Count: 1451

- Edward's Point of View -

"Edward, this isn't funny."

"I swear I'm not laughing, love."

"Edward!"

A smile crept up on my lips despite her fury. Her anger was so endearing. She was so endearing and she didn't even realize it, no matter how often I told her.

"Don't you trust me?"

"The question is, don't you trust me?"

My smile vanished immediately as I wondered if she was joking or being genuine. There were no words to describe my love and trust for her. Surely she knew this; I only told her so every single day.

"Of course. Where is all the uncertainty coming from?"

She pointed to her covered eyes. "The blindfold."

I relaxed automatically, laughing freely. "I'm truly sorry about that, sweetheart, but I want to make it a surprise."

Keeping a part of my attention on the road, I turned towards her and raked my gaze across her face. Her head was tilted in my general direction, her soft and full lips pushed into an adorable pout that had been present since we'd gotten into the car. Unable to resist the urge, I leaned across my seat to kiss them quickly.

She tensed in surprise, her lips frozen under mine for a full second, before pushing me away and screeching, "What are you doing?"

Sighing forlornly at our too-brief, unsatisfying kiss, I adjusted my body to face the front once again. "I'm not going to get into an accident, Bella. I'm the safest driver around."

"Well, I can't see for myself, so how was I supposed to know?" She demanded snappishly. "At least one of us should keep our eyes on the road."

I chuckled softly. "I'm glad you're wearing a blindfold though. If you could see the speedometer at this moment, you would—"

"I don't want to know!"

"You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought you would have taken the blindfold off by now."

"What's the point?" she asked miserably. "You would probably tie it back, even tighter than it is now, before I can fully comprehend you actually doing it."

"True." I admitted unabashed.

I'd been planning this date with Bella for so long now and I was ready for us to actually experience it. She was throwing a huge fuss, I knew, but that was something she always did. Make a big deal about it then sheepishly confess later she had had a wonderful time.

"Besides," Bella continued, pulling my thoughts away from our past date in a local bowling alley. "I tried to take it off earlier, but the knot's impossible to undo. Alice has magic at her fingertips."

"Is it hurting you?" I asked abruptly, anxious about her wellbeing.

It wouldn't surprise—only frustrate—me if she had chosen to withhold this information from me. She never liked admitting she was anything less than fine or having anybody take care of her. She would just have to get used to it since I planned on taking care of her forever.

"No, I'm fine. Just a little annoyed."

"You'll just have to handle being annoyed for a little while longer." I informed her cheerfully. Not paying any heed to her protests, I grabbed her hand from her lap and played with her fingers while I continued to drive. "We're almost there."

"There where?"

"Hmm?"

She gritted her teeth. "Where is it that we're going?"

"Wherever I'm taking you."

She tried to pull her hand away from mine but I held on tight. "And where is it that you're taking me?"

"Our destination."

"Which is what?"

"The place where we'll be spending our date."

I raised her hand to my lips, gently brushing my mouth across the back of her hand and each of her fingers. My focus on the road faltered when her engagement ring—my mother's ring when she had been alive—gleamed brightly and caught my eye. No matter how often I looked at it, the perfect fit and beauty of the ring on her hand would never cease to amaze me. The ring was now hers. I was completely hers just as she was all mine.

From now until eternity.

I squeezed her hand, overwhelmed by the fact that our wedding would be held in a matter of weeks. The impossible wait was completely agonizing.

Alice had been completely immersed in the wedding plans and had dragged Esme into the preparations as well. My sister had reserved several days next week devoted to my future bride, so I had taken the opportunity of Bella's availability for our day out today before she could get sucked into spa days and makeovers.

Bella's breathing was starting to grow a little heavy under my ministrations and for a moment, she seemed a little distracted. I had to press my lips fully against her skin to stifle my laughs, but I had a hunch that she could feel my smile.

She huffed, coming back to her usual self. "I'll never forgive you for this, Edward. You know how much I hate surprises."

"Yes, but you usually tend to end up liking the ones I plan for you anyway, so what's the harm? And as for the forgiving part, you already have forgiven me." I kissed her hand again fondly, grateful as always for her unquestionable and immediate forgiveness.

She turned her head away, facing the window, but I could see her lips curving up just a bit. Her cheeks glowed red, giving her away.

"See?" I asked knowingly with an enormous grin.

"Right. Well, I still don't see the point of the blindfold. If you wanted me to not look, all you had to do was bring a book for me to read."

"You might have cheated."

"Please. Not everybody is like you. Besides, what's the point of keeping me blindfolded along the way? Surely you want the destination to be a surprise…"

"You may have guessed easily. We're not even in Forks now."

"I figured that. We've been the car for quite some time now."

"Not anymore. We're here." I announced, pulling into the parking lot of the carnival.

It was summer vacation and it was a Saturday, so hundreds of families swarmed around the fair. Everything was so colorful and busy. Balloon carts, food stalls, arcade and games tables, rides, clowns and people dressed into stuffy costumes, ticket stands and archery booths.

"What's all that noise?" Bella wondered, a tiny grin lighting up her face.

I rounded to her side of the car and helped her out. With one tug at the strings, I loosened the cloth right away. She blinked in confusion and surprise, her lips parting in awe as she stared wide-eyed in front of her.

"Happy…" I paused, thinking of an appropriate occasion to celebrate being here. "ninety-seventh date?"

She squinted at me.

I shrugged. "We've been on ninety six dates together, not including the double dates with Mike and Jessica which, by the way, were completely disasterous."

She grinned and I perceived a slight bounce in her step as she lead me by the hand to the entrance.

"I take it you're not mad anymore?" I whispered in her ear.

Her laugh was music to my ears. "How can I be? I've always wanted to go to a carnival and get a goldfish prize for winning the ring toss game."

My eyebrows furrowed as she continue to speed-walk me along. "I thought you said you killed all of your pet goldfish. But you've never been to a carnival before?"

"I have, but I never won the ring toss," she explained, looking a little put out. "Renée had to buy me goldfish from the pet store to get me to stop crying."

I smirked as I exchanged money for some tickets at the booth.

"Is that so? Then I'll have to make sure you win this time, love."

Twenty-six rides, three light shows, two rounds of the ferris wheel, one ice-cream (for her) and fourteen arcade and archery booths later, I was leading my very exhausted but exhilarated fiancée out of the fair.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind, resting my head against her shoulder and eying the oblivious and carefree goldfish swimming around in the plastic bag she held up.

I nuzzled her jaw, delighting in her happiness. "What are you going to name it?"

"Goldie, obviously. That's the standard name for a goldfish…"

"So creative, love," I teased, kissing her neck.

"Yeah, you're right. Okay, how about Mr. Bubbles? Loco? Nemo? What about Peaches? He kind of looks like a Peaches, don't you think?"

I smiled. "Peaches it is, then—"

"No, no, I changed my mind. I'm naming him Loco."

AN: This is one of my favorites. I've always envisioned Edward taking Bella to a fair and winning her one of those mega-sized stuffed animals that are impossible to hold. I might do an alternate version of this later where all the Cullens crash their date, and Emmett teases Bella about her fear of heights!