Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. I'm just tweaking the Twiverse and missing my Twifriends.

Thanks to my lovely betas and friends, Chloe Cougar, Squeaky Zorro, and Content1, for helping me out with this 'quick fic' that is somehow morphing into a whole lot more.

Three days felt like too long, so I'm updating a little early. I know some of you guys are a bit frustrated with Bella for resisting Awkward's (love that name) sweet charm. The poor guy is trying so hard to get it just right. Let's see how he does in the bedroom...

Words: 1564

Chapter 21

Mesmerized

BPOV

"So, this is my room." Edward stood just inside the doorway and gestured for me to enter. I stopped in the middle of the long, rectangular space and turned a slow circle, curious to know more about the boy/man/vampire whom I couldn't help feeling drawn to despite our only just having met.

He seemed nervous, but he had no need to be as his room was amazing.

"This is great," I assured him, taking in the wall of windows on one side, that made it feel like we were standing in the forest, and the wall of CDs, vinyl albums, and books on the other.

"You've got so much music," I murmured, awed. "But I guess you've had a long time to collect it all," I mused, still finding it hard to comprehend that this beautiful-looking boy was actually old enough to be my great-grandfather.

After studying the extensive music collection that featured singers, musicians, bands, and orchestras from every genre I'd ever heard of, and a few I hadn't, I looked around the room. A guitar stood on a stand in the corner, and a pile of books sat on a low table beside a long, black leather couch.

"No bed?" I blurted and then wished I could snatch back the words. Edward had pointed out the rooms belonging to the other members of his family on our way to his room on the third floor, and they'd all contained enormous, king-sized beds despite the fact none that none of them needed to sleep. Of course, being couples, they had other uses for the beds.

"I could get one," Edward offered with a shrug, and then he frowned and shook his head, clearly embarrassed by what he'd said…what it intimated. Emmett's booming laughter coming from downstairs didn't help.

It was my turn to shrug, having no idea how to respond to his words or what to make of the fluttering sensation they caused in the pit of my stomach.

I couldn't deny that I was attracted to Edward, but then…who wouldn't be? He was gorgeous. Sitting beside him on the couch in the living room while we'd been talking about so many important things, making crucial, life-changing decisions, I'd felt embarrassed by how incredibly aware I'd been of his presence. With all that I'd been through and all that was still going on, it seemed crazy that I should be caught up in the middle of my first-ever crush. I had a feeling the Cullens would say it was more than that, all part and parcel of my having been turned into a vampire and finding my "mate," something I didn't even want to think about after my experience with Laurent and James. Not that I wasn't interested in Edward, I just didn't feel like I should be…yet. While I was beginning to accept that I could never go back to my old life, that didn't mean I was ready to fully embrace the new one.

In the meantime, I had other things to focus on, namely contacting my parents and seeing them again without putting any of us at risk from discovery, the Volturi, or my own newborn—I didn't like the term, but I could see how it applied—tendencies. Since my becoming comfortable around Edward was part of that process, at least enough to hold his hand, getting to know him a little more seemed a good place to start.

"So…tell me more about yourself," I asked, and his expression lightened, the worried frown he'd worn since we'd entered his room replaced with a hopeful expression.

"What would you like to know?" He cocked his head to the side, a cute half-smile curving his lips and distracting me for a moment.

"Anything…everything," I declared, shaking my head to clear it of the sensual fog that seemed to engulf me whenever I stared at Edward too directly.

Smiling more broadly, which didn't help my mental clarity, he took a few steps closer. "Everything could take a while, as I have a century's worth of memories and experiences stored away up here," he murmured, tapping his temple.

"Start with the basics then," I suggested, licking my suddenly dry lips. "Where were you born? What was your family like?"

Edward happily obliged me, and I was soon caught up in the captivating tales he had to tell of his childhood and teenage years back in the early 1900s. But I was surprised to discover how many gaps there were in his memory of his human life, a hazard, he explained, of the human/vampire transformation process.

"I don't want to forget my family or my old life," I admitted worriedly.

"You won't," Edward assured me, coming even closer, close enough for me to be engulfed by his intoxicating scent. It was somehow sweet and spicy, reminding me of cinnamon, sunshine, sometimes something a little...darker. I swayed a little on my feet after breathing it in.

"Would you like to sit over on the couch?" he offered, and I nodded, feeling oddly breathless despite the even odder fact that I no longer needed to breathe. Taking a seat facing him, our knees were close but not quite touching, and I was hyper aware of those few inches.

"Why won't I forget?" I asked, running my fingers absently along the seam of my jeans. Everything still felt a little strange beneath my fingers, as if I could feel too much, making out each individual fiber. Narrowing my eyes for a second, I saw the fibers also, fascinated and distracted by my astonishing new senses.

"Bella?" Edward softly called my name, and I looked up to see him watching me, a bemused expression on his face. "It's all a little overwhelming at first, but you'll get used to it. The reason you won't forget is because I won't let you. I'll help you to recall your memories before they fade, so that way, you'll have them forever. But really, it shouldn't be too difficult as you're going to keep in contact with your family, so your new vampire memories will just build on your old human ones."

"Oh, that's good," I murmured, trying not to be overwhelmed by his nearness or the velvety, smooth cadence of his voice.

We chatted for a while longer, with Edward answering questions about his long and fascinating life and occasionally throwing in a question about my own, which I answered in as much detail as I could to aid my memory.

"So, no girlfriends?" I asked shyly, dropping my gaze and hiding behind the curtain of my hair after a comment he'd made about occasional bouts of loneliness and the pitfalls of being the only single member of a family of mated couples. He reached toward me, as if he was going to push my hair back from my face or maybe tuck it behind my ear.

"No…no girlfriends," he acknowledged, letting his hand drop.

"Wow…" I couldn't help murmuring. One hundred and four years was a long time to stay single. "How come?"

"I just never met anyone I was interested in that way…before," he whispered.

"Before…" I breathed in return, looking up to meet his intense gaze and unsurprised to see that his eyes had darkened. I had a feeling mine had, too.

For a long time, neither of us spoke, but then I decided it was up to me to take the next step.

"You want to try holding hands?" I asked, catching my lower lip between my teeth, a nervous habit of mine. "I mean…it's no big deal or anything, is it?" I added, trying to sound casual. I'd never really held hands with a boy before, not in an intentional sort of way, and Alice had freaked me out a little with her cryptic comments.

"Of course not," Edward agreed, nonchalantly shrugging one shoulder and reaching his hand toward me with the palm raised.

I took a deep breath, feeling silly for needing its calming influence. But then I couldn't help noticing how perfectly still Edward was sitting and how very intently he was watching me. His pupils had dilated even further so that there was only a sliver of amber circling the pitch black centers, and his rich, intoxicating scent had deepened...darkened.

Ever so slowly, I reached out with my own hand. Hesitating, I held still when there was just a fraction of an inch between us, my eyes flitting between Edward's intense gaze and our hovering hands.

"It's okay," he breathed, and I nodded, closing the distance so that the tips of our fingers touched.

Sparkling, dazzling, overwhelming sensation shot up my arm, and I snatched my hand back in surprise.

"It was just static," Edward assured me, quickly reaching for my fingers again, but I hesitated, holding my hand curled in front of my chest in a protective way. The feeling that had coursed through me wasn't like any static shock I'd received before. For a start, it hadn't hurt or felt unpleasant—quite the opposite in fact. My arm still tingled, the butterflies his touch had triggered low in my belly continuing to pulse in a strangely liquid way.

"Bella?" Edward entreated when I continued to hold back. Mesmerized by his low, husky voice and the captivating look in his eyes, I reached out to him again.

~HIS~

Sizzle and sigh...

I was in love with my hubby for three years before he asked me out (we were just good friends, and he's a bit older than me.) I still remember bumping knees under the table at the restaurant on our first official date thirty years ago. New Year's Eve fireworks have nothing on what I felt. Fortunately...he felt it, too!

Anyone else have an amazing 'first touch' memory?

I love to hear your thoughts on the story...or anything else for that matter.

xxx TLSue