Chapter 21

I assured Alice that I would never let Edward get close enough to even try to kiss me. I was lying of course. Edward had already been within kissing distance when he'd stopped me from smashing my face on the ugly tiles of our art classroom.

And then she swiftly reminded me that he was The Edward Cullen. Notorious player of Forks High.

My feelings for Edward were stupid, I knew that.

After saying goodbye to Alice I went inside, I had an afternoon to kill and I needed to keep myself busy so my mind wouldn't wander to things I wasn't supposed to be thinking about

Like how it felt when Edward has his arms wrapped around me.

Geez.

I sat down on the couch and pulled my notebooks out and got a head start on my homework, learning formulas for equations and memorizing quotes from literature for my English essay.

A couple of hours later I was pretty much done and only then did I realise I was starving. My stomach was growling at me. I had some leftovers in the fridge from dinner the other night and heated those though. After stuffing my face I felt a lot better, there was no way I could have waited to eat at Edwards.

It was still so weird to think I'd be going over his house tonight. A Friday night at that.

He must really want that A.

I looked at the clock and huffed. I still had a few hours before Edward would come get me. I glanced around the room racking my brain as to what I could to kill some time. I got to my feet and began straighten things out. I began in the living room, fluffing pillows and folding the throw that sat on the back of the couch.

I went upstairs and folded all the towels in the bathroom, reorganised the bathroom cabinet. Then I moved on to my room, which was still quite messy. It would take me a while. Just what I needed.

2 wash loads and a bin full of the discarded, screwed up sketches later, my room looked great. I'd straightened the various items strewn across my chest of draws. Hung the unworn clothes I'd thrown on my desk back on their hangers. I'd even dusted my photos frames and ornaments on my shelves. I felt so satisfied looking at my now spotless room.

I took a shower, washing away the rain from this morning and the thick layer of dust from my ornaments that somehow managed to stick to my palms. I dried my hair roughly, deciding that I would straighten my hair for the first time in months. It would pass some time.

I pulled on a pair of leggings and a long white vest top, and slung on a turquoise cardigan.

Should I put on some make up?

After a few moments arguing with the voice inside my head, I decided on a little bit of mascara. I poked myself in the eye 2 or 3 times but when I was done, my eyes looked bigger. Guess it was doing its job.

At precisely 6pm there was a soft knock on my front door, I gathered everything we needed and pulled open the door.

EPOV

I was stunned for few moments when she opened the door, she looked kinda cute, her cheeks a little flushed, she looked at me, and there was something different about her tonight.

"Hey, Can I give you a hand with anything?" I stepped forward to take something from her but she shook her head, causing a few tendrils of hair to fall in her face slightly.

"I've got it." she insisted.

I ignored her and took the box from her arms.

"Edward…" she pouted a little. I started down the path to the car

"You really think I'm going to let you walk and carry this?" i held the box up for emphasise " At the same time? I don't think so" I chuckled.

"I could have managed" she sulked.

"Sure sure" I mocked, opening the passenger side door with my free hand. She stopped mid step and raised her eyebrows at me.

"What?" I shrugged, giving her my best lopsided grin.

She chuckled lightly and got in the car.

After putting the box in the boot I got in the car and pulled away.

The drive home was a quiet one, I racked my brain for something to say but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't even remember how to form a sentence. I glanced at her, she looked uncomfortable, her back straight against the seat, he hands resting on her thighs and she was staring straight forward.

We pulled up in my driveway and her eyes grew wide as she took in the house. I grabbed the box from the boot while she got out; i locked the car, noticing she hadn't moved an inch.

She didn't move as I approached, I bumped her shoulder gently as I walked past.

"Are you coming in or you going to stand in my driveway all night?" I said lightly, cocking an eyebrow at her.

She shoved me playfully towards the house.

"After you" she said a small smile on her lips.

I lead her through my home; I could hear her sudden intakes of breath as we moved though the different rooms of the ground floor.

We'd reached the kitchen and I set the box down on the counter to get drinks from the fridge.

"Wow" she said quietly

"Impressed are we?" I asked as I handed her a bottle of water.

"Are you kidding? Of course I am! This place is A-Mazing" her eyes were still roaming around the room, taking everything in.

"Come on, we better get started on this" I retrieved the box from the side and headed for the side door that lead to the garage.

I dumped the box on the work bench and emptied it contents one by one. I hadn't realized how much work we'd actually done already. I glanced over at Bella, her eyes bright.

"This is your garage?" she asked walking over to help me with the box.

I guess she had a point, this room wasn't so different from the rest of the house, except we kept our bikes and tools and paint in here. All organised to look more like art work.

She plonked herself down on a stool and ran a hand though her long hair. Again she looked uncomfortable.

I sat down next to her and sighed.

"Guess this is a little weird huh? You being in my house?" I said seriously.

She nodded "a lot weird…are you sure it's ok for me to be here? Your parents don't mind? I mean I would understand if they didn't want me in your home, all things considered…" she trailed off looking down at her hands in her lap.

"Of course it's ok, I told to them about our…situation. Granted they were a little shocked when I told them about our "truce", they worried that we'll both go back on our word. Which I don't plan on doing by the way. I need this grade. It's as simple as that. God knows I've given them enough reasons not to trust me on this. "

"I'm sure they do" she said quietly, a small smile appeared on her slightly pink lips.

"Well I guess we should start then?" I asked, getting up and grabbing the nearest pile of papers.

"I guess so" she got up and followed me over to where we were going to pin these up on the wall.

Once everything was up we stood back from our makeshift canvas. We worked for an hour or so, moving things around, adding notes to it.

"I think if we move those few things over there, it'll look a little better" she stepped forward to move around the bits of paper.

"Hmm" I mused over our work "there's something missing, I just don't know what" I returned to the work bench, pulled a sketch book towards me and started roughly sketching.

A few minutes later Bella sat down opposite me, she didn't say anything but I could feel her eyes on me.

"Stop watching me. It's distracting" I said softly, feeling a smile across my lips.

"Sorry" she mumbled, I peeked at her just for a second. Her checks flushed a beautiful pastel colour, she was blushing. My grip tightened on my pencil as I sketched, when what I really wanted do was feel the slight heat that I knew radiated from her soft cheeks.

Get. .

She got up from her seat and went back to look at the wall.

A few minutes later I was done with my sketch.

I ripped it out of my book and held it up for Bella to see

She raised her eyebrows and took a few steps towards me. I'd drawn two people with their backs to us, hands joined, walking along a road.

"It's simple, but could mean lots of things, a fresh start, a triumph, an ending or a new beginning, love, friendship, depends how you look at it I guess." I explained

"It's actually really good" she took another step forward to examine it more closely.

"I know, I'm just that awesome" I joked.

She laughed and nudged me with her elbow.

"I reckon we've earned a break, hungry?" I asked as I pinned the sketch up with the others on the wall.

"I could eat" she nodded slightly.

I started for the door to the house and entered the kitchen; I stopped for a second when I saw mom and dad sitting at the dining room table. I felt Bella's small hands on my back as she stumbled into me.

"Sorry" she mumbled, smiling slightly as I glanced over my shoulder at her.

I continued into the kitchen, well aware that my parent's eyes were on us.

"Hello Mr. Cullen, Mrs. Cullen" Bella completely surprised me by greeting my parents with a huge smile and a wave.

"Good evening, Bella" my dad spoke first.

"you have a very beautiful home, thanks again for letting us use the garage, think it's helped us a lot, right Edward?" she turned to me, smiling.

"Right" I agreed before rummaging through the draw where we kept the take out menus.

"Thank you Bella, were very proud of it. And it was no trouble at all" my mom chimed.

I pulled open the fridge door and grabbed the chicken breast; I think grilled chicken would be quick and easy.

As I lit the hob I glanced over at Bella and my parents, they were laughing quietly and Bella snorted then immediately blushed. Her hair falling across her face so I couldn't see it anymore.

"Well, on the menu tonight at Chateau de Cullen is grilled chicken with rice." I said across the kitchen, drawing Bella out of her cover.

"Sounds great!"She exclaimed.

"There's enough if you two want some?" I asked my mom and dad. Their eyes on me

"That would be lovely thank you Edward." She smiled up at me as I filled a pan with boiling water.

"I'll go and check on everything outside, that storms coming in so fast" Dad got to his feet and pulled on a waterproof.

"Storm?" Bella's voice broke a little when she said the word.

"According to the news, a very large storm is making its way towards us, but shouldn't hit till early tomorrow morning" mom turned to Bella, who was frozen on the spot.

"I hate storms" she whispered. Shaking her head slightly.

"Why? storms are awesome!" I grinned at her, adding the rice to the fan.

"Ha! Hardly!"

"Are you afraid?" I teased as I cut the chicken into pieces.

"Yes!" she got to her feet and wandered over to the counter, stopping opposite me, her arms wrapped around herself.

"Edward! Stop teasing the poor girl" Mom smiled slightly, getting to her feet and grabbing the table mats and cutlery.

I smirked at Bella, and stirred the rice. But her expression told me that she really was afraid of the coming storm.

"Hey" I said quietly "don't worry, they're just noise and electricity, you're perfectly fine" I assured her.

She locked eyes with me, her features softening a little as she nodded.

I threw the chicken in a frying pan and let it cook a while.

10 minutes later I was just dishing up the food when dad came in.

"Everything all set?" I asked, placing a plate in front of him as he took his place at the table.

"Yea, we're very well prepared for this storm. That Dick Stevenson better be right about it, can you imagine if it doesn't happen at all. Wouldn't be the first time that weather man has been wrong about the weather; remember the 4 foot of snow we were supposed to have a few years back. We brought supplies to last us a week and we only ended up having 2 centimetres." He chuckled lightly and tucked into his food.

"Of course i remember" mom smiled softly "that was the year Edward licked the lamppost at the end of the drive and got his tongue stuck"

Bella, almost chocked on the water she was drinking.

"Please tell me you got photos" she asked, wiping at her face.

"Of course" dad chimed in.

"Oh god" I mumbled, sinking into my seat a little deeper.

"I would pay to see those!" she giggled.

"Not a chance! Eat your food before it gets cold" I instructed, stabbing my fork through a piece of chicken.

We finished our food without another word about old photos of me, and as I cleared up Bella and my parents talking a little

"He's actually pretty amaz…" Bella was halfway through her sentence when I approached; she smiled up at me and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Bella was just telling us about your project, seems your doing exceptionally well." My dad looked at me, his eyes scrutinizing me.

"Don't look so surprised." I said taking my seat at the table again

He chuckled "I'm not surprised, I'm happy for you son. I knew you could do this, once you sorted yourself out, of course."

"We're very proud of you, Edward" my mom flashed me a smile I hadn't seen in a while.

"Thanks" I mumbled. Taking a swig from my bottle of water.

Bella was grinning at me "huh…hear that, no smart remark, are you feeling ok?" she joked and I chuckled.

"I feel just fine, thanks for asking" I said sarcastically.

"Well, we'll leave you two to it, well be in the den if you need us." Mom finished folding the napkin she had in her hand and tugged on dads arm gently

I saw the flash of confusion across his face then a split second later it was gone,

"Right, thanks for food Edward, it was lovely as always" he got to his feet and followed mom out of the kitchen, but he stopped briefly at the doorway, turning back to us.

"Try not to rip each other's throats out while were gone" he joked and disappeared out the door.

Once they were gone, I flicked on the television in the wall opposite.

"People keep saying that to us" her eyes were on the TV

"Gee, I wonder why?" I chimed, focusing in the label on the bottle in my hands.

She suddenly turned in her seat to face me

"I'm kind a sick of people thinking were a ticking time bomb, that we'll go off at anytime and blow this whole thing, and at first I thought that's what would happen too, but I don't know, you kinda surprised me Edward Cullen." she spoke softly, she was biting her lip again. This time I didn't stop myself from reaching out and gently running my thumb across her lip.

She gently exhaled as my fingers lightly touched her cheek, she didn't pull away, she didn't move.

"I could say the same thing about you, Bella Swan" I spoke quietly. Her cheeks flushed underneath my fingers, I felt the slight warmth there. Before I could stop myself I was moving closer to her, her eyes fluttered closed, and I was a mere inch from her lips

What the hell was I doing?

I was about to kiss Bella Swan.

Holy Shit

At that precise moment the lights flickered and went out completely shrouding us both in darkness, neither of us moved for a moment, i could feel her warm breath on my lips. She was so close to me. She took a deep breath and I felt her pull away from me, leaning back in the chair.

I got up slowly, my eyes only just adjusting to the darkness, and after fumbling around in one of the draws nearby I found a flashlight and flicked it on.

A flash of lightening illuminated the room for a split second; almost immediately followed by a clap of thunder, I lifted the light to where Bella was sat; her head was in her hands.

"Are you ok?" I asked, taking a couple steps towards her.

She raised her head and smiled weakly at me, another flash and rumble and I watched her physically wince at the noise.

"You'll be fine; it can't get to you in here." I assured her, reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear.

"Edward?" my mom's voice carried though the hallway, a second later both my parents came through the doorway with their own flashlights.

"You two ok?" my dad asked when he reached us.

"We're ok, Bells is just a bit freaked out." I informed them

Bells? Since when was she Bells to me?

"Well obviously Dicks timing was a bit off" my dad stated. The rain came then, hamming the shit out of the house.

Bella suddenly got to her feet "I should go, maybe I can call Alice and Rose to come get me" she started towards the garage when a burst of lightening filled the room and a second later the crash of the thunder came. She was stuck on the spot for a few seconds before regaining herself.

"Bella, you can't leave in the middle of a storm like this, it's too dangerous" my mom warned.

"We'll just have to wait it out; as soon as it clears up I'll take you home ok?" I offered.

She turned back to face and mumbled a quick ok.

"Come on, I'll make us some tea, honey go get the lanterns from the garage." She asked my dad as she made her way to Bella, I watched as she put a protective arm round Bella and gave her a quick side hug then steered her toward the kitchen.

My dad took his flashlight into the garage and was gone less than 2 minutes, bringing with him our camping lanterns.

I helped him set them up in various points in the kitchen, while the thunder and lightning continued on, mom tried her best to distract Bella whenever this happened, asking her questions about our project and how her dad was doing.

We drank tea in the dim light, dad telling us stories of his failed fishing attempts, Bella sat close to me, her legs tucked up in front of her, offering to speak to her dad about organising a fishing trip so he could teach my dad to fish properly. My mum asked about Alice and Rosalie, asked about their parents, and if Emmett was treating her like he should. Bella of course sang his praises and then told her of Alice and Jaspers new thing. Which then lead onto this whole new round of questions on where was he taking her and what was she going to wear.

At 11.00 the storm was still raging outside and it was still raining buckets.

"Looks like this storms going to be here for a while" dad got to his feet and stretched a little.

"I think it'll be a good idea if you stay here tonight Bella, is there anyone you need to call?"

My jaw practically hit the floor

"Are you sure? I can get someone to come and get me?" a flash of lightening illuminated her face as she stammered. The thunder followed shortly after, she looked up at me as she sighed slightly.

I just smiled at her, silently telling her that I was ok with it. Hell I was more than ok with it.

Easy Edward

"It's been raining for 4 hours straight; they've probably closed the roads in and out of town anyway. Don't worry about it Bella, we have plenty of room for you to stay the night." My dad started clearing away our cups and flicked off some of the lanterns.

"Edward, why don't you show Bella to the guest room" my mom handed me and lantern and I got to my feet, waiting for Bella to do them same, she smiled at my cautiously, she looked as nervous as I felt.

I held the lantern out in front of me, more for Bella's benefit then mine, she held onto the back of my t-shirt as we ascended the stairs, I took it slow, aware that stairs weren't really her thing,

"I'm really sorry" she whispered as we walked.

"Sorry for what?" I asked, a little perplexed

"That your parents asked me to stay, I shouldn't be here"

"Don't be sorry Bells, you can't help it, I'd rather you be here with me, instead of home alone." Which of course, was true.

"I'm glad I am" she chuckled a little.

Before I could think about what she had said we reached the door to the guest room, just down the hall from my own, well I wasn't exactly going to put her in one of the rooms upstairs. I wanted her close to me.

"Well mi lady we have arrived, please enjoy your stay at Chateau de Cullen, you have your own ensuite, and there are fresh towels on the rack."

"Well thank you Mr Cullen, I appreciate it." She smiled up at me, her big brown eyes drawing me in.

"You're welcome Bella" I whispered, unconsciously taking a step closer to her.

"I mean it, thanks" then she was hugging me, her small arms wrapped around my waist and her head tucked under mine. My arms surrounded her small frame, pulling impossibly closer, resting my chin against the top of her head.

After a few moments I forced myself to let her go, she smiled and turned the knob

She bit her lip, and flinched as another clap of thunder rocked through the house.

"Are you going to be alright?" I asked.

"I'll be fine" she assured me, her answer came out a little shaky.

"I'm down the hall if you need me" I smiled slightly, handing her the lantern.

"Goodnight Edward." She said softly, her eyes locked with mine.

"Sweet Dreams Bella" I watched as she turned towards the door, turned the knob and went inside, but before she closed the door, she looked at me again, a small smile on her lips.

And I was sure I would dream about that smile tonight.

A/N sorry its took me so long to update! I suck! Let me know what you think.