The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25 dot com
Prompt: Tryst
Main Character: Bella
Rating: T
Word Count: 1845
23. Tryst
Friday, September 2, 2005
10:20 p.m.
.
I lay on my bed reading Romeo and Juliet, wondering grumpily why they bothered to start school on the Thursday of a holiday weekend. Surely they didn't need to build that many snow days into the school calendar? I checked my clock for the tenth time, wishing Edward would hurry up and get here. I was ready to be distracted. There was a tiny plink against my window. I ignored it, but then there was another; after the third, I rolled off the bed and went to investigate.
Edward was standing down in my yard, his hand pulled back in preparation for tossing another pebble. He'd changed his clothes since I saw him last; he was now wearing black slacks and a blue dress shirt, and was twirling a rose in his other hand.
I threw up the window. "What are you doing?"
He gave me my favorite crooked smile. "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun…" I sagged against the windowsill as he continued on through Romeo's speech to Juliet, ending smoothly with: "See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand that I might touch that cheek!"
I faintly quoted Juliet's next line: "Ay me!" For the first time, I really understood how she felt.
He twirled the rose again, smiling up at me. "Might I entreat my lady to come out with me tonight?"
"Yes," I said positively.
He chuckled. "You don't want to know where?"
"Don't care." I shrugged. "I'll be with you."
"Back up."
Well, that was a weird response. I did, and in the next second he was in my room, touching my face with his cold fingers. I shivered, and he pulled his hand away.
"Sorry. It's chilly out."
"I didn't shiver because I was cold," I muttered.
He laughed. "Oh Bella. I love you."
"I love you, too."
We stood smiling at each other for a moment, then he roused himself to action. "You'll need a hoodie or a jacket. Or both. And are you wearing warm socks?"
What? "Where are you taking me?" I asked suspiciously.
"I thought you didn't care," he teased me.
"Well, now I'm curious," I replied, as I changed my socks.
Hey, I've lived in Forks for almost eight months. When someone says to wear warm socks I take them seriously. I wondered if I should put long underwear on under my jeans. I held the thin pants up questioningly, and he nodded. "Might be a good idea."
Ten minutes later, he had me so bundled up I felt ready for the Arctic. He presented his back to me. "Hop on," he said cheerfully.
I took a step back. "Um, we could just go out the front door?"
"Where's the fun in that?" he wanted to know. He stood waiting for me.
I heaved a longsuffering sigh and climbed on, burying my face in his neck. I couldn't contain a squeak when he jumped out the window, and I felt him chuckle. Stupid, smug vampire.
He hadn't run long, a little more than ten minutes perhaps, when he began to slow. I opened my eyes as he jogged through the trees into our meadow.
It was beautiful. There were small, white lights threaded through the trees, and in the center was spread a plush comforter topped with a huge pile of pillows, next to a small table with an oil lamp, and a cooler. He helped me down and darted away for a second, returning with the rose he had been holding earlier in a slender crystal vase. He presented it to me with a flourish and I took it carefully.
"Um, thanks. I'm surprised it survived the run."
He smirked. "I put it inside my shirt or it probably wouldn't have."
"Oh. Well, thank you." I buried my nose in it for a second. I could smell his scent mixed in with the fragrance of the rose. It was the best smelling rose ever.
"It's an American Beauty rose." He ran a cold finger down my blushing cheek. "It seemed appropriate."
"You're biased, I think."
"And you don't see yourself very clearly."
I rolled my eyes at our usual interchange.
"You don't, Bella," he insisted. He traced the features of my face with gentle fingers, then wrapped me in his arms. "You're beautiful. Inside and out."
I threaded my fingers through his hair and tugged his face down so I could kiss him. We had skirted along the edge of his carefully-set limits for several minutes when I tried to pull myself closer to him. For a glorious second I thought he was going to let me, but then he broke away and rested his forehead against mine, his breathing ragged. "Ah, Bella," he sighed.
After a moment, he disentangled himself from me and went to rummage through the cooler. "Do you want tea or hot chocolate?"
"What?" I set the vase on the table and flopped down on the pile of pillows, shamefully out of breath.
"Tea or hot chocolate? It's so chilly I thought you might want something warm to drink. I wasn't sure which you would want so I brought both."
"I'm not at all cold." Who could be cold after a kiss like that?
He obviously took my meaning because he flashed me a grin and said, "Behave." He held up the two thermoses inquiringly.
"Tea, I guess."
He handed it to me, then pulled something out of the cooler and blew out the lamp. A second later I felt him next to me wrapping me in a blanket.
"It's warm," I breathed, surprised.
I felt him shrug. "I didn't want you to be cold. I have a few more—I was hoping we could stay out here all night."
"I wish we could. I have to be home before Charlie though." I horrible thought struck me and I almost spilled my tea. "Crap! Edward, what if he runs home to check on me? He'll have a fit if I'm not there." He would panic; I knew him. I could picture myself trying to sneak home in the wee hours and finding the house wrapped in crime scene tape.
Edward's thumb made soothing circles on my back. "Relax, love. Alice called him and got permission for you to spend the night, and after we left she packed a bag for you and drove your truck to our house. He's glad you're not home alone, actually."
I sighed in relief and capped the thermos so I could lay down next to him. "Then yes, I would love to stay out here all night with you." He chuckled and I stared up at the sky in wonder. "There are so many stars. I don't think I've ever seen so many."
"It's supposed to be clear for the next twelve hours or so; it's part of why I picked tonight to do this."
"I guess it helps that there's no moon, too."
"Almost none. There's still the tiniest sliver of it, over there." I looked where he pointed and didn't see anything. "The new moon starts in the morning, not that we'll be able to tell then."
"What, you won't be able to see it with your x-ray vision?" I teased him.
"Since I can't see through the earth, no, silly girl." He slid his arm under me and pulled me closer so my head rested against his shoulder.
"Doesn't seem to be very impressive then… hey, what's the other reason you picked tonight?"
I felt him kiss my head through my hat. "It's not a school night…" kiss "your father is working all night…" kiss "and this."
He turned us so I was looking up at the sky again just as the first streak of light flashed across it. What must have been hundreds of others followed over the next few hours, becoming as frequent as one or two a minute. I watched in fascination, vaguely aware when Edward got up and wrapped another blanket around me, and drifted off to sleep still seeing streaks of light across my closed eyes.
I woke to more light in my eyes, but this time it was shimmer of Edward's skin in the sun. He smiled at me. "Good morning."
"Mm, morning," I mumbled. I tried to stretch and realized I couldn't. Edward had me completely swaddled in blankets; I looked like a huge burrito. I couldn't even move my arms. "Um, help?"
He laughed out loud. "Maybe I should keep you this way, completely at my mercy."
"I'm always at your mercy." A shadow crossed his face and I cursed myself for saying that. "I didn't mean… I just meant, I love you. Of course I'm at your mercy. I like being at your mercy. Just not as a blanket burrito."
He smirked. "Maybe I like you as a blanket burrito." I was relieved to see the darkness was gone from his eyes.
"Maybe I don't like being one."
"Maybe I just want to unwrap you." He gave me a smoldering look, and even though I was certain he was joking my heart skipped a beat. He started laughing and I scowled at him.
"Very funny, Edward. I wish you couldn't hear my heart so easily."
He cradled my face in his hands. "Your heart is the most beautiful sound I have ever heard in my entire existence."
My hands itched to touch him. "Please unwrap me?"
He kissed me lingeringly. "Maybe."
I craned my neck up to kiss him. "Please?" I whispered against his lips. "Unwrap me?"
Before I knew what was happening, I was standing up with the blankets at my feet, and Edward was on the far side of the meadow.
"You, Miss Swan, are dangerous," he called out.
I sat back down, shaking my head to clear it. "Whoa. Head rush."
In less than a second he was back on the comforter with me, his hands on my shoulders. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." I scooted closer to him, rolling my eyes as he wrapped me in a blanket before he let me lean against him. "No more burrito-ing," I said sternly.
He chuckled. "Don't worry. I've learned my lesson."
I huffed a laugh. "Good."
We sat quietly in the peaceful meadow, surrounded by the reflected light from his skin. It was beautiful.
After a long time I broke the silence. "Edward, last night… thank you. I loved it."
He replied in a voice that was almost shy, "Well, you won't let me buy you presents so I have to get creative."
"I don't need presents. I have you."
His arm tightened around me, and the shimmers danced about us as he moved his head to rest it against mine. He said regretfully, "I should get you back to the house."
I wanted to stay here with him forever. I reached for his free hand and squeezed it. "Not yet."
A/N: Canon-friendly, set before the beginning of NM, Bella POV. To the best of my knowledge, Forks High didn't start school before Labor Day and there was no meteor shower on that night- and who knows if it actually was clear!-but I wanted Edward to have a reason to quote Romeo and I wanted the meteor shower, so I made it be so. ;) The new moon did start at 11:45 am on 3 September that year- found it out completely by accident, and then I had to include it. :D The American Beauty rose is a really pretty dark pink. According to victorianbazaar dot com, a dark pink rose means thankfulness, and a single full bloom means I truly love you. I know Edward was an Edwardian and not a Victorian, but it seemed like something he might know. And now this challenge is complete! This has been fun to write for, and I'm happy it's gotten me back into writing regularly. I'm going to be extending a few of these- Ancient, Desecrate, and Mist for certain- if you're interested in that or in reading anything else of mine, please follow me. :)
UPDATE 6/9/2015: I've posted an expanded one-shot of this with an Edward POV while Bella's sleeping called Shooting Stars. Come check it out!