Chapter 26, in which Edward and Bella get some dinner and then make out some more in the car
We walked over to La Bella Italia. My attempt at reining things in with Bella had not been confidence-inspiring, and the whole run-in with Jacob was certainly jarring, but I was determined to pull off just one normal date with Bella.
We were a little early for our reservation but it was not a problem getting a table. As we followed the hostess in, I noticed tables all along the far wall. "We'd like one of the banquettes, please," I requested. She led us to one, and as soon as the hostess left I slid onto the banquette next to Bella.
"Move over," I said.
"What are you doing?"
"I want to sit next to you." She slid over and I moved my water glass and silverware to the other side of the table.
"Plus what is it about girls always snagging the banquette seat?" I asked her.
"It's no mystery. We like to be able to look around at the other people." She glanced around the room and leaned over to whisper, "For example, Mike Newton, eleven o'clock."
I glanced in the direction she indicated and there he was, flanked by his parents, being led to a table in the middle of the room by the hostess. Once seated, he looked around the room and noticed us. Bella put up one hand in greeting. Mike smiled tightly at us.
"This is awkward," said Bella, looking over her menu. "Did I tell you that earlier this week when you were ill he asked me to the winter formal?"
"Oh he did, did he." I shot a dark look at Mike, who looked uncomfortable.
The waitress came and took our orders.
"So what did you tell Mike?" I asked.
"I said I already had plans to go."
"Oh yeah? Who with?"
"I didn't specify."
"Ah, OK. But who are you going with?" I whispered conspiratorially.
"You, dumbass. Weren't you telling your friend James that you're my boyfriend?"
"Yeah…" I said slowly. "I guess I was." I grinned at her.
"OK then," she said primly, placing her napkin on her lap.
"So that is one of my prescribed duties? As your boyfriend?"
"Yes."
I nodded slowly, as if she had just assigned me a dangerous mission. "I'll do it then. Anything else?"
"I'll make a little list."
"But if we do go to the dance together," I smirked at her, "the cat will really be out of the bag."
"We can go in a group. You know, with your siblings. I'll dance with your brothers," she said, inspecting her water glass as if there were something in it.
"That's not weird. They'll all think we've inducted you into the cult."
She looked up at me through her lashes in a way that made my heart stutter. "I would totally join your cult," she simpered.
"That's the most romantic thing you've ever said to me," I simpered back. Her obsession with keeping this thing of ours a secret was becoming absurd but at the same time she was cracking me up.
"How are you going to explain away this to him?" I asked, gesturing to me, Bella, and our little table, and then to Mike.
"I'm not sure, I'm working on that."
"You're crazy, you know," I told her. "In the head."
The server came and brought our salads.
"So, that thing you did back in the theater," I began.
"What thing?" she asked, sweetly.
"You know, the thing."
"Oh, that thing. Did you like that?" she asked, casually, taking a bite of salad.
"Yes, I did like that thing. I liked it a lot." I looked intently at her. She was trying to play it off, but her cheeks were rosy and she wasn't making eye contact.
"Hmm," she managed to say.
"You've never done that before?" I inquired. I was bewitched by her forwardness.
"Wasn't it obvious?" she smirked, finally looking at me again.
"Hmm, yes, I see what you mean. You might need some more practice." I gave her a lascivious look.
"Actually, I think you might need some more practice," she shot back.
I loved that quickness of hers. "That's right. Clearly I do. Could you help me with that?" I asked her.
"Perhaps." Now her cheeks were flaming and she had to drop her eyes again.
I started chuckling and then she started giggling.
Mike looked over at us, looking more miserable by the minute.
We carried on over our mushroom ravioli, when it arrived, chatting about the ski weekend, my old school, San Francisco, her holiday plans (which to my dismay were to go visit with her mom and mom's family for two weeks. I pushed that to the back of my mind to stew over later.). Eventually the Newtons finished their meal and got up to leave, much to Mike's relief I was sure. A few minutes later, while we were looking over dessert menus,
"Uh oh," whispered Bella. "Eleven o'clock."
I glanced over. Mr. Banner and a lady I assumed was his wife were being seated at the Newtons' recently vacated table.
Crap. I slid back to the other side of the table and put my back to him.
"What," Bella huffed. "Is all of Forks hanging out in Port Angeles tonight?"
"Well, why would they be hanging out in Forks?"
"Let's skip dessert," she suggested.
"Yeah, I have a better idea."
Driving home, a Muse song came on the car radio. Bella turned it up. "Undisclosed Desires."
"Who is this?" she asked me.
"Muse."
"I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, but I do love this song," she explained, and proceeded to sing every word, slightly off-key, and also the instrumental parts.
Please me
Show me how it's done
Tease me
You are the one
I glanced over at her, smiling affectionately at her terrible singing. How do you know when you've fallen in love with someone? I wondered. I was well on my way to being in love with Bella Swan, if not there already.
# # #
I drove back to Forks, back to Bella's street, and then drove past her house.
"Where are we going?" she asked. Her street ended in a woodsy dead-end about a block from her house. I parked at the end, a spur jutting into the woods.
"I want to kiss you goodnight and I'm sure you don't want to do it in front of your house." I shifted into neutral, put on the parking brake, and turned off the headlights, leaving the car running so that we could have the heater and the radio.
She smiled at me. "Move over," I told her. "I'm coming to your seat."
"What? There's no room."
"Hoist yourself up for a sec, you can sit on my lap." Bella used the handle on the ceiling to hold herself up off the seat while I clumsily got one leg over the stick shift and slid over to the passenger seat.
"I thought I had called shotgun. What's with you always trying to horn in on my seat?"
"Here, sit down," I told her. She put her bottom on my lap.
"Not that way. Turn around."
"Oh, I get it," she said. She struggled to twist herself over until she was stradding me. My feet were jammed up in the footwell.
"Hang on," I said, feeling for the handle to push back the seat. I lowered the backrest while I was at it.
"You're so tall tonight."
"Sorry."
"I love that about you."
"Mm," I hummed, pulling her down for a kiss. We necked for a while. I caressed her back, at first, and then started feeling her up in front.
"I want to see you," I whispered, tugging at the bottom of her sweater. She looked at me for a moment, and then pulled the entire front of her sweater over her head so that her arms and shoulders were still covered but her chest was exposed. She was now sitting upright on my lap.
"That's a neat trick."
Her lacy little silk bra was pale ice blue. I caressed her breasts with both hands, again relishing the feel of her soft tits under the gossamer silk. I pinched her nipple lightly, making her moan, and then slid my arms around to pull her towards me so I could kiss her other nipple through the silk. I dragged my nose and cheek across the underside of her breast, and then started feeling around in back for the clasp.
"It's in front," she whispered as I fumbled around.
"What?"
She reached down between her breasts and unsnapped the clasp. The bra fell open, showing me her bare tits right at eye level.
I leaned my head back and grinned, and then looked up at her.
"What?"
"Look at you. You are so pretty," I told her.
She leaned down and kissed me, taking my tongue in her mouth and sucking it, and then I kissed down to her breasts and began licking and sucking at her nipples. She moaned more loudly now, and started undulating her hips against me. We were both wearing jeans, and with a double layer of the stiff fabric between us it seemed impossible to get the right angle, or something.
"Hold on," I whispered, and then unbuttoned my jeans and pulled them down to my thighs. We tried grinding against each other again, but I had to stop her because the seam of her jeans was hurting me.
"Let's get in the back seat," I suggested. She took her sweater off all the way to free her arms, and then climbed over the console into the back. I tried to do the same, but ended up having to use the doors.
"Sorry," I said about the burst of cold air as I slid onto the back seat next to her. There were no seat warmers back here and the leather was cold. I decided it might be better to try to use my hand again, so as I kissed her I started unbuttoning her jeans, and slid a hand into her panties, which were also silky, and down into her folds. Sopping wet, I noted with a hum.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"What do you think?" I answered.
"That's not fair for you," she pointed out.
I paused. "Take your jeans off, then."
She paused, and then shimmied out of her jeans. Then she straddled me again. The feel of her sex against mine, separated only by two very thin layers of fabric—thinner and more supple this time than the swim suits—was almost too much to handle.
'Wait, don't move," I said, feeling around for my jacket, which I had left up front. "Here," I told her, helping her put it on. That way I could still see her but she wouldn't freeze.
"OK," I said, pushing my hips against hers. She moaned my name. I pulled off my sweater and t-shirt and hugged her tight against me, feeling her bare tits against my bare chest. I remembered the scent she had left on my fingers that night at the ski house, and I lifted the finger I had put down her panties tonight to my nose and breathed her in. So good. I found her mouth and kissed her, and a few moments later I was coming, jolts of pleasure making me rock my hips harder into hers and make incoherent sounds, all of which seemed to bring on her crisis because she cried out almost immediately after. We sat there for a few minutes holding each other, and then I whispered,
"Sorry I keep going first."
"That's OK, I don't mind," she whispered back.
"I can't help it, you turn me on like crazy," I told her.
She shivered, and then felt around for her pants. She had to lie down on the back seat to get back onto them, pressing her feet against the door to lift up her hips.
I said, "I'm not sure why making out in a car is such an American cultural meme, this is totally uncomfortable."
"I think you're supposed to be driving a Chevy while attempting it. Maybe next time we should try my truck," she said, smiling. She re-clasped her bra and pulled her sweater over her head. I pulled up my jeans over my wet boxers and buttoned myself. I pulled her back sideways on my lap, her bottom on my lap this time and her feet on the back seat, and kissed her some more.
After a while, she whispered, "I should go."
"Let me walk you."
"No, Charlie might see."
"OK, let me trail you slowly with the car like an ax murderer."
"Sounds good."
I drove her a little closer to her house, and then she hopped out.
"Thanks for dinner," she said.
"You're welcome. That was a great movie."
I trailed her slowly with the car like an ax murderer, then once I saw she was inside I drove home.