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CHAPTER 26: WITH A SLIP OF PAPER

EPOV

"Edward, I'm sorry," Alice said as she threw on a jacket. "I know you want to talk to her, but you've got to let her come to you. She's really embarrassed about what happened and she just needs a little time."

"Alice," I said, "I have to talk to her. She shouldn't be embarrassed for anything! Just tell her I have to see her."

"I'll try." I watched her scurry out the door and listened as her car drove away. She had been with Bella and Rose every day during the week, which I suppose was good for her with Jasper gone now to school. However, this left me alone without even the slightest glimpse of Bella since Friday night.

It had been the best and worst night of my life.

I picked Bella up from her house, though I did drive up and down the street for ten minutes to avoid being too early. She was beautiful everyday, but tonight she was my own personal angel. I silently wished to myself that she had dressed up for me, but I didn't deserve such a gift.

At the concert, even I was surprised at how well I played that evening know my angel was watching me. When the song finished, I quickly looked up into the audience. I t took me less than a second to find Bella. Her eyes were wide and seemed to glisten with tears. That was either a very good sign or a very bad sign. Oh crap. Maybe I shouldn't have named the song for her; maybe it was too early. I hurried off the stage, not even staying to hear the applause. I thought I had ruined it right there.

I stayed back stage for a few minutes, watching as others left the area and headed out to meet their friends and families. I had to face her. After all, I was driving her home.

As soon as I saw her out in the lobby, it felt as if every other person around us was moving in slow motion. I weaved through the crowd and stood in front of her. She seemed to be at a loss for words, so I did the first thing that came to mind.

"I think it went okay. I mean, I hope it did. People seemed to like it and everything. It was okay, right? You didn't mind the name or anything?" I rambled on, hoping something I had said would inspire her to speak. She just continued to look up at me with an expression I had never seen grace her face. "Bella, please say something. Even if you didn't like it."

I was expecting her to say something. It just wasn't like her to have an opinion on something, even if I was surprised by said opinion. However, I was not expecting her next action. In one swift movement her arms went behind my head and pulled me down to her, our lips meeting for the first time. How many times had I thought about this and pushed it out of my mind, knowing that she was too good for me? I had dreamt of this moment, written music about this moment, and here it was.

I finally regained focus, realizing in all of this that my lips were merely planted on hers, not doing any work. Just as I put myself into the kiss, she tore herself away, as if she had been shocked. Well, this might not be the correct term because the feeling of her lips on mine was like a tiny bolt of electricity running between us. She looked at me wide-eyed, as if she was surprised by both of our actions. Oh no. Had she thought I didn't want to kiss her because I had not reacted?

"Bella," I said, preparing to explain to her how much the kiss meant to me despite my delayed reaction. Before I could get anything else out, she turned and ran, dodging the crowd until she was out of sight.

I had waited at my car for her after this, not knowing if she was coming home with me or not. Either way, I planned to stay put until I knew she was safe. As other people made their way to the parking lot, some congratulated me before driving off into the night. As nice as it was to hear people compliment my music, there was only one person in the whole world that I cared about.

Some time later, I watched as Bella scurried out of the building and into Chief Swan's car. I know she saw me as she made her way towards the car, but before I could reach her, the car had sped off.

The next day, Alice had spoken to her and Bella was distraught by the whole thing. I begged Alice to let me call her, to go see her, but she said that Bella needed some space after what had happened. She said that Bella would have to talk to me first, and for a whole week I had given her space. Now, without exaggeration, the space seemed to be killing me. I slept less but still did very little. I didn't bother shaving or even changing out of pajamas. My dad had mentioned going to work a few times, but could see that I just wasn't up for it. As sad as it sounded, there was only one place I wanted to be; at school. I would see Bella at school on Monday.

I let the weekend pass by at a painfully slow rate. Going through Bella-detox was something I hadn't wanted to do in the first place. It was a pretty safe bet that it was Sunday evening when Alice first burst through my door and turned on all my lights.

"Jesus, Alice!" I said trying to shield my eyes. "I haven't had lights on in days."

"Edward, I love you dearly, but you are looking pretty unfortunate right now." She shook her head at me while picking up my dirty clothing and putting them into one big pile. "If Jessica wasn't such a whore, even she probably wouldn't sleep with you looking like this."

"You think?" I replied. Maybe if I looked this crappy everyone would leave me alone.

"Even Bella wouldn't talk to you right now."

I hated that Alice had found my newest weakness.

"Edward, I can't promise much, but if she sees you at school like this," she stops, raising her nose, "or smells you like this…well she would just be a traumatized as I am."

She grabbed my hand and yanked me from my bed, pushing me towards my bathroom. "I'm doing this because I love you," she said, grabbing some clean clothes for me to put on and throwing them into the bathroom. "Go shower…a lot."

"How does one shower a lot?" I said. At least she would appreciate that I was responding.

"I don't know, but you better find a way! Even I'm not sulking like this and I'm dating Jasper!" She closed the door behind me, leaving me in the bathroom alone. "I'm going to start your laundry. When I get back, the water better be running!" I heard her leave and re-enter. "And don't make me give you the smell test like mom used too!"

I didn't feel up to it to fight with her, so I turned on the shower, letting it warm up before getting inside. I was perplexed by the idea of showering 'a lot' but I decided it meant to shampoo and lather up a few times. The idea of seeing Bella tomorrow popped into my head and I chose to use the soaps Alice had bought me for a present. I turned off the water once I was satisfied with myself, drying off and wrapping my body in my navy bathrobe before stepping back out into my room. Alice was changing my sheets when she looked up and smiled. "I smell a difference already." She tucked in the sheets before making her way over. "Oh! And you used your gift soaps!"

"What next?" I said, letting Alice control the situation.

"Well, something tells me that Bella won't be into you looking like a mountain man."

"Who says Bella wants to look at me at all?" I said, hoping Alice would tell me anything that Bella had said over the past 10 days.

"Go shave," she said simply, not indulging me.

I went back into he bathroom and picked up my shaving cream.

"Do it slow! If you cut yourself you're gonna look like a kid going through puberty!"

"Gee thanks, Alice." I did go slowly though; she was probably right. I stepped back into my room to see that Alice had cleaned out all the old cups and plates of food. A pair of jeans were on my bed and Alice was digging through my drawers. I guess she was saving me a couple minutes in the morning. An army green shirt flew by my head and Alice stood up to examine my face.

"Very nice," she said, approving of my efforts. "You have some school supplies?"

"In my trunk."

"Perfect," she said, heading towards my door. "Now go to sleep. The bags under your eyes look like hell."

"Can I talk to her?" I said, half pleading.

She sighed and took her phone from my pocket. "You can text her as me."

I quickly took the phone from her, excited to have some communication with Bella.

"Can't wait for school tomorrow! Sleep well!"

I waited for a text back, just one was all I needed. Finally it came.

"Me too! Night!"

I smiled at this, hoping that maybe a part of her would be excited to see me.

"Thank you, Alice," I said, handing the phone back to her.

"You better be thankful!" she said, storing her phone in her pocket. "I gave up an hour of my regular beauty regimen for you!"

She skipped out of the room and I tucked myself in, ready as I could possibly be for the next day.

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Morning came quickly and I awoke feeling better after a long night of sleep. I showered quickly before putting on my clothing and heading downstairs. Alice was already there sitting on the counter and eating a yogurt.

"Hey," she said, waving her spoon at me.

"Morning." I grabbed a bagel and sat down at the table. "Am I driving you today?"

"No, Bella is going to drive us so she can see where school is." I nodded at this, hoping that soon Bella would let me drive her to school. After all, my car was safer.

Alice hopped down from the counter winked at me before exiting the house. I hoped this was a good sign, but did not want to become over-excited.

I parked next to Bella's truck at school, knowing that if nothing else, I would at least catch a glimpse of her today. I picked up a couple items from my trunk before heading in and picking up my schedule. I ended up not being too bad this year, except I didn't have a lot of free time.

Despite the fact that I had not seen Bella, the first half of the day went quickly. Lunch came next for me, where I was certain that I would see Bella. I spotted her quickly; she was at a table in the corner of the room with Rose and Alice. They were all laughing at something, but it seemed like Bella's laughter, her smile, they brightened the whole room. I maintained my distance from her, sitting with a table of guys towards the middle of the room. I tried to steal glances at her while ignoring the conversation at the table; who was the hottest senior.

When the lunch bell rang I quickly got up and moved to my next class, biology. I had always done well in science, so I just made my way to the back row of lab tables. I watched as other students filed in, waiting for class to start. Just when I thought that the class was full, one last person hurried through the door; Bella. I surveyed the room immediately, thankful that the only seat left open was next to me. She noticed this around the same time and made her way slowly back next to me.

"Hi," she said, blushing a little before putting down her books. "This seat is open, right?"

"Yeah," I replied, wondering if we were going to be mentioning…what happened. "Bella," I said, hoping to clear the air.

"Edward, you don't have to say anything about it," she said quickly, sitting down in the chair as the teacher started speaking.

No. I couldn't just let us become this. If nothing else, we had to be friends. I needed her. I needed her to know the feelings that I had for her.

I sat listening to the teacher pondering what I should do. Finally an idea popped into my head. I sat back on the chair and ripped out a piece of paper from my notebook. After scribbling on it for a few minutes, I folded it up and placed it in front of Bella. She stared at it for a minute before looking back up to the front of the room. I swear I was holding my breath for the rest of class until she finally took the paper into her delicate hands and unfolded it. Her eyes widened as she looked at it, then to me, and then back down to the paper. I heard the teacher say we were free to go early, hoping Bella would speak to me now.

Instead, she quickly got up and moved swiftly out of the room. Oh no, she was not getting away this time I thought as I followed her down the hall and out a set of back doors.

I'll do my best to update tomorrow! Get excited!