A/N: So, it's been absolutely AGES. I don't have an excuse, and I am really sorry, it's just difficult right now, there are so many other things that took over, and I know that that doesn't really explain why I've been away for six months, but really, that's all I have. Please forgive me! :(
And now, I'd like to give shout outs to some special people, some of my wonderful reviewers from last chapter :D
If I could, I would personally thank each and every one of you, trust me, but I thought that these people deserved a special mention because of their amazing reviews and their general support of me even though I've been away for SO long :)
So yeah; BIG HUGS TO THESE PEOPLE :D
1. Blake Evil - Thank you for the amazing review! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You really made me smile :)
2. rickysgirl18 - Thank you for your amazing review! I'm so glad that you like this story, it really is a big encouragement for me when people are so nice! :D
3. Roseythebx - THANK YOU! Another amazing review and general support of me even though I'm terrible at updating! :)
4. Skiesthelimit - You are SPECIAL, in every sense of the word ;) Another ah-mazing review from you, and I'm glad that you liked the shout out last time! I love you too :D
And as always, I do love the rest of you, because you stick with me and read this even when I'm being rubbish, I cannot thank you enough!
But, you have all been waiting SIX loooooooong months for this chapter, which is mainly fluff and cutesy stuff, but is definitely essential overall, and I quite like it :)
So without further ado, here is your chapter!
Read on! :)
EPOV
The next few weeks after the dance passed in a blissful blur.
Well, they did for me anyway.
Emmett and Jasper had been ignored by Alice and Rose for a whole week after the stunt they pulled with Imitation-Alice and Imitation-Rose just so that they could find the real Alice and Rose so that they wouldn't be in the path of Alice's wrath, which they were anyway because the girls had been so insulted by their stunt even though they knew that the guys knew that the girls that they were dancing with wasn't really Alice and Rose, but the cold shoulders from the girls were gradually melting, but I didn't think that they were fully forgiven as of yet.
Anyway, as I was saying, the weeks after the dance passed blissfully.
Bella and I had grown closer and closer over the weeks, and now when we were together it was like two kids conjuring up new ways of causing mischief.
I had had no idea that she was so funny, or so intelligent, or so wonderfully gorgeous when thinking, but now I did, and it made me love her even more.
"Edward? Helloooo?" Bella said, suddenly wrenching me from my reminiscing with her hand waving in my face.
"Sorry, what?" I said, thoroughly confused.
"I asked you what you were thinking about, but you didn't answer me." She laughed, "Did you get lost in the big empty space inside your head?"
I glared at her, not impressed by the obvious insult aimed at my intellect.
"Awww, Mr. Grumpygills!" She laughed again, quoting that Finding Nemo film that we had watched yesterday.
I hadn't really watched the film, I was too engrossed in watching Bella act like a five year old, singing along with that blue fish that was all over the place, uh... Doreen or something.
"Don't call me that!" I huffed, folding my arms and pouting at her.
Yeah, I was acting like a child, but it made Bella laugh, and all I ever wanted to hear was her laugh, or her voice, or her little frustrated sigh when she couldn't figure something out...
Yeah, okay, so maybe I love her just a bit too much, bite me.
But Bella didn't laugh this time, she seemed focussed on my pouty lip.
There was something in her stare, something that seemed to hint at something more.
Until she snapped out of it in true Bella fashion, shaking her head and giggling to herself.
"Sorry about that, I was miles away." She said, smiling at me.
"Your mind is always wandering, it's ridiculous." I laughed.
Her face turned abruptly serious.
"Are you calling me ridiculous?"
"Am I calling you ridiculous?" I raised an eyebrow at her, I knew she hated when I answered her questions with questions of my own.
She narrowed her eyes at me.
I grinned right back at her.
"Well then," she said, "if I'm ridiculous, I guess I'm allowed to do anything I want, being ridiculous and all..." She then raised an eyebrow at me, challenging me.
I didn't know what the challenge was, but I accepted this silent request with a smirk of my own. I could totally take her down, no matter what she threw at me.
"You are allowed to do anything, as long as it's unreasonable. Being sensible is not allowed, because you're being ridiculous." I said.
She chuckled to herself and went to reply, but I interrupted her.
"But then again, to be sensible while being ridiculous would be seen as ridiculous, as you're not meant to be sensible, so being sensible is reasonable." I said, trying desperately to hide the smile threatening to break my calm facade.
She frowned a little and went to reply, but I interrupted again.
I love winding her up, she goes into "angry kitten" mode. Utterly adorable.
"But being reasonable is not what you want to be while being ridiculous, so I guess that you can't be sensible, even though being sensible is unreasonable while being ridiculous, so as to be ridiculous, you cannot be sensible, but you must because it is the only unreasonable thing to do, ergo the only reasonable thing to do while being ridiculous is to be sensible."
The crinkle above her nose had gotten deeper in annoyance and confusion as I had gone on, and the laughter was seriously bubbling to the surface now.
She took a big breath to clear her head and went to reply.
I interrupted her just once more. I couldn't help it.
"I guess you can't be either."
She stared at me, her eyes blazing.
I stared right back, the laughter threatening to overcome me at any second.
"You know..." She started.
And that was it, I broke completely, I couldn't hold it in any longer.
I laughed so hard I was crying, and I tried to apologise to Bella but all that came out were gasps of breath and more laughing.
Then, a pillow came up and hit me square in the face.
"Stupid, freaking Cullen! You know I hate it when you do that!" Bella said as she hit me with the pillow again with all of her "angry kitten" power.
I kept on laughing as she hit me.
"Shut up!" She laughed, her anger dissolving due to my obvious amusement.
I kept on laughing as I looked around for a pillow to reciprocate the hitting with, but Bella got there before me, literally snatching it seconds before I could.
"Ha, got you now Cullen, what you going to do?" She taunted, triumph flashing in her mahogany eyes.
I narrowed my eyes and laughed darkly.
Bella caught on instantly and she got up, starting to back away from me.
"Oh no you don't. I know that look. Don't do it Edward, I'm warning you." She said, the triumph in her eyes being replaced with fear and holding one of the pillows above her head, ready to hit me if I went anywhere near her.
Unfortunately for her, raising her arm to swing the pillow at me was the only opportunity that I needed.
Bella was extremely ticklish and I dived for her side and poked at her stomach until she dropped the pillows.
She was laughing loudly until tears streamed down her face, trying and failing to slap my hands away.
"Stop! Oh god, Edward, stop!" She half-laughed, half-gasped, but I wasn't giving up that easily.
"Do I win then Bella?" I chuckled, still tickling her.
"Yes. Yes. Please. Can't breathe." She said, squirming and laughing.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that. Can you say it again?" I knew I was being mean, but it was so funny.
"Yes! God, Edward, yes!" She shouted at me.
With that, I stopped tickling her and she fell into my arms; a laughing, crying, breathless mess.
She was so beautiful.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Emmett said as he barrelled into my room uninvited, as usual.
Bella instantly blushed and removed herself from my arms.
Trust the gruesome twosome to come and ruin the moment.
"Yeah guys, all we could hear was Bella gasping for air and crying 'Yes! Edward! Yes!" Jasper laughed.
Bella blushed even more and chuckled nervously.
"What do you two want?" I sighed. No doubt they had some terrible plan up their sleeves.
"You mean apart from mocking you mercilessly?" Jasper replied with a smirk.
"That's just implied. You always do that." I said humourlessly.
"It's just because they're still being shunned by Alice and Rose." Bella laughed.
I laughed with her as both Jasper's and Emmett's faces dropped.
"Yeah, well, we're working on it." Emmett said defensively.
"Yeah." Jasper added.
I raised an eyebrow at them and Bella scoffed in retort.
"Yeah, right. You seem to forget that I'm best friends with both of them. The shoulders you guys are getting are so cold that I'm surprised your balls haven't gotten frostbite yet." She laughed.
"Awww, man." Emmett whined as Bella and I laughed like idiots at them.
"You know Bella, you could always help us out a little..." Jasper said, looking at Bella with his best puppy-dog eyes.
I looked at Bella and I could see her resolve wavering.
Jasper's baby blue eyes were playing tricks with her, I could see it.
"No Bella! Don't do it! Don't look!" I laughed and covered her eyes with my hand.
"Dude! No fair! Jasper was totally in the zone! Puppy-dog eyes were going to save our asses!" Emmett whined again.
Bella just laughed, even though my hand was still firmly over her eyes.
"Eddie! Let her see! We need our girls back!" Emmett whined, punching my arm.
Just then, as I was about to move my hand to punch Emmett back, Bella grabbed my wrist and moved my hand herself, holding it in her lap so that I wouldn't try to cover her eyes again.
"I know how difficult this must be for you two," She laughed, "but the girls are crumbling, and fast. All you guys need is some big romantic gesture and they'll forgive you in an instant. They miss being nice to you, although I don't know why."
"Thank you Bella! I'm on it! Romantic gesture, here I come!" Emmett roared and practically leapt out of my room, shouting for Jasper to follow him.
"Thank you so much Bella. We owe you one. Majorly." Jasper said and dashed out after Emmett.
We heard Emmett talking about how Jasper's baby blues still worked after all this time and laughed, shaking our heads at the pair of them, idiots that they were.
"Right, let's go get some food. I'm starving." Bella said enthusiastically, squeezing the hand of mine that she was still holding.
Oh dear god, she was still holding my hand.
My eyes went wide as I stared at my hand in both of hers.
We were silent as we both looked at our intertwined hands.
I could feel myself blushing and I swallowed hard as I looked up to see Bella's reaction.
She was blushing and wide-eyed, like me, but instead of looking afraid, she was confused.
The little crinkle above her nose gave her away instantly.
Her eyes then looked up to see my reaction, and when he eyes met mine, something sparked between us.
It was barely there, I'll admit, but there was something.
Then, in true Bella fashion, she shook her head and giggled nervously to herself, letting go of my hand and shattering this "moment" or whatever it was that you wanted to call it.
I coughed awkwardly to clear my throat and ran a hand through my hair.
"So, yeah, about that food..." I said, my eyes looking around my room uneasily.
This seemed to snap Bella back to what she had been thinking before.
"Yes. Food. I'm starving." She said brightly, her trademark smile settling back onto her face once more.
Almost bounding out of my bedroom door, she turned and looked confused that I had made no effort to move.
In all honesty, my legs were like jelly after what had just happened. I didn't know that Bella could have such an effect on me, and her reaction just confused the hell out of me, but the spark, that spark...
"Edward?" Bella laughed when she saw that I had got caught up in my thoughts again.
"Uh, yeah?" I managed to reply, ever-so-eloquently.
"Aren't you coming?" She giggled, tilting her head a little and grinning as she took in my confused expression.
"Sure, sure." I said, getting up and playfully pushing her through the doorway.
And that was it, as if our little "moments" had been forgotten altogether.
Well, forgotten by Bella at least.
A/N: I thought that after my long absence you deserved an Edward chapter seeing as you all love him so much! ;)
What did you guys think?
Did you like the moments between them? Did you hate them? Give me what you've got, even if it isn't coherent :P
As sad as it sounds, you guys reviewing makes my day better, and I need better days right now.
What's wrong? Oh, not much. I just really miss someone who is very special to me. Christmas isn't a nice time to feel lonely, but there isn't a lot I can do.
Share some love with me and review, or add this story to your favourites, or just a story alert.
Something to tell me that you're all still out there, and that I haven't been shunned for being rubbish :)
And I probably won't update again before Christmas, because I'll be busy, busy, busy! So a very Merry Christmas to you all now! :D
I hope that this Christmas will be great for all of you! Just make sure that you are wary of mistletoe, or use it to your advantage! ;) haha
Ooh, also, before I forget, do any of you have tumblr? If so I'd love you to follow me and my ramblings! Tell me in your review or PM me if you have tumblr and tell me what your screen name and that is so that I can follow you back if you decide to follow me :)
I have a tumblr dedicated to my poetry: fated-to-fail(dot)tumblr(dot)com
And then my tumblr dedicated to all manner of randomness: cupcakes-rawr(dot)tumblr(dot)com
Of course, to get to the pages, just replace the (dot) with a full stop and shove it into the address bar of your browser :)
I look forward to reading all your blogs and gaining more friends on tumblr! :D
Thank you guys!
I love you all! :)
x Seraphie x
