Chapter 29: Fireworks

E POV

Everything is ready to go for our date tonight. Bella gets off work in ten minutes and I'm waiting outside in her truck. Tonight is New Year's Eve, I'm going to ring in this New Year with Bella Swan. I can't believe it.

The bell above the door of Newton's Outfitters rings and I look up, it's Mike. He sees me waiting in Bella's truck and comes over. I roll down the manual window as he approaches.

"What's up man?" I greet as he nears.

"Hey Edward," He waves. "How's it goin?"

"Not too bad." I point at the building. "Bella still in there?"

"Yep! She was rolling a couple sleeping bags. She should be out in a minute."

"Cool, thanks!" I nod. I expect Mike to leave but he just kind of stands there awkwardly. "Need anything else?" I ask stupidly.

"Can I ask you something?" He mumbles.

"Suuuure," I answer. "What is this about?"

"Bella." He starts, Oh Lord, here it comes.

"What about Bella?" I nervously voice, my hand automatically clenches into a fist in case this is going to be another dig at Bella or our relationship.

"Well," He clears his throat. "I've noticed that since you two have started dating she seems to be more, er, confident. She's a nice girl and I guess I was just wondering if you are really into her or if you have another reason for going out with her. Because if so, then that's really low."

"What...are you talking about Mike?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

"I'm saying that if you're just using Bella I might have to kick your ass." He warns.

"Well then it's a good thing I'm not using her." I forcefully chuckle. "She means a lot to me Mike, and I should warn you, if you do anything to try and take her away from me, I will kick your ass."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," He puts his hands up in surrender. "She's not my type."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask. This kid is treading a thin line.

"It just means that I'm into blondes," He shrugs, "And I also like girls who are more nerdy looking. You know, the girls with braces and glasses." He raises his eyebrows suggestively and all I can do is smile sheepishly.

"Right," I nod. "Well see ya around Mike."

"See ya!" He waves as he walks to the side of the building where his Toyota is sitting. Well that glimpse into Mike's head was both annoying and interesting at the same time. It just goes to show that I'm not the only guy out there who doesn't like the image that society pushes into everyone's heads.

The bell above the Newton's door rings and Bella walks out. She's wearing her Newton's uniform of Khaki pants and Newton's Outfitters t-shirt. She comes around to the passenger side, opens the door and climbs in. She leans over and I pull her in for a kiss.

"Finally," she whispers. "I was going to throttle the last customer. He had me pull out a dozen different sleeping bags and roll them out so he could see the length, color, width, material and everything else, Then he goes and buys the first one I showed him."

"Huh, well at least he bought one right?" I shrug.

"Yeah, I guess." She sighs as she scoots away and opens her bag. "So where are we going?"

"It's a surprise!"

"Well then tell me," She pulls out two shirts from her bag. "Which one?" The first one is a blue and red and white plaid button-up made of a cotton material. The second one is a black and grey tiered tank.

"Well," I muse. "Despite the fact that the black and grey one is a tank and would show more skin, which I'd love, the blue and red plaid one would be more suitable and patriotic as it is cold outside and New Year's Eve."

"Okay," she shrugs and rips her work t-shirt over her head. My mouth pops open as my eyes skim up and down her body, admiring the color of her skin compared to the red bra she's wearing. She pulls a white tank on over her bra and slips her arms through the button-up. She pulls her hair out of the collar and quickly buttons the shirt.

"Edward?" She asks as I try and collect myself. "Ready?" The smirk on her face let's me know that she knew what she was doing the second she ripped that shirt off. I throw myself at her, my lips connecting with hers my hand groping through the material for the large perfect orbs I had seen a moment ago.

She giggles and lets her hands grab a hold of my biceps.

"God Bella," I exhale as I pull away from her. "That was mean."

"I know," she shrugs innocently. "Now let's go."

I pull myself back over to the steering wheel and shift into drive. She scoots closer to me, her left hand resting on my right knee, tracing small circles on my jeans.

She leans over and turns the radio on, a song by The Verve Pipe croons from the stereo as we turn onto the highway leading to Port Angeles.

"So we're going to Port Angeles." She states.

"Maybe." I answer.

"Okay," She cuddles in closer to me as we take the forty minute drive to Michael's Restaurant in downtown Port Angeles.

"Edward?" She quietly whispers from next to me.

"Hmm?" I let her know I'm listening.

"Why did you want to take me on a date tonight? Not that I don't want to go, it's just I want to know why you wanted to go." She looks up at me, her head resting on my shoulder, a look of curious placidity on her face.

"Well," I breathe. "We haven't gotten to spend a lot of time alone since Winter Break started, what with you having a job and Jazz, Emmett and I working on shoveling snow and moving furniture for people. I thought tonight would be a good opportunity for us to enjoy each other's company."

"Fair enough," She tilts her head to the right then returns it to its original position on my shoulder. "Is Alice going to be unhappy that we're not spending New Year's Eve with them?"

"Not really, I told her we'd be back in time to watch the ball drop." I squeeze her knee.

"Oh, we will?" She asks curiously.

"Yes," I answer. "The fireworks in Port Angeles go off at 9, we'll leave after that."

"Oh, okay." She nods and rubs her cheek against my arm.

B POV

"Tell me something." He says as he takes another sip of his coke.

"Like what?" I giggle as I twist another forkful of pasta.

"Something you've never told me before, something you've never told anyone."

"Okay," I muse. "How about my favorite movie is really Moulin Rouge?"

"Never seen it. Tell me something else." He shakes his head as he takes another bite of his blue cheese burger.

I take another bite and chew as I think over what I want to say. "Well," I say as I finish the mouthful of pasta. "Something I've never told anyone?"

"Uh-huh." He nods.

"Okay, here it goes." I set my fork down and put my arms on the table. "Since I was twelve, I've wanted to be a chef." I take a deep breath and open my eyes, unaware I had closed them. Edward is staring at me, a knowing smirk on his face.

"Isabella," He whispers. "That is something I have known since the day we made taco salad."

"You did?" I ask a bit surprised by his admission.

"Of course," he smiles lightly. "When you cook, Bella, you become this whole other person. You become this force to be reckoned with, this confidence that overcomes you whenever you cook is so fascinating. The first time I saw you cook Bella, that was the day that I saw the whole you, the you that I've fallen in love with. I watched you go from shy to confident to broken to hopeful all in one afternoon and every part of you was fascinating to me."

I stare into his eyes, the jade flames beckoning me to him. I reach out to touch him and his hand meets mine, palm to palm. His fingers push mine apart and he entwines our hands. His smile explodes and it radiates warmth through me.

I don't know how much time passes but the next thing I'm aware of is the waiter asking us for refills, which breaks the trance and our hands separate as we continue with our meals.

"I have something else to admit Edward." I begin lightly.

"What's that?" He answers.

"The day of the makeover wasn't the day I fell in love with you." I smile and he chuckles.

"Oh yeah?" This seems to pique his interest. "When was it?"

"Can you guess?" I tease.

"Hmm," He ponders. "Was it in the concert?"

"No." I answer coolly.

"Was it at Jeremy's?"

"Nope."

"Was it at your house? After I had dropped off your jacket and you decided to flaunt your birthday suit for me?"

I slap my hand over my face at the memory. "I still can't believe that happened." I whisper. "That had to be the most humiliating situation I've ever been in. Also, no that was not the moment I fell in love with you."

"You were embarrassed?" He asks sarcastically. He lowers his voice and then admits, "Bella, I had a hard-on the size of Texas and you were embarrassed?"

"You did?" I squeak.

"YES!" He almost yells. "Bella, you have no idea. Why do you think I had to turn away from you and didn't respond? I didn't want you to see it."

"Oh," I giggle, then chortle, soon I'm having to cover my mouth with my napkin to stop myself from drawing attention.

"What's so funny?" He asks confounded.

"It's just..." I trail off still trying to stop myself from laughing. "I thought you turned away because you didn't want to look at me. I thought you were disgusted by me."

"Why did you think that?" He asks a little anger in his tone now. "I turned around and immediately kissed you and told you how beautiful I thought you were."

"So," I shrug. "I was still comparing you to Drake at that point and he had done the same thing to me." I look up to see that his face has an unamused look upon it. "The moment I fell in love with you though, was the moment in the restaurant, after I had told you about Drake and you admitted to me that you wanted more than just a friendship."

Edward's face contorts into one of understanding and I smile in response.

"So you had already decided at dinner?" He asks dumbfounded.

"Yep," I answer as I take a sip of iced tea. "I just wasn't ready to admit it to myself, let alone you."

"You evil tease." He breathes. I fake a look of outrage and he smiles in response.

"Well, at least you didn't leave me hanging too long." He laughs.

Edward glances at his watch causing me to look at my phone for the time, it's 8:15.

"We better get going if we want to get a good spot." He takes a gulp of his drink, sets it down and beckons the waiter over. He pays the bill and we head back out to the truck.

"Stay here." He stops me at the front of the restaurant. "I'll be right back." He heads to the truck and is back a few minutes later.

"Here," he holds out a blindfold to me. "I'm going to tie this behind your head."

"Okay." I answer as he places the piece of material over my eyes.

"Can you see anything?" He asks.

"No," I lie. I can see down my nose slightly.

"Good," He takes my hand and leads me back to the truck. "Watch your step." He warns before I trip over the sidewalk. He helps me into the truck, his hand taking the liberty of brushing across my butt as I climb into the cab.

We drive a couple minutes before he reverses into a parking spot. "Wait here another couple minutes." He says before he exits the cab. I sit quietly, ringing my hands and listening to him moving around the bed of the truck. I strain my ears trying to associate the sounds with actions. There's a long scraping sound, followed by a light "whump". After a couple minutes of that I hear a slight swishing and crinkling. I feel him walking around in the back of the truck but don't try and look.

The truck shakes a little as he hops out and I hear his footsteps come around to my window. He opens the door and takes my hand.

"My lady." He helps me out and leads me around the back of the truck. "Ready?"

"Yes," I answer a little breathless with anticipation. He whips the mask off and it takes me a moment to take in what he's done. The tailgate of my truck is down, the snow has been shoveled out and a large blue tarp has been laid out. There are three or four body pillows piled against the back and side of the bed, a cooler and a couple of sleeping bags that have been unzipped and laid out.

"Now we can watch the fireworks." He whispers as he pushes me closer to the tailgate.

He climbs in first and offers me a hand up. I give him my left hand, put my right foot on the corner of bumper that is peeking from under the tailgate and hop up. He sits down and pulls me next to him so that we're laid out on the spread out sleeping bag. He takes the other sleeping bag and wraps it around us.

I rest my head on his chest and wrap my arms tighter around him. "This is perfect." I sigh in contentment. "Thank you."

"You're welcome My Bella." He leans his head against the top of mine.

We sit there for a while sipping the sparkling apple cider he packed and munching on the cookies he had brought for dessert. At 8:55 a hush falls over the crowd as the anticipation of the show settles in. Soon the other people crowded in the parking lot start counting down the seconds until the ball drops in New York. As the final second ticks off the first firework flies into the air, bringing with it a round of cheers and applause.

"Happy New Year," He says as he kisses my head.

"Happy New Year." I say in response as I lay a kiss on his chest. Edward and I both stare into the sky watching the light trails of the rockets before the boom of sparks.

"My favorite are the ones that look like palm trees." He whispers.

"I like the ones that send the shockwave at you, causing you to jump ten seconds after they've popped." I giggle.

The fireworks go off for fifteen minutes before the finale starts. I wait for the slight pause then the sudden stream of trails followed by the steady cracking of light and sound that make my breath hitch and my heart skip a beat.

When the final round of rockets shoots off Edward squeezes me closer and I melt into him. I take my eyes off the show and look up, his eyes are on me and I lean in and touch my lips to his. My breath hitches and my heart skips a beat, then the crack of the rockets and the reverberations of the explosion echoes through my body causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand straight up and a giggle escapes my throat.

"Thank you," I whisper again into his mouth. His lips move against mine with more enthusiasm, giving me the 'you're welcome' that I didn't need to hear.

The crowd bursts into applause and I blush slightly, forgetting for a second that they're cheering for the fireworks going off in the sky, not the ones in my soul. I sit up and readjust my jacket. It's cold, but not unbearably so.

We roll the sleeping bags up and wrap everything up in the tarp and bungee cord it all together. We hop out and climb back into the truck to drive back to the Cullen Castle.