Chapter 35- Method Of Modern Love

In the moonlight, under starlight
Songs old as the night are what I've been dreaming of

Everybody's hard as iron
Locked in the modern world
Dreams are made of a different stuff

I believe love will always be the same
The ways and means are the parts subject to change

Method Of Modern Love- Hall & Oates

April 28, 2005

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Thanks to Charlie's fishing prowess, it was once again fish night at the Swan house. He was expected home soon, so Bella was rushing to finish dinner in time.

"It will only be for a couple of hours," I pointed out to her as I rested my elbows on the kitchen table.

She stomped over to the stove and dropped a fish fillet into the bubbling pan of oil. She then whipped around to face me while indignantly crossing her arms. "I just think that it's a lot of trouble with very little to gain," she unwaveringly replied back.

I rolled my eyes. She was possibly the only female in existence who would feel that way about an event such as this one. "It wouldn't be that difficult to pull off. You and I know very well that Alice would take care of everything if you would agree," I urged. "All you would need to do is show up and let her take care of the rest."

"OK, I'll give you that one," she reluctantly agreed. Yet before I could enjoy my victory, she thought of another excuse. "But what about all those people? They might stare at us. I don't think I could handle much scrutiny that night."

"I can't say that I would blame them," I teasingly winked. "I'd be staring at you, too."

"That's really not helping your case, Edward," she wearily sighed.

"Then what will?"

Bella hesitated in answering the question. She grabbed a long, silken strand of her hair and began nervously twirling it around her finger. "It's just- I think we should wait a little longer before we do something like this. Maybe next year I'll be ready."

"You just want to put it off," I accused. "When I ask you this time next year, you'll have another excuse ready to give me."

Her eyes sharpened and her lips irritably smashed together. "Oh?" she shot back. "Are you and Alice psychic twins now?"

"No, but I do know you," I calmly explained as I rose from my chair. "And I've been studying your strategies. You have given me plenty of excuses, but I don't believe that any of them should be too great of a concern for you."

Now that I was directly in front of her, I reached out and pulled her finger away from her hair and began playing with the strand myself. As I did so, I methodically began checking off every excuse she had given me while giving her a simple solution. "If you need help, you have Alice and several friends that could assist you in picking out a proper dress. And as for people looking at you, that's nothing new. Staring is the only thing the good people of Forks have for entertainment. And, finally, as for waiting until next year, well, I think we should go ahead and do it now."

"Why?"

"Because graduation would be soon afterwards and I think we'll be worrying about that more than attending a dance."

"But it's just the prom! It's not that big of a deal," she argued back.

"It doesn't have to be a 'big deal', Bella," I countered. "It would only be an hour or two of your time, then we would leave."

With her teeth unconsciously biting her lip, she brought up another perceived problem. "But what about my feet?"

I involuntarily dropped my gaze down to her usual sneakers. When I raised my head to look at her again, I was trying (but failing) to hold in a smile. "I see that you have two of them. What's the problem?"

My joke fell on deaf ears. Her dark eyes flashed up at me. "The problem is that I can barely walk without tripping when I wear sneakers. I don't even want to know what would happen if I were to wear a pair of high heels. It would be a disaster!"

"What's the worst that could happen?"

For a moment, she said nothing. Her gaze flicked away to look down at her feet, suddenly appearing self-conscious and vulnerable. "Falling on my face in front of everyone would not be a night that I would want to remember," she dejectedly muttered.

Though I understood her concern, I felt stung that she was forgetting one important factor. I released the lock of her long hair and lifted her chin upwards in order for her to see me properly. I gave her a small smile, hoping to show her that she had no good reason to worry. "Silly girl," I deeply sighed. "I'll be right next to you the entire time. I would never allow that to happen to you."

Before she could say anything to that, we heard the sound of the front door knob being turned. Charlie was home.

I quickly stole a kiss before I sat back down on my chair. Charlie may have no longer showed any disapproval that I was seeing his daughter, but I certainly wasn't going to push my luck. I felt fairly confident that he would change his mind about me if he knew for certain that Bella and I were doing more than just studying in his kitchen nearly every weekday.

As soon as I released her, she turned her attention back to the fish that was frying on the stove- most likely to hide her flushed skin and bright eyes from her father.

He soon tromped into the kitchen, after (thankfully) hanging up his service weapon moments after entering his home. "Hey, kiddo. What's for dinner?" he addressed his daughter. Then, with a brief nod my way, he added, "Edward." This was his standard greeting whenever he saw me. I took it as the warmest display of affection the man would likely ever give me.

"Fish," she answered without looking at Charlie.

Despite the fact that fish was on the menu at least twice a week, his eyes lit up and he greedily rubbed his hands together. "That sounds great," he enthused as he sat down at the table. "You staying for dinner, Edward?"

"Yes, sir. I wouldn't miss it for the world. I've been forced to just sit here and smell her cooking for the past half hour. I'm starving now."

He briefly nodded his head. Then, as though he were not really interested, he added, "Alice joining us tonight?"

"Nope," Bella replied while piling the fish onto a serving platter. "She had some work to do at home."

Charlie's face sagged a little in obvious disappointment. Ever since Alice introduced herself, he had fallen under her charms. She could do no wrong in his eyes. She had even managed to convince the longtime bachelor that his previously beloved grungy recliner needed to be replaced with something more "up to date". Now, instead of the dingy brown chair that he had owned for fifteen years, there sat a brand new leather recliner in the living room. Every so often she would stay to have "dinner" at the Swan residence- whenever Charlie's back was turned the three of us would work to either eat or hide the food on Alice's plate.

Soon Bella joined Charlie and me at the table and we began to eat. Whenever I ate with Bella and her father, our dinnertime conversation usually was limited to three subjects: what you did that day, what are you doing tomorrow, and in Charlie's case, how many fish he caught the last time he went fishing.

Occasionally, he would surprise us and throw in something new.

"I ran into Harry Clearwater today," he announced a few minutes into the meal.

I recognized the name immediately, but Bella did not. "Who's that?" she asked in a disinterested tone.

"He lives down on the rez," Charlie explained after he swallowed down a bite. "I haven't seen him in a while. He filled me in on some news about Billy."

Her head snapped up to look at me, then darted over to her father. She knew that name well enough. "Billy Black?"

Charlie confirmed it with a nod.

Ever since the vampire nomad incident from several weeks before, the Quileutes and the Cullens' former hostile relationship had begun to evolve in a more positive way. Carlisle had met with Billy Black and the wolf pack a couple of times and hammered out a more modern treaty. Among the details, the most interesting was the agreement that if the wolves ever came across information that could affect the town or the Cullens, they were responsible for notifying us. The same was expected of the Cullens. Also, to my delight, their surveillance on me was greatly reduced. That alone was a breakthrough.

"What about him?" she warily questioned Charlie.

"Well, it's not really about him. It's about his son. A few days ago, someone mentioned that he hadn't been to school for a while. So, I asked Harry if he knew anything about it. He said that the boy's too sick to go anywhere."

"Jacob's sick?" she interrupted in alarm.

Charlie's thick, dark brows rose up in surprise. "I didn't think that you would remember him. You haven't seen him since you were little."

"I didn't remember him," she corrected while shaking her head. "I met him when Edward and I went to First Beach."

"Oh. Well, I think I'm gonna swing by Billy's house after work tomorrow to check on him." Then, almost as though it were an afterthought, he somberly added, "I haven't seen either one of them in a couple of months."

"OK. I'll keep your dinner in the oven until you get home."

He snorted in amusement as he shook his head. "Tomorrow is Friday. I'm sure you two have more exciting things you can do besides waiting for me to come home and eat dinner. I was planning on stopping by the diner and catching up on all the gossip I've been missing out on."

She rolled her eyes. "You just want to eat there so you can rack up on your daily intake of saturated fats and salt without having me watching over your shoulder."

"I ate there every night for the past decade until you moved back. I've been there maybe twice since then. It's not going to kill me to eat there tomorrow night."

"I hope not," she muttered under her breath.

"So," he slowly drawled out to steer the conversation in a different direction. "I hear prom's coming up soon."

My eyes immediately flicked over to get a good look at her face. I could almost see the figurative wall she was building to block out any appearance of interest in the conversation.

"Yep," she apathetically remarked, now suddenly intrigued with the pile of English peas on her plate.

"Ms. Cope was telling me the other day that it even has a theme this year," he commented as though he wasn't aware of what she was doing. "'A Night Under The Stars'. That sounds interesting."

"Yeah," Bella replied in a detached tone. "I heard about that, too."

Charlie began poking at his fish fillet while his mustache uncontrollably twitched. Evidently his attempt at getting Bella to talk was not working out as he had hoped. A minute passed while we quietly resumed eating.

He loudly cleared his throat before he tried again. "Mrs. Fields told me that her daughter is going this weekend to pick out a dress. I think some boy asked her to the prom just a few days ago."

"That's nice," Bella flatly remarked while her gaze remained fixated on her dinner plate.

Then, Charlie made one last ditch effort to obtain the information he wanted from his daughter. "I made sure to save up a little extra so you can buy a dress too. Mrs. Fields said there is going to be a sale at the department store in Port Angeles this weekend. Maybe you and some of your friends can team up and go together."

Finally, this appeared to penetrate her mind barrier. Her head popped up. "Dad," she moaned. "Don't worry about it. I don't need any of your money. Keep it and go buy yourself a nice new rod or one of those fancy fish sonar things to attach to your boat."

Roughly sighing, Charlie turned his weary eyes to me. "Have you asked her yet?" When all else fails, ask the boyfriend.

"Several times," I admitted.

"And?" he pressed.

I tilted my head to the side as I decided on how to answer the man's question. "She makes up elaborate excuses as to why it would be impossible for her to attend. I'm beginning to wonder if she is too embarrassed to be seen with me after school hours," I dryly added. I could easily hear her muffled grumbling from where I sat.

Appearing astonished by her refusal, Charlie turned back to look at Bella and asked the same question that I had been asking her nearly every day for the past two weeks. "Why don't you want to go?"

"Because prom is pointless," she gruffly shot back. "In twenty years, who's going to remember their prom night? No one, that's who. So, I think it would be far more memorable for us if we were to find something interesting to do that night instead. Like, a movie. Or a concert. That sounds like a lot of fun."

"I think your assumption is wrong, Bells. I remember my prom just fine." Charlie leaned back and stared into the distance as past memories flooded his thoughts. "Your mom wore a hot pink dress with puffy sleeves and a bow on the back. I wore a white tux that I rented from Port Angeles. Jeff Nichols was prom king and Cindy Downs was the queen. The last song they played that night was I Want To Know What Love Is by Foreigner." A wicked smile crept upon his face as he added, "I may be old, but I'm not ancient enough to have lost my memory yet."

"OK, Dad," Bella sarcastically acknowledged. "Point taken. You obviously have a photographic memory."

His smile became softer. "I just think that you should give it a chance. I don't want you to grow up and regret not going."

In response to his frankness, she took a bite of something from her plate, then gave a brief shrug. "I'll think about it," she muttered once she had swallowed. This was as much of a concession as she was willing to give her father.

After dinner, Bella and I wandered outside to sit on their front porch swing. The air was cool but not uncomfortable. The earlier drizzling rain had abated enough for us to enjoy our time together outside for a change. During springtime in Forks, this was as lovely of an evening as you could hope for.

As soon as we sat down, she leaned her head back on the white wooden swing and let out a calming breath. Though it felt nice sitting with her like this, it did not feel quite close enough. I draped my arm around her shoulders and tucked her into my side. I could hear a couple of barely discernible giggles as she made herself comfortable, now positioning her head on my chest.

"It's so sad that you can't go more than two minutes without touching me," she teased with a straight face.

"You're exaggerating," I retorted. "It's been nearly half an hour."

"And that's sad, too."

"What is?"

"That you actually keep up with how long it's been since you last touched me."

I could do nothing but laugh at that comment- she was right.

"I blame you for that," I accused with a lopsided smile. "Ever since you showed up that day in the school cafeteria, I've been a complete mess. When I'm at home, I'm counting the minutes until I can see you again. Everything makes me think of you. And then, when we are together, I can never seem to get you close enough. Somehow you became my whole world before I was even aware of it."

"That sounds horrible. Having an obsession like that is probably unhealthy for a boy your age. Maybe I should take you to rehab."

"I don't think they could ever find a cure. I'm hopelessly addicted."

"Good. I like your unhealthy dependency on me more than I let on. I'm used to it now."

"And I'll be forever grateful for your benevolence," I chuckled, placing a kiss atop her head.

We quietly sat for a while, listening to the chirping crickets accompanied by the creaking of the swing. Soon her breathing slowed and deepened as though she were about to fall asleep. I wouldn't have minded, but our prior conversation had reentered my thoughts.

"Bella?"

"Hmm?" she hummed with eyes closed.

"I think Charlie is right. I don't want either one of us looking back on our lives and realizing we missed out on anything. I want to take you to the prom."

Her eyes flew open and she sat up to get a better look at me. "But why? We could do anything else that night. Why is prom so important to you?"

A creeping smile spread across my face. "Did you know that my mother did a lot of charity work?"

"No. Does this have anything to do with my question, or are you just trying to distract me?"

"This has everything to do with your question," I confirmed. "As I was saying, my mother did a lot of charity work. Back then, the favorite way to raise funds for your charity was by throwing a huge, elaborate ball. And, as you can imagine, she helped throw a lot of them. So, several times a year, Mother would plead with me to ask someone, anyone, to attend one with me. Every time, I would tell her no, that I wasn't interested. And, every time, she would walk away disappointed in me. I always felt guilty that I was letting her down, but I could never imagine myself at one of those...things with a girl attached to my arm like an accessory. And I would never purposely give a girl the wrong idea about me. I was happy to stay an unattached bachelor.

"Then I somehow found myself here and my life was flipped upside down. I had been accustomed to living a certain way and when I was faced with-" I paused to wave my hand around at our surroundings. "All this- it was almost too much for me to handle. I stayed up in my room for hours on end thinking back on everything that had been taken away from me. It was not a healthy way to live. Looking back, I'm shocked that Carlisle and Esme didn't insist on either therapy or a straight jacket."

I lowered my voice, found her hand, and lightly grazed my lips across her palm as I spoke. "And just when I thought my life could not become any more complicated, you came along and flipped my world around again- but for the better, of course. I've never been so content before- not even in Chicago."

"But..." she encouragingly coaxed.

"But," I echoed with a wan smile, "I would like to fulfill one of my mother's wishes even though she isn't here. I want for us to dress up for once. Maybe have a nice, quiet dinner somewhere that doesn't involve anyone but you and me. Then, we can show up to prom, see what it's like, say hello to a few people, then leave. It doesn't need to be a big production."

Cocking up a brow, she huffed out a mocking laugh. "Aren't you forgetting something? Isn't it usual for people to dance at prom? Or did you conveniently forget that aspect?"

And there we have it. The true reason for her stubbornness about attending the prom with me. Just as I had suspected...

"I didn't mention it because I knew that it would be a deal breaker for you," I truthfully revealed. "Actually, I was thinking of offering you a compromise of sorts. We go, but we won't dance around all those people. Would that make you feel better?"

For the first time since I began asking her two weeks ago, she did not immediately refuse my suggestion, nor did she give me some sort of sarcastic remark. She finally seemed to be slightly interested.

"That does sound a little bit better," she conceded.

"Does that mean you'll go with me?"

"You promise that we won't dance?"

I held up my hand. "I swear that there will be absolutely no dancing in the gym when I take you to the prom," I solemnly vowed. Hopefully she would not analyze my vow too thoroughly...

With a shy grin appearing, she snuggled closer to me. "OK," she murmured.

"Thank you, love. I'll make sure that we both have a unforgettable experience that night."

"Every night with you is unforgettable, Edward."

I shook my head at this girl, feigning disappointment. "I'm jealous. I should have said that to you."

"Hey, I can't help it that my brain works faster than yours."

I threw my head back and laughed. "Undoubtedly, it does. Your beauty tends to overwhelm me."

A minute or so of peaceful bliss passed by before she spoke again.

"Edward? Do you have your phone with you?"

"Yes. It's in my pocket. Why?"

"Oh. Well, now that we've decided to go, I thought Alice would materialize in front of me, or at the very least, call me. Isn't she usually the one that wants to drag me around shopping for useless stuff? Now that I need her, she's a no-show."

"Hmm... You're right," I agreed. A minute went by as we both contemplated on the anomaly. Eventually, I realized what Alice's silence meant. "I think I have a couple of hypotheses for you that may explain why."

"Let's hear them."

"All right. She hasn't called you because either A) she suddenly has no interest in dressing you or giving you makeovers. Or, B) she has a rack of formal dresses of your exact size stashed inside of her closet that she bought months ago just in case this situation ever arose."

Bella slowly began nodding her head as she thought everything over. "The second one sounds the most likely."

And it turned out to be the correct one.

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"I knew I shouldn't have eaten that mushroom ravioli. I think I'm gonna be sick," groaned Bella from the passenger seat of my refurbished Volvo. We had just driven to Port Angeles, had a light dinner, and come back to Forks approximately an hour after prom had officially begun.

"You're not going to be sick," I comforted after I pulled into a parking spot. "You are just nervous. Once we get inside you'll see for yourself that you have nothing to worry about." I hopped out of the car and walked around to open her door. With evident reluctance she took my outstretched hand and allowed me to pull her out from the confines of the car.

Even though I had been with her for hours already that night, she still managed to stun me the moment she stepped out. Her dress was silky soft and delicate- just like her. Its deep blue hue complimented her fair complexion. With her dark, meticulously curled hair and her large, expressive eyes, she looked to be the epitome of innocence and purity in a young woman.

Yet, at the same time, her dress exposed her body in a startling way. I had only seen her in sweaters, t-shirts, and jeans. And here she was now, wearing what would have been considered a scandalous negligée back in 1918. Her shoulders were bare, exposing vast expanses of flawless, milky white flesh. The frilly wisps of silk and chiffon of the dress only seemed to enhance her feminine curves as it hugged her body and cascaded downwards to just above her knees.

The instant that I saw her walking down the stairs of her home, I had two distinct urges. The first and most prominent urge was to grab her and discover the taste of the skin of these newly exposed areas.

The second urge I had was to grab her father's trench coat off the coat rack and wrap her inside of it before any of the boys from Forks High could see just how undeniably appealing she was sans bulky sweater and jeans.

And it appeared Charlie was not entirely comfortable with Bella's suddenly grown up appearance either. With pained eyes, he watched his gorgeous daughter as she took her place by my side. Almost as though my hands had a mind of their own, I wrapped my arm around her waist just before he went to take our picture. Charlie cocked a challenging brow as his eyes bore into mine for several awkward seconds. His mouth never moved, but I knew what he wanted to convey. I immediately shoved my errant hands into my pants pockets to resist anymore temptations while in his presence.

After she got out of my car, Bella straightened her dress and then heavily sighed. "Once we get inside I'm going to wish I had worn my sneakers instead of these stilts," she snapped as she gestured down to her two inch heels.

"I thought Alice put you through a crash course in how to walk in them properly," I recalled while I assisted her towards the gymnasium.

"Yeah," Bella delicately snorted. "I felt like I was in etiquette school. I had a book on my head while I walked around and everything."

"And did it help you?"

"No. It wouldn't stay on my head. Alice said my posture was on par with a caveman's. But on the bright side, I think I made Rosalie laugh a little."

Rosalie had become more difficult than usual after the nomad incident. She refused to speak to anyone for several days after she heard that we had told Bella everything. Emmett seemed particularly traumatized when she locked him out of their bedroom once he voiced his happiness in Bella's knowledge of their true identities. I suspected that he was merely thrilled that he would no longer be required to eat while she sat with us during mealtimes.

I believe the only thing that brought her out of her hostility was the huge restoration project my car required. When she wasn't in her room pouting, she was attired in her mechanic overalls while tinkering on the Volvo. Many days of manual labor later, she unveiled my newly restored automobile- fully functional and probably in better condition now than it had been when I first bought it.

When I attempted to thank her, all she did in response was "humph" at me before once again giving the cold shoulder. To the average person, that would mean that she was angry as ever. But I knew better. She had acknowledged me. That meant that she was slowly thawing from her icy attitude. A month later, she was once again calling me brainless and idiotic. It felt good having her back to normal.

Bella and I stood in front of the gym's dreary metal-gray doors listening to the thumping beat of the music coming from inside. I gave her a wink before shoving them open.

Electric string lights were strung along the walls and rafters. Arches of crepe paper and balloons stood at several points in the room. A large refreshments table festooned with a glass punchbowl had been set up near the locker rooms. Everywhere you looked, couples swayed to the slow song the DJ was playing.

And standing just by the entrance, waiting for us, were the school's resident vampires. Alice's face beamed as she clung to Jasper's arm. "That dress is even more perfect for you than I envisioned! Doesn't the color and the lighting in here make it seem as though her skin's glowing, Jasper?"

"Yes it does, " he confirmed with a smile.

"Though I think maybe I should have added just a few more curls to her hair..." she critiqued with a probing look at Bella's head.

"It's perfect," I hastily defended.

Alice's survey of her handiwork wandered down to Bella's feet, and her delight intensified. "And see, Bella? I told you that the more you walk around in heels the easier it will be. Flats just don't give the same effect as a good pair of heels."

"The only reason I'm standing upright is because I've been hanging onto Edward all night long," Bella disagreed while clinging to me for dear life.

"Thank you, Alice," I uttered under my breath. Alice's grin grew wider while Jasper mutely chuckled.

Emmett, who had been engaged in a deep conversation with Rosalie, turned away from her and then scrutinized Bella from head to toe. "Whoa!" he exclaimed after his eyes zeroed in on her legs. "Who knew that sweet little Bella had such great gams?" Bella's face instantly blushed beet red.

With an eye roll, Rosalie smacked Emmett on the back of his head. "Try to be a gentleman for once, moron," she snapped.

"But I was giving her a compliment," he perplexedly replied.

"Real men compliment a woman's beauty," she bitingly retorted.

"What? So I should have said she has beautiful legs instead?"

"You are hopeless," she hissed in frustration. She grabbed his hand and began pulling him towards the dancefloor. "Let's dance before you get the chance to say anything else to humiliate me tonight."

"Yes! Dancing!" crooned Alice in excitement. "We've been waiting for you to show up before we lost ourselves in the music." Her smile faded as she added, "I wish you two would reconsider dancing with us. It would be so much fun."

"We'll have a good time. Don't worry about us," I replied while comfortingly squeezing Bella's hand.

"Yeah," Bella agreed. "You guys go on ahead and we'll watch."

"OK," Alice sighed in deep disappointment. Then, just as she and Jasper began walking away, she shot me a sly, knowing smile as her brow raised up in amusement. I hadn't told her anything about my plan tonight, yet she obviously knew. I took comfort in the fact that she had kept her mouth shut.

Bella and I meandered through the crowd until we found an unoccupied wooden bench. From this spot we could watch our classmates as they enjoyed themselves. Angela and Ben soon greeted us and asked if we were still doubling with them to the movie theater next weekend before they went back to dancing.

A fast paced song began playing and the crowd cheered. While the Cullens were foxtrotting around the room, half of the students were spastically shaking their bodies to the beat of the thumping bass. A couple of the less inhibited girls turned their backs towards their dance partner and wedged their backsides into their dates' personal space. My jaw dropped down to my chest. Bella, in turn, kindly smiled at my obvious discomfort and pushed my mouth shut with her finger.

Lauren, who was one of those bold girls on the dancefloor, seemed to be enjoying the music too much and completely lost her mind. Her head was thrown back as she gyrated into Connor's middle section. He appeared either too horrified or confused by the situation to do anything to save himself- he just stood there with a bewildered expression on his face while she made a spectacle of them both.

Tyler had managed to snag a date with a sophomore a few days before prom. In his excitement to please her, I watched as he rushed over to the punchbowl and obtained a drink for his date. As he made his way back to the girl, he too became caught up in the music as he half danced, half walked across the dance floor. In fact, he became so intrigued with a dance move he had just discovered that he was capable of performing, that he appeared to forget that he was carrying a cup full of punch. He crossed his feet and spun in place, whereupon the liquid flew from the cup and onto Lauren. Most of her hair became drenched while her pale lavender dress looked like it had just been tie dyed with red fruit punch. Poor Tyler did not notice the disaster he had unwittingly created until he heard her furious screeching as she fled towards the girls locker room.

Later, Jessica spotted us from across the room and dragged Mike towards us. Despite his nefarious intentions towards her, somehow their relationship had survived for several weeks so far. Jessica seemed to bring out a mellower side to him that had previously been absent from his character. The sullen glares he once devoted to me had begun to wane. And, though I could see that he was still attracted to Bella, he was no longer making it as blatantly obvious. I was hopeful that if given time, his obsession would fade away.

Jessica's eyes were bright and shining by the time she was standing in front if us. "You look great, Edward!" she gushed. Then, as though it were an afterthought, she added, "And you look nice too, Bella."

Both Bella and I uncomfortably mumbled our thanks before Jessica launched into a detailed play-by-play of the evening's events so far.

Meanwhile, instead of doling out idle chitchat like Jessica, Mike became uncharacteristically mute as he stared down at us- or more specifically, at Bella. Occasionally, Jessica would try to draw Mike into the conversation, yet she seemed to be unaware that his attention was focused elsewhere at the moment. I desperately wanted to throw myself in his line of sight to block his view of Bella. I knew I should have brought Charlie's coat...

"Are you guys gonna go to Justin's party later?" asked Jessica once her reservoir of gossip had been depleted.

"I doubt it," Bella skeptically replied.

"Oh, come on! He's been planning it for weeks!" She turned to tug at Mike's jacket to grab his attention. "Tell them, Mike. Tell them how much fun it's gonna be!" she whined.

Realizing that he had been gaping at something (or rather, someone) that he should not, Mike flinched in surprise while his face reddened. It was nice to see that he had at least some shame in him.

"What?" he incoherently blurted.

Jessica exaggeratingly rolled her eyes at her date. "It's like your head's in the clouds tonight," she irritably huffed. "I said, tell Bella and Edward how fun Justin's party is supposed to be. They weren't planning on going."

"Oh," he confusedly muttered. "Yeah, it's gonna be great. His parents are out of town and everything. And he even talked his older brother into getting a few cases of Bud Lite. You should come." He addressed the last part directly to Bella.

Bella barked out a laugh while shaking her head. "No thanks. The last place I want to be is at a party where there will be drunken high school kids. My dad's a police officer, remember? And the people in this town see everything. I bet you he'll get a noise complaint about them before the first beer can is popped open."

This nugget of factual information had clearly not been considered before. Jessica and Mike stood there blinking back at us, too stunned by her intelligence to speak.

I decided to take the opportunity and escape before either one of them could suck us back into another long conversation. I stood up from the bench and lifted Bella up by her hand. "I think we should go get a drink now that the refreshments line is empty," I said as an excuse. I slapped on a polite smile and added for Mike and Jessica's benefit, "Excuse us. We'll try to catch up with you two again later."

Much, much later...

"Sure. See ya later," chirped Jessica before she led Mike to the dancefloor.

I wrapped my arm around Bella's waist and we wove our way through the crowd. I purposely walked us right past the refreshment table.

"The table's back that way," Bella observed aloud while pointing behind her.

"I know," I smirked. "I just wanted to get away from everyone for awhile. You don't mind if we go outside, do you?"

"No," she replied in a carefree tone.

I shoved the metal door open and helped her to a picnic table stationed nearby. We were well away from the gym, yet we could easily hear the fast paced song that was being played. I checked the time and saw that we had been there for over half an hour already.

Though the clouds were out as usual, they were not numerous enough to block out the night sky completely. The moon shone down brightly enough to illuminate everything around us despite the cloud cover. I looked towards Bella and found her leaning back against the table, her head pointed towards the sky. The moon's beams fell upon her alabaster skin, creating a mysterious, reflective glow.

"Have I told you how sublimely ethereal you look tonight?" I unhesitatingly complimented.

She angled her head down just enough to look me in the eye. "No, but you did mention that I was 'a vision of loveliness' when you first saw me. I was 'charming and gorgeous' at the restaurant. And I was 'breathtakingly exquisite' on the ride here. I think that it's time we have your eyes examined."

"I see perfectly well. And so it seems do most of the males that have been fortunate enough to see you tonight."

She scoffingly stared back. "Edward, no boy in their right mind would bother looking at me when Rosalie is in there gliding around like a modern-day Aphrodite."

"I am completely sane and I can wholeheartedly confirm that you are unbelievably desirable."

"Unbelievably?" she stressed with raised brow. "I think that's the key word here."

Even after weeks of my unwavering attention, her stubbornness still kept her from accepting the truth of her effect upon me.

This was a challenge that I fully intended to devote myself towards.

Brushing back her spiraling curls, I angled my head downwards and pressed my lips at her ear. "I suppose I should spend the remainder of the night convincing you of just how desirable you are then," I purred. At my words, I felt her shoulder shiver in response.

I took her reaction as encouragement. My lips trailed across her face until I reached the corner of her trembling lips. As I did so, I vaguely noticed that the music from inside had softened. Now a smooth, calming ballad drifted through the air. I knew that if I continued, my carefully crafted plan would unravel.

Forcing myself to stop before I lost anymore of my self-control, I abruptly pulled away from her and rose up from the picnic table.

It was time...

Her eyes dizzily fluttered as she attempted to focus her sight. Once she realized that I was no longer beside her, her delicate brows furrowed down. "What are you doing?" she dazedly asked, probably confused by my hasty departure.

With my hand stretched towards her, I gave her a smile and a small bow. "Asking you to dance- if you don't mind," I formally replied.

She flinched as though she had been slapped. She sat speechless for several seconds while her eyes enlarged. Suddenly, her confusion turned hostile as she glared back. "I very much do mind," she snapped in a low voice. "You promised no dancing!"

I had known that this would be the difficult part...

"I know what I said. I promised that we would not dance inside of the gym. And as you can see, we are outdoors. It's just you, me, and the moon right now. So... May I have this dance?"

Realizing what I said was the truth, but nonetheless still unconvinced that she should give up her fight, her head began shaking back and forth. "I-I can't," she stammered in panic. Then, she turned away to avoid looking me in the eye. "I've never done this before. And I'll fall."

I knew the only way to combat her lack of confidence was for me to make her forget her anxiety.

"Falling isn't so bad," I remarked with conviction. Bending down at the waist, I scooped her hand into my grasp and deepened my voice. "You may find that falling for me would be something you could enjoy."

Despite having only the light of the moon to see, I could still make out the telltale signs of a blush on her cheeks. Before she could voice her opposition, I gently guided her up from the bench. Once she was standing, her dark eyes found mine.

"I wasn't aware that they had pick-up lines back in 1918," she breathed out.

I casually shrugged my shoulders. "That wasn't a line," I corrected. "It was a hopeful plea." With the calming song playing, I pulled her close and wrapped one arm around her waist. Slowly we rocked back and forth in the simple fashion most couples seemed to prefer dancing now.

"You don't fight fair," she poutingly muttered. "Even when I should be furious with you, you find a way to make it impossible for me to be."

"I'm sorry. I'll try to be more of a cad to you in the future," I deadpanned.

As we swayed to the music, her stiff torso began relaxing in my embrace. Soon, her arms draped themselves around my neck. Then, her head settled on my shoulder and she released a contented sigh.

"Is tonight as terrible as you imagined?" I teasingly asked after a time. "Or were your nightmares of the prom much worse than this?"

"I guess this isn't so bad," she admitted after a few moments of contemplation.

"I'm happy to hear it."

The song soon ended and another slow song began to play. It's calming melody put me in mind of some nocturne from long ago...

Clearing my throat, I tried to keep my tone from sounding too demanding. "Do you mind if I make a request?"

She raised her face from my shoulder to analyze me. "It depends on what you want. If your 'request' involves us dancing inside of that gym, then I'm out."

"No, nothing like that," I replied, shaking my head. "I only ask that you stand completely still."

With a wary expression, she stopped all movement and stared back at me expectantly. "OK. Now what?"

With a pleased smile, I gave her a wink. "Now, just allow me to lead." Before she could question me, I tightened my grasp around her waist, and lifted her until her legs dangled a foot above the grass.

With a frightened squeal, she dug her fingers into my neck and her eyes flew open wide. "Edward!" she gasped as our bodies pressed together.

"Sshh," I soothed. Gazing into her astonished eyes, I began waltzing with her. "Try to relax. I'd like to dance with you properly before the night ends."

As my feet glided across the ground, I could feel Bella's heart pumping against my chest. I closed my eyes momentarily, enjoying the feeling.

The sound of joyful laughter forced my eyes to reopen. Her head was slightly tilted back while a smile graced her face. I soon discovered that the more complex my dance steps were, the brighter her smile became.

After awhile, she apparently noticed that I had been fascinatingly watching her reactions, and her eyebrow rose up speculatively. "I thought that you said that you never went to any of those fancy balls, Edward," she commented with a hint of accusation to her voice.

"I didn't," I honestly replied, not missing a step. "But that never stopped my mother from insisting that I should know how to dance correctly."

A sly grin reappeared. "Is there anything you can't do?" she rhetorically asked.

"Definitely. I can't stay away from you for one thing."

Her eyes appeared to change in their intensity while the smile faded away. Her arms, which were still wrapped behind my neck, pulled me closer until I was mere inches away from her face. At that moment, she did not need to tell me what she wanted. Because I wanted the same.

Her warm lips sweetly pressed against mine at first, as though she was unsure of what my reaction would be to her forwardness. Tentatively, her mouth became more demanding as she realized that I was perfectly willing to go along with what she had in mind. With a low moan, she nibbled and playfully bit at my lip, somehow managing to be both chaste and teasing at the same time. My mind soon became overcome by her attention and my feet could no longer keep up with the dance. I stopped moving and concentrated on holding her in place while I parted open her lips, deepening our kiss.

I knew without a doubt that I never wanted this night to end.

Just when we were enjoying ourselves, an infuriated shriek cut through the air and interrupted us. Our heads simultaneously snapped in the direction the sound had originated. There, stomping away from the gym door, was Jessica. With her hands balled up at her sides, she let loose another furious yelp into the night.

Holding in my despairing groan, I allowed Bella to stand again, but made sure to keep her within arms length in case she were to accidentally stumble.

"Jessica?" Bella perplexedly called out.

The girl in question squinted her eyes until she caught sight of us. With recognition dawning, she huffed out a sigh and stomped her way closer to us. As she drew nearer, we could easily discern her enraged, reddened face as her eyes flashed irritably.

"What's wrong?" Bella asked once Jessica was in front of us.

"Nothing!" she gruffly answered. "Or everything! I don't know."

Bella and I exchanged worried glances before I chose to speak. "Are you OK? You're not hurt, are you?"

Jessica slumped her shoulders and shook her head in the negative. "I'm not hurt or anything like that. I'm just really, really ticked right now."

"What happened to you?" Bella asked next.

Jessica flopped down to sit upon the picnic table's bench. "It's just that I discovered something tonight. Mike's a jerk!" she loudly declared.

"What did he do?" Bella gently questioned as she took a seat beside her.

"Well, let's see... I told him three weeks ago that I would be wearing a pale pink dress for our prom, so I wanted him to buy me a pink rose corsage to match it, right? Well, guess what he showed up with tonight?" She peered back at us with arched eyebrows, then raised her arm up to display the sunflower corsage on her wrist. "This! Does this thing look anything like a rose to you? And see how yellow it is? It totally ruins my look!" Her eyes accusingly burned as she looked towards me, as if the fact that Mike and I were both of the male gender made me an accessory to his alleged crime.

"I'm sorry about that, Jess," comforted Bella. "Mike probably didn't mean any harm though. Maybe the florist ran out of roses."

Jessica scornfully laughed. "Yeah, but that's not all he did wrong tonight. He and I were dancing and he kept stepping on my toes." She lifted her heels up and showcased the black scuff marks that marred her pale colored pumps. "I just bought these last week. Now they look like I dug them out of the dumpster behind the Goodwill."

"Maybe he just needs dance lessons?" Bella helpfully observed.

Jessica snorted a sarcastic cackle. "But that's not the worst part about what he did tonight, Bella," Jessica continued. "I had to go sit down to check on the toes that he smashed, and he wandered off to go get me something to drink. So I waited, and waited, and waited for him to come back. After what seemed like forever, I got tired of waiting and went to find him. Guess what he was doing?"

Bella just shrugged her shoulders in response while bewilderingly shaking her head.

Jessica's lips curled in outrage at what she was about to reveal. "He was standing in the corner talking to Stacy White- that's what he was up to! Did he have my drink? No. Did he care that I was waiting for him to come back? No!"

"Oh, Jess..." Bella weakly sighed.

"So I walked up to him and asked what was taking him so long," she shrilly added. "He told me that when he was coming back with my drink, he noticed that Stacy was all by herself... And can you guess who he gave my drink to?"

"Stacy?" Bella hesitantly guessed.

"Bingo," she dejectedly confirmed. "So I told him that since he was so concerned over her welfare that maybe he should have asked her to the prom instead of me. And do you know what he said?" Bella reluctantly shook her head, appearing afraid of what the answer would be. Jessica pressed on, not seeming to notice Bella's uneasiness. "Well, he got mad at me and said that maybe I was right! So I told him that we were done. I told him that I was tired of him walking all over me. And all he said to me was 'fine' before he just walked off."

Bella's eyes softened and she reached out to pat Jessica's hand in a comforting manner. "I'm so sorry."

Jessica's mouth puckered out in a pout. "Yeah, me too. I had planned on having hours and hours of fun tonight... Now look at me. I'm dateless at the prom. This is totally humiliating!"

"Is there anything we can do?" I offered.

"There's nothing you can do to help me now," she dramatically replied, her earlier anger now sliding into moroseness. "I guess I'll just go home and see if there's anything good on TV tonight."

Bella covertly glanced my way and gave me a pointed look. She kept tilting her head towards Jessica as though she were attempting to tell me something, but what she wanted- I had no idea. I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head to indicate my ignorance. She frustratingly heaved out a breath, then addressed Jessica. "Why don't you stick with us for the rest of the night?" Bella began.

No.

"We can go back inside and talk about anything you want," Bella continued.

No.

"And I'm sure somebody would dance a little with you," she added. Bella looked at me expectantly. "I'm sure Edward wouldn't mind-"

Nooooooooo!

I cut in before she could give Jessica any ideas. "I'd be happy to find her a willing partner," I firmly announced while giving Bella a disbelieving glare.

"Really?" Jessica asked with a hopeful tone. As her depression subsided, a burst of eager energy exploded within her. "That sounds great!" she cheerfully rushed out, now speaking rapidly from her excitement. "Ooh! We can go to the diner afterwards too! Then we can maybe swing by that party I was telling you about if your dad hasn't busted them yet. What time's your curfew anyway? I don't need to be home until 12:30. I think Jennifer said a bunch of the seniors are driving to PA to watch some late night movie. Maybe we can tag along!"

Once her ideas had run out, she cocked her head to the side and stared at Bella and I curiously. "What are you two doing out here, anyway?"

Biting down on her bottom lip, Bella glanced at me then said, "We were just taking a few minutes to relax by ourselves."

With a snort of disbelief, Jessica pulled Bella up from the bench and began towing her towards the gym. "But it's so boring out here! All the fun's inside!"

As we walked back to the gym, Jessica began yapping about trivial gossip that I was loathe to hear. Bella would then nod her head encouragingly, as though she were interested in the girl's blabberings. I had to resign myself to the reality of hearing Jessica chattering about her usual mind numbing nonsense for the remainder of the night.

Even when he was not being directly obnoxious to me, Mike had managed to ruin our night. I had never hated Mike Newton more than at that moment.

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With only one week left before summer break, the students at Forks High were becoming stir crazy. The air had become warmer. The sun shone more often and more brightly. How could the teachers expect for them to sit quietly in their desks when it was practically summer already?

At the lunch hour, Bella and I walked together to the cafeteria as usual. Today we would be sitting with the Cullens.

"Hey! Bella! Wait up!" yelled a breathless male voice from behind us. I spun around and saw Mike jogging towards us as he frantically waved his arms around to catch our attention.

Though the prom incident was weeks back, I could not contain the growl that escaped my lips. Bella elbowed me in my ribs to silence me- evidently she had heard.

"What's up?" she asked once the oaf was standing in front of us.

He thrust a sheet of paper at her. "Here's an application for my parents's store," he panted. "I heard that you were looking for a job this summer. We had somebody quit a couple of days ago, so my parents are pretty desperate. I bet they'd hire you on the spot."

Bewildered by what he had just said, I glanced at Bella and saw that she was closely examining the piece of paper he had just handed her. "Oh, thanks, Mike," she replied after a few moments of perusal. "But I'm not really the outdoors type, you know. Selling hiking and sporting goods would be kind of hard for me. I wouldn't know what I was doing."

He waved her off. "No way. It's easy. If you have a customer with questions you don't know, all you'd need to do is find me or my parents to help them out. We just need somebody to lighten the load, if you know what I mean. You'd mainly be stocking the shelves and using the cash register."

At this development, she pursed her lips as though she was becoming interested. "What would the hours be?"

"Three days a week working the evening shift," he quickly supplied.

"That's pretty good," she optimistically remarked.

His icy blue eyes lit up hopefully. "So you're interested?"

"I might be. Maybe I'll stop by to talk to your parents in the next couple of days."

"Hey, that's great," he smiled as he began backing away. "I know you'll love it once you try. It's easy, trust me."

"OK, well, thanks for the tip," she added before she turned back towards the lunchroom.

"No problem," he called out to her. Once her back was turned, his former platonic smile turned into a full on smirk as he glanced at me.

Concealing my anger, I spun back around and caught back up to Bella, who unsurprisingly, appeared to be unaware of what had just occurred.

"What's this about you wanting a job?" I asked in as calm of a tone as I could possibly muster.

"Oh, it's just something that I started thinking about a few days ago."

"A few days ago," I incredulously repeated.

"Yeah. I was talking to Angela and we got to thinking about college and how much it costs. She mentioned that this cousin of hers had worked throughout high school just so he would have the cash to pay for all of his text books and stuff. I realized that maybe I should start saving up now before it's too late."

"I see," I mused. "So you've been thinking about getting a job and never thought that maybe I'd like to know too?"

"I haven't thought about it that much. I kinda forgot about it."

"Well, obviously you haven't forgotten about it too much since apparently even Mr. Mike Newton himself has heard about it," I grumbled. The fact that he, of all people, knew more about what was going on in her life than I did truly sickened me.

Instantly, she spun around to study me, probably noting that I was not pleased at being left out of the loop.

"You are making this a bigger deal than it really is," she quietly countered. "I only talked to Angela about it. Mike obviously heard about it from her. I would never intensionally keep something from you."

Closing my eyes for a moment, I pinched the bridge of my nose and released a pent up breath. "OK," I relented as my hands slid into the pockets of my jeans. "I understand. But, could you please just let me know next time when you're seriously considering something so important? I don't like receiving news about you secondhand."

"Sure," she agreed.

We began walking again towards the cafeteria. "Thank you," I remarked. "And I'll do the same for you."

She briefly bobbed her head in agreement. "But seriously, the only reason I didn't tell you yet was because I didn't think I would find any work around here. There's not much need for a skill-less teenager in a place like this."

"Well, obviously you are far more valuable than you thought," I teased, now in a better mood. "Just imagine trying to work beside Mike all summer long. You would be wishing for earplugs before the first shift ended."

She tried not to react to the joke that was at the imbecile's expense, but she could not hide the laughter in her eyes. Once we were in line, she said, "If I do manage to get hired, I'll be sure to find the best earplugs on the market."

I chuckled a bit- then her words hit me.

"What?" I gasped in astonishment. "You're not seriously considering working there, are you?"

"Well, yeah," she confirmed without a hint of concern. "If it's as easy as he made it sound, I'd be crazy not to."

"But-" I incoherently spluttered. "But- you can't."

She shot me a strange look. "And why not?" she challenged.

"Because- you know," I frantically replied. "Because you'd be working with him."

With a roll of her eyes, she grabbed a tray and picked out a hamburger and small salad. "That's ridiculous, Edward."

"How is that ridiculous?" I asked her. "He has been after you for months now. He wants his parents to hire you just so he can get close to you."

She laughed and shook her head. "It's not like that. He hasn't tried anything with me in a very long time. He just needs some help at the store. That's it."

I held my tongue until we strode to the Cullen table and sat down. "He hasn't tried anything with you because I'm usually somewhere nearby," I mumbled in retort.

"No. He hasn't tried anything because I told him that I only wanted to be his friend."

One by one, each of my family stopped whatever they were doing and became intrigued with the argument Bella and I were having. Even Rose stopped admiring her reflection to watch us.

"And when was that?" I queried curiously.

She contemplatively chewed the inside of her cheek. "The day before he and Jessica started dating."

"Oh. Isn't that a coincidence," I scoffed.

Her brows scrunched together. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is that since he doesn't have Jessica to distract him anymore, he is going after you again. And, as you probably can guess, I am not exactly loving this idea of you being alone around him for hours on end."

Emmett began scratching his head as he watched us arguing back and forth. "What's the problem?" he asked.

Alice chose to nonchalantly answer him. "Bella's thinking of getting a job at Newton's." Of course, she would know...

"They broke up weeks ago," Bella pointed out. "And he hasn't said one thing that would indicate that he is interested in me."

"He doesn't need to say anything, Bella," I frustratingly breathed out. "Whenever he is near you, I can just look at the scoundrel and see it as plain as day."

"All he does is say 'hey' to me and smile. How can you see anything unscrupulous about that?"

"Jasper?" I wearily asked for his assistance. "Could you please describe to her what Mike's emotional state was that day last week when her saw her in the parking lot? It was the day she wore that navy blue blouse."

Alice cocked her head in remembrance and smiled. "Oh, yeah. She wore her hair up too. She looked cute that day."

Jasper squinted his eyes as he recalled the nitwit's emotions. His face soon contorted into a disgusted grimace. "He was putting off a little wistfulness at first. Then, it turned into arousal." Jasper appeared apologetic as he elaborated further. "A lot, actually. It was almost as bad as an un-neutered male dog in springtime. After that, I tried to concentrate on other more innocent feelings in the area." With this revelation, Emmett whistled and shot me a sympathetic look. Even he knew I was in trouble.

I turned back to Bella and waved my hand in Jasper's direction. "See? What have you to say to that?"

"OK, maybe he still harbors a little bit of a crush," she begrudgingly conceded. "But that doesn't mean he'd do anything about it. He knows that you and I are together now."

Since she was still stubbornly clinging to the logic that Mike was a "good boy" at heart, I decided to drop that debate for now and instead brought up another point. "But you should be relaxing this summer, Bella. There's enough money in the bank to take care of-"

She quickly interrupted me. "Don't you dare say 'what's mine is yours' or whatever it was you were going to say. I prefer to work for my money- not receiving hand-outs from my boyfriend."

"It's not charity. That money will belong to you one day just as much as it belongs to me."

"Well, that day is not here yet, Edward, so I'll be working until then. This is 2005- not 1805. Most women have jobs."

"I'm well aware of what year it is, Bella," I grumbled. "If you want to work, I don't mind that at all. But, I do have a problem with you working at Newton's Olympic Outfitters."

"It's not like I have much of a choice around here. The diner has had its wait staff for years. The Thriftway is usually fully staffed too. My only choice around here is the sawmill. Does that sound like a good fit for me?"

The thought of Bella being near spinning blades of death was the only factor that made Newton's not sound quite as dangerous.

She continued speaking. "The only other option would be for me to drive to Port Angeles. But, really, that's not feasible since it's an hour's drive to and from there. The cost of gas alone would be more than I would make."

"I could drive you," I quickly offered.

"No, you are not."

We paused in our discussion and a hopeful idea entered my head. "Esme has a huge garden at the back of the house. I'm sure she would hire you to help care for it."

She merely laughed off my suggestion. "I've killed every houseplant I've ever had. So, no."

"What about Alice then?" I asked in desperation. "She usually has multiple projects going on."

Alice's golden eyes brightened and she enthusiastically nodded her head. "That's right, Bella. I dabble in fashion design sometimes, and it would really help me out if I had a model of just your size and shape to experiment with. You'd be like my mannequin!"

"Thanks, but no thanks," Bella instantly declined. "But both you and I know that I can't stand still for very long. I'll fall or something and ruin whatever I was wearing. Besides, Rosalie and Esme would make much better models for you anyway."

"Bella," I groaned in agony.

"No, Edward. If the Newtons offer me that position, you need to accept that I might take it. I bet you if Alice or Rosalie got jobs, Jasper and Emmett wouldn't mind."

A snorting laugh came from across the table. Rosalie's blonde brow was contrarily arched. "Actually, you're wrong there. Back in the seventies, I tried working for an antique car restorer and I was the first and only female in his employ. Emmett here tagged along everyday, insisting that he was interested in the project I was working on. But really it was because he wanted to keep his eye on the five guys I worked around."

"What happened?" Bella curiously, yet cautiously asked. It was rare for Rosalie to engage in conversation with her.

"I decided to quit after he made an ass of himself. One of the guys offered to help tune the engine on the Duesenberg I was working on, and this genius here assumed that the guy was sexually propositioning me."

"He said, 'I'll tune it up for ya until I hear it purr.' What else was I supposed to think?" Emmett sulkily defended.

"Anyway," Rose continued, ignoring her mate. "He stomped in there, ripped off the rear fender of the car I had worked on all week, and chunked it across the room."

Alice helpfully added, "She didn't talk to Emmett for a month after that."

At the end of the hour, we rose from our seats and began to leave the cafeteria. Bella and Alice were busy conferring between themselves while I dispiritedly followed behind. Emmett joined me to walk by my side and offered his sage appraisal of my current situation.

"He's gonna try and make a play for your girl," he assuredly whispered.

"Tell me something I don't know," I grumpily replied back.

00000000000000000000

A couple of days after school was officially over, Bella was set to start her first day at the store. As she had hoped, and I had dreaded, the Newtons quickly agreed to hire her- just like Mike had promised.

Bella barred me from visiting the store during her training period- she insisted that having me or anyone else similarly close to her would make her more nervous than she already had become. I reluctantly agreed since I really had no other choice.

In the meantime, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper were now high school graduates once again. In celebration of their temporary freedom, Emmett and Rose were set to take a trip around the world. Their suitcases were currently being packed by none other than Alice.

A few days before they were to depart, Bella finally felt confident enough in her abilities to agree to let me visit her at work. I convinced Jasper and Emmett to accompany me. A fantasy where the three of us bought out the entire store's inventory briefly tempted me. If there was nothing left to sell, Bella would have no need to stay on the job. But, I was certain that if I were to pull something like that she would not be pleased with me.

The inside of Newton's store was what you would expect an establishment of this type to be. Shelves of fishing gear, clothing, boots, camping tools, and the like were lined up around the place. I immediately noticed that no one was manning the register and no one greeted us. I intuitivly froze in place after we entered and quietly listened. Jasper was on the verge of saying something, but I held up my finger to indicate that I wanted silence.

Soon I heard the sound of items being jostled around from somewhere close by. I followed the sound like a hound on the trail of a rabbit- I was not abandoning my quest until I found the source.

Towards the back of the store, we found Bella at long last. She was diligently stocking a shelf, straightening the store display as best as she could as she went. And there, right behind her with a cart full of unshelved items, was a distracted Mike- staring at her intently as she obliviously went about her work. When she bent over to pick up the next item, he ensured that his eyes were securely affixed on her derriere.

It was as exactly as I had feared. He was ogling her as though she were an erotic centerfold model of his very own.

I felt my fury rise while my knuckles cracked from the pressure I was inflicting upon my balled up fists. Now, I had never been much of a confrontational man. I would much rather solve my arguments in a civil, peaceable manner. Yet, my darker side told me that the only way Mike could understand how much I disapproved of his behavior was for me to demonstrate it on his face.

However, before I could take one step towards him, Jasper's stone hand grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. "You being arrested for assault would not make Bella happy with you," he wisely hinted. "And I'm sure her father wouldn't look so kindly on you either."

"He wouldn't mind if I told him why I did it," I petulantly whispered back.

"Just try to chill," Emmett calmly advised. "Let me handle this for ya." He gave me a mischievous wink, then bellowed out, "Yo, Bella! Where can a man find some decent help around here?"

She turned around and flashed a grin when she saw us. "I was wondering when you would drop by," she said to me. "Are you three here just to be nosy, or do you actually need anything?" she teased.

"But, of course," Jasper insisted. "We could use some new camping gear. And Alice wanted me to pick up a new pair of galoshes for her."

"And I want to check out the new tents you guys just got in," Emmett chipped in.

Bella appeared a little uneasy about his proposed interest. "I don't know much about the tents yet," she admitted. "I wouldn't be much help to you."

He broadly grinned, stalked over to Mike, and slung his gigantic arm around the idiot's shoulder in a half hug. "That's all right," Emmett jovially declared to her. "I'm sure Mike here knows a ton about tents! Right, Mike?"

The poor, terrified boy began subtly shivering in his shoes. With a look of panic, Mike furiously shook his head. "Naw, I don't know very much about that new shipment," he fearfully denied. "You should wait and come back when my dad's here. He knows a lot more than me."

Bella tilted her head in confusion. "Mike, why are you being so modest? You know everything about those tents. Just yesterday you were able to recite each of their pros and cons."

Emmett's grin turned even wider. "I knew it. Come on my man. You can tell me all about them." With his arm still draped around Mike's shoulder, he led the frightened boy away from us.

"How has everything been going?" I questioned her once they were out of earshot.

"Fine," she quickly answered. "We've been working to restock the shelves mostly today. We'll probably be doing it for the rest of the week."

Bella stocking the shelves all week long while that scoundrel ogles her?

Over my dead body...

I stooped down and grabbed a few packages. "Let me help you two out then."

She caught my hand to stop me. "You can't stock the shelves, Edward. I'll lose my job if they think I need help to do something so simple."

Dejectedly, I dropped the packages back onto the cart. "Very well. But I don't like to see you having to work so hard."

The three of us then wandered over to the camping section where Jasper expertly sought out the gear he wanted to purchase. A few minutes later, Bella helped him choose a pair of galoshes that hopefully Alice would approve of.

With his shopping cart full, we strode to the cash register but found that Emmett was already there, leaning his elbow against the counter as he casually spoke with Mike. Mike was busy ringing up the huge tent Emmett had evidently picked out.

"Well looky there?" Emmett bellowed. "There's my favorite brothers!"

Mike's spikey blonde head shot up and his eyes darted around until he spotted us.

Emmett continued speaking. "We were wondering what was taking you guys so long. Mike and I were about to form a search party to find you."

"I had twenty things to buy. You had what? One thing?" Jasper countered.

"Yeah, but you had the easy stuff. Mine was the hardest to buy." Jasper merely shook his head and sighed as he began piling up his purchases on the counter.

Bella left my side and joined Mike behind the counter to help with Jasper's items. Mike jumped as though he had just seen a ghost. Quickly taking a peek in my direction, he denied that he needed any of her help and politely asked that she go back to stocking. She appeared bewildered for a moment, but still she acquiesced to his suggestion and walked back around to the front of the counter where I was standing. With a soft whisper in my ear, she revealed that she would be calling me after work, and then she disappeared into the back of the store.

Minutes later, Mike had finished with their purchases and handed them their separate receipts. "Thanks for shopping with us. We hope to see you again soon," he recited with something less than enthusiasm.

"I wish, man," Emmett replied with feigned regret. "But Jasper will be going off to college out of state too. It's just gonna be Edward coming to visit you here at the store from now on."

Mike's face visibly paled as his eyes flicked around to look at our faces. "Just Edward?" he warily repeated.

"Sure," Emmett casually confirmed. "Of course there's our sister Alice too, but I doubt she'll come here very often."

"Right," Mike weakly remarked.

"Well, I hope I see you later sometime."

"Yeah. Later," Mike stiffly said back.

Their back and forth banter was highly unusual. At school, no one, let alone Mike, ever conversed with Emmett. I waited until we were outside before I tackled Emmett for the details of his bizarre conversation with the dolt.

"I was just chit-chatting with him," Emmett claimed.

"About what?" I inquired.

"Oh, I was just telling him about how I was leaving town soon. And how happy I was that I'll finally be free from you."

"What?"

A sly grin spread across his face as he went on. "I told him about how I dread waking up everyday to face you. About how I have to walk on eggshells just to make sure I don't make you mad. And I might have l let it slip that you once put a guy in the ER when he looked at Bella the wrong way."

"You told him about the Port Angeles thing?" I furiously exclaimed.

"No!" he hastily defended. "I made up a story, OK? I just said enough to make him worry a little about you. And I told him that only me and Jasper have been able to keep you calm. Now that we're leaving, he thinks you are like a caged lion being let loose."

"Emmett," I moaned. Making me sound like an insanely jealous maniac was not the proper resolution to my problem.

"Hey! It worked! By the time I finished talking about how your glares bring me nightmares, he was really worried." Emmett chuckled, then added, "He mentioned that he's seen you give him a few freaky glares lately. I told him that he'd better watch out. That was a warning. Kinda like a rattlesnake when it shakes its tail before it strikes."

I could barely look at him for the rest of the night. Emmett never seemed to understand the concept of restraint.

Though, by week's end, I was no longer concerned over the brazen claim he had invented about myself. Bella was commenting on Mike's sudden change of demeanor at her job. No longer was he wanting to stay by her side. Often, when she was in the front of the store, he would station himself in the back. If she walked too close by him, he would retreat a couple of feet away. And I noticed that his eyes no longer roamed to indecent areas of her anatomy whenever her back was turned.

When Emmett and Rose were on the train to Zürich, he finally received my grateful phone call.

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A/N- It has been brought to my attention that this story does not have enough drama or angst in it to be interesting. So, after careful consideration, I've decided that I WILL bring the Volturi in to spice things up. Say goodbye to your precious Cullens! You too, Quileutes- you're history! I'm turning this silly little love story into a bloodbath. Bwa ha ha ha!

And while war is being waged among the supernatural creatures, Bella will decide that Edward isn't worth all the hassle after all, so she will pursue a relationship with Mike. Then, Edward will challenge Mike to a duel to the death - except he's shirtless and uses dance/fight moves like in West Side Story.

Lol! None of that will be happening, folks. I just couldn't resist... Though the shirtless thing isn't a bad idea now that I'm thinking about it.

Next Chapter- We're fast forwarding to the future. Approximately one year later.

Joking aside, I don't think I've stressed this enough, so I'm going to say this again. Thank you for reading this story. It seriously brightens my day. :-)