Things I own: my sanity (though, that's debatable at times), not enough time to write and incredible friends and family!
Things I don't: Twilight, Edward and Bella (Damn. It.)
Chapter Thirty-Eight
EPOV
Kissing her and pulling her panties aside. Feeling her soft, wet pussy as she crumbled in my arms. I gulped, looking up at her. "You remember it, don't you?" she asked.
"I do," I said. "But, Bells, I don't want this to jeopardize our friendship. Yes, we had one night of amazing, toe-curling, orgasmic-inducing sex. If I had a choice between that and maintaining our friendship, I choose our friendship, Bells. I cannot lose that."
"I don't want to lose that either," she said, crawling on the counter and plopping in front of me. Her legs were on either side of my torso. Like last night while you slid in and out of her tight…STOP IT! "Focus, Cullen. Don't be going to trips to Lustyville."
"I didn't," I scoffed.
"You're wearing work out pants. I can see the monster growing," she said, arching a brow. "Edward, I have a proposal for you…"
"Why do I feel like this is going to change everything?" I asked, my heart stammering.
"Because it might, or it might make our relationship stronger," she shrugged. "Last night was amazing, yeah?"
"Yes," I swallowed, the eggs swirling in my belly. "Best night I've had. In my entire life. Sad, but true."
"Don't knock it, Edward. I was one of the most amazing nights that I've had, ever. I'm not even counting the fuckhot sex we had," she giggled. "I had fun with you. And what happened afterward, damn…" I blushed, coiling my ear buds around my fingers. She cupped my chin, encouraging me to look up at her. "Here's my proposal. You can tell me to fuck off if you don't like it, but I think it's mutually beneficial for both of us."
"I'm listening."
"You don't want to lose our friendship, correct?" she asked. I nodded. "Me neither. But, last night was too great to pass up. I mean, I've never come so hard in my life. But, the idea of being in a relationship with you scares me because we could possibly lose the closeness we already have as friends. You know?"
"Kind of," I shrugged.
"Soooooooooooo, why not try the whole friends with benefits thing?" she suggested, biting her lip.
"We stay friends but have sex with each other?" I asked in clarification.
"Yeah. A relationship with you, Edward, scares me. You're a great guy, sexy and smart, but I value our friendship too much to throw that away," she said, wringing her hands nervously.
Her words didn't make sense. What's the point of having sex if you aren't in a relationship? Sex, making love, should be a physical representation of your relationship. "I don't know, Bells. You know how I am. You know what I want!"
"You want romance and love and all that," she said, waving her hand. "I get that, but until you find that, why not we 'scratch' that mutual itch with each other. Edward, I love you, but as a friend. Last night, though, holy crimoly…"
"If I go through with this proposal, how long? What are the stipulations?" I asked.
"Rules, right. We need to have rules," she said. "I have them written down." She leaned over, picking up a legal pad that I always keep by the house phone. "There are four of them."
"Shoot," I said, leaning back on the stool.
"Rule number one, no kissing on the mouth," she said.
"Bells, we kissed a whole hell of a lot last night," I chuckled. It was the best part, too.
"We were also three shits to the wind," she reminded me. "Kissing equals intimacy. I'm taking a page out of the book from Pretty Woman, no kissing on the mouth."
"So, I'm your whore," I deadpanned.
"As I'm yours," she smirked. "Do want me to continue?"
"Go right ahead," I said, gesturing grandly.
"Rule number two, if either one of us has a date or the possibility of someone that we consider to be special, what we have stops. No questions asked," she said.
"That makes sense. Next rule?"
"We keep this a secret. Granted, this photo puts the kibosh on that, but we can easily explain that as a misconception," she said. "We are the only ones who know about our arrangement."
"Last rule," I said.
"We can't fall in love with each other," she said, putting the legal pad down.
"Bells, you can't exactly tell your heart who you can and cannot love," I argued.
"I know, but if we know that going into this, we'll think twice before wanting to do the romantic thing, roses, flowers, kissy face, huggy bear," she said, wrinkling her nose. "We're not a couple, Edward. We're two friends of the opposite gender who like to have sex. Good sex, with each other. I don't expect you to remember my birthday, to buy me candy for Valentine's Day, or to try and woo me. Edward, I'm a sure thing, if I'm not on the rag. But that happens four times a year thanks to Dr. Depo-Provera."
"Anything else?" I asked. "Do we keep using condoms?"
"Yeah. Again, it's the intimacy thing. Well?"
I sighed, tugging at my hair. "Let me think about it," I said, looking up at her. She pouted. "Bells, you know me. I analyze, over-think and spin every single situation before agreeing or disagreeing to anything. You saw how long it took me to buy a car!"
"You're right. It's not fair for me to force you to say yes or no," she said. Bella's face flamed and she frowned.
"Bells, don't be upset. I just need to make sense of what happened last night and if I want to agree with your proposal. I vaguely remembering saying that I was lonely and horny. Last night helped with horniness, but I'm afraid I'll still be lonely," I said honestly. "Just…give me some time, Bells."
"Okay," she muttered.
A/N: Will Edward take her up on her proposal? Will they go back to how they were before? Will he offer a counter proposal? Have any of you been in a situation where you had a friend with benefits? I did in college. It just sort of happened. We went to high school together and the next thing I knew, we were making out and doing other stuff. We never had sex, but when we were lonely, he'd drive out to my school or I'd go to him and we'd fool around. Ironically enough, he's still a good friend. Who I've seen naked and sung at his wedding…