A/N: Twilight is Meyer's. No copyright infringement intended.
Thanks for reading, and for reviewing.
EPOV
It took all of my control not to skip last period. My attention was focused on the clock the entire hour. I had my books in my hand and was out of my seat five seconds before the final bell rang. The teacher stared at me when I stood, but he didn't have a chance to protest when the bell sounded as I rounded my desk.
I was the first student in the hall. I raced to my locker, grabbed my backpack, and all but ran to my car in the parking lot.
One of these times, I was going to get pulled over for speeding. I was really glad it wasn't today.
I made it to Forks in time for the student lot to be nearly empty. The after school programs had begun, and everyone else had left for the day. One perk of a small school: not many students were around after class. I pulled into the space next to Bella's truck and took a second to be grateful no one was around to notice me.
When I climbed out of my car, I took another moment to smile at the faded red Chevy next to me. I ran my hand impulsively along its side. Rust flakes rained down to float in the puddle of rainwater by the passenger door. Bella really needed a new car. The truck was too old to be dependable. I worried about her driving it… well, about it breaking down, anyway.
But she loved it. And it suited her. I couldn't see her liking anything else, or anything else matching her quite right. Besides, she had Jake to fix it if it did break down. That comforted me some.
Of course, her driving a new Audi coupe would comfort me more. But even in my head, that image didn't work. Her behind the wheel of anything but her old truck just didn't seem right.
I loved that about her.
Smiling to myself, I headed into the school. I debated stopping at the office to ask where the art room was. But I didn't want anyone to know that I was here. So instead, I stood just inside the front door of the school and tried to decide which hallway to check first.
The hollow pull I'd felt that morning suddenly flared inside me. I frowned in surprise. Then my frown faded into a grin.
Bella.
I turned and strode down the hall to my left. I didn't hesitate as I made my way to the last room on the left. The pull grew stronger the closer I got to the door. And once I was there, I could feel the beginning of a faint buzz.
I'd found her.
For a second, I stood outside the room, staring at the closed door. I didn't understand this connection Bella and I shared. In some ways, it freaked me out. The electricity had been weird enough on its own. Now there was this new tugging inside that demanded I be with her. My body seemed to be able to find her no matter where she was. Something in her just drew me to her. It was impossible to ignore. And it was unnerving.
But there was something about it that I liked. I liked being connected to her like this. Maybe my body was just channeling my desire to be with her. Finding her by instinct because I wanted so badly to be with her all the time. Because like I'd realized when I'd talked to Jacob, Bella was my life now. Instinct would demand that I find her.
And instinct was demanding that I quit standing here thinking and open the door.
I eased the door open and slipped inside. The room was empty except for one person. My girl stood in the far corner behind an easel. Just like when I climbed into her room at night, she was wrapped up in her work and didn't notice my arrival. I paused inside the door to watch her.
She was wearing her normal clothes. Boots, jeans, and a green T-shirt under her brown hoodie. She had the sleeves of her jacket shoved up to her elbows to free her hands. Her long hair was pulled back into a ponytail to keep it out of her face as she worked. My eyes lingered there. I'd never seen her with all of her hair tied up. I liked it. It revealed her pale throat, delicate jaw and ears…
I liked it a lot.
I forced my eyes away from her hair and studied her face. The crease was between her brows as she frowned at her drawing. She was leaning close to the canvas, shading something in. Her teeth were sunk deep into her lower lip. Everything about her was focused on her work. I stayed very still. I didn't want to startle her and mess her up.
After a moment, she pulled her pencil back and used the tip of her ring finger to smooth out a shadow. Then she leaned back to survey the result. And I took advantage of her pause.
"Hey."
I chuckled lowly as Bella jumped. She bumped into the shelf behind her and dropped her pencil. A can of paint clattered onto the floor and rolled away from her. She swore and swooped down to grab it before too much of it could spill. Luckily, the lid had been on tightly enough that only a few drops managed to fall before she caught it.
"Sorry," I apologized. I moved quickly to stand in front of her and take the can from her. "Are you okay?"
Her face flamed as I set the can back on the shelf and turned my attention to her. "Yeah," she muttered. "I'm fine. I'm just such a klutz."
"It makes you intriguing."
She smirked at me. Her blush slowly faded as her embarrassment passed. "You got here earlier than I thought you would."
"I was in a hurry." I smiled down at her. "Someone was expecting me."
That brought the blush back full-force. "I know you have to leave soon," she said. "Thank you for driving all the way out here for just a few minutes."
"I wanted to see you." I touched her warm cheek with my fingertips. Then I turned to survey the room. "So this is the art room," I mused. I scanned the easels set up in various places throughout the open space, then I looked up at the walls. Posters of various masterpieces were hung on nearly every available patch of brick. One artist popped into my head whose paintings weren't represented, and whom Bella was sure to have missed. "No Hassam?"
She smiled. "No."
"Hm." I looked at the posters again. "Anyone here you like?"
Her gaze lifted to the walls. "Monet. Renoir. Some of Picasso…. Da Vinci has some amazing sketches of the way things work, the way things are built and how they move... I like to see artists' representations of people. How they see them, and how they show others what they see." She paused as her eyes lowered to my face. Something she saw there made her suddenly self-conscious. "What?"
My heart felt strangely swollen, but light at the same time. "I love seeing you like this," I told her.
She made a face. "Geeking out over paintings?" she muttered.
"Excited," I corrected. "Happy. And free." I reached out to cradle her cheek in my palm. "The artist in you is beautiful. And I like seeing her."
Her skin heated again under my touch. She looked away quickly. Her eyes skipped to her easel. I followed her gaze, but I couldn't see her work from this angle. For a second, she stared at the canvas. Thinking. And letting the blush fade. I waited in silence, giving her time to settle.
After a moment, though, the urge to move so I could view her canvas was becoming overwhelming. So I took a step back to keep from intruding. "I'll let you get back to work," I said reluctantly.
Bella glanced at me. She knew that I wanted to see her artwork. Her eyes moved back to the canvas. She hesitated. "No one has seen it yet," she admitted. She looked shyly at me. "Do you… Do you want to?"
Did she really have to ask?
I smiled at her. "Of course I do." I rounded the easel to stand beside her. And stopped cold.
Everything in me fell toward the floor when I saw what she had drawn. For a second I could only stare. Then, finally, I forced the words out of a hollow mouth. "Your dad?"
"Yeah." She glanced up at me, and her expression changed to dismay. "Is it bad?" She turned back to her work with distraught eyes. "I knew it." And she reached to cover it with the cloth that hung over the back of the easel.
I grabbed her hands. "No. Holy shit, Bella." I jerked her to me, roughly pinning her head against my chest. As I wrapped her up in my arms, I was aware that I probably was holding her too tightly. But I didn't care. Her father's eyes watched me from the canvas as I held her. Lost eyes. Pained eyes.
I'd never seen so much emotion in a drawing before. And I knew that Bella had felt it to be able to illustrate it. It hurt to think of her feeling that broken.
Bella let me hold her for a moment. Then she squirmed a little to let me know that she wanted free. Slowly, I relaxed my arms and allowed her to ease back. "Edward?" she whispered.
She sounded a little breathless. I had been holding her too tightly. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt bad for that. I was aware of her gaze on my face, and I also felt bad for not looking at her. But I couldn't look away from the canvas.
The drawing was almost finished. And if I hadn't known better, I would have sworn it was a photograph. The shading and depth were careful and exact, down to the hint of wrinkles on his forehead and around his mouth. Bella had drawn her father without any whimsical interpretation. It was just him. His curly hair thinning, his slight smile worn at the edges. His face guarded. But those eyes…
I blinked at the canvas and finally managed to look away from his face. Bella had put him in a pair of old boots, jeans, and a rumpled plaid shirt. He looked ready to go fishing. I remembered Bella commenting once that she missed having fish fry with him. I could see that longing, and the history behind that connection, clearly in the pencil sketch.
I could see everything in that sketch.
Little fingers twisted into the front of my shirt. "Edward?" Bella tried again. "What's wrong?"
Slowly, I turned my head to look down at her. I still held her loosely in my arms. She seemed ready to break my grasp and step away from me. Her eyes were anxious on my face, and her expression still held a hint of distress. She thought her work wasn't good. And she was dreading my telling her I thought so.
I lifted one hand to cup her cheek. "I just wasn't expecting…" Words failed, and I shook my head and dropped my hand to her waist again. "I should have, though. Bella, you're amazing. This is unbelievable."
A smile lit Bella's face as I glanced back at the easel. Her lips suddenly pressed against my cheek. "Thank you," she murmured when she pulled away.
I returned her smile. "Thank you for showing it to me." I reluctantly glanced at my watch. "Damn," I muttered. "I have to go. I'm sorry."
Bella stepped back, breaking my hold on her. "It's okay. You said you'd be in a hurry." She gave my hand a light squeeze. "I'm just glad to see you."
"I'm glad you're glad." I grinned as she rolled her eyes at my lameness. Then I leaned in to drop a light kiss on her smirk. "And by the way…" I kissed my way along her jaw to her exposed left ear. With my lips hovering over her earlobe, I grabbed the end of her ponytail and gave it a gentle, playful tug. "I like the ponytail."
Insta-blush.
I pulled back with a chuckle and trailed my fingers down her flaming cheek. "Really, really like it," I teased.
"Don't you have to go?" she retorted.
There was a hint of a smile under her feigned irritation. She was trying to save her dignity by acting annoyed. It was cute. "Yeah. People are waiting on me, I guess." I shrugged, not really caring if they were. "I'll see you tonight."
Bella couldn't help grinning at that. "Bye," she returned softly.
I walked to the door and stopped to look back. Bella had located the pencil she'd dropped and was standing at her easel again. But she was watching me leave. I smiled and gave her a small wave. She lifted her hand and curled her fingers in response. The sight made my heart swell.
I didn't want to leave her.
The pull had started again, and I hadn't even left the room yet. It was drawing me back to her. My body practically demanded that I move back to her side. Like gravity. We didn't have to touch, or even talk. We just needed to be close.
Her eyes were still on me when I forced myself to move. Out into the hall. Away from her.
Wondering with every step if she felt the same way I did.
BPOV
He felt it, too.
I could see it in his eyes when he paused at the door. He felt the strange, hollow pull inside him just like I felt it inside me. Drawing us together. Like gravity.
I wasn't sure when the feeling had started. I'd felt drawn to Edward since the moment I'd first tried to kill him with my backpack, so maybe it had been there all along. But now it was getting stronger. This morning, when I'd thought of him leaving, it had flared so suddenly that it had almost scared me. So I'd asked – begged, embarrassingly – him to stay until I came back to my room.
And when I'd returned, I'd known that he understood. Because I could tell from his expression that he'd felt it, too, the second I'd left him alone in my room.
I didn't understand it. It was like the weird electricity we shared. Other people would look at us like we were crazy if we tried to explain it. But I wasn't going to question it. It was just part of us, part of us being an us. And even if it did freak me out a little on some level, I still liked it. Because I liked feeling linked to him, no matter how strange the connection.
When Edward slipped out of the room, I took a second to breathe, to smile, and to feel his gravity moving away. Then I sighed and turned back to my work.
Before I could lift my pencil to the canvas, my cell phone rang. Victoria's ringtone. I swore under my breath and scrambled to grab the phone from my backpack. "Hello?"
"Where are you?"
I rolled my eyes. She knew perfectly well where I was. "I'm at school. Remember, I told you this morning that I would be working on my art—"
"Get home. Now."
"I have—" The click of her hanging up cut off my reply. I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it for a second. After a quick internal debate, I let out a long, frustrated sigh and shoved the phone back into my bag, then I gathered my things, tugged the cloth over my easel to cover my work, and headed out of the art room.
Well, maybe I would get to see Edward one more time before he left. I doubted he had gotten out of the parking lot yet. I picked up my pace a little, trying not to feel pathetic as I hurried.
When I stepped through the front door of the school, I broke into a wide smile. Edward's car was parked beside my truck in the center of the nearly empty lot. He was just reaching the passenger side of the Volvo.
And he was stopping there.
I hesitated just outside the school as Edward paused on the wrong side of his car. Suddenly the passenger door swung open and a tall redhead in skinny jeans and a flowing sleeveless blouse slid out to stand in front of him.
Tanya.
My heart stumbled and fell. My entire body locked into place. I felt… numb. Hollow.
Tanya had been in his car. Waiting for him. While he'd been inside talking to me. Flirting with me. Kissing me….
Nausea flared through the emptiness. Tanya moved closer to Edward, who didn't move away. She was saying something to him. I could see her impossibly pink lips moving as she spoke, curving into a seductive, possessive smile. She stopped only inches from him, partially hidden from my view by his broad back. But I could tell she was still speaking. And leaning into him.
He still wasn't moving away.
She moved again, shifting even closer. His hands lifted, but he didn't push her back. Instead, he dropped his palms to her shoulders. Not holding her, but not stopping her, either.
And then she was kissing him.
I couldn't breathe. My lungs felt like they were collapsing. I could feel myself gasping, but I couldn't hear it over the roaring in my ears. The center of my chest felt ragged and torn, like a giant hole had been punched through it. My arms wrapped tightly around my middle and my fingers dug into my ribs to keep my entire body from flying apart.
Her hand lifted. Her fingers slid into his hair. Tangled there. In the same spot mine always did.
My vision suddenly blurred. I spun and fumbled with the door. The second it opened, I fell inside and staggered around the first corner. My backpack slipped off my shoulder, and I let it drag me to the floor. I collapsed beside it, not bothering to scoot back against the wall, but just sitting where I landed, unable to move.
There had been no other cars in the lot besides a few Forks regulars. She hadn't driven here. She'd been brought here. Edward had said he was in a hurry because people were waiting on him.
Starting with his girlfriend.
Tanya.