Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the very kind, supportive words. I know I've said this many times before, but the reviews encourage me to keep writing! A lot of you said you'd love to see different POV's, so I think I'll go ahead with the story line when this one's done! Let me know what you think of this chapter when you're done!
I wait for him to respond to his own comment before I realize he isn't going to.
"Explain?" I demand.
He's silent. He's so silent I pull the phone from my ear to check that he didn't hang up.
"Edward? Edward!" I whisper harshly into the mic of the phone.
"They went to the basement when we got home. I fell asleep for like 5 minutes on the couch upstairs, couldn't find my fucking crutches, and when I hobbled to the basement door, I could see them making out on the couch. I guess they got used to hearing my crutches and when I didn't use them…" he trails off.
"Why didn't she tell me?" I ask softly to myself.
"My guess is this is sort of new."
"Did he tell you?"
"Nah," Edward says through a yawn.
"Is this okay? Is Jas going to be okay?"
"Who knows."
~!~
Today's the fourth of July and my mom's running around like she's hosting a ball.
Our fridge in the basement is stuffed with ordinary treats decorated like the American flag: Rice Krispy treats dipped in chocolate, chocolate covered pretzels with sprinkles, red white and blue Mm & Ms mixed with popcorn, Chex Mix, strawberry and banana skewers, and a strawberry poke coke with whipped cream and blueberries.
"Mom, who's going to eat all this?" I ask, helping her carry, like, a thousand Styrofoam plates from the pantry in the basement.
"Well, you and your friends, Carlisle and Esme, some of our neighbors are stopping by, your dad invited some guys from the station," she raddles off more and more but my mind is focused only on the cute boy in khaki shorts and a grey t shirt who showed up with his friends early this morning to help set up.
"Hi," I said when I answered the door, totally surprised.
"Hi, Pretty," he smiles back. Jasper's next to him and Emmett and Jake are play fighting in our side yard.
"What are you—"
"Parents?" he interrupts, stepping past the threshold and into my home.
"Basement."
He pushes me forward, out of sight of the front door that Jasper leans against, blocking the view in or out with his body. Edward palms my lower back and cups my cheek. His lips spread over mine in a gentle, slow hello. I feel the warm heat of his tongue and when I throw my arms around his neck, he chuckles.
"I like you in the morning," adoration whispers against my lips and cheeks and chin. "You're all soft skin and sleepy-eyed."
"I like you all the time," I tease.
Thinking he's done with me, I step back, but he pulls me tighter, heavier, achier against the flat plane of his torso. This time, his kiss heats me quickly, flames lick at my bellybutton, the cuticles on my fingernails, my kneecaps.
Jasper clears his throat and Edward breaks away.
"You two can really go at it," Jas laughs and so does Edward and so do I but I don't even really hear what Jas said over the rush of my blood from my head to my vagina.
Emmett and Jake bully their way past Jas. Edward maneuvers crutches over to the breakfast nook and plops down in a chair.
"We're here to help set up for the party, B" Edward explains, biting into an apple.
Jasper meets my dad at the foot of the stairs, helping carry two fold-away tables. "Let me help, sir," Jas offers. And my dad does. He's good about limiting his lectures this morning except when Edward and Jasper go missing and I can't find my dad. Panic burns my throat.
I check the rooms upstairs, downstairs, outside, even the old shed behind our house. I pass Jake and Emmett who are spreading mulch in mom's flower garden. They don't even know their friends are missing.
"What are you doing, sweetie?" mom asks when I make it back to the porch.
"Have you seen dad?" I ask, trying my best to hide the fact that I really just want to ask "where are dad and Edward?"
"I think your father and the boys took a ride up to get more ice," mom says, laying out plates and silverware. "Here, hang these up around the house." She hands me bags of decorations like I'm not busy enough having a panic attack.
I run upstairs and check my phone.
Nothing from Edward.
Jas sends one text: Don't freak or anything, but your dad might know.
Don't freak or anything? I plummet to my bed, lean back, and let the world I worked so hard for crumple around me. My heart drips out of the pores in my back and leaks onto my bed. I feel the way it cries around me like seeing your favorite tree sprout leaves in the spring, thrive in the summer, adjust in the fall, and die in the winter. You know what to expect, you know exactly what's going to happen, but it doesn't stop the shock and disappointment when it does.
My phone vibrates my fingers. False alarm. He thought you were sneaking around with ME. I never laughed so fucking hard in my life. Little Bella Swan with Jasper Fucking Hale. I am DYING.
It takes me a while to collect myself from the earth shattering pseudo-news Jasper pulls on me. Dad thought I was with Jasper? Why on earth would he ever think that? What reason had I given him to even think that would be a possibility?
When mom comes looking for me, and her look of irritation from not hanging the decorations turns to a look of concern for her baby girl.
"Honey?"
"Sorry, mom, I just…" and I don't really know what to even say.
"You okay?"
Her voice carries concern and love and support and maybe if I just tell her, maybe she'll understand.
"Yeah," I respond flatly, sitting up.
She puts herself next to me and I lean my head on her shoulders praying she pulls it out of me. I'm too weak to commit to this lie and too weak to admit to my mom I've been with the boy next door, my best friend's brother, since the day he said "jizz".
"How nice of your friends to help today, Bella," she starts.
"Yeah," I sigh softly.
"Even Edward came with crutches and everything. He must be a really good friend." My mom pries, and I can feel the maternal gentleness of her eyes as they take in my wriggling fingers and clammy-from-almost-finding-out skin.
"His mom probably told him to come help." I don't even believe what I'm saying, and I can't imagine my mom will either.
"I thought that too until I asked him."
"What'd he say?" I ask, retreating slightly so I can watch my mom's face as she says it.
"He said his dad's been at work since five this morning and his mom and Alice left to go shopping before he even got up."
"Oh," I say softly.
"So, honey, why is he here?" Mom is soft and understanding and she pulls my hand into hers and squeezes gently. There's knowing written on her palms and in her wrinkles and understanding as she twists her body to face me. I want to say it, but I can't. Of all the people, I never envisioned telling my parents. Mr. and Mrs. Cullen? Yes. My friends at school? Definitely. Alice? Every single day. But, my parents? The only ones who could actively stop me from seeing him? My heart beats against the bones that protect it.
I open my lips to answer but a strangled sob claws out. It's dainty and filled with the pain that I know will come when dad tells me "you're not seeing that boy".
"How long, Bella?" mom asks quietly as she holds her only daughters breaking heart in her small, open hands.
She allows me to calm slowly before moving my long hair behind my ears and out of my face so she can clearly see the crystal honesty in my eyes.
"How long have you and Edward…" she trails off not really knowing how to finish.
"How long have you known?" I test, unable to answer her original question because how long have we been what we are? Since he opened the door that first day we walked over with a plate of pleasantries when they moved in. Since he said "jizz" and smiled at the way my blush colored my cheeks and neck and other places. Since he asked for help with Alice's birthday card and invited me into a place I'd never been before—a boy's room. Since he slipped that note in my locker. Since he looked at me like I was the only person in the entire universe to ever hold his hand and his heart without crushing either.
Mom smiles her typical mom smile like she knows every secret in the world. "About as long as you have," she admits.
"Does dad know?"
Mom shakes her head. "I never told him."
"Why?"
"I wasn't too worried. I thought it was just a harmless little girl crush. The kind that lasts a year or two. The kind that makes you swoon and your heart flutter when he looks at you. But lately you've been going over there or staying over there even after Alice leaves with her boyfriend. Then you asked me to go on birth control. Everything started to add up. I wanted to—"
"It was for my cramps, mom, I promise!" I defend honestly. "We're not… we've never…"
"Okay, sweetie," mom answers. "But when you are… ready, please come to me. I missed out on a lot of your firsts because you wanted to hide this from everyone." Mom's warmth masks her disappointment. "Your first smile at a boy, your first butterflies, your first crush, your first kiss…"
"I'm sorry," I cry and break apart, heaving ugly tears into my mom's embrace. "Are you mad?" I ask. "Are you going to make me stop seeing him?" I weep.
"No, I'm not mad, baby. I just wish you had been honest. The moment I started noticing you were looking at him differently, that's when I lightened up, Bella. I didn't want you to suffocate. I didn't want you to resent me." Mom sniffs back tears now, too. "I want your first love, this love, to be everything you need it to be, but you are only fifteen, honey. I know it's easy to get caught up, do mature, adult things…" she trails off when my tears flow freer, faster.
I shake and cry still in her arms when she doesn't acknowledge my last question.
"Why did you keep it a secret?" she asks, pulling me back, looking for an answer.
"I was scared. I was scared you and dad wouldn't let me go back over there. I was scared Edward didn't like me. I was scared dad would make us move. I was scared to tell you. I was so scared to tell Alice, so I never did. I'm still scared. I'm going to lose her."
And then my mom says the one thing I need to hear, the one thing everyone else hasn't.
"You might, baby. You might lose her. But, you're both young and as you grow older, as she grows older and sees how you and her brother feel about each other… things might change. Just prepare yourself that you might potentially lose her, sweetie."
She holds me through the revelation. I've been thinking it for so long and hearing someone else, my mom, say it out loud makes it real. What if I have to pick between my best girl and my favorite boy? What if Alice makes me choose? And then another thought crosses my mind.
"So, you're not going to make me stop seeing him?" I ask, pulling back from my mom's wet-from-crumbled-secrets shirt.
"Not unless you give me a reason to."
And then my mom hugs me harder than she ever has. She squeezes my arms and back and palms. She squeezes my heart and blood and aches from my bones. My mom offers hope and honesty and compassion.
"Edward's a sweet boy, a good boy. He's been nothing but respectful toward his parents and sister, he showed Jasper what a real family is made of, he's always been very kind to me, and he looks at my daughter like she's the sweetest flower in the garden," mom coos with charm before pausing, sighing, and then continuing. "Now, your dad's going to take some convincing. Not because it's Edward per se but because his little girl, his only girl, is growing up… which is why I sent him, Edward, and Jasper for extra party supplies that we definitely don't need… and also why I've made us attend all his basketball games last season."
I laugh gently, honestly at her revelations.
"When do we have to tell him?" I ask.
"We'll give him a few months, baby. I don't think he's going to take it lightly, but we'll get through," she says, brushing my tear-tangled hair away from my cheeks. "We always get through."
I nod and dry my tears on the backs of my hands.
"Jasper texted me and said dad thought he and I were together, not me and Edward."
My mom looks at me like I've grown an extra arm from my head. "He thought you and Jasper were together?" And then my mom laughs louder than I've heard in quite some time as she falls back onto my bed, grabbing her belly, and catching her breath. When I join her, my limbs are secret-safe-and-exposed free and comfortable with my mom totally and completely for the first time in years.
~!~
The boys finally come back, and by this time I'm showered, changed, and working on de-puffing my red, swollen eyes. My heart is light. My brain is free. My arms swing happily at my sides.
My hair hangs long and wet down my black tee shirt, tied in a knot at the side, and my denim shorts rise slightly as I stand on my tippy toes to hang a banner on our porch.
"Need help, little girl?" Edward teases behind me.
Pitter-patters of my heart excel when I hear him, feel him, love him. He has no idea what just occurred in my bedroom. He has no clue what I went through with my mom and I have no clue what he went through with my dad. All I know is that I'm so tired of hiding, and his smile makes me want to grab his defined jaw and rub the whiskers from not shaving for a week against the softness of my cheeks, my neck, my inner thigh.
"Yes, can I use your extra height?" I smile at him, trying to push all thoughts of his stubble near my thigh while my parents mill around.
Nearing seventeen, Edward towers over me, and every other kid at school, at 6'3. Edward's always been tall. Even on the first day I met him, he stood in his doorway as the wind whipped at my bare legs, and loomed down, swallowing me whole with his baby blues and pink lips.
Edward looks at me with a quirked eyebrow and knowing smile. I shake my head and give him directions on where to hang streamers, banners, and star cut-outs. When we make it to the side of the house, he turns me, pushes me against scratchy brick, and runs his finger from my lips to the center of my neck down to my breasts.
"You smell like strawberry cream and sparkles," he whispers.
"You smell like heart beats and freckles," I tell him back.
"What do freckles smell like, B?" he asks with a laugh.
I don't know what to say, so I stand on my tippy toes until he leans over and gives me his lips.
"Do you love me, Pretty B?"
"Mhm."
"Would you love me if I went on a fishing trip?"
My giggle is soft. "Sure."
"Would you still love me if I went on a fishing trip with your dad?"
"What?" I back away and look at him. He's smiling and shrugging and pulling at his grown-out, copper-brown strands.
"He asked me and Jas if we like to fish. I said yes, you know, to get on my girl's dad's good side. He said he camps out up north once or twice every summer if the weather's good. He asked me and Jas to tag along."
"Holy shit," I deadpan hyperventilating. Wait till my mom gets a load of this.
"Should I go?"
"Well you already said yes! He does know you'll be on crutches, right?"
"I'm only crutches until August fifth. He said probably mid-August."
"Do you want to go?"
"Anything to get him to like me. When he finds out the dirty, deplorable things I do with his daughter, something tells me he's going to chop off my balls."
"Okay one, he'll never find out what we do. Ew. And two, maybe we should put those balls to use then."
"You already put them to use," he teases, separating from me to help me hang balloons on our fence.
"I mean, like, really good use, Edward." I stop and look at him. He hasn't caught on yet as he ties the string around the picket fence.
"Oh!" He suddenly glances at me with wide-surprise eyes and dry lips. "You mean, like… You mean you want to…"
I giggle at his absurdity.
"Maybe for my birthday?"
Dumbfounded turns to heated in seconds. His smile is crooked and he's sauntering over. I hope everyone's inside because the desire in his eyes boils my blood and I'm going to have to find a way for his hands to get inside my shorts, like, now.
"That's what you want for your birthday, Pretty? You want my cock?"
"Yes," I whisper.
"Where?"
"Maybe in your room—"
"Where," he reiterates.
"I-inside me."
"You want to give me your virginity, baby?" Edward's suddenly soft as he brushes my waved, chocolate hair behind my ear. He's been so patient, never pressing, and I'm ready.
"Yes."
"Okay," he whispers heavily.
I put some distance between us as our neighbors walk by. Edward waves and I say hello quickly. I walk past him and whisper "behind the shed. Five minutes."
I walk around the house and collect stray garbage before putting in the garbage bins and heading to the shed. No one's on the back or front porch, luckily. He's there first and the second I round it, I'm against the dilapidated, warped wall so heavily I think the wood splinters as my head hits it. Edward wastes no time unbuttoning my shorts and peeling down my undies. His fingers find me wet and ready. Two long, warm fingers enter and spread me wide.
"You can't just say you want me to pop your cherry when your parents are anywhere in the vicinity," he grunts.
"Why?" I whisper-moan, scooting lower, jutting my hips, grinding my center into his palms.
He never answers me though. He braces one hand against the shed and the other forcefully drives his digits in and out of me over and over and over. He quickly takes my right hand and places it on my clit.
"Let me watch you," he says, eyes focus only on my center.
I give him what he asks for. His fingers pistoning in and out of me already have me so on edge that it only takes a few small, hard circle with my index and middle finger on my clit to come.
Edward doesn't quiet my moans with his mouth. No, this time he puts the palm of his left hand heavily over my mouth and watches my eyes and then my pussy as I come on his fingers. The pressure of his fingers and the weight of his hand over my mouth spur me. I am infinitely more turned on. I moan into the salty-sweat of his fleshy palm. I open my mouth and suck on it, biting hard as I fall to pieces.
I rub and rub slowly and Edward matches my speed. He stills his fingers in me, pulls out until only a knuckle or two is inside me, and then curls his fingers over and over, pressing up and hard, his fingers rock back and forth hard inside me.
"Oh, shit," I whimper, speeding my movements on my already sensitive clit. My hips buck on their own.
Edward smacks my hand away, determination etched all over his face as he stares me down.
His fingers press harder and harder over and over curling and curling until my legs and stomach shake in way that I've never felt. A pressure so strained tightens in my lower belly and for a second I think I'm going to explode or pee or both. I grab onto his arm, his shoulder, the bent edges of wood on the shed to ground myself.
Edward licks his lips and grinds erection into my side. He's hard and hot and so turned on. His smile is I-know-exactly-what's-happening confident and he chuckles darkly before biting his lower lip, moving to my side, and watching, waiting, anticipating.
"Bella?" someone calls from the side of the house. "Bella!" the same voice yells.
Edward puts his hand over my mouth again, but he's still inside me. He's moving his fingers a deliciously slower pace, but they intensely pet me from the inside.
His eyes are needy-deep and bold. Daring me to push his hand away as whoever calls my name walks closer and closer, so close I hear the crunch of fallen twigs under a boot. Edward's cock pokes into the softness of my belly harder than before. The fear of getting caught gets him off and I'm so turned on by it. He must feel the sudden gush of arousal because he no longer cares about staying still. His fingers slurp inside me from my wetness and I'm about to shake so hard this shed might fall over. When I look down at what he's doing, I notice his long, thick cock is released from his shorts and there's wetness drooling from the head.
I'm going to get caught with my boyfriend's fingers inside me, my undies at my ankles, and Edward's dick on my stomach. I make no move to change the situation.
"She's probably in her room," mom says to dad, and then we hear their footsteps retreat and the back-porch door open and shut loudly.
"Fuck," Edward groans. He pumps me three more times before removing his fingers from inside me and uses my arousal as lube as he haphazardly rubs himself.
"What was that?" I ask. "What were you doing? What was that feeling? It felt like I was going to… I don't… holy shit," I stammer, catching my breath, rubbing my slit up and down, with my undies still at my ankles.
He chuckles, bends down, and slowly pulls light blue cotton up over my thighs and hips. My arousal is everywhere. It covers my center, my mound, the inside of my thighs.
He places a soft, gentle kiss right over my cotton-covered slit, one on my belly button, one on my shoulder. He licks my neck in one long stroke and winks at me before righting himself. Edward's erection looks enormous and ridiculous in his khakis. He presses down against it absent-mindedly, like he does it one hundred times a day.
He points to a pile of sticks and says, "bring those in. Tell them you were in the woods looking for firewood for tonight."
"Okay," I whisper, shaking my head clear. He always has a solution. He's planned and calculated, ready for anything.
"Isabella?" he calls.
"Yeah?" I love when he calls me that.
"Whatever you do, don't tell them your boyfriend was about to make you squirt."
~!~
The party has been going all day, but it really didn't start until dinner time. And by it really didn't start until dinner time, I mean all our friends didn't show up and start eating until then.
Dad cooks dozens of burgers and hot dogs while holding a beer and an apron that says "my wife made me wear this" which earns a few laughs from the adults.
Emmett eats two of each and goes back for seconds. The adults have the entire backyard while "the kids" set themselves up in the front.
Emmett and Rose talk animatedly about the new scary movie and asks who wants to see it. Edward says he does so I do too. Sam and Rose haven't officially broken up, but he's not here, so something tells me he knows. Jake and Jas of all people sit on the porch and talk quietly. Sometimes Jake laughs into his can of diet rootbeer while looking for Alice, other times Jasper slaps Jake on the back in a friendly, bro way.
"The fuck are they even talking about?" Alice asks from beside me. She's stuffing her face with the messiest hamburger and sipping lemonade through a straw. Her lips are Revlon Stars and Stripes blue and glossy. She pulls it off stunningly.
"You," I tease.
Edward catches my eye from across the porch. He's made his way into Rose and Emmett's conversation about the movies and he smiles a smile that stops my heart and restarts it in the same beat.
"Al, you in on this movie?" he calls over the music and friendly banter. "Tomorrow at 7."
"You know I'm going to dad's banquet with him tomorrow, numb nuts," she calls back. Mr. Cullen invites Alice every year and she goes every year. Instead of the traditional daddy-daughter dances, they do daddy-daughter medical banquets.
"Bella?" he calls me next.
"Hm?" I respond over a very big bite of burger.
"Movies? Tomorrow at 7? Rose and Em. Me and Jas."
I look at Alice who shrugs. "You can tell me if it's any good," she says easily.
My eyes light up, but I shrug back nonchalantly. "If it's scary I'm leaving."
"Don't be a wuss," he teases. "Bring one of your frilly little sweaters to hide behind."
"I have to leave at 5 tomorrow," Al says over another bite not paying any attention to Edward. "Can you come over at 4 and make me beautiful?"
"You already are," I say with a ketchup kiss to her cheek. "But, sure. Okay."
Em and Rose disappear and Al and Jas sit next to each other on the steps.
Edward's enjoying a burger in the corner, but his eyes are on me and Jake.
"Love's a bitch," Jake shares, swinging lazily on my porch swing.
"I heard about you and Alice. I'm sorry," I tell him, but I'm kinda-sorta not sorry. I want to tell him the only people who didn't know Jas and Al would end up together were Jas and Al… and maybe me.
"It's cool," he says with a shrug. "Dude's an alright guy once you get to know him. Glad he stopped doing his stupid shit. Hope he treats her right."
"I think he will."
"He fuckin' better. I mean, they only went out like, 6 months when they were thirteen or some shit."
I try and do the math in my head, but much like me and Edward, they've been together from the start.
"Jas and Al have been what they are now for as long as I can remember," I tell him honestly. "For what it's worth, though, Jake, Alice really did like you."
Jake stops swinging suddenly and nods. "Mind if invite someone?"
"Who?" I ask, ready to say no if it's Bree.
"Leah."
Leah's a nice girl. She lives on the reservation with Jake, and I always thought they were just friends just like everyone thinks me and Edward are just friends.
"Sure," I tell him because everyone has their own little secrets.
Leah shows up within an hour. She sits next to Jake with a smile and he throws an arm around her.
"Hey, Leah," Alice calls.
"Hi, Alice," Leah says back.
They're friendly and genuine and this is just weird.
Alice had a whole world with Jake that I knew nothing about, and I feel a little less guilty about the universe Edward and I have built.
"Fourth of July looks so fucking good on you," Edward whispers, sitting next to me on the swing. My feet barely reach the ground, so I've been using body weight and momentum to keep what little movement I have going.
I lift my head and beam.
Edward uses his long, long legs to move us.
"I think this is my favorite holiday," I admit.
"More than Christmas?" he asks.
I tilt my head to the side and think.
"Maybe the same."
"Think that's why they call it Christmas in July?" he asks, rocking us back and forth like we're in our own world.
"Next year I want this to be real," I tell him. "I want us to be real. I want everyone to know. I don't want to hide."
Edward keeps swinging, putting his arm around the back of the swing. I lean back all the way.
"I'll tell everyone right fucking now, baby," he says. "I choose you and whatever consequences come, we'll deal with them."
"My mom knows." I tell him a very brief, very quiet version of the events that transpired earlier.
Edward chuckles softly and nods. "So now it's just your dad and Alice?"
I nod back. "Yep."
"Soon, baby," he whispers. "Soon everyone will know. We won't have to hide."
"Wonder what it'll be like."
"It'll be like it is now only in the daylight. I'll be able to grab your hand any fucking time I want. I'll be able to take you to see a scary fucking movie alone without the need for our friends. I'll be able to kiss you at school. I'll be able to walk you to your locker. I'll be able to take you to the back room in the library."
Goosebumps prickle my skin and I shiver.
"The back room, huh?" I joke.
"It'll be both our first times there," he tells me gently, softly, and I want so bad to reach over and kiss him, but Alice stands with Jas and I stop. I separate myself from Edward out of habit.
Edward stands, stretches, and says with a wanting smile, "I'll be able to sit next to my fucking girlfriend."
~!~
When it gets dark, Jake and Mr. Cullen line the fireworks up. The rest of us sit on the steps of my front porch. Alice, Em, and Rose on the first step. Me, Edward, and Jas on the top step. Dad and Mom canoodle in front of us at the front of the yard near the fence. Dad has his arm around her shoulders and moms gripping the edge of his shirt in the back. They're sharing sweet-secret kisses and gentle laughter. I wonder then, in this moment, if Edward and I will ever be old with a family. The thought comes out of no where and scares me for a brief second before he leans down and whispers in my ear something scarier.
"Look how cute your parents are."
I nod with a smile.
"That'll be us in twenty years, B. White picket fence. Two kids. Married."
"You think?" I ask seriously.
"I know."
And then he grabs my hand and holds it gently in his as the first whistle-pop explodes blue and red and rains down into sparkles overhead. I close my eyes and make a wish on the raining stars ahead. I'll let you know in twenty years if it comes true.
~!~
I'm putting the very last touches on Alice. Smearing light pink gloss over her already smitten, bitten, apple-red lips and dusting her cheek bones with highlighter before doing the same to mine, she turns to look in the mirror and smiles.
"I kissed Jasper," she finally admits. "It happened the other night. I was high as a fucking kite and he was there with his stupid short hair and his happy little smile and that laugh. You know I love his laugh, Bella. I just needed to see if it was still there."
I brush blush over her cheeks and smile sadly. "Is it?"
Alice's smile is anything but sad. "It is."
~!~
I don't force her to wear a dress, she actively chooses to. I bring over a long, black, off the shoulder one and a medium dusty blue one with lace on the top.
"I guess the black one, right?" she asks.
"Sure," I offer.
She slips her feet into gold sandals and pushes her bra straps down into the off-the-shoulder sleeves.
"Beautiful," I tell her.
"As pretty as you?"
"Prettier."
The boys barge in at that second like they've been listening this whole time. Jasper whispers low and slow and Alice's cheeks tinge pinker by the second.
"Do you turn back into a gremlin at midnight?" Edward teases his sister.
"Ha-ha," she mewls sarcastically.
"Hi, B," Edward says with a wink and tug at one of my curls. He glances at my frilly little sweater and smiles, eyes cast down, love written all over his lips. My heart beats out of my chest. I feel the smile at my lips also tug at my heart as it swells and grows larger, accepting more of the butterflies and thrill Edward gives with every glance of his beautiful blues.
We all walk downstairs to a very professional, very handsome Mr. Cullen who fixes his tie and winks at Al in the mirror.
"Wow," he gleams. "You look wonderful."
"Yeah, whatever. Let's go." Alice rolls her eyes through a smile.
Mrs. Cullen kisses her husband like Edward sometimes kisses me. Slow and steady then all at once like rain during a thunderstorm or leaves falling from a tree. Edward must notice my gawking when he stands behind me and trails one finger slowly from the center of my spine to the waist band of my jeans. He pulls gently and I stumble right into his chest and stay there until his parents pull away.
~!~
We make it to the movies 20 minutes early. Edward buys me popcorn and three different candies.
"You're going to get a cavity," he teases, popping candy in his mouth, too.
"Too late," I joke.
Tonight, I'm sitting between Edward and Jasper and I plan on getting to the bottom of this thing between Jas and Al.
"What're you doing?" I ask Jas.
"Getting ready to watch this movie. What are you doing?" he taunts.
I throw a piece of popcorn at him. "With Alice, dumbie. What are you doing with my best friend?"
Jasper exhales a slow, unsure breath. "Honestly, B? I have no fucking idea."
"Are you guys going to be toxic again? Are you going to hurt each other?" I use his words against him.
He steals a sip of my soda and thinks.
"It feels different," he says finally. "It feels like she won't take my shit and I won't disappoint her. It feels like we're mature enough for each other now. It feels like maybe she can be my light."
I nod in acceptance and bend over to kiss his cheek. He wipes it off with a dry palm and smears it on my leg.
"You hittin' on my friend, Pretty?" Edward whispers in my ear.
I sit back as Jas puts his arm around my chair. "Not even once. Not ever," I answer honestly. I glance around the theatre. We're almost all the way in the back, and I don't notice any kids from our school, so I lean over and plant one right on Edward's lips. At first, he's taken aback by my sudden, public affection, but then he grabs my neck, places his thumb at my pulse point, and gives me everything he can quickly, all at once.
I want to stop and whisper dirty things on his lips like "please finger me right now" and "I really want to feel your cock inside me" but I'm way too embarrassed and not sure enough of myself yet, so I settle for the least dirty, dirty talk I can come up with.
"I'm so turned on right now."
Edward growls on my lips and tears himself away.
"Fucking movie," he mumbles irritably and looks at me again before asking, "why?"
"Why what?" I whisper as movie-goers settle around us.
He leans closer to me and smirks. "What got your pretty, pink pussy all wet, baby?"
I look down, embarrassed, and then I glance back up at him with my own smirk. "Watching your parents kiss."
Edward's look of disgust matches Jasper's, "oh fuck, B, gross."
I look to Jasper and ask, "do you hear everything?"
Jasper and Edward both answer a simple, "yes."
~!~
Rose and Emmett show up just before the movie starts and sit by Jasper. Edward throws his coat over my lap and grabs my hand, brushing his thumb back and forth over silky, made just for him skin. His fingers dance and grip and love like a vice. Jasper has his arm over my chair, soft as a breath, so no one suspects anything for a moment, but Edward… Edward swallows my entire being. I may as well be in his lap and on his chest and petting his heart with the softness he gives me. I feel this pull, this charge, not only to Edward but to this moment.
This moment, normal with my boyfriend who holds my hand tenderly, quietly and all our friends. The only thing missing is my girl, and I hope, I wish, that she just doesn't even care that Edward is my boyfriend and she's okay with us holding hands at the movies and kissing in her basement.
As if he can sense it, Edward squeezes my hand. I look at him and he offers sincerity and devotion. His eyes say you're the best girl in the world and I'll choose you forever. My belly somersaults like an Olympic Gymnast.
~!~
The rest of Summer plays out the same. Jas and Alice rekindle their old love. Rose and Em do the same. Edward and I kept our flame going fervent and hot through secret touches, long, deep kisses with no prying eyes, and midnight orgasms.
~!~
Edward's off crutches by August, and it's nerve wracking to see him step unsteadily with his bad ankle.
"You're overcompensating," Mr. Cullen tells him. "You're going to lose all the strength in your ankle if you don't start putting pressure on it."
So Edward does, and slowly but surely he's able to walk confidently with his bum ankle. He smiles proudly as he takes his first step toward me. No crutches, no hobbles, just a sweet, sauntering Edward.
~!~
"I cannot believe your dad took my boyfriend and brother on a fishing trip with him. How random," Alice says the second day they're gone.
I want say to her, "I cannot believe my dad took my boyfriend and his friend on a fishing trip," but I can't so I won't.
Alice is at my house, and we're eating grape flavored popsicles on my back porch while mom cooks dinner.
"They'll be back tomorrow," I assure both her and myself.
"I hope so," Al says, looking right at me. "I miss Jasper's dick."
"Ew," I say with a laugh and a smile but I also miss Edward's so I get it.
~!~
When the boys come home, Edward says the trip was "good" and that's all.
I try to grill him and ask for details but he says he's tired and it must be true because both boys are summer-sun loved golden and sleeping in minutes down in the basement.
Alice is mad, but she cuddles up next to her guy while we flip through the stations. I lay back on a pillow, put my feet on Edward's lap, and fall asleep.
When I wake, Alice and Jas are gone and Edward's tickling my toes.
His smile is I-missed-you bright and his eyes are three-days-with-your-dad tired.
He tells me my dad was pretty quiet the first day which made it very awkward. The second day he opened up slowly. And the third day they couldn't get him to shut up. I nod like I understand because I do and tells me stories from the weekend like when Jas fell in the water and my dad slipped in trying to help him out or when Edward was on breakfast duty and burned it.
"Was he mad?" I ask referring to my dad.
"Nah," Edward shrugs.
It's quiet for a beat before I ask "Where are they?" referring to our friends.
"I told him to take her out so I could be with you."'
"I love you," I smile.
"Same," he careens, pushing me back and kissing my neck, sliding my zipper down and tickling the waistband of my undies.
"Pretty?" he asks.
I nuzzle his neck in response.
"I missed the fuck out of you."
His hand finds its way in my undies and I sigh slowly against his neck.
"You have no idea," I whisper.
