For Cupcake Hippie
EPOV
"We need to talk." I look over my shoulder to see Bella standing in the living room, hands clasped in front of her, and looking mildly terrified.
"Maybe we don't," I say, moving to the fridge and pulling out a bottle of water. I take a long drink before looking at her again. "Maybe … maybe we just needed to get that out of our system. It's probably been building up for the past ten years."
She drops down to perch on the arm of one of the couches and sighs. "Yeah, you're probably right. I, uh, I'm sorry for locking you out, and throwing mud at you, and saying you weren't good enough to get into med school. I'm also sorry that I've been sneaking into your house to replace your chocolate protein powder with SlimFast for the past three years."
"Look, I—" I turn to fully look at her. "Say what now?"
She smirks a little, and I sigh. "You're the worst, Swan. I can't believe you. How are you getting into my house?"
"I might have a copy of your key." She has the good grace to look sheepish.
"I'm gonna kill Jasper." She laughs loud and long, and I can't help but join her. "We're quite the pair, aren't we?"
Shrugging, she slides back over the arm and lies on the couch. "I guess, but can you believe that Alice and Jasper did this to us? They're the ones to blame for all of this." She points a finger in the air.
"Do you think they knew?" I walk over to the other couch and sit down, looking over at her.
She turns her head and quirks an eyebrow at me. "Knew what?"
Waving my hand between us. "This? Do you think they knew we had an attraction to each other? Because I think I might have told Jasper after I first met you that I thought you were hot, and that was it."
She snorts. "Alice knew. She would have had to." Bella sits up suddenly and rubs her face. "I didn't know."
"Neither did I."
Peeking out from between her fingers, she sighs. "What do we do now?"
"I … I don't know." I honestly don't know. The sex is amazing, but at what cost? We literally can't be in the same room for longer than a few hours before we start bickering with each other.
"Are you hungry?" Bella asks suddenly, and I realize that I'm starving.
"Yeah, I could definitely eat."
"Great. I think better when I'm busy." She hops up, walking into the kitchen, and pulls open the fridge, poking around inside. "Oh, you are in for a treat."
I get up and walk over to the counter to offer to help, but she tells me she has it under control. I watch her for a few minutes before I clear my throat. "We could keep having sex. I think we're good at it."
"To what end?" She's patting some meat dry and looking at me. "I won't disagree that we might be good together that way, but what would be the point?"
"I don't think we'd kill each other if we had an outlet." She looks up at me, and I can see the gears turning in her brain.
"And if we still do?"
"Then it's a failed experiment. But here we are, having a fairly civilized conversation." I stop talking because I realize I haven't apologized for anything that I've said today. "Oh, shit. Bella, I'm sorry."
She sighs. "For what?"
"I don't think you're a mean drunk or that you drink too much."
She rolls her shoulders. "I probably do, and I know how aggressive I am. No, confrontational. That's what people say." Moving to the sink, she washes her hands quickly, and I move to her side as she dries them.
"Hey, I'm being honest here. It's who you are, and it's okay." I place my hands on her hips, and when she doesn't pull away, I drag her a little closer. "Remember when you beat the shit out of Maggie because she hit on Jasper right after graduation? You gave her plenty of chances to walk away."
"I'm a menace. That's what Jacob Black said. Mike Newton said I wasn't a lady, whatever that means." She rolls her eyes but stays in my grip.
"Maybe you just haven't found a man who can handle you." I waggle my eyebrows, and she cracks a smile.
"Are you saying you can?" She moves to a cabinet and pulls out some spices and flour.
"I have been for the last decade." It goes silent in the kitchen as we both process what I've just said.
Because it's true; we've both dated and even had a couple of short relationships, but over the last ten years, Bella and I have been the most consistent in each other's lives, aside from Alice and Jasper.
"I need to think for a little bit." She's quiet, and I leave the kitchen, walking back to my room. I dig around for my phone and find three missed calls from Jasper. The last voicemail stops me dead in my tracks: Alice and I are on our way.
I call him back immediately, hoping he was bluffing, but when Alice answers, I know we're screwed. "Edward, we'll be there in about thirty minutes. There was a huge crash on the freeway, so we got stuck in it. But we're on the way."
"Why? We're fine. I swear." I'm pacing in my bedroom.
"Jasper and I talked about it last night, and we realized how unreasonable we were being. We can't force you two to like each other, and we would never give you guys up."
I hit the speaker button, walking back out into the common area. "Alice, that means a lot, but Bella and I actually turned a corner today. I know you're already halfway here, but we're fine." I send Bella a pleading look, and she freezes.
"Alice? What's going on?"
"Bella, babe! We're coming to get you! I'm so sorry. We never should—"
Bella cuts Alice off. "Fine. We'll see you when you get here." She hits the red button to end the call and looks up at me. "How long do we have?"
"About thirty minutes."
"I … I don't want to leave yet. I think we need to figure out what we're going to do and—"
"We can't do that in half an hour," I finish her thought.
"Exactly. We'll have a meal with them, explain that we want to finish out the week, but we also need to tell them that this ultimatum was unfair." She sighs and leans into my arms. It's unexpected, but I wrap my arms around her tightly.
"We'll figure it out."
She pulls away. "I don't think we should tell them."
"Me either. At least, not now."
We make a plan for Bella to keep working on the meal while I move the laundry over and clean up the bathroom. The washer isn't quite finished, so I move to the bathroom to clean it up and stock fresh towels. When I come back out, Bella has found a few candles and lit them.
"Should I make a fire?"
"Sure, but we're kicking them out in a few hours," Bella says firmly, and I nod.
The cabin seems to be in perfect shape when I hear tires squeal over the mud and dirt, and my eyes dart over to Bella. I stand up quickly, walking into the kitchen. I'm not sure what comes over me, but I skim my nose along the column of her neck, breathing her in. I press a quick kiss to her lips.
"We're going to be fine."
She nods, pulling away just as a loud knock sounds at the door.
"Here goes nothing."