A/N: Lovely reader of mine, as of today, I´ve officially graduated from university. Writing fanfiction has been the best escape I could have ever wished for and I want to thank you, each and every one of you, for reading this. The silent readers, the ones who are responding to every chapter, the more vocal ones, everyone: thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

19

A Boring Kiss

I blinked and my heart did a few somersaults in my chest. Luckily, I already sat in my car because I was sure my knees would be absolute mush. ¨Did you really just ask me out?¨

Edward smiled sheepishly. ¨Too soon? Too much? I hope you don't feel pressured or anything. I just thought it would be fun to hang out and do something teenagers would do, you know. But please, feel free to tell me it's too soon.¨

He spoke way too fast and I thought that was quite endearing. I bit my lip but even that couldn't stop me from giggling. ¨Finally. You sure took your time.¨

His eyes lit up. ¨Well, on that note. Do you mind it if we went somewhere right now?¨

¨Of course not. Unless this is the part where you´ll bite me?¨

He rolled his eyes. ¨You wish.¨

A loud giggle made me look up. Alice ran to my car and seeing how excited she was, made me quite nervous. I wondered what she had already seen of this afternoon in her mind, but before I could ask, Edward tossed his keys in her direction. He never broke eye contact with me and Alice managed to catch his keys in an instant.

¨What the…,¨ I looked from him to his sibling and back. She came to a stop right next to him and together, they laughed at my surprised expression.

¨It´s a sibling thing,¨ Edward explained.

¨Or a V-word thing,¨ Alice winked at me and Edward shot her an annoyed glare. She rolled her eyes. ¨Alright, alright, I´m leaving. Have fun, Bella.¨

¨Thanks, Alice,¨ I laughed and she walked away. Edward held his hand out and I grabbed it, even though it was quite awkward. Why did he want to hold my hand here?

He cocked his head to the side. ¨I meant your keys, Bella.¨

¨Oh.¨

I got as red as a tomato, and it got even worse when I quickly glanced in his direction and saw his crooked smile. Damn it.

I got out of the car as gracefully as I could and sat down in the passenger's seat. Once I knew the redness left my face, I turned to Edward.

¨Where are you taking me?¨

He mindlessly gestured at the road in front of us. ¨It´s a surprise.¨

¨I'm curious.¨

Edward groaned. ¨And I'm anxious. I haven't been on a date in a century.¨ He laughed and looked at me. His golden eyes told me that as much as he tried to make a joke out of it, he really was nervous. I winked.

¨Yeah, I can tell.¨

Edward reached out to me and gently nudged me with his elbow. I held my breath and quickly looked at the road in front of us, but the car didn't even move one millimeter out of place.

I giggled. ¨Okay, okay. I´ll kindly shut up now.¨

When I looked up, he smiled as well.

We were quiet for a bit, and he took a turn to Port Angeles. I tried to find some more clues.

Edward made a sound, and when I faced him again, he frowned and looked at the road. Before I could ask him what was on his mind, he spoke calmly, weighting out his words carefully.

¨Could you tell me what was up with Lauren today?¨

I hadn't anticipated that and I didn´t know what to say. I didn't even have a clue myself.

¨I could, but I won´t. I can tell you this, though: I found her in the restrooms, she was upset and I pitied her. Why are you asking?¨

¨She thought some nice things about you...,¨ Edward said while he quickly studied my face. Then, he frowned before he continued. ¨… For a change.¨

I shrugged. I did not need Lauren´s approval or anything, so I couldn't really understand why he kept bugging me about it.

¨Didn't it bother you, the things she said about you. About us?¨ He kept asking.

I sighed. ¨I've already told you today, it didn't. She has other things to worry about. Couldn't you really not hear her thoughts about it? Really?¨

¨She's… very closed off,¨ Edward admitted.

¨Listen,¨ I reached out to grab his hand on the steering wheel and ignored the tingles I felt rushing over my body. ¨I appreciate you looking after me, I really do. But, at the end of the day, Lauren was just a bully with her own problems and nothing more.

Am I now friends with her? Of course not. Do I forgive her straight away? No! But, she needed someone in the restrooms and I was there. She broke down, Edward. She needed a stranger and that stranger was me.

Besides, that you couldn't hear her has to mean she tried her best to ignore her ¨issue¨ as best as she could.¨ I made air quotations. ¨And on top of that, I'm sure she´ll leave me alone from now on.¨ I smiled.

Edward frowned and parked my car. I was so lost in thoughts about Lauren, I hadn't even noticed we stood still in front of a building. I looked outside of the window and my eyes widened at what I saw.

¨A bookstore?!¨ I happily exclaimed.

Edward laughed at my sudden eagerness. I quickly jumped out of the car and looked behind me to see where he was.

¨Not just any bookstore…,¨ he said, smiling wickedly. ¨But one that sells my own book.¨

My mouth fell open. ¨No way! You write?¨

¨Poetry,¨ he shrugged. He looked at the entrance of the store with a proud smile on his face. I decided to tease him a bit.

¨I could've guessed. You don't seem like the type to write young adult fantasy novels about vampires, like a certain someone, you know?¨

Edward placed his hand on my elbow and nudged me into the store. I looked around, half expecting to find a life-sized cardboard copy of him somewhere. I couldn't find it of course, which was a bummer.

Edward laughed at my enthusiasm and I stuck my tongue out. That´ll teach him.

¨It's just a small book, Bella. I can't exactly become a world-famous author. There´s a reason your mother uses pen names.¨ He rolled his eyes. ¨Come here.¨

He took my hand in his, and softly drew little circles with his thumb in the palm of my hand. It was equally ticklish as it was wonderful and nice and hopefully will lead to something more and why hasn't it led to something more yet? Aargh.

Edward quickly glanced at me and I faked a smile.

Busted.

We walked to the poetry section of the store and Edward quickly scanned the shelves. He found a small, leather-bound book with the title embedded in golden paint.

´Existence is agony.´

¨I might have had a little emo-phase growing up,¨ Edward whispered, and his eyes sparkled with joy for showing me this.

¨But it's not just a phase Esme, it's who you really are,¨ I quoted back the famous meme. He gently squeezed my hand and we laughed.

He took the small book in his hands, ready to pay, and gestured to the rest of the store. ¨My treat.¨

¨Are you sure?¨

¨Of course.¨

I laughed and nudged him with my elbow. ¨Wow, you´ve bought a whole bookstore only for me, how generous.¨

Edward rolled his eyes. ¨Don't tempt me, or I might do that on the next date.¨

I giggled and ignored the fact that he looked absolutely serious when he said that. ¨Who says we even go on a second one?¨

He squeezed my hand. ¨I can only hope.¨

I turned away from him because my heart couldn't take it anymore. I walked to another shelf and started looking at the books that were there and I completely lost myself in the process.

I glanced at covers and read summaries. When I found something that intrigued me, I showed it to Edward who hummed in agreement.

Once in a while, Edward showed me a book he had read and told me to borrow it sometime.

After a while, I had made a selection of a few novels, and Edward´s poetry work. He paid for it and I was in awe.

Oh, my god. Truly couldn't be a better date.

Edward and I brought the books to the car and I grabbed the door to open it, ready to leave.

¨Do you want to go for a walk? It's still early.¨ Edward asked me and I nodded.

He grabbed my hand in his again and together, we walked in the direction of a lovely park. As it was quite cloudy, there weren't really any other tourists here. I was in awe of the beautiful purple and white flowers which were everywhere.

The wind played with my hair and I shivered as it became twilight.

¨Here,¨ Edward offered me his jacket and I gladly took it. It offered me some warmth. And it smelt like him, which was the best smell in the whole wide world.

We walked to a bench and sat down. I looked at the sky and saw the beautiful colours which only emerge when you live in a cloudy and rainy place. Pink. Blue. Orange. Purple. Even some dark green sprinkled through.

I turned to Edward, to see if he also noticed the beautiful sky, but when I met his eyes, I noticed he was only watching me.

He swallowed and his eyes darkened.

My breath hitched and I couldn't look away from him.

This was it, I knew it for sure.

I looked into his golden eyes and my hand had a life on its own. I cupped Edward´s face in my hand and leaned in. I gently pushed him down to me, so we could meet in the middle.

I quickly kissed him on his cold lips, to see how I would react to him. After all, maybe these goosebumps and butterflies and all that were just part of my wild imagination.

It was not. Kissing Edward could compare to nothing I had ever experienced before.

Edward grabbed my face in both his strong hands. He studied mine, asking me for permission. I nodded.

He then kissed me and I kissed him back. He stroked my hair with one hand while he kept my face as close to his as possible. As if I wanted to loosen my grip on him!

Both of my hands were tangled into his hair, which was way softer than I could've ever imagined.

Our lips moved slowly at first, careful not to scare the other away, but that quickly wasn't enough anymore. We clung to each other, desperately.

I instinctively opened my mouth slightly and tasted his sweet scent on my lips. I felt Edward stiffen.

¨What´s wrong?¨ I whispered as I pulled back.

He still held me close to him and he whispered into my mouth, brushing his lips onto mine and teasing me in the process, leaving my mind completely blank. ¨I forgot for a second that you have razor sharp teeth as well.¨

¨Oh.¨

He kissed me again. This time, he was the one who opened his mouth and he slowly licked my bottom lip with the tip of his tongue. My body reacted on her own and I gladfully opened my mouth in response.

I moved my hand to the back of his neck and tucked at the fabric of his shirt. I needed him closer to me. I felt him smile underneath my lips when his tongue finally found mine.

Kissing Edward was definitely different from kissing scenes in books.

For starters, most books don't feature two sort-of, kind-of vampires. And, most kissing scenes in books do not get interrupted because someone is desperately calling the both of us.

And lastly, most kissing scenes do not get interrupted because the boy´s father calls him, telling him he thinks he knows why the girl he´s been kissing can´t remember anything from her past.

Oh, boy.