It was the first day back at school. I was immediately crushed into an embrace the second I stepped out of the car. I couldn't breath for a second. But only for a second, the grip loosened enough for air to return to me but strong enough that I wouldn't be able to leave without some force, one arm was wrapped around my body and the other hand was holding my head close to them, fingers threaded in my hair.
"You're never going to Italy without me again. You can go to France, China, Australia… anywhere in the world, you can go alone, but if you go back to Italy I'm going with you." The voice that was muffled in my hair was extremely familiar and his words made my heart squeeze and tears to fill my eyes as I hugged him back. He tensed, like he wasn't expecting me to reciprocate.
"That's something we can both agree on." I muffled into his shirt as I tried to contain the wave of emotions filling me. It was suddenly tampered down and I felt calmer. 'Thanks Jasper' I thought silently.
Edward pulled away after what felt like an eternity and gripped my chin gently. He was staring deeply into my eyes and examining my face simultaneously. "You didn't get much sleep last night did you." He stared harder at my face, daring me to lie to him.
"No. I was still freaked about what happened in Italy… I was jumpy the whole plane ride..." I replied, pulling away from him as I rubbed my jaw.
Edward stood silently over me as I avoided eye contact. He shifted a bit before looking over his shoulder. "I want to take you somewhere."
"Huh, what do you mean?" I stared up at him, moving my head so fast my neck actually cracked.
He winced a bit, both at the sound and my question."You know… on a date…" He seemed nervous. It was kind of cute.
"Are you asking me out?" I couldn't stop the teasing tone from escaping with the words.
"Yes or no?" Edward's suddenly serious voice caused me to jolt upright in surprise.
I thought for a moment. I never thought he would ask me out in a million years. "Yeah... Okay. But if I don't enjoy it, you're not my boyfriend and I'm very hard to please." I pointed my finger directly in his face. That last bit was probably the biggest load of bullshit I've ever spewed out of my mouth.
He smiled before nodding. "Of course."
I could only shake my head as I grabbed my bag from the front passenger seat of my car. "Graduation is in a few months." I looked up at him. "Are you ready for it?" I couldn't stop the nervous fiddling I was doing with my backpack strap as I tried to ignore the amount of whispering and staring going around us as people pointed.
"What do you think?" I could tell from his voice that he was smirking but I refused to look at his face.
"I think you're a royal pain in the ass." I said stubbornly, looking down at my purple shoelaces in annoyance.
He let out a low chuckle, it would have been menacing if I didn't know he was laughing at my expense.
I rolled my eyes harder than I ever had before which caused pain to twinge behind my eyes.
"I have to get to class." I tightened my grip on my backpack strap before skirting around him and heading towards my first class of the day. "I'll… see you around."
I felt his eyes on me the whole way until I turned the corner. I couldn't stop the blush from spreading all over my face as I ran the rest of the way to building E, not to mention the smile.
Taking my time, I finally reached my class with 3 minutes to spare. I plopped down in my desk and allowed myself to feel a little embarrassed. "I'm so dumb…" I whined silently to myself.
"Are you okay Jessica?" Angela's voice startled me, I looked up at her. "You seem distracted."
"I'm fine, for now. I'll tell you at lunch…" I smiled anxiously at her. I really wanted to tell her now, but not in a silent classroom. Only 4 hours until lunch time. I can do this….
"You owe me a time for us to look at the photos of your trip to Italy, by the way. Both Bella and I want to see them," Angela reminded me softly, my ear twitching to the familiar click of her mechanical pencil.
The second I told Angela, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "AND YOU SAID YES?!" She shouted rather loudly, causing several people to look at us. I could feel Edward's smirk on my back as I tried to hide my embarrassment, which just meant turning into a turtle and scrunching my neck in. I could already hear conversations stopping and feel people staring.
"Shhhhhhhh." I hissed, covering her mouth with my hand. "Not so loud, it's not official yet!"
She pushed my hand away and continued to stare at me. "You said yes?" She took me seriously and asked her question again, in a whisper this time.
I nodded slowly, my face felt like it was on fire as I avoided all eye contact and instead chose to stare at my lap. Jeans can be very fascinating if you want to avoid everyone's gaze.
"What are you going to do if you enjoy yourself?" I looked up at her through my bangs, thinking over her question briefly.
"Accept the fact that I am Cullen's girlfriend…" I felt my heart leap into my throat at the thought, not in a bad way, but in pure joy. I should be hating myself for feeling this way but… on the other hand... "It won't be so bad, I'll have some arm candy at the very least." I ignored the urge to laugh at my own joke. I already know I'm going to be hearing about it later from Mr.I-Have-Inhuman-Hearing-And-Can-Hear-Your-Every-Thought.
I wonder what date he has in mind.
Early Saturday afternoon, I got a text from Alice, telling me to wear my comfy jeans and favorite fuzzy sweater. It was a super fluffy and warm sweater so I'm guessing the date will take place partially outside. She also told me to make sure I wear my brand new leather jacket I got for my birthday. I found the jacket easily enough but I couldn't find the sweater anywhere.
I had 5 hours until Edward was supposed to pick me up. While the amount of time wasn't a problem, it was the sheer fact that my favorite warm sweater was missing that caused me to freak out.
I was throwing clothes everywhere and completely covered my room in every type of clothing I owned imaginable. Max decided that was the perfect time to open my door just as I was throwing at least 4 bras at his general direction. 2 of them hit him square in the face.
I will be honest, no idea why I thought my sweater would be in my underwear drawer.
His entire body paled by at least 3 shades as he peeled off the garments from his person. "GROSS!" He shouted as he ran from my room in a speed I did not know he was capable of in the safety of our home. The last time he ran that fast was when he was trying to escape from one Mr. Charles Entertainment Cheese from Chuck E. Cheese.
"Knock next time!" I shouted back at him, I couldn't hear him over the sound of the running water from the bathroom down the hall. Those bras were just washed the other day too. I rolled my eyes and continued to look until I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. Pulling it out, I noticed it was from Alice.
"Sweater is in top right drawer of the dresser…" I read out loud as I stood up, making my way to my dresser.
After finally getting dressed, I had four and a half hours before Edward was supposed to be here. I took this free time to fiddle with my hair and make up. After about an hour of that I got another text from Alice. "Go with that look! ;)"
I rolled my eyes again but obliged. I mean, I never wear make up and if Alice approved then I'm going with this look.
My parents knocked on the door. They were a bit shocked, judging by their expressions, at the mess in my room but quickly collected themselves. "We thought we would give you some spending money, for your date." My mother said as my father handed me 50 dollars. I smiled, accepting the cash. I knew I would be giving it back to them at the end of the night, since Edward won't let me pay for any of it. Alice was very involved in making sure I was aware of how Edward would act during the date.
"Thanks mom, dad." I said rather quietly, fidgeting with my clothes. I've never actually dated in this life before and I'm certain my parents are surprised that I'm going on my first date at 18 years old.
"Of course, we just want to make sure you have a good time." My dad gave me his good natured smile.
"But not too much of a good time!" My mother blurted out which caused me to let out an embarrassed giggle. Not the cutesy kind, but the kinda of giggle you hear middle schoolers during sex ed when the teacher insists on using the proper names.
"It's not that kind of date." I said quickly. 'I hope.' my brain whispered back to me as I tried to get a handle on the blush that was spreading to my ears and neck.
My father gave me an amused look as he leads my mother out of the room. Oh man, Edward would have a ball with that one… provided my dad isn't thinking about twenty ways to murder him when he arrives.
Shaking my head, I decided a nap was a great idea. I went to my bed, and flopped onto it, not the least bit worried about my hair. It was a simple side braid, one that I could do with my eyes closed. Yawning, my eyes drifted shut and I was out before I knew what hit me.
A tapping on my door woke me up from my short nap. I jolted upright as my door slowly swung open. I fixed my hair and stood up before it fully swung open.
"Edward is here." Max looked up at me with wide eyes. He looked around the hazard that is my room, but I also noticed how white his knuckles were as he clutched the door. I slowly climb out of bed and kneel to his height.
"I'll be home by 8:30, okay?" I smiled at him and ruffled his curly hair.
He smiled and his shoulders relaxed slightly. "Okay."
I patted his head before checking my makeup and jumping down the stairs in my excitement. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I froze in place.
There Edward stood, tall and handsome as ever, but at the same time there was a level of humbleness as he was nodding politely to my dad. He was beautiful… majestic…
… Like a unicorn.
"She's to be home before 9." Dad started, arms folded and trying to look intimidating even if he's possibly one of the nerdiest men I have ever known in this life.
"8:30 it is then, sir. I will personally contact the both of you if we are delayed, I had hopes of-" Edward whispers softly to my parents so I couldn't hear him. My mother starts to clap in delight while my dad looked… pleased?!
"Old-fashioned, I like it." I wanted to die as that seemed to be an adequate praise to come from my dad. "And-"
"Keep things respectful to both Jessica and myself, this is our first date. Keep her safe, far away from the shadier parts of the city and always hold her purse when she needs to walk away from it." Edward's polite smile never left his lips as he finished, what I could only assume, to be my dad's thoughts. His eyes shift over to me. "Are you ready to go?"
"Mhm…" I walked over, which in reality felt more like a prance if anything. "Bye you two."
I wave to my parents and follow Edward to his car. He held open the door and I carefully slid in.
We sat in silence for several minutes before we pulled up to a restaurant and my jaw dropped. The Melting Pot? But you have to get a reservation for this half of the time, especially this time of year! How long as Edward had this planned?
"Are you coming?" I sat in shock for so long I didn't even realize he had already come around and opened my door.
"Y-yeah." I unbuckled and got out, a little overwhelmed all of the sudden. He shut the door behind me before placing his hand on my lower back and gently pushed me towards the entrance.
"Just relax, today I want you to feel special," He whispered to me, but not close enough to where he's near my ear. When we entered the restaurant, Edward walked to the counter. "Table for two under Cullen."
It wasn't long until we were seated. He continued to smirk at me which eventually just began to push my buttons. "Get that look off your face you five foot nine inch sparkly unicorn." I grumbled, making sure I wasn't disturbing other customers.
"I'm 6'2"."
I looked up at him, eyes feeling like they were going to jump from my skull. "What?"
"I'm 6 foot and 2 inches tall." He smirked wider at me, his voice holding a hint of a chuckle.
"Your hair doesn't count," I decided to point out, taking a sip of my water while never breaking eye contact with him. Ha! I love it when his smirk drops.
"Are you ready to order?" Our waitress appeared. A young, gorgeous blond girl, easily college age with a slim figure and had large (and obviously fake) breasts. She was eyeing Edward up and down while pushing an arm under her breasts in an attempt to give the illusion of buoyancy. I couldn't stop the surge of jealousy from welling up in my chest. Shouldn't she just do her job and not flirt with my date?
"Yes, this is my lady's first time here, I wanted to order your seasonal special and steak lovers," Edward stated while looking at the menu, not once looking at our waitress and instead would look only at me. He ordered the main pot as well as dippings, most of it were foods I was unfamiliar with and the waitress wrote down the orders. I had to drink more water to hide my grin at how disappointed she looked when Edward refused to look at her until the end of the order, only to look completely bored.
"She doesn't interest me." Edward's soft voice rang out. I flushed so red I could see my nose glowing like Rodolph with a cold. "All she was thinking about was taking me to bed." He rolled his eyes, then made one last little comment. "She shouldn't focus so much on how much effort she put in enlarging certain parts of her body, it wont stay."
I huffed and crossed my arms as I slouched in my chair. "Right… It was a little annoying. Why did you order for me?"
"You were honing in on the cheapest thing on the menu, despite eyeing the steaks almost immediately…" Edward gave a polite nod to the waitress when she came by with the pot to heat up then continued talking when she left. "I want you to enjoy yourself and not feel pressured."
"It's hard sometimes…"
"Just trust me."
We sat in silence for a few minutes. Looking up at him I chewed my bottom lip. "What are we doing after this?"
"That's a secret." He winked at me with a smirk which just caused me to frown at him.
Turns out his secret was a walk through my favorite, yet abandoned, childhood playground. The moon was full tonight, which lit up the pathway effortlessly. We walked silently side by side as the crickets chirped, filling in the deafening silence. To be honest, this was surprisingly relaxing. I'm glad that I said yes…
"This makes you my girlfriend now, correct?" He looked down at me, his golden eyes glowing as he smiled.
"Ask me after our second date." I rolled my eyes, pulling at my ear in embarrassment.
He laughed. The sound of it made me believe he was truly relaxed despite the fact that I'm a human and we're alone together.
"You're blood doesn't call to me like anyone else's does." Edward sounded a little lost when he said this.
"Is that bad?" I looked up at him again.
"No, not really. It means that I can truly relax without the fear of snapping and hurting you." He smiled down at me, this time was almost heart melting. He looked so charming, so human when he smiled like that.
I couldn't stop myself from smiling back. "That's good at least." I hummed in reply as I looked down at our feet. The grass was still wet from the light rain that had previously been falling while we chatted in the restaurant. "Bella… she um… has that kind of smell, right?"
"Like a drug calling to someone with an addiction… despite what you told me, I don't believe I could actually be alone with her. It's best for her safety that she spends time with the Quileute people, they'll protect her from vampires that would kill her." He chuckled and reached over to carefully move a strand of hair from my face. "I prefer being with a woman who I can feel assured that they are safe around me… rather than worrying for their lives just by being near me."
I shoved my hands in my jacket, tucking my head down. This was… nice.
I felt his eyes on me as we continued our walk.
"Let's get you home." He looked up at me from his watch. I nodded, trying not to feel embarrassed as I followed him to his car.
Okay guys! The poll is down and the results are in! I tallied up all the votes from here and from where I posted this story on Ao3!
Are you ready?
And the results are!
ZukoxOc 11
Integra sister 5
SI!Dipper 4
And the next story to be written will be the Zuko story which is titled Polar Opposites! I can't wait to be able to share that story with you! It's my baby just like this one!