BPOV

Eighteen.

I'm officially an adult.

Two weeks into my senior year I've legally become an adult. I didn't feel like one. Last year, when I turned seventeen, to look at my life then, you would think I was living the fucking teenage dream, but it was an illusion.

Now, this adult lived under Charlie's roof, until I didn't.

Right now, I was under the Cullens' roof.

Tanya took my birthday as an excuse to throw a rager with most of the school in her parents' house. I was on edge the moment I stepped through the door.

All my former friends decided to show up with their Queen Bee and her boyfriend. Royce smirked at me from across the room when they walked into Tanya's kitchen.

I move around Embry Call, sneaking out the back door. I see a couple of people smoking a joint around the pool.

The pool house is dark, so I make my way across the yard to hide out. Once I'm inside I notice it wasn't completely dark because the television is on.

I catch someone peeking at me over the back of the couch, then I remember Tanya's cousin was living here.

"Sorry," I mumble, turning for the door.

"Hey, wait," a voice calls out, with the person it belonged to hanging over the back of the couch.

I recognize him as the guy from the diner.

I tilt my head at him. "So you are Tanya's cousin?"

"That would be me— Edward," he grins, now leaning on the back of the couch.

"I'm Bella," I introduce myself.

"The birthday girl," he smiles.

I pull a face coming around to sit on the arm of the couch.

"Not a fan of birthdays?"

"It's this one I'm particularly not fond of," I tell him.

I notice he's a little dirty or at least his beater and jeans are, he has a beer bottle on the coffee table.

"Why?"

"I'm supposedly an adult without any true rights," I explained.

"I'm twenty-one, trust me, as long as you have parents you're an adult without rights," he laughs.

"Is that why you're here?"

"I'm here because my aunt agrees that I should be making my own choices," he says, his eyes drifting to my legs.

"Are you a leg guy?" I ask.

"Your skirts are a little distracting," he admits.

"Why is it that when a girl wears a skirt she's sexualized, but a guy wears shorts and never gets harassed?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

He watches me but not in a pervy way, more like he's regarding me.

"I'm sorry if you feel like I'm harassing you," he says softly.

"You aren't, but what are you thinking about when you are looking at them?" I ask merely curious about how this guy works.

He puffs out a laugh through his nose. "You have nice legs," he says a little roughly. I watch him rub the back of his neck before he meets my eyes.

"Thank you," I say lamely.

I move so my legs are tucked under me on the couch.

"You're a little dirty," I tell him.

"I was at work, when I got back the party was going— a few girls wandered in here, so I thought it best to hold off on a shower," he explains.

"Tanya said you just graduated from Northwestern." It was the only detail I remember about him.

"I did," he says looking away.

I watch him.

The light from the television enhances his features, his jaw is cut and his eyes piercing. He was movie-star attractive.

"Who do you work for?"

"McCarty Construction," he says.

I reach for his hand, brushing my fingers over his calloused hands.

"My dad wanted me to work at my grandfather's law firm after law school."

"And you didn't want to?"

"I wanted to study environmental law, my grandfather's law firm is criminal law and they usually get people who are rich assholes off. Those people have no sense of accountability."

"So you just left it all behind?"

"I left a lot behind."

My stare scrutinizes him for a minute as I still hold his hand.

The noises outside start to get louder, which leads me to believe the party must have moved outside.

I get up moving to the window, everyone is outside.

I feel his hands on my waist as he looks around me to see the spectacle.

Everyone is so drunk that some people are leaning on their friends to stand upright. I spot Alice near Jasper. She's leering his way while he tokes up with Pete at the side of the house.

"Player one, Alice Brandon," I find myself saying, pointing Alice out to Edward. "Instagram influencer has minor brand sponsorships using the money she earns to pay her way through college. Cheer captain for Forks High has a sweet spot for Adderall."

Edward doesn't comment, only listens.

"Player two, Jessica Stanley," I move my finger to point at the pool's edge. "Mediocre student, leeches onto Alice. Will spread her legs for any man who is willing to take a dip. Her most consistent conquest is Mike Newton," I say, taking Edward's hand in mine to use his finger to point at Newton.

I move his finger to land on Rosalie. "Player three, Rosalie Hale— former brain turned plastic princess. Formerly introverted, now the leader of players one and two."

"What about him?" Edward asks moving his finger to Royce.

"Royce King, predator."

The hand still on my waist slightly tightens, I turn in his arms placing my hands on his chest. His emerald eyes search mine.

"You're a good guy," I state, tilting my head.

"I try to be," he says honestly.

I pat his chest before moving away. He gently takes my hand in his from my peripheral. I see Royce tugging Rosalie toward the pool house.

"You have more people trying to come in."

Edward watches them approach but moves to lock the door. I sit on the couch watching Royce trying to jimmy the lock.

Edward unlocks and opens the door.

"Can I help you?"

The outside porch light shines on Royce and Rosalie; they both are very drunk. Royce squints at Edward.

"I was trying to find somewhere private for me and my girl."

"Well I live here and I know Tanya laid down ground rules for her guests about hooking up in the rooms in the house," Edward tells him.

I can't help but laugh at that because she did announce that once the party started. Royce must hear me because he looks around Edward.

He glares.

"Oh, I see," Royce says with a smirk. "Good luck with that one. She has an iron-clad lock on those panties."

Edward shoves him causing him to fall on his ass, Rosalie shrieks while Edward shuts the door on them locking it again.

As he walks over to the couch Royce starts banging on the door. Edward reaches for his phone off the coffee table.

He unlocks it, finding who he wants to call.

"Hey, there is a kid trying to get in back here you better move the party inside the house," he says looking at me. "I don't think your mom and dad would like the neighbors calling the police, Tanya." He hangs up and after a few minutes, I can see Jazz at the door yanking Royce away from the pool house.

Edward sits next to me running a hand through his hair.

After Royce's comments, I suddenly feel uncomfortable in my skirt.

"Do you have shorts or sweatpants, I can change into?" I ask, looking at the television.

He gets up walking to where his bed is and beside it is a dresser. He pulls out a pair of sweatpants.

I take them and make my way into the bathroom. I quickly change out of the skirt and decide to wash the make-up off my face. I was staying at the Cullens' house tonight but didn't want to join the party.

When I come back out Edward stands. "Since you're out here I'm going to take a quick shower," he says, grabbing clothes from off the bed.

The party gets a little louder from the house, I get up and watch from the window. Jazz and Pete are puffing on their vapes from the back door.

Jazz catches me wiggling his eyebrows playfully at me. I shake my head hoping to convey that it isn't like that.

His easy smile disappears and he nods.

I hear the shower going as I walk over to the couch. I understand that this was supposedly my party, but feel like that was only an excuse to throw a party of this magnitude.

I knew Tanya and Maggie were shacking up in her room tonight. Me and Jazz each had a guest room but I wasn't sure how late the party would go. I refused to be in that house as long as Royce was there.

Edward steps out of the bathroom in a white t-shirt and black sweatpants, his hair wet.

"I was thinking about ordering a pizza," he says, taking a seat next to me. "Want to share?"

I nodded, biting my lip.

He called the pizza place, placing an order for a large pizza with pepperoni and banana peppers.

"Not sure how good this pizza will be, probably won't compare to Lou Malnati's pizza," he says lightly.

"What's that?"

"Only the best pizza in Chicago."

"Are you a pizza snob?" I ask dryly.

He laughs at me.

"Pizza's pizza," I tell him.

"But it isn't, Chicago pizza is the best in the country," he declares.

"That's a pretty bold statement."

"I'm a pretty bold guy," he grins.

I roll my eyes.

I've dated a few boys in my class and on the Rez over the past few years but none made me feel the way this guy did— all fluttery inside. Royce was only my prom date and it took him the one time to try to take my dignity away from me.

"So, I just had CNN on, do you have anything you would like to watch?"

"Do you have any streaming apps?"

He nods, pulling up the home menu of the screen.

"Are you okay with Magnolia Network on Discovery plus?"

He snorts but goes into the app.

"Fixer Upper: Welcome Home, work?"

"Actually, yeah."

That's what we do for the rest of the night, we eat our pizza and watch Fixer Upper. He offered me a beer, which I declined. I knew I didn't have a problem with alcohol but I used it to silence that night. Maybe when I'm older I'll drink it but for right now I think this is for the best.

I start to drift until I feel someone hovering above me. I startle grabbing onto the forearms of the hover, my eyes snap open panicked.

"Hey, you fell asleep— I was trying to move you over to the bed," Edward says gently.

I tense, even more, my breathing picking up.

"Let's sit you up—" he helps me sit but the tightness in my chest only gets worse. "Bend down, put your head between your knees. Slow steady breaths."

I do as I'm told, after a few minutes I'm less wound up. Calmer.

Edward's hand rubs my back and I sit up.

"I was going to give you the bed, but if you feel more comfortable you can stay in the guest room in the house," he offers.

I look out the window seeing that the party has only grown and no doubt Royce is still over there.

"No, this is good," I tell him. "I can take the couch."

"You're my guest," he smiles. "I got the couch, take my bed."

I nod hating that I'm putting him out.

He helps me up and I get into his bed.

He shoots me a smile before getting blankets out of the linen closet.

"You good over there?" He asks once he settles on the couch.

"Yeah," I say.

I love that the bed smells like him.

Sandalwood and sage.

I close my eyes, nodding off again.

A light flashes causing me to stir, the second flash I'm up. I hear Edward's slight snore from the couch, otherwise, he's out like a light.

I look out the window beside the bed noticing it's lighter outside, though I can't see where the flashes were coming from other than the bushes moving outside the window.

I lay back down and watch Edward for a moment on the couch. His arm is above his head while his knee is resting against the back of the couch.

The fluttery feeling creeps back, closing my eyes as I doze.

I'm awoken by a ringing cell phone.

Edward grunts reaching for it on the coffee table.

He reads the screen groaning, "She can go fuck herself."

He places his phone back on the table and lays back down. He flips over on his stomach, eyes meeting mine.

"Did I wake you?" he asks.

"The phone did," I told him.

"Sorry, people in Chicago are trying to bother me," he says, raking his hand through his hair.

"Do they not know they're two hours ahead?"

"No. This person doesn't know where I am and I'd like to keep it that way," he sighs.

I want to ask if it's his dad but hold off, I would think his parents knew he was here. Esme and Carlisle kept a pretty close eye on Tanya so I only would think his parents were the same.

"You want breakfast?" he asks, sitting up.

"From the diner?"

"I can cook," he says, rolling his eyes.

"What's your specialty?"

"French Toast."

"Hmm, sounds promising," I tease.

He laughs making his way to his kitchenette.

About halfway through Edward making our breakfast Tanya and Jazz are knocking on his door. They both look annoyed.

"Have you seen Insta?" Jazz asks carefully.

"No?"

Tanya hands me her phone and I see a picture of me sleeping in Edward's bed and a clear visual of Edward on the couch. The baffling thing is it's a post from my account.

The captions read Virgin Bella, waiting until marriage to sleep with a guy.

I feel Edward looking at it over my shoulder.

"This is fucking stupid," I say.

"Who knows your password?"

I tried to log into my account and my password doesn't work. I try to change it back but when I go into my email that password is changed too.

I panic because I have pictures I took with Jake a few years ago on my iCloud and if they got into this they probably got into that too.

I start to shake.

Jazz moves in front of me.

"Here give me your phone," he says.

I do and he starts updating everything starting with my email first. He hands it over every time I need to enter in a new password.

I feel Edward's eyes on me the whole time but can't look at him.

Tanya looks pissed, taking me off to the side.

"You need to talk to your dad," she says.

My eyes widened.

"I mean your reaction alone is enough to tell that they might have something of yours that is private."

"There are pictures."

She nods.

Apparently, Edward is listening.

"She's right you need to talk to your dad. If the pictures involved were while you were a minor and they are distributed, it would be considered child porn," he says scratching the back of his neck. "Don't change the password on the iCloud, if someone is using it other than Bella, they can be tracked."

I nod but hate that my dad is going to think I'm even more of a fuck up than before.