Capitolo Otto

A/N: So, I finally got hit by the 'rona. I figured since I'm sitting at home, I should post a new chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviews and reads. Also thanks to my crew for their assistance. Off we go.

The more I see you, the more I talk to you, the more I want you.

I smiled at him as I stood from the bed. "You wanna play twenty questions, Edward?"

"Well, that seems a little juvenile." He scoffed.

I pulled him with me down the steps and toward the front door. "Come on, killjoy. You'll like the way I do it. Let's go get some food and we'll talk."

We snuck out of the house without anyone noticing, and Edward grabbed some chinese food to go. We sat with the seats down and the hatch up in the back of the SUV he was driving after we'd headed to Shore Road Park where we could see the Verrazano Bridge while the sun set. Edward had mentioned on the drive that it was a perfect spot. Once we got our food plated, we ate in silence. After a few bites, I realized that I was gonna have to start this whole thing.

"Okay. I got one. Being older, what is one thing that you are glad you will never have to do again?"

He set his fork down and seemed to be thinking then looked at me. "Can I pick anything?" he clarified.

I nodded. "Yeah, there are no rules."

"I think that it would be dating. It was always the most tedious part of a relationship. Both of you are nervous, you're pretending to be the best behaved version of yourself, and it just felt so fake."

"Well, then that right there is where you went wrong. You should be surrounded by people that you can be yourself with. That was one reason why I haven't been fake with you. I actually have been more bold because I never got the vibe that you would judge me for it."

"I'm glad to hear that, Bella." He took a bite of his chicken. "What about you? What is your answer?"

"The same as yours. Guys my age were always just so immature and all about partying and screwing anything that walked. It was completely exhausting to try and find the ones that actually were decent. You gave up on relationships, and I gave up on dating."

"Okay. I think I know the answer to this one, but does spending time with a lot of people energize you or drain you?"

I turned to face him and he did the same, giving me his attention. "That is a hard one to answer without concessions."

"How so?"

"Well, like when I met your entire family, that was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed myself, but when we got home all I wanted to do was go hang out by myself for a little bit. I guess I need to recharge every once in a while," I said, smiling faintly at him. He returned it with a smirk. "What about you?"

"It energizes me. I'm from a big family. I'm perfectly capable of hanging out at home alone, but I prefer the company of others."

"Yeah, growing up with your family, I can imagine being lonely was never a thing."

"There is a possibility of being in a room full of people and still feeling completely alone, Bella." His expression was somber.

"That is pretty deep, but so fucking sad, Edward. Why would you feel like that?"

He put his finished plate in the bag we designated as trash. He raked his hand through his hair and huffed. "My entire life has been mapped out for me before I was born. Being the oldest and the only male, I was groomed to take over my dad's businesses when he retired. I had no choice and no options." He smiled sardonically to himself before looking down. "Growing up, Rosalie was beautiful and the baby, so she got a lot of attention. I liked that I was left to my own devices for once, but it didn't last long, or change my future." When his head lifted and our eyes locked, I felt the sadness surge inside me.

I wanted nothing more than to wipe away that sad, lost look in his eyes. I put my empty plate in the trash bag and then crawled over to him. I straddled his lap and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into an embrace. His arms came around my back, pulling me closer to him. "I know it's not even the same, but I know what it's like to have your life go in a direction you never wanted or expected. To have no control over what's happening, even though you'd give anything to change it."

He pulled his face away from my shoulder, and his hands came up to cup my cheeks. "It's not the same. What happened to you was tragic, and I know you're not one to wear your heart on your sleeve, but you have got to talk about it. About your parents, principessa. You can't move past the grief if you never process it."

"I have, Edward. I've talked, cried, raged, and pleaded to a god I'm not sure I even believe in to just give them back." I stopped my rant, my trembling voice and the tears pooling in my eyes pissing me off. He was right—I tried to not give away how I was feeling. I looked at him, willing my lip to not quiver. "I don't have any need to try to seem strong, but I just want to move forward. I loved my parents, but no amount of crying or grieving will bring them back. My mom wanted me to live life and not be held back by any of this. I feel like I'm letting them down when I stop and think about how much I miss them and want them here." My voice broke as I spoke, and I couldn't keep the sobs in anymore. Edward pulled me back to him, my face resting against his chest, his arms wrapping around me again.

He held me and kinda rocked us as I cried, letting the loss settle as I started to really process it. Edward and I weren't in love, and maybe we would never be since it wasn't something he believed in, but I had agreed to marry him. As I sat here with him in the car, it struck me suddenly that a wedding felt like something that your parents should be present for.

I pulled away from him first. I was very aware that we were in a public park, and the sun was just starting to set. I climbed off of his lap, jumped to the ground, pulled my phone out, and grabbed Edward's hand, pulling him to the side of the SUV with me. "We need to get some pictures of us," I said, holding my phone up with a smirk.

He pulled me to him with his arm around my waist. We stood side by side, an arm around each other, and I hit the button, hearing the shutter effect. Then, he positioned me in front of him, his chin resting on my shoulder. I giggled and laid my head back against his chest before snapping the picture. Next, he pulled my head to his, our foreheads resting together. When I made no move to take the next shot, he pulled his phone out to do so and then finished it off with us kissing, which he also captured. We got into the back of the SUV, and he pulled out a blanket, covering both of our laps.

"So what is your middle name, Edward?"

He chuckled at the smile on my face. "It's Anthony. Yours?"

I scrunched up my nose. "Marie." I was never a fan of my middle name. It was so old fashioned. "I like Anthony. You can shorten it to Tony, or Ant."

He laughed and it made me smile. "Yeah, I never was one of those kids inclined to use my middle name and shorten it to make myself cooler."

"'Cause you already were so cool? I bet you were a popular kid in school with your crazy hair, green eyes, and cocky smile."

"Years of practice, principessa. I went through an awkward phase like every teenager. I have a question. How many times did you skip school?"

I giggled because I wasn't expecting that, but something made me think he would be surprised at my answer. "In tenth grade, I skipped different class periods, so about five times. It took a while before I got caught, but as the absences started piling up, and it was only for certain classes, the school called my parents." I cringed, remembering how enraged my dad was. Edward looked at me with his eyes wide and his mouth agape. I closed his mouth for him and gave him a bright smile. He broke out of his shock and chuckled. "My dad was so mad, and my mom was disappointed, but I told them that I was bored. They made me do testing, and I got put in advanced placement classes for English, science, and math."

"So, you're all smart and shit?" He wiggled his eyebrows at me, that smartass smirk firmly in place.

I laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I'm all smart and shit. After that, my mom also got a job as a high school administrator, so my days of ditching came to an end. What about you? Were you a delinquent?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No, I went to private school. Closed campus and smaller classes. Me missing never went unnoticed."

"It's kinda weird. Your parents made your life very structured and set you up so that you had a guaranteed future, but you still put in a lot of work into building your own businesses, not relying on the ones your dad has lined up for you."

"It's something that seems to come naturally to me. Being a businessman, I'm able to talk my way out of trouble."

"Have you ever been arrested?" I asked, grabbing his hand and threading my fingers with his, playing with his fingertips.

"Yeah, a handful of times, but I have never been convicted of anything." He smiled slyly. "What about you?"

"Been arrested?" I shook my head. "My dad was a cop. It was risky of me to skip school, but anything else would have brought his wrath down on me. My dad was a great guy and loved me and Mom with everything he had, but he was no pushover. His anger was something I tried to not invoke."

"You seem pretty fearless to me," he whispered, stroking his fingertips over the apple of my cheeks.

"Hardly. The stuff with your dad—that was just me standing up for what's right and decent. Nothing more."

"It still took courage," he said softly.

I turned my head to look at him, and he ran his thumb across my bottom lip. This little outing with him tonight had been so fun and playful, but now we were starting to fall into that territory again where we couldn't keep our hands off each other. I wasn't complaining because I was very attracted to him, but I wondered if this would be something we would always have, or was this just lust that would fizzle out. The sun had finally settled beneath the horizon, and it was getting colder. We closed the back of the SUV but still sat in the backseat because there was more room there.

I leaned into him to kiss him, licking his top lip to get him to open his mouth to me. Our tongues melded together, and I sighed into his mouth. I could kiss Edward for hours and feel happy about it. His taste, smell, and the feel of him was addicting and intoxicating. Edward's hand slid underneath my shirt and bra, kneading each breast and then rolling my nipples in between his fingers.

I responded by skating my fingers across his chest, feeling the muscles contracting under the thin cotton. I pulled the hem of his shirt up and glided my hands under it, his warm skin feeling smooth under my hands. We continued to kiss and touch each other, not going further than groping under our clothes. When Edward pulled me into his lap and dipped his hands under my jeans to palm my ass, I stopped him.

"If you want to take this further, we need to go home. I don't want to get caught and arrested for public indecency."

Edward laughed and tilted my chin in a playful gesture. We righted our clothes, cleaned up our trash, and threw it in the garbage cans at the park. We folded the blanket and put the seats back up in the rear. On the way home, we didn't say a lot. I felt closer to Edward, knowing the little things I had learned about him. The pasts we had didn't make a lot of difference in the long run. Our future was important to focus on, and I had faith that we would be able to move on and continue to learn about each other from here on out.

When we returned home and got out of the vehicle, Edward stopped me before going inside. He pushed me up against the car, caging me in with his arms on either side of me, leaning in. "When we go inside, I'm gonna have to announce that we are getting married. My dad will probably want to talk to us, but I will tell him that he can talk to me alone. I know that he makes you uncomfortable, Bella, but I'm telling you this now: don't let him see that he has hurt you or intimidated you. He's like a shark, and if he smells blood he will latch on. Hold your head high, get me?" he asked softly, gently gripping my chin. He was trying to be nice, but his words were a warning. I nodded my head and looked him dead in the eyes, steeling my resolve. He saw the change and smiled. "There she is. No fear, right?"

I smiled and rolled my eyes, nodding. He pushed away from the vehicle and offered his hand to me. We threaded our fingers together, and I followed him as we went to go find his family.

Translation:

Principessa- Princess

A/N: So, they learned a little bit about each other and seem to like what they know. How do you feel? Leave a review and let me know. Until later lovelies!