After that first phone call, something shifted between Bella and Edward. While they never made plans to meet in person, Edward felt that knowing they would see each other at Emmett's would be enough; choosing to ignore it meant he would be watching her with some guy. Still, they texted almost every day, and when Bella would surprise him with a call, he was thrown back to his fourteen-year-old self, excited when Kate Foster finally let him touch her breasts under her shirt.

"Are you saying I'm the tits?" Bella giggled maniacally through his speaker when he decided to tell her just that.

"Yeah, I guess so," he chuckled, "but if I'm being honest, I like a nice ass much better. That doesn't come across the same way, though, does it?"

"Definitely not. I never realized you were an ass-person, Edward. What else don't I know about you?"

"I hate tomatoes but eat them anyway."

"First of all, how can you hate tomatoes? Second, why would you eat them anyway? What is wrong with you?"

"I don't know; tomatoes seem sophisticated. Especially the little ones, you know? I guess I want to be the type of person that likes tomatoes. Maybe I'm a masochist."

"Edward, I want you to know I'm rolling my eyes. But I am sincerely distraught-"

"Show me," he interrupted.

"My eyes rolling or me being distraught?"

"Either. Both."

Edward was ready for her smart response or a scolding but was confused when it didn't come. Reaching for his phone, where it lay on his bed next to him, to see if it disconnected, or more likely, she hung up; he was surprised to see a FaceTime request coming through. In shock, he watched as it ended.

"How will I show you if you ignore me?"

In response, Edward tapped the button to give him a view of Bella and was rewarded with her sideways-face resting against her pillow.

"Hi," he said dumbly.

As he watched the smile spread across her face, he thought about how he didn't give a shit how dumb he sounded or that he was probably friend-zoned. Fuck Mike.

"Hiii," she sang. "Are you ready?"

"Always. For what?"

The roll of her eyes in response reminded Edward exactly why he was looking at her face through his screen.

"I remember that face now," he said, sitting up against his headboard. "I think I'm more familiar with that than knowing what's going on in your head."

"What's going on in my head? You're the hardest person to read."

"I'm an open book, Bella. What do you want to know."

He watched as she stared at him thoughtfully, taking in the sight of his face and hair that he knew filled up her screen.

"Ugh, this is going to be so lame," she said, burying her face in her pillow and screaming.

"You're already so lame, so it's just the same as it always was,"

Looking back at the camera and smiling at his teasing, she took a breath, releasing it dramatically. Edward had no idea where she might be headed.

"Okay," she said resolutely. "I need you to tell me what it was like for you back then. I know I said I forgive you or whatever, but I still think I need some closure."

Edward hoped he didn't bristle at the closure remark but desperately wanted to give her what she needed. "Well, I guess my default is just that I had fun with you? And I did. But I wasn't lying when I said I wasn't ready for a relationship-relationship. What we had was easy and stress-free; it didn't come with any pressure of what came next. We'd hang out, get off, and do it all over again- it was kind of perfect."

"Edward, that was fun, but do you know how lonely it felt sometimes? Like, I could never go out with you and your friends, or when they came to your place, or we went to theirs, I felt dismissed. Like an accessory and not someone you were with." Bella seemed to force herself to keep his gaze, trying to assess what he might be thinking- as if she might gain access to the information being linked between the cell towers between them quicker if she stared hard enough. "Do you know how humiliating it was for all your friends, your mom, and sister to know we were fucking and watch me be treated as an afterthought?"

"Bella," he sighed, ready to excuse himself again by saying he wasn't thinking; that she wasn't an afterthought, nor did anyone see her that way; he was selfish and every other excuse he had used since they'd started talking again. But looking at her open-faced and vulnerable, he knew it wouldn't cut it.

Before he could translate his thoughts into coherent sentences, she added-

"Was it me, was it them? Are they all assholes, and I'm better off not knowing them?"

"No, none of that; I was the asshole. I was so embarrassed by the age difference, not that you were too young or immature, just what they might think of me. When it was just us, it was easy to be. But around others, I felt like, like I don't know, maybe I was some pervy loser preying on my best friend's little sister. I didn't even know how to act around Emmett after we started doing whatever we were doing. And I wasn't thinking beyond that or that being together was some shitty trade-off for you. I mean, I hope it wasn't. I wish you could have known how good it was for me. I hate that it wasn't the same for you."

"But you made that choice; why be with me then if my age was going to be an issue and why not just tell me?"

"Fuck Bella, I wish I did tell you. The age difference, me feeling like I had wasted too much time messing around. I finished school, and I felt like I was playing catch up with everyone else my age. But have you seen you?" As he watched the familiar roll of her eyes, he continued, "I'm serious. The night we met, I was dying to know what you looked like first thing in the morning after fucking all night. Had I known that you were a virgin, I would have backed off. But we talked, and you were smart and funny, too. I was a fucking goner. I was irresponsible with you, and I'm sorry." He laughed humorlessly, pulling at his hair. "Why I didn't say anything? I guess I thought you knew how I felt when we were alone together. Sometimes I think back to that night when you texted me a while ago-"

"Oh, you mean the night you implied you would cheat on your girlfriend?"

"Yeah, what would have happened if we did hook up again, you know?"

"I wouldn't have done it, Edward. Besides, I was drunk. I was out celebrating my twenty-first birthday."

"I always loved a tipsy Bella. Happy late birthday. I'm sorry for missing that too."

"Thanks, two years too late!" She said, glaring cutely.

"Yeah. We've always been shit at timing, haven't we?"

"Oh, have we?"

"Well. Look at us now."

"And where are we now?"

"You said you didn't want any games, Bella. If you weren't with whatshisname, I'd be with you in a heartbeat."

"I'm not a rebound, Edward."

"I know. This will sound so fucking cheesy, but things have always been different with you. Easy. If you just wanted friends with benefits, I would be happy with that. If you wanted something more … we've always just done what was natural. I miss that. I would be whatever you wanted," he said, shocking himself with his confession. As he heard her sigh in response, he was ready for the comedown.

"You can't tell me this. I'm seeing someone."

"What about Tinder Tuesdays?"

"That's mostly just a joke. I feel like you have a lot of feelings right now. You're fresh off a long-term relationship. I just- think you're not completely over Maggie yet."

If she had had those words to him a week ago, the truth of them would have stung. And while she was right, his feelings for his ex could not be turned off like a switch in his head or heart; he recognized the pain of the break-up had dulled. He didn't wake every morning still stuck in a dream. She'd gotten the last of her stuff, and everything they bought together was sold online or donated, replaced with something that was just his. The evidence of their life together almost all gone.

"I get that you're worried about that. It's valid, but I'm not using you to get over her. I just like talking to you. I'm not in any kind of rush, Bella."

Despite feeling warmed by his confession, proud that she asked for what she needed and that he was willing to give her what she was looking for, she was unsure of how to respond. She wasn't in a position to give in, even if she wanted to. The reality left her desperate to change the subject.

"Maybe you should download Tinder and find yourself a distraction," she faked cheeriness, although the thought of him with someone else stoked the fire of jealousy abruptly and surprisingly.

"Ugh. I hate that shit. I just want to meet someone normally."

"Oh, come on- it is normal now. It's not any worse than picking someone up at the bar. If anything, it's safer? It would be fun! Let me help you make a profile!"

"Show me your profile, and I'll think about it."

"Absolutely not. Pleeease, Edward, I've always thought I'd be a great matchmaker, but no one's taken me up on the offer."

"Fine, but only if you have dinner with me."

"K, good night, Edward," she teased, loving to see his smug face framed by messy hair as he shifted against his bed, a flash of bare chest as he moved to get more comfortable. "Wait, are you talking to me naked?"

She watched Edward's chuckling face as he moved the camera down his body to reveal that he was just in boxers. Heart-racing, she aimed for composure, "ah, just like the old days."

"I'm a hot sleeper."

"I remember," she said, thinking of all the times she had to disentangle from him in the middle of the night, only to wake up again with him wrapped around her in the morning.

"Your turn. Do you still sleep the same?"

"My turn? You forced your naked self on me. You should be careful with that, by the way. Now that you're single, that's not going to fly with the ladies," she joked, thrilled at the idea of Edward seeing her. This isn't teasing, she justified.

"Fuck, you're right. But if you want to force your naked self on me anytime, I'm giving my consent now. In perpetuity."

Laughing, she sat up "okay, ready?" Watching the smirk on Edward's face disappear, she slowly moved her camera down her tanktop-covered breast and torso, moving slower still to reveal her blanket-covered bottom half. Hearing Edward's responding groan, she laughed, bringing the camera back up to her face.

"That was cruel, Bella."

"I'm trying to please the masochist in you."

"Yeah, you've always been great at that too."

She couldn't deny that even through a cellphone screen, their attraction was palpable. She wanted to luxuriate in it but was tempered by the unknowing. Once, no, if they crossed that line, what was on the other side? She planned on leaving the country soon. And even if that wasn't the case, hearing how fickle his attraction was as recently as Maggie gave her pause. She judged him playfully and gave the impression of confidence, but she knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of his cool emotions and wasn't sure she could put herself in that position again.

They stared quietly at one another, not awkwardly or uncomfortably, more like the physiological need for the body to digest anything it consumed, keeping what's useful, expelling what's not. They sat, considering one another. Edward had once again left the ball in her court, but this time was content to let her take her time with what was next. The reality he could and would be what she needed comforted him.

"We can get dinner sometime," she said gently, "but it'll have to be after I start the summer semester. I doubled my course load this time around to be done with it, but I want to know what I've gotten myself into first."

"When do you graduate?"

"Well, I'll be done after the summer but won't graduate-graduate until the Fall."

"You're almost there, kid. I'm proud of you."

"Don't call me a kid! It's not a good look after you basically said how much you wanted to fuck me," she joked as she moved around her room to find her headphones - so lost in their conversation she was unsure if her cousin had returned home and worried she might overhear.

"Don't be gross, but good point. What are you doing? Show me your room," Edward demanded, watching as flashes of her came in and out of the frame as she moved.

"I'm looking for my headphones, and no, it's messy."

"Even better. You've been judging me all night; let me get in on the action."

"Fine, hold on," she said, placing them in her ear after finding them in her backpack. As Bella flipped her camera view, she tried not to feel self-conscious about his appraisal of her safe space.

Edward watched as she panned around, narrating and highlighting different things in her room. Charmed at her pride in the things she got for a steal second-hand, a Stetson hat she bought for a costume but now wore regularly, a turquoise ring she bought that reminded her of her Abuela. Taking in her tiny desk covered in textbooks and her laptop, clothes strewn near a hamper and piling up on her chair. As she moved toward her dresser and closet, he didn't mention that the reflection from her mirrored door revealed her in just a tank and panties, just as he remembered. As she finished her tour, settling back into her unmade bed, he concluded it was a wreck but not nearly as bad as he imagined. After returning the favor of showing his much cleaner room filled with dark furniture and a king-size bed, he could sense they were winding down their conversation for the night.

"So, when can we get dinner?" He asked, not wanting to miss an opportunity.

"Maybe after Emmett's barbecue? I'm staying up there for that week, but maybe when I get back?"

"That works for me," not hiding how pleased he was at her change of mind.

"K. We'll figure it out. I have to get to bed now, though; I'm opening for Sheila tomorrow."

"Good night, Bella."

"Sweet dreams, Edward."

Despite the late hour, Edward was keyed-up. He wanted to replay their conversations in his head, feeding the hope he felt taking root. Instead, he focused on how vulnerable she had been, explaining the ache she felt, thinking she was less than what he actually felt about her. Ever the pragmatic, he accepted that all he could do now was hope she felt the sincerity of his apology and move with intention with her now.

Laying back in his bed, he opened the Spotify playlist Bella had shared with him weeks ago in an attempt to get him to listen to better music, she said. As the relaxing hum of Tei Shi played through his speaker, he let himself think of everything and nothing.

After an hour immersed in the songs Bella loved, he drifted off to sleep, dreaming of her back in his mother's basement in Port Angeles. Between that strange place of deep sleep and lucid dreaming, he hoped that the image would turn into a scene of their lovemaking.

When it continued to be just the two of them in bed, safe touches and whispered words, he couldn't remember what was said upon waking, just the feeling that he had been offered a glimpse into the future.

AN:

Biggest thanks to Fran for editing.

If you're interested, Tei Shi's EP Verde is dreamy