Bella had never gotten intoxicated before.

Being the town chief's kid, she never tampered with weed or other substances, and she was grateful that her friends didn't either, even though her curiosity of how it would feel to be high never lessened. She liked to drink an occasional beer for the sake of rebellious teen spirit, and she'd felt her toes tingle or get slightly light headed from having too much, but that would usually result in her putting the drink away. She'd never pushed herself fully to see how being drunk felt like.

She'd wondered however. Of course, living in the generation of media, she'd watched television depictions of intoxication. She'd listened to music glorifying being drunk and watched videos of people taking back shot after shot and having the best time. During the summer, she'd attended many beach bonfires where some of her friends, even Jacob, would drink a little too much. She'd laugh at their antics, help them walk when they stumbled over the sand, and grimaced in pity when they threw up a few moments later. She vowed that she would never let herself get so wasted that she'd need to puke, and maybe because of that, she was scared to even enter the safe zone of being drunk. Deep down though, she'd always wondered how it would feel, what exactly the appeal was. How good could it possibly feel for people to be so reckless with their safety, their health, their lives?

She came to the conclusion that if being drunk was half as good as kissing Edward, she would be an alcoholic for sure. Especially because kissing Edward made her feel the same way she imagined being intoxicated would.

She was drunk on him.

Time was a concept her mind no longer processed, along with the concept of her own memory or identity. She was just a ball of addictive energy, a being of frenzy and feelings. A creature of sensual touch and taste and what she could only describe as lust.

She was on his lap with her skirt bunching up around her thighs, their mouths connected, tongues exploring. Her hands were pulling on his hair so tightly that had she been thinking coherent thoughts, she would've definitely considered that she might have been causing him pain. Thankfully, the way Edward was grabbing her, she would have concluded that he didn't really mind. His hands were restless, not stopping anywhere for too long. His eager fingers traced the soft skin of her exposed thighs, grabbed her hips to pull her completely against him, then travelled up north and squeezed her waist. One hand sneaked up under her blouse, brushing against her ribs, causing her to gasp. At the same time, his other hand dragged up and his fingers tangled into her hair, holding her hostage as he kissed her with an open mouth.

She felt Edward's lips slow down a little, she felt him give a slight shake of his head. He pulled away softly, trying to speak. Bella didn't give him a chance, entranced in his spell. She sought Edward's mouth as he was pulling away and planted a full kiss on his lips, nipping on his bottom lip. Edward, forgetting his intention, returned to kissing her again.

A few minutes later, he tried again.

"Bella, Bella, Bella," He murmured softly, pulling his mouth away from hers. But Bella's lips had a mind of their own, and her fingers were tugging on his hair, exposing his neck and she planted open mouthed kisses down his throat. She knew they needed to talk, but she couldn't stop herself. She was addicted to his skin.

"Hmm?" She asked innocently, as she licked and slightly sucked on his skin, not hard enough to leave a mark, but enough to get a reaction.

"Fuck," He groaned, sighing in defeat before tilting her face and slamming his mouth to hers.

Bella almost squealed in relief when her mouth met his, the object of her obsession, and she hummed into his mouth, sated. His mouth was so warm and inviting, his breath fanning over face, raising goosebumps all over her body-

"No, wait." Edward painfully wrenched his mouth away, placing his hands on her shoulders and holding her back so she couldn't distract him any longer. He was gazing at her with a mix of longing and apology, but mainly determination. "We need to talk."

Bella knew herself to be mature for her age, more mature than any of her friends or peers. So her reaction to Edward's sudden stand of maturity surprised her.

She pouted.

Edward's willpower crumbled before her eyes, his stare shifting from determination to adoration. He sighed and pulled her in again, kissing her pout, once, twice. He pulled away gently this time, cupping her cheek and gazing at her intently.

"You need to tell me what you want, Bella." He stated honestly. "I'm a little confused by you."

Bella shifted her sight from his eyes to his neck, uncomfortable with the situation she'd caused herself. Her fingers involuntarily traced the neckline of his shirt as she considered her answer. They swept over his collarbones, his adam apple, his soft pink skin. She let out an uncertain sigh, and decided to go with the truth.

"I don't know what I want," She sighed.

Edward nodded and looked down, contemplating her words. Brewing with guilt and misunderstanding his silence, Bella tried to remove herself from his lap. Edward stopped her right away, pulling her closer on his thighs and grabbing her hands, linking their fingers together.

"Well maybe we can start with what happened just now," Edward suggested, motioning to their current position. Bella looks down at their joined hands.

"I want you," Bella confessed, "I like you…"

"But?" Edward asked, already anticipating her hesitation.

"It's just that," Bella paused, pulling one hand away and tugging on her hair, her nervous tick, "Like I already told you, any relationship or commitment of any kind is a terrible idea. Between running council, planning the dance, keeping my grades up, college applications and debate, I just won't have the time for any obligations or extra responsibilities. I don't want to commit to anything right now. There's too much on my plate."

She waited for his answer in dejection, too scared to look at his face and witness his reaction. She was just waiting for his disappointment, so his next words surprised her.

"So what's wrong with just this?" Edward asked casually, running a hand through his hair.

Bella gawked at him, confused. "Define this."

"What if we didn't commit?" He responded, his eyebrows a little furrowed. "What if hung out and messed around whenever we both have time, but with no responsibilities or obligations to each other?"

Bella took a moment to respond. "Are you proposing friends with benefits?" She asked incredulously.

Edward shook his head in protest. "Fuck the label, Bella. It doesn't have to be anything. It doesn't have to be about sex. We can make this whatever we want, whatever works for both of us."

Bella gazed back at him warily. Edward gently grabbed her chin with his thumb and index finger, and matched his gaze with hers. They were so close, she couldn't feel his warm breath fan over her. She fought to focus.

"Look, you can't afford to have any distractions. And if I'm being honest, I can't either. Whether I like to admit it or not, grades matter the most right now, and football does too. I need to focus on that. But I want you too. And I think we can make it work like this. We don't commit to each other entirely. We set no obligations. Whenever either of us has time, we can hang out, but no hard feelings or broken promises or drama," Bella was nodding along softly, and Edward knew she was almost his. "I like you, I love spending time with you and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't wildly attracted to you. And I don't want to miss out on something fun like this because we were only giving ourselves the options to date or not. This is finding middle ground. This is having the perks of dating but without any of the messy stuff."

Bella shifted her eyes downward, taking away Edward's opportunity to read her. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait too long to find out what was on her mind.

"And you would be okay with that?" Bella asked with uncertainty, her voice soft.

"It honestly sounds like the best case scenario to me." Edward replied truthfully, squeezing Bella's hand. It elicited a soft smile from Bella, and her hand absentmindedly found its way in his hair. She played with the curls at the nape of his neck while she contemplated her decision. But she still had one more question.

"We'd mostly be a secret right? If we're not officially dating, I'd rather not tell anyone about us." She stated it without too much weight, but Edward knew that the going public meant more to her than she was letting on.

He shrugged, not opposed at all. "I wasn't planning to, and it doesn't seem like you want to deal with the drama either."

"Yeah, no drama." Bella agreed, relieved.

A moment passed, and she felt Edward tug at her chin again. He gazed at her with hopeful eyes.

"So what do you say?" he asked, brushing her hair away from her face. His touch made Bella's blood rush to her cheeks.

"I'll need some time to think about you…" She responded, not wanting to dive into anything she would regret. The deal seemed almost too good to be true, and Bella needed the time to convince herself it wasn't.

Edward nodded, still hopeful, "That's all I can ask."

Bella looked up into his eyes, surprised at herself by the decision she was just about to make and overwhelmed by how much she wanted it to work out; how much she wanted him. Edward stared back with the same intensity. The tension got too much to bear, and Bella broke away, clearing her throat. She looked around at their abandoned books and assignment, and laughed quietly.

"So I guess it's time we should probably get back to work." She said, getting on her knees to remove herself from Edward's lap. She didn't get too far. Edward grabbed her waist and pulled her back down on him, grinding her hips into his.

"Not yet," He whispered huskily, tangling his fingers into her hair once again, his eyes alight with desire and treachery, "When you first kissed me, I couldn't let myself get too carried away cause I wanted to figure things out. Now that that's taken care of, let me get a little carried away. "

And then he covered her mouth with his own, and Bella was suddenly intoxicated once again.

Hello! Long time no see.

I'm sorry, I have some huge changes going on in my life that have been taking priority, but I'm really determined to see this thing through.

I know it's short. It's super short. But it made sense to end it here. I'll make sure the next one is extra long and juicy. So Edward convinced Bella, didn't he?

Thoughts?

Thank you for following, favoriting and reading. Especially thank you for the reviews. Your words keep me coming back.

See you hopefully soon! Good bye!