A/N: And just when we thought things were looking up for Edward...

Chapter 3

"I never saw it coming! I was convinced right from the start that Rebecca was guilty."

"I only thought about Livingston in passing and completely dismissed it once the inspector showed up and started asking questions. Everything Rebecca said made her seem so involved, you know, she totally knew too much."

"I still say that there's got to be a twist coming in the next book, like maybe he didn't act alone."

"You may be right."

Edward hesitated for a second and looked down to where his hands were now nervously fidgeting with a plastic spoon that had been sitting on the table in front of him and grinned through his embarrassment. He'd just caught himself winking at Bella for some reason as they sat there going back and forth about the surprise ending of the story they'd both recently read. He knew that his sister was sitting here as well, following this discussion between he and Bella almost as if she were watching a tennis match, but apparently that wasn't enough to quell his enthusiasm. He'd not felt this comfortable nor excited while talking to a girl about anything in, well, pretty much ever. Now he was suddenly aware that somewhere along the way he'd apparently started to flirt with her.

Cautiously checking to see if anyone else had noticed, Edward looked first at Bella and then towards his sister. Fortunately Bella was already going on about another theory she'd come up with as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. Alice on the other hand was looking right at him with a wide-eyed grin that said she'd definitely noticed. He rolled is eyes at her silly expression and smiled a little at how amused she seemed before refocusing his attention on the beautiful girl across the table from him.

He couldn't blame Alice after all, since even he was just as shocked at his behavior. He'd never really shown any outward interest in a girl before, and certainly not in front of anyone. Even while he was dating Tanya he'd never felt a need to attract her attention in such a way. Of course it wasn't exactly his intention to express that kind of interest today either; however as luck would have it, Bella had either missed his little slip-up or she was doing a wonderful job of ignoring it. Whatever the case he was glad that no one seemed prepared to make a big deal out of it, especially since he was still convinced that he no business pursuing a girl like her in the first place. If he could just hang out with her at school like this and enjoy her company from time to time he'd be perfectly happy with that.

Yeah right, you just referred to her as beautiful.

He wanted to roll his eyes again, this time at his own internal commentary, but Bella was talking to Alice now and the subject matter drew his undivided attention.

"So this weekend, we're going to paint right? I talked to my dad last night and he's fine if I skip that benefit thing I was telling you about. It's more of an adult get together anyway."

"Absolutely, if you're sure you don't mind putting up with the family. Mom and Dad are pretty cool about things but," Alice chuckled a bit as she saw by Edward's expression that he was in the midst of sudden mood swing. "I've got another brother who's even creepier than this one."

"Come on Alice, Edward's not creepy." Bella laughed, reaching out to lightly pat his forearm as if he would need her reassurance that she didn't think of him that way.

Speechless over not only the conversation that was taking place and what it implied, but also because of Bella's gesture, Edward sat there trying to control any sort of visible reaction, which basically meant he was attempting to keep his jaw up off of the table. He had been certain that Bella's comment last night about helping this weekend wasn't an actual offer. But now he wasn't sure what was going on. Was she really going to be at their house on Saturday? Painting?
With Emmett.
He groaned internally. Half a second ago he was about to start obsessing over what, if anything, her willingness to touch him might signify, though his brain stubbornly refused the idea that she might be flirting with him too. Either way now all he could think about was Bella seeing their house again, this time with the aid of daylight; and to make matters worse she'd also get to meet the most outspoken member of his family-heaven help him if he made the mistake of being too friendly towards Bella in his presence.

"I may not be, but Alice is right, Emmett can be a little...different." His comment got a laugh out of both girls and Bella seemed even more eager now than she was a moment ago.

"In my world different is a welcomed change." He was informed.

Any further debate was cut short by the sound of the bell ending their lunch period and before he knew it Alice was off to her history class, leaving he and Bella to make their towards Biology together.

He hadn't counted on that either. Yesterday he'd left long before the bell and was already seated in the biology lab for a few minutes before she'd arrived. And the day before that he'd been studiously ignoring or avoiding nearly everything. Now he was very aware that he had a thousand nerves suddenly standing at attention-the mere thought of walking to class with her about the induce a heart attack.

"So when do you plan to get started with the new book? I was dying last night to read at least some of it, but I didn't want to get too far ahead."

Bella had picked up their earlier conversation right where they'd left off, which seemed like a blessing for Edward. At least while she was busy talking he had a moment to try and calm himself mentally. He knew that there was no need to panick over any of this. They were just two classmates discussing a book, who just so happen to be heading in the same direction. Even if they weren't chatting as they made their way to the next class there was no way to avoid going in the same direction. Better to seem friendly and normal, than to abandon her like some kind of socially awkward freak.

"No idea. It was all I could do to finish the last one so quickly." He managed to answer, thankfully without betraying his sudden bout of anxiety.

Bella was walking next to him now as they started to weave their way through the crowded hallways, which made him wonder what this must look like to everyone else. She was a good deal shorter than him so he kept having to lean in to hear what she was saying as she kept going on about the book and how impressed she was with his diligent reading despite having so much else to do the day before. Their proximity was just out of necessity but he still felt like they were sharing some sort of personal space. Nervous as he was to be with Bella like this, presenting such an intimate picture to any passerby, and more importantly without the aid of his sister tagging along, he was still pleased that she wanted to talk to him. It didn't seem like just a courtesy extended to the new kid, or someone who was tolerating her friend's brother for the sake of seeming pleasant. She could have completely dropped the subject and wandered off or engaged someone else the moment lunch had ended, but here she was still talking to him.

Caught up in his own pondering it was no wonder that he stumbled slightly when someone unexpectedly bumped into him from behind. "Just hanging out with my sister, my ass." He heard teasingly mumbled from whoever it was that had passed by. He looked up and found Mike wandering off towards his seat near the front of their class. Choosing to ignore the interruption he indicated that Bella should lead the way once inside the room, hoping she hadn't overheard anything.

"Thanks."

Dammit.

He'd done it again. The only saving grace this time was that their shared table was in the back of the class and it wasn't likely that anyone would notice that he'd just pulled Bella's stool out for her while silently offering to take her jacket so that he could hang it and their bags on the rack behind them. He could probably blame it on his preoccupation with Mike, or any one of the dozen or so butterflies buzzing around in his belly, but Edward didn't have it within him to care much once Bella had assured him it was okay.

"You might actually be a little creepy after all." She teased, playfully bumping his shoulder with her own as he took the seat beside her. "An actual living, breathing gentleman. Who would've guessed?"

"I blame, Alice." He jokingly waved off the compliment as he started to feel the heat crawling up his neck. He could only imagine how red he'd be if they didn't change the subject.

Well, at least she's not entirely freaked out.

He glanced sideways and watched her as she went about the business of arranging her textbook and binder and figured what the hell. He'd already experienced just about every emotion he could name over the past fifteen minutes, so why not go ahead and torture himself a little more.

"So, have you ever done any painting before?" He inquired, while rhythmically tapping his pen against the table.

He was looking for a safe topic other than the book they'd been chatting about, and at the same time he was hoping for something that might give him a bit more insight into her motivations for offering to help, if there were any.

Somewhat mesmerized by her smile and movement as she tucked her hair behind her right ear before turning towards him, Edward was briefly drawn to the sight of her ear piercings-something he'd not noticed before.

"A little. Last summer my mom's charity of choice was Habitat so there were a lot of weekends doing all sorts of stuff like that. Still can't hammer in a nail straight, but I did alright at the painting."

Edward felt his heart drop into his stomach. The word charity and Bella's casual use of it had caught him off guard. He wasn't sure why he hadn't been expecting something like that or more importantly why it should matter, but it bothered him to a degree he'd not counted on. Thankfully Mr. Banner saved him from having to respond by calling the class to order, so he took a breath and managed a tight smile for Bella before turning towards the front of the room.

He didn't really understand the depth of his disappointment. He'd known all along that he and Bella were from very different worlds; unfortunately he hadn't prepared himself for the moment that he'd really see that difference. Here he was sitting next to a beautiful girl, who was interesting and intelligent and all he could see suddenly was the mayor's daughter. She was the girl with the brand new pick up truck and a carat's worth of sapphires in her ears. The one who spent her summers volunteering to help the less fortunate instead of having to work for gas money and savings for college.

He was already mourning the loss of the girl he'd seen just a few minutes ago, smiling and laughing, gesturing wildly as she went on about the best book she'd read in years. That had been a girl he could really see himself connecting with. She was smart and fun and even a little bit silly, but in the best way possible. But not this girl. This girl had intimidating written all over her. This version of Bella that had magically appeared in his mind when she'd spoken so innocently about charity would never be someone who could understand him.

He was seconds away from getting good and worked up when he felt Bella reach over and take the pen he was still busy drumming away with out of his hand.

You Ok?

She used his pen to write on a page in the back of her notebook, angling it so that he'd see. He shook his head to answer, refusing to make eye contact. He was embarrassed by how much this bothered him but he wouldn't lie about it.

What happened?

He didn't answer at all this time, just continued staring straight ahead.

A few more seconds had passed when Edward felt her gently place the pen back in his hand.

"Please." she whispered quietly.

When he looked down again he could see that she'd written the request as well.

What did she really want him to say? Sorry, I just noticed that reading preferences aside there is absolutely nothing that you and I could ever have in common.

He could never see himself being so blunt, but at the same time he didn't know how to explain it any other way. She was a smart person, couldn't she see for herself how odd it was for her to have any interest in befriending someone like him.

His mind made up, he reached for the notebook and slid it closer to himself. There was no way to really explain everything he needed to say in writing so he went with the only other option.

Are you busy after school today?

Bella's expression was confused at best but she shook her head slightly to answer, much the same way he had a moment ago.

He knew he was being cryptic and if anyone were to read these little messages they could interpret them a million different ways, but he wanted some time to think and he needed to talk to her once he had.

I think we should talk about a few things.

Bella reached for his pen again and Edward watched as her flowing script appeared just below his pitifully formed chicken scratch-just another of the many obvious differences they shared in his mind.

Would you like to meet somewhere? You can call me. Or I could follow you to your h

Edward pulled the pen from her fingers before she even finished writing this time.

No phone.

Bella hesitated briefly and Edward knew he'd either made his point or pissed her off as he let the pen drop against the now cluttered page of writing; either way perhaps she'd finally see at least part of what had been bothering him.

There weren't anymore notes after that, and Bella remained stoically still and silent for the rest of class. Edward was brutally aware of every second that passed from that moment until the bell sounded, during which time he analyzed his current situation from every angle and then reimagined a dozen other ways that this day could have gone. In the end he knew that this was maybe for the best, because he could see now that he had foolishly allowed himself to get too close, to hope for too much.

Last night he had stayed up until midnight struggling to keep his eyes open long enough to finish his book. And this morning he'd awakened an hour before he would ordinarily have to so that he could reread the ending. It was all in an effort to impress Bella-he couldn't deny that. But in his mind it was just a way to say thank you for buying him such a thoughtful gift. What he hadn't counted on was his own enthusiasm getting in the way.

When he and Alice had arrived at school this morning Bella was already there and busy climbing out of her truck. As he pulled to a stop in the space next to her, he didn't exactly understand the urge that had come over him. Before he could comprehend why, he was outside standing next to his car, smiling at her from across the way. When she noticed and look in his direction he'd held up his copy of the novel and dropped it on the roof of the Volvo.

"Absolutely brilliant ending." He declared.

"You finished?" Her whole face brightened at the discovery.

"Now I can't wait to talk about it either." He agreed.

"Lunch. I will totally see you at lunch." She promised rushing away with a wave and a smile for Alice.

There was some hurried explanation about having to get to the media room before morning announcements and then she was gone. He and Alice had wandered off in different directions after that, but Edward had been elated by her response.

Elation was now the furthest thing from his mind. When the bell finally rang it seemed as if Bella was out of her seat and through the door before he even had a chance to look up. He hated the idea that he might have ruined something by being so sensitive to what he felt sure was just an innocent comment. He'd really wanted to talk to her-explain things, since writing down such a long and complex story in the back of her biology notebook didn't seem right, but now what could he do. His temper had interfered and he didn't even know if she'd be willing to listen at this point.

Dejected, he reached back to grab his bag, but before he got the strap over his shoulder he noticed a scrap of paper sticking out of the side pocket.

Don't have any idea what's going on, but I'm sorry. Please meet me whenever you can this afternoon. I'll be at this address.

"Mr. Cullen, did you need something?"

His head snapped up at the sound of his teacher's voice making him realize that he was the last person in the room. He mumbled an apology and made his way towards the door, head down still staring at the paper in his hands. He didn't know how long he'd been standing there studying the note and the address she'd left for him, but he knew that he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Although he was pleased to see that she still wanted to talk, he knew that if he could find the courage to meet her and tell her the truth, whatever type of friendship or relationship they'd be able to have from here on out would change. He liked Bella, and it should have made him feel better that at least she was still curious enough to want to hear him out, but he hated the idea of disappointing her.

With that in mind, the anticipation of their meeting made the remainder of his day drag on forever. Edward had gone back and forth all afternoon about how he should handle this, and time and time again he'd come up with the same solution. He had to apologize, but more importantly he had to be honest. What was far more difficult to figure out was how he could possibly explain any of this to Alice. Whatever would happen between he and Bella, he didn't want to mess up his sister's chances of remaining her friend. Just because he was stubborn and grumpy, and apparently still hung up on the fact that he hadn't had more than five dollars in his pocket at any given time over the past year shouldn't reflect poorly on her.

"So...you and Bella sure seemed friendly today." Alice teased immediately upon opening the passenger door of his car.

Edward sighed heavily, not at all in the mood to address such things so soon. Even had the day ended on a better note he still wouldn't be comfortable talking about this. Now he had to decide what, if anything, he could say that wouldn't give her the wrong impression before he knew exactly how his pending talk with Bella would go over.

May as well start being honest now.

"She's easy to talk to."

Concentrating on backing up, he didn't bother to look in her direction and hoped that his tone was casual enough. He had to play it safe and keep his response vague or he knew that she'd see right though him. She'd been there during lunch and he knew what it must have looked like. Even Mike, though he was already convinced that something was going on, had felt the need to comment on their interaction. Denying it would only fuel more questions he didn't want to answer, but showing her any indication that things had gone downhill from there would be even worse.

"You know if you're worried that it might bother me, you don't have to be. I told you before how cool Bella is, and I think it'd be nice to see you happy for a change even if it meant that I'd have to share a friend."

He struggled with that one for a minute. He wanted to promise that he could be happy without a girl, but he thought she might take his saying so the wrong way. Then he wondered if he should just accept the offer and hope that it might end their discussion, but he knew her better than that.

"I guess we'll see how it goes." He decided to keep things vague and then change the subject.

"Listen, Emmett gave me the address of a place he found that sells salvaged building supplies and I was gonna go over there this afternoon and see if I could pick up some stuff for this weekend. Dad wrote a list of things he felt like we'd need."

So much for that honesty thing.

"So, you want to ride or you want me to drop you off first."

He knew his sister well enough to know that she'd never chose the first option. He'd tried a few times taking her along when he'd go looking for parts for his car back when he'd first gotten it and she'd hated walking around while he sifted through piles of old dirty junk.

"Umm, no. You can drop me off if you don't mind. I've actually got a lot of homework today. One of my teachers is insisting I play catch up on this ongoing project they'd assigned like a month ago..."

Edward knew he was off the hook when she'd proceeded to go on and on complaining about all of the extra work she had ahead of her now and how unfair it seemed. At least now he could get out of the house for a while without her wondering what he was up to. He did have a list from their dad of some things to buy for the weekend so he'd go ahead and get those while he was out and save himself the trouble of any further explanation after he got home.

Plan in place he dropped Alice off in front of their house and pulled away before he could change his mind. He didn't want to make Bella wait for him and he also knew that the more time he allowed himself to think the more likely he was to chicken out.

Hoping to make good time and get this over with, Edward pulled into a service station just outside of their neighborhood. He wasn't familiar with the area yet and he didn't have the benefit of a cell phone or GPS to help him find this address he was going to. He could do things the old fashioned way and break out a map but that would take too long, so the alternative was asking directions. Once he had a better idea of where he was headed he got back into the car, pleased that it seemed to be nearby at least.

He traveled to a small business district outside of the downtown area that seemed to exist because of the suburbs. Once Edward made his way in that direction he could see that all manner of shops and restaurants lined the streets. It was on a much grander scale than Port Angeles but it felt somewhat similar anyway. Following the directions carefully and checking the storefronts for numbers, Edward finally located his destination and sure enough he recognized Bella's truck already parked against the curb out front.

Here goes nothing, he encouraged himself before going inside.