Disclaimer: I do own a copy of Twilight; however, I don't own the actual rights to said book … :(

Random Tangent 1: How many of you have seen the new MTV video for Twilight? If you haven't … you NEED to! It's … amazing!! I am soooo excited for the movie!! If you'd like the link, review and ask for it, and I'll send it to you! Because it's definitely a MUST SEE!

Random Tangent 2: Feel free to skip this if you'd like, but I just wanted to mention a book (actually 2) that I read this past weekend. City of Bones and City of Ashes, both by Cassandra Clare… they were AMAZING! So if you're looking for a good book to read, I'd definitely recommend those! Anyways, just wanted to give a shout out to them because they are amazing like that! HA! On with chapter seventeen …

Chapter 17: Towel

BPOV

"Where are your parents?" I asked Edward once we got into his house.

"Um," he paused, "They should be around here somewhere. Mom!? Dad?!" he called, but no one answered, "Hmmm," he walked to the kitchen table where there was a note "Be back later, gone out with your dad. Love, Mom" he read out loud.

"They go out?" I asked.

"Um yea, my dad takes my mom out on a date every week," he blushed slightly.

"That is so sweet!" I said.

"Yea," Edward smiled at me, "So um, I'm going to go shower real quick if you don't mind. You can watch TV while I do, if you want." He said, handing me the remote control.

"Ok, thanks." I said, taking it from him before he walked out of the room.

"Oh, the guest room is the first room on the left, if you want to unpack or if you need anything."

I nodded and he walked upstairs.

Nothing much was on TV, just a horrible TV movie, reruns of MTV shows and the always amusing infomercials.

I sighed and turned off the TV and decided to call my parents since I hadn't talked to them for a while.

"Hello?" I heard my mother's voice.

"Mom, hi, it's Bella," I said.

"Bella! Sweetie, how are you?" she asked, her voice sounding enthusiastic.

"I'm great," I replied, "Do you remember Edward Mason?"

"Of course I do, he was a cutie." She said, and I could picture her winking.

He still is a cutie, I thought, but said "Well, I'm at his house right now, visiting the old neighborhood for the weekend."

"Really?" she said.

"Yep, I saw all the group earlier today and we are hanging out tomorrow. It makes me feel so old, seeing them all again."

"Now you know how I felt when you graduated high school, I felt like I was ancient." Renee said, laughing.

"You? Never!" I laughed with her.

"So it's just you and Edward up there?" she asked, curious.

"Well," I began, "It was supposed to be us along with Jasper and Alice, but they couldn't make it."

"That's a shame," Renee said, "But I'm sure you two will have fun on your own."

"Yea…" I drifted off thinking about what type of fun we'd have, fake dating and all.

"Anything in particular you want to talk about sweetie?" Renee asked, she always knew when something was bothering me.

In fact, I probably told her as much, if not more then I told Alice. Alice is my best friend, but my mom was my best advice giver. She knew when something was wrong with me before I sometimes knew it. It was at that moment I suddenly realized how much I missed my mom, and how something had been bothering me.

"It's just," I paused, trying to find the right words, "I think I've messed up something important."

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Renee said, reassuringly, "Why don't you tell me about it?"

"Well," I began and checked to make sure the water was still running in the shower, it was so I continued, "You see, there is this guy that I like, but I kinda told him I didn't want a boyfriend." I said, being vague.

"Why did you tell him you didn't want a boyfriend?" Renee asked.

"I didn't want to get hurt again, like I did from Mike." I said, quietly.

"You can't live your life in fear, Bella." Renee said, sounding much like a parent.

"I know that," I said, "And now I regret saying it but what if he doesn't like me anymore?" I realized I sounded much like a little kid at that moment.

"Honey, Edward still likes you." She said.

"W-what?" I stuttered, "I didn't say it was Edward."

"You didn't have to," she said, "I know you too well. He wouldn't have brought you on this trip if he didn't like you."

"I guess," I said, not convinced.

"Bella, honey, if there is one thing I've learned in my –cough-twenty-cough- years of life," I laughed, and she continued "It's that boys like Edward are one in a million, don't let him slip away."

"But how-" I stopped, hearing the water turn off from the shower upstairs. "Mom, I have to go." I said, not wanting Edward to overhear the conversation.

"Is he in the room?" Renee laughed.

"No, but will be soon." I said, "Bye, I love you."

"Love you too sweetie, remember what I said!" and then she hung up.

I looked at the clock and saw it was now almost 11; I should go change into my pajamas. I thought and walked up the stairs.

Once I reached the top of the stairs, I froze. Did Edward say my room was on the left or the right? I tried to remember, and looked at both doors.

I sighed, not remembering, and tried the door on the right.

I opened the door to see Edward standing in the middle of the room, with only a towel wrapped around his waist, and froze.

I stared at him, my eyes roaming over his entire body, and then focusing on his flat, muscular stomach. I watched the water droplets making there way, slowly, down his stomach, over his flat abs, and then drip under the towel to go lower. I gulped.

"H-hi," I stuttered after a minute, forcing my eyes to move upward to his face, which was just as enchanting.

The water had weighed down his hair, making it longer and disheveled. I resisted the urge to run over to him, and push it gently out of the way of his eyes.

"Hey?" Edward said, looking both embarrassed and curious.

"Um," I shook my head to clear my thoughts, "Sorry, wrong, um, wrong room." I said quickly and shut the door and went to the room across the hall.

When I got into it, I fell down onto the bed and immediately pulled out my phone.

"Alice?" I said, frantically, into the phone.

"Bella? Are you alright? You sound… frazzled."
"Frazzled? Yes, I suppose that would be a good way to describe what I'm feeling right now, along with mortified, embarrassed, and well, extremely turned on." I said, breathing heavily.

"What happened?" Alice asked.

"You can't tell anyone this. Anyone." I said, "And yes, that includes Jasper."

"Ok," Alice quickly promised.

"I just saw Edward naked." I whispered.

"WHAT?!" Alice screamed.

"Shhh," I said into the phone, still whispering so Edward couldn't hear, "Well he wasn't completely naked, he had a towel on, but still."

"OHMYGOD!" Alice screamed again, "Is his body as hot as I'm imagining?"

"Alice!" I groaned, "Totally not helping."

"Well what do you want me to say?" she asked.

I thought, "I'm not exactly sure, but how am I supposed to face him?"

"You could just make a joke out of it?" Alice suggested, "Or you could try to pretend it didn't happen. Or you could just wait and see what Edward says."

I thought about that, I'd probably end up embarrassing myself more if I made a joke out of it, and pretending it didn't happen would be near impossible, "I guess I'll just wait and see what Edward says," I told her.

"Good plan," she said, "I have to go, and you probably should to."
"Yea," I said, "Have to face him eventually, right?"

"Yep!" Alice said, "One quick question before I go though."

"Ok…" I said.

"Is his body as hot as I'm imagining?" she repeated from before, giggling.

I sighed, "Even better." I said and then quickly hung up before she could ask me any more questions.

I took a deep breath then, and walked out of the room and knocked on Edward's room.

"Come in," Edward yelled through the door.

I opened it and walked inside, blushing as I did so. "I'm sorry I didn't mean-"
"-It's fine, Bella. Breathe." Edward said, laughing slightly.

"It's just, I don't want you to think-"
"-I don't," he said, interrupting again.

I let out a long breath, "So um, what do you want to do?" I asked, changing the subject.

He looked deep into my eyes, opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it.

"There isn't much on TV," I continued awkwardly, "But we could watch a movie? Or um, just go to bed?"

"Movie sounds good," Edward said, moving towards the doorway.

"Okay," I said back, and followed him downstairs to the living room.

I sat on the couch while Edward chose a movie to watch, "Anything in particular you'd like to see?"

"Nope," I said, getting comfortable, "Surprise me."

"Alright," he smiled, and after setting up the DVD, sat down on the other side of the couch.

The movie started, it was Pirates of the Caribbean. I'd seen it before, but loved it, so I smiled, happily. "Good choice." I said, approvingly.

"Glad you think so," he replied, smiling.

We didn't talk during the movie, but every so often I'd look over at Edward and catch him staring at me, or he'd catch me looking at him. Each time we did, we'd both immediately look away and turn back to the screen, like little kids do.

By the time the movie ended, it was near 1 AM.

"Good, as always," I said, standing up to stretch and yawned.

"Tired?" Edward laughed at me.

"A little," I replied, lifting my hands above my head, causing my shirt to ride up, revealing my midriff.

I quickly lowered my hands, and glanced over at Edward to see he was staring at me, longingly. "Want to go upstairs?" he asked, after gulping hard. I raised an eyebrow, "I mean, want to go to sleep?"

"Probably should," I replied.

We walked up stairs and stopped in front of our rooms, "So what time do you want to get up tomorrow morning?" he asked.

"Well we have to meet everyone at 1, right? Are we doing anything else before then?" I asked.

"Um, we could go out to lunch," Edward replied.

"Okay, so if we go to lunch at 11, we should be back by 1, right?"

"Definitely," Edward grinned.

"So I should probably get up by 10 to shower and get ready." I replied.

"Ok, ten it is." Edward said, "Goodnight, Bella."

I stepped forward and hugged him gently, "Sweet dreams, Edward." I whispered into his ear boldly.

I pulled back and walked into my room, and closed the door, resisting the urge to look back, for if I did he'd see just how flush my face was at that moment.

A/N: Sorry this chapter is short, have such a hectic week this week! –sigh- the next couple weeks will be insane actually, but I'll try update frequently! If even just a short little chapter like this one. But I hope that you liked the chapter! If you did … let me know by reviewing! Even if you just say "Liked it" I'll be happy! :-D And you know what it means when I'm happy … quicker updates!!