A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews - keep them coming! Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it. Once the fall term begins I won't be able to update often, but I'll try to keep the story moving.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Twilight Saga.
The next morning we woke up late, still tired, and – in the other's cases - slightly hung-over. I heard Angela groan, and put a hand to her head – clearly they weren't used to the life of an average 21st century teenager in the city.
I slipped out of my comfortable bed, grabbed some clothes, and hopped in the shower. Ahh. Once I was done and dressed in lulus, and a La Senza ultra soft bra, I glanced in the mirror. The shower had taken off my leftover smeared make up, and my deep conditioner had worked miracles on my tangled hair, but the biggest problem were all the hickeys on my neck and chest. When had all that happened? I would have to wear high necked clothes for the next few days – some of them were really dark or noticeable. I knew I could pull off turtle necks, but would people get suspicious? Maybe; hopefully not my parents – who would be here in under an hour. Shit!
I returned to my bedroom, threw on my high necked Chanel light grey blouse and the girls were still lying like zombies on by bed.
"Okay, up you get, and you and you" I grabbed each of them, and lightly tossed them off the bed. "My parents will be here in like 40 minutes, so move your asses!"
"Where are we going?" Asked a delirious Jessica.
"Hmm, your house. Bye!" I waved them out of my room, handing them their belongings, and attempting to make them appear presentable. Nearly all of my good Mac make up wipes were used up in the process. Damn.
Once they had left, I cleaned my room, did the laundry, and went to clean any other room we had been in. My parents would be here any minute, so not wanting to make them suspicious of the abnormally clean house, I left some homework on the table, turned on the television, and made breakfast.
They arrived just as I was adding the steamed spinach to my scrambled tofu.
"Hello" my dad called cheerfully.
"Hi" I called back to them.
"How was your sleepover at Jessica's?" My mom asked, sniffing my cooking appreciatively.
"Good, we watched a lot of horror movies" I answered sublimely.
"Oh dear" my mom sounded worried.
"Yeah, that's why I've got the T.V. on." I explained.
"The er, weather network?" My dad said confused.
Fuck. "Yeah, it's great. Really interesting." I bluffed.
"What about it interests you?" My dad asked excited. Oh dear, I really hoped he didn't have another weird plan up his sleeve.
"I like meteorology" I hoped I was saying the name correctly "It's neat how they can predict the er, weather stuff."
"Yes, especially when the Nimbostratus clouds obscure the satellites. Right?" uh…
I was saved by my phone vibrating on the counter. I picked it up thrilled, and glanced at the number, I didn't recognize it, and so it wasn't Lauren saying she had left a thong here or something.
"Hello?" I said still smiling.
"Hey Alex" A deep voice said, it sounded like they were smiling as well.
"Hi" I said.
"It's Ryan.
"Oh, hi again" I said, focusing on pouring tamari in my scramble. "What's up?"
"Not much, a bit lonely. How are you?" He asked sounding bored with the formalities.
"I'm pretty good, making uh, brunch" I decided, as my parents were listening and would think it strange that I was eating breakfast at 2:30pm.
"So what are you up to on hmmm, Tuesday at like 5:00ish?" He asked sounding slightly embarrassed. "I wanted to see you again – last night's goodbye was a bit, er, sudden."
"I don't think I have anything planned" I said adding crushed garlic to the tofu, onions and spinach.
"Can you meet me at Starbucks? I want to see you again" He said again.
"Yeah sure, I'll see you then." I said. "Well, my tofu's burning, so bye."
"Bye Alex" He said.
I turned to my food, added some more spicy Thai flavouring, and scooped it onto a plate, trying to hide my smile.
"Who was that?" Asked my mom interested. My dad had turned to the newspaper, so I seemed safe from the cloud discussion.
"Study group. They're recruiting members, so I thought I'd give it a try." I answered nonchalantly. I was good at lying; most people thought I was bad, because at times I tried to make it obvious so that when I really had to lie, it would be believable; like now.
"Oh that's nice. When are you going?" She was so persistent.
"Tuesday."
The rest of the day was spent focusing on homework. I wasn't used to getting these extravagant amounts – it wasn't healthy in my opinion. Getting kids too stressed would make them do less physical activities, and then they would turn to drugs to either lose the gained weight or relieve their stress levels.
On Sunday I scoured through Forks in search of a dance studio. I could practice at home, but I wanted to make use of having more space. I finally came upon one, signed up for 15 hours a week worth – leaving Fridays and weekends free. I would have to miss my date with Ryan, but I couldn't think of a good excuse yet, so I ignored it and went home to make a soy latte.
That night after doing some stretching, in preparation for tomorrow's ballet and modern classes, I took a shower, and glanced in the mirror to see if the hickeys were still conspicuous. They had paled, but still stood out from my pale skin; shit. I pulled on my large Ramones t-shirt and black spandex booty shorts, brushed my teeth and went to bed.
I wasn't sure what to expect the next day, would everyone be gossiping about the party? Would Edward be? I doubted that somehow, he seemed more sophisticated than that. Pondering these questions I curled up in my bed and went to sleep.
I jumped awake with a start. I glanced at the clock in confusion – it was 2:37. I heard the reason I had woken up – a "ping" sound kept repeating itself near by my window. It was like out of a horror movie, was this the part where I leaned out the window too far and got murdered by the villain. I looked out the window, keeping it tightly shut. No, this was like out of a romance film. Ryan was standing outside, chucking pebbles at the window. Cute. Slightly stalkerish, but cute.
I silently opened the window poked my head out.
"Hey he stage whispered. I didn't want to wait till Tuesday, will you come down?" He said, grinning impishly.
"Sure" I whispered back. I quickly threw on my Marc Jacobs teal cotton sweater, a pair of fluffy slippers and jammed 5 tic tacs in my mouth. I stepped out onto the window sill, grabbed the side of my house, and lowered myself onto the trellis. I slithered down the wooden beam and onto the deck railing, finally jumping off next to an amused Ryan.
"Speaking of Tuesday, I have a dance class so I doubt I can make it." I said, hugging him. "Sorry".
"Mm, that's okay, but you better come with me now, in that case." He replied taking my hand.
"By the way, how do you know where I live?" I asked casually.
"Jessica Stanley" He replied simply.
He led me through a lightly inhabited part of the forest, and onto the road parallel to the one I lived on. Sitting on the street, conspicuous even in the dark was a motorcycle. I grinned.
"Here" he said, handing me a helmet and grabbed his own. I pulled it on and adjusted the straps. He leaned forward for a kiss when –
CLANG!
Our helmets smashed together and sent us ricocheting off of each other.
"Maybe later then" Ryan said still laughing.
He climbed onto the bike, and I got on behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist.
"Ready?" He asked.
I bit his shoulder for conformation.
"Did you just bite me?" He seemed startled.
"Yes" I said simply. He shook his head in confusion and revved the engine. Soon we were flying down the street, the wind whipped my face, but it was so exhilarating that I didn't care that I was an ice cube.
He weaved through the side streets, until we came upon a park at the end of a cul de sac. He helped me off the bike once it was parked – I was still frozen – and we walked to a bench.
He smiled at me as he took off our helmets; I shook out my dirty blonde hair. He stashed them under the bench and pulled me closer to him.
"This is long overdue" I murmured, leaning into his face.
He met my lips in the middle, securing my lower – very lower – back in his arms. I put my hands on his chest as we synchronized the movements of our mouths. I hesitantly put my tongue in his mouth; this was more awkward as I wasn't drunk – though he tasted suspiciously of alcohol. I didn't have any feelings for Ryan, he was just a hot older guy, but I didn't mind if he could help me settle into Forks.
He steered us towards the bench, and I awkwardly tried to find the seat with my butt. I fell slightly onto it, giggling, naturally. He came down beside me, briefly breaking the kiss so that he could avoid falling as well.
After a few minutes he pulled back and produced a small bottle from his pocket; whiskey of course. He chugged at least half of what was left in the nearly full mickey, and handed it to me. I shook my head, not wanting to have a headache for school.
"Its fine Alex" he insisted holding the top of the bottle to my mouth. I gave up and let him pour some in. The sour taste burned my mouth without a chase, but I swallowed it anyways.
He insisted that I finish the bottle though I didn't really want to. There wasn't much left so I doubted that I would get more than slightly tipsy. Once it was empty, we kissed some more. I could tell that he was trying to take advantage of me; I didn't really mind, but I wasn't that into it either.
"Come on Alex" He breathed into my neck, once again tugging at the skimpy spandex – suddenly I wished I had worn longer pants. I sighed and allowed him to begin to pull them down my muscled thighs.
Suddenly we heard a loud crash nearby.
"Shit, who's there" I exclaimed, sitting up and pulling up my shorts. Ryan looked around briefly, and then inclined his head towards me again.
"Wait, Ryan, what was that?" I asked, my paranoia creeping into my voice.
"I dunno, it doesn't matter" He crept his hands into the top of my shorts again.
"Grrr. Just wait a bit, I'm getting paranoid now" I said.
He rolled his eyes at me, but did withdraw his hands – only to use them to push me down onto the bench. He leaned on top of me, lifting my hair off my neck so that he could add some more hickeys. Soon I would look like I had the chicken pocks – great.
An hour later I lay in my bed, tired but unable to sleep, as my mind was buzzing with what had passed. After the park, and park bench to be more exact, we had ridden back to my house and sat on the concrete, leaning against his motorcycle. I thought back to the conversation we had had while smoking his Camels.
"So, what exactly are we?" I had asked Ryan, successfully appearing nonchalant. "We aren't like a couple, are we?"
He shrugged in reply; great.
"I don't think so, really." I continued, as he seemed to not be that helpful conversation wise "I quite like you, but it would probably be better – just with the age and lifestyle differences – if our relationship was more…open?"
He nodded "Yeah that sounds good. I don't really want anything too serious; you're just really cute."
He pinched my cheek as if to prove his point. Ha. Not. Keeping his hand on my face, he brought up his other one behind my head, delicately securing my face to his. We kissed, not as intense as before, but still at a steady pace. After a while I noticed that the concrete was turning my bum to ice, and that I would be dead in class if I didn't get to bed soon, so I shuffled up to my feet, gave him a 4 ½ minute peck, and slithered up the trellis into my bed.
I wasn't sure why I didn't want to have sex with him – at least sober. He was hot, older, more experienced, and drove a motorcycle. In theory, I would be like "do me now, bitch!" but in reality, I just wasn't interested. And I knew that underneath all my dirty talk I was nearly a prude; I hadn't done much, and didn't want sex. At least not with him, maybe one of the Cullens would be an exception. Yum…
The next morning I was tired, and had a slight head ache, but I'd had worse. Much worse. I pulled on my coral tight spandex/nylon low cut tank top, and black uber tight high waisted cotton/nylon skirt – both from Aritzia – ate some cereal and hemp milk, brushed my teeth, grabbed a grey sweater (I would need it), and – in the habit I was now getting used to – walked to school.
I had dressed in this slightly school inappropriate outfit for yes, a boy. A very specific boy. Edward Cullen to be exact. Well, all the Cullen males anyway, but I was only in class with Edward, sitting half a foot away from him daily, fantasizing about him daily. If he only new my thoughts, the poor guy would be traumatized.
It was in my second class that I first heard the gossip:
"Ew, apparently she slept with like all three of them!" Some brunette chick in front of me murmured to her friend.
"All three?" The other sounded confused.
"Jason, Ryan, and their dad! So she's done like all the male generations in that family. Gross!"
"I'll say, I heard she also got with 10 people in half an hour"
"Ew, what a slut"
Throughout the rest of my lessons and all on the way to lunch this was all I heard. Every grade seemed to be abuzz with memories of Jason's party – most in some way involving me. I sat at my usual table, and most of my friends seemed normal to me, though I would often catch them whispering in each other's ears. I rolled my eyes in distaste; so typical of high school students.
The bell rang then signally our next lesson; I nearly jumped up in excitement. I threw my partially eaten salad in the garbage, ran my hands through my tousled blonde hair, and walked to the art room. Seducing Edward Cullen time: commence.
I walked into the doorway; he was already in his seat, naturally. I checked him out thoroughly from there, he looked absolutely splendid in a fitted grey pullover, defining the obvious muscles in his torso…drool, and designer dark wash jeans. Do me, please!
I had to remind myself to keep my tongue in my mouth more than once on my walk to my adjacent seat. What a stud! He somehow exuded utter nonchalance and almost boredom at the same time as appearing focused in the black sketchbook in his hand. His posture straitened noticeably as I approached our desk, the tendons standing out on his pale wrist. Pale, fucking gorgeous, muscled wrist. Well, maybe his posture didn't change noticeably; I was probably just turning into a stalker. Not good, Alex. Shut up brain.
"Hello Edward" I said, leaning down slightly too far to grab my pencil case – and also to give him a great view of my cleavage.
"Alex" He nodded, looking up from his book, and zeroing in his eyes on my chest – I pretended not to notice, and hid my creeper smile. It seemed to be almost instinctive for teenage males – not that I minded.
"How was your weekend?" I asked, trying to appear only slightly interested as I pulled out my sketchbook.
"Slow" He murmured in his voice quiet. "But not unpleasant. And yours?"
I beamed up at him, "All right. Just finishing moving in and the likes of that; not very eventful"
"Hm." He sounded preoccupied. "Jason's party sounded…eventful"
I smirked. "Things often sound much more different than they actually are."
He pressed his point. "Yes. But usually there is some truth behind the rumors. Am I wrong? He contradicted me in his beautiful voice, his shadowed eyes hypnotic.
I smiled. "Some truth, but usually those extending the truth are merely envious that the person of topic is getting some, when they aren't." I was bored of the hypothetical cases; let's just talk about me, and you. And sex.
He laughed at my response, his golden eyes lingering on my face. Golden eyes? I guess coloured contacts were "in" here, how odd. "Though I'm sure the person of topic" He smirked at me, and glanced at my outfit. "Could intentionally dress in a way that would inevitably provoke a response that would assist the accusations.
Damn, he was good. Smart. Hot. Brilliant. Sex on legs; very nice legs. "Well why not? It's better to be noticed for the wrong things, than to not be noticed at all; that way one has a chance of redeeming themselves."
He looked at my face, his expression unreadable. I held his gaze, grinning like a lunatic. Usually I would think it was rude to stare – even at a model like this guy – but if he was returning my gaze, well then why not? His eyes were a lovely shape, wide and speculative. Mmm, this was sex for eyes. Eye sex! He lips suddenly twitched, and he reluctantly turned away, hiding a smile.
I returned my focus to the front of the classroom, aware that the lesson had started some time ago. Edward seemed thoughtful for most of the lesson, so I didn't interrupt him, and focused on the sketch of a face I was supposed to be working on. I was constantly aware of his presence, his fixed gaze intent on his drawing, how the curve of his upper spine and trapezius would become more pronounced as he found an important detail to adjust in the sketch, he himself was like a piece of art. And I was like the art collector, who had found something they were willing to do anything to get. No, I was just like a stalker. I wanted him. He was just so fucking sexy!
The bell rang, breaking my stalkerish reverie. I went to get up, but Edward was faster of course, his belongings already in his bag, standing a meter from his seat. I began to follow suit, and picked up my graphite pencil.
"See you tomorrow, Alex." He said in his low, sexy, sex god voice.
"Edward" I nodded at him with a smirk.
