A/N:

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the plot and characters of Twilight, not to mention all the money it makes. I make nothing but fanfiction.

Chapter 6 –Invitations aka "One of THOSE Days"

I had the same dream again that night, only she spoke my name. "Do you love me, Edward?" I woke up feeling anguished. Two nights in a row with dreams of Bella. Clearly, I was being voodooed or something.

At least she didn't seem to hate me anymore, so that was one step forward. A big fucking step forward, because my hair felt safe again. I spent a few extra minutes in front of the mirror admiring it, re-establishing my attachment to it. Thank you, God. It seems like I can keep it.

On my way out, I paused at a box of old clothes near the kitchen, blinking at a leather sleeve dangling down its side. Not stopping to think twice about it, I picked it up and jogged outside to the car, tossing it in the back seat as I rushed over to Bella's.

I put on her Smiths CD in the car, hoping to get her to make more of those faces and sounds. When I pulled up this time, there was no cruiser, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I honked twice, hoping she was ready. Was I early? I couldn't be if her father was already gone to work.

But apparently I wasn't, because in thirty seconds, Bella had come out the front door and turned around to lock it. She was wearing a faded grey cotton blouse and those cutoff jeans again, and I immediately decided I liked them better because her calves looked so delicate. Even if she insisted on wearing those ratty sneakers. And that jacket. Ugh.

She ran to my car, throwing herself into her seat and shivering. "It's fucking freezing out there!" she greeted me, and I shook my head at her. She really was quite cute when she swore. "What?"

Smiling, I reached into the back seat and offered her the jacket from the box. It was leather, too, of a superior quality than the one she was wearing, and a much more flattering black instead of the icky brown one. "I used to love this jacket when I was in junior high," I started, and she looked puzzled as she took it carefully and inspected it. "I outgrew it like a million years ago, but I couldn't throw it out."

"It's nice," she murmured lamely, clearly uncertain of what kind of reaction I was expecting.

"I'm glad you think so," I mused. "It's yours."

She looked at me like I had just told her I was the secret lovechild of George Michael. "I don't-"

"I'd like you to have it," I said earnestly. "Please." It was true. I wanted her to have it. I wanted her to wear it. Not just because I was really starting to detest the sight of her in Jacob Black's jacket, but because it really had made me think of her. I knew she would look perfect in it.

She looked at the jacket, her expression so sad I wondered if I'd upset her. Then she turned to me and smiled, the most beautiful smile I'd seen yet. "Thank you, Edward."

I smiled back, unable to find my voice, and pulled out of her driveway. As I did, she took off Jacob's jacket and folded it carefully over her headrest before slipping on the jacket I'd just given her. The sleeves were slightly too long, but she looked ravishing in it. Holding her wrists up to her face she inhaled the scent of it. "It smells so good," she murmured. "Like real leather and cigarette smoke."

She made happy giggling noises as she inhaled the scent, and turned her big brown eyes at me. I realized suddenly that this jacket had been a huge deal to me back when I still wore it, and that now it was hers. I realized suddenly that she would wear it. I realized suddenly that every time she did, a part of me would be with her. The jacket was as close as I was going to get to that, short of lopping off a limb or something. And giving Bella my ear seemed a little too much too fast. My heart raced. My brain turned to mush. I smiled at her. Inside, my inner pussy composed sonnets and sang ballads. Shit. Wait what? Shit! Alarmed by the sudden realization of what was happening to me, I turned back to face the road and gripped the steering wheel tight. My hands were sweaty. Shit. Shit shit shit.

As she started humming along to Morrissey, I palmed my fucking face and resisted the urge to groan, cry, or smack myself. Because right there when my inner pussy started singing Whitney Houston to this volatile, crazy, incredibly sexy and incredibly bitchy – yet incredibly sweet when she wanted to be – this incredibly confusing girl, it hit me why. It hit me why I hated Jacob Black and why I was obsessed with her. It hit me why I was an idiot and why I couldn't say no to her. It hit me and damn if it wasn't the strangest fuckery.

I liked her.

I liked Bella fucking Swan.

I must have been a fucking masochist.

***

At school, I launched myself out of my car before she did. Jasper and Alice were nowhere in sight, but Emmett and Rosalie were standing by his Jeep, passing a flask discreetly back and forth. At the sight of me, Rosalie winced, shook her head, then approached me with a determined face.

"Edward," she greeted me, holding out the flask and throwing a nervous smile at Bella when she caught up to me. I emptied it out and handed it back to her, and she frowned disapprovingly. I waited for her to let me have it, but she just clenched her teeth and took a deep breath before speaking. "My mother would like to invite you and your father to dinner tomorrow night. If you're free." She made a face. "She'd very much like you both to try her roast."

I hunched my shoulders and hid a scowl. This was embarrassing for Rosalie, that much was clear. But it was embarrassing for me, too. "I'll have to ask Carlisle," I muttered, "but I'm pretty sure he'll be there." Hell yeah, he'd be there. With fucking bells on.

"What's going on?" Bella whined, turning her bloodshot stoned eyes to me, and Rosalie and I exchanged grimaces.

"Esme's got the hots for Cullen's old man," Emmett guffawed, and Rosalie smacked his arm and hissed at him.

"Just come over at six. Esme says your dad already knows the place."

Bella made a face. "Ugh. Old people sex. Nasty."

"Esme would crucify you if she heard you call her old," Rosalie muttered, then shook her head as though to dispel an unpleasant mental image. She seemed to do a double-take at the sight of Bella and raised her eyebrows. "Hey where'd you get the jacket?"

"Edward gave it to me," Bella slurred, and I wondered how wasted she was. But she looked so damn cute when she held out her arms to showcase the jacket and smiled at me as though I were Santa. "Smell it, Rose! It smells so good."

Rosalie turned to look at me suspiciously, and I tried my best to look innocent. "I found it this morning and thought it might look good on her."

Emmett looked at me with a strange stunned expression on his face, and Rosalie chewed her lip in vexation.

"It smells so good…"

The bell rang then, and Bella started to stumble to her class. I caught her as her foot caught on… erm… nothing I could really see… Well, she tripped, and I caught her. And she felt perfect in my arms. And while I was all for copping a feel usually, the revelation earlier in the car, coupled with the ick that was Carlisle and Rosalie's mom, was throwing me for a loop. Bella murmured quick thanks and walked in an unsteady line to her first class. I watched her go with a worried frown. What if she tripped over air again?

"Cullen." I turned around to look at Rosalie, and she was glaring at me. "Watch it." I blinked and looked to Emmett for an inappropriate comment, but he was watching me too. His face looked… worried. Fuck the what?

Shaking my head, I headed to my class feeling that this was going to be one of those days. I got in my seat and pretended I didn't notice Lauren and Jessica's inept flirtation. This proved impossible when Lauren touched my shoulder again. One time she was going to do that and I would rip the damn thing right off.

"Hey Edward, got any plans for the weekend?"

Danger, Will Robinson!

"Actually, I have a prior engagement," I offered politely, suddenly grateful for the ick that was Carlisle and Rosalie's mom.

"Oh," Lauren blinked, and seemed to decide on a new course of action: obtain gossip. "With who?"

Whom. God this girl annoyed me. "Just a friend."

And here, Lauren's eyes turned to saucers and Jessica actually squeaked. "Really? I see."

I looked at her, annoyed all over again. Was she being particularly stupid today?

Lauren snapped her jaw shut and offered a weak and unconvincing smile. The teacher called the class to order and she swung to her other side to whisper with Jessica so fast, I wondered if she'd suffer whiplash. As class continued, Lauren and Jessica passed notes to one another, exchanging looks and shooting me glances I pretended not to notice. I could care less what their petty little minds were wrapped around. I was preoccupied by my own thoughts, and Bella was front and center in them. My head was filled with her scent, and the sight of her in my jacket had been indescribably thrilling. I liked it. Somehow it felt like I had put forth some sort of claim on her, somehow managing to keep both my hair and my ear. I thought of something then and frowned to myself.

Perhaps Rosalie's warning had been in response to that claim. She was observant, I had to give her that, even if I resented complimenting the wench in my mind. I couldn't easily form positive opinions of Rosalie. Or her barracuda mother for that matter. I groaned internally and willed myself elsewhere.

No such luck.

After class, Lauren walked beside me, batting her eyelashes again. "It's too bad about tomorrow," she lamented. "A group of us are going down to First Beach in La Push for a bonfire. I thought you might've wanted to join us."

Not if it was a choice between that and being ripped apart by a pack of wolves and set on fire.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather come with us instead?" She was pushing herself against my side, her breasts pressing against my arm and gah. I hated it.

"I'm sorry, Lauren," I managed through clenched teeth, and she seemed taken aback by my tone. "It's really not possible."

She blinked, then frowned. "It's Bella, isn't it?"

"Excuse me?" The warning in my voice was cold and hard as steel. I hated her speaking Bella's name that way, as though it were a curse or a profanity. What did she know about Bella?

"What do you even see in her? She's not that pretty."

Said the ugly stepsister in the crew cut.

"Besides, you hated her! Remember how rude she was to you your first day here?"

I gripped Lauren's shoulder and pried her away from my arm. "You are a sad, petty girl Lauren. I pity you."

And I walked away and left her gaping after me in the hallway. My face must have looked like a storm because people hurried and fell over themselves to get out of my way.

What a fucking day.

***

Jasper's glare during gym made me a less than formidable opponent against Emmett during volleyball, which was what we'd been playing that day. I was constantly distracted by the intensity of his gaze, so much so that I didn't notice Emmett was more subdued than usual.

I went to lunch with the buzzing bells of annoyance dancing around my brain, and I sat down at the table with nothing but a lemonade. Jasper clutched his juice box and seemed to be searching for words. Oh boy. Here it comes. Of course, with my luck it would be today that he'd finally say what's been on his mind. Of course. Fucking Murphy's Law.

"Why are you driving Bella to and from school?" he finally managed to haltingly ask, and Emmett paused during his meal to look up at Jasper with a worried frown.

"Jasper, I don't know if Edward's the one you should be asking."

I gave Emmett a grateful half-smile. "He's right, man. Bella asked me for a ride. You should ask her why she did."

Jasper frowned as though he didn't like this answer. "Bella doesn't know what she wants. She doesn't know what she's doing half the time, either. Her decision to ask you probably has no more rhyme or reason than anything else she does."

There was bitterness in his voice, but his words were harsh. "Is that a fair thing to say about her? I mean sure, she's probably not perfection incarnate or anything, but still. That's pretty unkind."

Emmett nodded. "She'd probably kick your ass if she heard you say that."

Jasper's frown deepened and his mouth became a thin line. Clearly, he had ideas of his own. Clearly, he hadn't shared them all. Clearly, he wasn't going to, and clearly, he didn't like it.

"Jasper, I get you're worried about her." I sighed and prepared myself for an admission I didn't like. "Truth is, I worry about her, too." Emmett looked at me sharply, his eyes round with surprise. "She's really just so… small." I frowned, searching for the right words. "And sometimes a little sad. Under all that bad bravado and bitchy attitude, she really seems just like your average girl, and she's your friend so, of course. you want to protect her. I get it."

Jasper's hands were clenched into fists, and if possible his lips became an even thinner line. He didn't look at me. He didn't even speak.

"Edward, Bella's like a kid sister to me." I nodded at Emmett to continue. I had seen some sign of this in the way they interacted already, and Bella had mentioned feeling the same way about him, so it wasn't news. "Just… be careful, okay?"

Again, I nodded at him. Something about the way he was looking at me and the words he'd just spoken reminded me vaguely of something, and the memory and circumstances surrounding it eluded me, but I was determined to remember. It was strange, this overt protectiveness of one small girl. I felt it, too, though, didn't I? Like I always wanted her to be safe and happy?

We sat in awkward silence until Alice came in, and silence became a distant memory. Bella followed soon after, sliding into her chair beside me and stunning us all when she turned to me and spoke. "You wanna come with us to Seattle next week?"

I'd heard of plans being made for a trip to Seattle. I'd participated in the event planning to an extent. I'd already received something of an invitation from Emmett. But her direct invitation to me, her inclusion of me in her plans – though they were plans with friends, in a group, and not really equivalent to say a date or something, the thought of which still terrified me beyond reason – were wonderfully overwhelming. I smiled at her, my best winning smile, and she gaped for a moment. "I'd love to join you in Seattle."

She smiled back and gah. My brain imploded. Jasper took Alice by the wrist and they disappeared together, but they could have gone to hell and I wouldn't have noticed or cared. I was on top of the world.

What a beautiful day.

AN/

I have to let you all know that I love Jasper. I love him a ridiculously large amount. I want his sparkly Southern babies. So no part of this story is or ever will be me hating on Jasper just cuz I don't like him. He just needs to be an ass now and then.