Disclaimer: Meyer owns Twilight, I don't... I just amuse myself by dissecting Edward. muahaha!
I must thank everyone who reviewed, because I cannot reply to them at the mo. It's a miracle that I'm updating at all, considering how little time I get for writing these days. But I promise to you all, I will update soon. :)
I was sitting at my reading table, riffling through the scrapbook that was gifted to me by Renée.
I had to rearrange the all photographs in it after Edward had returned his part of them to me.
Needless to say, I was a pissed nostalgic.
"Hey…"
"Gah!" I started, dropping my scrapbook on the floor as I turned around.
Edward—no, some manifestation of Edward had snuck into my room again, just like the usual set-up we used to have before this splitting fiasco.
His hands came to rest gingerly on my midriff as his lips approached mine.
My surprise manifested in a staggered gasp as he settled for a full-on French kiss, while I was only prepared for an elementary level chaste lip lock.
It wasn't unwelcome. At all.
I responded in earnest, twirling my tongue around his, really ecstatic to be finally well acquainted with it.
Something in his approach was familiar…
I mentally smacked myself.
Of course, something was familiar! He was a part of Edward—my boyfriend!
Vampire boyfriend, but that's an old and lame forgone conclusion here, isn't it?
The cold tickling on my stomach alerted me to the fact that he had slipped his hands inside my Tee.
It felt nice, yes, but it also reminded of more pressing matters that needed my attention.
"Edward," I breathed, abruptly detaching my lips from his, "Charlie's sleeping downstairs. I think we need to stop."
He gave me an incredulous look, and then made a face—which looked quite adorable on him, to be honest.
"I forget that I cannot listen to his thoughts," he muttered, letting go of me. "It's so weird to not have counter-suggestive forces at work. I would have been coerced into repression by now."
I tried to act as though I understood his monologue, but it was truly difficult not to look puzzled.
He picked up my scrapbook and handed it back to me, looking a little contrite.
I so dearly wanted to ask him who he was, or what 'ward he was, but I refrained.
Hurting his feelings again was not my intention, be it any part of him.
I waited for him to say something, but he just went on to sit on my bed, quiet as a… well, vampire.
How very creative of me.
I shuffled around for a few minutes, returning my scrapbook back to its place in my desk drawer, nervously rearranging the books on top of it.
"Stop fidgeting, Bella."
Damnit, was I that obvious?
"So, umm, how is everything going?" I tried to chitchat, and it looked like a really dumb attempt. "How are the rest of… you holding up at the Cullens'?"
"We're good, mostly packed like sardines inside the basement," he muttered, staring at my still fidgeting hands.
"Why basement?"
"Because it's risky to let us loose anywhere else. That way, no one will know. Only a few of us can get out, the better behaved ones, that is."
"I'm glad that the rest were taken away from here." Otherwise, I feared for Charlie's sanity, and the resultant loss of it.
"You're glad?" he asked, sounding astonished.
Uh, oh.
"No! I mean, it's better this way," I backpedalled, "because Charlie wouldn't have taken it well."
I really needed to know which Edward I was interacting with, because I didn't want to step onto a landmine of sorts.
"Oh, yes," he seemed to agree finally. "It's such a nuisance. I hope we get united as soon as possible. I'm tired of feeling so… void."
I nodded empathetically.
What else could I do, anyway? I felt so useless, sometimes.
I didn't even know how to comfort a person, not even my own boyfriend.
Part of my boyfriend, that is.
"Well, not always a nuisance, I should add," he said as an after thought.
"I don't understand," I said, wondering if this was some loopy part of Edward.
He motioned for me to join him on the bed, and so I did.
"Edward, can I ask you something?" I started cautiously, so as to avoid any misunderstanding.
"Why so formal, Bella?" he chuckled, drawing me closer.
"All right, so what manifestation of united Edward are you representing?"
Ugh, it still sounded legally proper and formal, so much that I felt a little queasy.
Who says such completely unsexy things to their boyfriend?
I shall earnestly raise my hand. Every time the question is circulated.
"Hey," he spoke again, reaching for my tightly clutched hands.
I looked into his eyes, waiting for him to add something to his 'Hey.'
It also didn't escape me that he was trying to dodge my question.
"This isn't how I wanted this conversation to go," he sighed, rubbing my wrists in lazy patterns. "I actually came here to tell you something."
"What is would that 'something' be?" I tried to sound cool and nonchalant, as if I couldn't feel the anticipation in his voice.
"I happened to eavesdrop on a conversation that Emmett and Jasper were having… about you, about us."
"And?" I prompted, giving away my curiosity and nerves.
Emmett and Jasper talking about Edward and me was bound to make me nervous.
"They were just, you know, talking about… what happened in your bedroom this morning."
Edward watched me with guarded eyes as I assimilated his words.
And… I wanted to jump from my bedroom window, because self-mortification didn't get any better than this.
I chanced a glance at the window; it wasn't that far away. Just two steps…
"You're blushing," Edward commented, looking curiously at my burning cheeks.
Thank you, captain obvious.
"And I'm not feeling the need to kill you."
"What?" I really, truly wished that I could hear his thoughts for a change, because his constant hedging was beginning to annoy me.
I, getting annoyed at Edward. Who had thunk?
"I mean, there's no bloodlust with me. I feel—How do I say it?—Free? Liberated? Reprieved?" he explained finally, to my relief.
I silently deliberated over his words as he sat alongside me, still holding my hands in his.
"You mean all the bloodlust is sitting with Monsterward now?" I asked to clarify. "And you're like… just a normal, human guy?"
I should have deduced it by now! Of course, he wouldn't feel the bloodlust!
That part exclusively belonged to Monsterward.
"Monsterward?" His brows rose dramatically, almost into his mane.
"Yes, but that's not important here. You mean, you are not uncomfortable by my scent as we speak?" I asked, completely thrown.
He nodded slowly, and then came forth to inhale my scent, I assume, by burying his nose into my neck.
Such a simple act, and I was already floating adrift with my wayward, highly inappropriate thoughts.
After inhaling many a lungful of my scent, he moved back and nodded, a smile drawing up his lips.
"So, what were they, I mean, Jasper and Emmett, talking about?" I shifted nervously, leaning against the headboard.
He shrugged noncommittally, as though still debating whether to tell me about it or not.
Hmm… not good, not good, my mind chanted.
"That this whole situation that we are in…" He gesticulated dramatically with his hands, looking like an orchestra conductor. "…can be made into an opportunity."
My resultant expression must have relayed my confusion and exasperation with his deficient explanations, because he quickly resumed the conversation.
"They think that my lack of bloodlust is the silver lining here. Emmett especially thinks that it's a good time to, well, try to ease our physical boundaries a little."
I blinked, left speechless by the ultimate revelation.
Emmett might have, after all, redeemed himself for all his sins against me, that is, all the teasing and taunting regarding my clumsiness and those god-awful innuendos.
Edward's eyes were regarding me extra cautiously now.
I guess he was expecting some grand reaction from me.
Like… jumping him?
Yet, sadly, as much as I really wanted to explore our physical relationship, there were certain issues that were bothering me.
All this, considering whatever happened this morning, well, didn't happen. Okay?
"Edward," I said with a heavy sigh, momentarily closing my eyes, "it's not that I don't like the suggestion. It's just that… you're not whole. So, who am I going to do all that 'stuff' with?"
I inserted the air quotes for added effect.
It all sounded so off, like we were discussing some weird arrangement, a la Indecent Proposal.
Also, why the hell was I suddenly mentioning movies, lately?
A kind of playful glint entered Edward's eyes then, and I knew he was up to something.
"Bella," he murmured suggestively, leaning back into my pillows, "I have a plan."
Holy—never mind, because in the next microsecond, I was thrown on my back, with Edward firmly settled on top of me.
His aggressive and frisky attitude suggested that I had Hornyward at my hands.
Ah… now I get it, why he wasn't telling me.
In addition to that, it was also a good time to acknowledge my completely panicked state of mind.
Because with Hornyward, things always led to one and only one thing…
Were you able guess which Edward it was?