Welcome to Chapter 6! The Return of Edward.

Thank you for all of your reviews! they are very encouraging. :D and thank you to my beta geeenah :*

"Edward!" I gasped.

His smile was wide as he looked at me and his green eyes were sparkling with happiness. I had never been happier to see anyone in my entire life or more mortified. I wanted to either crawl into a hole, or grab him and kiss him senseless. Or both.

But I did neither. I just stared at him like an idiot, not really sure if he was there or not.

Edward cleared his throat, bringing me out of my daze.

"Bella, this is my mom and dad." He gestured to the two people standing behind him. They were standing a bit back from us, clearly not wanting to interrupt our conversation, or rather my blatant staring.

I smiled and waved awkwardly before quickly grabbing menus and silverware. I made my way to Mary's section, seating them in a booth towards the center of the dining room. Edward's parents sat down, and Edward walked passed me, patting my shoulder and shooting me a smile.

"Thanks, Jellybean."

I nodded dumbly and walked back to the host stand. I turned around, trying to be discreet, and noticed I was standing right in his line of sight. He was looking at me and he smiled. My face flushed and I gave him a nervous smile before whipping back around to face the front doors. I wanted to bang my head against something.

I had been waiting nearly a month to see him again. I had resigned myself that I would probably never see him again, yet here he was. I had never acted so ridiculous in his presence before. I felt like a complete idiot.

I was too busy wallowing in my own shame that I didn't notice Alice was now standing next to me.

"Well, well, well, missy. Look who just walked in the door." Her smile was knowing as she looked at me. She looked down right gleeful. I groaned.

"Alice, I just froze up when he walked in here. I stared like a goldfish and just gasped his name. Ugh, why am I so lame? Why couldn't I have been cute and spectacular? He's probably laughing at how awful I am right now."

"Actually Bella, he's staring in this direction at this very moment."

"Oh my God, Alice, stop looking at him! He doesn't need to know we are talking about him! Ugh, now I am even lamer. Thank you." I gave up and slammed my forehead down on the host stand. I wanted to be invisible. Alice just giggled and patted my back before floating back to the counter.

We started to get busy, so I really couldn't dwell much on the fact that Edward was right in the middle of the dining room. Well I had time to dwell on it; I just couldn't do anything about it. I could however, feel him watching my every move. I could barely concentrate on seating the sections properly. I almost sat a large party in an empty section before Rosalie snapped at me. I wasn't really bringing my A game tonight.

It was late when it finally slowed down. I hadn't seen Edward and his parents leave, but I was sort of grateful for that since I wasn't forced to stand awkwardly as he grinned at me and made me feel more awkward. It was a vicious cycle, and it was strange for me. Apparently being away from him for a month had made me awkward. I never acted like this around him when he was here, and now suddenly he falls back into my life and I'm like a dead fish when he walks in, my mouth hanging open with a blank stare.

I got out of there late that night. Only Sofie and Rosalie were still there when I left. The parking lot was dark and I had my cell phone out responding to a text from Alice as I walked to my truck.

"It's about time you got out of there, I was afraid I was going to have to wait all night for you out here."

I jumped about a foot in the air and dropped everything I was holding. Edward had lowered my tail gate and was sitting on it.

"Jesus." My heart was pounding now for several different reasons. He had scared the shit out of me, but he was here. Waiting for me. In the bed of my truck.

He jumped up, and walked over to pick up my purse and cell phone off the ground before I could even function enough to do it myself.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he said as he handed me my belongings.

"Why do you keep sneaking up on me?!" I snapped. My heart was still pounding a bit and there was enough adrenaline running through my body that my hands were shaking. He really had to stop having this effect on me. I would never be able to live my life if he kept darting out of the shadows and scaring me every 3 hours.

He laughed lightly as he walked back to my truck and sat down on the tail gate again. He patted it in invitation for me to join him. I stayed where I was.

I could see his face in the light of the street lamp overhead, and I could see that a frown now colored his features.

"I'm really sorry for scaring you. I thought that you had seen me when you walked out. It really wasn't my intention to scare you." He patted the spot next to him again, and this time I complied.

I hopped up next to him, placing my purse behind us in the bed.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. It was a warm night for this area, and a soft breeze was blowing. My hair was blowing, and it was hitting Edward in the face.

"Sorry," I laughed, gathering my hair to the opposite side and twisting it into a knot.

It seemed that he wasn't going to be the first to talk, so I mustered up what little courage I had at this moment and spoke first.

"Where have you been?"

He laughed and looked up towards the sky. "Didn't Emmett already answer that one for you?"

I groaned and he chuckled bumping me with his shoulder.

"I just wondered why you vanished and Emmett said it was because of something to do with school. So I was just asking you for a more in-depth explanation."

He looked at me and smiled. "All right." He leaned back on his hands. "I found out kind of last minute that I had to take a summer class. It was accelerated so I really didn't have time to work. I finished the class yesterday, so I am now home for the summer." He grinned and leaned forward again, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Oh." Another brilliant response, Bella.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I really didn't have the time. It all happened kind of quickly."

"Oh, it really doesn't matter. It's not like you had an obligation to tell me anything. I just didn't want you to have died or something." I laughed, trying to make my response light-hearted. But his face looked a bit grim as he nodded.

"Hey you two, move along out of my parking lot." Sofie called across the lot.

Edward laughed and called back "Sorry Sofie," and he hopped down from the truck and turned to stand in front of me. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he was hesitating. I pretended not to notice his struggle and moved to get down off the tail gate, but his hands went to my knees, blocking my way down.

"Edward…?"

"I know I've been gone for a bit, but I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me this weekend? I was planning on asking before I left, but like I said, it was very sudden." His eyes found mine and he looked at me expectantly.

My mind was reeling. I was sitting in the parking lot of Sofie's, with Edward Cullen, and he had just asked me out. Was this really happening to me? Edward Cullen, who I was sure, had forgotten about me, and who I thought I would never see again was standing in front of me asking me on a date. I couldn't seem to form words, and he panicked.

"Bella, if you don't want to, I can understand. We haven't really had a chance to get to know each other while I was here and…"

"Yes."

He stopped his sentence short as I finally found the ability to speak.

"Yes? Yes, you will go out with me?" He clarified as he took a step closer to me. His hands were still resting on my knees.

I nodded my head vigorously. I had been waiting for this for over a month.

A very wide smile appeared on his face. "Good. What day are you off?"

"I'm actually off tomorrow. Is that too soon?"

"Oh no, that is just fine. I would love to see you tomorrow. I could pick you up, or you could drive up to my house and we could go from there. It's really up to you, I don't mind either way." He was leaning even closer in his eagerness. I was totally in awe of how quickly things had changed. In the span of 4 hours, Edward had not only returned but he was asking me on a date.

"Um, I guess I could drive to your place. I don't think I'm really ready for you to meet my dad. Being as he has never heard of you before."

He grinned a little devilishly and nodded. "Why don't you come to my house around 4? I can write down directions for you, or you can call me while you are on your way. It's really easy to find from Sofie's."

I nodded. "Okay, I'll just call you then." I turned and dug my cell phone out of my bag and handed it to him. "Just put your number in there." Internally I was freaking out. Now I was getting his number. This day was getting better and better.

He typed it in quickly and handed my phone back. He smiled and leaned forward even more.

"I know that you probably want to kill Emmett for telling me that you were asking where I was, but don't get too mad at him. If he hadn't told me, I probably wouldn't have been very eager to come in here on a day I wasn't working just to see you. I thought you would have forgotten all about me." He smiled softly at me. He was standing almost completely between my legs at this point, and his face was very close to mine. I swallowed loudly. His eyes darted between my lips and my eyes as he leaned a little bit closer. My eyes fluttered.

"Hey! I told you two to get lost. I'm leaving now and I can't leave you here in the parking lot."

I snapped my head back and Sofie was now standing right next to us. Edward looked down, laughing lightly and shaking his head. He took a step back and looked at Sofie.

"All right, all right, we're going."

I hopped down and walked around to the driver's side door. I heard Sofie muttering as she walked to her car. I laughed a little to myself and climbed into the cab of my truck.

"Hey." Edward was standing with his hand on the door preventing me from closing it.

"I will see you tomorrow at 4, right?"

I smiled. "Absolutely. I will see you tomorrow."

"Okay." He nodded and smiled, closing the door for me. I pulled out and headed home.

Once I was a little ways down the road, I squealed to myself in the car. Edward Cullen had asked me out on a date. Edward Cullen had almost kissed me, a second time, in the parking lot. Edward Cullen liked me. I was still in shock.

When I got home, Charlie was asleep in his chair in the living room, with the TV still on. I smiled and walked into the room, switching the TV off. I walked over and placed my hand on Charlie's shoulder, shaking softly.

"Charlie, Charlie, wake up, Dad." He jerked awake, his eyes finally focusing on me.

"You can't sleep in this chair; it's bad for your back." I smiled at him and helped him stand up.

"Bells, you are home late. I was trying to stay awake until you got home. What time is it?"

"It's just after midnight."

"Was it really busy today?

"Yeah, it got busy late. Go off to bed Dad, I will see you in the morning, okay?"

He smiled a little sleepily and nodded, heading up the stairs. I turned off all the lights and head up to bed as well. I got into my pajamas and crawled into bed, though I doubted I would be getting much sleep. I was still reeling that I would be going on a date with Edward in just over 12 hours.

:D OH, another almost kiss... 0:] Well he's back and things are getting into full swing!

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