It's been forever. I know. Sorry about that.
Chapter 8 Maybe Someday
No offense intended toward the gay community.
And I don't want to wait
I just want to know
I just want to hear you tell me so
Give it to me straight
Tell it to me slow
Cause maybe someday
We'll figure all this out
We'll put an end to all our doubt
Try to find a way to just
feel better now and
Maybe someday we'll live our lives out loud
We'll be better off somehow Someday
Rob Thomas~ Someday
~Bella~
Saturday night was interesting. I say interesting because I don't have a more fitting word for the antics that ensued. Alice and I arrived at Rosalie's just as she and Angela were downing shots of butterscotch Schnapps and Bailey's. They offered me a glass, which I accepted. I was informed the shot was called a Baby Guinness because the colored layers of the sweet liquor looked like tap beer. I mistakenly thought they said a Baby Penis and that inevitably led the topic of conversation for the rest of the night.
It turned out sweet girl-next- door Angela, was a secret slut. She was Ben's secret slut, so that made it okay since he was the only person she had ever slept with. She basically described every location and sexual position she had ever been in with Ben, which included performing a rusty trombone, and doing it in the church parking lot. Our Lady of Perpetual Grace had now been appropriately dubbed Our Lady of Perverted Disgrace. I made a mental note to Google rusty trombone when I got home.
I also discovered that Alice was obsessed with penises, particularly so when under the influence of alcohol. She affectionately entitled the male organ, "peen" and her eyes got this rather crazy, entranced look about them when she spoke of it.
Then, Alice revealed that she had not only slept with the hot farm boy next door to her dad's ranch in Montana while on summer vacation the last two years, but that lunch table Alec, was for all intents and purposes, her "friend with benefits" even though she was madly in love with Jasper Cullen.
This revelation led to my somewhat sorrowful admission of being the proud owner of a big fat V-Card. They all looked at me as if I had suddenly grown a giant peen on my forehead. Something told me that if I had, the three of them would have mounted my forehead while engaging in a bizarre girl on girl on forehead peen gangbang.
I digress.
By midnight, we were all pretty wasted on the bottle Rosalie slipped out of her parent's liquor cabinet. Rosalie put on her Homecoming dress, which was fabulous and made me jealous that I no longer had the desire or the mental stability to attend those functions.
It was then that the tears began to flow.
Rose began crying over Emmett's lack of effort –slash- desire to make her his girlfriend. Alice began bawling about Jasper hating her and calling her Xanax and telling her to go home when he was the one who put her hands in his hair and growled when she stopped running her fingers through it. Angela wept because she loved Ben with all her heart but if she married him, then she would never experience anyone else's fantastic peen.
While they sobbed, snotting all over themselves, I sat there in a dumbfounded stupor thinking of Edward, but I did not cry. That is, until I thought about how much happier I was living here only after a few short days and how much I had missed my old friends Alice and Rose and what beautiful (yet oddly obsessed with male genitalia) people they had become. And admittedly, a few of those tears fell, because I knew in my heart that I truly did want to go to the Homecoming dance despite the terrible memories of the last one I had attended. However, if accompanied by Edward Cullen, the scene would be very different, and perhaps quite enjoyable, of that I am certain.
We gave each other one big group hug before Angela ran off to the bathroom to puke.
It was no wonder boys were afraid of girls. We were all psychotic.
Around one in the morning, we were back to laughing and eating chips when Rose gasped as she looked outside of her window.
"Um… Edward's car is parked across the street." I shot up off of the floor, my heart racing out of my chest. Rose, observing my blatant eagerness at the mention of Edward, pointed her finger at me accusingly and yelled, "I knew it! You love him!"
I admitted that love was too strong a word for what I felt, yet I did indeed like him very much, and I thought he was the hottest, sexiest, most amazingly mysterious boy I had ever seen.
I peered out the window along with the rest of the girls, as we watched Edward's car mysteriously pull away. Then the girls went into a twenty minute rant about the various reasons of why I needed to not like Edward Cullen. The twenty minute rant was followed by another twenty minute discussion on how Edward was so obviously gay, all the reasons why he was gay, and how it would be the safest sex I would ever have, simply because there would never be any. Because he didn't like girls.
I asked them how the hell I was supposed to know if we were gay for sure, and Rose said that I should look at his shoes. Because according to her, if the shoes cost more than a car payment, it usually meant gay or "with gay tendencies and a healthy dose of curiosity." But that seemed highly subjective, because Edward drove a really expensive car and his payments must be huge. And he was an amazing dresser, so by default, he'd be wearing nice shoes regardless of his sexuality. Not exactly an accurate indicator.
Before we all fell sleep, I quietly told them that I had been hanging out with Jasper and Edward every day, and once with Emmett in the tree house. Alice clicked the light back on, asked me a hundred things about Jasper and told me she was not mad that I didn't tell her sooner. But because of my admission of lusting over Edward, I believe that softened the blow. As long as I wasn't interested in Jasper, then Alice was cool with it.
She did request that I ask the boys if she could join us sometime, as she had never smoked and wanted to try. I promised her I would, and thanked her for being an understanding friend. Rose asked if Emmett had said anything about her and I told her honestly, no. She rolled over without another word and that was the end of the discussion.
XXX
Dad looked sorta hot. I mean for a dad, that is. Apparently, all of his plaid flannel and work boots had been forcibly retired for a new, much hipper wardrobe. I assumed I would be thanking Maggie for that. Charlie's face lit up when he saw her waiting at the restaurant bar for us to arrive. I think I may have even witnessed Charlie Swan strutting to our table. He was without a doubt a very smitten man, and I was laughing on the inside.
Maggie was younger and a lot prettier than I pictured her. Dad said she owned a hair salon in Seattle, and practically beamed with glee when he spoke of her talents. I found it all a bit bizarre and sweet at the same time. My father was in love. I thought she was great and I told Charlie so immediately. But, as happy as I was for my dad for acquiring such a gem, I couldn't help but think what a great couple Maggie and Phil would make.
That night, I said my prayers.
Dear God,
Thank you for all the blessings you have given me. Please watch over the sad people with no friends or family and the children wandering the streets in Russia. Please take care of Mom and Phil, Charlie and Maggie, Rose, Angela, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Edward. Thank you so much for having Charlie build the master bedroom not next to mine, because Maggie slept over and…just…eww. Please guide Emmett into asking Rose to be his girlfriend and make Jasper fall in love with Alice, because she really likes him. Oh, and if you're feeling generous, you can make Edward kiss me, because I really want him to kiss me. I also ask that all the boys' wishes come true especially Edward's, because hopefully his wish was that he would kiss me too, and then you could, like, kill two birds with one stone. Not that you would want to kill a living creature, but…you get what I mean. Thanks for all my shoes and forgive me for smoking pot…and cigarettes. Oh, and for drinking and cursing too. And for talking so, so, so much about penises. Peni? Peens.
Amen
P.S…Please let Edward not be gay.
That night I dreamed of vivid swirling images of lush and green, ferns and moss covered tree trunks and winding branches thick with leaves. I had walked past Edward, ignoring his presence, not looking or speaking a word to him as I disappeared into the forest. He followed, keeping step a few feet behind me, his footfalls eerily quiet. It was cold-ghostly cold. I stood frozen at the base of a huge tree. When I reached out to touch him, he recoiled, almost as if contact with me would burn him. He seemed fearful, frightened of me, and I couldn't figure out why.
I'd woken with a start, initially brushing off the peculiar dream, but as the morning wore on, I realized something pivotal. Edward never touched me. In fact, he went out of his way to avoid physical contact with me. Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe not.
He admitted he had OCD. And not the kind people claim they have when they just prefer things to be neat, but like, the clinical kind. I had never seen him wash his hands repeatedly or anything ritualistic like that, but it would make total sense that he was germaphobe as well. He always passed the joint to Jasper before me, and not once had I witness him touch another person but Jasper. Though, had he actually touched Jasper, ever? Would a germaphobe share a cigarette with someone, considering all the bacteria in saliva? It swarmed my thoughts until lunch, where I let it rest for the day, because my brain was hurting from obsessing.
I wondered if that was how Edward felt all the time.
As advised by my lovely friend Rosalie Hale, I checked out Edward's shoes in study hall. He was wearing sneakers. Perfectly pristine Nike's, which coordinated with his perfectly pristine white v neck cotton shirt, which clung to his body and hugged the curves of his chest and biceps and oh my god was he beautiful. However, after admiring all of his outward beauty and pristine- ness, I was left with not a single clue on the path of discovering Edward's sexual orientation.
Gay-dar on.
I had noticed that things with Edward and I had taken a peculiar turn. It wasn't something entirely tangible, but it was a definite shift in our relationship. Friendship? Acquaintanceship? Whatever the hell it was, we seemed closer, somehow, like we shared a secret or something no one else knew.
In the tree house, I continued to look for signs of gayness, but found none- not that I even really knew what specifically to look for other than his stupid shoes. However, I did notice that same tension between him and Jasper on Saturday afternoon was back, though more from Edward than from Jasper.
Edward rolled, lit, and took a puff of the joint first, before handing it to me. I smiled at him, mouthing, "thank you", but he just rolled his eyes and smirked.
HA! At least I knew he'd been listening to me.
About two hours and a lengthy, yet heated argument on the best possible ice cream sundae combinations later, I heard the sound of footsteps rustling in the wet leaves outside.
"Shhhhhh. Listen." I waved my hand in the air to tell them to shut up, before putting my finger to my lips. "Someone's coming." The boys froze- wide eyed and their expressions glazed with mock fear.
Edward crawled slowly over to the window on his hands and knees, carnal and looking very mountain lion-ish. He poked his head outside to see who was coming. "No one is out there," he stage whispered.
"Yes, there is," I whispered back. "I heard footsteps."
"Maybe it was a bear," Jasper said with a chuckle. "Or a sheep." Edward turned slowly, giving him a death glare.
"What the fuck would a sheep be doing in our back yard?" Edward spat, still in a forced whisper.
Jasper whispered, "I don't know. Maybe the circus is in town and one of their world famous acrobatic sheep got loose."
"It's times like this that I thank God I don't share DNA with you," Edward whispered, still perched at the windowsill.
Suddenly, the shutters of the window on the opposite side of the wall from Edward flew open with a smacking sound. Edward jumped and hit his head on the top of the window sill with a string of expletives as Jasper and I screamed.
Emmett laughed his ass off and I threw a magazine at him. "Mom wants you to come in for dinner," he said between gasps of laughter.
"Guess I'll see you guys tomorrow," I said, gathering my bag.
"Ha, not so fast, Tink. Esmom specifically said to drag you in, too. She knows you're all out here."
"Is she pissed?" Edward asked.
"No, she doesn't know your smoking up…just that you're hanging out."
"Ummm, I am not meeting your parents stoned. Sorry," I said, moving to the door in protest.
"Don't be scared," Edward said softly. "My parents are cool." I cocked an eyebrow at him trying to figure out why he wanted me to come over. Edward tilted his head back, putting drops of Visine in his eyes before tossing Jasper the tiny bottle. "Do you have perfume with you?"
I looked in my bag for the small, almost empty spray bottle of Heaven. I squirted enough to hopefully cover the stink before nervously making my way down the rope ladder and up the path.
Once out in the fresh air, I asked Edward, "Do I smell like weed?"
He inhaled. "Nope, you smell really good." I actually felt a tingle slither down my spine at our sudden proximity. He smelled amaaaaaazing. Like fresh air and spring water and hot boy with muscle and mystery with a hint of annoyingly ambiguous possible gayness.
Emmett chuckled. "No worries. The stench of Esmom's To-furkey meatballs will stick on you for days. It's a wonder any of us have friends left."
Jasper and Edward both mumbled something derogatory about To-furkey. "What exactly is To-furkey?" I asked.
Edward replied, "That would be Tofu, which is engineered to look and taste disturbingly like turkey."
"Is it any good?"
Jasper said, "It smells like ass, tastes like balls and has the texture of crumbly turd. Combine that with her clumpy organic tomato sauce, that goddamn pasty whole wheat pasta, and a nice loaf of unleavened spelt bread and you've got one huge steaming pile of gourmet shit."
"Yum. Why exactly are you subjecting me to this?" I asked, but received no answer but three evil boy snickers. "So you suffer, we all suffer? I get it."
At the large double-doored entryway, the boys removed their shoes, placing them neatly under the bench. I followed, slipping off my boots, scowling when Edward snickered at the frogs on my socks.
They were right about the smell, though. It was thick and meaty, yet strangely appealing, and I said a silent prayer that I wouldn't gag when I ate the meat balls. We walked into the tremendous kitchen in a row, me the last in line, almost as if enchanted by the aroma of fake meat.
Mrs. Cullen was tiny with dark brown hair and hazel eyes that twinkled. She immediately smiled when she saw me, embracing me in a tight hug, which I returned warily only because I thought she may be able to smell the pot on my clothes. Thank god for To-furkey stench.
"Bella! So nice to meet you finally. I see why you have my boys so taken."
Peering over her shoulder, I mouthed, "Taken?" to Jasper and Edward. They both scattered. "Your home is really beautiful, Mrs. Cullen."
"Thank you! Call me Esme. Mrs. Cullen makes me feel old." She smiled. Esme was warm and friendly and so pretty.
We all sat in the kitchen talking, while Esme finished cooking dinner. Dr. Cullen arrived shortly after that, in all his handsome young doctor glory and I was amazed at what an insanely beautiful family they were. He too, insisted that I call him by Carlisle. When I insisted they call me Bella, only Edward laughed at my joke.
As we sat down to dinner at the large dining room table overlooking their picturesque back yard, they made cheerful conversation. I noticed Edward watching me from across the table, making faces as I sliced my fork through a meatball. His lips pressed together, in what I assumed was an effort to suppress mirth at my hesitance to eat his mother's negatively reviewed cooking. I tentatively suck out my tongue to lick a meatball. Edward looked down at his plate, his shoulders shaking in silent laughter.
The pasta wasn't half bad, however the To-furkey ball was disgusting. It was gelatinous and mushy and burned my throat when I swallowed. Jasper's earlier description was surprisingly accurate. Edward's brief gazes and his silent laughter had me laughing and soon, everyone was looking at us questioningly.
He finally said, "Mom, Bella likes your unmeatballs." I almost choked on the one I was forcing down. I nodded approvingly, not knowing what else to do.
Then to one -up his brother, Jasper added, "Bella likes the painting under the stairs."
"Oh, are you familiar with Salvador Dali?" Carlisle asked. I wondered how this gorgeous doctor could eat this horrific food with a straight face. He must possess a gag reflex of steel. Or really love his wife.
"A little. My mother and I lived in Manhattan, and we frequented the museums quite a bit," I said, putting on my best "meet the parents" voice. "I mostly liked the modern art exhibits, you know, the weird stuff?"
"Oh, I was under the impression you moved from California," Esme said.
"Well, that was my last home. My mom and I moved around." I bit into another piece of To-furkey ball with a smile, before forcing it down with hard swallow. Edward mouthed, 'I'm sorry' from across the table.
"So, where else did you live?" Jasper asked.
"Well, I grew up here, and when I was twelve, Mom and I moved to Arizona. She couldn't wait to get into the sunshine. But then she got an offer to apartment sit in New York for a friend, so we lived there a while before we moved on to Ohio."
"You lived in Ohio, like with corn fields and shit?" Emmett asked with his mouth full of gelatinous meat substitute.
"Emmett, language! And for god's sake, don't talk with your mouth full." Mrs. Cullen glanced at her husband and added, "We're raising heathens."
"Only two more years until the heathens go to college," Mr. Cullen added. "I'm sorry, Bella. You were saying?"
"It was near Youngstown State University. I actually lived across the street from a corn farm. It was really cool. The town was just like you see in the movies, small and friendly. It was nice, but I missed it here. I'm not really used to big family dinners. Usually it's just me and my mom and a big bowl of mac and cheese. She…" Can't cook for shit either almost came out of my mouth, but I replaced it with, "doesn't really cook."
As they pressed of more details of my travels, I explained that Mom and I moved from Ohio to Florida, where she met Phil, and when he was signed to the Dodgers, we moved to California.
Eventually, the conversation shifted off of me onto our classes, the discussion of a new high tech x-ray machine that Carlisle had recently purchased, and then finally to the rumor that Tyler Crowley was having an invite only Halloween party this year.
After we finished, Edward and I helped clear the dishes while Jasper and Emmett disappeared. Esme shooed us off, with the suggestion of showing me the rest of the house. Esme sent a wry smile toward Edward, whereby he responded with an expression that I could not quite understand. It was something between sadness and confusion, and I blew it off, thinking that I was crazy or that maybe my system was thrown off balance by the absence of preservatives, artificial colors and real meat in the meal.
He took me around the living room through the French doors that led to the large den. There was a tremendous navy u- shaped couch covered in a multitude of yellow throw pillows. A flat screen television sat above a whitewashed wooden piece, and on the opposite wall another unlit fireplace. The walls on either side of the doors had floor to ceiling built in bookcases, filled edge to edge with books. Edward explained that everyone in the family were avid readers, even Jasper, surprisingly.
We discussed what we had both read, classics and contemporary literature, required by school and on our own volition. I was admittedly impressed with Edward's list of books and it made me a little giddy at how much we had in common.
Edward led me toward the opposite direction, where Carlisle's office, Esme's work room and his and Esme's enormous decadent bedroom was. Down a long hallway, Edward paused, putting his finger to his lips, as he pressed a series of numbers into a keypad on the wall. With a click, a door opened, and Edward ushered me through.
A swimming pool.
The room was long, with wall to wall windows, including the ceiling, like a greenhouse. At the far end was a waterfall feature, which Edward turned on with a click of a wall switch. It was amazing.
"Oh, wow."
"The best time to swim is in the middle of February, and you're inside an 80 degree pool watching the snow fall. It's pretty cool."
A round hot tub sat off to one side near a small bar, a cute little bistro table with chairs and some lounge chairs beside it. Near the entryway was a bathroom with another small room to change in, a sauna, and an open shower.
I took one last glance around, before he clicked off the lights and ushered me back out the door. We headed back across the house to a door that led to the enormous open basement, which was a veritable amusement park of sorts.
Calling this a basement was like calling the Sistine Chapel a church. To the right of the landing, was a pool table with custom pool sticks hanging from the walls.
There was also this huge white screen that hung from the ceiling, and a stand with various sports equipment, like virtual reality thing. Just ahead, was a stocked bar, a large round poker table, and small tables with chairs like you would see in a high-end lounge. On the far side of the wide open room were a series of doors, which led to an impressive gym, a kitchen, and a media room.
"You have a movie theater down here." More of an incredulous statement than a question. I plopped myself down on the first of the brown reclining leather love seats. There were five of them, mounted on a graduated platform, just like in a theater. The front of the room had the biggest television I had ever seen, and on either side of it, shelves filled with hundreds of DVD's. Framed movie posters hung along the walls, and an old fashioned popcorn maker sat in the corner. "This house is no joke."
I stood, tracing my fingers along the spines of the DVD's stopping at a few to pull them out. "Have you seen all of these?" I asked, turning around. Edward stood a few feet behind me, watching my every move, as if he were afraid I would suddenly decide to pull the alphabetized movies off the shelves into a heaping pile on the floor.
"I'm not going to get them out of order," I teased, pretending to put the movie away in another section. He rolled his eyes, but laughed, knowing that he really was worried about me disorganizing his perfectly arranged shelves.
"The Sandlot? I love this movie!"
Edward sighed. "Any movie but that one. We uh, just watched it."
"Okay," I said, pulling out The Goonies. "This okay?"
"Perfect."
Out of nowhere, Jasper came bounding into the room, grabbing my waist and pulling me back onto the love seat with him. The movie dropped to the floor with a thud. I punched Jasper's arm playfully, as he finally released me from his hold. Edward stood before me, knelt to pick up the fallen movie, and replaced it on the shelf without a word. His hand scrubbed over his face, as he turned to leave the room.
"Hey, I thought we were going to watch that," I said.
"Yeah, if you still want to, I guess." He pulled the movie back out of the shelf.
"What are we watching?" Jasper asked, settling himself into the seat. Emmett came in then, plopping himself on another couch. Though there were three other unoccupied couches, I didn't really want to sit with Jasper, but I couldn't make it too obvious that I wanted to sit with Edward either.
Once Edward slid the DVD in, Emmett said, "You people have no clue how to do things. Pause this. If we're watching a movie, then we need provisions. Jasper, help me out." Edward sort of stood there, his eyes darting uncomfortably from seat to seat. I moved over as close to the armrest as possible, silently indicating for him to sit with me. He watched me slide over, hesitating. With his hands at his sides, his thumbs made little circles in his palms. I noticed he did this when he seemed nervous.
"I don't have cooties."
He muttered, "I know." He sat, nodding with a small smile on his lips, indicating the awkwardness of the situation. "Um…so, Ohio? Were you there long?"
I laughed, "No, we were just there for one summer. The friend that my mom had from New York referred us to the family in Ohio to stay at their place while they were vacationing. They were going to Ireland. My mom and I were like freaking nomads for a while, gypsies even. But, aside from having to keep starting over in new schools and saying goodbye to the friends I had made, it was very cool."
"I can imagine," he said with a smile. "Where was your favorite place?"
"I've always liked it here best. It's home, you know?" I said, angling my body slightly toward Edward. "But Ohio was fun."
"Really. I would think California was more your scene, with the fashion and whatnot. Why Ohio?"
"Well, it's simple there. It's clean and open and everyone smiles and knows your name. No one cares if you're wearing designer jeans or what kind of car you drive and the kids all ride their bikes everywhere and play kickball in the street. We had a really pretty house...a yellow Victorian. It was close to the parks and the baseball fields. The town was pretty small but there were really beautiful farms surrounding it. Like I said before, I lived across the street from a corn field. It was kinda scary at first. Spooky, you know? Very 'Children of the Corn.' But I eventually got used to it. I um... I had my first kiss there. Mikey. I used to watch him play baseball, and we'd go get ice cream afterward with our group of friends. One time −" I paused, sensing Edward's odd expression. "What?"
His eyes narrowed. "How long ago was that?"
"Um, I was thirteen, I guess? Why?"
"Just trying to picture thirteen year old Bella running around in the corn and chasing boys."
We laughed, and when things got awkwardly quiet, Edward asked, "So you like baseball?"
"Yeah, it's cool. I'm not like, a fanatic or anything, but I like watching the games. My stepfather, Phil−" Jasper and Emmett's voices and the heavy aroma of buttery popcorn distracted me. Emmett handed me a bag, hot and steamy, and another to Edward.
"This is really good," I said with a mouthful, looking at the bag for a label.
"It's Boy Scout popcorn."
"Hey, you know Edward got kicked out of the Boys Scouts?" Jasper asked, plopping himself in the couch next to us, as he shoved corn in his mouth.
Edward groaned and mumbled, "God, I hate you."
Intrigued, I twisted my body around to address him. "How does one get kicked out of the Boy Scouts? Tell me what happened!" I clapped my hands eagerly awaiting yet another clue to Edward's past. Edward huffed, shaking his head in defeat knowing his older brothers would embarrass him yet again.
"We were on this stupid camping trip to get the Wilderness Survival badge," Jasper said, laughing.
Edward lifted his face from the shield of his palms and chimed in. "The snow was like four feet high. And keep in mind we were like, seven years old and we were short back then. So the snow was up to our necks and it's freezing…windy…wet…just miserable."
"We're all starving and they serve us cold Spaghetti-Os and hot chocolate that was basically brown water," Jasper added.
Emmett said, "Man, I could go for some Spaghetti-O's right now." He was tossing popcorn into the air and catching it with his mouth. "Could do without the brown water, though."
I turned back toward Emmett and said, "Is it always about food?"
He winked. "Food, sex and sports, Tink. That's all there is."
I quirked an eyebrow. "In that order?"
"Depends on the day," he replied with a cheeky smile.
"Gross. Okay, so now the snow is over your heads…" I waved my hand toward Edward urging him to continue the story.
"So they made us do this stupid togetherness stuff…depending on each other…you know, teamwork crap." Edward continued, bitterly remembering all the snow and the togetherness. While it was funny, it sort of saddened me that Edward felt like the act of togetherness and having to depend on someone else was a stupid concept.
"They kept making us repeat, 'There is no I in team.'" Jasper chuckled. "And Edward kept saying, 'But there is an M and an E!'"
Edward interrupted, "And Me does not do subzero camping trips." He laughed, finally, meeting my gaze as I giggled with him. "Cold toilet seats and stinky cabins, not showering for three days… it was horrible." He shuddered.
"What was the point of torturing seven year old boys with all that?" I asked, shoving more delicious popcorn into my mouth.
Jasper said, "Well, we were supposed to be getting our Wolf badges. But not Edward. He kept yelling at the leader that he didn't want to be a stupid wolf and he just sat in the corner of the cabin on strike the whole weekend."
"He refused to move until mom and dad picked him up but he wouldn't sit on the dirt floor because he didn't want to get his snow pants dirty."
"Yeah, that and my ass was fucking numb."
Emmett laughed, "So he used the leader's pillow, and he was pissed."
I looked at Edward. "So you sat there in the corner pissed off for three days? Wow." Edward hung his head in mock shame.
Emmett nodded, "Yup, sitting there practicing tying knots with his reading and his music badges…"
"And his neatness badge and his housekeeping badge…" Jasper added snickering.
Edward pointed his finger at his brother. "The neatness badge needs to be a real thing. I'd have ten of them."
I asked, "They have a house keeping badge?"
Emmett replied, "Yeah, in the GIRL scouts."
"Fuck you." Edward laughed.
"I could really go for some girl scout cookies right now." Emmett muttered again. "Thin mints."
"Mmmm," I said, my mouth watering. "Minty chocolate goodness. I love Thin Mints."
"Me too," Edward smiled. He pressed a few buttons on the remote and the lights automatically dimmed to complete darkness.
"You like chocolate, huh?" I asked him quietly, as the movie began. Mental note to buy chocolate snacks for Edward.
After the movie ended, I said goodbye to Esme and Carlisle, thanking them for the disgusting dinner, only I didn't say that. Esme insisted that one of the boys walk me home, but as much as I wanted to have Edward accompany me, I thought it would be really awkward, with me trying to hump his leg at my door and all. So I told her I would be fine.
As I ambled down the street solo, I turned back toward the house to see Edward in the window, likely there because Esme asked him to make sure I arrived home safely. He raised his hand, giving me a slight wave, before resting his arm against the window above his head.
I suppose it was a sudden burst of bravery, or the fact that he initiated the wave. Or maybe even it was because of the sight of him looking angelic in his white shirt standing in the window with the warm light emanating from behind him. Maybe, it was a severe allergic reaction the to-furkey. Because instead of waving back, I raised my fingers to my lips and I blew him a kiss.
Yup. I blew the boy a kiss.
Kill me now.
Said boy laughed, and without much theatrics, his hand grasped at blank air, before it slid casually into his front t-shirt pocket. It could have been a coincidence, but I liked to think that he put my kiss into his pocket perhaps to put aside for later.
Edward Cullen was an anomaly. He was mysterious and shy, but sweet and funny and I was falling harder and harder for him every second of every day. I wondered how hard it would hurt if I did discover that he was in fact gay, or simply that I had no chance with him. I decided, that until the day he showed me no possibility of reciprocating my feelings, I would pursue my beautiful boy with determination.
Someday I'll figure you out, Edward.