Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight Series and the wonderful characters inside.

Enjoy the story and please review.

I need your feedback :-)


3. Smiling

The next days passed very quickly to me. My body felt indescribable effortless. I smiled all the time and I wasn't able to stop that for several days. Everything seemed to be easy. Even working at Newton's on Saturday was exceptional agreeable. Although knowing about my early marriage, Mike was happy to see me, avoiding the whole wedding theme. We had a lot of fun, messing around, and there were a ton of business. So the time elapsed very fast. Mrs. Newton took an advantage of my good mood and hammered out my support in the store for the next weeks. I wasn't able to say no because the fun I've had the whole day was too much for refusing working at Newton's anymore. Also Mike was glad about my decision. So at the end of business he said with a huge smile on his face, "See you then on Wednesday, Bella." "Yeah, see you. Bye Mike," I answered, smiling at him and opening the door.

When I got out of Newton's the silver Volvo was parking across the street. I hurried to slip into the car, still smiling. "Hey," I said, looking at Edward. He kissed me on my lips, touching my face with his cool, fond fingers. "How was your day, love?" he asked affectionately. "I had a lot of fun. Mike and I messed around all the time. Work was very nice today," I grinned at him. "Newton braced himself quite well. I guess because of that stress he was sweating all the time," Edward chuckled cattily. "Was it so hard for him?" "He had to promise his mother avoiding arguing with you about the wedding. She reported him on your reaction in the grocery. She doesn't intend to scare you off," he smiled at me with his perfect face. Then he started driving. I was a bit embarrassed Edward knew about the incident in the grocery but not surprised. So I tried to find something that distracted him from this topic. I put the tip of my forefinger on his right thigh, sliding to his knee and back. It was more a need to touch him than an attempt of distraction. Edward glanced at my finger, then at my face. His dark black eyes gave me a curious look. "What are you trying, Bella?" he asked suspiciously. "Nothing," I responded, smiling innocently at him. There was a small feeling of being caught inside me; my heartbeat was unexpectedly picking up speed. "Nothing," Edward repeated amused. My finger was still on his thigh. He decided to give me a tit-for-tat response. "Have you already thought about the courses you'll choose at Dartmouth?" he asked provokingly. I glared at him and felt a bit angry, but I wasn't able to show this emotion on my face. There was still a little smile I couldn't stop. "Alice," I mumbled to myself, shaking my head, though I was surprised it had taken comparatively long until Edward confronted me with my decision to go to Dartmouth. I gave him a quick unfriendly "Sure," pulling my finger back to me. Certainly Edward clutched my backtracking hand softly but so fast I was scared for a very short moment. He pulled it to his mouth and kissed the back of my hand with his cool lips so endearingly I was shivering. "I'm glad you decided to go to Dartmouth, love," he smiled at me. "And I'm also glad you finally admit to your decision," he chuckled. After a while we arrived at Charlie's house. I was still smiling. My body remembered every single touch and feeling Edward did and caused in our night. I wasn't walking; I was floating into the house.

Edward followed my moves with his eyes. "I can't honestly believe how happy you're since our shared night, sweetheart. You have been smiling for days now, even when you had gotten angry. That's quite cute," he chuckled. I looked at him, blushing and feeling helpless. Then his eyes grew very soft and he kissed kindly my forehead. The physical relationship between Edward and me has changed in a quite nice way. There weren't anymore so many rules. Sure, I still had to take care of his sharp, white blinking teeth while I was kissing him, but this was the only point I had to pay attention to. In the last few days he touched me particular often with cool fingers and brushed my skin gently. Edward seemed to enjoy the new way of familiarity, though he also seemed to be amazed at his own behavior and sometimes even afraid of it. "I think, I'm going to choose courses in biological science or microbiology," I tried to get back to the former topic. "That sounds interesting, Bella," Edward confirmed me, looking out of the kitchen window suddenly thoughtfully. After a long moment of silence he said, "I'm glad you've already made serious plans for your nearer future. That's a good sign."

"A good sign of what?" I asked bewildered.

"For the next two years of your humanity," he responded, grinning at me.

"Oh no, Edward, I thought, we've already been through this. I'm going to spend one year at Dartmouth."

"Edward looked at me," One and a half," he pleaded.

"No, exact one. And then I'm going to start my new life."

"You're going to lose your life, Bella. And you're going to be isolated for the following two years at least, I guess," Edward informed me harshly.

I ignored that. "Are we going to stay near Dartmouth or will we move to Alaska at this time?" I asked, glancing at him curiously.

"Alice found a nice house on the edge of the wood near Dartmouth. There's nothing else than wood around. I think it's a possibility for staying in this time. But I'm not really sure at the moment," he considered again thoughtfully.

I sat down in front of the TV and switched it on. I thought about Charlie, staring at the news. He wasn't at home this evening again. Like the most of the last days he was in La Push, supporting Billy and distracting him from his worry about Jack A few nights ago he had told me Jake still hadn't came home. Instead of this he was searching a part-time job in any city around Forks for the rest of the summer. At that point of our conversation I thought about talking to Sam. There was a strong need inside me to know exactly were Jake was. I wanted to track him and tell him how important he was to me. I wanted to bring him back to his father and the pack he belonged to. But in the first line I wanted to know him save, not being in any big city, hiding from his own pain. Still thinking about this plan I glanced at Edward. "What's on the agenda for the next days?" I asked, hoping to find a way I could realize my plan without involving Edward. He placed himself gracefully next to me, tightening his cool arm around my waist and pulling me near to him. I laid my head on his lap, breathing in the sweet scent of his skin. He stroked my hair gently. "Alice mentioned something about making a trip to Seattle. What do you think about that, sweetheart?" he asked in a low perfect voice. "Seattle. That sounds nice. I think that will be an enjoyable trip. When did she suggest going there?"

"Monday. Maybe Emmett will join us. He's searching for new CDs."

A trip to Seattle sounded like a very good idea. Since I've been to Forks there wasn't any chance for me of visiting Seattle. Either in the past the sun had shone or several manic newborn vampires had occupied the town in favor to kill me. So now it seemed to be a good opportunity to go there until something else would show up and prevent my visit.

"On Monday then," I nodded in agreement.