Disclaimer: It's not mine! Twilight is by Stephenie Meyer, the one and only…

Busy as always, but here's the new chapter anyways :)


Chapter 13

EPOV

When I got to room number nine and go the door open, the first thing I noticed were the other people. There were ten beds, four of which were occupied and the other four that had clearly been slept on. I tossed my backpack on the available top bunk, hoping that the bottom would stay empty.

"British?"

I turned to the guy sitting on the bunk next to me, who had asked the question. He was blond and tanned, and was wearing a yellow t-shirt with blue crowns on it. So either he was from Sweden or he just really liked the country. My bet was on the first.

"Umm, American." I offered my hand for him to shake and he took it grinning widely.

"Nice. I'm Linus, from Sweden."

"Edward from Washington. Nice to meet you. Linus, was it?" The way he pronounced the name was nothing like I had previously heard. Linus grinned as soon as he heard my version of his name.

"That's fine too. I get that a lot when I go abroad. Wait 'till you meet my friends, then you'll be in trouble."

I chuckled. "Can't wait. Are those your friends?" I motioned at the three bunks with someone sleeping on them.

"Just these two. The third one was sleeping already when we got here. My friends went to bed too as soon as we arrived. We've been partying in Amsterdam for three days, living off caffeine pills, and we were exhausted. I just woke up before you got here. You interrailing too? Where have you been so far?"

"Yeah, we started like over a week ago and went through London, Paris and Cologne. Denmark was actually a random decision, but it's really nice so far."

Linus started to look through his backpack, taking out some fresh clothes and a towel. He kept talking about their trip while getting his stuff together. Apparently they'd been interrailing for a month already, and were heading back to Sweden in a few days.

"Well, I'm off to the showers. Gotta be looking good tonight, because the Danish girls…they're hot! Oh, and if one of those losers wakes up, tell them Linus said to drag their butts off bed, and get ready for lady-hunting. How about you? Do you want to join us? Check out the night life? Get some?"

"I'll have to pass on that. My traveling company is not into ladies." I chuckled in my mind at the almost-certain blush that would appear on Bella's cheeks if I asked her to come hit on girls with me. Not that I would ever do such a thing, or even want to hit on anyone, traveling with her.

"Oh, who are you traveling with?"

"A friend. Her name is Bella."

"Bella, huh…Just a friend? You'd better claim her if she's any pretty. Danish guys with their white teeth know no mercy, trust me on that one" And with that Linus left the room, laughing.

"I intend to", I muttered to myself before climbing to my bunk. I needed to perfect my plan for tonight, although I already had a pretty clear vision. A place that had caught my eye during our biking session earlier. It seemed to fit my plans perfectly, though I knew Bella would require some persuading. But just like I had loved biking today, she'd love it too. Eventually.

Before the evening I took some time to text Emmett and Rose. Apparently they were still in Cologne, enjoying the room, but were planning on touring Germany a bit longer.

Have you built up the courage yet? Was the last sentence in Emmett's text. I chose not to answer it yet. I still didn't know what to say. I liked so much as a friend, what if I ruined it by telling her something she didn't want to hear? Then she'd just be stranded in Europe with me, miles away from her friends.

Linus' friends woke up about an hour later when Linus came back and literally kicked them out of bed. He introduced them to me as Rasmus and Andreas. I of course had some trouble with pronouncing their names correctly again, but they took it just as well as Linus had. Linus started to hurry the other two up, and while they quickly showered and got ready they chatted animatedly of their trip so far. The bunch of them left soon after that to 'view the scene'. I decided to take a short nap before I had to shower and get dressed.

Before eight o'clock I was standing outside room number six. I rapped a couple of times on the door and only had to wait a few moments before Bella opened the door. To my embarrassment, and maybe hers as well, I couldn't take my eyes off. Even though I hadn't given her any direction on how to dress, she had picked just the right things for the thing I had planned. She was wearing a light, green dress that reached her knees with short sleeves on. Her hair was down, almost reaching her lower back. I had to blink several times – Bella looked stunning.

BPOV

When I heard a knock on the door, I instantly knew it was Edward so I ran to open it. He stood there behind the door in a deliciously snug pair of dark-washed jeans, a stylish white sport jacket with a brown print T-shirt underneath. Thankfully I caught myself after just a few minutes of ogling, so it might have managed to escape his notice. Quickly raising my eyes to meet his, I smiled, then immediately silently scolding my brain for starting to get fuzzy just from looking at his face. Will you get a grip already! You just met him.

"Evening Bella. Are you ready to go?" Edward's smile was polite and his tone was smooth.

"Ah huh. I mean, yeah, I'm ready." Shaking my head slightly to clear away the haze, I stepped out the door, closing it behind me.

"So…I don't suppose you'll tell me where we're going?"

"Hmm…I suppose I might", Edward said with a grin.

"Really?" I had already seen Edward's love of surprises, and it was highly unlikely for him to just reveal his plans just a few minutes into the evening.

"Yeah, I might. But since you're going to find out in a few moments anyway, it's really no use." He let out a small chuckle, pleased with his remark.

I huffed and started walking a bit faster. Edward, of course, caught up with no problem. "Aw, don't be upset. It's only a few minutes' walk."

"Oh, I'm not mad. I merely wanted to get to wherever 'it' is, faster." I smiled angelically at that, and watched Edward's face, as he took in my supposedly innocent comment. The slight suspicion in his eyes disappeared and a smile formed there instead.

"You know, you're actually making the wait longer by stalling like this." Then he suddenly took my hand and started towing me through the lobby and outside. When I had gotten over my shock of Edward's firm grip on my hand, I hurried up to match my steps with his, making us walk side by side instead of Edward dragging me behind him.

The streets were pretty crowded, but instead of the apparent camera-loving tourists from this morning, the people looked like locals: groups of young people and couples, lots of couples. It made me wonder, if everyone thought Edward and I were a couple. We probably looked like one, since we were still holding hands…The thought made me happier than it probably should have.

"So, how are your roommates?" I asked, taking my thoughts from hopeful to more realistic ones.

That launched Edward into telling about his new Swedish acquaintances. His animated description of their stories soon made me forget why I'd been nervous to go out with him tonight. After I knew pretty much everything about Edward's roommates, I started telling him about mine. I wasn't even paying attention to where we were going, until the paved street suddenly changed into something soft beneath my feet. When I looked around, I noticed Edward had led us to the park we'd driven past earlier today when we'd biked around. The park looked so different. A perfectly normal park with dog-walkers, joggers and children running around was transformed – there was a big crowd of people dressed for an occasion which I had no idea of, a well-lit stage and even a cozy-looking outside restaurant near the stage.

I turned to Edward. "What's this? Please tell me you didn't plan this."

Edward smirked. "Thanks for the credit, but unfortunately it's not my doing. When we were biking, I just happened to notice a small banner advertising…well, advertising this."

I was instantly suspicious when he didn't want to tell me what "this" was. Like he didn't want me finding out just yet. "Do you want to clarify 'this' for me, Edward?"

"This", Edward started and took my hand again, leading me towards the stage, which was beginning to look more frightening by the minute. "This is an annual jazz-festival held here in Copenhagen. And if you want to know even more, this is a small evening concert with food, music and dance."

The last word immediately stopped me. "Dance? As in a dance performance? People with dance abilities showing off and us clapping? While sitting down in safety?" I was trying to cling to an ounce of hope.

Edward shaked his head and tugged at my arm, wanting me to start walking again. "No, Bella. Dance as in people going to the open area of that restaurant in pairs and moving their feet in rhythm."

"And were watching them while eating dinner?"

"Yeah, of course we'll have dinner. And then we'll dance."

And with that Edward stepped on to the board floor of the restaurant and made his way to an empty table with me following a few steps behind. "Never should've taken him biking…stupid banner-watcher…" I muttered to myself. When I sat down opposite Edward, I managed to slightly pull in the terror his comment about dancing had made. We'd still have dinner first, so no need to spoil that. And after…I could just pretend to twist my ankle. Or really twist my ankle.

Dancing and I didn't really go well together, never had. It wasn't really the lack of trying, because Alice had forced me to go with her to dance lessons since I could remember. It had a bit more to do with my lack of coordination and a 'balance' that made me fall flat on my face even when walking. Heck, it made me fall on my face even when standing still. With me having fallen on top of Edward in London, I was surprised he though I would want to do this.

"So, what are in the mood for?" Edward asked, choosing to proceed with his planned night even though I was sitting in my chair, silently cursing the person who ever came up with dancing. And music.

In the course of the next hour and a half my table company totally made me forget the terrible fate looming in the distance. Somehow he turned the atmosphere back to what it had been while we'd walked here, talking about everything that he saw, or that came to his mind. After my seafood ravioli and his pesto veal arrived, I loosened up as well and joined in what had been Edward telling stories and asking questions while I'd just stuck to commenting.

Now our courses were almost finished and my head was spinning from the conversation, the fuzzy feeling that came from eating good food, the glass of wine I took with dinner…and Edward.

"So…Do you want some dessert? The Ricotta cheesecake sounds tasty, what do you think? Bella?"

"Oh…That sounds fabulous, but I'm stuffed. I think you'll have to carry me all the way back."

Edward raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps." He closed the menu he'd been skimming through and placed it on the table, raising his green eyes to meet mine. "However, if you're in the mood for cake, I know a great way to make some room quickly."

Was it obvious that my mind jumped to the gutter just then? Hopefully it wasn't for Edward, I really didn't want him to think eye was a one-track girl…Trying to impose as if nothing kinky had ever crossed my mind, I stammered: "Oh, like what?"

"Well, there's some really good Benny Goodman playing merely a few feet away from us…" Edward let his voice trail and his implication was suddenly becoming very clear.

The thing we'd come to do here in the first place:

"Dancing." My voice came out more as a whimper than anything else.

"Please Bella, just this one song", he said just as a swing ended and another started. He rose from the table and circled it so that he was standing in front of me, with his hand extended out to me.

I gave Edward a desperate look. "Edward, we haven't really known each other that long…gosh, it's been like just over a week?"

"Something like that, yes." Edward smiled his crooked smile with a soft expression.

"So one would think you wouldn't want to get your foot amputated, dancing with a stranger!" His surprise at where I'd taken the discussion was obvious. But pretty soon he was laughing.

"Come on you big coward!" Edward grabbed my hand and yanked me off my chair, literally dragging me towards the middle of the stage. When we halted, he came closer and whispered into my ear: "You'll be perfect, and I'll be just fine. Trust me."

Edward took my left hand and placed it on his shoulder while raising the hand he had already been holding. "Now…" he breathed, "You need to relax and let me lead you." His soft voice coaxing me to let my fear and embarrassment go.

Ever so slowly Edward started to move his feet, making me tighten my grip of him in fear. He pulled me even closer and it felt so secure that eventually I began following his feet and duplicating whatever they were doing. When I got the hang of the basic step, Edward varied it a bit and led me to more complex moves. By the end of the first song I wasn't great, but at least I hadn't trampled Edward and fallen down. Much

"Do you want to go sit now?" Edward asked me politely when the song had ended. To his surprise – and mine as well – I shook my head. "I really do like cheese cake, and I want to fit some in later."

I think Edward hardly believed my excuse, his amused smile proving it. I didn't want to stop just yet, because I was having fun. There, I said it. As soon as I had discovered I wasn't a total klutz at this for the first time ever, I wanted to have some more of it. Plus the very close proximity to Edward might've had something to do with my decision…

We danced two other songs – me getting less klutzier by the second – when the expected, anticipated and yet horrifying thing happened. A slow song came on.

I was looking down when the soft melody started, but I immediately looked up and straight to Edward's intense eyes. Without breaking eye contact, he pulled our intervened hands to rest on his chest and pulled me close, so that our legs were touching and I had to crane my neck just to be able to hold the eye contact both of us were unable to break. There was indescribable electricity between us, the charged atmosphere made me catch my breath. A moment had never felt quite this long and at the same time so short, the song was over too quickly.

Edward looked a little flushed as he let go of me, but not as flushed as I surely was. He cleared his throat. "Maybe we should go sit now, I'm really in the mood for that cake now." I nodded and followed him to the table. He ordered a piece of cheesecake and I had tiramisu.

The mood was totally different now. The flowing conversation from earlier was lost for the rest of the evening, all comments made were somehow forced. Mostly we just ate in silence, complimenting the dessert every once in a while.

We left pretty quickly after our plates were empty, after Edward had paid and I had argued hotly about him having to pay. He of course refused to split the bill, as I had suspected, but it was worth a shot at the very least. When we made our way across the park, Edward took my hand again. It was safe and familiar and somehow made the silence much more comfortable, like something was still the same from earlier even though the dancing had done something weird to us both.

The park and the streets we were walking had quieted down. It was colder, but not chilly. Occasionally I would take a sideway glance at Edward and observe him until he would do the same and I had to look away. He seemed thoughtful.

"What's on your mind?" I asked him gently, "you seem occupied."

Edward looked at me, with a smile that came from something he was thinking, something pleasant. "Oh, nothing in particular, just today, and this summer altogether…I'm just really happy we decided to Interrail this summer."

I smiled. "Yeah, me too."

Soon we were at my door, the end of this evening – I wasn't brave enough to call it a date – too incredible to describe.

"So…" I began, "I had a really good time tonight." I was trying to make Edward laugh with the most clichéd date-phrase there was, even adding a pink bubblegum voice to add the effect.

It worked, he chuckled which made me braver to continue. "But it's true…this really was the best night in Europe so far." I looked at him straight in the eye.

"I'm glad", he murmured and inched closer.

His face came closer to mine, and with a slight hesitation he really, really delicately placed his lips on mine. My breathing stopped. The kiss only lasted for a couple of seconds, but tears almost came to my eyes for the sweetness of it.

Edward stepped back and with a soft 'goodbye' he left to his room.

Awww, that was their first kiss. I thought of a dozen things to interrupt them, but since I just watched the final episode of season 2 of Gossip Girl, I just didn't feel like making it comic. Tell me what you think…

I feel absolutely horrible for not posting anything for weeks, a terrible case of writers block. Somehow I wasn't feeling too romantic and gooey, but through intense GG – Gossip girl and Gilmore girl – sessions, I found some groove, so yay :)

Please review!

-Isabella Juliet-