A/N Hello all. I apologize that it took me this long to update my story. I just got back from Arizona this past Wednesday and I took all day Thursday to catch up on my 17 ff updates...lol. I do hope that you will all forgive me for keeping you waiting for so long and I hope it wont be such a long wait the next time. As always, thank you all for favoriting/reviewing my story. It's what keeps me going. And also many thanks goes out to my kick ass beta Dragonfly336 who makes this story much better than it would be on my own. :) Love you hard bb! Now...onward to chapter 4!

SM Owns all things Twilight related. Me...I just happen to be the proud owner of The Runaways DVD! (It's very good btw if you haven't seen it yet.)

Chapter 4 Realization

EPOV

Why am I feeling this way? Is it possible that I'm feeling everything she's feeling? I have never found myself this connected to someone ever. I find myself staring at her in total shock that she could think so low of herself. At that moment, I feel the tears fall again. It's shocking that I haven't cried in years, but I meet this girl who practically brings me to my knees in less than a twenty four hour period.

"I can't believe you would think of yourself that way," I say in a whisper as more tears fall down my cheeks. I walk towards her and take her hand in mine.

"I'm not crying because I'm horrified by you. I'm crying because I can't believe that Rose said those horrible things to you. It breaks my heart that you think so low of yourself. I may have only just met you, but for some reason, I feel a connection with you. Almost like, I need to protect you."

Bella looks at me in total shock. It is almost as if she feels that connection too, but she still manages to pull her hand out of mine. "You don't know me so how can you say that? We just met!"

She was totally right. I really didn't know her and she didn't know me. But we can fix that...

"True, but we can get to know each other. Come home with me after school." It seems like the best thing to do. This way, we can get to know each other a bit more and see if we can make sense out of this connection we seem to have.

Bella looked at me like I had two heads, but that only lasted a few seconds before she gave me a shy smile.

"Really? You want me to come home with you? I do hope you aren't 'expecting' anything," she says, air quotes and everything. "Because I will have you know, I am not that easy."

I chuckle and give her the best smile I can and grab her hand once again.

"Yes...I would love for you to come to my house and no. I don't expect 'anything' from you. I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do. That includes coming back to my house after school today. But it would give us a chance to get to know each other."

Bella gives me that cute shy smile again, "Well, OK then. Where would you like me to meet you?"

"Meet me in the parking lot. Just look for the silver Volvo, it is the only one in the lot."

"OK. I will see you in a few hours then," and with that she was heading to her next class.

The rest of my day went as slow as possible. I found myself thinking about Bella and wondering what made her move here and even about simple things like what her favorite color is. When my last class finally ended, I head out to my car. Soon after I reached my car, I see Bella walking down toward me.

"So, how are we going to do this? Am I following you or riding with you?" Bella asks me.

"Well, I was thinking I could follow you to your place, drop off your truck, and you can ride with me."

Bella thinks about what I said and nods her head, "Yeah, that will work." She starts to walk away, then suddenly stops and turns around, "How did you know I drive a truck?"

I could feel my face turn red, "Well, I may have seen you pull into the parking lot this morning," I say with a shy smile. Bella smiles and turns and walks to her truck.

"Try to keep up Cullen," she says with her hand in the air as she walks away from me.

I couldn't help but laugh. I saw what she drove and I'm sure I could keep up just fine. Then something else hit me. Bella just called me Cullen. I smiled to myself and blushed as I found that slightly hot.

We jumped in our vehicles and I followed Bella out to her house. She parked her truck in the driveway but she didn't get out right away. I notice that she was looking down, as if she was writing something. Then she got out of the truck and ran up to the porch, unlocked the door and walked through. A few seconds later, she was out of the house, locked it back up, and jumped into the front seat of my Volvo.

"Sorry about that. I just wanted to leave a note for my father to let him know where I would be so he wouldn't worry," Bella says.

"Oh, no problem. It's good to let him know where you were going, ya know, just in case you don't come back," I say with a crooked smile. Bella looked a little panicked so I figured I would let her in on the joke.

"I'm just kidding, Bella. Relax," I say with a laugh. She lets out a sigh.

"Wow. You had me for a second there. I wasn't sure what to think. Besides, you would probably want to think twice about that since my dad is the Chief of Police."

I find myself laughing again, "Ah yes. That's right. My brother, Emmett, mentioned that earlier this morning," and with that, we were off to my house for the evening. I pray to whatever God there is that my family would not do anything to scare Bella away, as my family tends to be a little over the top sometimes. I love my family to pieces, but sometimes they try a little too hard.

When we arrive, my mother, Esme, greets us.

"Hey kiddo! How was your day at school?" she says to me as I walk through the door and gives me a big hug.

"It was good, for the most part. Mom, I want you to meet Bella. She is new to our school. Do you mind if she stays for dinner?"

"No. Not at all. You are more than welcome to stay Bella, if you wish. It's very nice to meet you," Esme says while pulling Bella into a hug.

"Thank you Mrs. Cullen for the warm welcome and for letting me stay for dinner," Bella says with a giggle.

"Please, call me Esme. The last time I checked my mother-in-law doesn't live here." That gets a huge laugh out of Bella and I just sit in awe over how much I enjoy hearing her laugh. It's the most beautiful sound in the world. I shake my head to get it out of the clouds and come back to reality.

"Mom, if you need us we'll be up in my room working on homework," I say grabbing Bella by the hand and leading her to the stairs.

"OK honey. Don't work too hard," she calls after us.

We get into my room and I was so happy to know that not only did my mom not make a big deal out of Bella's scar, but the meeting between the two of them went so well. My mom is normally an easy person, but even knowing this I still get nervous when I bring somebody new over. Plus, I wasn't sure how she was going to react because this is the first time that I've had company over of the opposite sex.

"Shouldn't we keep the door open?" Bella asks as I realize I'm shutting the door out of habit. I stop and look at Bella.

"We can leave it open if you want or keep it cracked a bit so it's closed but not shut all the way," I am leaving the ball in her court because it's like I told her before, I am not going to do anything to make her feel uncomfortable. I want her to be able to trust me.

"Leave it open about half way," Bella tells me. I shut it enough to leave a pretty decent gap.

"How is that?" I ask.

Bella smiles and lets out a sigh, "It's perfect."

I have my bed on one side of the room, some posters up of some of my favorite movies and bands, I have a couch at the other side of my room, and a sliding glass door that leads out onto a deck that is part of the wrap around porch. Bella walks around checking things out. Near the glass door she notices the bookshelf and starts browsing through the titles.

"So, you like to read?" she says after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, you could say that," I say with a slight smile. I find myself being shy around her, which is very unlike me.

"Why Edward, do I see a bit of a blush in your cheeks?" Bella says teasing me as I turn a slightly darker shade of red.

"Why I think I do," She says as she walks towards me. "It just so happens to be that red is my favorite color."

Oh my...Is she flirting with me?

"Wow! So...one minute you are telling me in so many words to 'back off' then the next minute you are whispering sweet nothings in my ear. Man, your mood swings are going to give me whip lash."

After a long pause, Bella grabs her bag.

"OK...I think it's time for me to go," she says as she goes for the door. Shit! Smooth move ex-lax.

I grab for her arm.

"No, please stay. I'm sorry. This is kind of new to me. Ya know, having a girl in my room. I say really stupid things when I get nervous," I say trying to be honest with her. Bella gives me a warm smile and giggles. O.M.G.! Her giggle is almost as sexy as her laugh.

"Well, I'm sorry too. I tend to turn into a bitch when I get nervous."

"Grumpy, yes. A bitch..." I place my hand on her cheek, "definitely not."

She leans into my touch and she closes her eyes. She opens them again and looks at me.

"My favorite color is red. I love to take walks. I used to live in Phoenix, Arizona. My mother died which is why I am here. And I'm really happy I met you today," Bella spits out as fast as she could. I laugh.

"Um...OK...What was all that about?" I ask, completely confused as to where this came from and why.

"I just felt the need to tell you five things about me. Now quick! Tell me five things about you," she says as she walks closer towards me. I take a few more steps closer to her and start to think of five things I want to tell her.

"Um...well...my favorite color is blue. I love to take walks also. I have always lived in Forks. I'm also very happy that we met today because if we hadn't..." I lean in closer to her. "I wouldn't be able to do number five."

Bella leans in closer to me as well, "and what might that be?" she asks in a whisper.

We are so close I can feel her breath on my face and what a sweet feeling that is.

"I want to kiss you."

A/N Yeah...I know...I am sooo horrible with the cliffies. What can I say...I'm terrible like that. Don't forget to review cause we all know reviews are like having Edward whisper sweet nothings in your ear. I promise I wont keep you waiting for the next update.