Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
An: I'm sorry this is a day late. I may or may not have fallen asleep on my laptop last night while attempting to finish. Enjoy!
In the past … (Still 11 years ago)
Edward lands on the hard ground with a curse.
I've heard words much worse than his, so I'm not fazed by them in the slightest. If anything, they add to the strange allure the beckons me to know him. I'm intrigued by his care-free appearance and dirty words.
By now I've disentangled myself from Alice on the swing and rushed to the side rail to peer over, nearly tripping over my own two feet in my haste. I'm holding my breath that he's okay, and I sigh in relief when he stands, brushing at the newly marked mud stains on his jeans. His lips are moving quietly, silent grumblings my ears strain to hear.
Only her right eye is opened and it appraises me curiously. I ignore it.
"Geez Alice," I chastise, "way to try to kill him before you even have the chance to introduce us."
Both eyes are open now, and she rolls them at my dramatics. She appears nonplused by the result her screeching had caused. I love my cousin, but she's loud.
"How'd you know he was over there anyway? You weren't even looking."
She waves me off like I've asked the world's stupidest question. "Psh, that's easy. Only Edward would slam the front door because I know for a fact that Mr. and Mrs. Cullen are far too nice of people to do something so rude," she pauses for effect, grinning at me slyly. "Not to mention I saw you ogling him like you wanted to eat him or something."
The heat fills my face as I blush profusely. I'm tempted to deny her accusation, but I'm distracted by the sound of feet stomping roughly up the front steps.
"Dammit Alice, don't you know what an inside voice is. You scared the shit out of me."
His voice is not that of a man's yet, but it still causes the pull in my stomach to tug a little harder. I'm overcome with bubbling nerves, though I'm unsure why. I don't understand this feeling I'm having towards a boy I do not know.
"Silly boy, of course I do," Alice responds in a sing-song voice. "But I'm not inside, now am I?"
She's smiling at him sweetly, and for some reason - I don't like it.
Instead I watch him, all the while hoping my blazing red cheeks are hidden behind the curtain of hair I allow to hang in front of my face. He's appears older than I thought before, though maybe just a couple years more than Alice and myself.
And unlike when I watched him across the yard, Edward is now close enough to see the splatter of freckles that decorate his cheeks and nose. I like him. I think to myself.
Introductions have yet to be made, but I'm more interested in the friendly banter playing out before me. How do they know each other?
Edward's barely constraining a smile. "I believe I told you before," he explains. "When you're outside, pretend that you're inside. And when you're inside, pretend you're visiting the library. That away the rest of us can still retain our hearing by the time we're twenty. M'kay?"
I'm giggling then because the vision of Alice in a library is absolutely ridiculous to me. I'm the bookworm, not her. Wait, told her before? So they do know each other?
Alice sticks her tongue out at him in a stellar move of maturity. By now Edward has given up his mock irritation and grins openly. Meanwhile my eyes can't seem to stray from his lips. His smile makes his otherwise rough, geeky appearance morph into something much cuter.
My skin tingles in a strange way then. It's something I've never felt before, like a prickling pain that doesn't hurt. When I glance back at Edward his eyes are trained on mine, and my cheeks redden all over again.
Between the embarrassed blush caused by being caught looking at him and the tingly skin caused by him looking at me, I'm hopelessly overwhelmed.
Is this what the girls at school talked about?
I'd heard from girls who had boyfriends gossip in the locker room of my gym class sometimes. They were just as bad as the high school boys you hear about, really. But they'd mentioned that when you supposedly find the One you'll just know because it will be like your skin has been lit on fire, in a good way, when he looks at you.
At the time I'd ignored their words, though I was secretly hopeful that I could find someone who made me feel like that, one day. It never crossed my mind that that day could be today when I am still this young.
If only my mom were here so I could ask her about it.
Alice speaks up then, much to my appreciation. "Edward, this is my cousin Bella." Edward gives me a crooked grin, kind of like a smirk, and my legs suddenly feel like a pile of goo. It's another feeling I'm not accustomed to.
"Bella, this is your neighbor, Edward."
The next words are off my tongue before I can stop them. "Charlie's neighbor, not mine." My petulant teenage attitude has reared its ugly head.
Alice and Edward both raise their eyebrows at my outburst. "Sorry, I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I just mean that I live in Phoenix, so this isn't really my house. Therefore you're not exactly my neighbor, are you?" This time I've managed to apologize and insult him all over again.
Get it together Bella, I chastise myself.
To my surprise Edward laughs. "I guess you're right then, Bella."
It's the first time he's said my name, and the fluttering butterflies and surge of energy dancing along my skin tells me I like it. In fact, I'd kinda like him to say it again.
Instead I settle for just finding a way to hear him speak some more because I want to know everything about him. I ignore my cousin for a moment and settle the question I'm burning to ask on Edward. "How do you two know each other?"
"Well, it turns out that your cousin over there has the "hots" for my best friend." His hands slip into his front pockets as he rocks on his heels and grins at Alice.
I'm torn between relief that Alice doesn't know him because she's interested him, and the revealed fact that she has a crush on someone else … and didn't tell me.
I turn to my blushing cousin, smirking at the fact it's her for once and not me. "Oh really?"
"Don't look at me like that! I was going to tell you!" I quirk an eyebrow and cross my arms over my chest. "Okay, maybe not, but you would've found out when you meet him tomorrow."
Edward laughs and I can't help but join in.
"Oh hush you two," Alice points her finger between the two of us, only succeeding in making us both laugh at her harder.
It feels like Edward and I have been friends for years instead of minutes, and I understand immediately why Alice wanted me to meet him.
"So, Bella? Has Alice showed you the town yet?"
I'm much more comfortable now when he speaks to me, so I smile politely and shake my head. "We were going to walk around, but with all the rain …" I trail and shrug my shoulders.
"Perfect. How about Alice and I both take you on the tour? Besides, I actually live in Forks, so I bet I'll be better at telling you what's what and who's who. You know, all the important things."
He's kind of silly and funny and …. Adorable?
"Let's go before Charlie gets home," Alice suggests before I've even agreed to Edward's request. As if I'd turn him down anyway.
She grabs me by the hand and begins to pull me towards the steps. Edward frowns just a fraction, and I'm curious about what has made him unhappy. Wasn't he the one to suggest this?
Before I can question the sudden change in attitude his face relaxes and he joins us on the sidewalk.
"Ladies first," he instructs with a motion of his hand, and we begin the tedious task of showing me around a town that up until this moment I've had little to no interest in knowing.
An: This may seem mild for Bella first meeting Edward, but they're young, shy teenagers so bear with me. I also don't believe that thirteen is too young to develop feelings for a boy, or even "fall in love." This is what Bella feels, whether she understands those emotions or not. All she knows is that the geeky, swearing, funny guy next door is causing all sorts of sensations that she's highly unfamiliar with. Remember what I said before, in the summary? That Bella and Edward's love was all-consuming, and therefore it is likely that they were wrapped up in their emotions from the very beginning.
Not all of the "past" chapters will be step-by-step like the last three have been. I have eleven years of ground to cover, so time will move along in some as well. It's a slow burn to finding out what went wrong. I do hope you enjoy taking the journey with me!