All copyrights, trademarked items, or recognizable characters, plots, etc. mentioned herein belong to their respective owners. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted
without their express written authorization.
They played for about an hour before taking a break. I fidgeted with the strap on my purse, suddenly wondering if I should've come at all, if this was really the best sort of "first date" we could have gone on.
I'd been so dreamy and taken before that I hadn't considered how awkward it might be hanging around this same group of people, but with someone else other than who'd introduced me. In fact it didn't really hit me until I sat at the table and recognized several of the girls sitting there. One of them had been the chick sitting on Edward's lap the first night I saw him.
Anyway, they seemed to know one another, and with the exception of two – Kate and Charlotte – didn't say much to me.
"Cullen's hot," Kate said, sucking on a wedge of lime. "But he floats, you know? It's impossible to really snag him. At least he's sweet about it."
"What do you mean?" I asked, genuinely curious. I was majorly attracted to Edward, but I wasn't an idiot. If he was bad news I wasn't sticking around.
"I mean he's a genuinely nice guy. I've seen him buy food for the homeless and drive random people home when they're too drunk to drive themselves. Crap like that. But you don't really see him with the same girl twice."
I watched her, looking for any signs of bitchiness, but I saw none. I was relatively good at reading people and Kate seemed honest and kind.
She frowned, putting the lime down. "That sounds awful. I'm sorry…"
"No, it's okay," I laughed a little. "We're just kind of hanging out. I really only talked to him for the first time last night, so it's not like I have expectations."
That wasn't totally true. I did have expectations, but… they belonged to my heart. My head was a lot more practical.
"Last night? You were at the bluffs?" Charlotte chimed in, leaning closer.
"Yeah, I was. Were you? I didn't even – "
"Oh my God, I totally saw you!"
"Oh," I said lamely, wondering if this was before or after I'd started sucking face with Cullen. Edward. Whatever.
"Yeah, Edward had you up against Seth's car…" She grinned slyly.
"Ha, yes!" Kate said, giggling. She finished off her beer and hit my arm as if we were the best of friends. "Yes, I did see that. Damn, girl…"
I smiled, shaking my head. The brunette I'd recognized, the one who knew Edward, got up to go stand at the edge of the stage. Several of the guys nodded and smiled at her.
"Hey," I whispered, poking Kate.
She grabbed another wedge of lime and inclined her head toward me.
"Who's that?" I asked, nodding toward the brunette.
Kate glanced over. "Oh, that's Jessie Stanley. She's sort of… done the rounds if you know what I mean."
I grimaced. "That's probably what you all think of me, isn't it?"
"Why?"
"I was sort of seeing Embry before I met Edward, and now… I don't know. It's just kind of weird. I didn't sleep with Embry or anything." Why I felt the need to explain myself to a near stranger was beyond me.
"Oh, well Jess sleeps with them, I assure you. The only guys she hasn't snagged yet are Seth, Edward, and…" Kate's eyes roved the stage and the lounge "…I'm not sure about Garrett."
"You sure about that?" I chuckled. "She was all over Edward the first time I saw him."
"Like I said." Kate smirked. "He's a nice guy. From the way she talks, it just a matter of time, but I think she's been trying for awhile."
Edward looked over at me just then. His eyes flickered from my face to my legs and then away, back to his hands, his guitar. I felt a little guilty for gossiping, but then again, what else did he expect, putting me with these girls?
But he'd looked away so quickly. Maybe he was just trying to focus on his music.
I didn't know though. I didn't know his facial expressions or body language even though I really, really wanted to.
I just wanted to be with him, somewhere, anywhere that wasn't there, anywhere that was quiet, where I could talk to him and let him talk to me and maybe kiss some more.
Definitely kiss some more.
My fingers found my lips and I watched him till he watched me back and then it was like the last time, when looking for so long made me self conscious and antsy but I couldn't look away.
And that's when the set ended.
He carefully set his guitar down and grabbed a bottle of water before leaving the stage. When I saw that he was coming straight for me I stood up.
"Come with me? I forgot something in the car," he said.
Nodding, I followed him out of the lounge, which had grown considerably more crowded since we'd gotten there.
Night had fallen fully, the sky a vast glittering darkness. We were close enough to the ocean that when the wind blew a certain way I could sometimes smell the salt.
The parking lot was pretty full. Edward maneuvered between cars until we reached his, where he paused, reaching back for me. I gave him my hand and he pulled me closer, putting me between him and his car.
I felt the change, how the steady beat in my chest kicked into a gallop, how my breathing became shallow and my mouth went dry. I licked my lips, trying to wet them as he gazed down at me.
And again I couldn't tear my eyes away, not until when he wordlessly leaned forward and kissed me, quenching my thirst. He kissed me like he was thirsty too, his fingers gripping around the back of my neck, tips touching right along my hairline.
Hesitantly I put my arms around him, really liking the tall, solid lanky lean of his body, the sharp to my soft, the warm to my shiver. He pushed a little harder against me, his chest against my chest, his hips against my hips.
I liked how our faces fit, slanted so that we could be closer, how our noses brushed when we shifted the other way.
Too soon he pulled back, but just his mouth; his body stayed.
"What'd you forget?" I breathed, my eyes still closed against the beauty of it all.
He kissed my eyelids, and I opened them.
"This," he said.
The beach was dark, but the whitecaps glowed like always.
I sat on the hood and he stood in front of me, but facing away so we could both see the sea.
His hands were hooked beneath my knees, like he was on the verge of giving me a piggy back ride.
"I liked the last one," I said, resting my chin on his shoulder.
"It's okay, I guess," he chuckled. "Eleazar loves that band's songs so we always end up doing at least one."
"I liked it," I said again, shrugging.
"I like when we do our own songs."
"I like when you do any songs," I admitted, letting out a little of the lovesick.
I saw the profile of his face in a smile. "Yeah?"
"Mhm."
"Well… I like you."
"I hope so," I said, kissing his ear.
He shivered and turned so he was facing me.
"So, be honest. Do you see a lot of girls?"
"Is that what Kate was telling you?" He cocked his head and smirked, much the same way he'd done that very, very first night.
"Sort of." I was glad it was dark so he couldn't see my flushed face.
"I mean yeah, I date, but… whatever. Those girls are always talking out of their asses."
"You sat me with them," I reminded him, resisting the urge to make him kiss me some more.
"Yeah," he shrugged. "So, what, does that freak you out or something? Is that going to be a barrier between us?"
"I don't know," I said, honestly as I could. "I don't want to be that way. I've only known you for two days. First time I saw you was a week ago? Two?"
"I saw you way before then," he said.
I leaned back in surprise, trying to to see his face better. "Where?"
"Coachella."
"You were there?"
"Yeah, I was there."
"How come I didn't see you?"
"I was there with someone else… and after a while so were you."
Yeah, that was the weekend I'd met Embry.
"Oh."
"Yeah." He slid his hands up my thighs, giving me butterflies.
"Kinda wish I'd met you then," I said.
He made me want to tell him things, to blurt out my secrets. It was awful and fascinating.
He shrugged. "I knew it was just a matter of time."
"Before we met?"
"Yeah. I saw you a few times after that, too."
"How come I never saw you before that night?" I asked, frustrated.
"You were into Embry."
"But – "
"And I wasn't rehearsing with them. I stopped by a couple times and saw you, real briefly." His eyes shone in the dark light. "A matter of time, Bella...till you were with me."
My insides liquefied, from the melting of my heart to the wetness in my underwear.
"So you really were plotting." I tried to tease, tried to sound light but really I was tangled with wanting, dragged along by a riptide of attraction.
"I really was," he said, running one of his hands through the ends my hair.
"I'm glad."
"I'm glad you're glad."
We kissed, and I let him touch me underneath the open sky.
listened to a lot of frou and frou and explosions in the sky, most especially "glittering darkness" (hence the reference to that song, earlier in the chapter).