Disclaimer: Nope, still nothing

Chapter 9

Port Angeles

I awoke to Alice tossing clothes around my room. It took me several minuets before I realized that Alice was already dressed, which could only mean that it was my clothes being tossed. I groaned and pulled the blanket up over my head. It was never a good thing when the day started with Alice tearing through my clothes.

"The boys called twenty minuets ago," Alice informed me. "They are coming to pick us up in an hour and a half. Rose and Emmett are already in Port Angeles. We're going to meet them there."

I pulled the blanket back down. "I haven't been to Port Angeles since I was a kid," I said in the direction of the ceiling.

"I know," Alice said. "That's why Edward is so hot to go there. He wants to show you all of the places that you've never seen."

Alice smirked at me. The night before she had decided that Edward was in love with me. I had decided that she was crazy. Alice had gone on for a while about how it was the only explanation that made sense. She had only met Jasper because I had so desperately wanted to be near Edward that night at the movies. And seeing how she and Jasper were made for one another it only made sense that Edward and I would share the same connection.

I was thinking about putting Alice in some sort of institution.

I sat up in bed, still feeling groggy. "So, what am I wearing?"

Alice motioned to dark red blouse that was hung across my closet doors. She was holding up different pairs of jeans under it. "We want her to look pale in a pretty way," she muttered to herself, "not a vampire way." She tossed one of the pairs of jeans onto the bed. "Yes, definitely those."

I twisted my neck around to work out all of the kinks. "Hand me that hairbrush."

Alice tossed the brush to me and I began to work the tangles out of my hair. Normally in any situation like this I would resist Alice's insanities, but for the first time in my life I was actually concerned with looking pretty and I knew that if anyone could give me a little push in the right direction, it would be Alice.

I thanked every god I could name that for once my hair hadn't become a crazy curly mess overnight. When I brushed it out it fell into my natural waves, which meant that Alice had no excuse to slather me with plasticy smelling products.

I got dressed without a word and, as usual, resisted all of Alice's attempts to put makeup on me. I would let her dress me a fix my hair, but I drew the line at letting her paint my face.

It had taken Alice a full hour to arrange me the way she wanted. I managed to get away from her long enough to swallow a granola bar and a glass of orange juice.

In the background of the house Alice was making plans. She was coming up with as many ways as possible to get me alone with Edward.

"Of course it would be more helpful if you knew the layout of the place. It would be easier to 'get lost', if you know what I mean."

I didn't know, but I didn't tell her that. I wasn't in the mood to suffer through her explanation. Instead I breezed through the crossword puzzle in the local newspaper.

Alice perked up suddenly and I saw Edward's silver Volvo parked in front of my house. Alice was out the door and in Jasper's arms before I had even managed to shrug my coat on.

Edward was sitting casually on the hood of his car, smiling at me. For a wild moment I considered making a fool out of myself before I realized that Edward was focusing on me to avoid looking at the couple embracing passionately only a few feet away.

"I think that they are getting worse," Edward smiled awkwardly.

I nodded in response. I was too caught up in the way the pale blue of Edward's button down shirt made his skin seem almost translucent. I managed to avoid the intensity of those green eyes by fiddling with the zipper on my jacket.

Edward opened the passenger door for me and motioned that I should climb in. I blushed. I was not used to being treated like that. I knew that I should mind, but the part of me that read too many Jane Austen novels told me to shut up and enjoy the fact that Edward seemed to be a perfect gentleman.

I slid into the seat just as Alice and Jasper climbed in the back behind me.

All four of us chatted while we drove. I drummed my fingers on my leg. Apparently Edward's proximity made me just as antsy as long car rides. On the way Edward would point out the odd landmark to Alice and I, giving us a taste of the local history.

In Port Angeles we drove around for a minuet before Edward managed to find a parking spot right next to Rose's shiny red convertible. Emmett and Rose were sitting on the hood of the car, waiting for us.

"Bella, you look hot," Rose commented as I got out of the car.

I smirked at her and gave her an uncharacteristic spin. Normally I wouldn't prance around like that, but I wanted to see if Edward was watching. He wasn't. I sighed.

"Don't worry," Rose said in a low voice. "Edward is just as shy as you are. He is not the type to stare. If he thinks you look pretty, chances are he will look at you even less."

I opened my mouth, prepared to deny everything, then I thought, well, Rose is the only female who knows anything about Edward. You want her on your side.

I scrunched up my face in embarrassment. "That obvious, huh?"

"Woman's intuition," she whispered with a smug smile on her face. "You are the only girl who has be willing to put up with him for this long who wasn't insane. I want you two to get together. Edward is like my little brother; I want him to find someone just as perfect for him as Alice is for Jasper. I think that you can be that girl."

"Thanks," I smiled. I needed some kind of reassurance from someone who wasn't Alice.

"I'm going to go and talk to Alice," Rosalie said. "I will see if there is any way that we can get you and Edward alone today."

I rolled my eyes as Rose walked away from me.

We walked around a few stores. I wasn't really interested in clothes so I stayed close to the boys. They seemed to be having the most fun. If Alice and Rose were ever out of earshot of the rest of us you could see their head together, plotting. It made me nervous; that they were trying so hard to accomplish something that I had decided long ago was impossible.

We were walking down the street in pairs. Rose and Emmett in front, Emmett's arm draped across Rose's shoulder. Alice and Jasper both holding hands and talking softly to each other. Edward and I in back, not speaking to each other, not really looking at each other, with a good foot and a half of space between us.

I had gotten into the habit of watching my feet when I walked. I found that if I looked at the ground I tripped less. Of course, I walked into more things, but I was attempting to find some sort of a balance. I had been watching my feet closely. I was not familiar with this area which made it exponentially more likely for me to trip, something I really wanted to avoid doing in front of Edward.

Just as we were about to round a street corner I was tugged back into darkness. It took me a moment to realize that Edward had pulled me back into a dark alcove in front of a store. The space that we were in was small and I was pressed pretty closely into Edward's chest. His arms were wrapped tightly around my waist, as if he was expecting me to fall when he pulled me.

We were so close together that I could hear his breathing. The air was filled with Edward's sweet scent, making me dizzy. I blinked in the darkness in an attempt to bring Edward's face into focus.

"Um, hi?" was all I could think to say.

Edward smiled at me. I noticed that he had yet to release me from his grasp, not that I was complaining.

"I thought that maybe we could leave the couples to do their own thing for a while," Edward spoke in a low velvety voice. I did my best not to shiver at the pulse of adrenaline that shot through my veins. "Besides, there are a few places I thought that you would like to see that I'm guessing Rose and Alice have little to no interest in."

I exhaled, trying desperately to find a way to respond to him. "Okay," I managed to croak out. "Sounds like fun."

Edward steered me out towards the light. Once the bright sun hit us he released me, much to my disappointment.

Walking around with Edward was considerably more fun than being with the whole group. Alone, Edward and I seemed to find conversation much easier. We laughed as we walked, rarely ever pausing to look at something.

We had wandered into some small music store. I had begun to amuse myself with a pattern that I had noticed. Some girl in the store would notice Edward. She would edge closer to him until she managed to catch his eye. She would toss him a flirty smirk and he would smile back politely, oblivious to the girl's intentions. Then he would say something to me, or move closer to show me something. The girl would then glare at me and leave. This had happen four times in the same store. Edward seemed completely unaware of anything happening.

"Does that happen so often that you have just learned to ignore it?" I asked as we left the store.

"What happened?" Edward asked, genuine confusion in his eyes.

"All those girls," I said incredulously. "You can't tell me that you didn't notice? They were swarming around you like locus."

Edward seemed to ponder this for a moment. "I honestly didn't notice," he shrugged. "As far as I was aware, you were the only girl in the store."

Now, these words would send any girl reeling, but the casual way that Edward said them gave me a firmer grip on reality. He hadn't meant it that way. What he had meant was he was aware that I was in the store with him; he just really didn't notice the other girls. Nothing romantic. Edward wasn't declaring himself; he was just stating a fact.

Edward began to pick up his pace. "Where are we going to in such a hurry?" I asked, unable to keep up with him.

Edward turned to me. He unconsciously took my hand to pull me along with him. "C'mon. You are totally going to love this."

I didn't pay attention to where we were headed. I could only feel Edward's warm, strong hand wrapped around mine. I was sure when he grabbed me that it had not been intentional; Edward had just wanted to hurry me along. For a brief moment I let myself believe that Edward had actually wanted to hold my hand, that he had planned it. I shook my head, dreaming about things that will never happen always make your own life harder to live.

Somewhere, in a hazy alcohol fuzzed memory I could remember Edward's low musical voice speaking the words, 'I have never held hands with a girl.' Part of me wanted to point this out to him, to draw his attention to the fact that I was the first girl that he had ever held hands with, but I didn't. I feared that if I drew his attention to where we were joined that he would realize his mistake and let go. If I kept quiet I allowed myself to live in fantasy for a few more precious minuets.

"Here we are." Edward led me into a small store off an empty looking street.

It was probably the most amazing place I had ever walked into. As far as I could see there were shelves and shelves of books. The handmade wooden shelves were double parked with books, all stacked on their sides to maximize the space. The room was filled with the smell of hardwood and aging paper.

"Wow," I exhaled.

Edward smiled at me. "I thought you would like this place."

"Edward!" An old craggy voice came from behind a large stack of books.

A very short man stood up from behind a desk that was stacked six feet high with thick picture books. The man wobbled over to us on shaky knees. His back was rounded and his pants were held up over his large belly by red suspenders. He wore large glasses that magnified his eyes and made him look like a large owl.

"Mr. Crandle," Edward smiled at the tiny man. He shook the little mans hand in two of his, dropping mine in the process.

"Your father ordered a book from me," the old man wagged a finger in the air. "I just got it in yesterday. Just about to call him. I'll go and get it." The man disappeared into a back room.

Edward shook his head and laughed. "Crandle is a funny old man. Got this place when he was about my age. His mind is still as sharp as a tack. Always reads." Edward bent low to whisper in my ear. "Take a look around. You know you want to."

I grinned at Edward and buried myself in the shelves of books. I wandered from section to section, pulling out books at random. When I wandered into the poetry section I pulled out books by all my favorite writers, taking the time to read over some of my favorite poems. I paused over my favorite Emily Dickinson poem. My lips followed along as I read If You Were Coming in the Fall to myself. I read the fourth stanza quietly out loud.

If certain, when this life was out-

That yours and mine, should be

I'd toss it yonder, like a Rind,

And take Eternity-

"What did you say?"

I was broken out of my trance by Edward's words. He was standing over me, smiling.

"Oh, nothing." I was so startled by Edward's presence that I dropped the book.

Edward caught it in mid air, managing to keep my page. "Emily Dickinson," he grinned at the book. "If You Were Coming in the Fall. You could wait forever if you knew that you could be with the one you loved." He handed the book back to me. "I prefer Because I Could Not Stop For Death, personally. I'm not big on unrequited love."

Of course you wouldn't be, I thought to myself. You haven't ever had to live with it.

I had been looking at that poem, not only because it was one of my favorites, but because it reminded me so deeply how I felt about Edward. I could live through anything, any length of time, if only I knew that I could have him at the end of it all. But I couldn't have him and it was killing me.

I placed the book back on the shelf and walked away from Edward. Being to close to him in this bookstore made me blush.

Emmett's booming chuckle came back to me. "I have never had a sexual fantasy set in a library or bookstore." Both Edward and I had admitted to that one. If he came to close to me I might take the liberty of checking that one off of both of our lists.

I wandered around on my own for a little while, allowing myself to get lost in some of my old favorites.

"Bella," Edward's voice called to me through a shelf. "Where are you?"

"Right here." I walked into the aisle that he was standing in.

Edward smiled. "There's something I wanted to show you." He placed his hand on the small of my back and guided me to the back of the bookstore. "I can't believe I forgot to show you the best part."

In the back of the store an open door led outside into a large open garden. The brick patio was filled with potted ferns that glowed in the sunlight. Several small mechanical fountains were scattered throughout the space, making it look a bit like a garden decorations store.

"It's beautiful." I carefully stepped down the two or three stairs and out into the warm sunlight.

I closed my eyes. Back in that small, secluded garden I could feel nothing but the sunlight on my face and hear nothing but the birds chirping and the bubbling of the fountains. I sat down on a wooden bench and turned my eyes to look up at Edward.

He was still standing up in the doorway. He was looking at me with a strange expression on his face that I couldn't read. Wonder, maybe. His smile did not reach his lips, but was shining in his eyes.

"What?" I asked him; desperate to know what was gong on in his mind.

Edward shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing at all." He turned back inside, leaving me alone in the sun.

I sighed to myself once he was out of my sight. What did I do to bother him? What could I possibly have done to make him want to get away from me so quickly?

I remembered that I had been holding a book went Edward had brought me out here. I had completely forgotten that I was holding the most beautiful leather bound copy of Alice in Wonderland that I had ever seen. I opened the book in my lap, deciding to read rather then to wallow in self-pity.

I was a good way into the book when my concentration was broken by the sound of a phone ringing. I looked up to see Edward, leaning in the doorway, fishing his cell phone out of his pocket. How long had he been standing there?

"Hey," he said into the phone. "I was wondering when you were going to call… We haven't been gone for that long, have we?... I guess you're right. Wow, time flies when you are having fun… How'd you guess?... Whatever, you obviously know me far too well. I think I need some new friends, someone I can't surprise as easily as you... Yeah, whatever…Okay, I'll get her going and we'll try to get there in time. I didn't realize that it was so late already…Yeah, see you in a bit. Bye Rose." Edward closed the phone.

"Do you realize that we've been gone for nearly six hours?" he asked me.

"What?" I had a hard time believing him.

"Yeah, seriously. We've been here for a good four hours at least." Edward came down the stairs to me as I stood up. "Alice wanted us all to watch the sunset together in the pier before going to get dinner. We have about fifteen minuets to get over there."

I walked back into the bookstore, followed by Edward. I went to place the book back on its shelf when Edward stopped me.

"I'll buy it for you."

"What? Why?" I was confused by Edward's generosity so soon after him giving me the cold shoulder.

"It's your favorite. You loved it the moment you picked it up. I have to buy it for you." Edward took the book out of my hand and placed in on top of a small pile that he had accumulated on the cashier's desk. The little old man began to add up the totals for all the books.

"How do you know that it's my favorite?" I asked.

Edward handed the owl-man several bills. "I was watching you read it. The smile you had on your face was wistful and nostalgic. It's definitely your favorite children's book." Edward took the thin plastic bag filled with books and headed out the door.

"What's your favorite children's book?" I asked as we walked hurriedly down the street.

"The Hobbit," he said plainly.

"That's not a children's book."

"My dad read it to me the first time when I was four. We had a big book this tall," Edward showed the spacing with his hands, "and about this thick. It had pictures from the cartoon in it. They folded out to be about three feet long. I loved that thing. It was always my favorite. Still is, actually."

I could almost imagine a tiny Edward sitting in his father's lap being read The Hobbit. I could imagine Edward correcting his father's pronunciation and saying that he read too slowly. I smirked.

Edward stopped by his car to toss the bag full of books into the back seat on the way to the pier. We got there just shy of sunset. The sky was a brilliant orange color with clouds that where so brightly pink it made my eyes hurt.

Our four companions were waiting for us at the end of the wooden walkway, looking out to the horizon.

I pulled my small digital camera out of my bag and began snapping pictures of the vibrant colored sky.

I managed a few minuets peace before I realized that Rose and Alice had closed in on either side of me. They were looking for a story, I could tell.

"So," Rose prompted in a low voice, "what happened?"

I glanced over to the boys. Edward and Jasper seemed to be in the middle of a failed attempt to throw Emmett off the edge of the pier. Boys.

"C'mon Bella." Alice bounced on her toes impatiently. "We were coming up with all these different plans to ditch you guys and then you two just disappear. How did you do it?"

"I didn't do anything," I tried to say as casually as possible.

"What?" both girls asked at once.

"Edward did. He pulled me back and said that we should head off somewhere else." I shrugged. I left out the part about just how close he had pulled me.

"What happened?" Rose demanded.

I could tell there was no way I was going to get out of this.

I told them everything, about the girls in the music store, about what Edward said about them, about him holding my hand as he pulled me to the bookstore, about his leaving me alone in the garden, about him apparently watching me in the garden. They were very interested.

"Bella, this is good stuff," Rose said.

"Yeah, whatever." I turned my attention out to the quickly darkening sky. "I'm not getting my hopes up."

Much to my pleasure Emmett ended my torture by saying that the sun was down and he wanted to eat.

When we got to the little restaurant Edward stayed to the back of the group. He seemed to be trying to hide himself from something. I didn't get an explanation until all six of us crammed ourselves into the tiny booth.

"Hiding from the hostess?" Rose teased.

Edward glared at the blond.

"If there is one thing you can say about this place," Jasper took up where his sister left off, "it's that the staff here are always friendly, to Edward, at least."

Edward kicked Jasper under the table. We all laughed.

Due to my claustrophobia I had been allowed to sit on the end of my bench, the entire right side of my body squished into Edward. When we all started laughing I nearly tumbled out of my seat, but Edward caught me around the waist.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"Catching you seems to be a full time job," Edward commented.

"You're not getting paid very well," I said.

"Hmm, you're just going to have to owe me, now aren't you?"

I liked that idea. I could feel four pairs of eyes on us, waiting for my next move. The problem was; I wasn't sure if Edward was teasing or flirting. Probably teasing, I reasoned with myself. He promised that he would stop, but it was pretty playful so I didn't mind.

"I've got a way that you can repay him, Bella." Rosalie interjected, a mischievous smile painted across her lips. "You can pretend to be his girlfriend. Look, Edward. It's your favorite person."

Before Edward or I had managed to turn around to see where Rose was pointing the waitress was upon us. She was short with masses of curly brown hair and had a small mousy face.

"Edward," she squealed. "How are you? I haven't seen you in so long."

"Hey, Jessica," Edward's voice lacked the girls enthusiasm. "I'm doing pretty well. You?"

The girl giggled and Rose snorted. Jessica seemed to take notice of the rest of us. "Rosalie, Jasper, I should have known if Edward was here that you wouldn't be too far behind."

Rose tipped her head to the side and smiled at the girl, her eyes shooting daggers. "Hey Jess," Rose's voice was filled with venomous cheer. "It's so good to see you, really."

The girl didn't seem to notice the vitriol spilling out of Rose. "Who are your friends?"

"This is my boyfriend Emmett. That's Jasper's girlfriend Alice. And this is—"

"This is Bella," Edward cut Rose off before she could claim that Edward and I were dating. I knew how Edward felt about lying. "Bella is Chief Swan's daughter," Edward informed Jessica. "We just happened to have a class together at school. Small world, huh?"

"Small world," Jessica agreed through a very forced looking smile. "Can I get you guys anything to drink?"

We all ordered some sodas and the girl disappeared.

"That went well," Jasper teased Edward. Edward buried his face in his hands.

"Explain please?" Alice asked.

"Jessica practically stalked Edward in high school" Rose explained. "That girl would not take 'no' for an answer. Edward eventually had to make up a fake girlfriend to get her to leave him alone."

"She was totally obsessed. He locker was like a shrine to Edward's beauty."

"Jasper, shut up." Edward's voice was muffled by his hands.

"She's coming back. Bella," Rose motioned with her hand that I should scoot closer to Edward.

I narrowed my eyes at her. If I scooted any closer I would be sitting on top of him. Maybe that was the idea.

"Here are your guys drinks." Jessica leaned across the table giving Edward and I a good look down her top. Edward looked away, I marveled that she could be so forward. "Are you all ready to order?" She was talking to everyone, but her eyes never left Edward's face. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

"Bella?" he asked me.

As he spoke my name Edward gently leaned his arm across my shoulders. I willed my body not to tremble. The move was so uncharacteristically Edward. I could see his eyes were set on desperate times call for desperate measures.

We all gave our orders and Jessica went away.

"Sorry about that," Edward mumbled. He began to move his arm away, but I stopped him.

"Don't. She's going to come back. And I think that she's watching us from the kitchen." Yeah right, dream on Bella. "You want her to believe it, don't you?"

Edward gave me a confused smile, but nodded anyway. "I'm game if you are." Edward seemed to be willing to do anything to keep the girl away.

"Ooo," Emmett laughed. "This is going to get interesting."

I planned my next move carefully. I noticed that as Jessica went around to other tables her eyes would always flash in our direction. Once, when I knew I had her attention, I grasped Edward's hand in mine and snuggled closer to him. At first Edward gave me a panicked look, but understood why I was doing it.

Before long Edward began to play along. It had become some sort of a game to see if we could top one another. I held Edward's hand under the table; Edward brought it out for everyone to see. I called him 'sweetheart' and he called me 'love.'

When Jessica set the plates down on our table a shiver went up my spine. Edward's fingers were playing with a curl at the back of my neck. I watched with smug satisfaction when Jessica's eyes narrowed at Edward's fingertips dancing across the nape of my neck.

I got the biggest shock when Edward started to feed me off of his plate. Play flirting aside; this was jumping into another realm. The whole situation was beginning to get a little unreal.

Before we left Edward slid his jacket on my shoulders and I made a very truthful comment about how good he smelled. Edward grasped my hand tightly and we followed the others out the front door.

Part of me had expected the pretense to fall away the moment we were outside, but Edward kept playing. It had been too much fun for both of us. We had crossed several boundary lines of our friendship and it had made the both of us a little giddy.

"Okay, no matter how evil that was, I have to admit that I haven't had that much fun in a while." Edward pulled me close into his side.

I leaned my head against his shoulder. "It's good to know that I'm fun to be around. Maybe now you have a good reason to spend time with me. I can keep the girls away."

"Yeah, and I can catch you. Full time jobs for both of us. Maybe you should move in with me, love," he teased.

"You'll have to ask my dad if it's okay, sweetheart," I teased back.

Edward and I both laughed together.

"God, you two are getting way too much of a kick out of this," said Emmett, the only person here who was completely unaware of my feelings towards Edward. Aside from Edward, I hoped.

Rosalie elbowed Emmett in the ribs. "Ow. What?"

Rose gave him a hard stare. I had a feeling that Emmett was not going to be oblivious for too much longer.

When we reached the cars Alice and Jasper climbed into the backseat of the Volvo rather quickly. Edward and I stayed outside the car to watch Rose and Emmett drive off. Once the red convertible was out of sight Edward turned to me.

"Have fun today?" he asked.

"Yeah, tons."

"Good," Edward smiled smugly. "I'm really glad that we can have fun together. You are a good friend, Bella."

There was that little word again. That tiny stupid word that made me loose all hope. Oh, how I hated it.

Edward took my hand and spun me around. As he should have expected, I stumbled over backwards, falling against the back passenger door. Edward had tripped to. He was a few inches away from me. I could feel the heat off his body.

My breathing sped up. I was sure that Edward must have been able to hear my heart thud in my chest. My whole body was shaking. That electric current was back. I felt like I had stuck my finger into an electric socket and the shock was vibrating thought my body.

Edward looked down at me. That intense look was back in his eyes. He looked like he was arguing with himself. He leaned closer to me. My heart spluttered. Every fantasy that I had ever had about this man was playing though my head at warp speed. It seemed as if they might actually be coming true.

Then he pulled away.

I realized that he had been leaning over me to open the door for me. I wanted to smack myself.

That's what you get for wishing. Remember how he just used the 'f'-word. He wouldn't kiss you after just saying how good of a friend you are.

"Thanks," I muttered and slid into my seat, hoping that the darkness would cloak my blush.

"So close," Alice whispered behind me when Edward closed the door.

I sighed.

Yeah, I was a little disappointed to. Oh well, every chapter gets them closer. Normally Jessica is quite annoying, but this time she was rather helpful. We have just entered a new realm in Edward and Bella's relationship. It's also that fun kind of flirting that you get when it's supposed to be play flirting but you actually like the person so it ends up being slightly over done and awkward. Well, they're dorks, so its okay.

Thanks for reading! :)