I fell in surprise, seeing the ground head towards me in slow motion. A pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist and my motion stopped.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you so."
Edward let go of me and I rolled myself back into an upright position. I turned to see him looking at me with a confused and amused expression.
"I was testing my balance. I never had much of it as a human and I was curious. Can you do back flips and stuff?" I asked. He chuckled again. Close, but not quite the sound I wanted to hear.
"I can yes." He looked at me thoughtfully. "Would you like me to teach you?" A smile flitted across my face instantly.
If anything, it was difficult and fun. Edward demonstrated how to perform certain tricks, and would then guide my body through them, his hands always touching my arms or legs for the briefest of moments. Whenever I lost focus and started to fall, or finish incorrectly, his hands would grab my waist, steadying me, until I regained my balance. When the snow began to pick up and the others arrived home, Edward and I finally called it a day.
"Can I try them all tomorrow?" I asked excitedly. He smiled the crooked smile of his.
"Of course. I'd have thought you'd be bored of it by now. We've been at it for a few hours."
"Nope. Today I am ecstatically happy." It was true. I bounded around, looking for something to do, until Edward suggested that we go hunting. I wasn't really thirsty but I agreed anyway. Something, anything. Edward and I raced to where he had pointed on the map. He won, but only by a second. When we got there I scooped up a handful of snow, quickly hitting him hard in the head with it. The fluffy white clung to his copper locks as he turned and stared at me.
"Again you provoke me?"
"No paint this time, just you against Steve and I." I replied stripping off my coat. We only wore warmer clothes for appearances, all it did was slow us down. He pulled off his coat too, circling, crouched.
"Two against one is hardly fair." He chuckled, his gold eyes twinkling. I had never seen him look so carefree.
"Well make up your own friend." I teased, brushing my hair away from my face. Edward straightened and held out his hand to the air.
"Bella... I would like you to meet... Cinnia, my invisible sister." He bowed his head to the air beside me, as I curtsied to the air beside him. We were now evenly matched.
"Let the games begin." And so they did. We fought viciously, pelting each other with snow. Edward and Cinnia were winning. He was much faster than I was, but not as fast as I had seen him with the others, obviously he needed the advantage of reading the other's minds to completely win. Soon enough he started to learn my attacks and began to mould his own attack from it. So I ran, just as he was about to win.
He bolted after me, pinning me into the snow. As we both landed, fountains of snow were thrown into the air. To an onlooker it would've probably looked as though a meteor had hit. We rolled, and I could feel the snow binding itself to my hair in clumps as I could see it sticking to his hair. I smashed his back into a tree and we stopped. We were both laughing hard. The sound of his laugh was pure music to my ears.
"And that is how you pin somebody." I laughed.
"You must teach me that move." He replied, the grin still plastered on his face.
"You teach me how to do the rest of those flips and I will teach you how to do that." I felt exuberant. I rested my head against his chest as my breathing slowed. Although we didn't need the oxygen we still increased and decreased our breathing rates according to what we were doing. His breathing slowed too and soon we both stood up, brushing the snow off of each other. I tried shaking my hair out, but it was quite tangled. His looked no better.
"Once you get inside the house it'll all melt, and your hair will be back to being just as cu-" he faltered for a millionth of a second. "Curly as it always is."
I could've sworn he was about to say cute. When we got inside I went to get changed. My clothes were slowly becoming wetter as the snow melted. I pulled on a simple sweater and a pair of pyjama bottoms. I didn't need them, but they were way too comfortable, and cute. These ones had cartoon bats all over them, something I found too funny to resist. I went to Edward's room, knocking gingerly.
"Come in?" he asked. I entered and nearly fell over backwards. Edward was standing, with his shirt off, in a fresh pair of jeans, a new shirt in his hand. It took every ounce of strength I possessed to force my eyes to lock with his.
"I was wondering if you had any suggestions as to something we could do for the rest of the day." I vehemently stared into his ochre eyes. He stared right back and I instantly wished that my red irises were gold instead.
"I usually do nothing. You might care to ask my siblings for suggestions." He shrugged. I frowned.
"Surely you do something in your free time. Come on, do you study music?" I asked motioning to the hundreds of CDs. He smirked.
"I play a few instruments."
"Like what?" I watched his gaze flicker down to my pyjama pants and a small smile tugged at his lips.
"Why are you wearing those?" he asked, instead of answering my question.
"Because I can't walk around half naked." I answered, pretending to be oblivious. "Like what?" I repeated.
"The piano, flute, some guitar. I meant why are you wearing pyjamas?"
"Because I don't see the point in wearing good clothing all the time. Besides, I thought these were cu-" I stopped, until I decided to see if I had made the previous assumption correctly. "Curly."
His head ducked as he smiled. I repressed a girlish squeal of happiness. I must've been hanging around Alice too long. He had meant to say cute. He thought my hair was cute? Did that mean he liked me, he didn't regret having me around? I forced myself to calm down.
"So the piano downstairs is yours? Could you teach me to play?" I asked. It was something to do. Besides, I'd always wanted to learn. As a human I had bad co-ordination and wouldn't have done it very well. As a vampire, perhaps my luck would change. Edward smiled and motioned for me to go.
I flew down the stairs, stopping before the beautiful instrument. I only knew how to play two songs. One I think every child knew 'Mary had a Little Lamb' and the other I had learned to play by ear, simply because I wanted to. I sat down and tried to focus on the keys. Moonlight Sonata slowly stumbled its way from my fingers. Before I knew it, Edward's hands were correcting mine. He pushed one hand against the small of my back.
"Sit up." He commanded. I did. He gently tapped my knee.
"Legs uncrossed." He commanded. I placed my feet flat on the floor. We could both hear Emmett laughing at that statement. It made me chuckle. Edward's hands moved to my shoulders cutting off my laugh.
"Shoulders back and relaxed." I instantly relaxed under his hands, feeling a remarkable warmth spread through me at his touch.
"Control your breathing, let it flow with the pace of the music." I responded as he told me to. Soon enough he sat beside me on the piano stool, watching my hands. He stilled their movement with his hands.
"This piece ranges between here," he pointed to a key close to him, "and here." He pointed to a key closer to me. "Spread your hands evenly between the two, never let one dominate the keys, or you'll find your hands colliding, or trying to reach too many keys at once." Edward was more relaxed than I had ever seen him.
We continued like that for a few hours, far past the time Carlisle got home from work. Most of the family kept dropping by, simply to listen to what we were doing. Edward and I went through various pieces, I learned the notes as he led me through, teaching me how to read the sheet music. Whenever I would make a mistake he would simply smile and encourage me to continue. By the end of the night I could play two dozen of Chopin's pieces and a few of Beethoven's. I hardly realised we had been at it for so long, when suddenly, the others were leaving for school and work.
"Tonight, we're going out Bella." Alice said.
"Okay." I shrugged. I could practice the piano or something with Edward. Oh, wait. "By we you mean Edward's leaving too?" For some reason Alice chuckled.
"Yes. He's coming to keep an eye on you."
It took a few seconds for the words to click.
"I'm going out? Not hunting, just out?" I asked with a smile. Alice nodded, practically bouncing in joy. I jumped up, squeezing her enthusiastically. Edward chuckled from behind me. He stood and began to leave and I stopped him, placing my hand on his arm.
"You knew and you didn't tell me?" I asked, glaring. He smiled and picked up one of my hands, gently touching his lips to it.
"It was my idea." And then he left. Which was just as well, because I was finding it very hard to breathe. Alice saw my expression and squealed, suddenly muttering something determinedly in what sounded like German.
She left, handing me a note.
Explore your closet. Look for something that you'd wear on a first date to a moderately expensive restaurant.
Alice
Oh dear. I opened my closet and winced immediately. The smells of fresh fabrics hit me and I quietly perused through what apparently were my clothes. What would I wear on a first date to a moderately expensive restaurant? There were a few things I needed to know, which I didn't. First; what would you wear on a first date, second; what did Alice consider 'moderately expensive'?
I weaseled my way away from jeans and found a simple, knee length black skirt. Black could be worn anywhere right? Skirts could be dressed up and down, that much Renee had taught me. A distant stab of pain shot through me at her name. So I had a skirt. Now what? I found hangers upon hangers of shirts, in varying colours, styles, sparkliness, textures and costs. I needed serious help. I skipped out of my room and knocked on Edward's door. He opened it, a book in his hand. I recognized it instantly. Wuthering Heights.
"I love that book." I bent my head around to find what part he was at, and then shook myself away from it – I had come here for a reason. "Sorry, I had a question. What does Alice consider 'moderately expensive'?"
Edward blinked in surprise.
"I didn't know she thought anything could be expensive. I didn't know she knew that there was such a thing." He chuckled. I was lost in his laughter and his deep golden eyes. "In what context is she referring?"
"An outfit for whatever we're doing tonight." I shrugged. He smiled.
"Need help with that?" he asked. I immediately sensed a possible game.
"Help? What do you think I'm incapable of choosing out an outfit by myself? For heaven's sake I haven't been able to do anything around here by myself, must you dress me now also? Did the pyjama bottoms convince you that I was somehow childish or immature in some way?" As I said the words I saw his expression turn to worry and horror instantly.
"No I wasn't inferring that at all." I could see he was trying to back-track and immediately lost my composure. The face I had put on so seriously was now replaced by a huge laugh.
"You are way too easy to mess with Edward." I giggled. He sighed, resting his head in his hands.
"Will I ever get the hang of you?"
"Learn to speak Bella." I suggested. "I learned how to speak Edward."
"Oh really?"
"Indeed. Bella is a much more complicated language however."
"I'd say. You never do what I expect you to. At times you seem more mature than even Carlisle, a man six hundred years older than yourself, and at others, you are a perfect match for Emmett's randomness and childishness. Is there no end to your complexity?" he asked, leaning on the doorframe.
"I hope not. Endless day would be incredibly boring otherwise." I said. His eyes darkened slightly as they held mine. I wondered what he really thought of me. Did he think of me as a sibling, or as something more? Did he think of me as a child he had to train, a mistake?
At times he seemed so reserved about being near me, but at others it seemed as though all he wanted to do was be near me, protect me. Despite my claim of being able to 'speak Edward' he was just as difficult to read as he claimed me to be.
"Would you like my help?" he asked. Help? Help with what? Understanding him? How had he read my mind? Then it clicked – he meant with my closet.
"Yes please. Since you know where we're going you can save me from being too over-dressed or underdressed." I pulled Edward along gently by the hand, biting my lip. Suddenly I felt very shy. When I stopped in my closet I looked back at Edward. He was staring at our entwined hands with an unreadable expression.
I dropped his hand hurriedly. Was he offended? He looked up at me and smiled slightly, a crooked smile. He, ever so gently, took my hand back in his and turned his attention to my wardrobe. A feeling of immense happiness suddenly seeped through me.
"What colours are your favourite? Pinks, purples?" he suggested.
"That would be Alice."
"Reds? Metallic?"
"Rosalie."
"Yellow? Green?"
"Esme." I laughed. He seemed to be purposefully dancing around my favourite colours.
"Blue? Black?" He laughed.
"You win!"
It took most of the hour, picking out outfits for both of us. He let me help him, once I'd been given a general price range. My shirt was a royal blue, off the shoulders, that clung to my waist, the fabric ruffling slightly. It went perfectly with the black skirt I had chosen. Edward helped me pick out a pair of shoes too; a pair of black heels that, had I been human, I would never have chosen. I still had no clue as to where we were going. I picked out an emerald green button up shirt for him, and a simple pair of black jeans. He nodded his approval. It may have seemed childish, but we continued holding hands for a long time, simply liking each other's company.
Too soon we were done with the clothes, and I challenged Edward to a thumb war. He stared at me blankly.
"You don't know what a thumb war is?"
AN - I usually hate when authors do this...
One of my stories - Shadow and the Womanizer is so underappreciated. I have been told by a few loyal fans that it's one of their favourites of all of my stories. I'm just trying to breach the hundred mark on the reviews for it. It's complete, and a damn good story, and well written (so I've been told), but I posted it too quickly.
This story too, I will slow my pace on (not quit - it ain't over yet). A good chunk of this was pre-written, and as I continually remind you all - I am super slow at typing.
Sorry about all that. I'm just a little emotional. We ran out of chocolate ice-cream, so I'm a little touchy right now.
Hope you enjoyed!