Previously…

I knew that I had to do something to settle the peace between the two of them before they started going at each others throats like dogs, but God knew that I couldn't be the one to do that. That would be one of the most unfair peace-settling ever because we all knew that I was biased, and God did Edward use it to his advantage, waving me in front of Jake's face like I was his property. It must have been the equivalent to pissing on my leg and claiming me as his territory.

Yeah, the Edward that came out to play whenever Jake was around was possessive, annoying, egotistical… and, yet, still completely irresistible… Sigh.

****

Maybe I'm your Mr Right, baby,

Maybe I'm the wrong you like.

Maybe I'm the shot in the dark and you're the morning light.

Maybe this is sad but true, but baby,

Maybe you've got nothing to lose.

You could be the best of me when I'm the worst for you.

-Mr Right, A Rocket to the Moon

Foundation of Memories

Chapter 2- All's Fair in Love and War

Edward POV

I woke at the usual Sunday time of four thirty in the morning when I heard Bella's alarm blare through the wall. I smiled into my pillow and rolled onto my stomach, picturing her sleeping through it as she always did. I reached out and grabbed my mobile phone, opening a blank text and typing:

Rise and shine sleeping beauty ;)

A few seconds later, the stupidly loud alarm was shut off and my phone buzzed with a reply:

Thanks prince charming. C u at 4 x

I smiled, wondering why my ringtone could do what her alarm clock couldn't. Then, I sent Bella back a single x and slid my phone back onto my desk before shutting my eyes and rolling back on to my back.

***

"Alice!" I hollered through the door five hours later. "You've been in there for hours!"

"One hour!" she called back. "Not a plural Edward!"

"C'mon!" I whined. "Some of us have to use the bathroom too!"

"Use my en-suite," she said.

"But my razor's in this bathroom!"

"Tough luck I have to have this bath to relax me for when Jazzy gets here at eleven!"

I grinned evilly. "Al?"

"What now?"

"You know it's half ten right?"

She was quiet for a moment, and then she cursed quietly and I heard the sloshing of water that was the tell-tale sign of her finally getting out of the bath. A moment later the door opened and Alice came out, a towel wrapped round her tiny body and another round her head.

"Morning," I said brightly as she whipped past me, cussing over and over again under her breath.

She didn't stop. "Whatever."

I chuckled to myself and locked myself in the steamy bathroom, waiting for the inevitable shriek that would come when she realised that I had lied and it was in fact half past nine.

"Edward! Learn to tell the time will ya?!" she shouted a moment later.

I rolled my eyes and wrote Bella's name in the condensation in the mirror, just because I felt like it, before rubbing it off with the flat of my palm and looking at my reflection. There was a light in my green eyes that I hadn't seen before and I just knew that it was because of the kiss Bella and I had shared the night before.

I still didn't know why the heck I had initiated it, but hell I knew that I had liked it. Okay, that was the understatement of the century. I had loved it. Almost as much as I loved the girl herself. I still remembered the first day I had seen her as more than a friend. I had been twelve – you know, the age you start to get self-conscious? – and had gotten a peek of her teeny tiny, but still sexy as hell, cleavage, and my heart had jumped up into my chest. I had been disappointed when she flushed her usual deep red and stopped being so open in front of me (yeah, pun intended). Perhaps a little perverted, I know, but I was a newly hormone-riddled kid- my instant crush had been only natural. At first I had been mortified to think of my best friend in that way, but over time the embarrassment had given way to more… soft feelings. Said feelings still hadn't reached their peak.

Fortunately, Bella was a lot more open with me now. I could be lying on her bed and she'd occasionally stand there in her underwear asking my opinion on which dress would be better for her next routine. Mind you, you had to be fairly open when you were a figure skater- for God's sake have you seen some of the things they wear?! On the other hand, I had a bit of testosterone under my belt now so maybe it would be better if she wasn't so open?

Just thinking about Bella in her undies was a mistake. I tutted at myself, and flipped the shower dial to the coldest setting I could stand.

Again.

***

The rain spattered against the windscreen of my Volvo as I looked up at the centre in front of me. I pressed the little green call button and held my phone to my ear as the dialling tone rang. "Hey Eddie," Emmett said when he answered. "What can I do for ya this time?"

"Weelll…" I said, dragging the word out and choosing to ignore the nickname. "I wanted to ask you a favour."

"Shoot," Emmett said.

"See, I'm taking Bella out for valentines…"

"As usual," Emmett inserted. "Are you actually gonna tell her this time Eddie?"

I felt my face heat up as I said, "Yes, but that's beside the…"

"Holy mole!" he interrupted again, sounding genuinely shocked. "You're actually going to tell the fair maiden about your teensy, tiny, obviously completely insignificant problem?"

My brow furrowed then. "What problem? I don't have a problem."

"Edward. The teensy tiny insignificant problem being that you want to jump her bones… and maybe even have feelings for her?"

"Oh," I conceded. "That problem. No, I'm just gonna tell her that I like her. As more than a friend. Anyway, I called to ask if you'd mind delivering us some pizza?"

"Nuh-uh," Emmett refused; though I expected as much. "Don't even go there, Eddie. I don't do free trips for buddies."

"It's not free," I offered. "Twenty bucks?"

Emmett scoffed. "Puh-lease. I make more than that per delivery on a bad night."

"Twenty-five?"

"Higher."

I sighed. "Thirty?"

"Done." I could almost hear his smirk.

"Jeez you're not cheap."

Emmett laughed. "Yeah, but I bet I'm the only one who delivers to the back seat of your car- which, by the way, is a totally cliché place to pop her cherry, dude."

I tried not to let my mind wander there because when my mind went there, and trust me it did that a lot, my body reacted in the same way any teenage guy's would. To say it was embarrassing was an understatement. "Emmett! We won't be doing that! But, yeah, that's where I want the pizza."

"It'll be a meat feast, right?"

"You know me so well." I grinned. "Thanks, Em. I'll pay you next time I see you."

"You better," Emmett said. "Or I'll start to charge interest."

I laughed. "See ya."

Emmett said bye and then hung up. I slipped my phone into the pocket of my jeans with a grin; there were definitely advantages in having a friend in the pizza industry- even if he was only a delivery guy.

I climbed out of my car then, blipped it with the key ring and looked up at the centre with nervous butterflies in my stomach. As I walked through the large double doors of the sports centre, I couldn't help but remember the worst time I had come here. Every time I walked through the doors, I remembered.

It was Bella's seventeenth and she had decided against a party. However, she had begged me to come skating with her even though I had told her time and time again how much I disliked it. I hated having to tell her that when I had to see the pain in her eyes but it was way better than telling her the truth. Maybe I would one day. Just… not today.

In the weeks leading up to her birthday, she had worn me right down until I agreed to go; only after she promised that it'd be just the two of us. And I had to admit that the first bit of the skating session had been amazing. I had managed to stay on my feet and Bella was even trying to teach me some moves. She had been so pleased that I was there with her, and that day had been the first time that I had wondered if she felt the same things for me as I felt for her. The look in her eyes on that day was still one of the main reasons why I was going to tell her my real feelings tonight.

But then, everything had gone wrong. Jacob had crashed the party, claiming that he had 'just come to skate' and 'oh wow what a super-freaky coincidence'. The dog. Even then, though, Bella had spent her time patiently teaching me how to skate backwards (change your centre of gravity) smiling and encouraging, like the perfect teacher. Or sometimes her manner reminded me of a proud parent. When Bella turned her back for a split second though, Jacob stuck his foot out and tripped me up. And that was that. I made some excuse about slipping as she worriedly called my Mum to take me to A&E.

When I got the chance to confront the bastard about it though, with three frickin broken fingers no less, he just shrugged before smiling patronisingly at me and saying, "All's fair in love and war."

Since then, our already hate-filled relationship had become a battle of egos, two hormonal teenagers fighting for a girl. I mean, not like that hadn't been our relationship before Bella's birthday, but afterwards it wasn't so… unacknowledged. After the 'party' we had become very open about hating each other. The thing was, I was totally winning and we both knew it. Only that made Jacob fight harder. But that was okay; it's no fun fighting someone that forfeits.

I wandered through the foyer and then quietly pushed open the door that led to the auditorium overlooking the main rink. I tip-toed across the bleachers, so as not to alert them to my presence, and sat down on a seat near to the front. Bella was talking to Jake, waving her arms around to illustrate her point.

Jacob laughed and then grinned at her. "If that's what you wanna do," he said, his deep voice echoing off of the ice in a way that Bella's didn't.

She nodded determinedly and slid to the middle of the rink as Jacob came to the side that I was sat on. He grabbed the remote control from where it sat on the handrail and then looked up. He caught my eye and blinked in surprise for a moment; I never came to the rink when he was here- not even for shows, let alone rehearsals. Then Jacob regained his composure and smirked at me, hitting play and then turning to start their routine in sync with Bella.

The moment the music started, though, Jacob was forgotten. All I could see was Bella as she lost her usual clumsiness and became graceful in every movement she made. I couldn't move my eyes from her; she was even more beautiful when she was skating. But that was because she was happy, and everyone knows that happiness is beauty.

As I watched, I wondered how she could possibly believe that I hated to watch her do this. True, that was what I had insisted time and time again, but it was so, so far from the truth. See, the truth was that I loved skating. And the real reason that I couldn't bear to watch her perfect routines was that turning down the lessons all those years ago had been the biggest mistake of my life. Not only that, but watching Jacob Black hold her that close to him made me want to hit something. Or someone. More precisely, I wanted to hit him.

I wished more than ever that my seven-year-old self had realised that image doesn't matter. That being 'cool' isn't as important as being yourself. Because the reason that I turned down the few free lessons that the rink had offered when it had first opened was because skating was 'girly'. Bella had begged me to be her partner and I had gone to one of the free lessons, but when I turned up, I was the only guy there. And so the merciless teasing commenced.

So I bowed out of lessons, much to Bella's disappointment. She had tried to quit too, not wanting to branch out of her comfort zone and do something without me, but the teacher had told her that she had a natural talent – despite being the clumsiest person on earth when on normal ground – and so her Mum persuaded her not to give up. Which was great. Because she had found her partner and had won numerous pairs competitions, only one of which I had actually seen. I didn't go to any more after that one because when I sat there in the auditorium – one of so, so many people who were cheering them both on – all that could go through my head was: that should have been me. So I stopped going, telling her it bored me. It just astounded me that she would believe my lies so easily.

As the song ended and they slowed to a stop, Lisa the rink owner, called out to them and they skated to the edge of the rink, Bella pulling at the bright pink laces on her scruffy old boots. That made me smile; she still wore the skates I had bought her. I wasn't sure why – since she had got some much nicer ones now – but it made me beam all the same.

I watched as the little kiddies piled on to the now-empty rink, shrieking and stumbling and laughing. I wondered which was Keira, the one Bella always talked about. She had described her as the smallest of the group, but the strongest skater so I guessed that I just had to watch for a moment to find out. After a moment I had picked her out amongst the kids. My eyes zoned in on the smallest of the children and I watched her skate, seeing the talent in her carefully placed steps. She showed off a little to her friend, skipping on the toe pick and doing some dancy steps before twirling on one foot.

When Lisa came on to the ice, calling order to the party of small children, I glanced up at the window of the cafe above the rink, smiling when I saw Bella sat in the window seat watching the kiddies. I stared at her until she looked away – probably back at him – and then I got up and headed to the cafe to join them. Or at least make a few little digs at Jacob.

I walked into the cafe just as he passed her a love heart, making my eyes narrow. She dropped it in her drink and laughed as Jacob looked up and saw me. He wrinkled his nose and his light smile turned into a deep-set frown. I put my hands over Bella's eyes. "Guess who," I whispered in her ear.

She pretended to think about it. "Um… is it Brad Pitt? Oh Brad, have you finally come to rescue me?"

I laughed lightly, before taking the seat on Bella's left side. Then, I taunted Jacob until Bella gave me the silent treatment and looked back down at the rink.

Jacob and I shared a glaring contest while Bella sat under my arm glaring at her drink in annoyance. After a long moment, she turned back to me and asked, as though she couldn't resist, "Where are we even going this afternoon?"

"It's a surprise," I replied smoothly.

She scowled. "I hate surprises."

I watched her mouth as it moved around her words, her tongue darting out to lick her full bottom lip. As the urge to lean down and run my tongue over her lip as well prompted me to lift my gaze to her eyes, I couldn't help but wonder whether the kiss last night had come as a surprise to her, and, if it had, whether she had hated that particular surprise. The way she stared almost too intensely – I say almost because nothing Bella did could ever be too intense – into my eyes was like she was telling me that that had been one surprise that hadn't bothered her in the slightest. But, then again, I didn't doubt that Bella would be fine with anything I did.

Jacob sighed and Bella and I looked at him as he stood up. "See you later, Bella."

"Jake, you don't have to…"

"I don't want to sit here and watch as he monopolises your attention," he snapped, shooting a dark look at me.

I smirked. "It's not my fault I'm nicer to look at."

Bella pushed my arm off of her shoulder; her way of telling me that I had taken it too far now. "Please stay, Jake," she said.

"I'm good, thanks. Some of us have things to do anyway. See you later," he repeated.

Bella bit her lip as he started to walk off. "Thanks for the present!" she called after him.

"No problem," he called back, and then he was gone.

"Aah," I breathed, slinging my arm back across Bella's shoulders. "That's better."

She shook my arm off again. "That was rude," she scolded angrily. Her brow puckered in that way it did when she was trying to be mad. "Believe it or not, Edward, Jake is my friend."

I rolled my eyes. "He doesn't think of you as a friend."

She blushed. "I know. But he knows that I only think of him as a friend."

"Does he? Really, Bella?" I grinned at her as she shoved at my shoulder.

"You're an asshole," she muttered.

I laughed. "But that's why you love me."

Her blush deepened, and I felt my heartbeat pick up as she lifted my arm and draped it around her shoulders again.

"What's all this about a present anyway?" I wondered suddenly.

Bella gestured to the table. "Jake got me a valentines day present."

I picked up the top she had gestured to and shook it out with a scowl on my face.

"What?" Bella asked when she saw the scowl. "Don't you like it?"

"No, that's not it," I said. I would have lied and told her that blue just wasn't her colour but that would have been a crime-like thing to say. Besides, I liked her in blue very much. Unfortunately, so did 'little Eddie'.

"Then what is wrong with it?"

"Nothing, it's a nice present," I said honestly. Even though that was what was wrong with it. This was something that Bella would really like. A lot of thought had gone into it. And that was what was wrong with it. Jacob couldn't one-up me. Ever.

Bella eyed me suspiciously and then she grinned like a cat that had gotten the cream. "I know," she said triumphantly. "You just don't like that Jacob got me something nice."

"That's not it," I lied.

She laughed. "It so is!" Then she lay her head on my chest. "Don't be embarrassed; I think that's sweet."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't call me sweet, Bellie."

"Don't call me Bellie, Eddie." She looked up again and kissed my cheek, her own burning at the contact, no doubt remembering last night. "It doesn't matter, though. You'll always be first place with me."

I smiled, though that smile didn't reflect the true way my spirits soared. "And you're my first, too."

She stared at me in sarcastic amazement. "Really? I'd have thought I would be second."

"To whom?"

"Jacob, of course." She grinned as I poked her arm where my hand sat on her shoulder.

"Isn't it the other way round? I'm second to Jacob?" I muttered bitterly.

She caught my chin in her hand and looked deeply into my eyes. "How can you even think that?! You're my best friend; you don't come second to no one… except maybe for Brad Pitt," she tacked on as an afterthought. "But we all know Brad's unbeatable."

"Bet he can't kiss like I can," I said after a second. It was the first time either of us had brought it up and I had only done it because, I had to admit, I was curious of how she'd react to my forwardness, especially when she was so shy.

She blushed bright red and averted her eyes for so long that I thought that she was going to pretend she hadn't heard me. Eventually, she looked back at me and said, "I'd be willing to agree… but I'd need more experience." Her voice was thick with implications and I was thrilled that she was playing along.

I reached my hand around the back of her neck and pressed my forehead against hers. "Really? Because that can be arranged…" I touched my lips to hers and ran my fingers gently through her hair. She started to move her lips against mine but I broke the kiss before it could turn into much.

She moved her head back so she could see my face. "What's the matter?" she asked softly, sensing that something was wrong even though I hadn't shown it.

I smiled slightly. "This is weird for you, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

I kissed her lips again. "That. You feel uncomfortable when I do that, don't you?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Yes," she said slowly, and I felt my heart sink. But then she smiled and added, "But only because I'm waiting for you to do this." And then she moved closer and pressed her lips to mine. She didn't pull away like I had. She pushed closer and moved her lips fluidly and passionately against mine, gently sucking on my bottom lip and scraping her teeth along it, making me shiver. God she was good at this.

I pulled away first, cradling her face in my palm. "I have to go," I murmured.

"But you only just got here." She pouted at me, and it was so adorable that I had to grin.

"I know. I should have kept going but I was passing by and I couldn't just go on past without dropping in."

She frowned a little then. "You've never come in before. The last time you came was at my birthday and the time before that… was there even a time before that?"

"Well, I came when we were seven?"

"That doesn't count," she sighed. "Why did you come? Was it just to wind up Jacob? Because that's not very nice, I…"

I put my hand over her mouth. "I wanted to see you, okay?" I looked away, wondering whether now was a good time to admit that I had come a lot more frequently than she thought. I came almost every week and just sat in the auditorium and watched her skate; only when she was alone, though. I very rarely came when Jacob was with her because, like I said earlier, that just hurt. It had taken a while to realise that normal people weren't like this with their best friends, that the way my heart sped up when I saw her wasn't normal for best friends. It had taken a while to realise that I was completely and utterly obsessed with my best friend.

"Really?" Bella didn't look like she believed me.

I laughed. "No, I came so I could gaze into Jacob's eyes…"

She giggled.

I stroked her cheek, causing blood to shoot up and colour it in the most beautiful way. "That's what I came for."

"What?"

"To hear you giggle, to see you blush," I responded truthfully. I tore my eyes away from her then and glanced at the clock.

Bella ruffled my hair. "Go on, get outta here. I can tell you want to."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't want to go, but I do want to make this the best Valentines Day ever."

"Ooh, last year will be hard to beat," she said sarcastically.

"Hey, you told me you had fun washing the car."

"I was having fun… until you poured freezing cold water over my head."

"That was only because you sprayed the hose at me," I reminded her.

"And why did I do that Mr Cullen?" she laughed.

I frowned, pretending not to remember how I had initiated the play-fight. "Because you were bi-polar?"

"Or maybe because you swapped the clean soapy water for a bucket full of baked beans when we moved on to clean my brand new car?"

I laughed, choosing not to comment on the 'brand new' thing; nobody could call her Chevy new, but she didn't like any hating on her truck. "Wasn't that April first?"

"Would have been a lot more appropriate for April fools day, but, no, Edward, it was Valentines Day."

"Well, today will be better than that, I promise," I told her. I stood up and bent over her to give her a chaste kiss. "I'll be at yours in four hours."

"I'll be there," she said with a smile, squeezing my hand tightly over the back of her chair before letting it go fairly reluctantly. "Four thirty!" she called after me as I walked off. "Don't be late!"

I grinned back at her, walking backwards out of the cafe. "I won't be." I blew her a kiss. "See you later!" Then I walked right into an elderly couple. "I am so sorry…" I started to say as they shot me filthy looks and walked on by. I sighed and glanced back at Bella but she was laughing too much to see my wave. I smiled, and headed back to my car.

Once I was in the drivers' seat, I pulled the instructions out of the glove box and read them studiously. Maybe I should call Bella and warn her that I might be late after all; it seemed putting up a tent would be harder than it seemed.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Guesses as to Edward's chosen location ;)

I hope you guys liked the little insight into Eddie's mind :D I actually adore writing this Edward so it's a shame that his mind'll be kind of... different soon :S Ah, well, he'll be the same guy just minus the memories ;)

:O Thank you all so much for all of the reviews guys! Almost 100 for the first chapter- that's totally awesome :D

OMC I'm super super excited- first Eclipse trailer any day now!!!! :D And NM DVD in exactly two weeks :D:D:D

Again, I have nothing more to say so… please review? Any fave lines this time round? I know I have a few hahaha

Thank you :)

Steph