Previously…

"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.

****

The way you take my hand is just so sweet;

And that crooked smile of yours; it knocks me off my feet.

Oh I just can't get enough; how much do I need to fill me up?

It feels so good, it must be love; it's everything that I've been dreaming of.

I give up, I give in, I let go, let's begin;

'Cos no matter what I do, oh, my heart is filled with you.

-You Got Me, Colbie Caillat

Foundation of Memories

Chapter 3- Say Cheese

Bella POV

Alice beamed at me and held up her camera, snapping a picture. I shuffled uncomfortably as the flash lit the room like lightening. "Is this really necessary, Alice?" I asked.

"Of course it is!" she cried. "You have to look gorgeous for my brother, don't you?"

"I meant the photos," I said with a roll of my eyes. "Besides, Edward is my best friend; I highly doubt how I look really matters to him all that much."

Alice snapped another photo from the same bloody angle. "You'd be surprised," she said.

Alice was Edward's sister- younger than both of us by just a little under a year. Even though Alice and I were polar opposites we got on really well and she was my best friend- besides Edward, of course. If there was someone I needed to ask for advice, I would go to Alice. Actually, that was a lie. Alice came to me. She was almost psychic in the way that she knew when I needed someone to talk to that wasn't Edward. Needless to say, most of these conversations concerned Edward and the teeny little crush I had on him. I hadn't told her about either of the kisses or the nightly visits simply because those seemed more personal - something that only Edward and I knew about – but she knew about how I felt about her brother. At first, I had been embarrassed to tell her, but she had been all for me dating her brother and helped me every step of the way which was great in some ways – considering that I had the hugest crush in the world on this guy – but a little weird when you remembered that he was her brother.

"But, Alice," I whined. "He sees me every day of his life; I hardly think my outfit matters."

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter to him as such. But the way you dress certainly helps if you want to appeal to a… different part of him." She winked at me with a grin.

I cringed and blushed bright red. "Alice!" I shrieked. "He's my best friend; I don't think about him in that way!"

She shot me a look that clearly said: you're an awful liar and continued to take photos.

"But… he's your brother! Seriously, Alice." I shook my head, trying to shake those thoughts from my mind.

"Don't even try to deny it, you like him like him. As in the way where you have those kind of dreams about him and when you wake you wish they were real." Her tone implied almost as much as the sultry wink she shot me.

My blush deepened because hell yeah, she was totally right.

"Told you so," Alice said smugly.

I glanced at the clock; just ten minutes to go… as long as Edward wasn't late. Although that was like saying as long as pigs fly (I hate that cliché- if pigs ever learn to fly, a lot of shit's going to happen…). And I knew Edward well enough to know that, yeah, he was gonna leave me to face this torture for an extra… ooh, at least five minutes before he turned up with that adorable guilty expression all over his face that made my legs turn to mush.

"Blue is so your colour, Bella," Alice commented then and I looked in the mirror. Alice had dressed me in an electric blue scoop-necked top that came down to mid-thigh and 'showed enough cleavage to show off what I had but still play up the eye' (Alice's words) and a pair of black leggings. I had a midnight blue jumper to go over the top of that as well- in case I got cold. It was practical and pretty.

Alice had also spent ages applying make-up to my face. When she was putting it on, it felt like there was so much of it smothered onto my face that I half-expected to look in the mirror and see a white-faced clown staring back at me. Which was why I was a little surprised to see that the changes that the make-up had made to my face only made the subtlest of differences; a little more glow here and there, more defined eyes and high cheekbones, and a little woodsy brown daubed around my eyes to bring out the colour.

"There." Alice snapped the final photo. "That should be enough."

I rolled my eyes. "What are you actually gonna do with all of these pictures?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. But you'll thank me for taking them one day." She grinned.

I opened my mouth to shoot a sarcastic response at her, but said response was forgotten when the doorbell rang. I looked at the clock and then back at Alice. "Five minutes early?"

"Can't be him," she said with a shake of her head.

I laughed, but opened the door and peered down the stairs anyway as Charlie opened the door to reveal Edward, who was beaming like I'd never seen him, and was dressed in the jeans he only wore for special occasions and a brand-new-looking button-up black shirt. "Hey Charlie," he said evenly.

I took the bag Alice held out to me and headed down the stairs as Charlie said, "Aren't you supposed to get here for half four?"

"Yeah, I'm early. Shocker." Edward smiled and then glanced up and saw me. His smile got bigger and my lips turned up in response, just like in those cheesy chick flicks.

"Hey," I muttered, suddenly a little shy, which was just insane; why was I shy?!

He took my free hand and pulled me close for a hug. "You look gorgeous."

"I'm afraid I can't say it was all my doing," I told him, as Alice jumped lithely off of the last stair and snapped a picture of the both of us.

"Yeah, let's go." Edward shuffled uncomfortably under the lens of the camera.

Alice rolled her eyes. "You two are too similar for your own good."

"Thank you Alice," I said gesturing to my clothes, before twisting myself out of Edward's embrace and hugging Charlie. "See you later, Dad."

Dad just looked at Edward. "Take care of her."

Edward grinned. "Don't I always?"

"Sure, but I'd feel bad if I didn't give you a reminder," Charlie said. "Have fun kids."

And then Edward all but dragged me toward his Volvo. Well, I thought, here goes nothing.

***

"Can I look yet?" I asked impatiently, tugging at the scarf that covered my eyes. "This is itchy!"

"No!" Edward pulled my hand down from the scarf, his voice masking a laugh at my complaints. "It's a surprise."

I sighed. "You know I don't like surprises."

"Yes, we had that conversation this morning." His tone was like I imagined it would be with a small child.

I sighed again and fell silent, letting him lead me gently along some kind of path. It smelt… woodsy and the ground underfoot felt kind of soft, but there was the occasional snapping sound, like a branch, so I presumed we were in some kind of forest. Which was nice and all but… romantic?

Then, Edward pulled me to a stop and his hands were brushing across my neck, heading toward the scarf. He pulled my back close to his stomach and his lips swept across the back of my neck replacing his hands and making me shiver slightly. Both of us were silent as he untied the scarf, my silence a patient kind of silence and his a more nervous anticipating one.

After a moment, the scarf fell away and I blinked before taking in the sight that was before me. He had brought me to the meadow we had discovered together on a hike when we were thirteen. It was the most beautiful place in the world- perfectly round and covered in wild flowers all of different colours. In the middle was a heap of stuff.

"I thought that it would be better to do something simple…" he explained in a whisper. "And this place was the only simple one I could think of that had any kind of meaning. We can go somewhere else if you want to, though…"

"No," I whispered back. "This is perfect." Then I pointed to the heap of stuff in the middle. "But what is that?"

Edward looked up. "Um… well, it's supposed to be a tent. But… well, have you ever tried putting one up by yourself?"

I laughed and turned round in his arms. "We're camping out all night?"

He shrugged. "If you want."

I nodded. "Let's sleep under the stars," I suggested. "Screw tents- they're so overrated."

"If you want to." He still sounded a little uncertain of my reaction, even though I had just told him how perfect it was.

"Edward," I sighed. "Honestly, this is better than anything I could have thought up."

His face lit up when he heard the transparent honesty in my tone. "Really?"

"Really."

We used the tent as a ground sheet and made beds on top of it, chatting about this and that as we did so. When we were all set up, Edward produced a picnic hamper from the heap of crap he had brought along and poured us each a cup of hot chocolate with cream, marshmallows and the lot.

"Is this our dinner then?" I asked as twilight (:O Twilight! Lol) started to set in, the sun slowly sinking past the horizon. I dug through the hamper, pulling out the food Edward had packed. "Tons of marshmallows, some hot chocolate, several billion cans of squirty cream and all of this sugary crap?"

Edward rolled his eyes. "Of course not." He held his mobile phone up. "When this buzzes, it means that there's a pizza waiting back at my car. That crap's a midnight snack."

I laughed. "You really planned everything, didn't you? Although…" I tailed off.

"Although?"

I smiled at him. "I do kind of miss the car washing."

"You're impossible," he muttered, tossing me a bar of Hershey's chocolate from the hamper.

For a moment, we sat eating chocolate in peace. Edward sidled closer and I snuggled into his side, shutting my eyes and leaning against him.

"Can I ask you something?" I broke the peace and quiet first.

"Shoot."

I swallowed, instantly nervous. I took his hand in mine and started to trace circles on his palm as I said slowly, "Last night… why… what…" I sighed and tried again. "That kiss." I looked up at him nervously. "What did it mean?"

Edward stared at our entwined hands, his face carefully emotionless. Then he looked at me. "What do you want it to mean?"

I wasn't sure what to say. Did I admit to him that I wanted it to be an unspoken promise of forever? That I wanted him to have the same feelings as I did? That I loved him more than life itself? Instead I just rested my head against his chest and mumbled, "Don't dodge my question."

"You're dodging mine," he pointed out.

I fisted our hands together. "That's because I don't think I can live without you," I breathed quietly, hoping that he hadn't heard me.

Edward was silent for a long time and then the arm around me tightened and he murmured, "Bella, I…" But he was interrupted by his phone buzzing. He picked it up off the ground. "What Em?"

I could hear Emmett's booming voice from where I was sat. "Where are you?" he demanded. "I've found your car but you and Bella aren't here. Please don't tell me that this is a trick and you two are really at home bonking in bed or…"

"Emmett!" Edward interrupted, a hint of pink colouring his cheeks.

I giggled.

"No, it's not a trick," Edward said to Emmett. "The back left door is open- leave it on the back seat and I'll come get it in a second."

"Yes, Sir," Emmett said mockingly. "And Eddie?"

"What now?"

"Don't forget to be safe!" Emmett sang and then he was gone.

Edward glared at his phone and then slid it back into his pocket. "Ignore him. He…"

"Thinks that we're really 'at home bonking in bed'?" I suggested with a grin.

"You heard that?"

"Edward, Jacob probably heard him over in La Push." I regretted that the moment it was out and Edward's embarrassed expression dissolved into an irritated one at the mention of Jake's name. I bit my lip and climbed onto his lap, twisted so that I was facing him. Almost automatically, his arms came round my back and he held me up as I looked into his eyes. We stayed like that for a long time, neither of us making a move or a sound until I leant forward and rested my head on his shoulder.

Edward sighed. "I should go and get our pizza before it goes cold."

I tightened my hold on his shirt. "Don't go anywhere; I'm comfy."

He chuckled lightly in my ear and his sexy little laugh really turned me on. Damn him.

"Can I ask you something?" I repeated my words from earlier.

"Um… I guess." He was more hesitant this time; probably because my last question had been so awkward.

"Why don't you like Jacob?" I whispered without looking up. "I mean, I get why he doesn't like you, but why don't you like him?"

"You want the honest answer?" Edward asked, and it sounded like he was going to finally, finally tell me the truth.

I looked up at his face and nodded earnestly.

He flopped on to his back, making me lose my balance and fall on top of him. I slid gingerly up his body and looked at his face as he stared up at the clouds and said, "Because he's got you."

It took a moment for me to absorb that. Then I frowned. "No he doesn't. He…"

"Not like that," Edward cut me off before I could start arguing. His long, piano fingers played through the grass by his side nervously. Then he sent me an almost sarcastic smile. "He gets to hold you, Bella. Gets to go out there with you by his side."

My frown deepened. "Edward, that means nothing."

"Maybe not to you. And maybe not even to him. But what about the spectators? They sit and watch you two and all they see is the two of you. They don't think about a third wheel somewhere out there. They just think that you're his and vice versa." He sighed. "Forget it. This just sounds confusing."

"No," I said stubbornly. "What do you mean?" I sat up and looked at him from his side. "I'm not Jacob's property."

"I know that. But other people don't."

"What, you want me to write 'Not property of Jacob Black' on my forehead?" I asked sarcastically. My tone was more scathing than I meant it to be.

Edward sat up too. "No. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. We just don't get on, that's all. Let's not fight."

I shut my eyes so he couldn't use his voodoo powers on me like he always did when he made eye contact. "I don't want to fight with you," I said evenly. "I just want to know what you mean!"

Edward was silent for a moment, and then he said, "Don't open your eyes."

I heard him sorting through some of the stuff he had brought to the meadow and curiosity made me want to peek, but I did as I was told and kept my eyes shut. A moment later, I felt a slight pressure against my forehead. I frowned and opened my mouth to ask him what he was doing.

"Don't move," he instructed, so I sighed and shut my mouth again.

After a while, the pressure on my forehead went away and Edward said, "You can open your eyes now."

I opened my eyes and lifted my hand to my forehead. "What did you do?"

He smiled at me and took his phone out of his pocket. "Say cheese."

"Say what? Oh." I smiled when he held his phone up to take a photo and waited as he snapped a picture. Then I shuffled round to his side to look at the photo. He exited the screen and tossed the phone to me.

"I'm going to get the pizza," he said as he walked off.

I rolled my eyes and navigated carefully through the various apps he had on his phone. I had stolen this thing a lot so I knew what I was doing and it didn't take me long to find the most recent photo he had taken. I opened it and blinked at the picture of me on the screen. I wore my traditional cheesy grin, my eyes curious and my head cocked to the side like a puppy. Then, I zoomed into my forehead and read what Edward had written there in black marker pen: Property of Edward Cullen.

I smiled and shook my head, before sending it to my own phone and then setting it as Edward's screensaver.

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

Well… I am so sorry that I didn't update for so long. I just… how can I put it… completely fell out with this story? :L lol. No, I just wrote and wrote and wrote for ages and then I went back to read it and it just seemed absolutely shit. So this chapter's been sitting in my little folder for about 3 weeks and I've been ignoring it because I hated it so much XD But then I realised that I'm abusing it and should probably update so I opened it up and read it through and made a few alterations. Now it's not so bad but I'm bad for holding grudges so I still don't like it lol.

Huge thank you to Laura because it was her that told me to post this XD You all owe her big time ;) Well, that's presuming you like this story… if not then… um… well… why are you reading? Lol

Okay, so regarding the poll thing which is on my profile, I have come up with a new plan. It is the easter holidays here as of Thursday for me, so during those two weeks, I am going to do as much writing as I possibly can but not too much updating. Then, hopefully, I'll be relatively ahead when my Mum won't let me write a single word that doesn't count as revision and will still be able to post updates :) Not sure how that will work, but so far so good for Victim of a Teenage Nobody. Yeah, I'm like five chapters ahead or something crazy like that for that one :)

OMC! This is totally off-topic but the last episode of Glee aired here in the UK last night and wow. I miss it already. I'm scared of how much I love that program :S Seriously, the cheesiness, the happy skipping around and singing thing, Rachel and her annoyingness… Glee should be something I don't really like or at least something I'm indifferent toward… but no. It's got me addicted XD Can't wait for the second series… sigh XD

Okay… back to the story lol. What did you think of this chapter? Meadow was very predictable, I know but hey, this is Edward ;) Well, I hope you liked it more than I did…

Please tell me your thoughts! I actually love to hear your favourite quotes or parts etc. I don't know why. It's just nice to know what I'm doing right, I guess :)

Thank you all for staying with me!

Steph