The drive to the neighborhood is quiet, and you guess maybe he's introverted, so you don't push small talk. You lay back and turn the volume up a little to ease the atmosphere.
You peek from the corner of your eye, searching any sign on his face that could say how is he feeling, but you find that he has confusion written all over him.
"Is there something wrong?" you ask. He seems startled, once again, as if he was very concentrated on his confusion. He smiles politely, after a while, and answers without taking the sight from the road.
"In all honesty, I was just trying to guess what you were thinking. But I can't... guess right, for some reason."

You make him a face and laugh. "Then you might be a very good reader if this is unusual to you... not being able to understand strangers' thoughts."
He laughs and shrugs.
"I was thinking about our interview a few moments ago... but when we're alone, you are very quiet."
He laughs again, but this time, nervously.

"I... don't know. In all honesty, I really like you for some reason, but my social skills aren't the best ones. I felt comfortable asking about yourself around others, but when we're alone, I guess I'm just thinking about not making a fool out of myself."
You laugh and he makes a face, as if he felt he was making a fool of himself this time.
His grip hardens on the steering wheel and it looks like he wants to bury himself on the ground.
"It's ok," you say "then I'll just have to let you know all about me, so you can see for yourself than if you're around me, you will never be the fool."
He laughs and his grip relaxes.
"I like you too, by the way" you say, effortlessly, and he smiles.

You arrive to the Cullen residency. Dr. Cullen opens the door, his wife next to him.
They both greet you, and present themselves as Carlisle and Esme.
"Nice to meet you, Bella." Esme greets. "Are you hungry? Alice called and said you were coming over so we made a portion extra of lasagna."
You feel somehow shy for the gesture, but accept. Edward says he's not hungry, and his parents just ate.
The rest of his siblings haven't arrived, so you eat alone in the dining room.
Edward and Esme join you, but Carlisle leaves for an emergency in the hospital.

After the meal, Edward takes you to a tour around the house. It's spacey but cozy, and he takes you to a room upstairs. He says its his room, but there's a nice couch instead of a bed. The walls are piled in books and music albums.
You feel impressed, he suddenly seems very interesting. Not everyone is very passionate about any hobby, they just say they like music, but only listen to what's on the radio.
You walk downstairs, to the living room, where you find an old piano.
At the end of the living room, you see a chimney. Edward walks towards it. "Are you cold?" he asks you.
You feel somewhat chilly, but not very much. You nod and he turns on the fire with a twist of a handle stick.
He walks to the piano and sits in front of it. His backs straightens, and you see how the light of the fireplace marks the nerves on his hand as he lifts the cover of the keys. You follow their graceful movements, and you see that one of them pats the space next to him.
Your eyes return to his face, and he notices your mind was elsewhere.
You sit next to him, and feel the heat of the chimney warm your body, but you feel warm on your chest as well, as soon as he starts playing.

You feel comfortable, at peace. Like you could be yourself around him anytime, and you start to wonder if you can be yourself. To let go of all of the social conventions and just treat him like you know him already. You have never treated anyone like this, but you know people like it when you're honest, and you believe that's the only way to make real friends.
You give up and lay your head on his arm.
You feel like he stiffens for a second or two, but then he relaxes, and continues playing.
"I hope you don't mind. I just feel so comfortable right now." You say, hoping it's ok with him.
He remains silent for a few minutes, and you start to wonder if you should lift your head up, but he finally smiles and breaks the silence.
"It's fine... I'm glad you did it. I feel less nervous now, somehow."

You stay like this for a while; you listening to the music, with your head on his arm, and him playing.
You feel very relaxed, and then you start to fall asleep.

"Hey brother" you hear. It sounds like Alice's voice. Edward shushes her, gently.
"Sorry we're late, how was your evening?"

You want to open your eyes and greet Alice and the rest of the Cullens, but you're somewhat curious for what Edward has to say.
"It was good. I played some music for her... She requested!" He answered. He panicked at the last words, as if she had made a face or something, mocking him.
You open your eyes, and you see the Cullens around you. You smile at them, and sit up... you were lying on Edward's lap, both on the couch. "I'm sorry" you say, while looking around. It's dark, and you think about Charlie, but you relax as soon as you remember that you only live next door.
Edward rubs your back, as Alice sits next to you. You stand up, and take out your phone. 3 missed calls, all from Charlie. Callback.

Tooooot, toooot.

"Bella? It's late, are you at the Cullens? I'm very sorry, I haven't been able to leave the station..."
"Dad! It's okay" You answer. "I just want to know... are you coming back soon? As you said, it's late."
"Uhm... something just came up... I'm sorry..."
You groan
"Dad Are you serious? Can't I just go to the station and pick up the key set?"

So you do. Edward takes you, with alice and jasper in the backseat.

Charlie gives you and the rest of the cullens a big apologetic face, while giving you the keys.
They leave you at your house, and wish you good night, while you enter your house to sleep.

-
The next weeks passed way too fast.
The cullens turned out to be your best friends on the next course of days.
And as Angela said, the Cullen table widened, as more people sat with you.

One sunny morning, you ran downstairs to the smell of coffee.
"Morning dad!" you greet Charlie.
"Hey, Bells! Have you seen how sunny the day is?"

You open the door, excited to see the sun, but also, there's a big orange truck on the entrance.
"It's your homecoming present, remember? I told you I bought you a car." You hear Charlie from behind you.t
Somehow, you like this truck. Its heavy, but its yours.
You go next door to show off your new truck, that compared with all of their cars, your truck is garbage... but you still want to share the news with them.
You stand on the entrance, and find an envelope that reads Bella, taped on the door.
You take it and read it.
"Dear Bella,
As you may notice, the day today is beautiful, so we went hiking upriver. We might take long, sorry for the short notice. See you in two days!
Love,
The Cullens"

You feel a little upset, so you walk back home to eat breakfast and take your first ride to school on your own car.

In lunchtime, Angela, Mike, Ben and you sit together and plan a movie together.
Jessica, a girl from Trigonometry class started sitting with you a couple of weeks ago, and she seems nice, but for some reason, today she seems disappointed.

"Where are your neighbors?" She asks. You understands that she might be the only person who sits with you because she wants to be near them.

"I don't know" You shrug. Might as well you play it off. "This morning I knocked on their door and there was a letter. They said they went camping."
"Camping? Did they say when were they coming back?" Jessica asked. You start to feel annoyed for some reason, but since you can't really say why, you try to act normal.
"Two days... so they wrote."
"Alright! Two days!" Interrupted Mike. "So... about the movie. How about we go today? A good call for friday night plans!"

"That's not fair" said Jessica "I'll be alone! Angela will go with Ben, Mike with Bella... if Edward was here, we could be even."
Your blood boiled at the sound of his name on her skinny, wide, ugly gossipy lips.
You knew it. She was after Edward. Not that it's any of your business, but he's your neighbor, isn't he? She's just friends with you so she can get to him, and that's a mean way to treat people.
But you shouldn't go crazy at this... he's your friend. You two are just friends.
As far as you know, she could try all she wanted, he wasn't going to ask her out.
"Don't be silly, Jessica, we can share Mike." You say, to hide your anger "Besides, it's not a date, it's a bunch of friends going out to the movies. When he comes back to school, you can ask him out."

Jessica's face brightens. "Sure? I mean... you're ok with it?"
Uh oh... you didn't think this was going far. But everyone's staring at you, so you must answer quickly.
"Sure..."

At the movies, all of you make line to buy the tickets. Jessica is behind you and she can't. stop. talking.

She's just babbling away about how cute a couple would she and Edward make. How gorgeous Edward is, how stylish his clothes are, how mysterious he seemed, how would it be like if Edward held her hand...
"...and have you seen Edward's shoe size?"

"Jessica!" you cracked. "Stop."
Jessica's face drops. You're next in line.
You pay your ticket and follow the rest of the group.

Jessica sticks with Angela, leaving Ben out to mingle with the singles.
"So... what does she think she's doing?" asks Ben, while in line for popcorn. He points with his head towards Jessica, who's talking with Angela, more like gossiping.
"I think she's mad because apparently someone has feelings for her man" says Mike, making eye contact with you.

"Edward isn't her man! And I don't have feelings for him! He happens to be one of my best friends and she was talking about his shoe size. As if he wasn't anything more than physical appearance."

Ben giggles "good thing you don't feel anything for him."
"Oh, shut up." You say as you give him a friendly punch. He laughs and goes back to reclaim his place with Angela.
There's an awkward silence between Mike and you.
"May I... pay for your popcorn?" he asks.
"Only if I can pay for your soda" you answer.
"Why?"
"To be fair, I guess?"
Mike stays quiet for a second or two, with his hands in his pockets.
"I was trying to turn this into a date."

Suddenly, you hear a big ruckus, like a wall cracked, coming from the men's restroom.
Employees run towards the restroom, and you turn to mike, paying no more interest. Maybe it's the old pipes of the building or something.

"Mike, if you wanted me to go out with you, you should've asked before us being here. You are cornering me."

Angela, Ben and Jessica leave the line, after buying their popcorn and drinks. Mike's next in line.

"So, date or no date?" he says, pressuring you, while he was pressured by the cashier and the rest of the line.
You don't want to hurt his feelings, but you don't see him as anything more.
"I'll buy my own things, Mike"
His face turns confused. You can already hear his thoughts.
She didn't accept me paying for her things, but she didn't say 'no date', either.

Ugh... boys.

You and your friends enter the show room and take your places.
Ben, Angela, Mike, You and... an empty spot?
"Where's Jessica?" you ask.
"She said she wanted to pee" Ben replies.

The movie hasn't started yet, so you eat your popcorn as mike starts making uncomfortable small talk. Why couldn't everyone be like Edward? Just shut up if you don't know what to say. He wouldn't be making small talk, he would remain silent. But lately he has a lot to talk about. He would be talking about his favorite orquesta directors, and how they each have a different feeling to the same piece, or whatever. He would...

"Hey Bella" a familiar voice greets you.
"Look who I found on the way to the ladies room" brags Jessica, with her arms around Edward's arm.

What the hell?

"Hey..." you greet, without standing up from your seat. You try to look him to his face, like you usually do, but this time it's difficult.
You feel angry, and you should be. He's your friend, and Jessica's claiming him out of nowhere. You bet that IF something would happen between them (SUPER emphasizing IF), she wouldn't sit with you at lunch anymore, she would want to take him away. And you wouldn't be able to visit the cullens freely anymore.
You could only be with the rest of the family, and that's ok, but whenever you didn't feel like talking, and you feel down, you couldn't count with Edward anymore. Because she'd be there, or she'd put a restraining order on you over him.

Play it cool, play it cool.

"Weren't you camping with your family?" You ask him, trying to look to his face.
"Uhm... yes. But Alice checked the weather and tonight's going to rain. So we came back, and the guys wanted to see a movie. Jessica said you were here so I came to say hi."
"Uhm Edward... I thought you wanted to catch the movie with me." Jessica 'hinted'.
Edward's brow lifted.
"Why?"

God damn it. How could anyone be angry at him? He was so clueless, and obviously, not interested in Jessica.
You feel a lot of joy when you see Jessica's implosion, her face tries to remain calm, but you see in her eyes how hysterical she feels.

But then... Mike's hand is over yours. "We were on a double date and Jessica was free, you could be her date." says stupid Mike Newton. You pull your hand fast from under his.
"What?" you manage to say.

"Oh..." Edward mumbles.
"No... we're not on a double date" you say, staring at Mike. "If you're going to be like this, I'd rather go and say hi to the rest of the Cullens." You stand up and walk past Jessica and Edward, then you turn to him "You can stay here with Jessica and be part of this double date thing if you want, I'm out" You storm out with your popcorn in hand. You know you look stupid, but you're too angry to care.

You go to your car, and sit on the back of your truck, while you eat your popcorn, angrily.
Not at all of them, but Jessica and Mike ruined your night. And yes, you know that you shouldn't have let them get to your nerves... but if Mike was so eager to turn that fun, friendly night into a date, maybe it was the right thing to leave.

"Hey" Edward says. You jump at the sudden sound of his voice.
After your heart calms down a bit, you greet him back. "Hey"
Edward jumps in, and sits next to you.
"I followed the smell of burned hair, and it lead me hear. What are you thinking so hard about?"
You giggle and then sigh, then offer him some popcorn. He starts eating, with difficulty, as he hated them.
"Jessica wants to date you." You say.

You both remain silent for a couple of seconds, which is driving you crazy, until he replies.
"What should I do?"
"What do you want to do?"
"I don't know... I don't like her that way."
"Do you like her in any way?"
"Not really..."
"So why wouldn't you know what to do?"

He doubts for a moment, then he answers.
"Because I wanted to know what was that you wanted me to do."

Your heart starts pounding.
"Why?"
"I don't know. I think I care way too much about what you have to say, or how you feel."

You smile and lay your head on his arm, like you always do, but this time, his arm is around you and you lay on his chest.
"I don't want you to go out with her." you say, smiling.
He smiles back.
"I wont, then. I mean... it's going to be hard, because she's irresistible and all that."
You give him a slight punch and he laughs.

"shall we leave?" He asks.
"What about your family?"
"Ehrm... they're not here. Actually, they're home. I lied. I knew you were here. I wanted to say hi to you."
"You have my number, weirdo. You could have called"
"What's the fun in that?"

You text Angela and say that Edward and you are leaving.