Stephenie Meyer - A God? Apparently not…but she created the Twilight Universe.
Three sheets to the wind--Very drunk.
Edward POV.
"I'm so full!" Bella laughed as she gave her belly a pat. Alice and Rosalie agreed with her as Emmett stretched around, from the table to reach the drinks from the bar beside our table.
"Now do you see the advantages of our table? I mean, sure, yours has the view, but ours has a bar!" Emmett declared as he passed everyone a shot glass but warned them not to drink it yet.
"What's this?" I asked as I sniffed the liquid within the glass. It smelled like liquorish and I knew that I'd had it before. "Is this Sambuca?" I asked and was given my answer as Emmett brought forth a box of matches.
He gave us the orders quickly and then began to light each of the shot glasses. I blew out the blue flame that burned on top of the alcohol and then threw the substance down my throat. I spluttered and coughed due to the burning sensation from the strong alcohol.
"Wow…what was that?" Bella asked from beside me as she twirled her empty shot glass in her hand.
"A flaming sambuca" Jasper informed her as he sat back in his chair.
I could clearly feel the effect of tonight's heavy drinking. I felt light-headed and already and my body and my brain were weakening their usual perfect correspondence.
After another round of flaming sambucas, Rosalie asked, "Do you guys want to get out of here?" She pushed back her chair and stood up onto wobbly legs.
A chorus of agreements ensued around us, and soon, we were making our way down the hallway, neither of us knowing where we were headed until Emmett called out excitedly, "Ship Fates, Fun Mactory!"
I had no idea what he was talking about, so I turned my attention back to Bella who had her arm around my waist, walking silently beside me. "How's my girlfriend?" I whispered with a smile at that word, as I ran a hand over the back of her neck.
"Your girlfriend is slightly drunk!" she admitted as she smacked a hand to her forehead. "Ow…shouldn't have done that!" she laughed as she rested her head on my shoulder.
"Quick!" Rosalie popped her head from around the corner ahead of us excitedly with a mischievous look on her face. She quickly waved her arms around, beckoning us to follow, before she disappeared around the corner after Emmett.
"Come on Jazz!" Alice laughed as she pulled him behind her which Bella imitated by pulling me.
Once we'd rounded the corner, I smiled and clumsily high-5'ed Jasper as I now understood Emmett's intentions. He'd managed to open the door of the children's play area and was currently running ragged around the place with Rosalie at the sidelines laughing at him.
I pulled Bella behind me and ran with her to the ball pool. I let go of her hand and jumped in. "Edward! Aren't you supposed to take your shoes off?" Bella asked as she looked down at me with wary, drunk eyes.
"Bella…there's no one here to tell us off…but if it makes you feel any better, then go ahead…" I told her as I pushed myself deeper into the sea of coloured balls.
"Edward…" I turned around at Bella's nervous voice as she stood bare footed at the edge of the pool, holding her hands out to me as she bit her lower lip. Even with eyes that were finding it hard to focus, I could see just how adorable Bella looked, waiting for me to come back for her.
I waded back to her through the annoying toy balls and wrapped my arms around her waist before I pulled her down to me. "Scared of the ball pool?" I teased as kissed along her neck.
"You know I can't swim well" she giggled as she placed her hands on my shoulders and gave me a shove back. I held even tighter to her waist, pulling her down with me as I fell, and landed on my back, with the little colourful, innocent looking balls digging into my back.
"That plan backfired didn't it?" I laughed as she wiggled about on me.
"Nope, it went to plan actually…" My heart sped up erratically as she smirked at me before her lips crashed to mine. I felt her hands running beneath my shirt, up my chest as she opened her mouth to meet my tongue with hers. One of my hands wrapped around her waist, holding her firmly to me while the other stole around to her thigh. I gave it a squeeze before I grabbed hold of it more securely and hitched it up to my hip. We both groaned as Bella brushed her hips closer to mine, smiling against my lips, she did it once again.
"Bella…" I moaned against her lips as her hands continued to travel over my chest, pinching and stroking while the hand I had on her thigh ran up and down it rhythmically.
Somehow, I managed to turn us over so I was on top of her. The plastic balls, scuttled about at our movement, further burying us beneath them.
As I kissed and sucked my way down the column of her neck, I couldn't help it, I gave her neck a small bite which caused Bella to gasp beneath me. I brought my lips back to hers as her hands pulled from my shirt and sunk into my hair, pulling me tightly to her.
Instinctively I ground my hips to hers, marvelling in the sound of my name crossing her lips in a moan. "Edward…stop…we can't…" Bella gasped as she panted for breath.
"I know…" I answered in a sigh as I gave her nose a quick peck and pulled myself up to sit beside her. I gave her arms a pull, so she could sit up as well instead of lying beside me half buried. I chastised myself for letting it go on for so long. I knew that nothing could happen between us, we had only just been going out for a day and if I wanted this relationship to work, I would make sure that we would take it slow and do everything right.
"Sorry…" she whispered sounding breathless as she broke the silence between us.
"Don't be" I whispered, as I shuffled over to her and pulled her tight against my heaving chest.
"I'm stuck!!" Emmett's voice erupted around the almost empty play area, soon followed by Alice and Rosalie's giggles and a groan from Jasper.
"Do you think that we should go and help him?" Bella asked beside me as she craned her neck in an attempt to see the spectacle that was Emmett.
"Better had…if only to laugh at him" I sighed, damning Emmett from braking Bella and me from our comfortable silence together.
I stood up as gracefully as I could as the colourful balls scuttled around me. I held out my hand to Bella, knowing that this could be a little harder for her. "My lady" I gave her a mock bow as I held out my hand to her. Her laughter sounded like wind chimes ringing around my ears as she took hold of my hand and pulled herself up.
I climbed out of the ball pool and then pulled Bella out behind me. Once she'd put her shoes back on, we followed the commotion at the other end of the room. "Ohhh God…is he stuck in a tunnel?" I cringed as we drew nearer, and sure enough, he was.
He'd somehow managed to get through most of the blue child sized tunnel, but had ground to a halt within inches from the end of the tunnel. His drunk, panicked voice reverberated within the tunnel itself and around the desolate play area while Rosalie tugged at one of his arms and Jasper the other.
"Emmett…the last time you did this, you were eighteen, I would have thought that you'd learnt your lesson by now!" Jasper scolded as he continued to tug.
"Dude, like I said last time, it seemed like a good idea as the time!" Emmett retorted in his defence as he tried to wiggle about in the tunnel.
I gave out a hearty sigh as Bella moved from my side to join Alice, who was watching the scene a small distance away as she sat at the bottom of a long slide. "Rosalie, why don't you let Jasper and I get him out?" I offered as I stood beside Jasper.
"Sure…" she whispered back to me before she gave Emmett a kiss on his nose and joined Alice and Bella at the slide.
"Right…Emmett…you're going to have to relax, and then Edward and I will pull you out." Jasper ordered before he grabbed hold of Emmett's left arm and I his right. "On the count of three, we pull…" Jasper informed me with two winks of his eye. I understood his silent message, especially as I remembered what happened last time.
"Okay, relax Emmett…" Jasper began as I secured my grip on Emmett's arm. "One…two…" on the count of two, Jasper and I tugged sharply, pulling Emmett out of the tunnel, onto the squishy floor.
"Hey! You said on three!" Emmett protested as he sat himself up.
"And what did you do last time? When we got to three, you tensed up and we almost dislocated your shoulders!" I half shouted back at him before I headed towards Bella, who I knew would calm me down with one simple touch.
"Thanks wouldn't go amiss!" Jasper prompted Emmett from behind me.
"Thank you Edward…thank you Jasper" Emmett quickly replied obediently. I calmed a little at his thanks. I calmed completely once Bella stood and took hold of my hand, pulling me toward a climbing frame.
"You'll have to help me, but I want to sit up there…" Bella declared as she pointed to a part in the obstacle where ropes had been twined together to create a sort of springy mesh so children could climb up it from one level, to the next. I pulled her up behind me, taking care that she didn't slip until we reached the ropes. I lay back on the ropes which had a slight inclination and Bella lay beside me.
On the other side of the room, Bella and I could clearly see Jasper and Alice whooshing down the slide while Rosalie watched Emmett play in the sand pit, passing him buckets whenever he asked for one.
"This has been fun" Bella muttered as she snuggled into my chest. I pulled her tighter to me and voiced an agreement.
"Did you know about the Vintage night tomorrow?" Bella asked as she played with a button of my shirt.
"Mmmm-hmmm" I replied inarticulately.
"When did you find out?" She asked, looking up at me.
"Yesterday, Tanya told us." I replied as I played with a lock of her soft hair.
"Edward…you haven't got a partner for tomorrow, have you?" She asked me with worry in her voice as she lowered her head back to my chest.
"As a matter of fact, yes I do." I replied, already knowing where this conversation would go.
"Ohhh…well…who is she?" I smiled at the sound of jealousy in her voice as she asked the sort of foolish question I had been expecting.
"I'll give you a clue…she's in my arms right now and in my thoughts all day…" I whispered as I pulled my arms around her tighter.
She quickly looked up to my face once I'd finished speaking. The delighted look on her face was breathtaking as her eyes glistened, locking with mine. "I've given up on trying to get you out of my head as well…" she smiled before she kissed my neck and resumed with playing with the button of my shirt.
"What? You mean you've tried to get me out of your head!?" I faked an appalled voice before I clapped a hand to my mouth just for an added effect. Her laughter shook through her body to mine at my act.
After a few minutes of silence from Bella and me, laughter from Jasper and Alice and banter between Rosalie and Emmett, a loud, unwelcome voice came from the main doorway, startling us all. "Well…well…well…what have we here then?" Instinctively, I rolled on top of Bella to hide her from the person at the door.
"Shhh…keep quiet…they might not see us…" I whispered in Bella's ear as silence descended the room. She didn't answer me, but she wrapped her arms around my waist, sighing quietly in my ear.
"Tanya?" Emmett asked wearily from the sand pit.
"Yep, it's me guys…I just thought that you might want to get back to your rooms now, it's getting late, or early…depends how you look at it…" Tanya's speculative voice came from the doorway as I pulled back from Bella.
"Sorry…" I smiled down at her, embarrassed at the way I practically pounced on her.
"Don't be…you were quite sweet actually, protecting me like that" she grinned back as she sat up.
"Maybe I'll protect you more often then?" I joked as I stood up and proceeded to climb back down to the ground, leading Bella slowly behind me.
"How did you know we were here?" Jasper asked as he walked ahead of us to the door, carrying Alice on his back.
"I looked everywhere else and then I remembered the story you told me last year about Emmett getting stuck in a playpen when he was younger…" she answered with a shrug as she closed the door behind us and locked it.
"Did the same again about an hour ago…" Emmett stated, throwing Tanya a triumphant grin as he wrapped an arm around Rosalie's shoulder.
"Figures…" Tanya laughed as she shook her head in disbelief.
"Tanya, did you get any dresses sorted for us?" Alice asked from Jaspers back as we stepped into the elevator.
"I did…" she stated with a triumphant smile. "I'll bring them up at 6pm, the food and the band start at 7.30." Tanya informed us as we reached our floor.
The girls thanked her with regards to the dresses as we stepped out of the elevator, leaving Tanya alone to descend. "I'll see you in the morning then, boyfriend…" Bella added with a smile as she squeezed my hand.
Reaching our doors, I held her face between my hands and leant down and whispered against her lips, "Wild horses couldn't keep me away." After a tender kiss, I headed into my room once I'd made sure that Bella had gone in.
"Another chapter?" I hear you ask… Why yes, yes it is! "You want me to review the chapter?" I hear you ask…Why yes, yes I do!
I want to say a big well done to Wales for winning the Triple Crown at rugby today! I watched some of the match at work…they were ace! We just need to beat France next week to win the Grand Slam!! (Sorry…I love my rugby!! ;)