A/N: Hiya. Here's my update for today!
Unfortunately, not enough of you reviewed to make me seriously try to stretch out the story to five chapters. I hate having to disappoint people, but I was a little sad myself. I got more than last time, but not enough to seriously motivate me. So I'll just write the chapters as they come to me, and if it happens to exceed four chapters, then great. I, however, will not purposely try to make it longer. I will write it as I originally planned, and who knows, it might stretch longer than I thought.
Okay, so keep reviewing! I'll update again tomorrow unless something happens that prevents me from doing so.
On with Chapter TWENTY!!! Holy crap, we're in the twenties now…
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
? POV
I smiled as I watched the brunette laugh and dance, seeming so at ease with the world. I turned around and started walking back towards my car, the smile still on my face. As I drove away, all I could think was one triumphant thought.
Check mate.
Chapter 20: Photograph – BPOV
The next two weeks I probably remembered to be a couple of the best of my life.
Yes, I'm being nostalgic because that's exactly what it was.
Being with Edward wasn't forced or awkward in the least. You'd think it would be since we had been best friends for the longest time and on top of that, we hadn't been on the best of terms prior to our 'hooking up', as Emmett so bluntly put it. But it was the opposite.
Edward had to be the sweetest boyfriend a girl could have asked for. His class ended before mine, so he always waited outside the lecture hall for me, tenderly holding my hand in his or wrapping his arm around my waist. I, of course, never objected. I loved it. Whenever he had a free moment, Edward wanted to spend it with me. We didn't have to be doing anything exciting in particular. Just sitting with each other was enough.
I knew it was completely ridiculous to feel so strongly about some guy I had only been dating for two weeks, but it was so much more than that. I had been in love with Edward far before I even realized it. I had tried to get him, and failed, in the past. Now that I finally had him, it felt like this was truly how it meant to be between us.
My happiness not only affected me. Alice couldn't get enough of 'Happy Bella'. Although it was true, I was still slightly offended when she mentioned how much more fun and free I was than 'Emo Bella'.
Was I really that bad before?
"Well, maybe not to the point where you're 'emo'," Alice said when I asked her. "But you definitely were sad and reserved. Being around you just made me, and everyone else I'm sure, want to wipe off that serious face and replace it with a smile."
"I smiled," I said, defiant.
"Yeah, but not enough. You always wanted to be alone so much, B. Reading or doing homework. You didn't really talk, not the way we used to. It's great that you and Edward are together now since I can tell you're so much better emotionally this way. He's healthy for you."
"That's romantic," I said sarcastically. I was being a little mean, but I really didn't enjoy hearing about how I was before. I wanted to leave it all behind. "Being with Edward because it's healthy."
"Bella, you know what I mean," Alice said in exasperation, as if I was a small child. "And you also know that's not the only reason you guys are together." Her eyes gleamed. "Edward looks and acts happier too. I know my brother and I can tell when he is genuinely happy, and he is with you. He was never like this with Tanya. He really loves you."
I felt a smile tugging at my lips. It didn't matter how often I heard Edward or someone else say that he loved me; it was unbelievable every time. I couldn't believe that someone as perfect as Edward, who had rejected me in the past, loved me. It seemed so… unfathomable, that I felt I was living in a dream.
Of course, a tiny nagging voice in the back of my mind always kept warning me that this was dangerous and that I'd pay for the consequences sooner or later. But I ignored it. Nothing bad had happened as of yet, and as long as no one but Edward and I knew about Phil, it would remain that way.
I tapped the end of my pencil on my paper as I sat in the lecture hall. The professor was droning on and on. I must have tuned out at one point for the next thing I knew, everyone was getting out of their seats and Max was lightly shaking my shoulder.
"Bella? It's time to leave. Class is over," she said. I jumped slightly and rose from my seat, smiling sheepishly at her.
"Sorry. Thanks," I said. Gathering my things, I followed Max and Fang out of the room. As usual, Edward was waiting outside for me. He smiled my favourite lop-sided grin when he saw me and held out his hand for mine.
Max winked at me and walked away hand-in-hand with Fang, going to join some strawberry blonde pale guy, that Max told me was her brother.
A small sigh of satisfaction escaped my lips as Edward's finger intertwined with mine. Edward smiled again and leaned down, pressing our lips together in a deep, but brief kiss. As he pulled away, I felt breathless. That was another thing I would never get used to; his kisses, his taste.
As we walked away I got a strange prickly feeling, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I couldn't help but feel some sort of thing on me. It wasn't material, but more like a force.
Okay, that sounded stupid. Use the Force, Luke, I thought dryly.
But… it wouldn't go away. I turned my head to look over my shoulder. Nothing but a bunch of college students walking by were there. Strange…
"Something wrong?" Edward asked as I turned my head forward again, my eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement. I looked up at his curious face and once again, just like all the other times, my insecurities and worries melted away. It was probably nothing. I was being unnecessarily paranoid. As long as we both kept it a secret, there was no need to worry.
"No," I smiled up at him. "Nothing's wrong."
? POV
I took a step back, remaining hidden in the shadows of the building.
Perfect.
* * *
BPOV
Another week went by, just as wonderfully as the other two before it.
I'd like to say that after that weird little episode after class a week ago never repeated itself, but it did. Almost everyday now, I felt that tingly sensation. It made me nervous and automatically put me on guard. I couldn't explain it. All I knew was that my body's reaction to this was a natural warning bell, telling me to be careful, but I wasn't listening.
I kept reassuring myself that it was nothing, but something else inside me knew that it wasn't. But… I just couldn't bring myself to do anything about it. Everything's been fine so far.
I sat quietly with Edward in my dorm room, reading. We were sitting on my bed, me between his legs, my back against his chest. His arms were around my waist as he leaned his own back against the headboard. Edward's head was bent down as his mouth and nose were pressed against the area where my shoulder attached to my neck. He was simply breathing in and out deeply, as if he were asleep. But I knew he wasn't.
This was simply as we were at times. Just being each other's presence was satisfying enough.
As I casually turned the page of Mansfield Park, I felt Edward lightly brushing his lips back and forth against the back of my neck, like a feather.
"Edward, stop," I warned. I didn't like being distracted while reading.
"Stop what, love?" he asked slyly, still doing his little lip movements the whole time. I felt a tinge of warmth at his pet name for me. 'Love'. The first time I heard it, I was a little surprised and felt like jumping him. I wasn't even sure why. I loved it though.
"That."
"What?"
"You know what."
"Do I?"
"Yes, you do."
I turned around and poked Edward's chest with my finger. He just caught my finger, laughing lightly and pulling my hand so my arm was around him.
"You don't play fair," I accused. He knew he was my greatest distraction.
"All's fair in love and war," he replied, cheekily. I scrunched up my nose at him in mock disgust. He only laughed again and leaned down to kiss me.
Our kisses were no longer the chaste, yet intense, kisses of before. They had gotten deeper… and longer. They were still intense, actually they were more so. Hey, I certainly wasn't complaining. I wrapped my arms around his neck as his own arms tightened around my waist, deepening the kiss even more. I moaned softly as I felt his tongue slide across my lower lip. I was about to open and grant him entrance, until…
There was knock on the door and a booming, "HEY KIDS, YOU BETTER HAVE YOUR CLOTHES ON 'CAUSE WE'RE A-COMING IN!"
Edward and I groaned simultaneously as I turned back around in his arms, positioning myself as I was before Edward and I were, distracting each other. "You can come in, Emmett," I said in a bored voice. Why is it that we were always interrupted?
The door opened and Emmett charged in, a giggling Alice on his back. Rosalie and Jasper trailing in after them. Emmett turned around once he reached my bed and dropped Alice down with a soft thud as she hit the end of the bed.
"Look what Mom and Dad set us!" Alice said, giddy with excitement. It was only then did I realize she was holding something in her hands. It was a box big enough to hold several books.
"What?" Edward asked curiously, looking curiously at the box from over my shoulder.
"All our old photo albums!" Alice squealed, whipping open the box and taking out about 6 different albums, all with different coloured covers. "They found them while they were clearing out some closets and thought we might want to look at them again." I reached over and picked up an album with a purple cover. Flipping it open, the first thing I saw was an adorable picture of Edward, Alice, Emmett, and I together on the first day of school.
Edward, Alice, and I were in kindergarten while Emmett was in first grade. The picture was quite funny, actually, since we were all standing from Tallest to shortest. Emmett was first, he was smiling widely with his arm slung around Edward's neck. Even at only six, he was taller and bigger than the average boy.
Edward looked adorable, his bronze hair shining in the sunlight, since this photo was taken outside. His polo shirt was tucked into his pants and he was wearing the same crooked grin he did today. He was missing his two front teeth.
Then there was me. I was holding Edward's hand and lightly tugging at the dress that Esme persuaded me to wear that day. I had the same long brown hair and big brown eyes.
Alice was last and was so tiny and small, despite being the same age as Edward and I. She was by far the cutest of us all, well, apart from a little bronze haired boy.
I felt Edward smile as he saw the memory I was looking at. "Do you remember that day at all?" he asked me. I shook my head.
"Not really. Just blurry flashes."
We flipped through all the albums, sharing old memories, some of which popped up only after seeing the picture. Since Jasper and Rosalie didn't grow up with us, we had to fill them in on all the stories behind the pictures.
"What the hell is on Emmett's head?" Jasper asked, pointing at some pink, lumpy mass on Emmett head in a picture of him when he was thirteen.
"Alice's attempt at knitting a hat… Ow!" Edward said as Alice punched his arm. "How can someone so tiny be so strong?"
"What about this one? How come you're all dressed in black?" Rose asked, pointing at another photo.
"MISSION IMPOSSIBLE!" Emmett shouted, thrusting his fist in the air.
"What?" Rosalie asked, dumbfounded.
I laughed. "Emmett brought his hamster to school and it escaped. He wasn't allowed to bring it in the first place, so he couldn't tell anyone, other than us, that he lost it. He wanted to break into the school that night to try and find it," I explained.
"Did you?" Jasper asked, laughing.
"No. My dad caught us since he was driving around on patrol that night. He told Esme and Carlisle what happened. We were all grounded," I said.
"I never saw Thor again!" Emmett said, his head down.
"Thor?!" Rose exclaimed.
"His hamster," Alice whispered, rolling her eyes. "Still a touchy subject."
There were so many other pictures. Edward playing the piano, Alice and me swimming, Emmett eating, Charlie taking us all out fishing, Emmett and Thor (Em whimpered at that), Emmett eating, Edward pushing me on the swing, and… Emmett eating.
My eyes glowed as I viewed every picture, every memory, both forgotten and not. It felt so odd to revisit these old times, yet so comforting at the same time. There were some summer pictures where I was missing. Those were the times I would visit Renee in Phoenix. Alice pointed out that in those pictures where I was absent in Phoenix, Edward always looked like someone ran over his puppy.
The pictures of us, as we got older, became less frequent as most of us got more self-conscious and camera shy as we grew into teenagers. When we saw a familiar photograph of all of us at the amusement park when Edward, Alice, and I were fifteen, Edward squeezed my hand. I smiled secretly at him. We were the only ones who knew the significance of that trip.
Much to my dismay, many of the photos after that, when they had me in them, I looked less than happy. I would smile, but at times the smile would not reach my eyes.
I knew that these were in my pathetic days. Pathetically in love with someone who didn't, or actually, didn't realize he loved me back. I had to keep myself from looking away from them. The scenes were normal; us eating ice cream, us playing giving each other piggy back rides. But looking at my face in each one brought back the pain of those days. The pain of having Edward within arm's reach, yet not being able to have him.
I could tell Edward was remembering it too, for he started rubbing soothing circles on the back of my hand with his thumb as he held my hand in his. It comforted me, but didn't erase the memory of the pain.
All too soon, the atmosphere of looking at these photos went from happy and nostalgic to somber… for me and Edward at least. Alice and Emmett either didn't notice, or were pretending not to notice as they told more stories to Rose and Jasper.
I rested my head on Edward's shoulder and he laid his own head on top of mine.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. I knew he was apologizing for everything that happened back in high school, both before and after he told me he wanted to stay as 'just friends'.
In truth it didn't matter how many times he apologized. It happened and there was no changing it. I knew he was sorry, that he was remorseful for not realizing sooner, but regret can't change the past. It was over and done with.
I wasn't angry or resentful towards him. I could never be like that towards Edward. I just didn't want to talk about it. It was the past, and I had to leave the past behind me.
"Don't be," I whispered back. None of the others seemed to notice having our own private conversation.
"Bella, in those pictures, you're not as happy as you should have been," he said. Why did he always have to insist it was his fault for everything? Was he masochistic?
I shook my head. "You should quit blaming yourself for everything. It wasn't your fault." And it wasn't. I didn't blame Edward for a single ounce of the sadness I went through at that time. It wasn't his fault he never realized. At that time, he didn't know. How could I blame him for that? I didn't realize until I was fifteen. I couldn't have been mad at him for not knowing earlier than I did.
It only mattered that he knew now.
"But if I had only rea-" I cut him off with a small kiss.
"Would you blame me if it was the other way around?" I asked when I pulled away, raising my eyebrows at him.
"Never."
"Exactly," I said, laying my head back on his shoulder.
"Thank you, love."
"You have nothing to thank me for."
He chuckled lightly, kissing the top of my head. "I seriously doubt that."
By the time the albums were all sorted through and finally put away, it was late and time for bed. Ever since Edward had learned that he kept my nightmares away, he slept with me in my bed, or me with him in his bed, every night.
Tonight we were in my bed. Sometimes Emmett would stay with Rosalie in her bed; those nights we had to spend in Edward's room since Emmett snored louder than a foghorn. I couldn't fathom how Rosalie slept through that almost every night.
After showering and changing into my pajamas, I walked into my room to find Edward already in my bed, his arms open, inviting me in.
I happily crawled under the covers and into the safe confines of Edward's arms.
I snuggled closer to Edward, keeping my face buried into the crook of his neck and taking a deep breath of his heavenly scent. Forget cologne; Edward's scent beat all those fake perfumey smells out of the ballpark.
"Ready for sleep?" Edward asked me quietly. I already felt myself drifting off. My eye lids were drooping and I fought away a yawn.
"Mmhmm," I responded sleepily. Edward chuckled and held me closer.
"Me too," he whispered.
"Good night, Edward."
"Goodnight, my love."
A few minutes later I was almost completely under, until Edward whispered my name.
"Bella?"
"Mmm?"
"I love you."
I felt myself smiling against his neck. He was the sweetest. He felt the need to tell me he loved me out of no where. I loved that. I loved him.
"I love you too."
* * *
A few hours later I jerked awake, feeling that tingly odd sensation.
I looked up at Edward to see him still fast asleep. I raised my head, since Edward's arms kept me from sitting up. My eyes flickered around the room, searching for whatever was causing all the arms on neck and arms to stand up. The pale moonlight spilled in from the windows as the only light source for me to see. I didn't want to turn on a light in case it woke Edward.
After a few minutes of finding nothing, yet again, I sighed heavily and laid back down for sleep. I couldn't find myself able to settle though. The adrenaline in my body was still pumping, as if preparing me for battle.
I couldn't hear or see any danger, but my body was telling me otherwise. What was the matter with me?
Finally after maybe about half an hour, I was able to calm myself back down enough to sleep. That was the first night since Edward started sleeping with me that my sleep was restless.
? POV
Sweet dreams, Bella.
You'll need them.
BPOV
The next day I woke feeling back to my normal self. Last night was so weird and almost creepy.
It hadn't completely escaped Edward that I was tossing and turning all night. In fact, he questioned me about it in the morning.
"It was nothing," I assured him.
"Are you sure?" he asked, sounding concerned. He constantly worried about me.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Alight…" he said, sounding skeptical. I knew he didn't fully buy it, but let it go for now. I was grateful for that. He gave me a sweet kiss then left for class. I went to my own class half and hour later. As usual, by the end of the day, Edward picked me up and walked me back to the dorms.
"What do you want to do?" he asked me as we entered the elevator.
"I actually have a lot of schoolwork to do," I said regretfully. Stupid assignments keeping me away from Edward.
"I do too, actually," he admitted. "I'll see you at dinner?"
"You bet." I kissed his cheek as he stepped out of the elevator onto the second floor.
I got out on the next floor and went to my room. Rose was still in class, so the room was empty. I dumped my bag on next to my desk and threw my books onto my bed. I first had a bunch of reading to do and reading was of course, much more comfy when in a bed than in a chair.
Deciding to check my email before I began my work, I logged on my account to find an email from an unknown sender. The email had no subject either. Curious, I clicked on it, opening up the email. I hoped it wasn't some form of spam.
I definitely wasn't that. My eyes widened and my blood started pumping in my ears as I read the text.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
You're not watching me,
But I'm watching you…
Right. Now.
See you soon, Bella.
That's when everything went black.
Sneak Peek Quote from Chapter 21:
"I said it's over! Leave!"
A/N: -Silence-
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The countdown continues!!! 3 more chapters left!!! Oh, and sorry guys. This would have been up sooner but my mother decided to wake me at the ungodly hour of 9am to finish Christmas shopping. I know -rolls eyes- 9am… on a SATURDAY?! Anyway, I'll be seeing you again tomorrow for tomorrow's daily update!!!
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