A/N: Hey, sorry this has been a while. Things have been hectic. I have been back and forth between my parents' and my in-laws, and then the school quarter is drawing to a close, so I've had a lot of work.

Thank you all for your reviews. I can't believe the response I'm getting!

Chapter 5 – We Skied the Slopes (Sort of)

"Let me in!" Bella exclaimed while practically banging on the hotel room door. "Alice, I know you're in there!"

"Hold on!" Bella's friend called out as she threw on a robe and stalked towards the door. "What is so important that you have to wake up the dead at three in the…" she began to ask as she opened the door. However, words left her when she saw her best friend's tear-stained face. Immediately, Alice gathered Bella in her arms, murmuring, "It will be all right," while leading Bella into the room.

"I'm sorry," Bella sniffled when she saw that she had awoken Jasper as well. "I just needed to get out of there and to talk to somebody."

"Oh dear," Alice whispered before asking, "What's wrong?"

"Edward!" Bella cried out as tears started flowing again.

"What about him?" the pixie questioned, furrowing her eyebrows.

"He's a jerk!" Bella exclaimed while taking a seat at the foot of the bed. Alice followed her and sat down, draping a comforting arm around Bella's shoulders. "This is going to be the worst Christmas ever!" the distraught woman continued.

"Shh," Alice soothed, rubbing Bella's arm. "It'll be all right. Just tell me what happened."

"Well," Bella grabbed a tissue and blew hard into it. "You know how I told you that I was attracted to him and felt comfortable around him?" Alice nodded. "Well, I thought he felt the same way, too. The way he acted today confused me, so I confronted him."

"And?"

"And he told me that there was no way in hell he would be with a clumsy ugly teacher like me!"

As Bella erupted into sobs again, Alice glanced over at Jasper who was trying not to make it obvious that he was eavesdropping on the entire conversation. With a question in her eyes, Alice silently pleaded Jasper for some information, but Jasper only shrugged.

"Oh, sweetie," Alice consoled, pulling Bella tighter. "I'm sure it's a big misunderstanding."

Her friend looked up from where she was leaning on Alice's shoulder. "How can it be a misunderstanding when he directly said, 'there is no way in hell I would be with a clumsy ugly teacher like you'?"

"Well…" Alice was searching for some words, but Jasper interrupted her.

"Bella, I can't understand why he would say something like that," he spoke thoughtfully. "He has never been anything but polite."

"Well apparently his patience was used up when I came into his life!" Bella sighed.

Alice and Jasper, not knowing what else to say, offered Bella the option of staying with them for the night; after which Bella threw herself into a hug with Alice and then Jasper before snuggling herself into the bed.

With her face hidden in the pillow, neither Alice nor Jasper saw the sly smile that adorned Bella's face.

The morning light was filtering in through the cracks of the curtains as Bella snuck herself back into her hotel room. Noticing the bump in the bed that Edward took the liberty of using the prior night, Bella took a running start before bouncing on the bed next to him.

Groaning, Edward turned to lie on his side. Opening one eye, he glanced at Bella's amused expression before closing it again. "I take it the plan went well?"

"They fell for it hook, line, and sinker," Bella smirked. "Both were so perplexed why you would say such a horrible thing to me that they offered me to stay with them without me asking to."

"What did you tell them I said?"

"That you would never be with a clumsy ugly teacher like me."

Edward popped an eye open again. "That's not true."

At his words, the young woman could feel the blood flooding to her cheeks. Unbeknownst to her, the young gentleman could not help but think about how attractive the blush looked on her.

"Well, they don't need to know that," she finally spoke. "All they need to think is that we had a huge fight and that you insulted me."

"Hmm," Edward sighed as he closed his eye again. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

Bella chuckled as she moved to get off the bed. "Yeah. I'll let you sleep some more. I'm going to go check out the library this place has. I'll come back up before breakfast."

There was no sound except the soft snores coming from the man sleeping peacefully in bed, who just happened to be dreaming of a lady with beautiful chestnut colored eyes.

"How can you be so cheery?" Edward grumbled as Bella woke him again two hours later.

"It's Christmas Eve!" she exclaimed. "How can I not be cheery?"

"It's not Christmas."

"But Christmas Eve is so much better!" Bella explained. "I think the anticipation of Christmas may be even better than the day itself. Besides, it's when my family got together with Rosalie's and Alice's families and celebrated."

"You know what I like about Christmas Eve?"

"What?" his companion asked contentedly.

"Getting to sleep in," he explained. However, instead of merely explaining, he wrapped an arm around Bella, effectively pulling her down to lie next to him. "Now go to sleep."

As Bella tried to not let the fact that Edward's arms were around her affect her, she shook her head. "Nope. Everybody else is getting ready for breakfast anyway. And after the stunt you pulled yesterday, I doubt they'll let you get away with skipping the meal again."

Her partner in crime sighed as he sat up and rubbed his face with his hand. "I suppose."

"Besides," Bella continued, "we probably will have enough time between our activities today and celebration tonight to take another nap."

Groaning, Edward brought his legs over to the side of the bed and stood up, stretching. With his back towards his roommate, he missed the gasp she took in and the brief expression of lust that overtook her expression.

"So are we made up today?" Edward questioned.

"Uh," Bella stuttered as she fought to find her words. "Yeah."

"So it's the 'we can't keep our hands off each other' day, isn't it?" Edward smirked as he looked behind him at Bella, who instantly erased any suspicious expression from her face.

All Bella could do was nod.

As Edward closed himself in the bathroom, Bella laid back down on the bed, wondering what the day would be like. She had mixed emotions about her and Edward's plan. In the beginning, it sounded great; that it would throw their friends through a loop.

She still enjoyed the idea of revenge, and truly had no problem with the plan of one day being all "lovey dovey" and the next day being either at each other's throats or ignoring each other. However, the third day in the rotation had her heart beating quickly in her chest. This was the day that they were to act as if they couldn't keep their hands off each other.

At first, it seemed a harmless plan; however, as she grew more and more comfortable with Edward and acknowledged that she had a bit of attraction for him, Bella had doubts that she could kiss him and keep it just a game. She knew it was an act for him, but Bella knew that her feelings could get in her way fairly quickly if she did not catch herself.

"What are you thinking about?" Edward's voice shocked her out of her reverie.

"Oh, just what we are going to do today," Bella half-lied, making it seem as if she was wondering what the day's activities would be.

"I think everybody wanted to go skiing, didn't they?"

"Oh yeah," Bella grimaced. Skiing was alright, but it had been a while since she tried the sport, and she wondered if she could even stand on her own two feet with the skis attached.

"What's wrong?"

Bella chuckled at Edward's question. "Remember me yesterday while hiking?" Her friend smirked while nodding his head. "Now imagine me on skis."

Edward imitated Bella's chuckle with the comment, "Enough said." He paused before asking, "Are you ready to go wait for our friends now?"

"So early?"

He smirked. "I figure we should be out there so when the others come out into the hallway we are in position."

Bella raised an eyebrow. "Position for what?"

"Stage three, of course," Edward grinned.

Bella never would have guessed it by Edward's display of confidence, but Edward was feeling the same kind of insecurities that Bella was feeling. Edward wasn't exactly a prude, but neither was he a man to take physical signs of affection lightly. He, too, acknowledged a growing attraction and connection between himself and Bella, and was anxious to how "stage three" would pan out.

But then again, the primitive man in him could not wait to get his hands on Bella and was secretly counting down the minutes until he could. And so he gladly followed Bella out of the hotel room door and into the hallway.

"So what do you plan on doing?" Bella smirked, feigning the confidence that she did not feel.

"I thought a lovely picture of us in a heated kiss against the door would confuse our friends quite nicely. As soon as it sounds like somebody is leaving their room, we'll begin."

Bella's face was on fire again as she blushed a deep crimson. "Right."

To the couple, the minutes encased in silence seemed like hours before they finally heard rustling inside Emmett's and Rosalie's room; but when they finally heard some sounds, Edward closed the space between Bella and himself and wrapped an arm around her waist.

At the touch, both could have sworn they felt an electrical spark flow through their bodies, but neither one had much time to consider the feeling before Edward's lips descended upon Bella's.

The kiss began hesitantly as Bella and Edward grew accustomed to the feel of their lips against one another as well as the emotions they were both feeling. Edward could only describe the feeling as coming home; as if he always belonged with Bella. She felt warmth and contentment just being in his arms.

Although the kiss started out slowly, Edward soon deepened the kiss by gently licking Bella's lower lip, urging her to open and allow him entrance. Before either of them knew it, Bella was pushed against the door with her hands entangled in Edward's hair while their tongues dueled for dominance.

"Holy shit!" Emmett's loud voice finally drove the two of them apart, but Edward would not allow for them to be totally separated. Although he turned to face his cousin, he kept an arm firmly around Bella's waist.

"Do you have a problem?" Edward asked coolly, lifting an eyebrow.

Emmett shook his head while stuttering, "No. I just thought you guys were having a fight."

As Bella's thoughts drifted from the clouds, she mimicked Edward's demeanor and answered, "Well, we're obviously over it."

"What's going on out here?" Rosalie asked as she opened her hotel room door and stepped out.

"Edward was totally shoving his tongue down Bella's throat," her boyfriend eloquently answered.

With his response, Rosalie's eyes lit up as she practically skipped across the hall to bang on Alice's door.

"I'm coming!" Alice yelled through the wood before swinging the door open. "Geez! Get some patience!"

"Edward and Bella were just lip-locked in the hallway. Emmett caught them!" Rose explained to her friend.

Alice's eyes immediately narrowed as they found Bella's face. "I thought Edward was a jerk, Bella."

Her friend shrugged. "It was all a misunderstanding. We're all good now."

"Obviously," Alice rolled her eyes. "Next time, though, could you make sure it wasn't just a misunderstanding before you come wake me up at two in the morning?"

"Sure," Bella grinned happily while leading the group down to the restaurant with Edward's arm still securely around her waist.

"What do you mean you're not skiing?" Edward's voice was incredulous as he gathered his ski clothes. "That's the whole point of this trip!"

Their act at breakfast went over without a hitch. Bella and Edward played their parts of not being able to keep their hands off each other so well, even Emmett and Rosalie had to object.

However, once Bella and Edward returned to their room, they separated themselves from their roles and immediately started acting like the new friends they were.

"For you, maybe," Bella responded. "But I just wanted a relaxing vacation."

"So why does that not involve skiing?"

"Because you guys all want to go on the intermediate and advanced slopes. Without much practice, I'm not sure I can even advance past the bunny slope where all the kids ski. I'd ski alone, but I'd probably end up hurting myself and dying of hypothermia in the snow before somebody found me."

In response to Bella's melodramatic explanation, Edward laughed loudly. "You're not going to die of hypothermia. Somebody would find you, even if it is a little kid."

"Ha ha. Very funny," Bella crossed her arms and tried to look serious.

"Why don't I go with you?"

She objected, "I couldn't ask you to do that."

"You didn't ask me," he shrugged.

"Still, you wouldn't enjoy yourself if you were limited to the beginner slopes."

"Yes I would. You're amusement enough."

Bella rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, Bella," Edward said in a more serious tone as he sat down on the bed beside her. "I wouldn't mind. Maybe in a couple of days you'll be confident enough to try a different level."

Bella looked down at her hands that were clasped in her lap. "Still, I feel as if I'm holding you back."

"If I didn't want to ski with you, Bella, then I would have no problem leaving you alone in this room to rot," he teased, causing his roommate to giggle. "Besides, somebody has to be there to save you from hypothermia. I'm in med school, remember?"

"Okay, okay," she chuckled. "I give in. You can ski with me."

Two Hours Later

"I told you this would happen!"

"No, you said you would be left to die of hypothermia. I was there to save you."

"But I told you I would get hurt."

Edward smirked. "I suppose you did."

Bella sighed as she leaned her head against the wall of the medical clinic of the resort. Her right foot was propped on another chair and her ankle was covered in an ice pack. True to her word, she did end up falling and spraining her ankle badly, leaving herself in a position to have to be carried back to the clinic by Edward who laughed the whole time, despite the pain she was in.

She couldn't believe it. She knew her luck was bad, and she ended up at the doctor's office or hospital more times than she could count; but after her series of falls the day before, this seemed too much; especially since it provided Edward with such amusement.

Just as Edward was going to make a teasing remark, the doctor entered the examining room with an x-ray.

"Well, it is like I expected," she explained. "It's not broken, but it is sprained pretty severely. You're going to have to stay off your foot for a while. I'm going to wrap the ankle up for you and give you a pair of crutches to use during your stay here."

Swiftly but gently, the doctor wrapped Bella's ankle with an ace bandage and then adjusted a pair of crutches to Bella's height.

"Have you been on crutches before?" the doctor asked.

Bella rolled her eyes, "More times than I can count."

"Well, that's it then. Come back in a week so I can check to make sure it is healing properly. Until then, I'm sure your boyfriend can take care of you."

Bella stammered, ready to tell the doctor that Edward was not her boyfriend, but he spoke before she could even find her voice. "I'm sure I can," Edward gave the doctor his dazzling grin before helping Bella to her feet.

As Bella made her way out of the examining room with Edward at her side, she couldn't help but wish that things were as they seemed to those around them.