Author's Note: *climbs out of hole she's hiding in* Hi! Been a while, but I have suddenly reappeared!

Thanks to all who review and inquire about the absence of this story. It makes me happy that people look for updates

Chapter 7 – Sang Christmas Songs and Talked to Folks

As sunlight filtered into the room, Bella's eyes fluttered open to find Edward's green ones staring back at her. Neither one had moved during the night, so they both woke up on their sides, facing on another.

Bella couldn't help but admire how Edward still looked good even with his hair all messed up and sleep in his eyes. Unbeknownst to Bella, Edward was thinking the same thing about his bed companion.

Curious to what time it was, Bella looked at the clock on the other side of Edward. Noticing where Bella's attention turned to, Edward asked what time it was.

"Already eleven. I guess we were tired."

"I guess," he replied as he sat up. "What do you want to do about food?"

His companion shrugged. "Might as well get room service and make our friends think we're holing ourselves up in the room like they are."

Edward smirked while reaching for the room service menu. "Good point."

They quickly decided what to eat, and while Edward called room service, Bella decided to take a shower. Well, she attempted to take a shower, but with her ankle still swollen and tender, she ended up having to take a bath instead.

In the relaxing water, Bella lost all sense of time until her skin alerted her to the coolness of the water. As she dried herself and pulled on the softest robe she had ever felt, Bella heard the hotel room door open, followed by Edward's voice, and then finally the door closing. With the following silence that confirmed that Edward was alone in the room, Bella opened the bathroom door. What she saw caused her to catch her breath.

Standing next to the bed stood a shirtless Edward wearing nothing but low slung basketball shorts. Prior to this occurrence, Edward was always wearing a shirt, even when going to sleep. Taken off guard, Bella slowly dragged her gaze down Edward's torso.

It was clear to her that he exercised regularly from the toned shoulders to the defined biceps down to the six-pack abs. She must have stared for many seconds because the next thing she heard was Edward clearing his throat. She looked up to see his beautiful smirk.

Bella was immediately as red as a tomato.

"So I decided to have a little fun," Edward initiated as he pulled on his T-shirt. At Bella's raised eyebrow that questioned his statement, he continued, "I decided to put on a show just in case one of our friends was spying on us as I opened the door."

"Was there?"

His smirk grew bigger. "Yeah. I caught Alice looking out through her cracked door. I winked at her to give her more fuel for the fire of her creativity."

Bella laughed, "Now the girls will be begging me to tell them how good the sex is." As soon as she realized what she said, her eyes grew wide and she covered her open mouth.

She didn't know exactly why she became embarrassed. Obviously part of the plan was to make their friends believe she and Edward were sleeping together. In an effort to ease her embarrassment, Edward pulled her hand away from her mouth.

"Don't be embarrassed, Bella. The guys will be asking me, too. Besides, if they believe we are sleeping together, it just adds more fun to our plan. Now come on," Edward cajoled, pulling Bella towards a chair. "It's time to eat."

"So what are we doing?" Bella asked as she and Edward sat in the same living area where the group stayed up reminiscing the night before. After breakfast, they attempted to get in contact with their other friends, but neither couple wanted to leave the room just yet, with plans to exit their rooms to have supper with the odd couple. Edward speculated that spending all Christmas in their rooms was the goal of her friends spending Christmas away from their parents.

Now Bella and Edward were trying to figure out how to spend their Christmas.

"We can go skiing," Edward teased.

"Once again," Bella rolled her eyes, "you think you are such the jokester."

Edward shrugged. "I try." What he didn't tell Bella was that he purposely tried to cause her to blush. He thought she was beautiful by herself, but the rose tinge to her cheeks, she seemed to shine. He also didn't inform her that he was looking forward to spending another day with only Bella to keep him company.

"What about a sleigh ride?"

At Edward's suggestion, Bella's eyes lit up.

"It looks like a beautiful day out," he continued. "And not to mention Alice will be so envious when she finds that you went a ride before her," he winked.

Bella smirked, "Or she will be thrilled that you and I went on a 'romantic' sleigh ride together." As she said the word, "romantic," she used her hands to make quotations.

Her companion chuckled at the truthfulness of her words and then asked, "So you up for it?"

"Of course. You'll need to help me get in, though."

"Yes, Gimpy, I know."

Using the back of her hand, Bella lightly slapped Edward on his arm.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. "What was that for?"

"You know what," she rolled her eyes. "And besides, that couldn't possibly have hurt."

"Maybe you're stronger than you think."

"And maybe you're a wimp."

Bella saw a glint in Edward's eyes as he threatened, "Now you're going to get it."

"Oh, well that cannot be fair. Where am I going to go?" Bella retorted referencing the injury.

"All the best for revenge, my sweet," he smirked as he reached and started to tickle Bella's side.

"Stop it!" she squeaked before full out laughing.

"I knew it! You had to be ticklish in more places than your feet."

"Please! Please, Edward!" She pleaded as tears came into her eyes.

"Please what?"

"Please stop! People are looking at us weird!"

And indeed people were looking at them. But perhaps Bella was misinterpreting their expressions. Where Bella perceived that they were looking at Edward and Bella's antics with annoyance, the majority of the people, who were wrapped up in the romantic Christmas experience, were admiring the fun the young couple was having. Older couples even remembered a time when they were first in love as they reached to take their partners' hands to hold.

"Young love," sighed a seventy-something young woman to her husband of fifty-two years.

However, Edward did not stop. "You have to take it back?"

Bella gasped between laughs. "Take what back?"

"What you said." Edward's eyes were truly sparkling now.

"I don't even remember what I said!"

"You called me a wimp," he reminded her.

"Fine," his friend huffed. Edward stopped tickling her momentarily. "You are not a wimp. You are a big strong manly man." Bella even fluttered her eyelashes for the full effect.

"That's better," he smirked. "Now how about that sleigh ride?"

"Bella?"

"Hmm?" The said woman lazily turned away from where she was watching a rabbit hopping across a field. Her chocolate brown eyes met green ones who unbeknownst to her, were watching her rather than the scenery.

"How are you enjoying it? Are you warm enough?"

It was an hour after Edward's attack on Bella and ten minutes after beginning the chilly but beautiful ride in the sleigh. Since there was a wait for a ride, Edward and Bella put their names on the list before returning to their room for their outer layers.

Bella grinned at her companion. "I'm having a marvelous time and I'm not too cold at all."

Edward returned the grin and moved slightly closer to her.

"How about yourself?

"I'm enjoying it myself."

The silence between the would-be lovers was not necessarily uncomfortable, but both wished to find out more about the other. Unfortunately, the two seemingly well-adjusted adults found themselves to be nervous all of a sudden in each other's presence.

"So did…

"How was it…"

Both members of the party flushed as they began their inquiries.

"I'm sorry, please continue," Edward graciously offered.

"Oh," Bella blushed. "I was just asking if you always wanted to be a doctor."

Her companion contemplated a moment before answer. "I think so. From a young age, I always took an interest in what my father did. One year, my parents got me a mini medical toy set to play with, and I took it with me everywhere," he laughed.

"How cute," Bella grinned at his admission.

"So how about you? Did you always want to be a teacher?"

She shook her head, "Oh God, no. I thought I could never do it."

"Really? Why not?"

"I was never really for standing in front of a group of people."

"What changed?"

Bella shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I always knew I wanted to study English, but I didn't know what I really wanted to do with it." She paused. "Well, that's not exactly the whole truth. I always knew I wanted to write."

"Novels?"

Bella nodded at Edward's question. "People asked me why I didn't become an editor or a journalist, but I'm just not into that."

"So you chose a profession where you would have to stand in front of a group of people, which is something you hate," Edward smirked.

"Yeah, well I grew out of my shell a little during college, and I kept telling myself that they were only kids I was in front of. I actually found I loved it."

"So it all worked out fine then."

"Yep, although I find it hard to find time to write."

"Well, you have all summer," her companion reasoned.

"That's true," Bella smiled brilliantly at her friend.

Bella truly took Edward's breath away as she beamed at him. He could not help but admire how the snowflakes clung to her hair and eyelashes. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her, but he was afraid that Bella did not want that at all.

Little did he know that if he did choose to kiss her at the moment, Bella would happily engage in such an activity. She noticed how handsome he looked with the snow in his hair and how genuinely interested he was in their conversation.

All too soon, the sleigh ride ended, and Edward was helping Bella out of the sleigh and back into the lodge. When they entered the common area, they were delighted to see some of the patrons gathered around singing Christmas carols.

"Would you like to join them? I can go get us some hot chocolate," Edward offered, leaning close to Bella's ear so that she could hear him over the singing. He wondered if her slight shiver was due to his proximity or from the door opening behind them.

"That sounds good," she agreed, giving him another warm grin.

Edward led Bella to an empty arm chair before heading towards where the lodge was serving mugs of piping hot chocolate.

For the next hour, the couple enjoyed singing Christmas carols and chatted with other guests. Although many people assumed that Bella and Edward were together romantically, neither spoke to correct them. After all, they thought, who would really know the truth?

Both would not even admit to themselves that they liked being thought of as a couple. For the next week or so, they could at least pretend to be as their hearts desired them to be.