The sun was beginning to set. We had been sitting talking for hours now. I was beginning to wonder if the others had gone without us, not that I would have cared. I would have happily walked home with Edward despite the pain it might cause my feet. He was telling me about his home now. Where he lived, his favourite places to go to. I found myself eager to ask about his past girlfriends, but regretted it almost immediately. He seemed fine with answering it though. He said he only had two girlfriends before, neither of them too serious. Then the subject changed again. I found myself smiling throughout the entire conversation.
Soon it was dark, the day was suddenly gone and I felt like I had only been sitting there for a few minutes. I watched as the mall shutters came down and felt a horrible pain in my chest when Edward finally said it was time to go. I sighed and got up. I was glad things were good between us now. We both stood up at the same time and when I looked up I found that our faces were extremely close. We stared at each other for a short while. Kiss him, I thought. But I knew it would be a bad idea. He coughed slightly to break the silence and smiled his crooked smile.
"We should go," He whispered smiling. I smiled too. The friends thing would be good for us. No rushing in meant no broken heart.
"Yeah c'mon," I said lightly and felt myself twirling slightly with a smile as I went to walk away. I heard him laugh from behind.
"I think you're right about the friends thing," He said, "I think we could be good friends, no complications, just easy." And suddenly I felt my world crumbling down. He wanted us to stay friends, just friends, for the rest of the summer. I knew it could be great but it wasn't what I wanted. I needed to be with him. I knew I had to. But how could I tell him now? He didn't want the same things as me, we were suddenly on a completely different page.
"Yeah, that's why I said it. So much easier." I said feeling my voice break a little. I suddenly felt myself working very hard to keep the light theme of tonight going. I stayed silent the most of the way home, letting him talk and throwing in the occasional smile when needs be. When we reached the car we found everyone sitting in the back of the car laughing. A pair of keys flew out the window.
"Looks like I'm driving," he said laughing. I laughed back easily. I could suddenly understand what he meant. The friends thing could work out perfectly. No-one would get hurt at the end of it all. It was the perfect idea really, and although I wasn't entirely happy with it, I began to feel that I could accept it. He could be my best friend, someone to feel completely comfortable around, someone who protected me and someone who wanted to be with me for no other reason than just to be with me. This could work.
The car ride home was fun, I sat in the front seat next to Edward. Emmett sang badly along to what he referred to as "the classics". It was light and easy and I loved it. I was the first to be dropped home, mainly because I was the only one who wasn't currently inhabiting the Cullen house. Edward got out and ran to my side of the car. He opened my door with a joking bow. "The Swan manor" He joked in a deep, posh voice.
"Why thank you sir," I said and let him take my hand so I could jump out of the car.
"Not at all ma'am." We both then broke out in laughter, I looked up at him and everything suddenly went very quiet. I tried very hard not to get lost in his nearly golden eyes but it was impossible. It was Edward who had to break the moment. He let out a shaken laugh and closed my door. I laughed then too and suddenly everything was back to normal. "See you tomorrow." He said and got back into the car and drove off.
I looked at the driveway. It was empty. Charlie wasn't home yet and I hadn't got a key. I sat on the front porch step. I caught myself drifting off into a daydream of Edward and stopped it immediately. We were friends, just friends. and that would be good. For now anyway.