EPOV
I arrived home just as Jasper was leaving. I spoke with him for a moment and he said that Esme had just gotten home and warned me that Alice was waiting to bombard me with questions.
No one knew what I had done today, but they knew that it had to do with Bella. Esme didn't ask me direct questions. She greeted me when I walked in and asked me how my day was and if anything interesting happened. I dodged her subtle inquiries to the best of my ability and finally escaped to the staircase. All I really wanted was to be in my room alone and reflect on what had happened.
No luck.
Alice was waiting for me at the top of the stairs.
Despite the good mood that the evening had left me with, somehow knowing that Alice was going to bombard me with questions until she was satisfied made me angry. I just wanted to be alone. I didn't want to discuss what had happened tonight until I had been able to fully wrap my head around it myself.
"And where have you been?" she grinned knowingly.
"The North Pole," I replied icily, hoping that she would take the hint and just let me be for a while.
"How's Bella doing?" Alice continued.
"She's fine." I made for my bedroom door but she blocked my attempts.
"Out kind of late, weren't you? Emmett said you left Rose's at 4. Where have you been?"
I glared at her for a moment before finally caving. "I was invited to Bella's house for supper."
She gasped, "With the Police Chief and everything?"
"Yes, Alice, that was kind of the point."
"Oh my God," she continued, clutching at her chest melodramatically. "So he knows then? You told her dad?"
"Yes, Alice," I said again, growing more and more impatient.
"So it really is official then?" she bounced excitedly, grinning.
"Yes, Alice. Now if you don't mind, I would like to-" I tried to shoulder my way past her but she stopped me again.
"Wait, wait, wait- just one more question-" she pleaded.
"No," I snapped. "No more questions."
I finally managed to push my way around her and into my room, trying to shut the door before she could sneak in after me.
"Edward," she whined, sticking her elbow in between the door and the wall so that I couldn't close it. "Alice," I snapped, "You're my sister and I love you, but sometimes you really need to learn how to take a hint. I would like to be alone right n-"
"FINE," she growled, cutting me off. I heard her stomp away down the hallway muttering something about 'ungratefulness' and 'kick his ass'. I smiled to myself. We had a good relationship, Alice and I. She annoyed the shit out of me quite often, but I knew she meant well when it came down to it.
The rest of the evening dragged by slowly. I paced around my room for close to an hour, not knowing how to otherwise occupy my mind. I finally seated myself in front of the piano. For several long moments I did not play anything. I stared over the top of the piano and out the great window into the woods surrounding our home. It was a beautiful night in Forks. The weather had somehow managed to remain as nice as it had been in the afternoon and there was not a cloud in the sky. The moon was brighter than I had remembered seeing it in years and it cast a milky glow over the yard, illuminating a doe drinking from the pond.
Slowly, I moved my fingers to the smooth white keys in front of me. They positioned themselves without any concentration on my part and before I knew it, "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds was echoing around the room. I smiled as I listened to the music, still not looking down at the cool keys that my fingers were expertly gliding over. The doe by the pond picked up her head attentively and glanced toward the house, her ears suddenly standing erect, listening. She seemed to look directly at my room for several moments before craning her elegant neck back toward the water, seemingly finding no threat in my music.
Close to the second chorus of the song, the music began to subtly change. The same sweet melody was there, but my fingers began disregarding certain notes that should have been present in the song and adding different ones until it was no longer the same tune at all. The changes barely registered in my mind at all, though. I wasn't really focusing on the piano. I was thinking about Bella Swan.
I was thinking about the way she would constantly tuck her beautiful brown hair behind her ear only to have it fall out a moment later to once again frame her pale skinned face. I was considering the length of her eyelashes that paid great compliment to the depthless, chocolate brown pools of her eyes. I recalled Alice complaining about how her own eyelashes never looked that perfect no matter how long she spent focusing on them with a mascara brush. I recalled how Bella's eyelids had fluttered ever so subtly as she had slept the night before. I remembered how I could feel her pulse thundering as I had leaned forward to kiss her on the front steps earlier this afternoon.
It had been without a doubt the best kiss I had ever experienced. Never before had I felt the same power and attraction behind another person's lips. It had always been the same with the other girls. Never anything special. They had always seemed far more interested in kissing than I ever was, and I had always just expected that it was something wrong with me. Now I was considering that perhaps it had been the girls. None of them were right. They didn't fit. Something about the way Bella's lips moved against mine was so different. So much better than I had ever…
I shook my head and stood up from the piano. I crossed to the window and looked out at the surrounding woods. At my movement, the doe near the pond jerked its head up and focused in on me. It seemed to contemplate for a moment before turning and quickly bounding toward the woods. I noted the grace with which it moved. In the moonlight, I could just make out the muscles in its legs constricting with each fluent movement.
"Edward?" A soft knock at my door drew my attention away from the deer. I turned to face the door as my mother let herself in.
"Are you hungry? You didn't come down for supper. Alice said you-"
"I already ate," I supplied.
"Oh, right.." she said quietly. I could tell that she wanted to ask, but didn't anyway.
"I had dinner with Bella and her father at her home," I answered her unasked question.
A bright smile spread across her face. "Oh."
She stared at me for a few more moments with the gawky smile on her face before recovering. "How is chief Swan?"
"He's…" I hesitated, "He seems okay."
"How did he… you know," her eyes narrowed inquiringly.
"It was awkward, but altogether it wasn't too bad."
"That's good," she nodded, the smile returning to her face. "Well, we're going to watch a movie and have some popcorn, if you'd like to join us…"
"Oh, um…"
"It'll help distract you," she winked knowingly.
"Yeah, that sounds good. If Alice bugs me though, I'm going to hang her off the coat hanger by her underwear."
"Not again," Esme groaned, throwing her arm around my shoulder as we walked downstairs.
--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~--~~
The rest of the weekend passed by at an excruciatingly slow pace.
I found myself awake and ready for school a good forty-five minutes earlier than usual. My mother had that same knowing smile in her eyes as she took out a few extra eggs for breakfast. Normally I was never awake in time to eat. I valued sleep more in the mornings than nourishment. A granola bar in the car usually sufficed, but I had awoken long before my alarm had gone off.
I couldn't justify to myself why I was so anxious to get to school. I knew that it was going to be much more painful than I wanted. No one was likely to have forgotten what had happened at Tanya's party, and the news would spread like wildfire to everyone who hadn't been present. It would be almost unbearable to watch them gawking at Bella and whispering behind their hands without being able to stand beside her and distract her from their cruel attention. I knew that Bella was perfectly capable of handling it herself, but it would have made me feel less like a jerk if I was able to support her. I knew, though, that I would have to keep my distance in the hallways and at lunch. If nothing else, I was anxious for the one class in which I would be sitting next to her. Even if I had to pretend that we weren't really talking anymore, it would have to be enough just being that close to her.
"Morning mo-" Alice halted in the doorway as she noticed me.
"Oh my God, look who decided to join us," she grinned.
"Morning, Alice." I said through gritted teeth, a note of warning in my voice.
Despite the glint of mischievousness in her eyes, she didn't do anything Alice-like through breakfast. In fact, she was surprisingly quiet. She didn't speak to me at all, in fact, until we left the house and headed to our separate vehicles.
"Are you seriously going to ignore her all day?"
"Alice, don't-"
"I'm just saying, Edward. Don't you think it would be easier if you…"
"If I what, went around holding her hand all day? Alice, they're going to stare regardless, but they'll stare less if there isn't anything to look at."
"So what if they stare, though?"
"Bella doesn't like being the center of attention. It makes her nervous. I want to make her as comfortable as possible."
"Okay," she said exasperatedly.
"Listen, I know that you think that I'm being stupid and this whole idea is just-"
"On the contrary," she interrupted. "I think that you are being quite valiant. I think it's Bella that's being stupid."
I shot her a pointed look.
"If I were Bella, I would want to make sure that everyone knew that I was with you. Embarrassment be damned."
My face must have displayed my confusion because she glanced at me once and went on.
"I mean, if the school thinks you're still single, all the girls are going to keep throwing themselves on you. That's bound to get to her… whether she'll admit it or not."
"Well Alice, what do you suggest I do?"
"I can't suggest anything. This is on Bella. She needs to make this decision, obviously. I don't think it will take long though, after she see's the girls stepping into her territory unknowingly."
I dug my keys out of my pocket and unlocked my car as she stepped around to her own.
"We'll see," I shrugged.
School went by just as slowly as I had expected. Every time our paths crossed in the hallways, she averted her eyes. But not before I caught the subtle smile that crept across her lips. After which I would spend the next full hour thinking about those lips instead of focusing on the teachers lectures or the homework that I was doing. At lunch, I sat at a different table than Tanya. Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett all joined me. Tanya looked enraged at first, but after a few moments, Kate and Irina ended up following her to the jock table, where she spent the rest of the lunch period tangled in James' arms. Even at the site of him I felt the blood boil beneath my skin. Alice noted the direction of my furious stare and distracted me by telling me about the lab in Bio that day. That news gave me some reprieve from my anger. A lab meant that I would have to interact with Bella. Even if in a way as innocent as that.
Luckily, during the class period that followed lunch, I was able to slip a note to Bella. I wrote on the corner of my lab notes - Still coming to my house after school?
I pointed it out to her, feigning that I was simply asking a work related question. She bit her lip and nodded, hiding her smile quickly. I found myself thinking about her lips yet again as I erased the words and continued with the lab work, asking questions that I knew the answer to just to hear her voice.
Tanya repeatedly glanced back at us, a look of vicious loathing in her eyes. She was suspicious of something, but she also seemed more confused than anything. I could almost hear her thoughts just by looking at her. He's been avoiding her all day, how could being her lab partner be worse than being my lab partner?
I smirked down at my notes. If only Tanya knew. I glanced nonchalantly over at Bella who was scrutinizing her notes carefully, scribbling something that I couldn't decipher in her cute chicken scratch handwriting.
After school was finished, I left the school by myself, passing Alice and Jasper who were deep in conversation in the hallway. I waited in my vehicle until I saw Bella leave the building. I saw her eyes scan the parking lot until she spotted me waiting in my car. A smile crept across her face as she angled her head down, pushing the hair that fell around her face back behind her ear with one hand as the other hand searched for her keys. I waited until she was inside of her truck to start me own car and back out of the parking space. She started her truck and fell into the line of cars waiting to exit the parking lot one car behind my own.
It would have been so much easier if she could have just gotten into my vehicle with me, but I knew that it would draw far too much attention. For the briefest moment, I saw a scene played out in my mind where Bella met me at my car after school and slipped her hand into my own. I pictured myself leaning back against my car as she leaned into me, wrapping her other hand around my neck and kissing me right there in the school parking lot in front of all the people we were trying so hard to fool right now.
I was started back to reality by the car behind me honking their horn impatiently. I inhaled sharply and looked around. I hadn't realized that the three vehicles in front of me were gone already. I probably looked like an ass. I quickly stepped on the accelerator and left the parking lot, going slow enough on the main road so that Bella could follow me. She had been to my house before, but it was kind of hard to find the first few times.
A moment of exhilaration washed through me as I realized that Bella was coming over to my home again. After everything that had happened, after all the stares she had been scrutinized by all day long… she was still right behind me. Still willing.
I saw in my rearview mirror a car emerge from behind Bella's truck. It jumped into the other lane and sped past her. I knew without even studying the vehicle who was behind the wheel. Alice sped past me as well, honking in acknowledgement as she went. I chuckled aloud to myself. Alice might be quite fond of Bella, but she slowed down for no one. Not even her own boyfriend, who I could now see trailing behind Bella's ancient red truck. Jasper, however, made no move to pass the wheezing truck's 55 mile an hour limit.
"Always the gentleman," I noted out loud. It was hard for me to limit my own speed, even for my own girlfriend. He had no obligation to, but he did so anyhow.
Several minutes later, I pulled into my driveway, followed closely by Bella and Jasper. Alice's vehicle was already parked in her usual spot. No doubt she had already alerted Esme that I was bringing Bella back home.
I jumped out of my car and slung my backpack over my shoulder. I waited for Bella as she did the same, closely followed by Jasper.
"What's homework lookin' like?" Jasper asked as he walked toward the path leading up to the front door.
"Bio and English," I replied.
"I've just got Bio and a little Psych. Hi Bella," he added as he passed her and headed up the pathway.
"Hi," Bella smiled shyly, following my lead as I trailed behind Jasper.
I held open the front door for her and she smiled again, biting her lip a little as she shimmied past me. I followed behind her and promptly offered to take her jacket.
"Thanks," she said quietly, shifting her backpack to the opposite shoulder as she removed her jacket and handed it to me.
"Hey!" my mother greeted breathlessly as she approached us from the laundry room down the hall. "How was school?"
"Fine," Jasper and I answered simultaneously.
"Hi, Bella. How are you?" she continued, shifting the laundry basket on her hip.
"I'm… I'm alright." Bella stammered.
Esme threw her another warm smile and then turned back to me. "I'm making shrimp fettuccini for dinner tonight. Don't fill up on snacks."
"Awesome," I nodded approvingly. Shrimp fettuccini was my favorite meal, but only when Esme made it.
"Bella, are you going to join us for dinner tonight?" she asked brightly, turning back to Bella.
"Oh… no, I… thank you for the offer, Mrs. Cullen, but I don't want to impose again."
"Call me Esme, please," my mother chuckled lightheartedly. "Mrs. Cullen is so formal." She made a face. "And it is no imposition at all. We would love to have you stay."
"Seriously, Bella," Jasper chimed in. "I eat dinner here more often than I eat at my own home."
Bella hesitated, contemplating. "I really should go home so that I can cook for my dad," she said quietly. Her tone suggested that she would very much like someone to argue and give her a reason to stay. Of course, my mother was only too happy to oblige.
"Well then, I guess it's fortunate that I always make way too much food anyway and a lot of it goes to waste because someone," she jabbed me in the ribs and winked, "never likes to eat leftovers. You can certainly take a plate home to Charlie if you would like. It's totally up to you, though, hon," Esme reasoned.
"I'll call him when he's back from work," Bella nodded.
"Great," Esme winked at her. "Alice is already at the breakfast table in the kitchen doing her homework," she informed us. And with that, she turned and headed back to the laundry room, leaving us alone in the entry way.
Bella began removing her shoes my stepping on the heel and trying to pull her foot out of them. I noticed her technique because that's the same way I took off my own shoes. I never wanted to waste the time untying them. Because I was paying attention, however, I noticed when her arms flew out as she tried to regain her balance. Despite her efforts, she began to tumble forward. I reacted quickly, reaching out and circling my hands around her waist, righting her as quickly as I could as Jasper stifled an amused laugh.
Her cheeks flushed and she grimaced, "Sorry."
I smiled. "For what? Being klutzy?"
"Yeah," she sighed. "You'll find it happens a lot with me."
"That's okay, I've got pretty good reflexes," I teased, smiling a little as I caught her gaze.
Jasper shifted uncomfortably and then silently excused himself as Bella and I continued to stare at each other. Her eyes were searching my own. For what, I wasn't sure.
"What do you have for homework?" I finally asked.
She blinked several times as if being drawn from some trance. "Oh, um… Bio and Math," she said quietly.
"You didn't finish the bio lab either?"
"No, I was…" she shot me a look. "distracted."
"Sorry," I shrugged.
"For?"
"For being so distracting," I said teasingly, to which she responded with a roll of her eyes.
I suddenly realized that my hands were still around her waist and I quickly released her, moving one hand to comb through my hair like I always did when I was nervous or embarrassed. I groped behind me for my backpack with the other hand. Once I found it, I gestured toward the kitchen with a nod of my head and she turned to walk with me.
Alice and Jasper were sitting on one side of the table with their books open. Both were working on a psychology assignment together, so I figured Bella and I might as well finish out Biology.
She nodded in agreement when I suggested it to her and we both sat down and extracted our lab folders from our backpacks. We worked in silence for a while, only exchanging an occasional note or asking for confirmation on an answer from time to time. Bella ended up finishing with hers long before I was finished, and was half way through her math assignment before I was done.
She let out a frustrated sigh and punched some buttons on her calculator with excessive force.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah," she shook her head, "math and I don't get along very well."
"Do you need help?"
"I just keep getting a different answer on this one when I check it." She pointed her finger at a question on the paper in front of her.
I leaned closer to her, catching a whiff of strawberry shampoo as I squinted at her handwriting. "Oh," I said suddenly, recognizing the equation from class earlier in the day, "See, this one is kind of a trick question," I explained. "It's too vague, so you can't really simplify it past x over y is equal to thirty-six. You don't have enough information."
"Oh," she frowned. "Well that was painfully and embarrassingly obvious."
"I had to ask Mrs. Schmidt in class," I winked. "Don't feel bad."
She smiled at me. "Thanks."
I nodded but held her stare. For the second time that afternoon, I was lost in her eyes.
"How's the homework going?" Esme asked, tying an apron around her waist as she entered the kitchen.
Bella started and inhaled sharply, pulled back to reality by my mother's sudden entrance. She turned back to her homework with a slight flush in her cheeks.
"Fine," I replied, not looking away from Bella even though she was now looking down at the table.
"Speak for yourself," Alice piped up from across the table. "This English is kicking my butt."
"What are you working on?" Bella asked.
"That stupid grammar worksheet," my sister groaned, defeated.
"The one where you have to identify the errors?" I asked, finally turning away from Bella.
"Yes. Clearly I don't read enough books. Everything looks right to me," she sighed.
"Lame," I teased. "I had that worksheet done in ten minutes."
"Well you're an English freak slash book nerd," she retorted in a tone that I half expected would be accompanied by her sticking out her tongue at me.
"Play nice," my mother called over her shoulder as she dug through the refrigerator.
"Want me to help you?" Bella offered.
"I doubt I'll get it," Alice groaned. "Jazz has been trying to help me for the last twenty minutes."
Bella smiled and pulled her chair over to the other side of Alice's and began explaining every error on the page in great detail.
I returned my attention to the other English assignment. I knew it wouldn't take me long, so I let myself listen to Bella's voice as explained the different rules of grammar to Alice. I offered some input every now and then when Alice didn't seem to understand. I got so wrapped up in Bella's voice, though, that Alice finished her assignment before I did.
"Thanks, Bella," Alice grinned as she closed her book. "I'm going to go watch TV," she decided, standing up from the table with Jasper close behind her.
Bella brought her chair back around to the other side of the table and quickly finished up on her last math problem while I finished my English paper and packed up my backpack.
"Do you need help with anything?" Bella called over to my mother. Esme turned from the boiling pot of noodles and gave Bella a grateful smile.
"No, no, no. Don't worry about me. Go ahead and watch TV with Al and Jasper," she waved her hand in dismissal.
Bella turned back to look at me and I wagged my head in the direction of the living room, gesturing toward the sudden noise of the television set.
I cleared my throat as we entered the living room. Alice and Jasper started and pulled away from each other.
"Get a room," I groaned, sitting down on the opposite couch and making a face at my sister.
"Shut up," Alice retorted, throwing the remote control across the room at me. I deflected it from hitting my in the face and picked it up, pretending to throw it back at Alice. She flinched and threw her hands up to protect her face. I smirked, the remote still in my hand. I spun it once and aimed it toward the TV.
"Thanks," I winked at her as I pressed the channel select button. Bella giggled and took a seat next to me.
"Hey, I was watching that!" Alice protested.
I smiled wider and ignored her complaint. I scrolled through the channel guide for several moments before I stopped on the ABC family channel and turned to Bella as if to question her opinion.
"I love Gilmore Girls," she smiled brightly.
"Me to," I replied as I pressed enter.
"Rerun," Alice noted aloud several seconds later.
I rolled my eyes and ignored her again. It only took a few minutes before she returned her attention to Jasper. I glanced over at them and felt a familiar pang of jealousy. Jasper's fingers were entwined in Alice's and their eyes were locked. Alice pressed her forehead against Jasper's as I watched her lips open and mouth three silent yet unmistakable words. I quickly averted my gaze, my heart nearly bursting with longing.
How long would it take until Bella and I were at that point? How long until she would feel comfortable displaying affection like that in front of other people?
I was staring blankly at the television, not really paying any attention to the comical exchange between Lorelai and Rory on the screen. My mind was in dream land again.
I plunged back into reality as I felt Bella, who obviously had been following the witty exchange on TV, laughing silently beside me. I saw her head turn toward me out of the corner of my eye as I jumped. I returned the glance. She gave me sweet smile and went back to watching the television. I kept watching her for a moment more, noticing how her eyes darted away from the TV screen and stared blankly into space for a moment as if she was thinking about something unrelated. She bit her lip, which I noticed she seemed to do often, and then suddenly, I felt her hand slip into mine. The corners of my mouth tightened in an irrepressibly smile. She glanced at me once more, the same slight smirk playing on her lips and a subtle but beautiful blush spreading through her cheeks.
It was not as if we hadn't held hands before, but still, my stomach was suddenly overpopulated with a highly active cavalcade of butterflies. I felt almost giddy with excitement. It was completely pathetic. How was it that Bella could have such an intense power over me? Would I ever be able to behave normally when something like this happened? Or was I doomed to forever feel like a silly school boy whenever she showed me any sign of affection?
Regardless, I wasn't going to complain.
BPOV ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
As the weeks went on, I found myself spending almost every out-of-school moment with Edward. Oddly enough, we had our evening schedules planned out around my father's work schedule.
On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when he worked late, I went over to Edward's house and had dinner with his family and then brought back leftovers. I felt bad about that for a while, but none of Edward's family seemed to mind at all. In fact, Jasper was over there more often than I was. He was practically a member of their family already. On Tuesday and Thursday, Charlie came home from work at around 5. On those days, Edward almost always accompanied me to my house after school and we did homework together while I was cooking for Charlie. Sometimes Edward would stay to eat with us, sometimes he wouldn't. It mainly depended on Charlie's mood that day.
With the amount of time we were spending together outside the wall of Forks High, things became more and more effortless for Edward and I. I felt more myself around him than I ever expected I would feel around another person. But the closer we got outside of school, the harder I found it to stay away from him in school.
I was relieved that the stares had finally gone away. I was no longer the topic of gossip in the school. I was back to being a nobody. I liked being a nobody to most people… but I no longer liked being a nobody as far as Edward was concerned. I knew, of course, that I wasn't a nobody to him… but he did his best to pretend otherwise while we were in school. I was almost embarrassed for asking him to keep this a secret. If I had just let things play out… let the school know we were a couple… the stares probably would have died down by now anyway. Now, when it finally did come out, which at this point there was no denying that it eventually would, it would be a big shock again. It would be made even bigger of a deal by the fact that we had been hiding it for the last month and a half.
I jumped as my phone buzzed in my pocket. I looked around the cafeteria to make sure that no one was paying attention to me before I discreetly took it out and looked at the new text message.
You're really pretty. ;) - Edward
I felt myself blush as I crammed the phone back into my pocket. I glance over towards Edward's table quickly to see him staring down at the table with what could possibly have been a smile on his face.
He had recently taken to texting me during the school day. I usually had my phone off, but now I made sure it was always on, in my pocket, and set to silent or vibrate. I felt a flourish of butterflies in my stomach and I smiled to myself, reveling in this personal victory of mine.
It was so foreign to me… the thought that Edward was… well, mine. The thought that Edward wanted me… it was something so absurd to me that I had trouble believing it myself sometimes.
The lunch bell rang and I quickly deposited my scarcely touched food into the trash can and quickly fell into the line of students heading to their next class. My next class just so happened to be with Edward… which may or may not have added to my haste.
Unfortunately, Mr. Banner provided us with plenty of work today, as he usually did on Fridays. We were instructed to do a 100 question chapter review without any help from other students… which meant no talking.
After many failed attempts at communicating with him during Bio, the rest of the day was equally Edward-less and boring until the final bell rang and I made my way to the parking lot.
He was waiting, like every day before, leaned up against his Volvo. When I exited the building, he got into his car and started it up, knowing that I would be right behind him. He didn't have to wait for me anymore, I knew where his house was by now… but still, as soon as I pulled onto his road I saw him a few yards ahead driving painfully slowly until I caught up with him. At which point he would speed up, but only to the 55 miles an hour my truck was capable of driving at.
Neither of us had any leftover work to do from school, so we greeted Esme and answered her questions about our day in school, and at the first possible moment, we excused ourselves to the living room. We always turned on ABC Family and waited for Gilmore Girls to come on, entertaining ourselves with random conversation until then.
It was amazing to consider how much things had changed since the first time I had come home with him after school. At that point, I had to spend several minutes working up the courage just to take his hand. Now, we fell into the same position every afternoon. He would sit on the left, and I would sit beside him on the right with his arm around my shoulders and sometimes even my head resting on his shoulder. On occasion, when I was particularly exhausted, I would lie on the couch and rest my head in his lap. When that happened, I usually caught him staring at me instead of the TV several times throughout the one hour episode and I often found myself wondering what he was thinking. In one instance, I had asked him. He responded "I'm thinking about how lucky I am."
I smiled at the memory and readjusted my head against his shoulder as the end credits came up on the screen. Alice and Jasper had long since retired to Alice's room where they claimed to be watching movies.
"Hey Ed," Esme poked her head into the living room. "The roast is taking a little longer to cook than I thought, so it's probably going to be an extra half-hour until dinner, okay?"
"Okay mom, we'll be up in my room."
"Okay, be good," she winked as she disappeared back into the kitchen.
I turned my head up and looked at him. He turned back and asked, "Do you mind? There's never anything good on at this time on TV."
"I… yeah, that's fine," I nodded my head trying to hide my sudden anxiety. The last time I had been up in his room… I had been sleeping in his bed.
He squeezed my shoulder and got up, holding out his hand to me. I took it gingerly and allowed him to lead me up the stairs. I didn't allow myself to jump to conclusions. I forced myself to calm down and relax as we reached the top of the stairs and headed toward his bedroom door.
Once inside, he hesitated before dropping my hand and heading over to the couch against the wall. He sunk down into the cushions with a sigh and patted the seat next to him. I sat down and resumed my previous position, leaning against him.
"I guess it was kind of pointless to come up here," he chuckled. "There really isn't much to do anywhere. Why didn't you ever tell me how boring my house is," he joked.
"Your house isn't boring," I argued. "I like it here."
"Am I boring?" he asked quietly, looking down at me with a raised eyebrow.
"No," I laughed.
"Am I interesting?"
"Usually," I allowed.
"Hmm," he hummed, leaning his head back against the back of the couch.
I let my eyes scan the room slowly, taking in the book cases and stacks of CD's until I focused in on the piano.
"How often do you play?" I gestured toward the piano with my head.
"Pretty much every night," he answered without even looking to where I had pointed.
"Oh," I said simply, letting it drop.
We sat in silence for several moments before he decisively pushed himself up from the couch, grabbing my hand and pulling me along with him as he headed over to the piano bench.
He opened the lid on the shiny black grand piano and revealed the glossy row of ivory keys. I felt a smile cover my face before he even started playing.
"Any requests?" he asked, placing his fingers on the keys lightly.
"Play something pretty," I smiled.
"Nothing I play will be pretty to me," he said softly, his eyes locked onto mine.
"Why?"
"Because you're it's competition."
I opened my mouth to reply, but no words would form. I ended up staring open mouthed at him for several seconds until he took the initiative and began playing.
My mouth fell open further as the notes echoed around the room. It didn't take me long to recognize the main melody as that of "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds. The first time I was in this room, the last memory I had was of him singing me to sleep with this same song. I slowly closed my mouth and focused on his elegant fingers slowly flowing over the keys. People who could play the piano always fascinated me. To have that much coordination must have been truly amazing. God knows I wasn't gifted with that talent.
As I listened to the beautiful notes that haunted the atmosphere around me, something new began to come over me. I felt a raw heat bubble up from my core, spreading through my limbs until I couldn't ignore it any longer. I felt a longing. I felt… desire. Before I knew what had come over me, I had thrown myself at him, abruptly halting the music. I pressed my lips firmly to his and closed my eyes as he kissed me back.
Snapping back to my senses I pulled back, feeling the heat take over my face completely.
"Sorry," I apologized breathily.
"What?" he choked out.
"I'm…." I trailed off.
"Sorry?" he repeated, incredulous.
"I don't know what came over me," I whispered.
"Bella, don't apologize for that," he shook his head.
I looked down at my hands as I twisted them around the hem of my shirt.
"Hey," he whispered, placing his finger under my chin and lifting it until I was looking into his eyes.
"Don't apologize," he repeated as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine again, but briefly. I pursed my lips and nodded my understanding. His hand raised from the keys and cupped my cheek softly. I leaned my head into his hand and he rubbed small circles on my cheek with his thumb.
"Bella," he started, his eyes narrowing as he looked deeper into my eyes. "Can I," he suddenly averted his eyes quickly and then glanced back up, "can I kiss you?"
"You just did," I smiled.
"No, I mean…. can I really kiss you?"
"Oh," I felt my eyes widen. "I don't… I don't know how."
"Yes you do," a corner of his mouth pulled up into a heart-stopping half smile as he leaned forward, capturing my lips beneath his own. He pressed his lips into mine several times, letting them move together as I mimicked his motions with my own. Slowly, he started to press his lips in between mine and open them, gently coaxing me to part my lips.
I was surprised to find how naturally it was coming to me, kissing him like this. It was as if his lips were the puzzle piece to my own, as lame as that sounded in my head. It just… fit.
His other hand moved to the other side of my face as he continued to kiss me. I felt his tongue linger just outside of my parted lips and I felt his hand fist into my hair. I reached forward with my hands, searching for purchase on anything I can find. I clutched at his shirt and pulled him closer to me as I pressed my tongue against his in a moment of pure bravery.
I grew braver and more sure of myself as the kiss deepened and I realized in that moment how much harder school was going to be from this point forward.
Suddenly, (although it might have been ten minutes later for all I knew. I had lost track of time) he pulled away from me, leaning his forehead against mine, his breathing deep. "Are you still sorry?" he chuckled.
I laughed out loud. "No, I'm not sorry at all."
I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so infinitely sorry about the delay. Life happened all at once. I was dealing with school stuff and I got a new job (Bath and Body works :) ) and I've been having personal issues that left me with little motivation to do anything for a while.
I'll get back into the swing of things soon enough. My goal is to get this story done before NaNoWriMo in November. FINGERS CROSSED
Thank you all for sticking with me through the ridiculous absence of posting. Again, I'm extremely sorry!
and I apologize if Edward seemed kind of... fruity in this chapter. One of my beta's told me that and I laughed for a long time, but essentially I don't really think anything I could do really fixed it. MY BAD
speaking of Beta's, Kaitlyn and Stephanie are boss when it comes to betaing. They are the cheese to my literary macaroni. End juno quotes.
:)