Never Again, Chapter Nine: Trying Again

You know the deal.

Okay, big hugs to Mzie, Sally Walker, cjtwilight, NewMoonRising1901, TeAmJaCoBandEmMetT, lillimolly93, DragonQueen03 and Laxer77! Extra big squeeze to TeAm-SeTh-KaLlY-FoOl for the advice! This chap wouldn't have happened without you! Luv Yhuu all loads :)

"I'm still not sure about this. Aren't we better off just leaving it before it gets out of hand?" Edward wanted to know as he followed me through the door into the house on Saturday evening, ready for round two.

I sighed. I wasn't about to just give up. If I had a problem, Jazz'd try his hardest to make it right, so that's exactly what I was going to do. It just happened that Jazz's problem was with my new boyfriend-of-sorts. I was gonna make it right.

"Look, Edward. If Jazz doesn't like you… I can't go out with you. I can't risk it."

"I don't get why it matters."

"It matters to me." I turned around and stopped him. "If Jazz is unhappy for any reason I'm gonna do whatever I can to make it OK. It's just the way we are."

Edward stared at me incredulously.

"What?"

He shook his head. "You're really amazing." He told me, pressing his lips to mine before I had a chance to respond. Aww.

He pulled away, and I inhaled dizzily. There I go again, nearly fainting. God, what this boy does to me…

He smirked at me, stroking my cheek. He brought his lips back down to my neck, just below my ear.

"How long have we got?" He whispered, causing shivers down my spine.

"Umm…" My breathing was pretty noisy. I didn't have a clue about anything now. Hell, I could barely remember my name. What was happening? Why did I only have a limited amount of time with him? Why did I never get what I wanted?

Edward chuckled a beautiful sound, and moved away from me fully.

"Come on. Lets make your brother like me."

Oh yeah. That.

An hour later, we were in much the same position as yesterday; only we were eating stir-fry rather than lasagne.

We sat at the table eating in silence. I wasn't really sure what to do; I wanted to speak but I didn't want another episode like yesterday. Several times, I went to speak, but decided against it. Instead, I kicked Edward to say something.

He gasped and looked at me. I nodded towards Jazz pointedly, and Edward took a deep breath.

"So…have you heard Metro Station's version of 'Last Christmas'?" He asked.

I looked at him sceptically. Metro Station? Where did he think he was going with this? Jazz didn't seem to acknowledge him.

"No." He answered eventually after noticing I hadn't said anything.

"It's good. Not as good as the original though, obviously, but it…uh…"

He tailed off. Jazz was staring at him with a look that said, "Why are you still talking? Nobody cares. Go crawl under a rock somewhere and die."

Well that was a start.

Another awkward half hour later, we were sat in the living room watching T.V. I whipped my phone out and tried to text Edward inconspicuously.

Ask him if he wants to play C.O.D xx

Edward took his phone out and text back in a matter of seconds.

Why would a grown man want to play with fish? X

Oh for God's sake.

No, dipshit. Call Of Duty. XBox. U play, right?

The look on his face told me that no, I was not right; Edward did not play Call Of Duty. How the hell was Jazz ever gonna like him? Ever?

***

"Oh, well done, dickhead. You just killed yourself."

After some serious pleading looks from me, Jazz had agreed to teach Edward how to play. He was never going to do anything for me ever again.

I sat watching the screen, trying not to laugh. It was really embarrassing actually. Man, Jazz was never going to let him forget this. He'd probably bring it up in his speech at our wedding…Wait, what?

"Like that, right? Is that the thing I'm meant to be shooting?" Edward asked Jazz, again, nervously.

"No, Edward. That's me."

"Wait, where is it that I'm going? What? Uhhhh!" Edward huffed, looking at me exasperatedly.

I giggled quietly. He really did want to sort this out with me. How amazing was my boyfriend? Actually, scratch that. What teenage guy didn't know how to play Call Of Duty?

After another ten minutes, Jazz had had enough. He slammed down his controller and dramatically excited the room, muttering to himself angrily.

I groaned, and moved closer to Edward, nuzzling into his neck.

"What? I reckon that went well!" He said, wrapping his arms around me and holding me against his body.

"Mmmm. It could've gone worse," I allowed. "I think we might've made a small breakthrough. We've got something to work on tomorrow."

"What? Bella, I think we need to accept now that if he doesn't like me, he doesn't like me."

I stared at him in amazement. "Edward, he doesn't not like you. He just needs to… warm to you more. And I've told you. We aren't going to just give up. He just needs to realise how incredible you are, like I have."

He was about to protest, but I stopped him with a kiss. Hah, payback time. I climbed on top of him, without letting my lips leave his. We stayed like that for a while, but then he started moving. He brought his hands down to my legs, and then stood up, carrying me. I tore my lips away from his, breathing heavily.

"Lets go upstairs," he said.

I snickered. "So Jasper can kill you?"

His face became expressionless for a second, and then one of a small child pouting. I laughed at him as he reluctantly sat me back down.

"It's not funny," He told me. "I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to do this."

I cuddled up to him again. "Not much longer, I promise. We're trying again tomorrow."

"Maybe we need to try a different tactic," Edward mused.

"Like what?"

He shrugged. Helpful. "What else does he like doing?"

It was my turn to shrug. He lived for his job. On his rare days off, he slept and played xBox.

"You're staying over tonight," I decided. "We can try again at breakfast before he goes to work."

"Won't Jasper kill me?" He echoed my earlier words.

"I won't let him," I smiled. "And we won't be doing anything other than sleeping." I added, just to make it clear.

"Why not?" He wanted to know.

"Because my protective older brother will be in the next room." Duh.

"He can't be that protective," He muttered sourly. I chose to ignore him.

We were quiet then, cuddled up together on the couch. I shut my eyes and let Edward's deep breathing calm me down.

"Bella?" Edward whispered.

"Hmmm?"

"I love you."

My eyes flew open. I must've heard him wrong. Did he just…? No. We hadn't even been going out a week. We'd never been on a date. My brother hated him, for crying out loud! I lifted my head up and turned it around to face him.

"Whaaa?"

"Nothing," he smiled. He placed a chaste kiss on my unexpecting mouth. "Come on. Bed time."

So, that one failed too. Though not quite as epically... lol :)

Will the third one be a charm? ;)

Reviews=Previews. And Cupcakes.