Chapter 27

BPOV

I woke up later. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I guess I was tired; I really fell asleep. Then all of a sudden the afternoon came back to me. Edward, I bit his tongue and ran away. Edward must have told everyone how tired I was and they let me sleep. I unlocked the door and got out; I must've pushed the lock by accident when I had gotten into the truck. I walked back into the heart of our camp site. Emmett saw me and said, "Bella, where have you been?"

"What do you mean? Edward, let me rest in your pickup truck since I had gotten up so early this morning. Where is everyone at?"

"Looking for you."

"Looking for me?"

"Bella, sit down and don't move while I call everyone back." Emmett started calling people. After reaching Carlisle and Sam, he called Jasper. "Jasper, Bella's here at the campsite with me. She's fine. She was asleep in the pick up truck."

"Yes, I can keep her here."

Carlisle was back first. "Bella, you didn't try to run away, did you?"

"No, I crawled into Emmett's truck and cried myself to sleep."

"Emmett, you were supposed to have the truck locked."

"Sorry, Carlisle, I thought it was locked," Emmett said. Suddenly, Edward came running into the campsite towards me; however, I stood up and walked to Carlisle.

"Bella, please talk to me," Edward said.

"Edward, go away."

Esme and Jasper were soon back in the campsite. Esme walked up to me and Carlisle and said, "Bella, do you trust me?"

"Of course, Esme."

"Then will you please come with me for a walk?"

"Yes."

"Jasper, will you bring Edward and follow us for a little while from afar while I chat with Bella?"

"Esme, do they have to come?"

"Technically, yes because you have to have a body guard with you, remember?"

"Fine," and I started stomping towards one of the trails because I really didn't want to be anywhere near Edward.

Esme easily caught up to me and said, "Bella, will you tell me what happened?"

"Why? Edward already told you."

"I want to hear it from you."

"We went on a walk and it was fun. We held hands and talked. When we were close to the campground, I started lightly jogging back to the campground, Edward told me to stop and I said I would race him. He caught me on the outskirts of the woods and trail and asked what he won. All I did was wiggle because he was holding me so tight. Then I was pinned against a tree. Edward was taking my hat off and kissing me like we always have though the kiss was lasting longer than I was expecting and I liked that part. Then his tongue pushed into my mouth."

"Okay, Bella until this point everything was fine."

"No, Esme, everything was perfect."

"Okay, then what happened or how did you feel?"

"First, I was surprised; we had never kissed like this then I felt a twinge of excitement building way down deep inside of me. Then Edward cursed and slapped me. So I pushed him away, grabbed my hat and through tears ran to the truck. It was open so I climbed in, cried for a while and must have fallen asleep."

"Bella, Edward was trying to French kiss you for the first time. Some instinct took over and you must have bit his tongue really hard. Edward then protecting himself slapped you."

"I feel bad for that, but Esme, Emmett said something to me why was everyone out looking for me."

"When Edward couldn't find you; his brain and emotions decided that you had disappeared again."

I turned to walk back to Edward and said, "You did what?"

"You told everyone I pulled a disappearing act. How dare you?"

"Alright you two separate. Jasper, start calming these two down," Esme ordered.

"I'm trying, but they're really on edge."

"Bella, sit down and Edward sit next to her. Bella, yes, Edward thought you ran away from all of us. But when the two of us finally talked he also admitted he didn't want you gone."

"I'm sorry, Esme. Maybe it's just not worth yours, mine, and Edward's time to make this work." I got up to leave.

"Jasper, sit her back down." He did and then Esme said, "Bella, you two are meant for each other. You need to let this stuff go. Yes fight about it, but then make up, keep going and growing. One of you is very stubborn and the other is way too independent. Learn together. Bella, you should've never just asked Edward to teach you. You should be doing this together."

"Esme, I have an idea," Jasper said.

"What Jasper?"

"Let's put them in time out together. We can lock them in their tent and maybe we'll let them out in time for dinner."

"I like that idea, Jasper; why don't you take Edward down. I want to discuss one more thing with Bella."

"I know, Jasper, we'll follow you guys down to the edge of the trees. You'll know we are right there while we talk."

"Alright, Edward, let's go," and Jasper pulled him up.

"Bella," and Esme offered me her hand. I stepped up and we slowly followed them down. "Bella, let him talk to you and explain yourself to him."

"Esme, he thought I would run again."

"Yes, he thought that, but he really hoped it wasn't true. Bella, explain to him, how that makes you feel."

"What if he tries to kiss me again?"

"Stop him and make him explain himself. Bella, don't bite down; just let your tongues play. I promise it's fun."

She pulled us up short of the tree line. "You two really need to talk. Talk about everything. Kissing is fun, Bella."

"I know; I just really don't know what the hell I'm doing."

"Tell Edward that."

"Fine, real life sucks."

"Bella, no it doesn't. Are you having fun most of the time?"

"Yes."

"Does it look like Carlisle and I are happy?"

"Yes."

"And we are, Bella, so are the rest of us. Do you want to be happy with Edward?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then come on," and she started pulling me towards the tent. Esme gave me a hug and said, "Now go and be honest with him."

"Thank you, Esme, I think."

So I slipped into the tent as far away from Edward as possible.

"Do you really need to be that far away from me?" Edward asked.

"Edward, you thought I plotted all of this all along so that I could finally have a chance to escape. Do you doubt how much I care for you? I asked you to teach me how to love you. I asked you if we were still boyfriend and girlfriend. I like to kiss you. I have liked all the nights that you held me because of my bad dreams. I'm sorry I really don't know why I bit your tongue, but when you slapped my face. I started to cry and I left. I just crawled into the pickup truck and fell asleep." I had tears running down my face by the time I was done talking.

"Bella, my tongue hurt so bad; I wasn't thinking correctly. Esme made me go walk with her and tell her what happened. Then she looked at me and said 'do you really think she would disappear?' My answer was I know that you are good enough if you wanted to you could, but I hoped you didn't because I need you." At that point, Edward was sitting next to me and said "Bella, I do need you. I'm so sorry I slapped you. Bella, please look at me."

"I can't; I hurt you."

"Darling, did you do it on purpose?"

"No, I didn't."

"I, however, did slap you on purpose though it was just a gut instinct since my mouth hurt so badly. That's not an excuse. I knew what my hand was about to do and I should've stopped it."

Then I felt his hand slowly lifting up my face to see his. Edward was crying and he said, "I never should have doubted you and said you ran away. I never should have slapped your face. Bella, please forgive me."

"Edward, stop," and I took my fingers and dried the tears. "Yes, I'll forgive you as long as you can forgive my disappearing act."

"Of course, I forgive you. You didn't really disappear. Bella, can I kiss you?"

"That depends on how you're going to kiss me. Esme said we need to talk more about the dating and steps we are going through."

"How about I kiss you the way we used to for right now? Though I want to teach you how to French kiss very badly. Right now, I want to do what we are comfortable with."

He pulled me in close and cleaned the last of the tears off my face. We started kissing as he gently laid me down on my back on my sleeping bag. Edward was resting on his one arm leaning over me and we just kept continued kissing.

As we broke away from the kisses for a few minutes, "Edward, do you really think I'm not happy and would want to runaway from all of you?"

"At certain times, yes."

"What do you mean certain times, Edward?"

"How mad you got at me about the guns, dealing with all your nightmares about home, when I had you pressed against the brick wall and when you were throwing up."

"Edward, but Disneyland and scuba diving, the movies, the BBQ and getting to sleep with you."

"Bella, am I ruining you by being with you?"

"No, Edward. You may be stubborn; but so am I because I've been so independent."

"Can we compromise? Edward, you're my protector including protecting my heart."

"Well, Bella. I'm glad, but you're protecting my heart, also."

"Edward, will you teach me how to French kiss?"

"Oh shit, Bella. I can't believe you actually said that."

I just smiled and said, "Do you want me to ask Emmett?"

"Hell, no. Come here and then he was lying on top of me. Bella, I'm going to start the kiss the same way as our others. Then, please, just let yourself feel don't think, I promise our bodies want to do this."

"Edward, no, they don't," and I rolled on top of him and tried to sit up. I put some distance between us. Then I said, "If they did, why did I bite you last time."

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