A/N: Hey there people, sorry this has taken forever. But it's here now so yay! Anyway, in this chapter we have Esme revealing her suspicions about Edward and a very angry outburst from Bella. Hope you like it and please review!
DISCALIMER: NEITHER TWILIGHT NOR THE CHARACTERS ARE MINE. Unfortunately…
Chapter 5 – Stop Lying
As Esme finished her recall of that night, I myself felt a tear roll down my cheek. Damn, I didn't know I had that much effect on the family and Edward. I quickly wiped the tear away, before anyone could see I was crying, and looked up at Esme. She looked sad but she was keeping it all in. What would I do without Esme?
"But he was fine, and you know that because you see him everyday and he's always smiling. But there was another reason why I'm telling you this." Esme looked down at her lap.
There was another reason? Oh dear what is she trying to say?
I nodded, telling her to go on. She was silent for a while, and then she finally started to speak.
"I know I shouldn't get involved in this, but I can't help but think that Edward's feelings for you have… grown. This might be me misjudging things, but when you came back I knew you had emotionally and physically changed. And I must admit, I was wondering what Edward would think when he saw you."
She paused, a small smile crossing her lips.
"You know when you got to the airport and you found me and Carlisle standing there?" I nodded, remembering when I first saw them after a year. I never knew I could run so fast.
"Well, it was supposed to be Carlisle, me and Edward, but when Edward saw you walking through the terminal, his mouth dropped and hung open, then he ran off towards the exit." Now I had my mouth hanging open. Edward was there, at the airport, waiting for me? I didn't see him until five days afterwards! God those were the most nail-biting five days I've ever had.
Esme laughed lightly and put her hands on my shoulders.
"Bella, dear, he thought it wasn't you, and when he realised, goodness I can't even imagine what kind of thoughts ran through his head. All I know is that he wasn't expecting a girl to leave and a woman to come back." I was still frozen in the same position until I had finally registered what Esme had said.
"B-but Edward wasn't the same either. I mean he looked more like a man then when I last saw him. You remember when I finally saw him? I was gob smacked and he was really relaxed. This doesn't make sense." I was really confused.
Why would Edward, see me then run, then five days later when I eventually saw him, be totally relaxed and care free? Unless…
"I think, Bella, that he might like you more than a friend now. I don't know if its happening with you two, but is it more awkward, and much more intense than usual?"
I had to agree with her. It really had become more awkward and intense, even though we still acted like six year olds and played around like friends, there was always a moment where we would stop and realise how close together we were or what kind of position we were in and then we'd move away from each other and mumble our apologies.
"Yeah, that's kind of, um, true I guess. But what if it's because we haven't seen each other for so long?" I didn't want to believe that Esme was telling the truth, but I also did want to believe her.
"Ah, but are you like that with Emmett or Alice or Jasper?" She got me there. I was pretty much the same around them lot, apart from the fact that Emmett and Jasper both said if they didn't have girlfriends and weren't such good friends with me, they would probably want to go out with me.
"Your right I'm not. But what will happen if you're right?" There was silence for a while, while Esme contemplated her answer.
"Then Edward will be a very happy person and so will you. Sorry I had to say all this and bring all the memory's back, but I just want you to know that Edward missed you so much when you left, and that if you left again, he would find away to either stop you or bring you back. And you know what Edward's like when he sets himself a goal or task."
"Yeah, I'd be brought back whether I liked it or not." I laughed a little. It was true; Edward would drag me back if I even tried to leave for University. Friday's going to be tough.
A gentle knock on the door broke our little bubble concerning Edward and we both looked up.
"I'm not intruding on anything am I? I just thought because this is my room that I could come in." Edward's head poked his head round the door, a devilish grin on his face.
"Of course not dear. Now you and Bella better get ready, Alice wants to leave in half an hour. We really should chat more often Bella, it's nice."
Esme swiftly stood up, walked past Edward and went downstairs. How can she even walk past him and not say anything about what we just talked about. My mind whirred, trying to think of a possible explanation as to why Edward and I are acting strangely. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice Edward sit next to me.
"Have a good chat with my mum?" I jumped out of my skin and held my hand to my heart.
"Jeez Edward you scared the living day lights out of me." He laughed then put his hands above his head.
"I'm sorry, don't kill me!" Oh ha ha. I shot him an evil glare then turned away from him. I heard him let out a sigh.
"Okay, I seriously am sorry. Will you forgive me?" His voice was full of sincerity and truthfulness. I turned around to face him, struggling to keep the smile from my face, and crossed my arms across my body. This made Edward look at my chest then quickly back up at my face.
"Are you sure? Because I don't think staring at my chest is a great apology." I raised my eyebrow and he looked shamefully at his lap.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that." He went bright red and looked at the floor. I laughed lightly, and then answered the question he asked about 3 minutes ago.
"Yes I did have a nice chat with your mum thank you. But what did you have to do for Jasper?" I put on an innocent face and waited for him to reply. He looked up, a questioning look on his face. He looked curiously at me for a while, and then slowly spoke, not breaking his gaze from my eyes.
"I said to him I would sort out his car. As Rose was busy, I'm the only other person that's good with cars so I did it. It didn't take as long as I thought." He shrugged his shoulders gently then shock covered his face as a loud voice echoed throughout the house.
"Everyone downstairs in five minutes!" I thought Esme said thirty minutes, not ten!
"Oh no, Edward what am I going to do? Alice is going to kill me when I come down dressed like this!" The memory of our conversation had evaporated and the thoughts of Alice's torture filled my head.
"Don't worry. Rose has already got you an outfit sorted. She thought something like this might happen." He chuckled slightly then stood up and reached for my hand.
"Now if we're not downstairs in," He looked at the clock hanging above his door. "Eight minutes then Alice will be mad."
He led me out of his room towards Rose's and told me that my outfit was laid out on the bed. Once I had closed the door behind him I turned round to see what lovely clothes Rose had set out for me.
I cautiously made my way to the bed and surveyed the clothes. They weren't that bad, but I don't think I'd wear it as an everyday thing.
I put on the plain, dark blue tank top, with SHORT denim shorts. They barely fit, but somehow they stretched enough to fit over my butt. Speaking of my butt, it looked HUGE in these shorts.
Once I'd finished struggling into my clothes, I turned round and stared at the shoes. They were like death-traps, but with a hint of Rosalie.
I was about to go into her wardrobe to find some more sensible shoes when a little note captured my eye. It was next to the death-traps so I had no idea why I didn't notice it before. I picked it up and read it.
Bella, wear the boots. Edward will love them!
Damn you Rosalie. Why did she have to use him when it came to dressing up? I was about to pick up the THIGH-HIGH black, leather boots when realisation came swooping down and hit me squarely in the face.
Edward stared at my chest.
Oh my giddy aunt Esme was right. OH MY GOD!! She was right and she knew it. He liked me. He more than liked me! He stared at my 34 C chest like a hormone filled sixteen year old.
A rush of happiness and confidence filtered through me and the reluctance of wearing the boots had disappeared, and had been replaced with, surprisingly, willingness.
"Bella, hurry up!" Alice voice, once again, echoed throughout the house. I quickly zipped the boots up and confidently walked down the stairs. I was glad it was quite warm at the moment because I knew I would've been cold if it was a normal rainy day.
As I came near the bottom of the staircase, Rose and Alice both turned round and grinned at me. Rose put her hands in front of her and gave me a thumbs up. Emmett and Jasper then walked in and then tripped over themselves when they saw me.
"What the? Bella is that you? Nice legs!" At Emmett's comment I blushed and looked down at my feet. I stepped off the last step and looked up.
"Edward, come in here. I think you might want to see this." I had no idea what Jasper was talking about because I didn't do anything with my hair or anything and all the confidence I had back in Rose's room had vanished. All I could think about now was what would Edward think when he saw me in this so Rose-like outfit.
"For god sake what is i--" Edward stopped mid-stride and stared at me. After a minute of me blushing the colour of a traffic light, and him gaping at me, he swallowed hard and composed his face.
"Bella," He pretty much choked out. He was about to say something else but Emmett butted in.
"I think what Eddie wants to say is that you look edible and that your legs are outta this world!" I stared wide eyed at him and watched Rose hit him on the arm. This was not what I was expecting. I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't this. I mean he could've said something better than 'Bella', or even looked amazed. Instead his face was a symbol of shock and probably horror.
I slowly shook my head back and forth then turned round and started back up the stairs.
"This is ridiculous, I'm changing." I quickly went up the stairs towards Edward's room where I had some spare clothes, but before I could close the door, a hand stopped it.
"Bella are you alright?" Edward. Really not the person I want to see at the moment.
Edward came into the room and shut the door. He stood looking at me waiting for my answer. I was prepared for anything Edward would throw at me, but I wasn't prepared for my outburst.
"No Edward I'm not alright! Do you think I'm alright? I'm in some stupid clothes that I would NEVER wear and as soon as people see me in them they're shocked into silence because it's such a difference, because I've changed so much, that it was unimaginable a year ago! I hate the fact that women have to wear hardly any clothes to 'impress' men, and look like utter sluts to be noticed! But what really is bugging me is that YOU didn't have the decency to say I looked alright, to just stand there and gape at me like some idiot because I look awful! You didn't even lie to me to make me feel any better, wait, you didn't say ANYTHING because you can't lie, because you're so god damn amazing that it's physically and mentally impossible for you to be mean or even vaguely nasty! Why can't you just criticise me and cut all the crap? Everyone else use to!"
I was breathing heavily at this point. Woah, I thought I needed to do that. But Edward is so nice to me all the time; he must be lying when he says I look nice or something. Everyone else used to tell me I looked weird, but now all they do is stare at me, with their mouths wide open. Esme was wrong, I changed so much that it's had the opposite effect on Edward.
"Bella you've got it totally wrong." He began. What? How can I be wrong?
"Bella, the reason why I couldn't say anything was because I was shocked at how beautiful you looked. I didn't know what to do or say because I was nervous of what to do. I didn't want to mess up in front of this beautiful woman. And what do you mean everyone used to? It doesn't matter what people used to think, at the moment, more than half of the population of girls at school envy you because you look amazing!"
Oh great, just lie even more why don't you? Just make me more upset. I couldn't help it but I started to cry.
"Will you stop lying already? I do not look amazing, I do not look beautiful! Everyone stares at me in disgust more like." I tried to stop crying and looked him straight in the eye. All that was there was sadness and...pain? What the hell?
Before I realised what happened, my head was resting on Edwards shoulder and his arms were wrapped around me. I leaned into him and wrapped my arms around his neck.
After a little while Edward spoke.
"Bella?" He whispered in my ear once I'd calmed down a bit. I pulled my head back and looked into his wild green eyes. I sniffled a bit before I answered.
"Yeah?" My voice was hoarse from crying. He put his hand on my cheek and brushed away a stray tear.
"I have never lied to you and never will. Silly Bella, I've been your best friend for god knows how long and I don't think I've lied once. And I'm speaking truthfully when I say I think you're beautiful."
I think my heart just exploded.
Hope you liked that and I promise next chapter will be there outing :D REVIEW!