Chapter Seven – Trouble Leads to Romance, Romance Leads to Trouble, Trouble leads to... Parties?

We were sitting in my room, me on the bed, hugging my pillow to my chest and him, standing near the window trying to spot someone skulking in the shadows. I watched Edward, chewing on my lower lip. Maybe asking him to come over hadn't been as great an idea as I had thought it would be while I was still in panic mode.

Give Edward up or I'll have to deal with you properly.

I shivered as the cold, cutting voice on the phone echoed in my ears.

Now that I thought about it, and it was obviously way too late to do anything about it; if the stalker was still watching the house, whether it be on the street in a car with a pair of binoculars or a house down the way with a telescope, they would have seen Edward's car streaking down the street and screeching to a halt in front of my house… then Edward dashing manically to the door… then me letting him in… and finally the two of us in my bedroom… all of which would've been taken the wrong way…

"Well, I can't see anything," said Edward finally stepping away from the window. "I haven't been able to spot anyone remotely suspicious, except maybe that perverted old man across the street who's been watching a naughty video for the past half hour."

I laughed, hysteria making the sound seem louder and more exaggerated than usual. "Sounds like you and he are two peas from the same pod," I commented.

There was a pause, then, "Why would I watch videos when I could get the real thing?"

I stared at him, appalled, the hysteria forgotten. "If you're looking for the real thing then why are you still single?" I asked him disgustedly. "I'm sure you get plenty of offers to do that… stuff."

"Bella, I was joking," he said with a sigh. There was a pause as I studied his earnest expression. "Plus I'm not single anymore," he added with a straight face though his bright green eyes laughed.

Irritated, I threw my pillow at him. It hit him square in the face with an audible thwump. "We are not going out," I reminded him firmly. "I'm in debt, remember?"

There was a sinking feeling in my stomach as an evil grin appeared on his lips. "Yeah I remember, and you've just added another day onto your sentence," he informed me.

"You can't do that!" I yelled at him, reaching for a second pillow.

He laughed and caught my wrist. "And that'll be another," he said with a wink and dragged me off the bed.

We landed with a thud on the floor.

"Now this can't look good," observed Edward with a chuckle.

I was lying on top of him, in basically the same position as yesterday after the trip wire incident only this time my cheeks were flaming with a mixture of outrage and embarrassment. No, this definitely wouldn't look good if the house was being watched. My heart missed a beat as I remembered my current predicament, then another as he reached up and tucked my hair behind my ear.

"Are you scared?" he whispered.

"No –maybe - sort of - a little – yes."

"Should I stay the night?"

"Yes," I replied without thinking. A moment later his question sank in. "No, of course not, you idiot!" I shouted and glared down at him as he began to laugh. "You really are a perv, aren't you?"

"Now Bella, why on earth would you think that?" he asked in reply, then added sincerely, "I really do care about you."

I blushed. He'd been saying that a lot today. "Edward, you've only really known me for three days."

"Actually, we've known each other since were around two months old," he interrupted. "Our mothers used to think it was fun for us to have baths together. I even have pictures of us running around my back yard naked."

My cheeks turned even redder.

"You do not!" I hissed accusingly.

He grinned. "Yes I do, ask Esme."

"Did you really have to say that?" I asked embarrassedly.

"It's fun to make you blush."

"No, it's embarrassing!"

I sat back and watched him laugh.

It was so weird, he knew so much about me but I could only remember what people had told me about him over the past week or so… and what little I'd seen on video. Maybe Charlie had videos from the time when Mum and I had still lived in Forks with him.

"Bella, everything will be alright," said Edward, misinterpreting my silence for fear.

I sighed, "I sure hope so."

"Of course it will and if you ever need a distraction, I know a great hotel –"

"Edward!"

~x~

As it turned out, Edward had been spot on; two weeks went by without a single note delivered or 'accident' occurring. Some people would have been reassured, and assumed that the stalker had given up; it was the complete opposite with me; my paranoia just kept growing; it felt like everywhere I went I was being watched, I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. Every night I sat on my bed and stared at the empty window frame, waiting for the faceless girl in my dreams to climb through the window and deliver on her threat.

"You didn't get any sleep last night, did you?" asked Edward as I got into the passenger seat of his car. School was over, not that I remembered much about what had been going on during class. It was all a big blur.

"You have amazing powers of observation," I said sarcastically. "What tipped you off?"

"You fell asleep and started drooling on the way to the school this morning, again at lunch and also during Biology – though the professor didn't realise it," replied Edward with a slight grin as I glowered at him through weary eyes. He reached over and tapped my knee reassuringly. "It's alright; you can sleep if you want. I'll wake you up when we get to Alice's."

"Why are we going to Alice's?" I mumbled, already beginning to doze off.

"She has your dress, remember?"

"Dress?"

"Rosalie's birthday," said Edward. "The dress Alice dragged us both to Port Angeles to buy."

Ah, I remembered now. Yeah, I definitely remembered. I had spent three hours trying on a bunch of different dresses, all of which had looked pretty much the same to me and Alice had forced Edward to give his opinion on every single one. The whole thing was embarrassing for the both of us and I'm pretty sure that Alice had noticed from the way she'd kept on smiling knowingly at me.

"Rosalie's birthday?" I repeated dumbly.

"Yes, and if you don't come Alice will have my guts for garters," replied Edward. Then I thought I heard him add, in an almost inaudible voice, "And I want you there too."

I turned red and pretended not to hear that last bit. "Can't we tell Alice that I'm sick or something? She wasn't at school today so she'll never know and I'm sure Rosalie wouldn't care if I'm there or not."

"Bella," said Edward pointedly, "Alice would know. Alice Brandon knows everything; sometimes it seems as if she can predict the future. She's probably told Jasper to wait at your place and take you to the party if you try to go home and skip the party."

"B-b-but I haven't told Charlie that I'm going out tonight," I stammered, it was a weak excuse but a plausible one.

"I've already told him that we were going," Edward beamed at the horrified expression plastered onto my face. "Wouldn't want to lie to the Chief, he's already suspicious of me as it is."

"He has reason to be, you did blackmail me into becoming your girlfriend."

"I love you too, Bella."

"When did I say that I loved you? You really are an egotistic –"

"Your actions speak volumes, Bella, dear. The fact that you haven't told the Chief about the incident in Port Angeles proves that you want our relationship to work out as much as I do."

I blushed again. "That's not true! You just wish it were!"

"Yeah, I do."

We stared at each other for one long, awkward moment. Edward sighed quietly and turned his eyes back onto the road. I looked out the window.

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. He caught me looking and winked. My blush deepened and a grin appeared on his face. Sometimes he could be total arrogant ass and then suddenly, for a brief moment, he'd turn into a sincere, sweet and caring guy. I frowned to myself wishing that I could see into his head and see what he really thought of me…

~x~

"Alice, it's too short," I whispered, keeping my voice down so that Edward wouldn't hear me from the other side of the door.

"Nonsense, it's perfectly fine. We've already had this discussion, remember?"

The new dress was made of black silk, with a sheer chiffon overlay and thin silver ribbon sash. Simple, but elegant was what Alice had said when she'd decided to buy it for me. The problem was that the hem barely reached half-way down my thighs. I felt awfully exposed. It had been hard enough steeling myself to step outside the changing room and give Alice and Edward a preview and now I was supposed to wear it in public. I yanked hard at the dress's edge as if it would magically lengthen the hem.

"Bella, stop it, you're going to destroy the fabric if you keep pulling on it like that; chiffon tears really easily!" yelled Alice in horror. "Edward, get in here and convince Bella that the dress looks good!"

"Don't come in here!" I shouted as the door began to open. God, this was embarrassing.

Edward leaned against the door frame and grinned cheekily as he looked me and up and down. "We used to play naked in my backyard and you're worried about me seeing you in a dress?"

"Edward!" I hissed, blushing furiously.

Alice giggled.

"He's kidding," I told her.

"Am not."

"Would you stop it?" I demanded advancing on him.

"Okay, okay," Edward conceded, raising his palms in surrender, "Anyway, Alice is right, you look beautiful." A slight red tinge spread across his cheeks as the tinge on mine grew darker.

Alice giggled again. "You two are so cute," she said cheerfully though her face dropped as she caught sight of Edward's leather jacket. "How old is that thing, Edward? You've been wearing it for years. Isn't it about time you wore something new to Rosalie's birthday party?"

"Eh?"

I coughed to smother laughter as Edward was caught off guard. Alice grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him off into the hallway.

"Bella!"

I started as Alice called my name and reluctantly followed.

Somehow, little Alice had managed to strip Edward of his jacket and was now sorting through yet another massive wardrobe that seemed to be full of nothing but coats, grabbing each leather article and tossing it into the steadily growing pile on a nearby stool.

He glanced at me with a slightly harassed expression on his face.

I laughed. It was mean of me, I knew that, but I couldn't help it. He just looked so cute.

Abruptly I fell silent. Cute. I'd actually thought of Edward Masen as cute. Something was wrong with me.

"Alrighty," said Alice loudly. "Edward, try these on. Bella, which do you think looks better?"

I blinked at her. She wasn't serious was she? They all looked the same to me; black and new. A leather jacket was a leather jacket.

Edward inspected each of the new items and eventually chose one that looked identical to his old one – just newer.

"Good pick," Alice said with an approving nod. "Now, shall we go?"

~x~

Alice's mansion was large and impressive looking, but the Hale residence made it look like a wooden shack; the place was big enough to cover the school grounds, and that was just the house – or castle or whatever it used to be. The huge gardens were astonishingly green and well kept and their driveway was ridiculously long.

I sat at the window of the limo Rosalie had sent to pick us up, gaping openly at the sprawling building.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" said Alice dreamily when she saw my open mouth. "I wish we had gardens like these at my place; the flowers are so pretty. Oh, and they have these gorgeous lights that turn on after sunset…" She turned to Jasper and said firmly, "When we get married, we are living in house with a huge garden, okay?"

To my surprise Jasper kissed her forehead and replied, "Of course." I had half expected him to freak out at the thought of marriage. I certainly would have if someone had said something like that to me.

I caught Edward staring at me, an indescribable emotion lighting his eyes.

"What?" I asked him.

He jerked, startled then grinned somewhat sheepishly. "Nothing, it's nothing."

I eyed him suspiciously as I got out of the limousine. It had probably been something dirty, knowing him.

It was only five o'clock and the party was already in full blow. An amazing stereo system had been set up in a room that looked as if it might have once been a ballroom. A hired DJ stood onstage at the far side of the room and deafening music was blaring out of speakers from each corner of the room; a massive throng of people, some whom I recognised from school, most that I did not, shuffled from side to side in the centre of the floor while several smaller groups hung around an open pair of double doors which lead to the dining room. Rosalie Hale sure was popular, or maybe the massive turn up was due to the fact that the birthday bash was open invitation.

The four of us were standing in the entrance hall; I was staring at the crowd with undisguised dismay.

"There you are!" said Rosalie's voice. She and Emmett had been standing near the doorway apparently waiting for us to arrive. "We've been waiting for ages. This party's never any fun without the rest of the Vampire ringleaders present." She kissed the boys and Alice on the cheek and hesitated a moment before doing the same to me.

Emmett nodded to the others then turned to me and said with a grin, "Nice dress, Bella."

"Um, thanks," I replied weakly.

Edward chuckled and put his arm around my waist. "Now you should smile and look pretty, darling," he whispered in my ear. "The real party is about to start."

I glanced over at the other two couples; Jasper had his arm around Alice's shoulder and Rosalie had opted for resting her hand on Emmett's forearm. A moment later a spotlight illuminated the grand archway we were standing under, the music faded away and the general noise-making died down; everyone turned and stared. A slight tinge appeared on my cheeks as I fought the embarrassment I felt at being the centre of attention in my brand-new, rather short, black dress.

"Yo, give it up for the birthday girl, Miss Rosalie Hale and the leaders of the Forks' Vampires!" screamed the DJ into his microphone.

Cheers erupted from the crowd but quickly fell silent again as Rosalie cleared her throat.

"Let's get this party started!" she yelled enthusiastically and once again everyone cheered, the music began pounding once more and people started to actually dance.

Rosalie beamed at us, looking a whole cheerier than I had ever seen her before. "Have fun!" she said and dragged Emmett off into the swarming human mass.

Alice giggled and gracefully flounced forward to join them hand in hand with Jasper.

Edward glanced sideways at me. "Want to dance?" he asked.

I turned red. "When I dance, or attempt any physical activity that requires co-ordination, people tend to get hurt," I replied honestly. "Mike can vouch for me."

His face fell at the mention of Mike's name but a crooked grin – which I was coming to know as his devil grin, which generally meant that he was going to do something that I wouldn't like and probably wouldn't have any control over – appeared on his face only moments later. He grabbed my hand and spun me around, somehow managing to fix my arms around his neck and his own around my waist.

"Just follow my lead," he said. "Forwards" I took a step forwards as he stepped back, "and back." I stepped back as he stepped forwards. He smiled down at me, "See, we're dancing."

"This isn't dancing; this is stepping back and forth," I mumbled to my feet as I watched them move in unison with him. I didn't fancy being publically humiliated due to my complete lack of co-ordination.

"Ah, but you see, that's what dancing is, stepping; some forms of dance just require more steps than others."

I looked up and stared at him; for once he wasn't being an ass. Dancing with him was quite… pleasant.

"Still feeling self-conscious?" asked Edward quietly.

"Surprisingly, no," I replied and it was true. I had been so focused on not tripping over my own feet, I had forgotten all about how short my dress was and about the number of eyes that were on Edward and me. Had he been trying to cure me of my nervousness?

"That's good," he said and stopped moving.

I wasn't expecting him to stop and stepped forward onto his feet. "Oops, I told you that it would be hazardous. I'm sorry," I apologised, looking up right into his eyes.

"Bella…" he started.

"Yes?" I whispered. Crap, he had me in a trance. I couldn't look away.

"BELLA!"

We jumped as Jessica, Angela and Lauren suddenly appeared in front of us.

I took an automatic step away from Edward as I greeted them, "Hey guys. Um, Edward these are my friends; Jess, Angela and Lauren."

Jess answered with a stammered "h-h-hello", Angela mumbled something intelligible to her feet and Lauren simply smiled.

"Nice to meet you," replied Edward, tactfully pretending not to notice that my friends were unable to talk around him.

I hesitated then asked carefully, "Um, Edward, would you mind if I went and got a drink with them? It's just that I haven't been able to talk to them much since…"

"Yeah, go ahead. I'll wait for you at Rosalie's little platform." He pointed at a small balcony hanging above the main entrance to the hall that I hadn't noticed before now. He flashed my friends an intentionally dazzling smile and pushed his way through the dancing crowd.

Jess looked at me as if I was crazy. "Bella, you didn't have to do that. I would totally understand if you wanted to stay with him for the rest of the night."

I shook my head and linked arms with her and Angela. "Nah, I could use an Edward-free hour or two and we haven't sat down and talked in ages."

"Well that's true," said Angela.

"Yeah, it is," agreed Lauren.

"Mmm-hmm," said Jess with an excited grin. "Oh, you've got to share all the goss. Oh, hey Mike!"

She signalled wildly with her arms, Mike saw her and waded through the sea of people towards us. "Hey girls!" he shouted over the music.

I watched with amusement as Jess seemed to sidle up next to him and battered her eyes at him – not that Mike seemed to notice. He just smiled at her, nodded to Angela, smiled at me and then finally at Lauren where his gaze rested. It looked like Jess had some competition.

"We were just going to get a drink," I told him, "Want to join us?"

He grinned widely. "Hell, why not?"

The five of us wandered into the dining room; there were four long buffet tables; dozens of coffee-shop tables and chairs and an attended bar, serving only non-alcoholic drinks of course.

We plonked ourselves down into some seats in the middle of the room.

"Shall I grab us some cokes, ladies?" asked Mike chivalrously.

There was a general all around clamour of agreement.

"I'll help you," said Lauren, getting to her feet.

"Oh, I'm coming too!" piped up Jess, giving Lauren a nasty glare.

Angela glanced at them then at me. "I'm thinking that I ought to go with them and make sure a fight doesn't break out," she said with a quietly giggle. "Sorry to leave you on your own."

I waved her off. I thought it would be a good idea too. It only took a moment for them to return.

"Cheers," said Mike, raising his glass.

"Cheers," we all responded and clinked the rims of our glasses together and sipped. The coke was cool and I hadn't quite realised how thirsty I had been until the first sip. It was easy to drain my glass.

"So Bella," said Mike casually. "You're not still going out with Masen are you?"

I choked and coughed to clear my windpipe of fluid. "What?"

Angela looked down at her shoes, Lauren and Jess both stared at Mike then at me.

"Well yeah, I am," I said slowly.

"Jeez, Mike," said Lauren, rolling her eyes. "That's kind of inappropriate."

"Yeah," agreed Jess.

Angela was silent.

Awkward silence stretched out on our table.

"Um, I'm going to go to the bathroom," I said, looking for an excuse to escape the growing tension. I got up and fled. Not one person said anything as I left.

I headed back into the main party room to meet Edward. The music made my ears hurt and the floor was getting unbearably hot, I was getting thirsty again. My head began to spin and my stomach heaved. I was almost at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the balcony when I collapsed. The last thing I saw before the world turned black was the image of my faceless stalker in my mind's eye…

Author's Note:

The whole stalker issue is coming to a close… I don't know why but it feels like it's been dragging on for a while. Anyways, anyone care to take a stab at guessing who the stalker is/help me decide? I have an idea of who I want it to be but I'd also like to know who everyone thinks it should/will be; please vote on the poll on my profile.