Twilight is not mine. But I suppose this plot is.

Not much had changed between Edward and me. Outwardly, that is.

Inside, things felt different; everything was so focused now. Before, I'd been pretty happy to just chill with him, living life, not thinking too much about the future. I mean, I thought about my future in terms of classes and whether or not I'd continue to live in Oakland after I graduated – that sort of thing—but I hadn't really done that with Edward.

Maybe it had been a subconscious decision not to put perimeters and labels on something because I was afraid I might not like what I ended up with. Or maybe I really hadn't been concerned before. For once, I'd been just going with the flow.

In reality, though… nothing stays the same. If it does, it's stagnates and even then that means its rotting. If it's not growing, it's dying.

Upping the ante with my feelings-for-Edward was like a skin shedding its skin: a little messy and really necessary.

It felt good to look ahead into my future and see him there.

"End of vacation blues?" Edward asked, his eyes twinkling like jewels over the gluttonous, gloppy sundae he was eating.

I shrugged, mashing my spoon around my ice cream. "Kind of. I got used to sleeping in and chillin'. Now I have...ugh. Early classes."

"Why didn't you choose a later one? They didn't have any?"

"Not for this one course. It was take it at eight or don't take it at all. And I have to take it."

"Ah. Sucks."

"Yep." I shoved a huge bite into my mouth. No sooner did I feel the cool trickle of something sweet and sticky dribbling down my chin Edward wiped it with his finger and sucked it off.

My stomach fluttered the way it did when he did things like that. Intimate things.

Our first date. The omelet.

"I love when you do stuff like that," I said, using a napkin to wipe whatever he had missed.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Such a woman."

I grinned at my banana split, nodding.

"My mother wants to meet you."

We were standing just inside his front door, still in jackets. Edward was sorting his mail; tossing the junk into a recycling bin he kept by the coat rack.

"She already did." I frowned, gesturing toward his coffee table. "Remember? The pizza…"

"I know. But she wants to meet you again," he explained. "Properly. She wants to know you. My dad too."

"She wants to know your dad? What, is he like you? Hard to crack?"

"Smart ass. He wants to meet you."

"I want to meet them too. Is your dad like you?"

"He's a psychiatrist."

"Ah. That explains a lot."

"You're really feisty since we got back from Tahoe, you know that?"

"Am I?" I asked, knowing I probably was.

Edward grunted in response, looking up at me. The late afternoon sun caught his eyes, setting them ablaze.

"You're feisty too," I said. "In your own way. Quiet feist."

He snorted, kicking off his boots.

I followed him into the kitchen. "So when are we going to their house? For dinner or something?"

"Whenever. We can go this weekend if you want."

"Okay."

I didn't know if this was a big deal or not, if it was significant to him or his parents, but it mattered to me. Now that they were allowed to grow freely, the scale of my feelings had only intensified. I wondered if he felt the same way; it couldn't be coincidence that we were arranging dinner with his parents a week after our "I love yous".

Suddenly the ground beneath our feet trembled. The plates and glasses in the cabinet rattled and a pile of papers on the kitchen table slipped to the floor with a whoosh.

I froze, my heart pounding, and looked at Edward. He was standing next to the fridge, his eyes trained on me. It got a little rough, and I reached for the wall.

It ended as quickly as it began.

"Whoa," I breathed. The vague sense of panic that had hit me started to fade.

Edward crossed the room and came to stand next to me, grasping my elbow. "You okay?"

"Yeah…"

"First earthquake?" His smile was gentle.

Nodding, I leaned my head on his chest. I love how he smelled; like wood and paint and detergent.

His hands ran through my hair, tugging gently, and then he held me.

hi guys! so, we just moved in to a new house - hence the late chapters and further suckiness with review replies. enjoy, though!

xoxo