EmmettPOV
"God, she's really having a go at him," I said, my nose pressed against the window of the car though a moment ago, every single one of their words rang through the air, crystal-clear.
"Shhh, It's harder to understand what they're saying now," Alice hissed, "It's getting muffled all of a sudden."
"True." I admitted, leaning further into the door, pressing my ear against the glass.
"Ow! Emmett!"
She elbowed me in the chest, trying to force me off of her, so I shifted to make room for us both.
"God, if I knew I was going to be crushed, I would have let you have the window."
"Sorry babe," I apologized, dropping a kiss onto her forehead easily, as she sat sandwiched between the door and myself. Hmmm, maybe…
I lifted her up and she squealed, batting at my hands unconvincingly.
"Better?" I asked, nuzzling my face into her neck as she settled into my lap.
"Infinitely better," she admitted, craning her neck to reach for a kiss, fidgeting over me. Screw Edward and his drama, Rosie seemed well up for it.
"Excuse me!" Alice interrupted from the front seat, "Do you guys mind?! You have all of forever to do that. If Edward and Bella don't make up, they won't even have 5 more minutes of anything!"
I looked at Rosalie and she looked back at me.
"True," we said simultaneously, both of us leaning back into the window.
"Can't we just go a little closer?" Jasper asked, tapping on the steering wheel, "They won't notice!"
"Yes," Alice admonished him, "They will. Three blocks is the absolute closest we can go without him hearing us. I'm not even entirely sure he can't hear us the other way… The inside the head way…"
The midget had a point. That little gift of Edward's was definitely annoying. He wasn't very much fun to joke around with as a result. He was always cutting me off before I even got to the punchline. Don't do that, Emmett. Don't say that, Emmett. No we can't keep Isabella as a pet, Emmett.
Boo-freakin'-rah. Way to rain on the parade, Eddie-boy.
He pretended to be more boring than he actually was. He was so even-keeled about everything, even the Volturi, but you knew that a guy like that had to have some stories. You'd think a guy like that would be a little more animated about betraying his family of nearly a hundred years, but he was always so stoic, so serious. But at least with her he seemed to get riled up, finally. If he was going to be with us for any amount of extended time, he would have to lighten up a little. We were vampires, after all, there were enough bad vibes around without his constant brooding.
"Why is he yelling at her? Idiot, idiot, idiot!"
Alice was clawing at the window, desperate to run back to the school. It was like her desire to meddle may have even been greater than her desire to feed. Insane really, considering what we were… But then again, Alice never really had a problem with all of this… She really was a nutjob.
"What's funny?" Jasper said.
I didn't have to look at him to know that he was talking to me.
"Your woman."
"Yeah, well, you try to get her to calm down. I'd be infinitely grateful."
"I'm sitting right here," Alice dead-panned," and while I don't want to interrupt the two of you, I'm trying to listen…"
"What's the point, Alice," I sighed, "You're just going to ask him to rehash everything that happened anyway…"
"Yes," she chirped," Of course I am… But he edits."
She grimaced, "He always edits out the best parts… Like this kiss, he's not going to mention it…"
"KISS?!" I bellowed, pushing Rosalie out of the way, pressing my ear up against the glass.
"See?" Alice said triumphantly," You're just as bad as I am."
"No, Alice," Rosalie said, scowling at me from her place on the car floor, "He's probably worse."
"Sorry, Babe."
……………………………………………..
Edward POV
She pulled away from me almost immediately, and I followed her, leaning in, trying to prolong the touch of her lips on mine. It was the most bizarrely exhilarating feeling, I had never yet experienced it, and had never much wanted to until exactly this moment.
"Edward!" she urged breathily, "Wait… Wait…"
I was faintly aware of the fact that she was pushing at my chest but I kept leaning into her, playing the desperate schoolboy, the pre-pubescent lad in the throes of his first kiss. I withered at the thought. It was painfully embarrassing. I caught myself at that moment, feeling awkward at my lack of virtue, forcing myself onto her like some common lout. Had it not been for the fact that she had kissed me -my beautiful, infuriating Isabella had kissed me -I would have fled immediately. But she was staring at me with wide eyes that begged me to remain even as her hands pushed me away. It was the only encouragement I needed to stay at her side forever.
"I'm sorry, Bella! I did not mean to act so untoward! I don't know what came over me. Forgive me, my dear, please."
She laughed, throwing her arms around me and my knees buckled, but not at the burden of her weight, it was her burden on my heart. I was too consumed. Everything else, standing, breathing, talking, thinking, it was all second to her.
"Don't ever be sorry for that, Edward," she whispered into my ear, "That, what you just did, what you just said?"
She pulled away, her arms still circled around my neck, her chest still pressed into mine, "That's all I've ever wanted from you… I just want you to… Talk to me… To tell me what you're thinking!"
"Whatever you want," I agreed quickly, "Just ask me and I will give it to you."
Her eyebrow raised mischievously, she was plotting, and I would have protested but I was too besotted with the way her fingers teased the fine hairs on the back of my neck.
"Will you tell me why you left, then?"
"Yes," I sighed, reveling in her touch, I was putty in her hands, "I will."
She smiled at me brilliantly and as if it wasn't enough reward, she pressed her lips to mine again. Another kiss.
I pulled her hands from around my neck, suddenly remembering my carefully concocted plan. She frowned immediately, as if already knowing that there were conditions on my earlier surrender.
"What?" she said, eyeing me suspiciously.
I took both of her hands in mine, raising them between us, holding them to my chest.
"I will tell you why I left, Bella. I promise you that. But I cannot tell you everything, at least not right away. Is that enough? Do you trust me when I say that I want to keep nothing from you, but for your own good, for your own safety, there are things that I must?"
She bit her lip, pulling her hands from mine and the heart that had only just soared was quickly plummeting deeper and faster than it ever had before.
"Edward…" she hesitated, her eyes glazed over with worry, "I can't… Not if I don't…"
"Can't what? No, Isabella! Please!" I begged her, shaking my head furiously.
"Don't start doing that! Not again!"
I grabbed her hand, kissing into her palm, my eyes wide.
"Tell me but once and it will be the last time, I swear it."
"Stop calling me Isabella! You only do it when you're…. I don't know. Just stop it. Stop doing that."
I frowned, my jaw clenched. I never wanted to upset her, not ever, ever again.
"I'm sorry. I will never call you Isabella again if that is what you prefer… "
"No," she groaned, "It's not that… It's just the way you say it… "
"And what way is that?" I asked honestly. She never stopped confusing me.
"I don't know!" she said exasperated, "You say it like… Well not, every time, but most of the time…"
She worried her bottom lip and I reached out to cup her cheek," I say it like what?"
"You say it like it hurts you to say it…"
She looked up at me with watery eyes and I wanted desperately to tell her that it wasn't pain in my voice when I said her name it was desperation, it was worship, it was fidelity and most of all, it was love.
A lock of hair dangled in front of her shoulder, teasing me. Looking into her eyes I grabbed the stray pieces and tucked them behind her ear, letting my hand trail down her back, pulling her into me as closely as I could muster. I could feel her frantic heart beating against my chest as I began to speak.
"It is not pain, Isabella," I whispered against her neck, brushing my lips against her pulse point, drowning in her scent.
"It is complete…"
I placed a kiss on her collarbone and my reward was the skipping beat of her heart.
"And total…"
Then, a kiss on her jaw and a sigh. A sigh so quiet, so delicate, yet so wanting… so desirous.
"All-encompassing…"
Now, her chin. Her body tensed and she swallowed in anticipation. She might have been scared, but I knew it, and so did she: Touching her this way was thrilling.
"Devotion."
I let my lips devour hers and this time, she did not protest. And the thrill was not quelled with the end of the anticipation – no- it only grew with every frenzied caress of my lips against hers. She groaned and her mouth opened with the sound. I stiffened at the feel of her breath mingling in mine and suddenly I knew not what to do. Only a moment ago I had reveled in my inexperience, experimenting with her was akin to being certain of anything else. Yet now, frozen in place and petrified, I had no choice but to let her take the lead. Her tongue, hot and wet and delicious, brushed against my lips and my entire body seized, biology's frantic way of bracing itself for such unadulterated passion. It was torture, standing there, unknowing and completely subject to her will. But it was the most beautiful torture and if she continued with her assault until the end of time, it would be the most exquisite way to fade into forever.
She stopped suddenly, pushing me away again, frowning.
"I need to stop doing that."
"Stop doing what?" I said breathlessly, making every attempt to lock my knees to keep from collapsing.
"Stop getting carried away!"
I grabbed her, pulling her into my chest, my eyes deliriously wide and wanting,"Get carried away, Bella. Please! I don't mind!"
She bit her lip again, this time trying to hide a smile. She was trying to pretend to still be cross with me, but I knew her better know. Her kiss didn't tell me everything, but it told me some of her secrets. She liked kissing me too.
"Edward… I can't do this if I don't have all of you… I can't."
"You have me, Bella. All of me! Surely you must know that! You've had my heart from the moment you stormed into my life… You are a force of nature… You are my every thought, my every emotion, my ---"
"Stop!" she said, taking two steps back from me, her cheeks flushed, "You have to stop saying all of those wonderful things!" She whispered, almost to herself, "It's distracting me…"
I pursued her, her every step backward mirrored in my step forward, "All of my hours, Bella, they are spent with visions of you… The perfect ivory of your skin… The curling chestnut of your hair… Your scent, Bella, if I had not known your kiss, that scent would have been the worst of it all! It teases me and pulls me in and –"
"Edward!" she gasped, " I can't hear any more of it! Not unless you promise me that you will tell me everything. No secrets! I couldn't bear it any other way! It would be impossible…"
Impossible.
And there was the word that threatened to demolish my too fragile dream. Impossible.
But I had not lied when I told her that I could not know life without her, so I was powerless when I said the words. It was my white flag. It was my surrender.
"Everything, Bella," I breathed, "I will tell you everything."
…………………………………………….
A/N:
It's short, yes, and I apologize. But this chapter is a pretty big deal in the grand scheme of things, right? I wrote at a feverish pace today, so Chapter 14 is done and 15 is nearly there.
This chapter is dedicated to: My boyfriend's neighbors and their non-password protected wireless router, Lanvin's Spring 2009 Ready-to-Wear Collection, clam chowder from Legal Sea Foods, Liverpool FC's 5-0 aggregate score against Real Madrid & their 4-1 pwnage against Manchester United and Pilot G-2 .05mm pens.
Longest A/N ever.
My apologies.
Last thing, REALLY. If you want some romance… Go read my 3-shot La Ville Lumiere. I tried dead-hard to make it fluffy. It's complete! Maybe…