Playlist: Hey Na Na by Katie Herzig

Word Prompt: Relinquish

Chapter 17

As I exit Bella's tiny clown car, I'm admittedly embarrassed. There's something ridiculous about letting your girlfriend drive you around, but since I totaled my own vehicle (and my parents refuse to buy me a new car) I don't have a choice.

"Don't be such a guy," Bella scolds.

"I feel like I should be in charge of transportation," I say, putting my backpack on.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. It's not like you're a bus schedule coordinator. It's just a ride to school."

"I know, but . . . you wouldn't get it."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Because you're a girl."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't—I'm not insulting you. I'm talking about chivalry or manners or whatever."

"Like you've ever had manners around me."

"I have."

"Just keep telling yourself that, Edward.

"I will because it's true. You'll see."

"You'll see means you haven't done it yet. Did you just admit you're wrong?"

"No."

"Of course not. Well, whatever. I'll believe it when I see it."

"Would you like me to hold your bag?" I ask, and Bella's eyes open wide, an expression of disappointment on her face. "What?"

"No. I don't want you to hold my bag."

"Why not?"

"Because it's 2012 not 1912."

"Well, can I hold your—"

"No, I'm not an invalid."

"Hold your hand is what I was going to say before you so rudely interrupted me. Maybe you should go to charm school or something. You could use some manners."

"Shut up."

"I'm pretty sure it's rude to tell your boyfriend to shut up."

"Hmm, maybe, but you'd better get used to it. This is how I roll. You know that. Take it or leave it." She holds out her hand in offering, and I look around at passersby. No one's paying us any attention, and I'm kind of bummed about it. I want it to be a big deal. I want our peers to gape and clap and give a thumbs up since I scored Bella Swan. But the only thing that happens is that she smiles wide, and her eyes shine bright when I lace my fingers with hers. That's good enough for me.

When we get to the double doors of the building we stop and stand before them, gazing at each other. At least, I think we're gazing until Bella blurts out, "Are you gonna open the door or not, Mr. Polite? I don't have all day to get to first period."

"Oh, right."

I open it and let her inside first like I should. She chuckles as she passes by me, but I pull her back by her waist and surprise her with a quick kiss. "I thought we were just being swoony with each other."

"I don't really do swoon," Bella says.

"Yeah right. You were speechless last night. You so do swoon," I retort.

Her face pinks a bit, she cups my cheeks, stroking my skin, and says, "Maybe a little swoon," before walking to class.

-NSID-

"What is your deal? You're running to lunch. It's mystery meat day," Marcus says, as we walk the halls, headed to the cafeteria.

"I'm hungry," I say, yanking the door open and spotting Bella right away.

She's in line at the soda machine, her hair pulled up in a ponytail, wavy and dangling down her back. From her stance—leaning slightly, weight on her left foot, hand on her hip—I can tell she's irritated. There's a red headed freshman at the front of the line, letting her friends—mostly guys—cut. "Can you let a few more people in, please? That would be great because I have all day to get my Coke."

"Seriously," a girl behind her adds.

Bella swivels her head to respond to the girl. "Right?" Bella says, but then her eyes snap to mine, and she gets this stupid grin on her face.

I wave her over, but she shakes her head and mouths, "Coke." I pull one from my bag with a flourish, and she abandons the line.

She uncaps it and takes a big swig. "It's cold and everything."

"Romance," I say, nodding.

"I like it," Bella says, turning and heading to our table.

We all stare and watch her leave. She's in polka dot knee socks today and tiny, bright blue knit shorts. I want to sit her up on the table and run my hands over her calves and kiss the hell out of her. Maybe throw a tray off the table.

Marcus swipes his hand in front of my eyes, but I don't respond.

Peter checks my forehead and presses his ear to my chest. "I can't make out a heartbeat," he says. "She killed him. Maybe a testosterone surge or something"

Marcus claps him on the shoulder, saying, "We've lost him. Come on, Peter."

Peter tries to take the only open seat next to Bella, but I yank him back before he can sit. "Your head doesn't look so bad," Marcus says, mouth full of sandwich.

"I was hoping it would be ugly. You need some ugly on that mug of yours," Peter adds.

"It should leave a scar. Those are sexy, right?" I ask, turning to Bella.

She runs her thumb under my head wound, and I close my eyes, taking in her touch.

"You were just with Jake. When did this happen?" Charlotte nearly squeals.

"What?" Bella asks, taking a bite of chip into her mouth.

"Oh, come on. You're totally into him," Charlotte says.

"You're into me?" I ask, beaming.

"Shut up." She pushes my shoulder away, and I shove her back.

Jane stares at us and then at her man. "Why don't you ever push me like that?"

"You want me to abuse you?" Marcus asks. "That's creepy."

Bella and I swing our eyes to each other's and start giggling. Before anyone can ask us what we're laughing about, we leave the table, finding a concrete bench outside to sit alone.

Jake passes us and nods. Bella gives him a small wave, and I give him a smug smile. It's rude, I know, but I can't help myself. I won. I like winning.

"You guys think you have a chance tomorrow?" I ask.

"I think we'll make State," she says confidently.

"Yeah, I heard our softball team has a badass pitcher."

"We do. She'll take us all the way."

"You want to go all the way?"

"Hell, yeah," she says, then snaps her eyes to mine which I'm sure are smiling along with my mouth. She shakes her head and pushes at my chest.

"I'm just teasing. Why are you so shy about this?"

"I don't—no one ever talks to me about—I grew up with my dad." She moves from her seat to perch herself on top of the table.

"And what? He never talked to you about sex?"

"Shh," she says, covering my mouth quickly. "No, okay."

"Your mom?"

"No. She wanted to, but by then I was too old. It was weird."

"No one?" I ask incredulous. That's awful.

"I know about sex, okay. I know." She gives me a look, and I panic. Has she already gone there? Without me?

I move atop the table, too, to be beside her. "Did you and Jake?"

She drops her head and breathes in heavily. "I don't want to talk about this." She draws her legs in and wraps her hands around her knees.

"We weren't together. It's—I mean, it's all right if you did. He sort of alluded to—"

"What!" She squeezes her knees with her hands.

"I haven't, but—"

"Really?" Her head shoots up, eyes wide.

I shrug in response.

Bella bursts out into peals of laughter. "That lying whore."

"Who's a lying whore?"

"Who do you think?"

"Someone from the hair connection?"

"Good guess," Bella says.

"What did she say?"

"What didn't she say?"

I raise my eyebrows. I really want to know.

Bella pulls me closer, so she can speak quietly, right next to my ear. "You have this amazing tongue and gentle but strong hands and some serious stamina."

Bella saying this stuff, her breath brushing against my skin is doing things to me. I want to go home with her. Like five minutes ago.

"She wasn't that classy about it, though. And she talked about, um," she leans in and whispers, "positions."

My brain flies into a frenzy, thinking of Bella in nothing but those socks in every position imaginable.

"So it's not true?" She's quiet. Unsure, I think.

"Oh, no. No, we didn't. I mean, some of it's true." I lean in, my hands braced on her waist and lick her mouth open. "You've already met my tongue."

"Uh huh," she murmurs afterward.

"And," I say, kissing her neck, my thumb stroking her belly beneath her shirt, "I could introduce you to my hands."

"Oh, okay," she says, staring at my lips. She's so stinkin' cute.

"You want to come over Friday? After our date? Dad's eating dinner at my mom's."

Bella won't look at me, her eyes cast down at our hands.

"Hey, you okay? Am I freaking you out?"

"No," she says quietly.

"Am I going too fast? You don't have to come over. I don't have to use my hands. I—"

"No, I want you to." She covers her mouth with her hand, her eyes wiggling over my face.

"I want to, too," I say, and she sighs in relief.

"This is just weird. I was taught not to talk about it. You don't talk about it, you do."

"That's a good motto."

"Gran's."

"Really?"

"That's how I know.

"Gran?" I throw my hands out, startled.

"She and Pop had a healthy life. And Gran missed him. Missed him a lot. In a lot of ways."

"Oh, gross."

"Yeah," she says, "but he apparently knew, um, what he was doing. And Gran always told me I'd know when it was right when I was in love, one, and two, when I found someone patient."

"Are you in love?"

She rolls her eyes, but I'm not deterred.

"I can be patient." In a lot of ways

She snaps her eyes to mine and grins. "What if I don't want you to be?"

Now my eyes go wide, and I swallow thickly. Really?

Bella pulls me closer by the hands, and runs hers over my forearms, turning them so she can follow the veins with her fingertips. "You know that spot between the locker room and the weight room where they keep the kick balls?"

"Yeah."

"Want to meet me there before practice?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." She hops off the table and gathers her stuff.

I'm stunned, rubbing my neck when she gets on tiptoe to kiss me, her hand on my chest. I can't think of anything to say so I say nothing. But when I get to English, I pull out my phone before class and send her a text.

!

-NSID-

"We're starting in five," she says, her head thrown back as I kiss her neck.

"Okay." I tug her thigh, pressing against her and taking her mouth. She's trapped between my body and the wall. It smells like new rubber in this stupid spot, but I couldn't care less.

"I should get my cleats on." She pulls at my hair and devours my mouth.

"Why is that so sexy when you say that?"

"What?"

"I don't know. Anything about baseball."

"Because baseball's hot. Mmm." She moans when I lift her off the floor, forcing her to wrap both legs around me. I love this so much.

"These pants are hot," I say, getting braver and running my right hand over her butt.

"I know."

"Listen to you. A little conceited there. Am I giving you a big head?"

"No." She laughs, then sucks on my bottom lip. "One more," she says and makes it worth our while, sliding her tongue along mine. "I really have to go."

"Okay. I let her down and take a step back. I turn slightly, bracing my hand on the wall. I've got to get my body under control before going out onto the field. These pants are tight.

She sits on the floor beside me, lacing up her cleats and tying them. She stands behind me, fixing her hair. "What I meant . . . about the pants being hot . . ."

"Yeah?" I look over my shoulder at her. Her lips are swollen and pink from my kisses. I did that.

"I've been gaping at your ass for years." She slaps my butt then adds, "Have a good game, Cullen." Her cleats click down the linoleum hall.

I was almost ready to get out there, but that last move makes me a few minutes late to practice. It was worth it, though—Bella touched my butt.

After running my laps for being tardy, I'm in the dugout waiting to hit. We're practicing bunts today. Coach wants to do something unexpected to get us through the playoffs.

Emmett's up. He's huge and looks absolutely ridiculous tapping the ball so lightly with a slight swivel of his hips. He's our consistent home run hitter, so this is stupid, in my opinion.

When he gets back, he digs into his sunflower seeds, offering me some. "So what'd you do to Jake?"

"What are you talking about?"

"He's got a black eye, man."

"What? Not me."

"No shit?"

"Seriously."

"Huh, so it's true."

I laugh. "Dude, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bella hit him. For lying about sex. He's probably a virgin." Emmett laughs raucously and throws back some more seeds.

I smile at this. Did Bella hit him? That would be so awesome. I love how she defends herself. She's tough as nails. Plus, that would mean in one day she beat up Jake, made out with me, and smacked my ass. Awesome.

"So how's your neighbor?" Emmett asks.

"No. She's not even in high school."

"Doesn't mean I can't keep tabs on her."

"Her crushes are serious. She's been checking me out for years."

"Yeah, but not anymore, bro. Not anymore."

"Cullen," Coach calls, and I'm up to bunt. I feel so good though I want to hit it out of the park, so screw it, I do.

And end up doing more laps.

Bella joins me after as I hit my second lap.

"Fancy meeting you here," she says as we run side by side.

"Are you running because you decked Jake?"

"No, Coach said he deserved it," she says through laughter.

"Did you get in trouble for me?"

"Maybe," she says, her arms pumping, her breathing even. "Pick up the pace, Cullen."

"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"I already admitted it." She darts in front of me, her ponytail swinging as she goes.

Damn, I love her flirting. And love watching her run, her long legs cutting through the air, her tiptoes pushing off the grass. She's beauty in motion. We're in motion. And I want to stay that way. It's amazing what happens when you relinquish control. When you just let life move on its own, dashing through trial and error but always moving.

A/N: Thanks to Kassiah, who pimped NSID on Fictionators. You're the bomb, yo. And thanks to all my fun readers and reviewers. I'm glad you're enjoying the sweet and the swoon.

I failed to get the teaser out yesterday. Oops. I will put the chapter 18 teaser up later today. I am going camping tomorrow and will not be back until Monday, which means no update Friday and quite possibly no update Monday depending on when I get home and how gross I am, how tired, etc. Have a great weekend! I'll see you next week!