DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR ITS CHARACTERS. I OWE ALL OF THAT GREATNESS TO THE ONE AND ONLY STEPHENIE MEYER, WHO I MUST REPEATEDLY BOW DOWN TO. BUT SERIOUSLY, IF I DID, WOULD I REALLY BE WRITING THIS STORY? DIDN'T THINK SO.

CHAPTER SIX: DATE NIGHT

When Bella answered the door, it took all the strength I had in me not to let my jaw drop to the floor. She looked absolutely stunning. The light pink halter top really flattered her skin tone and figure, as did those amazing jeans. So instead of jumping her bones right there and then, I simply smiled my famous lopsided grin and said casually, "Hey, Bella. You look great."

"Thanks. You do too," she responded with a gorgeous smile of her own.

"You ready to go?" I asked her.

"Um, yeah hold on. Let me just get my purse and then we can go," she said, taking off into the kitchen. She left the door hanging wide open, so I took that as her way of telling me it was okay to come in. I walked in, shut the door, and waited by the stairs.

"Edward, dude. What's up?" Emmett greeted me from behind, slapping me on the back.

"Hey, man. Just waiting for you sister," I told him back. Honestly, I really didn't want to go through with this whole Bella just going out with me to play a joke on Emmett thing. But I couldn't really complain; Any chance I got to spend time with Bella, I would take.

"Cool, cool. So hey, let's chat for a second before you go." Oh, man. He was gonna give me the talk about how to treat his sister right. Sure enough that's what he did. He led me over to the couch in the living room and started saying things like,

"You're my best friend and all, but she's my little sister. You hurt her, I hurt you. No questions asked." It was quite funny, actually. But did he seriously think that I would ever hurt Bella? Scratch that: ever hurt anyone? Especially Bella? Even if this was just a get-to-know-you outing instead of an actual date.

"Yeah, Emmett. I know. You don't have anything to worry about," I assured him.

Just as I finished that last sentence, Bella came back in the room, purse in hand.

"Okay, you ready Edward?" she asked. I immediately stood from the couch.

"Yep. Later, Emmett," I said, waving bye to him. As soon as we were outside, I couldn't help being excited. Okay, the fun part's over. Time to get to know Bella.

I led her to my car, a black 2007 Infinity M45. I got it for my sixteenth birthday, and it was my baby. I held the passenger door open for her, and she slid in smoothly, a 'thanks' smile playing on her lips. I closed the door and walked around to get in on the driver's side. As soon as we were both buckled and the keys were in the ignition, I headed back down the long driveway, and I mean LONG driveway, and back onto the main road.

"May I?" she asked, motioning to the radio power button.

"Yeah, sure," I replied.

As soon as she pushed it on, the entire car was filled with the blasting music that I forgot I had playing on the drive over.

"Sorry about that!" I apologized, turning down the volume dial.

"It's no problem. Is that… Claire de Lune?" she asked curiously. I glanced at her with wide eyes.

"You know Debussy?" I asked her. (A/N- I know everyone uses those lines, but I couldn't help it. It made for good conversation!) She nodded and smiled lightly, embarrassed.

"My mom likes to play it around the house a lot. Usually when she's cleaning or painting or something like that. I guess it's just kind of grown on me," she replied with a shrug. "Alice tolerates it. Emmett hates it though," she said, scrunching up her nose. I laughed at that: both the Emmett hating it thing and her facial expression.

"Yeah, I can't really picture Emmett being into the classical stuff," I told her. She laughed. It sounded like beautiful wind chimes.

"Well, if there's one thing I know about my brother, it's that he's never been one for art or the classics."

"That is very true," I said, smiling at her.

The rest of the drive was pretty much the same: just talking about other kinds of music we enjoy, how we came to like it and who in our family can actually tolerate it. When we got to City Plaza, Bella asked where we were going.

"You'll see when we get there, Miss Impatient."

"Hey, buddy. I am NOT impatient. Well, not right now at least." We both let out a small chuckle. I got out and opened her door for her, same as last time. "Thank you, kind sir," she said playfully as I helped her out.

"My pleasure," I joked back.

She stopped short when we approached the restaurant. "Something wrong?" I asked her.

"Oh um, no. No I'm fine," she sounded unsure of something though.

"Do you not like Italian?"

"No, no, I do. And I'm starving. Let's just go inside," she told me with a weary smile.

"Welcome, to La Bella Italia. Table for two?" the hostess asked politely.

"Yes, please," I responded. She grabbed two menus and led Bella and I to a small booth towards the back. The lighting was dim, as it was in the entire restaurant. The booth seats were extremely comfortable and cushiony. However, I was kind of upset that I wouldn't be able to pull a chair out for Bella. Even if this wasn't a real date, it would still be good to let her know how much of a gentleman I am. We took our seats and the hostess handed us our menus.

"Your server will be with you in a moment," she said with a wink before heading back to the podium at the entrance. I nearly gagged.

Bella still looked a little unsure of something and she was looking cautiously around the restaurant. I decided to ask her again.

"Bella," I called her back to attention.

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just… um… well, this is a really expensive restaurant. I don't want you spending a lot of money on me for a fake date." My heart crumbled as she assured me this wasn't a real date, even though I knew it was. She still seemed like something was wrong. I wasn't convinced that the expensiveness of the restaurant was her only concern with us eating here.

"Bella, I've got plenty of money. Don't worry about it." She smiled lightly and looked down at her menu.

"Now do you want to talk about what's really bothering you?" that caught her off guard. She looked up at me immediately with her eyes wide.

"Wha… what? What are you talking about? Nothing's bothering me," she stammered.

"Bella, I'm not stupid. If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. Just let me know that you're not really concerned with the cost." She looked away. I took that as a confirmation. But it hurt me to see how upset she was. "Bella, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"No. No, it's fine. You're right. I'm not really all that concerned with the cost, even though I still can't believe you couldn't pick a cheaper place," she said trying to lighten the mood a little. "It just… brings back some memories being here. That's all." That wasn't all. I could see right through her. So I waited for her to continue, which took a few moments.

"Well you see I—" she started, but was interrupted.

"Hey there, I'm Tanya and I'll be your server for this evening. Can I start you guys off with something to drink?" Tanya was a tall, strawberry blonde with some kind of wicked grin on her face as she looked only at me. Why did she have to come right when Bella was about to tell me what was bothering her? Curses.

"Um, I'll take a Diet Coke. Bella?"

"Make that two, please," she told Tanya, who was already turning away to go back to the kitchen.

"So… what were you saying?" I asked her, hopeful.

"Oh, right. Uh, well… I used to come here a lot. With... Jacob…" she told me.

"Ah, I see," I said, understanding why she felt so uncomfortable eating here. "Bella, we don't have to st—" Tanya came back with our drinks, cutting me off. Damn waitress had really bad timing.

"Here you go, sunshine," she said, handing me my soda. "Here," she said dryly to Bella. I thanked her, turning back to Bella. Hopefully Tanya would take that as a hint to go away and let us get back to our conversation.

She didn't.

"So do you want to start off with any appetizers, or are you ready to order?" she asked in a voice that sounded like it was supposed to be seductive.

"Actually, we need another minute or two to decide," I told her without taking my eyes off of Bella's.

"Sure." She walked away to go take care of another table.

"So like I was saying, we don't have to stay here if you don't want to. I mean, if it makes you uncomfortable or something," I explained to her.

"No, Edward it's fine. I'm fine. Everything's okay." Just then, Tanya was back, pen and paper in hand, ready to take our orders.

"On second thought…" we both whispered.

"Tanya, don't even bother asking. We're leaving." I placed a five dollar bill on the table for the drinks and the tip that she didn't deserve. Tanya just stood there stunned as Bella and I made our way out of the booth and out of La Bella Italia.

Once we were back on the sidewalk, we both started bursting out in laughter, clutching our sides and stumbling around, not able to keep our balance. If someone were to walk by, no doubt would they think that we'd had a little too much to drink.

"Did… you… see… her face?" I asked Bella between laughs.

"Oh my God, yes!" she said back.

"PRICELESS!" we both shouted at the same time. That only made us laugh harder. We started to calm our laughter as we made our way back to my car. Again, I held her door open for her and then got in on my side and drove off.

"Okay… now that that's over…" I started.

"Where do you want to go?" she finished.

"I'm fine with whatever you want." I told her, glancing at her with a smile.

"So, if I wanted raw fish, and I mean RAW fish, like just-came-out-of-the-ocean fish, doused in strawberry ice cream with… steak fat and… uncooked bacon… would you eat that?" she joked. I made a disgusted face and quickly glanced at her again. She was looking back at me trying to force back a smile.

"Would you eat that?" I asked. She just laughed her beautiful laugh and turned back to look out the windshield window.

"That wasn't the question. If I wanted it, would you get it and eat it with me?"

"Well, you are my date… well, not a DATE, but you get it…" I recovered. "…so if that's what you wanted, no matter how grotesque, yes. I would get it and eat it with you."

"Edward Masen, you truly are amazing," she told me, shaking her head and smiling. I couldn't help but let an enormous grin spread across my face.

We drove around for a long while, just talking and laughing. Everything was fine, until we heard both of our stomachs rumbling.

"Edward…" she began.

"Yeah?"

"There's a rumbly in my tumbly." We both burst into giggles at the Whinnie the Pooh reference.

"Yeah, I know. Mine too. So where do you want to eat?"

"Um, I don't know. It's getting kind of late. As much as I detest it, I guess we should just go get some fast food or something," she replied.

"Are you sure? I mean, I'm no fan of it either…" I told her.

"Yeah I'm sure. Just don't let me get a burger. Blech." She made a face at the thought of eating a hamburger from a fast food restaurant. I did too.

"Deal. So are you okay with Wendy's? There's one a few blocks from here, I think." We were a few minutes away from City Plaza, really not having gone that far from it. We were pretty much just going in circles.

"Yeah, sure," she said.

When we got to the Wendy's, it was surprisingly packed. It was 8:00 and almost every table was taken. I really don't want to take this back to eat in the car, I thought to myself. Then I suddenly spotted an open table in the back corner.

"Bella, go get that table in the back there," I told her, pointing to where it was. She nodded, and started working her way back to it. "Hold on," I stopped her. "What do you want to eat?"

She chuckled and replied with, "Yeah, I guess you might need to know that, huh?" I laughed along with her for a moment. "Um, I guess just a grilled chicken sandwich."

"You got it," I promised her.

"Oh, and a large French fries," she added.

"Large?" Just when I asked, her stomach rumbled. She placed a hand on it and looked back up to meet my eyes.

"I think a large is necessary," she told me.

"I think so, too. Now, what to drink?"

"Hm… medium Diet Coke. No, wait. A Frosty. Chocolate," she changed her mind, licking her lips. I nodded my head and stepped in line, then motioned for her to go grab the table before someone else did.

The line moved shockingly quickly, and before I could say "Bella is the most amazing girl in the world", I was up to order.

"One grilled chicken sandwich with a large fry, one ten-piece chicken nugget with a medium fry, one chocolate Frosty, and one medium Diet Coke, please," I said to the cashier. I handed her a twenty dollar bill, received my cash and a receipt, and moved over to wait for my food.

"Order 562, grilled chicken, ten-piece nugget, medium and large fry, Frosty, medium soda!" someone from behind the counter announced.

"Yeah, that's me," I told him. Once I got the tray, I headed back to the table to find Bella clutching her stomach and bouncing her leg. Clearly, she was impatient when she was hungry. "Here we are, milady," I said to her, setting the tray down on the table.

"Oh food!" She practically yelled it. She paused as soon as she looked at the fries and sandwich in front of her.

"What is it?" I asked her, pausing before sitting down.

"Ketchup. I need ketchup." She started to get up from her seat but I held up a hand.

"No, you stay here. I'll go get it." She smiled to thank me then told me to get a lot, that she would need it. She was so cute when she was hungry.

I returned with a dozen packets of ketchup and sat down to begin eating. As we ate, we continued to talk about all kinds of things; movies, our families, and stuff along those lines. At one point, she decided we should play a game.

"What kind of game…?" I asked cautiously.

"The Favorites Game," she said as if I should know what that meant. "Oh come on, Edward, you have to know the Favorites Game." I just shook my head from side to side slowly as she sighed and began to explain it to me.

"Okay. One person asks the other what their favorite something-or-other is. The other person has to respond with only one thing, maybe two at most."

"That's not much of a game…"

"No, but it's a way to get to know each other better." That convinced me.

"Okay. I'll start. What's your favorite color?"

"Green and purple. Yours?"

"Gold and royal blue. Favorite animal?" We went on and on like that for a long time, even when we were long passed finished with our meals. At first we only asked the basic questions: favorite color, animal, store, state, stuff like that. Then it totally changed direction as we got into more… complex, and… mature favorites. I'll spare the details on those ones. (A/N- i really didn't feel like putting in some really awkward Q&A. But you guys are smart; use your imaginations!) But it was so easy to talk to Bella. I found out a lot about her at dinner. Why didn't I think to do this sooner? I mentally scolded myself. She was such a great person and I was pissed that we hadn't become friends a long time ago.

When we had finally run out of favorites to ask each other about, it was about 9:30. Wendy's was just about empty now, and we decided to go. It would take a little over forty-five minutes to get back to her house, seeing how we went a little bit farther out from switching food sources. On the ride home, we blasted the radio and sang along with whatever words we knew, which weren't many. We were getting along so great and we were truly having a lot of fun. Bella was really sarcastic, just like me, and that made for some very interesting conversations. (A/N- again, use your imaginations!)

Once we were back at her house, I reluctantly got out and opened her door for her. I was having such a good time and I just didn't want it to end. I walked her back up to the front door.

"Hey, Bella?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"I had a really good time with you tonight. I'm kind of mad at myself for not thinking of it sooner," I admitted, looking down at my feet.

"I know. I had fun, also. You're really cool. How were we never this close until tonight?" she asked without letting her eyes leave my face. I looked back up and let out a light chuckle.

"I don't know. And I'm over here all the time," I said.

"Yeah, you are." There was a long pause after that.

"So, maybe… do you want to…" If only she could know how badly I wanted to go on a date with her. Not a get-to-know-you outing thing. An actual, real life, dinner-and-a-movie date.

"Edward, stop," she said before I could finish my question. I just looked at her before she continued. The corners of her mouth were starting to curl up, and she answered, "I would love to go on a date with you." I stood there in shock, my eyes wide, as she said those words. Did that really just happen? Did Bella just agree to go on a date with me? Did Bella just say she'd love to go on a date with me? I felt as if the Date Gods had finally answered my prayers.

"Call me," she commanded, pulling me out of my currently going wild mind. "Goodnight, Edward," she said, giving me a quick peck on the cheek. Then she opened the door, and was gone. I felt my hand slowly rise up to feel the burning spot on my cheek where she had kissed me, and I couldn't help smiling like a… like a… I didn't know what I was smiling like, but it was a huge smile.

"Goodnight, Bella."

A/N

Sooooo what did you guys think? Again, I loved it. But hey, I'm the author. I'm entitled to love it. 7 pages again, YAY!

I know, I said it wouldn't be posted for a while, but once I started the chapter, I couldn't stop! I'm on a roll, gosh darn it!

I've already mentally outlined pretty much everything that's going to happen in chapters 7 and 8. But once I'm started on an idea, I REALLY get started on an idea.

Chapter Seven should be up probably sometime tomorrow. Even though I'm on a hot streak, my hand is starting to cramp up from typing so much. So I'm just gonna keep brainstorming.

Once again, here are my awesome reviewers!

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