Thank you for all the lovely reviews. And since you made me happy, guess what? Another update! Wee! This chap's dedicated to Shikonyma, for her endless patience. Thank Aimee! Anyway…
Starlight – Chapter 2: Save me! Listen to me! Feed me!
Edward's POV:
I froze in shock. What did I just do? One second I was listening to her. Then next thing I know, I'm hugging her!
Get a grip Edward. She is not interested in you… is she?
I think she was also shocked. But the next second, she's hugging me back. Maybe. Just maybe…
I sunk in her embrace. As I inhaled deeply, the sweet smell of her strawberry-scented hair overwhelmed me deeply. I hugged her more tightly. I smiled happily when I heard her sigh contentedly.
"Ahem," Emmett cleared his throat.
We broke away immediately, blushing deeply.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Jasper chuckled. "Edward? Care to explain?"
"A- ah, Um…" I stammered. "I wanted to comfort her. You know, as a friend. Because isn't that what friends do for each other?"
I swear Bella looked slightly disappointed.
"So now you're a comforter?" Alice asked, smirking.
"Uh, yes? Maybe…" my voice was just barely a squeak.
"Did-"
Rose was cut off when we heard the door slam. Whew. Saved.
"Hello kids! Do I hear other voices?" a deep booming voice said.
"Here dad," I called, as he appeared in the doorway.
"Well, looks like you made some friends here!" he exclaimed happily.
Jasper gaped at him.
"Sir, it is such an honor to meet you!" Jasper exclaimed, rushing forward to shake his hand.
"No sirs here. Call me Carlisle everybody. Except for my kids. You call me dad," he chuckled.
"Your house is amazing! Who decorated it?" Rosalie gushed.
"Ah, yes. My lovely wife Esme spent too much time on the décor, if I should say," Carlisle said. "Now, would you mind introducing your friends here?"
"Oh, this guy who is so eager to meet you is Jasper," Alice chirped.
"Jasper. Such an honor to meet you, too," he smiled.
"Blondie here is Rosalie," Emmett said, pointing to her. Rose whacked him on the head.
"Beautiful blonde Rosalie," Carlisle said as Rosalie blushed. "Quite the tiger, eh?"
He turned to me. "Edward, mind introducing this young lady?"
"This is Bella," I smiled, putting my arm around her, causing Emmett to wink at me. I ignored him. Wow. I have never been this bold to girls I just met. But Bella is different. She's beautiful and special, in her own way.
"Bella. Hmm, seems like you've caught Edward's eye," he grinned as we blushed together.
"Its not- I mean," Bella stammered. "We're just friends," she finally said.
Friends? Just friends?... I removed my arm around her shoulder as she frowned.
Did she want me to put my arm around her? Or not? Did she want to be just friends? Or something much more?
My musings were cut short when Alice suddenly squealed.
"Hey dad, can we go shopping? Right now? It will help us bond!"
"Okay…," he relented.
"C'mon! I know this fantastic mall that sells the cutest things!" she said happily, skipping to our- I mean my-Volvo. Which she borrows a lot.
"Bella." I tugged her shoulder. She turned and looked at me with the most adorable expression.
"What do you want?" she asked seriously.
I kept a solemn face. "I have to warn you about something." She looked worried. "Only very few people can survive Alice's shopping trips," I whispered.
She made a face, and then she started laughing. "Edward! And I thought you were actually gonna tell me something important," she complained.
"Well, I just warned you that you're life might be in danger," I shrugged casually.
"Why you…" she said, punching me in the shoulder. Ouch. She can punch hard for a girl.
"Aaah! The pain is so intense!" I hopped around. The others stared at me.
"What?" I asked innocently, pretending to be insulted.
"Hahaha," Bella laughed. "You should have seen your face…"
I just turned to her and gave her a genuine smile. She smiled back at me with the happiest expression I have ever seen.
Bella's POV:
I smiled at him. He was just so cute and adorable… Just like everyone else in his family.
We climbed into Edward's Volvo. He insisted on driving because the last time Alice drove, she was so excited to reach the mall; she almost crashed into a huge truck that would have flattened them.
"Bella rides in front," Edward announced, not listening to their complaints.
"You don't have to," I protested. "They can ride up front if they want to."
"But nobody wants to, is there?" he asked, shooting them glares. When no one answered, he smiled. "See Bella? Come here."
I hopped into the front seat of his Volvo.
As Edward drove, I sat there, staring at him, trying to figure him out. He was different from the other guys. There was this… sweetness and care that he had that came naturally to him.
When we reached the mall, Rose tugged my sleeve.
"What's up Bells? You were staring at him so hard he almost melted!" she said, laughing.
Oops. My bad.
"What do you mean, Rose? I wasn't staring at him; I was staring at the … scenery. Yeah, that's it," I lied. "I was looking at the scenery the whole time."
"Sure you were," she said, totally unconvinced. "And pigs can fly."
Later…
Finally. After 3 hours of shopping, Alice decided that we bought enough things. Well, the rest of us bought only food, but Alice had tons of shopping bags filled with clothes, accessories, and whatever else. There were so many, we had to carry two bags each. And were the bags heavy!
"Wow. You just witnessed one of Alice's shopping trips. And you are one of the lucky survivors," Edward grinned. "But I bet you can't feel your legs anymore, can you?"
"My feet hurt so much, I'm ready to chop them off!" I confessed.
"Yup, that's how I felt the first fifty times Alice dragged me with her," Edward made a face at Alice, who promptly stuck her tongue out at him.
"Hi five!" I yelled at him as we slapped our hands.
"Bella, Edward, enough of the teasing! Let's go eat!" Alice said impatiently, tapping her feet.
"Oh, yes, Madam Alice," Edward bowed. "I am so sorry I kept you waiting."
I giggled. As I hopped in his car, Edward turned the radio on full blast. His expression went down as he heard that the song was "Barbie Girl."
Alice and Emmett cheered.
"OK, what's going on?" I demanded.
"Oh, you see, we gave Edward a dare a long time ago. Whenever we hear that song, he has to sing it… in falsetto," Alice giggled.
I grinned. "Go Edward!" I started cheering as the others quickly followed.
He frowned and started singing. I cracked up. Let's just say he doesn't have the greatest voice. Especially in falsetto.
"I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world," he sang. "Nothing plastic, it's fantastic. You can brush my hair, undress me anywhere, imagination, life is your creation…"
"Dude? Are you serious?" Jasper guffawed.
He gave him a dirty look and continued singing with a tortured expression on his face. Minutes later, he was still singing, and we were all laughing. Then came the part:
"Come on Barbie, let's go party. Ah-ah-ah-yeah. Come on Barbie; let's go party- oh yeah!"
Now that part was the funniest. And he had to repeat it. Twice. He then sang another part.
"I can act like a star I can beg on my knees…," he continued.
All of us were crying by then because of too much laughter. Ah, tears of joy.
"Ah, this is the most fun I've had in years!" Rosalie yelled. "Yeah, go Barbie girl!"
He continued singing until finally, the song was over. We all burst into applause. Emmett whistled and Jasper hooted.
"I hate you guys," he growled playfully.
"Even Bella?" Emmett teased him.
"Maybe…" Edward winked at me.
"Ouch, I'm hurt," I played along.
"Of course you are," Rosalie rolled her eyes.
"Hey!" I slapped her playfully.
"Children, behave!" mocked Emmett. "No slapping in the car!"
"Yeah, look who's talking!" I shot back. He grinned at me.
"Guys- Uh, children! We're here, and if you want to stay in the car the whole night, fine with me," Edward said.
"Yeah, children! It'll be just me and Edward," I teased them. I didn't miss the suggestive twinkle in Alice and Rosalie's eyes. Not to mention that Emmett was practically beaming.
"Let's lock all of them in the car!" I grinned mischievously. Edward turned to them.
"No!" Emmett yelled. "I'm out!"
"Me too!" Alice jumped out.
Shrugging, Rosalie and Jasper followed them.
I glanced at Edward.
"Let's just say that really happened before. For the whole night."
I shook my head. "You never cease to amaze me."
"I try to do my best," he teased me.
I laughed. "Let's go. They might think something bad happened to us."
I opened my door and stepped out, Edward right behind me.
"Hey, Bells," he called. "This experience is gonna be a first for you."
"OK…" I trailed off as we entered the restaurant and headed over to the table that the others picked. It turned out I was sitting next to Edward. In front of me, I saw Rosalie waggle her eyebrows with a mischievous smile on her face. I stuck my tongue out childishly.
We chose what we wanted to order. Emmett placed two of his fingers in his mouth and whistled shrilly. People glanced at us and a waitress came rushing towards us.
"What do you want?" she asked flirtatiously, leaning forward while fluttering her eyes.
It wasn't just me who noticed that the question was directed to Edward only. Alice winked at him as he gave her a sour expression.
"Um, I'll have this and this and that," he said, pointing to the menu. She nodded with the flirty smile in place.
We then ordered. When it was Emmett's turn, Edward nudged me.
"Listen."
I did.
"OK," Emmett cleared his throat. "I'll have the Chicken in the Basket, two large spaghetti orders, two baby back ribs, this weird picture that looks yummy, one serving of lasagna, two large Cokes, and um… uh, let me see… Ooh! I want one whole ham and bacon pizza."
"Anything else?" the waitress asked in a pained tone.
"Uh… Ah, yes! I want this," he announced proudly, stabbing a picture of a bowl of noodles with his finger.
"OK then," she immediately walked away, glancing at Edward one last time, winking at him while swaying her hips, trying to be seductive. Keyword "tried." Edward looked sick.
We gaped at Emmett. Well, Rose, Jasper, and I did. The rest of them looked bored. Except for Edward, he started grinning.
"See? Told you this is gonna be a whole new experience. Now watch him eat," he said.
When the food arrived, I watched Emmett carefully. He immediately dug into his food. When I just finished a little part of my chicken, he already finished his lasagna and two spaghetti servings! Only he just had sauce smeared all over his mouth.
"Emmett, you might want to try using the mirror," I giggled.
"Oh, man!" he groaned. "Don't tell me. I have sauce all over my face."
"Ding ding ding! We have a winner," Alice said sarcastically.
Rosalie, who was nibbling a lettuce, glanced up at him. She swallowed and said, "Emmett, you look like a clown."
"Hello kids! I'm Emmett the clown! I hope you'll have a sad 'n' sullen day!" he boomed, waving at nobody in particular. A lot of people stared. But he didn't look ashamed. Instead, he looked pleased at all the attention he was receiving.
He then grew serious and started eating the rest of his food carefully at top speed.
"Hey, you should really eat in a buffet next time," I suggested. "That way, you'll save money on Emmett."
"Yeah, we already did that so many times. Emmett here has so many tips in eating in a buffet, like what to eat and what not to eat, what to eat first and what to eat last. He's eaten too much, he's not allowed in anywhere anymore," Edward smirked. "It doesn't help that he also caused a lot of "trouble" and "accidents" already. Like making the waiter holding a bowl of soup trip. Or "accidentally" make the whole platter of food fall down."
"Yup. They said if I ever entered their restaurant ever again, they were gonna let a security guard drag me away," Emmett mumbled, his mouth full of food.
"Say it, don't spray it," Rosalie laughed, waving her hands.
"OK, OK. Sorry," he said, sounding all posh. He finished the rest of his food quickly, leaving us in awe.
"How do you do that?" I asked curiously.
"I had a lot of practice," he said modestly.
Later, desserts arrived. Jasper got his glass and raised it.
"To new friends."
"To new friends," we echoed, clinking our glasses together.
That single phrase stuck to my head for the rest of the night, when we went home and I got ready to go to sleep. To new friends. A very appropriate phrase. I really had made some great new friends today. But there was one question that bothered me.
What if I wanted to be more than just being friends with him?
Ooh! Love is in the air! sighs happily I know that everything is happening too fast, like Bella and Edward's feelings for each other, so just ignore it, OK? And the part about the buffet thing was really a coincidence. I wrote the chapter the night before, and the next day, I ate in a buffet with my friends, where a friend taught me tips in how to eat in a buffet. :) Now review! Go, don't be shy. :D
Jen
