Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I do, however, own my OCs, this storyline, and an 80G iPod that I can't live without. Speaking of music, there is a theme song for this chapter, and I give credit to NiceIceEdward for expanding my musical repertoire. It is called Pieces by Red. Check it out.
A/N: Readingtime, I don't know what I'd do without you, even if you do spend way too much time pondering. LOL Sorry about not getting this out sooner, my computer decided to delete this chapter on me. All 6,500 words of it (my longest ever, by the way). I had to recreate the entire chapter from scratch.
Edward's POV
I was so relieved to see Bella smiling when I met them in front of the stadium. I was afraid that Jasper would be angry with her when he found out that Bella and I went riding last night. Even without wearing her jacket, he would still have been able to smell me on her as soon as she got close to him. Trading jackets only served to give her a little more time to explain. It also had the fringe benefit of making my jacket smell wonderfully of freesia.
Jasper may have worked things out with Bella, but he was definitely angry at me. Even though his expression appeared calm, his thoughts were anything but. I was shocked when he thought he 'truly hated' me. That was a little harsh, I thought. Jasper had betrayed me in the worst way. He had taken away everything that was dear to me without so much as a second thought. In my opinion, he knew exactly where the chinks in my armor were and aimed directly at them in his quest for Bella. Yet I never attacked him, never really confronted him at all. I took the high road, as much as it pained me to do so, because he loved Bella, and I conceded that in my state of mind at the time, he was the better choice for her. All things considered, his anger at my friendship with Bella felt completely unwarranted and was honestly beginning to irritate me. Hadn't he already taken enough from me? Was it too much to ask to at least maintain a friendship with Bella? Still, I thought about how I would have felt if the tides were turned, and I could understand where he was coming from. I waited until we were settled into our seats for our Biology lecture before asking her what happened.
"So everything went alright when you got home, Bella?"
"Yes, we talked things through. I wanted to thank you again for being there for me last night, Edward. You have no idea how much it meant to me." Bella smiled at me gratefully. It warmed my heart.
"Anytime, Bella, I hope you know that. Can you do me a favor, though?"
Bella tilted her head a little. "Sure. What's up?"
"The next time you feel like you're not up to driving but need to get away, come straight to my house, please? I don't like the idea of you riding your bike alone when you're so upset." Bella rolled her eyes at me.
"Ever the overprotective Edward."
"Granted, and I'm working on that, really I am, but in this case I think it falls under the category of just 'protective.' You said yourself last night you were too shaken up to drive. Besides, I really liked riding with you. Maybe next time you can teach me how to drive." I didn't really think I needed instruction, it seemed straight forward enough, but it couldn't hurt, and Bella beamed with pride at the idea of being able to teach me something.
"Okay, Edward, I promise. Hopefully I won't feel the need to run again."
"I agree. I hated seeing you so distressed." I really did. As much as I cherished our time together last night, I would rather we be able to spend time like that together without her sorrow as a catalyst. "So…what would you like for dinner tonight?"
"You don't have to cook for me, Edward. I'm more than capable, you know."
"I know. I do enjoy it, though, so it's no bother. Besides, I was really just wondering whether I had to stop at the store on my way home. But if you would rather cook for yourself, I'm certainly not stopping you."
"No, that's alright. I did love that sauce you made last week, and I certainly wouldn't want to interfere with you learning new things." She was referring to cooking, but it occurred to me that she might have also been referring to me wanting to learn how to ride her motorcycle. I smiled at the thought of getting to spend more time riding with Bella. "Why don't you surprise me?"
I looked at her with my jaw dropped. "Did Isabella Swan actually just utter the words…Surprise Me?" I looked at my watch. "No, time hasn't stood still. Maybe I should go outside and make sure the Earth hasn't started spinning off its axis…" Bella stuck her tongue out at me playfully and I had to laugh out loud. I was still chuckling to myself when the professor started the lecture.
As usual, we parted ways later in the day and I headed for Music Appreciation. I was humming to myself as I walked down the hall. A voice from behind startled me out of my reverie.
"That's beautiful, what is it?" I turned around to find Kelly, dragging along her cello case as usual. I took it out of her hand and she sighed gratefully. "Thanks. You'd think I'd be used to lugging that thing around by now. That song you were humming, what is it?" It would blend in perfectly with the duet I'm writing for my class.
"Oh, that. It's a song I had started to write for Bella before we broke up. I never finished it." I shrugged, my happiness fading a little. It surprised me that I found myself being so honest with this girl.
"I'm sorry. I put my foot in my mouth all the time. You'll have to forgive me."
"Don't worry about it. You had no way of knowing. I'm glad I ran into you. I wanted to apologize. I left rather abruptly the other day at the club. Did you still need help with your composition?"
"Yes, actually, I could really use the help. I can play any piece of music put in front of me, and do it expressively, conveying whatever emotion the music is supposed to evoke. But when it comes down to turning my own emotions into music, something gets lost in the translation."
"It's a hard thing to do sometimes. I'd be happy to help you. What's your schedule?"
Thank God. If those few stanzas he was humming were any indication, he could help me ace this for sure. "I'm free tonight, is that too soon?"
"Unfortunately, yes. I already have plans tonight. It's not due for a while, right?" Kelly nodded in agreement. I tried to figure out a good time. Bella was coming over tonight, so that obviously wouldn't work. Adrian would be there Thursday. Bella's birthday was Friday and Alice invited me over for a small celebration that she promised would not include glass plates. Saturday was Adrian's football game against USC. It didn't leave me many options. "In that case, how about Sunday? It would give us a full day to try and narrow down what you want the piece to say and maybe work out the melody."
Kelly stopped outside her classroom and pulled a notebook and pen from her backpack. I set her case down and wrote my address and phone number in her notebook.
"Thanks, Edward. I really appreciate it. I'll see you Sunday around 10?"
"That works. You're very welcome." I turned and started to head for my own class.
"Oh, hey!" Kelly called to me. "I thought you might want to know that your brother tried to set us up on a blind date today. I think he's trying to eliminate the competition." Kelly chuckled at his audacity. I shook my head in disbelief. "And to think I actually had a crush on that guy…"
I shrugged my shoulders noncommittally. "Thanks for the warning."
Kelly waved goodbye and I went on my way. Why on Earth would Jasper do that? Was he actually trying to 'eliminate the competition' as Kelly said? If that's the case, hypocritical doesn't even begin to cover it. Maybe he was just trying to do a nice thing. Somehow I doubted it. Why would he want to do something nice for someone he supposedly hates?
They were covering Vivaldi today in Music Appreciation, so I decided to forgo reading the guide and pay attention. Bella and I already had plenty to discuss tonight. The professor was playing The Four Seasons, which I loved. Each season was unique, with its own sorrow and joy. Personally, I always preferred Spring. It reminded me that even after the harshest winter, things that were dormant and considered dead and gone could once again come to life and blossom, stronger for having survived against the elements.
On my way home, I stopped at the grocery store and picked up the ingredients for raspberry pork chops, roasted potatoes with rosemary and garlic and sugar snap peas. I also picked up a couple of bottles of wine, a cabernet sauvignon and a pinot grigio. That way Bella could choose which one she wanted to try.
After I got home and started the pork chops, I set the music going on the iPod. I was better prepared this time, and set it to my Elvis playlist. Bella always liked Elvis, and it was far less likely to make her cry. I was in the kitchen snapping my fingers and singing along to "Fever" when I heard Bella's motorcycle pull into the drive. I smiled to myself when Bella let herself in without knocking. I leaned over the island. "I'm in here…Captain Smith and Pocahontas…had a very mad affair…" Bella laughed and followed me into the kitchen. Soon she was dancing around the kitchen next to me while we put her salad together for her. When the song was over, Bella hopped up on the counter to watch me as I quartered the potatoes.
"That was fun!"
"Yes, it was. Here, you want to peel the garlic?" Bella peeled the garlic cloves while I snipped the rosemary and drizzled it all with olive oil.
"Edward, you're cooking for an army. I'm never going to eat all this!"
"Well, you can take the leftovers home with you, or leave them here and Adrian can have them for dinner on Thursday." I went to the refrigerator and grabbed the two bottles of wine, holding them up to Bella questioningly. Bella pointed at the pinot.
"So did Jasper actually go hunting, or is he still trying to starve himself?" I asked as I uncorked the wine and poured her a glass.
Bella took a tentative sip. "Mmmm, that's good, thanks. He said he'd go. Hopefully he does." Bella shrugged her shoulders. "We'll see." The track changed and "Always On My Mind" came on. "Ooohh, I love this song! When I was little, before the divorce, Charlie and Renee would dance around the living room to this song, and then he would pick me up and dance with me, too, swinging me over his head."
"Well, I wouldn't want to break from tradition," I said as I held my hand out to her. She hesitated for a moment, then took my hand and hopped off the counter. I led her into the living room, placed my hands around her waist, and lifted her up over my head, spinning her around the room. Bella squealed with joy.
"Edward! Put me down!" Bella's laughter said quite the opposite though, and her joy filled the room as I twirled us around. After a bit, I lowered her feet gently to the ground and took her hand to dance with her in a more traditional fashion. She was out of breath and shaking her head at me, chuckling as we danced. "You're crazy," she teased as I twirled her under my arm and pulled her back to me.
"You enjoyed it, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did. I felt like a kid again." Even though she meant it as a good thing, it reminded me of the 'insignificant little girl' comment in the diary that had upset her so. I leaned down and whispered in her ear. "You are no child, Isabella, far from it. You are most definitely…all…woman." Bella stopped dead in her tracks, took a sharp intake of breath and turned her ear away from me. I pulled back to look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, did I say something wrong? I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It's just that I was reading in your diary that it bothered you when I referred to our classmates as children, and I didn't want you to think that you fell into that category in any way, shape, or form." Bella smiled at me and I knew I was forgiven. The timer for the oven went off. "Saved by the bell. Have a seat. I'll get your plate together."
Bella's eyes got wide when I put her plate in front of her. "What is this, Edward? It smells heavenly." I told her what everything was as I retrieved a fork and steak knife for her. Bella took a bite of the pork chops and moaned in satisfaction. "Remind me to let you surprise me more often."
"I'm going to hold you to that, love," I laughed, and started cleaning up the kitchen while she ate.
"So what's on the agenda tonight?" Bella asked between bites.
"Well, the wine's chilled, so I thought perhaps we could pick up where we left off with our conversation from last week?"
"Okay. That sounds good. But don't forget, you promised me equal time." I put her empty plate in the dishwasher and took her dessert out of the refrigerator.
"I did, indeed. Do you want to talk about the diary first, or our lists?" Bella looked at the gold bag suspiciously as I walked back into the living room and headed for the couch. Bella followed with the wine bottle and her glass.
"Let's do the diary first. Hopefully I wasn't waxing poetic about Carlisle anymore," Bella chuckled.
I set the bag down on the coffee table. "Let me go get the book, then. That's dessert. It needs to warm up a little first. No peeking!" I wagged my finger at her and Bella pouted as she sunk back comfortably in the couch, kicking off her shoes and folding her feet under her Indian style.
I retrieved the book from the study and sat on the opposite end of the couch. Bella turned to lean her back on the arm of the couch and I did the same.
"Okay, first. You called me pushy and bossy for making you ride home with me the day we had blood typing in Biology…"
"You were!" Bella interrupted. "It was a Neanderthal thing to do, you have to admit."
"Yes, I suppose it was. I was thinking about being in the car with you on the trip we had planned to Seattle, and thought a shorter trip to desensitize myself was a good idea. Plus, I really, really wanted to talk to you some more. You even admitted in your diary that you had a good time with me anyway."
"That's true, I did. I'll give you that. It was still pushy." Bella took a sip of her wine and raised her eyebrow at me, daring me to argue in my defense. I conceded defeat and moved on to the next point.
"We have something else in common that I never realized."
"What's that?"
"We both have a habit of making incorrect assumptions about the other one."
Bella looked at me with new interest. "Explain."
"Okay. Here's a perfect example. That night in Port Angeles, you assumed I didn't want you to hold my hand at dinner because I didn't like you. That couldn't have been further from the truth. I assumed if you continued to hold my hand, you would eventually be repulsed by how cold and hard my skin is. We were both utterly wrong."
"I see your point."
"Let's see, what else? Oh, here's a big one. The day I told you that I'd been watching you sleep, you called me 'stalkerish.' Did you really think that? Was it that I watched you sleeping, or was it because I did it without your knowledge?"
"Yes, yes, and yes. I got used to it after a while, and I know now that you had your reasons for doing it, getting used to my scent, et cetera. But it felt like an invasion of my privacy, and not just because I didn't know you were there, but because, as you know, I talk in my sleep, so you were listening in on my most private, personal thoughts when I had no ability to block or censor them from you. Admit it, that's what you liked most about it." Bella took another sip of her wine.
"When I stayed in your room without your knowledge, I'll admit that listening to your thoughts was what I liked most about it. However, once you started letting me stay the night, then holding you was what I liked most, followed by the opportunity to rescue you from your nightmares. Listening to you moan my name in your sleep was a close third though. Bella, I have a confession to make, and you're not going to like it." Bella abruptly sat upright and eyed me warily. "Last week when you were here, I went to your room and watched you sleep. I shouldn't have done that without your permission, I know. I just missed it so much, I couldn't resist. I've told you before, I'm innately a very selfish creature. Anyway, I was getting ready to leave when you started talking, but you had a nightmare and you were calling my name. I couldn't bear to see you thrashing like that, you were so upset. So I…I…"
"Just spit it out, Edward. I've already got a pretty good idea," Bella said calmly.
"I crawled into bed with you and held you while you slept," I held my head down in shame. Bella crawled next to me on the couch and lifted my head to face her.
"I can't say I'm comfortable with what you did, Edward. It blurs the lines a little too much, and I can't afford to do that. You have called yourself a selfish creature so many times I've lost count. I'll let you in on a little secret, Edward. I'm a selfish creature, too. I don't want to ever have to choose between you and Jasper. I don't know what I would do if it ever came to that. That being said…thank you for rescuing me from yet another nightmare." Bella smiled at me so sweetly then that I had to force myself not to kiss her. I settled on taking her hands from my face and holding them in my lap.
"I won't go into your room just to watch you sleep anymore, Bella, I'm sorry. But just so we're clear, if you have another nightmare while you're here, or if you call my name in your sleep again, what do you want me to do? It would be hard on me to hear you suffering and not be able to do anything about it."
Bella looked so conflicted, so deep in thought. "When you were…holding me last week, I assume it's safe to say that you were a gentleman about it?"
I nodded. "Of course, Bella. I kept my hands to myself and didn't kiss you or anything, if that's what you mean."
"It is. And what did I do when you held me?"
"You did what you always used to do. You calmed down immediately, curled up against me and fell back into a deeper sleep."
Bella sat silent, contemplating. "I guess it would be alright if you comforted me if I had a nightmare. I'm sure that Adrian would do the same if he was in your shoes. But no staying the whole night. Calm me down so you don't have to listen to me screaming, and then leave, fair enough?"
I pulled her to me in a hug. "More than fair. Thank you, Bella. That means so much to me." I sat back where I was and held her hands again. "I'm so sorry this is all so hard for you. I don't want you to feel stuck in the middle."
"I am, though. Don't apologize for it. It's not your fault, it's mine and I know that." Bella squeezed my hands and released me, scooting back to her side of the couch.
"Okay, what else you got for me?" Bella refilled her glass.
"Well, we already talked about the 'children' thing," Bella blushed again. "There were a couple of other things, but they sort of tied in with my list."
"Well, okay. Let's do your list, then. Can I see it?"
"Umm…if you insist. I would prefer, however, if we could just discuss the items one at a time, though, if that's alright with you." I wasn't sure how Bella was going to take my list, and I wanted the option of stopping if she got too upset.
"Well, I don't see how that's fair. After all, you're getting to read my issues straight out of my diary," Bella sulked.
"Yes, but we're not discussing the entire diary at one sitting, either. We're talking about your diary a little at a time, isn't it only fair that we discuss my list in the same fashion?" Bella couldn't seem to figure out a way around my logic, so she just huffed instead. "Good. Thank you for humoring me. Now, should we do the toughest one first, or would you prefer to ease our way into it with an easy one?"
"Let's do the tough one first. Get it out of the way," Bella started to take another sip of her wine. I took a deep breath and dove right in, praying for the best.
"You cheated on me with my brother."
Bella blanched and for a second I thought she was going to pass out, but instead she took a big gulp of wine, and then looked up to meet my gaze, her lip quivering. "I didn't sleep with Jasper until after we broke up." Her voice was weak and cracked. She knew it was not a valid defense, but merely the lie she had been telling herself to make it seem less horrible in her own mind.
"I realize that, but it still doesn't make what you did right. You were intimate with him. You formed a romantic bond with him. Tell me, if the situation were reversed, if I had done the things you did with, say, Tanya, while you and I were together, would you have felt betrayed?"
Bella hung her head and nodded. Tears fell into her lap. I knew this was going to be hard, but she said she wanted to know, and to tell the truth, I needed to get it off my chest.
"You cheated on me, physically and emotionally, starting with the night he came into my room while I was hunting and sat on my bed to 'teach' you how to perform a very intimate act. You should have kicked him out. You should have screamed for Emmett. You should have said no. And then when I returned, you should have told me." I kept my voice calm, but firm.
Bella looked up at me then. "You're right. There will never be enough words to tell you how sorry I am. I listened to what Jasper had to say that night, about how I was making everyone's lives more difficult because I was so sexually frustrated all the time, and it made sense to me. I thought that it would help everyone concerned. But I realize now that what I did was wrong. Please believe me when I tell you that I love you so much and it tore me up inside knowing that I hurt you the way that I did."
My breath caught in my throat. "Could you repeat that last sentence, please?"
Bella looked at me, perplexed. "I said I loved you so much, and it tore me up inside knowing that I hurt you." Oh. "Why?"
"Never mind. I thought you said something else. Can I ask you two questions about it? First, why did you do it? This kind of ties into Number Two on the list – you always pushed my boundaries. I know you were frustrated that I wasn't able to be intimate with you the way you wanted, but I really felt like if you would have just been patient with me, I would have gotten there. You seemed to forget that I have spent over one hundred years as a virgin. Sexual relations were not something I had any experience with, let alone relations between a vampire and a human. Add to that fact that this particular human also happened to be my singer and the love of my life, and I think I had a reason to be terrified. Just the fact that I was able to hold you, kiss you without killing you was a big accomplishment for me. But you kept pushing, and the more you pushed, the more I panicked. It was like Newton's Third Law. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. You pushed. I ran. I happen to believe that with a little time and patience, I would have been able to be as intimate with you as we would have liked. Why couldn't you do that, Bella? Why did you have to run to him for physical affection? Was I not worth the wait?"
Bella broke down then, sobbing to the point of hysteria. I ran at vampire speed to the bathroom to retrieve a box of tissues, then ran back to the living room. Not caring about propriety, I sat down next to her and pulled her onto my lap. She had curled up tighter than an armadillo and was rocking back and forth. I held her tight and rubbed her back while I waited for her to cry it out, feeling utterly wretched for making her cry like this.
It took Bella a good ten minutes before she was able to calm down enough to pull her head up from between her knees and look at me. She slowly brought one hand up to my cheek and I leaned my head slightly into it. "Of course you were worth the wait, Edward. I was a fool. I don't have a clear cut answer for you, and I really wish I did. I guess a big part of me thought that you didn't want me that way, that we would never have that. Especially after you said you weren't willing to even try and push your boundaries anymore."
"Yes, you said something to that effect in your diary, that you didn't think I wanted you 'that way.' Bella, from the moment I laid eyes on you, I have wanted you that way. You have no idea how many sexual fantasies I would hear in the minds of the people around us, and I would change every one of them around in my head so that it was you and me doing those things, together. Every time you kissed me, I longed for more. Every time your body was pressed to mine I wanted to have your breasts fill the palms of my hands, feel your nipples harden as I worked them between my fingers. I wanted to sink myself into your glorious warmth and join our bodies together as one. You are the most beautiful, exquisite, sexy woman I have ever known. How could you doubt for one second that I wanted you?" I wanted to point out that her insecurities were actually the very next thing on my list, but I didn't want to go off on a tangent just then.
"But you had said you wouldn't even try anymore…" I took a tissue out of the box and started gently wiping her tears away.
"I only said that because of how hard you were pushing. Newton's Third Law, remember? It wasn't what I wanted, not in a long shot, but it seemed at the time like it was the only way to get you to stop." Bella thought about this and finally nodded her head with a sniffle.
"I can see that. Really, I can. I should have had more patience. I should have had more faith. I wish we'd have just talked about these things more then the way we are talking about them now. Back then we always just skirted around them and turned a blind eye, you know?"
"Yes, I know exactly what you mean. We both kept so much bottled up inside. But at least we're talking about them now, right?"
"Yes, you're right. What was the other part of the question?"
"If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything?"
Bella looked deep into my eyes with a fierce conviction then, fire just beneath the surface. "If I could go back in time and fix my mistakes, I would, Edward. I would never have cheated on you, and I would never have let you go. Never doubt that, and never forget it." I nodded slowly. Bella kissed my cheek and scooted off of my lap and back onto the couch. I took the opportunity to give Bella the little gold bag with her dessert. "Here, this will make you feel better." Bella opened the bag and squealed at the chocolate covered strawberries. "They'll go nicely with the wine." Bella took a big bite out of one and moaned.
"These are fantastic! Can I change my mind? I want an easier question."
"It's a little late for that, isn't it, love? Okay, here you go. This one was Number Five. You would never graciously accept a gift from me when we were together. Ever. If we're being perfectly honest, I have to admit that I'm quite certain the only reason you accepted that necklace as easily as you did was because you felt guilty about what happened. When I had that necklace commissioned, I was prepared for a full-on war. Yet you accepted a new truck and a new motorcycle from Jasper with great enthusiasm. That stung."
"We talked about my old truck last week. I loved it. Jasper bought me the new truck to remind me of my old one, to remind me of Charlie. He bought me the motorcycle because he knew how much I liked to ride, and how my clunky old dirt bike back home soothed me in my darkest hour. Both gifts had a sentimental significance. So did this necklace, and that's why I accepted it. I don't need or want gifts just because they're flashy or expensive, especially since I am unable to reciprocate and that makes me feel terrible."
"So, if I bought you something for your birthday, for example, that had sentimental value and was something I knew you'd love and was not at all flashy but may have been what you consider expensive, would you accept it graciously?" Bella nodded at me suspiciously. "Promise?"
"I promise that as long as it fits within those parameters, I will accept it graciously," Bella qualified.
I ran to the study and returned with her gift. "I'm sorry it's not wrapped yet. I wasn't planning on giving this to you until the end of the week, but I want to hold you to your word before you have a chance to change your mind." I handed Bella the folder and sat back down. I watched with baited breath as she slowly flipped through the plane tickets and pages upon pages of brochures and reservations. I could see it coming, the 'I don't deserve this' or the 'you shouldn't have spent so much money' or something to that effect. But it didn't happen. Instead, she looked at me wide eyed and excited. "Oh my God! Edward! Is this what I think this is?"
"It is a trip to Haworth, England, to visit the home of the Bronte sisters over Christmas break. There are two plane tickets, one in your name and one blank. I assume you'll ask Jasper to go with you, but it occurred to me that you might ask Alice, since like you, she's a huge Bronte fan, so I left it blank for you to choose. There's a reservation for the Rosebud Cottage, which is a little bed and breakfast right in town that I thought you'd love. There's information on the town's Winter Festival, which will be going on while you are there, and some minor details all outlined in there for you."
Bella looked sad for a moment, her fingers caressing the plane tickets. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "Thank you, Edward, so, so much. I can't begin to tell you how wonderful this is and how much it means to me."
"You're welcome, Bella. I'm glad you like it. Take lots of pictures; I expect a full report when you get back."
"You got it!" Bella said.
Even her unbridled joy over her gift could not mask the exhaustion setting in. I looked at the clock and realized it was almost two in the morning. "Alright, I think that's enough for one night, don't you?"
"Yes, actually, I do. I'm going to bed."
"Sweet dreams, Bella."
Bella started to head for the hall and then turned back. "If they're not sweet dreams, and you have to rescue me again…"
"Yes?"
"Well, if I talk in my sleep and ask you to stay…you can. But don't tell me. I don't need to know. If I don't know, then I don't have to lie about it later."
I smiled her crooked smile. "As you wish, love. Goodnight." Bella's nightmare began exactly 37 minutes after she laid down to sleep. "Don't make me…not again…Edward…" I went in and sat on the side of the bed, singing her lullaby to her to coax her out of it. When she settled back into a deep sleep, I stood to leave, but Bella grabbed my arm in her sleep and whispered that magical word. "Stay." So I did.
As Bella requested, I snuck out of her room before she started to stir. I made her a quick breakfast when she woke up, just a Pop-Tart, coffee, and half a grapefruit. "Good morning, beautiful."
Bella raised her eyebrow at me, but didn't correct me like she had the week before. "Thank you for breakfast, Edward. I enjoyed our conversation last night."
"I did, too. Don't you think it's funny, though? Two weeks in a row you've been in tears, and I would be too if I were still able to cry, and yet in the morning light we both can honestly say we enjoyed our conversation. Why is that, do you think?"
"I don't know. Maybe because we both feel a little bit lighter after our talks, like a weight has been lifted somehow. At least, that's how I feel," Bella shrugged her shoulders.
"I think you're right, Bella. Can I drive you to school today?"
"Sure, I don't see why not." Bella smiled at me and shoved the last bite of Pop-Tart in her mouth. There was definitely some truth in her statement. I did feel as though a weight had been lifted. The pain I had been feeling for the past year somehow felt like it was finally starting to heal.
A/N: Next stop for the Naked Cullen Boys? Houston, Texas! They are putting on a private show at the Roy and Lillie Cullen Theatre with nothing on but boots and cowboy hats for all my favorite reviewers! Yes, it's a real place, you can google it! LOL Don't forget your lassos, ladies, so you can round up your favorite! The next chapter will be Jasper's proposal. Right now A Lesson in Release has 2,299 reviews. I would be so excited if this story could bypass that number!