Chapter 17

BPOV

While the others were away, Edward and I had a chance to work on my project and I was pleased to note how well we worked together. Our communication was effortless, and not once did I find myself getting irritated during the process. Rather, in between a lot of boring tasks we managed to spend much of the time laughing and telling stories. I had been worried about feeling awkward or shy around Edward while actual filming began, but he had an air of encouragement about him, and his interest fuelled my efforts. By the end of the week, I had enough material to work from, and the end product was more than satisfactory to me. Edward was a bit of an editing genius and I managed to learn quite a bit from him.

Members of his family began arriving on the weekend, and then shit got awkward.

Alice and Jasper were the first to arrive. Edward and I had been watching movies at his place when they knocked on his door. Edward greeted them warily and Alice immediately started to launch into him about me, not noticing me lying on his couch. She shut up quickly and tried to recover, but I silenced her with a wave and made a fast exit after giving both her and Jasper a hug. Jasper looked at me apologetically and I could only shake my head knowingly.

Edward called me later that evening wanting to know if I would like to have dinner with the three of them, but I made an excuse and took the truck out and ate at a roadside chip truck instead. After eating some greasy food, I headed towards the beach and walked, trying to rustle up the nerve to go back to Edward's place. I just didn't want to deal with any type of inquisition, and it was bound to get worse as Emmett and Rosalie were due that evening. Instead I found myself pacing up and down the shoreline, like some kind of freak. I was about to go back to The Bakery but Jacob showed up and began apologising for his behaviour at the bar. It was impossible to stay angry with him, and I ended up going back over to his buddy's place for beer and poker.

It was a bad idea, in retrospect.

I ended up crashing at Jake's place, due to the amount of cheap beer I had consumed and being too poor after the game to call a cab for a ride back. He let me sleep in his bed and graciously offered to crash on the battered couch in the living room. There wasn't a single instance of improper behaviour on his part, which probably was the reason I snapped at Alice, when I saw her the next morning in the lobby.

Alice had her arms crossed tightly against her chest, and I could practically see steam coming out of her ears.

"Where were you, Bella? We were trying to call you all night and couldn't get a hold of you," she demanded.

"My cellphone battery died," I muttered, making my way to the elevator with Alice in hot pursuit.

"You smell like a brewery," she said, flatly.

I punched the elevator button, ignoring her.

"Hey!" she said, "I'm talking to you."

I exhaled loudly, "Alice, really. What are you doing?"

"I want to know where you were all night. The truck wasn't in the parking lot at all last night, not even when I woke up."

"I'm sorry. I was under the impression that I was allowed to use the truck whenever I wanted. Perhaps because you said, and I quote, "Bella, you don't need to buy a vehicle. Feel free to use the truck whenever and wherever you want," I said, my temper rising.

The elevator door slid open and I entered, Alice following closely behind me, suddenly looking guilty.

"Bella, I'm sorry. I…"

I held up a hand, "Don't apologize. And Alice? Don't interfere in my private life again. What I do is my own business." I reached into my pocket and began separating my house keys from the vehicle keys.

"Bella, that's not necessary. I've overstepped my bounds and I didn't mean to imply that you weren't allowed to use the vehicle at your convenience," she said in a rush.

The doors slid open to our floor, and I groaned as I saw Edward standing in the middle of the hallway with Jasper who was locking his apartment door.

I said it anyway. "Alice. I won't be needing it for anything other than work purposes from now on. Thanks, though."

I strode down the hallway bypassing Edward and Jasper who were momentarily speechless and my expression was forbidding enough to prevent anyone from stopping me as I entered my apartment, slamming the door behind me. I was furious. I couldn't believe Alice's behaviour, and my hangover seemed to intensify with my anger.

I paced around my apartment like a caged lion, and decided to couch it for the day. It had been a rough week emotionally, and the ingestion of alcohol always made me feel cranky one moment and sad the next. I stripped off my clothes and had the coldest of showers and afterwards changed into a pair of flannel sleep pants and an old rock shirt. I cooked up a meal of eggs, sausage and toast and forced myself to swallow down some orange juice, followed by a banana and 2 extra strength ibuprofen. I brushed my teeth again and then went to find a book to lose myself in. I sure as fuck didn't want to concentrate another moment on what just went down.

Late that afternoon, I heard a gentle knock on my door. I sighed, and made my way from my couch where I had crashed in a sulk, and opened the door. Edward stood there, looking both hesitant and sorry. I shook my head and opened the door wider, allowing him to step inside.

"Bella, I'm sor-," he began, but I cut him off.

"Edward, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. In fact, I'm planning on apologizing to Alice for overreacting. I should have made some attempt to let someone know where I was, I guess. Besides, the truck should be used for work, only. I've got some savings; I'm going to look into buying a car like I originally planned," I told him, going into the living room and flopping back onto the couch.

He sat on the other side of the couch and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his hands clenching his hair.

"Dude, don't worry about it," I told him, suddenly concerned for him.

"Bella, how can I not? Alice got into your face about something she had no right to be concerned about. That truck is as good as yours, and what she was really trying to do was fish for information. She put her nose where it doesn't belong and invaded your privacy. I'm so… so upset and embarrassed," he admitted.

"Edward," I said, sitting up and pulling him towards me. He sat up and allowed me to wrap my arms around him consolingly, "I may not have any siblings, but I guess I can understand why Alice was so… forward. I know I don't have to explain anything, but really… I ended up hanging out with Jacob Black after meeting him by chance at the beach. We played 5 buck poker and drank cheap-ass beer over at his buddy's house. I couldn't drive in my condition and my cell died. I got my ass kicked so I couldn't afford a cab because I didn't have any extra cash on me. I stayed over at Jacob's and it was totally 100% platonic. You know I don't give a shit about him that way."

"Bella, stop," Edward protested, "Even though I admit I was worried that I couldn't get a hold of you, I was concerned about your safety more so than anything else. That truck is a piece of crap. I was worried that it broke down somewhere and… God… I'm just glad that you are all right."

"I'm fine," I said, and started to pull away from him.

Instead, Edward maneouvered around so that I was lying along the length of his body, gazing down into his eyes.

We looked at each other in silence for several minutes, and my heart began to speed up even though we weren't doing a damned thing but staring at each other.

"Hey there," I murmured, surprising myself by moving slowly against him.

"Hi," he greeted back, pleased and evidently aroused by my response to him.

He kissed up and along my neck, and suddenly the room felt too hot, and we couldn't get close enough to each other. His fingers traced a line down my spine, his breath coming more quickly as he pulled me closer to him. We moved against each other and he let out a low moan. He brought his hands down to the waistband of my pajama bottoms and looked at me, wordlessly asking for permission. I nodded and he slowly dragged them down, then pulling them off. I nodded again as he played with my t-shirt that had bunched up around my ribcage and off it came.

He allowed me to slowly pull his t-shirt over his head and when I fumbled with the buttons on his jeans, he helped me remove them just as slowly. We lay in our underwear, and he turned me so that I was beneath him. He kissed along my neck again, and I sighed into him, bringing my hips to his, as he moved slowly against me.

"Bella," he breathed, a layer of sweat beginning to bead across his brow.

"Edward," I whispered back, angling my body so that he could continue to press against me just right.

"You like that?" he murmured, rubbing his stubbled cheek against my neck and sucking on my earlobe as I nodded in approval.

I ran my hands up and down the broad expanse of his back, feeling his muscles tighten. Each time I trailed my hands along his waist and then brought my hands to grip his ass, the more firmly he thrust against me.

Suddenly I froze and he immediately stopped moving, looking at me in alarm.

"I'm sorry, are you all right?" he panted, concerned.

"The door," I managed to say, and heard someone knocking again.

He groaned softly and rolled off me after quickly kissing me one last time. We scrambled to find our own clothing and I called out, "Hang on."

I patted my hair, knowing it was a mess, and quickly found an elastic band. I tied it up as I walked to the door. Edward was buttoning up his jeans and indicated that he was going to step outside on the balcony. He grabbed his shoes and once the patio door slid shut, I opened the front door.

"Bella," Alice said, looking contrite.

"Alice," I said, not wanting a big scene, "Please. I'm sorry that I overreacted. Let's put this behind us. Forget about it."

"Oh Bella, you have to let me tell you how horrible I feel about my behavior. I had no right to say a word about anything," she pleaded, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Seriously, Alice. It's okay. I understand," I told her. I was suddenly shy, "I hope you know I would never hurt your brother in any way. Ever."

"I know. I was an idiot for jumping to conclusions. It's just… it's just…"

"You love him," I said knowingly. "You're his sister. I think he's lucky to have someone care so much."

"Bella, I swear… I won't interfere again. Edward's so mad at me, and Jasper is too. I don't blame them, either. Rose told me that I need to back off, and I promise I will," she told me, ashamed.

"Don't be silly," I said, and pulled her into a hug, "Alice, I forgive you. I just want to get over this. Why don't you round everyone up and we can go out for awhile? I want to hear all about your trips, and I really don't feel like cooking dinner. Can we meet down in the lobby in about half an hour? I need to get cleaned up first."

"That would be great," she said excitedly, "I'll go get Jasper and stop in at Emmett and Rose's place. Edward's not answering his phone…"

"Don't worry about Edward," I said, "I'll find him. See you in a bit?"

She threw her arms around me again, "It won't happen again," she told me before grinning widely and leaving to get the others.

I shut the door, and closed my eyes wearily.

Edward stepped back into the living room, his hair a mess, shirt untucked, and still slightly flushed. He approached me cautiously and stood in front of me, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"Sorry about making plans without asking what you wanted to do."

He smirked, "Yeah. What I wanted to do would have taken longer than half an hour."

He pulled me closer to him, bending slightly and began kissing me again.

"Hey, none of that," I admonished him, "We've got to go in a bit. Don't start what you can't finish."

"I'm not done with you," he warned, not releasing his hold on me.

"I'm not done with you, either," I smiled, relieved that everything seemed back to normal.

"Thank you for being so good with Alice," he said, pressing me close to his body, and inhaling deeply. There was a look of desire in his eyes which I was sure matched my own.

"Uh, thank you for making out with me on my couch," I grinned and he laughed.

Reluctantly he pulled away.

"Okay, I gotta go find some guy named Edward and tell him to meet me downstairs in the lobby in half an hour," I told him, "And then I've gotta get ready."

"If I see him, I'll let him know," he promised, winking at me as he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before making his way downstairs.

a/n: Thanks for reading, commenting and the funny PMs.