The Learning Curve: Chapter 15

Edward Cullen's bedroom

Edward's house was enormous, and following him up flights of stairs and down long hallways only served to make me feel insignificant. Now, standing in Edward's room, I found it was nothing like I expected. I'd been imagining either a swank love shack kind of atmosphere or perhaps the kind of chaotic mess typical of teenage boys, but I saw neither of those things.

There was a large stereo system, which Edward was currently fiddling with, and a wall nearly dominated by shelves of CDs, old vinyl albums, and books. I noticed a row of old journals lining a top shelf and desperately wished I could read them.

Otherwise, his room was basic - a dresser, a nightstand, a bed. A large bed that looked pretty much heavenly, actually. I suspected a pillow-top mattress lurked under the dark blue bedspread and sheets.

"You can sit down, you know. The bed won't bite," he said with a quick glance back at me. I ventured slowly toward the bed, uncertain. Surely some alarm was set to go off as soon as I touched this most legendary of beds.

But my butt made contact without any incident, and indeed it did feel like a pillow-top. Nice.

Edward finally got something low and mellow playing and came over to join me. Unlike me, he scooted readily to the center of the bed and beckoned for me to come closer. I crawled awkwardly to him. His bed was kind of enormous.

"Since this is our first lesson, I think I need to do an assessment of your skill level."

My throat went dry. "What kind of skills?"

"Nothing drastic. I just want you to show me how you kiss."

"Show you?" Did he want me to mime it, or provide video footage?

"Mmmhmm. Kiss me, Swan. Give me your best."

I swallowed. Abstractly planning to have sex with Edward was one thing. Kissing him in reality was a whole other matter. My heart raced and my palms went sweaty as I looked at his plump, waiting lips.

What had I gotten myself into?

Once presented with a challenge, however, I wasn't the sort to back down, and I sure as hell wouldn't admit to making a mistake even if I was convinced that kissing Edward was an error of judgment, which I wasn't.

I leaned in. It was imperative that I get the main factors right. I took extra care to tilt my face and make sure our noses didn't bump. I parted my lips just so and then pressed them to his. To my horror, he didn't even move to kiss me back.

I jerked away, and he was smiling. "What? Was that wrong?"

He shook his head. "It was sweet, Bella. You're kind of adorable, do you know that?"

I bristled. "Well, guys don't really seem to go for 'adorable' these days. Apparently they're all looking for sex bombs."

Edward let out a burst of laughter. "Not all guys, Bella. Some of us are capable of looking deeper."

I was so confused. "Am I a bad kisser or not?"

"You're perfect," he chuckled. "Now let me show you how I kiss."

A/N: Sorry for the delay on this one. I received a last minute dinner invite from the grandparents, and you know how that goes - can't refuse.