The Learning Curve: Chapter 38

Port Angeles

"Is your food good?" Edward asked. He'd been this way since we'd left my house – was I too cold, too hot, was Italian food okay? – all consideration and sweetness. Combined with his compliments and fleeting, innocent touches, it was making me a trifle light-headed.

"It's great," I told him. "How is the lasagna?"

"Really good." There was a pause as he took another bite, and I used that as my opening.

"Edward, can I ask you something?"

He nodded quickly as he swallowed, and I wondered if he could sense my nervousness. "Anything, Bella."

I took a deep breath. "Edward, have you...I mean, how much..." I stumbled, then blurted out the next thing that came to mind: "Did you really let Lauren Mallory give you a blow job under the bleachers at last year's Homecoming game?"

His eyes went wide. "What? No! God, no. I wasn't even at the Homecoming game. I had an SAT-prep seminar. And Lauren...ugh."

The look of horror on his face told me everything I needed to know. I could have asked him about all the rumors, how many girls there had been and how many times, but it no longer felt necessary. I really knew Edward, I realized, and it had always been clear that he wasn't the kind of guy to take sex lightly or use a girl. He wouldn't be with just anyone.

He might not be as experienced as I thought, I had to acknowledge, but I didn't think he was trying to take advantage, either. I'd offered him sex on a silver platter, and he wanted to take me on a date instead – or at least before.

My chest hurt with the warmth I felt for him in that moment.

"It's crazy how rumors get started in small towns, isn't it?" I said, trying to control the smile that wanted to burst forth. "This one time, I missed school for a day because I had slipped on a wet floor in the grocery store and gotten a concussion, but somehow at school a story went around that I'd overdosed on painkillers. Alice called my dad totally freaking out, and my dad had just gone back to work after bringing me home the painkillers the hospital had prescribed, so he freaked out...it was a mess," I finished lamely.

Edward laughed like I'd told a perfectly charming, witty story. "I can somehow see that happening to you."

I shrugged, acknowledging that yes, it was the sort of thing that happened to me, and frequently. "So what's the worst rumor about you?"

His face turned serious, and he thought for a moment. "The worst in my book is the one about me and Jessica Stanley. She practically assaulted me at a party a few months after we moved here. It was all I could do to get away from her. But someone had seen me in a room alone with her, and everyone believed her when she said we'd had sex."

I couldn't help grinning now. Neither Jessica nor Lauren had ever been given the time of day by Edward – those jealous hags that thought they were somehow better than me – and here I was, on a date with him. It made me dizzy to think too long about it.

"What's that smile for?" he asked. He was smiling too.

"I'm just...having a really good time," I said truthfully, even if it wasn't the whole reason for my current giddiness.

His smile widened. "Really?"

I couldn't believe he had any doubt. "Absolutely."

A/N: More date to come, probably tomorrow. I'm posting in the wee hours (for me, anyway) so that you don't have to wait for me to get off work.

I'm glad to hear so many of my readers are David Cook fans - good on you! Yes, he was amazing in concert, and very nice and charming in person.