Dear Readers,
I hope you enjoyed the last chapter and that you're truly hooked to my story! There is so much drama coming up you're gunna be like "holy crow"! I've been super busy- of course my life is almost always busy with something- and I've been reading Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyers. I've never felt closer to other characters before- to know that Jessica is truly a stuck up snob, that Emmett is one of the most trust-worthy people in Edward's life, and that despite all of the 'annoying' comments he says about Alice, he and Alice are closer than anyone.
Anyway, enough babbling.
Enjoy
Chapter Eleven: More Than Words
We walked to the path where Edward, Emmett, and Jasper were standing in casual clothes. There were a few others standing beside them that we didn't know personally, but I could tell they were workers at the resort. Edward was leaning against a Spruce tree, talking quietly to Emmett and Jasper. Alice's legs walked quickly until she jumped into Jasper's open arms enthusiastically. Rosalie walked slowly to Emmett and grabbed his hand instantly. I walked up to Edward and looked deeply into his emerald eyes. He looked into mine just as deep. I felt like I was touching something deep inside of him.
"Bella," Edward smiled at me, I smiled back and Edward and nodded my head.
"Edward," I said politely. Edward leaned down and kissed my cheek, close to the corner of my mouth. My heart fluttered quickly, and my face flushed scarlet. Edward's eyes scanned my face and smiled down at me.
"Are you ready?" He asked as his eyes wandered to his friends who were already leading Rosalie and Alice up the trail. I nodded my head and smiled.
"As long as you're prepared to catch me if I fall over stuff," I laughed. Edward smiled and nodded his head.
"I believe I can handle that," Edward smiled without humor, his arms ghosting around my waist.
The walk wasn't particularly long, but I couldn't see three feet in front of me. I tripped a hand full of times, and each time, Edward's hands shot out and wrapped around my waist before I could plummet to the ground. His hands were always careful, always gentlemanly around me, despite what we did behind closed doors. He was polite with the way he handled me even, asking permission to take my waist if we were near a particularly bumpy area. After the second time he asked Emmett sighed exasperated with this politeness.
"Eddy, for fucks sake, she doesn't mind if your hands are all over her." Emmett said, I could tell he was laughing and rolling his eyes. I heard Rosalie's arm smack Emmett's shoulder in the dark and Emmett laugh boomingly in the wooded area. But Jasper didn't patronize Edward. He was polite and seemed to have asked Alice without words every time he grabbed her waist. Alice and Jasper were unnervingly close and comfortable with one another. Like someone would be if they were made for one another.
I felt giddy at the thought of being near Edward. My every thought was consumed by Edward. I wondered what Edward was doing, who he was with, if he ever thought about me. But also, I spent so much time with Edward since I signed up for dance lessons and I was trying to help Tanya out that I didn't have much else time than thinking about Edward in some manner. The way I feel about Edward is more than I've ever felt about anyone, really. There was a kid back home, Tyler, and he was nice, but I couldn't connect with him.
Rosalie and Alice haven't talked much about their feelings, but I could tell that they were in just as deep as I was. They were completely enamored with Emmett and Jasper. They would space out just as much as I did when it came to thinking about Edward, so I knew that Alice and Rosalie thought about Emmett and Jasper just the same.
"Just beyond these birch trees, do you see the glow?" Edward whispered to me, I nodded my head, and forgot that he couldn't see my nod.
"Yes, is that blue and green with the red and orange?" I asked looking over at him, astonished by the rainbow lights coming from the fire pit.
"Someone either put some special salts in or they had some driftwood from the beach," Edward smiled down at me. "We do this once a year, so it's kind of special." Edward shrugged.
"Whoa," that was all that escaped my lips before we entered the small clearing that held 30 kids our age all holding bottles of beer or cups of spiked punch. I looked at the fire, it must have been at least five feet tall coming out of a large steel ring. The people nearest the fire were back six feet from the fire, their faces showing bright red from the heat. They waved and Emmett and pointed to a cooler. Edward, Emmett, and Jasper went to the large cooler and pulled two bottles each. Edward held out the brown bottle to me.
"It's domestic," he shrugged. I looked at the label in the dark and shrugged to myself. I never tried beer before, but then again, I had never tried a lot of the alcohol that I've tried recently- not that I knew what type of alcohol I tried in that spiked punch. Now that I thought about it, I only ever had a glass of wine here and there with permission from our parents at fancy dinners or get together like weddings.
I took a sip of the beer and it tasted kind of good, but also bitter in bad ways. I knew it wasn't polite to just not drink it, and Alice and Rosalie seemed to feel the same way. They shrugged and started to drink more and more of the beer.
"Do you want to dance?" Edward smiled coyly at me.
"I thought you'd never ask," I laughed as I emptied my second bottle of the domestic beer. Edward threw it into one of the barrels that were around the small clearing. His arms were wrapped around my waist and he pulled me close to him that I could press my face in the hollow of his neck. The song was slow, but our dance wasn't one of the waltzes he taught me, it was close and intimate, much more intimate than I was used to. He clasped his hand around mine, holding our hands close to his chest as the other arm was snaked around my waist, holding me as close as he dared.
Edward's eyes were always closed or on me when we danced, tonight they were closed as we dance to songs in the fire light. He sang the songs in my ear, and his body heat intensified mine. By the end of the third dance I was sweating and my throat was aching for another beer. Edward had more than I could count.
"Here ya go, love," Edward opened a brown bottle for me and handed it to me as he opened his own. Emmett was holding Rosalie loosely by his side, talking loudly to someone who was smaller than him about the importance of a well-rounded schedule of exercises. Rosalie rolled her eyes and fluffed her hair absentmindedly. Rosalie's eyes were heavy lidded, as I was sure mine was.
"This is going to my head pretty quick," I whispered to Alice, who was also just as heavy lidded as me.
"Me too, who knew something as yucky as this could make ya want more," Alice said as she swallowed a large gulp of her beer.
"I have such strong feelings for Edward," I sighed as I leaned against Edward who was talking to another boy standing near Jasper.
"Me too, with Jazz." Alice sighed as she sagged against Jasper. He looked down at her lovingly and rubbed her back slowly as he continued talking to the boy they called Demetri. He wasn't what you would call 'nice' but he was polite to Edward and Jasper.
Jasper nodded once to something Demetri said, and turned Alice and himself away from Demetri, towards the dark path that we had come up. Was it that late already? I noted the fire was dwindling, and nobody was replenishing its wood supply. I hadn't worn a watch, and I looked to Alice who shrugged and Rosalie who was too occupied watching Emmett arm wrestle someone on top of a cooler. Edward pulled me closer to him, my back was to him, and his head rest on my shoulder.
"It's almost midnight," Edward whispered to me, his speech slightly slurred. I barely noticed the slurring, probably due to how drunk I was.
"Is it already?" I asked smiling back to him. He nodded his head.
"Jasper went to take Alice to her cabin himself, may I take you?" Edward smile and looked down at me carefully.
"Of course," I said pulling away from him to go tell Rosalie.
"Emmett will tell her," Edward pulled my hand into his, lacing our fingers closely together. I smiled and nodded my head to myself, after all, that's what Jasper must have said to Alice. Edward lead me to the opening in the clearing that Alice and Jasper had gone down a few minutes prior.
"Look, there's Mars." Edward pointed to a large, very round star in the sky.
"How do you know that's Mars? I thought we were supposed to be able to see Venus," I laughed. Edward shrugged.
"I'm not Jazz, I'm not sure which one it is, all I know is that it's too big to be a star. Must be a planet." Edward laughed. I kept Edward's hand in mine and started down the path, barely faltering in my footing. It must have been the alcohol, because I knew there was no way it would have been easy for me four beers ago. Edward walked along side me for a while until we were two yards from the bottom opening.
"Hey, wait," Edward said quietly. I stopped and looked at his beautiful face in the moon light.
I never noticed how straight his nose was.
I never noticed that crease between his eyebrows from over furrowing of his brow.
I never noticed how full his lips were.
I never noticed how particularly beautiful Edward truly was. He was a male, and I suppose I should say handsome instead of beautiful, but he was beautiful. He had gorgeous emerald green eyes that were electric in the sunlight. He had gorgeous hair that showed metallic shades when the light hit it just right. I couldn't say he was handsome because it was an understatement.
"What is it?" I asked looking around he laughed and put his hand on my cheek to focus my gaze on his face.
"I really care about you," Edward whispered in my face. His cool breath smelled of beer and him.
"I care about you, too." I said smiling.
"I care more than I should," Edward's voice was a whisper, his eyes heavy lidded as he spoke to me, closing the distance between our faces. "I think I'm in love with you," he sighed as his lips closed the distance between us. His full lips pressed against my mouth tenderly with a need for acceptance.
I kissed Edward back, enthusiastically. His lips were velvet soft and urgent against my lips. I felt my pulse bumping in my ear drums and my hands go straight for his long hair. I twisted it around my fingers and tugged at it lightly. Edward gasped in my mouth and allowed my tongue to venture further into his mouth.
We kissed for what felt like forever, but Edward was the one to pull away. He leaned his forehead against mine, his eyes still closed, and his breathing was as heavy as mine.
"I need to get you back," Edward nodded to himself.
Edward walked me to my cabin without another word. We stood at the door to my cabin room whispering, so that my parents wouldn't wake up, our goodbyes and goodnights.
"Thank you for tonight," I breathed.
"Thank you for coming, it meant a lot to me." Edward smiled at me.
I had gone to parties since he's invited me- I wasn't exactly sure how this one party that happened once a year meant much of anything. We had barely talked to anyone, and we danced rather close- but nothing unusual from how we typically danced.
"Of course, until tomorrow." I smiled.
"Bring a bathing suit," Edward smiled at me and turned walking down the stairs of our cabin and turned once to watch me walk into the cabin and wave. Rosalie wasn't back yet, but I knew that she was probably having the same type of conversation with Emmett in the opening of the woods as I had with Edward. I got a glass of water and drank it until it was empty, and filled one for Rosalie as well. When I finished washing my face I checked my watch. It was 1:22 in the morning, and I heard Rosalie's heels quietly make their way into our room. She looked at me, her face bright with excitement, but her eyes heavily lidded with alcohol and exhaustion. I pointed to the glass of water and she took off her heels and drank it quickly and filled the glass and put it on the night stand next to my full cup.
"Best. Night. Ever." Rosalie whispered as she lay in her bed without covers. I laughed quietly and nodded to myself.
"Agreed."
Waking up there was no pounding in my head, but there was a dry stale taste in my mouth. It turned my stomach and made me sit straight up in bed. Rosalie was still out like a light. I gulped the cold stale water next to my bed, it helped the taste and made my stomach slow its waves of uneasiness. Finishing the glass I slowly stood up and walked over to the bathroom to take care of everything before I woke Rosalie up.
The shower washed away all the debris from the fire and woods. I watched as my legs had some soot on them come clean in the swirls near the drain. I was so dazed from last night, thinking about Edward's drunken words, and thinking about how I didn't respond at all to them; being either too shocked or too caught up in kissing him. I turned off the water and heard a sigh of relief as I stepped out. Rosalie stood waiting in a towel.
"You could have said something," I said quietly as I grabbed for my towel. Rosalie shrugged and traded places with me. I stood at the sink wrapped in a towel, brushing my teeth vigorously attempting to get the taste out of my mouth.
Sunday was yet again a full day of whatever lesson you booked- but a full day meant from 12 until 4. It was a short day so that people could attend church or respectfully decline doing any type of work that day. Our family was hardly religious, and the Brandon's weren't religious either, so we had the whole day to do whatever we wanted again! I dressed comfortably and packed a bathing suit because of what Edward said last night. Rosalie dressed very comfortably, which was unlike her. Her hair was up in a ponytail, she wore cut off shorts and a plain white tee shirt. She looked sporty like this, which she was sporty, but nobody could ever really see that underneath all of her glam and glitz.
"Rose, you look so wonderful!" Mom praised as she saw her at breakfast. Rosalie hasn't dressed like this since we were in middle school, and mom loved her sporty look. Rosalie rolled her eyes and smiled at mother politely.
"Emmett is taking me out on the water today with the skis." Rosalie smiled proudly.
"That's wonderful, dear." My mother nodded her head as she took a bite of her grapefruit.
"What about you, Alice, what are you doing today?" Mr. Brandon eyed his daughter skeptically. We had all dressed casually and comfortably for today's activities.
"A bike ride up one of the trails. Jasper said it was easy- I'm not so sure," she bit her bottom lip pensively. Mr. Brandon turned to look at Mrs. Brandon who wore the same look of shock. Alice's new interest to outdoors stuff was a little concerning- Alice had never wanted to be outdoors or go on hiking trips. She thought mud was gross and vegetation wasn't something that was beautiful it was to satisfy hunger. But my parents gave me the same look whenever I was interested in dancing.
We both knew our appeal. Alice's was Jasper. Mine was Edward. It had nothing to do with what activities we were doing, as long as we were doing those activities with them. Edward didn't seem to mind the fact that I was unable to really dance well, although he was willing to teach me, and willing to embarrass himself in a few days at another resort while Tanya gets an illegal procedure done.
Finishing breakfast with our skeptical parents wasn't something that went as fast as we had wanted. Our fathers were being annoyingly perceptive than normal. Mr. Brandon and Charlie were trading looks, and our mothers were just rolling their eyes. Our mothers were more coy with us. They knew not to ask, because they knew what was going on. They could see what was happening to us, probably because they went through something similar.
We left breakfast in a rush, splitting up at the large Oak tree in the middle of the resort, promising to meet up before lunch and spill all of the juicy details.
"So eleven thirty we will meet here?" Alice clarified.
"Agreed," Rosalie nodded her head.
"Agreed," I repeated.
I walked up the endless flights of stairs on the broad side of the hills to Edward's large cabin. I heard music in his cabin and yelling, raised voices. I opened the door a peek to see Edward and Mike glaring at each other from opposite ends of the room. Edward held a record in his hand that looked as though it may be in danger of snapping.
"You need to watch yourself," Edward said in a low voice.
"Or what? You'll get Emmett to lay me out? I don't think you can take me anymore danceboy." Mike antagonized.
"You think I need Emmett. You're funny Mikey. Get out." Edward walked two steps forward, menacingly. His voice sounded dark, dangerous, and downright scary. Mike backed up two steps in kind. "You want to find out if you can stand toe to toe with me again? Last time this happened you didn't show your face for two weeks because of the bruises. That was only a year ago." Edward reminded Mike.
"Whatever, Cullen." Mike grumbled as he walked to the door, pulling it open, exposing my shocked, red face. Edward's face held a dark feature to it that made me think of someone who was capable of murder. "Oh, he's got you, doesn't he? Wait til you see is true colors Isabella." Mike laughed. I glowered at him for using my whole name before stepping out of the way for him. He stormed past me, and Edward looked at me slowly, the dark features of his face smoothing over to the normal Edward face that I was used to.
"I'm sorry… How much did you hear?" Edward asked quietly.
"You said watch yourself, and it kind of went on from there," I admitted quietly. Edward nodded and walked over to the now skipping record player and lifted the record off of the player.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that," Edward looked ashamed of his temper. I wasn't afraid of him, but I knew he'd never hurt me. Mike was in grave danger, though, I could sense that.
"What's the bathing suit for?" I asked smiling at the small bathing suit in my hand. Edward wore a smile across his face.
"Go ahead and change, I'll show you." Edward said as he put the records away and went to his dresser.
I didn't bother with the vanity. I wanted Edward to see every part of my body. I wanted him to memorize it like I wanted to memorize his. Edward looked over his shoulder to see me taking off my shirt and the bra that hid underneath. His eyes met mine, and the emerald slowly turned jade. He took off his shirt in kind, showing me the beautiful muscular planes of his abdomen. I didn't think I would see a Greek god in my life time, but here one stood before me. His chest was a muscular plane of heaven to a woman like me.
He slowly started on his jeans, unbuttoning them and slipping them down over his hips. I couldn't help but stare at the V that lead to somewhere I very much wanted to see. He stopped at his underwear, and I decided to continue on with my clothing. I took off my shorts and did not hesitate at my underwear. I pushed them down in one swift motion and stood in front of Edward, his eyes lidded looking at me without embarrassment.
I wanted to touch him. I wanted to touch every single part of him, but I knew that it would just lead to more touching, more kissing, and as much as I wanted that I also wanted to see what he had planned for us with our bathing suits, too. I grabbed my bathing suit that was a flimsy one piece and began to slide it on past my rounded hips, covering up my sex, and past my navel, covering up the planes of my stomach. Edward watched as I dressed. He made no move to cover himself up. Edward swallowed reflexively as I lifted the straps onto my shoulders, sucking my breasts into the suit itself. Now he was the only one left who was naked. Edward took in a sharp breath and grabbed for his swimming shorts quickly and slid them on, letting them rest lowly on his hips.
"Let's go," Edward said smiling at me, leading me out of his cabin. We walked down a small path to see a small lake that was deserted except for us. The lake was dark, and held little to no debris from the vegetation around the lake. There was a fallen tree that happened to cover half the lake, anchored stably on large boulders.
"This is amazing," I said smiling up at Edward. His bronze hair shined in the sunlight as though there was molten bronze moving throughout the hair on his head. His eyes were beautiful and brighter than all of the grass around the lake.
"I thought we could try doing some lifts in the water." Edward smiled at me thoughtfully.
"In the water?" I asked surprised.
"Well, it's hotter than yesterday and sometimes the water is easier to do it." Edward smiled. I raised my eyebrow at him. "The lifts, not sex." Edward clarified sighing and rolling his eyes with a smile on his face. I laughed and walked up to the water, dipping a hesitant foot inside. It was chilly, but it wasn't bad considering the heat. I walked forward slowly, feeling the shallow water between my toes and lapping at my calves. I heard something behind me, but it was too late.
Edward swept me up in his arms and ran out into the colder, deeper water of the lake. I was in shock; no sounds were made except for his laugh and my giggles. I felt his body wrap around me protectively as we submerged up to his chest into the cool lake water. I shrieked and giggled into his chest. He laughed with me, holding me tightly, and standing still in the water.
"That was not nice!" I laughed, throwing my head back to dip my hair into the water. Edward smiled as I brought my head up and looked at me as though I was magnificent or something special.
"You're so beautiful," Edward admired. I blushed and looked down to the murky water.
"I'm nothing special," I contradicted.
"You are, though." Edward said as he kissed me deeply. His full lips pressed hard onto mine, and opening my mouth slowly into a passionate, deep kiss. I couldn't breathe, I had to break away.
Although we were submerged into cool water, I felt fire all over my body. The heat that the sun beat down on us had nothing on the heat I was feeling all over my body. Edward's grip tightened as I pulled away. He only allowed me to catch my breath and then began to kiss me again, just as deep and as passionate as the first kiss. I wasn't sure where the second kiss started and when the last kiss ended, but when our last kiss ended we were both panting headily.
"Bella, I am falling irrevocably for you." Edward sighed as he placed his forehead on mine. "Please, you never told me last night…" Edward stopped as he gazed into my eyes deeply. "Do you love me, too?" Edward asked.