A/N - I have mad, inappropriate love for Mac214. Thanks for the beta (and the chocolate). I've been naughty. I posted before Jkane180 or DoUTrustMe could read it. Please forgive me ladies?
Facebook status: If you can read this, you're driving too close.
Holy crap! There was a silver Volvo in my driveway. I nearly skidded right into it, careening down my driveway in my usual graceless fashion. Luckily, I landed a few feet away from the car, my ass breaking my fall.
"Bella? Are you okay?" Sex-hair asked, sounding adorably concerned. In the fog, I hadn't noticed him leaning against the car like a trade show model. He knelt down beside me, barely concealing his asymmetrical smirk. I wanted to run my hands through his crazy hair and maybe lick him a little . . . okay, a lot.
"Great!" I said automatically, grasping his hand and allowing him to help me to my feet. "Really good, actually. What're you doing here?"
"Well . . ." he said slowly, rubbing the snow off my hand. "I thought maybe you'd let me drive you to school today?"
"Um . . . sure." There was a hesitation in my voice I hadn't intended to be so blatant.
"What's wrong?" He frowned, still rubbing my hand.
"Well, it's just that I don't want to give people the wrong idea . . . about us." Could I snuggle into his chest, or would that be inappropriate? He looked so warm and beautiful and sexy and delicious . . .
"I think I already gave people the wrong idea about us in biology class. I want to rectify it."
"You said rectify!" I snickered, using the opportunity of the anal-like word to poke him in the ass. He retaliated by shoving my shoulder playfully, causing me to crumple back against the car. "Shit," I swore, grasping the side mirror to steady myself. I stood quickly - too quickly - and my feet slid from under me.
"Oh, fuck!"
Yeah, what he said. I landed on my knees, my arms shooting out to absorb the impact, but I still managed to bang my face against the driveway. I hadn't even noticed at first, it happened so quickly, but my nose throbbed with a searing, sudden pain. Shit, I'd totally suffered another spastic episode in front of the one guy I was desperate to maintain some semblance of normalcy in front of.
Maybe gravity had ordered a hit on me or some shit. Professional tumblers would have had trouble achieving the wipe-out I had just managed.
I pressed my fingers gingerly to my nostril, feeling something wet and hot sluicing out of it.
"It's bleeding," I said in a defeated voice.
"Yeah, baby. Come into my car... I've got Kleenex."
Holy fucking crow; it was like déjà vu all over again!
"Why do you have Kleenex in your car... and, um, did you just call me baby?" My voice sounded strange - nasally, like I had a cold or something.
He opened the passenger door and held onto my right arm to keep me steady as I climbed into the car. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He chuckled, popping the glove compartment.
"Is there lube and lotion in there too?"
"Shut the fuck up, Swan." He pressed the Kleenex to my nose, pinching the bridge of it lightly. "You're making it very difficult for me not to ravage you when you use words like 'lube'."
I snorted, sending blood flying out of the tissue. "Shit... I'm disgusting."
"It's cute." He smiled, and my heart kind of melted. "I like it when you blow bloody boogers on me. It's sort of our thing."
"Oh my god, stop pawing at my nose!" I grabbed the Kleenex and pushed him out of my seat. "Just drive, okay?"
"But your nose-"
"I don't need any help bleeding over here. I've got lots of practice. Also, I refuse to indulge your nose bleeding fetish. Clearly, you're deranged."
"I'm trying very hard to be a Boy Scout though." He saluted me and closed the passenger door. I watched him move to the driver's side, watched him climb into the seat without breaking his nose. I gawked at his beautiful, long fingers as they grabbed the stick, and I held my breath while his strong leg released the clutch.
Watching . . . gawking . . . coveting. Whatever.
"Stop checking me out."
Thank fuck Charlie had left for work already and didn't witness Edward's Mario Andretti impression as he kicked the Volvo into third, seemingly skipping second, the car taking off like a bullet.
It was hot.
"I can't help it." I sighed. "You're sexy." I balled the Kleenex and dropped it into his jacket pocket. "That's for you, you sick fuck."
"I love it when you offer me your blood . . . I mean, when you bleed on me . . . oh, shit." He dropped the car down to second gear, veering toward the curb on the slick road, and I feared he was about to have some sort of breakdown.
"Hey, stop it!" I ordered, lowering my head to his shoulder. "You're not allowed to feel guilty about . . . that." I wanted to take his hand, to comfort him, but the last time we shifted gears together, things got a little over-heated, and I wasn't referring to a burnt-out clutch. His proximity to me was hard enough to deal with without throwing phallic objects into the mix. God help me if he pulled out a banana . . . "That wasn't your fault." Don't think about Edward and a banana. Don't think about Edward and a banana . . .
"So you keep saying . . . what are you thinking about?" He shot a glance at me, turning onto Division Street.
"Oh my fuck! You always ask me that at the worst possible time." I put my hand on his thigh, leaning further into his shoulder. "We can't make out," I said inexplicably.
"O-okay."
"It's not a good idea." My hands tightened on his thigh, and he responded by flexing his quad.
"You said that already. You know how I feel... but I don't want to push."
"Shut the fuck up!" I planted a tiny little kiss on his cheek and wow! It felt like I'd been hit by lightning. "Wait, how do you feel? I have no fucking clue!"
"Not saying a word." He sounded breathless.
"Well . . . maybe we could, I dunno, kiss a little. Will you tell me how you feel if I let you kiss me?"
We were only half a mile away from the school, but he jerked the wheel suddenly, wrenching the car over to the side of the road with a grinding halt. Before the parking brake was even deployed, his mouth was on mine. I gasped, biting his lower lip for a moment before I realized what was happening. Oh, fuck, he's kissing me, my mind cheered, and my body clumsily tried to keep up with it as we sought out each other's mouths. At first we were a little rough, all clashing tongues and teeth, and I moaned softly before I could stop myself, trying to pull Edward on top of me, harder, closer; he couldn't be close enough.
"Please!" I begged, unsure of what I was asking for. He pressed his mouth firmly against mine once more before pulling away, and I groaned petulantly in annoyance.
"Too fast," he whispered, rubbing my jaw softly and staring at me, his green eyes seemingly in awe of something he saw in my face.
What the fuck did he see? I was about to ask when his head dipped down to kiss me again. He was taking the lead, making me hold back just a little when I was desperate to devour him. And it was unnerving! He offered me reverent, sweet, sweet, so sweet little kisses, and I lost my hands in his messy hair, pulling him and pushing him like a bitch in heat.
I couldn't help myself.
I wanted more. All of him. Now.
Everything about his mouth and his hair was soft and sweet, but I wanted hard and firm, to grind myself against his rough edges.
But no. He only offered me softness.
"Give me more," I pleaded, and a little smile played upon his lips.
"Carefully," he warned me.
"Please . . . I want more." Because I was fucking Oliver Twist all of the sudden.
This kiss started slowly again, despite the almost desperate way he clung to my waist; he was very careful with me, caressing my lips with his languidly. To the casual observer, it probably looked like we were tongue-fucking, but we were actually sharing a seemingly unending string of small kisses.
"Let's skip school today and do this instead," I panted.
"Sounds good." His breath vibrated against my mouth as he spoke. "Although . . ." he trailed off and kissed the divot under my nose in a strangely erotic way.
"What?"
"You told me you have an essay due this morning." His breath was sweet torture in my ear, and I nearly screamed at the unnervingly hot sensation of his teeth nipping my earlobe. My head fell back and lolled to the side.
"Don't care."
"Okay," he agreed.
"Shit . . . yeah, I do care." I pushed him away from me, and he actually pouted. "Let's skip this afternoon. We could hang out at my house, if you want."
"Shit, Bella," he began while licking the hollow under my ear. "I want."
-({})-
My morning classes passed by in a blur of vaguely irritating noise while I replayed Edward's kiss in my daydreams, my stomach dropping like I was flying at zero-gravity as I recalled the heat of his mouth against my own.
Shit. I wanted more. So much more.
And I really wasn't in any position to take any more.
By the time the lunch bell rang, I was already out of my seat and running toward the parking lot.
"Bella!" A saccharine voice called after me. I turned around and saw a blur of blond hair and dark denim chasing me through the quad. Trying to evade her, I ducked between the Language Arts building and the gym, taking a roundabout route to Edward's car. I paused to rub a stitch in my side and wheeze like an asthmatic.
The movie Zombieland had it right: cardio training was essential when trying to outrun brainless maneaters.
"Wait up!"
"Fuck, no." I kept running.
"I have his underwear," the voice taunted.
I turned around and saw Lauren, pink-cheeked and out of breath, her aquamarine eyes half-crazed.
"Boxers?"
"Boxer briefs," she announced smugly. "Blue."
"Why are you telling me this?" He was mine! Well, no, not really . . . but he could be, maybe. I wouldn't let her jealousy ruin this for me.
"Just so you don't get the wrong idea, you should know what the deal is." She had the audacity to actually hand the briefs to me. "I'm not a bad person, Bella. I just wanted to tell you whatever sweet lines he's fed you to get in your panties, he's probably already used on half the student body here."
"I don't believe you!" I snapped, and she shook her head sadly.
"Look, as long as you don't take things too seriously, you won't get hurt." She smiled sweetly, waving at something behind me. I whipped my head around in time to see Edward approach us, his hands in his pockets and his face revealing nothing beyond a guarded expression.
"I missed you in class this morning," she said with a strange half-smile.
"What's going on?" He looked between Lauren and me while I desperately tried to ball up the offending drawers and hide them in my pocket.
"Nothing," I muttered.
"Have fun, kids," she sang.
"Bella?"
"Nothing!" I insisted, grabbing his hand in mine. "Let's just get out of here, okay?"
"Look," he said, pulling me into a hug. He lowered his lips to my ear and kissed me before speaking again. "Nothing's going on anymore between us."
"I know," I told him because I believed him.
"You don't have to feel inferior to her."
"How the fuck did you know-"
"I know you. You think I don't, but I do."
There were some things I didn't want him to know, though! For one, that I was an insecure freak who was jealous of bitches like Lauren.
"Trust me, okay?"
"Okay," I agreed, handing him back his underwear. "Are these yours?"
"Y-yeah..." he stuttered in horror. "But it's not what you think."
"When was the last time you fucked Lauren?"
"Two weeks ago," he said quickly.
"Okay." I wrapped my arms around his neck, standing up on my toes to kiss him. He met my lips in surprise. "Let's get out of here."
"You're not angry?" His voice squeaked at nearly an octave higher than it should have.
"That you fucked Lauren two weeks ago? Nah. Can we not talk about it?"
"Um, okay," he agreed, pulling me tighter to him. "What do you want to talk about instead?"
"Celebrations."
"Okay. What're we celebrating?"
"My birthday," I said, smiling. "I turned eighteen today."
"Holy, fuck, Bella! It's your birthday? Why didn't you say anything?"
I shrugged, trying to seem like it didn't really matter. "I don't usually celebrate. This year, though, there's something I really, really want."
"And what's that?" he asked, nuzzling that same goddamn spot beneath my ear that he seemed to like so much.
"I want to come," I told him.
"Come where?"
"On your face."
A/N - Thank you for your amazing reviews and Happy New Year! Big Love to all, and to all a good night.
I'm putting my phone beside my husband's head because I'm pissed off at him. Every time you review me, it will beep and wake him up.
Oh, and the next chapter will have a lemon . . . you know, if you're into that kind of thing.