(The dances are real, search this on youtube: Volta between Elizabeth I & Robert Dudley - The Virgin Queen [BBC 2005] (it was my fav))

After school Edward is standing at his car but he's not alone. That girl, Tanya I think it was, is there with him. They appear to be arguing about something. I hear him tell her to mind her own damn business. She looks like she might cry.

I know the feeling.

He sees me approaching, I can tell by the shift of his body, the way his shoulders relax and the way he smiles.

Take that Ms. Perfect!

By the time I make it to his car, she's already gone but I look around for her just in case. The last thing I need is some jealous girlfriend trying to run me over.

"I thought you might stand me up." He crosses his arms and leans against his car.

I would never admit that the thought crossed my mind. "Nah, I think I owe you one."

"One?" He chuckles as he opens his door.

"Okay, okay, a lot more than one," I admit with a groan as we leave.

Soon enough we pull up to a large building.

The sign on the front reads 'Alice's School of Dance.'

Edward seems to be overly excited to be here, whereas I just want to disappear into the floorboards.

"You made it!" Some woman hugs Edward's neck as soon as we walk through the front door.

He hugs her back, "I told you we'd be here, didn't I?"

"Don't give me that, you haven't been back in this building in years." She turns to me and sticks out her hand. "What's your name again?"

Edward steps forward. "Alice, this is Bella. Bella this is my aunt, Alice. She owns this place."

Hearing the word 'aunt' sends a wave of relief over me. We shake hands and then she puts her arm around me and leads me up the stairs.

"So, Edward was telling me about your play and I know a few Renaissance dances from that era if you want me to show you? This is so exciting! I'm normally teaching hip-hop or ballet, never The Volta or The Galliard!"

We enter a huge open studio lined with mirrors on one wall. "Come over here Jasper!"

She introduces Jasper as her husband, then he and Edward exchange a fist bump and an odd look passes between them.

"You two take a seat over there and Jasper and I will give you a demonstration. These dances are not that complicated."

As Alice fiddles with the large stereo on the other side of the room, Edward and I sit down in two of the chairs that are lined up in the back of the studio.

Edward leans over toward me, speaking low into my ear. "You should be proud of me. I researched this stuff last night. I know all about Queen Elizabeth and her dances."

I look over at him. His smile is so big, it lights up the room. His pride is showing for all to see. I feel a ripple of a swoon in my heart. "I am proud of you."

Even if he never looked up a single thing about the Elizabethan era, I am already proud of him. Maybe I should tell him so more often.

"Okay you two, this is The Galliard," she shouts as she and Jasper take their place in the center of the room.

An instrumental song starts to play and they begin to move around the floor. The moves are solid yet soft. Alice and Jasper eyes are locked on the other, it feels like we're invading an intimate moment, but I can't look away.

"I found out that your Queen loved to dance, she did it every morning as a form of exercise. And Robert Dudley was quite skilled himself—he even had a dance named after him." Edward says out of nowhere.

I look over at him in shock and hold back my laugh. "I already said I was proud of you. You don't have to try to keep earning brownie points."

He shrugs and leans away from me a bit, so I turn back around to watch the performance.

Then I feel his shoulder against mine again as he leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. "Maybe it's not brownie points I want."

I try my best to not react, to not feel the nerve endings in my skin coming alive and pulsing; to pretend that I'm not affected by what he's implying.

It's not very easy.

Instead, I focus on the dance moves and the soft music. I refuse to acknowledge what it could be that Edward Cullen wants from me. To be honest, I might not even have it to give.

After a few turns on the floor, Alice motions for us to join her.

She takes Edward's hand and links it with mine, then goes over to reset the music. I feel small in this room, his hand in mine, emptiness all around us. I feel like I am not me. I don't dance. I especially don't dance with Edward Cullen.

Not me.

Yet here I am.

Alice begins to direct us as the music starts. She circles us, her hands on me, her hands on him. "Do this." "Don't do that." "Loosen up, Bella." "Edward, straighten your back!" "Faster." "Slower." "Left!" "Your other left!"

We spend hours, twirling and jumping. His hands fit so snugly around my waist. I get this illusion that he really wants to hold on to me, and when he lifts me up above his head, I fly.

As the night wears on, we get better. The steps start to come to me without even thinking about them. Edward and I laugh, sometimes so hard my stomach hurts. He makes fun of himself and it aggravates Alice, but she's a good sport.

My feet have blisters and my legs are cramping. Edward is doubled over, his shirt damp around the collar with sweat.

Alice finally turns off the music, "Practice one more day, and I promise, you both will have this perfected."

Edwards looks at me up from his squat in the floor. "Fuck me I'm tired but what do you say, tomorrow?"

I'm too exhausted to talk, so instead I just nod my head and agree.

He drives me back to school to get my car.

When I close my eyes I feel like I'm still dancing. It almost makes me dizzy.

He stops by my car. "Are you all right to drive home?"

"Oh...yeah. I'm just drained of energy." I open the door but hesitate to get out. Instead, I turn in my seat. "Thank you for today. I never dreamed in a million years that I could dance and now that I have, I really liked it. So, thanks."

I watch as he nods and then takes a deep breath. "You're welcome, Bella. I enjoyed dancing with you too. I can't wait to do it again."

/ / /

The next day, I text Edward and tell him that I will meet him at the studio. I have to go in to the stage area and approve some of the set designs that have been changed.

I can't believe how excited I am to do this again. All day long I've been eating ibuprofen like candy and I have a whole box of band-aids covering the blisters on my feet, but I want to dance again.

Edward is sitting behind the desk in the foyer of the studio when I get there. He gets up to lock the door behind me. "Alice had some kind of meeting come up tonight, so it's just me and you. Let's go upstairs."

Edward is a few steps ahead of me when he suddenly stops. "Crap, I forgot my cell on the desk right there. Will you get it for me?"

With his long legs he can clear two steps at a time.

"Sure."

I turn to go back and pick up his phone. When I do, the screen is lit up and Tanya's face is showing in the text box. I stand there frozen for what feels like hours but amounts to seconds.

The screen goes black and reminds me to get moving. I'm being stupid.

I jog up the stairs, chanting to myself to let it go. Don't bother asking Edward, who Tanya is, it is none of my business.

I don't need to know. Doesn't matter to me. None of my bees wax.

As soon as I hand it to him, he unlocks the screen and rolls his eyes. "She needs to shut up."

My foot is tapping, my knee is bouncing, I can't do it. I can't not ask.

"Is that the girl who was at your house the day I dropped off your CD's?" I lift my arms and pretend to be stretching.

"Who, Tanya?" He looks down at his phone again and I feel really dumb for bringing it up.

"I think so?"

"Um... yeah. You're right. It was her. She's getting on my last nerve." He tosses his phone down on the chair.

"Girlfriend troubles, huh?" I say before thinking. Instantly, a million times I want to take it back because I'm pretty sure I don't want to know.

"Tanya?" he snarls and shakes his head. "No, definitely not. She's my cousin. Her mother, my mother, and Alice are all sisters. But Tanya is also one of my tutors. She's going to school to be a teacher and mom thought it would be a good idea for her to practice on me. Now all she does is think she can boss me around. She's suddenly so wise to the world and wants to tell me on how to live. Fuck that, I already have parents. I hear it enough from them."

A long sigh of relief escapes my chest. Hmm, a cousin. Lovely words to hear.

I love cousins.

Edward starts the music and we take our places. We start our four count and move slow with the music.

I swear that he pulls me in closer to him than he did yesterday. His eyes also seem darker today and somehow, deeper.

Just when I dismiss his seriousness for the love of learning to dance, he spins me to him, face to face. So close that every part of my front is flush to every part of his front. "Tell me what you see in him—tell me why you love him?"

I don't know why I answer what I do, but it was the only word that came to mind. "Who?"

Edward stops dancing, his hands tight on my waist. "Don't play games Bella; I'm talking about Peter. Explain it to me."

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky."

~Rabindranath Tagore

A/N: Rose and Missy are the bees knees, this fic would make you barf if you had to read it before they got a hold of it!