Thanks to my girls for helping me: Maple, Lolo, Cappy. And to all of you reading and reviewing. I heart you hard.

Chapter 6

Finally, Date Day arrived. I was nervous as hell - sweaty palms, pits, diarrhea, and all. I planned our date for lunch on a Sunday afternoon because I didn't want it to seem too date-ish – if that's even a word. Okay, it was really because lunch menus are cheaper than dinner menus, but whatever.

Bella's dad drove us to and from the Italian restaurant in Port Angeles. I thought it was nice of him to offer since my parents were both busy. Little did I know he had ulterior motives – mainly to make me shit my pants. What's funny is that I'd known Bella for years and Charlie had never had an issue with me before. All of a sudden, he expected me to call him 'Chief' and gave me these disapproving looks, his forehead all wrinkled and mad looking. What the fuck?

Anyway, Chief had this old beat up Chevy truck, in which I assumed we'd drive to Port Angeles. Wrong. We took his patrol car after he said the truck was having mechanical issues. As soon as I was told I had to sit in the back of the squad car I smelled BS. His eyes were on me more than they were on the road, which probably explained why he was going so friggin' slow.

"Dad, do you think you can go a bit faster? You're going way under the speed limit."

"You can never can be too careful, can you, Edward?" His dark eyes zeroed in on me in the rearview mirror, demanding an answer. Why did I get the feeling he was referring to more than just driving? And why was he glaring at me?

"Can you, Edward?"

"Uh…right."

"Well, you can be too late for a reservation," Bella huffed.

"The only way I can go faster is if the lights and sirens are on."

Through the mirror we locked eyes. I cocked him an 'I dare you' eyebrow.

Never dare a cop.

The next thing I knew both were on; his mustache twitching. He probably drove for fifteen minutes like that before he turned off the sirens. He kept the lights on making it look like I was a criminal behind Plexiglas in the back seat. It's really hard to play it cool when you're mortified.

Finally, we arrived at the restaurant. Longest sixty minutes of my life. I should have chosen to eat in Forks instead.

My plan of being a gentleman and opening Bella's door for her didn't happen. Did you know that the back doors of a patrol car lock automatically and can only be opened from the outside? Well, now you know. I'm pretty sure I heard her dad snort a laugh as I somewhat frantically pawed at the doors. Thankfully, Bella offered to rescue me because Charlie certainly wasn't about to. I was starting to get the feeling he didn't like me very much.

Before Bella got to my door, Chief made his opinion of me known, loud and clear.

"There are a few things I love in life, Cullen. My baby girl, my .22, and target practice. Understood?"

Scarier than his words was the look he gave me. The one that said 'if you fuck with my daughter I'll cut your balls off, shove them up your asshole, rip off your nipples, dismember and burn your body, and make it all look like an accident.' That look was confirmation - Chief Swan hated my guts.

I couldn't get out of the car fast enough but I desperately needed some brownie points to win him over. Feeling Chief's eyes on me, I opened the door to the restaurant and put my hand on the small of Bella's back leading her inside. Very gentleman-like, right? Not according to Mr. To Serve & Protect. Apparently my hand was a little too low by his standards, as indicated by the loud honk of his horn and shake of his fist. I wanted to die of embarrassment.

Once inside the restaurant, the hostess saw us to a table away from Chief's menacing glare. I was so unnerved I almost forgot my manners.

"Oh, sorry; let me get your chair for you."

"Aww, thank you, Edward." Bella smiled at me as I pulled her chair out and she sat down. I probably shouldn't have grunted when I went to push her in. More importantly I should have kept my mouth shut.

"Wow! You're heavier than you look."

"Excuse me?"

"Uh, nothing. Never mind."

This was off to a bad start. At least it couldn't get worse. I'm an optimist.

The hostess snickered and shook her head.

"Your waitress is Jess; she'll be over in a few minutes."

Those few minutes were spent in silence. Awkward, I-have-no-idea-what-to-say, silence. I drummed my fingers on the table and Bella looked at me and smiled politely.

"Have—"

"Is—"

We both spoke at the same time. I apologized and told Bella to go ahead.

"I was going to ask if you'd been here before."

"No, but I've heard good things about it." Like their lunch menu was the cheapest in town. "Have you?"

The waitress dropped off menus and ice waters, telling us she'd be back in a bit to take our order. Bella took a sip of drink before answering my question.

"Yeah, Mike brought me here last summer."

I choked on my spit. "As in Newton?"

Bella didn't look up from her menu when she answered. "Uh huh."

"Huh."

Great. I bet he splurged for the dinner menu. And I sure as hell bet Chief Swan didn't drive them since Mike had his license. I wonder if he'd kissed her? Fuck, he'd kissed her, of course he had! Had he gone for second base? Third?

"Edward, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I'm just trying to figure out what to order. It all sounds so good."

Wanting to avoid Bella's eyes and hearing her call me out on my jealous bullshit, I pretended to study my menu. It took me a second to realize it was upside-down, making me look like an idiot. In my attempt to right it, in true Edward fashion, I knocked over my full glass of ice water, spilling it all over the table and onto my lap – of course it did - soaking my crotch.

"For fuck's sake!"

The ice cubes in my lap made me jump up, drawing attention to myself. I started mopping up as best I could, muttering more swear words under my breath. I heard someone chuckle and I rolled my eyes at them laughing at my expense. Real funny, asshole. When I heard it again I looked around, ready to shoot whomever it was my best 'fuck you' look.

Guesses on whom it was?

Oh, he thought he was being stealthy, ducking behind his menu, but I caught sight of those dark, evil eyes and freaky mustache. I promptly sat down, ignoring my wet groin and wished the floor would swallow me up.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, fine."

Besides the fact that your crazy-ass father was spying on us from across the restaurant - what the actual fuck?

"What do you keep looking at….Oh my God! Daddy! For a cop he's pretty bad at being undercover and blending in. I'm so sorry, I'll be right back."

Bella stood up and marched over to where her father was sitting. Although I couldn't hear what they were saying, I like to think she told him to eff off. Less than a minute later, Charlie was leaving the restaurant and Bella returned to the table, red-faced.

"Pretend that never happened, okay?"

"Gladly!"

We reverted back to silence, both of us studying our menus, which I thought was weird because we both knew she'd be having a salad and a diet coke. Maybe she couldn't decide between the Caesar and green salad?

"Hey, kids." The waitress placed a loaf of sour dough bread on the table between us. "Do you know what you want to eat?"

"I think we're ready. I'll have the penne pasta with shrimp and a Coke. She'll have a salad and a Diet Coke." I grinned and Bella smiled back at me.

"Yes, a Caesar salad to start would be great."

Jasper was right – she was pleased I'd ordered for her. Wait, did she say 'to start'?

"And I'll have the fettuccini alfredo as the main course. Thank you."

Shit, that was $12.95. Good thing she'd be picking up part of the tab otherwise I'd go broke paying for her share. As the waitress left the table, the awkward silence subsided and we managed to find enough to talk about to take us through lunch. Mostly school gossip and such, but it was something.

All in all, things went well. Sure, I managed to spill not only my water but my pasta too, but come on- I'm Edward Cullen! That's to be expected.

Later, as we waited for the check, Bella looked at me thoughtfully.

"Can I ask you something, Edward?"

"Of course."

"I was just wondering why you asked me out."

"You know, to thank you for your help with the laundry. Spunk socks, ya know?"

"Oh." Bella looked down at her hands folded in her lap. "I, uh, thought maybe it was because you liked me."

"Of course I like you, Bella. You're like a sister to me."

Just as Jasper had suggested, I planted the seed that I wasn't as interested as I really was. But as soon as the words were spoken I was left with a sour taste in my mouth. I wanted to take them back; tell her that I more than liked her but she replied in a quiet voice before I could recant my statement.

"I always did want a brother."

My heart sank. I don't know what I was expecting her to say. Maybe that she was madly in love with me and wanted nothing more than to change her Facebook status to say 'in a relationship' and tag my name in the post. But, fuck, 'I always wanted a brother' made it very clear that Bella thought of me as just that. God, I felt ill.

"Edward? You don't look well – you're awfully pale."

"Actually I don't feel well. I think I had some bad shrimp."

Or gotten bad advice, I wasn't sure which.

"Oh no! That's not good. Do you need to use the restroom?"

Was Bella asking if I needed to take a shit? I may have been inexperienced in dating but talking about bodily functions wasn't a good thing! I wanted to rewind the last few minutes, admit I had feelings for her and take any mention of diarrhea out of the conversation. Instead I made it worse.

"Don't worry. I'll feel better once I fart."

My God. What the fuck was wrong with me? I scrubbed my hands over my face.

"You know what, Bella? I actually don't have to fart."

"Oh. That's good."

"You make me nervous or something, I dunno know. Stupid shit just flies out of my mouth and I don't even know what the hell I'm saying until I've put it out there and totally embarrassed myself. What I'm trying to say is, I like you."

"Yes, we established that. In a little sister sort of way."

I shook my head. "No, I mean I like like you."

And see, that's where I should have stopped talking. But you know I didn't.

"I shouldn't have said I like you as a sister, because the way I feel about you I definitely don't feel towards Rosalie. And I certainly don't think of her when I'm in the shower. I know she's my step-sister and she's hot - please don't tell her I said that - but still, that's just wrong. Nasty."

Bella looked concerned and I couldn't blame her.

"Fuck, I'm doing it again. What I'm trying to say is that I like you - more in the dirty sort of way. I mean—"

"Edward, stop. I think I get it. Strangely enough, I like you, too. In the non-brotherly, dirty sort of way."

"No shit?"

Bella laughed. "No shit."

"Huh."

"When did you figure this out, that you liked me more than just a friend?" Bella bit her lip as she asked. Why the hell was that so sexy?

"This past summer. You were wearing that blue bikini and your boobs were…" I put my hands down from gesturing rudely and shook my head. "So, yeah, last summer. How about you?"

Bella shrugged. "I don't know, it just sort of happened."

Why hadn't I said that instead?

"So what happens now?" I had to ask because I was clueless.

"I guess we just see where this goes. We may want to keep it on the down low in front of my dad."

"Good call!" The man did own a gun.

As Bella and I smiled at each other from across the table the waitress brought the bill. Looking at the total I was glad Bella would be paying for her half because I certainly didn't have enough money on me to pay it all myself. I took out the cash I had then waited for Bella to pay. Odd that she made no attempt to reach for her purse even after I not so subtly pushed the check toward her.

"We should go, huh? My dad's probably waiting."

"Yeah, there's just the matter of the bill…"

Hint, hint.

Bella look clueless. Maybe her math wasn't good enough to calculate what she owed? How embarrassing for her.

"It looks like your portion is $25. Don't worry, I've got the tip covered."

Why was she looking at me like that? Didn't she trust my math skills?

"See, your salad was $5, pasta $13, soda $2.50, and dessert was $6.25. I rounded it down to $25.00 "

"Right, uh, sorry." Bella fumbled around for her purse and then came up empty-handed. "I only have a ten on me. Sorry, I thought this was a date and you'd be paying…"

Fuck! I was such an idiot. No wonder Bella had looked so confused. I cursed Jasper under my breath, vowing to get back at him.

"Jasper? What does he have to do with this?"

I scrubbed my hand over my face. "I've never really been on date before – with someone other than a relative – and I asked him for advice. I thought he was being sincere but he totally played me. I'm sure he's having a good laugh right about now."

"And his 'advice' was that the girl pays her half."

I nodded.

"What other words of wisdom did he have?"

"He told me to tell you I liked you as a little sister. That was me playing hard to get."

"Your brother's a moron."

"Yes, I'm figuring that out."

Note to self: don't ask him for kissing advice.

"Uh, Bella? What should I do about the bill?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll text my dad and ask him to spot us some—"

"Hell no! He already hates me!"

"Would you prefer to stay here and wash dishes?"

She had a point but, fuck me, asking Chief to help pay for the bill? He'd never let me live it down. In the end I realized I had no other choice. The entire drive back home he alternated between glaring at me and snickering.

When we got back to Forks Bella saved me from the back seat prison.

"Thanks for the ride and for, you know, helping with the bill."

"I've been instructed not to mention it so I won't."

"Thank you."

"Let's just say you owe me one."

Shit! I didn't like the sounds of that!

"Yes, sir. Thank you again."

Bella walked me to my front door while her dad kept a close eye on us. And by 'us' I mean me.

"Thank you for lunch, Edward. I had a nice time."

"I did, too. I'd like to do it again some time but I'll make sure I bring enough money."

Bella waved it off as not a big deal, which I was grateful for. Then we stared at each other for a bit, both of us unsure how to say goodbye. Even though I wanted to kiss her there was no way in hell I was going to with the Chief watching. I extended my hand for a polite handshake instead. That would earn me bonus points for sure.

Bella laughed.

"I know I said to take things slow, but not that slow." She went up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to my cheek. It was then that Chief laid on his horn, clearly not impressed. Bella blushed, shaking her head and promising to call me later.

I missed her as soon as she left and couldn't wait to talk to her again. But first things first, I needed to have a word with my brother. Fucking douche.

Later that evening I wrote another entry into my journal.

I guess I'd call my first date a success

And to Bella I did confess

That I like her more than a little

She's my favorite color of skittle!

One thing's for sure - Charlie hates my guts

Especially after he saw my hand on Bella's butt

If he knew what else I'd love to do

He'd kick my ass to Timbuktu.

I don't care – I touched her ass!

I was so excited I passed gas.

I don't know how I'll sleep tonight

But I'll dream of when Bella and I can reunite.

Oh and Jasper is a real jerk

Off his face I wiped his smirk.

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