A/N: Pics & videos will be on the blog shortly. Massy, this chapter is for you.
Gotta love it when your mom's idea works out.
Today was a one on one session with Bella and I was going to attempt the whole pizza non-date thing.
We worked hard, clearing out the remainder of the hallways on the first floor. We even made jokes about the stuff I had as we went. I was having a great time hearing Bella's laughter, so as I made a big scene of strutting around in one of the pairs of Aqua Shorts and a pair of Miracle Socks. Bella cracked up at seeing me like that, so for good measure I added in one of the Men's Body Shapers and a pair of HD Vision Ultra Sunglasses too.
I was having more fun than I had in a while, and so I even started doing the "jump on it" dance that Will Smith did in Fresh Prince of Bel Air when Emmett's ringtone started playing, which no doubt looked all the more hilarious with my Miracle Sock adorned walking cast. I swear I saw tears rolling down Bella's face at that point. When I finally answered the phone, Emmett let me know that Mom ordered the pizza and it was scheduled to arrive a few minutes before my session with Bella ended.
I walked back over to Bella after talking with Emmett, and I guess she didn't hear me when I walked up to her because when I said her name she jumped a bit and slipped. Out of pure instinct, my arms wrapped around her, holding her up and keeping her from falling, and it was as if time stood still.
Her hands gripped my arms as I held her to me. We stood there for a moment, just staring at each other. I felt her breathing hitch and watched as her eyes darted momentarily to my lips. My heart was pounding hard against my chest, and I was finally shaken out of my Bella induced haze when she said "Thanks Edward," her voice a breathy whisper. Bella then cleared her throat and blushed as she said "Um, Edward…I think you can let go now…" It was then I realized where my hands were…firmly planted on her ass.
"Oh God…Bella…I'm sorry. I didn't mean…" I trailed off. "It's fine Edward really. It's nice to see a sweet, strong man help out a lady in distress. Makes me think chivalry isn't dead yet," she replied, cutting off my rambling.
We stepped away from each other and focused once more on sorting through all of my things. As I worked, I tries to will my raging hard on away, all the while praying Bella hadn't noticed the wood I was sporting when she was up against me. Just as Mom had promised, a few minutes before we wrapped up for the day, my pizza arrived.
"So um, would you like to uh…to uh maybe stay for dinner Bella?" I asked, my nerves increasing by the second.
"Oh, I…I couldn't impose like that Edward," she replied.
"Impose? It's just a pizza Bella, and more food than just I could eat. I'd like for you to stay…if you want that is."
"Oh…well…sure. Pizza is one of my favorites," she replied, a smile on her face.
We made our way into the kitchen, grabbed some plates, napkins and some drinks from the fridge before sitting down at the breakfast bar and opening up the pizza box. I laughed as Bella squealed happily.
"Mmm, pepperoni….a man after my own heart," she mumbled as she bit into a slice, all the while I couldn't help but think just how true that statement of hers was.
"Well, I don't care what people say about pepperoni being a topping for kids, it's really the only way to eat a pizza," I answered.
She smiled and agreed, and as I picked up a slice of pizza for myself, I couldn't fight my own smile as we launched into easy conversation, getting to know more about each other…even when it came to me talking about my childhood, I found her to be easy to open up to. We drifted into less sad topics as we talked about our respective college experiences.
Before we knew it, the pizza was gone and it was almost 9:00 at night. Bella helped me clean up the mess we made, and gave me a hug before leaving, holding on to me a little longer than usual, as she thanked me for a fun evening.
Heading up to my room for the night, I couldn't help but feel as giddy as a teenage boy who just saw boobs for the first time, and went to bed with a smile on my face, and a new determination to figure out how to make Bella mine.