Chapter 25: Talk
B POV
I wake up to the incessant chirping of my phone. I reach out for it, my head still tucked under the sheets and my pillow, and feel around my nightstand until my fingers come in contact with it and pull it under my fort-like barrier.
I have three missed calls and two text messages, all of them are from Edward, I smile in response to just seeing his name.
Wake up sleepyhead! I'm coming to pick you up for our first day of Winter Break!
I'm almost there! You better answer the phone!
I dial his number and put the ear to my phone. It rings twice before he answers.
"Hey you!" He greets. "I was wondering if you slept more soundly than the dead."
"Hmm, only when I'm dreaming good dreams." I smile.
"What kind of good dreams?"
"Ones with you of course."
"Oh well in that case go back to sleep."
"No I'm awake now. I'd rather be with the real you then the dream you."
"Well I can make that a reality if you let me in the house."
"Are you here?" I ask a little surprised.
"Yeah, just pulled up." His door slams in the background of the conversation and echoes up to me from outside my window.
"Oh," I pull my head up and the chilly air nips my nose. "It's too cold, the key is under the mat if the door is locked. Let yourself in."
"Are you sure?" He whispers. "Is Charlie home?"
"No." I shake my head. "He leaves for work way early."
"Okay." He laughs. "Be up in a second." With that he hangs up and I let my phone fall into the bundle of sheets wrapped around me. I grab a piece of gum from my nightstand and then nestle down deeper into them as well not wanting to face the chilly air.
I hear the latch on the door open and then close. I don't hear his footsteps, he must have taken his shoes off. I wait with baited breath for when I'm going to feel his presence. Nothing happens, so I pull the covers back a little and peek out. He's squatting by the side of the bed, just smiling. I giggle and reach out to him.
He takes my hand and I pull him onto the bed with me. He laughs and hugs me through the blankets.
"Hmmm," he hums as he nestles down more and gets comfortable.
"What time is it?" I ask.
"Just past seven." He answers.
"What the hell?" I shout. "Why are you here? How are you awake?"
"I couldn't wait to see you." He responds. "And Alice told me about the talk you two had yesterday."
I groan. That had not gone well. She had ignored me Thursday, and Friday her and Rose ambushed me after school. They demanded to know what the hell was wrong with me. Why I had stomped out of the dance. Why I had broken up with Edward and why when I realized I was wrong did I not try to fix things.
I had sat there and answered all their questions for nearly two hours until they were finally appeased. Alice was absolutely pissed that I had hurt Edward. But I made it up to her by agreeing to let her do my hair and make-up for the Winter Formal.
"I heard she really lit into you." He chuckles.
"That's putting it mildly." I scoff. "I thought she was going to burst into the hulk and take me out." I swallow audibly.
"Her bark is worse then her bite." Edward answers mildly. "When she goes silent and starts cleaning is when you know you should be worried."
"Good to know." I yawn.
"Do you want to sleep some more?" He asks quietly as he kisses my forehead.
"Uh-uh." I shake my head forcibly.
"Do you want to have breakfast?"
"Uh-uh." I decline again.
"Take a shower?" He guesses.
"Nope."
"What doyou want to do then?" He asks.
I pull away slightly and twist my upper body to reach for the remote control on my nightstand. I press play and then drop the remote on the table again and turn back to Edward. The CD he made me starts and the smile on his face brightens.
I swallow my gum now that it's done its job of ridding me of morning breath. I push against the constricting sheets around me until Edward moves enough to let me emerge from the warm cocoon. I pull the edge of the blanket over Edward and snuggle right up to his side, shivering in response to the bite of winter that is left on his clothing.
"You looked cold." I shrug at the knowing smirk on his face.
"Oh and here I was thinking you were just trying to seduce me." He rolls his eyes. I look at him a look of mock surprise on my face.
"Me? Isabella Swan? Seducing you?" I poke his chest then let my finger draw light circles.
"Mmhmm," His lips nod his yes against my earlobe.
"Now who's seducing who?" I jest. He nips at my ear and I turn to meet his lips with mine. His hands roam across the skin of my arm, causing me to shiver again.
"Your hands are cold." I observe.
"Cold hands warm heart." He shrugs and presses them against the exposed skin of my hip. His fingers play with the waistband of my sweatpants, we're just staring at each other, me daring him to make the decision he so obviously is warring with in his mind. He seems to decide because he runs his hand over my pants, down my thigh to my knee. He hitches it up and rolls so that I'm straddling him.
His decision has been made to give me the reins and I freely take it. I slowly drag my lips down the column of his throat to his collar bone. I lay kisses across aross his chest, my hands dragging down his body, gripping small handfuls of fabric and yanking them up. He arches his back so that the fabric wriggles free to his shoulders, then he lifts his upper body so that his shirt can be discarded to the side of the bed.
The feel of his skin drives me crazy and the feel of his hands on my waist, lightly scratching the overheated skin is enough to make me moan. I pull back and a small whimper escapes his throat, until he notices that the only thing I'm wearing are my sweatpants and a smile. How do I always manage to take him by surprise like that? I chalk it up to guys being a tad bit obtuse and more involved when physicality gets involved in relationships.
He sits up and attacks my mouth, his right hand is at my chest in a flash, and the still cold but quickly warming palm harbors a very 'perked' reaction from my body.
"Mmmm" he moans at the touch of my skin. "Isa-bella." He says between breaths. I realize, I've never been fond of the name Isabella, but coming from him, in that tone, it is the most beautiful thing I've heard. I'm so caught up in feeling that I don't hear what he says immediately.
"Bella." he says through kisses and caresses. "Did you hear me?"
"No," I huff.
He chuckles and moves his hand away from me. "We have to go."
"What?" I ask pulling away slightly. "Why?"
"Because I told Alice we would meet everyone."
"Why would you tell them that?" I stupidly answer. His phone rings. He digs it out of his pocket and answers it.
"Yeah Alice." His voice is smooth, not reflecting the moment of passion he currently is in. "Give us fifteen."
Her response is short. "Hurry the hell up, you can do that later." She knows what we're up to. Why am I not surprised? I put my palm out, a silent request. He half grins at me then lays it in my hand.
"I'm taking advantage of my boyfriend." I whine into the phone. "Do we have to meet now?"
"Yes," Alice answers short but clear. "We're all here waiting for you."
"UHHH! FINE!" I spit, "If this is not worth it, I'm coming afer you." Edward cracks up and lays back.
I hang the phone up and pull the blanket around me and climb off Edward. "Where are you going?" He asks.
"To the bathroom," I respond over my shoulder. "Care to join me?"
"If I did we'd never get out of here." He grins. "I'll wait here." He pulls his hands up and cinches them behind his head, his biceps and arms defined by the stretch. With one last longing look I grab my change of clothes and head to the bathroom. Damn Alice, I will get even.
E POV
Bella is driving me crazy! Now that she's over this whole embarassment about her body in front of me thing, she's found a whole new game to play. 'Let's see how hard we can get Edward before we are interrupted'. To be fair she was just as frustrated as I was at this morning's interruption.
Alice and her delusional need to maintain traditions. The first day of every Winter Break we all get up early, head to our favorite sledding hill and go sledding and tubing for hours.
"Dress warm," I instruct Bella as she goes to turn the handle. "We'll be in the snow." I arch my eyebrows at her.
She gives me a pitiful look then turns back to the door and leaves. I lay there for a minute, listening to the CD I made for her and daydreaming about the feel of her body on mine. I had been tempted to depant her, but decided that might have been too far for this morning. So I settled with her taking over, which rewarded me just as well. We were going to have to have a chat soon about how fast we wanted to go.
I roll to the side of the bed, swing my legs over and grab my shirt off the floor. I dress and walk out her room to make her a quick breakfast. I settle on an English muffin with butter and some homemade jam that was in the fridge.
"Edward?" She shouts from the top of the stairs.
"Down here." I return as I lay the English muffin on a paper towel and grab a pouch of Capri-Sun from the fridge. She comes around the corner and stops, a small smile forming on her lips.
"Aww, thank you." She whispers as she takes the breakfast in exchange for a small kiss.
"You're welcome." I answer, "But we have to eat it on the go." She nods and we head to the door.
We wrestle our boots on. She opens the hallway closet and pulls out her purple and brown winter jacket, which looks new, and pulls it around her. She reaches up to grab a pair of gloves and a hat as well. I'm dressed at this point and grab her hat from her. Once she gets her jacket zipped and on I slide the black stocking cap onto her head and down over her eyes, then fold the edges up so that she can see again.
We drive to the meeting place. Emmett's Dodge is waiting, the exhaust signaling that the car is waiting for us. We exit my car and head over to his. Alice is sitting on Jasper's lap in the front seat, Rose in back. Bella and I climb in and buckle up.
"Morning!" Alice squeaks from the front seat.
"Yeah yeah," Bella whines. "Let's get this over with." I wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull her into my side, leaving a kiss on her cap covered head.
"Oh come on now!" Emmett laughs. "It's a lot of fun! Even I'm not butt hurt about waking up this early!" He shoves the truck in 4-wheel and heads up the old trail.
"Yeah Bella!" Rose nods enthusiastically. "Emmett's right. It's so much fun! There's this old dried up well that we fill with tinder and firewood and a little bit of gasoline. We put a fire in it and then sled for hours without getting cold!"
Bella brightens a little at that. I give Rose a grateful look. We get to a certain point before Emmett parks the truck and we all climb out to hoof it the last fifty yards. We all grab the few sleds we brought.
We have a couple discs, an innertube, a long flat one that has slight edges and a back on it, and a couple that almost look like body boards and are made of a tough foam-like material. Emmet grabs a few pieces of fire wood and the gas can out of the back of his truck.
When we get to the spot that Carlisle and Esme had shown us when we were little we immediately start setting up. Jasper and I search for some spare tinder and drop it in the bottom of the well. Emmett drops a couple pieces of wood in the bottom with a light thud and then pours just a cup of gas in. I light the match and drop it in. The light at the bottom can be seen and the heat starts to emanate a little.
Emmett grabs one of the boogie boards and runs full force for the decline.
"Race ya down Edward!" He laughs as he launches himself.
"NOT FAIR!" I yell back at him. "YOU GOT A HEAD START!" I grab the other board and sprint towards the hill. He of course beats me down, stands and begins brushing the snow off. I plow into his legs, knocking him off his feet and sending him flying through the air.
"AHH-mmmph!" His delayed reaction to "Emmett Bowling" is heard right before he face plants into the snow. "What the hell!" He cries spitting around a mouthful of snow. "You're a dead man!" He scrambles to his feet and I'm off in a dash, back up the hill. He lumbers after me. By the time I've reached the top, sled in hand, and wrapped back up in Bella's arms he's halfway up and slipping back down.
"Aww baby!" Rose coos. "Did Eddie make you mad?"
He stops and gives her a pointed glare. "Screw Edward, I'm coming for you." Rose makes a flying jump onto the inner tube that she had positioned on a level spot right before the drop off and her momentum carries her down the hill, giggling in delight all the way down.
We spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon circuiting the hill until the brown of the dirt was beginning to streak down the hill. Bella, Alice and Rose had all somehow managed to cram on the one long slide and on the way down hit a slick part, tumbled and all ended in a heap at the bottom of the hill, laughing too hard to move. Us men folk all looked at each other, winked and pretended to Baywatch down to them and proceeded to give mouth to mouth to our leading ladies.
Before long we were all soaked to the bone, tired and hungry so we extinguished the fire in the well, plodded back to the truck and headed back to our house to have lunch and warm up.
"Well," Bella bends as she throws away her paper plate, I can't help but gawk for a second. "That was a great lunch Esme."
Esme straightens in her chair. "I'll give you the recipe to my Grandmother's Macaroni and Cheese then." She laughs.
"I'm stuffed mom." Emmett growls as he bends backwards trying to release some tension on his stomach.
"Well of course you are." Jazz teases. "You ate three plates of it."
"Mom hardly evermakes her homemade mac n' crack. It's addictive!" Emmett whines.
I stand to take my plate to the trash and skim my hand along Bella's back as I pass her on the way. She smiles at me and winks.
"Did you call Charlie?" I ask as I toss the plate in the garbage.
"No," She sighs. "He's probably busy with fender benders because of the snow. You should probably take me home soon."
"Okay," I nod. "We can head out now."
"Awww," Alice, Rose and Mom all croon at the same time. "Do you have to go so soon?" Esme asks.
"Yeah," she nods. "It's almost four. Charlie will be home soon and I don't want him to worry."
"Okay," They relent. "Tell him thanks for letting us borrow you for the day," Alice chimes.
"I will." She nods as we head to the mud room to grab our coats and boots. They are less cold because Esme put them close to the heater, but still wet.
We climb in the car and the thought that I had this morning crosses my mind.
"Bella," I say as I start the engine.
"Yeah?" She answers, a shiver running through her as the air from the vents hits her.
"We need to talk about something." She freezes. Crap, wrong words. "Nothing bad!" I reassure. She relaxes a little.
"Okaaay," She lets me know she's paying attention.
"Umm," How do I start? "You know this morning, how, er, eager we got to, uh, be together." I don't know why I was struggling through this.
"Yes," She gives me a knowing smirk.
"Well," I huff. "I know that everything got so screwed up and that you are more comfortable with me now then you ever were before. But, hm, I just wanted to let you know that we don't have to do anything too fast. I don't want you to feel...pressured that just because we're a couple again and now that our feelings are out there and that you know how attractive you are to me that we should...go that far."
"Edward Cullen," She teases. "Are you saying you don't mind waiting to sleep with me?"
"Uh yeah," I grimace. "Something like that."
"Well," Her lip disappears behind her teeth. "I appreciate that. But, you are much too sweet and honorable for your own good. I'm not saying that we should jump each other right now, but I definitely am not going to string you along or anything."
Oh thank the good baby Jesus. I exhale in relief.
"Relieved much?" She teases my reaction. I chuckle and pull her across the truck's bench seat to cuddle up to me more. She sighs at the contact and cranes her neck up to my ear, her hand resting on my inner thigh. My eyes roll to the back of my head at the sensation of her teeth on my earlobe. The truck swerves slightly, catching on some ice.
"Bella," I pull my head away from her lips minutely. "Not that I love what you're doing, but I think there would be a better time and place. Like when I'm not behind the wheel in slick and dangerous conditions." I point out.
"True," She pulls back a little and now I wish I hadn't said anything. We pull up in front of her house. I walk her to her door, she gets the door unlocked and turns back to me. Her hands wrap around my waist, my arms around hers.
"I would invite you in," She coos. "But Charlie will be home and I think it's best if we didn't have a repeat of the other night."
"I couldn't agree more." I groan as I remember the awkward interruption that Charlie, Jacob and Billy walked in on. "I'll call you later 'kay?" I ask.
"Mmhmm." She nods. I lean in and kiss her softly, her plans are different. Her tongue sweeps across my lower lip and I grant access to her. The kiss begins to heat up when the 'BOOP-BOOP' of a siren is heard behind us. Bella jumps a bit and pulls away.
"EDWARD CULLEN," Charlie's voice calls over a loud comm system. "TAKE YOUR HANDS FROM AROUND MY DAUGHTER AND STEP AWAY FROM THE FRONT DOOR."
I disentangle myself and turn around to face him. Bella's arms cling to me and her head peaks around and rests on my shoulder. "Don't worry." She whispers. "He's just kidding." She sticks her tongue out at him and he turns the ignition off and steps out.
"Hey kids." He smiles. "What are you up to besides tonsil hockey?" He asks as he approaches the front door. Bella rolls her eyes.
"We just got back from sledding all afternoon with Emmett, Rose, Jasper and Alice." She answers snidely. "I tried to call you and tell you but you didn't answer."
"Yeah, sorry about that." He huffs. "We had some major traffic issues today. It never ceases to amaze me how even though it comes every year, people never understand that you have to slow down in the snow."
"Well, I better get going." I announce
"Okay," Bella looks at her dad pointedly.
"Is that my cue to leave?" Charlie asks. Bella shakes her head emphatically. "See ya later Cullen." Charlie waves at me as he edges past us and into the house.
I look back into the molten chocolate eyes staring up at me. "Well," She breathes. "I'll see you later." She gives me a peck on the lips and goes to turn away, I don't release her wrist and pull her back to me.
"I love you Isabella Swan." I whisper as I lay one more soft kiss on her lips.
"I love you too." She whispers. I brush her hair back a little and kiss her forehead.
"I'll call you later." I promise as I take a step off the porch. She backs into the house and slowly closes the door as I head to my car, drunk on Bella.
B POV
I walk in the door, take a deep breath and smile. I'm so happy I could burst. I've never been happier. I peel the extra layers of clothing off that protected me against the cold during the day and hang them to dry on the hooks next to the door.
When I walk into the kitchen Charlie is grabbing a beer out of the fridge. Uh-oh, it's the good stuff. He's either had a really hard day, or he's going to be having a really hard night.
He looks at me, gives me a guilty look and pops the lid off with the bottle opener.
"Have a seat Bells." He motions to the kitchen. "We need to have a chat." Oh crap, this cannot be good.
"Okaaay," I look around like a magic door will appear for me to escape out of. He sits down with a slight groan, takes a gulp of beer, sets it down and looks me right in the eye.
"Are you having sex?" He asks bluntly. The look of horror that comes across my face must not deter him enough to keep going. "Let's be adults about this Bells. You're almost eighteen. Edward Cullen is a handsome enough kid. He is also nice and respectful, but let's face it, he's still a teenage boy, I was a strapping young man at one time, and I remember when your mother and I would-."
"Dad!" I shout to stop him. "Oh my GOD!" My whole face flushes red and I shove my head into my hands, it's one thing to talk about sex with your kid, it's another to share details.
He swigs another gulp and sets it down again. "I'm just saying." He puts his hands up. "That if you are, it's none of my business, but I want to make sure that if you are that you know you can trust me enough to talk about it. After the awkward night Wednesday I had a feeling and then just now on the porch, well, let's just say I've seen enough to feel concerned."
"Dad," I try to stop him. He puts his hand up for a second, takes a swig of beer and braces himself for a confession. "You're right." I answer. "It's none of your business, but I understand that you're being a concerned parent. I...do...feel I can come to you if I have any...concerns. But until then, know that mom had this conversation with me last year and that I know about precaution and safety and all that."
He nods his head, pounds back the rest of the beer and smiles. "Okay baby girl." That seems to be all he can say, grabs another beer and walks out to the couch to drown his thoughts in the game.
I track my phone down and send a new message.
My dad just tried to have 'the talk' with me.
I send it to Edward. A couple minutes later I get a response.
Oh, fun. My dad did that with me before Halloween. He decided to bring out the medical visual aids and proceeded to also show me the side effects of pregnancy on the female anatomy.
OK, but did he try to relate to you his experiences as a young man and how he used to 'date' your mother?
No, but he did show me how to properly apply a condom on a banana.
You win. I surrender. I guess Charlie'swasrelatively pain free.