"A doctor, Bella? Are you fucking kidding me?"
I scowl at my best friend over our iced teas, even though she probably can't see it through my sunglasses.
"And what exactly do you see me doing with my life, Alice?"
"Following me to New York and being my ultimate-bestie-slash-PA."
The 'duh' she left off the end of the sentence is more than made up for by her tone.
I push my glasses up into my hair so she can fully experience the disgusted expression on my face.
"Alright," she sighs, "but you do realize that all the best medical schools are in cold, generally horrible places where people wear sweatpants to class, don't you?"
"Alice, people wear sweatpants outdoors. It's something you're going to have to get used to at some point."
"I will do no such thing!"
"You are an idiot."
"I swear to god, Bella, if I ever catch you in like, hiking boots or cargo pants or some shit, our friendship will be over. And don't think that just because I'll be somewhere fabulous like New York or Paris that I won't know, because I will."
"It's the East Coast, not central Africa, Alice."
"They wear flannel there," she hisses the word like she doesn't want anyone around us to know she even spoke it. "Flannel. And not just as pajamas!"
"Thanks for the support, best friend. Truly, it means the world to me."
"Pssh," she dismisses me with a wave of her hand. "I'm fully aware that you're brilliant, and you'll be the hottest doctor since Addison Montgomery-Shepard. I , as your best friend, am just concerned about the impact that being in such a desolate, horrid place in the world will have on you. And rightly so."
"Alice, most of the places I'd be thinking about going to, in five years I might add, are within hours of your beloved New York."
She glares at me for a long moment, only to be interrupted by a waiter setting down our lunches before us.
"Alright," she says begrudgingly, "but if you get a new best friend who dresses like a lumberjack or has ironic piercings, I will come down there and beat the shit out of them. You have been warned."
"Alice."
"You have been warned," she repeats, before she picks up her fork and the conversation is forgotten.
"So," she says after swallowing a mouthful of her salad, "you and Edward fucking yet?"
I promptly choke on my own lunch.
"Alice!"
"What?"
The innocent look on her face baffles me.
"This is so not polite lunch conversation!"
"Oh, whatever," she says, chewing on another mouthful. "Yes or no?"
I spend the next minute fastidiously focused on my meal, partially because I'm embarrassed, and partially because I'm enjoying her mounting rage as her curiosity goes unsatisfied.
"... No, we're not."
"What?"
I shake my head, confirming my words as my eyes slide back down to my meal.
"You're not even playing 'just the tip'?"
My eyes snap back to my best friend.
"Alice, oh my god! Conversation closed!"
"You've seen him naked though, right?"
I don't respond, too appalled by the turn this conversation has taken to frame any words.
"Right?" she repeats, sounding more and more panicked by the minute.
"Yes! Yes, I have seen him naked and it is glorious! But we're not fucking, we're not 'just the tipping', we're resting, quite happily I might add, on third base! So shut your fucking trap."
Our waiter backing away catches my attention, and I slap my hands over my face, completely mortified as Alice guffaws with laughter.
"That was priceless!"
"I actually hate you," I mutter, my words muffled by my hands, which I refuse to remove until the waiter is gone... or preferably until I've left the restaurant altogether.
She finally falls silent, so I slowly pull my hands back from my face. As soon as my eyes meet hers, she's laughing again, her tiny fist smacking against the table and rattling our cups as tears stream down her face.
I reach for my purse and move to stand.
"Bella," she wheezes, "don't go. I'm just being an asshole."
She breathes in and out three times, moving her hands up and down in front of her chest, to calm herself.
I drop my bag back to the floor, still glaring at her.
"I'm sorry babe, but you have to see how hilarious that was."
I really do, but I'm too embarrassed to care.
"Can we move on now?"
"Sure," she says with an easy shrug, "now that you've painted me quite the picture, my curiosity is sated."
She picks up her fork and focuses back on her lunch, but I can see her shoulders shaking with held in laughter.
"Just get it out of your system," I sigh, only to be deafened by her laughter before I can even finish my sentence. I sigh again, roll my eyes, and try to get back to my meal, all the while wishing that I didn't have such an asshole of a best friend, and at the same time, wondering what I'll do without her when we go our separate ways for college.
"You actually said that, in the middle of a crowded restaurant?"
"It wasn't that crowded," I huff, but Edward is laughing almost as heartily as Alice was at the time. I cross my arms over my chest, thoroughly regretting choosing to tell him this story as he falls back onto his bed in the throes of laughter.
"I'm kind of flattered, to be honest," he says as he sits up and calms himself. "That you felt the need to exclaim in public how awesome I am in the sack."
"I should talk to Garrett about why all the people I love are such bastards to me. There has to be some reason for it. Maybe not having a mother figure in my life."
"Bella," he sighs, "it's funny. You know it is. And you do have a mother figure... my mother. She loves you more than me, I'm sure of it."
I smile at the thought of Esme as my mind flicks back through all the amazing things the lovely southern woman has done in the short months she's known me.
"Well, at least I have that going for me."
There's a period of silence before he speaks again, his voice quieter this time.
"Is... is that something you want to do?"
"What?"
"You know, what you talked about with Alice."
"Just the tipping?"
"Well... not that necessarily, but yeah, the sex thing."
"Of course it is."
"It's just not something we've really talked about, and you know I'm not going to push you until you're ready, but I just -"
"Edward, I definitely want to have sex with you."
"Oh... well, good."
He grins a little - not smug or arrogant, but happy, and a little surprised.
"Did you think that I wouldn't want to?"
"Well... I kind of hoped you would, but I'm not going to get on your back about it, because I'm not an asshole like that. I just assumed you'd bring it up when you were ready, and you did."
I'm baffled.
"... You think that this embarrassing public display was my roundabout way of bringing up sex with you?"
He shrugs.
"Maybe."
"Are you fucking kidding me right now?"
I'm just about to properly lose it when I realize that he's fighting back laughter, so I tackle him down onto the bed, using all of my meager strength to pin him down.
"Sometimes, I really do hate you, Edward Cullen."
"How could you hate me?" he asks between laughs. "I'm glorious."
I punch him in the chest and try to climb off him, only to be imprisoned by his arms and held against his chest and between his long, outstretched legs.
"I love you," he singsongs in my ear, so I struggle even harder to get away from him, in full sulk mode now.
"And I think you're glorious too," he continues, his voice lowering. "Especially when we do things together in bed. Or on the couch, or in the kitchen, or in my car."
His mouth brushes against the skin below my ear, warm and lovely. I stop struggling and sag against him, lulled by his tone of voice and the feeling of him surrounding me. Rather than making a cage, his arms encase me gently, fingertips pushing up the bottom of my shirt and gently tracing my belly and sides as he speaks.
"You do this thing when you're close that I love. When you're just about to come. Your back arches up, and your mouth falls open, and it's just about the most glorious thing I could ever fucking imagine. Your legs shake around my head, and your little feet press on my back, pulling me as close as you can, and there is nothing better than that in the entire fucking world."
I mewl quietly as his hands move lower, sliding just under the waistband of my shorts to torture me.
"You taste like fucking heaven and the noises you make... I can't even put words together to explain to you just how amazing they are. Listening to them rise as you get closer and closer until you get there and you say my name. It's fucking perfect, and glorious doesn't even come close to describe it."
Completely entranced by the sound of his voice and the feel of his fingers on my hips, I push against him, searching for friction. He pushes back against me, and as soon as I receive confirmation that he wants this too, I swivel within the confines of his grip, pressing my lips to his and sliding my fingers straight into his hair.
With a low groan he leans back until he's against the mattress, pulling me down with him. His hands trace up and down my sides, under my shirt and over my shorts, and he doesn't push beyond that, beyond our need to be close to one another. I revel in the feel of his body over his t-shirt, the soft skin of his neck and his messy hair in my hands.
"So," he murmurs, pulling away from my lips with a smile. His cheeks are flushed, eyes shining, and he's perfect.
"So?" I mimic, dropping my lips to his throat.
"Feel like a game of 'just the tip?'"
I pull back instantly, only to glare at him when I see the pure mischief all over his face. He starts laughing, his body shaking mine with its convulsions, and I start smacking at him until he pulls himself together and tries to hug me close.
"I thought you were serious for a second!"
"Maybe I am," he smirks, and I want to punch the smile off his face. He looks at my seriously unimpressed expression and his smug one fades.
"You know I was kidding, Bella. I just couldn't help myself."
He's still chuckling a little bit as he tries to justify himself.
What an assface.
"Well, now that the sexy mood is officially eviscerated, I'm going to hang out with Esme," I announce, jumping up before he can pull me back down.
"What?"
"Yep."
"But... I can't go down there! Not like this!"
He gestures to his tented pants, and now it's my turn to laugh.
"Perhaps you should have thought of that before you suggested game time. Now you'll just have to play with yourself."
I've just about reached the doorway when I swivel on the spot, dart across the room and throw myself back onto the bed and into his arms. I giggle at his complete shock that I've come back and then kiss the dumbfounded expression off his face.
As if there's any place I'd rather be.
AN: Ok ladies and gents (despite how extremely unlikely it is that there are any gents in my readership), we're starting wind down now. We'll see these kids through a couple more challenges (and I know you all want to see if Alice gets her man), maybe on outtake or two, but we're looking at 47 chapters in total.
That said, do not despair! I'm already working on something new for you guys… although knowing me I'll probably write 10 chapters then delete the whole thing in a frenzy of self-loathing brought on by how much it sucks ass.
But that's neither here nor there.
Catch you next time, lovelies!
LOVE YOU ALL