Chapter 6

Bella's POV

I never once let go of Edward whilst he was with me. I'd prepared myself for when he'd leave me after lunch so it wasn't too bad. It still hurt. It would for a while but I knew I'd see him again. The whole afternoon, my eyes continued to flick to the beautiful engagement ring on my finger. Angela caught sight of it and subtly congratulated me whilst none of the others were paying attention.

It was nice to be able to have a conversation willingly. I'd seemingly missed quite a lot of drama since Edward had left. Mike and Jessica had broken up, only to get back together. Tyler and Lauren had had a fling at some point. Angela was still going strong with Ben but they were quiet about it.

As we'd headed to the restaurant for dinner, a couple of clouds covered the sun and I hoped Edward would be waiting for me. I then realised that it would be awkward for him to be around all that food so wasn't too disappointed when he wasn't there. The conversation turned to me for the millionth time today only without Mr Banner hovering nearby.

"So you and Edward Cullen really did it this morning?"

I blushed deep red and realised I hadn't in such a long time. Whilst Mike hadn't been paying much attention turned directly to me as did the rest of the boys.

"Yeah. And last night."

"Seriously?"

Poking my salad with my fork, I nodded. I really didn't want to have this conversation with all of them. It's not so bad just Jess and Angela but all of them. No thanks.

"How was he?"

Why would I tell them all that? Isn't it supposed to be something special between two people? I settled with a standard answer.

"It was really good. Really good."

"That's all you can say? After everyone wanted to be with him and you finally are, all you have to say is that it was really good."

Raising my eyebrows at Lauren, I felt like stabbing her for that comment about everyone wanting him. Instead I just glared at her.

"What do you want me to say? That it was the best experience in my life. That I love him. That I want to spend every minute of my life with him."

"You'd better be talking about me."

A cold hand reached out and touched my shoulder, sending a current of warmth through me. I jumped up, throwing my arms around his neck and inhaling his scent. His arms snaked round my waist as he pressed his lips to mine.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too. I love you."

"I love you so much Bella."

Pecking my lips, he sat in my now unoccupied and pulled me onto his lap.

"Hello guys."

Directing his attention to the others, they all became flustered and taken aback. They each replied with a quiet 'Hey' or 'Hello'. I could see he was trying to be polite but there wasn't much he could do.

I ran my fingers through his hair, bringing his attention to me. His eyes had gone from the midnight black to the smouldering honey gold that I loved. There was a part of me that still wondered why he hadn't come back to me as soon as he could.

"You're late."

"Actually I'm early. We were going to meet in my hotel room."

"But it isn't sunny."

That crooked grin I loved made itself present and I placed my lips to his jaw.

"I was hunting and then I went shopping."

He didn't take my hand but my left wrist and fastened something to it. My wrist suddenly felt colder and ever so slightly heavier. I could feel multiple sets of eyes on us but tried ignoring them.

"This charm bracelet is going to hold all the important memories that we make. I'm going to buy you a charm every time something amazing happens because I know you don't want me to spend lots of money on you. That, I can live with, but I will spend some money on you when I want to. I've started our story already."

He pulled a long, thin rectangular box from Tiffany's and placed it on the table in front of me. Opening it up, I saw five neatly settled silver charms. The first he lifted was a heart that I assumed was a diamond and hoped wasn't.

"This is for the first moment I met you in Biology. That was the moment I fell in love with you."

Clipping it onto the bracelet, I heard a few 'ahhs' around the table causing me to blush. He pecked my lips and turned back to the box. The next he picked was a silver apple.

"Cafeteria food?"

"The very same. This was the moment I decided that I didn't care what my family thought, or how dangerous it could be for me to talk to you. But I did."

He repeated his actions of clipping it on and pecking my lips. The third charm, I had an idea of what it could represent along with the fourth.

"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb."

"What a stupid lamb."

"What a sick, masochistic lion."

After clipping both the lion and lamb figure onto the bracelet next to each other, he cupped my cheek and gave me a long kiss. My left hand went to his cheek as he started to pull away. Pressing my lips to his once more, I let him move away.

"That was the day I realised I was irrevocably in love with Isabella Marie Swan."

"I love you Edward. So much."

I felt his lips brush against mine before he sucked my bottom lip between his teeth. It was hard to comprehend quite how much I loved him; how much I needed him. I was suddenly very aware of the table of friends around us. Reluctantly, I was the one to pull away but lay my head on his shoulder.

"Tonight."

Whispering so quietly only he could hear, I let out a soft little moan that I hoped to be sexy. It seemed to work as he shifted slightly in the seat. His eyes darkened and he held me closer to his chest.

In an attempt to distract himself, he lifted the final charm and clipped it to the bracelet. It was silver but intricately carved into a flame. His lips hovered by my ear and his hand wrapped around my waist.

"Even though it was the moment that I almost lost you, it was the moment I realised that I couldn't live in a world without you. Whilst you were lying on the floor of the dance studio with venom burning through your veins, my mind considered letting it change you. I couldn't though. It went against my nature to take your life from you. That day three things were alight with fire. One, James burnt to death. Two, you lay with fire burning through you. And three, my heart was on fire with the amount of love I felt for you."

Tears pricked my eyes but I stopped them from falling. I ran my thumb across his high cheek bone before winding my fingers round into his hair. Leading his lips to mine, I held him close to me and brought his lips down to mine.

My veins were on fire now as I he stroked my cheek. In the back of my mine, I registered the others whispering and watching us. Pulling away from him, I moved my lips to his neck and nuzzled my face. He caressed my hip as his fingers slipped under my shirt.

"Forever, my love."

"Forever."