Recap of Chapter 22:
Bella's birthday weekend continues, with the morning after her night of bliss with secret boyfriend Edward. Both are unsure now more than ever if they'd ever be able to restrain themselves from their horomones but only time will tell just when they'd be able to find time for one another again. Their morning of bliss is cut short when they're brought back to reality thanks to a certain pixie. The day carries on to the mall, with Alice roping Bella and the girls into a new adventure over Christmas break. A later dinner that evening with Bella's parents brings hope though that she would be able to join in on the ski trip, while she and Edward desperately try to hide their lies to her parents about their promiscuous activities. With Christmas break rapidly approaching, time will only tell what will happen up on that secluded mountain trip.
Chapter Twenty-Three
~Edward~
I could tell I was in the middle of a dream. Something about it, the feeling or the air, was off. The world felt tilted. It felt heavy.
I knew in my dream I was in the school, the main building to be precise. I see the walls lined with lockers. It was day time, but the halls were empty except for me. I could feel that my body in this dream-state was tense. I felt something in my hands. Looking down, I saw it was the gun that Bella's father had given to me; my hands were gripping onto it for dear life, the veins in my hands strained against my taut skin.
What was going on? Why was I in the school with my gun drawn? Why did it feel unsafe here?
I felt my dream-self heave in a heavy breath. I was steeling myself for something – or someone.
My questions were answered in the next second, when I heard footsteps coming down from the end of the hallway. I looked up, and could feel my stomach drop. Two guys were walking down the hall, looking around cautiously. One had his brown hair mussed up as if he had been running his hands through it in worry. The other had his blond hair slicked back into a messy pony tail while his eyes were looking wild as he looked back and forth between each door that led to the classrooms here. In his hands was a pistol as well, his hands tight around it. I quickly hid behind a section of lockers, my breathing becoming rapid.
I knew who these two were.
"We saw you, Cullen!" And my attempts of hiding didn't go unnoticed.
"You two are fucking stupid for doing this!" I heard myself shout down to them, the sound of my voice foggy.
"You know who we want, so why don't you just give her up and no one gets hurt?" James shouted back, his voicing causing my heart to tighten. I knew who he wanted. I'll be damned if he thinks I'd let him ever lay a finger on her.
"Over my dead body!"
"That can be easily arranged." I heard one of them say to one another, a dark chuckle escaping out soon after.
I turned the corner from my weak hiding spot, with the sound of a gunshot going off the minute I stepped out…
I bolted up from my bed, trying to suck in as much air I could get. My heart was thumping loudly in my ears, and I could feel a cold sweat breaking out on my forehead. I placed a hand on my chest, trying to calm down my body from the visceral reaction that I had from that dream. I briefly looked around the dark room, noting how the others were still asleep. I was glad none of them woke up yet. I looked over to my bedside table and saw the time was only 4:02 am. Only a few more hours till classes start for the day. I thought to myself, sighing.
I settled back into my bed then, placing a hand to my forehead to wipe away the sweat. I was left with so many questions by that point, unsure as to why I even had that dream to begin with. Was it because my worries for Bella's safety were starting to come up with horrible scenarios? I knew I'd do anything to protect her from those two, don't get me wrong. Whatever is going to happen, I'd be there for her. But, why did I have this dream, in the school? Those two would have to be suicidal if they think they could pull off storming into the school with guns ready, thinking they could take Bella from me like that.
What really made me feel uncomfortable is the fact that dream felt so real. Normally I'd shake off any bad dreams or nightmares as just that – a bad dream. I knew that they weren't real, that they would never happen. But, something about this dream felt… it all felt so real. It felt like it would happen someday. It was disconcerting that I couldn't shake the possibility that this event could happen in the real world. Now whether those two would become crazy enough to want to storm the school and try to violently take the girl that I love, is one that I can't be too sure of. My real hope is that either those two would get into trouble for something else that it'd be enough to expel them from the school and thus leaving Bella alone. Or, if they were to do something more serious – without actually causing her physical harm – that I could get them arrested somehow. Like, if Charlie and his team of police were able to identify just who was in Bella's room on Thanksgiving.
Emmett's snarling snore broke me out of my thoughts. I glared over in his general direction, knowing it was doing nothing to his slumbering form. But, a small part of me was thankful for it too. It reminded me that lying awake here in bed, going over the million thoughts I had in this moment, would do me no good when I have classes to worry about in a few hours. So, I did my best to put these troubling worries in the back of my head, and shuffled around in my blankets to find a comfortable spot. Once I did find it, I slowly went back to sleep, letting a small smile come about my face when I realized what we'd have to do today.
The blaring ring of an alarm, a few hours later, pounded my head. It was officially time for us to get up in the morning. I heard Jasper and Ben get up first, groaning while they stretched their limbs.
"Come on you two, it's time to get up." I heard Ben call out in the room, over in mine and Emmett's direction.
"Five more minutes…" Emmett's childish grumble came as a reply.
"Ed man, normally you're up before us. Get up you lazy bum." I heard Jasper tease at me, and I sighed, slowly sitting up and rubbing at my eyes. That nightmare only disturbed my sleep, with the break of waking up at four in the morning causing me to be groggy. Through my tired eyes, I could see Jasper peering out the window while Ben was starting to gather up his clothes for the day.
"Oh sweet, the whole place is covered in snow."
"Really? Maybe we'll get a day off from classes!" Emmett's sudden excited screech caused me to scream. The behemoth was bolting up out of bed at this moment; so much for five more minutes for him. He was bounding over to the window where Jasper was.
"Em, brother. We've lived in Forks our whole life – you think classes are just going to be cancelled from snow?" I grunted, running a hand through my hair. I knew how this state works, from all of the cold, rainy or snowy weather we get, it would rarely ever stop the schools here cancelling for the day. A dreadfully heavy and dangerous blizzard, sure that'd stop them. But a few feet of snow, it's not often or likely we'd get a day off from that. Besides, there was only a few more days of school left for this year before we get to go on Christmas break. So no doubt, teachers do not want to cancel any days when we still have winter finals to worry about.
"You never know, bro." I heard Emmett mutter, bringing me back to reality. The rest of us chuckled at his childish tantrum, but soon continued moving to finish getting ready for the day. I was slower in getting ready, knowing I wanted to call Bella this morning – whether it was to check up on her after my frightful dream last night, or to just hear her beautiful voice, I couldn't pinpoint it. Normally we don't call each other in the mornings. From the time we've started dating secretly behind our friends' and the school's backs, we would try our best to keep it all under wraps. And that normally boiled down to secret calls when we know the others won't be back so soon, texts in covert manner, or secret meet ups when we can find a window to sneak away. A morning call was risky since I had no clue whenever the guys would be back from their showers.
But, my desire to just hear her voice even if for a minute was enough to have my fingers already clicking her contact info to call her now.
"I was not expecting to have my prince charming call me this early this morning." Her voice, still sounding tired but ever still melodious, greeted my ears. A silly grin couldn't help but come on my face while I let out a chuckle.
"Hey beautiful. I know, I don't normally call this early." I greeted her back, hearing her giggle soon after.
"Yeah, I know. Though, the suddenness of it is welcomed. I don't know how much time we'll have to chat – Alice and Rosalie are off showering and I've no clue when they'll be back. Thankfully, I have Angela here to be a lookout for me."
"Well that's pretty handy. The guys all went to shower too, but well you know most guys can bathe fairly quickly." I replied back, snickering.
"True. Though with you, I know you can take awhile… Especially if I'm there with you." I let out a little groan as soon as she let out that statement. She was such a minx. My mind couldn't help but go back to the morning after Bella's birthday night that we shared. Those images will forever be burned into my brain for all of the best reasons.
My body's reaction only made me realize that I'd have another problem to take care of before classes started up.
Another giggle escaped her. She knew what she was doing to me.
"You minx."
"I know I'm evil for making you aroused. Trust me, the feeling is mutual." A bark of a laugh left me upon hearing her state that; I could just imagine her blushing heavily while she too was remembering that morning.
"Well, we definitely have to come up with some more strategies to spend time together soon my love. I just wanted to hear your voice this morning, thus the call. It can always soothe me and put my worries at ease." I murmured in the next minute, trying to steer away from our sexual intentions – else I'd surely burst from the frustrations.
"Did you have a bad dream, babe?"
"I did. But, I'm forgetting all about it the more I listen to your voice."
There was a pause of silence between us. I knew she wanted to talk more about it like normal. Often when one of us has a bad dream that is enough to cause us to be restless and needing to hear the other's voice for comfort, we knew the dream had to been bad. But we were on limited time this morning, so I knew we didn't have enough of it to discuss much. So I heard her sigh slightly soon after.
"I'm glad I can provide comfort then for you, with just my voice. I'm worried about whatever this dream was, but I guess we can talk about it later if that's fine with you. I don't like it when you have bad dreams. Don't get me wrong, I love talking to you and hearing you talk too. But the fact you called so early, makes me think this one really scared you bad."
I pursed my lips. She knew me too well.
"You provide the best comfort a woman can ever give to me, my love. I'll admit, this nightmare was really… unsettling to say the least. But I promise I'm willing to chat it out with you. I'm not one to keep things from you." I admitted, running my hand through my hair once again.
She made a noise of recognition but giggled soon after. Her giggles just didn't help my body's problem though.
"Well, we should possibly get off now; I really don't have any clue when the girls will make a reappearance. But I do want to get started early with my… routine here." Her hesitation clued me in on what she really wanted to do. A small part of me was elated that she was starting to be more bold and forward. I chuckled lowly after hearing her say this.
"I guess I can say the same. Who knows how long it'll take to lessen my own problem. But, thank you for entertaining me with this phone call love. I'll see you later, especially since I have a gift to give to you later." I said, my smile not leaving my face. With it being almost time for Christmas, not many of our classes were going to let us students do anything special. The exception is our music group. Our coaches decided to let us have some fun which was dwindled down to a secret Santa gift exchange. They let us pick names blindly from a hat, of all of the students in the group. I was terrified that James would get Bella's name (yes, he was in the group, still. I was livid with Bella after hearing from her how he somehow managed to weasel his way in), but thankfully by a miracle, I had gotten her name. And with even more luck on our side, she had gotten my name.
It was already the end of this current week – a week after her birthday to put it in perspective. There'd only be two days of classes next week and those were reserved for finals. Today would be the day of the gift exchange and I already had my gift ready to go for her. Perhaps with it being the weekend tomorrow, maybe I could find an opportunity to steal her away again…
Her laughter once again interrupted my musings.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. Hopefully you'll find humor in my gift." I snickered in response to her statement.
"Of course I will. It's gag gifts anyways."
Finally, we wrapped up our conversation and hung up on each other, and not a minute to spare. The guys came bounding back into the bedroom, looking refreshed from their warm showers.
"Ed, have you been jacking off or something? You haven't moved from that spot since we left." Emmett teased raucously. I glowered over at him, not amused with that joke. As much as I would've liked to take care of my problem whilst on the phone with my secret girlfriend, we didn't have time for that. I was probably going to have to come up with a scheme to do something about this before classes.
"Shut the fuck up dude. I'm just trying to wake up still." I growled, moving up from my bed to gather my things before I would head to shower. Emmett snickered and continued to tease me since I didn't blatantly deny it, but Jasper through a jacket at his head.
"Leave him be man, I can sense Ed isn't in the mood this morning." Jasper quickly came to my defense – or rather put an end to the mild bickering before I decided to punch Emmett for his relentless teasing. I looked back at Emmett after I had gathered all of my clothes and toiletries, to see he rolled his eyes.
"Fine, whatever." He relented finally, and I sighed, thankful. I left the bedroom then, heading to the showers. Just as I had entered – and thankfully it seemed like it was a slow morning for the guys of the dorm to get up and bathe -, I heard a ringing go off from my phone. I started up one of the stalls and my clothes were placed down somewhere that I can easily retrieve. After the water was set to the right temperature to heat up, I went back to my phone and saw I had one new text. I could see the sender was indeed my Bella. I wonder if she meant to tell me something while we were on the phone, but forgot. I thought to myself before deciding to open the message.
Then I felt my heart jump upon seeing what it was.
Remember how I had said Bella was starting to become more bold and forward? This proved to be no less a sign that my girlfriend truly is a minx.
It was a photo of her where she looked like she was in the girls' showers herself. And it was a very risqué picture too; she was in the nude, looking coy with her bottom lip being bitten in that sexy yet shy way I went mad for. I could see her exposed chest, dripping wet with water running over her skin, and her long hair already damp. There was a blurb of a text with the photo saying, "Here's something to think about for you, babe. And good morning! ;)"
My earlier problem from our phone call was strained even further. My poor lower half couldn't take much more teasing. God… I thought to myself while I continued to gawk at my temptress of a girlfriend. She has no idea what she does to me. I took in a shallow breath, and knew I had to take care of my dirty thoughts before I go to my classes for the day.
I quickly undressed, overly excited to get into the shower as I knew what I'd be trying to take care – when an idea sprang to my thoughts. If she wanted to play dirty like that, then I'll be doing the same. I hadn't asked for such a naughty picture like that from her at all. Never did it come across my thoughts to even think about it. I'd never force her to take one unless she was comfortable with it, but I never thought I'd receive one from her so suddenly. I can only hope she won't mind if I do the same and be as bold as she was.
I quickly took an image of me bare naked, making sure she can see just how much trouble she was causing for me, and came up with a witty text of something along the lines of "You troubling minx, but thank you for some inspiration for this morning. Hopefully I can provide the same for you. It is indeed a good morning ;3" before sending it to her. I really hoped it wasn't too forward of me to send that, but I merely took her picture, as a means of an invitation to possibly to the same.
Once I had seen it was sent, I dashed off into the shower where it was now at the perfect hot temperature. After getting my hair wet, I got to working on my problem. Her naked form came to my mind, and I recalled all of what we did during her birthday. My skin felt hot and my heart was racing, climbing while I continued relieving my sexual frustration. It thankfully didn't take long for me to reach my peak, stifling my moaning and a quiet shuttering cry of her name bubbling past my lips. I took a few moments to calm my harsh breathing. But I knew I couldn't stay under the water for much longer else I'd risk being late to my classes. Plus I know I'd be harshly interrogated by the guys as to why I was taking so long to rejoin them. So I snapped out of my lusty haze and made quick work on cleaning myself up. I finished in record time and hurried out to get dressed. I noticed I had another text waiting for me, and opened it soon after to see it was a reply from Bella again.
She had sent in what looked like a blushing face along with the lines of "You cheater. God, you have no idea what I want to do to you after seeing that. But you're so incredibly sexy in all of your naked glory, babe. I can't wait to be alone with you again."
My face felt heated from hearing her compliments and a desire to be together again. The feeling was mutual.
I quickly finished getting dressed and tried to dry my hair as much as I could, while I sent her a follow-up text once I had finished. "I'm the cheater? You my beautiful lady are the cheater around here. Though, the compliment is definitely appreciated and a good ego boost ;) Trust me, whenever we can be alone again, I'm going to want to see that beautiful body of yours and cannot wait to have it wrapped around me so wonderfully." I sent that, smirking to myself at the prospect of seeing her in that delicious form. Soon, I hurried back to my room, noting the guys had their school bags and were dressed for the cool weather.
"Someone didn't want to leave that shower." Ben teased, no doubt noting how long I had taken. Emmett and Jasper snickered along with him, making verbal notes of something in a similar fashion.
"Well, it's fucking cold out there and the shower was definitely warmer than anything else. So why do you think I took so long?" I remarked back with a roll of my eyes, brushing off the teasing. I slipped on my heaviest jacket and a warm wooly beanie over my slightly damp hair. Wrapping also my thickest scarf around my neck, I grabbed my book bag and slipped on my combat boots that were ready for the thick snow.
"Let's hurry then to the main building. I don't want to freeze my ass off while we're out there." Emmett grumbled; someone didn't look too happy that we didn't get a late notice about classes being cancelled. We filed out of our bedroom and hurried out of the dorm room. I could see heaps of the other students bracing the cold, either huddling together with their friends or slugging their way through the snow to race to the main school building.
"Heads up – hot babes are 3 o'clock." I rolled my eyes at Emmett's warning, no doubts in my mind knowing he was referring to our constant source of bickering each morning. I glanced over and noticed it was indeed the girls. The four of them were dressed up for the cold, albeit it was done in fashionable taste over practicality. A large part of me was upset that Alice was choosing style over sense for the weather, and it looked like my poor girlfriend really was freezing. They were huddled together, where I could see they were talking amongst one another but they were still too far that I couldn't hear what they were saying. In the next moment, Bella looked like she had gotten a bit stuck in the snow and she stumbled a little. Thankfully with the girls being so close to her, they were able to stabilize here. But unfortunately, Emmett had looked over at the time she did and saw her blunder. So he decided to be his usual self and call out to them.
"Looks like little Swan is still unable to walk straight!" he yelled out over to them. It took all of my self control to not outright punch him as he once again took it upon himself to bully my secret girlfriend. Ever since he started doing that, it's really bothered me heavily. And I feel even angrier that I can't call him out for it.
The girls looked over upon hearing him, and they all scowled. Emmett began bounding over to them, thus pulling the rest of us guys over to this normal squabble routine that he can't help but start each time we run into the ladies.
"Is there something legitimately wrong with your brain that makes you want to be a complete asshole to us?" Rosalie's biting question could be heard when we drew closer to them. I looked over at Bella in hopefully a nondescript manner, hoping that she was okay after almost taking a tumble into the cold snowy ground. She had since steadied herself and wasn't holding onto the others for support, just wrapping her arms around herself to try and capture some heat. She saw me looking, and gave me a subtle wink while the others were too distracted in continuing their arguing. I smirked slightly, happy that she was fine.
"…Frankly the only thing wrong here, is that you snow bunnies are dressed up far too much." Emmett's comment brought me back to the present. I knew that was going to land him in hot water.
Alice's glare looked like it became even narrower than before. Her grey eyes looked like a typhoon while she snapped at our adoptive brother.
"Snow bunnies? You buffoon, we're not snow bunnies, and for sure we're not dressing down for the likes of you sickos!" she hissed, her lips tight.
Emmett laughed at her hissy-fit. Jasper snickered, making a kissy face at Alice's rage.
"Piss off you pervert, I'm still looking for an opportunity to scratch your eyes out for ogling my ass openly as if it belongs to you!" her scathing voice growled at Jasper, who immediately balked and took a scared step backwards.
"Calm down there, sis. No need to release all that rage out here in the cold, else you're sure to freeze." I teased her gently, deciding to take part in the banter for today once more. I had to keep up with the charade as much as I hated that we picked on these ladies relentlessly. But being silent most of the time, was sure to backfire on me.
"Of course you'd approve of your friend being a pervert, pervert." Bella took the cue to also do the same.
"Please, tell me that you're not still pent up about that joke." I teased next at her, referring back to the beginning of the school year when I pulled that terrible and assaulting move on her, not having any idea at the time of what she had really went through with her monster ex-boyfriend. My false smirk during this, faltered slightly as I remembered how much of a true ass I was thinking that was such a smart move to pull on her.
"You're just as idiotic as Behemoth Fuck Face here if you think I'd ever let that go." Bella's hiss was convincing enough even though I know she's since forgiven me for my blunder. But her acting here was harsh enough to cause me step backwards like Jasper.
"Someone just –"
"Don't you dare even remotely finish that sentence to defend his stupid prank, you fucker." Bella bit back quickly to cut off Emmett's attempt to retort back at her for his biting attitude. He balked, but began to glare at her.
"Little Mousey girl should really watch what she says around me."
"What, taking lessons from your best friend Joshua? Here's a bombshell – that fucker was my ex-boyfriend." She snarled, and I could feel myself stop short at just how much she was admitting. Now I know she's since told her friends, and I, about her past with Joshua. A flashback to when Joshua had first arrived to the school came back to me, and I remembered just how much of a buddy Emmett acted with him. I never felt so much rage and pure fury at him for how he openly he talked to the sick piece of trash, as if the two could ever form a friendship. Since then, I hadn't seen Emmett hanging out with him, but who's to know if he occasionally chats with him.
Emmett fidgeted a bit.
"It doesn't surprise me now as to why you fucking made buddy-buddy with the fucker, not one bit. Equal parts trash, chauvinistic, both pigs and two fuckers who give absolutely no shits about other people's feelings – yeah, you two are a perfect match for one another. Totally and irrevocably worthless, you both deserve to burn in hell." Bella's harsh growling led to her being held back by Rosalie and Angela; I could see her eyes starting to get misty-eyed the more she talked about the similarities between Joshua and Emmett. It caused my heart to ache. Rosalie pulled her closer and whispered something to her, while her blue eyes snapped to Emmett in narrowed slits. He was still fidgeting.
Suddenly the school bell rang in the distance. The girls straightened up, gave us all one last glare before they turned on their heels and hurried off to the main school building. Jasper clamped a hand down on Emmett's shoulder, waking him from his stunned stupor.
"She's talking about how –"
"No need to bring it up again, big guy." Ben immediately cut in after being silent the whole time. He was uncomfortable with just how harsh yet real that squabble became. Right before we had split up to head to our classes, Ben made a quick mutter of a comment stating that it was odd how that had quickly escalated and became heavy. He gave me a worried pointed look just before he and Jasper separated from Emmett and I.
I was too, worried that is, afraid that Bella would suddenly reveal every single dark detail of her past to a complete buffoon that was Emmett. We were still in the middle of this silly "Battle of the Sexes" feud or whatever you'd want to call. Emmett I'm sure, for the most part, gives no shits whatsoever truly about the ladies' feelings. At least – I would like to believe that. Thoughts of this all, frantic and nothing but anxieties, wouldn't leave my head for most of the morning. I watched Emmett throughout Varner's class, noting how he was silent and staring blankly down at his work. Usually my adoptive brother would make quiet quips about the ladies during class, being his usual prick self. But after this morning, it was unsettling to see him so drastically different.
I wonder if something really struck a nerve in him during that whole conflict.
The morning went by quickly, where soon it was coming up to our time to meet up with the music group and exchange gifts. We had all been sent back to our dorms to get our gifts and were slowly making our way back to the theater room.
"So, who did you all get for gifts?" Emmett immediately asked while we were trudging through the snow, gifts in hand. The dark mood from this morning's confrontation seemingly has been forgotten, for now. The big lug was quiet most of the morning, his general prick attitude towards the girls missing. I wasn't going to press him for questions; for one that would raise suspicion as to why I was asking if the fight bothered him when I have to still keep the ass-hat nature of this silly, up. I knew that I would want to ask Bella what suddenly brought on the fury she held, but I guess I can wait until we're alone. But as it was just after lunch, food seemed to be the thing this buffoon needed to cheer up.
Mike, Kyle and Jason had joined us in our walk, on account they were in our music group too. Emmett was met with six varying chuckles.
"Dude, you know that ruins the purpose of the secret Santa ploy, right?" Mike retorted, rolling his eyes.
"Well, I doubt we got each other. I'm just fucking curious man." Emmett groaned.
"You don't know that though." Jason snickered back, with Kyle nodding his head.
"Can't blame a man for asking and trying." Jasper defended our big galoot of a friend, before huffing soon after. "I'll bite – I didn't get Alice, that's for sure."
"Of course you're upset about that." Ben teased him, snickering harshly at his face that was darkening in a blush. We all hooped and howled at his embarrassment. Jasper shook his curly blond-haired head at us, telling us to fuck off.
"Well fine, I'll be honest. I got Angela." Kyle remarked, rolling his eyes. I knew Ben wasn't happy to hear this. I had talked with him briefly in private when we first were drawing names for the exchange, and heard from him that he didn't get Angela when I know he wanted to be just as lucky as I was. I glanced over at him and saw he was quiet, a small glare directed at Kyle though the blond-haired baseball player didn't notice.
"Ben who did you get?" Emmett asked, breaking him from his small glaring contest. Ben shook himself and snickered then.
"I got Lauren."
"Oh damn, hah. You got the biggest bimbo on campus!" Jason hollered, laughing. Well he wasn't wrong. After all, the naïve girl flirted with me hard in that first week of school back before I really got to know Bella. Her flirting was so sleazy and forward, it made me really uncomfortable. Even after we got together, Bella would still tease me time to time about it. I also heard from her that even though we had this feud going on between the guys and girls, she can still overhear Lauren and her bimbo friends fawning mercilessly over me.
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up. Who did you get?" Ben's quick quipping at Jason, had me looking over at him to see the biggest shit-eater grin.
"I got the hottest babe ever –"
"If you got Rosalie, I swear…" Jasper was quick to cut him off, as if somehow knowing just who Jason got. Jason balked, his cheeks reddening.
"You did, didn't you?" Emmett was glowering down at him. I really wanted to bust a gut, seeing Jason looking between the two of them with wide eyes.
"Well…?"
"Give me your gift you have for her!" Emmett whined, making a grab for the gift that Jason was holding onto. But Jason managed to slip out of his monstrous grasp and took off in a bolt. Emmett yelled out his name and went after him in a quick, thunderous stride. Now I couldn't help the laughter was bursting to escape, to which I doubled over in on myself, guffawing and quickly running out of breath. I held the gift I had gotten for Bella still in my hands, but could only hope I wouldn't drop it whilst I was laughing this hard. I could hear Kyle, Jasper, Mike and Jasper laughing with me.
"He's sure to be dead by the time we catch up to them." Jasper blathered out past his chuckling.
Once we had managed to get our laughter under control with only a few snorts and harsh chuckles escaping us, we did our best to hurry through the snow still on our way back to the class. We made it just in time before the final bell would be tolling out. I saw Emmett sulking just outside the theater room, but Jason wasn't to be seen.
"He fled inside before I could get the gift he had for her." His whining was audible when we weren't even 5 feet away from him. Jasper punched him in his arm, before we all slid inside the room. I could see the rest of the group members up on the stage, the presents they all had brought being piled up underneath a Christmas tree.
"Ah, lovely that you gentlemen finally joined us!" Mrs. Idle cheered once we began making our way down the aisle to head up to the stage. "Now, I need at least two of you students to go and get several boxes from the storage room and bring them out – it's all the decorations for the tree which as you can see is not decorated. It'll take some time to find them all, so please don't go pulling boxes all willy nilly." She said in the next instant, waving her arms.
"I'll go!"
"I can go get them!" Both Bella and I immediately offered, our hands faltering when we offered our help at the same time. Silence came about the group, with both the guys and girls looking over at the two of us with suspicion. It was by complete chance that we'd offer at the same time. It was totally unplanned, but now I'm sure this is to raise questions amongst our friends.
Mrs. Idle saw nothing suspicious about it, and decided that it would be the two of us to get them. After ordering us guys to set our bags and presents down, Bella was already scurrying to the back where the storage room was, while I slowly followed after her. I noted that James was hanging with a couple of the other guys, chatting with them. Though I could also see that he wasn't actually invested in the conversation; instead I could see him looking in the direction that Bella ran off too.
Not a fat chance you fucker. I thought to myself, scowling to myself when I picked up my pace to hurry to where Bella was.
I found the storage room, noting the door was slightly ajar. I smirked, thinking this was at least a small chance of some alone time with her. Mrs. Idle did say it would take some time to find them all, so I knew there was no true rush. I slipped into the storage room and closed the door, before looking to see there was a lock. I decided to lock it just for now, ensure even more room for privacy. Perfect.
"Ed? Is that you?" Her sweet voice could be heard behind a shelving unit that had boxes filled with either old costumes or props. I walked over and looked to my right to see she was trying to reach a shelf that held one of the boxes of decorations, standing on her tip-toes that was proving worthless in her task.
"Hang on there little lady, let me get that." I teased gently, shooing her off to the side while I was able to easily reach up and get the box. She huffed at me, hands on her hips.
"Show off."
I scoffed, box in hand now. I took the box and put it on the table that was in here, deciding this was be the point of gathering for all of the decorations.
"How many boxes do you think we'll have to get?" I heard her ask from somewhere behind me, though the task at hand wasn't the first thing on my mind. I turned to look over my shoulder and saw her doing the same thing with another box on a high shelf. I looked at her rear bouncing while she was struggling. I was reminded of the naughty picture she had sent this morning, and then began to feel my morning problem rearing its ugly head once more. I had a perfect chance right now in being alone in this tiny room with her. The door was locked, and Mrs. Idle said we had to take our time to make sure we were getting all of the right boxes. It was too good to be true. And I think my Bella was completely innocent to the chance we had right now.
I quickly walked over to her and gently pressed myself against her backside, hearing her let out a little gasp.
"Edw –"
"I've missed you. Was it your idea to volunteer for this from the start?" I breathed into her ear, blowing on it soon after. She released a shuttering breath in the next instant, and I could see her cheeks were starting to turn a deep red.
"N-No. Honestly it was by pure accident…" Bella's answer was but a murmur. I chuckled and kissed her ear, turning her body around but continuing to press myself against her. She let out a whimpering but quiet moan when she felt it. Now I think she was starting to realize what I wanted.
"Edward we can't!" Her voice was a shaky hissing whisper, but she let me leave kisses along her neck. She was shivering in pleasure the more I teased her.
"We've been given a lot of time back here, baby. I locked the door too so no one can intrude in on us. I've been aching to be with you, especially after that lovely picture you sent this morning. I've been going mad…" I breathed, pulling back to gaze down into her eyes. They were darkening.
"You naughty, naughty girl, teasing me like that." I said lowly and she bit her lip in the same way that she did in the picture.
"I… I was just feeling really risky with it. You were no help this morning too, you know." Bella retorted weakly, staring between my eyes and my lips. I smirked coyly.
"So, why do you think I locked the door?"
"B-But we can't! There's no comfortable place to lay down here. A-And you don't have anything on you that we can use as protection." Again, she argued weakly. This time I pursed my lips. Well, she had me there. I always had this desire to try something new with her ever since we got together, even more so I wanted to be bold and adventurous. This space was a grand chance to try it, but I knew our usual way of doing the deed wasn't going to cut it here. So perhaps, there was another way.
"You have me there, love. Tell me though before I go any further than this – are you not comfortable with me coming onto you like this?" An irrational part of me was starting to gnaw at me the more I tried to think of how I'd spring this option up on her. I wanted to make sure that she wouldn't be appalled or upset with me for pretty much immediately going to this when we did have a class to get back to at some point. Time was indeed limited and I can guarantee that if we take too much time then we'll be caught for sure.
"Well no, honestly, I don't. You're too charming and sexy for your own good…" Bella trailed off, her blush deepening on those porcelain cheeks of hers. I couldn't help but smirk a little; it's always a great ego boost to hear anything like that.
"So, you don't mind if I suggest that we give each other pleasure in a different way today? I frankly still want you as a whole too – but I'm not sure if I'll be able to have you in my bed today unless there's some miracle by any chance the others will leave." I rambled, licking my lips. She nodded wordlessly and that was all I needed to proceed.
I recaptured her lips with mine, kissing her heavily which she greedily returned. I let my hands wander downward. Although her sweater dressed served little to no practicality against the cool weather, it was working perfectly for what I wanted to do to her. She moaned softly into me when she felt where my fingers stopped, her hips bucking in reaction in the next second. It only served to make my problem of my own, harden.
While I began to work on her, I let one of my hands wander to hers and lead it to where I wanted it. Bella took the hint and made quick worth freeing me, before she too started to work on pleasing me. I nearly buckled from feeling her dainty and soft hand on me; it felt amazing to be doing this, after nearly being tightly wound up over wanting her so desperately. She was such a tease from that picture to her outfit once I realized that my sister's choice of fashion for her was driving me mad. She really didn't know just much she makes me want to jump her in broad daylight, throwing caution and our secret out the window. I may be a gentleman with this woman, but I am also male.
We were panting heavily as we continued our dance with our fingers. Her free hand had moved up to my head, pushing my beanie off of my head before she began lightly scratching at my scalp. I felt a tingly sensation happen once she started to do that, and could feel a wave of heavy arousal in the next second.
"God, that feels so good…" I whispered to her, a small whimper escaping me when she picked up her speed.
"I know that you love it so much." Bella murmured to me, before a quiet gasp escaped when I let my thumb play with another sensitive spot as the rest of my fingers were working inside.
"How's that feel, babe?"
"Oh god!" she hissed in a whisper, letting her head lull back. I knew I had done good doing what I just did.
We continued with our paces picking up. It was becoming increasingly hard for us to not outright scream and moan, pleasure wanting to override the sneaky ploy we had to play. We were left to either silence our moans with heavy kisses or biting our lips. I was getting so close and I knew she was too.
I leaned my head over to have my lips behind her ear which I began to suck on a sensitive spot behind it. She released a whimper just as I felt her release. Bella bit her lips hard while she rode out her waves of pleasure, hips buckling and her body shuttering before me. I wasn't far behind her, my lips pressed against her skin to silence my own cry that I desperately wanted to scream out. I could only hope I didn't get anything on her, else we'd have a bigger problem to try and clean up.
When we had finally calmed down, I pulled back and removed my hand from her. She slowly did the same before she tried to keep herself steady against the shelving unit behind her. I looked down first at my hand, noting that the essence of her was there. Then I noted that my boxers were back over me; perhaps she made quick work of making sure I didn't basically jizz all over her, using my boxers to catch it all. I then looked at her again, seeing that her panting was slowly evening out and a dreamy look was in her eyes.
"Perfect moment, achieved." I heard Bella murmur after a few minutes of silence. I let out a weak chuckle but couldn't agree more.
"Look, there are paper towels in here." I looked behind me after she had pointed it out to me; sure enough on the shelf over my shoulder there was a roll of paper towels. I immediately grabbed them and began wiping off my hand with it while she took to straightening out her clothes and hair.
"So, how was it?"
"Amazing as always, my sexy beau." Her reply held no hesitancy. I glanced up to see her smiling up at me, which I returned. "Now we better hurry and get the rest of the decorations. The longer we take the more questions they'll have." Bella muttered soon after, sighing. I nodded my head and began to straighten myself out after my hand was finally clean; it probably still smelled but nothing that a good washing can't fix. Once I had my pants back on, I posed in front of her, silently asking if anything looked out of place.
"Well, no one's going to see your boxers thankfully. You're covered." She said, looking me up and down, pausing on my crotch. I couldn't help but snicker when I saw how long her eyes lingered. She snapped out of her haze, the blush returning.
"I know someone's not ready for our little session to be over." I teased, and she rolled her eyes.
"Maybe…"
I kissed her then, a sweet and loving kiss. She sighed happily, smiling back at me when I pulled away.
Soon, we popped our romantic bubble and went back to work in getting the decorations. In total there only seemed to be five boxes as much as we did spend a little bit longer double checking. Luckily it really only was five so we shrugged our shoulders at one another before we took some boxes. I refused to let her carry anything heavy, not wanting her to get hurt. She tried to argue but I was already carrying the heaviest boxes out the door, leaving her with the lightest ones. I made sure she was right behind me the whole time while we made our way back to the main stage.
"At last, you two have returned! Hopefully you were able to find all of the tree's decorations just fine." Mrs. Idle's cheering voice greeted us once we rejoined the others. The other group members were chatting amongst one another in their own groups, looking like they hadn't moved from their original spots before we left. I glanced at a nearby clock, surprised that we were only gone for twenty minutes. It sure felt longer.
"Oh, I think we got everything picked out Mrs. Idle." Bella answered for me, her sweet voice sounding chirpy and delighted. I wonder if she was still coming down from her high like I was.
We followed our coach's orders in where to set the boxes down, before we went back to our respective groups. "Now, I want a few of each and every one of you to go up there and start decorating that tree for me. Work together and it'll go up nice and quickly; I'll have your heads if you decide to bicker!" Mrs. Idle ordered then, where soon after members began to willingly volunteer in putting up ornaments. I stayed behind, sitting on the edge of the stage. Ben stayed as well for now, agreeing to switch out with either Jasper or Emmett – whoever would come back first -, when they were done with their task.
"Dude, I think you and her took too long back there." He whispered to me, snickering. I rolled my eyes.
"Nah, I think we were pretty quick."
"Let me guess, stuff happened for sure right?"
"You're too smart for your own good, man." I muttered and we both chuckled, with him punching me in the arm. We let that topic drop after that in fear that one of the other guys or worse, Jasper or Emmett, would come back soon, catching a gist of what we were talking about secretively. Jasper was done first so Ben got up and went over to help Mike untangle the garland. I briefly glanced over at Bella, seeing she was laughing over something that Alice had said. I also managed to see James off on the side, glancing over at Bella when he heard her laugh. I couldn't help but glare over in his direction, even though I knew he wasn't looking at me.
"Someone's got a sour face." I nearly jumped when I heard Jasper speak up. I hurriedly looked over at him, and saw he too was also staring at James – no doubt he saw who I was scowling at.
"Uh, no, no I don't." I muttered, turning away.
"Bull, I saw you glaring at James back there." I sighed, knowing that Jasper was just too observant.
"Well, so what if I was?"
"You looked like you wanted to jump up and strangle him man. I saw where he was looking too… you have an issue with him staring at Swan?" He pushed quietly, and I glanced up to see him raising an eyebrow.
Fuck.
"I don't know, no? Yes? I really don't know, I just… To be honest, I get bad vibes from him." I flubbed out an answer. "Something about him makes me uneasy. I don't trust him, not just around I guess the girl I have to sing in this competition with, but also around the other girls and us. I get it I shouldn't care about the girls here when they could give two rats' asses about us. But man, I get just this sickening, gut-wrenching feeling that he's not a cool dude. And frankly I don't think it'd be wise if he's ever alone with one of them." I continued to ramble, hoping that hasty and not completely untrue statement was enough.
Jasper pursed his lips. I wasn't sure if he believed what I was saying. But then he too sighed.
"Well, I can't fault you there. I feel the same vibes too from him. It's weird, but I don't think he's a good dude either. And as much as the girls hates us, I'm not really comfortable with the idea of any of them being along with him, either." He whispered to me in honesty. I only nodded in agreement, relieved both at the fact I hadn't gave any suspicions for him to look further into, and that it seemed he was also in agreement that James was someone I didn't want around anymore.
"By the way…" I glanced back up at him when I heard he was starting up another tangent of our conversation. "Did Bella deck you while you two were back there?"
"Uh, no?"
"Huh, thought she would've after how pissed she was this morning."
"If anyone is on her murder list, I'm putting my bets on Emmett." I quickly answered, rolling my eyes.
"True on that point. Still, I'm a little… I don't know, confused as to why all of a sudden she was spewing on about her ex-boyfriend. Still seems like a touchy subject if you ask me." Jasper rambled on, shrugging his shoulders. A flare up of protectiveness came about. Now I knew Jasper really wasn't one to immediately bad mouth the girls – he was still an ass much like Emmett and much like the front I had to put up. But in reality, Jasper wasn't disrespectful about them if they ever came up in question. It still caused a bit of upset to build up within me once he said that. If only he really knew what horrors my Bella was put through before coming here.
But instead I shrugged. "Honestly, I wasn't okay with Emmett making buddy-buddy with Joshua too. Dude is an ass, fairly creepy much like James if you ask me. But whatever, if Emmett wants to make dumb friends then that's on him."
Jasper looked at me with narrowed eyes, as if probably trying to find an underlying notion or secret that I was hiding. I added in another shrug, hoping that'd throw him off.
Before we could go any further, we were suddenly cut off when Mrs. Idle clapped her hands. I quickly looked behind me to see that although the tree had many decorations on it, it looked mostly complete.
"That's perfect on the ornaments and decorations students. Now I want you all to sit around or nearby the tree. I'm going to come up there and we shall start the gift exchange! And no big reveals of who got what from who; this whole thing is all meant to be a secret, and in good nature. So I can only hope there are no nasty and completely inconsiderate gifts in here." She announced before we began scrambling to get a good spot nearby the tree.
In the midst of the chaos, I somehow managed to end up next to Bella, Rosalie, Lauren and Jessica. I looked away as Rosalie was throwing daggers at me for my choice of a seat.
"Now now Miss Hale I see glaring over there." Mrs. Idle also noticed.
"Sorry ma'am." Rosalie was quick to let up on glaring at me head on, and settled for dirty side glances.
Once we were all quiet, Mrs. Idle turned to the tree and began picking out gifts. The time ticked by while I watched group members open their gag gifts for this. Some gifts were silly – things like a prank can of nuts, to a children's toy, or even something as plain as socks. As much as a whole, this school boiled down to the genders being split in a nonsense of a feud, a few of us laughed at the silly gifts we were getting.
Mrs. Idle then handed Bella a gift – specifically mine. I tried wrapping it as best as I could but it was kind of hard. My secret girlfriend was starting at it with narrowed eyes, noting how heavy it was. It wasn't a terribly big gift, nor awfully small. In truth, I found it to be a nice gift yet something practically impractical. She carefully ripped the wrapping paper and then smirked at the item.
"What did you get Bella?" I heard Angela ask her, seeing as her friend was right next to her. Bella then removed the wrapping paper that was obscuring the view of the object, snorting a bit to herself.
"Is that a… vase?" I heard Jason ask out loud from over by the tree.
"Yeah, in the shape of a swan." She added, shaking her head. Again impractical but not a horribly cheesy and bad gift, I felt like it'd still seem like it was an odd gift to receive; plus I would say I did a good job in picking out a nicely decorated one. The glass of the vase was crystal clear, with a silver trimming on its wings and beak, while the eyes were blue crystals. She already knew what her gift was going to be anyway; I couldn't help but tell her since once she found out that we'd be secret Santas to one another, she was begging me to tell her what I had in mind. Of course, she had to play it up like she didn't know, as I would have to do the same after I managed to get the details to my gift out of her as well.
The girls chuckled while most of the guys looked puzzled by the gift. She shrugged it off while Mrs. Idle walked over to me. She handed my present – which felt much like a book – before she walked back to the tree. I quickly tore the paper off of it, and almost wanted to laugh now that I got to see the present.
It was a simple "How To … For Dummies" kind of book, with this specific being titled "How to Win Over With the Ladies, For Dummies."
"What did you get, Ed?" I heard Mike ask off in the back. I held up the book instead of verbally answering. I could hear the other members of the group reading the title out loud to themselves, before I could heard the guys laughing and snickering. The ladies of the group were scoffing and rolling their eyes at it. Mrs. Idle soon gathered everyone else's attention to her and she continued with passing out the secret Santa gifts to the others, effectively distracting them. I glanced over at Bella ever so slightly, and saw that she was doing the same. She winked quickly to me, and I smirked a little to myself.
The exchange passed by. Soon we heard a bell going off, signaling that we had to head out to our last few classes of the day. Everyone began scrambling up to gather their gifts and bags but Mrs. Idle cleared her throat loudly which caused everyone to stop and give their attention to her. I'm pretty sure we all shared similar confused expressions on our faces, wondering what she was going to say.
"So, I want to start by saying I hope you all enjoy this Secret Santa exchange," she paused when several students in the group gave out noises of agreement to the statement. "Wonderful. Now, I want to wish you all happy holidays and that there is one more surprise. Tomorrow, with it being Saturday, we know that some of you are probably are going to either be busy with preparations to head home for the holidays or the finals that are coming up. With that in mind, the staff and I have decided to put together one last dance of sorts, another winter dance that's for you all. It is last minute I know, and we just had one last weekend. But we hope that at least most of you will try to make it if you're not all busy. And, as a bonus, the main theme is ugly Christmas sweaters and I had talked to Mr. Horris hoping that possibly if some of you who are willing to volunteer, would sing for this dance as there is a few songs lined up. If any of you are interested, you can come talk to me now before you run off or shoot me an email. Now, I'll let you all go and once again, I hope you all have a wonderful break!" her proposition ended and soon after some of the students continued on their way out. I could see from the corner of my eye Alice, Rosalie, Bella, Angela and Jessica were making their way over to Mrs. Idle.
"I'm betting those ladies are signing up for that tomorrow." Mike muttered to us on our way out, Jasper and Emmett leading the group with Mike, Ben, Kyle, Jason and I behind them.
"No doubt, I know Alice wouldn't give up an opportunity like this." Emmett snickered out, and I looked at him weirdly. What was so bad about them wanting to sign up for this?
"And…? I don't get you laughing at it." Jasper spoke up to voice my thoughts that I had at him.
"They're just using it as an opportunity to get out of running into us from the off hours of school. I was so planning on ambushing them with snowballs." We made all sounds of realization of his original plans. There was the prick that he was.
"Well, too bad so sad? It's not like I can believe you'd want to sign up for this anyways just so you can thwart their plans of sanctuary." I grumbled, rolling my eyes. I had my doubts that Emmett would even want to do it. It was going to be a cheesy dance anyhow; with the fact the theme of dress up were tacky, ugly Christmas sweaters, with also there being the stereotypical Christmas songs being played. I had my doubts too in the fact there was no way of knowing of how many of the students would be around to come to it or if it'd be a small gathering. Granted he could pull a fast one on me and change his mind. The big lug likes to have his moments of dressing up in a stupid manner.
"That, is where you are wrong my brother!" I jumped and out of my thoughts when his booming shout brought me back to reality. I looked over to see his shit-eater grin.
"Tonight, we are heading to the mall to get some ugly sweaters because we are going to this shin-dig, rocking out to some music and we are going to make the night a living hell for the ladies!"
I had a feeling that this would happen.
A/N: As much as I would like to push forward with some more plots in here, there's still some time that needs to pass before we can get to some exciting events. Sorry for the fillers, but 'tis all that I can get out amidst a small writer's block.
Any feedback is always appreciated
~LadyEleanora~
