XIV. Does it Count as Sexual Harassment if it's Only in Thought?

I didn't voice the decision I made regarding Edward. I was a coward and I wanted to keep his expectations low. If I fell short, it would be less heartbreaking.

The moment I started shivering, Edward released me.

Now, we sat on the back porch steps, a blanket draped across my shoulders.

"I broke my promise again," Edward noted. This time, he didn't sound as repentant.

"I'd say text me before showing up next time, but I keep forgetting I don't have a phone any more," I huffed, rubbing at my tired eyes.

Edward's question was perfectly innocent. "What happened to your cell phone?"

I froze momentarily, before a sardonic smile spread across my lips. "It's somewhere at the bottom of the ocean." Unless they recovered my body, and my phone along with it. I shook my head, smile falling flat. "Don't ask."

"Noted." When I shot him a look, he elaborated, "I have a list."

"A list," I repeated.

"Of questions."

And his perfect recall will make it impossible for him to forget. Stupid vampire quirks. "Is it in chronological order, or order of importance?"

Edward looked at me oddly, but answered, "Chronological, I guess."

"Which is the first?" I felt a little bad, asking a question I wasn't likely to answer, but too curious for my own good.

"What's in Arizona," he recalled, "When we were in Sequim, I asked about your mom. You said you didn't want to talk about Arizona."

"Ah," I said, allowing the subsequent silence to stretch out.

"That's a lie," he then admitted, "There's another before that one, but I'm unsure if what you said was mere jest." I prompted him with a curious look, and he said, "You made a joke―about this not being your first time attending high school."

I nodded, vaguely remembering his reference. "It wasn't a joke."

"But...you are human?" Edward's gaze was sharp and bore down on me.

"One hundred percent," I quipped. "Lost your patience yet?"

I yelped when Edward suddenly pulled me close, although the blanket remained a barrier. "Never," he grinned, pecking me on the cheek.

I laughed. "Good for you."

"Although, I guess that explains your ease with the material," he observed, keeping me tucked at his side. "Barring biology, of course," he chuckled.

"Ugh," I groaned. "I worked my ass off to get an A in biology the first time around. Mind you, this was just bio, not bio II."

"You're doing just fine with it," he assured me. "Look at it this way―you could be taking anatomy."

My nose scrunched up. "Never. I will never take anatomy," I swore. Although that did bring up the question of Bella's transcript. I'd have to get a copy―she probably hadn't even taken physics.

"I assume that's a no to med school," he laughed.

I snorted. "Without a doubt." Knowing this could easily lead up to our earlier argument about college, I asked, "Whatever happened to my mp3 player? It's been ages."

"Alice is working on it right now," Edward said, "She decided you needed more variety, so I left her to it." The mention of Alice piqued my curiosity. Edward had seen her thoughts regarding her past―how was she handling it? Certainly better than I am.

I decided to leave it alone for now.

"Leave it to the psychic," I laughed and patted his cheek. "Good idea."

Edward leaned into my touch until we were close enough that our noses brushed. His lids fell shut as he basked in the warmth of my hand. My eyes softened and my heart swelled with something warm and tender. For a long while, I rested my gaze on him, roaming over the expanse of his brow, the slope of his nose, the curve of his lips. I would've never imagined how easily it would be to care about him, but then―his gentle patience with me, his laughter, his teasing, his intelligence. My heart overflowed and my breath stuck in my throat.

I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against his, brushing his cool cheek with my thumb. Part of me wished I could stay in this moment forever―no death or life; no pieces of me missing; no false pretences. Just the overwhelming urge to sink into Edward until I was consumed by his gentle love and protection. I wanted this to be my only reality. And for a short while, it was.

"Isabella."

His sweet breath fanned across my face and I blinked my eyes open, dazed. The aroma was sweeter than perfume, completely intoxicating. The moment I met the burnt ichor of his eyes, I knew then, I could never run away from him. Not of my own will. If the day ever came that he rejected me, I would run as far and as long as I could. But for now, he would remain my anchor. For as long as he wished, he would keep me from drifting, and not a moment longer.

I pulled away and swept my gaze across the treeline, barely visible in the gloom.

"What's the plan for today?"

The silence stretched and I could feel the weight of Edward's gaze. I hadn't meant to break our moment so abruptly―had done so instinctually.

When he finally shifted his eyes, Edward pulled me closer and tugged at my messy hair while he said, "We are to meet our class at six-thirty. The buses will be parked by the front office."

"And then?" I was pretty worn out and the details escaped me.

"And then," Edward hummed, twirling a lock of my hair between his fingers, "It's a three-and-a-half-hour drive to Seattle, a tour of the Burke Museum, a break for lunch, and some free-time before we return."

At my grimace, he suggested, "Or, we could always ditch."

"Don't tempt me," I snorted, snuggling closer. Despite feeling like I was turning into an icicle, I refused to move an inch.

"Where's Alice?"

A few hours later found us waiting near a pair of greyhound buses with the majority of our junior class milling about. Mr. Mason had already directed us to get into pairs―Jessica had sent me a thumbs up, her other hand clasped with Mike's, and Angela had been nice enough to buddy up with Eric.

Edward's response was a low murmur that had me leaning closer, "Already on their way to Seattle. They booked a flight to Biloxi last night, not long after we left."

"That makes sense." Despite everything I'd shared with Alice, it wasn't surprising that she wanted to take a look for herself. A pang of remorse hit me, when I started recalling the details I'd accidentally left out. "I wish I could have told her what she'd find."

Edward pressed something small and sleek into the palm of my hand. A quick glance revealed a razr flip-phone, a model I hadn't seen in fifteen years, back when my mom owned one. The sight was nostalgic and bittersweet―it made me feel closer to her.

"They are rather delicate, so we have a few extras laying around," he explained, "Alice wanted you to have one, in case she needed to get a hold of you. Imagine what you'll text her and she'll know."

I nodded and briefly closed my eyes. A grave. Records from the asylum archives. Old newspapers. A niece.

I held onto the thoughts a little longer, pretending I would send them to her via text.

My eyes shot open when the phone pinged. Flipping it open, I saw a text message from Alice.

Thank you.

"She got it," I smiled in relief.

"Thank you," Edward repeated, soft with gratitude. "From all of our family. It means a lot."

"Of course." I squeezed his hand, his icy temperature seeping through my gloves.

Once one of the teachers finished taking roll call, Edward turned and lead us to one of the buses. After we found a seat, I fiddled with the phone, ignoring any blatant stares shot our way. After everything with Alice and a night of fitful sleep, I'd forgotten what a fiasco school had been the day before.

Clicking the down button, I scrolled through the contacts to find all of Edward's family already added, as well as my home phone and Charlie's direct line at the station. I messed with it a little longer until I found that it had a storage size of 5.5 megabytes. What a tragedy. I snapped the phone shut and pocketed it before I could despair any longer.

"I wish I could say I did this all myself," Edward chuckled, holding up the mp3 player I'd purchased a week ago. "But as you know, I can't take all the credit."

I eagerly took it off his hands, unwrapping the ear buds around the frame, and scrolled the hundreds of songs Edward and Alice had uploaded. I only recognized about half of them. I thrust one of the ear buds into my ear, offering the other one to Edward, before hitting shuffle. I leaned back and closed my eyes, Muse blasting in my ears. They really outdid themselves.

When I blinked my eyes open, I found my face pressed against Edward's arm, mind groggy. "Did I fall asleep?" The rough texture of my voice was answer enough, but Edward explained regardless.

"You nodded off a few minutes after we left," he chuckled as I wiped my eyes clean of dust, trying not to smudge the concealer. "Much to the disappointment of our classmates."

I sat up and rolled my eyes. "Even if I hadn't, what did they expect?" I made sure to keep my voice low. If they had lost interest, I wanted to keep it that way.

Edward lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. "You said it yourself," he grinned crookedly, lifting a hand to brush my hair back into place, "They want a love story."

I sunk back into my seat and took Edward's hand in between my own, fiddling with his glacial fingers. "It's sweet, but bothersome," I grumbled. A glance out the window revealed we were arriving and I had been able to sleep for a full three hours. Impressive.

We filed out of the bus, and I was confused when I saw even more buses pulling up to the curve. "Are those from other schools?"

"Appears so," Edward confirmed, wrapping an arm comfortably around my shoulder. "Are you feeling better?"

I tilted my head up to shoot him a grateful smile. "Yeah. That's the best sleep I've gotten in the past four days. I feel so awake!"

"I've been thinking," he broached carefully, "If you should perhaps speak to Carlisle about being prescribed with sleeping medication."

"Oh." My brow puckered into a frown. "I hadn't thought of that. I guess…I was hoping they would go away on their own," I sighed, mentally cursing my damn nightmares. "But yeah, I think I'd like that."

Edward appeared relieved by my easy agreement. I couldn't imagine why―I hated those dreams just as much, if not more.

"Two bimbos―incoming." I startled at Jessica's sudden appearance at my side.

Approaching us was a pair of girls―rather pretty, but unfamiliar. Going by the number of students streaming out from the other buses, I could only assume they were students from one of the other high schools.

"Hey! What school are you from?"

It was a friendly enough question―if it weren't for the fact that both their eyes were glued to Edward's face. Honestly, I was a little offended. He literally had an arm draped around my shoulders―what was I, chopped liver?

"Forks High," Jessica snipped at my side, once again reminding me of her presence. I was a little grateful, seeing as the girls had left me speechless. I didn't know whether to laugh or abandon Edward to the vultures. But that would be mean.

"Like the utensil?" one of them snickered, briefly meeting Jessica's glare before once again becoming enraptured with Edward's towering figure.

"That's right," Edward replied coolly. "Can we help you?" He pulled me closer as though to shield himself―with those gooey eyes, I could only imagine what they were thinking.

Should I come to his rescue or nah? I mentally contemplated.

The taller girl was quick to answer, "Oh, we thought you looked familiar from a distance, but I guess not." Which was pretty weak as far as excuses went, because I sincerely doubted anyone they knew resembled Edward. I still had to give them props for being brave enough to walk up to us so casually―I sure as hell would never do that.

"No," Edward said, already turning from them. It was rude, but effective.

"M-maybe we'll see you inside?" the small blonde tacked on before she completely lost Edward's attention.

"Not likely," Jess sneered, "Bye."

They shot twin glares in Jessica's direction before they marched off with indignant huffs. As soon as they disappeared, Jessica whirled in my direction. "Isabella! Why didn't you run them off?" she demanded, expression peeved.

I wrinkled my nose, trying to hold back my laughter. "If having Edward wrapped around me wasn't hint enough, I'm not sure what I could've said," I answered dryly.

"You could've said plenty," Jess sniffed.

"She was too busy trying not to laugh at me," Edward looked down at me accusingly.

"That obvious?" I laughed sheepishly.

At the call of her name, Jess began turning towards Mike. "Quit being oblivious, Isabella! They aren't the only ones eyeing you two," Jessica huffed before flouncing off in Mike's direction.

While we waited for the teachers and chaperones to do a last head count, Edward muttered, "Why do I get the feeling you would've abandoned me back there?"

I pressed my lips into a thin line before I could laugh at him. "It did occur to me briefly, but I opted not to."

"You weren't even a little jealous?" he teased me.

If what he felt for me was a fraction of what he'd felt for Bella, then I wasn't inclined to worry.

Although that hardly kept me from teasing him in return. "Introduce me to Tanya and maybe I will be."

Edward blanched. If a vampire could turn red, I had no doubt Edward's face would be bright as a tomato right now. The embarrassment was heavy in his voice when he muttered, "Of course you know about that."

I snickered and gently elbowed him, "Don't sound so glum, babe."

He ducked his head and pressed a kiss against the top of my head. "You also know there's nothing between Tanya and I, right?" Edward murmured seriously near my ear.

His earnest voice softened me into a puddle of goo. "I do," I angled my head up and flashed him a grin, "But I expect you'll keep up the same attitude around girls even when I'm not around."

"I'll have to if you're so ready to abandon me," Edward sighed, lips twitching into a crooked grin.

"Hey, I only very briefly thought about it," I argued.

Edward pulled me along before our class could leave us in the dust. "I certainly can't know that," he reminded me. Mental shield for the win!

I shrugged. "Yeah, let's keep it that way."

It wasn't until we split into groups to tour the place, that I recalled we were in a natural history museum―you know, the type with dinosaur bones, native art, and biological collections.

We were up on the third floor, in the paleontology exhibit when we were called for lunch.

"Eric, knock it off," Ange tried to scold her wayward partner, but wasn't very successful in concealing her laughter.

I snickered, watching as Eric and Mike messed around with the little dinosaur replicas, reenacting the comet strike that wiped out all the dinosaurs. It was kindergarten all over again.

I jumped when a sharp elbow suddenly jabbed me in the ribs. "Where's Edward?"

"Huh? He's by the fossil display case," I answered Jessica, jumping forward to catch the scattered dinosaur figurines before they could hit the floor. "No, Mike! Not Littlefoot!"

"Sorry, but the comet spares no lives," Mike shrugged with little remorse, swiping the last of the figurines into their designated bin.

"Isabella, look," Jessica prodded me again. With a huff, I followed her gaze to find yet another pair of girls accosting poor Edward.

"He'll live," I patted her shoulder.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes, "Come on guys, Mr. Mason's calling us down for lunch!"

I stored away the bin before sauntering across the room to Edward's side. "Lunch time, babe!" I announced, tangling my fingers with his. The two girls talking to Edward startled at my sudden appearance, and then became red in the face when Edward's lips curled into a devastating grin. Sheesh, I almost feel bad for them.

"T-this is your girlfriend?" one stammered, expression simultaneously flustered and disillusioned.

"Took a minute, but he eventually wore me down," I nodded solemnly. The duo looked offended on Edward's behalf and I had to hold back a snicker. "Now if you'll excuse us, food awaits."

Edward gladly followed, first at my heels, and then overtaking me, urging me to walk faster. "Where's the fire?" I huffed as he pulled me along, down the staircase.

"Their thoughts were rather...visceral." Edward physically shuddered.

"Yikes," I grimaced sympathetically. "I wish there was a way you could turn it off―oh." It suddenly occurred to me―if Alice could have visions while human, who's to say I couldn't control my mental shield as a human?

I nearly stumbled when Edward came to an abrupt halt, but his other hand landed on my shoulder and steadied me. "What are you thinking?" he asked, tawny eyes boring into mine.

"I… Okay, don't get your hopes up, but there might be a way I can turn it off for you," I admitted, a little reluctantly. Edward turned and pulled me along until we were on the second floor, avoiding another group of students headed towards the stairs. We rushed across the way, until we turned and reached an empty corridor.

"How can that be possible?" Edward demanded as soon as he was sure we were alone.

"Right. So, you, Alice, and Jasper―you're all gifted. I am too," I explained, reaching up to tap a finger against my temple. "The way you're a mind-reader, I'm a mental shield."

Edward's eyes lit up. "That's why I can't read your thoughts."

"Exactly," I nodded, "Shielding my mind is a natural ability―I've never attempted to control the shield beyond what it can already do for me. But like any other gift, it can be expanded upon."

"So if you were able to extend your shield beyond just yourself, you could shield others―could shield me!" Edward's excitement was contagious.

"Precisely!" I matched his grin for a moment, before it fell flat. "The problem is," I hedged, "I don't know if it'll work. The majority of gifts don't manifest so strongly without the venom."

Edward's face instantly turned to stone. "Absolutely not."

"I'm not asking for that," I huffed with an eye roll. "I'm just warning you―I may not be able to help you, but I can try."

His rigid posture loosened. "Right. Thank you."

I didn't get a chance to reply. In one swift motion, Edward slid his hand along my jaw, tilting it just right for him to lean down and press his frigid lips against mine. It lasted for a second, maybe two, before he pulled back, but the simple touch had me dazed―heart stuttering, cheeks burning hot, warm affection spreading across my chest and down to the tips of my toes.

I ran my tongue across my lips―a vivid memory of sweet frozen yogurt freezing my lips on a hot summer day flashed through my mind.

Edward's eyes were gentle, brimming with something warm and tender.

The moment was cut short when he angled his head away. "They're looking for us."

I followed after, still dazed.

After lunch and another two hours of touring the exhibits, we were given two options―touring the University of Washington campus (where the museum was located) or walking up to 45th, where some of the shops and restaurants were, near the university apartment complexes.

Of course, Edward was eager for me to take a look around campus, but it honestly wasn't that different from the one I'd personally attended. Instead, I joined the majority of the girls who wanted to go shopping, with Edward ruefully joining me.

"Alice will be sorry she missed this," Edward chuckled, walking beside me at a sedate pace, a little further back from the gaggle of girls and accompanying chaperones.

"She'll be devastated," I laughed, "I like clothes, but I'm not too eager to become her personal doll."

"I might be able to hold her off a smidge longer," Edward offered.

I swung our locked hands back and forth, expression pensive. "That's not at all reassuring," I mumbled.

"She's a force of nature," he chuckled, tugging me closer. "But I can talk her down if you're really opposed."

I shook my head. "Nah," I grinned, "I doubt―what's the matter?" I frowned as I watched Edward's gaze snap to our left.

"Catch up with the group," he ordered sternly, before leaving my side and vanishing amongst the pedestrians.

I scowled, worry gnawing at my gut as I picked up my pace. Even though I eventually caught up, I didn't join the girls. Instead, I maintained my presence at the back of the group, keeping an eye out for Edward―or whatever had spooked him. That was mistake number one.

Mistake number two was coming to a halt the moment I caught a glimpse of a corpse-pale face, ready to give Edward the third degree.

In a split second, I was spirited away into a dank alley, a cold forearm across the expanse of my chest keeping me in place, a ridged wall digging uncomfortably into my back.

I didn't have time to gain my bearings before I locked my gaze with a pair of rusty red eyes.

A/N: Well...that just happened. How will this end? Not sure yet. But I hope you enjoyed the chapter! :)

Dedicated to FriendlyFire who subtly peer pressured me into updating this. Truly, what a gem.

Anyway, let me know your thoughts on this please! And thank you so much for reading! :)