*Edward*
I stared at the ceiling the next day, laying on my back on my now very beloved couch with my hands resting on my stomach and my ankles crossed over each other. The television was on but I hadn't been paying very much attention to it, instead thinking and impatiently waiting for the best part of my day to begin.
I had an hour and a half until Bella could come home. And then I had forty-nine and a half hours until I had her entirely to myself for an entire week.
She would be home with me, no interruptions and I would be able to return the favor she'd been so adamant on not letting me do yesterday.
She'd stubbornly insisted that the whole day was entirely about me. She'd said that I had had a rough day and was more in need of being pampered and pleasured than she did and would not let me touch her for more than kissing and holding and innocent touches that had driven me almost insane.
I told her that. And she'd only laughed at me and danced out of my reach. The day had apparently been about what I wanted and needed.
Well, damn it, I had wanted to return the favor.
I honestly had no idea that it was going to turn into anything like that. I'd hoped – oh God, I'd started hoping the minute the word massage left her mouth – that something would come of it and when I saw that bag of oils she'd brought with her, I thought my heart had stopped.
And the minute she had her hands on me, rubbing my back and my shoulders, the response was immediate. Hell, it had merely taken her sitting on my thighs to have me at half-mast but when she'd added that oil…
And then when she'd touched me, it was like Heaven. And I hadn't wanted to let go of her for the rest of the day. I needed her in my arms, I needed to touch her, I needed to be with her and god damn it, I needed to return the favor.
But she wasn't having that. She'd said that I'd had a hard day and shouldn't think that she expected anything in return. She wanted to do that for me – to me – to show me that despite how much she'd laughed at me while I was down, she loved me all the same.
It was maddeningly frustrating.
Especially when I really started to think about it because she hadn't had the easiest day, either. She'd spent most of the morning – while I was snoring away in my warm, comfortable bed upstairs – outside in the cold snow with a machine that still terrified me when I saw her behind it.
If anything, she deserved the pampering and massage much more than I really did. I'd just fallen a bunch of times while she'd actually done something physically challenging that couldn't have felt good at the end of the day.
And when she still wouldn't let me do anything while we were getting ready to go to sleep, I'd finally growled into her neck and had given up. She'd merely laughed softly, patted my cheek, kissed me once and then snuggled up against me before falling asleep.
As if it was that simple to actually forget about.
So I vowed, in the few still-conscious moments I had to myself before I fell asleep with her, that I'd find a day to make all about her and she wouldn't be able to deny me anything that I wanted to do to her.
And there were a lot of things that I wanted to do to her.
Tilting my head to the side, I pursed my lips up at the ceiling.
Maybe I could attempt to make her dinner tonight. Or maybe I could just order something in for the both of us. Or maybe I could go online and find a fool-proof, idiot-proof recipe that was easy enough for me to make for her.
She did too much for me. And after working the long hours she had this week, she deserved a night that was completely stress free.
I jumped off the couch, grinning as I flipped off the television and started to walk up the stairs to get my laptop.
I stopped when I heard footsteps on the porch and stood up straight, tilting my head again. Why was someone here? No one should be here; Bella had an hour and a half until she was out of work and I didn't know anyone else around here well enough to have them walking up to my front door.
I held my breath, waiting for someone to either start screaming for me on the other side of the door or to knock and then take off running.
The knock did sound through and I jumped, still holding my breath as I slowly made my way to the door, mashing my face against the peephole as I reached it.
Bella stood there, wringing her hands around her purse straps with her bottom lip caught in between her teeth.
I started breathing again, my eyebrows drawn together as I grabbed the doorknob.
And then I grinned, yanking open the door and fighting the urge to tackle her to the ground when I saw her.
She was home early. She was knocking for some reason that I didn't quite understand, but at least she was home early.
"Why are you knocking?" I asked, reaching out and grabbing her hand to pull her inside.
"Uh…" She laughed nervously and shrugged one of her shoulders, slowly setting her purse on the table and then shedding her coat as I closed the door behind her. "Just… habit?"
When she draped her coat over the back of the rocking chair, I was quick to wrap my arms around her and pull her against me, eagerly planting my mouth on hers.
When she failed to respond the way she normally did, I pulled away and grabbed her face in my hands to stare down at her.
"What's wrong?"
She shook her head, closing her eyes and biting her bottom lip before walking out of my arms and into the kitchen.
"I, uhm… Rosalie came by and wants me to go out with her and Angela tonight," she called over her shoulder.
I stared after her, my mouth slightly hanging open and my hands still in the air where they'd been cupping her face before I dropped them to my sides and slowly started to follow after her.
Not the way we usually greeted each other when she came home.
I didn't like this new way very much, either. In fact, I didn't like it at all.
"Okay," I said slowly, watching as she began pulling out a bag of frozen shrimp I hadn't been aware was in my freezer in the first place. "And that's what has you so jumpy?"
"Who's jumpy?" she laughed nervously again, shaking her head as she threw the bag onto the counter and grabbed a box of angel hair pasta from a bottom cabinet. "I'm fine."
"Yeah, okay." I walked over to her and grabbed her arm before she could retrieve the pot I'm sure was next on her list of distractions. "I'm not an idiot, Bella. You come home early, you're acting weird and you expect me to think that everything's just as fine as it was this morning?"
"Jessica came back early," she shrugged a shoulder and licked her lips. "That's why I'm home early."
"So you're telling me that you're on your vacation right now?"
I should've been excited about this. Instead, my heart had lodged itself in the pit of my stomach and I was beginning to feel slightly sick.
She very obviously wasn't happy about this and there were only about a million things running through my brain for reasons why.
"What day are you leaving, Edward? All you said to me was that you were leaving before Christmas but you never gave me a specific date."
I sucked in a sharp, deep breath and clenched my jaw, keeping my eyes trained on hers.
I hadn't told her. It never even really occurred to me to mention it; it was just something that we both knew was happening. Something that I'd come to resent and something that I didn't want to think about any more than I already had.
Why did we need it looming over our heads all the time when we were just able to be together without complications? Why did we even need to bring it up until it was absolutely necessary?
"The twenty-second," I finally said softly.
"Then no," she said calmly, nodding once. "My vacation doesn't start until Monday."
I sighed, quickly ramming a hand through my hair as I continued to look into her eyes in a very sad attempt at reading her mind.
"Bella, what is wrong? You're… you're not… you!"
Her face softened and I could practically see her giving in, her entire body seeming to relax as she took a step forward and curled up against me, her head on my chest. I wrapped my arms around her, more confused than ever as I rested my cheek on the top of her head.
"It's just been a really rough day," she said softly. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize." I closed my eyes, squeezing her tightly and slowly beginning to rock us from side to side. "Just tell me why."
"I'd really rather not talk about it right now. I just want to forget about it."
"Okay," I said slowly, rubbing her back. "Then can I ask why my departure date makes a difference with your vacation?"
"Jessica made it very damn clear today that she was only going to be working by herself for exactly one week. And if you're leaving on the twenty-second, then I need to work until Monday so that I can go with you to the airport."
I squeezed my eyes even tighter together and hissed in another deep breath.
"Bella, you don't need to do that."
"Yes, I do. I want every minute with you Edward, and that means saying goodbye to you at the airport."
A sharp pain erupted in my chest and I squeezed her even tighter, bending down to bury my nose in her neck.
That word; that one painfully simple word was enough to almost bring me to my knees.
"It's not goodbye," I choked out, shaking my head. "It's just…"
She cut me off, grabbing the sides of my face in her hands and forcefully pressing her lips to mine. I immediately responded to her, my mouth opening to hers and our tongues tangling together as I tried pulling her even closer to me.
I didn't even want to think about it. I still had time left to be here; to be with her and the last thing I wanted to do was think about leaving her.
I felt what I could only guess was a tear brush against my cheek and slowly pulled away from her. She was shaking her head, her eyes closed as she wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face in my chest.
"Bella," I whispered, brushing hair behind her ears and bending down to rest my chin on her shoulder. "Talk to me."
I had never been this terrified and worried about something someone else was thinking before. Bella wasn't the type to cry over nothing. And the fact that she wasn't telling me why was enough to make me even more paranoid than I usually was.
"I don't want you to go," she whispered, still shaking her head. "I know that you have to and that you need to, but I just…"
She shifted and I stood up straight, looking down at her and swallowing hard at the tears making their way down her cheeks.
"I don't want you to," she finished quietly, sniffling softly and reaching up to run her hands through my hair.
"Come with me," I blurted out.
She breathed out a laugh and shook her head, sucking in a deep breath through her nose as twin tears fell down her cheeks.
"You know that I can't go with you the same way I know that you can't stay here." She huffed out a breath and pressed her lips together. "I'm just gonna miss you so much."
I wiped away the tears on her cheeks, taking a deep breath and wrapping my arms around her again.
"I'm gonna miss you just as much," I whispered into her ear, kissing her temple. "But I'm gonna call you every damn day and we're going to make as many damn plans to see each other as we can. I love you too much not to."
She was quiet, sniffling slightly before backing away from me.
"Come with me tonight," she whispered, placing her hands on my chest and looking up at me. "Come out with us tonight. We'll figure something out to make sure that no one sees you, okay? I just…"
"I'll go," I interrupted quickly, shaking my head. "And I don't need a hat or a disguise or anything. I'm not hiding anymore."
She raised an eyebrow at me and I smiled softly, reaching up to wipe the remainder of the tears off of her cheeks.
"Let everyone in the damn world know that I'm with you," I whispered, leaning down to kiss her softly. "I don't care anymore, Bella."
"But, Edward…"
"I'm not going to let anything happen to you and I'm not leaving your side for the entire night. I want everyone to see me with you."
"But aren't you…?"
"I love you," I whispered, kissing her again. "And it's about time that everyone knows it."
"Not even the bandana? You could probably throw a lot of people off by just wearing that."
"I'm not wearing anything."
She immediately pressed her lips together and I watched as the corners of her mouth started to twist up before I realized what I'd said.
"I didn't really mean…" I started, shaking my head furiously.
"You'll get a lot more attention that way," she squeaked before leaning forward to bury her head in my chest again.
At least she wasn't crying anymore and I chuckled with her, my arms once again winding around her and holding her tightly against me.
"The only kind of attention I want from something like that is yours," I whispered into her ear, gently kissing the side of her neck.
"Well, you'd definitely have it." She looked up at me again, offering me a bright smile and I breathed a little easier, my heart settling back into my chest from its almost permanent residence in my stomach. "And I wouldn't let you out of the house anyway, so it's a moot point."
My stomach tightened and I nearly swallowed my tongue as I was assaulted with some pretty damn amazing images at her words.
"Hm," I managed, leaning down and kissing her again. "Do we really have to go out tonight?"
"According to Rosalie, I need a night out."
She sighed before kissing me once more and backing away from me, bending down and grabbing a pot out of the cabinet.
So much for those images.
I leaned against the sink, crossing my arms over my chest and watching as she grabbed the bag of shrimp and ripped it open.
I didn't want to see that sad look back on her face or those tears in her eyes ever again, but not knowing what had gotten her so upset in the first place and not being able to fix it for her like I desperately wanted to was enough to drive me insane.
She was supposed to be able to talk to me and tell me about all of the things that were bothering her. That was one of the things I was here for; someone for her to talk to and let out all of her aggravation when she needed to.
"And you're still not going to tell me why, are you?"
"It's just…" She shook her head, waving a hand at me as she dumped the shrimp into the pot and set the empty bag next to her. "Work stuff."
And it was like the room got just that much brighter as I was finally able to piece it all together.
The proverbial light bulb had finally turned on.
I should've seen it before. I should've realized it long before now.
Shows how observant I really am.
Bella hadn't been this upset after a day of work since Jessica had left for her vacation. She'd been exhausted the whole past week, but she hadn't ever come home crying since the first night she'd stayed with me.
"It was Jessica, wasn't it?"
I watched her hands twitch on the handle of the pot as she grabbed it and walked over to me, gently nudging me out of the way to turn on the tap water and shove the pot underneath it.
"Bella," I said slowly, watching as her jaw tensed. "Bella, what did she do?"
"She didn't do anything," she sighed quietly, flipping off the tap when the pot was half full. "And that was the problem."
"So you came home crying and demanding to know when I was leaving because she didn't do anything all day?"
She walked over to the stove and carefully set the pot on one of the burners, flipping the knob to turn it on.
"She knew," she said quietly before bending down to grab another pot and walk back over to the sink.
"She knew what?"
"She knew when you were leaving. And she had a magazine article to prove to me that you weren't actually dating me."
She looked over at me, quickly flipping the tap water on again and sticking the pot underneath the stream of water.
Again, the room got a little brighter with the realization of what she was talking about and I closed my eyes tightly, reaching up to rub my forehead with my fingertips.
Damn Jeannie and her crafty, completely justifiable ways.
"That was before we'd started dating, Bella," I said quietly, opening my eyes again to find that she was staring intently at the water. "It was the night you first kissed me."
She nodded, her eyes still trained on the water.
"It was about the day you got screamed at in Price Chopper, I know," she said softly. "It was an older article."
I was half tempted to start bashing my head against the wall. If she knew that it was old and that we hadn't started dating yet, then why had she come home so damn upset?
"But you never told me when you were leaving," she continued, her voice still soft. "You never gave me a day."
"I didn't want…"
"Jessica said that you were just going to up and leave me." Her voice was strained as she interrupted me and I swallowed hard, shaking my head. "That I'd wake up that morning and you'd just be gone."
"Bella…"
"I know you'd never do that," she said, her voice shaking and squeaking. "But just the way that she said it... Like she was so sure she was right…"
I reached over and slapped off the running water, pulling her back into my arms and holding her tightly, running my hands down her hair.
"And I’m sorry," she sobbed into my chest, her arms wrapping tightly around my waist. "I'm sorry for listening to her and for coming home like this but I… the thought of you leaving is hard enough and to have…"
"It's okay," I whispered into her ear, rocking us from side to side. "Bella, it's okay."
"No!" she wailed, shaking her head and clutching on to me. "It's not okay! It's not okay that I let her get into my head like that! That's the way she is and I know that! I know better!"
"Shh, Bella, calm down," I whispered again, cupping the back of her head in my hand and resting my cheek against her temple.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, burying her nose into my chest.
"There's nothing for you to be sorry about." I turned and kissed the side of her head, closing my eyes and tightening my grip around her. "I should've told you before this."
"I should've known better."
"Stop it," I whispered, shaking my head. "This is going to happen, Bella, and it's not going to get any better or any easier."
I squeezed my eyes together tightly, for one minute completely regretting letting my heart rule over my head and starting a relationship with her regardless of everything that she'd have to go through for me.
"But I know you," she whimpered, turning her head to rest her cheek on my chest. "And I know you wouldn't do that to me. I love you, Edward, and I'm sorry."
The regret immediately started to dissipate and I shook my head at myself. Maybe I shouldn't have let myself get tangled up with her this way, but there was nothing that I'd do to ever change it.
I'd never been this happy with anyone else before. There hadn't been anyone to make me feel like Bella had in the short amount of time that we'd been together.
She was going to end up being hurt and she'd have to deal with a hell of a lot more than Jessica when word finally spread that we were together. And the guilt that would undoubtedly flow through my body when I heard her on the phone like this and wasn't around to protect her or hold her to reassure her that things would be okay would eat at me until I could see her again.
I sucked in a deep breath and stood up a little straighter.
I wasn't giving up on us. I wasn't running away because Alice had been right… no matter how much that pained me to admit it.
Any normal girl in this situation would have doubts.
Bella was a normal girl that I'd fallen in love with and it was my job to make sure that those doubts didn't pull us apart.
She was too important and meant too much to me to have something like this end up tearing us apart.
I wasn't going to lose her over something like this.
"There's this thing one of the other actors taught me on my very first movie," I said softly, running my hand down her hair again. "What is the one thing you can't look at without laughing?"
She sniffled and backed away slightly to look up at me, her eyebrow raised and her eyes red.
"What?"
"What's the one thing that you can't look at without laughing?" I asked again, shrugging my shoulders. "Humor me."
She sighed heavily and twisted her lips to the side, closing her eyes as she concentrated. I watched for a few seconds before her lips started to curl up into a smile and her eyes slowly opened again.
"Bananas."
Not what I'd been expecting…
"Bananas?" I asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow of my own.
Her smile widened as she nodded.
"My father tried making banana pudding for I don't know what reason." She giggled a little and I smirked at her, watching as she shook her head and continued, "And when he had to peel the bananas, the stem broke off of one and he didn't know how to get it out. So," she interrupted herself to giggle again, "he tried peeling it apart on his own. When that didn't work, he grabbed a butter knife instead."
"This can't be good," I mumbled.
She laughed and shook her head again.
"He's almost as clumsy as I am and for some odd reason that he still hasn't explained to me, the banana peel was wet and the knife slipped off. He almost chopped off his finger, but he was damned and determined that he was going to get this one banana out of its peel."
"Didn't he have others?"
"Yes. But he wanted this one."
"Sounds like someone else I know," I mumbled, leaning down to nudge my nose against her cheek.
"Hm," she mumbled, reaching up to place one hand on my cheek. "Anyway, he gave up on the knife, his finger bleeding all over the place, and grabbed the banana in both hands. He was really pissed off at that point," she laughed, her hand moving from my cheek to run through my hair.
I smiled, leaning my head into her hand and closing my eyes.
For the first time that night, her voice didn't sound sad and dejected. She didn't sound as if her heart was being ripped out and I could afford to relax a little, leaning into her and listening to her.
"When I came home from school approximately ten minutes later, I walked in to find that he'd squeezed the banana so hard that it had oozed out into his hands, onto the floor and when he'd tried cleaning it up after massive amounts of screaming at it, he'd somehow managed to slip on the mess. When I walked into the kitchen, he was laying on his back, still screaming at the ceiling that the banana had tried to kill him with his finger in the air and blood streaming down his hand."
I laughed, burying my face into her shoulder and shaking my head.
"I had to bring him to the emergency room to get his finger stitched together once he managed to get off the floor and clean up the blood but let me tell you," she laughed, her hand still in my hair as she turned her head so that her lips were resting on my jaw, "explaining how he'd done that with a straight face was not an easy task."
I continued laughing, thinking that only someone related to Bella could end up in any kind of situation like that. Over a banana of all things.
"To this day, I can't even look at a banana without laughing hysterically at it."
She kissed my jaw, still laughing.
"So are you going to tell me what the whole point of me telling that story to you was?"
I stood up straight again, still laughing as I pressed my lips against her forehead and left a series of kisses there.
"Every time Jessica starts saying something that upsets you, just picture her as… well, as a banana."
The burst of laughter that erupted from her throat had me laughing again, my nose buried back into her shoulder as I rubbed my hands over her back and slowly started to sway back and forth with her.
"You can't keep a straight face or be mad at a banana."
"That's what you do?" she asked, pushing me away to look up at me.
I nodded, laughing as I pushed hair behind her ear again and leaned down to kiss her softly.
"That's what I do."
"And it works for you?"
"Every time," I grinned, kissing her again.
She laughed and wrapped her arms around my neck, swaying with me as she sighed out a deep breath and nodded.
"Okay. I'll picture her as a damn banana."
She snorted and I smiled, laughing quietly before turning to rest my cheek on her shoulder.
"Do that with everyone that says something that makes you feel like this. And if that doesn't work, come home and talk to me about it. Don't hide from me," I whispered into her ear.
"I didn't want it to upset you."
"The only thing that upsets me is knowing that you're upset. It's not always going to be easy, Bella; you knew that. But I'm here," I whispered again, "and I'll always be here when you need me."
She nodded, her hands back in my hair and her fingernails gently running back and forth across the back of my head.
"I know and I know that I just need to toughen up a little more."
I felt her chest puff up against mine and smirked.
The worst was over; she'd calmed down and she was almost back to being the Bella that I loved and adored. Her breath was still hitching every once in a while and I'm sure that her eyes were still pretty red, but at least she was laughing and starting to joke around again.
"You're pretty perfect the way you are, you know," I mumbled, kissing the bottom of her ear.
She hummed and I smiled, taking the bottom of her ear into my mouth again.
"I guess you're not so bad, either."
I stopped and quickly stood up straight, looking down at her and narrowing my eyes.
"You guess?"
"No one's completely perfect," she shrugged, smiling innocently at me. "Especially the glamorous actor that has an ego two sizes too big."
"You really like having me attack you, don't you?"
She shrugged one shoulder, stood on her toes to kiss me quickly and then pranced out of my arms and back to the stove.
"If you do that, we won't be eating and knowing Rosalie, we're going to need every little bit of food in our stomachs to soak up all of the alcohol she'll make us consume tonight."
My mouth watered, but it had nothing to do with the food that she was currently making. Maybe it would be worth it to have the wrath of Rosalie breathing down my neck if I could just get my hands on her…
A spool of fishing line flashed in front of my eyes and I shivered, shaking my head.
No. I quite liked having every part of me attached and unharmed.
"You have to work tomorrow," I stated, clearing my throat and crossing my arms over my chest, pouting at her.
She shrugged again, grabbing an over sized spoon from the drawer next to her and stirring the shrimp.
"That's never made a difference before."
"So we're aiming to get drunk?"
"Buzzed," she clarified, pointing the spoon at me.
"Hm."
She looked over at me again, one eyebrow raised as she set the spoon in the middle of the stove. Walking over to me again, she grabbed the half full pot still sitting in the sink before quickly kissing my cheek and walking back to the stove.
"You're sure that you want to go without a hat?" she asked as she set the pot on a burner and flipped the knob to turn it on.
Sure? No. Damn terrified? A little. Completely willing to show her that I didn't give a fuck what everyone else was going to say? Yes.
"Yes."
She continued to eye me as she grabbed up the box of pasta and ripped open the top.
"All right."
Yes, because that sounded convincing. Now she was just making me nervous again.
"Are you okay with it?"
"I want you to be sure. I don't want you to do anything that you don't want to do."
I rolled my eyes and walked over to her, standing behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist.
"How many more damn times are you going to make me tell you that I don't do anything I don't want to?"
"About a hundred."
I laughed, shaking my head and leaning down to rest my chin on her shoulder.
"Smart ass," I mumbled.
"Mhmm," she hummed back, grabbing a handful of pasta and breaking it in half over the empty pot in front of her.
I kissed the side of her neck, linking my hands together on her stomach and rubbing my thumbs over her ribs.
"Where are we going?"
"Saratoga," she said, sighing. "It's a Friday night and there are always a lot of people out." She craned her neck around to look back at me. "No hat?"
I took a deep breath and shook my head, kissing her quickly.
"No hat."
"If you start feeling really uncomfortable or change your mind…"
"What are you making?" I interrupted, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Edward, I mean it."
"So do I," I laughed, jerking my chin down at the pots on the stove. "What are you making?"
She pursed her lips at me, huffing slightly before turning back around and grabbing another handful of pasta.
"Fettuccini Alfredo with shrimp."
I rested my chin back on her shoulder, pulling her against me once she'd dropped the pasta into the pot and dragging her with me to the middle of the room.
"Can I ask what you are doing?" she asked, placing her hands on my wrists when I'd stopped moving backwards.
"I'm trying to tell you that I want to go with you. I want to be everywhere that you are for as long as I possibly can be. I want to be me with you and if that means walking into the lion's den for the sake of feeling a little semblance of normalcy with my girlfriend, I'll do it." I kissed her neck, making my way up to her ear and smiling triumphantly when she tilted her head to the side. "I just want to be with you, Bella. It doesn't matter where it is or how many people are around as long as I'm there with you."
I reached up with one hand to push her hair off of the back of her neck, kissing a light trail up and down.
"Okay?"
"Mhmm," she whimpered.
"So for once today," I whispered, kissing my way back to her neck, "relax and just be with me, Bella."
"Okay," she whispered back, turning in my arms and looking up at me. "I can do that."
I wrapped my arms around her waist again, leaning down to kiss her softly.
"I love you."
She smiled and kissed me again, her hands moving up and weaving through my hair.
"I love you too."
I might've heard a knock on the front door, but chose to brush it off as I pulled Bella closer to me and kept her mouth firmly against mine.
This was how we usually greeted each other when she came home from work. And I'd missed this today so whoever may or may not have been at the door could wait or leave because I had no intention of letting her go any time soon.
"Hello? You two can't hide from me forever!"
We jumped apart when a woman's voice sounded through the house and I immediately tensed, pulling Bella tightly against me.
Who in the hell had enough audacity to just stroll into my house? And if I didn't know this person, then yes, I think it was very possible to hide from her forever.
I could always move.
"Rosalie, for Christ's sake, you can't just barge into his house like that!"
"Oh, God," Bella moaned, shaking her head and leaning forward to bury her head in my chest. "I'm so sorry."
I relaxed and laughed nervously, swallowing the large bubble of panic that had welled up in my chest as I shook my head and released my death grip on her waist slightly.
"Edward, Bella, I'm sorry for just barging in like this, but we're wasting time!" Rosalie's now recognizable shriek sounded from the living room.
My God, she sounded just like Alice. It's no wonder that those two had gotten along so well while she was here.
"I'm buying a deadbolt," I muttered, kissing the top of her head before letting her go and sighing heavily.
"Probably wouldn't be a bad idea," she grumbled, running her hands through her hair and standing up straight. "Rose!"
I heard heels clicking on my dining room floor and shook my head, running my hands through my hair and offering a small smile to Bella's apologetic glance.
"It's okay," I whispered, leaning forward and gently kissing her forehead.
"I've been calling you and standing over at your house for almost fifteen minutes," Rosalie huffed as she appeared in the doorway, her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed at Bella. "The least you could've done was left me a note."
"Guys, I'm sorry! I couldn't stop her!" Angela's voice called from the living room. "She never listens to me!"
"It's okay!" I called out, shaking my head again.
Rosalie's eyes snapped over to me and she smiled brightly. "Hello, Edward."
"Hey, Rosalie," I mumbled. "How's it going?"
"It'll be a lot better when Bella finally lets me kill her associate," she grinned innocently, shrugging one shoulder.
"I'll help you bury the body," I decided, nodding and laughing at her.
Okay, so maybe she wasn't that bad…
"And we have a plan!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands before placing them back on her hips.
"Guys," Bella sighed, shaking her head. "You can't kill her."
"Why not?" Angela asked, popping up behind Rosalie and peeking over her shoulder. "It's not like she actually does anything anyway." Then she smiled timidly at me, wiggling her fingers in my direction. "Hi, Edward."
I laughed at her and nodded. "Hi, Angela."
"Fire her!" Rosalie exclaimed again, throwing her hands out at her sides and huffing dramatically. "There's no logical reason to keep her there!"
"Aside from the fact that she'd probably own the damn store by the time I filed her termination papers?"
"I've got lawyers; you'll be fine."
"I'm tired of talking about this," she sighed again, running her hands through her hair before looking over at Rosalie. "You're early."
"I couldn't stop her, Bella. I tried stalling for as long as I could," Angela apologized again, shaking her head sadly.
I laughed again, leaning against the refrigerator casually and crossing my arms over my chest.
"I'm early because you need to go to work in the morning and the earlier that we start, the earlier that you'll be home in time for bed. And be glad," she started, pointing a dangerously long fingernail at both of us, "that I'm leaving you alone next week."
I leaned up and grinned over at her, fighting the urge to run over to her and hug her until she couldn't breathe anymore.
I wouldn't have to surrender Bella next Friday, either. I really would have an entire week with her to myself.
"I'm coming with you," I said quickly, nodding and standing up straight. "Tonight. I'm coming with you guys tonight."
Rosalie raised an eyebrow at me, her hand falling against her thigh before she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Are you wearing your hat, Edward?" Angela asked innocently. "Because I'm sure that I have one of Ben's baseball hats in the back of the car that you could use instead."
"No hat," I said for what felt like the twentieth time in just a few minutes. "I'm not hiding tonight."
"We're going to get trampled to death, aren't we?" Rosalie asked dryly.
"Rose!" Bella exclaimed, one of her hands shooting out in front of her as she pointed. "Can I talk to you?"
Before Rosalie could say anything, Bella was stalking towards her, hooking one arm around hers and dragging her out of sight.
"I'm really sorry," Angela apologized again.
I laughed and shook my head, looking over at the stove and wondering if I should've been stirring something.
"It's not a big deal. I'm just glad to see that it was the two of you and not some crazy stalker."
She laughed softly before walking over to me, hesitantly grabbing my hands in hers and squeezing them tightly.
"Uh," I mumbled, eyeing her wedding ring and straining to hear any traces of Rosalie's heels on the dining room floor.
That's just what I'd need at this point. To have Bella and Rosalie walk back into the kitchen to see my hands in Angela's and assume the worst; good Lord, I didn't want to be a part of that.
"She loves you," she said quietly.
I smirked and nodded, squeezing her hands in return as I relaxed a little.
She wasn't out to ruin my relationship with Bella. She was one of Bella's best friends and she was married. She was doing the best friend thing and telling me that Bella loved me so that she could get the reassurance that I loved her too.
I'd played this part in a few movies; I should've known the actions the minute they happened.
Not everyone in the world was out to get me and ruin things for me.
"I love her. Quite a bit, actually."
She smiled and stood up on her toes to kiss my cheek.
"I'm glad you're coming with us tonight."
She stepped back and over to the stove, flipping off the knobs and shaking her head down at the dinner that had sounded pretty damn good a few minutes ago.
"We're going to The Stadium to get something to eat," she explained, turning back to me. "Early Friday night ritual."
"We're eating in a stadium?"
"It's a restaurant on the main strip of Saratoga," she laughed. "Really good food."
"All right!" Rosalie shouted, her heels sounding through the dining room before she appeared in the doorway of the kitchen again. "I'm going over with Bella to help her get ready. Angela, help him."
She fluttered one of her hands in my direction and I pursed my lips, looking down at my well worn jeans and blue button-up shirt.
I looked fine. There was no need for me to change my clothes.
"Make him normal!" she ordered before sashaying out of the doorway.
I sputtered, drawing my eyebrows together and huffing until Bella came running into the kitchen to wrap her arms around my waist tightly.
"You're sure that you love me, right?" she asked meekly, looking up at me.
"If I didn't, I wouldn't be doing this." I smiled nervously and leaned down to kiss her softly. "Go."
"Bella!" Rosalie shrieked.
I could almost hear her tapping her toes on the living room carpet and shook my head, looking over at Angela as she stifled a laugh.
"Throw it all out," Bella sighed, motioning with her chin to the stove before leaning up and kissing me again. "I'll be back."
I nodded, kissing her once again before she walked out of my arms and into the dining room, her shoulders stiff and her face set.
"Do you honestly know how much of a pain in the ass you are?" she shot off.
I laughed, shaking my head as Rosalie said something about being ungrateful and then heard the door slam as they left.
"All right," Angela sighed, shaking her head as she grabbed one of the pots and walked over to the sink.
Was everyone more efficient in my kitchen than I was?
"You're not going to… I don't know… put make-up on me or something are you?" I asked, watching as she effortlessly poured the water from the pot holding the shrimp down the drain.
She laughed, looking over her shoulder at me and shaking her head.
"No, no make-up. But…" She walked over to the garage and turned the pot upside down, half-cooked shrimp raining into the white bag. "Do you have any mousse?"
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