Claimdisler: Thingno own I; beglon to all SMeyer. I'm dyslexic with a horrible sense of humor. Get over it.
Massive amounts of love to myimm0rtal, qjmom, Charm, Megan, and Z-squared. All your support, cajoling, feedback, just everything means the world to me! More love to the readers and reviewers who stick with me through, well, again, everything - you're all amazing, you are why I love writing and why I keep writing.
Our love for gold medal moments is overwhelming, especially for Shaun White, Torah Bright and in figure skating. Is that a reflection on the story, perhaps?
Sooo, many of you got a little angst happy at the end of the last chapter! Can't say that I blame y'all, though. So we begin with a little levity in this chapter. This is for all of you who love 'Animal Planet: Winter Games Edition'.
Chapter 8: Cross Species Interaction
"What's with the bad French accent thing, anyways?" Emmett asked, sandwiching six fries between two Chicken McNuggets and dipping the whole thing in honey mustard sauce before stuffing it into his mouth in one go.
Rose looked pointedly at Edward, laughing her ass off. But Edward, just about to answer his question, stared at him, dazed by the man's eating habits.
'The feeding rituals of the Competitus wintersporta animals can usually be divided into one of two instances depending on the species, and sometimes further into subspecies divides. This particular Snowjockus is of the voracia subspecies, made obvious by his gargantuan size, unending appetite, and his sometimes Neanderthal-esque actions.'
"Well?" Bella plied, unwrapping and biting into a Double Quarter Pounder with cheese. When her mouth moved away from the sandwich, there was only half of it left.
"Holy shit," breathed Alice as she watch Bella chew, swallow, and finish off the burger in only her second bite. "If I didn't know you two were related, I'd definitely know now!"
"What? I don't like airplane food," Bella defended.
With his eyebrows lost somewhere under the unruly flop of hair covering his forehead, the Animal Planet voice continued to narrate in Edward's head as his jaw grazed the tabletop, amazed at the massacre of fast food in front of him.
'Here we find the rarest of rare in the kingdom of competitive winter sports athletes: an Icedancus skatorius jockia-voracia. While appearing to be a regular Icedanus skatorius, those of the jockia-voracia subspecies exhibit many behaviors identical to the Snowjockus athleticus voracia- the voracious appetite in particular.'
"Edward! Dude! Earth to resident animal expert!"
Shaking his head to release himself from the shocked stupor, Edward managed to focus his attention on Rose.
"What was that?"
"They want to know about the bad French accent, Meester Cousteau," she teased, reaching over to grab a stray fry from Emmett's tray. Edward could've sworn Emmett let out a small growl as Rosalie munched on.
Surprised you're making it away unscathed, Rose, he thought as he amusedly watched Emmett's eyes follow Rosalie's hand as it traveled between his tray and her mouth, the ever dwindling pile of fries seeming to be a cause of increasing alarm.
"It's like in Animal Planet," Edward explained, holding back laughs as he heard Emmett actually whimper when Rose ate the last fry. "I hear that soft spoken narrator's voice in my head but when it comes out it's all Jacques Cousteau, a la Cries from the Deep."
Jasper, who had yet to actually speak to Edward since Sunday night, snorted into his Double BigMac. Bella chewed her second burger- a classic McChicken- methodically then swallowed and looked curiously across the table at him.
"Seriously? Like how?"
Edward busied himself with his fries, slightly embarrassed. Things had gone back to normal between the two of them. Or as normal as their growing attraction seemed to be getting. They had mutually and silently decided that Sunday had not happened and, to Edward's ever increasing delight, Bella had continued to warm towards him. But something still didn't feel quite… Right.
And he didn't want to fuck it all up now with his weird mental narration. Or his horrible French accent.
"I dunno," he hedged, poking a fry into some ketchup. "It's just a really bad, bad French accent."
"I wonder whose accent I'd end up having," Emmett mused, one hand on his amazingly flat stomach and the other stroking his chin.
"Crocodile Hunter," they all called out before dissolving into laughter.
"Oy!"
---
Edward looked longingly down the aisle to where he could hear Bella's quiet giggles come from. He imagined what kind of little secrets she and Jasper were sharing and the images floating around his brain of the two of them sitting close was driving him insane. He wanted to be the one making Bella laugh like that. He wanted to be the one sitting with her, whispering secrets in her ear. But after Sunday, getting what he wanted… Well, it wouldn't be easy.
"Ali?"
Edward half hoped that she wouldn't hear him through her music but, as always, Alice just knew. She took off her headphones and laid them on her lap. He could clearly hear Ashes Divide blaring from the speakers and he wondered how she listened to her music so loud and hadn't yet suffered severe hearing damage. Instead of asking, he stared at the back of the seat in front of him.
"What's up, big brother?"
Alice looked at her brother closely. The muscles in his jaw, arms, and knuckles were all tensed and taut, like too-tight guitar strings. He was swallowing convulsively, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down with the effort. Alice knew what this was about. After Sunday night, Edward had been practically morose, except for the hopeful gleam in his eye whenever Bella had been in the room.
"It's… I…" he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "It's about her."
"Bella," she clarified, though it was not a question.
He just nodded before continuing, his eyes darting down the aisle. Alice followed his line of sight and could see the top of Jasper's head, covered in a beige cowboy hat. She smiled instinctively.
"How did you… I mean, it's just… Damnit."
"You like her." Again, it wasn't a question. And again he just nodded, earning a meaningful glare from Alice. "You need to say it out loud. If you can't say it out loud, nobody's going to ever know, least of all her."
Edward was scared. Scared shitless. If he said it out loud then it was real. And, though he wanted that reality so damn much, he wasn't sure he was actually ready for it. Girls had been easy, literally and figuratively, for him. Liking Bella, saying the actual words out loud, and meaning them as well… This was like diving into shark-infested waters with his body covered in fresh paper cuts.
It wasn't as if Edward were afraid of being in a relationship with her. That part he almost practically looked forward to. It's just the fact that he'd never been in an actual relationship before, outside of his kindergarten sweetheart Shelby-Anne Connors who broke up with him after a week because he bought her Barbie stickers and she turned out to be a lesbian by the time they were fourteen. So these things in the real world were what freaked him out. He had no doubts that Bella would be perfect; it was himself he was afraid of. He knew he'd do something stupid, he'd fuck it up, he'd be the one causing her tears and that's what he didn't want, never in his life.
"I like her," he said finally, glancing once again down the aisle. Though it felt like a huge weight off of him to almost physically expel the words from inside of him, it didn't make him feel better saying it out loud.
---
"So, Rose and I are going out for dinner," Emmett announced as they waited in baggage claim at Vancouver International. "What's everybody else up to tonight?"
"The four of us," Renee singled out the parents with her finger, "are going out to dinner without the rest of you."
Bella laughed as Alice pointed to some of their baggage coming their way. "Thanks a lot, Mom. We love you, too."
"Well, what do you ladies feel like doing tonight?" Jasper asked cavalierly, coming between them and grabbing the pieces of luggage each was trying to haul off the conveyor.
"Whatever you guys want," Bella replied, shrugging her shoulders as she pulled a baggage cart closer and began to load the bags. "I'm game for whatever."
"Bad move," Edward muttered beside her just as Alice began to dance around, the luggage endeavor forgotten.
"Oh, oh, oh! Eighties throwback night!" she cried, jumping up and down beside the carousel. Jasper couldn't help but laugh as he watched a small group of tween girls looking disdainfully over at Alice's display of excitement.
"Uh, Alice?" Bella laughed as she traded her full cart for an empty one. "I wasn't even born in the eighties."
"Even better, we can show you all the great things you missed!"
"What," Rose piped up, "campy John Huges films, bad haircuts, even worse clothes, and slang that would make even a slack-jawed yokel cry?"
Everyone but Alice laughed and she flipped her fists into two middle fingered gestures. "Hey, Ro, meet my new best friends, Shut The and Hell Up."
---
"I don't get it, Alice," Bella stated as the other girl pranced around and teased her hair happily, a can of non-aerosol hairspray being constantly discharged and the loud smacking sound of Alice's gum chewing setting a rhythm. "You weren't around for the eighties either: you were born in eighty-nine."
"Shhh, it's the principle of the matter, Bella," she scolded in return, another loud pop of the gum abruptly interrupting any kind of response. She glanced over to the digital clock on the dresser. "Where the hell are the guys? They should be back by now."
After the airport, Rose and Emmett had gone to her apartment, the Cullens over to their house in West Vancouver, and the Swans to their rental by the Village. Alice, excited for the night ahead, had barely spent any time at her house, grabbing a quick shower before grabbing Edward and towing him out to the car and to the Swan's rental. Once they had gotten there, she had sent the boys out to Blockbuster and the liquor and grocery stores with a list almost as tall as her.
"Alice, I wouldn't be surprised if they're not back for another two hours with how long that list was."
"It wasn't that bad!" she pouted in return.
"Hey, girls." Renee poked her head into the room. "We're going now. Don't do anything I would do."
They said their goodbyes and once the door was closed, Alice pulled Bella over to sit with her on the bed.
"So while we wait, we talk."
Bella looked over at Alice skeptically, from the neon green headband down to the fuzzy, striped, pompom-ed, and bedazzled legwarmers. "Really, you're gonna make tonight that stereotypical?"
"Oh, c'mon, Bella!" Alice whined, her face scrunched up in overly dramatic irritation that morphed into adorable desperation. "Please?"
Sighing, Bella shrugged. "Fine, sure. What do you want to talk about?"
Clapping her hands as she bounced on the bed, Alice opened her mouth to speak but squealed and scrambled off the bed instead.
"Alice," Bella asked, obviously exasperated though the night had yet to begin. If she had read her Sweet Valley High novels correctly as a kid, she knew what Alice wanted to talk about: boys.
Diving headfirst into her duffle bag, Alice rooted around until her hands clutched at her iTouch. She queued it to the proper playlist and chucked it into the Bose speaker.
"We needed the right music," she chirped with a grin as Rick Astley's infamous 'Never Gonna Give You Up' began to play.
"Oh, my God, I'm being real-life Rickrolled. I don't believe it."
"Oh, hush." She bounded back to the bed, a bag of sour patch kids in her hands. Ripping it open and offering the bag to Bella, she relaxed on top of the bed. "So, how long have you known Jasper?"
"Since forever," Bella replied, tossing an orange sugared gummi into the air and giggling when it bounced off her nose as she tried to catch it in her mouth. "His family moved up to Forks from Texas when I was three."
"Wow, so you guys have been besties since then, huh?"
"'Besties'? Really?" The two shared a laugh. "I guess you could say that. Jazz has been my--"
She stopped short, realizing what she was about to say and to whom she was about to say it to.
"Your...?" Alice prompted, immediately interested in what Bella was now obviously editing in her head.
"Um..."
Bella had never been very close to many females in her life the way she, Alice, and Rose had begun to bond in the past few of weeks. Coupling that with her sometimes questionable verbal filter, Bella knew she had to be very careful with what she would say. It was hard though; suddenly having girl friends was like drinking water for the first time- it was hard to stop even when it became dangerous.
She had just been about to tell Alice that Jasper had been many if not all of the firsts in her life: her first kiss, her first crush, her first boyfriend, her first love, her first lay- and not in any particular order. But she knew better than to spill this to the girl who seemed entirely smitten with her best friend.
"Jazz, he's the best, you know? Always looking out for me and stuff," Bella replied hastily, blushing guiltily as Alice narrowed her eyes at her.
"Oh, c'mon, Bella," she coaxed. Taking a breath, she steeled her resolve for the can of worms she was about to crack open. "I know you two are... close."
"Close..." Bella repeated slowly, using the same inflection as Alice, knowing exactly what she meant but wanting her to confirm the connotation.
"You know... Close." There was a loaded pause and an exchange of meaningful glances. "In the biblical sense. Bumping uglies- well, as if any part of either of you would be ugly."
Bella blushed at the compliment and Alice just offered a kind smile that felt lame to her lips. She felt like she was sitting on cracked glass and the next words out of Bella's mouth would be the shattering point. She willed herself to project a cool, mildly interested façade but knew she was probably failing miserably.
Bella just nodded and replied with a small, "yeah."
This, for some inexplicable reason, relieved Alice and she let out an audible sigh as her shoulders relaxed, releasing the pent up tension.
"I know you really, really like him and everything, Ali," Bella garbled out, her handful of candies raining to the floor and bedspread as she misinterpreted the sigh of relief for one of dejection. "But he really, really likes you, I know it. And it's not like he and I- well, we have, but we've never thought- and it's not like he's in love with me or anything- at least I don't think so, not in love in love- but we're not just, you know--"
"Bella, relax!" Alice shouted, halting the barrage of stutters coming out of Bella's mouth. "I kinda already figured, y'know?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, it was kind of... Um, obvious."
"Oh."
They were silent, both avoiding the obvious herd of elephants in the room.
"We haven't... You know," Bella hesitated but figured that this was the best way to go and help. "We haven't had... Done it since he met you."
"Yeah?" The spark of hope in Alice's eyes just made Bella all the more sure that she was willing to let her best friend go to be happy with this girl in front of her.
"Yeah." She nodded to reinforce her point.
The silence between them wasn't as awkwardly weighty as it had been just minutes before but there was still the lingering scent of curiosity.
"Is he..." Alice could see Bella's face go red but she couldn't help herself, she had to know. "Is he good?"
Bella's jaw dropped in shock. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine she'd ever be having this conversation. "Alice!"
Alice just laughed and all the tension was gone. Popping a few sour gummis in her mouth, she just shrugged. "Oh, c'mon! You'd ask too if you were me!"
"No, I wouldn't!" Bella argued, trying to wonder if she were lying or not. Suddenly a pillow came flying at her face and in the next instant she was staring at the ceiling.
The maniacal laughter coming from Alice did nothing but to spur on Bella's own giggles. The pillows were suddenly flying and shrieks of laughter were all that could be heard.
---
"Dude."
"Yea, dude."
"So."
"So."
"You and my sister, huh."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Oh."
"I guess. ... And you and Bella."
"Oh."
"Uh-huh."
...
...
...
"I'm hoping."
...
...
...
"Be good to her, alright?"
"Likewise."
...
...
...
"She hates cherries but loves cherry danishes and cherry Chapstick."
"She only eats white chocolate. No other kind unless it's with white chocolate. And she refuses to kill bugs."
"Butterflies freak her out."
...
...
...
"Cool."
"Cool."
---
After they had calmed down some, Bella and Alice resumed their lounging and talk. There was a certain levity in the room and each girl would sporadically break out into giggles every now and again.
"Your brother and Rose look so cute together," Alice commented as she scrolled through the pictures on Bella's iPhone. She was currently focused on one that featured Emmett playfully yet obnoxiously licking the side of Rosalie's face as she struggled to capture what Alice no doubt figured Rose had hoped to be an adorable self portrait of the two of them.
Leaning over a mound of misshapen pillows to see which picture Alice was talking about, Bella snickered. "He's so effin' gross sometimes. He was so proud in his email, though."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Said he found the love of his life." Bella dropped back onto the bed with a wistful smile. "I was all happy for him until I opened up that picture."
"They seem good together," Alice surmised and Bella hummed in agreement. After a few beats of silence, she put the device down on the bed
"So."
"So," Bella mimicked, rolling over and propping herself on an elbow.
"You and Edward...?" Alice's mischievous grin grew wider the redder Bella became. "You like him!"
Smacking a pillow to her face, Bella just sighed. "Is it wrong for me to tell you your brother is all kinds of hot?" she asked, her voice muffled.
"A little," Alice laughed. "But I'll live. So is that why you were all out of sorts on Sunday...?"
"Maybe. I guess. I don't know. I thought- well, I don't really know what I was thinking. Maybe... I guess..."
"Ooooh, chickie, you've got it bad!"
"Ali!" she whined in return, taking the pillow from her face and whapping Alice on the head. "I don't know. He was acting all nice to me, really sweet and stuff, you know? And then that girl comes strutting along..."
"He didn't want her," Alice told her, her head propped up on her hands and a knowing glint in her eye. "He was mortified at what happened, blamed the whole thing on himself."
"But it wasn't his fault." I know that now.
"Eh, yeah, Edward's got some serious self-flagellation issues. But he likes you, too, you know."
Bella scoffed. "Sure."
"Fine, don't believe me."
"I won't, thanks." Before Bella could finish her sentence, another pillow came flying at her face.
---
Jasper and Edward could hear the laughter and screaming as they pulled into the driveway of the rental house. They exchanged looks, half skeptical and half amused, as they unloaded the car and began toting everything inside. Once that was done, they crept up to the second floor to the bedroom and Jasper slowly swung the door open.
'And when I get that feeling, I want sexual healing/Sexual healing is good for me/Makes me feel so fine, it's such a rush/Helps to relieve your mind, and it's good for us…'
The scene in front of them was something out of the most clichéd porn: there were feathers floating through the air, raining down on the two very feminine bodies that were tangled up in each other on the bed. Edward blatantly ignored his sister, opting to focus solely on the brunette whose head was hanging upside down from the edge of the bed. He inhaled sharply and heard Jasper doing the same. It didn't help matters that 'Sexual Healing' was still playing.
"Fucking hell," Jasper groaned, his eyes wide and unsure of whether to stare or look away.
Bella and Alice froze at the sound of Jasper's low, strangled mutter. Staring from their tangled position on the bed, they could see both males had gone whiter than sheets, and their eyes looked in grave danger of rolling right out of their heads.
"Um, hi."
Alice snorted, knowing exactly which gutter and how far down it the guys' minds were. "There wasn't enough Jell-O or pudding and it's too cold outside for mud."
"Alice!" Bella hissed half-heartedly from underneath her. She rolled on to her stomach when Alice rolled off and got a good look at the slack-jawed faces staring from the doorway. She understood the urge to tease them an gave in. "Too bad you guys came too early. We were just about to put on our PJs."
Both girls broke out in laughter when Jasper fell to his knees.
"Please God, I can't tell if you're being cruel or kind!" he lamented in mock anguish before diving into the feathered melee. The bed shook with their laughter as the three bounced merrily.
"There's always room for one more," Bella said to Edward shyly as she watched him standing in the doorway. He grinned at her and sauntered into the bedroom.
'Hah huh-hah hah uh hah…'
"What the...?" He stopped in his tracks just as the song changed, his face scrunching up in distaste. "Is that... 'True' by Spandau Ballet?"
The girls broke out laughing but Jasper just gave him an incredulous look.
"Man, I don't even wanna know how you knew that."
The four of them eventually brought their antics down to the living room where Alice began to pick through the bags the boys had brought home, arranging the food on the coffee table and the breakfast bar and the movies and board games between the television and fireplace.
"Darlin', I don't think Rose was actually serious when she was talking about a John Hughes marathon," Jasper pointed out as he watched from the couch as Alice sorted the almost two dozen movies before she flitted away. He had a good feeling that interrupting her actions could lead them into chaos.
"But this way we have a choice!" she exclaimed, poking at the iHome system as she passed it. The unmistakable intro of Survivor's 'Eye of the Tiger' began to play and she swayed around the room to the beat.
"Told you not to bother arguing with her, man," Edward pointed out as he plopped down into the love seat next to him. "You can try but you will never, ever win."
Alice beaned him in the forehead with the pretzel bite she was about to eat. "I know you're right, but that doesn't mean I like to hear it."
---
By the end of 'Pretty In Pink' and half way through 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', Alice and Jasper were snuggled on the couch, talking lowly to each other as they laughed at the on screen antics of Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck. Bella and Edward on the other hand were squished into opposite corners of the tiny loveseat.
Feeling her heated gaze on him just as Ferris left the Ferrari with the valet attendants, Edward turned and caught her eye. Bella blushed and hid her face behind her knees.
"Hey, now," Edward whispered, figuring he had an all or nothing chance here. Scooting closer to her, which didn't take much effort, he tugged at her ankle until she let her legs flop down and he could see her bright red face. "What's with the blush?"
Bella felt the heat in her face intensify and she just shook her head.
"C'mon, now," he plied, poking her thigh playfully with his finger. "We were getting along pretty well there for a while."
At that, Bella's embarrassment was coupled with the unpleasant feeling Sunday's mess had left her with and she started to bite her lip in uncertainty.
"Bella…" Edward didn't have a clue in hell as to what to do next. Everything about the girl in front of him was unpredictable: when he thought he had her pegged, she'd about face and do the opposite of what he thought she'd do. He looked at her, pleading with his eyes for a clue as to what was going on in her head. "Look, Bella, I know last Sunday was… Can we just start over again? I want to- I want us to start over again."
"Us?" she questioned quietly, angling herself so she faced him head on. She could read the sincerity in his eyes, feel the weight of everything unspoken between them.
He nodded. "Us. I… I like you, Bella. I'm pretty damn sure you like me, too. You and me… We could be good, you know?"
Bella studied his face as she went over his somewhat less than eloquent words in her head. The longer she stayed silent seemed to unnerve him and she watched as his hand flew to his already messy hair and dragged though it heavily.
"Okay," she replied after a time, grabbing his hand as he went to pass it through his hair a fourth time.
Edward wasn't sure what she meant, but he took it as a good sign, especially when she took his hand and twined her fingers with his own "Yeah?" She nodded. "Okay."
---
The six of them were riding in a shuttle bus along with Carlisle, Sam (Emmett's coach and trainer), Maggie, and a dozen or so other athletes, coaches, and trainers to the Olympic Village. Alice, seated beside Jasper, was ignoring the volunteer at the front who was making speech, instead taking to bouncing in her seat and chattering away with some of her Team Canada teammates in the seats behind her.
"I don't care if he's dating my baby sister, dude's going down."
Edward, contentedly staring out the window with an arm around Bella's shoulders, looked across the aisle to where Emmett and Rose were seated.
"Yeah, that's right, Cullen," Emmett laughed. "Just because Booboo there likes your pretty face doesn't mean you're not gonna eat snow."
Edward blanched and stuttered. It wasn't the part where Emmett threatened to make him 'eat snow', but the bit where he said he and Bella were dating that threw him off. After the eighties night, he and Bella had spent every day together in the company of everyone else. The extent of the contact had been innocent, mostly hand holding and hugs and chaste displays of affection. There wasn't much Edward could do in the presence of parents and siblings.
Is that what we're doing? Dating?
"Shut up, Em," Bella yawned as she peered over Edward's shoulder at her brother. It didn't escape Edward's notice that there was a vibrantly pink blush betraying her nonchalant words. "Oh, hey, Seth."
The guy Emmett was talking to was in the seat behind Emmett and Rose. Edward recognized him as Seth Wescott and they both waved.
"Hey, Cullen, hey, squirt. How goes it?"
"Pretty good," Edward answered as Bella climbed into his lap.
"I'm so excited," Bella tittered, feigning unawareness of the effect her every slightest movement was having on Edward. She bounced a little to emphasize her point and she giggled when Edward let out a little groan. She knew that she was getting sick and tired of all the PG rated affection and she figured that he had to be as well.
"Are you trying to kill me?" Edward whispered in her ear, his lips grazing the sensitive lobe. Bolts of electric heat coursed through her and settled into the pit of her stomach. "Or get me killed?"
She smiled coyly but ignored him, focusing hard on the conversation she was now having with Rose, Em, Seth, and some of the other guys on the US Whistler team.
Speaking of hard... Bella chuckled wickedly to herself as she subtly ground down on the prominent bulge she felt in the lap beneath her.
---
"Kidnapping your sister, dude!" Edward called to Emmett when the bus pulled up to the Village. The ride had been absolute torture for him, every stop, bump, and slightest jostle the bus made moving Bella in such delicious ways in his lap. But through his pain, he realized something: he had yet to take Bella on an actual date. With that thought, he was determined to rectify that and began to formulate a plan.
He tugged Bella along with him, zigzaging around the multitudes of volunteers, officials, coaches, trainers, and athletes that milled around the entrance to the Athlete's Village. He could hear Jasper, Maggie, and his father yelling after them and it only made him move faster. But he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief when he recognized Emmett's booming chuckles.
"Remember, kids: no glove, no love! Skin to skin just ain't in! Cover your stump before you hump! Don't surprise her, plug you geyser! Avoid a frown, dress up yo-- Oww! Jazz, dude, man! I was just joking!"
The uproarious laughter made escaping easier and Edward delighted in listening to Bella's happy squeals of laughter just behind him.
"Cullen! Where are you taking me!"
He stopped at a curb two blocks down and pulled Bella's petite body into his own.
"I'm glad Emmett doesn't want to kill me," he whispered, inches away from her face.
"He's not the kind to hold a grudge." Her smile transformed into a small frown. "But Jazz..."
"Is busy with my sister, so he can't say shit all."
Bella looked up at him, Edward's normally peridot green eyes now a smoldering dark jade. She licked her lips and watched as his eyes darted down to watch her tongue move. He mirrored her actions and she couldn't help but stare as well.
Please kiss me, she thought desperately. After the horrible Sunday in Aspen she had all but forgotten just how close they had been getting. But she couldn't forget their shared words the next morning or their conversation from the eighties night after. Please don't tell me to stop. Please want this.
Leaning down and breathing in the scent of pure Bella, Edward let out a small sigh. "Bella, I really want to kiss you."
"I really want you to," she whispered. "Please."
Holding her delicate face in his hands, Edward lowered his lips to the corner of her mouth and kissing her softly there before dotting kisses along her bottom lip until he had reached the other corner. Edward smiled at the small whimper he felt leave her lips.
She wants this, he thought, maybe just as much as I do.
Bella, sick and tired of waiting, lifted herself up on her tiptoes and kissed him full on the mouth. She sighed happily at the warm weight of his lips and just how right it all felt. The sizzling electricity between them exploded into white stars behind her eyelids and she could swear she heard a low buzz in her ears.
She threw her arms around his neck and, after his initial shock wore off, his hands slipped down her jacketed body to rest on her hips. It felt like the ground underneath his feet was shaking as a blanket of pure and absolute serenity surrounded him. Bella's lips were so soft and warm against his and her tongue slipped into his mouth and caressed his own. She tasted like strawberries and vanilla and watermelon lip gloss and he wanted to carry a sucker with those flavors for whenever she wasn't around.
"Whoa..." Bella blinked up owlishly at him when they broke away, chests heaving for breath.
"Yeah," Edward agreed, licking his lips and grinning stupidly at her. "Whoa."
Grinning at each other stupidly, they stood and waited for their breathing to even.
"So, you're kidnapping me," Bella reminded him. "And where is it you're taking me to?"
Instead of answering her, Edward stepped off the curb and peered up and down the street. Finally, when a cab came in view, he raised his arm and the taxi slid up to them.
"It's a surprise," he told her simply as he held the passenger door open for her. She looked at him skeptically and he nodded towards the back of the cab. "I do plan on joining you. I'm not gonna slam the door shut and make him drive you back to the Village, you know."
Finally relenting, Bella slid into the seat and Edward dutifully followed.
"Harbour Centre," he informed the driver.
Bella raised an eyebrow at him and he grinned crookedly at her in return. She felt her insides practically melt at the sight of the lopsided smile.
As the cab began to move, Edward took her hand in his. The static warmth he had come to associate with the touch of Bella's skin didn't fail him and he watched as she shivered slightly, knowing she could feel it, too. They rode in the backseat like that, hand in hand, and Bella made a game of trying to guess what exactly was at Harbour Centre.
"Is it… A museum?" she asked, waiting as he paid the driver and got out of the cab.
"We're here, can't you wait another five minutes?" Edward playfully admonished, laughing and kissing her jutted bottom lip when she began to pout.
Looking at the building they had pulled up in front of, Bella was reminded of the Space Needle, only the building in front of her had the body of a regular building. It looked strange to her eyes, and not all that attractive.
"C'mon, sweets," Edward encouraged, tugging on her hand. She followed him into the building and waited patiently as he bought tickets to whatever it was they were doing. Her eyes traveled around the building lobby and saw signs for various tourist attractions, on in particular that caught her eye.
"Oh! The three-sixty view of the city?" she guessed, drawing a laugh from some of the other patrons nearby. "Is that what we're doing?"
Edward pretended to be crestfallen. "Aw, you figured it out! Now we have to go and do something else!"
"What?! No!"
Laughing, he brought the tickets to her face. "Just kidding."
He took her hand and they walked over to the elevator, Edward explaining all the different aspects of the Harbour Centre as they went.
"It's great; a huge glass elevator like in Willy Wonka's factory—"
"Did your face seriously just light up?" Bella teased as they entered the elevator. "Really? Willy Wonka?"
"Shut up," Edward defended. "In my defense, I only liked the one with Gene Wilder. As good as Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are, that version was just too creepy."
Bella wanted to say something else to rile him up- he was cute when he was affronted, what could she say?- but the view of the city as they ascended took her breath away.
"It's beautiful."
"Yeah, it is," Edward whispered, not staring out at the growing panorama outside the glass but over at Bella. The mid-afternoon sun shone and made her skin glow like fresh peaches and her hair radiated a breathtaking reddish halo around her face. "It really is."
Bella notice too late that Edward hadn't even looked out the glass and she could feel the blush heat her cheeks in delicious, Edward-induced embarrassment. Because they were sharing the elevator with several others, all she could do was move closer to him and grasp his hand tighter.
At the top of the tower, they were let out on to the glass encased observation deck. Bella couldn't help but gasp again, the magnificent 360° view making her stop dead in her tracks.
"C'mon," Edward coaxed. "It's not going anywhere."
There were other groups of people up on the deck with them and several guides explaining the different sights that could be seen from their high vantage point. Edward had opted out of the complimentary tour, wanting Bella's attention all to himself. He brought her over to one of the windows. Here, they were standing in front of the harbour area, large ships churning in and out of the port.
"Port Metro Vancouver," he told her. "I'm pretty sure those are cargo ships."
Moving a little ways down the windowed wall, he began pointing out more specific spots.
"What's that big white dome thingy?" Bella asked, pointing hard at the glass.
"BC Place," Edward told her, abandoning his position on explaining the CP Rail line. "That's where they're having the opening ceremonies on Friday and the closing ceremonies, too."
"You're going to be at the ceremony, right?" Bella looked up at him expectantly. She noticed that his arms were on the railing on either side of her, caging her in. Turning in the almost-embrace until they were nose to nose, Bella felt her breath hitch.
"Course. Wouldn't miss it for the world."
He grinned down at her, wanting so badly to caress the pink tinged apples of her cheeks but afraid that they were moving too fast. He had just kissed her for the first time less than an hour ago, that didn't exactly give him the right to go pawing at her. Right? So instead he gently grasped her shoulders and turned her to face the window again. He pointed out all the different Olympic venues.
"That's General Motors Place, where they're going to be holding the hockey games." He pointed as he rested his chin lightly on her shoulder. "Um… Oh, and there's the Pacific Coliseum, where you'll be."
"Which one?" Bella asked, tracing his finger with her own and eventually pointing at the glass in the same direction. "The one that looks like the huge silver dollar?"
Edward couldn't help but laugh. "Yep, that's the one."
A tour guide close to them with her group and had begun to point out the Olympic venues as well. Bella and Edward subtly inched closer, listening to what the tour guide had to say.
"And if you look across the harbour, you'll see Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver where the skiing and snowboard events will be taking place. The ski and snowboard cross track was designed by famed course designer Jeff Ihaksi. It's said that he buried an Vancouver 2010 Olympic loonie somewhere along the stretch of the last berm to bring good luck to the Canadian teams, like they do in hockey."
"What is she talking about?" Bella whispered as she tugged Edward away from the group. Her eyes darted between the Pacific Coliseum and Cypress Mountain, where she was going to be and where he was going to be.
"Canadian Olympic tradition, I guess," he answered. "In hockey and curling, they put a loonie on the rink before they ice it over, brings good luck."
Bella snorted. "Yeah, well, you'll need it."
"Hey, hey, hey, there, little girl!"
"Well, you'll be facing Emmett and your hockey team will be going against the likes of Jake--"
"Jake? Who's Jake?"
"Oh!" Bella thought back to their time in Forks. "We didn't tell you? Jacob Black, Billy's son, is a wingman for the US team."
"Jacob Black, as in Chicago Blackhawks right winger Jake Black?"
Bella nodded.
"Damn, what do they feed you kids in Forks?" he teased. He recalled the last Blackhawks game he saw on TV; Jake Black, number 90, was one of the biggest players in the league and the current record holder for most minutes in penalty in a season for on-ice altercations. Edward was glad he wasn't a hockey player and didn't have to go up against that. "Well, you guys may have Black, but we have Crosby."
"I won't even pretend to care what you're talking about," she shot back. "You may have Crosby but we have Miller to take care of him. And Orpik plays on the Pens with Crosby, he know his strategy."
The two of them argued back and forth for a little while until Edward, whose hands now rested on either side of Bella's waist, felt and heard her stomach gurgle.
"Hungry, are we?" he teased. "Eating out the whole McDonalds at the airport earlier wasn't enough for you?"
"Shut up." Bella couldn't help but blush.
Letting her go and wrenching his body away from her warmth, Edward took her hand and went back to the elevator.
"Where to now?" she asked as they got in and rode to the next floor. The elevator doors opened and she could smell aromas that made her mouth water.
"Welcome to the Top Of Vancouver Revolving Restaurant!"
Bella spied the too chipper hostess before marveling at the grandiosity of the restaurant before her. She wasn't a stranger to restaurants of this caliber or revolving restaurants in general; she and Jasper had dined many a time at Sky City in Seattle. But there was just something more beautiful about this place and she was glad that it was Edward bringing her and sharing this experience with her.
They were lead to a small table overlooking, well, everything, and that's when Bella noticed just how chipper and… friendly the hostess was being to Edward. The woman was leaning over his arm, touching his hand, throwing her hair back in a futile attempt to be noticed, and talking as if Bella weren't even present.
The nerve!
She chanced a look to Edward who's attention was wholly focused on… Her. The blush that hadn't left her cheeks since they got out of the taxicab intensified once again as she watched Edward practically ignoring the hostess.
"Yeah, just two dessert menus, please," he told her, not taking his eyes off her once. "Unless…?"
"No, dessert menus will be fine," she replied, inordinately pleased with Edward. The hostess, realizing just how unwanted she was, dropped their menus on the table top and informed them in a terse voice that their server would be with them shortly.
Edward wasn't stupid. He could see that the hostess was after him like a fat kid after a candy bar. But he couldn't have cared less about her because Bella was looking at him, her huge brown eyes shining and a small smile on her face that he liked to think was only for him. When the woman finally left, he grasped Bella's hand over the table.
"I'm really glad you let me kidnap you." He didn't want to freak her out with the intensity he felt burning inside of him, so he slipped in their little joke. But he was secretly hoping that she would see past his words.
"I think I may be developing Stockholm Syndrome."
She smiled his smile at him once again.
They kiss. YAY!
Now - WG Census: Favorite John Hughes film? Favorite 80's anthem? What sporting events are you looking forward to now?
Add the twitter luluvee and check the blog because you're all great and you love me. I add back on Twitter because I'm cool like that.
Reviews are like being kidnapped by Cullen- let's face it, who wouldn't get Stockholm Syndrome if he were your captor?
Lu²