Skating

By: Llama mama23

And I was in a very 'type-y' mood when I wrote this, so I hope it's not too long and drawn out. (elongated!)

Love REVEIWS!!!

Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue. I don't own twilight, and neither do you.

Also, I received many questions about this story, if it was roller skating or ice skating. It is roller skating.

Bella's POV

I twisted my hands around nervously, wondering where in the world Edward was taking me. The blindfold was making my nose itch; I reached up to scratch it but Edward's cool hand jerked mine back down to my sides.

"My nose itches!" I grumbled. I hated surprises. And he knew that! His cool hand scratched my nose gently, in exactly the right place.

"Better?" his perfect voice asked.

"Yes." I said, still mumbling. I heard Alice laugh from the front seat, Jasper's chuckle echoing hers. I pouted to myself. I expected this kind of behavior from Edward, he was always surprising me, but Alice was different; she was my best friend! She also knew how much I hated surprises.

I felt Edward's lips lightly on mine, and I could feel my heartbeat speed up but he moved away before I could do anything to really embarrass myself.

When he pulled away Alice said "We're here!" in that fairy-like voice of hers. Edward scooped me into his arms and carried me out of the car. I knew he didn't want me to peek but this was ridiculous! I reached up with one hand to take off the blindfold, but his hands stopped me again.

"Edward!" I whined. "If we're here then why can't I look?" I heard music nearby, how many places played music on a Friday night?

My mind automatically came up with possibilities. Dance, concert, block party, skating…my thoughts trailed off slowly. Every single one of those activities was physical and would involve highly embarrassing behavior on my part.

"Edward, if you don't let me take off this blindfold this minute I'm not going to blush for you for a week." I tried my best to make my voice as confident as possible, and I was hoping to fool him into thinking that I blushed only for him.

Yea, right.

I heard his musical laughter and felt his hand loosening the knot on the back of the blindfold. The black cloth fell away and my eyes immediately scanned the surroundings.

We were standing in front of a huge sign that read, 'Retro skate night, Friday at 7 o' clock!'

It was 7 o' clock. It was Friday. I was dead.

I could feel the blank horror on my face, but was too disbelieving to wipe it off. How could Edward do this to me?! Did he want me to kill myself?!

"You're always saying that I have no self-preservation at all, right?" I asked him. I was going to talk my way out of this. And no one was going to stop me.

"You don't." he answered, Alice and Jasper were standing behind him, huge smiles on both their faces.

"My instincts seem to be coming…active. They are telling me to run far away from here. I think I'll listen for once." I began to slowly back away; back towards the car.

As I knew it would, a stone arm wrapped itself around my waist, refusing to let me move an inch.

"Your survival instincts were telling you to run away? How would that be beneficiary to your health in any way?" He smirked my favorite crooked smile as I went into full pout mode against him. I was NOT going skating. I had just recently gotten my cast off and I refuse to get another one.

Knowing that I was about to protest as much as was possible against him, he picked me up and carried me into the skating rink.

XXX

Edward paid for our tickets into the torture chamber; with my protesting being elegantly ignored. He also managed to get the skates on my feet; despite my trying to twist my feet in every way that should make putting on skates impossible.

After he managed to get me into my skates, I looked away; still trying to pout my way out of this, and when I looked back at him to give him puppy dog eyes, his skates were on and he was standing up to pull me to the rink. The shiny wood floor beckoned to me, calling me just as the spider did to the fly. (If you didn't get that one, don't worry about it, it's a kid's story. 'Come into my parlor' said the spider to the fly, etc.)

I gawked at him for a moment (it had taken about 8 minutes for him to get me into my skates and he had just put them on in under one!) before remembering my pout plan. I stuck out my bottom lip as far as it would go and tried my best to make my eyes look close to crying.

"Edward." I said, drawing his name out as much a possible, "Please don't make me do this. We both know that all I'll do is make a fool of myself. Why do you want me to do this? You're always saying that you want me to be safe. How is this safe in any way, shape, or for-"

"Don't listen to her Edward." Jasper interrupted. I'd forgotten that they were here. "I can feel how hard she's concentrating to get all this out." I cringed; he was so ruining my plan!

Jasper and Alice exited onto the skating floor; looking like they were professional skaters on vacation. They didn't skate, they glided I instantly felt bad for everyone in the skating place. No one would be able to match them.

"You're so cute when you pout." Edward's voice remarked lightly, exhaling purposefully on my face. He leaned in excruciatingly slow and when his lips met mine, I zoned out for a few minutes.

Then I felt my feet connect with the floor. Edward had picked me up and carried me to the carpet right beside the skating floor! He was such a cheater!

I narrowed my eyes while attempting to glare at him. He laughed lightly in response.

He then processed to drag me onto the floor. I tipped my skate down so that the brakes were pressed hard into the floor and he couldn't move me unless he put some muscle into it. He raised an eyebrow at me; clearly telling me to come quietly or be dragged against my will.

Knowing that the battle was lost either way; I gave up and let him lead me onto the hardwood floor.

The instant my skate hit the floor it rolled out from under me, and I would have fallen if Edward hadn't caught me. But of course he did.

Alice appeared on my other side and wrapped her arm around my waist, right above Edward's. Together they towed me to the beginner section near the back of the rink. There were little kids falling all over the place in that section, and if I had been alone I knew that I would have kicked their butts at a falling contest.

My feet were not cooperating. They kept sliding all over the place! I was starting to consider telling Edward I could skate, and then falling on purpose, just for an excuse to get out of here!

This skating rink may have been some people's idea of fun, but for me…

It was an accident waiting to happen.

XXX

Edward and Alice carted me around the kid section for a while, and after they felt that I wouldn't fall and break something the instant my feet touched the floor, they led me onto the real section.

Even both of their stone arms locked around me couldn't reassure me. As I was making my way slowly around the rink, Jasper came up behind us and started skating around us. Literally. He made slow, lazy circles around us.

"Edward. I came, I saw, I skated. Can we please go now?" I could hear the whine in my own voice. Edward smiled, looking very proud of me.

"You've done an excellent job." He said slowly, "But we're staying until 10:30." My eyes widened in horror at his words. 10:30?!

"Then at least let me sit down for a few minutes!" I begged. I knew that I would be here till' Edward decided to leave, but I was getting tired! Skating is very exhausting!

"For a few minutes. Watch us skate and try to pick up some tips." He grinned at me before skating off, and it took me a full 5 seconds to realize that Alice had followed him, and I was now standing (unsupported) on a hardwood floor with wheels on my feet.

As soon as I realized this, I promptly fell onto my bottom. It hurt. Grumbling about 'stupid unreliable vampires', I made my way over to the bench-like things on one side of the skating rink.

Edward, Alice, and Jasper hovered nearby until I was on the carpet (where I only suffered from a 75 percent chance of falling) and then they wheeled off to do their skate-y thing.

I sank happily onto one of the benches. And glanced at my watch. It was 7:30! I'd only been here for thirty minutes! On the bright side, my pizza would be ready any minute. Edward had been considerate enough to order food so I wouldn't get hungry. He evidently didn't care if I got wounded.

Sure enough the loudspeaker came on and I heard a bored male voice say, "A pizza for the blushing girl in the snack bar area."

Of course, I blushed. Edward was just trying to get me to kill him. Keyword being 'try'.

With my face burning and set in a grim scowl, I walked over to the snack bar. Edward joined me at the edge of the carpet, gliding effortlessly from one surface to the other. I looked in the opposite direction from him, not wanting him to see the blush that he knew he would cause. This was, no doubt, payback for me telling him that I blushed only for him.

But I forgot that he was a vampire.

In less that a second, he was in front of me again, smiling at my brick-colored cheeks.

He skated smoothly next to me, seeming not to mind the snail pace. When we got to the counter Edward said smoothly "The blushing girl's pizza, please?" That caused another blush, and the man at the counter snorted with laughter. "You were right, man! She does blush a lot!" I gritted my teeth at the man, waiting for his chortling to stop.

"Here you go, sweetie." I noticed Edward's smile dim slightly at the man's words. I smirked as I reached to get the pizza. I slid my hand under it to carry it to one of the ugly yellow tables. Edward tried to take it, but I shoved his hand away. I would not let him help me now. As I lifted the pizza off the counter I remembered something.

I was on skates.

Naturally I fell again. Lucky for me, Edward managed to catch me this time. The pizza, however, wasn't so lucky. It went flying up into the air and fell on the ground a few feet away. The man's smile disappeared.

"I'll make you another one." He grumbled, his scowl clearly visible. Edward seemed to be suppressing laughter. "Shut up." I mumbled to him, hitting him lightly on the arm. That only increased his laughter, and I wondered if he even felt my punch.

He led me back down to the bench and sat down with me. Wrapping his arms securely around me. He kissed the tip of my nose gently.

After a few minutes Edward convinced me to go out onto the floor again. I looked around for Alice and Jasper, but couldn't see them anywhere.

"Where are Alice and Jasper?" I asked, still looking around.

"They got bored and decided to go back home." He said nonchalantly.

"What if I'm bored!?" I growled. "What if I want to go home?"

He looked at me for a second before lightly kissing me on the lips. "Too bad." He murmured. He was such a cheater!

After we made one lap around the rink with Edward's arm wrapped around me. And then the next lap he withdrew his arm, "Try one without me. I'll be right here to catch you though." He moved a few inches away from me, but he was still less than an arm's length away. I took a tiny baby step on the skates, and grabbed Edward's arm as I started to fall. He steadied me before moving his arm away again, and less than two seconds later I had to grab his arm again. This repeated a couple of times, before it finally sunk in for him that I was not going to become a perfect skater tonight.

He wrapped his arms around me again, lifting me slightly so that my feet were off the ground, and he was skating for both of us. The loudspeaker clicked on again and the same bored voice stated "A pizza ready for the dropper in the snack bar area." Edward burst out laughing as I blushed and scowled at the loudspeaker. We made our way back to the snack bar and the dude behind the counter scowled at me, and asked if Edward could pick up the pizza. I pursed my lips unhappily, and let Edward carry the pizza.

The cheese tasted like rubber. But I forced myself to eat two pieces before refusing to touch it again.

As soon as I was done, Edward toted me out to the floor again.

And then the dances started. I'd forgotten that some people think it's fun to dance around on skates.

For those of you who have never heard of the Cha-cha slide, it is a dance created specifically to cause my death. It involves lots of sliding, jumping, stomping, spinning, Charlie-brown-ing, and Cha-cha-ing.

Edward watched amused as I tried to Cha-cha as the song directed. After several near falls, and many blushes, I gave up and tried to skate back to my bench.

Edward followed and sat next to me and we watched everyone else in the skating rink make a fool out of themselves. After the Cha-cha slide was over, the Macarena came on, followed by the Hokey-Pokey, and then the Chicken dance.

And then the next torture came on.

Races.

Edward (being the loving vampire that he is) forced me to do the races. We stood next to each other as one of the workers explained how everything worked, "This race won't be over until everyone has crossed the finish line-" I drowned him out as I focused on getting myself out of this situation.

"Why are you doing this to me, Edward?" I pleaded, "Do you want me to die? I thought you loved me…" maybe if I tried to guilt trip him he wouldn't make me do this. I really didn't feel like embarrassing myself anymore than I already had tonight.

"I do love you-" he started but the dude suddenly said "GO!" and the rest of his sentence was drowned out by the scrape of skated and yelling to move.

I fell a few feet away from the starting line, and was surprised to hear another loud 'clunk' behind me as somebody else fell. Who else could be as clumsy as to fall a few feet from the start? I was going to feel really embarrassed if it was one of the little kids who had never skated before.

As I got up, I was shocked to see Edward on the ground. My mind automatically looked around for another vampire that could have knocked him down, but he smiled at me and got up as I did. I tried to skate again, and fell another few feet away, and was echoed with Edward's second 'clunk.' I spun around as I got up again, only to see him on his feet and skating just a few feet behind me. Then it hit me.

He was going to embarrass himself so I wouldn't be embarrassed to be last. I could feel my eyes dewing up slightly; that was so sweet! He loved his vampiric speed, and he was going slower than a snail to make me feel better. I faced the right direction and continued on my journey to the finish line. My every fall was marked by Edward's a few feet behind.

By now everyone but us had finished the race and we were only about halfway done.

I smiled grimly as I ventured on, and when I finally crossed that finish line everyone cheered, but I think they just wanted to be able to skate again.

After everyone got back onto the floor I went back to my bench, smiling the whole way. "That was sweet." I smiled at Edward, knowing I had that look that all girls get when their boyfriend does something sweet for them.

"You know, I think we can leave now, if you want to." His long fingers threaded through mine, the cold feeling good after all that skating.

"Really?" I replied, glancing at my watch, it was only 9:45!

"Yes." He said quickly removing my skates for me. He dropped our skates off at the front desk and threaded our fingers together as we walked out the door. When we were a few feet away from the exit he swung me up into his arms, and carried me the rest of the way to the Volvo.

"Was it as bad as you thought it would be?" he asked when we were almost to my house.

I grimaced, "Yes, and no." the evening had definably had its highs and lows. He pulled into my empty drive way and whisked me up to my room. He kissed my forehead before disappearing through my window to take his car back home.

I ran to the bathroom and took a speedy shower, then changed into my sweatpants and tee-shirt. When I returned to my room, he wasn't sitting on my bed like I expected him to be. I repressed the sting of disappointment, and then decided that he was just doing something and would be here in a minute.

I walked slowly down the stairs and into the kitchen to get a glass of water, but when I rounded the corner that led into the kitchen I suddenly felt cold hands on me and heard a loud "BOO!"

Naturally I screamed my lungs out for a few seconds before I turned around to see Edward's grinning face a few inches away from mine. My face hardened and I slapped him on the arm (like he would feel it) and gave him the dirtiest look I could manage.

"That wasn't funny." I hissed at him, my cheeks flooded with heat. He laughed harder and let go of my waist.

"I couldn't resist." He stepped away from me and I went to the fridge to get my water. I filled the glass and stalked past him up the stairs and into my room.

Of course he was already on my bed waiting for me, but I tried my best to tastefully ignore him as I set down my water and got under the covers.

He wrapped his arm around my waist again and drew me closer to his body.

"I love you." He murmured into my ear.

"I love you, too" I mumbled back, still holding a slight grudge against him for his 'boo' trick.

Then he started humming my lullaby as I drifted slowly into unconsciousness.

My last thoughts before I fell asleep were how lucky I was to be able to have pizzas, tripping vampires, and skating. All in the same night.

THE END! (I LOVE that last line, but I couldn't figure out how to say it so I hope it sounded ok.)

This is a TRUE STORY! (Mostly.)