With Your Kiss
Disclaimer – I own nothing, Twilight is Stephanie Meyer's, all I've done is insert her lovely characters into my silly plot.
A/N – First off, for all those who know of my stories The Twilight Guild and Not Without Consequences they have not been abandoned! I've been through a really rough period and I'm still writing but I just haven't been able to post anything. Both will be finished, I promise.
As for this little fic, it's been in my head for a while now and I finally finished it. I hope you all like. And the song lyrics below are my own, this is the first time I've ever included my own lyrics so please be gentle with me. Thank you all for reading and enjoy!
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Can one kiss change your life? At their school's annual carnival one perfect kiss is about to change two lives for the better. One-shot fluff.
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Charity.
You do a lot for charity. You donate money, give away old belongings, and even sometimes do special crazy things to raise money. Like dunking a teacher or doing a sponsored silence. Those were the things you thought of when thinking of doing things for charity.
Bella Swan never expected to be giving away kisses to raise money at a kissing booth, though; And all in the name of charity.
To be fair, she hadn't signed herself up for the task. All the seniors at Forks High school had agreed to a vote on who would man each stall at the annual carnival. It was just, when Bella had agreed she'd never expected to actually be voted to do something. Least of all, the kissing booth. Well, here she was.
Bella was pretty much a no one at Forks High, not that she had ever really wanted to be a someone. She had her group of friends, at least one person she knew and could talk to in each class, and always greeted those she saw in the halls. She was by no means invisible, but by no means popular either.
Which made it an even bigger deal that she'd been voted as one of the two girls to man the kissing booth.
Her partner in crime, for this stall at least, was Lauren Mallory and she had definitely been expected to gain the votes for such a stall. Lauren was one of the most popular girls at Forks High and also one of the, to put it somewhat politely, easiest. There were no surprises when her name was announced. But Bella's had definitely caused a stir. Who on earth would vote for her to be on the kissing booth?
"Well, you really are a bit attractive, I suppose Bella," Jessica Stanley commented as they had made their way to the stall they would be manning together. Jessica would only be front of house, not one of the kissers, such as Bella and Lauren.
"And I suppose some of the boys might be a little curious, you know your dad can't exactly threaten them with a shotgun if you've volunteered yourself into this." She laughed at that and Bella didn't think that the small fact of her being a volunteer would deter her father. Her police-chief-of-the-small-town-they-lived-in father. Nope, Charlie Swan would only care that the boys were trying to put their moves onto his only daughter. Plus he ran this town, he'd get away with an accidental firing of his gun, if that happened. Bella laughed at that imagery.
They'd settled into their stall, a desk at the front for Jessica and two curtained off areas behind, one for Bella and one for Lauren. Then a last reading of the rules before Jessica declared them open for business and the line started to form. Seriously, boys were actually lining up to kiss them. Bella swallowed and tried to keep her nerves from showing. After all, they were paying customers and you had to keep the customers happy. Plus, it was for charity.
Bella very quickly decided she was glad for the actual kissing booth part of their stall was curtained off, which meant no one could see what was going on. It also meant that Bella could stand to the side of the entrance and see the boys who came in before they saw her. This was extremely useful as it meant Bella could arrange her face into a somewhat pleasant expression by the time they'd located her. She didn't want to be mean by showing her distaste but she also really didn't want to kiss any of these boys so she figured the extra seconds of not seeing her would do them more good than harm.
Sudden cheers went up outside and Bella knew it had to be one of the popular guys, one of those guys that were just adored by the whole school, who had just arrived. There were only a handful of them, Forks High was tiny after all, and Bella could only imagine two of them entering a kissing booth. She shuddered at the thought of either of them kissing her. Not that she had much choice in the matter.
Jessica had already given her the talk; that she was doing this for charity and that meant if a guy wanted to kiss her, she had to allow it. Bella could control the kiss though, whether it was closed lips or involved tongues. Any groping was out of the question, and if either Bella or Lauren complained then whoever involved would be in front of the principle before they could blink. Just because such a booth was being allowed, didn't mean that strict rules wouldn't be applied.
Bella was very much thankful for these rules.
She was especially thankful for these rules when Michael Newton entered her booth. Now, Mike was a nice guy and had been one of Bella's first friends when she arrived in the town of Forks her junior year. But that was all he to her, a friend. This fact had yet to get through to Mike and he continued to ask her out even though he knew she'd say no. So kissing him wasn't exactly on her to-do list.
Still, Bella was a law abiding citizen and she did her duty, thought it was with lips firmly pressed together and eyes open. Nor did it last that long either. Still, Mike had smiled at her when he was finished and commented that he may see her again later. She really hoped not.
Her next visitor completely cleared Mike from her thoughts.
"Alice!?" The tiny girl in front of her laughed at Bella's shocked expression. Alice Brandon had to be one of the most popular girls at school and was also a good friend of Bella's. They'd bonded when a very rare subistution for a sick teacher had paired them together and they'd been good friends ever since. Bella was pretty damn sure that Alice was into guys though, the existence of Jasper Whitlock, Alice's boyfriend, was evidence of that, so what she was doing now had Bella stumped.
"Don't look so surprised! What's wrong with me coming to visit my friend at the stall she's working to raise money for a charity?"
"Something's wrong when it's a kissing booth," Bella muttered and Alice laughed again.
"Here," she pulled several items out of her bag and handed them to Bella, "I brought these for you." In Bella's hands now rested a bottle of water, some lip balm and several packets of mints. Bella looked up grinning and Alice shrugged.
"I saw Newton, I thought you might need them."
"Oh, I could kiss you!" Bella exclaimed as she opened the mints, causing Alice to laugh.
"Well, it is your job!" Both girls laughed and leaned forward to give the other a peck on the cheek.
"Plus, I wouldn't want you to be unprepared," she stated. At that Bella looked up from investigating what flavour lip balm she had received.
"Unprepared? Unprepared for what?" Bella asked as Alice grinned. The smaller girl just shrugged before darting around Bella and neatly exiting the room.
"Alice!" Bella called out but it was clear her friend had already gone. Silently berating her friend, and mentally wondering why they were still even friends, Bella huffed and turned to place her newly acquired items down. Just as quickly she span round, as a throat being cleared behind her informed her of a new quest.
Bella just managed not to gasp aloud, though it was a very close call.
"Hi, Bella," Edward Cullen greeted as he stepped further into the booth.
Edward!?" He grinned and she flushed. "What are you doing here?" He couldn't be here because he wanted to kiss her. That was just not possible.
Bella and Edward had been friends since they'd become lab partners in their shared biology class and somewhere, along the time they had known each other, Bella had completely and utterly fallen for him. He was probably the best looking guy in their school, tall and lean with gorgeous bronzed hair and green eyes that seemed to sparkle. Not only was he good looking but he was smart to, with a kind heart and a sly sense of humour. He was amazing and completely out of Bella's league.
"How you holding up? No one's been disrespectful to you, right?" That was the other thing about Edward, he was a gentleman. It was hard to believe, but with him chivalry wasn't dead.
"I'm alright, it's not exactly the stall I thought I'd be involved with but hey, we're doing this for charity so I shouldn't complain." He smiled down at her then and she realized he hadn't answered her previous question. What was he doing here?
"That sounds just like you, putting others before yourself," he spoke of her so fondly that Bella couldn't help but blush and at that he chuckled.
"I wondered when I'd be seeing that blush of yours," he murmured as he reached forward to stroke her cheek. The heat grew under his fingers and Bella held her breath. He was looking at her as if . . . as if he wanted to kiss her.
"Edward, what are you doing here?" Bella whispered the words, afraid to break the atmosphere that was quickly settling around them.
"I'm here to kiss you," he whispered back, his eyes seeming to glow, "I think, no I know I have to kiss you." His words shocked her and Bella felt herself freeze up. What!?
Edward reacted instantly to her, stepping back and away from her. His shoulders trembled and he suddenly looked up at her.
"It's a dare," he blurted and Bella was instantly disappointed.
"My friends, well they knew I liked you, I've liked you ever since you came here, and they knew I'd never do anything about it so they dared me. And I couldn't get out of it, not that I really wanted to, to be honest, but the alternate they provided was to declare myself and then serenade you at the karaoke session tonight, which would humiliate you so I thought I'd try to keep this as private as possible, so you're not embarrassed when you have to turn me down." All Bella could do was stare as Edward rambled on. Somewhere, in that speech, did he just confess to liking her? As in, liking her? Bella needed to sit down.
"Edward, I-"
"Of course, everyone knows you hate being the centre of attention, which is what would definitely happen if I were to just announce over the loud speakers that I'm pretty much in love with you, and then everyone would expect you to answer and I don't want to put you in that position, because it would be very uncomfortable for you, Bella, and I'd hate to make you feel uncomfortable. I'm making you uncomfortable now, aren't I? Great, just great," he flushed as he ran a hand through his wild hair. "I'm sorry, Bella, I really didn't mean or want to upset you by doing this. I should go."
"You don't want to upset me?" Bella asked, still stunned at the words coming out of his mouth.
"Bella, you didn't ask for me to like you. You didn't ask for this situation and the last thing I want to do is force you into something you don't want to do."
"You wouldn't be forcing me," Bella blurted out and then flushed bright red.
"I wouldn't?" He asked quietly. Bella couldn't talk, so simply nodded her head in answer. Edward took a step closer to her.
"Bella, may I kiss you?" For the briefest moment, Bella had the insane urge to make a joke. Something along the lines of, 'well, you have paid for it'. As soon as the thought had formed she squished it with all her might, instead looking up into Edward's bright eyes and nodding again.
"Answer out loud, Bella, please, say it out loud." He was closer now, having closed the distance between them and Bella could swear his eyes had golden flecks in them. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth, trying with all her might not to screw this up.
"Y-yes. Yes, Edward, you very much may kiss me." His answering grin was dazzling.
Before Bella could form her own smile, her cheeks were cupped with his hands and warmth spread across her face. Edward's smile seemed to widen, before he was slowly leaning down towards her.
Their mouths met, in a soft brushing of lips, and it positively tingled.
It was a soft brushing of lips, whispered caresses as Edward repeated the motion again. Warmth was spreading through Bella from where their lips touched and she sighed. Her mouth parted and on his next kiss Edward caught her bottom lip between his and sucked, ever so gently. The gentle warmth turned into a flame and Bella pulled back, startled.
They stared at each other, Edward's eyes dark and Bella's breathing coming fast. She suddenly realized that he hadn't really kissed her. Oh, what he'd done had been perfect and lovely and very much suitable for a first kiss. Bella knew she didn't want that, she wanted more.
With an almost inaudible moan, Bella fisted her hands into Edward's hair and pulled his mouth to hers. This time it was his lips that parted in a sigh, or rather a groan and it was Bella who took full advantage.
His hands stole to her hips and pulled her forward, their bodies pressed tightly together, while they kissed. A hand cupped the back of her head to angle it and Bella whimpered as he deepened the kiss further. She'd never done this before, never kissed anyone like this and the fact that it was Edward who was making her act and feel like this only made her feel warmer. Her hands clenched tightly in his hair, bringing him that much closer, before they parted to pant for air, their gazes locked on one another.
"Wow," Edward whispered and Bella smiled, agreeing completely. "What a dare," he breathed and the words sent a shock through her. Dare. Dare. It was just a dare.
Abruptly, Bella pulled herself away and Edward's arms fell back to his sides, his expression becoming confused. She couldn't believe she'd let herself fall into fantasy that much. This was all a dare for him, something his friends wanted him to do. This had nothing to do with them, with feelings that may or may not be involved and Bella felt cold. It had meant something to her.
She was very much a private person, and to know that their kiss, their amazing, perfect, everything kiss, would soon be public knowledge gave her chills. It was a dare after all; he'd have to tell his friends he did it so he'd get out of having to do anything else. He might even brag. She didn't know. Suddenly, Bella felt as if she didn't know the boy standing in front of her.
"Bella?"
"You need to go," she stated, her voice quiet. In opposition to her request, Edward took a step back towards her. Bella shook her head, backing away from him.
"You need to go," she repeated, trying to ignore the feelings building in her. Edward's face contorted and he shook his head at her.
"No, Bella, tell me what's wrong. You've gone pale, Bella, are you okay?" He stepped forwards again, Bella still desperately shaking her head at him. "Was ... was it me, Bella? Have I upset you?" His voice was pained and Bella could take no more. She didn't want him to be here, looking as if he cared. He may do, but his first thought after their kiss was that it was a dare. His dare, which he fulfilled. She was nothing more than a willing participant.
Bella took a shuddering breath, and for a moment felt bad for what she was about to do, but still opened her mouth.
"Jess!" Edward stepped back instantly, looking as if she'd done more than just shout out a name, and the bubbly brunette appeared in the tent opening.
"Bella? Oh, Edward, you're still here?" She shot a look at Bella, who frantically shook her head and the other girl got the clue. "Well, time to go, Edward. I'm sure you can catch up with Bella another time, but right now we trying to raise money for charity so off you trot." Jessica reached out and tugged on Edward's arm, stepping in between him and Bella, and forcing him to leave. He shot Bella one last look before ducking out of the tent.
"Are you okay?" Jessica asked as Bella let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. She nodded, smiling slightly. "Did he-?"
"NO!" No matter what had happened, Bella had been willing, she was not getting Edward into trouble for something he didn't do. "Nothing like that! I just got ... self conscious." She shrugged and was extremely happy when Jess just smiled, obviously buying her story.
"Oh, that's ok, Bella. I'm sure Edward understood. And don't stress, you'll get that type of confidence one day." Bella blushed and was glad Jess was leaving as she missed it. If she'd seen she would have known that something was up. It didn't help that all Bella could think of now was her reaction to Edward's kiss, practically throwing herself at him. Well, if that wasn't confidence . . .
"I'll give you a few minutes, to get yourself together," Jessica called over her shoulder and Bella called back her thanks. She might need more than a few minutes, though. Sighing, she glanced down at her watch and groaned at the time. She still had over an hour left on this stupid stall and then she'd agreed to meet Angela for the open mike session tonight. She'd been looking forward to it, but now all Bella wanted to do was to go home and curl up in bed. And not remember his damn kiss.
Somehow, Bella made it through the next hour, obediently performing her duty when the time came and keeping her mind firmly on the ticking of the clock, and not on comparing her current kissing partners to Edward. She went through sloppy, gentle, hard, hot and uncomfortable kisses. None of them came close to Edward's.
With a sigh of relief and a quick conversation with Jess and Lauren, both of whom wanted and dished more information than Bella was willing or comfortable to divulge, Bella was free. She quickly made her way to the arranged meeting point with Angela, still wanting to go home but now, as the feelings of freedom overtook her, willing to stay for at least a little while. Angela was already at the opening of the tent that would hold the open mike session and grinned as Bella approached.
"You survived!" She squealed as she hugged her and Bella laughed in response.
"I sure did! Though some of those encounters will definitely leave bad mental scars."
"Do you think you'll need therapy?" Angela asked as she led the way to the drinks table. Obviously only soft drinks were being served but Bella was happy with anything as long as it wasn't water. They purchased their drinks, found a spot in the corner of the tent, far away from the thoroughfare, and began to talk about their afternoons.
Angela had been working on the cotton candy stall and was regaling Bella with stories of how the sticky substance had misbehaved, somehow even ending up in Eric Yorkie's hair. Her friend's tales loosened Bella up even to tell some of her own. As a consequence they were both laughing, quite loudly, when the principle walked onto the mock stage at the front of the tent. He tapped the mike in front of him, clearing his throat before stepping too close and making it whine. That got everyone's attention.
"Good evening everyone. I hope you have all had a good day and it pleases me greatly to inform you all that early reports say we have risen double what we did last year already." Cheers went up from the gathered crowd and Bella couldn't help but grin. It was a good feeling, doing things for others, and it was nice to know that the day could still be thought of as a good one. Not just the day she got crushed by her crush.
"Now, onwards with the show! First to entertain us tonight with be Eric Yorkie with a ballad which he has dedicated to . . . cotton candy? Ah, well, Mr. Yorkie, everyone!" After Eric's truly brilliant and edited version of Total Eclipse of the Heart, with cotton candy still stuck in his head, came a couple of Juniors who could clearly hold a tune and then a few more who couldn't. By this time Bella had forgotten why she'd wanted to go home and was having a good time with Angela.
That all changed when Edward walked onto the stage, guitar in hand.
Her whole body tensed and Angela instantly noticed, asking what was wrong and trying to gain her attention. But Bella could only focus on the boy at the front of the stage. He'd said it was one or the other, he'd said that it was either the kiss or serenade her. He'd kiss her, they both knew it. He didn't have to do the other part of the dare. So what was he doing?
"Hey everyone, hope you're all having a good time tonight," his voice was velvet smooth through the mike and several people cheered as he grinned at his audience. His eyes scanned the room as he talked before finally settling on her. For some reason Bella couldn't look away and she, along with everyone else, heard the deep breath he took.
"If you guys hadn't guessed already, I'm going to sing a song tonight and it's dedicated to someone special. I'm not going to say her name, she knows who she is, but I'm going to tell the rest of you that I'm absolutely crazy about her and that this song was written for her," Edward's words were drowned out by squeals and cat calls and he grinned bashfully as he looked down at his guitar. Bella felt a blush overtake her face at his words and knew by Angela's quiet gasp beside her that her friend had figured it out. Edward looked back up and the tent fell strangely silent.
"This is With Your Kiss," he stated, before starting a gentle tune on his guitar. Then he opened his mouth and began to croon, in that crushed velvet voice of his.
There's this girl,
Who blows my world apart.
She don't know,
I've given her my heart.
If she's here,
Please let her know tonight.
That I care,
With all my strength and might.
How I care,
I go out of my mind.
Swept away,
Feelings leave me behind.
I confess,
I'm in deep with this one.
All I know,
She makes me come undone.
So I beg,
For forgiveness tonight.
So you know,
Your touch makes me feel right.
With your kiss,
Softly caress my soul.
Just one kiss,
You've got my heart and home.
Edward's words settled into silence for a mere moment before the screaming began. He smiled once more before disappearing off the stage and allowing the next act to come on. Bella felt immensely sorry for them, as no one was going to top Edward tonight. He'd written and performed his own music. He'd written his own song, a song about her, for her. A feeling of warmth rose up inside her and Bella knew her blush would be all over her cheeks.
"You kissed today, didn't you?" Angela asked quietly and Bella turned to her.
"Yes, I-I. Yes we kissed but- He said it was a dare! I got upset and called Jess so he'd have to leave. I-I didn't want it to be a dare," she mumbled as Angela looked at her.
"It wasn't." A firm voice stated from behind her. Bella span to see Edward and instantly felt her blush intensify.
"Edward-"
"It wasn't, not to me. I'll admit I would never have gone to see you at that stall if I didn't have the courage from being dared but that kiss meant more to me than a stupid dare. I like you Bella, I've liked you for a long time and the only crime here is that I needed a dare to cajole me into doing something about it." His eyes were gleaming and Bella suddenly understood the expression of having your heart in your eyes. His were filled with hope, pain, courage and love. He really did like her.
"It wasn't-"
"No."
"But you said-"
"I know, really bad timing," he took a step towards her. "Bella, please give me a chance, let me treat you right." All she could do was stare up at him.
"You really like me?" She asked and he took a step closer, so they standing as close as they could be without touching.
"I really really like you," he replied and Bella finally smiled.
"Good," she stated, and as she had done just hours before she reached up, firmly planting her hands in his hair, and pulled him down to her lips.
This kiss was as firm as their previous, except they both opened their mouths at the same time and they both clung to each other. He pressed them tightly together and Bella knew they were both pouring their feelings from the day into this kiss. It was hot, firm and passionate and it made her crave him even more.
Loud catcalls finally pulled them apart and Bella blushed when she realized practically the whole tent had been watching them. She buried her head in Edward's chest as he kissed her head and nuzzled her hair.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I know you don't like all this attention." She felt him sigh at that and she pulled back. Bella looked straight into his eyes and somehow their audience just disappeared. She beamed up at him, loving the slow crooked grin that he used to answer her.
"I guess you'll just have to make me forget. With your kisses."
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A/N –Just some harmless fluff folks, hope you liked! If you're wondering next chapters for both TTG and NWC will be up soon, so stay tuned!
