संगीत and Memories

Charlie had left द्वारा the time I got up the अगला morning; he was fishing with Billy again, and probably wouldn't be back until late. I did the homework that had to be done द्वारा Monday and cleaned the house, but it was still barely noon द्वारा the time I had finished. Edward hadn't कहा when he would call, so when the phone rang a few मिनटों later, I almost fell down the stairs in my hurry to get to it.

"Hello?" I answered breathlessly.

"Hi honey!"

I let out a slightly disappointed sigh; mom.

"Hey mom." I started twirling the chord around my finger, hoping this wouldn't turn out to be one of her marathon calls.

"Was that a sigh of disappointment I just heard? Were आप expecting a call from someone else?"

"Mom…" I could never hide anything from her.

"Are आप waiting for a boy to call, Isabella Marie Swan?" I knew her well enough to recognize her teasing.

"Maybe…"

"Tell me everything! What's his name? How old is he? Are आप dating? Is Charlie completely freaking out?" I laughed at her last question.

"Actually, yes, a little. I had to remind him to put his gun away before Edward came over last night." It hadn't been very funny at the time, of course, but I could laugh at it now.

"Edward? He sounds like he's eighty या something."I could practically hear her frown over the line.

"He's my age." Eighty… eew.

"He's in your class then? Is that how आप met him?"

"Yeah, we have Biology and P.E. together."

"He still wants to hang out with आप after having seen आप in Gym? That must be a good sign." I rolled my eyes and was about to say something sarcastic, but she quickly changed the subject. "So आप went out last night? Where did आप go? What did आप do? Is there actually anything to do in that sorry excuse for a town?"

"Not really. We went to this really nice little Italian place in Port Angeles, and then we went to the movies." I didn't say that we went to see a movie, because there really hadn't been much of that.

"What movie did आप see?"

"Eh…" I desperately tried to remember what the movie had been called, but came up blank. "The new one with Leonardo DiCaprio." That I remembered.

"Oh, आप made out at the फिल्में then." Mom chuckled, and I blushed. "And stop blushing."

"How did you…" I blushed even harder.

"Please, sweetie. I know you." She had a point. "Is he taking आप out again?"

"I think so." I was suddenly filled with doubts. He had कहा that he would call, but he hadn't actually कहा that he wanted to go out again. "He कहा he'd call, but I don't know if…"

"Then he'll call. And I'm sure he'll want to take आप out again, what guy wouldn't?"

At last count? All of them. Maybe more.

"OK, I'll let आप go; don't want to block the line when he calls. I just wanted to see how your week's been. Call me tomorrow, I want to hear everything!"

With that, she hung up.

And I was left all alone with my shiny, new doubts.

He had meant it when he कहा that he would call, right? I mean, we had been making out through half the movie and then in his car before we कहा goodnight. He seemed to like me. He had कहा it, he'd even called me his girlfriend, and still…

Fortunately, my thoughts were interrupted द्वारा another phone call.

"Hello?" This time, it was him.

"I'm so sorry!" My दिल immediately dropped. Was he only calling to say that he didn't want to see me again?

"Why?" I held my breath as I waited for his answer.

"I accidently mentioned to Alice that we were doing something today, and she somehow got me to agree to movie and पिज़्ज़ा, पिज्जा with her and Jasper tonight." I let out a sigh of relief. "Did I mention that I'm sorry? I'm really really sorry."

"It's fine." It was, really. "I mean, I wouldn't have minded doing something just the two of us, but Alice is my friend, I don't have a problem hanging out with her and Jasper."

"Are आप sure? Because if I कहा that आप wanted to do something else, I could probably… OK, maybe, get her to let us off the hook. It might take some begging and possibly the promise of a favor of some kind, but…"

"Pizza and a movie with Alice and Jasper will be fine." I interrupted.

"Are आप sure?"

"Positive."

"OK, but अगला weekend we'll do something just आप and me." I liked the sound of that.

"Deal. What's the timeline for tonight then?"

"I think it's pretty open. Just let me know when आप feel like coming over and I'll pick आप up. We'll order the पिज़्ज़ा, पिज्जा when we're hungry. Oh, and Alice already has the फिल्में picked out, so don't bother bringing anything."

When I feel like it… how about right now? No, that would be too pushy. Right?

"Fiveish? Is that OK?" Four and a half long hours from now. I had no idea how I would pass the time.

"Sure. I'll call when I'm on my way." I thought I heard a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Hang on, Alice wants to talk to you. See आप in a couple of hours."

"See आप later." I waited as he handed the phone to Alice.

"Hi Bella!" She sounded as chipper as ever. "I've got a favor to ask."

"Shoot."

"Are आप doing anything special today, या do आप mind coming here a little earlier? I have an English paper on The Scarlet Letter due on Monday, and I really, really need your help."

I was pretty sure she could just ask one of her brothers, या Jasper, for help, but I wasn't about to pass up on the opportunity she had just – deliberately? – thrown at me.

"Sure, when do आप want me to come over?" Please say now, please say now.

"Well… I actually haven't started yet…"

"How about I grab some lunch and then I'll head over? As long as someone can pick me up, I still can't drive the truck आप know."

"Would you? I really appreciate it."

"Sure, Alice." I waited as she covered the phone with her hand and spoke to someone.

"Edward will pick आप up in half an hour, is that OK?"

"Sounds great."

"OK. See आप in a little while!" I could almost hear the smile on her face as she hung up.

I fixed some grilled cheese, and waited impatiently as the रोटी sizzled in the pan. After I had eaten, I took a quick शावर, शॉवर and threw on my प्रिय t-shirt and a pair of jeans I had bought during my shopping trip with Alice. I grabbed my own copy of The Scarlet Letter and headed down the stairs just as I heard Edward pull into the driveway. Before heading out the door, I scribbled down a note for Charlie, telling him where I was and that he had to fix रात का खाना himself, and stuck it to the fridge with a magnet in the shape of a rainbow.

Edward was leaning against the driver's side of the Camaro, and a crooked smile appeared on his face when I came out the door.

"Hey." I returned the smile as I walked down the porch steps.

"Hey." He walked around the car and opened the passenger door for me. I leaned in for a quick hello-kiss, but he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer.

"Missed you." He mumbled, pulling away slightly and burying his face in my hair.

"Me too." I snuggled into the crook of his neck and sighed. I could definitely get used to this.

After a couple of मिनटों he released me and I got into the passenger seat. Before he started the car, he opened the दस्ताना, दस्ताने compartment.

"Pick something."

I pulled out the pile of CDs that filled the small अंतरिक्ष and flipped through them, settling on Maroon 5's Songs about Jane.

"Good choice." He acknowledged with a grin.

I leaned my head back, closed my eyes and let the slightly aggressive notes of Harder to Breathe wash over me.

After a few minutes, I felt Edward's arm around my back, and I willingly scooted a little closer to him and leaned my head against his shoulder.

"Sorry about Alice." He mumbled. "I mean, not that I mind having आप around all दिन – obviously – but she can be a bit of a pain in the नितंब, गधा when she's on a mission."

"Mission?" He raised an eyebrow at my questioning tone. "Oh." It had been deliberate, then. Thank you, Alice.

"I tried to tell her to back off, that I had everything under control, but she seems to think I'm going to mess up या something."

"It sounds like she just cares about you." I suggested.

"She cares about आप too, आप know." He chuckled. "She actually told me that if I hurt you, she'd beat me to death with a shovel."

"I hope that won't be necessary." I actually shivered at the thought, and he pulled me closer.

"Not if I have anything to say in the matter."

Was this happening way too fast?

We had known each other for barely two weeks, been on one single date. And I already knew that if he ever left me, it would break my दिल beyond repair. So, yes, this was happening way too fast. But I didn't think that there was anything I could do about it.

When we got to the big house, Alice had set up her laptop on the bar counter. Edward joined Jasper, who was watching TV in the living room part of the area, and I climbed the barstool अगला to Alice.

"Thank आप so much!" She gave me a tight, one-armed hug. "I didn't understand half of what Mr. Mason was saying in English the other day."

We worked on her paper for a couple of hours, until she was happy with the results. When she flipped the laptop closed with a satisfied click, the boys looked up from the TV.

"All done?" Jasper asked, and Alice nodded.

"All done."

"Where's everyone else?" I asked as Alice hopped off her chair. I opted against trying to match her grace and carefully climbed down instead. One broken limb was quite enough for the time being.

"They went to Seattle for the day; they probably won't be back until pretty late tonight." Alice plopped down on the सोफ़ा, सोफे अगला to Jasper, leaving a अंतरिक्ष for me between her and Edward. "Are आप guys actually watching this, या can we start watching the movies?" She indicated the बास्केटबाल, बास्केटबॉल, बास्केट बॉल game on the television.

Jasper handed her the remote, and she skipped to the entertainment set, inserting a DVD in the player.

"I thought we'd start with some comedy." She returned to the सोफ़ा, सोफे as the trailers began, kicking her shoes off to get और comfortable. I followed her lead and pulled my legs up under me. Edward put an arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into him.

I had always liked British comedies in general – and Hugh Grant comedies in particular – so Alice's choice of About a Boy suited me well.

After the movie, we ordered pizza. As we waited for the खाना to get there, I spotted Alice glancing at the पियानो in the corner.

"Do आप play?" I asked, and was surprised when she turned to Edward, raising her eyebrows at him.

"It's mine." He shrugged. "It's a hobby."

"You're being too modest!" Alice huffed. "He composes his own music."

"Really?" I frowned at him. "We've spent I don't know how many hours talking about music, and आप what? Forgot to mention it?"

"Sorry." He had a sheepish look on his face. "It's just not something I go around talking about, I guess."

"It's OK. As long as आप make it up द्वारा playing something for me."

He got up and walked over to the piano, sitting down on the स्टूल, मल before running his hands over the keys, trying out different scales. He paused for a moment, and then began to play a slow, sweet melody. It became और and और melancholy as it progressed, and the final note tugged at my heart. I realized that I had tears in my eyes when he finished playing.

"That was beautiful." I said, my voice a little unsteady.

"And new." Alice noted.

Edward gave me a long, meaningful look. Had the song been for me? The small smile on his face gave me the answer.

"Hey, Jasper, I need that book आप कहा I could borrow, come with me upstairs?" Alice seemed to have picked up on the electricity that was flowing between me and Edward.

"Right, the book. Come on." The two of them walked up the stairs, and Alice winked at me over her shoulder.

I walked over to the पियानो and sat down अगला to Edward. He placed a किस on चोटी, शीर्ष of my head, and I leaned into his body.

"How long have आप played?" I asked quietly.

"As long as I can remember." He ran his fingers lightly over the keys. "My mom played, so we had a पियानो in our living room. Esme always says that I started tinkling on the पियानो before I could talk."

"My mom made me take lessons when I was eight, but I never really got the hang of it." He took my hand and placed it on the keys, pressing my fingers down to produce different notes. After a moment I realized that we were playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

"One of the few memories I have of my mom is how she used to pick me up and sit down on the पियानो स्टूल, मल with me in her lap, and we'd play Chopsticks together." His voice was a little sad.

"That's nice." He let go of my hand, and I wrapped my arm around his waist. He leaned his head on mine, and we just sat there.

When the doorbell rang about five मिनटों later, we were still in the same position. Before either of us had a chance to react, Alice bounced down the stairs and threw the door open. Jasper followed at a और reasonable pace.

Alice paid for the pizzas and put them down on the coffee तालिका, टेबल in front of the couch, flipping the boxes open. One plain and one mushroom. Jasper took a slice from the plain one before reclaiming his सीट on the couch.

Edward went to get some sodas from the fridge, and I joined Alice and Jasper on the couch.

"What movie's next?" I wondered, and Alice held up two DVD-cases for me to choose from.

"Matt Damon या hot surf guys?"

"Franka Potente या Kate Bosworth." Jasper corrected, grinning, as Edward sat down अगला to me.

"Either one is fine." I shrugged.

"Hot surf guys it is." Alice put the disc in the DVD-player and skipped past the trailers.

The movie was actually pretty good. द्वारा the time it was over, the पिज़्ज़ा, पिज्जा and sodas were all gone. Alice skipped into the रसोई, रसोईघर with the trash while Jasper put the last movie in the DVD before sitting down on the floor in front of the couch. When Alice came back, she joined him on the floor, sitting down between his legs and leaning back into his chest. She grabbed one of the blankets from the armrest of the सोफ़ा, सोफे and pulled it over them both.

As the movie started, Edward stretched out on the सोफ़ा, सोफे and pulled me down in front of him, his head leaning on the armrest. He took one of the pillows we had tossed on the floor earlier and put it underneath my head.

"Are आप cold?" His mumble in my ear sent shivers down my spine, and he took that as a yes, reaching out for the other blanket that was draped across the armrest of the couch.

His arm crept around my waist under the blanket and he pulled me closer so that my back was pressed against his chest.

"Comfy?" I only managed to hum in what I hoped was an affirmative way.

Needless to say, I had trouble keeping up with the plot.

About half an घंटा into the movie, we heard a car pull up outside the house.

"They're home." Alice acknowledged.

As the door opened, I tried to sit up, but Edward only held me tighter. Carlisle and Esme came into the room first, joined द्वारा Emmett and Rosalie a moment later.

"Hey kids." Esme greeted, smiling at us.

"What're आप watching?" Emmett flopped down on the floor अगला to Jasper and Alice.

"Bourne Identity." Jasper replied, eyes focused on the TV.

"I've been wanting to see that."

"We'll be off to bed." Carlisle said, pulling Esme along with him towards the stairs. "See आप in the morning."

Rosalie joined Emmett, Jasper and Alice on the floor and we continued to watch the movie.

Edward and I ended up making out in the car outside Charlie's house later that night, Goo Goo Dolls' Iris playing softly in the background.

It was only ten thirty, so I figured Charlie wouldn't come looking for me for a while. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Daddy Cool started playing from my pocket, and I groaned.

"I'm assuming that's your dad calling?" Edward कहा in an amused voice.

"I made the mistake of teaching him how to assign personalized ring tones." I complained, pulling the phone out of my pocket. "He's taking it out on my phone."

Edward only chuckled.

"Hello?" I answered, sounding annoyed on purpose.

"Bella?"

Who else would it be?

"What's up dad?"

"I just wanted to know when आप were planning on coming home."

I calculated the risk of him looking out the रसोई, रसोईघर window, and found it to be pretty big.

"We actually just pulled up outside." I shot Edward an apologetic look.

"Great. See आप in a bit then."

"Sure thing." I was pretty certain that he didn't pick up on the sarcasm in my voice. I returned the phone to my pocket. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Edward assured me. "He's your dad; it's his job to look out for you."

"He's a little new at it, so he goes overboard sometimes. We've only had the summers together before, and I'm pretty sure he was और worried about me having a good time so I would want to come back the साल after than sticking to curfews and stuff."

"You didn't have a boyfriend then, either." He noted, and I smiled at the word. Boyfriend.

"Also true. Maybe he's just behaving like any normal parent of a teenager."

"Most likely." He ran his knuckles down my cheek, making me shudder a little. "You should probably get inside."

"Yeah." I agreed grudgingly.

"Lunch tomorrow? I think Esme कहा something about making her famous lasagna."

"Are आप sure? I don't want your family to get sick of me." In truth, I didn't want him to get sick of me.

"Could never happen."

"OK then." I looked over towards the house and saw that Charlie was standing in the रसोई, रसोईघर window. "I really do have to go now. I wouldn't put it past him to come out here and drag me inside."

"I'll pick आप up at noon tomorrow."

"Charlie can take me; आप shouldn't have to drive me around everywhere."

"I don't mind." And I could tell that he really didn't. "But I do have some homework to do before आप get there tomorrow, so it would probably be better if Charlie drove you."

"Tomorrow at noon then." I was about to open the door, but he reached out and held me back.

"You forgot something." He कहा before he placed his hands on my cheeks and gave me a long, sweet kiss. I might have forgotten to breathe at some point, because when he pulled back, I was completely out of breath, and my brain felt all fuzzy.

I snapped out of it when I heard the front door open.

"Night." I quickly got out of the car, and I could hear Edward chuckle behind me. "Hi dad."

"I thought आप कहा आप just pulled up outside when I called you?"

"We did, I just didn't get out of the car right away." I blushed as I walked past him into the house and hoped that he wouldn't notice