Ch 30 - Too Good Is True

That I have seen the light of day
Love is finally going my way
Is it too good to be true
Give me one more kiss, one more touch
Baby, I just can't get enough of you
This time, too good is true
All of a sudden
I'm not who I used to be
I had my heart locked
But you held the key
And you find a way, everyday
To show me even more

"Too Good Is True" - Rascal Flatts

I sat on the couch with the remote in my hand, flipping through the channels on TV trying to find something to hold my interest. While I was finishing eating, Edwards cell phone rang. He excused himself and went out into the hallway to take the call. I didn’t understand why, it wasn’t like I could understand what he was saying.

He’d been out there for at least 20 minutes. I had an urge to jump up and run to the door and press my ear against it in an attempt to hear something—anything—but I knew it was useless. I wouldn’t overhear anything and he’d be well aware of what I was doing.

After a few more minutes the door opened and Edward walked in, appearing furious. He slammed the door behind him. It shut with a loud crack, vibrating the walls. I flinched at the sound and my neighbor pounded on the wall and yelled, obviously having heard it. His anger melted away as he realized what he done.

“Sorry,” he muttered, glancing back at the door. When he was satisfied he hadn’t damaged it with his fury, he turned back to me and smiled sheepishly. “I got a little carried away.”

I smiled and nodded in agreement. He walked over and sat down beside me on the couch, running his fingers through his hair. He glanced up at the TV and snickered.

“Favorite movie of yours?” he asked playfully. I glanced over and furrowed my brow. I shrugged after a moment, unable to place what movie it was.

“I don’t know what it is,” I said.

“It’s Underworld. It’s about a war between vampires and werewolves,” he said with a shrug. “Figured it was right up your alley.”

I rolled my eyes. “No, I’m not really a fan of sci-fi,” I mumbled. I grabbed the remote to change the channel. Edward leaned over toward me, his lips near my ear.

“I think they consider it more as horror than sci-fi,” Edward said, his voice low. I shivered involuntarily as his cool breath blew across my face. He chuckled and pulled away. “Don’t you have work in the morning?”

I glanced up at the clock and groaned. “Yeah, I should be going to sleep.” I turned the TV off and stood up, stretching. I headed towards the bedroom and paused in the doorway, turning back to look at Edward. He was still sitting on the couch, not moving. “Are you coming?” I asked hesitantly.

He sighed loudly, running his hand through his hair nervously again. “What do you want, Bella? Do you want me to?”

I smiled—progress. He was asking my opinion. “Yes,” I said softly.

He stood up and walked toward the bedroom. I lay down on the bed and Edward slid in beside me, facing me. He gazed into my eyes and smiled. His face was serene--he seemed at peace.

We were silent for a moment and Edward reached his hand up, lightly grazing my jaw line with his cool fingertips. My eyes fluttered closed and I moaned softly at the sensation. He froze at the sound of my moan and I nearly panicked, suddenly embarrassed. I opened my eyes to look at him, slightly afraid of what I was going to find.

I was stunned by his expression. There were no signs of the horror or disgust I expected. His face was soft, a half-smile playing on his lips. His eyes were burning with intensity and it took me a moment to recognize the emotion shining from them.

It was lust. The beautiful creature in front of me was gazing at me with desire. I felt my heart rate accelerate, my body tingling from the knowledge. He aroused me, there was no doubt about that, but I never got the impression that I turned him on. But that look—that look was unmistakable.

His eyes darted from my eyes to my lips a few times. He was hesitating, debating. We’d kissed before with no problem but it was different now. We were different. I knew what happened last time we lay in my bed was causing him to hold back, making him second-guess it.

He moved slightly closer to me, still gazing in my eyes and occasionally glancing at my lips. I felt my breathing pick up in anticipation and as my mouth parted my tongue darted out, wetting my bottom lip. Edward groaned at the sight and closed the distance between us, obviously making his decision.

“Be still,” he whispered, before gently pressing his lips to mine. I closed my eyes and electricity shot through me, my body tingling at the feeling of our lips connecting. It was a chaste kiss, innocent, but it ignited something inside of me none-the-less. He pulled back slightly and pressed his lips against mine a second time. This time there was slightly more passion, more intensity. It was still innocent and I tried not to move but the desire inside of me exploded, becoming too much. I pressed forward, cocking my head more to the side and trying to deepen the kiss. He humored me for a moment, kissing back and letting me a tiny bit of control, but the moment I shifted my body closer to him he froze, hands gripping my shoulders and pushing back on me gently.

I opened my eyes and he smiled sheepishly. I grinned, unable to contain the joy on my face. It was such a small thing, just a kiss, but for us it was big. It was a major step.

What direction that step was taking us, I wasn’t sure. And I really didn’t want to dwell on it, because that would put a damper on the moment. All I wanted to think about was the fact that Edward had kissed me, that he desired me even if he couldn’t really act upon it.

“Get some sleep, love,” Edward said softly. He rolled onto his back and pulled me over onto him, my head resting on his chest where his heart lay. He leaned down and inhaled once, as he usually did, placing a small kiss on the top of my head. We wrapped our arms around each other and I closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep quickly.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock blaring in my ear. I groaned and rolled over, slapping the top of it until it shut up. I drifted back off to sleep, only to be awoken moments later by it blaring again. I forced myself to sit up and reach over to turn it off. I was still tired, desperately wanting to go back to bed, but knew if I didn’t get up now I’d be late for work. I rubbed my eyes and glanced around, noticing I was alone in my room. I crawled out of bed and trudged to the door, pulling it open. The moment I stepped foot in the living room, a loud voice rang out, causing me to close my eyes and wince.

“Good morning Bella!!” I peeked my eyes back open, still half asleep, and saw Alice standing in front of me. She looked entirely too chipper and put together for it being so early, but then again when you had no need for rest you had that benefit.

“Mornin’ Alice,” I mumbled. I walked into the kitchen and saw a cup of Starbucks coffee sitting on the counter, still slightly steaming. I was immediately overjoyed, grabbing it. Alice joined me in the kitchen and smiled brightly at my expression.

“Thought you’d like some coffee so I stopped on my way here.”

“Thank you so much,” I said, taking a sip. It was hot and slightly burned my tongue but I didn’t care. It immediately warmed my system, already waking me up some. “Where’s Edward?” I asked.

“I’m right here,” a voice said behind me. I jumped, startled, and the coffee splashed out onto my hand and ran down the front of my shirt.

“Ow, shit that’s hot!” I yelped. Alice immediately grabbed the coffee from me and narrowed her eyes at Edward. I swung around and saw him standing a few feet away, eyes wide in surprise.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said apologetically. I waved him off and grabbed a towel out of the drawer, wiping off the front of my shirt as best I could. I gave up after a moment, tossing the towel down and shrugging. I grabbed my coffee back from Alice and took another sip.

I excused myself to go get ready for work and heard Alice and Edward whispering back and forth the moment I walked away. I took a quick shower, washing my hair and getting the sticky coffee off of my stomach. I wrapped a towel around my body and stepped out of the bathroom. Edward was standing in the living room when I exited. He glanced up at me and his eyes widened. I expected him to look away immediately but he didn’t. He stayed stationary, staring at my nearly naked form wrapped only in a towel.

I was frozen in spot, slightly embarrassed but not uncomfortable. I felt the blush creep up my body and Edward groaned, closing his eyes. Alice stepped out from the kitchen at that moment and I bolted for the bedroom.

I pulled a pair of black pants out of my closet and slipped them on. I threw a black tank top and grabbed a plain white button-up shirt to wear overtop of it. I put on a pair of black boots on, zipping them up. I walked back to the bathroom and took a brush through my hair before throwing on a coat of lip-gloss.

I walked back out into the living room and started gathering up my stuff for work. Alice grabbed my bag while I slipped my button-up shirt on. “I’ll walk you,” she said with a smile. I smiled back at her and nodded.

Alice opened the door and headed out into the hallway. I took a step to join her when Edward called my name from behind me.

“Yeah?”

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, running his hand through his hair as usual, but eventually took a few steps forward to me. I furrowed my brow, unsure of what he wanted or what he was doing. He smiled lightly before bringing his head down and pressing his lips against mine gently. I was completely taken off guard, too stunned to react. By the time it struck me what was happening, Edward pulled his lips from mine. “Have a good day at work,” he said softly, his cool breath hitting my face.

I was dazzled, my heart racing and my stomach fluttering. A squeal from the hallway startled me, taking me out of the moment. I laughed nervously shaking my head. Edward chuckled, bringing his hand up to run his fingers along my cheek.

I smiled and he dropped his hand. I turned to leave and was accosted by Alice the moment I stepped into the hallway. She pulled the door shut and grabbed me, pulling me into a hug. “I knew things were going to work out with you two,” she said excitedly.

“Whoa, Alice, relax. It was just a kiss, no big deal.” She laughed and pulled away, smiling. She narrowed her eyes slightly and tapped her finger to her forehead. I laughed, shaking my head.

I barely made it to work on time. Alice left me at the door, telling me she was in town to shop and she’d see me later. The library was extremely busy, as it was now August and a new school semester just started up, so the day went by fairly fast. When 3 o’clock rolled around and my shift ended, I said goodbye to Margaret and headed for the exit. The moment I stepped out the door I spotted Edward leaning against the side of a building directly across the street.

I made my way across the street quickly. He pulled me into a hug when I approached, inhaling my scent. I was enjoying the newfound physical affection—nothing felt better than his arms wrapped around me. When he let go of me I smiled at him.

“It’s Friday night, let’s go on a date,” he said, excitement in his voice. I cocked an eyebrow at him and laughed.

“A date? What, dinner and a movie?” He smiled and nodded, pulling me into another embrace.

“If that’s what you want to do.” I rolled my eyes but couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face.

“I don’t know, dinner and a movie is too cliché.” He laughed, letting go of me and grabbing my hand, intertwining our fingers. We started walking toward my apartment slowly. “What do normal people do these days for dates?”

Edward looked at me questioningly. “You’re the human, I should be asking you that.”

I laughed. “I’m not exactly normal Edward, in case you haven’t noticed. You’re the mind reader, I figured you’d know.”

“I don’t make a habit of paying attention to the mundane things humans think of,” he said with a shrug.

I pulled out my cell phone as we walked and dialed Denise’s phone number. She answered quickly, overly excited to hear my voice. We hadn’t been able to speak much since Edward’s reemergence in my life… her boyfriend proposed to her last week so she’s been busy with him. I asked her what people did for dates and she rattled off a few things quickly. I laughed and thanked her, hanging up.

“Apparently people go to the zoo,” I said.

Edward shook his head. “That would be a disaster.”

I cocked an eyebrow at him, curious. “What, would the mountain lion be too tempting for you to resist?”

“No, I wouldn’t slaughter the animals Bella,” he said with a laugh, shaking his head. He sobered up quickly, his face serious. He was quiet for a moment before smiling lightly. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

“What?” I asked, taken off guard. He said going to the zoo would be a disaster but was suggesting going anyway?

“It’s not what I’d call date-worthy but it’s not exactly dangerous. Emmett actually enjoys going to the zoo, finds it amusing.”

“Okay,” I said, slightly taken off guard. “Are they even still open?”

He nodded. “For another few hours. Our visit won’t take long anyway, so we’ll have to think of something else to do afterwards.”

We arrived back at my building and headed for Edward’s Volvo. My heart rate accelerated when I slid in the passenger seat—it was the first time I’d gotten into it since Forks. He looked at me with confusion, obviously hearing the thumping in my chest, but opted to not question me about it. I put my seatbelt on and he took off quickly, not bothering with his. Seatbelts were useless for Edward.

We arrived at Woodland Park Zoo quickly and Edward found a parking spot. We walked up to the entrance and Edward pulled out his credit card. I considered arguing about paying my own way but decided against it—he wanted a date and I knew to him that meant paying.

He grabbed my hand to hold it as we stepped inside the zoo. Almost instantly the animals near us started reacting, making noise and running around. I was confused at the sudden chaos, as were a few other people standing around. A small smile played on Edward’s lips as he pulled me along toward an enclosure. Inside of it was a wolf. As we approached it started backing up, it’s fur bristling. It started growling and howling, the closer we got the louder it grew.

I furrowed my brow and looked at Edward but he was staring down the wolf. I glanced back and forth between them for a moment, confused. I heard a light growl come from Edward, barely loud enough to register in my ears, and the wolf in front of us yelped and bolted away quickly.

My eyes widened. “They know,” I whispered. Edward nodded, tugging on my hand and pulling me toward another enclosure. Every animal we passed reared up defensively and growled or snarled or yelped, getting loud. They all grew frantic, trying to get away. They sensed Edward was different, that he was dangerous. They could tell he was a predator.

“You wanna feed the bids?” Edward asked, pointing to the exhibit where you could go inside and feed the small Australian parrots. “They won’t come to me but they might come to you. I’m not sure though, since you probably smell like me.”

His voice sounded sad, apologetic. I smiled at him and squeezed his hand. “No, thanks.”

He nodded and we started walking again. He came upon a carousel and stopped abruptly, turning to smile mischievously at me. “Shall we?” he asked.

I laughed. “Are you serious?” He nodded and started pulling me toward it without giving me time to even answer. He pulled out some money and paid for us to ride. I blushed, embarrassed, but I couldn’t deny it was fun. Edward seemed more interested in watching me than actually enjoying the ride, but he was smiling and seemed carefree and that was all that mattered.

After the carousel, we decided to leave the zoo. I was feeling slightly sorry for the animals, for scaring them so much. We headed back out to the car and slipped inside.

“Let’s get some dinner,” Edward suggested.

“You don’t even eat,” I said chuckling. He shrugged.

“You do.”

He drove to a small restaurant called the Chaco Canyon Café. I ordered a Pesto Melt and their peanut butter and banana Elvis smoothie. Edward got a glass of water but otherwise didn’t bother pretending.

After I finished eating, Edward drove us to the space needle. We went up onto the observation deck and I gasped at the view. It was nearing dusk, the sky starting to darken.

“I wish I could watch the sunset from here, too bad it’s cloudy,” I said softly, standing near the glass gazing out at the view of Seattle. Edward came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, leaning down and putting his chin on my shoulder.

“I’m glad it’s cloudy or I couldn’t be here with you,” he responded with. I immediately felt bad, that realization not striking me. If I could see the sun, Edward would be glittering.

“I’ll take you over the sunset any day.” Edward chuckled and leaned in, placing a light kiss on my neck. I tensed when his lips connected with my flesh, electricity shooting through me. Edward must’ve taken my tensing up as fear, because he pulled away from me quickly and apologized.

I reached over and grabbed his arm, pulling him back to me. He looked at me questioningly and I smiled. “I wasn’t afraid silly.”

He wrapped his arms around me again, squeezing lightly. “It’s hard to tell sometimes, you’re so difficult to read.”

I placed my hands on his forearms, stroking his cold smooth skin. He sighed contently.

After a while he let go of me, pulling away again. “Wait here, don’t move from this spot,” he said. I nodded and he turned and walked away. I watched him for a moment, confused, before turning back to watch the view some more.

Edward was suddenly at my side again a minute later, holding a bag in his hand. He smiled, reaching into it and pulling out a snow globe. “A souvenir for you,” he said simply with a shrug.

“You didn’t have to buy me anything Edward.”

“I know, but I wanted to. Call it an early birthday present,” he said, placing it back in the bag. I froze at his words—my birthday.

My birthday was coming quickly, only a month away. On my 18th birthday I nearly died at the hands of someone who was like a brother to me. I spent my 19th birthday in the hospital, detoxed from the drugs but still slightly catatonic. I didn’t want to think of my 20th birthday and the disaster that might ensue. September 13th was a day of bad luck.

It didn’t help that once again I’d grow another year older than Edward. I’ll be 20, no longer in my teens where Edward was eternally trapped. I stood still, lost in thought, everything I’d avoided the past few weeks with Edward back in my life catching up to me. What did the future hold? How long could we last like this? We were back to the same impasse we had been at two years ago. Me, human and getting older every day, and him, immortal. As it stood, someday—whether it is tomorrow or in 50 years—we would be separated.

“Bella?” Edward said softly, startling me from my thoughts. I had zoned out, completely forgotten he was there. I glanced up at him and there was concerned etched in his features, sadness in his eyes. “Are you okay?”

I nodded, looking away from him and back out at the city, which was now lit up and glowing in the darkness. “I will be.”