Chapter:18
I watched Edward's eyes open wide and then narrow into slits as he shook his head minutely, enough that I could heed his warning. "I uh, already have plans with Rose and Alice. You're welcome to join, though."
"No thanks." Lauren snapped. "We're not really part of the same circle anymore, if you know what I mean." She sniffed as the girls rose from their seats.
"Let us know if you change your mind, Bella," Jessica said as they departed. "Bye Edward." He did not respond.
I looked at him questioningly. "What…?"
"They're not good people, Bella. Makenna is okay I guess, but the other two are…just stay away from them. I'm serious." It was the most sincere I had ever heard him, not that we'd ever really had a conversation before, but the look in his eyes and the conviction in his tone made my breath hitch. I nodded, muttering in agreement.
When the bell rang a few minutes later, I rose, assuming we would walk to the gym together, but he took off ahead of me. I met the girls in the locker room, changed, and headed out to the floor to be assaulted with volleyballs. I managed to avoid two but took three to the head and hurt my finger trying to fend off a wayward volley. It was like being in Hell, only worse.
Jasper jogged over, quietly asking me if I was meeting them at the tree house again today. I smiled, shrugged and told him yes. Alice and Rose stared questioningly, but I blew them off and felt horrible about it. Inside I was flying.
I pulled into my driveway, expecting to see Edward's car parked in front of my house, waiting like Jasper's was yesterday, but it wasn't parked there or in his driveway. Grabbing my bag, I went inside to say hello to Charlie who was busy packing some clothing. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, checked that my mascara wasn't racooning around my eyes and told him I was going out for a bit.
I took the path down to the swing set, finding it still deserted. As I sat on the yellow plastic swing to wait, I wondered if they had forgotten, or if Edward deliberately drove off a cliff in a desperate attempt to avoid hanging out with me.
Gripping my fingers tightly around the ropes, I rocked forward letting the swing go. As the momentum gradually took me higher, I felt the cool wind brush along my face as I went forward and my hair wrap around in tangles as I swung back.
The movement of the old swing made a terribly loud creaking sound, almost like a groan. I laughed at the peculiar sound and the ticklish feeling of flying through the air just like I had done countless times when I was a child. It was such a liberating feeling, almost like being weightless but still in total control and I made a mental note to do it more often.
I heard voices and leaves crunching underfoot too soon to slow down. Edward and Jasper appeared on the path from my house side by side, wearing matching smiles. I slowed the swing down as they came closer, scraping my shoes along the wet, overgrown grass underneath my feet.
Once inside the tree house, Edward shut the doors behind him, and I opened the shutters to the little window to allow some light in. Once we were sufficiently buzzed, and all made various declarations of being in said state, we sat back and were quiet for a while. Edward chewed the inside of his cheek, crossing his legs in front of him, as Jasper leaned back on his elbows, stretching his long legs next to me.
His foot brushed my leg and he said, "Oh sorry, did I get you dirty?"
He sat up quickly brushing the smudge of mud away. I shrugged my shoulders, saying, "No big deal," because it wasn't. Edward smiled briefly before looking away almost forlorn. He was so weird.
"So what do you guys do here on the weekends?" I asked. I had a sudden craving for a cigarette.
"Unless there's a party, on Friday's usually we all go down to La Push and hang out there. Saturdays suck. It's considered date night or some shit like that."
"La Push beach?" I asked, remembering the numerous times my family had gone there over the years.
"Yeah, we hang by the concession stand. It has a big awning and picnic tables. Everyone brings beverages and we just hang and listen to music and shit. You're in Forks, babe…not exactly the excitement capital of the world." He laughed.
"No, it sounds good to me. Do Alice and Rosalie usually go there or…" I asked, not yet having consulted with my female counterparts about possible weekend activities.
"Yeah, usually. Like I said, not many options. You could always go to a movie in Port Angeles or something but no one really wants to drive that far."
I shook my head. "Hey Edward, you smoke right?" I asked. His head shot up unexpectedly, his gray eyes piercing into my brown ones. "Can I bum a cigarette?"
He reached into his pocket, placing the pack on the floor between us, rather than just handing one to me. He slid it forward a bit, and I thanked him, pulling one from the almost empty pack. He retrieved the pack, pulled one out for himself and lit it.
"Anytime," he responded smoothly, blowing smoke up into the ceiling. I watched his lips encircle the white tube, feeling the overwhelming urge to put my mouth on the cigarette after him so that I could taste him. The sight of his mouth moving around the cigarette instinctively made me touch my own lips. I licked them, putting the cigarette to my mouth, mesmerized by his face. He stared back at me pursing his lips before he blew a perfect ring of smoke over our heads. I took in the way the muscles in his throat moved and the slight protrusion of his Adam's apple as it bobbed.
What felt like a million years was probably seconds, but I couldn't help but feel exposed and ashamed and turned on all at the same time. Giggling at my stupidity, I snapped out of my hazy reverie and asked him for the lighter. Edward threw it to me overhand, though I was sitting a foot and a half away from him. It whipped past my head with a whizzing sound and smacked against the wooden panel a few feet behind me, falling to the floor with a thud…
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