Wide awake

Chapter Twenty Malted Chocolate Smiles

B.P.O.V

That smile. That crooked, glorious, radiant, sexy, seductive smile. He had never smiled at me like that. And I knew that smile. I had only seen him use it on two occasions. One was to get Mrs. Cope to excuse an absence. The other was to get free pudding from the lunch lady. That smile was Edward’s weapon for women. He knew once he used it, they’d be putty at his feet. And, my God did it work.

I don’t know if it was the kiss, or the twelve days without me, but something about how he looked at me had changed. In a very, very good way.

So when I got home, I was downright giddy. The trial was behind me, Phoenix was behind me, and I still had Edward. And possibly the chance to get a little more of him than I had previously expected. I was hoping, and I was okay with it.

Alice and Esme were lying in the living room in their pajamas when I got in. I snuck back to my room and dropped my book bag off and brushed my horrifyingly tangled hair before I went to see them. They were just lounging, and when they caught sight of my refreshed giddy Edward face, they smiled widely at me. I was aware it was a complete three sixty from yesterday’s mood. Edward had that kind of effect on me.

I slid my hoodie off and flopped down on the couch between them. I could tell by their happy smiles that I hadn’t been caught. Esme patted my knee and smiled at me sweetly before she lifted herself off the couch in her pink pajamas and stretched, walking out of the room to get dressed.

And I remembered how much I wanted to giggle with Alice again, so I took my shoes off and sat Indian style facing her, conjuring up the teenage girl inside of me.

“Alice.” My voice was still slightly scratchy, but nearly back to normal. I painted a very serious expression on my face and she arched an eyebrow. “Spill it.” I asked seriously, needing to know what was happening with Jasper. Her face lit up and she turned toward me, mimicking my position and nearly vibrating.

She giggled once. “Jasper is amazing.” She squeaked, drawing out the word out and rolling her eyes in the back of her head a bit. I giggled with her, loving that things were finally happening between them. I waved my hand for her to continue. I needed details. She giggled again. “We spent all week together.” She looked around the room and leaned into me with her hand cupping her mouth and continued in a scandalous whisper. “And the janitor closet is now color coordinated.”

I couldn’t help it. I really tried to keep it to giggles, but that had me nearly falling off the couch in loud, raucous laughter. I could just imagine poor Jaspers face when she stopped making out long enough to realize the closet was too filthy for her standards. She laughed along with me, and it felt so light and carefree.

Once her giggles had died down, she continued. “And the kissing…” She sighed with a dreamy look. She shook her head a little, making her black spiky hair bounce, and met my gaze again with a wide smile. “The kissing is almost better than the sex.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

I gaped at her. Openly. Shocked. Though I really shouldn’t have been. Alice was no virgin. The leather pants said it all. She giggled at me and rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, Bella!” She chided, slapping my knee playfully. “Don’t look so shocked.” She smiled. And I smiled back, because at least they gave it a couple weeks. I hoped. And maybe if I took her indiscretions well, she would take it easy on me if she ever found out about Edward. I stopped asking questions after that. Jasper was my second favorite guy, and I didn’t want to compromise that fact with a really bad case of T.M.I.

I spent the rest of my day unpacking and re-evaluating my Edward situation. I was wondering if I should go farther with my previous plan of little steps, to show him that I liked him. I figured now was probably a pretty good time to give it a shot, seeing as how we was looking at me differently. And definitely smiling at me differently. Plus, I already basically tried to have sex with him through pajamas. It was no time to be coy about something like a little flirting.