I probably would have fallen asleep if it hadn't been for Edward's hand running up and down my back. The sun was still beaming down on us, and the heat, along with listening to the steady sound of Edward's heartbeat, was making me sleepy.

"You OK?" He mumbled into my hair, and I propped myself up on my elbow to look down on him.

"Better than OK. Great. Wonderful. Amazing even." I leaned down and kissed him slowly.

"I know what آپ mean." He replied when I pulled away.

"I could stay here forever." I sighed, laying my head back down on his chest.

"If it hadn't been for the fact that I think Charlie might send out a تلاش party if you're not back سے طرف کی midnight, I wouldn't have a problem with that scenario."

"We don't have to leave yet, though, do we?" I had no idea what time it was, but the sun was still pretty high in the sky.

"No, it's only three. We can stay for a couple مزید hours if آپ want."

"Good." I never wanted the دن to end.

The Prom

I started regretting agreeing to go to the prom long before the actual event. Alice and Rosalie had decided that they were going to get their hair and nails done at a beauty parlor for the big night, and had somehow managed to rope me and Angela into going as well. I wasn't quite sure how that had happened…

I had thought that I could count on Angela to back me up when it came to the prom, but she was just as excited as Alice and Rosalie. Ben, a guy she'd had a secret crush on for months, had asked her to go. So I was left to fend for myself when Alice started talking limos, corsages and other vital details that I didn't see the point of.

We were going to the dance all eight of us together; Rosalie had managed to get a limo from Seattle that would fit everyone. I personally didn't get why we couldn't just drive there ourselves, but when I had suggested that, Alice and Rosalie had stared at me like I had two heads. I had quickly decided that dropping the subject was probably a good idea and silently, but reluctantly, went along with all their preparations – almost.

I did manage to avoid Rosalie's attempts to get me to go with her to the tanning salon, which in itself felt like at least a small victory. I wasn't claustrophobic per se, but the thought of being stuck in one of those things had always دیا me the creeps. Besides, my albino complexion would without a doubt be able to resist even the most persistent tanning. No gain, no pain, to twist Jane Fonda's جملہ معیاری around a bit.

The one thing Alice suggested that I didn't have a problem with – and the one thing that would probably never happen – was that I should spend the night at the Cullens' after the prom. Carlisle and Esme would be there, of course, but it would still mean that I got to spend the entire night with Edward.

Since Charlie was sticking to his "no boy in the bedroom" rule, I hadn't even broached the subject of me staying over at the Cullens', let alone Edward spending the night at my house. This meant that we so far had been forced to our physical relationship to afternoons before Charlie came ہوم from work. What Charlie didn't know didn't hurt him. This arrangement was OK – at least we got to be together – but I wanted the whole package, including the waking-up-together part.

So when I had finished the dishes after رات کے کھانے, شام کا کھانا on Wednesday night, the week of the prom, I took a deep breath and entered the living room where Charlie was watching a baseball game. The phrase "it's now یا never" briefly flashed through my mind.

"Dad?" He looked up from the TV at my voice.

"What's up Bells?"

"I wanted to talk to آپ about prom." I fiddled with the hem of my شرٹ, قمیض and avoided looking at him.

"What about prom?" He asked suspiciously, catching my obvious uneasiness.

"Well, Alice suggested that we all stay at their house after, and everyone else is, so can I?"

"Doesn't "everyone else" already live there?" Charlie noted dryly.

"Angela and Ben are staying there too." This wasn't actually true, but I thought he might be a little مزید open to the idea if there were going to be other people there. I only hoped he wouldn't run into their parents in the اگلے couple of days and ask about it. Considering my usual luck, my lie would probably come back and bite me at some point.

"I see." He was quiet for so long that I thought he was just going to ignore my سوال completely.

"Well?" I pressed on.

"I don't like it." I was about to tell him that if he was worried about my virtue, it was a little late for that. But that definitely wouldn't convince him, so I kept my mouth shut. "But I guess it's OK."

It took me a moment to register that he had actually consented.

"Really?" That had been easier than I had thought it would be. I waited for the catch.

"Like I said, I don't like it." He repeated. "But I'm not stupid enough to think that me putting a stop to this will prevent any… plans آپ might have, and I would rather know where آپ are."

"Thanks dad." I gave him a hug.

"Yeah yeah." He mumbled, a blush spreading on his face. Charlie wasn't good at handling displays of affection.

I rushed to my room and immediately called Edward.

"He کہا yes!" I exclaimed as soon as he picked up.

"Should I know what you're talking about?"

"Charlie کہا that I can stay over after prom." I clarified.

"Really? I wasn't expecting that."

"Me neither."

"Great. Do آپ want to come over for a while? Alice talked about watching some new movie."

I looked at the watch; it was only a little after seven.

"Sure, I'll head right over."

"See آپ in a bit, then. Love you."

"Love آپ too."

I hung up the phone and headed downstairs.

"Dad?" I stuck my head into the living room on my way to the door. "I'm going over to the Cullens' to watch a movie, I won't be ہوم late."

"Sure Bells." He didn't even look up from the television, and I could see that he still had a bit of a blush on his face. He was probably afraid I'd express my gratitude in an even مزید uncomfortable way, so I quickly left the house.

I headed out to the truck, started the engine and popped Dido's No Angel into the stereo before heading out of town. When I pulled up outside the big, white house, I was singing along to Isobel at the سب, سب سے اوپر of my lungs.

Edward had, as usual, heard the roaring of the truck as I approached the house and greeted me on the porch. It was a good thing I never tried to sneak around – as much as I loved my truck, going undercover in it was definitely out of the question.

"Hey." He leaned against the railing, trapping me between his arms and kissed me thoroughly. When he finally pulled back, I was out of breath and my دل was racing.

"Hi." I breathed, and he smirked at me. "Are آپ trying to give me a دل attack?"

"Just happy to see you." He pulled me with him through the open door, and we headed into the living room where the others were gathered on the couch.

"Just in time, Bella." Alice said, remote in hand.

"What are we watching?" I sat down on the سوفی, لٹانا اگلے to Rose and Edward took a نشست on my other side.

"Two weeks notice." Alice replied, curling up in Jasper's lap.

"Another chick flick." Emmett complained.

"Nobody's forcing آپ to watch it." Rosalie noted dryly.

"Really? Huh." Emmett tentatively got up from the couch, as if half-expecting some invisible force to stop him. "Then I guess I'll go do something a little مزید productive." He gave Rose a suggestive look. "Care to شامل میں me?"

She sighed, but stood up and headed after him up the stairs.

"Have fun, guys." She called over her shoulder before disappearing out of view.

"And then there were four…" Alice mumbled, skipping past the trailers and grabbing a handful of پاپ کارن, پوپکارن from the bowl on the table.

"Hey, Alice, guess what? Charlie کہا that I can stay here on Saturday." I revealed, and Alice's eyes went wide.

"Really? That's great!" She was almost – but just almost – as excited as I was.

We watched the movie mainly in silence, and after it was over, Edward walked me to the car. It was a pretty warm night, but cloudy. The weather forecast had promised nice weather for the coming weekend, which was good. At least I wouldn't have to look like a drowned چوہا on سب, سب سے اوپر of getting all dressed up.

"You do know that آپ don't have to go along with all of Alice and Rose's crazy ideas for prom, right?" He said, as if he knew where my thoughts had wandered. He had brought this up before, and I gave him the usual answer.

"I know." I shrugged. "But it's really not that big a deal, and it makes them happy. And they're not going to scare me off from going, so don't worry."

"I'm not worried about that." He assured me, running a finger down the side of my cheek. I shuddered a little at the touch. "You really are way too good for me, آپ know that?"

"I think I'm just good enough." I countered, pulling him down for a kiss.

xxxxx

"It'll look great, Bella, you'll see." I still had a skeptical look on my face as I met Alice's eyes in the mirror, but she seemed to know what she was talking about.

"If آپ don't like it, we can always try something else, it's not a problem." The hairdresser standing behind me promised.

"OK, go for it." I surrendered my hair to the woman and hoped for the best.

It was three o'clock on the دن of the prom and Alice, Rosalie, Angela and I were at the beauty parlor getting our hair done. The manicures and pedicures – which had been even worse when a complete stranger had performed them – were thankfully already behind us, and this was our last stop before heading back to the Cullens' to get dressed and do our make-up. To Alice's great disappointment – and my even greater relief – we would have to do that ourselves; there hadn't been any openings left at any of the salons when Alice had come up with the idea of getting our make-up done as well.

"I still don't know if I want my hair up یا not." Rosalie complained from her chair to my right.

"Up." Alice told her. "You should دکھائیں off that tan as much as possible."

"I agree." The stylist behind Rosalie said.

"OK, up it is." Rosalie concluded, and the stylist went to work.

"Do آپ know what آپ want?" I asked Angela, who was sitting on my left.

"I was thinking something pretty simple, like a French twist."

"That would go great with your dress." Alice nodded.

An گھنٹہ and a half later, we walked out of the beauty salon and carefully got into the Volvo. Alice had opted against taking the Mini, since it would be difficult to get in and out without ruining our hairdos, and Esme had happily put the Volvo at our disposal.

Angela's French twist looked really good on her, Rosalie had her hair in a messy bun, a few strands escaping down her neck, Alice's usual spikes had been transformed into soft waves that framed her face, and my hair had been pulled back and curled into ringlets down my back.

"We look good." Alice شدہ تبصرہ as she drove through the streets of Forks.

"Just wait till we get the dresses on too." Rosalie added. "The guys won't know what hit them."

We headed back to the house, were Esme was waiting to help us get ready. While we did our make-up, we discussed who would be going to the prom with whom.

"Well, I know Jessica is going with Mike, obviously. Who's Lauren taking?" Alice wondered.

"I heard she's going with Tyler." Angela said, putting on some eye shadow in front of one of the mirrors.

"Really?" The thought seemed to amuse Rosalie. "I wish her the best of luck with that."

"What?" I asked, trying desperately to avoid getting eyeliner in my eye.

"Let me do that." Rosalie took the small bottle from me and turned me around so that she could see what she was doing.

"Rose used to تاریخ him." Alice revealed.

""Used to" is a bit of an overstatement, Alice." Rosalie objected, handing me back the eyeliner. "We went on one تاریخ back in sophomore year."

"During which he licked your chin and tried to feel آپ up." Alice filled in, giggling.

"Yeah, yuck!" Rosa shivered. "Wettest kiss ever. Thank God I moved on to مزید experienced guys."

"Hey!" Alice swatted her on the arm. "That's my brother you're talking about."

"Oh, most definitely!" Rosalie wagged her eyebrows suggestively at Alice.

"Not listening, not listening." Alice sing-songed to herself, focusing on applying mascara.

"Oh come on! Aren't آپ glad that your brothers are getting some?" I felt my cheeks blush a vivid scarlet at Rosalie's words.

"Doesn't mean I want to hear about it." Alice snapped.

"It's better than actually hearing…"

"Rose!" Alice cut her off. "Enough already! Angela's not used to the blunt way آپ talk about everything; do آپ want to scar her for life?"

Angela was just staring at the two of them.

"Are they always like this?" She mumbled, leaning closer to me so that they wouldn't hear. She didn't have much experience of Alice and Rosalie outside of school.

"Most of the time, unfortunately." I confirmed. I had actually gotten pretty used to Rosalie's hints; she had nothing on Emmett, who still made me blush with his practically daily sexual innuendos.

"All done!" Rosalie exclaimed, putting the finishing touches on her lipstick.

The rest of us finished putting on our make-up and headed into Alice's room. We had occupied the سیکنڈ floor bathroom for the make-up extravaganza, and the guys had been banished to the third floor with threats of severed limbs if they came downstairs before we told them to.

Esme helped us put our dresses on, buttoning buttons and zipping zippers. When I was finished, I shot a doubtful look at the shoes Alice had insisted that I had to get. Granted, the heels weren't nearly as high as those on Rosalie یا Alice's shoes, but I was still pretty sure that I would, at some point during the night, fall on my butt. I cursed Alice and her dangerous powers of persuasion.

"They're not going to bite." Rose teased me, noticing my hesitation.

"I'm not so sure about that." I glared at the offending piece of footwear. "Why can't I wear flats?"

"Because آپ don't have any that go with that dress, and آپ are wearing sneakers to the prom over my dead body." Alice replied, checking the back of her dress in the mirror.

"Fine." I muttered, putting on the shoes. "But if I break something again, I will hold آپ personally responsible."

"I'm OK with that." Alice smirked at me. "As long as آپ look good doing it." I just glared at her.

"OK, girls, I think you're all done." Esme announced, taking a step back from Rosalie. "Let me get a picture." She ushered us closer together before taking out the camera. "Say cheese!"

We obediently did as were ordered, and she snapped a couple of pictures.

"I'm going to go tell the boys that you're ready, the limo should be here any minute." Esme کہا and headed out of the room.

"So, Rose, last prom." Alice reminded her. "How does it feel?"

"Freaking amazing."

Since Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper were a سال older than the rest of us, they were graduating that spring. Emmett and Jasper had both been accepted to Seattle University, neither sure of what they wanted to major in yet, and Rosalie was going to The Art Institute of Seattle; she wanted to be an interior decorator. They were all going to share an apartment in the city, and Emmett and Rose were moving down there right after graduation. Jasper was spending the summer with Alice in Forks, and would شامل میں them in time for when school started in September.

"Looking good, ladies." Emmett said, coming into the room ahead of the others.

"I think amazing is the word, Emm." Edward corrected, his eyes traveling appreciatively over my body. "Wow."

"Thanks." I blushed a little at his praise.

He bent down to give me a quick kiss, and Alice frowned.

"Don't ruin her make-up, it's perfect." Just to bug her, I stood on my tip-toes and kissed him a little مزید thoroughly. "Bel-la!" Alice complained, and I smirked at her. It was my revenge – granted, a small one – for the shoes.

The guys put on our corsages, and then Esme ushered us out of the room.

"Let's go downstairs, I want to take a few مزید تصاویر before the limo gets here." She stuck her head into Carlisle's study. "The kids are leaving soon, come downstairs to see them off."

"I'll be right there."

Esme took a ton of photos; just the girls, just the guys, every couple on their own and all of us together. She had to change the film in the camera before she even started on the group pictures. None of us complained; we knew how excited she was about the whole thing.

When a car pulled up outside, Esme glanced out the window.

"That's the limo." She frowned. "Carlisle!"

"I'm here, I'm here." He said, coming downstairs at that moment.

"OK, that's it, I'm done. Don't keep the driver waiting!" Esme put the camera away. "Go, dance, drink – not alcohol!" She gave Emmett a stern look. "And have fun!"

We all piled into the limo, and it took off towards the school. The prom was being held in the gym, which was already half-full when we got there.

As we walked in, I felt a sudden rush of excitement I hadn't expected. The usually boring room had been transformed into something magical; white lights twinkled from all over the walls, and there were disco balls in the ceiling, reflecting the colorful lights from several spotlights everywhere. Every sign of the fact that it was a high school gym had been carefully removed, and a میز, جدول with several bowls of مککا, عجیب الخلقت and some snacks had been set up against one of the walls. The موسیقی coming from the speakers that were strategically placed around the room pulsed through me and I almost had trouble standing still.

Edward kept his word and didn't leave my side the entire evening. We danced every now and then, but only to slow song so that the risk of me tripping on my own feet was minimal. The rest of the night was spent with the others, just hanging out and drinking مککا, عجیب الخلقت – until someone spiked it at around eleven. Emmett swore that he was innocent, but I had my doubts. Ben seemed to get along really well with the guys, and I could see that Angela was enjoying herself a lot.

"He asked me out on Friday." She told me when we went to bathroom together to freshen up our make-up a few hours into the dance.

"Really? That's great!" I was happy for her; she deserved it.

"I know, I'm so excited." She looked thrilled. "I mean, it is just a date, but it must mean that he's having a good time, right?"

"Of course he is." I assured her. "Even آپ have to see that, it's obvious."

"I don't know…" Angela bit her lip. "I don't have any experience with the whole dating thing. I might have to take advantage of your knowledge."

"Because I'm quite the expert." I huffed.

"You've got a lot مزید experience than I do, at least."

"I guess." I pondered her words for a moment. "I guess I don't really think of what Edward and I have as dating."

"You kind of skipped that part and went right to the boyfriend-girlfriend stage, didn't you?" Angela giggled.

"I guess we did."

We had the limo until midnight, and since we were dropping Ben and Angela off on the way, we had to leave the school at half past eleven. At a quarter past, Edward led me onto the dance floor again.

"Last dance." He pulled me close and I leaned my head against his shoulder.

I used to think that I knew what we needed
Just assumed we would always be fine
Now I don't think that we lost the feeling
But we let everything build up inside