Confessions

I purse my lips in annoyance as my nose twitches, quickly snatching a tissue from the box beside me and holding the phone away from my face.

I let out a loud sneeze, then blow my nose and toss the tissue into the rubbish bin before continuing.

"Anyways, I've got a cold, so can't you just tell me over the phone?"

"More or less," Diego surrenders. He'd been trying to get me to get to his office all day, and to be honest, I'd tried to get out of the house.

Esme just wouldn't let me leave.

I'd called Alice to cancel our lunch plans for today, telling her the truth that I was sick, and she squealed on me to my mother, who drove up to my apartment in Seattle and drove me back here, demanding I get some sort of rest under her care.

Insanity, I know.

"But, I'll have to text you the pictures."

Pictures? What pictures?

"Excuse me?"

"You'll understand in a second."

"Okay..."

"But first, when did you get this cold?"

When I was out with Bella in the rain a few days ago, you know, she had a complete mental breakdown for a second, waving her hands and screaming at inanimate objects. Taking her anger out on... Water... Rain... Whatever you want to call it...

But no, I'm not crazy and neither is she. Thanks for asking, by the way.

"The rain yesterday," I edit a bit before going on "I couldn't find my car it was so heavy and I got stuck out in the rain. They weren't kidding when they said that's how you can catch a cold."

That part was true, I couldn't find my car, but it didn't take me long to relocate it. Not that Diego really needed all the gory details...

"Oh." Was all he said.

Silence filled the phone line, the occasional shuffling noise coming from Diego.

"Alright, put me on speaker."

I did as I was told, reaching over the armrest to grab a water bottle, taking a sip.

"I assume I'll need to be looking at something while we speak?" I say, screwing the cap back on as my phone rests on my knee.

"Yes, I just sent you the pictures, and I guess I can sort of understand where you're coming from, but Edward, you know I hate being lied to."

I freeze as my phone dings, letting me know I received a text message.

How... How...

What?

I open the messaging app silently as Diego waits patiently on the other end.

There, on my phone, are pictures.

The first of Bella and I at La Bella Italia what seems to be forever ago, laughing. Amber is in the background, talking with the blonde woman I saw as I walked in. Our first meeting, back in the beginning of September.

The next four are of us at the boardwalk, one as a back shot - mostly of me, covering any sort of view of Bella as I held her. Another is a side view, I can see my scarlet red ears and Bella's flushed cheeks. The third is when she shoved Rosalie out of the way, the last being a zoomed out shot, Jasper, Emmett, and I are in one corner while the main focus is on Bella and Jacob squaring off on the beach.

I can feel the ghost of Emmett and Jasper's iron grips on my arms as I pause, carefully controlling my temper before moving on.

One of the last ones is of Bella and I at her house, at the door. One is of us staring at another, I flick my finger across the screen and glance at the other, she's kissing me this time.

Another, the second to last picture, is of us on her roof, cuddling.

And, the final picture, is of Bella and I in the rain, two days ago, hugging one another. Tanya, Angela, and Ben are in the background, water dots along what I would assume would be the camera's lens, blurring the picture slightly.

But the message is clear, someone had been following Bella and I, documenting our time together. They knew where she lived, too, which had me worried. What if this person were to harm her?

I already knew the outcome and it was one I didn't like.

"Edward?" Diego says, breaking the tense silence. "Edward, did I lose you?"

I don't answer, my fingers flying across the screen as I copy and paste all the pictures into an email before sending it to Bella, conveying my worries.

Bella,

Looks like we can't keep our secret a secret for long.

How would you like to proceed?

My agent is on the line, would you like me to tell him, or wait until we can get a meeting with both our publicists present before we do?

Please, please, please see the pictures attached.

Let me know when you've gotten this and please let me know how you would like to move on from here.

Edward

"Yeah..." I mumble "Yeah, I'm here."

"Care to explain? Not just to me, but to everyone? I've been getting calls, Edward. Press, public, newsrooms... Your employees, Edward! Look, we can't have a well functioning unit if we can't trust one another! You know that!"

"I know, I know, I was the one who said that--!" I snap before Diego interrupts me

"Then why are you hiding things from us?!" Dego demands

"Because I promised her!" I explode - but almost instantly regret it as Esme rushes inside the room, wearing a worried expression, Alice behind her and Jasper at her side.

You okay? She mouths

I shake my head and gesture to the phone angrily.

What happened?

Well, I mouth, I can't really tell you yet...

Esme purses her lips but doesn't pry, gently ushering a worried Alice and Jasper out of the room silently.

"Promised who? Bella? What did you promise her Edward? Do tell..." Diego yells sarcastically "We're all dying to know, after all!"

"Oh stop it," I snap "We decided--"

"To lie? To hide? Really Edward, low move. Low, low move. Not only was it low, it also was stupid! We've got press calling on every available phone they've got, blowing up my computer with emails, my phone with texts and calls, even Bree, they're reaching out to her too, and she has no idea what to do--"

"Look who we brought!" Someone shouts and I whirl around to see Rosalie at the door, holding it wide open so I can see their car.

Emmett stands outside the passenger door, scowling at someone inside as they furiously type on their phone. He says something to them, and they look up, the familiar curtain of mahogany colored hair swishing away from their face to reveal two chocolate eyes and a cherry red nose.

Bella.

Just who I needed to see, for real.

She crosses her arms over her chest, her lower lip puckering out into a pout before snapping at Emmett, her expression cross.

In any other situation, I would've thought her stance adorable and precious, but this was an unusual situation, and I only had a small moment in time to notice how cute she was.

Apart from the normal amount of time I spent basking in her glory.

"Bella!" I shout, holding the phone away from my mouth as Diego continues screaming, and the result surprised me.

Bella's eyes filled with some sort of emotion I had no name for, but I saw it present in Carlisle when he gazed at Esme, it filled Emmett to the brim as he held his daughter, whom Rosalie carried around for months on end, what I saw in Alice's eyes as she beamed at Jasper, something I hadn't felt.

But it coursed through me now, almost making my knees buckle and sending me crashing to the floor, tumbling off the couch.

Bella launches herself from the car, vaulting off the door and slamming into Emmett. He lets out a groan as they both dive for the ground, Bella regaining use of her feet before he, she gracefully landing on her feet.

She checks her surroundings, and when her gaze falls onto me, she's running again. Bolting down the gravel path, leaping up the three porch steps, flying through the front door, shoving Rosalie out of the way and barreling straight at me.

She jumps, smacking against my chest as her soft, warm arms wrap around me in a hug.

"Edward," She sighs happily, her legs twined around my waist and her face nuzzled into my shoulder as I regain my footing.

"Bella? Is that Bella? You mean to tell me that she's there!?" Diego howls.

I sigh, "I'd love to stay here and hold you," I tell her, kissing her strawberry scented hair "but I can't for two reasons. One being we've got this situation, and two, I'm sick."

She lets out a squeal, pulling away from me and pointing happily to her cherry red nose. "I'm sick too, a dumb cold."

"Me too!"

"Really?"

"As much as I think that's cute that you two have the same sickness, we have a situation!" Diego yells, and Bella and I both turn to glare at the phone.

"I got your email," She says, still staring at the phone "I hope you don't mind, but I called my publicist and told her."

"See? See? Edward, her publicist knows what in the he--"

"Okay! Okay, I get it." I snap at the phone, and Diego goes quiet. "I don't mind, I wanted your permission before I told this blithering idiot."

Bella sneezes, snatching a tissue from the box and tossing it into the rubbish bin after she's blown her nose before nodding. "Go ahead," She says before letting out another sneeze. "We'll decide what to do when you've finished."

That's how I ended up spilling my guts about my relationship with Bella to my agent, at 11:34 in the morning, with a cold.

Really, one of the highlights of my life.

Diego is silent as I finish, wrapping up with yesterday as I held Bella in the rain.

I look over to where Bella sits beside me, and she's staring at me in awe.

Awe?

"You're a really good storyteller." She murmurs, scooting over so she's snuggling into my side, a blanket she fetched from the small closet in the other room tucked around her "I could listen to you talk all day."

I wrap my arm around her shoulder, kissing her cheek "Believe me, the feeling is mutual."

"Alright, alright, enough with the ooey gooey crap. All this mush is making me go soft." Diego says into the phone. "Right now we have to focus."

"Whatever you say," Bella rolls her eyes.

"Well, I have one question."

"Shoot." I mumble, reaching over to take another sip of my water.

"When you were storytelling, you never said that Bella was your actual girlfriend. Are you two... You know... Official?"

Bella looks away, so I'm unable to read her emotions through her eyes.

I was ecstatic about the idea, I had been turning it over in my head for a few days now, but I was worried Bella would reject me.

And I knew it would hurt, if she did.

"Well, I have kissed you," Bella murmurs, turning around to look at me again. Her eyes are curious, if not cautious "Twice, now."

"Bella, would you like to be my girlfriend?" I ask, careful to maintain her eye contact.

If she was going to reject me, she'd have to do it to my face.

But instead, Bella smiles. A small, shy, genuine smile. "I'd love to," She whispers "I'd love to be your girlfriend."

And, just like that, I was easily the happiest man on earth. And I would've kissed her too, she looked like she wanted one, if Diego hadn't gone forth and taken the reins, beginning to outline dates for interviews and asking whether or not we wanted to go public.

"Why not?" Bella asks, frowning at my phone "I mean, the press aren't stupid. They'd piece it together anyway. Besides, I don't need women throwing themselves at a man who's off the market."

I chuckle, rubbing Bella's arm. "There's only you." I tell her, kissing her bright red cheek.

"Moving along," Diego coughs.

Bella and I scowl at the phone again.

---------

"Well, that was interesting." Bella sighs, stretching, her arms gliding up my chest and her small hands balled into fists gently touching my cheek. After a second, she drops them back down heavily.

"Agreed." I rub my temples. We'd just gotten off the phone with Diego, our conversation turned from a quick one to a three-hour-long-going-over-every-detail conversation.

Kebi - Bella's publicist - had also joined in on the conversation about one hour in, so it became a conference call.

Just as Bella opens her mouth to say something, Emmett saunters into the room, Jasper, Rosalie, and Alice trailing behind.

Smirks all around, too.

"Eddie's got himself a girlfriend!" Emmett booms, and Bella whips her head around, gasping.

"Emmett!" She scolds "Don't do that!"

Alice is about to say something, but Bella's phone rings. She gazes at it warily before picking it up and pressing the answer button.

"This is Isabella," She says cautiously.

But as someone on the other end starts talking, her expression goes from worried to ecstatic.

"Jane! That's great news!" She crows happily, grabbing my hand and giving it an excited squeeze,

What happened? I mouth.

She holds up her finger as someone - Jane - squeals into the phone.

My mom entered remission! Bella mouths to me with a smile. 

"Jane, Jane, yes I need you to stop -- Hey! hold on, where's Phil -- Jane I need you to please calm down -- Yes, yes I know it's good news but does Phil know?"

Bella purses her lips in annoyance as my family shoots one another confused glances, only Jasper and Rosalie's faces showing a hint of hope. Looks like they knew, too.

"Jane, I need you to call Phil. He needs to stop leaving you home alone -- I know you're 12, but still... Jane don't talk to me like that! I'm looking out for you, believe me--"

Bella sighs as Jane continues talking, rolling her eyes at me though she's still brimming with happiness. 

"Look, I'll call you back okay? Call Phil, if I find out you didn't I'll call Maria to have her take your braids out."

Jane gasps, and Bella places her phone down as the resounding click of someone hanging up can be heard.

"Well, think she'll call Phil?" Bella asks Rosalie, who's smirking.

"She's wanted those braids for years, and now that she's got 'em, I doubt she'll want to lose 'em." Rosalie confirms with a chuckle.

Bella, Jasper, and Rosalie laugh as Esme walks into the room, surveying the situation with questioning eyes.

Bella abruptly stops laughing as her gaze falls on Esme, and she scoots closer to me.

"Who's that?" She hisses in my ear.

I kiss her temple. "Relax, that's my mother, Esme."

Bella turns to smile at Esme before letting out a huge sneeze, and Emmett laughs at her as she reaches for a tissue.

"Hi," She mumbles as she wipes her nose. "I'm Isabella Swan, call me Bella, and I'm dating your son."