Imperfectpictures

5/21/2019

Episode Sixteen: Disney

Read Now

Episode Sixteen: Disney

I woke up early the next morning. It was raining again, but only lightly and you could see the blue sky trying to peek through the light gray clouds. It was seven, and I couldn't fall back asleep. Edward was dead to the world with an arm over his eyes. We were holding hands when I woke up. Staying in that position as long as I could handle, I finally slipped away when I had to use the bathroom.

I decided to work out, but this time in his little home gym. It had a treadmill, elliptical, a stationary bike, a weight set, for the bar and hand weights as well. There was also a weight machine just for the back muscles. I used it a lot when I went to the big ten dollars a month gym back home. I liked the idea of watching Edward use it.

Starting with ten minutes on the treadmill, I jogged a slow mile to get my heart rate up before moving onto the weights. I did several reps focusing on my arms and back. Once I was done, I decided to finish up with thirty minutes on the elliptical. It was the best workout I had achieved in a while.

I was almost done when Edward stuck his head inside, sleepy and confused in just his underwear.

“Hello.”

“Hi,” I replied, keeping the pace I had pushed up to. I wasn't going crazy since it had been so long since I had a real workout. I hadn't been to the gym in almost two weeks. “I didn't wake you, did I?”

“No, I have to get up earlier today because I have a meeting to go to this afternoon.”

“Exciting,” I tried to say evenly even though I was heavily breathing.

He leaned against the door frame with a slight smile. “It is. It's with Disney. It's supposed to run all day though. I forgot to talk to you about it last night. I meant to. I got distracted.”

“What time is the meeting?” I panted.

“Eleven to Five or Six.”

I finished my thirty minutes and stepped down from the machine. My legs were a little tingly in a pleasant way. Making my way over to him, he came closer inside to meet my sweaty body with a hug and a deep kiss. "Let me shower, and I can make you some breakfast," I offered him.

“Are you sure?” Edward questioned.

“Absolutely,” I replied with a kiss.

“I wish I could take you with me to my meeting today,” he told me genuinely. There was so much worry in his pretty green eyes. They were always so expressive.

"That's okay. You'll do amazing. And I'll go out and have some alone time."

“What will you do?” He asked sweetly, still worried.

“I'll go do a little shopping. Go to the grocery store and pick up some more milk. Do you need to do anything tonight?” I asked, tracing my finger under his tattoo lightly.

"Nope." He kissed at my temple and nuzzled his nose into my hair. I wasn’t sure how he could with me being so sweaty. He didn't seem bothered, though.

I sighed happily, “I'll make us dinner tonight then.”

"That sounds so lovely. Thank you." He kissed my mouth, and I could taste my own sweat on his lips. I wove my fingers into his hair, holding onto the kiss as long as possible. He made my heart rate shoot right back up.

“I need to work out, too,” he mumbled in a pout when he finally pulled away. “I need to head out in a couple of hours.”

I left him to get changed and work out, quickly showering in the guest bedroom where all my clothes still were. Putting on a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt, I padded my way with sock covered feet to the kitchen.

First, I started making a fruit salad while I considered what to make us for breakfast. I sliced up the grapes, strawberries, oranges, apple, and a banana and tossed them in a couple of teaspoons of sugar so it could make a little syrup. I decided to make a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheese and toast with butter and jam. The coffee was just finishing when he came out of his shower.

“I'm going to be terribly spoiled to this cooking thing you're doing,” he told me when he saw his plate. Everything was still steaming.

“You're so easily impressed,” I said as I began to move everything to the kitchen table. Edward helped with the coffee and creamer as I took the plates. The fruit salad was already on the table in little bowls.

"I don't think I've ever had anyone make breakfast for me that wasn't related to me or paid to," he replied honestly. "Well, maybe, Jasper. My mate. But, not a woman, I mean."

“That's sad. What kind of relationships have you been in?” I asked as I shuffled through the stack of papers I had brought to the table. It was sales papers, fliers, catalogs, and coupons. Things of those nature. I found one I wanted to look at and brought it to the top of the pile to browse while I ate.

"I've only had two girlfriends actually. One was in Secondary. Like a high school for you Americans. So you can imagine we weren't really waking up together all that often. Or, at all," he chuckled, "and the girl I was with the longest, didn't cook a damn thing ever. And, that was for the best," he explained as he dove into his eggs after shoving a piece of bread into his mouth. "She'd seriously fuck up, toast."

“Cooking is not that hard.” I shook my head as I watched him. “How is it?”

“So good,” he mumbled through a mouthful of food. He swallowed hard. “Thank you.”

I smiled a little as I drank my coffee. It was nice to have someone new react so passionately about the things you made. Slowly I ate my fruit first, looking at the makeup catalog for a place I was definitely just window shopping for. Everything was so expensive.

“You look like a child wistfully looking at the Christmas toys catalog,” he teased.

"Only a little bit," I admitted. "I love all this junk. It's stupid. I'm so sucked into the packaging and the colors. I used to collect makeup, back in the day. Both new stuff and old vintage compacts and lipsticks, stuff like that. After Aiden, I didn't feel like doing it anymore. I got very minimalist and gave a lot of my things away to friends and family. Now, looking at it, I wonder how I spent that much money on it. I still want it all," I laughed longingly, "but I won't get it. It's nice to imagine, though."

He tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. “Why not get a few things?”

"I don't normally go out that much. I only wear makeup for professional reasons, and the basics cover that. What I have now is just fine. But, there is this little part inside of me that goes 'oh, it's pink and purple with glitter and look, it has a cute little raspberry case.' And this kind likes to make their stuff smell like food so it might actually smell like raspberries," I explained to him as I showed him the picture I was talking about. They had a whole fruit theme that I loved.

“So, what is that exactly? How does it smell like food?” He looked at the picture with his head cocked to the other side.

“Eyeshadow. They have this whole line that smells like chocolate because it's made with real cocoa powder. And now for Christmas, they have a gingerbread cookie and a sugar cookie scents eyeshadows. And lipsticks, too. One of my good friends used to be a makeup artist and used the chocolate one on me a few times. He had people sniff my eyelids all day,” I laughed a little as I thought about it. “Girl, don't she smell like a brownie,” I imitated my friend's voice and funny Brooklyn by way of Jersey accent. It made him smile.

“You have a bit of money now if you wanted to treat yourself.” He pointed at my phone that was sitting beside me.

“I'm going to treat myself to paying off some bills,” I said firmly. “I should pay some bills today as a matter of fact. I have a few other adult things to do. Like I need to buy my ticket home.”

Edward frowned. “I wish you didn't have to.”

I smiled a little, sadly. "Me too, but I have things I have to do. Promises, I have to keep."

“Can I talk you into staying until a day or two after Halloween? It's my favorite holiday. Or, one of. Anyway, we could do something together. Maybe go out,” he pouted out his bottom lip a little bit subconsciously.

I looked at the calendar on my phone to give myself time to think about the answer I wanted to give him. Halloween was a Wednesday. I didn't have any work arranged until the following Monday. Everything else I had planned was volunteer stuff that I could back out of. Alice would understand. She was always prepared for that possibility with any volunteers.

I needed to talk to her, as well. Boy, do I have some things to tell her...

“Friday the second?” I bit my lip as I thought about it. Yes flashed in my mind over and over again, but I didn’t want to be too eager.

"Please? If you do, I'll buy your ticket, and you can save your gift card to come to see me whenever you want. Like… on my birthday." He finished his coffee, so I poured him another.

“When is your birthday?” I asked curiously. We hadn’t spoken about our birthdays any.

“The twenty-third of November.”

“Oh…” I drew out. His birthday was so close to Aiden's. “That's the day after Thanksgiving. I've already made plans with my friends and that Saturday I'm doing a charity show at my friend's theater that he runs. The former makeup guy I was just mentioning, actually. It's for LGBTQ youth. I do it every year,” I explained to him. “I wish you could come to Thanksgiving and stay with me. You could meet all my friends.”

“Is that an invitation?” Edward asked curiously. “You've already said your Thanksgivings were out of this world. And, well… I believe you.”

I thought about it for a second. “You know what? Yes, it is. I’d love it if you came to Thanksgiving.”

He smiled widely. “Fantastic. I don't know what I'm working that week, but I'm taking the following week off. I'd like to spend it with you. If that’s alright with you, of course.”

“That sounds really nice,” I admitted, wondering how this big man would fit in my tiny world.

“So, the second, then?” He reminded me. I wanted to stay. I nodded slowly, no longer able to hide my growing smile. “Oh, brilliant. Thank you. I'll work out the ticket for you today. What time do you want to fly? Afternoon? Not too early?” He spoke excitedly.

“Sounds good.” I chewed on the side of my thumb.

“Alright. Yes. Perfect. Okay.” Edward stood from his chair. “I need to go. I don't want to be late. Do you need anything before I leave?”

“No, I'm good,” I promised him. “I'm going to wash up and go out, too.”

“Okay.” He leaned down to kiss me with his hand in my hair. “Mm, you have sugar on your lips.” He kissed me again, then again quickly, making me giggle. “Have a good day.”

“Good luck at your meeting,” I told him with a small smile.

"Oh, I won't need luck. It's just a brainstorming session, and I am prepared," Edward assured me confidently. I'm not sure it was entirely real. "Text me if you need anything. I'll have my phone on me all day."

When he left, I washed our breakfast dishes. I needed more shampoo and conditioner at the very least, and I wanted to look at clothes again. Perhaps another suitcase as well for all the junk I was buying. I decided to look at my bank account again. I should have sat down.

Gasping loudly, I actually dropped my phone. It clattered to the floor noisily. Thankfully it didn't crack the screen, just scuffing the corner.

There was no way that number could have been right. It was just over ten thousand. I picked up my phone off the floor, looking at the transactions. My check from the magazine had come through, and it was over three thousand itself. I knew about that, I reminded myself. That meant that around four thousand came just from Edward's video in the past two and a half days.

I went to my computer and looked up videos he had put up recently. I hadn't looked at them at all. So far, he had posted three videos with me in them. First was the chips, then the video of the jump, then the candy video. The jump had been up two days and had already gotten one hundred million views. The other two had over ten million views apiece. Two of the three were on the front page of YouTube as trending. I couldn't bring myself to actually watch them though.

I could have cried. I could take the rest of the year off if I wanted to. I wasn't, but it was a nice thought. Alice and I often made jokes about our desire to be lazy and take off work for wild stretches at a time. Days. Weeks. Months.

Right there, I paid off most of my credit cards before I could change my mind. That was four thousand gone in a second, but it made me extremely happy. I was now completely debt free after years of being under after Aiden. I moved another four thousand into savings, giving me five thousand in saving and two thousand in my checking to spend. By the time I had finished, it had bumped up another hundred, just like before. I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

I decided to do some Christmas shopping since my holidays had been so threadbare for the last few years. I could spoil my friends a little, and LA was a great place to shop.

I called for an Uber and waited for it in the front yard. Alice would have been busy at work, so I sent her a text message asking her to call me when she got a chance so I could talk to her. I was in the car when she called.

“Hey, what's up?” She said worriedly.

“Shouldn't you be working?” I commented.

“Nah, it's fine. I'm just doing paperwork. I can multitask.”

“Then Kebi can fix all the mistakes?” I asked, referring to our mutual friend who worked as her main office manager. She was better at her job than any of us deserved.

“That's what I'm paying her very well to do,” she replied. “When you coming home?”

“Um...” I drew out quietly. “The second. Probably late in the evening. I don't know what time yet.”

"Why so long?" She demanded to know quickly. "Can you not get an earlier flight?"

“I'm sure I could, but I wanted to have a little vacation,” I told her. “I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about it sooner.”

"Is that all?" Alice asked, concerned for me. "Are you okay?"

There wasn't any reason to delay it any longer. I was going to end up telling her every single detail anyway. I wasn't sure how she would react, though. "I've started seeing Edward."

“What do you mean seeing him?”

“How do you think I mean?” I whispered at her. The driver was pretty much ignoring me. There was music playing in the background.

“Holy shit! No way!” She actually shouted into the phone.

I pulled the speaker away from my ear, grimacing. “Yeah.”

“But, he's so young.”

“There is less of a difference between him and me and me and Aiden,” I told her defensively. “He was eleven years older.”

“I guess that's true,” she conceded. “But, that's different. Men are already so immature.”

"Hashtag, not all men?" I answered. "He's not immature. He's not completely mature either, but he has his shit together for the most part. Perhaps a little naive, but...” I trailed off. “I invited him to Thanksgiving.”

She was surprised. “Already?”

"It's his birthday the day after, and he wanted me to come back for it," I explained guiltily.

“But the show.”

“Right. So, I invited him to New York. More the merrier, you know? It's kind of our motto. You know how we like to take in the strays.”

“Some stray. But can you afford to stay there that long?” She asked, concerned for me.

"Yeah, I'll tell you about that later, though. I got paid for the shoot today. I'm actually in a taxi about to go shopping," I answered her. "I want to do a little Christmas shopping since I'm here and I was going to go to the grocery store. I'm going to cook dinner tonight."

“What are you making? I miss your food.”

“I haven't decided. I think maybe a pot roast.”

“With glazed carrots and peas? Mashed potatoes or roasted potatoes?” You could hear her tasting it in her mouth as she spoke about it. At least I knew she liked my food.

“Mashed potatoes,” I picked at my pants as we chatted. “I've already made him roasted and fried potatoes. I'd make some yeast rolls if he had a good mixer, but I think I'll just get a package of bread. I need to think of some kind of dessert, too.”

“You really like him,” Alice commented in a bemused voice.

“I cook for everyone.”

“Well, yes. Everyone you like,” she pointed out.

“Well, yeah. Duh. I do like him. I’m seeing him. He's my boyfriend now. Fuck... that word feels gross. It makes me feel old,” I sighed as I laid my head back against the seat.

“You're not old. You just feel that way.”

“Isn't that what matters?” I questioned.

“No. Your perceived old age has more to do with your level of depression in the last few years than actually how old you are.”

“Thanks, Dr. Brandon,” I snarked back to her.

“Well, it is,” she said defensively.

"Okay, but you don't have to remind me," I complained. "And, I've had a good reason to be. But I'm moving on. I have a boyfriend. Gah, it is so weird."

“If you don't like the word boyfriend call him your partner or something then. That fixes the problem.” She was always thinking like a therapist.

“I guess,” I thought about it. “I don't know how it all happened so fast.”

“Isn't that how those things happen?”

“Who knows?” I laughed, “I'm always surprised. He is so young and excited about everything. What am I going to do when he figures out my soul is like... charcoal black?”

"Your soul isn't black. It's like the coffee you make. A mocha color," she teased lightly. "Look, be yourself. Be open. Be honest. And if it doesn't work out, you at least hopefully got to see him naked."

I laughed quietly, “you're right. I'll have some great memories.”

"Well, the second, then? So, what you're telling me is I have to find someone else to take your spot while you're banging some random Australian dude? Shame on you, Bells. Shame," Alice continued her mocking.

“Uh, yeah, bitch,” I said dryly. “You heard me.”

"Oh, you spicy. I see you. Finally getting some making you act all bold. Must be some good dick," she said saucily as she typed on the computer. "And you said he'd rip you apart... Alright, I've got your spot reopened. We're figuring out next years travel schedule next week if you want to have an opinion, by the way."

"Japan. Greece, Germany. Australia and New Zealand are my top votes." We hadn't gone to any of those places in a couple of years. Japan especially. I wanted to see those fun bowing deer or the bunny island. Or go to a cat cafe.

“Alright, I'll see what I can do. I miss you, Bells,” she said quietly, getting more serious.

“I miss you too, Al. I needed this, though,” I said with a sigh.

“Agreed.”

I saw the sign for the shopping center a moment before we turned in. "I'm in the mall parking lot, so I'm going to let you go. You need to focus on your paperwork, anyway."

“Alright, sweetie. Love you. Be safe. Text me later and send me nude pics if you can.”

I guffawed, “of me? Or, him? Or...both?” I teased her. ”Love you, too, you perv. Have a good day. Eat some fruit.”

“Yes, Mom. Bye, Mom,” she replied sarcastically. “And, either slash or. I’m easy. Surprise me,” Alice said in reference to the nudes. I giggled as I hung up on her.

I spent the afternoon shopping for myself and my friends. I ended buying myself a large new hard shell luggage case that was rainbow striped. Luckily I purchased that last, so I didn't have to haul it all around the mall with me. I did, of course, have to bring it with me inside the grocery store, but I could just put it inside the cart. I got a few looks with it and a couple of compliments.

I wasn't sure what I was looking for in the store. Milk, of course. More eggs, butter, bread, and some other basics as well. We needed more coffee already, too. I decided on the roast for sure, mashed potatoes with gravy, peas, glazed carrots, and Hawaiian rolls. I also got some bacon for breakfast, avocado, tomatoes, and tortillas as well. I wasn't sure how much we were going out in the next week for work, so I didn't get a ton of things. For dessert, I decided to make a simple chocolate mousse with whipped cream.

I was halfway back to his place when I realized I didn't know his house entry code. It was just after two in the afternoon. I hoped I wasn't bothering when I texted him.

“I forgot to get your keycode,” I texted him quickly. I just hoped I wouldn't be sitting outside for too long with groceries.

“I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you,” Edward responded right away. "It's 10051985."

I looked at the number and knew it instantly. My heart dropped. “That's my birthday?”

“Your birthday is May 10th, 1985?” He replied back.

“No, October 5th, 1985.”

“Oh, that's right. It's backward here. It's one of my sister's birthdays. One of the middle ones. Sasha. I figured my birthday was too obvious, so I always use one of my sister's birthdays instead,” he explained to me.

“It's going to be easy for me to remember,” I answered back. I was a little relieved that he wasn't some sort of weird stalker that had somehow already figured out my birthday and was using it for his passcode. That would have been too weird, even for me.

The female driver helped me bring all the groceries in from the car after I put in the keycode at the door. I gave her an extra tip in cash for it and thanked her.

I put the stuff away and started to prepare dinner since it was going to slow cook in the oven for a few hours. I figured everything would be done around seven, giving him plenty of time to get home and get comfortable before he ate. First I started with the beef, searing the outside in butter then resting it on a bed of onions in a pan that went straight into a low oven. Next, I made the mousse and whipped cream, using a hand mixer I bought from the store because I wasn't sure if he had one. All I could find was a bent whisk. It looked as if it had been smashed in the drawer.

There wasn't much else for me to do while those cooked. The mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas wouldn't be made for hours. The house was extremely quiet without Edward, different somehow than in the mornings. Less welcoming.

I decided to work on pictures. It was three in the afternoon, and I had a few hours to be by myself. Or, so I thought. It was only thirty minutes later when I felt a warm hand slide over my shoulder. I hadn't heard him come in because of the podcast going on in my ears. Edward leaned in and kissed my temple. I jumped a little, then relaxed into his kiss.

“You're home early. Is that good or bad?” I asked, rubbing my hand over his arm that hugged me.

“Very good.” He smiled at me exuberantly, combing my hair away from my cheek with his long thin fingers before pressing a kiss into it.

"Let me just finish sending these picture to Al, and you can tell me all about it." I kissed his fingertips lightly. The pictures were definitely not nude, but there were a couple of him topless at the tattoo shop and of his very nice ass in the flight suit.

“Don't rush,” Edward said as he went into the kitchen. “It smells so good in here.”

“I hope you like it. It's roast beef,” I told him as I typed out a quick email. No nudes for you. “It won't be done for a while though. I wasn't expecting you yet.”

“That's okay.” He got something from the fridge and got some glasses from the cabinet. “I haven't had a roast in ages. Sounds perfect.”

I heard a cork pop behind me. I turned to see him pouring us each a glass of champagne.

“It was a really good meeting,” I commented, finally sending the email before I closed my laptop to give him my full attention.

He handed me the stemless glass. “I just sold a script to Disney. They're going to make my animated full-length movie and not only will I have part of the creative control, but I will also be doing the lead character. I'll get a huge cut of everything. The movie. The toys. Future movies and shows. The clothes. Everything.”

“What?!” I nearly screamed as I hopped up off the couch. Throwing my arms around his neck, I almost spilled all the champagne down his back. “Why didn't you tell me that's what you were going to do?! This is so big! Oh, my god! How exciting, Edward!”

"I didn't know!" He laughed. "I gave it to them on a fluke a couple of months ago when they first did my contract. I was just supposed to work on a brainstorming session for a television show for the Disney Channel today, but they wanted to talk to me about this instead. They kind of blindsided me. They loved it, though! They're talking about a 2022 release day. It's so soon! We've already got some tentative paperwork in place. I just need to let Zafrina and my lawyer look over the contract."

I kissed him deeply.

“I'm so happy for you!”

Edward's face was alight with happiness. He took the glasses and put them on the side table before kissing me back wildly. I laughed as we fell back on the couch with the force of his mouth. His fingers were woven into my hair, his hips wedged between my legs. I wrapped my legs around his waist, wiggling against him.

“I am literally euphoric,” he laughed lightly with tears in his eyes. Edward sniffled as he pressed his head into my neck. I held him to me, stroking his back. “I'm so glad you're here so I can share it with you.”

“You're such a darling.” I soothed my lips against his forehead. “What do you want to do to celebrate?”

“This. Exactly this.” He laid beside me, pulling me to his side. I placed my head on his chest, weaving my fingers with his so that they came to rest on his stomach. Edward sniffled again, tears going down his cheeks. “I'm so overwhelmed right now.”

"I can only imagine. But you are going to be so amazing! You are so talented and funny. It's going to be great," I told him as I laid my head on top of his shoulder so I could look at him better. He held his forehead against mine, nodding a little and trying to breathe slowly.

“We shouldn't forget about our champagne,” I said after a few minutes of silence, smiling a little bit.

"Oh, right!" He laughed as he sat up a little. We propped into the corner with our drinks, our bodies molded into one another. His arm was wrapped around my shoulder as I leaned my head against him.

“How was your day?” Edward asked after a glass. He was so overwhelmed he had become lost in his own thoughts.

“It was not nearly as exciting as yours,” I informed him. “I just went to the mall. Got some food for tonight and tomorrow and started dinner. I made a mousse for dessert,” I told him softly. “I talked to Al and told her about you and Thanksgiving.”

“I hope she likes me.”

“Oh? Al? She is friends with every single person she meets. She is the most agreeable person on the planet. She's actually a therapist by training. And she's pretty great at it,” I explained to him. “She was the only one brave enough to be friends with me in first grade despite my grandma being the scary lunch lady and my big scary scar. Came up at recess on the second day of school I was there, told me that everyone else was scared of Mamaw, but she didn't care. She liked my big hair, weird eyes, cool scar and let me copy her homework.” I smiled as I thought about it. It was one of my favorite memories. It always gave me so much comfort.

“How does one become an Al? Alexandra? Alana?” He questioned curiously.

“Mary Alice Brandon.”

“That sounds very southern.”

“She's Cajun, actually. Her twin sister is named Rosalie. I thought it was so awesome when my best friend came with a bonus best friend with the exact same face.”

He chuckled, “I can see why that would make someone happy. Bonus besties. Are you all still close?”

“Yeah. Rose and her husband live in New York, too. In Coney Island. They'll be at Thanksgiving,” I explained. “They're both lawyers. Rosalie is in family law and Emmett, her husband, is an immigration lawyer. They're really great. They're both so kind and generous. They both give a lot of pro bono work for CFA, the non-profit. Emmett was one of the first volunteers we had that wasn't a family member. It's how they met,” I said softly. I was missing my family. I hadn’t talked to Rose much in the past few months. She was so busy.

“What a wonderful way to meet someone,” Edward commented. “They sound like lovely people.”

"They are. It's like having two sisters and a brother now. I'm so glad Ms. Lettie, their mom, took me in. She's always been so accepting. They've all been so good to me. I can't imagine having a better family," I told him pensively, almost a little sad. "Normally she'd be in town too for Thanksgiving, but she's going to spend it with her stepfamily in Texas. She feels really bad about it, but both Alice and Rosalie are relieved. She's a handful." I smiled as I thought about the grand old woman. "They're all going down there for Christmas for a couple of weeks, though."

“Are you going to go with them?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Two weeks is too long for me to be in Texas. I made the excuse of work. I'm just going to send a gift. There was much guilt to be had.”

“Oh, speaking of gifts,” he said as he reached behind the couch and pulled out a large orange bag that I recognized right away as being from Ulta. He placed it on my lap.

“What did you do?” I asked, surprised at both the size of the bag of the sheer weight of it on my legs.

He looked pleased with himself. "I had a good day, so I wanted to spread the love. Happy belated birthday."

I timidly reached in the bag and began to pull all the stuff out. There was so much of it. “Oh, my god,” I muttered, shocked, as I laid it out next to me. “What did you do?” I asked again.

"I didn't know exactly what to get, but I remembered you said you liked this brand. So, I told them to get me basically one of everything. I showed them a couple of pictures, and they picked out the colors for foundation and everything. So, if it's not right, we can return it. I also got to talking to them, and they told me about the 'fan favorites,' and I told them to just give me whatever a girl might need to put on their face. Which is apparently a shit load of things," he explained proudly. Edward was delighted with himself.

“Holy hell! How much did you spend?”

"Um, I don't know. I signed up for their little club though, and they said I had already hit 'platinum' or ‘diamond' or… something and that you could get some good stuff from it. Free shipping, too. So, if you ever see anything else you need. I don't know if I missed anything," he tried to say nonchalantly.

“I'll never need anything ever again!” There were things from almost every popular brand Ulta sold, though most of it was from Too Faced. There were at least a dozen eyeshadow palettes, highlighters, blush, and eyeliners in every shade. There had to be twenty-five different lip products. There were sponges, brushes, cleaners, creams, masks, eyelashes, tools, and probably every little sample thing you could get for spending so much. “This is crazy!” I told him sincerely. “Why?”

“Do you not like it?” He asked worriedly.

“No. I love it,” I felt so guilty. “It's just too much.”

“We'll get you a box or something to keep it in.” He wasn't getting my point on purpose. “We will get you some more luggage.”

“That's not what I mean,” I laughed as I rubbed my hands over my eyes. “I actually bought a suitcase today. I just... Eddie, are you sure? This is a lot.”

“Why wouldn't I be sure about seeing you happy? Seeing you smile is worth every cent,” he said charmingly.

I shook my head. "You have the biggest day of your career, and you buy me a gift, though? I should be buying you dinner or drinks."

“And, you have bought me dinner,” he motioned towards the kitchen. “And, it seems like a perfect celebratory meal. Besides, like I said. It's for your birthday. I missed it by that much.” He pinched his fingers together, a sweet smile on his face. He was prepared for me. He knew he had won me over when I scrunched up my nose at him. “I only missed it by a couple of weeks.”

“Thank you,” I finally told him, totally overwhelmed now myself as I looked over my bounty of makeup supplies. There were perhaps thousands of dollars worth of stuff laid out just for me. Demetri would be so jealous. I was going to have to send him pictures.

“You are very welcome, my darling.” He kissed my forehead, letting his lips linger on my skin.

“When I used to get new makeup I would try it all out by doing swatches of all the colors on my arms. I have the strongest urge to basically paint my entire body funny colors,” I informed him truthfully, my eyes still wide and my voice quiet.

He laughed, his head resting back against the pillows. “I don't think you have enough real estate to do all the shades. You might have to do it a few times. Wash off and start fresh.”

“The bottom of your shower would be looking like someone murdered a clown,” I warned him with a ridiculous grin.