Imperfectpictures

6/2/2019

Episode Thirty-Seven: Christmas in LA

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Episode Thirty-seven: Christmas in LA

We decided to stay home and make cooking videos the next day. I had things to prepare for our Christmas Eve and for the party anyway. Edward was tired from working still, and my foot was swollen for some reason. I wanted it to be as well as possible for our trip.

I cleaned up and set up the kitchen while he set up his camera equipment. He had several small cameras set up on tripods of various heights that he was using for different shots.

"You really should make a list of stuff you want to learn to cook," I told him. "Add it to our file. Like twenty things. Don't go crazy. We should start small. I mean, I know what I'd like to teach you, but it will be easier to learn if you're doing stuff you want to do," I said as I washed a bowl of cranberries.
"What would I put on it?" He asked, curiously and unsure. "'All of your cooking,'" he made little finger quotes in the air when he said the words.

"That's a bit much. Um, I don't know." I laughed, "fried chicken, maybe. Desserts you like. Your favorite snacks. Is there something from a restaurant you'd want to learn to cook?" I asked.

“Oh,” he drew out slowly. “I don't know. I'll think about it.”

“That could be a fun video,” I offered him. He loved his ranking videos and food. It would be a combination of both. “Eddie learns to cook his top five favorite foods.”

"We could make it a whole series." He grinned happily. He loved it when I gave him more ideas. It wasn't that hard. We were constantly bouncing things off one another. "I'm ready when you are."

“Me too,” I smiled back, just happier to be around him. I didn’t feel nervous when the camera was on anymore, at least when he was around me.

He joined me behind the island in his kitchen. Edward had set up a camera directly in front of us. He pressed a quick kiss on my cheek, carefully not to mess up the makeup that I had done just for the video. “You start us off, beautiful. Okay?”

Edward made me smile so much my cheeks actually hurt a little bit. He was so beautiful it sometimes still made me feel starstruck.

“Got it,” I finally said, earning a wink from him. I flushed stupidly, biting my lip and looking away so I could collect myself.

“Three, two, one...” He pinched my ass from behind just as he turned on the camera, make laugh as the red light came on. I collected myself again quickly.

“Hi,” I grinned brightly and waved to the camera. “Today we're going to do something a little different. Eddie is going to actually cook the food he has to eat. Hopefully. Maybe. It’s the goal, at least.”

“Hopefully this video won't be titled 'Eddie blows up his kitchen,'” he joked happily. “Lucky for me, and probably for the LA fire department, I'm joined by the crazy talented Bella Swan, former professional chef and current master of my kitchen,” he said all of it so seriously in that performer's voice of his.

"I cooked in a professional kitchen. I wouldn't say I was a professional chef." I rolled my eyes. "But I can make sure nobody is going to blow up this kitchen today," I assured him. "I can't promise you that you won't burn yourself, though."

“Well, there are no guarantees in life,” he said too earnestly with his fists on his hips. He made me break and laugh, turning my face away so I could try to straighten myself up. He smiled as if he had won something. “What are we making, master?” He said too seriously just as I had gotten control again. I scrunched up my nose and stuck my tongue out at him.

“Mistress,” I corrected quietly before I cleared my throat. He smiled a little wickedly in response. I continued on, ignoring him, “blackberry jam. It's super easy to make, better than store bought, and is amazing on ice cream, in cakes, on toast, or with roasted chicken. And the recipe is really versatile because you can switch out the blackberries for raspberries or cranberries. Strawberries or blueberries, too. It just depends on what's in season or on sale,” I explained to the camera and him. “It's really quick, too. So, let's get started.”

He filmed me making blackberry jam and cranberry sauce, cookie dough, a pie crust dough for pies that I would be making the next day, and our dinner which just happened to be the roasted chicken I had mentioned earlier. Together we spent the next day cooking even more things. He requested chocolate truffles and caramel candies, something that would be on his lists of favorite foods. They would be perfect to have for the Christmas party, so I was happy to oblige him.

We probably filmed ten videos worth of material in a two day period. It was so much fun. It was just us, alone together. Playing together. It’s exactly what I wanted. Maybe it’s what I needed.

The morning of Christmas Eve was absolutely beautiful. It was a sunny day with gorgeous perfect fluffy clouds dotting the bright blue sky, and it was a lovely seventy-five degree outside. We would be leaving the day after Christmas to go somewhere snowy. He hadn't told me where yet but he said to pack for the 'proper' cold. Edward promised snow and lots of it. We would be staying for almost five days, him having to return that Monday for some recording before New Year's Eve. He had been invited to a very fancy Hollywood party as well. I bought a new dress for the event, but I was feeling extremely nervous about it. We hadn't really done anything that Hollywood together yet.

We woke up early to have a nice breakfast out. He plied me heavily with champagne, which wasn't hard to do. After a trip to the store for last minute supplies, we spent the afternoon curled up together on the couch. We made Christmas Eve dinner together, without the cameras. Steaks with baked sweet potatoes, grilled zucchini and mushrooms were on the menu. For dessert, I made us a cherry pie that Edward half destroyed with a bunch of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. When he was done, he told me to get ready to go out, that he wanted to take me somewhere. He didn't say where.

The parking lot of the LA zoo was packed, a special lighting event for Christmas going on. I smiled to myself when I realized in the car. Edward was pleased with my reaction, smiling himself as he squeezed my thigh with his big hand. He had already bought our tickets, so we were able to skip some of the lines and just walk inside.

It wasn't cold at all, barely cool enough for the hoodie Edward was wearing. We strolled together, hand in hand, as we went around the zoo together. I took so many fun pictures. The lights were amazing. He kept stealing the camera to take photos of me, or of us together since his arms were much longer than mine. We had so many stupid pictures of me pressed into his side, laughing and smiling. As he took one of the photographs, he whispered in my ear that I was so beautiful. My reaction was visible in the photo, flushed and smiling with half-lidded eyes while his lips pressed to my ear, and he loved it. Edward made me promise to send it to him.

About halfway through the zoo, we had to take a break for my foot. We sat down at the outside cafe that was serving hot cocoa and churros. He purchased us each a drink, his with marshmallows and mine with extra whipped cream. We had a little corner to ourselves under a fairy light lit palm tree, on a bench sitting very close together. His fingers were wrapped tightly around my own, his hand shaking just a little bit.

“Are you okay?” I asked him. “You can’t be cold.”

"No…I mean, I'm fine." He licked his lips before he continued. "The last time we were here, we weren't together yet," Edward began thoughtfully, slowly. "I knew that I had feelings for you. I tried to talk to you the night before, and I guess I wasn't coming on strong enough, but I didn't want to scare you off by being too aggressive either. But, I wanted to tell you the very same thing then that I want to tell you now."

I smoothed my thumb over the back of his hand. He seemed anxious all of a sudden, nervous to the point of shaking. "And what's that?"

"That I'm in love with you. That I fell in love with you the very first second that I saw you. Before I opened the door. Before we even spoke to one another, I was in love with you. I didn't know that I could feel this way about anyone or that love at first sight truly existed. But it does. And I do. Every day since then, I have just fallen more and more in love with you. Isabella, I love you."

I opened my mouth, and nothing came out. It opened, closed, then opened again. My brain stopped functioning for a few ticks. Finally, I was able to squeak out, "I don't know what to say."

“Damn, is it too soon? I'm sorry. I should have-” He clearly began to panic, turning away from me slightly. I had to put a stop to it before it got too far.

"No. No, Eddie. No, it's not." I turned to face him more. He was sitting board stiff beside me, looking forward. "I'm sorry. I should have started with. I love you, too. You just leave me speechless sometimes. I’m not as good with my words as you are.”

“Really?” He grinned happily and turned to face me fully on the bench. “Do you mean it?”

I laughed with relief, “why wouldn't I mean it?”

"I don't know. It was what I was hoping for, but you threw me off at the beginning, and I think my heart is having a moment." He touched his chest and laughed a little mirthfully. "Oh, sweet Jesus. My heart hurts, Bella. I love you so much. I've been bursting at the seams to tell you this entire time. I was kind of worried I was losing my mind at first."

“What do you mean?” I rolled my eyes. He was so dramatic.

Edward laughed again, “I don't know. I literally just met this perfect, perfect stranger, whom I had fully thought was a man until the moment before I peaked out the window, and had a mild panic attack because I realized I hadn't showered before I was meeting the love of my life for the first time. And then I had to try to play it cool and not fuck up my chance with you. Which I was absolutely sure I didn't have any at all."

I shook my head and rolled my eyes so hard that they nearly looped back around, but I believed him. "You're so dramatic. Well... you played it off very well," I told him honestly. "I didn't realize a thing. I just thought you were immensely charming. And I remember how good you smelled that first night, so don't worry. When you leaned in to order that first time. You were so close. You had that sexy unshaven thing going on that I seem to like on you now." I touched his smooth jaw with my fingers. "I don't know why you thought you didn't have a chance, though. Silly boy."

“I'm in no way good enough for you. For your generosity. For your kindness.”

“Try hard,” I clicked my tongue. “What are you talking about anyway?” I asked him. “I'm not going to have this argument with you again. First, don't compare my nonprofit work to your own. At your age, I hadn't done a tenth of what you have. Second, I'm a cranky bitch. I like maybe five people. You just happen to be one of them.”

Edward scoffed at me. “I can name a dozen people off the top of my head that love you and think you're awesome. Seth, Tyler, and Lauren being three of them. You're more personable than you feel.”

“And I like them, too. I really do,” I sighed. “It's kind of an act with everyone else though. But, I realize I am preaching to the choir with that. We're both mainly introverts pretending to be extroverts.”

"Oh, no. You're exactly right," he chuckled at the description. "That's why we get along so well, I think."

“Probably. And we're both creative but in different ways, so it's always inspiring to be around you,” I replied honestly.

“I didn't realize you felt that way as well, too. I've been so vocal about it, I know.”

“Well, I probably am the quieter one in the relationship,” I pointed out. He nodded his head, smiling happily to himself.

Edward pressed his forehead against my temple, kissing my cheek lightly. “Yes, I think I would agree with that. Well, most of the time,” he teased.

“Was it really love at first sight?” I asked him in quiet curiosity, glancing shyly in his direction. He was so close I couldn't meet his eyes. “I don't think that's even possible.”

“Yes, it is,” he was so quick to answer.

“Lust at first sight maybe,” I joked. He was smiling as I said it, his cheeks a little pink already from the rush of everything that was happening.

“It can be both,” he defended himself with a smirk. Edward whispered the next part in my ear, “you really can't have one without the other, I think. Romantic love without at least some lust. I certainly can't deny being thirsty for you from the beginning. I've wanted you more than I thought it was possible. But, can you really blame me? Our sex has been universe altering for me.”

“You needed to have better sex.”

“You are not wrong,” he chuckled a little shyly. “I wish I were more experienced for you. I don’t know if I know what I’m doing.”

I turned so my lips were on his ear and whispered so only he could hear, “you have a massive cock and an oral fetish. And, I'll take determination over experience any day. I'm just glad I found you before you realized your gifts.”

"See? And then you say things like that, and my brain just shuts the fuck down," he said to me with a bit of a smirk on his pretty lips. He glanced in my direction and softly asked, "but, really, though? It's okay for you?"

I rolled my eyes again. He was being an idiot. “If your other girlfriends were having more orgasms than me then they were faking it because I don't think that's humanly possible otherwise.”

“No. They weren't. I mean, I don't think they were faking it... at least most of the time? I don't know. My ex was more of a one and don't touch me type,” he explained, embarrassed.

“It's different for everyone,” I replied dryly. “I've never faked a thing with you. I do have to fake it with Al all the time. It does nothing for me at all. All the magic is gone after all these years.”

He laughed and looked away, covering his eyes for a moment. “You're mean.”

“No. It's true. You'll see for yourself one day whenever that threesome eventually happens,” I continued to deadpan. “There is just no spice left.”

Edward looked me dead in the eye and made a little face. "I know you're fucking with me, but I'm not sure how much exactly."

I had to work very hard to hide my smile. “Oh, you know this, do you?” I asked evenly as I sipped my hot cocoa. “How sure are you that I am, in fact, fucking with you?” He looked at each other very seriously for a moment before he had to look away.

He cracked and laughed again, glancing back at me. “I love you.”

I smiled. “I love you, too.”

“Oh,” he sighed in contentment. “That's so nice. Can you say it again?” He asked, leaning his face in closer to mine as he came in for a kiss.

I smiled a bit shyly. Oh, he is being cute. “I love you.”

He inched closer. “Again, please.”

“I love you.” I pulled his face to mine and kissed him slowly but firmly. I was going to do terrible things to him later. Terrible, lovely, dirty things.

“Shall we continue on now?” He asked when he pulled away with a bright smile on his handsome face.

On Christmas morning I made us brie stuffed croissants with cranberry jam and bacon and Edward made us coffee before we decided to open the presents. We put on instrumental Christmas music softly in the background while we cooked and ate our breakfast together. He was still jubilant from the night before, dancing and kissing me whenever he could. He had also told me that he loved me maybe a dozen more times. Once he was able to let it out, he couldn't hold it in anymore at all. He did film some of this, but only for himself with his phone.

Edward was looking especially sexy. Shirtless with his warm flannel pants, messy hair, and five o'clock shadow… It ticked so many boxes for me- as one of my friends once put it. He could tick any of my boxes if he wanted to. Especially with that nice V that he was still sporting from his heavy workouts. I was going to have to enjoy those muscles while they lasted because he wasn't going to exercise for a week, according to him. And who could blame him?

That’s what pictures and memories were for, though.

I sat on his giant couch with my legs propped up. Edward got the pile of presents around the small tree and brought them to me. “There is an order I want you to open these,” I explained to him. “One will be far less impressive if you open the others first.”

“Doubtful. Well, you can open whatever you want in any order,” he said as he sat by the edge of the couch on the floor in front of me.

I pushed the small bag towards him, “this one first.” I moved the envelope beside it, “this next. And then this one.” I tapped my finger on the package that was obviously a hardcover book. You could hear the clicking of my nail on the cover.

“So mysterious,” he teased me, going to open the bag as I told him to. I took his picture as he did.

“Well, I don't want you to get distracted by the last one yet. Honestly, don't get your hopes up too high. Two of your gifts were made by me,” I replied, putting the camera back on my lap.

"You make that sound like a bad thing." He pulled out an extremely long and luxuriously thick scarf made with a variegated blue, green, and purple yarn. There was a matching hat, as well. "Yo, you made these? I didn't know you could knit."

"Yeah, I used to a lot. My grandmother taught me." I smiled a little at the memory of that time with her. "I've had a lot of free time on my ass, obviously. Demetri brought me a bunch of very nice bamboo yarn to keep me entertained," I informed him. "It's made locally in New York. It's super soft, and I like their color combinations. He got them at some Christmas bizarre."

“Bamboo? Really? It is soft. This is perfect for our trip. Thank you.” He leaned over and kissed me on the lips lightly. Edward pulled his hat on and wrapped the scarf around his neck twice and let it dangle over his bare chest. I took his picture again. He gave me a big grin and a peace sign for the photo.

“Ham.” He didn’t need to know how hot he was right then.

“Yup. Now open one of yours,” he told me joyfully. I picked up a smallish but long box that was quite heavy. “Don't shake it. If I got it wrong, blame Alice. She helped me pick it out.”

“Okay,” I laughed as I pulled off the simple brown wrapping paper. I gasped loudly when I saw the lens underneath. It was a super high speed extreme long range zoom lens that I had been wanting since I started taking pictures. But, I could never bring myself to spend that crazy of an amount. “Are you fucking serious?!”

I hugged him tightly and kissed him hard the mouth, leaning over of the edge of the couch. “I bought the right one?” He checked when he pulled away.

“Yassss...” I hugged the box to my chest. “Oh, my god. I hope I get to use it this weekend.”

“I hope so too,” he grinned knowingly at me. “Okay, my turn.”

“This makes mine way less impressive,” I laughed a little bit shyly.

"It's not a contest. And to be fair, I simply asked Alice what she'd buy you if she had all the money in the world." He opened the envelope. Inside was three sheets of paper. He shuffled through them, trying to figure out what they were exactly. "What this?"

"That is," I pulled out one sheet of paper, "one year of monthly boxes filled with unique chocolates from around the world." I pulled another sheet to read it after I put the other paper down on the couch beside me. "This one is savory snacks from around the world. So like chips, beef jerky, nuts. That sort of thing. And that last one is a beer and wine of the month. You get a couple of bottles of wine and a new six-pack every month. So, at least three times a month for a year, you will get something to eat or drink from me even if I can't make it for you myself. Even if it's just junk food."

“Aw,” he drew out softly, bashfully smiling. He genuinely liked his gift. “That's so sweet. And it's like Christmas every month. That's perfect. I love it so much.”

“I considered a geeky subscription box but I figured you might already have one and there is no sneaky way to ask about it,” I told him honestly, just happy that he seemed so pleased.

"Oh, I used to, but I didn't renew it when I moved here. Maybe for Valentine's day." He winked at me.

“Well, that makes shopping easier.”

I picked up the next box. This one was smaller. I kind of figured it was jewelry. “Once again, if it's wrong, blame Alice,” he said.

“Poor Mary Alice, just getting thrown underneath the bus here today,” I teased him. I unwrapped the obvious ring box and popped it open, hoping it wasn't an engagement ring. It was a large metallic silver band with twisting swirls making up its centerpiece. I knew where it was from right away. “It's James Avery!” I gushed, quickly putting the ring on my right ring finger. “It's so pretty!”

“Well, Alice is two for two, so it's okay. She avoids the bus for today,” he joked sweetly. “You really like it?”

“Yeah, I have one kind of like this one but not as big that my grandmother gave me when I was thirteen. I wear it all the time. I mean, I would guess you've probably seen it. They're my favorite jewelry store.” I looked at my hand and at the ring. I sighed a heavy sigh of relief, “I was a little worried for a minute.”

Edward looked concerned. “Why?”

“I thought it might have been an engagement ring.”

He chuckled at my stark honesty, “well, I'd marry you tomorrow if you let me.”

“Edward,” I shook my head uncomfortably.

“I said if. If you're not willing to live with me yet, you're certainly not ready to be married to me. And that's fine. I understand. Unless that's the problem and we can make a pit stop in Vegas tomorrow," he teased me jovially. Edward brought my right hand up to his lips and kissed my knuckles. "I'm patient."

“No, you're not,” I replied with a little laugh.

“You're right. I'm not. But, you're worth the wait. I do want to marry you, though,” he said without hesitation, looking up at me as he rested his head on the edge of the couch. I reached down and touched his cheek.

“What if I don't want to get married?” I asked him curiously.

“Doesn't matter whether we get a piece of paper or not, I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you. Or, try my hardest to. If you’re willing to have me. The end results are the same. But, you hate calling me your boyfriend,” he pointed out with a shit eating grin. “And that would fix that.”

“That's because my gentleman sounds so much better though.” I laid down on the couch so that we were eye level with one another. “How can you be so sure? What if something changes?”

"Bells, we can't predict the future, but that doesn't change that I know what I want now. What I want in my life. I've always been a goal driven person. And my goal now is to make sure you fall as deeply and crazily in love with me as possible so we can spend the rest of our lives conquering the world together. Because I know when I'm with you, I can do anything. So, you know what? Things are going to change, but it's going to be far more for the better than the worse," Edward said to me firmly.

“You're such a romantic. I never would have expected it when I first knew you existed.” I smiled as I gripped the side of the cushion. “I didn't know how much I needed you.”

We kissed for a moment.

“Alright, open your next gift,” he said.

“I just opened one,” I told him as I finally sat back up. He just rolled his eyes and put the biggest of the boxes in my lap.

Inside was a very nice laptop.

“This one is kind of selfish. It's a high-speed gaming laptop. It should be good for your photography as well, I was told, but this way we can maybe play games together when we're not together,” Edward said pensively, almost hopefully. “I know you've been wanting one. But check out the best part.” He flipped over the box to show me the keyboard's picture. “It's rainbow backlit. And you'll never run out of storage.” He tapped on the numbers on the box.

“Holy shit! It has thirty-two terabytes of hard drive space?! That's so much! How is that even possible?” I tried to read the stats. I didn’t understand them all that much.

“That is five hundred hours of video, by the way. I got myself one custom built for me that has sixty.” He raised his eyebrows and grinned. “That bad boy is going to make my life so much easier.”

"I can't imagine how much it costs," I commented in wonder. I couldn't even pull a number out of the air. The thousand dollar ones I was looking at only had two terabytes, and I thought that was a lot.

"Since you are technically an employee for my production company, it's a business expense," he teased me. "I need someone to help make dumb videos with me, and I want to play more games with you because it's always so much fun."

“I feel sorry for your accountant. And, you enjoyed getting your ass kicked at Guitar Magic at Thanksgiving, did you?” I teased him back with a big smile as I touched his cheek. That was the last time we had played together.

"To be fair, I haven't played it before!" He automatically began defending himself. "And how was I supposed to know Alice was one of the top-ranked online players in the world? How is that even possible?"

“Adderall and weed.” She always kicked my ass too, but I was still better at it than him.

“But, like how is she just quietly always on the top of the rankings? I checked. She's been at the top for like three years now!” He pouted a little bit. “I've never been that good at anything.”

“I don't know how many people are actually playing it. And yeah, she's been playing it for longer than three years. It's pretty much the only reason she's ever owned a game console. She's been playing those stupid Guitar Magic games for fifteen years solid now. It makes my eyes twitch.”

He shook his head again. "It's just filthy, though. Filthy!”

I laughed, “she's a classically trained musician who's played at both Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera house. Oh, and Madison Square Gardens multiple times. She has dozens of symphonies worth of music memorized in her head. I love how impressed you are by the toy guitar though. You, a man with a damn Grammy.”

He ignored my last comment. “Really? She's played there? Solo?”

"No." I shook my head. "As part of an orchestra, of course. I played with her at Carnegie Hall and the opera house when we were still in high school and college. But she's done it again since. She was a part of an Orchestra group in Queens for the longest, but she's been focused on just her work for ages now it feels."

“Wow. That's so impressive. And what did you two play again?”

“Viola and violin.”

“What is a viola exactly?” He questioned. It was one thing Alice had to explain often.

“A big violin,” I smiled patiently. “It's part of the violin family that was crafted around the sixteenth century in Italy. Violin, viola, cello, and the upright bass. But there are a bunch of different kinds of each. Different sizes. More strings. Double strings. Stuff like that.”

“Wow. Okay. Makes sense. You'll both have to play for me one day.” He grinned at the thought. “I've not heard you play the violin.”

“Maybe I can make some videos about music and instruments,” I commented as I took the paper off the laptop box completely. “I should earn my keep for the man if he's supplying me such nice hardware.” I looked at the stats printed on the other side of the box.

Edward was pleased. It was going on the list. “You can do whatever you want, baby. As long as you're happy.”

“Thank you. It's all amazing. Everything is so thoughtful,” I finally told him. It was a little overwhelming.

Edward was clearly delighted with how everything was going. "You're welcome. Open the last one now."

“Don't you want to open your last one?” I asked, tapping my nail on it. He was going to really really like it.

“In a sec. I'm having more fun with your reactions right now,” he said sweetly. Edward put the last bag on my lap. “I picked this one out all on my own.”

“Alright.” I put my hand inside the bag and pulled out something fluffy. Stretching my arm out to its full height so I could look at what he had gotten me. I threw my head back in laughter. “Is it koala footie pajamas?”

“It indeed is. And look, it's got a pouch in the front for your phone,” he told me proudly.

“Can I wear this to the Christmas party?” I giggled, looking at the koala's fluffy face on the hoodie. It was stupidly cute.

“I mean, that would be terrific. So yeah,” Edward chuckled. “Please do.”

“With one house shoe and a boot, half tanked on eggnog and Lortabs. Yeah, that sounds like Christmas,” I joked before pushing the book to him. “Now open yours.”

"Yes, ma'am." He picked up the book and unwrapped it. It was a hardback book, thin and shiny black. There were no words on the cover, but there was a black and white picture of a corset in an extreme close-up detailing. He examined the front and the back to look for words, and when he couldn't find any, he opened up the book itself to the first page. His mouth opened, and his face turned a little red. Edward flipped a couple of pages, slowly licking his bottom lip. "It's the pictures from that night."

“Well, most of them are from that night. Some you haven't seen yet. I took them just for you,” I said in a syrupy sweet tone.

Edward looked up at me and then quickly back at the pictures. Then up to me again.

“We hadn't really spoken about them since I took them. So much has happened since then. And when you didn't say anything, I kind of assumed I did a terrible job.”

“Oh, not at all. You did very well. But it does help to have someone who is a master at photo editing. It's not photoshopped, by the way. I only blurred blemishes and such,” I admitted. He wouldn’t have been able to tell if I hadn’t told him.

"Oh, boy," he said breathlessly as he looked at the pictures. Then he got to the newer photos. "Oh, boy...” Edward drew out again. His eyes were wide. He was learning just how not shy I could be.

“You really should thank Alice for all her help with our gifts this year,” I said in a silky voice as he sat slack-jawed on the floor. “She said I was too classy to send those over the phone to you,” I joked. “She helped me take some of the pictures, too. The ones with clothes on, mainly.”

“She's the best. No buses for her ever.” He couldn't lift his eyes off the page. Edward flipped to the last picture. “Fuck,” he moaned quietly.

“Do you like it?” I asked innocently.

“It- I... you. I-” he started but stopped, turning back a page and then another. “Oh, boy.”

I curled some of my hair around my finger, trying to act as innocently as possible. “I don't know if I should tell you what Alice called it.”

Edward looked back up at me. “Oh? What's that? What did she call it?”

“The classiest thing you'll ever masturbate to.”

He looked out the window towards the backyard, scrunching up his face in amusement as even his ears turned red. Edward cleared her throat.

"I am feeling personally attacked right now," he tried to say as mildly as possible, but he was having a hard time keeping his voice from breaking with laughter.

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