Disclaimer: All the usual stuff… I don't own Twilight or Nancy Drew. I wouldn't know what to do with them if I did.

A/N: I wrote this little story for Meli (Melistories). Some of you might've read it over on the page dedicated to her (Words of love for Meli). Do go and check out the other stories there.

This version has been beta'd by Maggie (NewTwilightFan). She is wonderful, and reading her comments on a chapter is often the best part of the writing process.

Chapter 3.

The Bella Swan Case Files

Thursday, March 10, 2016

5:30 pm: Edward has tried to contact me several times today, but I haven't taken his calls or answered his texts. I'm too mortified to do so. I apparently sent him a text at 2 am asking if he was a gigolo. There is no getting around that. Maybe I'll just move back to Forks.

…

The morning after the night to end all nights has been pretty bleak so far. Or maybe not. Bleak makes me think of misty, gloomy moors with not a ray of sunlight, etc. My day so far has involved puking and hammering headaches on the one unfortunate day the sun decided to shine. In other words, everything hurts.

One of the benefits of working from home is that I can really take my time savoring a mid-week hangover. I'm thinking of putting that on my resume.

Yes, I'm just trying to avoid thinking of the unicorn prancing around my room and my head and my heart. I strongly suspect I might have overreacted yesterday, and Alice, being the enabler she is, just made things seem worse. Or maybe that was the alcohol. Either way, I am not completely irrational, so I know there may be several perfectly innocent reasons for Edward to have been sneaking off to that place every week. And as for the blonde, I'm taking it as a good sign that they weren't pawing at each other or kissing off each other's lips. I may be cackling a little at the mental picture of blondie roaming around without her suckers. Hah.

No, my problem this morning, or evening, as the case may be, is that I don't know how to behave around Edward right now. Somewhere along the way, these past few months, my crush on my dishy neighbor has bloomed into pure, unadulterated love. That's what made me get off my lazy ass and get all prettified for him. That's what inspired me to cook his favorite food for him. That's what made me feel like my heart had been ripped out of my chest and squished on the sidewalk when that blondie was with my man yesterday.

I'm in love with my unicorn. And I'm petrified that he doesn't feel the same way about me. In a perfect world, he would, you know? And in a perfect world I wouldn't be such a chicken shit, too scared to even answer his texts.

Damn it, what am I supposed to do?

.._.._..

From the Desk of Edward Cullen

Thursday, March 10, 2016

6 pm: I am going over to Bella's place. One way or another, we need to figure out where we are at. If she gives me the slightest hint of liking me, I'm going to lay my heart bare. If she wants to trample over it, so be it. But Bella is not cruel. And I really think she might like me.

…

I knock on her door, and I can hear a high pitched squeal on the other side. I put my ear to the door, and can make out some scrambling noises, then a patter of feet approaching the door, pausing, scrambling away, then approaching again… I am so involved with picturing what might be going on in there, I'm taken unawares when the door is suddenly jerked open. I stumble sideways, and grab onto the nearest object, which just happens to be Bella. We stagger like drunks for a moment, before finding our feet.

The breath rushes out of my body when I realize how close we are—how her arms are gripping my biceps, and mine are wrapped around her narrow waist. It would take so little for me to dip my head, like so, and press my lips to hers.

She licks her lips, and I wonder in a daze why they seem so much closer than they were a moment ago. My eyes flick up to her eyes, and they seem a lot closer too.

Her eyes glance down to my lips, and it becomes difficult to breathe. I realize we are both moving closer and closer, and I don't want to back away. Not now, not ever.

So I give in. I gently nudge her nose with mine, before softly touching her lips with mine. Our eyes close and I can feel the flutter of her long eyelashes against my cheek. Again and again, I lightly press my lips to hers and pull back. Even this chaste contact is enough to spark a supernova of sensation. My lips part, and I sneakily lick at her lower lip, before sucking it for a moment. I pull away, and repeat the action, nearly groaning out loud when she mirrors my actions. Our tongues graze against each other, and an uncontrollable shiver runs up my spine.

It jolts me back to my senses, and I lean back slightly. I won't lie, it is very gratifying to see Bella following the movement, leaning into me, with her eyes closed, and her lips slightly parted. They are so plump, glistening red and inviting, I nearly give in and just go back to kissing her. But then her eyes open, and the look in them is so heartbreakingly open and guileless… my love for her stands between us, and reminds me to do this the right way.

I step back and disengage from our close embrace, sliding my hands around to grip hers.

"Bella, where have you been? I was so worried about you. Is everything ok?" I'm trying hard not to stumble over my words.

She blinks, then looks down at our hands, and back up. She licks her lips as though unsure if we did just kiss. I puff out my chest a little at the thought that she might fantasize about kissing me.

"Um yeah," she says, finally, pulling me into the apartment and shutting the door. "I was with Alice. We got drunk."

"In the middle of the week? And without me? Hey, I'm hurt." We both sit on the couch in our usual places, but this time, I drop an arm around her shoulders and pull her toward me. "Were you upset about something?"

She tries to stop her head from nodding, but this is Bella. She really doesn't do subterfuge well. At least, not around me.

"Was it something I did?" Again, her head starts to nod, but she has better control this time, and turns it into a shrug.

"So clearly, it is something I did," I surmise, ignoring the wariness in her big brown eyes. "I'm done hiding stuff from you, Bella. Ask me."

She seems really surprised for some reason.

"Who's the blonde? And where do you go on Wednesdays and Saturdays? And why'd you lie about it?" She blurts it all out in one go, sucking in a long breath when she's done. She claps her hand over her mouth and looks like she can't believe she actually said that.

.._.._..

The Bella Swan Case Files

Thursday, March 10, 2016

6:30 pm: I feel like Nancy Drew has finally reached the last chapter of the mystery. But I'm fairly sure she never had it so easy. Edward kissed me, but I'll flail about that later. Right now, he is taking me to that place downtown, so I can see what he's been up to. If you ever wondered about teachers taking 'show-and-tell' seriously, here's your answer.

…

I point out the coffee shop from where I spied on him. I'm feeling fairly sheepish, but he seems to find the whole thing hilarious. He even asked to see my case files. As if that will ever happen. I must remember to burn them when I get home.

We enter the building, go down a well-lit hallway, and through a pair of glass double doors. I realize it's the Dance and Yoga Studio a split second before I see the tastefully designed logo behind the reception.

What, he was learning dance? That was so hot for so many reasons.

He just waves at the young guy at the reception desk and leads me through another set of double doors. I recognize the space from my childhood—it's a ballet studio, much like the one I used to frequent all those years ago. A group of kids, maybe five or six years old, are having a class, so we quietly move ahead, to what looks like a rather comfortable lounge.

A woman looks up from the papers she was reading at a desk. Her face breaks into a huge smile, and she walks up to Edward and hugs him. Right in front of me. Brazen Hussy.

It's the blonde, of course.

Edward hugs her back, but doesn't let go of my hand. My head is spinning with possibilities that would make Alice proud. Was he into threesomes? Or was he into one of those 'open relationship' things? I didn't know about threesomes, but no way was I going to willingly let another woman enjoy Edward or his unicorn… If I had him. I kind of thought I did when he was kissing me, back home, but right now the haze of red is making it difficult to figure it out.

"Rose, I want you to meet Bella. I'm sure Em has told you all about her."

Em? Rose? As in, Rosalie, Emmett's girlfriend? The world suddenly seems a brighter, happier place.

"Aha, so this is the elusive Bella Swan!" Blondie… I mean, Rosalie, seems genuinely happy to see me. "Girl, the number of times I didn't get to meet you, I was sure you didn't really exist. You know, like Edward was just making up this super-hot, amazing girlfriend to sound like he had a life? But Emmett, Esme and Carlisle all swore you were real, so I took their word for it." She has me wrapped up in an enthusiastic hug, and I could swear she sniffed my hair as she drew back.

Edward is sputtering and stuttering all this while. He's gone rather red in the face, and I can see a little sweat on his brow.

"Rose, no, she… we aren't.."

Before he can tie himself up into any more knots, I casually slip my hand through the crook of his arm. "Yup, we're for real," I say. Best to keep it simple, right?

That seems to settle something inside him. With a quick smile and smolder at me, he turns back to Rose. "I was actually hoping to show her what I was doing here, if that's ok with you."

"Oh, you haven't told her about the kids?" Rose seems surprised. "I kind of twisted his arm to come teach the kids ballet a couple times a week. He's a really good teacher, and so popular already." She's practically beaming with pride.

I'm sure I look like my eyes are about to bug out.

Edward, my hot neighbor, my sexy unicorn, teaches ballet to little kids.

I so want to mount him right this minute, but one niggling question is holding me back.

"So why'd you try to hide it from me?" I barely register Rose's amused look, before she walks out, leaving us alone in the lounge.

Edward combs his fingers through his hair in a gesture of defeat. "I was embarrassed. I thought you'd see me as less of a man if you knew." He practically scuffs his feet. He's so cute. And so, so deluded. "I mean, I saw how you were looking at me and Jake that first day, comparing us. And there was that guy you dated. You like those manly cavemen with bulging muscles, and I teach high school English, and ballet." He practically spits out that last word, as if it tastes bad.

I really can't help it. I burst out laughing. I laugh so hard my sides hurt, and I'm hunched over like a little old woman I probably will be some day. It seems like a pertinent point to make, somehow. "One day, I'm going to be a little old woman, hunched over like this all the time."

He gapes at me. I can tell the exact minute his mind finds something dirty about what I just said.

"What? You have to tell me." I'm good at pestering people to tell me things. It's kind of my superpower.

"Ah, it's just, if you were bent over like that, I'm sure I'd like it. In fact, I'd love to see you like that every day." His eyes have glazed over, and suddenly I know exactly what he's thinking. I like it.

"You would, huh?" I practically coo as I shimmy closer. It seems to be the thing to do, given that it's a dance studio and all. I have to rein myself in from breaking out the jazz hands. "I might like that."

"Then I might have to make it happen." He's all happy and coy and cute. It makes me want to kiss the shit out of him.

So I do. Hey, I never claimed to have much impulse control.

This kiss is a lot more intense and demanding than the last one we shared. There's also a lot more tongue involved. It's soft, and smooth, and hard and rough, and every kind of contradiction that makes this world worth living in.

"Bella," he pants, his breath hitting my lips in short bursts, "I love you. I've loved you for months, but I didn't think you'd ever want someone like me."

"Stop with the insecurity, Edward," I cut in, because seriously, that shit has got to stop. "I'm so in love with you, but I might have to cut you off if you ever put yourself down that way again. The only time I ever compared you to other men was when I was thinking how much more appealing you were to me. I mean seriously, I actually got recipes from Esme for your favorite food! Ask Jake sometime how often I cook stuff that he likes. And that guy I went on one date with… that was because I was sad that you didn't like me! Ugh, you're so dense. I've been trying to get you to notice me for months now!"

He seems to find my rant reassuring, and swoops in for another bone-melting kiss.

"I've been trying to get you to notice me for months, too," he laughs, coming back to peck my lips, as though he can't bear to be away from them for any length of time. I'm kind of ok with that.

"So, hey, you and me, babe… how about it?" I sing, slightly off key.

He sputters against my lips, which is a really interesting sensation, before hugging me close to his heart.

"I love you like the stars above, I'll love you till I die," he croons, a lot more in tune than I was.

Then he steps back, takes my hand and leads me off into the sunset.

(Or outside, into a cab, and back to my apartment, or his… it hardly matters. We're together, the case is closed, and Alice is going to have a conniption when she hears how it all went down.)

…

A/N: That's all from these two for now. Thanks for reading!

(Yes, I have all these other ideas for them, but I really should finish all those other stories first, right?)