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On one hand, nothing about my life had changed. I hung out with my friends during school and after, kicked it with them on the weekends. We still went to Dairy Queen or the movies, goofed off together during lunch, congregated at each other's homes. The increasingly cold, wet weather had pretty much put a hold on the beach bonfires, so that meant more aimless driving around at night, meeting up wherever everyone else was.

In other ways, though, everything had changed.

It was the subtle stuff, the linked pinkies in the hallway at school, private jokes and playing footsie when I'd have dinner at the Cullen's. It wasn't, like, this huge deal but people noticed; more than once I caught people gawking at our lunchtime canoodling.

Because Edward and I had been close for so long, we sort of skipped right through the "getting to know you" stage. If I didn't count the whole marshmallow debacle and the miscommunication right after, I'd have to say our transition from friends to lovers was relatively smooth.

He knew my quirks, and I knew his, so our friendship was the same as ever.

What was new, obviously, was the sex. We were still navigating that, learning each other's bodies, what I liked, what he didn't.

We didn't always do it, which was nice. Sometimes when people reach that point of intimacy with one another the expectation to go all the way is constant. Edward just liked fooling around, and really, so did I.

Or maybe Edward just liked coming and really, so did I.

Utterly exhausted from a daytrip to Seattle with the girls, I yawned my way upstairs. I was too tired to take a shower, but I did anyway, feeling sort of grimy from walking around the city all day. I washed my hair and brushed my teeth while I was in there too, tired but addicted to the steamy heat. Shivering my way back into my room, I dug around until I found the pajamas I'd been given for Christmas. There wasn't anything special about them, other than the fact that they were ridiculously comfortable and snuggly; it was like they were hugging me just by being on.

I couldn't have been asleep for long when my phone started singing the stupid melody it sang when Edward called me. There was only one reason for him to be calling at this hour: he was drunk and horny.

Hoping that if I ignored it, it would just go away, I rolled over and began drifting off again.

It started singing again. I was gonna kill him.

"Edward," I whined, my eyes still closed as I held the phone to my ear.

"Can I come in?" he said, slightly tipsy.

"You're not downstairs," I said, my eyes opening. In my exhaustion I'd left my little white Christmas lights on, giving the room a mellow glow.

"I am downstairs, and it's frigging cold."

"No kidding," I threw the comforter off and hurried downstairs, hoping to God my father didn't come out. He slept like the dead, but, he was a cop. Edward had a 50/50 chance of survival here.

As quietly as possible, I opened my front door, motioning for him to keep it down. He followed me back upstairs, both of us stealthily avoiding the one squeaky step.

I locked my bedroom door for good measure and jumped back into the warmth of my bed, patting the spot next to me. "Sleepy time," I said, a yawn garbling my speech.

"Okay," he said, taking his shoes and hoodie off before joining me. He was really cold and I jerked away when he tried to cuddle against me but he dragged me back, molding himself around me.

I was not a big fan of spooning, and normally neither was Edward. But when he'd been drinking? He couldn't get enough. I'd just have to peel him off when he fell asleep.

Sometime later I woke up again, this time to Edward's face in my hair. Confused, I reached back to find my ponytail had been loosened.

"Did you-"

"Yeah." He sounded sober now. "Your hair thing was bothering me."

"You could've just moved over," I said, my heart squeezing when he rolled me over so we were face to face.

"Mhm." His lips were warm as he kissed me. He touched his fingertips along the fabric of my pajama top, following the curves and contours of my breasts, ribs, stomach.

"So what's up?" I asked when our mouths drifted apart.

"You were gone all day." He nudged my chin until I looked away so he could suck on my neck. He knew it would be my undoing, but I didn't mind him playing dirty.

"Yeah," I said, my voice barely a whisper.

"You smell good." He sucked a little harder and then stopped.

"You have to stop doing that." His face was so close it made me cross eyed to look at him. "I'm running out of cover up."

"Sounds like a personal problem to me."

"Sounds like an Edward problem to me."

He grinned, working my pajama pants off. "It feels good, though."

"Yeah, it does." I laughed a little, in spite of myself. I loved how he felt when he was between my legs, pushing his hips into me.

"I like your jammies."

"My jammies?" I giggled. "How very five year old of you."

He grinned impishly and damn, he was so cute with his nice skin and his crazy hair.

"So has it been long enough?" he asked after a minute, staring at my mouth before kissing it.

I nodded, my heart picking up speed.

"Nice. That was the longest month of my life."

I rolled my eyes, loving his brand of silly.

"So we can just… do it? No barriers?" he said, narrowing his eyes.

I nodded again, unbuckling his jeans and letting him do the rest. When he had his pants off, he sat back on his heels, pulling his shirt over his head and onto my floor.

One by one, he loosened the buttons on my jammies, opening the top but leaving it on me.

"Are we in love?" I asked playfully as he kissed my bellybutton and tossed my panties into oblivion.

He grinned, laying his face on my tummy. "If not, we're about to be."

fin!

thanks for the superduper plethora of reviews and rec's and comments, guys! i especially loved hearing of your own highschool shenanigans. :)

i know this was short n' sweet, but i do have another (normal length) HS fic coming soon. so... yeah. thanks for the love!

xoxo