Soulmates aren't just lovers.
- Unknown
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Edward stepped out of the car, rounding it quickly and opening Aris's door for her before she could, like usual.
They made their way towards the entrance of the hotel, stepping through the doors, and heading over to the concierge desk.
"Hi, we have a room that should be under the last name Shields?" She asked, the woman immediately typing on the keyboard of her computer.
"Unfortunately there's been a slight error on our end, and some things got changed around with your room. Your previous double bed room on the first floor was given to the wrong people, so in return, we just upgraded you to a king suite on the top floor. Does that work for the happy couple?" The lady's eyes flickered between both of them, false sweetness lacing her tone. Aris didn't bother correcting her, and also didn't have the energy to try and get the room switched again.
"Yeah, that's fine." She sighed, taking the key from the lady.
They made their way onto the elevator and towards their room, once they had finally arrived on the fifth floor.
"This shouldn't be a problem, since you don't sleep anyways, so I didn't bother asking her to switch it with a double bed room." She explained, opening the door to reveal the nice looking suite.
"I don't know what you mean, this bed looks pretty comfortable to me." Edward smiled innocently, flopping down on the king sized bed. "I think I'll lay here for the night."
Aris raised her eyebrows, unbelieving.
"You're kidding," she scoffed, "Edward, you are not staying there all night. Vampires can't even get uncomfortable, regardless if they're standing or sitting! I, on the other hand, actually have to sleep."
He hummed.
"I think I'm good right here actually. I won't bother you." He patted the space next to him as he scooted over, leaving the majority of the bed empty for her.
"Okay, this isn't funny anymore. I get the bed, and you can take the chair over there." She pointed to a chair beside the window on the other side of the room.
Edward thought for a moment, then shook his head, suppressing a smile.
Aris groaned, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "Well, you've given me no choice then," she sped over to the other side of him, about to yank him off the bed, but he anticipated her move faster. Edward grabbed her by her wrists, pulling her onto the bed on the opposite side of him, climbing over her and holding her hands on the mattress above her head. "Let me go!" She yelled, trying to desperately wiggle out of his grasp.
"Do you promise not to pull me off the bed?" He asked, eyebrows raised.
Her mouth formed a hard line as she shook her head no. "Just let me have the bed Edward! I don't understand why you want it so bad. It doesn't affect you either way." She whined, still thrashing under his hold as he effortlessly kept her pinned.
"Because, I enjoy getting on your nerves like this." He smirked, "Besides, why does it matter if we share the bed? It's big enough where we won't even touch, and we're just friends, right?" His tone was condescending as he used her own words against her.
Aris huffed, not wanting to surrender, but also wanting him to let her go. Edward was oblivious to the intimacy of this position, but Aris certainly wasn't. Her face was flushed as her chest rose and fell heavily, her never more grateful than she was in that moment for the fact that Edward couldn't read her mind right then.
"Rule number one." She reminded him, hoping it would be enough to get him to let her go.
"I'd say this touching is pretty necessary." He shrugged. "It's keeping you from throwing me on the floor, and possibly breaking something in the process."
Aris groaned, still trying to wiggle out of his tight hold on her, when a lightbulb went off in her head.
Silence and tension fell between them as she purposefully darted her gaze down from his eyes to his lips, and back up to his eyes again.
It was then that Edward realized the true intimacy of how they were positioned, him hovering over her closely with his knees on either sides of her legs, his hands holding her wrists above her head, and their faces only inches away.
Aris really hoped her plan would work, because otherwise it would just be embarrassing.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she very slowly started to sit up, closing the distance between their faces so their lips were only a centimeter away, and they were practically sharing a breath.
Edward's breath hitched in his chest as all coherent thoughts left his brain, him instinctively loosening his grip around her wrists as her lips almost brushed against his.
Aris smiled cheeky, using the opportunity to whip her hands out of his grasp and push him back, climbing out from under him so she was now standing beside the bed again.
He quickly masked his once lust filled and shocked expression, rearranging his features so they appeared unbothered once again.
"You're so stubborn." She whined, watching him resume his place in laying down on the bed once again. "Fine, I give up. You win. We'll share, but you're not gonna fucking touch me, creep." She grumbled, earning an eye roll from Edward.
Aris took a seat on the other side, leaving several feet of awkward space between them, though the space felt necessary.
"So, what're your plans for us tomorrow? You said before you left that you had everything planned out and that I was "just along for the ride"." He snickered.
"Well, I was thinking that tomorrow we could just drive around town, and get you more comfortable with the area again." She suggested hesitantly. "When we arrived yesterday, you seemed a little unnerved by the city itself, and if we want this trip to go as smoothly as possible, I'd say the first step is no longer seeing this city as a place where a horrific accident took place, but rather, a city that's just a part of your past."
Edward nodded, not entirely opposed to the idea. However, he knew it'd be difficult and nerve wracking to face all of the familiar places again, especially if Aris made them drive to where Bella had lived.
"And I guess, depending on how you're feeling, on Monday I was thinking we could drive down to the police station and see what happened the months afterward." She watched Edward's face for any signs of disapproval. "We could try and find out what happened to her parents after the incident, how they dealt with it, and if they're still around. And I guess on Tuesday we could try and figure out where her friends are now. If any of them still happen to be living here, then we could possibly try to talk with some of them." She continued, twiddling with her fingers. "I know it's all super hypothetical. I mean, who knows if we'll find anything at all, but it's worth a shot, right?"
Edward nodded, his chest warming with the fact that she'd thought through all of this, and brought him here to help get him closure. Of course it was also to help her nightmares, but it was obviously for him as well.
"Thank you Aris." He said softly.
She nodded, standing up and grabbing a t-shirt and shorts, then heading into the bathroom to change and brush her teeth for the night.
"You know how creepy it is that you're just gonna lay there while I sleep? It's like you're a damn peeping tom or something." She chastised, crawling into her side of the bed several minutes later.
"Trust me, I'd sleep if I could." He scoffed. "Seriously though, I know we were just joking around before, but if you're uncomfortable with me being here, please tell me. I don't mind going downstairs and purchasing a separate room. I don't want to invade your privacy." He cautiously stated.
Aris waved her hand to dismiss that.
"It's fine, I'm not uncomfortable at all actually. Besides, if we're going to be around each other forever, we were bound to end up having a "sleepover" at some point, right?"
Edward chuckled, nodding, then putting one of his arms behind his head.
Aris yawned, shutting off her bedside lamp so the only lighting in the room was now coming from the moon shining through the window.
"Goodnight Edward." She whispered, letting her eyes flutter closed.
"Goodnight Aris."
'God, please don't let me have a nightmare tonight.'