~~~~~Saturday The 15th~~~~~
Katnis had convinced Charlie to let Edward come over for dinner tonight and she was a bit nervous about it. Her father wasn't really big on having men over, especially men who had feelings for his daughter, though he is the one that invited him.
"Mmmm. Katnis, whatever you are making it smells amazing." Charlie says as he plants a kiss on her temple.
"Thanks, dad. It was one of moms' favorite." she says with a small smile, "Now, get out. I'll call you and Bella when everything is ready."
"All right. Just be careful."
"I will." she says, "Oh, dad?"
"Yes?"
"Will you let me know when Cullen makes it here?"
Charlie frowns a bit, "Sure."
"Dad." she says with a raised brow, "Be nice. He's kind of important to me."
"So, you do like him." he assumed.
She nods, "Yes, I do," she says with a diligent look on her face, "but not in the way that you believe."
"Are you sure?"
Katnis cocks her head to the side, "What if I did, dad? Would that be a problem for you?" she questioned purely out of curiosity.
Charlie met her gaze,"Are you trying to tell me that you like Edward?"
"Dad." she groans.
"Alright. Don't have a cow." he says before taking a deep breath, "Yes and no."
"What you mean yes and no."
"I don't ever want to lose you, Katnis. I know you're not little anymore but you're my little girl and the thought of someone taking you from me kills me." he says softly, "But I know that you're getting older and one day you're going to get meet someone, get married and start a family of your own."
Katnis makes her way over to her father and wraps her arms around his middle, resting her head against his chest, "No one can or will ever take me away from you or Isabella. I've told you before that my home is forever with the two of you." she looks up to meet his gaze as his arms circle her, "Even when I get married and start a family of my own there is no way that you and Bella aren't coming with me."
Charlie smiles, "You promise?"
She nods, "I promise."
He leans down and kisses her hair, "I'm going to hold you to that." he says.
"I know." she says pulling away,"Now, get out of here."
"I love you, Katnis."
"I love you, too, dad." she says before he walked away.
Once Charlie was out of the kitchen she quickly began setting the table. The food had finished while she and Charlie were having their father-daughter moment and she knew Edward would be there soon. She couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he took a bite of the food she'd made for him. She'd added something extra to his portion of food. She'd promised that she'd try and make it bearable for him.
As she placed the last glass on the table she heard a knock at the door,"Katnis!" Charlie calls from the living room.
"I'll be right there!" she says as she slipped out of her apron and took off her little chefs hat and placed them on the counter before making her way down the hall and towards the front door.
"Katnis?"
"Yes?"
"What happened to your hand?" Bella asked noticing it was wrapped in a gauge.
"I cut myself. That's all."
"And you call me clumsy."
"It was intentional. I was mixing up a potion to help you with your lack of coordination." she shot back with a smile before opening the door to reveal Edward. He was dressed in black high converse shoes, black jeans, a white v-neck t-shirt with a dark blue jean jacket and his hair still looked messy but not as messy as it usually is."Well, you clean up nice." she says with a smile.
"If that is your way of saying I look nice, thank you." he says.
"You do look very nice, Cullen." she says as she takes a step to the side to let him in.
"You look beautiful as always," he says as she eyed her dark purple long sleeve top, dark blue jeans and dark purple flats. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun.
She smiles, "Thank you."
She watches as his eyes fall to her wrapped hand and he stiffens, "Are you alright?"
She nods, "Yes. Thank you for asking." she says as she shuts the door and leads him into the living room, "Make sure you hold your breath. After cutting myself I'm sure the smell of my blood has filled the house even more." she says low enough so that only he heard her.
He nods,"Hello Mr. Swan, Bella. I want to thank you for inviting me over for dinner." he says.
"I invited you a week ago not this week." he mumbles but they all could hear him.
"Dad." Bella scolds him before Katnis could.
"Sorry." he meets Edwards' gaze, "I'm glad you made it here safely, Edward."
Edward nods,"Thank you, sir."
"How are you, Bella?"
She flushes red, "I'm fine, Edward. Thank you for asking. How are you?"
"I'm fine, thank you."
Katnis chuckles at their formalities,"Let's head into the kitchen before the food gets cold." she says.
Entering the kitchen, Charlie and Bella took a long whiff of the aroma, "I can't wait to sink my teeth into what you've made for dinner." Charlie says as he takes his seat.
"Same here. It smells so good." Bella says.
Katnis laughs,"Thank you." she says as she grabbed Bella and Charlies' plates from the countertop and placed them in front of them, "Enjoy."
She then grabbed her and Edwards' plate and placed them on the table before sitting down, "I hope you like it." she says to Edward, "I added a surprise in the spaghetti and fish to help make it somewhat bearable to eat." she says low enough for him to hear only.
She watched, with anticipation, as he picked up his fork, put it in the spaghetti, twisted his fork until it was a mouthful on the fork and slowly brought it to his lips. He met her wild yet nervous gaze for a few moments before opening his mouth and taking the rather big bite, closing his eyes in the process. His face went from a look of disgust to a look of shock and his eyes flew open quickly as he chewed his fist bite.
Katnis smiles, "I didn't know what else I could do. It's not like I could go hunt a mountain lion." she says. "So, I went for the next best thing," she says.
His gaze fell onto her wrapped hand and he continued to chew his food for a moment before swallowing it down and opening his mouth, "That was -" he couldn't really describe what that was. The moment the spaghetti touched his tongue he could taste the entire familiar smell of her blood.
She nods and smiles at him, "You're welcome. I remember you saying how you and your family aren't all that big on eating a lot of meat so, I added a little more flavor to your spaghetti and fish."
He nods"I've never tasted anything like this before." he says before taking another big bite, his eyes closing as he allowed the taste of her blood to take over all of his senses.
"Katnis, Edward is right! This is amazing!" both Bella and Charlie agreed.
"Thank you. I'm glad you like it," she says as she takes a bite of her own food.
Throughout dinner Charlie basically interrogated Edward. He asked him about his past, what he was doing with his life now and where he wanted to be in the next ten years. She and Bella were surprised he didn't ask him if he was planning on asking Katnis to marry him. Charlie was full on detective throughout dinner but not once did she, Bella or Charlie see Edward wince or become nervous with all of his questioning.
"It was nice to see you again, Mr. Swan, Bella." Edward says as they walked him to the door, "I had a nice evening."
"Same here, Edward," Bella says.
"Have a safe drive home, Edward," Charlie says.
"Thank you." he then turns his attention to Katnis, "Thank you. I really enjoyed dinner tonight for the first time in a long time."
She nods, "Too bad you're going to have to get it out of your system later."
He made a sour face, "So am I." he says.
"Let me walk you to your car." she says as she grabs her jacket from the coat rack.
"Aren't the men suppose to do that?" he questioned with a smile.
She laughs, "Maybe back in your time but in my time women do everything men do." she says, opening the front door, "Even hold open doors."
He laughs and shakes his head, "I've noticed."
They turn to walk out the door only to run into Billy and Jacob Black, "Billy, hi." she says as she walks over to him, bends down and hugs him.
Billy doesn't take his eyes off of Edward who is stiff behind Katnis, "Hello, Katnis. It's been a while since I've seen you and Bella." he says as she pulls away, finally taking his eyes off Edward.
"Yeah, I know. I promise to visit more often. What are you two doing here? Coming to eat?" she laughs.
"Actually, we came to visit your fathers flat-screen. First Mariners game of the season." he says with a smile, "Plus, Jacob here kept bugging me about seeing you again." he says.
Katnis looks up at a blushing Jacob, "Great, dad. Thanks."
Billy chuckles, "Just keepin' it real, son."
"Don't. Stop. Don't ever say that again." Jacob groans.
Katnis laughs as she moves to stand beside Edward, "Billy, Jacob, I'd like for you to meet my friend Cullen." she says, "Cullen, this is Billy and Jacob Black."
Edward nods to them, "Pleasure." he says.
Billy nods in return, "Cullen." he says before rolling himself towards the front door and into the house.
"What was that about?" Katnis asked aloud.
Jacob shrugs, "Who knows. That old man is losing it." he says holding out his hand towards Edward, "Jacob Black, of course, nice to meet you. Any friend of Katnis is a friend of mine."
Edward stares at his hand for a moment before reaching out and taking his, "Edward Cullen. It's nice to meet you, Jacob." he says.
"Wow, your hands are cold, man. Where do you live, in a freezer?" he joked.
Edward managed to smile at his joke,"Something like that." he joked.
Katnis smiles at the both of them. She was glad they were getting along. "Hey!" Jacob exclaimed.
"What?" Katnis asked.
"How come my old man gets a hug but I don't?" he pouted, "You don't like me anymore?"
Katnis rolled her eyes,"Of course I like you, Jake." she says before stepping into his arms, "Happy?"
He nods as his arms circle her, lifting her off her feet, "Definitely." he says before taking a few steps away from Edward and spinning her around.
She laughs, "Jake!" she tightens her hold around his neck, "Put me down!"
"You promise to come visit me more often?"
She nods, "I promise! Now, put me down before you find yourself covered in tonights; dinner."
He laughs but sets her down on her feet, "Thank you!" she says as she stumbles back into Edwards' arms.
"Careful," Edward says.
She leans her head back to look at him, "Thank you, Cullen."
"Well, I'm going to go surprise Bella. I'll see you inside, Katnis." Jacob says before leaning forward and kissing her cheek, "Don't stay out too long. Oh, Katnis?"
"Yeah?"
"About the other day, I'm sorry." I didn't mean to hurt you."
She smiles and leans forward to kiss his cheek, causing him to blush, "I'm okay. Don't worry so much." she states.
He nods, "Thank you." he says before rushing off.
"He likes you," Edward says.
Katis removes herself from his grasp and turns to him, "Yes, but not as much as he likes Isabella." she says.
"He can't figure out who he likes more. He knows he likes Bella but the feelings he has for you won't stop growing."
"Hmm. It's a good thing he has feelings for Bella also. I can push her in his direction and out of mine." she says as they walked to his car.
Edward opens his door but doesn't get in, "He's a good kid. He's kind, smart and he's normal. Human. Maybe you should give him a chance." he says.
Katnis smiles up at him, "I like Jake but I don't see Jake and me together. I see him with Bella." she says, taking a step closer to him, "Plus, who want's normal? Normal's overrated and boring." she leans forward on her toes and kisses his cheek, "Good night, Cullen."
"Good night, Ms. Swan."