Summer - 1999
It was particularly cool this summer day here in Topsail Island, I was sitting in the sand strumming my guitar daddy bought me two years ago on my thirteenth birthday. We were new around here, mom and dad bought a vacation house so we could spend our summers down here, away from the busy life of New York.
"Renesmee, come inside and get a cardigan or something. It's cold outside!" My mother calls from the kitchen widow. I smell her famous lasagna in the air, it was mixing in with the sea salt air outside. Creating a sweet aroma.
"Okay mom!" I call back before setting my guitar down and running inside. She hands me a pink light overcoat, the one Nana swan got me for Christmas that was entirely to girly for me. "Mom," I half groaned while taking it from her and slipping it on. "You know I hate pink."
She tosses me a motherly smile that says 'I - know - best - listen - to - your - mother' and left the kitchen to go back out to the beach where my guitar was laying right where I left it. I sit with my knees bracing my notebook I now just lay back in my lap, I write down a few cords and words. My free hand held the pages down, even as the flirty wind tried to tease them open to reveal my melodies. I set it aside and pick my guitar up, placing my fingers on the appropriate strings as I began strumming.
"Your little hand's wrapped around my finger, and it's so quiet in the world tonight." I sing softly before writing the words down. My elegant manuscript was sprawled all over the orange tinted lined paper of my music diary. "Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming, so I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light." I sing softly again, then wrote the words down on a new page - the one before it was filled to it's maximum.
"Pretty song, peanut." My father's voice calls from behind me. I look over my shoulder at him and smile. "Thanks dad," I say softy as I write the words that flowed from my brain to my mouth and then onto the pages of that orange tinted paper I loved.
"To you everything's funny, you got nothing to regret. I'd give all I have, honey - If you could stay like that." I grab the pen that was tucked behind my ear and write the words down.
I feel my father take a seat next me in the white sand, I look up at him for a moment to see him looking out at the beautiful blue water. "Did you know the blue of the water is only a reflection of the sun and moon?" I say softly, even though he already knew.
He was the one who told me.
He looks down at me and smiles softly. "I know peanut."
I went back to the strumming on my guitar, with my light voice mixing in with the cords beautifully. "Oh darling, don't you ever grow up. Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little. Oh darling, don't you ever grow up. Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple. I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart - And no one will desert you. Just try to never grow up, never grow up." The wind blows my curly tresses away from my face and makes the tinted orange paper move. I grabbed my pen and scrawl the words down quickly, even if my handwriting was quick it always managed to be elegant.
"You know, sometimes I wish you were still little. I used to wish that you would never grow up, but it didn't stop you from growing more beautiful each day." He mummers, his voice never wavered even if his expression looked pained.
I sigh softly and set my guitar aside. "I do too, dad. But I'm still fifteen, I have plenty of time to still be your little girl." I scoot closer to him as he wraps his lean arm around my shoulders.
"I know peanut, but it's not long enough for me. Three years is to short for me."
A silent tear manages to roll down my cheek from my piercing green eyes I inherited from my father. "How about I make a deal with you?" I offer, while looking at him sincerely.
"What kind of deal?" He asks,
I smile the smile I also inherited from him, "The kind that will never be broken."
He also smiles, the same one as me. "That's the best kind."
"I know, dad."
He turns to me then, and looks me in the eyes. "So tell me about this deal,"
I take a deep breath before speaking. "How about I be your little girl forever, even when you're old and wrinkly and I'm just starting to get wrinkles?" I laugh as I offer the deal. "How about I never grow up, on the inside of course."
"Deal." He says without missing a beat. We shake hands, mine - small and soft, his - strong and large.
"Dinner is ready!" I hear my mother yell from the window again. My father stands up and offers a hand to help me up while I gather all of my belongings in my arms. "Thanks." I say as I start walking with him back to the house. The sun was just about to set and I wanted to hurry and eat so I woudn't miss it. I really want to get some pictures of it - along with the stars. I've never seen any in real life.
We walk inside and I set my stuff on the couch in the sitting room. I walk across the hall and into the dinning room where my mother has everything set and served; all ready to eat.
I sit down and fold my short - ish white sun dress under my butt. I look at my mother who already has sun kissed skin. Her mahogany brown hair curled and falls down her back. Her light blue ruffled silk blouse with a grey pencil skirt and a pair of closed toed white heels looks fantastic on her. Her and my father are going to the clubhouse after dinner, it was only a mile walk from our beach house. They wanted me to come also, which I was dreading. Mom said I have to dress up.
"It looks delicious, Isabella." My father says, with a and twinkle in his eyes as he looks at my mother. That look never leaves his face when he looks at her.
"Thank you, I hope it tastes the way it looks." We all laugh lightly before eating, it was delicious.
We finish in twenty minuets, while talking about this and that. "Renesmee - will you please go change and then we'll leave?" My mother asks, she was always so nice and calm.
"Yeah - just right after I take some pictures, Please mom?" I ask, my voice pleading.
"Oh, alright. But please make it quick." I smiled and hop up, kissing both of their cheeks before racing upstairs and grabbing my camera off of my bed. I run back down stairs and out the back door. When my bare toes hit the grainy sand my smile widens. The sun was just now setting, creating beautiful colors onto the water - tinting the blue into pinks and oranges.
My camera goes click - click - click as I take pictures every second, I have taken 30 frames and finally feel satisfied. I walk back up the beach and up the porch steps. I opened the screen door and walk inside. "I'll be ready soon!" I say as I run up the stairs and back into my bedroom where I set my camera back on my bed before going over to the closet. I pick a light orange sun dress that looks dressy enough. I pull on a three quarter sleeved knit cardigan over the light orange sundress that was a darker orange color. I then place white flats on my feet and walk into my bathroom. I have my hair parted far to the right on my head, my Carmel Copper curls cascade down my back, it's almost grown out to my elbows. I place some mascara on my already thick, long lashes along with light pink sparkly eye shadow on my eyelids. I put a coat of clear pink lemonade tasting lip gloss on after brushing my teeth.
I now feel a little pretty.
I walk down the steps quickly, skipping two at a time. "Okay, I'm ready. We can go now." My parents smiles and we all walk down the hallway and out the front door, we make our way down the porch steps and towards the car that's parked in the tiny street. We got in the car and began driving to this clubhouse. It only takes a few minuets. I still don't understand why we have to drive, though.
I get out of the car last and follow my parents in, there were tons of people here. My parents walk to an area where a bunch of kids around my age are, along with their parents.
"Oh look, the Cullen's are here!" Someone yells, he was a rather large tan man, with some wrinkles and longish black hair, a beautiful woman was sitting next to him. Also tan with black hair. They look Native American, but I'm not exactly sure.
"Billy, Sarah - hello." My mother says to them with a charming smile. We all sit down and everyone has their eyes on me. "This is our daughter, Renesmee." My father says, I offer a wave and small 'hello'.
"Pretty little thing, huh Jake?" The guy named Billy says. He looks at a huge boy with tan skin like Billy's and cropped jet black hair who sat on the opposite end of the table. The boy looks up at Billy. "What?" He asks, dumbfounded, he was to busy flirting with some red head to notice his father was speaking to him.
"I said, pretty little thing, huh Jake?" My cheeks turned pink when the boy named Jake turned and looked at me. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head when they met mine.
"I uh - yeah." He says with a tone that sounded unsure. My cheeks turned even darker as I looked down in my lap. I kept wringing my fingers together nervously.
"Don't mind Jake, he's just a bid of a weirdy." A small pixie like girl says from where she was sitting next to me. She had ice blue eyes and shoulder length black hair. She was small and thin compared to me.
"Oh," I say. I was so great at making conversation.
"Pretty soon all the parents will be drunk, so all of us - " She pauses to gesture to the kids around the table, " - leave and go party on the beach." She finishes with a smile. I laugh lightly and nod my head.
"Sounds pretty cool." I say as I tuck a curl behind my ear.
She smiles and nods her head enthusiastically. "I'm Alice, that's Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, Lauren, Mike, Jacob, Rebecca and Rachel. Emmett is my older brother, he's older by a year." She rolls her eyes before continuing. "Jasper and Rosie are twins too, but they just turned sixteen like - last week." She points to the two blondes. "I claim Jasper, even if he just sees me as little baby Alice." I nod my head for her to continue. "That's Lauren - the red head. Jacob is the guy next to her, they are also sixteen. Along with Mike. He's the blonde - the really annoying blonde." She laughs and I do too, he doesn't look annoying. "And they are Rebecca and Rachel. They're seventeen and twins too." She takes a deep breath and smiles once more. "We've all been a big group of friends since we were like, three. We come here every summer - except Jake, Rach and Becca live here - they own this clubhouse."
My eyes widened, so they were locals?
"Oh, well that's pretty cool. My dad is a professional pianist and my mom is a painter." I say, it wasn't as cool as parents that own a clubhouse.
"Really? That's so cool!" She exclaims while jumping up in her seat. "My parents are doctors, it's so lame." She rolls her eyes and I smile.
"That sounds pretty cool, considering they save a bunch of lives." I says, her mouth falls open.
"I never though about it like that." She whispers, "Well - now it seems pretty cool!" She says happily again.
I laugh and smile at her, I now know this summer is going to be pretty amazing.
