In less than 48 hours, I will be Edward Cullen's wife. In less than 48 hours, I would be (hopefully) losing my virginity to said husband. Then, in about 72 hours, I would be bitten. I should be a vampire in approximately 144 hours. I was now measuring the time until the end of my life in hours. Yes, I could count it in days, but using a number in the single digits makes it all seem to pass by so much faster.
That also meant that in 144 hours, I would be dead. I would never be allowed to see or talk to my family or friends (well except for the vampires of course). In 144 hours, the good people of Forks will believe I died in a car accident. There are only a couple of people who will know the truth, the werewolves. They will know how the Cullen's had bit me, and that their treaty had been broken.
The treaty was kind of a moot point anyways, after Jacob broke their side of it a few years ago. How could they turn on us, when they we did not turn on them? Either way it didn't really matter. We would be leaving, and by the time we would ever even think about coming back to Forks, everyone will be dead.
That's all a bit off from here, so I was lying in my bed, wide awake. I had been awake for three hours, but it had been so early I didn't really want to wake up. In one hour Alice would be arriving for some last minute planning, and maybe even a little shopping if she could persuade me. I was shocked to find I had found a new thing I really liked, shopping. I had always despised it and avoided it at all costs. However, doing it with Alice made it fun. When I went with Alice, I felt like we were already sisters.
I had one hour though, and nothing to do. All the Cullen's were out hunting. They wanted to do it now so they wouldn't have to until after the wedding was all finished with. Of course Edward would go hunting before we left for our honeymoon in Mexico. I knew he wanted to be extra careful with his thirst during that time, so we picked a place with plenty of hunting.
We rented a little cabin in the middle of nowhere. According to everyone we asked there was hunting aplenty in that area. Everyone thought it a strange request to make on a honeymoon, but it didn't really matter. It was the most important thing, and my life possibly depended on it. Edward made sure it was the best possible place.
Then we would fly up to Denali, where I would be changed. The thought terrified. Yes I would be able to spend my entire life with the family I loved, but it would in a nutshell, be my death. I would die at eighteen, so young too. Unbeknownst to the humans, I would really be living hundreds of years after their impending doom.
I tried to dwell on only the positive aspects, like how I would beautiful, indestructible. My mind kept mulling over the three days of shear torture. I wish there was a way to live with Edward forever, minus all the pain. When I finally got off the thought of the pain, my mind immediately went to the next horrible thing, the thirst. I really hoped I didn't kill anyone. Edward will be able to stop me right. All of the Cullen's will help me. Well, except for Rosalie. She still didn't like me, but at least now she was trying to make an effort to at least appear that she cared about me.
At least I know why she feels the way I do. She feels like I am throwing away my life. What she isn't thinking about is the fact the Edward is my life. If I stayed human, I would be throwing away him. I would be throwing away Alice, and Esme, Carlisle, Jasper. Believe it or not, I imagine I would miss Rosalie too, because no matter how pig headed, stubborn, or cruel she can be, I love her. She is my family now, and nothing will ever change that. Well unless she dies. That would be the end of that.
Well that was one of the most morbid thoughts I've had in months. I never really had a morbid mind, never really dwelled on things like that. As my impending doom creeps closer and closer, my minds keeps getting odder and odder. Yesterday I caught myself thinking about, well, actually, I really don't think you want to know. It is seriously disturbing, so no… I don't think I'll say. This thought was so uncharacteristic I honestly thought it was someone else's.
I still have half an hour. What am I supposed to do for half an hour? I sat up for a minute, and then decided I would get dressed, maybe eat. Hopefully by then Alice will be here. Then she can save me from my sheer ridiculousness. I went into the bathroom to meet a sad surprise… no toothpaste. There was a note from Charlie.
Out of toothpaste. Can you pick some up later if you get a chance? Really sorry!
Charlie
What kind of world is this if I couldn't even brush my teeth? He could have reminded me that we were low on toothpaste yesterday when I went to the store. I went downstairs and picked up the phone, dialing Alice's number. She answered on the first ring.
"Bring toothpaste." Then I hung up. I hoped she would. I think they still have some at their house from my frequent sleepovers. I found a box of Cheerios. They weren't my favorite but they were all we had. The refrigerator was devoid of milk. We seriously need to go grocery shopping. I put the cereal back where I found it and tried to look for something I could eat.
Eggs were the only thing there was. I wasn't even sure if they were old or not. I hoped they were okay. Anyways, if I got sick from them, it wouldn't really matter in 144 hours, because I would be dead. There were only two eggs left, but it was enough. I was so hungry by that point I would have taken anything edible. The frying pan was dirty so after I washed it I fried them up and sat down to begin eating.
Just as I was about to put the first forkful in my mouth, the doorbell rang. It couldn't be Alice; she would have just come in. I couldn't think of anyone else. I put down my fork, still loaded with eggs, and got up to answer the door. Just as I was about to open the door it rang again. Someone was being impatient this morning.
I opened the door. There stood Jacob. His hair was longer then usually, falling past his shoulders. It was usually just down to the nape of his neck. He obviously hadn't slept in a while. There were serious bags under his eyes, and his stance just spelled exhaustion.
"Hi."
"Hi Jake. What are you doing here? Alice will be here in like ten minutes."
"That's okay; I just wanted to see one more time before… you know."
"Come in."
"No, like you said, your bloodsucker will be here soon. I just wanted to say goodbye. I know you'll be one of them soon. I'll always be waiting for you Bella. I'll always be here for you. I after all, can be immortal too if I want."
I closed the distance between us, hugging him as tight as I could. I don't know why, nothing would mend his broken heart now. I couldn't force the pieces back together by hugging him hard enough. Jake returned the hug fiercely. He knew this may be the last time he ever saw me human.
"I have to go. Sam's calling me back. He's totally pissed that I came, and Alice will be here." I smiled at him. That was the first time he had ever actually said her name. "I mean, the uh… parasite." I started laughing uncontrollably. I just couldn't help it. At first Jake just looked at me funny, but he couldn't help joining in. What can I say, laughing is contagious. When we finally calmed down, Jake's face became sad.
"I have to go now." He hugged me one more time, and whispered in my ear. "I love you Bella."
"I love you too Jake." Then he was gone. I'm glad he came, but I just wish he could have stayed longer. There was so much I wanted to say to him, so much I wanted to do with him. It's like our friendship was a flower that was cut too soon, and now it will never bloom. I didn't go inside, yet closed the door and sat on the walkway from the driveway to the front door. Alice will be here any second, and she probably knew Jake had been here.
It took her longer than I would have thought. I had been sitting on the walkway for at least fifteen minutes before she appeared in front of me. She grabbed my hand and helped me up, and led me inside the house. She sat me down in a kitchen chair, and sat across from me on the other side of the table.
"Bella, you have to forget about Jacob for now. Edward can tell when you're thinking about him. I know he makes it sound like it doesn't bother him, but believe me Bella it does. He beats himself up over it all the time, and always seems to find a way to blame it on himself. Get it out of your mind. I don't care what you do, but if you talk about him in your sleep one more time he is going to drive himself crazy, and then he is going to drive all of us crazy."
I just nodded. "Good. Now, the wedding rehearsal is tonight so I brought you your dress. I want you to go try it on." She handed me a bag, and pushed me towards the stairs. It took me a minute to get the dress zipped. It was purple, not a color I usually wore. It had thin straps, and a thin ribbon tied into a
bow around the waist. The hemline was right below my knees. Once again, Alice picked out the perfect dress.
I never actually wore purple. I thought the color wasn't that great, and it wasn't really that popular. I guess I just underestimated it. The purple brought out some of the red in my hair, and it looked amazing with my skin tone. I would definitely have to make sure to buy more purple the next time I went shopping.
Alice was waiting at the bottom of the stairs when I left the room. She squealed and hugged me. She stopped mid hug though and pulled away.
"I don't want to wrinkle you!" She explained. I just laughed. "It looks amazing on you Bella, and it seems I got you the perfect size. Okay, now go take it off and bring it back down. Come down when you're done, I want to go over seating charts with you one last time. "
I complied and turned to head back to my room. I stopped in front of the mirror and admired the dress one last time before I had to take it off. It was one of those dresses that not only does it look beautiful, but it really makes you feel beautiful. I knew Edward would absolutely love it. I wondered idly if he already knew what this dress looked like, or if Alice managed to keep it from him. I hoped it was the latter, because I really loved surprising him, especially since I was the only one who could.
I reluctantly slid the dress of, and put it on a hanger. After I put it bag in the bag I threw on a pair of new jeans and a red sweater.
I went down the stairs slowly; I really didn't want to have to go over those stupid seating charts again. This reminded me how thankful I was that Alice took care of everything. No way would I have been able to do all this myself. Well, besides the fact that if I had been in charge of this, we would be in Las Vegas right now.
My eyes were on the floor as I got to the bottom of the stairs, so I didn't realize when I ran into a vampire. It took me a moment to process that it wasn't Alice. The last person I had ever thought to be in my house, was standing in front of me. Well, she was actually holding me up since I almost fell flat on my face due to my usual klutziness.
"Are you okay Bella?" Rosalie asked me. I nodded, blushing violently. She stood me upright and dropped her hands to her side in an instant. "I wanted to know if we could talk."
"Sure."
"Well, that's not really what I meant." She was struggling for words. "Will you go for a ride with me?"
"Uh- okay." She turned around and walked out the door, heading toward her M3. Here's the part where I am mentally jumping up and down clapping my hands. I can't believe I actually remembered that! Anyways, I followed her out and after putting my dress in Alice's Porsche, slid into
the passenger seat. Rosalie was already sitting in the driver's seat waiting. She pulled out of the driveway swiftly and took off down the road.
She wasn't speeding as bad as Edward normally did. It didn't really bother anymore; I had grown accustomed to their reckless driving. Not a word passed between us for almost half an hour. I had no idea where she was taking me, though I will admit I was a little bit nervous about that fact. It looked like she was headed toward Seattle. I was the first to break the silence.
"Where are we going?"
"I'm not really sure."
"Oh."
"Emmett suggested I did something. Try to get to know you, maybe even try to be friends. He really wants us to get along, so I figured I'd give it a try. I didn't really know what to do though."
"What would you be doing if I wasn't here?"
"I'd probably go shopping. Occasionally I like to go to the movies."
"So let's do that."
"Okay. Which one first?"
"Shopping?"
"Sounds good." She turned on the radio after a minute of silence. The song was upbeat, and it had a pop/rock sound to it. Oddly, I liked it.
We didn't talk much for the rest of the ride except for a few stray comments here and there. She found a parking space right near the entrance of the mall. We walked in, and she headed straight for a store with some French name that looked like gibberish to me. She led me to our section and started looking.
She found a black and white striped dress with buttons all down the front and a green sweater that I think was cashmere. There really wasn't anything that would look good on me so I didn't bother trying anything on.
Rosalie came out of the dressing room to show me the dress. She looked absolutely stunning. It fit her figure perfectly, but then again she could put on a potato sack and still make the cover of Sports Illustrated.
"What do you think? Should I get it?"
"You look amazing in it Rosalie. You have to get that dress!"
She smiled and went back in the dressing room. She came out seconds after, wearing her own clothes.
"Why didn't you pick out anything?" I shrugged. "Come here." She grabbed my wrist and pulled back to where we were looking. She started pulling out a ton of clothes and handing them to me. They just kept coming and coming. I tried not to laugh at some of the things she chose for me. No way would I look even okay in half of these things.
When Rosalie finally stopped, she pushed me back to the dressing rooms and told me to make sure she showed her everything. I tried on everything from a formal zebra print dress to a plain old t-shirt with a peace sign on it. Most of it looked ridiculous on me. I even made Rosalie laugh a few times. I did find yet another sweater.
It was almost like the one she chose. It was one hundred percent cashmere. The only difference was that mine was a deep royal purple.
"You need that sweater Bella. Just leave everything else in there, and we'll go to check out."
I pulled it off and threw my shirt back on. I felt guilty leaving all those clothes for someone else to pick up, but Rosalie didn't give me a chance to do anything with them. There was a short line in front of the register. It moved quickly though. Rosalie stepped forward and put her things on the counter, then turned around and snagged the sweater from me.
"Let me pay for it."
"Nonsense, your family now Bella. Anyways, it's not my money I'm using, it's Edwards!" She smiled widely and handed the cashier Edwards' credit card with a flourish. After that we went to several other stores. Rosalie got a lot more clothes. I found yet another pair of jeans, and a couple t-shirts. When we got back to the car, it was two in the afternoon.
"Oh wow, it's already two."
"Are you serious? We have to get back there now. We have to be at our house in an hour. We might be able to just make it on time."
On the way back she drove faster. She kept about an average of ninety. We ended up stopping once to get gas. By the time we finally pulled into their long driveway we were about forty-five minutes late. We ran inside, leaving our bags in the car. Alice was sitting on the stairs, seething.
"Do you guys know how late you are? Bella get in the shower now! Come to my room when you're done. Rose, come with me." They both disappeared so I walked quickly up to the bathroom and jumped in the shower. I used the shampoo Alice had bought. I loved it, because it made my hair really soft. It smelled like grapefruit. Not the strawberry scent I liked, but it still smelled nice.
I tried to be fast, but I had to shave so I took awhile. I got out of the shower and wrapped myself one of the big fluffy blue towels, and stepped out of the bathroom. Alice's door was open and I could
hear her and Rosalie talking about how to do my hair. When I reached the door they stopped. Rosalie shut the door behind me and Alice handed me my clothes. They turned around while I put on my purple dress.
Then they began the long process of doing my hair and make-up. When they finished, we only had half an hour until dinner began and the people started to come. After that we would have the rehearsal. They both rushed off to get themselves ready. I wasn't quite sure what to do now. I walked out of the room, and went to Edwards's door. IT was closed so I knocked softly.
I leaned against the wall opposite the door. There wasn't much on the wall besides Carlisle's cross and a few pictures of my soon to be family. I only had to wait for a minute before the door opened. Edward was wearing black slacks, an emerald green shirt with a black coat over it. There was a tie hung over his shoulder. He smiled at me, his eyes going down, looking at my new dress.
"You look so beautiful Bella!" He reached for me and pulled me close. I felt his cold marble lips press against my forehead. He pulled me into his room, leaving the door open. I lay down on his couch and he continued getting ready. It only took him a few more minutes. When he finished, he came over to the couch. Edward picked me up, and holding me close, walked at human speed down the stairs.
"Edward! Put me down!" He put me down, and to my embarrassment, Charlie was standing in the doorway. He had come early to see if we needed help with anything. My face flushed yet again. It seemed that lately I spent more time blushing then not.
Alice and Rosalie came downstairs next. Then all of us set out the tables and chairs and set the places. With everyone helping it got done quickly. We were putting the finishing touches to the room when the doorbell rang. I answered while everyone finished. It was Angela and Ben with their parents. Behind them I could see Jessica and her mom coming up the drive.
"Hey guys!" I hugged Angela and showed them inside, pointing them towards where everyone else was, in the dining room. I stood with the door open, waiting for Jessica.
"Oh my god Bella, I can't believe you getting married tomorrow!" She squealed as she hugged me. "Congratulations."
"Thank you so much for coming. Where's your dad?"
"Oh, he had to work, but he'll be there tomorrow."
"That's great." I pointed them to the dining room as well. I closed the door and walked into the dining room, but the second I got there the doorbell rang again. I sighed and went back, this time accompanied by Alice. People kept streaming in, until there was no room left in the dining room. As soon as everyone was seated, Esme and Carlisle brought out platters piled with food. They had obviously got when they went to Port Angeles.
Dinner was a loud and ecstatic affair, everyone chattering and celebrating. Time seemed to just disappear, as everyone ate through all the food. When everyone was stuffed, Carlisle and Esme brought all the dishes into the kitchen. Everyone was sitting back in their chairs, too full to move. We were all trying to drag the time out until we had to actually get out of the chairs and do the rehearsal.
Edward said it would be really quick, and was hardly necessary. Everyone reluctantly got up and moved into the living room. The wedding would really be outside, and the living room was in its usual state. We moved all the furniture to the sides, and went through the entire wedding. Alice wasn't satisfied the first time through and made us do everything again.
When Alice finally deemed the rehearsal over, we all practically dropped to the floor. The house cleared out relatively quickly. Charlie headed home in his cruiser. Alice wanted me to stay a little longer, and then she was going to give me a ride home.
I didn't really help at all, but passed out on the couch while everyone else was all working. It's not like I didn't have to sleep. Not all of us are that lucky. I woke up to Alice spazzing out yet again. She was yelling about how something with the cake was wrong.
"We're going to have to go get it ourselves tonight or we won't have it tomorrow! Edward, Rose, and Esme, you're coming with me. I have some other places we need to go. Carlisle, the hospital is going to call you in a little while and you'll have to go in for a few hours. I don't know why so don't bother asking. Emmett, I need you to give Bella a ride home. We'll take the Volvo, you take my Porsche."
She threw Emmett the keys, and ran out the door. Edward kissed me quickly and ran out the door. Carlisle was already up in his study. I was still lying on the couch, on the edge of consciousness. I am actually surprised I remembered all this. Emmett picked me up, and I vaguely remember him putting me in the car. That was the last thing I could remember before I fell completely to the land of dreams.