It was her birthday, though, if asked, I highly doubted that she would admit to it.
She was caught up about the fact that she was older than me now. Me, frozen forever at seventeen, and her, Isabella Swan, eighteen years old today.
I understood her reasoning to a certain extent, but not her intentions. She was set on becoming a vampire, like me and the rest of my family; and she didn't want to be that much older than me when she would change.
Being a vampire means immortality, but stuck in the same body for eternity. When a human is transformed, they are frozen the way they are forever—but of course, with pale white skin, blood red eyes, extremely alert senses and an overpowering thirst for human blood.
I, Edward Cullen, had gold eyes, though—and so did the rest of my family: Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Alice. We chose to resist the killing of humans in exchange for their blood. Instead, we only hunted animals.
"Come on, Edward; if you want her to open her gifts in the parking lot you'd better hurry up!"
Alice shot down the stairs and out the door—her speed creating a small gust of wind; her scent infusing with the dust particles in the air—heading towards the garage where my silver Volvo was parked.
I stood up from the piano bench I was perched on and shrugged my thick, grey winter coat on.
"Alice and I are heading out now, Esme!" I called out, though nobody was near, apart from Jasper, who was lounging on the sleek, white couch, not paying much attention to the flashing images on the television screen in the corner.
Since he'd graduated last year, he'd spent most of his days doing nothing, now that Emmett and Rosalie were in Africa—or at college, according to the rest of Forks, and Alice and I had another year of high school to get through.
Though Emmett and Rosalie had made a return trip today, and would be home shortly, since it was Bella's birthday, and Alice and Esme had insisted on throwing her a party.
Rosalie resented this event a little; she was anything but nice to Bella due to complicated, unexplained reasons. Of course, Emmett had embraced the news when Esme had told them about the party; he loved to poke fun at Bella at every given opportunity.
A gush of wind flew in my direction, and Esme materialised next to me.
"Goodbye honey," she said glancing up at me, a soft smile lighting up her heart-shaped face. "Tell Bella I wish her a happy birthday."
She kissed me on the cheek and walked at a slow, human pace through to the kitchen, probably to attempt to bake a birthday cake for Bella—not a single one of us had gotten used to cooking human food yet.
"See you later Jazz," I called, twisting my head in Jasper's direction as I strolled towards the front door.
"Bye Edward, have fun at school," he replied, a smirk crossing his face.
"You'd think I wouldn't be able to stand the sight of it, wouldn't you, the number of decades I've been there?" I smirked back at him.
After a while, I couldn't stand the sight of it. But last March, Bella Swan had started at Forks High School—and my whole life had turned around.
I headed out the door, towards the car which Alice had brought out onto the driveway. She swiftly switched places into the passenger seat and I climbed into the front. I turned the ignition and we were away, shooting down the long driveway, under the shade of a canopy of tall trees.
We were at school in a matter of minutes; Alice climbed out of the car and I followed.
I was leaning against the Volvo when her old, burnt-orange truck rolled into the parking lot. I watched Bella's eyes as she found me, then Alice, and spotted the small, silver-wrapped gift box in her hands. She'd made me promise not to spend any money on her, but Alice was free to do so.
She killed the blustering engine, hopped out of her truck, and began the walk to where we stood. Alice skipped over to meet her and wished her a happy birthday, and Bella immediately started glancing round, no doubt to make sure nobody had heard. I grinned.
After a few more seconds—and as the burning thirst in my throat intensified—they reached the spot where I was stood. I held out my hand and she took it at once.
She lifted her head to look into my eyes, and I hers. Her cheeks flushed a delicious pink colour, and I heard her heartbeat stutter as I squeezed her fingers gently. I lifted my free hand to her face and traced a fingertip around her lips as I spoke.
"So, as discussed, I am not allowed to wish you a happy birthday, is that correct?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"Just checking." I pulled my hand up to my tousled, bronze hair and brushed my fingers through it absentmindedly. "You might have changed your mind. Most people seem to enjoy things like birthdays and gifts."
Alice laughed, her voice like tinkling wind chimes, as I grinned at Bella. "Of course you'll enjoy it. Everyone is supposed to be nice to you today and give you your way, Bella. What's the worst that could happen?"
I continued to grin as I stared into her soft, brown eyes.
As Alice finished her sentence though, I sensed the emotion in Bella's eyes changing, and they turned cold.
"Getting older," she answered, her voice sounded shakier than it's already fragile state.
My grin disappeared and automatically turned into a thin, hard line.
"Eighteen isn't very old," Alice promised, cocking her head to one side, trying to stay optimistic. "Don't women usually wait till they're twenty-nine to get upset over birthdays?
"It's older than Edward," she mumbled in response, glancing down towards the hard blacktop.