BPOV - Post Eclipse
It was a sunny morning in Forks, Washington. I groaned and shoved a pillow over my face. My sleep had been selfishly driven away by the bright rays shining through my bedroom window. Not only that, but Edward had disappeared much earlier, not wanting to be caught in the sunlight. Apparently it was going to be a very sunny day.
I contemplated a day without Edward. A day without his beautiful crooked smile. A day without his cool touch. A day without his sweet scent. A day without his presence. I whimpered, it was all too much.
I put down the school appropriate shirt I had been about to put on and picked up a strappy singlet and shorts. I hadn't needed these throughout my entire presence at Forks, I thought. The normally overcast and rainy climate required more substantial clothing than what I had been used to in Phoenix, Arizona.
I was about to call Edward and let him know of my plans but Alice beat me to it. I picked up my cell phone before it had a chance to wake Charlie, still asleep after working a night shift at the station.
'Morning, Bella!' Alice chirped, all too eager for - ugh, 7am.
'Morning, Alice. I was about to ring, you know,' I replied, somewhat grouchy.
'Oh, I know! But I thought since you're not going to school, we could go on a shopping trip! It's not even sunny in Port Angeles and a there's this new boutique that has just opened!'
'Alice, I wanted to spend the day with Edward and you know he doesn't want to come along,' I said, feeling guilty for dashing her hopes of an all day shopping spree.
Alice let my guilt eat away at me for a minute. 'Fine,' she said with a huff, 'shall I tell Edward you're coming over?'
'Yes please, Alice. Tell him not to come over here, I'll have to drive my truck so Charlie doesn't know I'm ditching. I promise we'll go shopping another time,' I added benevolently, knowing that I wasn't quite yet forgiven. She hung up with a snappy 'see you soon' and I made my way downstairs.
I wanted to leave straight away but Charlie would know something was up if I left for school at this hour, that is if he could hear me over his own snoring.
I waited anxiously for as long as I could, before jumping out of my seat at the table and practically running to my old truck. I tried to back out as quietly as I could, but quietly isn't really a word my truck fully understands.
I arrived soon after at the Cullen house, proud of myself for not missing the turn off. Admittedly, I'd had to drive slowly so I wouldn't miss it but I got there all the same.
Alice skipped out to meet me as I slid out of my truck. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, it was a dramatic mood change from earlier.
'Oh, Bella! I'm sorry about before. We're going to have much more fun at home than we would if we were shopping today!' she sung happily, before gathering me up in a hug. Looking out over Alice's shoulder I watched Edward speed down from the house to where Alice had received me.
He was beautiful. His shirt was open and flailing out behind him as he ran towards us. I caught my breathe as the sun hit his torso and his pale skin was turned into a magnificent chest of diamonds, glittering as the light struck him from different angles. I remembered to breathe moments before he pulled me into his own tight embrace, our lips meeting for seconds before I managed to even think about getting carried away.
He looked deep in to my eyes, right to my very soul. He looked at me and I knew I was home. Before we could remain any longer in our romantic orb, Alice coughed.
'I guess if you two want to stay here like two lovesick teenagers, that's okay. But we're going to be having a lot more fun out by the lake,' Alice said flippantly.
I opened my mouth to remind her that we were, in fact, two lovesick teenagers, but Edward beat me to it.
'Alice,' he warned, a low growl emitting from his throat. He then reached around my waist and scooped me up in a long and passionate kiss. He allowed me to get carried away this time. I tangled my hands in his brown locks, drawing myself up closer to his tender lips. All too soon, I felt him lower me down and pull away slightly. I was too dazzled for words.
'So what did you want to do today, Bella?' he asked in a sexy, low voice.
I reached up and locked my arms around his neck and reached in for a kiss. He kissed me back, but I could tell his passion from before was restricted.
'This is what I want to do today,' I said, my mouth close to his ears.
'As much as I would love that too, Bella, it seems the decision has already been made,' he replied softly.
He unlocked my hands and held them in his own. I sighed.
'Why don't you tell me what I want to do today?' I asked, somewhat sourly.
'It appears we're going for a picnic over by the lake. It will be fun, I promise,' he replied. Then, before I had time to respond he pulled our hands behind my back and leaned in to kiss along the length of my throat. All logical responses and arguments I had for ditching the group and spending the day alone with Edward flew out from my head.
I groaned and buried my face in his tousled hair, 'Okay, just because you asked nicely.'
He smirked knowingly and tossed me over his shoulder. We ran into the kitchen where Esmé was preparing a lone salad roll with a rather largish chocolate cake and snacks already packed in a wicker basket.
'That's not all for me is it?!' I asked, astonished. Esmé looked up, shocked and a little hurt.
'It's not too much is it Bella?' she worried. I felt instantly horrible and wrecked with guilt.
'No, no, no. It's perfect, Esmé,' I smiled and leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek. If she could've blushed, I think she would've right then. Edward looked suitably surprised and took his hand.
'Now where's that monstrous pixie?' I asked teasingly, knowing full well that she could hear me. 'We better get this over and done with.' Edward laughed. I didn't need vampire ears to tell me that Alice would be now sprinting to us, brimming with glee at the thought of a family picnic.
'You called,' she said doing a mock curtsey. 'This is going to be so much fun!' she said happily, grabbing my arm and jumping up and down. 'I'm so glad you decided to come!'
'As if you didn't know we would,' I laughed.
'True, but I was hoping you would come willingly and that I wouldn't have to force you,' she said with a mischievous grin.
I pretended to be horrified, 'Alice Cullen! You wouldn't dare!' I said, taking a swipe at her. Luckily, she stepped neatly out of the way, otherwise I would've ended up with a very sore hand.
We laughed and Alice called the others down to the kitchen. I was surprised to see that everyone had decided to come - even Rosalie appeared in a floaty blue sundress for the occasion.
'Got your swimming gear, Bella?' Emmett asked with a cunning glint in his eyes. I balked.
'Swimming?!' I asked with a truly horrified glance at Edward.
'Awh, come on Bella! There's not even anything to fall over,' Emmett said with a snigger. I just glared at him.
'Well, no one told me we were swimming and I probably wouldn't have brought my stuff anyway,' I said with a sneer.
'Oh, don't worry Bella. I went out and got you some gear months ago,' Alice said and with a completely innocent expression handed me a beach bag with a fresh towel and the looks of a skimpy bikini.
'Alice,' I hissed, but knew it was a lost cause. She was already running around gathering things in a growing pile on the dining table.
I turned to Edward, 'Save me,' I whispered.
'I don't know if I want to,' he whispered back with a smile on his face. He reached in to the beach bag and lifted a measly scrap of fabric held together with lots of straps. I glared at him.
'Alright, everyone let's go!' Alice cheered excitedly. We couldn't help but smile.
--
Down by the lake was picturesque. I scolded Edward for not bringing me here earlier. Emmett and Jasper started a game of Super Frisbee, which involved throwing the Frisbee across the whole lake, which was not small. Alice went around setting up a small changing tent and spreading a large picnic rug across the grass.
I wanted to help but Edward persisted on helping me help Alice, until I turned and asked him what he was doing. He frowned and looked hurt.
'It's not that I don't want you with me,' I said, 'it's just that I want you to have fun too.' He didn't seem to understand so I pushed him towards the lake. 'Go on, play with Emmett and Jasper, I'll be here when you're done.' Finally, he smiled and kissed me on my forehead.
Rosalie had noticed our exchange from her laidback position on the rug and she beckoned me over. I stood awkwardly in front of her.
She laughed, 'Come on, Bella - lie down.' She patted the space next to her and I lay next to her. It looked like she was doing some online shopping on her laptop.
'What do you think of this bag?' she asked. 'It's a Louis Vuitton XL Surya city bag. I can't decide whether to get it in purple, black or brown.'
'It's gorgeous, Rose. I think the black would go well because it could go with any outfit but the purple is stunning,' I said. I surprised myself with my advice, I sounded like Alice or Rosalie handing out fashion advice.
'Good choice. I think I'll get both,' she said with a smile. I couldn't help but gape, the bag was worth 3,360 dollars! She started browsing through the Belts, Scarves and Accessories section.
'Is there anything you want?' Rose asked me. If I had been surprised before I was flabbergasted now! Rosalie offering to buy me something? She had been a lot nicer after she had told me her story but this. I think she noticed my surprised pause because she went out in a hushed voice, obviously trying to keep out of earshot.
'Look, I'm really sorry I've been less than nice before. I'm really trying, I promise,' she said with a small smile. 'I don't want to tell myself that the only reason I don't like you is because you're human. I want to be your friend. I really do, Bella.' She was almost pleading, 'I was hoping you'd want to spend some time with me today and maybe we could go shopping some time?'
'Thanks, Rose. I'd really love that,' I said with a grin. I was relieved and joyful that we had decided to put aside our differences.
Rose turned back to her laptop, 'So, what do you want?' Uh-oh, she had the same maniacal glint that looked very familiar. I had definitely seen that before…on Alice!
--
In the end, Rose and I ended up purchasing some Inclusion bracelets, Sweet Monogram rings and hoop earrings and another XL Surya city bag in brown for me. I didn't really know when I would end up wearing any of the stuff but I hadn't had as much fun shopping - ever. I didn't dare admit that with Alice buzzing around us.
I had just admired a Breloques bracelet in gold when Alice called for me. I strolled cautiously over to the small tent she was standing next to, holding my beach bag.
'Alice,' I warned.
'Bella,' she replied in an equally warning tone.
'Alice, I - ' I began to protest.
'Bella, who is the vampire with incredible strength and speed here?'
I didn't say anything.
'That's what I thought,' she said happily. 'Now, take this bathing suit that I took the time out to buy, especially for you, Bella, and put it on - without complaints.'
I opened my mouth. 'Ah! I said without complaints,' she said, pushing me in to the tent. I grumbled under my breath at her and took out the bathing suit. I didn't even know which way was up on this thing.
Finally, I figured out how the stupid thing went. It was ridiculous! Alice had provided me with an skimpy halter bra bikini top and an ultra skimpy pair of hipster tie side bottoms. Admittedly, the colors were nice; the navy, light blue and white looked good together.
'Bella, are you done in there?' Alice called from outside the tent. 'I want to see!'
'I'm going to kill you Alice,' I mumbled but I knew she could hear. I wrapped the towel around myself and stepped out into the warmth of the day.
'Oh, Bella, you don't need this!' Alice said, yanking the towel from around me. I glared at her and placed my hands on my hips. 'Ooh yeah, I did good!'
She pulled me to over where Rose had just closed off her laptop, 'Rose! Doesn't she look good?'
'Wow, Bella that really does look good on you,' Rose complimented before picking up her own beach bag and running for the tent. Moments later she emerged in a gorgeous strapless bikini with hipster bottoms. The colors were a range of yellows, purples and pinks. It looked like the sun was setting on her chest.
'Hehe, my turn!' Alice cried happily. She took even less time than Rose and materialized in a black bikini, with a bubble bra top and hipster bottoms. Her pale skin appeared translucent, but she was beautiful.
Just then the Frisbee clunked in to the side of Jasper's head. Emmett cracked up until he realized what he was staring out. Within a second Emmett had appeared by Rosalie's side and had her scooped her up under his arm and was threatening to chuck her in the water. She screamed with laughter while he laughed with mirth.
Jasper and Edward made their way over to Alice and I at a much slower pace. They walked together, snickering as Emmett finally chucked Rose in the water, stripped off his shirt and then jumped in after her. Alice skipped over to Jasper who enveloped her in a hug. Edward ran at vampire speed the last bit towards me. He fingered the ties on the side of my hipster bottoms.
'I must thank Alice later,' he murmured in my ear. I blushed.
Alice and Jasper had joined Rose and Emmett in the water. 'Do you want to come for a swim?' Edward asked.
I looked at the water, it looked cold. I looked at Alice and Emmett who were having a splashing competition, it looked fun. I looked at Edward who definitely looked excited, 'Race you in!' I cried. I ran towards the water while Edward chased me at human speed. At the last moment, Edward picked me up and tossed me in before jumping in with a large splash.
I rose from the surface spluttering. Edward swam over to me and held me around the waist. I kissed him on the lips before dunking him in the water. I expected him to come bursting up out of the water but after a minute, I started splashing around trying to find him.
'Edward?' I called. 'Edward? Edward! Edward!' I panicked, he couldn't stay under water this long! I looked around at everyone else but they were staring at me with abnormally blank faces. I sighed, 'Edward? This isn't funny.'
'Oh really? I thought it was,' a sweet musical voice called to me from behind. Everyone erupted in giggles but I scowled. Edward was laying on the grass next to the lake, smiling crookedly - I couldn't resist. I smiled and laughed along with everyone else.
--
When we had splashed and swam our full, we toweled off and laid down on the rug and let the sun evaporate the remaining droplets from our skin. In the afternoon sun, the chills of vampire skin didn't even seem that cold.
I got out the salad roll Esmé had prepared much earlier. I felt completely rude being the only one eating, 'Anyone want some?' I asked hesitantly.
I blushed when everyone laughed and wrinkled their noses up at me. 'What?! I just feel rude…' I said trailing off. When I had finished, we lay on the rug staring up at the blue sky. I could barely open my eyes it was so bright. Not the sun, but the vampires. The brilliance of five vampire skins in the sunlight was enough to make my eyes water. I wished I had brought some sunglasses.
It was silent until Emmett's deep voice rang out, 'Not long now, hey Bella?' I was immediately suspicious - Emmett did not, as a matter of rule, make polite conversation.
'Not long until what Emmett?' I asked. Edward growled as he heard Emmett's thoughts and he gripped my hand tighter.
'Until the wedding of course! Gee, Edward what was your naughty mind thinking,' Emmett chided while laughing at Edward.
I rolled my eyes, 'I think Alice has the countdown set better in her own mind than I do actually.' I instantly felt bad, what kind of fiancée doesn't know the exact date of her own wedding? I looked at Edward, concerned I'd hurt his feelings. However, he had his eyes closed and had an absent-minded smile playing around his lips. I silently promised that I would try and involve myself more in the wedding preparations, if Alice would let me.
'How long has it been since your last wedding, Emmett?' I asked playfully. To my surprise, he looked guilty, obviously racking his brain for the date. Rose, on his right side, lifted her head expectantly.
'Ah, um, that would be, October 3rd 2000, wouldn't it Rose?' He definitely wasn't sure.
'Hm, not bad. Only it was 2001!' Rose said with a playful punch in Emmett's arm that would have probably would have knocked me unconscious.
I relaxed into the blanket and slipped my hand in Edward's, 'What was it like?' I asked.
Rose sighed happily, 'It was a night ceremony. Lucky it had been too, not just for the obvious reasons, it was a sweltering day. It wasn't lavish, but it definitely wasn't small. We were living in Canada at the time and we had found a clearing off the main road. Alice and Esmé set up all the decorations the day before, they were magnificent.'
Alice continued in her high pitched musical voice, 'We wanted to incorporate the woods in some way, so we placed the altar in the very centre of the clearing. We then placed four possible isles, one North, East, West and South. Rose got ready in the woods, in a tent that we had set up. When they began the bridal waltz, I walked down the North isle, Esmé walked down the East isle, Tanya walked down the West isle and Kate walked down the South isle.'
Emmett took over, 'I had no idea where Rose was, I didn't know where she was coming from. All of a sudden I heard someone whisper 'Emmett' from the North, and then it came from the South, and then from the East and then from the West. And then it came from everywhere!'
Everyone laughed as Emmett tried to hype up the story to horror movie proportions, it definitely worked for me. I was intrigued, 'Then what happened?'
'Then I saw my Rose emerged from over a fallen tree stump, in her beautiful white gown coming down the North isle. Then we said I do and then we smooched and that was that!' Emmett finished proudly.
Alice wacked him on the other arm, 'Emmett! It was much more than that!' She rolled her head in my direction, 'We had Rose's gown made to order by Maggie Sottero, it really was beautiful. It was strapless silver-white colored gown. It hugged her body down past her hips where it was gathered and then it flared in to a train. You've still got it, don't you Rose?'
'Yeah, I've kept all five of my wedding dresses,' she said with a reminiscent smile. Five?! I mentally balked, what horrors awaited me in eternity? I mean, five weddings!
Alice must have noticed my face, 'Oh, Bella,' she said, 'I really do hope you get over this aversion to weddings when you become one of us. We're going to have so much fun!' she added with a squeal. I wriggled closer to Edward and hid my face in his arm.
'We don't really have to have five weddings, do we?' I mumbled into his arm. The silence responded to me.
'Well, let's not make any promises we won't be able to keep, hey Bella?' he said in a tone that was too light-hearted for me to believe.
'Bella, don't have an aneurism! Jasper and I have only been married twice,' she said with a quick grin at Jasper.
'What was your wedding like Alice?' I asked, relieved to be off the issue of any future weddings that I may be subjected to.
'Well, our first one was very simple, in a church with a minister. There weren't any guests - we hadn't found the Cullens yet. I wore this lovely white skirt with a blazer jacket and a little white hat,' she paused as if remembered something. Edward laughed to himself.
'How much did the dress cost, Alice?' he asked, with the innocence of a child. Alice scowled and Jasper noticing first her sudden shift in emotions and then her facial expression. He propped himself up on an elbow and turned to her.
'Alice? Why do you feel so guilty all of a sudden?' he asked. Alice looked around like a deer caught in headlights. Knowing she couldn't bluff her way out of this on, she moaned and buried her face in her palms.
'I lied,' Alice mumbled into the rug. Jasper raised his eyes in Edward's direction but put a comforting arm around her shoulder, 'What is it, love?'
'Mhhhhfrmmpf,' she mumbled even softer. Too soft even for the sensitive vampire ears on the picnic rug.
'What was that, Alice?' Jasper asked again, but this time everyone was sitting up and looking at Alice with intrigue.
'Alright Jasper! I'm feeling guilty enough!' Alice grumbled. 'I know I told you that I was really lucky and found the dress in an op shop. But I didn't. I couldn't find anything in the shops with the amount of money I had and I was desperate to find something beautiful and then I found this bar and they had the horse races on and I sort of gambled the money…,' she said trailing off.
Jasper laughed, 'I can't say I'm not surprised, but why didn't you just tell me Alice?'
Alice moaned in relief and buried herself in Jasper's chest. 'I just didn't want you to think that you were marrying a gambler. I wanted you to think that I could make do with what we had and that I didn't need money to make me happy,' she said softly.
'Oh, Alice I wouldn't have thought that, even if I'd known how much the dress cost,' Jasper said reassuringly.
'I know,' Alice said quietly in to his chest.
A small chuckle escaped from Jasper and soon everyone was rolling around, laughing - even Alice.
'Aaah,' I sighed, 'this has been the best day. I'm so glad I didn't go to school. I wonder what I missed out on.'
--
Meanwhile, at Forks High School…
'And now, our final performer of the Forks High School Talent Show… Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike Newton!!'
Mike came out in girls crop top and dance pants - a la PussyCat Dolls - to the opening beats of Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) by the Offspring.
He totally broke it down singing, loudly and very off-key, 'Give it to me baby! Uh huh, uh huh! Give it to me baby! UH HUH, UH HUH!'
The school population shuddered.
--
A/N: Well I hope you liked the first edition of Conversations with Vampires - I enjoyed writing it! This one was a bit longer than I originally planned but it was fun getting carried away. I've got lots of ideas for future conversations but I would love to hear of anyone who wants to hear something discussed by the lovable loons of Forks. Below is a link that is what I envisaged Rosalie's fifth wedding dress to be. Hopefully it works :) Anyway, read and review - there'll be more up very soon!
http : // i163 . photobucket . com / albums / t294 / groovy_person11 / rosaliesweddingdress2000 . jpg