I awoke with a start, the weirdest dream. I was standing in our field. By our field I mean the one that Edward and I would often spend time laying in, picnics, sometimes kissing if he was strong enough.
But staring back at me was this old black woman. I smiled and she gave me back a tentative smile as well. As I stepped closer, so did she. I was getting a little weirded out, I go to say something, but so does she so I stop to let her speak but then she stops to let me speak.
And then I see out of the corner of my eye, Edwards pale statue coming my way. He looked hot as hell. His hair looked like he had just gone to the salon or something. A wonderful blue button up. My thoughts then clip back to the old woman and my eyes express horror as she probably doesn't know what's going.
I look back at Edward who seemed to be unphased, smiling at me with a love in his eyes I had never seen. I looked back at the woman just as she looked back at me from looking at Edward with worry on her face. She was probably freaking out that he was sparkling.
Edward wrapped an arm around my shoulder, so I wrapped mine around his waist. I looked back at the old woman, wondering if she was gone yet. Not like I knew her, but her face did feel familiar. When I looked back at her though, her arm is situated awkwardly in the air.
And then it clicked, she was me. That was me, old as hell.
When awake, I realize that I slept a little bit past my alarm. I get up and stretch, looking out my window. I'm pleased to see Edward standing outside leaning against his Volvo waiting for me. I give him a smile and get ready for the day.
So today was my birthday, but I didn't want anyone who knew to make a big deal out of it. Alice insisted on a party, but I told her that I wasn't one for celebrations. Even when I was younger, there never was a day that I made out to be as special as it was. My mom and dad tried throwing parties, but they saw how indifferent I was to it all and eventually would just start giving me money to spend whenever I wanted.
When I get down stairs, I see Charlie is at the counter getting his coffee. He turns around and gives me a big hug. "I know you won't be celebrating, but I just wanted to get ya something Bells", he squeezes me with the wrapped gift in hand.
"Well I guess I can say that I appreciate it either way", I pat him on the back and grab my bag as I head out of the door. "Love you!", I yell before I close the door. I hear him say it back as Edward is smirking at me standing beside his car.
He kisses my hand and guides me into the passenger seat. Once he is inside I look at his grin. "Okay, okay, go ahead and say it", he pulls out of my driveway and starts on the way to school.
The look on his face said that he wanted to say those words. "I don't get why this day brings you such disdain. But happy birthday, my love", he caresses my hand with his free hand.
"I don't hate it, I just think of it as just another day", I said nonchalantly. And it was just another day. But today, it was starting to get to me. My ass was getting older. And if I looked old, I'd look like an old ass vampire too. Not young like Edward or even his siblings.
Edward seemed to pick up on my discontent though, as he dropped the subject as we made our way to school.
When we get there, I make my way to my locker and then we both head to our first classes. Edward takes my hand and an annoyed, but casual smile comes onto his face as he stops us by the stairwell. "Uhh why are we stopping here?", I ask him confused.
And before he answers, Alice hops down from the stairs and Jasper is right behind her. She comes up and gives me a tight squeeze. "Please tell me you will wear the dress I picked out for your party tonight?", she says pleadingly. I slowly turn to look at Edward.
"Oh so you were gonna just set me up huh?", I said taking mental note of how sly he was. It was kind of cute.
"I promise he had nothing to do with it, it was all me. But happy birthday!", she says excitedly before skipping off with Jasper in tow.
"Happy birthday Bella", Jasper says, walking past me. I feel a wave of calm rush over me and frown.
Jasper had used his power on me. He could essentially change people's emotions. It was subtle, but I could physically feel myself relax. He must have known that I was gonna lay it on thick for Edward for not warning me about this party sooner.
"You are lucky that Jasper has your back ya know", I say, grabbing his hand as we walk to class.
"I'd say I'm lucky you aren't so mad at me and still very in love with me", he leans down to kiss my head and more of my irritation dissipates. Maybe a small get together with just his family wouldn't be too bad.
I make sure to tell Charlie where I'll be tonight so that he doesn't worry. Keeping a more open dialogue with him was important to me. I had up and left him, pretty much betraying his trust and hurting him at the same time. I didn't want to do that to him again, so I made it a habit to tell him where I was, with who and how long I'd be gone.
After school is finished, Alice and Jasper drive me to their place, Edward reassuring me that my truck was in safe hands with him. I didn't trust him with Ketchup, who I had finally named, because he always made fun of the odd sounds my truck made and insisted on getting me a new car instead of just fixing Ketchup up.
Which always caught me by surprise. Like my parents never had a lot of money, so I was always thankful for whatever they could afford. But the Cullens seemed to have an abundance. Hell, just their house alone told me that. But the idea of him just plucking me a new car was insane. Would this be my life? Living comfortable and lavish? No black girl I knew was living like this.
When we get to their house, Alice drags me to up to her room. It surprisingly had a bed. I knew that none of them needed to sleep, but I knew that there had to be moments of Jasper and Alice just relaxing. And they had to have been having sex all the damn time, so I avoided sitting or touching the bed. I wasn't here for wondering about how two vampires get down and dirty. Though it was sort of an interesting thought.
I'm pulled out of my thoughts by Alice taking me into her walk in, well hell I couldn't even call it a walk in closet. There was space for a bed, a king size bed in here. Everything was sorted by color.
"Okay so I went shopping like a month ago, I had a vision about this. So I picked you up something. I think it's the right size", she hands me a lovely dark blue dress.
"Alice, you shouldn't have", she waves me off as I say this and points to one of the various mirrors. "Enough of that, put on the dress, tell me what ya think and then the festivities shall begin", she claps her hands together in excitement before closing the closet doors for my privacy.
I slipped into the dress and felt how soft the fabric felt against my body. There wasn't a tag, but I could only imagine how expensive this dress must have been. An appropriate sized slit up my thigh and it was cut enough to see some of my cleavage but not too much.
I could only make finger guns at myself in the mirror, because well… I looked hot as hell. I had done my own makeup beforehand, as Rosalie would have been in charge of it, but I could have only guessed that her face would have been a scowl while doing it. Which bothered me, I got along with Emmett, but Rosalie wanted nothing to do with me. I tried talking to her about tons of things, but to no avail, she just got irritated and walked away.
I mean I knew it had nothing to do with my skin color. Black girl dating her brother wasn't the problem. Rosalie was generally a bit...rude to everyone. Well not to Carlisle and Esme, especially not Esme. She was far more warm, if I could call it that, to Esme. I'd have to ask Edward about that.
I open up the closet door and show Alice, who is already dressed in her party attire. She cheers and whistles in satisfaction, as if she didn't already know that it would be perfect. Because it was. The dress clung to all my assets well and I wasn't going to complain about a free dress.
Alice gives me a pair of heels and we make our way downstairs. I see balloons strung everywhere. And not just cheap Dollar Store balloons. They look elegant somehow. All of the house did, decorated with birthday things.
Edward is the first one that turns around to see me come to where everyone is waiting for me. He smiles a radiant smile, meeting me to take my hand. "You look gorgeous", he kisses my cheek.
"Happy birthday Bella", Esme tells me, greeting me with a hug. "Should we start with your gifts then?", Carlisle says with a warm smile.
"You guys really went all out for me, you didn't have to really", I say feeling tears sting my eyes, but blink them back.
"You are fam now Bells", Emmett comes up to me with a box and his grin is mischievous.
When I take the box, I find that it's light. "Uhh, Emmett I appreciate the humor", Edward looks between me and Emmett, chuckling.
"It's new tires and paint job", Emmett bows as if pleased with himself. "That's why I couldn't drive my truck here", I say with realization hitting me. Edward can do nothing but smile at me.
"Okay well this next gift is from Rosalie", Alice says as she skips over to Rosalie, handing her a box to give to me.
I turn to Rosalie and say thank you as she immediately hands it to me. "Alice is the real one who picked this out", I try my best to keep my composure. She didn't even try to act like she didn't like me.
"Oh okay, well you are-", I'm cut off as I try to tear open the wrapping paper, only to get a paper cut. "Ouch, stupid paper cut really, fuck", I say. Edward looks with pained and concerned looks from me and then looks up. His stance looks that of alarm and I follow his gaze to Jasper, who is shaking. Oh this wasn't going good.
Jasper's eyes were dark, body shaking with hunger. Was my blood really that great smelling to these vampires? Before I can do anything, I see Jasper begin to run in my direction.
Within a flash, Edward pushes me out of the way. I crumble into the table, feeling a sharp pain in my arm. When I look up, I see that Emmett has restrained Jasper and has taken him outside.
"Bella, are you okay?", Carlisle is immediately by my side. He orders everyone out as he sees the blood trickling down my arm. They weren't able to hand the amount of blood coming out of me right now.
I was pissed, confused, in a lot of fucking pain. My boyfriend could have done something other than push me into a table. Literally anything, like tell me to leave the room.
Carlisle takes me to his office to stitch up my arm. I sure as hell wasn't going to the hospital. Charlie would have a field day and probably try to arrest Edward and sue the Cullens. He would win and buy the most expensive flat screen the Cullen's money could buy.
"I'm sure that Jasper feels bad", he says as she begins to clean my arm.
"I think everyone does, hell I kind of feel bad for ruining your furniture", he smirks at this.
"It'll be replaced by tomorrow. But I sometimes have to keep in mind that not everyone has been on this… vegetarian diet so to speak, as long as I have", he adds.
"Well of course, you are a doctor too. You kind of have to keep your cool around blood all the time", I wince slightly as he starts to take pieces of glass out of my arm.
"That's true. But tonight has reminded me of when I first started this family", I lean in closer to cooling touch as my arm was beginning to throb, but I tried to concentrate on his talking. He was trying to distract me from feeling bad about tonight, and it made me appreciate Carlisle even more.
"I was changed in 1663, by an old vampire that I had heard underground, my downfall being my compassion and urge to help people. It was a painful transition, but I did my best. I tried everything to resist feeding from humans. Then I fed on an deer and found that it dulled my thirst", he wipes the remaining dried blood on my arm.
"I wanted to continue helping people, especially with my new found capabilities. So when Edward's mother wanted me to change him, I had to help her. I had to grant her dying wish. They both had the Spanish flu. So I changed him. And taught him the ways of feeding on animals, not letting what we are stop us from being good in nature", I smile at this.
Carlisle was a good man, beating heart or not, he had a good heart for all of his life and immortality. He certainly didn't let his vampirism get in the way of doing what he needed to do.
"And a bit after that, I saved Esme. And we fell in love. Rosalie after this. We really try to live by our morals", he starts to clean up the mess of cleaning my injury.
"I think you do an excellent job of that.", I tell him as I stand up from the table.
He nods in thanks as he leads me out of the office.
Edward takes my hand and leads me to his car. He drives me home, but the air around us feels odd.
"You okay or?" I drag the 'or' out, but to my surprise he doesn't respond. I scoff and cross my arms in irritation.
"I'm fine Edward, thanks for asking", I say and stay silent the rest of my ride home.
I have a hard time falling asleep that night. Mind racing as to why Edward was being so unresponsive. I even tried Facetiming him. The fucker just wasn't picking up. I'd just have to give him a piece of my mind tomorrow if that's how he felt.