~2000~

"Good night, Edward," she says with a shy smile. "Thanks for rescuing me."

Bella's prom date backed out at the last minute, and I found her crying on Alice's shoulder two days ago. Alice gave me that look, the one that said, 'You can fix this, you know,' and that's exactly what I'd done.

She positively glowed tonight, letting me twirl her around the dance floor as her classmates looked on in envy. They're jealous of her beauty, of the fact that she's escorted by a college junior, of the way she shines without even trying .

I tried like hell to get out of it, even offering Emmett money if he'd take her instead. But when she came bouncing up to me, all smiles and sparkling eyes, so excited about her dress and dinner and the silly boutonnière she'd ordered for me, I didn't have it in me to tell her I was too old to be going to high school dances.

She looks stunning, even after hours of dancing and a lot of stepping on my toes. As she stands in the dim light on her front porch, her hair beginning to tumble from the clips that pin it up in soft curls, I find myself at a crossroad. Bella is no longer the little girl who, with my sister, follows me around and gets on my last nerve. She's suddenly older, beautiful, curvy. I don't want to think of her that way. On so many levels it's just wrong. I'm twenty-one; she's seventeen. I'm an adult; she's still a kid. I'm falling in love with her, have been for years. She has no idea.


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