Chapter Two
As I walked down the aisle, I felt as though I wasn't there at all – like I was floating above myself. Charlie was escorting me, and there were tears in his eyes, though I couldn't tell if they were tears of happiness or anger. Upon reflection, I decided anger.
And there, at the end of the aisle, stood Edward, beautiful as ever. The dark purple bruises under his eyes were especially pronounced, and his skin was paler than my now torn white dress. The sun was shining faintly beneath a thin layer of clouds, causing his skin to emanate a faint glow. As I saw him standing there, so breathtakingly magnificent in the pale sunlight, I realized how truly hideous I was. I hated myself in that moment.
It made me even more determined. I was going to get what I wanted! I gripped the bouquet so tightly that my knuckles turned white-er and then …
I tripped over.
My face turned puce with embarrassment and anger. Charlie was cringing so badly, he looked like he wanted to run away. I stood up and heard a sickening rip as the other puff sleeve ripped off. As I struggled to my feet I looked into Edward's eyes, they were as lovely as ever, but unreadable. Throughout the ceremony I stared straight ahead before …
"You may now kiss the bride."
I turned to look at Edward and whispered in his ear.
"Bite me."
Edward nodded solemnly, and slowly lowered his head to my neck. He slowly opened his mouth, baring his teeth, which I noticed were pointier than I remembered.
"Wait, no!" I whispered. "Not here, not now, not literally! I mean 'bite me' in the sexual sense, you know?"
Edward furrowed his brow. "Oh," he said, and kissed me.
The small crowd cheered as Edward pulled away.
"I now pronounce you man and wife!" the celebrant declared. Edward smiled at me softly, but there was something else in his eyes … I couldn't quite decipher it.
Then I realized it was hate.
"You hate me," I whispered to him, tears in my eyes.
Edward gasped in shock. "How could you even think that?" he asked in horror, as we walked back down the aisle, hand in hand. "Didn't I just marry you?"
"Well, yes," I said hesitantly. "But I saw hate in your eyes!"
He looked at me, confused. "How could you possibly think that hate has anything to do with this? I love you, my Bella. You are beautiful, you are wonderful, you are amazing, you are the light of my life, your beauty is indefinable, wonderful, I love you so very much, words cannot -"
"Let me be frank with you Edward. I'm fat," I said, trying valiantly to keep the self-hatred out of my voice. "How could you possibly love me?" I whimpered, finally breaking down.
"I'm a fool for love," he mused.
"But I'm so, plain and -"
"I only have eyes for you," he said sincerely as we climbed into the wedding car.
'I may be dead, I'm still pretty, which is more than I can say for you," Jasper said scathingly from the driver's seat. Alice slapped him.
"He's joking," she told me soothingly.
I couldn't help it, I burst into tears. I looked to Edward for comfort, but he had suddenly frozen, looking pensive.
"Ed -"
He cut me off with a sharp gesture, still watching Jasper intently. Then I realized who he was looking at …
Well, it was Alice of course. But I now understood the frozen expression on Edward's face – he had read her mind, and seen what she had seen in the future.
I continued to read Edward's expression as he listened to Alice's thoughts, and I saw a slow smile crawl onto his face. Whatever Alice had seen obviously pleased him. And for me this was bad news because ever since graduation, one part of me had been becoming restless with his living conditions. Edward experienced a moment of perfect happiness every time that I submitted to his strict rules. This was the reason that I was never experiencing any moments of perfect happiness. Alice's vision could only mean that he would win the final fight.
"What fight?" Edward asked me absently.
"I didn't mention anything about a fight," I said, confused. "I was just thinking to myself … SWEET GOD!" I let out a loud gasp at exactly the same time Edward screamed in ecstasy.
"I just read your thoughts," smiled Edward.
I
began to hyperventilate. What if he left me because he thought that
my thoughts were even less attractive than I was? But I lost myself
in his eyes, he was just so, so sexy!
"Don't
be worried my love, I like
your
thoughts," he said with his most seductive smile.
He looked
at me with an amused smile now. "How can you think that in
public?"
I HATE YOU, BASTARD! I thought, as loudly as I could.
"Oh, we like talking dirty, do we?" said Edward in a low, amused voice that made me want to do something that some would regard as unsavoury.
Edward grinned. And then …
"Edward! That's so skank! I would never wear that!" I shrieked, pretending to read his thoughts. It worked, he looked completely shocked, as though I'd noticed he was thinking about himself wearing a fluffy pink bathrobe, letting Alice paint his toenails or something.
"What?" Edward gasped. "You read my thoughts?"
"That depends," I smirked. "What were you thinking about?"
"Er … not much … just something involving …" Edward averted his eyes.
"A bathrobe?" I suggested.
"What? No!" Edward said, bemused. Damn it. "I was thinking of you wearing something a little different to that …"
He winked at me and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. I looked down at my hideous and now ruined wedding dress. Different to this? Couldn't be that hard to imagine. It was too bad my ruse was blown, but it was worth it see the look of shock. What? No, he's still reading my thoughts, nothing was worth losing that part of my privacy.
I immediately began to think of a paintbrush working slowly back and forth on a wall. It worked, he looked puzzled and appeared to give up. I sighed, then contentedly resumed my previous train of thought. Ah, my X-rated romance … but someone else's thoughts interrupted mine. Someone else's thoughts … I was alarmed.
"What was that, Jasper?" I asked the silence. No one answered. Rrrrr, Alice. Edward looked up at me with an alarmed expression just as I looked at him with a disgusted one. He turned to Jasper, then Alice.
"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? TELL ME, DAMN IT!" Edward shrieked.
Jasper slammed on the brakes. "You know what I was thinking Edward," he said with a very meaningful look. "You always know what I'm thinking."
Now Edward looked sulky. "I DON'T know what you're thinking."
"I understand what's going on." I added helpfully. "You see, Edward, the tables have now turned. I can read everyone's thoughts … except yours. And you can read no one's thoughts … except mine."
"Not anymore!" said Edward frantically. "Even your thoughts are now gone! God, I've lost my abilities! All of this is your fault! YOU DID THIS! You took my thoughts from me!"
"You have done that yourself!"
"You're always trying so hard to read my thoughts to invade my privacy that you lost contact with everybody's thoughts," I raged. "And you still can't read mine." I finished triumphantly.
"I know what you're thinking," I giggled, "and I'm sorry but I don't know why I have all the thoughts now. Also, if you want to braid my hair, all you have to do is ask."
"I do know why you can read thoughts," Edward snarled. "You want so desperately to have some cool power so that I will like you enough to not ditch you and go join Emmett and Rosalie and have a threesome!"
"That's below the belt!"
"It'll be all around the belt!"
"You wear your belt too high!"
"I'm going to belt you!"
"Okay." I grinned.
If I had known then what his statement would lead to, I never would have agreed to it.
