Disclaimer: Both the characters and the story line do not belong to me.
Previously: "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.
I let out a sigh, and shifted my weight.
"Technically," Alice said, making sure her voice was still as musical and light as ever. "Just by one little year though."
I could see in Bella's face now that her thoughts were elsewhere, where I wished they would never stray. She was thinking about the future, the future that she begged me to allow: turning her into a creature like me, a monster. Even though I couldn't read her mind, I knew that much—though I did possess the gift to read anybody else's thoughts, Bella's mind seemed to have it's own shield.
But I was dead set against any future that involved Bella changing in any way, shape or form. I knew she didn't agree with my decision at all; but she didn't know what existing like me, like Carlisle, or Alice, would involve. It had taken hundreds of years for Carlisle to be as controlled as he was, and to be able to live the way he was living.
Alice interrupted my thoughts.
"What time will you be at the house?"
She had 'seen' that this would avert Bella's mind away from that subject, and shift her worries completely, although I was quite sure I wanted to avoid this subject as much as the last. Bella would most definitely not go along without a fight.
"I didn't know I had any plans to be there."
"Oh, be fair, Bella!" she grumbled, though her complaint didn't alter the soft tone of her voice. "You aren't going to ruin all our fun like that, are you?"
I knew Bella's intentions were to do that exactly—ruin the fun—but not directly. She despised having all the attention focused on her. I knew this from her first few days at Forks High School; the humiliated expression she had worn was almost comical.
"I thought my birthday was about what I want," she complained.
I didn't have to read her mind to know she was going to act like this either, difficult. I knew her well enough now—after six joyous months—that she could be very stubborn at times, when she was set against doing something in particular.
I decided that it was time to intervene.
"I'll get her from Charlie's right after school," I told Alice. I felt Bella's eyes on me, she was obviously searching through her head to figure a way out of this. She seemed to find one.
"I have to work."
"You don't actually," Alice told her smugly. "I already spoke to Mrs. Newton about it. She's trading your shifts. She said to tell you 'Happy Birthday.'"
Judging from the bewildered expression on Bella's face, this had clearly caught her out. I watched her intently, speculating as to what she would come up with next. If only I could read her mind—her being the one exception to my gift—then I'm sure, in her head now, thoughts would be running around like wildfire. She would be trying desperately to bring one to the forefront that would work suitably.
"I—I still can't come over," she stammered. "I, well, I haven't watched Romeo and Juliet yet for English." Her eyes darted around frantically as she stuttered over her answer.
Alice's mind searched through memories, until she settled on a few in particular that all had one major feature in common. She was remembering the amount of times she'd arrived at Bella's house, and Bella would be sat cross-legged on the old leather sofa in Charlie's living room, engrossed in the film, reciting the lines along with the actors. I tried to compress the smirk that was fighting to surface on my face.
Alice snorted. "You have Romeo and Juliet memorized."
"But Mr. Berty said we needed to see it performed to fully appreciate it—that's how Shakespeare intended it to be presented."
I rolled my eyes and wondered how long it would be before she gave up. I skimmed through Alice's thoughts, searching, and found that she hadn't seen anything that involved that happening in the near future.
Alice had premonitions, or visions of what would happen in the future. Although her visions were subjective, the future changes depending on the decisions that people make.
"You've already seen the movie," Alice accused, her eyebrows pulling together in agitation.
"But not the nineteen-sixties version. Mr. Berty said it was the best."
Finally, Alice decided that she'd had enough and lost the smug smile she'd been wearing before; she glared at Bella.
"This can be easy, or this can be hard, Bella, but one way or the other—"
I quickly interrupted her threat. "Relax, Alice. If Bella wants to watch a movie, then she can. It's her birthday."
The smirk on Bella's face indicated that she thought I'd given up, and that Alice wouldn't be far behind.
"So there," Bella pronounced, a child-like manner to her voice.
"I'll bring her over around seven," I continued. "That will give you more time to set up."
Alice's laughter chimed again. I knew she'd predicted this happening, so hadn't given up on her fight. "Sounds good. See you tonight, Bella! It'll be fun, you'll see." She grinned—the wide smile exposed two lines of glistening white teeth—then pecked Bella on the cheek and headed off toward her first class, before Bella even had a chance to respond.
"Edward, please—" she started to beg, but I lifted one finger and pressed it to her lips.
"Let's discuss it later. We're going to be late for class."
Nobody paid much attention to us as we walked to our usual seats at the back of the class; I let my arm drape casually around her shoulders until we were seated, and Bella finally relaxed. I'd managed to persuade the administrators to change my timetable, so I was in all the same classes as Bella.
I glanced around the room and picked up on Mike Newton's thoughts. He'd seemed to accept now that he would only ever be friends with Bella, and he flashed her a smile. I noticed how he'd shaped his hair to faintly resemble mine, and grinned. Bella glanced at me to see what was so funny.
The day progressed, and while we were walking between classes, and even sat in class, I knew that whenever Bella wasn't contributing to the conversation, she'd be considering ways to get out of going over to our house tonight. I could also tell, judging by the way that she'd grimaced at the gift Alice had intended to give to her before, that she wouldn't be happy about any additional presents that would be coming her way later this evening. It wasn't the gift so much, but the money spent on them, on her.
I knew that she wasn't poor, nor wealthy. Her mother, Renée, had raised her on a kindergarten teacher's salary; and now living with Charlie, the police chief here in Forks, he wasn't raking in the money. She worked three days a week at the Newton's outdoor supplies store, and every penny she made went toward her college fund; though I realised that she never really intended to get as far as college, what with her ideas that I would turn her immortal.
We, the Cullens, had a lot of money. We didn't set out to be mind-bogglingly rich, but with a life that never ends, and a sister that can predict trends in the stock market, we'd managed to pick up quite a lot of money in the past 100 years or so between us. Enough so that we had a huge white mansion in the depths of the forest, and a garage that could house up to 7 or 8 cars at any one time. I knew all this money made Bella uncomfortable to an extent, she objected whenever I offered to pay her college tuition—which she would be attending—or buy her a car that cost even a dime more than her old truck, or even take her to an expensive restaurant in Seattle. I, for one, disagreed with this, if you've got money, why not spend it?
As the day went on, I thought it best not to mention tonight's coming events, and so did Alice.
When the bell went for lunch, we walked down to the cafeteria and settled at our usual table.
Bella, Alice and I sat at one end. I didn't disagree with this or think it unusual, I knew that people were intrigued, but somewhat frightened by us Cullens; but now that Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett had graduated—the somehow more intimidating members of the family—I had presumed that people would warm to Alice and I, but apparently not. Mike, Jessica, Angela, Ben and a few others sat at the opposite end of the table.
Whenever the day was particularly bright, though, Alice and I would be forced to skip school and Bella would be left to sit with them. I never particularly wished to leave Bella's side, especially not with Mike, Eric and Tyler lurking, but it was either that or expose my family's secret. And besides, if Bella was so determined to become immortal, she must intend to spend the rest of eternity with me, instead of leading a normal human life with one of them, right?
Once we were through with the afternoon's lessons, I walked Bella to her truck as usual. I held the passenger door open for her, expecting her to jump in.
If she wasn't so resistant to my gift I would know that she wasn't going to go along without some questioning. She folded her arms across her chest and didn't make any attempt to get out of the rain.
"It's my birthday, don't I get to drive?"
"I'm pretending it's not your birthday, just as you wished," I said with a teasing smile stretched across my face.
"If it's not my birthday, then I don't have to go to your house tonight . . ."
I could tell she wasn't going to give in. "All right." I shut the passenger door and walked past her to open the driver's side. "Happy birthday."
She shushed me, and climbed in the open door.
I played with the radio, while she drove, and shook my head in disapproval when the only sound that emitted was a long crackly groaning. "Your radio has horrible reception."
She frowned at me, I knew she didn't like it when I picked on her truck, she thought it had 'personality'. I thought it was a death trap, anybody that was willing to drive it clearly had a death wish.
"You want a nice stereo? Drive your own car."
I was slightly taken aback by the sharp tone that her words came out with, she always seemed quite mellow when we were together. I soon realised she didn't mean the words the way she had said them; she must have been nervous about what Alice had in store for her. I pressed my lips tightly together to stop from smiling.
We parked up in front of Charlie's house, and I reached over and took her face in my hands.
I was extra careful to handle her softly, she was so very breakable; the teeniest bit of pressure and I could crush her. I pressed my fingertips softly against her temples, her cheekbones, and along her jawline. "You should be in a good mood, today of all days," I whispered.
"And if I don't want to be in a good mood?" she asked; her breathing was uneven, and I could hear her heart beat accelerating.
"Too bad." I leaned closer and pressed my lips against hers. This was intended to make her forget about tonight; I knew she would, though I still wasn't used to how one kiss from me could make her pass out.
We carried on this way, until she wrapped her arms around my neck and pushed back on my lips a little too eagerly.
My lips curved upwards into a smile as I reached back to unlock her arms from around my neck.
I always found it hard to resist when we kissed, but I knew if we did carry on, I would only end up killing her.
She could never understand how hard it was for me. How, if I let my control slip the slightest bit, my venom-coated teeth could get too close to her soft delicate skin, and she would be ruined.
She understood, though, to a certain point, and managed to maintain a fair bit of control on her side; knowing that it would be difficult for me, and that the blistering fire in my throat would persist to get hotter and stronger.
"Be good, please," I whispered, my cheek against hers, and I pressed my lips gently to hers one more time before I pulled away.
I could hear her pulse thudding, and she must have done too, for she said: "Do you think I'll ever get better at this? That my heart might someday stop trying to jump out of my chest whenever you touch me?"
"I really hope not," I smiled back at her and couldn't help feeling a bit smug.
As much as I didn't understand it, I couldn't help but like hearing her heartbeat drumming hyperactively whenever we kissed.
She rolled her eyes at me, and poised her hand above the door handle, ready to climb out. "Let's go watch the Capulets and Montagues hack each other up, all right?"
"Your wish, my command."
I sprawled across the couch while she started the movie, fast-forwarding through the opening credits. When she was done, she perched on the edge of the sofa in front of me; I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her against my chest.
Suddenly, I realised she would freeze to death—since I was as cold as an ice sculpture—so I pulled the old afghan off the back of the couch and draped it over her.
Bella watched the first few minutes in silence; I was easily distracted though, paying particular attention to Romeo. I didn't like his character much, or understand his motives really.
"You know, I've never had much patience with Romeo," I commented.
"What's wrong with Romeo?" she asked. I figured my comment had offended her a little, she loved the story so much.
"Well, first of all, he's in love with this Rosaline—don't you think it makes him seem a little fickle? And then, a few minutes after their wedding, he kills Juliet's cousin. That's not very brilliant. Mistake after mistake. Could he have destroyed his own happiness any more thoroughly?"
I could answer that myself; though I didn't concentrate too much on my own happiness, Bella was already fulfilling that more than it deserved. I knew that if Romeo truly loved Juliet, then he wouldn't destroy Juliet's happiness by killing her cousin. Unless it was for her own good, I could never bring myself to do anything that would hurt Bella.
She sighed. "Do you want me to watch this alone?"
"No, I'll mostly be watching you, anyway." My fingers traced patterns across the skin on her arm, and goosebumps appeared where I touched. "Will you cry?"
"Probably," she admitted, "if I'm paying attention."
"I won't distract you then." My lips moved across her hair.
I was astounded by outright human emotion. I couldn't cry, none of us could; not Esme, or Rosalie, or Alice.
As the movie went on, I began to whisper Romeo's lines in her ear, and I was entertained when she cried; when Juliet woke and found her new husband dead.
"I'll admit, I do sort of envy him here," I said, using a lock of her hair to dry her tears.
"She's very pretty."
I let out a disgusted sound, she had assumed wrong at what I was getting at. "I don't envy him the girl—just the ease of the suicide. You humans have it so easy! All you have to do is throw down one tiny vial of plant extracts . . ."
Bella gasped. "What?"
"It's something I had to think about once, and I knew from Carlisle's experience that it wouldn't be simple. I'm not even sure how many ways Carlisle tried to kill himself in the beginning . . . after he realized what he'd become . . ." I snapped out of serious mode. "And he's clearly still in excellent health."
Bella twisted in my arms and turned to watch my face. "What are you talking about? What do you mean, this something you had to think about once?"
"Last spring, when you were . . . nearly killed . . ." I paused to take a deep, unnecessary breath, and struggled to return the teasing tone to my voice. I wanted to make it seem easy for me to explain this, though really, it was tearing me up inside to re-tell what was going through my mind when all this had happened. "Of course I was trying to focus on finding you alive, but part of my mind was making contingency plans. Like I said, it's not as easy for me as it is for humans."
I thought back to the events of last spring. I was racing to save Bella in Phoenix, while she was trapped in the dark ballet studio, where James was going to kill her. But I had made it in time, along with my family, who had dealt with James while Carlisle saw to Bella—while I saw to Bella.
She had been bitten by James, and it was up to me to rid her of the venom. To sink my teeth into her skin and suck the venom out—to resist the temptation of sucking out her blood. I'd almost killed her, I couldn't stop. Once I'd tasted her succulent blood, I was in heaven. It was the one thing that had been on my mind constantly since the first time I'd set eyes on her. It was impossible to count the amount of times I'd imagined what it would be like to kill her, to drain her lifeless body of the blood I longed for. I knew I had to stop, to save the life of the girl I loved, but I couldn't.
Eventually, I found the will and gave up. I had to let her live, if she didn't live then how could I? I couldn't, I would go to Italy, to the Volturi, and die.
