"Well now that we have that all settled, lets go into the living room and we can give you two your graduation presents," said Renee.
The sparkle in her eye should have been enough to scare me, Renee had always loved to spoil me, she fell in love with Alice the minute she found out that she was a shopaholic.
"Mom, I really don't need anything," I whined as Alice pulled me into the living room.
"You sit here, and stop whining young lady," said Alice pushing me down onto the couch, while Edward sat next to me.
"Here you go," said Esme handing Edward and I what seemed to be identical small boxes, the only difference being the color of the intricate looking bow that sat on top.
"Okay, now I'm really scared."
"Oh just open it," said Emmett. I pulled the bow off and found a set of keys and a card.
"I got a new car?" I asked slightly shocked.
"Open the card," urged Carlisle.
Edward and I exchanged a look as we both pulled the card out of the box. It was a blank card, and a picture which was upside down, the card simply said -"Good luck at Harvard! We love you!" I flipped the picture over to see a picture of my parents along with Carlisle and Esme, standing in front of a town house and in front of them was a brand new Midnight Blue BMW, and brand new Sliver Volvo.
"Okay, I don't get it!" I said.
"They bought us a house," said Edward.
"They what," I asked suddenly feeling like I was about to pass out.
"It's a three bedroom townhouse, about ten miles from campus. It's about 50 years old and we had it completely renovated. It has two suites, one upstairs and one downstairs, with private bathrooms, and a private study area," said Esme.
"And we turned the 3rd bedroom into a library for the two of you to share," added Renee.
There was that wave of nausea again at the thought of sharing anything with Edward.
"Bella are you okay?" asked Carlisle. "You look a little flushed."
I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. They said private suites, with a study area. I should be fine; I'll never have to see him. "I'm fine Dr. Cullen," I said tempted to laugh at him, Carlisle, always thinking like a doctor. "But thank you, I'm just a little overwhelmed at the moment."
I took another deep breath before standing and making my way over to my parents to thank them, before making my way over to Edwards parents.
"It's beautiful, you're going to love it," said Esme.
"I have no doubts," I said hugging her again.
"We have a photo album would you like to see it?"
"I would love too," I said with a smile that I found to be more genuine than forced.
She disappeared into the kitchen for a moment before returning with the photo album. I took it from her and sat down on the couch, folding my legs underneath me as I began to look at the photo album.
I was about half way through the photo album before I realized it had become nearly silent in the living room. I looked up to find that only Edward was left, and he was sitting at his grand piano.
"So, what do you think? About us living together, I mean?" he asked.
I took a deep breath before saying, "Well I mean it won't be much different that living at home. We'll just see each other a little bit more, especially being we are going to be taking pretty much all the same classes. But I'm sure that we can manage without killing each other."
He laughed quietly as I handed him the photo album.
"Bella wait," he said as I stood to leave.
"Edward, not tonight," was all I said before walking from the room in search of Alice.
The night passed by more quickly that I would have thought. Before I realized it, it was almost ten thirty and time to cut our graduation cake. I was standing with Edward talking to his grandparents when Esme came to get us.
"Come on Bella," said Edward taking my hand as we walked over to the cake.
I felt my heart jump as he took my hand, the first time I had touched him in almost five years, but thankfully he released it as we stood with Esme in front of a full sheet cake. Vanilla cake, with butter cream icing and strawberry crème filling, a favorite of both Edward and I.
Everyone gathered around us as we cut the cake, and I felt like my heart might explode as we both held the knife to cut the cake, and Edward put his arm around me to pose for the pictures Esme was taking. We had pretty much cut the entire cake, and were getting ready to enjoy a piece for ourselves when Tanya walked up to the two of us.
Where the hell did she come from, I know he didn't have the NERVE to invite her to OUR graduation party, I thought as I turned to give Edward a death glare, but I was meet with a look of confusion and shock.
"Oh Bella, will you never learn?" asked Tanya crossing her arms over her chest.
"I'm sorry?" I asked.
"Yes, you are sorry, and just as pathetic as when we were 13."
"Damn it Tanya," said Edward dropping his plate back on the table, but I interrupted him, I had been waiting five years for a moment like this, and I wasn't about to pass it up.
"No Edward, its okay, I've got this," I said placing my cake back on the table to keep myself from launching it at her.
"Yes Tanya, I would have to agree, my life is pretty pathetic. I have my friends, I have my family, and all these people are here for our graduation party?"
"They are only…" she started but I cut her off.
"Yes I know they are only here because of Edward. Well how's this for pathetic Tanya. I graduated 2nd in our class and I was accepted to Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth and NYU. Today I got a brand new Midnight Blue BMW from my parents and in less than 3 months I will be moving to Boston, to attend an Ivey League university, and move into a townhome with the man of your dreams," I said wrapping my arm around Edwards. "What was your class rank again? Oh well I guess it really doesn't matter, they don't really pay attention after the top 10% of the class, and with as far down as you were, I'm surprised that they even remembered to print your diploma. But I tell you what, I will continue to live my pathetic life, and you can enjoy everything that the fine, fine community colleges of Washington State have to offer," I said finally feeling confident with out a trace of tears in my eyes.
Everyone was silent; Tanya was staring at me with her mouth hung open. I let go of Edwards arm and walked over to her, and pushed her mouth closed.
"Its okay to be jealous Tanya, I would be if I were you," I said before turning around and returning to my cake at Edwards side. She stood there glaring at me for close to a minute before turning on her heel and stalking out of the backyard.
It was silent for another 30 seconds or so before Emmett broke the silence by saying, "Holy crap Bella that was freaking awesome."
He came running over to me and picked me up into one of his bear hugs and spun me around.
"Emmett, put me down," I said laughing as he spun me. By the time he finally released me everyone had pretty much returned to their conversations. Alice came running over to me, nearly knocking me down with her hug.
"Oh. My. God, you were AMAZING. I am so proud of you," she said.
"Thank you Alice."
"Ohhhh I can't believe you just did that," she said hugging me again.
"Alice, I have something I need to do," I said motioning with my eyes towards Edward.
"Oh right, sorry."
I walked over to where Edward was standing, talking to our fathers and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and smiled, "Bella that was amazing, I am so happy that you were finally able to put her in her place."
I smiled before saying, "Thank you, I don't know what you were going to say to her, but thank you."
"Well I certainly wasn't going to make the same mistake twice."
"Edward, I said not tonight," I said as I felt the tears threatening to spill over.
"I know, that's all for now, I promise," he said hugging me and kissing my cheek.
"Congratulations Bella, we're going to be great."
I laughed wiping the tears off of my cheek. "We, what are you talking about, you're the smart one!"
"Silly Bella," he said wiping the remaining tears off my cheeks.
Edward and I never spoke of that day five years ago, like he still seemed so eager to do. We pack our things and prepared ourselves to move 3500 miles away from everyone we had know our entire lives. Our relationship had greatly improved since graduation, we actually spent time together, and both of us were in attendance every Friday night when our families went out to dinner, which in the past had not happened. And while we weren't the friends that we had once been, we were both content that we were going to be able to live together, and not kill each other, all while being 3500 miles from home.
