As promised, this chapter has skipped through several months. Edward and Bella are madly in love with each other, but Edward thinks Bella considers him nothing more than a friend, and Bella's too shy to tell him that she loves him. Alice, on the other hand, is driving Edward crazy, telling him to confess his feelings to Bella, reassuring him again and again that she loves him too, but he thinks, for once, that her visions are flawed.
In the meantime, Alice, Bella and Rosalie have become the best of friends, though Bella wishes Alice would stop shopping so much. Rosalie absolutely adores Bella, like Esme and Carlisle. Emmett teases the hell out of her and Jasper looks after her like a little sister. Awww…
Alright, now, let's start!
I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT; ALL KNOWN CHARACTERS WERE CREATED AND STILL OWNED BY STEPHENIE MEYER.
Chapter 4: Forever Evermore
BPOV
I woke up bright and early. Well, I didn't wake up. My cellphone, buzzing like a hive of bees, woke me up. I groaned. I was one hundred percent sure it was Alice. She'd promised to take me out for ANOTHER shopping trip today. It was the fourth spree this week. If she doesn't start reigning herself in, I'd have to put my foot down.
Groaning, I dragged myself off the bed and grabbed the phone.
"BELLA!" Alice squeaked right into my ear. I flinched and held the phone a few inches away from my face. Her shrill voice could still be heard quite clearly.
"Hey, Alice," I muttered sleepily
"Are you ready?" she asked. I could hear Jasper laughing at her enthusiasm in the background. Once again, thoughts of Edward saturated my mind. Suddenly, I was very jealous of Jasper and Alice's love. Then, before I could understand what I was feeling, images of Edward and me having a similar relationship swan in my head.
I blushed a bright crimson.
"Do we really need to do this, Alice?" I complained. "This is the fourth time this week. I really don't have enough space in my closet."
"Aw, Bella, come on!" Alice insisted. "It'll be fun!"
I groaned. "Everything you say you think will be fun. Be sensible, please, Alice. Can you excuse me just this once? Just this time? Its Sunday, I wanted to sleep in."
"Oh, all right, Bells," she gave up with a long sigh. "I'll take Rose today. But next Monday—"
"I know, I know," I groaned, exasperated. "ANOTHER shopping spree."
Alice giggled and said, "Okay. See ya!" The line cut off before I could see goodbye as well. I sighed and shook my head. How did such a tiny body hold so much energy? She was loads smaller than me, with her miniature face and big brain. How did she attain so much stamina?
But my plans of sleeping in were already ruined. I might as well get breakfast. Charlie was already out fishing with Billy Black from La Push. Ugh, the human food in here smelled worse than anything. I thought for a few minutes, arguing whether to go for a quick hunt. I wasn't really in the mood for cooking.
Making up my mind, I grabbed my raincoat from the hall and pulled on my jogging shoes. I'd prefer to be barefoot, but the grass here tickled a lot. The forests started right from Charlie's backyard, so I darted across and, after briefly checking that no one was around, I launched myself, vampire speed, into the trees.
I sped along a faint path, then, a few miles into the trees, I caught hint of a grizzly. Emmett loved these bears. Maybe he could do with a little competition. I preferred bears myself to deer and elk. I caught sight of the brute a ways off. It was huge.
Acting on pure instinct, I almost ran for it, before remembering that I wasn't strong enough to handle bears. Memories of that infernal day swam through my body.
Jane, smiling widely with pleasure, activating her terrible ability…my body, feeling as if fire and acid were being poured on it…the screaming that didn't make a sound…the endless day…
I shook my head, grunting. I concentrated on the warmed air around the huge grizzly, and lifted it straight up for a few feet. It roared in surprise, clawing wildly at the empty air. I twisted its neck, making sure the tendons and bones snapped too quickly for it to feel pain. I waited for a few minutes, making sure the heart was completely silent before launching myself at the carcass. My teeth closed into its fragile neck. The blood poured down my throat, taming my wild thirst.
I was too occupied with my catch to notice my surrounding, so the sudden voice startled me.
"Bella? What are you doing here?"
I spun around, crouched, ready to attack whatever it was that had just spoken, before recognizing, several seconds too late, that it was Edward. My heart skipped a beat as I saw his deathly pale and painfully beautiful face.
Blood flooded my cheeks and I straightened quickly. "Oh, hi, Edward. Sorry, you scared me."
He smiled crookedly. My heart lurched, racing wildly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he apologized. "I'm surprised to see you here. Did you realize you're out of Washington?"
I blinked. "Oh. I didn't really notice. I was really thirst, and human food…ugh." I shuddered.
He laughed softly. The sound echoed off the surroundings gently, making it sound so heartbreakingly beautiful.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked. I noticed right then that his eyes were a little dark. He needed to hunt.
"Sure, but not this one," I prodded the carcass of the bear with my foot. "It's mine."
"Wow," he muttered, seeming to notice the bear just then. His eyes widened. "Now, that's an Emmett-type of catch. How did you kill it?"
I lifted the bear up for the second time and showed him. The head was facing backwards by now. He watched with wide eyes.
"I've never seen you hunt before," he murmured softly.
I blushed, and looked away. "Mind if I resume?"
"Sure, you go ahead," he smiled fondly at me. "I was just looking for a mountain lion."
I searched the area quickly, tasting the air for a warm lion-shaped patch. "There's a pretty big one four miles due east from here," I told him. "You better get there before it runs off. Its hunting something else. A…an elk, I think."
"Whoa," he said. "Thanks, Bella. I'll be right back." He sounded so sincere…and gorgeous.
As he darted away, I gazed after his retreating form. If only I could tell him just how much I loved him. How much it meant to me just to look at him. But I was too shy. And confused. And deathly worried.
What if he didn't like me in that sense? What if he loved someone else? What if he refused to accept me? A deep ache settled in my chest, making it hard to breathe. Just imagining him refusing me sent shivers of pain through my body.
But I knew I couldn't hold off my feelings for much longer. I knew Jasper (that empath!) was already suspicious of my feelings for Edward. It wasn't long before he figured it out, and since Edward was also a mind reader like me, he'd know the moment Jasper found out. Would it please him? Would it anger him? What he even like me?
Oh God. I really needed to talk to someone about this. Someone who could keep a secret from Edward.
I dropped to my knees beside the bear and resumed my meal, thinking about whom I could confide in safely without the fear of Edward finding out. The answer popped into my head without warning. Alice!
I left the carcass, thoughts about quenching my thirst already forgotten, and fumbled in my pocket for my cellphone. Quick, before Edward got back.
Alice picked up at the first ring, probably already having had a vision of me calling.
"Hey, Bella," she said wryly.
I rolled my eyes. "Alice, can we go shopping this afternoon? Please don't have another vision, but we really really need to talk."
EPOV
I barely noticed where I was going, Bella's breathtaking smile fixed in my eyes. Even when I closed them, I could still see her smiling…she was just too beautiful. She looked a goddess, straight down from heaven to save me from my lonely existence.
And I didn't love her like madness because of her looks. She was kind, polite, well-behaved and so sweet and compassionate, it was beyond belief. She was so selfless, it was incredible. She underestimated herself, and overestimated everyone, even normal petty humans. She was beautiful inside and out. She was too good to be true, but she was real and here in this town. We were friends and I was madly in love with her.
I wasn't surprised to find the lion exactly where Bella had told me it would be. It was one in a billion chance that she was ever wrong. I sprang right on its back, and my teeth pierced through its neck-vein before it could do anything more than roar in surprise. When I was done, I disposed of the bloodless carcass, and darted back to where my beloved Bella was standing. She was tucking her phone back into her pocket by the time I reached her.
"You didn't finish the bear," I noted.
She looked very distracted. "Oh, yeah. You can drain it if you like. It's too big for me to complete."
I laughed. Yes, the bear really was too big for her. Maybe I could call Emmett over. He loved grizzlies.
"Were you calling someone?" I asked, eyeing the bulge in her pocket where her phone was.
"Yeah," she said too quickly. "Alice. We're going shopping this afternoon."
"Again?" I laughed. "I thought you canceled this morning."
"Yeah, but she sounded so disappointed, I felt guilty," she admitted sheepishly. I grinned; she felt so much for everyone. Did she feel anything more than the affection a friend feels for a friend for me?
Strangely, she was avoiding meeting my eyes. I frowned a little, trying to figure out what she was thinking.
"So..um, Edward, I've got some washing and cleaning to do at home," she said, smiling up at me. "Bye."
The last word broke my heart. She couldn't leave now. I just saw her. "Can I come over and help? I've got nothing else to do."
"You're done hunting?" she asked.
I nodded.
"Oh, alright then." We ran back to her house in comfortable silence. I could tell she was thinking very hard about something. Usually, when she was around me, she'd open up her mind. Realizing that she must be wanting some privacy today, I didn't pester her. Afterall, everyone deserved their own "me" times.
We chattered happily over schoolwork and other trivial things while we worked. She scrubbed out the dishes and the bathroom, while I started on the laundry and sorting out the fridge.
"Dad's a really messy guy," she complaining, grumbling. She looked adorable when she grumbled.
"I can see that," I laughed lightly, eyeing the chaos in the fridge. "I suppose we better attack this before hitting some other part of the house. This might take a while."
She sighed, and nodded in agreement. As it turned out, Charlie Swan was not the tidiest man on Earth. His meats and steaks were scattered everywhere, milk was dripping all over everything, and a horrid, acrid smell was coming off the fish.
"So that's where it was coming from," Bella realized, smiling. "I smelt it in the middle of the night yesterday. I thought it might be a dead rat or something."
I laughed loudly. I couldn't stop smiling or laughing when I was around her. The peace and happiness radiating off her was something no one could resist. No wonder Esme was always thinking about Bella; she was almost as obsessed about her as I was.
Even Rosalie (stiff-hearted, never-liking-anyone Rosalie) loved Bella. She was irresistible. All the boys at school drooled over her. Not that I blamed them for having a crush on the surreally beautiful girl I was in love with, still, some of their fantasies really got on my nerves.
I couldn't take it anymore. I had to tell her how I felt about her.
I took a deep breath and turned slowly to face her. "Bella? I really need to talk to you."
She took one glance at my eyes, and her breathing quickened, her pulse racing. I wondered briefly if she understood what I was about to say. Just as I thought that, I realized my feelings were too intense, too deep to put into words. And the only way to express those feelings was to show her how I felt.
Now, this was very convenient: we were both mind-readers. Normally, she kept that ability locked up. So I needed her to open her mind and read mine. I prodded her shield lightly, mentally telling her to open up. She looked bewildered by obliged.
Slowly, patiently, very gently, I went through everything that happened. I relived the moments where I'd first seen her; the confused feelings I didn't recognize; the effect her voice had on me the first time; the second I realized I was in love with her; the joy of simply looking at her eyes…everything. I didn't keep a single thing from her, wanting to show her how deep, how powerful each emotion was.
The feeling of her knowing everything was strong. So strong I was surprised my breath wasn't knocked out of me. The overwhelming relief, the deep satisfaction, it was all so pleasurable, so powerful, it was staggering.
At the same time I opened my heart out to her, she did the same. I was stunned to realize that she loved me as intensely, as overwhelmingly as I did. Her passion, her love, her desires were every bit as powerful and strong as mine. She viewed me as a divine angel sent to chase her loneliness away, just as she was my goddess sent to give me a reason to live. She looked at me with so much love in her eyes; I felt I might be lost in the depth of her bottomless eyes.
I reached out to her and folded her gently in my arms. Joy like never before saturated every inch of my being, the pleasure of this simple gesture, this warm embrace ran so deep I was astounded. Very lightly, very carefully, I pressed my lips to her.
I felt as if I were on fire. I had never imagined an emotion as good, as intense as this. I had never realized happiness could feel so incredible. She responded with enthusiasm as overwhelming as mine, and the world melted away from our eyes. Nothing existed other than Bella, me and our love.
In that single instant, we became one. One single being, with each of us just being halves of the whole. We welded into one so powerfully, we both knew nothing in the Universe was strong enough to pry us apart. We melted into each other, knowing we could never survive if we were apart.
"Forever," I whispered in her lips.
"Evermore," she murmured, happiness coating every syllabus.
From far away, two starlings burst into song. Forever ever more…
A/N: So, what do you think? Was it good enough? I did the best I could, as this is my first fanfic. Please review and let me know what you think. Thanks!
XOXO
Secrets of the Dark.
