-1A/N Hey guys, hokay, so where did we leave off? Ah yes, Edward was just leaving. I keep forgetting to tell you guys about artists and lyrics and in the interest of citing my sources…halo by beyonce and the second set of lyrics was from engine driver by the Decembrists, cookies for anyone knew that. You know, fake, interwebz cookies. The quote is from The Farming of Bones By Edwidge Danticat.
Bpov
It was a moment before I remembered to shut my mouth. The studio door swung open and shut in the breeze, I was vaguely aware of the wind blowing my hair, and a dull ache in the tops of my arms. The CD was on its fifth track now. I spun around in an instant, my face in the mirror was white, my eyes looked crazed, my arms had protested Edward's vice grip with angry, vivid bruises, the outline of each of his fingers looked indelible. If I was honest with myself, they were, he had marked me, changed me forever. His eyes, when I looked into them, were open windows into this man's beautiful soul. A line from a book I had borrowed from a friend popped into my mind now "Misery won't touch you gentle, it always leave its thumbprints on you, whether it's for others to see, or nobody but you to know of." Edward's eyes held more misery than anyone's I'd ever seen, more than anyone's had a right to, but, underneath, there was…something else.- A last bit of hyperbole- I got the sense of a war ravaged landscape, beautiful terrain, marred by catastrophe. I had to know more. No matter how much dancing I did, I was never going to get to sleep tonight. I may as well do something productive, and the lab is always open….
Saturday
Of course I had taken Alice and Rosalie's forms. I would be picking them up for a bonding day, it's something we like to do at the beginning of the semester with all of our girls, a little bonfire at La Push, followed by an evening in Seattle. It's our tradition that the new girls get something like a big sister in a sorority, I jumped at the chance to take Rose and Alice on, I won't pretend that their high level of involvement in Edward's life didn't help them, but there was something about them too, something about all of the Cullens that made me want to know…more.
Their house was difficult to find, I borrowed one of Charlie's police SUV's to do the job, my truck was in the garage of Jacob Black, one of my closest friends. We had dated, once upon a time, and I was happy, but the relationship was like Charlie's favorite chair, comfortable, easy. It had seemed to blossom more out of proximity and opportunity rather than any true feelings of passionate love on my part. I loved Jacob, I could be myself around him…but…we both deserved more. It hurt him more deeply than he would show me still, it's my one regret, but I know I made the right decision. We had just started talking again, at his request, I wasn't going to force it, and we had fallen back into our friendship, as if this was the way it had always been. Up until very recently I didn't feel my life was missing anything. Ah! There was the road! If it could be called that, trees reached out to each other across a narrow…trail. The sunlight was just filtering through the leaves, and the forest was strangely silent, save for my tires on the unpaved path. The silence was pressing on me, but it was not uncomfortable, unnatural as it was. My breath hitched in my throat as the white house rose on the horizon, I felt like Gretel, or some other fairy tale child happening upon an unexpected place of magic. The door flew open, and a small blur came streaking towards my truck. "Bella!" Alice shrieked. Rosalie sauntered lazily out of the door, she was behind Alice in a shorter amount of time than I expected. Alice threw her arms around me. 'Were they all this cold?' I wondered to myself. "Bella, don't keep us in suspense any longer, when is the first rehearsal?" Alice was bouncing on her toes. I hadn't included anything in the email one way or the other, just said don't be busy Saturday. We personally spoke to each and every girl that tried out for auditions, they were invited to go out with us to Seattle if they didn't make it, and for the whole day if they did. Honestly though, with their beauty and grace, they had to know they'd had it. Sighing, I reached behind me for their gifts, just part of our new sisterhood. For both, I had gotten three roses, one red- for passion, one white-for purity, one yellow-for friendship. These things were at the center of the dance corps philosophy.
They looked touched. "These are beautiful, Bella" Rose said quietly, then she and Alice exchanged a look. "Come inside Bella, Carlisle is dying to see you, we need to get a few things for the day together anyways, and put these in water." Alice grabbed my hand and started pulling me as she said this, for such a little thing, she was certainly strong.
"Bella!" Carlisle exclaimed as soon as I'd set foot in the door. "May I take your, um, coat?" He asked, gesturing at my favorite zip up hoodie. Come to think of it, it was a little warm, I slid out of it gratefully, and Carlisle's eyebrows went up slightly, in reacton I was assuming to the state of the hoodie, it was well loved. Standing next to Carlisle was a beautiful woman. "This is my wife, Esme." He said, kissing her on the cheek. "Esme, this is the nursing student I was telling you about, Bella." I blushed as I was reminded forcefully of the first time we met, I was yelling at his son. She extended a creamy white hand out to me, "Bella" she said, smiling "I've heard such wonderful things about you." I blushed deeper. "Thank you, undeserved I'm sure." I muttered, adding on at the last second "you have a lovely home" She smiled wide. "Thank you, and it was most certainly deserved, it's not everyone that can put my son in his place." As though he appeared from thin air, Edward was behind her, frowning. "If she wasn't already talking, I would have said the same thing." He said moodily, not looking at me, but at my arms. I had forgotten about the bruises, and had since taken my sweatshirt off, the tank top did nothing to cover the fading, but still very present bruises on my arms. Now Carlisle's eye raise made sense. "Dance is very violent, especially for someone who falls down walking" I said, by way of explanation. Edward's lips tightened in response, and he stalked out of the room, almost running into two men. I was sure I'd seen the bigger one on campus before, Rose walked over to him and kissed him. " How was the hunt?" She asked, a grin playing at the corners of her mouth. He pulled some hot dogs out of a bag. "It was slim pickings, but we were victorious in the end, those marshmallows put up one hell of a fight." The big man joked, pulling some marshmallows and chocolate out of the bag too. Alice turned to me " I didn't know what to bring." Rose came down the stairs, I hadn't noticed her departure. She was carrying two big bags. "Ready?" She asked grinning.