Chapter 6: First Impressions

The next day, I decided that it is time for Bella to finally understand what I was talking about the day before. On the way to our house, I suddenly had the courage to give her a clue of what is about to come by saying,

"Keira." I said out of the blue. "Keira's her name."

"Keira who?" Bella answered back.

"She's the one I'm referring to that I will show you."

"I see. Who is she? What is she?" Bella said. "Is she like your cousin or another Cullen I know nothing about?" She said jokingly.

I sighed. "Bella, before you meet her, I guess it's time for you to know everything that there is between me and her --"

"Oh-kay… Between you and her?" She looked confused. "Tell me about it."

"I know that this may sound a little --"

"Edward! Just go straight to the point. We're near your house now." Keira demanded.

And so, I told her everything that there is to know about my past relationship with Keira.

And then silence.

"Bella, are you okay?" I asked. "Was it too much for you to take?"

"I'm sorry…" Bella said as she shook her head. "No, no! It's okay. I just needed a little time to absorb all you just said to me."

"Oh." I replied. "Well, it's now time. We're here already."

--

As we walked inside the house, Bella clung to my arms as tightly as possible. It was as if she wants to show everybody that I belong to her and her to me. From the other side of the room, we heard laughter and then Alice showed herself and said,

"Right on time! We've been waiting for the two of you."

"You're playing 'Guesstures' again?" I asked as I saw in her mind that her team is winning.

"Yeah. It's boys versus girls. So, hurry up!" Alice said as she ushered us to where the rest of my family are hanging-out.

As we reached the living room, my family is clearly divided according to their genders, sitting on both sides of the couch. On the right side, Carlisle, Emmett, and Jasper are waiting for me, as Jasper tapped the remaining space of the couch on his side for me to take a seat. Then on the left side, the girls: Esme, Rosalie, Alice… and Keira.

"Bella, we're thrilled that you can join us today." Esme said.

"Well… it's always a pleasure." Bella said but I can see that she is staring intently at Keira, who is talking to Alice.

"Come along dear. Have a seat." Esme gestured on the space between her and Alice.

"It's gonna be okay." I whispered to Bella's ear and she nodded.

As we both went to our respective teams, I cannot quite concentrate on the game. Carlisle was trying to do this charade I cannot quite guess, while, I tried as hard as I can to listen to the thoughts of Esme, Rosalie, and Alice.

From what I can hear from their thoughts, it seems like Bella and Keira are having a conversation.

"Hi. Bella, right?" Keira said. "I'm Keira."

"Yeah. Nice to finally meet you." Bella said as she shook Keira's hand.

"You know, I really like you." Keira said. "So you don't have to be mean." Shoot! I forgot to tell Bella that Keira is also a mind-reader.

"I'm sorry? How can you say that I'm --" Bella paused. "Oh my! You can read my mind?"

Keira nodded "Uh-huh." She said with a sheepish smile.

"I'm so, so sorry… It's just that this is really awkward and I'm not really good at meeting exes of my boyfriend. Not that I'm used to this. You see, Edward's my first boyfriend and I haven't even heard about you until today." Bella tried to explain.

"It's okay. I completely understand." Keira said with a wink as she gestured in her hand the 'okay' sign.

The game continued. And it was not long before I noticed that Bella and Keira are getting along well than I expected. It is hard to believe that I even thought everything would be so awkward. However, I cannot see exactly what is going on in both their minds so I just hope that their new-found friendship, if you can call it that way, is for real.

After the game ended and the girls won, we all went our separate ways in pairs: Carlisle and Esme, Rosalie and Emmett, Jasper and Alice, Bella and me…

"Wow. So this is how it feels, huh?" Keira said. "Being alone and all that."

"It's okay. Being single can be quite fun!" Bella said.

"Well, technically, I'm not really single…" Keira said as she looked at me.

Bella then turned to look at me.

"What? Don't look at me!" I said defensively. "You know what? I think it's time for me to bring Bella home."

Bella agreed. "Yeah. I think that would be a great idea, Edward."

"Okay. You two take care." Keira replied back. "Edward, drive safely."

I made a face at Keira, and then I turned to look at the rest of my family. "I'll see you guys later."

--

That night, during one of my regular visits to Bella in her bedroom, she said,

"So, she's a mind-reader too, huh?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you that --"

"Edward! I was so embarrassed! I had no idea that she can read my mind and I had a lot of terrible things inside my head…" Bella said anxiously.

I tried to calm her. "Bella, it's okay. Keira is a good person, rather vampire. She's one of us." I said. "At least that's what I used to know. It's been years and… Anyway, what exactly were you thinking when you were talking to her?"

"Well, you know… my first impression of her." Bella softened up as we both lay in her bed and I put my arms around her waist. "I must say when you told me in the car her physical description, I quite felt confident about myself…

"Edward! I didn't expect her to be that beautiful! She's like Ziyi Zhang meets Charlize Theron with the body and gracefulness of a supermodel!"

I laughed at what she just said. "Well I'm sorry if I didn't give her justice with my decription... but that's funny! Ziyi Zhang and Charlize Theron?" I said. "C'mon Bella, even if you combine all the beautiful actresses and models in the world, you'd still be the most beautiful to me."

She punched me on the chest. "Aw!" She moaned. "I have to remember not to ever attempt slapping or punching you again!" We both laughed.

And then I cupped her face with both my hands as I kissed her like I never kissed her before.