I refuse to make Charlie oblivious.
"It's a camera."
"Uh, Dad, I hadn't opened it yet."
"Well, now you might as well because you know. It's a camera."
"Thanks, though this looks intense. You shouldn't have spent so much."
"Your mother and I went in together. There's a scrapbook too, so you can, y'know, document your senior year and stuff. And she chose it, so don't blame me that it's pink."
"That's . . . wow. Thank you. So, um, you called Mom?"
"She called me."
"Huh."
"Yeah."
"I should get ready for school."
Charlie let her get as far as the stairs, and then he stopped procrastinating.
"Bells?"
"Yes?"
"Can you come back here for a sec? I need to talk to you."
"What's up?"
"So you're eighteen now."
"As of four-thirty-two this morning, yup."
"You're an adult."
"Yeah . . ?"
"It's just things are going to change. You've been able to make your own decisions for a while now, but now you're legally allowed to. And I know we're not always going to agree, but I want us to be able to talk."
Bella nodded, sure her safest course was just agreeing with her father, even is she didn't have a clue where in the Sam Hill he was going with this.
"I, uh, have some money put aside for your education, obviously, and I was wondering if you'd been preparing your applications?"
"Of course." She rolled her eyes. "Edward ruined one of my calendars months ago by marking it up and down with due dates."
"Good, that's good. So you think you and him'll be going to the same school?"
"Um, probably."
"And living together?"
"Well, I mean, we've talked about it." She was blushing, she knew, but her red cheeks were no competition for Charlie's violet hue, so it wasn't so bad.
"Calm down, Bells. I don't have a problem with that. I wasn't born in the fifties."
"Oh. Good."
"I was wondering if Ed and Elizabeth will be all right with it? From what I know they're pretty . . . devout."
"Yeah, um, Edward's working on them."
No, he wasn't. She knew her boyfriend wasn't.
Because instead he'd asked her to marry him.
"All right, well I'd just like to be kept up-to-date, you know? Where you guys are going, what your plans are, all that stuff."
"Of course."
"I don't want you rushing into anything. I know you're eighteen, but that doesn't exactly mean you're an adult, no matter what the legal system says."
Tell him. Tell him, Bella.
"Okay."
"And just so we're clear, I may be able to get over the idea of you two living together, but if I catch you doing anything in my house, I will plant drugs on him and then drag his ass down the station and—"
"Okay!"
"And you're eighteen, not twenty-one, so I do not want to see you with one drop of alcohol near your mouth."
"I think I've got it."
"Do you now? Recap for me then."
"No sex, no drugs, no rock'n'roll. Stick to wholesome fun for all ages."
Her father smiled. He couldn't very well say that he didn't want her fun to be too wholesome, but well . . . He just hoped she knew.
"Go get ready, you smartass. Your boyfriend will be here soon. And Bells?"
"Hmm?"
"Happy Birthday."
