I dreamt of jumping off the cliff.

I dreamt of the feeling of the crisp, freezing water as it engulfed me and dragged me towards darkness.

Towards calmness.

Towards peace.

Then I was back at the cliff and jumping again.

And again.

Until the calm was interrupted.

Pain.

I woke up with an excruciating amount of pain in my head.

It took a brief disoriented scan of the room for me to realise I was in Emmett's bed, which confused me and made the pain worse. Fuck.

"Who stabbed my head?" I asked with a wince, and then remembered I was alone in the room. "Aaand I'm talking to myself..."

Another wince.

Silence it is.

I looked around the room for my phone and then found it on the bedside table. The light that emanated from the screen momentarily made me wish I were blind.

Fucking ow.

I sent Alice a quick text letting her know I was awake, and what felt like a split second later, she flung open the door and squealed my name.

I don't think that being in a bunker near the core of the earth could have prevented the sharp pain that struck my head as soon as the sound made it to my ears.

"Alice. Head. Pain."

Her hands flew to her mouth to cover it and she mouthed 'sorry' about a billion times.

"How're you feeling?" she asked, quietly this time. "You don't have a concussion, thank god. Dad said you'd wake up in pain because of the slight bump on your head, but that you'll be perfectly fine by tomorrow. "

"Well, he's definitely right about the pain part," I groaned.

"I put water and advil next to the bed," Alice said as she pointed to the bedside table. I sighed with relief and thanked her as I downed the pills.

She then told me how bad Emmett felt. Apparently since he was leaning on the headboard while he continuously jumped on the bed, he managed to break it and it fell on my head - along with Emmett.

Of course this kind of thing would happen to me.

"He hurt Edward's shoulder as well, the elephant," Alice said with an eye roll.

Edward.

Shirtless Edward in Alice's bed.

Shirtless Edward in Alice's bed nuzzling my breast.

I pulled the covers closer as a shiver ran through me.

"Cold?" Alice asked, looking worried.

I somehow doubted it was from the cold, but I nodded anyway.

As soon as Alice told Esme I was awake, she came in with my favourite raspberry almond crumble and an apologetic Emmett in tow, who said 'sorry' while I ate the pie, after I'd finished it and for a little while after he kicked everyone out of his room so he could 'properly apologise for being a dickwad'.

It took a lot of convincing on my part to make him stop, and when he left the room, I fell back asleep.

Alice filled me in on the party when I woke up again.

Someone had broken one of Esme's favourite antiques, but she knew someone who could make it look like new so Alice only got half the lecture she would have gotten had it been completely ruined.

Emmett's definition of entertainment once again proved to be different from everyone else's.

One of Emmett's many childlike charms is his intense love for lip syncing. Of course, it's highly likely that this interest bloomed from his love of drag queens and the "legendary lip syncing skills of Detox."

When it was time to bring out the cake, which had been naively assigned to Emmett, he decided that the traditional way was "too mainstream."

He opted instead to secretly get a cake big enough to fit him and, in full drag, popped out and lip synced a jazzed up version of the happy birthday song he had found online.

"Hope it was worth it," Alice laughed, "Rosalie swears she's not gonna sleep with him for two weeks because of that."

I laughed along with her despite the pain. It was impossible not to.

"Where did he manage to find a cake that fit him?"

"Beats me," she shrugged. "Everyone was just glad I bought a back up cake."

I only half-listened to her while she listed all her presents and her reactions. I was trying, but although the pain had become a lot less prominent, it still hurt.

After we chatted for a while, she left with Jasper to run some errands so I padded downstairs to I could get some fresh air, hoping it would ease my headache.

Dear Advil, if you would like to do your job, that'd be great. Sincerely, fuck you.

The cold didn't hit me until I was too far from the house to bother getting a jacket. Stupid, deceptive sunlight.

In the time that I'd known the Cullens, I'd become familiar with the forest that surrounded it, so I walked for a while.

Soon enough I'd reached a spot I had somehow never discovered before.

A meadow.

It was only when I walked through the trees and stepped onto the field of flowers that I realised someone had beat me to it.

"Please don't be a psychopathic murderer," a familiar voice rang out. Edward?

"Nah, I'm just a thief for now," I deadpanned, making his head turn back.

He laughed. "Glad to see you alive and breathing and still in possession of a head."

I nodded in agreement and awkwardly gestured to the grass, asking permission to sit.

"Of course," he said and moved slightly towards the right.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You know there's enough space for me to sit, right?"

He nodded, seemingly embarrassed. "I know, I just...instinct. You can't be Esme's son and not move aside to let a lady sit."

I snorted involuntarily. Smooth. "I'm hardly a lady."

He mumbled something that sounded suspiciously close to "I felt just how much of a lady you are yesterday."

Glad he remembers, at least.

"What was that?" I asked, hoping he'd repeat it.

He didn't.

Damn it.

"Is this your spot?"

"Yeah," he said as he looked ahead. "This is where I used to come during my teenage tantrums."

"It's a good spot. Hard to find."

"You're the first person to find me here, actually," he turned to me slightly.

"It's only fair, you found mine," I pointed out, making him scoff.

"Yours is one of the most popular places in this dump, anyone can find t."

I pretended to be offended. "Hey now, it's not like I sit out in the open where everyone jumps, I sit next to a few trees."

That made him laugh. "You would be a useless spy."

We argued over which one was better, and although I preferred his, I protected my spot's honour.

"I like to people watch," I explained in a poor attempt to justify my choice.

But to be honest, it was true.

Watching families play on the beach and reckless teenagers jump off the cliffs was half the appeal.

I made up stories for everyone I ever saw.

There was a boy who used to come a while ago with bright red dyed hair. I liked to think he had religious parents and wanted to rebel against them my dyeing his hair the colour of the devil.

As my thoughts drifted, an involuntary shiver ran through me, this time from the actual cold, which made Edward's head turn. His eyes widened. "Fuck, I didn't realise you weren't wearing a jacket, I'm sorry."

He immediately took off his coat and made me put it on despite multiple protests.

I was immediately enveloped by his scent. Even though I could recognise the cologne that a few of my friends wore as well, there was something else that I could only assume was just Edward.

I heard a chuckle escape his throat. "I see you like the coat."

Don't blush, don't blush, don't blush.

Another chuckle. "You're blushing!"

Oh for the love of...

"It's warm," I said lamely.

"Mhm," he said with a raised eyebrow.

I turned to look in front of me, hoping to avoid his eyes, which had somehow gotten greener.

"Listen," he started. "I wanted to apologise for yesterday. I drank a lot to celebrate being free from college for a little while and got a bit carried away."

"You really don't have to apologise to me for drinking," I pointed out.

"I know but the drinking caused the extremely inappropriate behaviour, so I'm sorry."

I waved him off. "Don't worry about it, honestly."

Thoughts of him shirtless started to flood my mind, so I shook my head, hoping it would make them go away.

"Does your head hurt?" His voice was laced with concern.

"Yeah," I half-lied. It did hurt, but it was definitely not why I shook my head.

"My mum used to do this thing when I would get headaches, it used to help a little."

"Do it."

He furrowed his brows. "Seriously?"

I fully turned to face him. "Every little thing helps," I said.

He moved closer, and before I could register what was happening, he kissed my forehead three times.

As his lips met my skin, for a moment, for three small moments, I forgot that I was in pain.


Sorry for the late ass update, guys. Real life got in the way and kind of fucked things up for me for a while.

Just wanted to say thank you so much for the reviews, (keep them coming!) and a special thank you to BelleBiter for her review and message, which is the only reason this chapter is up today and not three weeks from now.

Love you guys.