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Love from Cullenist! 3 x
xxxx
All five of us were in the ready position at the front of the house. Carlisle and Esme were clutching onto each other at the edge of the forest. My feet began to feel the wet soaking through my UGGS from the slushy snow. Alice and her ideas. She thought it'd be cool if our presents were hid around the forest for us to find. I didn't get it. I'd rather have my presents under the tree but hey, seeking gifts is something to do. I, of course, had to hide hers so it was fair. Little did she know that all her presents were in my room.
'On your marks.' Carlisle pronounced. Each one of us eyed each other with playful competitiveness. I think the only one who actually looked serious about it all was Jasper. That made it all the more laughable.
'Get set!' We raised out butts in the air just like they would in the Olympics. Edward, who was, next to me had already taken off.
'What the hell are you doing eager Eddie?' Emmett boomed causing his loud voice to Echo. I cringed away from the intense volume. Edward ceased his running and turned back to us in confusion muttering 'I swear I heard go' under his breathe. I rolled my eyes. Obviously someone had said go in their head.
'Okay…GO!' Carlisle shouted once Edward was back in his position. We all took off. Jasper pushed Emmett to the floor when he was close enough causing him to roll backwards with a bang. He swore under his breathe and got back to his feet. My chuckle was louder then it was meant to be because he soon tripped me up.
'What's the deal Emmett? You're not winning anything!' I hollered at him as he shot by. Now it was his turn to laugh. I hoisted my self up from the gushy mud that I'd fell in. My jogging bottoms were completely caked in the brown stuff. God, it wouldn't have been so bad if that pile of crud was covered with snow. No matter how wet.
No one turned back to help me, not even Edward. I could hear his musical laughter though so he must have witnessed my mortifying fall. I returned to my gift hunting and found all of them with in an hour. Every one else remained clueless about where half their presents were and still searched in the forests I placed my pile neatly at the side of the recliner chair and switched the T.V on to cure my boredom of waiting. Esme and Carlisle came into the room from outside.
'I see you found them all.' Carlisle praised as he went to sit on the other sofa.
'Yup.' I said with a beaming smile.
'Merry Christmas sweetie.' Esme greeted me with a motherly kiss on my forehead and placed another present to the pile.
'Merry Christmas to you, too.' I retorted happily. This was the first Christmas I'd spent with family or the closest thing to it.
31 minutes later in counting, the others strode through the door with their hands full of goodies. Wow we were all so childish. I giggled quietly as Alice walked in empty handed.
'Someone's not been good this year.' I chided playfully to Alice.
'Where are they Missy?' She asked tapping my foot. I smiled and ran up stairs to my room to gather her presents.
'Here' I said when I reached the bottom of the stairs. Her elfin features lit up as she snatched the pile from hands. She took her place next Jasper who was eyeing his gifts like prey. Emmett bounced on the floor while Rose had her head in her hands, obviously due to the immaturity of her husband. I moved so Edward could fit on the seater chair with me. We snuggled up together with my legs upon his.
Clockwise, we each opened our presents. Even though we could all afford to buy these presents when ever we wanted to, we were thrilled to receive them from the people who meant the most to us. My siblings were pleased with the gifts Edward had chosen for them from the pair of us. Alice cried with joy when she saw the scarf. Now she knows what it's like to be surprised. My presents were awesome and meant so much. Emmett bought me a collection of rubber ducks so we could both converge to make a duck army to fight off something that didn't exist. I loved them! They were so cool. Jasper and Alice had united in the gift department and gave me a framed picture of me and Edward. He also received the same. I never even realized this picture existed. Rose went a bit extreme a brought me a sexy Santa's outfit which was obviously from Victoria secret. I knew I'd be blushing if I could. Emmett must have noticed because he laughed at me embarrassed face. Edward, however, kept whispering rather strange things in my ear saying what he'd like to do to me in that dress. God it was such a turn on! He didn't get me a present, he just told me I'd have to wait for it. About a gazillion theories raced through my mind, all of which had something to do with the item of clothing from Rose. I was so glad he couldn't hear me.
By 7pm we'd played every single game possible ranging from twister to would you rather. It was the first time Esme and Carlisle had joined in with our games. Obviously our silliness was too much to resist. We don't eat so Christmas dinner was defiantly out of the question so we went on a hunt. Hunting with the whole family was an experience I would not miss. It was just so…funny watching them all tackle their meals. Emmett wouldn't settled for anything but a grizzly, Alice took on three deer at a time, Jasper would rather make sure Alice didn't get 'stomped on' by one of them then eat first and Rose made a big show and dance of sucking on an elks neck. The rest of the family were pretty normal when it came to feeding.
When we arrived back at the house, we lit the fire just to get into the spirit of things. Emmett pulled out a box of crackers and handed one to each of us.
'So basically we all know how these work.' He said and extended his cracker to Rose with a bow. It was so cute. She tugged it so hard that whatever was in it flew out and whacked me straight in the eye. Talk about being blind. Everyone went silent. I picked the object that had been catapulted at me and smirked.
'You got nail clippers.' I announced. Jokes cut through the silence about the clippers hitting my eye. The night continued in that fashion. My gift from the cracker was probably the best; a toy water gun. So cute. I filled it with the orange juice that Esme keeps in the cupboard if we have guests and squirted it at Emmett repeatedly. He gagged at the smell whilst everyone laughed…at him this time. Sucker!
'Okay I think now is time for your gift Bella.' Edward stated getting up from the floor and extending his hand to me. I took it eagerly. I could hear Alice's little hands pattering together as we exited the house. We were leaving the house?
'Have you got me a car or something?' My night of fun had obviously gone out the window. Jeez I get carried away sometimes.
'No.' He said and didn't say anything else on the matter. We didn't speak as we dawdled through the forest. I caught falling snow flakes in my hand and examined each point. Edward was in a world of his own but looked genuinely happy. I continued catching snow flakes until we arrived at our meadow. I became suspicious. I didn't see any car here or anything else.
'Okay why are we here?' I asked crushing the dainty snow flake in my hand. He said nothing just lowered to his knee. I swear to God that my heart would have been beating furiously if I witnessed this site through human eyes. Was he…?
'Isabella Swan? I promise to love you forever- every single day of forever. Will you marry me?' Yes he was! Edward proposed. I didn't say anything I just stood unmoving, not blinking, taking in what he'd just asked me. His beautiful eyes scorched with love as I looked into them. Then, his face became unreadable due to my silence.
'Bella?'
'Yes?'
'Do you have an answer?' He seemed embarrassed at the thought of being rejected. How could he even doubt his hold over me?
'Of course I'll marry you.' I whispered. The smile that spread across Edward devastatingly handsome features was priceless. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a black box and opened it. I gasped at the sight of the ring. It was so perfect. Just like my Edward. The simple gold band held an oval face which had diamond embedded across the surface, all in diagonal lines. He carefully removed it from the box and I held my hand out. Edward slid the master piece on my finger then, gently, kissed every finger tip and last of all, the ring.
We lay in the snow covered meadow for a few hours. My mind replayed that perfect moment; no doubt Alice had seen it all. No wonder she was so bubbly when we left the house. I would forever remember Edward's expression when he asked me those life changeable words. We would officially be joined in other ways and he'd be mine and I, his. Forever we'd be together. I would want no one and neither would he. We'd always have each other. Wow, I had a fiancée!
Only six days had passed since we'd announced our engagement and already Alice was going crazy with wedding plans. We'd been sitting in my room sorting out outfits for the New Years Eve party that was going on at the club where Me, Rose and Alice went. This time, we were going with the boys. Carlisle and Esme were already on there way to the airport. We'd said our good byes about two hours ago. They deserved a break putting up with such Looney vampires.
'So, what flowers do you want?' Alice asked me for the thousandth time.
'Alice, will you please stop talking about the wedding. We haven't even set a date.' I explained.
'March 15th.' She said matter-of-factly.
'School, Alice.' I reminded her and headed to my walk in closet. She followed.
'No, were leaving when Esme and Carlisle get back from Africa. So, were not going back to school.'
I swiveled to her and stared at her in disbelief.
'What? Why?'
Alice closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them. She had a strained smile on her face so that meant she was hiding something.
'You know new surroundings and everything.' Such a liar. I didn't press for any more information. I'd be quizzing Edward on this later.
'Where to?' I asked as casual as possible and returned to searching for an outfit. We couldn't go shopping; malls were shut and stuff.
'Decisions have to be made first. Carlisle's not certain where he wants to work yet.' She said kneeling down to my shoes.
'Cool.' I ended the conversation and concentrated on finding a perfect outfit.
We spoke no more about 'moving' and just fired up random conversations. Now the date was set, I told Alice she could plan my wedding. I laid down one rule first; don't go over board. She obliged gratefully and agreed with a high shrill. I chose to diminish the block that guarded my decisions for Alice. I'm sure it'd be a lot more help for my choices to be out there. Now that my future was foreseeable, Alice helped me find the outfit I'd been hunting for; a green top which had the picture of a woman on in luminous pink glasses. It clung at my waist the puffed the higher up it got. The sleeves hung off my shoulders. Then, I chose to wear dark jean shorts but Alice thought she could do one better then that and found a pair of really small dark denim shorts. The leg lengths were noticeably different; the first pair was average and acceptable. The others were a lot more revealing. She told me she'd seen me in them so I may as well accept with out an argument, she was going to win.
Before going to get changed I knocked on Edward's door.
'Come in Miss soon-to-be Cullen.' he'd been calling me all sorts of names that had the words 'future' and 'Cullen' in. Yeah it's really cute and I love him for saying it but I do like to be called Bella from time to time.
I opened the door to see Edward lying on his back on the floor reading through a book.
'Ooo what are you reading?' I asked and walked over him to plop myself on to the bed.
'A book.' He said, tilting his head backwards to look at me with a smirk. I rolled my eyes.
'Good one Edward.' I sighed and leant forward to read the page title, 'Ah, Wuthering heights. And you tease me for reading it so many times.'
'Well, I'm failing to see what you find so intriguing about it. I thought I'd read it more in depth.' He explained flicking to the next page.
'Oh, talking of going in depth about things, please fill me in on this moving business.' I watched his fingers go still.
'Were leaving when Esme and Carlisle get back.' He said simply. I knew that.
'And you didn't tell me this...because?' I probed for more information. We couldn't just be leaving for the reasons Alice had said.
'It's not even that important. Were just going because we need a cha-'I cut him off.
'A change of scenery.' I finished with a frown on my face. He rolled over to his stomach and closed the book. I couldn't believe he was lying to me as well. Something was wrong.
'Yeah. We'll be starting a new school in September.' I was pleased he felt like he had to tell me that information but that's not really what I wanted. I wanted reasons behind it all and apparently I wouldn't be getting any yet. I glanced at my watch to see I had 45 minutes to get ready before we made our way to the club.
'I'm not buying that change of scenery crap Edward. So when we get back you can explain it to me.' I informed him and ran into my room to get changed.
Alice came to my aid and helped me do my hair and make up. She straightened it and clipped some hair back so it would make a small qiff at the front. For make up, we did heavy eyeliner with dark green eye shadow and lengthening mascara. My eyes looked gorgeous and very appealing. Due to having unblemished skin we don't need foundation so that was a miss.
'Thanks Ali.' I told her as she left the room to get herself ready.
I greeted Alice and Rose on the upstairs landing. Rose wore a tight red halter neck dress with shiny black heels. She looked extravagant with her hair piled on top of her head in a simple bun. Alice appeared a dream in a dark purple sequined strappy dress that cut at mid thigh. She'd gone for straightening her hair too as the points that normally protruded from her head ceased to exist. They both had little make up and honestly, they didn't need it. Rather handsome Jasper left his and Alice's room and headed down stairs. We followed. Edward and Emmett were the longest to get ready but when Edward came into vision, I thought I died and went to heaven. He wore a dark button up dress shirt with dark denim jeans. His hair had gel in and it actually looked like he'd taken time to arrange it. As my eyes went wide, so did his. And then, at lightning speed, he fled the stairs and scooped me up bridal style. I snaked my arms round his neck to pull him in for a fiery kiss. The things this man made me feel should have been impossible and illegal.
We had a slight issue with transport but came to the decision of riding in pairs. I refused to ride in Edward's car as I hadn't driven my Audi in so long. I didn't want it being left out. He reluctantly agreed. Jasper and Alice were taking her over the top Porsche. Emmett and Rose were going for her car. I don't actually know what she had because she hardly drove it.
As we left the house and made our way to our own cars I couldn't help but think. Tonight would be the first time seeing the New Year in with anybody. Also, I may add, this year was completely new in many different ways. I wondered what so many changes would have in store for us. Life was too cruel to allow everything to run so smoothly.
