DISCLAIMER: Twilight and its inclusive material is copyright to Stephenie Meyer. Original creation, including but not limited to plot and characters, is copyright to the respective authors of each story. No copyright infringement is intended. Additionally, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" belongs to Dylan Thomas. No copyright infringement is intended.

Previously:

"T-t-tell me about her."

"Well, she's in her last year of school, and she just married my cousin not three weeks ago." She was married. Oh, I was so glad she was doing well. A wide, genuine smile stretched my face as the sob I'd been holding in broke through.


It took a few moments to gather my composure as I wept tears of relief and happiness. I was just so glad to hear that she was doing well. Now I could focus on surviving without having that thought always lingering in the back of my mind. However, even though I was glad to hear about her, it also raised questions.

"School?" I asked. When we were taken, we were in our senior year. We were both set to graduate in June, a mere eight months to go. Did she quit school for the past two years?

"Yes," he said. "Her last year of law school. She's planning on taking the bar in July." My head was spinning.

"Law school?" He looked at me strangely.

"Yes. Did you not know?" I shook my head. "Well, what did she plan to do after you two graduated? Didn't she always want to go to law school?" I shook my head again.

"No. She was an applied mathematics major. She wanted to teach." He looked at me as if I had two heads.

"Alice? Teach? That doesn't sound like her at all." Now it was my turn to look at him like he was nuts. He was nuts!

"Alice is all about math. She could do equations in her sleep. She led our study sessions, was great at it as well. I remember how happy she'd be when someone would be struggling, and after ten minutes with her, they'd walk away able to do it their self. She used to go to her teacher's office hours, because there were so many people that needed help. The teach would split everyone in half and send some to Alice. She was so great at it."

"No. Alice is going to make a great lawyer. She's very tenacious. I don't really imagine her to be patient enough to teach students. That's how she and Jasper met – it was her first year of law school. He was an undergrad history professor and saw her in the quad. It took him forever to finally ask her out. Then it took forever for her to agree! He was miserable those first two months."

"What do you mean?" I turned sideways and pulled my feet underneath myself.

"He obviously didn't know in the beginning about her abduction. He just thought she was beautiful, and he wanted to take her on a date. She refused him the first two times, stood him up the next three, and when she finally did go on a date with him, she would only do it if a friend came along."

The story he told would probably be cute to some people, but to me it was sad. Alice was so happy, go lucky. She trusted easily, a trait I loved about her, and seized every moment of every day. To hear that she was reserved, skeptical, and scared made me hurt for her. The abduction must have really changed her.

"Tell me about the wedding."

We spent the rest of our time with him telling me about Alice, answering all the questions I had about her. It made my heart lighter hearing her love story with Jasper. She deserved every happiness and more. She was one of the sweetest people I'd ever met. She'd befriended me even though I was the awkward, shy sixteen-year-old freshman. It didn't matter to her that I was two years younger. She just walked up to me and declared us best friends. I'd never looked back after that.

"How did you meet Alice?" Handsome asked. I smiled at the memory.

"Oh my. Well, you have to understand a little about me." He moved to lean against the headboard to my side. "I was a bit of a nerd. I, uh, I graduated early and started college at 16. I was your typical brainy girl: jeans, t-shirts, converse, hair held up by a pencil, and my black-rimmed glasses. I always had my nose buried in a book and never paid attention to…well, anything really." I grabbed a pillow and pulled it into my lap. "It was the second week of classes that I met Alice. She was in my physics class, sat near the back while I was in the front row."

"How was she in your class? She was taking a freshman class?" I shook my head.

"I was in an advanced class. Anyway, it was the end of class one day, and the professor assigned a group project. We had to pick a partner with three to a group at most. I've never been shy like some might think; I just didn't care to socialize. I approached a few people about partnering, but they all turned me down. The fifth person I asked was sitting beside Alice. The boy laughed, told me no one would ever want to partner with me, and just looked at Alice with this smile he thought was sexy." I had to laugh at the memory causing Handsome to smile. "Alice stood up, pulled me close, and kissed me. She looked back at the guy and said she's partner with me anytime. She grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door telling me that we were partners and best friends." He laughed.

"Alice? Are we talking about the same Alice?" I nodded with a smile. He shook his head in disbelief. "Wow. I'm flabbergasted." I shrugged, my smile fading. I shouldn't have thought about that memory. I had no hope of ever returning, so remembering would only lead to pain. I looked over at the clock on the night stand.

"Our hour is almost up." I stood from the bed and shed the clothes he'd given me. I heard him stand, and when I looked over, I found his back to me once more. I pulled the coat on and wrapped it around my body. "Okay." He turned back to look at me. "Thank you." His brows furrowed.

"For what?"

He looked so adorable, confused and happy all at once. I walked over to him and kissed his cheek before leaving him behind.


AN 08/22/2018: A little more about Alice, and a little more about Bella. Fun times at one point. I hope you enjoyed a little bit of a reprieve. We're back to Bella's life as she knows it next, so buckle up.