Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights are reserved to the appropriate parties, Mrs. Meyer and ITV. Chapter Twenty-six: Back to school
Edward's pov
After our hunting trip, Carlisle and I returned to an eerily quiet house. I didn't hear any thoughts, so the family was quite far away. The only sound was the steady thumping of Monica's heartbeat and the water cascading from the shower.
I'll go find Esme, Carlisle muttered silently and suddenly I was alone.
I was momentarily stunned, but soon realized that my family had left me alone with Monica for a reason. I heard the shower shut off and I had to force myself to keep my thoughts from wandering into dangerous territory. Monica was a fragile human being and the thoughts running through my mind, simply weren't possible.
I settled down at my piano and began playing the new melody that as inspired by Monica. If she wanted to come to me, she would. It would be her choice. I closed my eyes and focused on her heartbeat and the sound of her footsteps. I could smell her when she came down the stairs and heard her hovering a few feet behind me.
I smiled involuntarily. "You can come sit with me, if you want."
She moved forward slowly and quietly slid onto the bench beside me. I kept my eyes closed, but I heard her heartbeat pick up before she gently lowered her head onto my shoulder.
We sat together like that for about half an hour before I stopped playing.
"Edward, you are so incredibly talented. It's intimidating to be honest."
I opened my eyes and turned in my seat so I could look in her eyes. "There's no need to be intimidated. You'd be good at this too if you'd had more than ninety years to practice while you're family is with their respective mates."
She smiled up at me and placed a hand on my cheek. "You'll find your mate, I now you will."
"I think I already have."
She quickly dropped her hand. "You shouldn't say that."
"Why not?"
"You haven't met Bella yet and you and her.."
I cut her off by pressing my lips to her. She stiffened for a moment, before melting into me and responding in the same fashion. Her arms wrapped around my neck and her fingers threaded through my hair. I pulled her into my lap so I could hold her closer and we continued to kiss.
After a while Monica pulled back, breathing heavily. She looked at me with hooded eyes and I wondered for the umpteenth time what she was thinking, but didn't ask.
"Edward," she breathed.
"Yes?"
"I know I shouldn't but I'm falling in love with you."
My breath caught in my throat at her admission. Her face fell when I didn't respond immediately and she attempted to stand up, but I tightened my grip around her.
"Monica, please don't leave. I'm falling in love too. I just never imagined you might love me back."
"But I do and it's the worst thing I could ever do. You have to understand, Edward. I am not your soul mate. It's Bella and me being here is screwing that all up."
"Why would I want Bella when she ran away and even after she found out everything about our supposed destiny, she still didn't return? She apparently doesn't like that future and although I don't want to ask this of you, I hope you will stay here with us. With me."
"Edward, I don't know if I can. I miss my mom and my home and it's tearing me up inside. I need to think about it."
I took a few deep breaths. She was right. It was selfish of me to ask her to stay.
"I'm sorry. I'll respect your decision when you make it."
"I love you, Edward."
"I love you too, Monica."
She kissed me lightly, and I pulled her against me, relishing in the feeling of her warm soft lips under mine.
Monica's pov
After kissing Edward for a while we agreed that I needed sleep, since we still had school tomorrow. He kissed me goodnight and just before I drifted off to sleep I heard the family returning from wherever they had been.
The next morning I woke up to the smell of coffee and French toast. My stomach grumbled and with a grin I got out of the bed and quickly washed up and put on my clothes. I looked at the purple sweater and jeans and very briefly wondered if Alice would let me go out of the house in this. I snickered at her imagined response and bounded down the stairs.
Edward loves me. He loves me!
I kept chanting it in my head and I felt extremely giddy with the thought. When I came into the kitchen I twirled around with a big goofy grin on my face and flopped down on one of the chairs.
"Good morning, dear," Esme said, chuckling to herself. "You seem happy this morning."
"I am. I really, really am."
Her eyes were twinkling. "Does this have anything to do with my son?"
"It might."
She winked at me and placed a plate with French toast and a big mug of coffee on the table.
"Please tell me if I did it right. I've been trying out recipes for part of the night and I hope I finally got it right."
I sliced of a piece and popped it in my mouth. I moaned when I tasted it. It was absolutely perfect. I swallowed the bite and stood to hug Esme.
"This is the best breakfast ever, promise."
She giggled and ushered me to finish up. A little while later the others filed in and I polished off the last of my toast and coffee. Alice threw me a disappointed look, but didn't tell me to change my clothes, which was a plus.
"Hey, Ali."
"Yeah?"
"Want to go shopping Saturday?" I asked, smiling.
"WHAT?"
"You heard me."
"Do you even need to ask? Of course. Ooooh! It'll be so much fun."
"I do have some ground rules."
Her face fell. "Tell me."
"We have a maximum of two sets of two hours. In between we take the time to feed the human," I giggled at that, but continued anyway. "You will not buy me everything and I have the final say in what I do and do not want. If you'll comply to this, I think we can go on trips more often."
Alice was already jumping up and down. "I can do that! Come on, we need to go to school."
I grinned and allowed her to pull me along with her. When we arrived outside we came to the conclusion that six people would not fit into one car. So Rosalie took her car with Emmett and the rest of us piled into Edward's Volvo.
Edward's pov
It was wonderful to see Monica so happy and from Jasper's thoughts I could tell it wasn't just a front, but that she was just completely happy. There was no remaining sadness left and that filled me with hope.
We arrived at school when the parking lot was filling with students. The onslaught of voices when I helped Monica out of the car was simply ridiculous.
That slut. Why can't she keep her little claws away from him? Lauren
No Way! She's soooo going to spill the beans on this. Jessica
Aww. They look so cute together. Angela
Damn that Cullen! Why? Why does he need to get with the one true hottie in this place! Mike
Oh, boy. They are going to be a hand full today. Mr. Banner.
I chuckled and wrapped my arm around Monica's waist.
"How bad is it?" she whispered in my ear.
I shivered as her breath tickled against my skin and she laughed lightly. "That bad?"
"No. Sorry. I was a bit distracted. It's ridiculous that this is such a big deal, but most of them aren't that bad, though Mr. Banner is worried that we won't pay enough attention to his lessons."
She snorted. "We wouldn't want that, now would we?"
I laughed with her. "Nope. Let's get you to class and be careful. Jess wants to know every single detail."
"O joy!"
We reached the door to her class and leaned down to kiss her gently. She smiled against my lips.
"I could get used to this," she murmured when she pulled away.
I grinned and pecked her lips again before heading to my own class.
Monica's pov
In English I was immediately pounced on by Jessica.
"I saw you coming in with them," she whispered. "How did that happen?"
"I had a sleepover with Alice."
"And?"
"And what? What do you want to know?"
"I saw you kiss, Edward. Are you a couple now?"
"I guess we are. He did tell me he was in love with me."
Jessica squealed and clapped her hands. She reminded me so much of Alice that I burst into a fit a giggles. Our teacher was not amused and we both got detention.
When we walked out of the classroom, Jessica apologized profusely.
"I'm so sorry. I never meant to get you in trouble."
"Jess, it's fine. We'll live. We need to get to Spanish though."
She giggled and we hurried down the hallway to our Spanish class. Maybe Jess wasn't as bad as I thought she would be.
A/N: Next chapter will also be up today and you're in for a surprise.