"What took you so long?" Emmett demanded when we returned to the house an hour later. Alice grinned at me, and I knew that she had seen it.
"Come on, did you really expect us to find a little tiny silver key in that huge meadow in a few minutes?" I asked skeptically. "But now that we're back, I'm going to go get my box."
"Nope," Alice said. She was across the room and had grabbed the key from Edward in half a second. "You found the key, but now you have one last thing to do before you can use it."
"What?!" I exclaimed.
"Bella has a decision to make," Alice said. She gave me a meaningful look, and I immediately dropped my gaze to the floor. I knew what she meant, and so did everyone else.
"Bella?" Edward asked. He knew that we had just been kissing like I had forgiven him and trusted again, and he thought that I had made my decision.
"I still need to think about it," I said apologetically. "I'm sorry, Edward. I just haven't decided yet."
"Oh," Edward said, crestfallen. He took his arm from around my waist and went to sit on the couch. "I see."
"Edward," I pleaded, but he held up a hand to cut me off.
"No, I understand Bella," he said. "You need time. Take all the time you need." He seemed rather depressed. I made a move to go sit next to him, but Alice's hand on my arm stopped me. I went to sit next to Mark instead.
"So what did you guys do while we were gone?" I asked.
"We debated about which movies are least true to the books that they are based on," Angela answered.
"What did you decide?" I asked.
"Well, we're all divided. Each of us has a movie that we think is least true," Mark answered. "But they're all ganging up on us and talking about old movies that we've never seen before." He glared at Jasper, who grinned.
"Well, you can't expect us to stick with only the movies that have come out in the past twenty years," Emmett scoffed. "We're going with all the movies we've seen. We can't help it that you young'ns haven't seen everything that we've seen."
"The adults are back," Rosalie announced for the benefit of the humans, because we couldn't hear the car pull up in the street.
"How soon before midnight?" I asked.
"About 20 minutes," Emmett answered.
"Yikes!" I exclaimed. I jumped up and went into the kitchen.
"What are you doing, Bella?" Rosalie asked.
"Pouring the bubbling apple cider," I answered. "Are all of you drinking it with us in our toast?"
"Isn't wine a traditional drink for a new year's toast?" Alice asked as she danced in to help.
"Charlie's a cop, he can't have his guests drinking before they drive," I answered with a roll of my eyes. "So he had me buy this stuff."
"We'll all participate," Alice said, accepting my explanation with an understanding nod.
"We're back!" Charlie called.
"Did you have fun?" I called back.
"We did," he answered with a grin as he walked in the kitchen, followed by the others. He looked at what I was doing and then looked at his watch. "Is it almost that time?"
"Almost," I answered. "I figured I should probably start now so that we don't have to rush to get it done later."
"You always have been a practical one, Bells," Charlie complimented me. He threw his coat on the back of the chair and followed the other adults into the living room.
"Do you know what you want?" Alice asked me quietly. She started transferring the full glasses over to a tray.
"No," I answered as I finished pouring the cider. "You'll probably know what I want before I do."
"No, I won't," Alice said. "I'll know what you want at the same time you do."
"Then why ask?"
"I don't see everything, Bella," she answered with a grin. "I'd never spend a moment out of my vision trances otherwise."
"I suppose that would get annoying," I commented.
"Sometimes it is," Alice answered with a shrug as she set the last glass on the tray, "and sometimes it isn't. It's rather useful."
"Most of the time," I amended.
"Yes, most of the time," she agreed somberly. She picked up the tray, not trusting my and my clumsiness, and carried it into the living room.
"Come and get your glass!" she sang as she entered the room. Everyone surrounded her for a brief moment, and then went back to their respective places to sit. That left two glasses – one for her and one for me.
She took the tray back to the kitchen and brought me back my glass.
"Here you go, Bella," she said when she handed me my glass. I thanked her and stood by the doorway. I didn't feel like I was part of the party anymore. I was too pensive, too somber, to be a part of the gaiety and festivities that were taking place before me. I felt like I was watching everyone through a one way window. I could see them, but they couldn't see me. Everyone seemed so happy and carefree. I could tell that the adults had been drinking, at least the human ones had. I guessed that Carlisle had pronounced himself the designated driver. Mark and Angela were having fun together, each of the other couples were enjoying themselves… and then there was Edward. He stared at the liquid in his glass and didn't look up. We were the only two who seemed so depressed. We were the only two not taking part in the joking and fun.
We were the only two party-poopers.
I crossed the room to sit next to him. No one really noticed as they joked with each other. I felt like I was invisible. Edward didn't even look up when I sat down next to him, though I knew he knew I was there.
"Edward," I started uncertainly. He didn't stop me, granted, he didn't respond at all, but that meant that he might be listening. I tried again.
"Edward, I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I know how much you want a chance to be with me again. But I'm only human, and I only have a short time to live. If I make the wrong choice, it will screw up my entire life. I probably won't have another chance. You can find somebody else, other distractions." He glanced at me, and I saw the hurt in his gaze. I realized what this must sound like. "I'm not saying no," I hastened to assure him. "I'm just asking for a little patience from you and time. I'll make up my mind soon, I promise, and I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out." I smiled and nudged him with my elbow. "The odds seem to be in your favor, if that helps any."
He didn't respond. He just continued to stare at his glass. I sighed and started to stand up.
"I still love you, you know," he said quietly. I settled back into my seat again. "I still love you more than I've ever loved anyone. I love you more than I ever will love anyone." He still refused to look up. "I will live an eternity, and never find another quite like you." He looked up then, and we locked eyes again. "You only have one chance to find true love. If you lose it, you have made a mistake, but you will die and it won't matter anymore. If I lose my true love," he brushed another hair out of my face, "Then I will have to live for an eternity knowing that I was too stupid to hold onto the one person I ever loved. So take your time. Think it through. If you decide to remain with Mark, I understand. But don't expect me to stick around for very long if your answer is no." He looked back down, releasing me from his dazzling hold. I tried to remember how to exhale and restart my heart.
Suddenly everyone started shouting. "5… 4… 3… 2… 1… 0!" They cheered, and I looked around. The T.V. was set to the channel where they were watching the ball drop in New York. I didn't get to look for very long, though, because I was suddenly caught up in a mess of people, and vampires, clinking glasses together. Once I'd touched glasses with every other person in the room I quickly downed my cider and headed for the kitchen. Somebody had to do the dishes, didn't they?
Another hour later I waved goodbye to Angela and her parents. She was driving them home, or she could have stayed longer. I stood on the doorstep until they were out of sight.
"How long are you folks staying?" I heard Charlie ask.
"I think we were going to stay until everything was cleaned up," Carlisle answered. "Alice was the one who put all of this up, so we're going to help take it down."
"You don't have to do that," Charlie protested.
"We'll help," Esme said. "Why don't you go to bed, Charlie, and we'll take care of everything down here?"
"I should help," Charlie said, but I could see that he liked the idea of being able to go to bed.
"Nonsense," Carlisle said. "You've had a long day at work. We all slept in so we could stay up late. You go to bed, we'll take care of everything here."
"You've convinced me," Charlie laughed. "Good night, everybody. Thanks for coming over."
"Good night, Dad," I said. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and helped him to the bottom of the stairs.
"Night Bells," he answered.
The Cullens waited for ten minutes to make sure that Charlie had fallen asleep, and then the fun began. They called Victoria to come help right as Charlie went upstairs, so she was already in the house by the time they began to clean. They sat Mark and I down on chairs in the doorway, handed us a timer, and then they all crouched in a runner's starting position.
"On your mark," I whispered, "Get set…. Go!"
Twelve seconds later the room was practically spotless. Mark and I were definitely impressed.
"Twelve seconds," I told Emmett. He pumped a fist in the air in silent celebration.
"We'll head back to our house," Carlisle said. "Have a good night, Bella, Mark."
"You too," I told him. I gave everybody a hug, including Jasper and Victoria, and showed them all out the door.
"That was fun," Mark announced (quietly, so we wouldn't wake Charlie) as we walked up the stairs.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it," I told him with a grin. "That was the point."
"Did you have fun?" he asked.
"Not really," I answered. "I was too busy thinking."
"Oh," Mark said. He pushed open the bedroom door and let me enter first. "Any conclusions yet?"
"No, not yet," I sighed. "It's so frustrating."
"Maybe it will be better in the morning," Mark suggested. "Let's go to bed, and we'll see it you have something when you wake up."
"It's worth a try," I agreed half-heartedly.
We changed into our pajamas and climbed into bed.
"Good Night, Bella," Mark said. He gave me a quick kiss.
"Good night," I answered. I gave him a quick kiss back, and then we both fell asleep.
A/N: IMPORTANT! READ THIS!!!!!!!!! Well, my dear friends, now that I have your attention, I'd like to say that I have "Moving On" finished on my computer. There is a total of 40 chapters. This is chapter 34. Would you like for me to post all the chapters at the same time, or would you like one chapter a day until they're all posted? I would personally like to post them all at the same time, for the mere fact that we have another storm coming either tonight or tomorrow that is supposed to knock out our power for a few days again, and I would like to get them all out there just in case I can't post anything for a few days. But if you want them all drawn out and don't mind possibly waiting while I lack the power (and thus internet) to update, then let me know. I think I'll go off the first three to five reviews I receive. If it's mixed, then I'll wait until I have more votes and can make a good conclusion.