Lucky

35

Arriving back at Forks, I was overjoyed at the sight of my friends in front of the house, holding a banner that said 'Welcome back, Bella!' in big, loopy letters that Alice expertly knew how to draw. I jumped out of the car just barely after it stopped and barreled forward, laughing when I was bombarded with hugs as well.

"We missed you, Bella," Angela said.

"Oh, my God, you look horrible," Rose gasped, her eyes wide. "I really wished I was there, I would've knocked them out for you."

I smiled, because she totally would. I turned to Edward and grinned at his reddened cheeks. "Hey, Edward," I said, then hugged him hard. He smelled exactly the same, and his hair was way longer than before. I ran my hand through it a couple of times before Charlie cleared his throat and subtly stepped between us, wrapping his arms around our shoulders. "Yup, we're glad you're back, Bells. Now, how about some cobbler at the diner?"

…

After cobbler, I managed to sneak out the diner with Edward.

We walked for a long time without talking, our hands bound together tightly and our feet moving in synch. It was only when we were deep into the woods and all sweaty and grimy did we stop. Edward huffed out a breath and plopped down on a sheet of moss. "Oh, man," he huffed. "I need to exercise more."

I laughed. "Yeah. You've gotten chubbier since the last time I saw you."

He shoved me playfully and laughed. "Shut up."

Then his face sobered and he sighed, shaking his head. "I wish I could've been there. I know I can't hit girls, but I don't see them as girls, you know? They're more like monsters."

I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. "They're teenage girls. Pretty much all of us are monsters."

He snorted. "Not you."

I smiled and leaned over to kiss his freckled cheek. "I really missed you," I sighed.

"I missed you too. It was miserable here," he said, flicking hair out his face. I smiled softly before lying back on the moss, looking up at the cloudy sky. Edward reclined back as well. "If we get married, let's vow to never get a divorce," he said suddenly. I giggled and looked at him. "I don't think it works that way."

He snorted. "Well, it does now. I'm serious, when we get married and have five kids and two dogs, we can never get a divorce."

"Five kids?" I repeated, aghast. "You want me to push five kids out my vagina?"

Edward began cracking up at that, clutching his stomach and rolling around on the dirt. I laughed a little too and shook my head. "Two, tops. Maybe three. But not five, that's, like… really painful."

"How would you know?"

"My mom said she spent forty hours giving birth to me and it was hell. She said it was kind of like pushing the empire state building out from between her legs."

He chuckled. "That's because your head is humungous."

Laughing, I flicked the top of his head. "Shut up. But seriously, only three. And one dog, who the hell has two dogs?"

"It's like having two guinea pigs; they'll get lonely."

"Dogs interact with people, Edward," I deadpanned.

"Whatever. So… no divorce?"

"I mean, yeah. If I don't get tired of you, that is."

He started tickling me after that and I hopped up giggling before taking off down the hill.