Chapter 20 – Friday 22nd of December, 2006

"Bella!" Angela called out from somewhere in the hall. It had just been our last class of the day and everyone was getting ready to go home for the Winter holidays. We would have two whole weeks off from school to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. And even though everyone was having fun and in a good mood, I couldn't help but feel sad. I'd leave Edward for more than half of that. That's the longest we've been away from each other since we started dating at the beginning of October. Wow.. we've been together for two whole months. The time flies when you're kissing your boyfriend apparently.
"Do you need a ride?"
Angela would be leaving too. She and her family are going on a trip to Los Angeles to visit some family for the holidays. No white Christmas for her either. I doubt there will be any snow in Phoenix this year.
"Yes please," Edward had already left. He skipped homeroom without telling me why so he would definitely be getting a word from me about that later. We only had today and tonight to be together and he just decides to skip on our last lesson? That's another full hour we could be spending together! He will be hearing from me.
Angela just got a new car and the more I saw it, the more jealous I got. Maybe I should ask Phil to teach me while I'm there.
She drove me back to the Cullen home and we hugged for quite a while, promising to keep in touch during each of our vacations. "Bye!" I waved her goodbye and used my key to get in. I had protested quite a bit when Esme said she was getting me one, but she told me to can it and accept the key. I was part of the family now.
Charlie hadn't even tried to contact me since that weekend. My arm was still in a cast, but a new one. I had asked Edward to draw on it before I left, but I guess he forgot. A heavy feeling pressed down on my chest as I walked up the stairs towards his bedroom. Edward had joked before that I was allowed to call it 'my room' or even 'our room' but I wouldn't want to claim it as mine. It was his. I wasn't going to live in it forever.
"Edward?" I called out. His car was parked in the driveway so he should be home. Unless he went for a jog. Or a walk. Anything to be away from me apparently. "You in here?" I opened the door to his bedroom and gasped. The room was decorated in white fairy lights, the curtains drawn and he had pulled up some blankets from the side of his bed to make a little den. It looked amazing. "What is all this?"
He sat up from the pillow fort and walked towards me with the biggest grin imaginable.
"I want to surprise you with something nice. I want to paint your cast tonight. I've got our best picture here," He grabbed his only framed picture from his desk and had me hold it in my good hand. "I ordered your favorite from the diner. Dad will pick it up in fifteen minutes," He smirked. Edward had started to jokingly call Carlisle 'Dad', but I was sure if he kept it up he'll start doing it for real soon enough.
"Oh, Edward.. you didn't have to do all of this," His room looked really nice. Nothing like his sporty, dirty, artsy room it was when I first got here. Edward has cleaned up nicely since I started sleeping in here too. "It's amazing," Now I felt guilty for being mad at him the whole afternoon.
"I wanted to. Sorry for skipping out on you during Homeroom," Edward pulled me up to his lap and brushed my hair aside. "I didn't want to get this ready in the morning in fear you'd go back upstairs and see it,"
I kissed his lips and held him close. "No need to say you're sorry, Edward. I'm sorry. I've been cursing you out in my head in the past hour and a half or so and now I find you've been doing this all day. So I should be sorry," Edwards gaze got locked onto mine and when his right hand locked around the back of my head and his left around my waist, pressing me further into his chest we were gone. Everything we did together like this made me love him even more; Our tongues dancing together at a high pace, his groans as I pressed a little too hard down on his lap, and even the little embarrassing mewls he made me let out as his hands held me tight.
A knock on the door made us jump apart. "Edward? Dads got food downstairs!" I goggled at the slightly annoyed look on Edwards' face.
"Food is important too, you know? Can't live on kisses alone," Getting off his lap I swear I heard him mumble something, but I ignored it. I could smell food.

The dinner was delicious. Not healthy at all, but that's not what I needed right now. I would get a very healthy diet staying at my mom's for the holidays. She was very fond of the Vegan lifestyle. If she still was one. Renee was prone to switch lifestyles more than I switch books.
The low music that was playing kept me daydreaming as I read one of Rosalie's girly magazines. I didn't really enjoy them, but she had recommended it to me. It was supposed to have good self-spa tips and told me to check it out. I checked my bags that were sitting in the back of the room, waiting for me to drag them to the airport tomorrow morning. I hoped that I had everything.
"How do you like this side?" Edward carefully turned my arm to the side for me to see the side of it. "Does it look good?"
I smiled. "yes. Better than if I would do it anyway. How do you even learn to draw? Or paint.."
"Well I guess if you're home alone babysitting your sister while both your parents are out at night and will be gone for God knows how long, you find yourself a hobby to keep busy," Edward shrugged. I didn't like the silent, sad undertone that it had. "There was always some sort of paper around the house. Usually in the trashcan where my mom threw her old magazines in and a pencil or two. That's all I did for about a decade,"
"I'm sorry," I whispered. Edward has never really opened up on what happened with his biological parents. It must have been bad for him to be taken away from there. "I can't even imagine how that must have been,"
"Hey don't feel too bad. It's not good, but you survive with whatever you have. And if that means hiding your baby sister, and I mean baby sister in the sink cupboard when your father comes home from the bar, then that's what you do. On the worst days, I would fall asleep on the couch where I slept and wouldn't wake up until I heard him come in and stumble into the furniture My father didn't like Alice all that much. Didn't believe she was his and that my mom and been cheating with someone at work. She did, but Alice was definitely his daughter. Anyone could have seen that. Anyone who was sober I suppose. We both looked like him. Unfortunately.
He'd scream and yell and wake Alice up, making her cry out. Then I'd have to get to her before he did and run outside the house. Then we'd wait on the neighbors' front porch until the lights went off in the house before going back inside where I'd put her back safely in her crib that was in the living room next to the couch where I slept. I would do anything to keep Alice safe. She is.. was my life back then,"
Oh God.. That's awful. And I said so out loud.
"Bella.. it's all in the past. I'm here now, with Carlisle and Esme and it's.. it's definitely better. My mood may not always express that, but it is. I'm very lucky to live here with them. I just wish my sister was here with me,"
"You want to talk about her? Alice is her name, right? You only briefly mentioned her before," Edward sighed and first I thought I had ruined the special mood we had, but to my surprise he just totally opened p to me.
"Yeah," I made him put down his paintbrush and crawled over to him, sitting back in his lap. "I really miss her, Bella," A lone tear escaped the concrete wall he tries so hard to keep up and I wiped it away with my thumb. "I really, really miss her,"
"Of course you miss her, Edward. You're her brother. You haven't seen her in so long, you have questions. That's all perfectly understandable. And you have the right to know what happened to her, where she is," He fell down to his back, pulling me with him and I giggled at the impact. "How hard would it be to find her you think?"
Edward let a rueful smile touch at the corner of his lips but closed his eyes and sighed.
"I've been looking for her on the internet, files that I have on my adoption and foster homes. Anything that I have, for three years now. The closest I have come is when the adoption agency said they know of An Alice Masen getting adopted, but they can't seem to recall who placed her back then. Those records must have gotten lost or something. I might never find her," I could see him start to panic and I didn't like the look he had on his face. Like his world he was desperately trying to hold together, was slowly crumbling apart and had now finally exploded into a thousand pieces right in front of him.
"Don't say that. She might not know it, but I'm sure Alice is wondering where she came from too and maybe she has those papers and one day might find you. You never know how things like this play out, Edward. You just have to wait and see,"

A little more of Edward and all his pent up feelings.. poor guy..

Thanks for reading and stay safe you guys!