Jessica's mother was a cheerful woman. She tried to keep her spirits up as much as she could despite the state of the economy and having to raise two daughters all by herself. She never complained and she was for most of the year an impenetrable force. She only ever showed sadness twice a year.
During the Christmas season, there was the anniversary of her husband's death and in April there was their wedding anniversary. The first year after her father's death, their mother dropped them off at the Webers' to spend the night while she spent the whole day by herself in the house. The next day, their mom picked them up and it was like nothing happened. Jessica saw through her mom's fake smiles and the next year when the anniversary rolled around again, she made an awful chocolate cake that collapsed when she took it out of the oven.
Her mother had laughed at the mess and hugged her even with tears in her eyes. It became another tradition that Jessica had taken upon herself for the family. Her dad couldn't be there to go celebrate his anniversary with his wife so Jessica was going to bake a cake for her mom to show her how much they loved and appreciated her. Since she was going to be at college this time next year, she had to pass this responsibility over to Emily. Her sister had no idea how to bake and it was going to be a long day of trial and error.
Edward tagged along as they went to the supermarket to buy ingredients. He pushed the cart as Jessica picked things off the shelves. She gave Emily the grocery list and taught her what exact things she needed to make a cake. Her sister frowned as she looked at two different brands of cake flour.
She asked, "What's the difference?"
"The price," Jessica took the cheaper one and threw it in the cart and returned the more expensive one on the shelf. "Consumerism. They're trying to sell you the same thing but more expensive."
"You're paying the extra dollars for the brand," Edward added. "Don't give in to their shady marketing tactics."
Emily frowned as she processed this. This was the first time she was really hanging out with Edward and didn't know what to make of him. She asked him again earlier if Jessica had bribed him to date her. Jessica was not amused.
The rest of the shopping trip consisted of Emily asking more questions. Like what was the difference between white eggs and brown eggs? Why was there white sugar and brown sugar? Why does food coloring only come in a certain amount of colors? And so on.
Thankfully, they got everything they needed and they made their way back to the house. Edward drove a lot slower when Emily was in the car which made Jessica a bit jealous as he always drove like a madman when she was in the car. Jessica usually held unto the car door and her seat belt, constantly tense as Edward drove at a hundred miles per hour and swerved around like he thought he was Paul freaking Walker. By the time they arrived at their destination, she would step out of the car on shaky limbs relieved she survived and was on land again.
Edward hid his smug smile and she glared at him. He parked the car especially slowly and carefully as if he was mocking her. They made their way inside and to the kitchen and Jessica looked for her copy of Nana Caroline's chocolate cake recipe. Edward and Emily had emptied out the ingredients on the island and she took out a mixing bowls and a whisk from the cabinets.
"Okay, squirt," Jessica held up the small index card where Nana Caroline's recipe was written. "This is Nana's personal recipe. She doesn't give this out to anyone but she gave it to us so we have to guard it with our lives."
Edward looked over her shoulder to see the recipe and she elbowed him away. "This is a family secret! Not for your eyes, Cullen."
He nearly rolled his eyes. "I don't even eat cake."
"No, but you might enter a baking competition using my Nana's recipe," She clutched the card to her chest protectively. "And when you win they're gonna praise you for this amazing recipe you created but it's not yours. It's my Nana's and you stole it."
He held up his hands in surrender. "Jesus Christ."
Emily was watching their interaction back and forth and asked, "How did you two end up together?"
"Besides me being so pathetic I bribed him?" Jessica returned sarcastically before saying, "What really happened is that he wooed me with roses and played piano for me."
"Like in those old movies," Emily grinned. "Gene and Judy."
Jessica caught the Me and My Gal reference as she would switch out Singing in the Rain for that movie or Summer Stock. She felt something in her melt. Their dad would've been proud. She beckoned Emily closer to her as she showed her the recipe and she taught her sister how to break an egg with one hand.
Edward watched them bake for a few minutes. Emily complained when she had to mix the batter and that her arm was hurting. Edward took over for her sister after the younger girl pouted at him and it earned him a bright smile. They ended up with a round cake with chocolate icing sloppily smothered all over it.
Her mother loved the cake and they ate slices of it as they watched Me and My Gal on the TV. Edward got away with not eating by telling her mother he was allergic to chocolate. He left before they were about to have dinner. Jessica escorted him out to where Mo was parked.
"Thanks for today," she said. "Emily told me she thinks you're cool."
"I heard," Super hearing had its perks. He smiled. "I'm gradually winning over all the Stanley women."
"Even my Nana?" He shrugged and she laughed. "You fiend!"
He was leaning on his car and pulled her to him to stand between his legs. He titled her chin up before dipping down and kissing her. Kissing while standing could be a pain with the height difference but Edward never complained. He pulled away, looking past her towards the window where her mother and sister were watching them.
"I should go," He gave her one last peck. "I'll see you tomorrow, darling."
Darling. He never called her that before. It was usually "Jessica" with a good deal of exasperation because she was driving him insane. He would even draw out the syllables when he was especially incensed "Jes-si-ca" and that's when she knew he was close to his breaking point.
And it was such an old-fashioned endearment. That's what she got for dating a senior citizen. He glared at her before he got inside his car. She watched him drive away and felt a pang of wistfulness.
She already missed him. It wasn't like he was going anywhere far. She would see him tomorrow. This being in love stuff was making her crazy.
Jessica was in the middle of a phone call with her Nana when Edward arrived outside her window. She pushed the window open, squeezing her phone between her neck and shoulder to not drop it as her Nana continued to tell her a story about having met Gene Kelly at the premiere of Summer Stock back in 1950. It was her grandmother's favorite story and she kept repeating it to anyone no matter how many times they'd heard the story before. Jessica couldn't really blame her because if she ever met Gene Kelly (with the use of time travel and some ingenuity) she wouldn't shut up about it either.
Her Nana was in the middle of describing the dress Judy Garland wore when she stopped and asked, "Your mother told me you have a boyfriend. Is that right?"
She inwardly sighed. Her mother's big mouth was going to be the death of her.
"We've only been dating for a few months," she answered, avoiding looking at Edward who was watching her with clear amusement. "There's not much to tell."
Nothing she could really tell her grandmother. Nana, did you know my boyfriend's a vampire? Don't worry. He likes to eat mountain lions. And he recycles!
"Months? Your dad didn't even wait a month before he told me he was dating your mother," Nana reprimanded. "I had to pull it out of him and he insisted it was nothing serious. He said she's just some girl, Ma. It probably won't last. And we saw how that turned out, didn't we?"
Jessica sat down on her bed, surprised. "They never told me that."
"Your Nana remembers everything," her grandmother said. "Now tell me about this boy of yours."
She rubbed at her eye, trying to fight off the discomfort at being put on the spot. Edward took a seat beside her and waited for her to start speaking. She rolled her eyes at him. She moved the phone to her other hand and glared at him.
"His name is Edward. He's originally from Chicago," she said. "He plays piano and randomly quotes Shakespeare. He drives like a crazy person. And he's really moody. Worse than me and I'm a teenage girl."
Edward gave her a look and she stuck out her tongue at him.
"It sounds like he's gotten under your skin," Her Nana let out a little laugh. "What does he look like?"
"Tall, pale, red hair," She squinted at him and tried to find a lookalike her grandmother would know. "Looks very, very vaguely of Elvis."
"Oh, Elvis!" Her grandmother sounded excited. "He must be so handsome."
"Sure," She hit him with a pillow, wanting to wipe off the smug grin on his face. "If you like a very pale Elvis who cries at sad dog movies."
He looked at her in betrayal. He hissed, "You swore a blood oath to never tell anyone."
She shrugged. They watched My Dog Skip last week on the TV and Edward was despondent and teary-eyed at the end of the movie. He insisted it was only sweat and tried to lie to her that vampires could sweat from their eyes. She wasn't having it and he made her swear to never tell another soul what happened.
He glared at her and crossed his arms over his chest. He refused to interact with her as she finished her phone call with her Nana and she tried to get him to stop being grumpy.
"It was a joke," she persuaded. "I was crying harder than you. I could barely even see through all the tears. And it's sweet that those movies make you emotional. It makes you more…"
Human. He finally looked at her. The line between human and vampire blurred when he was with her. And she wondered if he even noticed anymore that whatever humanity she was able to bring out of him was becoming bigger by the day. She wondered if for him it was evolution or regression. Were emotions human or were they universal?
He didn't acknowledge her thoughts and took her hand in his. "Tell me about your dad."
Not expecting that, she replied, "What?"
"You think about him a lot but you don't talk about him," he explained. "I'm curious about what he was like."
He did look genuinely interested. She closed her eyes and tried to remember her dad's face. She took more after her mother with her features but she had her dad's blue eyes. He had dark hair and had a beard since she turned ten and he started wearing only plaid shirts. Tall and bulky, he looked like a handsome lumberjack.
"He was from Maine. And he went to Bates college and that's where he met my mom. He majored in Geology and was on the rowing team," she said. "We moved to Forks because he was offered a job in a logging company. My dad was a big outdoors guy. He always smelled off the woods. He would make us go hiking and camping and I hated it."
She smiled at how whiny she had been and complained about getting mud on her boots and how she just wanted to stay at home and watch Lizzie McGuire. Her dad looked most at home in a tent in the woods and being one with nature. Her mother hated being outdoors too but she tolerated it for him. Emily never even got to go on any of these trips because she'd only been four-years-old when their dad passed away.
It saddened her that Emily never knew their dad. All she ever knew of him were photos and secondhand stories. She had been too small to have any lasting memories of him. Jessica counted herself lucky that she had over a decade with her father and she had all these memories she had of him. She couldn't imagine not having known him.
"He was a good dad. He taught me the importance of hard work and he encouraged me when I became interested in science," she continued. "You're gonna laugh at me but the reason I want to take up Biochemistry is because my dad took me the watch the first X-Men film. And I was so enamored at the idea of mutants and evolution and he told me there was a job that studied that."
"So you want to usher humanity into the age of mutants," he concluded. "All this because you liked Storm's powers?"
"She was super cool. And she's Halle freaking Berry," she agreed. "I wanted to marry Hugh Jackman and he could whisk me off to Australia where we could adopt a mob of kangaroos."
Edward laughed. "I'm pretty sure he's married."
"Tragedy of my life," She nudged him. "Tell me about your dad."
"There's not much to tell. His family was originally from New York before they moved to Chicago. They had a shipping business before selling that off and becoming barristers and lawyers," he expounded. "My father didn't really interact with me much. He left me in the care of my mother and he worked as much as he could. He seemed more in love with his job than anything else. I can count on one hand the few times he spoke with me directly and they were mostly about my schoolwork."
"He was distant and cold?" she asked. "And he wanted you to go into Law like him?"
"I probably would've gone into Law had the pandemic not happened," he answered. "My father didn't think becoming a musician was a worthy profession and he didn't want to be funding my 'hobby' as he put it."
She grimaced. "I'm sorry but it sounds like he was a dick."
"If the shoe fits…" His eyebrows furrowed. "I don't even know why he married my mother. They were complete opposites."
"Opposites attract?" she offered. "Maybe he saw this beautiful red-haired goddess and it made his heart swell up three sizes?"
"I doubt that," he countered. "She was a penniless Irish girl with no connections. I wish I knew the story of why she married him but I guess I'll never know."
Knowing there wasn't really anything she could say to make him feel better, she leaned her down on his shoulder and curved herself into his side. He accepted her touch and pulled her closer until her head was resting on his chest and played with her hair. It was disconcerting not hearting a heartbeat but it was one she was getting used to. She knew there was a heart underneath even if she couldn't hear it.
"For what it's worth, I don't think you're anything like your dad," she told him. "You would've made a terrible lawyer. Your poker face is a disgrace."
He snorted. "Thanks."
Her letter from Stanford arrived when she was at school. Her mom told her she had put it on her bed and Jessica had let out a high-pitched squeal before running to her room. She found the envelope sitting innocuously on her bedspread, a white beacon that beckoned to her. She approached her bed slowly, fearing that going any faster would cause the universe to implode.
Picking up the envelope, she traced her name on the envelope reverently. Her heart was beating so fast she was getting light-headed. She was scared to even breathe. Slowly, she flipped the envelope over and reached to open the flap. The slight tearing made her wince. Her fingers sweaty, she reached into the envelope to pull out the letter inside. She closed her eyes, praying to every deity she knew for good fortune, before finally looking at the page.
Dear Jessica,
Congratulations! It is with great pleasure that I offer you admission to Stanford University Class of 2007.
She couldn't read anymore before she opened her mouth and let out a scream that didn't even sound human. Her mom and Emily burst into the room in concern and she had to explain what happened. It was mostly gibberish. Her mom finally took the letter from her, read over it briefly, before smiling brightly.
"Oh, Jess," She pulled her daughter into a hug. "I'm so proud of you."
Emily was still confused. "What happened?"
Jessica finally remembering English language, exclaimed, "I got into Stanford!"
"Oh," Emily, innocent angel that she was, said. "Is that a big deal?"
"It is the biggest deal ever, squirt!" Jessica pulled her into a tight hug until her sister squirmed and complained she was crushing her. "I'm going to California!"
"Isn't that where Zac Efron lives?"
"Yes, that is where Zac Efron lives," Jessica answered. "He's a few cities away but we'll be in the same state."
Emily smiled. "Cool."
To celebrate, her mom baked them a pie and they talked over what she would need to bring when she moved into the dorms. Jessica called Lauren and Jessica and told them the good news. Her friends both got their acceptance letters from the University of Washington and were already making plans of rooming together. And Jessica tried to calculate how much she would have to pay for gas when she drove Winnie to California.
She thought many times about calling Edward. He would be happy for her and would roll his eyes as he pointed out that Alice already told her she was getting in so she shouldn't be surprised. She hesitated because Edward had told her he was planning on attending Berklee which would be in Boston on the other side of the country from her. They would have to make it work long distance and she had heard too many stories of that crashing and burning for couples.
The realization of what this meant for their relationship gradually killed her buzz until she was sitting on her bed, glaring down at her acceptance letter and wondering what she was going to do. Going to another college was out of the question. She had worked too hard on this. Asking Edward to go to California with her sounded selfish and he would be playing cat and mouse with the sun there.
Edward let himself into her room. She hadn't turned on any lights and was sitting gloomily in the darkness. He turned to a napping Sunny as if her dog could provide any answers. He was ignored.
He approached Jessica warily and asked, "Is everything okay?"
She wordlessly handed him the letter. He didn't ask her to turn on the light as he explained to her once he had built in night vision. His eyes skimmed the page for a second before looking back at her. He smiled but he was confused.
"This is a good thing," he said. "It's everything you've ever wanted."
"Of course it is," she replied. "This is the best thing that's ever happened to me."
"But?"
"You said you wanted to go to college in Boston or New York," She sighed. "And long distance doesn't really work out. We'd probably give it a go for a semester before realizing how terrible things are between us and we'd break up. You'll find some sweet girl from Arizona who would worship the ground you walk on-"
"Jessica," He interrupted her babbling. "I can go to school anywhere. I've been to colleges more times than I count. I have several degrees. There's nothing I want to study in Boston I couldn't do it California."
"It is really sunny in California," she told him. "You would have to walk around with a black umbrella and hope you never slip and expose people to the sparkles…which sounds really wrong but you get my point."
"I would just need to be extra careful," He put down her letter on her bed and cupped her face in his hands. "You would be worth all the hassle, Jessica."
"Are you sure?" she asked. "I don't want you to go to California with me and then realized it's too much work and you would resent me for making you go there-"
"No, no. I'm sure," he cut her off. "When it comes to you, I am always sure."
She sighed in relief as he rested his forehead against hers. The panic and fear ebbing away slowly and she felt like she could breathe again. She was becoming one of those girls that always needed to have their boyfriend around them, unable to exist otherwise. She didn't know what to do to stop it or if she even wanted to.
There was also another concern.
"It's too late to apply for any college in California now," she explained. "You would need to wait until the next semester to apply and Stanford has the most difficult acceptance rate."
"Actually I have something to show you," He pulled away from her and pulled out a piece of paper from his jacket. He handed it to her and he went and opened the lights so she could read it. "Alice applied for me months ago."
She blinked in surprise at the letter. "Alice applied for you so you can go to Stanford? Why?"
He let out a deep sigh. "She's a clairvoyant. Apparently, after I saved you in the parking lot back in September, she went and did all this."
"She saw us happening?"
"She saw but a glimmer of a different future for me and she trusted her instincts," He shook his head. "Not that I enjoy it when she meddles but in this case, I'm grateful."
She smiled, hope burning through her like the sunrise. "You got into Stanford."
"I'm smart too, Miss Valedictorian," He gave her a look then admitted, "Besides, I'm a Legacy. My grandfather, Edward Masen, attended Stanford in 1957."
"Your granddad who happens to look exactly like you?"
He nodded.
"It's not a legacy if you're your own descendant," She grimaced. "You're your own granddad. That's weird."
"I'm a vampire," he replied nonchalantly. "Weird comes with the territory."
Longer chapter than usual. There was a lot to tackle. We are six chapters away from the end. This story will end at 25 chapters. How the time flew by, huh?
1. Me and My Gal, Singing in the Rain, and Summer Stock are all movies starring Gene Kelly.
2. "This being in love stuff is making me crazy" is from 90210.
3. Edward's dad, Edward Masen Sr., is canonically said to be distant and that's really it. I took some liberties and expanded on what he may have been like and how it affects how Edward turned out.
4. Do you think Robert Pattinson looks like Elvis? I went on Google and wanted to see what old film actor he looked like and people were like "Elvis". I mean, very very faintly and with certain lighting, maybe.
5. The first X-Men film came out in 2000, two years before Jessica's dad passes away in this story.