Leah:

What are you thinking about right this minute?

-Edward

I grinned at my screen and bit the tip of my thumb. Honestly I had just been debating whether or not it was worth facing the wrath of my mother to go sneak a slice of birthday cake early.

Hm. Birthday cake. You?

I set the phone down but it buzzed again just a second later.

What kind of birthday cake?

No fair you didn't tell me what you are thinking about

Well now I'm thinking about different types of birthday cake

I rolled my eyes but the grin on my face didn't falter.

Chocolate fudge with strawberry icing. My Dad makes it for me every year.

Just thinking about it downstairs in the fridge made my stomach groan loudly.

What's your favorite song?

And so it continued well into the wee hours of the morning. By the time I finally drifted off to sleep I knew Edward's favorite color was brown, a choice I definitely made fun of him for. He just said brown was warm. I was glad he couldn't see the blood that rushed to my cheeks when I thought that his strange answer might have something to do with my dark hair and skin. He told me he was adopted at a young age after his parents passed away so that explained why his Dad looked way too young, he was actually Edward's Uncle. He told me about his four siblings named Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper and that somehow they had never had a family pet. I learned his favorite song at the moment was Bleed It Out by Linkin Park, but also that it changed on a near constant basis. He played piano, guitar, and flute but liked piano the best. He was really into cars, he drove some kind of beefed up Volvo now but hoped to have something called a Vanquish someday.

I told him about my own petty favorites, my childhood dog Darcy who passed away last fall, and my annoying little brother Seth. I told him about Rebecca and how much it sucked when she graduated and ran 1,000's of miles away the first chance she got without so much as a glance in her rear view mirror. I told him about my crummy old hand-me-down car that I had inherited from my mom when she finally got to upgrade, and how much I absolutely loved it. I didn't mention Sam but not because I was keeping him a secret, we just hadn't gotten that far before I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. At least that's what I told myself.

I slept heavily without dreaming and was woken up the next day by soft light seeping in through gaps in my dusty old blinds. I rolled over and pulled my comforter over my head, Edward's golden eyes watching me curiously from behind my own lids. Butterflies, actual butterflies, erupted in my stomach when I thought about the night before and all that we had shared with each other.

Despite their best efforts my family couldn't wait any later than 9am to come bursting into my room singing. I groaned from under my blanket until they went away but I was too keyed up to try staying in bed any longer. I went to my closet and fished out my best jeans and a dressy white top I had been saving for a special occasion, taking them with me to the bathroom. I spent a long time in the shower again, my muscles were tight and strained with tension and the hot water was a welcome release. For the first time in my entire young adult life when my hands wandered to more delicate areas I didn't think of Sam touching me. Molten amber eyes flooded my mind and pale white hands seemingly replaced my own, contrasting brilliantly against my skin.

When I was done I spent a long time blow drying my hair and carefully applying my usual makeup, with the addition of some eyeliner. I ran back to my room and shoved my phone into my back pocket before sliding into my slipper boots. Downstairs the table was piled high with a breakfast feast. Fry bread, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and even a bowl of diced fruit. My family sat around the table in their usual chairs but this time with a few additions.

"EMMY!" I squealed, running to throw my arms around my cousin's shoulders. She was only two years older than me and since I didn't have any sisters, and hers were so much older than us, we spent a lot of time together. I didn't get to see her very often these days ever since her family moved to her father's reservation but they always came down for Seth and I's birthdays.

"LE-LE!" She squealed back, standing and turning to embrace me fully. "I can't believe we're both adults now! Feels like just yesterday I was daring you to eat a worm." She said, pulling back and wrinkling her nose at the memory. I wrinkled my nose right back. Like I said, I never had been one to wuss out on a dare.

I laughed and she sat back down. I walked over to give my aunt and uncle awkward half hugs and thank them for coming. We spent the next hour eating, laughing, and catching up. Then it was time to clean up breakfast and start decorating for the party. Mom shooed me out of the house, despite my protesting, saying it was meant to be a surprise and not to come back until she called me. I grabbed Emily's wrist and dragged her out with me as a compromise. Luckily it wasn't actively raining but it definitely wasn't warm either. I ran back inside to grab us both hoodies out of my closet, when I came back out Emily was standing in the same spot hunched forward and rubbing her arms with her hands. She took the sweatshirt gratefully.

"Wanna walk to the store or the beach?" I asked as we each slipped into our jackets, shivering. One was to the left, the other to the right.

"Definitely the beach. I miss it so bad!" She said, taking off quickly, dragging me along with her now. We linked our arms together and turned left towards First Beach.

"How's college? Still doing the nursing program?" I asked.

"Yeah I'm not really sure I'm going to stick with it though. I don't think I have the stomach for it." She said, wrinkling her nose again. Come to think of it, she had always been pretty squeamish.

"What made you go for that in the first place? I thought you wanted to be a preschool teacher. That suits you better, I think anyway."

She rolled her eyes. "Tell that to my dad. He says teaching is 'a dead end job that costs more than it makes.'" She said, mimicking her dad's gruff voice and wagging her pointer finger in the air. I didn't say anything because it seemed like she had more to say but she just sighed and tucked her hand back into her pocket.

I swung my foot low on my next step and small rocks came raining down a few feet ahead of us with an extra satisfying kshhh sound. "Well for what it's worth I think you would be a really great teacher. Maybe you won't make a ton of money, but maybe making an impact and loving what you do is actually more valuable." I said, cringing slightly at my own corniness.

But Emily smiled up at me warmly and that made me feel less dumb. "Thanks Leels."

We walked in silence until the harsh crunching of gravel was replaced by the softer crunching of sand. Emily let go of my arm and went sprinting towards the lapping waves. I laughed and ran after her, my long legs catching up to her short stride effortlessly. I tackled her and we fell in the sand, rolling and erupting in a cacophony of loud giggles and shrieks.

When the moment passed we sat in the sand side by side with our legs stretched forward and our arms behind us, watching the salty waves lick away layer after layer of mushy brown sand. Seagulls screeched overhead and the sounds and smells all put together made me flashback to a memory of building sandcastles with a little tiny Seth and my much younger parents on this very beach. We stayed sitting like that in silence for what felt like ages.

I heard them first. Heavy purposeful footsteps trudging through the sand, moving closer towards us. I turned to see who was coming, fully expecting it to be Seth.

It wasn't.

***Thank you so much for the feedback, and for letting me know the order had gotten thrown off. everything should be correct now if you'd like to go back to the end of chapter 5/beginning of chapter 6 so the flow makes more sense. thanks again it means a lot***