I had finally just begun to doze off when there was a knock at the door. Edward lifted his head up, and I just flopped over onto my stomach. I didn't want to be bothered. All that walking had worn me out.
"Go away." I groaned, my voice muffled by the bed.
"Come in." He said, resting his head back down on his arm. His other hand running up and down my spine. It felt nice, but it gave me the chills at the same time.
"We're going hiking." Jasper said as he opened the door. I could see myself falling down a lot already. Why did they have to be so fit and flawless, while I was out of shape and clumsy?
"No more." I whined, stumbling off of the bed.
"Bella, you need to learn to be more adventurous. It'll be fun." Fun? I stared at Edward. He of all people should know my disability.
"I'll get hurt. I'll slow you down. I'll fall down." I crossed my arms stubbornly across my chest. He sat up and looked at me.
"I'll be there. Nothing's going to happen to you. I'm not leaving you alone here, and I'm not going to sit here either. You're coming, whether you like it or not." Once again, I was defeated. It wasn't what he said that forced me into going, it was his eyes. They were pure honey color today, and I couldn't seem to look away.
"Then I at least get to change." Jasper and Edward both nodded.
"Fifteen minutes." Jasper said before exiting, and closing the door behind him. Edward on the other hand, didn't move a fraction. He just sat there, staring at me.
"What?" I asked, after a moment or two of silence. "You should be happy that I'm going. But don't get mad at me when we're way behind the others." I lifted my duffel bag off of the floor and set it on the bed. Sighing, I began digging through its contents in search of my other pair of jeans and sweater.
"I won't get mad." He sounded so sincere, I couldn't help but smile.
"Can I change now?" I asked, folding my clothes over my arm. Edward nodded. But instead of leaving, he just turned around on the bed and put his face in his hands. For a moment I was unsure of what he was doing, but after a minute or two, I caught on. "You're not leaving are you?"
"Nope. But I won't look, I promise." I could tell he was smiling. Did he realize how totally uncomfortable this was for me? I exhaled slowly, and slid out of my jeans and into my other ones as quickly as possible. I held my breath as I flung my other shirt off and hurriedly pulled the dull orange colored sweater over my head.
"Done." I muttered, stuffing my other clothes into my bag. He lifted his head up and turned around to look at me.
"You look nice." He commented.
"So do you." He just laughed, and stood up.
"Ready?"
"No." But I followed him out of the room anyway. My stomach churned as we walked down the two flights of stairs. I wasn't looking forward to making a fool of myself, nor was I looking forward to going home in a full body cast.
"Are we all here then?" Carlisle called as we stepped outside onto the wrap around porch. For some reason I just couldn't see all of them walking together and enjoying themselves. Actually, I didn't even know that vampires took hikes.
"Why do I feel as if this is only for me?" I whispered, looking curiously at Edward.
"It's not." He assured me with a smirk. "We can be a normal family when we want to be."
"Oh." I just looked away.
"Come on, then." Carlisle and Esme led the way into the surrounding woods, followed by Jasper and Alice, Rosalie and Emmett, and bringing up the rear was Edward and I. As soon as we entered the dense woods, I stumbled and fell. No one else seemed to notice, and if they had, they completely ignored me. Except Edward.
"Try to be careful, Bella." I grabbed a hold of his cold hand and pulled myself up. He chuckled and resumed walking. Grumbling I trudged behind him.
"Sometimes I wish I were like you. Then I wouldn't have to worry about falling all the time." I knew he heard me, even if he pretended not to.
"Watch out for mountain lions, Edward." Emmett called back to him. They both smirked at each other, and I bit my bottom lip.
"You're not going to…" I trailed off as I hurried to catch up to him.
"Of course not! Not with you around, at least." He looked rather appalled that I would even think such a thing.
"Well why not? I want to see it."
"No you don't. I already told you that I can't be around you when I'm like that." I remembered him saying that quite a few times, actually.
"Alice, where are you going?" I looked up as Jasper and the rest of them stopped. Alice was staring at the mouth of a dark and spooky looking cave sort of thing.
"Who's coming with me?" She asked, turning around to face us all.
"I think we'll stay here." Esme said, nodding towards Carlisle.
"I'll go." Emmett stepped up next to her. Edward nodded.
"We'll go too." I flashed him a dark look.
"It's dark in there." I said.
"So?"
"So I won't be able to see. You think it's bad now. Well, just wait." Rosalie glared at me before shaking her head.
"Go without me." She snapped. Even now she didn't like me. I felt sorry for her, but then again I envied her. I'd give anything to be like her… even my life.
Satisfied with our little exploration group, Alice and Jasper led the way inside the cave. I gripped firmly onto Edward's arm as we followed them inside, Emmett trailing behind us.
It was dark and spooky, just as I had expected. Not even the dim light from the mouth of the cave helped. I couldn't see an inch in front of my face, but the others seemed to find their way perfectly through the darkness. I stumbled countless times, and if it hadn't of been for Edward, I wouldn't fallen at least a dozen times in the first five minutes.
"Edward." I hissed, shaking his arm and looking carefully to my left. It sounded like something was scurrying around, and I didn't like it in the least bit.
"What?" He asked softly.
"I hear something."
"Probably rats." I felt him shrug. Rats? Well, as long as they didn't touch or bite me, I would be fine.
"Boo!" I screamed as something jumped out at me. My heart was racing as I released Edward and staggered backwards, bumping into the wall.
"Jasper!" I breathed, placing my hand over my heart. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"That was the point." I eyed his chuckling silhouette in the darkness carefully.
"Stop playing games and let's go." Emmett said, giving Jasper a shove and walking on. Still laughing, Jasper followed him.
"That wasn't funny." I said as Edward pulled me away from the wall and set me on course again.
"Yes it was. You should've seen your face."
"I can't see anything in here." I grumbled, now feeling my way through the darkness. For a while there was complete silence. The only sound was footsteps and dripping water. Well, besides the occasional thud from me falling. I enjoyed the silence, because I could hear him breathing next to me, and I knew he was real.
It was nice to have that reassurance once and a while. Sometimes it felt like this was all a dream, but when I felt him or saw him, I knew my imagination wasn't that expansive.
"This was a waste." I heard Emmett grumble, as we approached them.
"What was?" I asked curiously, stepping up behind them and peering over their shoulders. It wasn't much, but it was rather nice. There was a tiny stream, and the water looked cool and crystal clear.
"Let's go back, then." Jasper shrugged.
"Race you." Alice said, before taking off. Smirking, the other two boys took off after her.
"I bet Alice wins." I said, looking after them.
"Emmett." Edward said, crouching down by the water and staring at it.
"I can actually see here." I knelt next to him and stuck my hand in, watching the ripples intently.
"It's nice."
"Yes." I replied softly, looking over at him.
"Shall we follow them?" He asked, standing up. I reached up and grabbed his hand, shaking my head.
"Can we stay here for a little bit?"
"Of course, Bella."