"Are you nervous?" Ruby smirked in amusement, noticing how the nomad kept playing with the leather cuff on his right wrist.
Garrett huffed and rolled his eyes. He stopped fidgeting and leaned against the wall, with his arms crossed on his chest. "A human doesn't frighten me."
She let out a snort and shook her head. She could tell that he was still nervous, no matter how hard he tried to seem relaxed. Ruby glanced towards Jasper. He was staring at the nomad as well, from the corner of his eyes. She gave her brother a nod. The corner of his lips turned up into a small smile before looking away.
"Maybe you should sit," she patted the empty seat next to her. Suddenly she felt someone sitting next to her. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed that it was Emmett, who was grinning at Garrett. "Or maybe not."
"We can't have Eddie glaring at Garrett for sitting next to you," Emmett ruffled her hair, as she let out a hiss of displeasure. "Drama free environment."
"That will be difficult since drama follows Bella around," Rosalie rolled her eyes, ignoring Esme's scolding of been nice towards Bella.
"Oh please!" Ruby huffed, fixing her hair. "Eddie isn't going to be rude in front of Bella. He is on his best behavior when she's around." Her gaze turns to Garrett and smirks. "As long as you don't flirt, be rude or try to harm her, you should be fine."
Garrett let out a snort. "Noted."
They didn't have to wait too long, for they could hear Edward's car approaching the house. Emmett grinned at Garrett, with amusement in his eyes. Ignoring her husband's antics, Rosalie left the living room, towards the direction where the stairway was. Sending a wink towards the nomad, Emmett quickly followed after Rosalie, who went downstairs, wanting some fresh air.
Edward's car entered the garage. Esme grimaced at the sound of her son and Bella arguing. Jasper and Ruby let out a snort but immediately sober up by the glare Esme threw at them. They both apologized and Garrett shook his head in amusement. Trying not to eavesdrop on their argument, they paid attention to the news on the television.
"You're impossible!" Bella yelled, entering the living room. Her eyes glanced around Ruby, Jasper, Esme and Garrett. Her eyes widening at the nomad.
Edward wrapped his arm around Bella but kept his eyes on Garrett. "Bella this is Garrett. He is an old friend of Carlisle."
"Hello," the teen waved shyly at him.
"So you're Bella?" Garrett grinned at her, showing his white teeth. "I heard so much about you. Don't worry I won't bite. I promised Carlisle that I wouldn't taste human blood during my visit."
Edward glared at the nomad while Jasper and Ruby let out a laugh.
"So what were you and my brother arguing about?" Ruby asked, trying to break the tension that was growing between her brother and Garrett. "Is he overprotective as always?"
"I can tell that he hasn't been on a hunt in a while," Bella pointed to the dark bags under his eyes. His eyes were black as well from the lack of animal blood. "I've been trying to convince him to go hunt but he just won't listen. He doesn't want to leave me alone."
"He won't have much of a choice anyhow," Jasper shrugged, ignoring the stare from Edward. "Carlisle is going to make him go hunting with us, whether he likes it or not."
'You haven't told her yet?' Ruby raised an eyebrow towards her brother, knowing that her brother was reading her thoughts. 'I'm sure she's going to be delighted when she finds out about the sleepover.'
Edward glared at his sister and let out a disapproving grunt.
'Just wait until she finds out that you blackmailed Alice into it.'
"Well good!" Bella turned to look at her boyfriend. "You always listen to Carlisle."
"Not always," Alice sighed heavily, coming from her bedroom. "He was a rebel back in the day."
Esme shook her head and stood from the armchair. "Have you eaten yet, Bella?"
The teen shook her head. "I didn't have time."
"You're in luck," Ruby smiled. "There is some lasagna in the oven."
"Oh, thank you!"
Esme smiled and hooked her arm with Bella, stealing her away from the living room. "What would you prefer to drink?"
Edward watched as they left and quickly turned to glare at his siblings and Garrett. "Don't tell her anything."
"That's your problem, not mine," Ruby rolled her eyes. "Are you scared of telling her or what?"
"Well, it could be a surprise sleepover when you bring her here on Friday night," Alice smiled. "A weekend sleepover."
"I'm sure Charlie will agree if you pick her up," Edward stared at Alice. "He likes you more."
They all agreed on that, except for Garrett, who looked a little lost.
"Charlie is Bella's dad," Alice explained. "Maybe I should tell you the whole story since Carlisle and Esme just told you the major points…."
Edward, Ruby and Jasper groaned, knowing it was going to take a while for Alice to get through the whole thing. It wasn't until after Bella and Esme came back when Bella had finished eating dinner, that Alice finished telling her story.
"...and that's why Charlie and Edward have a tense relationship. Can you imagine what Charlie thought when he found out his daughter ran away for three days."
"And the whole thing with Victoria and Volturi is because of Bella's and Edward's relationship?" Garrett asked.
"When you put it that way…" Ruby grinned at her brother, who growled at her.
Bella scowled at him. "Be nice."
Alice and Esme began to talk to Bella about her plans after graduation, while Jasper and Edward continued to watch the news. Seeing the bored look on Garrett's face, Ruby pointed upstairs, where her bedroom was located. He smiled and nodded, pushing himself away from the wall. She felt eyes on them as they went to leave the living room, and she turned to glance at Edward.
"What?" She raised an eyebrow at her brother, challenging him to say something. He let out a huff and rolled his eyes. She smirked and walked out of the living room, with Garrett trailing behind her. They went up to her room and she turned the lights on.
"Do you want to work on your memories?" Ruby asked, sitting on the floor, close to the glassed wall. "Unless you want to wait after Carlisle comes back from work? You told me that you wanted to catch up with him."
"Might as well right now," Garrett shrugged, sitting cross leg across from her. He rubbed his hands nervously on his thighs, giving Ruby a nervous smile. "Is it going to hurt?"
"You might feel a bit of light pressure on your head at first," she explained, slightly shifting on the floor. "My family has told me that the pressure intensifies but it doesn't get painful."
Garrett nodded and let out a shaky breath. "Do I close my eyes?"
"If you want to."
Giving her a small smile, the nomad closed his eyes, relaxing his body. At first he didn't feel anything. He was beginning to worry if he let too much time go by that he won't have any recollection of any of his human memories. But soon he felt some light pressure around his head. It wasn't painful but it felt slightly uncomfortable.
The voices from the living room started to sound more distant. The pressure started to become more, still not painful, along with the sensation of pulling somewhere in his mind. He couldn't explain what he was feeling but soon he could see a murky imagine starting to form.
He could hear noises but it sounded as if he was underwater. The image was blurry, he couldn't see anything clear. But he could see it was still daylight and somewhere outside by the blues, yellows, orange and the greens.
"Focus," he heard Ruby's voice echo, sounding near yet far from him. "Don't let the memory get away."
She might have noticed his frustration since she continued to say, "Try to clear it out. Focus on it as much as you can."
He nodded, not wanting to break his concentration on the murky memory. The tugging sensation unexpectedly turned into brushing. As if fingers were running on his hair, very faint but he could feel them. The pressure was still there but it wasn't increasing anymore. Little by little the memory started to clear.
A two story house, made of wood and unpainted, was sitting in the middle of a big field. Other houses were near, some where two stories or one story tall. There were two adults, one male and the other female, sitting in rocking chairs on the porch. The sun was beginning to set and it looked like the couple was enjoying the view.
Soon a young boy came running from around the house. He was laughing as he was being chased by his dog. The mother laughed at her son's antics, while the father smiled and took a sip at whatever was in his mug. The child fell on the grass laughing and the dog began to lick his face.
Garrett let out a gasp and opened his eyes. The memory and the pressure disappeared. He blinked rapidly, as if trying to comprehend what just happened a second ago. He felt a hand on his forearm and he jumped startled.
"Sorry," Ruby pulled her hand away. "Didn't mean to scare you."
"It's fine," he said, sounding a bit breathless.
"Who were those people sitting on the porch?" Ruby quietly asked after a moment, while staring at Garret with curiosity in her golden eyes.
"My parents," he whispered, still in awe by reliving the memory. "I have forgotten how much simpler times were for me as a child. I grew up on that farmhouse until I was old enough and left to fight for our people."
"You look like you father."
"But I'm more good looking," he winked at her, making her laugh and punch him lightly on his arm.
"Do you want to try again?" she suggested, once she got her laughing under control.
Garrett tilted his head a bit and smiled softly. "I want to see if I can do it by myself."
"By all means," Ruby laughed lightly. "Let's see if you can."
Taking a deep breath, the nomad closed his eyes again. The next few minutes were passed in silence as he tried to concentrate on the memory. It took him some time but in the end, the memory came back. It was blurry the first couple of times, then it cleared it out.
"That was a process," he frowned, rubbing his head as if he was experiencing a headache.
"Some of your memories will take a while for them to get cleared up than others," Ruby softly explained, grasping his hands and giving them a light squeeze. "But with practice and time, you will remember. You may not get all of your human memories back, but we can recover some of them bit by bit."
"I would love that," Garrett smiled at her. "Let's do it again."
