At 2 am, I was startled awake by loud banging on the front door, a frantic knocking like someone desperately trying to come inside. Sitting straight up in bed with my heart racing I shot out of bed. Coming into the hallway both my parents were already heading down the stairs with my mom tightly wrapping a bathrobe around her body. As soon as my father opened the door I knew immediately who it was.
His hair was a longer, matted mess, his shirt was torn and he had no shoes on. His clothes were filthy but he didn't stink. He stared at us with eyes that had seen too much to truly shine innocently anymore, and he sniffed through a stuffy nose.
"Mommy?" Max's voice broke, "Daddy? Jess?" His eyes filled with tears as he ran straight into my mother's arms, she fell to her knees and hugged him close to her body as she sobbed into his shoulder.
My legs gave out from under me, my knees slamming into the hardwood floors painfully. The relief that flowed through me was so intense I almost passed out. My whole body relaxed as I leaned against the wall, suppressing a pained chuckle of sheer nerves.
Dad was next for a hug, that didn't last as long as mom's and I was the last to let go. He latched on so tightly I thought he would never let me go. But I didn't care about that, I just held onto my baby brother.. I felt tears streaming down my cheeks as I sobbed into his shoulder loudly. I don't know how long we sat there for, but when we finally separated Max was out cold in my arms. I didn't want to let him go, so I carefully got up, keeping him on my hip and slowly made my way to my bedroom with him.
Our mother alerted the authorities still looking for him that he was now home. An officer showed up about fifteen minutes later, which wasn't all that surprising since this is such a small town but it was surprising that he looked wide awake despite how early it was. My parents talked with him for a minute before leading him to my room where my parents woke him up so he could talk with him, get information on who kidnapped him and how he got away. I was told to step out.
I sat outside my bedroom door, listening to my brother tell an "Outlandish" story of a scary man who drank other kids blood until they died, only for them to come back to life a few days later, super pale with bright red eyes like the man's. He said something about Edward and some people he didn't know who came to save him and the three other boys who were still alive.
The officer took my parents down to the living room, saying something about "PTSD" or something like that, how he must be in shock and misinterpreted the events.
I looked at my brother, who sat on my bed, looking exhausted, his eyes were a dark forest green instead of their usual bright almost grass green. I stood up and went into the room, sitting on the bed, I wrapped him up in a hug. "I believe you Max, don't worry." I whispered.
"It sounds dumb doesn't it, Jess?" He whispered. "It sounds made up, but I swear it happened!" He looked up at me with tear filled eyes. He was only 11, nearly 12 now, but he looked so lost and broken that it made him look so much younger.
"I know Max, but don't worry, I will always believe you." I smiled at him, hugging him tighter.
His shoulders went lax as he clung to me, he started sobbing into my chest, his tears soaking my shirt rather quickly. I just sat still, rubbing his back as I looked out the window. I felt numb, it was a huge relief to know he was okay, but I didn't know what I could do to help him at this point.
On Monday, Max stayed home with mom while I went to my first period with a little more pep in my step then I had in weeks. I actually smiled with I greeted Angela who was genuinely surprised when I came up to her with a tight hug.
"Max is home!" I said happily, and her entire demeanor brightened as she hugged me excitedly.
"That's great!" She said happily, grinning from ear to ear which caused me to laugh. She's been my best friend since we were twelve and had a strong bond between our families, so it was only right for me to tell her first. We did that girly thing of doing a little squee while hopping in place in a circle to get the excitement running.
I spent the whole day just grinning away as I thought of spending time with my little brother for the first time since he came home. The Cullens were keeping their distant, but minus Rosalie -as usual- none of them gave me any weird looks the entire day. I know it's because of them that Max is home, I owe them more than I could ever offer in a single lifetime by bringing him home.
At lunch I sat with Angela and Bella, seeing as Eric was out sick today it was just us girls. We chatted about weekend plans, Angela had a whole weekend planned with her brothers and Bella's dad wanted her to go see Billy and Jacob Black out on the reservation. I couldn't help but frown as I nodded. Well, I guess I'm alone this weekend.
My parents are taking Max out of town this weekend to visit family and to see a child psychologist and a few doctors for a physical or something like that. "Well you guys have fun and you better tell me how it goes, Bella!" I narrowed my eyes at her. I already knew Angela was going to tell me about her weekend anyway. "I'm probably just gonna go to the mall this weekend." I smiled. That's a lie. I'll probably just stay home and watch movies.
Warm pjs, some cocoa, wishing my parents would have Netflix but remind myself that nothing that good is on anyway so I'll just binge Disney or something.
Bella nodded quickly in response, understanding that I'm completely serious.
"I will! Don't worry." She added verbal confirmation.
"Good! I want to know how you and Jake get along after all these years of not hanging out." I smirked at her, wiggling my eye brows which caused her to blush.
"It's not like that Jessica! We're just friends!" She yelled at me, well quietly, she's not good at being very loud.
"Uh-huh." I snorted. The bell rang not too long after, signaling the end of lunch.
"Well see you guys tomorrow." It was only Monday after all. We have a whole week ahead of us.
It happened as I was walking to my car.
One moment I'm fishing for my keys and the next Mr. AmberMoodyPants is hovering me, staring into my eyes intensely like he was considering pushing me off a cliff or giving me a hug. He only blinked once as the thought came through my mind.
"Are you free this weekend?" His question stunned me into completely silence.
"Um." I mumbled, tucking my arms close to my body. "Yeah… Why?"
"Good, because I have a reservation at a restaurant that I don't want to go to waste, and Alice backed out at the last second. Do you want to come?" He kept staring at me and seemed to forget that humans are supposed to blink. "I don't want to lose it and I have some important things I need to talk to you about."
I knew he wouldn't take no for an answer so I agreed. He got this triumphant look on his face, it was subtle but I could tell it was there. Honestly I was terrified, I don't know what he wants to talk about, but it can't be anything good for me. All I can hope is that it's public enough to where I'm not gonna end up dead in a river somewhere.
For the rest of that week I completely stressed about this weekend to the point where I forgot three homework assignments, more than my average. Angela noticed instantly and she tried to get me to talk about it, but I refused. It wasn't until after school on Friday that she cornered me and forced me to talk.
"Edward asked me to dinner…" I mumbled and fidgeted with a bracelet on my wrist. Angela's mouth dropped open.
"He asked you out on a date?!" She cried, completely stunned as she continued to stare with wide brown eyes.
"No! He just said he wanted to talk about something important and I don't know what…" I replied, looking down, tugging at my brown hair nervously.
"He wants to confess!" She squealed which caused me to roll my eyes and finally cross my arms. I'll need to remember to thank her later for killing the stress flowing through me.
"No… I don't think it's that. We're meeting tomorrow…" I felt a chill run down my spine as I turned and caught eyes with said copper haired man-boy.
"What else could it possibly be if not a confession?" She raised a brow at me, which caused me to roll my eyes again.
"I'm pretty sure he hates me, and I told you, I have no idea what it could be, but I'm 100% positive that it's not a love confession." I said seriously, crossing my arms across my chest.
"Whatever you say." she snorted at me, believing that I'm completely in denial about the whole thing.
Saturday came faster than I wanted it to. I sat nervously on my couch, 20 minutes before the designated pick up time. My parents left early this morning with Max, leaving me completely alone and vulnerable to my emotions with no amount of staring into nothingness was going to fix that. I made sure to dress nice, but modest. Instead of dressing like I'm running for the best plum in the county fair, I dressed in a soft grey cashmere sweater, some black slacks that I had worn to a wedding last year and modest heels. The only signs of purple on my body was a purple hair tie which kept my hair up in a bun so my hair didn't touch food and a purple crystal hairpin which was stabbed into my bun.
10 minutes before pick up time there was a knock on the door. When I opened it to find Edward was standing there, dressed in a nice light gray suit with a blue tie. It clashed rather strongly with his pale skin and copper hair.
"Let's go." He smiled at me, probably trying to ease my nerves but it just made it worse. I felt fear shiver up my spine as he lead me to his car. He opened the door for me like a gentleman and I was quick to sit down in his cold ass car.
Honestly, I was happy with the temperature. I hated the heat more than anything and it was pretty nice out today despite it being late winter. Moments like these make me praise my mother for helping me find nice padded bras. It pinched a bit but at least it hid pointy nips.
We rode in silence to the restaurant that he had been talking about. It was about a 10 minute drive and I've never felt more awkward in my entire life. To an outsider, Edward looks like he's either a really focused driver or a serial killer- why is he smiling?
When we got there, he told his name and we were led to the table of his choice.
"I was told that this area is pretty secluded," Edward said while sitting down in the chair across from me. "Besides our waiter, no one should be able to listen in on our conversation."
"Totally not creepy, Cullen." I sit down, crossing one leg over the other and nodding politely to the waiter as we are immediately given iced water. "Why did you bring me here?"
"Can't I treat a friend to a good meal to celebrate your brother's return?" He rested his arms on the table in front of his chest, like a barrier between the two of us.
"Hm…" I took a sip of my water and nearly had a spit take, swallowing through what could have been an embarrassing moment. "I didn't tell you my brother was back."
The corner of Edward's lip twitched. "I know." He leans forward, a calm expression on serious eyes. "It's time we drop the charades, don't you think, Jessica? How did you learn the truth about us?"
Hey guys! So I know that this is a long time waited. But I just finished getting settled into my new home! I moved states to move in with my boyfriend, let me tell you! Driving for 6 to 7 straight hours with a toddler is not fun! Especially so late at night! Oooooh, there was so many tantrums that night. Let me know what you think of this chapter!