I've never fell in love
I've saved those feelings for you
So let's do all the stupid shit that young kids do
I had been waiting for this day for months.
My eighteenth birthday, a year closer to be twenty one, to be considered as an adult again by the masses. I was so fucking excited, this was fantastic.
And! I was finally older than Edward, physically at least.
Not that I looked much different from yesterday, or at least it hadn't registered in the mirror yet. I had good genes, that much I knew, both in this life and the one I had lived before. Even as Alexandra Noir I had been blessed with fantastic genes, still being able to pass as someone in their late teens or early twenties.
I made a few faces at the mirror as I brushed my teeth and followed my skincare routine as I did every morning. I had fun choosing my lipstick for the day, deciding on my classic Russian Red. My hair was wavy thanks to me sleeping with it slightly damp and in a bun and then I had decided to dress in all black. I looked sleek and comfortable. Killer.
I couldn't help but to giggle as I grabbed my bag and made my way downstairs.
Charlie was waiting for me in the kitchen, there were several bags of food on the table and I realized that the sly cop had managed to buy breakfast from somewhere in Forks. I truly loved the man.
"Bells!" he said as he pulled me into a hug, "Happy birthday!"
"Thanks dad!" I told him with a grin on my face.
We both sat at the table and had breakfast between our banter. He had gotten me a professional camera as a gift since he knew that I had a penchant for photography, I promised him a few shots of Forks so that we could redecorate the house and throw away the awful paintings that were in the house from the time that Renee had lived here.
The engine of my car roared to life and I smiled as I slid in a CD into the radio. Dancing In The Moonlight by toploader began playing and I sang along as I sped through the highway.
The Cullens were waiting for me along with Jessica, Angela, Ben and Mike, the human quartet looking quite awkward next to my favorite vampires. I parked my car next to Edward's Volvo and not as soon as I stepped out of the car I was pulled into a bear hug by Emmett.
I laughed as he passed me to Jasper, who did his best to place me gently back on the ground, Alice hugged me next, followed by Edward and then the humans. Jessica pulled me into a tight hug that I enthusiastically returned while Angela was more sedated in her hug. Ben patted me in the back while Mike gave me a quick hug under Edward's firm gaze.
Then Rosalie turned to me, a smirk on her beautiful face, "Happy birthday, Swan."
I turned to face her, a wolfish grin on my face, "why, thank you, Hale."
She raised an eyebrow at me before she pulled Emmett with her and strutted away from our small group, Jasper following closely as the three eldest Cullens had already graduated.
The classes were dull, as always, although lunch was fun enough since Jessica attempted to light a candle on a chicken nugget. Emmett then attempted to smuggle a giant cake into school and that somehow escalated into a food fight.
We walked into the Chem Lab covered in cake but with huge grins on our faces. Even Edward was smiling as he, Alice and I tried to set our table just for Mr. Banner to tell us that our current cake covered-selves were a hazard to our lab.
We managed to get out of classes early, I was almost vibrating with excitement. Alice had suggested going to Seattle for lunch. Plan made I rushed home so that I could change out of my caked clothes, Alice and Edward headed to their house so that they could change too.
I grinned as I spotted the yellow Porsche outside of my house. As soon as I got in Alice informed me that she had decided to turn my birthday lunch into a Girls Only affair and that Esme and Rosalie, along with the Denali Sisters plus Carmen, were all waiting for us in Seattle.
"So, Bella, would you prefer your gift now or later?" Alice asked as she drove at an ungodly speed.
"Well, I'm dying to know what you got me, but I can wait until tonight," I told her with a smile.
"You know, I don't think I've ever met a person who enjoys birthdays as much as you do," she said.
I grinned, "and you haven't seen how much I enjoy halloween yet! I am planning to dress up as Wednesday Addams, do you think anyone at Forks High will notice?" I asked pensively, my hair was long enough that I could probably pull off the two braids thing.
"Sure, it will be perfect," Alice assured me and I grinned at her.
"You should definitely dress up as Tinkerbell, Jazz could pull off Peter Pan."
"And Rose and Emmett?"
"As Morticia and Gomez, those two have that vibe going, besides, Em would be fantastic as Gomez, I can almost picture it in my head," I told her.
Alice laughed and nodded, "yes, they'd definitely pull it off, now how about Carlisle and Esme?"
"Jack and Sally maybe? I don't know, since Esme told me that she and Carlisle are not really a couple, mmm… Mulder and Scully? Thelma and Louise? Or maybe, Daphne and Fred, I bet Esme could rock the ginger look and she'd look fantastic in a purple dress," I rambled.
Talking about Esme, the vampire had rented a Hotel Suite to celebrate our Girls Only 'Lunch', which meant that I could eat whatever I wanted while the vampire ladies talked amongst themselves. It was a fantastic lunch, for me, and I enjoyed the Denali Sisters and their ways. Kate tried giving me advice on dating, while Tanya tried to make me discard everything that came out of Kate's mouth, while Irina told me about the joys of finally finding the one true mate, thing that she discussed with Rosalie.
"I have to admit that I have been curious," Kate said pensively.
"Come on Katie Kat, you've lived for over a thousand years and not once you've had a tryst with a lady?" I asked her, confused.
"Have you, Isabella?" Kate asked me, her russian accent thick when she said my name.
"Not in this life, very briefly in my past life, I kissed a girl and didn't really like it, although she wasn't wearing Cherry Chapstick so perhaps that was the thing," I told the blonde vampire, "but I did put an end to m curiosity, so you girls could try, although Katie Kat, I can assure you, one hundred percent that your mate is a man, and a very handsome one at that."
Kate blinked and I winked at her.
"How do you know that?" Rosalie asked.
"My freaky powers, Carlisle has a theory, he says that since I technically died once already I might be more sensitive to that sort of 'magic', just like the shapeshifters of the reservation, only different reasons to be sensitive," I explained.
"And what about me?" asked Tanya.
I looked at her and tried to focus, I had never forced out a vision before and Eleazar had told me that he could sense great power in me, just that he was not sure of what exactly it was that was 'in' for me. He and Carlisle had theorized for hours to no end about it.
I could feel myself dissociating from the vampires, it was a strange thing to do it consciously, but I had been practicing during the summer, I could now summon any memory from my time as Alexandra with exact precision and since she was a very dominant part of me, I felt as if I owed it to her to honor her memory somehow, I could also summon memories from the time in which I had been simply Bella.
Figures began forming in my mind, I could see Tanya's back and she seemed to be kissing someone, yet I couldn't place the person as it was blurry, I could only see hair, hair that was darker than Tanya's but definitely lighter than mine, it was definitely female.
The vision ended abruptly and I was shoved into the bathroom by Alice and locked inside, only to receive a phone call from said vampire that I definitely needed to stop a nosebleed before it began. As quick as I could I stepped into the shower, managing to discard most of my clothes in the process and let the cold water wash away any signs of blood.
When I walked out of the bathroom, smelling heavily of soap and the perfume I always carried in my bag since I used it to mask my scent, the vampire ladies were all a little tense and looking at me worriedly.
"That was not fun," I said as Alice quickly moved to help me dry my hair.
"I'd say that we totally prevented a catastrophe," Alice told me with a grin.
"But, Alice, humans are friends, not food," I protested and the small vampire laughed.
"Did you manage to see something?" Tanya asked, interested.
"Just that you seemed to be having lots of wild fun with a woman, so if I were you I'd began practicing, I couldn't see the lady's face nor any defining feature, but I'll try to look more into it when I'm not surrounded by a security hazard," I said with a smirk.
Rosalie snorted.
Alice returned me home late in the afternoon and told me to get ready for the real party. Charlie was not yet home and I found Renee's gift on the table, I opened excitedly because I loved gifts and the scrapbook thingy was kind of cute, so I had to give her that. I went to my room and took yet another shower before changing into a cute dress that I had bought specially for the occasion.
I had a small problem with money, or rather spending money. Since my past life I had never been too worried about money, ever, when I had been a child my parents usually got me everything I wanted since they couldn't spend that much time with me because of their jobs and had tried to fill that void with material things, then I had grown older and had gotten a good job with a fantastic pay, so money had never been an issue for me.
In this life, however, Charlie and Renee were not as wealthy as my other set of parents had been. Renee was a preschool teacher and while Charlie was the chief of the police department, it wasn't as if it paid that well. Thankfully, Charlie owned the house, and he had gotten quite a pretty penny for what had been his parent's house back then, and it wasn't as if the man spent as much. During the summer, Charlie and I had tackled the finances of the house, under my own suggestion, and had created a budget for us that left us with enough money to 'treat ourselves' from time to time.
Charlie had been a little disorganized with his finances and had been surprised when I had organized it all in the matter of three days, he had asked me if I was planning to become an accountant. My answer had been a definite no, but I explained to him that Renee was a little more disorganized than he was and that I always needed to take care of things.
So it was when Charlie decided that I could become his accountant, after asking me if I was comfortable with it, of course, and so each check that he got went straight to my hands and into our carefully crafted budget plan. And sure, perhaps I wished for another computer and not the old dinosaur that I owned at the moment, but excel was excel in any computer at this day and age, so I couldn't complain much.
I examined my reflection in the mirror and grinned, I looked cute and ready to party.
Alice picked me up and Charlie was excited to see the short vampire since Alice had spent most of the summer with me whenever I was not running errands for Esme.
Alice bantered with Charlie while I got my purse and drank a glass of water. When I rejoined them in the living room, Charlie had an arm around Alice and a grin on his face, I smiled softly at them.
"What are you two planning now? Need I remind you that dear Alice has a dad that she loves or that I'll be terribly jealous if you try to adopt her, dad?" I asked teasingly.
"Nonsense, Bella, you'd love to see Charlie fight Carlisle for custody," Alice smirked at me.
"I don't know where you got that idea, little menace, and besides if you ever wanted to become a Swan there are other ways," I said winking exaggeratedly at her.
Charlie laughed as he pulled me into a hug, "You're my number one girl, Bells, although Alice is steadily running for number two."
The three of us laughed, Charlie was such a dad sometimes.
"I guess I'll have to learn to live with that," I said, then glances towards the TV, "Who's playing tonight?"
"Mariners and the Sox," Charlie informed me.
"Damn, tha'ts a good one, you'll have to tell me all the juicy details once I come back, promise?"
"Sure, Bells, you girls have fun, say hello to Carlisle and Esme for me," Charlie said as he pulled me into another hug.
"There's lasagna in the fridge for you, and I'll most likely bring leftovers," I told him as he let go of me.
Charlie gave me a fond yet exasperated look before he looked at Alice, "She's all yours!"
Alice and I sang along all the way to her house. We both adored obnoxious songs and just the feeling of enjoying the moment. As soon as I spied the lights of the Cullen house I grew even more excited.
The entire house was decorated with sunflowers and yellow and silver balloons, as soon as I stepped through the threshold Esme pulled me into a hug that I returned eagerly, Carlisle did the same, although at a much more sedated pace. I was grinning as Jasper and Emmett pulled me into the living room where the main table was holding a beautiful cake.
I clapped my hands and squealed, "guys! You didn't have to do this, I mean, you obviously did, but you didn't have to go this far for little old me."
"Nonsense, Bella," Edward assured me as he handed me a box, "we love any excuse to celebrate."
"Thank you, Ted," I said as I ripped through the wrapping of the gift, it was a new pair of aviator sunglasses, "Teddy I love this so much!"
I pulled Edward into a hug and pressed a loud kiss to his cheek.
"Hey, don't give Edward all the love, Bells," Emmett said as he handed me another box.
I grinned at him as I ripped through another beautiful wrapping, I let out a giggle as I saw the familiar nintendo box, "A DS! Emmett you're the best, shit, I haven't seen one of these in years."
Emmett frowned as he looked at me, "Bella, they just came out."
I tilted my head to the side, "oh," I said softly, "Oh, well Alexandra got one for Christmas when she was a kid, but this is so cool, thanks Emmett, Rose."
"Now ours!" said Alice handing me another box and taking the DS away from me.
I opened the other box, again ripping through the wrapping when I felt a small sting on my finger. My reaction was immediate, I stuck my finger in my mouth and jumped behind Carlisle who was somehow the other vampire closer to me.
"NOT IT!" I managed to mumble as I sucked on my finger.
The reaction was immediate, Emmett was the first to laugh, followed by Alice and Rosalie. Esme had a fond smile on her face while Edward managed to look torn between mortified and amused. Jasper, I noticed, seemed to be having a little trouble breathing but the look on his face assured me that it was okay. I couldn't see Carlisle's face, but I could almost feel the amusement oozing from him.
I was holding onto Carlisle's arm and stuck my head from behind him, "no one's going to eat me, right?"
"Naah," Emmett assured me with a smile.
"Said the lion to the lamb," I said somewhat accusingly.
"I don't know Bells, you're the furthest that I've seen from a lamb," Emmett laughed.
I raised an eyebrow at him and then looked at the others, a little warily.
"I will step outside for a moment," Jasper said, offering me an apologetic smile.
I smiled at him and nodded when I realized that I didn't want to let go of Carlisle nor take my finger out of my mouth. Jasper walked outside, followed by Edward who gave me an apologetic smile.
"Well, that went well," Alice said.
I raised an eyebrow at her, "you don't say."
