Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OC
I couldn't ignore the small bit of anxiety welling up in me as I looked in the mirror. I had changed my dress about three different times in the past thirty-minutes. I had finally settled on my dark-green knee-length dress; it was modest while still being flattering. Today was the day of graduation and I would be attending the ceremony for Ben's sake but later on I would be going to the Cullen's party at their home. Ben said that he would also be going but I still couldn't help but feel nervous.
Just as Alice promised, she did text me the location of the party and the time that it would start. I still couldn't believe that I was actually going to go to Carlisle's house with all of his children there. With all of his children there. Carlisle had insisted on going to the graduation ceremony with me, saying that it was saving the environment by him driving the both of us. I wanted to drive by myself, at least if I felt too anxious I would have my own escape route but when Carlisle asked me to go with him, I couldn't say no.
So now, here I was changing in and out of dresses while I waited for Carlisle to pull up at my door. Right, Carlisle is going to be pulling up any minute now and I still hadn't done my hair. I rushed into the bathroom, pulling my hair into the nicest bun that I could manage that looked like I hadn't done it in only five-minutes.
This wasn't a big deal. It was only a ceremony and then a party; it would be fine. It would be completely fine. Of course, this would be the first time that Carlisle and I would be spending a lot of time together outside of the bookstore or the hospital and it would be at his home. Carlisle and I were friends and so it would be only natural that I would meet his children eventually. I just thought it would be way down the line, way way down the line.
I was gathering all of my things into my purse when I heard a knock at my door. I smoothed out my dress before heading to the door, opening it with a nervous smile. Carlisle was dressed in soft-blue dress shirt with a grey jacket and a grey scarf; he seemed to have a fondness for scarves.
"You look wonderful" He said, looking down at me with his beautiful eyes. I felt my cheeks darken with the compliment.
"Thank you, you look very nice as well" I said as I closed the door behind me, locking it before we made our way to the car. Carlisle opened my door for me before getting into his side of the car. "Are your kids nervous for today?"
"For graduation? No, I don't think they are" he said smiling to himself.
"Really? Ben's really nervous, he kept texting me last night, telling me that I he had no idea where his life was going after this"
"He's going to college, isn't he?" asked Carlisle as we were down the road and towards the high school.
I nodded. "Yeah, he leaves in August, I'm going to miss him" I really would. Tomorrow would be my last day at the bookshop and Ben wouldn't be working with me. It would be a sad day. I couldn't imagine it, not spending my Saturdays' talking with Ben, organizing shelves and sorting through the lists of new orders. Lately, he really had become one of my closest friends.
We drove the rest of the way with light conversation about this or that. After a little while Carlisle finally pulled up to the school, parking in one of the spaces. There seemed to be a lot of different people here today, parents, siblings, friends, all of them here to see the ceremony.
After getting out of the car, I looked at Carlisle. He really was wonderful, truly one of my closest friends. Of course, he was rather handsome, not that I noticed the many looks he was getting from the people around us as we walked to the gym. It didn't bother me. It really didn't. People were always going to stare at him and it wasn't something that I could stop nor did it bother me.
I saw another lady take a second glance at Carlisle and automatically my arm went to hook into his. Okay, maybe it bothered me a little. Carlisle didn't say anything, just looked at me with a slight tilt of his head and continued walking with our arms interlocked.
"We should get into the gym before all the good seats are taken" I said, looking straight ahead of us, willing my face not to blush. I was only doing this because it wasn't the right time for people to be looking at Carlisle, it was a graduation after all, nothing more.
We found seats just behind the rows of graduates and Alice waved to us when she saw us and I responded with a shy smile and a small wave. I saw Ben a few seats in front of us but he was too busy talking to his friends to notice. There were a lot of parents here, many of whom I knew. Chief Swan was here, for his daughter Isabella, who Carlisle had also told me was dating his son Edward.
The ceremony went rather normally. Carlisle and I clapped as they called each person's name, clapping a little more when they called the names of his kids or Ben. It was my first time seeing most of his kids besides Alice. They were all wonderfully beautiful, just like Carlisle and they all had the same golden eyes. It was almost hard to believe that they couldn't be at least a little related. The speech was very good and everyone clapped good naturedly before everyone was released outside to meet with their families and friends.
I saw Ben in one direction and Carlisle's kids in another, talking amongst each other. They looked so real and it gave me so much anxiety to think about talking to them that I felt like I couldn't breathe all of a sudden. I looked around in a slight internal panic because I could almost hear Carlisle asking me if I was ready to meet them.
"I'm going to go see Ben" I said suddenly, slipping my arm out from Carlisle's.
He nodded, "Yeah, I'm going to go see the kids"
We separated in the different directions and I walked over to Ben. He saw me coming and pulled me into a tight hug.
"Congratulations, Ben" I said with a wide smile as he released me. "You're all grown up now"
"You can't call me a baby anymore"
"Well, I can always call you that, I'm still older than you" I teased. I grabbed the envelope from my purse. "Here, I got this for you, I used a lot of school supplies to make the card" I said with a slight laugh.
"Well, thank you for coming and you brought a date" he said, glancing from me to Carlisle, who was on the other side of the parking lot with his kids.
"He's not my date, we were both just coming here and then we're both going to be going to the party, clean and simple"
Ben gave me a skeptical glance, "So that's why you two were holding hands?"
"We were not holding hands!" I whispered to him, hoping no one else could hear me.
Ben rolled his eyes, "Holding arms, big difference"
"Oh shush, I've told you over fifty-times that nothing is going on" I said, shaking my head.
"Fine, fine," he said, holding his hands up in mock defeat. I glanced at Carlisle from the corner of my eye. He was still talking to his kids along with the Chief's daughter Bella.
"So, how are your parents?" I said, looking away from Carlisle and trying to make conversation. I really wasn't ready to go back over there and meet them quite yet.
"You're still nervous about meeting his kids, aren't you?" he said giving me a knowing look.
I nodded, "Absolutely terrified"
"It's going to be fine, Coraline, just go over there and get it over with"
"They're just really intimidating and I've only met one of them bef-"
"Doctor Cullen!" exclaimed Ben, as the good doctor approached from behind me. I was glad when Ben cut me off as Carlisle was approaching; I didn't want him to hear my worries. I sent Ben a grateful look before turning to see Carlisle.
"Congratulations, Ben" said Carlisle, shaking hands with Ben. "I'm sure you'll do great things."
"Thank you, Doctor Cullen, well, I'll just leave you two, I think my parents want to take pictures, I'll see you guys at the party" he said, giving me an encouraging look before walking away.
"Well, come on, why don't we go to the house? I'll give you the tour before everyone else shows up soon"
I almost audibly breathed a sigh of relief. I would be spared from meeting his kids until later if we left now. "That would be great" I said giving him a smile.
I looked out the window as we drove, watching the trees pass by. I had never really driven out towards this side of town; my grandmother's house being located on the other side meant that I stayed on that side. I wasn't really the drive around for fun type of person. I was, however, very interested in where we were going. I had never seen Carlisle's house. I wondered what it would look like. I had no doubt that there would be a lot of books there, just from the type of personality Carlisle had. Other than that, I really couldn't guess on what the house would look like.
As we pulled up, I could feel my eyes widen in surprise. Wow, the house was absolutely beautiful and gigantic. It looked so much different than any of the other houses in Forks, this was such an open and bright house with so many windows.
Carlisle held open the door for me as we entered the house.
"Wow, it's beautiful" I said, turning to him. The house was already decorated with everything for the party, the lights hanging from the walls, the decorations dangling from the ceiling. It was all so wonderful.
"Was it what you were expecting?"
"I didn't know what to expect from the mysterious Carlisle Cullen, not really at least" I said, turning around to get a 360 view of the living area.
"Well, come on, I'll show you around the house"
As we walked through each room, I couldn't help but marvel at all of the little things in each room. It seemed to be modern house, with clean finishes and straight cut furniture. There were three completely separate floors to the house that somehow melded together in a cohesive and clean way, the windows allowing a wonderful view of the nature outside to be seen. Carlisle walked me through the various rooms, explaining little nuances about certain rooms or objects that we passed. The framed graduation caps threw me a little but there were all sorts of decoration types and I wasn't going to question it.
Carlisle held open the door to the balcony, allowing me to walk through first. The clouds were hanging over the sun but there was a certain degree of light still being let in. It was just on the verge of setting, the sky darkening by the minute as we walked further out onto the balcony.
"What did you think of the house?"
I turned around, leaning my back against the railing. "It's really beautiful"
We talked for a few minutes, both of us leaning over the railing, looking out into the trees as the sun came down. It was so peaceful out there. I looked at Carlisle from the side, he was talking animatedly about a patient at the hospital, his eyes twinkling with amusement. I could feel my cheeks light up pink as I noticed the curve of his jaw and the way he moved his hands as he continued the story. He was just so him and I couldn't get tear my eyes away.
I was broken out of my thoughts as I heard the sound of cars approaching. Oh god, those were the kids. I could already feel my heart starting to speed up from nervousness. I was good with children, I was a teacher for goodness sake but those were small children who didn't know how complex math. These were Carlisle's kids who looked dazzling and were very very intimidating to think about, let alone actually meeting them.
"Those must be the kids, come on I'll introduce you" I gave him a slightly forced smile and nodded, following behind him as we walked back inside. I could already feel the nervousness bubbling once again to the surface and focused on keeping my breathing steady. God, since when did I become such a nervous wreck. They could hate me which would completely ruin my friendship with Carlisle because who would be friends with someone that their kids hate.
My spiral of thoughts was interrupted as Carlisle stopped walking, looking down at me with soft eyes as I controlled the nervousness on my face.
"It'll be fine, Coraline" He grabbed my hand and I immediately felt goosebumps erupt as a new type of nervousness found its way into my stomach. He smiled down at me and tilted his head to the side before we made our way down stairs, his hand still holding mine as we went down.
I relished in the tingling feeling that was flowing through me as I gazed at our hands. His was so cold against my warm skin and yet I still didn't want to let it go. However, I also didn't want his kids to get the wrong idea so I slipped my hand out of his just as we rounded the corner and came face to face with all of his children and Isabella, the chief's daughter.
Before I knew what hit me, Alice was pulling me into her surprisingly strong arms and crushing me against her. "I'm so glad you came!"
"Congratulations on graduation" I managed to squeak out.
She let me go after one more squeeze before turning to everyone else. "Guys this is Coraline Parsons" she said introducing me as if I were her guest and not Carlisle's. That gesture made me feel slightly less like an outsider, at least one of the kids already liked me. "This is Jasper" she said, bouncing to the side of a man with slightly curly blonde hair.
A bulking guy with black hair was the second to approach me. "I'm Emmet and that's Rosalie" he said gesturing to the beautiful blonde girl next to him before he shook my hand vigorously. Rosalie gave me a tight-lipped smile but didn't say anything.
"That must make you Edward then" I said looking at the tall boy standing next to a face I knew vaguely. "And you're Bella Swan, the chief's daughter, I think I've met you briefly when we were both younger." Bella gave me a warm hello and Edward did the same, tilting his head in my direction slightly before I shook both of their hand's drawing slight comfort from the warmth of Bella's hand, only the Cullen's skin seemed to be perpetually cold. Maybe they just needed to wear more clothes to regulate their body heat, I thought, looking at the pale family with a smile.
I heard Edward chuckle slightly into Bella's hair, waving it off as nothing.
"Well, it's so nice to finally meet all of you, I've heard so many wonderful things from Carlisle about you all" I said, turning slightly to Carlisle when I said his name, giving him a slight smile.
I expected someone to say something, anything in response but they were all just looking at me and my cheeks turned a slight pink under their gaze's. I didn't know what to do or say anymore, it was like I was being put before the judge and jury and they were just analyzing me internally. Luckily, the sound of approaching cars drew everyone's attention and Alice was soon ordering everyone into various places around the house to prepare anything last minute that needed to be done.
They all moved rather quickly, Edward pulling Bella upstairs and Rosalie with Emmet going into the other room to check that all the decorations were still immaculate. Carlisle was ordered to finish plugging in the outside lights and he gave me a withering look before leaving me with Alice. I asked her if there was anything I could do to help but she shook her head, pulling me upstairs with her.
"What are we doing?" I asked her, curiously looking around the room. I hadn't seen inside any of their rooms during the tour earlier for the sake of privacy but it was themed similarly to the rest of the house, maybe with a bit of Alice's flair added to it.
"Well, we have to get you ready for the party of course" she said, looking at me as if it were common sense. "I actually do like your dress so you can keep that but your hair just has to change"
"My hair?" I asked, bringing my hand up to the tight bun that was still firmly in place.
"It's much too..." she paused. "Confining, but don't worry, this is an easy fix, just wait here while I go let the first round of guest in." she said gesturing to the seat in front of the mirror.
Obediently, I sat in front of the mirror, taking in my reflection. My brown hair was still tightly wound in the bun, a few hairs were out of place from the wind outside but overall, I didn't see anything wrong with it. I heard the door begin to open and I turned automatically, thinking it was Alice when I was met with Bella standing in the doorway.
"Oh, I thought you were Alice" I said, turning fully.
"Sorry, I just came for my jacket, I think I left in here earlier" she said gesturing to the jacket that was slung over a chair.
"Go right ahead" I said, giving her a smile. "Congratulations on graduating by the way, it's a big milestone"
She walked to the other side of the room, sliding on the jacket over her small frame while she nodded at me. "Yeah, I'm really glad to be done with all of that, oh but I heard that you just got a full-time position at the elementary school?"
"Yeah, I did! I just love kids and am beyond excited to start, but um, where'd you hear that by the way?" I asked, my head tilting to the side automatically. I didn't want to seem too eager to find out.
"Oh, well Carlisle talks about you often" she said casually, looking at me with an amused expression and I had the distinct impression that I was missing something.
"Really?" I tried to look like the information wasn't surprising to me. I hadn't actually thought that he would talk about me to anyone let alone his children or their girlfriend's, obviously I was very wrong.
"Yeah, you're really important to Carlisle" she said as if it was completely obvious.
I nodded, "He's a really important friend to me, too"
Her face flickered with confusion for a moment. "Oh right, friends" she said, almost to herself. "Well, I'm glad he has you…as a friend" There seemed to be almost hesitation as she said the words.
I looked at her, confusion written on my face. "Is there something that I should know?"
She shook her head, "You know I should really get back to the party" she said inching her way over to the door. That really sparked my interest. Her avoidance of the subject meant that there really was something that I was missing.
"Wait, is there really something that I'm missing here?" I asked, getting up from my seat.
She looked from me to the door. "I really don't think it's my place to say anything"
"Please, Bella"
She opened her mouth to respond when Alice burst back into the room. "Bella, what are you doing in here? You should be out there with everyone else enjoying the party" she said shooing her out the door. Bella gave me a grin before closing the door behind her and I sat down with a huff. I guess I wouldn't find out, I'm sure it wasn't that important and if it was then I'd find out later. It couldn't be that important. I'm sure it wasn't.
Alice made her way over to me, looking at my hair critically. "I think all I need to do is take a few pins out," she said taking out a few of the bobby pins holding my hair in place and throwing them onto the table. I sat patiently, letting her do whatever it was that she was doing.
"And there we go" she said, removing the last pin.
My hair came down in a sort of falling tower way, neither gently nor gracefully as it became a loose mess. Alice grabbed a brush from the table pulling through my hair in firm strokes.
"You do have nice hair" she commented, pulling through a knot with a tiny bit of force. "Nice but knotted" she added.
"I keep it in a bun most of the time, I work with children that sometimes have lice, it's easier to manage if I just keep it back" I said smiling slightly as she worked her way through a few of the knots in my hair.
"Well, you're not a school tonight, so I expect it to be kept down for the rest of the night" she said teasingly, the amusement sparkling in her golden eyes.
"Yes, ma'am"
Alice finished brushing my hair, pulling my hair towards the front to frame my face and covering my shoulders with a curtain of hair.
"All done" she said, patting the top of my head as I stood up, looking at myself in the mirror. It wasn't like I kept my hair up all the time but I had to admit that I did like having my hair down.
We made our way back down to the main area of the party and Alice quickly took off in one direction, I think she was going off to find Jasper, I couldn't be sure. I turned around, glancing at the crowd, looking for Carlisle. I didn't exactly know many of the people here. After a few minutes of looking around, Carlisle found me, coming up from behind.
"I see Alice got to your hair" he said, smiling down at me. "It looks nice"
Carlisle had seen my hair down before at the bookstore but hearing his compliment now, brought a slight tinge of color to my cheeks as I looked at his amazing eyes. The moment was interrupted as I heard my stomach growl but figured that he wouldn't be able to hear it over the loud music that was playing.
He looked at me with slight concern on his face. "Are you hungry?"
My face turned a darker shade of red and I nodded slightly. I had been too nervous to eat earlier, focusing on planning my outfit. I also don't care how shallow that sounds, I was nervous and I don't have to explain myself.
"Well, come on, Alice catered" he said, leading me towards the kitchen that I had seen on the tour earlier. I let him go first as we navigated our way through the crowd of teenagers. Man, had they arrived fast in the time if had taken Alice to do my hair.
The kitchen was laid out with several trays of food, some of them being served while a few remained behind. Carlisle handed me plate and I picked a few items off of the trays as he leaned against the counter.
"You aren't hungry?" I asked him just before I took a bite of what I think was a crab cake.
"I ate earlier" he said simply.
"You're missing out, these are great" I said honestly. I really needed to get the number of the place Alice catered from, those crab cakes were great. I stuffed more food into my mouth before placing the plate on the counter next to me, looking at Carlisle. "Sorry, I was really hungry, I don't have the best manners when I'm hungry"
He shook his head, an amused smile playing on his lips as I put the plate in the sink before turning back towards him. He was already looking at me and I felt my heart speed up without my consent for it to do so.
"What is it?" I asked, looking at him with a smile.
"Dance with me"
I was taken aback. "Here?" He nodded and I shot him a look. "Are you serious?" He couldn't be serious.
"Yes" he held out his hand innocently, looking at me with something in his eyes that I couldn't read. I had seen it a few times before and I still didn't know what it meant.
I shook my head, taking his hand as I did so. I felt an immediate jolt of energy pass through me as I did and I couldn't figure out why that kept happening whenever we touched, maybe I was just imagining it. I didn't have long to dwell on it as his hand came up to my waist and I put one hand on his shoulder and we began to sway but defiantly not to the beat of the much too loud pop song that was playing. I looked up at him, a bit of laughter on my features as we swayed to the blaring music and shook with amusement.
I stopped laughing, my features settling on a soft smile as we continued our dance and we moved a little closer together. He was so close to me now that I could smell his crisp aroma of pine and the earth. It was a very pleasing scent, something I had never picked up on before. It was just the proximity that allowed me to learn new things about the good doctor. I also couldn't ignore the way my heart was hammering away against my rib-cage as we drew ever so slightly closer and I automatically leaned against the lapel of his suit.
His head was just barely touching my hair as we swayed back and forth, not talking and neither of us was laughing anymore. I was barely paying attention to the music and I could barely hear it over my pounding heart-beat. I couldn't even smell the food anymore, all of it being masked by Carlisle's pleasant earthy scent that seemed to be filling up my senses to the point of intoxication. Everything was just so close. He was so close. His arms were around me and all I could focus on was him holding me gently, his arm staying wrapped around my waist while the other was grasping my bare hand. I couldn't focus on any one particular aspect, I could only know that he was holding me and that we were dancing. Those would be the two facts that I knew for sure. There was nothing else in the entire universe that I could be sure of in that moment. I don't think anyone could have asked me what two plus two was.
I vaguely heard the song trail off and I pulled back slightly, looking up at him. There was that look in his eyes again. Our connected hands dropped down and one of his came to rest on the other side of my waist. We didn't say anything, simply looking at each other, our eyes locked in place. My mind was foggy and I couldn't gather together a single coherent thought. All I could think was that he was absolutely breathtaking in every single way possible.
"Carlisle" Edward's clear voiced called out from the doorway and snapped my brain out of the fog I had fallen into. I quickly dropped my hands from Carlisle and stepped out of his grasp, my face a bright red as I looked at the ground. "Alice has information and Bella has a theory about our little problem" he said, but I didn't have the gull to look up at him as he spoke to Carlisle, too focused on the scene that Edward had just walked in on. Oh god, what he must think. I didn't even know what to think.
"I'll be right there" I heard Carlisle say and I peeked up at him as Edward left. "I have to go and talk with them for a little while, will you be okay by yourself?" he asked, looking just the same as normal. He looked completely unfazed at what had just happened. Well, nothing had technically happened but something sure was close to happening before Edward had walked in. I didn't even know if I wanted something to happen. I wasn't sure about any of it. Maybe it was all in my imagination, after all Carlisle looked completely fine and normal. Yes, it must just be me. I was just overthinking as usual.
I noticed Carlisle was still waiting for an answer while I had been thinking through all of this and I quickly nodded. "Yes of course, I'll be fine, go, go" I ushered.
He gave me a smile before making his way out of the kitchen and I turned to lean against the counter, missing the way he glanced back at me before walking out.
As soon as I heard his footsteps go out of the room, I collapsed against the counter. Oh, good goodness, what was I thinking. Carlisle was my friend. Was I really about to do something to jeopardize that? Carlisle didn't seem to notice anything, he seemed completely unaffected by all of it. What was I thinking? God, that was so stupid. It was just the moment, I told myself. Dancing around a kitchen with someone close to me that was undeniable handsome had just gone to my head. That was all. I shook my head, placing a hand against my hot face. That had to be the explanation, I was sure of it.
Yeahhhh this chapter took me awhile to finish. I kept editing parts and then deleting portions (sorry for the many grammatical and spelling mistakes) and the spring semester started so I've had to deal with classes on top of my indecision. Updates may be a bit slower but I'll try to get updates to you guys as quickly as I can. This was a really development packed chapter so please tell me what you thought! Review!
