Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OC


Well, I had thoroughly scrubbed every single wall and window of my house in the three days that I had been home. Every speck of dust and dirt had been scrubbed away with bleach, Windex, and a whole lot of rags and now that I had finished everything, I was utterly and completely bored. Summer proved to be filled with long stretches of nothing. It had only been three days and I had done every chore inside of my house—the trash was taken out, the showers scrubbed, etc. Now, I had nothing to do except lay on the floor of my living room staring up at the ceiling. Maybe I could clean the ceiling, that would certainly take more time.

School preparation wouldn't start for another month and I hadn't spent much time in the past year developing hobbies. Maybe I should take up knitting. There was yarn in some of my grandmother's boxes in the attic that I hadn't thrown out, I could use that. The sound of a bing grabbed my attention, and I picked up my phone, holding the object above me.

It was Alice, that was certainly a surprise.

'Hey Coraline! How would you like to come with Bella and I on a small trip up to Seattle? We're going shopping, I hope you can come, just let me know'

I read the text again, my eyebrows furrowing together. This wasn't what I had expected. I hadn't thought too much about Carlisle within the past few days, drowning myself in cleaning chemicals to avoid thinking much about it. The last thing that I thought would happen was that one of his children would contact me. In all honesty, I forgot that she had my number. So, sue me, it was nearly four weeks ago.

Well, I had nothing to lose. Well, except maybe my sanity but who needs that.

'I'd love to, when are you guys going?'

I didn't have to wait long for a reply. 'Today! We will pick you up in thirty-minutes!'

My eyes widened, and I hoisted myself up, throwing the phone onto the couch. Thirty-minutes? Goodness, they weren't wasting anytime. I needed to take a shower and brush my hair and change out of these clothes that probably smelled like a tub of bleach.

I ran into my bedroom, quickly throwing off my clothes and taking a quick shower, hoping that I had washed away all of the smell of Windex. The summery dress I picked out had been one that my mother had sent me last Christmas. It was one of those linen dresses, dyed a light yellow, she said that it offset the dark hair that I had inherited from my father. The fabric was also light enough to let air flow through comfortably so that I wouldn't pass out from heat stroke in the summer heat.

My hair was still wet from the shower and I definitely did look like a wet rat with the clumps of hair stuck to my head in a very unladylike fashion. It was certainly very unbecoming. I pulled through my wet strands with a thin comb, biting my tongue as I yanked roughly at the knots, nearly snapping the comb in two as my hands rushed to finish. I only had so much time before they would be here. God, thirty-minutes wasn't much time at all.

I was half-way through shoving random junk into my purse when I heard gravel against tires coming from the front of the house followed quickly by a light knocking at the door. I froze automatically, looking over at myself in the mirror one more time before I forced myself to take calm steps to the door rather than rushing there in a hurried mess. I wanted to at least keep the illusion of being put together alive, was that so much to ask for.

As soon as I pulled open the door, Alice's face scrunched up, visibly recoiling.

"Sorry, you must still be able to smell the bleach I used on the tile floor, I've been cleaning all morning and last night" and the day and night before that and the day and night before that but I wasn't about to mention that particular aspect. I slipped through the door, closing it behind me and hoping that would be enough to cover the scent of the cleaning products.

"Well, you've certainly been busy, I've just got a sensitive nose, that's all"

"I just figured that the house could use some summer cleaning" I said, leaving out that I had been avoiding thinking about her adopted father by cleaning my sorrows away. "I was actually surprised that you texted me, I only just got back three days ago"

"I just have wonderful timing then" she said, a smile on her lips as we began walking towards the car. I let out a short laugh but Alice seemed to be looking farther out and away with a sly smirk on her lips and I shook my head, there were just somethings that I wouldn't understand. Bella was in the front seat and she waved to me from the car as she saw us approaching.

I got into the back seat, pulling the car door open with ease before I situated myself on the smooth leather. Thankfully, the car's AC was already on, meaning that my skin wouldn't be sticking to the seat.

"How was your trip?"

I buckled my seat-belt, hearing the familiar click before I looked up to answer Bella. "It went really well, there were daily conferences and group activities, all fun stuff and I got to visit my parents, so that's just a bonus" I said, the smile evident in my chipper tone as I spoke. "What about you two, anything new happen?"

Bella seemed to hesitate, looking at Alice for a split second before twisting to hold out her hand to me in the back.

"Is- is that—?" I looked at her incredulously, pulling her hand gently closer to me as I looked at the large ring on her finger. "Are you—"

She laughed, nodding. "Engaged? Yes"

I didn't know Bella well enough to pass any real judgment on the situation. I hardly knew Edward either but I did know that they had just graduated from high school less than a month ago; it was certainly a quick engagement. Carlisle had never mentioned that Edward was thinking of proposing to the girl and I hadn't thought about the possibility either but here Bella was, wearing an engagement ring.

"Well, congratulations, that's really exciting," She smiled, looking at the ring with a soft expression. I could almost see the hearts forming in her eyes as she gazed at the sturdy ring on her small hand. I couldn't help but feel like I was intruding on a private moment as I sat there in the car, watching the young girl's face light up. It only served to remind me that I only just became reacquainted with the girl. The last time I had known Bella was when she was still running around playing in the yard and clearly, she was far from that now. "When's the wedding?"

"August 13th" chimed in Alice, looking at the two of us through the mirror with a broad smile pulling across her face. "Bella's agreed to let me plan the entire affair, the dress, the flowers." Alice looked as if she already had an entire binder full of ideas.

"You have to come to the wedding by the way" said Bella, pulling my focus from Alice.

"Oh-" I stuttered, my head fogging with the invitation. I hardly knew these people, I thought this was just going to be a getting acquainted with each other day, not a 'let me invite you to a wedding' day. "I don't - I don't want to intrude, don't feel like you hav-"

"Nonsense, really, I think that you should be there" said Bella, looking at me with the same expression Alice had on earlier of utter delight at my confusion. This family was constantly throwing me for a loop.

"Well, who am I to refuse the bride, I'd be delighted to be there." I gave her a weak smile, what was Carlisle going to think? I had just gotten myself invited to his son's wedding without even discussing it with him first. Maybe he already knew that Bella was going to invite me. Another question came to mind, did he even know that we were going out today? It was times like this that I really wished that I had his number.

How had we been friends for so long without having each other's contact information. I mean I know where he works and lives and he knows where I work and live, I suppose that was good enough.

The rest of the drive passed quickly, the hours not seeming to be so long with people to talk with. Bella retold the story of Edward proposing and I couldn't help but find it charming that they had found one another. Sure, they were young but they were in love and as much as I would never have gotten married at 18, that didn't make the story any less sweet. Throughout her tale, I couldn't help but notice the pauses. The pauses where Bella would look over to Alice quickly as if checking her words before they came out. Even when we switched to talking about how Bella and Edward met there still seemed to be a certain degree of information held back, just from the way Bella spoke, almost talking around something. Alice, too, would jump into a story, the tale falling much easier through her lips than it did Bella's. I didn't think they were lying to me exactly but they weren't telling me something. That much was obvious.

I let all of it slide, not calling them once out on their strange behavior. I didn't know either of them well-enough to feel entitled to whatever they were holding back and I didn't want to ruin the drive to Seattle with my curiosity. Being in the know wasn't something I was going to expect from people that I barely knew so they could keep their secrets or whatever it was. I didn't mind as long as it wasn't going to harm me.

Shopping with Alice was rather exhausting. It was like she had a never-ending amount of energy to bounce from shop to shop and still want to keep going. I wasn't opposed to shopping-trips but Alice took planning a wedding to an entirely different level. She scheduled with florists to meet about flower arrangements and we had been in there staring at flowers for nearly an hour before Alice was happy with the arrangements. Then we had walked off into shop after shop looking for accessories for the big day, Alice insisted that everything had to be perfect and while it was exhausting, I couldn't help but find all of her efforts endearing. Alice was one of those rare people in life that could light up a room with a laugh and twinkle down the street in bliss as she tried to recreate the beauty in her head so those around her could see it too.

I was also glad to have Bella there with me who seemed to be equally exhausted as we kept walking down another street, Alice was already yards in front of us staring into the window of another boutique. Bella didn't seem thrilled to be dragged along on a shopping trip, especially not one that lasted for hours upon hours without a break but she seemed to be humoring Alice with all of this. It was her that I found conversation with as we strolled along, trying to keep watch for when Alice turned a corner or went into a shop.

Bella was entirely how I remembered her caring, thoughtful, and intelligent. She had the soul of someone far above her age and yet retained a bit of the ignorance of childhood. It wasn't the bad horrible type of ignorance that leads to wars and spoiled children, it was the type that seeped into your personality shining through with an unrelenting belief in people even if they didn't believe in themselves. She had always been like that, even since she was a girl-from what I could remember of her that is. Bella had taken care of things around her, even her father to an extent and I had no doubt that she would make a wonderful mother when the time came down the line, way down the line. It was just who she was.

When Alice finally stopped twirling down the street and headed back towards us, both Bella and I breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm going to meet with a decorator, why don't you two find a place to eat and we'll meet up after?"

Bella nodded, "That'll be great, I think I saw a restaurant a couple blocks back."

"You don't want to come with us?"

Alice shook her head, smiling her pearly white teeth at me. "No, I'm not hungry but you two go along."

"We can bring you back something?" I offered. I didn't want her to starve and we had been walking for quite a while, I didn't want the pixie-like girl to pass out from exhaustion. I hadn't even seen her drink water this entire time.

"Trust me, I'm fine" she said nudging me along with Bella. There was that look again, the one that Carlisle gave me sometimes too, like they were sharing in a joke that I just couldn't understand.

"If you're sure." Alice nodded, sending both Bella and I to get food while she ran off to do more wedding tasks. She sure had a lot more energy than I was capable of.

Once we arrived at the little restaurant, we took a seat near the window. It wasn't particularly busy nor was it particularly empty either but we had come in just as the larger lunch crowd had finished up. We gave out order to the waitress quickly, both of us feeling rather hungry after all of the walking.

Bella and I lapped into a normal conversation, talking about the summer and plans for the future. All the while, I couldn't help but wonder about how Carlisle was doing this summer. It had been over three-weeks since I last saw him and I really was curious. I promised myself earlier in the car that I wouldn't bring him up because that would only lead me into a spiral of thoughts that I didn't particularly want to deal with. It wasn't my fault when Bella brought him up.

"You never did tell me how you met Carlisle, all I know is that you worked in a bookshop," she said before taking full sips of her water.

"Yes, I did, he was just one of my customers and he'd come in one day, searching for a book—a book for Edward I think and our friendship just sorta happened," I couldn't help the small nostalgic smile from pulling my lips up and I twirled my ice-tea with a straw. "It' really wasn't even that long ago, maybe half a year."

"What book was it—the one he was picking up for Edward?"

I pursed my lips, my brow furrowing as I tried to remember the title. It had been so long ago. "I think it was something along the lines of 'Dark creatures meeting humans' or something along those lines, I'm not entirely sure."

Bella looked at me, a secret smile playing on her lips as she let out a short laugh. There was that look again, I was sure that even if I asked her why that was funny, I wouldn't be getting the entire answer. Instead, I just laughed with her, enjoying the younger girl's company.

After we finished eating and met back up with Alice, we were taken to an entirely new set of shops. Alice seemed determined to find a dress to wear to the wedding and had tried on several pairs of outfits and shoes before she found the one she wanted. It was purple with a roaring twenties flair on it; perfectly suited for Alice's vibrant personality. The shoes were a different issue, one we had given up on by the fifth shop as Bella and I dragged Alice out of the shop by her forearms, telling her that she could always custom order shoes online.

We drove back with a sense of accomplishment, even if we had only succeeded in finding more clothes for Alice and picked out a few flowers. It was a fun day filled with light hearted conversation and laughter. It would almost be a shame to go home to my clean but empty house and apparently Alice had similar thoughts because we drove straight past my neighborhood. I expected Alice to notice the lapse but she continued driving.

"I think that you missed a turn, Alice" but she looked at me without blinking, giving me an innocent smile.

"I don't think I'm quite ready to give you back yet, plus there's nothing wrong with bringing guests over"

"Alice," said Bella giving the black-haired girl a questioning look, asking something unspoken with a look that I was sure was filled with apprehension. Alice either didn't notice or she was ignoring Bella's attempt at subtly questioning her and kept on driving with a dangerously mischievous look in her eyes. Bella tried again, "What about wh-"

"Oh, this that, there's no telling up from down, Bella" she said, cutting Bella off before she could question her further.

"Well, um okay, if you're sure it's alright" I said, hesitating slightly and looked to Bella who just shrugged her shoulders before leaning back against her chair. I didn't know what was going on but I definitely didn't want to be a bother. I suppose that if Alice was the one kidnapping me then I couldn't exactly be held responsible for intruding, although I could still be put in the position of feeling unbelievably awkward.

I really hoped that maybe everyone else would be out of the house. I don't think I was fully prepared to see Carlisle's children again after the very brief introduction we had three-weeks ago. It wasn't that they weren't nice, I'm sure they were, but my chest contracted tightly at the thought of talking to them and then discovering that they hated me. If I just avoided talking to them, then they couldn't hate me. That was clear and sound logic to me.

Alice pulled into the driveway and Bella unbuckled her seat belt slowly before she stretched her arms out. It had been a rather long drive and I, too, wanted to stop sitting in the same position. I waited for them to both get out of the car before I followed in suit, helping Bella to grab some of Alice's bags as we walked to the house.

The house was just as I remembered it; filled with a low light and clean crisp furniture. Although this time it lacked the party decorations but I still found the entire place to be delightful if not a little overwhelming. I was relived to discover that everyone else in the house was apparently out, Alice had mumbled an explanation before pulling us upstairs to her room with a surprising amount of strength. While I was grateful for the reprieve from having to see anyone else, I couldn't help but also wonder about Carlisle. I had pushed down my curiosity deep within myself and locked it away under layers of denial. I didn't want to see him, not yet. I still needed a bit more time to revel in my thoughts before I was ready to face the man who had thrown them into a ruckus in the first place.

Alice had already launched into trying on her dress for the wedding and I had to say that it looked wonderful on her. It clung in just the right area and highlighted the best of her features, although all of her was already wonderful. I couldn't imagine being so beautiful, that was certainly something Alice held within herself and it seemed to flow from her very fingers extending outwardly until everyone could feel the warmth of her smile, even if her skin was cold. It was certainly an enviable quality, something that I was sure no one could pull of quite as well as Alice could.

I excused myself quietly to the rest room and had dallied on my way back to Alice's room, taking in their decorations in new light. Things were the same and at the same time different without Carlisle there to explain little nuances to me. I had stopped once I reached the kitchen, leaning against the doorway. I hadn't wanted to think about what happened here or more accurately, what didn't happen here. I had indeed spent three-weeks actively avoiding thinking about the Cullen's kitchen.

Looking on it now though, my dreams were brought back to me in full force, combining with the memories and swirling around in a mess in my mind. I could remember how he felt next to me, one hand holding steady on my waist while the other gently cupped my hand as we swayed back and forth between the kitchen counters. The way his earthy scent overwhelmed my mind to the point of delirium, it was intoxicating. I could feel my heart beating rapidly in my chest at the memory and I tried to steel myself against having such a reaction but it was futile.

"Coraline" All at once I felt myself freeze, like a child having been caught snooping through their parent's dresser. I turned in a flash, my cheeks red with embarrassment.

"Carlisle," I felt my throat go dry as I quickly re-ordered my brain and slammed the door closed on what I had just been thinking about. Apparently, my brain couldn't handle the strain because what came out of my mouth next was, "Alice and Bella—shopping—Seattle, upstairs" all in one breath, too.

My nerves were soothed all at once at the sound of his glittering laugh coupled with the soft tilt of his head. I found myself smiling with him, looking at him with new eyes. Oh, god how I had missed him. Now, the three weeks felt like ages upon ages now that he was standing a mere three feet away. How had I even considered for a moment earlier that I didn't want to see him when the confusion inside me could be so easily quieted with one look of this strange and wonderful man.

"I missed you," that certainly wasn't what I had intended to say but I couldn't help it slip from my mouth as the words repeated themselves over and over in my head as the thought grounded me.

He looked at me strangely, something flickering in his gaze but it was gone before I could catch it's meaning. "And I you, how was your trip?" he asked the question flowing so smoothly off of his lips that I almost missed the first half of the sentiment.

We ended up staying there in the doorway of the kitchen, both of us leaning against one side as I told him about the past few weeks. It felt so natural to see him, to be with him talking that I almost forgot that we were even in his house, talking in a doorway. I told him all about my lectures and the games we'd all play plus all of the baked treats my dad had made for me while in Colorado. Carlisle took all of it with an ever-present smile of genuine interest, looking at me with the most intriguing expression. I couldn't figure out how this was different than the other times we'd spoken but something about it felt so very close.

"And how was the past three weeks for you then? Do anything new and exciting?" A glimmer of amusement passed through his eyes before Carlisle shook his head.

"It was all very standard, Bella and Edward are getting married, as I'm sure you probably heard about from Bella today,"

Oh, right, them. I had forgotten that I was supposed to be getting back to them. It was almost concerning that they hadn't come to check on me but they probably knew I had gotten distracted.

I nodded. "Yeah, did you know Alice was going to ask me on our little wedding planning escapade?" That I was curious about. When he had first seen me, he hadn't been overly shocked and yet I had a feeling he still wasn't expecting me to be in the doorway of his kitchen.

"She said something briefly as she was already in the car before quickly driving off"

"It was rather sudden for me, too"

"I imagine that they didn't give you a great deal of forewarning?"

"If thirty-minutes counts but they did ask me if I wanted to go so it wasn't a complete ambush and I did enjoy it, getting out of the house, doing something"

He quirked an eyebrow, "Have you not been leaving the house?"

Well, maybe I shouldn't have revealed that much. I really needed to learn when to stop talking. "It's- it's not like I'm becoming the village shut-in so don't give me that look, I've just never realized how much free time I have and how many hobbies I don't have." I shrugged it off as casually as I could.

"Well, my door is always open"

Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow in his direction. "Are you offering to be my hobby? Or are you offering to be my doctor and diagnose me with boredom?" I teased, not being serious. "Because I'll have you know that I've already self-diagnosed"

"And what's your diagnosis?"

"Terminal Boredom, I'm afraid there's nothing that can be done."

"I think I know a cure for that, actually"

"And what would that be, Dr. Cullen?" I teased, seeing the amusement light up in his golden eyes.

We both turned as Alice's voice resounded from the staircase, "The cure is helping me with wedding planning!" I briefly wondered how much of Carlisle and I's conversation she had been listening to but it couldn't have been that much. She probably wasn't in earshot until she came hallway down the stairs, there was nothing to worry about. We could hear her footsteps coming further down the stairs until she was looking at the both of us with her hands clasped firmly in front of her, a mischievous smile playing on her features. "It's perfect, you'll be a great help with everything."

I looked to Carlisle and he gave me a slight shrug of his shoulders, he didn't know anything about this either. Alice just looked so excited, like she had found someone who could share in her excitement without being tired of it within the first three-hours of her chaotic organization process. It would certainly give me something to do over the summer since I wasn't working at the bookstore. Forget it, why not.

"I'd love to, Alice," her delighted squeal was enough reassurance for me that she truly wanted me to be involved.

"Well, that's great! I already can't wait and we have so much to talk about and plan, when you come back upstairs I can start getting you filled in on everything," she said, rocking herself forward on her heels. "But take your time down here, don't let me interrupt." And with that she had jetted herself right back up the stairs, away from Carlisle and I.

Maybe through doing this I could also become more comfortable around the rest of Carlisle's children, after all besides Alice, I hadn't done a ton of socializing with them. I hadn't even talked to the groom of this wedding, which I probably should since I would now be planning his wedding with his sister. Yes, I think this project would be good for me. I wasn't even going to mention that I would probably be spending more time around Carlisle's home meaning that I would then be spending more time around Carlisle himself as well.

"You know you've just signed up for a whole month and a half of gowns and dresses mixed with cakes and flowers?" said Carlisle, a smile playing on his pale features.

I nodded, "I don't mind planning and like Alice said it'd give me something to do," I paused, feeling a bit unsure of myself. Maybe it was Carlisle that didn't want me to do this. Had I inserted myself too much into his life? Was this all too weird? "I don't have to of course, if it makes you uncomfortable" I was falling over my words.

"No, no," he said, quickly waving off that train of thought. "It's not that, I'd be delighted to have you around," I couldn't help but perk up at that. "I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting into, that's all,"

"I rather like Alice, she's funny and clever while also being completely random which is a defining quality by itself,"

"A very apt description,"

"I think I should go back upstairs and get the full run-down, then" I said, looking at him with a wide smile. I always seemed to smile around him. It was just something he brought out in me, I couldn't help it.

We said our goodbyes, and I inexplicably couldn't help the bout of nerves that came to me as I walked away. It was almost the desire to run back to him and tell him to keep talking, to never stop talking because I never wanted to stop hearing his voice. The sudden thought stuck with me, hitting me roughly as I made slow steps up the stairs.

I would never want to stop talking to him.


Happy Valentine's Day! I wanted to post something today because I love Valentine's day. I know a few of you are frustrated that she just won't admit that she likes him but it'll get better, probably. Also, quick shout out to all of you who comment on a lot of my chapters, I read every single one of your comments and appreciate all of the support. So, comment! And read the story, of course :D

Till next time!