Rosalie had led me further up the mountain, placing me ever so gently on her back, and making sure I was comfortable with the speed. She sat me down once we reached her desired spot.
"Now explain yourself." I wasn't trying to be pushy, truthfully. It really just came from my mouth like that, and I immediately wanted to apologize for my brashness.
"Wow, okay. Well, I'm from Rochester, originally. I was supposed to marry a man, gross I know. The 1920s weren't the kindest to gay people, and I wasn't quite sure what I was feeling. My friend Vera and I, we had experimented as teenagers, nothing too far, we kissed once. We giggled and she forgot about it, but I never could. It was the turning point in my life but there was nothing I could do. Royce King courted me and I figured that it would be enough, that he would be enough."
I instantly felt envious of both Vera and Royce, for a reason unbeknownst to me. Perhaps it was because they had gotten to experience Rosalie, long before I had.
"But I wasn't enough for him. I was walking home from Vera's one night and he and his friends were waiting for me, drunk. He had been drunk before, too many times before, probably. He was wealthy, successful, that's just how I perceived men, I guess. Anyway, they were waiting for me, I tried to get away but there were too many of them. I was left bleeding in the street, hoping for death, anything. Carlisle smelled the blood, thought he was doing me a favor. I guess, in some ways, he was," she smiled at me and butterflied invaded my stomach, "but it took me a long time to truly appreciate him. I got my revenge on them, Royce was last, he knew I was coming for him. I wanted him to feel the fear that he instilled in me. I never took anything from them, aside from their lives. I didn't want them inside me more than they had been.
"I've spent centuries, wondering about all the what ifs of human existence. I've pictured how my life could have gone if I had just turned him down, not letting my greed affect my love. I always wanted a baby, like Vera. Emmett reminds me so much of Henry, and never knowing what motherhood will feel like often torments me."
Without thinking, I reached for her hand and, to my surprise, she didn't pull away as I had expected her to. Instead, she laced our fingers together and pulled them into her chest, savoring the moment, I guess.
"I'm sorry," I apologized, but for what I wasn't sure. Sorry she had to experience those tragedies, sorry she had lived so long without fulfilling her dreams.
She shook her head, a small smile gracing her perfect face, "Don't be. I felt sorry for myself much longer than I needed to, but I've come to realise that all of it led me here, to you."
"Okay then I take it back." We both laughed, and upon hearing the sound erupt from her mouth, I pledged that I would do whatever it took to make her laugh all the time.
Normally, I would have criticised myself for falling so hard too quickly. I justified it with the fact that the situation wasn't normal. Rosalie wasn't some normal girl from Phoenix who I had seen in gym class, she was everything I wanted and more. I wanted to see all of her, and not just in the carnal way (but that too). No, I wanted to see her happy, sad, angry and everything else. I wanted to experience her in a way that I wasn't sure I had experienced myself.
"So, what now?" I found myself asking.
She sighed, eyes locked on my face, "Well, in the normal sense, I would have to take you on a date, I think, yeah?"
I nodded, "Yeah, but I've never really...done that."
"Well, I guess we'll get to experience it together. And I have to tell my family that you know, though I'm sure Alice has already told everybody."
"Did you text her or something when I was looking at that cool rock?"
Rosalie laughed, the angels must be envious of her music, "No, some of our kind have gifts outside of the normal realm of the standard vampire package. Alice, for example, can see the future. Of course, they're strictly decision based, so she saw this the moment I decided to tell you."
"That's kinda weird. But also super cool. Is it just her?"
"No, actually, her husband, Jasper, is an empath. He can feel and project emotions, Carlisle assumes it's a hormone thing. And, uh, Edward can read thoughts, which is super intrusive and he feels very superior about it. Fucking baby."
"Wait. So he can-"
She cut me off, "No. Weirdest thing, yours are the only thoughts he can't read, he says your dad's are kinda fuzzy too. Must be genetic."
"Yeah, okay. If some dude told me that he was a vampire and could read thoughts but mine are the only ones that he couldn't, I would not believe him."
There was that laugh again, "It's a blessing, trust me. He does try to stay surface level with us, and I've mostly learned to hide thoughts from him, but that year when it was just us, Carlisle and Esme, God, I'd never wanted to kill somebody more."
Edward was annoying. Extremely, actually. "So how does he feel about...us?"
"Hates it. But don't let that put you off, I think it's just because it's me more than anything. If it was him with you instead, he wouldn't care at all. It's the god complex in him, he thinks he can do no wrong. He's a good guy, I think. It's just that whenever I do anything that he thinks is wrong, he just has to say something about it."
I felt myself gulping at the prospect of a member of Rosalie's family hating us together, "That won't, like, put you off or anything right?"
"Bella," our eyes locked, "nothing Edward could ever do or say would put me off of you. I don't think anything could, now that I've been this close to you, I don't think I can leave. Can you handle that?"
"Absolutely."
