Stephenie Meyer owns all the rights.
"We watched zombies eat people. It was great."
– New Moon
The next morning was predictably dreary and dull. The gray sky seemed to have lost it's normal magnificence; normally it seemed as if it were a sparkling gray. Today, it just seemed to be dull gray. I wondered, idly, if that meant anything or if I was just being weird. I decided that I was just being weird.
"Director," I called out around 7:40 AM. Edward was to be here within five minutes and we, the girls, were doing some kind of yoga. I didn't like yoga very much; although it didn't challenge me like it challenged others, I had just always liked other things more. What, I wasn't sure... but I knew that yoga wasn't on the top of my list of ways to spend my life.
"Yes, Bella?" asked the Director of the half-way home. She had walked over towards me, though she was keeping a watch on all the girls still, making sure that they were following the tape to a T.
"May I step outside for a moment? I'm feeling kinda lightheaded – it's a bit hot in here." I knew that I was really pale and that it was impossible for my skin to flush, so I was hoping that the kind director would believe me. As far as she knew, I hadn't lied to her. And, Edward would have tutored me in physics had I actually needed the help. It's not my fault that I was simply amazing at it, was it? Still, the director didn't know that full story, and I wasn't keen on her finding out – ever!
"Yeah, you do look a bit pale. Are you sure you're okay to go out by yourself, Bella?"
"Yeah. I just need a breath of fresh air and I'll be fine. I'll be back in just a couple of minutes," I lied. I had gotten a lot better at lying, since the first time that Edward knew me. Besides, if anyone ever thought that I was lying, I could just dazzle them like I had watched the Cullen's dazzle the secretaries at the high school in Forks. That had always been a funny thing to see, and I was happy that I could now dazzle people all by myself.
"Alright. Just come back in soon," she told me before her eyes darted back to the other girls. I nodded sheepishly and walked out to the front porch.
All of my things – well, all of my clothing that I owned – was still upstairs. I didn't need it; I wouldn't miss two outfits. Alice and I never did go shopping like Edward had wanted us to, but I figured that now that I wouldn't have a curfew and now that we would be living in Colorado, we could go shopping after we got settled in there. I wasn't concerned about clothing, anyway. I could care less about that kind of thing. It all seemed so trivial compared to the fact that I was moving in with the Cullen family!
Eek! I was so excited, I was practically skipping my way out of the half-way house.
Edward was already parked outside the house in a car that I didn't recognize. Well, I had seen it before at the Cullen house, but I had never really seen him drive it. It occurred to me just then that the Cullen children had always walked to school in Shoreline, which struck me as odd. They all had the need for speed, but they never drove to school? Weird. I wondered why, but I didn't really need to know.
I quickly walked to the passenger side door and climbed in.
"Ready?" Edward asked me, giving me a cautious glance. I could tell that he was worried that I would have second guesses about leaving with him or something. I wish that he wouldn't think that, because I wouldn't. I would go anywhere for Edward; I would do anything for Edward. I just wish that he realized that.
"Of course," I replied, and I heard him let out a breath that he had been holding. He gently put the car into reverse, and I was surprised that it made hardly no sound as he backed out of the driveway. That was a good thing; if I was having problems picking up on the sounds that the car was making, then there was no way that the director or any of the girls inside heard it moving away from the house. There was no way that they'd know that I was gone until it was too late.
I took Edward's hand as he drove us out of town. He didn't seem to have a map in the car, but he also seemed to know exactly where we were going. It surprised me, but I knew that it shouldn't. Edward had how much free time on his hands to study a map and learn the fastest, easiest route to a city that he would be living in. I guess that was one of the plus sides to having a photographic memory.
That's not to say that I didn't have a photographic memory – I did have a photographic memory. I just didn't think to ever use it for studying maps and directions and things like that. I guess that was because when I was leaving a place, I normally didn't have a contingency plan in my head; I had no idea where I was going to end up next, just that I was going to try to stay in the rainy Northwest Peninsula. Most of my years had been spent in the Northwest Peninsula; I had seen very few cities outside of it. Colorado was going to be quite interesting. It would be totally different from what I'm used to.
"You're going to love the house in Colorado," Edward informed me. I glanced over at the speedometer, and it was reading at about 125 miles per hour. Somehow, that didn't bother me. I guess that when you're invincible yourself, it doesn't bother you to be doing things that would get a mortal killed.
"What's it like?" I asked, wondering if he knew. I knew that he probably hadn't lived there before, but Carlisle probably filled him in with the majority of the details so that he found the right house. It would be a bad thing if Edward didn't find the right house! I, however, found faith in the boy and trusted his instincts to be good.
"Well, Carlisle was telling me about it earlier. It's kinda like an old, deserted mansion. Three stories, very spacious. It's white on the outside and it has a lot of windows. Our room is on the third floor," he added with a grin.
I stared at him a moment. I liked how that sounded – 'our' room. I liked how permanent that made it sound. I needed Edward to be very permanent. It wasn't that I was totally insecure – okay, yes it was – I just needed to know that he was staying with me. That he wasn't going to leave me.
Edward, however, must have taken my silence for something other than happiness. "You don't have to stay in the same room as me, if you don't want," he informed me quickly. Had I not been a vampire, I doubted that I would have been able to process the words that came out of his mouth. It was kinda cute, his worrying over me not wanting to room with him. Too bad that was the furthest thing from the truth.
"No, Edward. I want to. I was just thinking of how amazingly lovely that would be," I confirmed for him. I could see him ease up just a bit. I liked him better when he was relaxed.
Edward took his eyes off the road and gazed into my identical golden orbs. He gently cupped my chin with his hand, allowing his thumb to caress my cheek bone. I felt his hand slip away from my chin and his fingers tangled themselves in my hair. I saw him glance back at the road momentarily before looking at me again.
"How I've missed this simple touch," came Edward's smooth, velvet tone.
I glanced down, then shyly moved my eyes back up to meet his own. We continued like this – his eyes occasionally skirting the road – for quite some time. I don't know how long it was; when you're immortal and never sleep, time can be a hard thing to keep track of.
By nightfall, we were in Fraser. It seemed like a small enough town. The house that we were going to be living in was secluded in lush forests on the very western edge of town. Just looking at the house from the outside made me happy; it was beautiful – I was finally "home". I couldn't wait to start making memories with Edward. I couldn't wait for our future together to begin.
"It's beautiful," I murmured softly.
Edward grinned and lead me to the front door. He opened it slowly and flicked on the light to the foyer. It was huge. And that was an understatement.
"Come on," Edward persuaded me with that favorite crooked smile of his. He pulled me towards the stairs and up them. I knew that we were going to 'our' room.
I was noticing that there was already furniture in the house. Occasionally I would stop and pull Edward with me, so that I could peer into a room. "How did the furniture get here already?" I asked Edward, surprised.
"Carlisle had it moved in a couple of days ago so that it would be here, waiting for us. It's mostly new – if you haven't noticed, we don't like to take all of our stuff with us when we leave a place. It's easier to just buy new furniture," Edward said with a non-committed shrug and pulled me back towards the stairs. We climbed to the third floor and he slowly pushed open a door.
I felt my breath being taken from me. It was a good thing that I didn't have to breathe, or I probably would have passed out! It was beautiful in the room. Everything was a cream color. There was a large queen size bed on the one side of the huge room, and a couch on the other. Edward's stereo system was set up already, along with all of his CDs. There were two dressers already set up, one with a large mirror. And, I could see in the one corner of the room there was a large closet – it was a walk-in and you could have probably fit so much junk in there that it wasn't funny. I knew that Alice would be able to fill hers up in no time, but I doubted that I could ever make a dent in mine, it was that huge!
"Like it?" Edward chuckled. His hand was resting on the small of my back.
"I love it, Edward," I murmured softly. I turned around so that I could look into his deep eyes. I kissed him gently on the lips, wanting to somehow thank him for this beautiful present. I had a feeling that the design and layout for the room came from mostly him.
He kissed me back passionately, pulling me about as close to him as I could be. I kissed him with just as much intensity, my hand slipping up his shirt as I did so. He slowly bit down on my lower lip and slipped his own hand up the back of my shirt. I felt him playing with the clasp on my bra, but I wasn't about to help him. I pushed myself up against him with a fierce desire.
In all these years, I had never imagined such passion between two people. I was very happy when I felt Edward fumbling backwards towards the bed, pushing me with him. We hadn't broken our lip lock yet. I fell softly to the bed and allowed the kiss to break for just a moment while we pulled our shirts off of our torsos. They fell to the ground, soon to be followed by our pants.
Judging by the way things were going between Edward and I at the current moment, I was very glad that Carlisle had suggested that we come alone for the first day.