My family was leaving on Sunday for a three day hunting trip. Alice's weather forecast meant they wouldn't be able to go to school or work as usual. Emmett was looking forward to get some bears, so they planned to go to the Goat Rock Wilderness. It had a reported bear problem and my family was more than happy to help out with that. Normally, I would have gone with them, holding the camp and helping with the illusion that they were just normal campers, but not this time. I wanted to stay behind, hoping for a chance to spend some time with Bella.
Alice had taken a look into the future and assured me there would be no danger to Bella while they were gone. She still promised me she would take a look occasionally, and to call me immediately the moment she saw anything change.
They left in the morning, taking Emmett's jeep and Carlisle's Mercedes. I had some homework left to do, so I took the breakfast Esme had prepared for me and settled in the living room for some serious reading. Even though the report was only due on Wednesday, I wanted to be done early. Maybe there was a chance Bella would be available on Monday or Tuesday and it would be a shame really if she should want to see me and I had no time for her. Though, if in doubt, I would rather let that stupid report go first.
I managed to cram in a couple of hours, making good progress. Around lunch time, I started to lose my concentration. Not for the first time my thoughts drifted to Bella. What was she doing right now? Was she at home? Or had she gone out with some friends? How had her trip to LaPush been?
I was out of the house before I really was aware what I was doing. Esme had left me plenty of food in the fridge and I knew how to operate the microwave, but suddenly I felt the urge to have some take-out. Chinese sounded just perfect. And if I was driving to town anyway, I might as well swing by Bella's place and see if she was home.
Yeah, right, that was it.
Who was I fooling?
The faded red monstrosity Bella called a truck was parked outside of her house, but her father's police cruiser was nowhere in sight. I didn't know if Chief Swan worked on Sundays or if he was out doing whatever police officers did in their free time. Maybe he was just out grocery shopping and would be back any minute.
I parked my car on the other side of the street, hoping to catch a glimpse of Bella, but I didn't have any luck. A hundred times I was thinking about getting out of the car and walk over to the house, but a hundred times I decided against it. What was I to say to Bella anyway? I was just in the area and wanted to see if you're still alive. Or, I just couldn't live any longer without seeing you again. Yeah, that would go over so well. She would think I was a creepy stalker.
I placed my forehead against the steering wheel when realization hit me: I really was a creepy stalker.
This was getting pathetic.
With a sigh I restarted the car and drove back home, only to realize as I walked through the door that I had forgotten to get the Chinese food, which had been my excuse to get out of the house.
I changed clothes and went on a long run to clear my head.
I had a restless night. My dreams were once again filled with Bella. I knew she was in some kind of danger, but try as I might I couldn't manage to get to close to her. She called my name, but I couldn't find her. I was running and running and running, but never could reach her.
I awoke to sunlight streaming through my window. I took a quick shower, grabbed something for breakfast and was on my way to school early. I was eager to see Bella again and hoped to catch her outside before class started.
I was in luck. Her truck was already in the parking lot and I saw her sitting on one of the benches in the rarely used picnic area just off the parking lot. She was sitting with her back to the table, her face pointed towards the sun, her eyes closed as she was soaking up the rays.
My breath caught. Her long hair was tumbling over her shoulders, the sun giving it red highlights. Her light, perfect skin fairly glowed. Her full lips were slightly parted, soft and inviting and I wondered how they would feel against mine. From there, my mind took a turn to what else I would like to do with my lips and her skin and I felt a sudden warmth and tightness in my pants.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, then swallowed and exhaled. So far I hadn't allowed myself to entertain thoughts of kissing Bella. I knew it was too soon. I didn't know if she wanted to be kissed and I would never do something to her she didn't want. But the way she looked right now…
God!
"Edward?"
My eyes flew open. Bella was looking at me with a puzzled expression. I could only imagine what she was thinking with me standing there with closed eyes, looking like an idiot.
I forced my face into a smile, hoping she didn't realize what I had been thinking about.
"Good morning, Bella."
She smiled at me and I quickly sat down next to her.
"It's a beautiful day," she said.
I nodded. "How was your weekend?" I wanted to know everything that had happened while she had been away from me.
She thought for a moment. "Interesting," she then said.
Interesting? What was that supposed to mean?
"Interesting how?" I asked, twisting my body so I could watch her better.
"I heard some interesting stories," she said.
"What kind of stories?"
"Mostly legends. Some of the kids from the reservation showed up in the afternoon and we got talking."
My eyes widened. The Quileute knew about my family's secret, but they were bound by the treaty not to reveal it to anybody outside of the tribe. If they now started to tell everybody who came by that my family were all vampires, this could be really bad. If bad came to worse, we would have to leave here, and that was something I really, really didn't want right now.
"What kind of legends?" I asked from behind gritted teeth. My right hand clenched into a fist, the knuckles standing out white. I needed to know exactly what she had heard – what the others had heard.
Bella looked at me strangely and I forced my body to relax, opening my hand one finger at a time. She couldn't know how desperately I needed to hear what she had learned.
"I'm sort of interested in local legends," I explained, not exactly lying.
"There was this one boy from the reservation. We took a walk along the beach and he told me a legend of his people, how they descended from wolves and also of some others they called the Cold Ones. It was really fascinating."
Bella was watching me intensely now, trying to gauge my reaction. Remotely I noted that she had said she had been walking along the beach with somebody from the reservation and the by now familiar jealousy made itself known. But she had spoken of the boy in singular and it also sounded as if nobody else had been around to hear the story. Maybe this wasn't quite as bad as I feared. And maybe she hadn't made a connection between the legendary Cold Ones and the Cullens.
But then, why should she bring it up in front of me in the first place? No, I was sure this unknown boy had mentioned something about my family and Bella now tried to find out what was true about what she had heard. Well, how did the saying go? The best defense is a good offense.
"I heard that one, too," I quickly said. "Those Cold Ones are scary. Aren't they the ones who drink blood?" I laughed at that, as if I wasn't taking the story seriously.
She nodded, blushed and looked away from me. Damn, had I overdone it? I wanted to make light of the legends – which I knew after all were based on facts – but I didn't want to embarrass her into thinking I believed she was childish for taking some stock into them.
The bell for the first period rang and Bella jumped up from the bench. She reached for her bag, but somehow managed to whip it off the table it had been resting on. It split open, scattering all the books on the ground.
"Not again!" she moaned under her breath.
I got up quickly and gathered her books together. I handed her the ones I'd picked up and she shoved them back into her bag, with more force than necessary. Before she could do more damage to it, I took it out of her hand.
"How about I accompany you to your first period?" I offered.
For a moment she glared at me, but then her features softened and she nodded.
"Thanks. I don't know why, but I'm a terrible klutz."
"You are not terrible. Nothing about you could ever be terrible," I said, smiling. If ever, she was terribly adorable, but of course this would be the wrong thing to tell her. I was pretty sure she wouldn't take it well.
She looked up at me and for a moment she froze, as if forgetting how to breathe.
"Class," I reminded her and she pulled herself out of her daze.
She turned on her heels and almost fell on her first step. I caught her in time, so no harm done, but if possible her blush deepened.
"Could I see you at lunch again?" I asked as we reached her class room and we had to separate.
She nodded. I handed her the bag and turned away in order to get to my own lessons.
Morning crawled along, but eventually it was lunch time. Once again I waited for her at the door of her class room.
In the cafeteria we got our food and then sat down at the same table we had sat last Friday. She looked around and her eyes fell on the empty table where my family usually sat during lunch.
"Where's your family?"
"Camping," I explained. "Carlisle, my dad, believes when the sun shines, we should get as much out of it as possible. He has a deal with the hospital, so whenever there are a couple of nice days he takes off and we all go someplace nice hiking. The hospital doesn't want to lose him, so they go along with it."
"But you're not with them," Bella stated the obvious.
"Yeah. I told him I'd rather stay here this time. He was cool with that."
I didn't tell her my real reason for staying behind.
A thoughtful expression crossed her face and she looked at me wearily. Was she guessing I stayed because of her? What was she thinking about it? Was she okay with it? Embarrassed? Happy?
"Your dad - Carlisle - he's not your real dad, right?" she then asked.
I wondered what had brought on this question, but I had no problem answering it.
"Nah. I've been adopted. We all have been at one point. Carlisle and Esme can't have children of their own." It was one of the very few drawbacks of being a vampire. But, as my presence in the family had shown, there were ways to get around that problem.
"What about your real parents?" She leaned closer, sounding as if she was really interested.
"I have no idea who they are. I was a foundling. My best guess is that I was the product of a teenage pregnancy and as soon as my mother had me, she dumped me."
Her hand flew to her mouth and she looked at me with wide eyes. "That's terrible."
I shrugged. It had been a long time ago and I had grown up in a family that loved me and cared for me more than my birth parents ever did. I had never really wanted to know who my mother was. It wouldn't change anything anyway.
"I got used to it. My family - my adopted family that is - I know they do love me, so I guess I really got lucky in the end."
I knew I did.
"What about you?" I now asked in return. If she could ask questions about me I thought it was only fair to get in a few questions of my own. "You used to live with your mom before, right? Why did you move here?"
"My mom and I used to live in Phoenix, but then she met another guy, Phil, and they married."
"And you didn't get along with Phil?" I hazarded a guess, though I sensed this wasn't quite it.
She shook her head. "Phil's okay. He makes my mom happy and that's all I can ask of him. He travels a lot, though. He plays ball for a living and my mom wanted to spend time with him."
"So she sent you here to your dad?"
Again I had guessed wrong.
"No, I sent myself."
I looked at her questioningly, trying to understand what she meant with that remark.
"How can I explain this?" She bit her lower lip as she tried to work out how to explain the situation to me. "At first my mom stayed with me, but she missed Phil terribly and it made her unhappy. So I decided it was time to spend some quality time with my dad."
"But you still miss Phoenix?"
She thought about that for a minute, then shrugged.
"I miss the sunshine and the warmth, and most of all I miss my mom. But Forks does have its perks. I love my dad and it's good for him to have somebody to take care of him, and I don't mind. I've made friends here. So I think it's not so bad all in all."
"I'm glad to hear that," I said. I was happy for her that she had found a place for herself here. And of course if she hadn't decided to move here, I would never have met her, and so, for a very selfish reason, I was very happy she had come.
