January, Day 18, Sunday
January, Day 18, Sunday
I awake to the poking and prodding of my head, while a damp washcloth rests on my forehead. Quiet voices swirl around me in my state, focusing in out like trying to find a clear radio station. Finally, everything becomes focused and I listen to the voices speaking, unable to open my eyes yet. "What happened to her?" a voice low voice asks; one that I recognize as Angela's. "I'm not sure really. She opened the door, looked at me, then just passed out. Maybe shock overcame her? Another low, but musical, voice says, one that I recall to be Edward's. My heart beat speeds up involuntarily. "He's here! He's here!!" repeats inside the confines of my mind. Utter joy fills me and I actually want to open my eyes; the sooner to see his face, though the fear of passing out again looms over me.
After minutes of deliberating, I decide to open my eyes. As they merge open and the lights fill them, my head begins to dully ache and my eyes shrink back closed because of the burn. A groan escapes my lips and my hand reaches up to shield my eyes from the light. Someone chuckles, so quietly that I can't be sure that I didn't just imagine it. I slowly try to re-open my eyes, my hand staying put, acting as make-shift sunglasses. I slowly remove my hands and look around at my surroundings; Angela has her hand resting on the washcloth, holding it in place I presume, Charlie is on his knees beside me, staring at me intently, and Edward is slightly behind Charlie, peering over his shoulder sheepishly. My face heats up as it used to when I did something dumb around Edward.
"Are you okay, Bella?" Charlie suddenly asks me loudly, seeing where my eyes stayed. I unwillingly shift my eyes over to him and mutter "Fine." "Are you sure?" Angela asks, "Because you've been out for a while." She finishes concernedly. I nod my head at her, "Positive." I can tell by Edward's silence that he desperately wants to say something, but fear of getting chewed out by Charlie, probably for the tenth time, stops him. He gives me a hesitant smile as if to say, "Uh, hi?" Charlie, sensing my preoccupation once again, stands up and says "Here, Bella, you should probably drink something and take some Aspirin. I'm pretty sure you have a headache." Before going into the kitchen and getting a glass of water and two tablets of Aspirin. In Charlie's absence, Edward walks swiftly over to me, grabs my hand and brings it to his mouth, kissing it gently. I blush and look towards Angela, who is studiously adverting her eyes. He drops my hand, hearing Charlie's quickly approaching footsteps, and steps back to where he was before, grinning slyly at me whenever Charlie has his back turned.
Hours later, after Charlie is convinced that I'm okay, Angela leaves after saying that she had fun today and that we should do it again. Edward 'leaves' after Angela does. I reassure Charlie that I'm fine and that I'm going to go up to my room and read for a while. I walk calmly up to my room, but inside I am anything but calm. My stomach is filled with butterflies, my thoughts racing. "Why is he here? Is he coming back? Are they all coming back?" Once I reach the top of the stairs and am no longer in sight, I sprint to my room, throw open my door, close it at a normal speed, and continue sprinting to my window. I open it slowly, as not to shatter the glass by slamming it open too hard, stick my head out of it slightly and whisper "Edward?" A ghostly chuckle behind me sends me reeling. I turn around to face him, my face heating up.
There he is; my Edward, lounging on my bed, my pillow on his chest with his arms crossed on top of it, holding it to him. His face is visible only from his perfect nose up, for it's resting on my pillow, breathing in my smell. I smile sadly at him, my eyes brimming with tears and say quietly "You're back" before sitting down next to him. He looks at me a moment, hurt written in his face and eyes before he realizes that I'm not crying out of sadness. "Oh, Bella." He murmurs, replacing me with the pillow. He buries his face in my hair, breathing in deeply while I place my head in the crook of his neck, crying and breathing him in as well. I pull away from him and look into his eyes, full of nothing but love and happiness. "Edward…" I mumble, throwing my arms around his neck and bringing myself closer to him while a fresh round of tears comes on. He holds me as I let everything out, his hand rubbing up and down my back, whispering soothing words. I finally pull away from his hold and study his face; my hand reaches up instinctively to trace his features. His eyes flutter softly closed, a contented sight escaping his perfect, marble lips. My hand limply falls back down to my side and his eyes open slowly, never leaving mine for a second.
Hours passed, and we just sat there, staring at each other. Eventually, I had to go downstairs to cook dinner, but even then I walked backwards to the door, unwilling to take my eyes off him for even a second. His pose stayed the same; arms open and waiting for my return.