"No dejemos que muera el amor. No dejemos que el fuego se apague."
(Let's not let our love die. Let's not let the fire burn out.)
-Makano
"Oh God! Edward!" I heard Alice screech. I heard the door shut hastily. We stood frozen for a moment. We didn't move. Our breathing picked up. Slowly Edward's head turned toward me.
"Did…did she see me?" I asked in a whisper.
"I don't think so," he said and breathed out slowly. My heart thudded heavily behind my chest. I clutched the blankets to my torso and sat up slowly. I combed my hair with my fingers.
The door opened once more and my head snapped toward it. Alice stood with her hands over her eyes.
"Okay look, I didn't want to interrupt on you and your little lady friend," she said staring at the general direction of the bed with her hand over her eyes. "Hi, by the way. I'm Alice, Edward's sister," she said toward me. Edward groaned. I stared wide eyed.
"I really need my CD Edward. I was going to go over to Vanessa's but I can't unless I have that CD because she wants it," Alice said in a huge rant.
Was it me or was this just bizarre?
I really think she was keeping her eyes closed because Edward turned toward me and gave me the universal symbol of silence.
"Take it and leave, please," he said.
"Ok!" she said with a bright smile. She seemed to know her way around Edward's bedroom because she walked effortlessly to the stereo system.
"I'm going to allow myself to see now, so stay decent," she said with her back turned toward us. It was childish but part of me wanted to hide underneath the covers until she left. She bent down and began to look toward the CD's. She found it quickly and did the one thing I was hoping she wouldn't.
She spun quickly and caught a quick glance. I flinched. She looked away quickly but then she did a double take.
The CD dropped from her hand.
I pulled the blanket closer to me and avoided her eyes.
"Alice," Edward said slowly getting up from the bed.
"Don't do that! For Christ sake you're naked! With her! She's… but how…" Alice sputtered seeming shocked. I glanced toward her and could see the hint of anger. She glared at me.
"Just let me explain," he said slowly but she didn't want to hear it.
"Explain what exactly? How you've been lying to us, to all of us?! How could you do that Edward! She's a Swan, she's Bella Swan what is wrong with you?!" she said and her voice grew higher with every word. I felt the guilt creep up because she was right.
"It isn't what you think!"
"Is this how you get back at Jasper? By sleeping with his cousin? I thought you were better than that?"
"I am. Jesus if you would—"
"I don't want to hear it. Just get her out of here and stop this because if you don't I will," she threatened with a cold glare and quickly strode out the room.
I heard Edward curse slightly under his breath and get out the bed. He found his pants on the floor, tugged them on, and quickly ran out the room after her. I sat on the bed for a while and tried to hold back the tears. I stood from the bed and wrapped the thin sheet around my body.
I needed to leave. I needed to go, now!
Where in the world was my dress! It wasn't on the floor. That was for sure. I looked around and found Edward's shirt. It was cliché, but it would have to do. I dropped the blanket and quickly threw on the shirt and buttoned it. I grabbed the blanket and threw it around my shoulders giving me more coverage.
I heard voices behind the door and then it opened. I froze and watched as Edward walked in dragging a reluctant Alice.
He closed the door behind them and I heard a soft click of a lock.
She glared at me with her hazel eyes and pouted slightly.
"Here," she grumbled and tossed two square fabrics on the bed. Clothes! Not mine, but then again I didn't want to go home wearing the dress from last night.
"I want to leave," she growled at Edward. He ran a hand through his messy hair.
"Why don't you go change, Bella? The bathroom is in there, I need to talk to Alice here," he said with a sigh and I nodded. I grabbed the clothes off the bed and walked to one of the two doors his room held. I guess the other one would be a closet after all. I shut the door behind me.
The bathroom was small, but still it was his. I only wished for my own bathroom.
I heard quiet mumbling coming from the other side of the door.
This was not how it was supposed to go. I took a glance at myself in the mirror. My eyes were black and smudgy from the makeup I had worn. My hair was a tangled mess on my head and felt stiff from all the products I had to put in it to keep the style for the wedding. I looked like a mess.
I did my best to comb out the tangles with my fingers and then quickly wrapped it in a pony tail on the back of my head. I turned the faucet on and splashed cool water on my face. I was stalling. I knew this, but I just couldn't find the strength to go back out there.
Not right now.
I found my undergarments on the bathroom floor. But where was my dress?
As I changed I found light bruises on hips. My body was sore, like if I had been working out. It wasn't painful, but not exactly pleasant. When I had finished changing, I stretched a bit hoping it would help. Alice's clothes were a little tight, but they fit. I didn't think they would. When I had nothing else to do I opened the door and walked into the bed room.
Alice was sitting on the couch with her elbows on her knees. Edward sat at the corner of the bed in the same position. I was surprised how much they resembled one another. You wouldn't see it right away I guess. Not like Rose and Jazz, but if you stared at them you would see it.
Their eyes were the same shape and size. Their noses were the same. Now that Edward had darker hair they looked even more alike.
I walked toward Edward and sat on the bed next to him.
"So how long has this been going on?" she asked. I swallowed.
"Since the Halloween dance," I admitted.
"Four months? You've kept this a secret for four months?" she asked shocked.
"Well six actually. We didn't start dating until the dance," Edward clarified. Her eyes only grew wider.
"So you guys are serious?" she asked and Edward turned toward me. He shot me a smile and took my hand in his.
"Yeah, we are," he said and smiled.
"How did you pull this off?" she asked.
"This never really happened before," he said waving in-between us and I felt a heavy blush paint my cheeks. "We usually kept our meetings outside of our house and preferably out of town. Even then it was mostly car rides together," he said
"So she's the one that you were talking about?" Alice asked and I saw her eyes soften a bit as she looked at me. I turned toward Edward.
"You talked about me?" I asked softly. I felt a bit guilty because never once did I mention him to anyone. He was my secret.
"Yeah only I didn't think it was you. He had me believing it was Tanya Denali," Alice said and her nose twitched a bit.
I knew who Tanya was. She was tall and blonde and curvy and the exact opposite of me. Everything about her was different than me.
"I never said it was Tanya. You only assumed," he corrected her. Alice rolled her eyes and sat back on the couch. She stared between us and her eyes narrowed down on our entwined hands. She was quiet for a while and so were we. The silence wasn't exactly awkward but it wasn't the most pleasant either.
It wasn't like the silence Edward and I had over the phone late at night, when we had nothing more to say but didn't want to hang up.
"I really hate to admit this, but I think you guys look cute together," Alice said and a smile slowly crept over her face. She glanced at me.
"So you really don't listen to threats do you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. I blushed.
"You could make high school hell for me Alice, but I don't think it would beat losing Edward," I said and she nodded her approval.
Well she was no Jasper.
"So I guess the question now is…what exactly do you do?" she asked and again Edward and I looked at each other. This question was one that we had kept pushing off because the answers weren't what we wanted.
"What do you mean, Al?" Edward asked and stared at her.
"Well seriously. I mean you guys say you love each other and I believe you, but what is that going to do? Absolutely zip. We all want to believe love can save the world and all that other make believe crap, but it's just that. Crap," she told us with a stern face.
"So you don't want us to be together?" I whispered and held back the sting of tears. So much for thinking she was different.
"No! No, no no, that's not it at all. What I'm saying is if you tell they won't accept it. They'll say it isn't real and they'll pull you guys apart, so what are you going to do?" she asked with wide eyes.
"We've thought about this. I guess we'll just have to keep it a secret until…" Edward started but trailed off.
"Until what?"
"Until we're old enough to control our own lives. Either they'll accept us or…" it was my turn to trail off because I didn't want to think about the other possibility.
"Or you'll what? It's not as easy as you guys seem to think it is? Edward, you know better than anyone that Dad would rather disown his own son rather than have a Swan as part of his family," Alice said and I looked toward Edward who was staring away and out the window.
"What exactly are you trying to do Alice? We know this isn't easy. We've established that, but what do you want us to do. I think she's worth it. You don't want us to fight for that? To fight for something some people never find!" Edward snapped at his sister and Alice ran a hand through her hair. She shook her head and took a deep breath to collect her thoughts.
"I love you, Edward. I love the fact that she makes you happy, but I'm thinking about your future happiness. For both of you, since neither of you could see past the fact that you've found your soul mate in the enemy. How long will you really have to keep this a secret? Dad won't pay for college if you run away with her. So how are you going to support a family? There's only so much you could do with a high school diploma now a days!"
I knew this was coming. The talk about our future, and I knew we would eventually have to do it, but I wasn't sure I wanted to do it right now. I had the most amazing magical night and now I was waking up to reality. It all seemed too much for me. What Alice was saying was all true. I knew this.
Maybe it was the hope that we could make this work that had fogged my view of the truth for so long.
"I know, I know," Edward said tiredly and rubbed his forehead. It was more on instinct. I knew when he was stressed and automatically my hand lifted to play with the curls on the back of his neck. Slowly I began to rub his neck and he loosened a bit.
"That's…something," she said staring at us. I tore gaze away from Edward to stare at her.
"What?" I asked slowly removing my hand away from his neck and just taking hold of his hand like previously.
"They way you guys…it's like you're in sync with each other. I've never really seen that before," she said with a light smile and Edward chuckled.
"Maybe you just never really seen love, Ally," Edward said.
"Maybe," she said and again a soft quiet fell over us. All of us in thought.
"I want this to work out for you guys. I really do," she whispered after a couple minutes. "You have my support. I know it's not much, but I'll do my best to help," she said and shot us a bright smile.
"That's all we could ask for," he said and went over to hug her. Then she came to me and hugged me tightly. This was all very weird, but somehow I felt better knowing we had someone on our side. The fight didn't seem so big and I didn't feel like we were alone.
She pulled away and walked toward the door.
"I'm going to make sure the coast is clear. Then we'll get Bella out. Your parents should still be sleeping after that wedding so maybe it'll be easy to sneak back in," she said and walked out the room. I waited until I could no longer hear her footsteps to speak again.
"Can we trust her?" I asked and Edward laughed as he took a seat on the couch and stared at me.
"That we can. Alice won't betray me. I know that," he said and ran a hand through his hair.
"She brings up a good point," I said wanting more than anything to just drop the subject, but I knew we couldn't do that. If we pushed it off too long it would soon be too late.
"Bella…" Edward started but I held up my hand. My heart thudded with what I was about to do.
"Maybe, we should wait Edward. I mean if we were meant to be it'll happen. But maybe right now isn't the best time for us. I don't want you to give up your future for me. I don't want you to live to resent me," I said and looked down at my hands. I didn't believe what I was saying because I wanted to suck in every word I had just uttered but I knew I needed this to be done.
"That won't happen, Bella." His voice was hard and I knew he was already disagreeing with everything I said.
"It won't be forever. Just until we—"
He got up from the sofa and knelt before me. He grasped my face in his hand and made me look at him. His eyes shone with determination.
"Do you want to be with anyone else beside me?" he asked seriously.
"No," I breathed.
"Then why be miserable and alone when we can be happy and together. You make no sense," he said and I tried to shake my head, but his hands held my head still.
"It makes perfect sense. Every moment we're together were risking everything, Edward. We're risking our families trust, you're risking your future, and I'm risking the ability to stay in Forks. If we get caught together…" I trailed off. I didn't need to explain the consequences. He knew them just as well as I did.
"No."
I stared into his eyes and could see the meaning behind his. I felt the tears begin to pool. He rose slowly and placed a soft kiss on my lips. We pulled away after a moment and he sat next to me on the bed.
"You're so stubborn," I told him and offered a smile.
"No, I'm not. We can be together now, so why would you want to risk that. If we were separated would you date someone? Would you want me to date someone?" he asked and I winced imagining another girl hanging out with Edward. The thought was…hurtful.
"See! That's how I would feel seeing you with another guy. Yes, we can get caught, but I'm willing to risk everything just to be with you so don't take the easy way out of this. I don't want to wait years to be with you!" he argued and I felt the tears slide down my cheeks.
"I just want this to be easier for us," I whispered and he sighed.
"Don't you think I want the same thing?" he asked and sometimes I felt like I wasn't too sure.
"Would you still be with me if I wasn't a Swan?" I asked and he laughed. I blushed.
"Bella, I love you. Not the rebellion that comes with that. I would love you no matter what," he assured me and I smiled. He kissed me once more and we heard heavy footsteps on the stairs.
"He might still be sleeping, Em. Don't wake him," Alice said outside the door. Edward's eyes widened. He stood quickly and grabbed my arm. He pulled me up and pushed me toward the bathroom.
"Hide," he whispered and I heard Emmett's voice.
"You were just in here, stop lying," he shouted and the knob twisted. I ran in the bathroom and quickly and quietly closed the door just as his bedroom door flung open.
"I told you he wasn't sleeping," Emmett said. There was shuffling and I expected he was sitting somewhere.
"What do you want?" Edward asked.
"Jeez. Nice to see you too lil bro!" Emmett said. I smiled.
"What are you doing up so early anyway? Are you just getting home?" Edward asked.
"Yep," I heard Alice answer for him. Emmett laughed.
"I got too drunk to drive. I crashed at Marc's," Emmett explained.
"So I'm guessing you guys had fun at the wedding. No fights broke out right?" Alice asked.
"Nah. The Swan's didn't even suspect we had crashed the wedding. Bunch of dummies," Emmett said and laughed. I did my best not to be offended.
"Well that's good I guess," Alice said.
"Where did you run off to anyway? I didn't see you," Emmett asked.
"I, uh, came home, early. I wasn't feeling too well," Edward answered.
"Oh. Well did you hear? The old Swan might be singing his song," Emmett said and my heart thudded.
Old Swan? Granddad?
"What in the world are you talking about Emmett?" Edward asked.
"The geezer had a heart attack last night. It's all over the town," Emmett said and I felt as though my heart had stopped. My blood ran cold as I thought about my grandfather. I couldn't breathe. My chest felt tight.
I threw open the door. Edward was standing near the French doors staring at me with worried eyes. So was Alice who was resting on the bed.
Emmett stared in shock from the sofa.
I paid him no attention as I looked at Edward.
"I need to go! Now!" I said. He nodded, grabbed a sweater from the couch, and pulled it over his shoulder.
"What's going on here?!" Emmett called but Edward and I were already out the room and racing toward the car.
So much for secrecy.
. . .
So! Look at that! I finished it and posted it in one week. How's that. I think that's improvement. Okay so I need some reviews and I can't promise anything, but I might give sneak peeks out again. The next chapter is already finished and I'll try to post it next week. So really reviews would be nice, since I spent the whole day painting the kitchen with my mother. She's a very impulsive woman, so remodeling the kitchen seems to be her new thing. Lord, help my sister and me…. haha
FunFact: Emmett's comment about Old Swan singing his song comes from the fact that Swans are known to sing before they die. Just an FYI.
FELIZ DIA DE LAS MADRES!
Okay so pleaseReview!!