"Dad? I'm calling just to say I'll sleep over at the Cullens. Alice wants to have a sleepover, is that ok?"
Charlie agrees over the phone, and as you hang up, Edward drives to his house.
The rains is thick as it hits the windows, and the wipers barely help.
Alice did say something about a sleepover, but that was weeks ago. Edward parks the truck on your house and you both walk to his house. He covers you with his jacket.
The place seems to be empty, and you both go to the living room. You sit on the carpet as Edward turns on the fireplace, turns on the stereo with some mellow music and leaves the room. A few minutes later, he comes in with dry clothes on, a blanket on his hands and two cups of hot beverages. He sits next to you.
You drink and he covers himself and you with the blanket.
"Tell me something I don't know about you" you say. You want to break more barriers between your best friend and yourself.
He stiffens, and you see how his jaw clenches, the way he always does when you know he's nervous.
"Something big or something small?" he says.
"Anything you want"
"Ok... well... I have a mark on my shoulder."
"Really? let me see it!"
He smiles and he uncovers his shoulder, and you see a small brown dot on his left shoulder.
"Now you tell me something I don't know about you" he challenges you.
"uhm... well... I want to write a book someday."
"really? about what?"
"I'm not quite sure, really. A book about a bunch of experiences I have lived. Like Paul Auster's 'red notebook'"
He smiles.
You both stare at the fire, and listen to the music.
He inhales deeply.
"There might be something you should know about me." He says.
You feel extremely curious, and nervous at the same time. A rush of excitement runs through you, the idea of knowing a deep secret of his makes you very happy.
You stay frozen, waiting anxiously for his statement, but he suddenly groans in exhasperation, and covers his face with his palms.
-"I can't do it... ugh... I'm sorry."
-"Edward" you place your hand on his back, "you can trust me".
-"I know I can trust you."
Silence surrounds you. Your head spins in confusion, but you try to be supportive.
-"Is it that bad?" you ask.
-"Very. You might not want to be near me anymore"
-"That's impossible. I really like who you are..."
-"That's the thing. You don't know who I am."
-"Ok, then;
I really, really like the Edward I know.
He is smart, patient and respectful.
He has an amazing taste and passion for music.
He always knows what to do or say to make me feel better. He wanted to know me better since the first week we met, and I haven't heard a complaint about me. He's nice, a gentleman, and if he has secrets, or a dark past, nothing can change the fact that he has been good to me."
Suddenly, as you speak, you hear his breath grown deeper. Your head is in his chest, and you can hear his heart thumping loudly. Your blood starts to run fast, and you suddenly feel inside a moment you haven't felt before... not even with Ray, your boyfriend back in Phoenix.
You don't want the moment to fade away, so you continue counting the details you like about him.
"He cares about his family, I haven't heard him complain about them. Not even once.
He's polite, he remembers important details, and he always turns on the chimney when I need to be comforted, without me even saying how am I feeling..."
He breathes heavely, and his face starts to turn to you, as his eyes are slightly closed. You lift your face, unwillingly, and your words become a whisper.
"...and... he dresses really well, I really like the way he smells. He accepted my friends into his table easily... he... he acted like driving me to school the first day was his gesture, even when it was my father's idea."
His lips are dangerously close to yours, and your mind goes blank. You start to mumble, not really saying anything coherent anymore. His hand cups your jaw, and your lips suddenly feel his.
-"So..." he whispers, brushing your lips as he speaks. "You really think all of these things are enough against my darkest secret?"
-"Uh huh"
He exhales, and drops his hand from your face as he backs off. Your head is spinning, but you try to focus on anything he has to say.
He stares at the flames of the chimney. His jaw makes that same old clenching, and his knuckles are marked against his skin.
He clears his throat.
-"You know I was adopted, and all my brothers and sisters were too. But I have never told you how we were adopted. Carlisle... was bitten... by a strange creature when he was young.
He gained this... condition, which lengthens your life expectansy."
You change your position, into a more comfortable one, so you can hear his story better.
He covers the parts of you that are uncovered with the blanket and continues.
"With this condition, there are other things that come along. Your body stops functioning with food. Instead... it needs something else to get its nutrients from."
You wait patiently, and you catch him peeking at you, nervously, from the corner of his eye.
"Blood." He says.
You stay there... waiting for him to continue his story, but he's waiting for your reaction. It doesn't hit you right away. Carlisle had a condition... by a bite... that made him live from blood? And his life expectancy was longer?
Wait... doesn't this sound like...?
"How longer does one get to live after adquiring this... condition?"
He shut his eyes, ashamed.
"Carlisle was born in 1640" he whispered.
You freeze into your place. If this was a very sick, bad, joke...
but the Edward you know, wouldn't do something like that.
He was trying to confess to you, a secret from his soul;
and even if it wasn't a joke, the right thing to do was to believe him until proven wrong; because the Edward you knew was honest.
"When were you born?" you ask.
He turns his face away from you, and you understand it really is hard for him to come clean.
"1901" He says.
1901...
Every second that passed made you think that if this was a joke, it was going too far, so you had to believe him.
But in order to believe him, it meant that not only Carlisle, but the whole Cullens were...
"Vampires?" you whisper, unaware of the sound that came through your lips.
Edward, still looking away, burried his face on his palms. He remained burried for the rest of the hour.
An hour that you remained lying on the floor, gazing at the ceiling, trying to process everything he has said.
Then, some few details that you've let slip return to your memory.
The way they just chew a few bites at lunch, they never eat heavy dishes... he hasn't even sipped on his hot cocoa.
The way his touch is always cold.
And they all seemed... wise. Not filled in knowledge, but they seemed like old souls. And it fitted perfectly with the reason.
So this was it.
Edward and his family were vampires, and they knew you would know. And they accepted you, not only as the little human neighbor, but as a friend. As the girl who spends her whole spare time inside their refuge. Even they have invited her to spend the night over.
If they wanted to drink your blood, they wouldn't accept Edward confessing their secrets to you. And it made sense that no one was home, like they knew this was the night he confessed.
You lift your face and you search for him, and he's still burried on his hands, but at the other side of the room, sitting on one of the couches. You stand up, wrapped in the blanket, walk towards him, and hug him.
He exhales loudly and wraps his arms around you. Relieved and thankful.
He still covers his face, but this time, against your shoulder.
"Thank you" you hear him say from under the cover.
You rub the back of his neck, and he relaxes a bit more. He hugs you a bit tighter and you giggle.
"There's nothing to thank for. I really love all of you."
He inhales sharply as you phrased the words.
You pick up his face with both your hands, and kiss his forehead.
"It's ok... as long as we care for each other, and don't eat me" you joke.
But his face drops.
"That's not funny, Bella."
"I'm sorry. I wanted to lighten the mood, that's all"
He smiles slightly and you start to feel sleepy.
"Do vampires sleep?" you ask.
"I'm sorry, we don't. But the sofa on my room turns into a bed. Want to go to sleep?"
You nod and he carries you over his shoulder.
You laugh all the way upstairs, and he places you gently on a chair.
Suddenly, he starts moving at super speed. He unfolds the sofa, prepares the bed, goes to Alice's room for some pj's and leaves them over the bed in less than 5 seconds.
You stare at everything with eyes wide open. He stands in front of you and giggles at your face.
"Ill give you some privacy" he says as he exits the room.
You wear the clothes he left on the bed, and fold the ones you were wearing.
You place them on the chair and go to bed.
Suddenly, the sweet smell of the sheets and the freshness of the room lead you to a deep sleep.