"I'll never put you in danger again, so it's a moot point." I made that as not only a promise to her, but as a promise to myself as well. She would no longer suffer the consequences of what I am on my behalf.
"Put me in danger! I thought we'd established that all the bad luck is my fault? How dare you even think like that?" The former concern she had expressed was now turning into a simmered rage. I tried to explain it as clearly as I could, "What would you do, if the situation were reversed?"
"That's not the same thing." She huffed. I chuckled at her reverie. It was as much the same as anything else.
"What if something did happen to you? Would you want me to go off myself?" The validity in her words smacked me across the face. Of course I wouldn't want her to...I couldn't even think of her ever doing that. A life without Bella-that didn't sound like much of a life to me. "I guess I see your point...a little. But what would I do without you?" I countered, not seeing any other favorable solution than if that were the case.
"Whatever you were doing before I came along and complicated your existence." I sighed. Before she same along, I was nothing. There was no life; she gave me life. If that were to be taken away again, I would be straight back to the nothingness...only it would be much, much worse. Because now, I would have known what it felt like to be whole again, to feel alive...and that reminder would stay with me for as long as I existed. "You make that sound so easy."
"It should be. I'm not really that interesting."
I was beginning to grasp that Bella would never quite see herself clearly, and though I was prepared to defend every good and interesting thing about her, Charlie's thoughts came into range. He would be home soon. "Moot point." I repeated, sitting up, arranging Bella so that she was now seated opposite of me.
"Charlie?" She guessed. I smiled. She knew me quite well. Charlie's mental voice became clearer, and the sound of his engine cutting off outside made his presence known. Bella took my hand in hers, very bravely.
A few moments later, Charlie appeared in the doorway with a square cardboard box that had grease spreading out on the bottom. Pizza. The smell repulsed me, bringing back memories of the putrid piece I had to bite recently to prove to Bella that we could eat human food...but why in the world would we ever want to?
"Hey, kids." A grin spread across his face as his eyes met Bella, quite fatherly. "I thought you'd like a break from cooking and washing dishes for your birthday. Hungry?"
"Sure. Thanks, Dad." As usual, I excused myself from their dinner. Charlie had gotten over my eating restrictions, passing them off as me just being "overly polite." According to his inner voice, that just meant more pizza for him. Humans and their pizza, such an amusing combo.
I waited patiently until they finished, and brought up tonight's plans. "Do you mind if I borrow Bella for the evening?" I asked casually, making no note to the pleading in Bella's eyes as she looked to him. Probably hoping he'd say no, but I knew better than that. His mind flashed to the football game that would be on tonight-something he couldn't pass up. "That's fine-the Mariners are playing the Sox tonight." Bella's face fell in dismay, her hope vanishing. "So I won't be any kind of company." Charlie picked up the camera and made an effort to throw it to her. "Here..." I was ready to protect Bella if needed, should the camera fly at her like a baseball bat, but instead, it slid out of her grasp, tumbling towards the floor. I snatched it before it could make the crash, and held on to it, figuring it had a better shelf life in my own hands.
"Nice save." Charlie appraised. "If they're doing something fun at the Cullen's tonight, Bella, you should take some pictures. You know how your mother gets-she'll be wanting to see the pictures faster than you can take them."
"Good idea, Charlie." I carefully handed Bella the camera; she took it in her hands and immediately turned it on me, snapping a photo. Vampires weren't much for pictures, so this took me by surprise. "It works," she declared.
"That's good. Hey, say hi to Alice for me. She hasn't been over in a while." Charlie's smiled drooped slightly at the corners. After Bella's accident, Alice had come over quite often to help her out and Charlie had grown very fond of her. I'll have to ask her to stop by sometime when we get to the party.
"It's been three days, Dad...I'll tell her." He seemed to perk up at that, and started walking towards the TV. "Okay. You kids have fun tonight."
I had run the distance from Bella's house to my own countless times before without much effort, but being in a car that could barely make it over forty miles per hour and running with immortal speed were two completely different things. No matter how hard I pushed my foot down into the gas pedal, the antiquated piece of metal just would not budge. To say that it was irritating would be an understatement.
"Take it easy," Bella objected.
"You know what you would love? A nice little Audi coupé. Very quiet, lots of power..." Something her current mode of transportation was definitely not. "There's nothing wrong with my truck." She insisted, quite defensively. "And speaking of expensive nonessentials, if you know what's good for you, you didn't spend any money on birthday presents." I couldn't help but crack a small smile. "Not a dime." It wasn't a complete lie. I honestly didn't spend a dime. "Good." It seemed my answer were satisfactory to her, so I digressed. "Can you do me a favor?"
She pursed her lips, and I could see her obstinate demeanor surfacing again. "That depends on what it is," she replied curtly. I couldn't help but sigh. "Bella, the last real birthday any of us had was Emmett in 1935. Cut us a little slack, and don't be too difficult tonight. They're all very excited." And we were. Seeing as how we don't age, celebrating birthdays didn't exactly make much sense anymore. The only reason that Emmett was an exception to that is because his birthday fell shortly after his transformation into this new life. "Fine, I'll behave," she promised solemnly. Speaking of Emmett, "I probably should warn you..."
"Please do," she urged. "When I say they're all excited...I do mean all of them." This seemed to have taken her by surprise. "Everyone? I thought Emmett and Rosalie were in Africa." I nodded. "Emmett wanted to be here."
"But...Rosalie?" I could see the doubt in her questioning eyes. Rose hadn't particularly taken a liking to Bella, though I assured her many times before that she had nothing to fuss about. Besides, I had a feeling that she would come around...sooner or later.
"I know, Bella. Don't worry, she'll be on her best behavior." With that, she disappeared into her mind again. What I wouldn't give just to have see a sliver of what was going on inside that extraordinary head of hers. Before she got too absorbed in whatever was clearly bothering her, I decided to switch tracks.
"So, if you won't let me get you the Audi, isn't there anything that you'd like for your birthday?" This girl deserved so much, and I would do everything in my power to give her whatever she wanted.
"You know what I want," she replied flatly. Anything, except that.
"Not tonight, Bella. Please." I probably should have just kept my mouth shut. "Well, maybe Alice will give me what I want." It sounded like a challenge, and the beast within me escaped before I could stop it, releasing a low growl. Why she would ever want this was beyond me. Through clenched teeth, I tried to make the words come out as plainly as I could: "This isn't going to be your last birthday, Bella."