"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." - Emily Brontë
Beginnings
"Very good, darling. Just keep on looking straight ahead. Nice and slow. That's it."
My parents let me drive home from the restaurant in Port Angeles that they took me to. I had gotten my permit a while ago, on the first try might I add. Now all I needed to do was practice behind the wheel. It wasn't raining outside, so I could see the road clearly. There wasn't any traffic, either, which suited me just fine. Father made me drive extremely slowly, afraid that I would crash into something if I went faster than thirty miles per hour.
"How fast do you go again, Father?" I would ask him in the car whenever he told me to slow down.
Dad would either ignore me or clench his jaw with anguish. I would snicker to myself quietly, hearing Mother in the back joining me. She wasn't as worried as my father was about my driving. Father was a very fast driver. Eighty for him was slow and not exactly fun. But with me, no, no, no, Cecilia. Don't go too quickly, my love.
The radio in my Father's new, nature friendly Volvo was playing a jazz song. The soft, low volume lightly made it's way out of the surrounding speakers in the car. I kept my eyes on the road, my stomach feeling so full that I could literally pop open.
"Have you thought about your birthday, Cecilia?" my mother asked in the background.
Too be honest, no. I usually thought about my birthday a few days before it would happen, much to Alice's annoyence. But, of course, I would pick out the things that I wanted as presents a year ahead of time. My birthday was in about two months I thought as I drove the car.
"Nope, not really," I answered, approaching a red light. I gently pressed my foot on the brake, halting the Volvo.
"Sixteen years old," Father murmured, more to himself than to us.
Did I hear a hint of sadness in his tone?
"I can't believe it," said Mom, sounding suddenly the same as Dad.
"Try not to grow up on us too quickly, darling," muttered Father, giving me a small, crooked smile.
Eurgh. I didn't really like it when my mom and dad got all...well...parent-ish on me. It didn't exactly fit well with their young appearances. I know that they couldn't help it, but still.
The next day, Audrey and I visited First Beach at La Push together. Dan and Jade were going the spend the day together at Olymphia, so they didn't come with us. Harper was going to join us, but her mom grounded her the night before. This was because Harp forgot to give her little sister her breathing meds. You should have seen Father when I told him that. Emmett found this story hilarious.
"I'm glad poor Sophie did not suffer severely," Father said, coolly.
"Honestly," I heard Rosalie scold Emmett as she entered the room. "The little girl could have died. I don't see why you let Cecilia hang out with that Harper, Edward. She could be her next victom."
That made Emmett shut up. My father simply rolled his eyes at Rosalie.
Like the day before, there was no rain falling down from the sky. It wasn't exactly cold nor warm. In between. Audrey and I were sitting on an old, tattered blanket. The two of us bore sweatshirts with the hoods on top of our heads, loose strands of our hair blowing as a light wind blew on the beach.
"Does Jacob know that you're here?" asked Audrey.
But before I could answer Audrey's question, I noticed a guy was walking along the beach. I smiled widely, waving my right arm up.
"Seth!" I called, feeling excited from the pit of my stomach to the tips of my toes. "Over here!"
Seth turned his head, locking his eyes in our direction. He waved back, calling out a greeting as he walked over to us. Seth glanced smoothly to see who my friend was. His russet face glowed as soon as he looked at Audrey, his jaw slightly dropping. I noticed that he walked a bit faster. I also noticed that Audrey looked to be glowing as well, her thin lips curling up into a small, shy smile.
"Hi, Cee," said Seth, sounding out of breath. He turned to look at Audrey again, smiling sheepishly. "Hi," he repeated, lovesick.
Audrey blushed a shell-pink color in the cheeks.
"Hello," she said, innocently.
Later that night, when the sky turned a dark gray color, I left Audrey and Seth to go see Jacob. We were at Seth's place for the remainder of the day, having a good time just talking and chilling out. The two of them were getting along so well. It seemed as if they had known each other for a really long time. It was like love at first sight. That hit me like a frying pan in the face when I was walking to the red house. Oh, geez. Did Seth imprint on Audrey?
I finally decided that I needed to tell my crush my true feelings for him. All of my being hoped and prayed that he felt the same for me.
Jacob looked startled when he opened the front door to find me standing there. He bore only some old black sweats. Even though I had seen him without his shirt on a fair few times, I still found myself not believing my eyes. His abs were amazing. I had to keep myself from staring. Awkward. Jake's hair down to his chin that night. I was curious to see what it would be like if it were shorter. I noted that Jake's face had a slight glow to it when he locked his eyes to my emerald ones. Anxiousness flowed through my body heavily.
"Oh, hey, Cee," said Jacob, sounding uneasy. "What brings you here?"
"We have to, no, need to talk," I spoke, very quickly. My voice sounded way too nervous. I couldn't control it.
Jake seemed taken a back by my words. He nodded, stepping out into the darkness.
"C'mon, let's go into the woods."