I woke up at 5am. There was no way I was going back to sleep. I wondered down stairs to find something to eat. It was a slow process because my mind was still pretty tired. By the time I finally managed to get my cereal and eat it, it was already 6:30. I still had a whole lot of day left. I went up stairs and got dressed. Jeans and a t-shirt. While I was pulling my hair back I heard a knock. I stopped and looked around. Then I heard it again. It was the front door! I ran downstairs, afraid that whoever was there would leave. When I opened the door, my jaw dropped. There in my shabby little doorway stood Edward Cullen.
"What are you doing here?"
"I told you I would see you tomorrow."
"I didn't think you were serious. And its way early."
"I could hear you moving around, I knew you were up so I thought I would drop in."
"You heard me? Oh right."
He smiled.
"Can I come in?"
Yeah invite the vampire that almost killed you into your house.
"Sure."I moved out of the way and he casually walked in. I shut the door and just stood there. What was I supposed to do?
"So, did you sleep well?"
"I guess so. It wasn't my best night."
He laughed.
"Same here."There was a long silence. "So are you going to give me the grand tour?"
I looked around. The house wasn't as clean as it had ever been.
"I guess if you want to see the place. It's a mess though."
He nodded so I walked past him into the living room.
"This is the living room, where we uh…watch TV. Well my dad does, I don't watch a lot of TV."
Then I walked past him again, into the kitchen.
"This is the kitchen were we eat."
He just stood there smiling. I pointed to the basement door.
"That's the basement. I don't go down there unless I have to do laundry. Its too dark and dirty to do much else."
Edward followed as I made my way up the stairs. I stopped at Charlie's door.
"This is my dads room."
Then the bathroom.
"Here's the bathroom, I don't know that you would need to use it but…never mind."He laughed.
"And my room."
I stood outside the door. My room really was a mess and I didn't want him to see it. He looked at me for a minute, then he opened the door. I groaned.
"It's a mess, I'm really sorry. Lets go back downstairs."
He smiled and walked past me into the disaster. I hung my head and followed him in. He looked around then sat on my bed. I never thought I would see there. It was odd. He was so perfect and my room was so plain. It wasn't just my room. I was terribly plain too. I absentmindedly starting picking things up off the floor and putting them away. Clothes, books, and bags were laying all over the place. I almost forgot Edward was even there is I threw clothes into the hamper. But I remembered as soon as I backed up into him. I wish he would have said he was behind me.
"Sorry…"
I turned and still had that smile on his face.
"You're honestly worried about cleaning up?"
"Well yeah, its embarrassing. I wish I would have known that you were coming over.""I guess I should have made it more clear."
"Yeah."
I moved around him and threw some bags into my small closet.
"Bella why don't you care that I'm here."
"What?"
"It doesn't bother you that we're alone?"
"No. Why would it?"
He sighed.
"Bella I'm a vampire. I have almost killed you twice."
"Twice?"
"You have no idea how much at risk you were yesterday while we were…interacting."
"Oh. You didn't seem like you wanted to kill me, it was more like…well…"
"Trust me, I had other things on my mind but I am what I am and those thoughts come whether I want them to or not."
"Well I'm glad we got that out of the way.""You never answered my question."
"I guess I'm just not afraid. You may have tried to kill me but you don't really want to right?"
"Of course not."
"Well there you go."
I started to go grab more stuff but he caught my arm and pulled me to my bed where we both sat down.
"I just cant understand you Bella. After everything that has happened and all the things you now know, you don't act like anything is any different. You take it all in stride. Normal people would panic, they would go straight to the police. But you don't seem to care at all. I couldn't believe that you did what you did with me yesterday. I'm a vampire!"
I didn't know what to say. So I said the first thing that came to mind.
"Normal people?"
"Yes normal people."
"So I'm not normal?""Absolutely not."
"Oh.""Don't feel bad Bella, I find your strangeness to be grand."
"Why?"
"What's normal about being a creature that doesn't exist?""Ah I see. Well then we make quite the pair don't we."
"I hope so."I looked up at him. His gaze was so intense.
"Bella will you go to prom with me."
I couldn't help but giggle. Well it wasn't so much giggling as it was hysterical laughter. Was he serious? Prom?
"Edward….come on…that's…."
He frowned and I tried to stop but the thought of him taking me was just great. Like that would ever happen. I couldn't even imagine walking in on his arm. It seemed that we were not going along the same train of thought.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. Of course you wouldn't want to go.""No, no that's not it…really Edward. I just cant even picture myself at a dance, let alone at a dance with you. Can you imagine how I would look standing next to you? It would be really sad."
"Don't be ridiculous Bella."
"Come on. You are so perfect, it would like beauty and the beast."
"I am a monster."
"You know that's not what mean."
He smiled.
"Please come with me, I think you will have more fun than you think.""I cant even walk without falling. How well do you think I could dance?"
"You would dance better than anyone there as long as you let me lead."
I sighed. Jessica would love this.
"Okay, I will go with you."He leaned in and gently kissed me. I held my composure.
The rest of my day with Edward was spent talking. He told me all about himself and I did the same. Several times I was stopped mid sentence by him. He would play with my hair and more often smell me. It always gave me the chills and I don't think it was from his cold skin. A few times I would look over and he would be looking away from me. His fists were always clinched. When I would try to scoot away to make it easier for him he would pull me right back.
By the time Charlie got home, Edward was long gone. I wasn't ready for Charlie to know that I was 'involved' with someone. Honestly I wasn't sure what we were. He had asked to prom but that didn't mean we were a couple. The mess in the parking lot might mean something but he never said anything about it. Did that make us anything? People did things like that all the time and often never even spoke to other person again. I didn't think he was going to run away or anything. He looked at me so…lovingly? I wasn't sure. All I knew was that he was at least a little bit attracted to me. Charlie sat across from me now. He must have noticed my silent conversation with myself.
"Hey Bells, something wrong?""No, just thinking.""About what?""I need to get this house cleaned up tomorrow. I've been slacking."
"It always looked like this before you came. Its not terrible.""You might be able to live with it but I cant, I need it to be clean."
"Its up to you I guess. I'm going down to La Push tomorrow to fish with Billy so I wont be in your way. Maybe you could invite Angela or Jessica over so you're not alone."
"I think I'll let them sleep in. I get things done better when I'm alone anyway."
"Alright then. If you need me tomorrow just call Jacob, he will let me know."
"Okay."
I cleaned up and then ran upstairs to get ready for bed. There was a bare spot on my floor where I had managed to get a little bit of stuff picked up. I sighed but changed anyway. It would wait until tomorrow. Edward didn't say he was coming over so I assumed he wasn't. As I pulled up my sweats I saw something brown on my bed. I picked it up and realized that it was Edward's coat. He must have forgotten it. I hid it in the closet so Charlie wouldn't see it. I didn't feel like explaining why I had a boys coat in my room. That night I actually slept pretty good. The next morning I was completely rejuvenated.
I didn't bother changing when I got up. I ate and started cleaning. I picked up laundry and got it started. Then I took the trash out and mopped the floor. It was noon before I took a break. I still had to vacuum and scrub the kitchen down. That wouldn't take long at all. I would probably still have time to run to the store and get groceries. We were getting a little low on dinner items. If Charlie brought fish home I would need something to make with it. Maybe I could beer batter them.
The air outside was chilly but it wasn't really that cold. I wore only a sweater as I left the house. I had my list and money ready as I unlocked the truck. I was lucky that Charlie already had some beer left since I couldn't buy it myself. I should have called Jake and told him to tell Charlie not to drink any if he got home before me. Guess I would just have to beat him there. The grocery store was nearly empty when I got there. There were 5 other cars in the lot. One of them was a black Cadillac that I had never seen. In a town this small, you pretty much knew what every body drove.
Crackers, butter, milk, cereal, pickles, steak, and tomatoes. That was what I had so far. I still had a lot of shopping to do. Charlie liked to have snacks when he watched his games. I turned down the snack isle and stopped. I wasn't expecting to see a vampire at the grocery store. She didn't seem surprised at all to see me though.
"Mrs. Cullen?""Oh Bella hello!"
I stepped closer to her.
"Why are you buying food?"
"Well what would people think if they never saw us buy any food?"
"Duh. Umm how are you?"
"I'm fine dear, and yourself?""I'm doing good, just picking up a few things to actually use."
We both laughed.
"I cant believe Edward isn't with you."
"Huh? Why?"
"You are all he talks about. After he spent the day with you I thought he would be with you again. He's so cute."
I was stunned. He talked about me? I blushed.
"Oh, well I haven't even heard from him today."
"I'm sure you will. I have to go dear, please stop by some time."
"Yeah that would be nice, I think I will."She smiled and walked past me. Wow that was an experience. Edward talked about me with his mother? I wonder what he says.