~~~Simple Beauty~~~
The music stayed in Edward's head all evening. He just couldn't get that out of his head. It was so full of simple beauty. Just simple beauty.
"What's on your mind?" asked Emmett that afternoon. He and Edward were sitting at the kitchen table, both of them staring at ridiculously easy math homework that would be done in seconds if either of them had the aptitude to do it at that moment.
Edward looked at his favorite brother in surprise. "What do you mean?" he asked innocently.
"Come on, Edward. I may not be able to read minds like you or see the future like Alice but I can see that you're preoccupied," Emmett rolled his eyes.
Edward looked at him. He couldn't help but crack a smile. "Yeah, I have a lot on my mind," he answered.
"Wanna talk about it?" Emmett gently pushed.
Edward gave in, not wanting to seek an argument with his brother. "I met someone today. Well, I didn't exactly meet her as in crash into her."
"You? Crash into someone? I thought the klutziness was Bell-" Emmett's voice broke off. He sighed. "I'm sorry, Edward."
Edward shook it off, even though he was inwardly wincing at the mention of his dead girlfriend. "It's fine."
"So, tell me about this girl," said Emmett.
"She's the girl in Jasper's US History class," said Edward.
"Oh, yeah!" Emmett trilled, remembering their conversation at lunch that day.
"Alexis Bowen," said Edward, remembering Alexis's face. Emmett's low voice broke him out of the memory.
"What's up with Alexis?" he asked.
"Well, I was getting ready to find you guys so we could go home and I was going down the music hallway. I heard this violin music. It was just so beautiful. It wasn't like anything I had ever heard before. I went to the auditorium and stuck my head in there and it was her. She was playing Beethoven's Third Symphony. And it's like I just said. It was so beautiful. Simple beauty," said Edward. "And there's another thing."
"What's that?"
"I can't read her mind either," said Edward.
Emmett didn't respond to what he said. He rubbed his hands together. Then he looked back at Edward. "It's been six months, Edward. You are allowed to move on."
"The only reason why I'm still here was because of Bella!" Edward snapped.
Emmett rolled his eyes. "You're being stupid. I don't see anything wrong with moving on. Falling in love again."
"So, if Rosalie was killed, you would move on?" Edward shot at him.
Emmett's face blanched. He glared at his younger brother and then turned his face towards his hands. After several moments of silence, Emmett looked back at Edward and opened his mouth to speak.
"It's something that I would want him to do," came another voice, interrupting the two men.
Emmett and Edward were stunned that they didn't even hear Rosalie as she entered the room. Rosalie stood in the doorway of the kitchen, an unnaturally gentle expression on her face.
"I just hope he would give a good amount of mourning though before he moved on," said Rosalie as she took her place behind Emmett.
Emmett kissed her hand and smiled at her. "Don't worry," he said reassuringly.
"If you didn't, I would have to come back and haunt you," she hissed quietly.
Emmett smirked. Edward cracked another weak smile. Emmett patted Rosalie's hand.
"Really. Don't worry," he repeated. Rosalie grinned and kissed his temple. She reached over and squeezed Edward's hand.
"I'm going out of my element here, Edward. I just want you to be happy. I know how much you loved Bella. It is okay for you to move on. Just be careful what you do," she said gently.
"Thanks, Rose," whispered Edward, pain flickering across his eyes.
That following day.
Edward walked into his English class early. He saw that he was the second person to arrive. He could see Alexis Bowen sitting in her usual seat in front. This time though, she cast him a gentle smile. He tried to smile back. It felt like a grimace.
He sat down in his seat and pulled out his copy of The Glass Menagerie and began to read, never mind that he had already read it 341 times. He could feel Alexis's eyes on him for a short time. He tried desperately to hear what she was thinking but couldn't.
Damn it.
Class was endless. Another boring lecture on The Glass Menagerie. Edward didn't bother to listen since he knew it by heart. Come on, he was a vampire. He knew everything in literature.
Finally, the bell rang. The class bounced out of their seats and took off. Edward took his time putting his books back into his bag. He noticed that Alexis was taking her time as well. A second later, he heard her quiet footsteps approach him.
"Edward?" she whispered.
Edward forced himself to look up. He again found himself looking into the deepest pair of blue eyes he had ever seen in his whole entire life.
"Hi," he squeaked out. Ugh, he hated sounding human at times like this.
"You don't know me. I'm Alexis Bowen," she said kindly. She didn't try to shake his hand. "I just wanted to apologize for being so rude to you yesterday. I'd been having a crappy morning and I was in a crabby mood. That's why I snapped at you when you accidentally bumped into me."
Edward shook his head. "It's just fine."
"Where are you going next?" she asked.
"Uh...History," he said.
"I have to head to Gym. Who's your history teacher?"
"Vickers."
"That's on my way. I'll walk you there," she said kind of forcefully.
Edward stared at her, surprised. But he didn't object.
They walked down the stairs in silence. Then Alexis spoke. "I saw you in the music hall last night," she said quietly.
Edward looked at her. "Yeah." Alexis remained silent for a moment. "I have never heard Beethoven's Third Symphony on the violin before."
Alexis brightened. "I love Beethoven. He's such a challenge," she grinned.
"How about Bach?" asked Edward.
For the next five minutes, they stood by the locker rooms talking about music. Edward found himself raving about Alexis's music and how beautiful it was. Alexis just smiled and nodded. She didn't buy any of the compliments. She didn't say a word about them. But it did feel nice.
Edward felt really weird raving about this girl and her music. But it also felt nice. A sense of normalcy.
Alexis went to her Gym class and Edward went to his History class after they realized they were fifteen minutes late for each. Edward found Alexis later in library.
"Hey," he smiled at her, gently probing her sweater covered shoulder with his textbook.
Alexis looked up and smiled at him. "Hey. How'd History go? Vickers mad?" she asked.
Edward shook his head. "He didn't care. How about your Gym teacher?"
Alexis shrugged her shoulders. "She didn't care."
"She?"
"What rock did you crawl out from under?" she said incredulously.
You have no idea, Alexis, Edward thought.
For the next thirty minutes, the two of them enjoyed themselves as they worked on homework and laughed about certain things. They got shushed by the librarian several times and threatened to be tossed out of the library. After a bit, Edward began to tell her about his family.
"Are you going to tell me about your siblings or am I going to have to drag it out of you?" asked Alexis.
Edward smirked at her. "I have four siblings. They're all adopted," he began. Alexis leaned forward to show that she was listening. Edward sat back and tried to make it like he was getting into the conversation even though it was actually Alexis's blood that bugged him a bit. What the thing was that scared him the most was that Alexis's blood just smelled normal. Yeah, it smelled sweet, a little bit sweeter than a normal human's. But it was different. It didn't bother him as much as Bella's did.
"The oldest two are Emmett and Rosalie. They are seniors this year. You see, Emmett and Rosalie don't think of each other as siblings. They're...kind of together," he explained.
"I kind of gathered that by seeing them in that big liplock this morning," smiled Alexis.
Edward rolled his eyes and continued. "Jasper is Rosalie's twin. And then Alice. And then me. Jasper and Alice are together as well. They plan on getting married after high school."
"Tell me about them. I mean, their personalities and such," asked Alexis.
"Well, Emmett is like a big teddy bear when you get to know him. Trust me. You'll love him if you ever get to know him. Rosalie is a little...shall we say 'cold'?"
That's an understatement.
"Jasper?"
"Jasper is pretty cool. I love him very much. You see, my father adopted him from Russia when he was 12. He had been abandoned by his parents and he was really screwed up. He's still trying to get his head screwed back on straight," Edward said half truthfully.
"And Alice...you'll either love her or hate her. Most people love her. She's really bubbly and sweet and nice. You'll like her," finished Edward. His voice trailed off and he looked expectantly at Alexis.
"Oh! Let's see... I live with my mom. My dad died a few years ago. My mom's name is...Laura, oddly enough," she referenced to the play they were reading in English. "I have two brothers who are as big as Emmett and could probably take him a wrestling match."
That's what you think, Alexis. "Zack is 22. A big pussycat. Joey is a year older than me. You have may have seen him in the hallway. Really big dude with hair the same color as mine. Really nice even though he may seem a little scary at first. He tackles me all the time and tosses me over his shoulder," she chuckled.
As Alexis was talking, Edward saw a very large guy starting to sneak up behind her. He recognized him immediately as Joey, the brother she was just talking about. Joey and Alexis looked a lot alike with the same color blond hair and dark blue eyes. The only difference Edward saw was that Joey was huge and Alexis was tiny. Joey put a finger to his lips, silently asking Edward to be quiet. Edward smirked and chuckled as Joey scooped up Alexis and tossed her over his shoulder.
"Edward, you jerk!" Alexis cursed him as she laughed. "Joey, put me down! I will tell Mom!"
At the mention of their mother, Joey put her back on her feet. "You wouldn't dare," he laughed.
"Oh, wouldn't I?" she chuckled.
"Who's your new boyfriend?" Joey said gesturing to Edward.
Alexis turned red. "He's a new student. We're just getting to know each other. Joey, this is Edward Cullen. Edward, this is my screwy brother Joey Bowen," she said pointing her brother towards Edward who was still sitting at the table.
"Hi," Joey said friendlily. Edward smiled back, not offering to shake his hand for obvious reasons.
"Nice to meet you. Alexis has told me all about you," said Edward.
"Whatever she said, it's all lies," he joked.
Alexis slapped his arm and hurt her hand against the hard muscle. Joey wrapped an arm around Alexis's neck, gave her a noogie, kissed the top of her dark blond curls and then left the library. Well, he was kicked out by the librarian. The librarian looked menacingly at Edward and Alexis and they took it as they were banned as well. They quickly gathered up their stuff and left.
"He's seems nice," said Edward, referencing Joey. "He seems protective of you."
"He is. I just wish that he realized I'm a big girl and don't need protecting," said Alexis, chuckling to herself.
"How old are you?" asked Edward.
"Sixteen. You?"
"Seventeen."
"So, we didn't get a chance to finish our conversation," said Alexis. "What about your parents? What do they do?"
"My adoptive parents? Carlisle is a doctor. He just took over as head of emergency medicine at the local hospital. My mom, Esme, she used to be an architect. Now she hunts down antique objects and restores them and sells them for less money than they're worth. Esme loves to do that," said Edward.
"They sound like wonderful people. To take in five children and all that," smiled Alexis.
Edward had to smile too. His face muscles, even though they were made out of stone, felt really tight. He hadn't smiled, actually smiled, in a really long time. It felt nice. He felt…oddly happy.
After saying goodbye to Alexis, Edward met his siblings out front, all of them ready to go home. But, he came across a strange sight. Alice was sitting on the hood of Emmett's Jeep, her head in her hands, rubbing her temples. Jasper was sitting next to her, his hand on her knee.
"What's going on?" asked Edward, looking at Rosalie.
"She's having a vision," said Rosalie.
"Emmett, give me your notebook!" said Jasper. Emmett quickly handed over the notebook he had been holding under his arm. Jasper yanked a pen out of his pocket and put it in Alice's hand. Alice began to sketch something. Edward watched as her lines began to take shape. Then his eyes widened in shock.
Alexis's pretty face was looking back at him from the page.
Hehe! Cliffhanger!
