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"Are you sure?" I asked dumbly.
"Its just the flu," Carlisle confirmed. "Nothing to be worried over, I promise." I nodded thankfully, smoothing down Melly's flyaway hair. "But if it isn't better in about three days," he continued, "come back and we can do some tests. All right?"
I smiled. "Thank you," I said honestly, shaking his hand again and lifting Melly of the table. She still had that lollipop stuck in her mouth and she was sucking it furiously. Caitlyn sat with both girls on either knee, mastering the art of having twins simply, while they all had at their own suckers.
Edward stood against the wall closest to Caitlyn and the twins, sucking his second lollipop. After we'd moved to an examination room he had run back to Carlisle's office to retrieve another lollipop for himself. You would think it sounded childish, like he was nothing but a big child, when he seemed pretty serious and mature with that white stick sticking out from his pale lips.
That was the kicker.
Carlisle had to abandon us in the examination room when he got paged not long after diagnosing Melinda. "It was very nice to meet you, Bella, hopefully we'll see each other again soon," he'd said generously. Then he glanced down at Melly, flush cheek pressed against my side. "Well, maybe not too soon."
I'd smiled and agreed.
When he left it was only the six of us in the small space, but it really only felt like Edward, Caitlyn and me.
"Um, thanks again for bringing us here," I said awkwardly. "I, er, really appreciate it."
He shrugged, popping the lollipop out of his mouth long enough to say, "Its no problem At least you know here's nothing wrong with her. That's what counts."
I nodded, looking down at the little girl nodding off against me. Boy, was she ever exhausted. I slowly pat her head, smoothing down her dark curls sticking up from her head. "She's so tired," I sighed.
"C'mon, I'll take you guys home," Edward said, nodding toward the door.
"Um, Bella? Sophie's asleep," Caitlyn whispered.
She sat on the wide chair with Emma on one side, totally engrossed in the white stick verses the actual candy, and Sophie slumped against her other side, her mouth gaping wide.
"She's not the only one whose tired," Edward observed around the candy in his mouth.
"Mmm," I hummed in agreement, gently releasing Melly's grip on me and reaching over to gently pick up Sophie. She flinched when I gently slipped my hand under her butt and cupped the back of her head with the other hand, and lifted her to my chest. Being a year and a half and still a very little girl, Sophie fit right into my chest, snuggling against me. I positioned her in my arms so her face was in my neck, eyes covered from the light. "There we go," I mumbled to myself. "Caitlyn, hold onto Melinda please, and..." My eyes fell on Emma, still so entranced in the object that was sweet candy.
"And I guess she can just walk," I added with a shrug.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Edward shake his head. "I've got it," he insisted, in a voice that should have implied this was obvious.
"Um, what?" I asked dumbly, wondering if he meant what I perceived. "Got what?"
Without responding he held the candy between his teeth and held both hands out toward Emma. She looking at both his pale, out-stretched hands, studying them while she sucked on the lollipop. When he beckoned to her enticingly, curling his long fingers once, Emma held out her free arm like she was offering herself to him.
A smile lit her face.
Edward hesitated for a second before scooping her up, somewhat awkwardly before settling her on his hip. It seemed kind of cute, watching a teenage boy hold and infant. It was like a onetime thing to see in my life.
I think he was nervous at first because his arms moved slowly to hold Emma, and it took a lot of shifting for him to find the right position. She stared up at him with wide brown eyes and had stopped sucking the lollipop when she was airborne. Now they both stared at each other, Edward with a more concentrated and amused expression and Emma in complete awe.
Could an infant really understand how gorgeous this boy was?
"You ready?" Edward asked, interrupting my ogling just like that.
I blushed and fumbled to get out that we were all ready. I held onto Sophie tightly in both arms – because I knew how much better she slept when she was held in a more compact space – and we all hustled into the hallway. We had to be a sight to see, though, like a big family.
The hospital may have been small, but I personally found it hard to navigate through, so Edward directed us through each twist and turn and down the single elevator. The halls were pasty white and seemed never-ending; we passed the occasional male or female dressed in green or colored scrubs. Whenever someone walked by us Emma would look over and drawl out her "hi" and smile widely.
Edward's and my laughter couldn't be contained.
"She's really cute," he commented, smiling down at Emma. It was kind of hesitant, just what you would expect of a teenager, but he actually seemed to be showing my little sister some affection.
And it was adorable too. Watching Emma interact with someone so much older than her twisted my heart in fresh ways. Painful ways.
"Yeah. She is." I turned away before my emotions could get the better of me, but I could still feel his eyes on me like a pulsing beat.
I felt like he could see things I didn't want to be seen.
I felt bad that Edward had to drop us all back off and then have to drive back to the hospital.
"We should have just driven separately," I'd said.
"Pointless," he's shrugged. "It was my idea, so its only fair I pay the gas mileage." I'd smiled but I didn't believe a thing he said. I guess he wasn't one for "practical" things.
But the one thing that really surprised me was how much the girls liked him. Emma nearly ripped my head off when Edward gave her to me and headed back to that shiny silver car – whatever he'd called it. She didn't put up the fight of hitting me until his car was out of view – because then she started bawling. And I mean red face and hot tears spilling down her pudgy cheeks. It was so heart-breaking to see her act like this that I almost wanted to have him back at my house.
Finally she was silent when I grabbed her a bottle and quietly crept upstairs to put her down for her nap. Sophie was already sleeping in her crib from when we first got back.
As usual, Caitlyn and Melly were downstairs in the living room watching TV. I joined them and sat beside Melly to cuddle with the sick little girl.
"Bella," Caitlyn asked, a curious catch in her voice, "is he your boyfriend?"
"Who?" I asked dumbly. "Edward? No, of course not. We're just friends, I guess." Maybe we were forced friends. This all would not have happened if we didn't have a project to do. Emma wouldn't be attached to my Biology partner.
But I knew it couldn't last.
Soon Edward and the rest of the Cullens – the people I'd only seen, not talked to but only heard about – would find their popularity. They would become the new It group. Friends with all those people I hated and envied all the same. The same people that went out of their way to make my life miserable – as if it wasn't already bad enough.
The one thing that shocked me most was that I liked having someone around, who wasn't one of my sisters or parents. I liked having Edward around, and that thought alone scared me. It felt good to be accompanied by someone my age, rather a bunch of little kids running around me. I'd never known what it was like to feel included, less excluded than I did when Edward had been over.
And even though I knew we shouldn't have been anywhere near each other, and I should have been keeping the biggest space between us, I knew I didn't want it to end.
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