The Learning Curve: Chapter 118

Forksish

The time until graduation flew by in a flurry of wedding plans and furniture shopping. Edward had put a deposit down and we'd signed all the papers for the apartment, and now he was obsessed with furnishing it.

"I think you're nesting," I told him one evening when he had us surrounded by home décor catalogs.

"I'm not nesting," Edward grumbled. "I'm providing. It's very manly."

I snorted. "Okay, sure. Talk to me one more time about bedroom sets and tell me again how manly it is."

Edward poked me in the side, finding unerringly my most ticklish spot. "I can't help it if I'm excited about this. I know you are, too, even though you act nonchalant."

"Of course I'm excited. I just happen to find furniture exhausting."

"I suppose you should just focus on the wedding, then," Edward said deviously. "Didn't my mom send some more invitation samples for you to look at?"

I stuck my tongue out at him.

Sooner than felt possible, we were taking our final exams. There was a loopy, careless feeling among the seniors, knowing we were so close to the end, already committed to our college choices and ready for graduation.

One week before graduation, I found myself in a rental car with my mother, headed from her motel room in Forks to Port Angeles.

"I don't know how you've managed to stay sane this long in Forks," Renee complained. "Don't you find it suffocating?"

I shrugged. "Not really. But I have a lot to look forward to."

Renee let out a breath. "Well, that's true enough. A wedding, and then off to college…off to live on your own. I worry about you, going off into the big world on your own…"

I couldn't help chuckling at her. "Mom, I'm pretty self-reliant. And I won't be on my own. I'll have Edward."

"Yes…Edward. When am I going to meet him?" she asked, as if she'd been waiting for days.

"You just got here this morning, Mom, calm down. His parents actually wanted me to invite you for dinner tomorrow night – you and Phil, and Charlie, if he wants."

Renee nodded. "Dinner it is. So, what are his parents like? Are they nice?"

"They're really great. I don't see his dad that much because he's always at the hospital, but his mom is just…awesome. She's doing so much with the wedding."

"Oh…well, that's great, honey," my mom said, but I could tell she wasn't quite genuine.

"It's just that we're having the wedding at her house and all, and she's offered to make the cake and everything, so I've just been letting her do whatever she wants. She loves all this planning stuff. But...I'm sure she wouldn't mind some help."

My mom did what she was best at and changed the subject.

"So, your wedding dress, Bella. I was thinking, Phil and I have been doing pretty well lately. I was hoping you would let me buy your dress for you. I mean, wouldn't that be great, picking out your dress together?"

I bit my lip, feeling awkward. "Um, that would be really, really nice, but...Alice is making my dress."

"Oh." I felt horrible. "Well, then there's only one thing left to do," Renee concluded.

"What's that?"

"We'll have to go shopping for honeymoon lingerie."

I gaped at her. "Uh, Mom, I don't think –"

"No arguments, young lady," Renee said. "We're going to Victoria's Secret."

I put my face in my hands and shook my head. My mother, the lunatic.

A/N: Sorry I failed to update again.

One of my readers is a student at a high school that recently suffered a shooting. My heart goes out to you, love.