Chapter 8: Moving on

Bella POV

I woke up feeling the warm sun shining on my face. I was laying on my side facing the window, my head was resting on an arm and another one was wrapped around my waist. I checked my watch and saw it was a bit after 6 am. I groaned and pushed back in the slightly colder body than mine. I turned slowly to see Damon sleeping and I placed a soft kiss on his lips and got up. I padded downstais and made my way to the bathroom. I realized I still had a stupid smile on my face. I took a shower, and let my hair dry naturally. I got dressed my favourite pair of distressed jeans and a pale blue long sleeved top. I went downstairs to find dad on the kitchen table drinking his coffee and reading the morning paper. I made a cup of coffee for myself and a bowl of cereal.

"Morning Bells"

"Morning dad"

"How was the dance?"

"It was good; Mike and I were elected king and queen if you can believe it"

He chuckled

"I didn't know you put your name in"

"Neither did I, Mike and Angela did it. Some friends huh?"

We both laughed

"I hope you got a picture with the tiara, your mother is gonna love it"

"The photographer at the school did, I'll pick them today"

'Actually dad it was great and not only that but I realized I might be in love with Damon and he loves me and we made out for about 10 minutes at the party and I slept curled in his arms all night'.

Yeah that wouldn't go too well. Dad was looking at me suspiciously so I busied myself with eating my breakfast doing my best to conceal my smile. After a few minutes dad got up and left for work. I finished and cleaned the breakfast dishes.

I went upstairs, brushed my teeth, put my boots on and after peeking in Damon's room to see him sleeping and left for school in the Impala. I love my truck but this car can actually speed. The school day was a blur. At lunch Angela dragged me to an empty classroom to talk about last night and actually squealed when I told her what Damon told me last night.

After school I was working and Mike, a bit sullen Mike actually, gave me my coat back after I told him I felt sick from the punch and Damon simply drove me home. He, in turn, confided in me how he danced with a girl and he seemed to like her. We had a great laugh reminiscing about last night and the crowning.

After work I returned home and seeing as Damon's car wasn't in the driveway I headed inside to start on dinner. I made a pot roast, put it in the oven and headed upstairs to change in a Nike tank top, take my boots off and do my homework. By the time dinner was ready I was done and dad and I sat to eat. I was jumpy and it showed. Dad and I kept a light conversation over dinner mainly focused on how our days were. Damon showed up just as dad was finishing his dinner. He mumbled an apology and sat down to eat. Feeling bold I gently moved my leg to the side and touched his. He sent me a smile and kept eating. After a while dad finished and moved to the living room to see what else? Sports.

"You left"

"I had to go to school, remember?"

"hmmm"

"About what we were discussing yesterday I think I ... also ... mm might.. can we just try and see?"

he was looking at me with a small smile on and he nodded. I smiled in response and moved in for a kiss but a loud YES coming from Charlie and the TV stopped us cold. We both chuckled and I moved to clean up the table and wash the dishes. Damon moved to the living room and after finishing up I joined them and we all saw a comedic movie. When the movie ended we all retreated to our rooms and after a nice long lengthy talk with Renee on the phone (who also didn't like Edward not only because of the phoenix episode but also because of me not visiting during the summer). She actually loved the idea of me liking someone else. I promised her I'd send her the photos of the dance also the ones from last year's prom, plus the ones from my scrapbook (I had told her I forgot all those, what could I tell her, that while breaking up with me Edward took them?).

The next weeks moved along those lines. School in the morning, work, afternoons either working or with Damon, Friday afternoons a movie night with Angela and sometimes Jessica, Saturday nights were spent at the rez with Billy and Jake and then clubbing in Port Angeles with Damon, and nights I usually slept in the attic cuddling with Damon. We never took it further than first base and sometimes even that felt too much, thankfully Damon seemed to understand and didn't push me for more.

It wasn't until the last week of November that things changed. One Saturday as we were in my room, I was cleaning up and Damon was sprawled in my bed going reading a book that I stepped on a loose floorboard and he heard it. Then as I put a load of laundry Damon had raised the board and took out a few things that were inside a small space. I returned upstairs with a glass of juice and I saw them on my desk. I recognized the envelope I had enclosed the photos for Renee. With trembling legs I moved closer and touched them. Damon came closer and knelt next to me. With a shaking voice I told him what all of these were, the plane tickets from Carlisle and Esme, the CD with the lullaby, the photos, both the ones for Renee and the originals for me. As I saw them all a wave of memories hit me. the party, the summer where I stupidly had fun and weren't careful, the way I held up Carlisle and Esme to a parental role and felt so abandoned when they left. I didn't realize I was crying until I felt Damon hugging me and then anger took over. Apparently while they meant a lot to me I meant nothing to him, I'm sure there are a lot of other girls in my place, being left by them. Would they even care about me if Edward could read my mind? Did he do all this just so I'd keep my mouth shut about them? I got so pissed that a big part of me wanted to go the Cullen place and trash it.

Thankfully an invitation from Renee to spend one of the three weeks of winter break with her in jacksonville came and halted my plans on a B&E. She tempted me with the warm weather and Damon convinced me to accept telling me that Mystic Falls is in Virginia, which is near Florida. That night over dinner I told dad and he accepted it with the only condition being me spending one week here with him. I decided I'd use the plane tickets even though I wanted nothing from the Cullens but the money made me fold. Actually Damon wanted to fly so we decided I'd fly alone to jacksonville and we'd meet there. For some reason he needed to change relulargy. I called Renee and she was extacted to know. with only 2 weeks more for school I buried myself to studying so that I'd keep my grades up. I was mostly decided on college but still wanted to keep my choices open. Let's not forget that while Damon may have been 23 when changed I was still 18 and had time. Besides I had no idea whether damon actually wanted me to change, we hadn't descussed that far yet.