After about an hour of talking and catching up, Edward motions me out to the back porch after we say goodbye to Bella as she headed home.
I follow Edward past the piano out to the back porch. The sun is setting making the woods darken, while the sky turns a pretty orange. It's a beautiful night.
I look up at Edward, knowing the conversation we need to have is why we're out here.
To my surprise, Edward's mouth curls up. "You're always right, did you know that?"
"What do you mean?" I'm curious as to what he means.
"What you were just thinking. Why I asked you out here."
My jaw probably fell to the floor. How the hell did he know that? "W-w-hat? How'd you know that?"
"It's because of what I am." He says softly.
I remain quiet as I take in the information. What does that mean?
"Some of us have gifts. Mine is reading minds." He says in response to my thoughts.
He can really read minds, huh? I never realized there's so much to this world. But then again I don't know much about it to begin with. It's not much of a shock anymore. I've been involved with the supernatural world for quite some time now.
We talked about everything long after the sunset passed the horizon. By the end of the conversation, I knew everything. Including why he didn't want me to be in this part of his life. It was never about not wanting me to be his friend anymore. He didn't want my family life to suffer only because he was in my life. I had to add that that wasn't the case. Edward is always so pessimistic towards himself.
He's always known how hard my life can get when it comes to my family. He never wanted to make it harder, I'll give him that. I finally understood why. But I told him that it didn't matter and it won't make it worse. He probably doesn't think so, but he read how sure my thoughts were. He finally agreed that it would be okay to still come over. Him coming over was never an option with the treaty and all.
"We better get you home, its late." Oh, crap.
"I totally forgot, oh no! I need to check my phone." I ran inside to get my phone off the coffee table. Two missed calls from Mom and 17 missed calls from Paul and 5 texts. Ugh, I don't want to deal with this right now.
"Yeah, I should head home."
"I can drive you to the treaty line. He'll be waiting there." Edwards offered.
The drive was quiet, we listened to our favorite composers on the way.
"Hey, Edward?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you, like, listen to everyone's thoughts all the time or?" I'm not sure how to word it exactly but he'll get it.
A soft chuckle fills the car, "I can hear anyone's thoughts that's around me at anytime. If I don't focus on any one mind at a time, the thoughts are a little buzz in the background."
"Hmm." was all I said.
This is all a lot to process. He's known every thought that's been through my head around him. Every single thing. Oh my god..
All the fights, the bad times, the embarrassing moments that are supposed to be private, the crushes, the crush I thought I had on him when I first met him…
"Annie, take a deep breath." A cold hand rests on my shoulder. My shoulders
are going up and down fast. I can't get ahold of my breathing. Everything is catching up to me in this moment. Everything in my life is a mess. I look around, we are now stopped on the side of the road outside of town.
The cold, stoney hand on my shoulder pulls me forward. My face meets his hard body. I don't know how long we sit there like that; his arms around me stroking my back, my face against his chest.
I get into moods where I get lost in my mind, and shut down. Edward has always been there for me during these times. Now I know why he's always been so good in these situations for me, he gets what's happening inside. Not many people can see that something's wrong, when I have a smile on my face. Its comfortable being vulnerable with edward. Maybe it's from his vamp survival skills, that draws me in or just him being such an important person to me. He just gets it, and never makes me feel weird or bad about it.
"Do you remember when we first met, when I gave you my nickname for you?" He asks, pulling me away from my thoughts.
"Yeah." My voice is nothing above a whisper.
…
The first day we met was the first day of school of freshman year for me. I was playing the moonlight sonata in the band room on the piano, when he came in. I didn't notice he had came in when he did, so when I finished the piece, and got up to leave, he scared the shit out of me.
"AHH." I small scream escaped my lips. I grabbed my chest, "Sorry, I didn't see you there." I looked up to the figure leaning against the back wall. The light casted on half his face. He seemed to be concentrating on me. The eye in the light was a bright, honey color.
"No, it's my apologies. I heard you playing. You're very talented, playing beethoven." His voice was stunningly smooth. His english was impeccable.
"Thank you." A gentle smile crossed my face. Not a lot of people complement the most important aspect of my life. "Do you play? I'm guessing since you knew that song."
He pushed away from the wall in one smooth motion. "Yes, I do. Let me introduce myself, I'm Edward Cullen." He came up in front of me, stretching out his hand towards me.
I graciously take his hand, noticing how chilly they are. He must be like me, my hands and feet are always cold. "Hello, I'm Andie." With a shy smile.
"Is that your real name?" He asks, letting go of my hand.
"No, it's a nickname." I think of the time Jake and I learning to talk, and he couldn't say my name and accidently said Andie instead. Its stuck ever since.
Edward doesn't add anything, maybe he wants to know my real name? "My full name is Aiyana. My best friend gave me the nickname when we were kids, now everyone calls me it." I add.
"I wonder how he said Andie instead of Annie, it's more like your name." hmm, I never wondered about that. I'm surprised at his inquiry. "Can I call you Annie?" I may have been surprised at his question, but I was even more surprised at my answer. "Sure."
…
"Do you want to know why I wanted to give you a nickname?" He interupts my thoughts.
I nod my head against his chest.
"When I heard you playing I had to see who it was, you were incredible. After seeing you, I couldn't believe that much talent was in a young girl. Then, I heard your thoughts. You have one of the kindest minds I've ever come into contact with. When I asked for your name, and read all the thoughts about Jacob, I wanted that. I wanted someone to care about me the way you do for Jacob." The atmosphere in the car shifted. Edward never has explained anything to me. We always had a silent understanding of knowing. I never thought I could make that kind of an impact on someone, let alone anyone like Edward. Someone so kind and selfless, thinking that of me?
"Its true, Annie. Your thoughts are not something to be embarrassed about." He gives me a little squeeze, and I wrap my arms around him and hug him tightly.
"Thank you, Edward." I sit up in my seat and wipe my cheeks. I plaster a smile on my face and look to Edward.
He looks serene, but cracks a small smirk when I look at him. Giggles start bubbling out of me. "I'm kind of a mess." I say through giggles.
With that Edward chuckles, "Let's get you home." and starts the car.
It's late when I get home. I walked the rest of the way home from the treaty line, where Edward hesitantly dropped me off.
The lights are on so I know people are up. I head for the stairs trying to avoid any altercation. But right as I turn the corner I here heavy steps, and a gruff voice yell, "Where the hell have you been?"
I turn around, answering "I went into town to see some friends."
"I told you not to go there anymore!" I swear he's going to have an aneurysm one of these days with how mad he gets.
"You don't even know where I was." I cross my arms.
"Of course I do! You fucking reek of leech!" The yelling is ringing in my ears.
My mom comes in yelling, at who I'm not sure. It's a mix of yelling at Paul for yelling, and at me for going against her rule. Paul and my mom are now fighting. I don't hear about what, I've already tuned out. Mom keeps yelling at me, when I try to go to my room. So I'm stuck at the top of the stairs, being present only physically. My mind goes a little blank during these times. My mom and brother are hot heads, that clash more often than not. I'm used to the bickering, it has never phased me much. Other than making me more quiet. Then again, I'm not sure that's a bad thing.
"Am I in the wrong here?" My mom looks up at me.
I shrug my shoulders, I wasn't paying attention to what they were saying.
"Don't just shrug your shoulders like that! I'M TIRED OF IT!"
Most people would think I would say something back, I don't. There's no reason. It will only last longer.
"Tell her she's being fucking crazy, Andie!" Paul yells back, with veins popping out of his neck. I don't reply again.
My mom flies toward Paul, "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!" She's seething.
Paul starts to shake, fist clenched by his sides.
I scoot down a step, "Paul, leave for a little, calm down."
He looks up at me, "You never take my side." he says through clenched teeth.
With that he leaves out the back door, and I turn up the stairs towards my room. My mom keeps coming in and out of my room yelling about god knows what.
"I'm just trying to get ready for bed, can we talk about it later." I'm really starting to feel tired and over this stupid fight.
She keeps being persistent in and out, in and out. Going into a rampage of her own. It's not going to stop anytime soon.
I quickly decide to leave for the night. I grab my bag and leave through my window to escape into the night air. I'm walking alongside the road with the forest hanging well above my head. I can smell the salt in the air from the ocean from the tide coming in. Instead of mom's pies and cakes smells making me feel at home like many others, mine is the beach and ocean. My native roots has created my love for the nature around me. My family is very known among the tribe. The Lahote name has been in the tribe for 100's of years being one of the original families. That's why I've been an easy target for my peers. I was a very known member of the tribe deciding to go to the white people school, you can see how that went.
As time has gone by our traditions and culture is slowing being forgotten about by the younger generations. Naturally people gravitate towards more modern living in any culture. I'm still one of the girls in my grade class that participates in pow wows and traditional dance. At first it was because my mom forced me at the age of 5. Sue and Sarah put their daughters in it too, my mom wanted me to be apart of it. I hated it at first, but it's now a very big part of my life. The elders also love seeing the younger kids keeping the traditions alive.
I spot the little red house peeking out of the trees along the road. A gravel, dirt roads leads to the house from the road. The yard is big and goes far behind the house. From the salt in the air the red is faded and blotchy in places. To the right side of the house Jake's garage sits.
Whenever I have bad days or nights, I always go to Jake's. Since I was a little girl I would have sleepovers at the Black's. It used to be from our families being really close, now it's because Jake's my best friend. Rachel and Rebecca were always my closest friends as kids. Being a few years younger than them, I was left behind when they started growing up. That's when Jake and I got really close since we're the same age. Our parents don't freak out about it since it's always been this way.
I walk to the backside of the house to Knock on Jake's window. I hear a thump and then a head pop up in the window. Black hair is everywhere and his eyes are droopy. Oops, it must be late. Oh well, he never cares. He saw that it was me and quickly opened the window.
"Hey," he said through a long yawn. When he fully opened his eyes, his eyes trailed my my puffy face and red rimmed eyes. "Bad night?" He said while he gestured me to come in.
"Yeah." I say as I climb through the window. I don't need to climb through the window, billy doesn't care if I stay over. It's been our thing ever since I can remember so I'm not going to change it now.
"What happened?" He says while grabbing my hand while I jump onto his floor. His hands are rough from working, but are gentle.
"I-" What do I say? I went over to my bloodsucking bffs house, and pissed off my werewolf brother. Jake will know the truth eventually but he can't know now. "Paul and I got into a fight about him hanging out with Sam so much." I hate lying to Jake. This was a good half truth, I told myself.
"What's up with that anyways? Paul and Jared Cameron follow him around everywhere now. People are starting to say their in some kind of gang." His brows furrowed, in what looked like concentration and confusion.
I never know what to say to these questions. I want to defend them since what they're doing is good and out of their control. Then again, there's no way of doing that without telling the truth.
"I'm not sure why they started hanging out." I say nonchalantly. Jake sleepily shakes his head. Paul and Jared have always been friends throughout school that's not surprising they're hanging out. What's got everyone so confused is why they're hanging out with Sam who graduated 2 years ago.
"Want to watch a movie or something?" He says while walking through his tiny room to his bedroom door.
"Yeah, sure." I head to the living room behind Jake. As we get to the living room he continues into the kitchen, while I go to check out which movie to watch.
"What are you feeling?" I call out. I grab two movies and get up. When I get to the kitchen I lean around the wall. I see Jake working away at two sandwiches with a pint of ice cream and bowls ready. Our usual.
"Avatar or lord of the rings?" I say with a smile spread across my face. I already was feeling better. That's why I come over here when I'm having a bad day, how can you stay in a sad mood with your best friend and food?
Looking more awake, Jake stopped what he was doing with the sandwiches, to look up at me, "hmm," he said before, "Avatar. We haven't seen that in awhile."
About an hour into the movie, the sandwiches and ice cream are gone. Jake lay on the other end of the couch passed out with a small snore.
A wave of gratitude flows through me. He will never understand how much better he makes me feel. I look back at how terrible today was, somehow it's no longer a bad day. Jake has this uplifting spirit that never seems to fail in making me happy. He knows exactly what to do without trying.
The next morning I wake up to billy saying, "Wake up kids. Schools in an hour." I groggily open my eyes to the now bright living room. Jake is still asleep on the other side of the couch, our feet by each others heads. His long, silky, black hair in all different directions.
I slowly get up to the smell of bacon wafting through the house. "Wake up, Jake." I shake his arm. He just turns over into the couch. He is so hard to wake up, always has, always will be.
I walk into the kitchen. Billy's at the stove taking the food off the burners. "Morning Billy." I say as I open the fridge to get a glass of orange juice.
"Mornin'. Jake still asleep?"
"Yeah." I chuckled.
"I swear that boy'd sleep through a hurricane." He said shaking his head. "Want some breakfast?" He looked up at me from his chair with a fatherly smile.
Hey, everyone! I know it's been awhile :( I still plan on finishing this story, I hope you like it. Lets get it up to 5 reviews!