Chapter Twenty One

Sam was missing? I shook my head in disbelief, hanging up the phone and staring at the floor. When the timer for my oven finally went off, I got up and walked to the kitchen. How could Sam go missing? I was in such a daze and lost in my thoughts, I forgot to put an oven mitt on, and burned a thin line into my palm. The scream that ripped out of my throat only rivaled the sound of the cookie sheet slamming into the stove. My fingertips and thumb had burns as well, though not nearly as bad. Quickly I placed burn cream all over my palm, waving it through the air to allow the wind it created to cool it down.

Once the initial pain eased I cut my deep dish pizza that was the culprit of my demise, grabbed a Ginger Ale, and settled back onto the couch. With a satisfied smile, and the burning on my hand subsiding, I flipped on the television. The first thing to hit the screen was Sam's face. My heart clenched at the sight, his young face was one I had known for years, we had gotten close when I was younger. Leah, Sam's girlfriend, babysat me until my father felt comfortable leaving me to my own devices. I was a bit old so we didn't call it babysitting so much as we called it "hanging out" but we both knew she was getting paid to make sure I didn't die. Sam and Leah had been getting close around that time, and she would gush to me about how much she adored him. Even after my dad trusted me to be on my own, Leah and I would hang out on occasion. She often hung out with Jake's older sisters, as did I, so we had become friends that weren't as close as we were old.

Before I knew it I was calling Leah. "Hello?" Her voice sounded broken.

"I just heard." I whispered, unable to make my voice louder.

"Oh I don't know where he's gone off to! If he's hurt! We had search parties looking but when we couldn't find him we had to call Charlie!" Her words were pouring out of her mouth. "Ari, I'm so worried about him!" A sob broke her voice as she spoke.

"I know Leah, I'm so sorry."

"All of this and the Elders just keep mumbling about the Cullen's! I don't understand." She began crying horribly again. We were on the phone for probably an hour before she said her cousin Emily was calling. "I have to go, but I'll keep you updated, I hope they find him before the end of tonight, it's supposed to snow again." Her voice was raw but she seemed to be doing slightly better. At least as well as one could do given the circumstances.

By now it was 8:30pm, I had only a little longer to wait until I left to meet Gi. I ran upstairs to take a shower, straightening my hair after blow drying it. My hair had grown so long, I couldn't believe it. It was easy to forget exactly how much my hair would shrink when it was curly, but now it hung down to the small of my back like a curtain of fire.

I did my makeup, something simple and understated. My eyeshadow had golden flecks and my eyeliner was pitch black, but it was a thin line and tiny wing that only gave the slightest lift to the corners of my eyes. After dawning a nude lip I checked the time again- 9:45pm. Time to go. I threw on my hiking boots and my thick winter jacket that made me look like the Michelin man, with my phone deep in my coat pocket and zipped away and gloves covering my hands, I was out the door.

Sure enough, once I passed through the edge of the forest Edward stood in my path. "Arabella. Please."

"Edward. Move." I pushed through the ankle deep snow and kept moving. I heard a slight growl, and if I didn't know any better I would think it was an animal, but I knew it was Edward. "Don't get all huffy with me. I told you not to even bother coming here tonight."

"Please, it's too cold for you!" He was in front of me again, now I realized he wore winter clothes himself, likely to blend in.

"It's fifteen degrees. I've been outside in colder for more time in less." I gave him a pointed look, earning a confused one in exchange. "Edward I was literally left outside at the beginning of October in the rain in the middle of the night as a baby." I snapped, marching around him again.

"The poor choices-"

"THAT WASN'T THE ONLY TIME I'VE BEEN IN THE COLD EDWARD!" I flipped around to face him, I didn't care that I was yelling. Let the whole town hear me put Edward in his place.

"You'll get sick!"

"I'll heal!"

"I can't watch you put yourself through this!"

"Then. Close. Your. Eyes." I turned back around and marched on, the snow was thinner here in the forest where the trees caught the majority of it. It was just a light dusting in some areas where in others it was a couple inches.

I couldn't hear him walking but I knew he was still close behind, probably warring with what to say to me, or reading my mind to gauge how mad I was. Very, was the answer to that one. "If you don't want to hang around and have Gi knowing you're here then ditch now."

"Ara, please."

"I'm serious Edward." I stopped and looked at him, he looked torn, like he was tempted to pick me up and drag me back to my house and chain me to a chair.

"I'm staying. The moment you look like you're experiencing hypothermia I'm getting you out of here." He grumbled, defeated.

"Then let's go." I turned and started walking again, he joined me by my side, but he did not dare to grab my hand.

"Ari? Is that you?" I heard Gaia call from beyond the tree line.

"Yeah! Edward is with me!"

"Okay stay there I'm on my way!" Her voice drifted through the barrier just moments before she came into view. She held a huge green ball gown in her arms and her camera was slung around her neck. "Oh yay! You did straighten your hair! Okay we have to work fast, it is going to start snowing and the weather channel says it's gonna be heavy!" She threw the dress at me and I immediately began stripping out of my winter clothes. Gi didn't even bother turning around, while Edward gasped slightly and spun to face the other way. "Oh sorry Edward," Gaia giggled, "Ari's been helping me with this since we were kids."

"She used to have to help me put the outfits on. They were so complicated at first." I laughed as I stepped into the thick satin material, a chill running up my spine as my bare feet and nearly naked body were exposed to the cold and snow. Once the sound of the zipper closing had finished, Edward turned around again.

"Arabella…" he said breathlessly as I lifted the hem of the skirt to walk barefoot toward the snowbank Gaia had directed me towards. Patches of moonlight broke in beams through the trees behind me, and the snow remained untouched in this section.

Gi continuously snapped photos as I flipped my hair and smoothed my dress. Then began the poses, arm here, eyes there, hand like this, allow me to see you're barefoot for this shot. Edward never relaxed during any of it, his eyes watching me and every small movement I did. I was couched to make my dress seem like a puddle of glistening fabric around me when the snow began to fall in heavy flakes. It was wet snow, the perfect snowball kind. I reached up, grasping at the flakes, and Gaia gasped. "Ari, that's the pose!" The snapping of the camera became furious in its intensity. "Okay keep a fluid motion I'm going to snap some more stills!"

Eventually Edward stepped in, he said I was going to catch my death if I stayed out any longer. I couldn't feel how cold I was, but considering Edward's hand felt almost warm to me, I believed I was like ice. I changed back out of the dress and handed it back over to Gi, glad to get my frozen feet back into my shoes. My teeth had began to chatter on the way back, and Edward growled in reluctance, grabbing my shoulders and pulling me into his arms. He ran me all the way to my door and helped me inside, standing reluctantly just outside the threshold.

"I still stand by what I said earlier Edward." I mumbled as I looked at him, kicking my shoes off in the entryway and throwing my jacket on the hook. "You really shouldn't have bothered coming over." I looked at the clock, it was midnight already.

"You didn't really mean that?" He sounded hopeful.

"Edward I-"

"Ara, please, I can't get a read on you today, your mind has barely held onto one concept if any." He sounded almost defeated, like it hurt him to not know what I was thinking… What was I thinking?

I want to be trusted to make my own decisions. To know what's best for me and still do what I want. I don't want to be controlled, I am my own person.

Looking to Edward with hope he heard the thoughts that broiled in my head, he just looked at me with nearly broken puppy dog eyes. "Ara, I never meant to control you, I'm only concerned. Do you have any idea what it would do to me if you weren't in the world anymore!"

"Edward, that sounds crazy!"

"And maybe it is! But I really don't want to be sane!" He spoke the words like they weren't a cliché. "Please! Don't do this to me again."

"I wasn't doing anything to you. I was doing this for me."

"And against my wishes!"

"Edward, I don't have to take into account your wishes when pursuing my own happiness!" I felt so exhausted by this conversation I just allowed my knees tol fold beneath me, to let myself sit dramatically on the floor in front of an open door, but his arms were around me and holding me up before I could feel the ground's hard embrace. "No, I'm fine." I struggled against his grip to no avail. "Really." I grunted, looking up to him, how could a face so beautiful be hiding such an infuriating personality behind it?

"Let me at least take you to your room, you were barely holding yourself up." He made it sound like a compromise but I knew he found this as a win.

"Fine." I grumbled, only allowing him to carry me up to my bed because I was probably crashing on the couch anyways. He carried me all the way to my bed, effortlessly pulling back my covers and sliding me in. "You're so cold Ara, I wish you had called it a night earlier."

Before I could make a retort I heard my phone give a hard ping sound, in an exhausted and clumsy haste I picked up my phone. It was my dad.

'Hey kiddo, sorry I know it's late, I probably won't be home until the morning. Still haven't found him. Maddie is sleeping at the station, Charlie took her back for me while he went to report to the news and put out the alert for Sam. Stay safe. Love you.'

I sent back a solitary heart emoji and dropped my phone again, my head hitting my pillow in protest. Edward looked at me confused, standing by my door, and I just burst out crying. If Edward had asked me what was wrong I didn't hear him, but I was in his arms anyways and he was stroking my hair. I was completely burritoed in my comforter as I shivered and wept. "Sam is missing, we are fighting, there is a crazy person after me, and I'm so tired." At least those were the words I was attempting to get out but in reality it was probably half choked syllables.

"Shhhh, it's okay." He whispered as he rocked me back and forth, I was so torn. Half of me wanted him to get out and leave me, but the other half wanted to pull him closer and fall asleep in his arms.

When did life become so complicated?