I threw my arm over my face as I collapsed on my bed, the Christmas lights over my bed twinkling softly as I closed my eyes and tried to soak in the reality of today. The rain continued to pound against the roof, the force of the summer storm having ramped up in the time it had taken me to change into my pajamas. Unfortunately, the only way I could fight off the paralyzing nature of my overwhelmed mind was to take stock of the things from today.
One. There's something happening between Edward and I that I can't explain.
Two. Blessing is Beatrice and Beatrice is my sister.
Three. My sister is a vampire.
Four. Dad is the only parent I have left, adoptive or biological.
Five. Dad just gave up drinking.
Six. This stupid list wasn't working.
My hands felt slick as I dug the heels of my palms into my eyes, creating a burst of blues and purples behind my closed eyes. My breath felt short and ragged and I felt so physically shakey that even if I tried to stand now I would crash to the ground. Instead I rolled myself onto my side and curled inwards as my heart clenched and my throat tightened. I just barely caught the sound of my window sliding open and the rain getting louder for a second, then Edward's hands were pulling me to his chest. His scent was all around me then, flowers and honey, but the smell of rain also clung to him. That was when I realized he was soaked to the bone, and I was sure if I had the ability to tip my head back in this moment and look at him, his hair would be hanging heavy in front of his eyes, the rain making it a deep chestnut brown instead of the gleaming bronze it usually was.
As my heart rate slowed from the frenzied race to an acceptable rhythmic pace, I descended into sleep. I felt the blanket cover my shoulders, but unlike usual, Edward was under the blanket with me too. It took a moment for my brain to register why he would do this, and then the vague awareness of my fingers having created a death grip on his shirt. A burst of warmth spread across my shoulder that connected with the blanket, and I realized Edward had pulled my heated blanket out of its storage bin under my bed. My brain felt too muddled but I hoped desperately that he hadn't plugged it into the Christmas lights like I had mistakenly done so years ago.
I was running towards a tree line that didn't look familiar to me, a deep and heavily reeded shoreline threaded through the trees. Without the sun to shed vital details on the environment, my run was blind. I seemed to know where I was going with how sure footed I stomped through the brush.
Something is chasing me. I need to get away. I need to run faster. I can't run faster.
I crashed to the ground and as I flipped over to see what had dragged me to the soggy dirt that soaked my clothes and stained the fabric, only crimson eyes filled my field of vision.
I screamed a short scream as I curled inward, my ears slowly registering the hushed comfort of my name, as well as the hands I would be able to pick out from a line up. Edward was shushing me, concern lacing his typically cool demeanor, as he rubbed my back and stroked my face. "Shh, it was just a dream, you're safe. It wasn't real, I've got you." Edward's voice curled around me, then a burst of warmth spread across my shoulders again, and I was pulled back under the heavy black waves of exhaustion once more.
When the early morning light filtered its way through the clouds that were still dumping buckets of rain, I woke up. It felt humid and warm in my room, and as I shifted I felt arms tighten over me for a second before relaxing. My fingers were stiff as I flattened them out, barely prying my eyes open as I did so. Stiffness had taken over my entire body as I pushed up, my muscles basically atrophied from minimal amount of movement overnight. I had slept with my head resting on Edward's chest, wrapped in a heated blanket, in the middle of a summer storm. He was also warm, though it was quickly fading as I moved away, my body heat as well as the blanket's having leached onto him through the entire night.
"Morning." I mumbled through a raspy voice, rubbing my eyes and trying to get my joints to work again.
"How are you feeling?" Edward asked, still laying in a lounged position.
"Like I could sleep for another ten years." I mumbled, sinking back down onto my bed, now next to Edward rather than on him. The clock still read an early enough time that I could get away with sleeping more, and the idea was so enticing that I seriously considered giving in.
"But then you'll miss the baseball game." He laughed, the golden sound wrapping around me deliciously.
"That's still on!?" I peeked up from the nest of pillows I had crashed into, excitement nearly pulling me fully from the drowsiness of the morning.
"Yes ma'am, the rain skipped right over the clearing." He was silent for a moment before continuing. "Beatrice is going to be joining us. She isn't sure if she will be playing, but she wanted to be around regardless."
I took a moment to soak in the information, my brain still sluggish from sleep. "How is everyone adjusting?" I finally asked, meeting his topaz eyes.
"I think the better question is, how are you?" Edward countered, staring down his nose at me as he loaded the question.
"Call me your regular Gloria Gaynor." I smirked, rolling flat on my back and staring up at the ceiling through the twinkling lights. "I will survive." When I didn't even hear a chuckle I turned my head and locked eyes. Edward still didn't say anything, he just stared at me, that pensive look on his face. After a few more seconds of our eyes being caught in a spontaneous staring match, he sighed and leaned forward, kissing my forehead like it brought him pain to do so.
"One day, I will make sense of that beautiful, yet mad, mind of yours." He whispered against my skin like he was locking the words away for a hopeful day. When he pulled away we fell back into staring into each other's eyes. The rain still pounded against my window and thunder rolled like the growling of the sky's stomach.
"We're all mad here." I grinned my best cheshire grin, only half joking.
"Entirely bonkers." Edward smiled back, his hand brushing hair away from my face. "All the best people are."
"You'll fit right in." I teased, my smile settling onto my face. Despite the content feeling I had, I could feel the dredges of leftover anxiety clutching my throat. Anxiety sleep never allowed me to become truly rested, and I had the vague awareness that in the middle of the night I had woken up from a nightmare. The hazy edges of my memory making Edward's reassuring words seem like a dream. While the knowledge that I had no clue if everything would be okay settled in, so did the excitement for the baseball game, and the outfit that I had set out a few days ago in preparation for it still stared at me from the chair. "Let's go shatter some maple."
"We use metal bats."
"Well… then let's bend some… rebar?" The image of an aluminum bat crinkling like a soda can played in my mind as I imagined the highschool bats in the gymnasium. "Wait, how are you not destroying the metal bats?"
When I had to finally drag myself away from Edward and allow him to go home and change his clothes finally, I did it begrudgingly. Some small selfish part of me didn't want to see my father this morning, not after the monument that was his actions last night. Something in my gut said he was going to stick to this, that he really would sober completely and be my dad again. My head however, was an entirely different beast. My head taunted and teased, told me he would never change, that I wasn't that lucky, that I wasn't that worthy. Whatever the hell that means anyway. Yet there I was, despite the screaming of my mind, standing in the doorway to the kitchen as my dad made his coffee without his most common ingredient. "What's your plan today, sweetie?" His voice sounded rougher than usual, like the morning had legs and it was using them to walk all over him.
"Baseball with Edward's family and his cousin's from out of state." I smiled, pushing myself into the kitchen and pouring my own cup of coffee.
"In this weather?" He asked as he threw a glance out the window, the gray morning light making the kitchen feel entirely too gloomy.
Panic and a lame excuse bubbled its way up, sober dad was new territory when it came to excusing weird vampire things, and the nuclear option was not one I was a particular fan of since Halloween. "Oh, there is this diamond that they use and Carlisle checked it this morning, rain skipped over it so it's dry."
"Oh! Good! That is really lucky." His brow furrowed as lightning flashed outside, changing his tone just as fast as the light passed through the room. "Do they use metal bats?"
"That is actually a conversation I was having with Edward on the phone this morning!" I smiled, glad my dad and I still thought alike.
"I sure hope not." His chin puckered as he twisted his mouth in thought, the stubble on his face feeling much more pronounced with the bags I was only now noticing under his eyes. "Just keep your phone close kiddo, okay?"
"Absolutely, it won't leave my hip." I smiled, knowing there wasn't anywhere safer I could be than surrounded by vegetarian vampires. Dad continued to tease me, and I him, as I settled in for breakfast before getting ready.
My brow scrunched as I stared at him in disbelief, the seat belt cutting into my collarbone from the dramatic way I had thrown my shoulders forward and stared at him. "Are you really not concerned about the literal science behind this!" I asked as I waved my phone madly through the air, my body jostling from left to right as Edward drove Emmett's jeep through the woods towards the clearing.
"It just hasn't been an issue." Edward shrugged, an amused smile resting on his face.
"The article says, and I quote!" I cleared my throat and began speaking in a proper tone, my eyebrows raised as I tried to focus on the letters illuminating my screen while we scaled the mountain. "Aluminum bats are used in college, high school, and little league ball, but they're illegal in the major leagues where hitters must use wooden bats. The issue is the velocity with which balls come off the bat, otherwise known as bat-exit speed." I raised my brow and scrolled down father on the Popular Mechanics website to find my next point of argument. "It mentions the speed that the ball exits the bat, do you know what speed you are batting at?" I lowered my phone and turned my gaze to him, the jostle of the ride nearly giving me whiplash as we careened around a tree and over a couple small boulders.
"We haven't exactly tested it." He laughed, looking at me out of the corner of his eye.
"And why the hell not!" I shook my hand at him, pointing my finger angrily. "Edward, y'all could get hurt! How do you think it would feel to get hit by a baseball going mach jesus toward your face!" I stared expectantly, my eyes plastered on his face as I prepared for him to lose the battle.
"Did you forget we are impervious to blunt force trauma?" Edward smirked, and as he did so my finger that I had been wagging at him deflated.
"Shut up." Locking my phone, I dropped it into the cup holder and turned my head to look back out the windshield.
"No! It was cute!" Edward grinned, taking a hand off the wheel to lace his fingers with mine. "You were all worried for our well being."
"Last time, I swear." I stuck my tongue out and earned another laugh. "Let's speed this wagon up REO." I waved my hand, the one that wasn't greedily holding his, through the air.
Once the game got rolling it truly took off, there were enough participants to have two small teams, as well as a designated umpire. All of which had been assigned via the drawing of names. Carlisle headed one team while Tanya headed the other, a competitive fire sparked between the two eldest vampires that I had not anticipated.
"Alright!" I said as I shook the baseball cap full of thirteen names, my smile growing as I did so. "Who is gonna do the coin toss so we can see who draws first?" I asked as I looked up at the group.
"I got you." Emmett grinned, procuring a coin from his pocket like he had been waiting for a moment like this. "Tanya, call it in the air."
Emmett flicked the coin off his hand at a speed that made my brain hurt just trying to comprehend, and Tanya's voice carried over the dial up sound my brain was producing. "Tails!" When Emmett caught the coin and slapped it onto his arm, sure enough there sat the tails side.
"Step up, step up, lucky winner. Who first will you draw!" I shook the hat like I was enticing her forward, a smile spreading across my face.
Tanya plunged her hand into the ripped bits of paper and pulled the first name. "Edward!" She called, standing off to my right and beckoning my boyfriend over.
"Ooo, Eddie got picked first!" Emmett wiggled his shoulders as he stepped back into the group and slid closer to Rose. "Isn't he just the little prom queen." He teased playfully, earning a chuckle and one finger salute from Edward as he brushed past me and stood behind Kate.
The drawing of names continued, Carlisle pulling Rose next, followed by Carmen to Tanya's team. On and on it went. Beatrice, thankfully, to Carlisle's team, Jasper to Tanya, Eleazar to Carlilse, Emse to Tanya, Kate to Carlilse, Irina to Tanya. That left only two names left, Emmett and Alice. Whoever was left over would be the designated umpire, and either choice left an interesting game to unfold. Carlisle stepped up, looking between both of his adoptive children before closing his eyes and plunging into the hat I held one last time. Before he opened it I plucked the last name out and flipped the hat, which was Edward's, up onto my head.
"Who did you get?" I asked with a smile, impatiently trying to peer over his shoulder as he unfolded the scrap.
"Emmett!" Carlisle said finally, looking up and beaming at his son, effectively making Alice the umpire for the first game.
"Ooo!" Edward chimed suddenly, a mocking tone playing joyously as he spoke. "Emmy picked last, isn't he just the little court jester?"
"Jingling miserably across the floor." I failed miserably at resisting the add in of my jibe. Emmett showed mock hurt as he clutched his heart and pouted. "Oh I jest!" Quick as a jackrabbit my hand flew to my mouth and suppressed a giggle. "Oh too soon?"
"You'll pay for that one, Evel Knievel!" Emmett wagged his fist in the air, a smile plastered on his face.
"Your threats mean nothing, Crash Dummy!" I called back as I found my seat and watched Carlilse and Tanya sort out who would be batting first.
It was official, vampire baseball was probably the most confusing and yet exhilarating time I had ever spent observing a sport. I was exhausted but wired as we wandered back to the jeep, a blanket wrapped around my shoulders as the sun had crept so low and the rain had cooled the air so much that a chill had settled into the clearing as well as some fog. "Do you think we could do a pack versus coven baseball game? I feel like Sam would be down." I asked Edward as I spun around, still riding the high of the game.
Edward seemed to think about it for a moment as he held a bat over his shoulder, his face still streaked with a bit of mud after him and Emmett turned the game into a contact sport. "It still wouldn't be entirely fair, they only have a real advantage when in wolf form, and unfortunately that means no bat swinging."
"Fine." I pouted and gazed back forward as we got nearer the jeep. After a beat of silence I sighed and bit my lip. "I'm sorry about yesterday… my attitude." I glanced up at Edward for half a second before looking back at where I was walking. I had already found time during the various combinations of the game to talk to Beatrice about my behavior, having been lucky to get a moment with her as umpire. Now it was left to me to apologize to everyone else too. "I was being kind of bitchy, and I know that now… I just didn't know how to react t-"
"Arabella." Edward scolded, his face and voice both stern as he cut me off and drew my attention immediately. "I don't ever want to hear you apologize for being overwhelmed." He seemed almost angry as we stopped at the hood of the jeep and he caught my arm, stopping me from jumping to conclusions and into the vehicle alike. "I think we were being inconsiderate to you anyway, we didn't stop to think about giving you a human minute. There were so many questions on everyone's minds that none of us stopped and questioned if you were okay."
"Stop validating me." I blinked hard, fighting tears back. "I was a bitch, I don't deserve to be validated."
For the first time that I could think of, I had rendered him entirely speechless. Instead he pulled me into a hug, the bat falling to the ground behind me, and I was crushed to his chest. The smell of flowers, woods, and earth mingled in my nose. Tears burnt in my eyes, and for the first time in a long time I felt truly seen.