When Dad finally woke up, and stayed awake, I felt like I could breathe again. I had also received a flurry of texts from Jake and Gi detailing the apparently lively birthday party of Seth Clearwater. It was amazing what you could miss during a depression spiral, even something like two new members of the pack transforming. The "Wolf & Co." group chat now had a new member to it, and Seth was freaking out.
Edward was out of cell range at the moment, having gone to hunt with Emmett. Meanwhile, I sat on my bed still in my pajamas, Maddie sleeping soundly beside me. I scrolled endlessly on my phone, still searching for the will to get out of bed. Dad still wasn't going to come home from the hospital for a few days, but now that he was out of the woods I didn't spend my every waking moment there. He wouldn't let me. Dad was so angry after he woke up, finding out that I was spending my summer stuffed in his hospital room. He sent me away immediately, told me to go make memories and visit him with stories to tell. I wasn't even entirely sure what day it was anymore, let alone how much time I had left to create stories for him.
"Can't really tell you my stories, Dad." I mumbled under my breath as I finally pushed myself from the bed and pat Maddie on her head. "Let's get breakfast girl." Those words ignited her to life because suddenly she was hurtling out of my room to race me down to the kitchen. I smiled and shoved my phone into the waistband of my leggings. At least one thing remained the same, Maddie being a food hound through and through.
Once I made it into the kitchen, I quickly filled the food bowl and started the coffee machine. With a soft inhale, I stared at where dad usually sat in the mornings. A deep frown settled into my face, and I quickly walked out of the kitchen, straight to the sound system that sat on a bookshelf in the living room. Grabbing a random cd, I popped the disk in and cranked the volume to full blast. As the sound filled the house and slowly drowned out the anxiety that was pecking at my brain, the smell of coffee began to kick the last dredges of sleep from my body.
The cd, I realized slowly as I rounded the corner back into the kitchen, was one of the mixes we would bring on road trips. Bon Jovi filled the house, and suddenly I was transported back to being a kid. If dad couldn't be here physically, he would be here in essence. I poured my coffee and stared into the fridge for several minutes before deciding on eggs and bacon for breakfast. Maddie munched happily, the bacon sizzled in the pan, my coffee maker gave another gurgle, and the music switched to Queen. Even if life wasn't truly good, the morning sun that dazzled through the window sure gave it the appearance of being so.
I dumped all the food onto my plate and sat down at the table, slowly eating as the music thumped in the hollows of my brain. Maddie gave a soft grumbling growl as she continued to chomp on her food, sounding like she was scolding me. "Oh goodness what?" I asked as I shoved a piece of bacon in my mouth, suddenly wanting toast as well. "Is the food not to your liking princess?" I spun in my seat and nearly died of a heart attack. Edward stood in the doorway with a small smile resting on his lips. "JESUS!" I covered my heart and sat back in the chair.
"Good Morning." Edward chuckled, disappearing for a second into the living room to turn the music down before returning to the kitchen doorway. It wasn't until then did I realize just how loud the music was. "We were going for permanent hearing damage this morning apparently, huh?"
"Smartass." I mumbled, standing up to make some toast. "You're back early." I smiled as I dropped the slices of bread into the toaster.
"Nope, it's Wednesday." Edward's brow laced together with either worry or confusion.
"Oh!" I blinked in shock. "I thought it was Tuesday."
"Are you feeling alright?" He asked, the tell tale sign of concern played in his voice. I knew he was thinking about my incident from a week or so ago, and I winced a little thinking about it myself.
"I'm feeling fine. I promise." I grinned and walked to the fridge, grabbing the butter and tossing it onto the counter before fishing a knife out of the drawer. "Are we still going to the movies?" I asked, waving the cutlery through the air as the toaster popped up.
"If you feel up to it." He still seemed guarded, but he smiled at me nonetheless.
I sighed and pulled the toast out and dropped it onto the clean counter, popping the container open and buttering my toast silently, returning everything to where it belonged, and sitting in my chair with my two slices. "I just really need to feel like a normal sixteen year old. Just once." I sighed, not looking up at him as I harpooned my eggs.
"Then we absolutely are going to the movies." Edward walked over, crouched beside me, and placed his hand on my thigh. "I would be honored to go on this outing with you." My heart melted.
After breakfast, Edward and I layed about for a moment before I saw the summer sun continuing its cheery shining. "We should do something, it's too nice to sit outside." I smiled, turning my head to look at Edward where he sat on the couch, my feet in his lap.
"What would you like to do? We are kind of limited." He said disdainfully, casting a glance to the sun with what appeared to be a look of hate.
"Just something outside, we can stay away from people easily enough." I shrugged, mulling over our activities we could do.
"The meadow." Edward grinned, "How about a picnic?" My heart melted again.
"That sounds like a deal." I smiled back, sitting up. "How about you make the basket and I will get ready."
"Deal." We parted for all of fifteen minutes while I picked my makeup and clothes, then Edward poked his head in the open door of my bedroom. "Alice said to tell you to bring something to read."
I walked over to my bookshelf in my room. "I guess I should do some of my summer reading, shouldn't I." With a steady hand I traced along the spines of the classics I had stolen from the shelf in the living room. The weathered copies were all my mom's, and the summer reading had required at least one classic. A smirk played on my lips as I slipped past her tattered copies of Wuthering Heights and Sense and Sensibility, my sights set on Pride and Prejudice for the millionth time.
"Ara… school starts in two weeks." Edward said, turning my gaze to meet his bewildered eyes.
"No? I still have about a month." I scoffed, looking across my room at the calendar.
Edward followed my eyeline and then gently raised the page to change it to August. "No. It's August… It has been for a few days now." I couldn't tell what number his finger rested on as he indicated the day, but the implication that I had let summer slip through my fingers hit me like a freight train.
"That can't be." I mumbled as I pulled my phone from my waistband and looked at it's infallible date. August eighth. How in the actual hell did this happen? I felt the angry buzz in my brain that I had been avoiding for apparently a month start to key up again.
"Hey, hey it's okay, you have time." Edward was next to me in a blink, his hand tracing down my cheek as he tried to encourage me to steady my breathing.
"I haven't gone back to school shopping, or done my summer reading, or done something memorable so that I can make Dad think I wasn't sitting around the house doing exactly what he told me not to do." The words fell out of my mouth at an alarming rate, never once stopping to breathe.
"Arabella." His voice was stern now, pulling my eyes from the middle distance stare I had been spiraling into, I was trapped in the amber irises now. "It. Will. Be. Okay." Each word was in a set tone, but loving in nature. The world felt a little steadier now as I repeated his words like a mantra.
It will be okay.
I walked across the room grabbing the stack of clothes I had chosen for our excursion to the meadow. Almost robotically, I went to the bathroom and changed into my shorts and tank top, pulling my hair into a braid carefully.
It will be okay.
The door to Edward's car shut gently beside me, I watched him cross in front and slowly get in. Music cascaded out the speakers in the form of a soft melody, setting my still slightly frayed nerves at ease.
It will be okay.
The sun once again painted a wonderful picture as it punctured the clouds, bathing the flowery meadow in golden rays. My book was open in front of me, the pages rustling gently in the breeze, as I lay on a queen size blanket Edward had spread out. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Edward's lips brushed gently against my ear as he read the first line, though I was sure he was simply reciting it from memory. He continued on reading it, his voice adding a layer to the text that I had never interpreted before.
I reached for the picnic basket, listening to the tenor of Edward's voice as I rustled around until my hand landed on a tupperware container, which revealed to be filled with the adult equivalent of a lunchable. My heart leapt as I tugged the lid off, popping a piece of cheese in my mouth as I settled back onto the blanket.
We remained in the meadow until the sun was so low we were bathed in nothing but shadows. We packed up, and on the car ride home I settled into the seat and turned on the book light I kept in my purse for moments exactly like these. We were driving for around ten minutes when my stomach gave a loud and low groan, and as I glanced over in the dim light I saw Edward smile a little. "What do you want for dinner?"
"Pizza?" I asked hopefully, looking at the time it was already nine at night, pizza would take too long. "Maybe just hot pockets or pizza rolls." I grumbled, admitting the mild defeat.
"You keep reading, I will run into the store and get some food for you." Edward smiled, and I felt grateful for him doing that. Ever since Dad landed in the hospital, he had been helping me with the house. He picked up groceries, switched the laundry over, I even caught him cleaning the toilet one morning.
"Thank you." I pouted in an appreciative way, throwing big sad eyes in his direction.
"Of course." I leaned over and pecked a kiss on his cheek, then settled back into my seat and readjusted my seatbelt. Turning my eyes back to the book, I read for the rest of the drive to the store, the entire time he was in the store, and the whole way home. My eyes felt heavy as I tried to soak in the verbiage of a woman in 1800's England, which was never an easy task anyway.
Edward cooked me dinner, which was an actual pizza. I had taken a break to eat, laughing at the table with him as we discussed our opinions of different books. "No no no! You are saying you think Huckleberry Finn is a better protagonist? I refuse to believe it!"
"It's a nostalgic thing." Edward shrugged.
"Nostalgic my ass Mark Twain, Huck Finn is annoying." I mumbled around the bite of pizza I had savagely ripped as a way to punctate my dismissal while he spoke.
"Didn't you give up on Chapter Four?" He challenged, a smirk playing on his lips as he leaned forward.
Oh he means war. I smirked, leaning forward and meeting his challenging gaze. "Didn't you just say you couldn't wait to see what happens next in The Mortal Instruments?" I raised an eyebrow and smiled a devious smile.
"I said that in confidence." He scoffed, pointing at me like he was about to yell an objection.
"I have good taste in books! Admit it!" I huffed, folding my arms in mock anger.
"I concede!" Edward threw his hands up, surrendering to me. "Finish your pizza." He pointed with a grin before lounging back in the chair
"Yes. Sir." I chomped on the still warm slice and settled into the easy feeling. After dinner we went back up to my room, the end of Pride and Prejudice officially in sight, and settled in to finish it.
The book was slowly slipping from my hand. Reading a Jane Austen book in a single day was an incredible feat for a human, and I was sure it was now well past midnight, but I couldn't stare at the page any longer.
Sensing my shift towards sleep, Edward pulled the book gently from my hands and shifted his chin closer to my head. Just when I thought he was going to wish me a good night and kiss my temple like he always did, he spoke. "You have bewitched me, body and soul." His words whispered in my ear, sending chills up my spine. "And I love, I love, I love you." My breath caught in my throat, he was reading easily the most romantic line in literature to me, and it felt like he was actually saying it to me rather than quoting Mr. Darcy. I wasn't as tired anymore, my eyes stopped drooping as heavily and I became transfixed on the page that was now bordered by one of his hands. I became more aware of the way his arms wrapped around me. I could feel my back press into his chest, his breath rustle the hairs that had come loose from my braid, and most of all smell the intoxicating floral scent that spoke of his presence. "And wish from this day forth never to be parted from you." I shoved the book down as I tilted my face up, gently tapping my other hand on his chin to influence his movement. When our lips came together, it was gentle at first, like a whisper.
The intensity of the kiss certainly built, but like always it was dissipated by the ever careful temperament of Edward. He pulled backwards, closed the book, pressed a kiss to my forehead, and bid me goodnight.