Charlie couldn't stop gushing about the fact that Bella would be here in a month, and while I was excited to have an old childhood best friend back in town, I was also nervous about the amount of supernatural beings that had culminated in my life at this point. I stared at my sister, trying to process how I would even begin to explain that detail to Bella. I was once again hanging out at the Cullen's, dad had been encouraging me to get out. I think his recent brush with death made him want me to make as many memories as possible, he always asks me for stories when I get back. Stories that I of course have to make sound more human, can't exactly tell dad that I was watching Emmett and Jasper roll their sleeves up in the backyard because they had to settle a bet about who was better at hand to hand combat.
Alice was not allowed to wage, and by proxy neither was Edward. Beatrice had seemed intrigued, but conceded the betting process from not only the fact that she could see the future, but that she had the same training as Jasper. "Boys." Rose scoffed, though I knew she loved it.
"How many times have they duked it out like this?" I asked curiously, keeping one eye on the slowly brewing battle as I looked toward Rose and Alice. The boys had gone outside only by request of Esme, who was still decorating the living room with pristine decorations. Everyone else had remained inside, casting our eyes to the wall of glass that dominated the back of the room, though I suspected they did this only to appease me. The weather had turned bitter cold but hardly any snow had fallen yet, even just stepping outside sent me into a fit of chattering teeth.
"Are we talking since they met or just this year?" Rose smirked as Alice rolled her eyes. The boys collided in an explosion of force, and my eyes simply could not keep up with it.
"Hot chocolate?" Edward asked as he extended a mug towards me.
"Why thank you sir." I grinned, my hand closing around the warm ceramic. "Are you going to tell me what we are doing tonight or am I just going to have to guess?" Gazing up through my lashes, I maintained his eye contact as I sipped on the molten delight.
Edward heaved a dramatic sigh and smirked at me. "What part of surprise do you not understand?"
I stuck my tongue out and countered him with a smirk. "The part that requires patience." With another cautious yet greedy sip of my hot chocolate, I raised a challenging brow at him.
"We leave in two hours, it will take at least half of that for those two boneheads to settle." He thrust a thumb at the window, seconds later a snowball burst against the glass just beside his head.
"Come out here and say that like a man!" Emmett yelled through cupped hands. I was surprised to learn that he had even found enough snow to throw, but before I knew it Edward was kissing me atop the head.
"I have something I need to settle." He chuckled in as he dragged a hand along my side. "We leave in two hours, and I think Alice might want to dress you up again."
"Don't strain yourself, old man." I smiled as he walked out, as I turned to look out the window again I saw Jasper tipping his back in glee at my jab. "I was talking about you, Major Whitlock." I smirked as I watched his jaw snap close and his eyes pin on me.
Jasper's lips moved, but he didn't shout. A second later Alice was laughing as she tapped my elbow. "He's going to get you back for that."
"He can try." I grinned, watching all three of the boys disappear into the woods at a whiplash speed. "Where are they going?"
Alice heaved a dramatic sigh, cast a tired look to Rose, then begrudgingly spoke. "They are going to have a snowball fight up the mountain. There was heavy snowfall up there last night and it stuck rather well."
"Three immortals locked in an all out snowball fight?" I smirked as I thought it over. "And he thinks he will be back in time to take me on our little date?"
"Oh I will personally dismember him if he's not." Beatrice piped in, head poking out from behind the christmas tree where she helped Esme hang the delicate blown glass ornaments. "I'm talking limbs divorced from torso, full dismemberment."
Rose smirked and elbowed Alice. "I see the family resemblance now."
"She talks like me and has the skill of Jasper." Alice said proudly, and if I wasn't mistaken I would think they had practically adopted Beatrice. "Now come on, Eddie was right. I only have two hours for this masterpiece, we better get started."
Two hours later, Edward stood at the base of the stairs wearing a pair of dress pants and a button down shirt looking like the cat that ate the canary. I descended the steps in a green velvet dress, my black heels clacking against the wooden staircase every step of the way. "Okay, now you really have to tell me what the hell we are doing. There is no winter formal, and there is no massive ball within driving distance that I won't miss curfew because of." I eyed Edward skeptically as he extended a chivalrous hand as I neared the last of the steps. "Fess up buster." I said as I took his hand and stepped down to equal flooring.
"You look ravishing." He pulled me closer and pressed a kiss to my hand as if it were the hand of a foreign princess. "It is still a surprise."
"Bahhh!" The attempt to hide my blush behind being playful was a tad bit in vain, though I still bat at him as I melted.
"Your chariot awaits." He made a wide sweeping gesture, suddenly out the door we went, into the falling snow and towards the running car. Edward had carried me from the house, not letting me say goodbye to any of the other members before he swept me away. Once he got driving, we once again entered that speed reserved for vampires and rocketships, and hurtled towards the highway.
"Where are we going?" I groaned as I leaned my head back, playing with the loose braid that dangled over my shoulder.
Suddenly his face was very serious, like he was trying to figure out a difficult math problem or one of life's biggest mysteries. "You know for someone who loves being surprised, you sure do hate knowing there is a surprise."
My eyes seemed to roll almost involuntarily at how obvious the reason was. I leaned forward and tipped my head towards him, trying to hold back a laugh as I explained what I knew made me sound borderline insane. "Because knowing makes it worse, then I know it's something I will like and I don't get to be excited , I just have to be curious." I smirked. "I could make you tell me."
A smile broke onto Edward's face, a laugh playing in his voice as he spoke. "Technically yes, though I don't believe you ever would."
I huffed, crossing my arms and slumping in my seat, frustrated that he was right yet again. "Damn these morals."
"Just like Alice." Edward laughed, "I swear she only got the ability to see into the future because she couldn't possibly wait for anyone to tell her something that was good or exciting news." He shook his head and began weaving through the December shopping traffic that seemed to litter the road at all hours.
"Well at least her's is more useful day to day." I groaned, upset that I once again was not about to get my way in this. "Okay fine." I said, accepting defeat before he could say anything. "Let's talk about something to distract me."
"Did you know that the snowball fight just ignited a prank war between Emmett, Jasper, and myself?" He smiled, glad to bring it up.
"Oh god. I can only imagine." I shook my head as I considered the ramifications.
"Well to be fair, it really started when Emmett started playing dirty and covered a rock in snow and threw it at Jasper." Edward started to laugh, recalling the absurdity they had gotten up to on top of the mountain. "Really, I don't know why he was so shocked that Jasper then made a snowball that seemed to be the size of a small boulder and dropped it over his head."
"Well, honey, Emmett wasn't blessed with the foreknowledge that you were in the form of mind reading." I smirked as I patted his arm. "Though to be completely honest I think he would have done it even with the knowledge."
"You have a point." He smirked.
I shook my head and turned slightly in the seat to get a better view. "Wait, so how did you end up in the prank war?"
"OH!" Edward started to laugh once more, shaking his head at the fresh memory. "Well I was laughing a little too hard at Emmett looking like frosty the snowman, so he retaliated by throwing a tree branch full of snow at me."
"What!" I shook my head as I tried to wrap my brain around the scene. From the beefed up frosty to the literal garden warfare. "How is that a prank?"
"No, the prank war officially started when we got back and I tripped Emmett going up the stairs by throwing a pebble at the exact time his foot came down." Edward grinned. "The snowball fight just made us reach that point."
"Boys." I rolled my eyes and leaned back in the seat again, looking out the window and realizing we had slowed. "Where are we?"
"Alice found out about this place and I just knew I had to bring you." Edward smiled as he put the car in park. He leapt from his seat and was opening mine in the blink of an eye. As I stepped out of the car, my breath was stolen from my lungs. Thousands of twinkling lights sparkled through the blowing snow.
You took me to see the lights. I thought, as my eyes filled with tears and I became too choked up for words. I turned to look at Edward, tears blurring my vision only slightly, and leapt up to him. I threw my arms around his neck and shoulders and planted a kiss over his perfect lips. His hands caught my waist and I was free to move a hand to trace the perfect imperfections that made his face the face I loved. I kissed the faint freckles that he had earned as a human, the gentle scars along his jaw that had known tears that would never flow again. I kissed his mouth once more, my heart singing and thought desperately as I did so. I love you.