Sunday August 1
“Okay, I think that’s about it.”
Edward and I had been at the grocery store
since it opened at 7:00am, picking up everything that was needed for the
surprise welcome home party I was throwing for Alice and Jasper. Everyone was scheduled to
attend; Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper’s
parents, Alice’s
parents and myself and Edward. It would be a full house, in relation to the
get-together’s I’d had in the past. I had figured that after three weeks of
restaurant and hotels, a nice home cooked meal, that they wouldn’t have to cook
themselves, was in order.
It was, however, still a surprise for Alice and Jasper. They
were under the assumption that they were simply coming over to drop off a piece
of luggage that Jasper had borrowed and to show me some pictures.
“What did you want to do for after dinner?
Did you want to have snacks or dessert or anything?” Edward asked, as we made
our way to the checkout counter.
I had everything else set for the
meal: crackers, cheese and stuff to make
taco dip for an appetizer, broccoli and cranberries for a salad, a rack of ribs
with onions and barbeque sauce, everything for tzatziki mashed potatoes, corn
on the cob plus a bunch of options for drinks. I just hadn’t though of what to
do for dessert.
“Well, Alice loves these little mojito cheesecake
things that I make in shot glasses, so I guess I can make those for her.”
Edward and I got the rest of the
ingredients needed, the proceeded to the check-out. The total came to almost
$200 and we hadn’t gotten the rum from the liquor store for the cheesecake or
stopped by Wal-Mart for the decorations yet. I knew that this would cost me a
lot to throw this party, but it was something I wanted to do. So, with a deep
breath and a nervous stomach, I pulled out my emergency credit card and handed
it over to the cashier. Unfortunately, it seemed like I was too slow as Edward
had already handed over his debit card and was putting his pin in the interact
machine.
“What are you doing?” I snapped, as I took
in Edward paying for my cart full of food.
“I got it, don’t worry.” Edward dismissed
my worries as he returned his card to his wallet and started loading the
groceries back in the shopping cart.
I was livid but remained silent, not
wanting to cause a scene in the middle of the grocery store. I wanted to seethe
in anger but cry from embarrassment at the same time. I found it sweet that
Edward wanted to take care of me but this simple act made me feel like I
couldn’t take care of myself.
My emotions were all over the place and I
didn’t know if I was grateful or ashamed and I knew that I couldn’t confront
Edward about it until I knew how I felt. We loaded the groceries into Edward’s
car and drove to pick up the rest of the stuff from my list, ensuring that I
paid for the rest.
By the time we got back to my house, the
incident was all but forgotten.
“So where do we start?” Edward asked as he
wrapped his arms around me from behind, kissed the top of my head and stared at
the food spread out before us that needed to be prepared. I turned around in
his arms and kissed him softly as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“I think we should par-boil the ribs first
and then start with the mojito cheesecake.”
Edward and I worked side by side, stealing
looks, touches and kisses all afternoon until everything was prepared, cooking
or marinating in the fridge. People weren’t due over for another couple of
hours so Edward and I had some time to kill.
We sat in the living room, blowing up
balloons, hanging a “welcome home” sign and tidying up here and there.
“I love you,” Edward proclaimed out of
nowhere. He was setting the table as I was flipping the ribs and coating them
with more sauce. I turned towards his voice and saw that he was leaning in the
doorway to my dining room watching me. A slow smile lit up my face as I walked
over to him and buried myself in his chest.
“I love you, too,” I whispered as his arms
wrapped around me. I pulled back and looked at the man who held me as if I were
the most precious thing in the world, the man who had changed my life and
completely flipped it upside down. The man who loved me just as I was, flaws
and all. If he wanted to pay for my groceries, that was fine. As long as he
never let me go.
oooOOOooo
The doorbell rang as Edward flipped the
corn on the cob that was grilling on the barbeque and I put the finishing
touches on the mojito cheesecake shots. I ran to the door and greeted Emmett
and Rose.
“Hey, kiddo. How are things going? It
smells great in here. What’s to eat?” Emmett wrapped me up in a tight hung,
kissed the top of my head and walked straight to the kitchen to grab some
appetizers.
“Hey, Bella,” Rosalie laughed, as she
pulled me into a hug and walked with me into the house to find Emmett.
Rose stopped halfway down the hallway.
“Um…Bella?” I turned to find that Rose had stopped halfway down the hallway and
was looking out my back window. “Who’s that guy in your backyard?” She turned
to face me an eyebrow quirk and a smirk playing on her face.
I followed her line of sight and realized
that she was staring at Edward. He was walking through the back door, entering
the house with a couple cobs of corn wrapped in aluminum foil. He was pulling
back the foil to check on the corn, not even remotely registering the fact that
two girls were staring at him.
“The corn is pretty much done, love. I’ll
just throw the finished ones in the oven to keep warm.”
Rose’s mouth dropped open as she turned her
head to watch Edward walk into the kitchen. Before I could say anything, she
took off after him.
“Thanks, dear,” she said in an obviously
fake, seductive tone.
Edward’s head immediately whipped around,
not realizing that anyone was in the house besides me. He looked around and saw
that Emmett was already sitting at the kitchen table, beer open and half the
crackers and cheese gone and Rose was standing beside me, laughing her head
off.
“Hi, I’m Rosalie,” she said, still partly
laughing, as she walked up to him and extended her hand out.
“Um, I’m Edward.”
Edward’s eyes met mine and I could
definitely see the humor whirling around in them. The look on my face must have
been hilarious.
“Hey, kiddo! What am I? Garbage? I don’t
get any introductions? Who’s the chef?”
Everyone’s eyes turned to Emmett as he
finished his beer. Both Rose and Edward laughed at the sight of him, a huge,
muscular man with cracker crumbs all down the front of his shirt.
“Edward.” The boys stood and shook hands,
both still smirking. “Can I get you another beer?”
“Sure.” Emmett brightened up and came to
stand beside me, throwing his right arm over my shoulder. “Master chef AND
bartender? Who is this magical ‘Edward’?”
“He’s…um…my boyfriend.”
Clearly, that was the wrong thing to say.
Rose jumped in asking a hundred questions. While the boys went out back with
their beers and to throw the ribs on the barbeque, Rose asked me where we met,
who he was, how long we’d been dating, and of course, had he ‘popped my cherry’
as she so delicately put it.
“Listen, Rose,” I sighed. “I’ll explain
everything later. I have stuff to finish in the kitchen before everyone else
gets here. Just know that his name is Edward, we met at Alice’s wedding and we’ve been seeing each
other ever since.”
I went to the fridge to pull out the
ingredients to make the dressing for the broccoli salad and Rose was
immediately on my heels.
“But - ”
‘That’s it for now, Rose. You can play
twenty questions later. Can you grab the sunflower seeds from the cupboard
please?” Rose grumbled under her breath as she helped me finish off everything.
She kept asking little questions here and there but I kept ignoring her.
Edward came in every once in a while,
bringing more wrapped corn to shove in the oven, placed tender kisses on the
top of my head and whispered little things in my ear.
“There’s no need to be nervous, love,” he
whispered. “It’ll be fine. Just relax.” He started to massage my shoulders as I
finished mixing up the salad. I leaned back into his chest and let the built up
tension start to leave my body. That was, of course, until the doorbell rang.
I jolted forward, immediately tense and
nervous once again. Edward simply laughed, kissed my cheek, grabbed two more beers
and went back outside taking Rosalie with him. I could hear her asking him
questions as they made their way to the back deck.
Mr. and Mrs. Whitlock arrived and not three
minutes later, the Brandon’s
were here. We had all congregated out back, snacking on the taco dip, crackers
and cheese when the final doorbell rang.
“Okay, everyone. That’ll be Alice and Jasper. Stay
out here and I’ll bring them out back.”
I grabbed Edward’s hand, squeezed it tight
and I pulled him along with me.
“Just….stay in the kitchen in case I need
you, okay?”
He laughed as he pressed a tender kiss to
my lips.
“Bella, it’s just Alice. She’s your best friend. Why are you
nervous?”
I took a deep breath, shook my head and
asked for him to wait in the kitchen. I opened the front door as Alice started ringing the
doorbell over and over again.
“BELLA!!!!!” Alice screamed as she ran into the foyer. Her
bright blue sundress flew out around her waist as she launched herself at me
and threw her arms around my neck. “I’ve missed you so much. I have so much to
tell you. Canada
was so beautiful and the car…OH MY GOD!!!! I am in love with that car. So how
have you been? How were classes…?” Alice
just kept rambling on, a giant smile across her face.
Jasper walked in behind her, laughing at
the sight of Alice’s
death grip on me, kissed the top of my head and rolled two suitcases into the
hallway.
“Hey, Jasper.” I squeaked out as Alice still had me
wrapped in her tiny but mighty arms.
“Hey, Bella,” he smiled. “How have you
been?”
“Not too bad. I’d be better if I could
breath.”
At that, Alice let go, grabbed my hand and pulled me
into the living room.
“Oh my God, you got balloons and a welcome
home sign????” Alice
was twirling around the living room, taking in the decorations before she sat
on the couch, pulling Jasper down with her. She grabbed the smallest of her
bags and laid it out. She unzipped it to reveal her laptop, computer cords and
seventeen DVDs.
“We went a little camera happy,” she said
bashfully as she pulled out her laptop and set it on the coffee table. It was
then that I notice that Jasper had disappeared into the kitchen. I assumed he
was talking to Edward and that was fine by me. The boys could deal with each
other.
“Alice,
before we start with the pictures, I have snacks and stuff set up out back.
Come and tell me about the trip.”
Our arms linked together as we walked out
through the back sliding doors where everyone screamed “WELCOME HOME!” Of
course, Alice’s
scream was the loudest as she ran to hug everyone. Jasper and Edward strolled
out laughing at the commotion that Alice
was making.
It took almost half an hour for Alice and Jasper to say hello to their families and it
took another hour for the energy to calm slightly when Alice revealed that she was pregnant. I
unconsciously tensed at the pregnancy talk, still allowing my own imperfections
to interfere. Edward stood beside me at the barbeque, gently squeezing my hand
and kissed the top of my head.
“The doctor didn’t say you can’t,” Edward
reminded me. “We’ll just have to practice.” He whispered the reassuring words
in my ear before he kissed my cheek and went back to rotating the ribs. I
stared at him and let his presence calm me. I looked back out at the family, of
which I was not a part of, and tried to immerse myself in their joyous energy.
That lasted about two seconds.
The minute I met Alice’s eyes, I knew I was in trouble. She
was giving me a strange look that clearly asked, “what is Edward doing here and
why did he just kiss you?” It was in that
moment when I realized that I had a lot more explaining to do than I thought. I
had never, not once, not even at our brunch before she left on her honeymoon,
told Alice what
happened when I left her wedding. Not in a single email or phone call.
“Is everything almost done?” I asked
Edward, hoping that if I called everyone to dinner, I’d be able to distract Alice and push this
conversation off until later.
“Yup, it’s all ready.”
Edward loaded the last rib and cob of corn
onto platters as I called everyone in for dinner. I grabbed the cheese,
crackers and dip, allowing everyone in ahead of me to grab a drink and a seat.
In all honesty, I was stalling. I didn’t want Alice to question me about this with everyone
around.
As I walked back into the house, I noticed
that Alice and Rose were whispering to each other, blocking the entrance to the
kitchen.
“Bella…” Alice sang as she twirled back and forth,
making her dress flair out at her knees. Both she and Rose had evil smiles on
their faces and I immediately knew what was coming. I was being hijacked. “I
think you have some explaining to do.”
I forced myself in between them, into the
kitchen and started putting stuff on the table. Of course, Alice and Rose just
stood there with their eyes trained on me, and their smirks growing by the
second.
“Not now guys, okay?” I huffed. “Let’s just
sit, have dinner and hear about the trip. This is a party for Alice and Jasper. We can talk about me later.”
As soon as everyone sat down and dug into
the mountain of food on the table, Alice
and Jasper started talking about the honeymoon. They told us about the trees,
and the mountains, and the crazy hitchhikers that Alice made friends with at one of the hotels.
There were stories about whale watching, how Alice
tried to climb an 800 year old cedar in Vancouver Island’s
National Park and how they went to a paleontology museum and actually got to go
on an archeological dig.
“But the car,” Jasper started. “I swear,
Emmett, that is the most amazing car I’ve ever been in. Whoever let you lend it
to us is my hero. If that car were mine, I wouldn’t let it out of my sight.
Where did you get a 1948, yellow, convertible Porsche anyway? I might just have
to get one.”
“Well, no worries there, Jasper.” Emmett
looked around the table at all our smiling faces before he let out the big
news. “It’s yours. It’s a present from all of us.”
Once again, my home was filled with Alice’s screams as she
jumped up from the table to hug her brother.
“Didn’t you wonder why there wasn’t a gift
from any of us?” Mrs. Brandon laughed as Alice
and Jasper made their way around the table hugging everyone.
“We actually haven’t opened any of the
gifts yet,” Jasper explained as he grabbed Alice’s hand and brought her back to her
seat. “We just figured that there would be cards from each of you.”
The frivolity continued through dinner and
the remainder of the evening. Pretty soon, the ‘adults’ left for the night and
it was just Alice, Jasper, Rose, Emmett, Edward and myself. We sat and looked
over Alice and
Jasper’s pictures, had our mojito cheesecake shots and simply talked and
enjoyed each other’s company.
Just a little after 9pm, Edward leaned over
and whispered in my ear that he had to go. He was starting his first day in his
new position tomorrow and needed to be at the hospital at 7:00am to do some
final paperwork.
He got up, said his goodbye’s and we walked
hand in hand to the door.
“Thank you for today,” I said as we stepped
out into the warm August night and wrapped our arms around each other.
“I didn’t do anything. This was all you.”
“You did more than you know.” I whispered
as I stood up on my toes and kissed him gently.
“By the way,” I asked as we pulled apart
but kept a tight hold on each other. “What were you and Jasper talking about in
the kitchen when he first came in?”
Edward laughed, looked longingly in my eyes
and squeezed me tighter.
“He came in, looked at me, then you, then
me and simply asked ‘really?’ I said
‘yes’, he asked if it was serious, I said I loved you and he said okay. That
was about it.”
I burst out laughing. “Are you serious?”
“Bella, we’re guys. That’s about the extent
of male ‘relationship’ talk.”
We both laughed and stared at each other. I
didn’t want Edward to leave. We had been having such a good time today.
“So, will I get to see you tomorrow?” I
asked.
“Do you want to come over after I’m done
with work and I can make you dinner?”
“That sounds wonderful.”
Edward leaned down and pressed his lips to
mine again. It was a chaste kiss, but the love and passion that I felt made my
knees weak.
“I love you,” he whispered against my lips.
“I love you, too.”
Edward left and I stayed out on the front
porch watching his car drive away. Taking a deep breath, I turned around and
headed back into the house and right into Alice and Rose.
They both stood there, their mouths gasping
like a goldfish out of water. I should have known this was coming.
“Did he just say…did you just…what the…?” Alice stood there, gasping
at the scene she’d just witnessed.
“Tomorrow, Alice. I’ll tell you everything tomorrow.”
“Isabella Swan!” Rose interrupted. “You
saucy little minx.” Rose had a smirk on her face as if she was thinking of
Edward and I in the middle of lewd acts.
Rose and Alice were blocking my way to the
living room and now that Edward was gone, I had no buffer. I was standing at
enemy lines and I had no one to back me up. They slowly started to close in on
me, sharing evil glances between each other as I back up into my hallway.
“Bella…” Alice sang.
“There’s no point running,” Rose joined in.
They both grabbed one of my hands and
dragged me into the living room. They sat me on the couch and sat on either
side of me, sandwiching me in and thwarting any plan of escape.
“Soooo…Edward huh…”
“Tell us everything.”
“What’s he like?”
“How long have you been dating?”
“Is he a good kisser?”
“Has he spent the night?”
“Did we hear him say he loved you?”
“Have you two slept together?”
“How big is he?”
Alice and Rose fired off question after
question, barely letting the other finish before they asked another one.
“Enough!” I interrupted before Alice could jump in with
her turn. Jasper and Emmett just sat by and watched the vultures circle around
me. They laughed, got up and went to the kitchen to get another round of beer.
They were obviously not going to stick by and help me out.
“Bella - ”
“Enough, Rose.”
“Bella,” Alice said, with her no-nonsense look. “Tell
us everything!”
