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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN ʜᴏᴍᴇ
Along the plains of green and the seas of wildflowers, through the towers of trees and shallow bottoms of streams, a warm wind blew, as calm as early spring. Light filtered through dusty clouds, licking the earth with a yellowish hue of gold, freckled with a burning amber. It was hot against my bare skin, close to burning like dulled paper under a torch. But beside me, Alice glowed. Her bare legs stretched out in front of us, only appearing from the depths of the long, willowy stalks of grass when they overlapped with my own. They shone a silvery-white, like glinting metal.
As she moved, her arms looked like they were catching fire, erupting in such a blinding light, but one I could not look away from. Despite my own distraction, she watched me too. I could feel her eyes- so hypnotically bright, the shade of desert sands buried with hazel- trailing over my face, taking in each detail that she saw fit.
The tall daisies tickled my feet and were soft against my neck. Craning my head further toward the sun, I could feel the last broken branch of the tree dip down toward me, brushing my forehead with its surviving leaves. I liked the blue flowers that dotted up sporadically from the jungle of green, Alice liked the pink ones, and in spite of the natural beauty that surrounded us, we could look at nothing but each other.
My head laid back across her lap, my head reaching upwards. Alice could consume all anger or nervousness, all negativity that brewed within a person. It was not like Jasper and his calming powers, but a sense of tranquillity that coursed through her veins where passionate blood should have. It was like we could feel her embodiment of positivity, and absorb it ourselves. That's what we all loved about Alice. That's what I loved about Alice.
A finger trailed across my cheek, swirling patterns toward my chin, brushing softly across my lips for a brief second before it was dipping down across my neck again. She loved to tease me, her other hand slipping beneath the waist of my jeans, resting on my hip as a small smile played across her lips. Then she would kiss me, only fleetingly, for then she would rub the tip of her nose against mine and lean her head against the bark of the tree, conjuring up another half-hearted question that she could ask me.
"If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?" Alice asked, her voice stretching across the quietness.
"I'm sure you've asked me that before."
"I have?" I nodded, feeling her wandering hand drop across my chest toward my waist. "Well, answer it anyway. Where would you go?"
I didn't need to think about the question as I'd answered it exactly before. "England. What about you?"
"Australia," she said quickly, closing her eyes. "You know, when I was younger, I mean before I found the Cullens, and I would wander around on my own, I would think about the world and what I could do with my time. I always dreamed about a honeymoon in Australia, with beautiful flowy dresses and shimmery makeup. That was before I remembered there was a blazing, hot sun to worry about."
