The First Drop Of Rain

Chapter Sixteen

I was taken on a grand tour, and given a little Cullen family history, before sitting at a table with Edward, Esme, and Carlisle. "So what brought you to Forks specifically?" I asked hesitantly as I ate the amazing stir fry that Esme and Carlisle had whipped up.
"Other than the weather?" Carlisle said he seemed genuinely relaxed as he lounged back in the dining chair with his arm slung around Esme's shoulders. "It's home." He said it so simply, as if it were the easiest decision he had made.
"But, you've called many places home?"
"Yes, but something about forks has always pulled us back." His words were so sure, if I had an unlimited amount of years to live I would probably be that sure too. A chill ran up my spine, I wasn't built for that many years, I was barely built for the 15 I had endured. I didn't hate the Cullen's for what they were, but it was definitely something that wasn't meant for me, what was meant for me I still had yet to discover, but vampirism was off the table by my standards.
"Traveling would be so amazing, I've always wanted genuine Italian pasta, a real Greek gyro, maybe even some baklava." The images I had in my head of these places danced behind my eyes as I shoveled more stir fry into my mouth. I heard Edward chuckle and my eyes instantly flashed up to him, "what?"
"You do know all these places have modernized?" I knew instantly what he meant.
"If time travel in the backwards direction was real I would be in Ancient Greece right now. Don't test me." I raised an eyebrow and stared at him with my fork hovering just beyond my mouth.
I heard thunderous laughter from somewhere in the house and then Emmett was next to me in a blink of an eye. "Edward, she's got more of an attitude than you!" The knowledge that he only came down next to me to accommodate my hearing capabilities compared to the rest of the Cullen's was honestly a very cool thought.
Suddenly Rosalie was next to him, and I was shocked, she had a smile on her face and she looked at me- and it stayed!? "You know I just might like you after all." I was taken aback by Rosalie's display of affection, honestly that was the least wild and out of pocket thing I had said in weeks.
"Alright alright." Edward waved his hands at his family members. "Let her eat." He fixed his eyes on me, I wondered what he was thinking, and what his thought process was. Emmett and Rosalie left us with Carlisle and Esme again and light chatter among the Cullen's commenced as I finished off my stir fry.
"Esme this was truly amazing, you outdid yourself." I gave a smile as I got up to put the plate in the sink, but Edward had it in his hand in a single motion and was washing it. "I could have done that," I protested, "it's the least I could do."
"Esme would have my head if I allowed the guests to clean as well." Edward glanced up from the dish he was already drying and putting away, and when I turned my gaze I saw Esme with a smug but proud look on her perfect face.
"Well that's just not fair," I crossed my arms, "it's not like y'all dirty dishes anyways." I raised an eyebrow in challenge when I locked eyes with Edward. I heard a slight laugh behind me and the sound of the chairs being pushed back into place, I could tell it was from Carlisle and Esme leaving the kitchen.
"Is it not fair?" Edward carefully shut the door to the cabinet where the dishes were flawlessly stacked.
"No," I backed up, "and I know you're about to do something equally not fair and I am requesting that you postpone that action."
"Is this a formal request?" He placed his hands on the counter and cocked his head to one side.
"The most formal of formal."
"Request denied." He leapt over the counter and picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder at a blinding speed but somehow still being careful to not jostle my head or break any of my bones that were as strong as paper mache in his presence. I scream laughed in protest as he flopped me down on the couch and stared at me from the other end.
"That's all you got?" I challenged immediately, jumping up for a 'sneak attack' that wasn't so sneaky. Of course even without the whole hearing people's thoughts thing Edward would have seen my attack coming. I launched myself off the couch, springing forward to grab him around his neck and take him to the ground. That was the plan at least, I got up to him but instead of wrapping my arms around him he redirected me and I was laying face first in the throw pillows on the other end of the massive sectional couch. "Ooo you sneaky bitch!" I flipped around and saw him holding his stomach as he laughed. I jumped again- and failed, this time he threw me over his shoulder again and wore me like a scarf. He held my arms in one hand and my legs gripped by his arm on the other side. "It appears I have gotten myself in a trap of my own making."
I was sweating profusely since I had been out of shape ever since the surfing accident, but his ice cold skin cooled me down to the perfect level. He sat with me around his shoulders like it was nothing for a few minutes, probably waiting for my breathing to return to normal and my heart to stop thundering, and then dropped me back down to sit beside him. My hair was an absolute mess that I just threw up into a messy bun and regarded Edward's gaze as I did so. Before I could ask Edward was up and putting a disk in the DVD player, how he knew I was going to ask if he wanted to watch a movie when I hadn't explicitly thought it yet was a mystery, the bigger mystery to me was how he knew I wanted to watch Tangled, and how he already had the disk. Something about the idea of vampires watching Disney movies made me chuckle as Edward settled back into the couch next to me and grabbed a blanket from the perfectly folded spot it was draped in over the back of the couch, for appearances most likely.
Just as the movie began Alice and Jasper entered the room, Alice beaming and Jasper just barely acknowledging my existence. "Did you want to watch with us? It's only just begun." I smiled at Alice as she nodded and sat down next to me on the big couch. Slowly as the movie played the rest of the Cullen's wandered down out of the house from the various places they were stationed. I caught myself singing along a couple times and immediately became embarrassed knowing they could absolutely hear the wobbling tones of my half hearted singing.
Once the movie ended I was nearly asleep, and it was getting late, my dad was bound to start wondering where I was if he hadn't already. I checked my phone and saw no missed calls or texts, strange but not unheard of, he might have had to arrest Riley Biers again and was filing yet another document to go in his wrap sheet that would almost for sure be expunged after some community service. Edward began walking me to the car after helping me put my jacket on and find where I had dropped my purse. Only ADHD can make a vampire's attention to detail falter apparently. I shot a quick text to Gaia, who had been extremely busy planning the Halloween dance as well as beginning the winter formal plans.
Hey Gi, did you still want to get dairy shack after the dance?
After firing the text I turned my attention to Edward, who was carefully selecting music on his phone that was connected to the aux. The music that began to slide out of the speakers was a song I had stuck in my head the entire day, which happened to be Migraine by twenty one pilots. "Wait do you actually listen to them, or is it because of me?" I turned my whole body in the seat to look at him.
"I might start listening to them now, but this is so you can get it out of your head, because I've been hearing you play it in stages for days now, slowly becoming more defined in your head until today where you just kept singing the same part over and over." His tone wasn't condescending in the slightest, it seemed almost amused by the tiny radio in my head that never gave me a silent moment.
"Noted," I laughed and rested my head against the headrest, humming along to the song. I'm not sure when I fell asleep, but I woke up when we pulled into my driveway, even though the drive was short the grip of exhaustion still had me, and I groaned as I reached to unbuckle my seatbelt. "How long have I been sleeping?" I mumbled as I stretched my back and looked toward the subtle smile on Edward's face.
"Just a few minutes, we only just pulled up." He gestured to my house where all of the lights sat off in the early creeping darkness that was late October. I looked at the time and saw it was already 9pm, Halloween was only in a few hours and so was the Halloween bash.
"So are you going to the dance?" I asked nervously, fighting off the sleepy tendrils that wanted me to melt back into the oddly comfortable seat of the car.
"I wasn't set on a decision." Edward said, already knowing what I was going to ask.
"But if you had to set a decision...?"
"I would do whatever someone really really wanted to do." His eyes were light with a teasing nature, he knew what I was getting at.
"But what is it that you really really want?" I didn't want to force him to some dance where he would have to dress up as a mythical beast that... might not be mythical with hindsight in mind.
"What I want?" He seemed to stop to think about this for a moment. "I would want to spend time with someone important doing something that would make them happy."
"But what about your own happiness? Why value another person's happiness over your own?" I could feel myself becoming philosophical by the second but I couldn't help myself.
"Ara," his eyes grew in intensity and his hand found my face to hold me in focus. "I have an eternity to focus on my own happiness, I can spare a night or two to lend to the happiness of another." My heart beat heavy in my chest as I listened to the seriousness in his voice.
"Then... with that information." I spoke with his hand still placed on my cheek. "Would you maybe want to go to the Halloween Bash?" I couldn't feel bad about the last minute nature of the ask, he did have all night to figure out how he would come and no need to rest.
"I would like nothing more than to escort you to the Halloween Bash." He said with a smile in a tone of voice that spoke miles to what time period he was from.
"Come as whatever you want to, my costume has been set for a year so I really don't expect you to match mine." I spoke quickly before thinking about what I was going to do, and my face reddened.
"Oh I think I'll match you no matter what I pick." He laughed light heartedly as I covered my face in embarrassment. "A vampire huh? What prompted that?"
"It was either vampire or witch and I chose vampire because I'm still looking for the perfect witch hat and refuse to dress as one until I have it." I spoke through my hands and my laughter. "I'm going as a pop culture vampire, you know the whole 'I've waited a hundred years and she wasn't even down there' thing." I had dropped my hands from my face to my lap and made dramatic eyes as I recited the rough quote.
"I don't think I know those vampires." He laughed and shook his head.
"They are a lot more squishy than you and still have basic human needs." I laughed at the idea and began gathering my items I had thrown to the floor when I climbed in. "Anyways I need to go and prepare my costume and you need to figure out how you're coming."
"Did you want me to pick you up?"
"No I'll be there early helping Gi set up, she made me promise since I haven't been able to help her much with any of the yearbook stuff." I shrugged and reached to open the door, hoping he wouldn't notice. Of course he did and he was opening my door from the outside before I could even pop the latch. "Damn you!"
"You'll never win this battle Arabella." He raised an eyebrow as he used my full first name. "Wait... what is your middle name?"
"Viviana, when I was found on the doorstep of the police station there was a single note pinned to my blanket and it said Arabella Viviana." I recalled as I climbed from the vehicle. "Why?"
"Just curious, I realized it had never been mentioned or thought about and I had only seen the initial on your chart at the hospital." He shrugged and walked me to my door. "I will see you tomorrow at the dance?"
"Yes you will." And with that he was gone.

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Yes this Halloween chapter is coming a bit late. Ooops lol I have had one hell of a month and Halloween was very busy for me (definitely saw twenty one pilots in concert)