Clarity // p.l

005

Elise remained parked in their driveway, her dazzling blue eyes peering at the glass home wondrously. It was beautiful, light and airy, but it was in the middle of nowhere. Not a neighbor was in sight for twenty minutes and it was built with a dense wood in the backyard going on for miles and miles.

The fear she had before was steadily rising, the thought that if these people truly did plan on murdering her in her sleep they very well could and would probably get away with it seeing there was absolutely no eye witnesses to testify for her.

"You just going to sit there or are you coming inside?"

Elise was snapped out of her daze when the copper haired boy stood outside her car, his golden eyes were trained on her, a knowing smile spreading across his flawless skin. "I was going to get out, I just got lost in thought."

"I'm Edward, I don't think my sister formally introduced us."

Pulling her overnight bag out of the passenger seat, she gave Edward a tight-lipped smile. "Saw you at the lunch table, I heard about you guys before I even sat down but I'm glad you reminded me because I was going to call you Ethan."

Edward took the lead by one large step, his hand reaching out to open the front door for her, waiting patiently for her to take off her shoes and start up the wooden stairs that led to the living area. "How'd you convince your Dad to let you come over? Alice said that it was a definite no."

"Well, I'm the only girl in the house, the youngest and I'm spoiled. Didn't take much, really."

The rest of the home was just as gorgeous as the outside, all shiny wood floors, flawlessly painted and decorated walls. Everything looked like it was pulled straight from a magazine. "Look who showed up after all," Emmett's boisterous voice echoed through the home, his large body somehow still walking through the home quietly.

"Had I known you'd be here I wouldn't have."

He placed a hand to his chest, smooth lips turning down into a faux frown. "You wound me."

"You must be Elise," A graceful woman who immediately screamed motherly and gently came into view. She had beautiful reddish-brown hair and the same golden eyes as the rest of the family. Her features were immaculate and when she pulled Elise in for a hug it was warm no matter how bone-chilling her skin was. "Alice hasn't stopped talking about you since she got home."

The blue eyed teen's brows furrowed, her mouth moving before she took the time for her brain to filter what she was going to say. "She's only known me for a day? How much could she possible be talking about?"

Bypassing the sarcastic comment, the woman smiled in return. "I'm Esme, their adoptive mother. Are you hungry? We're making Italian, it's Bella's favorite."

"Bella's here too?" Elise looked back at Edward seeing how he was standing on his lonesome. "Where? Isn't she usually attached to your hip? I haven't known you for long either but I know clingy couples when I see one."

"Elise," A high pitched squeal captured everyone's attention, Alice stood at the top of the stairs a bright smile plastered on her pixie like face. She darted down them like she was floating, her boyfriend trotting not too far behind her. Alice captured the brunette in a hug, her clean scent filling her senses. "I'm so glad you came. I bought a bunch of movies we can watch, I wasn't really sure which genre was your favorite so I just bought some from each shelf. Then I was thinking maybe manicures and pedicures."

"I don't really like feet."

"Too bad, I have this really pretty color that would look ravishing on your skin and you aren't leaving until it's applied."

Quickly realizing she wouldn't be winning this fight, Elise shrugged her shoulders while sighing simultaneously. "Are you always this demanding?"

"Only when I don't get what I want."

Elise tucked her brown hair behind her pierced ear, her plush lips pursing together at the satisfaction smeared all across Alice's face. "Who else is going to be involved in this torture session you've prepared."

"Rose and Bella too."

"I heard there was a beach ten minutes out, weathers not the best right now but if the clouds break then maybe—"

"We don't really go to La Push beach," Edward interrupts quickly, one of his arms lifting for his girlfriend that had appeared somewhere during her talk. "Not our scene."

Elise scoffed a little, her carefree attitude showing through as the others began to realize that she wasn't much for one who just held her tongue. "How is going to the beach not your scene? It rains here everyday, the beach is the same thing but with sand. Either way, you get wet."

Emmett chuckled at her, his eyes squinting a little as he twisted her words into something way more dirty that she had intended. "You'd know a little something about that don't you?"

"I'm not even going to humor you by answering that." Elise could feel the change in the air, they exchanged glances and tried desperately to avoid anything that involved the beach but she let it slide, not before she made a mental note of it in her head. "How'd you guys even find this place? It's one of the prettiest I've seen in Forks."

"We had it built, we aren't big on neighbors, they can be nosy and we enjoy our privacy."

Elise walked to the large wall of windows, a low whistle coming past her lips. "I knew you were loaded but this is on a whole new level. You Cullen's are unreal."

Smirks and giggles erupted from behind her, even Jasper cracked a smile. "If only you knew."