GODS AND MONSTERS ↝ P. LAHOTE

[9]

"E-engaged?" Lark stammered as she studied Alicia intently, leaving the girl chuckling in her wake with the Hudson girl completely in shock. "Edward and Bella?"

Alicia kept laughing, leaning back in the driver's seat of her car. "I knew the Cullens were old-fashioned, but this... is a bit too old-fashioned if you ask me. And, believe me when I say, Charlie shit a brick when he heard the news."

"Are we sure she's not pregnant?" Lark asked, crossing her arms over her shoulders and raising an eyebrow as Alicia pulled out of Lark's driveway.

"Oh, Bella assured me that was not the case." Alicia confirmed. "According to her, they've never even had sex. I want to call bullshit, but from all I've heard and seen about Edward, I think she might really be telling the truth. With Charlie as Bella's father, Edward wouldn't even be alive if that was the case. Which brings us to go to the Cullen house today, because Bella asked if I would help Alice with the wedding planning. And us Swans have no idea how to say no to those we love."

"But you don't even like the Cullens." Lark pointed out as they drove out of Forks, nearing the forested area the Cullen family resided in.

"You're right, I don't." she said with a smirk. "I think their lives seem way too easy, they're stuck up and totally elitist, not to mention everything with Jacob and his family. This is also why I brought you along, so I don't have to go by myself, and, with the exception of the graduation party, Leo and Embry wanted no part in coming here. According to Bella, apparently it was easiest to meet here, and we're officially a team to get this wedding planned in the next month and a half."

"A month and a half to get an entire wedding planned?" Lark asked skeptically. "Is that even possible?"

"When it comes to the Cullens," Alicia said, pulling into their driveway and parking next to the silver Volvo Lark recognized as belonging to Edward, "anything is possible."

In the daylight, the Cullen house looked even more magnificent than it had the night of the party, even with the gloomy overcast skies. Lark jumped out of the car, slamming the door shut behind her and following Alicia into the house.

"Welcome, ladies!" Alice said with a cheerful grin, opening the front door and letting the two girls inside.

"Hi," Lark said, giving Alice a friendly smile as Alicia immediately headed up the stairs to where she knew Bella and the others would be waiting.

"Lark, so nice to see you again." Alice said as the two girls followed Alicia up the stairs. "I hope you had a good time at the graduation party?"

"I did," Lark assured her. "thank you again, it was so fun."

"Any friend of Bella's is a friend of ours." Alice said, and Lark looked across the upstairs to see a long couch sitting where the dance floor had been, and Bella sitting on it next to Edward and another woman Lark hadn't seen the other night.

"Lark, this is my mother, Esme." Alice introduced, and Esme stood up, shaking Lark's hand, causing the girl to startle slightly at the feeling of skin that was just as cold as Edward's had been the night of the graduation party.

"So nice to meet you, Lark." Esme said. "We've heard a lot about you."

"It's nice to meet you too." Lark said, turning her attention to where Edward and Bella sat. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Edward and Bella chorused.

"And thank you for coming along to help." Bella said. "It really means a lot to us."

"Alright, so let's hear what's been planned so far." Alicia said.

"Okay, so we're having the wedding back here in the woods." Alice explained. "I have a couple drawings of what I've been picturing it all to look like."

Alice picked up a piece of paper from the coffee table in front of them and handed it to Alicia. Lark looked over her shoulder to see a drawing of a completely outdoor wedding in the middle of the woods, with rows of giant logs for the guests to sit on.

"We'll clear out a space in the trees for it and set everything up. That'll be a job for Emmett and Jasper. They'll figure it out."

"I heard my name?" an unfamiliar voice asked, and another figure stepped into the room, donning the same perfect pale skin and golden colored eyes as the rest of the Cullen family.

Aside from the features he seemed to share with the rest of his adoptive family, the newcomer was built much bigger than the rest of them, similar to that of a bear. Though, aside from his hulking, intimidating stature, he had short hair that seemed to curl a bit at the end and wore a playful smirk, almost giving him a childlike appearance.

"Emmett, Lark, Lark, Emmett," Alicia said, looking down at her phone, seeming uninterested about the newcomer, as she did with the rest of the Cullen family due to the famed blood feud happening between them and the Black family that Lark knew next to nothing about.

"So you're the Forks newbie everyone's been talking about." Emmett said, taking a seat on the couch next to Edward. "Bella mentioned your dad's friends with Charlie?"

Lark nodded. "They went to high school together."

"Well, welcome to Forks." Emmett said. "Sorry I couldn't be in attendance at the party a few weeks ago. I was out of town with my girlfriend, Rosalie." He turned his attention to Alice. "So what's up, boss?"

"You and Jasper are tasked with getting the woods behind the house cleaned up to put everything. Alicia, you can put together a guest list with everyone from Bella's side, right?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "I can do that."

"Perfect," Alice said with a satisfactory grin.

"I could get the invitations ready once the guest lists are put together." Lark offered.

"That would be wonderful," Alice said. "thank you, Lark."

"Of course," she said. "happy to help in anyway I can."

"Weddings just bring everyone together." Alice said, her smile growing. "Oh, I just love them!"

Lark looked around at the members of the Cullen family seated on the couch, still focusing on how their pale skin matched, as well as their eyes, when the word around Forks was that all of the kids were adopted from separate families, and none of them were actually related. She could still feel her skin tingling from the chill that had gone through her body when her and Esme shook hands, equal to when her and Edward had, and she'd be willing to bet money that if she came in contact with any of the others, it would have the same effect.

Lark could remember the old enemies of the Quileute tribes she'd studied from their legends, the stories of how they'd always been angered by the cold ones. Though Paul had assured Lark time and time again that the Quileute legends were just a story, and Alicia told Lark that it was just some blood feud, she couldn't get it out of her head that there was much more to the story than everyone was letting on.

She just needed to prove it.