(A/N lol people are really complaining today about those first 20 or so chapters practically blowing up my message box with hate the only thing i have to say to them is this. HAHAHA)I was laying in bed listening to some nice music with my eyes closed just chilling when I felt someone slide into my bed and wrap around me with cool little hands. My tiny vampire waifu had come back for the night. I simply put my phone in the little penguin holder and put on Pandora for some tunes. it was nice just quiet cuddles with nothing to worry about. I"d run my fingers through her hair and she would be just running her hands up and down my sides. After a bit I simple turned off the music and popped on some Netflix I do really enjoy those planet earth doc.u.mentaries. we just watched TV til I pa.s.sed out.
My vampire clone was granted no such release as teacher apparently didn"t need sleep and had loved the fact that she can be even more brutal to her cute little student.
The muted light of yet another cloudy day eventually woke me. I lay with my arm across my eyes, groggy and dazed. Something, a dream trying to be remembered, struggled to break into my consciousness. I groaned and rolled on my side, hoping more sleep would come. And then the previous day flooded back into my awareness.
I then felt dainty little fingers running through my hair with a giggle. "You drool in your sleep you know that right?" "shhhhh that never happened." she looked nice and prim for someone who stayed the night I figure she snuck off home at some point to change clothes I myself could use a nice shower I handed her the remote kissed her forehead and told her put on whatever she wanted to watch and headed off to take my morning shower and brush my pearly whites. dipsy was making hashbrowns sausages and eggs for breakfast. delicious. after my morning shower and breakfast we basically sat around for a bit talking until she asked if I would like to meet her family which I responded with of course and grabbed a few gifts I had prepared. it always good to bring gifts to the inlaws and new family members. I had worked on it previously with Ca.s.sie and found the right item I needed it solved 1 problem I had a few more I could take care of later on. I was dressed in my nice blue over shirt with some baggy cargo pants with just looking okay.
We headed to my truck and I let her drive I had no idea where she lived anyway somewhere in a hidden road that leads to a forest Noone could ever find. We pa.s.sed over the bridge at the Calawah River, the road winding northward, the houses flashing past us growing farther apart, getting bigger. And then we were past the other houses altogether, driving through misty forest. I was trying to decide whether to ask or be patient, when she turned abruptly onto an unpaved road. It was unmarked, barely visible among the ferns. The forest encroached on both sides, leaving the road ahead only discernible for a few meters as it twisted, serpentlike, around the ancient trees.
And then, after a few miles, there was some thinning of the woods, and we were suddenly in a small meadow, or was it actually a lawn? The gloom of the forest didn"t relent, though, for there were six primordial cedars that shaded an entire acre with their vast sweep of branches. The trees held their protecting shadow right up to the walls of the house that rose among them, making obsolete the deep porch that wrapped around the first story.
I don"t know what I had expected, but it definitely wasn"t this. The house was timeless, graceful, and probably a hundred years old. It was painted a soft, faded white, three stories tall, rectangular and well proportioned. The windows and doors were either part of the original structure or a perfect restoration. My truck was the only car in sight. I could hear the river close by, hidden in the obscurity of the forest.
"Wow."
"You like it?" she smiled.
"It... has a certain charm."
She pulled my hand and giggled.
We walked up to the house together The inside was even more surprising, less predictable, than the exterior. It was very bright, very open, and very large. This must have originally been several rooms, but the walls had been removed from most of the first floor to create one wide s.p.a.ce. The back, south-facing wall had been entirely replaced with gla.s.s, and, beyond the shade of the cedars, the lawn stretched bare to the wide river. A ma.s.sive curving staircase dominated the west side of the room. The walls, the high-beamed ceiling, the wooden floors, and the thick carpets were all varying shades of white.
Waiting to greet us, standing just to the left of the door, on a raised portion of the floor by a spectacular grand piano, were Amanda"s parents. I"d seen Dr. Cullen before. At his side was Esme, I a.s.sumed, the only one of the family I"d never seen before. She had the same pale, beautiful features as the rest of them. Something about her heart-shaped face, her billows of soft, caramel-colored hair, reminded me of the ingénues of the silent-movie era. She was small, slender, yet less angular, more rounded than the others. They were both dressed casually, in light colors that matched the inside of the house. They smiled in welcome, but made no move to approach us. Trying not to frighten me, I guessed.
"Carlisle, Esme," Amanda"s voice broke the short silence, "this is Ryan."
"You"re very welcome, Ryan." Carlisle"s step was measured, careful as he approached me. He raised his hand tentatively, and I stepped forward to shake hands with him.