*by Stephenie Meyer*



TWILIGHT - chapter 15 - THE CULLENS


The muted light of yet another cloudy hari 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 moaned and rolled on my side, hoping lebih sleep would come. And then the sebelumnya hari flooded back into my awareness.
"Oh!" I sat up so fast it made my head spin.
"Your hair looks like a haystack... but I like it." His unruffled voice came from the rocking chair in the corner.
"Edward! anda stayed!" I rejoiced and thoughtlessly threw myself across the room and into his lap. In the instant that my thoughts caught up with my actions, I froze, shocked oleh my own uncontrolled enthusiasm. I stared up at him, afraid that I had crossed the wrong line.
But he laughed.
"Of course," he answered, startled, but seeming pleased oleh my reaction. His hands rubbed my back.
I laid my head cautiously against his shoulder, breathing in the smell of his skin.
"I was sure it was a dream."
"You're not that creative," he scoffed.
"Charlie!" I remembered, thoughtlessly jumping up again and heading to the door.
"He left an jam yang lalu - after reattaching your battery cables, I night add. I have to admit I was disappointed. Is that really all it would take to stop you, if anda were determined to go?"
I deliberated where I stood, wanting to return to him badly, but afraid I might have morning breath.
"You're not usually this confused in the morning," he noted. He held his arms open for me to return. A nearly irresistable invitation.
"I need another human minute," I admitted.
"I'll wait."
I skipped to the bathroom, my emotions unrecognizable. I didn't know myself, inside atau out. The face in the mirror was practically a stranger - eyes too bright, hectic spots of red across my cheekbones. After I brushed my teeth, I worked to straighten out the tangled chaos that was my hair. I splashed my face with cold water, and tried to breath normally, with no noticeable success. I half-ran back to my room.
It seemed like a miracle that he was there, his arms still waiting for me. He reached out to me, and my jantung thumped unsteadily.
"Welcome back," he murmured, taking my into his arms.
He rocked me for a while in silence, until I noticed that his clothes were changed, his hair smooth.
"You left?" I accused, touching the kerah of his fresh shirt.
"I could hardly leave in the clothes I came in - what would the neighbors think?"
I pouted.
"You were very deeply asleep; I didn't miss anything." His eyes gleamed. "The talking came earlier."
I groaed. "What did anda hear?"
His golden eyes grew very soft. "You berkata anda loved me."
"You knew that already," I reminded him, ducking my head.
"It was nice to hear, just the same."
I hid my face against his shoulder.
"I cinta you," I whispered.
"You are my life now," he answered simply.
There was nothing lebih to say for the moment. He rocked us back and forth as the room grew lighter.
"Breakfast time," he berkata eventually, casually - to prove, I'm sure, that he remembered all my human frailties.
So I clutched my throat with both hands and stared at him with wide eyes. Shock crossed his face.
"Kidding!" I snickered. "And anda berkata I couldn't act."
He frowned in disgust. "That wasn't funny."
"It was very funny, and anda know it." But I examined his golden eyes carefully, to make sure that I was forgiven. Apparently, I was.
"Shall I rephrase?" he asked. "Breakfast time for the human."
"Oh, okay."
He threw me over his stone shoulder, gently, but with a swiftness that left me breathless. I protested as he carried me easily down the stairs, but he ignored me. He sat me right side up on a chair.
The dapur was bright, happy, seeming to absorb my mood.
"What's for breakfast?" I asked pleasantly.
That threw him for a minute.
"Er, I'm not sure. What would anda like?" His marble brow puckered.
I grinned, hopping up
"That's right, I fend for myself pretty well. Watch me hunt."
I found a bowl and a box of cereal. I could feel his eyes on me as I poured the susu and grabbed a spoon. I sat my food on the table, and then paused.
"Can I get anda anything?" I asked, not wanting to be rude.
He rolled his eyes. "Just eat, Bella."
I sat at the table, watching him as I took a bite. He was gazing at me, studying my every movement. It made me self-conscious. I cleared my throat to speak, to distract him.
"What's on the agenda for today?" I asked.
"Hmmm..." I watched him frame his answer carefully. "What would anda say to meeting my family?"
I gulped.
"Are anda afraid now?" He sounded hopeful.
"Yes," I admitted; how could I deny it - he could see my eyes.
"Don't worry." He smirked. "I'll protect you."
"I'm not afraid of them," I explained. "I'm afraid they won't... like me. Won't they be, well, surprised that anda would bring someone... like me... halaman awal to meet them? So they know that I know about them?"
"Oh, they already know everything. They'd taken bets yesterday, anda know" - he smiled, but his voice was harsh - "on whether I'd bring anda back, though why anyone would bet against Alice, I can't imagine. At any rate, we don't have secrets in the family. It's not really feasible, what with my mind membaca and Alice seeing the future and all that."
"And Jasper making anda feel all warm and fuzzy about spilling your guts, don't forget that."
"You paid attention," he smiled approvingly.
"I've been known to do that every now and then," I grimaced. "So did Alice see me coming?"
His reaction was strange. "Something like that," he berkata uncomfortably, turning away so I couldn't see his eyes. I stared at him curiously.
"Is that any good?" he asked, turning back to me abruptly and eyeing my breakfast with a teasing look on his face. "Honestly, it doesn'y look very appetizing."
"Well, it's no irritable grizzly...," I murmured, ignoring him when he glowered. I was still wondering why he responded that way when I mentioned Alice. I hurried through my cereal, speculating.
He stood in the middle of the kitchen, the statue of Adonis again, staring abstractedly out the back windows.
Then his eyes were back on me, and he smiled his heartbreaking smile.
"And anda should introduce me to anda father, too, I think."
"He already knows you," I reminded him.
"As your boyfriend, I mean."
I stared at him with suspicion. "Why?"
"Isn't that customary?" he asked innocently.
"I don't know," I admitted. My dating history gave me a few reference points to work with. Not that any normal rules of dating applied here. "That's not necessary, anda know. I don't expect anda to... I mean, anda don't have to pretend for me."
His smile was impatient. "I'm not preending."
I pushed the remains of my cereal around the edges of the bowl, biting my lip.
"Are anda going to tell Charlie I'm your boyfriend atau not?" he demanded.
"Is that what anda are?" I supposed my internal cringing at the thought of Edward and Charlie and the word boyfriend all in the same room at the same time.
"It's a loose interpretation on the word 'boy', I'll admit."
"I was under the impression that anda were something more, actually," I confessed, looking at the table.
"Well, I don't know if we need to give him all the gory details." H reached across the meja to lift my chin with a cold, gentle finger. "But he will need some explanation for why I'm around here so much. I don't want Chief angsa, swan getting a restraining order put on me."
"Will anda be?" I asked, suddenly anxious. "Will anda really be here?"
"As long as anda want me," he assured me.
"I'll always want you," I warned him. "Forever."
He walked slowly around the table, and, pausing a few feet away, he reached out to touch his fingertips to my cheek. His expression was unfathomable.
"Does that make anda sad?" I asked.
He didn't answer. He stared into my eyes for an immeasurable period of time.
"Are anda finished?" he finally asked.
I jumped up. "Yes."
"Get dressed - I'll wait here."