I WAS SENT THE LINK AND IM AM SOOOO INLOVE WITH IT. TAKE THE TIME AND READ THIS SMALL BUT EXCITING PART OF THE STORY. I KNOW YOU WILL LOVE IT!
WRITEEN BY @KivaJohnsAdkins FROM TWITTER SHE IS A GREAT WRITER!!!
I took several deep breaths in an effort to calm myself. I patted her hand and looked directly into her eyes. “This is a party,” I reminded her, “Try to be a good sport.”
“Sure,” she muttered. I knew she would do it for everyone else, if not for me.
I got out of the truck and moved to her side, opened her door and offered her my hand.
“I have a question.”
I waited silently and with trepidation for her query.
“If I develop this film,” she asked as she moved the camera from hand to hand, “will you show up in the picture?”
So many myths. So little time to debunk them all. I just laughed as I helped her out of the truck and pulled her up the steps towards the front door.
The moment I opened the door for her and she stepped across the threshold into the huge, white living room the entire family greeted with a chorus of “Happy Birthday, Bella!”
Bella blushed and looked down but didn’t complain. Alice had done a beautiful job making the room seem celebratory and beautiful. There were pink candles and dozens of crystal bowls filled with pink roses that filled the room. The scent of the roses was calming in itself. Next to my piano, Alice had covered a table with a white linen table cloth and set up a pink birthday cake, more roses, a stack of glass plates and a small pile of silver-wrapped boxes. Just because I promised not to spend money on her birthday didn’t mean the rest of the family had followed that request.
I knew this was exactly what Bella didn’t want, but she was doing as I asked and being a good sport about it. I wrapped my arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head.
Carlisle and Esme were closest to us and were the first to welcome Bella. Esme walked over to Bella and gave her a gentle hug before kissing her forehead. Bella’s mother wasn’t able to make it to Forks from Florida for her birthday since she had just been up after her accident. In so many ways Esme was a mother figure to Bella, as she was to us all.
Carlisle then put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a careful squeeze, whispering loudly, so we all could hear it, “Sorry about this, Bella. We couldn’t rein Alice in.” The truth was no one wanted to. They were all just as excited about this party as my sister was.
Rosalie and Emmett stood behind my parents. Emmett had a huge grin on his face. He questioned my obsession with Bella in the beginning, but had loved her almost immediately. His wide grin almost made up for the fact that Rosalie refused to smile. I had to give her some level of credit though, she wasn’t glaring.
Emmett patted Bella on the back, shaking her slightly. As careful as he tried to be, he was still a bear of a guy. “You haven’t changed at all,” he cracked. “I expected a perceptible difference, but here you are, red-faced, just like always.”
“Thanks a lot, Emmett,” she said, blushing even deeper. That was Emmett’s gift to me. There were so many things I loved about Bella, but I always liked to see the pink color in her cheeks when she blushed, which was often.
He laughed at her embarrassment. “I have to step out for a minute,” he said, winking at Alice. We all knew what he was up to, but Bella was clueless and curious. “Don’t do anything funny while I’m gone.”
Alice skipped over towards Bella, her perfect white teeth sparkling in the bright light of the room. Jasper smiled as well, but remained at the foot of the stairs. When he went with Alice and Bella to Phoenix he had been very close to Bella, yet never posed a danger to her. It was a job he had – to protect her and he took it seriously. Since we all had returned to Forks he kept his distance, as a precaution more than an aversion as was the case with Rosalie.
There was a long time in Jasper’s life as a vampire that he hunted humans and he had more difficulty with our diet than the rest of us did.
“Time to open presents,” Alice declared, gently leading Bella by the elbow to the cake table.
Bella protested slightly, but played along. “Alice, I know I told you I didn’t want anything–”.
Alice crossed her arms across her chest and smiled smugly. “But I didn’t listen.” She then took the camera from Bella’s hands and replaced it with a big, square box.
Bella reacted to the gift as though it should have been heavy and was surprised by its lightness. A look of confusion crossed her face and she read the card on top. “From Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper.”
She hesitantly tore the paper and stared at the box it concealed. She had no idea what it was -- only that it was empty.
“Um…thanks,” she said.
I noticed that Rosalie cracked a smile. She couldn’t help herself. Jasper laughed and explained it to Bella. “It is a stereo for your truck. Emmett is installing it right now so that you can’t return it.”
I had to smile as well. Alice knew enough to know that Bella would go to that effort if given the opportunity. I was also pleased that the gift surprised her, even after my hints at it with the complaints about her sound system earlier in the afternoon.
“Thanks, Japer, Rosalie,” Bella smiled. Then she yelled out towards the front of the house. “Thanks, Emmett!”
We could all hear Emmett laugh all the way from the truck and it was a nice break in the mood Bella had arrived in.
“Open mine and Edward’s next,” Alice said with so much excitement she practically squealed. She held out the small, flat, square box that Bella had refused this morning at school.
Bella turned to me with a disapproving glare. “You promised.”
Just then Emmett bounded through the front door, pushing in behind Jasper who had moved in close enough to see the gift. “Just in time!”
I brushed a strand of hair from Bella’s face and smiled. “I didn’t spend a dime.”
Bella took a deep breath and reached for the gift. “Give it to me,” she sighed.
Emmett let out a chuckle. I knew they all were living out their own birthdays through this one.
Bella rolled her eyes at me, convinced I had broken my promise to her, which I had not.
She slipped her finger under the edge of the paper to tear the tape and muttered, “Shoot.”
That was the moment when the glorious evening took a dangerous and emotional turn.
I knew instantly what had happened. She had cut her finger on the paper. I just smelled her blood and I knew the others could as well. I sensed Jasper as he quickly changed into the hunter. Suddenly, Bella was the hunted.
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