Second Chance at Forever | C. Cullen

014

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Nice Try

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-Abigail-

Abigail spent the rest of her morning and afternoon with the Cullens, finding herself more and more at ease as the day went on. She laughed and smiled freely, something she hadn't done in a long time, and then it was only with Jacob or Beth. But, startlingly enough, she found she was even more herself than she was with the other two. For some reason, it's like she belonged with them rather than anyplace else. It made her think of her dreams, of her suspicions about the "other her," as she had said to Edward. It felt like the other her knew them better than she did and it was rather frustrating and alarming, but she knew that she wouldn't be getting answers anytime soon. Because they were keeping a secret, and she didn't know what that secret might be, but she knew they would never tell her. At least not anytime soon.

When the afternoon turned into evening, she decided that it was time she stopped bothering them and go home. "It's getting late and I don't want to take up anymore of your time," she explained to Alice who looked incredibly sad that she was leaving, so sad that Abigail almost stayed put. As much as she would like, she knew she had things to think about, stuff to go over in her mind before she were to come back, and it was hard to do that when she was right there with them primarily because it would be them she thought about.

"You can come over after work tomorrow then?" Alice said, and Abigail hesitated as she tried to think of something she could say that would sound true and wouldn't hurt her feelings too bad. Truthfully, that was the last thing she wanted to do.

"I think Beth wanted me to meet her new boyfriend, but if that doesn't work out then I'll swing by." She smiled easily as she picked up her purse and shoved her clothes inside. "Plus, I have some clothes to return to you."

Alice waved a hand with a small huff. "Please, they're yours, keep them."

Abigail's eyes widened in surprise. "Alice... I can't do that. They're worth more than my house."

Alice's eyes narrowed on her, hands falling to her hips. "Keep them." There was no room for negotiation so Abigail sighed, blushed, and nodded.

"Thank you," she murmured. She finished shoving her stuff in her bag—ignoring the horror on Alice's face as the dress she had been wearing was put in there as well, but Abigail was confident she could steam out any wrinkles—and grabbed her car keys. "I'll call you if plans change. If not, the next day would be fine, yeah?"

Alice slowly nodded, her eyes glazing for a moment as if unfocused, but then she looked at Abigail with a bright smile. "That would be perfect!" she gushed. Abigail smiled and Alice led her down the stairs then to the great room where everyone had gathered once more.

The pixie was the first to hug her followed by Emmett and then Edward. She wasn't close enough to the others to earn a hug, but she did say a soft goodbye to them. Her eyes flashed for a moment towards Carlisle who actually looked a bit torn for a moment, as if debating with himself about something—about giving me a hug? she couldn't help but wonder, but quickly ignored—before smiling kindly and nodding.

"Goodbye, Abigail. I'll see you at work tomorrow?"

Abigail nodded in confirmation. "Of course," she said softly. She gave him a smile that felt different than the one she gave the others, so her cheeks heated and she quickly turned away to head outside before she embarrassed herself anymore.

The trip back into Forks was short and frankly, she couldn't help but sigh a little on relief as she got back to her own house. Except for finding Beth and Rick in coitus on the couch—which made her scream and cover her eyes and run upstairs—the rest of the night was uneventful and she found herself falling asleep early.