Since Bella had chosen such a close wedding date from when they had gotten engaged, everyone was busy planning. Or rather, Alice was busy planning and that made everyone else busy.
I would have happily stayed out of the whole affair, but Alice told me that I had to be in the wedding. Edward was only having his brothers as groomsmen, so obviously Bella chose Alice and Rosalie to be her bridesmaids. I didn't know how I fit into the wedding, but Alice was persistent.
Apparently I was going to take the pictures, but instead of letting me just show up and take them at the time of the wedding, Alice made me come and use her camera, try out different angles, different lightings, etc. etc.
Probably the most annoying thing about being dragged to the Cullens, was the fact that absolutely everyone complained about the way I smelled.
Tuesday morning:
"Liana, I mean this in the nicest possible way, but you smell terrible." Esme grimaced softly
Tuesday evening:
"I can't hug you until you shower." Jacob said, clenching his jaw.
Friday afternoon:
"The wet dog smell is overpowering." Rosalie coughed.
Saturday morning:
"Who fell into a perfume shop and rolled around? It hurts my nose." Embry complained loudly
Wednesday:
"Uggh! Oh, sorry." Emmet quickly apologized.
Wednesday evening:
"You-"
"Stink! I know! I'm going to shower." I huffed and marched by Jacob before he could finish his sentence. It getting ridiculous. Every time one or the other commented about the smell.
Jacob followed after me for a couple steps. "No, you don't. But I can smell leech and it isn't appealing. I'm sorry if I mention it to much."
I just shook my head and took a shower.
The one thing that I didn't mind about the whole debacle, was that I actually became friends with Rosalie.
She wasn't cold towards Bella, but she wasn't friendly to her either. Because we both had about the same attitude about the wedding, we got along quite well. But our increasing friendship wasn't enough to make me want to go over to the Cullens house. They as a whole still made me uncomfortable.
Dad thought Alice was absolutely wonderful and did about anything she asked. He wouldn't admit it but I could tell that he liked the excitement.
The most amusing thing about the wedding planning was that for all my reluctance to have anything to do with the wedding, I seemed to be enjoying the process more than Bella. I didn't mind the idea of what was going on, it was just the fact that it was my sister that was going to marry a really old, sort of dead guy and become like him. That kind of put a damper on my excitement.
Something I found a little sad was that Bella didn't want to invite any of her old friends from Arizona or any of our relatives. Mom was an only child, but Dad had an older sister with two kids, Colton and Cara. Colton was about nine years older than me and Cara who had a different dad, was about five years older. I hadn't seen them in about two years, but I sometimes kept up with Cara.
When we younger Colton was like the cool older brother I had never had. Now, Sam sort of filled that spot. Colton went and joined the military a few years back, which was the biggest reason I hadn't seen him. Cara and her mom, Aunt Lorrie, visited us a while back, but since they live in Minnesota it's difficult to see each other often.
The beginning of August arrived almost to soon. Alice finally told me that I didn't need to come anymore until the day or so before the wedding.
After that, the days leading up to the wedding were slower for me.
Mom showed up two days before the wedding, and she stayed in our guest room downstairs. It was very strange, having her in Forks. She hadn't ever visited me since I had moved in with Dad. But, of course, she only had time for everything Bella.
I picked out the dress that I was going to wear and helped Jacob pick out his clothes. He was coming, both as my plus one, and as a bodyguard as Edward and Carlisle had informed us that they were having some bloodsucking relatives come down for the wedding. Of course they promised to not hurt anyone, but the pack didn't trust them.
The pack wasn't friends with the Cullens, but they weren't outright enemies either. They were tentative allies instead. But they didn't trust any other vamps for one second.
During the last two weeks of August, Jacob and I hung out a lot and went on a few actual dates. I was getting quieter as the wedding approached, and so Jacob did his best to cheer me up.
He did so one day by swinging by my house with his motorcycle, dressed in a tank top, shorts, runners, and a big grin. We drove off, and I rested my forehead on Jacob's back and sighed happily. This is what life should be like.
Not long later Jacob pulled up at a playground park area. He helped me off the bike as my foot was almost healed, but not quite. I didn't need crutches anymore, but I still limped. Fortunately my dizziness had gone completely away, but sometimes bright light bothered me.
I laughed in confusion. "What're we doing here?"
Jacob grinned like an excited puppy. "We are going to play on the playground. It'll be fun."
He ran to the empty playground and started doing chin-ups on the monkey bars. I rolled my eyes at him and walk over and carefully climbed the ladder to the slide and slid down.
He was right. It was fun. Fun to goof off with not a care in the world. And so we played like the overgrown children we were. My shrieks of laughter and Jacob's deeper chuckles filled the air.
We did everything, the monkey bars, the slides the mini climbing wall, the spiderweb thing, the merry go round. At one point Jacob spun me so hard that when I stopped I fell over and couldn't stop laughing. As we stumbled around we ended up on the swings and swung for a while. Or we would have if a grumpy old lady hadn't come and scolded us for being there.
I had just sat down one the swings and closed my eyes when the sound of footsteps approaching made me open them again.
"I'm going to have to ask you people to leave." Said a tight lipped lady. Jacob and I stared at her in surprise.
Jacob frowned. "I thought this was a public playground and park?"
The lady's frown deepened. "My grandkids want to play here and you two are disrupting that. This playground is for children not adults."
I sighed. "Okay, don't worry, we'll go. We were about done anyway."
The lady looked at me in what I would almost call concern, but it disappeared. "Good. And remember next time that this is for kids."
We were at Jacob's motorcycle when he chuckled.
"What?" I asked.
Jacob helped me onto the bike and, after glancing over his shoulder, he kissed me. He smirked and pulled away, getting on the bike in front of me. "That lady was muttering under her breath. She figures that I'm one of the gang members and have corrupted a poor innocent girl. She thinks I'm old too." He chuckled again and I joined him. It really was funny what people thought by just making assumptions based on looks.
It was rather amusing to me when later that day, when Dad got home from work he told me some of the concerns that some invested older ladies had.
"Hey, Ana, you want to know something?" Dad called.
I looked up and watched and he appeared up the stairs. "Yeah, sure. What?"
Dad snorted. "Well, I've had some people come to me over the past few months expressing some concern. They feel like you are being let astray. But I had a particularly distressed woman come and give a report today. She claimed that my daughter, with her fading green hair, was terrorizing a playground with a thirty year old native man, whom she made mention about being in a gang. Some sort of cultic tattoo or something. She also seemed to think it her duty to say that she thought you were trapped in a relationship and couldn't leave. Any thoughts or comments on that?"
I shook my head in disbelief. "People are that concerned about my life? That's ridiculous. But I will clarify, Jacob and I were only playing in the playground when no one else was there. We were just on the swings when that lady showed up and made us leave."
"That's what I figured." Dad chuckled.
The rumours that spread in small town were incredible. It didn't help that my dad knew basically everyone, which meant that everyone knew who I was by default. I decided to ignore it, but once or twice Jacob and I made a point of walking together in public just to stir the bubbling pot again.
Before I knew it, it was August twelfth. The last day that Bella would be a Swan.
I was laying in bed and trying to relax, which wasn't working, when there was a knock on my door.
"Yeah?" I called.
To my surprise, Bella popped her head in. I sat up in bed. She shuffled forward a step.
I opened my mouth, but she cut me off. "No, wait... I want to say something."
I waited as she thought for a moment.
"Okay. This is odd, but I guess I'm sorry. I didn't really realize how much you cared that I was coming to stay. And I should have treated you better, I'll admit that. I don't want the last time we speak to be still mad at each other." Bella shrugged nervously.
I stared at her in shock. "Did Dad put you up to this?"
"He asked me to talk to you. But I meant what I said. I am a little sorry about how things turned out. Not with Edward, but with you and Dad." Bella admitted.
I was amazed at the words passing Bella's lips. This entire time she had shown no remorse at all when it came to Dad and I. "You're kidding. You only now realize that?"
Bella sighed. "I'm not here to argue again. I'm sorry and that's it. But it doesn't change my decision."
I flopped face first onto my bed and groaned a laugh. "Fine, I accept that you feel a bit of remorse about how Dad and I have felt for the past year and a half. I won't argue about tomorrow. But tell me, just out of curiosity, what does it feel like when you kiss Edward? I would thinks it's like kissing and ice block." I rolled over and smirked at Bella.
The expression on her face flickered and twisted until it settled on a grimace. "Sometimes yes." She said very hesitantly.
I bit back a laugh. "Right. Very romantic then." My laughter spilled over and I snorted.
Bella grabbed a pillow off my bed and smacked me with it. "Stop it! You probably get your mouth burned when you kiss Jacob!"
I threw a pillow back at her. "Nope. Clearly I have the superior boyfriend."
Bella threw the pillow back. "Uh, no."
"Uh, yeah." I shot back. "Yours likes classical music. That is a red flag right there. How old is he again? Oh yeah, two hundred."
Bella rolled her eyes. "No, he's seventeen. Or one hundred and five."
I mock gagged. "Ick. I'm only two days older than Jacob. And he likes rock or country music."
Bella snorted. "Well, I'll spend forever with mine."
I bit back my initial reaction to that comment and instead retaliated lightly, trying to keep the banter going. "Mine is fluffy and warm. I think we already established that you are a rock hugger."
Bella threw a pillow at me again. "Whatever." She turned to go and I leaped off the bed.
"Bella, one last thing. Do you ever wish that Edward was human?" I blurted out.
Bella froze. After a long while she whispered. "I don't know. If he was I wouldn't have met him."
"But if he was your age and human right now, would you want that?" I continued on, much to my own surprise. I didn't exactly know what I hoped to accomplish by going down this path.
"Yes, and no. I love him." She turned away.
I stopped her again. "Bella, I hope you are happy. Whatever happens. So, goodbye."
She nodded and left, the door swinging closed behind her.