━━ love and death. (2024)
edward cullen x fem!oc
chapter fifteen
I gawked at Edwards home like it was the first time I've ever seen a modernized house. Phoenix had plenty of them with large open windows overlooking the mountains but they were only owned by the richest of people there. I felt Edward reach over and squeeze my hand reassuringly as he parked his car in front of the house.
"Ready?" He asked softly.
Honestly? No. I felt like we were about to ask his parents for their blessing — it was easily a heavy overwhelming feeling but Edward expressed beforehand that they're all eager to meet me. Beau passed the test so I guess I could too.
He was at my side of the car in just under a second and opening the door before extending his hand out to me. I couldn't take my eyes off the beauty that was his home. I don't know what I originally expected but it certainly wasn't this.
I quickly fixed my hair by patting it down in hopes of controlling some of my curly frizz. I made sure I didn't over dress or under dress — all though Edward was wearing a button down light blue top with a pair of dark pants. I wore a long sleeved white turtle neck top with a soft creme vest over top, paired with blue jeans and my usual black converse.
I nervously looked at Edward to insist that I was ready to go in but he stopped me by grabbing my fingers carefully and flashing me a warm smile. "You're beautiful."
My brain shortcutted and I awkwardly laughed. "Thank you." I'm going to have to get used to his reassuring and overly romantic compliments at some point.
When we entered the house I audibly gasped while I looked around. "It's so — open. It's full of light — so beautiful."
"You seem shocked," he chuckled. "Expecting dungeons and moats?"
"Well — yeah." I laughed with him then carefully crossed my arms over my chest. "Like the kinds you see in cartoons — bats and cobwebs in every corner. Victorian candles hanging from the wall and an eerie sound every time you walk across the wooden floor."
Edward tried to hide his smile but it continued growing bigger as he rested his hand on my back. "Unfortunately for you, we have none of that. I'm sure you were looking forward to it."
"Hardly," I giggled.
He guided me past the foyer and the living room – which I quickly got a glance through and made a mental note. It looked like a set up from inside of a store — a display so customers could imagine what their home will look like. The future looked brand new and never touched, like hardly anybody ever sat down. There was a TV resting on top of a stand and a large piano in the corner. The walls were mounted with hundreds of books, all spinned and maybe a few picture frames separating them in between.
"I can't believe you guys have this much view of the world." I spoke while he began to guide me up a few stairs.
"Thanks to the tinted windows," he explained before turning around to face me. "It's the one place we never have to hide. We have plenty of privacy and full range to be ourselves — nobody around to bother us."
Suddenly we were interrupted by a ghastly sound of opera coming from upstairs and I watched as Edward rolled his eyes with a look of disappointment. "I told them not to do this."
We walked down the long narrow hallway and I could hear two people having a conversation over the loud music and clanging of knives. I was almost mortified at what I was about to witness.
"Do you think if I ask her how the Denver Broncos are doing she'll know?"
"Emmett, she's not even from Colorado."
"Her name is Aspen."
Edward and I rounded the corner and I was stuck to his side like glue, immediately dropping my arms from my chest to appear less nervous than I already was. The Cullens were surrounding the kitchen, happily preparing a hot meal just for me — I was shocked they were putting in so much effort and now I felt guilty for already eating beforehand.
"I dont think I'll ever get used to this — her brother's scent was already bad enough." Rosalie mumbled but was quickly shot down by a strong gaze coming from another woman that I assumed to be Esme, their mother.
She raised her head and beamed at me happily, quickly walking around the island to introduce herself to me. "Aspen! It's so good to finally meet you. Your brother said Italian was your favorite."
"Wow," I smiled gently at the woman, lifting my gaze to look at the tremendous about of work they were putting in to make sure I would eat.
Emmett was standing on the other side of the island chopping peppers, he stopped to wave around the knife in his head and smiled at me. Dr. Cullen turned away from the kitchen after washing his hands and came to join his wife at her side. "You've given us an excuse to use the kitchen for the first time."
The music suddenly stopped playing next thanks to Emmett and I immediately flushed at the obvious — vampires would have no reason to use the kitchen in their house.
Edward whispered to his parents just then. "She already ate."
A loud crash caused me to flint and I looked over at Rosalie as she frustratedly closed her eyes while facing the mess of what I assumed was once a glass bowl full of salad. "Perfect," she muttered.
"I'm really sorry," I quickly addressed. "I just know you guys don't — eat human food — so I was trying to be — "
"That's very considerate of you," Esme smiled reassuringly.
"Just ignore Rosalie, I do." Edward grumbles.
Rosalie firmly crossed her arms over her chest and Emmett was now at her side, shaking his head at the sacrificed bowl sprayed out on the ground. "Yes, let's keep pretending this isn't dangerous for all of us. How many more humans are we going to allow into our lives before it kills us all?"
I shifted awkwardly on my feet but nodded in understanding as I met her fierce gaze. "I swear — I would never tell anybody. Beau keeps to himself mostly — we would never — "
"She knows that," Dr. Cullen reassured me.
Emmett rested his arm over Rosalie's shoulder and started to chuckle. "The problem is, you two have gone public now — no doubt Edythe and your brother are macking downtown — "
"Emmett," Esme shot him a warning with a small shake of his head.
Rosalie rolled her eyes but didn't drop her heavy gaze from me. Edward told me she was interested in me — but clearly there was an outer layer I might have trouble picking at if we're going to ever get along.
"No," she raised an eyebrow in my direction. "She should know. The entire family will be implicated if this ends badly. It's hard enough having to handle one human but now we have two — "
"Rosalie, enough." Edward finally spoke out but his words felt like venom and his hand never left my back to show me comfort.
My eyes dropped to the floor before I shifted my gaze up at him, furrowing my eyebrows and hoping he could somehow read that I didn't want this first visit to go so poorly.
"Fine, but she's your responsibility." Rosalie snaps before turning back to the kitchen. Emmett smiled sheepishly then shrugged his shoulders to follow after her.
"Hi Aspen!"
I looked to the left of me and watched as the smaller Cullen, Alice, jumped down from a tree branch and onto the balcony with her hands holding onto a small bouquet of flowers. Jasper followed after her quietly, purposely keeping his distance but remaining close to Alice's side.
I didn't expect her to come up and hug me so tightly, my eyes nearly popping out of my skull from her unique vampire strength. "I'm Alice — Oh!" She exclaimed while pulling away. "You do smell good."
"Uhm — thanks," I nervously laughed just as Edward sighed heavily in disappointment. "Alice, what are you saying?"
"It's okay, Aspen and I will be great friends, I'm sure of it." I watched her back away to Jasper and linked her arm with his before putting her other hand on his chest. "This is Jasper."
"Jasper is one of our newest family member, he's still adjusting to our lifestyle." Carlisle explained.
Alice looked up at Jasper and smiled. "It's alright Jasper — you won't hurt her."
I made eye contact with Jasper silently, his eyes a dark shade of black just like Edwards when we first shared a desk in class. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he forced a smile.
Edward takes my hand in his, giving it a slight squeeze before excusing us from the group. "Yeah — I'm going to give her a tour of the rest of the house."
I waved sheepishly to the family as Edward practically dragged me away. Maybe he was more embarrassed than I felt — I'm sure he intended this first greeting to go way differently than he hoped.
We walked down a different set of stairs at the other end of the house and I nearly snickered at the painfully obvious display of graduation caps. I raised my eyebrow and pointed a finger at the intriguing display.
Edward laughed, "A private joke. We matriculate a lot."
"That has to suck," I sigh heavily for him. "Repeating high school constantly? I would've given up already."
Edward nodded in agreement. "True, but the younger we start out in a new place, the longer we can stay here." He then stepped in front of me and lowered his face impossibly closer to mine with a mischief grin. "Then again, I only become smarter and I know everything, don't I?"
I had no doubt my face turned a bright shade of pink as I arched my eyebrow at him and mocked a laugh. "Ha ha."
He led me towards a bedroom that was slightly cluttered with stacks of books and music tapes. I noticed he had a crate full of vinyls and bookcases that touched the ceiling of his bedroom. The only thing he didn't have was a bed.
"This is my room," he pointed out the obvious.
I walked further into his bedroom with a smile creeping up on my lips. I took a small spin to get a full look at his room but began to laugh. "You really love your music huh? But I see no bed."
He stuffed his hands into his pockets and shook his head. "No sleep."
"Huh," I pursed my lips curiously. "Don't your days start to feel excessively long?"
"Not really. You start to get used to it — give it a few decades."
"Your vampire jokes are awful by the way," I laughed gently as I stared at his large collection of books. He came up beside me and I could feel his breathing on my neck. "You've never complained about it before."
I smiled with a small shake of my head and watched as he reached up to grab a book off his book shelf. I lifted my chin to get a look at the cover, I could've guessed he owned a copy of Romeo and Juliet – he was the most dramatic person I've ever met.
"This doesn't surprise me," I laughed softly and took the book from his grasp. "Let's see which page you've read the most." You could usually tell by how worn out the pages would be from constantly thumbing through them, marking paragraphs, or simply folding the paper down.
He didn't say anything as I reached the part where they both ended up killing themselves to be with one another for eternity. I raised my eyebrows at the dark message then closed the book and glanced up at him. "You really have a thing for the dark ages, don't you?"
He grinned down at me then shrugged his shoulders like a bashful little puppy. It was sort of cute. An idea suddenly flickered in my mind and I turned to him while jabbing my finger into his chest. "I still have a bone to pick with you."
Edward laughed. "Okay, about what?"
"You tried so hard to make me sound like I was crazy the day of the accident." I narrowed my eyes at him, a glimpse of worry spreading across his face when he realized I was still upset about it. "You were so mad at me the next few days — "
"Mad at you?" He shook his head and gave me a gentle smile. "I was more mad at Tyler — he almost crushed you. You would've died before I even had the chance to get to know you."
I crossed my arms over my chest and grumbled at him. "You can't just act all romantic like you can't live without me and think you can get away with it."
"I'm sorry," he apologized with his hand over his chest. "I'll go back in time and be sure I tell you I am a vengeful monster and by the way you hit your head you should probably see a doctor."
I wanted to smack him for his sarcasm but still laughed nevertheless. "You're ridiculous." I started to walk away and headed outside on the balcony next to his room.
"No I'm not."
I turned around just as he leaned his shoulder against the door frame. I raised my eyebrow curiously as his face remained completely stiff while he spoke. "If something were to happen to you — I would go out of my mind, more than I already am. There's no way I can lose you now." I inhaled sharply then clamped my mouth shut with my arms pressing firmly against my chest. I didn't know if I believed him but he spoke with strong confidence and there was no trace of teasing lingering on his face.
Before I could speak, he asked, "am I allowed to call you my partner? Girlfriend? Mate?"
I narrowed my eyes at him slowly, the corner of my lips tugging upwards. "No."
"I could always make you," he spoke in a suggested tone but I still kept my stance and shook my head slowly. "You don't scare me Edward, we've already been over this. You're nothing but spider-man to me, it's sort of cute actually."
I watched his eyes darken and he reached up to wipe his jaw with the palm of his hand with a low chuckle. "You really shouldn't have said that." He pushed himself off the door frame and started stalking towards me like an animal.
I took a single step backwards and pointed my finger at him. "Don't you dare."
In a matter of seconds I was in the air on Edwards back, a short squeal leaving my lips as he jumped from his balcony and onto a tree. He started laughing at me heartedly and I couldn't help but laugh with him — it was infectious.
"Better hold on tight spider-monkey."
I laughed again at his ridiculous nickname before letting out another squeal as he raced up the tree like an animal. I cling tight to him with my arms around his neck and my ankles crossed against his stomach.
He glanced over his shoulder at me. "Do you trust me?"
I raised my eyebrows nervously and subconsciously gripped the front of his shirt. "And if I say no?"
He grinned wildly. "Hold on."
I didn't have a second to react or prepare myself as he leaped us in the air to the next tree before he did it again and again. When he was finally content with our location, I imagined, he crawled up the tree we were currently on until we were all the way at the top.
I gasped in shock, the air almost getting caught in my throat when we got a good birds-eye-view on top of the tree. He helped me down from his back but was careful enough to hold my waist so I wouldn't fall. I had my back against the tree and he stood in front of me, helping me guide myself down so we could sit on the branch together.
I didn't have a fear of heights but this alone might have me pass out. But Edward was tentative enough to make sure I was comfortable and my body was secured with his arms so I wouldn't accidentally lean too far or too close.
I didn't even realize we were practically skin to skin contact — I've never been this close to anybody in years but right now it was the last thing on my mind. All I could focus on was the view, the mountains, and Edward.