02 | earth, rosalie hale

18.

IT was Friday evening, the moon high in the sky already. The house was quiet, as Austin wasn't home. Elexia had gone upstairs to her bedroom to put Gaia to sleep for the night.

She slowly crept out of her room to not wake Gaia up, closing the door gently. Rosalie was waiting for her in the living room, draped over the couch. Her hair was spread out behind her, looking like a lion's mane. The low light of the room gave Rosalie a golden hue.

Rosalie's head lifted as Elexia joined her back in the room. A smile pulled up the corners of her lips. "Alone time at last," she said, patting the space next to her.

Elexia grinned like a little kid as she sat down next to her girlfriend. They shared a tender look; a look that said a thousand words while saying none at all.

"So, what's on the agenda tonight?" Rosalie asked, a glint in her eye.

Elexia chuckled at the look on her girlfriend's face. "Well, considering the two of us haven't been alone together in almost a week without at least one other person with us, we could just talk."

Rosalie's gaze softened at Elexia's words. "It has been stressful lately."

Elexia leaned comfortably against one of the giant pillows Amethyst bought for them on the couch, while Rosalie leaned on the other one. Rosalie's hand ended up in Elexia's grasp, the latter tracing patterns on the former's cold skin.

"I do love our family, Rose," Elexia started, her voice a whisper. "But I love having alone time, too."

Rosalie intertwined their fingers, ceasing Elexia's tracing. She had a smile on her face. "I do, too."

Elexia felt their love grow for each other more and more everyday, if that was even possible. Amethyst told Melody that vampires felt bonds more strongly than humans, but Elexia didn't understand how she could possibly love Rosalie stronger than she did now. When she eventually did turn, she imagined that it would be Earth-shattering.

Over the next couple of hours, Elexia and Rosalie did their best to seem normal after all that had happened this week, including the incident with Jacob. They talked about basic things, like how much Elexia despised school and how she still had no idea what she was going to go to college for, if she even would at all. They talked about the awkwardness of when they met and when their relationship was first blossoming.

"Remember when I met your family for the first time?" Elexia chuckled, playing with Rosalie's fingers. "I was so nervous."

Rosalie's laugh was a delightful sound. "Esme and Alice could barely contain their excitement that day."

Elexia laughed along with her, feeling nostalgic.

After a moment, Rosalie sobered up. "I really never thought I'd find someone like you. Someone who... completely fulfills me."

Elexia lifted her head slightly, as she was sitting lower than Rosalie. "And I never thought I'd fall in love and raise a baby with a vampire, but here we are."

She moved over, settling into the crook of Rosalie's arm.

"Eventually," Rosalie began, now her being the one to trace patterns on Elexia's arm, "Once you graduate, me and you should really go on a trip together. Just us two."

Elexia perked with excitement. "A trip? To where?"

Rosalie grinned, as if she had been thinking about it for a while. "Carlisle owns a couple of islands. One is named Isle Esme. He gave it to her as a gift. No one lives on them, they're just used by our family as vacation spots. Isle Esme is off the coast of Brazil. The second one, he hasn't named it, is off the coast of the Hawai'ian Islands. I know you've always wanted to go to Hawai'i."