"Glimpses of Moonlight" #2
After her parent's sudden death led her to live with her uncle Charlie in Forks, Katie Swan has been thrown into the thick of it.
While Katie has become best friends with her cousin Bella, she is not too happy with Bella'...
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KATIE'S POV May 9th
When we arrived to Jacksonville, Renee did her best to be welcoming towards me. She included me in conversation, asking me all about myself. She gave me a graduation gift (a new pair of running shoes, as suggested by Bella over the phone) even though the trip was last minute. She even showed me old photographs of Bella and Charlie. But I could tell I didn't quite fit in.
Renee wanted to spend time with her daughter, who was going off to college soon. She thought that they would maybe lose touch when Bella went away, but I knew the truth. And I knew, despite Bella's resolutions toward her future, she needed this time with her mom. For closure, at least. So I excused myself from their conversations to make things less awkward.
I spent my time reading and drawing, feeling the loneliness creep in like a dark cloud. I missed Jacob. I thought about him when I went for runs, stopping occasionally to tip my face toward the warm sunlight. I tried calling him, but Billy said Jake was out and I didn't know the right phone number to leave him.
What was worse was the sting of jealousy as I watched Bella open up to her mother, all smiles and hugs. Renee was extraordinarily lovable and eccentric, but it was my own mother I thought about. Would she have quilted me a blanket for graduation or bought me running shoes? No, but she would have annotated a cookbook for me or given me a journal from her college days. She would have planned a vacation with Dad, no doubt, because it was the senior rite of passage. I bet she even would have let me pick the destination. I tried to clear the thought from my head.
But being around Bella made me remember just how much I've been hiding from her as of late. A couple of months ago I would have told her about everything. I would have told her about how Jake's secret-keeping, however involuntary, is hurting me. How my parents left a gaping hole in my life that graduation is making wider. How, even though I promised I wouldn't make her go dress shopping with me, my heart stubbornly cares for her opinion on what I wear to prom.
I'm sitting cross-legged on the soft, worn sofa, blankly staring at my sketchbook, when Bella comes back inside. "That's turning out really well," she points awkwardly, leaning over my shoulder. "Looks just like the Blacks' house."
I lean back, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand. "I can't get their driveway correct," I groan, blinking rapidly to clear my bleariness. "I want to get it just right so I can give it to Billy."
She squints at the picture, her finger tracing the ramp at their doorway. "I think the ramp is too long. It makes everything else look shorter."
It might seem critical to others, but I understand exactly what she means. She's seen their house almost as much as I have. "I think you're right. Thanks," I reply sincerely, but don't move to pick up my pencil.
Bella flushes slightly, sitting on the next cushion over. Light streams in the windows, illuminating her brunette hair with a soft glow. Ironically, she looks like an angel. She feels like one, too— just out of reach.
