𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙑𝙀𝙉𝙇𝙔 𝘽𝙊𝘿𝙔 | 𝙅. 𝙃𝘼𝙇𝙀

16| The Cullens Left Town

"Happy birthday!" Orion yells as he gets inside Bella's truck. He can already see the look of despair on the girl's face, but that doesn't stop him from pulling her into a side hug.

She accepts it awkwardly with a small smile. "Thank you," she mumbles, glancing over at Orion to see something peeking out from the side of his pockets. "What's that?"

He dramatically reaches into his pocket, slowly bringing it forward to show it. Bella watches with amusement. Once they come face-to-face with it, Bella sees it's a small box.

Orion notices the confusion and curiosity on her face. He opens the box to reveal a set of matching heart locket necklaces. One gold and the other silver-perfect for them. "It's just a little gift I found while working at the shop."

It takes a moment for Bella to say anything, her eyes glued to the necklaces. She snaps out of it as she picks up the silver one, automatically knowing that was the one intended for her. "This is beautiful, Rye." She says genuinely.

Orion doesn't respond, acknowledging her words with a simple smile and watching as she moves her hair away and puts the necklace on.

She pushes the box with the gold necklace back toward Orion. "Put yours on so we can take a picture." She tells him, bringing out a pale pink camera that was most definitely a gift.

"I didn't know you had a camera," he tells her as he reaches his hands behind his neck to clasp the chain of the necklace together.

"It was a gift from Charlie and my mom; she said I should make a scrapbook of memories." She informs, wrinkling her nose.

He hums, letting go of the chain and letting the heart locket rest against his own beating heart. He scoots closer to the swan girl, resting on her shoulder as she extends her arm to get an angle for the picture. The flash goes off, and Bella brings the camera back down between the two so they can both observe it.

They can't help but giggle once they see the picture. Their eyes were squinted because of the flash, leaving them looking as if they had just woken up from a deep sleep.

As their laughter dies down, a smile still lingers in their mouths. "To senior year," Orion says.

Bella repeats it as she starts the car and drives away toward school.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⋆☽◯☾⋆⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

The school day had passed by quicker than Rye expected. The day was filled with Alice constantly trying to bring up the birthday of the Swan girl while Bella just looked miserable. It was funny, to say the least.

He was right about Alice throwing a party, or rather, a get-together for Bella's birthday. That's why he's home now, changing into semi-formal attire; it was just going to be them after all.

He wasn't the only one getting ready for a special occasion; his mother was putting on her 'going out' outfit, and coincidentally, based on the information he had gotten from Bella, so was Charlie.

His mother didn't deny the fact that she was going out with Charlie; actually, it was a conversation that was seriously spoken about. Lucia wanted to make sure that Orion didn't feel like she was trying to replace his father at all.