Shooting the moon - Edward Cullen

chapter 8

My day started in a flurry of cleaning, the vacuum came out and furniture polish coated any surface that could shine. Mum hated guests coming into our house when it's not clean, so I figured since our guest would be Edward, who being a vampire has a very sensitive sense of smell, it was extra important to erase all dirt.

So here I was a sweaty mess after running around like a headless chicken, with marigold, yellow, rubber gloves on my hands.

He had better appreciate this.

By the time I was almost done the house smelt funky fresh with a twist of lemon. I had even braved Ash's room to clean. The bags from yesterdays visit were scattered across the floor and her many wardrobes were visibly bulging.

After we had gotten in last night we only had fifteen minutes to assume our positions before Mum came in closely followed by Dad. Our positions obviously were Ash curled up sniffling on the sofa with her cover and tissues whilst I sat at my computer trying to complete my university application. It was taking me a lot longer than I had hoped and it didn't help that I had the head of the school badgering me for my reference interview. Between that and the whole poster fandango I have been seriously lacking in the sleep department.

Ash had passed off the excess clothes as cast offs from her friends. Luckily Mum was too busy to actually check the labels. If she had she would clearly see that what Ash claimed to be from H&M was actually Dior. She already had plans to alter most of the clothes because she was by no means the same size as Alice. I mean she's taller than me and I'm 5 ft 6.

Thinking of Alice caused me to remember my time with them yesterday. It was like that day everything finally clicked. It stopped seeming impossible and finally became a kind of weird reality. I knew my inner fan girl was desperate to come out to play, but when I was around them I found it easy to forget that they lived in a world that millions of people read about and watched.

It was nice seeing Edward with his family. Although you could see the sad look that passed through his eyes whenever one of the couples showed some kind of affection.

I had always known he was lonely before Bella, but to see him with my own eyes it was hard to remember that he would be happy at some point. It was the knowledge that he'll have Bella soon that kept me from crossing the room and giving him a hug. That and the fact that I'm pretty sure it would have been a bit weird, especially for him. Given that I'd only known him for a few days. Plus, there was no way I was being the touchy feely person, it wasn't who I was. Ashleigh was the one in the family who poured all her emotion out of her and was constantly giving out hugs, the little hug-whore.

The idea of Edward's happiness made me smile; the thought of being able to watch him change and lighten up made me feel even better. Don't get me wrong, he would laugh and joke with all of us like everyone else yesterday, but whereas others smiled during the comfortable silence, Edward would sink back into the depression that the jokes had lifted him from. Sometimes I would catch his eyes looking at me and my sister, the way we worked together or our harmless bickering. He seemed to just want a connection with someone.

I was excited to have Edward in my home when I had actually invited him. There wasn't an urgent need to talk about anything, no important information to explain. I figured we could just hang out. Maybe just be ordinary teenagers instead of a 105 year old Vampire and a 19 year old girl with a weird portal poster.

That was the plan, but I still needed to figure out what I was going to do about Mum. She worked part time and today was the end of her week at work. This meant she'd be home a little earlier, about five. This only gave me an hour to decide whether or not Edward should meet the rest of my family. Of course it was up to him, it's not like I could keep him here, as much as my fan girl side would love that.