After Forever (a Twilight Saga fanfiction: 10 years after Breaking Dawn)

22 ∘ Wolfe (RPOV)

September 21st, 2016

I heard Jake shuffle in the house while I watched TV.

“Promise me this is forever,” Elena Gilbert pleaded on the screen.

Damon Salvatore grinned at her. “I promise.” And they kissed underneath the stars and rain. If only that kind of passion could happen in real life. I sighed.

“How many times are you gonna rewatch this show?” Jacob walked in, and sat next to me. He chuckled.

“When I get sick of it.”

“So... never.”

“Basically.” I smiled, and turned my head toward him. I held his cheek, and showed him how much I wanted to kiss him. He granted me one immediately.

“Keep it PG, kids,” Emmett said wryly, and plopped down on the couch across from us.

Jake and I unwillingly parted. What’s a make out session between two people engaged to be married? Emmett’s usually the life of the party. Plus, he gets in enough jokes about Jacob being a twenty-six-year-old virgin.

I rolled my eyes, and threw the remote at him. “Butt out, old man.”

“Let’s go!” Alice yelled to us. She flitted to the driveway and we followed behind.

We left the house really early. Mom and Dad were in the front, and Jake was with me in the back. Aunt Alice and Aunt Rose were in the car behind us.

There were a few wedding errands left to run, so we were on our way to Seattle.

The most important details were settled, but Alice still had some things left on her checklist. I was going for a different reason.

I’d gotten pretty good at throwing up a veil in my head when I wanted to, so Dad couldn’t hear my thoughts. I had Mom to thank for that.

“Why is everyone so quiet? That never happens.” I saw Mom’s eyebrows raise in the rearview mirror.

“Oh, you know... admiring the scenery.”

She scoffed at Jacob. “As if you haven’t already seen every inch of this town.”

They continued to goof off while I tried to figure out how I was gonna pull this off without anyone knowing. I guess I should have had a game plan already. Stupid me.

Maybe I could include Jake. I’m sure he knows how to keep a low profile from my dad’s gift by now. He’s only had eleven years of practice. But how could I ask with everyone around? I had no idea.

We all got out of the cars, and walked the rest of the way to our destination. Jacob and I were a few paces behind the rest of them.

“Are you okay? You seem nervous.” He held onto my hand, and I pulled back a little. We slowed to a stop.

“I gotta talk to you.” I warily looked ahead at my dad. “Not here.”

“Okay... Now I’m the nervous one. What’s going on?”

“We’re gonna go get something to eat. We’ll meet you there,” I called to them.

They nodded, and Rose mouthed be careful.

Where I needed to go wasn’t far. It would be an easy walk.

When I knew they were out of hearing distance, and assumed my dad wouldn’t be listening in on our thoughts, I told Jake part of the truth.

“Well, you know we won’t be in Forks forever, right? Eventually, we’ll have to move on. I figured it was time to decide on a next step for me.”

“Next step? Being what?”

“Well, I’ll be married soon. All grown up. Not necessarily parting from my family, but I need to think about what I want my life to be.”

He was still confused. He was about to question me again, but I stopped walking when I saw the building. He followed my gaze. Bradley Enterprises.

“What is this?”

“A secret.” I grinned, and kept hold of his hand as I jogged across the street.

“You have a secret?” He raised his eyebrows.

“And you’re about to be in on it.”

“How considerate of you. It’s not like I’m about to be your husband or anything,” he mumbled.

“Don’t pout. I’m telling you now.” We stopped, and I looked up to the very top of the building. “Before I say anything else, I need to you be honest when you answer this question.”

“Shoot.”

“How good are you at hiding your thoughts from my dad?”

“I mean, I don’t practice it on a daily basis, but I think I’d be okay at hiding this.” He looked back at me. “But why would you wanna keep this from him?”

“Not just him. My whole family. At least, until I know it’s a certain thing. I don’t need anyone getting their hopes up, or annoying me with condolences if it doesn’t happen.”

“And what exactly would happen?”

I sighed. “I’m looking into an art scholarship. It’s in Greensburg, about twenty miles from a house Carlisle has in Ligonier.”

“Is that Pennsylvania?”

“Mm-hm. I’m trying not to get my hopes up, too, but it’s hard, you know? This is something I’ve wanted for so long.”

He kissed my temple, and we went inside. The elevator ride wasn’t more than a minute, but it seemed longer.

“Name?” the lady at the desk asked.

“Vanessa Wolfe. I’m here to see Morrison Bradley.”

I felt Jacob stiffen, and glanced at his confused expression.

She looked up my name in her computer, and nodded. “He’s in a meeting right now, it should be over in a few minutes. You can go inside and wait, if you’d like.”

“Okay, thank you.” I started to head towards the door, but Jacob slightly yanked on my arm.

“Vanessa Wolfe?”

“Long story. I’ll tell you about it later.” I kissed his cheek.

He tilted his head. After a moment we grinned at each other, and he went to sit by the wall.

I thanked the man who opened the door for me, and sat in front of Mr. Bradley’s desk. He had so many plaques plastered on his wall. It intimidated me.

“You look nervous.” The low voice startled me. I flinched at the boy on the opposite side of the room. I’m surprised I didn’t hear his heartbeat when I walked in. Maybe I really did need to calm down. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you. I’m Kalona Bradley. I didn’t realize my dad had an appointment. I would have waited to see him.” He smiled, and stood to shake my hand. I did.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m Nessie.”

“So, what are you here for?”

“Uh, potential scholarship. Art.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Interesting. I would have pegged you for a writer or something.”

“Maybe in another life.” I chuckled.

“I should go see what’s taking him so long. It was nice meeting you, Nessie.”

“You, too.” With that, he left. He reminded me of someone. I just couldn’t place who.

I had a decent meeting with Morrison. He seemed pleased with my work, saying most of it was unlike anything he’d ever seen. I definitely got a good feeling about it. Afterwards, Jacob and I hurried back to the family.

“Finally, you’re back! Come look at this.” Alice took over my attention. Very soon, we had to head back. It was almost three, and Renée was expecting us.

This was going to be an exhausting day.