Gifted

Chapter 20: Music

Disclaimer: As usual, I do not own Twilight.

Authors note I: If you're the type who likes a soundtrack, I suggest you listen to a piece called "Spiegel im Spiegel" for violin and piano...especially during the second half of this chapter. Go. Youtube it now!

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Bella leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the car window. She was glad to put some distance between herself and Edward. The entire exchange was perfectly normal...and completely bizarre. Most of her concern was about the rest of the Cullens though, not Edward himself. She could sit here and try to convince herself otherwise that what she'd seen was just her imagination, but Bella's perfect memory and recall meant she couldn't lie even to herself. There was...something...off. And it involved the whole family.

She looked at the occupants of the front seats, Rosalie and Emmett. Rosalie was flying at unthinkable speeds as usual, and Emmett was visibly relaxed beside her, their hands meeting in the middle. Bella smiled at that. She had grown accustomed to the affection that was rampant in the Cullen's household, and was working on becoming more comfortable with it herself. Oh, there were the now frequent hugs and motherly pecks on the cheek she shared with Esme, and the occasional rough housing with Emmett. But whenever she held Alice's hand or leaned into Jasper's half-hugs, she had to consciously tell herself she wouldn't kill them by doing so.

"So what did you think of Edward, Bella Bear?" Emmett asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Uhh," she really didn't know where to begin.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Is he always so..." Bella searched for the words.

"Brooding? Meditative? Moody?" He laughed.

"I was going to say thoughtful," she tisked at him. "So...is he?"

"Yup!" Emmett grinned.

"Edward is more complicated than that," said Rosalie. "He's better than most at reading people, so he thinks that makes him understand them...and as a result, he's very quick to judge. People are much more than what's on the surface though...something he doesn't seem to get into his thick skull."

Bella raised an eyebrow at that. It was disconcerting to hear such hostility directed at a Cullen from another Cullen. She couldn't help then but feel a little bad for Edward. It appeared he was the black sheep of this family. Slightly creepy or not, she resolved to try to befriend the boy. He was a Cullen after all-if Esme and Carlisle were the ones who raised him, how bad could he be?

"Music preference, Bella?" Rosalie asked, her hand on the radio dial.

"Um, classical please," she responded.

Rosalie tuned into an appropriate station, and Bella relaxed back into her seat. She knew the piece being played of course. It was Franz Liszt's Liebestraum no. 3, and it was one Bella had played many times. She smiled and closed her eyes, listening.

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Rosalie was having a difficult time keeping her eyes on the road, not that she needed to of course. She was torn between looking back at Bella's peaceful figure in the rear-view mirror and resisting doing just that while Emmett chuckled beside her.

"Are you trying to torture me?" Rosalie whispered, too low and fast for Bella to hear.

"No," his tone was suddenly sincere. "You've figured it out, haven't you?"