At Night

BPOV

Time had dragged by all day. I felt like the clock was turning backwards when I wasn't watching it. I had unpacked all my bags, cleaned and organized my room, gone grocery shopping, and made several casseroles. I already had dinner prepared for the next three days. My mind spent the entire day thinking about the Cullens, about all the mistakes Edward and I made in the Twilight series, and how we could do things differently this time. I had retired to bed early, too excited to calmly sit and make small talk with Charlie. I did hug him goodnight and thank him wholeheartedly for having me. Because of him, I had met my soul mate, and I knew my time with Charlie was short. I got ready for bed, climbed under the covers and let my thoughts drift to Edward again. Finally, I heard Charlie shuffle off to bed. About fifteen minutes later, my angel appeared through my window.

Edward closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. After about five minutes of deep breathing, he opened his eyes and smiled at me. He came over and sat beside me on the bed, taking my hand in his.

"My siblings know you're going to sit with us at lunch tomorrow. They don't know anything else about you. I had a good talk with Rosalie that should help reduce some of the jealousy. Also, she lost a contest today, so her forfeit was to be nice to 'the human' tomorrow at lunch. It doesn't give you much time to make a good first impression, but at least she won't be openly hostile for your first meeting," he explained.

"Thanks, Edward," I murmured gratefully, staring into his eyes. My heartbeat picked up a bit, and he smiled my favorite smile. My mind went blank. So that's what it's like to be dazzled. I closed my eyes and shook my head. "No fair dazzling me!"

He chuckled, clearly pleased with himself.

"Once you get your schedule, I'm going to try to match my schedule to yours. Now that I've found you, I want to spend as much time together as possible."

"Works for me! I was so bored today. I missed you already and couldn't wait for Charlie to go to sleep so you could come over. I even considered slipping a couple of sleeping pills into his dinner."

He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Well, I didn't seriously consider it, but it did cross my mind," I admitted.

He laughed quietly. "You need to get some sleep. You've got a big day tomorrow—brand new school, possessive vampire boyfriend, lunch with five vampires—not your typical Monday. Bedtime for the human. Besides, I'm looking forward to your sleep talking. I wonder if you'll say my name."

I groaned, "Probably."

I wanted to protest, but I hadn't had much sleep this weekend, trying to finish the books. My eyelids were starting to close of their own accord. I snuggled down under my covers and rested my head on his thigh, draping my arm across his legs. He ran his fingers through my silky brown locks for a few minutes. Then he started lightly massaging my temple, followed by my neck and shoulders. By the time he started on my back, I was sound asleep.