The First Drop Of Rain

Chapter Fifty Two

I sat on the workbench in the Cullen's garage as Rosalie bent the bumper of my car back into place. "Emmett is never going to let me live this down is he." I laughed again as I thought about how the dent occurred.

"That's a no." Rosalie smiled her usual stunning smile. "Then again, you did hit him with your car."

"He's a vampire! He has super speed and strength!" I laughed as I recalled the incident from this morning. "He could have moved."

"And that's why I'm fixing it for you." She smirked as she got up and walked to the driver's side to pop the hood.

"But did he really have to fall like that? And roll down to the river?" I stared at the matching dent he had made in my hood that Rose was about to start working on.

"What can I say? He has a flair for the dramatic." She smiled and pulled the hood up, pushing with her bare hand against the metal. "Truly a man after my own heart."

"A fair point, but why did he have to jump out of a tree in front of my car and yell 'boo' at me?" Shaking my head I pulled out my phone and checked the message from Gaia before typing out a quick response.

Gi: Still can't find anything on B. You?

Ari: no :/ Alice still looking tho. It's only been a few weeks mayb she'll b back?

Gi: good luck

"I think he said something about testing your reaction time." I heard a pop and when I looked up my hood was smooth again.

"Did he forget I'm human?" I locked my phone and leaned back against the empty spot on the pegboard wall, replaying the image of him popping out of nowhere as I drove down the driveway towards the house.

"I don't really have an answer for that one." She smirked and shut the hood. "A man of mysteries."

"Ooo I'm mysterious?" Emmet flounced into the room with a big smile on his face, now changed out of the clothes he had torn and stained on his tumble down the hill. "I thought Edward had a monopoly on that." He wriggled his eyebrows as Edward walked in behind him, his hand quickly grabbing what I thought was a wrench off the cart by the door and throwing it at Emmett's head. It sailed through the air at a blinding speed as Emmett dodged it by what my eyes perceived to be mere centimeters, Rose reaching up and snatching it from the air before it could damage her car that sat just beside mine in her workshop.

"Now boys." Rose scolded at the same time Emmett playfully taunted.

"Man Eddie, you need to work on your aim, even Ara was able to hit me." He stuck out his tongue and I debated throwing the entire power drill that sat just my left. The image of the DeWalt gun smacking him in the forehead played in my head, and I heard the low chuckle of Edward as he approached, clearly amused with my creativity.

"Esme made lunch for you if you're hungry." Edward stepped in front of me, blocking me from exacting my revenge on Emmett.

"I guess I could eat." I smiled and grabbed his hands as I slid off the workbench.

"I'll pull your car out to your usual spot." Rose called over her shoulder as we walked out.

"Thank you, Rose!" I called back before squeezing through the door and walking through the secondary garage that held all of the rest of the cars. Rose had her own separate work space with its own entrances and exits so she could keep rotating the cars out for work and tune ups. I truly admired her for her dedication to the hobby, it wasn't something I would have expected from a woman who was a socialite in her human life, but she remained surprising.

Once we made it into the house I got swept into a hug by Esme. "I'm so sorry Emmett did that, honey!" She stroked my cheek in that motherly way that would wipe away tears when you cracked your bike or had just had your heart broken for the first time. "Was Rose able to fix it? I'll make him buy you a new one if not!"

"Esme, let her breathe." Edward chucked, our hands still intertwined.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, dropping her hands from my face and backing up a step.

My heart almost broke at Esme's mothering, I felt the need to reassure her as well as bat away any feelings of responsibility for replacing my car. "It's really fine Esme, and Rose fixed it no problem."

"Oh good, that's so good to hear." She smiled and grabbed my other hand, leading me toward the kitchen. "I made macaroni salad, I heard it was your favorite in the summer, and then Alice mentioned something about a tuna melt, but I couldn't find what she was referring to."

"Oh!" I smiled as I looked at the cookbooks she had spread across the kitchen island, all of them gourmet in one way or another. "You won't find it in any of these." I chuckled, closing the cookbooks one by one and looking through the cupboards for the cans of tuna that I knew had been purchased at some point for me. "Jackpot!" I smiled and spun around with the can in hand.

Somehow I wound up showing an immortal vampire how to use a quesadilla maker to whip up a tuna melt with only dirtying one utensil. Edward had definitely cringed when he saw me reach my hand directly for the hot plate to slide the sandwich off when it was done, but I never burned myself so he had remained quiet.

While I ate another text came in that pulled my attention, Jacob wanting to know when we were going to meet again. Sam had asked me to stay away for a little bit until they got Jake's phasing under control and I completely understood that desire. There had been a close call between Sam and Leah around Saint Patrick's day and ever since that Sam kept all of them on a tight leash. Paul wasn't allowed to be near Gi if he was in a mood, which aggravated them both despite how much they understood, and Jared wasn't allowed around Kim under the same circumstance.

Jake: hey, come surf l8tr?

Ari: @ Eds mayb tomorrow

Jake: I miss u

Ari: miss u too

I typed sloppily with one hand as I held my crumbling sandwich with the other. I had been a tad too overzealous with the spread for one sandwich.

"You know I can just type for you right?" Edward smirked as I caught the falling side with my mouth and sent my last text.

Through a mouth of food that muffled and choked out my words I taunted him back. "You- mmph- know you -an fu-cah off." I swallowed hard and raised a brow like I meant to do it as I reached for my water blindly.

"You know if you had just thought that you wouldn't feel like you're dying right now." He smirked as he watched me fumble for the glass. When I finally acquired it and brought it to my mouth I gave him a one finger salute and earned a hearty laugh from behind me.

"Damn Roadster, you're feisty today." Emmett teased as he came into the room.

"And who started it first, Roadkill?" I set my glass down and spun in the chair to smile at him. Something was telling me that summer was about to be entirely different when spending it with the Cullens, and that was a welcome change from the memories that would have resurfaced this year otherwise.