The First Drop Of Rain

Chapter Fifty Three

The Fourth Of July

The mystery of Blessing went on. I had brainstormed with Edward, who had told me his version of events, as well as Alice, and Gaia. None of us could conjure up a story that made any sense. Alice spent days searching the future for any hint as to what the "soon" could be, but there were too many holes where decisions hadn't been made. Gaia took a sketch I had made and scoured public records to find who Blessing could have been in her life as a human, and Edward helped me pick through the details that always got bunched up. In the month since the dream that wasn't really a dream I had yet to see her again. Blessing was MIA and I was left standing in the smoking crater she had left behind.

It was so early in the morning now that even the birds were having a hard time finding something to sing about. The air was a cool fifty as it billowed in through my window, the sheer fabrics that I had draped over my bed dancing about in the playful breeze. At some point last night I had fallen asleep alone curled with a book, but now Edward crawled through my window. Edward had left after dropping me off and staying with me for a bit, he had begged me to put my book down and sleep as the hours ticked down, but my refusal was final. Now, he froze as his shadow in the pale morning light darkened my window seat, his eyes studying me as I met his gaze. I held my arms up and opened them wide, beckoning him forward. "When all this is over... let's go camping." I mumbled as he closed the distance and swept me into his arms.

"Camping?" I couldn't see his face, but his voice sounded like it was smiling. "That's your request?"

"Yeah." I smiled as I thought about it. "Me, you, Paul, and Gaia. A couples trip."

"Sounds like a plan." Edward laughed, his fingers braiding and unbraiding my hair absentmindedly and playful.

"What time do the Denali's get in?" I mumbled as I fought off the sleep that seemed to be gripping me now that he was here and playing with my hair.

"They got in last night, that's why I had to leave, I was hoping you would have fallen asleep before I had to depart." Edward murmured playfully, a smile clear on his lips as he spoke close to my ear. "Did you read all night?" He asked in a more serious tone, I could practically feel the muscles in his neck get ready to give me a disapproving head shake.

"Yeah, I don't exactly know where my book fell though." I mumbled as I glanced around from where I was curled on the bed, my glorified nap still pulling me sleepily into the pillow.

"I'll find it and have Alice tell me where to put the bookmark." He sighed, and half a second later his phone dinged with what I suspected to be a text from Alice with the page number that I would have ended on. "You should try to get a few more hours of sleep."

"But what about the Denali's? I've gotta make sure to swing by before I meet Gaia at the school." I sighed, knowing I had to get up despite the barely breaking dawn's light that creeped over the trees. "Is it supposed to be sunny all day?" I furrowed my brow and turned my shoulders to try to free myself from the grip of sleep.

"Unfortunately, I won't be able to meet up with you until after the parade time." He sounded genuinely sad about missing it.

"My creature of the night." I said in a sing-songy voice as I pushed myself up officially, my feet hitting the cold wood floor and making me jump slightly. The memory of watching Edward leave and actively deciding to not close the window after him struck me again. Well that was dumb of me. I rolled my eyes at myself and searched for my slippers that I always kicked under my bed while Edward spoke.

"You're not watching rocky horror before bed anymore." Edward laughed lightly as he let my hair fall from between his fingers. We had a mini date night last night and watched the movie with Rosalie and Emmett. Of course, Emmett got far too involved in the audience participation parts of the movie and my hair still smelled of buttered popcorn and Pepsi. I found it amazing he had made popcorn until I realized his enthusiasm regarding the authentic watching experience. According to Rose, he had enjoyed the original release a bit too thoroughly as well.