"That's all right, Dad, I'll probably just be in dressing rooms all day—very boring." I tried to sound informative.
"Oh, okay." He paused. "Will you be back in time for the dance?" I froze with terror, a sinking feeling that he, too might ask me to the dance. Luckily, he strangled my troubled thoughts by continuing, "I've heard it through the grape vine, from a small birdy, that Mikey Newton might, you know... "
ARRRRRGH! So he didn't want to go with me, but still. I was irritated. Only in a town this small would a father know when the high school dances were.
"No—I don't dance, Dad." He, of all people, should understand that—I didn't get my ~balance problems~ from my mother.
He did understand that. "Oh, that's right, you're clumsy as hell," he realized with a chuckle.
The next morning, when I pulled into the parking lot at the Forks High School, I deliberately parked as far as possible from The Silver Volvo. I didn't want to put myself on the path of too much temptation113 and end up owing him a new car. Getting out of the cab, I fumbled with my key and it fell into a puddle at my feet. As I bent to get it, a white hand flashed out of thin air and grabbed it before I could. I jerked upright. Fredward Cullen was right next to me, leaning casually against my truck.
"How do you DO that?" I asked in amazed irritation. Amazed that I was irritated, irritated because he now had my key and would probably use it to torment me in some way.
"Do what?" He held my key out as he spoke. As I reached for it, he dropped it into my palm.
"Appear out of thin air."
"Bella, it's not my fault you are exceptionally huma... nunobservant." His voice was quiet as usual—soft as a piece of velvet, smooth as a muted trumpet.
I scowled at his perfect face. His eyes were light again today, a deep, golden-honeydew color. Then I had to look down, to reassemble my now-tangled thoughts as they writhed on the ground.
"Why the traffic jam last night?" I demanded, still
113. (Proverbs 22:5) "In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares, but he who guards his stool stays far from them."