Start Living Now

A few days had passed since I first awoke in the Cullen house. Carlisle spent at least four hours a day with me, examining my broken bones and asking me various questions about the day of the attack as well as about me. My bones were beginning to heal-at least, for my human Form. I wish I could’ve told him everything about me, but I didn’t want to leave a trail behind. So I told him very little about myself. And if that was straining to him, Carlisle never showed it. That didn’t mean I felt any better about hiding things from him; he was making sure that I was comfortable and taken care of. For FREE. He reminded me from time to time that I owed him and his family nothing.

I spent a lot of time with Emmett and Alice. And I quickly figured out that wherever Emmett or Alice went, Jasper usually tagged along, so he visited me as often as his best friend and girlfriend did. After Emmett had finished his oh-so-long story on what had been going on with his family ever since his brother, Edward, met Bella, his newlywed wife, I was pretty sure I knew almost everything about the Cullens, as well as some of the members from the Quileute pack; especially Jacob. It just felt weird that I had never formally met all of them.

Emmett had informed me that Edward, Bella and Renesmee were currently traveling to South
America with another vampire named Nahuel, to visit Esme Island; a gift to Esme from Carlisle. Damn, was Esme a
lucky woman. I wish somebody would buy me an island; that sounded so much more appealing
than Canada.

I had met Esme, Carlisle’s wife. And I loved every minute I got to spend time with her. She was so motherly and sweet, not to mention a great cook, for a vampire who can’t eat human food, anyway. She and Alice had started their own company that specialized in event planning. At the moment, they were planning a wedding for a woman named Emily Young. Seeing as how I was stuck in a bed all day, Esme and Alice tried to keep me involved in any way I could. That mainly consisted of me and Alice bickering about things like china patterns and flower arrangements, but we didn’t take the bickering seriously. Alice was quickly growing on me, and I got amused whenever she would talk about things that hadn’t happened yet. She told me things about her past, her life with the Cullens, and about the subjective future.

“I get why you won’t tell anybody anything important about yourself, but sooner or later you’ll trust one of us enough. And I mean sooner than later, I hope. Everybody keeps keep changing their minds; it’s driving me crazy!”

“You’re off your rocker, Pixie,” I said, calling Alice one of my favorite nicknames for her. “I’m not telling anybody anything. It’s none of your business.”

“It’s none of my business, but what about-” Alice’s face went blank; she was having a vision.

I giggled. “Hello? Earth to Pixie? Alice!”

“Huh? Oh, sorry.”

“What did you see this time?”

Alice gave me a Cheshire cat grin. “Oh, nothing. Rosalie’s going to come in a minute, and I’ll have to leave you alone for a bit…if he doesn’t get here in time.”

“Who? Who are you talking about?”

“You’ll see. Jael my dear, YOU are about to have a bonding moment.”

“What-”

At that instant, someone knocked on the door and let themselves in. Rosalie Hale.

I could understand why Emmett loved her so much. She was drop-dead gorgeous. The two made a very good couple; they were perfect for each other. There were just a few things I didn’t like about her. One, whenever she looked at me, her face scrunched up as if she had just been sprayed by a skunk; and two, she was conceited as fuck. Jasper once told me that he walked in on her admiring a work of art in the family’s living room, but when he got closer he realized she was just staring at her reflection in the glass of the frame. I absolutely, without a doubt, despise people who are like that; there are more important things in life than staring at yourself in a mirror. If you add in the fact that her sometimes husband Emmett liked to spend some of his free time keeping me company, and her constant mumbling “this is a house, not a kennel” under her breath whenever she came into Carlisle’s study -my makeshift hospital room- anybody could see that we both had an obvious dislike for one another. So it wasn’t a surprise that she didn’t partake in the shifts monitoring my recovery that the rest of the family did.

“Rose!” exclaimed Alice’s melodious voice, “What brings you here? I thought you were going shopping for flowers with Esme for the wedding.”

“I’m not going anywhere or doing anything that involves those flea bitten mongrels, or their dim-witted partners.”

Can you see why I don’t like this chick?

“Oh. Um, well, do you need help with something?”

“Yeah, ‘Rose.’ Do you need help with something?” I put on a sincere face. “Oh wait, let me guess; you have to twist the handle and then PUSH the door open.”

Rosalie glared at me. “I know how to open a door, dog. And I’m not here to talk to you, so butt out.”

“Yeah, I’ll do my best. Oh, wait, that would require me to get UP and WALK out of the room. But I can’t do that, now can I?”

“No one asked you to get your ass run over by a truck.”

I laughed. “Honey, you really need to get your story straight. But that means you have to actually listen to what people are saying instead of looking at your reflection all the time.”

Rosalie pretended to ignore Alice breaking into a grin. “Alice, I need your help getting Edward and Bella’s house ready. They’re coming home in a few days.”

“Nessie’s coming home?!” Jacob walked into the room. “I let myself in. Hope that’s ok.”

This time, I pretended to ignore Alice’s smile, which had grown back to that Cheshire cat grin again. She gave me a knowing look; I assumed by her glance that Jacob was the person I was going to have a bonding moment with.

“Of course it is, Jacob. In fact, you came at just the right moment.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because Alice and I have to see to Edward and Bella’s house and someone needs to watch this beast.” Rosalie gave me a death glare, so I happily gave it back to her.

Jacob quickly gave me a hesitant look. He hadn’t come to the house ever since Renesmee left with her parents and that other boy for South America. That being said, I didn’t get a chance to apologize for our harsh words to each other when we first met.

“I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“It’s ok Jacob. She won’t bite…much,” Alice gave him a reassuring look. “Isn’t that right, Jael?”

I sighed. “Whatever you say, Pixie.”

“Good,” Rosalie said. She turned to Jacob. “At least you’re good for something, mongrel.”

“Watch it Blondie. Jael may not bite much,” Jacob looked at me, “but I DO.”

Rosalie rolled her eyes. “Whatever, mutt. Let’s go Alice.”

Alice stood up and made her way across the room to Rosalie. “Bye Jael. I’ll visit you again tomorrow, ok? Jacob looks like he can handle taking care of you for the night.”

Jacob’s eyes went wide with shock. “WHAT?! The WHOLE night?! Alice you-”

“Don’t worry Jacob, we’ll be at Bella’s if you need us, which I doubt. See you later. Jael, please behave; remember what I said.”

“Sure, sure, Pixie.”

Rosalie flinched. “See?! They even sound the same. Ugh, we let too many dogs in this house, Alice.”

I had just about enough of her. “Hey Rosalie? Ever hear about the blonde with tire marks on her back? Well, have you?”

Rosalie hissed. “No.”

Alice and Jacob had their eyes on me and Rosalie; I guess this was a touchy subject for Rose, blonde jokes.

“She crawled across the street when the sign said ‘DON’T WALK.’”

Jacob howled with laughter. Rosalie gave him a death glare. “Laugh while you can, mutt. Nessie’s not coming home; she’s staying alone with Nahuel for two months.”

Jacob stopped laughing. “What?!”

But by the time he was able to say anything else, Rosalie had slammed the door shut, and she and Alice were gone.