The Only Exception

Emmett brought me inside his very large and clean home and I fell in love with the place in an instant. I was brought up into an office which held numerous amounts of books. I held a great interest in books, and as I waited for Carlisle to arrive, I decided to look around.

I smiled at the interest that he held. He had The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman - which was pretty interesting, and he'd also held The Novels of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte. I was impressed - but of course he'd probably been alive for a long time, so he had all the time he needed to read all of these kinds of books, I was interrupted in reading a summary of Chronicles of the Cid with Carlisle arriving with a sweet warming smile on his face. After I'd put the book down I'd gone over to Carlisle so he could inspect my hand.

"What happened this time, Miss. Braylin?" He asked. He turned my hand in different ways, making sure I hadn't broken or damaged anything else in my hand.

I winced as he did this, and answered with, "You don't seem too thrilled to see me,"

Carlisle shook his head with a laugh, "You're great company, Braylin. I just don't like seeing you like this. Now, what happened?"

I chewed on my bottom lip, "I punched a mirror."

He sighed, letting out a small chuckle. "You're just like Bella." He smiled. I sighed inwardly, remembering the conversation Jacob and I had about her.

"You don't like it here?" He asked, confusion on his face. I gave him a weird look and shrugged again.

"It's just... different here. I'm different than the others, and don't deny that because I know you see it too." Jacob nodded and chuckled together.

"Well, that's because you're quiet, and no one in La Push is ever quiet."

"So you're not used to quiet people?" I assumed. Jacob sighed and shook his head. His face became plain and in a way, hateful.

"I knew one girl who was just like you, actually. Her name's Bella Swan."

"You seem to be the kind of guy that liked her more than a friend?" I concluded once again. He shrugged and nodded. "Was she your girlfriend?"

"Kind of, I guess. We only hung out after that bloo- Er, Edward left her. But once he came back, she left me for him." I pieced together what he was saying and finally brought it to a conclusion.

"Edward - the one you called last week?"

"Yeah, him."

"How does he know Carlisle?" I asked, interested.

"Edward, along with his adoptive brothers and sisters, Alice, Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper, are all adopted by Carlisle and his wife, Esme."

"So Edward left, and did the others, too?"

"Yup." He popped his 'p' and sighed.

"But they are all back now, for good? Why did they leave in the first place?"

Jacob chuckled - probably because I was so interested in this, and said, "They are here for good - I think. And Bella said that Edward needed a break, I guess." I nodded and gave Jacob an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Jacob." I whispered.

"It's no biggy." Jacob shrugged it off. "And hey, call me Jake." I bit my lip and nodded.

"Alright, Jake."

I smiled to myself, thinking of the fun we had that day. But then I frowned, remembering the look in his eyes he had when he said Bella's name. I couldn't say I liked her or disliked her for what she did to Jacob. He wouldn't get over her - until he imprinted, which apparently got Bella out of his mind.

Once I'd shaken off the thoughts, it was all when Carlisle pulled at a piece of glass. "Ow." I hissed.

"I'm sorry. Would you like anesthesia to help keep your heads in the clouds some more?" He asked, teasing a bit at when I'd previously tuned out.

"No, it's fine. Just - do it quick." I winced. He chuckled lightly before pulling out another piece. That one wasn't so bad, but the next one was able to make me scream out. Carlisle apologized, frowning at the pain I was in.

Carlisle cleared his throat, "Edward, would you and Alice like to help assist me and sort of distract Braylin while I clean out her wound?" His eyes were at the door behind me. When I turned around, I finally got to see what this Edward Cullen looked like. In all honesty, he didn't look that bad. He was fairly attractive. No, who am I kidding, I'd totally fu -

Edward coughed and gave me a small smile as him and a short girl with pixie hair came to my side. That surely ruined my thoughts, but I shrugged them off and smiled back at them.

"Hello, Braylin I'm Alice!" She was cheerful, her smile was white and beautiful. I think I'd like this girl, if I tried hard enough. I smiled at her, greeting her back. We connected within minutes of speaking and she held my hand while Carlisle plucked out another piece of glass. How much glass was in there?

"With the looks of it, there are evenly about thirty-two pieces of glass in your hand." Edward said with a smile. I gaped at him, confused. "I can read minds." He answered my next question. I nodded, finally understanding why he interrupted my thoughts what I thought about wanting to - I stopped when he cleared his throat again.

"Sorry." I blushed.

"Don't worry, your thoughts are intriguing, Braylin." He sighed, apparently he'd gotten further enough into my head to see the beatings and everything I'd gone through. Those thoughts never went away, and they never would. "I truly am sorry that you had to go through that."

I shrugged and looked over at Alice - her face was etched in confusion, she had no idea what was going on. I laughed and shook my head. "Edward can tell you later, if that's alright." Edward nodded with a smile.

"Braylin - I can see it!" Alice gasped, now bouncing lightly in her seat. "Oh! I can see the future -" She began.

"It's not always dependable, though." Edward finished with a smirk. This family was pretty interesting, I'd like to stay around here more often.

"So what can you see, Alice?" I asked.

"Us! You and I - best friends!" I giggled at her amused antics. I could see us as friends. "Oh, and Rosalie will be here in two seconds." Two seconds later and a beautiful model material blonde came into the room. She was just as beautiful as the rest of them, I felt extremely jealous.

"Hello, Braylin, I'm Rosalie." I smiled up at her and greeted her too. She was pretty nice, and her smile was just as amazing as Alice's. Rosalie sat down next to us, turning her gaze to Alice, "Oh, Jasper wanted me to tell you -"

"He's out hunting with Emmett, I know." Alice chuckled, her laugh was a beautiful chime - like sound. I sighed, turning to Carlisle. I gasped at my hand, every piece of glass had been removed and Carlisle was now working on patching me up.

"I didn't even feel a thing!" I beamed.

"That's usually what happens when we're here for a distraction." Alice mused, her dimples very prominent and cute. I watched Carlisle finished bandaging up my hand, and once he was done I was quite grateful to have my hand back.

"Thank you, Carlisle - um, what do I owe you for doing this?" I asked. He smiled, waving hand as if to tell me that it was his pleasure, he didn't mind and I didn't owe him anything.

"So, Braylin, would you like a snack? Esme is downstairs making some food - I saw you coming so I put her to work." Alice smiled. I agreed and the Cullen's - minus Carlisle and Edward, led me down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Esme was so different, she was sweet and kind. She let anyone into her house and she didn't mind if she didn't know them well enough. She'd greeted me the moment I walked into the kitchen. Her smile was just as dazzling as the rest of the family's. Again, she was also just as beautiful as them as well. For only feeding from animals, she sure knew how to cook.

Rosalie had told me that she and Alice had helped earlier with the food, so I thanked them as well. They were all so sweet and I didn't want to leave. Alice offered me to stay the night and have a slumber party, but even thought I felt as if they were family already, I wasn't so sure about it and if Jacob found out, he'd be sure to march down here and drag me out.

And besides, I had to think of Oliver before anyone else. He was my main priority and if I didn't step up to his expectations, he's snap within a second. And Jacob was right, just as I thought about it. He'd snap at anything, but that was why I was being cautious.

So, thinking of Oliver before me, I told them no but thanked them for a great visit. Alice and Rosalie both offered me to come over anytime, and I of course obliged greatly. Alice was the one who had decided to take me home. She kissed my cheek swiftly before I got out of her car and entered my house.

It was quiet, which hopefully was good because that meant either Oliver was still at work, or he was sleeping. But the sad thing was, I found him at the kitchen table reading a book. When I wandered into the room he looked up and smiled. His eyes went wide when he saw my hand and I waited for the explosion.

But there wasn't an explosion. He came over to me instead and looked at my hand. A sad look came on his face as I explained what happened. I almost decided to cry, but I didn't feel like risking what was already going well. Oliver has kissed my cheek along with a goodnight hug, before telling me to go rest and not to worry about my hand - it'd be better in no time.
And I hoped that he meant it.

When I'd gotten to my room I sighed in pain. I wanted to sleep, I was so exhausted about this whole day, and I needed rest - Oliver was right. But I couldn't help but be bothered by the mess on the floor. I carefully picked up each piece of glass and threw it in the garbage. It'd only taken me ten minutes to clean it up. I became stressed when I found I had nothing to clean up the blood stains. Besides, they were stained, they'd never come out.

So I left the blood there in my carpet, too tired to even move another step. But I thankfully made it to my bed as I plopped down and let my mind wander. I hardly had to think of anything as my eyes began to close. It wasn't long 'till I could feel myself dreaming about Jacob Black.