*by Sephenie Meyer*



NEW MOON - chapter 1 - PARTY


"Anyway, আপনি don't irritate the Volturi," Edward went on, interrupting my reverie. "Not unless আপনি want to die - অথবা whatever it is we do." His voice was so calm, it amde him sound almost bored দ্বারা the prospect.
My anger turned to horror. I took his marble face between my hands and held it very tightly.
"You must never, never, never think of anything like that again!" I said. "No matter what might ever happen to me, আপনি are not allowed to hurt yourself!"
"I'll neve rput আপনি in danger again, so it's a moot point."
"Put me in danger! I thought we'd established that all the bad luck is my fault?" I was getting angrier. "How dare আপনি even think like that?" The idea of Edward ceasing to exist, even if I were dead, was impossibly painful.
"What would আপনি do, if the situation were reversed?" he asked.
"That's not the same thing."
He didn't seem to understand the difference. He chuckled.
"What if something did happen to you?" I blanched at the thought. "Would আপনি want me to go off myself?"
A trace of pain touched his perfect features.
"I guess I see your point... a little," he admitted. "But what would I do without you?"
"Whatever আপনি were doing before I came along and complicated your existence."
He sighed. "You make that sound so easy."
"It should be. I'm not really that interesting."
He was about to argue, but then he let it go. "Moot point," he reminded me. Abruptly, he pulled himself up into a আরো formal posture, shifting me to the side so that we were no longer touching.
"Charlie?" I guessed.
Edward smiled. After a moment, I heard the sound of the police যুদ্ধপোত pulling into the driveway. I reached out and took his hand firmly. My dad could deal with that much.
Charlie came in with a পিজা box in his hands.
"Hey, kids." He grinned at me. "I thought you'd like a break from cooking and washing dishes for your birthday. Hungry?"
"Sure. Thanks, Dad."
Charlie didn't মতামত on Edward's apparent lack of appetite. He was used to Edward passing on dinner.
"Do আপনি mind if I borrow Bella for the evening?" Edward asked when Charlie and I were done.
I looked at Charlie hopefully. Maybe he had some concept of birthdays গাধা stay-at-home, family affairs - this was my first birthday with him, the first birthday since my mom, Renee, had remarried and gone to live in Florida, so I didn't know what he would expect.
"That's fine - the Mariners are playing the Sox tonight," Charlie explained, and my hope disappeared. "So I won't be any kind of company.... Here." He scooped up the camera he'd gotten me on Renee's suggestion (because I would need pictures to fill up my scrapbook), and threw it to me.
He ought to know better than that - I'd always been coorinationally challenged. The camera glanced off the শীর্ষ of my finger, and tumbled toward the floor. Edward snagged it before it could crash onto the linoleum.
"Nice save," Charlie noted. "If they're doing something fun at the Cullens' tonight, Bella, আপনি should take some pictures. আপনি know how your mother gets - she'll be wanting to see the pictures faster than আপনি can take them."
"Good idea, Charlie," Edward said, handing me the camera.
I turned the camera on Edward, and snapped the first picture. "It works."
"That's good. Hey, say hi to Alice for me. She hasn't been over in a while." Charlie's mouth pulled down at one corner.
"It's been three days, Dad," I reminded him. Charlie was crazy about Alice. He'd become attached last apring when she'd helped me through my awkward convalescence; Charlie would be forever grateful to her for daving him from the horror of an almost-adult daughter who needed help showering. "I'll tell her."
"Okay. আপনি kids have fun tonight." It was clearly a dismissal. Charlie was already edging toward the living room and the TV.
Edward smiled, triumphantly, and took my hand to pull me frmo the kitchen.
When we got to the truck, he opened the passenger door for me again, and this time I didn't argue. I still had a hard time finding the obscure turnoff to his house in the dark.