Now, Lucas stood beside his car, parked in front of his house, with Emmett, Jasper, and Edward gathered around him. Inside the house, Lisa, Alice, and Rosalie lingered, finishing up before joining them.
Earlier that morning, during his routine, Rosalie had asked Lisa to bring over some of her clothes so that she could finally change. She hadn't done so since Saturday, too much had happened, and she hadn't even had the chance. She had thought that once she spent a little more time with Lucas, and when he sleeps, she'd rush home to freshen up. But fate played a trick on her. A miracle, as Emmett called it happened, she'd fallen asleep. And when she confessed this to her family, their reactions were priceless.
Emmett,"Man, I was shocked when Rosalie told us, she actually fell asleep," shaking his head in disbelief, but then he clapped Lucas around the shoulders with a grin. "But when she added it was because of you? Damn, I was speechless. At this point, I just think, 'if Lucas is involved, anything's possible.'"as he said while putting his hand on his shoulder.
Jasper chuckled, stepping closer also put his arm around Lucas from the other side. "Yeah, he's right. Anything's possible when you're around."as he said with a smile on his face.
Lucas, hood pulled low and mask covering his face, found himself wedged between the two of them like the filling in a sandwich, to which he didn't feel awkward as it was just the natural rhythm of their friendship and laughed along with them, their warmth contagious.
Edward, standing nearby, didn't join in the roughhousing. Instead, he smiled quietly, happy for Rosalie as she got a perfect mate for herself.
While standing outside Lucas house his gaze drifted past them, toward the Swan residence across the way to which his composure wavered slightly when Bella stepped out of her house.
Bella walked toward her truck after closing the door behind her, but midway, she stopped as her eyes flickered towards Lucas's house, as though debating if she could confirm about the thing she got to know. She wanted to confirm the gnawing suspicion in her mind, but the sight before her stopped her thoughts mid-way just like her body. She saw Edward stood there with his brothers, and beside them—Lucas, cloaked, hooded, and masked.
Her heart skipped. "What is he doing there?" As she thought, shock tightening her chest as she looked towards him or them.
But as she stared, the thing she got to know of last night resurfaced automatically in her mind. The truth she had stumbled upon pressed heavy on her mind, and her expression shifted, betraying the knowledge she now carried.
Edward caught her look, frowned slightly. "Is she… crazy?" As he muttered under his breath.
The comment made Emmett burst out laughing, Lucas and Jasper joining in. Their laughter rang loud enough that Bella could hear it, and the sting of being the butt of their amusement was clear on her face as her girl sense told.
She didn't glare at Edward alone as her gaze flicked to Lucas, noticing how he was pressed between Emmett and Jasper. Her sharp eyes picked up on his disguise which was slightly different from before. Today, he wasn't hiding the strange tattoo on his skin, but his face and that confused her even more.
And why cover his face? Lucas features had always been striking, but after he had become a being called a "spirit," there was now a new, almost ethereal perfection about him. Perhaps too perfect and the mask was his way of deflecting attention, though Bella being Bella couldn't miss the subtle glow in his eyes, darker than usual, as if a sun was buried deep within them.
"Is he like them?" Bella wondered as curiosity tugged at her, but she dismissed it quickly. Lucas wasn't pale like the Cullens, and she had seen him eat at the cafeteria countless times unlike them who didn't even touch their food.
From beneath his mask, Lucas smiled faintly, noticing her stare, as he caught her looking at him, special his eyes which he didn't want to hide as it will make him look odd, with mask, hood and then sunglasses. "Well, well. The way she's looking at you tells me she already knows. About all of you."He leaned toward Edward and murmured as if saying the fact completely ignoring her curiosity for himself.
Jasper glanced at Bella after listening what Lucas said, reading her face. "Yeah… you're right. Their is no curiosity anymore on her face. That's certainty. As if she knows exactly what we are." Said while his eyes flicked back to Edward, silently asking what he planned to do now.
Edward to which said nothing, but his jaw tightened. Anxiety gnawed at him as if how could he possibly explain everything to Bella now?
Before he could spiral further, the door to Lucas's house opened. Alice, Lisa, and Rosalie stepped out, smiling as they made their way to their partners.
Alice, as if she had already know the whole situation, grinned knowingly. "Looks like I'll be making a new friend today."said as her cheerful voice carried easily toward Bella through her eyes.
The group chuckled at her comment, but Rosalie ignored it, as she reached for Lucas's hand and pulled him away from his brothers-in-arms.
"We already knew she'd find out eventually," Lisa added with a shrug, looping her arm through Emmett's. "But wow… that was fast."as she also looked towards her.
Edward, still tense, cut in sharply. "Let's go. We're going to be late for school." His words snapped the moment in half, especially as Bella finally climbed into her truck and drove away.
The others shared a look and shook their heads in union, amused by how Edward's composure shattered whenever Bella was near.
Lucas didn't comment. Instead, he quietly opened the passenger door of his car for Rosalie, guiding her inside with his usual care, he kissed her forehead softly while pulling his mask down, before he himself slipped into the driver's seat, followed by the rest of the Cullens piled into their cars.
Engines roared to life, and together, they pulled onto the road, trailing just behind Bella's old truck.