All Grown Up: The Story of Jacob and Renesmee Part III

35

Amy 

Anthony and I had a relationship that was something special. It couldn't really be called a "relationship," but it couldn't be called platonic either. We slept in bed together every night. I thought maybe he was going to kiss me the other night. We always talked for a while before falling asleep. Sometimes he'd tell me the stories about the Quileute, some of which I was finding out were true. Sometimes we'd talk about Daisy, places in the world we'd like to see, sometimes about God or about candy. I don't remember what the topic was that night, but he was cupping my face with his hand. Whatever it was that we had been talking about, we stopped. He lightly stroked my face with his fingertips from my temple to my jaw. I'd never really noticed that I don't look people in the eye very much until Anthony mentioned it.

 I don't know why I guess it's just uncomfortable for me. I had no problem at all with it right then, however. His green eyes were so perfectly clear. I like green. It reminds me of spring, that's my favorite time of year because everything is coming alive again. He kept it up even after I closed my eyes. I was awake for a while, just lying there enjoying it, but eventually, I fell asleep. I'd never been touched like that before. 

 I've had sex more times than I care to remember, but that was the most intimate experience of my life. If this had been a hypothetical situation, it would make sense for somebody in my position to be afraid to get romantically involved with the person providing food and shelter. If it went badly, there was a risk of losing everything. 

 Oddly, I wasn't worried about it. Now all I had to do was wait for him to make a move. He didn't seem to have much experience dating. He'd never mentioned any old girlfriends. Maybe there weren't any. Even though he was only eighteen, that seemed impossible! He was too sweet for words, intelligent, family-oriented, and even financially stable. 

 I had just about died of curiosity wondering how his family had all of this money, not to mention at least one extra house that was fully furnished. I felt like it might be impolite to ask. Maybe they came from old money, or somebody really knows how to invest their money.  The mystery was solved when he told me they made their money through the stock market. When he asked me if I'd like to give it a try, I jumped at the chance to have my own funds. Then I got a little concerned that I might lose money.

 Anthony suggested that I start small, and that seemed reasonable so I decided to go for it. He told me I should call his Aunt Alice, that she was the real expert. I was nervous about randomly calling somebody I'd never met before, even though he assured me she wouldn't mind, and that she was super sweet. He did warn me that it would be hard to get her off the phone once she got to talking. Wow, was he right on both counts? She sounded so kind, and she was also pretty hyper. She seemed like she'd just drank an entire coffee shop out of business.

First, she gave me a crash course on investing. Once I had the basics down, she asked if I wanted to pick my own stocks, or if I'd like her to do it. Since she was the one who knew what she was doing, I said I'd feel more comfortable if she chose them, at least at first.

 I sat in front of Anthony's laptop and Alice showed me how to set up my stuff on the web site she recommended. Sooner than I thought, I was up and running. I gave her permission to get on the site and check on my account and make any changes she thought were needed. Now I just had to wait and see what the $23.79 we'd found in the couch would do. Who has a crumpled up twenty dollar bill in their couch?! That was a stroke of luck for sure.

 Once we were done with all that, Alice started telling me about how she used to live in the first house along the driveway. She told me a bunch of cute stories about Anthony from when he was little, and that he looked just like his dad. She asked what I'd thought of Swan's play. I'd taken Daisy out to Mom's to spend the day with her so that Anthony and I could go see it. Even though I don't like crowds, I felt a lot better with Anthony there with me. The show was great, Swan really had a gift. I would love to be able to sing like that. We talked about clothes, but when she went off about this designer and that one, she might as well have been speaking Swahili.