"Humans are so… strange."
"Agreed."
"Why did we come here again?"
"Because Aro is more strange."
Jane frowns at me. Her loyalty towards the man I consider to be practically my father is fanatical, and she refuses to so much smile at any of my many quips towards him lest her obedience be questioned.
"Agreed." Alec chimes in with a high-pitched, girly voice and I punch him on the arm lightly.
He grins as I say, "That isn't even how I talk."
"Well that's what the world hears, short stuff." He ruffles my already messy copper-colored curls and I cringe away and swat at his hand.
"You'd better back off before these idiotic humans think you're raping her." Jane says and I can just picture her crimson eye roll beneath her darkly tinted Ray Bans. Alec stops his tormenting, but childishly sticks his tongue out at me and I even more childishly return the gesture.
"Half-breeds.." Alec scoffs with a disdainful shake of his head, pretending to be so much better than me.
"Vampires.." I mimic his posture, voice tone, and head shake perfectly. We have a brief stare off and then burst into laughter at exactly the same moment.
Alec flashes me his charming, heartbreaker smile that I'm sure has made zillions of girls go weak at the knees, including myself. While there has never been anything more than friendship between Alec and I, I can't deny that his smile does get to me and I find myself feeling a little light-headed on occasion. And, truth be told, I've always suspected Alec of having a bit of a crush on me these past few years since I've grown up from cute little girl to pretty teenager.
"Well the real reason that we are here is because I need a break from that stuffy old castle and I don't know of a better way than a Blink 182 concert." I clarify to Jane as we continue our walk down the busy street.
"But why here? I'm sure Blink 182, whoever the hell that is, has other concert locations, correct?"
"What's wrong with Seattle? I like it here. It's two continents away from Volterra, provides a nice overcast sky for those of this party that tend to, you know, burst into sparkles in sunlight," I give a pointed look at my two companions, "and something about this area just feels.. I don't know, homey I guess." I smile and look around, hardly noticing the worried look Jane and Alec share.
"Trust me, you would get bored around here soon enough. And you know you'd miss me." Alec grins again and I roll my large brown eyes.
"Whatever. I'm starving. I'm going to find something to eat, you two go get us a car." I instruct as if I have any measure of authority over the two most powerful vampires in the world. The looks they both give me say as much but they comply nonetheless.
"By 'get a car' do you mean legally or illegaly..?" asks Jane.
"Well considering you're both fifteen, there's not really a legal way. Besides I doubt you'll do whatever I say – I'm sure if Alec sees something he likes he'll probably just take it." I tease lightly.
Alec stares at me for a moment with an intensity that I'm not used to receiving from him and then says, "Probably."
"Well just call me whenever you're done with your little half-human thing or whatever," Jane says and waves her hand dismissively before linking her arm with Alec's and turning them around. They head off in the opposite direction.
I survey the stores around me wondering where I should go to find something decent to eat.
I end up in a small café buying a wrap and a large tea. I am balancing that and my cell phone while trying to shove my credit card back into my wallet and walk out of the store at the same time when suddenly I collide into a wall.
My tea spills down the front of my dress, I drop my wrap on the floor, my phone goes skidding beneath a nearby table, and my wallet falls as all the random coins in my wallet roll around the reastaurant. I give a startled yelp and begin to teeter backwards.
I would've caught myself (that's what vampire grace is for, right?) but I didn't have to because suddenly two pairs of strong, warm arms are around me. It wasn't a wall I ran in to – no, it was a person.
But not just any person. He's a boy, or more like a man, probably a few years older than me. Maybe early twenties. He's much taller than me, and muscular in a natural and completely sexy way. It's unfair to be that sexy, a safety hazard really – it could cause unsuspecting teenage girls in small cafes to swoon. He has short cropped black hair that falls into his forehead and smooth, coppery skin. Being surrounded by deathly pale vampires all the time, skin as tan and colored as his is quite attractive. My eyes lock with his. They're endless pools of melted dark-chocolate with flecks of other shades of brown and thick black lashes.
His gaze is so intense it causes butterflies to swarm my stomach. Electricty prickles the areas of my skin that are in contact with his. A blush rises to my cheeks as I realize I'm still in his arms.
"Oops, sorry," I break the heated stare he had fixed on me as I stand up on my own. "I'm so clumsy."
The stranger's eyes are as large as dinner plates as he assesses me again. I'm used to males being startled by my beauty, it's a natural reaction to females with immortal genes, but he doesn't look just startled.. He looks absolutely shocked.
"Renesmee?" he whispers. With that single, strange name, an image rushes through my head: a small, dimply hand running through coarse russet-colored fur. My eyebrows knit together in confusion. Suddenly this boy seems a lot more familiar.
"I'm sorry.." I murmur. "I think you might have me confused. My name is Juliet."
The boy's face grows even more confused. "Juliet?"
"Um.. Yeah. Maybe I could know your name too?" I ask with a somewhat flirty smile. He may be human, but he's more attractive than any vampire I've ever seen. As long as I'm away from Volterra to have fun, why not actually have a little fun?
"Jacob Black." he tells me, almost looking as if he expects me to know the name. Admittedly, the name does have an effect on me. I've heard it before, somewhere.. But I mean, I've come to America before and it can't be that uncommon of a name.
"It's nice to meet you, Jacob."
"You too.. Juliet." He looks almost uncomfortable saying my name.
"Well, I have to go, my friends are waiting for me." I say a little dejectedly. I was hoping more would come from this. For a moment there, when he called me by that other name, he had looked at me as if he might be interested. Hell, he had looked at me as if he was a blind man seeing for the first time.
"Wait," he calls in an almost desperate tone as I begin to push open the door of the café. I turn halfway back around, my interest in him fading fast. He may be handsome, but he's also incredibly strange and looks can only take you so far.
He seems to fumble for something to say. "I- I'm really sorry about your, uh, dress." he gets out after a second. I look down and see my designer summer dress, which is meant for weather much warmer than this, stained down the front with tea. I had forgotten about that. "And you probably don't want to forget these." he adds as he bends down and picks up my wallet and retrieves my cell phone for me.
I walk back over to him with a smile. At least he's starting to act normal. And is being a gentleman. "Thanks," I tell him, sliding both of the objects into my purse.
"I know we just met, but there's this concert tonight.."
I interrupt with, "Blink 182?"
"Yeah, you know them? I'm going, and I have an extra ticket if maybe you wanted to join me." he offers with a boyish grin.
"I'm actually already going with my friends, sorry. But maybe we'll see each other there." I give him one last flirtatious smile and a small wave as I exit the café.
As I'm walking away I hear with my ears of a vampire as he whispers in a dazed voice, "Hopefully."