The girl was an Apple.
Edward was lying on his bed, stretched out with his feet splayed carelessly over the edge. To anyone but a vampire, it would have looked like he was posing.
But Edward was not posing. He was angstily musing, like Edward usually did, only this time it wasn't about trivial things like existence and the meaning of life.
It was about an Apple. An Apple named Bella.
Edward had spent his entire life trying not to eat things that tasted good. He ate things that tasted like maggots, because eating things that tasted good would make him a horrible, destructive monster.
Edward detested monsters.
But Edward loved apples. Especially apples that tasted -well, smelled, but tasting something that smelled that good would be euphoria- like Bella. Bella was one of the very few Apples that existed over the span of centuries.
Edward was in a bit of a predicament.
To Edward, Bella was the Forbidden Fruit. One bite and he would be cast out of the Garden, the place he wanted to stay, where Carlisle was.
Of course Carlisle would forgive him, but mentally, Edward would never be able to go back to the way things were. He could never go back to being a good steward of the human race after tasting an Apple. Never.
Of course, if he didn't bite the Apple, he could prove his worth. Perhaps that would gain him his soul.
However...
Edward was not an angel of light. He was a vampire. A very well-meaning, polite, kind, patient vampire, but a vampire nonetheless.
And he had just smelled an Apple.
Edward stretched out his hand in front of him, watching the shadows play on his ivory cream skin.
The odd thing about it all was that he couldn't read the Apple's thoughts. It was a complete blank to him. Edward was a 'special' vampire, and not being able to read the Apple's thoughts was, well...
Tantalizing.
But not tantalizing in the way that it made him want to bite the Apple. It made him curious, a verb that rarely applied to humans or vampires because he could already read their thoughts, motivations, ect.
Edward had changed his mind from wanting to bite the Apple. Now he wanted to talk to it.
And for what purpose? -he asked himself- It wasn't like he was going to stick around either way. If he bit it (Edward's eyes flickered from amber to ebony), he would flee Carlisle's understanding gaze, because nothing would be worse than losing contact with his father.
Carlisle...
Edward's eyes obediently returned back to their original hue at the thought of Carlisle. That's right, Edward would never allow himself to see Carlisle again. The thought of what Edward could have been but would never be- an angel of light- would separate them. Nothing would pain Edward more than that, not even becoming a monster once again.
Anyway, (Edward turned his hand over flexed, studying the perfect curve, the ripple of muscles under his almost-translucent skin) even if he chose not to bite the Apple, he couldn't stick around then, either. The temptation to bite, not even that, to taste the beauty and fullness of that which he denied himself, would eventually win. Edward was strong-willed, but he wasn't a miracle worker. There was only so far will could get him.
Unless...
If Edward could overcome his huge, well, insanely intense desire for the Apple named Bella (Edward chided himself. Of course apples had names), perhaps he could gain a real soul. He could prove himself trustworthy as a steward of the human race, because even his Apple of choice couldn't persuade him to leave the Garden where Carlisle was. Maybe the Apple could show him what "good" was, if "good" did exist.
Edward was interested in this plan. He decided to leave immediately for the express purpose of preparing himself to hold the Apple, but not taste it.
Edward laughed. It wasn't like he was going to fall in love with an Apple or something.