~Skylaar's POV~

I sat staring at the computer, unable to believe what I was seeing. Did Liz seriously just say yes to a date with a vampire? A sadistic bored vampire? I never get her. You think that she'd pick up a hint "...has logged off to go enjoy a snack" but no.

She always went for the bad boys, I guess.

I chatted with Esme for a while, then realized I should probably be saving her. It wasn't hard to figure out where she might be, Forks only had one coffee shop and even I knew that Liz loved a good frappacino. So I logged off and grabbed my bike, visualizing what would happen if I asked my mom to drive me.

"Mom, can you take me to the coffee house?"

"Why?"

"(sighs) So I can save my friend from a sadistic vampire king who doesn't really care about anything."

Right. Not going to happen.

It was pretty easy to sneak out of the house, if you could even call it sneaking. More like walking to the front door and making sure my sister Kim's music is turned up so that she couldn't hear me. I wasn't worried, she was on the phone with her boyfriend. Jared was great for her I guess, but when I thought of boys, I thought of my little brother. Talk about a turn off. I like Jared and all, but Kim is such a goody-two-shoes, and Jared is constantly in trouble for sneaking out of the house. Whatever. It wasn't like I didn't know the real story.

The bike ride to the coffee house was short, only a few blocks down from Kristin's house. I rode past the police station and waved to Chief Swan, who was walking out. He didn't wave back. When I got to the coffee house, my blood froze.

Liz was out on the patio chatting animatedly with a handsome guy with papery skin. From Esme's description, this had to be Marcus. He didn't even look hungry, just bored. Which was explainable.

I snuck into the coffee house - avoiding the eager waiter that I immediately recognized as Eric Yorkie - and plopped down into an empty table. I picked up a menu (a trick from buffy the vampire slayer) and hid my face. All I saw was them talking. Weird.

Every once in a while I would lower the menu to see what they were doing, but I always saw the same thing: Liz talking and Marcus looking really bored.

I got up to go talk to her and figure out what the heck she was doing! As I got up, I didn't notice Eric Yorkie walking toward me with... this face on that reminded me of the look that boys always gave my sister. When I got up to talk to Liz, he - and I am not making this up - dropped my water in my lap and dropping the glass on the patio. I knelt down to get the glass and as I was kneeling, my ADHD kicked in in the form of a leaf.

Okay I know what you're thinking. But, in my defense, it was a pretty leaf. Brown, AND red, AND yellow, AND orange, AND green. I totally lost my train of thought, the only thing on my mind is that I simply had to get that leaf.

As fate would have it, the leaf blew away.

I followed it of course, completely forgetting about Liz and Marcus. I feel kind of bad about that. But she was in school today, so it must have gone pretty well.

Maybe I'll ask her.

~Liz's POV~

I was pretty sure he was beyond listening to me - maybe even upset that he had picked me to ask out. I'd been talking for like twenty minutes already and had he said anything yet? No. Not a word. He just looked really bored, but in his eyes I could see something else.

I knew what he was now. We had tried out the whole "do you have brothers or sisters" thing already - which was pointless since I knew he was a vampire. But now, I knew that he was one of the Volturi and whatever. But he still looked bored.

I'm not stupid. I've gone out with quite a few guys and I was pretty sure that when he looked bored before you both (okay, in this case just me) ordered, then he wasn't going to ask you out again. But beneath the horribly bored expression, I was something else stirring.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked me quietly, something new stirring under his façade. I was surprised.

"No." I said, just as quietly as he had.

Something else moved in his crimson eyes. Hope maybe? Maybe even love. I wasn't sure. But all the signs were there I had to say. I know, I know. I saw the freaking movie "He's just no that into you" and I know that signs are fake but I can't help but look for them.

Whatever.

So we started talking, okay I started talking, and he actually looked interested, when it happened. I saw them.

Gogo boots.

Those were easily the hottest boots I had ever seen in my entire life and I wanted them. I wanted those boots like I had never wanted anything before. Not when I had a huge crush on Dylan in eighth grade, not when I went through my acting obsession of freshman year when I called every agent in the Olympic peninsula, not when I was so desperate to get a dog that I went out and adopted one before telling my parents. I had never wanted anything as much as I wanted those boots now.

I started eyeing Marcus, remembering that he was a member of the Volturi and probably had access to all sorts of money. I was ready to try anything to get to my boots.

"Marcus?" I muttered flirtatiously, batting my eyelashes and trying to look hot.

He looked kind of flattered, or maybe shocked. But whatever it was, it worked. He looked almost hot. "Um... uh... yeah?"

"I don't know if you know this but my feet are just hurting like crazy. I think I need a pair of replacement shoes." I could see from his expression that this was totally working. I felt bad about it, but a girls got to do what a girls got to do to get her gogo boots.

He glanced around and caught eyes of the gogo boots in the window of the shop.

Score. He walked a little bit away from the coffee house, toward the shop, when I realized something.

It was closed.

Well crap.

I think he noticed too, by his expression. And to top it off, something else I didn't notice: Chief Swan was standing near it. Obviously no one was getting their gogo boots today.

"Marcus?" I said quietly, touching his arm. "You can always kill him..."

He sighed. "Too many complication." he said.

While I was watching his face, so sad at my obvious gogo boot deprivation, when I saw Skylaar. She was following something - a leaf? - and I could not figure out why she was even here.

I'll ask her later. Doesn't matter to me.