FAGE 10: You Are What You Eat

by razztaztic

Written for FAGE 10, for Alaskangirl. Twilight AU, first meeting for Bella and Edward. Rated T for minor language

FAGE 10: Reborn
Title: You Are What You Eat
Written for: alaskangirl
Written by: razztaztic
Rating: T (for minor language)
Summary/Prompt used: Twilight; Bella and Edward; in the library

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community/FAGE-Reborn/113100/

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Edward Cullen did not frequent the library. Although Bella Swan was new to the town of Forks – and newer still to her part-time job as a desk clerk at the town's library – of that one fact, she was absolutely sure. Edward Cullen did not frequent the library. Not even this library, impressive though it was. The centuries-old wooden structure had served as a church for the first hundred years of its existence, and still maintained an aura of grandeur that matched the two-story stained glass window built into one wall, and the soaring beams that supported the big cathedral-style roof.

Still, as much as she loved working there, Bella hadn't taken the job because she expected Edward Cullen to drop in, especially on dreary Saturday afternoons when everyone else in town had stayed home. Now, she watched from the corner of her eye as he slipped inside the door and stayed there, hunched beside it, peering occasionally through the window and into the street outside. Her curiosity sharpened.

What is he doing here? Part of her, the silly, hopeful, girl-with-a-crush-on-a-cute-boy part, wanted to believe he was there to see her. The other part, pragmatic and ruthless and brutally honest, immediately shot down that idea. After all, he'd never spoken to her, not once in the six weeks since she'd started at the same school, even though they shared two classes. In fact, he'd made a point of ignoring her, refusing even to look in her direction despite being assigned the same lab table in AP Biology. Talk about awkward.

Bella shuffled a stack of books to a different spot on the counter in front of her and continued to watch Edward. Tall and lean, his thick dark hair and pale skin lent him an almost poetic handsomeness. Bella wasn't immune to those dreamy good looks but her feeble attempts at flirtation had come to nothing during the school hours. Now, the opportunity to stare as much as she wished was irresistible.

Edward was oblivious to her attention, focused solely on whatever - or whomever - he was watching for outside . . . until he turned around. His surprise at seeing her standing behind the checkout counter was as obvious as her's had been when he first slipped inside the library. So much for stopping by to see me, Bella thought wryly.

Their eyes locked and held as seconds ticked by in a silence that was noticeable even in a place that already seemed preternaturally silent. Edward's mouth opened and then closed, before his gaze dropped to the pulse beating in the hollow of her neck. He swallowed convulsively.

Trapped in the brilliant copper gleam of his eyes, Bella swallowed, too, unconsciously mimicking his action. "Hi," she said, in a voice so scratchy it might never have been used before.

His lips moved around the same word but no sound came out. He cleared his throat with a light cough. "You work here?"

Bella's fingers fluttered over the name tag clipped to her blouse as her glance flickered over the stacks of books littering the chest-high counter behind which she stood. Her brow furrowed. "Yes?"

The uncertainty in her answer was an unexpected note of levity that broke the tension between them. Edward's chin dipped low as laughter escaped, then he peeped up at her again through a spider's web of thick lashes. His gaze felt like the softest of touches as it brushed over her face and the heavy braid lying across one shoulder.

"Okay, that was a stupid question. I just didn't expect to see you here."

"Likewise," Bella murmured. She took a deep breath and tamped down the twitchy bit of nerves that jangled just below her skin. She nodded toward the door and the street outside. No sense trying to hide that she'd been watching him. "Are you hiding from someone?"

Edward glanced in the same direction. His feet shifted in a show of discomfort as one hand rubbed at the back of his neck. "Uh . . . well, sort of. My brother and I had a bit of a . . . a disagreement and, well . . ."

Although she was an only child, Bella knew enough about other people's siblings that the explanation made sense. "The big one or the quiet one?"

Edward's attention returned to her. "The big one or the quiet one?"

Bella shrugged under the penny-bright gaze, trying to look casual and less like she'd been stalking the cool kid in class. "I just moved here a couple of months ago but you guys are sort of famous at school. Everybody talks about the Cullen brothers. The big one. The quiet one. The hot - -"

Her lips slammed shut as her brain registered the words coming out of her mouth. Cheeks flushed crimson, Bella immediately picked up a stack of books and turned her back on Edward to put them on the counter behind her. It didn't work. She could feel his broad smile boring through her.

"Emmett's going to be so disappointed that he's not the hot one."

Not even the droll tone could disguise the amusement in his voice. Mortified, Bella's shoulders hunched as she tried to disappear on the spot. "Oh God. Kill me now."

The rich sound of his laughter echoed over the hardwood floors and up to the exposed beams that supported the roof two stories above. The sound was oddly mesmerizing; her face still coloured a pretty shade of pink, Bella turned around. Edward's smile had her feet moving toward him as if hypnotized.

"You're Bella Swan, right? I've seen you in English Lit and, well, I'm sorry I've been so rude in Biology." His expression took on a charming glint of apology that immediately earned him her forgiveness. "The problem was all mine, I promise you." There was a split-second of hesitation, then he offered his hand. "I'm very pleased to meet you. Perhaps we can start over?"

The somewhat formal, faintly old-fashioned words added another fascinating layer to his charm. Bella stared at his hand for a moment, at the long, slender fingers, the well-kept nails, all of it covered in skin so pale, it gleamed like marble. It felt like marble, too, she thought, when she finally laid her hand in his. Cool and firm to the touch. She returned his smile and tried to act like flirting with the cutest guy in school was a regular occurrence for her.

"The temperature outside must have dropped," she said. "Your hand is really - -"

"Edward. I wasn't told that you were coming by today." The wheels of Billy Black's wheelchair moved soundlessly across the scarred wooden floors from his office at the back of the library. The craggy bronze face was carefully blank but in that blankness, a distinct lack of welcome showed.

Edward dropped Bella's hand at the first sound of Billy's voice. His own face was carefully neutral. "It was a last minute decision," he replied, a friendly smile fixed firmly in place. "I'm in a bit of a spot with . . ."

"EDWARD! I KNOW YOUR SKINNY ASS IS IN THERE! COME OUT HERE SO I CAN KICK IT AND WE CAN GO HOME!"

"Emmett." Billy's eyes closed in resignation. When they opened, they pinned Edward where he stood like a bug on a stick. "Well?"

Bella looked from one to the other. Billy Black, the Quileute who ran the library, was one of her father's best friends and although she knew he was on the Tribal Council at the reservation at La Push, it wasn't until that moment that she saw him as a person of authority. Despite the wheelchair, he suddenly seemed taller, larger, draped in a mantle of power so strong, the currents shimmered around him. The look he gave Edward was that of a man who expected instant obedience.

Edward straightened as if he were a child responding to an elder's lecture. His tone was carefully polite, even deferential. "It's just a family squabble, sir."

Small though it was, the emphasis on the word family did not go unnoticed. Billy's brows drew together in a thunderous scowl. "A family squabble that brought you here. Again."

"Temporarily. A few hours. As soon as Emmet's attention wanders, I'll be gone. I just need to wait for a good head start. Sundown at the latest."

There was charm again in Edward's smile but Billy was having none of it. "A few hours," he repeated. His glance swiped over Bella before narrowing again at Edward. "Sundown."

"My father and I went hunting last night. We took our fill."

An unspoken message passed between the two men. Head swiveling from one man to another like a spectator at a tennis match, Bella missed it. Edward's comment, seemingly out of the blue, flew over her head.

Billy considered Edward in silence for the space of a minute, then grunted. The quiet hum of his wheelchair's electronic control was just audible as he turned it back toward his office. "The library closes at 6:30," he tossed over his shoulder. "I grant you sanctuary until that time. See that you're gone by then."

Bella watched him go with a frown of confusion wrinkling her forehead. "I grant you sanctuary? What did he mean by that?"

When she turned back to Edward, he was all innocence. "No idea. Just an odd turn of phrase, I suppose."

"EDWARD! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!"

Bella leaned against the counter as Edward sidled up to the door again and risked a quick peek out the window. "Not that I want you to get your ass kicked or anything," she said, tongue firmly in cheek, "but why doesn't he just come in here and get you?"

Busy trying to see from one end of the street outside to the other, Edward's voice was distracted. "He can't come in here. It's consecrated ground."

"What?"

Muffled though it was, Bella distinctly heard the curse word Edward muttered against the thick wooden door. When he turned around though, he wore a wide smile that was obviously meant to distract her.

"Never mind, it's just a local thing. Why don't I help you put those away?" he suggested, pointing to a two-tiered cart she had loaded with books. "It will give me something to do."

The attempt didn't work. Bella grabbed the handle of the cart and pushed it out from behind the counter, stopping at Edward's side.

"Sure thing," she said brightly. "And while we put them away, you can explain what you meant."

She headed to the children's section, which took up most of the floor space beneath the tall, stained-glass window. Several child-size tables were scattered among waist-high shelves overflowing with books, mixed with single-shelf units that held games and toys. Bella grabbed a handful of colorful books from the cart and held them out for Edward.

"Here you go. They're labeled on the spine. Alphabetical according to author's last name, and within that section, by the name of the book. Now, what did you mean when you said this ground was consecrated?"

Edward grimaced as he took the books from her, and spent far more time than necessary reading the labels. Watching again from the corner of her eye, Bella could almost see him thinking. "Well, this building used to be a church."

She moved much more quickly, filing books away as she went from shelf to shelf. "I know. There's a plaque by the door. It says the church was built in 1875, while the area was still a territory, and that the building was given to the city for use as a public library in 1956. So? Don't religions, like, unconsecrate buildings when they donate them for something else?"

"It's not that easy." Although the words were mumbled under his breath, Bella heard enough that stopped what she was doing and waited pointedly for him to continue. Finally, Edward sighed. "Before the church was built, this spot was a holy place for the Quileute. They had their own ceremonies here, until they were driven off by the settlers and pushed onto the reservation. A few years later, one of the priests who was sent to 'convert the heathens,' so to speak, ended up converted to the Quileute cause instead. They were given permission to hold their ceremonies on the grounds again and over time, gradually took over the site once more. When the building was donated to the city, it was with the provision that a Quileute tribal elder would always be in charge, to protect the site."

"That's why Billy is here."

"Mmmm. It's not just a church. It's Quileute sacred ground."

"You know a lot about the history here," Bella commented.

Edward stared at the books on the shelf in front of him as if he were memorizing the titles. "My family has been in this area for a long time."

There was something off in the way he avoided her gaze, but Bella let it go. "And what does all that history have to do with your brother?"

Neither of them were even pretending to work anymore. Edward spoke carefully, as if considering every word.

"The tribe . . . Billy's family and my family have an . . . understanding. It's generations old. It's a family thing," he said. "Just a family thing."

The bare-bones explanation did nothing to satisfy Bella's curiosity. "But that doesn't explain why your brother can't come in the library. I mean, you're here. Right?"

Edward stared into the rafters for so long, she thought he might not answer. Then,

"Yes, well, you see, I'm a vegetarian."

That was not at all what she expected to hear. She mouthed the words silently, trying to make sense of them. "What does that have to do with - -"

Edward spoke again, over the sound of her interruption. "My whole family is vegetarian. They weren't always, though. I mean, I've always been vegetarian. I have never . . . not been vegetarian." His eyes bored into hers as if to emphasize that point. "My family, though, when they first . . . well, they started out . . . not vegetarians and then stopped . . . not being vegetarians. So, now they are . . . vegetarians. And as long as we don't . . . As long as my family . . . stay vegetarian, Billy's tribe allows us . . ." He stopped abruptly, gave a small shake of his and then offered her a tight smile. "Well anyway, that's why I can come in here and the rest of my family can't. Because I've never . . . not been vegetarian."

"I'm not a vegetarian." Thoroughly confused, Bella clung to the one word he'd used repeatedly. "I'm not a vegetarian and Billy hired me to work here. Why would - -"

"That's enough. Bella, it's time you went home." Focused on each other, neither had noticed when Billy left his office again. They looked over now to see him crossing through the shelf-lined aisles, pushing his chair until he found a spot between Bella and Edward that forced them farther apart. "You'll be paid through the end of the day."

Bella looked from him to Edward, who stared back stoically. "Is this because I'm not a vegetarian? I mean, you never asked. Food was definitely not mentioned on the application."

A glimmer of what might have been a smile played around Billy's lips, but was gone so quickly, she was sure she imagined it. He shook his head, as grave as ever. "No. Eat what you want, Bella. You can come back Monday for your regular shift. Now go. Get home before dark."

"But - -"

"Go."

"All right." Reluctance dragged at Bella's feet as she left the two men in the children's section and headed for the counter to gather her things. The hissing of furious whispers started up behind her; despite straining her ears to hear, she picked up only snatches of random phrases.

" . . . shouldn't have . . ."
" . . . only example I could think of . . ."
" . . . off limits . . ."
" . . . no authority . . ."
" . . . off limits . . ."

With her backpack slung over one shoulder, Bella stopped at the front door and turned back, intending to leave Edward with a jaunty wave and a friendly comment about school on Monday. Instead, it was he who smiled and waved while she stared back, struck mute.

"See you Monday, Bella. English Lit, third period, right? I'll save you a seat."

"Yea, yea. That would be great." Still gaping at him, she shuffled backward until the handle of the door gouged into her back, then stumbled out into the street. Oblivious to the beefy young man pacing restlessly up and down the sidewalk across the street from the library, she pulled the door closed, then gave her head a quick shake to clear it. For just a minute, standing beneath the big stained glass window in the one feeble beam of light that managed to break through the clouds overhead, Edward's pale skin had seemed to . . . sparkle.

But that, of course, was ridiculous.