Note From Author: Here's Chapter 2! I'm honestly sorry it took so long, I just got really stuck. Hopefully it won't happen again. Please Review if you like it! Maybe you have ideas about where it's going/what should happen next? I'd love to know!
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I did not create Edward Cullen. Or any other characters that might show up from the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer.
Night.
She was half-way towards him now and he started contemplating what he would tell her to convince her to follow him. He could comment on her musical tastes, or perhaps say something about her crying, most humans loved when people took pity on them. This girl would surely be no different. So as not to stir her curiosity, he ran down the back of the alley and turned left to run behind the buildings. He wanted to make it look like he'd just turned the corner on to the street. Walking out from alleys was usually not the most assured way to get someone to trust you. He kept track of her footsteps, to make sure she was staying on course. Just as he was about to turn the corner on to the street he heard her footsteps stop. He kept with the plan and as he turned the corner he saw that she was paused right in front of the bakery he had just been next to. Her ipod was off and she was looking back and forth between the street signs.
Ah. She was lost, how pleasantly convenient for him. He smirked to himself at how easy this would be. She was currently squinting at the sign on the street she had just come from. He was several feet away when he said, as kindly as he could muster, "Are you lost?" She jumped at the sound of his voice. "I'm so sorry," he said sincerely, "I did not meant to frighten you." She smiled meekly at him from under her lashes and the power of her ocean blue eyes almost knocked him off his feet. This was certainly a new experience for Edward. He had never been 'dazzled' before. He thought he had but what she had made him feel was, admittedly, nothing like this… nothing even close. As she gazed up at him he lost himself. He lost the burning in his throat, he lost his sense of being attached to the earth, he lost the aching in his heart… he no longer cared that he couldn't hear her thoughts, or that he had been on a suicide mission. All he cared about was getting to know this girl. He wanted to know her inside and out. He wanted to help her. A person as wonderful as her shouldn't have to suffer the annoyance of being lost.
And then she broke their gaze and focused her eyes on the spot in between his eyebrows. Strange, Edward thought, she must know the effect she has. But as Edward watched her face he realized that it must be that he was dazzling her right back. Her eyes where large with surprise and her mouth was hanging slightly open. She looked as though she had completely lost all ability to function. Maybe being 'dazzled' was a new sensation for her too.
"Are you ok?" he asked, knowing full well she wasn't.
"Erm…" she mumbled, and then softly shook her head as if trying to restart it. Edward watched her regain her composure and smiled when she said, "I would be better if I knew how to get back to my hotel." She looked up to Edward with a hopeful glint in her eye.
"Well, what was the name of it? Do you remember the street it was on?"
"It's a Mariott. Just off of Times Square. I have the business card," she said rummaging through her bag. She pulled it out and showed it to Edward. As he reached for it, their fingers inevitably brushed ever so slightly. Edward was a bit surprised at how cold her fingers felt but chalked it up to the weather. "Yes, I know exactly where this is. It's really close to my favorite movie theatre," Edward said as he took a step in the direction of the hotel, the opposite direction he'd just been coming from.
"Oh, if you could just give me the directions… I think that would be better," she said. She hid the hint of worry very well but it didn't get past Edward.
"I know how this must look," he started, looking towards the sky and closing his eyes for slightly longer than a blink. He had learned that humans naturally did it as a way of showing honesty and trust. "But I don't think it's a good idea for you to go walking down these streets alone. I'm not here to harm you, but I can't say the same about the next guy." And it was true. Edward was feeling a swirl of emotions like he hadn't felt in so long. He wasn't even sure he'd ever felt so strongly, so … dizzy. It felt almost as though his heart might suddenly burst in to life and start beating with anticipation. His palms would sweat and his cheeks would flush. It felt like it might, but of course nothing could be more impossible. Being around her though, it made him feel strangely human; sick with emotion. He couldn't let her out of his sight for a moment.
The girl looked wary. "I want to trust you, but I know I shouldn't. You're a stranger."
"If I wanted to harm you, wouldn't I have done so already? I'll give you my driver's license, you can text all of my information to your friends. If anything happens to you, I won't have any way of hiding." That was a lie of course but he knew it would convince her.
"Fine, I can see you won't let this go. But you're walking about 5 feet in front of me and I'll warn you now that I one) have taken self-defense classes, two) can stab your eyes out with my key and three) I've got pepper spray."
Edward chuckled. "Duly noted," he said with a small smile. Maybe she's not such an idiot, he thought. He handed his driver's license to her and she pulled out her cell phone to text all his information to her friends.
"Well Edward Cullen, I'm Lana. And I suppose it's nice to meet you. But I won't be able to give you the final verdict on that one until I get my back to my hotel in one piece." She put her ipod in to her bag and tucked her hair behind her ears. A few strands didn't quite make it and Edward fought with the urge to grasp them.
"Well aren't you just full of wit," he said with a big grin. "And I will say that it's nice to meet you." Her eyes went out of focus for a fraction of a second as she was briefly blinded, (or dazzled, or whatever word was most accurate, he couldn't be sure since he couldn't see in to her mind) by his smile and Edward had to fight his emotions to reign his smile in.
She smiled back briefly and ducked her head down in embarrassment as she bit her lip. When Edward didn't immediately start walking she bowed and waved her hand, indicating for him to go ahead.
"Oh!" Edward said, coming back to reality. For the briefest moment his mind had wandered off in to a day dream. That was highly unusual for Edward who usually had such a vast brain capacity that he could be fully aware and attentive while also day-dreaming. She laughed as Edward tucked his hands in to his pockets and began walking down the sidewalk.
"So," he began once they reached the corner and she was a safe distance behind him. "Am I allowed to make small talk."
"I think that would make this look slightly less odd," she said. Edward could tell by her tone that she was smiling and it made him smile too. Well, smile more than he already was.
"Why are you visiting New York?" he asked.
"Senior trip," she replied simply*.
"So you graduate from high school in the spring?"
"Yes, and please don't ask what college I'm going to because I haven't decided even though my family made me apply to every school you can name." That's unlikely, Edward thought, considering I can name almost fifteen hundred school's on the west coast alone and there is no way she applied to that many. He also made a mental note of the fact that she had said family instead of parents, feeling that it was a strange word choice.
"Do you know what you'll major in?"
"Oh, the possibilities are endless aren't they? I'm not quite sure on that point either. I think I'd like to do literature or maybe sociology or psychology or philosophy or European history or… well you get the idea. I'm not sure." She chuckled as if it reminded her of a private joke.
"What, what's so funny?" Edward asked.
"Nothing… I just… everyone always teases about being indecisive. And it's painfully obvious that I am. Well, it's not even that I'm indecisive it's just that… Well, I guess I want to make sure I get as much out of life as I can, you know? And going to school close to home, or here on the east coast or west coast or anywhere, it will completely mold what my life will become but I can't know how it will effect it and so it's obviously not an easy decision."
Edward began crossing the street when he said, "Yeah I know what you mean." And it struck him that even though he was actually over 100 years old and could theoretically live forever, this was actually sort of true. And suddenly Edward was thinking about all the things he'd never done. He was a vampire with an endless supply of money and he'd never even been to Disney World, or New Zealand and even though he was very intelligent, he'd actually never studied philosophy or archaeology and he could sort of play the guitar and violin but of course he wasn't as proficient as he was at the piano. What was he waiting for?
"The world is always changing," Edward said, a bit mystified, "and people are always being born and dying and new technology is being created and some people are creating art that they are too embarrassed to share and they'll end up burning it and we will never know it. Even if we lived forever and had all the time in the world, we could never know everything or see everything."
Lana chuckled from behind and Edward glanced over his shoulder, laughing wasn't exactly the appropriate response.
"I've known you for about 10 minutes and already our conversation has turned morose."
Edward smiled, "Sorry, I have that affect on people."
"Well I was gonna blame myself but if you want to take the credit, by all means, please do. One less thing I can take the credit for turning sour."
"I sense a story there," he said realizing that she was now only a step behind him.
"Not a very exciting one I'm sorry to say. Just endless accounts of me waxing philosophical and being the Debbie Downer of my group," she said giving a small chuckle.
"Hmm," Edward said, "I think we have that in common."
They had finally come to a much more crowded part of town, even for the late hour, and Edward was suddenly reminded of the painful burning in the back of his throat as the smell of people drinking and dancing and whatever else people did at three o'clock in the morning near Time's Square in New York City hit him.
"Is something wrong?" Lana asked as Edward shoved his fists further in to his pockets, tilted his head down and tried, with no response, to relax his impossibly tense shoulders. She was now right beside him. Either because there were people around or because she was more comfortable, Edward couldn't know.
Edward just shook his head, not sure it was safe to inhale.
Lana continued walking next to him but when the crowds got thicker outside the nightclubs, it was harder for her to keep up so Edward linked their arms together. It was almost amazing how easily he was able to slip in to the I-love-you-and-I-don't-want-to-eat-you mode. It helped that she smelled like fish and salt; not exactly appealing… Lana turned her face up to him, her eyes big and shocked with a hint of hesitance but Edward paid no attention and continued to pull them trough the crowds, deep in to the New York night…
