Hello!
Uhm ... okay guys, let's call me dense. This chapter here (which was actually supposed to be the second chapter) was already in my doc manager! Duh!
Sorry about that! But how was I supposed to know that I already uploaded it when it's named sfvnergfbinc? Huh, anyone?
Anyways, this chapter here heads into a different direction that the last ones (I never meant to make her lose her phone, haha! That was just to give you something quick to read!), but otherwise the description of the story wouldn't make any sense *g*
Please read!
It was a sunny day, so Maddie couldn't go for a swim in the lake, again.
She really wanted to, but she wasn't stupid. She'd just wait until nighttime and then jump into the water. It had been like that for the last few days, ever since they had arrived here. But they were already prepared for that since Alice had told them to either stay inside the house or just stay in Forks for a few more days until the weather here at the lake would be compatible with their 'special skin type'.
Soon ... very soon they would be able to spend their time outside during the day.
In order to get some fresh air and more peace and quiet - Emmett was playing a console game again and he had turned the speakers up - Maddie decided to go sit on the front porch to read one of her new books. The shelf in her room was stocked, because her parents had obviously thought about everything she might need to spend her holidays with something to do. Reading was fun for Maddie, even though reading a book just once was already enough to remember every single line for a looong time. Weirdly, she always got away with the excuse of having forgotten something - like her cell phone. Vampires couldn't unintentionally forget. Lose things, yes, but not forget. Oh well, who cared? After her cell phone drowned the day before, she had already gotten a new one to carry around in her pocket. She wasn't sure if Rose and Emmett were so adamant that she had a phone on her because of their ground rule and Esme's possible wrath, or because they wanted to grant her the freedom of going outside and be on her own if she wished so.
"Maddie?" Rosalie asked when she saw her sister heading for the front door. The sun was shining brightly, reflecting off the surface of the lake and there wasn't a single cloud to be seen in the blue sky - she did not deem this weather fitting for a sparkle-in-the-sun-vampire.
"Oh!" Maddie exclaimed as she noticed Rose leaning against the counter in the kitchen. With a little smile she said, "I won't go out into the sun, just sit on the porch and read. Is that okay?"
The porch was roofed over and therefore it was shady. No sun. She figured it was okay, but what would Rose say?
Rosalie took a breath and smiled back, nodding her head. "Sure. Tell me if you need anything."
"Yup, thanks," Maddie chirped and walked outside, closing the front door with a soft click.
Rosalie breathed a sigh of relief. She liked how relaxed her little sister seemed to be here at the lake, much more relaxed than in Forks with the rest of the family around. It definitely wasn't beneficial for Maddie to always have her gifted siblings around. It constricted her freedom, even though now she was allowed to leave the house to be by herself. Ever since a few months ago Carlisle and Esme decided it was the right time to let Maddie decide on her own what she wanted to do during the day. Go outside, spend time away from home, meet friends. She was free to do so as long as she had her phone on her and told them where she was going and when they should come pick her up.
But these holidays now were obviously something Maddie really enjoyed. She could go swimming and goof around with Emmett all day without having any interfering obligations like school or the like. The change of scenery was doing her good and it made Rose happy to see her that way.
Maddie was sitting on the porch with her feet propped up against the banister, her book lying in her lap. She had been reading for close to an hour when she could suddenly see someone approaching, even though the person was still far away.
It was a guy - maybe around sixteen - dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, and he had been glancing at her for the last half an hour. She had noticed, of course; reading did not distract her enough to not see and hear what was happening around her.
First he was talking to some other boys, then got slapped on the shoulder by one of them before starting to walk towards their house, laughing and waving over his shoulder at his friends one last time.
At first he took large steps while he was still within their sight, probably to show the others how determined and confident he was. But then he slowed down only to fix his hair before he started walking again, this time strolling in the direction of their house.
Before he could reach the porch, Maddie looked up at him in fake surprise, as though she had so not expected someone to walk up to her. Sometimes it was fun acting human.
"Hey," he called and nodded his head towards her.
"Hey," Maddie greeted back and gave him a little smile.
Yup, he was kinda cute. Not exactly her type, but at least he was nice to look at. And he had obviously arrived way before she had, because his skin was tanned and his brown hair looked sun bleached.
"So it's true what they were saying." He stopped a few feet from the porch and smirked up at her.
She returned the smirk he was giving her and tilted her head to the side. "... well?"
"That there is a pretty girl staying in this house."
Maddie just laughed at his bluntness. "I'll let my sister know."
He looked baffled, his eyes narrowed in confusion for a second before he shook his head. "No, I-I meant you, not your sister!"
"So my sister isn't pretty?" She tzked. "That's so rude of you."
"No! I-"
"It's okay, I'm just messing with you," Maddie interrupted him, laughing.
"Oh … I'm Chris."
"Maddie."
After she had told him her name, he seemed to relax again. Squinting up at her, he asked, "Why are you sitting here in the shade?"
She mimicked the way he looked at her. "Why are you standing there in the sun?"
Her counter question obviously confused him again, because he just blinked owlishly at her. Then he shook his head lightly and cleared his throat, pointing with his thumb to the other side of the lake behind himself. "Would you like to join us? We are over there swimming and just hanging out."
"Uh ... no thanks," Maddie said, then continued reading her book like he wasn't there.
He hadn't expected that, because he just stared at her instead of leaving again or saying a word.
"And ... would you tell me why?" he asked after an awkward moment of silence.
"Too warm in the sun." Maddie shrugged her shoulders, never taking her eyes off the page she was reading.
"Then go for a swim with me. There is a lake," he let her know and pointed with his finger to the left.
Geez, really?
She glanced at him. "Nah, I'm good. But thanks for asking."
Her dismissive manner seemed to make him curious and he took a few steps closer to the stairs of the front porch.
"Mind if I sit with you?" he asked, then suddenly smirked and winked at her. "Too warm in the sun, you know?"
Oh, Maddie might like him.
"Come," she said after a moment of thinking about it and patted the spot on the bench next to herself.
He casually walked up the few steps and slumped down right next to her.
Taking a deep breath, he suddenly stilled and looked at her with wide open eyes. Her scent had caught him off guard. It was sweet and fit perfectly, like it had been explicitly made for her and no one else. Such an interesting and intoxicating perfume ...
And now that he was so close to her, he could see her a lot clearer and immediately noticed that she had the weirdest, yet prettiest eyes he had ever seen. Kind of very light brown or something, like honey or caramel.
While looking into her eyes, he also noticed the dark hair that framed her face, and he unconsciously lifted his hand to touch it, to feel if it was as soft and silky as it looked like.
She drew back a little and raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to say something or at least stop staring at her. And she didn't want to be touched.
"Oh, uhm ...," he uttered and quickly withdrew his hand, then cleared his throat.
"Yes?"
"Uhm ... so, when did you arrive with your parents?" he asked and leaned back on the bench, crossing his arms over his chest to keep himself from trying to touch her again.
His question made her laugh, and the bell like sound made his heart flutter.
"Two days ago. I'm here with my siblings, not with my parents."
"Cool. So you're here for parties and -"
"That would be awesome, but no. My parents will come here, too, only at a later time. What about your family?" she asked.
He just stared at her. Her face was flawless and she had the most beautiful lips he had ever seen. The way they moved when she spoke and smiled was something he could watch all day.
When she looked at him weirdly he noticed that he had been staring at her like a moron and not even listened to what she just said. Well, he had heard her speaking because the sound of her voice was mesmerising, but he had no clue what she had told him.
"... so?" she asked and lifted a questioning eyebrow.
"I'm sixteen," he blurted, saying the first thing that came to his mind and instantly making her laugh by that.
He would willingly embarrass himself in front of her all the time if it would make her laugh like that, he thought.
"Oookay, then let's change topics," she said and shrugged her shoulders once. "I'm fifteen." Yes, at school she was still supposed to be fourteen, but whatever. They were hours away, so nobody would ever know what she told this guy.
"Whom is Maddie talking to?" Emmett demanded when he stormed into the living room. He had been playing with his Xbox for quite a while now, until he got a little bored and decided to go look for his wife. But the moment he switched his console off, he could hear his little sister's voice – and then the one of a strange guy – coming from outside.
"Oh, some boy came along."
His jaw dropped. Some boy came along?
"Why didn't you call her inside?" he asked frantically.
Rose peeled her eyes away from her magazine, then looked up at her husband, frowning. "Why would I? They are just talking. You can hear them, loud and clear."
"Unbelievable," he murmured and hurried over to the windows, pushing the curtains to the side a little bit to peek out.
"And what is she wearing? Rose, we are supposed to take care of her!" he exclaimed and wheeled around to face her again.
Her husband was starting to act a little weird, Rosalie noticed. And Maddie was wearing a simple tank top and Capri trousers, so she really didn't understand his discomposure. "These are clothes I have packed for her."
"You?"
She rolled her eyes. "It's summer. Should I have brought her winter coat?"
"Just look at how this vile guy is eyeing her! Ugh!" he all but growled, then left the foyer and headed for Maddie's room.
Rose frowned at seeing him walk into that direction, because she had no clue what he was planning to do.
A second later and he was back in the living room, holding one of Maddie's hoodie jackets in his hand.
"Oh Emmett, stop th-"
But she didn't get to finish, because her husband had already moved past her and wrenched the front door open to march outside with heavy steps.
Maddie and that boy both looked up when he suddenly appeared on the porch, his eyes slightly narrowed and his jaw rigid.
"Hey, Em," Maddie greeted him casually and gave him a little smile. "Chris, this is my brother Em. Em, this is Chris."
"Hey, bro, whazzup," Emmett said but didn't bother looking at him. His voice didn't seem awfully polite, but when he spoke to Maddie, it was soft and loving again. And urgent.
"Mad? It's getting a bit chilly, don't you think? Here, put it on," He threw the jacket in her direction and she bent forward and caught it before the metal slider of the zipper could hit Chris in the face, then frowned at Emmett.
"I'm fine," she told him and made to place the jacket over the banister of the porch, but stopped when her brother spoke again.
"Put it on. You had such a bad cold last week. We don't want you to get sick again, now do we?"
Maddie blinked her eyes in disbelief. Was he serious?
"Uh! I think Rose just called for you," she told him while pointing at the door. Something was wrong with Emmett, and Rose was probably the right person to help him with whatever problem he was having.
But Emmett decided to just ignore what Maddie was hinting at and settled for glaring at the boy instead.
"Emmett? Would you step in here for a moment?" Rose called. At least she had gotten Maddie's hint.
He glared at the boy a moment longer, clenching his hands once, then said in an icy voice, "Coming." He took a few steps backwards, then entered the house again but leaving the door open.
That was his hint for Maddie that he would be nearby and actually expected her to follow him.
"Uhm … that was your brother?" Chris asked hesitantly.
"Uh-huh. Don't mind him," she told him and placed her feet back onto the banister.
"Yeah, okay...," he said and got up from the bench, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable sitting on the shady porch with Maddie. "I have to leave anyways, the others are waiting. Are you sure you don't wanna come with?"
"Maddie."
Maddie heard Emmett say her name and decided to go ignore him for now. Since Emmett had been a wee bit weird while outside, she wasn't too eager to follow his request right now.
"No, I'll stay here," she told Chris and shook her head lightly.
"How about tonight?"
"Maddie?" Emmett suddenly called, which made Maddie roll her eyes.
Grrr.
"Maybe another time," she answered while standing up.
"Okay, sure, no problem. I don't live too far from here, so you can come by whenever you want. If you want, of course."
"Maddie? !" Emmett called again, this time a lot fiercer, and Maddie clenched her jaw in annoyance.
"We'll see. Bye!" she said, grabbed her book and the jacket, then walked into the house.
"Bye!" he returned and gave her a little wave. He lingered on the porch a moment longer, before descending the stairs and walking away.
"What the fuck was that all about?" Maddie queried the moment she had shut the door behind herself.
"Language," Rose admonished but was probably not heard, because Emmett answered while taking a step towards Maddie.
"Are you kidding me? What were you doing outside?"
"I didn't go out into the sun, where's the problem?" Maddie asked and looked between her two siblings.
"There is no problem," Rosalie answered soothingly and placed a hand on Emmett's forearm in order to calm him.
"Yes, there is!" Emmett argued while looking at Rosalie, before focussing back on his little sister. "What was he doing here?"
"We were just talking," Maddie said and placed her things onto the little side table next to the front door.
"Just talking," Emmett repeated with a sarcastic undertone in his voice. He made it sound like she was lying and that kinda ticked her off.
So Maddie was in a pissy mood now.
How could he be so … so uncool? "Oh no, hang on. First I sucked him off, then we were just talking." she spat.
Yes, she wanted to spite him. And she had obviously done a great job with that, because Emmett looked like his head was about to explode.
No need to say that Rosalie had enough and therefore chose to interfere.
She quickly sent Emmett upstairs to cool down, because he started to open and close his mouth but no sound came out - never a good sign.
Then she focussed her attention back on Maddie. "I don't want to hear you say that ever again, you hear? I mean it," she told her strictly.
"Rose!" Maddie complained.
"No! I can understand that you're mad at him, but that doesn't mean you can say whatever you want."
"But … he was being ridiculous!" Maddie countered.
"Yes, I know. Come, let's sit down and talk about this," Rosalie suggested and they walked over to the couch in the middle of the living room and sat down.
"He didn't mean to insult you," Rose said as she watched Maddie lean back on the couch and crossing her arms over her chest. She scowled and was sporting an angry pout on her lip, but Rosalie knew she would listen.
"He's mad at me, and I didn't even do anything," Maddie grumbled when Rosalie didn't say anything else.
"No, no. Emmett is not mad at you," Rosalie told her and inched closer to her, putting an arm around her shoulders.
"Well, he sure as hell looked mad."
"Maddie, he was only irritated to see that boy."
Maddie groaned. "Yeah, well, that much was obvious. But you heard us. We were just sitting there, talking."
"You don't need to explain yourself to me. It's all right. Emmett will calm down and then everything is fine again," she told her and let her hand run up and down Maddie's arm.
"Come on, don't be upset," Rose said when she noticed that Maddie was still looking unhappy. Of course she would be unhappy, Emmett hadn't been exactly fair to her. Besides, these holidays were supposed to be fun for each and every one of them, so he should grant her the freedom of choosing for herself how she wanted to spend her time here at the lake.
Rosalie sighed, then hugged her sister to herself.
Yes, summer ... sun ... and some hormone-driven teenagers! Thought it might be fun to read and write ;-)
Thank you for reviewing! And now you can REVIEW again and let me know what you think of this chapter!