Author's note: Like many other writers in the world, a lot of the inspiration for this fic came from music. This chapter drew a lot of its feel from Hello Josephine, by Jerry Lee Lewis.

4. SMALL TALK

The dreams continued because Emmett didn't come back. I resolved to demand an answer from him, but when break arrived that Thursday his siblings were sitting around a table under the pavilion without him.

Fuck him, I told myself. Who cares what he thinks? But for some reason, I really did care. I wanted answers so badly it felt like a stone in my gut. With Emmett's absence that day, and no classes until Monday, I knew I wouldn't be finding answers any time soon.

The weekend was a struggle. My natural doggedly persistent temperament helped me quash thoughts about Emmett's reaction whenever they would arise. Unfortunately, every time one thought was pushed to the back of my mind, another would replace it. This consistent battle I was waging- and losing- drove me to seek out any means of diversion available. To that end, I spent a lot of time pacing and cleaning, rather than facing anxiety I didn't consciously understand.

At some point during all of my pacing, I decided Emmett would give me what I needed whether he wanted to or not. Monday morning, as soon as I got to campus I would find him and make him tell me why he reacted to me that way. Only, when I arrived at school, Emmett was nowhere to be seen. He remained absent Tuesday, as well. Emmett's sixth day of absence made me pretty confident he wasn't coming back and his enmity would remain a mystery. I'd almost convinced myself it had nothing to do with me; he probably transferred to a different campus for some other reason. As long as I didn't have to see it to wonder the cause, I was free to forgive him and forget.

In the morning of the seventh day, I stretched in bed and glanced out the window before forcing myself up, and grimaced. It was a particularly nasty sort of day. My view from the window showed a horrific combination of snow, ice, and miserably cold rain.

It only got worse when I got to school. The long, slow sludge to class was completely unenjoyable in a way that so consumed me I couldn't be bothered taking in my surroundings. This left me grumpy, flustered, and entirely unprepared to find Emmett in chemistry lecture sitting in the very back of the classroom with a noticeable ring of empty seats around him.

Unsure whether I should flee or power through I stopped and watched him, searching for any indication of his previous animosity. There was something very different about him. His skin was less translucent. It had a rosier hue as though he'd gone through some soft exertion, and the bags under his eyes were less pronounced. There was something else different, too… but whatever it was would have to wait. The lecture was starting and I was still standing in the middle of the aisle like I'd been struck dumb. Although it might be fair to say I had been.

Do not to look at him again, I scolded myself. Thankfully, he'd already taken the same seat he'd used last week at the back of the room. This put him far enough away from where I stood that he might not have noticed my gawping. I slipped into a seat in front of him and spent the hour fretting over what would happen in the lab. When the professor let us go I swept from the room in a hurry to be free. Even still, Emmett beat me to the communal eating space. He sat with his siblings talking and laughing, all of them looking like a scene from a high school movie.

I snorted in their general direction. It was so perfect a picture it could have been staged. As I sat with my friends I noticed warmly that I remembered most of their names, and that I liked most of them. The conversation was easy and just distracting enough that I was able to eat my lunch in peace. The seat I had chosen was at an odd angle to the Cullens that made looking in their direction unnatural enough to keep me from doing it.

"Emmett Cullen is staring at you," Jessica whispered to me over the table near the end of my break period. I froze, unable to turn to confirm.

"Does he look angry?" I asked her, and immediately wished I hadn't.

"No?" she asked. "Should he?"

"Of course not," I bit the inside of my cheek and chewed it for a second, then risked a glance toward Emmett over my shoulder. He was indeed staring, but not in an unfriendly way. I relaxed a bit and let myself stare back. When he didn't release my gaze I lifted an eyebrow in inquiry and felt the stirrings of a smile lift the corners of my mouth. He grinned back and fluttered his fingers at me coyly. It was such an odd gesture from such a large person it shocked another snort out of me. Apparently, I'd made the whole animosity thing up.

"Then why did you ask?" Jess prompted when I didn't continue. Her eyes flicked back and forth between us, clearly wanting more information.

"I just thought he might not like me so much," I slid my gaze away from Emmett to focus on Jessica, and set my back firmly toward him. I refused to look back in his direction again.

She scoffed. "They don't like anyone. …Well, they normally don't notice anyone enough to like them, but he's still staring."

"Uhm, maybe you should stop looking at him?" I suggested. She laughed and pretended to concentrate on her lunch.

Eventually, my phone chimed a warning to get to class so I made my way to Northeast 3. I sat, trying not to notice the trembling in my hands as I put my things away. I wished briefly that I'd thought to bring a small bracing dram of whiskey when the chair next to me slid noisily across the linoleum. It sounded intentional; almost as if he was doing his best to make sure I was aware of his presence. My eyes stayed trained on my hands.

"Hey," he said softly like he was trying to calm a deer. Finally, I allowed myself to look up.

"Hi," I said. His answering smile revealed a single dimple on his left cheek under the short growth on his face, and it immediately warmed my heart. He was devastatingly handsome. My stomach did a tiny flip as I studied his face. There was a difference lingering in his features that I couldn't put my finger on. It nagged at me relentlessly as he settled into his seat.

"I'm Emmett," he continued, maintaining his conscientious manner. His voice was both gravelly and musical. Like several stones that had been well rounded in a river gently knocking together. "You must be La."

His word choice startled me. "Have we met before?" It was a dumb question. I knew damn well I'd never met anyone even remotely like him in my life.

He looked as confused as I was. "I don't think so, why do you ask?"

"I just wasn't sure how you would know my nickname."

"Oh," he looked away and stiffened visibly for a moment before he returned his gaze to me. "I heard someone use it in reference to you…."

Obviously, this had to be it, but it was weird he didn't seem sure. Regardless, I was too bewildered by the entire situation to continue the conversation. Thankfully the professor called a start to the day's experiment so I was too caught up in work to worry about him even as I was so very aware of him. Near the end of the period, we were cleaning our station and getting ready to compare our notes when I finally realized what the difference was.

"Did you get contacts?" I paused in my cleaning to ask him.

"Nope," he smiled at me again and my heart beat a little faster. I frowned at it.

"Why?"

"I could have sworn your eyes were a different color last time I saw you." I met his gaze in confirmation. Last time I saw him his eyes were black as night, a detail I would never forget. Today, they were a beautiful shade of greyish green like an ocean on a stormy day.

"Oh," he said again and made another shift away from me. He looked very uncomfortable. My frown deepened. "I don't wear contacts." His smile had disappeared, and he seemed at a complete loss. My thoughts were tangled in more and more confusion. Why would he lie about contacts? It seemed like a semi-normal thing to do. People wore contacts every day, right?

I finished packing away my beakers and Bunsen burner to set out my notes and calculations. Emmett was sitting still, equipment already packed away. I would have said he looked entirely at ease, but he had leaned slightly away and his hands were tight fists in his lap.

"So, umm…" I offered quietly, trying to get him to relax. "What did you get for pH 4 and 6? I'm not sure I calibrated my buret properly…"

He reached over and shuffled my notes closer to his for comparison.

"No, I think you've got it right," he murmured. "Those are definitely within the frame of error…."

He checked the rest of my numbers against his briefly, then added absently, "Shame about the snow letting off isn't it?"

Small talk? Okay. I gave a short bark-like laugh. "No."

"No?" He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. "Why do you say it like that?"

"If it's cold enough to snow it's too damn cold."

"And you don't like to be cold, I take it?"

"I do not. Cold is nearly the worst thing. The only thing that can make it more miserable is wet and cold."

"How on earth did you end up in Forks?" he asked through a deep chuckle. His shoulders seemed to slowly lose the tightness that had them scrunched around his ears.

"I…" don't want to talk about it. "Wanted a change and I have some family out here, and this is a good school."

"Even though you hate the wet and cold?"

"It's pretty here," I offered. "Stunning, actually."

He looked at me for a long moment like he was trying to figure me out. The same look of interest and amusement I'd seen earlier flicked across his features. I wondered briefly if I should be offended then I sighed and rifled my fingers through my hair, fanning it out. We had started leaning in towards each other during our conversation and I was looking for a way to break up the weird response.

My movement triggered another flickering facial expression and he leaned away from me quickly, turning his face back toward the front of the room. There was no way to be sure without asking, but it looked like he was in pain.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, feeling more curiosity than concern for his well being. He honestly didn't look like anything could hurt him.

He gave me a gruff nod and a small smile before he sped away. It was only then I realized class was over and we were free to leave.

"Just what in the fuck was that?" I asked no one in particular and slowly packed my things to head for my last class. Afterward, Mike caught up with me and walked me to the parking lot. As rude as it was, I found myself completely unable to follow his conversation until we were nearly at my car. The bizarre conversation from lab replayed in my head as Mike chatted amiably. Small talk? After Emmett stormed out on me? What had changed? Better yet, why hadn't I demanded answers from him? That may have been my only chance!

"So what was up with that staring contest between you and Cullen at lunch today?" Mike interrupted my thought, dragging my attention away from my inner dialogue. He was clearly trying his best to sound casual, but failed spectacularly- bless him.

"I honestly have no idea," I told Mike. If I'm really honest, I'd like to know myself.

"Well you said you were worried he doesn't like you, but it looks like he's happy enough with you right now." There was an inflection in his voice I didn't like. It was almost proprietary, and more than a little jealous.

"What?" I asked and watched his face. He only nodded his head in a direction off to his left. I turned to follow his gaze as we reached my car. Emmett was standing several cars down, leaning casually against a black Volkswagen hatchback. He was watching Mike and me intently, arms crossed over his chest, one foot kicked out before the other. He was - embarrassingly, there was no other word for it - sexy.

"Uh… I don't know what that's about." I said quickly. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mike."

I jumped in my car before he could respond and turned the ignition over. The low rumble coming from the exhaust brought me an absurd amount of joy that helped me shake off the awkwardness of my entire day. As the car heated I shook my hair out again, thinking of Emmett's odd reaction to the motion earlier. Odder yet was the entire conversation we'd had. Oddest of all was him standing there now, staring at me. What on earth did any of that mean? Why the sudden interest after that first day of abrupt animosity and his subsequent absence?

Once the engine was sufficiently warm I threw the gearshift into reverse and hit the gas. My distraction nearly caused an accident as a Toyota passed right behind me, honking aggressively. It missed my car by inches. Whoops, I took a second look and backed out more carefully. Emmett was still leaned against the Volkswagen when I passed, watching me slowly roll away, shaking with laughter.