With Alec, time seemed to blur. Another week passed by so quickly I couldn't have ever told you which day it was. But I guess that is just the beauty of first love. I could spend all day wrapped up in his arms, teasing and joking with him, and never ever get bored of his company. It was amazing.
"No, no. You don't drop the whole egg in it!" I lightly correct Alec, taking the egg from the batter and cracking it on the side, allowing the insides to pour into the bowl.
"Remind me why we are even doing this again." he growls, gently pouring a cup of milk into the bowl as I add a few more eggs.
"Don't you ever want to become a part of the citizens of Volterras' lives?"
"No, not really. Humans make me sick." he grimaces, stirring the batter much to roughly. Some splatters off the edge.
"Oh, come on! That isn't true. Going to the town festival will be a ton of fun. And everyone has to bring something. I thought a cake would be fun to make." I am getting a little defensive of my "great idea" now.
"Calm down, Em. I am having fun. I'm just getting a little frustrated. I cannot wait for tonight though." he smiles, leaning over and kissing my cheek swiftly.
"You better be." I grin, throwing a bit of flour at him. It splatters onto the side of his face, blending in with his snowy skin but contrasting greatly with his midnight-black hair.
"Oh, it's on." he grinned, tossing a handful of sugar my way. It crashed into my face head-on, getting a little in my mouth. Yuck! I spit it out, but was unable to get ride of the disgusting aftertaste.
I dipped my finger in the container of icing, pulling out a white glob which I proceeded to smear onto his nose. "It so is." I laughed.
He lunged at me, tackling me to the ground. I squealed as he sat on my stomach, pinning my arms down with his knees. He scooped off the dab of icing and transferred it to my lips.
"Ewh, gross Alec! Get it off!" I cried out. His hand blindly reached up on the counter, fumbling around before returning with the bottle of blood he has been sipping from this whole time. He pours some of it onto the icing, causing a little to trickle into my mouth.
Then he leans down, taking my lips along with the bloody icing in his. He forces my mouth open with his, and we share that icing. It actually tastes good now. Like thick blood that actually as a little substance. And it is a little sweeter than blood, in a good way. And the fact that the most gorgeous vampire in history has his tongue in my mouth also makes the moment pretty nice.
I release a moan as the passionate kiss continues, not even noticing Alec's weight on my tummy. Alec gets just as into it, twining his fingers into my light hair and reaching every little crevice in my mouth with his tongue.
A loud throat-clearing caused him to jump up, dragging me up with him. We were both wiping our mouths furiously to get rid of the blood-icing as we were met with the cherubic little face of Jane. Jane and I don't really talk much, though I sort of wish we did. She is quiet, just like her brother, but seems rather interesting, again just like him.
"And what might you two be doing?" she asks with mild amusement.
"I am making a cake, thank you for your concern." Alec says proudly, grabbing the bowl of batter and mixing much too roughly yet again. I gently take it from his hands, and mix at a calmer, slower pace. "And Ember is helping out a bit." he grumbles, rolling his eyes. I scoff, and he smiles over at me.
"Is it for the festival tonight?" she asks non-chalantly. Alec's eyes flash up to her.
"How would you know anything about it?"
"Because, brother, unlike you, I actually care to know a little about the town we have lived in for over 400 years. And this festival has come at the same time every year for twenty years." she smirks, placing her hands on her hips. Alec glares at her, and I try my best to muffle my giggle, but it is no use. Alec's glare turns my way while Jane flashes me a smug smile.
"I'm sorry, but quite honestly, you totally just got owned by your little sister." I tell him, still attempting to repress my grin.
"I did not get "owned", whatever the hell that means." he growls. I laugh out right at this. Alec is so out of date it is almost sad.
I look up at Jane, smiling kindly, "Would you like to accompany us tonight? It is going to be tons of fun." As soon as the words leave my mouth, Alec drops the spoon he was holding, causing it to clatter noisily onto the counter. He slowly turns to me, eyes wide, mouth hanging open in disbelief.
"Oh, shut your mouth, Alec, you'll catch flies." Jane rolls her eyes, looking so much like Alec it is a little creepy. "And I gladly accept, Ember. Don't you dare throw a fit when I leave, Alexander. Me tagging along isn't going to ruin your chance of getting laid tonight, though I doubt there is really a chance at all." And with that final smirk, Jane makes her departure, off to find someone to accompany her tonight.
"Did you really just do that?" Alec asks as soon as she leaves.
"Yes, I did. She is your sister and I would like to get to know her better." I inform him, wiping my hands on a towel.
"Oh. Well as long as you have a decent reason, it's totally alright. But did I ever mention she is a scheming, lying, manipulative, evil little pixie? But I mean, if that is the kind of people you enjoy hanging out with, fine by me." his voice is laced with sarcasm as he shrugs his shoulders like everything is alright with him.
"I am dating you. I think that shows my 'type'." I grin at him.
"The ridiculously adorable type?" he smiles in fake hope.
"Yes, Alec. That is exactly what I mean." I roll my eyes, trying to clean up a little of our mess.
"You're lying." he says, looking so hurt. "You're only with me for my body, aren't you?" he is struggling to maintain his serious expression.
"Guilty as charged." I get back to the cake, adding a tad bit of vanilla extract.
"Knew it.."
Demetri, being the oldest looking of Alec, Jane, him, and I, is driving us to the festival in a gray SUV, the most inconspicuous of the Volturi's vehicles. We pull to a stop in front of a large field where there are dozens of bounce houses and inflatable obstacle courses, food stands, a make-shift dance-floor with a stage and DJ booth, an area to sit and chill, and tons of other activities. We all pile out, breathing in the scent of humans and their disgusting fried foods.
I carry the cake in my hands, feeling proud but a little nervous about it. It looks great, intricately decorated in a way only vampire stillness and impeccable eyesight can achieve. But considering all food tastes like mud or dirt scraping down my throat, I couldn't try it to see if it tasted okay. I guess if we see anyone turning green after taking a bite, we'll know if we really screwed something up.
"You look beautiful." Alec whispers in my ear from behind me as we make our way across the parking lot to the clearing. I glance down, taking in my black skinny jeans, long beaded loosely-fit turquoise tank-top that goes to nearly my mid-thighs, and matching turquoise flats. My hair is up in a ponytail to keep it out of my face for the night.
"Still not getting laid, Alec." Jane said from about ten feet ahead in hardly a whisper that we could hear perfectly well. Demetri snickered, Alec growled, and I giggled.
"Thank you. And you don't look half bad yourself." I smiled at him. He is wearing dark denim jeans, a turquoise button up (yes, I did color-coordinate us, and yes, Jane, Demetri, Felix, Caius, Santiago, Corin, and Heidi all got a good long laugh out of it), and black Converse.
A woman suddenly rushes up to us, taking the cake out of my hands as she begins to speak in fluid Italian, "Welcome to the festival! You all must be new in town!" At this Alec gave a low snort considering he had been here for centuries, but she didn't have a chance of hearing it. "My name is Belinda. Anything you ever need, just come ask me." She smiles cheerily at us.
"We won't hesitate, love." Alec smiles charmingly at her, using a fake Australian accent. Or perhaps it was British. I've never been great at distinguishing the two, but I suppose Alec would probably have many dialects memorized. Whatever it was, it was beyond hot. And Belinda thought so too.
"Oh, please don't." her cheery smile turned a bit sultry as she batted those big brown eyes at him.
"Moving on." I said so low she could never have heard, saying some polite farewell and shoving Alec away. He chuckled as we walked away, slinging his arm over my shoulder.
"You're adorable when you get jealous." he tells me, still smiling. I roll my eyes, but can't help but smile in spite of myself.
"I'm much more adorable when I'm winning. Come on, I'll race you." I grin, tugging him towards an inflated obstacle course.
"But we'll have to do this at a human pace.." he reminds me as if I could have somehow forgotten.
"Is that a problem?" I ask uncertainly, unsure of what he means.
"Slow, sloppy, repulsive, hideous, clumsy, unintelligent, disgusting. How could any vampire ever want to go back to that god awful race?" he growls, glaring maliciously at a middle-aged man who just spilled soda down the front of his white shirt.
"Cut it out!" I hiss, hoping the stranger doesn't notice Alec's creepy staring. Alec rolls his eyes, as usual, kicking his shoes off in front of the inflatable.
"Here goes nothing." he is smiling once again, his rambling about his hate of the human population completely forgotten about.
"On your mark.." The teen girl at the front says as Alec and I both prepare to bolt in. "Get set... Go!"
Have you ever tried to go super slow while still trying desperately to beat someone in a race? If you haven't, just know it is much harder than it sounds. And I must admit, I was horrible at it. I crawled through a long tunnel much faster than I should have, nearly ripped large obstacles clear off in my haste to get through them, and scurried up the back off a wall at a speed an Olympic athlete would have a hard time competing with. Alec and I slid down the back part at the same time, tumbling into a big heap at the end.
"I so won." he said immediately as we struggled to untangle ourselves.
"Please tell me you aren't being serious.. It was a tie!"
"Someone is a sore loser." he smirks, quickly shuffling himself back to the ground and looking for something else. "Oh, let's try that one!" he exclaims, pointing excitedly to another obstacle course.
"I am not a sore loser, you are! And I also am not racing you anymore! Come on, lets dance." I grin, dragging him towards the dance-floor.
"Uh, I don't know Em.. I'm not that great of a dancer.." he says nervously, raking his free hand through his glossy black hair.
"Just try!" I encourage as my favorite waltz comes on. I place one hand on his shoulder as he places one on my waist and then we lock our other hands together.
Alec is a liar. A flat-out liar. He blew me away with his dancing skills. Every waltz that came on he could do perfectly, and it ended up that everyone cleared the dance-floor to watch us.
"You're amazing." I tell him as he spins me in a circle.
"You just don't know what true dancing is." he simpers.
"Out of our way." Jane interrupts, nudging us slightly as her and Demetri outshine us with their beautiful dance. Deciding our time in the limelight is done, Alec and I exit the dance-floor.
The festival continued on with Alec and I flirting and giggling, enjoying each other as most young couples do. The partying lasted until around nine, and at that point the crowds began to dwindle down, inflatables were deflated, and people began packing and cleaning up. And of course it was fun, I had a blast, but I couldn't help but notice how every three seconds Alec had found something to complain about that had to do with the humans. He literally loathed every last one of them!
And finally, as a young girl walked by carrying a baby and he made some snide comment about how 'the humans are always bringing disgrace to their family', I had to step in and say something.
"You know what? That could have been her younger sibling for all you know! Seriously, take a chill pill. What is your deal with humans?" I am glaring up at him, anger churning in my stomach. I, for one, have a soft spot for the humans. My family is more than likely still out there somewhere, very much human, and I would actually want to become human again if it was possible.
"I have nothing against them. I just think they are disgusting." he shrugs.
"Why do you think that? Why are you so dead-set on pointing out their every flaw? Is it because they have something you don't? You long to be human, don't you Alec?" Now I am just messing with him, taking out my frustration and anger on him.
"No, I don't." he growls.
"Are you sure? Because I would say you do. What other reason would cause you to be so harsh? You secretly are dying to be a part of them again." I am smirking now, my arms crossed, knowing I sound like a brat and nothing I am saying is at all true. It got to him though, and he is glaring furiously at me.
"I. Do. Not." he spits out each word, making things very clear.
"Then tell me, little Alec Volturi, why have you been complaining about their every last imperfection for the past four hours straight?" Sometimes, I really want to punch myself in the face.
"Because I was never good enough to be a part of them!" he suddenly shouts, attracing the attention of a few passer-bys. I pause. Did he really just say that? I stare dumbfounded up at him, unsure of what to say. He glares at me for a moment longer, then storms off. I continue standing there until my mind catches up with it all, and I take off after him.
"Alec! Wait! I'm sorry, Alec! Please stop!" I beg, and though his stride never falters, I eventually catch up to him. Perfect timing too, because it allowed me to pull him behind a booth that had sold some sort of drink so we wouldn't be seen.
"I am so, so sorry for being like that. For freaking out and yelling at you. For being a totally irrational, just plain stupid bitch. I was just thinking about my human family and I guess I got a little caught up in the moment.." I sigh, looking down at the ground to avoid his penetrating stare.
"Yeah, I bet." he mutters.
"Why did you say you weren't good enough to be a part of them?" I whisper timidly.
"They never wanted me. I was shunned by them, mocked by them, hunted down by them, staked by them, and burned by them. I was too different, too abnormal, to be part of their society. I was never accepted into the club." he says hatefully, glaring at the ground bitterly. So that is how he was changed? Burned at the stake? Explains quite a bit.
"Alec," I gently tilt his chin up, staring meaningfully into his eyes, "not all humans are alike. If they were, then all vampires would be too. We were all one of them at some point, and if we had met just ten years ago, I would still be part of them. And maybe you don't remember it too clearly, but I do. Being human, especially in today's world, is marvelous. I guarantee if you experienced it again for just an hour, you would want it all back." I brush the side of his face, wanting so badly to make his sadness disappear.
"They hated me, Ember! They killed me! I was never, ever good enough for them." his eyes are glimmering with tears, his lip is trembling. I don't know what to do or say, so I simply grab him. I hold him in my arms, and we sink down to the ground. I cradle his face to my chest like a child, stroking his hair affectionately.
"It doesn't matter what they thought." I whisper to him, kissing the top of his head as he holds me closer. "You will always be good enough for me."