"Is it overwhelming?"

That was Bella's first question. I didn't need to clarify; I knew she had to mean the mindreading. Of all the questions she could have chosen, she wanted to know if hearing everyone's thoughts weighed down on me. How it felt. I had never been asked that before. "Sometimes," I admitted. With as much extra space my mind had, I had learned to tune out the unnecessary thoughts. "I'm very used to it. But yes, there are times when I can't ignore everyone, and I have to work to pick out the minds that are easiest to hear. My family, they are the loudest to me, the clearest." I glanced over to her with a small smile. "That is one reason why I enjoy your company. Even if it's slightly maddening to not hear your thoughts, it gives me some peace." I paused, turning my eyes back to the road and sighing. "My siblings find it ironic. I have to learn how to have normal conversation now." I rolled my eyes.

Her head tilted towards me, a small smile on her lips. "Is that difficult for you? Having to talk like the rest of us?" Bella's voice had a slightly teasing edge, but I didn't mind. I smirked back at her.

"Yes, yes, it's very hard for the mindreader to actually speak to people and ask questions and get clarification and have to work to get to know someone," I told her, the same playful tone reflected back to her. "Go ahead, rub it in." I stuck my tongue out at her and she laughed.

Bella shook her head. "I'm sorry, sorry. It has to suck, I'll give you that. But it's what everyone else has to do," she pointed out. There was a pause before her next question, and the way her words slowed down, I imagined there was some caution to it. Like she wasn't quite sure if she would want the answer. "How long have you been able to do it?"

I hummed in response. I was done lying to her, I knew that. Small, half-truths. Keep up that infamous Cullen mystery. "Most of my life," I finally replied. "Can't remember a time before having this ability." She nodded, accepting that as if I had just told her something so trivial, like the age I had learned to ride a bicycle. I almost wondered whether or not she was something from the supernatural, she was being so unreasonably calm. If I told her I drank blood to survive, she would most likely treat it as if I announced that I was a vegan. I already knew she was different, but this level of tolerance was concerning.

"I wonder what's so different about me. You've never met someone you couldn't read?" she asked. She couldn't know how much she was taunting me, she wasn't malicious. But the thought that this girl was the first person in a hundred years who could protect her mind from me...Yes, it was irritating. I wish I could give her an answer, what gave her that special power over me. I suppose the words Rosalie had thought over and over might have been true: You don't know everything, Edythe.

The brunette hadn't critiqued my speeding, I chalked that up to the way her stomach was growling and assumed she was ready to eat as soon as possible. I'd have to pay closer attention to that, I couldn't allow her needs to become that urgent. Within minutes, we were pulled into a 24-hour diner. When I faced her, she took my breath away. The street lights illuminated her face in a way that accentuated the angle of her cheekbone, the soft curve of her jaw, her full lips, a shiny hint of green in her dark eyes. "No. There hasn't been anyone like you, Bella," I told her softly, and as if on cue, a rush of pink rushed up to her cheeks. I smiled. "Time for dinner." I gave a light tap to my steering wheel for a sort of punctuation before stepping out of my car. The diner was fairly empty, a few stragglers, but no one threatening. Bella gave me a skeptical look when we entered, and I looked down at her as we stood just at the doorway. "Yes?" I asked, seeing another question forming on her lips.

Another painfully long pause of hesitation as Bella took it upon herself to pick up some crayons from a basket, what I knew to be meant for the kiddie menus, and stuck them into the pocket of her jacket. I hadn't expected her to be a kleptomaniac. She looked back up at me with a lopsided, awkward smile. "You'd know if anyone else in here was going to try to kidnap us, right?" Did I detect one small hint of self-preservation? I was thoroughly shocked to my very core. I grinned widely, nodding.

"Yes, Isabella. You're safe," I assured with a laugh, shaking my head. I took her to a booth, and the thieving of the crayons was soon explained. Once Bella sat in the booth, she set down the crayons and fished a notepad from her bag. A true artist, she began to scribble along a page as a waitress came to hand us the menus. Her mind was not the most comfortable to be in; the older woman was judging Bella, wondering why someone like her would be with someone like me. It wasn't her fault, it was her instincts, I was naturally more appealing. But the slights to the light of my life made me more than a bit uncomfortable. All the same, I was charming and polite enough to make her thoughts go fuzzy, and she left us to look over the laminated, poorly designed menu. "What would you like?" I asked, forcing myself not to watch what Bella might have been drawing. I wanted to be surprised, if she chose to show me what would inevitably be a masterpiece.

Bella put down her crayons and picked up the menu, glancing over it. "Hmm. Chicken and waffles sounds alright," she mused, giving the sheet one more scan before setting it to the side and looking up at me. "What about you?"

I shook my head. "I'm not hungry, really. Had way too much to eat before I came." Maybe I hadn't had much to eat, but I was very full. I didn't even want to force one bite of vile human food into my mouth.

"What'd you have?" she asked, eyes narrowing in a way that let me know this was an interrogation. She didn't quite trust me, I could see that, even if she did care for me. Smart of her, but also so, so humorous. I was a giggling mess by the time the waitress got back, regaining my composure enough to give the waitress Bella's order, along with two waters, before we were alone again. "I don't get the joke," she told me, holding her brown crayon in a tight grip. Was she getting frustrated with me?

A shrug of my shoulders. "No joke, really. Just my own thoughts. What does it matter what I ate, Bella?" I asked her. I didn't want to lie. Dancing around questions could lead her to her own conclusions. "Do you think I'm lying?"

She stared into my eyes for a long few moments, even when we were brought our drinks. I raised my eyebrows, waiting for my answer. She only gave it to me after she looked to her paper again. "I think you have more to hide," she admitted. "And I wish you wouldn't. You can trust me, you know." She peeked up at me through her eyelashes before avoiding my gaze, cheeks reddening.

Bella was right; I did know that I could trust her. There wasn't one bad bone in her body. She didn't gossip, she wasn't one to spread rumors. Sure, she asked a lot of questions about others and their reputations, but that was quite tame compared to other high school girls. She had no motive to ruin my family's life. She didn't want to be popular, she didn't want to hurt us. I was starting to believe that not even the fear of a family of monsters tearing her apart would be a motive for her to expose us. I had only known Bella for a short time, but she was the kindest, most selfless and genuine woman I'd ever known. She was the first person to want to be my friend out of something more than convenience, like my family. She wanted to show me art that she was interested in, despite the talks of me being "too good for anyone in this school," "a smartass model," or most commonly "a freak." She wanted to get to know me even after learning just the first layers of my supernatural being.

"Yes," I breathed, my smirk fading. "I know I can trust you, Bella." How could I explain just how complicated all of the secrets were? They weren't just my own to tell. Not even my family's. There was another world of my kind and we had rules. If I broke them, I would be risking her life. In turn, I would be risking my own. Because though my immortality had been so worthless to me before, even when I had so deeply considered cutting it off dozens of times in the past, Bella was giving me something to live for. Whether I had just a few more decades of her light in my life or not, I could not endanger the time she had. She deserved the best life. "If I could tell you everything myself, I would," I spoke to her slowly, carefully. Trying to get it through to her that if she were to figure it out, then the rules would only be a little bent. Not shattered. "I can't tell you the reasons why it can't work out that way." I sighed, leaning back against the vinyl seat.

I had been certain that this answer would frustrate her. After all, I was behaving in a way that warranted a lot of questioning, and I had even acknowledged this aloud, but I couldn't give her proper answers. As stubborn as Isabella was, she nodded in some kind of understanding. She was too patient with me. "Can I get hints?" she asked. "Or…Or if I make guesses, could you tell me if I'm right or wrong?" Her lips closed when the waitress returned with her plate.

"You sure I can't get anything for you, darling?" the waitress asked me, and I politely declined. My focus never left Bella, I couldn't make myself look away. She could make guesses, I might be able to give some subtle hints. That sounded like the happiest medium, the best compromise. "I feel like you may already have some guesses," I told her. "Eat first, then I'll listen to your hypotheses." I gave her a wink before pulling my phone from my pocket. No follow-up texts from anyone, and no warnings from Alice, so I knew I was on a safe path. If there was any risk of something going horribly wrong, I trusted my sister to let me know. Changing the future was difficult, but if it only came down to a small decision, a properly timed warning could do the trick.

She ate quickly, I had distracted her from her humanity for too long. I looked out the large windows of the diner after hearing a clash of thunder, followed by a downpour of rain. I hoped my siblings were having fun at their late-night baseball game. Maybe even enough fun to where they wouldn't interrogate me over my evening and just fill me in on who won, who cheated, all that. I let my eyes go back to Bella, feeling that magnetic pull to just watch her. "Did you enjoy the exhibit?" I asked. I had to ask, I had to know if I had ruined the experience for her. She had shown such interest in the Quileute legends, she had even done extra research with one of her friends from the reservation. I hoped I had not taken away from that.

Bella paused from devouring her waffle, nodding quickly. She took a long sip of water, then elaborated, "I did. It was really interesting, especially after hearing the stories Jake told me. I'll have to remember to text him about it," she mused, as if she was trying to remind herself.

Curiosity got the better of me. "Why didn't you ask him to come with you?" I wasn't ungrateful, not in the slightest. I was very happy Bella had chosen me. Maybe she had asked this Jake to come, and I was a second choice…I couldn't complain, but the idea did make my heart squeeze. I had never known true jealousy before this girl.

I should have expected her to blush. I couldn't find a pattern to it, what I did to her that brought on that reaction. Every time I made her cheeks turn that shade, my ego got the tiniest bit more swollen. To counter that, however, the selfishness of what I was doing to her shrunk it back down. "It, well, it didn't really seem like his thing," she stammered out. "He knows all that stuff already, I think? And you like art. You're good at art, I figured you'd like it." She smiled at me. "And I wanted to get to know you more. Did you enjoy it? Outside of the whole attacking a sex trafficker thing."

"Now who says that wasn't fun for me?" I crooned to her, a smirk growing on my lips. "I did enjoy it. I have a deep admiration for cultural art, and the different methods used from different people, in different times. The resources they had are much different than what we have now. All of our paints come in perfectly prepared tubes. No pigments have to be made, we don't have to fashion our own brushes. The Quileute tribe shows a great dedication to portraying their story, and they have put an astounding amount of care into the art that would create their culture. I can respect that." Their depictions of cold ones were something I could look beyond. Natural enemies, and all that. But art was art, no one could show bias for that. "Thank you very much, for inviting me. I apologize if I have frightened you at any point tonight. I can't promise it won't be the last time," I added, more solemnly. I hadn't even realized how much I had spoken. I wasn't the chattiest, I'd never had to be, but Bella seemed almost impressed.

She smiled widely, and I noticed the adorable gap between one of her front teeth and her canines, as well as a thin line between her front bottom teeth. "I haven't been frightened of you. I've had a great time," she assured me. "I don't think you're as scary as you think you are. Whatever secrets you're hiding, you're still just Edythe. Not that Just Edythe isn't a total badass, but I don't think she would do anything for me to be scared of." Her fork went back to her plate, and her free hand was scribbling with her crayons again.

The temptation to prove her wrong was strong. A small part of me wanted her to fear me, wanted her to see the danger I presented to her just by sitting across a booth from her. The majority, however, was happy to know that she felt at peace with me. Maybe it was a bit stupid of her, but everyone is a little stupid, right? Until very recently, I hadn't been aware that I had my own fair share of stupidity. And look what that idiocy brought me. It brought me a moon, a sky full of stars. Refilled my lungs and jump started my heart. "You're wrong," I informed her, but my voice was soft. Not argumentative or hostile. "You…You really shouldn't be friends with me, Bella. It's a horrible, selfish thing I'm doing, being alone with you like this." Her sweet smile fell, as did my heart. I hadn't meant to offend or disappoint her, I just knew I had to give her that pathetic warning. She had wanted hints, after all.

"It isn't selfish to want company," she argued. "No matter what you are. Everyone deserves a friend. Hell, even mass murderers probably have a buddy or two." Bella pointed her fork to me. "The emo thing is really cute, Edythe, but it hurts my heart when you say we shouldn't be friends. Because like it or not, we already are in my book."

Well, that was certainly a lot to digest. Touching, first of all, that she believed my damned soul to be worthy of companionship. Even if she didn't know the full story...But the "emo thing"? She thought it was cute? Her heart ached at the idea of us not being friends? Bella surprised me with nearly every word of this statement, and I would spend the rest of the night dissecting all of it. "Thank you...?" My voice had a lilt that I hadn't heard before. I was unsure of myself, unsure of whether or not she was complimenting me or not. I had never known pure confusion before this girl. Lovesick fool, emphasis on the fool. Ah, well. She was reviving the dumb human that had been buried deep inside me.

Now it was Bella's turn to laugh. "You're welcome," she assured me, confirming that it was indeed meant to be some sort of praise. Her plate was completely clean; she began to fish around in her purse for her wallet. As much as it pained me to allow her to pay, I knew she wouldn't let me buy her dinner. She was too independent and stubborn, which I could admire, but my chivalrous instincts were making my skin crawl. I had to reason with myself; if I let her pay for her own meal, I could justify doing something nice for her later without as much argument. That was worth it. She slid her notepad over to me and stood up. "I'll be right back," she said before going up to the counter to pay.

I looked down at the small, lined paper on the table in front of me, and the art that Bella had wanted to show me. She had left without seeing my reaction, was she embarrassed? Shy? She needn't be, I liked what I saw. It was simple, but somehow Bella could make beauty from cheap crayons that were more wax than pigment. She had layered shades of brown and yellow to make a sea of a goldish topaz in a circle, with a black hole in the middle. Long, thick lines protruded in a frame around them. Eyes. My eyes. Even the bridge of my nose, the hairs of my brows. She had drawn one fragment of my face while sitting directly across from me. I'd had no idea I had been the subject. In her drawing, she added lines between my eyebrows, portraying confusion. Is that really what I looked like to her? I was chewing on my bottom lip, trying in vain to not just sit at the table alone with a big, goofy smile on my face.

When she returned, I could see the receipt tucked into her pocket, but she was holding a big, styrofoam cup. The smell was potent, rich chocolate. Maybe I had enjoyed chocolate as a human, I couldn't know for certain. Part of me wished that I could remember, that I could find a way to relate and understand Bella more. But those memories were so far away, I only remember the version of myself that Carlisle saw in my last moments. I doubt that girl cared for chocolate in the state she was in. Bella held out the cup, and I raised an eyebrow. "For me?" I asked, and she nodded with a grin.

"Yes, for you. You can say you're not hungry, whatever, just take it. Save it for later, if anything. Do you like chocolate?" I took the cup, glancing down at it and then back up to the sweet girl. How could I tell her I didn't? But I couldn't lie. This was getting more and more complicated, but if a milkshake was my biggest problem thus far, I must have been doing fairly well.

I shrugged my shoulders, smiling. "I haven't had a milkshake in quite a long time." That was something like an answer, right? She accepted it, either way. She put her notepad back into her bag; she must have just wanted to show me. I didn't take pride in my immortal abilities often, but I was exceptionally glad that I had a photographic memory now. I could remember all the detail she had put in in such a brief time with such primitive tools. I stood as well, leading her back towards the door. Through the glass, the rain was pouring ferociously, the sky rumbling and crashing with strikes of lightning.

The poor girl flinched when the lightning clashed. I was foolish, I hadn't even thought to bring an umbrella for the brief walk to my car. The rain didn't bother me, I didn't mind to get wet, but I didn't want Bella to get so cold. She moved to open the door, and I shook my head. "Wait here," I commanded, but my voice was gentle. I walked out to my car, more of a half-jog, and started it up. I put the heat on full blast, the milkshake going into the cup holder, and drove the Volvo around to the front door of the restaurant were Bella had miraculously stayed put. She must have hated the rain so much that she would actually listen to me. I got out to open the passenger side door for her, and her cheeks were so red. From the cold, perhaps, as she opened the front door to join me, but it seemed like she might have been embarrassed by my gesture. I couldn't bring myself to care; I didn't want her cold, wet, or potentially ill, so I would take all of the precautions I could. She got into the car without getting too soaked, and I stepped back in with my beanie stuck to my head and my hair plastered to my cheeks. My clothes were drenched, even my eyelashes were dripping, but it was nothing to me. Not like I could get the flu again.

"Thank you," she murmured. I took off my hat, tossing it in the back seat and combing my fingers through my hair in front of the heater to get it a little drier. "You don't mind the rain, I guess." She chuckled.

I shook my head with a smirk, reaching to turn on the knob on my stereo to return to our background music. "I enjoy it." I didn't hate the weather in the places I had lived. I didn't mind cold, dark, dreary. At least I could go out in the daytime. "It's soothing to me. Though I can understand from your perspective, it might be a nightmare." I hummed. Maybe she would grow accustomed to Forks. I certainly didn't want her to go back to Arizona. Or worse, Florida. I pulled out of the lot, forcing myself to go slow. She was uncomfortable in this sort of weather, I knew that my speeding would not settle her at all. "Now. I'd like to hear your theories about me, Miss Bella."

Bella had her jacket hugged tightly around her, her hands were cupped around one of the heating vents. "Erm…Well, you're super strong," she began, speaking with care, like she was choosing how she said every word. "And you can read minds. Your eyes change color, you have a tendency to dazzle and charm people. Sounds like some sort of superhero to me. Or witch." She laughed, shaking her head. I'm glad she could see some absurdity, even if the guesses weren't the most farfetched.

"Unfortunately, both are incorrect." A superhero would be preferable to what I was, and a witch would be infinitely more fun. She was giving me too much credit again. The car was silent, save for my playlist, as I pondered over how to gently nudge her into the right direction. "You are thinking of me as one of the good guys," I began. "If you are going to try and figure this out, consider all the possibilities. Don't overestimate me. Even if you think highly of me, which is very kind, I could still be a bad…thing."

She shook her head, taking her eyes away from the pouring rain to look at me. Those wide, sincere eyes. They would be the death of me. "You aren't a bad thing, I know that much," she told me firmly. "I'll sleep on it and get back to you on Monday."

Monday. We would see each other again after one miserable day apart. We would be back in school, and people would know we were friends, and we might even have lunch together. Perhaps I was being melodramatic, but it felt as if Monday would be like a whole new world from what Friday had been. "I look forward to it," I replied earnestly. The rain fell in harsh, brutal sheets, and when I pulled into her driveway, Bella seemed both relieved and filled with dread. She still didn't have an umbrella, and there was a short walk to her door. "Is there an umbrella in your house?" I asked.

Bella gave me a puzzled look. "Yeah, I think so. Bit late for that, isn't it?" She laughed, then sighed. "I'll just have to make a break for it."

"Where would one be?" I asked.

Her gaze lingered on me as she thought it over. "Uh, there's a coat closet near the front door, Charlie probably has one in-"

I was already in said coat closet by the time her statement was finished. She already noticed that I was fast, I could show her just how fast I was. In the closet, there was indeed an old, worn umbrella. In seconds I was standing outside of her door, holding it open above my head. I tapped on her window, and her jaw dropped. Admittedly, I was rather smug about this reaction. Esme was right, I could be quite the show-off. She opened up the door, looking as if she was almost upset with me.

"Charlie could have been home!" she scolded me.

That got me thinking. Could I hear her father's thoughts? I couldn't hear any at the moment, except a neighbor musing over her son's grades. "If he were home, which he definitely is not, I would have smelled him. Heard him. Even if I couldn't hear his thoughts. Hopefully I'll be able to experiment with that sometime soon." I was somewhat sheepish about this, almost inviting myself to be with her again. But I could feel her intrigue and she had expressed how she enjoyed time with me, it couldn't have been too far off. I walked her to the door, then handed off the umbrella.

She didn't make any rush to go outside, standing outside the front door and looked up at me. Bella was shorter, and now that she was holding the umbrella, I did have to slouch myself the slightest bit. "Thanks for tonight," she told me, and I shook my head. she didn't have to thank me for anything. She glanced around, clearly not knowing how to say goodbye.

"Don't mention it. Have a good night, Bella." As difficult as it was, I could say the goodbyes for her. I couldn't stay here forever, and it was too cold for her to stay out with me. She gave me a smile and a nod before retreating inside, and I back on the road in moments.

Bella was going to spend the rest of her weekend elaborating on her theories, I was certain of it. I should have been worried, but I wasn't. If she figured it out, learned the truth, I was confident that she would never use it against us. I would hold nothing against her if she decided that that wasn't what she wanted to associate with. Either way, just forgetting about Bella Swan wasn't an option. I knew that for the rest of her days, I would be protecting her, ensuring that she was happy and safe, even if that wouldn't be with me in the picture. I valued her, she gave me hope. She was my new muse; I wanted to paint her, write poems for her, compose music for her. Not only was she the new sun in my eternal night, she was my best friend.

I could hear my family's reactions when I came home, soaking wet and smiling uncontrollably. Esme was thrilled, Carlisle was proud. Alice was working hard to contain her bubbly excitement. Even Jasper was affected, the mood in the house was so light. When I met eyes with Emmett, though, I could tell he was pumped, but not so much about my relationship with Bella. He had a different train of thought. Of course Alice had let the family in on my plan.

So are we gonna kill some shitheads tonight?

I knew Carlisle wouldn't necessarily approve of my decision of murder, but it felt necessary. I could hear that Rosalie was on my side, Jasper, too. Alice and her partner were too new, they didn't want to risk anything. Me, Emmett, and Rose, though...We could take down a ring of sex traffickers easily.

"Let's do it," I responded simply.

-—-

A/N: First of all, SO SORRY for the delay and thank you as always for being patient, following, liking, commenting, all of it. I have been pushing through my block and honestly I've been worrying about if my ideas will disappoint anyone but I am proud of this and I hope you all are still enjoying! Feedback always appreciated :0) love you all

p.s this story is now being written from a new ipad and if there are errors, do not hesitate to let me know! i am kinda editing this as i go but i obviously do fuck up :P