"So Mitosis, Osmosis and the structure and function of the cells will be on it?"
"I believe so. It wouldn't hurt to know some of the nutrients needed and processed by each part also." He replied. I sighed, my lips pursing. He smiled at the action, so I stopped and looked at him instead.
"Are you ready for the test then?"
"Yes, but I found this unit rather easy. I'm sure you'll do fine." He comforted me. I scowled. I slipped my feet out of my shoes and tucked one under me. My dress swished with the movement.
"I hate this dress." I complained. He looked genuinely surprised.
"Why? It looks absolutely fantastic, especially on you." He said quickly. I blushed and looked down.
"It's too expensive, too delicate, too shiny and it makes me nervous." I replied swiftly.
"It's figure flattering, full of movement, breathtaking to look at and it makes you look gorgeous." He replied, under his breath. I blushed even harder, staring determinedly out of the window. Our drinks and meals arrived then. When I looked at his glass my stomach clenched. It looked like red wine, but by the faint aroma wafting from it, I knew it wasn't. That made more sense, considering what he was. I sipped my daiquiri, enjoying the sweet taste and he stared at me again.
"Can I ask you something? It's all hypothetical of course." I added innocently. He nodded cautiously. "Let's say someone could know what people are thinking, read minds, you know – with a few exceptions."
"Just one exception." He corrected. "Hypothetically."
"How does that work? What are the limitations? How would...that someone... find someone else at exactly the right time? How would he know she was in trouble?" I thought back to the bike incident, and the rock climbing incident, the first one. He stared at me, deciding something.
"That someone."
"Let's call him Joe."
"Joe then." He smiled wryly. "If Joe had been paying attention, the timings wouldn't have needed to be so exact. Only you could get into so much trouble in such a short amount of time."
"We were speaking hypothetically." I reminded him frostily. He laughed at me, his eyes warm.
"Shall we call you Jane?"
"How did you know?" I pushed. He wavered again, between two sides. "You can trust me you know."
"I don't know if I have a choice anymore, you're too observant for your own good." He stared at me, my untouched food and back again.
"You eat, I'll talk."
I stabbed a piece of ravioli, popping it into my mouth. It was delicious. He leant back, taking a sip of his 'wine'. I saw his tongue collect a spare drop from his lip.
"I was following you, that night with the car. You seemed too distracted to pay attention to anything properly, and you were cycling, wearing black, in the middle of the night. If I had been reading the driver, I would've snatched you sooner, but I was still futilely trying to read you." He paused, staring at me; I had stopped eating. I sipped my daiquiri and started eating again. "I had to replace your bike, a handprint where I'd destroyed the metal would've brought up too many questions."
"I realised that." I paused and smiled. "Okay say this Joe has a sister named Betty. I've noticed that Betty seems to be oddly good at waking me up, moments before the really important stuff happens. Is that what alerted you to the rock climbing incident?" As I spoke his eyes narrowed.
"Too observant. Yes, Betty has premonitions. She saw you climbing without a harness and warned me."
"Betty has a boyfriend; Bob. He can control emotions. How does that one work?" I asked, feeling ridiculous. Edward half-growled.
"Bob can sense and alter emotions yes."
"All the other friends I can't find gifts for, unless you count childishness as a gift." I said, recalling Emmett on many different occasions. I was halfway done my ravioli when he put his head into his hands.
"Are they all so obvious?"
"No. It took tons of time to form speculations. Besides, when you can't do anything but sleep during the day, you get to have some pretty crazy dreams."
"I promise to you Bella I will explain everything, but not here." I understood. I kicked him under the table, making him jump. He looked up at me, carefully.
"So, back to regular questions then." I smiled at him. He took a few sips of his soup and his 'wine' and smiled, casually leaning back.
"What's your favourite colour?" he asked. I had to think hard about that one. I was staring at his shirt when I answered.
"Dark red, right now anyway. It changes from day to day."
The rest of the evening passed pleasantly. When I was finished, Edward stood, offering me his arm. I slid my shoes back on, sighing and stood. I took his arm, a little tighter this time; I was more tired. We walked out of the restaurant, Edward oblivious to the stares he was getting. When we got into his Volvo he drove, far too quickly, into the middle of nowhere. We sat in the dark car, listening to each other breathing. A hundred random thoughts crossed my mind, before he finally spoke.
"What have you figured about us?" I answered in a whisper, staring only at my hand.
"You don't eat human food. You are super strong, super fast, super beautiful. You aren't human. You are dangerous, you try to be safe. You try to appear normal. Alice has visions of the future. You can read people's minds. Jasper can control and sense emotions. Emmett has a weird sense of humour." He laughed then, I continued. "Your eyes change depending on how recently you've fed."
"Do you know what we are?" he whispered.
"Yes. But it wasn't because I figured it out, not fully anyway. A friend of mine, from Forks visited. He heard that I was spending a lot of time with you and came to warn me. He didn't actually believe the legends he told me, but it all fell into place after that." I looked at him and felt a pang of fear; he looked livid again. "You Edward Cullen, are a vampire."
Edward got out of the car and sat on the hood, his head in his hands. He stood up again and ran off. I slid out of the car and sat on the hood.
"Very mature." I murmured, seeing him nowhere and lay back, looking at the stars.
"I'm sorry." His voice came from beside my ear and I jumped up in alarm. He was leaning over, his face inches from my ear. "It's just... you weren't supposed to find out, at all. Let alone so suddenly, so accurately. It's infuriating. One girl having the power to expose our entire family for what we are."
"I wouldn't do that." I whispered. "We all have our secrets." I stood and kicked off my shoes, feeling the dry grass beneath my bare feet. I sat down in a very unladylike manner and rested my head against his car. Edward sat beside me.
"Don't you care?"
"What?" I asked.
"Don't you care that I'm a monster?"
"You aren't a monster. You're just not human. I've seen a real monster and he was as human as I am. You will never be able to convince me that you are a monster Edward." I stared at him and he stared back. Our faces were only a foot apart. "Besides, Alice is the monster if anything. She keeps subjecting me to torture."
Edward laughed his musical laugh again.
"I do have some questions."
"Like what?" he asked quietly.
"How can you come out during the day?"
"Myth."
"You obviously can't be burned by the sun."
"Obviously."
"Sleep in coffins?"
"Myth. We can't sleep at all actually. The whole pyjamas and beds and sleepovers thing is a facade."
"Wow. You had me fooled. Do you have anything against garlic?"
"Not personally." He chuckled.
"Crosses?"
"We have two in our house."
"Holy water?"
"Good for showers." That one made me laugh.
"Steak through the heart?"
"Our skin is impenetrable."
"Are you immortal?"
"None of us have died of old age, it's impossible to know exactly unless we all stuck around until the end of time." I sat, thinking about everything. We sat for the longest time. Oddly enough, I was calm.
"Aren't you concerned about my diet?" he asked.
"Well, I know the wine you had wasn't wine. How the hell did you manage that?"
"The chef thinks I'm a millionaire with odd tastes. I only ever eat soups, if I go at all, and rabbit and snake blood are delicacies in China. So that's what I drink. He has a bottle specially reserved for me." He paused, and turned my face towards his with his fingers. My heart thudded at the touch. "But from day to day, my family sticks to animal blood. Deer, bears, lions, whatever we can find."
"Why? Not that I'm complaining – but why go against your nature?"
"I don't want to be a monster."
"Edward..." I warned him. It made him laugh.
"Aren't you afraid of me?"
"I'm always afraid, of everything."
"Except climbing up walls without a harness."
"Yeah that."
We stared into each other's eyes and I leaned in, inhaling his scent. He disappeared. Edward was standing ten feet away. I could feel the hurt and shock on my face. It was exceptionally hard to see him, in his dark clothing, so late in the night, but he looked agitated, or excited.
"Sorry." I whispered.
"Wait a moment." He eventually walked, slowly back towards me.
"What did I do?"
"You smelled good."
"In a bad way, or in a good way?"
"Both. I was, overcome by thirst, momentarily." He stared at me, and the realisation of my situation began to stir up true fear. I couldn't move though. He had never seemed less human, or more beautiful.
"I'm the world's best predator aren't I? Everything about me attracts you. My smell, my voice, my appearance." He sighed. "As if I need any of that!" He ran off, at a regular pace, stopping fifty meters from me. I blinked and suddenly he was beside me. "As if you could outrun me." I sat, not leaning against the car anymore. He lifted it, with one hand, high above his head, balancing it. He then threw it, the shiny Volvo spun far off into the distance until he ran and caught it. He carried it back, settling it exactly where it had been before. He crouched beside me again.
"As if you could fight me off." He whispered. I sat, staring at him in the moonlight, my heart was pounding, though it wasn't from fear.
"Don't be afraid." He whispered. He rested his icy cold fingertips on my heart. It was pounding so loudly I was sure it was going to break.
"I'm not. Tell me; why did you run from me?"
"You know why." He said, sitting back down, resting his head against the car, a look of disgust on his face.
"No I mean, what did I do wrong exactly? I want to help make this easier." I said, smiling. He looked up at me, incredulous. "I don't have a death wish remember? I want to make this easy for both of us." His face softened and his eyes filled with that emotion again.
"It was just how close you were. Most humans are repelled by our inhumanness. And I suppose, the smell of your throat." His eyes excited again and he pressed his fingers to his temples. My mind was telling me to be scared, but my body was calm. I ducked my chin.
"Okay, no throat exposure." It worked, he laughed again. We sat there in the dark, staring at the stars, until I began to fall asleep. When I woke up, my head was in Edward's lap and he was absentmindedly stroking my hair. He was still watching the stars, whispering to himself. I sat up slowly. He looked down, smiling kind of awkwardly.
"I fell asleep." I stated, unnecessarily. He smiled less awkwardly.
"You woke up just in time. I was about to start driving you home. It's getting late." So he picked himself up and held out his hand for me. I took it and was pulled to my feet instantly. He opened the car door and shut it behind me. As we were driving back, he turned on his CD player. Claire de Lune filled the car.
"Claire de Lune?"
"You know Debussy?"
"My mother used to play a lot of classical music around the house. I know my favourites."
He hummed along with the tune, while he was driving and I drifted, unwillingly into unconsciousness again. There were so many questions I wanted to ask... But his musical voice and delightful smell, along with the quiet purr of the car, put me to sleep in mere seconds.
I dreamt of the ghost piano again, and Edward's arms tucked around me. He gently kissed my hair and I sat, content all night.
EPOV
I was driving her home when she called my name. I looked over to her, to see her asleep. She smiled, sighed and said my name again, in an almost loving tone. My heart wrenched. I wanted so badly to tell her how much I loved her. I wanted to hold her in my arms, just as I had when she fell asleep earlier tonight. It was funny. We had been staring calmly at the stars, neither of us knowing quite what to say, when her head suddenly pressed against my shoulder. It then slipped and I caught her, before she smacked into my leg. I lay her head there, stroking her hair, admiring her beauty, for almost an hour. I gazed up at the stars again.
"What god could play such an evil trick as this? Make the lion fall in love with the lamb? What evil did I do in a previous life, to have deserved this torture so thoroughly?" I was positive she couldn't hear me, but at that moment she sat up. She looked slightly confused and quite guilty.
"I fell asleep." She said. I had tried not to laugh; it was practically inevitable.
When we were in the car again I hummed along to Debussy and in seconds she was asleep again. She must feel safe and comfortable around me. Part of me hated that; I was dangerous and should be treated like the monster I am. Part of me was glad; I felt safe and comfortable around her too. I drove her straight home, gently stopping the car and getting out. I opened the door and slid my hands under her, lifting her out of the car, as gently as I could manage. She snuggled in closer to me and my heart wrenched again. I closed the door with my foot and glided as carefully as I could to the door.
I heard a car door. She's home. I heard Pete think and moments later he opened the door. He tried not to laugh as I smiled.
'Shh." I whispered. He nodded and directed me down to her room. Ali came down and had to put her hand over her mouth to stop from laughing. She followed me downstairs, opening any closed doors for me. I lay Bella on her bed as gently as possible. Her hand clutched my shirt as I tried to pull away.
"Let go Bella." I whispered.
"Why?" she asked, still sleeping.
"Because you're asleep." I reminded her. She let go. I said goodbye to Ali and Pete and left. When I got home I sat in the car for a moment. I then ran back to her house. Ali had taken Bella's shoes off and was unzipping her dress. I looked away. I sat waiting until I was sure it may be safe to look again.
"Oh, the bruises on her ribs! She is an accident magnet." Ali whispered to herself. Nice and warm. She won't need two blankets, just the one. I looked again, through the trees and saw Bella, tucked under a blanket. Ali left and I quickly let myself in. I sat on the edge of her bed, like I did most nights now, and watched her. Her makeup was still on, making her look more like a posed model, than a sleeping teenager. I sat watching her all night, admiring her even breathing, her flickering eyelids; letting me know she was dreaming. When I heard her breathing become more irregular and I saw her smile, I knew she was waking up. I abruptly left, just as silently as I arrived.
"I love you." I whispered as I left.