Sorry. Finals + Chapter that wouldn't let me make a decent transition. So... Yeah. Enjoy. Love you all.
10. Interrogations
When I woke up, I felt like I'd fallen asleep in a freezer cuddling a rock, stiff and cold. Then, Edward shifted and I could see his radiant smile and bright eyes, and it didn't matter. I tilted my head to peck his forehead for the second time, and he giggled.
"Morning, Eddy." I was glad my voice didn't break, and he didn't seem to catch on to the fact that I felt like my core body temperature had gone down thirty degrees.
"Hey, Cal." Edward said, hiding his face in my shirt. I laid there smiling like an idiot and stroking his hair for a few moments before I had to pull away.
"Stay right here, okay? I'll be right back." I instructed before crawling over him and sprinting to the bathroom. No matter how much I wanted to stay in bed, there are certain things a human body can't do. Cuddling a vampire while having a full bladder is one of those things. I breathed a sigh of relief once I was through, before washing my hands and brushing my teeth. I double rinsed with mouthwash just to be safe and combed my fingers through my hair to make it more of a styled mess. When I was satisfied, I went back into my room. Edward was still on the bed, sitting with his back against the wall. He had my pillow against his face. "What're you doing?"
"It's hard if I go without your smell for too long."
"Ten minutes is too long?" I asked. He looked up at me with sad eyes.
"I'm sorry. It's bad, isn't it?" His voice cracked. I shrugged, heading over to my closet to grab some pants.
"You need to snort my pillow. I'm fine with that. Hunh, I say we're both a little messed up. Oh well. Could be worse, I guess." I said, pulling on some jeans. I pulled off my shirt, changing into a blue tee. Edward hugged me from behind.
"I don't need your pillow – I need your smell. I need it constantly on me or it's so hard to not bite you, drink you, and kill that I can barely stand it. You have no idea how much I hate myself for that, but it's true and I've never felt like this before either." Edward sighed into my shoulder. "It's like you exist just to make me both exhilarated and miserable at the same time."
"I don't want you to be miserable." I said, leaning back against him. He tightened his hold on me.
"Then stay right here and never go anywhere ever." Edward buried his face in my hair as he spoke. I chuckled.
"Eddy, I'm not going to feel bad for going to the bathroom. And, we have mostly separate classes." I took hold of his hands. "Of course, I know exactly what we can do about this, for today, anyway."
"What's that?"
"You can just wear the clothes I was wearing yesterday. We're basically the same size, so they should fit okay, and they have my scent on them." I said, and Edward let out a soft noise somewhere between a sigh and a moan. "Eddy?"
"You are so amazing." Edward said, making me roll my eyes. "It's unnerving how easily you're able to just able to accept everything so… calmly. Anyone else would have run screaming."
"Because you have a condition?" I asked, and he started laughing.
"Did you… Did you just call me being a soulless monster… a condition? The fact that I want to kill you… to drink your blood… a condition?" He laughed as hard as I did over the banana joke.
"You are a cotton-candy person, Eddy. There's no other way to put your vampirism than you having a condition." I pulled out of his hold and turned around to face him. "You aren't going to hurt me or anyone else."
"I've killed before." He said, all traces of humor leaving his face. I shrugged, going around and picking up my clothes from before.
"When?"
"Shortly… Shortly before Rosalie joined us, before the stock market crashed, I… wasn't really all together back then." I didn't look at him as he said this, but it seemed Edward had trouble getting the words out. "I thought that Carlisle was holding me back when he was really keeping me human, and I tried to still be good even when I killed people. I stuck to eating bad people, anyway."
I stayed quiet as I thought about it, asking if something from nearly eighty years ago should matter. On one hand, murder was a big deal, even the murder of criminals. On the other, Edward was a vampire – didn't that allow for a free pass? Not a permanent one, obviously, but for something decades ago? What if I became one and had a slip-up or a moral immortal-life crisis? Human blood was their dominant food source, after all, regardless of the Cullens' decision to drink from animals instead. Even though I felt disgusted with myself for thinking of murder as a slip-up, I pushed that thought away to deal with only if becoming a vampire became a possibility. I decided I'd stick to the decade mark I'd used at the restaurant and judge Edward from that only.
I must have taken too long to respond because Edward started rambling. "You're disgusted by me, aren't you? I'm sorry. Please don't be afraid. I won't hurt you."
I shook my head, turning to look at him again. His wide, golden eyes gazed deeply into my blue ones. "No, Edward, it's fine… no, it's not fine, but I'm not going to hold it over you since it happened so long ago. But if it ever happens again…"
"It won't! I don't want to do it again. I don't want to disappoint Carlisle, and I haven't ever done it since. Haven't even been tempted until you… stepped inside the biology classroom…" Edward trailed off, and I relaxed. If he hasn't been tempted to kill anyone but me in more than fifty years, then I had nothing to worry about. "So… you're not upset with me?"
"Well, it happened before I was born, so I don't think it's something I can even be upset over, you know? You can't change the past." I handed him my clothes. "Now, get dressed, okay? I'm going to go get some breakfast."
"Wait for me. I want to watch." Edward turned away and started to undo his shirt. I chuckled and headed for the door.
"I'll just start fixing it. That'll take a couple minutes." I said, before heading downstairs. When I got in the kitchen, I opened the breadbox to fix some toast. I turned to the toaster and Edward was sitting on the counter. "Damn, you're fast."
He smiled shyly, biting on his lip. I put the bread in the toaster, before I hopped up next to him. Our shoulders bumped against each other, and I rubbed the back of his hand with one finger. "So, Eddy, we've got an hour before we have to leave for school. What do you want to do?"
"What do you usually do?" Edward asked with his eyes fixed on my hand.
"Toast and Frasier." I said. Edward frowned.
"Who's Frasier?"
"A radio psychiatrist whose dad's a former cop. The show is a spin-off of Cheers. You might like it. You kind of remind me of his brother, Niles, a little." I hopped off the counter and got out a plate. The toast popped and I poured a glass of milk. We moved to the couch, and Edward laid his head in my lap while we watched and I ate. Edward ran out of the house after I finished eating to go get his books. I gathered my stuff together for school, and, at exactly the time my foot stepped outside the door, Edward's Volvo eased to a stop behind my truck.
"I was hoping it would be okay if I drove you today?" Edward called, smile on his face. I shrugged, heading over. I got in and threw my bag into the backseat.
"What about your siblings?" I asked as I started fiddling with his radio. Edward playfully batted my hand away, taking hold of it and running his thumb along the back.
"Rosalie's driving them in her car today." He answered and started driving. It didn't take long at all for us to reach the school, and I felt myself grinning as I saw the car we pulled in next to.
"That's her car? Dude! I don't even like cars and I know that's awesome." I exclaimed, getting out and just gazing at the beautiful, red convertible. I was pretty sure it was from build around the same year as my truck, though the paint job made it look so much better. I just stood staring at it, imagining how my truck would look if I got it painted that darker, glossier shade. I probably would have stared at it all day, but Edward pulled and pushed my arms until my backpack was on and then all but dragged me away.
"It's not that nice." He huffed, and I shook my head, unable to contain my amusement.
"Are you… jealous? Of a car?" I teased, not missing his pout. Edward pushed me in the direction of the English building, before stalking off to his Calculus class. I called out after him, "Oh, come on, Eddy! You're the only car for me!"
He scowled back in my direction, and I added, "Don't tell my truck I said that! She's still pissy I let you drive her!"
That got a smile out of him, and we waved at each other before going our separate ways. I was immediately greeted with the sight of Mike and Eric having matching grins on their faces when I passed building two.
"So, you and Cullen do it last night?" Eric asked, waggling his eyebrows. Mike punched my shoulder.
"Dude, you tapped that, right? Come on, tell us." He grinned and I shook my head.
"Nope."
"But you came in together, and that whole thing out front!" Mike protested. I groaned.
"You saw that?"
"Yep, and so did Jess. Prepare to be jumped for every last little detail." Mike said. I groaned again, rubbing my forehead. I knew he'd be right, and when I got to Trigonometry, it came true. Jessica cornered me, pushing our desks together when Mr. Varner decided to have us work in groups.
"Nothing happened."
"Something happened. Now spill." Jessica ordered, and I shook my head.
"Nothing. No kissing, no sex, no love confession. Well, handholding and we're dating officially, but nothing else. No stories for you." I assured her, and she smirked.
"Sure, but you're not getting any either." Jessica giggled, and we started working on the assignment. We kept it up for ten minutes, before Jessica looked up at me again. "So, you think you're going to be getting anywhere soon?"
"Why is everyone interested? You, Eric, Mike. Come on, Jess, what's the big deal?"
"Well, it's like… Edward is a dick to everyone, even you. Then he just up and starts being interested? And, it's been two years and he's not been into anyone before, period. You're our friend, Cal. We just want to make sure he's good for you." Jessica said, before her look turned sly. "Besides, I don't know about those guys, but Angela and I both want deets on you guys because, you know."
"Oh, you girls and your hot, gay fantasies. Yeah, I get it. But, he wasn't a dick after my first day. He's just shy and didn't want to talk at school. Everything is going good." I twirled my pencil and wondered if Edward was listening to the conversation. "I'm liking where we're at. Sure, I wouldn't mind a kiss, but this is good pacing. Yeah."
"Well, if you're sure." Jessica trailed off, and I nodded. We remained on task for the rest of the class. When lunch rolled around, we walked into the cafeteria together. Edward waved me over to our table, where he had a tray of food already sitting in front of him. I headed over and plopped down.
"Hey, babe. Fancy seeing you here." I said, reaching over and stealing a French fry. Edward stared at me with a pout. "What? It's not like you were eating it."
"You called me a… you know." He mumbled.
"Well, you were." I said, and he scooted his chair closer to me.
"I said I was sorry." He laid his head on his hands and looked up at me through his lashes. It was effective, and I tilted my head down to kiss his forehead. He covered his face and looked away after. I ate some more fries.
"So, you were listening in?"
"…yes."
"It's fine, Eddy. I figured you would be. So… not long at all until Saturday. You wanna tell me what we'll be doing?"
"Nope." Edward answered, smug grin 0n his face. He pushed the tray in front of me, so I started eating the chicken nuggets he'd gotten me.
"God, these are good." I moaned, chewing slower. Edward's grin grew wider. "Thank you, Edward Mason Cullen, I will follow you forever."
"You better," Edward laid his head on my shoulder, "Callisto William Swan."
"Shh, I'm trying to keep my stupid name secret." I bit into another nugget.
"I like your name. It's different, like you." He pulled back with a genuine smile. "How did your parents come up with it?"
"Callisto was my mom's grandfather. William is from my dad's best friend, Billy Black. Jake's middle name is Charles. Dude, if my dad wasn't straight, I'd swear he and Billy were secretly dating. Oh, that reminds me. I've got to be back for dinner on Saturday. Family thing Dad sprung on me last night before you got back." I said. Edward nodded, small pout on his face. "You can last a couple hours without me."
"But I don't want to." His pout grew bigger, and I was glad that our table faced the wall. I didn't want anyone else to see that expression on his face. I kissed his forehead again.
"I'm sure your own family would enjoy seeing you for a change."
"Fine." Edward laid his head on my shoulder again, and I finished up my lunch.