Chapter 9 - Thoughts and Opinions

Author's Notes: I own nothing but the storyline, the mistakes, and Richie.

Edward ended up speeding home faster than normal, eager to get back to the majority and entirety of his family. In an odd move for the vampire, he'd actually ended up avoiding the thoughts of his family on the subject of him and Richie while the human boy was there; as it was, most of his thoughts had been focused on the teenager while he was there to really be bothered over their thoughts on the matter, anyway. Now that Richie was no longer present, he wanted to hear their thoughts on him, though straight from their mouths instead of in their heads.

He came to a stop before the Cullen mansion, and he and Alice were both at the entrance before their car doors were even fully shut. They both came to a halt in the living room, where the family was already gathered, waiting for their return. At the silence, Edward took a deep, steadying breath, unable to keep the nervous, yet excited, smile off his face.

"So...what do you think of him?"

Richie sank onto his couch in his living room, the scent of a freshly-struck match used to light a cinnamon-vanilla candle still hanging in the air. He had absolutely no idea as to what to think anymore. What to feel.

He wasn't always the most confident individual in the world, that much was for certain, and he hadn't had much in himself in the past few months. For getting thrown out by his parents for telling them an important part about himself and not getting unconditional love in return would let anyone's self-worth take a hit. But, he was getting better and back to his old ways, standing up for what he believed was right, regardless of the consequences.

And then Edward Cullen had to walk into his life and completely, utterly upend it more than it already was.

Nothing made any sort of sense anymore. His body was betraying him at the most inopportune moments, shivering and stumbling at the worst possible times, and he found himself stuttering, blushing, and becoming nervous a lot easier than what he was actually accustomed or used to. Words just tumbled out of his mouth without him thinking them through, or when he finally had an intelligent response to say, his throat would close, the words blocked up a lump. The effect was driving him completely insane, for there was nothing he could really do about it. The Cullen family were the first people in recent memory to show him any form of outward compassion since his arrival in Forks, and he'd go so far as to consider them friends of his. Alice (and if he any form of say in the matter, definitely Edward) already was, after all. He couldn't, and most certainly wouldn't, turn away from them, just because he was dealing with issues that he had no experience in dealing with.

At her youngest son's question, Esme was the first to break, entirely unable to hold her response in, even though her already-beaming smile spoke volumes about the boy in question. "Oh, Edward, he's wonderful! Very polite and a kind and compassionate individual."

Carlisle smiled, putting an arm around his wife's shoulders. "I'm very happy for you, son."

Emmett smirked widely. "He seems cool enough. Little on the shy side, though." He nudged Alice with his elbow, sending her a wink. "You and I are gonna have to work on that." His sister beamed at him before turning back to Edward, her opinion of Richie long since been obvious and she had no reason to speak up.

As such, the bronze-haired vampire turned to the final two silent ones- Jasper and Rosalie. The male of the blonds was the first one to speak. "I can't get anything from him, but it's obvious from the way he acts around you that this is...right." He smiled lightly. "How it's supposed to be. And if it's how it's supposed to be, then you have my blessing. I'm happy for you."

Edward smiled at him in return, but then steeled himself, for Rosalie was up next. And the blonde met his stare with an equal amount of silence. Though, finally, she let out the softest of sighs. "Are you sure - and I mean absolutely sure - that this is it? The real thing? That he's your mate?"

There was only a moment of hesitation before Edward nodded resolutely. His reply, so low and almost vulnerable, was another change not to be taken lightly. "He is, Rose. I know it."

She stared only a few seconds more before a small smile cracked her flawless mask. "...then I'm happy for you, Edward."

At that, her youngest brother let out a small laugh of relief and, before she could even react, had swept her up into a brief, though tight. hug. Her eyes widened at the unusual display of affection from her reserved brother, as did the eyes of everyone else in the room.

Proof that not only Richie was changing Edward, but that it was clearly already happening.

When he pulled away, Rosalie poked him in the chest with a perfect fingernail, still with a small smile on her face. "But, if he hurts you, I'm tearing him into pieces so small that no one will ever be able to find him whole again."

In response, Edward simply grinned, because only from Rosalie's mouth could that sound like something meant to be endearing.

Richie swiped his glasses off his face, scrubbing at his brown eyes, hoping that would relieve some of the tension he was feeling, and the headache he was undoubtedly going to have if he kept up his train of thought. Because when he took a step back, no matter how brief, all of his bodily responses and actions pointed to one thing. And that was that he liked Edward. A very attractive and interesting guy.

That was more than likely straighter than a board. And, Richie's feelings, the way he felt and the way he simply reacted to the mysterious amber-eyed man. He could tell that his feelings were more than that, there was no way they couldn't be.

If only he knew what provoked this sort of reaction in him. Maybe a spell? A love spell of some sort, cast on him to make him fall all over the tall, lanky male, in the hopes of... In hopes of what? Who would cast such a thing on him? His friends back home would do something like that, but only for short bursts of time, not days on end and let him develop the feelings to this intensity, for it would only hurt him and cause a rift in their friendship when the spell wore off. The only other feasible reason was that someone was onto him, but then it would raise a whole host of other questions. Who was it? Again, for what purpose would they do this to him? How did they know he was a wizard? After all, he'd been incredibly, almost rigidly, careful about using any form of magic.

This situation was growing more and more complicated with every passing second.

Which is why he focused on something completely and utterly unrelated to Edward and his family. His own situation and living in Forks.

Once he was thrown out by his parents, they'd given him five thousand dollars, and the key to a small one-bedroom house they owned across the country if he never so much as showed his face again. He'd been living comfortably, but the money was almost half gone, and he wasn't the type of person to just sit and wait for the money to dry up before he did something about it. He'd resigned himself to looking for a job when he first got here, and had been putting it off for as long as he could stand it. That time had come, and he was going to plaster his name all over town until he got a callback.

Lying in bed that night, doing some light reading by candlelight, Richie mused on the earlier events of the day. A callback actually came a lot quicker than he thought it would've. In fact, the entire thing came together a lot quicker than he thought it would, since he actually had a job. Granted, it was a part time position working as a cashier at a gas station on the edge of town, but it was better than nothing. Maybe something outside of school would focus his attentions away from a certain bedroom-haired male at school. At least in a more than friendly way.

One could hope, right?

In truth, even while applying for the jobs, he found himself thinking of the lanky, amber-eyed man. Wondering if he'd like the position he was in? Would he come and visit? How would he react when he told him? But, then again, those were things a friend would worry about with another friend. Or, at least that's what the boy was trying to force himself into thinking. And, all things considered, it was actually going well. At least he thought so. He hadn't daydreamed about Edward's lips since going out. Hadn't thought about what they'd feel like pressed against his own. Hadn't thought of him shirtless. Or what those amber eyes looked like first thing in the morning. Or if his hair looked just as messy when he rolled out of bed than it did at any other point in the day.

Just friends. Right.

"Indecisiveness is like living on a roller coaster. You go side to side, up and down, even upside down and right side up, but always you end up right back where you started from. The question is whether you choose to step off the roller coaster or choose to go for yet another ride."

Esme's words continued to echo through Edward's mind as he sat in a small, but comfortable, chair in the dimly lit room, amber eyes taking in every little thing about the space. The bed sat in the center of the room, large enough to house two people, but was currently only housing one form, huddled under the blankets. A television stand stood directly to his right, with a DVD player sitting on top of it. Next to the television sat a cardboard box, opened and housing a mixture of CDs and DVDs. He'd have to thumb through that next time he was here. A small lamp sat on a dresser directly across from him, as did a small collection of various ChapSticks and body sprays. An alarm sat on the nightstand next to the bed, blinking the time 3:42AM back at him as the candle continue to burn, letting off a scent of cinnamon and vanilla that the vampire would imagine as pleasing to some humans. A book lay next to the bed, half open, clearly having slipped out of the slumbering boy's hand. The vampire had gently removed his glasses without waking him soon after he had arrived, setting them on the dresser before admiring the young human's face in slumber. It struck him just how astoundingly young the male looked, compared to how he was during the day, as if a giant weight had been lifted off his shoulders when he went to sleep at night.

It made Edward want to know just what that weight was. And, if he had his way, he'd find out what it was. He's wasn't going to be indecisive anymore.

He vowed that he'd be laying in that bed with him, holding his adorable boy in his arms, and making Alice's vision come true.