Chapter 25

Peter walked Alexandra to the door as Seth gave Luciana a kiss goodnight before heading back to his mother's house. Luciana smiled and quickly went inside as Peter gave her a friendly nod goodbye. She closed the door behind her and Peter smiled at Alexandra.

"Thank you for the date," he said with a grin that made his dimples stand out in the darkness.

"Thank you for asking," she responded, tucking a few strands of hair behind her ears.

"Would it be possible to get together again?"

"Yes. Definitely," she told him with a smile.

"Great."

"I can maybe go up your way next time."

He shrugged, "I can come down here. Change of scenery. Besides I'd hate to have you be the one to travel all that way."

She continued to smile, "It would really be no problem. I could go up with William or something."

Peter shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans, "We'll talk about it, but I could never make a lady work to see me."

Alexandra giggled and Peter held is arms out to the sides for a hug. She tried to play it smooth, though inside she wanted to jump up and down as their bodies connected briefly. He gently rubbed her back before parting from her.

"Well, goodnight," he said.

"Goodnight," she smiled, secretly hoping he would have tried to kiss her, but elated all the same for the hug and plan for another chance to hang out with him.

He looked over his shoulder as he wandered toward the trees and waved once more before disappering.

Alexandra felt a certain high from his presence and wandered inside with a big smile. Luciana sat on the couch, waiting to hear of any details.

"Well..." she asked.

"We just hugged... and he's going to come back down to see me again soon."

Luciana smiled and giggles escaped both of their mouths as they continued to chat about Peter.

Carlisle had heard her come in and stopped for a moment from what he was doing to take a look at the clock on the wall in his office. "Ten twenty-five," he said to himself, flipping the page of the book he was reading.

Downstairs, he heard Michael enter through the front door and exchange a few words with Alexandra before making his way up to where Carlisle was expecting him.

"Hey," he waved in the open door.

Carlisle sat up strait and waited for him to say something.

"I've never seen him before," Michael told him, "Never. I don't recognize his scent either."

"Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome," his response was low and melancholy in it's tone.

"Is everything alright?"

Michael shrugged, "I guess. I mean, yeah, nothing's happened." He started to walk away.

"Michael..." Carlisle called.

He stepped back into the frame of the door.

"You don't have to feel alone, you know. You can stay here whenever you want, and if you're at all having trouble adjusting to something, any one of us can help you... or try our best to."

"Thanks," he said with a closed mouth smile, "I know. You've all been great to me. It's not that. I'm just... I don't know."

Carilsle was about to push the issue, but could tell Michael didn't seem quite on the same page to open up.

"Is it okay if I watch TV downstairs?"

"Yeah. Of course. Make yourself at home."

He nodded again, "Thanks."

Michael walked down the stairs and looked over at Alexandra gushing over Peter with Luciana listening on. They laughed over and over before recognizing he was there. Luciana was beginning to consider him like a brother, having spent many days with him down at Jasper and Alice's second home.

"Michael.. I was going to say something when you walked in," she said, "How come you never come around here anymore?"

He shrugged, "I'm starting to feel a little better about things, so maybe I'll start sticking around." He looked at Alexandra with a smile, "I hear you've been getting good at soccer."

"Yep," she grinned, "I bet I could out juggle you."

He laughed, "I don't think so. We should have a competition soon."

"You're on," she agreed.

"Hey," Jasper called, entering the living room, "Want to shoot some pool stranger?"

Michael looked at the girls before giving him a nod, "Sure." He made his way after Jasper down the hall and looked back, making eye contact briefly with Alexandra as he went.

"I love his accent," Alexandra told Luciana quietly.

"It's cute," she admitted, "So do you now have two guys on the brain?"

She snickered, "I haven't seen Michael in awhile, so I guess I wasn't quite old enough before to appreciate his...hmm.. what's the word?"

"Hotness...?"

They both laughed and Alexandra smiled, "I just can't stop thinking about Peter."

Peter made his way through the trees and into a clearing before wandering into a small Canadian town. He found a random pay phone and punched in Olivia's number, looking around him as he did.

"Hello?" Her voice questioned.

"It's me," he said.

"What's the story?" she asked.

"I've more or less got this in the bag," he told her with a arrogant laugh, "Alexandra's in her earliest stages of falling for me. We went out with Luciana and her boyfriend there tonight. He's a wolf, so that means Alice's gift won't work when we're with him. She won't be able to see a clear picture of what happens when we're all together. My plan is to continue these cute double dates before I really get a chance to grab Luciana without them thinking twice about it. I need to establish that trust so they won't come looking for either of us right away. I'd like to get a long head start."

"So you couldn't have grabbed her tonight?"

"Olivia," Peter said, "I have this under control. You said as long as it takes right? Well, your package will soon be delivered. Trust me... I've come this far and got two families to trust me. I need a few more weeks or so.. could be more or less, but I'm guessing two weeks."

"You've got two weeks to please me, Peter," Olivia's voice came. She then let out a light laugh, "I trust you fully, my evil genius."