Chapter 27
I sat at the kitchen peninsula and glanced at the darkened skies outside, before focusing back on Esme's form, washing dishes. "I really like the marble, but it has such a slick finish I think it might not be good for the bathroom." She turned toward me, drying her hands. "What do you think?"
"I don't know." I muttered, glancing at the sample book, which weighed an awful lot for a book. I was no decorator, but Esme seemed to want me to be. I glanced at the pages carefully. "This one is pretty." I muttered, taking in a simple porcelain tile.
"Hmm," Esme's voice was over my shoulder. "I guess it is nice dear." Esme studies it. "Perhaps with some nice accent pieces to liven it up, it would work." I watched her wander off with the big book in her hands. "Oh, Alice should be ready soon." Esme gave me a small smile.
"I can't believe we are leaving so early." I never considered dates something one would have to wake up before the sun for, but Alice wanted to be on the very first ferry to Victoria. She also found a faster ferry, of course. We'd be there quicker than she'd have even been able to drive to Seattle, speeding the whole way.
My boss had given me the day off at the first hint that I had plans. I was only going to ask for a few hours off, to not cut into my paycheck too much, but apparently my plans for the day were so amazing even my boss thought I should start early. I was going to have to ask Esme if I could do my laundry at her place, but that on top of being able to eat breakfast meant I could skip lunch once in a while and still be okay. I sighed at that thought, thinking about how the vampires fed me at school and if they'd think I was nothing but a begging dog if I didn't at least buy some of my meal myself.
Being at their house was getting easier and easier. It had been a week since I told them about the imprint, and other than a few searching glances from various vampires when they thought I wouldn't notice, no one was saying anything, or at least talking about it with me. Alice was treated me as normally as she could, and I was grateful for that.
The breeze smelled wonderful, so I wasn't surprise to look up and see my vampire come to a stop in front of me. "You've eaten, good." Alice grabbed my hand. "I wish you'd come over early enough for me to do your hair, but we can't miss the ferry."
"I do need some sleep you know." I told her with a soft smile, even if she didn't see it because she was too busy leading me out of the house. "And I'll need to eat and go to the bathroom. Don't forget water, and I may even need to sit down occasionally."
"Yes, yes, you're limited. I got it." She gave me a teasing smile back and opened a car door. "But I thought a big bad wolf would be able to keep up with a little ol vampire."
"You mean the littlest vampire, don't you?" I moved my leg quickly as she slammed the car door. "The tiny tiniest?" I spoke even as she darted around the car to get into the driver's side. "the itsy bitsiest?"
"Shut it wolf." She spoke as the garage door opened, and I laughed just a little.
She pulled out of the garage with confidence, her car moving smoothly toward the road. I found my eyes closing slowly and did my best to stay awake. "Sleep puppy." I heard a soft whisper and closed my eyes.
I had been to Victoria before, which was why I suggested it. Alice seemed to be so eager I wondered if she'd be willing to jump out of the ferry and swim to shore, once we were within sight of the dock. I smiled at her, and shook my head when she wasn't looking. She wanted shopping to work as a date so badly that I was going to do what I could to make it work for her, even if that was reining her in so she didn't shop like a woman possessed.
"Last time I was here it was with my mom." I smiled softly at the memory. I stared out the window at what I could see of Victoria, and then glanced at Alice again. She had a slight frown on her face. "It was a mother daughter thing, mom liked to drag me out once in a while just the two of us." My voice was a touch harsher. "My father wasn't really all that fun to be around at the best of times. He didn't have patience for shopping, didn't like amusement parks, didn't like most movies. Trying to find something fun to do with him was pretty impossible most of the time." Alice's frown just grew a little, it was still subtle, but I could tell she was concerned. I smiled at her. "I wanted to share this place with you. I loved it here. It is so close to home, but it feels like another country. I mean, I know Canada is, but this is about as close to Europe as I ever expected to be. I can almost pretend it's England."
"England isn't as clean." Alice squeezed my hand and then started to move towards the exit with me. "But there is a flavor of it here, I can see that too."
"Have you ever been there?" I asked, remembering that she'd been around a while. It was hard to remember sometimes, because she looked younger than I did.
"For a little while, but I preferred France. Better shops." Her smile was infectious and I could see her running from shop to shop and completely ignoring the Eiffel Tower.
It was still early, so a few shops were just opening. We walked along narrow roads, and past statues and buildings very different from home. "Before I knew the old legends were true, I thought it would be cool to be a vampire." I admitted as we walked passed a store with old movie posters in the window. Dracula stared out at us. "Either a vampire or a witch." I gave a half grimace and rolled my eyes. "I thought werewolves were stupid, and who'd want all that fur?"
"This was you as a kid right?" Alice laughed just a little.
"Actually it was last year." I admitted and tried to ignore the blush on my face. "I read a lot of fantasy books." Alice's laugh grew a little in volume and I just made a big deal of a heavy sigh to show how put upon I was.
"Aw, my little furball." Alice teased me and I took it as stoically as I could. I only stuck my tongue out at her when she started laughing again.
It was early afternoon when we walked into another shop and I enjoyed looking around with Alice, and all the energy she had for this. I followed her and discussed clothing the best I could, which wasn't all that great, because I grew up on Goodwill and hand me downs from my older cousins. Alice was looking at shoes when the sound of a growl had her looking towards me. I blushed and glanced down at my stomach as if it had betrayed me.
"Sorry." I muttered and looked back up. I felt the need to say more when a somewhat sad look crossed her face. "I forgot to stop for lunch." It had been my responsibility to remember that after all, since I was the only one to need food. I could tell she was almost blaming herself for not feeding me, but I was able to speak up, I just hadn't. I glanced at the clock in the store and it was just after two o'clock.
"How do you forget?" Alice asked, sounding truly puzzled.
"I was having too much fun." I blushed a little, thinking of watching her model outfits that looked so amazing on her. She smiled at me, almost as if she knew what I was thinking, but then turned and picked up all the bags.
"Well, it's lunch time now." She seemed to bounce out of the store, but I caught the look back.
"How about we start here after lunch?" I offered and watched Alice smile again, and seem to bounce just a little in happiness. She called me puppy, but she was the one that moved like a puppy.
It was a light rain outside, and I ignored it as we made our way back down the street towards a few restaurants. It would be nice to come here on a beautiful day, but then Alice would need to stay inside, so I dealt with the rain.
"Um, Alice." I spoke quietly, as I noticed a few eyes following us. I looked over at her and could see why they watched. "I think we're carrying too many bags." It had to look odd that we could even do it. I didn't feel a burden, but I wondered if I were human if my back would be aching.
"Just a little further. I saw a mailing store on this street earlier." Alice muttered and I watched her pretend to have to shift her bags. It reminded me to look more burdened by the bags I was carrying, mostly her bags, but she did buy me a few outfits.
I was a bit surprised at how much she was willing to pay to ship our purchases home, and I guess it showed, because she whispered to me as the clerk started to box them up. "I still want to look around." I sighed, before stopping myself, and she gave me a gentle smile that had my heart beating a little faster. "I know, I promised shopping wouldn't be the whole date, so we're done with that."
"I don't mind shopping with you." I gave her a soft smile of my own. I did have fun, it's just hard to shop when you can't really have much. I should have said no to the few purchases Alice made for me, I had no place for them, but I couldn't look at everything and not want some of it. It was getting easier to let her pay, than protest, because money never seemed to mean anything to her but my not accepting the occasional gift upset her.
I was technically homeless, and I had more new clothes in that shack than I'd ever had in my life. Occasionally I'd get an outfit new, when I was younger, but never more than that. And those outfits that hadn't already gone through my cousins first, I wore out, because they were really just mine.
"That's good." Alice smiled and wrapped an arm around my hip while we walked, bumping my hip with her own. "Because any girlfriend of mine would have to like shopping." I felt like it was hard to breath as her scent enveloped me and her words washed over me. Girlfriend, she really was considering this with me. I hoped my answering smile wasn't too dorky.
I watched where we were walking and noticed how people got out of our way so smoothly some might not even notice it. I knew better to say anything about it, because it was likely instinctive on their part, but it did make it hard to be polite about it all, as they parted for us. "I was thinking maybe you could start keeping some clothes in my closet. Then you'd have to come over before school, and I could do your hair and makeup." I glanced at her again, and she wasn't bothering to watch where we were walking, she was watching me. I gave her a small smile, thinking of spending more alone time with her, even if it was so she could do make overs. She seemed to love doing them, and I liked how her scent clung to me for hours after she did.
"So if we aren't shopping, do you want to look at a museum, go hiking," Alice gave a small frown, as the ideas that weren't shopping were limited. I really didn't know what to do either, other than just walk around and talk with her. I glanced at my watch and noticed we had three hours until we needed to catch the ferry back.
Chapter 28
We found ourselves on a bench overlooking the water. I watched the birds dive to try and catch their own lunch in the water. "Ever eat bird?" I asked quietly, imagining my vampire leaping at a bird.
"Too small." Alice told me and I looked over at her to see her smile at me. "Yes, even for me they are too small." I blushed as she anticipated my teasing.
We sat quietly for a little while and I spent way too much time debating and plotting, as I found myself scooting in small increments closer to her. Her scent was pleasantly flowing through the breeze in the air. Being taller, even sitting, it wasn't hard to move my arm to rest on the bench behind her. Once I had done that I froze and watched her smirk.
"At least you didn't pretend to yawn." Alice teased and I blushed, but she moved to rest her head on my shoulder. I don't think I had ever felt so complete, so content, as I did staring out at the Canadian port with Alice cuddled up to me. The humans might have been looking, but I didn't care. I bent my head and took a large and obvious sniff of her hair.
"You make me feel like a flower." Alice spoke softly and I couldn't help but give her a gentle smile. She was a flower, an undying and beautiful winter flower. Her turning into my body and taking a deep and obvious sniff of her own shocked me. "This is enough right, we don't have to do that dog greeting do we?"
I barked out a sudden shocked laugh as I caught on to her joke. "No, no, it's way too soon for that one. I should date you a little longer first." I teased back, but I blushed at my own joke. She looked like she would be blushing as well if she could.
"You smell so good." Alice spoke, ignoring my comment after a moment. "Maybe if I just get used to it I'll handle it better." She took another sniff and I knew my scent was changing with each sniff she took. I blushed and tried to think of more innocent things. Eventually she stopped sniffing and stared at the water with me again.
"This is nice." I spoke into the silence between us after I had no idea how long. I glanced at the sidewalk nearby and a few people did glance at us, but we were safe from harassment. We were rather scary to the humans without even trying, especially my tiny vampire. Of course, I knew that if anyone gave us trouble it wasn't the vampire they'd need to worry about. I wasn't sure I had the control to not get angry if someone said something bad to Alice.
We started to talk about small things. I found out she had actually had a job in fashion for a while, but since she looked so young she couldn't stay long enough to get anywhere. She'd been to college a few times, as an Art major, a Fashion major, a Psychology major, and more. It got me thinking about what I should do with my forever, at her side.
"You dress better than a teenager, you could pass for older. Why do you even bother with high school?" I knew if she went to high school, I couldn't be a college student. The apparent age difference would make me look like a pedophile. If she were in high school I sure as hell couldn't be a college graduate, that would be illegal in everyone's eyes.
"Edward looks young, and he can't pass for all that much older. The younger we all start, the longer we can live in one place before moving." Alice spoke softly and I sighed heavily, even knowing it wasn't the polite response.
"I don't think I can pass for seventeen." I spoke quietly. "I 'aged' in a way when I became wolf. I mean, if you didn't know how old I was, what would you guess it was?" I looked over at her and watched her study me. The slight frown was my answer.
"Well, with the right clothes and makeup we could enroll you as a senior again. You're getting away with that now." She answered. Joy, forever a senior in high school, I thought with a little bitterness, but I nodded. "I'm thinking of college again after I graduate this time." Alice spoke more gently, and I got the impression she understood a bit.
"Maybe I'll manage a scholarship by then." I offered, trying to hold onto some hope. She at least seemed to understand that I couldn't let myself age anymore.
"Oh I don't think money will be an issue." She gave me a small smile and I was almost ready to protest the Cullen scholarship program when she turned to look at the water. "Oh look, our ferry is back. We better get going."
"I don't even know what I'd want to major in." I complained quietly, even though I really did want to be the first in my family to ever go to college.
"It doesn't matter what you major in." Alice told me and I frowned at that thought. It should matter, shouldn't it? "This first time, you should just major in being a college student, and having fun. It isn't like you won't be able to go back to college again, and you don't need to build a 'career' that way. We can't, in fact, build a career. It takes time and if you are staying as close to my age as you can…" Her eyes looked apologetic. "Well, I never get more than three years in a career, before I have to start high school again. I push it as much as I can, but I just can't pass for over twenty five." As we walked she sighed. "You have a larger range, I can see that. With the right clothes and attitude you could probably do from eighteen to thirty, but I do fifteen to twenty five."
"And if I tried to do thirty when you were doing fifteen," I gave her a grimace, and then a smile, trying to lighten this conversation. "I'd be doing 5 to 10 in prison, making you fifteen yet again."
Alice leaned into me and took my arm. "We'll figure it all out. Right now, we're the right ages, and we'll worry about the rest later." At first I felt like the huge issue was being swept away, but then I realized she planned to work on it later. I gave her a hug, even as we walked. Part of her, at least, was imagining a future with me.
When we got back to Port Angeles the sun was just starting to set. "I'm sure Esme made dinner." Alice spoke as the ferry docked, and I nodded, but something was bothering me. It had started to nag at me as we headed back, and just grew stronger. Something was off, and I frowned just a little because I had no hint as to what it was. I guess Alice saw it, because she glanced around and then leaned into me, whispering. "What is it?"
"I don't know." I sighed heavily, as my nerves got worse. "Something's off, and I don't know what it is."