I smirked. "Dark red sounds nice." He smirked too, a naughty sort. What on earth was he thinking?
The Underground Chapter Seven
I insisted on helping Edward work on the building. Since there wasn't much I could do, I swept up the rubble and threw it out while he whizzed from wall to wall. Some things were heavy but I was managing until I realized I felt off. Am I going to faint? No, I just feel like I'm going to fall down. I took a deep breath and noticed an underlying feeling of nausea. I let go of what I was holding and sat down next to it. Across the room was Edward setting up new lighting. It was amazing. All he had to do to learn how to do that was a quick google search.
I powered through a few more hours, took meal breaks throughout the day until it was bedtime for the human. I was exhausted. I got rid of only half of the garbage but I knew it'd be gone in the morning or more accurately in a few hours. He led me up the stairs, hugging me close. I felt like he appreciated I tried to help nonetheless.
"You haven't seen the bed, have you?" He started.
"No, I didn't-" We turned at a corner and there was a king size canopy bed sitting within a gazebo-like structure jutting out from the ground into the ceiling with a shroud of beads and sheer red curtains around it. The bed's red satin bedding and the warm yellow lighting pulled me into a sea of fantasies in my head.
"Do you like it?" Edward when I hadn't spoken.
"Um..."
"I chose the bed but I'd like you to choose some furniture as well," He said.
"Oh..." I mumbled and made my way into the structure through an opening on the right. By the time I got to the bed, Edward was already sitting there with a few thick catalogs in hand.
"I love the red," I said, taking off my shoes and getting comfortable for bed.
"I think it would go well with this," He proceeded to show me a two-page spread of a bedroom decorating idea.
"I like this sofa," I said, pointing to a black baroque sofa. "I like things like this," I admitted. It was a bit of a secret.
"I like it too." He said, smiling fondly.
"D-does your room look like this?" I asked.
"Somewhat. Everything is kept simple so it was easier to pack up and go for when we had to move again." He explained.
"Oh. Is it comforting to have a bit of the era you're from around you?"
"I would say it's more that I'm influenced, so I choose things like this. You?"
"I don't know. I'm an old soul I guess," I said blushing. "It's...beautiful. Do you miss the era you're from?"
"...I'm not sure. I don't have many ties to it and the technological advancements since then are convenient."
"Are the-Is being a witness of the changing times weird?"
"Lonely. Odd. I had to adapt along with the rest of my family which made it easier in some ways but the loneliness was always there. That I was always different from those my age and that fact becomes more ever-present." And here I was thinking it must be great to be a vampire.
"Yeah, I can see that." I looked away from him back to catalog.
"Can you understand?" He asked after I flipped to the next page.
"Well. I'm not pretending to know exactly what that's like, but I do know what it's like to have always stood out from the others, to have always been different and everyone knowing it, avoiding you." I flipped to the next page hoping to move on from that topic. He was silent for a moment, watching me I think, but I pretended I didn't noticed and kept looking over the glossy pages.
Thankfully we returned to the task at hand. At some point I found myself leaning against him, fighting to stay awake. When I woke up it was morning so I must have fallen asleep right after that point. I went downstairs and like I thought, all the rubble was gone and the second floor was pretty much done.
"Good morning," I said to him.
"Good morning." He repeated with a smile. As formal as our interactions were for the most part, maybe it was all of them, I felt a warmth from them. Breakfast was delivered by a scared man, most likely afraid of the area itself, and I ate.
My job today was to wait for delivery persons bringing the black and red paint and furniture. They brought the boxes to the apartment, assembled the furniture, and threw out the mess the process made. I gave them the hefty tips Edward had for them, and they left happily. They treated me like I was the mistress of the house which was an odd experience. I didn't own the place, it belonged to Edward. But if I was going to live here, I swore to myself I would pay that back by helping as much as I could for however long. A few years, or forever. I would love it if I was here forever.
While Edward finished up the second floor, I painted the pillars in the studio apartment black and the walls of the bedroom red. The rest of the place would remain somewhat the same, black couch set with white walls, only a few of the walls were covered in black wallpaper with a rococo design which would be offset with some red and gold in the room.
At the end of the day, I noticed his eyes were darker even though it had been two days since he last fed. How often did a vampire have to eat? Back at the resort, he said he could go without for a while but I doubted it.
"You know, if you need to feed, w-whenever you need to, you can take it." I told him. He gripped the back of my neck and pulled me back on to the bed and hovered over my body. He lowered his head but then chuckled at my ear.
"So eager," I blushed but pouted. He pinched my bottom lip with his thumb against his knuckle and said,
"Disappointed?" I narrowed my eyes at his smirk.
"You lose too." His smirk softened into a smile and he explained.
"I can't do it often. It takes four to six weeks for the body to replenish the blood. I should wait for eight to be safe." He said, sounding unsure. Eight weeks? That's...two months, what will he do until then?
"But won't you be starving by then?"
"I would need to feed four times between now and then, but there are animals and...other humans." That was what I didn't want to hear.
"You'll kidnap another?" I asked softly.
"...no. I would just be in passing one night." I was completely against it and not because another person would be victimized.
"Edward-"
"It's my concern." My mouth clamped shut then.
"I need a bath," I said and pushed off the bed.
"Don't wet your hair. Please." He said. I stopped but kept going after that.
I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom while the tub filled up with water, about to put up my hair as I usually did. I already did that, wash my hair once or twice a week to minimize frizz, but he was asking me to for that reason. Edward does have to feed. I shook my head and tied up my hair. I didn't want to have to think about that yet and stepped up the pedestal the tub sat on and submerged myself in the water.
Thank you OpheliaTodd (love your name) for following, I appreciate it.
Red, black and gold are cheesy colors aren't they? Anyhoo, the standard word count is 1,500, I'll keep it close to that in hopes of more frequent updates. This idea will have obstacles but I hope I can give a seamless transition from this point TO the point whilst keeping what happens in between. I'll do my best to keep it exciting and from seeming slow.
