Rating/Warning(s)/Note(s): T, Hitchhiker
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Prompt: Super Nova Explosion
Billy was overtly displeased with the idea of Edward and Alice hitching a ride with us back into town and I couldn't help but share his disquiet. While they were getting their bags from the trunk of their car I overheard Billy whispering his disapproval. "They seem perfectly nice and respectable," my father argued back. "You don't actually think they would attack the chief of police, do you?" I couldn't hear what Billy replied, if he said anything at all, but my father's retort was quite audible. "Fine, I'll keep my gun within reach under my seat." For some reason I didn't think that would help.
Edward and Alice were smiling when they came from behind their car, but it seemed manufactured, as if they were trying to put us at ease. Edward's lips moved slightly and I soon felt a wave of calm cover me like a warm blanket on a snowy day. Alice turned to her husband and winked; something I found odd.
After stowing their bags in the back we were faced with the prospect of who would sit where. "Edward," Alice whined, "you know I get car sick if I don't sit next to the window."
He actually laughed. "Sure you do, Alice." She stared him down and I could see him relent and climb in first, situating himself very close beside me.
When our bodies made contact it was like a frozen fire had been ignited at each point and I tried to jump away, only there was no place to go in the small confines of the car. Edward looked down at me and I felt like a small star trapped in space as my neighboring sun went super-nova, wrapping me up in the force of his outward expansion. I wondered, briefly, if when he collapsed back in on himself if he would turn into a black hole, sucking me in, crushing me as I crossed over the event horizon into the unfathomable gravity he possessed.
Looking up into his eyes I could see the fire burning there, the same fire I had seen when he was driving me this morning, delivering me to my father. I could see in the mirror of the shade Billy had down that he was watching Edward's every move, and even my father's eyes drifted back from time to time, each time being met with a small smile from the man next to me.
Breaking the awkward silence he finally spoke. "Alice has filled you in on what I'm planning to do, and Charlie has alluded to his profession, so what do you do, Bella?" he asked me, his voice like velvet as it washed over me. He was close enough that I could smell the most intoxicating scent coming from him, even his breath was laced with it, or it could be the source. The only way to know was to keep him talking.
"Oh, uhm, I run a bookstore in town," I replied, glancing from him to my father. Edward noticed and gave him a nod before turning back to me.
"How did you come to do that for a living?"
Charlie couldn't help but laugh. "Bella's biggest complaint when she moved in with me was that the sad state of the public library combined with the closest bookstore being an hour's drive away meant she had to wait forever to get any good reading material."
Edward's answering chuckle was low and soft and I could feel the pull of him strengthen. "Well, that answers the why," he laughed smoothly, "but not the how." His attention was on me fully. Glancing over it seemed that Alice had fallen asleep, her eyes were closed and she was leaning against the window, but the hint of a smile on her lips told me that she was very much awake.
"Well, I received my degree in English Literature, and my father suggested I take some business classes, since there really isn't a huge call for literature majors in the world, and I ended up getting a minor in accounting. When I moved home after graduation there was a dearth of employment opportunities, and one day when I was complaining about being bored with nothing to read he pointed out the empty store front and suggested I open my own business, so I did."
Edward had listened to my explanation as if it was the most important thing that could possibly be said. His eyes were glowing a warm golden color, so different from the dark gold they had been earlier in the day. "Uhm, did you put in contacts or something?" I asked him.
He blinked, probably for the first time since I had started speaking and quickly looked away. The speed with which he moved his head was mind-boggling, like a cut in a movie, first he was looking at me, then at Alice, who was giving him a very intense stare. "No," he answered me, or at least I thought he did, but since he was still looking in Alice's direction I couldn't be sure.
It seemed his eyes flashed up to meet Billy's stare in the mirror, narrowing slightly, tightening at the edges as if he was hearing something he didn't like. I could feel a minute vibration, apart from that coming up from the tires on the road that seemed to originate within Edward, almost like a low growl. It ended when Alice placed her hand on his arm.
With a final look at her he turned back to me, this time his warm eyes seemed stone cold like hard agates. "Do you enjoy it? Running the business?"
My eyes narrowed, for some reason I felt like he was trying to divert my question about his eyes onto a different topic. I also didn't understand the reason for his pique; my question had been innocent enough. Perhaps he would answer it later, away from prying eyes and ears. "Yes," I told him, measuring his reaction, "very much. Would you like to come see it after you've settled in?"
Three things happened at once. Charlie looked back at me, questioningly before his eyes darted to Edward and then back. Undoubtedly he wondered if I was interested in this man sitting beside me and seemed to be deciding if he approved or not. Billy most certainly did not, since his entire body went rigid in his seat as his head began to shake in a silent and pleading 'no.' Edward's reaction was the most intriguing, he completely and totally relaxed beside me and his hand, which had been resting on his own knee, reached over and took mine from the top of my knee and raised it to his lips. "I would like that very much," he crooned.
Glancing over to the one person who I couldn't see as clearly it seemed she was trying to keep from dancing in her seat, she was so excited. "Of course, you're invited as well, Alice," I laughed, "it is open to the public after all."
At that, Billy slumped in his seat in apparent defeat. Looking back to Edward I could see a look of triumph in his eyes.
Yep, Billy recognized them from his grandfather's description. He was trying to consider the boundary lines of the treaty and whether or not Bella's store fell on his side of the line. When she invited Edward over, however, the argument was moot because he couldn't tell her that the Cullen's weren't allowed.
