Chapter Six
Willow's POV
He drives out of Port Angeles, and at first I'm not sure exactly where to start the conversation. I mean, he's a vampire and I can shoot something out of my hands. We're an odd couple.
"So, you say you know what I am?" he says lightly, but his voice is still strained.
"Yeah," I say. "How do you want me to put this?"
"Just say it," he says bitterly.
"Vampire, right?" I ask, and he grits his teeth.
"Well, don't you want to know?" he asks, the anger detectable in his voice.
"Know what?"
"What my diet is?" he says, as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. To be honest, I hadn't even considered it.
"I figure, if you haven't drained me by now, I suppose you must be safe. Unless you want to murder me in the woods and dump the body?"
"That's not funny," he says coldly.
"You have no sense of humor," I contradict. "All jokes aside, I really don't-care that you're a vampire," I say. "I guess..I just learned that I'm not anything like anybody else, and it's nice to meet someone that's different too," I say, feeling really corny just saying it, like someone in a kid's show.
He sighs. "I don't get it. You really don't care? At all?"
"Nope," I say, and then glance at the speedometer. "Geez, that eager to get rid of me?" I say, realizing that it reads somewhere around 100 miles an hour.
He smirks. "I've never gotten pulled over. Built-in detection system."
"If you don't...eat people, what do you eat?" I ask, genuinely curious.
"First, how did you even figure it out? I don't think that I was that obvious," he says.
"Well, I just put two-and-two together, I guess," I say. "The cold skin, the eyes, you never eat, and the not wanting to be around blood tied it all together, I guess."
"What do you mean?" he says.
"When we did the blood typing in Bio, you left early. You don't usually leave early, and I figured it out," I say smugly.
"You're good," he says. There is a pause. "We eat animals," he says.
I stifle a laugh. "So you're...vegetarians?"
"Yeah, I guess," he says. "Tastes awful, though." He turns back to me, and his face looks different. Less human.
"Okay, that's not funny," I mutter. "Sorry for making fun of you."
His face relaxes, and he laughs. "How'd you know I was faking that?"
"I don't think you can hurt me," I say quietly.
"No, I don't think I can, either," he says. "You know, when I first saw you, I almost killed you," he says.
"Is that why you looked at me with that look of death?" I say.
"Yes, sorry about that. It's just that-your blood-is more tantalizing than anybody else's. It drove me insane. I almost ruined everything we've worked for," he says.
"Can your..siblings do anything special?" I ask. "Like you can read thoughts?"
"Alice can see the future, and-"
"Really? Did she see me?"
"Yes. It's strange. I can't read your mind, but she can see you in the future. Her vision is selective, though. If someone changes their mind, the future changes with it. As I was saying, only Jasper can do something as well. He can read emotions and manipulate them."
We driving into Forks now, and I realize I'm going to have to stop talking to him. Something in me hates that this has to end, I just want to keep spending time with him. "One more question," I say.
"Fine, but Monday, it's my turn," he says.
"How old are you?" I ask.
"You want the real answer, don't you," he says, and I nod as he pulls into Charlie's driveway. "Fine. 104. You seem older, too, though," he says.
"Well, I'm not 104, but my mother says I was born 35 and get more middle-aged every year," I say. "I had to take care of both of them. Her and Bella. They're very similar, and I was always the one that had to be the adult."
"That's not very fair," he says, and I just nod, not sure how to respond.
"I should go," I say, not wanting to, and I get the feeling he doesn't want me to go, either. I take his jacket off and leave it on the seat, getting out.
"Willow?"
I turn back, and his face is just inches from mine. I feel my breath catch in my throat, and my heart rate picks up. "Y-yes?" I say breathlessly.
"Have a nice evening. See you on Monday."
"Yeah, you too," I say, and he pulls the door shut and drives away. I walk up to the door, mentally preparing myself for Bella and whatever she has to say to me.
I've only just barely opened the door when she's right there, demanding to know every second of what happened.
"He just bought me dinner and drove me home," I say, putting my purse on the counter and heading for the stairs.
"That's it? Seriously?" she says, sounding incredulous. "Willow, you do understand that he likes you, right? I guess you've never had a boy like you before, much less one this hot, so maybe you don't understand that-"
"I get that he likes me, Bella!" I say, turning around on the stairwell to stare at her. "I think I might like him, more than he likes me! Now please, just leave me alone!"
She stands there, speechless. "Bella, I'm tired of you assuming the worst about me. Just try to think I could do something on my own for once."
Without waiting for a response, I walk up the stairs and lie down on my bed, staring at the ceiling. When I was little, I had glow-in-the dark stars on my ceiling, and I would pretend that I was in space in a spaceship by pressing my hands against the sides of my face so I couldn't see the walls of the room, just the ceiling. I had wanted to be an astronaut. Still do. Now, everything that I've ever wanted and everything I've ever known seems to have gone out the window.
It's something I don't think I've ever felt before. It's like-he is everything I think about now, and everything I do revolves around him. "I think I love him," I whisper into the darkness.
"Yeah you do," comes Bella's voice from my door and I throw a pillow at it, burying my face in my hands.
"Good night, Bella," I say.
The next day, I sleep in, my dreams void of strange nightmares. I stay in my sweatpants for most of the day, drawing dozens of pictures. They're all of him. If he knew, he would probably think I was strange, but there are so many other things about me that are strange.
I've never been able to use the blue energy before. Even in stressful situations or dangerous situations, which seem to trigger it. I wonder if it has something to do with him. Maybe my body sensed that he was dangerous and it triggered this weird reaction. "Calm down," I mutter to myself. "He's not bad. I think."
That night, Charlie drags us with him to Jacob's house for dinner and so he can watch some kind of sports game with Billy. After dinner, Bella, Jake, and I walk along the beach as the sun sets, Bella and Jake in the front and me just a few steps behind them. I don't know if it's possible, but Jake looks bigger than he did even just a few weeks ago when we got here.
"So, what's new with you two?" he asks.
"Willow has a boyfriend," Bella says in a sing-song voice.
He glances back at me, his expression obviously of surprise. "Really? Who?"
I frown at him, and Bella just keeps running her mouth. "Edward Cullen. They even went on a date and everything," she says.
"He's not my boyfriend," I say. In fact, that term just seems too simple. Too finite.
"He totally is," gushes Bella.
Jake shrugs. "I've heard about them from my dad, but I've never met them. They don't come out here. Ever. My dad says they're 'not allowed to' or something like that. Just some stupid legends that aren't relevant anymore, really," he says.
"Wait," I say. "What legends?"
That launches him into a very long story about wolves and 'The Cold Ones', in which I assume he must be referring to vampires, but I don't understand the part about the wolves. By the time he's finished, I don't have many more answers or information than when I started, and we're almost back to Billy's house.
Charlie comes out and sees us, and waves. "Ready to get going, girls?" he asks, and Bella nods gratefully. She gave me a look of exasperation the entire time Jake told his story, so I knew she was ready to go. Bella had always had the attention span of a toddler.
"Bye, Jake, thanks for the story," I say, and he nods.
"Yeah, see you around, Willow," he says.
The next morning, I get up reluctantly. The only thing that gets me moving is the fact that Edward promised he would be here today. That prospect makes me move a little faster than Bella, and I end up waiting for her by the door.
"Geez, what's got you all worked up?" she says, grabbing her backpack and her jacket. I make a mental note to get mine from Jess, because she still has it.
"Nothing, just in a good mood," I say, grabbing the truck's keys from the shelf next to the door. I open the door and shiver. "Could you maybe get my jacket back from-" I stop mid-sentence when I see the shiny Volvo sitting in the driveway.
"Willow, your boyfriend's here," Bella teases, and shoves me towards the car. I wish she wouldn't act like a child.
I hand her the keys to the truck and walk over to the passenger side of his car. He reaches over and opens the car door. His jacket is draped across the back of the seat. "Good morning," he says. "Want a ride?"
I laugh. "Sure, why not?" I say, and climb in. I glance back over at Bella, who has finally gotten the truck to start. She grins at me from the driver's seat and gives me a thumb's up.
"She seems happy for you," he says.
"Is she really?" I say, knowing he can read her thoughts.
"For the most part, yes, actually," he says, and begins to pull out of the driveway. "Now, I believe that today is my day for questions," he says.
"Fine. Shoot," I say.