Bella
"I know it's here somewhere..." I said rummaging through the main floor closet. It felt odd for me to be going through the Cullen's stuff, but 'they had left it behind here so it must not be that important to them', I thought to myself, trying to justify my total invasion of their privacy that came along with breaking into their house and stealing their things.
"What exactly is it that you are looking for?"
"Hold on, it must be here," I said, trying to balance myself on the chair that I had taken from the dining room as a makeshift step stool, "Got it."
"You spent ten minutes teetering on a dining chair for a chess set?"
"You're immortal, what does ten extra minutes mean to you?"
He rolled his eyes, "Just set it up," she said pulling the chair back to the dining room.
I sat down on the sofa and pulled the side table, my tea still on it, in front of me and began setting up the game. Caius came to sit beside me. He was close enough that if he were human I would have been able to feel the heat coming from his body, but not touching me.
"I'll have you know that I'm terrible at this game," he said.
"That's okay, I am too."
"Then why are we playing it?"
"Just because I'm not good at it, doesn't mean that I don't like it. Do you want black or white?"
"Doesn't matter."
"Black it is," I said moving a white pawn forward.
His hair hung in his face as he bent forward to move a piece. He was sporting a dark blue button down and a pair of black slacks today.
"What is it?" he asked.
"What?"
"You're staring, what is it?"
"Nothing," I said, looking down at the chess board. I couldn't tell him that I had been checking him out, that would be weird. But as his eyes left my face and went to the floor, I knew I had so say something, "I just like that shirt is all."
He looked at me strangely, "Thank you," he said, going to move his next piece.
"You act like no one has ever given you a compliment before," I said jokingly.
Caius
What could I say? No, actually I cannot recall the last time someone has ever given me a complement, not even my own wife. I turned my head back towards the board.
"It's your turn," I said.
She took a piece in her slender fingers, hesitating after she picked it up, thinking hard about where to place it before setting it in front of one of mine.
"Check," she said.
I looked over the board, trying to find a way to combat her win, but after a moment of looking I knew I had to yield to her.
"It looks like you've won," I said looking up at her through my hair.
"Yep, it sure does look like that," she said with a cheeky grin, "Check mate," she said knocking my king over with the edge of her piece.
"You win then."
She was still smiling, looking at the board," I haven't played this in a long time, and even when I did practice I almost never won."
"Me too actually. I suppose we are well matched then."
"Let's go again," she said, her hand moving to set up the board. She set up her side and them went about collecting and replacing all of the my pieces, she had gathered a handful of black pawns, and was about to put them back into position, when I grasped her hand in mine, sandwiching the small plastic pieces between us. Slowly, I brought her hand closer to my face, and gently kissed her lily skin. Her blush was spectacular as it spread across her face and down her chest.
"I've never been able to do that," she said.
"I don't understand."
"Flirt... or make anyone blush. I was never any good at it."
"Well, why don't you let me be the judge of that," I said with a cheeky smirk.
she looked at me incredulously, "you want me to flirt with you?"
"It's not that strange of a request is it?"
Her face screwed up deep in thought for a minute before she leaned forward towards me, her elbows resting on her knees.
"So...did it hurt?"
"Did what hurt?"
"Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?"
She was smiling as she gave me a wink and I couldn't help but laugh
"Your right Isabelle," I said still laughing, "You are definitely terrible at flirting."
"Oh? And you of course are so much better at it."
"Why yes, of course," I said with mock sincerity, "I am thousands of years old. I can flirt my way out of any tight situation at this point. I believe I have rather mastered the craft.
"Well then. Let's see this master flirting," she said, same silly smile she had from the heaven line a moment ago.
"Hear my soul speak: the very instant I saw you, did my heart fly to your service."
"The Tempest right? It's been a long time since I read that book."
"For me as well. I saw that play in England the night that it opened; early November 1611."
"That's amazing. What was it like?"
"I thought you had read it," I teased.
"You know what I mean."
"It was an interesting night. I remember going to great lengths to be there. It is hard for me to be away from Voltera. I have many responsibilities there. I had traveled the night prior and was staying at a little inn near the theater. London was a very dirty city, even by the standards of that time. You could only imagine that many people living in one place with no modern plumbing."
She cringed.
"The play was late that afternoon. The theater was very full, as many of Shakespeare's shows were. The actors played well. There were no women actors. They were not allowed back then, so the men had to find ways to create the illusion of appearing female. Some of them were quite funny actually. A large bearded man in a dress was quite an odd thing to see back then, though now I suppose it is probably more acceptable. After the play, the actors would often go down to the tavern and drink. I happened to be in the same place and drank with a few of the actors. They complained much the same as actors do now; about the money and the director and such. I suppose some things never really change."
"I wish I could have seen it."
"Forks doesn't seem to have much in the way of plays does it?"
"Not that I've seen. There used to be a Christmas play here, but that stopped when Wayland died."
"How did he die?"
"A vampire nomad named James killed him. He tried to kill me too, but the Cullens killed him first. I still have the scar."
She pulled up her sleeve to show mw two crescent shaped scars on her forearm.
"Edward sucked the venom out before I could change."
"I have never heard of such a thing. It must have been very hard for him to stop."
"He never really liked to talk about it. Can we do something other than talk about my ex?"
"Of course," I hadn't though about how painful it must have been for her to relive those memories, not only of the Cullen boy, but of the vampire attack. It may have been something that I had become numb to hearing, but to a human, it must have been very traumatizing, "Lets play another game," I said, resetting the board.
