I Do Not Own Twilight
Bella started to jump out of the driver's door to get away from the red eyes she saw in her vision. Garrett grabbed her with one arm and the steering wheel with the other. "Woah! Sorry sorry. I just wanted to talk to you. I'm Garrett remember."
She stopped panicking momentarily until she realized she wasn't driving the car. She flailed forward trying to grab the steering wheel that Garrett was still holding onto. "I've got it. I wouldn't let any harm come to you." He smiled trying to look disarming.
She put her hands on the wheel and glanced at Garrett out of the corner of her eye. "What are you doing here? Did Edward ask you to follow me?" She started muttering to herself, "Now he can't even be bothered to follow me, typical."
Garrett chuckled at her annoyance with Edward. "No, it isn't anything like that. I could tell your feelings were hurt. Jasper followed you out as well for the same reason. We just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Are you an empath like Jasper? I try to keep my feelings to myself so I'm not a bother to him but sometimes I slip. Mostly he doesn't feel me much anymore." Bella glanced at Garrett curiously.
"As far as I know the only gift I have is to make a nuisance of myself." He turned in his seat in order to watch her more closely. "I don't know how anyone could have missed your hurt feelings this afternoon and then I got to see a repeat tonight. Your friends aren't very careful with their words."
Bella frowned and the tears she had been holding back since the afternoon started trickling down. Pulling her truck to the side of the road, she wiped her eyes, and took a breath, "I know they think they are funny and are just trying to tease me but I can't help who I am. I know I fall down. I don't need someone reminding me of all of my short comings."
Garrett looked at the girl in front of him and smiled lightly, "I have been watching you all afternoon and evening and the only time you seemed to stumble at all was when one of my kind had been particularly rough with you."
Bella sat up straight and blinked several times. She scrunched up her nose, "That's true! Edward was the reason I almost fell twice. I wasn't clumsy today." She smiled and lifted her nose in defiance of what she had been told all afternoon.
"Besides," Garrett whispered huskily, "If you wouldn't have stumbled at all I couldn't have caught you. I'm pretty thankful for those almost spills you tried to take." He took in Bella's form and smirked to himself. He ran his eyes along her dark hair which spilled down the length of her back. He noticed her heart-shaped face and her pouty lips. He swallowed venom although he wasn't the least bit hungry.
"Bella, I met Jacob Black. Jasper congratulated him on something what was it?'
Bella smiled a big wide smile, "He imprinted on Leah and she imprinted on him. Which is the first the tribe has heard of a double imprint. Since, Leah is the first girl they are aware of."
"Ah." Garrett tried to sound enlightened but he just pulled on his goatee beard.
Bella giggled, "It means the same as when you guys find your mates."
Garrett froze. He didn't move, breathe, or blink for five minutes. The entire time he replayed the conversation between Jasper and Jacob. He tried working it out for a few moments when he realized he had met his mate and he wasn't even aware of it. He knew he felt the pull on his heart and it caused him to follow this strange girl. He knew he couldn't let her out of his sight. He knew he thought she was divinely beautiful, dazzlingly clever, and everything the Cullens told him about her led him to believe she was angelically good. Could this creature next to him actually be made for him? He could hardly believe it could be true.
"Garrett!" Bella had pulled her truck over and was waving her hand in front of his face and shaking his shoulder. He realized he must have been lost inside his head for a few moments. He looked in her chocolate doe eyes and gently scooped her up and positioned her in his lap.
She tried to jump off of him, "Garrett!" He held fast to her and nuzzled his face in her hair. "Garrett, stop what are you doing?" She sounded panicked.
Realizing he was causing her distress he let her go. She climbed quickly back into her seat and threw the gear shift into drive, pulling out quickly. She glanced at Garrett who was gazing at her, "What has gotten into you?"
He quickly realized he needed to salvage this situation. He didn't want her afraid of him but he knew she wasn't ready to accept him either. "Forgive me. I got caught in my head and needed the comfort of a friend. It didn't occur to me we aren't quite friends."
"Well, I'm dating Edward and he wouldn't be happy if he saw you doing that!" She brushed the hair out of her face that had gotten mussed in the tussle. She lifted her chin and kept her eyes firmly focused on the road ahead of her.
Internally, she was thinking about how amazing Garrett smelled, like butter, brown sugar, and cloves. She wondered what would make him smell so good. Edward had always smelled like cough medicine sweet and antiseptic. It wasn't an unpleasant smell but it wasn't something you particularly sought out. Garrett, she decided smelled good enough she wanted to lick him. She shook her head to rid herself of those strange thoughts.
He interrupted her musings with a question, "Why are you dating Edward anyway?"
She scoffed, "Because he is perfect and I love him of course." He noticed she didn't think of the answer just spouted it off as if it was something from memory.
"Why do you love him?" This question caught her off guard. She didn't have an answer for the vampire next to her. Why did she love Edward she wondered? She thought on this only for a few seconds before banishing the thought and moving on to more pleasant topics.
"Did you enjoy the movie tonight?" She asked trying to change the subject.
He smiled, "I quite enjoyed it. I like the ending where she shows everyone just how compassionate and strong, she really is."
Bella smiled, "I would love to see someone dance like that in real life. I know Alice and Jasper could their dancing is amazing. I don't know why they don't." She frowned.
This gave Garrett a terrifically brilliant idea. "Why don't you do the dance?"
Bella laughed loudly at this, "Despite the teasing being hurtful they are all correct. I am the clumsiest human alive. There is no way I could dance like that."
"Sure, you could." Garrett flashed her a smile and winked, "I can teach you. I'll even be your partner. I'll even dress in all black with my top couple of buttons undone."
"Sure," she rolled her eyes chuckling. She glanced at the black pants and button down noticing for the first time the top four buttons undone. "You look like you dressed for the part. Was Dirty Dancing your pick Garrett? Are you cosplaying Patrick Swayze?"
Garrett looked down, "No he cosplays me. I had this look before Johnny Cash, before Patrick Swayze, I invented black on black."
Bella just shook her head snickering to herself.
"Really though I can actually teach you how to do that dance. Would you like to be my partner for the Forks Follies? Imagine the looks on the faces of the Cullens and the wolf pack." He quirked and eyebrow at her and she grinned to herself while she thought over the idea.
Finally, she looked at him, "I will think about it. I won't make any decisions," she winked and he grinned knowing she was ensuring Alice didn't get a vision, "but I am willing to discuss it further and possibly try out it out and if it doesn't work, we didn't waste our time."
"Agreed, we will continue to think about it." Garrett reached out a hand for her to shake on it. As soon as the skin of her hand met his he felt a jolt of energy flow between the two of their joined hands.
"Woah!" Bella whispered in awe.
"Woah," Garrett agreed. He lifted her hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss there. He cleared his throat unnecessarily. "Where should we continue our discussion?"
"How long will it take you to learn how to do it?"
Garrett tapped his head, "Vampire memory it is already there. I could teach you now if you wanted."
Bella laughed, "I can't wait until I'm like you." She sighed, "How about tomorrow afternoon at my house. We can move the furniture around the living room. We can find a larger space later."
He nodded, "Until tomorrow partner." He grinned and she pulled back onto the road and drove home in order to show him her house.