LEAH:
Edward drove with his hand wrapped around my thigh, which successfully eliminated all possibility for coherent thought. His touch was driving me insane, like a sneeze that wouldn't quite form. He was so close yet so far away from where I wanted him to be. I reached forward to turn up his stereo in an effort to distract myself. It was playing a CD, not the radio, and I audibly gasped when Justin Timberlake's voice filled my ears.
"Edward Cullen, are you a secret NSYNC fan?!" I asked incredulously, wiggling my head to the familiar beat. It was a far cry from Linkin Park that's for sure.
He smiled tightly without looking over at me. I swore that if he could have been he would have been blushing. "I'd actually never heard of them until you brought them up the other night. I'll admit some of it is sort of catchy, but I burned this particular CD purely for research."
I set my hand on top of his and rubbed it with my thumb. "That's actually really sweet." I said, my voice thick.
He turned briefly to flash me a goofy smile and then playfully started belting out the lyrics to "Bye Bye Bye". I busted up laughing and joined in, horribly off key and not caring one bit.
The clearing his house sat in the middle of was bright with glowing sunshine, reflecting off of nearly every surface. It felt mystical and other worldly, like it couldn't possibly belong in a place as generally opaque as Washington.
I moved to get out of the car but Edward's grip on my thigh didn't loosen. I turned to look at him questioningly and was surprised to see the humor from before had fallen from his face and been replaced by dread.
"Can we just wait one more moment? Tell me a story first." Edward said desperately.
"Uhhh, I have to think of one." I said shuffling through my mind for something interesting to tell him about. His stare boring a hole into the side of my face honestly wasn't helping.
"Okay wait I got it. This one time, when my brother was really little- like maybe five or six- my mom told him to go put his shoes on. So he did right? And then he comes back out to leave but I notice that he put them on backwards. So I laughed and called him a dork and told him that his shoes were on the wrong feet. I kid you not this boy looks up at me and says, 'But Lele, these are the only feets I got.'" I was chuckling by the end, and so was Edward. That was one of my favorite memories of little Seth.
"Tell me another?" He asked, clearly still attempting to stretch the time out as far as he could. I decided enough was enough.
"Edward. Why are you so afraid to show me this? It's not as if it's going to change anything. I already know what you are, and I already told you it doesn't matter to me. If anything I admire you more than anyone else I've ever known for working so hard to be better than the hand you were dealt-"
His mouth crashed down on mine suddenly, interrupting my tirade. My lips molded around his and my hands quickly found themselves tangled inside of his soft hair. He ran his cool tongue along my bottom lip, requesting entrance. I opened slightly and was abruptly overcome by the heavenly taste of his sweet breath. I moaned into his open mouth and he lost it, pulling me swiftly out of my seat and into his lap. I could feel the hard lines of his erection pressing against my inner thigh and smirked against his mouth. His hands held my hips tightly as he broke our kiss to blaze a trail of icy hot kisses down the side of my throat and across my collar bone.
I smiled ruefully and shook my head. "You're not getting out of this- so quit trying. I would love to make out with you in this car all day but not until after you show me."
"Would you? Love that?" He asked, his molten eyes shining up at me brightly. I brushed my nose against his twice as I slowly reached for the door handle. Once my fingers were around it I yanked hard and we both came tumbling out of the Volvo. Edward was clearly caught off guard but his reflexes were still too fast and we didn't actually make contact with the ground. I was pretty bummed about that honestly. He righted us both as I giggled. I looked up to see his reaction to my mischief and my laughter was immediately cut off by my sharp intake of breath.
I had seen so many beautiful things in my lifetime leading up to that moment; My pet caterpillar emerging from his chrysalis as a bright blue butterfly. The ocean at sunset with the deep purples, oranges, and pinks of the sky reflecting brilliantly across its silky smooth surface. A mother deer giving birth to twins in our backyard surrounded by spring wildflowers. The way my Dad still looked at my Mom after 30 years of marriage and two kids. Edward in general on any average day.
But nothing compared to Edward in the sunlight.
His exposed skin lit up like a million tiny crystals, throwing colorful beams of refracted light all around us. For a long moment all I could do was stare.
And then, once my eyes adjusted and the initial shock faded, I could fully absorb the look on Edward's face. How could it be possible that he was staring at me like I was the one with glowing angel skin? I reached my hand up to his face to lightly press it against his cheek. His eyes closed and he leaned into my touch. The contentment on his face made me smile. I stroked side to side with my thumb, surprised when I didn't feel any ridges or bumps from crystals embedded in his skin. As usual he was perfectly smooth. His eyes came open again and he leaned down to kiss me sweetly.
He took my hand off of his face and wove his fingers through mine, leading me down a dirt trail winding behind the house.
"Is the rest of your family home?" I asked as we walked, our arms slightly swaying between us.
"No, they are all out hunting today. I'm glad you called this morning or I may have gone out with them. What a shame it would have been to miss out on this time with you."
"Aren't you like, hungry? Is that the right term? How often do you have to eat?"
"Hungry works, though thirsty is probably a more accurate description. I go out every night so I didn't really need to accompany them today but I may have been persuaded to join in anyway for the hell of it. These days I hunt way more often than I need or want to but I consider it common sense preparation if I'm going to be spending time around you."
"Is it difficult for you? Spending time around me?"
"Not at all, quite the opposite actually. It's far more difficult to be away from you. But I can never make any mistakes with you, Leah. You have to know that despite all my best intentions I could hurt you so easily, by complete accident. I will never do anything to risk that." He stopped walking as the path came to an end at a long creek flowing parallel to their home. I folded myself down onto the rounded mossy rocks scattered thickly along the embankment and Edward followed suit. I leaned against his chest and he arranged his arm behind me supportively.
"What exactly about you is dangerous? You know, so I can try to make things easier for you by avoiding those areas." I asked.
"Well for starters you should avoid any contact with my teeth. They may not be as oversized and pointy as often portrayed in pop culture but they are razor sharp and coated in venom."
"Wait, how can I kiss you at all if there's venom in your mouth?"
"Carlisle spent several years before my creation living amongst the Volturi- which is basically the self proclaimed law and order of the vampire world. He was mostly there to convince them of the merits behind drinking animal blood as a healthy and viable alternative to humans. Unfortunately that mission was and always will be unsuccessful, but instead he was able to study hundreds of willing humans being turned into vampires to serve in the Volturi's guard. One of the many things he learned about our anatomy from this research was that our venom doesn't affect humans unless injected directly into the bloodstream."
"Tongue safe, teeth bad. Got it. What else?"
He stood and with only the slightest crouch launched himself over to the other side of the wide creek, landing gracefully on the balls of his feet. I rolled my eyes and he chuckled before disappearing completely. I was able to find him a few seconds later by following the sounds of his laughter. He was now at least 200 yards down the creek standing at the base of a huge oak tree. I grinned at the fact that he seemed to be enjoying his moment of showing off as opposed to being ashamed like he was of his skin before. I filed that thought away for further examination later.
I watched wide eyed as Edward reached out and snapped the oak tree off at the base and hauled it over his shoulder as if it had the girth of a #2 pencil instead of a family sized dinner table. He turned around to face me and its large branches went swinging through the air, rustling loudly and showering dead leaves everywhere. He grinned and walked at a leisurely pace back toward me, emphasizing how little effort carrying the massive tree was for him. I laughed at his impressive showmanship as he set the log carefully down across the creek, with the base directly next to me. I stood up and climbed on without hesitation. Half a second later I was wrapped tightly in Edward's arms at the center of the creek, balanced on his newly made bridge.
"Super strong. Very fast. Solid redecorating skills. Got it." I teased, jabbing his hard chest with my finger. "Anything else I should know?"
He leaned down to kiss me once softly before setting his forehead against mine.
"I am so madly in love with you."
I stared at him, dumbfounded.
"Edward.." I said, unsure of how I could even finish the sentence. My throat tightened as fear gripped me and took my voice away.
"It's okay you don't have to say it, I understand. I just needed you to hear it." He said, but I could see the hurt in his eyes and hear it laced into his tone.
"I love you too." I whispered, tears pricking in the corners of my eyes. "But honestly I'm also scared."
"I under-"
"No you don't, so let me finish. It has nothing to do with what you just showed me. People who love me leave. Becca, Sam. And it's going to hurt so much worse when you lose interest too." I said, my voice cracking. I wiped furiously at the tears I hadn't given permission to fall.
"I'm not going anywhere." He said forcefully, not letting me look away. "My skin isn't the only stone-like thing about me. In general vampires don't change and when we do it's rare and unique and permanent. I love you Leah and I will never stop loving you." He vowed, his hands coming up to replace mine as he gently wiped away my tears.
I stretched up on my tippy toes to kiss him with every drop of emotion I was feeling. Then I buried my face into his chest while he held me in the middle of the bubbling creek.