Author's note: Thank you again for the reviews!! They are so great!! Keep it up! I hope you enjoy the chapter. =]
Love,
Mel
10. Lies
I gradually came out of unconsciousness to the sound of rain pelting down on the windows. I opened my eyes cautiously, expecting to see something impossible, but I was disappointed to open my heavy lids to my dark wooden night stand. I was in my room? But how could that be? I was just…
Where was I before this? I racked my brain, and sat up too quickly, making my foggy head spin. I looked down at my legs. I was in the same kakis I was yesterday. I was also wearing the same cozy cashmere quarter-length sleeved sweater I noticed when I began examining the rest of my exterior. For some reason, I felt like I should've been in some sort of pain when I started moving my arms around. Like I was yesterday. What was yesterday? Friday?
I slid myself out of bed and looked out the window. There was a dim light behind the dense forest. I looked at my holographic clock, and it displayed a quarter to seven in boxy, hovering numbers. I then looked in the corner of the display, and my blood went cold. The date read Sunday.
Before I could start panicking, I heard the front door open from downstairs, and conversation and laughter filled the big, empty house. I walked out of my room, still dazed and confused, to the staircase where my family was coming in through the door. They didn't seem to notice me standing there until I began descending the long staircase.
My mother looked up at me as she shook out her drenched coat and the rest of the family disappeared into the living room. "Oh, Ava! You're back! How was Cindy's?"
Cindy's? I was at Cindy's all weekend? I wanted to object, but for the strangest, most vague reason, I had the strongest intuition to go along with it.
"It was great. We had a lot of fun." I lied.
"Oh good, honey. Your father and Mr. Livingston are great friends. I never met Cindy, but she sounded so nice on the phone! She has the cutest voice I've ever heard, like a bell. Does she sing, too?"
"Um… not that I know of… maybe." I stuttered. Why couldn't I remember any of this?
"Well, anywho, there's dinner in the fridge if you're hungry. You're father and I have a cocktail party to go to for the company's twentieth anniversary." My mother said, gliding her way into the living room.
As she left, I stayed in the exact place she left me. Eyes wide and pulse throbbing, I began racking my brain to the last thing I remember before I awoke. My yoga teacher always told my class back in Honolulu that to remember something forgotten, close your eyes and find the last thing you remember doing, and go from there. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Friday I went to school. My U.S History poster was due. Cindy and Max did a perfect job on their presentation. Mr. Shore told me I did a great job on my poster. The mystery poster. The poster I had no idea at all handed in for me. Edward and Bella were gone. The Swan-Masons…
Suddenly, a cottage was vivid behind my closed eyes. A cottage. The cottage. Vanessa's agonized face was in front of me. Then, Bella's cold stare and Edward's smiling face. My body flying through the air. Then finally, the beautiful, sparkling, smiling face, and the fevered, snapping one. Faces that both belonged to Ronan Swan. Then, everything that happened this mysterious weekend came back to me in a flash, and I remembered. And it was remarkable. The drug didn't work. Ronan had not outsmarted me.
I opened my eyes ever so slowly, and I felt a smile creeping up on my lips. He would have to tell me what was going on now. But the smile faded and I felt confused once again when I remembered the last few moments of consciousness before I was knocked out by the drug.
He knew my full name. He knew my parents would be at dinner tonight, and would come home to me in my bed. He told me they would think I had been at Cindy's all weekend. And lastly, and most importantly, he told me he loved me. He had talked to me once before this incident, and he said he loved me. Ronan Swan loved me.
Why? Why did they all live in the old, tiny cottage behind my house? Why did Ronan sparkle in the sun? Why did he sob, "Reé" when he flinched his hand away from stroking my hair? Why did he know my family was going out tonight? Why did he know Cindy and I were friends? Why did he tell me he loved me?
There were too many questions now. Questions, which if left unanswered, would result in a nervous break down at any given time. He infers I forgot. He knows, with the power of that drug, that I am completely disoriented at the moment. So what do I do when school comes tomorrow? Do I play dumb? Or do I come out straight forward and ask him: What the hell are you?
My head was spinning, I was starving, and I was destined to pass out any second of this mind-rant.
I wobbled to the Fridge, and punched in the code for steak. Five minutes later, and a juicy slab of meat and a generous helping of mashed potatoes appeared in front of me. I wasn't even at the table when I began digging in to the cheese-covered potatoes.
I basically licked the plate clean in a matter of minutes, and my head was not as foggy as it was before. I would formulate a plan. A plan that would clear up this paranoia, this mystery of who the Swan-Masons really are.
***
Morning came quickly, and the drug wore off completely. I was as sharp as a knife.
I put my copper red hair up quickly and let my bangs drift to the side. I donned my non-prescription black rectangular glasses I wore in Annie for my role as Grace, that would frame my sapphire eyes and make me look more sophisticated, more of a threat. My white blouse and black dress pants added to this, along with the black three-inch heels that would make my short 5'2 frame look a bit taller; more confident. I would figure out the mystery of the Swan-Masons today.
I ate my cereal quickly and got to my car so I could get to school early. I had to be ready.
I went faster than usual down the wet driveway and up the road towards school. I was coming up on a traffic light, and it turned red before I could run the yellow light. I groaned and looked out the driver's side window at the newest car that a dealer had been advertising idled beside me. My dad had been raving over this car, even though he didn't buy one because he thought the Magno-train was more efficient to ride to work on. The darkly tinted windows were rolled down, and my heart stopped cold when I noticed the godly, familiar man sitting inside.
His hair was blonde and pushed back like a model's, and his pale face turned toward me in alarm when I began to roll my window down. When his golden eyes faced me, I knew exactly who he was. He was the man in the picture hidden in my closet. The picture I looked at when I felt neglected, the picture I looked at every night after the Swan-Masons left. That flawless face was right in front of me, in the car next to me, in the flesh. Grandpa Carlisle Cullen, 2008.
He could see the look of shock in my face and turned his head away from me quickly. His hands were tight on the wheel, and when I turned my head to do a double take, I looked back to find the shiny, black car weaving through traffic as fast as possible, right through the red light, and he was gone down the road in a flash. I willed for the light to turn green so I could chase him down, so I could see if he was real or a figment of my imagination. But the light remained red for another couple seconds that felt like an eternity, so I gave up and drove myself into the school parking lot, still confused and thinking I was insane.
I got out of my car and began scoping out the nearly empty parking lot. There were a few kids here and there, studying outside of their cars or chatting quietly. That's when I saw Ronan, his expression furious, bounding toward me like he was ready to attack.
When his beautiful, creased face was inches away from mine, he paused to look at me, then grabbed my arm violently and began dragging me toward the forest behind the school.
I was too stunned to scream or fight, and for the most part, move my legs at his pace, so he impatiently lifted me off of my feet and cradled me to his chest as he walked too fast to the forest.
I couldn't peal my eyes away from his angered features, but I could feel the stares of confused students as we bounded up the hill to the trees.
I was at a loss for words. "Wha- I- I… people are… where are you taking me?"
"No questions until we get there." He seemed to growl. I was silenced.
Soon, we were entering the forest, and as he began to move even faster and gracefully, we were deep under the canopy of leaves.
He put me down gently then, and began pacing the muddy forest floor. "Impossible. Utterly, and not to mention infuriatingly impossible."
His expression was becoming more confused and angry by the second, and I was afraid to step in front of him to halt his pacing, fearing he would run me right over in the process.
"Ronan…" I began.
He came in front of me then and grabbed my by the shoulders. "How can you possibly remember what happened this weekend?"
His golden eyes were intensely searching my most likely weary face. "Yoga." I managed.
He took his hands off my shoulders, threw his head back and laughed. "Miss. Jinny? That crazy lady helped you come over one of the most disorienting medical drugs of our time? Come on, you can't be serious."
"How do you know my yoga teacher's name?" I asked, incredulous.
His smile disappeared quickly, and he looked down. "I don't know. You told me, I guess."
"Okay, Ronan. Enough with the lies. Who are you? What are you?"
His eyes were truly pained when they looked into mine. "Avs, I can't…"
"Why not? You know my yoga teacher's name. You know my full name. You've been calling me the nickname my Grandpop gave me before we knew each other for even a week. If you know so much about me, you should at least know that I'm trust worthy. So come on. Out with it." I stepped closer to his solid frame. "I won't tell a soul."
He thought for a moment, considering.
"Plus, you almost got me killed. I'm pretty sure you owe me." I smiled.
He took a deep breath, put his hand through his dark, coffee bean colored surfer hair, and put out his hand. "Ava Nancy Jameson, my name is Ronan Philip Dwyer Cullen. Pleasure to meet you."
I took his cold hand hesitantly, and he carefully shook it. "Cullen…?" I asked.
"Yes. My adopted father is Carlisle Cullen. My adopted mother? Esme Cullen. Sound familiar?" He asked sarcastically.
My knees were wobbling. "You mean…?"
"My family, that is probably going to disown me when Edward hears this conversation, lived in your house over a hundred years ago. They left frantically to help my half-sister, Bella when…" He stopped, shutting his eyes tightly, and his face twisted in pain.
I didn't know what to say or how to react, but the expression on his face scared me, I didn't like him feeling like that. I reached my hand up and cupped his cold, hard face. "You don't have to talk about it."
He opened his eyes that were now agonizingly hurt, and gently took my hand and put it back to my side. "Please," He said in a cracked whisper. "Please don't do that."
I stared at him, trying to keep the tears from evading my eyes. "Why? I thought you said you loved me."
His face was sincere. "Avs, I do. But it's much more complicated than that."
"Tell me why," the tears were streaming down my cheeks, "How come you know everything about me? What are you?"
He pursed his lips and looked at me with a sorry expression. He took a deep breath.
I came closer, angry now. Angry at him for pushing my hand away. Angry at him for telling me he loved me if he was going to reject me. Angry at him for avoiding the truth like my family. The tears still rushed from my eyes.
"What are you Ronan? Tell me." I said through clenched teeth.
He looked straight into my tear-filled eyes. "A vampire."
