Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight
21 Complications and Opportunities
When we reach my place, there is another car, an old station wagon covered in rust, parked in the driveway. I tell Lynn that it belongs to Billy and Jacob Black. She looks upset, indecisive.
"You can still join us for dinner, if you want…" She must hear I don't want her to leave when my voice almost breaks. "I made plenty of food this morning…."
She smiles, but there is a hint of sadness in her eyes.
"Tonight it's better not, I think. I would like to meet your friends, Jacob and Rebecca, but Billy would probably feel uncomfortable. It could cause unnecessary complications."
"I wish there was a way I could make him see you can be trusted. Maybe we are looking at this the wrong way; it could be an opportunity instead. I will try to talk to him when my father is not around."
"Okay, I will leave it up to you. It's really too bad he still doesn't trust us; we take the treaty seriously and we would never harm humans. Forks is our home now and his distrust is really unwarranted."
"I know, I'll see what I can do. Maybe I have an idea….. But, wait, you'll meet me in my room later, right?" She sees the fear in my eyes, but it only makes hers smolder.
"Of course."
"Let me ask you something…" It's silly but I want to spend more time with her rather than go inside. That's how addicted I am to her presence. "You said you watched me sleep one night, the day you started talking to me again. Was it really the only time or did you come to my room again after that? I'm just curious. I'm flattered either way."
"I only came in once. Even so, I felt awful for doing so without your permission. In my defense, I just wanted to look at you sleep, nothing else. I was trying to make a decision that would change the course of my entire life. To tell you the truth, I was thinking of leaving that very night, for good, and I needed to see you one more time before I did. So, yes, that was the only time I did enter your place, I swear. However, in the spirit of full disclosure, I will admit that since then I spent most nights in the vicinity of your house, in the forest, perched on a tree branch not far from here." She looks downcast now, a little guilty.
"Why?" My voice is soft, gentle.
"What else is there to do at night?" She quips, but gets crickets. She becomes serious.
"Since that fateful moment when you called for me in your sleep, for the first time in almost a century I felt lonely. When I wasn't with you, I mean. I love my family, but their partners are right next to them, and they can share everything. Until recently being the only one without a match didn't bother me, except for when Emmet and Rosalie really laid it on thick. After I realized how I feel for you and that you might harbor similar feelings, though, that hasn't been the case."
She hesitates, rueful.
"After school I drove you home and then, at my place, I watched them go about their life, the love of their life right next to them, as it should be. I felt like I needed you to be there, with me. But you weren't. You couldn't be, I know. There were still too many hurdles we had to clear before that could come to pass. We were talking again, but you still didn't know the truth about me and I was the one who had been refusing to acknowledge your existence for a long time so I needed to be patient…. but it still hurt. At least in the woods, near you place, I could hear your voice and sometimes your music. I also figured I'd be there to help you if something bad happened. But I didn't interfere with your life in any way. Not even when that nasty wolf-girl tried to seduce you…." I blush, of course.
"You were in her mind, weren't you?" My voice is a tiny squeak.
"Yes." Her mouth thins.
"So you heard my answer…." But I think she deserves an honest, complete reply.
"To be honest, Lynn, if I had never met you at all, if you and your family hadn't come to Forks, maybe my response would have been different. But I did meet you and you're the only one I want. Nothing could change that." I grin inanely.
"I'm glad. I'm really glad." She beams. "But if you had given her a different answer, I wouldn't have blamed you and I certainly wouldn't have hurt either of you. I would have just left Forks forever."
She comes closer to me, maybe needing to feel the reassuring warmth of my presence next to her.
"When she asked you to go upstairs with her, I read her intentions in her mind. I knew what she was going to ask you, with her actions if not her words, but for the next few minutes I could only wait, on tenterhooks, for what your reaction would be…. It felt like an eternity. In my heart and in my mind, I knew what I would have to do if you reciprocated her feelings, but that didn't make the prospect of a life without you any less harrowing. If I were a human I wouldn't have given up so easily, mind you; unfortunately, the way things are I don't have a right to expect anything from you aside from what you are willing to give me. I wouldn't want it any other way. Still, if you feel I intruded on your privacy I sincerely apologize. I didn't mean to. Please believe me: I just didn't want to feel lonely anymore."
She looks at me expectantly, a little scared but mostly hopeful. I don't disappoint her; I lean toward her and we kiss while stars fizzle out of existence in outer space.
When that timeless stretch of bliss ends our foreheads touch for a few seconds, our eyes still closed.
"You should go. If they notice us out here Billy will think the worst."
"Meet me in my room as soon as they leave, okay?"
"Okay."
I get out of the car on shaky legs. Wind chimes peal in her laughter as she drives off.
"Brandon?" My father calls when I open the door and walk in.
"Yes, dad." Maybe it's just me but I don't think a cat burglar would traipse in through the front door.
"Is Lynn here?"
"No. She had to go back home. I'll see her at school tomorrow." I walk into the living room and shake hands with Billy and Jacob.
"Lynn…. Cullen?" Billy asks in a husky tone, a little too frowny for my tastes.
"Yes, Lynn Cullen. She's my girlfriend." I shoot back defiantly. Jacob tries to hide a chuckle with a cough while Billy winces.
"I met her last night. She's great. My son is a lucky man." My father adds for good measure, possibly aware Billy isn't very fond of the Cullens.
"I really am, dad." He's right, of course, but he doesn't know the half of it.
"Anyways, stew for four?" I don't bother asking about their game. I couldn't care less.
"Sure, and, hey, Billy brought some fries from Suzie's shop. Don't go too heavy on the portions and warm those too."
"Aye, aye, captain." I reply. When the laughter dies down I head to the kitchen.
I ladle some of the stew in a microwave-friendly container and nuke the whole thing. Next I warm up the fries, which I found wrapped in a paper bag in the refrigerator. Jacob ambles to the kitchen, as I hoped he would.
"So you and Lynn are really an item, then? It's cool with me, and she's pretty good-looking, but are you sure you know what you're doing? Your girl could be quite a handful and she might not be easy to live with. I hear inter-species relationships can be tricky." He's clearly amused by my plight.
"I couldn't be happier, Jacob. Things will work out, somehow. But man, I need your help. Is the game over yet?"
"Almost. Why? What do you need?"
"I need you to distract my father for a bit. I want to talk to Billy alone for five minutes. I have some news for him, and you, and a request. And I will need your support for this, because I want to ask him to allow Lynn to visit the Quileute reserve, with me and maybe you or some of your wolfy friends as escorts. I want to prove to him that they can be trusted. What do you think?"
"I think you're really a goner for this chick, but sure, if it's important to you Becca and I will back you up. Lynn saved your life, right?"
"Yes, she did. I'll remind Billy of that too. And, well, Becca might be upset with me at the moment, but Jake, I think you two, and your father, are part of my family, and so are the Cullens now. I don't want to see my relatives fight or live in fear of each other."
"You're one crazy dude, Brandon, but I kinda like your madness. Okay, when I get a chance I'll get rid of your dad. You'll owe me one, buddy. And… didn't you mention you have some news for me?"
"Yesterday I went hiking with Lynn. She told me she felt some vampire minds in the vicinity."
"You mean she smelled them?"
"No. She can read people's thoughts, except mines for whatever reason. It can be a pretty useful skill. Anyways, we think they might be involved in the death of two hikers in the Mount Olympus area. It might not be in the news yet but it will be attributed to animal attacks as far as the authorities are concerned."
He looks thoughtful for a minute.
"Okay… It's good to know that there are vampires in the area. We'll patrol the borders of our reserve. If they even came through we should be able to smell it."
"So will you help me out? Can I count on you? This is very important to me."
"Sure man. I know I can trust you and I have no problem with the Cullens. I don't really like their odor but it could be worse. Once, a few months ago, we caught another drifter on the reserve. That one certainly fed on humans, and smelled much worse for it. That's one reason I don't mind the Cullens; if they were hurting anyone I would be able to tell."
Having reached an agreement, we return to our old men and I serve the food as the game winds down. Players and coaches mouth a few hackneyed lines for the media circus while we scarf down our dinner. When I'm piling the dishes in the kitchen sink, I hear Jacob lure my dad out with some jibber-jabber about cars and engines.
I walk back to the living room and have a seat close to my guest. Billy eyes me suspiciously.
"I hope you are being careful, young man." He intones, his eyes, hidden by wrinkled folds of flesh, look beady. "That girl could be trouble. I'd hate to see my friend's son suffer. I cannot discuss the details, but the Cullens can be dangerous. There are many things you don't know about them."
And this is just one of his many erroneous beliefs, I say to myself.
He looks pretty stern, but I sense he's nervous as well. He must be really afraid of them. It's all so pointless, as things really stand. I think have to be decisive if I want to make a dent in his superstitious fears.
"I see. So, were they being 'dangerous', as you put it, when Lynn saved my life?"
He gasps, his eyes unfolding open.
"You can ask my dad if you don't believe me. When the EMS dug us out of the car wreck in the school's parking lot, a couple of months ago, Lynn and I were unscathed. What my father doesn't know is that if she had been a normal human being I would be dead now. How do you think Charlie, your old friend, would have felt about that? How do you think my funeral would have affected him? And, on that topic, where were your 'protectors' when that van was about to end my life?"
He goes through a variety of emotions before settling on befuddled embarrassment.
"I didn't know that. She really risked being discovered to save your life?" He looks thoughtful now, genuinely stunned.
"Yes, that's what I'm trying to tell you. The Cullens can be trusted. They could be more than scary neighbors you want to keep at a distance, much more… They could be allies, maybe even friends."
He's about to say something, and then he suddenly catches on to the real meaning of some of my earlier words.
"What do you know about the 'protectors'?" He looks crafty now, busy pursuing a certain train of thought. I decide to go for broke, but tactfully, and without mentioning Jacob's indiscretions.
"I know about the treaty, Billy, the reasons for it and the true nature of the Cullens and the Quileutes. Lynn has been completely honest with me about everything. I know exactly why you fear them, but I also know you shouldn't and that they do not behave like other members of their kind. Please, trust me."
He rubs his forehead trying to smooth out the wrinkles forming there.
"What if I were to trust you, as you ask? What would you want me to do?"
I have to be careful. I don't want to push him too hard. I have to give him something so this whole negotiation doesn't feel one-sided.
"Before we talk about that, there is something I haven't told you yet. I think this is a good time to do so. Lynn and I recently learned that there are other vampires in the region, drifters passing through, and they don't feed on animals like the Cullens. I thought you should know. We don't think they will go near human settlements but they might be responsible for the death of two isolated hikers; my dad told us they were found by rangers this morning. Make sure your people don't go into the woods alone."
He harrumphs, and then reluctantly agrees this is all good intel and that it shows good will on my part and Lynn's. He'll discuss the best course of action with Jacob and the other protectors when he heads back but he's still waiting for my request, the one he knows is coming.
"The other kids were planning to go to the beach at La Push next weekend. It will be cloudy enough, but good for surfing. Let me bring my girlfriend along. Jacob can hang out with us to make sure she doesn't do anything wrong. Honestly, the way I see it most humans wouldn't trust either you or the Cullens. I really think you could, and should, help each other. Besides, Lynn could be useful if there is any trouble at the reserve with those other vampires."
He peers at me and finally nods.
"You father will be back soon. What you told me today is certainly worth thinking about. Let me consult with the other elders and see if they agree. I will have Jacob inform you of my answer in a couple of days."
"Thank you for giving it serious consideration, Billy. She is very important to me and I don't want that to come between our families."
When my dad returns, Jacob helps Billy out and they take off. I immediately retreat to my room where, as I was hoping, Lynn is already waiting for me in my old chair. She springs out of it lightly and flies into my arms. We hug tenderly, tacitly admitting how our separation felt longer than it really was.
"I heard you talk with Billy." She finally says, her face still nestled against my neck and her voice a little muffled. "You did great. You really did impress him. He never doubted your honesty. Thank you."
"Do you know what his answer will be?"
"He's leaning toward accepting, but he needs to consult the other elders, like he told you. If your friends are also favorable, I hope they'll come around to your view. I was surprised, though. I didn't think you'd want to go to the beach." She narrows her eyes and scrutinizes me closely.
"I don't, really, but I want you to be able to go with me anywhere, for one thing, including the reservation. That's the selfish part of my reasoning. For another, I've known Jacob and Becca all my life and I want you to meet them and get along with them, just like you wanted me to meet your family. We are all freaks after all; I really think we should try to get along."
She looks at me quizzically and then laughs.
"I agree with your friend Jacob. You are a little crazy, but in a good way. I'm glad I fell for you." Her eyes smolder. I'll ask her to teach me that trick someday. "You were worth waiting for, Brandon."
Another mind-bending kiss ensues, but we stop soon, knowing we could easily get carried away. We spend the rest of the evening chatting about books a little more, like when we debate Orwell's work and the merits of novels like '1984' and 'Animal Farm'. She also convinces me to give her a guitar lesson. I help her figure out the notes layout in a standard tuning, some chord shapes and some basic techniques. I bet she'll be playing wonderful tunes pretty soon; her understanding of music's complexities is far superior to mine. She agrees she'll help me improve my piano playing the next time we go to her place.
As usual, anything we do together is a lot of fun, and thanks to Lynn's supernatural hearing we know when we need to keep quiet so my father doesn't discover my guest. When I feel sleepy, I crawl into bed and invite her to join me. She spoons me again, her arms wrapped around me. She's cold at first, but seems to warm up a little as we lie there. With another human, the temperature would increase a lot more; with her it's not like that but I still feel very comfortable. I fall asleep holding her hands and thinking of the butterscotch swirls in her eyes.