Angela POV
Kelly looked happy, radiant even, as she followed Emmett out of the lunch room. It was good to see her smile. Though I hadn't known my cousin for more than a few days, I was glad that she could be happy. She had been through so much recently that really, what else could I want for her?
I didn't know what kind of..relationship...she and Emmett shared, although anybody could tell that this was not the first time they'd met or spoken. There was very apparent chemistry between them.
In a sense, I was jealous of Kelly. I'd had pent up feelings for Edward Cullen for years now, and though he was friendly enough to me, really friendlier than he was with anybody outside his family, we were nowhere near Emmett and Kelly. I, inwardly, laughed somewhat bitterly as I tried to picture Edward showing up out of nowhere, grasping my hand and whisking me away. I had no delusions in thinking that he could possibly have a romantic interest in me, but hey, a girl could hope, right?
My eye strayed to the table the Cullens usually occupied, and I was surprised to find Alice looking right at me. She winked, then went back to her salad, picking at it and talking with Jasper at the same time.
It must be lonely, I thought, as Jasper slid his hand surreptitiously under the table and placed it on Alice's thigh. It must be so lonely for Edward. My gaze shifted to him, and for a millisecond, our eyes met, and in that moment that I felt that he knew what I had been thinking, however improbable that was.
It was only too clear in his eyes that he agreed with me.
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Emmett POV
"Hungry much?" I said as the waitress appeared with a loaded tray, placing the majority of it in front of Kelly.
We'd stopped on the way to Seattle to eat. Kelly had been starving, and since I kinda took her away from her lunch, I figured hell, it was the least I could do. I was very much the gentleman these days.
Kelly stuck her tongue out at me as the waitress turned to leave, pulling the nearest plate, a cheesy enchilada, to her. "Very much, chief."
I raised my eyebrow, twirling a straw between my fingers. "Chief, eh?"
Kelly's smile slid off her face almost instantly. "It's...it's just something my mom used to say. She called everybody chief. It is...was...a term of endearment, really."
I reached across the table to touch her, grab her hand, something to comfort her, but Kelly slid her arm away, reaching for a fork. So something had happened to her mom...probably her dad too, or else she wouldn't be here in Forks. I felt sorry for her. I'd had to lose my family too, and though I'd gained something amazing, losing the people you'd loved your whole life sucked.
"So," She said in forced voice, "are you ever going to tell me why we're out on the open road?"
I smiled, and saw Kelly's hand clench around her fork, just like it hand on her chair when we'd had pizza...was I doing something wrong here? I was gonna have to ask Ed the next time we were all in the same room. Maybe he could tell me what was going through Kelly's head.
"Ah, well, that'd be messing up the surprise, wouldn't it? So don't worry your pretty little head about it." She looked up again, her eyes meeting mine. I swear to God, if I'd had working lungs, I'd have been suffocating. Those damn eyes of hers...fuck if I knew how eyes could have so much emotion and be that...well, that damn beautiful. Jesus, I was starting to get sappy, like those God awful movies Alice always forced me to watch.
We sat there like that, just staring at each other, until Kelly looked away, and started cutting up her enchilada. I made no move to eat, and Kelly didn't really seem surprised, like she had expected this.
"Can I ask you something?" Kelly said after she'd taken a few large bites, breaking the silence.
I shrugged. "Sure."
"Why did you do it?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Do what?" I shrugged again.
Kelly bit her lip, chewing lightly on it. Shit, it was hot when she did that...
"Come into my room that night."
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Alice POV
Keeping my thoughts and visions from Edward wasn't hard. I'd been doing it for so long that it became second nature now, although for the most part I did let him on what was up. We looked out for each other, because we were both the same kind of freak. We couldn't control our gifts, and nobody else could understand what that was like.
So needless to say, I felt somewhat guilty hiding this stuff from him. I mean, it was his future! Surely he had a right to know. But if I did tell him, he'd just mess it all up...no, I simply couldn't trust him to make things go smoothly. It seemed, yet again, it was all up to me.
Luckily for Edward and Angela, I was very much up to the challenge.
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I don't know what possessed me to ask him that. I'd already established, firmly established, in my own mind that that night had been nothing more than a dream, than a figment of my imagination.
Emmett narrowed his eyes at me, and I could tell he was thinking. Maybe he was wondering just what in the freaking world I was talking about, or maybe...maybe he was trying to think of a way to get out of the question, the question that was too dangerous to answer honestly, because it would most likely reveal who he really was, what he really was.
"You - " He began, but the waitress appeared again, with refills of our hardly touched drinks.
"Dessert?" She asked, glancing doubtfully at my still heaping plate.
"Oh, yeah." I said, my gaze never leaving Emmett, and his never leaving me, "the fried ice cream for me, and the sopapillas for him."
She scribbled on her little pad of paper and disappeared again.
"Kelly." The way he said my name caused my spine to tingle. I couldn't...I just...Ugh! I wanted to rip my hair out. I had zero control around him. Regardless of everything that I had set in my mind, first and foremost that I would no longer succumb to his charm, but demand to know the truth, It was so utterly pathetic that all I wanted to do was just be here, be by him. We sat there in utter silence for a few seconds, and then it happened. I opened my mouth, and could do nothing else but laugh. I threw my head back, slammed my fist on the table, and just laughed my ass off for a few seconds.
Emmett sat there dumbfounded, and I was sure he was wondering if I'd lost my mind. I certainly couldn't disagree with him.
"I'm sorry. I just...when you said my name it was like I couldn't even...God! It's just not even fair." I said, scooping up another bite of my enchilada to avoid saying something even more stupid than I already had.
"Uh...what's not fair?" Emmett asked carefully, as though worried I'd go off the deep end again.
I took a few more bites, pausing before I answered him. I couldn't tell him anything but the truth. I had no desire and no reason to lie to him. But what was the truth? I don't know if, at that time, I'd even had the "truth" formed in my own mind. I only knew what I felt for him, and it was so damn stupid. There was a long list of why, exactly, it was stupid, the first of which being our time together had been so short.
I sighed, finishing the last bite, taking a swallow of my Sprite. "You know what?" I said, and I reached across the table, my finger tips brushing the back of his hand, "just forget it. I'm an idiot."
Emmett shrugged again. He gently took my hand and lifted it to his face, so my hand was cupping his cheek. My fingers chilled with the coldness of his skin, but it wasn't at all unpleasant. He shut his eyes for a moment, a grin spreading across his lips. "Nope." He said with surety, "I'm the idiot."
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Angela POV
"Angela!" I turned toward the sound of my name, Alice bobbing along through the crowd in the hallway toward me.
"Hey," I said, "sorry, I have no idea where Emmett - "
"It's the saddest thing," Alice said over me, her face pulled into a sombre mask, "I mean, Kelly getting sick on her first day? Projectile vomiting is just the worst."
I pursed my lips to keep myself from smiling. "It is tragic," I agreed, "I'm just grateful that Emmett took such quick action and got her to..."
Alice gave me a tiny, almost unnoticeable wink, "To Carlisle, you're right. I'm just grateful that it's Carlisle's day off from the hospital."
"So she'll be staying in his care for...?"
Alice pulled out a sheet of paper from her bag and a pen, "Here are the directions to my house. Why don't you come pick Kelly up around...sevenish? I know! We'll all have dinner together. Of course Kelly will have to stick to her bland diet...I mean, from what Carlisle was saying, it was coming out both ends..."
We laughed together, though I was sure that Kelly would have been more than a little upset that we were talking about her so crudely.
"I'll call my mom and let her know. I'm sure she'll be just as thankful as I am to Dr. Cullen. She'll probably bake him a whole batch of cannoli."
Alice grinned. "Excellent. See you tonight then." She winked at me again, stuffed the paper in my hand, and was out of my sight before I could say another word to her.
I shifted the books in my hands to my other arm, trying to stuff the directions Alice had given me into my shoulder bag. As I turned, my bag slid off my shoulder, the top wide open, even though I could have sworn I'd zipped it shut. Half the contents of my bag spilled onto the floor around me. I groaned, sliding to the ground, trying to grab in between people's feet as they made their way to their next class or their lockers.
"Here you are," I froze for a moment, then looked up, a flush creeping up my face. Edward was crouching down beside me, extending two notebooks to me.
"Oh," I said, taking a deep swallow, "thank you." I tried to avoid looking directly at him, instead keeping my eyes on what was in his hand.
"No problem. Do you have it all?"
I swallowed again, nodding. My legs felt like jelly, my arms like they were too long for my body. I went to stand up, my foot catching on the strap of my bag. Edward grabbed my arm, steadying me. "Alright?" He asked with that crooked grin that I had grown to look forward to.
I nodded, my flush deepening. How was it that I always managed to look like such a fool in front of him?
He bent down and picked up my bag, holding it out for me. "Thanks." I said, my voice breathless, slinging it over my shoulder. I began to walk away before I made an even bigger fool of myself, cursing my awkwardness.
"Angela!" Edward called my name, and I immediately turned around, like the sound of his voice was the thing I could hear, as if I'd been living to simply hear him say my name.
"I -" He stared, looking down into my face, an uneasy expression in his eyes.
"Yes?" I said, my voice breathless.
"It's nothing." He said, shaking his head, though he still looked unsure. "I'll...see you later." And her turned and left, darting through the crowded hallway.
I blinked, utterly confused. But hey, he'd talked to me, right? He'd looked at me, noticed me...I smiled, my thoughts very much uplifted.
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Alice POV
I smirked as Edward's footsteps, hurried, sounded behind me. I pretended not to notice him, however improbable that was in reality, and continued to sift uselessly through my locker.
"I don't know what you're playing it," He seethed, his voice too quiet for the humans around us to hear, "but for the sake of my sanity, just stop."
I turned, bestowing an innocent smile on my brother. "I really have no idea what you're talking about."
Edward passed a hand over his eyes. "Innocence is really unbecoming on you. Just because Emmett has lost all rational thought and is pursuing a girl he cannot logically be with, does not mean I have the same twisted desire."
I kicked my locker shut with the heel of my stiletto, slinging my makeshift Chanel backpack slash purse delicately over my shoulder. "If you're interested in Angela, -"
"I'm not." Edward cut me off, his voice vehement.
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Right. Well, since there's nothing to worry about on that front, could you drop this off for me?" I held out a brown, slightly scuffed up wallet. "Angela accidentally dropped this in the cafeteria. I figured since your last classes are next to each other's, maybe after school's out..."
Edward glared suspiciously at me. "If you think for one second that I don't know what you're doing," He warned, snatching the wallet away from me.
"Geez Ed, paranoid much?" I said, knowing how much Edward hated the nickname. "I'm just asking you to do a simple favor, so stop acting like it's the end of the world. Like you said," I paused, noticing how Edward's fingers were brushing the leather of Angela's wallet. Was he perhaps thinking the soft material might be something like how her own skin would feel? "you don't care about her, right?"
Edward looked up, his eyes narrowing. "I did not say that, it has nothing do to with -"
"Ah," I held up a finger, "then you do have feelings for Angela. Well good, because she's coming for dinner. So be on your best behavior." I patted Edward's shoulder, then turned away in the vague direction of my next class.
My smile widened as I heard the sharp dent of metal crushed under stone. Ah well. I didn't really need anything in my locker anyway.
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