AN: A big thank you to my reviewers; chelseajadeee, CaliNative76, Anony, Wolf Born Woman, and guest, your reviews really do keep me posting chapters.
To guest: I know Jacob's been really distant from the story so far, and he will be returning and becoming a major role hopefully soon, so please keep reading and I'll try to get to him as soon as possible.
To Anony: I hope this next chapter answers your question about their ages, as you'll probably work it out for yourself.
May I also expressed my gratitude to my faithful readers, reviewers or not, for sticking with this story so far. I know I've not been updating regularly or for a while, my reality is going through a lot of changes recently that have prevented me from being able to take the time to write and post, and just knowing there's going to be someone who'll still want to read this after I've been gone for so long is amazingly motivating, so thank you so much for getting to this point!
Read and Review Please!
Song suggestion: Supermassive Black Hole, Muse.
Chapter Twenty: Frozen Glances.
"Afternoon Bella." Mike smiled as I reached the counter. He was the owners' son, and happened to have a persistent crush on me.
"Hey Mike." I nodded in turn and pulled on the jacket employees were required to wear, "How's school?"
"Good." He shrugged, "There's a school dance coming up…"
"Ah." Internally cringing, I floundered for an excuse, knowing what would be his next sentence, "So…have you asked anyone yet?"
"No, it's girls' choice." My quiet sigh of relief remained unnoticed as Mike scratched his head awkwardly.
"Well, has anyone asked you yet?" My polite interest was temporarily diverted by the opening of the shore door, but before I could see who was browsing, Mike called my shocked attention back to him.
"Yeah, um, Jessica did…but I was hoping we could…" His cheeks flooded with embarrassment and mine mimicked his in response. It could never just be an easy shift when I was alone with Mike, could it? Biting my lip, I glanced at him with a raised brow.
"I think you should tell her yes Mike, it's rude to keep her waiting."
Avoiding the main issue of our current situation, I craned my neck to see our buyer and blinked owlishly, more heat blistering my cheeks. He stood looking at the dehydrated food, his full lips crooked into a look of disgust, which I too agreed with. He was tall, lanky but muscled in a none bulky way, with strangely beautiful bronze hair. Though he had a slight boyish charm to his appearance, he could easily be in college or a model. His beautiful face was chiselled, marred only by the dark circles beneath his eyes, which were incredibly dark compared to his unusually pale skin.
"Yeah, I guess…" Mike mumbled next to me and I sighed in relief. How ridiculous his thought process must have been to think I would ask him to a school dance, at another school to my own!
The visitor's cheek twitched in assumed amusement, though I was sure he couldn't hear our conversation. He was gorgeous, hard to believe in this simple, small town, where no one of such beauty visited. Curious, I leaned further towards his location and spilled local advertising leaflets onto the floor. Feeling my typical blush lighting up my face, I hurried to correct my clumsiness.
"Sorry." I muttered automatically to Mike as I gathered them together again.
"No problem." He replied, "I'm just going to check on some stock…"
The air was ripe with awkward, rejected tension and I frowned at the mess of papers. As the backroom door closed rather loudly, I stood with the leaflets tightly in my grip and looked over at our buyer. Since he had yet to move from the food aisle, I wandered into his peripheral vision as a gesture of silent reminder of help.
"Hello?" He turned to me and I was stunned silent by his dark, hypnotic eyes. Feeling my heart jump unexpectedly, I fumbled with the leaflets shyly, and fought my natural instinct to keep my mouth closed and hide. His voice was deep and velvety smooth, willing you to listen to every word he breathed.
"Hi." I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, "I'm Bella, can I help you?" Glancing up at him while trying not to nervously bite my lip, the store doors opened, letting in cold, January air freckled in snowflakes.
Startled by his response, I watched him snap to attention and inhale sharply. His eyes seemed to grow darker still, his nostrils flared slightly, and he became like a statue. My leaflets fluttered and became still once more as the door shut. But he still didn't as much as twitch. Growing alarmingly wary and paranoid, I waited for him to move, or speak, or even blink.
The stillness of the store was broken by Mike re-entering and dumping a box of merchandise on the counter top. I jumped at the noise and jerked to see Mike pulling open the cardboard flaps. Sensing my eyes watching him, he looked up and spotted our buyer and I.
"You alright, Bella?" Mike asked and came around the counter, entering unwittingly into our suddenly hostile environment.
"I'm fine." But I'm not sure about him? I wanted to say, but perceived it rude, so we both turned to him.
"Can we help you?" By the curt tone in Mike's voice, I guessed he not only knew the man but wasn't friendly with him either.
"No. Excuse me." Edward turned on his toes and left the store faster, and more gracefully, than I'd ever seen anyone else move.
Mike scowled at him and readjusted the dehydrated food packets. Wandering back over to the counter, I wondered if I was the cause of the reaction. Did I not smell pleasant? As I straightened the advertisements, I subtly sniffed my shoulder, but found nothing offensive about my aroma.
"Are you sure you're alright, Bella?" Mike asked again as he joined me at the counter again, his concern plain and protective.
"I'm fine, Mike." Though I doubted I could convince him when my face was set in a puzzled expression, "Who was that?"
"Edward Cullen." Mike pulled a face into the box he continued to unpack, "Was he bothering you?"
"No." I reassured him, "I've never seen him around before."
"They've lived here a couple of years now." Mike shrugged, "He lives with Dr. Cullen and his wife, and they adopted him and his four siblings."
"He has siblings?" My interested piqued, I wondered whether they were as stunningly attractive as he had been.
"Two sisters and two brothers, but they're all together, like as couples." He frowned and my brows furrowed at this information, "He's the only single one. All the girls used to fall over themselves for him, but he turned them all down, apparently they weren't good enough." As I detected the disgruntled attitude Mike held towards the family, I decided to leave the conversation, in favour of sweeping the aisles.