Chapter 8 - The Calm Before

Charlotte's P.O.V.

Waiting for something to happen is as nerve-wracking for me as it is for most people. Only, unlike someone who can see the time to check it, I have to ask Siri every time I want to know. Since we already confirmed that it's not like this is a date or anything—I know that studying for biology, especially if it involves cells and nothing else, would never be considered a date—there's no reason for me to be as nervous as I am, and yet...

There's something exciting about meeting with someone outside of school, just going outside in general. While I got the mandatory tour of Forks High School right from the get-go, Forks itself is still very much a mystery to me outside of school and home. I just barely get around inside up and down the stairs to go to the bathroom though, nevermind go out by myself. For most roads, there aren't signals and traffic lights, so especially in rainy and foggy weather, a blind girl crossing the street is practically asking to be run over. And while Forks in itself might not be a major traffic zone, it is near highways that lead directly to Canada, so there's enough of a presence of trucks to make someone be careful.

Just the luck of suburbs and small towns: you need a car to get everywhere.

Anyway, thoughts of this non-date aside, I'm up and ready for breakfast as usual. I've obviously never seen my own clothes and whenever I've chosen anything to wear, it's based on the comfort of the material rather than style, but Mary always checks that I've got plain, easy-to-match colours. It's the first time I've ever been self-conscious about it though, so I can't help but ask her how I look as she takes her turn in the bathroom.

"Char, you always look fine, geez," she grumbles. Not a morning person, my sister—good luck with that baby.

Taking her word for it, I make it through breakfast okay and then have time to double-check my books and everything else I may need for the day. Cane at the ready, I'm sitting on the bench in the hall by the time our doorbell rings.

Adrian's voice is completely cheerful—definitely a morning person—as he greets Joe, who insisted on answering once I announced where we were going. Everyone took to the library plan much better than just "hanging out" with Adrian, but at the same time they gave me a four hour time limit for how much I'm allowed to be out. Part of me feels guilty since I know that if they didn't have to worry about me and knew that I would be home the entire day, they would've gone hiking themselves after breakfast, but as it is, they've cut their plans short to half a day.

I'd apologize, except that I'm not really sorry.

"Morning! Nice to meet you, I'm Adrian Cullen."

"Joe Weathers," Joe responds, calm but reserved. "I work with your father at the hospital."

"Of course, Charlotte's uncle, right? Yeah, dad's mentioned you a couple of times, loves your handwriting."

"Oh, really?" Joe's change in tone is so obvious that you don't have to be blind to hear that he's already softening up. He happens to be a big sucker for penmanship and even took an impromptu calligraphy course in college—it was where he met Lizzy, or so the story goes. Outdoorsy people they might be in general, but each of them have their own indoorsy activities that they also enjoy. Lizzy, for instance, is a painter, but...by darn if I know whether or not she's any good!

"We've set a four hour limit for Charlotte being out today," Joe continues. "I'm sure that'll be enough time to catch up on your homework."

"Yes sir, it should be. I mean, if you're offering longer..."

The expression on Adrian's face must be as indicative as his tone that he's joking, because Joe's only response is a laugh.

"Well, had to try. Ready to go, Charlotte?" He's standing just inside the doorway, so it's easy to feel my way over to him, though it feels (and probably looks) awkward to have to grope around for his hand. Skin on skin when he touches me—until now it's been my arm, and always through clothes—I realize that he's much colder than I first thought. At first I think it's the temperature once I step outside, but on the contrary it's actually quite reasonable.

"Have a good time and text us when you get there, okay!" Joe calls after us.

Adrian helps me into his car, for which I have to step up quite a bit. It's a Rover on high wheels he explains to me, made for handling mountain terrain.

"You really weren't kidding about roughing it, were you?" I laugh, once we've driven for a while and I can't help but notice that we're going...significantly faster than I'm used to, though I can't tell what speed exactly. It's making me a bit nervous, to be honest, since I've never gone this fast before, but maybe this is just how people in small towns drive. Maybe the road's empty and Adrian's showing off. Or maybe this really is his idea of roughing it.

"Of all the things I'd kid you about, how I am is the last thing, trust me!" If anything, I can feel him speeding up.

Swallowing, I add, "And...ha ha, you know, just a thought, but you're not planning on driving this way once we get downtown, right?"—assuming Forks has the equivalent of a downtown area, that's where the library is likely to be—"I mean, it's probably empty on the road now, right?"

"Yeah, it's empty. Just us."

"Well, once we get into traffic, you'll slow down, I assume? Not to criticize your driving, but I'd like to get to the library in one piece and I'm not in a hurry or anything, so..."

"Trust me, I'll get you there in one piece."

He laughs, but...I know a lie when I hear one.

Meanwhile, back at the Cullen house, Seth Clearwater had successfully shifted back to his human form, grabbing a set of clothes from where the Cullens kept them handy, inside the garden shed that they rarely used. Alice had custom-designed most of them, usually with a sense of humor as to the slogans on T-shirts—anything from "Big Bad Wolf Gets Lil' Red" to "Vampire Slayer Ex Machina". Seth had grabbed a yellow one that said "Woofie" just by chance, but it suited him fine, as most things did.

Out of all the werewolves in La Push, Seth was the calmest one of the pack.

Which was probably why he was so often chosen as a delegate of sorts to communicate with the Cullens close-up. Jacob obviously was close to them because of his friendship with Bella and his more-than-friendship with Nessie; but it was Seth's easygoing personality and close friendship with Edward that made him ideal as a go-between. He was close, but not too personal, if that made sense.

As for when he got there for their planned weekend, the first thing he did was take a few deep breaths to try and calm his inner wolf from being automatically in the offensive. It had been a long time since any werewolves had been allowed near the Cullen house, and so even Seth had to take a moment or two to get re-used to their...uh...smell. Before, when he had been in close proximity to them almost constantly with Jake, then he had hardly noticed it at times; but now, after months away, a few moments to himself were what he needed.

It was a good thing that Edward already knew this and gave him those moments, coming out of the house only when he sensed that Seth had calmed down.

"Good to see you again, Seth," the vampire said, giving Seth a brotherly half-hug.

Seth grinned, returning it. "Happy to be back. Missed our good times together."

"Yeah, you never did forge me for winning that last race, did you?" Edward grinned.

"More like I never figured how how you did," Seth said, stuffing his hands in his back pockets and walking alongside Edward leisurely. The vampires had already anticipated that he'd be hungry when he arrived, so from inside Seth could make out the smell of grilling barbecue. "I mean, I was ahead by two miles midway, but then I got tripped up once we got to the river. That still shouldn't have given you as much of an advantage as it did though, so my only conclusion was that you cheated somehow."

"I may have swung from the trees some of the way downhill, but I guess there's no way of knowing for sure now," Edward commented.

"Doesn't matter anyway, since I've bulked up and really got in shape recently," Seth concluded. "Next time we try out a race, we might come out with different results."

"I look forward to it. It'll have to be another day though."

"Right, of course. Today I'm meeting Mystery Vamp. And I'll be the first Wolfman he's ever seen, right?"

"That's the idea, yes." Edward's expression and tone became more serious. "Adrian's first reaction is almost never offensive unless he's on the hunt, but since he hasn't seen a werewolf before and doesn't even know they exist, we don't know just how he'll react around you. So, if it wouldn't be too much to ask you to be careful..."

"I won't get down on my belly and expose my neck, but anything apart from that, yeah, I can do it," Seth said.

Leading him inside, Edward handed Seth a bag of chips near the front entrance. One by one, Seth greeted the rest of the Cullens, politely ignoring how some of them—ahem, Rosalie and Jasper—couldn't help but turn up their noses just a bit at his smell. Take it all in all, Seth had missed them too, whether a little or a lot. Natural enemies vampires and werewolves may have been, but Seth considered that the Cullen clan and the La Push pack were as close to being friends and allies as anyone was likely to get in the supernatural world. They had faced down death together and won, and that counted for more than their natural physiology any day!

He sat down and helped himself to the plentiful barbeque that was piling up on a plate.

"We won't be expecting Adrian until later in the afternoon, so perhaps until then you could—"

"Uh, Carlisle?" Alice suddenly said, interrupting him,.

Edward knew the second she did, and pretty soon every vampire, if they didn't know, could at least guess what the problem was.

The familiar sound of Adrian's jeep motor was getting louder and louder as he approached.

And even from this distance, the scent of the human girl with him was unmistakable.

A/N: Next chapter we'll have QUITE a few character interactions and personal developments going on, so please stay tuned for that!

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