Chapter 17 - Competition

Edward heard it in a passing thought from Seth as the werewolf drove past the road near their house—apparently it was too loud to ignore—and so Adrian was aware that very night what Charlotte had decided regarding that weekend. In retrospect, Edward thought it better that he know the truth ahead of time and so when—and, to be frank, if—Charlotte told him, he'd be able to take the news more calmly. But then, on the other hand, it was also dangerous to let him brood for to long, so the older vampire took care to keep an eye on his younger brother throughout the night.

Bella, who of course wasn't going to spend the night in their house alone, came along with Edward as he trailed after Adrian. All of them were walking at a casual enough pace, but it was clear that they were all very aware of each other's presence. Even whispering wouldn't help in Adrian not hearing them, so Bella didn't bother. Instead, she kept silent, and extended her barrier so that Edward could hear her every thought. Even after all these years, he was still so fascinated when she did that, as from her all he usually got was silence. Whereas everyone else's thoughts were like monotone speaking, Bella's was like a fine musical composition.

He's competitive and so this doesn't look good, she thought. He's going to consider this like he lost round one and come back fighting harder than ever for round two.

Much as Edward agreed with her, he felt it unfortunate that the analogy had to be a game. True, it was about the only way to describe Adrian's way of thinking, but this was a human girl they were talking about as the prize. And besides which, even though Adrian liked her by choice and had met her first and all, Seth's feelings were further developed, both by his age and his instinct. The connection between imprinter and imprintee was a strong one, regardless of what relationship they maintained, and Edward could confidently vouch from his own experiences that even if Charlotte chose Adrian in the end, Seth would never be out of the picture.

God only knew how many times he'd battled with himself over whether or not he should allow Jacob into the picture with Renesmee—in the end though, his daughter's innermost affections had won out, and he'd had to accept that was the way things were now.

By the way that Adrian's thoughts were going now though, Edward doubted that the younger vampire would come to the same conclusion easily. He only hoped that in the "competition" to be with Charlotte, the human girl herself wasn't hurt.

Such things had only ended in near-death experiences before, after all...

Charlotte's P.O.V.

With no excuses and just plain honesty, I blurt out the entire truth to Adrian the next day at lunch, same spot as before. I thought about it all night, waking up at random intervals and wondering what I should do, but the conclusion's always been the same: all or nothing. There's no skirting around this when I know what it means to Adrian, what it means to me. I tell him just the base details and wait to hear how he reacts before launching into any reasons or side-stepping the main facts.

Surprisingly though, and with no hint or irony or forced anything to his voice, Adrian says that "It's fine."

I blink, confused in...what I'm hoping is not a misleading optimistic way. "Wait, really? You're not upset?"

"Why would I be?" He stands up and I can hear his footsteps moving away from me. "Like I said yesterday, I don't want to force my opinions onto you, and if you'd rather hang out with Seth than me, it's—"

"Woah, woah, woah, I didn't say that!" I stand up as well, facing in the approximate direction I think he is. For some reason, all I can hear is him moving further and further, and for a moment I panic and think that he's just going to leave me here. But then, taking a moment to calm down and remind myself that Adrian wouldn't do that, I sit back down.

"This isn't about choosing between you and Seth. It's just that I've given it a lot of thought and, when it comes down to it, I really don't think that I'm ready to take a hike yet. Even if there hadn't been this alternative for the bonfire, I don't know if I would've agreed!" Then, to soften what might've been a blow, I add, "Besides, this bonfire will only take place this specific weekend, whereas we can go hiking whenever."

Adrian's footsteps stop. "So...then you will consider it for the future."

"I never said I wouldn't," I reply, clasping my hands together. "This and that are different things, and I'm really open to any new experiences."

"New experiences..." he repeats, slowly coming back. "Yeah, I'm all about that too. I was hoping you'd be up for it and...with me."

There's a slight shift in his tone at that last part that seems particularly...er...friendly, but I'm not saying that I mind it. Actually, if I can interpret things correctly, I'd say that it shows Adrian as being more open-minded than I gave him credit for. Wrong of me to make such a judgement in the first place, I know, but how else was I supposed to react in his reaction towards Seth? At least, hopefully, I can interpret good things from this in the future.

Patting the log next to me, I wait for him to sit down before speaking up. Turning towards him, I reach out and grab his hand, surprised when his first reaction is to flinch and almost move away, though not quite. I don't take this personally though since I pretty much figured that Adrian's not a touchy-feely guy; Seth, on the other hand, most certainly is, and I don't mind that either.

Focus, Char!

"I really appreciate how you're taking this," I say. "And I want you to know that I consider you a good person for it."

He chuckles. "You mean you thought of me as a bad guy before?"

I shake my head. "No, but...you just really seem like you like to have things in your way and everything that's not that is...Well, anyway, I guessed you didn't like Seth and it honestly felt almost competitive between you two for a second, two dominant personalities clashing I guess, but..." But Seth's not like that and so I'm glad that you won't force the issue over something this small. "I'm glad that's not the case now."

"Oh, that's the case alright," he mutters, so low that even I almost don't hear him. "But I'm not going to put you in the middle of things if I don't have to."

"What?"

"Nothing, Char, nothing. You planning on finishing that sandwich?"

I almost forgot that it's lunchtime and more so, it's probably almost over. "Um...you want some?"

"No, but it'd make me feel better to know you won't be starving until dinner or something," Adrian says with a laugh.

Then, more to oblige him than because I'm feeling that hungry, I take a bite and finish up.

Once school was out and Adrian had escorted Charlotte to her relatives' car, he made himself scarce as far as his family was concerned. Usually, of course he could rely on them and share anything with them, but often times it was annoying when he wasn't given the choice of doing that because Edward knew things anyway. The older vampire usually made an effort not to make it obvious what he knew, give Adrian at least the illusion of privacy, but lately, ever since Charlotte had come into the picture, he really hadn't held back.

Well, in order to more or less bypass that annoying psychic ability, Adrian decided that distance was the thing he needed. So, as soon as school was out, he raced up the mountain in the direction opposite the Cullen house, sending out a mental "yell" of sorts to Edward to leave him alone for an hour or two. He really needed the time to be alone, and, more importantly, the time to think alone and formulate a plan.

At first, he'd thought that he could handle it. Like he had said to Edward, he thought that he would be fine with Charlotte being able to choose between him and Seth, and yes, it had very much come down to that in his book. Because just theorizing about the future scenario of that was one thing, but the way that Charlotte lit up when talking about Seth at lunch today was completely another thing. He knew that, to her at least at this stage, it wasn't a choice between him and Seth, that much was certain and her reasoning made sense—but that still didn't change how she'd looked and sounded when talking about him. Somehow or other, faster than Adrian could ever have thought of doing, the werewolf had gotten himself in Charlotte's good graces and was steadily getting closer to her. Whether the fact that he imprinted her gave him an advantage or not, Adrian didn't know, but he wasn't about to let that be the defining factor.

I meet a girl, then wolf meets a girl and so wolf gets girl. That's not how this works, Adrian thought. To an extent, perhaps he was thinking of Charlotte as a prize, and therefore becoming competitive on reflex after all his years of gaming, but...it was more than that. Her comments today about seeing him as a good person and how she looked genuinely relieved once he assured her that he was fine...those were things that he couldn't put a price or point system on. That was all her, and made her singularly unique among anyone he'd ever met since starting this life. He wasn't just imagining his own humanity anymore; with her, it was truly present and possible.

And besides which, she was her own person with her own decisions. Adrian would allow her to make the final choice, but that didn't mean that he would sit back and let Seth make all the moves. True, he didn't have Seth's openness or innate way of getting close to Charlotte, so he'd give the werewolf that, but...

I'll use what I have, Adrian concluded, his hands folded across his lap as he sat upon a rock on the mountainside, the rain pouring down around him in true Forks fashion. I've got what he doesn't have, what noone else has, and if I have to use it...then I will.

Even though Edward would likely kill him for it—hopefully not literally—if he knew.

Well, Adrian would just have to better control his thoughts, in that case. And while that wouldn't be easy, if there was one thing he knew from his experience in general procrastination and mind-numbing hours upon hours on the internet, it was how to be expert in "mental garbage". Right now, Edward was keeping a special psychic eye on him, but pretty soon, that was going to change...

A/N: Okay, so pretty unclear what Adrian's on about just now, I know, but for those of you that have read See the Truth, you'll get a sense of where this is going. And also, I'd really like some reviews and opinions regarding Adrian's personality, just sort of enough to let me know what you think about him and whether it's realistic or not for him to stay put as opposed to taking actions, as he intends to do. It puts him in sort of an anti-hero perspective, I guess, but hopefully that makes him more interesting? Maybe?

Ahem, anyway, please do follow, favourite, and review, as always!