A/N: Yay! School is back and easter break is over. And yes, that was sarcasm coated and chocolate bunny covered goodness. Well, the good news is that I got a new iPod, seeing as mine was stolen a month ago, that's a pretty amazing thing. Other than that, you know pretty boring on the home front. So…yeah review more so I can answer your questions, seriously, haha. Alright, well, let's get rid of the nice cliffy I left you at, eh?
Disclaimer: All you know is Stephenie Meyers, everything else, like Claire and Caleb and Keira…yeah, they belong to me, and if you even think about stealing them without my permission, you can go fall in a ditch!
We Drive
To leave the past and clear the mind
to watch the sunset set its time
I swear you'll find
I'm your ride home
Now close your eyes
its' getting dark and the highway's clear
No sign of life from front to rear
Its just you, my dear
On the ride home
We're going home
She's My Ride Home – Blue October
I knocked on the door carefully…well window actually. It was the only other bedroom on the ground floor, and I knew it had to be his. I could tell he was there, I could tell that scent. I heard footsteps approach the window and open it. Caleb was standing there in a pair of sweatpants and no shirt. I bit my lip, trying not to assess his body, but not being able to help myself.
"Claire…what are you doing here?" he asked as he yawned and rubbed his eyes.
"I kind of ran away from home," I said, looking at me feet from embarrassment.
"So, why would you come here?" he asked. "Don't you have a best friend?"
"Yeah…but I kind of wanted to ask a favor," I said, finally realizing what I wanted.
"Alright…of me or Keira?" he asked with another yawn.
"You of course," I replied with a silent laugh.
"Alright, shoot," he said with a smirk.
"Can we go for a ride?" I asked hopefully. He looked at me, bewildered for a moment, then smiled.
"Sure, give me five minutes," he said with a smirk. "I'll be out the front door in a second," he laughed. He closed the window and I went around to the front of the house and sat on the front porch. As if clocked, five minutes later, the door opened and he came out in a pair of ripped jeans and a men's undershirt, but nothing else. I could see the contours of his chest and arms easily and smiled. "So, where are we riding to?" he asked with a grin.
"Anywhere but my parents' or grandparents' house," I said, still smiling.
"How about Seattle?" he asked with a smirk.
"Fine by me," I answered. He pulled a set of keys form his pocket and hit a button that let a little noise come from the sleek viper in the driveway. He hit another button and the top on it went down. I grinned and walked towards it, touching the side and opening the passenger door.
"What, miss need for speed doesn't want to drive?" he asked sarcastically.
"I'll drive back," I said, looking up at him with a light laugh.
"In a good mood?" he asked, looking at me with excited eyes.
"I don't know why, but yeah," I answered, still smiling.
"Let me make you happier and take you to my favorite place to get in a good mood," he said with a smirk.
"We're going to England?" I joked sarcastically.
"No," he said with a smirk. "We're going to the cliffs," he said smiling. My stomach dropped.
"The cliffs…like in La Push?" I asked nervously.
"No…the cliffs outside of Port Angeles above the water. I'll show you, get in," he said, running around the side of the car, opening the driver's door and climbing in. I got in the passenger side and waited while he slid the key fluidly into the ignition. I pulled my coat tighter around me and saw him reach around a pull a coat from the backseat. I was wondering about that…it was the middle of winter after all. He shrugged tino his coat and grabbed my bag form my hand and threw it into the back before starting the car.
"Hurry up," I said with a smile as I zipped up my coat. There was a temperature read out on the car and it read 30 degrees. I looked up at the sky and saw that it looked like something could fall at any second, and most likely rain.
"I'm going," he said as he started the car and looked up at the sky as well. "You know, if you're cold we can put the top up."
"I'm fine," I said with a smile. "You?"
"I'm great," he said, zipping up his coat. "The thing I worry about is if it snows. The car can go through fire, but any snow and we're grounded," he laughed. "So, if anything falls, we're staying in Port Angeles for the night." I gulped before looking back ahead of me and placing my hand on the center console. The car roared to life as he pressed the gas pedal. It lunged to life and drove out into Forks. He began driving northeast towards the highway. When we finally reached the highway, it was completely clear. I smiled to myself as he sped the car up along the stretch of highway. The cold air blew through my hair as we went, building speed.
"Looks like we're alone," he said with a smile.
"Yep," I laughed.
"So, why are you running away? You never gave me a chance to ask the questions," he said, smirking.
"My parents think they can control everything I do," I said, looking at him as my euphoria began to drain.
"Technically they can't though…you know, I mean until you turn eighteen," he said with his eyebrows raised.
"You don't get it," I said with a smile, completely leaving out the fact that I had already been under their tyranny for ten years.
"I bet they don't either," he said, looking at me with a smirk playing around his lips.
"But I've told them before," I said softly.
"Doesn't mean they listened. Parents have a bad habit of choosing not to listen to people, especially their kids, when they talk," he said, adjusting the mirrors and turning on the radio. A song I liked came on, a song by a band I adored.
"You like Evans Blue?" I asked skeptically.
"I like everything, but yeah, they are one of my favorites," he said with a grin as he stared at the road ahead.
"Such as…" I edged with a smirk, not taking my eyes off of his gorgeous face. He let out a sigh before looking back at me.
"Such as Blue October, Blink 182, Bowling for Soup, Saosin, Death Cab, MCR, Dropping Daylight, Soundgarden, the Killers, the Vanished, Buckcherry, Muse, Stone Sour, shall I continue?" he asked with a smile.
"You and I have some pretty similar tastes in music," I assessed with a grin.
"Coincidence, I bet," he laughed. Another song came on the radio. "Speak of the devil," he said with a smile, turning up the song by the Killers, Read My Mind.
Bella's PovWhen I came to see if she was okay, I was hit in the face by a surprise I wasn't ready for. She was gone, along with an entire outfit.
"EDWARD!" I yelled. He was at my side in an instant, knowing I would never yell like that unless it was an emergency.
"She's gone," he breathed, anger and fear coating his tone.
"Of course she's gone! This is terrible! We shouldn't have yelled at her or told her that or said anything or thought about punishing her!" I screamed.
"We'll follow her scent," Edward soothed softly. "I'll go, you stay here in case she comes back. She should be home by morning, hopefully."
"Okay," I said softly.
Edward's POV"Please let her be safe," I whispered to myself as soon as I picked up the scent. I followed it closely until I came to a huge mansion on the opposite side of Forks as Esme's home. It was there that her trail was at a stop. It was as though something had covered it up or she had just vanished. "Dammit," I said angrily as I walked slowly home. I noted before I left though, the scent of werewolf emanating from this house. It wasn't strong like the Quileute scent, but more of a scent of a dirty or a wet dog. I stopped my breathing as I went home, the scent unbearable.
Claire's PoV"I love this song," I said softly as the melody drifted through the speakers. "And you read my mind," I said softly as I listened to it. He laughed once before speeding up down the abandoned highway. "Pull off here," I said, smiling.
"Why?" he asked with a wary expression, turning on his blinker to get onto the exit ramp.
"Just do it, okay?" I asked with a smirk.
"I don't trust that smile of yours, but alright," he said as he took the ramp and we pulled into a town.
"Let's go do something," I said, eying the shopping center ahead with a smile.
"I'm not buying you anything, you know that right?" he asked with a laugh.
"I have money," I said.
"From racing yesterday?"
"Nope…from racing last week," I said with a smirk.
"Alright," he said with a sigh. "I'll beat you one of these days though."
"Doubt it. I'm the champion of that course," I said.
"We'll go to New York and you can try a course there. Those are some fun ones," he laughed.
"Done it," I said with a joking smile. "My family travels a lot."
"I bet," he said, sounding as though his words had a double-meaning. I ignored it and looked at him with a pleading smile. "Alright, to the giant mall," he said with a laugh, pulling into the parking lot and parking the car. It was one of those malls that was open all night long. The kind that you rarely found nowadays. It was why I loved going here. The place was so retro and yet modern at the same time. It made me smile just to think about it. It was then that Caleb's pocket began ringing as he shoved his hand inside and pulled out a cell phone.
"Hello?" he asked, flipping it open.
"Where are you?" I heard the voice on the other line ask. It sounded worried and frantic.
"Keira calm down," Caleb said with a roll of his eyes.
"Where are you?"
"I'm out with a friend," he answered.
"In the early hours of the morning? First you talk me into racing the new Lambo and now you sneak out of the house? You're gonna be so dead if Charlotte and Chris find out."
"I realize that. I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to do though."
"She's there? Oh, shit, she can hear me then, can't she?"
"Well, you're certainly screaming."
"Sorry."
"Listen, I'll call you back when we start back for Forks, okay? Don't bug me again until I call. If anything comes up I'll call too. So don't worry. I'm not as dumb as you think," he joked.
"Hurry up. There's a blizzard in Forks right now. If you get stuck in it you're both gonna get hurt."
"If it hits us, we'll stay here overnight."
"Fine. Bye."
"Bye my dear cousin," he said sarcastically, flicking the phone shut. "Sorry about that. She's completely overprotective of me," he laughed.
"I know the feeling. You should meet my entire family," I said, completely believing that myself.
"I can't imagine," he said with a smirk.
"Who are Charlotte and Chris?" I asked, completely curious.
"My guardians, my aunt and uncle," he said with a smirk. "They never really get mad about anything, but Keira hates disappointing people with a passion," he joked. I opened the door of the car and climbed out, slightly clumsy. "Careful," he said, reaching across the car to grab my hand and help me out. He clicked a button on the remote that pulled the top of the convertible up. I smiled as I watched it go up and he continued to hold my hand until opening his own door.
"Thanks," I said with a smile. If I could have blushed, I would have. How can I know? I felt warmth stain my cheeks. He was too perfect for anyone like me to ever have. I just couldn't stand the smell of him. He got out then, coming around the side of the car.
"So, remind me why we're at the mall when you don't have any money to spend," he said with a smirk.
"Charge card, gift cards, credits, debit, you know the whole bit," I said with a smile, pulling a thin wallet from my pocket filled with various cards to many different stores, and some were just credit cards. We walked through the parking lot, not making contact with each other. I saw some other couples, the girls would glance at Caleb and the boys would glance at me. Every time one looked at me though, I could sense Caleb stiffen protectively next to me, and it made me happy and it made me feel safe.
The automatic doors slid open and I grabbed his hand and pulled him into one of the stores with a smile. There, I bought a few things on my debit card, which was perfectly safe, seeing as my bank account was totally full. We spent the entire time together. He offered to buy me stuff at the food court constantly, but I insisted each time that I wasn't hungry and had a huge dinner. At the end, I had three huge bags filled with stuff. As we went towards the door to get to the car, I saw the blizzard.
"Um…" I said warily. He looked out the front door too.
"Crap," he muttered under his breath, pulling out his cell and pressing a few buttons before holding it to his ear.
"I told you," came Keira's voice on the phone.
"Shut up. I guess we're just gonna stay here until it blows over, okay?" he asked into the cell.
"Yeah, whatever. Be careful though, okay?"
"Yeah, there's a hotel down the road that we can walk to, and it isn't that bad yet," he said with a smile.
"Yeah, well, Forks is under three feet right now. So, it'll be coming. You'll probably have to be towed back here."
"Call Claire's parents, okay? Tell them she's okay, in good hands, and we'll be back in the morning." Uh oh, I thought. Emmet was bound to come up here demanding to take me in his stupid truck. "Call me back after you talk to them, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Sure."
"Bye, Ki-Ki," he said with a smile.
"I'm not a five-year-old anymore, you dork." And then I heard the click of the dial tone in the background. She had hung up. I tried to suppress a laugh from that last bit.
"Are we walking?" I asked, looking down at my feet with a look of slight disgust. I wasn't wearing very good boots for something like that.
"Yeah, but I can carry you if you'd like," he joked.
"No, I'll walk," I said, smiling as I walked out the automatic doors into the night. I was shocked when it was still dark. It was the very, very early hours of the morning, I knew, but I thought we had wasted a lot more time. We stopped and put the shopping bags in the trunk of the car except for one outfit for each of us. I had spent a little money buying him something too. We walked quickly, well, quickly for a human pace, and made it to a hotel within five minutes. He was right; it was insanely close. He shook the snow off of his jacket and I jumped, letting the snow on mine fall off all round me as I laughed. He smiled at me before walking to the front desk.
"Two rooms please," he said with a smile.
"Sorry, only one room is open," said the woman behind the counter after looking into her database. "You'll be fine, there's only one bed, but one can sleep on the floor right?" she asked, an apologetic smile on her face. "Or there's a couch too."
"It's fine," I interrupted with a smile. "I'll sleep on the couch or the floor or whatever."
"You sure?" he asked, his eyes wide in shock.
"Sure. I really don't mind," I said with a smile, knowing I wouldn't be sleeping anyway. He smiled at the woman and nodded before she handed me a room key. With a sigh I handed my small bag of clothes to him and walked to the elevator, taking my coat off as I hit the button on it. We both got inside and it took us up a few levels. We got to our floor and looked through, finding the room. I slid the key into the door and it opened. It was a nice hotel, something called a Hilton, but we usually stayed at places with a lot more luxury unless we were camping.
"I can't believe all of this snow in October," I said with a sigh.
"So, Forks does have some surprises then?" he asked with a laugh.
"You're funny," I said sarcastically, snatching my bag from him and tossing it into the closet. It was only one room, but there was a small twin bed and a couch with a television and then a radio. This was going to be a long night.
A/N: Alright, guys seriously, FAQ page. You need to review for it!! Someone is reviewing more than once to get it, but apparently you don't care. Try and hit the goal this time. I'm lowering it to 8 reviews in one chapter, okay? You can do this.
Anyways, wasn't this chappy adorable?? I had so much fun writing it!! Oh, and there's going to be a song, quote, verse, poem line, etc. in each chapter now that ties in. I hope you like that idea!! Oh, Think about what happens in October!! I can't contain it...it starts with an H and ends in -omecoming!! AAAH!! I am so exctied to write the next chapter!!