Because they had woken up so early that morning, Bella and Edward were the first ones to show up at the 'Flyleaf Away' bookstore nestled in the centre of the sleepy small town. Edward scooted quickly around the side of his silver Volvo and opened the door for Bella; doubling the amount of effort by clutching her hand to help her climb out. As usual, his judgment was off and Bella had to bite her tongue to keep from uttering a squeak of pain. Edward noticed and immediately let go of her hand.
"I'm sorry, it's just I think I'm used to grabbing things like a normal person would, but then I realise I'm still about two hundred times stronger… and to tell you the truth, I just don't hold that many people's hands." Edward babbled as he shut the door behind Bella and locked the car. Bella rolled her eyes at him and absentmindedly kneaded her injury as she stared balefully at the bookstore towering before them.
It was, predictably, an overcast day today, but the weather page she'd checked on the internet that morning -it had taken about ten minutes to load on her godforsaken connection- had informed her that rain was on the way. Bella had ended up wearing jeans and a comfy sweater. Edward was wearing a t-shirt.
"Is it even open?" Bella asked as Edward headed straight towards the front door. He paused to kick at a coke can and it ricocheted off his foot and hit a shop front two hundred meters down the street. An elderly couple in the vicinity that were getting out of their car turned and shouted down the nearest offensive alleyway by way of blame. Edward ducked his head and pretended like he had nothing to do with it as Bella opened the door of the shop.
Immediately, they were hit with the scent of cloying incense. Edward noticeably gagged.
"Welcome!" An old woman clothed in multicolored scarves shouted at them as they entered the store. It was incredibly warm in this store due to the fact two separate gas heaters were merrily burning away at opposite ends of the shop. The bookstore was typical of any suburban store, save for the incense and eccentric dress of the owner. Her face was clean of makeup save for bright pink lipstick, and her dyed brown hair curled crazily about her dainty ears. She wore a long flowing top over loose Thai-fisherman pants. The pants, of course, were like a glorified skirt, save for the fact they actually had separate legs in them.
"Er, hello." Bella spoke up, for Edward had his hand clamped over his nose and mouth and was looking at the entire store with an expression of distaste. "We've, er-" Bella was distracted as Edward stumbled backwards and knocked a Series of Unfortunate Events books off a lower shelf. The eccentric book keeper looked at him with concern.
"Are you alright dear?" She pressed of him.
"Alright?" Edward gasped in disbelief, and then he appeared to regret uncovering his nose and mouth. He took one look at Bella and then grabbed her; burying his face in her neck. The old woman seemed impressed with his public display of affection and Bella quickly managed to calm down when she realised he wasn't trying to kill her but was rather blocking the scent of the incense from his nostrils.
"I suppose he… can't handle incense." Bella suggested as she smiled sheepishly at the old woman. The book keeper grinned toothily at her and blatantly ignored the fact that the young girl's boyfriend was still bent double with his face buried in the girl's long locks. It was odd, but not the oddest thing she'd ever seen.
"So, what are you looking for?" The woman asked; switching tack. She blinked wide eyes at Bella and the girl strove to remember the name of the books she was after.
"Oh yes, er, I'm after this book called Twilight?" Bella fumbled. Edward stiffened and was about to pull his face away from her neck but then thought better of it. The woman nodded and wandered off through the store and Bella decided this was a perfect time to voice her opinions to Edward.
"Couldn't you just not breathe?" She hissed towards the general vicinity of his ear. "What is with… this?!"
"A nicer path of avoidance." Came the muffled reply. Bella rolled her eyes and attempted to slip out of his grasp but steely fingers tightened their grasp and she was left powerless. It was then the bell above the door rang as a group of teenage students entered the shop gossiping.
"Jessica! Angela… oh god." Bella greeted; her smile fading with each name pronounced. She stared at the third unknown girl. "Er… hi?"
"Hi Bella. Is that Edward?" Jessica asked in a smarmy tone. The blonde girl tilted her head at the spectacle before her and smirked. "Is there something wrong with him?"
At this, Edward straightened up.
"It's just that Bella has such an amazing scent." He informed Jessica as he unleashed the full power of his hypnotizing gaze. The blonde girl gasped and almost fell over as she became overpowered by his presence.
"Geeze Jess, sharpen up." Angela admonished; who had not noticed the interaction between her friend and the vampire. "How's it going anyway Bella?"
"Pretty good. About to buy Twilight. Yep." Was all the brunette girl could say. She was mildly pissed off with her boyfriend for actively causing someone else to lust after him. He was still looking at Jessica but at least now he was scowling.
"Twilight? That book about Buffy the Vampire Slayer?" Angela asked with consternation wrinkling her pretty face. The third girl fidgeted beside them. She was getting a bit bored with this interaction that wasn't involving her.
Suddenly the old woman was back with four thick books and a computer print out.
"Here you are deary!" She shouted; piling the books in Bella's grasp as Edward turned to look on in amusement. "Here's the whole series!"
"What's this printed thing?" Bella gasped; for she was a weak little creature. Edward rather helpfully snatched the books from her grasp and balanced them on his head, just for a fun change. Jessica still hadn't recovered; she was leaning against her unnamed friend fanning herself lightly. It was either Edward, or the incense and heaters that had had this effect on her.
"Oh there's a fifth book that got leaked. I keep a stash out back." The book keeper said nonchalantly. Edward scanned the first few lines.
"Oh isn't that charming." He said in a sarcastic tone. "The main character's got my name."
"Isn't that stealing?" The girl supporting Jessica piped up. The old woman narrowed her eyes at her.
"No." When she didn't elaborate, all eyes looked at her persistently. "Oh the bloody author released it now get the hell on with it will you!" She screeched.
Edward scooted to the front counter but spied sight of the offending incest and visibly blanched at it. The teenagers would have eyed him curiously but Angela and the other two had wandered off through the store and Bella knew to expect eccentricities from this boy. He tried to subtly stop breathing but the old woman noticed.
"Got a blocked nose have you? Have some Vix." And with that she stretched across the counter and wiped the sticky substance made up of nasal-clearing concoctions on his face. His reaction was immediate.
"It bloody well burns!" He hollered at her. Bella could only stare at her boyfriend as he tried to stretch his t-shirt to wipe his face but when that failed due to lack of length he simply ripped it off rather effortlessly and tried to dab up all the offending nose-clearing substance. The old woman blinked at him.
"Sorry about that. He, er, doesn't like things that… smell." Bella offered. It appeared her explanation was accepted for the woman shrugged and rang up the books. A rather dejected Edward thrust his credit card at her and then sulked as he waited for the things to be placed in the bag. He sniffed and then shuddered.
"What's wrong?" Bella asked as they carried the things out to his car. He unlocked the boot and took the books from her but only replied once they were back in their seats.
"You know how strong that stuff smells to you? Try being me, to whom cardboard is overpowering."
And with that, they drove back home to Bella's.