CHAPTER FIVE

To my surprise, I settled into life as a janitor with great ease. Sully and I became great friends - her slightly obscure sense of humour never failed to make me laugh. She was slightly weird, and had a desperate obsession with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and all things paranormal. I would have loved to tell her I was a werewolf, purely to see the expression on her freckly face, but of course, that was completely out of the question.

My Mom's face always lit up whenever I mention Sully, and I knew she hoped that there would be romance somewhere along the line, but I didn't feel that way about Sully, and she definitely didn't feel that way about me. She was utterly in love with William, an ambulance driver who was probably the same age as me. Problem was, he just didn't realize that Sully even existed.

"Do you think he knows who I even am?" She sighed one day as we drank orange juice and ate cookies in the staff room on our break. William was sitting across the room, chatting to one of the nurses.

I shrugged, not really into chatting about love lives. "I'm sure he does," I said, not wanting to hurt her feelings.

"Hmm.." Sully said, taking a mouthful of juice. "Isn't he just so cute? Look at the way his hair sits.."

I looked over at William and cleared my throat. "Er…"

Sully turned her attention back to me. "Don't you dare agree with me!" She said, grinning and spraying cookie crumbs everywhere.

"Well done!" I said sarcastically, standing up and wiping wet crumbs off my shirt.

"Sorry!" She said loudly, her brown eyes wide, her cheeks flushing with mortification.

"It's okay, it's not a big deal -"

"I am such a klutz -"

"Sully, shush!" People were starting to look over, she was talking so loud.

She glanced around the room to where William was. He was staring at her. Her face went even redder - something I wouldn't have thought was possible.

She sat down, picked up a magazine on disembowelments, and hid her furiously red face behind it.

I couldn't help bit grin, but I made sure not to let her see - she was upset enough as it was.

I finished my juice and glanced at my watch. "Sully, I think it's time we got back to work."

She didn't reply, but after a moment she put down her magazine. Her face was still very red, but was starting to return to its usual pale shade.

"You can take A&E and reception today," She said, standing up. "I already did the kids ward."

I shrugged my agreement, not letting my disappointment show. I loved working on the kids ward.

I took my mop and bucket from the Janitors closet and headed down to reception. I set up the "caution - wet floor" sign, and proceeded with my oh-so-fun job. As I slowly mopped the floor, I people watched. People watching is one good thing about working in a hospital.

I was able to watch the glowing first time grandparents, as they turned up laden with flowers and baby clothes, I was able to watch the worried big brother visiting his kid sister who just got her appendix out, I was able to watch people arriving to take home family members who were finally better again.

Of course, it wasn't always good… there were other people who were coming to say goodbye to long-ill parents and grandparents, people visiting family and friends, wondering if this was the last time they were going to see them alive…

If it was hard watching these people as just a janitor, I hated to imagine how the doctors must have felt. I knew that Carlisle, as a vampire, had seen many patients die, but I could see how each and every death affected him still.

I contemplated all this as I moved away from reception and began to mop the corridor outside the A&E department. Forks being Forks, it was thankfully never too busy in there. I finished in A&E, and slowly moved back along the corridor towards the reception area.

I felt strange, sort of calm, though almost on an edge at the same time, as though I was expecting something.

Mirabelle, the girl behind the desk in reception, kept flashing me these flirtatious little smiles. I felt so relaxed I accidentally grinned back, though I immediately felt bad after. Numerous other staff had told me that Mirabelle had the hots for me, but she definitely wasn't my type, and I didn't want to get her hopes up.

I continued to mop, watching with lazy interest and people came and went.

Once again, the door swung open and the small reception area filled with blustery breeze and rain. I didn't look up this time, as I was scrubbing a particularly stubborn sticky patch on the floor. A strange sensation started in my chest - a peculiar kind of prickling, unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I leaned against the mop, and rubbed my chest. The prickling was spreading down my body, towards my legs. I stood up straight, and looked around reception. I exhaled suddenly and loudly, in a big gusty whoosh. The prickling was gone.

A girl was leaning over the reception desk, chatting to Mirabelle. This girl was the reason for the start of the prickling, and she was the reason for it stopping. Another strange feeling started in my chest. All at once, I wanted to laugh, to cry, and to fall to my knees and praise the world.

And still, the girl and Mirabelle talked. Then, the girl nodded and smiled at Mirabelle, and walked out into the parking lot. I dropped my mop and followed her, despite the fact that my shift hadn't finished.

The girl was crossing the parking lot, heading towards an impressive Volkswagen camper, that had obviously been done up very recently.

I watched her as she crossed, taking everything in.

She wasn't particularly tall - maybe about 5'5. She was slim but sort of sturdy looking, giving the impression that she was tough. Her hair was short and wispy-looking, and dyed a curious shade of purple. I ran across the lot at my most human pace, and called her.

"Hey!"

She turned around, and a warm feeling spread across me, sort of like I'd just sunk into a really hot bath.

"Yeah?" She said warily, her grey-green eyes narrowed.

I grinned at her like an idiot, marvelling at her soulful grey-green eyes, rosebud lips and button nose.

"I'm Collin," I said, still grinning.

"Bonnie," She said, looking at me like I was crazy. "Honoured."

She turned to get into her car.

"No, wait!" I said, an there was urgency in my voice.

She looked at me, impatience in her face. She brushed her pink fringe away from her face.

"Do you want to hang out sometime?"

She cockily raised her left eyebrow and flashed a grin that made me tingle inside.

"In your dreams, Collin."

And then she got into her car and drove away, taking my heart with her.

Please R&R... :)

Love as always,

Lily x