Alone Time

 As Edythe drove me home that night, we talked about more of her history. She was explaining her first encounter with Alice.

 "So, Emmett and Edward were out hunting, and Alice basically broke into the house and started referring to everyone as if we had known her for years. We were all a bit intimidated by Jasper, who looked just as lost as us, now that I think back on it."

 "You can only see a slight scaring on his face, but to us, it is much more obvious. We are able to see the many bite marks of those looking to take his life, and seeing him standing there made it obvious that they all died while he survived. To our eyes, he just radiates Danger. Then she started moving all of Edward's stuff out of his room so she could claim it for herself and Jasper."

 She turned into my driveway and turned the car off, "If I hadn't been able to read their minds, there is no telling how frightened the others would have been."

 I just chuckled in response to her story. It's not that I didn't care, but it also just seemed like inane chatter used to fill quiet spaces. As we sat there, I asked, "So did the evening go the way you wanted?" 

 Edythe smiled at me, "Everything was wonderful, and I am so glad we don't have to worry about your control. I wasn't too happy with Carlisle embarrassing me with the whole dad talk, but his heart was in the right place, I guess."

 I smiled at her, "I was glad to get the explanation on what to expect, besides, I am pretty sure that Esme would have stopped him from being threatening in any way."

 "Yes, you should hear her thoughts every time you touch me. I think she is almost more excited about us than I am."

 We sat there for a few more minutes, "Well, I better get inside, it's getting late. You probably need to rest and get ready for classes tomorrow."

 I reached for the door handle, but her words brought me up short. "Actually, I don't. We don't sleep... You see."

 I blurted out, "You don't sleep? Do you not get tired?"

 "We don't. Our stamina is related to our appetite. Not our sleep schedule."

 "What do you do during the night? When everyone is asleep?" 

 "We all have our own interests, I keep up with our companies. Carlisle and Edward have a medical project they are working on. Just random stuff really."

 It was a bit hard to wrap my head around, no need for sleep. Just thinking about the stuff you could accomplish without the need to sleep was mind-boggling. I was at a bit of a loss, should I invite her in?

 "Do you want to come in? It will probably be boring for you. I will be going to bed in about an hour."

 Edythe's face brightened up, "Let me drive home and come back, just open your window and I will be back soon."

 I nodded my head and opened the door, "See you soon."

 When I turned toward the house, I saw a curtain shift a bit and knew that Bella had been spying on us. When I reached the house door, I turned and watched Edythe back out of the driveway and drive off quickly.

 When I walked in the door, the first thing I heard was, "No good night kissing? I expected better of you. What, you didn't have a good time meeting her parents?"

 I smile at her, "It was great, had an awesome dinner. Spent time with her family, we talked a lot about family history. About the only thing that was weird was Edward insisting I tell him stories about you. He loved the one about your bad habit of sucking your thumb until you were nine years old. Explaining the videos of your dance recitals at that ballet studio down the street from the Phoenix house went over well, also. He didn't seem too interested in your black makeup phase when you were 14, though. With as much of an emo vibe that he puts out, I thought for sure he would appreciate that one."

 Bella turned bright red and shouted, "YOU DIDN'T!!!"

 I laughed at her look of embarrassment, "Nope, but keep pushing and I will." She started looking around the living room for something to throw at me, so I wisely ran upstairs laughing and closed my door. I knew I would most likely pay for that bit of amusement with oatmeal breakfasts for the next couple of days, but it was still worth it. I took some time to quickly clean my room up before opening my window. It was a bit of a struggle to open, looked like it needed some oil in the tracks. {I will have to fix that.} I told myself.

 After showering and packing my school clothes into my backpack to wear after working out the next morning, about 20 minutes had passed. I was wondering if working out for vampires even did anything for them when I heard a slight scraping noise, and suddenly Edythe was standing next to me.

 "You got here faster than I thought. What did you do, drive the car a few blocks, park it, and run back?"

 "Nope, I just buried the speedometer on any straightaway and drove as fast as I could on the turns. Took less than 15 minutes to get home. Then I ran back here, easy. I don't want to miss any time with you, I don't have to."

 As Edythe spoke, I watched her eyes travel over my room. She really focused on a pile of paintings that were stacked together. They were my failed thoughts for my art project. When she walked over to them and started looking, I spoke a bit defensively.

 "Those are failed paintings, I plan to trash them."

 She held up a painting of a bookshelf with random tapes and CDs stacked haphazardly. It was easy to make out some of the names of some. There was no rhyme or reason to the style, it had N.W.A. and Too $hort stacked on top of a Chris Ledoux's greatest hits album. Wilson Phillips leaning next to Metallica Black, and many other off-the-wall pairings.

 "The project is music, and I was looking at different ways to express the idea, so I thought a music collection would be appropriate. But it just doesn't have the impact that I wanted to convey. The next painting is..."

 She interrupted my explanation when she saw it, "NO WAY! That's Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Eric Clapton. You painted each one in the middle of an Iconic concert scene. I can't believe you meshed them so well, all on one painting."

 "I am tempted to hang onto that one, I have to admit. But it still just doesn't match the feeling I want for the project."

 "Why did you go with Eric Clapton instead of David Gilmour?"

 "In my opinion, Gilmour is great with Pink Floyd, but Clapton did his own thing, plus his work with multiple bands that made a solid impact on music. He branched out of his initial comfort zone and grew. Gilmour didn't, so far as I know."

 I felt the desire to sit down, but the only place to sit was my bed. I was feeling a bit shy at having Edythe in my room with the door closed. I was super happy she wasn't able to read my mind right now, but it didn't stop my thoughts. As I was trying to get control of myself, I reflexively sat down anyway and watched Edythe move around my room some more. 

 Just a bit later, I heard Bella walking up the stairs. Edythe stepped into the closet where she couldn't be seen, and then Bella knocked on the door. She opened it before I even said anything, "Charlie called a bit ago and said he would be staying at the station tonight again. He is working way too much."

 "The man does love his job, I wonder if something happened to keep him there. I will ask him in the morning. You headed to bed?" 

 "Yep, I will see you when I pick you up. Also, we need to go food shopping soon."

 "Got it sis, have a good night."

 "You too." She then closed my door, and I heard her door close soon after. Edythe came out of my closet. "You sure you are ok with me here?" She asked awkwardly.

 "So long as you are fine with it. I am a bit jumpy, but you are the first girl I have ever been in a room alone with other than family. I am sure you can hear my heart thumping."

 She smiled, "That is music to my ears."

 I smiled at her, "That my heart is beating so loud or that you are my first girl being alone with?" 

 "YUP!" Her lips popped to emphasize the last syllable of her reply.

 I scooted up the bed to lean on the headboard, she walked over and sat against the wall on the bed with her legs taking up the foot of my bed. She looked calm and comfortable, I guess her strength gave her confidence. If I could read her thoughts though, I would have found that she was just as nervous and worried as I was. She just had better control over her features as a vampire.

 "You seem to be taking this tension better than me. Have you been in situations like this before?"

 Edythe had a look of worry on her face when I asked her this, "Well, not with a guy. But I did have a short relationship with Kate in Alaska. I heard Carlisle tell you about them a bit today. We didn't last very long, I think we were both trying to force something that wasn't there. Does that bother you?"

 I took a moment to roll it around in my head, "No, you have been alive for more than a hundred years. It wouldn't be fair of me to expect you not to have had a life before me. The idea that it was another woman is kind of hot. How sexist does that make me?" I laughed.

 She smiled, "From the minds that I have read, you are in the majority. At least you are honest about it, though. Most guys would try and deny it. As much time as I have spent on college campuses, you can't imagine the thoughts directed at me and my sisters."

 I chuckled out loud, "Just seeing the way Jessica looked at both you and Edward with no change to the lust in her eyes the first day I watched you all walk into the lunchroom tells me I'm glad I don't have that power. My mind wanders enough on my own, it doesn't need encouragement from others."

 Edythe softly laughed at that, "You should hear Lauren when she is around you. If you ever find yourself in a room alone with her and Jessica, I recommend you use all your strength to keep your pants buttoned up and find a crowded place as quickly as you can. Edward has talked me out of Compelling that girl many times already."

 I was confused, "Compel? What is that?"

 Edythe thought about the time she tried to compel Thomas and looked a little ashamed, "I have a second power that allows me to compel people to do what I want them to. It doesn't work if it's so against their nature that they would naturally resist. I tried making a serial killer stop killing, and it only lasted for a short while before he went back to it and had to be stopped by the police. But something simple like making Tyler obey all traffic laws unless there is an emergency is possible. There is a time limit if I use it on vampires as well. Jasper asked me to compel away his desire for human blood, but it only lasted a couple of hours, and he shook it off." She didn't bring up the time she tried to compel him, and it didn't take.

 "So that's what you meant when you said you could convince people to go along with what you said when we were talking the other night." My question ended with a yawn.

 I looked at the alarm clock next to my bed, it was 11:40, and my body was so used to going to sleep at this time that I was finding it hard to stay awake.

 Edythe saw me rubbing my eyes and said, "Go ahead and lie down, I can leave if you want me to." 

 "I lay down, curling my legs to stop from crossing over hers at the foot of the bed. "If you want to, you should. I'm about to fall asleep, and I cannot imagine watching me sleep would be enjoyable at all."

 Edythe started to hum a little tune and watched as Thomas fell deeper and deeper into sleep. {Just being this close to you makes it so much better than most any night in my life, Thomas.} She thought to herself.