Life and Death

The Ill-Fated Party (Part 2)

       Eleanor's amused voice rang through the room. "There you guys are! I thought you were going to stand on the front steps all day."

      Beau took his surroundings, his feeble confidence dissolving rapidly. In the corner of the room on a compact table sat a small pile of presents, ugh, wrapped in shimmering silver paper. Earnest beamed at him, and Carine's face was aglow with affection. Jessamine stood back a little farther, beautiful in her subtle way, her face guarded but friendly. 

    Royal leaned against the wall, arms crossed, and glaring at him like he was a disobedient child. To the side, Archie bounced on the balls of his feet, looking slightly smug and quite pleased with himself. Finally, Eleanor stood with her arm slung across Royal's shoulder, grinning wolfishly and looking like a sports model, as usual. Eleanor looked Beau up and down.

    "I keep thinking that maybe you're going to change one day and surprise us all, but here you are, stuttered and red-faced as usual," Eleanor teased, grin growing. 

   This, of course, made Beau blush his signature scarlet. 

    "Eleanor," He muttered, the corners of his mouth turning up, "Glad to see you haven't changed either."

   Earnest smiled fondly at them both and draped his arm over Beau's shoulders in a affectionate, fatherly way that Beau has grown rather accustomed to. 

   "Good to see you again Beau," He beamed, and released Beau with a firm pat on his back. Carnie followed, beautiful and youthful as ever, and offered him a quick but sincere hug. 

   "Sorry about all this," She said in a stage whisper, "We really couldn't rein Archie in." 

    Beau smiled nervously at Earnest and Archie in turn, shoving his hands in his pockets. Edythe, sensing his tension, planted a brief kiss on his cheek.

    "You promised, remember," She said in a jokingly stern voice, "Let them have their fun."

     "Yes ma'am," He gave her a small, sarcastic salute. Turning, he addressed the rest of the family. "Guys...this is too much. Really." He put extra emphasis on the last word. "But thanks."

   Overwhelmed by all the eyes, some friendly (Earnest), and some accusing (Royal), Beau turned to his default habit of staring at Edythe. She smiled that breathtaking crooked smile, and yet again he found himself forgetting why he was nervous. She tucked a shining bronze lock behind her ear.

  Eleanor brought her hands together, a resounding boom that didn't faze anyone but Beau, who jumped and dropped his car keys with a noisy clang. Eleanor chortled.

  "Alright, enough pleasantries. I'm going to go outside and work on something, " She winked conspicuously in Archie and Jessamine's direction, "Try not to do anything entertaining until I get back, Beau." 

  She lightly bumped him on the shoulder in a sisterly way and loped outside, her curls disappearing around the hallway to the front door. 

  "I'll try," Beau muttered, starting to grin despite himself. 

  "Present time!" Archie announced, to Beau's dismay, and grabbed his forearm, dragging him with ridiculous force to the small pile of presents. Beau reached for Edythe's hand desperately and tugged her with him.

   "If I go down," He warned, "You're going with me."

  "Undoubtedly," Edythe promised, and happily let Beau tug her along with him. 

   Archie pushed him in front of the dreaded pile of immaculately wrapped presents and grinned in anticipation. 

   "Archie," Beau sighed, trying to stall, "You know I told you not to. You've already given me so mu-"

   "And I didn't listen." Archie waved away Beau's rebuke with a wave of his white hand. 

   Beau eyed the pile warily. While they hadn't been poor, Renee had raised him on a meager kindergarten teacher's salary, so things were stretch pretty thin. Beau contributed with his assortment of odd jobs for minimum wage, and he was used to saving up for what he wanted.

   That's why he refused to let Edythe buy him a ridiculously fast car, not just because he had no business driving something that fast or expensive, and he'd rather just cuddle on the couch with a movie than go to a white tablecloth restaurant in Port Angeles. The Cullen's had massive wealth, a gorgeous house, and anything they could want at their fingertips. What could he possibly give them in return? Just add it to the growing pile of reasons he couldn't possibly deserve a girl like Edythe.

  "I don't need Edythe's mind powers to see you're moping," Archie pushed a box into Beau's hands. "Here, this one first. It's from Eleanor, Royal, and Jessamine."

  As Beau turned the oddly light, square box in his hands, he saw his friends lean in closer. Even careful Jessamine, who usually kept a cautious  distance, craned her neck over Archie's shoulder to get a good look, her honey blonde hair falling in her eyes. 

  Beau fumbled with the paper, feeling slightly judged by nimble Royal, and it drifted to the ground as he examined the box. Something technical, obviously, with lots of letters and symbols. He shook the box slightly. Empty.

Beau glanced in Royal and Jessamine's direction.

"Wow...you shouldn't have. Thanks."

Carine's clear, jovial laughter rang through the house like wind chimes, and even Royal cracked a smile. 

Archie made a face. "Hilarious. It's a new stereo for your tank out there. Eleanor is installing it now."

"Hey," Beau laughed. "Don't hate on the truck. But thanks, Archie. Royal and Jess." He nodded at them.

He nodded at them. Royal acknowledged him with a quick returning nod, and Jessamine gave him a rare, sweet smile, which was actually really charming on her. 

"Thanks Eleanor," He said louder, forgetting too late she could probably hear him at his normal volume, and smiled when he heard her booming laugh from outside. 

"Okay okay, this one next." Archie bounced on the balls of his feet again. "This one is from Edythe and I."

Taking the thing, square package from Archie, Beau faced Edythe with a withering glare. She gave him an angelic smile. 

"You said you didn't spend anything," He grumbled, his conviction fading. He couldn't think straight when she looked at him like that. 

"Not a penny," She said solemnly, putting her hand on her heart in a gesture of sincerity. 

Rolling his eyes at her, he slid his pinky under the wrapping paper and felt a sting. 

"Oops," He muttered, lifting his pinky to his face, and watching as a drop of blood silently dropped on the spotless carpet.

Beau suddenly found himself looking into the wide eyes of seven ravenous vampires. 

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Sorry to stop it there, but I didn't want to make it too long. As always, please comment feedback and what you'd like to see next. Thanks! 

-Aria