ARO LEADS JORDYN through the winding, stone halls, the two walk in a comfortable silence.
Jordyn is nervous, Caius obviously doesn't like her very much, she has no clue what the two will even do while together.
Aro notices her worried expression and places a hand on her shoulder, "Jordyn, I know you're nervous. Do not fret."
Jordyn looks at Aro and sighs, "What will we even do? He made it very clear he doesn't like me. He'll probably snap my neck if I say the wrong thing." She rolls her eyes.
Aro stops walking as they reach the room, "I'm sure it will come to you, and he will not snap your neck. Have fun." Aro smiles at her before speeding away.
Jordyn knocks on the door, the sound echoing through the halls.
The tug is very strong right now, but as soon as the door swings open and she lays her eyes on Caius, it slowly trickles away.
Caius studies the girl with a scowl, her brown hair is draped across her shoulders, her lips are slightly parted, her rosy cheeks now have freckles on them from being in the sun, her brown eyes meet his red ones, her heart begins racing, if his heart was still working, it would be as well.
Caius clears his throat, "Come in." His voice is monotone and smooth. He moves out of her way so she can walk in. She softly smiles at him as she does. He feels warm at the action—he wants to pull his heart out and stomp on it at the feeling.
Jordyn looks around his room, the walls and floor are the same as hers, but everything else is different. There are paintings that fill up the walls, matching the dark theme of the room, there are multiple bookcases that hold many more books than in Jordyns room, he has a much bigger desk than hers that are scattered with papers and pens, he has multiple places to sit all around. Theres no bed, though.
She warily sits down at a dark red loveseat, noticing an open sketch book lying next to her. There were sketches of butterflies on the open page, it's done so well Jordyn almost believes she's looking at a picture. She looks up at Caius who is sat at his desk facing her, his legs parted and his elbows resting on the arm rests of a deep, lush red chair.
"Did you draw that?" She points down at the drawing.
He nods, "I quite enjoy art. It's always been a passion of mine."
Jordyn goes to pick up the sketchbook but stops herself, she looks at him again, "May I?"
Caius nods.
Jordyn picks the book up and begins flipping through the pages, on each page there is always something new, a person, an animal, different features of faces, objects, landscapes, they are all done very well. Jordyn is incredibly amazed. "Caius, these are amazing."
Caius tries to hold back a smile but fails, "Thank you. Do you...do art?" He cringes at himself. He's never really tried to keep conversations with anyone besides his brothers.
Jordyn shrugs, "I guess. I'm not terrible at it," Jordyn loves to draw, she stopped once she got to Forks, she could never find inspiration, "I haven't drawn anything in awhile, I've had zero inspiration lately." She slightly frowns.
"Perhaps you'll find inspiration here." Caius watches as she traces something on the paper.
She nods, "Maybe." She already has some inspiration beginning to flourish in her mind, with all the beautiful faces walking around this place, she can easily find someone to draw, "What else do you like to do?"
Caius taps his fingers on the arms of the lush chair, "This isn't an interview." His angry tone and scowl are back full force with no warning, Jordyn rolls her eyes.
"Dude, come on," Jordyn scoffs, "you're acting like Bella."
"Do not compare me to that girl," he scrunches his face up, "I like to read, as you can see. I am not bad at playing the piano. There are many more things but the list is too long." He responds to her questions pretentiously, not wanting to be compared to Bella any longer.
Jordyn purses her lips together and slowly nods.
"And you?" He raises a perfect blonde eyebrow.
"I read a lot, that's about it," she laughs, "I can't really play any instruments or anything. I have a short list."
"Maybe you can learn some things here." Caius shrugs.
Even if it doesn't outwardly show, he is happy. He enjoys learning things about her, he enjoys talking to her. Though he tries denying it.
Jordyn is also happy, the little smile on her lips displays that. Talking to Caius warms her heart. The bonds are slowly growing stronger.
Caius' sigh makes Jordyn slightly tilt her head, "You okay over there, blondie?"
Caius spins his chair around, staring down at all of the unfinished work he has to do. He needs to get it all finished but a part of him doesn't want Jordyn to leave.
"You can do your work if you'd like," Jordyn walks over to one of his many bookcases, "I could read." She shrugs.
"I do not need your approval." He narrows his eyes at the girl.
She holds her hands up in mock surrender, "Your mood swings are crazy," she picks out a random book and walks back to the couch, "I'll be reading if you need me."
Caius hums before picking one of the many pens up and going to work.
Jordyn opens the book up and is immediately interested.
***
THE ONLY SOUNDS in the room are Caius' pen writing against paper and Jordyn flipping through pages, other than that it is silent. It's a nice silence though. Peaceful. It has been like this for the last three hours or so. Neither of them mind it. Jordyn is completely lost in her own little book world and Caius is too busy writing to notice anything really.
Caius drops his pen down on the stack of completed papers, letting out a sigh of relief. He stands up and turns, now looking at Jordyn who is laying upside down reading Dracula, she holds a concentrated look on her face.
Jordyn can feel eyes on her so she looks up from her book, going red at Caius' intense stare, she sits up and places the book down next to her.
"Are you done with your—" she points at his desk.
Caius nods and hums, "How is your book?" He raises an eyebrow.
Jordyn shrugs, "I'm pretty much done."
"Would you like to go on a walk?" Caius suggests after a few seconds of silence.
Jordyn looks outside, the sun is shining brightly down on the hills of Volterra. She looks back at Caius and stands up, smoothing out her dress.
He opens the door for her and she steps out into the hall, before he exits he grabs a long cloak, quickly putting it on and flipping the hood up.
"Not trying to get a tan today?" Jordyn teases.
Caius looks and her and rolls his red eyes, "The sparkling is very distracting." The two begin heading for the gardens, Caius' cloak flowing behind him.
"Oh yeah, I forgot you guys are walking disco balls." Jordyn bites her lip to contain her laugh.
"Can you ever be serious?" Caius pushes the doors to the outside open.
Jordyn kicks the little pebbles on the path they were on, "No," Jordyn shakes her head, "can you ever be not serious?"
"I'm a king, I have to be serious. It would be unprofessional to act like that."
Jordyn scoffs jokingly, "Aro and Marcus aren't even as serious as you."
Caius rolls his eyes, "Aro is a giant child. I can see why you two get along so well."
"Wow. You're just throwing around insults today, aren't you?" Jordyn looks at him, squinting her eyes as the sun beams down on her.
"You have insulted me multiple times today if I remember correctly." Caius retaliates.
Jordyn laughs, "Okay, yeah." She nods her head, agreeing with him.
They two end up in a gazebo minutes later, the view from here is beautiful. It over looks all of Volterra and the hills surrounding it. Jordyn is falling in love with this place more and more each minute she stays here.
"It's so beautiful here." She gushes, leaning over the side.
"Yes, we do quite enjoy it here." Caius is next to her, the sun slightly hitting his face and hand that was resting on the edge, making them shine like thousands of little diamonds.
Jordyn watches his hand sparkle, wondering what it felt like while sparkling, she doesn't even have time to think before she's lightly touching his hand with her pointer finger, his skin feels like marble and is freezing, she quickly realizes what she has done and pulls her hand back.
Caius feels a tingling sensation where her warm finger once was, the feeling is addicting.
"I'm sorry." Jordyn looks down at her shoes, her cheeks glowing a dark pink.
Caius watches the girl, amused, "I suppose I'll let it slide." His voice is heavily laced with sarcasm.
If Jordyn wasn't deathly embarrassed right now, she may have laughed at his sarcasm. But she currently wants to curl up into a ball and die. "I'm sorry." She whispers again.
"Stop apologizing, come sit." Caius walks to the other side of the gazebo and sits on the wood bench, Jordyn slowly follows after, still looking down at her shoes.
Neither of them speak for minutes.
"This is all I needed for you to be quiet? Just embarrass you?" Caius raises an eyebrow.
Jordyn let's out an airy laugh, "Yup, guess so." Her cheeks fade back to their normal light pink shade.
"Shame, if I would have known sooner-" Caius gets cut off when three figures appear in front of the pair, Aro, Marcus and Demetri. Each of them have their hoods up. Jordyn nearly has a heart attack, she places a hand on her fast beating heart.
"Oh, brothers." Caius sounds very unamused.
Aro smiles at Caius before looking at Jordyn, "Jordyn, your dinner is in your room."
Jordyn quickly stands up and goes to stand by Demetri, "Okay. Goodbye, blondie." Jordyn turns and exits the gazebo, Demetri right behind her. The two immediately begin joking with each other.
Aro and Marcus sit down beside Caius so he's in the middle.
Aro takes Caius' hand, looking through his day. A little smile appearing on his lips. "It seems you had a great time today."
Caius hums and snatches his hand away from his brothers grip.
"The bonds are growing." Marcus says in his same bored voice.
"That's nice." Caius' signature scowl is back on his face, along with his harsh voice.
Aro rolls his eyes, "So dramatic."
edited: 8/16/22