As Luci parked her car in front of the school the next morning, a heavy curtain of grey clouds covered the sky, but it wasn't pouring yet. She struggled with her keys when she attempted to lock the door after getting out of the car with her belongings.
They slipped from her grasp and landed in a tiny puddle. Lucinda sighed, but before she could lean down to pick them up, a pale hand reached out and offered them to her.
Edward Cullen was leaning against her car, a crooked grin on his face when she blinked in surprise and looked up."Good morning," He casually welcomed her, handing her the keys.
"Good morning, Barry Allen," Luci said with a smile. She teased as she locked the van and slid her wet keys into her pocket.
His enjoyment twinkled in his eyes. They were bright once more, a deep, golden brightness that banished the shadows that had formed under his eyes over the previous month.
"Do you think that was one of your guesses?" Edward was the one who inquired.
"Yup," she said as she walked alongside him towards the main building. It's right next to the words extraterrestrial and demigod." Luci said, her voice solemn.
Edward laughed and flung his head back. It was without a doubt one of the most awe-inspiringly gorgeous things she had ever seen or heard.
"By the way, what was up with the traffic jam yesterday?" Luci inquired, oblivious to her heart's enraptured flutters.
"I wanted to allow Tyler to ask you to the dance," he said with a grin on his pink lips. Edward replied, a sly grin on his face.
Lucinda shook her head, mockingly disappointed, and said, "Evil." She said something while averting her gaze.
"I want to ask you something, but you keep sidetracking me."
"Am I distracting you?" she asked between her lashes as she peered up at him. When he looked away, Lucinda whispered and smirked, swallowing hard. "Ask away, I'm joking." She burst out laughing.
"I was wondering if, a week from Saturday— you know, the day of the spring dance," Edward began, giving her a sharp look, "Would you like a ride to Seattle?"
"First and foremost, how did you find out I was going to Seattle?" Luci inquired, a little perplexed and surprised. Edward shrugged, a sneaky smile on his face. "That's alarming. Second, and this is not meant to be impolite, but why would you drive all the way to Seattle?"
"I'm fed up with trying to avoid you." After a brief pause, he confessed, his golden gaze never leaving hers. The intensity of his gaze caused Lucinda to hold her breath. "Are you willing to accompany me to Seattle?" Edward inquired, almost pleadingly, in a quieter tone.
"I'll see you in class," she says. Luci walked into English with a cheeky smirk on her face. She suppressed a laugh as she looked over her shoulder to see what he was up to. He was still standing in the center of the corridor, his lovely face disoriented as he stared at nothing.
The rest of the morning blurred as her mind wandered back to her earlier talk with Edward Cullen. It was all so wonderful, the way he spoke, the way he looked at her. It caused her heart to flutter like a hummingbird's wings, and it caused a faint warmth to warm the apples of her cheeks, which was an extremely rare occurrence.
She hadn't felt like this in a long time. And Lucinda resolved to savor these lovely sentiments for as long as she had them, whether or not they were returned, because they made her happy.
Jessica's talk came to a halt when she yanked at Luci's sweater's long sleeve. "Edward Cullen is staring you down once more." She escorted them to their usual table in hushed tones, almost skipping. "I'm curious as to why he's sitting alone today..."
Lucinda swiftly raised her head to meet her gaze. Edward smiled crookedly at her from across the cafeteria at an empty table. At the sight of him, her lips spontaneously stretched into a smile.
He raised a hand and curled his index finger in a come hither motion without breaking eye contact. When he winked at her, her smile turned into a grin, and a faint, breathless laugh escaped her lips. Jessica let out a loud gasp.
"I guess I should go see what he wants," Lucinda mumbled, almost gasping for air, and only offered Jessica's surprised face a fleeting glance of acknowledgment. "Pardon me." As she walked away from their customary table to join Edward, she could feel the scorching glances on her back. He was ecstatic, as seen by his expression.
"How about sitting with me today?" When she came, Edward proposed, his crooked smile lingering on his soft lips.
Luci took a seat across from him without hesitation, setting her tray down. They didn't say anything at first, only smiled and staring at one other with equal interest. Lucinda was still surprised that someone had been endowed with such unfathomably beautiful looks after all this time.
"This is a unique situation," Lucinda remarked softly as if she were sighing.
Edward stared gently at her as if he'd just awoken from a pleasant dream. "Well," he said, tapping his fingers to a piece of unknown music, and the words came to him quickly. "I figured that if I was headed to hell, I might as well enjoy myself while I was there." Edward smiled through his lashes at her, laughing at a joke she didn't get.
Her brows were somewhat wrinkled, but she smiled anyway. "I suppose that's one way to say it." Luci laughed as she removed the plastic lid from her serving bowl.
"What also prompted this new seating arrangement?" She inquired, a mischievous smirk on her face as she raised an eyebrow.
"I told you I was weary of trying to avoid you. As a result, I'm giving up." Despite the disturbing amount of sincerity in his voice, Edward smiled. "I'm just going to do what I want right now and see where the chips fall." As he spoke, his eyes were far away, looking down at the table.
"Intriguing and mysterious," Lucinda muttered, her gaze fixed on him. "Those are all two of my favorite things." She teased further, and that stunning crooked smile emerged.
"I'm glad," Edward said softly. With his eyes crinkling at the corners, he confessed. "In general, mysterious persons are avoided. "For the sake of safety." He added sharply as if issuing a quiet but ominous warning.
"Monotonous, ordinary folks who live boring, humdrum lives with no sense of adventure," Lucinda said as she drank from her water bottle. "Life is too short to waste time overthinking and avoiding problems. "Believe in me." She chuckled, a morbidly amused grin on her face.
"You're a weirdo." Edward sighed, frustrated and helpless enamored at the same time.
"Thank you," Lucinda said, her heart fluttering and bringing warmth to her cheeks.
"What are you thinking of?" Edward asked, tilting his head slightly but never taking his gaze away from her face. Softly, he inquired.
"I'm wondering what type of creature the magnificent man sitting in front of me is," she said honestly, looking in his striking eyes, messy bronze hair, light cheeks, and pink lips.
He looked down at the table and laughed a brief, astonished laugh. "Do you have any theories?" Edward was the one who inquired.
"Some."
"Won't you tell me?" he asked through his eyelids, his lips twisting into a tremendously enticing smile.
Lucinda's lips were pursed as if she was thinking. "I don't believe I will." After a brief moment of faked thinking, she said.
。∙∶⋆∶∙˚
"How about this one?" Alice suggested while displaying a scarlet off-shoulder lace dress to Lucinda.
"Let me give it a shot. And I'm hoping it'll look good on me." While walking to the dressing room, Lucinda cracked a joke.
It's extremely hard to find something for Luci's figure without looking vulgar and cheap.
"Come out already, Luci!"
Lucinda considered refusing to respond and changing into the next dress. Perhaps she wouldn't notice that Luci had skipped it. "I'm not going to come out in this!"
Finally, Luci stepped out. Alice gasped, amused expressions and raised eyebrows on her faces. After a moment of stunned silence, Rosalie finally came back to the secluded corner of the store, carrying an armful of outfits.
"Did you choose that one, Alice?"
Alice sighed in frustration, her eyes narrowing at the oversized torso. Lucinda stroked her temples with her fingers.
'Wasn't there anything that looked nice on me?' Lucinda pondered.
Lucinda turned around once more. "I look hideous. Alice, where's the next one?"
Rosalie walked over to Lucinda and slipped an arm over her waist, giving an annoyed tut. Luci's dissatisfaction seemed to melt away under her icy fingers.
"You could never be hideous," she stated solemnly.
"Rosalie, you are correct. It's that dress that's so unattractive "Alice mumbled, her eyes blurry as she considered different styles for Luci. She sighed. Lucinda received a skirt and a blouse from Alice, who giggled.