The rest of the class went quickly as Theodore and Rosemary got to know each other. They were both too engrossed in their discussion and their artwork to notice the looks other students were throwing them, whispering about the new girl and how she interacted with Theo. The teacher was asleep on his desk when the bell rung, bursting the bubble in which Rosemary and her mate were talking peacefully.
Both of them let out a small sigh, disappointed that the class was already done and that they had to part ways for their next period. Lost in their thoughts, they gathered their things but not before sending a shy smile to each other. Without noticing, Rosemary got up from her seat from her right side as Theo did from his left side, which caused them to stumble into each other. In shock, the young woman clutched her bag close to her, dizzy of feeling the body of her mate brushing against hers. Theo had wrapped an arm around her waist instinctively to keep her from falling. Both of the young people were frozen in their spot for a few seconds, not really knowing what to do since they were so close to each other. Theo's breath was hitting Rosemary's face as they stared into each other's eyes.
When Theo realized he was still holding her waist, he stumbled backwards, sitting back down on his chair as he apologized.
"I-I am so sorry, I didn't mean to touch you in any way you didn't w-want me to," He stuttered, looking up at the dark-haired girl.
"Don't apologize, it was an accident, are you okay?" Rosemary glanced down at her feet, she knew she would be blushing if she could.
"Um, yes," Theo's face was red and it brought a small smile on the girl's face. She offered him her hand to help him up, not that he needed help to get up from his seat but just because she wanted to feel his skin again, now directly on her own instead of her clothes. Taking it and thanking her in a quiet voice, Theodore couldn't help but notice the extremely cold feeling he got from touching her hand. It was ice cold and made the young man shivered. Even when he touched her waist on top of her clothes, he could feel her freezing temperature body.
"Are you cold?" Theo asked, slightly worried of her abnormal temperature.
"Oh, no, don't worry about me. I just have a poor blood circulation," She chuckled as she said the excuse her family had prepared if, somehow, they made skin contact with humans. Rosemary decided to quickly change the subject. "What class do you have next?"
"English, what about you?" Theo swung his bag on his shoulder before walking outside the classroom beside Rosemary.
"Oh," The young woman let out sadly. "I have a free period with Edward," Rosemary decided to walk Theo to his locker so he could grab his English things. Theo couldn't help but think about what Lauren had said during lunchtime. Rosemary and Edward did seem close, were they together like the rest of their siblings?
"Is he your, um," Theo thought about how he was happy to get to his locker, maybe he could hide himself in it to avoid the embarrassment he was currently feeling.
"My boyfriend? No, only Rosalie and Emmett, and Jasper and Alice are together. Edward and I have no romantic feelings for each other," Theo let out a small sigh of relief. "Do you, um, find it weird? That there's some couples between my adopted siblings?" Rosemary let out in a small voice.
"Well, it is unusual, but you're not blood related so... It is nice that they have found each other in this context," Theo shrugged, closing his locker and turning around to face the small girl. He wished he didn't have another class right now, so he could have stayed with her. The young blond man was startled by a new presence beside him.
"Hi," Edward flashed his sister's mate a large smile. "I'm Edward Cullen," He offered Theo his hand.
"Theo Forge," The human smiled back, still surprised by his apparition. "Nice to meet you Edward," They shook hands before Theodore noticed he was almost late for his class. "I have to go, but I guess I'll see you... later?" He really didn't want to leave Rosemary's side, but he couldn't ditch a class on the first day.
"Of course, have a nice class," Rosemary smiled, following Theo's form with her eyes as he left the hallway. It was only when he was out of sight that the dark-haired vampire turned her head towards her brother. "Don't tell me you listened to us," She pleaded her brother, who smirked.
"Sorry, your class was near mine and listening to my little sister and her mate is much more interesting than listening to those teenagers who are staring at us at every chance they have," Edward's smirk only widened when Rosemary sent him a deadpanned look. "And I have to say, your little moment back there was adorable," The bronze-haired vampire wrapped an arm around her shoulder, laughing when she slapped his chest, and led her away to the library.
In his English class, Theodore couldn't help but stare at his hand in wonder. Edward had the same cold skin. What are the odds that he had the same condition than Rosemary? He tried to concentrate on his lesson for the next hour, he could worry later.
♡
The first day of school was finally over. He joined his friends group that was waiting for their ride. He was disappointed to see Angela was already gone, he would have liked to talk to her about what happened with Rosemary. He needed to get it out of his chest. But he surely wouldn't talk about it to Lauren or Mike. He didn't want the sneaky remark of the girl nor the envious look of his blond friend because he spoke with the girl he spotted. He was happy to see Mike's mother Karen arrived to get them home.
"Hey boys, how was your first day?" The woman smiled warmly as her son started to tell her everything that had happened to him. She didn't insist on Theo's case as she knew he was more reserved. In front of his house, the Forge teenager thanked the older woman and got out, walking slowly to the front door as he was still deep in thoughts. It was only when he entered and took out his coat that he noticed his dad was already there, sitting in the living room and watching TV.
"Hey kiddo, get yourself ready, we're going to the diner and I want to know everything about your day," Waylon squeezed his son's shoulder and went upstairs to do the same. Fifteen minutes later, they were seated in the diner, waiting for their order to arrive.
"Nothing much happened dad, it was a normal and boring first day," Theo took a sip of his water, wanting to hide the blush that was covering his face as he thought of Rosemary Cullen. When Waylon was going to ask more, his son quickly asked, "Where is Charlie?" It was unusual for Charlie Swan to be late at diner. Charlie was one of his dad's best friends and the police chief. They had known each other for more than twenty years and not a week passed without the two of them seeing each other. Charlie joined them sometimes as the man was often at the diner, since he was not a good cook.
"He called me, he said he had an emergency and he had to go with someone at the hospital. He should be there soon," Waylon thanked Cora when she brought them their meal and dug in. They were almost done when Charlie barged in the diner.
"Sorry, I wish I could have get here sooner, after they took care of the person, I talked with the new doctor," Charlie took off his coat, sitting down in front of Theodore. Waylon had already ordered his meal so when she noticed he was there, Cora brought him his plate.
"New doctor?" Waylon asked, taking a sip of his beer.
"Yes, Dr Carlisle Cullen. Just moved here a few weeks ago, apparently. Him, his wife and their six adopted children," Charlie nodded, eating his steak slowly.
"I met them today," Theo couldn't help but say. He had only Rosemary on his mind, how could he not?
"Oh?" Waylon lifted his head in surprise. He tried to make his son talk about his day for the entire time they were alone, but Theo only spoke about his classes and nothing else. And now the only mention of some Cullens made him talk?
"Yeah, one of their daughters is beside me in my art class," Theo gulped down his water again, hiding his blush once more. But now it was obvious for his father to know what he was trying to do and that meeting this girl was an important moment for Theo.
"Was she nice?" Waylon wasn't used to talk about girls with his son, so he didn't really know what to do. Charlie wanted to laugh at his friend's awkwardness, but then again he wasn't really better.
"Really nice," Theo mumbled. "I think we will be good friends," He smiled a little, still not looking at either his father or Charlie. Waylon was pleased by that. He liked his son's current friends, they knew each other since kindergarten for most of them and they had a great friendship, but the Forge man thought new people could be good for his son and brought some change into his life.
Both Waylon and Charlie decided to let this go and started talking about a coming baseball game as they finished their meal, leaving Theodore in his thoughts concerning the dark-haired goddess.
♡
When he arrived at the Cullen household after a day of work, Carlisle Cullen could cut the tension with a knife. After sharing a soft kiss with his wife Esme, she told him Jasper, Edward and Rosemary went hunting. Jasper, because his bloodlust was high from spending the day beside humans, and the other two because they didn't want to face Rosalie's wrath when she would learn that her little sister spoke to her mate. Emmett and Alice were in the living room, playing video games and Rosalie was in the garage, working on her red convertible.
"Carlisle!" Alice speeded to get beside her coven leader. "You should have seen the way Rosemary and her mate looked at each other, it was so cute!" The pixie like vampire squealed and it intensified when the trio went back from hunting.
"Alice..." Edward tried to restrain her from jumping on Rosemary but wasn't able to. The seer was too excited to stay calm. She got a vision of Theodore and her sister's future when the Olympic coven decided to move back to Forks. For weeks, Alice had trouble thinking about something else so Edward wouldn't know about Theodore before today. She wanted Rosemary to be surprised and live fully their first encounter.
"I'm so happy for you, you'll be so good for each other!" Alice wrapped her arms around Rosemary's neck, making her stumble backwards as she caught her sister.
"You knew about Theo..." It wasn't a question. Rosemary was happy that Alice didn't tell her, she would have overthink and it would have been different. Rosalie scoffed quietly, but not quietly enough, making Emmett patted her hips softly. He still throw a grin in Rosemary's direction. He was overly happy for his baby sister, but he also understood his mate's worries. It was why he was hardly involved in conflict, he didn't want to choose a side. Carlisle and Esme were smiling fondly at their children. They were happy Rosemary found her mate after all this time.
"Carlisle, you have to stop this," Rosalie spoke to her coven leader. "This will put us at risk, we can't let this situation happen," She continued, making Rosemary and Alice put their attention on her instead of Theodore.
" 'Situation'? Don't speak about Theodore like he's nothing important, he is Rose's mate," Edward protectively said. Rosemary quickly lost her happy mood since she could guess how this conversation would end.
"He does not belong to our world," The blonde beauty crossed her arms, sending a cold look to her sister. Actually, Rosalie was the only one who thought that way. Everyone else was happy for Rosemary. The only person that was wary of Theodore was Jasper. He was still adjusting to the animal diet and he didn't know how he would react to have a human near him daily. Edward, who heard his worries, was quick to reassure him.
"Theo's scent is not that alluring. He smells good, but not enough for us to want to feed from him," Jasper nodded a little, slightly reassured. Alice bounced on her feet, holding her mate's hand lovingly.
"You guys are going to be good friends, Jas, don't worry," They shared a small kiss before turning their attention back to the drama.
"Even if we don't wish to drink his blood," Rosemary clenched her fists at the only thought of it, "all of this will be suspicious, not only the boy but a lot more people," Edward was going to defend his sister again, but Rosemary stopped him.
Even if she hated fights, she was never one to play the damsel in distress and let other defend her, especially when Rosalie attacked her beloved.
"Don't disrespect my mate," The Cullen family had never heard Rosemary spoke in such a frigid voice. "And I find your accusation a little hypocrite considering what happened with you and Emmett," Rosemary shared a small look with Emmett, who nodded. It reassured the dark-haired girl that Emmett was aware she only used their meeting to prove her point and that he didn't take it personally. Rosalie shook her head stubbornly.
"That's not the same thing..." Remorse started filling the blonde vampire as she thought of when she found Emmett, mauled by a bear.
"It is the same thing! You just don't want to see it," Rosemary argued.
"My mate was dying!" Rosalie cried out, taking a menacing step towards her sister.
"He was human nonetheless!" The dark-haired vampire continued. "You decided to bring Emmett to Carlisle so he could turn him and be with you forever. I just want to get to know my mate normally, I'm not going to wait for him to die to be with him," Rosemary concluded, her eyes filled with tears that would never fall. She speeded away from the Cullen's residence as she was feeling overwhelmed. It was not Rosalie's choice to decide whether Rosemary should get closer to her mate or not.
In the living room, Rosalie bit her lip, remorseful. She knew she had been selfish when she decided to get Emmett to Carlisle so he could be a vampire, and it was hypocrite that she now proned out that Rosemary's mate should have a long and human life. Wanting to be alone, she speeded to her room and closed the door softly. She just wanted to keep her family safe, and involving a human was not being safe, especially with the Volturi's rules about humans. On the other side, she knew it was selfish and inhuman to keep Rosemary away from her beloved, as well as unfair. Her sister did deserved her mate and Rosalie was no one to forbid it.
The only thing that she could do now was to hope nothing bad happen.
♡
Rosemary didn't know for how long she ran, but when she stopped, she was by the treaty line. She sat down and took a deep breath. Maybe it was unfair to use Rosalie and Emmett's story against the blonde vampire, but she knew she had to defend Theodore and her future relationship with him in any way she could. If she was careful around him, what possibly bad thing could happen?
Rosemary was aware that she would have to tell Theo about her immortal nature at one point, she couldn't keep it a secret if she wanted an healthy relationship with her mate. But when? Before they got closer so their relationship would not be based on a lie, or after some time when their relationship would be strong enough to take it?
The dark-haired vampire got out of her thoughts when she felt small and cold arms wrapped around her neck from behind. Alice was on her knees behind her sister and hugged her tightly, softly swaying side to side.
"Everything will be fine, Rose," Rosemary hoped so.
♡
Hi, I hope you liked this chapter! Thank you for reading!
As school hasn't started yet for me, I'll be able to update more often till it starts.
Don't have a good day, have a great day <3