Twenty Three-The Answers I’ve Been Looking For
“Nora.” An annoying voice calls. I grumble and continue my sleep. “Nora.” The voice says again.
“Shut up!” I grumble, flipping onto my side.
“Nora, Nora, Nora, Nora, Nora, Nora, Nora, Nora, Nora, Nora, Nora, Nora, No-”
“What!?!” I scream, throwing my blankets off.
Bart grins sheepishly. “Can you make me some pancakes?”
I stare blankly at him while he grins like an idiot. “You woke me up just for pancakes. Correct?” I ask and he nods enthusiastically. “Die.” I say flatly, then bury my head in the pillows.
“Nora!” He whines, dragging the ‘a’ out in my name. “Please? Edward told me to shove it, and my other brothers cant even boil water, including me. Nell calls me the butler, so she told me that I’m suppose to do the cooking. Butler? Is she sick in the head or something?”
I groan. “Bart, sometimes I love you, and sometimes I want to strangle you. This is one of those times. So I suggest to leave me alone, before I hit you with a brick.”
“First of all, bricks do no harm to me. Second of all, I’m hungry. Make me pancakes!”
“Bartholomew. Leave. Me. The. Hell. Alone.”
He grumbles. “You asked for it.” Then I hear him leave. Finally, peace and quiet. Not even ten seconds later I hear talking and two pairs of footsteps.
“…So can you please get her up?” Bart’s voice enters.
“I’ll try.” The other voice says boredly. Some footsteps come closer, and the next thing I know I’m being lifted from my comfortable bed.
“Oh my god!” I screech, hitting Charles’s back with my fists. “Put me down, asshole!”
“Henry’s right. You do have a nice ass.” He chuckles, making me shriek more. I’m only in a spaghetti strap that goes to my belly button and super short shorts.
“Charles, put me down!”
“Fine. We’re here anyways.” He smirks, setting me on the kitchen counter. I curse under my breath while I rub my eyes.
“You two are assholes.” I mutter.
Bart frowns. “Last time I checked I had one, but I’m not one.”
I ignore him and hop of the counter, crossing my arms defiantly. “I’m not cooking pancakes. I want to go back to sleep. And since you carried me down here, your carrying me back up there.” I put my hands in the air. “Take me away, peasant!”
Charles frowns. “I’m not a p-”
“Take me away, peasant!” I repeat louder.
Bart stomps his foot. “Please Nora! I do everything for you!” He pouts, and starts the big puppy eyes.
I sigh. “Chocolate chip or peanut butter?”
His eyes light up. “Little bit of both?”
“Fine.” I grab the frying pan and start my cooking.
“Charlie, watch Nora. I need to find Henry because he has my football. Be good you two!” Bart waggles his eyebrows and then he’s gone.
I grumble under my breath while Charles sits on the counter, watching me cook. I frown. “You could at least help me.”
He smirks, putting his hands under his head. “Yeah, but it’s more fun watching you. A lot more fun.”
I grimace. “Perv.”
He shrugs. “It’s my personality. Deal with it.” He mimics me from the other day.
“FUCK!” Henry screams, and we hear a crash. I jump, turning the stove off. What was that?
The red haired guy from a couple days ago comes into view, smirking evilly. “Hey hotness.”
Charles growls and lunges for him, but when he does that, Tony come into view and snatches me away. “Charles!” I scream, struggling in Tony’s arms.
Charles looks over at me, his expression pained. “Nora!” He hisses, but the red haired guy holds him down, so he cant get to me.
“Say bye to your lover, Nora.” Tony snickers, pulling me towards the back door.
“Let go!” I hiss, trying to pry him off me. Doesn’t work very well.
“Yeah, and then I’ll go to Iceland to buy some fish.” He replies sarcastically, getting ready to shove me into a black car.
But before he can do that, Edward comes out of nowhere and knocks him out. “Don’t even think about it.” He snarls. He turns to me with more softness in his eyes. “We need to get you and Nell out of here. Fast. Clint will take Nell and go a separate way, while you and Charles do the same.” He guides me towards the house. We hear another crash, and I peer inside the living room.
“Oh come on Charles. I know Nora’s yours. That just makes it all the more fun.” Bones chuckles heartlessly. What is he talking about?
Charles growls, going to punch him but he dodges it easily. “Bastard!”
Bones clicks his tongue, dodging another punch. “I know what you are but what am I?” He sings teasingly.
Nell appears next to me with Clinton. They make a motion for me to follow them, and I do. Clinton leads us to two black cars. “This one’s for you and Charles, this one for me and Nell. Charles will meet you here.”
I scoff. “This is the time you choose to drive two cars?” I get in anyways, and less than two minutes Charles is in the driver seat.
“We have to go. Now.” He pulls the car in reverse, pulling out quickly and driving onto the highway. “Nell is safe with Clinton, so don’t worry. And your safe with me.”
I nod and look up at him. “What was Bones talking about with the ‘yours’ part?”
He chuckles sheepishly. “You heard that huh? I’ll tell you once we get somewhere safe.”
Finally
, some answers. “Where is this ‘somewhere safe’ place?”
He smirks. “Here.” He pulls into an expensive looking hotel, some place you would see in movies. My eyes widen.
“I cant go in there looking like this! Besides, we cant stay there! That’s way too much money! If we do, I’m paying.” I ramble, pointing towards my pajamas. People with think I’m a crazy lady!
“Chill, woman.” He mutters. “I’m paying and you are going in like that if you want answers.” A evil smirk comes onto his face.
I groan. He knows I’ll do anything to get answers. Even walk in there with a trash bag on my head. “Fine. Walk fast though.” I grumble.
We walk in, Charles going slower than normal just to aggravate me, and check in. The girl behind the counter looks at me weirdly too. “Lady, I’m in no mood right now to come behind that counter and whoop your ass right now, so I suggest you do your job and not judge people. If you were in the same spot I’m in right now, you wouldn’t give a fuck either on how your dressed.” She shut her mouth after that.
“Nora, your too much.” Charles whisper chuckles in my ear.
We start walking towards the elevator, me quickly, but I get stopped. Again.
“Nora Holt? Is that you?” A familiar voice calls out. I turn around and grin.
Anthony.
“Anthony! Oh my god, what are you doing here?” I laugh, hugging him quickly.
He chuckles. “More like what are you doing here in your pjs! You know what, I don’t even want to know.” He waggles his eyebrows. “I’m here for a football sighing. The whole team of the Steelers are gonna be here, and I need the autographs.” Anthony was on the football team in high school, he’s like a brother to me.
Charles wraps an arm around me protectively, narrowing his eyes at Anthony. “Who are you?”
Anthony laughs. “Boy, chill. I’m here with mygirlfriend, she‘s inside the theater. No need to go all protective on my ass. Nora and I went to high school together. She would always hang out with the football team just for popularity.” He sighs and shakes his head. “Poor girl was a loner.” He teases.
I slap him. “Shut up. I hung out with you guys because of your personalities, not the popularity or the looks.” Charles immediately relaxes.
“It was nice seeing you again Nora. The guys really miss you. We should all get together again on high school reunion.”
I break out into a grin. “Of course! I miss them all! Especially Bud and his smores.” We both laugh. Bud makes the best smores.
“Bye Ant!”
“Bye Nora. Talk to you soon.” He waves and jogs back to the theater.
Charles sighs once we enter the elevator. “I thought I would have to knock him out for flirting with you.”
My mouth pops open. “That was not flirting! Ant is a brother to me! The whole football team is! Your so protective and jealous it pisses me off sometimes.” I growl. It’s like I cant even talk to a male! He has some serious issues.
He smirks, snaking an arm around my waist. “It’s my personality. Deal with it. I cant help it. It annoys me that your not paying attention to me but then every other man you see.”
I do a small smile. “Aww, is little Charlie not sharing Nora?” I pinch his cheeks which he swats away, but then pulls me closer to him.
“Yes.” He deadpans, making me laugh. We get off the elevator and enter the hotel room, which isn’t even a room.
It’s a suite.
Luxury bathrooms, the purple carpet flooring and the most comfortable looking bed I’ve ever seen. The walls are decorated in some type of fancy artwork, along with a matching chandler.
“Charles! Why the hell would you pick this room? We’re not even staying long!” I scowl.
He grins. “But I want to impress!”
“Well it worked. Now,” I grab his hand and lead him towards the couch, “Tell me everything.”
He sighs. “Your probably not gonna like me after I tell you this.” He takes in a deep breath. “You know how I leave suddenly and I cant tell you why?” I nod. “Well, it’s because of you. You see, every person, human or vampire, has a true love. It could go human to human, vampire to vampire, or human to vampire. Well, in my and your case it’s human to vampire. When the vampire first see’s it’s true love, a really strong smell comes in. The smell is intoxicating for them, so it kinda makes them want to kiss the hell out of them.” He grimaces. “It’s good and bad. You’re my true love, whether you like it or not. The reason I didn’t want to tell you is because I didn’t want you to just be forced to be with me. I wanted to make you fall in love with me, the original way.”
I stare at him when he finishes. He’s prepared for me to flip out or something, because his eyes are shut tight, waiting for the impact. But when nothing happens, he slowly opens his eyes. He frowns. “Are you gonna kill me or what?”
I blink at him. All of that information is still processing. Everything clicks inside my brain. It all makes sense now. A slow grin makes its way onto my face, much to Charles’s confusion. “Charlie, you never struck me as a romantic type!”
His mouth drops. “What?”
“Trying to get me to fall in love with you! Its just so romantic! I think it’s so sweet that you would do that, and not drop the bomb on me!” Deep down inside, I always knew Charles was sweet. I mean, who would go through all that instead of just telling me in the first place? Charles, that’s who. I’m not mad, at all. It’s caring that he would do that.
“Your not mad?”
“Why would I be?”
He stares at me for a long time. “Are you kidding me?”
I frown. “No asshole, I’m not kidding you. Are you deaf?” I snap.
He smiles. “There’s the Nora I know! I have one question though: Are you in love with me?”
That’s a question I’m still trying to find the answer to. Am I? I think I am. I am. I’m in love with Charles!
I smirk, leaning back into the couch. “Yes, no, maybe so.”
“What? That’s not fair.” He pouts.
“Tell me if your in love with me first and I’ll tell you.”
He thinks it over for a minute. “Fine. I’ve been in love with you since I first laid eyes on you.” He comes so close to my face, and I gulp.
“That’s not possible. I was unconscious.” My voice a little shaky.
“Doesn’t matter. Once I saw you it hit me that I loved you. Only you. Now, you tell me.” He pulls away from my face, smirking in victory.
“Not one bit. I don’t feel anything for you.” I lie, crossing my arms like I could care less.
His whole face falls. “Oh. Yeah, it was stupid of me to think that you even liked me.” He mumbles.
I burst into laughter and fall of the couch, tears in my eyes. “Your face! Oh my God, you look like a puppy who’s lost!” I gasp between laughter.
His eyes narrow. “That wasn’t funny, Nora.”
“I wish I had a video camera to record that! Your face!” I laugh, rolling around the floor with tears streaming down my cheeks.
“Nora.” He hisses.
“Did you see your face!? Hilarious!” I seriously cant stop laughing. Charles goes out of view, but I keep on laughing. Then, in one swift motion, my lips are touching his. This quiets my laughter immediately, but then his lips are gone, and he’s sitting back on the couch, smirking to himself.
“That shut you up.” He grins.
I stand up and sit back on the couch, wiping away my laughter tears. “You should have seen your face.”
“Now, back to the subject: Do you love me? I answered you and you need to answer this time, no lies.”
I sigh. “I hate mushy stuff, so here it goes: Yes. I do love you.” I barely had time to finish the sentence before his lips came back onto mine.
This kiss is more slow than the rest, more fire heating through me than ever. His hand goes to my back, pushing me closer to him. I tangle my hands in his hair, breathing in his minty smell. Seriously, that stuff is intoxicating. I hear him breath in my smell too, making me smile underneath his lips.
So he’s not the only one with an intoxicating smell. He groans when I deepen the kiss, his tongue swirling around with mine. I don’t know if he did it on purpose or accidentally, but he pushes me down on the couch, trapping me underneath him. He wraps his arms around my waist while I wrap my arms around his neck.
He smiles and kisses my neck, making me shiver a little bit. He kisses right underneath my earlobe, when I full out moan. I cant help it! He laughs lightly and kisses my neck again. He goes back to my lips, and groans a little bit. The fire surges through me like always, and again I wonder if it feels the same for him.
He pulls back and we’re both gasping for air. Stupid breathing. He’s still on top of me though, grinning a little bit. “I love you Nora.”
I reach up and give him a little peck, holding on for a second too long. “I love you too Charlie.”
“I love when you say that.” He laughs and I can feel his stomach rumbling with laughter.
“How long do you think we have to stay here?” I ask, biting my bottom lip.
He shrugs. “The whole day.” Then he grins mischievously. “Oh!”
I groan and roll my eyes. “Not like that, pervert! I was just wondering.”
“Do you think I’ll be the one to take over the castle? You know, my mom and dad?” He asks out of nowhere.
“You might. There’s an even change for everybody.”
“But I don’t want to marry some person I don’t even know.” He nuzzles his face into my neck. “I’d rather it be you.”
I smile at the thought of marrying Charles. “Well, let’s just hope you don’t get picked.”
He groans and wraps me in his arms, his face still in my neck. “But I don’t want to hope. I don’t even want that stupid castle. And I don’t want to marry a stranger!”
“Negative Nelly.” I roll my eyes. “Think positive.” He’s quiet for a moment before I feel him grin into my neck. I raise my eyebrows. “What are you thinking about?”
He jumps back, my face inches away from his grinning face. “Nothing.”
“What were you thinking about?” I nudge him.
“Nothing. Your gonna think it’s unmanly.”
I do a one shoulder shrug. “You just confessed your love to me in a very unmanly manner. I don’t know what’s gonna top that.” He scowls while I grin. “Tell me!”
He sighs and puts his face back into my neck. “Iwasthinkingaboutyouandmebeingmarried!” He mumbles in all one rush.
I laugh lightly. “Same here. And that is not unmanly. I thought you were gonna say you were thinking about a flower meadow with bubbles and butterflies running around every where.”
“You’re a weird human Nora. A very weird human.”
“I’m taking that as a complement!”
“I love you Nora.”
I grin. “Love you too.”