I woke up in the morning to my mobile causing my nightstand to shake violently as it vibrated to tell me I had a message.
Good morning, how did you sleep? A.
I stared at the screen for a few minutes before I realised what A meant.
Um I'm not sure how to spell your name...Arrow? C x
Aro, it's commonly misspelt. A.
Aro...I tested the name aloud, even saying it made my mouth tingle.
How did you get my number? C x
Being part of the mafia makes me a professional stalker. A.
You're stalking me because I make your perfectness unbalanced? C x
You've thrown my whole world off balance. I like it. A.
You never answered my question? A.
I slept as well as expected with the knowledge I'm meeting the head of the mafia on Friday. C x
You should sleep with ease; I'll keep the bad guys away. A.
Unfortunately you can't keep school away as well. C x
I got ready for school and quickly shovelled down breakfast; Bella ambushed me in the hall and asked where I'd left the landline phone.
"Oh, it's in my room, yeah Aro phoned to arrange a time for Friday," I smile sheepishly.
"Where's he taking you?" she asks.
"To Seattle, I think it's going to be fancy," I mumble.
"I should have guessed," Bella sighs.
"He does seem very...posh, doesn't he?" I say.
Bella cracks a smile. "I suppose you can say it like that," she agrees.
My phone buzzes in my pocket and she quirks an eyebrow.
Make sure you take a coat. A.
"Is that him?" she asks.
"It's going to rain later," I tell her and grab my coat from the hook and ignoring her question. "Is Edward going to school today?"
"No, he's got a dental appointment at ten thirty, he'll be in later," she says with an uncomfortable blush.
"You can drive then," I say and chuck her the keys.
School was better, I was able to concentrate knowing that one, I hadn't imagined Aro and two he really was keen to take me out this week. I still couldn't understand why and I probably never would understand why a man like him would ever be interested in someone like me.
Edward was there at lunch, the tiny bit of sun this morning had been quickly overcome by thick rainclouds by eleven, so far the rain itself had held off but the darkening sky wouldn't relent so I knew it would be an epic downpour later on.
I picked Bella for my team in gym much to everyone else's disappointment; we were having a game of dodgeball which was great for Bella because she got pelted with a ball almost instantly and got to sit out for the rest of the game.
As Aro had predicted it rained, I pulled my hood up over my head as I raced from the gym across to the main building. Everyone was hurrying around trying to avoid the sudden heavy downpour and so the start of our English lesson was slightly delayed. I hung my coat up by the door, the hooks crammed with dripping wet waterproofs. As I sat down my phone pinged from inside my bag, my heart rate immediately rose in hope for another message from Aro.
At that thought I faltered. I had only met this man two days ago and I was already smitten by him, every thought I had was centred around him, what he would like and dislike, how he would react to certain things, I was even making an extra effort in gym class as if those hour sessions would somehow help to make me look fitter and healthier in his eyes.
The text message was only from dad, saying that he'd have to work late tonight so not to wait up or make him dinner. I knew instantly that Bella would disappear over to Edward's house, usually I just ordered myself takeout and sat watching old films on TV. I scrolled down to Aro's name my fingers typing out a quick message before my thumb hovered dangerously over the send button. I shake my head after a few minutes and delete what I'd just written.
The rest of the day went by without a hitch, it continued raining and the drive home with Bella was quiet, neither of us having anything major to tell each other as we'd spoken in gym class. At home I let Bella know that her secret was safe with me if she went over to Edward's house, I was happy to order what looked like enough Chinese for two to try and convince dad that we'd both stayed at home.
My sister was forever grateful for my agreement to her sneaking away and I showered and did some homework before searching the kitchen for the takeout menu I knew dad kept somewhere.
The doorbell rang making me jump, knocking my head on the cupboard door that I'd left open. "Who the hell is that?" I mutter under my breath, rubbing the back of my sore head as I trudged to the door.
A small croaking gasp left my lips as I yanked the door open. Stood on the doorstep was Aro. The memory I had of him had been burnt into my eyelids, I didn't think he could ever have looked more appealing than when I'd first laid eyes on him in his tailored black suit. But I was now lost for words as the man who'd taken over my every thought for the past three days was dressed in a pair of snug jeans and a plain black t-shirt.
"I hope you don't mind me intruding?" he smiles nervously and holds up a white plastic bag. "Bella said you were eating alone, so I took the liberty of bringing food to you. I thought we could share?"
Aro was stood on the doorstep, I probably should have replied to him but I couldn't make my mouth move. Why would he be here? Surely he didn't just want a pre-date. Would Friday be a date? He was taking me out for dinner, he'd asked my dad, but we'd never clarified if it was a date. Perhaps we didn't have to, saying you were going on a date was childish, and Aro was a man. A very attractive – still stood on my doorstep – man who had just managed to take my breath away by offering me takeaway.
"Sorry?" I finally manage to splutter out.
Aro's smile quirks at the edges, I wasn't sure if he thought I was weird for taking so long to reply or if he knew how much of a hypnotising effect he had. "I thought we could have an early dinner?" he smiles and rustles the bag in his hand.
"Oh...well, um," my mind drew blank. I desperately wanted to say yes, to invite him in and force him to make himself at home on the sofa, but at the same time the doubt about only having known him for a few days was making me feel uneasy.
"Is your head alright?" he cuts through my fuzzy thoughts and I realise that I'm still holding a hand to the back of my head.
"Oh yeah," I remove my hand and shake my head. "The doorbell made me jump and I hit my head," I shrug.
"I'm sorry I startled you," his cheeriness had faded and I suddenly felt guilty. "Perhaps I was too bold; forgive me Celestine I did not mean to put you at unease."
"No," I waved my hand as he started to take a step back. "Please...um, please come in, I haven't ordered anything yet...and I'd like the company," my lips pulled up in a smile, I had to keep myself from grinning too widely as Aro's eyes lit up and he sidestepped past me and into my house. I inhaled as he moved past me, sucking in a breath to steady my nerves but inadvertently breathing in his scent.
I'd never smelt aftershave so intoxicating before, it was so potent I had to put a hand back to steady myself against the wall as Aro turned a gently shut the door behind him. "Is your kitchen through here?" he asks and I nod silently. Before going any further he toed off his shoes before padding in his sock clad feet down the hall and into the kitchen.
"Get it together Celestine!" I hissed at myself and gave myself a little slap on my cheeks before following Aro into my kitchen.
He'd started to lay the tinfoil containers out on the kitchen table, he'd spread out some kitchen paper to make sure none of the containers leaked. I fished two plates from the draining board and grabbed some cutlery before setting two places at the table. "Would you like a drink?" I ask and Aro turns his head to meet my eyes. My heart almost skips a beat but thankfully he broke his hypnotic stare by shaking his head.
I fetch myself a glass of water and join him at the table. "I bought Chinese," he says peeling away the lids of the containers and filling the room with a fantastic aroma. "I wasn't sure what you liked so selfishly went with my preferences, hopefully we have similar tastes?"
Similar. I stared over the dishes and had to bite my tongue. Aro had bought exactly what I would have ordered. It took quite a bit of my restraint not to dive straight in and eat like the animal Dad and Bella knew me as, I could quite easily have polished off the entire egg fried rice and chicken curry in my first helping, going back for seconds of course for the bean sprouts with roasted chicken and crispy duck in plum sauce.
"You must have mind reading capabilities," I laugh breathily as I help myself to a portion of each dish.
Aro looks up at me almost in surprise before grabbing himself a spoon and serving himself some food. "Have I chosen well?" he inquires and I nod, not able to reply because I already had a mouth full of Chow Mein. Aro grins widely and I suddenly realise that eating with him sat opposite me was going to be incredibly difficult, especially as the whole issue with forgetting to breath seemed to happen every time he was slightly too dreamy. I swallowed my mouthful thickly, my throat already dry as a result of his dazzling smile. Dazzling seemed like a good word to describe his smile. Dazzling, beautiful, magnificent...
"I couldn't have done better myself," I say still staring at him wistfully. Aro nods and brings a forkful of rice and sauce to his own mouth, he held my gaze as the fork slipped between his lips and I had to look away. I could feel my cheeks burning, not just my face, my whole body seemed to have heated up. The look in his eyes told me he knew how transfixed I was, there was no hiding my complete adoration of him, not that I had been doing a particularly good job of that to begin with.
"What are your plans for when you finish school?" he asks, starting a conversation that seemed perfectly acceptable for a casual dinner.
"College," I say with a determination in my voice as if to convince myself that no matter what happened between now and September I would keep my education my priority. Not let something as silly as a man change my mind.
"Studying?" his question prompts me to answer with another embarrassed blush decorating my cheeks.
"Law, I love that my dad is brave enough to go out and face criminals on the streets but I'd prefer to tackle them in the courtroom," I smile.
"Ah," Aro smiles his eyes holding a new energy making them spark. "I can already tell you will be a formidable lawyer, do you favour prosecution or defence?"
"I would say defence, but I am open for that to change, especially in some cases as I don't think I could defend someone who was guilty...but at the same time I doubt I could whole heartedly prosecute someone who was innocent. I'll have to wait and see which suits me best."
"I am quite interested in law as well, my position in my...well as you have already I needn't hide it," he winks and I have to falter with my next mouthful. "The mafia, we have certain rules to abide by like any sort of work place, one of my jobs it to uphold these rules and make sure everyone follows them correctly."
He seemed so serious, yet at the same time his light-hearted comment about being part of the mafia made me relax – oddly.
"Do you have any hobbies? You know, when you're not keeping order over the...do they call them families? Members of the mafia?" I ask.
Aro grins, "You can refer to it as a family, yes," he chuckles as he speaks the same chuckle that made me feel lightheaded when we were speaking on the phone, and now in person it was almost too much. "I guess I have hobbies," he says, spooning some more food into his mouth, I realise that somehow he's managed to eat much more than me, usually it was a competition between dad and I about who could eat the most, now I still had half a plate of my first portion. "I have an intense interest in history; I collect artefacts and items that hold both economic and archaeological value. My brothers think I am a hoarder of old things." He rolled his eyes at his final comment and I imagine Aro sat next to two or more men who are equally as attractive as him but my little brain can't conjure up anything, or at least not other people who are as unearthly beautiful as the man sat across from me.
"I'm sure you're not that bad," I laugh but my voice catches in my throat as I hear the familiar sound of a car door shutting. "Shit!"
I moved like someone had just lit fire to my chair and Aro jumped up equally as fast. "Come on!" I gasp and grab his arm, pulling him from the kitchen and shoving him in the direction of the stairs. "Go, go, go!" I hiss urgently and push him up the stairs; he follows my instructions, thankfully not questioning me as I hear the keys scrape at the door. My heart was hammering in my chest; I hadn't thought dad would have been home so early and as I tried to compose myself I noticed Aro's shoes by the door.
I launch myself down and gather the leather brogues and chuck them up the stairs as well, hearing each of them thumb down on the landing.
"Ce?" dad looks at me curiously as I turn from the stairs in a fluster. "Why are you throwing things around?"
"Um..." my brain was mush so I came out with the first thing I could think off. "Bella needed more loo roll...I'm not venturing up there!" I say my cheeks ablaze.
Dad crinkles his nose, obviously embarrassed by my explanation. He bustles past me silently and into the kitchen, I follow him and start to clear away the food. "Must have eaten some dodgy chicken," I mumble and put the Chinese containers into the bin and the plates in the sink.
"Right...right," dad gets himself a beer and then pauses as if debating about whether or not he's going to have anything to eat.
"There's some leftover pasta in the fridge, do you want me to heat it up?" I ask.
Dad takes a sip of his beer and then shakes his head, "No I'm good," he says and trudges to the living room and I hear the football fill the silence of the house.
After I finish in the kitchen I race upstairs. Aro's shoes are gone and I check the bathroom, he wasn't there so I quickly closed the door and checked Bella's door.
I almost yelped as I swung the door open and found Bella and Edward perched on the edge of her bed. "What are you doing here!" I whisper shout.
"I had a feeling dad would come back early," Bella shrugs unbelievingly. "What are you doing?" she asks her eyes narrowing.
"Well I think we should ask why your illegal boyfriend is in your room, hmm?" I counter.
"Perhaps we should also ask why your dinner guest is in yours," she snaps back.
"Hey, I didn't invite him over, apparently you told him I was eating alone," I hiss and quickly check behind me to make sure dad wasn't listening from the bottom of the stairs. "Anyway, I may have made an embarrassing excuse to try and cover for you...if you'd announced yourself sooner then maybe I wouldn't have had to freak dad out."
"What did you say?" Bella asks and my eyes slid over to Edward as he smirked knowingly.
I shrug and toe the carpet with my foot. "I may have implied you were struggling...in the bathroom due to dodgy chicken," I cringed as I admitted my - not very well thought out – excuse as to why I'd thrown a pair of shoes up the stairs. "I didn't have time to think I was trying to hide Aro, especially as dad was coming home with his gun still holstered."
Bella groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Celestine," she grumbled and peers through her fingers to look at me.
"If you had told me you were here I wouldn't have panicked so much. How did you get in without me realising anyway?"
A blush spreads over her face and down her neck. "We climbed through the window," Edward answers for her and I nod.
"Huh," I grunt in response and eye him coldly, hoping to convey my still deep dislike for him. "Anyway, I'll leave you to it, I've got to figure out how to get Aro out without dad knowing, perhaps I'll suggest he climb out the window?" with that I leave the room, closing the door softly behind me before hurrying up the ladder to my room.
Aro was sat on the side of my bed. I had left the end covered in clothes I had been sorting through earlier, in an attempt to try and find something suitable for Friday; the most embarrassing part was that I'd also tried to pair my best items of underwear with different outfits – underwear which was now on full display to the man on my bed. Aro however seemed to pay no mind to the messiness next to him, instead he seemed focus on the cover of my kindle which was on my bedside table.
"Do you like wolves?" he asks a pale finger tracing the image on the front of the cover. The Kindle had been a sixteenth birthday present from some old friends on the res, and who had been my best friend of the bunch of boys, Jake, had given me the case only a few days after the party. It was a simple plastic protective cover that flipped open and the design on the front was a silver wolf howling at the moon.
"I guess," I say and quickly piled the clothes into my arms before shoving them all into the bottom of my wardrobe, closing the doors firmly shut to make sure it didn't burst open. "They're quite majestic creatures, pretty, but dangerous, I have respect for them like you should always respect nature's best predators."
Aro traced the image once more before turning to look at me completely. "Does your father know I'm here?" he asks and I shake my head, earning a smile from his pale lips. "Would he approve of me being in your room?" he asks.
I shake my head, I don't think I fully approved of him being in my room, the odd and far too addictive attraction I had to this man was dangerous. We'd only known each other for a few days and I would have quite gladly spent all night lying in bed with him. A deep blush covered my cheeks at the thought, he was already sat on my bed, it would only take one twist and he'd be lying down, his hair splayed over my turquoise pillows.
"Why me?" I blurt out, unable to stop myself.
Aro raises his eyes to mine; they're dark, too dark really. My brain was working overtime and it was blocking the usual dazzle that seemed to come over me when I looked at him. "I don't understand the question," he says a slight frown causing his smooth forehead to crease.
"Why are you trying to pursue me? Men don't ask random women they've just met to dinner, or invite themselves round their houses with the ploy of takeout unless they want something in return...I don't have anything to give you, so why me?" I shake my head to try and portray my own confusion.
Instead of replying instantly Aro just patted the space next to him on the mattress. I hesitated. In my own house, in my own room, I shouldn't have been nervous to sit on my own bed.
I shuffled forwards and took the seat next to him, not quite as close as I could have but he seemed pleased enough to answer.
"I will be honest with you Celestine," he says seriously. "I have never gone out of my way to attract the opposite sex, my career and job was much more important, is currently still very important in my life. Ever since I was...well, younger, I have strived to reach my best potential both academically and career wise." He takes a deliberate pause before continuing. "Feel free to roll your eyes but I forgot why I was so addicted to my job when I saw you, why did I need to rush away and get back to my work? I couldn't remember, I still can't remember, I have plenty of people working for me, plenty to cope without me. They can't take a beautiful young woman out to dinner for me, but they can manage everything perfectly fine while I take, said beautiful woman out for dinner and hopefully win her over."
"Win me over?" I repeat earning a smile from him.
"That's my plan," he says with a smirk. "I really am sorry about inviting myself over, but I have ended up in your bedroom," he winks.
The blush covering me cheeks heats up another notch and I shake my head. "Don't get your hopes up, my dad is here, and my sister and her creepy boyfriend are just below," I purse my lips. "Although I guess we could jump up and down to freak Bella out?" a grin lights up my face just picturing Bella listening to such suggestive sounds.
As if to test my theory Aro flexes his knees to balance above the bed before dropping himself back down onto the mattress, the headboard didn't smash against the wall and there was no audible squeaking. "I think we'll be safe," he says, his tone serious. His eyes turn to see my reaction and I accidently meet his eyes. Once again my throat feels constricted of air, as if my lungs were refusing anymore oxygen.
"You shouldn't be here," I say.
"I am sorry I intruded," he mutters.
"No," I shake my head, something I was doing so much I could make myself dizzy. "I mean, there," my eyes bulge and stare pointedly at where he was sat on my bed.
A silence fell between us; my ears were ringing with the sound of my own breathing and the fluttering beat of my heart. I was pretty sure it didn't usually have such a high resting rate.
Aro seemed to think for a moment, his eyes still looking at me but a thoughtful frown caressed his forehead. "Would you like me to leave?" he finally asked.
The word I had originally thought I'd say hung on my lips but I couldn't make myself say it. I'd be stupid to kick this man out of my bed – even if he was only sat on the edge. "No, I guess you can stay for a bit longer," I shrug, trying to make my stiff shoulders look relaxed and casual.
"I don't want to make things awkward for you Celestine," he says and I force a shaky smile, my lips going slack at the sound of my name on his tongue. "I very much want things to work out between us," he urges and reaches out for me. His fingers grazed mine; the slightest touch of his little finger against mine sent my pulse racing.
Either he felt the shock of warmth too, or the gasp that left my lips was louder than I'd first thought because he didn't push further, he just allowed his hand to hover next to mine. I drew my eyes away from his face and looked down at where his pale hand rested next to mine. I'd never been particularly tanned, but I'd always managed to catch the sun better than Bella. Next to Aro, however, my skin looked healthily sun kissed, while he looked deathly pale.
"Perhaps I shall take my leave," Aro whispers and removes himself from my bed. He glanced over his shoulder at me before stalking over to the window and sliding it open.
"W-what are you doing?" I gape as he pokes his head outside into the evening air. It had only just gotten properly dark, dad had come home much earlier than planned, it couldn't have been far past eight o'clock.
"I don't think it would put me on good footing for Friday if your father knew I was here," he smirks coming back inside the room. "That is, if I haven't scared you too much?"
I shake my head, "No...Friday's still good," I couldn't help the smile that encroached onto my lips. "I'm looking forward to actually finishing a dinner with you." Again I could feel the blush on my cheeks which earnt a smile from Aro too.
"Excellent," he grins and peers out of the window again. "I will see you on Friday then," he steps closer to me and brings his hand to the side of my face, mimicking what he had done in the car. His hand was glacial yet smouldering against my skin. I wanted to pull away and move closer but couldn't quite figure out which would be better.
"Sleep well, mia cara," he mutters softly and then more elegantly than I ever could have imagined someone launching themselves out of a window, Aro swung himself out of the opening and disappeared down into the darkness.
A scream caught in my throat and the speed I moved to the window I almost followed him out of the gap.
"Do not fear Celestine," he waves from below, his pale skin shone unearthly in the darkness. "It will take more than a drop from your window to deter me from seeing you again." One last wave of his hand and he disappeared completely into the shadows of the night.