Edward gave her a rose every day. Jessica still didn't know where he got them but she wasn't complaining. She was distracted in class because her mind kept wandering to him and what he was doing and what he was thinking. Even in Chemistry class, her gaze kept wandering over to him and when they made eye contact he would smile and her insides would melt. It was disgusting.
Her friends weren't thrilled about what was happening but respected her choices so they said nothing. Lauren made it clear that Jessica just had to say the word and she would be calling the wolf army for help. Mike did not care. Eric and Tyler were confused but supportive.
"How did that happen?" Tyler asked as they made their way to the parking lot. "With Edward."
Edward was standing by the Volvo of Doom, waiting for his siblings. Ever since Rosalie and Emmett graduated, he had been a perpetual third wheel to Alice and Jasper instead of the fifth wheel he once was. She smiled and waved at him. Almost shyly, he waved back.
"It kind of just happened," Jessica replied. "Neither of us planned on it."
"You fell without noticing?" Tyler grinned at her. "I'm happy for you, Jess."
Tyler, being one of Mike's best friends, had watched Jessica pine for Mike and do everything to catch his attention. Seeing her finally move on and do something else with her life must've been nice to see.
"Thanks, Ty."
"No problem. See you tomorrow."
Jessica made her way to Lauren's car and got in, enjoying the heat inside. She and Angela were going to work on a project together so Lauren dropped them off at Jessica's house. Emily was excited to see Angela and wanted to show her how she'd progressed with the ukulele. Angela smiled through Emily's rendition of What I've Been Looking For until Jessica was able to pull her away to her room and lock her sister out.
They worked quietly for a few minutes until they decided to stop for a snack break. Jessica munched on gummy bears as they made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Jessica asked, "How's it going with Jacob?"
"It's going okay."
Jessica cut her sandwich in half and took a big bite, watching as Angela refused to meet her eye.
Neither Angela nor Lauren talked much about the situation between the three of them since New Year's. Angela was never one to vent her emotions without prodding. She was too used to being the mom of the group and taking care of everyone. Lauren hid her feelings out of a fear of being vulnerable while Angela was too used to making other people feel better to focus on her own.
"You don't have to pretend with me," she said. "I'm not gonna judge you."
"I know," Angela finally met her eye. "None of it was easy at first. The werewolf thing was pretty stressful."
Jessica snorted. "You don't say."
The brunette laughed softly. "Okay, it was very stressful. The whole thing with Jacob and Lauren wasn't ideal. At first, I didn't understand why we had to share and especially why it had to be with one of my best friends."
"But?"
"But then I realized that love isn't about being selfish. It's the opposite," she continued. "There has to be reason for everything. And being selfless is what is needed for this to work."
"How does it work though?" Jessica was very curious. "Are you all three together?"
"Jacob and I have our relationship and he has his with Lauren. She and I are still friends and always will be," Angela smiled at her. "Like you and I will always be friends."
"And there's no jealousy or anything?"
She could never imagine sharing her boyfriend with anyone. She tried to imagine having to share Edward and had an urge to throw a snowball at his face again.
"Maybe a little but we're working on it."
"You know, there's an upside to this situation," Jessica conceded. "If Jacob annoys you, you can just paw him off on Lauren."
Angela rolled her eyes. "Funny enough, they fight more than he and I do."
"Lauren? Fighting?" Jessica pretend to gasp. "No!"
They both laughed. And Jessica nudged her shoulder against the other's girls.
"If anything's wrong, you'd tell me, right?" she said. "No more secrets?"
Angela nodded. "No more secrets."
Jessica knew the relationship her friends had was messy and wouldn't be easy but she hoped it would work out for them. She had fear that if they couldn't work it out then her budding thing with Edward had less of a chance. She still had her reservations about him and why he wanted her. Didn't he say that he would never want her in the first place?
Jessica couldn't sleep. She lied in bed and stared at the faded paint of her bedroom's ceiling as her mind kept wandering to anywhere but unconsciousness. She wished she could turn off her brain. She envied Sunny beside her who was dead to the world.
The tapping at the window nearly made her scream. Tense, she looked over to find Edward's white face against the glass and hide to bite back another scream. She pushed the comforter off her and made her way to him. Opening the window, she whispered, "You almost gave me a heart attack!"
"Sorry?" He didn't look the least bit apologetic. "I was hoping you were still awake."
"It's..." She turned to check the clock beside her bed to check the time. "It's eleven at night. Why are you still awake?"
"I don't sleep," he explained. "Vampires don't sleep."
"Really?" That sounded horrible. "Like ever?"
"Not ever," He moved closer to the window. "Can I come in?"
"You need an invitation like in the movies?"
"No," he replied, glibly. "I was just being polite."
Sounded like something a vampire would say. He gave her a look. She shrugged and gave in.
"Fine, fine," she said. "You can come in, Dracula. But no biting anyone."
He climbed into her room like an overgrown cat trying to fit through a small hole. He closed the window behind him, keeping out the cold from outside. As he looked around her room, he looked out of place in this familiar setting. He stopped at the collage of photos atop her dresser and picked up the frame of her four-year-old self dressed as Cinderella. It was her first Halloween and there was Angela as Snow White and Mike as a fireman. He smiled before placing it back.
She realized this was the first time she had a boy in her room. In the past, it had been boys sneaking her into their rooms and getting her out before his parents could catch them. Her bedroom had been free of any shenanigans. She had been too scared of her mom walking in.
Sunny woke up as Edward came closer to the bed, baring her teeth and growling at him. He stopped and took the seat on the chair by her desk. The distance gave her some comfort. She took a seat on the foot of her bed and waited for him to say anything. He just stared at her until she fidgeted so much, she had to speak.
"What do you do at night?" she asked. "Since you don't sleep."
"I play piano mostly. I'll also read a book or watch a film," he explained. "Play Mario Kart with Emmett when I feel like it."
Boys and their video games, they were the same no matter how old they were. And speaking of age, she had done her reading on the time period when he'd been human and had been intrigued. She had learned he'd lived through World War I, the Spanish Influenza, and numerous economic and cultural advances. As a vampire, he would've lived through even more.
"Can you tell me what it was like?"
"What do you mean?"
"All of it. You lived through history," she replied. "You can tell me more than any book ever can."
He looked down, running his hand through his auburn hair. "Not all of it is good."
"That's history for you," She tried to joke as he did look uncomfortable. "Okay. How about your childhood? Could you tell me what that was like?"
He looked far away, eyebrows furrowed as he lost in his own thoughts. Closing his eyes, he held still for what felt like a long time. She counted time through heartbeats before he finally looked at her again. He looked unsure and even a little ashamed.
"I don't remember much anymore," he confessed. "I remember I was born on June 20th, 1901. My parents were Edward and Elizabeth Masen. He was a lawyer and he was distant. He was always working. And my mother..."
His smile was small and brittle. "She was warm and kind. She had green eyes. Carlisle said I used to have eyes like hers but I don't...I don't remember if I did."
"What did she look like?"
"She had long hair the color of copper pennies."
"Like yours?"
She tried to picture a woman with Edward's hair and green eyes. She might've been pale, probably very pretty. Maybe she had Edward's high cheek bones or his full mouth.
"Yes. The memories are blurry. I can't remember much," His eyebrows furrowed again. "My mother was from Ireland. I don't remember exactly where. She moved to Chicago and made her life there."
She smiled. "You're from Chicago?"
"Born and raised," He shrugged. "And no, I never had deep-dish pizza. That was invented after I was turned."
"Oh, that's just tragic," She laughed softly. "No wonder you're so doom and gloom. You've never had pizza."
He stood up and moved the chair closer to the bed until only a few feet separated them. The reduction of space made her almost dizzy with anticipation. Her bare feet could touch his if she reached out. He kept his hands on his lap and her eyes traced the veins on his wrist. He was always cold to the touch.
He continued to tell her of his past. "My grandparents died before I was born so I never had memories of them. I was close to my mother. She taught me how to play the piano. She liked Chopin."
His fingers played a silent rhythm on his thigh. "I find myself playing his songs when I would find myself missing her."
Mesmerized, she wanted to know more. "What else?"
"She begged me not to enlist for the war. I wanted to. Everyone else was signing up and I wanted to be of use to my country," He admitted. "I couldn't bear to upset her so I didn't. And sometimes I wonder what would've happened if I did. Would I have died on a battlefield? Never became what I am?"
"Maybe you might've met a vampire on the battlefield and still became one," she countered. "Or you could've survived the war, came home and got sick and still ended up the same way."
"Are you saying this was always going to be my destiny?"
"Do you think it is?" she told him. "It doesn't matter what I think. It matters what you think about what happened to you."
He knelt down in front of her, his hands grasping hers on her lap. She tried not to pull away from the cold shock of his skin. "I never wanted to be this."
"A vampire?"
"Immortal," His fingers traced the delicate skin of her wrist. Could you hear the fast patter of her pulse? "I wanted to live my life and have it end. I never wanted to spend more time on this earth than I was supposed to."
"What's wrong with immortality?" she disputed. "You could achieve so much when you have all the time in the world. Build empires and find the cures to deadly diseases? Learn how to knit?"
She thought about what she could do if she had all that time. She could study every language in the world. She could see every city and learn about every culture. She could go to school and learn everything she ever wanted to learn. She would never have to worry about the looming deadline all humans learned to fear.
"I confess I never bothered with knitting," He snorted. "And the blood thirst that makes me want to kill everyone isn't enjoyable."
"That does sound like a bummer," She ran her fingers through his messy hair. It looked a lot softer than she'd imagined. "It's not all bad, is it? Did you get to go to a The Beatles concert and meet JFK?"
"Yes to the Beatles," he replied. "And no to meeting the President."
They talked until sunrise. She went to school without sleep and she yawned her way through classes. During lunch time, Edward snuck them into the music room and played Chopin for her. And he told her more stories about his childhood.
Edward wanted to have lunch with her which Jessica thought was odd cause he didn't even eat people food. Nonetheless she acquiesced and he led her to the table he usually shared with his siblings. She had always felt uncomfortable around Jasper Hale as when he didn't look like he was in pain, he looked like he wanted to kill everyone in the room. And knowing that he really did want to off everyone made it hard for to relax but she would try her best.
Alice smiled at her and greeted her cheerily, "Jessica!"
She looked at Edward who just smiled and motioned for her to take the seat beside his sister. Warily, she replied, "Alice."
"I'm so happy you could join us," she said. "We're going to be great friends."
Jessica had never really given Alice Cullen much thought aside from the fact Alice was one of the few people in town that was shorter than her. It was a fact that always made her feel a bit better that she was short but she wasn't the shortest. And there was the weird thing where Alice was dating her foster brother. The Cullens were weird but maybe that was a vampire thing.
Alice asked, "What has Edward told you about our...um, lifestyle?"
"Not much except that you don't live in caves," Jessica replied. "And that you don't sleep...so no to the coffins?"
Jasper snorted, shaking his head. "Coffins?"
She was honestly relieved to finally be getting answers. She and Edward tended to dance around the vampire issue and that was probably because she kept making fun of him but it was hard not to. She chalked it down to his old man grumpiness as he was as old as a hill. He frowned at her.
She concluded, "I'm guessing the movies are very inaccurate?"
"Very," Alice answered. "We aren't bothered by crucifixes, garlic, and holy water either."
"What about sunlight?" She remembered all those camping trips they would go on when the weather was nice. "Do you burst into flames or not?"
"Not flames," Alice laughed and turned to Edward. "You should show her."
He groaned. "She's going to laugh at me."
"I wouldn't!" Jessica responded. "It can't be that bad."
Edward shook his head. "The ageist jokes are bad enough. And you will laugh. Alice has seen it."
"Seen what?"
Alice shared a look with Jasper before telling her, "You know how Edward can read minds? Well, I can see the future."
She gaped at her. "No way."
Alice nodded. Jessica's mind started whirring at the possibilities. Telepathy was one thing but clairvoyance was another ballpark. How accurate were Alice's predictions? How far into the future could she see? What did she see about Jessica?
"Do I get into Stanford?" She grabbed Alice's dainty hand and stared into her golden eyes frantically. "Tell me, Alice. I need to know. The wait has been killing me."
"Of course you get in," Alice patted her hand. "There was one other future where you went to UCLA but you changed your mind in Sophomore Year."
She remembered that. She initially wanted to go to UCLA (partially because Mike was planning on going there.) It wasn't until she realized how much she enjoyed her Science classes and learned Stanford had an incredible Biochemistry program that made her set her sails for a career in STEM instead. And it was freaking Stanford.
"Oh thank God," She sagged in relief. Looking past Alice, she met Jasper's unnerving stare. "What can you do?"
"I can feel people's emotions."
Jessica felt very conscious now about what he could feel of her. He could definitely feel how awkward she felt. A telepath, an empath, and a clairvoyant all at the same table, they might as well be the X-Men. Did all vampires have cool superpowers?
"Not all but some," Edward answered. "We're the ones in our family that have abilities."
That just raised more questions. Why some and not all? Was it a mutation within vampires? Was it triggered or genetic? How different was the vampire biology to a human's?
Instead, she suggested, "Why don't you show me what happens to you under the sun?"
"No," He shook his head vehemently. "Not happening."
"Come on," She took his hands in hers and smiled at him sweetly. He loved her, right? He wanted to make her happy and this would make her happy. Apparently, it would make her laugh. "Please?"
He gave her a look. He knew what she was trying to do and he didn't want to fall for it. She knew he would give in. Her curiosity was sparked and like a forest fire, it would not be stopped.
"Fine," he snapped. "After class."
"Yay!" she exclaimed and leaned forward and kissed his cheek. He was still scowling. "It's a date."
1. In canon, Edward was born in Chicago in June 20th, 1901. He's a Cancer. He was close to his mother and wanted to enlist in World War I.
2. The background of his mother being Irish was something I added in cause I wanted to give a little more background to his family life. It also fits in historically as 4.5 million Irish arrived in America between 1820 and 1930 and Edward's mother would've been part of that wave of immigrants and her parents died in the potato crop of failures that began in 1845.
3. The earliest date for the invention of deep-dish pizza was in 1926 so Edward would've never had it as a human.
Do you like how I write? You might want to check out my original fiction. I joined a writing contest so if you would like to support me and help me win by reading, I would appreciate it. The book is finished and you can read it for free on Radish, it's called Bedroom Hymns by Seph Meadowes. radishfiction.com/stories/27949