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Angela wasn't much more composed. Wish we hadn't eaten. Wow. Just. Wow.
Now why couldn't I do that to Bella?
"How do you know you're not doing that to Bella?" Jacob asked laughing as Bella blushed.
"Er??sure," Jessica agreed.
Angela frowned. "Um, actually, Bella, we already ate while we were waiting," she admitted. "Sorry."
What? Shut up! Jess complained internally.
Jacob chuckled at that, "Yeah... who asked you to be honest?"
Bella shrugged casually. So at ease. Definitely in shock. "That's fine??I'm not hungry."
"I think you should eat something," I disagreed. She needed sugar in her bloodstream??though it smelled sweet enough as it was, I thought wryly. The horror was going to come crashing down on her momentarily, and an empty stomach wouldn't help.
Bella wasn't sure if the horror was going to crash down on her, but it didn't really matter, she wanted Edward to stay near her.
She was an easy fainter, as I knew from experience.
"Only when blood's involved," Bella said indignantly.
These girls wouldn't be in any danger if they went straight home. Danger didn't stalk their every step.
And I'd rather be alone with Bella??as long as she was willing to be alone with me.
"Do you mind if I drive Bella home tonight?" I said to Jessica before Bella could respond. "That way you won't have to wait while she eats."
"Uh, no problem, I guess??" Jessica stared intently at Bella, looking for some sign that this was what she wanted.
I want to stay??but she probably wants him to herself. Who wouldn't? Jess thought. At the same time, she watched Bella wink.
Bella winked?
"Oh my God... Bella winked!" Jacob boomed out laughing. "Whatever could that mean?"
"Shut up," Bella mumbled weakly as she had turned bright red.
"Okay," Angela said quickly, in a hurry to be out of the way if that was what Bella wanted. And it seemed that she did want that. "See you tomorrow, Bella??Edward." She struggled to say my name in a casual tone. Then she grabbed Jessica's hand and began towing her away.
I would have to find some way to thank Angela for this.
"That would be nice," Bella said, thinking that she owed this girl, too.
Jessica's car was close by and in a bright circle of light cast by a streetlamp.
Bella watched them carefully, a little crease of concern between her eyes, until they were in the car, so she must be fully aware of the danger she'd been in.
Bella rolled her eyes... of course she was aware of the danger.
Jessica waved as she drove away, and Bella waved back. It wasn't until the car disappeared that she took a deep breath and turned to look up at me.
"Honestly, I'm not hungry," she said.
"Why did you wait so long to say that then?" Jacob questioned.
"Because I wanted to be with Edward," Bella rolled her eyes like that should have been obvious.
Why had she waited for them to be gone before speaking? Did she truly want to be alone with me??even now, after witnessing my homicidal rage?
Whether that was the case or not, she was going to eat something.
"Humor me," I said.
I held the restaurant door open for her and waited.
She sighed, and walked through.
I walked beside her to the podium where the hostess waited. Bella still seemed entirely self-possessed. I wanted to touch her hand, her forehead, to check her temperature. But my cold hand would repulse her, as it had before.
Oh, my, the hostess's rather loud mental voice intruded into my consciousness. My, oh my.
Bella was now glaring at the book, annoyed by this reaction of the hostess.
It seemed to be my night to turn heads. Or was I only noticing it more because I wished so much that Bella would see me this way? We were always attractive to our prey. I'd never thought so much about it before. Usually??unless, as with people like Shelly Cope and Jessica Stanley, there was constant repetition to dull the horror??the fear kicked in fairly quickly after the initial attraction??
"A table for two?" I prompted when the hostess didn't speak.
"Oh, er, yes. Welcome to La Bella Italia." Mmm! What a voice! "Please follow me." Her thoughts were preoccupied??calculating.
Maybe she's his cousin. She couldn't be his sister, they don't look anything alike. But family, definitely. He can't be with her.
Bella grimaced at that, knowing that by all accounts the hostess should have been right, but still she was a bit smug by the fact that she was completely wrong.
"Jealous much," Jacob said. "She's just trying to build herself up by taking you down."
"Whatever," Bella shrugged before reading.
Human eyes were clouded; they saw nothing clearly. How could this small minded woman find my physical lures??snares for prey??so attractive, and yet be unable to see the soft perfection of the girl beside me?
Bella was blushing at that.
Well, no need to help her out, just in case, the hostess thought as she led us to a family-sized table in the middle of the most crowded part of the restaurant. Can I give him my number while she's there??? she mused.
Bella read that part angrily and Jacob chuckled.
I pulled a bill from my back pocket. People were invariably cooperative when money was involved.
Bella was already taking the seat the hostess indicated without objection. I shook my head at her, and she hesitated, cocking her head to one side with curiosity.
"Sorry... I just have never seen anyone refuse a table before... except in movies," Bella said.
Yes, she would be very curious tonight. A crowd was not the ideal place for this conversation.
"Perhaps something more private?" I requested of the hostess, handing her the money. Her eyes widened in surprise, and then narrowed while her hand curled around the tip.
"Sure."
She peeked at the bill while she led us around a dividing wall.
Fifty dollars for a better table?
"What?" Bella said. "That's crazy!"
"I wish I had money to burn like that," Jacob mused.
Rich, too. That makes sense??I bet his jacket cost more than my last paycheck. Damn. Why does he want privacy with her?
She offered us a booth in a quiet corner of the restaurant where no one would be able to see us??to see Bella's reactions to whatever I would tell her. I had no clue as to what she would want from me tonight. Or what I would give her.
How much had she guessed? What explanation of tonight's events had she told herself?
"How's this?" the hostess asked.
"Perfect," I told her and, feeling slightly annoyed by her resentful attitude toward Bella, I smiled widely at her, baring my teeth. Let her see me clearly.
Whoa. "Um??your server will be right out." He can't be real. I must be asleep. Maybe she'll disappear??maybe I'll write my number on his plate with ketchup??
"Why did he want her more entranced with him?" Bella muttered darkly.
"Actually... I think he was trying to scare her off," Jacob chuckled. "It didn't seem to have worked quite right."
She wandered away, listing slightly to the side.
Odd. She still wasn't frightened. I suddenly remembered Emmett teasing me in the cafeteria, so many weeks ago. I'll bet I could have scared her better than that.
Was I losing my edge?
"You really shouldn't do that to people," Bella interrupted my thoughts in a disapproving tone. "It's hardly fair."
I stared at her critical expression. What did she mean? I hadn't frightened the hostess at all, despite my intentions. "Do what?"
"Dazzle them like that??she's probably hyperventilating in the kitchen right now."
"Dazzle?" Jacob questioned with a raised eyebrow and then laughed when Bella blushed.
Hmm. Bella was very nearly right. The hostess was only semi-coherent at the moment, describing her incorrect assessment of me to her friend on the wait staff.
"Oh, come on," Bella chided me when I didn't answer immediately. "You have to know the effect you have on people."
"I dazzle people?" That was an interesting way of phrasing it. Accurate enough for tonight. I wondered why the difference??
"Well obviously it has something to do with Bella," Jacob smirked. "Everything that's different with you is, after all, her fault."
"You haven't noticed?" she asked, still critical. "Do you think everybody gets their way so easily?"
"Do I dazzle you?" I voiced my curiosity impulsively, and then the words were out, and it was too late to recall them.
But before I had time to too deeply regret speaking the words aloud she answered,
"Frequently." And her cheeks took on a faint pink glow.
Bella was blushing a little there too, but mostly she was pleased that Edward might finally understand that she liked him too, so he could stop thinking so hard about not deserving her.
I dazzled her.
My silent heart swelled with a hope more intense than I could ever remember having felt before.
"Hello," someone said, the waitress, introducing herself. Her thoughts were loud, and more explicit than the hostess's, but I tuned her out. I stared at Bella's face instead of listening, watching the blood spreading under her skin, noticing not how that made my throat flame, but rather how it brightened her fair face, how it set off the cream of her skin??
The waitress was waiting for something from me. Ah, she'd asked for our drink order. I continued to stare at Bella, and the waitress grudgingly turned to look at her, too.
"I'll have a coke?" Bella said, as if asking for approval.
"Two cokes," I amended. Thirst??normal, human thirst??was a sign of shock. I would make sure she had the extra sugar from the soda in her system.
She looked healthy, though. More than healthy. She looked radiant.
"What?" she demanded??wondering why I was staring, I guessed. I was vaguely aware that the waitress had left.
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
She blinked, surprised by the question. "I'm fine."
"You don't feel dizzy, sick, cold?"
She was even more confused now. "Should I?"
"Well, I actually I'm waiting for you to go into shock." I half-smiled, expecting her denial. She would not want to be taken care of.
It took her a minute to answer me. Her eyes were slightly unfocused. She looked that way sometimes, when I smiled at her. Was she??dazzled?
I would love to believe that.
Jacob chuckled then and Bella rolled her eyes.
"I don't think that will happen. I've always been very good at repressing unpleasant things," she answered, a little breathless.
Did she have a lot of practice with unpleasant things, then? Was her life always this hazardous?
Bella groaned at that; of course Edward would jump to that kind of conclusion.
"Just the same," I told her. "I'll feel better when you have some sugar and food in you."
The waitress returned with the cokes and a basket of bread. She put them in front of me, and asked for my order, trying to catch my eye in the process. I indicated that she should attend to Bella, and then went back to tuning her out. She had a vulgar mind.
"Hmph," Bella huffed in regards to the vulgar mind comment.
"Um??" Bella glanced quickly at the menu. "I'll have the mushroom ravioli."
The waitress turned back to me eagerly. "And you?"
"Nothing for me."
"He probably should have ordered something," Bella said, wondering if she had noticed his lack of appetite or not.
Bella made a slight face.
Well, that answered that question.
Hmm. She must have noticed that I never ate food. She noticed everything. And I always forgot to be careful around her.
I waited till we were alone again.
