Chapter Text
Chapter One:
Rosalie Hale doesn’t fall in love, she wrote it off almost a century ago. Her brother, Edward, the dramatic boy that he is, often says that their kind don’t have a soul, that their kind—vampires—are damned for eternity. Rosalie doesn’t think he’s far off even if she finds him annoying most of the time for it, but that doesn't mean she's always obsessed with her damnation either like he is.
She misses being human; the warmth at her fingertips, a beating heart, a soft hot breath, and her own blue eyes every time she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Those things had all been stolen from her, and she had to suffer with that reality for all eternity. Not that she blames Carlisle for any of it, not really. He hadn’t been the one to leave her on those dark streets alone, assaulted by familiar faces, and dying. Instead, he had given her a brand new life, and never again will she need to fear anyone else, because in the dark she was the monster that those men should be afraid of, and she had made sure of it; didn’t even need to spill blood over it.
Not that she would ever let a drop of their, or any human blood in her mouth. Rosalie has always had a sense of control, she’s never been one to break her family’s diet of only animal blood. And, unlike her siblings, she’s never been tempted to quench the thirst of their very nature, and fall into blood lust. It was likely the ability of her control had been passed down from Carlisle’s own venom, and strengthened by her own will.
But, her breathtaking beauty that she had when she was alive, that was her own gift; said to start wars and cause empires to fall. The fairy with a cold breath that brings only that of death. Rosalie has heard the mockery of it, and also of those who didn’t underestimate her enhanced beauty, either. Not that she’s ever encouraged or led any admirers astray. Instead, with just a cast of her own icy glare she could break down anyone’s boldness to even try becoming close to her.
The Cullens have been among humans since Carlisle stepped foot on the North American continent, and started a new life for himself away from the prying eyes of the Volturi back in a time where monsters in the dark weren’t considered just that of legend. His strict diet of only animal blood had been mocked by other vampires and his blending into human society was even far more absurd, as it had gone against even their reclusive nature of living a nomadic life.
To live among the humans and to have that freedom to intermingle into human society unnoticed, and not questioned, the Cullens could only live in places with overcast skies and lower temperatures. Rosalie herself had liked living in the bustling world of humans, and maintaining a consistent routine to keep a little bit of her own humanity left, even if that meant having to pretend. That didn’t mean she planned on ever befriending a human though, because that would mean it would be harder to maintain her family’s secret. It was a bit like an unspoken rule among the Cullens, at least, that’s what she herself had believed: that her family could not make deep connections with their human neighbors.
There had to always be a distance, a sense of mystery, and even their own cold, and unbothered demeanor had to help keep the tempted and silly humans that would accidentally be ensnared and trapped by a vampire’s visual with an appealing face away from them. There was another heavier reason for the distance, as the Volturi had a very strict law about secrecy that could involve an entire clan to be massacred for. Having it involve even her family, Rosalie was a stickler when it came to this law, and she among her family was the most known for her quick dismissal of humans and even other vampires for that matter. Rosalie didn’t take kindly to strangers from the get-go. It was hard for her to trust just anyone.
That doesn't mean she’s never felt the sense of loneliness hidden underneath that slowly crept into Rosalie’s life, eventually coming face to face with her. She hadn’t exactly seen it coming: wanting companionship. But, as the French medieval proverbial goes; Rome ne fut pas faite pute en un jour, or of course, the shorter, and the much more popularized English translation: Rome wasn’t built in a day.
It had been just a seedling when she looked on at the love that was expressed in Carlisle’s eyes when he looked at Esme, and it was watered without her ever knowing when Alice and Jasper described the feeling of being truly fated, that Jasper had even called ‘The Gravitational Pull’, and there was nothing a vampire could do about it when one felt it for another. There was the puppy love that Emmett expressed when he giggled and smiled without knowing after reading a text message from Kate Denali. It was written in Edward’s piano music notes and the sappy, yet outdated poems in his bookshelf that he thought he hid well. For a boy who’s never been in love before, he read far too many examples for it.
But, Rosalie has always vowed she’d never fall in love whenever the subject was brought up, and she couldn’t fathom the idea of ‘The Gravitational Pull’ —or 'The Pull' to shorten it, that Jasper described ever being real, even if Carlisle had backed up the claim once given a name for it. To her, it was just their stupid vampire brains that raised everything up to a 100 when they had a moment of love at first sight. Rosalie had several people claim to have fallen in love with her at first sight, but that never meant it was real love—she certainly didn’t want to be invited into that narrative of others, anyhow.
Love aside, that didn’t mean Rosalie’s never been tempted by lust...she’s just never acted on it! There were never many options to choose from, considering there weren’t many vampires that shared a similar diet like herself that wasn't a sibling to her, and there were barely even a handful of vampires that she tolerated as is, and those were the ones that bathed!
Rosalie had always tried to push all of that to the back of her mind for a later date to explore without Edward constantly being nosy and up in her mental space, and where there had at least been an internet connection out of curiosity to search for it, but on a certain day in October it had been something that she couldn’t put away, and yet it was everything she couldn’t involve herself with either, because the source of her very sexually frustrated problem was one little chirping human that bumped into her life uninvited, and her name was Jessica Stanley.
Rosalie doesn’t know why it had been that specific day, considering she’s seen the girl several times just before it, and the human had never been on her radar of interest then. She’s only ever heard of the girl being known as a chatterbox; a very annoying girl that often gave Edward a headache—which might have been the bonus of attraction. There isn’t even an explanation on how the girl slipped past her advanced vampire senses to have literally been able to bump into her, but the soft startled gasp had been on repeat in Rosalie’s head for days after that.
Even while in a daze most of the time; enough for even Edward to walk off in disgust and say in annoyance, “If you wanted me to leave the room, you could have just asked politely instead of thinking such vulgar things to run me off…”
Rosalie thought it had been pure luck that Edward hadn’t known the owner who was saved in her mental soundboard. It terrified Rosalie of how badly she wanted Jessica to look her way with those blue eyes that resembled clear blue skies; a sky that Rosalie doesn’t see often enough. Wanting to have the girl’s contagious smile bloom in her direction, or the soft and warm body pressed against her own, and the shivering exchange between them for the excitement of exploring each other; those tiny soft gasps that would cause Rosalie’s ears to tingle.
Just hearing the sounds of her chirping across the room like a morning bird; bright, eager, and cheerful would raise Rosalie’s mood, and her icy exterior would loosen when forming a soft smile of her own.
Poor Jessica hadn’t seen it coming either, not until scorching golden eyes seductively met her wide-eyed blue.
A conversation in the public library that had started with a polite hello, and Rosalie helping to reach for a book off the shelf ended with the most breathtaking goddess pressing her plush and soft lips against Jessica's own. The sounds of Jessica’s heart thumped against her chest, the blood reached into her ears and fingertips as she hesitantly reached for the smooth and cold texture of Rosalie’s cheek, the kiss had deepened and completely entangled the two of them.
There was an aroma of peach blossoms that brushed against Rosalie’s nose, she inhaled deeply, and she couldn’t imagine any other way this could have happened—but it wasn’t supposed to happen...
It wasn’t something that could have a future either, because Rosalie was immortal and Jessica was only human. It was impossible to hide such a difference, but if it was told to anyone it would be a disaster to her family, and it would be the end of Jessica’s mortal life; something that couldn’t be taken like plucking a flower from the ground. Yet, Jessica was now wrapped into her world regardless of what Rosalie thought, because the moment the two kissed, her fate was sealed and it wouldn't take long for Jessica to learn that Rosalie Hale wasn’t anything human.
When she doesn’t need to breathe and her heart doesn’t beat, it was bound to be noticed with being so close to Rosalie. Rosalie had always been a stickler for rules, as there was always a sense of safety and control behind them, but if she goes off the path into a pandemonium...
There was only one way to fix what she’s done, by making more rules–Rosalie’s 5 Rules, to be exact.
The rules were made while sitting cross-legged on Jessica’s bed with the girl nodding along and promising to abide by the same rules as Rosalie; including proving her ability to follow the rules by promising to swear on the Stanley’s family house cat, Miss Clam Chowder. But, Rosalie didn't think this was necessary, only thanked her for the enthusiasm nonetheless, and she even felt a little sorry for Miss Clam Chowder, even though the fluffy dark brown cat hissed at her three times already, and was even brave enough to swipe at the vampire before Jessica picked up her cat to toss it out of the room.
Rule #1: The two couldn’t fall in love with each other.
Rule #2: The two couldn’t fall in love with others, either.
Rule #3: Jessica could not outwardly question Rosalie about her abnormality, unless Rosalie chooses to reveal it herself.
Rule #4:The two could not have any thoughts that involved each other in the presence of Edward while Jessica follows #3 as to why.
Rule #5: The two had to keep it a secret from others, especially Rosalie’s family.
“What about dates—not that it matters, but that should be established between us as an off-limits thing or not, right? There isn’t a rule about it. Or, are we just going to hang out in my room the whole time— we can’t go to your place with Rule #5. Not that it’s a problem, or anything. Both my parents work during the day, and my mom volunteers at the church so much that she might as well live there—or secretly sinning with the preacher… ” Jessica pretended not to be too eager on the idea, while looking down at her phone and saving Rosalie’s number into her contacts as the forks florist -rose emoji- that she excused as, "I’ve seen enough TV drama shows, I know how this goes. Putting a letter is waaaay too obvious."
Rosalie blinked, looked down at her thumb that hovered over the ‘J’ on the keyboard, and decided on putting a bird emoji instead when listening to Jessica’s pleasant chirping. “Only Port Angeles.”
“There is nothing here anyways to miss, unless like—you count going to La Push First Beach.”
“No La Push.” Rosalie can’t break the Quileute treaty. She follows it up with an excuse, “I can’t swim.”
Jessica raised an eyebrow, she seems to already know not to believe what was said, but nods along anyway, not wanting to break Rule #3 on questioning Rosalie’s ability to swim or not.
“Oh. That’s okay. So…what now exactly?”
Rosalie looked up from her phone, seeing Jessica sitting across from her on the bed, holding a pillow in her lap, and her visible pierced ear had a noticeable pink hue to it after Jessica shyly tucked a loose strand of dark blonde hair back behind it, her eyes darting down at the comforter of her bed.
The scent of peach blossoms was faint in the bedroom, establishing Jessica’s obvious ownership of the room. Rosalie had spotted the perfume bottle on a vanity mirror that had Polaroids and long silly pictures taken from a photo booth of Jessica and her friends. Rosalie never imagined herself visiting Jessica's bedroom before, until now.
Jessica’s room was neat, but there was also a bit of individuality that caused Rosalie to know that this room belonged to the girl in front of her. Celebrity gossip magazines scattered on different surfaces; such as the computer desk with the screensaver currently on, a little reading nook built out from the wall of the windowsill that overlooked the Stanley family’s side garden, a Mathalon trophy that sat out of the way with Jessica's other academic medals over the years pinned to another wall, and even a decorated cork board with postcards and filled with more pictures of her friends, the cut-out pictures from magazines that were made of wishes, idolizations and dreams that belonged to a teenage girl that wanted a shiny yellow Volkswagen Beetle, a pretty red dress, an attractive popular actress that Rosalie slightly recognizes, and a Berkeley University pamphlet.
Rosalie slowly glanced away from these things and back to Jessica, back to those eyes that reminded her of blue skies. Jessica's light eyelashes trembled slightly when she blinked, a celestial nose covered in light make-up, and dark blonde hair tucked loosely behind a visible warm ear. Light pink glossy lips parted slightly in hesitation as to wanting to say more or not with a hint of her white and straight teeth underneath that was a product from her early years of braces.
Jessica’s chest lightly rose and fell as she breathed, and her arms tightened around the pillow she was hugging as Rosalie's eyes continued to wander over her. The scent of peach blossoms covered Rosalie like a blanket. Gold eyes slightly darkened in thought to her own sense of wanting, Rosalie put down her phone, her hand rested flat on the mattress while able to feel the commonly cheap thread count from gray sheets up against her palm. Rosalie began to feel a cold brewing in her lower abdomen that felt more like burning ice, and leaned her body closer toward Jessica who shivered under her gaze. The human’s heart picked up, and the rush of blood spread out from the ears, and into Jessica's pretty face; where blue eyes waited in anticipation.
Jessica didn't need to wait long, because Rosalie finally answered with a flirtatious smile that caused the human to grow weak, “I think where we had left off before, actually…”
From the last of the autumn colors fading into the wet and cold snow that covered the ground, time between the two had passed…and October eventually turned into mid-January.
—-------------
Eyelids opened to reveal sharp gold eyes. Rosalie was lying in a bed in the dark with only the faintest light of a bluish hue peeking through the curtain and windows. Outside there was rain hitting the roof of the house, flushing down the gutter, and splashing onto the ground below. Beside Rosalie there was the sound of soft breathing; a chest slowly rising and falling while in a deep state of sleep.
She felt a bit envious of Jessica lying next to her like this and being able to sleep soundly. As a vampire, Rosalie hadn’t slept in about a century, and she’s only ever pretended to do so while day-dreaming the hours away as a replacement. She had sadly learned very quickly that it wasn’t the same thing.
Her ears twitched to the source of a sound vibrating against wood, it was her own phone that buzzed on the nightstand, and the screen's glow lit up a small space of the ceiling. Rosalie’s body tensed up as it always did when her phone went off in Jessica’s room—as the notification could only be from one of her family members.
She was actually kind of afraid to read the text message. Rosalie had been pushing her luck for about four months now with her sister Alice not having visions about Rosalie’s secret.But, it could only be a matter of time, even with Rosalie’s rules in place to keep the future unknown.
Jessica shifted her movement in her sleep, and turned on her side. Down below Rosalie could hear the fridge humming along with Miss Clam Chowder knocking what might be the remote control off the coffee table. It was a soft thud of the remote hitting the carpet and she listened to the sounds of the little bell on the cat collar ringing while Miss Clam Chowder shuffled the remote around on the floor; turning it into a hockey puck as she did so without anyone to scold her. The game ended rather quickly though as the remote slid under the gap of TV stand; Rosalie heard a clunking noise hit the wall, and then silence soon afterwards from the cat who most likely became bored after losing it.
Her lip twitches at the little menace down below who probably later would cause a dispute in the Stanley household on where the remote for the TV went.
At this moment, Mrs. Stanley was awake and stepping into a shower, while Mr. Stanley could be heard trying to hit the snooze for his own alarm. Jessica had explained to Rosalie months ago that her parents both worked a 9 to 5. Mr. Stanley had a job in Port Angeles as an accountant for a company, despite often being found sleeping in for someone who needed to commute an hour drive through traffic, and Mrs. Stanley worked at the local dental care office and volunteered often after work, but... Rosalie doesn’t know anything about there being any truth to Jessica's words about Mrs. Stanley having an affair with the preacher at the Forks Methodist church.
Rosalie was supposed to have left five hours ago when Jessica had fallen asleep from the two cuddling, but then it had started to rain by the time she thought about it. She didn’t drive her BMW M4 ('22) to Jessica’s house as it’s red painted coat was far too eye catching, and everyone in Forks knew that car belonged to Rosalie Hale, including Chief of Police Charlie Swan who often mailed her speeding tickets after only catching a sight of red on the road, because he was unable to keep up in his jeep.
Instead, she usually went on foot to return home by using her vampiric speed, but while the rain wouldn’t normally bother her, Rosalie somehow still made the rain her own excuse as to why she wouldn't leave. Not that Jessica often asks about that anyways, nor pushed Rosalie to stay. This wasn’t even the first time Rosalie stayed overnight by her own admission.
Shifting her eyes away from the ceiling and side-eyeing her phone reminding her of a message, she sighed heavily, and finally sat up from the bed. Swinging her bare feet onto the floor, Rosalie grabbed her phone, and unlocked it to check the message that had been sent—bracing herself on what Alice might have sent.
‘This outfit –insert image of Alice in shiny black leather skinny pants and a white ruffled blouse- OR -insert image of Alice in shiny black leather skinny pants, a white ruffled blouse, *but* with a thick black ribbon around the collar-'
The images looked slightly like one of those games about finding the difference in the photos.
Rosalie squinted and scrunched up her beautiful features while looking. While she was thankful the text wasn’t about her, she was confused on why Alice was even asking for her opinion. In the pictures it was clear that her sister was set on wearing the outfit either way.
‘Those pants are not school appropriate!’ Rosalie quickly texted back, her thumbs dancing across the screen, and the typing speed causing the phone itself to lag, but keyboard doing it's best to keep up with the vampire.
Alice replied back quickly with the same frightening speed, ‘Rosie, it’s more inappropriate not to wear pants at all. So, I’m not taking them off. I love them!’
‘-roll eyes emoji- Don’t ask for my opinion then.’ Of course that was what her sister would say.
There was a slight shift in the bed behind her, Rosalie turned to peek over her shoulder to check on Jessica. The human girl was lying on her back and covering her eyes with her arm. By the pace of the girl’s heart, she was slowly coming out of a deep sleep now.
Rosalie's phone vibrated in her hands again, and she looked back down to read Alice’s new message, ‘Oh, I have a vision of you telling me it’s the black ribbon one! Nice choice! Anyways, shouldn’t we all dress nice for the new girl?’
Who?!
Rosalie ignored her sister talking about having any visions about the outfit and quickly began typing, ‘This isn't a housewarming party! Why do we need to show off at all for a smelly, and pathetic human’s opinion?’
Her hypocritical nature ignores the sweet floral scent of peach blossoms of the bedroom and the sleeping human behind her.
Jessica stirred again from the light of Rosalie’s phone bouncing off onto the ceiling and she blinked her eyes open in a bit of puzzlement.
‘That’s rude, Rosie, you don’t even know her! She looks very nice! And to answer your question, I will take any excuse to dress up. Obviously.’ Followed by another quick message, ‘Oh, and I borrowed your M.A.C Red lipstick!’
Rosalie’s nose flared and gripped her phone with a human’s strength so as to not break her own phone. She disliked it when any of her siblings used her things without permission, even when there was Alice’s excuse of, "Oh, but future-you said that I could!" Completely skipping the step of asking present-Rosalie! Sometimes, she has to think Alice is trolling her.
Then a soft, yet not fully awake voice spoke from behind her in the bed, "Who is that?"
Rosalie lifted her head from the phone at the sound of Jessica’s sleepy voice and felt a bit apologetic, "Sorry, did I wake you?"
"No." Jessica lies, followed by a small escape of a yawn, and props her elbow up.
The glow of Rosalie’s phone reflected onto parts of the girl’s face, and the rest casts in shadow. The vampire wanted to reach out and cup the human’s delicate face, but she kept from doing so and looked back down at her phone.
"Alice texted me for my opinion on something."
"Oh!" Jessica’s eyes widened from Rosalie deciding to generously clarify.
It wasn’t often that she did, and Jessica usually had to live with a lack of any answer. It almost made her slightly speechless.
"She refuses to take off the leather pants.”
Rosalie then pulled up the images again of Alice’s outfit for context and held the phone out for Jessica to slide her finger across the screen. Jessica stares at both picture; sliding back and forth to the first and second image, before pausing completely on the first image, "She’s right the pants are hot—I mean, not as hot as you if you wore the hot leather pants of course! Personally, I wouldn’t be caught dead in leather pants myself. It takes a certain bold person to pull it off, right?" The human sounded flustered after not wanting to offend the other girl in front of her.
Rosalie was pleased to hear how Jessica stopped mid-sentence to compliment her instead of Alice. It caused the vampire’s lip to twitch upwards into a smirk.
Jessica muttered lower in envy with her height of five feet even, "I can't believe that Alice is only a few inches taller than me, but can pull off those pants..." After a long pause of staring at the pictures, she finally gets to the point of the question, her voice rises, beginning to resemble an awakened bird chirping in the early hours of the morning, "Anyways, I don’t see what the difference is supposed to be in the pics—it’s identical!"
"That’s because there isn’t much of a difference, Jess…" Rosalie complains.
Jessica slides one more time through the the two images and squints while having to adjust to the bright light of Rosalie's phone in her face more so than any confusion like how Rosalie had squinted at the images herself, "Yeah, but I’ve never been very good at those spot the difference games…I guess the first one is nice—no wait—the second one. I see a ribbon now!”
"You also just woke up," Rosalie makes an excuse for the girl, even as a vampire it took her a split two seconds, and that was a long time for her kind, "But, yeah, it’s the black ribbon."
Rosalie pauses for a second. Wait, didn't Alice say she envisioned Rosalie saying just that? She hoped Alice didn't see who she said that to... But then, Alice would have mentioned Jessica's existence and bombarding her with phone calls. It would be unlike her sister's nosy-self not to.
Rosalie relaxed again. She turns off her phone and sets it back on the nightstand so as not to disturb Jessica’s vision for too long. Rosalie turned to see the girl relaxing back onto her pillow. The top sheet slip to reveal Jessica’s breasts and the strawberry marks that Rosalie had placed last night on the collarbone. Rosalie swallowed at the sight of the pretty girl. Her thoughts occasionally go back to last night.
Jessica suddenly radiates heat after realizing she was still naked, she pulls the sheet and the comforter up to cover her chest. Jessica had showered after the two had sex and before bed, but completely dismissed putting on any extra clothes after being already exhausted from all the tossing. All she likely had on was a pair of panties, because Jessica did at least have a sports bra on before going to bed—but tossed it from the bed in the middle of the night after some discomfort in trying to sleep in it.
Only Rosalie seemed to have remembered this specific incident of Jessica's complaints of being compressed at night, as guessing from Jessica's shy reaction, the human forgot.
"Right, well, good morning by the way...You even stayed the night." Jessica makes it a statement and not a question. Rosalie could hear that the girl was in a good mood by her having actually stuck around.
"Hmhm.” Rosalie hummed back, but then made a gesture with a finger over her lips; hearing Mrs. Stanley leaving the bedroom, and walking out into the hallway.
The older woman headed down the stairs—Rosalie could hear she had stopped though, and then heard Mrs. Stanley ask Miss Clam Chowder why her husband's boxers were out of the laundry basket and at the foot of the stairs instead. Her question was loud enough for even Jessica to listen in on, as the human was stifling a laugh beside her, but only Rosalie could hear the little bell on the cat’s collar rushing off into the living room where her other crime had been committed.
Jessica's eyes glanced to see Rosalie’s own reaction of what she had just heard. Gold eyes exchanged a smile when having caught the blue in the dark.
Mrs. Stanley scolded the cat running off, and then Rosalie could hear Jessica’s mom turning on the coffee machine down in the kitchen. While Rosalie had been distracted by Alice’s texts, she had long tuned out Mr. Stanley’s morning routine of throwing himself out of bed at the sight of his wife finishing up in the shower and while he pretended to be pondering on what to wear for the day followed by his usual response at the 'sight' of her, "Oh, you’re finished, dear? Good timing! I’ll go next!" as if Mr. Stanley hadn't been hitting the snooze button on his alarm the entire time. Rosalie had to think that Mrs. Stanley knew the whole time, but gave her husband some face when it came to him wanting a few extra minutes of sleep.
Of the times Rosalie had been over in the early mornings, Jessica’s parents always had the same morning routine and she’d listen to it out of curiosity. She could check off a list of everything that the couple did. Mrs. Stanley always woke up first, and while she took bathroom first, her husband would sleep through his own alarm, of course, without fail, Mr. Stanley would slap a hand over the ringing to shut it off, and then after Mrs. Stanley steps out of the bathroom, her husband would put on his act that he'd been awake the entire time. The two would always exchange a few other pleasant morning conversations while Mr. Stanley took to the bathroom, the door always left open to let out any steam the vent didn't suck out, and his wife would head downstairs to brew her coffee.
This morning Jessica joined Rosalie on listening in on her parents morning routine and though her hearing wasn’t as good as Rosalie’s, the human can imagine most of what takes place outside her bedroom, as her parents usual morning habits was something she knew well enough. Jessica closed her eyes, and leaned into the back of Rosalie’s shoulder.
Rosalie was still only in her bra as well, so the warm and cool skin pressed into each other. The human’s arms wrapped loosely around the blonde’s waist. Rosalie smiled contently at Jessica’s clingy, yet sleepy behavior. What wasn't on the checklist of a typical Stanley Houshold morning, was Jessica’s parents never check up on their daughter in the morning, always letting Jessica sleep until her own alarm would go off for school, and that was usually after Mr. and Mrs. Stanley were already pulling out of the driveway, so the two girls weren’t scared to have Rosalie's nightly visits exposed.
Not that Rosalie ever walked through the door to be noticed anyhow, instead she guiltily climbed in and out of Jessica’s window from the side garden following with Rule #3 and Rule #5.
After Mr. Stanley's quick shower, there was a bit of a commotion down below now on where the remote went, as Mr. Stanley wanted to see the local weather station.
"It’s on the coffee table." Mrs. Stanley had answered.
Mr. Stanley cried back, "It’s not on the coffee table!"
The sound of Miss Clam Chowder’s bell collar jingled somewhere in the house.
"Look again!"
"No! It’s not!"
"It can’t have walked off, honey!"
"Maybe it did! Maybe it grew two legs and did a little tap dance out the front door while we were all asleep! Ever figured that, Martha?! Take my word for it! It’s missing! We better print out some missing posters for it!"
“Honestly, now I know where Jess gets her dramatics from!” There is a grumble of annoyance from Mrs. Stanley, her heels going from the kitchen and straight into the living room to inspect the coffee table for herself.
The couple downstairs were loud enough to even be heard by the human girl. Rosalie smiles as she feels an embarrassed smile on the back of her own shoulder. Yes, Jessica can be very dramatic herself. Mr. and Mrs. Stanley continued their light bickering between each other, until they both grumbled that they would deal with finding the remote control when one of them got home first, considering the sensitive time frame at the moment for the two.
"We can make a 99% chance of certainty it’s going to rain. I don’t know why you bother, Clarence! It’s raining outside as we speak. Don’t forget your umbrella!"
Rosalie can hear Mrs. Stanley put on her own raincoat, and finish up her morning routine by grabbing her purse and car keys—the noise of the keys was the easiest to identify when listening down below.
"I got it. I got it." Mr. Stanley replies hurriedly, and must have picked up the umbrella from somewhere.
The two interchangeably say their goodbyes, shared kisses and 'I love yous', before Mr. Stanley calls up toward the second floor, "Jessica! We’re leaving! Love you!"
"Hush! She’s trying to sleep!"
Rosalie began to hear their cars start up and notification sounds began to light up Jessica’s phone. As part of their morning routine, the parents had sent their daughter good morning messages while heading out for work. The human shifted away from Rosalie and took her phone that had been sitting beside Rosalie’s and began to read and quickly reply back to her parents' messages with heart emojis and her own good morning greeting.
"Miss Clam Chowder was playing with the remote." Rosalie gave up the cat’s crime.
The sound of the bell can be heard rushing up to Jessica's door and a paw can clearly be seen trying to swipe under the door as if to get at the vampire for selling her out so easily.
The cat's actions doesn't stop Rosalie, "It’s under the TV stand, I think..."
Jessica looks up from her phone, and says humorously to Rosalie, "Why do I have the feeling you’re trying to make enemies with my cat?"
"I’m actually a cat lover, it’s her that doesn’t like me. I think she’s the jealous one…"
Rosalie has been scratched at by the cat on multiple occasions, and one time, before Jessica knew of Rosalie’s sensitive stomach, Miss Clam Chowder knocked her glass of orange juice that had been next to Jessica’s own right into the floor, then even proceeded to have a staring contest with Rosalie, the look of the cat reading a bit as, ‘What’re you going to do about it, huh?’ while swiping her fluffy brown tail arrogantly.
Rosalie had half a mind back then to have Jessica swear on her cat after all. The little menace! She’s never known an animal to have such a large and bold personality in front of a vampire before. Good thing the cat doesn’t speak English and give away Rosalie and Jessica’s secret relationship. With the cat’s dislike of Rosalie, she wouldn’t be surprised if Clam Chowder did give it all away. But, to even imagine the fuzzy-butt named Miss Clam Chowder being her presumed downfall would be downright embarrassing…
The sound of Miss Clam Chowder swiping at the door was still taking place and she meowed after hearing Jessica’s voice from the other side. Both girls' heads swiveled toward the door. The cat desperately wanted to come into Jessica’s room and go at it with the vampire. Jessica laughed, like scattering of twinkling glass, and Rosalie’s ears twitched in content, it was contagious enough to cause a smile to bloom on her own face.
She found the sound of laughter only second to Jessica’s chirping voice, all filed away in Rosalie’s mental folder that had her favorite sounds—she never knew that she came to have a mental folder on Jessica Stanley of all people, but Rosalie's been filing everything that she could of the girl for the last four months of being with her. It wasn't until recently that Rosalie caught herself doing it, but her vampire brain was dumb and there wasn’t much she could do about it’s own intensity, only left to highly guard it from her mind reading brother.
Rosalie twisted her body toward Jessica, cupped the girl’s soft face and planted a surprise kiss. That slightly startled gasp from the girl caused Rosalie to feel her own body tingle with excitement, like little sparks of lightning crawling up her back and neck. But, Jessica pushed her back lightly from kissing, for a vampire's weight it was actually hard to budge Rosalie, but she felt the touch enough to pull away, and respected Jessica’s space when it was asked of her to move.
"Sorry." Rosalie moved her lips away and apologized.
"No-no, I liked it—just—I haven’t brushed my teeth yet." Jessica mumbled embarrassed and even covered her mouth when speaking to Rosalie.
"I haven’t either." Rosalie reasons and excuses, "We just woke up after all, don’t be embarrassed. Your breath doesn’t smell bad at all."
It’s only a faint smell of stale mint and a healthy breath. Jessica was the type of teenager that flossed and never was one to skip brushing her teeth. It might come with the fact that her mother was a dental assistant, and was very militarian about Jessica’s dental hygiene compared to the average human being.
Jessica sighed and brushed a hand through her messy dark blonde hair, she nodded, "Yeah, but my mom would compliment your perfect and clean teeth—compared to me, I feel super gross. As someone who had to experience the pain of braces at age ten…I’m obviously jealous you never have to wear them." The human’s chirping lowered slightly into bitterness.
Straight white teeth came with a vampire perfectness; the additional sharp piercing teeth embedded in her gums, too. Rosalie lifted an eyebrow, "Your mom drinks coffee. She’d be a hypocrite for comparing anyone with you, so, don’t be jealous. There are even things I’m not perfect at and I bet you were really cute with braces as a kid."
She could imagine a tiny Jessica with bright blue eyes chirping wildly with her braces just so she could get used to them, and eventually developed this habit of constantly talking. Perhaps, if Jessica never had braces, she wouldn’t be the little chatterbox that Rosalie knew today.
Jessica blushed, "Remind me to never show you pictures of me as a kid then, so it stays that way."
The vampire shook her head and softly smiled, "It'll never change."
Rosalie enjoyed her conversations with Jessica, even if minimal, it could be about anything. Jessica as a human teenage girl raised in this era has an entirely different experience from Rosalie's own teenage experience; bringing a brand new perspective to the world around her. Jessica's personality overflowed when she was brightly chirping and the octave in her voice going from low to high was musical to Rosalie's ears. She enjoyed the conversation, but even more just to hear Jessica talk. It always something new to learn, maybe it was new slang that Jessica introduces her to, pop culture references that Rosalie was too embarrassed to admit she was outdated on, and really it was just witnessing what it was like for a teenage girl growing up in the 2000's.
Rosalie would forever be eighteen and even her mental development will forever be stuck at eighteen, but she’s experienced eras where there were great wars, nuclear scares, talks of peace, and a world constantly changing around her that it would only feel like a whole new world to Jessica. The human who has only ever lived in little ol’ Forks, Washington her whole life, likely has only ever witnessed a tragedy like 9/11 on television, and only ever really read about all those things Rosalie lived through in history books—Jessica lives in a peaceful time where her childhood was not hurried by the cruelty of the world. Her wars and world conflicts were so far away from herself, only on evening news where children had long gone to bed, where teenagers were often out with their friends. There were no boys having to go off to war and no girls believing they had to marry at eighteen.
In the past, before knowing Jessica, it was hard for Rosalie to remind herself that despite all that she’s seen and gone through, she would still only ever be a teenage girl just like Jessica Stanley. The more she’s been with this seventeen year old girl, Jessica can bring her back to gossiping about things that don’t matter, to celeb-magazines, clothes, make-up, about people at school, and even other teenage things that won’t mean anything ten to twenty years from now to an adult woman with other priorities. Being in Jessica’s presence and enjoying all the same things as her would remind Rosalie that she herself was only an eighteen year old girl, just one frozen in time—stunted in growth and unable to develop properly...
...
If Rosalie could feel her heart it would clench up at the melancholy thought that suddenly struck her, taking in this moment now, sitting with Jessica in her bedroom and enjoying the other's presence...would eventually end up as a fleeting moment in due time too. Jessica would grow up and have a family someday of her own like all of Rosalie’s friends had when she had been human, but Rosalie would be stuck in some little rainy season town going to a high-school after the umpteenth time.
Rosalie stops herself from thinking that was such a negative thing, because she did want that future for Jessica: to be human, to stay human. Rosalie was protecting Jessica by not involving her into her kind’s world but… Well, it was her stupid vampire brain that was getting in the way again.
"Are you okay?" Jessica’s eyes adjusted to the light in the room and noticed the smile had slowly fallen from the beautiful girl’s face.
"I’m fine." Rosalie lied and pushed down those negative thoughts and scolded the vampire side of her brain from trying to involve itself.
Jessica raised an eyebrow and boldly continued on, "Okay, then don’t pout just because I currently won’t kiss you, let me go brush my teeth first…"
Her dark blonde hair snaked away from Rosalie’s fingers.
"Then I’ll wait." Rosalie answers, her golden eyes darted to check the time on Jessica’s alarm clock. In about ten minutes the girl’s alarm would go off anyways, so Rosalie knew she wasn’t really disrupting Jessica’s sleep time. There was a shift beside her on the bed from Jessica getting up and Rosalie’s eyes quickly catch the bare white skin flash by her. When half-naked humans got out of the bed, the sheet slipped off of Jessica and revealed only her underwear. The vampire witnessed Jessica suddenly radiating warmth again while knowing she was being openly watched by Rosalie.
Jessica snatched a shirt from her dresser, "Don't look." She sounds slightly embarrassed.
Rosalie closed her eyes then, but smirks and says, “Like I haven’t seen you before—you know, like last night when you were very enthusiastic about it...”
The vampire quickly dodged the shirt that she sensed was flying at her face, and with her own instinctive reflex as a hunter, her hand rose and caught the shirt before it flew past her ear.
"Just because you can dodge, don’t dodge!" Jessica scolded, her face warm with embarrassment still.
At this point, it wasn’t really a big deal for Rosalie’s freaky fast reflexes to be noticed by Jessica, as the human followed their Rule #3 to not to bother or question Rosalie about it.
Rosalie’s eyes smoothly opened to see Jessica still standing half-naked. Rosalie kept her smile at the sight of Jessica who threw her own shirt away.
“Yeah, but you’re supposed to wear the shirt, not throw it at me while undressed. And, just after you denied me kissing you? I’m getting mixed signals, Jess. Explain.”
There is a huff from Jessica who stalked over with a pout and rouge cheeks. She took the shirt that Rosalie politely handed back, “I’m going to go brush my teeth first...” The girl slipped on the shirt as she spoke, and went to open her bedroom door and turn on the light, “While I’m away, you can play nice with Clam Chowder.”
The brown cat with yellow bright eyes meowed in greeting to Jessica who had finally answered her 'knock', but then darted those yellow eyes quickly to Rosalie who was still sitting obediently on the bed. The cat's tail swung back and forth in anticipation while Jessica left the two behind in the room.
“Hello, Miss Clam Chowder.” Rosalie greeted politely.
The cat snorted at her, turned around and showed her butt instead.
“Well, good morning to you too...” The vampire tongued the back of her teeth, internally letting the cat know it was lucky she had extreme tolerance and self-control to not make a snack out of Miss Clam Chowder—also she was the family pet to the Stanley’s household and doesn't eat cats. It was another good thing that the cat was cute...she let Miss Clam Chowder off countless times just for that.
Miss Clam Chowder showed off to Rosalie and made it known that Jessica’s bedroom was also her territory by rubbing her furry body over Jessica’s door when walking in, snaked her tail around one of the computer chair legs and other furniture that she passed by, then finished by jumping onto the reading nook.The sound of the cat’s bell could be hear ringing from every movement that was made.
Cat ears twitched to the sound of rain tapping against the window and Miss Clam Chowder continuously bore her eyes straight at Rosalie’s while whipping her tail about again. Silence resettled in the room after the bell stopped.
Now, it was a staring contest between gold vampire eyes and bright yellow cat eyes, a challenge that would seem abnormally too long for anyone else.
The alarm clock eventually buzzed, but still, the two didn’t move from their positions, nor did the two blink. Only the cat’s ears twitched occasionally from the sound of the alarm and the rain outside. Without needing to look, Rosalie's hand reached over to switch off Jessica’s alarm clock.
“Okay, that’s not weird at all you two.”
Jessica is now standing at the doorway.
Rosalie broke the stare, not at all bothered she lost the game with a cat.
“Your alarm went off.” Rosalie pretended she hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary, and faced Jessica.
The girl had put her hair up into a messy bun, her neck was visible and Rosalie’s nose twitched. Not focusing on the blood pumping, but that the vampire smelled the scent of Jessica’s face wash, the fresh mint from her toothpaste and mouthwash, and her gentle smell of peach blossoms that Rosalie has accustomed to being Jessica’s personal scent.
Rosalie’s body relaxed at Jessica’s return, despite not knowing it was tense before. Miss Clam Chowder mewed loudly in greeting the girl again, so Jessica walked away from the doorway to pick up her cat. Rosalie tried to stop her own eyebrows from furrowing in jealousy at the sight of Jessica being so close to another person, thing, animal—the vampire part of her was jealous, again...
"Hey, is Rosalie bullying you?" Jessica asks her fluffy companion with a sweet voice.
Miss Clam Chowder answers with another meow of her own and even her yellow eyes dart at Rosalie as if the cat knew exactly what Jessica was saying.
"I’m not bullying a cat, Jessica!" Rosalie scoffs and feels slightly betrayed, "Why are you taking her side anyways!?"
"Pfft." Jessica snorted and her shoulders shook trying to keep herself from laughing loudly at Rosalie’s reaction. The human girl’s smile was pure and beautiful, while Rosalie looked sheepish by comparison when Jessica was obviously making fun of her, "You’re really cute..."
There was another meow.
"She said that to me, not you." The jealous vampire pierced golden eyes at the cat in Jessica’s arms.
"Rosalie!" Jessica couldn't help, but burst out with a laugh now, completely in disbelief at the blonde girl’s ego and arrogance toward a cat. Jessica’s blue eyes still sparkled at Rosalie as she took Miss Clam Chowder back out the room and closed the door.
The two girls were alone again and Jessica settled back onto the bed with Rosalie.
The vampire leaned forward and whispered softly, “Now?”
The human girl only nodded this time and Rosalie pressed her lips hungrily against Jessica’s.