nine.
sleeping like the dead

"A sea otter? Seriously?" Edward asked incredulously.
"Yes!" JT exclaimed. "You asked me what animal I'd reincarnate as. I would reincarnate myself as an otter." The afternoon hours had slipped away from them, the dinner crowd filtering into the diner.
"And why is that?" Edward's smile could only be described as dazzling. Well, stunning, gorgeous, intoxicating.... and she was staring. Heat rushed to her face and she looked down at her fingers.
"I-uh. I'd reincarnate as a sea otter because they represent friendship and family. They also float on their backs and hold hands so they don't lose each other while they sleep." She folded her fingers around her empty mug. "They also have rocks that they keep with them forever."
He raised a fluffy eyebrow. "Forever?"
"Forever is obviously an exaggeration. There's no such thing as forever," she answered. He waved his hand, pushing her to continue. She pushed a piece of now dry hair behind her ear. "Forever is just a word created by people to help them attempt to understand something they never will. We can't possibly fathom how long forever will be, nor if there will be a forever. A plague—" she didn't miss his almost imperceptible flinch "— could wipe out the entire world. A meteor or an asteroid could hit us tomorrow."
   She stopped talking. The entire time they'd been at the diner, Edward's attention had been solely on her. It was probably just common decency, but it didn't fail to make her feel like the only girl in the world.
"Can I get you some more coffee?" Cora asked, appearing out of nowhere.
"I'd like some hot chocolate instead, please. Can't have caffeine too late in the day, you know?"
Cora smiled. "Please, honey. I could drink coffee at any given point in the day and still sleep like the dead." JT looked over at Edward, whose lips were dropping from a smirk. "Got that hot cocoa coming right up," Cora said, walking away.
"What's so funny?" JT asked.
Edward quirked a brow. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"I saw that little smirk. I might be internally crippled, but I'm not blind." She smiled and earned a small smile in return.
"The sleeping like the dead phrase has always tickled me," he explained, opening another pack of sugar and dumping it on the table.
"You don't think the dead sleep?" She looked over the piles of sugar on the table before laughing. "You ought to pay them for each grain of sugar you've wasted."
He stared down at the sugar for a moment. His eyes were narrow as they swept across the grains. "8,743 grains of sugar. I'm afraid I don't quite have the money for that at present. Unless you're suggesting I pay a penny for each grain," he chuckled.
JT's jaw dropped. "You totally guessed that. There's no way you could've counted without touching or that fast." Also the fact that he had more than twenty dollars on his person was astounding to JT as her wallet had four ones and a dirty nickel.
That crooked smile of his spread across his face. "Yeah, I guessed." But something about his eyes made her mistrust that answer. He cleared his throat and looked outside.
   "What's your favorite flower?" JT blurted. Quickly recovering, she added on. "If you have one."
   He looked at her strangely before answering. "Gardenias."
   JT blinked twice, not really expecting that answer.
   He smirked. "White Gardenias represent purity and gentleness. Did you have me pegged for a rose guy?"
   JT laughed. "Not quite. I was thinking more Black-Eyed Susan." When his eyebrows quirked up again, she explained herself. "They represent justice. You seem fairly just."
   "And what of your favorite flower?"
   JT thought for a moment. "Well, if I were going for looks, I'd say a snapdragon. But for meaning, I'd go with violets."
   "Loyalty, devotion, and faithfulness. How fitting," Edward surmised. Heat rose over JT's face, causing her to look away.
   Cora came just then, sporting a steaming cup of hot chocolate. The waitress eyed the sugar on the table with visible disdain, but said nothing. Before Cora could take JT's empty coffee cup, the blonde scooped all the sugar into the mug. Cora gave her a smile and took the cup.
   Edward was smiling when JT looked at him. "What?" She asked.
   "I was going to clean it up," he answered.
   "Sure you were." JT's phone began to buzz in her pocket. She planned on not answering, but her face paled at the sight of her mother's caller ID. "Excuse me for a moment," JT said to Edward. "It's my mom."
"Hello mother," JT greeted, eyes stuck on the table.
"Don't you hello mother me, Josephine. Where are you?"
JT flinched at the acid in her mother's tone. "I'm at Carver's," she said.
"With who?"
"No on—"
"Don't you dare say no one. I know you're with that Cullen boy," Lorraine hissed. JT's eyes darted up to meet Edward's in a panic. He was watching her warily, as if he knew what was going on.
"Then why did you ask?" JT questioned.
"You don't get to interrogate me, you pathetic whore," she seethed. Tears threatened to spill out of JT's eyes, so she clamped them shut. "He's too good for you."
"It's not like that, mother. We're talking about a project for school."
"Then why did Katherine tell me that you've been flirting this whole time?" JT's eyes snapped open and found Katherine Anderson almost immediately. The woman's hair was a fried bleach blonde and JT didn't have to be close to know she reeked of cigarettes. The woman gave an ugly smirk.
"Katherine just likes to stir up drama, mother," JT muttered.
"Get your ass home." Lorraine hung up the phone. JT put the phone in the table and clenched her fists. With a few deep breaths, she opened her eyes again. However, she kept them glued to the table top.
"I need to go home."
Edward stood, leaving a tip and money for the hot chocolate that she didn't even get to drink on the table. He didn't say a word as they left, only keeping a soft, guiding hand on her back as she kept her eyes on the floor. She knew if she made eye contact with Katherine again, hands would be thrown.
He drove her home in silence as well, not even needing her to give directions. When they pulled up to her house, her heart thudded in her ears.
"Uhm." She swallowed. "Thank you for the coffee, and the ride home." Playing with the sweatshirt's fabric, she looked up at him. "I really enjoyed today, but I don't think we can hang out anymore."
His straight faced answer made it hurt just a little more. "I understand."
He couldn't possibly understand that she wanted to be friends so badly, but that her mother and her little spies ruined everything. Always.
"No. I don't think you do. But thanks anyways. See you tomorrow." She got out of the car before he could respond. Rain still hammered down with its icy grip.
Lorraine was waiting on the couch, a bottle of scotch in hand. "Why don't we have a chat?"
As if an angel had heard any prayer she had ever prayed, the doorbell rang. JT opened the door, drenched rat and all.
It wasn't an angel, but it might as well have been.
Alice Cullen looked every bit the part as the rays from the porch light bathed her in gold. "Hi JT, I was wondering if you wanted to come over and work on our project?"

a/n: hey babes! hope you loved it! let me know your thoughts and feelings about the chapter and let me know anything you want to see in this story! Ily all