CHAPTER XIII ―

BONES!

"𝐒𝐎, 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐆𝐎 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐄𝐃𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃?" Bella asked, driving them to the local diner she and her father loved so much. "He was definitely your knight in shining armor."

Nora laughed, rolling her eyes. "That is totally not what he was. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time, Bells." She still hadn't told Bella the truth and had no intention to do so, she didn't need to know and get all upset, which Bella totally would do.

Bella scoffed, turning into the driveway of the busy diner. "Liar, but fine, don't tell me the details. I'm slightly offended, did he at least pay the bill?"

"Yes, yes he did."

"Is there going to be more dates in the future of Mr and Mrs Cullen?"

"Bella!"

The cab of the truck was filled with laughter from the two girls.

...

Edward couldn't believe he had forgotten to get her phone number, but thanks to Alice and a little persuasion, he managed to get it just fine. He was preparing himself to text her as he stared at his phone, frowning at it. For the first time in his lifetime, Edward didn't have words to write to Nora and didn't know what to say or ask.

While a part of him wanted nothing to do with her and was self-loathing for even getting involved with her as much as he already has, this new part... this part that begged him to just a part of her life in anyway. It didn't matter if that was a friend or whatever it was, Edward just had to make himself a part of her life in someway.

"Are you seriously lost on what to say to her?"

Edward looked up from his phone to glare at Rosalie.

"Why do you even care?"

Rosalie crossed her arms, her blonde hair falling gracefully over her shoulder as she leaned back into the door frame, an uninterested look upon her face. Edward knew her better though, he knew she was interested. He also knew a small, very small, part of Rosalie liked Nora. Well, maybe not 100% liked, but there was a small sort of respect.

"I don't."

Lie.

"I'd rather see you crash and burn with her, but we all know thats not going to happen as much as you or I want it to. You can't ignore the mate bond, Edward. That's why you rescued her the other night."

Edward wouldn't admit to her face that she was right, but Rosalie didn't need to be told that anyways, she already knew.

"Then what do I do? Put myself in her life and hope I don't kill her if I kiss her?"

God, Edward thought, he sounded like a brooding teenager.

Rosalie rolled her eyes, looking at her nails. She needed to go with Alice to get them done again. "Edward, we both know that's not going to happen too. Grow up, text the girl and figure out what you both want out of this. She's either in this or she's not, you can't risk her life like this. Alice told you what she saw."

Rosalie finally looked at him, their golden eyes meeting each other. "You might not kill her, but they will if they find out a human knows our secret and you decide you want to do this self-loathing depressive shit. Either be in her life, or leave her alone and don't drag her into this."

In a blink of an eye, Rosalie was gone and Edward was left with a decision to make on the human he was sure he was falling in love with.

...

"Thank you for the day out again," Nora hugged her best friend as they sat in Bella's truck in front of Nora's house. "I needed it."

Bella smiled as she pulled away from her, shrugging in a nonchalant manner. "It was either taking you out for the day or dealing with Jake totally not getting that I'm into him and listening to the guys laugh in the background at us."

Nora shook her head, opening the passenger door. "Well, you did mention to me once he wasn't ever really that bright." The two girls burst into laughter as Nora shut the passenger door with a slight slam to make sure it shut cause sometimes it would bounce back and almost put her on her ass, but this time it shut and Nora waved as she watched Bella pull out of her driveway and drive towards La Push for the rest of her day.

Turning towards her empty house, Nora sighed. Her dad was gone, once again, at work trying to find what kinda animal was killing people in the area and that meant she was alone to cook dinner for herself.

...

"Hey dad, let me know if you're going to be late tonight and I'll take the car down to the station to drop you off dinner? Just let me know, love you and stay safe." Nora ended the voicemail and set down the house phone, stirring the green beans one more time before she began to grab out the lunch Tupperware for her dad's food to stay warm.

She had already finished her homework for the rest of the evening and had changed into a pair of grey sweatpants with some fuzzy socks that were bright pink and a black tank top for optimal comfort. Nora had made just a basic spaghetti with some Italian sausage she found in the fridge and made some canned green beans for a side. It was super simple, but she really didn't feel like cooking all out when her dad wasn't even home to enjoy it and they really needed to go grocery shopping.

After plating her dad's food and putting it in the microwave to stay warm, she grabbed herself a plate and headed to the living room to watch some type of tv for the rest of her evening instead of sitting in silence. Deciding to re-watch some of the Bones episodes, Nora settled herself in the center of the couch with a soft throw blanket that used to be her mom's favorite and enjoyed her meal.

Halfway through her third episode, just as she was dozing off, a loud sound upstairs had awoken her, startling her enough to almost drop her plate on the floor. The hell? Nora thought, setting her plate on the coffee table and turning down the tv. Sure, it was raining, but there wasn't anything for thunder or anything, just a normal rainy cast over Forks.

BANG!

This time the sound came from the side of the house, causing her to yelp as she launched up to throw on a light and investigate the sound. Perhaps Candice was doing a stupid prank? Although, that wasn't like her to do that. Before she could go to investigate the sound towards the back of the house, a loud knock came from the front door.

Standing in the middle of the hallway that lead to the back of the house and to the front, Nora's brows furrowed in confusion as she looked at the front door. She hadn't been expecting anyone and she sure as hell didn't trust anyone knocking on the door after dark. Inching to the door as quietly as she could, Nora grabbed the baseball bat that sat next to the coat rack and armed herself. Whoever the hell this was, was about to get a rude awakening.

Throwing open the front door, Nora clenched her eyes shut and was about to swing when a voice yelled out - "Nora! It's me!" Peaking an eye open, Nora's eyes both opened in realization when she saw who it was.

"Edward?!" the bat was still raised and Edward had an amused look upon his face. "What the hell did I tell you about being a creep! I told you to text me, be a normal person."

"Uh, I think you can set the bat down for starters?" Realizing she was still armed, Nora quickly shoved it behind her back with a shy smile. Edward huffed a laugh, but she could tell he was looking past her, looking into any visible part of the house; the living room, hallway and foyer. "And I didn't get your number, so I figured I could come over to get it."

"Huh, I wondered why you didn't text me."

Putting the bat back inside the foyer, next to the front door, Nora stepped aside and gestured for him to come in. "C'mon, I'm watching Bones and if you haven't seen it, I'll be happy to show you what it's about."

Without anymore persuasion, Edward Cullen followed the little human inside the house, happy to be in her presence... so much for trying to not let himself get involved.

...

Nora wasn't stupid. Sitting next to Edward for the duration of another three episodes of Bones, the cold that radiated off him was comforting, but a part of her was putting the pieces together of him being far from normal... how he had saved her the other night and didn't even know where she was to begin with, only to follow her and scare those guys away with just a growl and a look...

Nora was beginning to put the pieces together as she stared at the tv with Edward in silence, listening to Dr Brennan lecture Booth again, and she was sure he knew she was. Her knees were pulled to her chest as her brows furrowed in thought, and Edward could hear bits and pieces of what was going on in her head.

It's not possible.

Vampires.

How?

The words were quietly drifting through her mind, Edward was surprised she was so comfortable with him. As he was about to open his mouth to tell her the truth, he heard a familiar car driving down the road - her father's work vehicle. He was just a short mile from the house.

Standing up abruptly, startling Nora just a tad, Edward gave her a charming smile. "I have to head home, but I'll see you tomorrow at school, okay?"

Nora shook herself out of her thoughts about him and what his family was, standing up and beginning to follow him out the door. "Thanks for the company, but next time, text me, okay?"

Edward laughed, but nodded and made his way out to his car as her father pulled in and before her dad could even get out of his car, Edward was in his and beginning to pull out of the driveway, leaving Nora standing in the doorway of her house to see her dad get out of his squad car and look at her with a surprised expression.

"Is that Cullen's kid?"