The Vampires Little Bat

Checkers

I was convinced.

*Mia's P.O.V*

I eventually drift away from Esme...or she drifts away from me. I'm not totally sure but I know that I end up away from her and back up the stairs. My feet inch towards the closest room, the one that seems to be calling me. I freeze however when the door opens, trying to duck down slightly so that whoever just opened the door can't see me. It's kind of hard to do though, since I'm standing between the staircase and the door and there's nothing at all to cover me.

"Impressive hiding spot," Rosalie sounds amused, making me perk up when I realize that it's her. I smile shyly, ducking my head as I realize just how bad my hiding spot is.

"Who is hiding?" a man's voice behind her makes me startle slightly, my eyes widening slightly when I see the super tall and strong one. Emmett, that was his name! I was proud I remembered that, feeling warm and fuzzy about my ability to be so smart.

"Mia is, although I think she's a bit shy right now Em," Rosalie says as she smiles slightly when I catch her gaze. I am glad she understands, I didn't know how to explain how I feel. I glance behind me, hoping to see that Esme had followed me but she had not.

"What? Why?" Emmett asks. I quickly turn my attention back to him, feeling angry at myself for ever taking my eyes off him since he was still a stranger and I didn't know him at all well enough to trust him.

Though, technically all of these vampires were strangers to me. I didn't want to think about that much, I preferred thinking of Carlisle and Esme and Rosalie as friends and not strangers even if they were technically strangers. Strangers just didn't seem like the nice word to use with how kind they had been to me thus far.

"Because you are intimidating love, you know this. Mia isn't used to you," Rosalie swats his shoulder gently when he seems to get upset. I'm kind of glad she did that because the way his face scrunched up made it seem like he might be mad at me. I didn't want him to be mad at me...

"Oh, right," Emmett says, smiling after a moment.

"I promise I don't bite," Emmett turns his gaze to me, a smile on his face. I can't help but giggle at his words, finding them amusing because he very much did look like he would bite. Probably not me but he had probably bit something or someone before.

"What are you doing upstairs? Did you get bored with Esme?" Rosalie asks, making me nod my head slightly. I don't want to say it out loud since she might overhear and then get her feelings hurt but I had gotten tired of standing and talking.

"Come here, you can join Emmett and I? Can't she?" Rosalie asks, tilting her head up to look at Emmett with a small grin on her lips. A grin that seems like she's not asking and is in fact rather telling him that I can join them.

"Of course, angel...tell me Mia, have you played chess?" Emmett asks.

"No, it seems really complicated," I say, my nose scrunching up at his question. That earns a chuckle from both Emmett and Rosalie.

"How about checkers? Would you like to play that?" Emmett asks.

"Yes please," I say, perking up at the idea of playing a game with either of them. Rosalie offers me her hand and I happily go to her, letting her grab my hand as she gently pulls me into the room and then shuts the door behind me.

"Now we should hopefully not have to worry about those nosey little spies," Rosalie says as she smiles, still holding my hand. Her touch is making me feel all light and giddy, making me feel safer than I've ever felt before. She guides me to the middle of the room, where Emmett is unrolling a blanket. I realize after a moment that the blanket actually mimics the shape of a checkers board.

"Was this just an excuse for you to use the very large checkers pieces I told you we shouldn't get?" Rosalie asks as she sits down, patting the ground right in front of her. I sit down, shivering when an arm wraps around my waist and draws me into her lap. I freeze, surprised at how gentle she is with me. It's like she's hardly touching me at all.

"You can go first Mia because I will destroy you," Emmett says as he lays out the pieces, placing them carefully. I lean forward, pushing one piece across the blanket and causing the blanket to wrinkle up. My lower lip sticks out slightly, a pout on my lips as he fixes it.

"It's fine Mia, the blanket is going to get wrinkled up a lot," Rosalie promises me, making me huff as I reluctantly nod my head. I still wasn't okay with it wrinkling up but if Rosalie said it would already get wrinkled, I couldn't fuss...that much.

Emmett moves his piece, making the blanket on his side wrinkle up. I smile slightly, realizing that it's not just me. I settle down and go back to playing, feeling Rosalie keep an arm around me every time I so much as lean forward to play.

Emmett leans forward to help me when I manage to get some pieces on his side of the board. His hand brushes mine as he moves my piece to the end of the board, turning it over so that it is now a king. His touch reminds me of Rosalie's, causing the foggy feeling that's in the back of my head to push forward again. I feel so very tiny now, my head feeling too heavy as I try to fight against the fogginess.

"Mia, you're doing so good baby," Rosalie praises me lightly, making my entire body feel like it's been struck by lightning. Baby...she had called me baby...I was a baby? The question felt wrong to ask, however  with how foggy my head was it just felt right. Like the last puzzle piece clicking into place.