la belle dame sans merci | carlisle cullen

12

Due to the car crash, Minerva had found herself isolated from the rest of Forks without a car. The walk into town would set her back eight hours and given that she should be in a cast, she couldn't risk being seen walking freely. So, that was how she ended up in the front seat of Carlisle Cullen's Mercedes.

"You're far to kind to me." Minerva commented on the way into town. He glanced sideways at her.

"Wouldn't you do the same for me?" Carlisle hummed, adjusting the stereo so it was just a little louder. "It's what friends are for."

Minerva smiled softly to herself, perking up at the tune on the radio. "I love this song."

Carlisle grinned, "Me too." Zanzibar by Billy Joel quickly overtook the car, each of them softly singing along too quietly for the other to hear. Carlisle though, Carlisle could hear. All over again, he was amazed by this strange woman.

"So where to first?" Carlisle asked when they began to encroach on town limits.

"The post office." Minerva sighed, "I had the bright idea to order something that'll let me at least be in town without asking questions." He raised an eyebrow at her, "You'll see."

Once parked in the nearly empty lot, she handed him her pick up slip. A moment later, he returned with a box too large for the contents. "What on earth is this?" He asked, shaking the box as if it were a Christmas present.

"Well, I should be in a cast." She explained, ripping into the box with her keys, slicing through the tape, "so.." Sifting through the bubble wrap, she produced a hideous, grey boot.

Carlisle immediately began to laugh, "You ordered an orthopaedic boot?"

"I sure as shit did." She grinned, slipping off her sneaker and sliding her socked foot into the contraption before tightening it. "Don't I look fashionably injured?"

He shook his head as he climbed into the driver's seat, "Radiantly fractured." He agreed. "Where to next?"

"The grocery store, please, Chauffer." She said with a teasing little smile that made him laugh.

"Right away, mam." Carlisle said tipped an imaginary hat making her giggle. The drive was short to the grocery store. The boot had an inch or two of extra height that her sneaker didn't, making her limp naturally without having to put all that much acting into it. Carlisle slowed to match her pace as they made their way into the store. He took it upon himself to steer the cart, dimly aware of the stares from just about everyone. Seeing Carlisle Cullen in the grocery store was one anomaly, accompanied by Minerva Amata was another.

He only had eyes for her but she couldn't help but notice. "People in this town have nothing better to do than gawk, huh?" She grumbled, examining a head of broccoli.

"I don't pay it much mind." Carlisle admitted, drawing a plastic bag and opening it in preparation.
Minerva glances away from the broccoli to him for a moment.

"I don't know how on earth you don't." She chuckles slightly, slotting a couple heads of broccoli into the bag. "People love to talk about you."

He raises his eyebrows, "What have you heard?"

"Lots of things." She says as they move on, her stopping every few steps to examine some produce before tossing it into the cart. "A lot of people think you're a cult leader."

He blinks a few times, "excuse me?"

"You haven't heard that?"

"No, I haven't heard that!" He exclaims quietly, exasperatedly glancing over his shoulder. "A cult leader?"

"It's cause you're all so private." She grins at him as she throws a bag of apples into the cart, "It's the first thing I heard about you."