Lightning

Chapter Five: Going Home & Second Encounters of the Bella Kind

Thomas and Edward sat in the car. The trip was over early, only spending a week instead of two, in Alaska, and what a better way to end it with a well needed bath cleansing and other scandalous events, in which Thomas mentally worshipped the ground Alice Cullen walked on for that promiscuous bottle of lubricant. It was a two hour drive from the house to the Anchorage Airport but it wouldn't be an issue for men who could stay still for days if they had too. They'd just ended another music bicker by shutting off the radio.

Thomas grew bored staring out the window, all of it was the same. It was road, rock, snow, and trees. He turned to Edward. His eyes bore onto the road before them, speeding down the highway as if he ruled the place. He seemed nearly invisible on the road. He only slowed down in the presence of a cop car as any normal civilian would do. Edward was one to drive with only one hand, only adding to the brooding bad-boy image Forks High School seemed to know him for. However, calling Edward Cullen a bad-boy, in Thomas's eyes, crossed the line into blasphemy. He was everything but a bad-boy.

"You know who you remind me of?" Thomas asked.

"Who?" Edward smiled.

"James Dean," Thomas said.

Edward chuckled, linking his fingers with the other boy's. "Why, because you think I'm handsome?"

"No, you cocky-ass!" Thomas laughed, shoving their joined hands into Edward's gut. "Alright, so James Dean was a superstar in the short time he was alive. The girls fawned over him. They thought he was brooding, talented, and a bad-boy. Only Dean's closest pals such as Dennis Stock, knew that he hated the attention. He wasn't the guy everyone thought he was."

"So I'm not who I appear to be?"

"No. Not a soul would suspect you of being a God fearing musician with a self-loathing heart of gold who follows the rules," Thomas exaggerated.

Edward let the statement collect before responding. "It's nice to know that you think so highly of me," Edward joked.

"I do think high of you, actually, maybe too high. I joke about you being as ass but you know deep down that's just me being the ass."

"Deep down? Not as deep as you think, Tommy."

"Oh really? Should I take it back?" Thomas inquired with a grin.

Edward laughed and soon Thomas joined him. Edward took his gaze off the road to look at Thomas who looked dead ahead until he felt eyes on him. He looked back, sighed and pushed his companion's jaw with his finger. "Eyes on the road, soldier."

"I almost was one, you know."

"I know."

The car seemed silent after that. There came a few more miles of staring at the road and hand holding when Thomas had a curious thought bubbling in his conscious that made him smile. "Are you glad I got you in the tub? Tell me you don't feel like a huge weight has been lifted from your chest?"

Edward sighed, "Yes. It was satisfying." Last night Edward wished he were human, he wanted nothing more than to fall asleep in that water and never leave. He wouldn't admit that to Thomas. Edward lifted their hands to his lips. He pressed a simple kiss between Thomas's thumb and forefinger.

....

Thomas couldn't help but skip class. He walked around the hallways, bored out of his mind until he walked by one classroom in particular. There sat the girl of the hour, her dark hair pushed gently behind her ear, her chocolate brown eyes trained on the board in front of her as she tried desperately not to look in Edward Cullen's direction. Her shirt was white, just like Edward's. Thomas chuckled at the window, unable to deny the pair's similar choice of dress today.