Bella's Little Sister

Chapter 9

The restaurant itself certainly wasn't fancy enough to be considered extravagant by any means. But with its wood-paneled walls and flooring, various art pieces and decorations adorning the walls, and the soft yellow glow of lamps on each table and fairy lights strung throughout the room, it was definitely giving off a rustic, comfortable feeling.

We had been seated fairly quickly, seeing as how it didn't appear to be very busy, what with the time ranging close to almost nine at night. Edward had not once looked in my direction since we had sat down at the table. Instead, he opted to stare almost unseeingly at the table for almost ten minutes. I, however, had been watching him closely, wondering what could have possibly been going through his mind at that moment. 

"All right," The waitress appeared suddenly, seemingly out of thin air, startling me. I then quickly straightened my posture, not realizing that I had been unconsciously leaning forward over the table. "One mushroom ravioli."

I glanced up to thank her, but found that she was not even looking in my direction. The waitress was completely ignoring me, focusing all of her attention on Edward, whose gaze was still locked onto the surface of the wooden table. A flicker of annoyance washed over me as I averted my gaze from the waitress, much to Edward's amusement; it must have been showing on my face, for he smirked briefly at me.

After the waitress questioned Edward-again-on if he was sure there was not anything she could get for him, Edward gave her a politely disinterested smile, though he never fully met her hopeful gaze. "No. No, thank you."

I watched her go, heading back to her post near the back of the room, and my eyes narrowed slightly as she turned back to look at him once more as she went. I shook my head and released a quick breath before I moved to pick up my fork. "You're really not gonna eat?" I questioned.

"No," he responded quietly, a hint of amusement laced into his tone. "I'm on a special diet."

Ignoring that, I took a deep breath. "You gotta give me some answers."

Edward's gaze darted around the room for just a fraction of a second before he spoke again. "Yes, no. To get to the other side. 1.77245-"

"Stop," I hissed at him, leaning forward. "How did you know where I was?"

Edward admitted that he didn't, a prominent frown on his face as he looked back at me. 

Dropping my fork onto the plate, I pushed back my chair and moved to stand. Edward stopped me before I could get too far, his eyes almost pleading as I returned my gaze to his face. He asked me not to leave, though for a second, I considered doing it anyway, just to piss him off. I sighed heavily as I sat back down. "Did you follow me?"

For a moment, it appeared to me that Edward was struggling with choosing the right words to say. "I feel very... protective of you."

"So... you followed me." My tone was void of any and all emotion. When he didn't immediately respond to my words, I started to move out of my chair again.

"Don't." Edward kept a concentrated expression as he stated that he had been trying to keep a distance, unless by some chance I needed his help. "And then I heard what those low-lifes were thinking-"

"You what?" I cut him off quickly, needing to be sure that I heard him correctly. "You... heard... what they were thinking?"

He released a breath as he dropped his gaze for a moment, before slowly looking back at me. He seemed almost ashamed as he spoke. "I can read every mind in this room... apart from yours." 

I had to admit then that those words confused me. How was it possible that he could hear thoughts? And not only that, but why was I the only one he couldn't hear? Edward looked around the room at each person, stating their thoughts before turning back to me.