Stella Starlet

Ablaze

Carter's Point of View

-

As Stella and I made our way out of the elevator into my living room, we did not speak.

We were not strangers, most definitely not, but it was as if we were. It wasn't quite tension but we weren't at ease with each other again. 

As I draped my suit jacket over the couch, I sat down and looked at her. 

"Stella, talk to me."

She took a seat across from me. It was obviously she felt like she didn't belong in my home anymore. 

"I thought Enzo was going to kill me. I was mad at you and I never called and-"

"I took care of Enzo."

Her eyes snapped up to mine. "Wait, Enzo is . . . ?" 

I nodded. "He's dead. I found out what he intended to do and I lost it."

She let out a long breath of relief. "God, I don't know why I didn't just call you. I left and I did everything I could to try and forget about . . . everything."

"Where did you go? What did you do?" I asked. I wanted to know what life she had lived over there.

"Well, my name was Adaline and I had just moved to a small town in Washington State." She chuckled and it felt incredibly gratifying to see her smile. 

"I went to high school and I-" she paused and looked down. Guilt and sorrow evident on her face.

"You don't have to tell me if you aren't ready," I quickly added. I didn't want to scare her away after I had just gotten her back. 

She didn't speak for a couple more moments but then eventually spoke. "I went to school and that was it." 

Lie. 

She was hiding something. I wasn't going to press her to learn what it was but I knew.

"Did you ever think of me?" I asked gingerly. 

She nodded. "All the time. I mean, I tried to not think about you. I tried to push you to the furthest corners in my mind but you were never not there." She paused and looked down in shame. "Do you hate me?"

I took a second to think. "No, I don't. In the beginning, I was scared that you were lost, hurt or something like that. Then after the fear went away, I was angry that you never called or gave any sign that you were still alive. And then. . . I doused my affection that I had for you in the petrol that was actually cognac and lit it ablaze with sleeping with different women every night."

Stella nodded. "That model you were with was very pretty." She bit her lip and casted her gaze aside. 

"She's gone now. My question for you is if you are going to stay? Are you planning to run off and disappear off the face of the earth again?"

"I spent a year away from this place," she said as she gestured around the room. "And I spent a year away from you."

She got up off her seat and came over to me. Her gaze was locked with mine and she gently grabbed my hand. 

"After a year away from you, I realized something." She paused. "God, Carlisle, I love you."

I smiled. "Stella Starlet, finally confessing her unyielding love for me. The day has come!"

She laughed and whacked me on my shoulder. "Fine, then, Carlisle. I recant my previous words!" She grinned slyly as she headed towards my bedroom, stepping out of her heels.

As I got to the door, she slammed it shut in my face. "This is blasphemy, you know? I can't be locked out of my own bedroom." I laughed.

I walked to the bar and poured myself a glass of wine as I waited for Stella to finish God-knows-what in my bedroom. 

As soon as I heard the door open, her footsteps approached me, gently padding on the marble floors.

As soon as she appeared in my sight, I took a sip of my wine smirking. 

She had changed her clothes; ditching her outfit for one of my plain grey v-neck shirts. 

"Ah, I guess you have something against pants?" I questioned.

"Who doesn't?" She lifted her eyebrow at me. 

She took my hand and led me to the living room. She made me stand in the corner as she pushed the large coffee table aside with the couches. 

She then walked over to my record player and put on an old Frank Sinatra vinyl. "Dance with me."

I took her in my embrace and she leaned her head against my chest, wrapping her arms around me. We swayed to the soft music. 

"Do you love me too, Carlisle?" She quietly asked in my chest. 

"More than you can imagine."

I felt her hug me tighter. "We're like Bonnie and Clyde. Except I'm not a gangster. You are though. So it works."

I laughed a lot at that one. 

"Jesus Christ, I've fallen in love with a gangster," she whispered.