Annora |E. Cullen|

SEVEN

"Sorry I'm such a mess," I sighed as I wrote down the answer to a physics problem that I didn't even have to think about.

"What do you mean?" Emmett asked as he sat down in the chair next to my bed.

"First I get struck by lightning, then I slice my hand while cooking, I'm a mess," I responded.

"Want to know how I became what I am?" He looked down at his hands.

I looked up at him and sat up, "Sure."

"I was out hunting with my brothers, we were all a little bit drunk and not at all attentive to what was around us. There are a lot of bears in Gatlinburg, I got mauled by one while my brothers went to retrieve some things from our camping site," he explained.

"Who saved you?" I questioned.

"This woman named Rosalie. She carried me over a hundred miles back to Carlisle and his family, he changed me, she begged him to do so."

"Are you happy?" I asked.

"What?" He looked up at me.

"Are you happy that things happened the way they did?" I questioned.

He blinked twice and looked around the room, "I wish I didn't have to leave my brothers. I wish I could have grown up with my family, married a girl in town, settled down, had kids. I don't enjoy the bloodlust, that much is a constant when I'm around it."

"Are there things you enjoy about it?"

"I guess I can say that the fact that I don't age is pretty nice. I like the fact that I have heightened senses. I like the fact that I have heightened strength. I like the fact that my emotions are stronger," He answered.

"Does the good outway the bad?"

"Most of the time, yes, it does."

"Then that's what matters. As long as you're happy with your current situation, I'd say you're doing pretty okay," I smiled at him.

"Annora?" He asked.

"Yes?" I responded.

"Do you really not have emotions?" He questioned and came over to sit next to me on my bed.

I sighed, "I have emotions. I don't feel fear easily. I'm not sensitive, I'm not good at dealing with other people's emotions, but I still have them. Like, for example..." I looked at him, but paused and changed my mind, "Nevermind. Just know that I have them."

"Annora, tell me," he begged.

"I don't want to make anything weird," I responded.

"You won't," he encouraged.

"How could you possibly know that? How could you estimate the percentages of what I'm about to say? How could you estimate your chances of reactions based off of the previous numbers?" I grew frustrated.

"Annora, please," he took my hand in his to calm me down.

I sighed, "For example, when I look at you, my whole mood lifts. When I'm around you, I feel happy. When I talk to you, there's this feeling in my chest that I've never felt before, it makes me feel comfortable and safe."

"I was hoping you'd say that," he grinned and gently pressed his lips against mine.

I kissed him back and draped my arms over his shoulders. After a minute, I wrapped my legs around his waist and he pulled me up and closer to him. I trailed kisses down from his lips to his neck and then kissed along his collarbone. He froze in his place and I could tell he was holding his breath.

I pulled away and looked at him, "Are you okay?" He nodded, his eyes were closed and he still wasn't breathing. "Do you need a minute?" I questioned, he nodded again. I pulled myself away from him, but his arms kept me relatively close. After another minute, he took in a deep breath and opened his eyes.

"Your eyes changed colour," I peered into them and ran my thumb across his cheekbone.

"You're intoxicating," he mumbled as he looked into my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I smiled and laughed lightly.

"Don't be," he smiled, "Hell's not so bad if you get to keep an angel with you." I immediately teared up when he said that, I bit my lip and giggled while tears pooled at the lining of my eyes. "See, you do have emotions," he kissed my forehead.

"I already told you I did," I playfully shoved his shoulder, which, of course, did nothing.

I stood up and walked over to my speaker system on the wall. I put on my sleep playlist and the first song that played was Re: Stacks by Bon Iver. I walked over to my drawers and pulled out a set of sleep shorts and a tank top. I ducked behind my closet door and changed before I came back out into my bedroom and grabbed a hair tie from my dresser so that I could tie my hair up into a high ponytail.

I then took all of my homework off of my bed and set it on my desk. I returned to my bed after shutting off my main light and slipped under the sheets. I then sat up so that I could braid my hair.

"Why do you have a 'sleep' playlist?" Emmett asked as he looked at the screen from afar.

"I'm afraid of silence," I casually admitted.

"I thought you weren't afraid of anything," he chuckled.

"I don't like to talk about it," I said sternly. "If you stick around, I'll tell you about it, but it makes me really uncomfortable to even think about it."

"I don't plan on leaving until you don't need me," Emmett held me close.

"Don't count on that being your only escape route," I laughed and reached over him to turn my lamp light out. "Will you stay?"

"If you'd like me to," he pet my hair.

"Only if you want to, I don't want to make you feel like you're wasting time," I yawned and balled the blankets up into my fist.

"Time spent with you is never time wasted," he kissed my forehead, and with that, I fell fast asleep.