Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined (Twilight #5)(58)

She laughed, but I wasn’t sure if it was because she thought I was funny, or ridiculous. Oh well. Just as long as I got to hear her laugh.

She drove through the foggy streets, always too fast, barely looking at the road. She wasn’t wearing a jacket, either, just a pale lavender sweater with the sleeves pushed up. The sweater hugged her body, and I tried not to stare. Her hair was wound up into a twist on the back of her head—messy, with strands falling out everywhere—and the way it exposed the slender column of her neck was also distracting. I wanted to brush my fingertips down the length of her throat.…

But I had to be more careful, like she’d warned me last night. I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant, but I would do my best, because it was something she obviously needed from me. I wouldn’t do anything that would scare her away.

“What, no Twenty Questions today?” she asked me.

“Was that annoying last night?”

“Not annoying, just… confusing.”

I was surprised she felt that way. It seemed like I was the one in the dark. “What does that mean?”

“Your reactions—I don’t understand them.”

“My reactions?”

She glanced at me, raising an eyebrow. “Yes, Beau. When someone tells you they drink blood, you’re supposed to get upset. Make a cross with your fingers, throw holy water, run away screaming, that sort of thing.”

“Oh. Um… I’ll do better next time?”

“By all means, please work on your expressions of horror.”

“Horror isn’t exactly how I’d describe last night.”

She exhaled through her nose, irritated. I didn’t know what to say. Nothing could make me see her as something to run away from.

“So, um, where’s the rest of your family?”

I didn’t actually want to think about her family. I didn’t want to deal with the idea of more vampires—vampires who weren’t Edythe. Vampires who might inspire real horror.

But the fact was that usually her car was full, and today it wasn’t. Of course, I was grateful. It was hard to imagine something that would keep me out of a car when Edythe invited me in, but a bunch of furious vampires in the backseat might complicate things.

She was just pulling into the school parking lot. Already.

“They took Royal’s car.” She gestured to a glossy red convertible with the top up as she swerved into the spot next to it. “Ostentatious, isn’t it?”

“If he’s got that, why does he ride with you?”

“Like I said, it’s ostentatious. We try to blend in.”

I laughed as I opened the car door. “No offense, but you’re totally failing there.”

She rolled her eyes.

I wasn’t late anymore. Her lunatic driving had gotten us to school with time to spare. “Why did Royal drive today if it’s more conspicuous?”

“My fault—as usual, Royal would say. Haven’t you noticed, Beau? I’m breaking all the rules now.”

She met me at the front of the car, staying very close to my side as we walked onto campus. I wanted to close that little distance, to reach out and touch her hand again, to put my arm around her shoulders, but I was afraid that wouldn’t be careful enough for her.

“Why do you even have cars like that?” I wondered aloud. “If you’re looking for privacy, there are plenty of used Hondas available.”

“It’s an indulgence,” she admitted with a little half-smile. “We all like to drive fast.”

“Of course,” I muttered.

Under the shelter of the cafeteria roof’s overhang, Jeremy was waiting with his eyes popping out again. Over his arm was my jacket.

“Hey, Jer,” I called when we were a few feet away. “Thanks for bringing that.”

He handed me the jacket without speaking.

“Good morning, Jeremy,” Edythe said politely. I could tell she wasn’t trying to overwhelm him, but even her smallest smile was hard to take in stride.

“Er… hi.” Jeremy shifted his wide eyes to me, trying to reorder his scrambled brains. “Guess I’ll see you in Trig.”

“Yeah, see you then.”

He walked away, pausing to glance back at us twice.

“What are you going to tell him?” she murmured.

“Huh?” I looked at her, then at Jeremy’s back. “Oh. What’s he thinking?”

Her mouth pulled to one side. “I don’t know if it’s entirely ethical for me to tell you that.…”

“What’s not ethical is for you to hoard your unfair advantages for yourself.”

She grinned a mischievous smile. “He wants to know if we’re secretly dating. And exactly which base you’ve gotten to with me.”

The blood rushed to my face so fast I was sure it was beet red before a full second had passed.

She looked away, her face suddenly as uncomfortable as mine felt. She took a small step away from me and gritted her teeth.

It took me a minute to realize that the flush that embarrassed me so much was probably something else entirely to her.

That helped cool me down.

“Um, what should I say?”

She started walking, and I followed, not paying attention to where she was leading.