Chapter Twenty-Three (Pool)

I hesitated as I parked in the hotel parking lot. For ten minutes, I sat there, talking to myself. 1

“Dylan, calm down, you’ll be fine,” I told myself. “James will understand. He loves you, doesn’t he? If he really does he’ll understand. Well, on the bright side, you can always sneak out and see him, right?” I climbed out then said, “Aw, whom the hell am I kidding? He won’t like it! He wants me to stay with him!” 2

Just see what he does, my mind told me. What can it hurt? 3

“Look, my mind, I already lost my virginity to him and I am NOT about to lose my life to him,” I told it, walking through the lobby. The blonde desk lady looked at me with wide eyes and I got on the elevator. 4

I started to chew nervously on a celery stick.5

Why did you say yes if you’re scared? my mind asked as an elderly couple came onto the elevator. 6

“Look, mind, I told you to shut the hell up and let me think!” I told it. The lady looked at me with wide eyes too. 7

“What?” I snapped. My floor finally came. I stood at the end of the hall. It seemed like forever, but it was actually ten minutes. I was nearly crying when I went into the suite. James wasn’t there yet, thank God. I locked myself in the bathroom and looked in the mirror. 8

“Okay, Dylan, calm the hell down. You love him too, you know,” I told myself, sniffling. “And you love Jasper too. Damn it! Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT! I’ve been here for four freaking months already and I still don’t know how to handle myself with these kind of problems!” 9

Then after twenty minutes of cussing myself out, I walked out of the bathroom like a zombie, walked to the other side of the room and started banging my forehead on the wall. 10

“Ow,” I said whenever my forehead hit it. “Ow.” 11

“Dylan?” James asked, concerned. “Are you okay?” 12

I continued to bang my forehead. “Ow.” 13

“Dylan, come on, stop that, you’ll give yourself a concussion or something.” 14

He pulled me away from the wall so I could face him. 15

“What was that all about?” he asked when I looked up. 16

“I can’t tell you. You might get pissed or something,” I responded. 17

“Come on, tell me. It can’t be THAT bad.” 18

“Yeah, it is THAT bad. At least to you and me, anyways.” 19

“Tell me before I bite you. I’m joking, but please, tell me.” 20

I sighed. 21

He’s not giving up, my mind said, is he? 22

“SHUT UP, you STUPID MIND!” I demanded. “Uh… Sorry. Um…” 23

“TELL me,” James said, putting his hands on my shoulders firmly and looking me in the eye, “please.” 24

I took in a deep breath, my eyes wide. “Fine,” I said. “Um, the Cullen’s wanted to adopt me and I said yes.” 25

James’ face got sombre. “You…said…WHAT?” he asked, taking his hands off of my shoulders and squeezing my hands. 26

I pulled my hands down quickly. “I couldn’t help it!” I said when he started to pace the room. 27

“That’s ALWAYS your excuse, Dylan! ‘I couldn’t help it’. It’s getting pretty old!” 28

“I’m serious! It’s not— I COULDN’T help it! Rosalie read my diary again and discovered my real name. And then Edward got me alone and threatened that if I didn’t say yes for them to adopt me, then—then they’d tell my secret! Even my half vampire secret! I’m SO sorry! And I’m NOT being sarcastic!” 29

James’ was silent for a few minutes. Then he said, “Do you think you’ll be able to sneak out?” 30

I nodded slowly. “Yes.” 31

“Okay, fine. You can go live with them. You have to come back tonight, though. We’re both having thirsts. And for me, you know what thirsts I mean.” He ran his fingertips along the edges of my arms.32

“Um…sure. Okay.” I nodded. “I’ve got to go back in two hours…so…” 33

“Nine PM. Bring your bathing suit too.” 34

“Um, okay…” 35

I grabbed my duffel bag from under the bed and began getting my clothes and packing them in it. James was gone by the time I was done. I went to the bathroom to get my stuff. When I looked at the clock, it was 6:01 PM. I gasped and ran out the door. 36

When I got back to the Cullen’s house—now mine, apparently—Alice was waiting for me outside. 37

“Oh, my gosh, this is going to be SO much fun!” she said, opening the door and letting me in first. 38

“Yeah, so much fun,” I said, trying to be keen on it.39

“Alice, please show her to her room,” Dr. Cullen said. 40

“Right away, Carlisle!” Alice said excitedly, running ahead of me. 41

“Oh!” I said, turning around. “Thanks so much, Dr. Cullen.” 42

“Please,” Dr. Cullen said. “Call me Carlisle.” 43

“Oh, uh, okay.” I turned around and followed Alice. 44

“Isn’t she sweet?” Esmè said, walking past me on the stairs. 45

“Thanks, Esmè!” I called down behind me. 46

“Okay!” Alice said, opening a brown oak door. “This is your room. We already have a bed in here for you over there. It’s actually pretty comfortable.” She smiled, and then continued. “We’ve also got a bookshelf for your books, a CD player, an alarm clock and a dresser. Oh, and a bathroom. All of us have our own bathroom, so don’t worry about someone walking in on you.” 47

“Thanks, Alice,” I said, sitting on the bed with my duffel bag beside me. 48

“Is that all the clothes you have?” Esmè asked, coming in beside Alice. 49

I nodded. “Yes.” 50

“Alice and I will take you shopping this weekend. No objections, please, Stephanie—”51

“Esmè, please call me Dylan.” 52

“—Dylan, sorry. No objections, please, you need more clothes than that.” 53

“Thanks.” There were tears welling up in my eyes. 54

“Huh? Dylan!” Alice cried. “Are you okay?” 55

“Yes, it’s just that no one’s ever been so nice to me.” 56

So I got settled in. At eight-thirty, when everyone went to their rooms, I opened my window and carefully climbed out. It wasn’t hard to get down; there was the white picket fence that lined up the ivy. I jumped off of it and ran to my car. It had this special censor thing that at night it was silent. 57

I looked at my hands before driving. They were shaking. Not because I was hungry or thirsty, but because sneaking out really scared the hell out of me. I drove off. It didn’t take that long to get to the hotel. Only about a half an hour, was all. James’ was sitting on the front steps when I snuck up behind him. It sucked that I didn’t scare him. 58

“Aw, come on, why can’t I scare you, like, ever?” I asked when he got up. 59

“Because vampires don’t fall for that kind of stuff easily,” he said, grabbing my hand. “Nice try, though.” 60

“Thanks… And that’s not sarcasm! Okay, I’m wearing the bathing suit already…so… Oh, my God, the hotel pool!” I pulled off my long t-shirt, but instead of jumping into the pool, I pushed James in. 61

“You’re such a CHILD,” James said when he came back to the surface. “Good one.” 62

“Ha! I got you THAT time!” I exclaimed. Then in under a second, he was behind me. I groaned, clearly weirded out. THEN he pushed ME in. Yeah, well, I have good reflexes because I pulled him in. 63

I pushed my hair out of my eyes, breathing hard. I hated the deep end, even though I swam so perfectly in it. I looked at James, who was clearly having fun with this pulling and shoving thing. 64

I swam over to the edge of the pool, sitting on a little white water bench. He sat beside me. The bench was a few feet above the water, but our feet were still in it. Yeah, and then within the next half hour, we were making out on the ground of the pool area. The pool was about twenty-one feet away. 65

When I say make-out, I mean MAJOR make-out: tongue and everything. 66