I’m terrible, I know! So sorry that I didn’t update sooner!

Hope this chapter makes up for it! I was originally going to split this chapter into two parts because I thought it would be too long, but I made it only one chapter for you guys! Hope it's not too long!

Second Base Mat

The doorbell rang, and if I had a heart, I’m sure it would have jumped. I grabbed my coat as I walked towards the front door, and opened it to find him standing there smiling, a big backpack on his shoulders. I still saw little droplets of water on his head, so he must’ve taken a shower. He looked clean, and I also smelled some sort of funky scent, maybe cologne or something. I turned to the family waiting anxiously in the living room, and wasn’t surprised that Edward was right next to me.

“Be careful,” he said seriously. “Both of you.”

“Sure, mom,” I said as I walked out, and Edward closed the door behind me. I looked to William, who looked disappointed almost.

“The lake is packed today, I checked on my way here,” he said, sounding disappointing.

“Its ok,” I said looking up at the sky. Little patches of sunlight were peeking through some of the thin clouds, so the lake would be unsafe for me. “I was actually wondering if you wanted to visit second base.”

William raised an eyebrow. “What type of second base?” he asked, and I lightly punched him in the shoulder.

“Our game second base, we play baseball sometimes. It’s a long hike, but the area is very remote.”

“Sounds perfect,” he said, and we started walking.

Thirty minutes later, William asked that we stop, and I stopped walking like a turtle as William sat down on a nearby rock and drank more of his water. Drops of sweat were trickling down his right temple, but he didn’t wipe them away. He was definitely tired and worn out. It was a long hike the second base, which was located smack in the middle of a small grassy field, but we were almost there. I was starting to feel guilty then. I knew I could carry him and we would get there automatically, but I would feel alien if I showed my powers in front of him.

“Ok, let’s go,” he said, and we were off again.

When we finally reached the field, William let out a ‘wow’ and then jogged a little onto the clearing, and fell over onto his stomach, resting his face in the cool grass under the shadows of some trees. I walked towards him, sitting a foot or two away from his body as he took off his pack and then rolled onto his back. He smiled at me.

“You didn’t tell me we’d be climbing one hell of a steep mountain,” he said, taking another gulp of water, and then pouring the last few drops on his face. He wiped his cheeks with his sleeve, and then sat up. He unzipped his jacket and took it off, revealing a simple white t-shirt that was the right size to show his strong arms.

“Sorry,” was all I said to reply.

“Oh come on, at least pretend to be out of breath, I feel unfit.”

I took a deep breath, only through my mouth, and let it out. Then I did it again, and smiled.

“Your eyes seem fine today,” William said, and I raised an eyebrow.

He wasn’t even going to try the small talk?

“I had enough... nutrients to fill my… hunger,” I said brokenly, not sure how to construct such a sentence.

“So you drank a lot of blood,” William said bluntly, and I nodded.

“My eyes have never been this shade of light color.”

“Yeah, I noticed this morning. I was going to ask you about that.”

“Well,” I said, knowing that I should just explain it, rather than avoid it. He already saw my eyes during their hunting stage, so he’s basically seen all of me. “The darker our eyes, the hungrier we are. They get all black when we… hunt.”

“And you hadn’t hunted for a while when I- when I came to your house, and that’s why you went out of control?”

“Well, you are an exception. I feel as though I could hunt my regular… portion, but-”

“Exception?” he interrupted, and he crept a little closer to me, smiling.

“You… humans smell different to us. Because of your blood, I mean. Think of it as humans smelling like a certain dish, or a delicious scent. Animals have a slightly different smell, but anything with blood has a scent, anything with a beating heart. You, though,” I said, thinking of how I should explain this radical situation to him, “are my singer.”

“Singer? Like what, in a band?” William asked, a hint of laughter in his voice.

“I smell you, your scent, and I … I crave you more than anything. I could be completely full and not be hungry anymore, yet I still… want you.”

William stayed silent, but he still looked at me. The look in his eyes unnerved me, and I looked away, wondering what he would be thinking now.

“Singer,” William repeated. I decided to look back up to him, and he had a big smile on his face.

“Why are you happy about this? I could hurt you! I could somehow loose my control and kill you! This is absolutely no time to-”

“You are making total sense now. Why you acted the way you did on our date. So I’m basically a weak point?”

“Not basically a weak point, Will. You are my weak point,” I said, frowning. William looked at me silently again, but then he decided to change the subject.

“What else can you guys do?” William asked. It wasn’t necessarily the ideal subject, because I felt so awkward talking about myself, but at least it wasn’t about him being my singer. “I know you haven’t acquired your special powers yet, but I know you have natural ones. I know about the hearing. Is there advanced seeing?”

“Um, yeah. I have advanced eyesight. I can see the details in the clouds, that’s why I look at them so much, and sometimes when I watch TV I have to look away because I suddenly will focus and see all the little dots instead of the whole picture.”

“How far can you see?”

“Far,” I said, not sure of the exact distance. He nodded, and he picked a few blades of grass and started ripping them apart, an obvious sign of slight nervousness. But he wasn’t running away. He wasn’t shrieking and pointing at me like some freak.

“How are you so calm about all of this?” I asked quickly. William looked up, and tilted his head.

“You don’t know? I thought I’ve been so obvious this whole time, I mean-”

“Why else would I ask? Last night you were freaked and I felt bad because Jasper was doing nothing about it –he can manipulate emotions- but right now your heart isn’t beating fast. It’s… its as though Jasper is here, keeping you calm about this!” I said, knowing that Jasper wasn’t really here, but I said it to make a point.

“He has powers too? What about Alice?”

“Physic,” I said frowning. I really wish I had Edward’s powers right now, so I could see the mind of this confusing guy. “Emmett has super strength, he’s stronger than we all originally are, and Bella has a force field thing,” I continued, answering the rest of the unasked questions.

“How old are you? Really, I mean,” he asked, and I sighed.

“Seventeen. I’ve been seventeen for about 3 years now,” I said, this time taking my own few blades of grass to rip apart. Into little ant sized pieces.

“Is there like, a ceremony of some sort? Or did someone accidentally bite you?” he asked, and I pulled some more blades.

“I was- god this sounds stupid- but I was attacked by wolves when I was running away from home, and Edward and Bella found me. It was the only way to save me,” I said, lying about the last part. Edward’s affection towards his look-a-like younger sister will be explained later. Probably never.

“Why were you running away from home?” he asked, and this time I looked up.

“How long have you lived here?” I asked, and this time William’s smile faltered, but just slightly.

“My whole life. We’ve moved once or twice because my mom and dad can’t keep their hands off of each other,” he said with a laugh, “We keep needing more room, so we move around.”

“How many siblings do you have?”

“One older brother, Jack, is in Graduate School, and four younger sisters and brothers. Tommy is in 7th grade, Jamie’s in 5th grade, John’s in 4th grade and Tessa is three.”

“I thought you were exaggerating about your parents,” I said, smiling too. “Any pets?” I asked, and William shook his head.

“Our house is already enough of a mess as it is, really.”

I guess that meant no. I frowned, wondering what I should ask him next. I racked my brain, wondering what annoying questions he asked me. Then I smiled.

“So, did your last girl leave you brokenhearted?” I asked, trying not to mimic his voice, though I was seriously tempted. He laughed at this.

“Actually no, I left her. Not only did she no consider what we had was a relationship (she considered it a fling), but also on top of that, she really only wanted my brains. All we did together was homework.”

“Who was she?”

“No importance to you,” he said. “What about your last guy?”

“I’ll tell if you tell first,” I said quickly. I remembered my last guy. A terrible night, as I found out during that his friends had bet him he could get me to say yes to a date, and a lot more. He lost the bet, and I was the one to collect the money.

“Jamie,” he said. I laughed out loud.

“What, Jamie, who’s in the middle of the whole Emma and whats-his-name drama?”

“Yeah, unfortunately. What can I say, it was freshman year,” he said as if that would clear everything. “Your turn. Give me the name, address, and number. I need to meet this guy.”

I grinned at this. “Actually, I made twenty dollars because of Blake. His friends bet him that he could get me to say yes to a dinner and a movie, and then get in my pants. I got a free dinner and a movie; Blake got a slap in the face, and the next day I got his friends to hand the money to me.”

He smiled widely. “You kick ass, you know that? First Randall, and now hearing this,” he said, and I was thankful yet again that I couldn’t blush. I felt like asking him so many things at once. Why are you being so kind to me? Aren’t you terrified of me? What about you? Why can’t I ask such deep and personal questions about you?

And most of all: Why are you here?

“So much about you is now completely explained and understandable after yesterday,” William stated. I frowned.

“Oh come on, can’t I attain a bit of mysteriousness?”

“You still do, don’t worry,” he said. He stayed silent, and I decided to start something new.

“So, how was the Lake?” I asked. He raised an eyebrow, but shrugged.

“Well, it was completely packed, and I swam a bit but I couldn’t get you off of my mind.”

I smiled and looked down. “You mean my arm,” I said slowly.

“Not entirely,” he said. I frowned. We were getting nowhere, and I have no idea what we’re doing.

“If I’m especially your weak point, than how I am alive right now?” William asked. I glared at him for bringing the subject back, but he brought it back for a reason: he intends to find out.

“I’m good at control, now. I don’t breathe you in a lot, or I concentrate on other things but you,” I said.

“Come on, make me feel special,” he protested. I sighed, and told some of the truth.

“If your blood is out in the open, it will probably break my control. You skin is… a protection, or somewhat of a cover.”

“So, for instance, if I do this,” William said, and before I could react, he reached up with a random small rock and pulled it across his skin as his face winced in pain. I was gone in a second, before I could even smell the blood. I was more than 5 miles away from him, further into the forest. I screamed in anger, and punched a small tree so it didn’t make too much noise as it broke and half and fell over. I walked back at a quick pace after a few minutes, and within due time I heard his yells.

“Elizabeth! Elizabeth! I’ve closed it up! It was a small prick, not too much damage!” he said. I reached the end of the clearing, watching him through the outskirts, and I saw that he had wrapped something around his arm. I still smelled him, but I took a deep breath, and controlled it. “Come on out, please. I just wanted to see what would happen!”

At that, I screamed out I anger again, and ran at him. I had to restrain my strength as I slammed him against a tree, holding him high. I knew this would scare him, and preferably teach him a lesson.

“Holy shit,” he let out quickly, and automatically his hands came up to try to get my arms off, but I ignored it.

“Wanted to see what would happen? Are you trying to get me to kill you?” I asked. I lowered him a few inches so he could see my dark eyes, and he stared into them. “This is completely serious, I am not the person to try experiments with, alright? Your blood inside your veins is already bad enough to smell, but with it out in the open? You… you tempt me in so many ways that-”

He interrupted me. Not by speaking, but with reaching out a hand to touch my cheek. I slapped his hand away with my free hand, and tightened my grip around his neck. He winced, but then smiled, and shrugged the best he could.

“I… I can’t help it, I’m sorry. You also, what was the word, tempt, me. But more in an attraction sort of way,” he said. I stopped momentarily, and looked at him. He looked serious, something that made me happy but dreadful at the same time.

Edward could do it with Bella. He had to resist killing her every second he spent with her, which was basically every split second. But when they separated after the birthday ‘incident’, Edward lost his extreme singer lust for Bella, but she was still a temptation, just not a serious dangerous temptation. William, on the other hand, will always be a temptation, and it will always be dangerous for us to be around one another. He knows too much now, and I can’t simply reject him and insist that we have no form of any kind of relationship. He could slip that my family and I happen to be a coven of… supernatural creatures. He could do it purposefully out of revenge or anger. And for me to simply fall in love with him is out of the question.

Sadly enough though I’ve already started falling, and looking into his eyes as I held him against this tree made me realize there was no possible way we could go back to being simply just friends.

I finally decided to let go, and I walked back to where we were originally sitting in the shade.

“Can I see you in the sun?” he asked.

I sighed, and shook my head. He came and sat down next to me, so close our arms were touching. I lightly leaned against him, just to feel what it was like, and I felt safe, even though I was the ultimate protector here. I felt his warmth as well, something I haven’t been able to feel in close to three years. I heard him take a deep breath and his heart race, and I felt his arm wrap around my shoulders. He turned his head and breathed my hair in, and he kissed the top of my head.

“Please,” he whispered softly, and at that I gave in. I stood up slowly, letting his arm drop from my shoulder, and slowly began to walk towards the center of the field. Once I was under the sun, I closed my eyes and still walked, not exactly wanting to see myself.

Truthfully, I’ve never seen myself in the sun. I know what happens to my skin, but there were rarely any sunny days since I’ve turned, and whenever there was, I didn’t want to see myself. A part of my self-conscious being, I guess. I already have pale white skin, and I was already having a hard time getting used to the lifestyle, that I had wanted to pay no attention to how I look even freakier when sunlight hits my skin.

I turned around completely, knowing that I was facing him now, and took off my jacket, where I was wearing a ret shirt under. I heard his feet on the grass, I opened my eyes to see him a few feet away, and I looked down.

I was sparkling. My skin was still a pale white, but it was as if there were diamonds embedded on my skin like some special effect.

“Woah,” I said softly, and William echoed. I looked up at him, and he was simply in a daze, looking at my skin. He reached out to touch my arm, and defensively I flinched, but he just frowned.

“It’s ok, it’s ok,” he said to me, and he reached forward again. When his fingertip touched my skin, it was almost like getting a non-painful cigarette burn, just one spot of heat. He was closer to me now, and I stupidly let out a breath, his scent washed over me, and then I tensed up, wanting him so badly in so many different ways.

“William,” I growled, and stepped back.

“Shit, I’m sorry! I- I didn’t mean to. What did I do, I wont do it anymore,” he said, and I laughed.

“For that, you would have to make your blood stop moving but still stay alive,” I said. I shook my head, and continued. “This is cliché, I know. It’s not you, its me,” I said, and William frowned.

“You’re breaking up with me?” he asked, and I laughed again, deciding to move back to our shady spot.

“We’re not even together, William.”

“We could be,” he said sitting right across from me so that our knees were touching. I looked at him, and he smiled.

“Does the fact that I am simply a blood sucking monster have any effect on why you want to go out with me?” I asked.

“You’re not a monster Elizabeth! For goodness sake don’t you know that you’re beautiful?”

“This is enough,” I said, and started to stand up, but he pulled me down, and I didn’t breathe in or breathe out, I looked back at him.

“For this to work, we’re going to need to lay down some things. Firstly, you need to let me compliment you once in a while,” William said, and I raised a brow.

“For this to work?” I repeated shakily, a spot of hope in my voice. I looked down at his hand holding mine, his tannish skin against my pale white. Our fingers interlocked together like perfect puzzle pieces, and I felt lightheaded.

“You know what I mean, Liz. For us to be together, we need to lay down some things. Firstly,” he began to repeat, but I interrupted.

“What is this, a rule list?”

His face lit up, and he smiled. “You know what? That is a great idea!” he said, and he reached forward and grabbed his backpack. He rummaged around in the bag and procured a pen and a pad of small paper. I laughed, and shook my head.

“It’s called joking, William. We don’t have to do this,” I said. We should just leave, and maybe go out on a date. That’s what people do when they’re ‘together’, right?

“Ahh, but I want to,” William said, smiling. He scribbled something down, and then showed the pad of paper to me. His scrawny writing was surprisingly clearly legible.

‘Rules for Elizabeth and William’

I sighed, knowing now he will not be giving this up. But then I smiled.

“So we’re going to go through this. After all that’s happened, everything you know now, even seeing me-”

“Of course. For goodness sake I didn’t continuously ask you out for the fun of it. And I didn’t go shopping with you for kicks, and I didn’t stay a whole day at your house, because believe me, I wanted to run away screaming, but I just waited to get a moment alone with you. For goodness sake Elizabeth, I-”

“Okay,” I said as I put my hand over his mouth, terrified and ecstatic about what could have come out if he kept talking. He smiled against my mouth, and nodded. I drew my hand away, and William rested his pen on paper.

“Alright, to the list. Number One,” he said, and he started writing. “You are going to let me compliment you at least once a day,” he said, and I let out a small noise of argument.

“No! No. Make it once a week,” I said, grabbing the pad of paper.

“Too late,” William said as I looked down. “It’s in pen.”

‘1) Liz accepts compliments at least once a day’

I took the top piece of paper, and ripped it off. I wrote down the heading and title myself in my curvy script on the next blank piece.

‘E and W Rules List

1-Liz accepts compliments once per week’

I showed this to Will, but he just shook his head, smiling. He took the pad back, ripped off the paper, handed it to me, and then took his written list. He left me with the pad and took out his plain brown wallet for something hard to write against.

“We’ll come back to that later. I guess this is going to be a rough draft,” he said, and ripped a clean piece of paper for himself. “So, numero two. It’s your turn.”

I looked at him, and smiled, not sure where to start. Create a barrier for his compliment rule, or make a new one?

“William cannot randomly kiss Elizabeth. She needs warning,” I said aloud, and automatically William began his protest.

“Oh come on, that happened only twice!” he said, frowning. Then he smiled, and softened his voice. “I usually go in slowly, giving just the right amount of warning, like this,” he said, and slowly yet suddenly, his face was right in front of mine, and I smiled.

“That’s good,” I said. William inched a little closer, his smile now turning into something serious and seducing. “Oh, you want a kiss?” Our noses were now touching. I smiled, and gave in, moving my head as my eyes fluttered closed. His lips were hot against mine, and his hand on my cheek was soothing, but I made sure not to breathe at all, just concentrate on containing my thirst. Tried as I might, I felt ravenous oh too soon, and reluctantly I pulled away. He let out a breath, and smiled.

“Now, if every kiss is like that, then I am definitely having a two kisses per day rule,” he said, his face inches from mine. His hand lingered on my cheek.

“But your rule is warning, ok?” I asked. “And no biting your own cheek. You did that on our first date, and I almost killed you. Be careful.”

“Oh, I will,” he said, and he gave me a quick peck, and sat back.