Writer in the Dark - J. HALE

24- ᴄʀᴇꜱᴛ

SHE SIGHED deeply as she closed the door to her house, throwing her keys into the nearby pot. Dusk had just begun to approach once she left the Black household. Before leaving she made sure that Billy and Jake were fed (since Jake was a notoriously awful cook) and that the two of them had everything they needed. Jake promised to send her hourly texts with updates and Billy promised to call if it got any worse than it was now, not that he would easily admit to being in any more pain than he was now.

She walked straight upstairs and drew a bubble bath, needing the soothing waters to dispel some of the heavy emotions that showed mortal feelings in her arms and shoulders. She felt heavy, so heavy that making it up the staircase was s chore in itself. She pinned her short hair up as best as she could, some of the strands still hung in the water as she lay in complete silence - bar the soft classical music emitting from her iPod.

Athena was so relaxed that she missed the first buzzing off her phone. She sat up in the bath, wiped her hands on a nearby towel then grabbed her phone. She gasped at the name on the screen and immediately pressed it to her ear, accepting the call just as the phone reached its resting place. "I got your message."

She sighed out of relief and slipped out of the bath, covering herself up with a towel. "Are you okay?" she asked quickly, not realising how much hearing his voice had relaxed the panicking voices in her head.

"Relatively." He sighed deeply, mind clearly elsewhere. Not that she had expected anything else, she was just glad to have the phone call in the first place.

"Didn't get mauled by any bears?" she asked lightheartedly, adding a soft yet sharp exhale that worked as a laugh.

He chuckled softly, surprising even himself. "No and don't use that joke on Emmett, it would not be well received."

"Okay sure," she responded with a confused yet intrigued expression. She immediately came up with multiple theories as to what it could have been but decided that it was probably better not to ask - for Emmett's sake. "Are you still... wherever you are?" she asked, having put the phone on speaker so she could quickly get dressed - it felt odd talking on the phone in just a towel. She did not like it whatsoever.

"I am." He replied plainly, not giving any sort of hint to where he was. She could tell he was outside, due to the soft breeze and the birds in the background but he could be anywhere in the world. He had enough time to travel anywhere after all. A silence followed as she shrugged on her jumper, not quite knowing where to take the conversation. She didn't want to be too pushy yet something within her yearned to see him and apologize face to face. She wanted the calmness that always surrounded him and to feel his presence again, the way the smell of soft pine always surrounded him. After not seeing him for so long (time always felt extra stretched for Vampires) Athena just wanted a hug - the thing with Billy certainly did not help the feelings that turned her stomach into a tumbling of nerves.

She silently swallowed her pride and asked softly, "Come and see me, please? I miss you."

"I don't want to talk to anyone right now, leaving could mean having to talk to someone," he replied with a sigh.

"You're talking to me," she responded with a raised brow, walking down her stairs to get comfy on the sofa again. Her living room just had such a calming aura that she loved so much - it soon became her favourite place in the house. Other than her library that took up the entirety of a spare bedroom, complete with a moving ladder to reach the top shelves.

"That's different," he replied quickly, pausing shortly afterwards. "Don't ask me how so because I don't want to tell you that over the phone," he explained with a tone that meant she didn't want to voice the thousands of questions that brewed in her head at the comment. She brushed it deep under the rug and smiled softly as she watched Benji's movements intently.