Turn Scars to Stars [2]

Storm

Melaina didn't get out of bed until late the next day. She was confused when she woke up to a lit room, since her curtains were open and billowing in the spring air.

Sliding on her purple glasses, Mel read the note that crunched under her fingertips when she reached towards her nightstand. The writing was quickly scrawled on the back of a piece of junk mail.

Melaina,

There's a slight chance that I freaked out on your brother before I knew he was an empath. All I saw was you passing out because of him, and I jumped the gun. I blamed Jasper, he got angry and insulted, which led to a couple punches, but no worries! It was just a small misunderstanding. He said you'll wake up once your body recovers from both his abilities and the stress of the situation.

After all of that fun, I explained imprinting in more depth to your family and answered their questions. I think they're all accepting of us. Well, not Rosalie. She'll be a tough nut to crack.

Hope you're feeling better! Call me when you get up?

XX Seth

~*~

"Good morning, hon."

Mel mumbled "mornin'" in reply to Esme before gazing around the bright living room with squinty eyes. "Where are they? Jasper and Rosalie?"

"Hunting." Esme set down her home improvement magazine on the coffee table and zoomed to Mel's side. "Carlisle sent them out."

"I have words for them," Mel said in irritation.

"I know, sweetheart." Esme gently hugged Mel to her chest and kissed her forehead. "Are you hungry?"

The brunette shrugged and scratched her nose around Esme's arms. "I could eat."

"It's almost one now. Would you like breakfast or lunch?"

"Probably lunch," Mel decided.

"I went to the grocery store as soon as we knew you were returning. How does chicken and rice sound?"

"That would be amazing. Thank you." Mel smiled at Esme happily. Her stomach rumbled; she was hungrier than she thought.

"Why don't you take a nice warm shower while I prepare your food?"

Candid translation: you stink like a wolf.

~*~

"Wolf stench swirling down the drain," Mel announced as she shampooed her dark hair. She knew every vampire in the house could hear her clearly. They probably could hear each individual bubble of soap pop as she rinsed.

Cringe.

She showered until the water went cold and her fingers pruned. The scent of vanilla clung to her skin instead of Eau de Wet Dog.

Melaina padded downstairs in fuzzy pajama bottoms and a faded Panic! At the Disco shirt. Her wet hair was tightened in a bun on the top of her head for later crimped waves. The cool floor felt nice against her bare feet after her steaming shower.

Esme set a ceramic plate of fresh chicken and rice on the table in front of Mel. The sweet smell of orange chicken was heavenly. After thanking her adoptive mother again, Mel dug in with wooden chopsticks between her fingers.

"He seems like a sweet boy, but not having vision gives me such a headache," Alice announced, dramatically collapsing into the chair next to Mel.

"You answered before I could even ask what you thought of him. That's so annoying." Mel rolled her green-grey eyes. "And you can't even get headaches." She paused with her empty chopsticks hovering above the plate. "Can you?"

"Not really, no. It's more of an emotional feeling, instead of physical."

"Ah, okay." Mel scooped more white rice onto her plate with a large spoon. "Have you figured out why you can't see the wolves?" She drowned the sticky rice in sauce from the orange chicken.

Alice blew out her lips. She didn't like the discovery of her weakness. "Carlisle believes that it's because their lives are so ruled by their transformations. It's more an involuntary reaction than a decision. Utterly unpredictable, and it changes everything about them. In that instant when they shift from one form to the other, they don't really even exist. The future can't hold them, so I can't see them."

"Is my future gone since I'm fated with a wolf?"

"Mm. Well any time you mingle your fate with the wolves, you disappear. Your future gets lost, just like theirs. It takes extra effort, but I can see you if I look around them. It's much easier when you're not in La Push. I can see you more clearly here."

~*~

After Mel finished eating and Alice left to feed with Edward, Mel sought out Rosalie who had returned from her hunt. She knocked on the simple oak bedroom door.

Her blonde sister opened the door with disheveled hair, though Emmett was nowhere to be found. Mel wondered if he escaped out the balcony like a monkey.

"Can we talk?" Mel asked while fiddling with the ends of her shirt.

Rosalie waved her inside. Mel stepped over the threshold and turned to her sister to speak, but Rose started first: "Before you say anything, I'm sorry for my behavior." She looked ashamed. "I went too long without feeding, but that's no excuse."

"Thank you for apologizing." Mel embraced the blonde, then pulled back to look Rose in the eye. "Please, tell me honestly, wolf-shifter detail aside-- what did you think of Seth?" Mel asked, timid but blunt.

Melaina thought highly of Rosalie's opinion and desperately wanted her approval on the Quileute boy.

"He really likes you," Rose noted, albeit begrudgingly. Mel smiled in agreement. She really liked him too. "I could come to tolerate his smell if you keep him around."

Mel breathed out a huge sigh of relief at her sister's response. She figured that was as good as she was going to get from Rosalie. "Thank you. I appreciate that."

Mel wrapped her arms around the girl's stone torso. "He's special to me. I want him to stick around. We're friends, but I can see us being more one day. I want to be a better person for him. For us."

"He's still getting the talk," Emmett said as he stood in the bedroom doorway. A smirk adorned his face as he cracked his knuckles. Mel groaned in embarrassment and hid her face in Rosalie's shoulder. "He needs to know who is going to whoop his ass if he hurts our little sister."