Chapter Text
[Present]
The funniest and most asinine point in life is realizing just how monumentally wrong you are. About everything. Eighteen years old and you think you're in love? You don't know what love is. Bitten by a vampire and experience but a brief moment of venom and think, "Nothing could be more painful,". Ha. Not even close. The person you thought was your soulmate leaves you in a forest, never to return, taking his family - your family - with him? Only death could be comparable to the heartache... or so you thought. Realizing that same soulmate left whilst knowing a rogue vampire was still out for your blood? The bitterest of betrayals on your tongue. If only you'd been aware of your fledgling palate.
That's where the humour in it all comes from - believing that singular moment in time can't compare to any other to come. Then the foolish part. The moment it does come and you aren't prepared for it.
If someone had told Bella all those years ago, when she first met the Cullens, that this is where she would be a measly ten years down the road; would she have choosen differently? She isn't sure. There are so many things she wishes she could change about the circumstances that led her to this point in her life, but she can't say she would go back if she had the chance.
Life is a bitch that way. Despite all the trips and tumbles you've taken, one day, you could wake up and realize it was all worth it.
That moment for her happened the second she made eye contact with glowing red eyes. Eyes that honest to God smoldered above high cheek bones and a nubian nose. They were slightly obscurred by shaggy brown, shoulder length hair and topped with thick bushy brows. A patchy beard covered his cheeks, jaw, and chin but grew thick above his mouth - a perfectly balanced mouth - with a full bottom lip and thin top. Altogether it created this rugged, supernatural-esque look on a being that is already supernatural.
Bella thought she knew beauty. Vampires are known for it. But this stranger, this man, was unlike anything she had ever seen before. If she still had a beating heart it would be going wild - her cheeks would definitely be flushed bright red like they used to do.
Bella snapped out of her musings when the man in front of her spoke, his voice deep and raspy. Something inside of her lit up like a vampire on fire.
"Well i'll be God damned,"
~~~~
Alice once told Bella, "Fate can be a fickle thing. But there are times when it's stubborn as hell and can't be changed no matter what you do."
Bella likes to believe what happened to her all those years ago was one of those instances. Because if not, that means if they hadn't left, Bella's life would be looking a whole lot different right now. And boy, would this have made everything very awkward.
All Bella could do is stare at the stranger in front of her. The body at his feet recieved but a passing glance, after all, she'd followed the scent of blood and ice (a normal vampire/human combo meal) and expected something like this. The man, though? He was a very unexpected encounter.
She'd heard whispers of True Soulmates amongst the various nomads she'd come to know. They weren't often talked about, considering how rare they were. Bella now knew that the Cullens and their coupling, despite their stories and how they all seemed to end up together through fate, were not True Soulmates. The one common factor amongst True Mates was the slight zap of pain firing through your skull and setting your dead nerve endings alight throughout your body. At least, that's what it felt like to her.
The Cullens never once mentioned that in their reveries.
The clearing of a throat brought Bella back to the current situation at hand. An unexpected and unwanted situation.
"Soooo...." He drew out the vowel at the same time as he shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back a little on his heels.
Cute. She thought. And then. Ugh, great. Came the next.
Bella sighed and shifted her weight so her left hip was cocked and her arms crossed against her chest, "You felt it too, right? That zappy thing."
The man nodded and narrowed his eyes a little at her. Bright red eyes. Just like hers. Lets just say she decided against the vegitarian diet. How the Cullens would weep if they saw her now.
"Yeah, that... that was something." He ran a hand through his thick brown hair, mussing it even more than it already was and averted his eyes to the body at his feet. He looked like he'd just finished a wild night of sex and got caught by his mom.
Bad thoughts, Bella. Bad.
Bella rolled her eyes fondly at how awkward he looked. "My name is Isabella but people call me Bella, Ella, or even Isa. Doesn't matter to me."
Ruby red eyes shot up to hers and that perfect mouth quirked just a bit before the hand in his hair dropped and his shoulders relaxed. "Garrett. And I don't have any cute nicknames." He winked.
Suddenly, Bella realized the awkwardness was so offsetting because that's not who this person is. Garrett and confidence walked hand in hand. He was nervous. Because of her. Bella couldn't help but swoon a little.