"Oh, I don't think that will happen," I said after I could breathe again. "I've always been very good at... repressing things."
"Just the same, I'll feel better when you have some sugar and... food... in you."
Right on cue, the waitress appeared with my drinks and a basket of fiddlesticks. Just when we were getting somewhere...
"Are you ready to order?" she asked Fredward.
"Bella?" he asked. She turned unwillingly toward me.
I picked the first thing I saw on the menu. "Um... I'll have the mushroom raviolio."
"And you?" She pivoted back towards him with a smile.
"Nothing for me," he said. Of course not. How could he hunger for anything more when he had...
"Let me know if you change your mind." The coy smile was still in place, but he wasn't looking at her, and she left dissatisfied.190
"Drink," he ordered.
I sipped at my soda obediently,191 and then drank more deeply, surprised by how thirsty I was. I realized I had finished the whole thing when he pushed the second glass toward me.
"Thanks," I muttered, still thirsty.192 The cold from the icy soda was radiating through my chest, and I shivered.
"Are you cold?" he asked, the words delicately playing across his crooked smile.
"It's just the Coke," I explained, shivering again.
"Don't you have a jacket?" His voice was disapproving.
"Yes, Fredward." I looked at the empty bench next to me, ready to shake it in his face. "Oh—I left it in Jessica's car," I realized out loud. I hoped she wasn't sitting on it, or wearing it.
Fredward was shrugging out of his jacket. I suddenly realized that I had never once noticed what he was wearing193—
190. Most likely expecting a bad tip.
191. Vampire hypnosis.
192. Vampire osmosis?
193. As written in Emily Post's Etiquette, noticing what one's date is wearing, and then announcing that you have done so aloud, is the first and most important step towards making a good impression. Failure to do so may jeopardize the prospect of having further dates.