23 Almost as if...

(General POV)

"What the hell are you doing here?" hissed Sean before looking at his date standing in the line. She saw him and waved flirtatiously to which Sean responded with a wink and grin.

Watching the exchange, Alan's nose scrunched up.

"What do you mean? Obviously, I'm here to watch a movie."

Sean eyed the ticked in Alan's hand and in a deadpan tone, asked, "Night of the Living Vampire? Since when do you watch those kinds of films?"

"Since today," Alan replied with a tight smile.

"Oh, I see," Sean nodded before slapping his arm, "Yeah right! Who's the chick?"

Alan's eye twitched as Sean quickly saw through his lie. Rolling his eyes, Alan muttered, "Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters!" exclaimed Sean. "Dude, you've turned down nearly every girl that asked you out and all of a sudden, you're on a date? Totally suspicious to me."

"Aren't you being a little overdramatic about this?" Alan shook his head and sighed. "Anyway, I've got to buy my drink. You should head back to your date."

"You-"

"Hey, Alan. What's taking so long?"

Walking up to him, Alice feigned confusion and let her eyes fall on Sean before her expression changed to surprise.

"Oh, your friend?"

'Ah...'

Alan watched as Sean's jaw fell open in shock. The latter's eyes immediately turned to Alan who pretended not to notice. Coughing, Alan briefly introduced his friend, "Alice, this is Sean Wells. My friend. And Sean, this is Alice Cullen...my...d-date."

"You're in my history class," Alice said with a grin.

"Yeah," Sean replied looking between the two of them. "Alan didn't mention you two were dating."

"It's our first date," Alan said in response to Sean's accusatory glare. "Don't look at me like that."

"Tsk. You and I will be having a talk about this mister 'I-keep-secrets-from-my-best-friend'."

Alan refrained from rolling his eyes as his friend continued to say, "But for now, we both have dates to attend. I wish you a happy date."

"Likewise," Alice smiled grabbing Alan's elbow.

Sean shot one last glare at Alan and a smile at Alice before walking off to find his own date.

"He's...interesting," Alice stated after a moment of silence.

Alan released a tired sigh and tugged her towards the theatre where their movie would be screening.

"He's an idiot. A lovable idiot but an idiot nonetheless."

She responded with a giggle.

****

'Night of the Living Vampire' was about as cliché as one could get with a vampire-themed horror film. While the movie itself wasn't terrible, it wasn't something Alan would recommend spending money on watching in a cinema. Still, Alice seemed to enjoy it so Alan didn't voice any complaints.

After their movie ended, the sky outside had gone dark with clouds covering the upper atmosphere and threatening rain.

It was late afternoon so the day had yet to end.

Alan wasn't ready to finish off their date so after they exited the cinema, he asked, "So...um, since we have some time to spare, would you like to walk around with me?"

Alice tilted her head, "Walk where?"

"I don't know. The mall, the park - anywhere really..." Alan trailed off.

Her cold hand tightly grasped his and Alice looked at him in happiness. Though she hadn't voiced it, she was rather delighted that he had asked.

"I would love that. We could go to the mall first and maybe that park later? If it hasn't rained by then."

The two were already holding hands so there was no need for Alan to offer his elbow like a gentleman. Exiting the cinema's compound, they walked towards the array of shops lined up on either side of the building. Alice took time browsing through the windows of shops that caught her eye but made no move to enter them.

Forks was a relatively small place so really, it was easy enough to get from place to place on foot. Public transport did exist but the couple chose instead to walk to the nearby mall, allowing them to freely chat and get to know each other a little better.

Alan only knew the surface of the one named Alice Cullen as a character in Twilight. There were things he slowly discovered about her that were not mentioned in the Twilight series at all such as her love for art, her favourite tv series being 'Friends', and her dislike of snakes.

"Snakes? Really?" Alan questioned in surprise with raised eyebrows.

Alice shrugged, "Never liked them. They're too...slithery for my taste."

"Huh," Alan muttered. "Honestly, never would have guessed that."

"What about you?" asked Alice.

The two paused at a crossing and waited for the pedestrian light to turn green. Alice glanced up at him, "What are your dislikes in general?"

"My dislikes...hmm," Alan thought for a minute before answering, "I don't like banana-flavoured things."

The light turned green and the two crossed the road. Reaching the other side, Alice said, "Banana-flavoured things...like banana cake?"

"Cake, candy, bread, smoothies - anything that is banana-flavoured," replied Alan.

"So I assume that extends to bananas themselves."

"Shockingly no," Alan snorted. "I'm fine with eating bananas but I can't stand banana-flavoured things."

Alice paused in her footsteps and looked at him with confusion, "That makes absolutely no sense."

"Does it have to?"

The pixie-haired vampire pursed her lips in contemplation before shaking her head with a smile, "No, I suppose not."

The two shared a laugh and continued their walk.

Several minutes later, they found themselves at a clothing store where Alice was looking for a scarf to gift her foster mom. The store's decor had caught her eye earlier and she ended up dragging Alan through its entrance with no resistance.

While Alan himself wasn't a big clothes shopper, he was happy enough to tag along with her since she seemed to be having fun. Eventually, he noticed a hair clip on display through the transparent glass counter. It was a gold and blue butterfly hair clip with matched Alice's eyes.

'It is a little early to be buying gifts since it's still our first date but...'

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alice happily conversing with the store clerk, asking about the scarves. There was another tug he felt in his chest and Alan finally understood.

'Ah. So that's what it is.'

He was attracted to her, yes, but it was more than that. He felt a connection to her...almost as if-

"...we're soulmates."

****

A/N: Hello readers. Yes, I'm not dead. I've just been extremely busy and for a long time, I didn't any motivation to write. I still don't have motivation but I decided to update this story and forced myself to type up a chapter. Can't promise frequent updates but I will do my best to continue this story. Sorry for the wait.