Imprint vs Soulmates

IC Time: May 31, 2007, Early Evening.
Location: The 'Other' Swan Residence.
Synopsis: Esme checks up on Charlene. Esme manages to impart wisdom and Charlene gains a new insight and meaning to her life.
Submitted by: Charlene


Charli's parents are out, as usual. Both working late. Finals are next week and Charlene is studying hard at the only subject that still eludes her, Math. From the back of the house and wrapping around one corner to the side is a deck and Charlene is sitting at the wicker table with books spread out on it, not to mention a notebook and pencil in hand, a phone, a glass full of orange juice a bottle of blue pills.

A white Mercedes can be seen moving down the street, eventually coming to a stop when Charlene is spotted. The vehicle pulls to the side and the door opens, not that there's much of a question as to who the driver is, there's really only a couple of choices, and today it happens to be Esme stepping out. The woman is attired in a black skirt with a purple ruffled top and a pair of black heels. "Hello Charlene," the woman greets as she makes her way up the walk, towards the porch, her eyes quickly sweeping the surroundings and taking in what, exactly, surrounds Charlene.

Charlene looks up from her intense torture of trying to figure out a quadratic equation. Blinking at Esme as she recognizes her, she stands, pushing her chair back and very casually moves in front of the table, attempting to palm the bottle of pills. "Uhmmm. Hi Mrs. Cullen…" She glances back towards the table, "I'm cramming for a Math finale… What can I do for you?"

Esme already saw the bottle of pills, but she doesn't bring it up, right now. "Nothing, actually, I was just driving through and thought I'd stop and see how you were doing," she gives in an airy tone. "Math, huh? I can't say I was every very fond of math, but it wasn't that bad," though they didn't really teach much in the way of quadratic equations back in the early 1900's, so it wasn't so bad for her.

"Yeah." She pushes the bottle into her jean's pocket. "Well. Some math makes sense to me, most not." She purses her lips slightly. "Want to sit down? A drink?" Moving back towards her chair Charlene plops down into it. While she may have been nervous her heartbeat never did much than skip a few beats and make up for it quickly before settling almost forcibly into a slightly elevated but steady rate that she had before she recognized you. "I'm doing fine, I guess. Just stressed over this math final."

Esme takes a seat and smiles. "No, thank you dear," she gives in all politeness. "You'll do fine on your final, though. Have you asked Jake if he's familiar with it?" she enquires with an upraised brow. "I'm sure that if he could he'd be happy to help you."

Charlene chuckles, "I'm sure Jake would just love to help me with anything I might need help with." It's said a bit dryly. She frowns at her own tone. "Well. Never asked him. Not exactly what we talk about when we're together." She loses the frown pretty fast, "It's tomorrow anyways. Not much time for anything but practice." She folds her arms on the table and lays her head down into them, peering at you, looking pretty tired.

Esme truly can't help the laugh that echoes due to Charlene's words. "Oh, I know he would, my dear. He'll do absolutely anything for you, but you already knew that, didn't you?" she suggests with a lopsided little smile before she tilts her head. "You look tired, are you getting enough sleep?"

"Probably not." she's referring to the sleep. "Been studying lots." Charlene blinks sleepily for a moment before sitting up quickly. "Yep. I'm awake!" She shakes her head, rubbing at her eyes slowly. "That's the problem with Jake. Anything is just plain stupid." She pushes back into her chair wide awake now. "I haven't figured out if I like /that/ or not."

Esme hmms. "I don't know, it's very sweet how devoted he is to you," she gives with a subtle nod of her head. "It's obvious, when I talk to him, that he truly cares about you, he's as devoted to you as I am Carlisle," is given with a crooked grin. "I trust you do know /how/ much he cares for you?" she questions, trying not to really say anything, but to let Char know, subtly, that she's aware of the subject at hand. "Tonight, my dear, make sure you get to bed at a decent hour, it'll do you no good to go to your exam half asleep."

Charlene peers at you as she reaches for the glass of orange juice, "Don't get me wrong Mrs. Cullen, I know Jake loves me more than anything. I just, sometimes…. don't like. The whole idea of not having a choice." She shrugs slightly as she looks into the glass of OJ and back out again, "Only sometimes." she emphasizes it with a raise of her eyebrows. "The rest of the time I feel like I have no choice." She smiles slightly, shaking her head, "This is worse than Math." She glares a bit, just a bit, "I guess I feel cheated."

Esme hmms quietly, listening. "I'm sure that Jake has told you that you do have a choice in the matter," she emphasizes the 'you' part in the statement. "He is a big sweetheart, though, isn't he, kind of like a big ol' teddy bear," she suggests, though she knows that 'bear' isn't the right word to use. At the allusion to math, Esme snickers. "Well, it's not that hard, I don't think, he'll be there for you, no matter what."

Charlene sets her drink down without drinking any of it. "Yeah. That's the problem. 'No matter what.'" She looks up quickly amending, "Well, not a problem. I just rather he had a choice." She shrugs slightly. "Bear, huh?" she smiles broadly. "He is adorable. Sexy. Warm." She blinks, wrinkling her nose, "I said that out loud, huh?" The wistful smile that's formed says she's not going to try and take it back either. "Anyways…"

Esme nods as she listens. "I don't have anything I can tell you in that regard. I've never had the 'no matter what' without the choice behind it," she gives with a pleased voice. "Well, maybe not a bear, I bet there's another animal more suiting for Jacob's personality, bear was just the first one I thought of," second, actually, but she didn't want to say 'wolf'. "And yes, you did, but that's okay. You're kind of like Bella, in that sense, she's very open about how she feels about Edward."

"Personally, I think he would be better off with somebody else. Not that he has the choice." Charlene shrugs slightly, "I don't think I would be better of with somebody else, though." She slips out of her chair, to move over to the railing, grasping it. "It will work out. We'll make it work." She glances back towards Esme. "School's out next week. We'll have a lot more time to get to know each other, then."

Esme smiles a light, gentle smile. "There are, I suspect, reasons for it to be you, Charlene. I'm sure the Quileute's have many stories and tales, though I don't think there's any concrete reasons, but I have a feeling that you're as good for him as he is for you, you may not see that right now, but, eventually, you will," she notes with a nod of her head. The woman's eyes follow Charlene as the teen moves. "I bet you're both looking forward to that, he's a very nice young man, he'll be good for you."

"Let's hope so." she whispers. Turning back to face the table, Charlene smiles slowly already thinking about it, "Yeah, I already canceled my internship this Summer." She slides her hands into her pockets, glancing down at the one with the pills briefly, before she remembers. "More time with him will be good for me." She sounds doubtful for whatever reason. Lifting her eyes she nods. "There's bound to be a reason, no doubt." She wants to believe that.

Esme nods. "He'll help you out of this," she gives, smiling cheerily, as if she's not even remotely speaking of Charlene's drug habit. "I look at it this way, Charlene, you're like his soul mate. His perfect match, those kinds of things really do exist, like Bella and Edward, Rose and Emmett, Jasper and Alice," Carlisle and herself, her whole family is full of soulmates.

Charlene looks at you strangely, delving into your eyes. She shivers slightly and looks away instinctively. "Soulmates." She looks back to you. "I like that. Never really thought of us that way." She approaches the table again and reclaims her seat nodding to herself, "That makes perfect sense." She look back to you once again, grinning "He's a Quileute, after all. They're very spiritual." She plops backwards into the chair, apparently very engrossed in that idea. "Explains a lot." she whispers.

Esme doesn't avert her gaze from her niece-in-laws, though she does suppress a light laugh as the teen looks away, at least not all the Swan women are completely insane and some even have a sense of survival. "It's got a bit of a nice ring to it, doesn't it. When you meet your soul mate, it's not really like you've got any choice in the matter. When I first met Carlisle, it was a very, very lasting impression, and, obviously, that worked out well," she gives with a light laugh. "I bet the Quileute's have similar opinions, though I can't be certain."

"If they don't, they soon will." Charlene laughs at the tenacity in her own voice. "I'll make sure of it." She leans forward and begins gathering up her books, and papers. Lifting her gaze towards you, she smiles, "That was very helpful, Mrs. Cullen. Thank you." Her heartbeat, it seems, has broken free of it's drugged induced prison and is erratically racing in little spurts. She takes in a deep happy breath as she squares the piles of books together by banging them slightly on the table. "I really should go get ready for bed." she says apologetically.

Esme offers the teen a smile before she gets to her feet. "Not a problem, my dear. Please, let me know if you need anything," she gives before she turns for the porch. "You have a nice night, make sure you get plenty of rest," is given before she's headed towards her car.

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