pairing: vamp!nat x reader
summary: your literature partner has been avoiding you, so you decide to take matters into your own hands and confront her.
warnings: twilight au/crossover, reader being bored of forks, nat being kind of a looser (cute), warewolf! lottie degrading (mentions), lowtiee doesn't like Nat or the Cullens (no shit), confrontation, reader lowkey whipped, and that's it...?
from Crimson hymn (twilight x yellowjackets au)
It's boring. Tedious, monotonus, repetitive— there were many ways to describe it, but to be direct, it sucked. Even if at first it seemed like something new and fun to discover, Forks had ended up being a boring-ass town. Even with new friends, a new town to roam around and a chance to re-build (or rather just… build) a propper relationship with your dad, nothing seemed to catch your attention.
Natalie Cullen. A closed-off, quiet, sarcastic smoker that you kept glancing at. Okay, maybe glancing was an understatement, maybe staring was a better word for it. But you couldn't help it! She was stunning, and she seemed to stare back just as much, so it wasn't like you were some kind of stalker or anything.
Either way, that was all. Stupid glances here and there, but nothing else. Still, it was hard to focus on whatever Jessica and (whatever of the rest of their names were,) were yapping about, when all you could focus on was her bleached blonde hair and those piercing green eyes of hers. And even when Bella took you out of your reverie, you still felt her attention on you. It was probably because you were new, right? it's not like in a few weeks you'd be forgotten and united to the mass of average students that Forks Highschool held. And the fact that you were told she was 'no good' didn't help but make you even more curious.
"It's stupid. Her and her family are— Just get away from them." Lottie had told you. Yeah, Lottie, most known as Charlotte Matthews, another of the many that studied at the reservation. You and Bella had first met her along Jacob years ago, playing with dirt and just being kids. Charlotte— well, Lottie, as she liked to be called, cause apparently 'Charlotte' was too formal, and you two were closer than that— was slightly different than what you remembered. She was just as weird, that's for sure, but she'd also grown to be a pretty interesting person. She spoke calmly, but still made her points, wore hippy looking clothes but still made it work, and had some kind of… perfect aura going on. Like some kind of priest. And to top it off, she was gorgeous. Big brown eyes, long dark hair, and perfect clear skin.
Sadly for her, not even the image you had of her could take the blonde off your mind. And in a really pathetic and embarassing way, you didn't care. At least you'd found motivation to go to school, right…?
But it wasn't until Mr. Portman's literature class that you finally got a closer look at her. She got in fifteen minutes after the class had began, and as moody as Mr. Portman was that day, he let her in. At the end, he was introducing a new project that was worth half of the grade, so he couldn't leave her out! and to Natalie's luck or misfortune, the only free seat was beside you. Crazy, right? new girl sitting alone. Well, to be fair, you didn't really want much company, and the fact that everyone sat with their friends helped your voluntary isolation.
So she did. She sad beside you, after weeks (two weeks worth of looks, two and a half since you'd moved) of stupid lingering glances. She didn't speak, because of course she didn't. And to be honest, that bothered you so fucking much. Instead, you did. Cause 'he who doesn't cry, doesn't suckle', right? was it like that…? God, whatever—
"Hey," you'd started, turning your head to look at her, "I'm y/n. I just moved here."
Natalie doesn't immediately look at you. For a second, she seems to have an internal discussion with herself, and you think she's just gonna choose to ignore you. Instead, and against all your bets, she turns back at you.
"I know," she murmurs with a low, raspy voice. You can smell the cigarrette she had before coming in.
"You do?" You want to slap yourself for asking such an obvious thing. Of course she knows! you're the new subject of gossip in town. Dumbass.
"Yeah. Yo're new." A pause. "And you stare."
You scoff as heat rushes to your face. "You stare back."
That mekes something flicker across her expression. It's not a smile, but it's… something like that.
Mr. Portman starts rambling about romantic poets, but you can't help but bother. Natalie seems to be in the same position, as her eyes never leave yours.
"You shouldn't talk to me," she mutters suddenly, finally looking away toward the window.
You laugh lightly in response. "That's what Lottie said."
She turns back at you, sharper this time.
"You've been to the reservation." It's not a question, but a statment. Her jaw tightens, and for half a second, she doesn't seem so aloof. "They don't like us."
"Yeah well, I don't really care what people like."
She studies your face for a long second, too long, as if she's assessing something deeper than words. Then, she leans closer. And you notice it. She's not breathing. Not once. What the fuck? Your pulse stutters, and as if she'd read your mind, she takes a breath.
"Well you should," she swallows, looking away. "Care."
"I just told you I don't." you repeat, not taking your eyes away from her.
Turning with a sigh, she opens her mouth again. "Well I just told you—"
"Miss Cullen and Miss Swan! no talking when I'm talking!" a beat goes by where you two apologize, both slightly embarassed to be called out, but with Natalie caring way less than you do. He sighs and after shaking his head, he speaks again . "You two will have all the time in the world to talk all you wanna off class, considering all of you are partnering up with your desk neighbours."
The class collectively groans, and some of your classmates turn to look at you as if it's your fault.
"…Partners?" you repeat before you can stop yourself.
Mr. Portman levels you with a look. "Yes, Miss Swan. Partners. For the semester project. A full analytical essay on the central relationship of a novel. Themes, symbolism, historical context, psychological evaluation— the works." He gestures vagely with a slight grin. "Your due is in four weeks."
You slowly turn your head toward her, and she's already looking at you. Not annoyed, not thrilled. Just… intent.
"Any objections?" Mr. Portman asked dryly.
Natalie slightly tilts her head humming a "No, sir," and you follow with a simple "No." after swallowing.
"Good! Then I expect excellence. Given how eager you both seem to converse."
A few snickers ripple through the classroom, and god this is so embarassing you just wanna disappear, but you'll have to stick to just sinking in your chair and staring at your desk.
Natale leans back in her chair, arms crossing loosely over her chest. She studies as you write down the project details; structure, key points, things to avoid—
"You're not scared of me," you blink, stop writting and turn to her. Hesitating, you speak "Should I be?"
Her gaze flickers, and you swear, you swear you see her eyes change color. Not darken like they say in books, but some kind of golden orange. "Probably."
"Why? 'cause you smoke cigarettes and some kids from the reservation don't like you, or your family?"
That somehow makes her smile, geniuine and pretty (-er). She looks away, smile still hanging on her lips "Yeah, something like that."
"Well it takes a bit more than a shaman gossiping to stop me from doing something." you murmur.
"And I'm that something?" she hums, side eyeing you.
You suddenly feel shyer than ever, and swallowing tight, you look to the front "Shut up," you mumble, "We're doing Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, by the way." trying to regain your composure.
"Oh I don't get a saying?" she doesn't seem offended, instead she seems… amused?
"You wanna have a saying?"
She shrugs, seeming glad you're looking back at her. "I don't really care," she hums.
"Great. Then stop complaining."
"Okay." She grins, watching as you look away and stuff hair behind your ear.
"Okay." You echo with a shrug.
That night, you lay on your bed and think about her. Her eyes, her bleached strands, her dark brows… her smell, that mix between vanilla and cigarettes that lingers wherever she goes, or at least you keep catching wherever you go.
And for two days, she barely talks to you. And the next week and a half (a week and a half!) she doesn't at all. Somehow the playful banter you had shared had suddenly vanished, and she didn't even dare to look at you. Not even a glance! And you didn't understand why. Why? You hadn't even had a chance to fuck up. It was unfair! And either way, you have a project to do.
"You guys don't look like sisters like, at all," Jessica starts, twirling her one of her chocolate strands of hair around her finger. "Like, y/n you're so tan compared to Bella."
"Yeah, well. I like the sun, Bella… not so much." You hum softly. "I also used to play soccer, so, yeah. Guess it contributes." you shrug, not really caring.
"Wait- you played soccer?" Eric asks, and you nod. "You two really are day and night,"
Bella moves a bit uncomfy in her seat, and you obviously notice. "I never said I was good," you hum grinning, nudging Bella in an attempt to make her feel better. "Remember that match at Paradise Valley?" Bella grins and lets out a soft chuckle, "God that was… not great" she says it lightly, attempting to not make you feel bad, but you obviously don't care.
"Wait, what happened at that match?" Mike grins, curious to know more it.
And then your cue comes, and your sister's explanation dissolves into background noise. The Cullens, making their usual runway toward their isolated desk. Perfect. "I'll be right back," you murmur, not even bothering to recieve an answer as you get up. "Hey," you start, moving a bit faster to reach them. "Yo. Natalie." They all turn to look at you, but your eyes are on hers. Her stunning green eyes find yours in a matter of seconds, a nerveous expression on her face.
"What.Hey." She blurts out, all in once.
"What what?" you murmur back.
"What… um what do you need, of course." She speaks hesitantly, is she nerveous? Emmet laughs under his breath and some of her other siblings are grinning.
"We have a long ass project to do, and you've been avoiding me."
"I- I haven't. No. Not at all." She blurts out.
You face shifts to a grimacing expression that is apparently hilarious, because Rosalie snorts, and she's practically stoic all the time. "You literally have,"
"I-" She starts, but Edward cuts her off.
"I think it's better if you did the project individually."
Your brows furrow in indignation and your nose scrunches in a way that makes Natalie swallow. "What? No fucking way."
"It'll just be easier that way-" he continues, but you cut him off.
"I'm sorry, why are you talking for her?" Edward's mouth closes and opens, and you look back at Natalie. "Are you sick? Sore throat or something like that?"
"Natalie," Edwards says softly, but there's a warning edge to it.
"We're doing this project together." she finally says, firm but still carrying unsure glances.
"Great. Carver Café on Friday at five?" she nods. "Mkay. Read the fucking book." you murmur after you start making your way back to your table. She smiles and hums a 'bye', watching as Edward looked annoyed and the rest of the Cullen's laughed at him. Well except for Jasper. That boy always looked like he was on pause.
The coffee you had ordered almost twenty minutes ago was already halfway empty. Or halfway full, if you're more into a positive mindset. Either way, you had been waiting for Natalie for almost twenty-five minutes. In her defense, you were there since four fifty. In yours, you hated being late, and the fact that Miss avoidant (yes, that was the nickname you'd given her,) had decided to not give sign of life, pissed you off even more.
You huffed, scribbling in your journal for the fifth time. You tried to take it seriously at first, structuring ideas and concepts, but given the situation, you had given up and fallen to the doodling temptation. A star, a cat, a tree, a… chipmunk?
"What's that supposed to be?" You flinched at the voice that suddenly came from behind you, turning to see Natalie's slender figure, standing just a few inches away from you. With a smirk that faltered into shyness and pupils that fluctuated, she let go a soft "hi," and sat beside you.
"Dude you scared the shit out of me," you hummed, giving her a nudge.
She smiled at that, (because of course she did,) as she opened her backpack "didn't mean to, sorry."
"Didn't mean my ass. You so did." She laughed under her breath, simultaneously taking off notes, pencilcase and the copy of her own book. "Wow. This yours?" you hummed, looking at the worn down copy.
"Yeah. You can take a look if you wanna," she hummed, glancing at the way you looked at the book. Not wasting a second, you reached for it.
Natalie admired the way your fingers delicately traced the worn edges, gently opening the pages and admiring the scribbled margins. Everything about you was so ethereal to her. And god, your perfume. You smelled so sweet, and yet so grounded. You even wore that lip gloss that smelled like vanilla. She wondered if it would taste the same—
A laugh from your soft shiny lips took her off her daze. "What?" she murmured, lazy smile as she was still coming out from staring at your profile. "You wrote Asshole beside Darcy's name,"
"So what? he's an asshole,"
"What about bimbo beside Jane?"
"She kinda is a bimbo?" she smiles at the sound of your laughter "Besides, Elizabeth is the best character anyway,"
"Totally agree," you hum, giving her a wide smile that even surprises you. She defenetly does, given at the way her emerald- now orange? eyes are staring right back at yours. You use this rare moment of closeness to admire her: perfect clear skin, pale with a few scattered freckles, dark formed brows, puffy pink lips, bleached blonde strands fiddling over her face, grazing the curve of her nose… She notices, ofcourse. But insted of running or looking away like she usually does, she does the same thing: stares at your eyes, your brows, your hair, your freckles and imperfections, your lips…
"I- where do you wanna start?" she blurts out as she quickly looks away. Well, that was longer than you thought she'd hold. A win is a win, right?
You toss a lock of hair to your back as you rest your elbow on the worn wood "Well I already did a structure for the presentation. Look," sliding the flimsy notebook toward her, your fingers 'accidentally' (you did it on purpuse) touch hers. "You're freezing," you murmur, your brows jumping up as they follow your surprise. She quickly pulls her hand away. Her lips part and close a couple of times, not knowing what excuse should she make up. Her pupils slightly dilatate as yours rank over her. Not wanting to push too far to avoid giving her another darn excuse to ignore you, you quickly place your gloves on the table.
Sliding the yarn pieces toward her, you hold her gaze "here,". She hesitates, but ends up taking them as she mutters a low 'thank you' glancing away.
"Okay. Now, back into shittalking Jane," Natalie laughs and gives you a smile, such a beautiful fucking smile, one that makes your guts twitch and your throat go dry.
Fucking literature project…
dividers by @saradika-graphics!!!