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#the pacing of the movie does mean that bella and edward's relationship is slightly less believable
twilightreformation · 2 years
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I don't think we talk enough about how catherine hardwicke fixed the pacing of the twilight. in the book, laurent, victoria, and james just appear out of nowhere when the plot demands it. there's no buildup, no foreshadowing, because as @bellaslilpapercut said here, that entire sequence is the secondary climax. the book's focus is completely on bella and edward's relationship arc, which for all intents and purposes concluded when he brought her to meet his family. the main antagonist is edward and his own nature more than james is. but in the film, the murder trio acts as the main antagonistic force. mysterious murders are occurring across town, and charlie as the chief is investigating it. you see them take place, and you know that these vampires are bad news. bella and edward's relationship still takes the forefront, but the mystery of these other vampires is always in the back of your mind. as bella unravels the mystery of edward and the cullens, she gets closer to the danger. it's much faster paced than the book was, and it makes the whole story better for it, in my opinion.
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elysianrey · 4 years
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Because of Julie
a/n: Basically Julie and Luke spend the evening alone talking about life, love, and some sparkly vampires in her bedroom.
Word Count: 1,483
Pairing: Julie/Luke
8:46 pm
Julie giggled as she tossed another piece of popcorn into the air and watched as an open mouthed Luke dove chin first to catch it, clumsily rolling off her bed in his attempt, and landing with an ungraceful ‘thump’ on the floor. The girl quickly slapped a hand over her mouth to contain the laughter that was about to burst forth from deep inside her chest.
All of a sudden, the too-familiar sound of her tia rang up the stairs, “Julie! Julie what was that?”
She looked around in alarm, wishing nothing more than for him to poof out at this exact moment, but she only heard his light chuckle.
Typical Luke. Infuriatingly delightful. Charmingly annoying.
“Uhhhh nothing Tia! Just--dropped my book. Studying you know.” Julie eyed the door in anticipation. No knock. Phew.
“Alright, mija! Try being more careful. We don’t want you hurting those dancing toes.”
“Yep! I’ll just get back to it then.”
She paused for a reply, however, she received only silence, and a sigh of relief she didn’t realize she was holding in came rushing out all at once.
The culprit of the noise continued to remain silent enough for alarm.
“Luuuuuke,” she hissed his name, crawling over the bed to peer at the human heap on her floor. “Just because you have gained some sense of--errr---solidity--doesn’t mean you need to announce it to my whole fam---”
Her desire to let him have a piece of her mind only multiplied times one thousand when she caught sight of him rolling back in forth, doubled over in soundless laughter.
“Lukas Peter---” she began, unable to contain a smile that was threatening to ruin her attempt at reprimanding him. Her hand reached for a pillow on her bed.
The weapon did nothing to disarm the flawless grin flashing back at her as he caught it.
9:51 pm
“What does he mean, he’s leaving?” Luke whispered loudly, throwing a piece of popcorn at her laptop screen. The kernel landed on Edward Cullen’s face as the vampire dramatically turned away from Bella Swan and disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
Julie picked up the forsaken kernel and popped it into her mouth as she turned to him. “He has to keep her safe, remember? He’s afraid he’s endangering her life.”
He scoffed and she watched as he bit his lip in thought. Her heart skipped a violent beat in her chest when he seemed to take notice of her gaze.
“Julie.” He said her name so softly she practically had to lean into him to catch the rest of his words. “If he really had wanted to keep her safe--,” he continued slowly, “--he would have stayed.”
The girl was almost certain that besides ghosts existing, magic did too, because everything about the moment was enchanting in a way she couldn’t fully make sense of in her brain.
A pounding on the door broke the two out of their reverie and they jolted feet apart.
“Julie! Dad’s home! G’night!” Carlos called from the other side.
Julie and Luke looked at each other nervously. He started doing that thing where he bit his lip again and she knew that she wasn’t ready to kick him out to the garage just yet.
“Jules--I should--” Luke started, motioning toward the window.
“No---” came her quick response, surprising both of them. It sounded a little too demanding in her opinion so she swiftly backtracked by adding, “I mean--if you have to--”
“C’mere,” he grinned, grabbing her laptop and readjusting the pillows on her bed where they had been sharing---something---minutes ago.
11:30 pm
“Did I ever tell you about the time Alex, Reggie, and I ditched school and sang down at the metro?” Luke asked, staring up at the LED lights along the edges of her bedroom ceiling. The colors flickered between blue, to red, to yellow. His hands rested gently atop his chest.
Julie laid next to him on her stomach, her arms on either side of her head. The curly mess of a halo sprawled out in an uncontainable way around her. She was close enough to him that pieces tickled his exposed bicep. The times the ghost boy actually wore a long-sleeved shirt were few and far between.
“I don’t think so.”
She listened closely as he quietly recanted the tale from his former life, laughing at the part where they were almost caught by the police for skipping school, but getting out of trouble with their fake IDs.
“Such a rebel,” she affirmed, reaching to poke him.
He caught her eye just as she was about to touch him.
Touch.
Such a foreign concept to both of them. An area she purposely tried to avoid if she could help it. Intentionally hurting herself, but what else was she supposed to do?
Despite Flynn approving of their ‘relationship’, she also made certain to remind Julie of the reality of her situation at least once every day.
Luke was still dead.
The less they crossed that bridge, the less heartbreak she would feel when this whole thing ended. Which it would someday, right?
She slowly retracted her hand and her heart twinged as he turned to look back at her ceiling lights.
1:00 am
“Were you ever in love?” Julie had suppressed the question for long enough, and at this point in the night, her prime brain functionality was beginning to dwindle. She sat above him now, peering down at his face to try and catch his reaction.
Luke gazed back at her, a sense of vulnerability creeping into his expression. “Nah. I dated a couple of girls back in the day. I wouldn’t say I was really in love with any of them though.”
Relief selfishly flooded her chest. She decided to press on. “How many of them did you kiss?” she teased, inching down toward him ever so slightly.
He smiled, his perfect dazzling white gleam, and she was sure that he would be her cause of death if he kept making her stomach feel like it was drowning in butterflies.
“Jules, I’m a gentleman. I don’t kiss and tell,” came his equally devilish reply, his head craning to close the gap between them.
One second.
Three seconds.
Ten seconds.
An eternity.
“Please Julie,” he practically begged, sensing her hesitation to give into the culmination of every little thing that had been building up between them since they met.
His plea was enough to break her into a million little pieces and her lips suddenly met his with an unexpected fervor.
She loved Luke.
God---she loved, loved Luke. She loved the taste of his lips--cold with a hint of butter from the popcorn. She loved how her curls felt intertwined between his fingers---pulling her even closer to him---if that was possible. She loved how easy it was to talk to him, to be herself with him. She loved his passion and loyalty to his friends and to her.
As she was easing back into reality, she really loved the way he was peppering gentle kisses all over her face that made her nose crinkle in pure happiness.
Julie couldn’t bear the thought of parting from him tonight.
Or ever.
4:50 am
As she breathed almost a melodious rhythm, Luke watched the steady rise and fall of her chest, his hand loosening the grip of the pencil between his fingers. She was mesmerizing to him. A work of art. Everything he didn’t know he needed, however, knew he could no longer live without. Is live even the right word to use?
Julie was his oxygen. His lifeline. The blood that refused to flow through his veins these days.
He knew that he should let her continue her slumber without him. In fact, his mind reminded him of that scene in the vampire movie they watched together earlier where Edward would creepily watch over Bella every night. He physically shivered in disgust.
But the words were flowing at rapid pace from his brain onto the pages of their songwriting book and Luke could only imagine how disappointed Julie would be if he told her he stopped writing right when the song was turning into a new hit ballad.
Julie was somehow making him feel more alive than he had even felt before the hotdog. He could now touch her with ease, he was able to eat certain foods, and if he wasn’t mistaken, as the sun rose, he could have sworn his eyes were growing heavy with sleep. He had not slept for 25 years.
His head fell against the pillow next to the sleepy girl and the book slowly slipped from his grasp onto the carpeted floor.
Ghosts didn’t sleep.
But he wasn’t certain if he was fully a ghost anymore.
Because of Julie.
find it on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26573689
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