I was sitting next to Edward on the couch in Alice's bedroom. I had never been in Alice and Jasper's room before now, but right when I had walked in, I was astounded by the beauty of it. The walls were a navy blue and the furniture was all white, and looked very old, almost antique. The bedspread and the picture frames lining the walls were a shimmery silver color. It reminded me of nighttime. The dark blue and the silver looked just like the sky and the moon, and the room itself seemed to give off a feeling of peace and serenity.
Alice was facing us, sitting cross-legged on the bed. Her back was straight and she had a serious look to her face, but there was also an enthusiasm that she just couldn't quite keep to herself. A book, that resembled a photo album, sat right in front of her. Edward, Alice, and I (mostly Edward and Alice) were debating which flowers we wanted at the wedding. Normally I kept under the radar as far as wedding planning went. I had agreed to go along with it and given Alice free reign completely, but such things as flowers, she insisted, were too important for me not to be involved. And Edward agreed. Apparently there were many things "too important" for her to choose alone. Already, in that day alone, I had chosen all of the food to have at the wedding, including the cake. I had told Alice that she could choose whatever sounded good, but that had put her on a rant beginning with the fact that she couldn't taste the food and didn't even remember what human food tasted, and ending with the same "Bella, don't you love me?" pout.
"I think that we should go very classic, roses and baby's breath, maybe? What about you Edward?" Alice spoke suddenly, flipping through the flower book.
"Roses are good, I would prefer freesia though." Edward replied thoughtfully. I was tuning out this conversation, instead letting my eyes wander around the room.
"What do you think Bella?" Alice's voice chimed. I was studying the pictures on the walls, but I couldn't see them very well from where I was on the couch. Quickly, I thought of a sufficient answer.
"Yeah, roses would be nice, but freesias should definitely be included." I offered. Alice, knowing that I would not be giving much more input on the subject, continued to flip through the flower book, pausing every now and then to ask Edward about colors or arrangements or something else that I wanted absolutely no part in.
It was then that Jasper waltzed in, smiling serenely. Suddenly the room felt almost ten times calmer than it had before. Alice looked up from the book and smiled at him.
"We should take a break," she sighed, slamming the book shut. Edward chucked at her thoughts while Jasper sat on the bed next to her, wrapping his arms around her petite frame. I was still looking at the pictures across the room.
I wondered briefly if they held any stories about Alice's past. I remembered Edward telling me that Alice had no memory of her human life. She had simply woken up like she is now. I wondered about how she had controlled her bloodlust after waking up. I knew that her creator had been killed by James, so who was there to tell her what she was, and that she had to control herself? Nobody. I was instantly grateful that I had all seven of the Cullen's to help me and to keep me under control, but I still felt anxious.
"Are you okay Bella?" Jasper said. Of course, I had disrupted his calm atmosphere, and he had easily been able to tell that my thoughts were somewhere else. His question had taken me off guard.
"Yeah, um, I'm fine." I said, trying to make myself feel calm to match the atmosphere. Jasper smiled as though I had just told a somewhat funny joke that he had heard before a few times before. Edward smiled as well, but eyed me curiously. He was probably frustrated that he couldn't hear my thoughts.
"You know that I can tell when you're lying to me Bella. Why so anxious?" Jasper said. The calmness to his voice and of the room made me relax, almost to the point of sleep, and I told him what I was thinking without a second thought.
"I was just thinking about when I'm a vampire."
"Nervous about being changed?" Alice questioned, her face showing concern.
"Not really. More like—"
"The first year?" Jasper offered, smiling softly.
"Yeah. About my bloodlust. I was feeling thankful that I'll have all of you to help me through it. But I was also thinking about Alice, I mean, she had no one there to help her, right?" Alice didn't look shocked that I'd brought her into this conversation. Her facial expression hardly changed, in fact, if anything, she simply looked thoughtful and she nodded her head.
"That's right, I woke up alone." Her face was expressionless, but her eyes looked reminiscent. She smiled sadly, as though thinking about her past was painful, and she sighed, remembering.
"But then how did you do it? How did you control yourself?" I kept questioning her, feeling that I should be as honest as possible with my questions.
"She's right Alice," Edward spoke from beside me. "It's remarkable that you could control yourself, not even knowing what you were or why you were there." Alice smiled at the compliment.
"Well, my visions were very helpful. I probably couldn't have done it without them, she replied modestly, still smiling.
I must have looked confused because then Jasper said, "Alice, you should probably tell Bella what you mean." She looked up at him and they had a quick, silent conversation before Alice looked back at me.
"Okay, I'll tell you how I did it. The story might help you with your own self control," she said matter-of-factly. I was excited now. I could tell that this would be an interesting story, one that I've been curious about for a while. She took a deep breath, Edward nodded at her, and Jasper stayed perfectly still, relaxing everybody.