DISCLAIMER: I do not own Twilight. The lovely Mrs. Meyers does. –sighs reluctantly-
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"Okay now, go play nice for a while. We'll reconvene in the Food Court so the human can eat at three," Alice called over her shoulder as she walked away, leaving a miffed Jasper, Edward and, unfortunately, me in her wake.
Alice wanted to go wedding shopping and explained that Esme couldn't come, so I was second best. I begged and pleaded with Alice to let me off the hook, but she begged right back, if not with more fervor, leading to me caving in begrudgingly. Edward offered to come for moral support. I think he was secretly hoping to spend time with me. That or watch my human quirks shine through, usually enhanced by Alice's strange behavior. After all, I hopefully only had so much time left…
Jasper goes almost everywhere Alice goes so there was no surprise when I hopped into the Guardian none other than Jasper was behind the wheel. Alice absolutely claimed that it was necessary we go help with wedding preparations only to be dragged from place to place for three hours and end up in the mall.
We watched Alice as she excitedly bounced her way to Victoria's Secret, no doubt getting embarrassingly revealing lingerie for the Honeymoon. Edward smiled, amused, no doubt at something Alice thought. He grabbed my hand.
"Let's go," he said, lightly dragging me along besides him in the opposite direction.
Jasper followed cautiously at my side, throwing a reassuring smile in my direction. I felt a bit of pity welling deep inside of me. 'It must be hard for him to be around humans, especially in an overcrowded mall. He doesn't want me to be afraid of him.'
So in response I gave him a smile of my own, displaying all my trust for my future brother-in-law on my face. He relaxed noticeably. Edward, seeing the interaction in Jasper's head, squeezed my hand lightly.
We walked around the mall from there. Edward showed me his favorite record store. I wasn't just having a great time because I love music so much, which I do but it is not my favorite activity in the world, but because Edward looked like a kid in a candy shop. These were the times I lived for, the reasons why I loved him so much. The happy spark in his eyes and the gaping smile on his face made me want to live in the moment forever, to revel in the warmth of bliss. Besides, Edward has lived through many lifetimes in perpetual teenage angst and deserved more. If he was happy, I was happy.
Jasper, reading over a Led Zeppelin cover, looked at me, curious to the emotions spilling off me. Edward didn't pay attention, for he was too enthralled in listening to a David Bowie record.
After the record store, Jasper went his separate way, heading to the hunting goods store that specialized in antique guns. Edward had once told me since the Civil War Jasper had not preferred to not shoot a gun; too many memories. Instead, he collected rare guns that only were a few left of their kind. Jasper promised to meet us at the food court at three. I got the subtle hint he wanted to give us alone time.
When Jasper left, we idly started walking though the mall, hand in hand.
"So, what do you want to do?" Edward asked, looking down on my face.
"What time is it?" I asked first. I wasn't really hungry just yet, and I didn't want to meet Alice for a while.
He glanced at his wristwatch. "It's almost two. So, yet again, what do you want to do?"
We walked at a slower pace, giving me time to think. Then, he spun around, with such inhuman speed I wasn't sure he really did it, to face me.
"I have an idea," he said so jovially, I couldn't say no. He then all of a sudden scooped me up bridal style and started walking in the opposite direction we were walking in. I started blushing from all the stares we were receiving.
"Edward," I whined, not only feeling self-conscious, but because he seemed too happy for his idea not to humiliate me.
He looked at my face. "Calm down Bella. Would I really hurt you?" Edward said, making sure to blow his delicious breath in my face. I shook the fog enclosing my brain and glared at him.
"Are you going to embarrass me?" I asked, knowing it was on the top on his list for favorite things. His list probably went something like this: One, spend time with Bella. Two, watch Bella sleep. Three, make Bella blush. You get my drift.
He smiled even wider. "Bella, you are utterly absurd," he chided, and took one of his hands from my back and wound one of the stray strands of hair from my face around his finger, "but I would do it if I could see that beautiful blush of yours."
And, of course, this made me blush. He smirked in satisfaction. About a couple of minutes later, he spun around yet again very fast, and set me on the ground. He stood behind me and placed his long, cold fingers over my eyes. He then told me to spin around and walk towards where we were heading. Grudgingly, I did so. A few ten or twenty yards later, he took his hands off my eyes. I gasped.
In front of me stood what had to be the biggest bookstore in Washington, if not the world. It was about four stories tall and wider than even the Cullens' house, which in itself was a monster. Floor to floor, wall to wall, jam-packed with books.
I put my hand over my mouth, and looked over at my fiancée, who was glowing with pride. For the first time in my life, and probably the last, I squealed. I wrapped my arms around Edward's neck and my legs around his waist, hugging him as hard as I could, clinging to him for dear life.
He was so shocked with my unexpected behavior. Even though I couldn't read minds, I know what he was thinking. When Edward first asked me to marry him, he expected this reaction, but, no, of course, he takes me to an outrageously huge bookstore and I act like it was the best thing he could ever do for me, which it IS. He relaxed and pulled out of my vice-grip and set me on the ground.
Once Edward put me on the ground, he gave me a kiss. Of course, he was the one to break it first, to which I pouted internally. He placed his hands on the side of my neck.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked, desperation leaking out in his voice.
"I thinking I have survived for two years on a book collection of no more than ten books, and that I can relate to your struggles now."
His eyebrows creased in confusion. "What do you mean?"
I wiggled my eyebrows playfully, "well, if I'm your heroin, books are mine, and I'm thinking there is no way to stop me from going in there, vampire strength or not."
Edward rolled his eyes. "What a bad analogy. Plus, it is more tolerable now-"he stopped for a moment and ran his thumb along my jaw, "so let's go get some books before Alice will be forced to drag us home. I think it would look rather strange from someone as small as Alice to be manually lifting us off the ground."
I snickered and started walking towards the store. "You just don't want to hear my lame jokes anymore," I mocked.
He chuckled. "I thought you couldn't read minds!" he mocked right back.
We then walked into the store. There were so many books: fiction, non-fiction, biographies, cookbooks, Japanese and American comic books, magazines, newspapers, in every shape and every size. I immediately immersed myself into my little world, while watched me in a mixture of curiosity and adoration. I ended up buying about six books, to which Edward made me buy with my new credit card, and I complied reluctantly. By the time we left the bookstore it was 2:50 and we were on the other side of the mall far away from the food court. It gave us just enough time to meet Alice while walking at a normal human pace.
By the time we met Alice, it was 3:03.
"Where were you guys? We have been waiting a long time!" she scolded, Jasper standing silently behind her.
Edward sighed, exasperated. "Alice, we are three minutes late. Shoot me now!" he said wryly
Alice shook her head sadly. "I expected more from you Edward. I thought you guys would have the common decency to at least come early so I have been waiting here since 2:45. On another note, I don't think I would hurt you much if I shot you," she chastised. She would sound remarkably like Esme right now if she weren't being so ridiculous.
Edward ignored Alice. "Lunchtime for human!" he proclaimed.
For lunch I picked Chick-Fil-A and ordered a chicken sandwich and a coke. As I sat down with my lunch and started eating, all the vampires at the table studied me closely, as if I were a lab mouse. I frowned.
"What? Do I have something between my teeth?" I asked, concerned that I looked funny.
They snapped out of their odd trance at once and Alice answered, "We haven't been humans for a while, that's all. We're curious." I gave them a weird look as they continued with their "analysis". When I was done, I wiped my mouth on a napkin and threw out the wrappers.
We walked out of the mall, towards the Guardian. Alice prattled on about random subjects, Jasper carrying her many quantities of shopping bags behind her, throwing in the occasional "yes dear" like any good husband. Edward and I walked behind them side-by-side, in a comfortable silence.
When we got settled into the car, after breaking up the crowd of car-enthusiast ogling at my car, to which I glared at Edward in an accusatory manner, we turned on the radio, and continued to fight over which radio station to play. Alice suddenly had a vision in the passenger seat and pulled out a CD case. She flipped through the CD's and slipped one into the stereo. I recognized the song immediately as "Newport Living" by Cute is What We Aim for. I wouldn't have known the song, or even heard of the band before Edward, since he was bound and determine to "enrich my poor music tastes" and gave me a CD of an alternative rock band every week, some from the 80s and 90s, and some just coming out into the scene.
Edward, Alice, and I started singing along with the lyrics, while Jasper looked at us through the review mirror with amusement. We weren't really singing, but more like shouting along with the lyrics, while Alice and I occasionally giggled when we sang, or shouted, something wrong. For a moment, I actually felt like a real teenager, forgo the vampirism part.
Many songs followed, including "Rock What You Got" by Superchick, "Smells like Teenage Spirit" by Nirvana and "I Kissed a Girl" by Kate Perry, which cracked us up when Jasper joined in on the first verse. The last song was "Practice makes Perfect" by Cute is What We Aim for, once again. When I sang along to the chorus, I worked up enough courage and waggled my eyebrows at Edward suggestively, hoping he got my message. He pursed his lips in disapproval and shot me a wary look, but I could tell he was trying not to laugh.
Before I knew it, we the thirty minute drive from Port Angeles to Forks was done and we were in the Cullen's driveway. Jasper turned off the car and was making the motion to get out of the car when he froze.
To my surprise, everyone in the car was frozen in place, tense as if ready to flee. I started to get nervous. Before I could voice my concerns, Edward spoke first.
"What the hell is she doing here?!" he hissed, directing his question towards Alice. Alice unfroze and whipped her body around to face Edward from her seat.
"You know as well as I do I can't see when she plans to come! Plus, it has been over a century since she had visited," Alice hissed, venom seeping into her tone. Who were they talking about?
Jasper looked at me from the corner of his eye, probably sensing my confusion and said, "You two explain to Bella what is going on. I'll go get the bags inside." With that, Jasper got out of the car and within seconds had all the shopping bags with him, walking very brusquely towards the house.
Alice looked at me apologetically. "I'm sorry. All we have is a visitor. Hopefully she should be gone by tonight if things go smoothly," she reassured in a calm voice.
I immediately panicked. "So…are our visitors…one of you? I mean-do they have the same…preferences?" I asked nervously.
Alice exchanged a look with Edward. Edward shook his head subtly. What was he saying no to?
"Not exactly. Most likely it is a short visit though so don't worry about it, okay?" she answered vaguely. They were hiding something from me.
I looked at Edward, whose face was expressionless, probably trying to read the thoughts of our "visitor".
"Do I want to know what you're hiding?" I asked warily. If they weren't giving me a straight up answer, there had to be a reason.
His face focused back on me, and he gave a fake smile. "You'll know with time. We should get into the house. The sooner the better," he responded carefully as if trying not to frighten me. We walked out of the Guardian at the same time and ambled to the house. Edward and Alice were going slower than necessary, like they were being sentenced to death, or in a funeral march. We walked up the porch steps and were about to enter when Edward turned to face me and placed his hands on my shoulders.
"Promise me that no matter how angry you get, you won't say anything. Don't even show you're angry. Count back from ten to one in your head, but no matter what you do, never voice any negative emotions, or offend our guest," Edward pleaded, smoldering me with his eyes.
I must have been very confused, because he added, "Just promise. I'll explain later tonight."
I nodded hesitantly, only because I truly trusted Edward. He seemed satisfied. I then placed my hand on the door knob and twisted it. Edward, Alice and I walked through the doorway to be met with the whole family in the dining room adjacent to the living room.
Everyone was sitting in a frigid posture much like Edward, Alice, and Jasper were in the car. I noticed Carlisle wasn't sitting at the head of the table, but a complete stranger.
It was a woman who was very beautiful, rivaling Rosalie's beauty, not to mention her model figure. She had dark brown hair halfway down her back with highlights of subtle pink. He skin was barely tanned, giving it a bronze glow. But this is not what drew my attention.
She wore a toga-like dress, much like the Romans or the Greeks, and gladiator sandals. She held a cup in her hand filled with tea. I reeled. So she wasn't a vampire if she was drinking tea. But this wasn't the only thing that tipped me off.
She had a pair of wings. They were a more dramatic shade of pink than of her hair, but very similar and glittered. I froze.
Toto, I think we're not in Kansas anymore.
She smiled brightly, as if we had known each other for years.
"Hello, dearie," she spoke first in an unmistakably British accent. This was the last thing I remembered.
Everything went black.
A/N: Yay first chapter done! This story has been in my head for like forever! I know, I left you with a cliffy, but the next chapter will satisfy so keep tuned in I promise the plot twists only get better ;)
The songs they sung aren't all alternative, just some songs floating around in my MP3 player I thought would be fun if they sang. Listen to "Practice makes Perfect" that song rox my sox. Plus, to see Bella egg Edward on? Priceless!
I promise to update ASAP. Please go on my profile and do my poll! I am torn! Should I work more on this story or on my Dirty Dancing 2 story? It would help me update faster.
Love it? Hate it? Could be improved? The only way I'll know is to review! Please, if you like it, say it! If you hate it, well, let me down easy .
-The Pink Panda 17
