Started: July 7, 2010, 10:06PM
A/N: This was written in about 17 minutes. Roughly. I have not even read through it since writing it...so that means it probably has mistakes that could be corrected. But I knew that if I didn't upload right away, I never would.
Nothing but the story you read below belongs to me. All of that stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer, yada yada yada.
Bella doesn't get married in a field like Alice imagined she would. Naturally, Alice knew, once the date was set, that Bella would marry Edward in a church just outside the Forks town limits, but she can't shake the image of the place she imagined Bella to marry.
A field.
Not "Bella And Edward's Field". A field someplace the sun could drench the bride's face, her smile as radiant as the sky and the white of her dress blinding in the yellow light.
Of course, Alice never imagined Bella marrying Edward, either. She watches the girl walk slowly down the aisle of the unilluminated church, clutching Charlie's arm while dust swirls in the too-white columns of light that pierce through the plain-glass windows, she comes to the comprehension that this, this wedding is real.
It sends her reeling.
From her place in the bridesmaid's position at the altar, Alice has a clear view of Edward. She watches him pick up her devastated thoughts and watches as he slowly looks up, a sad look turning angry as Alice's mind continues to race.
I'm sorry. I can't help it.
Edward's eyes ease briefly, but then his look hardens and Alice knows what he would say to her if he could.
He would apologize, but then he would tell Alice the sentences he's been repeating since he first heard Alice's thoughts about her. "It's what she wants. You can't hurt her, can't put her through that; I won't let you."
Alice knows he's right. She would be all wrong for Bella. They didn't fit from the beginning like Bella and Edward did and, although Bella admitted her slight attraction to Alice, she also made sure to mention that she loves Edward. That she could never leave him. Alice isn't convinced that it's because she loves him more, but after that, she distanced herself from Bella, despite their constant contact while planning the wedding.
Alice isn't stupid. She felt Bella's eyes on her as they were choosing centerpieces for the guest tables or while they looked at color swatches for the bridesmaids' dresses. She knows that if she acted on her inclination, it would ruin Bella. Because she's worked so hard to create this with Edward. She would have to start from scratch and Alice knows that the strain would be too much and that three, as opposed to the one in the current situation , would be heartbroken by the end of it all.
So Alice turned her eyes away from Bella whenever she felt she was being watched. She brought to a halt the sudden hugs and friendlike-but-intimate touches they shared.
She removed herself and let Bella fall in love with Edward again. Because that's just how it was supposed to be.
Bella reaches the altar and turns to Alice, to hand her the flowers she had been carrying. Just this once, Alice lets herself look into Bella's eyes and, when their hands touch for a moment – the most skin-to-skin contact they've had for a long while – Alice can see Bella's sharp intake of breath, can see Edward tense in the blurry background of her vision as he watches the scene through Alice's thoughts.
In the brief moment that their eyes meet, Alice knows that nothing has changed with time.
The worst of it is that now, there's nothing they can do.
Bella turns, releasing Alice's eyes and Alice watches it end in her mind as the scene plays out before her.
Close the curtain.
End.