This is my first fanfiction on this site, so please R&R, and let me know what you think. I rated it T, but there is some minor drug reference FYI.
Most of the Characters are OC, but there is some OOC.
Disclaimer: All recognizable Twilight characters owned by Stephanie Meyer.
Background: (All human)
Bella- 18 yrs old
Alice- 18 yrs old
Edward- 19 yrs old
Emmett- 19 yrs old
Rosalie- 19 yrs old
Jasper-19 yrs old
Chapter 1: Cliché Front
I stared at the clock over customer service mentally willing the minute hand to move quicker. I started working at this theater about a week ago, and already, I wanted to shoot myself. My coworkers, though annoying, I could deal with. The managers, who were undoubtedly assholes, I could handle. The job itself, which tended to be horribly tedious, could definitely be worse. But when you pile up all of that on top of dealing with customers, it all made me want to scream at the top of my lungs. And then, imagine feeling like that, and having to go on with a fake smile plastered on your face all day. Can you say unbearable?
Not a minute went by in that shitty excuse for a job that I didn't contemplate quitting, but I needed a paycheck at the end of each week if I wanted a place to stay. There were a couple unfortunate times before I moved in with Alex where I had to spend a night or two on the street, and I tried to avoid that situation at all cost.
I guess you could say my life at the moment was no picnic. And I had no reason to think it would be getting better any time soon.
"Bella," I heard from an obnoxious voice in front of me. I reluctantly looked away from the clock to my least favorite, horse faced, blonde manager.
"Yes, Kathy?" I asked, uninterested.
"I don't mean to interrupt you, since you seem to be busy doing absolutely nothing productive, but could you take a break from that and actually do something?" she asked sarcastically. This girl had it in for me the moment I walked through the door. She was always on my back about "keeping busy" and keeping my station "spotless". I swear, I stop moving for a second, and she's already yelling at me.
And that's the thing about working at a theater. In between movie sets, when there are no customers, and everything is restocked and cleaned, there is literally nothing to do. But still, we have to keep busy, even if that means cleaning the already clean counters, pretending to stock, or just staying out of sight, although that can be risky. I already got caught once hiding out in the back room drinking some water, and I almost got fired.
I wasn't in a complacent mood today, so I decided to give her a hard time.
"What would you like me to do, Kathy?" I asked her innocently. "Everything is cleaned and restocked, the lobby is completely empty of customers, and the next set isn't for another hour." I was assigned to working the concession stand, and the person working with me was on his break.
"You can sweep the floor," she replied matter-of-factly.
I looked to the ground behind the concession stand, which I already swept, and noticed a single kernel near the popcorn popper. If I was smart, I would take a broom and pretend to sweep the floor. That's what she wanted me to do. But I didn't feel like being smart today.
I rolled my eyes once my back was turned to her, and slowly bent down to pick up the kernel. As I faced her, I raised one eyebrow, and held it out to her. Then I made a show of tossing it in the nearest trash can.
"All swept," I said mockingly.
"What about the candy?" she asked irritably.
I walked over to the candy cabinet and opened the doors. "All stocked," I said unenthusiastically.
"What about the oil?" she asked knowingly. "You know the warmer has to be fully stocked at all times." That was a stupid rule that no one followed, including me. She thought she had me, but I wasn't about to give her a reason to smile.
"Already took care of it," I lied. Kathy narrowed her eyes at me. Then she smirked, and I knew she was thinking up something sinister. Maybe giving her a hard time wasn't such a great idea…
"Well," she continued, still smirking. "I think the bathrooms could use a good cleaning." Oh, that woman was evil.
I slumped my shoulders in defeat. Bathroom rounds were the worse job, especially for the girls. You might think that guys are messier, but not when it comes to bathrooms. I don't know what it is about those feminine trashcans in each stall, but girls tend to be predictably uncoordinated when it comes to using them.
As I turned my back to Kathy, she decided to rub her victory in. "Make sure you take some rubber gloves. I just came from the bathroom, and it's not a pretty site." With a
disfiguring grin, and a wink that made me want to slap her, she turned her back and walked away.
I made my way to the storage closet and grabbed some cleaning supplies, including gloves. After checking out the girls' bathroom, I made the executive decision to skip the stalls and just clean the sinks, mirrors, and sweep the floors. Cleaning the stalls was a dirty job, and I was not paid nearly enough to do it.
I quickly made my way back to the concession stand, still void of customers, and luckily void of Kathy. Afraid that Kathy would come back and yell at me again, I took my place behind the concession stand, my butt on the ground with my back up against the cupboards. Nobody could see me there unless they came right up to the stand.
I sighed, happy to be off my feet, and closed my eyes, willing time to move faster again.
"Excuse me," said a high, cheerful voice. I opened my eyes to see a short, pixie-like girl with dark black hair cropped short and spiked. She had a nose stud, and an ear full of piercings. Something about her seemed vaguely familiar, but I shrugged it off. I mentally reminded myself to put my rings and studs back in after I got off of work. Stupid dress code…
"Sorry," I said, getting up and wiping off the dirt from my butt. My first impression of her was that she looked like a tough chick, small as she was. As I stood up, her eyes practically popped open with a huge intake of breath. She recovered quickly, replacing a face of pure shock with pure excitement.
She continued to stare at me, so I asked her, "Can I get you anything?"
"Yes!" she squeaked loudly. "I mean, yes" she recovered, more calmly, with visible effort. "I'll have a large popcorn and a large coke."
"Butter?" I asked vaguely.
"No thank you," she replied, still excited.
"You're Bella Swan, aren't you?" she asked as I was filling her popcorn. Maybe we met? That would explain why she looked familiar. Hopefully I wasn't drunk or something, although it wouldn't be farfetched.
"The one and only," I replied, turning around to smile. "Who's asking?"
"Alice," she replied with a smile. I put down her things on the counter, and backed up to lean my butt against the cabinets behind me. "Alice Brandon?" she asked, almost hopefully.
"Brandon," I repeated, shoving my hands into my pocket. "Alice Brandon…" The name did sound familiar. Where could we have met? Maybe she stayed in Alex's flat at one point, or maybe she was at one of Chris's parties?
"Are you a friend of Alex's?" I asked. She shook her head abjectly.
I dropped my head to the floor. "Hmmm," I sighed, trying to think.
"We went to high school together, Bella," she interrupted me.
I snapped my head back up, and stared at her, with my eyes wide. I don't know what she read on my face, probably some mixture between fear and shock, but she took a small step back. I continued to stare at her, but let my thoughts wander to a place I spent the last two years avoiding: Forks, Washington. Memories flooded through my head a million miles per hour, making my head pound. I closed my eyes willing the tears that threatened to hold off.
After a couple seconds of silence, I slowly shook my head back and forth, trying to reign in the onslaught of memories that threatened to give me a mental breakdown right there. I focused back on Alice, who was still staring at me, most likely trying to figure out if I was crazy.
Once I got myself under control, it took less than a second to place Alice Brandon. She was a girl a year ahead of me, who was always nice to everyone. Very popular, but not bitchy popular. We even hung out a few times. That is, before I shut everyone out; everyone except Charlie. I tightly closed my eyes at the memory of my dad.
"Alice Brandon," I said slowly. "I remember you." I hoped she wouldn't ask any questions. I hoped she would hurry up and get back to her movie. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
"What happened to you?" she asked, almost sadly. She took a step closer to me. I would have stepped back if it wasn't for the cabinets blocking me. I didn't want her pity.
"What do you think happened to me?" I asked defensively. Wasn't it obvious? Didn't the whole town of Forks know what happened to me?
"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking down at the counter separating us. As she returned her gaze to me, she looked almost hurt. "It's just… you disappeared Bella. We were all so worried about you. Have you been here in Seattle all this time?"
"For the most part, yes," I conceded. I noticed a girl approaching the stand behind Alice, and I was grateful for an excuse for this conversation to be over.
"I'm sorry Alice; I don't mean to be rude. But I have some customers behind you I need to take care of." She glanced behind her and slumped her shoulders.
"Oh," she whispered.
"9.50," I said, holding out my hand. She quickly reached into her purse and handed me the exact amount.
"Will you be here when I get out of my movie?" she asked hopefully.
I frowned, reminded that there were three more hours left on my shift. "Yep," I said, trying to put on a smile for her. I didn't want to hurt her feelings. "Unless I'm fired, that is," I joked.
"Well, I'll see you in a bit then," she smiled, accepting my answer.
"See you," I nodded. She turned and left, almost skipping to her theater. I chuckled at her strange enthusiasm that I remembered from high school.
I was still staring after Alice when I heard "Um, hello?" in a nasally voice. I turned to see a tall bleach blonde standing expectantly in front of me with her hands on her his. She was wearing an extremely revealing, bright pink tank top riding up her stomach. I had to suppress a laugh at how ridiculous she looked wearing that in October.
"What can I get you?" I asked, giving her my attention.
"Um, like, I bought this popcorn before," she said, holding up a half empty, large bucket of popcorn. "And, like, when I ordered it, I asked for no butter, but this, like, totally has butter on it."
"Okay," I sighed, not sure what she wanted me to do.
"Well, can I get some, like, new popcorn, that's not covered in that nasty stuff?"
she asked rudely.
"Sure," I replied. I went to grab the bucket from her, and she reluctantly gave it to me. I dumped out the remaining popcorn in the trash and went to refill it when she scoffed behind me. I turned around.
"Is there a problem?" I asked her incredulously.
"Well, I need a new bucket! That one's soaked in nasty butter! Duh," she sneered. Was this girl for real?
"I'm sorry," I said, not sorry in the least. "Those tubs are inventoried, so I can't just give you a new one."
"But you guys are the ones who messed up my order!" she practically screamed. God, this girl was the epitome of bitchy. She was seriously pushing my limit.
"Well," I retorted slowly. "You can pay six bucks for a new bucket if you want." There was now a small line forming behind this girl. I hoped she would hurry up.
"Look," she said pointedly, leaning over the counter to poke me in the chest. "I don't know who you think you are, and frankly I don't care! You're just a stupid nobody working for minimum wage in a movie theater!" Well she was right about the minimum wage. "Now be a good little worker, and get me my popcorn before I decided to get you fired!" So much for pushing my limit; my limit was long gone.
"Listen, Blondie," I replied just as pointedly. "I don't know who you think you are, but I already told you I can't just give you a new bucket! If you're that hungry, why don't you finish the rest of your buttered popcorn, which you've clearly already eaten most of? Now if there's nothing else, can you please get your bony ass out of my line!" I was leaning over the counter now as well, and our faces were maybe three inches apart. She was fuming, but I was smirking.
"I may have a bony ass, but at least I'm not fat!" God, this girl was giving the most cliché comeback. I wasn't even fat! I decided to follow her lead on the cliché front.
"I may be fat, but you'll always be ugly, and I can diet," I said, calmly this time.
Her face bright red, she stomped her foot and let out a screech. God, what was she, twelve? Instead of making her way back to the theaters, she stomped all the way to customer service. That couldn't end well…
She was complaining to Kathy now, and I could tell it wasn't going well at all. She repeatedly pointed over to me, and shaking her hand in Kathy's face. Now I knew I was in trouble. If there was one thing Kathy hated, it was getting yelled at by customers. And since she couldn't take it out on them, she would most definitely take it out on me.
I sighed, ignoring my customers, waiting for the inevitable.
"Bella!" Kathy called from across the lobby. "Get over here!"
I made my way over there, knowing I was about to be fired. That sucked. It took me a while to find this job, and I wasn't looking forward to finding a new one. I was contemplating different options for places to apply when I reached customer service.
"Yes, Kathy?" I asked, trying to sound innocent.
"Did you call this customer," she gestured to Blondie, "ugly, and tell her that she had a bony ass?" she asked me, daring me to lie. I figured there was no point in trying to defend myself. Evil blondes tend to stick together.
"Yes, I did," I replied confidently.
"I am so sorry, ma'am," Kathy said, turning to Blondie. Back to me, she continued, "Bella, that was completely inappropriate. Don't bother finishing out your shift, and don't bother coming back. You're fired." Wow, didn't see that one coming.
I considered letting her have it, telling her exactly how much I enjoyed spending this past week with her, but decided she wasn't worth my breath. I settled for rolling my eyes.
Without saying anything, I turned around and made my way towards the exit, groaning in frustration when I heard Kathy offering her free movie passes to 'better her movie experience'. I burst through one of the sets of double doors, with no more thoughts of Alice.
As I was making my way down the street, I shrugged out of the ugly maroon polo I had to wear for my uniform, and tossed it into a dumpster I passed. No need for that anymore. Unfortunately, it was a chilly October night, and I was only sporting a white tank top underneath.
With my arms hugging my torso, and my eyes on my feet, I made my way to Alex's flat, which was only a six minute walk away. I had been living there for over a year now. I met Alex through a friend, and he was nice enough to offer me his place to crash as long as I needed to. I hadn't realized then that he expected me to use his bed, which freaked me out at first. But he was an okay guy, and I really needed a place to stay at the time.
Once my stay became permanent, I started paying rent, but it wasn't much to complain about. On average, there were maybe 8 people splitting the rent, which considerably brought the price down. And there was a small pool that everyone had to contribute in to cover some house essentials: alcohol, weed, and food. In total, I had to pay maybe 50 a week. And if you couldn't pay, you were out.
I wasn't exactly ecstatic about my current living situation, but it's not like I had a better offer. And plus, I had a lot of good friends that stayed with me, and I definitely enjoyed their company. They were all very easy to get along with, possibly attributed to the fact they smoked weed 24/7. Still, it was an agreeable atmosphere, and a convenient place to work on my art. It was also conveniently located; just outside of downtown Seattle. Easy access to transportation, and a decent number of things to do nearby.
I finally reached my destination, a small, cheap looking gray house packed into a long line of houses, small buildings and various businesses lining the side of the busy road I was on. Alex's flat was the second floor, so I made my way up the stairs on the right side of the house. Since there was always someone home, the door was always unlocked, and Alex was the only one with keys.
I opened the door, and had to pause to adjust to the lighting. There was one random black light in the corner of the main room, and a weak lamp in the kitchen. After I had my bearings, I made my way towards Alex's bedroom, one of two bedrooms in the whole flat. I walked past the kitchen, which wasn't even its' own room, just an extension of the main living area. There were a couple couches placed haphazardly around a small television in the main area, neither of which I would consider sleeping on, but some people did. Right now, there were a few people sitting there passing around a joint.
There was also a lot of empty space in the back, where a couple of mattresses were strewn about. Depending on how many people were crashing here, they weren't always used. The mattress in the second bedroom was more desired because of the privacy.
Now, however, we had a full house, and my two friends Holly and Coral were using the mattress in the corner. As I passed them, I waved hi, and they quickly waved back, turning their attention back to the music they were listening to.
After softly knocking on the door, I walked in to find Alex sleeping buck naked on our mattress. I paused for a second, appreciating his nicely toned body, wishing he could always be asleep. Knowing that he wanted me to wake him up when I got back from work, I walked over to him, knelt down, and gently rubbed his back.
"Hey baby, I'm home." I hoped he wouldn't want to have sex now, I just wanted to sleep.
He yawned, and rolled over with a smile stretched across his face. "Bella, I missed you." He pulled me down towards him and proceeded to kiss me. Alex wasn't a bad kisser, but it was kind of boring and did nothing for me. I would rather do without, but he seemed to like it, so I complied. "How was work?" he eventually asked.
"Well…" I trailed off. He was never happy when I got fired from a job. He liked being able to rely on me for extra cash if he came up short, which was often.
"Wait, where's your uniform?" he asked. Uh-oh.
"I got fired," I finally said, softly.
"Bella," he sighed frustratingly. "That was a good job. How is it that you manage to lose every job you get?" His voice was rising, and he was glaring at me, ready to start a fight, something I definitely did not want to do with him. They usually got pretty heated, and sometimes he got violent.
"It wasn't my fault! The customer was a complete bitch and practically called me white trash! And my manager was no better! I swear all blondes are evil!"
He wasn't buying it.
"Well obviously you did something wrong if you got fired! What are you going to do about money now?" He was practically yelling at me. Our fights used to be really embarrassing since everyone in the apartment could hear everything, but they got used to it eventually, as did I.
I decided to play all the cards I had, anything to avoid a drawn out argument.
"I'm sorry, baby," I sighed dejectedly, while tracing my fingers up the center of his flat stomach up to his chest and back again. I knew this would sidetrack him. "I promise I'll get a new job right away."
He was visibly calming to my touch. "Tomorrow?" he asked, though I knew it wasn't a question.
"I'll go out tomorrow morning," I agreed.
"Good," he grunted. I attempted to pull my hand away from his chest, but he held onto it. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked playfully.
I didn't say anything. He then grabbed my hips and roughly pulled me onto him so I was straddling his own hips. I mentally sighed, knowing he was definitely in the mood now. Slowly, he ran his hands under my tank top and up my sides, lifting it over my head. Alex was impatient tonight, and in record time, my pants were off.
While I waited for him to finish up, I continued to think about the different places I might be able to apply for a job tomorrow.