As I sat in the car waiting for Alice to come out of the store with the booze, it suddenly dawned on me that I was absolutely terrified. This would be my first proper party, and Alice had insisted that we go all out. This meant mani's, pedi's, curled hair and impossibly short dresses. Hey, I mused internally, my subconscious doing its best to desperately distract me, if I keep myself slouched in this position for the whole night, I may be able to keep my dress below mid thigh, and spare everyone the sight of my most private parts. Yes, I, Isabella Marie Swan, daughter of the chief of police and resident good girl, was going commando. Apparently, a VPL was just 'so not hot'.
Even though I had been in Forks since March, I had managed to steer clear of all things social, with the excuse that I was painfully shy, and refused to be the 'newbie' that everyone would get drunk and humiliate. But it was now the end of summer, just before junior year commenced, and Alice was having none of it. Despite my incessant ramblings about drunken parties being nothing but a breeding ground for trouble – and babies – once Alice had set her mind to something, it was impossible to escape her wrath.
I stared out the windscreen, my eyes burning into the front shop window of the 7-eleven Alice has skipped into, fake ID in hand. I wished Alice would hurry up back here so I could convince her that this was an awful idea and she should take me back home immediately, or at least after I had time to change back into the sweats I had worn to her house this afternoon in lieu of becoming Barbie Bella. Giving Charlie a glimpse of his daughter all grown up would surely be enough to send him into an early retirement. My wish was partially granted as seconds later she appeared, clutching a fifth of Jack Daniels in one hand and a six pack of Bud in the other. How anybody could be dumb enough to sell to a girl who looked about fifteen was beyond me, but I suppose the ID did look pretty legit. And Alice was very persuasive (and flirtatious) when the need arose.
Seeing my facial expressions, and most likely my teeth savagely attacking my bottom lip in a nervous frenzy, hers turned from excitable triumph to a vicious scowl in a nanosecond. She crossed the parking lot hurriedly (and expertly, I might add) in her six inch heels and threw the door to the Porsche open irately, sliding into the drivers seat and turning to face me and my newly acquired body position – head bowed, arms clasped around my body, the picture of sheer terror.
"Bella,' she groaned, throwing the goods onto the back seat effortlessly, despite her petite stature. "I leave you for two minutes and you manage to talk yourself out of doing something COMPLETELY NORMAL. You can forget whatever plan you had scheming in your brain just then, we're going to this party, whether you damn like it or not."
"Alice," I whined back even more petulantly. "I'm just not ready for the whole Forks party scene. You know how I get with large groups of people. I'm just going to ruin your fun! You know it's in your best interests to let me go home, so why don't you just drop me off on your way there?" I ended hopefully. She turned to me with determination gleaming in her eyes.
"Bella, I did not spend the whole of this afternoon getting you ready for you to just bail on me five minutes before we get there! You have been in Forks for months now! You missed every single party this summer, and all the grad parties before that, and you are not missing out on this! It is the back to school party, people will be talking of this till Emmett throws his next one, and that's at Christmas! And if you don't come to this, then you will successfully ostracize yourself even further than you have already by not playing sweet and turning up to anything else." She rattled off this stream of pointlessness whilst starting the car, backing out of her space effortlessly and turning out on the road, keeping eye contact practically the whole time.
Her eyes softened considerably as she prepared to venture further into her 'pep talk.'
"Besides, Babe, I know why you don't want to go, and surely you can be honest about it with me? I know your scared, that's the real reason." Her tone became flippant.
"You really shouldn't stop him, or the idea of him or whatever it is that freaks you the hell out so much, from going. I mean, it's not like he'll even be there anyway. Well probably not, but whatever. Who wants to hang out with their baby brother?"
My heart sank even further into my stomach as she continued to air her views on my… obsession, I guess. The only person that had caught my eye since my move here, the person that despite knowing next to nothing about, I was completely enamoured with. And if I was being honest with myself, the person I held responsible for keeping me away from most large social gatherings this summer, for fear of making a fool out of myself, in front of him.
Edward Cullen.
The guy that intrigued me to no end. A guy I had never spoken to, but merely observed from afar. He was beautiful, mysterious, charming and impossibly sexy. Not that I had experienced any of these virtues first hand…
"Alice, okay, I get it. He won't be there. But still, it's going to feel weird, ya know? Like I'm intruding. I mean, it's his god damn house and I don't even know him!"
Alice rolled her eyes at me before finally refocusing her attention onto the road, much to my relief.
"For fucks sake Bella, it's his brother's party! And you know Emmett! You're not intruding anywhere silly, it's a house party. You know Emmett is going to be so happy to see you! He freakin' adores you, for crying out loud. It's actually kind of weird how much he likes you, but seemingly in a non-sexual way…" Alice trailed off, no doubt picking up the conversation in her thoughts. She often pondered mine and Emmet's relationship. We had met in class the day I joined the high school, and similarly to Alice herself, he had taken me under his wing, making sure I was well respected from the start. We got on well, he was such a nice person, and really funny, but I could tell that the feelings ran no deeper than friendship, on either side. I don't think Alice could comprehend a close relationship between people of the opposite sex that was merely platonic.
She seemed to snap out of her trail of thought, and launched back into her tirade once again.
"You know, he begged me to get you to come, and he still doesn't know I was successful. He's going to be downright gleeful when he realises he has a whole night of teasing. Maybe he can lighten you up a bit! Besides, this is your free ticket to snooping Edward's house! Baby photos, breakfast cereal, you never know, maybe even a glimpse of 'where the magic happens!' " she raised her eyebrows leeringly and giggled, obviously amused at the endless possibilities of the night.
"Fine," I sighed. "I'll go. But I'm only staying for a little while. You know that whole large group thing isn't total bull shit, I'm a social disaster. Besides, with me there, you won't be able to be the outrageous flirt I know you want to be, as I will not be leaving your side all night!"
She laughed and took the bait I had laid out, willing her to readjust her thoughts.
"Okay, whatever Bella, you win. We'll see what Emmett has to say. He is so gonna make you stay now you finally decided to attend one of his legendary parties!"
This wont be so bad, I conceded, as Alice turned down the Cullen's drive and made the long winding journey to their house. The richest family in Forks, they couldn't settle for normal street life, and have a mansion in the middle of the forest, surrounded by absolutely no one.
I breathed in deeply and exhaled completely before unfastening my seatbelt and doing a mental inventory of myself.
Walkable shoes? Barely.
Underwear? No, I had been forced to forgo these.
Decently covering clothes? Alice had let me keep my cleavage – or lack thereof – to myself, but the legs were out on full display.
Stupidly hammering heart? Yup, that was most definitely there.
Alice linked her arm with me, and we tottered up the steps to the house, where things were most definitely in full swing…