Disclaimer: Hail to S. Meyer!
A/N: Just an idea to answer the unanswerable question...
...what do you get a billionaire for his birthday?
BPOV
"He's Jasper's boss!" I screamed as I clung to my clothes, frantically scrambling over my half-made bed as Alice chased me with a pair of scissors. A strap was slipping off my shoulders, causing the material to sag and Alice to cackle with glee as she continued her crazed chase.
"Bella! Stand still! How am I supposed to fit the dress if you're going to run about like a headless chicken?!"
I whimpered as I dove for the doorway, urging Jasper out of my way with the frantic flailing of my arms. Sorry bastard, I thought as he hooted with laughter, tears streaming down his face as he gasped for breath. Fine then! If he wasn't going to get out of my way then…
I threw myself bodily across those last few feet and slammed into his tall frame. I heard his muffled grunt of pain but before I could celebrate, Jasper crumpled to the floor and inadvertently swept my legs from beneath me. With a scream, I floundered and flopped backwards, landing with a rather heavy thump on the carpeted floor of my bedroom.
For a moment, stars danced behind my closed lids and with a groan, I opened my eyes. Alice stood over me, the scissors held high, the scene akin to a B-grade horror film, except of course, the sharp blades weren't dripping with the blood of her previous kills. The smile on her face however, more than made up for the lack of blood.
She shook her head as she crouched down next to me, tsking patiently as if I were a wayward child who needed a scolding. Jasper was still collapsed on my legs, launching into another bout of laughter as Alice smiled over at him sweetly.
"That's my man." She said to him proudly as I struggled to free my trapped limbs. Before I could however, Alice turned back to me and smiled even more brightly.
"Don't struggle, Bella. It will only make things more difficult."
"Good God Alice! This is not a good idea! He –" I was desperate and I think it showed in my voice.
Alice frowned and huffed. "Edward Cullen is Jasper's boss; yes I know."
"Then why are you making me do this?!" I screamed, my eyes, wide and frantic as I readjusted the slipping strap yet again.
"You heard me, didn't you?! That gold-digging bitch, Tanya, is coming to town and we all know why she's coming!" Small as Alice was, she somehow managed to push Jasper off of me and grasping my elbow, dragged me to my feet.
I went reluctantly as she pulled me back towards the full length mirror, her face set into her most guilt-inducing pout.
"You know Edward doesn't deserve to be…"
"He's Jasper's boss." I said once more, rather emphatically in fact, but of course, Alice ploughed on as if I hadn't spoken at all.
"…used and targeted by that despicable woman…"
I felt a whimper build deep inside me as the guilt began to claw at my throat. I knew what Alice was getting at. This Edward Cullen person was Jasper's best friend and Alice adored him to bits, in fact, if she wasn't head over heels for Jazz, I'm convinced that Edward would be the next best thing. I understood why Alice thought he needed to be saved from this Tanya person…but heavens above, why me?
"…all you have to do is make an appearance! That's all I ask!"
Exasperated, I grasped her waving arms, lest she take out my eye with those sharp scissors, and resolutely met her gaze.
"What do you expect to happen, Ally? That's he'll look into my eyes and suddenly forget all about the blonde bombshell throwing herself at him?"
Alice looked genuinely confused for a moment before determination reset her pixyish features.
"Yes." She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "That's exactly what will happen."
That seemed to be the end of the topic for her as she quickly returned to her task of hemming the satin-lace concoction of a half made dress.
I spluttered. "Alice. Alice, no. I haven't even met this guy before! For all I know, he's could be a raving lunatic, obsessed with star trek or something."
Jasper chose that moment to recover his composure and interrupt.
"He's not, Bella."
I whirled towards him, eliciting an annoyed huff from Alice as her grip slipped from the smooth material.
"Have you checked every room of his house for a shrine?"
His eyebrows shot into his hairline. "Umm…no?"
I sniffed victoriously. "Then you can't possibly know that now can you?" Yes, I was being illogical and completely unreasonable but come on! I wasn't about to make a fool of myself in front of the youngest billionaire on the face of the planet. Besides, Alice was a hopeless romantic, 'Sleepless in Seattle, Titanic, The Notebook' kind of romantic. To her, every life was a chick-flick waiting to happen and my perpetually single state was beginning to grate on her delusionally happy mindset.
"Bella. Remember that time I had to come down to the police station to get you because you'd been arrested for public indecency?"
I groaned, suddenly sure of where this particular conversation was going.
"Yes…" I muttered as Jasper snickered. "For the record, some idiot pushed me into the fountain so I didn't actually willingly flash that old couple sitting in the park."
Alice straightened and braced her hands on her hips. "You didn't have any underwear on."
My face flamed and Jasper collapsed against the nearest wall, crying with laughter.
"I ran out of clean panties!"
The petite woman shook her head. "Do you remember what you said to me that day, Bella? You said that you owed me a huge favour and that I was the best friend in the world. You said that all I had to do was ask and you would gladly repay the favour, do you remember…"
Oh damn. The woman had a memory like a fourteen year old mathlete, chess champion.
"Alice!"
She held a pin between pursed lips as she took the opportunity to adjust the collar of her white contraption of a dress. Sending me a very stern look to ensure that I stood still, she slipped the pin through the material several times until it held tightly across my chest.
"All I ask is that you turn up to the party. You don't even have to talk to him." Alice retrieved another pin from the cushion tied to her wrist and proceeded to adjust my slipping straps. "You just have to walk in there and enjoy yourself."
I eyed her suspiciously but I knew that I had already given in. I wouldn't have denied her any reasonable request, favour or not.
"No obligations?" I asked.
"None." She confirmed, frowning as she stood back to survey her work. "If you don't want an active part in 'Operation: thwart Tanya', then that's your choice. You just have to be there for back up, in case Rosie, Emmett, Jasper and I get arrested."
My eyes widened a fraction as she stepped towards me once more. "Arrested? What are you planning to do to Tanya?"
Alice tugged angrily at the shoulder straps as she muttered. "Drastic times call for drastic measures." Her expression turned saccharine. "Unless of course, you're willing to…"
"No." I said immediately but Alice seemed to have expected the answer as she went straight back to fussing with the dress. With two sharp tugs, the satin and lace straps tore and fluttered uselessly to the ground.
Shrieking, I clutched the bodice of the dress, holding up the material lest the sheath shimmy its way down my skinny form.
"Ally! What on earth are you doing?"
Alice huffed impatiently as she snatched up a swath of the same white material from my bed. Cutting off two equally sized pieces, she wrapped them around my shoulders as makeshift sleeves and pinned them to what remained of the dress.
Stepping back, she smiled brightly. "Oh! Edward is going to love you in this!"
It hardly mattered what Edward bloody Cullen thought of the dress, I thought as I scratched my shoulder for the thousandth time. This stupid satin and lace concoction was itchy and uncomfortable and looking at myself in the mirror…God, I looked ridiculous.
"You look beautiful, Bella." Alice whispered as if she sensed my doubts.
I suppose the dress wasn't bad. It was an Alice Brandon original after all. White with under-layers of satin coated with a film of lace, the dress looked something like an evening gown from a bygone era. It was a tight and figure hugging sheath of material that stretched across my shoulders and flared out below the knees, altogether, it seemed like something Audrey Hepburn would wear, not me.
Alice, however, disagreed. As she sat, carefully removing the strategically placed hot rollers from my hair, she smiled dreamily at my reflection and stroked the curls which now fell to my shoulders.
"Gosh Bella, don't you look a treat." A masculine voice said from the doorway. I looked up and smiled.
"You scrub up quite well yourself, Mr. Whitlock." And so he did, his tall frame was practically born to wear the elegant grey number he was currently showing off.
From the corner of my eye, I watched Alice give him an appreciative once-over before she returned to release the rest of my hair from the torture of curlers. With a few twists of her wrist, she had pinned the mass of curls into a messy sort of up-do and sat back, sighing as I settled a thin white ribbon around the entirety just as a finishing touch.
"I'm a genius." She said, laying her chin on my shoulder. A spark of mischief lit in her eyes as I watched guardedly and Alice turned towards me.
"Well?" She demanded.
I floundered for a few moments, not entirely sure what to say. Would she take offence if I told her I felt like an over-wrapped Christmas present? Deciding to play it safe, I simply agreed with her.
"Excellent." Alice nodded as she took me by the elbow and dragged me to my feet. "Come on, we're going to be late."
It was then, right that instant, that the panic set in. Alice and Jasper wouldn't be dragging me to this guy's birthday party without some motive whatever they had promised me. In a moment of unusual precognitive clarity, I saw myself being thrust into his arms and quite possibly falling head first into his cake instead. Something disastrous was bound to happen and knowing my two left feet, it could easily result in bodily injury to either me or him…or both!
I dug my heels into the carpet and came to a sudden standstill.
"No! I…I don't want to go! I…uh…I have to recheck my manuscript before I meet my editor tomorrow!"
Alice was still behind me, pushing my frozen figure. "Bella," She huffed, out of breath. "Your meeting with your editor is two weeks away; you can afford to take one night off."
I wanted to cry…was that a logical response to attending the social event of the year? Likely not, but screw logical! I couldn't afford to be logical while my best friends had matchmaking on their minds!
"No…God Alice, I…I think I might be sick…yes, that's it! It must have been that sushi I had for lunch, damn, I knew it tasted a bit off…I'm just…"
The petite designer gave me a firm shove as she screamed for Jasper to get his ass into my room. "You didn't have sushi for lunch; you had a sandwich you made yourself."
I did? Damn!
"Alice, I really think…oof!"
Jasper was a no nonsense kind of guy and this was clearly evident when he simply skipped the necessary arguments and simply scooped me up, tossed my clumsy body over his shoulder and marched from the room. Behind us, I could hear Alice screeching at him to not ruin my hair but seeing as this unnecessarily rough action was serving her purposes, she quieted soon enough and followed while my prone form was dragged kicking and screaming from my apartment building.
Suffice it to say, my neighbours will never look at me the same way but after being safely deposited in Jasper's limo, the couple resumed their normal behaviour, namely, treating me like a human being rather than a sack of potatoes.
"That was completely unnecessary."
Alice's smile said it all as she patted Jazz's knee. "Of course. Now, scoot over, a few of your curls have fallen out of place."
I reluctantly did as she asked and as she sat behind me, fixing the damage done to my hair, I watched Jasper grin.
Petulant and not a little indignant, I huffed and scowled at him, well in his general direction as Alice had forbidden me to turn my head.
"I didn't even get this guy a birthday present…and you're making me crash his party."
Jasper waved away my last ditch excuse and continued smiling.
"It doesn't matter, Bella." Alice said from behind me. "What do you get for a billionaire who has ten of everything already anyway?"
God love this woman, always so sensible. But that just sparked another question in my mind.
"What are you getting him then?" I looked around the limo…nope, no wrapped packages in sight. "A gift card? Or is it in the boot?"
A musical giggle came from behind me as Alice pinned the last curl into place. "Nope. It's right here."
I looked around, suddenly wondering if I was going blind, but no, I could see Jasper's widening smirk as clear as day.
"Hate to break it to you guys, but I think you might need glasses. What are you going to give him? The limo or something?"
Alice had already planted herself firmly next her boyfriends welcoming body as she shook her head in denial.
"Don't worry, Bella. You'll see when we get there."
She wouldn't say another word about it and I devoted my energy to waiting for the perfect moment to leap from the moving car, Jason Bourne style. Unfortunately, Jasper's driver seemed to have the foresight to utilise the child locks.
As the limo manoeuvred the drive to upstate New York, Alice kept the conversation flowing with no input on my part whatsoever. I was too nervous…or too anxious…or whatever you would call this unnerving sensation swirling around in the pit of my stomach. The happy couple opposite me were completely oblivious of course and as we drew near the Cullen mansion, where this Edward character lived, they grew more and more excited…as opposed to my growing desire to melt into the leather seats.
"Bella!" Alice clasped my clammy hand. "Look! We're here."
I looked.
Wow.
Oh…double wow.
The mansion was not a mansion. It was an entire bloody palace; all it was missing was a few towers and hello Disney! Perched at the top of a gently sloping hill, it was a sprawling property surrounded by acres of open land and manicured lawns. For the occasion, every light and torch was lit and blazing, lighting the façade of the building until it practically glowed in the darkness.
"Jesus."
Alice smiled against my shoulder and held my hand tightly until the limo pulled to a stop in front of the open front doors. Instantly, a uniformed figured stepped from the entrance and snatched open the limo door before I could even close my slack jaw. Unattractive…yes, but Alice and Jasper had seen far worse.
"Come on, Bella." Jazz chose that moment to help me out of the car. "Let's go meet the birthday boy."
I looked the couple and frowned; they were both empty handed. "But what about your present?"
Jazz smiled at me in a way I really didn't like. "I've got it."
Oh…oooookay. Good God, these two were acting odd…by odd, I mean odder than usual as Jasper and Alice are normally odd anyway.
Within moments, I was engulfed in the crowd of well-wishers, guided and held up only by Alice's supporting hand on my elbow and Jasper's firm grasp around my shoulders. The heat of the June night was already stifling but the crowd made the situation ten times worse; Alice would kill me if I started to sweat through her dress.
Instead of heading away from the crowd however, Jasper and Alice only pulled me towards it. Along the way, I spotted Rosalie and Emmett. Both waved at me before turning away with identical conspiratorial smiles on their faces. Suffice it to say, we didn't stop to greet them. Alice seemed set on her course, whatever it was.
The champagne and hors d'oeuvres flowed free and the merry atmosphere was giving me a headache. Heaven help me, this place was a nightmare; an ideal place for disaster. My clumsy gene always did seem to have a penchant for dramatics.
"Smile Bella, you look like you're at a funeral."
I grimaced; the best attempt I muster at that moment. "I'm hardly wearing the appropriate colour for it."
That seemed to amuse her to no end. "No…you're dressed for a wedding."
I huffed, disgruntled by the comparison but Alice ignored me. At that moment, she was eagerly elbowing the crowd out of the way, causing several china doll-like models to scowl at her petite figure as we ploughed through.
It was with some relief that I found myself pulled to a stop moments later, thank goodness for small mercies, I thought as my feet throbbed in the impractical heels Alice had chosen to match the dress.
Jasper seemed to have stopped to chat to a man in a black suit…and holy cow…
A pair of golden eyes flashed to mine and the world suddenly tipped on its axis.
The last thing I heard was Alice's smug voice. "Happy Birthday Edward."
A/N: Just a sneak peak. Next chapter...EPOV. Please note this story will likely only be 3 chapters long. A Novelette if you will. It'll get pretty M-rated later on...
Always,
Twilight To Midnight