"Beautiful as usual," Edward commented.
"No," Bella protested, "How does my costume look?"
Edward studied her carefully. "A vampire," he concluded.
"Correct!" She looked down at her dress. "Alice was nice enough to buy me the outfit. And the contact lenses." She looked up at Edward. Two pairs of topaz colored eyes mirrored each other.
"She did your makeup, too." Edward's cold hand lifted her chin as he studied her face. It was paler than usual---as pale as his own face. He watched her slide something over her canines. "Fangs?" Edward inquired.
Bella wiggled her canine teeth, one by one, with her index finger and thumb. "I know, vampires don't really have these teeth. But it's a human thing," she defended herself. "Nobody will believe I'm a vampire if I don't wear the teeth." She flashed a wide smile. "How do they look?"
"Silly."
Bella lifted a hand mirror to her face and inspected her teeth. She blushed. One of the fangs that slid over her canine teeth had slipped off and was dangling. She put it back in place and set the mirror down onto the nightstand.
"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Bella asked skeptically.
Edward lifted her and placed her onto his lap. His cold arms wrapped around her small body. "Of course. I don't celebrate Halloween."
"Oh right," Bella teased, "vampires can't eat candy or else they'll mess up their heavenly figures, right?"
"Right," Edward agreed as he lifted the corner of his mouth into a crooked smile. "Have fun tonight. And be safe."
"Ugh, Bella," Jacob complained.
"What? You were the one who invited me over," Bella whined.
"I know you were probably set on being a vampire for Halloween, but you didn't have to go as far as smelling like one too."
With quick movements, Jacob locked Bella into a tight hug. "Jacob! Stop! Can't---breathe---" He finally let go and Bella gasped for air.
"What was that for?!" Bella smacked his arm with her hand. As usual, it hurt her more than it hurt him, but she tried her best to disguise her pain and not make a scene out of it.
Jacob's face lit up. "See? I did us all a favor. Now you don't smell like nasty vampire!" He sniffed her. "Ah, that's a beautiful scent you have on there, miss."
"Thanks for the compliment," Bella grumbled as she brushed away the wrinkles on her black dress. She stepped inside of the house as Jacob closed the door behind her.
"Hey vampire girl!" Embry waved.
"Hey Embry. Good to see you guys again." Bella smiled.
Bella couldn't remove her eyes from the television screen, which was flashing horrid images. It was actually scaring her for once. Why was that? She was able to take on blood-thirsty vampires, giant werewolves, and Charlie's flaming fury, but not this. The lights were on---thanks to Bella's request---but she still had this bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something bad was going to happen, although she wasn't sure if this ominous feeling was supposed to be applied to her life or just the movie.
Right on cue, the lights cut off and there was a giant crash. Bella's body jerked with fear. What was going on?
Suddenly, the lights flickered back on. Her heart just about jumped right through her chest, but she heard Quil and Embry snickering. "I win the bet," she heard Quil boast loudly. That was when Bella realized she had jumped onto Jacob's lap and was now clinging onto him for dear life. She looked up at Jacob with burning cheeks. He didn't meet her eyes, but was trying to hold back a laugh. Bella's mouth was halfway open as we she about to interrogate the boys, but she remembered she was still sitting in Jacob's lap and tried to straighten herself out with dignity.
She threw a look towards Embry and Quil's direction and narrowed her eyes. They, too, avoided her eyes and looked innocent from all guilty charges. She sighed and asked, "What was that really big crash?"
"Aw, don't look like that, Bella. It's not Embry's fault for being such a klutz," Quil said as he pointed to the table next to the light switch. "I mean, you of all people should understand." He chuckled.
Bella stopped her glare of death and looked in the direction Quil pointed to. She groaned. "Billy told me to keep you guys from destroying any more of his furniture!" She looked at the pile of splinters and wood with regret.
Jacob laughed. "Actually, my dad has been bugging us to get rid of that table for him. It was getting really wobbly and old."
Embry grinned. "See? Now we have some nice firewood instead of that cheap, old table!" he said triumphantly. With a few quick movements, all of what was left of the massacred table was thrown and shoved into the fireplace. The wood was quickly set ablaze.
Jacob jumped up and stood on his feet. "So...who's ready for the party?"
"Whoo!" Quil and Embry cheered as they high-fived.
"Party...? Jacob? You didn't say anything about a party..."
"I know! I'm surprising you by taking you to a Halloween party. Which makes it a surprise party too! Brilliant huh?" Jacob beamed.
"Umm...so what are you guys going as?"
"Werewolves, of course," Jacob answered. He was the first to take off his shirt and the other boys followed suit. They all put on werewolf wigs. "And now for the finishing touches." The fabric made tearing noises as they ripped their shorts.
"I thought you guys are trying to keep your clothes from ripping?" Bella reminded them.
"Oh we know. But it's just for Halloween. Plus, one more ripped pair of shorts won't do us any harm."
The three boys modeled their half naked bodies for Bella and flexed their muscles. "Oh please," Bella said as she covered her eyes with her palm.
"You hear that boys?" Jacob asked. "She's begging us to stop. We better quit before she explodes with hot desire."
Bella headed towards the door with eyes still covered. "Let's just go already."
"Hey look! There's the rest of the pack over here," Jacob pointed to the refreshment table. Sam was standing with his arm around Emily and the rest of the pack was surrounding them. Bella could make out Collin, Brady, Seth, Leah, and Jared with Kim. Jacob, Quil, and Embry made their way over towards them.
Bella was about to follow, but someone behind her had a strong grip around her wrist. "Hey," a stranger said in a deep voice. "I've never seen you around in La Push before." Bella made a futile attempt to remove her wrist from the stranger's strong hand. "How about sinking those nice fangs into my neck?"
"Look, I'm not interested in scum like you." Not this again, Bella thought. It was getting annoying, with all of these weird admirers, and she honestly wasn't asking for any of it.
"Yeah, yeah. The 'hard-to-get' thing gets old really fast. How about we just skip that part?" He started pulling her towards the rear of the backyard.
"Bella!" Jacob yelled from across the yard. He came stomping towards them with urgency. Rage was burning in his eyes. Bella was scared. Not for herself, but for Jacob. He was on the verge of a transformation.
"What makes you think this has anything to do with you?" the boy challenged.
Jacob growled. "This has everything to do with me. I love her. Don't you dare lay a finger on my girl."
The other La Push kids at the party were now watching closely. They gasped as they heard Jacob's warning. Their minds lingered on his last two words, "my girl."
Jacob planted his hand on the boy's chest and pushed him back with unbelievable force. The hand on Bella's wrist loosened as the boy fell. Jacob wrapped his arm around Bella's shoulders and led her away, leaving the disheveled boy on the floor to gape at them. Whispers were flying from every direction as the onlookers were processing what had happened in front of their eyes. It was obviously something very exciting and something that would be the center of conversations for the rest of the night.
"Are you okay, Bella?" Jacob asked once they were alone. He looked concerned.
Bella ignored his question and looked at him in disbelief. "Jacob! Why'd you start that rumor?!"
"I...I guess I've just been wanting it to be true for so long...it just came out." He sighed. "It won't be a rumor if you make it come true." Bella made no move.
"Bella," Jacob whispered, "can't you just make it come true for just one night?" He held her tightly in his arms. The cold night that had lingered on her skin was fading away. She was engulfed in warmth, a warmth that felt so real and comforting.
Bella noticed that the werewolf wig had fallen off after Jacob's encounter with the scumbag. She ran her fingers through his flowing, long hair. It was silky. And then she remembered...this long hair was just for her. He had grown it out specifically for her. She blushed. There was no denying it; his dark and long hair drove her crazy. She stroke it adoringly. Suddenly, she remembered thinking of him as sort of beautiful once before. Now as she looked at him under the glowing moonlight, he seemed...more than just "sort of beautiful." He was beautiful.
Just for tonight, she echoed in her head. It was wrong. But for some reason she couldn't stop herself. She didn't know what the next day would bring. Maybe she'd stop talking to Jacob again for good. Tonight, however, seemed magical and nothing else seemed to matter.
She removed the fangs from her canines and dropped them onto the floor. They fell without a sound.