A/N: Thanks a lot for the reviews!! I'm glad you guys thought it was funny ^-^.
Summary: Bella was a shy girl with a low self esteem, who always followed the rules. Edward was a heartbreaker, alluring and unknowingly seductive. When Bella spends a whole summer with him and the rest of his eccentric family…hell erupts.
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight….blargh.
Sunsets and Car Crashes
Excerpt from previous chapter:
He had on faded jeans and a t-shirt as well. His face twisted into a crooked smile, and said, "Hello, Bella. We've already met," His musical voice so familiar to me. "I'm—"
And it hit me.
"You!" I pointed at him, "Limo driver!"
Chapter 2: Vulnerable
Tell me tell me
What makes you think that you are invincible?
I can see it in your eyes that you're so sure
Please don't tell me that I'm the only one that's vulnerable
Impossible
-Vulnerable, Secondhand Serenade
Emmett and Jasper's incredulous gazes flashed from me to the limo drivers. They both were biting their lips to keep from laughing, almost drawing blood. Alice and Rosalie weren't much different: they had both decided that abandoning me on my side of the room and standing next to Emmett and Jasper was the way to fix this situation. They grinned at me encouragingly.
I was still in the middle of pointing and hopping like the idiot I was, and I didn't notice the limo driver's face twisting into an even broader smile. He whipped around and glared playfully at Alice.
"Remind me never to do you any favors again." He whispered loudly, "One word: scarring." He buried his face in his hands. I had the urge to grab his hands and throw them to his sides, just so I could stare at his face longer.
"What the hell are you doing driving a limo." Emmett laughed.
"Emmett," Alice said slowly, "There's something more amazing that Edward did today, other than drive the limo." We all looked at her, surprised.
"What is it?" Jasper arched an eyebrow.
"Well," A grin erupting on her face, "I couldn't let him drive a limo wearing that," she looked pointedly at his chosen outfit, "Now could I?"
All of our eyes widened, almost simultaneously. Excluding Emmett, of course—he was slow at these kind of things.
"What did you make him wear?" Rosalie giggled, knowing just as personally as I did, how conniving and manipulative (not to mention persuasive) Alice could be, when it involved fashion. "Tell me you made him wear a tutu…we all know how wonderful our dear little Edward would look in that." We laughed at that, while Edward just stood there, a blush seeping to his cheeks.
"Rosalie, Rosalie, Rosalie," Alice scolded, wagging a finger, "As much as I would have loved to force Edward to do that…I wanted to protect the eyes of the civilians around them. Can you imagine the reactions of the seldom tourists that come here? I care about their sanity! Including Bella's…not that she would mind much. She'd be too busy looking at his face anyway…."
"Hey!" I protested, "That was uncalled for!" Even though I knew it was true. I hadn't noticed Edward's outfit at all—I was too busy ogling his face. Not that you can really blame me, of course. And I never had a good look at him either: he was always facing the other way, and I had enough discipline to not stare at someone's backside…knowing well enough that if that person was Edward, my gaze would move a bit more south than his back.
"Anyway," Alice continued, completely ignoring what I said, "I made our Edward wear a special ensemble I bought in a little store called 'Es Crème Du Couture'."
"So?" Emmett muttered, "You just made him wear some designer clothes, so what? I've seen Edward in a suit before…" You could see his disappointment through his slumped shoulders. He had obviously been expecting much more than that.
"No, Emmett." She shook her head impatiently, "Let me finish before you jump to conclusions!" She breathed in, "'Es Crème Du Couture' is a recently opened, and completely unknown…" She bit her lip, "Fantasy store." She choked on the last words. The silence drone on, as we absorbed the new information. And it was Jasper who broke the silence, when it finally sunk in.
"What?!" Jasper exclaimed, his eyebrows shooting up. Everyone turned and looked at Edward incredulously. "You wore a fantasy costume?"
"Well, Bella?" Rosalie breathed seductively. "Did your fantasy come true?"
Emmett was the first to laugh at that, any signs of disappointment gone. My cheeks burned at Rosalie's comment, and I playfully glared at her. She looked from me to Edward before innocently winking at me. I was mortified at the thought that maybe Edward had caught that wink, and realized its double meaning. But he was watching me carefully, before frowning apologetically.
"Sorry about them." He muttered. I nodded swiftly, to acknowledge that I had heard him.
"We're waiting for your answer Bella." Alice commanded, through her giggles, "Was he or was he not the most sizzling thing on the planet? In his amazing leather ensemble?" They all looked at me intently, silently daring me to agree.
My eyes flashed, a wicked grin flickering across my face. Alice and Rosalie smiled knowingly. "Hell yeah, Alice." I said, my voice low but loud enough for them to hear, "Sizzling. Not to mention his butt looked great in those leather pants."
The corners of their lips twitched as they laughed a short bark of surprise. I grinned at my attempt of a comeback, turning my gaze to Edward who was smirking and shifting comfortably. I figured that he was used to their criticism (for lack of a better word…) and insults.
"Touché." Edward replied, running his hand through his hair.
"Don't even try to deny it, Edwina," Emmett said, grinning widely that I was sure his face was going to rip in half, "You know you're proud of that firm bosom of yours."
"Okay, enough!" Alice said, throwing her arms out dramatically, "Enough! I think Edward's had enough. What did you guys need anyway? I mean, why'd you come over?"
"Oh…" Jasper answered, "Right, I guess we got distracted." That was a complete understatement, "Crowley's having a pool party at his friends flat tonight. He invited us, and told us bring you guys along. I'm sure he wouldn't mind having Bella come either."
Alice nodded excitedly, "We'd love to. Won't we?" She looked from me to Rosalie, the expression on her face left no room for discussion.
"Sure." Rosalie shrugged, indifferent.
"Joy." I said sarcastically. I despised parties: what were they but gatherings for people to get drunk and end up throwing up in the bushes?
"Great!" Emmett smiled, "At least we'll have something to look forward to."
"What time is it?" Rosalie asked.
"Around 5 I think." Edward answered, "I'll come around with my Volvo, if you guys need a ride."
"I'd actually prefer a limo…" I said, innocently. Edward glared as we laughed again.
"Seriously though," Jasper said, "You girls need a ride?"
I looked at Rosalie, who in turn, looked at Alice, who scowled at forcing her to make the decision. "We'd like that, thanks."
"What time is it?" I asked, aware of the amount of time Alice would probably take to get herself ready.
Emmett glanced at the watch on his wrist, "Around 11:30." 5 hours? That was manageable…
A loud gasp came from Alice's lips, "What! Five and a half hours to get ready? That's madness!"
I rolled my eyes, "Alice, it's a pool party. A high school pool party. They wouldn't care if you came in a chicken costume from KFC: you'll be wet, out of your clothes, and in the pool minutes after you arrive."
She ignored me, and said quickly, "We have to start getting ready guys. Do you guys need any help, you know, fashion wise?" She asked the boys.
Their eyes widened immediately. Emmett stammered, "Actually, look at the time! We have something we have to do at Jasper's house…We'll do fine on our own, thank you very much. We'll, uh, see you at 5 then?" Jasper laughed nervously, and him and Emmett bolted out the door.
Alice shrugged her shoulders, mumbling under her breath, "Their loss." She smiled brightly, "Lets start. Rose, Bella, come to my room." She looked at us sternly, "Now."
We jumped over ourselves to run to her room, instead of meeting the flipping beast that would appear if we disobeyed. They ran up the stairs, and I was about to follow when someone grasped my wrist and pulled me back.
"Hey," He said casually, "Wait a sec."
A thrill ran up my spine from the contact. He had been so quiet; I had forgotten that he was even there.
"What?"
"I didn't get to formally introduce myself," He brought my hand to his lips, "My name is Edward Cullen, and I hope to get to know you better." He winked and my cheeks burned.
And then, just like everything else, he was gone.
We were at the diner down the street. Somehow, we had convinced Alice to delay our 'getting ready' time an hour or so, so that we could get something to eat. I told her I had just gotten out of an eight hour flight, and was more than a little exhausted and hungry…and that if she didn't allow me to eat, I would go berserk and throw all her clothes in a bonfire. This silenced her, as we dragged her there.
We told the guys to cancel their plans and meet us there: why have a small get together, when you could have the whole lot come and join you? The Diner was called Breakaway, a sixty-styled diner with the delicious smell of bacons and eggs at ever corner. An old-style jukebox was near the door, and for a quarter an album, you could play authentic late music.
We all climbed into a booth near the bar, and were planning ordering shakes and their famous All-American Slammers. Rumor had it, that they were delicious, and worth the loads of calories that they caused. Jasper and Emmett had arrived in Emmett's jeep, telling us that Edward had some things he had to catch up on; and would be here in about five minutes.
To say I was disappointed, was an immense understatement.
My hand still tingled where he had kissed it, and I tried to rub out the effect. Yes, I noticed him more than others: that small tingly feeling in the gut. But it was nothing. Okay, maybe it was a little something. And it wouldn't go away.
Not to say I wasn't trying. I was trying my damn hardest…Why you ask? Because from Alice's description, Edward didn't seem like the all-out-amazing guy I had labeled him for. First impressions in the world of the wealthy, AKA the Cullens, was everything and he didn't make a very good one…not to me anyway. Not anymore.
I had told Alice about what he had said and done before he left. I was more than a little excited, and I was about to tell them I had the potential of actually liking a guy for once; Alice—who I expected to be giddy and overwhelmingly supportive—said simply, and seriously, that it might not be the best idea.
This came to a shock to me.
Edward was her brother, of course. I thought it had something to do with that, the whole break-his-heart-and-I'll-break-your-face.
But I was wrong.
She told me not to get in too deep; that I would end up getting hurt, not him. When I questioned her about it, she told me simply that he didn't have the best reputation with relationships. As he was wealthy and strikingly handsome, the girl population swooned at the sight of him…resistance was futile, again.
Edward was able to ignore it for a while: he'd dodge the swooning girls, using Emmett as an effective shield. But as more and more of them began to worship him, even the ones at the high end of the high-school food chain, he began to drift into it. Thrive in it. Alice, who would have been thrilled about me having the slightest bit feelings for him if it weren't for that, told me it really would be better if I just ignored him. She had learned that his personality and his attitude for his friends was flawless, but the minute a girl of above-average attractiveness showed some interest in him, he would turn into an asshole.
Go figure.
Handsome and nice guys always turn out to be gay (or so Alice said); and we're left with the ones that aren't. Remains of imperfections, stuffed messily into one person. It just so happened that Edward marked high in the Handsome and Personality scale, but dangerously low at the loyalty scale.
To put it simply, if we were to have a label pasted on our foreheads, his would read, in clear block letters…
H e a r t b r e a k e r
Not player, none of that. He wasn't a serial dater: he wasn't that bad…he didn't get a different girl a week, without the slightest notion of kindness to them. He wouldn't choose a girl that he didn't care about. It was impossible. But he did break numerous hearts; not so much his fault, but he did play a part in it. Having a girl fall head over heels for you, and not realizing it, wasn't much of a compliment on his behalf.
Go figure.
"Bella?" A hand waved in front of me, distorting my vision of the bar. "Hey, Bella. You alive?"
I shook my head, "Wh-what?"
"You've been staring at the bar for a long time. If you want something to drink, go get it. If you want the bartender, go get him." Rosalie giggled, winking suggestively. I noticed that she did that a lot now.
I shook my head harder, clearing my brain of everything, and probably losing some brain cells, "Rosalie!" I exclaimed, "Ew! He's like a balding old man. I don't know about you, but that's not my type."
"Really? I always found being able to see your reflection on your boyfriend's shiny head was such a turn on." Alice said, dreamily. We laughed at that.
"Sick, I swear!" Jasper said, innocently eyeing her.
"So, are we getting the shakes and the slammer or what?" Emmett said, throwing his arms inconspicuously around Rosalie's shoulders.
"Hm…" I said, touching my chin, "I think I'm just going to get a burger. Less expensive…" They looked at me incredulously.
"What! Some of us don't have bags of money to spend you know! I have a 25 dollar allowance to run by!" I said irritably.
"Who said anything about you paying?" A velvet voice came from near the door.
There he was, in all his 'glory', Edward. But that wasn't what made all our eyebrows rise. He had his arms around two girls. The one on his left had strawberry blonde hair, her eyes were elegantly shaped (and huge). The one on his right was less remarkable, but beautiful as well.
"I told you so." Alice muttered in my ear. I smiled at her. For the strangest reason, I wasn't as affected by the sight as I might have thought I would be.
"Mind if we join you?" Edward asked, his voice low.
"There's not enough room." Rosalie said firmly.
"You can get a bigger table, or just shift. You can do that right? Make room for us." He said, looking at us pleadingly. Having two girls on either side of him was something he did not want to forget, apparently.
"I think I lost my appetite." I whispered to no one in particular. The strawberry blonde shot me a look, while the people at the table snickered quietly.
"We'll see you after this, Edward?" Emmett suggested, trying to ease the tension.
"Yeah, sure." He said slightly annoyed at our 'childishness', his arms still around the girls, as he turned. He withdrew his arms, hanging them lazily by his sides, before asking for his own table about a couple feet away from us.
"Disgusting." Rosalie replied, before flipping through the Menu again.
"You'd think after the whole Lauren epidemic he'd stop picking up random girls." Jasper said, just as flatly, "But I guess some guys never learn."
"Heartbreaker." Alice muttered simply.
"What happened with Lauren?" I asked, curiously.
"Oh, Lauren." Emmett sighed, "She was in his biology class. Pretty, I guess, in the stereotypical way. Blonde hair, green eyes. You get what I mean." I nodded, "She was all over him freshman year, saying they were meant to be with each other. Edward was new to the whole thing, and gave in, going on a couple dates with her. And god," he took a dramatic pause, "She got obsessed with him. I swear she had a shrine for him in her closet: god knows what she must have 'collected' for it." They all shivered. "When he broke up with her, she was crushed."
"She wasn't a bad person in any way, a really nice person actually." Alice replied, "Just a bit on the crazy side I guess. It was horrible what Edward did to her. We all expected it though, and we figured she'd take it like all the other girls Edward dated did: the whole I-dated-Edward-Cullen-now-I-can-get-any-guy-I-want. But when he dumped her, she went berserk. Her family moved away, saying they had 'financial issues' but we all knew it was because of Edward. We figured he might stop going from one girl to the other, but he didn't. He was in over his head: made him feel powerful maybe."
"All we can hope for is that he learns his lesson, when he experiences what it's like for one of those girls." Jasper continued.
"Yeah…when he decides to grow up and find someone he can actually spend more than a couple weeks with, maybe we'll agree to meet her. But god knows how long until that will happen: Jasper's right. It probably won't be until he falls in love with a girl, and she ends up breaking his heart."
"Interesting," I said, genuinely surprised how much appearances can deceive you. Edward seemed nothing like what they were describing. "Why do you guys tolerate him then?"
"Because we're related," Alice replied, to which Emmett nodded, "And, he's different around us. You could see it, couldn't you? At the house? He acts nice, and quiet. He just…changes a lot. But we're used to it now." They nodded.
The waiter chose that time to come around with our shakes and ask us what we wanted to order. I ended up going for the burger, and the rest of them got hash browns and the AAS. We chatted about random things, including the weather and the immense mole that our waiter had on her nose.
She came walking back with the tray of food, the aroma of the food so delicious that we could hardly contain ourselves before devouring the whole lot.
And then we heard it.
A small shriek of laughter coming from the table that he was sitting in.
"Stop it!" The strawberry blonde shrieked again, as Edward playfully tickled her ribs. "Stop it!!"
"Tanya," Edward said quietly, "Are you sure you don't want the attention?"
The strawberry blonde, now known as Tanya, immediately smiled, as Edward stopped his attack. She discreetly hopped on his lap, and buried her face in the nape of his neck.
Disgusting.
The brunette who he had come in with too, turned away from the two people making out across from her. Her expression said it all, a mixture of confusion and hurt…and maybe a twinge of anger. In any case, she wasn't happy, and clearly upset. She threw her purse over her shoulder, and walked quick steps towards the door. She almost made it out without making a sound, but a choke tore from her throat. And I knew what that meant.
She was close to tears.
What an asshole, I thought immediately. Why come with two girls, when you know that one of them was going to get less attention than the other? Did he expect that the one with less attention would just sit and watch, waiting for her turn? God no!
Tanya continued to giggle, and I was glad that I had finished my burger, because I had officially lost my appetite. And I'm pretty sure the rest of them felt the same way.
Rosalie murmured, low so that only we could hear.
"The heartbreaker strikes, again."
After leaving the diner, Alice dragged us to her room, saying that we had already lost enough time.
Alice quickly found her swimsuit: like she had planned one just for this event. She put it on, not bothering to fix her hair—her hair was short and stuck out every where so there wasn't much that she could do to it…and she looked phenomenal anyway.
Throwing the swimsuit on the bed, she went to the vanity mirror and applied her make up. When she was done, her eyelashes were thick and they emphasized her amazing eyes. Her lips were full and glossy, and hints of blush shone from her cheeks. She looked beautiful.
Her bikini was a fabric bikini with black polka-dots on white cloth. The bottoms had a thick ribbon near the front, followed by a black band. After she threw on a pair of shorts and a simple cropped, black jacket, she turned her gazes to us.
She started with Rosalie first, saying that she would be 'easier'. I didn't know why, but Iknew that couldn't mean good things when my turn came.
Rosalie's hair was discreetly straightened, only the ends curled up. Alice applied little makeup to her already stunning face. Rose, who agreed to a whole-summer-sleepover since I had arrived, had all her clothes packed into Alice's walking closet. After picking through all her pieces, Alice came out with a bikini, a pair of shorts, and a white tie-on jacket. The bikini was made by Sofia by Vix, and was a simple design. It was a halter top and a normal pair of bottoms. They were consecutively striped with a dull yellow and an off white. The dullness of the color contrasted to Rosalie's rich blonde locks. (Due to slight URL problems, pics are on my profile now...:D)
Rosalie hastily pulled her outfit on, before sitting quietly on the bed, watching amused as Alice's gaze turned to me.
I swallowed involuntarily at the wicked grin on her face.
Pushing me towards the chair Rosalie had been in, Alice pushed me down.
"Did you bring any swimsuits?" She asked me.
"No, I didn't think we'd be swimming," I answered honestly. She grinned and ran to the closet.
Crap.
"What are you doing?!" I yelled in her direction, so she could hear me, "I won't fit in that!"
"Don't worry, you will." She smiled.
"Okay," I said, breathing in, "Lets make a deal."
"Uhm…Okay…" She said cautiously.
"You pick swimwear, I pick what to wear outside of swimwear."
She nodded after a while. I grinned, thinking I might actually be off the hook for a while! But I was wrong, and I knew it the instant I saw my swimsuit.
I can't do bikinis.
Let me explain this to you as simply as I can.
I'm no Rosalie; my body wasn't magically born amazing. I have issues. Big issues.
"I can't wear a bikini," I said simply.
"Yes you can; Stop denying it! You'll look great!" She smiled, "And we have a deal…no backing out."
I sighed, grabbing the bikini, and running to the bathroom.
Thank goodness it was a simple one: The bikini was a Tommy Hilfiger creation. It was striped with aqua and deep purple. It was a halter top and an unstrung ribbon hung from the left side of the bottoms. I praised Alice for picking a non-revealing bikini. Searching through my bag, I put on a pair of shorts and a normal t-shirt.
From the look on Alice's face, she hated our deal. She wanted to throw on something more sophisticated for me.
She pulled back my hair in a high ponytail, so that she could work on my make-up first. I didn't understand this: weren't we going swimming?! She told me to close my eyes while she 'transformed me.' I could barely feel her feather touches as she did my eyes, my cheeks. She brushed the tops of my eyes with a small make-up brush, before she proceeded to glossing my lips. "I'm not going to put any blush on you, though." She said quietly. "You already blush enough." As if to prove her point, my traitor cheeks heated up as a blush formed.
I could feel her start to fix my hair. She used her curlers to scrunch up my hair, effectively making me whine at the small pricks of pain. She told me to be quiet, and survive it, because beauty came with a price. As they waited for the effect of the curlers to sink in, we talked about the party, and how much fun it was going to be. In my mind, I was scoffing. We then got to the topic of Edward.
"He's such an asshole." I said, quietly.
"I know." Alice agreed, "I wish someone would show him what it felt like to be in the girl's shoes when she's dating him."
"We could always do that, you know." Rosalie said thoughtfully, "Find someone with the ability to show him what it's like."
"Genius." Alice praised.
She told me to open my eyes, as she began to immediately unclip the curlers from my hair. Soft curls tumbled over my shoulders, like cascading rich oil. I watched as the infinite waves bounced against my skin, eccentric and flamboyant. The dark hair draped over my shoulder and framed my face.
Alice smudged my cheeks with her thumb, before smiling a satisfied smile. When I moved, my hair flew and spun, like those dresses that they used to wear in the 60s. As I focused on my reflection, a clumsy smile appeared n my face. I couldn't help it, I gasped. The sharp intake of breath, catching Alice's attention.
I could recognize the girl in the mirror; I was familiar with the sad, shy caramel eyes. My features looked the same, but they weren't quite the same.
I didn't know when it had happened, but relief washed over me. I knew Alice was good at fixing people up, but I never knew she would have this effect on me. Looking at myself in the mirror, I didn't see who I had been this morning: I no longer had frizzy hair that I hid behind or the uncomfortable expression in my eyes. I memorized the face in the mirror; it reminded me of when I was younger and the only time that Renee was proud of having me as her daughter. The same face, the same person that had enjoyed life and took advantage of every situation, instead of what I was now: afraid to take chances and always hiding in the shadows. Where have you been? I thought quietly.
I didn't get an answer.
"You look, amazing," Rosalie whispered, from across the room. She walked towards me. "You could pass for a model!" This coming from Rosalie, beautiful, stunning Rosalie, amplified the sincerity and honesty in the statement.
"Honestly, Bella." Alice continued. "Absolutely amazing. Wait until the world sees you….wait until he sees you." She leaned down, and breathed in my ear, "Go break his heart."
A/N: YES, it is 3,000 words shorter, and I wanted to continue, but it was just such a good line to end the chapter with. And its close to 5 in the morning and I have yet to get a touch of sleep…this happens often. I sleep really late when its in the holidays, but my parents are asking me to go out with them tomorrow morning so I have to get some sleep now -_-.
I'd really appreciate it if you guys reviewed!! Honest. I hate to sound annoying or desperate, but reviews really do keep me from giving up on a story.
So if you're reading the chapter, and if you have anything to say, write it in a review! Constructive criticism is always welcome, but flames…well…not really xD.
See y'all next time!
Love, AltPunk
Number of pages: 11
Number of words: 4,756
Completed: No
Edited: No
