Chapter 2
It was still raining by the time she got in the house, though not as hard as when she was in the Rabbit with Jacob. Charlie was waiting for her and so was, to her surprise, Alice. They sat on the couch watching some game Bella didn't necessarily care about. Alice looked up at her first and beamed a bright happy smile at her and sprang from her seat, causing Charlie to look up in surprise.
"Bella!" Alice exclaimed.
"Alice!" Bella exclaimed back. "What are you doing here?"
"Keeping me company til you came back." Charlie said from the couch, smiling.
"No, lying in wait to kidnap you for a shopping session."
"Shouldn't the Kidnapee not know that they're being kidnapped until the Kidnaper is in progress of such an act?"
Alice tilted her head to the side. "But I am in progress of kidnapping you."
"And I'm not paying ransom." Charlie joked.
"Well then. I suppose I should run along into the back of the van like a good little kidnapped girl, shouldn't I?" Bella smirked.
"Yes," Alice said triumphantly, "yes you should."
Four hours later, Bella twirled mechanically around in front of Alice's bedroom mirror in a canary yellow vintage dress. Alice sometimes went on decade stints. Last week it was the 20s. Bella decided she hated the 20s purely on the fashion Alice had her try on in countless tiny vintage boutiques. But the 40s she didn't mind. The fabric and cuts usually stayed simple and still classy. Alice clapped as Bella finished her twirl, smiling brightly.
"Oh!" Alice squeaked, "It's gorgeous! It's too bad we couldn't find it in blue, but I think yellow works just as well."
"Does that mean I can take this off?" Bella said with barely contained boredom. Alice frowned.
"If you have to." Alice plopped down on the bed, pouting, as Bella headed towards the bathroom. Bella carefully peeled off the dress that, if she were truly honest, she really liked. She actually hated wearing blue all the time. It made her skin look paler than she was prepared to admit. Yellow actually made her hair and eyes look brown. She really wanted to take it home, but she knew its true destination: In a garment bag with the rest of the clothes Alice saved for when she turned into a vampire.
Bella swallowed past a lump in her throat as she unbuckled the pumps securely fastened to her feet by Alice. Becoming a vampire would be the biggest, most reckless thing she'd ever done. And she'd done some ridiculously reckless things. Vampirism, as far as she and anyone else knew, was permanent. It wasn't like a tattoo, where you could remove it at a great cost. It was irreversible. Doing that, to be able to stay with Edward because of that, was a very big thing she didn't want to think about. She wasn't sure she wanted it to happen to her.
Bella wiped the make-up off of her face and brushed the curls out of her hair and performed her ritual. The ritual of imagining her skin as pale as snow, sparkling ridiculously like diamonds, a phenomena she couldn't make sense of, her eyes blood red. Her father's eyes filled with disgust and anger when they looked at her. Her stomach clenched up when she was done. She felt as though she could throw up everything in her stomach.
Bella took several, quiet, deep breaths silently thanking the heavens that Jasper wasn't there to tip anyone off that there was something wrong. She emerged from the bathroom with the dress, not surprised to see Alice's pouty mood gone and instead a small blur around the room as she straightened the room.
"You know I'd really wish you'd reconsider the dress." Alice said coming towards Bella with a fresh garment bag and hanger as though she already knew Bella would give it to her despite the offer. But Bella really liked the dress. She was tired of rejecting things she wanted. What was wrong with having something she really liked, even if it was slightly out of character?
"Wait,"Bella said finally, stopping Alice from walking away with the dress. "Maybe I will take it home."
Alice's eyebrows raised. "Really?"
"Really." Bella held her hand out, expecting Alice to hand her the dress. When Alice hesitated Bella said: "Oh, come on Alice. I don't have anything like this and it is really pretty. I really like it."
A small, hesitant smile was still on Alice's lips but she handed Bella the dress, simply saying: "Alright." The smile disappeared as Bella took the dress and suddenly she was all business. "But don't get it wrinkled! You can't just iron those out. Keep it in the bag." Alice then went through a fifteen minute lecture on what shoes, jewelery, and occasions the dress should be used. Bella patiently waited for her to finish before making the excuse that she had to feed Charlie. Alice walked her to the car, happily rambling about whatever.
It wasn't until Alice was far from sight on the driveway of the house that Bella smiled a small triumphant smile at the garment bag hanging in the window. She had no place or occasion to where it, but it just made her smile. It was a piece of her that she couldn't show anymore.
It was very late when she pulled into Charlie's driveway. Too late for her to make dinner at all. Charlie seemed to have taken care of that, judging by the smell of pizza and cardboard wafting through the entry way. He was in his usual spot on the couch resting an empty paper plate on his lap.
"Saved you a slice." He said by way of greeting. There were times when living with Charlie was always easy. There were hardly any surprises or ooey gooey drama. He was always good with being blunt and saying what needed to be said. While to many people it didn't seem very affectionate, Bella knew he looked out for her constantly. It was a trait that endeared him to her. It was nice to know that in her world where there were hoops to jump through and masks of deception, there was someone who ignored the art of a smoke screen and just said what needed to be.
Sure enough, there were three slices of pizza left in its box, on the counter in the kitchen. He'd even poured her a glass of coke for her and left it in the fridge. She couldn't find the liter bottle in sight. He'd saved the last of it for her. Smiling, she kicked the fridge door closed and got a plate for the food and kissed Charlie on the top of his head, much to his embarrassment.
"'Night." She called, heading upstairs.
"'Night." he called back. She began to down the coke as she headed to her room. She kicked the door closed, grateful for the quiet and the aloneness. She closed her eyes and sighed happily, truly happy, as she leaned against the door, deliberately oblivious to the lone figure leaning against her window sill. She knew he enjoyed surprising her and she didn't want to ruin it for him. She opened her eyes with the right amount of bewilderment on her face.
"Jacob?" She said, adding a little gasp to her voice for drama. Jacob rolled his eyes.
"Practicing for Monday?" he said dryly.
"Of course. What else would I be doing on a Saturday night when he's not around?"
Jacob looked uneasy, but there was a smile that Bella recognized. It was a smile he had when he decided to do something that was a bad idea deliberately.
"How about going to Atlantis?"
"Why?" Bella was shocked. Jacob had never made up his mind and then changed it so quickly. It usually took her months to try and convince him to change his mind on something. By the time it would take her to accomplish persuading him, she'd often times saved herself the trouble and did whatever she'd wanted to do with Jacob herself. Now she was worried. "Look, if you're worried about me marrying Edward-"
"This has nothing to do with you and your bloodsucking lover, trust me."
"Then why?" Jacob sighed and walked over to her bed and flopped down on it, the bed frame creaked, complaining loudly about the extra weight.
"Because, Bells. I'm losing you. I'm losing my best friend." Jacob looked worn down again, the reckless smile gone. He looked aged again. Bella's heart contracted.
"You're not losing me." She said softly. "I'm right here. I'm still me." She took his warm hand in between hers. They sat like that for a moment. Then Jacob said: "I'm so tired Bells."
"When was the last time you slept?"
"For a whole night?" Bella nodded. Jacob paused tiredly, trying to count. When the pause grew longer than a minute, Bella pushed him down on the bed.
"Sleep." She commanded.
"There's no room for you." Jacob protested tiredly, "And you smell like vampire. The whole room stinks of it. I can't—"
Bella cupped his face. "Sleep." Jacob didn't have anymore arguments, so he slept. It didn't take him long. Bella slowly got up and crossed the room silently. She headed downstairs, where Charlie was cleaning up the living room.
"We have a guest." She told him.
"Really?" Charlie said calmly. His eyes, however, went straight to the shot gun propped by the front door.
"Relax. It's Jacob. He's asleep upstairs in my bed."
Charlie looked at her in disbelief. "Jacob came all the way here to crash here on your bed."
"No, actually. He came over to convince me to sneak out and partake in hes teenage shenanigans. Seeing as I am the oldest and therefore the responsible one, I convinced him that a good night's sleep is more beneficial to his person."
"'The responsible one'?" Charlie cracked up an uncontrollable, boisterous laughter that filled the room. Bella leapt across the room, grabbed a couch pillow, and smacked him with it until he reduced his laughter to a low chuckle. Bella rolled her eyes as he continued to laugh, muttering "'responsible one'" in between laughing fits.
Finally, Charlie calmed down and said, "You all heading out to Atlantis in the morning, I'm guessing?" Bella stood and stared at him. "I'm old, not stupid, Bells."
"A quality someone, somewhere finds useful and probably attractive in an alternate universe out there."
