A/N: So I know it's not actually a date, but Bella is Alice's mate and Alice is Bella's imprint so they're literally stupid about each other and trying not to be and dude, let me tell you. They are a mess. Like I'm writing chapter five and wow, dude. They slipped and just fell facefirst, I swear.
And don't worry yourself, answers will come.
Rosalie yelling "Bye, babe" at Bella before driving off had Alice smothering a growl. But then Bella smiled down at her and she couldn't help smiling back. The dress had definitely been a good choice, not too much or too little, especially with Bella's relaxed attire. But it was nicer than usual. No tears in her jeans, and she wore a blue button-up under her jacket that was, of course, untucked.
"Are you psychic or something?" Bella gestured from her shirt to Alice's dress and back.
Alice giggled and spun once. "Pure coincidence that we're matching! I was favoring a yellow one but Rose accused me of trying to replace the sun."
Bella snorted at Alice's pout. "Well it is bright."
"Yellow is a wonderful color! It's my favorite."
"Oh god, you're going to light up my life. This is the brightest piece of clothing I have."
"Clearly, I need to take you shopping."
Groaning, Bella jerked her head for them to go inside the theater, and, Alice noticed, did not say no. She swung the door open for Alice and missed the small look of surprise because she was squinting at the sky. "It's going to rain soon."
"Sounds like Forks. So what are we watching?" Alice stopped a fair distance from the counter as Bella came beside her, hands in her jacket pockets.
"No clue," Bella mumbled looking at the movies and times. "And I noticed. I miss the sun. Nothing like it beating down on you. My tan slips farther away with each day."
Alice sucked in a sharp breath at the realization that if Bella did return her feelings, she'd be damning her to a life without something she loved.
"Is that why you guys are here?"
She blinked up at the green eyes on her. "Yes."
Bella hummed, looking back to the list of movies. "What are you in the mood for?"
"Whatever," she said honestly. "Is that why you wear jackets? To feel more heat? Because you certainly don't need them."
Something she'd said was apparently funny because Bella gave a small bark of laughter before glancing at Alice. "To blend in. I see we play fast and loose here, though."
Alice looked down at herself and eventually realized she should've added a jacket to her outfit. "Oops."
"Oops? You are something else, Alice Cullen," Bella chuckled. "Okay, so," she pointed unnecessarily, "how about—" She stopped, jaw clenching.
A loud group of girls had come in and started joking and giggling about them and Alice had resolved to ignore them but as they got closer, it seemed Bella started to vibrate.
"God, do you think they're together?"
"That'd be so perfect! Two weirdos being weird, hopefully far away. But obviously that's too much to hope for since they're here."
And it quickly gave way to shaking. Even as Alice opened her mouth, Bella rounded on them, shouldering into the one who'd intended to walk over her. "Problem, bitch? Talking a lot of shit there for someone who looks like God used roadkill to make their face."
Alice grabbed shaking shoulders and forcibly turned Bella back to her. The sharpness of those green eyes had her choke on whatever she'd considered saying, so she just stared up at her. And Bella stared back. Jaw clenching and unclenching far too loudly to vampire ears. She didn't have visions to help her find the right words, and she had no experience calming an angry shifter, and she didn't really know Bella.
"Why are your eyes gold instead of red?" Bella asked through her teeth.
The vampire blinked. Another spike of fear and concern went through her. "Why have you seen a red-eyed vampire?" When Bella's entire body twitched, Alice squeezed her shoulders and backtracked, talking too fast for a human conversation. "Hunting animals instead gives us gold eyes."
Bella closed her eyes. Held her breath. The shaking started to subside after a few strong heartbeats. Before Alice could say something else, green eyes cracked open and Bella winked. "So you take your steak rare, I see."
"Wha—" She stared at the mystery of Bella Swan.
"Come on, I got an idea." Bella patted her hands and walked out of her grip to the counter.
"Hey, so what'll it be?" the employee asked, already hitting at the keyboard next to them.
"Surprise us."
And then to double the surprise Alice felt, Bella held out her card and patiently waited for the guy to pick something and process their transaction. Bella paid when it should've been her instead. Bella clearly didn't care what they watched as long as it was with her. Well, maybe that was reaching. Either way, Bella Swan was a walking surprise through and through and the thought positively thrilled Alice.
She looked up when she felt Bella bump her shoulder.
"Ready?"
Still a little in her thoughts, Alice just nodded.
"Cool. Lemme just get a drink and we can go in." Bella waved her large, empty cup for emphasis on the way to the soda fountain and turned so abruptly Alice almost walked into her. She cocked her head as if a serious question weighed on her. "Or do you prefer to wander until the previews are done?"
An awkward smile came to Alice's face and she shrugged as she looked away. Rocking on her feet, she whispered on account of some people near them. "I don't know. I haven't been to a movie theater since The Wizard of Oz came out."
Bella stared at her in a way that made Alice sure if you looked up "gobsmacked," you'd find her picture. Soon enough, she started to work again, blinking and at last shutting her mouth. She went to fill her cup with Pepsi and wordlessly got her lid and straw.
The silence began to wear on Alice and fill her with anxiety. She swallowed. Failed at catching green eyes. "Bella?"
"I just." She broke the lid trying to put it on and got another one. "That was. When was that?"
"1939."
"What the fuck, why do you want to be my friend?"
Alice blinked. "What?"
Thankfully, Bella was oblivious to the way her friend stopped breathing when she leaned down into her space, gold eyes trapped by green. "You must've done and seen so much and you want to be my friend?" Bella straightened and jerked her head before she started walking again, taking a sip of her drink as she glanced at their tickets again before putting them in her pocket. "That's crazy. Let me save you the trouble and tell you there's nothing special about me. So why'd you stop going to see movies?"
The fact Bella moved so quickly through topics and she actually had to bite her tongue to keep from listing everything special and wonderful about Bella left her more than a little distressed. So she found herself moving without thought, or perhaps on instinct, whether to comfort herself or Bella, she didn't know. But she did hook her arm through Bella's left one. And before she could even settle her hand on Bella's arm, she felt the shifter stiffen, so her hands blurred away. Alice winced. Both for moving too fast and for causing that reaction. It didn't help that her mind ran rampant. Did Bella worry it'd make them look like they were together? Did Bella just not really want to be touched by her? Did—
"Sorry. I'm sorry." Bella sighed, her pace a little slower as they turned into a different hallway, farther away from the bright lights of the lobby. "The only touchy-feely person I had anything to do with was my," Bella swallowed and if Alice wasn't looking at her, she would've missed the quick tensing of her jaw, "My mother. Even then she's more spiritual than feely and her touchy was thankfully limited. My best frie—er, my old friends—are, uhm, were more the type to punch than hug."
Even though her heart sagged in her chest, Alice felt torn on asking if she was okay or not.
And then Bella proved her habit of emotional rebounds and stuck out her arm a little further, hand still firmly in her pocket, and winked at Alice. "You're good. I'm guessing that's how you're overwhelming? Anyway, I'll let you know if something bothers me, but I don't want you worrying about it. Just be you."
Slower, Alice looped her arm through Bella's again and rested her other hand just above her elbow. No signs of distress this time. The distance between them made walking a little awkward, but Bella didn't seem bothered and Alice didn't want to push her. But Bella had just requested she be herself. So she did. She pressed closer—not as much as she wanted to—and was surprised by Bella adjusting for her stride to fit hers in less than three steps.
"You are so small," Bella laughed.
"I am regularly sized! 5'4" is a good height! It's not my fault the people I bless with my presence are taller than me." Mirth glittered in green eyes and Alice felt the pout slide off her face. "What are you, 5'10" or so?"
"Exactly, actually."
Alice hummed and had to let go of Bella's arm so she could hand their tickets to the attendant to enter this wing of the theater. Gold eyes caught sight of the movie title, but it didn't mean anything to her. What Lies Below. That could've been anything.
"Enjoy."
Bella nodded at him and they were walking again, but, much to Alice's disappointment, she seemed fine without Alice reattaching to her. Really though, they'd only started talking today. Did she actually expect Bella to be as needy as her? She shook her head. "I haven't gone back to a theater because I'd rack up so much spending, wanting to see every movie when I already feel like I've seen it before going in."
"What? How?"
"Because I am," Alice giggled, bouncing to bump into Bella, who just stared at her, trying to follow the conversation. "Psychic."
Bella came to a full stop. "Bullshit."
"No, it's true. Look. He's going to trip on air and his girlfriend won't even look back."
Green eyes looked at the pair Alice pointed out and, sure enough, the dude faceplanted and the blonde didn't blink at his tumble. She just said, "Come on, Dave. I'll buy you some ice cream."
Bella stared at them so hard that Dave looked doubly embarrassed and hurried after his girlfriend. When Alice giggled, she snapped out of it and gaped at her. "Seriously? I. Wow. So then why do you look so surprised sometimes?"
Alice nudged her into walking again. "Because you cause a hole in my visions, like you aren't there. So you've surprised me more than I have been in decades."
"That's why you want to be my friend," Bella said quietly.
"No! Well. It's more than that. I just. I like you. I do." Tongue between her teeth, she looked up at Bella and hoped her words would be taken at full value before she spilled her heart onto the floor. Before she asked aloud how eyes could be so impossibly deep and bright and dark at once. Before she asked if this magnetic pull was one-sided.
"Well, let's be surprised together." Bella winked, holding open the door and causing previews to blare out at them.
Alice bounced in.
Over the next hour and a half, Alice not only learned more about Bella, but considered going to the movies again. It had taken ten minutes after the previews for Bella to finally touch the armrest between them and lean close to ask if Alice wanted to leave because the movie clearly sucked. It did. But Alice's crack at the bad acting turned into them judging the whole movie together. And Bella was hilarious.
As they exited the building, Alice turned her face up at the dark sky and the clouds that had given up pouring in favor of drizzling. Something warm settled over her shoulders, making her forget to blink. She reached up and felt it. Yes, Bella's jacket was draped over her. Slowly, unsure what to say, she looked at Bella quizzically. Her button-up had long sleeves, apparently. Of course. Sleeves, sleeves, sleeves. Always long sleeves.
Bella rubbed the back of her neck, bouncing her keys in her hands. "It's even colder than earlier."
"I'm a vampire. We are cold."
"Your dress?"
She sounded strained, awkward, and the idea was reinforced by how her eyes avoided Alice. It was so impossibly endearing that Alice wasn't trying to discern her motives for once. "Thank you."
"Yeah, well, let's get you home since Rosalie's refusing to pick you up."
Whether it was Bella's natural body heat or the fact Alice looked like she desperately needed a jacket because of her stature and attire, the vampire managed to keep possession of Bella's jacket for the weekend.
A/N: To address reviews, honestly I don't know if we'll die from cuteness or what but I am dying. My ghost is going to be writing this soon. Get it? Ghostwriting? Anyway, fuck yeah shifter Bella (thank you guest, I literally agree with everything) and fuck yeah Rosalie. And they will totally be BFFs. Esme's going to have a fucking stroke seeing Rosalie be so relaxed with someone so fast lmao but so proud and happy that her Rose is friends with someone.
Honestly how is Alice so cute