Sorry this is so insanely late, but an update a week is what I'm now aiming for!!

Enjoy!!!!

Chapter Two: Ridiculous Shoe-Wearer

Bella POV

Andrew wanted to go to the UK first because of his strong Scottish heritage. So here I was, only five days after I agreed to go on this crazy trip, dragging my feet into a plush hotel in the heart of London. I was exhausted.

We checked in quickly, not taking the time to explore the huge, colorful lobby. A big, fancy, golden key in hand, we finally found our room on the 8th floor. We pushed through the intricately carved double doors into our spectacular suite, and the only thing the two of us could see was the giant four-poster bed. Collapsing onto it, I thought I was tired enough to fall asleep the second my head hit the fluffy, lavender pillow.

Instead, I lay there, drifting restlessly into much-needed sleep. I rolled onto my back and blearily opened my eyes. The whole room was painted the same color as the pillows, a soothing shade of violet. I stared and stared, making myself dizzy trying to count the tiny pills in the paint. My mind was just wandering lazily over the fact that I would've liked green, my favorite color, or maybe even blue walls more than this soft lavender. I mean, it was nice, but—

Suddenly I felt a thrill of excitement run through me, like I just knew something big was going to happen on this trip. And I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

Andrew and I took trains to every country in the UK over the next four days. I learned things I never dreamed of because it was all so spectacular. The next day we were flying to Holland. I actually loved being in places so strange to me—it was enlightening.

Now we were eating a delicious meal back at our London hotel's restaurant.

"So, what do you think of the UK, hun?" Andrew asked, glancing up from his beef stew.

I had ordered the split pea soup, and had to swallow before I responded. Yum.

"I love it, it's quite…merry." I had picked up some British vocabulary here, and Andrew laughed at me, his eyes twinkling.

"That's good. Maybe we'll live here someday." He raised his eyebrows and smiled lovingly at me.

I gulped. It wasn't the place, I loved the UK. It was simply the level of commitment he was suggesting. I wasn't ready for it—he only said he loved me, like, a week ago!

I just sort of half-smiled, and his smile grew in return. I loved him, but I didn't want to lead him anywhere until I was sure I wanted to go there too…And a home for a future family seemed a bit extreme at the moment.

We were boarding the plane to Holland, and my gut was squirming again, like it had that first day in London. This strange premonition just wouldn't leave me alone.

Amsterdam was amazing! I didn't like shopping much, but the airport was so mall-like, and full of cool foreign stuff that I spent a couple of hours being a typical tourist.

Our hotel room was a suite, again, and when I scolded Andrew about it, he said, with darting eyes and an impish smile and pink ears, "It was the last one available, I swear!" So cute.

The hotel itself was lovely. It was an old, white mansion in Freisland, a region in northeastern Holland. The décor of the lobby was antique, too. The giant rectangle of a room was overwhelmed by an enormous, black grandfather clock, and it took by breath away set against all the shades of white in the room. The counter was small, just a rather wobbly wooden table with two women in long, flowy, skirts and tight blouses behind it. Their feet were bare. Andrew, carrying our luggage while I held my shopping bags, started for the counter to check us in. I started after him, but the thick, ivory carpet got the best of my royal blue, pointy-toed flats that I splurged on in Scotland. Being me, I fell on my face, narrowly missing a side table. The carpet was soft and comfy, which made my fall noiseless and painless.

I sighed and tilted my head off the floor, only to bump my nose on the small, round toe of a dark turquoise pump. It was lined in black velvet and the teal color was shimmering in the candle-adorned chandelier light. The heel of the thing looked to be four inches tall! I got clumsily to my feet and apologized, then quickly assessed the ridiculous-shoe-wearer.

She was tiny, about 4'8" without the heels, and give me another half a hand and I could fit my little two and a half hands around her waist. Her figure was slim but very there, mostly due to her clothes. She had on a fire engine red and black striped skirt that hugged her down to her knees. Her red shirt was tight, with a modest v-neck, and it matched the red on her skirt to the very pigment. There was a bow of teal the same shade as her shoes in her hair. Turquoise and red, I realized, went shockingly well together. Her skin showing was a creamy, light tan. Coming to the conclusion that she was a mini runway model, my eyes wandered to her face. Her lips had on bright red color that made me, straight as I was, want to kiss her till she couldn't breathe. Her nose was small, just like the rest of her, and sort of pointed, so she looked magical, like an elf. I liked it. Her eyes overcame all of her other beauties, though, as her purity could be seen for miles in them. They were humongous, bordered with a little eyeliner and mascara, but she would've been just as stunning without the enhancements. Her irises were an intelligent, mischievous, twinkling gray surrounding pinprick pupils. Her gorgeous face was framed by boy-short spikes of hair, like Betty Boop's would be if she straightened hers.

"I'm so sorry, miss! My shoe so near your face must've alarmed you! I just bought them and they are a tad shocking, I know, but I love 'em. They're quite the double-take kind of fashion statement, don't you think?"

I just stood there like a dud. She had a delicate French accent, and her voice in general was smooth and high.

Andrew turned, but the woman's back was to him, so he just gave me a questioning look and turned back to the counter. I could tell he was having trouble communicating with the young Friesian woman, or else he would be done by now. But I was intrigued by the woman before me, so I didn't mind.

She was looking expectantly at me, so I quickly stammered out a response to her question.

"Yes, qu- quite." I smiled hesitantly.

She grinned, and her energetic voice filled the air once more.

"Hi, I'm Alice, what's your name?"

Her name was cute and classy, but it didn't sound very French. I wondered where she got her accent.

"Bella," I said, less intimidated by her now. She seemed so peppy, in a good way. I could just see someone like her at a highschool dance, and she of course would be a link leader kid bouncing around trying to get everyone else to dance. I kind of wanted to be her friend, but chances were I'd never see her again after this little meeting.

"Ooh, that's Italian! Where are you from?"

I smiled at her—she was very curious, too. It was charming. "America. I was born in Washington State, but I've lived in Oregon since I was about nine. I live in California now. What about you? You don't sound especially French."

Alice grinned again. I don't think I'd ever seen such a beautiful, white smile.

She began hopping up and down, all the while with that big, gleeful smile fixed on her little face. I worried for her safety, for she wasjumping on thick rag carpet in awfully high heels. But she appeared to be very agile and stayed perfectly balanced.

"I'm from Cali, too! Born and raised. I'm here with my boyfriend, Jasper. He's French through and through. I met him on a school choir trip to France. He's INCREDIBLE."

I looked around.

"Oh, he's upstairs unpacking—we just got here. See, I'm meeting his family, and is family lives ALL OVER Europe! We're going to Spain in five days, where I'll meet his dad," she began counting fingers off on her right hand, "stepmom, and step brother. But after this whole adventure we're going back to Cali, where we've lived since highschool."

I was truly fascinated by this love story. It belonged in a movie or something. "But how did you and Jasper stay connected during highschool, if you were so far away from each other?" I just had to ask.

"I was a freshman when we met, and we exchanged email and everything. We were so young, our relationship skills, let alone long-distance relationship skills, were not very good, if existent. So the emails were few and sort of awkward at first, and we both had to use a special translating website to read them, but then I took French at school and he was already taking English, and we started writing longer messages more frequently. It soon became long-distance love."

My overly-sentimental eyes were getting wet. Her story was true love. My story with Andrew sounded very bland next to hers. "Wow," I sighed, and she smiled softly at me, like she was used to this reaction to her heartfelt tale.

"Anyways, Bella, we should totally hang while we're both here!"

I smiled toothily, so grateful that she suggested it and so excited to get to know her better. "Yeah, we should definitely hang out!" I couldn't totally reciprocate her level of peppiness, but I could sure try. "I'm actually here with my boyfriend too, and we just are checking in." I pointed to Andrew's back, already bubbling with excitement at the prospect of making new friends here. "We're traveling the world together."

Alice's eyes had gotten gigantic. "Oooh, we have so much in common! Maybe you and your bf can accompany Jasper and I to dinner tonight. We're not meeting Jasper's grandparents till tomorrow…What do you say?"

Now I was positively giddy. "I would LOVE to, and I'm sure Andrew would, too." She beamed up at me. "You seem like an awesome person, and I'd—"

"Alice!"

Out of a circular elevator set in the far left wall of the lobby emerged a man. He was a little taller than Andrew, probably about 6 feet, and his body was a muscular sort of lanky, which looked adorably perfect next to Alice's petite form and curves. He had come to stand beside her, and the two of them were speaking in rapid fire French. His straight features were contorted into a look of frustration, and her jaw was set in what was clearly determination. He towered over her, but she could be just as tall with her attitude, it seemed. Her hands were planted on her hips, her little feet straining to make her taller, even than the 5' she stood at in the heels. He was wearing blue jeans and a baby blue dress shirt, and I must say everything about him was extremely attractive. His hair was sort of like Andrew's, but a lighter blonde, and wavy rather than curly. His skin had a dark brown tan, contrasting wonderfully with Alice's paleness. He stopped talking abruptly and turned to me, and I noticed his eyes were a deep, midnight blue, almost violet, and the beauty of them was so amazing, it was ridiculous.

"Hello Bella, it is nice to meet you," he greeted me with an outrageously strong French accent.

"Hello," I mumbled, studying his fascinating eyes. How come everyone but me got to have these damn phenomenal eyes?! "It's nice to meet you, too, Jasper. How are you today?" I smiled, my cheeks flushing a little when I realized I had been staring blatantly into his eyes.

Jasper turned to Alice and rattled something off in French, to which she giggled, bringing her little hands, nails painted a metallic black, to cover her mouth. The color in my cheeks deepened and I looked away.

"Bella," Alice said. "Jasper says he's great today, but he wishes you wouldn't be so formal." I grinned and nodded at Jasper. He smiled back, and it looked genuine. "And he would very much like to show you and your bf around Holland while we're both here, including taking you guys to a traditional Dutch restaurant tonight, but excluding tomorrow, when we'll be visiting his grandparents."

I gaped. I couldn't believe what sounded like one sentence in French could mean all that!

"Awesome! Thanks so much!" I grinned at them, elated. Meeting Alice was one of the best things that had happened in my lifetime. I was opening my mouth to say something else when Andrew bounded over, slinging his arm casually around my waist.

"Hi," he said cheerfully, smiling at the beautiful couple before us.

I kissed him swiftly on the cheek. " Andrew, Alice; Alice, Andrew," I introduced them, gesturing with my hands. Andrew put his hand out, and Alice shook it daintily. "Andrew, Jasper; Jasper, Andrew." The two men shook hands, looking appreciatively at one another—probably their grips caused this appraising. Boys. Alice and I rolled our eyes and shook our heads and giggled together. "Andy," I said, bringing Andrew's attention back to me. "Alice and Jasper said they would love to take us out tonight. Plus, they said they told me they would show us around Holland this week! Isn't that fantastic?!" I was giddy all over again.

Andrew looked at me like I had grown three heads—I wasn't normally so upbeat, and I wasn't exactly famous for making friends—then grinned.

"It does sound fantastic!" he exclaimed. "I can't wait! Thanks guys, Alice and Jasper, right? Thanks."

Alice turned to me. "Meet us here at five, okay? Bye, Bella!"

And she pranced away, everything I wasn't and yet everything I wanted to be, clutching her true love's hand.