Chapter 2

I awoke the next morning to a pair of beautiful topaz eyes.

"Morning," I said sleepily as I smiled groggily up at him.

"Good morning sweetheart" Edward said smiling down at me before he lightly brushed his lips against mine.

"Is Charlie still here?"

"No he already left," he informed me. "And since you're awake let's get you some breakfast, you have a big day today."

"Ugh, don't remind me."

"Oh hush, you, it'll be fine, I promise. Alice won't hurt you."

"If you say so," I relented.

"I do say so, now get up so you can have some breakfast, Alice will be here soon."

"And let my day of torture begin," I said as Edward rolled his eyes at me.

Edward carried me bridal style down the stairs and then set me down in a chair at the table as we entered the kitchen.

"So, what can I get you for breakfast today, love?"

"Cereal is fine."

"Cereal it is" he said, placing a bowl of Lucky Charms in front of me.

"So what will you be doing while Alice plays dress up with me?" I asked in between spoonfuls of cereal.

"Well, I'll be out for the rest of the morning, there's something I have to pick up before our date, and then Alice doesn't want me to see you before it's time to leave so I'll probably go home until it's time for our date."

"You're leaving me to suffer alone?" I said in mock horror, and then something clicked. "Wait, you have to pick up something? You better not be getting a present for me, too, if you know what's good for you," I warned. To be honest I didn't even know why I was letting him take me out to an expensive restaurant. And why did he choose a restaurant when he doesn't even eat? I mean food is food, I don't really care where I eat it. But seriously, won't it look stupid if only I eat and he doesn't?

"Don't worry, I'll be coming to rescue you at six."

I looked at the clock; it was currently ten in the morning. Oh joy, I had six hours to suffer through dress up before Edward whisked me away to a very expensive dinner. Lucky me. Note the sarcasm.

"You know most girls would get excited about this type of thing," he informed me, obviously annoyed at my lack of enthusiasm.

"Yes, but I'm not like most girls," I pointed out.

"Yes, and that's why I love you."

"I love you too, and that's the only reason I'm putting up with this. But I don't want you thinking you can get away with this all the time," I said severely, standing up and taking my bowl to the sink to rinse it off.

"I'll take care of that, Bella, besides, I think I hear Alice coming," he said with a devilish grin.

"Alright, thank you. I'll see you at six then?"

"Absolutely," he said before giving me a peck on the lips.

Then I heard the doorbell ring.

"Right on time," said Edward as I went to answer the door. There was Alice standing in the doorway.

"Come on," she said "We have to get you ready for tonight."

"You mean we aren't getting ready here?"

"No, it's easier if you come over to our house. You don't know all the escape routes quite yet."

"But what about when Edward gets back home? I doubt he'll be able to stay there for a few hours without finding out what my dress looks like," I hedged, desperate to find someway out of my torture.

"Don't worry, Emmett agreed to keep him busy for as long as we need," she said with a blinding white smile.

"Okay then. Edward, I'm leaving," I said a little louder.

And then he was by my side capturing my lips in another breathtaking kiss.

"I'll see you tonight," he said before hugging me goodbye.

"Yeah, see you tonight," I said walking out the door and to the car with Alice. It was only then that I realized I had just left the house in my pajamas.

"Oh shoot," I muttered.

"Don't worry, you'll be changing anyway."

"Yeah you're right, I guess. Hey Alice?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sure you've already seen it, so what does Edward have planned for me tonight?"

I watched as a slow smile spread across her face. Oh yeah, she definitely knew, and obviously liked what she saw. I didn't know whether that was good or bad.

"Oh no, no way am I gonna ruin the surprise, besides, Edward would kill me if I did."

"Oh fine," I huffed.

All the way to the house, Alice told me about how beautiful my dress was and how excited she was that Edward and I were going on a real date. She seemed to have forgotten that Edward and I had had plenty of dates, just not in the fashion that most teenagers did.

When we got to the house Alice grabbed my hand and rushed me through the door and up to her room.

Rosalie was waiting on the bed next to a beautiful red dress. The fabric was sparkly and it was a halter dress with a plunging neckline that, from the looks of it, would go all the way down to my navel. It had a long slit up the left leg and it looked like my back would be bare in this dress. Oh jeez, I was right about Alice getting a dress that was too revealing. This one showed almost everything.

"Um Alice, don't you think that dress is a little risqué?"

"Hmm, isn't it great? Edward will practically be drooling when he sees you in that," she said excitedly.

"But—" she cut me off before I could launch into my argument.

"Come on, we don't have much time to get you ready, get in the shower and rinse off, we'll work on your hair when you get out."

Not in the mood to argue, especially when Alice had that look on her face, I stepped into the bathroom and stepped into the shower after removing my pajamas. I rinsed off quickly, just like Alice said, and as soon as I shut the water off, Alice was thrusting a towel at me through the curtain. I quickly wrapped it around myself and stepped out.

"You didn't wash your hair, did you?"

"No…"

"Good; come on Rose, we have a lot of work to do."

"Hey, what's that supposed to—" I was cut off once again with a look from Alice as she proceeded to take me to the sink and begin her torture session.

She dunked my head in the sink, making sure to get all of my hair soaked before she started in with the shampoo. She lathered my hair in shampoo and started scrubbing at my scalp.

Rosalie joined in a bit later, although with a bit less enthusiasm, but it soon felt as if my head was under attack.

What had I done to deserve this?

"Alice do you think—" I choked up some of the water that was spraying everywhere "—you can ease up—" another sputter of water "—a bit?"

"Fine," she huffed, "but you're ruining my fun."

"You find this fun?!"

"Extremely," said a smirking Rosalie.

Ever since Edward, Alice, and I got back from Italy, Rosalie had been much nicer to me. We weren't best friends, but at least she acted civil towards me. We didn't talk much, but occasionally we would say 'Hi' or 'How are you?' All very casual conversation.

"Well are you two,"—cough—"almost done?"—cough.

"With the shampoo, yes, but then we have to put in the conditioner, and then blow dry your hair, and then—"

"Ok, ok, I get it," I fumed.

They then proceeded to lather conditioner in my hair, repeating what they had just done. Again I was left sputtering up water.

When they finished, they placed a fluffy towel on my head, and started rubbing my head, with plenty of force.

"Hey—ow—take it easy—ow," I said, my voice slightly muffled through the towel.

"Bella would you stop complaining, you're ruining the fun again," said Alice.

"Alright, alright. Sheesh."

Then they removed the towel and I saw Alice armed with the blow dryer and Rosalie armed with a brush. In the blink of an eye they had pounced on my head, and were quickly at work with my hair.

I didn't complain this time, but I didn't exactly enjoy the process either.

Ten minutes later Alice put down the blow dryer and pick up a curling iron.

I didn't think it wise to complain, so I just sat there as she and Rosalie did their thing.

When it was finished it looked really good. Alice and Rosalie had arranged my hair in soft curls that cascaded down my back. We all agreed to leave it down.

After my hair was done, they started in on my make-up.

"Please not too much," I begged them. I was not the type of girl who wore make-up normally, I found it quite a nuisance; I only wore it on special occasions (which tonight would qualify as), but even then I didn't like to go overboard.

Lucky for me, they only put on a bright red lipstick that matched the dress, eyeliner and mascara, and then they gave me a smoky-eye look with the eye shadow. I have to say they did a very good job; it looked amazing.

"Uh oh," said Rosalie all of a sudden.

"What is it?" I asked, worried.

"Edward's home."

"What? It can't be six already, I mean I'm not ready yet." I looked at the clock; five thirty, we still had another half hour to get the dress on. Wow, the hair really did take a long time.

"Don't worry, Emmett's taking care of it."

Then I heard a big thud downstairs, then another.

"How exactly is Emmett taking care of Edward?"

"Oh don't worry, they're just wrestling," Rosalie informed me.

"Come on, we have to get you in your dress," Alice said.

Alice and Rosalie dragged me into the bedroom and yanked off my towel (which I was still wearing after exiting the shower), but only after handing me my underwear to put on. As quickly as they could, without ruining the dress or my hair and make-up, they stuffed me into the dress and tied it at the top (it's a halter remember).

The dress was gorgeous, but I did feel a little ahem…exposed. Even so, when I went to look at myself in the mirror, I looked fantastic.

"Edward is gonna be speechless when he sees you in that," Alice assured me.

"I hope you're right," I said with a nervous smile.

"Yeah Bella, you look seriously hot," Rosalie told me.

That definitely settled it; Edward would be drooling when he saw me.

I had to admit though, even though I was against anything expensive, I was a little excited for what was to happen next. Okay, so I was very excited.

"Come on, it's time you got going on your big date," said Alice. And with that, she and Rosalie each took one of my arms and pulled me out of the room and into the hallway towards the stairs.

We ran into Emmett and Jasper on our way to the stairs and they stopped walking when they saw me.

"Bella? Is that really you?" asked Emmett

"Yeah, it's really me. Why, do I look bad or something?"

"Don't be silly Bella you look great, they're just shocked is all," said Alice fervently.

"Yeah, you just look different, but good different," said Jasper.

"I can't wait to see Edward's reaction when he sees you," said a suddenly excited Emmett. "Come on let's go," he said grabbing hold of my arm also.

So now all of Edward's brothers and sisters were escorting me down to the front door where Edward was sure to be waiting for me.

We started down the stairs and I started getting nervous.

We were almost at the bottom now and I could see Edward in the main hall standing with his back to us. Alice had probably ordered him to do that so we could build up suspense.

Finally I was standing a foot away from him, and Alice, Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmett moved a few feet to the side. Carlisle and Esme appeared out of nowhere and were suddenly emerged in the little group that had formed.

"Okay, Edward, you can turn around now," I said, my voice shaking unintentionally.

I held my breath as he slowly turned to face me.

A/N-So that's my second chapter. I hoped you liked it. Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I couldn't help myself. Tell me what you thought about it.