A Bad Deal?

The Devil Shops Prada

Apparently Sundays were not off the list of days that Rosalie could force Bella into doing something with her. And this something was shopping, which Bella hated with a passion equivalent to her hatred for having seasonal allergies, for getting up early, and for homophobic people. Yet she couldn't say no to Rosalie, as she still feared the blonde revealing her secret to others and so she had sucked it up and waited for Rosalie to pull in front of her house at nine in the morning for a shopping trip.

The girl's car was a Maserati as she had the money from her modeling jobs to afford one. Still, Bella had never been this close to such a car and especially never ridden in one. Despite her hatred for shopping and for being pulled out of bed this early, she was a tad excited to ride in it.

The blonde honked at her to get in and she complied, almost afraid to sit on the seat for worry she would ruin it or something. A stupid belief, but Bella was worried she would ruin the car and then have to pay for it, something she would not be able to afford in her teenage life or adult life anytime soon. Shutting the door behind her, she inhaled the scent of new car smell, overlaid by Rosalie's personal scent of flowers.

"We're going to the mall out of state," Rosalie said as way of greeting. "I don't need people recognizing me. I want to shop in peace."

"Right," Bella nodded her head, unsure what else to say. In this close space with Rosalie she felt even more self conscious than usual. The other was dressed very fashionably. She had on a gray crop top and black skinny jeans. On her head she sported a pair of stylish sunglasses, her blonde hair done in a wavy manner. If she was hoping to not be noted by others, then she was certainly going about it the wrong way. She was gorgeous as always. Bella felt plain next to her, in her t-shirt and jeans.

The blonde pulled the car out of Bella's driveway and zoomed down the road, going well past the speed limit. Not that Bella was going to point that out. She'd rather avoid annoying the blonde. Still, she couldn't believe this was happening. She was going on a trip. With Rosalie. In her car. How many boys had dreamed of this moment? Probably a ton. And Bella would have loved to brag about it if the situation had been a bit different.

Plaything, huh, she groused to herself. What does she mean by that? She hasn't exactly been rude to me. Just loves making me squirm in my seat. And send me to get food for her. Rosalie's actions were confusing to Bella. Clearly she didn't see the other as her equal but she wasn't entirely downgrading her like Bella had experienced in her old high school from her bullies there. Was, Rosalie, even technically bullying her? It wasn't like she was making Bella use her own cash to buy her lunch. But she was in a sense blackmailing her.

Bella let out a frustrated sigh. What was she to think or do? Why couldn't the blonde have just asked one of her friend's to go on this trip with her? Being around the blonde always made her over analyze everything; to think constantly about her.

"What are you sighing about?" Rosalie asked and Bella jerked in her seat, not expecting the other to ask her anything. Why was she even asking? Did she care? There was a spark of hope in Bella's chest which she squashed down as she knew the other didn't really care and was just trying to come up with some sort of conversation.

"Why did you take me along, and not Alice or something?" Bella blurted out before she could stop herself, the curiosity getting the better of her. As soon as she said those words she clamped her lips shut, her face growing red. Shoot, she didn't really mean to ask that.

"They all have a life to tend to and you don't," Rosalie said, seemingly offended that it seemed like no one wanted to go with her, and Bella winced at her harsh words. Okay, so the blonde could be mean to Bella if she wanted to be. Perhaps her true full bitchiness hadn't come out yet. But Bella knew the other was capable of having a verbal bitch off, as well as a physical brawl. "Besides, they won't carry me bags if I tell them to do it, and you will." The way she confidentially said it made Bella want to disprove her but the brunette knew she wouldn't do that. She didn't want to get stuck in a mall out of state with no way of getting back home. Already she was coming up with worst case scenarios as to what could happen if she pissed the blonde off today.

"Okay," was all Bella could say in a small voice. The rest of the car ride was spent in silence as Bella fiddled with her hands. Rosalie put the radio on and she hummed along with the words, tapping her thumbs on the wheel as she drove. Not once did her gaze drift over to Bella; she almost acted as if the other wasn't in her car at all. Bella supposed she should be grateful for that as she wouldn't be forced to talk and fall into another uncomfortable conversation, which was what always happened when talking to the blonde. Bella blamed that equal parts on herself for being so self conscious in the blonde's presence and on the blonde being intimidating.

The two hour drive eventually ended and Rosalie pulled the car into the parking spot. "We're hitting up a lot of stores today, starting with the Prada store on the second floor, so I hope you can hold up a lot of bags," Rosalie tossed over her shoulder as she strode quickly from her car, Bella struggling to keep up with her.

For the rest of the day they spent time walking from one store to the next, and Rosalie wasn't kidding when she said she was expecting Bella to carry around her bags. By the time noon hit, the girl was bogged down with twenty bags, all from brand name stores. Her feet hurt, as did her head, and she was starving. Rosalie didn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon, so Bella kept her mouth shut and followed the other obediently.

Finally, when it hit three pm, Rosalie stretched her arms over her head and announced that they were going to go to the food court as she was starved. Bella let out a silent thanks as she was sure her stomach was trying to eat itself from how hungry she was and set down all the bags at a table Rosalie indicated to.

"Get me lunch," Rosalie instructed, handing Bella some money. "And be quick about it."

Bella got the food after a ten minute wait and then made a quick stop to get some food of her own. She placed down the tray of food in front of Rosalie who had been reading something on her phone. At the sight of her meal, a salad, she put her phone away and began to eat. Bella did the same, chewing nervously on her fries.

"You're eating that?" scoffed the blonde at the greasy food on Bella's plate, lifting her chin up arrogantly. "No one straight or gay is gonna go after you if you look like a bloated pig."

For a second the words made the food in Bella's mouth taste like ash but then she shrugged. She'd heard this line so many times by now, that it was overrated. "Are we going to continue shopping?" she asked instead, hoping that the answer would be a no. She wanted to go home.

Rosalie didn't look pleased that her comment had had no impact on Bella but moved on. "No. We still have to pick up something for you."

"For me?" Bella nearly choked on her fries at hearing those words. What?

"I can't have you dressing like a hobo if you're going to be walking next to me. You need an outfit update." Rosalie wrinkled her nose as if Bella's clothes personally offended her on some deep level. She stabbed her fork down on her lettuce and raised to her mouth. "We're going to Forever 21."

"You're buying...me clothes?" Bella breathed out, almost afraid to say this. She set down the fries she had in her hand, fearing they would fall from her slackened grip.

Rosalie laughed at this. "Oh god, no. As if. You're buying your own clothes. I'm just picking them out."

"I don't have money to pay for them," Bella argued, not liking this at all. "And I'm not some doll you can just dress up. I have a right to what goes on my body!"

Rosalie laughed once more at this. "Sweetie," she said, not at all sweetly. "You don't look like a doll. At all. And I don't care if you have the money or not. I'm sure you have a credit card. Just use that to buy it."

"But-"

"If you don't like this, then I suppose I could always tell everyone how you're actually a sad little dyke. Then you and Emma can go off into your gay little world and make out or whatever other gross shit it is you do."

Bella was fuming with anger at those words. Perhaps she had misjudged Rosalie and her bitchiness levels towards Bella, because right now they were about a five out of ten on the HBIC scale. "What pleasure do you even derive from making me dress differently. I don't understand," Bella mumbled darkly under her breath.

"Pleasure?" Rosalie's lips curled up in disgust. "Don't ever assume I derive any pleasure from you, you sick pervert."

Bella wanted to reply that yes, Rosalie did indeed get a kick out of bossing Bella around if she was doing this, but she didn't say anything more on the matter.

They cleaned up their meals and then went on their way to the Forever 21 store. Rosalie ordered Bella to walk three feet behind her like before, so that they wouldn't be seen as friends. Rosalie also got some catcalls on the short walk over, but she ignored them as she had with the ones in the morning. So far it seemed no one recognized her from her modeling works.

Once they entered the store, Rosalie went from rack to rack, picking up clothes and looking at them before she compared them to Bella's body, often times frowning and shaking her head as she came to some internal decisions. This was the way it went for most of the hour until the blonde shoved the pile of clothes she had amassed into Bella's hands and pushed her not so gently in the way of the cashier.

Bella was surprised that the blonde didn't insist on her trying the clothes on, but then she probably thought that Bella's figure would be too 'horrific' to look at. Plus, Bella hated trying on clothes in the fitting room so she was glad for this. What she wasn't glad for was the cost of these clothes. She was spending well over a hundred on them. But she didn't want word getting out she was gay, so she grit her teeth and pulled out her credit card with shaking hands. She was sort of praying that her card would get declined but it went through and she heaved out a great sigh as if it physically hurt her to depart from her money. She was aware of Rosalie watching this exchange the whole time.

"See, that wasn't so hard," Rosalie purred as they left the store. "And now with better clothes, you have a chance of going after Angela."

"Are you still on that?" Bella growled out. It was all a lie that she only told to get the blonde off her back.

"Relax. It's just fun and games," Rosalie rolled her eyes.

Maybe for you, Bella thought to herself. But for me, it's my life and my friends you're going to be messing with and I don't think I like that at all.

But it was a bit too late for regrets now.