Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight universe, or anyone in it. I do own Claire, Blake, Angie, Destiny (who is just so much fun to write for), and the puppy. Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 4: The Invitation
"Hi, I'm Destiny!"
The voice behind me made me jump. I turned, along with Bella and Blake, to examine the girl standing in the doorway. We had just entered my dorm room, each of us holding some boxes and suitcases.
"Hello, Destiny," I replied, not quite sure what to make of her. She was... well, gorgeous, but in the kind of way that made you angry instead of admiring. Tall and slinky, but with very noticeable curves, and a healthy bronze glow to her skin. She had thick strawberry blonde hair, which was currently tied into two pigtails, and she was winding several strands of hair around one finger. She held a pink lollipop in her other hand, and she was massaging it in a very unnatural way with her mouth. While looking at Blake.
"Hi," she said again, sparing me a glance and then fixing her eyes- which were a stunning shade of green- back on my boyfriend. "What's your name?"
"Blake," he answered after clearing his throat. He tore his eyes away from her and gave me a lopsided grin. "And this is Claire."
"His girlfriend," I added quickly.
Destiny's eyes swiveled back onto me, and her mouth spread into a large smile. "Oh, Claire, that's right! I thought it was, like, Cathy or something. Silly me!" she giggled and flipped a braid over her shoulder- which was very, very exposed, I noted. She was wearing a lemon yellow camisole, one that was definitely not doing a good job of hiding her generous cleavage, and she did not appear to have any kind of bra on. "What a cute couple you guys are! The whole 'surfer and ginger' combo, I totally dig that." She gave Blake another blinding smile, and I couldn't help but wince.
Bella came to my rescue. "Are you a student here, Destiny?" she asked politely.
"Um, duh. I'm a communications major." She added the last part proudly and then aimed her lollipop at me. "I'm your roommate, Cath- I mean, Claire."
"You... are?" I squeaked, trying not to appear as horrified as I felt. I heard Blake make a strangled sound.
"Totes! We are gonna have the best time, Claire. And you should come over any time you want, Blake." She shot my 'surfer' a wink and resumed assaulting the lollipop with her tongue.
"Thanks," he murmured, giving me a look that clearly said 'I am so sorry I made you come to this college.'
Again, Bella intervened. "It was really nice of you to stop and say hi, Destiny. Blake and I were just going to help Claire get unpacked."
I glanced around the two-person dorm room again. Suddenly, the decor- pink everything, a small army of stuffed animals, mini skirts and high heels strewn across one bed, and a vanity that was literally overflowing with make-up- make a lot more sense.
Well, at least the room itself was pretty big. It had a small kitchen area, a medium-sized t.v. hanging on one wall, two beds on opposite sides of the room, a vanity, a bookcase, a sofa, and two dressers. Aside from the barbie standing in the doorway, it wasn't a bad room at all.
"Ugh, not my scene at all, Claire," she sniffed, as if my plans to unpack offended her in some way. "You guys do your thing, I'm going to try and actually find something to do in this dump of a town. Try not to touch anything of mine, Claire, okay? Thanks." She gave me a sweet smile, then winked at Blake again. "Toodles."
And with that, she turned on her heel and headed back into the hallway.
The three of us stood in silence for several moments, not quite knowing what to say. Finally Blake cleared his throat again. "Babe," he said slowly, "I feel like I should remind you that murder is still a pretty big deal in Washington."
I snorted. "Oh, please, I won't kill her. Probably," I added as an afterthought. "I mean, sure she was kind of annoying, but I'm sure she'll make up for it by decorating our room in some hideous way and then hitting on my boyfriend. Oh. Wait." I gave Blake a frosty scowl. "She already did those things."
"And what was I?" Bella wondered aloud. "Chopped liver?"
Blake gave me an uneasy smile. "C'mon, babe, I'm sure you'll get used to her. You probably won't even have to see her that often, just at nights and maybe in the morning sometimes."
"She did seem like a party girl, Claire," Bella added. "I doubt she'll be in the room very much."
"I hope you're right," I murmured, still looking at the spot where she had been standing. After a moment I sighed and, trying to forget about my new roommate, suggested, "Alright, let's get all this junk unpacked. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can grab dinner somewhere!"
"Here, here." Blake nodded and dropped to his knees, already trying to un-duct-tape a box.
Two hours later, my room was in a much more organized and homey condition. Destiny had returned not long ago and had provided instructions on where I should place my things, whether or not my outfits actually matched, and whether or not most of my shoes needed to be thrown out. By the time everything was unpacked and put away, I was starting to forget my promise not to murder her.
And poor Blake! The blonde wonder had been practically at his elbow for the past hour, babbling about his big muscles and how it was so strange that he was a 'one-woman-man.' And she kept sucking on lollipops. I don't know where she was getting them from and I don't know where the wrappers kept disappearing to, but she seemed to have an endless supply.
Blake had finally had enough and had politely excused himself several minutes ago, leaving me and Bella alone with... it.
"So do you have a boyfriend, Bella? I mean, obviously you could never get a guy like Blake, but I know some guys who are really into short girls. Want me to-"
"I have a boyfriend," Bella interjected quickly, reddening.
"Bella's boyfriend is practically a supermodel," I bragged for her. "He's gorgeous."
Destiny looked doubtful. "Oh, yeah, I'm sure he is. You guys probably have one of those open rela-"
"I'm hungry!" I announced loudly, interrupting her. Bella shot me a thankful look and stood from her seat on my bed.
"Same," she said quietly. "I have some take-out menus in my truck, Claire, want me to go grab them?"
I nodded, and with another grateful look she walked swiftly out the door.
Not a moment after Bella had left, Destiny started babbling.
"You should let me do your hair, Claire! I could make it look so pretty, and maybe with some make-up- you really should wear some, you know- then, oh my god, you'd look fabulous."
"Maybe some other time, Destiny," I said between gritted teeth.
She was unfazed. "And while we're at it, maybe a whole entire new makeover! I mean, my clothes would probably be too tight on you, but I'm sure we could find something other than those shapeless sweater you-"
At that moment my phone buzzed, and I answered it instantly. "Hello?" I said, holding up one hand to shush Destiny, as if this was a very important phone call.
"Bella?" A rough, deep voice sounded in my ear.
"Huh?" I pulled the phone away, and realized with a flush of embarrassment that this was not my phone. Oops. Bella must have left hers by mistake. "Um, sorry, this is her phone, but-"
"Where is she?" the voice demanded.
"She just ran out, she'll be back in a few minutes. Er... do you want me to take a message?"
I was greeted by stony silence on the other end. After several long seconds I glanced at the screen to see if he had hung up, and the small printed letters spelling out JAKE next to the caller I.D. caught my eye.
"Hey, you're Jacob!" I exclaimed. "Hi! I've heard so much about you!"
A few more seconds of silence, and then he growled, "Who the hell is this?"
Sheesh, the guy was kind of rude. "Er... I'm Claire. Uh, Bella's friend." He made no response, so I continued, "Uh, I'm new in town, and Bella's been helping me get settled. Like I said, she just ran out for a minute, but she'll be back soon. Hey, you live in La Push, right?" I didn't give him a chance to respond and continued animatedly, "You know, I've been trying to convince her to take me down there- see the sights, you know?"
"Really?" he suddenly sounded interested. I grinned- he probably wanted to hang out with her.
"Yeah, yeah. She and I are planning to hang out this weekend, and we've been trying to come up with things to do."
"Yeah? You guys should come down- tell her we're having a bonfire down on the beach on Saturday." He definitely sounded excited now, and my grin widened. "She should come. Everyone misses her." Everyone, huh? Suuure.
"Bonfire, huh? Sounds like fun, I'll see if I can talk her into it."
"Oooh, a bonfire? At La Push? Oh my god, Claire, that's sounds like the best thing ever! Have you seen the guys down there?"
"Who's that?" Jacob sounded wary.
"No one," I choked out, suddenly horrified at the idea that Destiny might want to come along. "I gotta go, Jacob- it was nice talking to you."
"Say hi to Bella for me."
What am I, chopped liver? I thought, echoing Bella's sentiment from earlier. But I couldn't help but grin- he sounded so excited that we, well, she, might come down to visit him.
"I will," I promised. "Bye." I hung up, and as soon as I set Bella's phone down there was a life-sized barbie bouncing up and down in front of me.
"Are you seriously going to La Push, Claire? You and Bella just have to let me come, I mean no offense but you guys really don't seem like you know how to have fun, you know? Having me there will make it way easier for you to fit in."
Dammit, where was she getting all these lollipops from? "I... um... see..." I stammered, trying to think of some excuse to keep her from going.
"I mean, seriously, the La Push guys are just gorgeous, Claire. They're, like, the definition of hot."
"Oh. Yay. Um..." I took a deep breath and tried to speak gently, "Look, Destiny, Saturday is kind of going to be a special day for me and Bella, y'know? It's been years since we've had a whole day to just hang out together, today was so busy it didn't even count, and I was really looking forward to spending Saturday with her. Just the two of us."
She gasped, shocked that I would exclude her, and I instantly felt a stab of guilt.
"Although, um..." I wracked my brain for a way to make her feel better. "We probably won't even go to the bonfire," I offered slowly, "But maybe if we decide to, and it's not too late, I'll give you a call?" I finished lamely, running a hand through my hair. That would work, right? If Bella and I did go and Destiny found out, I could just say that my phone had died or it had been too late to call or something.
Her glamorous face beamed down at me. "Oh, that sounds great, Claire! You and Bella can do your little thing, and then if you decide to actually be fun we can go to a real party." She bobbed her head happily, and I gave her a shaky smile.
"Y-yeah, sure. Sounds great."
