A/n: Am quite enjoying this writing malarkey. I have to admit. Having reviews is cool too.
WARNING: It's not exactly M rated just yet, but this chapter does begin to get a little sexual, and more adult (yup, get right on in there); just in case you're not into that.
Disclaimer: Still not mine.
And thus I present, without further ado: THE CULLEN'S PARTY:
Chapter 4 (I think)
Bella POV
The week went too quickly for my liking. I wore my baggy clothes to school, and was still boring Bella. I didn't see Alice much that week; I had a lot of work, but I saw her dancing around the school with Jasper at her heels a few times. It made me smile.
Though I wouldn't admit it to anyone, I was looking forward to the party on Saturday. I'd started sitting with Angela, Ben, Tyler and Eric at lunch, rather than under my usual tree outside in the grounds. They were all hyped up about it, and it seemed to be getting me into the spirit of things. It made me happy. Each night I would get out my new clothes, and my resolve would strengthen some more. I found myself wondering, more often than not, whether Edward would be there. I was too chicken, however, to broach the subject with Angela. She didn't know about my little crush on him, and it would stay that way for as long as possible.
My last class on Friday afternoon was cancelled, because the teacher was ill, and I found myself in town. Having not been to a party, I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to buy the host anything. Angela had told me that the host was Alice. The Cullen's had just bought a large house on the outskirts of Seattle, that Esme Cullen, Alice's mother, was going to redecorate, then sell on, as part of her business. Alice had been granted permission to do whatever she liked with it for the weekend, since it was going to be stripped down anyway.
I remembered seeing a cute boutique down the road from the bookshop I frequented, and so I made my way there in my truck. I got lucky and parked right outside. Once inside, I realised that I was absolutely out of my depth. The shop was packed with clothes; all unique, so the sign read. Clothes for men and women, boys and girls; jewellery; bags; shoes. I felt my head spin.
I wandered over to the clerk and asked her what she'd recommend as a small gift to a fashion-conscious friend. She'd given me the normal once-over, and questioning look, before leading me over to the jewellery section, and pulling out several small silver bracelets. After a lot of questions about her; most of which I couldn't answer, she helped me chose a lovely silver bracelet which had chunky charms hanging off it. There were six in total, and she showed me how you could stick photographs on it if you had a special glue, which I also bought. It was a little expensive, but I was quite desperate to impress Alice; and I thought the bracelet was perfect. I wondered which pictures she'd stick on it; most likely they'd all be of Jasper. I giggled at the thought.
I didn't tell Angela that I'd bought Alice a gift when I got home, in case she thought it was stupid. If she did, I'd definitely back out of giving it to her, and now I'd spent the money, I might as well. We both ate a light dinner, then changed. We decided to take two cars, in case I wanted to leave early, so I quickly copied out the directions from Angela's planner, onto a piece of paper. We started out journey at eight, to make sure we were 'fashionably late' as Angela put it. The party started at eight.
The house was on the outskirt of Seattle, and so far away from it's neighbours that nobody would be bothered by a house full of crazy, drunk eighteen pluses. When we got there, the driveway; which was massive, was already full of cars. We parked in the field next door (which seemed to be the overspill driveway, to an extent), and made our way up to the huge house. The door was open, so Angela pulled me inside, without ringing the bell, and we were confronted with a large, open plan ground floor. There were battered couches scattered around, and a large music system, which was blasting out loud music. There was a bar-area the other side of the floor, with five massive tables covered with different bottles of drink, and several huge stacks of glasses. Near to them were three large tables covered with different types of snacks. Several guys leered at us, mainly Angela, as we crossed the room. Halfway across, Ben came and dragged Angela away. I waved them off, when Angela expressed worry about me. I made my way over to the bar, where I could see Alice with a drink in one hand, Jasper in the other, giggling at something he'd said.
She turned around as I approached, and a grin lit up her face.
"Bella!" she cried, placing her drink on the table and running over to embrace me in a hug, as if we'd been best friends forever. I found myself grinning and hugging her tightly back. "You came!" she squealed, "I'm so happy! You're even wearing the clothes!"
I wondered if she always talked in a rush, looking up at Jasper, I found him grinning, as if to say 'yes', like he'd read my mind. I blushed, and smiled shyly at him. He walked up to us as Alice pulled back, and wrapped his arm around her.
"Good evening, Bella", he said, smiling at me.
"Uh, hi, um, Jasper", I replied, blushing harder, and hanging my head a little. Then I remembered the present I'd bought Alice.
"Oh", I muttered, and pulled it from the side of my skirt, where I'd stuck it to stop it getting lost. I pulled it out and handed it to Alice. "Um, it's not much, but thanks for inviting me", I said, knowing how lame I sounded.
Alice took the box from my hand and opened it, another grin lighting her face when she saw the bracelet with the glue. "You can, um, stick pictures on the charms", I told her.
Suddenly, she launched herself at me again, wrapping her tiny arms around my waist once more.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she cried happily, looking up at me. "You didn't have to, but you did! And I love it!"
I couldn't help but grin. "I'm glad you like it", I told her.
Suddenly, she looked at me quizzically.
"I want to give you something back!" she told me, and grabbed my hand. I felt myself being dragged through the party, and up the stairs. She pulled me up to a door, which she unlocked, and pulled me inside, switching on the light. I saw a bunch of clothes spread across a bed, and some electrical appliances. She lead me over to one of them.
"Sit down", she commanded, and I kneeled down. I felt her running her hands through my hair. "You have lovely hair, Bella, but you need to do something with it", she told me, and I felt her using the appliance on my hair. I closed my eyes and trusted her. I don't know how long it took, but a little while later, she handed me a mirror, and showed my myself again. I looked completely different. Somehow she'd managed to curl my hair; and it now bounced around my shoulders. It seemed like she'd also put some mousse or something in it too, because it looked all shiny.
"Wow, um, thanks Alice, it looks nice", I told her, and she hugged me again.
"Come on then!" she called to me, I watched her place the box with her bracelet in delicately down on the bed, before running out of the door. She waited until I was out, then locked it behind me, and pulled me downstairs to the party, where we met up with Jasper, who had previously stood in conversation with…with Edward.
The boys looked up and I saw Edward's eyes widen when he saw me. Jasper smiled.
"It suits you", he told me simply. Edward nodded, and smiled gently at me. My heart skipped a beat. He truly was beautiful. Then he wandered off.
"Don't mind him, Bella", Alice told me, grinning, and holding out a drink, "he's a bit shy", she winked, and I took the drink. I knew it was alcoholic, but it really did taste good; fruity. Angela and Ben came over and made conversation with me, and Alice and Jasper left to talk to the other guests. I quickly finished my drink, and put the empty cup down on the table. We had some food, then went to sit down on one of the free sofas.
Angela and Ben left to dance after a while, disappearing into the fray of bodies. Tyler and Eric danced with girls I didn't recognise a little closer to me, both grinning their faces off. I saw Alice and Jasper spinning through the crowed once or twice; as well as Rosalie and Emmett. I'd looked to see if Edward was dancing with anyone, but I couldn't see it.
It wasn't long before I found out where he was though.
"Eddie!" A high pitched voice drawled, "Where've you been, baby?" I turned around to see Tanya draped over Edward's arm. He looked like he'd been walking in my direction, probably to sit down on one of the spare sofas around the room; but he appeared to have been intercepted. He looked kind of uncomfortable.
"It's Edward, Tanya, and I've been talking to people." He replied, and I felt my heart swell a little; he didn't seem to be interested. Tanya, it seemed, didn't notice. I think she was drunk.
"But Eddie", she whined, "You haven't danced with me yet". She gave him what she must have thought was a sexy pout; it wasn't, she looked sort of like a fish. A beautiful fish, but a fish none the less.
"I don't want to dance", he told her, and pulled away from her, quickly making his way away from her through the crowed. Tanya looked annoyed, she turned to find me watching and glared at me. "What the hell do you think you're looking at? Stupid little nerd, you think just because you've got some new clothes and some curls you're one of us? As if, ugly." Then she disappeared, my heart sank a little.
"Don't mind her", said a male voice, and the sofa sank down a little as a guy came and sat next to me. He wore nothing but a leather jacket, and jeans, showing off his muscles. He had long blonde hair, held back buy an elastic band, and nice blue eyes. "She's just jealous", he told me.
"James", he continued, holding out his hand. I smiled at him, he seemed nice.
"Bella", I told him shyly. We got talking. Well, he talked, mostly I listened and nodded my head, answering questions softly when he asked them. He got me another drink, and I felt myself relaxing. I talked more. When I started to sober up a little, I realised how tired I was, and decided to get moving when I spotted the time; 2am.
"I'm gunna head off now, James", I told him, "it was nice talking to you". I got up to find Angela, and tell her I was off.
"Okay honey", she told me, and got back to dancing with Ben. I looked for Alice to say goodbye, but I couldn't see her anywhere. I resolved to say thanks at college.
I decided to make my way out of the back door, I could walk down the side of the house and then round the front and out into the field without having to make my way through the dance floor. The fresh air would do me good too.
Whilst I made my way to the door, James caught up with me. He grinned.
"I'll walk you to your car", he told me.
"Um, sure?", I replied, it was more of a question.
He lead me to the back door, holding it open for me as I stepped out into the cool morning air. It was cold, and made me shiver, but it felt good. We didn't speak, as we made out way down the side of the house. I looked in through one of the large windows to see people partying still. It was nice. I had enjoyed myself a little after all. The window passed, and we were almost to the corner when James suddenly grabbed me. I felt myself being thrown back against the wall.
"What are-", I started, when he pushed his hand over my mouth, stopping me from talking. He pulled my arms above my head, and held them there. I looked up at him; there was fire in his eyes.
"Sorry", he muttered, "but I can't resist new blood". He licked his lips at me. I froze in terror. I couldn't fight or scream, even if I wanted to. He understood this, as if he'd done it before, and let go of my mouth.
His hand instead found it's way to my breasts, grabbing one roughly, squeezing it tightly. I went rigid. He seemed to take this as a good sign, and started undoing the buttons of my blouse. The cold air hit me, but in moments he had his hands inside my bra, and started telling me how he was 'warming me up'. I cringed away from him, back into the hard wall. I felt like my usual wallflower self again. I suddenly wished I'd stayed that way.
It wasn't long before I felt him yanking at my skirt, pulling it up to the top of my thighs, before shoving his hand underneath. I squeezed my eyes shut, and I felt his hands cup me, squeezing tightly; it hurt. Then I felt his hands at the top of my panties, his fingers slipping inside.
"Please don't", I whimpered softly, tears steaming down my face, "please don't do this". He laughed, and I felt him start to move them down.
Then suddenly, with a loud 'crack' James was gone. Without his arms to hold me up, I fell to the ground, but another pair of arms caught me, scooping me up in an embrace. I felt myself pulled against a hard, warm chest. Thank God, I thought.
"Leave", I heard a smooth, velvet voice command. "Get out, now."
I hid my face in my saviour's chest, not wanting to look at what was going on.
"She was gagging for I-" I heard James start, but he was cut off.
"She told you no!" the voice was louder, stronger, angrier this time, "Get the fuck off my property!"
This time I heard James' boots crunching gravel as he walked away. I buried my face deeper into my hero's chest. He smelt amazing, I noticed. Then I felt his arms taking hold of the tops of mine, and he pulled away slightly. One of his arms wrapped around my waist to hold me up, and the other lifted my chin with gentle fingers.
"Bella?" the soft voice of Edward Cullen murmured softly. "Bella? Are you okay? Please answer me?" I looked up into his beautiful green eyes. They were filled with concern. Tears poured faster down my face. I nodded up at him, sadly, then hung my head. I felt his hand leave my chin, and reach down to pull my skirt back down my legs from where it had been around my thighs. Then, blushing, I felt his hands quickly start to button up my shirt.
"I'm so sorry, Bella", he muttered when he was done. I shook my head at him, swaying in his grip. I felt faint. I felt his grip on my waist tighten, and then he picked up my legs; he was carrying me bridal style. I blushed harder.
I had no idea where we were going, but I was surprised to realise it wasn't back to the house. I felt Edward's arms shift and move me, I flung my arms round his neck tightly, thinking I was going to fall. I still had my head buried in his chest, so I didn't realise we'd reached a car until he extracted my arms from around him and placed me in a squishy seat. He pulled a seatbelt from the loop, and reached over to buckle me in. The door shut and he disappeared; reappearing seconds later at the other door. He opened it and got in, sticking the key in the ignition and starting the car.
I still couldn't speak, I just watched him as he pulled out of the driveway, spinning the car around and speeding down the road. He reached over to turn the heater on high, and I felt a pleasant rush of hot air. I looked over at him to see his jaw was clenched; and his hands were gripping the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles were white.
"W-wh-where are we going?" I managed to stutter out.
"Not far", he replied, his eyes flickering over to me, before they focused on the road again. The rest of the drive passed in silence.
A/n: Yeah…
