A/N: Yes yes, I let you wait again and hosetly I'm not sure if it was worth the wait... I would love to have some cool excuse, but the reality is that I jsut get easily disracted and bored. So in the middle of typing I get bored of whatever I'm typing and start occupying myself with something else. I know it's a bad habit and I'm working on becoming a better writer :P I actually just spent all of my free day to finish this chapter and I hope you gyus like it
"I am very disappointed in you, Bella. I thought giving you the freedom that you wanted, would help you growing into a responsible adult. You are no longer a child, so you should stop acting like one and start taking on your responsibilities, like every other adult does." Dad said to me in a hard voice. I could have handled the witch a lot better. She would have screeched at me, I would have pretended to listen until she got on my nerves and then would have yelled something back at her, before I would have left the room and cursed her along the way.
With my father it was different. I have never been able to stand up against him, like I did with my grandmother. Or talk my way out of things like I did with my mother. There was just no escape.
I nodded slightly at his words and he continued.
"Bella nobody expects you to be perfect-" I cast a look at my grandmother, who grimaced at his words"- but I can expect that you try your best. You are now representing two very important families and it doesn't do any good for anyone if you go and get drunk at an important event like that. Mrs Cullen puts her soul into this every year and this year the focus is not on what she has achieved, but on you playing around with a hotel heir." Dad sneered and threw a magazine on the table.
It was not the same as the one Laurent had presented me. This one was called "Glitz and Goss" and showed a picture of me and Mike at the bar, when he had been whispering in my ear. First of all, who comes up with shitty names like this? And second, why did I not notice that someone was taking pictures?
I groaned. "Dad, I wasn't eve—"
"I don't care what you did or didn't do." he interrupted me right away. His gaze on me was intense and I could see that he was definitely not happy with me.
"Bella, if you want to be a part of this family you better start doing the things that you are asked to do. Stop acting like this is a punishment, we are only doing what is best for you."
I got up from my chair. "No, you are doing what you think is best for me. Why does nobody ever as—"
"Isabella!" Dad thundered, causing me to sit back down immediately. "This is not a discussion. Either you will do what is expected of you ever since you were born or you will have to live with the consequences of your behaviour. And I am sure that you do not want to know what they are." With a simple hand movement he told me that I was free to go now.
I went quietly out of my father's office and made my way up to my room.
I crawled back in my bed, wrapping myself tightly inside the sheets and closed my eyes.
I ignored the single tear that ran down my nose.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
"Ms Swan, it is time for you to get up. Your mother is expecting you downstairs for breakfast." I heard the high-pitched voice of Josie, one of our maids. Normally I was left alone by the maids, mainly because I didn't want or need them around. But since the talk with my father last week I had been forced back into old routines. It was almost like reliving my childhood only that I was aware now that this wasn't exactly how I wanted to spend my life. I had to get up at nine so that I could be ready for breakfast at ten. Sometimes my father would be there and other times he wasn't. My mother would go on and on about the different things she planned on purchasing and complained about the house workers. Occasionally she asked me if I was alright, which I had to answer with a smile and tell her that I was perfectly fine.
Like I mentioned before, my mother wasn't exactly the motherly type, although she tried every now and then. But she wasn't capable of really dealing with me. When she asked me how I was doing she only wanted to hear how happy I was, because if I told her otherwise she would go frantic, telling me that I should be happy with all the things I had and calling a psychologist to "fix the child". I knew that she didn't mean anything bad by doing it, because she just didn't know any better, but looking back at my life so far the realization of how much my life sucked was just disturbing.
In this past week I hadn't heard anything that was related to the wedding and Alice also didn't contact me. I wasn't sure if I should be sad or relieved about that.
I spent most of my time in my room, buried under a pile of books to occupy myself with. I was yearning to go outside and do something. The only problem was that I didn't have anyone that I could hang out with. So I stayed inside, only leaving my room when I was asked to.
I put on one of the summer dresses that my mother bought me two days ago and went downstairs to the dining room.
I never liked this room much. It was too formal for my taste and the two ends of the table were so far apart that you would need and intercom to talk to the person on the other end.
The chair at the head of the table was empty today, but my mother sat at the table already, eating her yogurt while reading "Glitz and Goss". I silently shook my head at that.
I sat down opposite of her and mumbled a greeting.
"Good morning, Bella." she answered. I looked up at her in surprise.
Ever since I was little one part of my punishment, when I had done something wrong, was to call me by my full name instead of my preferred nickname. I usually had to redeem myself in some way before I earned the name 'Bella' again. As far as I could remember I hadn't done anything that would have gained my parent's approval. Well, I ate my meals with them, but that was probably not it.
I saw my grandmother enter and she took a seat next to her daughter. "Good morning, Isabella," she said in that stiff way of hers when she tried to sound nice.
Too bad that she never succeeds.
"Good morning." I replied, turning my attention to my food. I held my breath waiting for one of them to speak. I knew that something was up, since my mother seemed to find me worthy of my nickname again and my grandmother attempted to be nice. The combination of these two things couldn't possibly be good.
I was pretty sure that they both waited for me to say something so they could carefully slip in hints here and there until the whole truth was out. But I didn't do them the favour and eventually my mother cracked.
"So Bella, since your little 'escapades' are still a topic of gossip we have come to a decision." she said slowly.
I looked at her with a wary expression.
"It also, hopefully, is a way to make you realize the position you are currently in and help you get accustomed to it."
I quirked an eyebrow at her. "We hope that this solution will help you with your respons—"
"You're moving in with Edward." my grandmother barged in, obviously annoyed with Mom beating around the bush.
"What?" I exclaimed with wide eyes.
"Oh, don't act all surprised. You would have moved in with him anyway." my grandmother said dismissively. I glared at the witch while she chewed calmly.
"Yes, but that was supposed to be after the wedding, which doesn't even have a date yet." I hissed at her.
She looked at me in a way that told me that I was not really impressing her with either my glare or the hissing.
"We do have a date," she announced. I opened my mouth to scream something, but there was nothing in my head in that moment. I looked at my mother for confirmation. She gave me an apologetic smile.
"I thought I got to choose when the wedding will be." I spat out through clenched teeth.
"No, we wanted you and Edward to decide together. However, we have come to the realization that giving you too much freedom is not good for you. That is why we set the date ourselves. You have a little more than two months, so I guess that this is in your best interest." my mother replied.
In my best interest? Yeah, right…
"And why in the world do I have to move in with Edward? I don't think this will change anything."
"Well, Edward is a responsible young man. We hope that his influence will help you to finally get rid of that teenage way of thinking. You need to grow up and fulfil your tasks." my grandmother told me firmly.
"What tasks? Me looking like a plastic doll at all times? I don't think that I need any kind of training, practice or whatever for that." I exclaimed.
My mom threw me a dark look. "Being a good wife, a proper representative of your family and eventually a good mother. One day it's going to be your job to keep this family together." she told me with authority in her voice, that she rarely used.
I restrained myself from snorting. What exactly are you supposed to do when the life that you were born into is not suitable for you? I had a few options of what I could do. All of them involved me being free as well as me disappointing my family.Family?
What did family mean anyway?
If you looked it up you would find something like this: In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children.
Didn't sound very loving to me. And yet, I surrendered. I always did, with no real reason as to why. I sighed and dropped my shoulders.
I saw a hint of a smug smile on the witch's face, but I decided to ignore that.
"Fine, when do I move?" I asked my mother.
"Today."
"Today?" I asked in surprise. How exactly do you move in one day? And Alice hadn't even found an apartment yet, or had she?
"Alice has been spending all of last week finding a beautiful apartment for you and Edward and getting it ready for you to move in. All that is left to do is packing your things and since you haven't even moved in here properly a lot of your things are still in cartons in the basement."
She was right about that. After all I had been here and there all the time that I never really got settled in this house once my parents moved here.
But still, this was just crazy. One day? As long as they didn't get some kind of superman to do this whole thing, this was never going to happen.
"Alice and Rosalie have volunteered to come and help you pack the things in your room and then show you the apartment. They should be here in about half an hour."
I pushed my plate away, definitely not hungry anymore. I got up and turned to walk out of the room.
"Where are you going Isabella?" my grandmother asked, sounding again like the witch that she was.
"Going to dig my own grave in the backyard." I mumbled and left the room, before I could hear her response.
I marched straight into the kitchen, finding Laurent there, busily cleaning his working space.
"I'm starting to get the feeling that you live in this kitchen." I said when I entered.
He had been with his back to me and turned abruptly when he heard my voice.
"That's what I get paid for, my dear child." he said to me with a roll of his eyes.
"How about you get a new job?" I suggested and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs.
"I actually quite like the payment, but if you have anything in mind I'm all ears."
"You can cook for me and Edward in our new apartment." I said grimly.
That definitely caught Laurent's attention. "You're moving in together?" he asked in surprise.
I fake smiled at him. "Yes, isn't that exciting? These are my last hours in this house."
"What, you're moving today? Why do I only get to hear that now?" Laurent asked sounding a little offended.
"Because I just heard it two minutes ago myself." I replied.
Understanding flashed across Laurent's features. "You know if you want to talk or anything, I'm there for you, right?" he asked in concern.
I looked at him in surprise and confusion. What would I want to talk about? Something else changed in Laurent's expression, but I couldn't place that emotion.
He quickly composed himself. "So do you want me to help you with anything? Packing? Carrying? Anything?" he offered.
I shook my head. "Alice and Rose are supposed to come over and help me." I informed him.
"I always knew this day would come and I shouldn't actually be sad that you're leaving, because you have been here and there all the time, but still I can't believe that you are moving out." Laurent said to me and walked over to hug me gently.
In some ways Laurent was like the older brother I never had. The only reason why I probably didn't go completely insane was him, along with a few other house-workers that have been with us all my life. Well, they used to be with us. Laurent was the only one who moved along with the family. Part of it was probably the fact that he was such a great cook that my mother didn't want to let him go. I always told him that he should quit and open his own restaurant.
He had only rolled his eyes at me and told me to wash the dishes. I smiled at the memory.
"Stop standing there smiling goofily into space. The doorbell just rang and I bet it's for you." Laurent told me, waving a dishtowel in front of my face. I scrunched up my nose and then pulled a grimace at him, before I moved to the entrance hall where Rose and Alice were just being let in by the butler. Sometimes I thought his only job was to open the door.
"Ah, there she is. Our little boozer." Rose exclaimed with a laugh. She looked even more beautiful today then she usually did. I guessed that it had to do with the fact that she was a lot more dressed up. Her hair was in a fancy bun, she wore more make-up and quite a few bracelets were tinkling on her arm. And I also noticed that this was the first time that I saw Alice wear jeans.
"You are very lucky that my shoot ended earlier, it gives us a little more time." Rose told me and was already on her way upstairs.
Suddenly Alice's arms were around me squeezing every bit of air out of my lungs. "I'm sorry that I haven't called you this last week, I was just so incredibly busy." she gushed and let go of me. "It's okay, Alice." I reassured her and patted her on her head. She grimaced at that, but then smiled beautifully at me. We both hurried to follow Rose and a few seconds later we all stood in my room.
"Well, we don't have much work to do in here." Alice said with a simple shrug. I guess that it was a good thing that I never really personalized this room.
"Don't you have any souvenirs from your travels or something?" Rose asked looking around.
"You're asking me now? You saw my room already." I noted.
"Yes, but I wasn't really paying attention."
I sighed. "I do have more than enough souvenirs, but most of my stuff is in the basement. The only things that I really unpacked are my clothes."
Alice dashed inside my closet before I could even finish the sentence.
"Well, well, well. Looks like we have to take a few things out. And maybe go shopping, but overall I would say it's quite alright." Alice mused.
Rose nodded while I just did my best to ignore Alice right then.
"Let's get to work then." Alice shouted enthusiastically and pulled her phone out.
The next three hours were over faster than I would have thought. Alice and Rose spent the most time in my closet sorting things out and packing them up, while I looked to see what they were doing every now and then and then proceeded to pack the rest of my stuff. Of course we got in a fight with Alice every single time I entered the closet.
"You can't throw these away, these jeans are epic. They have history to them." I complained and retrieved the pair of ripped jeans that Alice wanted to throw out.
"No, they are history and have to go." Alice argued and snatched them out of my hands.
"You wanna throw away my college memories?"
"You should have gotten something like a scrapbook."
"These jeans are important to me, you can't just throw them away."
"Yes, I can and I will. You're not in High School anymore."
"College! I wore them in College."
"Whatever, they are not going in the new closet."
"Okay they won't. I'll just frame them and hang 'em on my wall."
Alice had a dangerous look on her face and opened her mouth to reply when Rose interrupted.
"Okay, how about this: We get another box for Bella's memories and it goes in there. That box will be put in a chamber or something nobody ever has to see it again."
Alice and I looked at each other and both agreed with this compromise.
Even if this move was not what I had asked for and had definitely never been on my To-do list, I was just a tiny bit excited to be moving out. Not that moving in with Edward was a good thing, but that tingly feeling in my stomach was there again. The one that I always got when I was preparing to leave for a longer time period. The sweet joy of freedom, even though moving in with Edward was not exactly what I called freedom.
I sighed and sat down on my bed staring at my hands in my lap.
I sat there for heaven knows how long, just letting my thoughts wander.
"Bella are you okay?" I heard Rosalie ask in concern.
She and Alice were just walking out of my closet and came to sit next to me, both of them looking concerned.
"I think so." I answered flatly.
"You know, I was wondering the whole time why you aren't throwing a tantrum over having to live with Edward." Alice mused.
"I don't feel like it."
Rose patted my shoulder in some kind of comforting way.
"You know, you and Edward in one apartment is going to be disastrous." Alice told me with a sigh.
"Wow, thanks Alice. I really needed that now."
Alice just continued, ignoring me. "But I really think that the two of you might pull it off…eventually."
"Is this some kind of pep talk?" I raised my eyebrows at Alice.
"No, this is me telling you that I have faith in you. I trust that you can make this very weird relationship work and make both families somewhat happy. I know that they are asking a lot from you, but sometimes we have to get through difficult phases before we can enjoy happiness."
"Alice, I'm afraid that your pep talk is very cheesy and doesn't motivate me at all."
Alice moved quickly to kneel in front of me. She looked me straight in the eye.
"Bella, you and Edward belong together and you two better make this relationship work if you don't want me chasing after your sorry asses for the rest of your life."
"What makes you think we are perfect for each other? Opposites don't always attract you know." I told her a little taken aback by her words.
"Trust me, I just know," she said with a smirk and then pulled out her phone again and by the sounds of it she was talking to the movers.
"Listen Bella, I think that Alice is just trying to tell you that, maybe all those struggles will be worth it in the end. Even if you and Edward are not a happy couple in the end." Rose told me quietly while Alice was bossing someone around on the phone.
"How so? I never really wanted a bunch of kids and to live the life of a trophy wife." I told her with a sigh.
"Then don't do it. You see, your family might make you feel like you have absolutely no choice, but you do. We both know that walking away from this now will probably lead to you being thrown out of your own family, but if you at least make it through this whole wedding thing, you can do whatever you want. You are an adult and you can do whatever you want. Your parents wanted you to marry Edward and you can do that, but they can't force you to live a life that you don't want. You can go and do whatever you want and if they don't like it, just remind them that you already did what they asked for." Rose said with a grin.
I opened my mouth to reply something, but Rosalie cut me off.
"You know the real problem is not that you have to marry Edward, it's that you depend too much on your family."
With these words she let me sit there and went to go to the bathroom. I looked after her, deep in thought. Alice and Rose's words had not really been the ones I wanted to hear, but for some reason I felt like I shouldn't ignore what they had said. I sighed and pushed those thoughts aside for later. Who knows, maybe Edward was in reality the true love that I was waiting for my whole life. I doubted it, but hey…positive thoughts.
Soon a troop of muscular guys in overalls stepped into the house, making my grandmother grimace in distaste and I thought I saw my mother swoon. I suppressed a giggle at that. Alice was already giving out instruction while Rose and I waited for her.
After various minutes of watching Alice telling the guys exactly what they should bring where, we were ready to go.
"So are you going to show me my new home now?" I asked form the backseat of Rose's BMW.
"Not yet, the workers are still busy there. We'll have to be there to monitor the movers though, I'm not sure if they listened to me." Alice replied.
"And where are we going now?"
"Well, first things first. I think I have the perfect wedding theme now." Alice gushed in excitement.
I just stared and gestured for her to continue.
"Under the sea." she said dramatically and then waited for my reaction.
I spoke slowly, "Under the sea? Do you want a 'Little Mermaid' wedding?"
"No, I just meant like water. The colours are going to be blue and white, you know."
I thought about it. Blue and white…I could work with that.
"Only if you manage to pull off something incredibly cool." I told her.
"Like a shark at your wedding?" Alice asked in excitement.
"Something like that."
The squeal that followed was so painful that Rose almost drove us of the road.
Alice started rushing the words, "I love you, Bella. Very very much. I'm so happy that you agreed, because most of my other ideas would probably not really work for you. I really thought hard about this and I swear it's going to be the best wedding ever."
"Breathe Alice." Rose said calmly and patted Alice's knee with one hand.
"Right." Alice started taking deep breaths and calmed herself down.
"Do I get an answer to my earlier question now?" I asked after Alice regained a normal breathing pace.
"We're going to see James and then the decorators and I think we should stop by my workshop too. After that we should buy some drinks and stuff, because we're having a house warming tonight."
"Sounds wonderful."
"It is. The theme inspired me for your wedding dress. It's going to be so dreamy."
"When Alice is staring off into space like that she definitely has a good idea. Her ideas are so great that even you will enjoy getting married." Rose informed me with a giggle.
I didn't say anything to that and just leaned back, staying quiet for the rest of the drive. The main reason for that was actually that Alice's phone kept ringing and she had to sort out whatever issues the people had. She was not only monitoring the move but also her workshop. I admired her for managing all those things so well. Eventually we halted in front of James' shop and got out of the car. James seemed to have been waiting for us, because he immediately stepped out and greeted us.
"Alice, Rose and Bella. It is so wonderful to see all of you. My day has just been brightened by your beauty." he sang and hugged each of us pecking us on both cheeks.
"Judging by the looks on Alice's face, I would say you're not here for fun." he stated waving his hand at Alice.
She replied instantly, "All business, baby."
James led us inside and Alice got right into it, explaining her 'fabulous' idea.
"It's brilliant. I knew there was a reason why I always recommend you to my costumers." James said with a brilliant smile, while he twirled a strand of his hair.
"I know. I'm awesome, right?" Alice sighed happily.
"Absolutely and I'm already thinking blue hydrangeas."
"I hoped you'd say that."
"Mixed with blue roses."
"Of course"
"Blue Calla lilies and blue orchids."
"James, if I weren't married already and you weren't gay, I would so marry you right now." Alice said with a happy smile.
"I know, I know. Everybody wants me."
Rose and I mostly just watched Alice and James trying to get a bouquet together. Of course they couldn't do so without disagreeing.
"You know what? I can't work like this. All of you out and come back tomorrow or something." James said finally, when Alice got too much on his nerves
"You're throwing us out?" Alice asked him.
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing."
"You're lucky that we have to go to the workshop anyway, otherwise you would have been forced to look for a new lunch partner." Alice said sticking her nose in the air and dragging me and Rose along.
We only had to walk down the street to get to Alice's workshop and different than last time it was actually kinda busy in there.
"Alice!" a voice immediately exclaimed when we stepped through the door.
A small brunette quickly shuffled over to us. She had her hair in a messy bun and wore a simple black dress that managed to look casual and professional at the same time.
"I'm so glad that you are here," she wheezed out when she reached us. It seemed like this girl was seriously stressed.
"What's wrong Angela?" asked Alice.
"You remember that one costumer last year, that horrible creature of a human being?"
"Um, there were quite a few."
"The one who demanded that you do her dress, but you handed her over to Vanessa."
"Ah that one. What about her?"
"She's been calling non-stop and wants you to design a pageant dress for her."
"But she knows that we only do wedding dresses, right?"
"That's what I told her, but she seems to be under the impression that we design dresses in general and she's constantly calling. She's kinda blocking the line and unfortunately made me miss the call of the fabric supplier and he is only going to be in town today, so you have to call him since you are the only one with his number."
"Okay I will do that right away." Alice said with a nod and then looked at a girl, who was bend over a desk at the far side of the room. "Nessie, you should take care of that problem. That horrible woman was your costumer."
"But she's awful, even Jean hates her and Jean loves everyone." Nessie complained, blowing a strand of her red hair out of her face.
As if on cue a guy appeared beside me and snaked his hands around my waist.
"I don't love everyone, just the pretty people." he purred and then smiled at me. "I'm Jean."
"Nice to meet you, Jean." I said slowly a little confused as to why he was suddenly holding me so intimately. "I'm Bella."
"Oh, you're that hot piece of ass of who we have the naked pictures of upstairs?" he looked at me in excitement.
"Naked pictures?" Rose asked already laughing hard. "I always knew that it would get interesting with you around, but I never dreamed of this."
I sighed and didn't bother to explain anything to Rose. Neither did Alice, but that was probably because she was already on the phone with the fabric supplier.
"So since you are our next bride, how about you go and stand there, you're rocking curves had me inspired the first second I laid eyes on you." Jean whispered in my ear, causing me to shudder involuntarily. He chuckled at that, obviously aware of the effect he had on me. Or maybe people in general.
Another guy walked past us, his hands full with paper rolls. "Don't mind Jean, sweetie. He likes to get his hands on everything that walks on two legs. Normally he does that to Rose." he informed me with a boyish grin. He had dark hair, which he had gelled into little spikes and wore an earring with a little blue stone in it, that matched his eyes.
Jean was still cuddling me, but managed to manoeuvre me over to one of the platforms and then finally let go of me. Rose came to my side. "Personally I think he has a thing for brunettes, he always forgets about me when a brunette is nearby."
I looked after Jean, who was running all over the place clearly looking for something.
"Blondie whatever you are doing, stop it. I already have an idea for Bella's dress." Alice called, when she saw Jean dashing around. Jean froze in his movements.
"Please tell me you have an idea for a colour, because I had this fabulous idea but no colour to go with it." Jean whined, not really acknowledging Alice's words.
"Since when is there any colour in wedding dresses?" I asked.
"Since the day brides weren't as innocent as the white colour of their dresses." Jean told me with a mischievous smile. "Deep down we are all little whores."
I coughed at his words not sure if I was really hiding a laugh.
"You're the only whore in here, Jean." a voice spoke that I hadn't heard yet. A woman with stunningly exotic looks walked down the stairs.
"Oh please Zafrina, you're just jealous that I got a lot more guys wanting to bang me than you." Jean retorted. Zafrina just rolled her eyes at him, before her eyes caught sight of me and she grinned.
"Our naked model!" she exclaimed happily. "You are even prettier in person. I was already thinking of—"
"No. I already have an idea." Alice threw in through gritted teeth.
"You know Alice, I also already thought of something..." Angela piped in from behind a mannequin.
"But you don't even know the theme yet:" Alice said sounding like an angry child.
"Well, I was thinking something gentle and soft. It has to flow around her body and hug all the right places." the spikey haired guy said.
"Ugh, Danny stop stealing my ideas." Alice complained.
"How about we just collect all of our ideas and then try to make it work?" Nessie suggested.
"No way, my dress is so much better without all of you wanting to change it. I'm the boss, so I get to decide."
"With all due respect Mrs Whitlock," Jean said mockingly, "but I really think that my ideas would definitely improve whatever dress you were thinking off."
"Jean you always do too much, she'll probably look like a circus freak after you are done." Zafrina threw in.
"And you will make some skimpy dress that might as well be passed off as a bathing suit, so don't you dare saying anything." Jean retorted. It only took all six of them minutes to start shouting at each other, each of them claiming to have the best ideas.
I got down from the platform and sat down next to Rose.
"I never saw them disagree. You really bring out the strangest reactions in people." Rose remarked.
"I think it's a curse." I sighed in response.
"Well at least you know that six people really do care about your wedding dress. I wish they would have gone all crazy over mine."
"Okay, we should settle this a little more civilized." the voice of Angela rang out.
"Beat each other up with baseball bats?" Nessie asked.
"No, I was thinking something like a competition." Angela's eyes gleamed dangerously at the word.
"What does the winner get?" Danny asked.
"Apart from being mentioned as the dress designer?"
"Never mind."
"Okay, sounds fair, but we need to make up rules." Alice said. "No sabotaging," she looked at Jean, "no stealing. The dresses should be done in six weeks, so we have enough time for the shoot and you either make or find a tuxedo that goes along with it. Bella is going to be the judge in the end. By the way, the wedding theme is 'Under the sea'."
"Mermaids?" Danny asked in confusion.
"No, water, ocean, sea, beach or whatever. Think Atlantis. Maybe I should call the theme Atlantis instead."
"Alright, I'm in, but I need your phone number Bella." Jean spoke up and strutted over to where Rose and I said, holding out his hands. I handed him my phone and a few seconds later the other four designers surrounded him, all of them saving my number in their phones. Jean handed it back to me with a grin and then dashed upstairs.
"Alright, I guess we're done here for now." Alice said slowly and then motioned for me and Rose to follow her.
"You're seriously having a competition for designing my wedding dress? That is definitely the strangest thing ever." I laughed along with Rose when we were back in the car.
"It'll be worth it, no matter who wins, the other dresses will be amazing as well and I'm already making big plans here. Bella your wedding is some kind of blessing for me." Alice said dreamily and looked out of the window.
Well, I'm glad that you are enjoying it…
"So now we're going to see the decorators?" Rose asked.
Alice nodded and got back on her phone. It was probably going to be attached to her ear soon.
By the sound of it the workers in the apartment had messed up and Emmett, who was apparently supposed to watch things, was now getting an earful from Alice.
Poor bastard.
The visit at the decorators was quite similar to the one at James'. After some meeting and greeting, Alice explained her idea once more and let Shawna, the person in charge, know exactly what she wanted. I was not really listening and just roamed around the place along with Rose, looking at some of their displays. An hour later Alice called that we should get our move on and was now in a big hurry to leave.
"Just drive back to the apartment, Rose." Alice said, sounding tired.
"I thought you wanted to go and buy—"
"Emmett can do that. We have to watch those incompetent people move everything to the right place and unpack. I really want everything done tonight, so that I can sleep better."
"Alright, your wish is my command."
Twenty minutes later we came to halt in front of a giant apartment building. I didn't even know why I was surprised that it had kind of a hotel-like atmosphere, since it practically yelled expensive.
"Welcome to the Baxton building, your future home. You own the fourth floor." Alice told me happily.
I gaped at her. "The entire fourth floor?" I asked her.
Alice nodded eagerly. I may not like this whole high society thing, but come on, luxury rocks and we all know it.
The entrance was a revolving door, that was kind of unhinged or something now, allowing various guys with boxes furniture and so on to move in and out.
"I thought they'd be done by now." Rose mused.
"They are close to done, I think." Alice replied and then led the way inside. The entrance hall looked very comfortable. It was decorated in a simple manner and had a few couches standing on the left side. On the right side was the receptionist desk and the person behind it seemed to be a little nervous, because of all the men walking in and out, not looking like they cared if they knocked over a vase.
"Oh Mrs Whitlock," the tiny man behind the desk sighed in relief, "I really hope these people are done soon, they are really really making me nervous. They already managed to get stuck in the elevator once and that got me complaints from the seventh floor, because they couldn't get out of their apartment."
"Don't worry about that, Micah. I'm back and in charge and I'll make sure that these people disappear soon." Alice reassured him. He smiled gratefully at her.
Alice turned to me. "In case you haven't noticed, there is a Starbucks in the building." Alice pointed to what I had assumed was a glass wall beside the couches earlier, only to realize that there was a set of doors that led in fact straight into a Starbucks shop.
"It's a special treat for the people who live in here you can call in and order so you don't have to fight through that morning madness."
I folded my hands quickly and looked up at the sky.
"Are you praying?" Rose asked.
"No, I'm thanking God for Starbucks." I told her and sent a quick thank you in the sky.
"Hmm...I suppose it's not a half bad idea."
"Yes, yes. Thank you God for Starbucks." Alice said impatiently.
"Amen." Rose and I chorused.
"Right. So I really want you to know that I went through hell to get this apartment for you and Edward. This is one of the most wanted places in town and I had to work every ounce of my magic to make this happen, so you better start kissing my ass now." Alice said to me.
"First I want to see what I have to kiss your ass for."
Alice nodded with a grin and led the way to the elevators. While we waited she started her lecture.
"Okay, so this is your key." she held up something that looked like a key pendant. She pointed at a metallic ship on it. "It's electronic."
Right then the lift opened and we stepped in. I reached out to press four but Alice's hand stopped me.
"This lift works a little differently. These are the doorbells. You use your key to get up there. You just put it here and then the thing will know which floor to go to so you will land right in your apartment."
Alice held the little metal piece in front of a round light next to the buttons that had the same shape as the chip.
"How exactly do my visitors get in?" I asked.
"They ring the bell and you just have to press a little button to let them up.", Rose sang.
"Okay and if the elevator breaks down or something?"
"Then you take the stairs. You also have a normal entrance, you just have to climb up four stories for that." Alice told me.
The doors in front of us opened and we stepped into a room that I couldn't really identify at first. It was some kind of a mixture between an entrance and living room. The marble floor was so polished that I could see a vague reflection of myself there. Two workers passed us while I admired the fireplace and the two arm chairs standing there.
"So this is your shoe closet and that is the other entrance." Alice explained, pointing at two doors to our left. "Over there," she pulled me along, "we have the living room." she pointed at a wide door frame that had no door in it. I could see the living room and was already awed by the size of that couch. I think I never saw a cooler couch in my whole life.
Alice didn't let me go into the living room like I wanted to, instead she forced me to pay attention to the door on the right side of the living room entrance. "This is the Master suite." Alice whispered as if it was holy ground that we were about to step on. I started laughing when I saw what was in front of us. The room was still a chaos in the making. Three guys were currently trying to make a bed out of the pile of wood and other stuff in front of them. One of them was Emmett.
"Oh Bella, how is my favourite alcoholic?" he greeted enthusiastically while I was still laughing at the fact that the moment that Alice had obviously tried to make special had been ruined by this.
"She's recovering." Rose informed her husband and went over to him to place a small kiss on his mouth.
"Sad to hear, I quite enjoyed your drunken performance, even though Mum kinda threw a fit."
I stopped laughing and tried to picture a furious Esme.
"She's still upset over the fact that—"
"That I got shitfaced at her charity event." I finished for him with a sigh. Imagining an angry Esme made me feel kinda bad about the whole thing. I didn't really know her, but somehow I thought that her being angry wasn't something that happened often.
"—that there was Paparazzi in there. They are not supposed to get in."; Emmett continued, ignoring my comment.
"Oh."
"Yes, yes, this is all very great, but I expected you people to be done with the Master bedroom already. You do realize that they have to sleep tonight right?" Alice threw in, interrupting the conversation.
"We kind of finished the guest room first. You can look at the bathroom though." Emmett told his sister shrinking back a little when he saw her glare at him.
"The guest room? Really, I shouldn't have let you be in charge."
I rolled my eyes at the following screeching and wandered off to inspect the apartment on my own. Even with everyone still working on all edges and corners I could already tell that this was going to be beautiful. Not exactly my style, but I was content with it. Especially with the kitchen. It was kind of like a circle with the counter in the middle and didn't look as freaky as the one kitchen Edward had liked so much. I could see that Alice had done her best in making this bearable for both me and Edward. On the first look it would seem that she had thought more of Edward than of me, but things like the TV area and the kitchen made me more than excited to live here.
"Oh there she is." Alice called to someone as she walked into the kitchen. "Do you like it?"
"Surprisingly; yeah. Especially the couch."
Alice giggled. "I knew you would love that one."
"So this is it, huh?"
"What do you mean?"
"Edward's and my apartment." It really sounded strange to say that.
"Yes, it is. I really hope that you guys are making this work."
"It's easy for you to say, you married the guy you love."
"Yes, but I did have to deal with a few similar situations. It's not like I just met Jasper somewhere. You met my great-aunt, she is a lot like your grandma and well...she and her bookclub friends just always wanted me to meet one bachelor after another and Jasper happened to be one of them. I turned every single one down even Jasper, because in my opinion he was too quiet. I met him again though, when I was in desperate need for a photographer. We worked together and got closer and I kind of realized that he was like my personal chill pill or something. I know that I tend to get overly excited or angry or whatever, but with Jasper near I always have a certain amount of calmness around me. So when I started dating Jasper, my aunt and grandfather made sure that we got married quickly kind of pushing us. So I also ended up in my first own apartment with Jasper not really knowing how to deal with that, but I guess I was at an advantage because we could actually stand each other."
"Could? I think we're still getting along pretty well." Jasper's deep voice interrupted as he stepped into the kitchen.
Alice turned around to smile at him, while she rolled her eyes.
Jasper chuckled. "So Bella, I just saw your apartment and I had this annoying voice beside me telling me all about it. I thought you might wanna know that this apartment has marble floors and a plan with a wood floor and under floor heating as well as other very attractive features. With a giant flat screen in the living room and centralized Air Conditioning."
"Lauren is here?" Alice asked, before I could say anything to Jasper.
"She sure is."
"Dammit, I'm gonna get rid of her." Alice stalked out of the kitchen.
"Such a stressed little person." I said smiling at Alice as she walked out of the room.
"Yes, but stress makes her work a lot better. I think she enjoys it... It gives her an excuse to yell at people." Jasper said with a chuckle.
"She'd do it anyway."
"True."
"Hey you know what? We could make ourselves a little useful around here, could we not?"
"I don't really think so, Alice has people hired for everything that needs to be done." Jasper told me with a slight shrug.
I sighed. As if on cue two little woman came into the kitchen with a carton and started putting things away. Jasper and I shuffled out of the kitchen quickly, not wanting to be in the way.
"Jasper," Rose called, "Alice wants you and Emmett to get some food and enough booze to make her forget about the pain in her feet."
"Sure, how long shall we take?"
Rose looked around. Someone of the cleaning crew was currently scrubbing the dining table.
"About two hours, no need to hurry. I will try to keep the little monster in check."
"What did Emmett do?" Jasper asked amused. Apparently Rose words had let him to the conclusion that Emmett did something wrong.
"He put the wrong bed in the guest room." Rose answered.
"I'm already gone." Jasper promised and moved quickly passed Rose.
"And what do we do now?" I asked Rose.
"Trust me, we'll get more than enough to do:"
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Two and a half hours later the three of us were slouched on the couch.
"I can't believe that ordering people around can be so tiring." I whispered.
"That's because you usually don't have help those idiots to get things right. I think we build that bed on our own." Rose replied.
"And separated Bella's and Edward's stuff." Alice added.
"Ah yes we did all of that, didn't we?" I questioned weakly.
"We also decorated this damn place." Rose said.
"Where are the guys, I'm starving." Alice whined.
"Did somebody say they missed us?" Emmett's voice and Jasper walked in with Edward trailing behind them. For some reason this was effecting me. Whether it was positive or not, I didn't know, but I suddenly felt a little less tired.
"Hey Eddie-boy," Alice greeted her brother weakly. "Do you like the place?"
Edward's eyes rested on me for a moment not disapproving this time, but calculating.
"Yes, I do. I never thought that it was possible that there was ever a free space at the Baxton."
"There isn't." Rose told him wisely and place the food that Emmett and Jasper had brought on the little glass table. Chinese takeout. I almost let out a moan when the smell entered my senses.
Edward was looking at Rose in confusion. "What? You and Bella moved in or not?"
The evening was passed surprisingly well. We all sat on the couch, ate and watched a movie. It was some senseless action movie with a lot of explosions and fight scenes. I was pretty sure that Emmett chose the movie.
Between wine, food and the movie we managed to talk a little, but all of us were tired so nothing worth mentioning was actually said. Edward and I sat on opposite ends of the couch, not really paying much attention to the other. It wasn't that I wanted to ignore him, I just felt more comfortable when I didn't have to interact with him directly.
"Okay kiddo's, it has been lovely, but I really need my beauty sleep now." Rose eventually said. Alice agreed by letting out a yawn.
"Alright, party's over. Too bad we didn't get Bella drunk, might have been funny." Emmett said with a booming laugh.
"Just shut up, Em." Jasper told him with a roll of his eyes. We all walked to the lift/ door and said our goodbyes. I was oddly aware of the fact that I was going to be all alone in here with Edward in just a few seconds. The four of them already stepped into the elevator and Alice turned to me once more.
"Don't make any plans for tomorrow, we're going shopping", she told me.
"I don't want to go shopping."
"Oh trust me, you will like it."
"I doubt it."
"Do you want to bet?" Alice asked smugly. In the corner of my eye I could see Edward tilt his head to the side to regard his sister with caution.
"No, I'll pass." I said slowly, hoping that I was not misinterpreting Edward's expression.
"Too bad. Alright, we'll see you tomorrow. Try not to break anything."
And with that said she joined the others and soon all of them vanished behind the closed doors.
I stood there for a few moments, unmoving. Edward didn't move either. This was just so fucking awkward.
I yawned involuntarily getting both of us out of our daze.
"I guess we should get to sleep." Edward said slowly in a flat voice.
I answered with a shrug, "I guess."
Edward cleared his throat awkwardly and quickly strode into the bed room. Oh shit! I was not ready to sleep in one bed with him yet…A few seconds later Edward walked back out, carrying one of the unpacked boxes.
"You can have the bed room, I'll be in the guest room." he told me as he passed me and then vanished inside said room. He closed the door behind him, leaving me there to stare at the door.
I really shouldn't be surprised about this, should I? It wasn't that Edward was rude or anything he was just…distant. Probably the same way I was with him. I slowly walked into the bed room.
Even if Edward was really getting on my nerves and I knew that I was probably getting on his, I thought about the possibility of him not being such a bad person.
Maybe he was kind of likable and just didn't show it. I knew for sure that I was constantly a bitch to him.
I wonder if he is just as nervous as I am. I had changed out of my clothes and crawled unto the hugged bed, sighing contently before my thoughts went back to Edward once more.
Living with Edward. Maybe I should start writing a diary, because this was surely going to be interesting.
A/N: I actually planned on having Edward present a little earlier and I never really planed that wedding dress competition...oh well, I got caried away. Well, as I have mentioned earlier I get dsitracted easily and instead of listening to annoying poptart cats, I got into FictionPress. It's almost as addiction as FF and of course being me, I started typing again. But I'm trying to stay on hold finish one thing first before I start the next :D Sooo...back to the topic I should be tlaking about- the chapter. Yeah, I really don't have much to say about that. I'm thinking about letting Bella actually write a diary and I also think that writing this story is pretty exhausting -.- I should think my plost through a little better
So yeah, I'm done rambling and I don't have a cool question. In case you wnat to know what the answer to the last one was...it's the heart.
Now all that is left to say is thank you to my amazing beta justareaderfan and thanks to everyone, who puts up with this story and me :D