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A/N: Hey guys sorry it took so long. I started school and had to move all in two weeks. Landlord changed my pet policy so it was get rid of my cats or move out. I found a place and moved in within a week but then I had to play catch up in school. Also, I'm sorry for not getting teasers out, I promise to get chapter 5 teasers this time, though, I already have it written. Anyways... A thanks to SavageWoman for being an awesome beta and an even better friend for encouraging me while I got this chapter out. And finally Thanks! to all my readers and reviewers, your opinions mean a lot.
And now, onto another episode of Alpha Bravo Zulu...
Previously on Alpha Bravo Zulu…
It was Alice. As in my best friend Alice Cullen. How could it have eluded me? Emmett Cullen as in Alice Cullen's oldest brother. Oh, crap! I was pretending to be Emmett Cullen's girlfriend. Emmett Cullen was pretending to be my boyfriend. Half the town had seen us make out in the snack isle of the grocery store. By now, the entire town probably knew we were dating. Alice would probably know we were "dating." Oh crap, I am so dead. How were we going to tell Alice? How would she take it?
I grabbed my phone and flipped it open.
"Hello?" I sounded guilty; there was no way around it, we were busted.
"Bella! Where have you been all day? I tried calling you earlier and you weren't home. Are you okay?" Alice sounded confused, but there was something else. The usually chipper tone is her voice was noticeably absent.
"I'm fine Alice. I just went out, did a little sightseeing, and came home. Nothing too special. Is everything okay?" I wondered what was wrong with her. I had known Alice for almost two years now and her happy-go-lucky attitude was a permanent fixture. Damn! She knew, she knew and she hated the idea. Crap! How am I gonna tell her? What should I tell her? Damn Emmett and his great tasting lips! Damn him for kissing me when I told him to!
"Bella, do you think I've totally lost my touch? I mean, is my stuff pretentious? Am I trying too hard to be fashion forward? What if everyone really thinks I'm off my rocker?" She spoke so fast I almost didn't catch what she was saying. What the hell is going on? Alice is usually so confident. She had just launched a new line of home furnishings and was incredibly excited to show the world her "vision" of home décor. Now, though, she sounded scared to death of how people might respond to it.
"Alice you know your stuff is fantastic. What's eating you?" I wondered what could have shaken Alice's unwavering confidence. Whatever this was, it had to be big.
"Nothing. It's just, I was checking out my designs on the sales floor at the furniture gallery and I laid eyes on the most gorgeous man on the planet; I am not joking. He was tall, blond, blue eyed – the perfect man. So, I just had to meet him. I went up to him and tried to make small talk about my designs you know. And do you know what he said, do you?" She really was upset over this and I wanted nothing more than to make one of my best friends feel better.
"No, honey I don't. What did he say?" I asked in the most comforting voice I could muster.
"He said my designs were trying too hard to be unique, that the lines of my furniture left much to be desired, that is was too dainty and fragile to be a real couch. Then he had the nerve to say Tanya's furnishing looked like real furniture as opposed to breakable 'art.' The nerve of that man! And, Tanya's couches really! The woman wouldn't know originality if it bit her in the butt! Aarrgh! He just made me so mad." She was practically fuming at this point. You could hear the tension and anger in her voice.
"Then what happened, Alice?" She needed to get it out and at least this meant she had not heard about Emmet and me. Thank God for small miracles.
"So, I told him that I appreciated his input, and that I would consider it if I ever wanted to design furniture for tasteless morons who couldn't recognize art." Go Alice! That was the woman I knew and loved.
"That's fantastic Alice. I'm glad you gave him a piece of your mind." I was glad she got it out of her system. Alice was really creative and to have someone bash her designs must have been awful for her.
"Thanks for letting me vent Bella. I really needed that. I have been so caught up in being mad and insecure that I almost forgot the reason why I called. But, now that we got that over with… Is there something you want to tell me? Anything at all?" Uh oh! I knew it was too good to be true. Oh, Alice, with her ability to switch from one topic to the next without so much as a breath, that trait of hers was going to give me a heart attack.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, Alice. I can't think of anything I want to tell you at this particular moment." I prayed my voice wouldn't betray me; I was trying to sound innocent and indifferent but I don't think she was buying it.
"Fine," she huffed, "Is there anything you should tell me? Maybe something involving a heated make out session in the middle of a grocery store? Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend Bella? I thought we told each other everything. Why would you keep this to yourself? We have to celebrate that you got your groove back!" Jeesh! This was certainly not going the way I thought it would. I figured vague answers were the way to go.
"What you do you know, Alice? What have you heard?" Maybe I could get away with not telling her who it was if she hadn't heard my new "boy toy" was her older brother.
"I heard you have a new boyfriend, who you just so happened to make out with in the middle on the grocery store in front of Vile Mike! I have to meet him!" The cheery tone in her voice was back. It seemed torturing me about my "boyfriend" was Alice's idea of therapy.
"I'm not sure that is a good idea Alice. I'm just getting used to the idea of a relationship again and I'm enjoying the fact that it's just me and him right now." I hoped that was enough for her to let it go right now.
"Nonsense Bella. I'm sure he wants to meet your family. Let's meet at Mill Creek tomorrow night for dinner." Alice was definitely determined; at least she was giving me enough time for to talk to Emmett.
"I'm not going to win am I?" The resigned tone in my voice gave me all the answers I needed. I was never one to bet against Alice.
"Not even a chance." Alice really was enjoying this. I wasn't giving up that easily though.
"Fine, Alice you can meet him; but, you're gonna have to wait until this weekend. I want one more week of sanity before the wolves descend and start the third degree." Hah! Bella – one, Alice – one, about time I won one.
"I guess I can wait until Saturday. I have a pretty busy week anyway; lots of things to do for the launch of my furnishing line. I'll see you Saturday then. I have to go, I'll try to call later on in the week, I miss you so much, and I feel like we haven't seen each other in forever." She suddenly sounded sad.
"I miss you too, Alice. But, come on, you have been dreaming of this moment your entire life. It's okay if you're gone for a few weeks if it means your dreams come true. I love you and I'll see you on Saturday. Bye, hon."
"Bye Bella" Oh thank God! She did not know. I had enough time to talk to Emmett.
We needed to come up with a game plan. If we went in unprepared, the results would be disastrous. She would see right through us. What would we tell her? I really need to get a hold of Emmett. I flipped open my phone and dialed the now familiar number. He picked up on the third ring.
"Well hello gorgeous." He always was a charmer.
"Why didn't you tell me you were my best friend's brother? She just called right now and wants to meet my 'boyfriend.' What the hell are we gonna tell her? How do you want to handle this because I'm gonna be honest, she'll crack me if we are not on top of it." I sounded hysterical. I really wanted Alice to be okay with this. I needed her to be okay with me dating her brother, even if it was just for pretend.
"Calm down and breathe, Bella. In through your nose, out through your mouth. First off, how could you not know I was Alice's big brother? I mean how many Cullen families are there in Fork anyway? Secondly, I didn't know you were The Bella, I mean Alice has talked about you before but she never mentioned that you were from Forks. She also never briefed me on your personality. Our conversations regarding you were mostly about things you had done together. Finally, this whole thing is going to be okay. We just need to get together and come up with a story. She'll be fine with it, she loves you and she loves me; how can she not be okay with this?" He sounded so calm and collected; I just wanted to smack him.
"Well pardon me if I didn't make the connection. I was and have been a little distracted since the moment I kissed you!" Oh crap! Too much information. I need to breathe and calm down. "And why wouldn't I think this whole thing is going to be okay? Oh I don't know, maybe because we are lying to her. Or maybe it's because we aren't really dating just telling her we are. There! More lying! What if she doesn't like the idea of us dating? What then?" I was really stressing out over this. I really did not think this arrangement through. I hated lying to my friends and family and I was a terrible liar to boot.
"Calm down Bella! I promise everything will be okay; Alice will be fine with it. Secondly, we don't have to lie, just be vague. How 'bout I come over tomorrow and we can talk about it, ok?" He really was calm under pressure; I envied him for that.
"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow. Would you like to spend the day hanging out or do you have plans?" I sighed in defeat. I really was uncomfortable but I had a feeling after I sat down and talked things out in calm manner we could come to an understanding.
"If you don't mind I'll just crash on your couch for the day and we can hang out. If we are going to be able to pull this off I need to know more about you." I let out the breath of air I didn't even know I was holding. I had no idea why his answer was so important to me. I mean I had only known the man for a little over 24 hours but there was just something about him; something I just couldn't put my finger on.
"Sure. I'll see you tomorrow then. Bye." Tomorrow would not come quick enough.
Friday. The little sneak had been over every day this week. We had done everything there was to do in Forks. We went on a tour of the "landmarks" the town had acquired after some author had published a vampire novel based in Forks. We painted ceramic pottery, and we even took a walk around town. Every time I even bordered on bringing up our game plan he said he we had plenty of time and effectively distracted me. He would just look at me with those gorgeous eyes and I would get dazzled; warmth spread throughout my body and I would just let it go. But, as soon as I would close the door on him, the feelings of dread and apprehension would creep back up. My workweek had been hell; I was at my wits end trying to figure out how I would be able to lie to Alice. It just did not seem plausible to me. I promised myself that I would get this figured out today. There was no way I would face Alice without a game plan.
As I put the mushroom risotto in the oven, I heard the tell tale rumble of Betty coming down the street. I braced myself to see Emmett. I needed to be firm with him and hash this out now before I let him distract me. I made sure the living room was decent and quickly gathered my brown hair into a messy bun before I heard the doorbell ring. Emmett was waiting outside my door, DVD's in one hand and a grocery bag of junk food in the other. He really was amazing.
"Hey Emmett, come on in. I made risotto and it should be ready soon. Why don't you put your stuff down on the kitchen table and meet me on the couch." He really looked amazing. His perfectly broken-in low hung jeans and dark green t-shirt looked beyond amazing.
"You know if you keep feeding me like this, Bells, I'm never going to pass PT again." The smirk on his face was priceless.
"I'm just going to take that as a compliment. Now come on over here and sit." We really needed to just get this over with.
"Fine, let's just get this over with." He sat down next to me on the couch and turned his body to face me. His eyes bore into mine and for a second I was dazzled, but I was not going to let him distract me again.
"What are we going to tell Alice? I really don't want to lie to her. She is one of my best friends, and I have never lied to her." I hope he understood how hard this was for me. Kissing him in front of Mike and pretending he was my boyfriend I could do, lie to Alice I couldn't.
"Look Bella, I know you don't want to lie to my sister. So, there really are only two ways to do this. One we tell Alice the truth and just ask her to keep it to herself so we can still go to Mike's wedding. Or, two, we can tell Alice a different truth." He was so calm about this; I wondered what was going through his head. And, what different truth was he referring to?
"What truth are you referring to, exactly?" The look on my face must have given away my confusion because a smile spread across his features.
"Well Bella, will you be my girlfriend?" huh? Was he kidding?
"Come on Emmett, be serious!" I was getting frustrated, what did he mean by that?
"I'm serious Bella. Being someone's girlfriend is just a title. Look, we have an arrangement and I am okay with it. It's not fake; if we do the things normal couples do; like go out on dates, spend time together, and get to know each other. Then, when I leave, we can still be friends. I wasn't lying when I said I enjoyed spending time with you, Bella. Trust me; if I weren't married to the Army, you would definitely be my type. Besides, we have a nice arrangement. So, what if it just so happens that the title has an expiration date. I hope the friendship doesn't." He looked at me, his expression serious, almost as if he was willing me to understand his point.
"I guess I can see your point. I'm just nervous about this whole thing with Alice." I sighed in defeat once again. I guess he made a valid point, but I felt like something was bound to go wrong with a plan like this.
"I promise everything will be okay. Plus, if Alice was not okay with us, I wouldn't mind just being your friend. You can never have too many friends. Now come on let's eat and watch some movies." The smile was back on his face and it was infectious. I felt my own smile begin to appear.
The rest of the day passed by in a blur. We eventually decided that we would tell Alice that we met that day in the middle of the grocery store and just clicked. It was the truth, so I was comfortable with that. We really did just click that day, in more ways than one. Later on, we watched horror movies. Leave it up to Emmett to choose a bunch of scary movies. I spent the entire time either gripping his hand or burying my face in his chest. He just smiled at my wimpiness but took it all in stride. It was his own fault anyway for bringing those movies over.
After dinner and the movies, he went home; but the moment did not lack awkwardness. He bent down to kiss my cheek just as I turned to a ringing phone. Our lips touched for the briefest of seconds before he stepped back. It was a miniscule touch, but after I could still feel his lips on mine. It was incredibly weird. He excused himself after that and told me he would pick me up the following day for dinner at six. He wanted some friend time before the inquisition, he said. I watched him pull away from my driveway and I couldn't help thinking that it was going to be a long and pleasant night.
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