A/N Thank you to those who have reviewed. I love the input.
Day 3
Bella POV
I woke up to my bed vibrating underneath me. I knew without even opening my eyes that it had to be Alice. No one has as much energy as she does, especially in the morning. I groaned and threw my pillow over my head.
"Bella, it's time to get up," Alice said snatching the pillow off my head.
"What time is it anyway?" I asked her groggily.
"It's seven o'clock," Alice replied cheerfully.
"Alice," I whined, "nobody wakes up at seven when they're on vacation. Let me go back to sleep and I'll get up at a more reasonable hour like ten or so."
"Don't make me pour water all over you," Alice warned in a serious tone.
I gradually opened my eyes to find her hovering over me. Sure enough, she had found a pitcher full of water somewhere around here. "I'm up, I'm up," I told her quickly, since I didn't want to get watered down this early in the morning.
"Okay, go hop in the shower, and then get dressed for our shopping trip," Alice told me.
I nodded and got up and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. I tried to be quick, but I enjoyed letting the warm water wash over and relax me. After toweling off, I put on a t-shirt and shorts. I would rather be as comfortable as possible if I have to endure the torture of shopping with Alice all day.
Angela was the lucky one today. She was spending her day with Ben. I think she mentioned that he was planning to take her to an aquarium somewhere around here that was supposed to allow people to not only see the usual fish in tanks, but allowed people for an extra charge to actually feed the dolphins and touch baby sharks and manta rays.
Once I was presentable, I stepped out of the bathroom. Alice was holding a huge bouquet of flowers. It looked like a mixture of freesia, daisies, and a few roses interspersed. I didn't think that Alice and Emmett were more than friends, but obviously she had caught somebody's eye.
"Who sent you the flowers, Alice?" I asked.
She shook her head saying, "They're not for me. The flowers are actually for you."
"For me?" I asked as she handed them over to me "Who would give me flowers?"
"Why don't you look to see what's written on the card," Alice responded with a big smile on her face.
"You've already looked, haven't you?" I asked guessing what that expression meant.
"Maybe," she said.
I set the flowers down on the coffee table and pulled the card off. I opened the card hesitantly and looked at what the contents had written on it. "I'm sorry for behaving so rudely last night. I hope you will forgive me and perhaps give me a second chance by going out on a date with me. This time only because you want to and not because anyone told you to. Edward," I read aloud.
After he apologized last night at the end of dinner, I had more or less forgiven him for his rude behavior. I decided that he might have been jealous and that led to what he said. Although, I still couldn't fathom him being jealous over me going out with another guy. I knew that I definitely had some feelings developing for him, but it still shocked me that he might be feeling the same way, too. Maybe if this thing with Jacob doesn't pan out, I can give Edward the chance that I so desperately wanted to give him.
"So, are you going to go out with him?" Alice asked eagerly.
"I can't because you told me to date Jacob," I replied.
"Silly Bella," Alice said, "you're going out with Jacob tonight, but you can still see Edward another night."
"I don't know, Alice," I told her.
"Think about it and decide later then," Alice responded. "It's time for you to find Jacob anyway."
"Fine," I huffed.
"Meet you by the car in ten minutes," Alice shouted as I walked out the door.
I headed down to the beach, since that was the only place I knew of to find Jacob in the first place. After walking the short way down to the sand, I looked toward the lifeguard tower that was becoming increasingly familiar over time. Today must be my lucky day, I thought, as I saw Jacob sitting in the tower.
"Hey Jake," I called when I reached the side of his lifeguard stand.
His head looked around and he broke out in a huge grin when he recognized me. "So, what brings you down here today?" he asked as he jumped from the tower to stand in front of me.
Better to get this over with quickly, I thought. "Well, I decided to take you up on your offer of going out on a date," I told him.
"Really?" he questioned. "You'll go out with me?"
"Do you want to go somewhere tonight?" I asked tentatively.
"That sounds great, Bella," Jake replied. "I'll pick you up tonight around seven by the pool."
"Okay, see you at seven," I told him. "I probably won't be down here today because Alice wants to go shopping," I continued making a face at the end.
"See you tonight, Bella," Jake responded.
I walked back toward the resort to meet Alice by the car. She was waiting by the car talking animatedly on her cell phone to somebody. When she saw me coming over, she said, "Thanks, I'll see you later tonight." With that she closed her phone and looked over at me.
"Are you and Jake having your date tonight?" she asked.
"He's picking me up at seven," I told her.
"Great," she said happily, "Angela and Ben are going out tonight as well. Instead of staying here alone, I was talking to Emmett and he gave me directions to their house. I'm planning on heading over there to hang out with them tonight."
"That doesn't sound too bad to me either," I told her.
"Silly Bella," Alice chided, "you don't want to hang out with us when you can be out with Jacob."
"Edward might be there," I mumbled quietly hoping it was too soft for Alice to hear me.
Of course, Alice heard what I said.
"Edward likes you, you know," she told me.
"Let's go shopping," I grumbled trying to avoid any further discussion of Edward.
We got in the car with Alice in the driver's seat. Alice apparently had already looked up where all the shopping places were around here because she seemed to know exactly where she was going. I just settled back in my seat and enjoyed the ride.
We arrived shortly at what appeared to be an outlet mall. I have never in my life seen or heard of Alice going to an outlet. Alice is all about designer clothes after all.
"An outlet?" I questioned in disbelief.
"I figured we could try it out since they at least have some designer brands," she replied shrugging. "If I can't find anything good, then I also know where some other places are that we can try."
"You know I don't care where my clothes come from," I told her.
"That's why I have to dress you properly," Alice said.
When it comes to shopping with Alice, I just follow her around and when she throws clothes at me, I try them on. We went inside some sort of designer store where Alice began searching through all the racks of clothes.
Watching Alice shop was something to behold. She could be lightning fast through a store. It was also funny at times because she would be looking at an article of clothing and start mumbling something to herself about it. I'm not sure what she mumbling was about. Possibly what accessories would look good with it or which shoes would be best.
Alice looked up and saw me standing there. "Bella, grab a dressing room and I'll hand you the stuff that you need to try on."
"Okay," I told her walking over to an available dressing room.
I might have been standing there for two minutes before Alice shoved a handful of clothes inside for me to try on. I tried on the first dress, which was a short black number that I wasn't crazy about. I came out of the dressing room to show Alice.
"Next," Alice called.
The next dress I tried on was one I really liked. It was crimson red color that fell to just below the knee. The sleeveless number was well fitted until it reached my waist and hips where it flared out.
"This is the dress," I told Alice as I came out of the dressing room to model it.
"Perfect," Alice said clapping her hands. "Okay, let's get that dress and then we'll head over to this other store that specializes in shoes since you just have to get some matching shoes."
After making my purchase, I followed Alice to some sort of designer shoe store that she was excited about going to under the pretense of finding a pair of matching shoes for my new dress. I, on the other hand, knew that it would be practically impossible for Alice to leave that store without buying several pairs of shoes for herself.
I followed as she looked around the selection of shoes that were available. There was a beautiful blonde that was eying some cute peep toe shoes that Alice was also looking at. The blonde girl was tall and looked like she could be a model with her height and tone body.
Looking around the store, I felt my mouth drop open as I recognized a blonde male coming over toward Alice and the blonde girl. With a shock I was about to reach over to tell Alice that the guy she was talking to from the balcony last night was here when all hell broke out.
Alice lunged for a shoe box at the same time as the blonde. They both ended up coming up with a crushed shoe box and one shoe a piece.
"Give me the shoe!" Alice shouted at the blonde.
"You give me my shoe!" the blonde screamed back.
I watched as the male, I think his name is Jasper, started making his way over to us more quickly now that he saw the fight going on. It made me want to get my phone out to tape it, but I didn't since I was a little worried that I might have to jump in the middle of this to break them up. Jasper turned so he could stand by me.
"Hey," Jasper spoke, "did my sister start all this?"
"She's you sister?" I asked. That would make Alice feel better, I thought. "Actually, I think both Alice and our sister started it by going for the same pair of shoes at the same time."
"Sounds like my sister," Jasper said. "I remember Alice from last night," he continued with a little smile on his face.
I could tell by his expression that he liked her from the short conversation they had last night. "You know, she likes you, too," I told him.
"She does?" Jasper asked smiling.
"Maybe you two should get together some time," I told him. I was about to say something else when I saw that Alice and Jasper's sister were now beating each other with the shoes that had.
"Oh know, I think we better break them up," Jasper said worriedly.
"Just a heads up, Alice is stronger than she looks," I warned him.
Jasper just nodded his head and walked around me to restrain Alice and pull her away from his sister.
"Hey, let me go!" Alice yelled struggling against his hold on her.
"Calm down," Jasper said into her ear.
It was amazing to watch the whole thing. As soon as Jasper spoke, Alice turned her head enough to see Jasper and immediately got calm.
"Rose, give Alice the shoe," Jasper told his sister.
"Why should I?" Rose asked him.
"Look, stop acting like a brat and give her the shoe," Jasper said sternly.
She looked furious, but gave the shoe over to Alice.
"At least you have good taste," Rose told Alice angrily.
"Look, you can have the shoes if you want," Alice began, "I was only grabbing them to match a dress Bella just purchase. We can always search for a different pair for Bella."
I overheard heard and glanced at the shoes. They were stilettos for goodness sake.
"Alice, what in the world are you thinking?" I exclaimed. "I would kill myself in those kind of shoes. I thought they were for you."
Rose was looking back and forth between us and a smile was starting on her face. "Hmm... I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship," she quoted to Alice. "My name is Rosalie, but you can call me Rose," she introduced. "That's my brother Jasper who has been talking about you nonstop since last night."
Alice looked positively gleeful at that revelation, while Jasper looked slightly embarrassed.
"I'm Alice and this is my friend, Bella," Alice introduced. "Bella has a hot date with a lifeguard tonight and we need shoes to match her dress."
"Come on let's find her some," Rose told her. "Bella, you can just hang out with Jasper if you want while we shop."
I nodded my acknowledgement to them and looked over to Jasper. "Want to grab a smoothie?" I asked.
"Sure," Jasper replied smoothly. "Lead the way."
We left Alice and Rosalie in the shoe store to pick out some shoes for me that I'm hoping I would actually be able to walk in. I had seen a smoothie shop nearby and led the way over to it.
After grabbing our drinks, we found a table to sit down at. "So are you two vacationing here?" I asked.
"Yes, we're here from Texas," Jasper said. "Although, to be honest, we may end up staying here permanently. I was offered a job as a history professor at a university near here. Rose has been interested in working as a design engineer in the auto industry. She absolutely loves cars and one day wants to own her own auto company. For now she's found a few opportunities available in this area where she could work as a design engineer."
"Wow, I would never have pegged Rose as a woman who worked on cars," I responded.
"Most people don't," Jasper replied shrugging his shoulders. "I gather you and Alice are here on vacation?"
"Yes, we arrived a few days ago and plan to stay for two weeks," I told him. "We came here from Washington state, so it's been quite the change of scenery and we've been loving it so far."
"Alice does have a job offer for a company down here though," I continued.
"Who with?" Jasper asked with interest.
"Some interior designer named Esme Cullen," I answered. "The company is actually in several different locations, but I know for a fact that Alice chose us to vacation here because she was most interested in working in this location."
"So do you think Alice is doing anything tonight?" Jasper asked.
"She's actually supposed to be going over to the house of some friends of ours that we met a couple of days ago tonight," I told him. "I think you and Rose should go over there, too."
"We wouldn't want to intrude," Jasper responded shaking his head.
"You wouldn't be intruding," I said. "Emmett is definitely a 'the more the merrier' kind of guy."
"If you say so," Jasper said.
At that moment his cell phone vibrated. Jasper picked it up and looked at it for a moment before putting it away. He looked up at me then and spoke, "The girls finished their shopping and are waiting for us outside some sort of china place."
"I know where that is, but I'm hoping Alice didn't decide to buy a bunch of stuff from that store," I responded. "There's no way we would be able to get that on a plane in one piece."
"Lead the way," Jasper said.
I led Jasper back to where I remembered the china store being. Alice and Rose were standing in front of the place with a ton of bags in their hands.
"What in the world did you buy?" I asked Alice in disbelief.
"Stop worrying Bella," Alice chided, "most of this we picked out for you anyway."
"Please tell me you're joking," I pleaded.
"Not at all," Rose replied. "Now, let's get back to the resort so we can start playing Bella Barbie."
I looked at Alice in astonishment. "You told her about Bella Barbie?"
Alice had the good sense to at least look slightly embarrassed about telling Rose even though we all know she could care less. I always hated her playing dress up with me like I was her own personal Barbie doll.
"Help carry the bags, Jasper," Rose told her brother who held out his hands to grab what he could from both her and Alice.
We piled into our cars and drove back to the resort. It only seemed to take a few minutes to get back there. After unloading the vehicles, the four of us made our way up to our room to unload everything. I had mentioned to Alice on our way over about inviting Jasper and Rose to come along with her tonight to Emmett and Edward's house. She readily agreed that it was a fantastic idea, and was talking to Rose about what time they might want to leave to go over there tonight.
I knew that Alice liked Jasper and couldn't wait to be able to find our more about him and just spend some quality time together in general. I also had a sneaking suspicion that once Emmett saw Rosalie it would be game over for him. I think she would be just the bombshell that he's looking for and would cause him to pay enormous amounts of attention on her. Heck, Rose might be the only one that would be able to keep Emmett in line. I was looking forward to seeing how that played itself out.
Once in the hotel room, Jasper settled himself on one of the sofas and turned on the television to watch the history channel while I was ushered into the bathroom. I was told to take a quick shower. I might have tried to be quick when I first got in the shower, but once I felt how good the warm water running over my body was, I ended up staying in there for a while mainly to relax.
I got out of the shower and toweled off before wrapping the towel around me to head into the bedroom I shared with Alice. I stopped short when I saw what was laid out on the bed for me to wear in addition to my new red dress.
"What is this?" I asked holding up the new lingerie up.
"It's for you to wear under the dress, Bella," Alice replied slowly as if she was explaining this to a third grader.
"But where's the rest of it?" I continued.
"Bella, stop being silly and put it on," Alice told me firmly.
"We are not letting you out of this room wearing underwear that your grandmother might wear," Rose piped up blocking the exit.
"Fine," I groaned. I picked up the bra and panty set and walked myself back into the bathroom to change into it.
"I can't believe I'm wearing something like this," I muttered to myself. Leave it to those two to even think of things such as matching underwear.
After putting the undergarments on, I came back into the bedroom to put on the dress. Once I had the dress on, Alice and Rose ushered me into a chair so they could work on my hair and makeup.
"Okay, we're done," Alice said with a smile.
"You're going to leave this guy breathless," Rose added.
I looked in the mirror at myself and was blown away. They had managed to make my hair curl perfectly down my back. The makeup they added wasn't too much, but they managed to use just enough around my eyes that they really popped out and were shining with hidden excitement.
"Thanks, you guys," I told them giving each a hug.
"Is Jacob picking you up here or are you two meeting somewhere?" Alice asked.
"I'm meeting him by the pool," I told her. "It's almost seven so I guess I should head down there."
"Have fun tonight," Alice said.
"You too," I responded. I had turned to walk out the hotel room when I thought of something.
"Alice?" I asked.
"What is it Bella?" Alice questioned.
"If this date doesn't go as planned, can I send you a text?" I wondered.
"Bella, I'm sure it will be fine," Alice replied soothingly, "but, yes, you can call or text me and I'll help you out."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it," I told her before finally walking out the door to meet Jake.
