Chapter 6
The rest of the week went by pretty smoothly, all things considered. Jasper stayed away from me, and Edward continued to act like a persistent fly. Emmett also continued to act like an overgrown child in P.E., and Alice, well she was just Alice…and I was ok with that.
Saturday morning came along and my wolf was very antsy. I was up at the crack of dawn and I couldn't sit still for a single moment. I just passed it off as nerves. I was gonna spend all day with a vampire whose family was already suspicious of me. Well maybe not her, but her family was. But then again, come to think of it, I never once heard Alice mention my high body temperature…but I guess she could have mentioned it in the privacy of their home...ugh BUT, not one of them have investigated that claim (if there ever was one).
Wait…why am I defending her. She's a vampire, a bloodsucking corpse. I've caught myself asking that a lot in the past week. Maybe it was just the lack of hunting. I hadn't hunted since I got here and I usually try and change at least once a week, even if it was only for an hour or so. My wolf hates to be confined. Regardless, I didn't want to take a chance with the apparent animal diet the coven was on. I don't wanna accidentally run into them.
Or it could be from a lack of sleep. Every night since the first night, I had the same dream of myself running, and every day, I couldn't remember the end of it. I was able to piece enough together eventually, but what or whoever I encountered in the meadow was still a mystery to me. That part is just blank. And it's as frustrating as it is exhausting because I wake up still feeling the exertion of the run.
I heard a light knock on the door. Right on time. Her scent still catches me off guard. I always expect to gag when I see her but it's the opposite. I tried to get Alice to meet me somewhere else but she was adamant about letting her pick me up at my house. She wanted to see where I lived. But I couldn't tell if that was because she actually wanted to or her family wanted to, and the latter made me uneasy.
As soon as I opened the door, Alice gave me a big smile. "Good morning."
"Good morning," I answered. "Wow, you're here."
"What, did you not think I would show up?" she looked confused.
"No, it's not that. You just struck me as the fashionably late kind," I grinned. Alice narrowed her eyes at me.
"Ha. Ha. Are you gonna invite me in or what?" I stepped aside and extended my arm out as a silent invitation. She looked around my house without saying a word.
"What?" I didn't like feeling like I was being scrutinized. I mean I knew I was going to be but she could at least do a better job at hiding it. "I know you have something to say."
"It's nothing, just…your house is so empty," I glanced around the living room myself and shrugged. "Why? I mean you don't even have pictures up," I thought about my answer for a moment, still looking around. She was right. All I really added to the house was a couch, a small coffee table, and a dinner table. My bedroom wasn't much different: just a big bed and dresser. I didn't even really have lamps since the ceiling fans provided all the necessary lighting. I just moved so many times, and I've always been by myself that I never really felt the need to have very many possessions. Plus, I didn't have unlimited funds. Sure I had a decent amount, but that was mainly used for groceries and getting the necessities when I moved to a new place.
I started to dabble a bit in the stock market back in the 80s, mostly buying and selling stock over the years. I happened get really lucky early on, but I was still very careful. The Great Depression wasn't a fun time for anyone, myself included. I spent a lot of my time as a wolf then and made what little money I could selling the animals I caught. Anyway, point is, I saved a lot of money by not purchasing a vast amount of useless items...such as home decor. Whatever I bought, I made sure it was something I could resell when the time came to move on again.
"I don't know. I guess I didn't feel the need to bring anything from Phoenix." That's about as honest of an answer as I can give you.
"Not even pictures?"
"There wasn't anything left for me there. As far as pictures, I have them all up here," I tapped the side of my head. "The best memories I have couldn't have been captured by a camera." Mostly because they weren't invented yet.
"That makes sense…in a really sad way. Regardless, you need to decorate. It's depressing and noncommittal."
"Noncommittal?"
"Yes, you're not fully committing to the move until you make it homey," Alice put her hands on her hips as if she meant business. But I'm not committing to the move. I don't know how long I'll be here. Ugh.
"How am I supposed to make it homey?"
"Well, you could start putting in furniture," she waved her hand around to all the empty space.
"Hey, I have furniture!" I defended.
"One couch and a coffee table doesn't count."
"I have a dinner table," I shot back.
"With one chair. Seriously, that screams 'antisocial'." That's the point.
"Hey, I'm going to the mall with you. That doesn't say 'antisocial' to me." Although, I don't wanna go.
"Whatever, the point is that have to make this house more comfortable. I would be more than happy to help you buy some furniture…" Aaand that's where it stops.
"No."
"Why not?"
"I barely know you, and I have my own money. I am perfectly capable of buying stuff for myself."
"Okay fine, but that'll be for another time. Today, we're going to the mall!" she clasped her hands together in delight. I just sighed deeply and nodded.
We headed out the door and sitting in my driveway was Alice's car: a bright yellow Porsche 911. I stopped dead in my tracks. "Whoa…I didn't picture this."
"What? My car? What did you expect?" Alice walked around to the driver's side.
"I don't know. I guess I was expecting more of a Mini Cooper or better yet, a smart car. You know, something more proportionate to your size," I grinned. Yes. I do know how much of an ass I am. Alice glared daggers at me.
"Do you wanna get smacked?" I burst into laughter before finally climbing in the passenger seat. Alice climbed in a few seconds later, still fuming.
"Aww c'mon. It was a joke. I like your size. I think it's cute,"…I do?
She glanced over at me for a second, trying to figure out if it was another jab before the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. "Shut up."
Now, it's supposed to take roughly three and a half hours to get to Seattle from Forks…we got there in almost half that time. That's how much the woman was speeding.
Was I nervous at first?
Yes.
Mostly because I didn't want to go to jail, but then, I remembered she could see the future. She probably knew where all the cops were. I didn't worry about an accident for mainly the same reason…that and her vampiric reflexes. Yeah, I was fine. The midget vamp and I didn't really talk about much. Mostly idle chit chat about whatever came up.
The mall was huge, and being that it was Saturday, it was packed. I normally liked to stay away from big crowds. They tend to smell bad, and they irritate me. I don't know how Alice enjoyed it so much, but I could tell that she did because as soon as we got out of the car, she had the biggest smile on her face. It was like watching a kid go to Disneyworld for the first time. Alice practically dragged me inside either because I was moving too slow or I was her reminder to move at a human-like speed.
She pulled me into the first store she saw and as soon as she seemed to get over her excitement, the real questioning began.
"Tell me about Phoenix," Ahh hell. I should have known it was coming.
"Well, what exactly do you wanna know?"
"I don't know. Were you born there?" I looked at Alice for a brief moment, debating if I was gonna tell her the truth…or at least some form of it. I was usually so clammed up about anything and everything about my past, not because of what I was, but because I didn't like to remember it. There was something about her, though, that made me want to open up, expose myself to her…and that was a dangerous feeling.
"No, actually I'm originally from Italy, but I moved to America when I was younger," I answered as she lead me into a Guess. I did my best to stifle a groan. I was the type of girl to dress for comfort, not for style. Fashion was just too much work to keep up with. Besides, jeans have never gone out of style.
Alice grinned and walked up to what I assumed was the first "promising" rack she saw. It seemed to distract her from our conversation...but only for a moment.
"So you went straight to Phoenix?"
"No, when I first came here, I lived in upstate New York," or what is now upstate New York, "I eventually came to Phoenix after my parents died."
She stopped flipping through the clothes to look at me from across the rack. "I'm sorry. How did they die?"
"Umm...I don't really like to talk about it." I felt a sudden pain in my stomach. Truthfully, I really wasn't particularly fond of talking about them. "What's your story? I know you guys just moved here not too long ago too." Please accept the change in subject. Please.
Alice smiled knowingly. "My family moved here from Alaska. My mother loves this area compared to the city and the hospital just happened to be hiring."
"Convenient. I thought you guys were all adopted though?
"Sounds like someone's been listening to gossip."
"Have you seen who I sit next to at lunch? It's kinda hard not to pick up a few rumors here and there."
"Fair enough. Ooo look at this top! It's so cute!" I just rolled my eyes, but I couldn't help but notice how cute she was. Alice ignored my reaction and continued. "And yes, we are all adopted. Edward, Emmett, and I were all adopted by Carlisle and Esme at the same time, and a few years later, Rosalie and Jasper joined the family too."
"Wait, so none of you are actually related to each other? I heard Esme is like your aunt or something?"
"Oh, no. We aren't actually related. See, rumors do get outta hand."
"Ah. And Emmett and Rosalie are together right?"
"Yea," she paused for a moment and glanced down at a shirt, avoiding my gaze, "just like Jasper and I are together." My jaw clenched.
"Well, isn't that convenient," I mumbled almost bitterly.
"It's not about convenience. You can't choose who you love, Bella. Fate is what brings two people together."
"And what, you think that you and Jasper are fated to be together?" I looked at Alice straight in the eye, and for the first time, saw doubt flash across her face. She was usually quite a happy, confident person, but it looks as if I struck a nerve.
"I just know Jasper and I were fated to meet," her eyes cast down as she paused, "as far as anything else goes, I'm not so sure."
Alice was upset.
I felt a sudden need to make her feel better.
Console her.
"It's okay not to be sure. Maybe you're just not supposed to know yet," I lifted her chin up slightly to get her to look at me. The touch of her cold skin jolted my senses and reminded me of just who exactly I was dealing with. "Besides, no one likes a know-it-all," she laughed and punched my arm playfully. It wasn't till she did that, that I noticed the small pile of tops draped over her arm. When the hell did she get all those?
"Are all those for you?!"
"Well, no. A few are, but I grabbed some I thought you should try. Something tells me you won't grab them on your own." An image of a huge closet filled with designer clothes popped into my head...and yet I was silling to bet that Alice's was still bigger.
"Yeah, as you can tell, I'm not the biggest fan of fashion," I gestured to my own casual outfit of jeans and a tshirt.
"And to think I was beginning to like you," she shook her head and tisked.
"Hilarious."
The little one and I shopped around the mall for a few hours. Almost every store that we went into, she would purchase something. Me, I bought maybe a pair of jeans and a couple more shirts...but that's not counting on the stuff she INSISTED on buying for me. She would pull me over and put a shirt she liked against me, and I wouldn't be able to resist taking in her refreshing scent. My wolf would practically purr in delight at the smell.
One time, though, Alice got sucked into talking to one of the sales reps at a phone service kiosk. As she was turned away, a couple of guys walked by, and without even trying to hide it, started to check out and comment on her ass.
My wolf became furious, and my fangs grew instantly. I had to try like hell not to bare them while holding back a threatening growl. The two men noted the dangerous look I was giving them and quickly moved on without another word or glance.
I was left dumbfounded by my wolf's strong reaction.
My stomach gave out a monsterous growl. Alice cringed, "Oh, I guess it's lunchtime huh?"
"Yeah, maybe," I laughed.
"I'm sorry Bella. I always seem to loose track of time when I shop."
People stared as we made our way to the food court. I was accostumed to people staring but they practically parted like the Red Sea when we walked by. I was impressed. I guess a vampire and a werewolf were too much for instinct to ignore...even if it was just human instinct.
I was starving. Not letting my wolf out had a lot of side effects that I was going to have to control. Excessive hunger was one of them. I practically shoveled the food into my mouth. I should be more careful with the amount of food I was eating because a vampire watching me, but I figured if she was going to point out that I was eating a lot, then I would point out how she wasn't eating a damn thing. She was just pushing and poking the salad around her plate with her fork. It amazes me that she even makes the effort to appear human...
I looked around at all the other people. Almost everyone was still staring at us. At least some had the decency to look away as soon as I caught them. Surprisingly, though, there wasn't a lot of conversation going on about us. Just the occasional comment about how many bags we had, how cute Alice's clothes were, and so on. It was so different from school. I guess it was because here, people didn't have a background story to exaggerate from.
"You ever get annoyed with all these people always staring?" I blurted out.
"Sometimes. I mostly just ignore them," she shrugged her little shoulders. I nodded in agreement. It was strange to able to identify with someone.
"I guess you're kinda used to it."
"Yeah, my family and I usually keep to ourselves and with all the gossip that goes on, that fuels the stares."
"About that, I heard it's unusual for you guys to talk to anyone outside of your group, yet I've personally met every one of you...with the excption of the blonde one with a permanent scowl on her face." Alice busted out in a musical laughter. "So why the sudden interest in me?"
Alice looked like she was contemplating her answer for a moment. "Well, I can't speak for the rest of my family, but as for me, I honestly don't know. There's something about you that pulls me to you, intrigues me. Something deeper than what's on the surface and I intend to figure it out." Alice took another faux sip of her water.
I should have felt threatened or at least more guarded by her words, but I didn't. I couldn't deny that I felt the same or a similiar kind of pull that she described. There was something about this vampire...
"Well, can you do me a favor and let me know when you figure it out," I noticed the double meaning in my words.
The little vampire nodded and smiled.
A/N: Yes I know, finally an upload!
You guys know the drill. I love reviews.
Oh, and if there are any visuals as far as the story goes that you guys want to see, let me know, and I'll find some. Otherwise the ones that I have are still on my profile.
