A/N: Happy reading!
7
Alice
My tennis shoes were in my hand as I walked down the stairs, hoping that if I was as quiet as possible, that I could get out of the house without my mom noticing. See, I was going to do a bad thing….
"Alice?" my mom's voice called to me, making me stop dead in my tracks.
Crap!
I'd made it to the door, my hand outstretched to turn the knob. I'd been so close to getting out of the house. I'd hidden my bike in the bushes the night before, so I wouldn't make any noise. It figures that my mom, with her freaky Spidey senses, would catch me. She and my father both had radar that pinged when their children were about to commit what they considered a sin.
Reluctantly, I dropped my hand and turned to face her. She was standing in the doorway of the living room with a pair of yellow rubber gloves on, a bottle of Pledge in one hand, and a rag in the other.
"Yes?" I hoped that I sounded innocent, so her radar wouldn't go up further.
"Where are you going?"
"For a bike ride."
"Is Bella going with you?"
"Yes." I lied, knowing that she wouldn't let me go alone because it "wasn't safe" for a young girl to go out by herself.
I must not have looked as nervous as I felt because, thankfully, she bought it. "Well, you girls have fun."
I gave her my most innocent smile. "We will."
Relived, I stepped out of the house, grabbing my bike from where I left it in the bushes. My nerves were so on edge from the confrontation that I had with my mom, that I barely stopped to put on my shoes before taking off, as fast as my legs could take me, down the road to the entrance to our neighborhood. The distance to which felt twice as long.
I took a left at the stop sign, going in the direction of the local Walmart. It was the only place close by that I knew of that I could buy what I wanted with what little allowance money that I had left. The anxiety was bubbling up inside me the further I went down the road as I thought about what it was that I was going to get, and how my parents would kill me if they found out.
My parents had a lot of rules that Edward and I were expected to follow. The first was to go to church every Sunday. The only times that we could miss were if we were sick. And faking doesn't work, I've tried. Second, was that I was to not go anywhere alone. Ever. It didn't matter if it was light out or not. Obviously, I had found a way around that one. Third, no revealing clothing. Which included two-piece bathing suits. That was the next one that I was going to break, and the reason that I wanted to get out of the house unnoticed.
There are more rules that I don't care to tell. It's suffocating. It feels at times like there is a pillow over my face so tight that I can't breathe. I wanted to feel as if I had an ounce of control over my life, which as a fifteen-year-old, isn't much anyway. Bella's parents didn't have her on a leash like mine did. Her parents were laid back and easy going. Where my parents were hard as ice. Their rules were hard and fast, no compromising whatsoever. It was their way or the highway. They'd die a thousand deaths if they knew that I was planning on not just buying a bikini, but on wearing one. A decision that I myself was not entirely comfortable with yet. I could barely look at myself in the mirror when I was wearing a one piece. I couldn't imagine how I was going to handle wearing a two piece around my room, much less outside.
I hadn't always had the itch to go outside my parents' rules. When I was younger I hadn't thought anything of them. I thought it was normal for my mom to watch my every move. If Bella's mom took us to the park, my mom would come along. Growing up, if my brother and I had the sniffles, she'd take us immediately to the doctor, who would then prescribe some sort of medication that she'd force down our throats. One of these days, there are going to be super bugs that are immune to those medications.
Sweat was running down my back by the time that I pulled into the Walmart parking lot, riding up to the front of the building and placing my bike in the rack, locking it before I went inside. The money in my pocket felt hot and heavy as I walked to the juniors' department. The anxiety was gnawing at me, twisting my stomach inside out. Despite the coolness of the store, I was still sweating. I had to rub my hands against my shorts multiple times.
Then, came deciding on the one that I wanted to buy. There was blue with white polka dots, hot pink (it was so small that it looked like scraps of fabric held together with paper clips), green, striped… Who needed these many options? I fought back the need to hyperventilate, not letting myself be a baby. After all, girls my age did this all the time.
I steeled myself, grabbing a white one that wasn't too small, one that looked like it would cover the areas that it was supposed to. Somewhat content with my choice, I left the bathing suit section, going toward the checkout area.
As I was digging in my pocket for the ten-dollar bills that I had there, I bumped into someone.
Great!
As if I couldn't have been more embarrassed in a normal situation, I looked up to see who the culprit of my mindlessness was, and my face got even more red. Standing before me was none other than Peter Evans. He looked as God like and gorgeous as ever standing there, looking down at me as I looked up at him. Of all the people that I didn't want to run into here, my mother being the top, he was a close second. Even though I hoped that at some point this summer he would see me in what I was now gripping the hanger of for dear life, I didn't want him to see me buying it. For some reason it was like having your crush seeing you buy underwear. Or tampons.
"Sorry," I sputtered, the words coming out of my mouth forced and painful. I wanted to get out of the situation that I currently found myself in as fast as I possibly could.
Putting on his best smile, he replied: "No big deal, Alice."
My heart leapt in my chest when he said my name. Even though he'd been friends with my brother for years in the past, it still surprised me when he said it.
"Well… 'bye." I went to move around him, all the while berating myself for how stupid I sounded when he grabbed my arm. The skin under his touch felt like it was twenty thousand degrees hotter than the rest of my arm. On the outside, I kept my cool, all the while on the inside I was trying not to die from him finally touching me without being prompted by a stupid dare. My heart was beating faster than I thought was possible. I was sure that if it didn't slow down soon, it was going to burst out of my chest and fall on the floor.
"Hey, where are you going so fast? Don't you want to talk to me?" He sort of pouts when he said this. And with me being the girl I was, I swooned a little at the thought that the guy that I had been admiring from afar wanting to talk to me.
"I… I need to get home." I replied dumbly because I had no idea how to handle talking to him.
He smirked, obviously happy with the effect that he had on me, "You're really cute when you blush like that."
My cheeks heated further, my palms once again getting sweaty. Was Peter Evans… flirting with me? If he wasn't, it sure sounded like it.
"Thank you?" It came out as a question. Jeez, Alice! Could you sound anymore awkward! If you don't get yourself together, he is going to think that you're pathetic!
He laughed, clearly amused. "Well, some friends and I are going to the river tomorrow. You should come. You can even bring that friend of yours. Lisa, right?"
"Her name is Bella, and sure. That sounds like fun."
He smirked again, "Cool, I'll see you there."
I stood there, dumbly, in the middle of the walkway, irritated people going around me, but I couldn't take my eyes off his retreating form. Did that really happen? Did he really ask me to come to the river tomorrow? Oh. My. God.
And because I hadn't embarrassed myself enough for one day, I did a happy dance right there in the middle of Walmart.
I peddled faster than I ever had back to my neighborhood, the Walmart bag hanging off my right handlebar. I needed to get to Bella's house to tell her what had happened. My plan was working better than I thought that it would. And faster.
Bella was sitting on one of the patio chairs at the right side of the house by their garage. As soon as I was in the driveway, I dropped my bike on the pavement, running over to her.
"Oh my gosh. You will never believe what happened…." I stopped my excited talking when I got a good look at her face. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep. "What's wrong?" I took a seat beside her, putting my hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.
Bella sniffed, wiping the evidence of her tears away. "My dad left in the middle night last night… to see another woman."
"What?" Shock. That's all I felt when what she had told me sunk in. I couldn't imagine her father doing something like that to her and her mom. He just couldn't. They were the perfect family. Nothing could go wrong with them. "Did he come back?"
"Yeah, he was downstairs this morning when I came down. Apparently, it wasn't the first time that it had happened. My mom hasn't come out of their room at all today. He says that he isn't having an affair, that he's only trying to help her. But, I don't know."
"Oh." Suddenly, what I had come here to tell her didn't seem like it mattered. Not when she had something huge going on.
"What was it that you wanted to tell me?" she asked, shifting towards me some more.
I waved my hand at her, "It's not important."
She stared me down, "It must have been important for you to come running over to tell me. It has to be better than my news."
"I went to Walmart, and I ran into Peter. He invited us to the river tomorrow. I understand if you don't want to go, I could go alone."
Her brow furrowed, "It's kind of weird to have someone ask you out when your mom's around."
"He didn't ask me out, and I was… alone." I watched her face carefully to see what she thought of that, but her face didn't change any.
Then, after a moment or two, she smiled. "Your mom is going to kill you if she finds out that you went there alone."
"Will you come tomorrow?"
She contemplated it for a minute, "It has to be better than sitting around here, so yeah, I'll go with you."
"Thanks, Bella."
After I left the Swan's, I opened the front door to my house carefully, peeking my head inside to make sure that my mom wasn't around. When I didn't see or hear her, I stepped inside, making sure to shut the door just as quietly as I opened it. So far, she didn't know what I had been up to, and I wanted to keep it that way. I took the stairs two at a time, trying to get to my room as fast as I possibly could, the bag holding the new white bikini that I had bought in my right hand, held tightly to my side.
"What do you have there?"
Twirling around with my heart pounding against my rib cage, I found Edward leaning against the door jamb of his room with a smirk on his face. He must have just gotten home because he was still wearing the khaki pants and black polo he wore for work.
I put the bag behind my back, "Nothing. Where's mom?"
He pushed off his perch, stepping closer to me, looking like the cat that ate the canary, "Downstairs in the kitchen. Bella's mom canceled. She doesn't know that you left the neighborhood alone."
I rolled my eyes, "What do you want to keep quiet?"
"You do the kitchen for a month."
I once again rolled my eyes, "Fine! But, if I do your chore and you squeal, mom and dad will jump at the chance to send you to Bible camp for the rest of the summer if they found out that you've been lying about the time that you get off and knew that you've been smoking." I came back with my own threat, reminding him that I had stuff on him as well, so he wouldn't get too big headed.
Satisfied, he replied, "We have a deal."
"And you suck." I stuck my tongue out at him as I closed my bedroom door behind me. I know, I am so mature….
A/N: I hope you enjoyed. See you in a couple of days.
