Chapter 10: Girl's Day Out
"The decision to kiss for the first time is the most crucial in any love story. It changes the relationship of two people much more strongly than even the final surrender; because this kiss already has within it that surrender."
-Emil Ludwig
After the ruckus of the failed barn raising had died down, everyone returned home—back to the cabin in the woods or back into town.
The girls walked together; silence settled over them, thick and oppressive. Their fathers had stayed behind to help fix the devastated barn. After the Cullens had left, there really was no reason for any of the girls to stay.
Rosalie broke the long silence, "I just want to turn back the other way and sneak up to their cabin."
"Rosalie!" Carmen cried, "It's a cabin full of men, how scandalous it would be if you went there alone!"
Rosalie scoffed, "As if you wouldn't want to go see Eleazar?"
Carmen flushed and quickly looked away.
"That's what I thought," Rosalie stated with a satisfied smirk.
Carmen sighed and stared at her, "Whether or not you want to sneak out to the Cullen's cabin, you know you can't. Rosalie, you're still engaged."
Rose stiffened and turned to glare at Carmen, "I will not be engaged after I tell my father what Royce did to me."
Bella and Alice gasped together, "What did he do?" Bella asked, her brown eyes going wide.
"He tried to force himself on me," Rose said, fear seeping into her voice as her memories flooded through her head.
"Oh Rose," Alice said, "how did you get away? Please tell me, you did get away?"
Rosalie smiled softly, "Emmett saved me."
Alice's answering smile spread across her soft features like a sunrise. "They were truly remarkable, weren't they?"
Kate laughed, "Remarkable."
Alice giggled back, "Who was the man you danced with all afternoon?"
"Garrett," Kate sighed blissfully, and then burst into a round of laughter.
"Alright, I know you all are dying to say the name of the Cullen brother who paid you the most attention," Carmen laughed.
"Oh, Jasper was so amazing," Alice trilled, putting her little hands over her heart and dancing a few paces ahead of the group.
Bella laughed, "Of course little Mary Alice Brandon goes for the tallest of the Cullen brothers."
Alice gave an unladylike snort. "That was mean and uncalled for, Isabella."
"You know I still love you," Bella reasoned, pulling petite Alice into her arms and placing a kiss on the top of her head.
Alice smiled and wound her thin arms around Bella's waist. "Did you have fun with Edward?"
Bella's cheeks flooded with a cherry red blush and she started to fiddle with the brass buttons on her coat.
Alice smiled satisfactorily, "So you did have a good time, then?"
"He was such a gentleman," Bella replied in a soft voice.
"They all were," Carmen agreed, wrapping her arm around Bella's shoulders.
The girls grew quiet after that, enjoying the company and basking in their memories of the Cullen brothers.
Sooner than any of them could wish for, September came to a close and October replaced it, bringing snow and thus making any plans to visit the Cullens fruitless.
The first frost came one mid-October morning. Sheriff Swan came into his small abode above the jailhouse, shaking off his coat and hanging in on the hook by the door.
"Bells," he called, tramping into the kitchen in search of his daughter, "Alice wants you to come down to the general store with her."
Bella pulled away from the oven and set a plate of fresh hotcakes in front of her father. "Why would she want me to go with her? She knows I hate going to the store."
Sheriff Swan shrugged, "She said you would complain," his eyes twinkled a little as he smiled fondly as his daughter, "but I'm supposed to insist that you go with her, she said you'll enjoy yourself."
Bella sighed and pulled off her apron. She went to grab her thick, wool coat. She knew not to doubt Alice, even if she had to go shopping. She stumbled back into the kitchen and kissed her father on the cheek.
"Bye, Papa, I'll be back later!"
"Bye, Bella," he called as she retreated out the door.
The cold air assaulted her and her face instantly flushed; she pulled her woolen coat tighter around her thin frame. She shivered and trekked across the road to Alice's house.
Alice was waiting on the white-washed, wraparound porch, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Her lips were stained bright red from the frigid air. Her breath was little wisps of cotton fanning out before her.
"I hear today is going to be a good day." Bella said conversationally.
"I just had a feeling," Alice confided, lifting her delicate shoulders.
Bella smiled and linked her elbow around Alice's; they walked through town together sharing tales in each other's confidence and giggling happily.
The general store was a large, rather obnoxious, red building at the center of town. It was large and ostentatious but it was a commodity to the townspeople.
"What are we shopping for today?" Bella asked curiously.
"I want some fabric for a new dress," Alice stated simply and skipped into the store, dragging Bella along behind her. Bella groaned, Alice was always buying new fabric for a new dress or a new coat or a new fashionable apron. It was ridiculous.
"Mornin', Miss Brandon, Miss Swan," Mike Newton said trying to be polite but failing horribly as he leered at them from behind the general store counter.
Alice nodded cordially to him, but kept her mouth shut tight. After the barn raising incident, she had refused to speak to anyone involved. The Cullens would have been the exception to her uncharacteristic silence; but they rarely ever came to town, and probably would no longer be welcome had they even wanted to come.
Bella sighed, "When are you going to give this up?"
Alice groaned and glared at her best friend, "Bella, I am only giving those men the silent treatment because they ran my Jasper off."
Bella snorted, "He's not your Jasper, Alice. He's just some guy who had a slight interest in you."
Bella's words stung and Alice wheeled around to face her. She looked as if Bella had slapped her in the face. "You take that back, Isabella Marie Swan. Take it back!"
Bella sighed and shrugged stiffly, "What else am I supposed to do, Alice. Hold out hope that they're going to come back and woo us?"
Alice nodded, "You may not be so sure about Edward; but Jasper is the man I've waited my whole life for. I know that without a shadow of a doubt."
Alice spoke with such conviction that Bella found herself believing her words whole-heartedly. How she wished that Edward would be her Jasper—but it seemed like such a far-fetched idea; that it was impossible.
Edward Cullen was a Romeo. Bella Swan was not a Juliet. The two didn't go together. Bella Swan fancied herself the type of person to have an archetypal romance and never think twice about having an extraordinary life.
Edward Cullen, however, was just the type of man that great volumes of romance fiction were written about.
Bella sighed, pulling herself away from her musings and back to the violently plaid fabric Alice was studying as if it were a great Renaissance painting. She could distantly hear Alice babbling about how one specific plaid looked more distinctly Scottish than the other—but Bella could have cared less whether the plaid looked authentic. She had caught sight of a green fabric hanging several feet away from the plaid mess. The green looked soft and yet rich. And Bella was struck by how similar it was in colour to Edward Cullen's eyes.
She found herself gravitating towards the emerald fabric, and without her permission her fingers were softly stroking it. She didn't even realize when Alice positioned herself directly to the left of Bella's elbow.
"It's a pretty colour," Alice said amiably. "It would look lovely with your skin tone."
"You would be able to make me a dress of this fabric?" Bella asked in a breathless voice.
Alice nodded curtly, and pulled the bolt of fabric from the rack, "You deal with that vile Michael Newton, and I'll make your dress."
Bella smiled gratefully at Alice and took off to go by several yards of the jade fabric. She marveled once again at its texture, like liquid beneath her fingers. She only imagined about how it would feel on. She wondered if Edward would like the fact that she was wearing a dress that matched his eyes.
She paid for the fabric and ended up buying a large swatch of plaid fabric in varying shades of gray for Alice. She pocketed her change and followed Alice out in the domineering cold.
Bella shivered and viciously jerked her coat around her. "I hate the cold," she grouched. Her statement was cruelly punctuated as she slipped on a particularly nasty patch of hidden ice just below the step of the general store.
Her feet whooshed out from under her; she gave a breathless gasp and dropped her bag as she fought against gravity. Her bottom connected with the cold, hard earth but not nearly as hard as she had anticipated.
Several things happened at once: her precious new fabric spilled from the bag and onto the wet, muddy ground, secondly, she cried out in panic as it was sullied and finally a pale hand that had before rested against her waist shot out to save it.
She realized that the other hand was still pressed into the soft flesh of her side, and that the owner of the hand was behind her on the ice, having fallen trying to catch her. His legs were spread and she was seated between them, his dark trousers flanking her skirt.
She jerked forward in a rush and turned sharply to look at her would-be savior. The air suddenly rushed from her lungs in one long sigh and she was staring into the strange and exhilarating eyes of Edward Cullen.
He smiled crookedly at her.
"Good day, Miss Swan," he said with another dazzling smile.
Bella struggled momentarily with coherent thought, she blushed. "It is a good day, Mr. Cullen." She smiled back.
Alice, who had been standing and watching everything happen, suddenly gave a high-pitched squeal and threw herself into Jasper Cullen's waiting arms. "I knew you'd come," she murmured, pressing her nose into the spot where his shoulder joined his neck.
He gasped slight, "Goodness, Alice your nose is positively frigid."
She giggled, and to her delight Jasper pressed a tender kiss to the top of her frozen nose.
Bella sighed as she watched them. They moved, acted, spoke like a couple. Figures Alice would have the storybook romance Bella so longed for.
Edward's voice brought her from her sordid daydreaming. "This is a beautiful fabric."
Bella gasped as she realized that Edward was holding her fabric, the sensual texture of it beneath his strong fingers.
"Thank you," Bella blushed again, standing and holding her hand down for Edward to steady himself as he stood. It was more a gesture of kindness than of actual helpfulness.
Edward took her hand without a moment's hesitation, his hand was almost softer than the fabric, and pulled himself sinuously to his feet. "Do you plan on making yourself a dress of this fabric?" He asked, looking into her eyes.
"Alice is making it for me—I can't sew." She blushed, she was completely useless at all the things that would make a good wife; and once again she realized she had probably just given him another reason to not want to marry her.
"Neither can I," Edward said with a wink.
Bella stared at him in flabbergasted silence.
"Honestly, it doesn't really matter if you can or cannot sew," he continued as if she weren't gaping at him, with her mouth wide open, doing a very poor impersonation of a fish. "Though you do seem to be rather clumsy, you don't cause that much damage to your garments, therefore you have no need to mend for yourself. And as it were, I don't make it a point to destroy the clothing I have. So your not being able to sew is a moot point."
Bella was sure that if her eyes grew any wider they would fall right out of her head. Edward chuckled and she quickly came to her senses, "It still is a good skill to have."
"I don't doubt that," Edward said genially, "but you seemed to think that idea that you're not handy with a needle and thread would deter me; so I thought it necessary to assure you that nothing could deter me."
Bella found herself smiling up at him, he grinned in return. He angled his face downward so that their noses were touching. She could feel the breath from his parted lips blow against her chin.
She was about to kiss Edward Cullen! Just a few more centimeters and their lips were going to touch. The inevitability of the event made her heart stutter.
Before he could close the distance, however, someone near them gave an agitated cough before they started their tirade.
How did you like this chapter? I'd gotten so used to writing from the boy's point of view I actually had a hard time making the girls' sound right. How sad is that? So, who interupted them? If you review and get it right then I'll send you an extended preview of the next chapter! When my sister read this chapter she couldn't figure it out, so do you think you can do better than her...? Review and we shall find out!!
ALSO, GO CHECK OUT MY NEW JAPSER/ALICE ONE-SHOT CALLED "BUBBLY"!!!
Next time on 7B47B:
"It's not a lie," Rosalie said, angry colour creeping into her cheeks, she entered the room in a swift furious motion.
"It's not," Emmett said, standing imposingly on the threshold. His massive frame took up the entire doorway.
"You're one of those Cullen boys, aren't you?" Mr. Hale asked, narrowing his electric blue eyes at Emmett.
"Yes sir, I am." Emmett replied proudly but modestly, "I would like to apologize for what happened at the Cheney's. I hope that my brother's and mine immature act won't change your opinion of my credibility."