That dream continued to haunt me.
Even when I woke up in the middle of Edward & I kissing in the dream, I'd go back to sleep and find the dream replaying over and over. It was very hard not to ignore the fact that I was kissing him, let alone attracted to him. I told myself that I was going to avoid him at all costs.
The next day, Alice dragged me out to the 'Practice Sex Safely' seminar that Garrett told us about the day before.
"Why the hell do we have to go for this?" I asked.
"Because this is college." She simply replied. "You didn't see this in your high school, did you?"
"I went to a private academy, not—"
"Oh right," she said, "I forgot you were in a private academy in Alaska and only go back home to Washington by helicopter during the weekends."
Damn Wikipedia.
"You're such a stalker." I commented.
"But I'm not." She replied. "I'm just curious."
"Have you heard of that metaphor 'curiosity killed the cat'? Yeah. Sometimes when you dig in a little too far, you get in serious trouble." I told her.
She rolled her eyes. "Never took you for the action movie chick."
"I'm not, but I watch enough of them to know what they're talking 'bout." I said, then paused. "There's another reason why we're here, isn't there?"
She took two goodie bags and passed one to me. "Well, no." She denied.
She pulled me to the second front row and made us sit in the middle. I immediately rummaged through the goodie bag and took out every item.
"A box of contraceptive pills... condoms... brochures?" I frowned, staring at the cartoon of a baby on it with its big red words "How To Prevent Pregnancies" written on the top. I shrugged, then placed it on my lap along with the other items taken out. "They seriously think fridge magnets will remind us to be safe?" I asked Alice.
She shrugged. "The way humans work even when they know certain things don't work."
"Why contraceptive pills? I mean, don't you need to go to the doctor then you can get these?"
"The box only has like thirty pills or something. Of course, if you have certain allergies then you can't take them." She replied.
I stuffed the things back into the bag and heard Jasper.
"Ladies, it's nice to see you here," Jasper drawled.
Alice grinned, shaking the bag in his face. "Just taking precautions."
I looked behind Jasper and saw the person I was avoiding. Edward.
"What the hell is he doing here?" I snarled in a low voice in Alice's ear. She ignored me.
"May we sit next to you?" Jasper asked Alice.
She flushed. "Of course!"
I hid my face when Edward looked at Alice. I was just directly beside her, so he could still see me when he was looking at her.
My hands apparently couldn't do the job.
"What's Boho Chick doing here?" Edward asked out loud.
"She has the same intentions as mine," Alice answered for me, "we're taking precautions."
"Uh, no." I said.
She pinched my jean-clad thigh and I jumped in my seat. "Ow! What was that for?"
She glared at me.
"Fine! Okay! We're taking precautions! I'm taking precautions! Dude!" I glared back at Alice and she was smiling again.
Jasper and Edward sat next to us, Jasper sitting next to Alice and Edward beside him. We were sitting on opposite ends of our little group.
The turnout was large. I assumed everyone came just for the freebies, since they were on their phones.
Some lecturer was talking about alternative ways to prevent horrible circumstances from happening when Alice looked at me. "Hey, you don't need this, do you?"
"Well... I uh... You're the one who dragged me—"
"Wait, you don't need this. You're a virgin. Totes forgot about that." She took my goodie bag as she said that out loud. Students our row, the rows in front of us and behind us stared at me when Alice said I was a virgin.
"Alice, I'm strangling you later!" I whispered at her.
She had her innocent look on her face. "What did I do?"
"I want to punch you in the face but I can't!" I hissed. "Ugh!" I covered my face in my lap.
I got bored and stood up, not bothering if Alice was staring at me.
"Bella, where are you going?" She tugged on my bag.
"Back. I'll text you later." I replied. I walked back off to my dorm, slamming the door closed. I threw my bag on my bed and just when I was about to give up going out altogether, my cell beeped.
Hey Bella, it's me Alec. From last night? Told you I'd text you. :) Alec
I almost forgot about Alec and quickly saved his number. Instead of replying him through SMS, I called him up.
He instantly picked up. "Hey there."
"Uhm, hi." I greeted. "Do you wanna go out for coffee or something?"
His response was almost immediate. "Sure. When?"
"How about now?" I asked. "Fetch me from my dorm. We'll go to the Starbucks around here."
I could hear his smile through the phone. "I'll be there in five."
"Great!" I replied. "See you later."
I hung up and went to the bathroom, reapplying my makeup again— a nude lip gloss and some blush. I heard the raps on the door and grabbed my sling bag.
I opened the door and saw Alec standing in front of me, a small smile on his face. He cleaned up well— a woolen Harvard sweater over a collared shirt and cotton khaki pants. He wore polished dark shoes and had a camera bag on his shoulder.
I hugged him tightly and smiled. "Thanks for coming."
"You're welcome." He replied. "Starbucks?"
"Totally."
We walked towards Starbucks, students whispering around us. I caught a few words from some of them.
"...dating Alec Heathrow right now? Hot damn..." One girl said to her circle of friends.
"...OMG, are they, like, a new 'it' couple? To be honest, I think she looks better with..." Another girl whispered to her plaid-shirt friend.
Alec caught me eavesdropping. "You okay?" He gave me a soothing smile.
"Uhm... yeah. I'm fine." I replied, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
His mouth went closer to my ear. "Don't listen to everyone. Gossips can only get very far, but can be false."
"Touché," I grinned.
He pulled a chair out for me and I sat down, murmuring a thank you. He placed his camera bag on the table.
"So what do you want?" He asked.
"Iced chocolate with whip cream." I replied. "And a banana muffin."
I grabbed my purse and handed him a twenty, but he pushed it away. "I'll pay. It's a date, a guy has to."
"I'll pay you back," I told him.
He shook his head, chuckling. "There's no need for such hassle, Bella."
He walked off to the counter, queuing behind two persons. I stared at the camera bag and got curious, so I took the camera out.
It was an expensive blood red camera, like those digital SLRs. I screened through the pictures— some of them were of greenery, others were of his sister Jane and his friends.
"Enjoying the pics?" Alec suddenly said.
I almost jumped off my seat and hit my elbow against the metal chair. I looked up at Alec in panic and guilt. "I didn't mean to look without permission! I'm so sorry!"
He laughed it off, placing my banana muffin, my drink and a mug of normal coffee on the table. "It's alright. You into photography?"
"Not really." I told him, picking up the monster-sized muffin and biting into it. It had a soft, spongy texture, the heat billowing off it. I moaned at its perfection.
Alec sat down on his chair and chuckled. He took his camera and surprised me by snapping a shot of me and the banana muffin.
I dropped the muffin on its plate as I stared at him in shock.
He pursed his lips apologetically. "Sorry. It's just that you were having a moment with the muffin there."
I recovered and shook my head. "That's okay."
He showed me the picture. "It actually turned out really great."
He was right. I've always hated the camera for its bad habit of making people look fat, but in this shot I was smiling down on the already-bitten muffin. I looked... really good in the picture.
"How did you do that?" I asked him. "That's amazing!"
His ears turned pink upon my compliment. "Thanks. You just have to pour your soul into the camera, that's all. It will turn out the way you want it to be."
"How long have you been taking pictures?" I asked.
"Since I was sixteen. My mother gave me my very first camera and I spent a lot of time with it. That camera taught me how to take soulful pictures." He replied with a wistful smile.
"What happened to it?" I asked.
"Uhm... someone broke it. We got into a fight and he deliberately pushed it off my hands." He said.
"Oh." I just said. "Sorry."
"Sorry about what?" Jane said, looking over at us as she stood beside our table.
Alec flinched a little out of shock and looked up at her. "Hello Jane."
She smiled. "Hey brother. Seems like you have already met one of our most exclusive European royalties in Harvard!"
"Wait, you're a royal?" Alec looked at me.
I pursed my lips. "Well, yeah."
"The Duchess of Monaco, to be exact." Jane told him. "Hello Isabella. Wait, is it alright if I call you by name? I wouldn't want to upset you."
"Call me Bella," I said.
Jane intimidated me just by her presence alone. She was looking at me, making sure I lived up to her expectations.
"Am I interrupting something?" Jane just realised.
"Nothing much. Alec & I were just having drinks. No big deal." I waved her off.
"It is a big deal. I'm so sorry for interrupting! I was just looking for my assistant who was supposed to bring me coffee, then I saw both of you! I should probably leave now," she said. Her story didn't seem genuine. "Goodbye!"
"That was unexpected," I said.
Alec smiled at me, but suddenly his smile didn't reach to his eyes. It was probably because of Jane's visit. He lifted his camera up again.
"You don't mind if I take another photo of you, do you?" He asked.
"No, of course not." I replied.
His camera blocked the majority of his face, only leaving his recognisable smile. "Look to your right and smile, as if I'm not here."
I complied. I was looking at the entrance of Starbucks and saw Emmett walk in. My smile turned real as I waved excitedly.
I heard the shutter of the camera and Alec went to put it down. He looked at where I was looking at and frowned. "You know Prince Emmett McCarty?"
"He's my cousin." I shrugged. Emmett saw me and waved towards me too. He hurriedly walked to me and lifted me off the chair, spinning me around the small space. People stared at our exchange.
"Hey lil' sis!" He said. "What are you doing here?"
He put me down and the world seemed tilted for a second. "Coffee date." I simply replied.
"With who?"
I looked at Alec. "With Alec Heathrow here."
Emmett looked at Alec with scrutiny. "You don't look like a freshman."
Alec stood up and shook his hand. "I'm not. I'm a junior here. Welcome to Harvard."
Emmett gave him a big smile. "Thanks, lad. Coffee date, huh? You're her boyfriend?"
Alec shook his head. "Just a friend."
Emmett rolled his eyes. "Everyone says that. Well, you've got yourself a catch, sis. He seems like a nice guy. Should probably tell Edward you're taken now."
I choked on my iced chocolate drink. "What the hell?"
Emmett grimaced. "Shouldn't have said that." He said, then changed the subject. Clapping his hands together, he gave me an awkward smile. "You don't mind if Jasper & I come over again tonight, do you?"
"As long as you don't tell him about what the girls and I have in the dorm. And he's not allowed in there." I told Emmett.
"Aye aye, captain." He gave me a salute and I saluted back at him. He walked away and Alec & I sat back in our seats.
"What's in your dorm?" Alec asked.
"You caught that, huh? Just... game controllers. A lot of them." I shrugged.
We continued to talk for another two hours and when he walked me back to my dorm, we arranged for another coffee date two days later. We said our goodbyes and I entered the dorm with a big smile on my face. Although spending time with Alec did put my mind off certain things, my dream about Edward couldn't be forgotten.
Okay, so there might be a little situation between Alec & Bella, but that's just temporary stuff. Eventually, Bella will end up with Edward. Alec's just a little distraction.
Questions?
Scarlett