Another chapter. Hope you guys liked the last one, even though it was a bit of a filler. I guess most of this story is fluff :] ahh well. There will be some drama at some stage, but I think Bella's problems are enough for now. Oh and btw, I've brought jake into the story in this chapter, but don't worry, its an ExB story. Just thought it would be fun :] Thankyou all so much for your reviews! I didn't even notice, but you guys took me over 100. Thanks heaps!!! :]
Chapter 11: Shopping...
Unfortunately, Alice and Rosalie didn't magically forget about my promise to let them take me shopping. Not only was it shopping, but this kind of shopping was even more unbearable as it involved me being pregnant. I'd never noticed just how many stores there were in one shopping centre that sold just baby stuff!
The part that made it most unenjoyable was that all of these stupid shop assistants were so nosey! Ok, maybe they were just being friendly but it was annoying the hell out of me.
"Oh which is the mother to be?!"
"Aren't you just so excited?!"
"Is it your first?"
Gah! Talk about uncomfortable. I'd given up on trying to explain the situation to them and started to just smile and nod while Rose and Alice giggled in the background, being absolutely no help what so ever.
The first shop we went into was okay because it was just underwear. Apparently my bra situation was the most worrying at the moment because Alice walked past three sales to get there. The only embarrassing part was when she insisted that one of the shop assistants help me measure myself because she was sure I wouldn't do it properly. I put a stop to that pretty quickly.
"Bella!" yelled Alice, the moment that I was out of the changing room, "how about this?" She was pointing to a lace covered, pink, silk bra that looked far too revealing to actually provide any support.
"Umm, Alice... seriously?" I said, trying not to gag.
She rolled her eyes, "Not for you silly. For me! It's Jazz and my anniversary next week!" I blushed again.
"I think that's more Rose's department than mine Al," I said, "and I'm pretty sure that he'll want to get off with you no matter what bra you're wearing."
"It's all about presentation Bella," she said, rolling her eyes.
Alice had had me try on so many different bras that I had two whole bags full. I seriously didn't know why I needed that many when I would go back to wearing my old ones in a few months... or maybe I wouldn't... I really had no idea. I made a quick mental note for myself to get a couple of books on this stuff before we left. I didn't want to freak out every time something unexpected happened.
I must have really been dreading the maternity clothes part, because when they announced that they were finally ready to leave I was actually disappointed. Rosalie grabbed my hand that wasn't holding bags and led me across to a store that I could tell I would hate just by looking at it. Alice tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a credit card.
"Edward told me to give it to you," she said, when I glared at her.
We walked into the store and they began browsing immediately, pulling item after item off of the shelves. I walked over to a section that looked right up my alley and grabbed a couple of t-shirts and sweat pants before Alice could stop me.
I walked back over to the other two and watched as they pulled things down and showed them to one another. That was when the first sales person came over. Any idiot could tell that he was going to make a hell of a lot of money off of these two.
"Ladies!" he announced happily, "who's the mother to be?" he smiled expectantly around at all three of us. Even Rose and Alice stopped what they were doing to look uncomfortable while I blushed.
"Err... I guess that's me." I announced raising a hand and shrugging. I knew that this day would be full of unpleasant conversations. The man looked slightly confused at the 'I guess' part of my sentence and Alice quickly jumped in and explained, saving me the embarrassment.
"Bella is actually being a surrogate for my brother and his wife," she said, smiling a beautiful smile and probably dazzling the poor guy.
That was just the start of many unpleasant conversations. Thankfully though, Alice and Rose were considerate enough to let me buy what I wanted as well as what they wanted. I tried to treat it like I was just trying on normal clothes, not maternity wear. It made me feel a whole lot better about the situation.
The second store sold clothes and other baby type necessities. I averted my eyes from all of the toys and diapers and bottles the whole time we were in the shop. An older woman approached us after about fifteen minutes and started complimenting Alice and Rosalie's choices.
"So who are these for?" she asked, smiling around at us.
I raised my hand and tried to look very absorbed in the dark blue jeans that Alice was showing me.
"Oh how lovely!" she said, clapping her hands together, "You mustn't me far along dear, and you look wonderful. Oh and so young! I take it that this is your first?" This lady was painful. I blushed a furious shade of red and tried not to have a freak out session right in the middle of a shopping centre.
I guess I really should just humour them. They're all used to mothers coming in and cooing over cute dummies and raving about how they can't wait for their baby to arrive, but my situation was so different that it was scary.
"Err... yeah, definitely the first..." I said uncomfortably. It was Rose that jumped in and saved me from explaining this time. The old woman actually looked quite shocked when she told her and wouldn't stop rattling off questions the entire time that we were there.
After two more stores like this we stopped for lunch. I slumped down into a chair and groaned. My feet were killing me. I looked down and was surprised to see how swollen they looked. I wondered why that was... then I remembered that I would have to find a book store somewhere.
Alice and Rose sat down opposite me, chattering away happily. I closed my eyes and tried to relax and ignore the fact that I was surrounded by at least fifteen shopping bags. Why oh why did I need this many clothes? I wouldn't ever wear them again!
"What do you want to eat Bella?" asked Rosalie, who was standing up to go and take our orders.
"Anything but Chinese or hotdogs," I said with a shrug. She walked off with a smile and a flick of her hair. I noticed a table of guys a few metres away, stop mid sentence to gape after her.
Alice smiled at me and rested her chin on in her hand, "It's not that bad Bella." she said, knowing exactly what I was thinking.
"I know," I sighed, "but I'm sick of these stupid shop assistants." She laughed.
"They're just trying to be helpful Bells." I rolled my eyes.
"Let's just not bother trying to explain any more ok? Let them think what they want to think. That woman in the second store was painful." Alice chuckled.
Rose returned a few minutes later holding a salad for each of us. I ate mine quickly and still felt hungry afterwards (I was eating heaps lately), before getting up and going to pee.
When I returned, the two of them were already on their feet, laden down with bags. I sighed and traipsed after them, trying to ignore by aching feet and back.
The rest of the day passed in much the same way. We went into store after store and I tried on more and more clothes. The only highlight was when I got to go to my bookstore. I sped through the 'pregnancy' section, snatching up two books without really looking at them, before waltzing off to look at some classic fiction. Alice had to drag me out.
It was five in the afternoon when they finally declared me fashion fit for the next six months. I'm pretty sure that I'd bought more clothes today than what I had in my closet at home. I sat in the back of the car on the way home, surrounded by shopping bags, with my eyes threatening to droop shut.
They helped me to carry all of the bags up to my apartment, which took several trips, before quickly leaving. I'm guessing that they realised I wasn't in the mood to entertain guests.
"Call me if you need anything Bella. Don't stress." said Alice, as she hugged me goodbye.
***
Unfortunately, Alice's request for me 'not to stress' went completely out the window as soon as I walked into the office on Monday.
Over the weekend, some high up employee who was very popular among a lot of the staff at the paper had been fired. As a result, almost half of the paper had resigned in protest. Obviously this put those of us that were left in a bit of a pickle.
There were people running everywhere, screaming at the top of their lungs while I sat in my office furiously typing away on my computer. As we had an entire paper to fill with only half the staff, everyone was writing double, or in my case; triple. My boss had stormed into my office before I had even booted up my computer and demanded that I have three stories finished in two days. I swear I nearly had a heart attack.
Needless to say, Monday was the constituent of stress and I didn't leave the office until eight at night. I was just glad that Edward didn't call, wondering where I was. I hated to imagine how that conversation would go.
The next day was no improvement. I got to work as quickly as I could, but I couldn't leave until after eight o'clock, unless I felt like spewing my guts up in the office restroom.
I hurried past all of the cubicles full of frantic writers and practically dove into my office to start. I'd managed to get one of the stories finished yesterday, but that left me with two to do today, both of which were bigger than the last.
It was a good four hours later when someone walked up to my door. I spun myself around, expecting to see my red faced boss, but it definitely wasn't him. This man was tall and dark, with biceps the size of my torso. He stood casually, with a briefcase in one hand, in dark jeans and a button up shirt.
"Hi," said the man standing in my doorway, "My name's Jacob Black. I'm from the sister paper on the other side of the city." I stared up at him, having no idea what he was doing here.
"You're Isabella Swan?" he asked, flashing a grin with very white teeth against his russet skin.
"Err, yeah. Can I help you?" I asked, starting to get agitated; I was wasting precious time.
He leant against the doorframe, "Because you guys are having a lot of trouble over here, my paper's sent a few workers over to help out, and apparently I'm yours to work with. I'm at your command." He flashed another grin.
I stared at him for another moment to make sure that he wasn't joking, before letting out a huge sigh of relief. I slumped back in my chair and put my hand over my eyes.
"Thanks god!" I groaned. He laughed a bark type laugh.
"I take it that you're kinda busy at the moment?" he said, grinning down at me.
"You could say that." I said, smiling for the first time in a while, "How long are you here for?"
"As long as you need me I guess. Apparently I'm sort of your counterpart at the other paper; we do the same sort of sections." I sighed in relief again.
"What do you need me for?" he asked. I sat back up and tried to pile some of my stuff into an orderly fashion.
"Well, I've been given three stories to work on. I've got one of them done and I'm working on another, but you could pick up the third if you don't mind?"
"Sure thing,"
"That would be great," I said with another smile.
"Where do you want me to set up?" he asked, holding up his briefcase. I glanced around the office, which was a complete mess. I had a large L shaped desk, one part of which was taken up by my computer and the other half of which was taken up by a mess of papers.
"Well if we clear this stuff away," I said, gesturing to the papers, "you could stick a chair over the other side and work on that part of the desk."
"Sounds good." he said, enthusiastically.
I quickly stood up and noticed Jacob's eyes rake over my body for a moment. I was wearing a high waisted skirt and a blouse; attempting to use them while I still could I guess (I didn't normally wear this kind of stuff, but I had taken to using it over the last week or so).
Unfortunately I was at a stage where I had no need for maternity clothes, but the upper area of all my old clothes was becoming uncomfortably tight and the blouse I was wearing now showed a hell of a lot more cleavage than what I was used to, due to the fact that I had several buttons undone that I normally wouldn't because they just wouldn't do up. It was because of this that I let Jacob's staring slide. I knew that if I was a guy and there was a girl dressed like that in front of me, I would stare.
Together we managed to clear most of the desk off, leaving small piles of paper all over the ground.
Jacob was good to work with. He got everything done efficiently, he didn't talk too much but he was still good company, and he took away half of my work load. It was nice to have someone as to talk to and he could always make me smile.
We worked together for the rest of that day, and I was thrilled when I walked into my office on the Wednesday to find him already seated and typing. My boss had handed us another four stories once we'd handed him the other three... great.
It was Thursday night before I knew it though, and I still hadn't quite gotten everything done that I needed to. The office was clearing out around Jake and I, and the only small window in my room slowly got darker and darker.
It was six o'clock when Jacob closed his laptop and leant back in his chair to stretch.
"You finished?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the screen.
"Yep!" he said happily, stretching again.
I continued to type away as he collected his stuff together. I barely noticed when he walked around to the front of my desk and waited.
"Bella?" he asked, after a moment of silence.
I pushed myself back from my desk slightly and looked up at him.
"What's up?" I asked, running a hand through my hair.
"Do you want to go and get a drink with me?" he didn't sound nervous, just determined.
I bit my lip, wishing that he hadn't asked, because I would love to go out with him. He was a guy that I would enjoy going out with, despite the fact that I wouldn't let it last. But right now I couldn't do anything with him; not with my life being as complicated as it was. He was a really nice guy, and I didn't particularly feel like hurting him.
"Jake..." I said softly, trying to figure out how to let him down nicely, "I would love to, but now really isn't a good time..."
He looked at me for a moment, then pulled a card out of his pocket and slid it across the desk towards me.
"Call me anytime Bella," he said with a shrug, "I'm always available." He gave me a quick smile before turning and walking out of the office. I stared after him, worrying that I hadn't made myself clear enough.
I glanced down at his card and shrugged, slipping it into my handbag. I guess it couldn't do any harm to keep it.
The next time I looked up at my clock, it was eight thirty and my eyes were stinging. I was so tired, but I had to finish this last story. My eyes were threatening to close when I sensed, rather than heard someone standing at my office door.
I spun my chair around to find a very angry Edward glaring across the room at me. I briefly had a weird thought that I'd fallen asleep at my desk and was dreaming. What the hell was he doing here?
"What are you doing here?" I asked, looking at him warily. He didn't look too happy.
"I might ask you the same question." He said, folding his arms across his chest.
There was a moment of silence as I stared at him, he was acting very strange. I took in his angry expression and stiff posture. I got that I was at work far too late, but he was still acting weird.
"How did you know I was here?" I asked, trying to break the silence.
"I called your house several times, but you weren't home and I didn't think that you'd be asleep."
"Why didn't you call here?" I asked, confused.
"The answering machine turns itself on automatically after eight o'clock."
"Oh..."
There was another moment of slightly awkward silence. I had no idea what he expected me to say; I had to finish this story.
"Bella! I thought that we'd talked about this, you need to look after yourself a little better at the moment!" I gaped at him.
"Edward, half of my paper quit this week. I don't know how you expect me to control that." His stiff pose relaxed slightly, but he was still glaring.
"I don't think that staying past 8:30 at night is an appropriate way for you to approach that! No one else is here!" It was my turn to glare now.
"Actually, my boss is here." I said defiantly. I immediately wished that I hadn't though as Edward turned and stomped off towards my boss's office.
I jumped out of my chair as fast as I could and hurried after him, but I was too slow. I looked on in horror as he opened the door with 'Anthony Mathers' inscribed on it and walked inside without knocking.
"Edward!" I hissed, but he didn't listen. I half ran up to the door but Edward was already inside and standing at Anthony's desk. He glanced up from his computer in surprise and looked Edward up and down with wary eyes.
"Who are you?" asked Mr. Mathers, sounding annoyed. There were huge bags under his eyes and he was sweating despite the freezing air conditioning. This was definitely not a good time for Edward to do this.
"My name is Edward Cullen. I'd like to have a word to you about Bella." I almost passed out right then and there. My boss glanced over at me standing horror struck in his doorway.
"I didn't realise that you were still here," he said, taking in my appearance.
"I'm so sorry Mr. Mathers," I said, panicked, "Edward get out!"
Edward ignored me completely and continued speaking, "I understand that you are having a difficult time at the moment but I would appreciate you giving Bella some lenience. I do not feel very... happy about her staying at work this late at the moment; now that she's pregnant. Surely she could finish whatever she's working on when she arrives tomorrow." I leant against the doorframe for support. I couldn't believe that he was doing this!
Anthony looked rather shocked when Edward finished and he glanced at me. I blushed when his eyes travelled down to my stomach. I tensed, waiting for him to start yelling, which I would find perfectly acceptable considering that a complete stranger had just barged into his office late at night and demanded he change how he ran his office. I was therefore surprised when his posture relaxed somewhat and a defeated look came over his face. He looked dead tired.
"Yes, alright. I expect those stories on my desk by lunch time tomorrow. All of us are under a lot of stress at the moment, and I haven't had a lot of time to address any staff issues. You should go home." He sighed and ran a hand over his balding head. He turned his tired eyes back to his computer screen as Edward turned and walked straight out of the office.
"What the hell was that?!" I said furiously, as soon as the door was closed, "It's not even his fault! I'm just slow! You had no right to do that!" Edward continued to my office and I stomped after him.
I had just opened my mouth to yell something else when he turned around to face me. I stopped dead when I noticed how tired he looked as well. There were huge bags under his eyes and his hair was even more bedraggled than usual.
"Bella, he wasn't going to fire you if you've just lost half of your paper, you do need to go home, and I wasn't going to let you stay!" he sighed and reached out to touch my arm.
"Please, just humour me. I worry enough as it is without knowing that you're still sitting in your office late into the night." I looked into his face and all of my anger faded. I couldn't stay mad at him for long, no matter what.
"Alright, just let me grab my stuff." I said, moving past him to gather my things together. Something was wrong, I knew that much. Edward never acted like this; he was never grim and angry.
As I walked back towards the door with my bag, Edward turned on his heel and walked out before me. I frowned after him. Normally, he would stand back and let me pass first or at least smile his crooked smile or touch my arm.
We headed out of the office in silence, Edward staring straight ahead.
"What's going on?" I demanded, unable to take the tension anymore.
Edward started, like he was surprised to find me walking next to him. He looked over at me, unsmiling.
"What? Nothing..." he said, staring straight ahead again.
I sighed. Obviously something was wrong. I hated how things had become with us. He used to tell me everything, but now he was purposely not telling me something. Lying.
"Yeah, ok." I mumbled, sarcastically.
Edward let out a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it up even more.
"Tanya wasn't very... open... to the idea of us three going and visiting Carlisle and Esme." he sighed again.
I frowned up at him. I guess that explained why he was so anxious, they must have had a fight, but why would she not be 'open' to the idea.
"Why not?" I asked, trying to understand.
"I don't know..." he mumbled, looking away again. Yes he did. There was definitely a reason and he knew it, he just wouldn't tell me. More secrets, more lies. I decided to ignore it this time.
"So we aren't going?" I asked, feeling slightly disappointed. I didn't want to have to tell Charlie that.
"No, she's come around. It's just... I don't know..." he trailed off again, his face falling into a frown.
I didn't ask again. I had a sneaking suspicion that I didn't really want to know her reasons and Edward obviously didn't want to tell me.
We walked down the stairs and into the car park in silence. Edward's Volvo was parked right next to my Chevy.
"Make sure you eat before you go to bed," he said, turning to face me. I bit back a smart-arse answer and merely nodded. I was sick of all of this worrying though it could be a whole lot worse I guess.
He stood back to let me into my car and I slid into the driver's seat feeling a bit uneasy. Edward reached out for my door preparing to slam it closed.
"Speak to you later?" I said, kind of desperately. I didn't want to just drive off without any other sort of conversation between us. I remember when I was very young, not in double figures yet, I had been in the car on the way to school with Renee. I'd wanted to have McDonalds for breakfast and she'd flat out refused. As a result we'd wound up sitting in a fuming silence after a lot of yelling. When we pulled up to the school I jumped out of the car immediately and stormed off, neither of us saying anything.
That afternoon, I'd completely forgotten about our argument, but when I jumped into the car, Renee had a tray of McDonalds sitting between the two front seats. She hugged me tightly and began apologising while I sat there completely bewildered as to what was going on. I think that this situation must have had some kind of an impact on me because I never forgot it.
The one thing that stuck in my head more than anything else was when she said, "I just can't imagine what I would have done if something had happened to you today. That would have been the last thing that I ever said to you." There had been tears in her eyes. I couldn't let myself drive away from Edward like this.
"Yeah, I'll call you tomorrow," he said, showing a bit more emotion, "I want you to be home at an appropriate time." I was about to complain when he suddenly grinned at me, kissed me on the cheek and slammed the door. Needless to say, I completely forgot about being angry at him.
Hope you guys enjoyed it. I know it was more filler but things will mainly pick up in the middle of the story, and I'm not quite there yet. I've planned the whole thing!!... pretty much... proud of me?? :] lol, ah well, let me know what you think. I wasn't entirely satisfied with this chapter; I didn't think that my writing was that great, but I'll try and make the next one better. Thanks for reading!!!
