Chapter 21
All I wish is to be alone;

Stay away, don't you invade my home.

Best off if you hang outside,

Don't come in, I'll only run and hide.
~Who Can It Be Now?- Men at Work

On Thursday evening, Bella opened the refrigerator and pulled out a jar of pickles. She opened the jar and pulled out the last pickle with her fingers, leaving the opened jar on the counter. The brunette opened her mouth and took a big bite, relishing in the crunch. She chewed the salty vegetable and wiped her mouth as some of the juices ran down her chin.

"I swear that's the second jar you've gone through this week." Jacob commented, wrinkling his nose as she continued to eat the pickle. "You barely eat anything, and then when you do, it's pickles?" Jacob glanced at the empty jar and chuckled. "Is this some new weird diet?"

Bella took another bite of the pickle and held it delicately in her hand. "I just like pickles." She said between bites. "Don't judge me." She popped the rest of the pickle into her mouth and felt a wave of sadness flow through her when she had finished it. "I need to go shopping." She told her husband then side eyed the jar, half filled with pickle juice.

"Uh, Bella?"

Bella tore her eyes from the jar and looked at her husband. "What?"

"I know you're not going to drink that...right?" Jacob motioned to the pickle juice.

"Jacob," Bella scoffed in disgust. "That's nasty!"

Jacob laughed then headed into the living room. "Alright, well I'll go get you some more pickles, since you seem to love them so much."

"Thanks!" After Jacob had gone, Bella grabbed the pickle jar and walked over to the sink. As she tilted it to allow the green juice to fall into the sink, she paused in her ministrations and looked at the liquid. "Hm." She brought the jar to her lips and took a sip. The salty juice made it's way down her throat with a satisfying slosh, and Bella soon found herself downing the entire jar. After she had finished, she tossed the jar into the trash and whipped her mouth. "Surprisingly delicious."

"I knew it." Jacob muttered from the doorway.

Bella whirled around to find her husband gawking at her. "I thought you went to the store." She spoke calmly, trying not to look suspicious.

Jacob glanced around her at the trash can where the empty pickle jar was resting. "I was joking. You clearly have an addiction to pickles and I don't want to fuel it." He wrinkled his nose as he wasn't the biggest fan of the salty vegetable. "I'm going to take Midnight for a walk with Renesmee." He tossed his wife the keys to his car. "If you want more pickles," Jacob shuddered. "Go ahead and buy some."

Bella watched him latch Midnight to the leash and head outside with Renesmee. She looked down at the keys in her hand then at the empty pickle jar. "I do want more pickles." She murmured to herself, before heading out the door. Bella didn't need to grab an umbrella as the weather was holding up, and it hadn't rained in over a week. Everyone in Forks were taking advantage of the weather by ditching their umbrellas and raincoats.

As Bella descended the stairs, she noticed Alice was exiting her apartment. "Hey Bella. Where are you off to?" Alice asked upon spotting her friend and fellow co worker.

"Just stopping by the grocery store." She told her truthfully. "What about you?"

Alice followed Bella outside and the two women walked up the driveway where their cars were parked. "I managed to buy an outfit, but silly me, I forgot to get new shoes! Come with me. I'll drive you to the store after we get my shoes."

"Sure." Bella always enjoyed the woman's company and any excuse to not have to drive Jacob's stick shift car. "But don't you think you should be saving your money? You're such a heavy spender."

Alice unlocked her car doors and took the driver's seat while Bella sat next to her. "It's alright. I'm not going to spend more than fifty bucks. And if I don't buy food for a couple days, I'll be fine."

Bella sighed and thought about the leftovers she had in her fridge. "You still like lasagna right?"

Alice sped out of the driveway and hurried down the street. "You have to be soulless to not enjoy lasagna. Just ask Garfield."

"I'll take that as a yes." Bella chuckled lightly. "Well, we have some left. It should feed you for a couple days."

"Sounds good to me." Alice smiled and put the pedal to the medal.

When they made it to the shoe store, Alice searched up and down the aisles for the perfect shoe. The two women spent nearly an hour inside the store while Alice tried on shoe after shoe. Bella passed Alice her umpteenth shoe and Alice waved it away with her hand. "What's wrong with this one?" Bella asked in exasperation.

"I already own it." Alice said simply. "In three colors actually."

Bella placed the shoe back on the shelf when her eyes came across a red and purple rhinestone heel that was at least three inches tall. While the thought of wearing the shoe made Bella shudder in horror, she knew Alice wouldn't feel the same way. Bella grabbed the shoes and held them in front of Alice. "I think I've found your shoe."

Alice took the heels from Bella and tried them on. "Oh my gosh!"

Bella's smile fell and she pinched the bridge of her nose. "What's wrong with them?"

Alice grinned at her friend. "Nothing! They're perfect!"

A sudden chorus of applause rang throughout the store and one of the cashiers came over to grab Alice's shoes. "We're very happy you found the perfect shoe." The woman stated, then glanced at the pile of shoes Alice had tried on. Her smile slipped and she pointed to the register. "If you would step over here, we'll ring you out immediately."

Alice, oblivious to the woman's intentions of getting her out of the store as quickly as possible, followed her to the register, elated to have found the perfect shoes. "It matches my dress perfectly." Alice told Bella. "I'm going to have the best weekend."

"I'm glad Alice."

The cashier looked up after scanning the shoes and her fake smile was barely holding up. "Wait, you're Alice? Alice Brandon?"

Alice nodded slowly, confusion marring her small face. "Yes? How do you know my name?"

The cashier handed Alice the shoes and gritted her teeth. "Someone paid for your shoes earlier. They said that if Alice Brandon came in to give her this note." The cashier pulled out a small red card and passed it to Alice.

She opened the note and read it quickly.

To my lovely Alice.
You've walked into my heart.

So enjoy some new shoes.

Till we meet again.

Alice closed the note and held it close to her heart. "He is so thoughtful." She grabbed the shoes and looked at Bella with tears in her eyes. "I'm so lucky to have such a sweet guy in my life."

As Alice left, Bella overheard a convo with the cashier.

"Can you believe she tried on 35 pairs of shoes? And didn't put any back!"

"I hate my life. Help me put away the shoes."

Bella frowned and glanced back at the workers who seemed annoyed at the fact that Alice had left a mess. Not that she could blame them.

"I can't believe he would do this!" Alice looked down at her shoes with a grin. "I told him before that I love shopping but that sometimes I can get carried away." She looked down at her new pair. "He's such a sweetheart."

Bella didn't seem as convinced and actually voiced her concerns. "How could he have known that you were coming to this shoe store?"

"Well Bella, there aren't many shoe stores in Forks. It couldn't have been that hard to use some deductive reasoning." Alice popped open her trunk and tossed in the shoes.

"How could he have known that you were coming today?"

Alice raised a brow at Bella's questioning. "It's not like we don't text. I told him I was going shopping earlier."

Bella decided to ease up on her questioning as she was probably looking too much into it. "Well, then it was very nice of him to do that for you."

They drove to grocery store and Bella immediately headed to the pickle aisle. She had grabbed a cart as she wanted to do some light shopping. Alice watched her scanning the large jar of pickles and sent her a skeptical look. "What is with you and pickles? I swear I haven't seen you eat anything else in days. You're going to get fat."

Bella grabbed a couple jars of dill pickles that looked extra juicy and placed them into her cart. "Pickles actually don't have any calories, so I'll be fine."

"Whatever." Alice mumbled.

After Bella had finished with the pickle aisle, she picked up some milk, cheese and chicken wings. As she was passing by the baked goods, she noticed a coconut cake that was beckoning to her. She grabbed a couple boxes of the cake and placed it in the cart content.

"Okay, first pickles, now coconut cake? Who likes coconuts?" Alice frowned at the cake and scoffed in distaste. "You are on one weird food kick, I swear."

Bella merely smiled at her friend, then headed to the checkout lane. As they were waiting behind a woman with a full cart, Bella looked around the store absentmindedly. Her gaze fell upon a man who was dressed like a detective with a long brown coat, matching fedora hat that was large enough to shield most of his face in a creepy shadow. "Hey Alice, you see the guy in the fedora? How creepy does he look to you?"

Alice didn't bother looking up. "Well if he's wearing a fedora, he must be a grade A douchebag."

Bella couldn't help laughing at her friend as she agreed.

Finally, the cashier rung out the woman with the filled cart, and Bella was able to load her items onto the conveyor belt. The cashier saw Bella's two jars of pickles and sent her a knowing look that only confused Bella. Few words were exchanged before the women were returning to Alice's car with Bella's groceries.

"He bought my shoes." Alice said suddenly, throwing Bella a large grin. "I can get food!" She sped out of the parking lot and stopped by the closest fast food restaurant. "Do you want anything Bella?" Alice offered while contemplating her order.

"Is that bacon ice cream?" Bella pointed to the special of the month and felt her mouth salivate. "Get me one of those."

Alice ordered herself a full meal and Bella's ice cream. "Are you still going to give me the lasagna? I was looking forward to it."

"Of course." Bella told her. After she received her ice cream, she tasted it tentatively and relished in the salty sweet flavor. "Wow, this is amazing!"

"Glad you like it." Alice munched on her burger while she drove them home.

As they were cruising down the street, Bella consumed her ice cream with much vigor. She happened to be gazing out the side view mirror when she noticed a car behind them. The driver looked similar to that weird detective looking man from the grocery store. "Hey look, that fedora dude is behind us."

Alice peeked in her rearview mirror and blanched. "Bella! That's him! That's Aro!"

Bella spat out some of her ice cream and it stained the dashboard much to Alice's chagrin. "What? Are you sure?"

Alice nodded rigidly while speeding down the street. She quickly pulled into the driveway to their apartment and raced inside. After grabbing her bags, Bella followed her. Once they were in the safety of Alice's home, the women peered out the window to see if Aro was still there. He had parked outside the apartment and was looking at the building from the comfort of his car. Alice cursed loudly and closed her curtains. "Now he knows where I live! What am I going to do?"

"We can call the police! This is stalking and I'm pretty sure it's illegal." Bella opened the curtain and looked out slowly. "Oh, he's gone! Look!"

Alice took Bella's place and sighed in relief. "Oh thank goodness." She placed a hand over her fast beating heart and leaned against the window. "I feel better now."

"Just make sure you keep your doors and windows locked okay? But he doesn't know which apartment you're in right?"

Alice shook her head slowly. "He shouldn't." She chewed on her lip nervously. "I really hope not."

"I'm sure he doesn't." Bella affirmed. "But seriously, make sure your windows and doors are definitely locked. If you ever feel uncomfortable, you are more than welcome to sleep on our couch."

Alice smiled gratefully at her friend. "You do have a nice couch."

"I like to think so." Bella smiled then grabbed her bags. "Here, I managed to grab your shoes while I got my bags." She passed her the free pair of heels and headed for the door. "See ya later Alice. Stay safe."

"Will do." Alice replied while looking fondly at her new shoes.