Without A Smile – Chapter 25
Bella was feeling uncomfortable standing on the bus, arm stretched high above her, gripping the overhead rail. She was heading to Rose's apartment so they could go to the Halloween party together. If it wasn't for how hard she had worked on her costume, or how excited Alice was for this party, Bella would have stayed home in bed.
Bella was also starting to second-guess her desire to save money. Taking a cab and carrying her costume might have been expensive, but her flowerpot skirt seemed wider now that she was out of the apartment, and her leaves were getting in the way of people. Plus, she was pretty sure she was getting a fever, and in spite of feeling chilled, she felt herself starting to sweat.
Some guy at the back of the bus was staring at her. Leering at her? She wondered if he had a plant fetish. But when he pulled the bell to get off he leaned into her as he walked by and said "I got the kind of sticky, licky sweets you crave, baby." Bella couldn't help but burst out laughing – and so did he. She guessed even perverts liked musicals too.
Once the bus approached her stop, she pulled the bell, and turned sideways to shuffle towards the exit.
"Excuse me," she said when one of her leaves whacked a passenger in the face. "Sorry. Excuse me. Sorry." Finally, she made it to the door. Once off the bus and in the night air she breathed a sigh of relief and felt a little bit better.
"What the fuck are you supposed to be?" Rose said by way of greeting when she saw Bella standing outside her apartment door. Rose looked stunning and regal, as Elsa, Queen of Arendelle.
"Audrey Two," Bella grinned at her friend. She knew her costume was going to get a lot of reactions tonight. It's not often that you see a man-eating plant walking around.
Rose took in the sight of her friend. Bella had on green tights with fabric leaves sewn to them. She even had leaves sewn to her shoes. Her skirt was made to look like a flower pot (although it was more than a skirt because it came up so high) and attached to her green shirt (more leaves) were extra arms complete with little plant faces on them. Around Bella's head, she had constructed the face of the nefarious plant with wire and papier-mache.
"You look...," Rose just shook her head. "Only you would choose something like that. I kind of want to hug you right now but you have leaves all over you."
"Yeah, hugging would be a bad idea. You might get bitten by my little plant minions," She reached out her right arm and shook a plant face at Rose.
"Did you seriously wear that on the bus? I bet you are all over Twitter right now."
"Ugh, I didn't even think of that."
"Is your costume warm? You're looking a little pale and flushed."
"It's fine," Bella shook her head. "I'm fine." Bella was a firm believer in the fake-it-till-you-make-it approach to sickness.
"Okay. Well, let's see if we can fit you into my car." Rose was still shaking her head and laughing.
"I'll make it work. The leaves are actually quite soft and malleable so I can bend the wires back into shape if something happens. It's just the headpiece that's awkward and heavy, but it comes off easily." To demonstrate, Bella reached up taking her headpiece off. The lack of weight from it making her feel better. She decided to carry it until they got to the party.
Bella hadn't really been nervous about the party until Rose parked the car – and then Bella noticed all the cars parked up and down the road near the theatre and in the parking lot across the street. Of course, that didn't mean all these people were going to the party, but it was certainly more cars than a normal night.
Alice had been so excited that Halloween was on a Friday this year, and that the theatre didn't have anything planned for the evening. She immediately booked the space and started planning a party. Her enthusiasm was infectious and if Bella had been feeling better, she was sure she would have been more excited. At this point though, she figured she was only there for appearances sake, and then she could go home. Alice had been kind enough to invite all the theatre kids and their friends so it wasn't going to be a crazy, drunken, adult party. In fact, because some of these kids came from homes where alcohol and abuse were a problem, they had decided not to provide adult beverages.
Taking a moment to unruffle themselves when they exited the car, the two friends walked down the street towards the theatre. Most of the theatre doors had been blacked-out with paper, and when Rose opened the main door, it shrieked causing them to both jump and giggle nervously.
"Alice doesn't do anything half-assed does she?" Rose asked Bella.
"Never."
The first person to spot Bella was Esme Cullen, who was greeting people at the door dressed as Glinda the Good Witch.
"Oh Bella," Esme smiled brightly at her. "It's so wonderful to see you again."
"Thank you, Mrs. Cullen."
"It's Esme dear, you know that," Esme winked at her and then pulled her into a very awkward hug due to the amount of foliage in the way. "You're practically family, since both my children have adopted you." With that comment, Bella and Rosalie's eyes briefly took on a look of panic – adoption was always a touchy subject for them. If Esme noticed ,she didn't say anything. "This must be your friend, Rosalie?"
"Hi Esme," Rose said, shaking her hand. "It's so nice to meet you."
The lobby was filled with people of varying ages dressed in costumes. Bella recognized a number of the Annie cast running around and chasing each other.
As they made their way through the crowd, a giant Olaf the Snowman approached them. "Would you care for a butter beer my queen?" It was Emmett. Bella started laughing but then immediately began coughing.
"Whoa there, uh, creepy plant Bella," Emmett handed Rose her drink and then started pounding Bella on the back. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," she said between coughs. "Stop beating me."
"Sorry." To Emmett's credit, he did look abashed. "Sometimes I forget my own strength."
Bella looked around and spotted Edward at the bar. He had on khaki pants and a plaid shirt with a brown sweater vest over it. However, what really topped his outfit off were the glasses and the way the curls on top of his head had been pulled forward. He was dressed as Seymour Krelborn. Bella shook her head. He had obviously told Alice the clue.
When Edward noticed Bella, he stopped what he was doing and stared. In fact, most people were staring. Edward couldn't help but laugh. He should have known that Bella wasn't going to dress up as Audrey, the squeaky-voiced flower shop assistant with the very tight fitting clothes. No, that definitely wasn't Bella's style.
"Hi Seymour," Bella said when she approached him.
"This is definitely not what I was expecting. Alice had you pegged as the other Audrey and thought I should play along."
"Yeah, well, I need to keep you Cullens on your toes somehow."
"I don't think that has ever been a problem, Bella."
The two of them stood there grinning until they heard Alice screeching.
"I can't believe you came as that!" Alice, dressed as Peter Pan, came charging at Bella. "I should have known that clue was too simple. Now this makes what I told Edward to dress up as a little weird."
"Why?" Bella asked. "I think he looks perfect as Seymour."
"Of course he does. If it weren't for the rich family, he would be just as geeky as Seymour too."
Jasper walked up behind them dressed as Tinker Bell.
"Okay, now that is just wrong," Bella laughed at the couple. "A pregnant Peter Pan and a hairy Tinker Bell? You could have at least attempted to shave. And to the best of my memory, in the stage musical Tink is no more than an actual bell and some light work."
"Well, Miss Bella, Alice insisted on matching costumes and I have no desire to sing."
"He can be such a spoilsport sometimes," Alice said, but she was grinning at her husband in such a way that Bella knew she didn't mean it.
"So, does the song you're singing match your costume?" Alice asked Bella.
"It does if you have the music for it. If not, I can do something else."
"I have it. I have them all and if not I can download what we need. Everything is set up in the sound booth."
At that moment, they heard someone starting to sing I Feel Pretty and Alice scurried away to make sure everything was working properly.
"We don't have to watch all the performances do we?" Bella asked Edward. She was starting to feel a little woozy.
"No, Alice has done this sort of thing before. If you want to sing you can sign up and hang out in the theatre, but as the night progresses people either forget to sing or some people get really drunk and hog the karaoke machine. Although, I guess that last bit won't be a problem this time." Edward was studying Bella closely while he answered her question. He didn't think she had painted her skin to match her costume, but she was starting to look a little grey.
"You feeling all right Bella?"
"Oh yeah, I think I just need a glass of water."
"Here," Edward took Bella's elbow and led her to a chair. "I'll go get you a drink; you sit and rest for a moment. Are you hungry at all?"
"Are you offering to feed me, Seymour?" Bella couldn't help answering. To her surprise, Edward's cheeks turned red.
"Um, uh," he stammered while his left arm was kind of waving around in space, pointing at something. "The party is catered. There is a large spread of food over there."
That explained the pointing.
"No thank you. Just water please."
As Bella watched Edward/Seymour walk away, she thought about how she could get out of singing.
She didn't mind performing in front of people, but she just realized that the song that went with her costume was actually a duet with Seymour. A duet about murdering people to feed the plant. That seemed a little awkward now that Edward was dressed as Seymour.
As Bella waited, Emmett and Rosalie wandered back over. Emmett was telling Rose about taking Elsa trick-or-treating earlier in the evening. To no one's surprise, little Elsa had insisted on going as queen Elsa, and she had also insisted on her dad going as Olaf. Apparently, his mom was quite skilled at sewing which is how he ended up as the world's largest Olaf (that was his assumption, anyway). Tanya had opted to babysit and not come to Alice's Halloween party since she was out with Felix the night before at another party. Emmett was happy to have a night out, even if he was sweating underneath all that white fleece.
Someone in the theatre was slowly, and painfully, dying as Eponine while Edward made his way back to Bella. He was sure that was the third girl tonight to do so. Edward was debating whether or not he should go and delete the whole of the Les Mis soundtrack from the karaoke machine. When he handed Bella her water, he noticed that she looked even paler and her hands were shaking.
"Hey," he crouched down beside her. "You don't look so good."
"I'm not supposed to look good. I'm a vicious, man-eating plant," Bella smiled at him but it was a sad, tired smile.
"Bella," Edward used his best CEO voice on her.
"Okay, fine. I don't feel very good, but I didn't want to disappoint Alice."
"You're only going to disappoint people if you stay here and get worse," he took Bella's hand, getting prepared to convince her to go home but it was so hot he didn't need to prepare an argument.
"Bella, you're burning up. I'm taking you home."
"Edward," Bella was trying to think up an argument but, really, the thought of going home to bed was the best thing she had heard all day.
"Save your energy to argue with me about something else. Let's go."
Bella attempted to stand, but the room suddenly contracted in front of her and started going dark.
"Whoa, I've got you." Edward lifted Bella into his arms when he saw her going down. She was pale, sweaty, and hot but still looked adorable to him in her ridiculous plant costume. From across the room, Esme saw what was going on and quickly ran over.
"What's the matter?"
"Bella has a fever, I'm taking her home."
"I'm okay," Bella slurred quietly. Esme reached up and took off her headpiece.
"There, that should make her feel better. I'll get Carlisle to go get your car. You two can wait outside."
Bella wasn't really sure what was going on anymore. She didn't really faint, but she wasn't feeling a hundred percent conscious either. "I'm sorry Seymour," she mumbled as she tucked her head into Edward's chest.
"Hey, now, none of that," Bella heard Edward chuckle and felt a cold blast of air as they went through the theatre doors. And then Edward began to sing quietly.
"Lift up your head,
Wash off your mascara.
Here, take my Kleenex,
Wipe that lipstick away.
Show me your face, clean as the mornin'.
I know things were bad, but now they're okay.
Suddenly Seymour is standin' beside you.
You don't need no makeup, don't have to pretend.
Suddenly Seymour is here to provide you,
Sweet understanding.
Seymour's your friend."
Bella felt something soft press against her forehead and with a sigh gave into the feeling of safety that enveloped her as she fell into a blissful sleep.
A/N: You know how when you are actively out buying a dress for something there are no dresses to be found? That's what this chapter was like for me. I wanted to get it done by Halloween but the words weren't working and the more important this chapter got the more the words wouldn't cooperate. This is the longest chapter yet so hopefully that makes up for it's tardiness. SunflowerFran and Darcysmom both did their part holding my hand and telling me things weren't as bad (with this chapter) as I thought they were. I figured people would rather have a chapter that worked than one I rushed through.
Once I again I don't own Twilight, Little Shop of Horrors, Les Miserables or any of the musicals mentioned in this chapter. I am, however, the proud owner of a well-developed delusion that I can sound like Ronette, Crystal and/or Chiffon when I sing along to Downtown.
Thanks again for reading and/or commenting. It means a lot to me and helps me keep going. I don't always respond to comments but I read every single one (usually more than once).