A/N: Thanks for reading! :)
A week later…
"Did you really have to choose this movie? You're impossible, you know that?" Bella sighed as she leaned back into the cushioned seat in their home theater.
"Oh come on, Bella! This used to be our favorite when you were younger!" Alice said excitedly as she tried not to bounce up and down in her seat to Bella's right.
"Exactly. When I was younger. I'm almost seventeen now, Alice." Bella whined as she sank down in her seat and rested her temple against her hand.
The boys sitting in the back row tried very hard not to chuckle at the little banter between the two girls, remembering the good ol' days when the Bella sang and danced on two wobbly feet to the Peter Panda dance as the movie played. Edward and Jasper stared at the both of them adoringly with their chins resting in the palm of their hands, whereas Emmett watched on with eagerness, hoping Bella would somehow get tricked into dancing along when the song came on. Poor Bella would never allow herself to submit to such embarrassment, but a vampire can still hope, right?
Alice frowned for a moment before The Pacifier began, and she smiled before bringing a finger to her lips and telling Bella to keep quiet as the girl tried to speak again because the movie was starting. Bella rolled her eyes and slowly glanced over at Alice from the corner of her eyes, not being able to help but grin when she found a smile planted upon Alice's lips. Bella returned her gaze to the big screen that brightly lit up the darkened room, and she relaxed as the movie she's watched over and over in the past sixteen years of her life just replayed again.
About half an hour later, Bella began to lose focus as the scene of the Fireflies girl scouts set up their table in front of Costco to sell cookies came on. Bella's brown eyes wander around the room in search of something more entertaining before they finally rested on Alice's features, taking in the perfect face she's come to known so well. Bella watched as the corners of Alice's lips lifted up at the scene when the boy scouts began walking over to the girls' table that was set up in front of Costco. The beginning of a smile turned into a pout as the boys sauntered over and bullied the little girl scouts. Bella couldn't help but grin at how adorable Alice was for still being able to be entertained by the same movie even though they've watched it a thousand times over. Bella knew that the real reason they watched this was because it brought on fond memories for Alice to remember with her perfect memory bank. The Peter Panda dance was the first song Alice ever sang to baby Bella after all, and to every one of the vampires, it was truly a beautiful moment that had set time in motion for all of them. It felt like yesterday to them to remember Bella calming down just by Alice's voice when the little human had just arrived at the Cullen's house almost seventeen years ago.
Bella didn't understand why, but she felt a wave of warmth envelope her entire body and she reveled in the pleasant feeling as she continued to secretly gaze at Alice from the corner of her eyes. Emmett nudged Edward's shoulder with his as he noticed Bella fidgeting in her seat, and Jasper who detected the slight movement and observed the twitchy human as well. Emmett brought up two of his thumbs and wiggled them as he began to make small kissy noises, causing Alice to turn around to catch the vampire in the criminal act. Alice's topaz eyes narrowed and she looked at him threateningly for him to stop, and Emmett quickly threw his hands in the air in defense, trying to act as if he had no idea of what she was accusing him of. Alice slowly turned around and missed Jasper and Edward's wide smiles as they made faces at Emmett and teased him silently about getting caught by Alice. Emmett rolled his eyes and then gestured to the door, and unbeknownst to Bella, the three male vampires quickly made their quiet exit out of the theater room.
Alice smiled knowingly and shook her head at her brothers before she looked over at her human mate. Bella pretended to watch the movie as she stared at the big screen, somehow fully aware that Alice was now looking at her. She could just feel the vampire's topaz eyes burning through her skin at that moment. Bella swallowed hard and tried to focus on the movie, but she found it hard doing so when she felt Alice's gaze on her. Slowly, she turned her head and briefly caught Alice's eyes before quickly looking back at the screen, and she felt her face flush as she realized how intense Alice's fixed gaze on her was. Alice's nose flared at the blood rushing up to Bella's face and she unknowingly reached out and cupped Bella's warm cheek, closing her eyes at the warmth that emitted from the young girl's body. Alice swallowed the venom that had quickly pooled in her mouth and tried not to let herself get carry away as Bella's scent swept over her and made her want to lose control entirely.
"Bella." Alice breathed slowly, not realizing how much closer she had leaned towards Bella's neck. Bella turned slightly to see Alice at her throat and inhaling her scent, and Bella tried her hardest to swallow the lump in her throat so that she could speak. Before Bella could utter a single word, she felt a feather-like kiss on the side of her neck and her breath hitched as her eyes shut tight.
"Alice." Bella gasped as she felt the same pair of silk lips against her flushed skin again.
At the sound of her name, Alice's eyes flew open and she immediately pulled back to her seat, realizing how close she was to Bella's neck. Alice blinked furiously and shook her head to get out of the trance that she was entrapped merely moments ago due to her vampire tendencies around her human mate. Bella looked at Alice with a worried expression, wondering if the vampire was all right and guilt override her other emotions as she felt concern rise within her. Alice suddenly stilled and fell into a vision only to snap out of it seconds later and softened her eyes as she did.
"It's not your fault, Bella." Alice closed her eyes as she tried to calm her hyperactive senses around Bella. It was incredible how only one single human can overwhelm Alice and send her into such an uncultured state. A part of Alice felt relieved that it was her mate that she felt this way for, because she wouldn't be able to accept it if she felt this way about anyone other than her mate.
"Being human stinks." Bella whispered, forgetting that Alice could hear her. Alice giggled and then her eyes lit up as her favorite part of the movie came one.
"Oh Bella, look! It's the Peter Panda dance!" Alice clapped her hands together as she sank back into her seat and stared fixedly at the big movie screen. Bella rolled her eyes and watched the vampire as she smiled and laughed at certain parts of the song as she sang along, and Bella couldn't remember why she hadn't wanted to watch this movie again in the first place.
Hesitantly, Bella reached over and before she could touch Alice's hand, Alice had grasp hers and interlace their fingers before bring Bella's hand up to her face. Alice briefly inhaled Bella's scent before placing a soft kiss on the back of her hand, locking eyes with Bella as she did so. Bella smiled at the sweet gesture and turned back to the movie screen, not being able to get rid of the smile plastered on her face. Little did she know, Alice had the same smile as the vampire turned back to watch the movie.
"And that's the Peter, I swear that's the Peter, that's Peter Panda Dance!" Lieutenant Shane Wolfe sang before Peter giggled and squirmed in his tiny bed.
"Again!" Peter cheered just as the U.S. Navy SEAL tucked him into bed.
Alice glanced over at Bella and smiled fondly as her topaz eyes twinkled with memories of Bella chanting the same word when she learned how to speak.
"Again." Alice quietly repeated, wishing she could re-experience the last sixteen years of her life with Bella.
"It's your turn, dude." a blonde guy behind Bella and Emmett said coolly as the two halted their conversation and looked to the front to see that it was in fact their turn to order after standing in line for the past five or so minutes.
"Thanks." Bella said shyly, not noticing the guy subtly checked her out, before she followed behind Emmett who was looking up at the various items on the menu board.
"What would you like to order, sir?" the man behind the counter asked Emmett. The big burly vampire looked over at Bella confusingly, forgetting about what the order was that Bella said she wanted.
"A corn dog please. Oh, and a medium sized lemonade." Bella added before she put out her hand with her palm up, and Emmett placed a twenty-dollar bill on top of her hand. She handed it to the cashier and they soon left the small vendor to find seats in the food court after grabbing Bella's food and drink. When they finally found a table to sit down at, Bella instantly began to take a bite into the corn dog, not caring for Emmett's disgusted expression.
"How can you eat mutt like it's nothing? Yuck." Emmett said with distaste as he stuck his tongue out to express his feeling of revulsion. Bella rolled her eyes at the vampire and took a sip of her lemonade before she swallowed the last pieces of the corn dog in her mouth.
"It's not actually made from dog's flesh, Em. It's illegal in many areas of the States, mostly due to sanitary issues, and also every state will have some kind of specific law outlawing dog meat anyway." Bella explained as she took another bite into the corn dog. She chewed slowly as Emmett mulled over what she had just said and saw him nodding to himself in understanding.
"These sausages are usually composed of veal, pork, or beef, and then they're coated with a thick layer of cornmeal batter and deep fried in oil, although sometimes they are baked. It's pretty tasty once you dip it in red ketchup and some yellow mustard." Bella smiled as she explained the cooking process to Emmett. She's learned to accept that it was how Emmett came to understand things, so that he doesn't jump to conclusions and assumed the worst of everything human-related. Bella was glad that all of the vampires in the house had taken it upon themselves to learn more about humans for her sake, and sometimes she felt pretty fortunate that they loved her so much to cook for her and take her out to eat even though they found human food to taste like clay in their mouth. Bella usually spent a lot of time explaining things to Emmett, since he was the most curious of them all about her human experiences.
"I like my meat raw." Emmett joked as he crossed his arms and leaned lightly onto the table. If he had added any more weight, the sturdy little thing would probably collapse under his muscular physique.
"You don't eat meat. You're a vegetarian." Bella teased back as he grinned charmingly her way, knowing full well that she was talking about vampire's only need of blood consumption. Almost immediately, his eyes narrowed as he looked past her and scrutinized the person behind his favorite little human. Bella stared at him confusedly before turning her head around, not noticing anything out of the norms. She turned back around to face Emmett, only to see that he was wearing the same expression but with a scowl plastered to his face now.
"What's wrong?" Bella said as she reached out to touch the vampire's arms, and only then did she notice that he was barely trembling beneath her touch.
"That blonde who stood in line behind us earlier is bragging to his buddies about how he had a full view of your backside earlier." Emmett gritted his teeth towards the end of the sentence as his hands turned into fists. Bella's eyebrows knotted slightly for a moment before focusing on trying to cool Emmett down so he wouldn't do anything rash.
"Emmett, let it go. It doesn't mean anything." Bella said softly as she rubbed his forearm gently, trying to cool down the heated vampire, even though his skin was already cold enough as it was. Emmett breathed in deeply before shaking his head with a choking expression, and Bella laughed as she realized that he had just inhaled the smell of her human food.
"Smells heavenly, right?" Bella joked to take Emmett's mind off of the jerk who was defaming her from who knows where in the food court. Emmett finally cracked a smile but it was barely for a few seconds before his face turned slightly serious again.
"He's going eat it." Emmett said and Bella looked at him confusedly before she then dismissed his words and went back to eating her corn dog. After a few more bites, she had lost her appetite and threw the food away in the trash as she sipped on the lemonade. They began walking out of the food court, and she noticed the blonde guy who was now eyeing her from several feet away, sitting at a table with a bunch of other guys around his age. He couldn't be more than twenty years of age, and if he didn't have such a foul mouth, Bella really would've thought that he was a kind man. Just as they passed by the table and she heard a few snickers amongst them, a loud crash broke out behind her and Bella looked back to see that the blonde who had been sitting in the chair merely moments ago was now lying face down on the ground as he clutched onto one of his shoulders and his other hand was bracing his head.
"Told you he'd eat it." Emmett smirked before he wrapped an arm around Bella's shoulder and led her away from the scene as she heard the guy yelling at his friend for not helping him stand up. She shook her head in amusement and managed a grin before they came face to face with Rosalie and Alice seconds after as they got to the entrance of the food court.
"Where is he?" Alice snarled quietly but it was loud enough for Bella to hear.
"I already took care of it, shorty pants." Emmett grinned proudly before Alice snapped her head towards him and stared him down.
"How dare he defame my mate's character and say such vile things!" Alice hissed as she tried to get past Emmett to head to the food court. Rosalie held the vampire back as Alice got past him and was planning to do some serious damage to the creep's private body part.
"Alice!" Rosalie called her name to get Alice's attention. Alice wouldn't listen and she struggled in Rosalie's arms, and she bared her teeth as she tried harder to escape the blonde vampire's grasp.
Bella suddenly took a step closer to Alice and then placed a hand on her cheek, guiding Alice's eyes to her own as she stared into the dark orbs that looked back at her.
"Please." Bella begged. Alice slowly stopped wrestling against Rosalie's hold on her and she slumped back into the blonde's arms as her topaz eyes gradually began to lighten in color. Alice held Bella's gaze as she discerned the concern in Bella's eyes, and she slowly reached up to cover Bella's hand with her own.
"Bella." Alice whispered before Bella walked forward and embraced the vampire. Rosalie stepped back and retreated to Emmett's side as they watched the new couple in concern.
"Bella." Alice sighed as she buried her nose deep in Bella's beautiful brown tresses and inhaled Bella's irresistible scent. Bella rubbed Alice's back to soothe the vampire and she smiled as she felt Alice relaxing into her arms. She too couldn't help but breathe in the captivating fragrance that emanated from the vampire's skin. Too lost in their own little world, they were suddenly startled when they heard someone whistling beside them.
"As much as I enjoy these free shows, I'm not sure if I'm willing to share these lady lovin' moments with other people." Emmett half-joked as his eyes darted back and forth around them, seeing some men stare at the two girls locked in a tight embrace. Rosalie rolled her eyes at her monkey man and she handed over the shopping bags to her husband before strutting away and expecting the three of them to follow her. Emmett stayed put for a moment longer and then winked at Bella before he was right on Rosalie's heels. Bella pulled back and looked at Alice with care, but all of her worries were instantly erased once she saw the pronounced smile on Alice's perfect features.
"You're so beautiful when you smile." Bella said in a daze before she quickly decided to lean in and kiss the corner of Alice's mouth, completely missing Alice's lips. Alice pouted as Bella pulled away, but she knew better than to make a scene in a public setting. So then Alice reached for Bella's hand as she began leading them towards the vampire couple walking only a hundred or so steps away from them.
"Actually, you're beautiful all the time." Bella quietly corrected herself as she fell into steps with the vampire beside her. Alice's face instantly lit up at the words and leaned over and planted a quick kiss on Bella' cheek before giggling and trying not to skip happily the rest of the way over to Emmett and Rosalie.
Bella shook her head, once again forgetting that Alice could hear her. She easily smiled when Alice tugged her along as they went back onto their little adventure in the shopping mall.
Double dates are actually kind-of fun, Bella thought to herself as she was led into another store.
At least this one wouldn't go into the top ten worst date list.
Disclaimers: I do not own Twilight.
