Paranormal Activity spoiler alert.

Chapter Twenty Seven

A.K.A. Halloween: Part 1

"Not a chance in hell, Alice." I was not going to back down on this. Some girls might be able to pull it off, but I was not one of them.

"You have to, Bella! There's only a few hours until my party, and there isn't time to find you a new costume!"

"If you would have shown it to me when I asked, I could have gotten one by now. No, there is no way in hell I'm wearing that."

It was a Victorian ball gown, with a corseted top and poofy skirt. The corset was blood red with black lining, and the skirt was pure black and would flow behind me, or whoever wore it. It was gorgeous, feminine, and totally beautiful. It would never work on me. I bit my lip, studying it. I almost wished it would. I would love the feminine feeling that it would give, the confidence. Wistfully, I gazed at it, imagining a young debutant that would have worn it.

It would have been her first ball, she would have been excited to enter society. To scope out the eligible bachelors, find the best suited for her, most pleasing to her family. The dress would have given her a measure of self assurance. She would have felt confident, sure of herself and the match she would eventually make. Her father would eventually find her a match, regardless of her opinion, someone that would suit the needs of their family. It wouldn't be a love match. No, she would despise him at first. Despise his arrogant, demanding ways. But she would want him. She would grow to love him, as she hated him for his adultery that was acceptable to a man of his status. Hating herself because she loved him, hating him because he made her.

Shaking my head, I jerked myself out of my cliche fantasy world, refocusing on Alice. "What?"

She growled at me, LITERALLY growled. "Isabella Swan, you are going to wear this dress and that is final. I've spent way too long on everyone's costumes for you to back out now."

My curiosity was caught. "What is everyone else going as?" Maybe, if I knew theirs, I would feel less out of place in mine.

"That's part of the surprise!" I frowned. Alice and surprises were not a good mix.

"What happened to the traditional Halloween stuff? You know, dressing as something scary. Why couldn't I be a zombie?" Hmmm, I could eat Edward. I smiled to myself.

"Because you're not going to be! You are going to wear this dress and be Juliet!"

"Juliet? As in Romeo and Juliet?" I frowned at her. "If I'm Juliet, who is Romeo?"

She threw up her hands. "That's the point. You have to find your Romeo." Glaring at me, she added "You can't do that as a zombie."

"And why not?"

Alice sighed. "You're wearing the dress, Bella. Deal with it." I frowned.

"Damn it, Alice. I'm going to the party, like you made me promise. Why do I have to go as something stupid?"

"JULIET IS NOT STUPID!" Afraid to look directly at her glare, I studied my chipped and chewed nails. Alice noticed them, too. "We're going to have to do something with those, too. Maybe just clean them, and apply some clear polish. Hmm..." she continued to talk to herself as she sorted through her ridiculous amount of make up. I cringed as she drew out this eyelash curler. Those things always terrified me, they looked dangerous! Gulping, I tried to raise my spirits. It was only make-up and dressing up, it wasn't like it could hurt or anything.


I was wrong.

It could hurt.

A lot.

How in the hell did it hurt that much?

I emerged from Alice and Jasper's room five hours later, unable to recognize myself. Alice had straightened my hair entirely, then curled it into tight ringlets. I'd been poked and prodded with so many different make-up tools that I'd lost count of everything she'd done to me. Regardless of what she'd down, it had hurt at times. Especially when it came to squeezing myself into that gown. I had a new respect for Victorian women. The bodice was so tight I couldn't take a deep breath without my breasts spilling out. Looking down, I conceded that they were practically spilling out now. The corset had thrust them up in offering.

Biting my lip, I looked at myself in her body mirror and imagined what Edward would see when he got here. My skin looked even paler against the darkness of the dress. My arms were left bare, as was my chest. Speaking of my chest, I frowned, looking closer. Was that glitter?

"Alice, why is there glitter on my boobs?" I called to her, in the other room.

"It draws attention to them." I heard her yell back.

I frowned, staring at my own chest in the mirror. Whenever I shifted, it looked like there were little fireworks going off on my chest. It was eerie. But maybe Edward would like it.

I smiled, blushing, remembering a few days ago.

I'd been curled up on him, while watching Paranormal Activity. Every time something happened, I ended up digging deeper into him, until I ended up on his lap, gripping his arm. At the end of the movie, when the girl's boyfriend was thrown into the camera, I screamed. Loudly. I may have, or may not have, jumped and squirmed around, trying to forget the scene. Then, when the girl slits her own throat, I buried my face in Edwards throat. While dealing with my being grossed out, I realized another slightly disturbing fact. Well, perhaps disturbing wasn't the greatest word. It was just shocking, I guess.

Edward was hard. Edward Cullen was hard. And unless Katie Featherston slitting her own throat was a turn on for him, he was hard for me. I'd been shell shocked, unable to move. I think he realized that I'd noticed when I'd stopped moving and held completely still.

"Ah, hell," he said. I pulled back, my eyes wide, to look at his face. He refused to meet my eyes and a dusky hue covered his cheeks. "I'm sorry, Bella. I..." I halted his lips with my finger. Realizing what I'd done, I blushed, pulled my hand back and hopped off his lap.

"It's okay." I said softly, biting my lip. I couldn't help the surge of pride that ran through me. He was attracted to me. Or was he? I frowned. Maybe it had just been a natural male reaction to a female squirming around on his lap. I mean, wouldn't any guy react the same way?

He noticed my frown and misinterpreted it. "Shit. Bella, I'm sorry. Don't be offended."

He was such a dork. "I'm not offended. I mean," I blushed, "That's like the ultimate compliment, right?"

He gave an embarrassed laugh. "I guess. I'm, uh, glad you see it like that." He scratched his face, obviously at loss for what to say. I bit back a smile as I noticed he'd grabbed a pillow to cover is lap. He swore again, this time with a small laugh. "This hasn't happened to me since middle school."

I laughed. "Ah, how does it feel to be an adolescent boy again?"

He pretended to grab his heart. "Ouch, you can call me adolescent after that?"

My face turned bright red. "That isn't what I meant," I muttered. "You're not adolescent in THAT way."

He grinned at me. Embarrassed at what I'd just said, I turned to hurry to my room. "Hey, Bella?"

"What?" I muttered, not looking at him.

"It was a compliment, you know. I know you might not believe it, but I don't react that way to just any girl."

My face flamed brighter than it had even before. "Thanks." I whispered before hurrying to my room.

My face was bright red in remembrance. But I was pleased. We'd kissed before, but afterwords, he'd always regretted it. But that was undeniable proof of his attraction. We were friends, he seemed to enjoy my company, and now I knew he was attracted to me. Those were all signs that we could work. As in, us in a real relationship. Before I had been unsure of his feelings to me physically, but now that I was sure of them. Or as sure as I was ever going to be.

So maybe wearing this dress wouldn't be the worse thing in the world. I did look pretty damn good in it, I thought, turning to look at myself sideways in the mirror. I looked tiny. Much tinier than I really was. Except my bust. My breasts jutted out from my form, my waist was sucked in, but then the dress flared out at my waist and down to my feet. It hid the black and silver high heels that I was wearing.

I felt... sexy. Unstoppable. Wearing this, there was no way Edward would be able to resist me. I grinned. Most girls would feel like this wearing a short black dress and slut heels. But no, a Victorian dress brought out the tigress in me. I spun around when Alice came out of the room, grinning even more broadly. She was a pirate. Well, she was the super slut version of a pirate. I laughed.

"Alice, if a girl wore that on a pirate ship in the olden days, she'd get raped."

Alice rolled her eyes at me. "I look hot and you know it. You just mad, because you want to do me."

A burst of laughter escaped me. Her sense of humor never failed to surprise me. "You know, if I ever went les, I'd be all over you, Alice."

She flashed a grin at me. "Damn right, you would." A knock on the door interrupted our conversation. Alice's face lit up even more. "Let the party begin!"

It wasn't Edward at the door. None of the next twenty people were him. I frowned, tapping my foot and pretending to listen to some guy Alice introduced me to. During the most part of the conversation his eyes were trained on my glittery, protruding chest. I had the urge to point at my eyes and tell him they were up there. But I eventually just tuned out his ramblings about our college's football team. I really didn't care. I just wanted Edward to show up so that I could show off my costume. This was my chance with him, before I chickened out.

Before I thought about how this might mess up our friendship. Or how maybe I mistook his attraction for something more than it was. I frowned.

NO! I wasn't going to do this. I wasn't going to second guess myself. Damn it, where the hell was he? I wandered over to Alice and nonchalantly, asked "Where are Jasper and Edward?"

She frowned. "They're on their way. Emmett apparently insisted on going trick-or-treating before he would come."

I snorted, hiding my relief that he was, in fact, going to be here. "That doesn't surprise me."

Alice rolled her eyes. "My first real party, and my boyfriend is late!" She looked very put out. I hastened to placate her, "It's not his choice that he's late, though. I'm sure he wants to be here."

She looked thoughtful. "You're right, it's Emmett's fault."

"That's not what I said!"

"If not for him, my boyfriend would be here right now, he's going to get it! Thank you, Bella!" With that, she walked away, leaving me gaping after her.

"Well, shit."

"What's wrong?" I jumped, spinning around, almost killing myself in the high heels.

"Jacob! I didn't know you were going to be here." I felt unbelievably guilty for some reason. Like I'd been committing a crime. Here I was, planning on throwing myself, albeit more subtly than that, but with the same intent, at Edward; while I'd been leading Jacob on for almost a month. I was officially a horrible person. How could I do this to Jake? I hadn't intended to lead him on, but hadn't I given that impression? He'd always been so nice to me, yet I couldn't see him in that light. While Edward, who had been an asshole to me at times, has to give me a small, well a not-so-small, sign that he liked me and I was ready to fall all over him. If I was any less selfish, I would be with Jacob instead of thinking about Edward.

But how could I be with Jacob, feeling the way I felt about Edward? That, I didn't want to get into, even with myself. How I felt about Edward was terrifying even to me.

"Yeah, Alice invited me."

"That's cool." I struggled to find something to say.

"Want to dance?"

"I uh," Was there any way to get out of it, without hurting his feelings? Shit, probably not. "I guess." He looked incredibly happy with my answer, making me hate myself even more. We walked out to the small "dance floor," a.k.a. the living room with the couches removed, where a few couples were rocking back and forth to a slow song. Jake put his hands around my waist and I hesitantly dropped mine on his shoulders. He kept up the small talk, 'how have you been?', 'what's new?' etc, but I was too busy fighting with myself. Only a few months ago, I would have been thrilled to have a guy like Jake interested in me. But now I just wanted someone who I wasn't sure if I could have.

"Jake, I need to tell you something." I needed to stop this now. I loved having Jake as a friend, but I couldn't keep leading him on like this. Things I saw as friendly, he seemed to take like I was interested in him, too. If I hadn't been so selfish and afraid of losing him as a friend, I would have told him this from the start. I opened my mouth, ready to tell him that I only wanted to be friends, and apologize for what he might interpret as leading him on, when I glanced over his shoulder.

And saw Edward.

Who looked pissed, and was staring directly at Jacob and I.

Shit.

I'm planning on making this section 2, or maybe 3, chapters long. Next chapter will be Edward's point of view.

Oh, and make sure you check out my new post of story ideas. I explain what it is on there. Get your vote it! :)

Anyways, do I get some love? Bella is finally thinking progressively! [And at least parts of Edward are thinking progressively, too! ;)]