Chapter 36 - Preparing

Alice was an angel the next few weeks. After she had bitten my head off, not literally, for ditching her and Jasper at the hotel, that is.

"Alice…you don't get it. I had to! He was going to come back here and mess with my friends and family!" I tried to plead with her.

"I saw that, and we would have stopped him!" She hissed. "But what I saw first was you running off, becoming a vampire, and being with him! Do you know how much that would have tormented Edward? DO YOU?"

"I…"

"What was worse, though! Was that I thought that was what you wanted! To be with James! THAT would have killed Edward! Argh…humans."

But…after that half hour fit, she had graciously wrapped my cast, a ten pound plaster cast, in a garbage bag, and held it above the water while I bathed. She was kind enough to keep her eyes closed and head turned and hummed quietly to herself while I awkwardly cleaned up. This was my nightly torture. I hadn't been this embarrassed since my mom had to do almost the same thing when I broke my arm in junior high. At least Alice kept her eyes closed. Plus she provided me with several skirts and dresses, since it was impossible to get jeans to fit over the bulky cast. She enjoyed that too much.

Bella in the movie had a walking brace, not a cast. She didn't have to use crutches, either. Bitch.

"Are you sure you want to go?" Robbie asked.

Alice was holding a dress against my back, and then disappeared, apparently that one wasn't good enough either.

"I never got to go to my schools prom," I said. "It's not because of you-know-what." He had forbidden the use of the word 'movie' and 'novel' in our conversations.

"Are you lying to me?"

"You know I'm not coordinated enough to stand on one leg and lie at the same time," I joked. "No, really. At least make an appearance, taste the spiked punch."

"Let everyone see you in this gorgeous dress?" Alice said, holding a black one up. "This is perfect. Perfect size, perfect fit…perfect."

I smiled. It wasn't blue, like I had assumed. In both the…movie and book, I glanced at Robbie guiltily as I thought it, the prom dress had been blue. "I like it," I said with a smile. It's something I would have picked out for myself.

Alice helped dress me, it was difficult slipping into the dress. My cast was nearly the size of the waist, but past that it fit perfectly. When we were done, my date was in his tux and he carried me down to his car. Not the Volvo, but a sleek sporty car.

"Tell me one more time," he said as we drove away from his house.

"I am a twenty-four year old computer programmer who is upset that she never went to prom herself. And now that I'm seventeen again and have someone to go with, someone I actually want to go with…I want to go. If only for a picture and a chance to say, I got to go."

He took a breath, and nodded. Finally satisfied. "I think we'd be more comfortable at home, though, don't you?"

"Definitely," I agreed. "But Charlie has to check out the dance to make sure the teenagers don't get too rowdy, so if we aren't there he's going to suspect something…and may come looking for you. And he does carry a loaded gun."

He laughed, "Right. Got it. After he checks it out, though?"

"I'm not sure if we can get home soon enough," I laughed. "If it wasn't for Alice I don't think he'd be letting me spend the night at your house."

He took my hand, "I rather like it when Alice has you over for her slumber parties. I never thought they could be so much fun."

He parked his car, and helped me out. I left my purse in the front seat, muttering that it was a hassle to carry. All it had in it was a tube of lipstick, a comb, and a piece of paper…a letter. If my night didn't end here, well, I would burn it. But if it did, I wondered if it would ever be read. I felt horrible for lying to Robbie. He knew that in the movie and novel this was the last scene, and it had taken me the past three weeks to convince him that this was unimportant, fluff…just a show of a happy ending. Which it was, nothing important happened, just a teenage girl and her hundred year old vampire boyfriend having a nice night out. If this was supposed to be my end…I wouldn't leave him with nothing. That letter held my heart and soul…pathetic, really. I was terrified that he would have to read it, hoping I would return to his car and burn it later…but I just didn't know.