The Learning Curve: Chapter 36

Bella Swan's bedroom

It was Saturday, just after noon, and I was freaking out. That said, my first step was to call Alice.

"Hello?"

I took a deep breath. "Alice...help."

She laughed at my pain. "Oh, Bella. Hang on, I'm coming over."

I sat on my bed, staring into my closet, and waited. Five minutes later, I heard Alice come in the front door without knocking. She said a quick hello to Charlie and then came barreling up the stairs.

Alice stopped in my doorway and surveyed my room, from the pile of clothes lying before my closet to the even larger pile in front of my dresser.

"Jesus, Bella, what did you do?"

I sighed. "I don't know what to wear."

Alice looked sternly at me. "Bella, this is not your first date. You should be able to handle this by now."

"But I didn't care what I looked like with Mike. This is different."

"Yeah, because you actually like Edward."

I blushed. "I don't know how I feel about him yet. There are a lot of things I still have to ask him."

"Bella, you like him. The only question is whether you'll still like him when you know all his secrets."

I digested that. "Yeah, okay, you're probably right about that."

"I know I'm right about that," she shot back.

"Okay, but that doesn't tell me what to wear tonight, Alice," I huffed. "He's going to be here in like...four hours!"

Alice shook her head and turned to the closet pile. She sorted through it for about five minutes, muttering to herself all the while. Eventually she emerged with a blouse and skirt.

"These," she said decisively. "Wear the white underwear set we got on Saturday because anything else will show through the shirt."

"Okay," I said meekly.

"And don't shower. You don't want your hair to frizz."

"But -"

Alice put her hands on her hips. "No buts, Bella. Just do as you're told."

"Yes, ma'am."

"So are you going to take the opportunity to ask some tough questions tonight?"

I swallowed, feeling anxiety build in my stomach. "I'm afraid to. What if I don't like the answers?"

"You should have thought about that before you asked him to pop your cherry."

"But I didn't really like-like him then. Now that I do, it's so much more important."

"Which is why you need to find out the truth sooner rather than later."

"That's true," I sighed. I just didn't want to do the asking.

A/N: Looking forward to a restful/productive weekend. Yesterday I had to get up at 5 for work, then was up past 1 am for a concert. I'm wiped! Expect the next chapter in about 24 hours.