Stay With Me

Chapter Thirty-Four: Honor

Bella's POV

"Bella!"

"Alice, hey," I smiled.

"Bella, get in here!" She said as she motioned for me to step inside. "We have the house to ourselves right now, the family is out hunting."

"Why aren't you?" I asked as she closed the door and took my coat from my shoulders and hung it up beside the door. "Hunting I mean, I'd think you'd have jumped to-" I stopped myself as she gave me a little smile and began tapping her temple. "Psychic, yeah, right, forgot."

"And I don't blame you." She said happily. "You're always with Sam now; it's hard to keep track of you these days. Oh!" She said quickly to my expression. "I'm not complaining Bella! I'm merely stating that we never spend time together anymore! I mean, did I do something to offend you? You used to come over here all the time… aren't I still your friend?"

"God, Alice, no – I mean yes! Yes, you are still my friend; of course you are, always. But I just… I guess I thought the sight of me would upset you. All of you."

"Bella, the only thing about your sight that upsets us is that we don't see it often enough! We love you Bella, and if you don't start coming over more or calling then you're going to be in serious trou-" She stopped abruptly as her eyes trailed down to my left hand. "Bella?" She asked with a smile, our previous conversation forgotten.

My lips curled into an involuntary smile as she pulled my hand into her own and squealed, "Why didn't you tell me!"

"Alice, I didn't think you would want to know." I told her honestly. "Now I love you guys, all of you guys. But after everything that happened…"

"You mean my recently disowned non-blood sibling forcing himself on top of you and then telling the rest of us this bullshit story about how you wanted it to happen and how it wasn't really rape at all?" She suggested. "And then to find him less than five minutes later on the floor of his bedroom crying about it and clutching a picture of you to his chest?"

"Um, yeah," I said awkwardly with wide, stunned eyes. "That."

"Oh, now don't be silly Bella, as much as I hate him and everything he stands for and couldn't care less if he were killed… it was him that did it. You were the victim, Bella, nothing else. We hate Edward, not you sweetie. In fact, if you want we have one free room for the taking if you'd like."

I smiled at her offer, but shook my head.

"Fine," She said disappointedly, but kept her smile all the same. "Now, onto you and Sam… when is the wedding? Oh! And also, do you have your Bridesmaids picked out, and your Maid of Honor?" She wondered as she pulled me into the front room where we then sat side-by-side on the long sofa. "Because I am a master designer of clothes, as you well know."

"How can I not?" At this, she smiled proudly. "And we don't exactly have a date set yet, no, but the wedding is kind of one of the reasons I came over… Alice?"

"Yes Bella?"

"Be my Maid of Honor?"

Her smile diminished slowly from her face and was replaced with an expression of seriousness and shock. "Bella?" She asked as she smiled again with moist-looking eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Have I told you recently how much I love you?"

"No, not recently, no," I said as she pulled me into her arms and hugged me close. "But then again neither have I."

"Well, I love you."

"I love you too Alice."

"Now," She said as she slid her arms away from me and pulled out her cell phone and held it towards me, "You are going to need to call Charlie and Sam and tell them that they shouldn't expect to see you for the next few days."

"Why?" I asked her as she shook her head with a smile and flipped open her cell phone and began dialing, "Alice, wait, who are you calling and why shouldn't they expect to see me?"

"Planning, Bella!" She told me as she pressed the phone against her ear. "And Charlie, I figured you'd like to call Sam yourself."

"Wait, no, Alice," I said as I gently pulled at her arm so the phone was now hovering over her lap. "I asked for you to be my Maid of Honor, not to plan it. And besides, like I said earlier, Alice, we don't even know when it is, so…"

"Bella," She smiled as she pulled the phone back up to her ear. "You asked me to be your Maid of Honor, and as your Maid of Honor I would be honored to plan your wedding. And I know," She cut me off as I opened my mouth to speak, "You and Sam haven't set a date yet, which is exactly why we should plan now so it is all taken care of by the time a date is agreed.

"And just think, if we take care of it now then by the time you two do get married you will have one less thing to stress over." She concluded with a smile as she pulled her phone away from her ear and flipped it shut. "No answer; remember Bella, beauty rest is the key point to a wedding, and less stress means more sleep. So, if you think about it logically Bella, by letting me do this for you I am also helping you in the long run."

"Okay, I get that," I nodded, "But is it really necessary for me to stay here?"

"Probably not, no, but I miss spending time with you!" She urged as she placed her hand around my upper arm and looked at me longingly. "And this would just be an excuse to see you more! So, please, Bella? Stay over?" She begged.

"I…" I stammered, thinking how hard it would be to sleep without Sam by my side, but at the same time missing Alice just as much as I could see she missed me. "Okay."

"Yay!" She smiled brightly while clasping her hands together. "Now that that's settled, what season did you and Sam have in mind?"

"Season?" I asked her.

"For the wedding!" She sighed. "Bella, can you imagine having a winter themed wedding in summer? Or vise versa?" The seriousness in her face and voice was, I know, supposed to be taken seriously. But I couldn't help but stifle my laughter. "Well?" She asked, "Time is of the essence Bella!"

Sam's POV

"Wait, you had a what dream about Bella?" I asked as Jacob folded his arms tightly across his chest and turned his reddening face towards the horizon.

"It wasn't my fault and I'm not saying it again," He told me firmly. "I didn't even mean to say it the first time… it just came out."

"No," I laughed, "Seriously, I've gotta hear this one. I mean, does Bella know?" I pushed.

"Dude, drop it." He told me with his still-red face facing as far away from me as possible. "I told you it wasn't my fault. If you two hadn't gotten… intimate… in the same bed as me I'm sure our topic of conversation would be very different right now."

"Come on, you can't leave me hangi-" I was cut off as my phone began vibrating against my leg. I pulled it out and smiled to see Bella's face and name looking up at me. "Hang on; it's Bella. Hey Baby," I said happily as I stood up and began walking out towards the shore.

"Hey," She sang back, "So… I've got some news…"

"Okay, what's up?" I asked as I kicked a medium sized pebble into the water.

"I'm being kidnapped for the night."

"What? Why?" I asked as I turned to look back at Jacob, who met my eyes and then turned quickly away. I stifled a laugh.

"Well, you know how last night we were talking about your Best Man and my Maid of Honor and how we were going to ask them soon?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, I'm at the Cullen's with Alice right now – we're the only ones here, the rest are out hunting – and I asked her, and she said yes. And the next thing I knew I was being asked all these questions about seasons and colors and flowers and smells and… well, it's going to be a long day."

"Oh, yikes," I laughed, knowing – from what Bella had told me in the past – how forceful Alice could be when it came to anything involving makeup, clothes, accessories – fashion in general - and love. "Are you sure you can handle that on your own?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," She told me with a soft laugh. "Really telling all of this to you now is just an excuse to hear your voice; I could have told you tomorrow, but I knew I wouldn't even be able to see you until then, so, hi."

"Hi," I smiled. "So this means I'm going to have to sleep alone tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid so."

"Do I have to?" I asked hopefully.

"I already asked Alice," She admitted. "She won't break. I am afraid we will both have to sleep by ourselves tonight. But I'll make it up to you tomorrow, I promise."

"You better," I told her with a smile, realizing at the same moment that that was a way for us to tell each other I love you.

"It's a date."

"Okay, well, I love you," I told her as I headed back towards Jacob. "And I want to keep talking, but I'm with Jake right now, and I'm sure the longer you neglect Alice the longer she'll keep you from me."

"Yeah, I know you're right," She agreed.

"I love you, Bella," I told her again as Jacob turned his head towards me, where he then kept his eyes level with my knees; his arms folded across his legs as he hugged them against his chest.

"I love you too Sam," She sighed longingly, "Tell Jake I say hi, and I'll see you tomorrow."

"I will. Bye Sweetheart, try not to have too much fun without me."

"I'll see what I can do." She laughed. "Bye."

"Sorry about that," I said as I slid my phone back into my pocket and looked over at Jake.

"It's cool, you two are kind of linked, anyway." He shrugged. "And, without eavesdropping, of course, I couldn't help but over hear something about Best Man and Maid of Honor?"

"Oh, yeah, that would be an accurate assessment." I nodded as I scratched at the back of my head and looked out onto the water with my elbows resting against the log behind me. "But that would be what Bella and I were talking about. You, on the other hand…"

"Dude, I told you!" He bellowed, "If you two hadn't been-"

"I'm kidding Jake," I laughed as I put my hands up in surrender. "It's just too funny to not bring up again."

"Oh, yeah, really funny… Not uncomfortable at all."

"Dude, its fine," I told him with a shrug. "It's not like I shouldn't have seen it coming; Bella was being pretty loud, anyways. Now, if you burst out with news about dreaming about me, well, then, that's another problem entirely."

"Another problem that will never happen and will never be brought up again," He said quickly with a forced smile. "Now, on to the Best Man and Maid of Honor business; Bella asked Alice?"

"Yeah, she did."

"Oh, hm, that's nice…" He said as he nodded his head up and down, bobbing his eyes from the sand to my feet and back again.

"Yeah, it is."

"Mhm," He nodded.

"Yee-up," I agreed.

"Very nice," He mused. "Good that she asked someone so close, so, personal."

"It is." I nodded while looking over at him, and couldn't help but laugh at his expression, "What?" I asked.

His eyes widened as he let his knees fan out to the sides and with them his hands. He looked at me as if asking 'Well?', and then, obviously annoyed, bellowed, "SAM!"

"Jake," I said back in the most irritable, oblivious way I could think of.

"Seriously?"

"Mm, seriously what?" I wondered as he let out a groan.

"Serio… you know what, never mind. I get it." He gave up.

"Jake," I said as he looked out onto the water, and I at him. I laughed softly at his ignoring me, and said again, "Jacob."

"Sam."

"Look at me Jake.

"Will you be my Best Man at my wedding?"

"Yeah, I will, ya jerk," He said as he picked up a small pebble and tossed it to the side. "I wouldn't give you the chance to ask anybody else."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, it is." He nodded.

"And um, how exactly was it that you planned on stopping me?" I wondered.

"Simple," He told me, "I'd just kick your ass."

"Oh, yeah right, good luck!" I laughed. "Oh, and why you're at it, tell me how it feels to walk on water, cause you'll have just about the same amount of luck with that."

"Whoa now, is that a challenge, Uley?" He asked as he stood up and pulled off his jacket. "Because that sounds like a challenge to me."

"No," I told him as I too stood up and threw my jacket off. "It can't be a challenge if you know you're going to win."

"Oh, was that… was that an insult I just heard?" He asked with his hand over his heart.

"Take it as you will; we both know it's the truth." I shrugged as we walked away from the pile of logs and made our way to a more open area. "Get ready Jake, cause you're about to get your ass handed to yo-" I was tackled from behind and face planted roughly into the ground; sand filling my mouth and laughter filling my lungs.

TBC