Felt inspired, so here's another one!

(w)riteofpassion
Chapter 26

BPOV

Slightly annoyed by everything around me, I groaned when I got what felt like a hundredth text message.

Alice.

She'd been badgering me all day, asking me what I was doing and what other plans I had for the rest of the day.

I texted her a response, toeing off my shoes and stretching my feet. How I hated to be in those god-awful heels mom picked out all day.

Taking a quick shower, I wrapped up my hair in a towel and secured the robe tight around my middle, ready to order some room service.

After about fifteen minutes, my stomach growled. The knock on my door made me smile. I could almost taste the double cheeseburger I ordered. But I was in for something much better than food.

I gasped, shrieked, and threw my arms around my visitor. My best friend in the entire world: Alice. Her black hair smelled divine and her silk camisole felt silky smooth to my touch. I couldn't believe it, I felt like I was dreaming.

"Alice?! Dear God, I never thought I'd hug you in fucking Phoenix! What are you doing here?" I asked, pulling her inside of the room.

Alice toted around an enormous suitcase, wheels presumably creaking underneath the weight of all her luggage. My girl came prepared, that much was sure.

"What am I doing here? Being your plus one, of course. What did you think? That I would let you face the wrath of your fucking mother all by yourself? There's no way I'd let you suffer like that. SO I called her, informing you'd have a plus one after all." Alice beamed with excitement.

"She agreed to that?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah, it's not like I gave her much of a choice though. Although I think she was fairly busy since she agreed right away. Barely fought it," Alice shrugged. I felt a little suspicious of my mother's sudden negligence to her perfect guest list.

"I can't believe you could keep this all to yourself! I had no clue, but I had to admit it was rather odd to have you texting me throughout today."

"You know I missed you, Bella. It's been too long, with all of your New York adventures." Alice grew uncharacteristically silent. I frowned.

A knock interrupted our catching up. I grabbed the tray of food out of the guy delivering my room service and thanked him, not even bothering with a tip. I would probably order more things later tonight, so I'd be able to tip him generously then.

"Sit," I ordered. "Start munching, I'm not eating all this by myself." I sat down on the bed with the tray, patting the spot beside me. Alice sat down and picked up a fry.

"You can't believe how much I've missed you, Ali." I sighed. "You know, throughout my time in New York, I tried to keep a brave face. Of course I was very busy, so that helped. But every time I went through something I couldn't help but think 'what would Alice say about this?'. It was a little lonely, but my time there's almost up."

"Sweetie, why didn't you ever tell me if something was wrong? Truth be told, I felt kinda cut off from you. Very disconnected. Something happened, right? I had a hunch you weren't exactly one hundred percent happy."

I debated my options. I could lie, and she'd notice. There was no way around the fact that Alice could read me like an open book. Her assumptions were pretty much always spot-on, so it'd be better if I came clean to her.

"Well," I started. My appetite had suddenly vanished. "I have to confess that I'm not over him, Alice. I'm really not, no matter how hard I try." Alice her smile was sympathetic.

"I know it's been hard sweetheart. But have you ever tried to maybe reach out to him? Or better yet, have you read his blog? I promise it's not as bad as I made it seem. I've been such an A-class bitch." She shook her head, as if everything was her fault.

"I can't reach out to him, I just can't. Every time he sends me a message my heart breaks when I read it. I've tried to reply to him, but I never come up with the right words."

"And the blog?" She pressed.

"Alice, I removed that link. I don't even have it anymore and I've tried looking for it but find nothing." I shrugged.

"I have it here." She pulled out her laptop case, handing it over. I stared at the device reluctantly and frowned, figuring out what to do. "Do with it whatever you want. I'll just leave it here for you." I nodded.

"Now, what else happened in New York?" she asked me, taking half of the burger.

"A lot… I've learned so much already and they're thrilled with me and the work I've delivered. So that's good," I told her.

"And the less good stuff? You want to tell me about that?"

How the hell does she always know?

"Yeah, well… There was a guy, a kiss… I cried, and it made me miss him even harder. That about sums it up."

"Oh, sweetheart. Well, I'm here now."

I smiled brightly. "Hell yes! Time to have some drinks, eat comfort food and cuddle, right?"

Alice raised to her feet and walked to her larger-than-life suitcase, unzipping it.

"Guess what? I came prepared," she wiggled her brows, holding up a magnum bottle of champagne. I burst out laughing.

"My God, you're not playing, are you?" I giggled.

"I never do, Bella." Alice winked, fumbling with the bottle until there was a loud 'pop'.

Eventually we finished the food, and Alice went to take a shower. She returned, dressed in a red and black polka dot onesie and her hair in a little top-knot.

The bottle of champagne didn't exactly last us very long, and we laughed our asses off. This surprise girls' night was precisely what the doctor ordered. I couldn't be happier.

"You know you'll be the hottest babe at the wedding, right?" Alice exclaimed, cuddling up in the ridiculous amount of pillows that were on the bed.

I laughed at her remark, lifting a brow.

"Have you seen the dress I have to wear? It is absolutely hideous." I almost gagged as I remembered it. Alice had a malicious grin on her face.

"I bet I can make it better," she winked, strutting over to the closet where I hung up the dreadful garment.

"Yikes," was all Alice said.

"Really? Bree honestly had to go for some awful combination of mint green, tule, and ruffles? I swear to God no one looks good in this." Alice shook her head. "And could she make it even longer? Honestly, you have killer legs that go for miles and she didn't even give you a split? That girl must be the most insecure woman on the planet." Alice stuck out her tongue to the ridiculous dress and took it from the hanger.

"I look like a corpse in mint as well."

"We'll fix that with a sunless tanner and some bronze. That won't be that hard since you're gorgeous already. It's the dress that's the fucking problem." Alice's brows knitted together before she went back to her suitcase and pulled out a clutch filled to the brim.

"What are you going to do?" I wondered, taking a seat at the oval table in the room as Alice hung the dress over one chair.

"Shh…" She silenced me and winked.

"Please put this sack on, so I can start working. We're losing daylight here."

I laughed and slipped off the robe, throwing it on the bed. I wasn't wearing anything, except for the lace boy shorts. Alice and I were never shy around each other.

"Girl, what have you been doing in New York? You look absolutely snatched," she gasped.

"Grieving, being depressed and a lot of at-home pilates through YouTube." I shrugged.

"Your body looks amazing! Even this dress won't hide it, I won't let it!"

As I slipped on the dress, Alice got out some fabric shears. Clearly she came prepared for a disaster like this.

"The fabric's not the worst. At least I won't have to sew these hems since it'll blend right in with the rest." She mused. I did not know what she was talking about, not a clue. I would trust Alice with anything, especially with fashion.

"Alice, my mother will have a heart-attack!" I gasped as I looked in the large mirror on the wall. The slit was very high up, revealing all the ink on my leg. Alice decorated the waistline with some white lace she brought, creating a harness-like design around the top of the dress. She cut off the sleeves and made the ruffles drape around my upper arms, making the dress much more flattering.

"Now it looks decent." Alice praised her work. She was right, though. She made something awful look incredible.

"Yes, and mom will throw a fit. Two birds in one stone." I winked.

"We should probably go to sleep, Bells. It's one in the morning and we need to be up in six hours." Alice reminded me.

"You're right."

Alice and I snuggled up in the big bed. I had really missed her while I was in New York. It almost made me not want to go back. I would be all alone again, and I wasn't sure I could handle that.

Within minutes, Alice's breathing deepened but I was still wide awake. I sighed and turned away from her when I was suddenly reminded of the laptop.

I looked at my friend, fast asleep and grabbed the robe. I opened the sliding doors and grabbed a cigarette.

A deep sigh escaped my mouth.

"Do it, Bella. You should give it some thought. Maybe you should give him another chance." I mused to myself.

I opened the laptop, the bright screen making me squint.

No time like the present.