Now

"You know, you're really lucky Irina let you wait so long to choose your cake."

Bella looked at her cousin in the mirror as she curled her hair quickly with a large barrel iron. Her hair was too thick for smaller curling irons. It was rare that she styled her hair, but this particular day called for a special occasion. They were going downtown, and they were going to eat some cake.

"You know me," Alice flicked her wrist before applying lipstick. "I tend to be lucky."

They both laughed. Alice wasn't lucky; she was gifted. She'd been able to predict particular moments down to the second they would happen. However, it didn't mean she was never surprised.

It was just...difficult to surprise Alice.

Bella turned off the curling iron and fluffed her hair. She reached for the hairspray, and Alice grabbed her hand, stopping her.

"Your hair looks lovely as it is."

"Thank you," Bella said, checking her reflection one more time. She looked like she felt. She hadn't been sleeping well as she approached the full moon. She was looking forward to an hour of cake eating. She was hoping she could convince Alice to add a wine tasting in there. "Are you sure nothing weird is going to happen tonight with the full moon?"

Alice's eyes glazed over as they normally would when she envisioned future truths. Her eyes widened infinitesimally, but Bella noticed. She was waiting for a sign.

"Damn it," Bella groaned. "Something is going to happen isn't it?"

Alice still was not fully in the present when she responded.

"Not that I see. Not tonight."

Bella narrowed her eyes. "Not tonight?"

She tapped her fingers impatiently against the marble counter. Their grandmother's bathrooms were the only parts of the house that looked modern. Bella loved it that way though. She didn't want to take away from the character of the house. Having up to date plumbing was something Bella couldn't go without.

When Alice came back fully less than a minute later, her lips curled back to reveal her typical, beautiful smile. "No, not tonight, and not anything you need to worry about right now. We are going to have a great time today."

"Don't you already know which cake you're going to end up getting?" Bella asked.

"No, I only know that you are with me when I choose."

Bella nodded. This was a pretty common response from Alice. Sometimes, the visions were so clear that she could touch the person next to her and show them. She had done that with Bella when they were kids. Most of the time, though, she caught glimpses of moments.

When they made it to the bakery, which was owned by Irina Chekov, Bella and Alice excitedly rushed to the door. Irina's cakes were delicious. Even though Alice's wedding wasn't going to be very large, she still wanted a three tier cake. Fortunately, Irina knew her well from the many tarot card readings she paid for. Alice guided Irina toward opening her bakery a year and a half prior. She'd told Irina that one of her passions she was fearful of pursuing was going to be the key to her successful future. Irina correctly assumed she'd meant her passion for baking for her loved ones.

The day Irina's bakery opened, Alice had approached her and told her she would need a wedding cake. Irina, who understood Alice to be single at the time, had hesitantly agreed, but still humored Alice enough to pencil in a date - even if it was far out in the future. To Irina's surprise, she never needed to update the tentative booking.

"Irina!" Alice exclaimed, rushing over and kissing her on her cheek. Bella was immediately behind her. "I'm anxious to try the tasty cake options."

"Alice," Irina hugged her and Bella. "Bella...it's a pleasure to see you ladies."

Irina was one of the few who actually knew Bella and Alice. She didn't judge them and instead found them to be strange but kind. She led them to the back of the shop where a table was waiting for them. There were six types of cakes, a mix of buttercream and whipped frosted toppings and sugar flowers. Bella's mouth watered. She had never outgrown her sweet tooth she'd had since she was a child. They dug in quickly.

An hour later, Alice had decided, much to Bella's delight, that she was going to have the buttercream frosted vanilla cake with banana and strawberry filling. When they'd left the bakery, Bella turned to Alice.

"So...I'm thinking that we should get some of that Italian wine from the wine bar."

Alice giggled. "You know that I'm always up for drinking some wine."

They headed to the wine bar around the corner from the bakery to get lunch and enjoy the red wine for which the bar was well-known. They both knew that they wouldn't be able to drink more than a single glass if they intended to stay up to celebrate the full moon. Unlike the urban myths that the town had spread about them, they typically enjoyed the full moon by practicing karmic healing. With the amount of spells they each performed, they needed to ensure there was balance. The full moon was the ideal time to work on manifesting the good they'd like to see in their community.

When they finished their lunch, they paid and walked out of the restaurant with linked arms.

"Want to shop?" Alice asked.

Bella raised an eyebrow. "No, not really."

"I knew it."

Bella rolled her eyes. "That's probably because I never want to shop."

"I know," Alice groaned. "Even though you looked beautiful in every bridesmaid's dress you tried on, you still hated it."

"I didn't hate it," she corrected. "It's just exhausting."

"Fine. Let's head back to the car."

Bella was grateful. It took a lot of energy for her to not start sprouting flowers everywhere when she was stressed. She became more stressed when she was around a lot of people.

They rounded the corner and almost collided into someone. Both of them giggled as they apologized and stepped back.

"Are you trying to run me over?" A playful and familiar voice asked. Bella's stomach dropped.

Standing more than half a foot taller than the two young women was Edward Cullen. Since their initial encounter earlier in the week, Bella had only seen him in passing, making herself scarce whenever he was around the house. He'd give her a polite nod and ask her how she was. There was nothing extraordinary about their exchanges much to Bella's relief.

Today, Edward was dressed in a blue flannel shirt, sleeves rolled, and dark jeans with work boots. His hair was covered by his normal baseball cap, and he was holding two large plastic bags with Newton's logo on them. Newton's, owned by Mike Newton - Jessica Stanley's on and off again lover - was a hardware store that normally had really good deals.

He looked surprised and amused by the two of them.

"Very sorry about that, Edward," Alice laughed. Then, she feigned shock when she looked him up and down. "Are you working on a Saturday?"

"I am," he held up his bags. "Always working. What about you ladies? You both look like you're enjoying yourselves. I assume you're not working today."

Bella blushed even though he hadn't even looked at her, yet. His attention was still on Alice.

"It's a full moon tonight, Edward," she narrowed her eyes. "We never work when there's a full moon."

Edward tilted his head. "Is that so? What do you do on your days off, then?"

"We ate some cake and had a glass of wine." Alice responded, looking at Bella who at this point appeared a little nauseous. Alice caught on quickly and attempted to wrap up the conversation. "I'd consider that a good day, but-"

"That explains it, then," Edward interrupted, finally setting his eyes on the one who'd always be affected by him. "Bella loves her cake."

Before Bella or Alice could respond, Alice's phone started to ring. She pulled away from Bella and dug around in her purse for a moment to try to shut it off. When she saw who was calling, she grimaced.

"This is the venue," she said, holding up her cell. Alice's eyes darted between Bella and Edward. She knew this moment between them was an important one, one that she shouldn't be around for anyway. Still, she was concerned for her cousin. "I'm so sorry. I...will...be just a few feet away."

Bella watched as Alice walked not too far away and answered the call. Alice animatedly spoke to the event manager.

"So you still love cake, huh, Bella?" His use of her name caused shivers to run through her body. It didn't matter how many times she heard her name from his lips. When her eyes settled back on him, Bella felt her stomach somersault like she was taking a deep dive on a rollercoaster. His penetrating gaze still overwhelmed her.

Similar to every other part of him.

"Um...yeah," she laughed uncomfortably, as she flipped her hair behind her shoulders. She tried to sound nonchalant. "What a funny thing to remember."

"Well," Edward's tone was anything but nonchalant, "you tend to remember a lot about your first."

She worked to control her expression, forcing the smile to remain on her face. Her palms began to sweat.

Your first.

"What?" Bella feigned confusion and looked back over at her cousin.

Would Alice notice the oleanders growing through the crack in the sidewalk - the sign that she needed her to get off the phone and help her?

Fortunately, she didn't have to wait much longer because Alice hung up the call.

"Well, it looks like we have everything set for the venue and for the cakes," Alice grinned, putting her arm around Bella. "We've got to go, Edward. It was great to run into you."

"Bye Edward," Bella smiled one more time. "See you...around."

"Yep, see you around, Bella," his eyes stayed on hers a moment longer before turning to the other woman. "And you, too, Alice."

He stepped around them and continued on his way as they both watched after him. When he was out of earshot, Bella turned to Alice to lay into her, but didn't get a chance.

"I swear I did not plan that. I had no idea that he was going to be out here today."

"That…" Bella shook her head. Alice was being sincere. She hadn't known that they would run into Edward.

"What was that? The cake thing?" Alice asked, bewildered for maybe the third time in her life.

"I don't know," Bella responded, not telling Alice about his strange statement. "It's probably just a random fact he remembered."

"Okay, well, let's get out of here," Alice replied. "I'm really sorry I didn't see this coming..."

Bella tuned her out as they walked back to the car.

You tend to remember a lot about your first.

It was impossible that he remembered. She had to have misheard him.

She was his first.

And he wasn't supposed to remember that.

Thank you for reading! Happy New Year! I promise it will make a little more sense soon :)

-Bravery