I woke up startled to pounding on my bedroom door and quickly pulled the elements around me to hide me before realizing that I had given Alice a key to my apartment after asking her to take me shopping today. It will take some getting used to consistently having someone in the house with me after having the house to myself for the past six months. I opened the door to see Alice bouncing on the balls of her feet, "Damnit Alice, give a girl some warning before pounding on her door like the police!"
"I tried to give you a warning, I called you five times, but you didn't answer so I let myself in to wake you up. Isn't that why you gave me the key?" She had stopped bouncing at this point and looked a little confused.
"Well, I knew that if I didn't give you a key you'd find a different way to let yourself in." I told her, thinking about the time I had woken up to discover my bedroom window open and HIM in my room, "And I really didn't feel like trying to explain to my neighbors or the cops why a random woman was climbing into my window." She seemed confused, I wonder if she didn't know about his adventures at night when we dated. I gave her enough time to question what I meant, but when she didn't I just changed the subject. "So, will you go feed Hazel and Jake for me while I get dressed? Their containers are labeled with their names and how much to feed them for times like this when you or Jasper feed them for me."
"Sure! I'll meet you out front when you're done and don't worry, we'll stop for food on the way because I don't want to wait long enough for you to cook." She then turned around and went into Hazel and Jake's room, allowing me to close the door and get dressed. I was careful today with my outfit selection, choosing a shirt that was easy to take off without the risk of showing my scars and a pair of comfy jeans as well as my most comfortable pair of tennis shoes because only Alice will know how much walking we're going to be doing today. I stopped by Hazel and Jake's room to check on them before meeting Alice outside. I was surprised to see her sitting on the tailgate of my truck instead of by her car though. "Are we not taking your car? You always hated my driving and I don't let anyone drive my truck except me."
"No, Peter said that some of the stuff he ordered for Hazel and Jake are ready so we need to pick those up after we finish the other shopping so we need a truck, and since Peter drove his bike here instead of his truck and Jasper's truck is out of commission due to a bet with Emmett all we have is yours. Are you sure I can't drive it though? You drive so slow." She followed this up with puppy dog eyes.
"Yeah, no. I don't let anyone drive my truck after Jacob almost wrapped it around a telephone pole, so, vampire senses or not if we're taking my truck I'm driving."
"Fine, I'll deal with your slow driving, but I get to buy everything today, no money will be spent from your account. Deal?" This isn't ideal, I'd rather spend my own money instead of hers, hell I didn't like Peter spending money on the furniture for Hazel and Jake, especially since he wouldn't tell me the total so I could pay him back, but I know Alice won't give up without a fight.
"Fine, but I'm not getting a lot, I don't have that much room left in my closet." We shook on it before getting in the truck and setting off to the closest clothing store. When we arrived Alice looked carefully around the store before surprising me by walking towards the more casual section rather than the semi-formal section I would have expected.
"I know you don't have the same fashion sense as I do, and I learned while you and Edward were dating that there is no way I can convince you to dress differently, so we'll stick to what you're used to for now and if you really want you can lead the way to the more dressy sections and we'll find you some stuff from there too, how does that sound?" Alice said without looking back at me. How did she know I would question her decision to go with the clothes I'm more comfortable with? Did she know about my scars? Or is she trying to appease me because they'll be leaving soon? Peter did make it seem that way yesterday. "Izzy? Are you okay? You're awfully quiet."
"Huh? Yea, I'm fine, just tired. I like your plan, thank you for recognizing that I am never going to be comfortable in more than my trusty jeans though. I do need to get new dark jeans though, I have a job interview tomorrow and I don't think my current ones will cut it." With that, we headed toward the black jeans.
As I was in the dressing room trying on the clothes we had found Alice leaned on the door to talk. "So Izzy, what did you end up deciding to major in?"
"This is going to be unsurprising but I decided to double-major in business and pre-veterinary medicine. The goal is to go on to get a Ph.D. in veterinary medicine and start my own veterinary clinic that accepts any animals from exotic to house pets." As I finished the sentence I walked out of the changing room having discovered that all of the clothes we picked fit perfectly, if I didn't know better I would assume Alice had already seen today, but she said she couldn't see me anymore so she must have just made good guesses. "Hey Alice, how did you know what size I would need in all of these brands?"
"Easy, I used to design clothes for a living, so I know what to look for in fits to make sure they fit your body type. I just had you try them on so you could be sure you liked the fits." She shrugged. "So, with this business of yours, since you can't tell people why you're accepting all animals, are you going to have any workers?" It made me smile that she was vague about my abilities, I felt that sometimes talks of their powers were too public and just asking for the wrong person to hear them and ask the wrong questions.
"I don't think so, it's too risky. I'd rather work long hours alone than have someone ask the wrong questions, but only time will tell. Anyway, are we ready to head back to my apartment? I'm staving." She nodded thoughtfully and we headed back to my truck. "Do you know how to get to this furniture store? And will they help load the furniture there or do you and I have to do it?"
"Yea, the store is just down the street actually, and Peter said that they would load the truck so that we didn't have to."
"Okay, good, can't have them questioning how two skinny women can lift heavy furniture." I laughed and with that, we headed to pick up the furniture.