Sunset Chapter 9: (Port Angeles) Shopping Finds and Fails

"So, what does 'Semiformal' even mean?" I asked as I moved towards another row of dresses. Jessica and Angela had taken Bella and me to the main department store in Port Angeles in order to look for dresses. Bella seemed happy to let the other girls do our own thing, but I still wasn't sure if I wanted to go to the dance. My plan was to look through the dresses and see if there was anything I liked. If I decide not to go, I still might use the dress somewhere else.

"No clue," Angela replied, "but I think as long as we don't show too much skin, we should be fine."

Jessica hummed in agreement before pulling out a long yellow dress. The sleeves were sheered and poofed out like some sort of cotton ball. We looked at each other, both making 'ew' faces as she put it back.

I pulled out a soft pink dress, examining it before adding it to the few others I had picked up. There wasn't as much here as there might have been in Phoenix, but there were a few good gems if you looked hard enough.

Jessica started talking about the past dances at Forks and was asking about the dances we had been to. I told them I had only gone to a few but missed a good bit of them. Both Jessica and Angela were surprised when Bella told them she had never been to a dance.

"Didn't you ever go with a boyfriend or something?" Jess asked dubiously as we walked through the front doors of the store.

"Really," She tried to convince us, "I've never had a boyfriend or anything close. I didn't go out much."

"Why not?" Jessica demanded.

"No one asked me," Bella shrugged.

She looked skeptical. "People ask you out here," she reminded her, "and you tell them no."

"Well, except for Tyler," Angela amended quietly.

"Excuse me?" Bella gasped. "What did you say?"

I let out a huff, mad at myself for having forgotten about him. Well, this wasn't anything big and, thankfully, not really my problem. Good luck, Bells.

"Tyler told everyone he's taking you to prom," Jessica informed me us.

"He said what?" She repeated in horror.

"I told you it wasn't true," Angela murmured to Jessica.

"That's why Lauren doesn't like you," Jessica giggled while we pawed through the clothes.

I could hear Bella's teeth grind together.

"Do you think that if I ran him over with my truck, he would stop feeling guilty about the accident? That he might give up on making amends and call it even?"

"Maybe," Jess snickered. '"If that's why he's doing this."

We finally made our way towards the dressing room, Bella choosing to sit and wait on us rather than try anything on herself.

Angela easily decided on a pale pink dress, but Jess was having a harder time.

"Black or blue?" She held up a long, strapless, basic black number and a knee-length electric blue with spaghetti straps. Bella told her to go with the blue and I agreed, honestly unsure. They both looked good to me.

I managed to find dress that I really liked. It was half sleeve knee-length black dress with a floral lace pattern on the top half. I really didn't need it, but it was super cute, and it was useful for more than just the dance.

Moving on to shoes and accessories, I decided to go all out and get a whole outfit. It wasn't often I splurged but I was feeling the girls'-night high. Distantly hearing Bella's attempts to ask Angela about the Cullens, I moved further away towards the bracelets. Not finding anything I didn't already have, I moved on to earrings where I found some nice fake pearls.

Back at the shoes, I managed to get a pair of black ankle strap heels that fit. After paying, we made our way outside.

When Bella tried to go off on her own, I panicked and told her that I wanted to go with her.

"Really, Emma, I would have been fine on my own," Bella said as we walked down the street towards the bookstore.

"I wanted to come, I need a new book," I dismissed her, trying not to look like I was struggling with my bags. They weren't heavy but I had to hold the dress at an awkward angle because of the way I held the bag with my shoes and earrings.

Finding the bookstore, I could tell immediately that it was not what Bella wanted. The windows were full of crystals, dream-catchers, and books about spiritual healing. Through the glass we could see a fifty-year-old woman with long, gray hair worn straight down her back, clad in a dress right out of the sixties, smiling welcomingly from behind the counter.

Before Bella could walk away, I grabbed her arm and pulled her inside.

"There might be something good, who knows what gets overlooked here," I muttered, pulling her into a row of books with a wave towards the woman up front.

Bella frowned, pulling out some of the books. "'Understanding The Dreams You Dream,' 'Beginner's Guide To Dream Interpretation,' 'Understanding Spiritual Gifts' – Emma, this is just a bunch of magical spirit mumbo-jumbo." She pushed the books back into the shelf with a sigh.

"Maybe we're just on the wrong aisle," I said lightly as I pushed her towards the next row.

"Emma there's nothing here I'm going to want, what are we doing here?"

"Come on Bella, I thought you were more adventurous than this. What happened to the girl who wanted to know all about the supernatural a few days ago?"

Bella crossed her arms, obviously unimpressed.

Great, I'm losing her.

"This has nothing to do with that. Come on, lets just find another store."

Bella started to turn away.

Red alert, red alert! Do something…

"Wait!" I grabbed her arms so that she faced the books. "I just thought that you, uh," I quickly scanned the shelf. "You might be interested… in… something like…"

Bingo!

"Something like this!" I reached out towards the shelf and presented her with the book. Bella, thank the stars, looked more interested than mad.

"'How To Read People's Minds - The Mystery Of Mind Reading Revealed,'" Bella hummed, flipping through the book. "Well, there might be something here that connects to…" Looking up, she shut the book.

"Can we stay for a while? Please, I really want to look around."

"Fine, I think I saw some desks in the back. I'll be reading this if you need me."

Waiting until she rounded the corner, I fist pumped the air.

Plan 'Protect Bella' is a success. Just have to hope that Edward doesn't get too mad that I did that.

Now that I could relax some, I made my way up and down the aisles, looking for something to read. Eventually, I came across a few books about Chakras and meditation. Then I moved back towards the books on dreams and grabbed one or two. While I wasn't super into any of this, it would be interesting to learn more to kill time.

I made my way towards the back of the store where there were a few tables and couches. Taking a spot on a couch where I could clearly see Bella reading her book, I placed my bags next to me and opened a book on meditation.

/-/

A shaking motion startled Emma awake, her eyes flying open as the book on her lap fell on the couch.

"Come on, sweetpea, this isn't the place for a nap," Alice giggled, helping me to sit up.

"Alice? What are you doing here?" I looked over her shoulder as I got up and Jasper was behind her holding a few bags. "Jasper? Oh, shoot, did I fall asleep?" I asked, alarmed.

Alice laughed, and God, I forgot how nice her laugh was.

"Well thank you, I hope to hear you laugh more too." Alice said. "We were out shopping, and I thought that this would be a cool place to look at. We just so happened to see you sleeping and decided to wake you up."

"Oh no, sleepy brain, stop, please," I begged, blushing in mortification.

"Well, thank you for waking me, what time is it? Bella and I were supposed to meet back up with Angela and Jessica at the restaurant after we left the bookstore." I reached for my phone and sighed in relief. We would only be a little late, looks like I didn't sleep for too long. Texting Jessica, I let her know where I was and that I would be coming soon.

"Do you want us to drive you?" Jasper offered, "It would be no problem and it's already fairly dark out."

As I went to decline his offer, felt my heart skip a beat. Quickly swiping up one of the books next to me, I saw it was the one Bella had been reading earlier. On it was a sticky note saying that Bella was done reading and was going to try to find the other bookstore.

"Emma?" Jasper questioned, "are you okay?"

"Did you guys see Bella leave?" I swear, I wasn't asleep for that long. Maybe she had just left. I could go catch her if I was fast enough.

Jasper and Alice shake their heads. "She was gone before we got here. Why, what's the matter? Emma – Emma, you need to breath," Alice said as she guided me back on the couch.

My breathing was picking up as I spiraled, my thoughts escalating. "I kept her here, would that change anything? She could miss them all together, she could be fine."

"But what if I made it worse," a darker part of me thought. "what if Edward can't find her now or if it's too late when he does. She could be dead or as good as and it would be your fault for messing with everything. She could be taken away and you will never see her again. Edward could lose it and kill them and maybe kill Bella and it would be all your fault, you're a horrible sister you got her killed its all your fault its –"

"Emma! Deep, slow breaths. Come on, with me." Jasper was kneeling in front of me, my hands in his. Alice was off to the side on her phone, speaking much faster than a human would be. I followed his breathing as much as I could. My panic was still here but there seemed to be a wall of calmness and something else between me and it. Gradually, Jasper succeeded in calming me down from my panic attack.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, the false-calm wall leaving me as the last of my terror was replaced with exhaustion.

"Don't be sorry, doll," Jasper sat next to me and slowly pulled me in for a side hug. "Is this okay? Or would you rather I not touch you?

"This is fine, thank you for helping me." I said, resting my head on his shoulder. "Just let me know if you need me to move."

Jasper hummed but didn't comment as Alice finished her call. Making her way back over, she sat on my other side but made no move to touch me.

"Are you feeling a little better?"

I nodded.

"Bella is with Edward at the restaurant. They are both fine. Edward told Jessica and Angela that we met up with you and are going to take you home, if that's okay?"

The last of the tension in me left after I knew Bella was safe with Edward. I trusted him not to let her get hurt.

"Yeah, that's fine, thank you."

Jasper gave Alice a quick look I almost missed. He must have gotten approval because he asked me if I could say what caused my panic attack. "If it's too soon or you would rather not talk about it, just say so." He assured me.

"I was just scared about Bella being lost, alone in the city. I was worried something bad would happen to her… I'm glad Edward found her before something could happen."

There was a beat of silence.

"Well, nothing happened, and everyone is alright," Alice leaned over and pat my leg. Then she helped to lead me to their car, refusing to let me carry my packages. Jasper stayed back, saying he had something to buy before we left. Alice took his bags too.

"I got it, don't worry. Also, I love the dress you chose, it looks great on you."

I somehow find the energy to blush. I also ignore her mess up, deciding to focus on the fact that she liked my dress.

We both get into the back of the car, a black thing that I couldn't name but I was sure it was expensive.

"Whose car is this? Jasper's?"

"It's Carlisle's car, he let us borrow it for shopping. I haven't found anything I really want yet, and Jasper only has a motorcycle right now. He's working on getting a new one soon though," She added as she leaned over the back seats to start the car. The cool air from the vents was nice, I didn't realize that I was so hot.

Jasper came out shortly after, carrying a bag of books. Getting into the car he handed it to me. Inside were all of the books that I had fallen asleep with.

"Jasper, you really didn't have to buy these! I was just browsing, I honestly don't know much about any of this stuff."

"Well, now you can. And honestly, we have the money. Just consider it a present for interrupting you evening."

"Now, Emma," Alice started as we pulled out of the parking lot, "What do you want for dinner?"


Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and Happy New Year everyone! I finally got the urge to work on this so I wrote the whole chapter in one go. I know you guys want another chapter and I am excited to post so this is going up as soon as I finish (mistakes might be abundant).

Poor Emma, she tries so hard (and got less than far)(and in the end, it really didn't matter). Not entirely my original idea for this chapter, but pretty much on point with where I wanted it to be.

Also, all of these books are real, but I have no clue how good/bad any of them are. I just google searched by keywords and used the ones with interesting looking names.