Stephenie Meyer owns all TWILIGHT characters.

The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: 6 - ambivalence
Pen name: IngenueFic
Characters: Bella, Edward
Rating: PG

All prompts can be found here:
www[dot]thetwilight25[dot]com/round-five/prompts/

Bella still loves the story about the girl in a red cape and her grandmother and a wolf. She knows the origins of the tale and the changes it's gone through over the centuries so she's not at all surprised that her eyes fall on a bag labeled Adult Red Riding Hood. Through the clear plastic, she sees the deep red folds of velvet and off-white ruffles. She imagines herself wearing the red cape and can't help but reach out for the bag.

The picture on the front makes her pause, though.

Whenever Bella thinks about Red Riding Hood she thinks of a knee-length dress of red and white, black flats, and the cape. She'd curl her hair just a little bit and brush the faintest of blushes on the apples of her cheeks. The girl in the photo that covers the front of the bag looks nothing like the image in her head. The costume is short – very shot – and the top hangs off of her shoulders, revealing cleavage that no child should ever see. There are red cuffs on the girl's wrists and she's wearing fishnet stockings and motorcycle boots.

Bella's mind races. It's the perfect costume for Rosalie's party on Friday, a character she's always loved, but it's so… so…

"Slutty," she whispers. Her eyes dart around. She hopes no one heard her, especially one of the kids browsing the costumes behind her.

Taking the bag from its hook, she turns it over and over in her hands. Her bottom lip gets caught between her teeth as she tries to make a list of pros and cons for the costume.

Pro – she'd look hot.

Con – she'd look a little bit skanky.

Pro – Red Riding Hood is her dream come true.

Con – she'd probably end up being some gross teen boy's wet dream.

Pro – the costume is her size: a medium.

Con – the large would probably be better to cover up some more of her legs but then it would hang off her shoulders and she'd probably flash someone.

"Can I help you with anything?"

The bag drops to the floor as Bella turns in surprise. Even though she's just holding a costume, she feels like she's been caught doing something dirty, something wrong.

Stupid costume, she thinks. Stupid sexy, revealing costume.

The employee reaches down and picks up the costume, glancing at it quickly. "Did you find the size you were looking for?" He looks up and Bella has to hold back a gasp. He's hot. Really hot. He's also rifling through the packs of Adult Red Riding Hood costumes.

"Um…"

"I can look in the back to see if we have any small sizes," he informs her.

"A smaller… No, no, that's my size." She reaches out to grab the bag but her hand pauses halfway, lingering in the space between them. "I don't… Is this the only Red Riding Hood costume you guys carry?"

"I think so unless you're a six-year-old. I have costumes in that size."

"That's a no," Bella says with a small giggle. She can't help it. The longer he stands in front of her, the more she notices that his eyes are the color of seaweed, that his jaw creates perfect angles on his face, that his mouth is absolutely kissable.

"I'm um… I'm Bella," she blurts out. As soon as she introduces herself, she jerks away from him in shock. "Not that you needed to know that."

"Well, Bella," he begins with a smile. "My name's Edward. If I can help you with anything, just let me know, okay? I'm pretty good at this whole costume thing." He sends her a wink that makes her feel like she's a newborn colt trying to stand for the first time.

As he turns to leave, Bella can't help but reach for him. The tips of her fingers manage to grab the sleeve of his tee shirt. "Wait!" He turns back to her. "The costume?"

"Oh!" Edward chuckles at himself and holds it out to her. "Sorry about that."

She takes the bag slowly from his hand. "Is there… Am I allowed to try this on?"

Edward leads her to a cluster of dressing rooms and warns her to be careful with the costume since the second she tears a thread from it, she'll be forced to buy it. She wants to argue for the sake of arguing – seriously, there can't be kids who try on costumes without ruining them – but she just nods and disappears behind the door.

It looks good on her.

There's no poof beneath the skirt part yet but she's sure one of her friends has a petticoat or whatever it's called but it flares near the tops of her thighs, barely half an inch below where her fingertips rest against her leg. The front laces give her an almost refined look and Bella can't help but turn to the side to admire what the dress does for her figure. Who knew a costume could actually do that?

As she stares at herself in the mirror, Bella can see herself wearing the costume to the party. She doesn't want the fishnets – doesn't want any sort of stocking – and she has knee-high boots with a two-and-a-half inch heel that lace up the back. They'd look good with the costume. She wants blood red lipstick and not too much eye make-up but she wants her hair to spill over her shoulders because then she could flip it back and give boys coy looks.

One boy.

Hurriedly, she strips out of the costume, folds it, and places it back in the bag. She rushes out of the dressing room after sliding her jeans and shirt back on and almost jumps back when she sees Edward waiting near the entrance of the dressing room area.

"How'd it fit?" he asks with a smile. It's a simple question from employee to customer but Bella's body flushes a bit.

"Great." She rocks back and forth on her heels for a while. "I'm gonna take it."

His smile widens. "I'll ring you up. Follow me."

While he places the plastic bag into a store bag, he taps the corner of her credit card against the counter. The system, it seems, is taking a while to process her card. She doesn't mind. She's trying to work up the courage to ask him to Rosalie's party.

That's not creepy, is it? Bella asks herself silently.

"So what are you going to be this year?"

Edward looks at her in surprise. "Oh, um, probably nothing. I'm working here until we close at four then I'll probably just hand out candy."

"Oh." Her eyes glance around the space behind the register.

"I… Could get one…"

Bella's eyes zoom back onto his face.

"I mean, if it was needed or something." He waves a hand around him lazily. "I have a place to find one."

Bella nods.

"Right."

The receipt finally prints out and he slides it over to her with a green pen. She signs her name on the dotted line and slides it back but when he reaches to take it, she presses down so he can't pull it away.

"There's a party this Friday. A friend of mine throws a big Halloween party every year. It's fun."

She holds her breath and waits to hear what he'll say.

"I could… Probably find a woodsman costume. Would that be okay?"

Bella nods. "Yeah, that's… That's perfect."

Thank you to oOza for the beta work.