Alice and Bella hang out!
Alice lead the way up the stairs. Bella thought they were going to the second floor, but Alice came to that landing and kept going. Bella's heart was pounding. Her instincts told her something was different about this family, different about Alice. She continued to follow her anyways. On the third floor, Alice led Bella into a room that resembled the living room downstairs. A large, sprawling sectional couch took up part of the room. A large replica of Starry Night dominated the wall the couch was facing. Bella was blown away by it. She went up to it and looked at the image up close. The image was moving. The lights of the town flickered like they were lit by flames, and the night sky twirled. "This is amazing," Bella breathed.
Alice stood beside Bella. "I love this too." Bella's heart quickened. "It's a tv, so we can display living art on it." Alice pointed a remote at the picture and pressed a button. The image turned into Leonid Afremov's Rain Rustle.
"Rain's Rustle," Bella breathed. "This is amazing." As Bella watched, the ground in the painting shimmered like it was actually wet. "How do I get me one of these?"
"I bet if you ask nicely Carlisle will send you one."
Bella looked at the painting and watched Alice change it one more time. The newest photo took Bella's breath away. "Wow. The abduction of Helen." The image showed soldiers dragging the beautiful Helen of Sparta into a ship, so she could be spirited from Sparta to Troy.
"You know a lot about art."
Bella tore her eyes away from the painting displayed on the screen. Alice was giving her the most curious look. "I am interested in many things. For example, why the abduction of Helen? Most people think Helen ran from Sparta because she loved Paris." Bella looked at Alice, waiting for an answer. Helen was in fact taken by the young prince of Troy, but some facts had been misrepresented over the years. "I saw the movie, Troy. I know how popular the love story version is."
Alice shrugged. "Carlisle is an eternal optimist, but he has it on good faith that Helen was taken. Mostly, men write history. Why would they miss an opportunity to make a woman the villain? Who do they want to blame for the fall of an empire? A man or a woman? A woman every time."
Bella smiled. "I think I'd like to get to know Carlisle. He has interesting opinions."
Alice bounced on her feet. She was clearly a ball of barely contained energy. "Of course, but me first!" Alice clapped her hands and Bella found herself smiling at the short woman. Alice grabbed the sleeve of Bella's shirt and pulled her towards the couch. Girl was little, but she was strong. Bella found herself actually being dragged bodily by the little human. Alice shoved Bella on the couch and dropped down next to her. "What do you like to watch?" Alice was practically giggling. She held the remote up by her face, resembling a child with a cookie. Her golden eyes flashed, and Bella found herself dazed by them. What is she?
"What do you like to watch?" Bella asked, buying time.
"I love everything!" Alice bounced on the couch, rocking Bella as her cushion moved up and down. The girl's excitement was infectious. Bella was giggling at nothing. "Grey's Anatomy, Supernatural, Marvel Movies, DC movies-" Alice rattled off a long list without seeming to take a breath, "-and Supergirl, Family guy, Game of Thrones, Killing Eve, The Good Place-"
"Wow! Okay, spitfire! How about you give me your favorite genres instead of listing every TV show you've ever heard of?" Alice pouted, and Bella felt her heart plummet to her stomach. She backtracked quickly. "Just kidding, continue!"
Alice's smile reappeared immediately. Bella felt played, but she continued to listen to Alice's list. "As I was saying, The Good Place, BoJack Horseman-"
"BoJack Horseman? Are you kidding?"
"I NEVER kid about BoJack!" Alice's face was deadly serious. "Who doesn't love a tale of an alcoholic druggy ex-famous Horse who is too broken to be unbelievable? I've seen a lot of life, and BoJack feels real."
"A lot of life?" Bella raised her eyebrows. "What are you, seventeen?"
"Yes."
"Then you haven't seen a lot of life!" Bella put a hand on her chest. "Now I have seen a lot of life."
"What are you?" Alice retorted, "Seventeen?"
Shit. "Yes, yes I am."
"Then it looks like we're at an impasse." Alice glared at Bella. Bella glared back. Bella couldn't be sure, but she thought Alice wasn't breathing. Bella tried not to breathe for as long as she could.
"Fine!" Bella gave in. Alice breathed out heavily. "Bojack it is. You, Little Cullen, are difficult."
"I know!" Alice yelled happily as she turned the TV on. The art disappeared, and the Netflix home screen appeared. Bella watched as the user screen came up. There was a square for each of the Cullen's. Most of them were easy to decipher, like Dr. and Mom. One said Mr. Mindreader. Another said 'Sexy Poseidon.' Alice picked 'Annoying Little Pixie.' Alice looked over at Bella. "Emmett picked the names."
"Let me guess, Emmett is Sexy Poseidon?"
"Yep, he thinks he looks like the actor who played Poseidon in the movie Immortals. He's so annoying." Alice rolled her eyes. "Seriously, he played it on repeat for a full week, nonstop. I'm not even sure he went to school after he first saw it. No, actually, I'm positive he didn't."
Bella laughed behind her hand. "You know, I could see it. He does look like a Sexy Poseidon." Alice looked stricken.
Someone loud and heavy came charging up the stairs. Emmett launched himself into the room Bella and Alice were in. "I TOLD YOU!" Emmett yelled so loud that Bella jumped in surprise. "I told you all I looked like a Sexy Poseidon!" Rosalie appeared behind Emmett. She grabbed him by his ear and started to pull. "Ow, ow, ow," Emmett said as he disappeared. "Say it again Bella!"
"Emmett is Sexy Poseidon!" Bella shouted after him. She heard a roar of happiness even as Rosalie dragged him away. Bella turned back to Alice and saw that the girl was grinning at her. "What?"
"Nothing!" Alice turned to the tv and picked BoJack Horseman. "Pick a season!"
"Three," Bella responded with no hesitation.
"Deal." Alice queued up an episode Bella had already seen. Bella started watching Alice in her peripheral vision. Alice huffed, but Bella didn't stop. "What?" She finally yelled.
"What are you hiding?" Bella asked.
"Excuse me?" Alice leaned back into the couch. She pulled one leg up and held it close to her chest. "Whatever do you mean?"
Bella turned sideways and pulled her leg up, mirroring Alice. "There's something about you, all of you. What is it?" Alice turned her head sideways. "You're not going to tell me, are you? Why do I scare Masen? Why can Big Cullen hear me from two floors away?" Alice pursed her lips. "Little Cullen," Bella scolded, "friendship."
"Friendship?" Alice asked as she looked at Bella, feigning innocence. "Aren't we already friends? You're already here, hanging out."
"This is a trial run, Little Cullen. You can't get all the friendship without any of the benefits."
Alice glared at Bella. "Are you trying to charge me for friendship? And the currency is secrets?"
"You admit there's a secret!"
Alice pursed her lips. "I admit no such thing."
"Is this friendship?" Bella laughed as BoJack chugged a fifth of whiskey in the background. "This is fun." Bella tried not to laugh as Alice pouted again. "Look, I'm kidding, mostly. I know you guys have secrets. Trust me, I want to know them. I'm patient though. I've got all the time in the world." Bella reached out to gently put her hand on Alice's. As soon as their hands made contact, a spark shot through both their hands. Bella pulled back abruptly. In her entire life, she'd never felt anything like it. Alice looked equally as stunned. Bella's hand shook. She wanted to reach out and touch Alice again. "Sorry," Bella murmured as she looked down at the couch.
"Don't worry about it," Alice said quietly.
Bella looked up at Alice and saw that her eyes had darkened considerably. Before she could comment on it, Esme called from the stairs, "Girls, dinner is ready!"
Alice jumped up first. "Esme has made dinner, special for you probably." Alice smiled. "We ate before you got here, so I'm willing to bet she made you a five-course meal."
Bella groaned. "She didn't."
"Bet," Alice responded.
"What are you betting?" Bella asked, curious.
"If she made you a huge meal, you have to admit we're best friends."
Bella rolled her eyes. "Seriously? You have all of the world in front of you, and you bet on my friendship? Whatever. Bad bet." Alice laughed at Bella. "If it's three courses or less, you have to let my dog into your house."
Alice laughed and agreed. "What a waste of a bet. We'd let him in if you just asked." Bella's jaw dropped as she realized she'd made a mistake. Alice walked ahead of Bella on the way down to the kitchen. Bella gritted her teeth as the food came into view. "I told you!" Alice shouted. "Ha!" There was a huge spread of food on the kitchen island.
"Alice," Esme chided. "We do not gloat when we have guests."
Alice reigned in her attitude a little bit. "Yes, mother." She turned to Bella. "I'm sure my new best friend Bella doesn't mind at all." The gloating smile on Alice's face told Bella that Esme's rebuke had fallen on deaf ears.
Esme waved an arm over the food. "I didn't know what you liked, so I made a little bit of everything."
"Mrs. Cullen, this is a bit much!"
"Esme, dear, Esme! And don't worry about it. You can take home whatever you don't eat." Bella looked over the table. She didn't know where to begin.
Bella looked to Alice, pleading for her intervention. Alice just smiled mischievously. "Yes ma'am," Bella said, defeated. She sat down on one of the bar style stools, just thankful that Esme hadn't put her at the large table in the dining room. That would have made her feel even more awkward than she did now. "Little Cullen," Bella pouted, "Can I at least have my dog in here?"
Alice looked slightly dazzled. She looked at Esme. Esme shrugged. "I don't see why not," Alice responded.
"Could you open the door please?" Alice looked confused, but she did what Bella asked anyways.
"Charlie!" Bella called. "Come here, boy!" Nothing happened at first. Emmett left the living room and came into the kitchen, curious. He watched the front door with them. "Little Cullen, you might want to move out of the way." Alice didn't move, and the hulking dog came flying into the house. He leaped from the porch into Alice's arms and started licking her face all over. Bella was impressed that such a tiny frame could support such a large dog, Alice managed. Charlie 'woofed' in Alice's ear and then scrambled to be let down. Alice set him down gently and looked at Bella in surprise.
"I thought you said you had a dog, not a horse."
"Hey," Bella complained, "he's just big-boned." Charlie loped over to the kitchen. He sniffed Emmett and then licked his hand before curling up next to Bella.
Emmett crouch down next to Charlie. "Are you just big-boned?" He said, cooing at the dog like he was a child. Charlie's tail wagged and he let Emmett pet him. "I love him," Emmett declared. "Esme, can we get one?"
Esme looked put out. Bella saved her. "Don't worry. Charlie can visit as often as you'd like. Apparently, Alice and I are best friends now," Bella groaned. Bella set to work on eating the dinner. Emmett stayed on the floor with Charlie. Esme wandered off. "Sure you're not hungry? I could use some help with this."
Alice giggled. Bella began to feel like there was a joke here she was missing. "No thank you, I'm really not hungry."
Bella wiggled food in Alice's face every time she tried something new. It was all amazing, but Alice didn't take a single bite of it. Bella filed that away for later. She added it to a growing list of strange things about the Cullen's, like golden eyes, cool skin, and super hearing. When Bella was done, she leaned over the island to see Emmett rolling on the floor with Charlie, who was happily putting his legs in the air and rolling around too. "Charlie, you're supposed to be my big tough protector." Emmett and Charlie both froze. They looked like two kids caught misbehaving. Alice laughed at the boys. Bella looked up at Alice. She loved the sound of her laughter. Bella's eyes flashed. She felt them change back to their bright silver. She looked away quickly, hoping Alice hadn't noticed. When Bella looked back at Alice, she was pretty sure Alice had seen.
"Do you want to see my video game now?" Emmett asked as he jumped up from the floor quicker than someone his size should have been able to.
"Sure, show me!" Alice and Bella followed Emmett into the living room. He booted up his game system and dropped onto the floor, not too far from the TV. "Yo, you're gonna go blind!"
He laughed, but he didn't move back. Bella sat on the couch directly facing the TV. "Ok, so here's the idea. This game takes place in Ancient Greece. It's so cool! My character's name is Kassandra. I get to run around Greece, climb shit-"
"Emmett!" Esme yelled.
-stuff, defeat a cult, and try and rescue my long-lost family," Emmett finished without missing a beat. The game loaded in and he turned the camera so it was in front of the main character. "How cool does she look?"
"She's hot," Bella responded. Both Alice and Emmett turned to look at Bella. "What? I can appreciate a good figure." Bella tried to keep herself from looking at Alice as she said 'figure.'
"Cool," Emmett said as he turned back to the TV. Bella watched everything he showed her, enraptured by the mostly accurate representation of the Greek world. "Look at this! I'm gonna fast travel to Athens, you have to see this." Emmett landed on top of a large statue. He went into camera mode and zoomed out. "Isn't this cool? It's-"
"The Athena Promachos!" Bella exclaimed. "How cool!" She got up and moved closer to the TV, examining the huge bronze statue. "This looks super realistic, almost like-" Bella stopped short. Her excitement had almost got the best of her.
"Like what?" Alice asked.
Bella cleared her throat and sat back down. "Like...the designers spent a long time working on it." Alice and Emmett looked at Bella a little longer, before Emmett continued explaining his game, his missions, and the amazing detail paid to the Greek world. Charlie leaned into Emmett's back, perfectly happy in his new surroundings.
I hope this was satisfying! Cool things are coming, along with some answers in the future. Feel free to review!
(Also, a little bit of amusement for myself: Kellan Lutz, the actor who plays Emmett? He actually did play Poseidon in the movie Immortals. Just a little stupid fun.)