A/N: Back at it again! Hope you like this one.
ARITST OF THE WEEK:
Snow Patrol. The song I used is called "Chasing Cars."
"Red roses sound divine, don't they?" Esme's smile was wide enough to cover her entire face. I feigned a smile and nodded for the hundredth time that day; first the linen store, than the shoe outlet, now the florist shop. How many details really went into planning a wedding? This whole thing started out as one shotgun-type deal, where I was bartered for another's protection. I wasn't mean to be served my dreamesque white wedding on a silver platter. "Are you feeling fresh enough to visit my seamstress on 45th avenue? She is absolutely divine, and I have used her for my own private dress sewing and-"
"Yes, Mrs. Cullenciano." I stopped her short, feeling my pounding headache begin. "Yes, I would love to." No, of course I didn't want to meet the woman that would sew me up in a humungous, white gown with heavy beading and too much lace. But the vulnerable expression she wore promised to never be dampened, and I just didn't have it in me to put her down. The dress fitting was just as I knew it would be- two prattling older ladies with a knack for planning events down to a tee. I stood still for over an hour as Mrs. Trevinallo stuck pins and needles through the drabby tunic to eye where different parts of my dress would be. "Where is Alice?" I suddenly realized I was missing a main component of every one of my recent shopping experiences, and it felt odd that she wasn't right here with me.
Esme had guarded eyes when she spoke from her sitting position at a farther end of the room. "She had a lunch date with Fredrick's mother this afternoon; tell me, Bella, do you like Fredrick?" Was she talking about his character, or the fact that he was in her life at all? Sometimes I wondered, by the way her entire family acted about Reynaldo, if she was centered for doom- no man she was ever with lasted very long, and her most recent lover that lasted longer than the rest was murdered. Of course, by a rival gang trying to make a statement, but weren't things like that set up everyday in this type of life? Sure, it was far-fetched and most likely untrue, but I still wondered.
I kept my head up and tried to take steady breaths as to not affect Mrs. Trevinallo's work at my feet. "No." I answered simply, feeling myself teeter atop the fancy two-foot stool she put me on. "He has no personality, and refuses to meet the new frontier that is soon approaching." Esme and Mrs. Trevinallo shared amused smirks before their eyes went back up to me. What, they didn't believe in the modernizations and new things? Gee, if only they had seen the nasty way Freddy acted last week. Then they would have known how horrible it was that colors and non-colors didn't mix.
"Your synopsis of the new frontier, Miss Swan?" Mrs. Trevinallo inquired with a raised eyebrow, which was drawn on with two pointy ends. I was suddenly embarrassed that I even said anything- what if they suddenly hated me for my simple opinion? Lots of folks didn't like the idea that we all, as a whole, could one day get a long and eat at the very same dinner tables. The Cullencianos weren't very impressionable people, and when something wasn't to their liking they made it… disappear. And even if I knew they would never get rid of me like that (Edward worked far too hard to get me under his thumb), I still worried that I would step on somebody's toes with my radical beliefs.
"Every shade of skin can and will get along, Mrs. Trevinallo." I refrained from using a snappy tone, seeing as she and Esme were good friends and I doubted my mother-in-law would ever take my side over an old pal's. "We will share the same dance floors, eat at the same restaurants with the same silverware and tables, use the same doctors. Our children will learn from the very same teachers, and will converse on a daily basis without thinking twice about color. There will be no segregation." And it wasn't just blacks that I was referring to- I was talking about every race and walk of this Earth. The poor and the wealthy could mingle, the old and the young, even the very meanest could be brought to see the light of day! Why was that such a stretch of the imagination? Humans created the automobile, and we thought about using two body parts to produce multiple lives. How was it not possible for us to live among each other, peacefully?
The snippy seamstress pursed her red lips and sent me a look over her glasses. "And you're just going to demand everyone to get along, then?"
"What-…no, no! There is no demanding of any sort. It will be set in with peace, not forcefulness. Segregation was forced." starting with Jim Crowe laws and stretching farther out, we were ordered by the government to alienate ourselves from another type of human- the darker skinned ones. How ridiculous was that?
"Look how effective it is." She shrugged her shoulders, as if the matter didn't care and it was all going to work itself out. What did she mean, effective? Those laws only divided us as a country! "I am Italian, Miss Swan." She, for some reason, needed to clarify her race to me. "They came for the indios, and since no one important enough to stand up was Native American, no one said a word. Again they came for the Mexicanos, and since no one important enough stood up for the Mexicanos, no one said anything. Then they came for the blacks, " her thick accent filled the room with the promise of rich sauces and home-cooked breads, "and no one stood up for the blacks, and nobody said a word." I swallowed loudly, feeling so out of place talking to a worldly woman like her. Esme agreed with everything I said, and always complimented me on my open perception of the world around me. Mrs. Trevinallo just made me feel stupid for opening my big mouth. "So they took them." Her long nails grazed over my uncovered arm, but ii felt completely nude in front of her. "But when they come for the Italianos and the Irish, we know we are important enough to stand up for ourselves- we will never need a small girl with big eyes and a cop for a daddy to preach for deaf ears."
My heart fell heavy in my chest; was that all I truly was? A cop's wide-eyed, weakling daughter with too big of dreams that did absolutely nothing about them? "Now, now, Paula. That was uncalled for." Esme clapped her hands quietly and regarded her long-time friend with a steady gaze as she made her way to us. "But this gown is going to look divine. I can just see you now- Isabella!" I ignored her elegant shrieks as I ripped the fabric off of me and stomped around it to make sure it was absolutely dead. She was the last person I was going to hear put me down!
"You are a rude, old bint!" I called angrily and snatched up the white material in my hands before shoving it under her nose. "Your virtues and morals are far off, Mrs. Trevinallo and I will do the best to you and pray that you are forgiven at the pearly gates of eternal paradise!" With that, I tossed the disgusting fabric at her and collected my things. "Good day." I bowed my head politely before stepping out of the pale shop and padded down the pavement towards our hired driver's black car. Energy and adrenaline coursed through my veins. That was so enlightening and uplifting, I wanted to suddenly stand up to everyone and preach what I knew to be truth!
"Forget what we're told,
Before we get too old.
Show me a garden
That's bursting into life."
A/N: Go Bella! Finally standing up for what she believes.
So here's a PROMPT-
In your review, WRITE one thing you would like to see in the story. It can be something silly like a weird object, to something a certain character says.
The first twelve (its been my lucky number lately) people to review the story with a are going to get a sneak peak of the next chapter! Thanks, guys.