Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter!
Starting off with a bang
Hey, Alice! It's so good to hear from you! Yup, I'm still in the Dallas area. My email address is Iswandesigns at gmail dot com. Drop me a line and we'll get together for lunch sometime!
I wrote her back, smiling to myself as I went over to her facebook page. It was easy to tell that she was on there constantly. She had hundreds of friends and dozens of pictures and videos, especially of her new very beautiful home. No wonder she was so quick to respond to me.
My email dinged less than two minutes later.
I adore your email address and the name of your business. It's adorable and brilliant! Anyway, we must have lunch sometime this week! I've yet to find anyone here in Dallas and I could really use a friend. I'll put my number down at the bottom. Give me a call so we can set up a date.
Oh, and Happy Birthday, girl! Don't think I didn't remember.
A person I hadn't seen in a decade could remember my birthday but my own mother couldn't. That was a shame. But, it still made me smile. And in my drunken state, I decided to call, once again, before I chicken out.
"Hello, Hello, Hello!" She said cheerfully. "Happy Birthday, Bella!"
"I warn you that I'm kind of drunk," I snorted at her happy tone.
"Oh, did we have a wild and crazy big three O?" Alice asked, sounding exactly the way she did the last time I saw her. Way too perky.
"Not exactly," I mumbled.
"What do you mean, not exactly?"
"I've been sitting here on my couch, alone, drinking champagne and eating fried chicken out of a bucket. Alone is the keyword."
"You mustn't drink alone. People always find out," Alice quoted, making me smile.
"I see Gone with the Wind is still one of your favorite movies," I told her with a sigh. "I know drinking alone is bad and all but I didn't have anyone else to drink with. It's been a rough three years or so."
"What happened?" She asked in a kind and soft voice and I could just imagine her giving me a hug as she used to in high school. I was never one for personal contact but Alice always seemed to make it okay. I had never met anyone else who had that ability.
I blubbered the entire story out to her. I told her about Jacob and his new wife, Vanessa. About how all my friends were really only his friends that tolerated me. How my mother was too busy being sexed up by her twenty or so years younger husband. A man who was only a year older than me. A man that should have been going for ME and not HER. How even my mother forgot my birthday. At least I had lunch with my dad the day before.
He got me a new canister of mace for my purse. Happy birthday to me.
Oh, joy!
And then I told her about my mother's list and then my own.
"Well, that settles it, my dear! You are coming over to my house tomorrow for lunch and I will help you with your list," Alice informed me in a no-nonsense sort of way.
"Al, I didn't tell you all this to make you feel bad for me. I'm not going to guilt you into helping me improve my loser self."
"Shut up!" She told me harshly. "I know you wouldn't. I remember how you are. You're stubborn and don't ask for help. Maybe that should be something you add to your list. You're going to get my help whether you like it or not!"
"Same old Mary Alice," I quipped, smirking to myself.
"Same old stubborn Isabella Marie," she laughed. "Look, I'm bored. It seems like both of us need some sort of inspiration. Let's help each other. Okay?"
"Okay," I breathed, nodding to myself.
She gave me her address to her new house and I realized she was only like a ten-minute drive away from my apartment. It would be easy enough to find her place. It was in one of the nicest neighborhoods in the area and the houses in it tended to be huge. She and Jasper must have done well for themselves. That was something nice to think about. Alice was always good at anything she put her mind to.
The next day I surprisingly didn't have much of a hangover. I could always hold my liquor well. I guess it was my size. I guess being a size sixteen did have its plus side. If I were a size two I would have been yakking up my guts. I wouldn't have been very good lunch company.
But there I was at 11:45, pulling up to the very beautiful ranch style home with my already crumpled up list in my pocket, feeling just about normal for me. Which really wasn't saying all that much.
Alice opened the front door and ran to me before I could even get to the sidewalk leading up to her front door. She was still as cute and as perfect as ever, not that I expected anything different. And she still didn't seem to mind throwing herself into a hug.
"You look so good!" Her legs dangled off the ground even from my mere height of five foot five. I forgot she was so short. I always used to tease her about being an inch taller than a midget, especially compared to her giant of a boyfriend.
"Ah, you still lie so good!" I cooed, wrapping her up and lifting her slightly. When I put her down she slapped my shoulder, frowning.
"Stop that! I hope raising your self-esteem is on your list," she said, grabbing my hand and dragging me towards her house. I was instantly blown away by the interior. I shouldn't have been surprised though. Alice always did have great taste and always wanted things to be just so.
"Actually, it's not," I informed her as I stopped to look at an interesting abstract painting. "Wow, that's beautiful."
"You like it?"
"It's amazing. Who did that?"
"I did!" She smiled. "It's one of my favorites."
"Good gravy, baby! I hope you're selling these things because I bet there would be a market for them," I told her, looking at her with a big smile at my dorky phrases. It reminded me of high school.
"Jasper might be a great baker, but I don't think he makes that much dough!" She giggled. "That's how we've afforded this place. It just proves that people in California will buy just about anything."
"They're really gorgeous though, Al. And, Jasper's a baker?" I laughed. "That's awesome."
"Oh, yes! He's actually done really well for himself as well. He's in the process of opening up a bakery here. And he just put out a cookbook on cakes," she said, finally dragging me away from the painting. I don't know what it was about it, but I just loved it. It was more than just the color. There seemed to be some sort of hidden message mixed in the paint somewhere. Some kind of hope for a better life. It was cheerful.
"How are you not chunky? If I had a man that could bake I'd be four hundred and sixty thousand pounds," I laughed, finally getting back into the conversation.
Alice giggled and shrugged her shoulders as she led me into a living room. Waiting for us was a meal on the coffee table of Chinese. She still remembered my favorites. It was kind of awesome. "I worked out a lot in California. I haven't really had a chance to here yet. If I don't soon I will be."
And then she plopped down on the floor like it was nothing. I frowned, trying to remember the last time I was willingly on the floor. It was a long time ago.
"You know you're going to have to help my fat ass up, right?" I snarked, plopping down next to her.
"Yeah yeah, woman. I've seen bigger. You know you're average, right?"
"Average sucks ass," I told her. She threw her head back and laughed hard.
"You know, I couldn't agree more. Now, hand over the list, sweetie," she said, holding out her tiny little hand. I smirked, pulling the folded up piece of paper out of my pocket and passed it to her.
"Just don't get Lo mein on it, okay?" I teased, picking up a pair of chopsticks. She smirked, picking up her own pair before unfolding the list to read.
We ate in silence as she read it over. Honestly, it scared me a little and I wasn't totally sure why. It wasn't like I was seeking her approval or anything. I didn't care what anyone thought about my little list but just something about it... it just made me uncomfortable. When Alice finally spoke, she made me jump. I was just a tad too deep in my own thoughts.
"I can help you with a lot of these and we can begin today."
"Seriously?" I mumbled through a bite of rice. I swallowed hard. "You really want to help me?"
"Shoot! Totally. This looks like a lot of fun and girl, I need me some fun."
"So, you don't think it's stupid?" I asked quietly, pushing my plate away.
"Not at all," she smiled, patting my hand gingerly. "In fact, I think a lot of these we can knock out in groups. You'll have to do at least one or two things a week though, besides the cooking and getting healthy part if you want to get it all done before your thirty first."
"Yeah, I know. Some of them I don't even know how I'm going to do," I replied, rubbing the back of my neck. "Like that one," I said, pointing to the one involving slightly illegal activity. I felt my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. It was kind of odd to admit that to anyone. My dad was a sheriff and I was such a goodie-goodie growing up. I just wanted to do it once to see what it was like.
Alice actually scoffed. "That's probably one of the easiest things on your list!"
"Okay. This is not California. And anyway, first off, I have to get up the courage to find someone who has the stuff and then have the courage to actually-" Alice popped up from the floor and went over to a bookshelf full of knick-knacks across the room. She was back within seconds with a little wooden box.
"Bella, honestly! I'm an artist!" She said, opening the box and showing me what was inside. I laughed when I saw the little white wooden pipe and the baggie full of green stuff that looked like oregano. "I promise I don't do anything heavier. I just need to relax every once in a while. What do you say? Want to cross something off your list?"
I bit my lip, considering it for a moment before I nodded. Hopping up to my feet with a surprising amount of agility, I let her lead me to another part of the house.
Thirty minutes later I was in Alice's kitchen sitting around her island, laughing my ass off.
"Suck in! Honestly. You've never smoked a cigarette or anything, have you?" Alice asked, laughing. She was much better at it than I was.
I hacked up smoke until it came curling out of my nose. "No," I coughed, laughing too. I was beginning to feel a slight buzz in the back of my head. That could have been from the amazing brownies that Jasper had made though. Major sugar rush.
"Alright. Take another hit. This time hold your nose and swallow down as hard as you can," Alice said, holding the lighter for me so I could plug my nose and hold the pipe at the same time. I did as she said, swallowing several times. The taste was odd, but not really bad.
You would think by your fifteenth try you would get it. I would never be a stoner, that was for sure.
It felt like I had been holding my breath forever by the time I released the smoke from my lungs. I leaned back against the stool, feeling a weird rush up the bridge of my nose to my brain.
"Like that?"
She laughed, nodding her head before taking the pipe from me. Alice took a long drag, holding it down a bit more gracefully than I had before. It was only like her third hit. "You know, if you want to get healthy we shouldn't do this too much. We've eaten almost all the brownies."
"I'm not going to be a size ten that way, huh?!" I laughed, not knowing why I was giggling. "Mm, cake!" I said, pointing to a pretty crystal stand holding a half a chocolate cake. My mouth literally began to water.
Alice snorted, taking the lid off of it before going to get two forks. She handed me one and sat back down.
"You know, we started smoking in college- Jasper and me. And because we were dorks we used a 'code name' for it. We called it cake because I ALWAYS wanted some damn cake when I was high. You know, we'd get baked and eat cake," she giggled. "That's how Jasper started cooking! He loved to make different kinds of cakes for me. Still does."
"That's awesome," I smiled, taking a big bite of the amazing cake. "Mmmmm, we need milk."
"When you're right, my darling, you are right!" She said, fetching us two glasses. Alice placed them down on the countertop between us before tapping her pretty fingernail on the list. "You can do all of this, you know that?"
"How?" I asked with a sigh, taking another bite of cake. I felt like a bottomless pit.
"A ton of these are easy! You just have to get up and do them. Some of them involve others," she wiggled her eyebrows at me playfully, "but I think once you gain a bit of confidence it'll be easy enough."
"If you say so."
"I do! And I'm always right!" Alice said, holding her chin up.
"Sure. That's just what you want everyone to believe!" Someone said in a thick southern drawl from behind.
"Jazzy!" Alice squealed, running up to him. I turned around in my seat and almost fell out of it. There was the most beautiful man I had ever seen standing beside the still extremely handsome Jasper. He was young, baby faced, with a huge amount of red hair that went everywhere and a few adorable freckles. I couldn't seem to focus anywhere but on his deep green eyes though which seemed to be locked on my own. I wondered where the tunnel vision came from all of a sudden but then I remembered a very important fact.
I was high.
"Ooo!" Alice drew out, hanging in Jasper's arms. She got a very evil look in her eye as she focused on me. "Bella, this is Edward. He's really awesome and he's a total stranger."
"What?" I asked, confused.
"The list!" She hissed loudly. I could tell that she was trying to whisper but it just wasn't working. I was glad to see I wasn't the only one affected by the stuff we were doing. "Really? It's on the list! The stranger one."
The list? The stranger one? I thought back, trying to remember when I felt a strong pair of arms shove me towards the beautiful stranger and off the stool. Alice was stronger than I remembered. Practically falling against his solid chest, Edward's arms automatically wrapped around me to keep my ass from falling to the floor. As I looked up into his handsome face, I saw his plush lips and then remembered.
Kiss a stranger.
And, I just went for it.
My hands went to either side of his face, pulling him down for a kiss. He seemed really shocked at first but quickly began to melt into it, his arms tightening around me. His lips were very smooth and they tasted like something really good. Something I couldn't put my finger on at that moment. I could have just eaten him up.
"What the hell?" I heard someone ask in the background before I heard Alice giggle.
"Remember I told you about Bella having a list? One of the things on there was kissing a stranger," she explained to her very confused husband.
"Was getting really really high another one of them?" He laughed.
"Yup," she popped the final letter in the word.
That entire bit of conversation was still going on while we were basically making out in the middle of their kitchen. Not that Edward seemed to notice. After what seemed like forever, he pulled away but he didn't loosen his grip on me one bit. That was a very good thing because my ass would have gone to the ground like a rock.
"Hi. I'm Edward," he smiled down at me, speaking in a thick English accent. I think my legs turned to Bella goo. I was officially a new type of Jello.
"I'm Bella," I drawled, looking up at him with a furious flush.
"Bella, you taste like chocolate," he laughed. "I think that was the best greeting I've ever gotten before. Wow."
I finally remembered myself and reluctantly pulled away from him, looking down at the floor.
"Man, do I get kissed? I want to be greeted like that!" Jasper laughed, pulling me into a quick hug and pressed a kiss to my cheek. "So good to see you again, Bella!"
"Good to see you too," I blushed, feeling highly embarrassed.
"So, if you girls don't mind can you take this party elsewhere? My parents are coming over in two hours and I need to start cooking," Jasper informed us.
"Oh, God! I'm imposing! I'm so sorry!" I said, going over and snatching up my list and shoving it in my pocket. "I should go."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Alice said, shaking her head. "It's fine, sweetie! You don't have to go yet. And don't be so paranoid. You're not imposing at all."
"Are you sure?" I asked, biting my lip. Shaking my head, mainly to myself. "I really should go. I need to get some work done at home."
"You're not driving in your condition." Jasper frowned at me.
"Jasper's right," Alice agreed.
"Hey. I should get going myself," Edward said, placing a hand on my back to get my attention. "I could take you home. Where do you live?"
His hand felt like fire. Or, maybe it was just me. I wasn't sure.
"Like ten minutes down the street," I said, thinking to myself if that would work or not. It wasn't like I had anywhere to go that night or the following day. I didn't need my car.
"Oh! That would be good. And, tomorrow Jasper and I can drop off your car. We can do lunch or something again and talk about the list," Alice clapped her hands.
I looked at Edward and considered my options. I hadn't known the man for ten minutes but I had already kissed him. He seemed to be friends with Alice and Jasper so they trusted them. And if anything happened to me, they would say that I was last seen with him.
"If you don't mind?" I asked him.
"It would be my honor," he said with a sweeping arm gesture, making me giggle. I could tell he was kind of a dork, but I had always liked dorks.
"Okay," I nodded. I gave Alice a quick hug goodbye and waved at Jasper. Less than five minutes later we were riding down the street to my home.
"So, may I ask why you kissed me?" Edward laughed, looking over at me when we were stopped at a red light. "Not that I minded it."
"No," I answered back quickly, shaking my head.
Okay, maybe I was a little paranoid.
"Okay," he said, snickering. "That bad?"
"I'm just embarrassed is all. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Your wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, or whatever will probably beat my ass."
"I have none of the above," he informed me. I felt so out of place in his tiny vintage sports car. I had no idea what it was. A Camaro, maybe? It was well taken care of, I could tell that much, even if it wasn't in perfect condition.
"Well, that's some comfort. It's bad enough that I threw my chunky self at you. I'm sure a good looking guy like you gets a lot better offers than me," I sighed, looking out of the window. We were getting close and I would have to fight the urge to jump out of the car as soon as it stopped to run.
"Are you fishing for compliments?" I heard him say in an amused voice beside me.
"What?"
"You are a beautiful woman. I wouldn't have kissed you back if I didn't want to."
"Like I'm your type," I snorted, rolling my eyes.
"You are, actually. I happen to be extremely attracted to brunettes," Edward said smoothly as he pulled up into a parking space in front of my building.
"That's not what I meant," I said in a small voice.
"I know," he said quietly. "Come on. Let me walk you up. I won't feel right until I'm sure you're safely back in your apartment." He was out of the car before I could say anything, opening the door for me like I was a lady or something. Edward held his strong hand out to me, his fingers long and nimble.
I wanted to suck on them like they were lollipops. I wanted to suck on him like he was a lollipop. Talk about Blow Pop.
Why was my mind wandering so badly?
Oh yeah, I'm still high. That's why.
I took his hand and climbed out of the car. "Thanks for this," I said softly as I began to walk up to the building. At least I was able to talk like a normal person.
"It's my pleasure," he assured me as we got to the elevator. I figured he would leave me there but Edward followed after me. I clicked the button to the sixth floor, leaning against the side. "This is a really nice building. You must be good at whatever you do."
I flushed, looking down at my feet. "I own my own business. I work from my home so I like it to be as nice as possible."
"That's awesome. What type of business?"
Was this awkward conversation, or was it just me? I couldn't tell.
"Computers."
"Wow, you don't meet many women in the computer biz," he said. I nearly jumped for joy when the elevator dinged. I walked out quickly, fishing my keys out of my purse. I needed to get away from the embarrassment as quickly as possible and eat whatever was in my fridge.
"So, this is mine," I said, walking up to the door and opening it swiftly. "Thanks again."
"Bella, wait," he said, his smooth accent rubbing against my ears like silk. He could make a woman melt with that voice. I turned to face him and he was merely inches away. Damn, he smelled good, too. "Thank you."
"For what?" I stuttered out, my eyes focusing as hard as they could on his smooth pink lips. When his tongue flicked out to moisten them slightly, in what felt like slow motion, I actually shivered.
"For kissing me earlier. It was probably the best kiss I've ever had."
"Really?" I asked in surprise.
"Best tasting, too," he chuckled charmingly. "In fact, you still have some chocolate on your lips."
"Oh, God!" I groaned in embarrassment. My hand flew up to my face, only to find his there already. I gasped softly, my eyes meeting his.
"Let me help you with that."
For the second time in less than an hour, my lips were pressed against those of a complete stranger.
And I didn't care one single bit.
Just a FYI, this will be the only chapter with any drug use. lol Cake is based on a true story. If I remember correctly lots of people told me their fun code words last time. I look forward to them again.
Go Bella, get you some Englishman. Who thought that would take longer to get off the list?
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