A Bad Deal?
Gates of Hell Have Opened
Bella awoke the next morning, disoriented. Her head was throbbing and her body ached as if she had just been through a work out. On that thought her face flushed as she realized she had been through a work out, but of the sexual kind. She sat up, her heart beating in her chest like crazy.
Holy fuck, I slept with Alice Branden. The Alice Branden. And she slept with me. Oh god. Oh my god. Bella couldn't believe what had happened last night. And she hadn't been too drunk that she didn't remember it. No, she had been just drunk enough to make rash choices.
Not only had she had her first kiss last night, but it was also her first time sleeping with someone. She legit went from zero to one hundred. And now she didn't know how to feel about herself. On some level she was proud. She had scored with Alice big time, and she was now more of a grown up. But she was also ashamed. Disgusted for letting Alice do that to her. She had played right into the pixie's hand and there was no telling if she was going to use this as leverage on Bella.
There was no reason she should, after all Bella hadn't done anything to her. But there was no telling what was going on in the pixie's mind. And the worst part hadn't been that she had slept with Alice- although to be fair, it had felt so good. The touch of her experienced hands, her soft soft lips and the way she had made all of Bella's float away...was just magical. It made her feel complete. And loved. Especially when Alice had pulled the covers up and around the two of them after Bella had finished climaxing.
Then she had cuddled up to Bella's naked back, pressing a kiss to Bella's neck. She hadn't even asked for reciprocation. Alice must have left sometime after all that, for the sheets were long cold where she had laid.
And in the pixie's warm hold, she had forgotten how hurt she had been by Rosalie's actions. And it was because of Rosalie that Bella had slept with Alice. The blonde had made out with Bella during the game seven minutes in heaven. Bella had felt indescribable hope in her chest. Had felt so happy. And it had all come crashing down as soon as the game had ended. And Bella had been reminded that that was what that moment had been-all just a game.
And it hurt. Hurt so bad.
She knew Rosalie was in conflict with her sexuality but it was no excuse to kiss Bella senseless and then leave her cold and alone. Rosalie had seemed so disgusted when she had left the room-was Bella really that bad? Had she merely been delusional? Was it best to forget about Rosalie?
She sighed. Everything was a mess now. Her feelings were a mess. She felt like a mess.
Deciding she needed to get herself together, she left the bed, shivering in the slight chill of the morning. She had slept naked, her clothes tossed all over the place in Alice's haste to get them off.
Bella felt a stab of arousal as she thought back to how Alice's eyes had gone dark with lust. She looked like she really wanted Bella. The question was...how would she behave about it now? Would she reject her, pretend nothing happened like Rosalie had?
Bella didn't think she could stand that. Didn't think she could live with being used like that. But she would have to face reality sooner or later and she might as well do it looking decent.
She managed to find everything but her flannel and wondered if she had left it somewhere else. Then she made her way over to the adjoining bathroom and washed her face and teeth and brushed her hair into something resembling normalcy. Her head still hurt from her hangover, but she figured she could take a pill for that when she got back home.
Then, feeling slightly less gross, she left the room the house silent. She wondered if everyone had left. She wondered where Rosa- stop it, I will not be thinking of her.
Her rejection had really hurt.
Bella managed to find her way over to the kitchen, hoping to get some water before she left. She didn't even know how she would get back. Could she ask Alice for a ride back? Bella had gotten here in Rosalie's car, and there was no way she wanted to go back with her.
Filling up a glass, and marveling at the state of the art kitchen (really, did Alice need three coffeemakers?) she took to sipping on it slowly and trying not to think about how mortifying it would be to see Alice again. Would the pixie treat this as a one night stand?
And wait a second- wouldn't this make Alice gay, or bisexual in the least? Wasn't that contradictory? Wasn't she bullying Rosalie for this same reason? Could Bella use this information to blackmail Alice for Rosalie? Hmm...but Bella wasn't feeling particularly beneficial to the blonde right now. She had done shitty things before, but messing with Bella's feelings was something else. It was too much. She could stand getting punched, she could stand the stupid things Rosalie had her do, could stand being yelled at, but she couldn't stand having her romantic feelings trampled on.
It cut too close to what had happened in Phoenix and there was no way she was going to go through all of that all over again. She had promised herself she wouldn't let it happen. That she would be better than that. That she would treat herself well.
"You, love me?" a voice scoffed, rich with amusement and disgust. "Please, as if I could ever love your nasty dyke ass."
Mortification flooded Bella's body.
"But I thought you returned my feelings- that you liked me. Otherwise I never would have said anything," she feebly tried to explain only to have the sound of ugly laughter fill her ears.
"You assumed that my kindness was feelings for you?"
"But...but you held my hand and you kissed my cheeks and you," Bella was rambling on and on, but she was too close to tears to stop. If she did then she would cry.
"Friends do that. Friends can hold hands. Friends can kiss cheeks," the redhead snarled viciously on the word friends, causing Bella to flinch back. "It's not my fault your stupid dyke ass thought that meant more."
Bella had been too deep in her thoughts to notice that someone else had arrived in the kitchen.
"Bella."
Bella jumped at having her name called, and nearly dropped the glass in her hand before catching it and swiveling around to see-
"Oh. It's you." Bella couldn't help but feel and sound bitter at the sight of the blonde in front of her.
Rosalie's slightly hopeful face fell a bit at the tone. "Look, I-I, uh-well," Rosalie was stumbling over her words; whatever it was she wanted to say was clearly giving her trouble. And if Bella hadn't been so curious to hear what it could be that was making the blonde struggle so much, then she would have left.
"What, Rosalie?" she cut in irritably.
The blonde seemed a bit taken a back by Bella's sharp tone if the widening of her eyes were any indication. "I just wanted to say-uh, that, my behavior last night-I don't really recall much and-"
She didn't remember?! Bella felt like she would burst a blood vessel. How fucking convenient. Clearly Rosalie didn't care as much about the make out session they had. Which stung. She had wanted Rosalie to care. Had wanted her to like her back.
Bella should have known that was too impossible to ask.
Before Rosalie could continue, Alice's loud voice cut her off. "Good morning!" She strode past Rosalie into the kitchen, wearing nothing but Bella's flannel buttoned up lowly, revealing her collarbone.
"My flannel," Bella breathed out, happy to know it hadn't gotten lost. It was her best one.
"Yes, yours," Alice hummed, pressing a kiss to Bella's cheek. "It's very comfortable." She stared at Bella's neck. "Oops, looks like I left a hickey." She poked Bella in the neck where it was located, the brunette having missed it. "Do you think it's visible Rosalie?"
But the blonde was already gone, having disappeared.
"Huh. Wonder where she went so quickly," Bella was a bit shocked. Why had Rosalie left so quickly?
"I don't," Alice said in a low tone of voice before she circled on Bella, grabbing her by the front of her shirt. "You seem to owe me something from last night, if you know what I mean," Alice licked her lips before leaning in.
This time Bella dropped her glass.
Bella wasn't entirely sure what the heck was going on anymore. Ever since that party, Alice had been treating her differently. She had been even more touchy feely with her in public and once they were out of the public eye...well, things tended to get steamy. Alice would push Bella up against walls, make out with her in secluded corners and Bella sort of just let it happen. She had decided she was going to get rid of her crush on Rosalie, and while she was using Alice it was fine, because Alice wasn't a perfect little angel. And Bella was pretty sure Alice was only using her, but for what, the brunette hadn't figured out yet.
But it was hard to think of the reason if Alice was busy using her mouth. And eventually Bella stopped trying to think so hard. She didn't carry feelings for Alice. This was all about becoming numb. And Alice helped her achieve that. And because she was so busy being numb, it took her a while to notice something.
"Where's Rosalie?" Bella asked the boys as she sat down to join them for lunch. Alice was sitting next to her, rubbing her ankle with her foot while she pretended like she wasn't doing anything.
All of them shrugged.
"Could be a fashion shoot. She hasn't been on one in a while, so it wouldn't be anything new if she went to one," Jasper offered.
"But so suddenly? And without a word to anyone?" Would Rosalie truly not say anything to her friends if that was the case?
"It wouldn't be too odd for her to do. She's not exactly the friendly type," Edward said.
"It's been too weeks though," Bella added, as if this piece of information would provide anything new. "Do fashion shoots take this long?"
"Sometimes," Jasper said, looking almost annoyed by Bella's continued pursuit of the topic.
"Don't worry about Rosalie. I'm sure she's busy, laughing and drinking it up with models in Paris." Alice gave Bella a smile and the brunette finally relented. It seemed like no one was really bothered by this, but Bella. She wondered if their lack of concern reflected poorly on them, or if they simply were used to Rosalie's behaviors and didn't think too much of them.
But by the time it was the fourth week and Rosalie still hadn't come back to school, Bella got really worried. The blonde wasn't answering any of her texts, or her calls, and she knew that the blonde would have otherwise, for there was never any reason for her to ignore Bella before. And Bella knew something must have happened to make her not come to school. There was a chance that it could be a fashion shoot, but now that Bella thought back to it, Rosalie had disappeared after Alice had shown up wearing Bella's clothes after their one night stand.
Had Rosalie gotten upset that Bella did that? Did she see it as the brunette having betrayed her? Going back on her word and sleeping with the enemy when they were supposed to bring Alice down? But then why would Rosalie be so upset about this, assuming that this was why her long absence had first started. Surely she would instead taken to yelling at Bella and not ignoring her. Bella didn't know but she wanted to, so she drove over to Rosalie's house one day after school.
She found the usually pristine lawn covered in garbage, the front door unlocked and wide open. But what was even more concerning was the state of the inside of the house. Clothes, designer clothes that looked to be Rosalie's, were tossed around on the floor. Bella felt the breath catch in her throat. Had Rosalie's place been ransacked?
Paintings on the walls slashed, vases and lamps smashed to pieces. What the hell? Had the invaders hurt Rosalie too? Was that why she was gone? Bella felt slightly sick and she kept a hand over the pocket which held her phone in case the intruders could still be here.
"Hello?" she called out cautiously, wondering if she was being stupid in calling out because that was a typical horror movie mistake to do. It attracted the monster more often than not. But there was no monster, only a girl, sitting hunched against the wall of the ruined living room, an empty bottle of Grey Goose next to her. Her head was buried in the crook of her elbows.
"Rosalie?" Bella gasped out, tentatively.
What had happened?
