Author's Note: I'm so so so so so sorry for the HUGE delay. Life has completely gotten in the way. With school, my job, and theatre, it's been a juggling act to even get my homework done, let alone work on The Big Move. Anyway, here's chapter 5, and I hope to update sometime soon! Thanks for all the reviews!
On the way to the store, I felt a strange mix of emotions. On the one hand, I felt sadness, but also a strange exhilaration at the fact that I was moving out of Charlie's house. On the other, I felt naked panic at the fact that Alice was taking me food shopping for a house in which no one ate. A strange mix indeed.
As I was wrestling all these emotions, I heard buzzing around me. It took me a second to realize that Alice was talking to me. I pushed the feelings aside, and turned to her. By the time I finally started paying attention, she was quite disgruntled.
"Bella, snap out of it! I was asking you a question!" Alice's cold hands settled on my shoulders and started shaking me.
I shrugged her hands off. "Alice, relax. I was thinking. What did you want to ask me?" I was rather tired of this shopping trip already, and it hadn't even started yet. Alice smiled.
"What do you like to eat?" She asked as we were pulling into the parking lot. I saw many people I knew turn to stare at us, amazed that someone besides Esme or Edward was coming to the store. I felt the blush creep up my cheeks as Alice held the door open for me. Rosalie and Esme were already halfway to the store, not having had to wait for the cumbersome human. Alice sighed.
"Sometimes, Bella, I wish you weren't so slow." Alice took my arm and ushered me gently out of the car. She pulled my hand until we were caught up with Rosalie and Esme. We all walked into the store together, and that staring thing started up again. People looked in awe at Rosalie, Alice and Esme, and I was the odd one out. Sure, they stared at me too, but it was out of curiosity, not because I was stunning, that they stared. Esme pulled a cart from the corral, and went to the first aisle. I sighed. It was dog food.
"Esme?" I tapped her on the shoulder. Alice and Rosalie were smirking. Esme turned to me, a smile on her face.
"Yes?"
"This is the dog food aisle." Esme's smile crumpled.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, Bella." She turned the cart around and went three aisles down. Canned soup and peanut butter. At least it was human food. Alice picked up a can, and turned it in her hands.
"This looks good, Bella." She placed the can in the cart. It was cream of celery soup. I grimaced.
"Oh, Alice. That's usually used in recipes. People don't generally eat it by itself." Alice shrugged, and tossed it in the cart. I chuckled quietly. How would Alice know what looked good and what didn't? She hadn't eaten food in many, many years. We went down the aisle, lining the bottom of the cart with a wide array of soups. Clam chowder didn't really appeal to me, but what the heck. Soon enough, it wouldn't matter.
As we trolled through the store looking for unappealing food, my thoughts drifted to Edward. I really, really wanted to be with him right now, discussing what was going to happen in the near future. Sure, I wanted to live with him, and had for a long time, but I still wanted some assurance that this was the right move to make; that I was making the right decision.
"Bella! Look!" Alice's voice pulled me out of my thoughts once again. I noticed the goose bumps on my arms, and looked around. The frozen foods section. I rolled my eyes.
"What?" She was standing with one of the freezer doors wide open. Frost was beginning to form on the door, and an artic blast hit me full on. Pizza.
"Pick 15. They're on sale." Alice started reading the choices off for me. There were so many. I struggled to wrap my mind around all the possible choices. Finally, I just said yes whenever she asked my opinion.
"Do you shop like this every time you come to the store? Won't people get suspicious?" I asked quietly. Rosalie and Esme were off browsing boxed foods. Alice's eyes narrowed.
"No, we don't. Not every time. Besides, who's going to get suspicious when there are six teenagers in the house? No one." Alice's eyes went from narrowed to smiling. Her pixie face was angelic.
I laughed. "Okay…whatever you say. Are we done now?" My feet were starting to hurt, and the frozen products were starting to melt. She didn't answer me right away, so I quickly steered our cart toward the front of the store, and Alice made no attempt to stop me. We got up to the checkout line, where Rosalie and Esme were waiting. Their cart was stuffed with more canned and boxed foods than I felt like counting. My and Alice's cart had all the frozen and meat products. I noticed a little late that Rosalie was also towing a cart filled with various liquids. I rolled my eyes.
"I'll never be able to eat all this, you know. It'll go to waste." I whispered, but I knew Alice, Esme and Rosalie could hear me. They all glared.
"This isn't only about you, Bella. We have a façade to keep up. It's for all of us." Esme had moved close to me, and put her arm around my shoulders. She winked at me, and Alice and Rosalie began loading the groceries onto the belt. I sighed.
"Is there anything I can do to help you?" I called. Alice and Rosalie shook their heads at the same time.
"Don't even think about coming over here, Bella. There's a wet spot on the floor, and I don't want to take you back to Edward broken." She shuddered slightly, and kept putting the groceries on the belt. The poor cashier looked out of sorts, and was scanning as fast as her arms would let her.
I sighed again, and tapped my foot. I was anxious to get back to the Cullens. I needed to see Edward. Five minutes later, the cashier was breathing hard, and Rosalie and Alice had just finished bagging the groceries. Esme had her wallet open, and was handing several hundreds to the cashier. I blushed and looked away. That was a lot of money. Alice smirked.
"Bella, Bella, Bella. If you're thinking that's a lot of money, you are seriously mistaken. Remember your prom dress last year?"
I cringed. "Yes, I do. It was gorgeous. Please, please don't ruin it by telling me how much you paid for it."
Alice pouted. "Fine, I won't. But Rosalie might." Rosalie rolled her eyes, and smiled at me.
"I won't."
"Thanks."
Just then, Alice's face went smooth and blank. Her eyes slid shut, and time stood still. Rosalie and Esme were watching her with panic stricken looks on their faces. I stood directly in front of Alice, blocking her from anyone's view. Two minutes later, her eyes opened, and her brow creased.
"Edward won't be there when we get back. None of them will. They all decided to go on a quick hunting trip. They'll be back in about an hour."
I was crushed. I didn't want to go to the store in the first place, and then he leaves? What was that?
"Can we go now? I'm really tired." I pulled the tired card, and immediately got sympathy from Esme.
"Of course dear, Alice, Rosalie, let's go." They pushed the carts through the door, getting strange looks from the other shoppers as they did. I finally realized that a tiny girl like Alice should not have the strength to push a cart as obviously heavy as the one she was pushing. I smirked, and was towed along by Esme to the car.
Eventually, all the groceries were loaded into the trunk of Rosalie's car, although I wasn't entirely sure how. We set off down the road to the house, and I sat idly on the couch while Esme, Alice and Rosalie put the groceries away at vampire speed. So, in about thirty seconds, they were all put away.
Alice noticed me twisting my hands. "Bella, relax. Edward will be back in about…..five minutes."
I glared at her. "Did you have to tell me that? Now the next five minutes will seem like an eternity."
"So sorry. Are you hungry?" Alice leapt gracefully off the couch, and danced into the kitchen. I got up, knowing that she wouldn't quit bugging me until I ate something. By the time I'd reached the kitchen, she'd already thrown a frozen pizza into the oven.
"What kind was that?" I hoped it wasn't the one with spinach. I told her that I hated spinach, that I wouldn't eat it, but she'd thrown it into the cart anyway.
"Something with spinach on it. I thought it looked pretty." She smiled. "No, Bella. It's cheese."
I breathed a sigh of relief, and felt strong arms around me. I turned, and Edward pressed his icy lips to mine.
"Welcome home. I missed you." I threaded my arms around his neck. He bent his head, burying his lips in my neck. I could feel him inhaling my scent.
Alice walked back into the kitchen, pulling Jasper with her. Edward lifted his head.
"Hey, Jasper." I greeted him warmly, and he smiled back. "How was hunting?"
"It was alright, there wasn't much out today, but it was okay. I enjoy the chase." He smiled, and nudged Alice. She pulled my pizza from the oven and set it on the counter. The next thing I knew, it was cut into eight perfect pieces. She winked at me, and she and Jasper sauntered out of the room.
"What's this? It looks disgusting. Wait…is that, is that pizza?" He said incredulously. I looked at the circle sitting on the counter. It certainly didn't look like pizza. I touched it gently. It was lukewarm and very, very soggy.
"Alice? What did you set the oven to for the pizza?" I called, sure that she could hear me.
"Um, two hundred? Something like that?" She called, obviously annoyed. I smiled, and threw the pizza in the garbage.
I was definitely cooking for myself from here on out.