Thanks to all who reviewed!! Sorry, no 2nd POV this chap. It was long enough without it, plus, I couldn't really find a minor character that would be interesting. More about that at the bottom, so you have to read to get there :)
2. The Epitome Of Horrible Days
Bella.
"And...There! Perfect!" Alice said, then jumped back to observe her work. "Wow Bella. I almost didn't recognize you!"
I rolled my eyes and looked down at my dress. Just a simple black one, complete with a pair of heels that really made me nervous. I couldn't even look at them. Truthfully, I didn't even know what color they were. As long as I was going to have to wear them, I was going to try and act like they weren't even there.
"You're all ready to go!" Great. And so it begins. "Are you excited?" She said, acting like her normal, hyperactive self.
"No." I responded flatly.
"I guessed you would say that. Oh well. I'll be excited for the both of us then!!" She replied, just as perky as before.
I sighed. "Woo-hoo." I said as I humored her by clapping my hands with mock enthusiasm.
"Oh, Bella...Don't be like that! I went through all this trouble, and you're just so ungrateful!"
"I would have been more grateful if you didn't go through any trouble at all." I replied truthfully.
"Fine. Be like that. You're still going, so don't make me force you into my car." I let out another sigh. There was just no way to beat Alice.
We walked out the door, and I didn't even bother to look at myself. I really didn't want to know what she did to my face. I probably didn't even look like myself. She herself said that she almost didn't recognize me. I liked how I looked before. Normal looking, average. If I looked like what Alice wanted me to look like, then it didn't look like me at all.
As we entered her yellow Porsche, I made sure not to look into the mirrors, either. In fact, I steered clear of any reflective surface possible. Sure I was a little paranoid, but who cares?
As we pulled up to the restaurant called New Moon, (not very original, I know, but I couldn't think of anything else) Alice looked at me and said, "Alright, it's under my name. I told you date that, too, so you should Be able to figure out that it's him when he comes up to your table, k?"
"Yeah, sure..." I mumbled as I stepped out of her car. Here goes everything.
As I walked into the restaurant, I told the waiter-person (I was no good at fancy-place terminology) what party I was under and he guided me to a table with (surprise, surprise) someone sitting at it.
He didn't look that bad – blond hair, light blue eyes – until he opened his mouth.
My problem wasn't that he opened his mouth, it was that he never closed it.
10 minutes...I learned that he had a dog.
20 minutes...I learned that his parent's names were Bill and Jane.
30 minutes...He killed a goldfish when he was 5 because he forgot to feed it.
40 minutes...I was ready to hang myself.
I couldn't get a word in ALL NIGHT. I'm not even sure if he knew my name! I sure knew his.
"...and then they said, 'Mike, your so silly!'..."
SHUT. UP.
Could he NOT see that I was at a breaking point?!
He stopped. "What?" he asked, looking confused.
It took me a second to realize that I had said that out loud. Well, I couldn't really hear myself over him, anyway.
"I said 'Shut up.' Please excuse the fact that I so rudely interrupted you life story. Be sure to pick up where you left off with some other girl, k?" I said, quite sourly, as I gathered my jacket and purse.
Only after I exited the restaurant did I realize that Alice drove me here. Fantastic! This world just hated me today.
No matter. I'll just call her.
I pulled my phone out of my purse, I saw that it had no battery. I just wanted to throw it at the freaking wall like it was it's fault that it's dead. UGH!! Well, I most definitely wasn't going back in there to be greeted by 'Lord Pighead, Mike the Conceited', so that was out. I couldn't get a hold of Alice OR Rose, so that was also out. Fine! As long as this day is already being a bitch, I'll just walk home then!
And...then it started raining.
Just.
My.
Luck.
Okay, I REALLY needed to kick something. HARD.
And, to top it all off, I STILL had no other choice but to walk home, IN THE RAIN! Hurray for me.
Whoopdie-dingle-FREAKIN-doo.
I started walking, not exactly sure where I was going. Not that I cared.
I got about 3 blocks when the anger finally faded and, in turn, my eyes filled with tears. Why couldn't just one good thing happen to me today? Anything! I mean, I know that I had really bad luck, but did I really deserve this?
I continued walking forward, slower this time, and for once, I was even happy that it was raining. No one could see me cry if it was raining.
So, I was soaking wet. So, I was shivering convulsively. So, I was completely miserable. So, this day wasn't one of my best days.
It could always be worse. It could definitely be worse.
I walked another 2 blocks just to realize that I had no idea where I was. I sighed, but kept walking. It didn't matter, at any rate. The rain obscured my vision whenever I looked up, so I just looked at my feet and walked in a strait line. Hopefully, 'strait' won't bring me into a wall.
I should've figured that, even though I was looking at my feet, I was bound to stumble. I tripped here and there, nothing too bad. But it was getting really dark, and the tripping became more and more frequent. My legs were beginning to throb from walking so much.
Finally, My legs gave out, and I tripped over nothing. Fortunately, I didn't land in a wall, though. But I never hit the ground, either. Two times today. Two times I fell, and two times I didn't get hurt.
"Woah!" I heard someone say as whatever they were carrying hit the ground. Some kind of beverage, I think. It made somewhat of slosh-y kind of noise. Whoever caught me helped me to stable me, and I caught a glimpse of the sign before I looked down at my feet again. Of course he dropped a coffee. We were right outside Starbucks.
"Are you oka— Bella?" He said. I knew the voice from...somewhere. I couldn't quite match it to a face, though, or a name. But I looked up anyway.
Edward. He was here, and I fell into him again. First the mall, and now this. Gosh, I was on a roll today.
"Edward, right?" My voice was really weak, but I had to ask. I didn't want to screw up this conversation by getting his name wrong.
"Yeah." He said. "Bella, are you okay?"
I had to think about it for a second. Was I okay? "No, not really." My voice was still shaky and my teeth were clinking together because of the cold.
"What's wrong?" There was something that I wasn't used to seeing, in general, but it was there in his eyes. It took me a minute or so to figure out what it was. Concern. He really cared. How long had I known him? 20 minutes, tops? And he honestly wanted to know what was bothering me.
"I-I w-well," My voice was really shaky, seeing as I was suddenly very cold. A sharp wind blew by us, and my teeth-clanking became even more pominent. "I w-w-was j-j-ust," And for some reason, I started crying again. Maybe it was because I was tired, or maybe because I really didn't want to replay the day's events. I didn't know.
"Bella?" He was really serious. He really did care. "Bella, you know Jasper, right? He told me he knew you when I told him about you."
I nodded. I had no idea how this related to the subject, but oh well.
"Bella, it's really cold out here. Do you want me to drive you to my apartment? Jasper and my friend from the mall, Emmett, live there. My car is right there." He pointed two feet to his left.
Oh. He wanted to see if I knew Jasper so that that question didn't come across as completely awkward. 'Hey, can I drive you to my apartment?' 'Sure, why not?' Cuz that wouldn't sound awkward at all.
I nodded. I couldn't find my voice.
He opened the passenger door to his car for me, and I got in. Then he did something really unexpected; he handed me the jacket he was wearing.
I blushed. "W-why are you g-g-giving t-this to me?"
"Bella, you look really cold, you're pale as snow and dripping wet. You need it more than I do."
"I-I can't t-take it! It's y-yours!" I struggled to get the sentence out.
"Bella." He said, completely serious again. "Put it on. You look sick." There it was again, nothing but worry for me apparent in his eyes.
So I took the jacket. There was no way I could win because I wasn't even sure if my sentence would come out intelligibly or not.
The jacket was so warm when I put it on. I almost didn't want to give it back. Ever.
It also smelled so good. Like...I don't even know. It was really hard to explain.
He got in the driver's side, started the car, and the heat kicked in. I felt better almost instantly. God, it felt so good! It felt like I had gone hours without heat, which made me wonder... "Edward, what time is it?" I asked. At least the sentence came out, and I didn't even stutter.
"It's nine. Bella?" He asked.
"Yes?"
"How long have you been outside like that?" The question came out weird. Almost like he was afraid of what the answer would be. Huh. How odd.
The question made me think. The date was at seven...I was ready to kill myself at seven forty...I got up and left at seven fifty...and I wanted to throw my phone at the wall at about eight. Wow. I've been out here a lot longer than I thought. "An hour." I managed to choke out. Great. Now I was probably going to be sick for a couple of weeks, all thanks to Mike.
"That's about what I thought." He said with what looked like a guarded expression. "You really don't look to well, Bella. Why were you outside, walking in the rain with that?" he said, gesturing towards my dress and heels.
"Well, I was....well my whole day has been horrible and–" I stared crying again.
"Bella? What happened?" he asked, true curiosity burning behind his words. He was looking at the road ahead, but acting as if that wasn't what was really holding his attention.
"I– well, first,"I said through the tears, "Alice dragged me to the mall against my will, to g-get me ready for the blind date she was putting me on, again, unwillingly. T-then I get sick in Abercrombie, of all places, and I fall in front of you. After all that, Alice played Barbie-Bella until it w-was time for my date, and, as it turns out, he was a total jackass, s-so I left. When I got out, I realized that Alice drove me there, and that it would be hours before she picked me up, so I decided to call her. That was before I saw that my phone was dead, so I just started walking. This day is really – Just, – ugh, I don't even know. I just want curl up into a ball and wait for it to end!" The tears were falling freely now, probably coming out by the bucketful. I felt really bad about getting his jacket wet, but he didn't seem to mind.
Why was I telling him this? He was a total stranger! Okay, not really, since he knew Jasper, but close enough! I didn't even care anymore. It felt so good to just get it off my chest.
"...And that's when you ran into me." He finished by stating, not questioning.
"Well, yeah, but that doesn't really fall into the 'really horrible day' category. That may just have been the only good thing that happened all day. I mean, now I'm warm, and I have someone to talk to."
He seemed pretty surprised that I said that. I was surprised that I said that. I blushed and quickly changed the subject. "Speaking of running into you, I'm sorry about the coffee. I'll have to buy you a new one..."
"Oh. Right. The coffee." He didn't sound like he cared at all.
" Why were you getting a coffee at nine o' clock at night, anyway?" I asked.
"Oh. Well, it was for Emmett. He needs to stay up late to finish...whatever it was that he needed to finish. Whatever it was, it is due tomorrow." He sounded about as interested as I was. And, honestly, I didn't really care.
Oh great. Now I felt bad. "So if he falls asleep and doesn't finish, it'll be my fault?"
"No, Bella! That's not what I meant, not at all! It's not even that important. If it was, then he would have finished it a week ago, when it was given to him. Besides, I think he can manage to stay up. I think he just wanted me out of the house because I was annoying the hell out of him."
I sighed. I didn't really have the strength to argue, so I gave up. At any rate, I was glad that Edward annoyed the hell out of Emmett. Who knows where I would be now if he didn't have an excuse to leave his house?
I leaned my head against the window of his car and closed my eyes, then I drifted into a dreamless sleep for the rest of the drive.
A/N Hope you liked it! Sorry about not putting in another POV, there just wasn't any minor character I could do besides Mike, and I didn't want to be run over by an angry mob this early in the story :) And I'm doing Edward's POV next chapter, so I couldn't do him either. Sooooo...yeah.
Anywhoos, the song recommendation for this chapter is:
— 'Your Arms Feel Like Home' – 3 Doors Down
By the way, all songs have a 'Twilight' reference. This one is pretty obvious.
luvs u all --
— Jazz (Only Alice can call me 'Jazzy' :) hehe..lol isn't that right, Alice?)
Alice would be my friend, Paula, btw.
