Okay, slight Bella OOC here. Sorry, that wasn't supposed to happen. :/
Thank you to those who helped me with my writers block problem and big thanks to .Cucumber for advertising :) Much love :)
And sorry I haven't updated. I'm bad at that. Well I hope all of you reviewers enjoyed your lint rollers :) There's a story behind that but that's for another time :) I have one last apology because this chapter is boring…ugh. It was just a filler and everything picks up from here I pinky-thumb promise!
I hope you enjoy :)

Disclaimer: DOT

Protective Filter.

A clear glass filter put onto a lens with the primary objective of protecting the lens surface from damage.

I drummed my fingers against my thigh as I looked out the dark window and waited to get off the plane. We had arrived in New York twenty minutes ago, but the morons up front wouldn't let us off the aircraft. My red RIT hoodie covered the top part of my face as I leaned my head against the cool window, practically praying to get off the plane. Apparently I had been bouncing my leg up and down because the older lady I was sitting with who I had somehow, miraculously, forgotten her name, placed her hand on my knee. She smiled up at me and told me something about how 'patience is a virtue' or close to it. I was forced to read lips since my iPod was blasting and I wasn't planning on taking it out anytime soon.

"Why don't you call that lovely friend of yours…Alice, is her name? To tell her you'll be late?" the woman mouthed.

Reluctantly, I took out my earphones. "I'm sorry?"

She smiled again and motioned to her cell phone. "Call your friend," she placed the phone in my hand.

I took the phone and flipped it open, thanking the woman.

Her wallpaper was a picture of an adorable kid, maybe three or four. He had short brown hair and the cutest blue eyes. He was looking up at the camera and smiling hugely at whoever was taking it. He looked like the kind of kid that you just wanted to hug and never let go.

"Cute, idn't he?" the woman beside me smiled. I looked at her and felt myself smiling back.

"Adorable," I said sincerely. In all honesty he reminded me exactly of Alice. She had blue eyes and brown hair, as well, but her hair was much darker and a little longer than the boy's; Alice's eyes were a pale blue and her spiky hair was nearly black. The smile the kid had on his face reminded me of how Alice is always happy, even though her definition of happy is closer to other's euphoric or extravagant. She always had an ear-splitting grin on her face and was always bouncing off the walls. Alice loved, loved, loved to shop for anything and everything –and by anything and everything, I mean anything and everything. Some may not see how this could be potentially disastrous or humiliating, but please trust me on this. If you don't have to shop with Alice, avoid it. Please. You'll thank me one day.

I turned back to the kid and punched in Alice's number. It rang three times before my pixie friend answered.

"Hello?" she answered, sounding tired and groggy. I suppose the part about it being nearly 3 AM here had something to do with that... Despite the time, not being greeted by the eccentric and bubbly ways of my friend was still a little unsettling.

"Now, Alice Brandon!" I scolded playfully, "Is that anyway to answer your phone? I haven't talked to you in weeks and this is the welcome I get? I guess I'm unloved…" I suggested, joking.

"Oh, Bella!" she sniffled, sounding congested. "I'm so happy you called! I missed you so much, where are you? How was your trip? Whose phone is this? Did you have fun? How was South America? Are-" she fired off questions like a game show host and I laughed before she started up a new round.

"I missed you, too, Alice! I'm at the airport but I'm still on the plane. My trip was awesome. The woman I'm sitting next to on the plane has so graciously lent me her phone 'cause mine's in my suitcase. I had oodles and oodles and colossals of fun and South America is gorgeous," I answered all of her questions.

"Oh, Bella that's great I'm so glad you had a good time," she said. There was a strange undercurrent in her tone that made me think there was something she wasn't telling me. Which there was, of course, but she was doing a pretty good job of hiding the - what? Sorrow in her voice? I suppose that works.

"And you took some ah-mazing pictures I presume?" she yawned.

"Yep." I replied simply before following suit with yawning also.

"Do you need me to come pick you up? I forgot that you didn't have a car there." She asked.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble that'd be great, thanks. I need to get off the phone now; they're finally letting us off the plane and I think I might start kicking and screaming if I don't get off super soon. Love ya, Ali," I ended.

"You too, Bells! See you soon!" the line went dead as she hung up. I flipped the phone closed and handed it back to the woman. "Thank you so very much."

"You are most welcome, dear."

The stewardess called everyone to attention, looking tired and bored herself, telling us that we were allowed to exit the plane. She thanked us for flying with them and hoped we had enjoyed our flight.

After racing off the plane and through baggage claim and customs, eager to leave all traces of the airport behind, I simply couldn't help it when my feet guided me towards the food court. I figured that since Alice and I lived a good half hour from the airport, I still had a plenty of time before she showed up. I shuffled to the McDonald's as fast as my tired body would let me, positively craving French fries, and ordered just that. I walked to one of the empty tables with my food and set my bag on top. I dug through it to find my phone and yelled a little too loudly when I finally spotted it, earning a few stares and snickers from nearby travelers. A few people even glared at my noise level. Oops.

I turned my baby on and waited for the long missed wallpaper and instant communication while nibbling on my fries. I didn't mind having basically no contact in Brazil, but in the world that is New York City and with someone as busy as I am, communication is an essential part of life.

Countless missed calls, voicemails and text messages flitted across the screen before I hit the 'end' button. I wouldn't look at them now; it would take much too much time. I continued to eat my fries not thinking about anything in particular.

When I was finished devouring my food I hitched my bag on my shoulder and made my way down through the terminals, looking for the parking lot. You would think that between someone where the airport was practically a second home and with the giant signs that were hung everywhere anyone could make their way through an airport. Leave it to Bella Swan to prove you wrong on that, my friend. Just leave it to me.

As I circled aimlessly though the airport I decided to ask for directions on one of the many convenient shops located along the walls.

Yes, directions. Don't judge me; I can't help it if my internal compass doesn't function right.

I stepped in one of the many shops and wandered around, looking for something to catch my interest. I picked up a chocolate chip Odwalla bar and an orange G2 before even making it ten feet into the place. By the time I had hit the register, I had picked up four different magazines and a pack of gum for some reason. Two gossip magazines, a NatGeo (my guilty pleasure) and a fashion magazine for Alice. I popped some Trident Splash in my mouth before I paid for anything, unable to resist. I tossed my items on the counter as my phone buzzed in my pocket.

'Honey, I'm home!' Alice wrote.

I tapped out that I would be there in a minute and put my phone away and grabbed my wallet. I paid for my stuff and asked the cashier where the parking lot was. She looked at me like I had three heads but eventually pointed me in the right direction. I thanked her and blew a huge bubble before walking away. I pulled out my iPod from my pocket set it on shuffle while I put the earphones in.

Five minutes later I found the doors to the parking lot and picked up the pace a little. I hurried to the doors and was relieved beyond belief when I was officially out of the airport. Alice spotted me and I saw a flashy, yellow Porsche pull up right next to the sidewalk. The driver's door flew open and before I knew it I was being tackled by the Energizer Bunny herself.

"Bella!" she exclaimed as she hugged me and bounced up and down. I returned the hug and kissed her spiky hair. "I missed you so much!"

Even with Alice covering whatever was bugging her up, it was still blatantly obvious that something was wrong. The areas under her eyes were red and puffy even through the cover-up, and her cheeks were flushed from what probably was the doing of a major sob episode. I felt horrible for her, as Alice never cried and she seemed to be trying hard to cover the fact that she was up. I don't understand why she would try to, though, because I'm here so I can comfort her. I don't want Alice to feel like she has to be strong or that she can't cry on my shoulder, when truly she can. Although I knew something was bothering her deeply and it irked me so, Alice would let me know what is wrong when she's good and ready. And so I replied like nothing was wrong.

"Alice! I missed you, too!"

Alice pulled away and looked me up and down, sniffling once as she did so. Her eyes bugged out her head as she stared at me. "My God, you've gotten fat!"

Wh-what?!

I looked down frantically at myself and started to pat my legs and stomach, making the fabric of my sweats retract to my figure.

"Oh, thank God!" I looked up at her. Her hand was over her heart and she was looking at the sky. "It's just your retarded clothes! Which are hideous, by the way."

I rolled my eyes at her. "Wow, thanks Alice," I said sarcastically. She just smiled and laughed.

"Hungry?"

"A little. I just had some fries and I bought a snack in the one shop but I could go for something if you're up for it."

"Sounds good." Alice smiled before hugging me again and running over to the driver's side of the Porsche.

We pulled into a small twenty-four hour diner a few minutes away and started to talk about anything and everything. Alice told me how she went to go see some new movies and how she had some auditions scheduled for next week. She asked me about my trip and where I went and who I was with. I told her all about Emmett and South America and the camera crew and the forest in general. Once again I didn't bring up why I was currently in America and not in Brazil.

At five AM we left the diner to head home. Alice was still exploding with energy from her coffee – the place only had regular instead of decaf, unfortunately – so she ended up driving while I sat lazily in the passenger side, listening to my iPod in one ear. We brought up bits and pieces of conversation, touching up on anything we hadn't yet hit.

We pulled into the parking lot of our apartment building some time later, and I felt dead on my feet. I grabbed my bag while Alice helped me drag myself through the lobby and to the elevator. By the time we reached our room, I could no longer open my eyes, and by the time I flopped onto my bed I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

*~*~*~*~*

I woke up the next morning in my bed at the apartment. It was strange to wake up to a small, destructive pixie singing and bouncing on my bed instead of the soothing sounds of the forest and the bright sunlight.

Wait – what?

"Alice!" I screeched. I took my pillow from under me and lobbed it at her tiny form that happened to be dominating my bed at the moment. Alice dodged the blob by leaning gracefully to her left and then back closer to me. I closed my eyes forcefully and rolled over while covering my face with my hands. I groaned loudly while Alice was talking and I adjusted the volume depending on how loud or long she would talk, effectively drowning her out. This annoyed the shit out of her.

"Agh!" Alice yelled, hopping off my bed. "Isabella I hope that you know what you're getting into!" I knew she would be jabbing a finger in my direction as she said this. I smiled into my pillow; I knew something bad was going to happen, but her reactions were always amusing.

Alice slammed the door to my room as she stomped out, only – little did I know – that she would interrupt my new found peace again just moments later. Usually she would wait to get revenge, but I guess this was her exception.

Alice burst into my room carrying a large pillow from one of the couches on one hand and a big glass of ice water in the other. She hopped onto my bed without spilling the water and stood over me, face dark and angry.

"Isabella Swan," she growled menacingly. I flipped over to look at her and to see that the water glass was tipped slightly in my direction. I felt that dark plumes of purple smoke around her face would be appropriate here. Maybe some skulls or something…

"If you do not get out of bed this instant, I will gladly pour this glass of ice water onto your face, Bella Baby."

I glared up at her with my eyes narrowed."You wouldn't dare," I tried. The glass tipped farther and the water crept closer to the edge.

Of course she would. I knew that, but I wanted to see how far I could push her and how much information I could gather before I had to move. This bed was simply too comfortable and I felt as if I didn't get nearly as much sleep as I would've liked.

"Would you like to bet your current, not-covered-in-water state on it?" she sneered.

Eh, no.

I groaned loudly. "Alice!" I whined, stretching out her name. "Do we have to go shopping now? I just got back and I want to sleep and-" I looked over to the digital clock on my bedside table. It read 7.02AM. I gaped at it.

I whipped my head around to look back at Alice. "It's seven fa-ducking AM! What is wrong with you? Two hours of sleep, Alice! I could kill you!" I ranted.

Alice threw her head back and cackled. I continued to stare/glare at her as she resumed some composure, but she was still unable to wipe the smile fully off of her face. She beamed at me. "Well, Bella, darling, if you do not recall, I had three cups of coffee two hours ago and it's also light outside. You know I don't tolerate sleeping in and I have money to spend! The mall is a-waiting and I just know there's a pair of Jimmy Choo Corsica's with my name written all over them…"

Damn coffee. But those shoes were awfully cute…

I rolled my eyes at her, unable to resist. "I hate you, Alice. You owe me huge for this and just so you know, I don't have any money to spend on clothes right now…" I hinted at me not getting paid.

"Silly Bella," Trix are for kids… "you know that it's always on me. Besides, you would never buy anything on your own if it wasn't for my expertise. Get up now. Chop, chop. Shower and get ready. Twenty minutes. Shoo," she waved her hand at me.

Considering she was still standing over me, it was rather difficult to get up.

"Uhm, Alice?"

"Yes, Bella?" she sighed. "Time's a-wasting."

I gestured up to her, hoping to indicate that I couldn't move.

"Oh, right." Alice rolled her eyes as the light bulb flicked on in her head. She dumped the glass of water on me nonchalantly and tossed the pillow on my face before lightly hopping off the bed and walking gracefully to the door.

I sputtered under the pillow, unable to move and still in slight shock. I was not expecting that in the least. I heard my bedroom door open and Alice say something about hurrying up and then the door creak shut again.

Considering it was too early for a game of 'Bella-Runs-Through-House-Chasing-Alice-And-Falls-On-Her-Ass-Injuring-Herself', I obediently got up out of bed and walked to the bathroom that connected to mine and Alice's rooms. I locked both doors and turned the water to an almost scalding hot temperature. I took a fresh towel out of the cabinet and set it next to the sink, which happened to be littered with tissue boxes, empty and new alike. I threw the empty ones away and felt a pang of guilt for both Alice and myself. For her because she was obviously in pain, and for me for not being a better friend for bringing it up. I would today, though. I wasn't going to beat around the bush.

The steam filled the small room quickly as I undressed and hopped in, absolutely adoring the way the water felt against my skin and muscles.

I turned on my little waterproof radio and the disk started to play 'Cha-Cha Slide'. I did everything the song told me to as I got clean, and found myself dancing and singing to the rest of the mix. 'The Macarena' and 'Too Sexy For My Shirt' played as I stepped out, and by the time I had blown my hair dry and changed, the old disc had ended with the Pokemon theme.

When I left the bathroom, I found my clothes for today were so graciously laid out for me. I hate it when Alice does that – never letting me pick out my own clothing – even though it does help to have your own personal stylist. She has impeccable taste, that much no one can deny, but some of the things she chose for me to wear were a bit too risqué for my liking. She must've been happy that I was going shopping with her since she just grabbed a pair of faded black skinny jeans, a white cami and a navy blue boyfriend cardigan; nothing crazy at all.

I threw the clothes on and looked myself over in my full-length mirror. My dark hair was in waves to the center of my back, and with what Alice picked out, I really didn't look too bad. I opened my bedroom door to walk out to the kitchen when I noticed my two shoe options for the day on the ground. On the right there was a nice, sensible pair of navy blue ballet flats; on the left, a pair of navy blue and white pumps.

Now, considering I was someone who lacked any shape or form of balance, choosing the flats should be a no-brainer, right? Right.

But, damn. Those were the cutest pumps I had ever seen. I'm talking like cuter-than-a-puppy-dog cute. They positively screamed 'Death Trap' but on the contrary radiated 'Want Me'. I knew that if I were to wear those bad boys I would feel on top of the world if I didn't end up breaking my neck first.

I looked frantically back and forth between the two pairs of shoes for a good minute, torn as to which to wear. I think I even started biting my lip at one point before Alice took some pity on me.

"You know, you could bring them both," she said nonchalantly from the couch as she was popping another apple slice in her mouth.

I ran up to the couch and grabbed her from behind, bouncing up and down and squealing. Shopping didn't get me excited, but I was a woman who loved her shoes.

Alice laughed and hopped up off the couch when I let her go.

"Ready?" she asked me excitedly. I nodded and started to laugh when she jumped and squealed. She picked up an empty tissue box and a small trash can that had been moved and ran to the other side of the kitchen, which was connected to the living room, and grabbed two purses. She squeaked and threw one at me before grabbing my shoes and stuffing them in her bag, and she latched on to my wrist and started to drag me out of our apartment. I was still barefoot, but that didn't seem to bother Alice at the moment.

*~*~*~*~*

While we were shopping, I would find that sometimes my mind would wander its way back to Brazil whenever I saw an exotic print or while Alice was in the dressing room, leaving me to my thoughts. In true Alice fashion, though, she would always interrupt my daydreams and drag me to another store, picking out several outfits and shoving me in the dressing room.

So after countless hours, twenty pairs of shoes, thirty separate bags a few thousand dollars later, Alice let me have a rest on one of the benches inside the mall. She ran off to get some Starbucks for us both, leaving me to fend off predators from our plethora of packages.

After a few minutes, I saw Alice sprinting through the mall with two cups in her hands, causing people to literally jump out of her way. She didn't trip once, even though she was wearing heels, and she didn't seem to give a flying duck if her skirt hitched up a little. I wish I could do that. If it was me running, not only would I fall too many times to count, but I would make sure to stop every few steps to pull my skirt down to an acceptable height. Alice was always much more outgoing than the shy girl that I am, and a too short skirt would be the(one of many) death(s) of me.

"Bella!" Alice yelled.

"Alice!" I called across the space. People were staring at both of us, but I tried to pretend I didn't notice as my face and neck burst into flames.

Alice finally made it to my bench panting, threw some of the bags off of me and sat sideways on my lap. She looked at me and her bright blue eyes were sparkling, her smile infectious. I grinned back at her as she handed me my Iced Chai and asked her what that was all about and she swung her short legs to and fro, smiling wider and wider each time she pumped them.

"Guess what!" Alice squeaked in her sing-song voice. She drew out the 'what' and looked up at the ceiling of the mall with her hands over her heart.

"What?" I matched her happy tone as I smiled as well.

"I met the cutest boy I have ever seen! I'm talking like hot! I'm talking...damnit, Bella!" At this point her arms flailed in front of her face as if to help get her point across. " I think I'm in love!" Alice giggled and fake swooned as she leapt off of my lap. She stood up straight and said 'love' again, stretching it out.

"Loove," she said, stretching it.

"Loove," I said in a low, pitifully seductive masculine voice.

"La-huv!" Now she almost sung it whilst looking at a random spot on the floor with her eyebrows pulled together.

"La-ah-uh-ah-ve," I sang it so it sounded like that lady's voice on the intro on American Idol.

"La-la-la-love," she belted out like Wes Scantlin from 'Puddle of Mudd'.

"Love Shack! Baby, Love Shack!" I yelled. I heard someone behind me say 'Love Shack, Baby!' just like the guy in the song. I laughed and turned around to smile before hearing Alice feed another song.

"I wanna make love in this club!"

"…Right now, na na!" It felt silly to say the same thing over again so I just threw a different ending on.

"You keep your love locked down!"

"L-O-V-E's just another word I never learned to pronounce!"

Alice looked pointedly at me, then, putting her hands on her hips and tapping her foot on the linoleum floor, "You know, that song kind of goes against what we've been going for."

"Yea, I know. I just couldn't think of any others off the top of my head," I said, smiling. "Plus, you have to admit it's a good song."

Alice took her hands off her hips and smiled while sitting down next to me. "Too, true. Too, true."

During the course of our 'love song' outbreaks, a few people stopped to stare at us. They stopped to look at the five-foot-nothing hyper-active pixie and the unfortunate girl buried under all the shopping bags. When I broke out of my reverie, then did I start to notice just how many people had stopped to stare at us. My previous blush was miniscule in comparison to this newly discovered one. Alice started to sip at her coffee, oblivious to the people staring. Well, she probably wasn't, actually. Alice was always one for attention.

"So," I started, tuning my attention away from the lolly-gaggers. "Tell me more about this guy you met."

Alice whipped her head around so fast I had to blink a few times before my brain comprehended the fact that she moved and was staring at me. "Oh, Bella! We were in line and we just started talking and he even paid for our coffee! And look!" Alice pulled her sleeve up her arm and thrust it out for me to look at. In large blue marker was a phone number with little red hearts that decorated the surrounding flesh. I looked back at her and she was smiling so wide it probably hurt. Her eyes were positively sparkling, waiting for me to reply.

"Where'd you get the red marker?"

She kept on smiling, "That little boy couldn't color inside the lines to save his life."

I looked, well more like gaped, at her before bursting out laughing.

She pulled the sleeve back down and looked down at the floor, playing with her coffee sheepishly. "His name's Jasper. I really like him."

"Alice that's awesome," I smiled at her.

And so we talked on that bench for another twenty minutes before grabbing our things and heading home to our apartment.

When we walked inside, my first instinct was to drop my bags and run to the bathroom. I mean a girl can only hold herself for so long, right? As I ran through the small apartment I took notice to the giant pile of mail on the kitchen counter. "Alice, look at this mail! Didn't you open anything while I was away?" I yelled as I ran exceedingly fast towards the bathroom. I heard her mumble something from the front doorway before I collided with the bathroom door, but I chose to ignore it. "Ow," I wined from the floor, rubbing my head.

Alice chuckled and set her bags on the living room table before sitting herself at the kitchen counter where the excessive mail was piled up. I stood up, dizzy, and let myself into the bathroom.

When I walked out of the bathroom a minute later, I saw Alice sitting at the kitchen table, a few stray tears running down her face as she stared at a piece of paper.

"Alice?" I called quietly. When she didn't look up I called a little louder. "Alice?"

Her head snapped up and her eyes went wide when she found me staring at her. She quickly shoved the paper under the rest of the mail and tried to wipe her face of all remaining tears. I ran over and hugged her, but I didn't know why exactly she was upset.

"Alice, what is it, Baby?" I asked frantically.

"Nothing, Bella. I'm fine," she replied with a watery smile.

As much as I loved Alice I was sick of her bullshit. I said I wasn't going to beat around the bush, and so I'm not. I shoved through the mail to find the offending piece of paper despite all of Alice's protests. When I finally found it, I stood up and read the first three lines before freezing completely.

"Bella, my dad's dead." Alice refused to look at me and continued to stare at the tabletop. She sniffled a few times before eventually bursting out in tears.

In my hand I held a funeral invitation.

I sat down with Alice and cried with her, hugging her as I allowed her to ruin my shirt, and in return she allowed me to ruin her own.

Bleh. Not only did that take way too long to write, but that chapter annoys the hell out of me. I hate it with a deep and fiery passion.
Okay, well please review :) You will be rewarded with another household item if you do!
Much love 3