Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.
I hurried up the stairs and stood outside of Renee's room, listening quietly. I could hear her steady breathing and knew she had fallen asleep. I walked to my room, pulling out my cell phone as I went, dialing Jacob's number. I decided I should tell Jacob about our truth or dare game. If he asked what my dare was, I wouldn't lie. Well I would lie, just a bit. If he asked, I wouldn't tell him that the kiss was amazing, spectacular, everything I could've hoped for. I'm sure that would go over well.
"Hey baby," he answered.
"Hey Jake," I replied, happy to hear his voice again.
"How was the Cullen's?" he asked, his voice just a tad sarcastic, something I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't know him so well.
"It was a lot of fun. We played truth or dare. Emmett had to skinny dip in the neighbor's pool and she caught him it was so funny!" I said, laughing at the memory.
"What was everyone else's dares?" he asked. He didn't sound suspicious. Yet.
"Jasper had to eat mayonnaise, which I guess he despises. He threw up afterwards. Rosalie had to run down the street in a leather outfit yelling rock on. And Alice has to let me pick her outfit to school tomorrow, no matter what," I said, purposely not saying Edward's or mine.
"What was yours?" Oh crap. Oh crap, crap, crap.
"Oh, it was nothing really. Alice thought of it," I stalled.
"What was it?" Now he sounded slightly angry, suspicious.
"I had to." I took a deep breath. "Kiss Edward."
All I could hear was the faint static on the other end of the phone. I wasn't even aware that I was holding my breath.
"Jacob?" I said, my voice scared and low. "Are you still there?"
"You kissed him?" was his only response.
"Yes."
"How was it?" His tone was mocking, furious.
"It was…like kissing my grandmother," I lied quickly. "Meaningless."
"Huh." I held my breath again, waiting for him to speak. "Why didn't you just say no?"
"I tried to," I said, glad I could be honest now. "But Alice was determined."
"You could've tried harder Bella," he said, his voice grave.
"I'm sorry," I blurted. "It was just for a stupid game. Meaningless."
"Whatever Bella." His voice was distant, cold.
"Are you mad at me?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"You expect my girlfriend, my love, to tell me she kissed another guy and me to be okay with it?"
"It was meaningless Jake, really," I pleaded desperately.
"I need to think about this Bella. I don't know."
"I barely even know him Jacob. I wouldn't have done it if Alice hadn't forced me to."
"What was Edward's dare?" he asked suddenly.
"He didn't do dare. He did truth," I said.
"And?"
"Alice…asked him if…I was a good kisser," I said slowly.
"And what was his response?" His voice was oddly formal.
"He said…yes."
"Anything else?"
"No," I lied quickly. I mean the rest was just gory details, nothing Jacob really needed to know.
"Tell me the truth Bella?" I sighed. At least he saw through this lie, not the last one.
"Well she asked if I was the best kiss he ever had and he said yes but he was probably lying to make me feel better," I said in a rush. There was silence, nothing but the sound of his steady breathing. In and out, in and out.
"Jake, those feelings are not mutual," I said. And as much as I wanted it to be true, I had that, butterflies-in-your-stomach, queasy feeling you get when you lie.
"I have to go Bella," Jacob said, his voice cold and angry.
"Please, Jake. I'm sorry," I said softly.
"Bye Bells."
"I love you," I blurted, right before the line went dead. He didn't answer. I curled up in my bed and looked at the clock. It was only eight. I was settling in for a good crying jag when the doorbell rang from downstairs. I ran to the door, not wanting to wake Renee, holding back my tears. To my intense surprise, it was Rosalie. I mean, I knew Rosalie didn't hate me but we hadn't really talked. But she was smiling at my door, her convertible parked outside.
"Come on Bella," she said cheerily- the opposite of how I was feeling. "We're going shopping."
"Why?" I asked, baffled.
"We have to pick out Alice's outfit for tomorrow," she said. "Duh."
"Oh right. Can you go without me Rose? I'm not feeling so great," I lied, faking a cough.
"No. It was your dare, you have to have a say," she said sternly, crossing her arms over her chest. I sighed, admitting defeat. I wrote a quick note to Renee, telling her where I'd be and headed outside with Rosalie. I climbed into the passenger seat of her convertible and she sped away, going at least sixty on a thirty mile per hour street.
"So I was thinking we'd hit up Marshall's," Rosalie said. "They usually have some tacky shit there and Alice hates cheap and tacky." I nodded. Rosalie peeked at me before turning back to the road. She sighed. "Alright. What's up?"
"Nothing," I answered too quickly.
"Bella, please. You're an awful liar. Is this about Edward?" she asked.
"Well…sort of," I said.
"Continue."
"I told my boyfriend I kissed Edward," I admitted in a whisper. Rosalie sighed.
"Why on Earth would you do that?" she asked, sounding exasperated, like my mistakes were causing her pain.
"Well I couldn't just lie about it. Like you said, I'm an awful liar. Now he's pissed," I said.
"I think Edward likes you," Rosalie announced. "And I don't know much about this boyfriend but so far the only things I've heard is him getting angry and or jealous about Edward." She looked at me with her eyebrows raised, like the choice was obvious.
"Jacob is a really great guy. Yeah he gets jealous but…what guy doesn't?" I said, feeling the need to defend Jacob, even though she had hit him dead on.
"I guess guys do get jealous, but this afternoon you were just going to a girlfriends house. So this girl happened to have two brothers, so what? It's not a big deal," she said.
"It turned out to be a big deal I guess. I kissed another guy." An amazing, beautiful guy. A perfect kiss, I sighed to myself.
"It was good kiss though, you've got to admit it."
"Rosalie. I love Jacob." We pulled into the parking lot at Marshall's.
"I'm not saying you don't. But just answer me this. Did you feel anything, any sort of spark or passion when you were kissing Edward? Something that just felt right?" She was giving me a look that told me she already knew the answer and I knew lying was futile.
"Yes."
"See? And I know Edward likes you. I mean just the way he looks at you." She snorted suddenly. "You should've seen your face after that kiss. You looked like you were on cloud nine." We hopped out of the car and headed inside, straight to the clearance racks, looking at tacky, disgusting clothes for Alice.
"It was a good kiss, I won't deny that. But my kisses with Jake are just as good," I defended myself. Yeah right, I thought.
"Please," Rosalie scoffed. "I doubt anything can be as good as kissing Edward. Except kissing Emmett." She smiled.
"How long have you and Emmett been dating?" I asked, desperate to change the subject.
"Since we were sophomores," she answered. As we were pawing through the clothes she gave me a pretty detailed description of her and Emmett's…love. I was nauseated. At the end of the night, we found a pair of hot pink pants with black zebra stripes (A/N: I actually saw pants like this in Marshall's once. They were hideous.) They were stretchy, and looked like they would rip if they caught on anything. And we paired it with a puke green short, with bright orange swirls. The shirt had awkward cut offs right at the boobs and belly button so we bought an aqua blue bra to stick under it. We paired it all with a huge pair of what could only be described as clown shoes. I gave Rosalie permission to do Alice's hair and make-up. I thought Rosalie had forgotten all about me and Edward but she stopped me as I walked up to my house.
"Don't forget what I said about Edward! He really could use someone like you in his life!" She waved and pulled into her driveway, right next door. I sighed and went upstairs to my room, taking Alice's bag of clothes with me. I realized I had left my cell phone home and I had a voicemail from Jacob. I dialed my own number, fingers trembling slightly, to listen.
"Hey Bella it's Jacob. I just wanted to let you know I…don't really know what to think about this. I do love you Bells and I want us to work through this but if that's going to happen we need to make sure both of us are completely faithful. Even if we're playing games. Call me back later. I love you."
I breathed a sigh of relief. He had said he loved me, he wanted us to work it out. I could live with that. I crawled into bed, setting my alarm for a half hour early, so I could be ready for Alice.
The next morning my alarm clock woke me up and I jumped out of bed, excited already. I couldn't wait to see Alice's face when I showed her this. I didn't bother changing out of my pajama's since I was only going across the street. So I hurried across in my silk shorts and Victoria's secret tank top. I knocked on the door, feeling kind of bad for coming over so early. Just when I had decided to run home and pretend I never knocked, someone opened the door.
"Bella?" It was Edward. He was wearing just a pair of shorts. I couldn't help but look at his six-pack, sculpted abs, his muscular thighs and calves, his strong arms and chest. I knew I was staring. But I couldn't look away. Finally I was able to lift my head to see his face. He looked adorable. His hair was messy, sticking out in every direction. His eyes were kind of red and he was yawning- one muscular arm reached up to cover his mouth. "What're you doing here?" I saw his eyes glance quickly up and down my body and he grinned. It was then that I realized that I was still in my pajamas. I had forgotten that Edward and Alice lived together.
"Bella?" This time it was Emmett. He was standing in a pair of boxer's with Christmas trees on them. His body was even more muscular than Edward's. His eyes raked over my outfit. "Nice PJ's Bella," he snickered. I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Is there a reason you're here so early?" Edward asked.
"I'm here to give Alice her outfit for school. Rosalie should be here in a few minutes," I said, finally getting my speech back.
"Oh. Alice is sleeping still," he said.
"Rose told me she wakes up in like ten minutes right? We'll be waiting," I said, a smirk on my face. Edward stepped back, letting me inside. His parents were sitting at the kitchen table. Carlisle was dressed in his doctor's outfit and Esme was in jeans and a t-shirt.
"Oh hello Bella," Esme said in surprise. "Would you like something to eat?"
"No thanks. I'm actually here to see Alice. I got to choose wait she wears to school today and I wanted to make sure she got it."
"Edward, why don't you show Bella to Alice's room?" Esme suggested. There was another knock on the door and Rosalie came in, already dressed in a denim mini skirt and a polo.
"Nice PJ's Bella," she said, laughing.
"Well not all of us can look so perfect so early," I retorted. She laughed again.
"Ready?"
"Yup." Rosalie led the way upstairs, Edward and I following behind her. Every once in a while I could feel Edward's eyes on my body, which just made me self-conscious of my too short shorts and too low tank top. We all walked into Alice's room, where she was sleeping, one arm dangling off the edge of the bed.
"On three," I whispered to Rosalie. She nodded. Edward was watching from the doorway. "One. Two. Three!"
"WAKE UP ALICE!" we both shouted, as loud as we could. Alice jumped up and screamed before placing a hand over her heart and breathing deeply. We laughed.
"You guys scared the shit out of me," she complained.
"I've got your outfit for today," I said in a menacing voice. Alice paled. "And Rosalie has kindly agreed to do your hair and make-up."
"No, please, no!" she begged.
"It's not working this time. Let's show her Rose!" Rosalie laughed evilly.
"Today Miss Alice Cullen will be showing off the latest in Marshall's fashions. She will be sporting a pair of hot pink, zebra striped pants." She pulled the pants out of the bag and Alice's jaw dropped. I looked away for a second. The color was so bright, it honestly hurt my eyes. "And for a top Miss Cullen will be wearing this lovely puke green and orange shirt! With lovely holes in the breast are." She pulled out the top. I was shaking with laughter and I could hear Edward laughing behind me. "And to top it all of these clown shoes and aqua blue bra!" She pulled the rest out of the bag.
"Of course you two become best friends when it comes to torturing me," Alice muttered angrily.
"Get dressed Alice!" I sang. "It's time to get ready for school."
"Fine. But are you wearing that to school Bella, I didn't realize it was pajama day," she teased. I crossed my arms over my chest. "Although you do look sexy. Right Edward?" She winked at him and he sighed.
"Right Alice," he agreed. I felt a thrill go up my spine and quickly shoved it back down. He was just agreeing with Alice, you don't really look sexy, I reminded myself.
"Can I please, oh please, pick your outfit today Bella? I mean if I'm wearing something hideous you should wear something adorable to make you look even better in comparison," she begged.
"Well since I don't have any clothes with me fine. But I get veto power." She clapped her hands together.
"Yay! I have the perfect dress!" she shrieked. Then she turned to Edward. "Out!"
"Why?" he asked, surprised.
"Bella has to change. I know you'd like to see that but not today." She laughed as Edward shook his head, storming out of the room.
"Thanks Alice," I muttered sarcastically. She ran to her closet and pulled out a dress. It was white and had a light blue bow just under the chest. I pulled it on. Alice clapped again. It fell to about halfway down my thigh, and the neckline was conservative, but had just the right amount of cleavage. It hugged my curves but also covered up what needed to be covered up. I love it.
"You look beautiful Bella," Alice sighed. I smiled. "Rosalie can do your hair and make-up too!"
"After she does yours," I reminded her. Alice's face fell.
"Oh right," she muttered.
"Speaking of," Rosalie said. "Get dressed Alice." Alice pouted as she pulled on the outfit. The pants hung loose on her , and the shirt left an inch of skin between her stomach and the pants. The colors clashed horribly and made your eyes hurt when you looked at them. Rosalie sat us both down and went to work on our hair and make-up. I watched as she applied neon blue lipstick to Alice, puke green eye shadow and orange blush.
"Look on the bright side Alice," I said when she was staring at her reflection in horror. "At least your make-up matches your outfit." She glared at me. Rosalie then grabbed a bottle of hair gel and proceeded to use to whole thing to spike Alice's hair into a half afro half mohawk. Then Rosalie quickly did my hair and make-up.
"There," she said, rubbing her finger over my eyelid, rubbing one last thing in. "Perfect." I glanced nervously in the mirror, and to my intense surprise, I liked what I saw. My hair fell in loose waves down my back. My make-up was done subtly, but enough that it enhanced my features. My normally pale skin seemed to be glowing.
"Wow," I said. "Thanks Rosalie. Thanks Alice." They grinned proudly. But once I looked at Alice I burst into laughter. She looked even more like a clown with that big, goofy grin on her face. She frowned at me and I stopped laughing after a few minutes.
"All right you guys we're going to be late if you don't-" Edward came into the room and stopped short, staring at Alice.
"Don't. Say. Anything," she spat. Edward seemed to be fighting back laughter. Alice brushed by him and down the stairs, storming out to the car. Rosalie followed behind her, chortling. When I looked back at Edward I noticed his eyes were fixed on me.
"What?" I said self-consciously, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Bella," he said. "You look beautiful."
A/N: Okay, so not my best but I'm thinking about putting the next chapter in Edward's point of view. That way you guys could get a look at what he's thinking. But then again, I might want to wait till later to tell you guys what he's thinking. And if I do the next chapter in Edward's POV it will probably be shorter than the previous chapters, since I don't want to give too much away. But this chapter is the longest so far, so it makes up for it ) Review; give me your opinions, comments, questions, whatever as long as you REVIEW!!