Looking for Love
The Twilight world belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I just like to play in it.
Chapter 2 – The Drive Home
For now, he would observe, gather information, and start the games that made the hunt so much more alluring. She looked like a wholesome young girl. Wonder if she had a sweetheart? Wonder if she did, and if her parents knew…this could be fun.
Bella drove the 101 back to Forks, her headlights illuminating the road ahead. The rain came and went, Lake Crescent looking black to her right as she passed it. Her friends worried about this drive in the dark, but really? What was there to be worried about? She had been driving to Port Angeles since she moved from Phoenix to Forks months earlier.
After all, there was little or nothing in Forks. To go to a bookstore or movie, you had to go to Port Angeles. Though there were a few restaurants in Forks, the only fast food you could get in Forks was at Subway. And Subway was associated with a gas station. She shuddered thinking about it.
The rain had stayed mercifully light along the 101 so she made it to Forks in good time. Upon arriving, the rain picked up until it became a steady downpour beating down on her windshield. As she passed the high school, she felt weird mix of jumbled feelings: a heady sense of excitement and surprise. She wasn't excited about school, or in love. But it was as if she had passed through a cloud of emotions, as palpable as the rain she had driven through. What was that all about?
She saw a flash of movement off to one side of Forks Avenue. She looked over, but it was gone. Must just be the wind blowing the rain.
Or I must just be too tired. Shaking her head, she drove the remaining few blocks home where she pulled in next to Charlie's cruiser. She sat in the cab for a few minutes, watching the windshield wipers slapping back and forth, trying to push back the rain that would drench her during her short sprint to the front porch. The truck rumbled and backfired when she turned off the motor. That would probably wake half the neighbors.
But if it woke the neighbors, it didn't wake Charlie. He was fast asleep on his recliner, TV still on, can of Vitamin R on the end table next to him. Bella called out, "I'm home," before heading up the stairs to her room.
She collapsed on her bed, shoes still on, not even moving the purple bedspread back to climb between the sheets.
The next thing Bella knew, she was waking up with hair in her mouth. Spitting it out, she rolled over and sat up. Gross, she still had the same clothes on. She was going to have to wash this t-shirt before she could wear it again. First things first.
She went to the laundry room and dropped it in the washer. There wasn't enough for a real load, but she would need the shirt for the Saturday night shift at Gottshalks'.
That night, she headed back to work at the usual time. The Port Angeles streets had been a little busy, Saturday night after all, but nothing like Saturday nights in Phoenix. She sat alone during her break, listening to the other girls talk about their upcoming Valentine's Day plans. As usual, she didn't have any plans. Socializing. Dances. Those were things other girls did. I probably didn't get the gene. Was there a girl gene? She shook her head and laughed, thinking of Mr. Banner doing a lecture on that subject, writing "Girl Gene" on the board.
But when she got home after work late that night, she heard a clink as she pulled open the front door. She reached down and felt something in front of the door.
The porch light was off, which was odd as Charlie's police cruiser was in the driveway. She flicked the light on and that's when she saw a single red rose in a crystal vase in front of the door.
She picked it up, turning it in her hand, puzzled. "To Beautiful," the note read in an unfamiliar hand. She looked closely at the card, flipping it over. The back was blank, only showing a generic florist image, not even the name of the flower shop the rose had been purchased from. The note was written in a fine hand, the flowing letters an art form of themselves. A random thought about hearing that kids didn't even learn cursive any more flashed through her head.
Her heart beat faster reading it. She took a deep breath. It was probably just a joke, a game. She wouldn't allow herself to have hope.
Xx
The girl saw the rose. She didn't even look around. Not as much sport as I had hoped for. Still she spent a few minutes reading it.
xx
Sunday night, as Bella arrived at work, she saw a blond man, leaning against the side of a building near her usual parking spot at Gottschalks. He smiled at her before sauntering off. Despite the February temperature, which was cold if not below freezing, he had on a tan leather jacket, open to show off his bare chest. His blond hair was in a ponytail. Why had he smiled at her? Did she know him? She didn't think so.
She went inside for the last shift of the weekend. It passed slowly but she decided to sit with a few of the University of Washington students during the evening break. Maybe they could give her some tips for college. She pushed herself to sit at a table with a couple of girls but immediately regretted it. Rita and her friend may have been enrolled in college, but they were majoring in boys. Bella smiled at the conversation but was glad when their short time was up. Still, Rita was polite, asking about what she wanted to major in and where she planned to enroll.
The school week passed slowly. There were signs up for the Valentine's Dance and her friends had been prattling away about the dance. Angela had even shown her a few photos on her phone of dresses she had found in magazines. Bella knew she might be too shy to ever buy one, but Angela's shy eyes lit up when she looked at the photos.
Bella had been asked to the dance, but how could she say yes to the Eric, who Angela adored, or Mike, who was a player?
She just wanted someone real, someone who could love her for herself.
Not that a thing like that would be simple. After all, she was a pretty plain kind of person.
The other news was that there was a new family in town. Bella felt a sense of relief, knowing she would be ceding her spot as new kid at school. According to Jessica, there was a new Emergency Room doctor at the Forks Community Hospital. Her mother had run into the doctor's wife at the supermarket and talked to her for a few minutes. The woman had five children, and they would all be enrolled in the high school.
"Mom said the woman looked like a surgeon's wife," Jessica related. "All beautiful, I mean totally glamourous like an old-fashioned movie star. But she seemed nice and outgoing at the same time."
"And she has five high-school aged children?" Angela asked.
Jessica nodded. "I know. Hubby must be doing some major Botox or surgery on her because she looks like a supermodel. With five kids our age, she must be at least, what, thirty-five years old?"
"At least. Some people just have good genes, you know?" Lauren commented. "Marilyn Monroe committed suicide at age thirty-six. Turning thirty-five is tragic for a woman, you know."
"Totally," Jessica agreed.
"Any girls?" Mike asked. "Ow," he said then glanced at Eric. "I mean, are they all guys…" He quit trying.
Lauren gathered her purse and picked up her tray. "Quiz next class, got get there early and look at my notes." She hurried off.
Jessica gave Mike a look, grabbed her tray, and followed Lauren. "Lauren, wait up!" she called out.
"I was just inquiring," Mike said.
"You can say good-bye to getting a date to the dance now," Eric whispered, just loud enough for Bella to hear. They both glanced over at Bella, and Eric looked embarrassed.
"Maybe not," Mike said. "When do the new girls, I mean kids start?"
Bella stifled a laugh.
That weekend at, Mildred Humdinger was all over her. Even though she was exceeding the other girls in her pace, Mildred seemed to be staring at her the entire shift. Like she had it in for Bella.
In response, Bella gritted her teeth, put her head down and kept working, unwrapping the garments, putting them on hangers and steaming them out. But the four hour shift seemed to drag. As the end approached, Bella noticed there were still boxes that hadn't been processed. Would they wait for tomorrow or would there be overtime?
As Bella expected, at the end of the shift, Mildred announced they weren't done, so she would offer three people three more hours.
Bella shot her hand up, and Mildred selected her. There was a pause. No one else was offering to stay. The other girls looked exhausted, edging toward the door.
Finally Mildred offered an additional merchandise credit and two other girls, Rita and Marnie, offered to stay.
Part way through this second shift, while Bella was unwrapping dresses, she saw one she thought Angela might like for the upcoming Valentine's Day dance. She took a quick photo of the dress to show Angela.
During her break, she texted the photo to Angela. Though she knew Angele wouldn't see the photo until morning, she was sure Angela would want it. There were only the two other girls, so Bella set one of the gowns in Angela's size aside, sticking it among some coats that had been pulled from the floor to make room for Valentine's merchandise. It didn't really matter. She would put it back on the floor tomorrow night, and tell Angela to be there when the store opened if she wanted it.
After she had safely stashed away the gown for Angela, Bella toiled with the other two girls, pushing hard to get through the remaining unopened boxes. Eventually, all of the merchandise was unpacked, prepped, and moved onto the floor and they were done.
As she walked out, she saw a shadow moving away from her truck. She waited a few minutes, hand on her cell phone. One of the other girls, Rita, came out and they walked through the parking lot together. Once they arrived at Rita's car, Rita got in. Bella lingered for so long by Rita's car, checking the shadows, that Rita asked, "Do you want a lift to your car?"
Bella shook her head and said, "I'm just tired." She hurried to the safety of her truck. It took forever to turn over, but it did. The drive back to Forks seemed to take forever, every shadow on the road concealing someone waiting to jump out in front of her truck.
But finally she made it to home. This time, the porch light was on, so she saw the rose in front of the door before she stepped onto the porch. This time, the note said, "Will you be mine?" There was a candy heart with the word "forever" on it taped to the card.
Even though it was almost 4:00 a.m., she looked around. Who was this? She picked up the rose and went inside. Something about this was giving her the chills.
Xxx
The next morning, Charlie was chatty at breakfast. He had taken someone to the Emergency Room the night before and met the new doctor, Dr. Cullen. And he had heard about the new kids that the doctor had brought with him, who would be starting at Forks High School the following week.
"Just moved here from Alaska," Charlie said as he folded the newspaper. "I hope they're not going to cause problems. They're all enrolled at the high school."
"Really?" Bella asked, not really caring.
"Yeah, you might even have one in your class," Charlie said.
"OK," she said.
Charlie studied at her for a few seconds. "You might want to make them feel welcome. I'm sure you remember what it's like to be new," he said.
"Yeah, I do and I will," she replied.
Bella's phone buzzed with a text from Angela. I love it, Angela wrote. Do you think they'll still have it this Sunday?
Bella smiled.
Xxx
Whoo-hoo! New story for Valentine's Day. Should be three to four chapters and the last chapter will be posted on Heart Day.
Hope your February is going well, and that you meet your Jasper soon…
This one might be more of a Halloween story, and if it's your preference, swap the hearts for jack-o-lanterns in your head as you read.
(And yes, I know Gottschalks is closed. But I couldn't see setting this story at the Port Angeles Walmart…)
Please leave a review. Reviews make my heart go pitter-pat. I will send a preview of the next chapter to all reviewers…