Chapter 8
This chapter changes POV so I'll indicate at change
Also this chapter is more than twice as long as usual
Disclaimer: I don't own twilight (weeps) or Edward (sobs)

Bella's POV

I was sitting on Alice and Rose's chair waiting for my nail polish to try- I had been subject to one of their dreaded makeovers- when all of the sudden my phone rang. Oh. My. God. It must be Edward; the only other people who would ever ring me are sitting in the same room.

"OMG, he didn't even wait three days to call you Bella, he must really like you." Squealed Alice.

I shushed her exasperatedly as I answered my phone, taking a second so that I could sound calm and collected on the phone, rather than emotional, flustered, and, lets be honest, really excited.

"Hello?"

"Hi Bella, its Edward." His smooth voice almost had me swooning right there, but I tried to remain aloof, he didn't need the ego boost of rendering me speechless.

"Edward, hi."

"Um, I was just calling to see if you wanted to go out to dinner with me tomorrow night?"

"That sounds great…" I was about to discuss details with him when Alice grabbed the phone off me, put it on speakerphone and started to talk.

"Edward, Hi. It's Alice speaking, one of Bella's best friends!"

"Oh, um, hi."

" So, are you taking Bella to dinner?"

"Yes…" you could tell Edward was as baffled by this turn of events as I was.

"Well I want to come." stated Alice.

"No offence…Alice, but I was thinking it could just be Bella and I."

"Edward, don't be silly. I want to meet you, and so does Rosalie."

"Well, Alice, I think that'd be a little awkward don't you, I'm sure we can meet some other time." Poor Edward didn't yet understand that there was no point trying to reason with Alice; which was the reason I hadn't bothered protesting when she stole my phone and then proceeded to invite herself to our date.

"No Edward it wont be awkward, I'm sure you have a couple of friends you can bring and then it can be like a triple date!"

"But Alice, I really don't want a triple date, I want a date with Bella." Edward hadn't given up and I decided to save him some time.

"Edward." I called, "I completely agree with you, but there's no point protesting, what Alice wants, Alice will get."

"Really?" asked a clearly disappointed Edward.

"REALLY!!" squealed Alice once she smelled victory.

"So do you have a couple of friends you can bring?" chimed in Rosalie.

"Yeah, my friends Emmett and Jasper can come." Said Edward, "wait who is this?"

"Its Rosalie."

"Oh, hi…um can I just talk to Bella for a second?"

I snatched the phone off Alice and took it off speakerphone,

"Yes you can. You're off speakerphone by the way." I said as I glared at Alice and mouthed, 'no makeovers for a month'. Seeking privacy I got up and walked outside.

"Are your friends always so…"

"Enthusiastic? Crazy? Annoying? Controlling? Stubborn?" I offered.

Edward laughed, "Yeah, at least one of those."

"Well pick your adjective, but the short answer is yes. They're really great friends but they can get a little crazy, Alice more so than Rosalie." I answered.

Again Edward chuckled "They seem a lot like my friends, Emmett more so than Jasper."

"Well, I look forward to meeting them."

"Yeah, me too, but really only because it means I'll be there too, and I cant wait to see you."

Man this boy was smooth, it was hard to believe it was the first time he'd used that line.

"Do you use that line on all the ladies?"

"Only the beautiful ones." Answered Edward good-naturedly; he knew I was kidding.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked.

"Yeah, where should us boys pick you ladies up?"

I reeled off Alice and Rose's address, "Wait, where are you taking us?"

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out later I'll pick you up at seven o'clock."

"What should we wear?"

"Something nice, you know, dress, high heels, that kind of thing." My eyes went wide.

"Are high heels a prerequisite? Cause if they are I'm liable to frequent accidents."

"I'm open to alternatives." Laughed Edward, "really Bella, wear what you want."

"I'll probably wear heels anyway, I've given up pretending that I'm ever in control of what I wear, that's Alice and Rosalie's job."

Edward chuckled and then I could hear some scuffling over the phone. "Bella, I'm so sorry, but I have to go, Emmett's having an emergency somehow involving chickens and glue."

I stifled a laugh at Edward's serious tone regarding a seemingly humorous situation. "Okay, I'll let you go. See you at seven."

"See you tomorrow Bella." Promised Edward.

The Next day

At Alice and Rose's Mansion

"Bella, you can not wear those shoes with that dress." criticized Rosalie.

"But Rose, these are the only comfortable shoes I own." I whined.

"Bella, remember you're dead." I gasped, of course I knew that, but it was extremely bad taste for Rose to remind me, besides which, what did that have to do with the shoes I wore.

"Rosalie, What the Hell?"

Rose held her hands up in mock surrender, "Whoa, Bella, I just mean that a) you can just wish that high heels where comfortable for you, and they would be. And b) you could wish for another pair of shoes that are comfortable and match. And this is because you are DEAD, and thus in HEAVEN."

"Oh, right." I said as I looked down at my feet and wished for shoes that matched my navy blue dress.

Just as I did this Alice walked down the stairs wearing a yellow bubble dress that matched her pale skin perfectly and clapped her hands together. "Okay, girls. The boys will be here in exactly five minutes, so its time for a checklist. Dress?" she called.

"Check." I called.

"Check." called Rosalie as she looked down as if to confirm that she was still wearing her red mini-dress.

"Matching shoes?" yelled Alice

"Check."

Check."

"Purse?"

"Check."

"Check."

"Okay ladies we're good to go." Announced Alice.

"Yes ma'am."

At Jasper and Emmett's Penthouse

Edward's POV

I fiddled with my tie again and nervously went over the details of the night- I had reserved a table at the most renowned restaurant in all of Heaven, gotten flowers for each of the girls and drilled Jasper and Emmett on how they had to make a good impression on Bella and her friends.

"Okay." Jasper clapped his hands together, "we have to pick the girls up in ten minutes, so its time for a checklist. Suits?"

"Check." I said, holding a smile back- Jasper had died in World War II and never quite got over the whole military thing.

"Check." said Emmett, pretending to look for his suit.

"Tidy hair?" asked Jasper- a direct insult to my always-unruly hair. Emmett said it looked like sex hair, which was supposedly ironic- 'dirty hair for a pure man' apparently.

"Check." said Emmett, running his hands through his –for once- tamed curls.

"Impossible." I called.

"Flowers?" said Jasper.

"Check." I said.

"Check." Emmett yelled, as he brandishing his flowers.

"Manners?" I cut in.

"Check." said Jasper

"Check." agreed Emmett dejectedly.

"Alright men- we are ready to fly the coop- affirmative?" called Jasper.

"Affirmative Sir" Emmett and I called as we snapped to attention.

Jasper laughed, "sorry I couldn't resist."

"Well come on." Said Emmett, getting into the spirit of the whole 'on a mission thing' "lets go, go, go" he ushered us out the door.

We rushed out the door and piled into Emmett's jeep. We rarely had use for the cars but in this case because we wanted to keep our destination secret we couldn't get the girls to wish themselves there, and we couldn't wish them their ourselves because it was part of the 'own free will thing'- think Bruce Almighty.

Thankfully the car is an inanimate object and hence we were able to get to the address Bella had given me almost instantly.

As we pulled up I was surprised, this mansion looked nothing like the small cottage Bella had once described to me.

"Oh my gosh, it looks just like Cher's house in Clueless!" said Emmett; in what I hope was mock enthusiasm.

We walked up to the house together, flowers in tow, I was a little hesitant, had we gotten the wrong address, had Bella given me the wrong address? Had she done that on purpose?

I rang the doorbell and jiggled one leg impatiently. To my immediate relief it was Bella who swept the door open. My breath was taken away; she looked even more radiant than she ever. She was wearing a navy blue dress that highlighted her figure perfectly, it went down to just above her knees, had a V-neck that went down to just below her bust –not that I was looking- and was secured with diamonds. Her hair tumbled down her shoulders and she looked as angelic and fresh faced as she normally did, with just a touch of make-up.

I had obviously been staring for a little to long because she soon spoke nervously,

"What's the matter? Am I over dressed, cause I can get changed."

"No Bella, you're…perfect, absolutely gorgeous." At that Bella blushed a beautiful pink,

"Thanks" she muttered.

It wasn't until that point that I remembered that Jasper and Emmett were waiting to be introduced, which was strange because I would have thought that they would have made some idiotic comment by now. As I looked at them I realized the reason for their silence; they were both staring at Bella's friends- who I only noticed then- Emmett at a statuesque blond and Jasper at a elfin girl, with short spiky hair and an excited expression on her face –I guessed this was Alice.

"Oh, sorry Bella, this is Emmett and Jasper." I introduced.

"Oh, right, this is Rosalie and Alice." From the tone of her voice I guessed that Bella had also forgotten her friends. After that there was a bit of confusion as everyone tried to shake each other's hands, Emmett lunging straight for Rosalie's, and Jasper Alice's despite the fact that Bella had been ready to shake Jaspers, and I Rosalie's.

As we waited for each couple to finish their little 'moment' we exchanged a bemused smile. Eventually though the introductions were complete, the flowers were given and we were ready to go.

As I took Bella's hand and led her to the jeep I remembered to ask a question that had been on my tongue since I last saw her, "Bella, are you okay." I mean, I had managed to convince her to go out with me, which I knew she wanted to do, but I also knew that she still felt terrible about it- something I couldn't believe. To see in so much pain because of me was excruciating, but really I think facing everything that was going on for her was the first step to getting better,

"Yeah, I'm fine. Listen, Edward, I'm so sorry about how I reacted, I mean I still think I'm right, but I definitely over-reacted, and I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings." Yet again Bella managed to startle me, I knew she was in so much pain, but here she was, thinking of me instead of herself.

"No, Bella, its fine, you didn't hurt my feelings. I understand completely where you're coming from, even if I in no way agree with you." I reassured. She gave me a thankful smile and by this point we were at the Jeep. As I helped Bella into the monstrosity and grumbled about how my Volvo was so much better, I could hear Rosalie ask about the type of engine it used. I didn't need to see Emmett's expression to picture it, wide eyed, shocked and in love. Emmett had always said the only thing that was missing from women was an interest in cars.

Because it was Emmett's 'car' he was the one who would be driving, and thus Rosalie rode shotgun. It was already clear that everyone had coupled off. I said as much to Bella when I squeezed next to her. She laughed, agreed, and expressed a hope that this would mean less time for makeovers.

"Okay, everyone ready to go?" boomed Emmett.

"Yep." Said Jasper. Emmett hadn't exactly waited for Jaspers reply and we roared off to the restaurant.

Bella's POV

As we sped along to…where ever we were going I suddenly felt a blindfold cover my eyes,

"HEY!" all three of as girls yelled at once.

"Sorry girls, but we want where we're going to be a surprise until we get there, so please don't wish your blindfolds away." Emmett yelled from behind the wheel.

I turned blindly to my left- where Edward was sitting "Edward, do I have to wear this?" I pleaded, pouting.

"Sorry Bella. Trust me, its worth the surprise."

"It better be." I threatened; after all I hated surprises, something that Edward had found out during his repetitive questioning earlier in the week.

"Would I lie to you?" he whispered in my ear, sending a shiver up my spine.

"No." I whispered. I heard a throat being cleared and suddenly remembered that Edward and I weren't alone. I could feel him move back away from me. The rest of the drive, which was thankfully short, was spent in an awkward silence; not being able see really limited conversation.

"We're here." Announced Edward as we pulled up. After Rosalie, Alice and I had been carefully helped out of the jeep it was announced that the blindfolds could come off, although I let Edward untie it rather than wishing it away. As I gazed at the restaurant in front of me I couldn't help but gasp. It was Twilight, the most prestigious restaurant in all of Heaven. It was all free of course, but the waiting lists meant that it was always ridiculously hard to get into. They claimed the secret was that everything was homemade and not just wished up. It was high end, but not too fancy, in other words, perfect!

"Edward, how did you get a table here?" I asked incredulously.

"Oh, lets just say I know some people."

"Come on lets get this show on the road, I'm starving!" announced Emmett.

Next chapter- the date.
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