A/N: I took some of your advice and made this chapter in Alice's POV. You don't really get to see that much of her life, just a little of what she feels. Hope you like it!
Alice POV
I woke up to the sound of Jasper's loud snoring in my ear. I checked the clock on my night desk, 4:37.
"You have got to be kidding me." I groaned.
His arm was holding me to him, so much that I could barely get myself out. I not so gently threw his arm back onto the bed, hoping that he would wake up. No such luck. He snored even louder than before and grabbed my pillow to him, sighing happily.
I stumbled over our clothing covered floor to the bathroom. The light flicked on when I flipped the switch, but I could see that it would soon need to be changed. My reflection was non too pleasing, especially with my short hair sticking up in every direction.
Sighing, I turned the shower on and stepped in, hoping to get done before the hot water ran out.
My thoughts immediately went to my encounter with Bella yesterday. Of all people from high school, I had to run into her. She was a vision; I don't know how it happened, but it did. I wouldn't be surprised if she was a Victoria's Secret model. Her tight fitting clothes fit her very well and accentuated her curves in the most magnificent way. I'm pretty sure everyone would have thought twice before making fun of her back then, if they knew that she would look like this.
When I got home yesterday, I had been tempted to look at the video. I had never seen it, it didn't seem important to me. Jasper insisted keeping it all these years, saying it was a part of the good old days… The good old days, how I wish that that was the way it was now.
I jumped in surprise when I felt the water run cold. I hadn't even washed myself yet. I quickly lathered myself with soap and rinsed it off.
Jasper was awake by the time that I had dried myself up. I walked into out room and looked for my clothes for work. He was on the bed watching some type of sport, I'm not sure and I really didn't care.
"Hey, are you planning on going to that job interview?" I asked.
"Hmm… Oh no. I don't think that middle school history is a good job. I mean, all you do is babysit them. It's a bullshit job." He said, never taking his eyes off the TV.
I rolled my eyes and dropped my towel to put some clothes on. That's the same excuse that he had been giving since he lost his job.
"Well you need to get a job soon. Our rent is too much for this one job., and we're going to fall behind soon" I walked to the bathroom and quickly prepared myself.
I put some mouse in my hair spiked it up. I put some eyeliner and mascara on before finishing off with lip gloss. I walked out in a rush and looked for my jacket.
"You really need to find a job Jasper, soon. I can't keep supporting us."
I slammed the door on the way out to make my point. He probably wouldn't even care, but he really needed to find a job. I waved good morning to all my neighbors on the way out. Everyone was about a hundred years older than us, so I didn't have any friends in this freaking town.
I power walked in the direction of my job. The Starbucks was just in my view when my heel decided to break. I cursed myself for not being able to afford decent shoes, and bent down to retrieve the heel. It was a clean tear, revealing the cheap glue that was used to seal the shoe together.
I debated going back to the apartment to get other shoes, but soon realized I would be five minutes late if I were to do so. I stood up and wiped the dirt off my knees. I wasn't going to let this ruin my day.
I held my head up high as I entered the coffee shop and walked past the counter and into the break room. Everyone was there, sitting on the couch and watching something on TV. They were all in high school trying to get some extra cash; and I was an adult, trying to make a living. That was embarrassing.
"Hey Alice, you get first shift at the cashier." Some kid yelled out.
I didn't know anyone's name, and hopefully I wouldn't have to stay here long enough to learn.
"Okay." I grabbed my apron and put it around my neck. "Who's working at the machine?"
No one answered.
As I approached the cash register, I noticed two things. One, I probably looked like a complete idiot walking in with my heel broken, and two, my new pants had a huge stain on the knee.
"Crap." I started to wipe the stain, soon finding out that it easily spread.
The door dinged and the first customer of the day walked in. I straightened up and watched as the customer walked toward me. She was a tall beautiful woman with strawberry blond hair. I could see from this distance that her eyes were a brilliant blue and clearly stood out from her face. She looked around the store before her eyes landed on me; they immediately narrowed and her mouth formed a scowl.
She walked toward me with the same face and practically slammed her purse on the table.
"What's your favorite thing on the menu?" She asked while looking at the board.
"Um, well I really like the French roast." I was about to ring that up, thinking she would take my advice, but she spoke once again.
"What's your least favorite?" She was still looking at the board.
"Um I really don't like the vanilla bean frapaccino."
"I'll have that. Tall." She said the moment I finished.
Shocked, I quickly corrected the order and rang up the total.
"That'll be four dollars and seventy four cents." I looked up from the screen to see her staring at my name tag.
"Is your name Alice? That's a funny name. I always thought it was for stupid little girls who don't know when to not meddle in people's business." She paused. "But I guess you fit into that category." She handed me a twenty. "Keep the change, you probably need it."
She walked to the end of the counter and waited for her order. I stared down at the bill in front of me in wonder. What had I ever done to her? I never even met this girl and she treated me like trash. She doesn't even know who I am.
She retrieved her drink and walked to a table next to the window. She really had the nerve to sit here after she insulted me?
I grabbed the bill and stuffed it into the register. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing me that desperate; I would get it later. Even thought the difference would only give me around fifteen dollars, I need the money and even a little amount could help me.
The shop was empty except for the devil herself sitting in the corner. I left to the break room, in serious need of some cleaning detergent. They were all sitting exactly the same way as I had left them, typical.
"Hey Alice, no breaks. We all had to go through this on our first days." Some jerk called out.
"Yeah, wait. I have to clean something." The cabinets were too high for me to reach, so I had to stand on the counter.
I balanced myself out and proceeded to open a door. There was absolutely nothing except for Windex and hand sanitizer. Great. I grudgingly grabbed the Windex and leaned back to close the cabinet.
Being the idiot that I have become, I completely forgot about my broken heel and ended up toppling to the ground. I probably should have taken those off. I braced myself for the painful fall, but ended up in someone's arms, a girl perhaps.
I felt a sharp pain shoot through my foot and cried out in pain.
"Whoa, you okay there?" She giggled.
I would have giggled as well, but I was suffering from the pain in my foot. I have to admit though, it was better than busting your head open.
"Yeah, thanks." I managed to get out.
"You almost had a nasty fall there." She let go of me.
I turned around and came face to face with someone I haven't met yet.
"I'm Bree by the way. I wasn't here yesterday, so we didn't have a chance to meet." She held out her hand.
I gladly accepted it and took the time to look at her. She was small and it was a wonder how she managed to catch me and stay up. She had long brown hair tied back in a greasy ponytail. Her face was tragically covered in little red marks that came from picking at pimples too much. Her eyes were a dull brown and her lips were a little too thin. With some help, she could look okay.
"I'm Alice, nice to meet you." I let go of her hand and turned to look around.
No one had noticed my fall and for that I was happy.
"Sorry, but I have to go and wash this stain." I pointed down at my pants.
"Oh, that sucks, huh? If you need help, feel free to ask me." She waved good bye and went to sit on a chair.
Employees didn't have their own restroom so I had to go to the public one. I exited the break room and was unfortunate enough to see the strawberry blonde still there. She was texting someone on her phone all the while smiling.
I counted to three before awkwardly running off to the restroom. This proved to be a bad idea once I felt the pain return in my foot. I said every curse word I could think of in my head, and continued to jog to my destination.
I slammed the door closed and let the tears of pain fall. Damn that hurts. I raised my pant leg and saw no difference in size of my ankle, but still.
The paper towels were running out, but there were enough to clean. I grabbed two and sprayed Windex on them. I was hesitant at first, not wanting to ruin my pants, but decided it was worth a try. These pants were only ten dollars at Ross.
I lightly brushed the stain… nothing. I applied more pressure and scrubbed a few times. There was some progress, so I kept going. When I lifted the paper towel, the stain was gone. In its place was a very noticeable faded black patch. Ugh.
This was absolutely perfect. I only had one pair and that meant I had to go and buy another freaking pair. Thankfully I had those fifteen dollars to spare.
I left the bathroom and carefully peaked out from the hallway. The girl had left. I silently thanked god and limped back to my place behind the counter. I checked the clock on the other end of the room, it took me a while to count all the lines to figure out it was 6:57.
Wasn't this the time that everyone came to get coffee? I huffed as I realized this wasn't doing anything to help my salary. The pay was minimum wage, you would think that the leading coffee shop of the world would pay their employees a decent salary… they don't. The pay was seven dollars and twenty cents an hour. I only worked four hours since they had other employees that needed to work as well. I got twenty nine dollars a day for six days, which was only 174 dollars a week.
My head shot up when the door dinged. The door was being held open by someone as a girl walked in. She was around my age, and was pretty. I always tried to appreciate everyone's beauty.
The girl smiled and blushed at the person holding the door, and just as she said thank you, Bella's head popped out and smiled back.
My face paled as I realized that she probably came here as a daily routine. That meant I had to see her every day, save Saturday.
They both walked to the register and Bella held her hand out, offering the girl to go first. The girl blushed once again, obviously from Bella.
I stared at Bella as she smiled at the girl. I could feel a smile start to form on my lips, as if her smile was contagious.
I was snapped back to reality as the girl waved her hand in my face.
"Um, I'd like to order. Could I have a tall vanilla latte?" She took her wallet out and handed me her credit card.
I swiped it and handed it back before handing her receipt. She signed it and slid it back. I looked at the next person in line and was surprised to see someone other than Bella. There was movement in the far corner and my gaze went there instinctively.
Bella was seated with one elbow planted on the table. Her head was resting on her hand and she was staring intently at me. I suddenly felt self conscious and looked away.
I quickly took the man's order and looked back at Bella. She looked as if she hadn't moves an inch. She brought her hand up and motioned for me to take the empty seat on the opposite side of the table. I looked around the shop and saw absolutely no one. I remembered my wardrobe malfunction and shook my head, no, to her.
She looked around the room and waved her hand around, telling me that I had nothing else to do.
I rolled my eyes and stepped out from behind the counter. She looked impressed as I walked to her, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a good thing.
"Would you like something?" This was really hurting my pride, walking to her looking like this.
"I would like to talk." She patted the seat from under the table.
"I have to work, maybe some other time." I sweetly said turning around.
"I'll give you two hundred dollars if you sit here and talk to me. I'm pretty sure that's something around how much you make a day." She called out. "If you sit with me and talk I'll give it to you."
I squeezed my eyes closed in frustration. That was more than I made a week and she was freely giving it away. She was loaded, I could tell by her outfit. She was wearing another pair of expensive looking jeans and a tight yellow v-neck shirt that had the letters D&G clearly printed on the front.
I slowly turned around and met her eyes. She seemed like she was coming in peace, what I didn't want was a speech about how I ruined her life. I had enough shit in my life and I didn't need something else to make me feel even worse about myself.
"Would I seem to needy if I accepted?"
"No, it's understandable. I would go for two hundred dollars if someone offered it to me." She smiled at me and patted the seat again. "Sit."
I looked around again and reluctantly sat down.
I was about to refer to the few seconds of quiet as an awkward, but Bella soon spoke.
"How has your day been?" She seemed genuinely curious.
"Like you can't already tell?" I pointed down at what I was wearing. "I mean, it looked bad before, but now it's just… horrible."
"Everyone has their off days." She shrugged. "It's what you do about it that really matters."
"Well, there's nothing I really can do. I have a feeling that my days are all going to be similar for a while."
"How about this, I'll make your day a little better." She stood up. "I have a friend that left her shoes in my car a few days ago; you guys seem like the same size, so I'll let you borrow them."
"Oh, that's okay. I'm just going to be standing behind the register all day." I stood as well to stop her, but quickly lost balance.
I felt her arms wrap themselves around me as we both stumbled back. Thankfully, she was strong enough to keep us both up. She stood there for a moment holding me and I swear, I could hear her sniff my hair. Oddly enough, I didn't mind.
"I think I'm going to go get you your shoes." She laughed before setting me down on my seat.
I watched as she walked out to her car and opened the back door. It was a nice car. She had a black Audi and I'm pretty sure it wasn't cheap. I got a great view of her ass as she bent down into the car, and I must say, it was nice. Not that I liked women that way, never. I was completely straight, end of story.
She pushed herself up and closed the door, locking it as she walked away. The door dinged and I heard shuffling in the break room. Tyler, I think was his name, rushed out with an excited expression.
"I knew you'd be back." He walked to the register and got ready to take Bella's order. "What shall it be this time?"
"Not this time kid." She winked at him.
"It was worth a try." He walked back into the room.
Something about their interaction didn't sit well with me. I had no clue what it was, but I didn't like it.
"Here you go." She handed me the shoes. "I hope you're a size six or smaller."
"Thank you. I don't know why you're being so nice to me, but thank you." I made sure she knew I was completely serious.
"Hey, forgive and forget, that's my motto." She beamed at me and I soon mirrored it.
I slipped my first shoe off and replaced it with the white tennis shoe. It fit perfectly. I slipped the second shoe off and flinched. My ankle was huge… and red.
I heard Bella gasp in front of me.
"Oh my God. That's huge!" She breathed out.
"Oh it's nothing. I just fell." I poked it with my finger and flinched again.
"Nothing my ass. You have to see a doctor." She rushed to my side. "Come on."
She grabbed my arm and brought it around her shoulder; she then looped her arm around my waist and hoisted me up. I didn't get a chance to fully balance myself before Bella dragged me to the counter.
"Hey, kid!" She leaned toward the break room door.
Tyler rushed out with a smile. "What can I get you?"
"A bag of ice, fast." She looked down at my foot. "Don't lean on it."She grabbed my knee from the back and lifted it.
Tyler came running out with a Ziploc bag filled with ice. "Is this enough?"
"No, but it will do. The hospital is only a few minutes away." She nodded her head for me to grab the ice. "Thanks." She called back.
"You owe me." He smiled back.
Just as we got to the door, Bella called back. "I'm gay."
He looked shocked, but soon recovered "Anyone can change."
She rolled her eyes and walked us through the door. We slowly made it to the car and Bella quickly shut the door as soon as I was seated. She jogged to the other side of the car and sat in the driver's seat.
"What did you do?" She asked as we sped down the road.
"I fell." I laughed.
"Hmm, you're starting to remind me of myself." She giggled as well. "Don't worry, I've had worse. There was this one time our senior year, when your brother and Jasper thought it would be funny to trip me down the first few steps outside our school. Man that hurt."
I felt a wave of remorse wash over me. I don't remember us being that mean, other than that one night.
"I'm sorry Bella. We were stupid kids trying to be cool." I grabbed her hand and squeezed, soon letting go.
"It's alright. It built character, at least that's what I used to tell myself." She shrugged.
There was an awkward silence as we both remembered the past, well I did. We really were pain in the asses. I would have hated myself if I was someone else.
We parked into the closest parking space to the hospital and opened our doors. She walked around to help me out. Her arms maneuvered us into a similar position as before and closed my door.
She walked us to the entrance and rushed us to the desk.
"Excuse me, my friend," I looked at her as she said friend. "needs to be seen. I think she either sprained her ankle or broke something. I'm not sure."
"Sit in the waiting room and fill out these forms, we'll be with you shortly." She held out a clip board with a thick stack of papers.
Bella pushed the clipboard back. "No, she needs to be seen now."
The nurse looked slightly taken aback. "I'm sorry, but you have to fill out the forms." She urged the clipboard back to Bella.
"Fine, but while I fill these out, she can be seen. I don't see the point in letting her suffer even more." Bella tore the clipboard from the nurse and waited for the nurse to call someone.
I stood there stunned, literally. No one has ever been so nice to me, or caring. Anyone else would have taken the clipboard quietly and filled them out. But Bella, she cared.
I could feel tears form as I realized what I had done to this girl in the past; this girl who was helping me.
A nurse came shortly with a wheelchair and had me seated.
Bella smiled at me. "Don't worry; the shots don't hurt too much."
"Shots?" I hated shots.
"Just a few." She turned, seated herself in a seat, and started to fill out the forms.
I would make everything up to her in some way. I didn't have much but I would think of something.
I was wheeled through doors and away from Bella.
.
.
.
I was rolled out of the same doors by the same nurse. I looked around the room and saw it completely empty. The nurse let me go here and handed me my crutches.
I had severely sprained my ankle, better than a break. I had to walk on crutches for a week before I could let them go. The doctor was nice enough, only giving me one shot to lessen the swelling.
I walked farther into the waiting room and saw only an old man sitting by himself in the corner. I turned to the nurse at the desk.
"Have you seen my friend?" I hadn't said that word aloud in a while.
"Oh she left dear. But she told me to give you this." She held out an envelope.
I hesitantly took it. For all I knew she was laughing at me, telling me that she left me stranded here without my wallet. Shoot, I didn't have my wallet.
I tore the envelope open. Inside were a sheet of printer paper and two crisp one hundred dollar bills. I opened the note and read.
Alice,
Thanks for the talk. As I promised, here's 200 dollars.
Bella.
I smiled as I read. We had barely talked for five minutes before she rushed me here.
"There's a taxi cab waiting outside." The nurse stole my attention. "The bill was already paid and I believe the taxi is also taken care of."
"W-what?" I stuttered.
"Yes, your friend said she was called for work and couldn't stay. She is really sorry that she couldn't take you to your house." She smiled at me before returning to her computer.
I felt numb. There was no other way to describe it. None of my old friends were ever like this to me. I was completely independent of myself, since everyone was too caught up in themselves to help each other.
I thanked the nurse and walked to the exit. As promised, there was a taxi waiting outside. The driver was standing outside with a sheet of paper with the name 'Alice' written on it. I smiled at him and walked toward the vehicle.
"I knew immediately that it was you. Your friend described you as the most beautiful girl that I would see today… and you had a broken leg. But I would have figured it out with the first part." He held the door open for me.
I blushed at his comment and entered the cab.
This was turning out to a great day, even with all the crappy things that happened to me. I smiled as I replayed the whole day in my mind.
She has finally forgotten.
A/N: So what do you think? Do you like Alice's POV or Bella's? I will do a lot more Bella unless you guys want more Alice. Tell me what you think! R&R