DISCLAIMERL: I do not own Twilight or anything associated with it
I woke up at eight the next morning and immediately jumped in the shower of the ensuite bathroom that I had never properly appreciated as a child.
I showered and got ready quickly, checking the weather before pulling on a loose, kind of see-through blue and white top with ¾ length sleeves tucked into a pair of old light blue denim shorts. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and walked out of my room.
Deciding to stop somewhere for breakfast, since Charlie didn't appear to have any food, I slipped on a pair of grey Vans slip-ons.
Walking out the door, I grabbed my purse and my keys before realizing I didn't really know where to go to get this stuff.
I walked over to Edward's house and rang the doorbell, knowing Esme and Carlisle would be awake, if Carlisle was even home from the hospital.
Esme opened the door quickly and immediately enveloped me in a bear hug.
"Bella! It's so good to have you back home!" She exclaimed, pulling away slightly. "Look at you, you gorgeous girl," she said, holding me at arm's length.
"Hey, Esme. How are you?"
"I'm wonderful sweetie. The daughter I never had is finally home." She said, glowing with joy.
"Thanks Esme. I missed you a lot."
"I missed you too hun."
I smiled at her before asking if Edward was awake.
"I highly doubt it, but you can go on up to his room and see. Wake him up in any way you see fit."
I slipped my shoes off before running up to where I knew Edward's room to be. I knocked on the door and waited for a response. Hearing nothing but a muffled "Go away, mom," I entered the room
I flicked on the light before running over to Edward's bed and jumping on him. "Not your mom. Sorry kid," I said as I started tickling him. Edward's tickle-ishness had always been his biggest weakness, and I was hoping that hadn't changed.
"Bella, what are you doing here?" He managed to ask between giggles.
"I came to see if you want to come supply shopping with me. We can call Emmett to come along too."
"Okay, okay. I'm up, you can stop tickling me. Go talk to my mom so I can get dressed."
I did as he asked, and fifteen minutes later, Edward walked into the kitchen wearing white and grey plaid shorts and a purple GK When Pigs Fly shirt.
"Do you want something to eat before you guys go out?" Esme asked.
"I was just going to stop at McDonalds or something, Esme. You don't need to go to any trouble."
"Your father has no food?" She asked, looking at me knowingly. "Stay here. I'll make you guys some waffles. Call Emmett. He can get his butt out of bed and come over here for my waffles, since you guys will be getting him anyway."
Edward pulled out his Blackberry to call Emmett, reminding me that I should stop somewhere and get a new phone while I was out.
"Em will most likely be here by the time the waffles are done" Edward said, evidently amused.
We settled into easy conversation, which continued after Emmett's arrival and through breakfast. I was amazed at how easily I fell into a routine with my old friends. They really had been my family, along with Charlie, while I was growing up. I wouldn't be the person I am today without Esme being there as a substitute mother.
I was just starting on my second waffle when Carlisle entered the house, obviously having just finished a graveyard shift.
"Morning everyone," he said, kissing Esme hello and nodding at Edward and Emmett.
"Hey, Dr. Cullen," I greeted, knowing he hated it when I called him that.
"Bella, how many times have I – wait a second. Bella?"
"In the flesh," I smiled. "There may have been some mild running away from my mother involved. Though, she won't know until November. It's not like she'll make any effort to contact me."
Carlisle shook his head before pulling me up to hug me. He sat down to eat something with us. Before long, Emmett and Edward had finished stuffing their faces full of food, and I mentioned that we should probably get going if we wanted to be back before their friends showed up to meet me.
"And help paint your room! They all agreed!" Emmett exclaimed.
"On that note, I'm going to go catch a few hours of shut-eye, since you kids won't be here to wake me up," Carlisle said before exiting the kitchen.
"I'm driving!" Edward said, running out the door to get his Escalade Hybrid, Emmett and I fighting over who got shotgun behind him.
I ended up winning the fight, and Edward pulled out of the driveway, with the windows down, since it was surprising warm and sunny for Forks.
"Okay, so where should we go?" I asked over the wind, turning the music down to allow myself to be heard.
"There's a Target, a Bed, Bath and Beyond, an Ikea and a Lowes in a plaza near the centre of town." Edward replied before he began to drive us there.
It only took about ten minutes to get to our destination, and I decided to go to Ikea first to choose bedding before going to Lowes to get paint.
Charlie had given me permission to do whatever I wanted with the room, and I intended to do just that.
As I entered Ikea, I immediately made my way towards the beds, knowing I would need a bigger bed than the one I had when I was nine. I chose a simple Queen sized "Grimen" bed frame, before moving to the bedding section.
As we arrived in the bedding section, I began to look around, and I saw one linen set that caused me to immediately envision what my room could look like. The duvet cover had a black base with stripes in varying shades of green, blue, purple and pink. The sheets were solid black, and the pillow cases matched the duvet cover.
I dragged the guys around the store with me picking out everything else I would need for my room, including an ottoman and a desk, as well as some stuff to decorate the bathroom with.
After we were done at Ikea, we went to Lowes, where I chose a dark grey-ish blue for my bedroom, and a bright turquoise for the bathroom. With that, we were done for the moment, and we made our way to my house.
The guys helped me to bring everything upstairs, where we dumped it all in Charlie's rarely used 'office.' Soon after that, Edward got a text from his girlfriend stating that she, Emmett's girlfriend, and Jasper were at his house.
The three of us trooped downstairs, where Emmett opened the door and yelled at his friends to come to my house. I stood to the side as Edward and Emmett greeted their girlfriends and Jasper before they turned to introduce me.
"Bella, this is Alice, my girlfriend," he said, indicating a tiny pixie-like girl with short black hair that made her baby blue eyes stand out against her pale skin, "and Rosalie, Emmett's girlfriend," Rosalie was gorgeous. Tall, though not quite as tall as me, with a body to rival Scarlett Johansson's, long blonde hair, and eyes that were almost violet in colour.
"Alice, Rose, this is our best friend from when we were kids, Bella." I shook hands with both girls (or tried to. Alice nearly threw herself at me in a hug), wondering why Edward hadn't introduced me to Jasper yet.
"And Jasper, this is Bella," I heard Edward say, so I turned to shake Jasper's hand. As I did so, my eyes fell upon the most gorgeous man I had ever seen. He was tall, probably 6'4" to my 5'10", and had shaggy blond hair that fell perfectly into his piercingly grey eyes. As icing on the cake, he was wearing skinny jeans and an All Time Low tee from the My Small Package Tour. All Time Low happened to be my favourite band.
I shook his hand and immediately felt butterflies in my stomach. I had just met the guy, and I already had a crush on him. This was a problem.
"So, you guys really wanna help me paint my bedroom and bathroom?"
"We really just want to get to know you, and we figured this was a good place to start, since we'll be stuck in a room together for a few hours," Alice said, smiling widely.
"Okay. Let's go then." I said, gesturing for Edward or Emmett to go ahead of me. Both did, along with Alice and Rosalie, and I stopped to let Jasper go before me as well.
"Ladies first, darlin'" he said, gesturing for me to go first.
I nearly melted at the sound of his voice. It was deep and smooth, reminding me of honey, with just a hint of a southern drawl. I quickly stepped ahead of him, blushing and muttering a thanks.
As we arrived in my room, Edward and Emmett were already working on breaking up the old furniture (everything I needed had already been moved to Charlie's office) in order to make room for us to paint. Once that was done, we laid some plastic on the dark wood floors before pouring the paint out and getting to work.
The way my room was set up was strange, as it was almost as though it was two separate rooms. When you walked in, there was an area where the closet went, along with enough space for the chaise I had bought and a table. Then it continued into the bigger bedroom part that had more than enough room for a queen sized bed, a dresser, and any other necessities of a bedroom. That room connected to my bathroom. Because of this, everyone was painting a different wall at once
As we worked, I noticed that it was pretty quiet in the room. I put my paint roller down and quickly ran to Charlie's office, where my iPod and iHome were. I quickly plugged it in and put my iPod on shuffle, My Chemical Romance's Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na) blasting out of the speaker.
I went back to the room and continued to paint, dancing a little to the music. I laughed as everyone began to sing as the chorus started, joining in myself. People who recognized good music. I already liked them.
We continued to paint, and when we were finished the first coat I turned down the music and ordered pizza.
When the pizza arrived, the six of us sat down and talked while we ate, Alice and Rose asking me question after question, and me answering them to the best of my ability.
"Oh my God!" Alice squealed half way through my third slice. "We totally have to take you shopping tomorrow!"
"Tomorrow may not be the best day Alice. I'm going to have to put my room together," I laughed.
"I can come over and help again," Edward offered.
"I'll come as well," Jasper put in, just as Emmett yelled "Me too!"
"Okay. Well, you're all welcome again, but you really don't need to help me put stuff together. Well, maybe the bed. And the wardrobe system. Hm. You guys will come in handy. We can go shopping the day after tomorrow if you're free Alice. I'm definitely going to need some clothes to fill that closet with."
"Yay!" Alice said, clapping her hands.
The boys quickly finished off the pizzas, and then the six of us went back upstairs to finish painting.
We were done painting the bedroom by eleven, and everyone left soon after that, Jasper being the last.
"Hey, Bella. It was real nice of you to have all of us over, even if you did put us to work," he said, giving me the sexiest smirk I'd ever seen, "but, um, tomorrow when we're over, how 'bout a game of twenty questions? I'd really like to get to know you better."
"That sounds awesome. I'll see you tomorrow Jasper," I said, smiling.
I went to sleep on the couch that night feeling giddier than I ever had, including the night after Jacob asked me out.
The next morning I woke up bright and early, and didn't bother showering as I knew I had a full day of manual labour ahead of me.
I went into Charlie's office to grab clothes, pulling on the paint-splattered jean shorts from the day before, and a tight blue tank top.
I grabbed a Pop Tart from the box I found in the cupboard and ate it quickly, before running to brush my teeth and throw my hair in a messy bun.
I decided that it was probably best to get the bed frame and wardrobe/closet thing into my room before everyone arrived, so I dragged the boxes into the parts of my room they would need to be in.
A few minutes after I finished that, the doorbell rang. I ran downstairs, and opened the door, revealing all three guys.
"Hey guys," I greeted, "should we get started?"
They all nodded and then followed me up the stairs to my room. Emmett and Edward got to work setting up the bed, while Jasper and I sat down with the wardrobe system.
"We definitely got stuck with the more difficult task." Jasper pointed out.
"Yeah, but Edward got stuck with Emmett," I smirked, causing Jasper to laugh.
"So how about that game of 20 questions?" He asked.
"What is your favourite colour?" I asked.
"Blue. You answer your question than I ask another one?"
"Sounds good. Pale green."
"Why did you come to Forks?"
"Because my mother is a crazy bitch who took me away from my life when I was nine to use me as a publicity stunt and I got sick of it."
"My dad got transferred here when I was fourteen,"
"Where did you come from?"
"Texas."
"Los Angeles"
"Favourite animal?"
We continued like that, asking each other any question we could think of until the wardrobe was finished. When it was, we looked over at Edward and Emmett to see that they were just finishing the bed as well.
"Seriously, guys? It took you as long to put together the bed as it took us to put together the closet, which is probably twice as complicated." I mocked.
Edward glared at me, while Emmett just said, "it was hard!"
"That's what she said." Jasper and I said at the same time.
"So, if you guys want to stick around, I'll feed you and then you can help me put together some of the other furniture?" I said, hopefully looking innocent and convincing.
"Depends on what you want to feed us," Emmett said.
"I actually have no idea what Charlie has in the way of food, so we're going to improvise," I said, smiling.
We ended up just having sandwiches, something it appeared Charlie had often. "I need to go grocery shopping so badly," I mentioned.
"That's probably a good idea," Edward joked. "My mom would die if she knew how little food your father had in his house."
"Speak of the devil," I said as the front door opened and I heard Charlie hanging up his gun.
"Hey dad!" I called
"Hey, Bells, boys," he greeted as he walked into the kitchen.
"You're home early," I commented.
"Nothing much was happening at the station. I'm on call, but I doubt anything will come of it."
"Well, since you're home you can help us set up my room," I joked. "And when it's done, you can come grocery shopping with me. Honestly, man, how did you survive on your own?"
"My mom had him over for dinner a lot," Edward said, laughing. "Speaking of, she wants all of you to come over for dinner tonight. Alice is going to be there too."
"I can't, bro. Rosie and I have a date, or I would for sure. You know how much I love Esme's cooking," Emmett said, looking a little disappointed.
"It's cool, Em. I understand," Edward said.
"Bella?" Charlie said, looking at me.
"I'm down if you are,"
"Okay, then. Looks like we'll be there Edward."
"I'll be there too. My parents are out of town again, so I would've been on my own anyway," Jasper said, smiling.
"Okay, cool. I'll text her and then we can get back to work."
Edward texted his mom quickly, and then we made our way upstairs.
"Dammit. I still need to get a new phone." I said, slightly offhandedly.
"We'll go before we go grocery shopping," Charlie said as he entered my room.
"Okay, so what do we have to do?" Emmett asked.
I led the way into Charlie's office and pointed at the boxes containing the desk, and nightstands.
Each of the guys grabbed a box, and we all went to work putting everything together. It didn't take long, and everything was together by three.
"Okay. You guys need to leave so I can put the room the way I want it. What time does your mom want us over for dinner, Edward?"
"She said around six. So pretty much any time between five and six works."
"Okay. I will be ready," I smiled before kicking the guys out of my room, and saying my goodbyes to Emmett.
I got to work setting the room up exactly as I had pictured it. I pushed the bed into the centre of the left wall, and made it before placing a small black nightstand with a door on it on either side of the bed. I pushed the desk into the left corner of the room, and put a small vanity table of the same design as the nightstands in the opposite corner, placing a small black stool in front of it and lining my guitars up on their stands between them.
I then moved to the closet portion of the room, dragging the chaise in to be kitty-cornered between the entrance and right walls, placing a third night stand beside it. After that, I hung an orange framed full-body mirror I had bought on the wall that came out of the far side of the closet. Then I set up all of the lights before it got dark. The ceiling lights that shone on the closet and mirror had already been installed, but I put a lamp with a small, round, black base and black shade with thin white stripes every couple of inches on the table beside the chaise, and a lamp with a completely clear base and black shade beside the bed. I then put a large, white ball lamp over the middle ceiling fixture. Then I threw the splotchy purple shag rug down in front of the closet before going back to Charlie's office to grab all of the accessories I had bought.
I put several throw pillows on the bed, mostly black, but some a shade of pink, purple, blue, or green that matched some of the stripes on the duvet cover. I also put a throw pillow on the chaise that was pink with purple and orange splotches. Then I hung the sheer black curtains in front of my full length window.
After that, I hung up the long black collage frame filled black and white pictures I had from my trip to Europe of some of the most beautiful landmarks above my bed, and placed a couple of framed pictures from my childhood in Forks on the desk and one of the night stands. I hung a round mirror with swirl accents on top above the vanity, at the level of my face when I was sitting. I finished by setting up my computer, printer, novels and CDs on the desk.
When the bedroom was done, I quickly unpacked my clothes, setting up all of my makeup, hairbrush, etc. on the vanity, before moving into the bathroom to set up my hygiene products.
Once everything was set up, I checked the clock on my iHome, which was set up on the right nightstand. 4:00. It had only taken an hour to set up the room? It felt like longer. Regardless, I needed to get ready, so I quickly stripped my clothes, throwing them in the hamper before jumping in the shower.
Getting out of the shower, I dried off quickly and wrapped myself in my robe before making my way into my room. When I opened the door into my bedroom I nearly screamed.
"Alice? What are you doing here?"
"Edward asked me to come over and help you get ready for Esme's dinner. She has requested that everyone dress up for the occasion, and we both assumed that it was unlikely that you had brought anything very dressy with you," she responded, prompting me to look at her outfit: a light pink sleeveless blouse with a scooped neck ad ruffles down the front, along with buttons down the middle tucked into a high-waisted black skirt that fell to mid-thigh.
"Okay. Yeah, I figured I would have time to go shopping before I went to anything that required semi-formal attire."
"Well, it's a good thing I'm here then," she beamed. "Go put on a strapless bra and some underwear, then come back here so I can do your hair and makeup quickly.
I did as she instructed, and sat quietly as she blow dried my hair.
When she was done blow drying it, she said, "Okay. So, your hair falls perfectly into waves, so we're just going to leave it. And I haven't actually seen you wear makeup yet, so I'm just going to keep that simple."
She appeared to be talking to herself, so I just sat there while she worked on my face.
When she was done, she ushered me into the dressing area of my room where a dress was laid out on the chaise. I put it on and then went to look in the mirror. The dress was strapless and fell to about mid-thigh with a tight body that loosened into a tiered ruffle skirt. It was black with little flowers in varying shades of pink with white and green mixed in all over it. An elastic black belt around the waist completed it. Alice had left my hair to fall in waves to just under my shoulder blades and had just barely done my makeup with some black eyeliner and mascara to enhance my eyes and a clear gloss on my lips.
"What do you think?" she asked, clearly proud of herself.
"It looks awesome Alice. Thanks," I said, hugging her small frame.
"Of course you look good. This is me we're talking about. And I did work extra hard to make sure you look good for a certain blonde-haired friend of mine," she muttered, clearly not meaning for me to hear it.
I ignored her comment and mentioned that we should probably go. We made our way downstairs, collecting Charlie from where he was sitting in the living room watching TV in dress pants, a white button down shirt, and a navy blue tie.
We made our way to the Cullen's house, where Esme opened the door, hugging Alice and I and complimenting us excessively.
"The boys are down in the basement, probably playing some sort of video game. You can go on down," She instructed.
As we walked into the Cullen's game room, which had been thoroughly renovated since the last time I had seen it, I nearly lost my breath. He was wearing tight, dark jeans, and a white button down with the sleeves rolled up and a black vest over it. Boy cleaned up good.
I quickly stopped myself from staring and walked over to sit beside him, noticing he was playing some racing game with Edward.
I cheered Jasper on, while Alice did the same for Edward, and before long, we were called up for dinner.
At the end of the night I returned home, exhausted, changing quickly before climbing into bed and falling into dreams about Jasper.