I had been right. Bella and Alice did have a hoot when I told them the beautiful story of Rosalie's display in the snack food aisle.
Bella tried hard to contain her hysteric laughs. Her first reaction was to slap me lightly across my forearm (I still haven't got used to how much that hurts now), but when I just choked out an "Ow" in between laughs, she had to try real hard to keep a disappointed face. After staring at me and Alice's humored expressions, the giggle finally escaped her. Soon the giggle evolved into loud, erupting laughs, as I retold highlights of the event.
Alice too was giggling quietly into her hand as I went through certain parts dramatically. I couldn't help but notice the relief Alice seemed to get from the story. By the way she relaxed her tense shoulders, and her face finally loosened up into a real smile, I was pretty sure she was only laughing because she was glad someone seemed to have as much difficulty with the "chips situation" as she had.
Soon, I was breathless from laughs, and we all settled down enough to focus on our next task. I sighed happily, which seemed to end all the hysteria. "What have you guys been working on here?" I asked to keep the work going.
"Well," Bella began in an almost formal, business-like way, " we're deciding on what fruit to get, and how we are going to serve it to everyone. Which means it's probably a good thing you came now," she said and smiled. Everyone seemed to be more relaxed now, and not so stressed. It was good, easier.
I nodded thoughtfully, and then looked at them and smiled pleasantly. "So what were you thinking?" I asked.
Alice was the informant apparently, because she answered instantaneously with facts that seemed memorized. "We're certain that we'll get some apples, because apples always go over well. According to my research, apples are the most common fruit eaten by children and adults. Would you say that's about right?" she looked up at me curiously, waiting for an answer. I was a little thrown off by her absolutely serious face, but I was used to this by now. I didn't make a joke or a comment, I decided to just be as helpful as I could at this point, so I nodded and smiled down at her. She immediately went back talking about her information. " Alright, so we will certainly get apples. Now we're are just unsure about how to present them. Skin on or off? Some kids have colour preferences I think, so we're going to get the classic Gala apple. But do we cut them in quarters? Let kids take and eat as they please? Give each one a cut up apple? Should we..." She continued on, and I listened to her worries, truly listened this time. I added in my thoughts occasionally when I felt they could be helpful, and together we seemed to be making some progress.
However, after a couple minutes my attention wandered towards Bella. She was looking blankly in a different direction, not really seeing anything. Her eyebrows were creased in worry, and I noticed that little line between her eyebrows that forms whenever she's stressed. Alice was so deep into her rant, that she didn't notice me watching Bella from the corner of my eye. I watched her for several moments, hoping to catch her eye, but she just kept the same expression and looked the same direction. It was starting to get a little creepy.
I cut Alice off mid-rant and called, "Bella!" Alice huffed but went silent, waiting for my attention again impatiently. Bella blinked, and focused on me quickly.
"Yeah Jake?" she asked innocently.
I didn't speak, just gave her a questioning, confused look.
She realized I had seen her worrying about something, and she simply shrugged and smiled. "I think I'm going to find Rose. We're almost done here, and she's been alone for awhile now. She should be cleaned up at this point. But," she hesitated for a second, choosing her words carefully, "it's Rose...we don't know how angry she's gotten." She laughed a little at saying her thoughts out loud.
Alice and I both laughed in turn, and before Bella left she told us, "I'll be back soon, and then we can probably check out. If you guys just figure out what's happening with the fruit." We nodded our agreements, and Bella turned leaving just the two of us.
Both me and Alice watched Bella until she was out of sight, but when she left it wasn't awkward. It was a lot easier being alone with Alice than Rosalie. We got back to the fruit selection right away.
"As I was saying...," Alice finished up her questions and concerns and we brainstormed our final decision relatively fast.
We chose to get a little more than a dozen apples, as there were to be about twelve children attending. We would cut them into wedges and place them equally in several bowls, that would be placed on the table during lunch so the kids could take them while they were eating their hot dogs, as a healthy snack. We would leave the skin on them, and we decided on Red Delicious apples after all. After that the cake would come, but we would also serve a selection of cut peaches, green grapes, and strawberries. It seemed fair, and tasty, and really healthy too.
Together Alice and I started to gather the fruits we had picked, satisfied with our choices.
We worked silently for most of the time, but something (actually a someone) caught my eye on the other side of Alice.
A tall, gangly teenage boy with shaggy brown hair and freckles was leaning against the cart beside him. He was quite frankly, googling at Alice. I was surprised he had kept the drool from rolling down his chin.
At the front of the cart, a mother was busy picking and bagging fruit. Beside her however, was a preteen girl, with the same brown hair and freckles as the boy. They were obviously siblings, who both were staring in our directions. The girl was trying, with not much success, to hide the dagger looks of jealousy that she was shooting at Alice.
Alice was unaware of the situation brewing beside us. But I couldn't hold back my snicker when the girl squinted her eyes at her brothers obvious desire for Alice, and then looked to Alice in clear hate. Alice looked up to me, and cocked her head to the side. I barely concealed my smile, as I sneakily nodded towards the brother and sister.
Alice looked at them full on, snf looked back at me the same moment her eyes took in the situation. But Alice couldn't reverse what had happened now though.
At Alice's look, the boy's jaw dropped open completely and you could practically smell the longing he felt. He composed himself eventually, but continued to stare, with a large cocky smile on his boyish face. I looked at him in disbelief and amusement. Usually just my presence had most teenage boys running the other direction, but this kid was persistent. And a bit too smug for his own good.
The girl was even funnier. Her expression when she saw Alice's face was one of utmost soul crushing. Her lips hung open too, at first sight, and I could feel the slam her self-esteem had just taken. But like the boy, she quickly rearranged her face to look like she was laughing at Alice, as though she was embarrassed for her. I never got girls. Did this kid honestly think Alice would be hurt by her obvious dislike towards her?
I looked back at Alice, who was trying hard to become invisible but turned to me with wide and blazing eyes. I raised my eyebrows up and down quickly, taunting her. She bit her lip to hide her laughs, and moved her focus back to the fruit.
I was still watching the family though, and it was unbelievable to watch them blankly stare at Alice with full force. Wasn't that considered rude ?
I was getting too much fun out of this, and I couldn't control myself when I nudged Alice playfully in the side. She was holding an apple gently, but she couldn't seem to resist a look either. She composed her face to a serious expression, and looked directly at the boy.
He seemed to consider her look a result of him, in a positive light, and he watched her carefully for a moment with the same cocky grin on his face. Suddenly, he winked at her seductively.
Alice's head whipped back my direction, and her whole body seemed to tense. And the apple she held her in tiny hand was not able to bear the pressure. Just like Rosalie, just one second of distraction and everything fell under the vampires strength. We're just lucky they weren't holding a grocery cart or, a person at the time.
The Red Delicious exploded in her hand, juice and apple chunks flying everywhere. Alice was so shocked at her display, she just looked at the destroyed apple in her hand and then realization hit, and she peered cautiously at the humans watching.
The girl gasped and looked at Alice rather frightened. The boy however suddenly had a grin of such pleasure spread across his face, and he was nodding at Alice . When the brother displayed the opposite feelings of the sister, the preteen girl now breathed angrily before storming off to her mother.
Alice's free, clean hand covered the laughs leaking from her mouth. The disbelief was plain on her face.
"I guess he likes girls with a bit of anger eh?" I whispered sarcastically in her ear. "Maybe he'd like me to demonstrate my anger on his face," Alice giggled quietly.
I decided to let the fun last a little longer, so before the boy began backing away, I waved to him a luxurious four finger wave. His feelings about Alice seemed to dissolve pretty fast after that. His eyes were wide and disturbed, and his mouth curled up in disgust slightly. To seal the deal and get him out of our hair for good, I extended my pinky and my thumb in the shape of a phone and pressed it to the side of my face as I mouthed "Call me".
His mouth hung open again, but with this time shock and more disgust. He was walking backwards before I could lower my hand, and in no time he was out of sight.
Alice and me waited a couple moments, saying nothing. Letting what just happened hit us.
And when it did, we doubled over laughing. For a long, long time.