Disclaimer: I claim nothing, but Edward would be nice for Mother's Day. All 1920's slang can be found here : http://local . aaca . org/bntc/slang/slang . htm Just remove the spaces
AN: So yeah, I took FOREVER to update…RL and all.
If you want a visual for the dresses PM I got pictures. That goes for the playlist as well.
A big muah and hug to my fuckawesome beta ChangedbyEdward who rocks well… my everything and special thanks to a new friend LolaRose for the shopping tips. H&R Ladies H&R ;P
Story pimp this chapter is by NanMcCullen. Is Bella cut out for life as a Dom? Find out in The Mistress and her Master. Check it out on my favs. I promise you won't be disappointed!
Now that I've rambled long enough, On with the story…
APOV
We sat at the lunch table crowded around Bella's laptop as Angela and I clicked on different sites to look for outfits. I could see Lauren and Jessica staring at us with interest, but I gave them the stank-eye and kept trying to find something fabulous to wear. I might have to call in a favor from a designer or two.
"Hey, what about this, Alice? I think it would look amazing on you!" I peered into the screen and saw a little red number that stopped short right at the thighs with little fringies on the hem of the dress. The model wore a little cap over her bob and a trio of long black beads. The red was too bright to go with my pale skin tone but Angela had just the right amount of tan to pull it off.
"Huh-uh, Ang, that dress is screaming YOU!" Angela blushed a bit and shook her head.
"No way, Alice, it's way too short! I couldn't leave my house in that! My dad would have a heart attack!" I choked back a laugh and shook my head.
"Angela, I wouldn't let you wear just that! I'd lose the cap and give you pin curls and I'd alter the hemline to your own measurements. You could wear Mary-Janes with a bit of a heel, some cat-eyes and ruby red lipstick, baby, you'll be dazzling!" I shut the laptop and looked over at the girls. "Okay, screw this. I have more know-how in my pinkie than this hunk-o-junk. Let's just go to the thrift store and pick some stuff out. I've got enough working around in my head that I can create something better than these cheap costumes." I looked over at Bella who seemed stuck to the chair.
"Bella? Uh, earth to Bella? Are you coming?" Something strange flashed across Bella's face before her mouth turned up into a smile.
"I'm coming, Alice. I just uh, spaced out a bit." I shot my eyebrow up at her and started grabbing our stuff from the table.
"Alright, Bella, we've got a couple more classes but I guess we could meet at your truck after school?" Bella nodded her head and went on her way, leaving Angela and me staring at her retreating back. We looked at each other and shrugged. Whatever it was, I was sure Bella didn't want to talk about it just then, if at all. I'd wait until we were alone to see if anything came up, but since all I could see was us getting some amazing outfits, I slipped my arm through Angela's and started talking shop.
BPOV
Please just get to the bathroom. I ran through the crowded halls bumping into nameless people until I reached where I needed to be. I couldn't believe that shit would happen to me in the lunchroom, of all places. It's not like we spent that much time there together. But I saw him sitting across from me with that beautiful half-smile on his face. I can't take this shit! Am I going crazy? I swore that I could almost hear him. I rushed into an empty stall and put the seat down. I sat there with my knees pulled up to my chest, repeating my mantra to myself. All I was hoping for was that a certain pixie didn't pop her head through the door. I loved Alice to death, but she'd spent the better part of her time with me trying to get me to smile, so I wasn't about to disappoint her with my relapse moments. The less she knew about that, the better. I rocked myself gently, willing myself to calm down. I was getting pretty freaking tired of those… well… I didn't even know what to call them. Visions? Hallucinations? Because apparently, I was bat shit crazy at that point. Whatever they were, they'd gotten more intense in the past few weeks. It was almost as though my mind was either trying to protect me from something, or prepare me for something. Either way, I was so tired of him creeping up on me and fucking up my façade. I was supposed to be showing them that I was getting better, not cracking up. I repeated my mantra a few more times and took a deep breath to calm myself. I opened the stall and was not surprised to see a tiny person fixing her black tufts in the mirror.
"You know, if you want to bail today, I won't hold it against you. I know how draining those er… memories can be." I shook my head and walked up to the sink next to Alice to wash my face. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and shuddered. Big, emotionless, brown eyes stared back at me with puffy, purple circles under them. The rest of my skin was almost as pale as Alice's, except that I had none of her grace. Were it not that I looked haggard and worn out compared to Alice, we could almost pass as sisters. I thought about that for a minute and realized that the days of Alice becoming my real sister were over. I sighed and turned to her.
"I'm fine, Alice, really. I was just hoping that instead of getting harder, it would be getting easier to deal with the whole… situation. I'm just so tired of being tired, you know? Well, I guess you don't know, but I'm sure you understand. I just want him to open his eyes and realize that this was a mistake. I want everyone home. If he doesn't want to be with me, fine, but give me back the others. I miss Emmett so much. Hell, I even miss Rose! And you can't tell me you don't want Jas to come back. Shit. I'm whining about how much I miss them… I can only imagine how you're feeling. I've pretty much alienated you from your family and all I want is to bring them back. If it wasn't for you I'd be afraid I made this all up." Alice threw her arm around me and touched her forehead to my own.
"Bella, no one is alienating me, well maybe Emoward, but aside from that, this was my decision and they know that. Jas will come home when he's ready to. I'm not worrying and neither should you. Come on, girl. Let's clean up and get out of here. We have two more days till show time and we need something amazing!" All of a sudden, a faraway look came over Alice's face. "Oh, and I KNOW where to find everything we need!" Alice grabbed my hand and we took off to find Angela, at human speed, thankfully. It was going to be a long afternoon filled with endless shopping. Hooray for me.
APOV
After wearing my humans out and ransacking seven different second-hand stores, I found the all the things I needed to make us all 'the girls' of the party. I found a beautiful aquamarine colored dress with pretty beads, decals, and flapper fringies all over it for Bella. There was a great red number that matched Angela perfectly and would look even better once I was done with it. For myself, I found a kick-ass light purple dress that had fringies only on the bottom to make me look taller (bonus in my book), and it came with a little headband that would be perfect on me. I let Bella and Angela pass out upstairs and I told them I'd be up in a few. We stayed at my house for the extra room and privacy besides the fact that I couldn't work my magic with Charlie snoring down the hall. Likely he would wake up and I would never be able to explain the speed with which I was moving to him. Once I had altered each dress to suit our needs, I sent an email to the caterers to tell them what time to arrive on Saturday. Then, at vampire speed, I tidied up the house. By the time the sun came up, the dresses where done, the food ordered, the house ready to be decorated, and the music being loaded onto my Zune. I could hear Angela and Bella stirring so I put a pot of coffee on to brew and threw some bagels in the toaster-oven. Two sleepy-eyed ladies appeared at the bottom of the stairs a few minutes later.
"G'morning, Alice, mmmm, is that coffee I smell? It smells amazing!" Angela yawned her way to the kitchen and sat at the table. I was excited to see the table being used. At least by someone other than Bella. I grabbed three mugs, one for each of them, and one for myself to keep up the charade, and poured the coffee. I handed Bella her mug and she raised an eyebrow at mine. I shrugged, not needing to explain. I didn't have to keep up pretenses with her, but with Angela around, I had to play human. So, I took my mug of tar and sat across from Bella.
"How'd you guys sleep?" Bella automatically looked down so I already knew her answer, but Angela stretched out like a cat.
"Oh geez, Ali, that was the best night's sleep EVER. I'm actually going to know what's going on today! Hey, how are the outfits coming along? Sorry I kicked you out of your room… I never heard you come up last night, and Bella came out of Rosalie's room alone. You didn't stay up all night, did you?" I shook my head and grabbed both girls by the hand.
"Feast your eyes on these, girlies, Alice Cullen creations, just for my friends. Angela, I hope the heel isn't too high; I got the lowest I could find. Bella, I know it's not a dark color but it's going to look amazing on you!" The 'oohs' and 'aaahs' came in abundance as I felt four arms wrap around me and if not for my strength, I would have toppled over. "I take it you guys like?"
"Yes! I can't believe you finished all the alterations overnight! You're amazing!" Angela gushed over her outfit and Bella stood there with the funniest smile on her face. I took it as Bella's stamp of approval since she didn't go into defense mode.
"Okay, girls, let's get ready for school. Angela, I'll drop your outfit off at your house after school so you have it for tomorrow. Bella, naturally yours can stay here until then. We're going to be the fiercest Shebas in the room!" Angela squealed and ran upstairs to get ready. Bella didn't move.
"Bella? Is everything alright? You look…distracted."
"I'm okay. I'm just a little tired. It's hard to sleep when everywhere I look I see him here. I can't even bring myself to walk past his room or look at the piano. It just… brings back too much. But, you know what, Alice? I'm good. It hurts but I'm okay. Really. I'm going to get ready. I'm sure you'll be done before both of us so I'll meet you down here so we won't be late." She pulled me into a hug and buried her face in my shoulder. "Thank you, Alice, for everything," she whispered.
I held her and said, "That's what besties are for. Now, run along, I have to beautify myself!" I watched Bella go up towards Rose's room and I tried to see if everything was still going as planned. So far so good. Tomorrow night the fun begins.
~**PARTY TIME**~
"Angela, relax, baby. You look amazing. Any further worry will insult the magnificent job I've done." I turned Angela towards the mirror in the foyer. She was absolutely stunning. Her hair was pinned up perfectly and her make-up light. I brushed a faint red tint across her lips and dabbed a bit of lip-gloss over that for extra shine. I pinned one long, red feather in her hair and Angela was the real deal. I had altered her dress to fall a little over the knee and had gotten her kitten-heel shoes with a bow for a buckle. I gave her a red shawl embroidered with little beads so she could cover shoulders, since the dress was spaghetti strap, and she finished the look with one long, heart-shaped pendent.
"Wow, Alice, really, this is… I have no words! It's… gah… fantabulous!" Angela ran to set up the music and I went to make sure everything else was in place. Bella wanted to dress herself so I was waiting for her to come down. I was becoming nervous because she was supposed to be down here three minutes and forty-seven seconds ago, but I didn't intrude. The fact that Bella had even agreed to attend the party gave her the right to be a little late. If she needed a little alone time, well, I wasn't going to butt in and take it from her.
I could hear familiar melodies coming from the other room and I began to hum along to "I Wanna be Loved by You" by Helen Kale. I was so wrapped up in putting the finishing touches on some vintage parlor curtains that I had found for the occasion, that I didn't even notice when Bella walked into the room. She looked so amazing that I couldn't believe it was the same girl I'd been seeing for the past few weeks. Her face had a beautiful glow and the way she had pinned her hair and stuck a little peacock feather in it was breathtaking. The dress fit her like she was born to wear it and the soft aquamarine color flattered her skin tone perfectly. The cute, heeled Mary-Janes made her legs look long and graceful, and the final touch was the three long strands of pearl beads she wore.
"Wow, Bells. Pulling out all the stops tonight, huh? I'm beyond impressed!" Bella gave me a shy smile and spun around, striking a pose.
"Really? With you as my roommate, nothing less would be accepted! I think I look pretty amazing if I do say so myself." Bella looked me straight in the eye and gave me the most sincere look. "Alice, let's have fun tonight, forget everything else and just have a blast. I just want to be normal today, you know? Have fun, be care-free, all that jazz." She laughed a little at her own joke. I turned us both into the mirror and fixed her clip.
"Don't I know it, Bella. We're going to have a ball. I don't need a special ability to see that. We look amazing, your food recommendations will be a hit, and Angela handled the music and invites. We have nothing to worry about. And if something should come up, well, I've got it handled! Let's go get Angela and…" The sounds of people arriving interrupted me and I finished, "Scratch that, let's go welcome our guests!"
Angela manned the door and ushered in our first arrivals as "The Charleston Swing" sounded out of the living room, or as it was known for the purposes of the party, "The Parlor." Angela and I had agreed on a mix of swinging jazz and ragtime for the soundtrack so that the selections would be mostly up-tempo and didn't leave room for people to just stand around. Footloose and fancy-free were the key words. I had the caterers set up the food along the farthest back wall. There were some pretty, plush, velvet couches and chaise lounges available for people to sit on.
I noticed Ben, Eric, and Tyler walking in, looking quite keen indeed, and flashed them a smile. They all stared, open-mouthed, because I, like Bella, had pulled all the tricks out of the bag. I had straightened my hair as flat as is would go and curled the ends towards the front. I had a cute little beaded headband and I did my make-up with full-on cat eyes and a sexy deep-burgundy lip stain. My dress was cut low and stopped short right above my thighs. I had on spiked Mary-Janes with three buckles over the top. I had a trio of knotted pearls and one big pearl ring on my left hand as a little reminder to me of my husband. I smiled at the thought of Jasper and walked toward Ben and Tyler.
"Wow, Alice, you look incredible. I hope I'll get a chance to cut a rug with you later," Tyler easily flirted with me. How bold these boys get when my "brothers" aren't around!
"Well, hello there, boys, don't you look good enough to eat! Welcome, welcome! Make yourselves at home! Tyler, you old Sheik, of course I'll save a dance for you!" I threw a little 1920's slang for the occasion and Tyler smiled bright.
"I'm happy to hear an exquisite doll, such as yourself, speaks my language. Maybe you could come check me sometime…" I laughed before he could finish his sentence and shook my head.
"Sorry, Mac, but the bank's closed. I'm sure there are enough dames running around here you'd want to play snuggle-buggy with and I'm no pushover. Besides, I already got me a daddy I carry a torch for. Now, I have to go mingle, you behave or I'm reneging on that dance." I turned and sauntered away to find Bella and say hello to a few more people. I could hear Tyler chuckle in disbelief and say to Ben, "Now THAT is a bearcat, my friend."
Ben looked confused and stared at Eric and Tyler. "I have no idea what the hell you just said, but yeah, she looks good." Then Angela walked in the room.
All three boys stood there with mouths agape and, oh my goodness, all she did was wink and walk out of the room! Go Angela!
I chuckled to myself and found Bella in the front room cradling a mocktail and looking around. Her eyes caught mine and she winked. Satisfied that everything was going well, I began making rounds and unfortunately saw Lauren and Jessica clomp in.
"Hello, ladies, and I use that term loosely, welcome to my home! I hope you guys are here to have a good time and realize that you're on my turf now. You're only here because you're part of the student body and everyone was invited as a whole. I don't like singling people out. But, since you guys do, I hope you're on your best behaviors because there aren't school rules here. These are my rules and I don't mess around. Got it?" I glared into their shocked faces that were overly done up and heavy on the powder. "Good. We understand each other. Now feel free to help yourselves to refreshments and have a good time!" I waved over my shoulder and saw Bella, who caught the whole interaction, beside herself with laughter.
"Oh my God, Alice, did you see their faces?" She gasped between fits of giggles. I had just been trying to make a point to those two, but since it made Bella laugh so hard, I was considering turning it into a daily routine.
We laughed together as we walked into the parlor and saw Angela and Tyler tearing up the dance floor. They were in the middle of a semi-circle while everyone around them either cheered or danced along. Bella and I ran to get a closer view. They were doing some amazing footwork to "The Broadway Rag" by Bob Wilson and his Varsity Rhythm Boys and the whole party kicked into full swing. Everyone was dancing and laughing and as I cut in for Angela, I saw one of the kids in our year approach Bella and ask her to dance. Although she declined, she let out a bright bubbly laugh, and there it was, my vision of a bright laughing Bella. I was so happy I could have exploded. Finally, I was seeing her break through the desolate time she was having and let loose. I knew then that she would make it through, even if tomorrow was not as good a day, she wouldn't be broken forever.
As the night went on, the food started to disappear, and the mood picked up even more. I ended up having to call Charlie and have him escort Jessica and Lauren home. I had a glimpse of them being drunk and sure enough, they had made their mocktails into real Gin and Tonics. Too bad the dumb asses couldn't hold it down and Jess ended up throwing up all over the front of Lauren's dress. So, I happily called Charlie, who called their parents, and he came to my house to pick them up.
"Hey, Alice, you guys winding down soon? It's really starting to pour out there," he said when he arrived. I hadn't even realized it had started raining, but that was nothing new in Forks so I waved it off.
"Don't worry, Charlie. If these kids grew up here, the only thing this rain is going to do is dampen the ground. Besides, it's only ten, don't you trust us?"
"Of course I do, but I obviously can't trust these two. Come on, ladies, you have some explaining to do." Jessica and Lauren somberly followed Charlie to the cruiser and I waved them out. Good Riddance.
I decided to haul the couch Jessica threw up on outside because the smell was nauseating me, so I asked the guys to "help" me take it to the patio. That's when it hit me. Flames, blood, Bella's lifeless body being shot through the windshield, the sound of crunching metal colliding with trees.
"Alice, Alice, can you hear us?" Two forms came into focus, so very different from the ones I had been seeing.
"Where's Bella?" Tyler and Ben looked at each other and shrugged. I ran back in the house and started searching for Bella. What I found was a panicked Angela rushing towards me.
"Alice! Alice, she's gone, she ran out the door! I just wanted to slow things down a bit so I put on some Gershwin and then Rhapsody in Blue came on… she looked like she was going to be sick and she took off. I thought she was going to the bathroom but she flew right through the front door. Alice, it's pouring outside!"
"I know, I know! Angela, quietly get everyone out, send them home, to the diner, whatever, just get rid of them. I have to call Charlie." I opened my cell and dialed Charlie.
You've reached Chief Swan. Please leave a mess-
Dammit! I called again and he picked up
"Charlie, it's Alice! Listen, Bella ran out there in the rain. Can you come back and try to find her? You're on your way? Good, Charlie, please, whatever you do, please watch the road and be very careful. Yes, I am aware you're a seasoned driver! I know I'm just a kid but please, I'm begging you, no matter what, just watch the road!" He hung up on me muttering something about knowing how to drive and take care of his daughter while I rushed upstairs to grab towels and a blanket for Bella. Once I was sure everyone was out, I asked Angela to lock up and hide the key under the mat. As soon as I was sure I was out of sight, I took off at vampire speed towards where my vision took place.
Please let me make it there on time.