Bella's POV

I woke up Wednesday morning and literally had to peel my eyelids open. My tears had dried and sealed my eyes shut. I stumbled into the bathroom and began splashing cool water onto my face, washing away the remnants of last night's crying jag. A soft noise behind me made me jump and gasp.

"Calm down, sweetie. It's just me," Angela said quietly, setting a cup of coffee on the bathroom counter. She laughed when I gave a sigh of relief.

"Sorry. I just woke up, so I'm not really awake yet. Thanks," I told her, picking up my coffee and taking a sip. "Ahhhh! Hey, what are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be at the library?"

I made my way back to my bedroom with my coffee, setting it down on my dresser so I could pick out what I would wear. Angela followed behind me and jumped onto the bed, drawing her knees up and wrapping her arms around them. I grabbed jeans and a T-shirt, stripped off my sleep shirt, and began to get dressed.

"I called and said I was taking the rest of the week off, that I had a family emergency."

I looked at her curiously.

"Bells, I know our announcements last night were a shock. I heard you crying, both in the bath and after you went to bed. I figured you needed the time alone, though."

She was right, as always. "I'm sorry, Ang. I really am truly happy for you both. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I always am." I smiled, trying to show her that I was okay. "Besides, what does that have to do with you taking three days off?"

She grinned. "Well, if we're gonna move in furniture this weekend, there actually has to be furniture to move in, right? So I figured we'd probably spend today and tomorrow shopping and then Friday getting the store and apartment cleaned and ready." She looked hesitant. "Umm, unless you'd rather not have my help, in which case, I understand..."

I jumped on the bed and poked her side, which was incredibly ticklish. "Of course I want your help! You know how much I hate shopping." I laughed as she squirmed away from me, giggling.

"Good! Then finish getting dressed and come eat. Ben fixed eggs, bacon, and French toast this morning and left you a plate warming in the oven. I'll go refresh this," she said, holding up my coffee cup, "and pour you some juice."

I grinned. "Thanks, Ang. Give me three minutes to brush my hair and put on my shoes, and I'll be out. While I eat, we can make a list of stuff I'll need."

Taking my cup with her, she left the room so I could finish getting dressed. I tied my shoes and then went back to the bathroom to brush my hair and put on some deodorant, since I didn't really want to scare all the salespeople away with my bad body odor today. I pulled my hair back in a quick ponytail and then noticed dark circles under my eyes. I took an extra minute to put a bit of concealer on, but otherwise, I left my face free of makeup. Grabbing my keys, cell phone, and wallet, I headed into the kitchen.

"Geez, Ang, that smells amazing, even from all the way down the hall."

She laughed. "Just wait till you taste it. Ben's French toast is almost as good as yours."

I chuckled and shook my head, sitting down to a full plate and two full cups. "Grab my notebook and pen from the coffee table, please, and then join me. We can talk about the list I made, and you can tell me if you think I need to add something to it."

As I ate and drank my coffee and juice, Angela read over the list. "You have linens and stuff?"

"Mmhmm," I mumbled around my food. Swallowing the bite, I said, "My dad has boxes from my mom stored at his house. They had a new set of kitchen stuff when they umm..." My voice trailed off, and then I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "Anyway, yeah, I have everything I need, at least to start with, for the kitchen and bathroom—minus like toilet paper, which I'll get before we go over Friday. There are a bunch of linens in the boxes, but I'll probably get a couple new sheet sets and some towels and stuff. I know there are plenty of blankets that I'll use, but I think I'll want my own sheets. The apartment doesn't have a ton of windows, so the curtains in the boxes will work unless I see something I can't pass up."

I continued to eat as I watched her write. She looked up suddenly and said, "I forgot to look! Did it have hookups for a washer and dryer?"

"Yeah, I looked when I was there yesterday. It does. Both are electric and in a little closet in the hallway leading from the living room to the bedroom and bathroom. There isn't much room in the closet. Just enough for the set and the shelf that's already installed above it, which will make a nice storage space."

"Oh, great! I'm assuming you got measurements for that, as well as the rooms and stuff, when you were there yesterday?"

I nodded, my mouth too full of French toast to speak.

"Good. So let's see. The appliances looked fairly new, so no need to get those. You need a table and chairs for the kitchen, but I guess that's pretty much it, except for any decorations we find, right?" Ang didn't even wait for me to speak, so caught up in her thoughts that she continued without pause. "For the living room, you'll need furniture and accessories," she spoke, mainly to herself.

She scribbled, put the end of the pen in her mouth in thought, and then scribbled some more as I finished my last bite and then got up to add my dishes to the dishwasher. Seeing that it was pretty full, I added soap and started it up. I refilled my coffee cup and asked, "Do you need a refill?"

When she said no, I set the coffee pot back down and then motioned for Ang to follow me to the living room. Setting my coffee down on the coaster on the table, I sat down on the couch and folded my legs up under me before finally speaking.

"Okay, so, nothing else that I can think of. I'll need a washer and dryer, of course." I smiled, feeling extremely glad that I wasn't going to have to go back to feeling like I was in college by using a laundromat to do my laundry every week. I looked at Angela, who was staring at the list. "Want me to take over?"

"Nope," she said, smiling. "I'll write, you think. Okay, bedroom..."

"Hmm, queen-sized bed should be fine."

She interrupted. "Bella, I saw that room. There's plenty of space for a king-sized bed. Why not go all the way and get a huge one?"

I smiled a little bit sadly. "Ang, I'm in a queen here, and it already feels too big and empty. You're just lucky I didn't wanna go down to a double! At least this way, I can pretend to have hopes that I'll find someone soon to take up the extra space."

She looked at me quietly for a minute and then nodded, moving on. "There was a full-length mirror there already, right?" She looked adorable sitting there with her face scrunched up, trying to remember from our quick walk-through the week before.

"Yeah, it's on one of those stands. It's beautiful, in great shape, and it wouldn't surprise me if it's an antique."

She clapped a few times and then got serious again. "Okay, so...the bed, a dresser, maybe a rocking chair or something. If either of us thinks of any other ideas for anywhere, we can always add it to the list later on. Now, for the bathroom, you need towels, a rug for outside the tub, um... Oh! What about like a soap dispenser, toothbrush holder, and a shower caddy that hangs up or stands in the shower to hold all your shampoo, razor, and everything?"

"Yes to all of those. Add a wastebasket for the bathroom, bedroom, living room, and kitchen to the list too, please. One thing we don't need is a ladder. There's a really tall one that I noticed in the storage room when we took our walk-through. We can use it to paint up high inside and the trim outside. Oh! I almost forgot. I don't wanna use my personal laptop for the bookstore, so I need to get a new computer, probably a Mac, for office use. There was a cash register that looked in pretty good shape, so I don't need that."

Angela nodded. "Good idea. There's an Apple store in the same area as the furniture store I was thinking about going to in Seattle, so that'll be easy."

"Damn, I need to call U-Haul and rent a truck. I think if we can get the people from the furniture stores to carry out the heavy stuff and load it into the truck, then I can just rent the truck through Saturday and return it once we've unloaded everything. That way I don't have to worry about how to get everything home or where to keep it until Saturday." I grabbed my cup and stood up to head into the kitchen to find the phone number.

"While you do that, I'm gonna go put on a little bit of makeup and call Ben to let him know that we're heading to Seattle for the day and probably won't be home until late. Then I'll be ready to go."

She grinned excitedly, and I realized that while we were making the list, my excitement had come back, too. I threw my arms around her and hugged her tightly.

"Thanks, Ang! You're the best, and I couldn't do this without you."

I set my cup in the sink and rinsed it out before grabbing the phone book from the drawer. After looking up the number, I dialed the closest U-Haul location. Fifteen minutes later, I hung up the phone, put the phone book away, and headed back to Angela's bedroom.

Knocking once on the door frame, I walked in and dropped down into the chair beside the bed.

"Hey, did you get a truck reserved?" Angela walked in, pulling her hair up into a ponytail.

"Yup, one of the last big ones they had available right now. So I'm glad I called. I'm ready when you are," I said, grinning with excitement.

She laughed. "Glad to see you're happy! I'm ready. Just gotta grab my keys and purse. We'll take my car over there, and then you can follow me back here so I can drop the car off. Work for you?"

Nodding, I said, "Yup, works for me. I'm a little nervous about driving the big truck, but I've done it once, so I'm sure I can do it again."

We grabbed our stuff, making sure I had the list, and left the house.

Thirty minutes later, Angela hopped up into the truck. "Seattle, here we come!"

I laughed. "You're such a goof!"

She grinned and stuck her tongue out at me. I stuck mine back out at her and then got quiet.

"Seriously for a second. Thank you, Ang. I really wouldn't wanna be doing this with anyone else and am especially glad I don't have to do it alone."

She smiled, reaching over to squeeze my hand gently. "Never alone, Bells. Don't forget that. I'll always be here for you, no matter where I live." We both sniffled, holding back tears. "Now, no more crying! This is a fun day! How about some music?"

The trip to Seattle was going to be about two and a half hours in the truck. For the first hour and a half, we simply listened to the radio, singing along with the music when we knew the song and pretending when we didn't. When we had about an hour left, Ang turned the radio down before pulling out the list.

"I'm assuming you wanna replace the awning above the door? It's kinda old and dirty."

"Yeah, definitely. I'm not sure where to buy one of those, though."

"Ahh, see, this is where I come in. I did some research on the computer this morning before you got up, and I figured we'd go to Lowe's to get stuff like the washer and dryer. Guess what Lowe's also sells?" She grinned.

"Oh! That's awesome. I didn't know they'd have that type of thing. I wonder if they'll have the color I'm thinking of..."

I looked in my mirrors and then smoothly changed lanes to get out of a semi's way. The driver waved and honked as he passed us, making us laugh and feel like we were kids again.

"Well, what colors are you thinking for the store front?"

"I'm thinking a burgundy, or something similar, for the awning and for the name of the store painted on the window. Then for the trim, maybe something like a slate blue. Possibly a shade or two darker than that, but I'm not sure what it would be called. I figured we'd just look around tomorrow when we went shopping in town for paint and linens and stuff."

Angela nodded. "Those sound good. I'm sure they'll have something that'll work. If not, we can look around until we find something that does."

I turned the music back on while Angela put the list away. For the next thirty minutes, we sat quietly, both lost in our thoughts. When it came time to start looking for an exit, Angela pulled a piece of paper out of her purse. "I have just the place for us to start shopping," she said, grinning.

Following her directions, we found the furniture store that Angela had decided we would start our shopping trip. I parked the truck toward the back of their parking lot, locked the doors, and we headed inside.