Author's note:
Thank you all for reading! I hope you all enjoy! I'd love to hear back from you about any questions, comments, suggestions or reviews (PLEASE) you have. I plan on having another chappie up soon! Thank you all!
I dug my spoon deep in my pint of Ben and Jerry's and left it there while I circled yet another wrong answer on my students' test. Who knew multiplication was so hard? I groaned internally. Looks like another three weeks of multiplication for my kids!
My roommate and best friend, Rosalie burst through the front door of our apartment with groceries overflowing in her arms. She kicked the door closed behind her and hobbled her way to the kitchen where Ben, Jerry and I were grading papers and dropped them noisily onto the counter. "Who the hell thought that three flights of stairs were a good idea?"
"They make this thing, it's called an elevator," I said, through my ice cream-filled mouth.
"It's been broken for the last week! Where have you been?" She shuffled around our kitchen, putting various groceries away. If you could really call them groceries. They mostly consisted of licorice, toaster pastries, frozen pizza, and coffee. It was amazing that the two of us didn't weigh six hundred pounds. But no, Rosalie had the perfect figure.
Rosalie was tall: five-foot-nine without heels. She was thin and leggy and had long, flowing honey-colored hair. Her blue eyes twinkled like she always knew something you didn't. She had fantastic, albeit expensive taste, from head to toe, always wearing something designer, something she could afford between her parents' money and her scholarships to graduate school while she worked toward becoming a sex therapist at UCLA.
On the other hand, I was shorter, five-foot-four on a tall day, curvier, and had brown eyes, kind of akin to the color of mud. I didn't really care about designer clothes, which was good considering my teacher's salary in a California public school.
"I guess I didn't notice. I've been taking the stairs, you know, getting in shape and all." I stood, capped the ice cream to put it back in its home in the freezer and dropped the spoon in the sink. "A week? Really?" I helped her put the remaining groceries away, taking a much needed break from my grading.
"Bella, you've been kind of out of the loop lately. You haven't even come out with Alice and me for like a month!" She looked at me accusingly. "It's Saturday! Have you even showered today? Never mind, I don't want to know."
I looked down at myself. I was wearing jeans and a comfy t-shit that I had accidentally dripped some ice cream onto. My wavy brown hair was pulled up in a ponytail but I hadn't bothered with makeup. "I've been grading papers! Really busy, shaping young minds, teaching them how to think for themselves and be independent!"
She was not amused. "You've been hiding," she accused, crossing her arms over her chest and jutting out her hip.
"That's ridiculous, Rose! What do I have to hide from?" I smiled widely and shoved past her to put some string cheese in the fridge.
"Ever since you and Jake broke up, you haven't been yourself. I know it was hard but it's been over a year and this dry spell of yours is doing awful things for my sex life." She leaned against the table. "Honey, you know it would be good for you to get out."
"I just have been busy and when I'm not busy, I'm tired." I shrugged and avoided her smart eyes.
"That's called depression. And it's perfectly normal, given what you went through. What he did? It was a really bad thing. But you need to realize that there are other people out there that love you and care about you and want to see you get better." She looked at me with her "therapist eyes" and watched me fold the cloth grocery sacks and shove them under the sink where they belonged.
I laughed slightly at her. "I am not depressed! Who said I was depressed? Do I look like a girl that's depressed?"
She stood, wet the corner of the dishtowel and began scrubbing at my ice cream stain. "How much ice cream have you had in the past month?"
In all honesty, I was still hurting. I had thought Jake was "the one." I was planning my future with him and when I woke up on my birthday, the year before alone in bed and he was in the guest room with one of my sorority sisters, Victoria. The double loss had left me feeling vulnerable and untrusting of nearly every person that I came across since. It took a lot for me to get back to being my old self around Rosalie and Alice, even though they had done nothing wrong and they had been there for me the whole time.
"Maybe I am in a little bit of a funk. I just need time," I sighed.
And then the front door banged open and in stormed my other best friend, Alice. Alice the oh-so-subtle, pixie of a woman, with a haircut to match her size in her jet black hair with green eyes. She was fun and normally wearing bright colors but today she was wearing a black skirt-suit with a white collared button-down blouse and she was carrying… was that a video camera?
"This is an intervention!" she yelled.
I swiveled my head to look over at Rosalie who was grinning like an idiot. "Are you kidding me?" I asked. I didn't think it was funny at all. I was kind of hurt that my friends had gone behind my back and decided that I needed "help" like that. I was doing fine on my own. I needed time.
"We want our Bella back!" Alice whined. "We miss you and you aren't getting better on your own."
"Turn off the camera," I said softly.
Alice slowly pulled the camera down and pushed the off button.
"Bella, we aren't trying to hurt you further. We're doing this because we care about you. Come on, go out with us tonight! We'll make it a Single Again party!" Rosalie was always looking for a reason to throw a party.
I thought about it for a second. Maybe they're right. You haven't been out in a really long time. "I guess," I mumbled.
Alice started bouncing up and down. "I'll do your hair!"
"I'll start calling people!" Rosalie and Alice both launched themselves at me for a hug, knocking us all on the kitchen floor.
"Okay, okay, we're all very excited. What time do I have to be ready?" I grumbled from my spot in the middle on the floor.
"Be ready to hit the door at eight!" Rosalie giggled and tickled me. I giggled too, even though I didn't want to.
"Alright! I have three more tests to grade and then I'll start getting ready." I looked up at the clock, noting that it was already five.
Alice jumped up on her feet and pulled me up while Rosalie used the kitchen table to pull herself up. Rosalie pranced to her room to make calls to invite people out. I grabbed my tests before being herded down the hallway by the tiniest pixie alive toward my room where I sat at my desk to finish my grading while she went through my closet, flinging clothes around, not stopping until she found the perfect outfit for me to wear to my mysterious Single Again party. By the time I was finished grading, she had found the perfect outfit: a long, ruched, one-shoulder black top with almost-black skinny jeans and cherry red patent leather pumps.
"I need a shower," I told Alice, standing and stretching. Grading papers was getting irritating. Maybe I should start testing on Scantrons…
"Thank God!" Alice said. "When you're done, get right back in here."
I grabbed my towels and headed to Rosalie's and my shared bathroom to take a shower. I adjusted the spray and when the water hit the right temperature, stripped down and stepped in. I rinsed off and threw some shampoo in my hair before shaving my right leg. When I was absolutely positive that I hadn't missed any spots, I rinsed out my hair, threw in some conditioner, and then shaved my left leg. I don't know why, that was just the way I did it. When my left leg was absolutely perfect, I rinsed my hair again and shaved everywhere else that needed shaving. Then I turned off the water because Southern California was still in a drought. I wrung out my hair and toweled off, taking a deep breath. I wondered if I was ready for a coming out of hiding, so to speak. How well do they know you? They want what's best for you.
I left the bathroom, steam billowing around me and went into my room, where Alice had changed into a sequin mini skirt that I think she stole from a Barbie, a tight hot pink tank top and black leather knee-high boots. Rosalie came into my room wearing a deep red mini dress and strappy heels.
While Alice and Rosalie did their makeup and hair, I blew my own hair dry and straight. Once I had finished, my friends sat me down and started tweezing, poking, prodding and even smushing at my face with various instruments of torture. I usually only wore small amounts of makeup but tonight, they were going to make me look fabulous weather I liked it or not. And to be honest, I liked it. By the time they had had their fun, it was time to leave. We just had enough time to grab something to eat from the kitchen before packing into Rosalie's Honda Civic.
Rosalie looked over at me once we had all gotten in and buckled up. "You ready for this?" she asked.
"I don't know, am I?" I asked.
Rosalie and Alice both giggled. "Ready or not, here we come!" Alice yelled.
Author's note (again):
So, what do you think? Reviews would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!