I'm Sure It Helps

Today's song is I'm Sure It Helps by Weinland.

The rest of the trip to Bella's chosen hideaway was relatively uneventful. Winding down the dusty old Indian Service Route, they never encountered any other souls either dead or alive but after two hours of driving Alice began to get restless.

"Oh my god, are we there yet?" she whined while fanning herself with a map as she poked and prodded the shiner Bella had given her the night before . "We're probably lost. Figures she would lead us all out here to die in the desert. We would have been better off in Phoenix. At least there we had a working air conditioner," she griped.

Clutching the steering wheel so hard his knuckles had turned white, Emmett couldn't bear to listen to another minute of her self-involved bitching.

"Would you shut the fuck up?" He finally snapped angrily causing Alice to start in shock at his sudden unexpected outburst. "If it weren't for Bella we would have all died back in Phoenix and had she not been there you would have been killed back at that gas station so shut the hell up. You should be kissing her ass rather than bagging on it."

Alice snapped the visor mirror shut with an angry snort. "Oh yeah I should just bow down and kiss Bella's perfect ass just like you and Charlie. Not likely. The two of you are so blinded by her perfection that you don't see the real Bella. She's no angel, trust me."

"You know I don't think she's an angel Al," Emmett replied with a heavy sigh, "but she's also not the monster you make her out to be. I swear I don't understand what happened between you two. I remember when you used to be the best of friends sure you fought like cats and dogs but at the end of the day you still loved each other. Why can't you both just go back to that?"

Pasting on a mask of indifference in an attempt to hide her hurt, Alice stared out at the stony landscape before answering. "Too much has happened Em. I can't just forget what she did."

"Erg," Emmett clutched at his hair in frustration. "And what exactly was it that she did to wrong you? What could your own sister have done to you that was bad enough for you to claim to hate her?"

Alice took a deep breath as she collected her thoughts. She hadn't sorted through those memories in so long. Furrowing her brow, she turned back to Emmett's expectant face. "They drove him away from me and I'm not sure I can ever forgive her for that."

Emmett's brows knitted in confusion as he tried to make sense of her words but came up empty. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he finally admitted.

"No, I guess you wouldn't since it happened while you were away at school. During my freshman year of college, I had a boyfriend, James Hunter. He was amazing. James was smart, funny, good looking, and treated me like a princess," she gushed, her eyes taking on a faraway look. "We knew it was too soon for us to be so serious but we were in love and wanted to get married. I knew Charlie would never approve but it was my life you know? Anyway the night he was supposed to pick me up so we could elope he never showed. I was so worried Em," she admitted as tears streamed freely down her face. "I called his phone for hours but he never picked up. I even called the local hospitals fearing he had been in some sort of an accident but there was no one fitting his description. I was worried sick and had no one to talk to. Charlie was working, you were away at school, and Bella was off with him," she spat. "Finally the next day I was about to give up calling when his phone suddenly picked up. I was so relieved and finally let myself relax knowing I was going to be married within a few hours but no, she had to ruin it."

"Turns out Bella and the worthless boyfriend of hers had threatened James and he had even taken a few swings at James, the animal. So he told me I was too much trouble and he didn't want anything to do with me. Then he hung up. I tried to call him a few times after that but he changed his number and I haven't seen or heard from him since."

Throughout Alice's confession Emmett hadn't uttered a single word. Instead he had focused on every single word she said in an effort to understand what would drive his two sisters to behave in such a way.

"What did Bella have to say for herself?"

Alice's mouth dropped. "What do you mean what did Bella have to say for herself?" she snapped. "How the hell should I know?"

Emmett's head snapped toward his sister so fast he was certain he was going to be suffering from a minor case of whiplash. "How could you not know? Didn't you ask her?"

"No," Alice replied her face scrunched up in a look of disbelief. "Why would I talk to her after what she did? She drove off the love of MY life."

"Yeah well, be that as it may don't you think you should have asked her why? Maybe she had a good reason."

"There you go again!" Alice shouted while gesturing angrily, "defending perfect Bella, yet again. Isn't it getting a little old?"

"Whoa there!" Emmett snapped eyes blazing angrily. "Before you get all high and mighty just think for a second. Why would Bella go out of her way to threaten the 'love of your life' and scare him off the night before your secret wedding?"

"I don't know. Because she was jealous. Why else? It's not like any guy has ever looked twice at her."

Emmett glared at the road before him before a thought occurred to him. "I thought you said Bella and-" he trailed off determined not to utter the bastard's name, "her boyfriend threatened him."

Alice shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, so?"

"So why would she be jealous if she had a boyfriend?"

"I don't know. Don't ask me to try to understand the twisted inner-workings of Bella Swan's convoluted mind. Maybe she was jealous that my boyfriend loved me more than hers did." As soon as the words left her mouth Alice knew they were entirely untrue and so did Emmett.

"You know that's not true Al," Emmett replied wearily rubbing his face in a very Charlie like manner. "While he may be a bastard there was no way anyone could ever claim he didn't love her. Hell he practically worshipped the ground she walked on. Course that wouldn't stop me from sucker punching him right in his pretty face should I ever have the misfortune of running into him again which after this unlikely turn of events seems pretty unlikely. I'll never understand what he did to her but that's beside the point."

"Oh really Em," she sneered, "what exactly is the point?"

"My point is that the reasons you have come up for hating Bella are shaky at best and you know it. You have no idea what really happened and if you have half a brain in your head you would realize that your story makes almost no sense. I mean I'm sure it helps you get through the day, blaming all of your problems on your favorite scapegoat but ask yourself this. Since when does Bella run off in the middle of the night to threaten your boyfriends enough that they dump you and fall off the face of the earth?" he asked seriously before turning his attention back to the road. "I don't know who you grew up with but that sure as hell sounds nothing like my sister."

For once in her life Alice was left completely speechless. They rode in complete silence for a few minutes more before the truck in front of them took a sharp turn to the right onto what appeared to be a main road.

"Looks like we're almost there," Emmett remarked offhandedly.

"Why do you say that?" Alice asked curiously, all signs of her previous hostility completely gone from her voice.

Emmett raised one finger and pointed toward a giant shape looming ominously in the distance. "Because I'm pretty sure that is Bella's brilliant hideout."

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I know they're short but you still got three new chapters in one day. Yahoo! Thanks again for the great reviews and all the adds I really love that you like this story. Now, some people have asked if Edward will be showing his hot face soon and my answer is eh. He will be showing up but in his own sweet time. He has his own mess to sort through first but we will be checking in on him soon as he is a real joy that one, you'll see. Anyway let me know what you think and sleep tight chickens! Remember, don't let the zombies bite!

XOXO,

Bellarella