Aw, the future… it has so much in store for Bella.
Playlist: Pardon Me by Incubus and The Strength to Go On by Rise Against
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It was now October and the month since my birthday had gone well for the most part. Charlie and I talked more and I felt like a weight had been lifted off of me once I knew Jake was accepting of my new life…or existence, if you want to get technical. Even the rest of the pack was supportive once they heard the story of why I was changed. I had stopped psyching myself out about being around humans, my bloodlust was mostly caused by the fact that I didn't fully trust myself not to hurt humans even though I knew their blood didn't appeal to me so much as their heart beat did. The hard feelings that I felt for the Cullens, well mostly just one of the Cullens, continued ever since that morning at Charlie's when my feelings changed from being sad to being angry. Nevertheless his eyes still haunted me and of course, I only saw his eyes as they appeared to me the day he left. They had that same cold look about them but there was something else, some sliver of something that seemed like they wanted to tell me something. It was probably that the whole thing was a joke to them; I was a joke to them. I guess it's easy to be an actor when one look into your eyes can make a person lose all coherent thoughts.
Aislinn had found a new talent, painting. She absolutely loved her painting class and she was sad every time it ended. She would come home and paint until her class started again the next day. Having seen so many people's memories she never ran out of things to paint. As a surprise she painted me a picture of my now scrap-metal truck. It was one of the best presents I had ever received. Her teacher told her that her work was impressive and he wanted to display a few pieces at her art show tomorrow night. Aislinn was a nervous wreck and I was desperately trying to calm her.
"What if no one likes my paintings? What if everyone hates them?" She gasped.
I rolled my eyes at her for what seemed like the one hundredth time that day, "Please… you know that simply is not a possibility. Your pieces are amazing and you know that as well as I do. Even if someone didn't like your art, so what? Art is subjective, what seems completely wrong to one person might be the greatest muse ever to another. If someone or even everyone hates your art, it isn't that big of a deal… you'll live. Well, uh… you know what I mean."
"Bellaaaaaaaaaaa…" With the look on her face you would assume the world was ending.
"What? You agreed to do it. I don't know what you want me to do. Pretend to be your mom and call you in sick?"
"You'll go with me, right?" she said with her best puppy dog face.
I rolled my eyes, again. "You should save up your puppy dog faces for when you really need them; I'm starting to become immune. I don't know why in the world you think I wouldn't be going… Brendan is coming too." I crossed my fingers and prayed that my last sentence wouldn't make an impact on her because if it did the line of questioning that it resulted in would be draining. I nonchalantly flipped through the magazine I was pretending to be interested and after a few moments of silence I figured I was in the clear. Then I looked up and noticed her standing in front of me, arms crossed and a big smirk on her face. Aw crap.
"Brendan, as in airport hottie Brendan?" She squealed.
"Your words not mine." I said flatly while flipping through the magazine some more. Please drop the subject, please.
"So…?"she said, obviously expecting me to continue speaking on the subject. I just turned the page in my magazine. "Bella!"
"What do you want me to say, Aislinn?"
"Well did you invite him as a date?" her eyes were wide with excitement.
"What would that be to him but a poisoned chalice? You know I don't date for one obvious reason and even if I did date I wouldn't date a human," I scoffed.
"Well if you don't want to be annoyed by me jumping to conclusions then you should just open up when I ask you about something, huh?" she replied.
I raised an eyebrow at her, "Well, someone is a crotchety girl today, isn't she?"
"Crotchety? You're using my words to imply that I'm snarky or… cranky?" she said as she feigned annoyance.
"Last time I checked you didn't invent the word and you hadn't trademarked it. I wasn't implying that you were being snarky; I was directly saying that you were being snarky," I said while I stuck my tongue out at her.
"Sorry. You know how this show has me on edge. So what is the deal with you and Brendan then?"
"Well, I wrote him a few times when we were in Volterra and once we got back I sent him another letter with my phone number and he called me the other day. I didn't have much that I could actually talk to him about because of the whole 'me being a vampire' secret so I talked to him about school, you and your art show. He asked if he could come and I said of course he could."
The look on her face reeked of disappointment. "Well that isn't very exciting or juicy."
"I never claimed that it was."
"Now who is being crotchety?" she said with a smirk. "If I didn't know better I would swear that you were nervous about seeing Brendan…"
I gave her a warning glance, "Yes, you caught me. I am nervous about being surrounded by what is meant to be my natural food source and about all the questions about my appearance I will get from him."
She acted like I didn't say anything and a moment later she was smiling again. "We should go shopping."
"Oh great, just what I want to do with my free time."
In all actuality I didn't loathe shopping like I used to but you wouldn't catch me telling Aislinn that, she was almost as bad as Alice… almost. When you take a girl from a small town, put her in a big city with an overabundance of designer clothing stores and hand her a Black card you're lucky if everyone makes it out with all of their appendages. Going with Aislinn to designer stores wasn't that bad, once you had been there they kept a record of what kind of things you like and would basically shop for you, I liked that. We were done within a few hours, after Aislinn was convinced we had the perfect ensembles for the art show. I tried not to be too much of a pain, this was her time. The rest of the day flowed smoothly into the next and before we knew it there were just a few hours until the show. We hunted and then spent the rest of the time getting ready.
"Here put these on," Aislinn said as she handed me a pair of black frame glasses similar to the ones she was putting on.
"What are these for? Do you not get the whole better than perfect vision thing?"
"They don't have a prescription on them, Bella. Wearing glasses will make it harder for people to notice how crazy looking our eyes are and they'll tone down the sexiness that is oozing off of you."
I looked her up and down; she was wearing a short green dress that looked like it was made to match her every curve and complimented her hair, skin and eye colors completely. "Sexiness that is oozing off of me? You've got to be kidding! I'm wearing a black skirt and a grey shirt; it's the most basic outfit you would let me get!"
"Bella look at yourself in the mirror, would you? You're wearing a tight fitting black pencil skirt and a pretty grey blouse that matches your eyes and highlights your curves. With the killer heels I got us you're going to look beyond sexy. Glasses will tone that down unless anyone there has a hot librarian or teacher fetish," she said with a smirk.
"You're really pushing it. I don't want to look like a hot anything. I want to look like Bella that dressed up because the event called for it, not because she wants to. I don't get why the glasses have to be designer if they are meant to tone everything down," I groaned.
"No matter what we dress in you know every set of eyes will be on us. It's just our nature," she said matter-of-factly.
"Well you don't need to encourage nature."
We finished arguing, I put on the black four-inch heels that would have landed me in the hospital a minute after putting them on if I was human, and we made our way to the show. We were early so that Aislinn could talk to her teacher before it started but there was already a significant amount of people in the big building. We made our way over to an odd looking man with straight shoulder-length brown hair and a bright yellow shirt.
"Hi Mr. Gee." Aislinn said sweetly.
"Hey there is my star pupil!" He said while hugging her. If she wasn't such a talented painter I would have sworn that he put her work in his show because he was attracted to her. Who could blame a mortal for falling for a vampire though? It was what we were created to do.
"Mr. Gee this is my sister, Bella," she said motioning towards me.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Gee," I said flatly.
"Please, call me Bud. It's very nice to meet you too, Bella." Bud Gee? Are you kidding me? I had to hold back my laughter and Aislinn shot me a 'don't you dare mess this up for me' glance.
"I'm going to go check out the pieces and leave you two to talk," I said before turning and walking away as quickly as I could without attracting attention. I opened my little pamphlet they gave us at the entrance and went to the first piece. I immediately knew why this was so important to Aislinn, Mr. Gee's… I mean, Bud's art was really good. With my new vision it was hard to not find the flaws in something, especially art. I could see where someone re-touched or were someone's hand got shaky and there were slight imperfections but I didn't have to struggle against myself to keep from finding flaws in these pieces, they were flawless, perfect. I had completely zoned out while looking at a painting of a mother and child, I was debating with myself on whether or not Bud had modeled the mother in the painting after Aislinn when someone behind me whispered in my ear, "Love of beauty is Taste. The creation of beauty is art."
I turned around to see Brendan standing in front of me, in the now packed building, smiling. I was surprised at how different he looked to me. He was cleaned up, in a dress shirt and slacks but that wasn't it. Like many things I had seen in the past year, it was as though I was seeing him for the first time. His good looks only increased with the clarity of my vision. I didn't doubt that if he was ever an immortal he would match Rosalie in beauty.
I lifted and eye brow at him and smiled, "Ralph Waldo Emerson fan?"
He had a surprised look on his face but his smile grew even wider and his dimples became even more prominent, "You knew that?"
"I have a lot of free time," I said shyly and he pulled me into a hug. I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to breathe if I was still human. His heart was beating strongly and it was making venom pool into my mouth. I hadn't taken a breath since before Aislinn and I entered the building, I just made my chest slightly rise and fall, and I was now out of air from my small conversations with Bud and Brendan. I usually didn't hold my breath around humans because the smell of their blood wasn't ever that appetizing but it instances like this, with hundreds of humans all in one place I didn't want to take too many chances. I took a breath and immediately Brendan's scent overwhelmed my senses and set my throat on fire. I had never smelled anything like it and it took every ounce of self control I had not to kill him as he released me from the hug.
"You look so different!" he said while looking me up and down. "Did you get contacts?"
I shook my head no. I didn't want to use up the air that I had just taken in. I wouldn't risk breathing again when it was gone.
"How are your eyes so different if you didn't get contacts?"
"I told you in the letter I woke up one day and I was different. My appearance was part of that." Crap. I was almost out of air. "Can you wait here for a sec? I have to go get something out of my car."
"Sure I'll be right here," he said with a smile. I quickly walked towards the exit and made sure Aislinn saw the pained look on my face. Her eyes got wide and I heard her try to escape from the conversation she was in. Once I was out of the building I ran at a human pace towards the car. It still probably looked weird to see a girl running full speed in four inch heels but I didn't care. I got into the car and took in all of the fresh air that I could, a moment later Aislinn joined me.
"What happened?" she looked beyond worried.
"I hadn't been breathing, just in case someone's blood appealed to me. Well then Brendan came and I had to breathe to talk to him so I took in a breath while he was hugging me and I nearly killed him right there…in front all of those people. It was so stupid of me, I could have hurt him."
"Do you think that his blood was appealing because you were so close and you hadn't smelled all the humans around or do you think his blood is especially good smelling to you?"
"I-I'm not sure," I stuttered. "It could've been because I was so close to him and his heart as well as the fact that I hadn't gotten used to the smell of humans in the room."
"Well I have to go back; Mr. Gee said that a few people were interested in my pieces. I didn't think anyone would want to buy them so we haven't discussed it yet. I have to negotiate a price with the buyers in an hour. I was going to ask you to be there with me during it but maybe you should stay here."
"Are you serious? They want to buy your pieces? That is amazing!" I said as I embraced her. "I want to be there with you. Let's go back in. I'll take it slow and let my body get used to all the human smells before I go back up to Brendan."
"Ok, if you think you can handle it. I still want to meet him but maybe I should wait. I don't want to ruin tonight by killing a human in front of my buyers," she said with a chuckle but I knew she was serious.
We made our way back to the building; Aislinn gave my hand an encouraging squeeze before dancing off into the crown. I took deep breaths, letting the scent of humans and their blood saturate my senses. Once I was accustomed to it and sure I wasn't going to kill anyone I walked toward were I had left Brendan only a few minutes ago. I saw him a moment before his scent reached me. It was strong and the venom pooled up in my mouth again but it was bearable. I walked up behind him and stopped in my tracks when I saw the painting he was looking at. It was of me, laying in the meadow but it wasn't an image from my memories; Aislinn had put her own twist on it. The meadow was mostly dark and almost scary looking but there were a few rays of brilliant sunshine landing on half of my face. The eye on the side of my face that was being illuminated by the sun was grey and the one in the shadows was red. I was a little irked that she didn't tell me about this painting but it was so good. I leaned forward smoothly so my mouth was a few inches from Brendan's ear and I whispered, "The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance."
He spun around and smiled like he had earlier. "Aristotle? I'm impressed," the look on his face was proof of what he said. "You had me worried that you were ditching me."
"Sorry… I had to get my phone and then talk to Aislinn. A few people are going to place offers on her pieces and she wants me to be there for support."
"It's ok, I'm just glad you're back. This is one of hers, right?"
"Yeah, she didn't let me see any of the pieces she was using and now I know why," I said, slightly embarrassed.
"I think it's beautiful, absolutely amazing," he said looking into my eyes.
"Well I'll tell her you said that, she'll be pleased."
"I wasn't just referring to the painting," he mumbled while turning around to look at it again. If I was human I wouldn't have heard it so I pretended not to. This friendship would never go in that direction for a few reasons. We spent the next hour looking at the paintings together and quizzing each other on quotes until Aislinn came up to us with an unsure expression on her face.
"Hi, I'm Aislinn," she said while sticking her hand out for Brendan to shake. I watched her take in a small breath and then smile in the realization that she wasn't going to have any stronger urge to kill him than any other human she had met.
"It's great to finally meet you Aislinn, I'm Brendan," he replied.
"Bella, do you still want to come with me to talk to the buyers?" she asked.
"Yeah, of course."
"Do you have any offers on that dark meadow painting, Aislinn?" Brendan asked. Oh for the love of God please don't tell me he wants to buy it.
"Just one," she said, "Are you interested in buying it?"
"Yes, I'm absolutely in love with it," he said smoothly. Perfect. I rolled my eyes at him and he just smiled. It was exactly the kind of thing Jake would have done. First Emmet now Jake? Great what guy in my life will he take after next? Well I know of one that he could never come close to. Aislinn grabbed my hand and motioned for us to follow her. She was leading us towards a door in the back of the building that I was guessing held an office or two. A second before we got to the door my phone rang. I looked down at my phone and I guess the look on my face mirrored my confusion because Aislinn stopped dead in her tracks.
"Who is it?" she asked.
"It's Jake; I don't know why he is calling so late. I should take this…are you going to be ok?"
"Yeah I'll be ok. Just come in when you are finished. I might need your help breaking up a fight between Brendan and the lady that wants to buy the same painting. Mr. Gee said she was very adamant about having it," she said while nudging Brenda in the ribs playfully. He didn't take his eyes off of me though and he had a slightly worried expression on his face. I gave him and encouraging smile as Aislinn pulled him through the door. I contemplated running through the crowd in a blur so I could go outside and answer Jake's call but I decided it was quiet enough inside to talk to him.
"Hey, Jake, what's up I'm at Aislinn's art show," I said.
"I know, Bells but there is some important stuff I need to talk to you about," he said, slightly out of breath. He had obviously been running.
"Is everyone ok, is Charlie ok?" I asked, panicked.
"Yeah, Charlie is alright. He's over here with Billy watching the game right now… but I've been meaning to talk to you about that red-headed leech."
"JACOB BLACK!" I hissed, "don't refer to Aislinn as a-"
"No, Bells, not her… the bloodsucker that you said was trying to get you before you left."
"Victoria…" I whispered. What was she doing in Forks? Was she still after me? Did she know I was a vampire? Would she try to get Charlie now that she couldn't hurt me?
"Yeah, Victoria, that's her name. Anyways, I forgot to mention to you before that she came around every couple of months after you left. We are pretty sure that she was checking to see if you were home…don't worry we keep a good eye on Charlie. Well we found her scent last night, all around your house and she wasn't alone. I snuck in to see if she was still in there but she wasn't. Her smell wasn't inside but the other leech that she was with had been in your room. We followed their trail and it took us toward Seattle but then shot up north towards Canada. Most of the pack is still hunting her but Quil, Embry and I came back down to protect Forks and to let you know to be on guard."
If I had blood it would be boiling. There had been a carnivorous vampire in my house just feet away from an unsuspecting Charlie and it was because of me. "Thank you, Jake. Please tell everyone to be careful, I don't want anyone getting hurt me cause of me," he scoffed, I continued, "I know you guys are fully capable of handling yourselves but still. If she gets anywhere near Forks please have someone call me and I will be there as soon as possible. I don't care if someone even thinks that she might have an instinct of maybe going there, I want to know regardless. Aislinn and I will be up tomorrow to discuss things with you and the pack."
"Alright, Bells. Try not to worry too much tonight, have some fun. Charlie is safe in La Push right now and I'll watch him personally tonight."
"You are the best friend anyone could ever have, Jake. I love you. Make sure you get some sleep," I warned, jokingly.
"Yeah you be sure to get some sleep too Bells, you look almost dead when you don't. Ha-Ha. I love you too."
"Funny, Jake. Bye."
I couldn't help but smile as I walked back towards the office where Aislinn's new found dream was coming true. Jake really was a great friend and his always calm demeanor made everything so much better to deal with. The Victoria situation wasn't something to be taken lightly though, she had been too close to Charlie and I couldn't let that happen again. I opened to door and gasped when the smell in the air told me there was another vampire in the room besides Aislinn and me. I looked up to see Aislinn standing next to her painting and Mr. Gee. She was staring at me with a worried expression, like she wanted to warn me of something but couldn't leave the room to do so. Sitting down in front of her and next to Brendan, who was staring at me a little too deeply, was a face that I never thought I would see again. It held a look of…sorrow and longing? Prickling thorns stuck into my sides as memories came flooding back to me. Then my new found emotion, anger, found its way back into me and I pushed the memories away.
"ALICE CULLEN?" I growled.
"Hi Bella," she spoke softly and with a hint of a melancholy tone.
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I promised you that the future would have much excitement, did I not? Look at that two, count 'em, TWO familiar faces. :) Don't you feel bad that Brendan seems to be falling for Bella but has no chance of being anything more than a friend or dinner to her? I sure do.
I would like to thank all of my amazing reviewers as well as everyone that has taken the time to read my story, alert it, add it to their favorites or add me to their favorites. You people are amazing. I totally lost track of whose reviews I replied to and whose I didn't so I am very sorry if I didn't get a reply to you. I didn't want to reply twice to everyone and totally creep you guys out. Please feel free to yell and/or curse at me if I didn't get to you. I promise it will not make me love you any less.
This is chapter 12 (FYI I don't think that this story is anywhere near half way done with all the things I've planned for it) and it seems like a good time to take a moment and list all of the wonderful people that have reviewed… Bleached kitty(x10), Kaatt(x4), Spider-Hand (x4), Starlit Tiger (x3), alison94, James018, omg444888(x3), Yana5(x4), Kenai52503(x2), maligurl, 19Twilighter19, Nicki Nick, bunny-trail, xXBee BeeXx, twilightnewmooneclispelova, and Divepup.
Sorry for blabbing, the next chapter will be up soon and you will find out why Alice is back!