…'Meyer' made the mold…but we are all here to break it…lol…

Chapter 15

IT WAS utter chaos. Why they believed that such a fuss was needed was beyond her realm of understanding. Of course she had no control whatsoever when the two of them ganged up on her.

One brown-skinned devil and her side-kick albino hooligan.

Ha!

"Bella, if you make a face one more time I swear I will put you over my knee and spank that bottom of yours! Now, try this one on next…"

Bella forced a smile as she watched Tanya's mother, Jane, approach her with yet another dress. This one at least was not as bold-patterned or as wildly colorful as the others had been.

She may be an artist but she did not want to look like her paint-palette threw up on her.

Looking back and forth at both of her ice-blue-eyed friends, she said pointedly, "Alright, Ms. Jackson, I will. But this is the last one. If I don't care for it then it's just too bad for you two. You know that I have dresses in my closet that I have not worn for years, so there." She stuck her tongue out like a brat.

Tanya chimed in at that, "Girl, don't even go there. Some of those dresses need to stay there…forever. And, if I need to I will chain you by your ankle to that chair's leg and you know it…you are walking out of here with a dress or else."

Bella pouted, "We've been here for over an hour already. My girls have probably eaten all the candy next door by now." She huffed and flopped back into the oversized antique plush chair, taking a sip of her white wine.

It was Saturday afternoon. Bella had told her daughters that they could walk around the square together to help pass the time. Plus it would keep them out of her hair for a little while. They usually ended up in the candy store for free samples.

Jane always loved to spoil her and Tanya when they came in to JJ's Jezebel together. The boutique may be tiny but Jane made up for that in spades. She was a master organizer and the walls and floor of her shop were filled with wonderful unique dresses, accessories and a small collection of shoes. She even kept a small area back towards the rear for showcasing beautiful bottles and jars of perfumes and lotions. It always smelled so good in here.

"When was the last time you let yourself enjoy being pampered, sweetheart? You have a special evening ahead tonight, with God knows one of the sexiest men alive on this planet Earth. Live a little!"

Bella huffed, her face morphing into one of self-doubt as she spoke to her mother-figure, "I don't know what I am doing. What if he takes me out and I shut down on myself. I haven't been on a date in so long I can't remember what to do…" She shifted her eyes to where Tanya stood near the hanging dress wrack across from where she slumped. "What if I can't talk…oh god…what if I can't stop talking!" Her face paled.

Tanya scoffed at that, "BB, you gotta stop doing that to yourself. You will make yourself sick to your stomach. Besides, I don't think Mr. Sex-God will care one way or the other, girlfriend. With what you have told me about each of your…encounters…it will be a miracle if you guys even make it to the restaurant. Seems to me he can hardly keep a foot's worth of space between the two of you." She laughed and reached for the hanger of yet another dress to show Bella, holding it up to her own figure for show as she sashayed sassily towards her. "Now stand up and go try this one on, too. It will look so perfect with your skin."

"Oh, I love that one! It's perfect for her complexion." Jane reached out to caress the fine fabric, still holding the other dress up for Bella.

Setting her wine glass on the small table next to her, Bella groaned and stood, taking both of the dresses from them and marching into the dressing room and sliding the heavy curtain closed.

Mother and daughter grinned at each other behind Bella's back. Placing her arm around Tanya's waist, Jane moved them to sit together in the now vacant plush chair and grabbed for a snack from the side table. She had ordered a small fruit and cheese tray from Sam's earlier, knowing that her two favorite girls were coming to shop for a dress.

Tanya checked her cell and then reached for a fashion magazine from the wrack next to her on the floor and began flipping through the pages quickly. She spoke to her mother as she crossed her legs, "Mom, do you need me to pick up anything for tonight? Rosey and Junebug are so excited to sleep over at your house. It's been a while since last time."

Jane grinned as she watched Bella's feet under the curtain, seeing the dressing robe she had provided fall in a graceful pile on the wood floor. "Are you kidding? As soon as Bella asked, I dropped everything and ran to the grocery store," she gave a little laugh, "…then I went to the toy store and also to that new beauty store over on 12th. We will keep ourselves entertained with games, facials, mani/pedis, and I am gonna let them cook from this neat cookbook I bought specifically for children."

"Ha. You're too much. They are not going to want to leave!" Tanya gave her mom a quick kiss on her cheek and then turned to yell out to Bella, "Come on in there, hurry up." She sassed, "Time is a-tickin' Miss Swan, and your heels won't be a-clickin' until we wrap this up. What time is lover boy picking you up?"

Bella yelled through the closed curtain as she shimmied the first dress over her hips, "Eight o'clock. I told him I could just meet him at the restaurant since he needed to close the shop for his dad tonight. He wasn't havin' that though."

Jane gasped at that, "Bella Swan! You stop denying that boy's efforts to woo you. Let him sweep you off your feet!"

"Really, Jane?" She rolled her eyes, looking just like Junebug no doubt. "There will be no sweeping or wooing. Besides, it's not like he is going to be sticking around." Finished with fastening the dress now, she slid the curtain to the side and stepped out to go stand in front of the oval standing mirror. The dress didn't really fall right on her frame. She scrunched her nose and tried to adjust it a bit.

"Well, just because he might not 'be sticking around' doesn't mean you can't have some fun with him, sweetheart. If I had denied myself and chosen not to sleep with a certain beautiful black man, namely one Mr. Laurent Cole, I would not have given birth to your best friend, my beautiful baby girl here, Miss Tanya Cole." She patted her daughter's cheek.

Reaching for Bella's forgotten wine glass, Jane stole a sip, then continued, "For Christ's sake, Bella, it's been so long for you that you must have cobwebs inside your vajayjay! Get your vibe out before he arrives and dust yourself off, for the love of God!" Knowing the reaction she would get, Jane grinned as she watched Bella's eyes just about pop out of her head.

Tanya burst out laughing at her mother's statement, dropping the magazine and swatting at her arm in mock disgust, "Why, Jane Jackson! You filthy old woman…"

"Vajayjay? Are you serious with that shit, Jane?" Bella froze her movements as she stared at the older blonde potty-mouth.

Jane was the picture of innocence. "What? I get around. And you, my dear girl, can only wish to possess half the dirty mind that I have."

Oh my God!

She kept on, raising her eyebrow in warning, "And you need to remember that you have had a crush on that man for years, Bella. And now he is paying attention to you. Don't pass up your golden opportunity to have your way with his cock…because you will regret that forever."

Bella's face flamed.

Her jaw dropped.

Moving her wide-eyes accusingly to where Tanya sat giggling in hysterics, she pointed at her friend, "How can you sit there and let your mom say such things? Don't you need to go hurl or something?" Her eyes narrowed. "Oh…wait…it's your fault…you're the one that's dolling out all the corruption action and infecting her with all your sex talk!" She couldn't help it as her face cracked a little smile then.

Tanya replied through her laugh, "It was her that corrupted me and you know it!"

These two are priceless!

"Okay, okay, okay. That's enough of that my girls. Go try the other dress on, dear. It will be perfect for you. That one won't do at all."

Bella reach down to grab the lower hem of the dress and gave a mock-curtsy as she replied in her best southern drawl, "Yes, ma'am."

Just then the front door chimed and two young, excited girls came running onto the boutique.

"Dog pile!" They rushed to jump on top of Jane and Tanya in the overlarge chair. They were like sitting ducks, really.

Giggles and flailing legs and arms were everywhere.

Bella scolded, "June Reed Biers…be careful in here. You know the rules. How much candy did you two suck down, anyway?" She looked at her youngest then, sure to get a truthful answer out of her.

"Mama, we had the best homemade fudge. It had marshmallows in it and it was cut into the shape of stares and moons. I had four. Yummy!" The evidence was all over Rosey's mouth.

Jane grabbed her sweet little cheeks with one hand while attempting to keep June from crushing her, "Did any of it actually make it inside your mouth?" She laughed and started wiping the mess away with her thumb.

Tanya positioned June to sit across her lap, giving her a big hug and a sloppy smacking kiss on her cheek. "You know you just ruined plans for dessert tonight at Auntie JJ's, don't you?"

June's eyes went wide at her mistake. She turned to look at Jane and said, "You still gonna let me make pudding cake, Aunt JJ? Please!"

Jane smiled at the beautiful brown-haired 11 year old. "Of course we'll still make it, sweetheart, but I think we may have to eat it for breakfast tomorrow instead so you two don't stay up all night on a chocolate high."

"Ha! Good luck with that idea!" Bella smirked and stepped back into the dressing room to put on the dress Tanya had chosen. Unzipping the back, she let the current one fall off her shoulders and down. She hung it back up and grabbed the other. Pulling up and over and on easily, no fastening.

It felt really good against her skin as she smoothed it down over her hips.

Swiping the curtain to the side…hopefully for the last time…she walked out to her four critics and waited, facing them, but glancing sideways at her reflection in the mirror.

All was silent…

…then they all spoke at once.

"…Mama you're so pretty…"

"…Girl, you know you are gonna kill the man in that dress…"

"…Finally the right one, can we leave now…"

"…Sweeping and wooing for sure, my beautiful girl…"

Bella smiled huge and twirled around in front of the mirror, her heart skipping a beat as the excitement suddenly overwhelmed her.

"I love you guys."

a/n… leave me some love…please please please…review review review…

xxx jess