Stephenie has it all. I just decided to play with her characters and add some of mine. I don't own anything you might recognize.
Pictures of the characters on my web, here: http:/ newdawn-newday-newlife . webs . com/ residentadviser . htm.
As you know by now, remove the spaces. On FB you find me under the name of Cherry Bella.
THANK YOU, GUYS! I never expected so many reviews or story Alerts/Favorites or hits. You are great! This is seriously my only story to receive such feedback! I update every week.
Pre-read by TeamAllTwilight. Check out her new story: http:/ www. fanfiction. net /s/7397923 /1/ Lipstick_Kisses_And_Inked_Virtuoso
PS1: For those that don't know, I posted outtakes for this story. It's about Edward. And I'm working on more outtakes right now.
PS2: There is a new picture on my FB profile with the house. And one about the clothes in this chapter. :) I also put a picture of the all the characters on my FB one picture of the wedding dresses...
PS3: I'll keep a new updating schedule. Mondays and Fridays.
A special thanks to EdwardsSexyBitch for helping me reach 1,000 reviews.
I've been lacking answering the reviews again. Sorry for that. I'll catch up this weekend.
Holy shit! Chapter 57... Enjoy!
When I landed in Chicago, I realized I had to call Sylvia to pick me up. After a short phone call with her, I decided to call Edward and let him know I made it safely.
"Hello?" he answered meekly.
"Hi. I made it back okay," I told him.
I heard him sigh in what I thought was relief. "Oh, that's good to know, Bella. I'm home too." He moaned loudly. "I discovered this ice cream and it's so good. I hope they didn't plan on eating it."
I laughed at his childishness. "You ate all their ice cream? Please, don't make yourself sick."
He huffed. "I'm fine. My intestines have frozen, though," he added with a laugh. "So you're home?"
"No, I'm waiting for Sylvia at the airport. I better hang up so she could reach me in case she doesn't find me."
"Okay. I'll talk to you later."
"Bye. Love you."
"I love you too."
I hung up just as I saw Sylvia coming toward me. She was smiling, but soon her smile fell.
"Is everything okay with Alice?"
"Hi," I greeted her, picking the duffle bag off the floor. "Alice is great. I'll tell you on the way."
"Oh. Okay. Let's go." She looked confused.
"Esme stole Edward for wedding preparations," I offered when she kept shooting me glances.
"Oh, that explains it. Do you want to stay with me?"
"Sure. That sounds good. I don't think I could live a week alone."
It was pathetic how dependable of Edward I had become. Everything had started in college when we shared his room then we moved here and the few days he was gone on a game away were nothing compared to this.
We reached the car and I was surprised to see it clean.
"I couldn't stand to see it so dirty," Sylvia explained, shrugging. "I hope you don't mind."
"Thank you!" I hugged her in gratitude. "You have no idea how many times I told Edward to wash it, but you know how men are."
"I washed it behind my building. I saw a neighbor that was cleaning his car and said, what the hell? Besides, it looked almost black."
"Don't tell me!" I moaned. "I was afraid to lean against it in fear of smudging my clothes. But you shouldn't have…done it yourself."
"Believe me, it's better. I had experience. I washed Dad's car because apparently, cruisers don't get washed at home or something, but one Sunday before he was awake, his car was squeaky clean." She beamed at me. "Man, he was so angry. Like clean cars are a blow to a man's ego."
"Probably. That's why men have dirty cars and women have clean cars." I nodded, allowing her to drive since I was so tired after the flight. "And we share the car…I always tried to make myself invisible when I arrived or left from work. One day, the freaky guy a few cubicles away saw me and joked about 'nice car', I wanted to kick his ass."
Sylvia giggled. "Well, now it's clean. Where to? Yours or mine?"
"Dunno. Wherever." I shrugged.
"Yours, but we need a detour so I can grab some clothes. Pajama party." She winked at me.
What had I gotten myself into? I always hated those things when Alice and Rose initiated them in college.
Almost an hour later – while I told her about Alice, we pulled in front of my house; I stepped out of the car and shuffled to the door. The first thing to do was to open the windows because the air was so…un-breathable. Yucky.
"Bella, your freaky plant looks bad," Sylvia called from the kitchen.
"Shit!" I mumbled, hurrying that way. "It must be famished. I completely forgot about it."
"Famished?" she asked surprised, filling a glass with water.
"Well…didn't we tell you?" I asked, smiling.
"Tell me what? That's I'll become its meal?"
"Oh, so you know it's a carnivorous plant." I sighed in relief.
"Yeah, I know. Edward told me once when I found him putting flies on the plant. I thought he was crazy." She laughed. "It likes water, right?"
"Every plant likes water, but this likes insects too. I'm going to kill Emmett."
"He bought it?"
"Yes, for Christmas. We were reluctant at first…I mean, I, for one, was looking at it like it was some foreign wild animal until it started growing on me. It's so beautiful to see it feed. After a month or two, Edward even baptized it. She's Venus."
"Oh, I didn't know the story behind the evil plant," Sylvia told me amused.
"Emmett bought it not knowing it was a carnivorous plant. Rose shouldn't make him buy things."
"I may be biased because I know them from high school, but…they didn't change much. And to think Emmett and Bob are parents…" She mock shuddered, wetting the plant. "I think Jasper was always the most…mature one."
"You're right. It was him who I met first and I instantly liked him. Then Emmett came along and the rest is history," I joked.
"Oh, right. How did you meet them?" she asked, leaning against the counter.
"Don't move," I whispered, eyeing a fly on the counter. I started to like the bugs I used to hate – and that was because I could feed Venus.
Sylvia raised her eyebrow but didn't move. I took my sandal off and carefully approached the edge of the counter then…bang. The fly was on the floor with its legs up. Yep. Me - killer extraordinaire. I picked it up carefully and threw it toward Venus which immediately swallowed it.
"Well that was…very…educational," Sylvia managed to say between snorts of laughter.
I poked my tongue out at her. "What were you saying?"
"About how you met them, but I think I need a re-run of that." She gestured to the plant.
"Later. I'm going to shower real quick then I'll delve in the boring story of how I met everyone," I promised.
"Do you mind if I make a sandwich or something?"
"Nope…as long as you make two."
Once I was showered, I wrapped my hair in a towel and slipped into my fluffy bathrobe. After a few minutes of thinking I decided to wear my underwear and nightgown too because there was no Edward to accidentally tug at my tie and… I sighed, shaking my head. It was going to be hard without him.
I found Sylvia in the living room, with a huge sandwich next to her.
"Is that for both of us?" I asked surprised.
"It's yours. I'm still fighting with mine. They ended up too…full," she told me sheepishly.
"You think? Did you raid the fridge?"
"Something like that. I used a little bit of everything," she admitted.
"If there's any peppers, I'll have to take them out. I hate it." I opened my huge sandwich and realized there were peppers.
"Sorry, I didn't know."
"No problem." I shrugged, taking them out. "So…you know…you can change in your pjs… I don't know why I changed in mine but oh well."
"That's a very good idea. We're starting the party earlier. Can I burrow your shower?"
"Sure. Towels are in the last drawer. Oh, try not to use the green one. Edward's touchy. I thought he'd lose his voice at how loud he shouted when I burrowed it since it was the only clean one… So yes, no green towels," I rambled.
"Got it." She nodded, going up the stairs with her overnight bag.
I was munching on the sandwich, when I realized I should have called Edward as soon as I got home. He didn't answer his phone so I left him a voicemail that I was home and that Sylvia was with me.
I abandoned the huge sandwich half-way and started flipping through the TV channels until I found a promising movie. Lately, every time I got bored and didn't have what to do I felt like a little voice inside my head pushed me to do something about the wedding; like go shopping for the dress and shoes and whatever it took. I was hopeless. I should have gone to Port Angeles with Edward and Esme. A week away from work wouldn't have killed me, right? There were only two months until the wedding and I didn't have a dress. That thought finally sank in, making me panic.
"You okay?" Sylvia pulled me from my panic daze.
"I guess." I shrugged. She gave me a look that made me continue. "I just realized…I'm not ready for the wedding…not like I should be. I mean…I don't even have a dress," I finished in a high pitched wail.
"That means shopping," she told me with a smile.
I gave her a weak smile in return. "I'm not prepared for that. Can the dress sort of…magically appear next to me?"
"Sorry to disappoint, but you have to go after it."
"Dang!" I muttered before starting to laugh. "Okay, so you wanted to know how I met everyone," I said, trying not to think of the wedding at the moment.
"Yeah, you have to tell me."
"Well…it all started with my overflowed, too heavy suitcase. I was on the fifth step of the first floor…and panting. Then Jasper appeared and asked if he could help. I agreed without blinking. Second floor seemed so far away. Seriously, there are too many stairs in that building. I'm speaking from experience," I told her seriously.
"And Emmett?" she asked.
"Emmett…" I trailed off dramatically. "He showed off when he heard I needed help. They even left Alice and Rose to help me. That was really sweet. When Rose started shouting at Emmett for helping me – a nobody to them – and not helping her, he suggested to have Edward help her."
"Yeah right, because Edward would just jump up and down with happiness when Rose is involved," Sylvia snorted. "Did he help?"
"Rose said he wasn't even there," I whispered. "I didn't meet him until later that week."
"Oh, do tell me. Your face is too funny."
"Yeah, I'm sure. Let's make the gruesome story short. He kissed three different girls in the spar of five minutes, and they weren't even…with him. He came into the coffee shop with one only to abandon her for another one to come to our table and hit on me making me leave losing my appetite then…Alice must have left and he followed, having his arm around some other girl. It made me physically ill." I shuddered. "I still can't believe how much he had changed. It's like...he's a whole different person."
"He wasn't like that always, you know?" Sylvia questioned, rising her eyebrow.
"Really? He told me that it started in high school."
"Sure it did, but before we…went to the party…he was somewhat like he is now, only…much more polite and reserved and…he really kept to himself. If Emmett wasn't with some girl, Edward was always by his side."
I felt my mouth falling open. I couldn't imagine that, though, knowing his past…I understood that.
"Wow… What changed?" I found myself asking.
She looked down then up at me, her cheeks turning pink. "It won't be embarrassing or anything to talk about it, right?"
"I hope not." I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I wanted to learn more about how Edward had become a player. Maybe I had a sadistic part in me that I didn't know about.
"Okay, there was a game they won and obviously, there was a party too. Usually the boy asks the girl but I knew he'd never ask me. He wasn't even looking at girls. So after the game, I waiting for him asked him to the party. He said yes but he looked so lost that moment… I was positive he wouldn't come and that he had accepted out of politeness." She took a breath and looked at her hands. "When I saw him at the party…I was so shocked, I didn't know what to do. I had kissed only one boy before although everyone in school seemed to want me. I was normal; I didn't even like the popular chicks. Anyway, we went behind the house…you know…fooled around," she mumbled. "This is awkward, Bella. You're almost Edward's wife."
"I just want to know…about his high school time…how he changed so much."
"Okay. We were together and it was nice and my first steady relationship, his first too."
"I know, he told me. But I want to know from your perspective. The…uh…cheating…"
"Yeah, that stung. The first time, was when some girl kissed him for fun and he looked more scared than anything. I think he apologized for that three days straight."
"Then he realized he had possibilities," I finished for her. "He told me that."
"I guess." She shrugged. "The thing is that I tried so hard to ignore the facts that he was…having fun behind my back that when I finally caught him red-handed…I exploded. Edward must have realized what he lost…after some months because he wanted to make it work. And I was stupid and liked him so much…"
"And you said yes and got hurt again. I'm so sorry. I don't know how you can still look at him. If that was me…" I started then stopped. I couldn't have stopped talking to him not even if I wanted. The few months we hadn't talked in our second year were…worse that anything else.
"Yeah. Have you tried not talking to him? He's just that kind of person that…you simply can't not talk to, even if you want," she told me seriously. "So I did the only thing that could give me time to get over him. I had to stay away. So I came to Chicago. I didn't even want this school…but in the end, everything worked out well."
"I know about the not talking bit. It's long forgotten but there was a time when we didn't talk for about two months. I think," I admitted.
"Are you serious?"
"Uh, yes. It's a long story and I don't want to think about it."
We elapsed into silence and a sudden loud noise from the TV made me jump. Stupid advertisings. Why must they be so loud?
"Do you want to watch a movie?" I asked, feeling slightly out of my element.
"Sounds good. What do you have in mind?"
I pursed my lips. "Why don't you look there and choose?" I asked, pointing to the bottom of the bookcase where we kept our DVDs.
There were so many things we had to buy and do in the house, but at least we knew where everything was in that mess.
Halfway through the movie I wasn't even watching, my phone rang. I went to the kitchen because I saw Sylvia was focused on the screen.
"Finally," I grumbled, thinking it was Edward since I hadn't checked the ID caller.
"What?" Rose asked surprised from the other end.
"Oh, I thought it was Edward," I mumbled. "What is it?"
"Isn't he with you?"
"Oh, you don't know. He went home with Esme to help her with the wedding preparations."
"Finally, one of you gets involved. I was wondering if we were getting married all over again. That's why I called, actually," she told me on an almost giddy tone.
"Oh?"
"I was on the Internet and…stumbled across a site. Will you look at the dresses?"
I sighed, cringing inwardly. "Sure. I'll look."
"I know what that means, Bella. Look and consider one of them. There are only two months until the wedding!" she exclaimed.
"Okay, jeez. What site?" I asked, not really feeling like browsing.
"I emailed it. And Alice found one for shoes."
I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut. "Okay, I'll grab my laptop and…search."
"A little more enthusiastically. One would think you don't want to marry," Rose teased me.
"If it were after me…I'd fast forward until the 'I do' part."
"You have to learn to act like a girl."
"Bye Rose," I said loudly and after she replied, I hung up.
Dress. Shoes. And everything that came with the wedding torture. No.
Grabbing my laptop, I went back to the living room and found Sylvia finishing her sandwich.
"That was Rose," I said lamely, trying to prolong the inevitable. "She sent me a dress site."
"That's good. I told you that you have to start buying clothes. Others would be done with their weddings by now and do only last minute changes," she told me through a mouthful of her sandwich.
After plugging my laptop in and pressing the power button, I waited for it to warm up before opening Mozilla and my mail page. I had not one but ten emails from Rose and Alice. The titles varied from 'THE CUTEST DRESS!' to 'THIS PAIR OF SHOES IS IT!' to one that made me shudder 'NEVERMIND THE PRICE. YOU NEED THIS!'
I realized that Sylvia was hovering over my shoulder, snickering as she read the email titles.
"They're so exuberant," I complained. "Besides, we promised to pay for the clothes. It's the least we can do."
"You chose badly. You could have paid for something else. Clothes are expensive, Bella," she told me, sitting next to me.
The dresses website was called David's Bridal and had a variety of dresses, accessories and everything you would never think of.
"This looks nice," Sylvia whispered.
I clicked on the dress and saw it was part of Galina Signature Wedding Dresses. I was afraid to look at the price. I'd never been one to buy expensive things, but Mom had convinced me over the phone to close my eyes for my wedding. How could I close my eyes if there were more zeros that I had in bank?
After some time, I found a few dresses but they didn't have straps and I wasn't sure how I felt about that. As clumsy as I was it was likely to flash everyone a boob. When I mustered the courage to tell Sylvia to stop looking at that kind of dresses, she gave me a doubtful look.
"It doesn't fall!" She looked too amused for my liking.
"Look, try to look for straps, okay?" I insisted.
When I finally saw something I liked, she told me it looked like a dress for pregnant women. I knew this was a failure from the start, but it was better than going into a store and trying the dresses on. A part of me wanted to find something on this website because the dresses were actually really cheap.
In the end, there were four dresses I liked and I couldn't decide. Sylvia kept telling me to look on the other sites, but I said no. One of those was the one. I could feel it. I guess.
"Alice is going to kill you when she sees how cheap they are."
"I'm getting married, not Alice. I choose whatever I want," I grumbled, putting every dress in a different window then aligning them next to each other. It was a tough decision.
"Are you sure about the straps?" Sylvia asked after a few minutes.
"Yes."
"At least find some delicate ones."
"I like big ones."
We burst in laughter because that's how everyone works, I guess. Simple words make people think naughty things.
"Okay, we can narrow it to two," I decided, closing two windows. "Which one?"
One dress was satin halter dress and cost around $ 450, while the other one was still made of satin but the halter didn't look that good. It was more like a normal dress on the upper part, and it cost $ 200.
"If you want my opinion, I'd say the first one," Sylvia whispered. "The other one is nice but…I don't think it works for what you want."
"Yeah, I was thinking the same." I nodded, closing the second window and going back to the first dress I had chosen. It's always the first one, even though you look at ten others.
There was a button to find a store close by and I pressed it, nearly choosing Washington before I realized I should choose Illinois.
Grabbing some paper and a pen, I scribbled the address, the telephone number and the regular hours before I looked at it on the map. To my surprise, it was really close. I was passing it every day on my way to work. Why hadn't I seen it before?
"Can we go tomorrow after work? I see it's open until nine at night," I told Sylvia.
"Uh, I can't tomorrow. I have to study for my last exam. It's on Wednesday."
"Oh, okay. I'll go check it…alone."
She gave me a small smile. I realized there were more reasons why she couldn't come. I was so stupid. How could I ask her? Even though she didn't like Edward like that anymore, it was still weird. She was his ex, his first. And I was marrying him.
I cleared my throat, closing the laptop's lid and unplugging it.
"Uh, where would you like to sleep?" I mumbled.
"The couch is good."
"Are you sure? The bed is pretty big."
"Positive. I'll look over my notes before I go to sleep and I'm sure you're tired. You have to work tomorrow."
"Argh, don't remind me."
After unfolding the couch and putting the bed sheet over it, I brought her a pillow and a soft blanket then went to bed. I hadn't realized how tired I was until my head hit the pillow.
I hope I don't have to remind you not to worry about Sylvia. She's like Alice or Rose. Just a good friend. Part of this chapter was hard to write, and I hope I did the embarrassment justice. If not, I'll do better next time.
Review, please. Edward will be back before you know it.