Bella had one of her boxes of summer clothes open on the bed and was unpacking the more useful pieces into the bottom drawers. Some items she set aside for the closet, depending on where she thought it should go. As she was refolding a pair of shorts, the bedroom door, which had been barely cracked open slowly opened. She looked up to see Charlie standing in the doorway. "So, that's this miracle dresser Mrs. Cullen told me you two built?"
Bella set her shorts down. "We didn't build it from scratch. We just refurbished it and put a new top on it." She moved closer to it when Charlie came into the room to look at it.
"It's a transformer of some sort?" He asked, studying the top and Bella grinned a little at the comment.
She reached out and grabbed the pull out shelf, "Dresser to desk" She said as she pulled it out.
"That is really cool Bells." He smiled at her and it was a little odd. He was still here, visiting. "Where did you get the idea for this?"
As they started talking and he was asking her how she did this, she found it easier to talk about it. When she told him what tools they'd used, she found him giving her a studying look. "You like to build things." He said suddenly, as if it was amazing. Bella found herself blushing at his soft smile. "Handy with tools, must have got that from me." He teased. Then he turned to look at the dresser again. "It looks really good Bells. What else are you planning to do?"
She paused as she realized she might need to ask. "I was going to paint the walls green, put up some more bookshelves." There was more, but she paused. "Would that be okay?"
"Sure, hey, maybe we could go get dinner at the diner and then stop by the hardware store and get that paint for you, the hardware store might have shelves too." He looked at the space over the dresser. "I think I know where my level is, I'll have to look for it."
Bella frowned a little, "You don't have to do that. I'm planning to start looking for work next week."
"Hey," Charlie turned to look at her, his expression soft. "I want to Bells, and I should. I'm responsible for you and you can ask for anything. I might not be able to give it to you, but you can ask for anything." He moved to rest a hand on her shoulder. "One thing I really want is for this room to feel like home for you. I want you to like living here."
"I do." Bella told him, and she did her best to ignore the stinging in her eyes at how sweet he was being.
"Well, that's good." He looked down. "Why don't you get some shoes on and we'll go get some dinner. Then maybe we can get your room painted tomorrow before your date with Alice."
"Um, I'm not dating Alice." Bella spoke slowly. Charlie's teasing grin faded a little and he gave her a searching look for a moment.
It was in the middle of dinner, when they didn't sit in silence and just eat that Bella started to consider that Esme had been left alone with Charlie for a while today, and now he was twenty times more talkative. It was strange really, but Bella found she didn't really mind, although he really had a one track mind at times.
"You're sure that Emmett knows you're just friends." Charlie asked again.
"Dad, I'm sure he'll be bringing Rose over at some point. When you see her, you'll see why I'm not too worried about him falling for me." She gave him a small smile, but he frowned.
"Bells, you're a lovely girl." He told her.
"She's a goddess Charlie." She whispered to him, she found herself starting to blush. "She's beautiful and smart, and he loves her so much. I expect they'll still be together sixty years from now." And then some, Bella thought to herself. "And she's good for him. I really like her."
"Just be careful Bells. It's tricky being friends with a couple and I don't want you getting hurt." He told her and Bella didn't really understand what he was talking about, but she just nodded.
….
Alice came into the house and went up the stairs. Bella followed her, curious as to what the odd little vampire was doing. "I want the next three books." She said, but when she opened the bedroom door there was a happy sound. "Oh, this color looks good. I knew it would."
Bella hadn't told Alice she was going to paint, she hadn't even known until last night. The little vampire was a menace, slipping up way too much. Someone was a little too reliant on her powers. "Oh you did, did you?" Bella teased as she passed Alice and moved to her new shelves to pull off the next three books in the series. "You better have my other books, only three at a time."
"I do, I do. How many are there?" Alice asked, glancing at the bookshelf behind Bella.
"Right now, there are twelve, but I only have eleven. I'm trying really hard to wait for the last one to come out in paperback." Bella watched Alice glance at the shelf again. "You like them right?" Something about Alice's expression said she wasn't thrilled with that many.
"No, Anita's great, you were right." Alice pulled three books out of her bag and they traded. Once the new books were put in her bag Alice looked up. "What do you think of Jean Claude?"
Bella took a moment to turn and put some of the books back on her shelf, as she considered that question. Was Alice asking about what she thought about one of the men in the story, or what she thought of the vampire in the story? And which question was she going to answer?
"Well, I like that he's very open minded, and not possessive." She muttered and turned to look at Alice again. "I like him a hell of a lot more than, 'oh I hate myself so much' Richard." And Edward, she thought to herself. "I mean who wants to love someone who doesn't even love themselves? It's ridiculous, he's not ready, toss him back."
Alice tilted her head a little and stared at her, and she was forgetting to blink. Perhaps this was Alice in a vision, Bella knew she had them. It was a little creepy. Finally her eyes blinked. "Yes, I thought Richard wasn't the best match." And Bella could almost feel the other questions wanting to come out. "I like Jean Claude much better." But she'd avoided it successfully. There would be no discussion about vampires right now.
They were nearly down the stairs when Charlie came out of the kitchen. He smiled widely at them. "You two girls have fun. What movie are you seeing?" It was just a little odd, and a little more friendly than normal, but Bella figured having Cullens over as often as she had lately had helped the shy man adjust.
"Taking Lives" Alice smiled and looked over at Bella with mischievous eyes. "I love Angelina Jolie."
"Oh, that's good." Charlie just nodded, and Bella did what she could to not blush at the teasing in Alice's eyes. "I'm glad Bella is making such good friends." And that blush battle was lost. "Did you need some money Bells?"
"No, I'm good." Bella wasn't comfortable with how much he'd been paying for lately.
"I'm paying tonight anyhow Charlie. I asked Bella out." Alice told them with a smile and Charlie started to blush. It was news to Bella and she turned to stare at the little vampire. Did she even know what that sounded like? Now Charlie was going to think Bella was dating Alice.
Ugh, she'd deal with that later. "Well, we better get going." Bella muttered and grabbed Alice's hand to tug her away from the house before she put her foot in it any more. She only let go after they were out of the house.
"He's still watching us." Alice told her and Bella didn't need to turn around to see the smile on Alice's face.
"If I get kicked out for 'dating' you, you will be forced to find me a place to live." Bella didn't really think Charlie would do that at all, but she gave Alice a scolding look.
"I wouldn't have teased like that if I he'd hurt you." Alice's smile was fading. "I promise."
"I'm sure it'll be fine when I explain it later." Bella sighed heavily and then just paused as she saw Alice opening the car door for her. 'This isn't helping though.' She thought to herself, and glanced back at the man just watching this. Charlie gave her a slow wave goodbye as Alice shut the car door for Bella and started to move to the driver's side.
Alice pulled the car onto the street and Bella watched her as the vampire drove. "When you finally decide to date, what will you be dating?"
"An adult." Bella muttered and turned to look out the windshield for a moment.
Alice laughed, her voice like music. "Is that your only criteria?"
"I don't know." Bella sighed and turned to look at an amused looking Alice. "Things are kind of weird for me right now." She gave Alice a small smile. "Probably a woman, I'm not saying for sure, because maybe there is a man that might pass inspection, but honestly, I doubt it. But it doesn't really matter, because it's going to be a while."
"Girls your age want to start dating." Alice said, sounding pretty puzzled and Bella ignored that by appearances they were the same age. Technically, Alice was dating.
"Not all of them." Bella turned back to watching the road, so that might encourage Alice to at least pretend she needed to do that too. "I'm older on the inside." She whispered, knowing that Alice would not really understand how literal she was being. "I don't want to deal with teenagers and teenage drama. I'm also not interested in whatever pedophile might find me interesting. I don't really have any options. She tried to smile. "So since you're the one getting some, is Jasper any good?"
Alice didn't speak for a little too long to be comfortable. "I'm not disappointed with him." She answered briefly, and Bella turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow at the vampire who was now looking out the windshield. She stared longer and the edge of Alice's lip started to curve up into a reluctant smile.
"So he's not a minute man?" Bella asked.
"He's not that old." Alice protested and Bella chuckled. Sure, if she were talking about the American Revolution, then that would fit, but she was talking sex. Only a vampire would assume the first.
"That's not what it means." She grinned at the vampire, and she watched Alice's expression change, and a blush would have looked like it belonged, so apparently that was as close as Alice got to blushing. "I asked if his 'gun' ever made it into the 'holster', or if he,"
"I get it." Alice interrupted her and gave her a fake scolding look. "And a lady never talks about that."
"So that means I'll get lots of details from you, right?" Bella chuckled.
Alice finally lost her fake scowl and grinned mischievously. "It wouldn't be fair to get you all hot and bothered hearing how intense things get in my bed when you plan to wait years before getting any of your own."
"That's okay, I'll fill in the blanks myself. I bet you wear lots of leather." Bella nodded as if she'd confirmed her guess. "And he looks lovely in your clothes."
Alice would never bray her laughs like Emmett, but Bella thought this was as close as Alice would ever get to it. The little vampire actually swerved a little in their lane, but since there wasn't another car nearby it wasn't a problem.
"You are surprisingly wicked Bella." Alice smiled at her and then seemed to focus more on driving, because they started moving along the freeway faster. "He would never fit in my clothes, he's several sizes larger than me."
They didn't need to go all the way to Port Angeles for a movie theater, 'Taking Lives' was playing much closer, so Alice was pulling into the parking lot much sooner than Bella would have liked. There was so much more she could tease the little vampire about , and making Alice do her little 'not a blush' was fun.
After a movie, where Bella pretended not to notice how much of Alice's popcorn ended up on the floor Alice stared blankly at the windshield for a little too long, not blinking, in that creepy way she had, before blinking and nodding t herself. "You don't mind if we stop by my house on the way home do you?" Alice turned to look at her. "I forgot to bring the books I was going to lend you." Alice smiled, but Bella had heard Edward was coming back yesterday.
"I don't know." She muttered, and turned to look at the dashboard, so that she wouldn't have to see Alice's puppy dog eyes pleading with her as she considered this.
"Why not, I mean you can meet my other brother, and I can give you more steamy books." Alice sounded like she was bribing her, trying to make it all sound tempting, only it never would be.
"I don't know if it's a good idea, I mean you said he's going to hate me being around." Bella glanced over at Alice. "You wouldn't just leave me if he didn't get along with me, would you?" Bella asked, but it was the second question she really needed an answer too. "What if he isn't okay with me?"
"None of us are going to let him be a jerk to you." Alice told her. "It'll be okay." And Bella just nodded a little, but she felt like the popcorn was churning and popping again in her stomach as she did it. If she had to meet him, she'd prefer it be around the rest of the vampires, that were strong enough to stop him if he tried anything.
Bella didn't talk much on the drive back, and she could see Alice going quiet at times as well, and a few concerned looks were tossed her way. Bella felt sick, and her mind churned as well, wondering what would happen if the Cullens suddenly found out she knew what they were. The Volturi law was pretty clear on what they should do, and Bella was sure that they wouldn't kill her in spite of that law, but what would they do?
They made having to be a teenager again bearable. Bella didn't want to lose them. She'd survive, she wouldn't go insane like the Bella Swan they were supposed to get would have, but she knew she'd miss them. It would hurt. She would also hate Edward if they left her.
It was hard not to start making plans for if this went south, but she managed. She couldn't have a plan appear in a vision, where she said things that would not have been revealed if she didn't plan it. No, instead Bella turned her thoughts to how to make Edward reveal if he was listening to her thoughts without thinking anything that would be a problem for him to overhear.
"I just meant to warn you that he wouldn't be welcoming. I didn't mean for you to be scared of him." Alice spoke up softly, after they turned onto the long road that would eventually connect with her driveway. Bella knew it was her speeding up heart that inspired Alice's words, but lying and saying she wasn't scared wouldn't work. She'd only need to be in the driveway for Jasper to figure it out, most likely.
"I have too much to lose if he doesn't like me." She muttered, thinking of blood and life, but also of the Cullens.
"We won't ignore you. He doesn't get to pick our friends." Alice said it like it was a fact, but as far as Bella had read, it very well might not be true. Carlisle claimed to be the leader of the family, but Edward had so much say over what happened in the books, it wasn't right to ignore the threat of him. "And he isn't as bad as I accidently made him seem. He is a bit of a loner, but then he is the only one of us that doesn't have a mate. It can't be easy." Alice turned onto the driveway. "Edward loves music. He has an amazing cd collection, and the piano in the main room is his. Esme loves to hear him play." When Bella didn't say anything, Alice continued. "Edward is also very bright, he has the best grades."
How hard would that be? Bella was redoing high school for the first time, and she noticed how much easier most of the work was. He'd been in school how long? If his grades weren't great by now he'd have to be a moron.
"It would suck to play the piano." Bella finally spoke up. "You could never take it with you anywhere." It was a dull, and boring conversation, but she did it just to stop Alice from trying to sing Edward's praises any more. "If I had to learn an instrument I'd go for something more portable."
"What, like a flute?"
"I don't think so, what songs could you play with just a flute? Probably a guitar." Bella watched the trees as they went passed them.
"Are you ever going to try and learn guitar?" Alice asked as they took the turn before they'd see the house.
"Charlie likes having me around, I think I'll reframe from learning an instrument and making him reconsider." Bella gave a weak smile, but all her focus was on her thoughts. It was showtime and she dug deep into her mind for the most upsetting thoughts she could share with a controlling prude from the 1920's.
The female vampires around here might not be comfortable with her if he could read her mind, but they wouldn't be scared of what she knew. Only one thing could keep her mind off of vampires, and sadly it was the one thing she tried not to think about around them too much. How very sexy they really were. To be extra upsetting, Esme was featuring very heavily in her current fantasies.