AN: Just wanted to mention quickly that in chapter three Bella bought Alice a dress that was black, but in this chapter I've decided the dress is pink. I went back and edited it as well.

—

Chapter 7:

—

The next day I knocked on Alice's door at least an hour early for our date. She answered it still in her streetclothes and smiled at me in surprise, first at my face and then at my red silk dancing dress.

"Bella, wow, hey—what are you doing here so early?"

"I came to help you get ready. Is that okay?"

She seemed surprised and delighted and she held the door open for me to enter. I sauntered past with my purse tucked under my arm. I knew this would be a better idea than spying on her through her window.

"Yeah, sure," she said, swinging closed the door and still checking me out. "I was just about to jump in the shower."

I flashed her a smile. "Perfect."

She took me into her room but unfortunately I wasn't exactly allowed to watch her shower. Instead I set out the dress that I had bought her earlier in the week and waited, listening to the stream of water in the next room with visions of her wet nakedness dancing through my head. I had laid the dress on the bed and I was once again struck by how perfect it would look on her. Pink, pretty, spaghetti strapped and so scandalously short. The waist was pinched very tightly and it looked so small and childlike laid out on the bed but soon the material would stretch and conform to every contour of Alice's body perfectly.

Soon the water turned off and moments later Alice came back into the room. She was wearing nothing but a towel and a smile. The towel was pink like the dress and it had about the same coverage as well. She came over to the bed and admired the dress and thanked me again for buying it for her. I told her it was no problem and that in fact I had one more present for her. She asked what it was. I was unlatching my purse and with a flourish I revealed a pair of pink-lace panties to match the dress. It was a bold move but she seemed to appreciate it. She grinned and blushed and snatched them out of my hand and then she went to take off the towel. My heart skipped a beat at the anticipation of her body's unveiling but with a smirk she paused and told me to turn around. I pouted but did so, gazing out the window at the brickwall outside and lamenting how my plan backfired. But that's okay. I liked how she teased me. I liked it a lot.

By the time I could look again, she had her underwear and her dress on and she was smoothing it down against her body. I gave her a hand, adjusting her shoulders straps and bobbing down to adjust the hem. Then I stepped back and admired her as she struck a pose. She looked perfect, all pink and bright like a big piece of delicious bubblegum. My stomach was already rolling with hunger and I couldn't wait to finally get my teeth in her. Finally. Tonight. Hopefully.

After that I did her makeup for her, nice and slow so we could chat about the club we were going to and so I could admire her pretty features. Until she had to stop talking while I did her lipstick, gently brushing the glossy wax to her soft full mouth. She tried hard not to grin too widely and when I was done she giggled.

"What's so funny?" I asked, smiling.

"Nothing," she said brightly. "I was just thinking. It's already romantic and the date hasn't even started yet."

I capped the lipstick and put it away. She pursed her lips, as if to taste the lipstick, and smiled.

"I guess you're working hard to get me to put out," she said.

"Not at all," I said. "This is just me being me."

I placed a kiss on her lips. She giggled again.

"Well, it's working," she said.

I smiled and zipped up her makeup case, glancing at the eagerness in her eyes. Good. That was good.

Neither of us would be drinking too much that night—it was tricky enough to dance in just heels—so we took my car to the club instead of a cab. It was a salsa club with the breathtakingly imaginative title of La Salsa Club. The manager had clearly put a lot of thought in that one. Alice was still nervous about her lack of dance experience but I assured her as I drove that it was quite a casual club and there would be no reason to be embarrassed after I showed her the basics. I was particularly looking forward to teaching her the rumba—the dance of love and lust—but I had to admit I was eager to engage her in the horizontal mumbo later that night as well.

It was a fairly small club with no line and we were admitted right away, stepping through a door and into a place where Latin music trumpeted across a dancefloor where couples twirled and spun under a blaze of red neon in a fever of cha chas. Alice looked impressed and daunted at the same time as we moved through the club, staring at the dancers, smiling. There was an alcove overlooking the dancefloor where I had reserved a table and we ordered some drinks and a light dinner of asadillo de pimientos and a nice gazpacho andaluz.

Our table was right by the balcony and while we ate we watched the dancers below, Alice still somewhat in amazement at how talented they all seemed to be. I explained to her that many of them were, in fact, professionals who came here for a good time. Alice nodded and continued to watch and at one point the floor parted in a circle around one particular couple as the couple composed an impromptu solo performance that culminated in a spectacular looking lift that raised the woman over the man's head to an enthusiastic smattering of cheers and applause from the spectators. Even Alice began clapping in awe even though she was up in the balcony.

"Wow," she said, turning back to me. "Pretty impressive dancing they do in this place. How'd you find it?"

I sipped my wine and set it back down on the table. "Latina chick I dated," I said. "We met on a shoot and it turned out she was a dancer as well. She used to come here a lot. Actually, she's here now. That's her, down there."

"Here?" Alice's face changed slightly as I mentioned the presence of an ex-girlfriend, the subtlest hint of jealousy and anxiety as if perhaps all it might take is this fortuitous meeting for me to go running back into her arms. She looked over the railing to see the woman I had pointed out and her eyes went even stiller as she laid them on a Spanish beauty who at the moment was expertly twirling on the floor in a whirl of dark hair and red dress at a velocity that swept her skirts into a sexy flare about her full brown thighs.

"Her name's Carmen," I said. "I noticed her before, but we haven't seen each other in a while, so I didn't bother saying hi."

Alice nodded, seemingly set at ease a little. She glanced again at the woman down there on the dancefloor and then she turned back to me. "Wow," she said. "She's pretty good."

"She's a pro."

"Wow," she repeated. "So, um…how long did you date? Was it serious?"

I smiled and shook my head. "No. To be honest, we never really dated. We just…had a little fun together, I guess."

"I see."

There was a slight hint of disapproval in her voice that made me smile. I gestured with a hand airily and thought to explain myself. "I've always been somewhat…open minded when it comes to relationships," I said. "It's always been easier for me to simply go along with whatever the other person wants. If she only wants to have fun, I can do that. And if she wants something more serious, I can do that too. I've never been one to nurture expectations. I'm very…flexible, you might say."

She smiled at the word flexible but it didn't really distract her. "Which do you prefer, though?" she asked. "A real relationship, or…?"

"I prefer whatever makes my date happy."

"But what makes YOU happy?"

The question took me somewhat by surprise and the answer made me chuckle to myself. Ass. That's what made me happy. Boobs too. But that probably wasn't what she wanted to hear, since the purpose of her question had obviously been to determine whether or not I'm relationship material. So I shrugged loosely and gestured again with my hand.

"Let's just say I'm more than eager to embrace a long term relationship if one should ever present itself," I said.

That seemed to satisfy her. She nodded and smiled. "Well, no pressure, but…I'm kind of looking for long term too."

She admitted it with a blush. As if it wasn't completely obvious. "Then I guess we're on the same page," I said, and then I stood up from the table and smoothed down my dress. We had finished our dinner and our drinks and now it was time to dance. I offered her my hand. "Come on, let's dance. I'll teach how to Cha Cha."

"Cha Cha?"

"Mmhm. With hips like them, you were absolutely born to Cha Cha."

She giggled and took my hand to stand up.

Alice was a quick learner, mostly due to her natural grace and childlike enthusiasm. Operating in heels was no challenge whatsoever for her, and it was only a matter of teaching her the steps and the timing. One, two, cha cha cha. She had a natural sense of rhythm as well. Giggling and smiling. Her pretty face brightened from the exercise. Every now and then she would let out a whoop and bust something out, watching the other couples and copying their moves. She did twirls and twists. She let me dip her in my arms and fling her back up. Laughing. Having fun. Her technique was very sloppy but she made up for it with raw energy and excitement. I had my hands at her hips, guiding their movements, and at every moment I was fighting back the urge to force my mouth on hers and ravish her right there on the floor.

We stopped for drinks and came back and I suppose it was only a matter of time until we bumped into Carmen. She recognized me right away and interrupted the dance with a shriek of delight, a hug, and an insistence for me to introduce Alice—who didn't look all that pleased to be interrupted, least of all by an old girlfriend of mine. But she smiled as I introduced her as my girlfriend and Carmen shook her hand and introduced her own dance partner, a tall gay latino dude who was only a friend. He wore a purple shirt made of shimmering satin, unbuttoned to the waist to reveal a waxed chest, and he also seemed to be wearing light mascara along with just a hint of makeup to enhance his chiselled cheekbones. Quite a hunk in my eyes, and even Alice might've stuttered a little as she shook his hand and tried not to stare. His name was Enrique, which struck me as highly stereotypical, and he seemed quite enraptured with Alice and Alice's dress, showering her with compliments and making her blush until he decided he simply must dance with her. Alice was delighted to accept, even though this left me with Carmen. Carmen smiled and put her hand in mine and her lips seemed even fuller and redder than I remembered them. She was wearing a particularly sexy perfume and she was taller than Alice with much longer hair and much larger boobs. But all it would take was a glance at Alice in Enrique's arms, smiling and turning and twisting her little hips in that short pink dress, to make me remember what I really wanted.

The four of us danced in close proximity, close enough to talk, and we exchanged partners a few times so that I danced a bit with Enrique and Alice danced a bit with Carmen. She didn't seem to like Carmen too much although Carmen didn't really endear herself with her haughty attitude and dark Spanish beauty. Enrique's boyfriend was close by as well, clad in a lime green shirt and moussed black hair. He had come to claim back his boyfriend for himself but he too seemed to fall in love with Alice's bouncy pinkness and soon they were sharing her between themselves, twirling her back and forth and calling her chica and mamacita and making her giggle. Meanwhile, Carmen was getting quite sultry with me and Alice didn't seem to notice. Carmen kept looking into my eyes and licking her lips. It turned me on, quite honestly. Perhaps some old sparks were reigniting here after all.

Finally I told Alice that I had to use the bathroom and I'll be right back. The restrooms were in the back and not quite empty. There were two other girls repairing their makeup in the mirror over the sink and I sidled in beside them, opening my purse and taking out my lipstick. It was only a few moments before the door opened again and Carmen came up behind me in the mirror. She took out her own lipstick and began doing her own lips, the two of us side by side in the mirror, both dark haired and clad in red dresses but her tanned and me much the paler.

"She's pretty, that girl your with," Carmen said by way of conversation. What she left unspoken was that she herself was much sexier. Which was true from a technical standpoint, I suppose. I didn't reply, just smiled, and she added: "How come you didn't say hi earlier? You weren't happy to see me?"

"I'm here with a date," I said. "I didn't even know you were going to be here."

"Does she get jealous, your little Alice?"

"Actually, she does."

Carmen seemed pleased to hear that. She pursed her lips at the mirror in a kiss and capped her lipstick. "She doesn't seem much like your type," she said. "She seems very…sweet."

"I like sweet."

"I thought you liked a woman with spice?"

The two other chicks were chatting among themselves and now they left the restroom. A flare of music came in as the door was pushed open and lapsed quiet again as the door swung closed. Carmen glanced at the empty restroom, realizing we were alone, and turned back to me with a bold smile. She had a hand on her hip and she was clearly making an offer. I smiled and cupped her face with one hand and placed a very deliberate kiss on her shiny red lips.

"Give me a call sometime if you want to get together," I said. "It's not really serious between me and Alice."

I then gave her a wink and sauntered back out into the club. I wasn't overly interested in her but I thought I'd better keep my options open. A girl's gotta eat, after all.

It was getting late by now and the lights over the dancefloor had dimmed as the DJ slowed the tempo. I did a brief scan of the dancefloor but I couldn't find Alice. Enrique and his boyfriend were composing a slow dance together in the sultry light, grinding each other's hips and staring into each other's eyes. I suppose Alice had wanted to give them a moment alone. I looked up at our table on the alcove over the dancefloor but she wasn't there either. The only other place left to check was the bar and there she was, sitting on a stool all pink and pretty. She had ordered a cocktail for herself and she was sipping it while watching the dancers. She had ordered me one as well and she smiled as I came up.

"Hey," she said. "This place is so neat. There's lots of same-sex couples, aren't there?"

I nodded, sitting on a stool beside her. "Lots of bi-chicks and gay guys."

"No lesbians?"

"I think you'd find more lesbians on a softball field than a place like this."

She giggled and sipped her drink. The liquid was green and thick like cream. I still hadn't touched mine. I looked out across the floor and noticed Enrique and his boyfriend Alejandro. They were really going at it. I smiled and turned back to Alice.

"Enrique and Alejandro seemed to really like you," I said. "I was almost worried. Carmen said they usually only have eyes for each other."

Alice smiled with pride and set her shoulders haughtily. "Well, they just never danced with a real woman before," she said.

I chuckled. She seemed slightly drunk, not so much from alcohol but just from having fun. It occurred to me that I was glad she was having fun. Not because it meant she would be more likely to put out, but just because it made me happy to see her smile.

"Actually," she went on, "that was the first time I've danced with a guy since senior prom. It was a relief to know he wouldn't try to cop a feel or tell me he loves me."

"You dated guys in highschool?"

"Not really, we only went as friends. On my side, at least."

"So you've never been with a guy before?"

"Does that matter?"

"No. But I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't make you more attractive to me."

She smiled and hesitated for a moment. Then she shrugged. "There was a time when I considered trying it with a guy," she said. "Not really as an experiment, just for the experience. I mean, I always knew I preferred girls. I was never confused or anything. But in the end, I decided not to. I've known other girls who tried it just for the sake of trying it and they always regreted it."

I nodded and smiled. And true to my word, she was suddenly much more attractive to me. She sipped her drink and I watched her. My throat was beginning to throb and I couldn't wait to wrap my tongue all around her cute, gorgeous, stainless little body.

"Actually, I was out of the closet by middle school," she went on. "In many ways I was really lucky. I kissed my bestfriend and she actually liked me. Well. For a little while."

She smiled wistfully and gave a little shrug of her bare shoulder. I smiled as well.

"At least you learnt early never to date a straight chick," I said.

"Yeah, I guess. It was pretty sad though. I really liked her. I suppose that's the root of my intimacy issues. Right from the beginning, it's always the same story. There's been a lot of girls who liked me but it never lasts very long. They always lose interest or meet someone else. Sometimes I just don't understand it. I mean, I'm cute, right?"

"You're adorable."

"So how come I can't keep a girlfriend?"

The question actually seemed kind of genuine, as if she really did want to figure it out. But I already knew the answer and with a smile I placed my hand on her knee and caressed it to draw her eyes to mine.

"I know exactly why," I said.

"Why then?"

I smiled and spoke very softly and deliberately. "Because there's a lot of shallow bitches out there who wouldn't know perfection if it was standing in front of them named Alice."

A smile grew on her mouth. A blush lit up her face. She took a sip of her drink to hide how incredibly flattered she was and said: "Yeah. Maybe."

I released her knee and looked out over the dancefloor. The music had changed again, a gentle ballad of bongos and acoustic guitar over sultry Spanish vocals. I smiled and turned back to Alice.

"Do you know what song that is?" I asked.

She looked excited and shook her head. "No."

"It's a Rumba. The dance of lust."

"Lust, huh?"

"Mmhm," I murmured, offering my hand. "Care to dance?"

She looked at the dancefloor. By now the couples had moved into rhythm and unlike the Cha Cha, the Rumba was a much slower and more methodical dance. Alice seemed to get shy again. "I'm not sure if I can," she said.

But she had put her hand in mine anyway and I tugged her gently to her feet.

"You'll be fine," I said, smiling. "Just follow my lead."

—

That danced turned out to be our last dance of the evening. It was midnight by then, and the lights were dark, and we had both had a few drinks, and the dance was slow and close and I twirled her out and twirled her back in and she wrapped a leg around me as I hooked my hand under her knee and gazed into her eyes. She touched my face and smiled and I twirled her out again and back into my arms so that her back was pressed against my front. I held her around the waist as she rubbed her ass against my pelvis tauntingly and I nuzzled her neck and moaned softly and whispered in her ear if she wanted to get out of here. She did.

It was a short drive back to her apartment and we stumbled through her bedroom door, lips locked, tangled in each other's arms, kicking off our shoes. We collapsed onto her bed, still in our dresses, and she wrapped her bare legs around me with a tightness and eagerness that drove me crazy. She was almost whimpering from how much she wanted it and I was almost growling. Her mouth was loose and warm and my tongue was swimming inside it, making her moan and groan and buck her little hips against the front of my dress. I rubbed myself against her and finally my lips lowered to her neck. She threw her head back and moaned, exposing the skin there and the skin there was hot and flushed and crackling with electricity under my lips. I could feel the throb of her pulse and tonight, finally…

"Mmm," she moaned. "Oh god. Oh god, I'm so ready."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Oh god yes."

I stroked back her hair to look into her eyes. I'm not sure why. She said she was ready. That meant it was okay. But there was something in her eyes that made me pause. Something that caused a strange pang in my chest where my heart should've been. It wasn't hesitation in her eyes, it wasn't uncertainty. It was…

…Trust?

Yes. It was trust in her eyes, mingled among the lust and longing and aching desire for me to lick her up. Trust that I was going to treat her properly and date her properly and perhaps one day even love her properly. Trust that everything I said was true. But it wasn't true. I was nothing like she thought I was. I was…

She pulled me down into a kiss and now it was her own tongue that came swarming into my mouth. I returned the kiss feverishly, pushing my hips into hers, causing her to wrap her legs around me even tighter and lock them at the ankles. She moaned again and dug her fingernails into my back, seemingly even more desperate than I was.

"Oh god," she groaned. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long."

"It wasn't really that long."

"I know, but it sure feels like it. I'm sorry. I just had to be sure."

Our mouths had separated and she was already panting heavily. By contrast, I wasn't breathing at all. A very strange feeling had come over me and I didn't quite know what it was.

"Sure about what?" I asked.

She grinned and chuckled as if I was being silly. "About you," she said. "About how much you like me. About whether or not I can trust you not to hurt me."

Ah. So that's what that feeling was.

Guilt.

It wasn't something I felt often. In fact, this was perhaps the first time. It was very mild, of course. Perhaps only the awareness of guilt. But it was there. I could feel it. Like when a cloud passes over the sun. Something not quite right, not quite perfect.

She still had her legs around me and she gave an awkward chuckle at how I had drifted off.

"I mean, you do like me, right?"

"Yes," I said, snapping out of it. "I like you a lot. I just…"

"Just what?"

I blinked.

I had no idea.

Her legs loosened and I found myself getting off her, sitting up and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. That feeling in my chest wasn't going away and it actually seemed to overpower the hunger. I put a hand in my hair, truly not understanding what was happening. I had been so close. All I had to do was kiss her and tell her what she wanted to hear and feast for the rest of the night on her glorious little body.

And yet…

"Hey," she said, kneeling beside me on the mattress in concern. "Everything okay?"

"Yes, but…"

I turned to look at her. She cocked her head. I laughed to myself at how ridiculous I was being.

"It's nothing," I said. "I just want you to be really sure, that's all. I mean, it's only been two weeks. Can you really be sure about me after only two weeks?"

She smiled in confusion. "I don't understand. You want to wait longer?"

"No, no, no," I blurted with a chuckle. "Of course I don't want to wait. I never wanted to wait to begin with. Trust me, there's nothing I want more than…you."

She smiled brightly. I sighed at how cute she was and cupped her face with one hand.

"But like I said, I really like you," I told her softly. "And I'm afraid of…hurting you."

A single chuckle came out of her as she nuzzled my hand with her cheek. "How would you hurt me?"

I dropped my hand and looked down. Well, I cheated on her last night with Victoria. And a few nights before that with Rosalie. And with Leah as well, who happened to be an underage teenager. Heck, even tonight I told Carmen to call me sometime with the full intention of cheating on Alice again. If she found out about any of those she would be more than hurt. She deserved to know what she was getting involved with but I decided that maybe a subtle hint to my true nature would be more appropriate than a full confession.

"I don't know," I said. "It's just, I don't have the best history with relationships. Back at the club, I said I was flexible. But in truth, I think I might be just shallow and superficial. To be honest, I've never been in love in my life."

"Never?"

"No."

Her eyebrows came together in a puzzled frown. She still didn't really understand what I was saying, but then again, even I didn't have a clue. I snorted to myself, realizing that I had completely sabotaged any chance of getting any ass tonight, and shook my head.

"I just felt I should warn you," I said, giving her a soft and self-deprecating smile. "If you're worried about being hurt…dating someone like me might be risky."

"Well, all relationships are a risk. I mean…"

"I know," I told her, cupping her face again. "I just don't want to hurt you."

She looked into my eyes, trying to understand. Finally she took my hand from her face and held it in her lap. She looked down at it for a moment, as if she read nothing in my eyes and maybe might have better luck with my palm, and then she chuckled and looked up.

"I'm not sure where this is all coming from," she said. "Is it my fault for wanting to wait? I mean, I never meant to make you think I was some kind of delicate flower. I'm a big girl. All I needed to know was if you're interested in something serious. No one can predict if it's going to work out or not, but as long as we're both serious, then at least we'll have the opportunity to find out. Right?"

"I guess."

"And you are interested in something serious, aren't you?"

"Yes," I said, because I knew I couldn't afford any hesitation. But in reality what I was really interested in was getting her panties off. That's about it. But if that was true, why did I stop myself? Why did I—

She smiled at my reply and giggled once. She was still caressing my hand in her lap and she gave it a little pat. "Well, that's all I can reasonably ask for. The rest is up to fate. Let's not go crazy about it, okay?"

I nodded and smiled as well. "I'm sorry," I said. "I guess that was just a long winded way of admitting I have commitment issues. I thought it was only fair to let you know. Before we go any further."

"Well, thanks. It's nice you care about me enough to be upfront. Although you did kind of ruin the date."

"I did, didn't I? I'm sorry."

She giggled and fell silent. She was still holding my hand in her lap. The mood was dead, the corpse was practically laying on the carpet. I sighed and looked at her.

"So what do you think?" I said. "Are you still interested in me?"

She grinned and gave my hand a vigorous squeeze. "Of course I am. In fact, I think I'm more interested in you now than ever. After all, by admitting all this, it only proves that you really are serious. Right?"

I went thoughtful at that. Perhaps it was true. Perhaps I did care about her more than I cared about getting a piece of her ass. Which was almost an insult to the poor girl, considering how terrific her ass was. She patted my hand one last time and released it.

"So let's just take it slow and see how it goes, okay?"

"Are you sure you want to take a chance on me?"

"Positive," she said, and then she flung her arms around my neck and pulled me into a kiss. She fell back against the pillow and I once again settled between her legs, feeling them wrap around me and tighten and squeeze my body. The hunger began to throb anew in my stomach but I knew there would be no dessert tonight. At the first break in the kiss I smiled at her and stroked her face.

"But I guess this means no sex tonight, huh?"

She smirked. "Well, the moment is kind of ruined."

"Drat."

She giggled and tightened her legs around me playfully. "Tell you what," she said, "why don't we have a couple more dates and if we're still together we can get a nice expensive hotel room and maybe even spend the weekend somewhere. That way it'll be really special. What do you think?"

The suggestion caused a slow well of excitement to rise up inside me. Alice, all to myself for an entire weekend. Maybe this mini-confession wasn't such a bad idea after all. I stroked her face a little more, gazing into her gorgeous eyes, and said: "I think that sounds perfect."

Then I lowered my lips onto hers and kissed her. She moaned and wrapped her arms around me.

—