Chapter 49
"That's what friends are for"
Bella's POV
"You look beautiful, Bella", Rose said, sounding awed as she stood behind me.
"I do, don't I?" I said hesitantly as I was twisting and turning in front of the mirror trying to inspect myself from every angle.
The dark green fabric wrapped around my body in a very flattering way and the slit on the right side of the bottom of the dress made my legs look endless and graceful. I looked sexy yet sophisticated and I highly doubted that Charlie would let me leave the house wearing it. It was the perfect dress.
It was Rose who had insisted on taking me to Port Angeles to go dress shopping the weekend before the prom. I'd been hesitant at first, figuring I'd probably just order a simple dress off Forever21 or something, but Rose had insisted that it just wouldn't do. So in the end I'd been coerced into joining her. Of course Rose, being a snob, had taken me to a shop that was a little bit out of my budget, but she maintained that any off-the-rack-dress wasn't going to cut it for this event. I figured that if I was going to splurge on something for once in my life a nice prom dress wasn't the worst thing I could spend my money on, so I gave in and agreed to at least try out a couple of dresses. And of course she'd managed to find the perfect dress for me right off the bat.
"You're going to sweep him right off his feet", Rose said, sounding pleased. She stood behind me and gathered my hair into a bun at the back of my head. "You should wear your hair up. It will bring out your neck and shoulders."
She smiled at me in the mirror as she held my hair and I smiled back at her. I wasn't used to having close girlfriends but I definitely felt that I'd been missing out since I got to know Rose. It was nice having her always cheering me on when my frail self-esteem got the best of me. I was thankful for the fact that my relationship with her adoptive brother didn't seem to have affected our friendship. Rose had never taken the initiative to bring up the subject, even back when Edward and I had only been friends with benefits, though I was certain of the fact that she'd known all along.
When I'd finally mentioned it to her in terms of her brother and I occasionally spending time without her and Emmett her reaction had been neutral and she'd simply confirmed that she'd been aware that we at times hung out without her and Emmett. She hadn't asked any further questions regarding the status of our relationship. Once Edward and I had made our relationship public back in April she'd reacted in the same casual manner and without making a fuss about the sudden change in our group's dynamics. Initially I'd thought that her non-existant reaction had been a form of suppressed indignation, but as the weeks passed I realized that that wasn't it. She seemed genuinely pleased by the fact that her brother and I had hit it off and even though she never pried into our relationship she'd expressed her joy about us dating on several occasions.
I wasn't sure I would have been as pleased if one of my friends had been dating my brother, but either way I was thankful that she seemed to have taken it well.
"Thank you, Rose", I said gratefully.
"I'm the one who should be thanking you. You've brought so much joy to my life, more than making my brother happy that is", she said jokingly, "I haven't had a friend like this in a very long time. It's nice."
"I know what you mean", I replied empathetically, "I really appreciate our friendship. I hope you know that my relationship with Edward…", I started, but she interrupted me smiling.
"We'll be friends no matter what happens between you and Edward. You don't have to worry about that", she assured me gently.
"I just want you to know that our friendship comes first", I insisted.
"Our friendship is very important to me too. So you can feel free to break my brother's heart whenever. I won't hold it against you", she said jokingly and laughed.
I smiled palely at her, wondering if she knew just how much suffering I'd caused her brother these past few months.
"I was only joking, Bella", she said mildly and put her hand on my shoulder."Yes, I know the gist of what happened during spring break, but I'm not judging. Really. And I don't want you to think that Edward tells us every little detail about what goes on between the two of you. He really doesn't. He just kind of flipped that one time and told me some of it."
I cringed at the mention of Edward freaking out after that horrible, horrible conversation we'd had just after I'd bumped into Dan. The memory of the angst still made my head hurt.
"I want you to know that there isn't a single bone in my body that's judging you for… dwelling on your past. I know I've mentioned it to you before, but I also had someone that was special to me before Emmett. I know how hard it can be to let go of the past, even though the person you love doesn't turn out to be who you'd thought", she continued sincerely.
"What did he do exactly? I mean, what was wrong with him? If you don't mind me asking", I asked carefully.
Rose pursed her lips together and her face turned serious.
"He sexually abused me", she finally said gravely.
I felt my heart sink.
"Oh my god, Rose. I'm so sorry that happened to you. And I feel like shit for bringing it up. Here we are looking at prom dresses and I manage to bring up…" I started, horrified by the fact that I'd forced her to talk about it.
"It's fine, Bella. It seems like a very long time ago now. And it's important to talk about these things. It wasn't my fault so I shouldn't feel like I can't talk about these things, right?" she said, smiling kindly at me.
"Of course you shouldn't feel like it's something you shouldn't discuss", I hurried to assure her , "And I hope you know that you can talk to me anytime, if you'd like."
"Thank you, Bella. But as I said, it's all in the past now. It feels like it was almost a hundred years ago", she said, her voice lighter now, "But thank you for offering."
I nodded in reply and smiled apologetically at her.
"Anyhow, I got my revenge on him a long time ago. Even though I could never get even with him for what he did to me, I got my catharsis", she said and smiled slyly at me.
"Yeah? Did you burn his house down or what?" I asked genuinely curious. I'd always known Rosalie to be a pretty fierce person and I suspected she wasn't a person you'd want as your enemy.
"Something like that", she said and smiled blissfully at me.
I nodded in assent, still curious to know what she'd done. But I figured I was better off not asking since I didn't want to bring up another sore subject.
"And how's your status with Dan? Are you on speaking terms after the whole spring break debacle?" she suddenly went on to ask.
"No, we're back to the way we were - zero contact", I answered her question solemnly.
"And how do you feel about it?" she inquired curiously, "And by the way, think of me as your friend Rose right now, not as Edward's sister. I'm Switzerland. You know I'd never tell him anything you tell me, the same way I'd never tell you all of the weird stuff he discusses with me."
"He's got that overthinking-thing down, hasn't he?" I asked amused.
"That boy has got a gold medal when it comes to overthinking, believe me. I think you must only be exposed to a slight percentage of that guy's stupid thoughts or you would've headed for the hills a long time ago", she said jokingly.
"I doubt that. I get a decent amount of self-doubt and awkward questions on a daily basis", I asserted smilingly.
She smiled brightly at me and shook her head.
"He's hopeless. But stop trying to evade my question, how do you feel about the radio silence between you and Dan?" she persisted.
I chewed at my bottom lip as I pondered the answer to her question.
"Well… I am in two minds about it, I suppose. On one hand it feels like I've lost a part of myself. It's like a big part of my background has disappeared. I mean, we were best friends for years before we started dating. I shared everything with him. But on the other hand I mostly feel like I don't know him anymore. The way he changed after going to college, that's just not the guy I fell in love with. At all. He's a self-centered, pompous know-it-all these days", I stated hotly.
Rose smiled sympathetically at me.
"Well, then it must be nice to date someone like my brother for a change. No self-confidence whatsoever, will simp for a girl who's still in love with her ex for months and he'd probably abstain from college if that meant he got to keep dating you", Rose said facetiously.
"Your brother is too good for me", I said sincerely, yet still a bit uncomfortable about admitting it out loud. Still, it was true. I wasn't anywhere close to deserving someone like Edward. His patience with my bullshit amazed me on a daily basis.
"It's a good experience for him learning that sometimes you have to work for what you want", Rose said mockingly.
"Yeah, I bet he's been fending off girls his entire life", I said awkwardly, feeling my cheeks flush.
Rose chuckled.
"You could say that. It's mostly been unwelcome attention though. Waitresses, shop attendants, Jessica Stanley."
"Jessica Stanley?! Are you kidding me?" I called out in surprise. This was news to me.
"Yup. She pretty much stalked Edward their entire sophomore year, until he finally managed to get her to back off", Rose replied, sounding smug.
"Well, that explains why she's always so rude to me. I just thought she disliked me because Mike Newton seems to like me", I admitted sincerely.
"I suspect it's a bit of both actually. But who cares really? I'm sure she and Mike will live happily ever after together eventually anyway", Rose said while smirking condescendingly.
"Probably, yes", I agreed facetiously.
I scanned myself in the mirror once more.
"So do you think I should try on the other dresses or is this the one?" I asked Rose hesitantly.
"This is the one. There's no doubt about it", she smilingly assured me, "Edward is going to lose his shit when he sees you wearing this dress."
"Um, yeah. Unfortunately I think Charlie will too, but for an entirely different reason though", I replied uneasily, smiling at her.
"Oh never mind Charlie. I'll bring a modest bolero or something for you to wear until you leave the house. It'll work out", she said, laughing at the minuscule problem I'd presented her with.
"I have no further questions, Your Honor. Let's purchase this dress", I said cheerfully and started heading back to the dressing room.
"Be quick about it though!" Rose called after me, "We're going to hit the lingerie shop after this. We have to get you something nice to wear underneath that dress for "the afterparty"."
I felt cheeks reddening at her audacious assumption.
"Rose!" I called to her, my voice threatening.
"Oh, just give in already, Bella. You know I always get what I want in the end", Rosalie demanded resignedly.
I sighed loud enough for her to hear me from the dressing room. These Cullens would be the death of me, I thought to myself as I slipped out of the dress.