Chapter Forty:
Meeting up with Jessica and Angala at the dress shop, Jessica, Angala, and myself begin trying on dresses. Angala has a lavender color dress on, Jessica has a hot pink dress on, and I have a sparkly midnight blue dress on.
"I think lavender is my color," Angala says, admiring herself in the mirror.
"Defintally" I say to her, looking her over. "You look hot".
"This dress makes my boobs look great" Jessica comments, staring at her reflection.
"Yeah it does" I shout to her. A wide grin splayed across my face.
"Bella, what do you think?" Jessica asks.
Us three turn to look at Bella, waiting for an answer. "You all look great" she answers plainly. I can tell it's not a jab or mean comment towards any of us. Dress shopping just really isn't her thing.
"You've said that about the last five dresses we've tried on," Jessica comments.
"You're not very good at this, are you?" Angala asks nicely.
"Actually I wanted to go to this bookstore," Bella says sheepishly. "I'll meet you guys at the diner later".
"I'll go with you. And I'll meet up with you girls later" I say heading to the dressing rooms. Quickly taking off the dress and putting my clothes back on.
I met Bella by the front of the store, where she was waiting for me. We walk out the door, and once we're outside she speaks up. "You didn't have to go with me".
"Let's see my clumsy sister in a town that's notorious for not being that great, heading to a bookstore by herself, right before dark. What could possibly go wrong?" I ask sarcastically.
"Yoeah, yeah" she says with a slight blush covering her cheeks.
"So what's at this bookstore anyways?" I ask her, nudging her shoulder with my own.
She lets out a sigh. "You know the legends Jacob was talking about. Well I sorta found this book about them. And I figured checking it out wouldn't be so bad".
"Is my little sister into fantasy books now?" I ask, raising an eyebrow, a grin across my face.
"N-no" she blurts out. A heavier blush settled over her.
"Oh my god, you are!" I shout at her, a laugh coming out. She laughs with me. God, I haven't heard her genuine laugh in ages. Since we were four years old. It's a nice feeling.
Arriving at the bookstore, we began looking for the book, and I immediately set off to find it. Finding the book, I hide it in a different section and for good measure, place some other books on that shelf in front of it.
Quickly returning to the previous spot, and joining Bella, we begin to read spine covers, none of the books are matching. She walks over to the young man sitting behind the register.
"Do you have this book in stock?" She asks, showing him a photo of it.
"Yes, we have one left in stock" the man says, walking over to where it should have been located. Reading over the books, he begins looking in different sections. We split up, and I went to where I placed the book.
After thirty minutes of looking, the store keeper has moved back to his position up front, Bella has become irritated. I have hid the book two different times now.
"Come on Bella, they don't have the book here. Let's go before it gets too dark out" I say to her gently. Pleading her with my eyes.
"NO! I'll find that book if it's the last thing I do." she says, she aggressively begins to pull books off the shelf, setting them on the table.
Letting her dramatic outburst side, we continue to look for another thirty minutes. We've been here for an hour now. "Come on Bella, it's time to go. We need to meet up with Angala and Jessica" I say trying to get some kind of logical thought to run through her head.
"I told you before, I'm not leaving without that book." she says aggressively.
"What's so special about this book that you can't just not get it another day?" I ask her, becoming fed up with her antics.
"Because I need it! Why do you care anyways?!" She's becoming hysterical now.
"Because we've been looking for a damn book for over an hour now, and this behavior is insane" I say exasperated, gesturing to the table full of discarded books.
"If you're so ready to leave, then why don't you! I'll just walk." Bella sneers at me.
"I'm not leaving you Bella" I say with a sigh. My phone dings, opening it, I have four new messages from Jessica.
Where are you?
Are you guys almost done?
I'm gonna start freaking out soon if you don't respond!
Seriously where are you guys at? We can't hold this table forever without ordering.
Letting out a long sigh. Jessica isn't always the nicest person, but she can worry. Texting her back quickly, "We're almost done. Bella is still looking for the book she wants". Shutting off my phone I walk over to where she is. "Bella, listen, our friends are already at the diner, waiting for us," I say, trying to get us to leave.
"And you already know what I'm going to say!" She screams at me.
"Bella! Do you even hear yourself? This is insane. You're acting insane! It's just a book." I yell back at her.
"Of course you'd say that!" she spits at me.
"What's that supposed to mean?" The anger is clear in my voice. I'm so fed up with this.
"You always get everything you want in life! You got the perfect boyfriend! The perfect friends! A perfect life!" Bella is in hysterics now, yelling, screaming, throwing books in my direction.
My eyes gloss over with unshed tears, under all the anger she's radiating is the little girl, my little sister, crying for her older sister. Her eyes haarden, and any trace of vulnerability is gone, anger clouds her judgment now. "I don't have a perfect life, Bella" I say gently to her. Any traces of anger leave my system.
She scoffs, turning around. "I don't want your help anymore. If you're so ready to leave, then leave. I don't want you here anyways, I never did."
Her words hurt me more than I'd like to admit. They feel like they have a different meaning besides the situation we have. Taking a shaky breath in, trying to keep the tears from falling "Okay".
Turning around I take my leave, walking out the door of the shop. Once I'm outside, I whip out my phone and call Rose. It takes a few rings before she picks up. "Rose" I shakily whisper out.
"What's wrong honey?" She asks gently.
"Bella is going to find that stupid book" I say, tears are now streaming down my face. I feel as if I've failed them all. Failed Jasper. Bella is going to find that book, and then she'll know.
"She was going to anyways. There's nothing you could have done" Rose says, I can hear the clacking of her heels, she's pacing.
"I'm sorry" I repeat over and over again, the tears coming harder and harder now. There's crackling over the speaker of my phone.
"Darlin', listen to me. Okay? There's nothing you could have done to prevent this" Jaspers voice comes over the phone.
My throat is thick with emotion. "Do you want me to come get you?" He asks. All I can do is nod yes. After no reply from me "Ally?" I hum out my response, I can't trust my voice to stay steady. "Okay, I'm on my way".
I hung up the phone, tears still streaming down my face. Wiping my eyes and cheeks aggressively, I force myself to stop crying, muttering to myself. Taking a few deep breaths to school my emotions.