Keep coming back for more (Chapter 9)
You did what?
Alice
Rose grumbled a quiet hello as I ran into her on the way to the kitchen. The bonus of being in the same house as Jasper was that I could stay in his room and no one would consider questioning it. He admitted to me last night that living with me was his primary reason for requesting a house this big and I fell in love with him all over again. I’d missed him every time he had to go on his work trips, but now we were together and nothing else mattered. Well, at least when it came to us, anyway. There was still the matter of getting Rosalie to see the light, or rather, finding a way to get her and Emmett over whatever grudges they held, so they could be happy. It was going to be much easier with Emmett, now that I caught a few of his lingering glances at Rose and the sadness in his eyes when she ignored him. Who knew Em had those feelings in him?
“Is there coffee?” Rose asked as she walked into the kitchen to join me.
“I’ve just made some,” I smiled, “it should be another minute.”
“Thanks,” her voice was rough.
“Painkillers are in the top drawer,” I handed a glass of water to her before she sat down, “would you like some breakfast?”
“I need some caffeine first.”
I continued to make toast and scrambled egg, so I could bring it up to Jasper once he woke up. The boys overdid it a little bit last night with the tequila and I figured Emmett would eventually come downstairs, too, rummaging for food. My plan was to question him about Rose, but that wasn’t going to happen if she was still in the room. It would just have to wait.
The sound of the front door opening quietly tore me out of my thoughts and I suddenly realized I never saw Bella leaving the club with us. I felt a miniscule amount of guilt for not making sure my best friend was OK, but it’s happened before and neither of us ever started panicking until lunchtime.
“Bella?” I shouted across the sitting room and turned to a hiss from Rose, “Sorry,” I whispered.
I heard a grumble and Bella’s quiet cursing, but I was sure the smell of fresh coffee would lure her into the kitchen even though she obviously didn’t want to talk. ‘This is going to be interesting’, I thought as I tried to figure out for myself where she could’ve been last night. She walked into the kitchen and slumped into a chair, throwing a look at the coffee machine and then me. I poured two cups of coffee, switched off the cooker and carried the cups to the girls.
“So, Miss Swan,” I smirked, “Where were you last night?”
“Nowhere interesting,” she scowled into the cup.
“Doesn’t look like it,” I got some support of Rose, “you’re blushing like mad, you have sex hair,” she pointed to the mess on Bella’s head, “and that is not your hoodie.”
I’ve never seen Bella blush as much as she did as her eyes darted down to a dark blue hoodie that was a few sizes too big for her. The expression in her face made it clear that she hadn’t noticed that she was wearing someone else’s clothes, so I took a proper look at the top, trying to get some clues. Bella put her cup down on the table and I noticed her hands shaking a little before my eyes shot to a small logo stitched onto the front pocket on the hoodie. My eyes shot wide open in shock and I had to close my mouth after my jaw dropped almost to the floor in shock.
“Bella,” I whispered, “Is that… does that belong to who I think it belongs to?”
“What do you mean, Alice?” Bella pretended to look all innocent, but she wasn’t fooling me.
“I know that logo,” I pointed to the picture, drawing Rosalie’s attention to it, “And I’m sure Rose does, too.”
“Not just that,” Rose got my attention and I saw a smirk in her face, “I’ve seen that hoodie before.”
“It’s just a hoodie,” Bella shrugged, still trying to be nonchalant about it.
“Yeah, it would be,” Rose was more composed than me, “if it wasn’t my cousin’s.”
“Edward Masen?” I almost shouted, “Bella, where were you all night?”
“Duh, Alice, where do you think she was?” Rose’s face changed a little as she put the puzzle pieces together.
“It’s not any of your business where I spent my night,” Bella composure wavered and an angry look shot at both Rose and me.
“He’s my cousin, Bella,” Rose frowned, “and he’s our friend. So are you. It is our business.”
“The hell it is,” I watched the exchange between my friends, neither of them happy.
Bella’s anger was easily placed, I knew how much she hated being questioned and I knew her well enough to also know that whatever had happened, she was still trying to figure it out. I couldn’t put my finger on what bugged Rose, though, but I knew enough to expect an explanation. Rosalie wasn’t one to mince her words or hold back when she had an opinion on something. That was why she refused to properly acknowledge Emmett these days, she’d said all she had on her mind way back in school and for her there was nothing left to talk about anymore. At least not to him, as I was about to find out.
“Bella, you should know better,” Rose growled, “you saw what broken relationships do to people.”
“You would know,” Bella shot back.
“Yes, I do,” Rosalie didn’t even flinch, “things get ruined and it never works.”
“Bella,” I interrupted before it could get worse, “how did you end up wearing Edward’s hoodie?”
“I must’ve grabbed the wrong one off the hook,” she shrugged, “I wasn’t exactly awake when I was leaving.”
“So you were at his apartment all night?”
Bella nodded shyly and I raised my eyebrows at her.
“Nothing happened, Alice,” she sighed, rolling her eyes, “we got drunk and I figured someone should bring Edward home. You were too busy getting drunk,” she glared at Rose, “and your face was a bit occupied,” I felt the warmth in my cheeks escalate.
“Yeah, nothing happened, right,” Rose scowled back, “like we’re going to believe that.”
“You can believe what you want,” Bella gave herself away with a crimson blush, “You will do that no matter what I say.”
“I’m sorry, Bella,” Rose’s voice softened, “I just… I don’t want you to do my mistakes.”
“Which was a mistake then,” Bella was still angry, but I only focused on her blush, “being with Emmett or breaking up with him?”
Rosalie’s face turned to the cup of coffee in front of her and for a moment I wondered if she’d regretted the break up, but she didn’t linger on her thoughts too long. But as I turned to a furiously blushing Bella, something finally dawned on me and my hand flew to my mouth.
“How did I not realize this straight away?” I gasped, “You slept with him!”
Bella’s blush couldn’t get any darker as she still pretended to look offended, but she knew she couldn’t hide it from either of us. It was just lucky she’d be able to hide it from Em and Jazz, because they’d tease the hell out of her.
“Bella?” Rose whispered, “Just… please be careful.”
The softness in her voice threw me off a little, I wasn’t sure how to explain Rosalie being this concerned about anyone. I noticed a hint of regret in her face, but she rearranged her features so quick, I wondered if I’d only imagined it.
“It was a one off, it won’t happen again,” Bella was still frowning, “is that careful enough for you?”
“So you did…” I started, but Bella’s angry look cut me off.
“It’s not like he’d remember,” she whispered, disappointment ringing through every word, “or that he’d want to…”
“Bella, do you like him?” I reached for her hand.
She blushed instead of replying and I looked at Rosalie, who didn’t try to hide her surprise this time as her expression mirrored mine.
“Look, girls, we were both drunk last night,” Bella sighed, “I’m fairly sure Edward didn’t even realize he was with me. And he won’t remember anything. I’d say he thought I was someone else anyway.”
She stood up, gulped down the rest of her coffee and walked out of the kitchen, her shoulders a bit slumped. I shot a look at Rose and raised my eyebrow to convey my unspoken question, but she only shrugged, not able to make sense of this either. I got up to finish Jasper’s breakfast and picked up the tray to bring it up to him. There was a talk I needed to have with Edward, but that would have to wait until I was sure what to ask him.