Unexpectedly Chapter 12 Teaser

The next day, Bella was completely all smiles.

After she had gotten up in the morning after a much deserved rest, she took the time in making her appearance look even nicer as she knew who would definitely – she hoped – be visiting that very morning. While looking in the mirror, she noticed how much happier she looked after being with him: her skin was glowing, her eyes were sparkling and just her whole demeanour had completely changed.

She remembered how she lay with him and talked to him about her life. Thankfully, something inside her forced herself to spare Edward all of the details about what had really happened the night that her mother had died as she didn’t want to push those memories onto anyone else. She had told him that her mother’s death was the reason that she became reclusive, but she didn’t explain to him why she was scared to go out because of it and why it still haunted her to this day.

But that was a secret to stay locked up. She would swallow a key for it, if she could.

However, Bella was smiling as she drove herself into work that morning rather than her father giving her a lift in his police cruiser. The truck wasn’t the most practical vehicle; it stuttered and spluttered, but she loved it. The heaviness and the creaks it made when she changed gear gave it personality, in her opinion. She found herself drawn to the things that were flawed.

As soon as she got into work, Alice noticed her change instantly.

“You’ve kissed him,” she stated as soon as Bella had put her apron on and moved over to the counter.

“What?” Bella asked, trying to hide all traces of knowledge from her voice.

“I can read you like a book, Bella Swan,” she started. “You’ve been cavorting around with Edward Cullen. You know he hasn’t even filed for divorce yet? My mom told me the other day.”

“Ssh,” she begged, noticing the concern in Alice’s voice. It was different when the truth came out of someone else’s’ mouth but Edward’s. “Don’t tell anyone please. I-I know it’s wrong and, um, I don’t know…I just…”

“Hey,” Alice said as held out her hand for Bella’s to take. “Why would I tell anyone? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Bella sighed in relief and also contented agreement at Alice’s words. She took her hand. “Yes,” she replied. “We’re friends.”

As they continued to work throughout the day, Bella found herself relating to Alice more than she had ever imagined. She found that in actual fact, Alice was proving herself to be one of those friends that Bella had read about – you know the ones that are just there for you; listen to you, and don’t even judge you. Bella had never found anyone that she got on with quite like Alice, so work was starting to become a comfort rather than a hindrance.

Bella enjoyed listening to Alice speak, and even found that she could have her own input into the conversation rather than just being a boring bystander which is what she would have usually done. Thanks to Edward, it had seemed she was just becoming this whole different person that she had never even dreamed of becoming after everything that happened. For once, she had her own identity and her own voice.

She even told Alice to go for it with Jasper, despite their boss being out of town to grieve about their breakup. Bella was sorry about it, but Alice clearly wasn’t.

“You know when you just find someone and there’s that connection there, and you can’t even describe what it is – but it’s definitely there. You want to see them all the time, even though you don’t even know the basic things like what their favorite food or colour is, yet you feel like you’ve known them your whole life…” Alice sighed as she pondered over her feelings for Jasper.

“More than you know,” Bella said as she let out a deep breath.