Prom.
The entire school is excited about it, chatter buzzing around the cafeteria as everyone talks about who and how they're going to ask. Bella's group of friends are no different. She can see Angela waiting for Eric to pull her to the side and ask or leave some cheesy note in her locker or scribble it across his forehead in marker. Anything. Meanwhile, Jessica has already asked Mike, goofy-looking smile on his face as he clings to the flowers she'd picked up on the way to school.
"What about you, Bella?" Eric asks with a knowing grin. "Your girlfriend gonna be there?"
It's meant to be light teasing, but Bella hadn't asked. Her mind has been on the streets, worried she'd make a light and get T-boned. So, she hadn't been toiling over some elaborate way to ask Leah if she wanted to go to prom.
"Haven't asked yet..." she says truthfully and is confused when the table falls silent.
She looks up, expecting there to be some kind of spectacle, only to find that the entire table is looking at her.
"You are going, aren't you?" Angela asks, looking as if Bella's answer was critical.
The table feels as if it's at some sort of standstill, everyone seemingly holding their breath as they await an answer. It feels as if the moment is catapulting towards something important. Like, if she said no, they'd come to some sort of solid conclusion.
It seemingly stretches on too long as Angela leans forward in her seat with a solemn expression.
"You guys didn't break up, did you?"
Ah. There it is.
"No..." Bella mutters, eyes flicking around the table.
"It's just—you haven't talked about her...." Jessica whispers as if it's some kind of secret, as if there aren't three other people listening in, waiting.
Right. 'Cause that's what people did, normal teenagers who weren't running around looking over their shoulders, talked about stuff like that. They go out, live their life, enjoy things. Bella hasn't seen Leah since a group of crazy, dead people attempted to murder her brother. There was nothing to be said.
"Right. Haven't seen her. Been busy." The response is meant to be casual, but she knows how snippy it sounds as she prods at her salad.
The table falls silent again. She can feel them calculating what that may mean.
"Studying for final exams and all that." Bella supplies, and watches as that seems to ease the tension.
"Well," Jessica says decisively, "then you can bring her dress shopping."
Bella, while having spent copious amounts of hours with Leah, wasn't exactly sure if anything on any of the aisles would get her to say yes to something so seemingly ludicrous as prom. There were pink hearts, red hearts, flowers in every color, cheesy cards, candy, frilly shit. Anything a corporate depiction of a hopeless romantic could spit out in time for prom season, and yet, none of it seems appropriate.
Leah didn't seem like she'd want anything too extravagant or overtly feminine. She didn't like chocolate or the color pink. She'd probably grimace at a cheesy card and balk at a giant bear.
Too much, too little.
Jacob is having the time of his life, eyes glazed over as he stares at the massive teddy bear in front of him. Bella knew he wasn't going to be of any help when he climbed into the truck with a goofy grin. He's been so wrapped up in fantasizing about Edward that he hadn't really had room for much else.
"Do you think he'll ask me?" He seemingly mutters to the bear.
"I thought you didn't like him." Bella breaks up the fantasy, glancing over her shoulder.
Jacob splutters, seemingly surprised by the sudden reminder.
"Uh, well..."
She's not under some delusion that he doesn't know. She's sure Billy had disclosed his observations of Jacob's behavior to Jacob weeks ago. Though, Jacob hadn't said anything to Bella. He had yet to stumble up to her all ruddy-cheeked and flustered, relenting the fact that he'd imprinted on a weasel-faced brat. So, she'd just pretended to not notice the way he turned into mush when the guy was mentioned. However, that was getting increasingly harder with the way that every single conversation they had led to Jacob staring off into space, mind wandering off into daydreaming about a boy he's talked to maybe three times.
"Maybe you should get her a bear..." Jacob pivots, holding a significantly smaller bear than the one he'd been ogling earlier.
Bella stares down at the little, green stuffed animal in her brother's hands. It looked like it'd been crocheted by someone's cookie-baking grandma. She hums, taking it, resigning herself to the fact she's not going to find anything more fitting.
She wanders over to the flowers anyway, slowly sifting through them. She eventually settles on yellow tulips and blue orchids.
The ride over to the shack is quiet. Jacob's in his own head and Bella's eyes are watching the road. Her brother climbs out, stretching his legs as if they've been on some never-ending road trip, before jogging up to the front door and slipping past Leah.
The boys and Leah had been meeting up once a week just to catch up, but Bella hadn't joined. She'd simply pull into the yard, let Jacob out, and take off. She'd see Leah poke her head out every time the rusty red truck made its way into the yard, but Bella needed to get back to the store.
Though, today, she makes her way up to the shack with her grocery bag in hand and her heart suddenly pounding in her head.
"The boys are out back." Leah announces as soon as Bella's feet touch the porch.
Bella's expecting to be led into the kitchen where Leah is working on snacks, but instead Leah plops down onto the sofa. Bella sits next to her, placing the grocery bag down on the couch and ignoring Leah's curious glance as the plastic crinkles.
"You wanna watch a movie or...?" Leah poses pointing towards the laptop on the coffee table.
She's trying to feign casualty, but the laptop hadn't been there any of the previous times that Bella had followed Jacob inside. Usually, they'd end up turning on one of the two channels the old TV could conjure up as background noise. She must've brought it from home, planned at least this particular part of their evening. She pops the laptop open, looking back at Bella as if she's waiting for confirmation.
Bella nods and watches as Leah quickly flicks through their options before landing on "Pride and Prejudice".
Oh?
As soon as she's landed on what she's looking for, she pops up, heading for the kitchen.
"Popcorn." she calls over her shoulder as an explanation.
Bella waits for the quiet rummaging of Leah trying to find the box, but it never comes. There was already a pack waiting on the counter next to a bowl. Pre-planned.
She'd known Bella was coming. She'd planned on it.
Oh.
It suddenly dawns on Bella that it's happening again. She'd been so caught up in figuring out the prom situation that she hadn't thought about the fact that this was never going to be a normal visit. The last time she'd seen Leah was anything but normal. Why was she expecting to just go back to their 'normal'?
Instead, Leah places the popcorn on the coffee table, starts the movie, and promptly begins to lean into Bella's space. A good thirty minutes in and Bella's grocery bag is on the floor and Leah's draped on top of her playing twenty-one questions.
"Okay, but what's your favorite color?"
"Brown."
"Brown?" Leah repeats skeptically, eyes squinting down at Bella as if she doesn't believe her.
Bella just quietly hums, refusing to be the first to break eye contact.
"Okay, what's in the bag?" she follows up, eyes finally leaving Bella's to glance down at the grocery bag, now unceremoniously abandoned on the floor.
Right. Prom.
Bella had almost forgotten why she was here.
"Oh, it's—" she starts before reaching down to grab the bag.
Leah sits up to give her the smallest bit of space. She pops it opens and pulls out the flowers first, holding them and watching as Leah stares at them before timidly taking them. Bella then pulls out the little bear.
"I was wondering if you'd go to prom with me?" she asks and watches as Leah looks at the bear before her eyes quickly dart to Bella.
The moment stretches so long that Bella's sure that she's ruined it. Whatever is happening, she'd promptly fucked it up somehow. She's about pull back, sit up, abort mission, when Leah leans forward and kisses her with a type of sweetness that Bella had only seen in flashes.
There's something about it that violently shakes her awake.
She knew that look.
"Did you imprint on me?"
It's a fairly ham fisted way of asking, but once she does, it's out there and she can't reel it back in. It feels idiotic, suddenly realizing it. She could see it when it was aimed at everyone else but her. She assumes it's supposed to feel romantic. She'd been chosen, after all. However, it just feels kind of cheap—empty. Like, there was nothing there before and, without any input on Bella's part, suddenly she was worth liking. Not because Leah truly liked her, but because she had no other choice.
There's a heavy stint of silence in between them before Bella speaks again.
"Listen, Leah—"
"I've liked you since Jacob invited us to your 11th birthday party and you OD'd on frosting." Leah seemingly, involuntarily, blurts out into the space in between them.
Bella refrains from pointing out how weirdly specific that is.
"Oh."
"Yeah." Leah breathes, eyes back on Bella's lips.
"You didn't answer the question." Bella whispers, suddenly aware that she's being trapped up against the back of the couch.
"Yeah, I imprinted on you and now you're stuck with me. Any more questions?"
"Uh, yeah..." Bella mumbles, vaguely aware that the movie is still playing and popcorn is long past cold, "do you wanna go dress shopping?"
Bella's somehow not surprised when the bell rings over the door. Honestly, she thought it would happen sooner. Regardless, she just watches silently as Edward Cullen moseys into the bait shop and stops at the counter where Jacob is preparing to count down the register. She watches as her brother slams the drawer shut as if Richie Rich, of all people, would attempt to rob a tiny corner store.
Bella continues her sweeping.
Edward isn't the subtle type. He's not the small bouquet, tiny bear type. He hauls in a bear the size of a large dog and places it onto the counter before presenting his dozen roses. Once his hands are mostly free, he's able to hand over a bright red gift bag. She can see the way that Jacob's eyes light up, the spoiled brat.
It's sweet.
She pops her earphones back into her ears and tries not to eavesdrop.
She didn't need to hear it anyway; he'd be babbling non-stop about it for the next month.