Chapter 14: A State of Serenity and Rapport (Teaser)

“Bella?”

“Uh, yeah, Alice, it’s me.”

“Sorry,” she whispered, her voice gritty. “I had just dozed off when you called.”

I laughed. “Well, we had a late night, so I’m not surprised. I took a nap earlier myself.”

She chuckled loudly, but the sound was interrupted midway by a heavy yawn. “God, sorry about that,” she giggled. “Did I hear you say something about needing a favor?”

Our comfortable exchange had minutely distracted me from the reason I’d called to begin with, but now, well, now I was once again stressed. My whole body felt weighted by it. I had no idea if calling her was an entirely smart idea or how much I could and would tell her, but I knew in asking for her help, she was going to require something in exchange. And truthfully, even though I trusted Alice with my life, it wasn’t my life I was concerned about. But in order to pull this off, to be able to stay the entire night with Edward, I needed an alibi and complete secrecy when giving it. Alice was the only one who could give me that.

“Yeah,” I responded nervously. “I did.” I was positive she could hear the tension within my voice.

There was silence on her end as she waited for me to continue and silence on my end because I had no idea what my approach was yet. It wasn’t as if I had a great deal of time to think this through, so I needed the quiet to mull over what I should say to her.

“Well?” she finally asked, breaking through the dead air. “What’s the favor?”

I still wasn’t entirely prepared, but I bit my lip as I readied myself to speak. Here goes nothing, I thought. And instead of speaking articulately, my response came out in a garbled rush. “Ineedyoutogivemeanalibi.”

“I…uh…blah, blah what?” She was clearly mocking me. “English, Bella.”

I groaned out of frustration directly into the mouth piece, running the fingers of my free hand roughly through my hair. “I need you to give me an alibi.”

“Oh, so that’s what you were saying,” she smirked. “What for?” 

“The entire night,” I murmured.

“WHAT!” She practically squealed. “What are you up to, you naughty girl?” I had no doubt the wheels were turning inside that brain of hers, running through a plethora of scenarios leading me to asking such a request and none were appropriate.

My face flushed in embarrassment at her words, and I responded immediately without ideating how I should actually respond. “It’s not like that, and I can’t get into a lot of detail right now, Alice. I promise I’ll explain what I can later, but please, I just need to know if you’ll help me. I really need you to do this for me. It’s important.”

Way to go, Bella. That statement in itself would obviously fuel the “need to know” fire.

“Oh, no, Bella Swan.” I could hear the sound her head made through the phone as she shook it, her tone firm when she spoke. “No info, no alibi.”