Invitation

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I woke up, still dressed in my college clothes, tired and drained. I reached into my pocket for my phone and checked the time.

I squinted my eyes at the bright light in the dark room.  It showed 8.00pm.

I dozed off for three hours!

I got up and walked to the dresser and flinched when I saw myself in the mirror. My eyes were puffy and sported raccoon eyes with all the ruined mascara around it and running down my cheeks. My hair looked like a bird’s nest.

I rushed into my bathroom and took a quick shower. Slipping into my tee and PJ's, I went down to grab some food from the kitchen. Nora was humming some melody and cooking there.

"Hey Nora. When did you come home?", she turned around with a bowl in her hand.

"Hey there. I came home around 5 . Is everything okay? I came into your room. You were sleeping with your college clothes on. Did you cry? Is everything alright?". She put down the bowl and looked at me, worried.

"No. I mean yes. I am perfectly alright. I um.. I had a headache. That's it. I am fine now that I got some sleep", I lied.

She sighed, shaking her head at me. Apparently she didn't buy it but she didn’t push. She went back to whatever she was doing before.


"Wait. I can smell something good. Is that spaghetti you are cooking ?", I asked sniffing the air.

"Dog”, she laughed, “You smelt it right. Spaghetti and meatballs for dinner”, she did a little dance with the spatula in her hand.

"You are the best. I love you. I’ll go set the table", I kissed her cheek and went out.

After two long minutes she came with a steaming bowl of my kryptonite. After prayer, we started eating.

"So Nora. How was your day today?".

She dropped her fork down on the plate with a clink and looked at me, her eyes wide.

"Oh God. How did I forget? Bella, there was this hot guy in my office today, he was there for signing some contract or something. I should’ve taken a picture of him. I know I shouldn’t objectify males”, she said with her hands held up in mock surrender, “ but boy, was he delicious. And the navy blue tailored suit he was wearing wasn’t helping the cause either. He was as close as you could see a Greek god in real life. He was so hot, my married boss was trying to flirt with him and you know what a stuck up bitch she is", she huffed, the dreamy look on her face gone at the mention of her boss.

“You should’ve got his number”, I nudged her with my elbow.

“Yeah?  Linda would have had my head if I did that and besides he wasn’t exactly my type”, she said.

“The monologue you just did? It didn’t make it look like he wasn’t your type”

“Yeah, well I’m not blind”, she said going back into a dreamy trance, her hand absentmindedly moving the food around her plate.

"Nora? ”. I called her, stifling my laugh.

"Mmm”, she shook her head and picked up her fork, and looked at me as if she had just gotten out of a daze.

"So what about you?"

"Ugh. I didn’t have as much luck as you today in that department. Prof Benji chewed me out. He spits a lots”, I shuddered, “ if looks could kill, I would be six feet under the ground now".

We had our daily girl chats and gossips as we finished our dinner. I bid Nora goodnight and went to my room. By the time I typed the last words of an assignment that was due next week, it was already past midnight. I switched the lights off, went to bed and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

--

It's been four days since the reality check. Four days since I was reminded that I haven’t gotten over the past. After my morning routines and shower, I slipped myself into a navy blue tank top and a black jean. I had my breakfast and walked to my college.

The usual, you know.

I saw Jimmy leaning against the car and was charming his way into a blonde girls bedroom. It was the same old sight everyday but today something was missing. Alice.

I made my way towards him. Seeing me, the girl left slipping him his phone number which he pocketed with a smug grin.

"Where is Alice and when will you stop flirting with girls?", I squinted my eyes against the morning sun and also Jimmy’s Shit eating grin.

"First, she is off today. Second, I wasn't flirting. I was just talking", he said grabbing his backpack from the backseat.

“Off today? Why? Is she okay?”, I questioned him, growing concerned.

He straightened up so fast from his bent position, he hit his head against the car roof. He looked at me with a surprised face, rubbing his head.

"You forget ? Tomorrow is her birthday. She is busy making preparations. Thank God she is not here. Or else you would be begging me now to save your life", he told me with an accusing look.

Well,  I wasn’t exactly looking forward to anything since Monday.

Jimmy and I got separated and went to our respective classes. I had only two periods today. The rest were leisure periods and practical.

I sat through linguistics and creative writing and the rest of the day went with me running around the campus submitting my assignments and returning books in the library.

Evening , after my college sessions were over, I went to the parking lot to meet Jimmy to ask him about his plans on Alice's birthday.

Alice was sitting in his car, on the driver’s seat, with the door open and was talking to Jimmy comically.

"Hey Alice. Missed you today", I said, coming to stand beside Jimmy who was sporting a confused look.

"Hey, Bells. I was busy, you know tomorrow. They get nothing done without me. So I had to skip school today"

"Yeah. Yeah. I know”, I said  eyeing Jimmy and daring him to open his mouth.

"Okay. Actually, I was waiting for you.  I have a surprise for you. Guess what?", she smirked.

Humans were not allowed in their pack house or even in their territory. Because of that, I’ve never attended one of their birthday parties. But, for every birthday, we would all hang around together, just the three of us and sometimes Nora, at our place. We would rent a movie, bake each other’s cake, take millions of pictures or just get wasted and sleep throughout the day and they would go back to their pack house, to their parties in the evening. That’s how it has always been for us.

So when she said she had a surprise for me, I was confused.

"Surprise for me? Well. Are there any parties for just us this year?".

"No honey. It's better than that. Youarealsoinvitedtothepartythisyearalphagavepermission”, she finished in a single breathe and looked at us excited, biting her lip.

“What?”, Jimmy asked her and I was pretty sure he heard her the first time.

I stood there and was pretty sure I made a dent in my college parking lot floor when my jaw dropped. I opened and closed my mouth, not sure if she was joking or not. She didn't have to be dramatic to get this reaction out of us. Just the message would have just sent us gasping for air.

And from the look on Jimmy’s face, I was pretty damn sure that this was the first time he was hearing about this invitation too.

How can she expect me to want into a party house full of werewolves and be fine with it. I would be the only human. No.....

"Alice. Are....are you kidding? You are kidding. Right?"

"No. Bella, I am serious. I’ve been threatening and pleading with our Alpha for months to let you come and he is not an easy guy to convince. He thinks it would not be safe if you came"

“Well he is not wrong, is he?”, I asked her, rolling my eyes. We were speaking about the Alpha who almost sent a search party after my ass when he knew that I knew about them. How she convinced him to go with her plan, only God knew.

She pouted.

“Wow”, Jimmy whispered after a radio silence of five minutes, which says something when it comes to him. He looked at Alice and slowly shook his head.

“I don’t know how you convinced Alpha, but I have mad respect for you woman”, he said. From the looks of it,  he was pretty shook from his Alpha’s decision and that was enough to put a smile on Alice’s face.

"Please, Bella. Come. You’ll be safe with us. I’ll be there. John and Jimmy will be there. Please", she was flexing her puppy dog eyes at me. If it worked on his Alpha, who was I, a puny human to resist it.

I sighed. “Fine. I’ll come”.

She laughed and hugged me, now that her plan has worked, and walked back to her car.

“Jimmy will pick you up. Tomorrow evening, 5 o’clock. Alright?”

I nodded and waved her bye as she drove away. Jimmy left shortly after her, still barely speaking a word.

This was going to be my first visit to her pack house. I didn't know what was waiting for me there. Not yet.

I went to my apartment and made myself some sandwiches. I was a terrible cook but Nora taught me how to make the most basic things so I wouldn’t ‘die from Doritos poisoning’, her words not mine.

I heard the main door and close and Nora walked in. She threw her purse on the coffee table, and plopped down on the sofa kicking off her shoes,  clearly exhausted.

"Hey Nora. Made some sandwiches . Want some?”, I yelled from behind the kitchen counter.

"No thanks. I don't want to die young", she quipped back, not lifting her head.

"Rude”, I mumbled with a mouth full of food and joined her on the sofa. “I have to do some shopping”, I said.

She lifted her head up so fast I wondered how she didn’t get a whiplash.

"Shopping? Did you just say shopping or am I hallucinating?”, I rolled my eyes at her.

I would rather sit in my room, in comfort, and go through tons of dresses online than walk around a mall, dragging my feet up to every shop and boutiques and feel like death at the end of the day.

"Drama queen”, I rolled my eyes at her, “Tomorrow is Alice's birthday. She invited me. So, I want to buy me a decent dress and  also a gift for her or something. I'm running out of underwear too."

“That’s new. You guys never had birthday parties”.

“Um.. she had her house all to herself this weekend. So, she took the chance, I guess”, I smiled, suddenly interested in my sandwich.

“Thatta girl”, she smiled and got up, “Okay. Get ready soon”, she grabbed her purse and walked away.

“What? Now?  Didn’t you just come in? Aren’t you tired?”

“Not for shopping. No”, she yelled and slammed her door shut.

Guess I have to get ready too.

I went to my room and took some money I was saving up and changed into a jean and a pullover.

And came down and waited. She came in shortly and we both drove to the nearby mall. After the nightmare that was parking, we went in.

Alice loved jewelries. She once used to collect rings with a passion. So we went into a jewelry shop. I wasn't very picky. So within a few minutes we entered, I chose a pendant that showed the letter 'A' with a few stones embedded in it's left stem and two wings on either side. It was cute.

Later, we both went into a clothing store. I bought myself some underwear while Nora bought something for herself and threatened to scream banshee when I tried to look at what it was. Okay.

And after that, it was Nora’s time to sign. She took the reins of the shopping wagon and dragged me one shop to another, in search of that ‘it’ dress.

At this point, I probably had tried more dresses than I could actually wear in a year. I was looking for a chair, to rest my legs, around the boutique when she came back with a black dress in her hands.

"Nora. What are you doing? It looks expensive. I don't have the money."

“oh it’s affordable, I checked it”, she said, stuffing the dress in my hands, “ now go try it”, she pushed towards the changing room. I closed the curtains and removed my pullover, my arms tired from doing the same action many times.

But I took back all the eye rolls and whines, once I saw myself in that dress. It was a flare black sleeveless dress with lace yoke that reached just above my knees. I didn’t expect it to fit perfectly.

“You done?”, Nora yelled from the other side of the curtain. I peeked out and gestured to her to come in.

Her mouth fell open as she saw me, which morphed into a smile once she completed her look over.

“How is it?”, I did a little twirl for her, and laughed waiting for her answer.

“You look stunning”, she said admiring the dress, “You should totally get this”, she said coming to stand behind me, looking at me in the trial room mirror. From her reaction, I knew that she liked it.

She went out to wait while I changed back into my clothes and carefully folded the dress and walked out.

"Now this." She pushed a pair of black stilettos at my face.

"No way I’m wearing that. I can’t even walk in that".

But we all knew who won that argument.

After convincing me that I would have enough time to practice-walk in that shoe before the party, we paid the bill for both and left.

After a few more hours of shopping, my feet felt like they had been run on.

"Nora. It's enough. I am tired."

"No. We have only a bit more" she trailed off as I zoned out.

“Please. I need food. I am starving”, she stopped and looked at me, finally considering that eating was a primary need to survive, besides shopping.

We found a table in the food court and ordered our dinner. Food never tasted that good before.

After a few ‘this is the last one’ shops,  we finally headed home.

I went up to my room and placed the dress in the cupboard. Tired to point I could barely stand, I completed the bedtime rituals as fast as I could and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

**************

The next chap will be the best chap. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Keep voting and commenting. I love reading them. Criticisms are most welcomed.
STAY BLESSED.

With loves and kisses.....

Nisha Amol♡♥♡

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