Half-Baked Bronze hair.

Bella is in her twenties, and is about to get married. Getting cold feet the day before your wedding is never good, but what happens if an escapade in an ice cream parlour begins to turn things crazy?

BPOV

It was late, the clock by my computer telling me that much. Tomorrow would be my last day before I became a Mrs. Uh-oh. Alice and Rosalie would seriously kill me if they knew I was still up; they’d gone boy hunting hours ago. I sat in the swivelling chair, memories filling my head…

FLASHBACK

“Bella?” He called from the kitchen in his apartment, conveniently only a few blocks away from mine, a small walk. “Could you come in here please?” I obliged, passing through the small hall and the lounge. It was small, but he owned it all by himself, using the earnings from his Garage.

I walked in. The kitchen was dark, lit by a few candles on the counters that ran round the walls. He was kneeling on one knee, dressed smartly in a tux, his black hair dark in the light.

“I love you,” He said simply, smiling at me. “Will you marry me?” I paused the breath catching in my throat. To me, Jacob was, had always been, my closest friend. When he had first kissed me, and declared that we were boyfriend and girlfriend, it had felt the same. Nothing had really changed, I still felt the same. But I had never known if I was in love with him, or if he was still a friend. I did not know if I was ready to get married, it was not as if I had ever wanted to. I couldn’t understand.

I thought for a long time, and then nodded.

END OF FLASHBACK

We’d always been friends, Jake and I. We’d lived near each other, him down in La Push, me in Forks; but our dads had always been close, and so were we. We had gone to different schools, but we would see each other almost every weekend, when I was not with Alice or Rose. Closer than close, that was us.

We started dating in High School, he was my first boyfriend, and the person who kissed me first, liked me first. We had been together a long time, and when we both graduated and went to our different collages, we wrote, emailed each other, all the time.

I had moved into this apartment with Alice and Rosalie shortly after, and I had begun to work at the Seattle times, whilst Alice worked at the mall as a fashion consultant and Rosalie worked as a secretary near by. Charlie still lived in Forks, Renee and Phil down in Florida.

I still remembered there reactions. They were all so thrilled, exclaiming with delight and joy at all hours of the day. Charlie, of course, was so pleased, he had always liked me hanging out with Jake, and he was actually very emotional nowadays. So was Renee. She, Alice and Rose had gone over the top with the wedding preparations; frankly I wanted know part of it. No one seemed to realise how confused I really was.

I turned of the computer in my room and collapsed on my bed, fully clothed, to a rest-less sleep.

The next Morning.

Alice and Rose had not gotten up yet, they had gotten in really late, but I still did not know how the boy-hunting extravaganza had gone. They had been looking for their dream guys for so long; they were both so picky.

I munched on my toast slowly, worried even more about tomorrow. I was so confused. I took a shower to clear my head and got dressed, then, grabbing my keys and my bag, I went for a ride in my old, red truck; just driving to think, to clear my head.

I drove for awhile until I ended up outside an ice-cream parlour. Not sure how I got there, I went inside. It was late morning, and the room was almost empty except for a few people; a woman with two children in pushchairs, screaming and yelling for more of the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream; a tall, bronze haired guy sitting at a table alone, trays of ice cream beside him; a group of teenage boys, flirting with the passing waitresses and the girls on a table near them. Unlike the outside appearance suggested, this place was very nice. The walls were painted pastel colours and covered in the typical pictures and logos, the adverts and signs for the different flavours. A large bar took up most of the wall, tall stools with neat cushions stood near it.

I walked up to the counter and placed my order with the smiling old lady standing there.

EPOV

I’d dumped her last night. I rang her by accident to check our arrangements and I’d caught her. Cheating on me with that idiot, James. She had been using me, making me buy her expensive gifts, lavishing money on her. I hate Victoria now.

She had taken my heart, which had been hers all along, smashed it into millions of pieces with the stiletto heals I had bought her, burnt them over the hottest flame until only the ashes were left, then thrown them away, scattered them far and wide; all the time laughing gleefully, happily, as if my pain meant nothing to her at all.

I sat at a table in the ice-cream parlour, plates of ice cream around me. Ice-cream always helped the broken-hearted; at least that was what Esme, my adoptive mother, always said. The ice-cream did help, much more so than my friends, Emmett and Jasper had. Emmett’s idea of comfort was a hit over the head with a pillow, a wrestling match, a lot of teasing and a night at the bar. Jasper was better, though not by much. He had patted my back consolingly and gone on to read his book. Trust me to have the worst room mates.

I was halfway through the eighth pot of Ben and Jerry’s, Chocolate Fudge Brownie- when I happened to look at the time. “Shoot,” I muttered to myself, I was miles away from town and I had to be at work in ten minutes. It would be impossible to reach in time; it would take me at least half an hour at breakneck speed. I thought about my job as I sat there, not even bothering to attempt to return home. I worked at the Seattle medical clinic, although my real passion was, had always been music. I loved it, especially the piano.

I got up to put my rubbish in the bin; I swerved neatly in between the tables. I was halfway to the front of the small shop when a girl with impossibly dark brown hair tripped over the leg of a stool, sending her and all of the ice cream in her arms flying, directly into me. “Whoa,” she cried as she fell on her face, crashing into me and causing the half-eaten ice-cream packages in my arms to go fly up, falling all over the two of us.

“I am so sorry!” she cried as she tried to sit up; through all the ice-cream I could see she was blushing furiously, her chocolate eyes wide with horror and embarrassment. I laughed as I stood up, extending a hand to help her up too, she took it hesitantly, still worried that she had done something really bad; her wide eyes were so timid and thoughtful- I found myself drawn to their impressive depth; unusual for brown. Together we managed to clear up most of the mess, but we both were thickly covered in Chocolate Fudge Brownie ad Cookie dough.

“Edward Cullen,” I said, extending a hand out once we were mostly done.

“Isabella, Isabella Swan, but Bella is fine,” she said after shaking my hand. “I am so sorry, this happens so much…” she trailed off absently.

“It’s all right. Hey, how about I buy you another ice-cream, I doubt you want the remains of your old one.” I said it, meaning it to be more of a question- instead it ended up more of a statement. I cursed myself for my rudeness, I did not want to offend her.

“All right,” she agreed half-heartedly before going off to the toilet too clean up. With this in mind I headed towards the counter, eager to get to know this strange girl, Bella.

****

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