Hey all!!!! So this is my first fanfic so please take it easy on me. I value all opinions and think that it is important to get feedback so please REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!! This is a story about chance encounters. Its funny how you can be so close to the love of your life and never know it. But a chance encounter will change your life forever…enjoy!!!!

BPOV

Why why why do I do this to myself? I mentally asked myself this while getting ready. Today was going to be a VERY busy day but hey, when I only have to work three days a week and make the money that I'm making… there is no reason to complain. Per usual, I had booked myself back to back at work barely leaving time for a lunch break and subsequently would be working all day today. I was currently getting ready for work, which included me doing some flawless make-up and a fabulous hair-do. I work at a salon in our local mall so I have to look like I know what I'm talking about when consulting with clients. Trust me, I definitely learned this the hard way. As I was finishing up my hair, (spraying it into place with my favorite new hairspray) my roommate walked into my bathroom.

"Hey Bella, oh nice hair! Any who, I picked out your outfit for work today!!!!"

I opened my mouth to protest but apparently Alice thought I was going to thank her. She put a hand on my shoulder with the other on her heart and said "No no no Bella, no need to thank me! It was my pleasure!" and with that she quite literally bounced out of my room. Alice is not only my roommate but she is also my best friend. She is one of the tiniest people I have ever met, though she describes herself as "fun sized". She stands short at about 5'2, has dark brown spiky hair, is always the life of the party, and seems to have endless energy. It's kind of hard not to love Alice. She is always my positive pixie.

I walked into my room and lying on my bed was the outfit that Alice had picked for me. I let out a little "humph" and Alice, with her amazing hearing, yelled from the living room "Bella for once in your life will you please not complain about your outfit? Your going to wear it weather you like it or not." With that I knew I had no choice. She may be tiny but she is mighty. Alice picked out a pair of skintight black leggings, a snug yet loose black short sleeve v-neck shirt, a black vest with white pinstripes, six-inch ankle boots with the same pattern and material as the vest. I liked the outfit but hated the shoes because as cute as they were I knew I was going to die in them by the end of the day.

"Bella you're going to be late. Hurry up and get out here and eat your breakfast!" Gosh I love Rosalie! I grabbed everything I needed for work and headed out to the living room with the shoes in my hand. Needless to say, Alice gave me a disapproving scowl. "What? I'm just waiting till I absolutely have to put them on. I like it when my feet aren't numb." I stated this with nothing but sarcasm and a small smile. "Fine Bella but just remember, pain is beauty" and then she winked so I knew I was forgiven. Gotta love that Alice! I just about cried when I saw what was in front of me. Rosalie is just about the best cook there is and she made me a nice big plate of bacon, potatoes, and eggs! Not only is she amazing in the kitchen but she is also my other best friend and other roommate. Rosalie is the type of beauty that makes other girls green with envy. She is tall, about 5'9, with beautiful long blond hair and painfully beautiful bright blue eyes. To put it mildly, she has the body of a supermodel. However she is a complete firecracker; its Rose's way or the highway. With that attitude, she seems to always get what she wants. She is my best friend and I love her! Rose, Alice, and I have been best friends since kindergarten. We grew up in the same small town of Forks, WA and very quickly decided that we needed to get out. About a week after high school graduation we packed up and moved to Santa Barbara, CA. Three years later we're still here and we're still roommates so life is good.

I was pulled from my memories when I noticed the time on the microwave. Shit! I'm so going to be late! "Thanks for breakfast Rose but I gotta split. Alice thanks for the outfit but next time I think I got it!" I put on my shoes and headed for the door. "Hey Bella do you want a ride?" Alice asked with her keys in hand. " No thanks Alice, I have to break these things in somehow before I get to work. Besides what's the point of paying a ridiculous amount of rent to be four blocks away from work if I'm just going to drive?" Rosalie was the one to come to my aid and added in, " You know she's right Alice, let her walk. So Bella, we'll see you at two for lunch and then my appointment is at three. I have another business appointment at five so is an hour and a half enough time to get my hair done?" I swear we have this conversation every single time I do her hair. "Rosalie, I have been doing your hair for two years now. When does it ever take me longer than that to do your hair? Don't worry it'll be fine. Relax. I'm late. I have to go!" I turned on my heel and walked out the door. I was in such a rush but didn't want to run so my normal stride turned into more of a strut as I was walking to work.

That's when it happened; that's when I first saw him. This gorgeous tall man with this beautiful bronze hair was coming out of a u-haul carrying a table into the house on the corner. I started to slow down without any conscious thought and just stared at him. He quite literally stopped me in my tracks. It wasn't until I heard his friend speak that I realized I was staring and biting my lower lip. " Uh-oh, looks like the hot girl has a crush on Edward" Edward? Hmmm…I like that name. Oh shit…my internal dialogue was interrupted when he looked right at me and I felt that familiar flush start up in my cheeks that always happens when I'm embarrassed. He smiled this gorgeous half smile at me and then yelled at his friend "Shut up Emmett! Stop lazing around and help me finish!" Then "Edward" waved at me and I kind of half waved back. Then as if it couldn't get any more embarrassing, I started walking away I tripped on the sidewalk and nearly face planted. I caught my footing and then walked away as quickly as I could. I didn't even have the heart to look back.

I was fifteen minutes late to work and was apologizing to my client as I ran through the door. I was really busy all day and was glad when two o'clock came. Alice and Rosalie met me at the café and I told them about what happened when I left for work. I was blushing again at the retelling of the story and they both started laughing again. Alice also was on lunch break from work. She has her dream job as a personal shopper. Alice and clothes is like air, she just cant live without it. Today was Rosalie's day off which she was enjoying. She also had her dream job; she was a mechanic at a local garage. She was also the busiest mechanic in town. It seems like every male in town started having car trouble when Rosalie finally started working in the garage. She started out as a secretary in a large shop. She applied for the mechanic position and got hired as a secretary because the boss believed girls shouldn't work with cars. Needless to say she was more then just a little pissed off. Finally after six months of secretarial work, she had enough and challenged her boss to a skill test. She dared him to a match of "Who's the best?" The challenge was to take apart a carburetor, clean it, and put it back together. Who ever got it done first got what they wanted. She wanted to be a mechanic and he wanted a date. Well, Rose beat him by five minutes and started in the garage the next day. She's been happy there ever since and her boss is enjoying the boost in business.

Alice cut lunch short by saying she had to get back to work, so Rose and I headed back to the salon. She started chuckling as we walked through the door. When I asked her what was so funny, she just shook her head and she pointed to the sign. I should have known, she laughs every time she sees it. The salon is called Pull My Hair and the emblem in the window is a picture of a woman with long hair throwing her head back in ecstasy as a masculine hand is wrapped around her hair. It was kind of cheesy and a little off the wall humor, but we got good business out of it.

As promised I got Rosalie out of the salon on time and looking beautiful as usual. I walked her out and she gave me a big hug and was off. The day dragged on and on until I was finally able to go home. My feet were killing me and I was about to call Alice for a ride (since she gave me these killer heels to wear) when I got a text from her saying:

B

I know your feet are killing you. Let me pick u up and we'll go get starbucks :)

-A-

There was no way I was going to give her the satisfaction of knowing she was right. BY now, I was mad as hell for her making me wear these shoes and if there was one thing that she didn't need it was caffeine. So I text her back:

A

My feet don't hurt one bit! Sorry to disappoint. I'm going to walk. See u soon.

-B-

I gathered up all my stuff and started the walk back home. I put on my headphones and started to listen to my favorite song Last Name by Carrie Underwood. I had gotten about two blocks and was timing my steps to the beat off in my own world when I should have been looking around me. It was pitch black outside and there were streetlights in the distance. I knew if I made it to those lights then I'd be safe. This walk home was a usual routine for me so I wasn't really paying attention. Suddenly I felt a chill go up my spine, which was definitely an indicator that something was wrong. At that moment though, one of my other favorite songs came on and I was again lost in the beat. I started singing along to Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake and that's when it happened…

EPOV

Why of all days does it have to be so damn hot today? I thought I moved to a tropical paradise not a damn desert. Today was move in day and it was crazy hot. Although I guess when you're moving from a city with the most average yearly rainfall in the United States any other place is going to be hot. This was our first day in Santa Barbara since we had found a place to live. We were lucky enough to find a three-bedroom house so close to downtown at a reasonable price. Not to mention that my two best friends decided to move in with me so the rent is actually pretty cheap. It was harder to convince Jasper to move then it was Emmett. All I had to tell Emmett was that there were beaches, it was sunny year round, and there were hot girls in bikinis. He put his two weeks notice in the very next day. Jasper on the other hand was "in love" and he didn't want to leave his girlfriend. In the end, though, I guess the bonds of manhood are stronger then those he has with his girlfriend. They finally decided to try long distance and so far Jasper seemed to be enjoying the move. I was coming out of the u-haul carrying a very heavy table when I heard Emmett yell, "Uh-oh, looks like the hot girl has a crush on Edward!" I was stunned by how beautiful she was. She had this long gorgeous brown hair that looked like it had been curled and teased to perfection. She had the most beautiful body and I felt my heart start to race as I saw her biting her full bottom lip. Even from here I could see the flush in her cheeks as Emmett called her out. I yelled up at Emmett "Shut up Emmett! Quit being lazy and help me finish!" I smiled at the mystery girl and gave her a wave. I was going to talk to her but then she started to walk away, and then she almost fell. Well it was more of a very ungraceful stumble, but she recovered pretty well and took off. I think she was embarrassed. Jasper came out to help me with the table and after catching a glimpse of the girl as she disappeared down the street, commented, " I wonder if she lives near here. She seemed just your type Edward." There was no way I was going to tell him how I was feeling. Just that chance encounter had set my heart racing. I had never felt this way about any girl from just a look. I knew then that I had to get to know her. I sounded crazy even to myself and decided that I should distract myself with thoughts of something else. Then Emmett came out and said" Dude! Did you see her almost fall on her face? It was classic!" I gave him a look and he amended with a " Poor girl, I should have seen if she was ok", then ran into the u-haul and grabbed another box from the seemingly endless stack. Emmett has what Jasper and I call " foot perpetually in mouth" syndrome. Basically, he has no filter to stop him from saying the first thing that comes into his head. Jasper and I both laughed and continued to haul the rest of our stuff into the house.

About an hour later Emmett returned the u-haul with Jasper following in the car to give him a ride back. While they were gone I had arranged all the furniture in the living room and got the electronic stuff set up and wired. By the time they got back I was working on the kitchen. Little did I know that Jasper was going to rip my head off when he got back with Emmett. I was in the middle of unpacking the plates when Jasper came running into the house and yelled at me, " Edward if you break any of those plates I'm going to kick your ass! They were a gift from my Grandma Hale. Put the plates down, back away from the box slowly and no one will get hurt!" With that, I put the plates down gently and backed up. It took all I had not to laugh with Emmett standing in the kitchen doorway looking dumbfounded at Jasper. I turned around and went to walk to my bedroom and Emmett said what I was thinking "Seriously Edward…. I think he might be gay" and then Jasper yelled from the kitchen "I'M NOT GAY YOU BIG OAF! I JUST HAVE CLASS UNLIKE YOU!" The minute we heard that, we both started laughing and went into our rooms with smiles.

It took the rest of the day to set up my bed and arrange my room. We all pretty much had the basic layout of our rooms done and thank God we all had our own bathrooms. I don't think I could have handled sharing with Emmett. The living room, the kitchen, and the garage were all set up and ready to go. It was actually a pretty successful move in day, if I say so myself. About six o'clock we decided to venture downtown and get some dinner. Emmett was bound and determined to find a Chipotle and after asking about twenty people he finally found one. Two burritos, a quesadilla, and two orders of tacos later Emmett was finally satisfied. Jasper and I had barely finished our burritos and we were staring open mouthed at Emmett as he lifted his shirt and rubbed his now slightly protruding belly. " What are you looking at? I was hungry," he said. We just started laughing which made him pout and just like a four year old he started whining, "Aww, come on guys don't laugh at me. I skipped lunch!" which just made us laugh even harder.

We finished up dinner and decided to walk it off. We walked up and down State Street exploring our new home and found some interesting places to hang out. After about an hour we were walking through the mall on our way home and Emmett started to laugh hysterically. Jasper and I looked at him like he was deranged and he could only point to a sign since he was on the floor laughing with tears running down his face. The sign said "Pull My Hair" and had the oddest-looking woman on it. Jasper chuckled and that's when I saw her. It was the girl from earlier, and she was working on a client; I completely froze. She was a hairdresser and she looked amazing while she expertly fixed her client's hair. She was totally immersed in her work and all I could do was stare. Jasper began to ask me what I was looking at and then stopped when he saw her. Emmett finally recovered and, when he noticed whom I was staring at, said, "Hey its sidewalk girl, come on Eddie let's go say hi!" As he started to walk towards the salon, I practically tackled him to the ground. There was no way I was going to let him meet her before I had even had a chance to meet her. Not only was he sure to embarrass not only himself AND me, but I looked like crap from sweating all day. Emmett was in such a rush to eat earlier that we didn't take time to shower. Emmett looked at me like a five-year-old kid who just got his sucker stolen. I stood up and held out my hand to him with a "Sorry Emmett. I don't know what came over me. Let's just go home now ok?" He gave me this huge Emmett grin and said, " I think somebody has a crush on sidewalk girl! Don't worry Eddie she isn't my type. Most guys would feel intimidated with a handsome lad like me around… but don't you worry!" All I could do was look at my friend and laugh.

We got home without any further incident and then decided that it was shower time. I was glad that I had finished the bathroom and afterwards, put a majority of my clothes away. I put on some gray sweats and a green t-shirt and settled onto the couch. I was flipping channels until the other guys came out into the living room. We decided that we were going to play Halo since there was nothing else to do. We were really getting into the game when I heard a sound. It was so quiet that I almost dismissed it, but when Jasper and Emmett both looked up from the game I knew that they had heard it too. We ran out to the porch and that's when I saw what was going on. My heart seemed to stop beating

and I felt like all was lost in that moment.