Note: This is my first full Twilight fic; so go easy on me at first. This is AU. Everyone is human. I'm trying to keep all character's canon to how they are in the books, while keeping them... human. Which is not exactly easy. So remember that Bella never met Edward (She hasn't experienced love and such, so her character may seem rather shallow in a way at first) and she never moved to Forks. I'm sure after reading you will have questions, so don't hesitate to ask. I'll try to answer them as best as I can. For the most part, the plot of this is already written (Along with the next couple of chapters!), but there are parts with kinks I'm still trying to work out. Please give me a review with constructive criticism!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight/New Moon/Eclipse, or anything associated with the books. All credit goes to Stephenie Meyer and her publishers.

Always On My Mind

-♥-

Bella Swan gave a breathy sigh, sweeping her dark brown hair from her sweaty face. She had spent over half of the day packing and moving all her things from her college dorm at the University of Washington to an average, comfortable apartment. The rest of the day was spent unpacking and talking to her mother on the phone.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Bella?" Renée Dwyer asked her daughter several times. "I mean, you and Lauren were getting along so well! She's such a nice girl."

Bella tried not to snort at that. Lauren Mallory had been anything but nice. In fact, the girl was the devil reincarnated. She purposely would come in late at night, sometimes quite drunk or with a boy (A lot of times both), and make as much noise as possible. She would leave her junk on Bella's side of the room (The clean side) and blame Bella whenever something went wrong. Worst of all she'd been using Bella's strawberry scented shampoo and refilling it with bath scrub that smelt like butter and destroying her clothing.

Whenever Bella would confront Lauren, she'd sneer and act innocent. After two years of this, Bella was feed up. Of course, it hadn't always been that way. Their freshman year was peaceful, but that could have something to do with Lauren never being home at the same time as Bella. It wasn't till halfway through their first year when Lauren decided to go mental and blame everything on Bella and her dog, Lizzy.

Thank God for Angela Weber who insisted that Bella just move in with her since she was getting a new apartment to get off campus and closer to her job at the hospital. To say she was thrilled would be an understatement.

"Mom," Bella had said in an undertone of 'do-we-have-to-go-threw-this-again?' and a slight whine. "Lauren was not nice. She spanked Lizzy for wanting to go to the bathroom outside and blamed her mess on my dog! She tore my favorite shirt and denied it."

"I'm sure she didn't mean to," said Renée. "It was accident."

"An accident!?" Bella had snapped incredulously. "She told me it was on her side of the room and she wanted the lace to put on her lamp shade! Her lamp shade mom!"

And it was a very ugly lamp shade at that.

Lauren was studying fashion design and had begun to dabble in furniture as well. Her whole side of the room was decorated in pink, silver, and ugly eyelet materials. It looked like the Easter bunny had puked on everything.

"Besides," Bella had continued. "Angela is allowing Lizzy to stay in the apartment. There's a backdoor in my room so I can let her out whenever and she's even letting me help decorate. How can I say no to that? The rent isn't even that expensive. Mrs. Jackson is giving me paid-vacation for a week just to get settled in."

Renée couldn't argue any longer, although she tried. It had been four hours since her last phone call and Bella was sure that it wouldn't be much longer till she called back to see if she was ready to give up already. No matter what, Bella wasn't going to allow her mother say, "I told you so, Sweetie."

Groaning, Bella put the last box down in a pile in the corner of her new bedroom. "That's the last of them, Ange," she called out.

Angela poked her head in the room and grinned. "Perfect! Pizza just arrived."

"Thank God," moaned Bella. "I'm starving. I don't think I had that much crap last year… Come on, Lizzy girl. Let's get some dinner."

Lizzy, Bella's year old golden retriever gave a shrill bark from the ball she had curled up in and rose, wagging her tail happily while she followed Bella into the kitchen.

It was a small kitchen, more like a little hallway. There was a door on either side, one leading to the bedrooms the other to the rest of the house. The walls between were stuffed with counters and shelves that boxes were piled up high on. Angela's mother worked at a department store in the Seattle had managed to get them tons of furniture and such for great prices… or free. Still the little blue kitchen was homey and cute.

Angela was leaned over the counter holding her face in her palms, staring out the window for the pizza man. She was so tall that she looked rather awkward at the angle she was bent. Her light brown hair was pulled into a high floppy bun on the top of her hair and her cotton shorts were dirty.

"What are you doing?" Bella asked, leaning against the doorway with crossed arms. Beside her, Lizzy barked happily.

"Waiting for Ben. I told him I'd save him a few slices of the ham and pineapple – it's his favorite," Angela said, not even looking over at them. "He's late."

Bella rolled her eyes and smiled. Angela Weber and Ben Cheney had been best friends since they were kids, but recently they had begun to become rather… hormonal around each other, mentally. Both denied it though. The sexual frustration was enough that even Bella, who had never had a boyfriend nor been kissed, could feel it.

She bent down beside Lizzy, kissing her nose and snuggled into her for a hug. "Come on girl, let's get some pizza."

She grabbed two slices of cheese, putting one in the metal bowl on the floor of Lizzy and moved to stand next to Angela, staring out the window while she ate. "Why aren't you eating?"

"Waiting," Angela responded, simply. "How is it?"

"Warm, cheesy… crunchy… perfect," Bella teased, milking the taste when she took a huge bite. Angela laughed and pushed her in the side lightly. "I'm kidding. It's good though. Do you think he's okay?"

Sighing, Angela nodded. "He had a big project he had to finish up. He's working on a film for the festival and wants to win it more than I've ever seen him want anything."

"Not as much as he wants you…" Bella didn't look at Angela as she said this, but she could still see her face heat up slightly from her peripheral vision. "Why don't you just tell him, Ange?"

"Tell him?" Angela's voice scaled up a few pitches. "Bella… He's been my best friend since I was old enough to walk. We took baths together. I don't know how to even tell him, 'Hey Ben, I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you.' I don't know how he'd take that. I… I'm afraid he doesn't feel that way."

Bella opened her mouth to reply, but just as she did, a different voice sounded.

"I'm sure he does, Angie. I bet he's felt like that for a long time and doesn't know how to tell you either," a deeper voice said.

Both Bella and Angela jumped and turned around, screaming. There Ben was, pink faced and grinning stupidly. His black hair was mused from the beanie he always wore and his squared, black-rimmed glasses had been deposed of for a pair of contacts. Even if he was quite a few inches shorter than Angela, they were perfect together.

"Ben!" squeaked Angela. Her face had reached a new color of red that only Bella had ever succeeded. "How did you get in?"

"Well," Bella started, smiling knowingly. "I think I'm just going to go take another piece and start reading with Lizzy. You two have fun. Come on Lizzy girl," said Bella, backing out of the room, smiling.

As she was leaving, she heard Ben answer Angela with, "Bella's backdoor was open. I wanted to take a look at the swing before I forgot. You said it was squeaking. Just needs some WD-40. How about we go out there right now?"

Bella was out of range before she could hear anything else, but she knew Angela, and she wasn't about to pass up the offer to spend time with Ben. Bella wondered why they waited this long to admit how they felt any way. She knew that Angela had liked him they were in high school. They had been each other's prom dates and were, from what her friend, Jessica Stanley had said, inseparable.

They just needed a little push, Bella thought to herself. She grabbed a coke from box in the living room floor and a book, Lizzy barking at her feet while she walked, and took a seat on the couch. It was the only piece of furniture beside their beds that wasn't covered in boxes at the moment.

Lizzy jumped up beside her and curled into a large, yellow ball, resting her head on Bella's thigh. Luckily, Bella had picked a dog that didn't drool – not that she'd get mad at Lizzy for it if she did, but it would be kind of gross. Lizzy was Bella's baby, her pride and joy. Charlie, her father, had bought Lizzy for Bella's twenty-first birthday. Ever since Lizzy had followed Bella everywhere, including school and Bella couldn't imagine it any other way. Luckily her dorm allowed only domestic animals in, though few students bothered with them because it was too much work.

The only time they were separated was when Bella went to class or work, every other moment of the day was spent together. Lizzy slept in her small twin bed, which had recently been ditched for a full-bed. In the mornings they ran together and Bella made sure to play catch with her as well. While Bella would work on a paper, Lizzy would curl in a ball on the bed and watch. And when it came time for food, Lizzy always got a little of something – just not the chocolate!

Bella cracked her book open to the front and yawned. "Do you have any idea how pooped I am, Lizzy girl?" The dog lifted her head, which Bella petted softly. "I think I'm just going to take a nap. How's that sound?"

Shifting around so that Bella was laying down with Lizzy on her belly and chest, rubbing behind her furry ear, she gave a last yawn before falling asleep.

--

"Augh… Lizzy, you stink girl," Bella mumbled, sleepily. She cracked her eye open to see her dog resting on her neck. Gently, she pushed herself up and away from the sleeping dog.

The room was dark, but there was still light outside, so it couldn't have been too late and judging by the way she felt, she couldn't have slept more than half an hour.

Good thing too, she reminded herself. You still have a ton to do.

Grabbing a cold slice of pizza, noticing that the box of ham and pineapple had disappeared, she wondered down the hall to her room. The light was still on and the backdoor was cracked letting a warm breeze in. She quickly chewed the pizza and sucked the coke down she had opened earlier.

There were piles of boxes in her room. Her bed was barely made, only a single sheet and pillow left out, and her dresser was completely empty. She didn't have much furniture at the moment so she made a quick note on a receipt from Wal-Mart to go shopping. She had saved up enough money, and with the help of her mother and her husband, Phil, and her own father, she had enough extra cash to get something nice – Especially a desk and bookcase.

At least four of her boxes were books.

Bella grabbed the nearest box and opened it to find her winter clothing, just as her phone began to ring. It had only been installed for two days and only four people beside Bella and Angela knew the numbers; Ben, Charlie, Angela's mom, and Renée.

"Hello?" Bella asked, picking up the phone.

"Hi honey! How's the moving?" Renée's voice asked from the other end. Mentally Bella groaned. She wasn't going to stop calling.

"It's fine mom. I just finished eating dinner," she told her mother. "Ben came over to eat as well."

"That's nice," said Renée, not sounding very interested. "Are they dating yet?"

Taking a quick peek out the window, she saw Ben and Angela on the outdoor swing, wrapped up in each other's arms and laughing. The box of pizza was underneath them as they moved back and forth, most likely forgotten or already gone. Angela had a full appetite.

"I'm not too sure, mom. Ben walked in when Angela was telling me about how she felt. He heard it all I think and now there outside cuddling on the swing."

Renée gave a small giggle. "Well, that's nice. You should get a boyfriend too."

Not again, Bella groaned. "Mom, I've told; I don't have time for boys right now. I've got Lizzy and that's enough."

"I worry about you," her mother admitted. "It's not normal for a twenty-two year old college girl to not have a boyfriend."

"Since when have I ever been normal? Besides, wasn't it you who told me that I should wait till I was older before I started dating?"

Renée groaned. "I meant till you were in college. Boys in high school aren't ready for a relationship. I know that your father's and my divorce gave you a different outlook on life, but you should at least date and get to know the opposite sex. Having a boyfriend can make you feel better about yourself. You don't have to get married."

"Wow, mom," whined Bella. "I can't believe you just blew that bomb on me."

"I'm just saying, is all, Bells. You can't live alone or with a dog for the rest of your life. Find a guy who can make you feel young and beautiful; go on a date or two… You'll see. Phil makes me feel like supermodel every night!"

Bella gagged. "Ew. Okay, mom – Too much info for tonight. I'm going now. I'll call you if I need anything. I love you. Sleep well and say hello to Phil for me. Bye!"

Hanging up as quickly as she could, Bella fell back into her single pillow and began to laugh hysterically until the backdoor opened and Ben and Angela came in. She was still giggling even then.

"What's so funny, Swan?" Ben teased, shutting and locking the door.

Bella hiccupped and rolled onto her belly. "My mom."

Angela snickered. "I have to agree, she is funny. Did she call just to make sure we had enough toilet paper again?"

Ben laughed and mumbled something about a drink, leaving only Bella and Angela in the room.

"Nope. She wanted to ask when I planned on getting a boyfriend," Bella admitted, groaning. "Which reminds me; how did it go?"

Angela smiled and sat down beside the brunette. "Good. He asked if that was how I really felt and I told him yes. And then he kissed me. It was so soft and quick, but… Oh Bella!" She squealed softly, grinning. "He's a wonderful kisser!"

Bella laughed with her friend at her. "I'm glad you two worked it out. Are you…"

"Dating?" Angela asked, tilting her head. "Yes and no. We're going on a date this Friday to see a film, but not officially dating. We want to make sure that this is what we really want before we dive in too far."

The two girls sat talking for a few more minutes. Lizzy joined them at one point, licking Angela on the cheek and then bounced back down off the bed and into the hall. When Ben popped back in to say he needed to leave soon, Bella bide him goodnight and then smiled at Angela who looked nervous.

As soon as they were gone, she pushed the box of clothing away and dug threw another to find her comforter she took form Charlie's house; it was royal blue and fluffy, and clashed horribly with the beige walls in her new room. She didn't care though; all she wanted was to sleep.

Tomorrow would be a long day. Luckily it was Saturday and she was off for the next week, but she had a number of things to do; unpacking, furniture shopping, grocery shopping, and she needed to work on a paper for her Literature class due Monday she'd put off for days now.

Yes, she was in for a long and uneventful day…

Edited 1-25-08