Author's Note: Hellou! Here's something that popped into my head while I should have been studying for finals. Review and tell me if I should continue with it. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I make exactly zero dollars off of this.

I was finally home. To many, the small town of Forks wasn't anything special to come home to, but to me, it was a welcome sight after three long months of shopping in New York with my way-too-bubbly little sister, Alice.

My best friend Jake had called me every couple of weeks to update me on what was going on back at the home front. Apparently there was a new girl who was a "total babe" in his words. He seemed absolutely smitten with her, and I was happy for him.

A bit jealous maybe, but happy for him.

Jake was a year younger than me. It seemed rather unfair that he could find his girl at sixteen when I still had no idea at seventeen.

"You're being ridiculous," I muttered to myself as I pulled myself up from my bed. Jake hadn't said anything about love. I was just assuming.

"Carlisle, Esme!" I called out to my adoptive parents. "I'm headed to the gym to meet Jake."

"That's fine, honey," Esme replied as I came bounding quickly down the stairs in my black gym shorts and too-tight Linkin Park t-shirt. I had put on quite a bit of muscle over the summer, working out as an excuse to avoid shopping, and was definitely in need of a shopping trip.

I grabbed the keys to my Volvo from the hook by the door and made my way to my car. I laughed at myself slightly when the soothing sounds of Debussy filled the space around me. Not exactly work out music.

I switched over to an oldies station and spent the five minute drive to the high school gym jamming to Buddy Holly. That wasn't exactly work out music either, but it did hold a certain bounce to it that put me in a good state of mind for a relaxing workout that was for fun instead of anger release.

I pulled in next to Jake's Volkswagon Rabbit. I hadn't realized he finished fixing it up. It really was a sad excuse for a vehicle, and I seriously considered buying a broke down Chevelle and having him fix that up instead. That would be a much better use for his amateur mechanics.

I made my way up the stairs to the weight lifting room, taking my time.

"E! Hey, man!" Jake called as he noticed me from where he was standing. It looked like he was spotting the bench press for someone. Weird. Usually on Saturdays it was just the two of us.

I glanced down at who he was spotting for, expecting to see one of his other guy friends like Embry or Quil, but was shocked at the sight before me.

She was stunning. Absolutely breathtaking. I froze. I thought through all the things I should say, all the things I could say to make myself look like less of an idiot, but nothing came out. I just stood there staring, silent and frozen.

"E? You okay, dude?" Jake questioned.

The beautiful girl sat up, giving me a better view of her perfect, heart-shaped face and those big, chocolate-brown eyes. She noticed my staring and blushed. I couldn't hold back my smile. It was funny to think that someone this beautiful could possibly be shy.

"Oh, this is Bella," Jake went on, trying to get some sort of response from me, I'm sure. "Bella, this is my pal, Edward. I call him E because he won't let me call him Eddie, and Edward's a crap name."

Somewhere in the midst of his rant, I reluctantly pulled my gaze away from this Bella, this beauty, and looked at Jake. But when she spoke, my eyes found her quickly and easily – like they were meant to be trained on her lovely face.

"Edward's a good name," she said, and her voice was so shy and quiet that I wanted to kiss away her fears. What was happening to me?

"Bella's a good name, too," I replied lamely. No one had said anything bad about her name. What was wrong with me? "I mean, it fits you. Bella means beautiful." I did my best to recover, and in my defense, it was all very true.

Bella's blush was back with a vengeance, this time taking over her face, ears and neck. She mumbled a quick thanks and then hid behind her hair.

"Yeah, awkward." Leave it to Jake to point out the obvious. "Anyway, this is the girl I've been telling you about. She's been chilling with me all summer, since you ditched. So when I said this is Bella, I really meant, E, meet your replacement."

That snapped me back to reality. With just that, my romantic fantasy world crumbled. Bella was his girl, the one he'd been going on about. Of course she was too perfect to be mine. I had to get a grip. So, I faked it.

"Replacement? I bet she's not near as good of a kisser as I am," I joked, but couldn't keep my mind from wandering to how good of a kisser she really was and if Jake had kissed her.

He laughed at that, and the tense atmosphere seemed to melt away. Although it seemed there was an energy pulsing between Bella and me. That was probably just my romantic imagination. Three months of estrogen-powered shopping can really screw a guy up.

"What's going on in that crazy head of yours, E?" Jake said, pulling me from my reverie once again. "Let's hit the weights."

I walked over to the treadmill where I liked to warm up my muscles before putting them to work. I set it at a fairly quick pace and walked easily on it as I watched Bella continue with her bench press while Jake spotted her.

"There you go, Bells," he chanted. "Just a little further."

She was only pushing up the bar, which weighed 45 pounds. I was surprised to see her struggling. She looked so fit. Knowing she was weaker that I'd thought made me want to help her, to lift that bar for her so she wouldn't have to. I knew that was silly, considering where we were, but it just seemed right – me helping her.

She finally extended her arms completely with one last grunt that still sounded feminine. She laid the bar back on its rests and beamed up at Jake.

"Jake, I did it!" she exclaimed, and her enthusiasm was contagious. I couldn't contain my wide smile. "I finally got the bar up!"

With that, Jake wrapped his arms tightly around her, giving her a quick hug. She seemed a little uncomfortable in his embrace and just patted his back a couple of times before stepping away from him. However, her smile never wavered, so maybe I was just imagining things again.

"Congrats, Bells." Jake smiled, then looked over at me with a familiar teasing glint in his eye. "Now you can bench more than Edward."

Bella laughed, and I couldn't even fake a scowl or feign offense while that heavenly sound filled the weight room.

"He's right," I answered after I regained my composure. "You've got me." It was only a half lie, because although I could definitely out-bench her, she did have me. After five minutes, she could ask anything of me and I would easily comply.

The rest of the morning went like that. We were all joking and laughing easily while we worked out together. It wasn't much different from the times when only Jake and I were hanging out together, except that all of my attention was focused on Bella and I was dying to be closer to her. Okay, so it was entirely different.

She had me. But I certainly didn't have her.

It seemed Jake did.