Make it Fly

AN: This is a re-post. It was formerly 'Unexpected Bliss', but due to some thinking and chats with Janiceelynn (Thanks so much to her, btw, for all her input and ideas :) She helped me so much with making this chapter good!) I decided the title and plot needed some re-working to make it more interesting. I also appreciate greatly her previewing this chapter prior to me uploading it as well!

Thanks to the Betas at Project Team Beta for all their help on this chapter, especially furious kitten and Amanda! You guys are awesome!

So I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 1- EPOV- A Day in the Life

New York City: the city that never sleeps.

I have lived in New York State my entire life but never spent much time in the actual city until I moved here. For some reason that bridge into the city seemed like a whole other world.

I grew up on Long Island, which isn't far from the city at all; it's only about an hour car drive away from where I lived. It was a quiet neighborhood where everyone knew one another. Every house had a ton of open space and it was rarer for someone not to have a pool than to have one.

I'm not quite sure what's so special about this city and why everyone seems to rave about it; it's noisy, there's always traffic and everything is overpriced.

The one thing that keeps me here, besides the fact that I have a decent job, is my best friend.

She loves the city, and has always believed there's something special and magical about it. She loves the constant hustle and bustle of all the crowds; people always seeming like they were on an important mission.. Often times I come home and see her sticking her head out of our apartment window just admiring all that occurs on the streets of Manhattan.

The other thing that isn't so bad about living in the city is the sports. We love to go see sporting events live, and often do. It doesn't matter which team you are cheering for.. It could be the Rangers in the winter or the Yankees in the summer, but nothing beats the buzz of the crowd, the way the atmosphere of a big game feels like the entire world depends on the outcome. How you can feel the anticipation that is evident in every fan,waiting for the victory we all hope is coming. Not to mention, it's amazing how fun it is to act like a moron, singing along with thousands of fans everytime the Rangers score a similarly boo-ing the opposing team when they hit a homerun. You become totally immersed in the excitement; it's like an alternate universe. That's another thing I love about my best friend, she loves sports just as much as I do.

We share a lot in common.

We grew up around the corner from each other, though we only met in high school.

I even dated most of her friends.

We ended up having a lot of the same classes, and thank God for that because without her tutoring my ass I probably wouldn't have passed.

By senior year of high school the two of us were damn near inseparable, though it felt like that long before then. It seems that since the day we met, we were always thrown together, sometimes in some awkward situations.

Flashback-It was freshman year and a pain in the ass to go anywhere on my own. I had to rely on public transportation to get me from place to place. Sometimes, I swear I could get places faster by walking. I couldn't wait until I could get my license and my own car.. I wanted the freedom of going where I wanted, when I wanted.

I was supposed to meet my girlfriend at the mall fifteen minutes agob, but basketball practice ran late. Jess wanted me to meet her friends and I was tired of hearing her bug me about it. It didn't really mean all that much to me; I was mostly doing it for her sake, so I wasn't in much of a hurry. I was interested in her, so I supposed if I wanted to keep up a relationship with her, I should get to know her friends too.

Jess and I had only been dating for about 2 weeks. Even though we all went to the same high school, Ward Melville High, it was a pretty large school and I had yet to meet her two closest friends. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from them. Jess was quite perky and excitable and I wondered if her friends would be much of the same. I had no idea how I would deal with 3 hyper girls shopping throughout the mall.

I sent Jess a text to let her know I would be there in ten minutes. She replied that she and her friends would be in Victoria's Secret and that I should meet them there.

It was quite awkward walking into such a chick store without one next to me. But I shook it off, my girl would be soon enough.

I assumed that since I didn't see them roaming the store, they were probably trying shit on. So I sat myself down in a plushy chair right in front of the fitting rooms.

I kept my eyes straight ahead for the most part, except when a door would open. It wasn't that I was trying to catch a peek; I just wanted to see if the girl coming out was my girl.

When I caught a glimpse of what came out of the door next, I was shocked.

She was stunning. She had long, almost straight brown hair and ivory-colored skin. She was wearing glasses but beyond them she had deep, chocolate brown eyes. Her lips were pink and pouty.

But it wasn't her face that was grabbing my attention, though it probably normally would have. Something more appealing to the male mind was controlling my thoughts.

It was her half naked torso that was.

She stood there shocked, frozen in place and without a shirt.

Her slim upper body was on complete display, clad in only a tiny black lace bra that showed off her full chest and was begging to be stared at.

I couldn't help but be amazed at the girl standing in front of me.

"Jess? Rose?" she yelled out.

The two doors next to her opened up on cue, and out came my Jess and a blonde who resembled a Barbie.

"You realize you have no shirt on, right?" Blondie asked her.

"I wanted your opinion. I had no idea that creeps like this one," she said, pointing in my direction, "would be stalking lingerie dressing rooms."

At this point her arms were crossed over her chest, and I couldn't contain my laughter at the whole situation.

I put my hands up in defense, still smiling. "Not a creep. I was just waiting for my girlfriend," I said, pointing to Jess. "I had no idea that girls walked out of dressing rooms half naked to show their friends. If that was the case, I would have been coming into this store a long time ago."

Jess took this opportunity to speak up and introduce us to each other. "Bella, this is Edward. Edward, this is Bella and Rose."

I stuck my hand out for Bella to shake, knowing well that in order to she would have to stop covering herself up. She obviously didn't reciprocate, but she did manage to flip me off before marching back into the changing room to get dressed.

I laughed the entire time.

From then on we just clicked as friends, being around her was simple. It took a while for her to warm up to me after our little incident and by "a while", I mean an hour but before anyone knew it, we were play fighting and laughing and having a good time.

That day became famous to us, and we had quite a few laughs thinking back on it. The Christmas after the incident, I attempted to draw a bra on the front of her card. That earned me a swift smack on the head.

I got that smack a lot, especially our first summer. That first summer was complicated to say the least. Both of us got ourselves into situations we both wish we could take back. As pathetic as it sounds, I was glad I had someone like her around to help me through it. I swear I probably would have gone crazy if she wasn't there mediating the situation.

I had still been dating Jess but she always wanted to have Bella and Rose around, a,.,and before I knew it, I was hanging out with them on my own time without her.

Somehow, Rose and I started hooking up. Did I mention this all happened with Bella well aware of it? Since she found out, she was put in the middle of this constant triangle between Jess, Rose and I.

Bella kept the secret that Rose and I were fooling around. She always covered for us, saying that Rose was with her and that I had basketball practice or something to do with my family.

She had to hear Jess complain about us fighting and that she thought I was cheating. She listened to Rose complain about how I was a pig stringing her and Jess along. And then she listened to me work out my mixed emotions on the whole fucked up situation. I don't know how she managed to stay sane or why she continued to talk to any of us at all.

That complex situation continued, on and off, over our sophomore and some of our junior year. Jess and I continued to date pretty steadily in the next year and a half. Immaturity and lack of control over my hormones, led to Rose and I hooking up a few times behind her back.

Jess and I would constantly fight, mostly over stupid shit. Sometimes the fights would lead to breaking up, which all varied in length, anywhere from an hour to a few days. Rose was normally the first person I'd run to, throwing a lot of my frustration out on her.

The things between Rose and I stayed pretty PG most of the time, but as time moved on and Jess got on my nerves more and more, the boundaries of our relationship kept expanding. In our junior year, Rose and I lost our virginities with each other. After that, Jess and I's relationship had reached its end and shortly after Rose and I decided we were better off as friends. To this day, I never found out if Jess ever realized the extent to which Rose and I's relationship went.

Bella hated the drama that ensued, and it strained her relationship with all three of us. There were days, sometimes weeks where Bella stopped talking to me because she was mad about some stupid thing I did, which was often. She did that with Rose and Jess too; we were all pretty dumb with how we dealt with the situation.

We always worked it out though.

Of course, Bella had shit she needed to work through too.

That summer she was with her first boyfriend, James Hunter. Although she was extremely good looking, she managed to shy away from romantic relationships up until then. Bella was just fourteen that summer, while James had just graduated; he was eighteen. Rose, Jess and I all thought he was a douche and honestly no good for her, but she was happy and didn't think we even knew what a "good" relationship was, considering the one we were all involved in.

I hated to say I told her so.

He wanted more than she was willing to give, but he got her to give it anyways. She kept saying she never told him no, but admitted that she never really wanted to. Her main fear was losing him if she didn't do it because he would find someone else that would.

They continued their "relationship" even after what he had done to her. He never got the chance to attempt to pressure her into more because a week later, he left for college out of state.

The relationship ended when he returned for Christmas; he refused to see her unless she would sleep with him. She didn't want to so he wouldn't go to see her. That finally got her to see the light and thankfully, she ended it after that.

Occasionally the relationship haunted her and she felt like she was used and dirty. She didn't understand why he would say that he loved her or tell her that she was his first when all he wanted was sex. She constantly felt down and struggled with nightmares and bouts of depression. She had a lot of days spent in bed or crying for no apparent reason. Some days, she would be in a complete daze, almost like her body was there but her mind was a million miles away. I could have killed the bastard for the way he broke her spirit.

I was the only one she talked to about it. She trusted that I would be the only person that wouldn't judge her and would just listen. So I did. Of course, I had to bite my tongue and avoid saying I told you so, but I felt terrible that her first relationship caused her so much pain for so long.

I never stopped being there for her though, just like she was for me.

That's how it was with us though, w e trusted each other with everything we had.

When college rolled around, Bella and I both got into Hunter College in the city. Neither one of us wanted to commute every day, and since Hunter didn't have dorms, we decided to split an apartment together.

We got a little place that cost a small fortune to two college freshmen. It was simple; two closet-sized bedrooms, a tiny living room and a kitchen/dining room. It wasn't much but it was someplace warm to stay and with the help of our parents we made it work.

Bella had known what she wanted to do since she was young. She wanted to be a nurse who specialized in neonatal care. Her life was completely lined up and going in the right direction.

I, on the other hand, had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. The only reason I was going to college was because that's what you were supposed to do: graduate high school, go to college and then enter the real world with some sort of skill.

Though I knew that was what I was supposed to do, I wasn't passionate about my education at all. I got lazy, drank a lot and occasionally smoked. I partied a little too hard and dated an endless string of girls without any real potential. Basically, I sucked at life.

And I sucked especially at relationships.

Jess and Rose were my first real girlfriends and that situation was entirely fucked up, so I never really had an honest, normal relationship. Plus, most times I ended up saying or doing the wrong things. I was a bit overprotective and sometimes took it too far. The girls I dated didn't appreciate it bu t I knew how guys were; I was proof of how guys could be assholes.

I never got in trouble. Sure I got in the occasional fight or flunked a class, but the trouble was never serious. I knew that the path I was going down was going to lead into some major trouble if I didn't straighten myself out.

Next thing I knew I was sitting in an Air Force recruiting station listening to all the opportunities that the Air Force could give me.

I signed my name on the dotted line and was enlisted and set to leave for basic training just before I turned 20.

I could tell that my parents and Bella were worried and didn't quite understand my decision to go into the Air Force. They told me how much they would miss me and that I could do anything with my life, that didn't involve going away. Even though they had their reservations, they still said that they would support me.

Basic training kicked my ass. It was done in Texas and a lot of the drills were done outside, in the blistering heat.

I had always been in good shape; I played basketball most of my high school career, so I had to be to a certain extent. I took good care of myself and worked out often. I thought that I was at the peak of my own fitness. Even my good fitness wasn't enough; basic training took my fitness to a different level. I got myself physically fit like I had never been before but I also got myself mentally fit. You had to in order to survive. Basic training kicks you down to your foundation and then you had to build yourself back up. You had to learn to compartmentalize your emotions and keep everything in check. Focusing on your tasks and leaving everything else behind was key.

I learned discipline and how to follow orders. In infantry divisions, if you don't follow orders, people can die. Due to that every order, no matter how minuscule, has to be followed. You do what you are told and that's it.

It forced me to grow up and mature.

After basic training, which teaches just basic military and fighting technique, I went into technical training.

My technical training focused mostly on aviation. I thought, prior to my enlisting, that the Air Force consisted only of Aviation and Piloting. But there is a lot more to it. I took different courses throughout my four years in Aerospace control, aviation management and air traffic control. I took courses that would prepare me to be a pilot. A lot of people, including my family, thought that by going into the Air Force I would need to devote longer than four years and would most likely be deployed. If you aren't an officer and go into piloting school, you can spend your time on base taking these classes that prepared you to become a pilot, as well as earn a degree.

In order to be a pilot, I would need to attend this rigorous 12-week officer training program. From there I could train to become a pilot. That appealed to me; I kept thinking of the movie 'Top Gun. Finding some fellow Air Man to become my Goose and then I would flip the aircraft upside down and fly underneath him. That shit was bad ass!

But before that I would need a bachelor's degree. So that's what all my classes did for me.

Before my four years were up, I earned my bachelor's degree and continued to train in the aviation sections in the Air Force. My motivations weren't high enough to push myself in officer school, yet.

I finished out my four year contract with the Air Force and went into the reserves. Without having my pilot's license, there wasn't any need for me to be deployed. Some of the guys that I went to basic with went into medic training, and they got deployed for short missions in underprivileged areas to assist there. The Air Force spent my contract grooming me to be able to use me in bigger missions rather than rush me out into the battlefield. So, after my four years, I wasn't honorably discharged but instead in the reserves. That meant that if my services were needed, the Air Force could enlist me automatically. I could go back if I wanted to on my own, which I wasn't ruling out. If I did decide to go back in, I could dive right in to officer school and work towards becoming a pilot. But for right now, I wanted to go back to the city and live life as a civilian.

I was lucky; somehow Bella got her boyfriend to agree to let me stay in our old place. Apparently Bella had been dating this guy, Alec, for a while. He was a doctor at the hospital she worked at and he had been living for her for a few months now. He seemed intimidated to have me living there, but he never voiced it. In fact, we barely spoke.

Now I'm twenty-five, and bartending at a brand new club called Eclipse. It isn't luxurious or grand but it pays the bills. Plus, it was sort of fun.

Life living with Bella as a roommate was pretty simple.

She became a nurse in neonatology, just like she wanted to, at a hospital that was about a ten minute walk from where we lived. Most days she walked to work.

I didn't see much of Bella during the days she was at the hospital. True to a nurse, she ended up working three or four days straight, 12 and sometimes 18 hour shifts. But then she would have three straight days off and she normally came and joined me at the bar.

Alec was absent a lot because of work. He spent a lot of time being on-call and lots of nights in the hospital. He was rarely around when I was, and he never came to hang out at the bar. Anyone could tell that his job was his top priority, above all else, including Bella.

It almost felt like old times, just Bella and I. Just Bella and I, and some new additions.

Bella was still best friends with Rose, who got into modeling as her career. She had blonde hair, big boobs and long legs; I had always figured her for a model. Being in the industry, she got invited to a fancy charity event where she met her husband Emmett McCarty, a big burly dude who played linebacker for the New York Jets. It was great being able to be on the sidelines for games. I became very fond of Emmett; he was hysterical most times and acted like a kid stuck in an adult body.

The other couple who rounded out the group Bella and I always hung out with were our next door neighbors, Jasper and Alice. They couldn't have been more opposite. Alice was a short, energetic woman with black spiky hair. Her favorite thing besides her career in fashion was to talk. Jasper was a tall and soft-spoken man that still spoke with a southern drawl since he grew up in Texas. I was pretty intimated by him at first because he was a psychologist; I didn't want my life psychoanalyzed every time I told a story. He didn't try to be annoying about it, though. He gave advice when it was needed, and usually it was damn good advice too.

My life came down to work and fun with Bella and our friends. Which brings us to tonight.

Tonight, there's a big band playing at Eclipse and I got all my friends special passes to go see them perform. I heard they were pretty good; they played classic rock covers. I wasn't sure of the name, it was something meaningless. But with alcohol and Bella around, the music would barely be my main concern.

I was already dressed, wearing a broken in pair of jeans and a button down shirt, which I had rolled up to my elbows. I didn't bother mess atop my head that I called hair; it was unruly and never did what I wanted it to do. Bella once referred to it as "sex hair." It was annoying to me, but the ladies seemed to love it, and loved to touch it too.

When I finished getting dressed, which was about fifteen minutes, I just sat back on the couch and opened a beer. I was waiting on Bella, as usual. She was taking an eternity.

She never took this long in high school. She would wake up, throw on the first pair of pants she saw and a top, chuck on her Converse shoes and walk out the door. She was a sporty girl, never caring about appearances.

But now she took forever. She needed to do her hair, makeup and pick out an outfit. Most times it looked like her closet exploded by the time she was done. The finished product, though, was always worth the wait.

Tonight was no different.

She walked out and my eyes were just drawn to her. Her hair was shoulder length now and she had it in big, soft curls. She never wore a lot of makeup; she never needed to either. Just that shit that went on your eyelashes to make them super long and Chapstick; she always loved her Chapstick. Her lips always looked kissable. But it was her dress that made me stop in my tracks. This dress, though it was short enough to be considered a shirt, stopped above mid thigh. It hugged the curves of her body in all the right ways. It was shades of green, gold and brown with sequins for "accenting."Damn, I need to stop hanging out with Alice…

But as she turned around I noticed the whole back was missing. It swooped down in a U shape starting right above her ass, which looked round and voluptuous.

She was stunning.

I must have been staring too much because Bella was waving her hand in front of my face.

"Hello? Edward? Do I have something on me?" she asked, twirling around to give me another fantastic view of her ass.

I shook off the naughty thoughts brewing inside of my head as I got up to kiss her on the cheek. "No, you look gorgeous."

That adorable red blush crept up on her cheeks before she playfully slapped my chest.

There was a knock on the door, which turned out to be Alice and Jasper. Bella gathered a clutch and her jacket and we grabbed a taxi to take us to the club. Rose and Emmett were waiting outside when we got there.

It was a cold night in January and the line went around the block. People must have been freezing in blistery cold night, but I didn't need to be. We got to go straight to the front of the line and got right in. It felt good to be important, even if it was just at the stupid club I worked at.

The club was packed, stuffed with bodies wall to wall. There were couches and bars to lounge at and a huge dance floor in the middle. House music was blasting around and everyone appeared to be having a great time. The band was set to take the stage at midnight so for now it seemed like a normal Friday night.

We headed straight towards the bar where Emmett treated us to our first round; when I wasn't working I had to pay for my drinks just like anyone else. I grabbed a beer for me and one for Bella too since she didn't fuck around with girly drinks.

The six of us clicked our bottles together before we chugged our drinks down.

Mine was finished in a few gulps, so I ordered another one right away and found Bella doing the same.

"Long week?" I asked her. She tended to drink more when she was stressed.

"That's an understatement," she replied, taking a swing from her beer before she sauntered off onto the dance floor where the other girls already were.

The three girls were grabbing the attention of all the men around the dance floor. They all knew how to shake their hips and grind seductively up against each other, Bella especially. Hot girls who knew how to dance always drew a crowd. It wasn't long before Emmett and Jasper were walking towards the dance floor to grab their ladies. I followed along, but only so that Bella could keep dancing.

I got behind her and placed my hands on her hips. She started to grind her body against mine, swaying her hips to the music. She'd switch up the pace and shake her ass unbelievably good. After a while, she turned around and put her arms around my neck.

"I'm happy I'm not single and have to try and pick a guy out of this crowd. There aren't any decent guys here."

"I'm a decent guy."

She smacked my chest again playfully. "I know that. I'm just saying that there is no guy here that I could see myself fucking around with. I can't fuck around with you."

Well you could…

Sure, we had our complicated situations; times in the heat of the moment when the lines would blur. We've shared kisses and copped some feels but nothing further than that. There were times throughout high school, when frustrations and hormones were sky high that had I figured out a way to sneak into her house, things would have gotten messy. And it was never just me; she would have been just as willing.

My feelings for Bella were blurred most of the time; my mind went back and forth between liking her as my best friend and liking her as more.

Tonight, I could have taken her home and given her exactly what she needed. When we woke up in the morning, things wouldn't have been so simple.

She wanted to be with Alec. She said that she loved him. She's been with him for over year. Their relationship was settled. Things might get hard with the amount of work that they both have to put into their jobs, but Bella didn't want to give up on their relationship. Alec was the guy she wanted to be with.

Right?

"What's the difference? You're with Alec," I reminded her.

"I know. It's just sometimes I find my eyes wandering to see what else is out there. It's hard dating someone who is more married to the job than committed to our relationship. I guess I just miss him."

"Don't worry; I'm sure that Alec is missing you just as much you are missing him. Things will settle down and go back to normal," I told her.

"You really think so?"

I nodded and she pulled me in for a tight hug before she said she needed another drink and a bathroom break with the girls. I dragged my ass behind her.

"Dude, now you're calming her fears down over her relationship?" Emmett asked, once the girls excused themselves to the bathroom to "freshen up" Emmett always eavesdropped on our conversations.

"There's nothing between us. We're best friends and roommates. Nothing more."

Quite often our friends interjected and gave us their opinions on mine and Bella's relationship. They all claimed we were meant to be together and that someday it was bound to happen, despite Bella being in a committed relationship.

I didn't disagree as adamantly as Bella, but I knew now, or anytime in the near future, was not the time that a relationship was going to blossom between us.

What our friends didn't know was that something almost happened between us right before I left for basic training.

~Flashback

Bella and I were lying in her bed watching General Hospital; she gave me a massage so that meant she got to watch her stupid shows.

I was leaving in the morning for basic and Bella was bummed out. She kept clinging onto me for dear life and asking me not to go. Then begging me to promise I would never get put in danger.

"Can I tell you something?" she asked, eyes wide with apprehension.

"Anything," I told her.

"I think… I think I like you. More than like you as my best friend."

I had not been expecting those words to come out. "B…"

"No," she interrupted me. "You don't have to say anything. I know that you probably don't feel the same. I don't want things to change between us. It's just how I feel."

I picked up her chin and forced her to look at me. I placed a kiss on her forehead and some of her tension seemed to relax away. "Nothing is going to change between us. You are an amazing person. You're gorgeous, smart, talented and so many more things. But now isn't the time for us to test out a relationship. I'm going to be across the country for six months and then stationed somewhere else over the course of the next four years. It isn't fair to you or to any chance we might have to try something now. Maybe another day, when the situation is different."

She nodded her head, obviously disappointed from the rejection I felt I had to give her.

~End of Flashback

We rarely spoke about that moment. Emotions were high for both of us with me leaving for such a definite amount of time.

At the time, that's all I thought it was, the fear of the unknown with me leaving. All of these confusing emotions come to the surface when someone is about to leave for a long period of time.

If I hadn't been about to leave for basic training the next morning and she made that admission, I probably would have said yes.

Then again my emotions were wired high and I didn't want to leave her. If I didn't know any better, I might have agreed. I might have attempted a relationship with her.

And for all I knew, she could have just been confusing her apprehension of my leaving for romantic feelings towards me.

The situation was all wrong in a multitude of ways.

Now, being back in our apartment, living everyday life with her, I couldn't help but feel a spark between us. I started to look at her differently and feel this undeniable pull towards her.

I had always found Bella beautiful; I wasn't blind or stupid but lately, I've found her more than just beautiful. My body ached for her; I wanted her body close to mine. I wanted her.

Jealousy surged through me as I pictured her or, even worse, saw her with another guy, especially Alec. I knew that he knew her body and all of the places that drove her crazy. He was the one worshipping her and feeling the warmth of her skin against his. I should be the one that she should be going out with, having fun with and fooling around with. It should be me waking up next to her in her bed. I knew what she liked too. I knew things about her that Alec could never know.

I kept my distance. Our friendship meant the most to me. I couldn't go and ruin our relationship by letting my hormones get in the way. She was my best friend, and I would be lost without her. Plus, I didn't want her to resent me for ruining her relationship.

"Earth to Edward…" Jasper said, snapping his fingers in front of my face, bringing me back into the present. I shook off the daydreaming and saw Jasper's amused look. "What the hell are you thinking about?"

"Why do you guys think Bella and I should be together?"

"You guys are practically together already. You two live together, you do everything together. I can tell by the looks you two give each other when you think no one is looking that you guys are beyond attracted to each other. Why not try it? You two never fight and understand each other better than anyone else," Emmett replied.

I had no argument. Everything he said was true. "We're best friends. We've been friends since freshman year of high school. That's like twelve years. We're comfortable together."

"Well, you wouldn't be asking about it if you weren't considering it. So maybe you should just stop fighting it?" Jasper added.

"She is with someone else. She's making her choice clear. It isn't me," I argued.

"She made that choice while you were away. Her feelings for Alec are fading and her frustrations with him just keep rising. It's a perfect storm brewing between them," Jasper said.

"Just drop it. I never should have brought it up."

Emmett and Jasper both shook their heads before turning their attention to the girls making their way back to the bar but Bella wasn't with them.

"Where's Bella?" I asked once Rose and Alice were within my range.

"Alec showed up. They're making nice over by the bathrooms," Rose said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Isn't that just great.

Jealousy surged through me, even though it was irrational. She wasn't mine. She was kissing her boyfriend. That was normal. Who was I to her to be feeling jealous?

Were my friends right? Was I falling for my best friend?

No. I'm just going through an early mid life crisis, where I'm worrying I will never find the right girl. So, my mind brings me to the girl closest to me. I'm sure Jasper could even come up with some psychological term for it, like transference or some shit.

That and I haven't gotten laid in over a month. That definitely has to have something to do with it.

Eventually Bella came back with Alec next to her, laughing flirtatiously as he had his arm slung around her shoulders.

"Hey guys. Isn't it great that Alec was able to get away from the hospital early enough to join us?" Bella greeted.

He gave everyone a causal wave before Bella dragged him out onto the dance floor.

I swallowed my misplaced anger and chased it with some tequila to make it easier.

I quickly ordered another one and gulped that one down as well, earning me pointed stares from my friends. I ignored them as I did a sweep through the club for any promising girls.

A blonde with some killer legs caught my eye and started to lick her lips. I could see her sipping on a cocktail, so I knew she was getting drunk.

I didn't say a word to my friends, just walked over to the stool where she was sitting.

She smiled at me as soon as I was near and I flashed her the smile that constantly got me in girls' pants.

Up close, she wasn't as good looking. Her eyes were a dull brown, nothing like the deep, chocolate color of Bella's eyes. She had no curves on her; flat as a pole. Dumb as one too.

But her wandering eyes and hands told me she was down for fun. A mindless fuck sounded like a good time to me. She had told me her name, but my mind was in a fog, completely clouded by my mind racing a mile a minute that I forgot it the instant she told it to me.

We listened to the band for only about a half hour before she got bored and invited me back to her place. I eagerly accepted.

Anything to get my mind off the possibilities of me and Bella.

I left whatshername's house early, sometime around four am. I never liked sleeping over at a random fuck's house.

Bella was home, sound asleep with all the lights on in the house. Her door was wide open, so I could see that she was alone – thank the Lord. She normally kept all the lights on when I wasn't home. She claimed it was so I could see where I was going when I got back, but I know that it was because she was scared of being in the apartment by herself.

I had no idea how she coped for the four years I was away.

I'm sure Alice and Jasper had a couch-mate plenty of nights.

Oh wait. She wasn't always alone. She had Alec.

I walked to Bella's doorframe and went to close her door but paused when I noticed she was awake and looking at me.

"Have a good time tonight?" she asked me, sitting up to see me better.

"Yeah, I guess."

"She wasn't bad looking."

"Not bad. What can you expect from a club? Where's uh, Alec?" I asked her.

"He got called back to the hospital not long after you left. I'm just glad he showed up at all."

"Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah, it was nice to go out for a night and let my hair down," she said, collapsing back down onto her pillows.

"Good. Well, sleep tight, B," I said to her, turning to go to my bed.

"Edward?"

"Yeah?" I replied, turning back around to look at her.

"Do you really think that things will settle down between me and Alec? Do you think that things will be okay?

I paused before I answered her. I knew what I had to tell her, but it wasn't easy settling her fears when they conflicted with how I felt. "I know it will, Bells. Just give it time. There's a reason you've stuck with him for so long," I assured her.

"Thanks. Night, Edward," she said, snuggling back onto her side, back facing me.

I stole one more quick glance at her before I closed her door. I contemplated asking her if she was truly happy, since I could see that she was questioning that within herself. However knowing the answer would only tug at my heart and my confusion even more, I decided it was better not to know and stumbled my way into my own bed.

I flopped myself down, face first.

Tomorrow was not looking appealing.

My one night stand did nothing to silence my thoughts of Bella, and those mixed with the hangover of the century I could already feel coming would surely drive me insane, if I wasn't there already.

AN: So that is the re-worked first chapter! I switched the plot around a bit, so the chapters I already wrote need to be re-worked but I will try to update as soon as possible!

The future chapters, hopefully, will be a bit longer but this first chapter was just to lay down the ground work and set up the basic relationships.

I hope that you enjoy it and are willing to stick around and see how the story develops!

Happy reading and please review!