Hi! I'm Elair, this is my first fanfic ever, so criticism is always appreciated. No flames though, fire burns.

I stood there staring at the selection in front of me. Why was there about million types of gum, and none were the right kinds? I groaned, already I was noticing flaws with my new move to Washington. Sure there was music, hell, that's why I moved, but it was the simple things like getting my pack of gum that makes a place truly home. "Fuck it," I muttered and walked to the drink section. Truly, a good glass of red wine sounded ideal, but a mango-orange juice would have to do.

"That all?" the kid asked me at the register. "Yes-sir," I told him as he ran it up. He was cute in that grunge sort of way. His red flannel shirt and his eyebrow piercing complimented the ripped jeans and beanie look, but for a want-to-be hipster, he was pretty normal. I grabbed the orange juice off the counter and smiled at him. His 'have a nice day' was leading to something along the lines of 'what are you doing tonight?' so I quickly nipped that with a 'you too' and walked out the door.

My lil denon was sitting in his parking spot. It purred as I put it into gear and pulled out of the lot. A sliver car gleamed in my driveway; I wasn't expecting him home so soon, but hey, our house, and our times. I pulled up next to the car and walked into the front door.

I shagged off my black jacket and hung it on the wooden rungs. 'Edward?' I called, hearing him laugh from the kitchen as he walked out holding his phone. I reached up and plucked it out of his hands, racing around of the island and sliding through his texts.

The phone conversation in front of me wasn't what I expected.

Bella: I can't decide. Red or black.

Edward: For what?

Bella: That's not the point, red or black

Edward: Black, you made me curios now though

Bella: Lets just say the next question is lace or polka-dotted.

"Bella?" I asked. "Who's Bella?"

"Damn pixie," I heard my brother mutter under his breath as he raced over and pinned me against the counter, prying the phone from my hands. "Whoooooo?" I questioned. "No one," he muttered. With his secrecy ruined he got up and sat on the couch, slumping. "Pussy," I told him, but he just continued texting and ignoring me.

I could tell it was a useless cause, "I'm gonna go out tonight, do you and 'no one' want to come?' I could tell he was mulling it over in his head. By way of answer he stood up and put the phone to his ear. When I heard his 'Hey' I screamed out 'Eddy-Pooh, Imana go shower, sweetie!' and gave a good girly moan. At the top of the stairs I paused a minute to flip him off before I made it to the bathroom.

I turned on the shower and shed my clothes in a pile next to the door. I turned to the mirror and inspected myself.

My hair was still jet-black, short and layered enough to hide my forehead, but barley make it past the nape of my neck. Light brown eyes showed off my pale complexion, and my upper lip was just a little fuller than my lower. My eyes, looked trapped, I could see unhappiness in them, and my face became pouty as I watched my moods shift on my face. 'Musn't worry Edward,' I reminded myself, 'Stay happy around him.'

I noticed the edges of the mirror start to get fogged up and I stepped in the tumult of hot water. Letting it relax me and watching the spirals of it down the drain. I took a deep breath; I would be better by tonight.

Pausing in my closet, I stared at my options I had in front of me. I didn't feel up to wearing a mini skirt, and denim just didn't fit. I pulled on a pair of tight black tights and short gray shorts on top of them. A loose white shirt that dropped off my shoulder draped over the shorts as I checked myself out in the mirror. But then it came to shoes, 'Damn,' I swore under my breath as I looked between my options. Red hunter boots or beat up black converse. Kicking it old style I chucked the converse at my brother and sped down the stairs.

"Ready Eddy?" I teased as I slung myself to the couch next to him. He had cleaned up himself; his hair was tousled and still damp, while he had on a fitted tee and a muted jacket with the collar messed up. He pulled on my hair and formed it into a mohawk as I fixed his collar. I laughed and shook my hair out as we walked to the front door.

He grabbed the car keys and sprinted out, I groaned, sure, his car was nice, but it had nothing on lil denon.

I sighed; my moods were changing per second. I needed some good music, the feel of hundreds of people, all around me, pressing, pulsating; anybody could be whatever they wanted. I loved it, and I needed to meet someone sometime.

"Any reason your bringing your brother and his date rather than a guy yourself?"

"Nope," I said, popping the p. "I just felt like it, that's all. And anyways, you know the minute you buy me a drink and I leave to dance you won't have to worry about me till we leave, yeah?" I told him. He nodded his head in a agreement and sat back in the car to drive. This was a normality for us. I was used to going to bars and finding someone to chat with. I would toy with them a bit, but nothing serious, I didn't do one-night stands, I preferred to talk; I liked conversation and people watching, it was my escape.

I toyed with the radio, tried 107.7, 102.5, and even 99.9. It took me a while before I finally settled on some good old tunes on KEXP. I watched the buildings outside, the slope of the hills, the green in the distance. I loved the people around here, every one of them a little bit different, I just needed to find some more people to hang with, then I knew, I would be good.

We pulled up to the club. The exterior was covered with wooden paneling; the inside blazed blue and green lights. I smiled, that was just the place I needed. As we walked inside, I found us two spots at the bar and sat down. I ordered a vodka and tonic while my brother stuck with the ever-classic Mai tai.

Just as we were getting our drinks, a woman walked through the doors. She had on tight denim and brown boots, her blue blouse matched her chocolate brown eyes and hair perfectly though. I nudged Edward in the ribs to get his attention, whittling in his ear. "Betcha you'd drop 'no one' for that gal, eh?" I asked him in a mock tough-guy voice. He just smiled and walked over to her. The balls some guys have, I thought to myself as I saw him sweet-talk her and then lead her towards me.

"Alice, I'd like to introduce you to Bella," he told me, his face practically gleaming with sunshine. I laughed and extended my hand, "Pleasure." She smiled and we exchanged niceties, but I could tell all she wanted to do was have some one-on-one time with Eddy. Without delaying them any further, I finished my drink and told them I would go dance for a bit, if they would excuse me.

"Sure! Go ahead,' Bella assured me as she smacked Edwards arm playfully away from her backside. I smiled at them and raised my eyes at the bartender, telling him I was all done. Then, I got up and made my way to the floor.

I got there as they were finishing up a Lady Gaga song, I groaned. If that was what they were going to play, I might as well leave right now. However, the next song surprised me. Sofi Needs a Ladder by deadmau5 came on, now this I could dance to. I cheered along with the crowd and let my hands fall to my sides. It felt awkward at first, with no one around me that I could joke with, but soon I began to just enjoy the music and dance like I wanted to. I threaded my hands through my hair and moved my hips to the right, stuttering them with the music. Then again, to the left.

I began to look out into the crowd, trying to spot a cute guy I could meet, or a girl I could make friends with. Many of them were couples, but there was one guy in the middle of the densest crowd, dancing and moving just the way I was. I caught his eye and looked away. Sofi's voice blared out through the speakers, it was hypnotizing to say the least, Joel's offbeat rhythms and his chord progression, I couldn't stay still. I looked over at the boy again, his blond hair and his black jeans under his white shirt. Classy, I thought, obviously almost every girl in the club did too.

Just then his face came up and his eyes made piercing contact with mine. I didn't stop dancing, but I raised my right arm over my head and pulled my hair as I brought it down my side, winking at him as I did so. He raised his eyebrows and smiled approvingly. I rolled my eyes and danced some more, grinding into whomever was behind me, I really didn't care, it was just the crowd and mass amounts of people around me. Apparently I'm an extroverted person, I crave human attention, too much of it is bad, sure, but I needed a good crowd often, and it had been too long.

I felt myself make contact with someone behind me. I stood up straight to let the go past, but their hand on my side informed me that they were there to dance, not to get past. The hand trailed up to my side and pulled me back a little, till there was warm contact again. I smiled and ground again, this time aiming to get attention, rather than just dance. My hips went up and down, side to side, Sofi finished up her final lyrics, and the beat morphed into one of Aesop Rocks. I slowed my movement and leaned back a bit more, making full on contact with whomever was behind me. It hadn't yet dawned on me that I had no idea with whom I just shared my dance.

I looked behind me and caught a glimpse of blond hair and pale skin. He smiled as he rocked chaotically to the beat, raising his eyebrows at my slowed rhythm, he was challenging me. I turned around and danced solo for a bit, before placing my left hand on his shoulder and my right on right ear. I tantalizingly brought it across my neck and down my side, painfully slowly dragging it back up to the nape of my ear, when he caught it and pulled me closer to him. I smiled and placed my right knee at his waist, and then I ground and bumped to, what I thought, was perfection. He smiled and pulled my leg up higher, encouraging me. I let it down slowly, dragging it along his hip and I brought it down almost next to his legs.

I stepped even closer as I realized how tall he was. He must have had at least five inches on me, which rendered my close proximity near him to almost no visibility. I was determined not to step away however, and I reached up to kiss his collarbone, scratching it with my teeth and flicking my tongue out to it. A low guttural sound came from his throat as he pushed me away and stalked me back up against a wall. He danced into me a bit and we swayed some more, but over all, the music had died down, and now some pop-y ass artists were singing happy melodies on the speakers. I smiled up at him as he brought his lips down to my neck and kissed it before pulling away and leading me to the bar.

If I said I could hold my alcohol, I would have been lying. After a small drink I had already danced and flirted with a total stranger, and I showed no signs of stopping. I got a rum and coke, hold the ice when he asked for my drink, he order a beer, told me he was taking it light. I went to grab us a small table near the window as he went and grabbed the drinks. I needed to get my head straight and wake back up, this was just some guy. I could feel the tendrils of hope already clinging around my stomach. My body wanted a guy so bad, but I wasn't some second hand slut who picked up guys just for the sex. This one was interesting though. He was hot, very much so. With a look on his face that showed he could be icy-cold or quite nice. I was intrigued, and merely wanted to know more. But I knew that wasn't the only reason I had accepted his drink offer.

I looked over to Edward and his girl, he held up the car keys and gave me his best pleading face. I nodded in acceptance; giving him permission to take the car, and his girl, home for the night. I had cab fare in my pocket for not-so-rare instances as these. I watched the two of them pick up and leave out the door, giggling and slightly tipsy, both of them. I grimaced and hoped that Edward could sober up in time to drive and make it home safe.

"Why so serious?" the new guy asked. I laughed and took my drink from him. His fingertips touching mine and scratching for a minute.

"Just pondering the life and death of my tipsy friends and their experiences with a car," I answered as I took a long draw of my drink. He smiled at me as he took a seat across from me. I watched his feet as they placed themselves onto my side, interfering with mine, if I were to put mine down that is. I had them safely tucked under the chair, force of habit I guess.

"I'm Jasper by the way," he smiled, "And you're new here." His grin was cocky, but not in an 'I'm gonna score way,' more like 'I know everyone here."

"Stalker," I said, "I'm Alice." I opened my lips a bit as my eyes made contact with his, wiping away excess coke from my lower lip, his eyes darkened.

"You're quite the dancer," he said.

"What can I say? I'm a sucker for deadmau5, and c'mon, Aesop Rock? Two legendary bands, in a row." I took a sip of my drink and smiled at the sweetness. "I like this place, might have to come back more often." I winked at him, hoping that he was a regular.

"I'll see you around then, right?" he asked me, moving his right foot around, trying to make contact with mine.

"Sure thing," I said as I dropped my feet. They met his and immediately he had mine trapped, but his face showed no signs of anything. I kept my face calm and trailed my trapped foot higher, succeeding at making it to right above his knee, before he clenched his legs and wouldn't let me budge. "No fair," I pouted. "I'm just a weak, little, girl," I said, enunciating each word with a brush of my toes. I cocked my head to the side and could see his shoulders tense up as he realized my game. He leaned forwards and exposed more of his chest. I noticed a cartilage piercing he had on his left ear, a little black stone shown, but it was barely noticeable.

"So Alice, I can't stop thinking about your dancing. Your hips gyrating, moving, your hand spinning, moving slowly down your body and then back up, sensually showing off your curves," he said, slowly bring his own foot to touch the back of my left shin. "Your body moving faster and faster, moving against mine as I held onto your hips, moving my lips to caress the outside of your neck," his foot was at the back of my knee. "You turned around, hitched on my hip grinding us together. Backed against a wall, your arms around my neck, me pushing into you further, and further," by now, his knee had reached the edge of my shorts and was poking at them, teasing me. My cheeks were bright red, and further south, wet had began to seep, but still I held a mask of ignorance. He noticed and smiled reaching his hand forwards to touch my cheek, bringing his hand slower and slower to my lips until I lost it and mewed onto his waiting finger.

"You know, my friends just took off with my car, I uhm…I could use a lift, if that's okay with you," my voice was low for me, and his finger tickled my lips as he kept it there. His foot stopped its persistent nudging and caressed back down to my toes before he pulled his hand away and stood up, pulling on black jacket.

"Sure thing," he said, and he grabbed my small hand in his as we exited to club. My body screamed with joy, my mind shut up for once, and I knew that finally, I had gotten better.