Alright, so here goes the new and hopefully improved "Last Train Home". I'm still looking for a beta, so if you are interested please let me know!!!!
Chapter 1: New Territory
College. Here I was an eighteen-year old freshman in college, about to embark on a huge milestone. Moving into the freshmen dorms at Washington University. Why you ask would I want to live in the dorms? Because, it's what your first college experience is supposed to be like, right? Living in a tiny room with a complete stranger, having to walk down the hall to the community bathroom you share with fifteen other girls, walking down the hall only to be greeted by people you've never seen before. It's something I've been looking forward to since I got excepted to Washington University. Because here, I'm no longer the shy, quite Bella people hardly know exist. College is a time to reinvent yourself. To find out who you truly are. So, this is me, Bella Swan, living in room 1021 of Bennett Hall.
"Here goes nothing," Bella breathed as she pushed the door open with her foot.
"You must be Bella!" a small pixie-like girl bounded across the12'x15' dorm room and embraced the brunette who had stumbled in carrying a large gray tub marked 'bedding'.
"Shit!" Bella cursed as she dropped the tub on her right foot. 'So much for reinventing myself,' Bella thought as she rolled her eyes.
"Sorry, I'm Alice," Alice apologized as she released Bella and bent down to pick up the tub Bella had dropped and placed it next to the empty bed.
"It's alright. It's nice to meet you," Bella smiled hesitantly. She was never one to get overly excited about anything. Bella looked around the tiny room and saw that Alice's side was already exquisitely decorated with shades of chocolate and mint green. Bella peeked around a wooded sliding door to see a 5'x2' space that held 5 customized horizontal shelves full of sweaters and tops. Above those was a permanent clothes rod that held jeans, slacks, and dresses. Bella had no idea how her new roommate fit all those clothes into that tiny space. She didn't even think she could fill the full 5'x2' space.
"Is this all you brought?" Alice asked in shock. It took her five large suitcases to get her belongings to school and she was still missing some of her essentials.
"No, the rest is downstairs in Charlie's truck," Bella smiled as she sighed at her surroundings.
"Charlie? Will I be getting to meet this Charlie?" Alice asked wiggling her eyebrows.
"I suppose he'll come up for parents weekend, he is my dad after all," Bella laughed knowing very well who Alice thought Charlie might be.
"Oh! I think my parents are coming up for parents weekend too!" Alice clapped. "Come on let's go get the rest of your stuff."
Alice practically dragged Bella back outside, but slowed their pace until Bella motioned her toward an old black truck.
"If this is Charlie's, where is your car?" Alice asked as she started toward the black truck.
"Charlie's getting my oil changed and me new tires on my truck. He'll be brining it here sometime next week," Bella said as she opened the tailgate and hoisted herself up into the bed.
"You have a…truck too?" Alice asked furrowing her brow. She never understood why a female would ever want a truck. Sports cars were more her thing.
"Yeah, it's my baby. My dad got it for me when I turned sixteen and I've had it ever since," Bella smiled as she pushed the last two tubs to the end of the bed.
"You just don't seem like a truck kind of girl," Alice said as she started to grab the tub that said 'stuff.'
"And what is a 'truck kind of girl supposed to look like, Alice?" a velvety voice asked from the right side of the truck.
"A girl who wears wranglers and cowboy boots," Alice smiled.
"Stereotyping, Alice, is a horrible habit to get into," Bella said as she watched the man that belonged to the velvety voice walk to the back of the truck.
Bella had never seen anyone so…well…there really wasn't a word for it. Gorgeous or beautiful wasn't doing him any justice. He stood six feet tall, with golden brown hair that looked like he had woken up and just ran his hands through it. He wore a pair of dark wash blue jeans, pool colored bar-striped shirt tucked in, with a black belt, and a pair of black chuck taylors. "Bella, this is my older brother Edward, Edward, this is my new roommate Bella!"
"Nice to meet you," Edward smirked as he held out his hand. He caught her gaze and as her skin came in contact with his a jolt of electricity shot through Bella's body resulting in her jerking her hand quickly back to her side. Bella blushed lightly as Edward broke their gaze and looked at the ground also feeling the strange sensation. "How can I help?" He walked over to the side of the truck where Alice was standing pulling out a couple more tubs.
"Take this one, it's the heaviest," Alice said handing her brother a gray tub marked 'stuff'. Edward took the tub and waited for directions. Alice then handed Bella a medium sized red suitcase as she took the last tub from the truck and slammed the door. "Light packer."
"I don't need a lot," Bella said quietly. She watched as Alice took the lead and swore she saw Edward take a quick glance at her before following his overly cheerful sister. "God help me," Bella whispered to herself.
"Geez, Alice, you and mom sure did get this place looking decent," Edward said as he observed his surroundings.
"Thanks," Alice smiled as she put down the tub she was carrying and motioned for Edward to place his down next to hers. "So, Bella, our mom is making dinner tonight for the whole family. You should come!"
"Oh, I wouldn't want to intrude," Bella said as she started looking through the tubs to figure out where to start. She didn't have much, but she already felt too overwhelmed.
"Don't give me that excuse. You're coming! It will be fun, mom and dad will love you!" Alice smiled. Edward glared at her his lips a tight line.
"Alice, don't be so pushy!" Edward gave a warning look at his sister before he turned to Bella giving her a wink. "I hate to run, but I told mom I would pick up some stuff for her at the store for dinner, tonight. See ya Alice. Bella." With that Edward was out the door before Bella could get out a proper good-bye.
"I didn't mean to be bossy," Alice apologized. "It's just sometimes I think Edward feels left out when the whole family gets together. It's like he's the 7th wheel." Alice laughed. "Our older brother Emmett's girlfriend Rosalie will be there, and my boyfriend Jasper will be there. And then there's Edward. Plus, I think he might have a thing for you."
"Oh please, have you looked at your brother lately? I'm not exactly his type," Bella said turning different shades of pink.
"Oh whatever, I caught him staring at you for the most of the time he was here and not being his "type" is far better than you night htink," Alice informed her as she began shopping through her closet for something for Bella to wear to her parent's house. "I was thinking this," Alice said holding up a solid blue, knit, three quarter length sleeve, top. "With a pair of jeans and these." Alice was then holding up a pair of black, peep toe, sling back heels.
"You have no idea how bad of an idea those heels are," Bella said raising both eyebrows in worry. She'd worn heels once in her eighteen years of living and that one time she rolled her ankle on a completely smooth surface as she was walking across the stage at her high school graduation collecting giggles from the audience. "I have one word for you…HUMILIATION."
"Fine, wear those," Alice surrendered pointing to Bella's worn black chuck taylors and then throwing up her hands. Bella giggled seeing the frustration she instilled in her new roommate. She felt guilty, but she didn't want to start school on crutches.
"You must be Bella! I'm Esme," Esme smiled as she held out her arms.
"Yes, it's nice to meet you," Bella smiled as she hesitantly walked towards Esme's embrace.
"Bella it's so nice to finally meet you, I'm Carlisle. Edward has been talking about you all afternoon," Carlisle smiled reaching out his hand as Bella couldn't believe what he had just said. Had Edward really been talking about her to his parents? Was Alice right? Did he really like her? How could someone so perfect find her even remotely interesting? Alice nudged Bella's side raising her eyebrows. Bella rolled her eyes hiding the fact that she was extremely curious as to what he had said about her.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to everyone else," Alice said as she linked arms with Bella and leading her into the kitchen where everyone else had congregated. "Everyone, this is Bella. Bella, this is my other brother Emmett and his girlfriend Rosalie." Pointing at a rather large figure sitting at the island and the most beautiful person Bella has ever seen sitting next to him. "This is MY boyfriend Jasper, and you know Edward." Alice kissed Jasper on the cheek as Jasper reached his hand out to greet Bella. Bella shook it and smiled sweetly. She then turned her attention to Emmett who's hand was extended as well.
"It's nice to meet you, Bella. I see Alice has marked her territory yet again," Emmett said motioning to the blue top she was wearing. Alice glared at her childish big brother.
"Yeah, I couldn't help but feel bad for the girl, it seemed like she was deprived of dolls as a child," Bella joked as everyone but Alice burst with laughter. As she said that she felt the burn of a pair of eyes on her. She looked to the right and there was Edward, eyes fixated on her. She tried to take her eyes away from his, but he wasn't letting her. He then flashed a crooked smile that sent her completely over the edge making her left knee twitch and buckle. She quickly broke his gaze placing her hands on top of the island to catch herself before collapsing to the floor.
"Are you OK, dear?" Carlisle asked placing a hand on her back. Carlisle is an emergency medical doctor at Northwest Hospital in Seattle.
"Fine, just haven't had anything to eat today," Bella said getting her legs back and keeping her eyes off Edward.
"Why don't you take a seat and I'll get you something to munch on," Esme smiled as she went to the refrigerator and pulled out a fruit plate and placed it in front of Bella. Bella sat down in the only vacant seat at the island next to Rosalie.
"Thanks," Bella smiled as she picked up a strawberry from the plate and taking a small bite. "You have a beautiful home."
"Thank you, hun," Esme smiled. "We love it here. It's definitely big enough for when all the kids are home."
Bella glanced to her left to see if Edward was still in the room, but he had somehow slipped out, unnoticed. She shook her head slightly thinking that she was such an idiot. She felt foolish for her reaction to this human being. She'd always seen it happen in movies and knew…or at least thought that it never really happened in real life. She told herself many times that no one would ever have such control over her. She wasn't going to fall into the arms of some man and never look back. She wasn't going to follow in the footsteps of her mother. Her mother had jumped into relationship after relationship because she felt that the guy had some sort of romantic territory he had to claim. She wasn't going to let herself succumb to the same temptations as her mother.