I was trapped. It was dark and hot and I could barely move. No one would hear me shout for help. At least, no one who actually would. I was slowly suffocating. Why did I let Alice talk me into going to this party? I'm not big on dancing or drinking, and I'm nervous when I meet new people. This music wasn't even that good.

"Excuse me," I muttered, trying to push my way through the crowd of seemingly random moving bodies. The crush of people didn't abate, and I leaned back against the cool white plaster of the wall. Everyone slowed down as the song started ending, and I tried to get past again.

"'Scuse me," I squeaked, scurrying past people when I saw a tiny sliver of light between some people and the wall. I sucked in my stomach, pressed my back against the wall, and just managed to get out of that terrible dance floor room.

Of course, that took me into the room where they had beer pong set up. It was only a little less crowded, and the floor was gross. There were beer cans all over the floor, and I assume that beer was the liquid there too. My shoes stuck to it, and made this squelching noise when I walked. I wished that I had worn boots rather than just these black ballet flats.

Alice had picked my whole outfit, just like she had picked what we were doing this evening. She actually had wanted me to wear heels, which would have been better, since it kept less of my foot in contact with this floor, but worse, in that it probably would have brought my face into contact with it. She had done an ok job with the rest of my outfit, choosing a black wrap skirt that came to just above my knees, and a blue blouse that I didn't think was to revealing and Alice didn't think was too frumpy.

I watched four random guys tossing a ping pong ball back and forth for a minute. I knew the rules to beer pong, but I never play. I don't really like beer, and I'm terrible at throwing the ball into the little cup. The one time I played, I slipped and knocked over half the cups on my side.

I suddenly felt something cold on my arm. Followed by the weight of a person.

"Sorry!" giggled some girl with blond hair, as she leaned on me. Her and her cup tilted over again in spite of me, and some more beer poured out, catching my sleeve and more of my arm. I was momentarily too shocked to react, and if I had jumped out of the way, she would have fallen down and maybe gotten hurt. I finally straightened her glass as I came to my senses.

"Thanks," she said. "I guess I need a new drink."

I watched her stumble away into the kitchen where an impromptu bar was set up. Where was the bathroom, I wondered. I needed to wash whatever this was off of my arm. I think that it was somewhere down this hall. I turned out of the rooms that sported most of the crowd... and promptly found another crowd around one door.

I slumped against the wall, defeated. I wasn't going to let Alice persuade me to go on this sort of excursion any more. At best, all it did was get me annoyed and get drinks slipped on me. In fact, I was getting out of here right now. I stood up, and spun around right into someone.

I started to ricochet back into the wall, but felt two strong arms wrap around me, pulling me into the person I'd just run into rather than hitting the wall.

"I'm so sorry, are you ok?" asked a tall boy with the most amazing green eyes.

"Oh, yeah," I said, dazed. "I was just, just, um..."

"Oh," he said, sympathetically. "There's another bathroom, as long as you don't tell anyone."

I had been about to say that I was leaving, but seeing him for another couple of seconds, plus getting to clean up, would be a major plus. "Thanks. Could you show me where it is?"

"Sure," he said, smiling what had to have been straightened and regularly whitened teeth because they were so brilliant. I was actually doing much better than normal with the meeting new people thing. Something about him just seemed to set me at ease. He grabbed my hand, and led me back out into the crowds. Somehow, we seemed to flow right around all the people that had formed an impenetrable wall for me. He seemed to have some magical power to know exactly where they would move, as if he could read their minds. I felt more graceful just from moving in tandem with him.

Eventually, we came to the bar, which blocked off the back of the kitchen and the back door out of the apartment. Looking now, I realized it also blocked off one last hall way right before the back door. He fluidly climbed right over the one part of the bar that wasn't covered in alcohol or mixers. I wasn't sure how I was going to manage a similar feet. He seemed to realize my conundrum as he looked back at me.

"Umm... here," he said, climbing back onto the bar and kneeling. He held his hands out to me, and I wasn't sure exactly what he was doing. I started to take his hands, but he just pulled me closer, until his hands were around my waist.

"Jump," he said. I felt him pull me up as I did. I realized I wasn't going to clear the bar though, which was actually just a granite counter top at this point. I managed to pull my legs up, and found myself landing lightly, kneeling face to face with him.

"Come on," he said, hoping down. "We don't want to encourage the drunks."

He held me around the waist again to help me down, and again I was more graceful than I had ever imagined myself. He guided me down a short hallway, to a bedroom. It was messy, but not terribly so. More that it just looked lived in. It had an unmade full sized bed, a plastic shelf, and a desk with a keyboard on it. And a door to another bathroom.

"Thanks," I said, ducking inside. I rinsed whatever sticky juice and alcohol concoction was on my hand. The blue towel that was in there was really fluffy, and I had no idea why that surprised me. When I came out of the bathroom, the guy who had showed me all this was sitting on the bed, typing on a laptop.

"You know, there's supposed to be some sort of party going on out there," I said, shuffling over to look at what he was doing.

"I know," he said continuing to type. "It's my party."

"Your party?" I suppose that explained why he knew where this room was and why he felt climbing on the counter was ok.

"I'm Edward Masen," he turned to look at me, glaring rather sternly. "And who are you? Since I don't remember inviting you."

"Muh,...me?" I stuttered, the confidence I'd had in his presence suddenly evaporating. "I ...I'm Bella. Bella Swan. I came with Alice?I, I didn't know...I'm..."

He broke out grinning. "I'm kidding. I didn't invite anyone to this thing. Emmett told everyone he knew to invite everyone they knew, and Jasper invited the whole history department. I'm listed as a host on the facebook events and the e vites, but all I did was help clean."

"Oh," I said, sighing audibly in relief. "I was worried for a minute. You do a very good serious glare."

"Thanks, I learned it from Jasper." He held out his hand. "Bella Swan, it was nice to meet you. I hope you have fun at my party."

He plainly wasn't going back to it. I bit my lip for a moment, considering my options. "Actually, Edward, I hate parties. Can I hang out here with you?"

"You want to hang out with me?" said Edward, in a surprised tone. I nodded. I didn't quite understand why he wouldn't have to be fending girls off. His hair was messy but more in a way that made it look like he ran his hands through it a lot when he was stressed rather than like he didn't care. And his face was the most perfect thing I'd ever seen. Even his nose was hot, and I'd never seen a nose that pulled better than a cute before.

"You really know nothing about me do you?"

"Nothing," I answered. "Why? Are you some kind of crazy ax murderer?"

"Wouldn't you like to know..."

I would like to know, I thought. "You know, you don't know anything about me either."

He waved my comment away, turning to the instrument on his desk. "I know that your name is Bella Swan. You don't drink. You are easily pressured into things. And you stutter when you are nervous. It's probably due to low self esteem," he cast an appraising eye on me, "partial brought on by an inaccurate body image."

He held up a set of head phones to his left ear. His right began pressing keys, and I guess that the music must have been coming out of the head phones, because all I heard was the song of his fingers dancing back and forth. He paused after a few minutes. It was strangely hypnotic to watch.

"I can do that to you know," I said.

He put down the headphones, glancing at me nonchalantly. "Play the piano?"

"Nu.. No." Stupid stutter. I took a breathe. "Surmise a bunch of random things because of how you acted at this party."

"Alright, Bella Swan." He turned towards me, throwing his hands out toward me as if casting some sort of spell. "Wow me."

"Ok, um, I know your name, Edward Mason. And that you don't drink either. You're anti social, buh... but," I paused, taking a breath, "you know you're good looking. Yet you were surprised a girl would want to hang out with you. Suh... so you must push everyone away. Suh...Something must have really," I gulped, "really hurt you. Jah...Jasper and Emmett must be the only friends you have left."

I realized I was looking at my feet. I looked up, expecting him to be upset. He just looked shocked.

"I'm right, aren't I?" I whispered. "That's why you didn't invite anyone."

He nodded, seeming to snap himself out of a daze. "Yeah, you're right."

"Bella?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to get out of here?"

"Yes," I said, trying not to sound to relieved. He took my hand again, and we headed out to the back door of his apartment. It led down a staircase that let us into a dark alley. I glanced around nervously. I didn't usually go walking around this late at night.

"Scared?" asked Edward, seeing my nervousness. I nodded. "Don't worry. I'm the scariest thing out at this time of night."

"Why am I not comforted?" I whispered back. He smiled, and started humming. It took me a moment to catch on what song it was, but when I did, I started singing quietly.

"No one's gonna hurt you,
No one's gonna dare.
Others can desert you,
Not to worry, whistle, I'll be there.

Demons'll charm you with a smile, for a while,
But in time...
Nothing can harm you
Not while I'm around..."

"You have a very beautiful voice," said Edward.

"I duh.. don't stutter much. When I sing."

"You don't stutter much at all," he said, squeezing my hand.

"Thank you," I said. I'd actually worked a lot to get rid of my stutter, but I felt like I was more open, more vulnerable to Edward, and it was messing me up. I took a couple of calming breathes before asking, "Where are we going?"

"A place I like," answered Edward. "I've never taken anyone else there. I don't know if anyone else even knows it exists." Eventually we came to the seminary co-op. It was a book store for the college I attend, but it also had the theological school attached to it, and a large bell tower. Edward looked around, then dropped my hand and pushed open one of the windows.

"Edward!" I whisper shouted. "We could get in trouble. Wuh...we could get arrested."

"Yeah Bella, I get arrested every time I do this." I wasn't so sure about this. I never really did anything like this. We were breaking into a building. I didn't even drink!

"Bella," said Edward, lifting my face up to look at his. "Do you trust me?"

It would have been more fair for him to ask me that when I wasn't looking him in the eye. He was back lit by a street light, bringing out hints of red in his hair, and it was just light enough that his eyes stood out. I don't think I could have denied him anything.

"Yes. I trust you." Edward helped me up through the window, and I almost felt like we had been practicing for this earlier. I stumbled into a table when I jumped down from the windowsill. The floor was a little lower than the sidewalk outside, and it had surprised me. Especially since the room was pitched black, except for the dark blue of the windows. I heard Edward chuckle as I felt around, bumping into a chair as I tried to move out of his way. He landed much more lightly than I did.

"Bella." I jumped when I felt his hand on my shoulder. I hadn't realized he was so close. "Come on."

Edward led me through the room, over to a door. He managed to dodge around a chair that I couldn't even see. I only knew it was there when I brushed against it. When Edward pulled the door open, I had to blink. The hallway outside the door was lit like the building was open and anyone might come walking by. We headed left, walking through cream colored hallways with office doors scattered through it, before coming to a jog in the hallway that forced us to go right. Once we turned, we came to an elevator. Edward pressed the button to call it, but I still jumped when it pinged and opened. Couldn't it be quieter? If there was someone here, they would hear us. And then they'd be waiting when the elevator doors opened.

I stood on the opposite wall from Edward, who was watching me, smirking. "Nervous, Bella?"

"Uh..uh...of course I'm nuh, nervous. We broke into a building!" I hissed at him.

"You know, they caught me doing this sort of thing before," said Edward.

"Is that supposed to make me fuh... feel better?" I demanded. That stupid stutter makes it really hard to sound forceful. Edward looked down, smiling wider. I hit him on the shoulder.

"Don't laugh at me!" There, that one was better.

"I wasn't laughing," he said, putting up his hands in mock surrender. "You're just very cute when you're flustered."

"Just what every girl wants to hear," I said. ""That she's cute."

"Well you were going to hear that all that happened to me when I got caught doing this was a stern talking to from the campus police, but you attacked me."

The doors opened before I could think of some witty comeback. We were moving quietly down the corridors again. I noticed that I could barely hear Edward walking, but I could hear my own feet pounding on the floor. I wondered if it was exaggerated because I could feel my own feet hitting.

"Here," said Edward. He opened a door, leading to a dark staircase. It spiraled up into darkness, and it was so short that Edward was going to have to stoop to climb it. Edward headed right up, disappearing into the dark, before I could say anything. I started up the stairs, slowly and nervously placing one foot in front of the other. It felt like the walls were slowly winding closer to me, gradually constricting all the air out of the staircase, and out of me. I finally couldn't take it anymore, and turned to head back the way I had come. But there was nothing but darkness there. The twist of the stairs had cut off the light from the door, and I didn't know how high I was, or if I could turn around or be able to find the handrail again if I let go or-

"Bella," whispered a voice from above me. I felt a hand on my arm, Edward's hand. He pulled me up to him, and I clung to him, closing my eyes and pretending there was nothing here but me and him, and enjoying his musky smell and the way the his shirt felt again my cheek.

"I'm sorry," he said, wrapping his arms around me. "Why didn't you tell me you were claustrophobic?"

I liked the way his voice sounded. I could hear it through his chest, and felt surrounded by it. "I wanted to see where ever we were going."

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "Here, keep your eyes closed."

"What are-" I felt him pick me up, and I just went ahead and curled against him. "You don't have to carry me."

"We're almost there. Keep your eyes closed till I say." I nodded against his chest. I heard a door open, and felt a rush of wind. Sounds seemed to jump out suddenly, voices and music and cars, and the wind whipping past. Edward set me down, but kept his arms wrapped around me.

"Open your eyes." I could feel his breath on my ear as he spoke. I looked around, blinking, and found the whole city laid out in front of me. Lights twinkled as cars drove by, or clouds drifted in the way. It was like looking at the sky when you are miles from civilization, with a million points of light glittering.

"How high are we?" I asked.

"I don't know, probably over ten stories up."

"Sorry you had to carry me so far," I said, leaning back slightly into him.

"You did most of it. I really only carried you like a story. Plus, we rode an elevator up the first four." We stood there quietly, just taking in all of it. Millions of lives, moving as little stars at our feet.

"Thanks for showing me this, Edward."

"You don't need to thank me," he answered.

"Why is that?" I asked, turning to look at him. He was smiling again, but not one that was comforting. This one seemed more predatory.

"Because you were right the first time," he said. He let me go, taking a step away from me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused, and a little scared by the sudden change.

"Why?" he quoted at me, his voice mocking my own. "Are you some kind of crazy ax murderer?"

"Eh... Edward," I was really scared now. The light, as he took another step back into the shadows, seemed to turn his eyes black. "Suh... stop kidding uh...around."

I took a step toward the door that he'd carried me through, it was still open. I didn't know what I planned to do, but if I could get back down I could pull a fire alarm or something. Edward moved that way with me, blocking my path. I tried to dart around him, but he caught me easily, and carried me back toward the edge of the tower.

"Eh, eh, Edward!" I finally managed to shout, struggling to get out. "Please. Please don't."

He set me on the edge. I felt like my heels were hanging off, and tried to scoot forward, but was met with his hand.

"Please," I said, starting to cry. "Edward, don't do thi... don't do thi-"

"Shhh...." he said. "You know, you're very beautiful when you're scared, Bella."

"Please," I sobbed, leaning into his outstretched hand. "Edward, don't-"

I felt his fingers twitch forward, and I rocked backward, out over nothing. I saw one last glimpse of his green eyes. My hair whipped past my face, and I looked up at the beautiful bell tower that sat atop the seminary co-op, that magnificent spire capped. The wind whistled in my ears.