Bella

Another end to another long week. I pushed my long hair behind my ears, but it immediately fell back into my eyes. With a deep sigh, I pulled it up into a ponytail. Much better.

After years of education, I had somehow ended up working as a copy editor at Women of the World, a lifestyle magazine for women on the West Coast. The magazine was just starting to get popular, but it was still quite small. Only twenty people worked for the magazine. It wasn't my dream job by any stretch of the imagination: I looked for grammar mistakes in boring articles about fashion, love (ha!), celebrity gossip, and housekeeping.

"BELLAA!" Alice shrieked from the hallway, appearing in my doorway, "It's time to go home! Get a move on!" She jumped up and down clapping her hands.

Alice and I had been friends since high school, and we ended up dorming together at University of Washington in Seattle. After college, Alice moved in with Jasper, her high school sweetheart, and I rented an apartment down the block. Of course, I spent so much time at Alice and Jasper's place that I basically had a room there too. Don't ask me how I managed to be best friends for the past eight years with the gorgeous little ball of energy. For some reason, we just work. I'm the epitome of average- brown hair, brown eyes, and pale skin. Alice glows. Whenever we go out, my self-confidence takes a hit. But I've gotten used to it over the years, and Alice's friendship is worth so much to me. Alice was a fashion writer for the magazine, and she loved her job and its perks, especially the discounts at local shops.

"Calm, Alice…think calm. Waves rolling on the beach…sunsets…calm. There, are we better now?" I asked, grabbing my coat and keys. Seriously, this girl needs a tranquilizer, I thought.

"Bye Bella, Alice!" chirped our receptionist, Angela. She was such a sweet girl, fresh out of college. Alice and I always invited her out to lunch with us and dragged her over for parties and girls nights in. She was becoming a good friend.

We stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the Lobby, ready to trek home. Alice was practically vibrating with excitement- clearly, she and Jasper has one hell of a night planned. I rolled my eyes at the thought. I decided that it would be wise to spend the night at my own place to let them have a romantic evening, and to avoid the noise and a potentially awkward situation.

"So…Bella, do you have any plans for the evening?" Alice asked suggestively, waggling her eyebrows, as we walked down the street. I sighed.

"No, and don't expect me to have any evening plans for quite a while. I'm not ready for another relationship. Not everyone finds their soul mate as easily as you did. Seriously Alice, you have never dated anyone other than Jasper…it's crazy out there. I don't know if I could take getting my heart broken, yet again," I ranted, trying desperately to make it clear to Alice that she should not set me up with one of Jasper's friends for another horrible blind double date. Last time, Alice had brought us to a Thai restaurant, and I fainted when I saw that the shrimp I ordered still had their eyes intact. My date quickly left after that.

My track record with relationships was laughable. After a couple of weeks and a few unmemorable sexual encounters, each of my ex boyfriends seemed to suddenly have "commitment issues" and left me. Which truly wouldn't have been an issue, considering that I didn't like any of them too much, if I hadn't gotten my hopes up each time that somehow one of those guys would end up being my dream guy.

I really thought my last boyfriend, Jacob, was The One. We were friends in college, and then we were together as a couple for four months, which was my longest relationship. We had great chemistry- Jake always knew how to make me smile and brought out a younger, more reckless side in me. But then, about half a year ago, I woke up one morning alone in my bed with a note from Jacob that he couldn't be with me anymore. He tried to call to explain himself, but I decided a clean break would be the best idea for me.

Alice bopped me on the head, instantly snapping me out of my reverie. "Fine, Bells. But sooner or later Mr. Right is going to come along, and if you aren't looking you may just miss him."

I snorted a very unladylike snort. Alice glared at me with her arms crossed. She was annoyed with me and was waiting for an apology. But why should I have to apologize for my personal life?

The light changed, indicating that it was our turn to cross. Ah, she'll get bored and follow me. I stepped into the street, and I heard a scream from behind me….

"Holy shit! Bella!"

…And then I felt the searing pain in my left side, and my world went black.