A/N: Beta'd by sweeneyanne and preread by aerobee82 and AlexisDanaan.

Thanks to everyone for the reviews, alerts, and favorites!

Make sure to note the date below - there's two independent timelines happening here, so time jumps abound (but they will never happen within a chapter).

Do not own Twilight.


June 6, 2010

It was not Edward's fault that he kept making an ass out of himself in front of Bella Swan. Absolutely not. There were extenuating circumstances, poor choices in company, and just plain bad luck working against him. On this occasion, the incredibly dangerous combination of Jasper and whiskey happened to be the culprit. Really, he should have known he was doomed to make a fool of himself from the very moment he'd spied Jasper's car pulling up his driveway. Jasper had an inherent ability to talk him into doing things he normally wouldn't.

Like this.

There was only one reason in the world he would be holding a drink in one hand and five cards in the other with the smallest stack of poker chips out of the four at the table. The next most reasonable article of clothing to give up was his pants, and he was absolutely not going to let that happen. This was all Jasper's fault. Jasper and his house rules and his particular way of drawling, "Oh, come on. Maybe you'll get to see some tits for once."

Getting schooled by his friend's little sister was not how Edward liked to spend his time. At least Bella seemed to have forgiven him for the previous weekend when he'd tried to dodge Jasper's attempt to trip him and wound up slamming her right into a wall. That kind of shit never happened to him. Again, he blamed Jasper; it was obviously his fault.

This was the worst idea in the world, and what ratcheted it up from terrible to downright humiliating was that Bella was a sharp. He didn't know if it was him or her or maybe just that she really was that good at bluffing―but the more hands he lost to her and the more he sipped on his Jack and Coke, it became increasingly obvious that no, he wasn't going to get one stitch of clothing off the girl. From the look on her face she was entirely aware of his disappointment, too. Another reason this was Jasper's fault; Edward hadn't even thought about what was under her clothes until Jasper put the idea in his head.

Bella looked entirely too pleased with herself as she glanced at the pile of t-shirts, socks, and one ostentatious belt-buckle courtesy of Jasper himself sitting next to the out of play poker chips and an ancient Polaroid camera that she'd been taking pictures with all night. He was quickly learning that Bella got a kick out of these kinds of things. She laughed quietly to herself before glancing over at him from under her lashes, and upped the stakes with a sly smile on her face as she tapped her fingers on the table in a steady drum. He'd never gotten to see this side of her before, he'd hadn't spent any measure of time with her outside of the past year―since she moved in with her dad―and he'd dutifully abided by the label affixed to her forehead declaring that she was Emmett's sister, and therefore off-limits. It didn't matter that Bella and Emmett weren't technically related, or that she was a year younger than the rest of his social circle. That's just what she was. Until now.

Edward folded. There was no way in hell she was getting his pants.

Jasper called and cards got thrown down, and soon Jasper's undershirt joined the growing pile of fabric sitting to the side of a very smug Bella. Edward eyed the cards warily, took a sip of his drink, and glared to his left. He was pretty sure Jasper was letting Bella win, the traitor.

If someone had told Edward a month ago that he'd be spending a Thursday night in Jasper's nearly empty house playing cards with Bella Swan and Angela Weber, well, he would have told them they were out of their fucking minds. He'd never really known either of the girls outside of school until recently. In the absence of Emmett and Edward, it seemed Jasper had busied himself making new friends. He understood Bella, to an extent, but Angela had come out of left field. He'd tried to ask Jasper about it on the sly, but Jasper had only answered that Angela had decided to take a walk on the wild side. Edward supposed it was a natural side-effect of being the child of a minister.

Edward didn't have the slightest idea when in the world Jasper had befriended the two girls. He suspected it probably had something to do with Chief Swan, Jasper, public intoxication, and handcuffs. It wouldn't be the first time; last fall Jasper had used his one phone call on Edward, and asked him to bring soda to the police station to go with the pizza he'd convinced Bella to order. Back then Bella and Jasper had only gotten along when Jasper was trapped in an eight by ten cell and had to be at least a little nice. So maybe, that was where it had started―or maybe Jasper just didn't abide by that social construct that had always kept Bella so firmly on the edge of Edward's periphery until tonight. It wouldn't be the first time for that, either.

Bella took a sip of her soda and folded the next hand with a patronizing smirk across the table at Jasper. "Please. I'm not that stupid."

Edward followed her lead and pushed his hand toward the center of the table. She'd been kicking their asses all night; it would have been stupid to stay in.

"Where'd you learn to play Poker so well?" Jasper huffed, showing annoyance for the first time as he gathered up the abandoned cards and claimed the anted chips as his own. Bella picked up the Polaroid camera from the table and snapped a picture of Jasper's scowl.

"What do you think I did when I came to visit Charlie? Sit around the house with him and Emmett and paint their nails?" Bella laughed and brushed a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. "Charlie was always either working or fishing. Emmett was always with you. The guys at the station taught me while Charlie was on duty."

Edward couldn't help but smile at the small glimpse she allowed them of too short weeks spent with her father as a child. It wasn't something he could really explain, he just liked knowing things that not many others did. Something about it felt different with Bella. An errant thought occured that maybe it was because this was the first time he'd ever gotten to actually hang out with her without the burden of labels. Tonight she wasn't Emmett's little sister. She wasn't a classmate. She wasn't even really a friend. She was just Bella, and he was starting to regret not ever getting to know her before.

Somewhere in between drinks number five and fifteen Bella stood and stretched, and Edward couldn't quite help the way his eyes settled on her as she walked away from the table toward the hallway.

"See something you like?" Jasper asked quietly, with an all too knowing grin.

"Fuck off."

Jasper was far too good at spotting exactly what you didn't want him to see.

"Don't be so sensitive, it's a nice view."

Angela snickered from across the table and cocked an eyebrow at Edward's half-hearted glare. She was a fun girl; he could see how she and Bella were friends. What Edward didn't understand was why he hadn't ever known they were friends until a few hours prior when the pair of them showed up on Jasper's doorstep―the only two people in town they could wrangle up for an impromptu party celebrating… well, they weren't really celebrating anything. They needed more friends. Emmett had always been the one who got along with everyone; Jasper and Edward were just along for the ride.

When Bella made her way back to the table she had a fedora resting on top of her head, like it was the most natural thing in the world, like that hat belonged on her head.

"How many times have I told you to stay out of my closet?" Jasper asked with not nearly enough irritation in his voice for anyone to take him seriously.

"It looks better on me than it does you."

Edward laughed, a little louder than he'd intended, at the scowl Jasper shot across the table before picking up the cards and shuffling through them. He'd had just enough to drink that it seemed like a marvelous idea to throw in his own two cents. "Sure does."

"You would think so," Jasper shot back.

The cards were suddenly so much more interesting.

Edward let out a breath of relief when Angela finally had mercy on the situation and asked Bella, "So, where's your brother? I thought he'd be strutting around in his cut-offs by now."

"Oh, he found himself some blonde surfer chick in Palo Alto. Apparently bros before hoes is conditional on the hoe," Jasper answered.

Bella picked a pretzel out of the bowl sitting to her left and flicked it at Jasper's face in retaliation. "You should be happy for him. He told me he's in love with her."

Jasper grunted in a way that meant he was feeling uncomfortable with the topic at hand; he never was any good with conversation once it inched anywhere near emotional. Edward considered drawing it out further for a moment but immediately changed his mind. Emmett and Jasper had one thing that had always connected them, and that was the death of their parents. Jasper had only been a baby when he lost his mother. When his father died he'd been older―nearly an adult―and no matter how poor his methods of coping were, he still managed. Meanwhile, Emmett had just been a kid when Chief Swan took custody of him, and the loss had hit much harder. Emmett and Jasper had both fought long and hard to make it past the events that stole away the people who loved them, or in Jasper's case, were supposed to. Jasper hadn't quite gotten to a place where he could give and take love freely yet, but it seemed Emmett had, and there wasn't anyone sitting at the table who didn't fully believe that Emmett deserved every single bit of happiness he could find.

"He's coming home soon, though, right?" Edward asked. He knew the answer already, but he was starting to feel the effects of too many drinks and couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Yeah, in a few weeks. Rosalie, his girlfriend, she's coming to meet Charlie at the end of the summer before they go back to school." Bella smiled and shook her head. "Never thought I'd see the day when Emmett brought a girl home to meet the Chief."

"Hey, now!" Angela laughed. "Have you forgotten those glorious ten days I dated him?"

"You already knew Charlie, that doesn't count."

"Sure it does," Angela argued. "I got the pleasure of being introduced as 'Er… Charlie, this is my… uh… my girlfriend…'"

The deep voice Angela had used to imitate Emmett's was even funnier than her description of how uncomfortable Emmett had been that day. Edward remembered it particularly well; the first chance Emmett got had seen him showing up at Edward's house shaking his head and insisting he was in way over his head. Emmett and Angela had broken up two days later; neither party seemed bothered by it. At the time Jasper had theorized that Angela was a lot like himself and Emmett, even if he wasn't sure why. She didn't seem like she was looking for anything serious.

While Emmett and Jasper had always made a conscious effort to never get attached, Edward was a bit more subtle. He'd dated, a little, in high-school; had hooked up with girls at parties and mixers at Harvard, but he'd never sought out a relationship. He told himself it wasn't the same as it was with Jasper and Emmett. His parents may not have spent all that much time together when he was growing up, but that was the price Carlisle paid for his job. Still, in the infrequent family dinners and nights out it was easy to see how much his parents loved each other.

Edward just hadn't met anyone who was interesting enough to make him want to work for it. Through the haze of alcohol and laughter he had an errant thought that whispered 'until now.'

Edward glanced to the right to see Bella biting her bottom lip in an attempt to stifle her laughter, and was surprised to realize that in the time he'd known her, Bella didn't seem all that interested in dating either. He wondered why that was.

Conversation seemed to lull as Angela took her turn to deal the cards; He couldn't explain the need he felt to keep it going. It was almost like if too much time went by without words then he wouldn't be able to control the intense desire he had to stare at Bella's profile and try to figure out the answers to all the questions he had swirling around in his increasingly foggy head.

"What are you studying at that fancy school of yours?" Angela asked as she raised the bet.

Bella folded and Edward called before answering, "I'm pre-med."

"Like Carlisle?" Angela asked with a small smile. He didn't think he'd ever become comfortable with the way the girls of Forks lusted after his father.

"Yeah, like Carlisle." The words left an almost bitter taste in his mouth, and he wondered why that was. There wasn't anything about this conversation that was off the mark. Maybe it was that he had a burning desire to define himself, and all that anyone ever seemed to be able to say about him was that he was just like his dad. He wasn't so sure anymore that attending Carlisle's alma mater to study his profession was the best way to set himself apart.

He didn't really want to talk about it. That grand idea of becoming a doctor just like his dad had lost some of its sheen over the past year. Faced with the reality of all it entailed had been like a bucket of cold water dumped over his head. Edward never really considered that he wouldn't find the medical profession all that exciting, but he didn't know what else to do.

He needed to change the subject, so he turned to Bella. "You're going to the University of Florida, right?"

Edward wasn't even entirely sure how he knew that tidbit of information. It must have been something Emmett had told him and just stuck.

"I suppose I am," Bella answered. She didn't sound very enthusiastic about it, so he refrained from asking the fifty other questions floating through his head.

He wondered what she was going to major in, if she'd even decided yet. He wanted to know if she was going to live in the dorms, if she'd talked to her roommate yet. He wanted to know what classes she was taking and which ones she was most excited for. He couldn't remember ever wanting to ask so many questions in his life. He wanted so badly to know if she was planning on completing her degree there, or if the University of Florida was a college chosen because her mother lived nearby, and she had hopes of completing her education elsewhere. He didn't even try to pretend that he wasn't thinking of just how well she'd fit in at Harvard. He could think of six girls that lived in his dormitory that she would get along with.

An hour later Edward was sure he had Bella at his mercy with three tens; he wound up giving up his pants.

"Why the hell are we playing this game again?" he grumbled before shooting an accusatory glare in Jasper's direction as Bella pushed another stack of chips in his direction with a smirk on her face. It was almost worth the humiliation of being the first to lose their pants when Bella didn't quite tear her gaze away from his lap before he caught her. At least that was encouraging, but a split-second later he shook his head once and remembered that he wasn't supposed to be thinking these things about the pretty girl to his right.

"Because Jasper's a pervert, and we couldn't find the Twister spinner." Bella rolled her eyes. The gesture would have been more convincing if she hadn't also been smiling. "Too bad he didn't realize that Angela and I are the best poker players at the table. Perhaps he should have been angling for strip-Go Fish."

"Shut up," Jasper grumbled.

"Yes, dear." Bella was having entirely too much fun with this.

It was colossally unfair that she was so damn attractive when she got that teasing smirk on her face. It was something he wanted to see more often. Edward kind of wanted her to keep winning. He definitely wanted to watch her beat Jasper into the ground, and he figured that was as good a reason as any to keep playing.

It was well past two in the morning by the time the final hand was dealt. Along the way the chips had evened out somewhat; Edward figured it was because once the booze caught up to Angela, Bella lost interest. Or maybe it was just that she decided to have mercy on them. It didn't matter which to him, though Jasper was obviously disappointed that his master plan of getting them out of their bras had failed. Not that something so simple would stop Jasper; the moment he escalated his flirtation with Angela was the moment Edward was ready to leave the room.

He snatched his clothes from the table and pulled his t-shirt over his head before heading through the living room toward the stairs. There was a ridiculously comfortable bed at the end of the hallway upstairs, and it had his drunk ass's name on it.

Bella followed a few moments afterward, and he stopped between two doors that opened into the guest bedrooms―formerly a study and Jasper's parent's room―and inhibition escaped him long enough to tell her, "I can't believe I've never hung out with you before."

He felt like a moron.

"We've hung out before." Bella laughed. She leaned against the hallway wall and tilted her head. "But not quite like this, I think."

"No, not like this." He didn't know why it felt so different. He was irrationally pissed that Emmett's sister couldn't have been boring or obnoxious.

"It was fun, even if you did wind up mostly naked. Or maybe more so… I'm having trouble deciding." Bella fiddled with a black piece of fabric in her hand as she spoke. It took him a moment to realize it was Jasper's shirt.

"You're taking that as payment?"

"Pajamas." She smiled at him again, and he knew it couldn't possibly be a good thing that their conversation felt so easy, yet charged with something he couldn't identify.

"I'm sure he won't miss it."

"Oh, you know Jasper. He'll probably thank me in the morning for ensuring he didn't have to flirt fully clothed. I'm pretty sure he was playing to lose anyway."

"Look at you, helping Jasper try to get laid," Edward laughed at the blush that spread over her cheeks. "Were you supposed to be his wingman tonight?"

"Not quite," Bella answered, but he caught her cringe and the way she avoided looking at him for a moment. Why couldn't he have figured out she did that earlier? Poker would have been much less of a train wreck.

"Angela?" he guessed. Bella huffed and Edward knew he was right. "She is aware that she doesn't need a wingman with Jasper, right?"

"Oh, it wasn't like that! I think she was just curious about him."

Edward was about to tease her again when she covered her mouth and yawned, and he realized just how tired he was. It probably wasn't a good idea to be talking so plainly with her when he was feeling so distinctly uninhibited. His track record with Bella was littered with embarrassment and mishaps as it was. He had no idea when he started caring so much about impressing her. It had to be somewhere between the time he spilled soda down the back of her shirt and the time he told her that he loved Boston, only to have her give him a look that clearly said she thought he was a moron and ask, 'But isn't Harvard in Cambridge?'

"I think I need to pass out before I make an ass out of myself again," he muttered to himself. Too loudly, obvious by Bella's snickering.

"Hey, you only knocked over the pretzels once tonight, don't sell yourself short."

Fuck, he'd forgotten about that.

"It's actually kind of nice," Bella continued, barely stifling her laughter. She was beautiful when she smiled. "Usually I'm the klutzy one making messes all over the place."

"I swear, I'm usually not such an idiot."

"Go to bed you little lush." Bella grinned before standing on her toes to ruffle his hair. "I promise you'll be smarter in the morning."

She smiled again as she passed him to head toward a room further down the hall. When he pushed his door open she called out to him, and he turned to see a curious expression on her face.

"Yeah?" He was momentarily blinded by the flash of her camera.

"It was good to see you again."

He couldn't be sure, but he thought the dark flowing hair and soft smile in his dreams that night might have been hers.


A/N: Chapter 3 on Sunday, 12/4. A teaser will go up on my blog at some point.