Bella

"Bella."

I felt a kick to my bed.

"Go away Alice!"

"Bella, get up." Cool air rushed over me as my blankets were pulled away.

"What the hell Alice?!" I shot up out of bed, feeling miserable as ever. My head felt like a two-ton elephant was sitting on it.

"What the hell happened to you?" Alice plopped down on the bed beside me.

"Whiskey…and Edward Cullen."

"Yeah that's what I wanted to talk to you about. What were you doing on the roof with him? He's Emmett's brother Bella!" Alice was having one of her rants when I did something she didn't approve of.

Everyone in town knew the Cullen's story, but nobody ever spoke about it. Emmett and Edward's dad Carlisle left Edward's mother for Emmett's. Edward's mother, Elizabeth, was from the wrong side of the tracks and Emmett's mother belonged to one of the richest families in town. It was no contest in Carlisle's eyes, Esme was the only choice. In his defense they were all pretty young. Edward is just a few months older than Emmett and couldn't be any more different.

Emmett was popular, the typical jock. He lettered in track, football, basketball, and soccer. He was tall, blonde and muscular. Edward was more of the silent rebel type. He was barely ever seen without his leather jacket or a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He was really smart, but didn't bother to go to school much. In all honesty, Edward was more of my type, but Emmett got to me first. He was fun and crazy and exactly what I needed when I first moved here. Now that I'm a little older, his immaturity is starting to get to me. Everything's a game for him.

"You know Emmett's ready to kick his ass for whatever he was pulling last night." Alice stretched out on the end of the bed.

"Alice, he didn't really pull anything. If anyone was pulling anything it was me…" I fidgeted nervously with my hands. What was I thinking last night? That was so stupid.

Alice shot me a look of disgust.

"I was pissed at Emmett….again. And Edward was nice to me. You know I think he's a really sweet guy, underneath the hard exterior."

There was something…different about Edward. Something mysterious and intriguing. He wasn't bad to look at either. He had perfectly bronzed skin that complemented his sandy brown hair. He wasn't as muscular as Emmett by any means, but he was built. I could see the definition of his muscles underneath his shirt last night. But the best thing about Edward was his amazing emerald eyes. It was his eyes that captivated me so much last night…or maybe it was the whiskey…or a combination of both. Whatever it was, there was some kind of spark there last night and if I wasn't careful I could be getting myself into big trouble.

"So," I started. "Are you going to be the amazing best friend I know you are and help me clean up?" I flashed her a brilliant, pleading smile.

"Oh Bella, I wish I could but I don't want to." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Thanks a lot, jerk." I gently kicked her off my bed. She landed on the floor with a large thump. We both started laughing as she picked herself off the floor.

We both froze and turned towards the strange moaning sound coming from behind my bedroom door.

I shuffled towards it and slowly opened my door, only to have Emmett fall to my feet completely passed out. He had dicks drawn all over his face in marker and a missing eyebrow. What wonderful friends he has.

"Emmett! Get up!" I bent down and nudged him a couple times.

"No Mom! Just five more minutes!"

I punched him. Hard. I didn't feel bad about it, it was necessary.

"Shit Bella, why are you always hitting me?"

"I don't know Emmett why are you such an ass?"

I walked past him, down to the kitchen and grabbed a very large trash bag.

"Later Bella." Alice slipped out the front door. Emmett followed a few minutes after, shaking his head and running his finger over the spot where his eyebrow should be.

I headed out to the backyard, trash bag in hand, ready to pick up the disaster left from last night.

My lawn looked like it had literally rained beer cans. I bent down, picking up the first in what was to be many empty ones. I made my way around the yard in a slow, sauntering manner. Why did I let him do this? I was always the one left cleaning up his mess. I suddenly felt like I was being watched, like a pair of eyes were searing into the back of my head.

I turned hesitantly and there he was on his balcony, pulling the cigarette slowly from his mouth. He managed a half-ass wave and I wondered if I should acknowledge him or not. I was pretty embarrassed about my display last night, but I flashed him a small smile. He returned the favor before ducking back inside. Crisis avoided. I really should stay away from him. The butterflies in my stomach were a definite reminder of that.

I went back to my work. I idly tossed some cans into my bag, which was getting pretty heavy. I started dragging it behind me. I came up to a can with what looked like green chunks on it. Cocking my head to one side and looking at it as if it was contaminated, I wondered to myself if I should chance touching it. I bent down slowly and pinched the can by the smallest amount possible. I whipped back to throw it in my bag, which was now held open by Edward Cullen.

"Thanks," I said as I tossed the revolting can into the pile.

"I can't believe you touched that." His face held a mock look of horror.

"Oh I'm a country girl, I've touched things that your little Suburban ears shouldn't even hear about."

He laughed at that and began following me around the yard carrying the overflowing bag.

"So…why isn't Emmett helping you with this?," he said as I tossed another can in.

"Because Emmett only cares about himself. He always has the fun and I'm left cleaning up his mess."

"Then why do you do it?"

I turned to face him. His eyes were burning into mine, like he really was interested in my life. I couldn't break his gaze, no matter how much I tried.

"I...uh. I don't know."

When I finally broke away from him I looked to find that we'd finished the entire yard and I didn't even notice. It was so easy being with him, talking to him. Time just flew by.

"Well thanks for helping me, that was really nice of you." I grabbed the bag from him, our hands meeting briefly in the exchange.

"Hey umm. Would you want to..hang out tonight? I mean if you're free from Hulk."

I closed my eyes, taking in his request. No. Say no Bella. This is just asking for trouble. I wanted to say no, I needed to say no.

"Yes." I can't believe I just did that. How did he have that type of power over me, I've talked to the guy a couple times in my entire life. I turned to face him and smiled.

"So what do you want to do?," I asked.

He shuffled his feet a little and looked down at the ground. I'd never seen him act so nervous before. Did he have the butterflies too? No, that's impossible Bella don't be ridiculous.

"Just bring your Ipod, I'll bring the rest." He flashed a crooked smile my way. I felt my heart flutter a little. I lost my train of thought. I didn't realize I'd been holding my breath until I started feeling dizzy. He caught me as I swayed, my knees buckling while I fell towards him.

"Wow are you okay?" I looked down at his hands wrapped around my arms. I could feel it. The electricity between us, like a livewire.

"Yeah yeah I'm fine. I just haven't eaten anything today." Good thing I was a good liar. If he knew I stumbled just because he smiled at me that way I'd be absolutely mortified.

"Well you should get on that, don't want you fainting without someone there to catch you."

As long as he was going to be around to catch me, maybe I should faint more often.

"Yeah I'll go take care of that," I said with a nervous laugh. "So where are we meeting?"

"Our spot, ten o'clock." He must have seen the confused look on my face. His head nodded towards my roof where we had met last night. My heart fluttered when he called it "our spot."

"Alright," I said turning towards the house. "I'll see you later then."

He started back to his house, throwing one more smile my way before disappearing inside.

Oh boy.

I tied the bag of cans and set them in the garage before going inside and making myself a sandwich. I didn't taste a bite of it because I was still in shock over what happened. Do I have a date with Edward Cullen? I took another bite. No. No it wasn't a date. We're just.."hanging out." We're friends. Friends can just hang out. On a roof. Alone. Perfectly normal friend thing to do.

"Earth to Bella!"

I snapped out of my daze. Alice was standing in front of me, snacking on a piece of cheese and tapping her foot impatiently.

"Geez Alice, perfect timing, I just got done cleaning up."

"I do have impeccable timing, I'll admit that. So what are we doing tonight? That new movie has a showing at like 9:30, are you game?" She sat down on the barstool next to mine.

"I uh…I have a doctor's appointment." I needed a rock solid alibi.

"At 9:30 at night?"

"Um no. No I mean I have one tomorrow morning, early. Very early. I need to go to bed early tonight. Sorry."

"Boo." She didn't look that disappointed. I knew she wanted to spend time with Jasper anyway. I was doing her a favor by lying to her. She'd thank me later, I'm sure.

Alice hung around for the next couple of hours, gossiping about different things she'd heard at the party last night and looking through the latest issue of Cosmo. My mind was elsewhere. To be exact it was about 25 feet to the left.

By 9:45, Alice had left and I was pacing nervously in my room. Maybe I should cancel? No, that'd be rude. He's just trying to be nice. I pulled my curtain aside and glanced towards his window. The light was on, but I couldn't see him. Suddenly a shadow moved across the window and pulled back the curtain. I instantly fell to the floor. Oh God, I hope he didn't see me. Please, please don't let him see me. I inched closer to the bottom of the window and decided to chance it and peak up. He was smiling his crooked smile right at me. What was he trying to pull? I suddenly got a little agitated. Was he trying to seduce me or something? Maybe he knew just what he was doing. I tried to reason through every possible scenario. Well, I thought to myself with a smile. Step right up if you're ready for the challenge Mr. Cullen. You're little cute, sexy mask isn't going to work on me. My face fell because I realized that I honestly wanted it to work. I had just entered the "danger zone." Crap. I have a crush on Edward Cullen.

I ran back to my mirror, re-evaluating my appearance. I pulled my hair out of the causal ponytail I had put it in and ran a fresh coat of blush across my cheeks. Maybe he'll think I'm asking for it. I eyed my Strawberry body spray. Eh, what the hell? I gave it a few quick sprays before grabbing my IPod and heading out my window.