I'd like to thank my LC – Rags, Allysue08, Spellboundagain, Alitriona, and Shereebedee. You guys make this story post-worthy :)

I'd also like to thank WhatObsession17 for helping me come up with the sexy glasses. We googled for hours, so I owe a lot to her! Thanks bb!

As usual, I am only leasing these guys.

*Btw, this story will only be from BPOV*

What's in a brain?

August 25, 2009

My alarm went off, so I hit the snooze button and buried my face in my pillow. I didn't sleep well the night before because all I could think about was what had happened earlier in Lit between Edward and me. What exactly had happened? He had been so sweet in the hall. He took my bag for me and showed me to class. He smiled and introduced himself. Everything seemed fine. I thought I might have found a new friend – and on the first day! Go me!

But apparently I was wrong. I couldn't figure out what I had done. Whatever it was, it seemed like I repulsed Edward. Even though this wasn't the first time someone had blatantly disregarded me, it hurt more than it ever had before. Maybe because for the first time in my life, I wasn't perceived as Geekella. Maybe, just maybe, because I thought this gorgeous man could possibly be interested in me. Maybe I was delusional.

My alarm blasted again, so I reached over and shut it off. I growled and pulled the pillow from my face. Angela was sitting at her desk and giggling. "Good morning, Sunshine. Rough night?"

"You have no idea, Angela. And what makes it worse is the fact that I have…" I looked at my clock and grumbled, "less than thirty minutes to get to my torture class, better known as Physiology."

Yes, my father might have referred to me as a 'genius', but my intelligence shouldn't be mistaken for enthusiasm, because anything related to science was pure and utter torture for me. My brain just didn't like science, no matter how hard I tried.

I dressed quickly and ran to the coffee shop. There was no way I could sit through a somnolent class after having been sleep deprived already without the aid of massive amounts of caffeine.

I glanced at my phone and realized I had three minutes to get to class and I was still a good five minutes from the building. This year is not starting well for me.

I opened the classroom door and tried to quietly make my way to a seat when I realized that that was an impossible task. The door was at the front of the room – just my luck – and the room was packed. There was one measly seat left and it just so happened to be in the far back corner opposite of the door I was walking through. So much for going unnoticed.

I kept my head down, not just in order to avoid eye contact, but also to watch my ever clumsy feet, and shuffled quickly to the back of the room. I found my seat and opened my bag to retrieve my books. Once I was situated, I realized the room was completely quiet. I looked around and noticed everyone was staring at me – including the professor.

"Miss Swan, I presume?" she asked pretentiously.

Great…it seems Professor Stanley wasn't a very patient or friendly professor.

"Uh, yes, ma'am, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

As I went to lower my eyes from her gaze, I was distracted by a head of messy bronze hair. Even though I couldn't see his face, I knew it was Edward. He had the most unique hair I had ever seen. I willed him to look at me, but he never did.

The class went just as I had anticipated; boring and dull. It didn't help much that Professor Stanley had an annoyingly nasal voice and spoke monotonously. Why can't she teach a class that I enjoy? WHY? Oh, because the world hates me…

When class ended, I gathered my things slowly in order to be the last person out of the room. I really didn't want to come face to face with Edward just to be rejected yet again. Well, I guess I wasn't exactly rejected last time, but it sure felt like it.

As I zipped my bag, I looked up and saw him standing beside his desk, with his hand in his hair. He had his back to me, but he was completely still. I saw his shoulders rise with a deep breath and he sighed before he slowly walked toward the door. Just as he walked through the doorway, he glanced at me, but it was so quickly that I thought I might have imagined it.

Lucky for me, I had two more classes that day – both were Edward-free zones – so I was preoccupied enough to keep my mind off him. No, that wasn't true. I was distracted enough so that I managed to keep my thoughts away from Edward for a majority of the time. What am I saying? I couldn't concentrate on anything but Edward. I needed to get him out of my head. This wasn't at all like me. I never had a hard time focusing. I had never ever been obsessed with a boy before. Of course, part of that might have been the fact that there hadn't been a single noteworthy male specimen in Forks to garner my obsession.

I pulled out my cell and called Angela to see if she wanted something from the deli before I headed back to the dorm. We settled on ham and cheese croissants and an order of steak fries to share.

After the two of us traded stories about our second day in class (of course I left out the part about Edward), Angela settled in at her desk to respond to emails. I curled up on my bed with a worn copy of Gone with the Wind, knowing darn good and well I wouldn't actually be reading it. Sure enough, one paragraph in, and my mind couldn't concentrate on Scarlett…no, Scarlett made me think of red. Red made me think of green. Green made me think of Edward. Of course.

After an hour of reading the same two paragraphs over and over again, I finally decided to just try to go to sleep. I took two Tylenol PMs for good measure and turned toward the wall. It wasn't long before I managed to pass out.

August 26, 2009

I walked into Lit fifteen minutes early in order to avoid the decision of where to sit. I didn't want to come into class and be forced to choose whether or not to sit beside Edward. I didn't want to assume anything about our seating arrangement. I needed to leave the choice up to him, and I really doubted that he would choose to sit beside me yet again.

I sat in the same seat and began to unload my bag. I heard the door open and shut and I just assumed it was Prof. Denali, so I continued to root through my things, looking for my favorite pen. Several seconds later, I felt, rather than saw, someone sit in the seat beside me. I glanced up to see Edward sitting there timidly. He had his hands in his lap and was staring at his fingers. Well, at least he still sat beside me, that's a good thing, right?

I took a moment to gawk at Edward. Yes, I was thoroughly gawking. I wasn't about to deny that. The reason for this was that Edward was wearing a pair of gunmetal Burberry glasses and looked sexy as all get out. He was wearing another button-down, much like he had before, but this time in navy blue, which oddly enough made his green eyes even more alluring. And he topped off his outfit with black denim acid wash button-fly jeans. Had I mentioned how gorgeous this man was?

Edward looked over, noticing me staring – gaping actually – and half grinned at me. He took a deep breath and spoke softly, "Good morning, Bella. How are you today?" He was fidgeting again and wouldn't make eye contact.

"So…uh, you aren't going to avoid me today?" Crap! I hadn't planned on blurting that out.

Edward flinched, "Yeah, about that…I'm really sorry for rushing off the other day, I was…well, I had…I was in a hurry." I don't think so…

"Riiiight…you were in a hurry? Okay." I figured I should let it go, even though I didn't believe him for a second. I didn't want to push away the only friend I had so far, other than Angela. Is he even my friend, yet? "Anyway, I'm doing fine. I didn't sleep well last night, but I pumped myself full of caffeine before class, so I should be good for a while." I smiled. "How about you?"

Edward licked his lips and I had a sudden urge to lick them myself. Sheesh! "Well, I'm better now…" he trailed off. Now? As opposed to when?

"As opposed to when?" Darn my brain filter…apparently it hasn't woken up yet!

Edward chuckled humorlessly and responded, "I have…well…I have been feeling really crappy since I walked out abruptly on Monday…and I feel…better now that I am able to speak to you again. I feel bad, and I would like to apologize." He swallowed and looked up at me. "Would you…um…maybe want to grab a bite to eat after class?" Edward looked back down to his desk and said, "I mean…I understand if you would rather not, I just, well…I'd like to try to make it up to you." Edward was blushing profusely.

I smiled a bit too widely to appear nonchalant and quietly said, "I'd like that, Edward."

His eyes widened and he finally looked into my eyes and grinned. "Really? Okay…cool."

The room started to fill with other students so Edward and I weren't able to continue talking. I was pretty much on an Edward-induced high for the rest of class and missed nearly everything Prof. Denali said. When I realized everyone was shifting in their seats to pack up and leave, I started to close my notebook and noticed what I had been doodling during class. I nervously glanced over at Edward to make sure he hadn't seen. He didn't seem affected, so hopefully this meant he hadn't. There was no way I could have gone to lunch with him if he had seen that page.

Class was then dismissed and when I looked at Edward he was already standing beside my desk and grinning. "Shall we?"

I stood and smiled as well. "Absolutely!" As I lifted my bag to my shoulder, Edward reached out and grabbed it, shrugging just before slipping it over his shoulder along with his. I rolled my eyes and began walking toward the door giggling.

I followed Edward in a very awkward silence to the nearby deli. I desperately wanted to start up a conversation, but I had no clue how to begin. Did I ever mention that I had never been alone with a guy before? Yeah…not many guys in Forks had wanted to be seen with Geekella, so I hadn't ever had an opportunity to date. But right then I was really wishing I had at least some experience in small talk.

We placed our order and had a seat at a nearby table. I cleared my throat and started to say something, anything, but Edward beat me to it, thank God.

"So, Umbella, where are you from?" Edward smirked as he drew out the nickname he used.

"Oh, so is this what you plan to call me now?" I quirked an eyebrow.

Edward shrugged one shoulder and scrunched his lips as if he was thinking, then nodded with a smile.

I laughed, "Alrighty then. So, I grew up in a small town in Washington. I doubt you have heard of it. There are like five people who live there. Anyway, since I was always bored, I read…a whole lot. The more I read, the smarter I got. The smarter I got, the less friends I had. The fewer friends I had, the more I read. So in essence, it was a never-ending circle. However, I'm fine with that. I've always been a bit of a loner, like my dad, I guess. I'm quite happy with how things turned out. I didn't have the normal teenage distractions in high school, so my grades never faltered and I was able to reach my goals…above them actually." Holy cow…ramble much?

Luckily for me, Edward seemed to be rather interested in my odd ramblings. He had been smiling at me the whole time. "Try me."

Excuse me? Try what?

"Excuse me? T-t-try what?" Apparently my filter wasn't coming back anytime soon. This could be bad…very, very bad. My heart rate had risen to unhealthy measures and I was pretty sure my mouth was drier than the Serengeti, but my hands were shaking too bad for me to even attempt to take a drink of my soda.

Edward's smile became a smirk and he chuckled lightly, "The town you lived in. Tell me the name. You'd be surprised what I know about the US."

I breathed a sigh of relief. I needed to do something about my mind going straight to the gutter with this boy. I had never even thought some of the things that were roaming through my mind as of late, let alone actually fantasizing about them like I had been. Maybe I should consider having 'the talk' with Angela. I mean, sure, I had done all of the research on sex and sex-related…eh, activities, but I had never had anyone to actually discuss these activities with. What was the norm? What was acceptable? How far did guys go on the first date? These were things I needed to know. But then again, I guess I was kind of jumping the gun with this whole, eh, relationship thing with Edward. Just because he took me out to lunch didn't mean he had planned on going any further with this. Oh, and if I didn't stop the babbling in my head and speak to him soon, his eyebrows were no longer going to reside on his face.

During my internal ramblings, Edward's eyebrows had inched higher and higher into his hairline indicating he was patiently awaiting my elaboration of my hometown. I physically shook my head to shut up my inane thoughts. "Sorry…yeah…um…Forks…that's the town I grew up in."

Edward's eyes lit up in recognition. "Ah, Forks, Washington. Forks is a city in Clallum County. The population was 3,120 at the 2000 census. It is named after the forks in the nearby Quillayute, Bogachiel, Calawah, and Sol Duc rivers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Forks has a total area of three point one square miles. Forks was officially incorporated on August 28, 1945 following an election of the constituents who would become its first town members. Forks is the home of the nations longest Fourth of July celebration called, 'Forks' Old Fashioned 4th of July.' It is also the birthplace of the Emmy award winning actress Leann Hunley, who has played a recurring role on the long running NBC drama Days of our Lives since 1982." By the time Edward finished his speech, he was smiling proudly and my chin had nearly unhinged itself from my face and dropped into my plate of food which I hadn't touched.

Wow…I think I'm in love…

"Wow…I think I'm –" holy freaking crap, I nearly let that one slip. "Actually, I am quite impressed. Do you…do that a lot? Just research random towns and memorize their history?" I had finally stopped shaking enough to take a drink of my soda, which was a very good thing, because I didn't think I would be able to speak another word if I didn't get some form of lubricant in my mouth. And there went my mind straight back to the gutter at the thought of lubricant. Is this what boys deal with on a daily basis? Cause, I don't know how much of this I can handle…

"Actually, I happened to have a lot of free time on my hands as well in high school, so I spent most of my time researching towns across America that weren't well known. I have…well…a, um…eidetic memory…" He mumbled the last part as if he was ashamed of it. He had broken eye contact with me midway through his sentence, making it obvious how uncomfortable he was admitting this. "That's, um –"

"A photographic memory, yes, I know." I smiled when he looked at me in shock. "Why do you act as if you're ashamed of that?" Okay…that could have come out a bit more tactfully.

"Well…that was one of the things that caused me to have a lot of free time. Most people are put off by that fact. They think I feel superior to them and then…well, no one ever wants me to see anything for fear that I will hold it against them for the rest of their lives or something crazy like that." He snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry, I won't hold that against you," I chuckled. "I happen to be a very visual person, myself. Though I may not have a photographic memory, my memory is largely based on visuals. This is why I tend to take an inordinate amount of notes in all of my classes. I tend to remember things as I see them rather than hear them. So, yeah…don't be ashamed of that around me. I think it's rather…cute." I knew I was blushing excessively with that statement, but yet again, my mouth spoke before my brain could silence it.

Edward had gone back to smiling as he took a bite of his sandwich. I took that moment to finally take a bite of mine as well. We ate in silence for a few moments and then I realized he hadn't stated his hometown to me. I swallowed my bite and took a sip of my soda, then cleared my throat.

"So…you didn't tell me where you grew up. Is it top secret? Are you a secret agent for the FBI? CIA?"

We both chuckled and he started explaining, "I actually grew up in Chicago. But just because I lived in a city of two point eight million people, doesn't mean I wasn't any less bored than you were. It seems that I, too, was more of a loner than a people person, which was a good thing because the kids in my schools not only didn't like intelligent kids, they outright despised them. So I learned quite early on that I was my own best friend. I spent all of my free time teaching myself things…some of it useful, some of it impractical, but all of it was knowledge…and, well, I sort of have an addiction to knowledge, I guess you could say." He shrugged and laughed humorlessly.

"I don't believe it. I mean…I never would have thought you would have a hard time with friends. You are so friendly and ha –" No, no…must not mention how incredibly gorgeous he is. "Helpful. People in Chicago must lack brain function or something. I can't believe people wouldn't want to be friends with you." I almost reached out and rubbed his hand in a comforting manner, but thought better of that…

"So…we share Physiology and American Lit, but I know nothing else about you. What do you plan to be when you grow up, Umbella?" Edward was grinning his sexy crooked grin again and I nearly lost all coherency.

"Actually, I plan to be a Lit professor. All the time I spent reading books as I grew up gave me an exorbitant appreciation for literature. I guess you could say, 'I never met a book I didn't like'. Sure, there are less than wonderful books out there, but I am thoroughly intrigued by the many different aspects of literature, be it politically incorrect, morally rejected, or nonsensical fluff…I tend to see the best of them all. I am quite the bookworm." I snickered and pushed up my imaginary reading glasses. "So, what about you, Edward? What are your plans?"

"Well, during all of my self-imposed education, I discovered an interest in psychology. I am extremely fascinated with the human psyche and how it works; therefore that is my major. I'm most likely going into forensic psychology as a career."

I totally just saw Edward take over the role of Greg in CSI. My mind may have gone further with that fantasy…like possibly including him in a Star Trek uniform…

The rest of our lunch passed with amiable conversation about school and future plans. I really enjoyed talking with Edward – well, once I regained control of my brain filter, that is.

We parted ways after exchanging email addresses and I may have silently squealed at the prospect of having a permanent form of communication with Edward.

Once I made it into my dorm, I looked down at his email address and literally snorted out loud…and subsequently drooled.

Closet_Trekkie(at)hotmail(dot)com

September 10th, 2009

The last few weeks had been filled with many conversations between us. I hadn't had to worry with making the first move, because Edward had emailed me later that night telling me he had enjoyed our lunch together. Of course I replied in agreement. From that point on, Edward and I had emailed each other several times a day and even started texting as well. We had also made a habit of going out to lunch after every Lit class. Much to my dismay, we couldn't go out after Physiology because Edward had a class immediately after.

This morning, as I was getting ready for Lit – I admit I dressed up a bit more for this class than any other – I heard my phone buzz with a text. I grinned, because Edward and Angela were the only ones who would text me, and since Angela happened to be lying in her bed at that very moment, I knew it had to be Edward.

I'm at the coffee shop, thought I'd pick you up your usual ;) meet you in class.

Have I said how I think I'm in love?

Class was uneventful – well, as uneventful as sitting next to Edward could possibly be – and afterwards Edward apologized to me and explained that he had been trying to get an appointment with his Psychology professor and that the only available time was right after our Lit class. I told him I totally understood and we could chat later that evening.

Angela came in around four pm, bouncing on her heels. "Bella, Bella, Bella! How much do you love me? Please, please tell me you love me enough to be my wingman tomorrow?" I already didn't like the sound of this.

"Wingman for what exactly, Angela?" I asked cautiously.

"Well, see…remember me telling you about Ben from my Calculus class?"

Of course I remembered that. That was the night I finally spilled my guts about my lack of experience in all things male. Luckily, Angela – who was also inexperienced – had an older sister who loved to flaunt her…um…escapades in front of Angela rather frequently, so she was able to give me quite the rundown that evening. During that time, the both of us discussed, in depth might I add, our objects of affection with each other.

"Yes, I remember…" I didn't like where this was going.

"Well, Ben invited me to his frat party tomorrow night and…well, I can't go without someone else I know being there, Bella. Please, please, please, please go with me! I promise you I will do anything you ask of me! I will do your laundry for a month! Please, Bella! You know I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't important to me," she whined.

Angela knew I wasn't a partygoer, however, neither was she. We had acknowledged this from the very beginning because we had both been worried about having a roommate who would interfere with our mediocre life of solitude and quietness. Therefore I knew she was being honest about not asking me if it didn't mean a great deal to her, so reluctantly, I agreed.

"Okay, Angela…but I'm not drinking, so don't even ask!" That was all I needed; to get drunk around a bunch of horny upperclassmen who could take advantage of me and I would never even know who they were.

She held up her hand like Mork from Ork and said, "I swear to not even ask!"

We both giggled and she grabbed me by the shoulders and started spinning around squealing, "Our first frat party! Our first frat party!" Um…how about 'only' frat party…

This put a bit of a damper on my mood for the rest of the evening, because I wasn't really looking forward to a party – let alone a frat party.

However, after dinner, my mood lightened a bit when I checked my email and there was a sweet note from Edward.

Umbella, I am very sorry to have missed lunch with you today. I have to say it makes for a rather dismal outlook on the weekend for me. However, I will patiently wait for Monday when I can see your smiling face once again.

Sleep well, Bella,

Edward

I was grinning from ear to ear when I emailed him back.

Edward, You are very sweet, you know that? I hardly think lunch with me makes your weekend less dismal, but it was a sweet thing to say. I, too, will be waiting patiently for our next meeting.

Sleep well yourself, Edward,

Bella

On that note, I went to bed in much better spirits. Regardless of what the next day held for me, I knew Edward was thinking about me just as I was thinking about him. This helped me to fall asleep quickly and have very nice dreams…even if they weren't exactly rated PG.

Thanks for reading! I'll slip you a teaser for a review ;)