The second chapter is upon us.

I suck at updates when I've got no motivation. So reviews/likes/reads = reviews.

On with the story, then.

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or any of it's characters.

...Enjoy!

EPOV

What was I doing? Fuck, I'm so confused.

I was in love with Tanya. I am in love with Tanya. And I'm going to win her back. Sitting with girls I've only just met in coffee shops and letting them buy me drinks is not the way to win her back. I don't want to mess Bella around. I can't let her think she had any kind of chance. Because my life is Tanya, and will be Tanya. I just have to figure out how to win her back.

But who said Bella was attracted to me at all? Maybe she just had nowhere else to sit. I'm thinking too much in to this. She was just being nice, friendly. And I totally blew her off.

She must hate me. Shit.

I thought briefly about going back and saying sorry, but I couldn't. She'd be getting tired of my mood swings already, and I'd only known her an hour or so. I was already pushing for time on my appointment too. I would have to apologise when I saw her again. If I saw her again.

I stumbled in to the Kingston buildings at 11:03. There was a man sitting behind a desk on the far side of the room. I approached him.

"Excuse me," I said, and he looked up. "I'm Mr. Cullen, I have an appointment to see apartment 2B?"

"Ah, yes. Leah is waiting for you. I'll just call her now." He took out a phone and punched a few keys. "Yes, he's here...Yes...I'll send him right up." He put the phone down and addressed me. "The lift is over there, its floor two; Leah will be waiting for you."

I headed towards the lift and selected the right button. I was pleased to see that the lift was clean, and didn't stink of piss like the last place I'd visited. It opened out to a nondescript hallway. Leah, I assumed, was stood at a door towards the end of the hallway.

"Mr Cullen?" she asked as I approached.

"Yes," I confirmed. "I came to see the apartment?"

She smiled. "Right this way." She stood back, leaving the door way clear. I stepped through it in front of her into a large open space. It was fairly nondescript, white walls and wood flooring with a hallway leading off to the left. I glanced around, checking the dimensions before walking across the floor, to check out the rest of the place.

The appointment was fairly short, and I was back at the place I was currently sharing with my brother, Emmett. We looked nothing alike, and acted nothing alike, but we got on fairly well. Well, when he wasn't being an insensitive prick.

"Eddie!" he greeted me as I walked, rain soaked, in to the apartment. I cringed. I hated that name. "Been out on a hot date?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, oblivious to the way my heart had been shattered a mere two weeks before.

"No, Emmett," I sighed. "I've been out to look at that apartment over at Kingston's."

"That's right Eddie boy, you better move your ass out! I want to ask Rosie to move in." The news hadn't surprised me the first time he'd told me. They were perfect for each other. The way I though me and Tanya had been.

"So are you moving or what?"

I forced back a torrent of unwelcome images, all surrounding around me and Tanya. "I don't know."

"What's wrong with it?" he demanded.

I sighed again, rubbing my hand over my forehead to try and get rid of the headache that had come on. "I'm not sure I can afford it."

Emmett frowned. He was always uncomfortable talking about money, considering he had plenty, and therefore had no trouble with it. He was the star of his football team, which consequently led to a fat pay cheque. He never seemed sure of what to say when others had trouble.

"Bro, if you need anything..." he started awkwardly. "I could help you out, or Mom and Dad. You know they will."

"I'm fine," I said shortly. I'd finished mooching off my parents when I left home. "I can deal with it. I just need to get back on my feet."

"If you need a job, I can get you a place, you know that."

"I'm fine," I repeated. "I'll get a job."

He looked at me for a few moments with a mixture of concern, and an emotion that looked close to pity.

"I'm fine," I said for the third time.

"Ok." He headed towards his bedroom. "I've got to get to practice."

"No problem," I called as his bedroom door closed shut, leaving me to dwell in my own self pity.

BPOV

"Aliceeeee!" I called as I walked in the door. "I'm home!"

"Bellaaaaaa!" she called back. "I buzzed you in!" Her tinkling laugh came from her bedroom. "Speaking of which, where is your key?"

"Forgot it," I answered. I dropped my bag on the floor, sitting down in my space on the sofa. There were fashion magazines and catalogues stacked in the corner of the table with notes stuck out from them. I leaned forward to look at one that read 'Blue silk dress, £75'. Alice was nothing if not organised.

Just then, her bedroom door opened and she stepped out. She did a twirl, showing off the full view of her tight blank jeans and black tank. She's paired it with a pair of cute kitten heels.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"Great, as always. But why so dressed up?"

She crossed the room and dropped on to the sofa beside me. "Angela bailed."

"And...?"

"And I invited Jasper." She turned to me, her eyes wide. "I hope you don't mind?"

I grimaced at the idea of being the third wheel all afternoon, but nodded. Jasper was pretty cool, as far as guys went.

"Thank you Bella!" she squealed. "I'll buy you one of those frozen yogurts you like so much as a thank you."

"Deal," I said, sticking my hand out. She took it and we did our secret handshake on it.

"He should be here any..." The buzzer sounded. "...second." She stood and danced her way to the buzzer on the wall. "Hello? Yes, yes, come on up."

"Here's here," she added unnecessarily to me. We waited a few moments before the sound of footsteps sounded outside the door. "Are you going to get changed?"

"Should I?" I asked. She tipped her head to the side, surveying me through narrowed eyes.

"Probably. But there's no time. It's already past one."

I stood up, grumbling, but she ignored me. She was already flinging herself in to Jasper's arms and kissing him with a fierce intensity that would suggest it had been a hell of a lot longer than the day that they'd been apart.

It was four hours before I could finally get Alice away from the shops. She was ruthless. I was already carrying a pile of bags filled with clothes, and so was Jasper, leaving Alice free to pick up what seemed like every item of clothing within reach and demand that one of us tried it on.

Now, it was almost six o'clock, and she was still storming around looking for the perfect dress to wear to a work function. Even though every dress she had tried on so far looked fabulous, she insisted that the perfect one was still somewhere.

"Bella!" she called from inside the dressing rooms where she was currently standing. "Hand me the red one!"

I extracted a short red strapless dress from the pile beside me and passed it over the top of the changing room door. There was some fumbling inside, and she passed over the black dress she had just tried on.

"What was wrong with that one?" I asked.

"Too long. It made me look short."

"That's not difficult Al, you are short."

"Well you're not exactly a skyscraper!" she shouted back.

I heard Jasper chuckle behind me, but immediately stopped under my glare.

"Jasper, honey," Alice called. "Give Bella that blue dress to try on."

"Wait, wait. Why do I need a dress?" I complained. "I'm not going anywhere!"

"You never know," she said in a way of answer. The lock on the door slid across and revealed Alice dress in her short blood red dress. It fit her perfectly, of course, and clung to her in all the right places, puffing out slightly at the bottom.

"Isn't that a little short Ally?" Jasper said carefully, glancing towards the hemline that came halfway down her thighs.

"Nonsense." She gave a small pirouette in front of the mirror. "Right. This one."

"Finally!" Where was the chorus of angels singing Hallelujah?

"Go try on the dress Bella," Alice ordered, pointing towards the recently vacated dressing room. I sighed, taking the dress and stepping inside.

I had to admit, the dress was pretty and fit perfectly. It was a deep blue, going well with my pale skin, and had a trail of sequences across the top in a delicate way. Perfect. Apart from the fact that it was way too short.

"It's too short!" I called out.

"Let me see," the voice on the other side ordered. I slid the lock out and stepped out to let Alice examine it.

"What is it with you too and length today? God. It's great. We're buying it." She nodded decisively. "Doesn't she look good Jasper?"

Jasper looked unsure of how to answer, but was saved from answering by Alice's ongoing orders.

"Could you put these back please dear?" she asked the salesman, batting her eyes as she held out a pile of rejected dresses. He nodded warily, taking them from her and scuttling away.

"Let's go." No one argued, and we trooped to the desk to pay for the dresses. Jasper began piling items on to the counter while the clerk furiously began scanning.

A sudden dread grabbed me. "Alice," I hissed. "I've only got fifty on me."

She waved me off, handing her card over. Alice was spoilt, in the nicest way possible. Her parents had both inherited a lot of money, and her father was the head of a big business. So they were pretty rich. A lot rich, actually.

She'd always bought stuff for me and despite all the times she'd done it, I still wasn't used to be being bought expensive stuff. Like the pair of designer heels she'd bought me as a graduation present, or the car she persuaded her parents to buy me for my eighteenth birthday. Or the blue dress she bought me, just because.

I cringed at the total amount that came up on the screen, but Alice didn't bat an eyelid.

We walked out of the shop, laden with bags and out in to the main area which was crowded with people cramming in a few last minute items after work, before the shops shut.

We were pushing through the crowd when I saw a flash of copper in the corner of my eye. My head whipped round. Twice in a day? But it was gone. I couldn't see any sign of that copper brown hair.

Alice was studying me closely.

"I'll tell you when we get home." She nodded.

It took approximately seven minutes after we got home for Alice to ask me, which was just about time for her to say goodbye to Jasper and crack open a pot of Ben&Jerry's.

"So spill. What, or who, were you looking for?"

"It wasn't anything." I stated.

"So what nothing is enough to make you turn your head so fast that you could possibly give yourself whiplash?"

"I just thought I saw someone."

"Aha. Someone. Spill."

I sighed, digging in to the ice cream. "It was just someone I met at the coffee shop today. There were no empty tables so I sat down by him. We talked for a bit."

She squealed like a five year old who just found out that her best friend was asked about by their crush.

"This is perfect! What's his name?"

"Edward. And what's perfect?"

"Edward!" She lunged forward and grabbed my hand, turning it to look at the side. "It's right here that your soul mate will have a six letter name! It's on your marriage line." She let my hand drop. "This is so great!"

"Seriously? It says that?" I asked, examining my hand. "When did you learn palm reading?"

"Well...no not really I made it up," she admitted. "But still. This is progress."

I cringed internally at the reference, but tried to hide it by scooping more ice cream in to my mouth. "I doubt it. He ran out on me."

"What?"

"He left. Just walked out. Didn't finish his drink, even."

"Did he have to go somewhere or something?" she asked, confusion on her face. She ate some ice cream thoughtfully.

"I don't know." I scanned through our conversation in my head. "He had an apartment to view."

"He's moving?" she said, tilting her head to the side. "You could move in together!"

"Are you that keen to get rid of me?" I pouted.

Her eyes widened. "Oh, no, no! I just don't want you to be alone when me and Jasper move in..."

This confused me. "I though he was moving in here?"

She fidgeted nervously in her seat, the essence of someone in an awkward situation.

"I was gonna talk to you about this. But...don't get upset okay?" I nodded. "Me and Jazz talked, and his place...well it's bigger and closer to my work."

"So you're gonna move in there?" I clarified.

"I won't go if you don't want me to. Jazz has no problem waiting. I know you're fragile...so I can stay." Her eyes were wide and pleading, like a child trying desperately for a toy.

"I'm not fragile," I snapped, then immediately regretted when her eyes became tearful. I sighed. "I always knew it made more sense. Go for it."

"I don't want to leave you alone."

"I can find another room mate," I said. "I can find another apartment."

"You can stay here," Alice replied immediately. "I'll still help with the rent."

"No! No, I can do it. I can cope with the rent." I couldn't let Alice take care of me for all my life. I was strong. I could do this.

"Just until you find another room mate?" she bargained.

"I can do it."

"Bella," she said softly. She placed her hand on mine. "The rent on this place is a lot. It's a catch. You're not going to be able to afford it on your own."

I knew this. The apartment was pretty amazing, with a great view, three bedrooms (each with an en suite) and a moderately sized kitchen. For two twenty something year olds, it was amazing. I didn't want to leave.

"Fine," I said. "I'll find another room mate."