I certainly do not own Twilight, or any other book I make reference to. The characters are Stephanie Myers.

A big thanks to everyone who is reading the story so far!!


Chapter 3

Previously in It Only Takes One:

When Tanya grabbed his hand I swear I saw his eyes lose the sparkle. Did his eyes get darker? Bella if you're finished embarrassing yourself you should get to class my mind nagged me. I spun around moving past the rush of people exiting the lunch room and as far away from those emerald green eyes as I could get. I couldn't think when his eyes were on me I could feel them burning into my skin even when he watched me from across the table I had to get some air. I pushed my way out into the cold air.

Our school year started two months late this year because of a major water main break. It was early in October, but it felt like late November. The crisp air felt especially refreshing on the flushed skin of my face and neck. I felt like it was my first day of school again like everything felt so new and awkward. I just wanted to blend in. I hadn't ever liked being the center of attention, which is partially why it was so easy to be friends with Alice. She loved being the center of attention and I was more than glad to give that spot to her. I looked down at my schedule cursing a little under my breath when I saw gym was my next class. It's official God hates me. And I realized just how much when I walked into the gym and saw Tanya standing there with Jessica and Lauren. God, Is there something that I may have done to personally offend you? I sat behind them on the bleachers wringing my hands together knowing I would hate everything about the next fifty minutes. Tanya turned around and her perfect strawberry blond ringlets swayed at the movement.

"So Bella, are you coming out with us this weekend?" She said batting her thickly and precisely painted lashes. The giggle twins looked at each other over to Tanya and then back at me with an astonished gaze.

"Um..." I started as I saw a wicked grin spread across her face.

"You know to the Rez with me and the Cullen's. The Quiellet boys invited us down."

I stared at her and was surprised at how angry I was with the intimacy she intended to display amongst her and the Cullen's. She looked down at her nails.

"I didn't know if you knew about it, but Edward and I would really like if you came."

"You and Edward….right." I said as my face fell. I could feel the blood draining and rushing into my face at the same time. I had to look away so my voice didn't crack, "I'll um...sure. I guess I'll be there." I could see a sick sense of power overtake her, "Great!" she snidely replied.

I hated the way she said her and Edward's name together. I suffered my way through the rest of the period doing a good job at ignoring Tanya. I went to my last class of the day reveling in how good it felt to not have anyone around me at the moment. My head felt clearer and I found myself actually smiling. I walked into Biology and walked to the corner of the room setting my books down. I heard someone come in the back door and I felt an automatic sense of electricity course through my body that made my mind flash through scenes from lunch. I automatically knew who must have walked in and from the intensity of that electricity I guessed he was right behind me. Just then I heard the chair next to me screech across the linoleum.

"Bella" a musical voice called. The way he said my name sounded so immensely soothing I think I actually sighed.

"Edward, you're in my Biology class...of course you are."

He smirked, "Aw, Bella you make it sound like a bad thing." I couldn't look away from his eyes, "So, I've been listening to your music." He stated as I saw amusement flash across his face.

My heart stopped, no one from Forks has ever listened to my music. I squirmed in my chair. Mr. Molina started class and I smiled at Edward in response. I could feel his eyes looking at me as I tried to pre-occupy myself with taking notes. Mr. Molina stopped his lecture with five minutes left. I turned to Edward and felt I owed him some sort of response.

"I try to listen to a lot of different stuff." I said pointing to my iPod in his bag.

"Yea, everything from Muse to Debussy." He said as he laughed.

"You know Debussy?" I stammered surprised that he'd remembered the artists on my favorite playlist.

"Yea, Claire de Lune is great." he replied. I raised my eyebrows surprised.

"I told you I liked music."

"True, but that doesn't mean you have good taste." I smiled as I stared into his eyes. He looked at me with almost a pained expression and broke my gaze by looking away.

"So uh, what brought you to Forks?" I was surprised that his question almost seemed forced.

"Aren't you two years late on that question, you know I've been here a while."

"Right..." he said looking away. Was he embarrassed?

"Well, I guess I came to get out of Phoenix." I started to explain feeling bad I might have embarrassed him. His eyes came back to mine. He actually looked interested, I felt myself starting to explain. "My mom and Charlie split up when I was little and I moved with my mom when she left. I guess I always felt bad about my decision. I always really missed Charlie, but things with my mom were always and adventure. I think she made it that way so I would go with her, you know?"

"Are you happy here?"

"As happy as I would be there I guess."

He looked down at my hands which I had resting on the table. I thought I saw his hands move towards mine but the bell rang and we both jumped up.

"So I guess I'll see you at the car then?" I said startled by the intensity of the moment.

"Oh, aren't going to walk with me to my locker?" Edward said flashing that crooked smile at me.

I breathed in quickly, "Won't Tanya be mad if I'm walking around with you?" I questioned starting to feel a little like a twelve year old for brining her up.

"Who? Oh Tanya, well your Alice's best friend it's obvious were going to spend time together right?" Not exactly the answer I wanted to hear...more like, 'who? Tanya, oh I don't give a shit what she thinks' I guess there's something to be said for wishful thinking right?

"Right, your little sister's best friend." I said noting that this is must be how he thinks of me. Of course that's how he thinks of you...you are Alice's best friend. "Still I wouldn't want to cause trouble for you. I'll just see you at the car." I said leaving him standing there; I didn't want to give him the chance to say anything else. I needed to clear my head a minute before I was stuck in such close quarters with him again. The more I talked to Edward the more I wanted to know, and he was just appeasing me as his little sister's best friend. Which honestly was nice I guess. He probably didn't want to make the weekend awkward.

EPOV

I tried to catch up with her, but as the bell rang the hallway was crowded with everyone excited for a long weekend. What kind of school was this anyway, our first day back to school on a Friday...and then we have Monday off? Strange... I started to work my way through the crowd of people hoping to find her. I didn't mean to make it sound like I was only talking to her because she was Alice's friend, it's just that she brought up Tanya, and it's such a long conversation to have to try and explain.

I thought I had been in love with Tanya and I was heartbroken when she broke it off before I left. I realized when I was away that I was just a young kid ecstatic to land the hottest girl in school, at that point I didn't care if she was the worst girl I'd met, and she was hot. She still is hot, and hangs all over you.. my head reminded me you could still have her. Which was true, and when I was with her I didn't really have to think much. She wasn't the type of girl that you spent your nights with talking. That could be okay for a while I guess, but maybe I wanted more out of a relationship. No Edward, keep it simple. Tanya is hot and uncomplicated which means no getting hurt.

I really hadn't thought much about relationships in the past couple of years. When I stayed in Italy Jasper and I played the field quite a bit. Girls always wanted more than I was willing to give. I didn't want a relationship; I didn't want to be involved, I wanted one type of satisfaction. Maybe that made me an asshole, and I guess I could see that. I was always extremely explicit when I was taking a girl home. Jasper always said I was the most conscientious asshole he'd ever met.

I didn't chase after her; I figured I would give her a moment to cool down. I'd make it up to her later tonight somehow. Why did she get so offended anyway? And why do I feel like I have to make it up to her? Bella was my little sister's best friend and from what I can tell a significant part of my family. I smiled thinking of how embarrassed she was when I told her I knew she had stayed in my room. I haven't wanted to get to know someone else in so long. I wanted to hear more about Bella, I wanted to know her, and I wanted her to know me. Am I serious about this? It scared me to think that I wanted her to know me; I hadn't opened up to a girl ever.

As I was walking to my car I felt my Blackberry buzz in my pocket. I pulled my phone out and noticed an e-mail from Jasper.

***

To:

From:

Subject: Bored Yet??

Hey E, you are soooo missing out!! I can't believe you decided to go back to the states. Another class trip came through the hotel this week and you should have seen the talent they brought with them. You know you had enough credits to graduate and spend another semester here, and I know there isn't the same talent in Forks as there is here am I right...am I right?? Speaking of your favorite kind of talent, Irina has been asking about you. She's actually been bugging the shit out of Rose. I swear I thought Rose was going to maul her last night when Irina asked if you were coming back. Seriously dude, for someone who doesn't want a chick you sure have a lot of them chasing after you. Speaking of which, you get with that Tanya chick again? Well anyway, it's not the same without you man...Rosalie is not much of a wingman if you know what I mean. Hit me back!

J-man

***

Jasper always liked to bring up my biggest mistakes to rub them in my face. I had spent a good two years in Italy with Jasper and his sister Rosalie who were enrolled in the same exchange program. We stayed at a local hotel in Arezzo for our duration there and traveled around Europe on holidays and whenever we didn't have classes. Among the exchange students there was a group who thought it polite to offer their time acting as tour guides for any class trips that came through Arezzo. Jasper got into the habit of checking out the 'talent' as he would call the girls and invite them on a tour of the city with the rest of us. I usually went along with them and threw in my knowledge of the city here and there. The tour always ended with an invitation to The Volturi, the local and 'most exclusive' underground club in Arezzo. Normally every single girl was already so enamored with their 'tour guides' that they almost always went. That is where I normally took my exit from the group and usually just wandered back to the hotel. It wasn't that I wanted to be anti-social; I just didn't really like the particular club they chose. The Volturi was owned by three brothers Aro, Casius and Dimitrius. They were sort of known as the royalty of the underground scene and were always very accommodating of the people we brought through the club. It really wasn't my scene and I really didn't like the owners, they just always seemed too ominous. Every once in a while I would go with them, but it never ended well. I didn't like being an asshole, but I wasn't interested in a relationship either. There was always some girl begging for me to take her back to the hotel and sometimes I took advantage of the situation, but not before explaining that I was not looking for there to be more. Some of the other guys were not so considerate of other people's feelings claiming that if those types of girls knew what they were getting themselves into. Normally those guys were the underground 'royalty'.

One night when we were just finishing our tour of the city, I was breaking away from the group as usual when one of the girls asked me to talk alone. I said bye to everyone else and waited for the girl to come over to where I was standing.

"I'm Irina." She said smiling as she stuck her hand out for me to take.

"Hi Irina. You wanted to talk." I said trying not to sound to annoyed.

"Yea well I was sort of wondering more about the history of the Duermo. I know it totally sounds like a line, but I'm doing my senior project on the history of religion in Italy and it just sounded like you knew a lot. I mean if you're too busy I understand." She said swaying back and forth; she looked so innocent. I remember being surprised that she was actually on the class trip for a reason.

"No, I'm not too busy." I said smiling at her. We talked for hours about the different religious events she was focusing on. It was the first time I actually remember enjoying having a real conversation with someone. We had hung out for the first week their class was staying in Arezzo. One night when we were talking about medieval religions she tried to take my hand. I pulled away immediately so there would be no confusion of my intentions. She obviously mis-read my intentions and leaned forward to kiss me. I gently put my hands on her shoulders and I explained several times that I was not looking for anything but a friend. That's when things went downhill. Irina, the innocent bookworm became crazed ex-girlfriend. She was stopping by our room at all hours of the day and night she must have called my cell phone a hundred times before I finally shut it off. I left the next day during their second week there to come back to start my senior year. I hadn't talked to her since.

I sat on the hood of my silver Volvo waiting for my sister and Bella to come out of the building. I decided to email Jasper back while I waited.

***

To:

From:

Subject: Less bored than you think

Hey man! I can't believe it's only been a couple of days, it feels like forever. I can imagine the trouble you are getting yourself into without me there to rein you in. Seriously, I told you before I left please don't talk to me about Irina or Tanya for that matter...lol; sorry I left you with that mess. Oh and tell Rosalie that I'll e-mail Irina and take care of the issue. Forks isn't as bad as you might think. I'm kind of diggin Forks right now, at least I'll get to graduate with my family. Maybe you and Rose should consider coming home and graduate with the rest of us. I think I can find a couple of ways this weekend to pre-occupy myself so I'll be alright. Always glad to hear your worried about my love life though! You need a real relationship for once so you can stay away from mine!! Let me know what you think about coming home.

Later 'J-Man',

E

***

To:

From:

Subject: Goodbye

Irina,

I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to say good-bye properly. When I explained that I wasn't interested in a relationship I thought I had made my intentions clear. However I will take this chance to clarify what I meant. I am not interested in a relationship. I found you to be a good friend, someone I could talk to easily about history...period. Please do not contact Rosalie or Jasper about my return, I have returned to the states and do not plan on coming back to Arezzo. It was nice studying with you.

Goodbye,

Edward

***

"Um, Edward?" I finally looked up from my phone surprised by the quiet voice.

"Oh, Hey Bella, are you ready to go?"

"Alice told me to put my stuff in your car." She said shyly as she looked down. Every time she looked away I had a strange urge to pull her face back to mine forcing her to look at me. Seriously you're starting to lose it Edward. My brain screamed at me. She was always so nervous; it made me want to comfort her. I was not used to feeling this way and I wasn't sure I liked it. It's just that having feelings for someone and getting involved can be so complicated and things can get messy. I like simple, clear lines in relationships because I've been hurt to many times before to want things any differently.

"That's the plan. Let me grab your bags for you." I said as I ran my hands through my hair and started to walk over to her car.

"Oh, okay, but that's not really necessary." Bella began to stammer in the cutest way. "I only have one bag; I think I can handle it."

"One bag for the whole weekend? Are you sure you are Alice's best friend?"

Bella smiled and bit her lip as she looked up at me, "Well as you so nicely pointed out, most of my things are sprawled around your room."

I looked up in shock and actually felt myself blushing a little for once thinking about her clothes all over my floor. It wasn't her things being in my room but the thought of her clothes being on my floor that sent my thoughts into overdrive. More specifically the thought of how they may have got there.


I can't thank everyone enough for reading! I can't wait to get some more reviewers! I want to know what everyone thinks so far!