Disclaimer: SM owns Twilight and all characters. I just like to mix them up with my imagination.

A/N- thanks so much for all the previous reviews. I see a lot of you have read, but only about 10% review! Reviews keep me going! Good or bad, one word or more, all reviews welcome!

Special thanks to my twitter h00rs for their support and assistance! Particularly MyDaughterBella and PixieBella88 without those two wonderful ladies I never would have put this down, let alone published it! Thanks girls!

When we left chap 2, Bella is unhappily married, but decides her life in general is pretty good. Why rock the boat with something as trivial as her unhappiness?

This one is on the short side, BUT Edward is FINALLY entering the story! Enjoy

Chapter 3:

I was driving to work on a spring morning when a radio DJ informed us that it was May. May 9th to be exact. I couldn't believe it. I had almost survived a whole year of being married. It was utterly surreal. I was proud of myself to have made it that far. After all, the first year is supposed to be the hardest right?

In 9 days it would be officially one year. Jacob was excited. He decided to take us on a week-long Caribbean cruise to celebrate. We leave in exactly 5 days. I wasn't that excited, but it's a vacation and I really needed one. Sure I have to share the vacation with Jacob, but maybe it won't be so bad.

Maybe I have a chance to fix this. Fix myself in this situation. Accept it for good.

I continued onto work. Have I mentioned that I don't really like my job anymore either? No? Well I don't.

I had finished my work day and was on my way home. I had some messages on my phone from Alice, but ignored them. I'll see her in a few minutes anyways.

When I walked into the house Alice practically attacked me. She was nervous and excited and a little more scatterbrained than normal. She told me she had accepted a date from a man she met while working her part time gig (she was a bartender in a local night club when they were short staffed or had special events.)

Now, this is totally unlike Alice. She is always the epitome of safe when it comes to men and the club. She never gave her real name, never drank with them, and always had a bouncer walk her to the car after dark. She never took a guy's phone number or card, and definitely never gave hers out. She's a safety girl. She always tells me 'You never know which ones are going to be creeps."

Needless to say, I was a little confused about why she threw safety to the wind and agreed to this particular date. I asked her why.

She didn't explain, just told me she was having second thoughts and didn't want to go alone and to get dressed. I was coming with her. I agreed, but made her call her date, Jasper is his name, to let him that I was coming along. Oh and that we're going to PF Chang's for dinner.

What? I had a craving for lettuce wraps. If I've gotta go I might as well get something out of it too.

I also made her tell him to bring a friend. Bella Swan does NOT play the third wheel. It's no fun. No one likes to be left out. Jasper agreed.

I had had a bad day at work (what else is new?), so I decided to have fun tonight. Adventurous Bella is coming out tonight. I wore a skin tight pair of jeans; my fuck me boots and a very special tank top. It perfectly molds to my breasts and shows close to every inch of cleavage I have. Printed on the front it says "I fucked your girlfriend" I've learned from past adventures that this shirt really gets the guys going.

Men sure do love to think about girl on girl action. I don't get it. It's just how it is in the male brain I suppose.

Plus, I always wore this shirt when I was feeling a little feisty. Of course, since we were going to a respectable restaurant, I also wore a black poncho style cardigan. At least for now.

As Alice and I walk to the restaurant she points Jasper out. He's already sitting at a table on the patio. He had held up his end of the agreement and has a friend with him. Jasper is cute. He looks to be decently built, blondish hair and blue eyes. He's a little older than me, but not much. Maybe 3 years. He's dressed well and has a nice smile.

He is so NOT Alice's type.She has a thing for Latino men.This guy's a total pretty boy. Whatever.

We can't see much of his friend. His back is to us and he's sitting down. He looks tall though. His hair is dark, but with a strange bronze tone to it. From behind, he looks like he just rolled out of bed.

Or like he just had sex. Yeah. Sex hair. That's what it is.

He wore khaki shorts and had long toned legs. His t-shirt was flanked by two muscular arms. He was nice to look at so far, but I wasn't really interested. I was married. Unhappy or not, married is married. I can't get let myself carried away. It would be wrong.

Jasper saw us approaching and was quick to stand and make introductions.

"Hi, I'm Jasper. Nice to meet you" he says to me, with his hand reached out.

"Hi. I'm Bella. Be good to my girl, or you'll have to deal with me later." I said with a sweet smile.

Yeah, I'm a little protective of my girl. I love her to pieces.

Jasper just let out a little chuckle. He must have thought I was kidding. He apparently doesn't understand the power of the BFF.

Just then the tall stranger stood and turned around. Now, I know you're expecting me to say I swooned. It was love at first sight and all that garbage. But really, it wasn't. He was handsome. I'll give him that. But I can't afford to notice things like that. I'm married. I can't really look too closely at the others. It's just not right.

"Hello ladies. My name is Edward Cullen." He says to us.

He's got a nice voice. SHUT UP brain. We can't think about that. Lots of men have nice voices.

We introduce ourselves and we all sit down. Alice next to Jasper, Edward sat next to me. It was a little awkward. I didn't really care though. It's no big deal. This is Alice's date, not mine.

We all ordered and talked. We spoke about work and life but it was mostly just dumb small talk. Jasper and Edward were students it turned out. Edward and I are the same age; he's just a few months older than I am. Jasper and Edward like to play golf. Alice and I like to shop.

As the evening went on I found that Edward was easy to talk to, like an old friend I hadn't seen in ages. I found myself opening up a little more. Of course, Alice noticed this and made it a point to constantly remind Edward that I was married. Over and over again. She sounded like a broken record after a while. It was annoying so I started to drink more. I'm supposed to be adventurous Bella tonight, no shyness here. So I ordered a shot for myself, and one for Edward. Why the hell not? While I was at it, I took off my poncho sweater to reveal my tank.

Edward gave me a small crooked smile, and raised an eyebrow as the waitress left to get our shots. He noticed the shirt. It's hard not to.

"Nice shirt" He tells me.

"Thanks. It's one of a kind." I retorted.

"I'm sure it is. Are you sure shots are a good idea?" He asks.

What the hell kind of a question is that? I ordered them didn't I? Would I have done that if I thought it was a bad idea? I think not.

"It's just that you've had two mixed drinks already. You're small. I'd hate for you to get sick." He adds.

Edward Cullen doesn't know shit about Bella Swan.

I laughed while I said "I don't think I'll have any problems keeping up. I may be small, but I can hold my own."

"We'll see about that."

Ha! He doesn't know what he's gotten himself into now. Let's drink!

That was the end of me. I can't back down from a challenge. I made a mental note to match Edward drink for drink during the rest of the evening. I did pretty well if I do say so myself. He ordered a drink, so did I. He did a shot, so did I. I was having fun. I loosened up a bit and was able to relax a little.

As dinner wound down, we all decided to go to a bar. Jasper and Edward suggested a local British style pub that wasn't too far from the restaurant. Alice and I were excited; we hadn't visited this place in our drinking adventures yet.

We followed in Alice's car. On the drive she was gushing about Jasper. I wasn't paying much attention. I was chugging the big bottle of water that she always kept in her car. I hate to say, but if I didn't sober up a little, I might not be able to keep up with this unspoken drinking competition. And I planned to win.

Once we got to the pub, Alice and Jasper promptly disappeared. To this day, I still have no clue where they went. I'm not sure I want to know.

But I digress. They disappear, leaving Edward and I all alone. We were both pretty comfortable with each other by now. We had been drinking and talking all evening long. We ordered our drinks and sat at table in the smoke darkened pub.

We talked for hours on end. We opened up about everything. No subject was off limits. We spoke of my past in all of its whorish glory. We spoke his ex-girlfriend and what a controlling bitch she was. He told me about a girl his cousin was trying to set him up with. He wasn't into her; she was too good of a girl he said. He asked about my marriage, and I answered as honestly as I could. I didn't air all of my dirty laundry, but I did tell him I was unhappy with that part of my life. He asked why I didn't just leave. I tried to explain. He thought my staying around was the dumbest thing he'd heard of.

Maybe he's right. No. I made a decision. I need to stick to it.

"What's the point of staying when you're not happy? Don't you think you deserve to be happy?" he asked me.

No one's asked me that before.

Did I deserve happiness? I don't know. I guess I do, but I've already made my decision.

I didn't think he'd really want to hear the answer. I changed the subject.

At some point during our conversations things began to change. I noticed how handsome Edward really is. I noticed the way the lights bounced off his oddly colored hair. I noticed his intense green eyes. His eyes that seemed to be on me and nowhere else. They seemed to care about what I said, even if what I said was totally off the wall. I felt more like Bella around him. More like the real me. The me that I often didn't share with others anymore. I didn't feel my normal stress. In fact I didn't have care in the world. It seemed nothing could bring me down if I was around him.

Maybe it's just the alcohol. No. We weren't drinking like we were in the restaurant. In fact, I'm pretty much sober now. Edward had made it a point to bring back a bottle of water for me with each round.

I was starting to get a little worried about Alice. I looked at my watch and realized we had been at the pub for nearly 3 hours.

WHAT? Where'd the time go?

The next minute, Alice and Jasper came over to the table and sat down. Their clothing was wrinkled, their hair in disarray. I didn't ask. I still didn't want to know.

We shared one final round as a group. Edward made a toast to new friends and happy futures.

I couldn't help but think he was trying to tell me he wanted to be part of my happy future. That's just crazy talk. He's just being nice and wishing Alice and Jasper well.

The men walked us to our car and held open our respective doors. Jasper gave Alice a quick peck on the lips and shut her door. Edward was still standing by mine.

He stared down at me with those green eyes of his. "I had a wonderful time tonight Bella."

"I had a good time too Edward. Thanks for listening." I replied. He bent and kissed my cheek. As he turned to shut the door I could swear he said "Why does she have to be married? It's just not right."

I must have drank more than I thought, now I'm imagining things.

The door shut. Alice squealed like a little girl. "Tell me EVERYTHING" I demand. She shook her head and gave me a sly little smile. "Jasper's a good kisser." She whispered. We both squealed for a few minutes, talking with fast and broken sentences as only BFFs can do. I didn't press for more details; I really don't want the gory details of what all he kissed. I already knew. The bestie always knows.

As she put the car in gear she asked me what Edward was like. I looked at her for what seemed to be an eternity. Tears welled up in my eyes. Before they could spill over she takes my hand asking what's wrong.

In that moment everything changed for me. All the small details of the night meshed together into a beautiful picture. It was a picture of Edward. In that moment I just knew. I had met my soul mate. But I also knew I shouldn't keep him.

"He's perfect." I sniffled. "He's the one I'm supposed to be with. I just know it." I cried some more.

She held on tightly to my hand.

We drove home in silence.

A/N - So, what do you think? Will Bella run to Edward? Will she stick to her marriage with Jake? What about Alice and Jasper? What do you think caused Alice to accept his date offer? The answers will be revealed soon!

Please review review review! I'm already working on chapter 4! The more reviews I get, the faster I'll work on it!

Thanks for reading!