A/N: Thanks a ton for all your wonderful reviews guys! Love you all so much and this entire chapter is dedicated to all the reviewers who were good enough to find time to appreciate my effort :)

It's great to know that you all liked it so much.

As for the name of the puppy, I was seriously taken aback by so many suggestions and all of them were DAM GOOD! It was extremely hard to pick. Finally with the help of voting from my friends and sisters I chose a perfect name for the puppy :)

You'll find the name and the reviewer who suggested the name in the story…so go ahead and enjoy! ;)

Chapter 3

Meeting The Cullens

BPOV

We stared at each others eyes for an immeasurable moment. The lights have been flicked on and I could make out a low babble of noise among the crowd but I was too caught up in the moment to even care to distinguish the voices. For some reason my heart absolutely refused to settle down it's pace, the overwhelming giddy feeling never left my stomach. To say I was mesmerized would be an understatement. His emerald green eyes were shockingly shimmering with innumerable emotions. There was shock which quickly evaporated into recognition and an unfathomable sense of affection. His breathing was still a bit ragged, like mine and his arms refused to leave my waist.

"Ahem! Ahem!" I heard someone clear his throat from behind me. it took me a second to recognize the voice and after recognition, I felt guilty. It was Jacob. I took a step back from Edward and almost regretted it when I saw the hurt expression on his face.

that was when I heard that annoying screeching voice.

"How dare you! How dare you kiss my boyfriend!!" Tanya's shrill voice filled the room. She was even successful in catching attention from quite a few people.

Well let's get ready for the mortification.....and I'm SO not talking about myself.

Poor Edward.

In one quick motion Edward unwounded his arms from my waist and took a step away from me. I wanted to smack myself hard for feeling hurt at his action. I had to remind myself that I hated him before composing my features.

"Tanya, relax. It's just a game and you know that." Edward tried to put some sense in his thickheaded girlfriend's mind. I was surprised by the amount of hatred I suddenly seemed to posses for his girlfriend. Wasn't I the one who was enjoying her thickheaded-ness just a few minutes ago?

"yeah, but she pushed me! purposefully." She replied and narrowed her brown eyes, filled with distrust and aggravation on me.

"I'll take the responsibility of that." I heard Jacob's voice as he snaked his arms around my waist. "I tripped and ended up accidentally pushing Bella because of which she got lost in the crowd. Nothing was intentional or purposeful." He replied, defending me.

I noticed Edward's eyes dart to Jacob's arm around me and he looked up at him with a hard expression and his jaw clenched. Before I could even begin to understand his expression, Jacob dragged me and took me back to our table.

"Geez, that was the weirdest couple I've ever seen" Jacob commented once we settled down on our seats.

"Right. Tanya was starting to get on my nerves." I said, looking at the dancing couples. I spotted Edward and Tanya in the middle of the crowd, her arms were around his neck and she was unabashedly nibbling his ear lobe in front of everyone. But what surprised me the most was Edward. It looked like he was paying no attention to her activities. Instead, his eyes were intent on me. They were swaying their bodies to the slow music while the entire time his gaze remained fixed on me. His eyes didn't falter from the target of their gaze even when I caught him staring at me. His expression was unreadable but intensity of his gaze made me blush and I had to look away.

"Tanya? You mean that blonde? Yeah, she was annoying. But I really didn't like the guy. I wanted to punch him in the guts for the way he was looking at you" Jacob replied.

I rolled my eyes but when I turned to look at him, his expression was furious and grim and…embarrassed? Why was he embarrassed?

That was when something caught my mind.

"Hey Jacob, who did you kiss?" I asked in a teasing tone, but there was a mild curiosity behind it.

All of a sudden, the color from Jake's face drained away. He swallowed hard and looked away. I grew suspicious and even more curious.

"Jake?"

"I-I didn't kiss anyone. I fell down and…that's it. By the time I stood up, the lights were flicked on." He stuttered. His voice hesitant. It was crystal clear that he was lying, but I wondered why he would hide it.

"Since when did you became such a bad liar Jake?" I asked casually.

He looked at me with wide eyes before composing his features and said "I dunno what you're talking about. I didn't kiss anyone. End of the topic"

I shrugged and let it go. Suddenly, a tall guy with ugly beard who looked in his late twenties stumbled in front of us. He looked completely drunk.

"Hey gorgeous!" he slurred. I fisted my hands, ready to punch him in his face when I noticed that he wasn't looking at me. That's when I noticed that his gaze was zeroed on…...

Jacob!!!

A very horrified looking Jacob.

"That was a hell of a kiss. I hope to see you soon" the drunken guy said with a wink and then disappeared in the crowd.

I felt my jaw almost hit the ground. I turned to look at Jacob, with an incredulous and horrified expression which exactly mirrored his expression when he turned to look at me.

"Before you assume anything, lemme tell you that he was the guy who pushed and made me fall down. Before I could even register what was goin on, he just…..forced himself on me. I wasn't even able to get up. God, it was the most terrible and disgusting thing that ever happened to me. I was trying to kick him away but his grip was…strong." He rattled on in one breath and finally looked down, looking beyond embarrassed.

I studied his expression for a moment, letting his words sink in. Then I burst into laughter. I couldn't help it, I was laughing like there was no tomorrow. From the corner of my eye I saw Edward and Tanya make their way towards the only empty table available beside us. Edward's eyes flicked from Jake's mortified face to my laughter and I saw a curious expression on his face and an amused smile as he saw me laughing. Tanya wore a disgusted and annoying expression when she saw me laughing out loud. I didn't care a bit. I was too caught up in the moment to worry about what Miss I'll-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you bitch thought about me.

Without thinking I blurted out a little louder than a whisper – "Jake, you accidentally kissed a guy?"

The moment the words left my mouth, I noticed Edward throwing his head back and laughing out loud unabashedly along with me. I could feel Tanya's annoyance with the way her eyes were narrowed at her boyfriend, almost threatening him to stop laughing. The threat didn't seem to be working at all because Edward seemed to be actually enjoying the sight of my mortified boyfriend. Then I felt a little guilty. Jake looked like he wanted to dig a hole and bury himself right there. I finally got rid of my hysterical laughter and apologized to Jake, much to Edward's disappointment.

"Sorry, Jake. I didn't mean to laugh at you." I said, looking sheepishly at him from under my eyelashes with a guilty expression. His sad and slightly furious expression melted away when he met my gaze and his lips twisted up in a warm smile.

"You're forgiven, but for the love of God, can we please just leave? I'm really beginning to regret coming to this party." He replied, running a frustrated hand through his short dark hair.

Something caught my mind. "Wait a second! Where's the puppy?" I looked around the room with alarmed eyes.

"Relax Bella. One of Angela's friends liked it a lot and took it for a while to play with it. He's fine" Jake replied. I nodded.

"Your puppy is so cute. Thank you so much for letting me play with it." A bell like voice chirruped from behind me. I turned around in my chair to see a very jubilant Alice making her way towards us, with our puppy cuddled in her loving embrace.

"Alice?" came Edward's startled voice, realizing that she was Angela's friend that Jake was talking about.

"Hey Edward!" Alice replied beaming at him and then turned to Tanya. "Tanya" she said with a curt nod in her direction. Tanya didn't even bother to acknowledge it and kept staring at her perfectly painted nails. I heard Edward give out a weary sigh and knew that his sister and his girlfriend definitely don't have a pleasant history. Then she turned her attention back to us and handed me the puppy.

"I think it's the best and most unique Christmas present ever! Have you named it yet?" Alice asked, back to her exuberant self. I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm.

"Thanks Alice. Well, I've not yet thought of a name…but you're welcome to share your suggestion" I replied.

"Really!!?" she cried out excitedly almost bouncing up and down in her place. I heard Edward's light chuckle in the background and turned to look at him shaking his head at his overly-excited sister with a loving expression. My lips automatically curled up into an involuntary smile. His girlfriend's dislike towards his sister doesn't seem to have any effect on his relationship with Alice. It was all too vivid that he loved his sister tremendously. My smile however vanished when my eyes met Tanya's bored face and saw her rolling her eyes at Alice. I was beginning to think that she had some major problem with the entire female population of the world. Weird.

Even Jake had an amused smile on his face while he looked at Alice and he stood up to pull out a chair for Alice and offered her to sit in a very gentlemanly way.

"Thank you" Alice smiled at him and willingly took the offered seat and turned to look at me.

"So I was thinking of calling the puppy 'Scout'. it so matches him. What do you think?" she asked expectantly. (A/N: A huge thanks to PurpleChameleon for suggesting the perfect name for the puppy!)

I thought about it. Scout…I really liked that name. I grinned at Alice and nodded.

"Alice this name is perfect!" I replied with appreciation. Alice grinned back at me.

"Thanks Bella. Why didn't we meet before? I mean we go to same college and had a common friend. I wish I knew you before. It's so good to know you." Alice said, her eyes sparkling.

I smiled back. It felt so good and….easy to be with her. So natural. I'm not a social kind of a person really, but with Alice…it felt like I knew her from years.

I was taken out from my reverie by Jake's cell phone ringing. He picked it up and excused himself from the table. After a moment he returned with a disappointed look.

"Bells, it was my dad. He wants help at home and he is all alone. I think I'll have to leave." He said.

"It's okay. I'll just say goodbye to Angela and Ben, then we can leave" I replied standing up. I saw Alice pout at her seat and apparently Jake noticed it too.

"No Bella, it's alright. You enjoy the rest of the party. I'll see you tomorrow. Call me once you reach home safely. Here take the keys of my car. I'll take a taxi back home." He said reaching in his pocket to search for his car keys.

"Oh don't worry about it. I'll drop Bella to her house myself." Alice interrupted. Jake looked at me for confirmation and I nodded. With a smile he kissed me goodbye and hurried to the exit taking scout with him.

"Oh Bella, we're going to have a blast tonight! C'mon, I'll introduce you to some of my friends." Before I knew what was happening, I was being dragged by Alice at a far corner of the huge room. I saw a couple. The man was huge and bulky and looked really cute with curly brown hair and a happy grin on his face while he talked to the girl who by every means was the most gorgeous women I had ever seen. She had a mind-blowing figure and looked like a swim suit model with beautiful blonde hair. I felt self-conscious just by looking at her. she was in a tight red dress that hugged her curves perfectly.

"Emmett, Rosalie…meet my new friend Bella." The couple turned to look at me. the blonde, whose name I guess was Rosalie smiled at me while the guy, Emmett, shook my hands.

"Hi Bella! I'm Emmett, Alice's elder brother, and this is my girlfriend Rosalie" he said pointing at the beautiful blonde.

"Hi" I waved shyly. I can't help but feel intimidated by Rosalie, though I can tell she was genuinely a nice person.

"Bella, Rosalie and I were going to the mall tomorrow….we would love it if you'll accompany us." Alice asked excitedly.

"yeah, it would be really good. Boys would be coming too…after all we need someone to carry our bags" Rosalie said with an impish grin in Emmett's direction.

"Aw not again! Rosalie can't we just –" Emmett whined but before he could finish Rosalie interrupted.

"Emmett, please….cant you even do me this little favor? I'd really love it if you join me tomorrow on the shopping trip" Rosalie said seductively running her fingertips along Emmett's broad chest. Emmett swallowed hard and nodded furiously. I bit my lips to stop from giggling.

Alice however giggled and muttered under her breath "one gone and one left to convince" and then looked over at Edward and Tanya's table where they were busy talking…..actually Tanya was busy babbling and Edward looked bored and was trying extremely hard to pay attention.

"They're going to go with us?" I asked nervously and even Alice noticed that my eyes were only on Tanya. Spending a whole day with Tanya would be a worse punishment than being sent to a trip to hell!

"Oh don't worry. They won't be going with us; just he will be joining us tomorrow. I'll never make a mistake of taking Tanya with me!" Alice assured me.

I looked at her questioningly with a raised eyebrow, wondering what might have happened for Alice to hate her brother's girlfriend so much.

As if reading my mind Alice said "Long story…I'll tell you the reason for my distaste towards her and her dislike towards me later."

I nodded and let the subject drop. Tomorrow's going to be a really interesting day……

A/N: hope you all liked it, and sorry for the delay…I had been really busy last week.

PLEASE REVIEW!!! More reviews will encourage me to update faster.

NEXT CHAPTER – Edward and Bella together on the shopping trip, Edward's confessions about his relationship with Tanya, lots of E/B fluff, Alice and Jasper's first romantic encounter, more drama from Tanya and Jacob and lots of humor.....and yeah, EPOV would be included too :)

Stay tune and pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee Review!

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