Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated too much! It's been a crazy couple of weeks for me - 19th Birthday, Harry Potter Premiere, Work and my grandfather passed away. So I hope you're not too mad for this huge delay, but hopefully this chapter will make up for it and the updates will start coming a lot faster!! I also made a few changes at the beginning…Enjoy!!

Please Read, Review, and Recommend!!

BPOV:

The next morning came and I was thrilled, I couldn't wait to see Edward again! The more time passed, the more I allowed myself to feel the butterflies that filled my stomach at the mere mention of his name. I started the day by making a breakfast of pancakes and bacon for me and Charlie and then spent the rest of it doing some yard work and finishing Romeo and Juliet. I had just reached the last spine tingling page when the alarm I had set on my phone went off; telling me it was time to get ready for the evening.

I decided to wear simple dark jeans and a dark blue tank top. I paired the outfit with white Old Navy flip flops, simple make up, and a slick pulled back ponytail. I didn't bother with a sweater, because the weather called for heat late into the night.

I was nervous to meet Edward's friends, I mean granted at one time they were my friends too but it was different, we were young then - things change - maybe they would hate me? So, to calm my nerves I rocked out to the best the Beatles had to offer while preparing dinner for Charlie, all the while watching the minutes tick by as I waited for Edward.

EPOV:

Where had the day gone? I had spent uncountable amounts of time thinking about Bella, and everything that happened last night - with Bella, and everything that could happen tonight - with Bella. I couldn't believe it when she had said she would like to come out with me and my friends tonight! If I hadn't been there, I don't think I would've believed it…

I went to bed thinking about the way her hair fell on her shoulders and I woke up thinking about the way she leaned on the side of her foot, out of nerves, when she was talking about herself - she was too adorable. Now, as I tried to get ready so I would be on time I was thinking about the way her skin might feel against mine if we were oh so happen to brush hands or shoulders or something at some point throughout the night….What was I doing???

Alice had arrived somewhere mid day between my thoughts of her hips and her lips and I had told her the whole short story, now she was helping me pick what to wear. She picked out khaki shorts with an orange polo and paired it with my beat up black converse sneakers. It was a quarter to 7 and so I headed to my silver Volvo and went to go pick up, the girl who I might just one day love.

BPOV:

I hear my phone buzz and I check it; it's Edward:

I'm outside 

I say a quick goodbye to Charlie, and shove my phone into my pocket and run outside. Edward's behind the wheel of the small silver Volvo, looking sexy, as, I'm realizing, he always does. I decide, in my head , that I would love to run my fingers through his hair - it's probably really soft…the thought sends shivers down my spine but then I arrived at the car door so I shoved my fantasy to the back of my brain and got in the car.

"Hey" I said as I entered the vehicle and buckled my seat belt; Edward smiled in greeting and responded "Hey There."

He started the car and within seconds we were cruising down the street; I broke the silence first asking "So, how have the last couple of hours gone for you since we parted?"

He laughed at the small gap in time since we had last seen each other the night before.

"Um - pretty good I guess, did a whole lot of nothing really, how about yourself?"

"Pretty much the same, I did finish Romeo and Juliet though."

"Ahh - nice, nice - were you shocked by the completely unsuspected ending?" he was mocking me again.

"Listen Cullen you better stop giving me shit about re-reading that book or else there's going to be some consequences." I smiled coyly, trying to flirt, and probably failing but he smiled back nevertheless and asked, "Oh yeah - and what might they be?"

I laughed and cliché-ly replied "Well, I'd tell you but [I paused for dramatic effect] then I'd have to kill you."

We both just laughed in response to my cheesy line and sat in silence for a few moments before Edward flicked on the radio and asked "So, what type of music do you listen to?"

I thought about it for a moment, "Hmm - well, I don't really have like a favorite band persay I like a lot of different things….but I guess if I had to narrow it down, to like a top 3 I'd say Fall Out Boy, The Killers, and The Beatles. But I mean, I also like some stuff by Green Day, Nickelback, John Mayer-- I actually really like old Frank Sinatra stuff…and yea, I guess have to say, the country girl in me loves her Rascal Flatts…"

Edward laughed at my confession, "It's ok, I actually really like Rascal Flatts too -- and The Killers - and some Green Day, and of course I love The Beatles, who doesn't? I also really like U2 and We the Kings…and a bunch of other stuff but I'm kind of the same way with music, I like a lot of really different things so it's hard to remember it all at once, ya know?"

"Yea - exactly…"

Just then the song "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock came on the radio and we both shouted "I love this song!" to which we then both looked at each other and yelled "jinks!" and then just cracked up at our immaturity…

"I thought I was the only loser in the world who still remembered that!"

"Nope," Edward replied, "Rosalie would shut me up for hours with that one, I'll never forget it." He chuckled to himself.

The song continued in the background of our settled silence:

Sipping whiskey out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow

Singing 'Sweet Home Alabama' all summer long

Then I had a random outburst, "You know what I'm dying for?"

Edward laughed at the randomness but replied, "What are you dying for?"

"Lemonade! I'm really just dying for a glass of lemonade," I laughed at myself, "it's so summery and refreshing."

Edward was full out laughing at me, "Well, I'm sorry but I'm all out of lemonade right now."

I laughed a little too, realizing how ridiculous I must have sounded, when a commercial came on the radio for that new movie The Hangover.

"Have you seen that yet?"

Edward's laughter started up again, "Oh yeah - twice! I went opening night - funniest freakin' movie I've seen in years -- have you seen it??"

I smiled to myself, had I seen it?, "Yes - I went opening night as well -- and then two more times after that….it was really good."

"You saw it three times?? You didn't strike me as the comedy loving type of girl."

I turned toward him, "Oh really - what type of girl did I strike you as?"

He tightened his hands on the steering wheel and almost looked uneasy for a second, but then in a flash he was back to normal and joking about his impression of me, "I saw you as more of the stay home at night, reading old love stories a thousand times over."

"Very funny Mr. 'I like The Stranger."

"Oh, don't bring that up again…"

I didn't get the chance to continue the conversation, because we were pulling into the clearing where everyone parked their cars at the beach.

We got out of the car and approached the crowd that was gathered on the beach; there was a fire roaring and my nerves began to bubble up in the pit of my stomach. The nerves quickly faded though, because as we walked the last few steps Edward leaned into me and whispered "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

I almost fell to the ground. My heart was beating like crazy and I felt like my knees were going to cave at any second, but I remained composure to the outside world and nodded to him.

"Hey guys - this is Bella" Edward announced when we finally reached the group. I met various old acquaintances, and a few new ones; Mike Newton, Angela Weber, a girl named Jessica, and a guy named Eric from childhood and then Edward's best friend Jasper who had moved to Forks a few years before Edward had moved back.

They were all really nice and very welcoming, but the small intimacy of the group's friendship was kind of intimidating. After all of the (re)-introductions Edward pulled me over to a bunch of coolers and handed me a bottle, "It's not quite lemonade but it should be close enough to get rid of your craving." He laughed.

I looked at the bottle - it was a Mike's Hard Lemonade. "Hey Edward -"

He walked over to me, "What's up?"

I felt silly asking but I shyly questioned him, "Doesn't this have alcohol in it?"

He looked at me blankly before saying, "Um - yea ."

He looked at me questioningly and then said, "Please don't tell me you've never had a drink before."

"Sorry but I've never had a drink before."

"Well, you can't start you're freshman year of college never having had a drink."

I laughed at his true disappointment that I'd never drank as he continued, "No - no this is something that needs to change." He opened the bottle as he said, "Tonight. Cheers!" He clanked his beer can against my bottle.

I looked at him uncertainly and he just nodded again, so I took a sip - it was good. It was really good. I took another sip. Edward smiled his huge, gorgeous smile and I laughed. He put his arm around me in friendly way and then pulled me close and whispered "Now I have just one simple word of advice - 'Beer before liqueur never been sicker, liqueur before beer you're in the clear - follow that and you'll never have a night go bad." Edward smiled, almost as if he was proud to be passing on the tidbit of information to me.

We walked over to the fire where a few of his friends were roasting marshmallows. He grabbed a stick and stuck two on, "Today's your lucky day. You're going to get to taste one of my famous s'mores."

"Oh really? What's so famous about them?"

"They're the best damn s'mores you'll ever taste."

"I'm going to have to decide that one for myself." Just then, he pulled the fiery marshmallows from the fire and sandwiched them each onto a stacked tower of yummy that consisted of graham crackers and mini Hershey bars, then he sprinkled Reese's pieces on top and finished it off with another graham cracker. I was in awe.

"Taste it."

I took a bite and literally thought I was in heaven, as I was chewing he asked me "So, is it the best S'more you've ever had?" I simply nodded, but he kept going as a joke, "No, no, no - you have to say it. Out loud." He was smiling ear to ear and I started laughing, marshmallow and chocolate definitely still in some of my teeth, and said "That was- the absolute best s'more- I have ever had -in my life."

He was laughing now too, "Thank you."

The sun was almost done setting and most of the group had taken their s'mores over to a hill in order to watch so we headed over to enjoy the view, and what remained of our s'mores.

It was a beautiful blend of pinks, oranges, yellows, reds and purpley blue. It was such a nice moment, but it would have been even nicer if Edward's hand had been entwined in mine or if his arm had been wrapped around me…Just as I was thinking that though I heard my name being squealed from somewhere behind me.

I turned and saw a petite girl with a pixie haircut in light denim capris and a red tank top running toward me. She grabbed me and spun us in a circle as she screamed, "Bella!! It has been too long!!"

Edward came over to us and said, "Bella, in case she forgot to tell you in her sugar high craze, this is Alice."

"Oh! Alice!! Hi! How are you -- Edward told me about Harvard - Congratulations!"

"Oh God - he's already started that shit - I hate when people make a big deal of it, I feel like such a nerd." She laughed.

I laughed too, "You are so not a nerd - I basically wanted to be you when we were younger."

"Thanks for the compliment Bells, but I actually can't hang around too long - I'm here to charm and woo Edward's friend Jasper."

"Jasper? Really."

"Yea - I guess it's sort of silly, but he's a cool guy and I've had my eye on him since day 1…any guys catching your eye yet?"

"There might be one…"

"Well you are going to need to spill about that one real soon -- how about we get together for lunch one day?"

"Definitely - I'm free all week -- Edward has my number, just give me a call."

"Great! Catch ya later Bella!"

And with that she ran off in the direction of the beer pong table where Jasper was whipping Jacob Blacks ass.

The sky was navy blue now and sprinkled with white diamond stars. Edward came back over to me, he had been playing in a game of flip cup but lost and got kicked off his team. "Want another? You've only had one, and at this rate we could hardly call it your first drinking experience." He chuckled.

"Heh" His enthusiasm about me drinking continued to amuse me, "sure, I'll have another I guess."

"A Mike's or do you want to try something else?"

"What have ya got?"

He walked me over to the cooler, "Well I can't have a beer, right?" I questioned him.

"Right." He smiled and shook his head slightly before saying, "Someone remembered the rule I told her."

"I looked straight into his eyes and said, in a low voice, "I'm a fast learner."

I held the gaze for only a ½ second longer and then quickly looked away, trying to mesmerize him or something like the flirting tips in magazines always said to…

I settled on drinking a green apple flavored Smirnoff ice and he had another beer. We were sitting around the fire with his friends and I could tell they were trying to get to know me.

"So, Bella," Mike Newton began, "what do you do for fun back in Phoenix?"

I laughed, "Well Mike, not much - I was never really the party girl so I spent a lot of time with books, I know I'm like loser #1 right?"

They were all laughing at my joke, but then Angela piped up "No - none of us were really partiers in high school - but coming back from our first year of college we decided to start living a bit more on the edge -- most of us spent our Fridays with a book or a movie or if it was a hopping night, the bowling alley."

They were all laughing now, "It's true", Jessica chimed in, "nothing like this ever happened while we were actually in high school - the first time I remember was when a few of us came home for Thanksgiving."

"So what books do you like, Bella?" Jacob asked me.

I hated talking about myself but I guess this is what I had to do in order to break into this crowd, "Umm - I really like the Harry Potter series, umm I've read a few Nicholas Sparks books - like the Notebook and those…uhh classics - Jane Austen, Orson Wells, I like a lot of different stuff - Shakespeare."

"She loves Romeo and Juliet", Edward piped in.

I nudged him in the rib and he smiled.

Both Angela and Jessica's ears perked up at that though and they both said some variation of, "Oh my gosh - that's one of my favorites!" and at that I stuck my tongue out at Edward in jest.

We began discussing different books, ranging from the vampire series everyone was going nuts for to Frankenstein to The Picture of Dorian Gray. As the conversation stalled on Dorian Gray, Alice and Jasper emerged from the nearby bushes arm in arm laughing and giggling. Everyone was laughing at them but they were actiung as if it was no big thing, so it faded and Alice launched right into the conversation, "Did I hear you guys mention Dorian Gray? Did you know they're making it into a movie??"

"Really?" Angela inquired, "That's pretty cool."

"Yea," Alice replied, "I thought so."

And then the conversation fell silent for a bit, with people taking sips of their drinks or nuzzling whoever they had paired off with in their drunken stupor.

Apparently Eric had caught a second wind though because suddenly he got up and announced he wanted someone to compete against him in extreme beer pong. A few people followed him, including Alice and Jasper leaving the few of us who remained in a serene silence that allowed us to hear the crickets and the grass hoppers. One of the guys had called Edward over to him so I took up looking at the stars, trying to decipher the different constellations. But then I heard a light tinkling noise, I looked down and it was Edward's phone - he must've dropped it. I didn't open the txt he had just received but I did take the liberty of changing his wall paper! When he came back over I just handed it to him and said "I think you dropped this." And he shoved it into his pocket.

He stooped down to me and whispered, "If you really want to see stars, follow me" and then he took my hand and dragged me back to the hill where we had all watched the sun set - and he was right - the view of the stars was 1000x better. I felt like I could see a completely different universe.

"You know it's funny, sometimes I still do that thing from when we were kids." He looked at me questioningly.

"You know - star light, star bright, first star I see tonight --"

"Have the wish I wish tonight." He finished the children's rhyme for me.

We were both smiling. "What did you wish for tonight?" He asked me.

"If I tell you it won't come true." I told him simply in a quiet voice.

"You would've loved the view of the stars from Turks - it was literally breath taking…"

"It sounds beautiful - whenever you go back, I'd love to go -- see everything you talk about."

"I'd love to take you -- you would love it." He nodded for emphasis - I love how he'd get all serious when he was talking about things he was passionate about.

"Yea" I smiled and nodded too.

We walked back down the hill and back to the group where everyone had assembled in a circle for a game of truth or dare.

They settled in too and began to play, Jacob Black was up.

"Jessica, truth or dare, did you give head to Seth Clearwater while we were still in high school?"

Jessica turned such a deep red, it was visible in the sparse lighting we had but after a minute she said "I'll take the dare."

"Well then Jessica start stripping, I dare you to go skinny dipping."

"Done." And off she went, dropping clothes as she ran.

"Ok - Edward, why don't you go next," Jacob suggested.

"Hmm who should I torture," Edward played.

"Bella. "

I froze in my seat.

"Truth or Dare, What's the farthest you've gone with a guy?"

I was shaking from nerves. I didn't want to answer the question, but I was afraid what the dare might be. I decided anything would be better then Edward I've never even gotten up to bat…

"Dare."

The crowd made the typical noises of thinking I was gutsy, lots of "o0o0's" and the like.

"Ok," Edward looked very serious, but then he cracked a smile as he said, "I dare you to tell a joke."

Everyone just looked at him as if he'd lost his mind - what kind of dare was that? 'tell a joke'? What were we in third grade?? But despite all that I was immensely grateful, so I smiled as I thought of one and set about my task:

Ok so there was once this guy who dreamed of being a great writer. When people asked him what he meant by a great writer he would say that he wanted to write stuff that the whole world would read, and that people would react to on a very emotional level, causing them to scream, cry and howl in pain and anger --- What did the guy end up writing?

Everyone was kind of just staring at me, I guess I wasn't any sort of comedian, but Edward decided to take a whack at it, "Well if you wrote the joke probably the author of The Stranger…" he laughed.

"Very funny Edward, anyone else want to try?"

More silence. So I decided to tell them, "He writes error messages for Microsoft."

I got a few chuckles from Edward, Alice, and a few other people but overall my joke was kind of a dud and I knew it.

Edward was the first to speak, "Nice shot anyway Bells," he was smiling, "Why don't you pick someone now…"

Now I was smiling, "Ok Edward. I pick you. Truth or dare, What's the farthest you've gone?"

Edward chuckled and smiled, "I'll take the dare."

I smiled back at him, "I dare you to invite me to hang out with your friends again."

Everyone was laughing, it was actually Jasper who piped up "We get pizza and play manhunt every Thursday night -- you should join us!!"

Edward was shaking his head in amusement as he said, "Yeah - that would actually be really cool - we're in odd numbers right now anyway…"

"I'd love to! Thanks Jasper."

Jessica was just coming back from her swim when the game broke up in accommodation of everyone's want to drink a little more before the night ended and the couples want to go find a bush to play behind.

Edward and I decided to enjoy some Cherry soda on account that he'd be driving soon and I didn't want him to be sobering alone.

We walked down the water's edge while everyone else continued their drunken activities, talking about everything from favorite authors to what might have happened had our families not moved away from Forks.

We were both agreeing on how we think it's better we were apart for awhile when I got a full view of the full moon. It was beautiful. We both paused to look at it.

"Do you ever think about the man in the moon?" I asked him.

"What?"

"You know - the man in the moon, the face the craters make - when we were young all the older kids told us it was the face of a man who lived in the moon."

"No, I know what you're talking about - but what made you think about it?"

"Oh - I don't know - a lot of times when I'm with you - I just remember things from when we were kids…it's funny."

"That happens to me too…like just little things."

"Yea."

We were approaching the group again when I felt the first drop, then he felt one, soon it was a down pour!

We ran under a tree just to wait out the worst of it before heading home. Thunder was roaring and there was a ton of lightening, it was actual beautiful - some it was actually pink from the prior heat.

After a few minutes we ran back to his car.

Once inside he kept asking me "Are you ok?" to be sure.

The car was freezing cold with the air blowing, but was to stiff without it, so he gave me his grey, hooded, Washington sweatshirt. It was soo comfy, and it smelt just like him!

We were quiet for the first few minutes of the ride but then I tried to start a conversation, "Have you ever noticed how when it rains it brings out the smell of the grass and the flowers blooming?"

"I thought I was the only one who noticed things like that." He chuckled.

I smiled, "It's almost magical, isn't it?"

"Yea -- it is."

We were pulling up to my house just then, "Well Edward I had a really great time! Thanks so much for inviting me!"

"Please, it was my pleasure - I'm glad you had fun!!"

We both leaned in, this time not hesitating for the hug, and I definitely lingered there to see if he'd take it further, but he didn't, so I started to get out of the car.

"I'll call you tomorrow maybe."

"Ok - night Edward!"

"Night Bella!"

And with that he drove off, and I headed inside. It had been an absolutely perfect night. I wore the sweatshirt to bed and had dreams of the two of us together all night long.

Well I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!! The story's really picking up now so the juicy stuff will be headed your way real soon!!!

Please Review and Recommend!!! Thanks!!