It took us about 10 minutes to get to Emmett's house. It was really nice, with two floors and a wrap-around porch and everything.
"Alice, I thought you said that Emmett lives here," I said to her as we pulled in the driveway.
"He does. This is one of the houses that Mom and Dad have up here. They're letting him and a few of his friends rent it, actually," she said.
"Oh."
"Bella," said Alice as she parked the car and turned it off. She turned to face me and said, "Please promise me that you're going to have fun tonight. You have to promise, ok?"
I rolled my eyes. "Fine. I promise that I'll have fun."
"Bella," she said in a warning tone.
"Ok. I promise." I said in a depressed tone.
Alice looked at me for a moment. "Good. Now we can go inside and see everyone. You can see Emmett again and we can meet his roommates, she smiled.
"Great," I muttered as we made our way out of the car and toward the house. I followed Alice as we walked up the front door and into the house, which was teeming with hot, sweaty bodies dancing to pounding music.
"Emmett!" Alice yelled as we made our way into the living room area and saw Alice's bear of a brother.
"Hey! Alice! I'm really happy you came!" Emmett yelled as he picked her up in his signature bear hug. "And Bella! How are you? How's the arm?" he grinned as he squeezed me too.
"It's doing fine! I'm not so bad. You?" I yelled.
"Good, good. I want you guys to meet someone in a few minutes, but I have to go find them first, ok?"
"Ok!" we yelled over the music. "We'll see you later then!"
"Let's go get some drinks, shall we?" I asked. Alice nodded her head and we made our way to the kitchen. There were a ton of drinks all along the counters and piled on the floor. "Some party, huh?" Alice smiled. "I guess they're expecting a lot?"
We grabbed a couple of Cokes and headed back to where everyone was dancing. "Do you mind if I leave you? I'm going to look for Chris," Alice asked, to my fear.
"I don't want to stand here like a reject at a dance," I pleaded.
"Then mingle. Don't just stand there. Dance as part of the crowd or go talk to someone, ok? I really want to find Chris. He said he would be here and…" she trailed off, looking hopeful.
"I'll go find someone to talk to, I guess. Go. Find Chris and tell him I said hey," I said as I waved her off.
"Thanks Bella! You're the best!" she screeched as she hugged me. "I'll make it up to you later, I promise!" she said before she left in search of her boyfriend.
I looked around at the gyrating bodies that were dancing to Fall Out Boy's "Seven Minutes in Heaven" and instantly felt out of place. This is so more an Alice type of thing that it is mine, I thought. I gulped the rest of my drink, just to have something to do. I turned around to head back to the kitchen to get another drink and I collided with a wall of flesh.
"Ow," I muttered as my nose made contact with the body.
"Wow, I am so sorry," said someone to my right.
I looked up and saw a pair of ice blue eyes staring back into my own chocolate brown eyes. I stopped in my tracks.
"Are you okay?" the man asked.
I nodded. "Yeah…yes. I'm okay."
The man stuck out his hand. "My name is Jasper, by the way. Jasper Hale. You are?"
"Oh, sorry. Bella. Bella Swan," I said, blushing slightly.
"Nice to meet you, Bella. What brings you here?"
"Oh, my best friend Alice's brother lives here and he invited us."
"Really? You must be talking about Emmett, right? Emmett is one of my good friends, actually. I live here, too, as well as three others," Jasper said.
"Really? Wow. Five guys sharing a space?" I questioned.
"Yeah. Sometimes it gets rough, but whatever," he shrugged.
We stood there for a minute there for a minute in an awkward silence, neither of us knowing what else to say to the other.
"So," Jasper began. "I know this is kind of lame but…what's your major?"
I laughed. "That's not lame at all. My major is Secondary English Education, for now."
"What do you mean 'for now'?"
"It's just that I'm not really sure if I want to be an English teacher or not. I just don't know if I could do the same thing over and over, day after day, year after year, you know? I want something more exciting, more thrilling."
"I get that," he said.
"Really? I tried explaining to my parents and my mom couldn't understand. I mean, she's a kindergarten teacher and she absolutely loves the kids she's taught. My dad kind of understood me. He's the Chief of Police back home, and he sort of does the same thing every day but there's always something different that could happen," I finished. "Enough about me. What's your major then?"
Jasper laughed. "That's easy. History education. There's so much to learn and not enough time to learn it. Plus, you can't change history. It's there, it's a part of everyone. I want to give others the chance to come to love it as much as I do," he said.
"Wow," was all I could say.
"Yeah, I know. Lame, huh?" he grimaced.
I shook my head. "No. Not at all. I understand."
We stood there for a minute in silence listening to the music, which had been blaring another rap song. It switched over to "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot" by Brand New. "This is my favorite song!" I yelled.
Jasper opened his mouth to say something back but was interrupted by Alice, who came rushing over with Chris trailing behind her.
"Bella! How are you?" Chris asked.
"I'm good. Have you guys met Jasper? Jasper, this is Chris. Chris, this is Jasper. Do you know Alice yet?"
"Hey," Jasper said as he and Chris shook hands. "Yeah, Alice and I met a couple of days when I was moving some stuff in.
"Oh, that's cool," I added lamely, while red colored my pale cheeks.
Thankfully, Emmett came over and yelled, "Alice! My favorite little sister!" He picked her up and spun her around for a second before putting her back down next to Chris.
"Emmett," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm your only sister." But she grinned anyway. "Emmett, I want you to meet my boyfriend Chris. Chris, this is my brother Emmett."
"Hey, nice to finally meet you. Alice talks about you all the time," Emmett grinned as he shook Chris' hand.
"Yeah, nice to meet you, too," Chris said as he and Emmett dropped hands.
"Anyway, are you guys having fun yet?" We all nodded. "Great, great, but the party hasn't even started yet. I mean, wait until you see what we have in store for later," Emmett said with a grin.
Alice rolled her eyes. "Another infamous Emmett Cullen party."
"Hey, that was one time. I'm not going to set fire to anything this time," Emmett said sheepishly. "Anyway, I have to talk to Bella, so we will see you guys later, ok?" He motioned for me to go to him so we could leave.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Jasper. I'll see you guys later," I said toward Alice and Chris.
"It was nice meeting you, too, Bella," Jasper smiled.
"Bye Bella!" Alice trilled while Chris just waved bye to me.
I followed Emmett to the kitchen where he turned to me. "So, Emmett, where is this mystery person you wanted me to meet," I interrupted before he could say anything.
"Well, you see…" he trailed off.
"Well…" I looked at him expectantly.
"Well, the person I wanted to introduce you to isn't actually here right now. They had an emergency come up and they said that they might not be able to make it. So, they're going to give me a call once they get here, if the party is still going on," he said in a rush.
"Emmett…"
"What?"
"Is this mystery person a guy?"
"What? No…no…not at all." Emmett looked skittish. It is a guy. Ugh.
"Emmett. I don't want to meet a guy. I'm happy the way I am. Did Alice ask you to do this?" I asked, suddenly upset at Alice.
"Bells, it's not like that. It…it isn't a guy," he stammered. I just looked at him. "Fine. Whatever. It is a guy, but come on, Alice said that it's been about a year since the last time you had a boyfriend…or a date. What was his name? Jacob or something?"
I grimaced. "What in the world?! Emmett, that's none of your business."
"Bella, Bella, Bella. When will you learn? You're like the little sister that I never had."
"Except that you already have a sister," I glared at him.
"Yeah, yeah. Small details," he grinned.
I rolled my eyes. "Let's cut to the chase. What's so special about this guy that you want me to meet, Emmett?"
"Bella. Don't worry about that right now. Just enjoy the rest of the party and keep your phone on so I can call you when he gets here, ok?"
"Whatever. I'm going to find Alice."
"Don't give her a hard time. She's just worried about you. You do know that, right?," Emmett smiled.
I just rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'll talk to you later." I made my way away from Emmett so I could find Alice again, so I could yell at the little pixie. How dare she? I mean, I know that she was worried about me, that's her nature, but still. I'd had enough heartache now to last me a lifetime, thanks to my ex.
As I made my way from Emmett, I kept looking across the crowd to see if I could make out Alice's pixie figure. Suddenly, I felt someone come up behind me and put an arm around my waist. I shuddered at the contact and turned around to see the person to whom the arm belonged.
It was a blonde, boyish looking boy, with blue eyes. "Hey. I'm Mike Newton, and you are?" he smiled.
"Uh, uh, uh…I'm Bella. Bella Swan." And please take your hand off of me! I screamed inside my head.
"Nice to meet you, Bella. Would you like to dance?" Mike grinned.
I tried to not look too horrified at the prospect of dancing with him, and I as opened my mouth to decline, another voice spoke up.
"Sorry, Mike. She already promised to dance the next one with me," a voice that came from my left said.
I turned to look at my savior and I gasped. The voice belonged to a real-life Adonis that was only inches away from me. He had beautiful bronze hair and deep emerald eyes that seemed to go on forever. I found myself getting lost in this stranger's eyes before I was interrupted by Mike. Our staring contest being interrupted, we both looked at Mike as he spoke.
"Really, Edward? Or are you just saying that?" Mike challenged.
"Let's let her tell us, then, if you don't believe me," Edward said.
I looked back at Edward for a slight second as he was talking and I could swear that he winked at me. "Yeah. I'm sorry, Mike. I had already promised to dance with Edward. He's telling the truth. Maybe later?" I said, not really wanting to dance with him later.
Mike glared at Edward for a second before he spoke again. "Ok. I'll see you later then." He squeezed my waist before he let go and stalked off toward the kitchen.
I turned to Edward. "Thank you so much. Really."
He waved his hand. "No problem. I could tell from the look on your face that you really didn't want to dance with him. You know, you don't have to dance with me. I…"
"No. I would love to dance with you," I blushed.
He grinned. Perfect, straight white teeth for a perfect smile. "Ok, but first, I would like to introduce myself." He held out his hand for mine. I placed my hand in his. It was cold, but in a good way. "I am Edward Masen, and you are?"
"Bella. Bella Swan."
"Nice to meet you, Bella. Bella Swan," he grinned as he brought my hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it. My heart stopped suddenly as his lips touched my hand and I stopped breathing as I felt a slight tingle at the touch of his lips. "Are you ok, Bella?" he asked, raising his head.
I blushed as I realized what had happened. I nodded my head. "Yeah, I'm ok."
We stood there for the shortest second just looking into each other's eyes before Edward spoke again. "Well, may I have this dance?" he said as Michael Buble's "Irresistible" came on. No words came to my mouth, so I just nodded. Edward led me over to where a big crowd was swaying along with the music, put his arms around my waist and started swaying along with the music. I placed my own arms around his neck and felt another tingle at our contact.
"So," he started.
"So, what?" I asked.
He smiled. "So, are you a student at the local university? Or are you here just visiting someone, a friend or a boyfriend?"
I shook my head. "Yeah, I'm a student, and I'm here with my friend Alice. This is her brother Emmett's place."
"Really? What a coincidence. I live here, too."
"Really? Wow. That's really funny, actually."
"How is that funny?" he questioned.
"That I just happened to have seen Emmett, you, and Jasper."
"You met Jasper already?" he asked. I nodded my head. "And don't forget that you've met Mike, too."
"Mike lives here, too? Really?"
Edward pursed his lips before he answered. "Yeah. He's ok, just a little girl-crazy," he smiled as he looked at me.
I rolled my eyes. "What's new? Anyway, Alice said that there were five guys living here? Wow, that must be so crazy. I only live with Alice and that's a chore in itself."
He laughed as he said, "Not so much. We're all so busy that being here together is a rarity. I'm pre-med, so I'm busy with my studies most of the time. Emmett's always off with his girlfriend Rosalie. Jasper hangs out in his room, studying and reading history books. Mike is always off with some random girl, and James, our fifth roommate, stays gone most of the time. He actually isn't here right now, so…" he trailed off. "What's it like living with Alice? I met her the other day and she seems like an unstoppable force of nature."
I grinned. "Yeah, that pretty much sums her up. She's crazy, loves to shop, and is crazy about her boyfriend."
"So, do you…" he trailed off as the song finally finished and moved on to another song, this time "Decode" by Paramore. "Do you still want to dance or…"
"Uh…" I trailed off as I looked up and saw Mike walking over to us. "How about we go get a drink or go and talk?" I asked, hopeful that he would get the hint.
"Ah," he said with a wink. "Ok. Let's go. After you," he said as he extended his left hand toward the kitchen. As I started to walk, Edward put his hand on the small of my back, sending a shock through me. Again.
We reached the kitchen and Edward asked, "What would you like?"
"A Coke, please," I said, smiling. He handed me a can. "Thanks."
He took one for himself and said, " No problem. Come on, I saw Mike headed this way. We can go up to my room and hide out from him." He paused. "If you want to, that is," he said, scratching his head as he said this, as if he were uncomfortable or something.
"Sure. Yeah. That's fine." He took my hand in his own and pulled me to follow him upstairs.
So…you guys probably want to kill me right now…yeah. I've been so busy with school; it's been so much more hectic than I thought it would be. Junior year in college is killer. No doubt. But I'm going to have wireless internet access all summer…so I'm going to have more chances to update all of my stories. Thank you to all of my readers that have stuck with me! :)