(EPOV)

Forks, Washington. Forks, fucking, Washington. Come on Carlisle, I mean really. Alaska was better than this. We had been stuck in this rainy hell hole for just over a week now, and I was missing civilization. I was probably the only one in my family that had not found their niche yet. Emmett was just fine with the other football stars, Jasper had found a book club or some shit., Rosalie was quickly climbing her way to queen of the bitches, and Alice… Well, Alice could fit in anywhere.

So, like I said before, that just leaves me, all alone, doing the same thing as always. People watching. Watching how other people move, act, speak, whatever, is fun, sure, but everyone gets boring after a while, and since this isn't necessarily the biggest town… Though there was this one girl I couldn't seem to tear my eyes off of.

Bella Swan was the most interesting person I have ever laid eyes on. I mean, yeah, she was drop-dead gorgeous, but it was more than that. When you looked closer you saw her dead, almost always glassy brown eyes, and just underneath those eyes were the darkest under-eye circles I had ever seen, which her pale skin made even more pronounced. She was clever, that much was obvious from Tuesday's early morning show. She had managed to get Alice away from her eventually. Plus, she pissed Rose off.

And that, is always a plus.

Let's skip back to the present. Alice had dragged me shopping with her today, since it was Saturday, and she hadn't gone shopping in a week. She said she had taken me with her today because she needed someone to carry her bags, which she did, but knowing her, she was probably just trying to get me out of the house.

We left early, so we were able to leave the mall by 11:30. We decided to go ahead and grab lunch at Denny's before heading back home. I normally would have problems with waking up at seven o'clock on a Saturday, what with me averaging three to four hours of sleep a night, but Alice was right, I needed to get out of that house. Out of that suffocating, closed-in, town.

I didn't sleep much because I had a mild case of insomnia, and have had it for years. The doctors believe I simply keep myself up, either as a way to rebel, or get away from nightmare's, they don't know, but their pretty positive I'm spending my nights drinking coffee to keep myself awake.

What people didn't seem to get was that it isn't that I don't sleep, it's that I can't sleep.

I don't know why, and wouldn't be able to tell you if I tried. I lay in bed, and stare at the ceiling until around three or four in the morning, which is why I need at least one cup of coffee a day to stay alive. Though I usually had two, the second one was to keep me up enough to finish things like home-work. I could always fall asleep, when I needed to be awake. It was just part of the fucked up life of Edward Anthony Mason Cullen.

We pulled into the parking lot at 11:58, I parked next to a familiar beat up truck that immediately had my mind thinking back to the Bella Swan character.

(BPOV)

I sat outside, on the hood of my truck, in the Denny's parking lot. I was doing nothing, not smoking, not high, not thinking, just sitting. It was sprinkling lightly, and the cool drops made me feel awake and calm. I was content, almost happy.

This is probably as close to happy as I'll ever be, but I'll take it.

It was 11:30, and I had a thirty minute break to get something to eat before the lunch rush, but I wasn't hungry. I wasn't tired. I wasn't cold or sick or sad or happy. I couldn't find any emotion in my entire body except contentedness.

I didn't dare think, because I knew that a simple thought could send me spiraling back down into my depression. An image would leave me grasping for a buzz to help me forget. The only sad part about these moments were they always happened when I only had limited time. I couldn't just sit here and wait for my little piece of almost happiness to run out on its own. I had to break it.

To say it sucked major dick, would be an understatement.

I had been out here for twenty minutes, and my phone-alarm went off, reminding me to head back to work. Of course, when I set that alarm, I had intended on going somewhere. Then this happened, and I don't even remember how. I sighed, being pulled back into the real world is never fun, and turned off the alarm. I decided I would need to eat something, so I grabbed a granola bar out of my truck and enjoyed it in the cab. The natural high had still not completely left, so I was almost disgusted with the though of ruining it with drugs.

I didn't like doing drugs, but to me, it's the only way to get through the day. I am weak, and can't handle my own personal reality. If it hadn't of been for the accident years ago, I doubt I would of gotten into drugs. As a matter of fact, I used to hate drugs. I started when I was fourteen, my friend Alec was a druggie, and told me about the escape you get when your high. I, naturally, was curious. I didn't like always being down, and always thinking of the past, maybe this would be a way to get out of it. We went over to his friends place, and that was when I first got high on weed. It was maybe a week later that I had my first dose of Shrooms. Then the Acid trip came a couple of weeks after that.

He slowly worked me up, and even offered me Heroin after a few months. I told him I had no interest in being a fourteen year old Heroin addict, and he told me good, he didn't want me to get into the hardcore, majorly addictive drugs, even he wasn't into them. I still see Alec every now and then, he moved to Seattle, so it's a bit harder to hang out.

When I was sixteen, I tried to stop doing drugs all together. A couple of days later, I fell asleep, and that made my will power shake, and start to crumble, but I still kept clean for another a few more days. Until I had to sleep again, and had such a vivid nightmare that I still remember it exactly two years later. I reached under my bed, and pulled out an Acid tablet. I hated myself even more, I had become addicted to drugs, and it took that one week to realize it. As I rode out my trip, I kept thinking about it, and I realized, I'm not addicted to drugs. I'm addicted to forgetting.

It was now exactly 11:56 and cars were starting to arrive more frequently , so I decided to head on into the restaurant to help with the rush that was well on it's way. Yes, call it suicide, but I went into work, on a Saturday, during the lunch rush, completely sober.

I quickly went to the bathroom to make sure I didn't look like complete hell, and then walked out into the restaurant.

"Oh, Bella, thank God you're back." Elizabeth said, with a relieved expression.

"Yup, where do you need me?" I asked, feigning a smile.

"Start on table three, but there are sure to be more soon." She said, walking off to a new table.

I sighed and grabbed my notepad before heading to table three, right before I got in their line of sight, I put on the fakest smile I have worn in a while. "Hey, welcome to Denny's, my name is Bella and I'll be your server this afternoon, can I get you guys something to drink?" I asked, setting the menu's in front of two people, not even looking at them. When I did finally raise my eyes to them, the little Bella in my head just screamed, Fuck! I just had to be assigned the table with Edward and Alice fucking Cullen. My face didn't show a thing my mind was saying.

Alice's face broke out into a broad smile, and my eye twitched. "Hey Bella, I didn't know you worked here, how have you been?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Same old, same old. And you?" I forced myself to ask. I wasn't going to lose a tip just because one of the most annoying human beings in all of Washington was who I was serving.

"Pretty good, Edward and I just went shopping." Her smile widened.

I looked at Edward. "Hmm, is that so?" I didn't give a fuck, but I pretended to. For the sake of money. "Is there anything I can get you two to drink?" I asked again, trying to speed things along.

"Of course, I'll have a Sprite"

I looked at Edward expectantly, and he was looking at me with a curious expression. He seemed to snap out of something and smiled a crooked smile that made my stomach drop.

Holy fucking hell.

"Fanta?" He was asking if we even carried it, since a lot of places didn't. I smiled and nodded. I smiled because it wasn't the most requested drink, for reasons unknown to me. Fanta rocked some major socks off. "I'll have that then." I wrote it down.

"Okay, I'll be right back with a Sprite and a Fanta." I told them as I headed over to the soda fountain. I took a deep breath, it could be worse, right? I could be serving Queen bitch and her line of loyal followers. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, Elizabeth walked in.

"Table six is your's now, too. Sorry. A bunch of teenagers." She said as she hurried out again. I didn't even have to look.

"Every time I try to be just a smidge optimistic…" I grumbled under my breath as I finished filling the two glasses. I walked out to the Cullen's table and set down their drinks.

"You two ready to order yet?" I asked in a polite voice. They both shook their heads.

"No, not yet." Alice said, still looking over the menu. I thanked God for that little bit of luck, it gave me time to go to table six and get drink orders.

"Okay, I'll be back in a bit to see if your ready." I smiled quickly, and left towards the next table.

Surprise, surprise, it was just a few familiar faces. I put on the fake smile and repeated the usual line. I looked up and, as expected, Lauren was smiling arrogantly. I could easily read what that smile meant. 'Ha, I don't have to work.'

I wasn't surprised to see Blondie Cullen there, but I was surprised that she was the first one to talk. That was always Queen B's job, then again, she might very well be. "I'll have a Diet Pepsi."

"Me, too." Lauren, Jessica, and Tyler all chorused together. Yeah, Blondie was definitely the new leader.

"Is Diet Cola alright?" The three turned there head towards Rosalie in question. She shrugged and nodded, so everyone else nodded, too. "Okay, I'll be right back with those." I said as nicely as I could.

I went to the back and filled up four glasses with Diet Cola, and just because Lauren deserves it, I spit in one of them. I looked into my memory to remember the seating of their table and placed Laurens in the appropriate position on the platter that I carried out. I then thought again, and placed the cup where Jessica sat instead.

I went out and sat all of their drinks down, and, as I expected, Lauren traded drinks with Jessica and smiled at me smugly. I looked at her in mock confusion, though she would never know the difference, before acting like I was shaking it off. On the inside, though, I was laughing my ass off. Lauren thought she was smart, thought she was clever, but in actuality, she was a dumb ass.

"You ready to order?" I asked Lauren first.

"I just want a fruit salad and some toast." She smiled and closed up her menu. I moved my eyes to the next person.

"Same as she's having." Said Jessica. I nodded.

"Ham and Cheese omelet." Tyler smiled and handed me the menu. He was my favorite one of the lost puppies.

I saved Rosalie for last, because I knew she was different than the other's, and would actually order food, and this would cause them all to squirm. "I want two eggs, easy up, two pancakes and some hash browns." She smiled at me, and the other girls started their squirming. Allowing me to smile back with a bit of truth.

"I'll go put the orders in." I said before heading towards the kitchen. Rosalie had my respect, I might not like her exactly, but I respected her. Which was more than I could say for her posse. As soon as I got through the doors of the kitchen, I laughed my ass off. The cook, Jack, looked at me in confusion.

"Teenage girls are so much fucking fun to mess with." I laughed out.