Authors Note: Okay guys… I'm really really sorry it has taken me this long to get this chapter out. I've been working on it for over a week, I promise. On the upside, it's the longest chapter I've written to date… on the downside, it might take me just as long to get out chapter 8 (especially since I haven't even started that one yet…). But, you were all warned that I am a sporadic updater.

I'm sorry if this chapter is confusing to anyone, I jump around to different pov's. Hopefully they all blend together.

With that said, enjoy  (Insert generic disclaimer here…)

Ch 7 You Weren't In On This?

(BPOV)

I had been lying in bed for over an hour, thinking about the events that had brought me to this point.

I had just ended a relationship that I had been in for almost two years. I had just broken my best friends' heart.

But I couldn't bring myself to cry anymore. Sure, I had cried while I was talking to Jacob, and for a little while afterwards, but now I was just… I wasn't really sure what I was. Of course I was sad, but I also felt… better.

I glanced over at the clock.

10:30.

I had been lying here for two hours. Wondering if Alice was still awake, I slowly made my way out of my bedroom and into the hall. Her door was slightly open, and the light was on, so I figured that meant she was at least home. Without knocking, I gently pushed the door open further.

"Alice?" I asked, stepping inside.

"Hey B, what's going on?" She asked, looking up from her desk. Her computer was on, and it looked like she was doing homework. I smiled; maybe I was starting to rub off on her.

"You busy?" I asked, sitting down on her bed. I needed to talk to someone, and Alice was my best shoulder to cry on, not that I was actually crying.

"Not at all. I was working on some homework for my art class, but I always welcome distractions. What's up?" She said with a laugh, moving to sit next to me on the bed.

"I broke up with Jake." I said, getting to the point. There was no sense in beating around the bush, especially with Alice.

"Oh honey, what happened?" She asked, putting an arm around my shoulders.

"Nothing, really, I just… I couldn't do it anymore. It's hard to explain. The worst thing is that I totally broke his heart." I didn't really know how to explain it to her.

"I don't understand Bella. I thought you were happy with him?" She looked confused. I know she didn't like Jake all that much, but she thought I was happy.

"Well, I was. But then I started thinking about it, and I realized that we're in two different places. He wants to live in Forks for the rest of his life. I can't do that. Did you know he expected me to only stay here for a year, and then move back home?"

"What brought this on B?" Her words echoed Jake's, except she wasn't angry, or hurt, just curious.

"I…" I didn't really want to tell her that Edward had brought this one. She would jump to conclusions and get caught up in crazy schemes to get Edward and me together.

"It's Edward, isn't it?" She asked. Damn, she was smarter then I gave her credit for.

"No. It's not him, exactly, but he helped me see some things." I admitted, shrugging my shoulders.

"Like what? What could he help you with that I couldn't?" She crossed her arms across her chest, pouting. She had been trying to months to get me to rethink my relationship with Jacob.

"It's not that, Alice, but yesterday, when I ran into him at the library, he kept asking me questions. And he actually cared about the answers. He asked what my favorite color was. Jake has never once asked me what my favorite color was. And Edward… He actually stopped to listen to why I came to Southern; he didn't try to make me feel guilty about leaving Charlie to fend for himself. Jake was always trying to make me feel guilty!" I ran a hand through my hair, pushing it back from my face.

"You are the most unselfish person in the world Bells and Jacob was a fool to try to take advantage of that." Alice said sounding annoyed. That was one of the main problems she had with Jake; he was always trying to convince me to move back home, or not to leave in the first place.

"I know. But you didn't hear him on the phone Al. He sounded heart broken, and it's my fault." I truly did feel bad; I didn't want to hurt him.

"It'll be okay Bells. He'll see it's what's best for the both of you. Later on in life when he's with the girl he can't live without, he'll be thankful." She said, rubbing my back.

I smiled. Alice usually knew the best things to say.

"Besides, that leaves you available for Edward now." She said with a grin.

I groaned. Alice knew the worst things to say as well.

"Alice, no. I'm not ready to throw myself at another guy; I just broke up with Jake a couple hours ago.

"Well, I'm sure the time will come…" She trailed off, still smiling. "Okay, so what we need now is some chocolate ice cream, popcorn, and a good action movie. I know! Late night run to 7-11!" She said, jumping off her bed and heading towards the closet.

"Alice, it's okay, really." I said half-heartedly. I knew arguing with her was useless; Alice always got her way.

"No buts B. A junk food and movie night is just what you need." She said without looking at me, digging a sweatshirt out of her closet.

"Maybe I just need a night with my best friend." I said, giving her a smile.

"That too." She said, pulling a white sweatshirt over her head. "Let's go." She grabbed my arm and pulled me from the room.

I put up little resistance, knowing that she was just trying to make me feel better.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(EPOV)

"Emmett, it's 10:45 on a Wednesday night. What reason could there possibly be for a beer run?"

I was annoyed, to say the least, at Emmett's latest request.

"Do we need a reason Eddie?" He asked happily, slapping me on the back.

"On a Wednesday night, when some of us have class in the morning, yes, we do need a reason."

"Jazz doesn't think we need a reason." Emmett said with a smirk.

"Speaking of Jazz… Why is he coming with us again? He isn't 21 yet." I accused. Something was up, and I felt like I was missing something obvious.

Jasper looked down at the grown, shoving his hands in his pockets. That confirmed my suspicion. Emmett laughed.

"And why are we walking?" True, we only lived a few blocks from the 7-11, and it was early fall so the nights weren't too cold yet, but we never walked.

"I figured we could use the workout." Emmett said shrugging.

"Workout? Emmett, you're on the wrestling team. You work out everyday." I glanced around at my surroundings, looking over at the freshman apartments before turning my attention back to Emmett.

And then it hit me. Freshman apartments. Jasper coming with us. Emmett insisting on us walking.

"Emmett, I'm going to ask one more time." I said, my voice low. "Why?" I didn't need to finish my sentence to get my point across.

"Okay man, calm down. Jazz here seems to be taken with little Alice, you know, my cousins roommate. So I figured we could stop by and see them…"

"And this involves me how?" I had stopped walking by this point.

"Well, you remember my cousin right?" He asked sheepishly. I raised an eyebrow; when was Emmett ever sheepish?

"How could I forget? The girl almost fell down the stairs."

Of course I couldn't forget her. She'd been in my thoughts since I met her on Friday. And our Sunday encounter at the library only cemented her presence there.

"Okay, well, don't get mad, but I wanted to take Jazz over there to see Alice, but then I got a call from Rosalie; you know the hot softball player from the party? Well, I figured we'd all go over to my cousins, and then I'd go from there to Rosalie's. I didn't want to leave Jazz there by himself."

Oh for the love of god. Was he trying to set me up? Not that I really minded, considering it was Bella, but it was the principal of the matter.

"Emmett you can't be serious." I practically shouted. I turned to Emmett, pinching the bridge of my nose with my left hand. "Do you even think these ideas through? Hell, do you even think at all?" We'd had this conversation before, the last time Emmett had tried to set me up with someone.

"Whoa Edward, I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. If you don't want to hang out with my cousin, then leave." His voice was low, angry. Wonderful.

"It's not that.." I started, which was the truth. I wanted to see Bella again, more then anything I've ever wanted. I wanted to know everything there was to know about her, and that scared me.

"Then what is it?"

"I just don't like being taken by surprise, and you know that. And it feels like you're trying to set me up." I was starting to feel bad for yelling at him.

To my surprise, he started laughing. And not a light chuckle kind of laugh, but a 'hold your gut and try not to fall to the ground' laugh

"Setting you up?" Emmett asked, between gasps. "With who? Bella?"

Obviously something about that was funny to him, because, if possible, he started laughing harder.

"I don't see what's so funny."

"Eddie, I know you. I know how you are with girls. I would never try to set you up with someone like Bella. She's too sweet and innocent."

Oh. Wait, how was I with girls?

"What do you mean?" I was perplexed, thinking back on my past relationships.

"Edward, you're never with the same girl for more then a month before you get bored." Jasper explained, glaring at Emmett who was still laughing.

"Oh." Was all I could say. Was I really that bad? Jasper just shrugged, as if he knew what I was feeling.

"I'm not that bad." I finally said, after Emmett stopped laughing.

"Yeah, right, how about we go talk to Tanya? You guys were hot and heavy for about a month before you dropped her."

I had totally forgotten about Tanya. We had been dating until the party last Friday. Until I had met Bella, and completely ignored Tanya for the rest of the evening; I'd been avoiding her calls ever since.

"She was clingy." I said lamely. I really had no better excuse.

"And what about Jessica Stanley? She lasted two weeks." Jasper cut in.

"Did you ever have to talk to her?" I asked. The girl was a moron, to put it nicely.

"Okay, fair point, but what about… Oh, what was her name? Betty? Brenda? Bonnie?"

"You mean Beth? She broke up with me, remember?" It was true; Beth had broken up with me during our 'end of the year' party.

"Yeah, because you didn't call her for a week. And then she walked in on you hooking up with that one hot redhead." Emmett said laughing again.

Shit. I'd forgotten about that.

"So basically you're telling me that I'm an asshole?" I guess I'd been called worse.

"Basically." Emmett agreed, shrugging his shoulders. "So you'll come? All you gotta do is hang out with Bella for a bit while Jazz makes his move on Alice."

"Alight." I couldn't really say no to a chance to get to know Bella better.

"Sweet. But seriously, don't try anything with Bella. Or I'll kick your ass. She's like a little sister to me. Plus, her dad is the Chief of Police back home." His voice had an edge to it, meaning he was serious. I didn't doubt Emmett's ability to kick my ass. And that would make the situation a little more complicated; especially if I wanted to get to know Bella better.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(APOV)

I couldn't have planned this better myself, honestly. The way things were falling into place made it seem like fate really was working in my favor.

Emmett and I had brainstormed long and hard Saturday, planning ways that I could 'accidentally' run into Jasper, and the most plausible one that we came up with was running into each other at 7-11.

And then I had gone shopping to pick out the perfect outfit to wear when I did run into him. A girl could never be too prepared.

But what neither of us could have planned on Bella breaking up with Jacob because of Edward. She didn't come out and say it was because of him, but I usually had a sixth sense about these things.

When I saw Bella and Edward at the party last Friday, I could see that they had a future. The way he hovered around her, not letting her leave his sight, spoke volumes about how he felt about her. I had always believed in love at first sight, but I had never really seen it in action before.

"Come on Bells, I can practically hear the ice cream calling my name." I said as I pulled her along the sidewalk. I had been trying to find a reason to go to 7-11, and Bella had presented me a perfect occasion. Now all I had to do was convince her that our upcoming encounter was a coincidence. The girl really was too observant for her own good.

"Al, I'm walking as fast as I can. I'm tired. Forgive me if I'm slow." She said, although she put up little resistance to my dragging.

"Don't worry B. We're almost there." I said, eyeing the convenience store up the street. "Which movie do you want to watch tonight?" I tried to keep the topic light, hoping to get her into a semi-good mood.

"Oh, I don't know, something where everyone dies and no one ends up happily ever after?" She suggested, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Despite my best efforts, I laughed. Leave it to Bella. I'm not sure we actually owned any of those types of movies though.

"I don't think we have anything like that. How about something with a lot of eye candy in it? I could go for The Covenant. Man candy galore in that movie."

"Isn't there an underlying romance plot in it though? I'm not sure I want anything with romance."

"Aw B…" I said, throwing my arm around her. I would try to put it around her shoulders, but at my height, the best I could aim for was a waist. "Almost every movie has an underlying romance plot. Unless you're watching Hostel or something, but I think even in those movies people end up hooking up."

"Then let's watch something ridiculously cheesy then. Like Bring It On." She suggested, cracking a smile.

I was about to say something when I heard a male voice calling from down the street. I smiled. Right on time.

"Bella? Alice? What are you guys doing here?" Emmett called in a surprised voice.

"Oh, Hey Em." Bella said, smiling at her cousin. She was falling for it hook, line, and sinker. Alice 1, Bella 0. "We were just getting some late night snacks." She said, shrugging.

"Oh sweet. We were on a beer run."

I saw Edward roll his eyes, and I mentally cringed. It seemed like he knew what was going on. Jasper just looked slightly embarrassed about the whole situation.

"On a Wednesday?" Bella asked.

"You don't need an excuse to have a beer run on a Wednesday." Emmett said, a little too quickly. I frowned. We had gone over this multiple times. He was supposed to say that he was celebrating the fact that he had a month break from wrestling.

"Okay." Bella had a confused look on her face as she looked at me.

"So, Emmett, are you going to introduce us to your friends?" I asked, stepping up beside Bella. If we were going to pull this off, I needed to get the ball rolling.

"Oh yeah, you guys remember Jasper, and Edward?" He asked, pointed towards the two men standing beside him. "Guys, you remember my cousin Bella and her roommate Alice?"

Edward mumbled something that sounded a lot like a complaint, and Jasper just nodded his head. This wasn't going quite like I had expected it.

"Of course, it's nice to see you again Edward, Jasper." Bella said, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. A small smile played at her lips, and I mentally cheered.

"Lovely to see you again Jasper," I said, smiling as I offered my hand. He gave me a small smile as he took my extended hand. I couldn't help but giggle as he brought it to his lips.

"The pleasure is all mine." He said, with a slight southern drawl. As soon as his lips left my hand, he dropped it quickly, looking down. I frowned.

Well, on to plan b then.

"Hey, you guys want to come back to our place? Bella and I were just going to watch a movie and eat some junk food." I said, looking between Jasper and Emmett.

"What?" Bella said from beside me, surprise in her voice. I turned to see her brown eyes wide, staring at me. I just shrugged.

"Sure, that'd be fun." Emmett said, ignoring Bella's response. "What do you think guys?" He asked, turning to his friends. Edward just shrugged.

"Well, we still need to get some ice cream." I said, walking into the store. "B, what kind do you want?" She shot me a murderous glare before following me in.

"What are you doing?" She hissed as we walked back to the freezers. "I thought this was supposed to be a girls night?"

"Well, it would be rude not to invite them?" I said, saying it more as a question.

"This is something you planned with Emmett, isn't it?"

Damn. The girl knew me to well.

"Well, maybe. Come on Bella, please. I can really feel something there between Jasper and I. This really means a lot to me. Please?" I was practically begging now, giving her my best puppy dog eyes.

"I'm not going shopping with you for a week!" She said quietly, glaring at me again. If that was my punishment, then I'd gladly take it!

"Thanks B! You're the best!" I said, squeezing her around the waist. "Now let's get some ice cream."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(BPOV)

I couldn't believe I had let her talk me into this. That devious little pixie. In hindsight, I should have known that she would plan something like this, but I was too caught up in my self-pity party to really question her motives. She was Alice. I loved the girl to death, but she drove me crazy sometimes.

I glanced at her as we walked out of the 7-11, carton of ice cream in hand, and made our way to the guys. She was practically skipping she was so excited, and I found myself smiling despite myself.

At least one of us was happy.

"Lead the way ladies." Emmett said as we walked up to them.

"This way gentlemen," Alice happily chirped, "We only live a block away." She motioned for us to follow her as she gracefully walked down the sidewalk.

I rolled my eyes. I wonder how long it had taken her and Emmett to come up with this idea.

I glanced around at the others as we walked down the street. Emmett and Alice were engaged in a lively conversation, but I couldn't hear what it was about. Jasper kept glancing at them, alternating between glaring at Emmett and smiling at Alice. And Edward just looked amused.

"What's so funny?" I asked, slowing my pace to match his.

"How much time do you think they spent brainstorming this idea?" He chuckled, nodding towards Emmett and Alice.

"Probably all of Saturday afternoon, but I don't know for sure because I left for the library." Where I met up with you, I mentally added.

"Do you think we should eventually tell them that it might have been easier to just suggest that we all hang out?" A large grin spread across his face.

"Ah, so you weren't in on this?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No. I didn't know until about ten minutes ago, when I asked Emmett why we were going on a beer run on a Wednesday night. You didn't know about this either?"

"I found out about two minutes ago, when Alice suggested you all come over." I glanced over at Alice again, who was talking animatedly about something, arms flailing around her head. Jasper looked absorbed in whatever she was talking about.

"I think your friend Jasper has it bad for Alice." I said, nudging Edward with my elbow. Did I just elbow nudge him?

"I think you're right." He said, laughing quietly. "But then again, I knew that Friday night."

"Well aren't we just Mr. Observant then." I said, bumping him with my shoulder.

Did I just call him Mr. Observant? And did I just bump him with my shoulder? Oh my god, I was flirting with him. I could feel the blood start to pool in my cheeks as I realized that I was attempting to flirt. And then I immediately felt guilty. I had just broken up with Jake, and here I was flirting with another guy.

I could hear Edward talk to me again, but I was too lost in my own thoughts to pay attention to him.

"Bella?" He asked, breaking me from my trance by placing a hand on my arm.

"Hm…?" Was the only response I could come up with.

"Isn't this your apartment building?" He asked, grabbing my shoulder and spinning me to the right.

"Huh?" I asked, blinking. How on earth did he do that to me? This time I knew the blood was rushing to my cheeks.

"You alright? You kind of zoned out on me for a minute." He said, concern flashing across his features.

"Oh. No. I mean yes. I'm fine. Sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind." I winced. I hoped that didn't sound as bad out loud as it did in my head.

"Okay, well, we better get inside before Alice has a fit." He said, glancing over to where she was standing, yelling at us to hurry up. "Or gets a noise violation."

And that's when it hit me. Edward was going to be in my apartment. With my cousin. And my best friend.

This was going to be embarrassing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(Authors note, part 2)… So, I'm still in desperate need of a beta… I wrote a begging plea in my profile, but I wanted to put one here. I desperately want to be able to finish this story, but I think I'm at a point where I need help. I've got a few later chapters already written, but I'm getting paranoid about the plot, and the flow of the story, and the characterization (especially of our favorite little pixie)… If you're interested, please, please, please feel free to send me a message 

Thanks!