The Transfer
A/N: Time to process!
Chapter 9: Restless Night
BPOV
It had been a really great night. I enjoyed walking to the barbecue with Jessica and Angela. It had been rather fun hanging out with them and their friends. Okay, so maybe the Mike Newton So-You-Think-You-Can-Dance-A-Thon was horrifyingly embarrassing, but that hadn't lasted that long. I'd get over that someday. Hopefully soon.
I had a great time with Alice and Jasper and I got to know Emmett and Rosalie a little better. I had felt welcomed. They seemed to have a wonderful relationship and friendship with each other. Not many siblings I had ever known would want to spend time together and actually seek each other out. It was like they were their own little clan or tribe. They were funny and smart and I could tell that they were each other's champions, and would stand up for each other in the case of any injustice, no matter how big or small. They would also celebrate each other's successes and happiness. They seemed to love each other fiercely and they were pulling me into their fold. And I felt like I fit in and belonged. They felt like family in an odd sort of way.
The best part of my evening, however, had been spending time with Edward. He had seemed very protective of me. He had showed up when Mike did, saving me from even further embarrassment, and managed to send him away gently. He corralled me back to the safety of his table and I really enjoyed his company and sense of humor. And at the end of the evening he walked me back home when the others had all disappeared.
When Edward had been shoved into me at the table I had been embarrassed and hyper-aware of his body. It was probably due to his appearance in general. It would fluster anyone to have someone who looked like a model or movie star suddenly plastered up against one's body. I wondered if he had had any passing thought about the incident himself. Probably not.
Several times, throughout the evening, I had been overly aware of his face and his features as he looked down at me. Again, I guess it was easy to get caught up in the appearance of someone who looked like he did. He had beautiful, wide-set, green-blue eyes, framed by thick lashes and brows. His eyes seemed to sort of sparkle and dance as he smiled or laughed, and he definitely had a devilish streak about him. His lips formed a sort of pouty Cupid's bow, and there was something about his strong, angular jaw and high cheekbones that made it difficult to concentrate.
He wondered at the fact that girls hit on him all the time. How could they not? He was amazingly good-looking. Especially when he was happy. He looked good laughing, and I got the impression from the past two days, seeing him in different situations, that he didn't laugh a whole lot. It made me curious about him. And maybe a little sad for him. I wondered at the reason for his aloofness. He'd pretty much said he wanted to be left alone, yet he'd let me in a little this evening and had been entertaining and seemed to enjoy himself. He was an enigma, I decided.
I thought about his personality. He was kind. Even if he acted gruff. When it came right down to it, I sensed that he didn't want to hurt anyone. He bad-mouthed Mike, yet he harmlessly intercepted him and sent him off. He went along with Alice's demands without complaint. Even when she included me in their shopping trip, and I knew he had not expected it, nor did he probably want me to tag along, but he had been kind about it.
He was also funny; actually witty was more accurate. So he must be rather smart. I sensed that most of what he said tonight was to keep me laughing. He must realize that I was kind of a fish out of water, what with everyone else in the dorm seeming to already know one another, or in his case, to be related to one another.
His embarrassment about his "following", as he put it, was intriguing. Maybe the whole reason he felt that he didn't want to be involved with someone had to do with his appearance. Maybe he felt no one would take the time to get to know him, because they were too wrapped up in looking at him. And maybe, because of what they thought they saw, when they looked at him, they wouldn't recognize what was really there. He was a nice person, but I wondered if everyone saw that through his standoffish behavior. Maybe people were too busy looking at the exterior to appreciate the interior.
When we walked back to the dorm together, after Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie had deserted us, I realized just how different he was from my first impression of him. He was not at all the Hot Jerk that I had initially assumed him to be. He was most certainly hot, but definitely not a jerk. In fact, I had felt compelled to try to convince him not to want to be alone, that he was great and shouldn't feel unsure, that he was nice and fun to be with. I didn't know why he would say that he didn't want to be involved or attached to anyone. I wasn't sure what would make a person feel that way.
But the moment that I was mostly contemplating now, as I lay in my bed in my darkened dorm room, rehashing the evening, was when he had asked me to wait; to not go inside, and we had stood together in the darkness, just outside the dorm. I went to him, and as I looked up into his face I felt that same little electric buzzing sensation. I also had the distinct feeling that he was about to kiss me; or at least he was thinking about it. I could be wrong.
But instead he had asked me who Jake was, and abruptly I felt like I was falling through space. His question had completely surprised me, and maybe more importantly it had shocked me back to reality. I hadn't been thinking about Jake while I was standing there in the near-darkness with Edward. There had been a knot in my stomach when I looked at him and told him that Jake was my boyfriend.
So now I lay here in my bed, long after I'd returned to the dorm with Edward, listening to Victoria snore, wishing I had a magic crystal all to myself that would take away this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. Things were all wrong. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, but I didn't think I was playing by all the rules.
I was grateful that classes would be starting up after tomorrow. I needed to find something else that would consume my time and my thoughts. Something that would keep me busy and focused. How could things have gotten so confused and confusing in just two days? How was I going to get things back on track the way they should be?
EPOV
I couldn't let it go. I couldn't just ignore it. I hadn't even realized it until the end of the evening that it had been fucking bothering me all day, until I finally came out and asked her. I had to know who Jake was. It wasn't even my business. I had thought it was probably her boyfriend; I had even told Alice that when she'd wondered about it after the shopping trip. I told her he was probably Bella's nice boyfriend. Now it was confirmed. And I was fucked. Because I cared. I'd been careful the past several years, not to let myself care. And I hadn't. Until now. I realized that I must now have some kind of feelings, because it bothered the shit out of me. Somehow I had really fucked up my plans. I couldn't get involved; didn't want to be involved with anyone.
This was going to bother the shit out of Alice too. She really liked Bella; she had a good feeling about her. I don't really know why, she just did. And Alice wasn't usually wrong when it came to people. She was usually dead on. It really did feel like Bella was part of us. She fit right in. And I could tell that Alice had been so happy when I'd brought Bella over to sit with us. She hadn't even been there to force me to go intervene when Newton started his pornographic dance moves. I just knew I couldn't sit there and watch that another moment without doing something about it.
Well, Alice was just going to have to deal with this. Because somehow I was going to have to do the same. What choice did we have? We really hadn't thought about this too much beforehand. Well, I hadn't really thought about this at all. Mostly because I hadn't thought that I would need to think about this. I hadn't thought that it would matter.
I realized that Bella must have known something was up earlier in the evening. When she had looked up at me, when she had been sitting right next to me, her voice had been a little squeaky; her voice had been a little off. There was a reason for that. Right? Maybe she was just apprehensive about being thrown in with us. But I seriously didn't get that feeling.
And something was up with this Jake guy. She'd gotten a text, and I just knew it was from him. And she'd looked wrong. Not how you'd think she should have looked if it were her boyfriend and things were going well. I wondered about him. She wouldn't be with a jerk; she was too good for that. Maybe it was the distance factor that was bothering her. I wondered how far away Jake was. Would he come see her? Would she go home to see him? There must be something there between them, because she wouldn't put up with crap from somebody. Would she? I doubted it.
She could get riled up. She had a little temper on her. I'd seen it that first day when we'd been moving in. Her temper was kind of entertaining. Like an angry kitten. She'd seemed like she would be a pushover, but she sure wasn't. She stood up for herself. I admired that about her. I managed to get her all indignant when I accused her of lying to Newton. She was laughing and sparkling when she realized that I was just egging her on, so I knew she wouldn't put up with crap. So hopefully she wasn't putting up with crap from this Jake guy.
This was totally fucked.
I'm so totally fucked.
Fuck!
And then, speaking of fucked, she thought I had sexual exploits I wanted to announce over some ringtone loudspeaker system to the world. Me? With sexual exploits? Right. Not! Why would she think that of me? I pretty much straightened her out when I told her about all the skanky chicks trying to get into my Calvin Kleins. I needed a fucking chastity belt. I actually needed an unfucking chastity belt, because there was not going to be a relationship, let alone a physical relationship between myself and anyone anytime soon. I couldn't go there. Not again. Not yet.
Jeez! All this attention from chicks certainly wasn't my doing. I avoided that kind of attention like the plague. I didn't need that shit. I told her I wanted to be left alone; that I wasn't interested. And that was still pretty much the case for me. Unless she wanted to bother me. She wouldn't be a bother. Sitting with her tonight had probably kept some girls away; they probably figured she and I were together. Let them think that. She was okay. She was cool; and she cared, just because she was a nice person. I knew she cared. I could tell.
I didn't want to tell her my situation, my history. It's not the kind of thing you just announce to someone when you've known them for all of twenty-four hours. Actually, no one besides my brother and sister knew my story. And Jasper knew, he was my closest friend, I'd told him, of course. And Rose knew, too, because Emmett couldn't keep his damn mouth shut; he couldn't keep things from her.
Bella thought I must feel unsure of myself or something like that. She told me she thought I was great; that I shouldn't avoid people; that I'm nice and fun to be with. She told me any girl would think I was great. I honestly didn't care what just 'any girl' thought. That wasn't the reason. I wasn't unsure of myself. I was just sure that I couldn't let myself get involved because I couldn't put myself out there. Not again. That had been too incredibly painful when it all suddenly disappeared three years ago. I could never go through that again.
But then we were at the dorm. And truthfully, I didn't want the night to be over, and I knew it was because of her. What happened next had been unexpected. I had looked at her there in the darkness. Her eyes were unfocused and her lips were parted slightly and I just wanted to pull her in to me and hold her and maybe put my mouth on hers and taste her, and instead of all that, I asked her, "Who is Jake?"
And then the cards were suddenly out on the table. He was her boyfriend. And the worst part of knowing this piece of information wasn't in the information itself. It was in the way she had said it. She had whispered it. She had fucking whispered it. And the whisper started with 'Oh, Edward…' and then a pause. That spoke volumes to me. It told me that just maybe, she wasn't completely happy. So now I was even more fucked than I would have been if she'd just happily announced it loudly and clearly.
Crash.
And.
Burn.
I wasn't going to be that kind of fucker. I wasn't going to do that to her. Or to him. And I didn't even know him. But I wasn't going to do that to him because I didn't want to hurt her. I knew she was the kind of girl that would take a relationship really seriously. She would try to patch things up and work things out. She wasn't the kind of girl to screw around with another person's feelings. She was the kind of girl that would be in a relationship for the long haul.
But I knew, like me, she had been just a little swept up in the events of the evening. And this could go nowhere.
Not for her.
Not for me.
Absolutely. Nowhere.
So that's why I had just nodded, motioned her into the dorm, and told her goodnight as we walked through my suite. I walked into my room, and shut the door. I grabbed my guitar and a sleeping bag to use as a blanket and a heavy jacket and climbed up onto my closet and out of the loft window of my dorm room and I was now sitting up on the roof alone, quietly playing my guitar. I wasn't going to be sleeping anytime soon. There was just way too much shit to wade through and think about. Too much history weighing me down and I felt like I was drowning.
Jasper was in the room, snoring away, making weird little cartoon noises and I was up here freezing my ass off in the middle of the night.
There was no sleep in sight anytime soon.
BPOV
At some point in the night I must have fallen asleep. I had lain in bed contemplating the whole evening, and then sometime later I heard faint guitar music, coming from somewhere down below. The window was closed and I couldn't bring myself to get up and open it. Not because I was too tired, but because I didn't want to hear it more clearly. I was trying to shut it out of my mind as it was, although that was virtually impossible. I knew who was playing and I was pretty sure I knew why. I didn't want to think about it anymore than necessary.
Sometime much later, I fell asleep and slept fitfully. At one point I woke up in a panic. My heart was pounding. It had been almost the same dream as the night before, but whereas the dream last night had felt thrilling, this dream had frightened me. It had started out the same as the night before.
I was running in a forest, a very primeval forest, but now I could hear breathing near my ear. Someone was running alongside me. At first I thought the breathing came from whomever or whatever was chasing me. But then I heard a voice, it was Jake's voice. It was his breathing that was next to my ear. He was running too. And he began shouting to me, urging me to run faster, not to let myself fall behind; telling me to keep up and not stop. My chest felt like it was going to explode. We were both running from something. And then Jake was suddenly gone. He had disappeared and I was still running, my heart pounding, my lungs aching, my legs ready to give out and fail me. The forest had become deathly still. There was no sound other than my own labored breathing. Suddenly I sensed a presence behind me and I felt myself being grabbed. I was caught in an iron grip. I couldn't even begin to struggle because I knew there was no escaping.
I sat bolt upright in bed, my heart racing, unsure if I had screamed aloud or not. But Victoria was still snoring away in her bed, so I guessed the scream had been internal or imagined. I felt exhausted and frightened. My heart rate gradually slowed and I sank back down under the covers, pulling them up tightly to my chin.
I lay there after the dream, calming down, and I began thinking again about Edward and the recent unsettling turn of events. I realized that I was probably feeling a little adrift and lost in the newness of my transfer to this school. He had taken me under his wing this evening. I had enjoyed myself with him and his little group and I would naturally want to cling to that. Somehow he had misinterpreted my feelings. Or I had misinterpreted his. Or something.
Nothing had actually happened, but it felt like something could have, or was about to. Maybe I was reading more into the entire situation than it warranted. He had even said, moments earlier, that he didn't want anyone, that he wasn't interested.
Why had it seemed that he suddenly wanted me? Had I imagined it? Why had I told him that he was great, that he was fun and that any girl would think he was great? Did he think I was speaking for myself? Was I? Oh God, I just wanted to take the evening back and do it differently. What had I done? I hadn't meant to seem like I was leading him on. I wouldn't do that to a guy because I'm really not like that.
How could I face him or Alice, or any of them, for that matter? And now I felt like I was cheating on Jake. And I hadn't even done anything. It felt like my emotions were cheating on me and Jake. I wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.
Jake and I had a long history together. We'd been friends for years, playmates as kids, best friends as time went by, and we had become even closer in the last years. Jake had been there for me when Charlie and my mom had separated and then later divorced. As a small child I had felt that their problems were partly my fault. But I remembered a very young Jake telling me that parents could do whatever they wanted to and that kids weren't in charge of them. It had lessened the hurt and the guilt a little.
When Renee wanted to move with me to Phoenix it had been hard to understand the upheaval in my family. Little Jake had promised me that I could be part of his family; that I could stay in Forks and live with his family and have his mom and dad for parents. That we could still be friends, only it would be even better because we would be like a sister and a brother and we could play anytime we wanted.
But of course, I'd had to go with Renee to Phoenix. Jake and I had cried back then at being separated. We had even tried to hide from our parents so I wouldn't have to leave. Of course, it was to no avail, and I was dragged across the country, kicking and screaming and crying.
Over the years we had remained friends. And whenever Renee would take me back to Forks to visit Charlie, I would see Jake and we would pick up where our friendship had left off. As we got older we would sometimes write to each other and even get to make an occasional phone call. That was besides the holiday visits and the summer vacations once I was old enough to be put on a plane and flown back and forth by myself.
I was there for him when we were young teenagers, the summer that his mom became ill and passed away. We had spent hours together crying and hugging and trying to make sense of the idea of never seeing her again. I had been so glad that I'd been there for him when he really needed me. Like he had been for me years earlier.
In high school, when Renee married Phil, I was ready for a change and wanted to give them their privacy in their new marriage. So I had gone back to Forks, to live with my dad and try to forge a closer relationship with him. Jake and I picked right up and became closer friends the year I moved back there. I was a junior in the regular high school in Forks and he was a sophomore in the school on the Quileute reservation.
My senior year became an awkward time for us. We didn't live near each other but our fathers had remained very close friends. We had spent time together on the occasions that our fathers had and eventually came to depend upon them for rides to each other's homes so we could spend some time together. That had led to a budding romance and an awkward first kiss and then many more not-quite-so-awkward kisses after that. Still, it had been hard to arrange dates, since he didn't have a license, and although I did have a license, I didn't have a car until the following summer. He had helped fix up an old red truck his family had had, and my dad bought it off them as a graduation gift for me.
I'd seen Jake grow from a wild little boy, into a gangly teenager, into the handsome, muscular guy he was now. I'd always loved his smooth russet skin and thought it looked so rich and warm compared to my own much paler skin. I loved his dark, sparkling eyes. He could gaze at me and make me feel like he was hugging me, even from across the room, all with a look. His smile lit up my heart.
He'd been my first friend, my best friend, my first kiss, my first boyfriend and my first love. We'd discovered sex together one night on the benchseat in my truck. He'd been gentle and caring and concerned for me and he worried how I felt afterward, afraid that I would regret it.
He'd only ever been good and kind to me. I knew he loved me. He had cared about me for years.
But recently, when I had made it clear that I wasn't done growing as a person, that I wanted to go away to school and that I wanted more from the world, he'd become possessive. He'd become worried. I realized that he thought he was going to lose me.
And lying here in my dorm room in the dark, I realized that tears were flowing down my cheeks and I wondered how long I'd been crying like that without even realizing it. I turned over and buried my face into my pillow.
EPOV
Somehow I managed to doze off up on the roof. Now I was stiff and sore from sitting in the cold, even though I had grabbed my jacket and a sleeping bag and was mostly shielded from the wind by the structure of the building. The sleeping bag that I had taken up to sit on was wrapped around me but no longer did much to warm me. I threw it off me and wadded it up in my arm as I stood slowly and stiffly.
I slid the loft window open and struggled to bend down and climb back inside. My legs were stiff, my butt hurt from sitting all night, and my hands and face were nearly frozen. Somehow I climbed in with my guitar, setting it on top of the closet and let myself drop back down to the floor carefully. I ran a hand through my hair and stretched the muscles in my back, neck and shoulders.
Jasper walked into the room with a towel wrapped around his waist. He was just coming back from the shower.
"What the hell happened to your hair?" he asked me as he grabbed a pair of boxers from a drawer.
"What do you mean, what the hell happened to my hair?" I asked him, looking into the mirror. "My hair always looks like this, you moron."
"Sounds like somebody woke up on the wrong side of the roof." He had slid on his boxers and was grabbing a pair of jeans from his closet.
"Yeah? Somebody did." I wasn't in the mood for silly shit.
"Seriously, Edward, do you want to talk about it?" He pulled on his jeans and looked at me thoughtfully.
"Not really." I didn't walk away, though, I just stood there. I didn't know what to do, or say.
"Well," he looked closely at my face, "I thought last night seemed pretty good. To the casual observer, I mean."
I nodded. "Yeah, to a point."
"To what point?" He pulled his shirt on over his head.
I sighed. I might as well tell him. Both he and Alice would spend the day picking at it like a scab. "To the point where she told me she had a boyfriend."
"Ooh, that's harsh, man."He frowned as he looked at me.
"Not really."
"Not really?" Now he looked confused.
"No. What's harsh is the way she said it."
"What do you mean?"
"Jasper, I can't even explain it. It's kind of an intuition. I don't want to talk about it. Let's just drop it for now."
"Gotcha." He looked up from where he sat on his bed, putting on his socks and shoes.
I toed off my shoes and lay down on my bed.
As Jasper stood up he asked, "Do you want me to grab you anything from the dining hall for breakfast, Edward?"
"No thanks, Jazz. I'm not hungry. I just need some sleep."
"All right, Edward, I'll catch you later."
He quietly let himself out of the room and I fell asleep shortly afterward, fully clothed, on top of my bed.
BPOV
I dragged myself out of bed and stepped into the shower. I looked like hell. My hair was snarled and matted from tossing and turning in my sleep and then crying . My eyes were now puffy and swollen and my nose was red. I hoped a shower would help fix me up a little. The problem was I needed a lot of fixing.
Victoria was already gone when I got back from the shower. I didn't think she had noticed there was anything wrong with me. She was very self-absorbed anyway, and I had tried to hide my face as I left the room earlier. I did look a little better, but there was still a definite puffy look to my eyes. Maybe I could tell people I had a cold.
I went into the dining hall, hoping I could slink in, grab something to eat and slink back our without being seen by too many observers. It was a Sunday morning, so it wasn't too crowded this early. Most residents were probably still sleeping.
My eyes flickered over to the table by the wall. Their table. He wasn't there. The only ones there were Alice and Jasper. Jasper's back was to me, but Alice looked upset. Jasper was talking to her as she sat, leaning her elbows on the table with her chin in her hands. She saw me and smiled a small smile in recognition. Jasper looked over his shoulder at me and gave me an identical smile.
So they already knew something was up. I decided that I really only wanted a piece of fruit and a cup of coffee. Maybe the coffee would help me wake up and begin dealing with my day. I left quickly after that and went back to my room.
Several hours later, almost lunchtime, and I'd been in my room reading for most of the morning. I was facing the wall so that I wouldn't have to watch Victoria doing yoga poses on the floor. At least her iPod was stuffed into her ears, so I didn't have to hear her music. As I turned the page, wondering what I had just read, like I'd wondered for about the last thirty pages, I heard other music wafting through the halls.
My lips curled up into a smile. Damned if it wasn't bagpipe music! It was like Alice was beckoning to me. I knew if she was listening to that the plan was still on. And if the plan was still on she still wanted to be my roommate. And if she still wanted to be my roommate, then she couldn't be upset with me about whatever was going on with me and her twin brother. I dropped my book on the floor and got up from my bed.
Alice answered the door wearing hot pink sweats and a black tank. The nasally, squealing music blared out into the hall. She smiled brightly and raised an eyebrow. Her head shifted back and to the side, indicating that Lauren was there. But of course, I already knew that. Why else would Alice be playing the damned bagpipe music?
"Bella! I'm so glad you stopped by. I was just beginning my workout. You can join me if you'd like. Lauren, you don't mind do you?"
Lauren glanced over at Alice, obviously annoyed, then took in my presence and looked doubly annoyed. "Hello, Isabella. Is Victoria in her room?"
'Her room,' not 'my room' or 'our room.'
"Yeah. Hey, do you like yoga? Victoria is doing a yoga workout in there. I'm sure she'd be delighted to have you join her."
"Oh, that's awesome." She got up and headed for the door. Lauren couldn't get out of the room fast enough. The door slammed behind her.
Alice laughed once the door was shut and turned to me. "Now we can shut this shit off."
"No, I think you'd better leave it on. I was able to hear it from my room. Otherwise they'll know something is up."
"You realize, don't you, that they may have developed their own plan and that that's why Victoria is doing yoga in your room?"
"I hadn't thought of that. Do you really think so? How dare they? Alienating activities done to music is our plan."
"It was just a thought, Bella. Not a certainty." She smiled at me. "I'm glad you came over."
I smiled in return. "I'm glad you played that garbage loudly enough for me to hear it and know you were inviting me over."
"Was I that obvious?"
"Alice, bagpipe music is rather obvious."
"Well, I'm glad you're here. Are you ready to go to lunch in a few minutes?"
"Oh, um, well, Alice…"
What was I going to say? 'Not if your hot-looking, enigma of a brother is coming along?'
She interrupted my thoughts. "Just come along, Bella. Don't worry. Everything will be fine."
EPOV
I had missed breakfast and now it was almost lunch. It didn't really matter to me. I didn't feel very hungry. I had slept for a few hours since I returned from the rooftop, but for a while now, I had merely been lying here awake. I was lying on my stomach, with the pillow bunched up under my head and chest. I was considering the past two days. Fuck! It had only been two days. How does someone wreak havoc on your life in only two fucking days?
I was weighing my options. There weren't many. I figured I couldn't really ignore Bella. Alice really liked her and they would probably be roommates by the end of the week. There was no stopping that freight train. Lauren and Victoria would definitely want to be roommates, especially after the girls' music got to them and that would leave my sister with Bella as her roommate.
I certainly couldn't pursue anything with Bella. She was taken for God's sake. I had already decided that I couldn't be the kind of fucker that stepped in to another guy's business. Unless he didn't treat her right, then he was the fucker in the whole situation. But I had no way of knowing that at this point.
So I was stuck with the middle ground. I wouldn't ignore her; that would be rude. And I wouldn't pursue her; that would be Newtonesque. I would just be her friend. I would be nice to her, I would laugh with her, I would continue to do things with Alice and Jasper and Emmett and Rosalie, and if she were involved I would plaster a smile on my face. I would proceed as if nothing had happened, because really, it hadn't. She'd have to believe that she'd misread anything she thought she'd seen in me. And I would never, never, let her think that I was interested in anything more than a friendship. Absolutely never.
Somehow I had let my guard down and I had let her get to me. And I just didn't do that. And it really wasn't something I wanted. I wasn't quite sure how it had happened. But now I had to squash that all back deep down inside of me and pack it down under the surface where those feelings had laid dormant for so long. I could do that. I'd been doing that for so long anyway. I was a Pro at How to be Edward Cullen.
I suddenly knew that I had to act on this quickly. I didn't want her to be upset with herself or worried about me. I didn't want her in some self-inflicted dilemma, thinking she had led me on or something like that. I didn't want her to avoid my friends and family and feel uncomfortable around us. She had proven herself to be the only girl that I didn't really have to avoid, and here I was avoiding her. She was taken. I didn't want to be. This was actually a positive, I was beginning to realize. This could actually work out well for us. This could be easy.
Maybe I should go get something to eat for lunch after all.
As I headed out of my suite I found myself thinking about my plan. I just wished I knew how this Jake guy treated her.
A/N: They think they're going to just ignore this.
