A/N: Thanks for reading! Thank you Kari-you're the best!

Stephanie Meyers owns Twilight

CH 10

BPOV

When I got to school Friday morning, I found a single white rose lying on my desk.

No note, just the flower. I looked around my classroom, as if it would tell me where it came from.

I went to the teacher's lounge looking for a vase, or something that would suffice. I found a glass soda bottle and put some water in it. I noticed a sign up sheet on the bulletin board asking for volunteers to chaperone the prom that was to be held the first weekend in October. I figured 'why not' and signed up.

My day was going great until lunch. I was sitting at a table eating a sandwich and reading a book when someone approached me.

"I see you signed up to chaperone the dance." I looked up from the pot belly that was in my face. Mr. Banner, gym teacher. You'd think he'd be in shape.

"Yes, I did. Why?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me. I signed up, too." Aww, crap.

"Um, thank you for asking, but I have a strict rule about NOT dating colleagues." That I just made up.

"Oh. Uh, okay." He was clearly disappointed, but really? I didn't even know him, other than his name and position here at school.

Shit, did he leave the rose? I hope not, but, so far he seems a likely candidate.

The rest of the afternoon flew by. I got home and took Jake for a walk. On my way in, I saw a girl putting up a note by the mailboxes. 'Odd Jobs' was printed at the top.

I got an idea.

"Hi. I'm Bella Swan. I live in five-o-one. What kind of jobs are you looking for?"

"Hi, Bella. I'm Cindy. I live in two-o-four. Um, anything really. I just got a car and I need gas money."

"How do you feel about dog walking? It wouldn't be too often, but for example, I'm going out tonight and will probably be late. It would be great if you could come by and take him out."

"That would be awesome. I love dogs. Gran is allergic, so we can't have one. What time?"

I told her that I'd like to meet her parents. She explained how she came to live here with her grandparents as we walked to her door. I introduced myself to them and then had her come to my place. I showed her where Jake's food was and where I kept his leash and towel. I gave her a key and told her what time I thought she should come by.

"Thanks. Bella. You can count on me." Cindy seemed like a nice girl.

I jumped in the shower, scrubbed and shaved everywhere, and got out. I put my wet hair up in rollers and made something to eat. As I put the dishes in the dishwasher, the intercom buzzed.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Bella, it's Alice." Hmm. She's early, I thought.

"Come on up." I cracked the door for her.

"Is everything alright? You're kind of early." I noticed she had a garment bag and what looked like a make-up bag with her.

"My last appointment canceled, so I though I would just come over," she said matter-of-factly. "That's okay, isn't it?" she asked, realizing that it might not be.

"Yeah, I don't mind." I shrugged my shoulders.

I told her about the rose and Banner. We had a good laugh over it.

"Hey, can I do your make-up?" I was apprehensive.

"I don't usually wear much, Alice. I think I can handle it."

"I won't make you look bad, Bella." She had those sad puppy eyes. I hate those. I think she saw defeat.

"What are you going to wear?" I rolled my eyes and motioned for her to follow me.

"Ooh. That will be great. That color blue looks great on you, too."

"Do you think so?" Alice nodded. "Thanks."

"Let's get started." Alice rubbed her hands together in anticipation. Crap! What have I gotten myself into?

Alice painted my nails. Toes, too. She dried the top of my head that had the rollers in it and did something else with the rest. When she grabbed the make-up bag, I got nervous.

"Not too much," I reminded her. She admonished me with a look and shook her head.

After what seemed like hours, but was in reality only maybe one in total, she turned me towards the mirror.

"Done," was all she said. I had to admit, I looked good.

"Nice. Thank you," I said, admiring my hair. She had the sides pulled up with the back hanging loosely with soft waves in it. My make-up was more than I usually wore, but still looked natural and really nice.

The intercom buzzed again. Alice looked at her watch. "That's probably Rose. Do you mind?" She pointed towards the door.

"By all means." I waved my hand at the door. She ran over to it.

"Hello?" she sang.

"Buzz me in, bitch." I was a bit taken aback. Alice just laughed. I hadn't heard Rose speak like that before.

A couple of minutes later, Rose blew in to my apartment. She had also, apparently, brought what she would need to get ready for tonight.

"Holy shit, I am ready for tonight!" she exclaimed, falling into the overstuffed chair.

"Rough day, Rose?" Alice asked her.

"Fuck yes. Oh, hey, Bella." Rose smiled at me. "I swear. Some of the parents I have to deal with…" she trailed off. "Bella, do you have any wine?"

"I do. Come on." I turned and went to the kitchen. White or red?"

Everyone said 'red' at the same time. I searched the drawer for the corkscrew that should have been in there.

"Damn, I can't find the corkscrew."

"I'll get one." Alice pranced out the door, presumably to Edward's. She was back in a couple of minutes.

She opened the wine and set the corkscrew on the counter.

"Alice, do me a favor and take that back. Like, right now." Alice gave me a funny look and picked it up. She took it back and returned quickly.

"Okay, spill, Bella." I gave her an innocent look. "You aren't fooling me. What's going on with you and my brother?" She crossed her arms over her stomach, fingers strumming her elbow.

"Nothing is going on with your brother. Leave it at that." I hoped she'd drop it.

"Unh-uh. What's up?" Rose chimed in.

I rolled my eyes and debated at what I should tell them. I didn't want either of them to be mad at me, after all, he was family.

"Just tell us." Alice's foot was now tapping.

"Fine." I huffed. We grabbed our wine and sat on the sofa. I told them about two nights ago with the tall blond, and last night with the woman in the parking garage.

Alice looked at me for a few minutes before she said anything. She was making me nervous.

"That sounds strange. Edward isn't like that. And, I'm pretty sure there is a reasonable explanation." I rolled my eyes.

"I've heard that before," I scoffed.

"No, Bella. I know what you've been through and Edward is nothing like that." Alice hesitated for a moment. "I also know that he is interested in someone, not one of the ones you described."

"And how would you know that?" I was incredulous. Alice looked at Rose; she shrugged her shoulders.

"Because he's kindofinterestedinyou," she spit out.

"Huh? What was that?" She spoke so fast, I didn't catch any of it.

"She said that Edward is interested in you." Rose sat back and watched me absorb her words.

"What?" I was dumbfounded. "I don't believe you," I said shaking my head.

"It's true." Alice said, picking at her nails.

"I don't even know what to say to that." I drank down the wine left in my glass.

The girls and I stared at each other. Rose broke the silence.

"Bella, do you like Edward?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, I do." I admitted. "It scares me."

"Edward won't hurt you. He is extremely loyal and honest. You would have nothing like that to worry about with him." Rose seemed very sincere.

"Can we let this go for now? Let's just go have fun tonight. I need time to think about this," I pleaded.

"Sure, Bella." Alice gave me a small smile.

The girls grabbed their clothes and we all went into my bedroom to change. I turned on my I-pod to help set the mood for the night. When we were dressed, we stood in front of my dresser mirror, admiring ourselves.

"Damn, we look hot!" Rose yelled. Rose had on a flirty red dress and looked fabulous.

"Let's roll, chicas." Alice declared. She was decked out in skinny jeans and a yellow tunic. She always looked cute.

EPOV

I was really looking forward to getting together with Em and Jasper later. After the mind fuck Bella gave me last night, I was raging. I wanted to get fucked up and have some fun. I did a whole bunch of nothing until it was time to get ready. Which really was nothing. I wasn't going on a date or looking for one, so I put on a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Good enough.

I got to Jake's a little early and found a table near the pool tables. I texted Em to let him know I was here. An overly friendly waitress brought me a beer. I was just about to finish it off when the guys showed up.

We got a pool table and ordered some beer and Jaeger shots. Jasper and Emmett were playing first. I would play the winner. As I took a seat nearby, my phone chirped. I had a text from Alice.

E- who were you with the past two nights?-A

What the hell? Who was I with? I wasn't with anyone. The guys heard me. Shit, I must have said that out loud.

"With what? What are you mumbling about, Eddie?" I gave Emmett a dirty look. He knew I hated it when he called me that, especially in public.

"Alice wants to know who I was with the last two nights," I said as I called our sister.

"Alice, what in the hell are you talking about?" I was ready for another beer. Before she could answer, I heard a commotion through the phone.

"What the fuck was that, Ali?" That got Jasper and Em's attention and they were at my side listening. I put the speaker on.

"Rose told a joke and Bella fell off her stool." Alice laughed. "So, brother dear, who were you with?"

I thought about it for a second. Oh, yeah. I remembered.

"Well, two nights ago, Kate came over to retrieve a box that Lauren let her keep there. It was Garret's birthday present."

"Oh. Yeah, she invited us to his party. What about last night?" she continued.

"I went grocery shopping last night. Oh, I ran into Cindy in the parking garage and installed a radio in her car." What the fuck that had to do with anything, I didn't know.

All I heard was Alice laughing her ass off. Next, I heard muffled talking and more laughing and someone yell 'oh my god!'

I looked at Jasper and Em. We all had the same look on our face. It said, What the fuck?

"Maybe we should go over there?" Emmett suggested. I held a finger up, silently asking him to hold off.

"Alice, what is going on?" I demanded. The next bit was a little hard to follow. This is what I heard:

"Bitch, back off."-Alice

"Give me that phone!"-Bella?

"Rose, hold her!"-Alice

"Hurry up, Alice!"-Rose

"Alice, don't you fucking dare!"-Bella

"Edward, apparently, Bella thought you were with Kate and Cindy. She heard you in the parking garage, but didn't actually see anything!" More laughing.

"What exactly are you telling me, Alice?" I couldn't help but hope…

"Bel-la likes you. She thought you were getting it on with Kate and then in the garage with Cindy!" Rose hollered. Realization hit me. That is why she was pissed at me last night. Well, fucking hell. That explains a whole fucking lot.

"Holy shit." Em hissed, looking at me.

"They are so drunk," Jasper said.

"Emmy, I miss you. Can you come over here?" Rose cried.

"Me too, Jazz. Pleease?" Well fuck, I guess we're moving on. Both guys looked like they were going to race for the door.

"Um, Ali? We'll be over in a little while." I hung up.

"Dude, hold on a fucking second. What the hell should I do?"

"How fucking old are you, Edward? Bella likes you. I know you like her. We are going to go to New Moon to see our girls." Jasper nodded in agreement.

Well shit. I guess I'm going to see about a girl.

We got over to the club in just a few minutes. It took a few more to find them. All we had to look for was the throng of guys surrounding a table! A few of them moved and I caught a glimpse of Bella. Oh my…Fucking. Hell. I couldn't make my feet move.

"Hey Ed? You okay man?" Emmett asked me. He followed my line of sight and laughed. "You are in so much fucking trouble, dude."

"We've got your back, Edward," Jasper said, cuffing me on the shoulder.

She had a shirt on that showed off a lot of skin and some cleavage. It was the same color of dark blue that she wore at the picnic. It made her skin glow. Tight ass jeans and a pair of black fucking heels. Pretty much all the resolve I had flew out the fucking window. Cue the dick twitch.

I saw some guy try to put his hand on her ass and she brushed him off. I saw red. I stomped over to the table, shouldering through a couple of guys. Em and Jasper were right behind me.

I pulled a stool next to Bella and sat down. I looked at the douches that were in her immediate vicinity and shot them a look. You know the one? The one that says I can be a mean motherfucker so back the fuck off? Yeah, that one.

"Hi, Bella. Having a good time?" I asked her pleasantly. She had that 'deer in the headlights' look. I wanted her to be comfortable so I smiled the smile that always melted my mother. She nodded.

"So, I know it was supposed to be a girls night, but…I hope you don't mind that we're here," I said.

"No, Edward. I don't mind that you're here. Do you want a drink?" she asked.

"I think I'll stick with water from here on out." I wanted to make sure that at least one of us stayed sober. Although, Emmett rarely got drunk in public. Being a cop, he only got ripped if he was home and knew he wasn't going anywhere.

"So-o-o. What have you been up to?" Bella asked, blushing furiously.

"Not much," I chuckled. "I finally went to the grocery store." I scooted my stool closer to her. If we were going to talk, I needed to be closer.

She turned her body towards mine, our knees were now touching. I reached up with a finger and stroked her cheek lightly. It was completely involuntary.

"Would you like another drink? What are you drinking anyway?" I asked. She mumbled something I didn't hear. I leaned in even closer. "What?"

"A Screaming Orgasm," she sputtered.

I laughed. "Oh. Do you want another one?" I didn't think it was possible, but she turned even redder than before.

"Yes." Bella's eyes were everywhere but on me. I caught hold of her chin turning her face to mine.

"I would love to give you one." I got up and walked to the bar. Yep, that's me. Not only am I a mean motherfucker, but I'm a smooth one, too.

I thought I'd better ease up on the full court press, so when I got back with her drink, I set it in front of her and asked Emmett some stupid question about sports. I didn't even hear his answer. I was just trying to ease the tension.

"Do you mind if I taste this?" I asked Bella pointing to her drink. "I've never had one." Bella snorted and mumbled 'I highly doubt that' and pushed the drink towards me.

"Damn, that's pretty good." I confessed. "I don't think I could drink more than one, though. Too sweet," I said.

"That's why it's a girlie drink, Eddie. They can have multiple orgasms, while dudes usually only have one!" Emmett hollered. We all laughed our asses off.

"It's time for the rhyme game!" Rose yelled.

"What's that?" Bella asked.

"Someone says a word and the next person has to come up with another one that rhymes with it and so on until someone fucks up," Emmett explained.

"When you can't come up with a word, the last person who did picks the person you have to do a body shot off of," Alice continued.

The first person to screw up was Jasper, so I had him do his shot off of Alice. The next person was Bella. Rose got to choose.

"Bella, you get to take your shot off of Edward," she laughed. I just smiled.

Bella looked at me with a determined eye. "Lean back," she told me. I was sitting next to a large support post, so I scooted forward on the stool a bit and leaned back against it. Bella finished her drink and stood up. She grabbed my shirt and pulled it up, exposing my stomach.

"You ready?" she asked. All I could do was nod staring at her with wide eyes.

She proceeded to lick up my stomach from the waistband of my jeans and around my navel. After she poured the salt, she winked at me and took her shot. Then she licked the salt off. Slowly. Everyone around the table was hooting and hollering.

"Holy fucking shit," I hissed. I really didn't mean to say it out loud, but fuck! I was ready to let her keep licking.

A slow song came on. The DJ said it was 'Maybe' by the Sick Puppies. I took Bella's hand.

"Dance with me." I told her more than asked her.

I led her to an open spot and wrapped an arm around her. The hand I was holding I brought to my chest. I placed a light kiss to the side of her forehead and rested my chin there. I felt her trembling a little so I held her a little tighter. She goes from all ballsy and brave by licking my stomach to trembling in my arms. This girl was going to kill me.

Her hair smelled wonderful. She felt wonderful. Sooner than I liked, the song changed to something fast. I whispered a 'thank you' in her ear and led her back to the table, not letting go of her hand.

We all stayed there for another couple of hours. Telling jokes and just talking. I danced with Bella a couple more times. It was great.

We made plans to all hang out at my place the following day. Emmett was working, but said he was off at four and would be over then.

Bella drove her and the girls, while each of us guys had our own cars. I told Bella that I would drive her home and get her car tomorrow. We were home in a matter of minutes. I stood with her outside her door and she fumbled with her keys. I took them from her and unlocked the door.

"I had a great time tonight. Come over tomorrow after you get up and around." I touched her face and kissed her cheek.

"I did, too. Goodnight, Edward." She leaned in and kissed my cheek. She plucked her keys from my hand and closed her door. Yes. It was a very good night.

Thank you for reading!