Author Note: I can't believe that we've finally gotten to the first big meet-up between my six main characters! Actually, despite how long this chapter is, this is only "half" of the date. It just got to be too long and I decided to finish the date in chapter 12. Thanks for all your reviews, I'm glad you guys liked the shopping chapter.

And yes, I have been to Montage (I have a special place in my heart for this restaurant--my boyfriend and I went there on our first date), and yes they do serve wine in water cups. I've never had them pour water in my white wine, but I know someone who has had that happen to them.

Thanks to my betas: tameleine, Madeleine, Theresa and CallistoLexx. You guys are awesome!

Without much ado, here we go!

APOV

I stared at myself in the huge full length mirror I'd hung on my bedroom door. The dress, I had to give Bella credit, was beautiful on me, but even looking as I did in that moment, I couldn't be completely satisfied with my appearance. I heard a few crashes in the bathroom that Rosalie and I shared, and I knew the reason for them. No matter how much Bella might act as if she comprehended how difficult this was for both Rose and I, she could never really understand.

I took another hard look at myself, and felt another wave of dread rush over me. At least Emmett and Rosalie had been in love with each other. No doubt that the thought of having to act like he was interested in me was going to absolutely humiliate and disgust Jasper.

I felt the beginnings of a tear begin to form inside the corner of my eye and resolutely pushed the thought away. I couldn't cry. I would somehow make it through this evening and all the evenings to come without any of them realizing how much pride I was sacrificing to make this reunion happen.

There was a soft knock on my door and I wiped any remainder of depression of my face. I hated being sad, and so unsurprisingly, I managed to avoid it most of the time. I admitted pretty freely that I had a very privileged life, and if maybe one man at one point in my life hadn't been interested, so what. There'd been plenty of others—it wasn't their fault that I'd never managed to return any of their feelings because my heart was still ridiculously wrapped up in that prize jerk, Jasper.

Bella was standing on the other side of the door and the look on her face nearly undid me, but I stayed strong because there was no time to redo my eye makeup and hell was going to freeze over before I'd go in front of Jasper looking anything less than perfect. He might wish that he didn't have to act interested, but I was going to make sure that he had the envy of every male in sight.

I let her into my room silently and she stood there, waiting for me to work the lump that was rising in my throat.

"You look gorgeous," she said, lightly fingering the sexy yet somewhat innocent ruffles on the bottom of the dress. It clung to every curve of my body, the dropped waist style emphasizing the leanness of my torso, and thankfully, making me look a little taller. Bella was right: it was the perfect dress.

"Yes," I said, almost impatiently. Usually finding the perfect outfit made me want to go out and show it off, but I would be happy just staying in tonight. The only thing I was looking forward to was the way that Jasper's jaw was going to drop when he saw me in this dress.

I glanced over at Bella, and felt my own jaw drop a little. "What are you wearing?" I said, the excitement at how incredible she looked finally managing to distract me from the hell that was going to be my evening.

"Oh this?" she laughed, as she twirled in front of me.

"Did Rosalie pick it out?"

Bella, leaned in to the mirror briefly, doing a final check to make sure all her makeup was still in place. Not that she was wearing much. Whatever it was, though, I wanted some, because she was positively glowing, and the gorgeous coral color of the dress simply enhanced that.

"Nope. I found it today, and knew I'd love it."

I guess that Bella hadn't been kidding when she'd said she could handle the clothing thing from now on. I took in her appearance with the critical stylist's eye, and found it pretty close to flawless. She wore simple straw wedge sandals, and no jewelry except for a few gold bangles.

"Well," I admitted, "you look fantastic. Edward is going to die when he sees you in that dress."

Bella threw a mischievous smile in my direction. "I could say the same about Jasper," she said.

Taking one last look in the mirror, I knew she was right, but forced myself not to think that he'd always seemed to like the way I looked. He just hadn't liked what was inside. That was unlikely to change.

"Let's go get Rose before she destroys the bathroom," Bella chirped, further annoying me with her transparent happiness.

"Wait," I said, suddenly having a very unpleasant thought. "What have you told her that I know?"

"That you know?" Bella's lovely face was completely blank and I desperately wanted to beat some sense into her, but that was Rose's territory, not mine. I subjected victims with 100 cotton-poly blends and eyeliner—not threats of dismemberment.

"Bel. Think about it. You told her that the purpose of this evening is to reunite me and Jasper, obviously by his request. Why do I think we're going?"

"Uh. Uh." Bella's face took on a decided green tinge and I delighted in her awkwardness for just a minute. My turn would come soon enough.

"I didn't think you'd thought that out. Did your precious Eddie not fill you in on all the details?" I let my voice slide into a sneer, and I only felt a moment of remorse when her eyes turned resentful.

"He's not my precious Eddie," she snapped back. "He'd just Edward, and give me a second. I can work this out."

I raised one eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest, ready to wait her out.

There was a loud crash emanating from the bathroom and both of us heard Rosalie say a few choice words, none appropriate for polite company.

I decided to prod her a little farther. "You know Rosalie will kill you if she finds out. You have to come up with something watertight enough that she won't be able to reason her way around it."

"Al, I know!" Bella bit off, clearly becoming annoyed with me and her inability to think of something good. I sighed. This was exactly why I had involved myself with this insane plan.

"This is what I was thinking," I began, and ignored the glare she shot me, "I've been told that Jasper has used you and Edward to communicate that he'd like to reopen the channels of communication, but that he would feel awkward doing it with just the two of us, at least at first." It wasn't even close to the best thing I'd ever come up with, but hey, I was working on short notice and without any help from Bella.

Bella nodded. "That could work."

"And remember," I added, "she's going to be so distracted in Emmett's presence that I bet you she won't even remember to ask what I know."

I could see Bella visibly wilting with all the potential ways this plan could go awry, and I almost joined her in contemplating the nearly-inevitable failure, but my usually cheerful nature took over, and I grabbed her arm.

"Come on, let's go, before either of us can change our mind."

Bella gave me an indignant look. "I'm not changing my mind."

"Okay, well, I'm about to change mine, so let's go."

"Fine," she said, shortly. She was clearly annoyed with me still for putting her on the spot like that. I knew it had been wrong of me, but I had to get back at her just a little for forcing me to make pretend love with Jasper Cullen.

We exited my bedroom, and cautiously approached the bathroom, which was curiously quiet at the moment. So quiet, in fact, that it was almost possible to forget the sounds of Armageddon that it had recently been emitting.

Rosalie appeared at the doorway, and I heard Bella's sharp intake of breath next to me. Even after twenty plus years of knowing and having Rosalie as a sister, she still did that to me occasionally. Bella, naturally, was less used to Rose when she put a lot of effort into how she looked, which she admittedly didn't do that often anymore.

"Are we going?" Rose snapped, her bitchy voice not detracting from the way she looked, but somehow adding to it. Emmett was really in big trouble. If he was smart, he wouldn't have even touched this plan with a ten foot pole, but clearly, he loved Jasper just as much as I loved Rose.

"Yes," Bella answered, just a bit too uncertainly for my tastes. For about the tenth time in the last five minutes, I thanked god that I was involved in this plan. If not for me, the thing would have gotten derailed before it even got started.

"Rose, let's go," I said, with a lot more authority in my voice than Bella obviously had the power to emit when Rose looked like that.

I walked toward the living room, noticing out of my peripheral vision that Rose and Bella had both followed. I could be in charge right up until we got to the restaurant, and then I was going to get relegated into red herring mode, having to lap up everything Jasper said and pretend I was liking it. I inwardly grimaced, as I did a quick final check of my purse.

"I'm driving," Rosalie announced, and neither of us argued with her. If driving was the reason that we were leaving and actually making it there, then we weren't stupid enough to try to dissuade her.

RPOV

When Bella said that we were meeting the Cullens at Montage, I'd almost breathed a sigh of relief. Montage was a noisy, intrusive, extremely popular Cajun restaurant that catered to everyone from hipster teenagers to a pre-club outing for the older partying set. It stayed open late and was also known as a serious after-party spot. The noise level alone would dissuade any real conversation, and we could all blankly ignore each other in favor of people-watching. The distance between Emmett and I could be preserved and he, and nobody else for that matter, would never have to know how upset I was about this dinner.

Of course, eventually we'd go somewhere else, I think Bella had mentioned drinks, but I could deal with that when the moment came. At least I wouldn't be forced into conversation with him right away.

I drove slower than I usually did, dreading the moment when we'd come to the restaurant, and we'd have to get out of safety of my car.

Stop it, I told myself. You look amazingly hot. You picked this dress almost like armor—there's no way that any man, even one as gorgeous as Emmett Cullen, would really feel comfortable approaching you when you look like this.

The red dress I'd bought at Macy's had been too. . .obvious. As soon as we'd gotten home, I'd known it was wrong for the occasion, and I'd ransacked my closet, looking for something more subtle, yet still undeniably sexy. I'd finally hit the jackpot with a black dress I'd found in the back of my closet. I didn't remember buying it, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I hadn't worn it yet. When I put it on, I immediately remembered why.

It was too classy for going to clubs, it made me look too incredible for any regular date, and it was way too sexy for work. I'd bought it, promising myself that when I had a really kick ass date, I'd wear it because it was sure to bring some lucky guy to his knees.

Well, it looked like the lucky guy was going to be Emmett Cullen. Truthfully, I hated wasting it on him, but I knew that there was nothing else I could possibly wear that would have this kind of effect. The dress itself was short, but not ridiculously so, and had a v-neck that wasn't even particularly low cut, but it was extremely form fitting, with little gathers and pleats showcasing my hourglass figure. I usually shied away from black in the evenings, but with the little bit of a tan I'd already gotten this summer, the black made me glow and really emphasized the blondness of my hair.

I styled my hair into a quick low ponytail, leaving my hair wavy instead of stick straight. Heaven forbid it look like I was trying too hard. I took a lot of care with my makeup too, making sure I made the most of what little I put on. Slipping into my favorite black peep-toe stilettos, I knew that there were very few times in my entire life that I'd looked better, but still, I didn't feel satisfied.

Except that Alice and Bella had picked that moment to show up and force me to leave. Not that I was sure there was anything else I could do. After all, I'd pulled out every single weapon in my arsenal and if Emmett wasn't dying after all this, there wasn't much else that I could do to affect him.

I pulled the car into the lot adjoining Montage and tried to steady my breathing without letting either Alice or Bella know that it was unsteady. Though, I had a feeling that neither of them would really notice. Alice was wringing her hands, clearly a wreck, and Bella seemed very preoccupied, even for her. In fact, neither of them even noticed when I pulled into a parking space and turned off the growling engine.

"Hello," I snapped, "we're here. Let's get this show on the road."

Alice almost reluctantly unsnapped her seatbelt and climbed out, pushing her seat forward so Bella could snake her way out of the backseat. It was then I noticed how stunning Bel looked, and again Edward Cullen made a fleeting pass through my overstressed mind, but I quickly pushed that thought aside. As far as I knew, they'd had a ten minute conversation in a Starbucks. I was imagining things. They were simply trying to pave the way for Alice and Jasper.

At that, I glanced to my right at Alice, who obviously needed a kick in the pants. She was as white as a sheet, but other than that, I couldn't fault her appearance. The dress she'd picked pretty much exemplified flirtiness, and I couldn't blame her for going that route. Who would have ever thought that Jasper Cullen would, after six years, decide to pursue her? Normally, I would have thought she'd greet this particular news with joy, but apparently the inherent stresses of the situation had contrived to make even Alice nervous. I think the last time I'd even seen Alice this edgy had been six years ago, with Jasper. If anything, that just proved they were perfect for each other. Alice needed someone who could get under her skin and I'd never seen anyone do that nearly as well as Jasper.

I turned to Bel. "Are we meeting them inside?"

She was looking at her phone, clearly reading a text message. I nodded almost absentmindedly, admiring her ability to keep up with us while wearing four inch platforms. I took a second to admire them, before returning my attention to her face. I grimaced impatiently.

"Hello, I'm waiting here, Bella," I growled at her. I didn't care if both of them knew I was hiding my fear with my attitude, there was no way I could possibly prevent it. Between the bitchy manner and my outfit, I was determined to conceal my still-wounded heart.

She looked up and for a second, the sheer happiness in her brown eyes blew me away, but before I could comment, the emotion had passed and she'd explained that they were meeting us inside; they already had a table. Great. I was going to have to reunite with my ex-lover in front of a whole restaurant.

If it was possible, Alice turned even whiter. I nudged her with my elbow. "Do you need a second?"

She looked at me almost gratefully. "No. . .I'm fine. Just give me a minute and then we can . . .get this over with."

Bella was having none of it though. "Come on," she urged, "it's getting cold. . .I'm freezing," she clearly improvised.

"Bella," I deadpanned, "it's June."

"And I'm wearing a few scraps of fabric," she snarked back at me. I refused to give into her eagerness to fight by replying that she was wearing more fabric than both Alice and I put together, but she'd apparently gotten her way, because Alice and her were marching somewhat determinedly across the street.

I refused to hurry, though. Let the two of them prance across the street and arrive inside Montage sweaty and red. I was going to take my time.

I strutted across the street, issuing myself last minute instructions. No blushing. No stammering. Cool, calm and collected.

Alice and Bella were standing in front of the door, looking impatient again when I finally made it across the street.

"What?" I said, "I wasn't going to hurry and look all nasty."

Alice simply shrugged, obviously refusing to take the bait. Bella opened the door and I felt my heart start flip-flopping like a fish out of water. I wanted to run out of the restaurant, and screw looking red or breaking a sweat.

Bella approached the hostesses' desk and I forced myself not to look around the dark, crowded room for the Cullen brothers. We would see them when we saw them. Cool, calm, and collected, I reminded myself.

I accidentally brushed up against Alice and I swear I felt her quivering. In excitement or with nerves, I wasn't sure, though I had a feeling it was a combination of the two. She'd better appreciate what I was doing for her. Jasper had better be worth me sacrificing every ounce of self-preservation I had.

It seemed like an eternity, but finally a hostess got around to walking us to the table and to the men who were awaiting our arrival. The aisles between tables were narrow, and there were no overhead lights at all, only small candles scattered over every surface, so I couldn't even see where the hostess was taking us. I told myself that this was a good thing. I wouldn't see them before we were nearly upon them, and by then it would be far too late to run away. Cool, calm and collected.

All of a sudden, Bella and Alice, trailing in front of the hostess, stopped and I almost fell on top of them, so lost was I in my thoughts and in not giving in to utter panic.

I felt my head crane around Bella, completely oblivious to everything my mind was ordering it not to do, and for a split second my heart felt like it stopped beating.

He was sitting right there, a bottle of beer to his lips, and laughing with Jasper and Edward. The only Cullen who had seen us yet was the latter, and Edward was already halfway out of his chair, eyes glued to Bella's graceful form and the coral dress that framed it so beautifully. I could feel Alice practically vibrating in front of me, and I knew she was staring straight at the lean, lanky blond man leaning back in his chair, and who's expression was one of shock, and if I could believe it, dismay.

Before I could even register why Jasper would be feeling dismay, I knew Emmet had seen me. All the air in the room seemed to have suddenly disappeared, and I was left taking shallow breaths with not enough oxygen to keep myself from seemingly hyperventilating.

Even with all the frantic noise in the dark room, I still heard him speak, and all the despair I'd harbored since seeing him again two days ago came back in a split second.

"Rosalie?"

My eyes darted to his and I took in his slack-jawed expression of shock. Eat it up, jackass, I thought savagely. I knew the austere black business suit I usually favored, with blond hair up in a bun, hadn't prepared him for the way I looked tonight. I felt a surge of triumph as his eyes glazed over, and I had a feeling I knew exactly what he was thinking of. Not skanky Lauren who'd kissed him that horrible, fateful afternoon, but me. Me. As if any man could think of anyone else.

The hostess had long high-tailed it out of there, probably sensing the dramatically emotional undercurrents running through this particular group. I noticed she'd almost dumped the menus on Jasper's lap, though he sure as hell hadn't noticed. His eyes had yet to leave Alice's. Bella had sure been right, and I couldn't believe I hadn't known that for all these years, she'd been pining over Jasper Cullen.

Edward led Bella to the chair across from his, and seated her, leaning in slightly to whisper something in her ear. Her bell-like laugh cut through the loud conversational chatter in the room, and again, I felt that thought sneak through me.

"Rosalie."

His voice again, but it was a lot closer this time. I looked around Jasper who'd finally gotten to his feet, and was talking to Alice in hushed tones. She was following him like she was hypnotized and I felt gladness well inside of me. Thank god something good was going to come out of this farce. It was then I realized that Emmett was no longer sitting at the table.

I whirled around and he was right next to me.

"Hi, Rose." Even wearing nearly five inch heels, he still towered over me. If anything, it seemed as if he'd grown since senior year of high school.

I took a deep breath, and felt it whoosh out unsteadily. Hopefully he hadn't heard that.

"Emmett. Nice to see you again." I pasted a fake smile on my face and tried to pretend that I wasn't overjoyed to see him. Tried to pretend that I could have cared less that we were eating a civil meal together.

"You too." His voice had taken on that reverent tone that I remembered all too well. Okay, so he still thought I was beautiful. Big surprise. Every man thought I was beautiful. Emmett, I heard myself wish deep in my heart, please remember all the other reasons you liked me.

It was then he realized that the two of us were still standing in the aisle of the restaurant, and everyone else in our party was seated. Unsurprisingly, we were attracting a significant amount of attention, and it wasn't for the forced politeness that we were exuding. Of course, both of us were long accustomed to being stared at. At least I was. Emmett had always seemed to be more at ease with his looks than I was. It was as if he acknowledged he was genetically blessed then immediately forgot it. I could never manage to completely ignore my own set of blessings, probably because the men around me never could. All the men, that is, except for Emmett Cullen.

"Shall we sit?" he said suavely, recovering from the moment of awkwardness rather remarkably. Calm, cool and collected.

I didn't reply, not exactly trusting my voice at that particular second, not with him so close and me able to smell him and almost remember the way he tasted.

I sat down, as gracefully as I could, across from him, and took the menu that Alice handed me. I noticed that her hand was shaking but decided to let her off the hook and not mention it. I was supposed to be helping the situation, not hurting it, though who knew what help I was going to be. It wasn't as if I had a successful love life myself.

Edward spoke up, leaning diagonally towards Alice and I, and managing, for the first time in two minutes, to take his eyes off Bella. "Alice, Rosalie, it's been a long time. It's great to see you."

I gave him a slightly frosty nod. After all, he was the one who'd come up with this infantile plan. If he expected gratitude from me, he was missing more than a few brain cells. During the business we'd eventually conduct, I'd be all professional politeness, but there was no way I was going to be all buddy-buddy after hours, no matter how charming his smile. He'd clearly forgotten that I'd been sucked in by a Cullen smile before and had my heart chewed-up and spit out afterwards.

Alice, however, had no such qualms. Good. She should be grateful to Edward, I thought with distaste.

"I can't believe we're all together again," she said with a fake note of glee in her voice, and I barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes. As if we'd ever been "all together." This was hardly a big friendly reunion that everyone wanted, though from the looks Bella was sending Edward under her lashes, it was hardly rough for some of us.

But again before the thought could get any farther, I felt Emmett's gaze on me.

"I have to say it, Rose. You look . . .amazing."

Of course I do, pig. I met his eyes straight on, no bullshit, and for one second, let him see all the hatred I'd built up inside of me in the last six years.

He recoiled, and a wide gloating smile spread over my face. I could feel Alice tense next to me, but before she could try to prevent us from bickering, the waiter appeared. So typical. The help in these places never knew when to butt out.

"Can I get anyone a drink?"

BPOV

I could sure as hell use a drink, I thought, if only to extinguish the flame that had curled through me the minute I'd seen Edward. If only we didn't have to pretend in front of Rosalie and Emmett, though I had a feeling that neither of us were doing a very exemplary job of that so far. I'd barely been able to look away from his dazzling self, and he clearly liked my new coral dress. I beamed at him again before I remembered that I was supposed to be turning that off.

Luckily, Rosalie and Emmett seemed pretty occupied in switching off between polite phrases and heated glares. Emmett gazed at Rose like she was a Venus fly-trap and he was the most easily swayed, gullible fly on the planet. She looked ready to either kick his ass or jump him right on the table. I felt a giddiness wash through me at how successful we'd been already. Clearly there was some kind of passion left in that particular corner. Whether it was hate or love remained to be seen.

As for Alice and Jasper, I'd seen her hands shaking, and I couldn't blame her. His dissection of her appearance was pretty complete, and it must be hard on her to endure such scrutiny. I sent Edward a cautioning look. Jasper needed to look more. . .lovestruck. . .and less like he was taking Alice apart molecule by molecule. Of course, maybe that was his way of looking interested. Maybe everything Alice had said about Jasper was still true, and he was socially awkward and unable to flirt properly with a woman.

If that was the case, then Edward and I really had our work cut out for us. Not that I minded at all, sending another flirtatious look to him, under the cover of Rosalie examining the wine list.

God, he really looked hot tonight. I loved the way his bronze hair was just mussy enough to make me think he'd just left my bed. His marble green eyes flashed in response at the look in mine, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. He wanted to get away from these idiots and . . .well. . .I hoped that he wanted to kiss me. Because I'd had a lot of time to think in the last twenty-four hours and for sure, I wanted to kiss him. Screw all my inhibitions and worries. I wanted to indulge, and unfortunately, we weren't going to be able to do that all that easily, at least not in front of Rosalie and Emmett, and I knew that we weren't going to be able to leave them alone for awhile. They'd either kill each other or have mad wild sex, neither which would accomplish our ultimate goal for them.

The waiter had made it around the table. I noticed that Alice had ordered something truly terrifying from the drink menu and I felt a surge of sympathy for her. Having Jasper examine her that thoroughly was likely nerve-wracking. If I was her, I'd also need a lot of liquid courage.

"I'll have a lemon drop." I had to nearly shout at the waiter to be heard. I wondered, yet again, why Edward had picked a restaurant where we could barely be heard over the racket.

A not-awkward silence had descended over the table, probably precipitated by the fact that nobody could have heard anything anyway. Instead, we all seemed to be people-watching, and there were certainly a lot of things to see. Montage was one of my favorite places to go for just that reason. You never came out thinking you'd had a mundane dinner.

But Alice, being Alice, could never stay silent for long.

"So, Emmett," Alice glanced slyly in his direction, "do you boys come here often?"

Emmett looked up from peeling the label off his beer bottle. Rosalie sneered at the scraps of paper littering the table. She was anally neat, and hated littering. Jasper glanced over the offending trash, and oh so casually swept it into a neat pile and hid it behind his wine glass. I breathed a silent prayer of relief. The less things Rose had to pick a fight about, the better. She humphed, and crossed her arms over her not insignificant chest region.

"Once in awhile," he replied, after clearing his throat. If I wasn't mistaken, he was having trouble tearing his eyes from Rosalie to even meet Alice's as he answered her question.

I glanced again at Edward, and tried to communicate with him that something needed to be done. We'd known, of course, that this meeting was going to be awkward, but we'd had no idea how monumentally awkward it would be. We needed to get the focus back on Alice and Jasper before Rosalie and Emmett ended up refusing to do this ever again.

JPOV

I watched as Bella shot Edward a look that clearly said, "do something, you idiot," and I realized, heart sinking into the floor, that it was high time I pulled some weight here. After all, I was the one who was supposed to be pretending to like Alice so that Emmett and Rosalie wouldn't destroy each other all over again, and the swift kick I got from Edward reminded me that I hadn't exactly done my part.

Fine, I silently fumed, I can do what he wants. After all, I'd come to this restaurant with the idea in mind that I was going to have to act interested in Alice. Not that it was going to be a painful experience. She looked amazing in that dress, the color accentuating the porcelain smoothness of her skin and making me want to. . .God, Jasper, I ranted at myself, this is supposed to be pretend, not real. The devil on my other shoulder simply smirked back at me, and said that at least it wouldn't be hard to pretend. . .because I wasn't pretending.

I'd been disgusted with myself in high school for having some silly, stupid naïve crush on her. I wanted someone who I could discuss poetry with, who understood the need deep in my soul for stimulating conversation, a true romantic--like me. Alice, with her fashion plate style and focus on all things Cosmopolitan, wasn't my type at all. I cursed myself for being enough of a stupid, testosterone-ridden guy to still lust after her despite knowing my heart ultimately didn't want her.

It wasn't fair to Alice to act interested in high school, so I'd avoided her as much as possible, but I hadn't been able to help watching her, much to my dismay. I knew she'd watched me too, but then we Cullens had cut a pretty devastating streak through Forks High School, breaking hearts right and left, mostly because none of us really wanted to get involved. Emmett was the only one who'd really been interested in actually doing something about it, and naturally, that had been with Rosalie. Instead of following in his footsteps, both Edward and I had focused intently on our schoolwork, both trying to graduate with college credits.

I still hadn't found the romantic poet of my dreams, but even more today than in high school, I was convinced it wasn't Alice. I'd heard from Edward that she was a stylist and fashion designer. Definitely not my type of thing, and before this stupid plan, I would have stayed far away from her, but that didn't seem to in the cards now.

I took a deep breath, ignored the good angel on my other shoulder, and started to dance with the devil.

"So, Alice," I said, trying my hardest to be casual, "I hear you're in the fashion business now."

Those dark eyes, so expressive in her pixie face, focused intently on me, and I could nearly hear the gears grinding in her head, so clearly were her thoughts written on her face. She didn't want to answer me. In fact, I could read the struggle on her face. Whether to break down and actually say the first word of the evening to me, or risk Bella and Edward's wrath and continue to ignore me.

Bella must have been scarier than she looked because suddenly, the temper stopped flashing out of her eyes, and the pucker marks in-between smoothed out. "Yes. I'm currently free-lancing. . ."

"AKA money-grubbing," Emmett chortled, interrupting her.

Those fiery eyes immediately descended on him, internally castrating Emmett, I was sure, for his untimely and typically crude interruption. For sure, if Alice had been "high-spirited" in high school--after all, I couldn't ever forget that first day, when she'd confronted me about my assumptions--she'd definitely become a spitfire in the interim.

"For your information," she seethed at Emmett, "yes, what I do is well-paid, but it's for a valuable service that not everyone can do. In fact, one single company can't afford to keep me on payroll, that's why I freelance."

I bit back a chuckle as Alice took on Emmett, who was at least twice her height and three times her weight. Despite that I ultimately wanted a girl who was calm and laidback, there was sure something about Alice's intense vitality. The devil would have told me that it was a serious turn-on, but I'd temporarily rendered him mute.

When the waitress showed up with our drinks ten seconds later, I eagerly latched onto my glass of pinot like a drowning man searching for a buoy at sea. Suddenly, what I'd reasoned through while shaving into the bathroom mirror was no longer quite so clear-cut.

I wanted her. I wanted all that energy focused on me. The devil whispered that I wanted it focused on me . . .in bed. . .but I ignored him, and proceeded to do what I could to catch her attention.

"What companies do you work for?" I asked Alice, looking only at her, trying to somehow communicate how intent I was to know more about her. Thankfully, my intervention had diffused the situation between Emmett and Rosalie and they were both staring, somewhat open-mouthed in my direction, as I did my best to imitate my suave brothers. Edward was beaming, and only halfheartedly trying to pretend that he was watching us. He was clearly on the warpath for Bella, and since she seemed like a very nice girl, I hoped that his attention would last longer than the requisite two weeks.

While Edward had evolved in college, coming into his own with the female sex, I'd still stayed on the fringes, claiming social awkwardness, but that was just a ruse. I kept apart because, still, my true desire was for a soul mate. I didn't want to waste my time on a bunch of unsuitable women. I wanted the one I was waiting for and no others. I felt a streak of remorse stab my heart at what I was about to do with Alice, but I ignored it. It didn't matter that Alice's heart was in her eyes as she watched me. She knew that this was all make-believe and I didn't mean any of it.

Alice rambled on for a good five minutes, talking about her clients, and while I was sure I'd be bored listening to her talk about her work, the passion she had for it won me over. This was something she loved as much as I loved my engineering work, Edward relished sparring in the business world, and Emmett worshipped those rusting hulks of metal he turned into incredibly fast precision machines. I felt my resolve beginning to weaken toward her, listening to the zeal in her voice, and I had to remind myself yet again that fashion was for materialistic snobs who only cared about what was on the inside. Alice is not for you.

BPOV

Our food came and went, and I noticed that the general feeling around the table was increasingly more jovial, and a lot less fraught with tension. Even Rosalie seemed to have relaxed a little, though the two glasses of wine might have had something to do with her mellowing process. Much to my surprise, I watched her order another.

Edward and I had started surreptitiously holding hands under the table after finishing our dinners, and I had a feeling the glowing happiness rushing through me had more to do with my hand in his than the two lemon drops I'd drank. Edward's presence was almost more intoxicating than alcohol.

Emmett leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his stomach. "That was sure good," he announced expansively, barely managing to muffle his burp, "where should we go next?"

Everyone's eyes swiveled to Edward and I thanked Emmett for giving me an excuse to look in his direction. I'd been really trying to not gaze stupidly into those gorgeous green eyes all evening and I had a feeling I'd been failing pretty remarkably. But, I reminded myself, at least I was making an attempt. Besides, Emmett seemed oblivious and Rosalie distracted, just as Alice had predicted. So far, so good.

Alice and Jasper weren't exactly making goo-goo eyes at each other yet, but he'd seemed genuinely interested in her work, taking her seriously, and had listened intently to everything she'd said, offering his opinion as well as asking her a number of questions. In fact, they were the only couple who'd actually managed to carry on any conversation. Edward and I were too busy watching everyone else, and Emmett and Rosalie were both sulking at being forced into a close proximity. I wanted to shake both of them and insist that the reason they were acting this way was because there were still a boatload of unresolved feelings between them. Of course, that way lay disaster.

"ARGHHHHH!!" Rosalie bellowed, her voice reaching operatic proportions.

I jerked up in my chair in surprise at the loud screech and nearly fell over in the process because Edward hadn't managed to let my hand go quick enough.

Rosalie was on her feet, bellowing at the waiter, who in his eagerness to refill her water glass had mistaken her pinot grigio for H20.

"This," she hissed at the poor waiter, who was staring at her with a deer-in-the-headlight expression, "is why using water glasses for wine is a bad idea. Not to mention it's cheap and tacky."

I opened my mouth to try to intervene, but instead Emmett spoke up, his smooth deep voice daring the Rose or the waiter to try to argue with him.

"Rosie, sweetheart. . ." he began, and I heard Alice's sharp intake of breath next to me, "let's just calm down. I'm sure this nice man here will bring you a new glass of wine."

Rose's eyes narrowed into slits and she turned towards Emmett, overeager waiter momentarily forgotten.

"Excuse me, buddy," she snapped, digging a pointed nail into his chest, "you forfeited your rights to helping me a long time ago."

Oh no. No no no no. Bringing up the past was definitely a bad idea, and doing it in this way, with Rose already riled up, was even worse. I flashed a quick look of panic at Edward, and he was already on his feet, jovial charming smile in place, ready to diffuse everyone's tempers. I really hoped that he could, but I remembered his confession of a few days ago, and had a sinking feeling that his interference was only going to worsen the situation.

But before Edward could utter a word into the shocked silence, Alice too shot up from her chair and said, "Now, Rose, there's no need to put poor Emmett on the spot like that. Let's just go outside and get some air."

Rose spluttered at Alice's presumption, but Alice was a wily sneak and already had her by the arm, steering her toward the door.

Alice sent me a quick look, clearly telling me to get everyone out of the restaurant and outside as quickly as possible.

I turned toward Edward, but he'd already found a waiter and they were talking in low voices. I saw the server produce a slip and Edward quickly signed it.

He drifted over to my side, and put his arm around me, as Emmett had just left to go to the bathroom. "Are you ready to go?"

I wanted to sink into his arms, but I forced myself to take a step back. Emmett could be back any moment. "The check?"

"Already taken care of."

"Edward," I scolded him, "you need to stop paying for everything."

He threw his hands up in the air. "As if I could stop when all I want to do is impress you."

I laughed at his earnestness. "You already have. Now stop trying so hard," I nudged him playfully, "and maybe I'll like you more."

I turned to grab my purse, and felt him lean over, under the guise of picking up a napkin from the floor. "Witch," he exhaled into my ear, and my knees nearly buckled. I could still feel the hot air of his breath on the sensitive bit of skin right under my ear lobe. Maybe I was playing with fire here, and getting caught would only end up with me burned and wishing I'd never thought I could handle Edward Cullen.

Or, I thought as we waited for Emmett to return from the bathroom, this could also be the liberating experience I'd been unconsciously waiting for.

Jasper cleared his throat, signaling Emmett's return, and Edward looked away from my neck, clearly annoyed at being distracted from seducing me.

Hell, I was annoyed that any progress had again been thwarted, and as we walked outside, I was definitely ready to find a supply closet, or a deserted alley--anything that would allow us just five minutes of alone time.

But as soon as we stepped outside, hiding away from the world and becoming absorbed in each other was clearly not in the cards.

Alice and Rose were loitering around the side of the building, as soon as the four of us came toward them, Rosalie looked up and I was shocked to see the contrite expression on her face.

"I'm sorry about that little. . .scene," she said, meeting everyone's eyes straight on, except for Emmett's. "Let me buy you all a drink, as an apology."

Edward nodded, and I pushed away the stab of disappointment. Maybe he wouldn't be so eager to accept her offer if he really wanted to finagle some alone time with me. Maybe we weren't equally eager for our relationship to turn more. . .physical.

"Where should we go?" Alice asked eagerly.

Jasper, clearly knowing his role in this whole mess, moved to her side and turned his gaze on her. "Wherever you'd like."

Alice beamed at him and I felt a hint of uneasiness. I knew that smile of Alice's, and it wasn't pretend. She wasn't the world's greatest actress, and I could easily tell when she was faking it and when she wasn't. She hadn't faked that smile and she also hadn't faked much of her conversation with Jasper at dinner.

I told myself that Alice was a smart, independent woman and there was no way she'd end up falling for Jasper Cullen when all he was doing was pretending to be interested, but remembering the expression on her face when she'd described him and their past, I wasn't nearly so sure that she'd ever really gotten over him.

"Hmmmmm. How about Kell's?" she asked, beaming into admiration in Jasper's amber eyes, which I had to admit, looked rather genuine on his end. Theoretically, this plan was supposed to reunite Alice and Jasper as well, but I'd refrained from placing much hope on the prospect. Until now, that is. Maybe this could possibly turn out better than even I'd anticipated.

I barely managed to suppress a groan of frustration. I glanced over at Edward and hoped to see a mirror of my own suffering on his face, but instead, it was completely blank. Of course Alice would want to go to some hideously awful singles bar that only pretended to be Irish-inspired.

She had an absolute love for theme bars of any kind and somehow had managed to miss the fact that Kell's was about as Irish as I was. At least there would be a mass of people there, and maybe Edward and I could get lost in the crowd. Alice seemed to be handling Rose better than I'd expected, now if only someone could learn how to handle Alice herself.

We separated from the boys, me hiding my reluctance, and promised to meet downtown.

As we walked to the car, Rosalie said nothing, her lips pursed tightly together and I began to dread the explosion of rage we'd hear from her once we got inside, away from anyone that could hear her.