A/N: Just a reminder that in the timeline of the story, the following chapter happens about a week after the ball.

~Bella~

"I needed you today. No one else understands my need for all the wine."

Alice refilled Bella's glass with a generous amount. "If ever a situation called for the application of copious quantities, it's this one." She refilled her own glass and held it up. "Unrequited love and too much wine go together."

Bella clinked their glasses together. "A-fucking-men."

"Fucking men is exactly why we're in this mess," Alice said, sighing dramatically.

Cheered by her friend's theatrics and the alcohol, Bella giggled. "Or not fucking men, as it were." They both cackled.

Then, Bella sighed, taking a sip of the wine. "Or is it I'm in this mess because a man has the audacity to fuck his wife?"

"Hey, you don't know that they're fucking."

Bella leveled a glare at Alice.

"What? You don't. They've been married since they were in diapers." Alice tittered at herself. "It's not exactly atypical for the fire to go out."

Bella took a huge gulp of her wine. When that wasn't enough, she took another. She stared down at her mostly empty glass, somewhat morose. "If the fire went out, Tanya is looking to stoke it again." She polished off the wine. "She had me book everything, you know."

Alice arched an eyebrow in question.

"She told me what she was looking for. Intimate, romantic bungalow. Not a hotel, a bungalow." Bella laughed without humor. She reached out and grabbed the wine bottle. "I researched the best rated spots for honeymooners and lovers. I researched romantic restaurants and tours."

"You planned their whole weekend, didn't you?" Alice asked, sounding sad.

"Like I plan everything else for her." She inhaled, trying to steady her pounding heartbeat. "You know how fucked up it was? All week long, I kept waiting for her to cancel the trip. Or better yet, send me like she did with the ball." She giggled.

"Bella." Alice reached across and patted her knee. "You need another job."

"Yeah, right."

"I know it's not the best thing for your career—"

"It's career suicide." Her stomach roiled a bit as she thought it over for the thousandth time. "Tanya's incredibly well respected. Short of walking onto a job at one of the major publications, which isn't going to happen by the way, I couldn't get a better job. And what the hell am I going to say? I can't exactly tell them I had to leave because I fell in love with my boss's husband.

"And why the hell should I give that up anyway? I worked hard to get here. I deserve this chance. I deserve the doors working for her is going to open. Why should I give it up just because Cupid and his damn tattoo gun were gunning for me?" She made a disgusted sound. "I always hated the idea of these fucking tattoos." In spite of her best efforts, her eyes filled with tears. "You know, I was fine before. How long would it have taken me to realize I was in love with him if it wasn't for that fucking tattoo? I didn't know what it felt like. I've admired people before. I've adored Jake since we were kids. What I feel for him and you—those are strong emotions, you know? So how would I have known what I felt for Edward was different? I wasn't thinking about it before, and now it's all I think about.

"I'm just...so mixed up, Alice. Everything is all fucked up. I like Tanya. I admire her. She's who I want to be when I grow up, professionally, anyway. But it's not like I was oblivious to how she treated Edward before. I thought it was sad, but it was none of my business. I heard them fight about it." She swallowed hard. "And then she would say something, do something, to make up for it. Like this. She gives him just enough to keep him complacent, and…"

Bella bowed her head. "See? I'm just angry now. At her. I can't stand the way she treats him, and I can't stop thinking about that either. I can't stop thinking about the fact that I want a career like hers, but I could take care of Edward so much better. I do take care of him. I'm the one who spends time with him after work. I just want it to go back to how it was before. I want my mentor back, and I want to enjoy my friend again. Ugh." She scrubbed at her eyes. "This is so much fucking drama. I didn't ask for this shit."

"That's when it hits us, isn't it?" Alice said, rubbing her shoulder. "When we're not looking."

"Yeah." Bella sniffled and swiped at her eyes. "Fuck. I'm so emo right now. It must be the wine. It makes me emo."

"The boy makes you emo."

"Oh, right. Him. He's a bastard." She grimaced. "This is so dumb. I shouldn't even care. I'm disgusting myself."

"Well, I guess that happens when you plan a romantic getaway with the man you love and then send him away with his wife." Alice swatted Bella's hand away from the wine bottle. "I think we've had enough of that. This situation calls for ice cream and/or copious quantities of cookie dough."

Bella sniffled again and snorted. "Cookie dough? Like, raw cookie dough?"

"Obviously."

"We're too drunk to go buy cookie dough." Bella pouted.

"That's what boyfriends are for." Alice took her phone out of her pocket.

"I don't have a fucking boyfriend," Bella muttered, swiping at the wine bottle anyway.

"Bullshit," Alice said with a snort. "You have two of them. It's just that they fuck each other and not you."

"Oh, must it always come back to sex?"

They both giggled. Bella cocked her head. "I've decided they're not going to have sex while they're there."

"Oh, no?"

"No. Tanya is going to do that thing she does where she'll be working on some report—you know damn well she brought her laptop with her. And she'll be like, 'fifteen minutes, honey, I swear. I promise.' And then, when she's finally done forty-five minutes later, he'll be asleep." Bella threw her hands up, satisfied with herself.

"Honestly, Bella, from everything you've told me, that sounds pretty fucking accurate." Alice put a finger to her forehead.

"What are you doing?"

"Divining the future of course. Hmm." Alice nodded. "Nope. You're right. No sex for them."

"Good. I'm glad we settled that. Now, where is your boyfriend with the cookie dough?"

~Edward~

"I got you something."

"Gah!" Bella jumped in her seat when Edward set the tiki totem on her desk.

Edward laughed. They weren't exactly ugly, but the face, carved into the polished wood, was fierce. He wouldn't want to run into a face like that in the dark; that was for sure. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"It's big." She ran her hands over the smooth lines of the face, the bared teeth.

"It's not that big. Just not the cheesy five inch ones you can find at the airport." He made a face of distaste. "Besides, this one made me think of you."

She looked up at him, her lips wrinkled in a bemused smile. "Gee. Thanks."

"Not in looks, genius." He tapped the totem. "It's a love and happiness totem."

He thought he saw her cheek twitch. Her laugh was off somehow. A beat too slow.

"Hey." He touched her shoulder, wondering now if he'd stuck his foot in his mouth with the gift. "It's not like I think you need a totem to get a date or anything like that. It's just that the other totems were all about wealth, success—you're already a shoo-in for the whole success thing, and success usually pays well, so screw that." He tilted his head, leaning in a bit and teasing her. "I'm assuming a fertility totem wouldn't be very well received."

Her cheeks flushed, and she looked away with a huff. "Well, you have to be having sex to get pregnant, I hear." The flush of her cheeks deepened, and she coughed into her hand. "But yeah, no. Now's not a good time."

"Exactly. But who couldn't use a good luck charm for happiness, huh?" He shrugged easily. "And if love comes with it, all the better."

She picked the totem up, studying it more carefully. "You thought of me while you were in Hawaii," she said in a distracted tone.

Edward rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled to hide his sudden twinge of guilt.

He'd thought of her. He'd thought of her more often than he should have. Especially one night when Tanya had left him alone at the dinner table so she could talk to one of her reporters. Or an ad agency. Or a contact. Whatever. It happened often.

He'd watched the hula dancers, their graceful movements and swishing grass skirts, and thought of Bella. He thought of the curve of her hip under his hands and the sweep of her full skirt. He thought of her grin as she got caught up in the dance—the exhilaration and happiness on her face.

"Sure, I thought of you," he said, his voice gruffer than he intended. He swallowed. "It's just a token." He laughed at his own cheesiness. "A token totem. You put a lot of work into the plans. It was the least we could do."

"We," she said, so softly he might have imagined it.

"Tanya and me, of course."

Tanya had no idea he'd bought the thing, but he was sure she wouldn't mind. He'd picked out the gifts for their close friends and family, after all. Why wouldn't this be different? He hadn't given it to her when she walked into work that morning because he'd wanted to be the one to give it to Bella, that was all.

She kept her eyes on the totem a beat longer before she looked at him and then rolled her eyes. "No, really? You and Tanya. I thought you meant you and Pele, goddess of the island."

"Ah, no. Didn't run into her."

"Too bad." She smiled at him. "Tell me you got Tanya to visit one of the supernatural sights?"

Hawaii was well known amongst ghost hunters as being rife with supernatural activity. He and Bella—both on the 'entertaining the idea but not quite believing it' boat when it came to supernatural activity—had talked about it extensively before he left on his trip.

He leaned back in his seat, hands behind his head. "I managed to sneak a couple of them in. Tanya had to check in on the London deal once, and I went to the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel. I didn't hear any battle cries, but that painting of Queen Liliuokalani…"

She leaned forward across the desk, her face eager and fascinated. "Was it as creepy as it sounded? Did it glare at you?"

"Glare isn't the right word, but it's unsettling."

She shivered. "Gives me the creepy crawlies."

"Yeah, some places on the island do feel a little eerie sometimes. Especially at night."

"Well, if you have to walk by things like this, I can see why," she said, picking up her totem.

"Hey, I can take it back if you don't like it," he said, teasing her.

She furrowed her brow and clutched the totem to her chest. "Hell no. I need it to attract a man so I don't have to walk the eerie Hawaiian islands alone."

He huffed. "Oh, I don't know, Bella. I think you could kick the ass of anything that came your way—demon or otherwise."

She smirked and then shivered. "Ack. Now I'm thinking about demons and my skin feels creepy crawly again." She chafed her arms. "Come on. What do you say we distract ourselves with the next episode of Supernatural?"

"See, that's what I like about you, Bella. You always make perfect, rational sense."

A/N: Bear with me, folks. There are some bends in the road ahead. I promise I'll get back to my other stories this week. I'm just really excited about where we're going with this one.