Here's a short update. I wasn't really in the mood to write last night but *crosses fingers* maybe tonight I'll pop another one out. You guys are the best!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight but I do own Balletward.

"Do you have your pepper spray with you?" Carmen's concerned voice pierces the backdrop of the movie playing in the background while I grab my purse off the kitchen counter.

"Yes."

"You know for sure how to get there?" she asked.

I pulled my purse over my head, to lay across my body and smile at the dark eyes peering at me from over the back of the couch. "Yes ma'am. My friend told me how to get there."

Carmen sat up a little taller on the couch, narrowing her eyes in my direction. "I'll ride with you over there since I'm heading in that direction anyway."

I can't help but laugh at her kind gesture. "It's fine!"

"Duck, if something happens to you, your brother will kill me," she deadpanned. "And he's told me before he wouldn't hit a girl, but I know he'll make an exception for me if something happens to you."

Shaking my head, I start walking backward toward the door. "He will hit a girl. Trust me. I know from experience, but I'll be fine. See ya!" I may or may not have rushed out of the door so that I wouldn't hear her try and talk me out of riding the subway to the bar I was meeting Alice at in half an hour.

Exactly twenty minutes later, I was walking into the Irish pub Alice had given me instructions to get to. It looked like a quaint thing on the outside but once in, it was a lot bigger than the impression it gave. Noticing that I was ten minutes early, I kind of regretted not being ten minutes late so that I wouldn't have to sit around and—

"Bella!" A loud voice managed to cut past the loud banter in the business. Over the heads of a group of people, I saw a waving hand in the middle of the room. "Bella!"

Walking around a small group of people, I found James standing up on the tips of his toes waving his hand back and forth to get my attention with a big smile on his face. He walked over to me, grinning from ear to ear, dressed neatly in khaki slacks and a white button-up shirt.

"I wasn't sure if you'd make it or not," he said.

I shrugged and smiled at the blonde man with bright blue eyes. "My roommate was really disappointed to know she wouldn't have to stay home and keep me company tonight." I stopped right in front of him before he waved me to follow him.

"I keep forgetting that you just moved here. You don't have any friends?" he asked me with a frown like that was the saddest thing he'd ever heard.

"Umm… no," I smiled but really, it hurt me. I know that he didn't question me to make me upset but all it did was remind me of my family, Jessie, and my other friends back home. Friends that hadn't called me. Were they really friends then? But then again, I didn't call them either.

We maneuvered our way to a table where I immediately recognized Edward's hair from behind as well as another man with the same exact color, who had to be his brother. "We're friends, right?"

"Who the hell would want to be your friend— Bella!" Edward started to ask while turning around to face our approaching forms. He smiled this huge grin that made the lonesome feeling before go away. "I didn't know you were coming."

"Surprise."