"So, yeah, Sara complained the whole night and when it was time to close, she bitched and moaned about having a migraine, so finally Jan just sent her home," Mike concluded with a roll of his eyes.

Edward shook his head and laughed. "I don't know why Jan doesn't just fire her," he commented. "She doesn't do jack when she's there, and anything she does do, she fucks up and someone else has to redo it."

"I know," Mike agreed as Bella walked into the kitchen where he and Edward were snacking on the cookies Esme had made that afternoon. "Hey, Bella," Mike smiled.

"Hi," Bella replied as she walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a coke for Jessica and a bottle of water for herself.

"So, did you ever find a job, Bella?" Mike asked curiously as Bella sat the drinks on the counter and went over to the pantry to look for some food to snack on.

"No, not yet," Bella replied as she grabbed a box of Cheez-its. "Hey, Edward, these don't belong to anyone specific, do they?" she asked.

Edward shrugged. "I don't think so."

Mike laughed. "Since when did people start claiming food around here?" he asked.

"I don't know, but I got bitched out over a box of Crunch-n-Munch," Edward replied.

"Are you furreal?" Mike laughed.

"Yeah, Vick was pissed that I ate it," he explained. "She said that is was her Crunch-n-Munch and that she was saving it for a snack after ballet practice. Dude, I tell ya, that little girl can be pretty damn intimidating when it comes to her food."

Bella nodded her head in agreement after bearing witness to the event. "It was pretty ugly," she commented as she collected hers and Jessica's snacks and prepared to head upstairs to her room.

"Why don't you hang with me and Edward for a while, Bells?" Mike asked.

Bella turned to them. Edward gave Mike a funny look as Mike smiled at Bella.

"Uh, I would, but I promised Jess that I would watch a movie with her," Bella replied. "Maybe later."

"Sure," Mike smiled before Bella headed upstairs. Bella found Jessica sprawled out on her bed reading over a magazine.

"Took you long enough!" Jessica exclaimed as Bella handed her her drink and sat down on the bed.

"Sorry, I was talking to Mike and Edward," Bella replied.

"Mike's here?" Jessica shrieked as she bolted upright.

"Yeah," Bella nodded with a laugh.

"Damn, I wish I would have gone down with you to get the food," she muttered.

"Jess, you're so silly," Bella commented as she shook her head.

"I know, but cute guys make me that way," Jessica giggled.

Bella rolled her eyes. "You better watch out. Those cute guys are the ones that always cause trouble," she warned.

"Now you sound like mom," Jessica said as she rolled her eyes and laid on her stomach.

Bella shrugged. "So, are we going to watch this movie or what?"

Since her conversation with Edward, Bella had seemed to be riding an emotional roller coaster. While she felt a little better knowing that Edward knew her secret and that he was there for her, she was still worried. She didn't know how or when she was going to tell Esme and Carlisle. She knew that she was going to end up telling them before her own parents, but that was only due to the fact that her parents wouldn't be calling for another month. While Edward had assured her that everything would be okay, she was still very nervous about breaking the news to his parents.

She had also spoke to Angela on the phone, who had voiced her relief when Bella told her that she wasn't going to have an abortion. She had also reassured her that everything would be okay. Bella just wished that she could believe that as well.

Bella settled into a comfortable position on the bed as the movie began to play. She glanced as Jessica and couldn't help but envy her. Her biggest worry was getting her brother's best friend to notice her. What Bella wouldn't give to go back to the days when she just had a simple crush on some random guy.

Bella tried to push those thoughts away and enjoy the movie. She had been trying her damnedest to act like her normal self, but every day it seemed to be getting increasingly harder. She was emotionally drained, and she was afraid that people were beginning to notice.

"Isn't Ryan Phillippe great?" Jessica commented as she looked away from the television screen and over her shoulder at Bella. "I love the way he starts out as this complete jerk that only cares about himself, but then he meets Reese and she changes him."

"Yeah," Bella nodded as she forced a smile. 'Too bad that kind of thing doesn't happen in real life.' Bella thought. 'Although I wouldn't mind James getting hit by a car and dying.' She thought bitterly. She had tried not to think about James, but she couldn't help it at times. Sometimes her mind would just drift back to him. She couldn't believe she had thought that he really loved her. 'I should have known better than to believe a word that bastard said.' She thought rolling her eyes at herself.

Bella sighed. She couldn't even concentrate on the rest of the movie, and that was really saying something since Cruel Intentions happened to be her favorite movie. Bella stood up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Jessica asked with a frown.

"I'm going to go get some of those cookies your mom made," Bella replied.

"Want me to pause the movie?" Jessica asked.

"Nah, I've seen it a billion times," Bella replied. "I'll be right back. You want some cookies too?"

"Sure," Jessica shrugged before she turned her attention back to the movie.

Bella took her time walking downstairs. It wasn't that she didn't want to be around Jessica. She just didn't want to be around people in general. She felt like such a fraud for lying to all of these people that cared about her. As she walked past the living room, she noticed that Edward and Mike had migrated from the kitchen. She sighed in relief. She wouldn't have to dodge another invitation to hang out with them.

She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of napkins and began to pile on the cookies. She inhaled their rich scent and couldn't resist the urge to shove a cookie into her mouth. She really hadn't been eating many sweets or much of anything else for the matter. Crackers were about as much as she could handle at times without ending up making a beeline for the bathroom, but at the moment a big pile of cookies sounded very inviting. 'No better way to drown your sorrows than with food.' She reasoned as she chewed up the last of her cookie and picked up the pile she had collected and turned to go back upstairs only to find Mike standing at the doorway.

"Back for more food already?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Bella shrugged.

"Well, I don't want to interrupt yours and Jess' girl time or whatever, but I wanted to ask you something," Mike began.

Bella raised an eyebrow. "What did you want to ask me?" she replied naively.

"Well, I was wondering ... if maybe you'd like to go out sometime," he asked.

Bella stared at him blankly for a moment. "You mean like a date?" she choked.

"Yeah," he nodded with a smile. Bella hated to admit it, but Jessica was right - he did have a gorgeous smile.

"Um ..." Bella was a loss of words. She wanted to scream at him and tell him that he couldn't like her. "I'm sorry ...you seem like a great guy ... you really do ... but I'm not really interested in dating anyone right now," Bella finally managed.

Mike frowned a little before he gave her a bit of a nod. "Okay," he replied slowly. "I'll just get out of your way then." And with that he turned and left the room.

"No! No! No!" Bella groaned as she leaned against the counter and closed her eyes. This couldn't be happening. Mike wasn't supposed to like her. He was supposed to like Jessica! Bella wanted to scream. How was she ever going to break it to Jess that the guy she liked had just asked her out on a date?