AN: A HUGE welcome to all my new readers! I can't even tell you how excited I am every time I receive another review and alert. You guys are pretty awesome.

Now, it seems that there's an overwhelming need for a J/E/B threesome outtake (fantasy outtake, of course—it could NEVER actually happen in this story). So look out for that sometime in the next week!

Okay, love you guys tons. Enjoy.

BPOV

"Jasper?"

I would recognize that blonde hair anywhere. As I called his name, Jasper turned back towards me but kept his eyes trained on the ground.

Oh, God. Please let the earth open up and swallow me whole right now. Isn't this apartment placed over the hell mouth?

My entire body burst into flames as I realized what Jasper had walked in on. I wanted to ask Edward why the FUCK Jasper was there, but seeing the murderous glare he had trained on his best friend's, I knew that Jasper surely didn't have Edward's approval to be there. I don't think I had ever been this embarrassed in my entire life.

I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at Jasper, who was mumbling something or other to Edward, who had now moved directly in front of me. Oh, yes, Edward was pissed. Come to think of it, though…so was I. I stepped to the side of Edward and took a large step towards Jasper.

"What the fuck, Jasper?" I yelled. Edward turned to me, surprised, but I continued yelling. "Please tell me that you JUST got here…"

"I, uh…Edward…wallet," he mumbled, eyes still trained on the floor.

"This couldn't have waited until tomorrow morning?" I fumed, grabbing the wallet from his hand. I had skipped through embarrassment quite quickly and was now racing full speed towards rage. How DARE he? "You really thought it would be appropriate to walk into our dark apartment, and what? You heard me getting off and thought you'd stick around and see how it's done?"

Jasper's eyes finally lifted up to meet mine, but I couldn't face him and turned toward Edward instead. With my obscene and accusatory comment, Edward finally lost his cool and started RAILING on Jasper. I had a sneaking suspicion that Edward was just as angry about Jasper's presence as I was embarrassed by it.

"Fuck, Jasper! I can't fucking believe you! After everything we talked about in the car, you just decided to come in after me? What kind of sick fuck are you?" Edward ranted.

"What do you mean everything you talked about in the car?" I asked, staring Edward down. I knew he could feel my eyes on him, but Edward and Jasper were locked in some sort of glaring standoff, blatantly ignoring me.

"Was it not enough for you to embarrass us in front of my entire family at Thanksgiving? Thanks to you I now have to spend the rest of my life hearing my dad's thoughts on Bella's—" He trailed off, leaving me to think about the rest of that unfinished sentence. Dear, God. Please let that not be true. "I…I…just go home, Jasper," Edward growled.

"Edward, you KNOW I would never do anything like you think I did. Bella," he continued, looking at me now, "I swear to God, I didn't SEE anything, and I'm so sorry for allowing you think otherwise. Edward was talking in the car about how anxious he was to get to bed, and I honestly thought that he was listening to you talk in your sleep. I was just going to throw the wallet on the counter and peace out, but he and Alice are always talking about all the adorable things you say when you sleep. When I saw Edward standing in the doorway, I swear that I just listened for like three seconds before I figured out…" Jasper blushed and looked down at the ground. His mouth opened and closed like he hand something he wanted to say, but no words came out.

I took a deep breath, steadying myself. I wanted to be relieved by his confession, but I needed extra reassurance. "Are you sure you didn't…" I began, blushing furiously again at the thought of Jasper invading my personal time like that.

"I promise you. Edward was blocking the doorway completely. I was on my way out when you turned on the lights. I'll even tell Alice what happened if it makes you feel better. I don't want this to become an issue for anyone," Jasper said, staring at Edward, who was still visibly shaking with anger.

"So, this isn't going to be weird, right?" I asked, wrapping my arms around Edward's waist.

"No. Zero weirdness," Jasper responded quickly. "I never intended to make you uncomfortable…honestly. I hope you know that."

"Okay," I breathed feeling tense again, just needing Jasper to be gone already. "I'm going to take a bath," I said, turning to look up at Edward. "When I come out, your best friend had better be gone." Edward nodded slowly. "And this remarkable lapse in judgment stays here. Seriously, if Emmett hears about this I swear to God I will end you. Either one of you," I huffed. They both nodded in acceptance as I made my way to the tub.

I grabbed the still lit vanilla candles from beside the bed, brought them into the bathroom with me, and filled the bath with hot water. I needed to calm down. After it was filled, I twisted my hair into a messy bun and pulled Edward's shirt off of my clammy body.

The water felt amazing against my skin, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I sank further into the steamy bath. My eyes fluttered close, and I relaxed against the back of the tub, pushing all thoughts of Jasper out of my head. Through my hazy relaxed slumber, I heard a soft rap at the door and Edward call out, "Bella? Can I come in?"

"Mmhmm," I replied lazily. I could hear the door creak open as I closed my eyes again. Edward knelt down next to the tub next to my head and sighed loudly.

"That was SO not how I planned getting rid of my erection tonight," he chuckled softly. I cracked one of my eyes open to see Edward staring at me with the guiltiest smile on his face.

"Take off your clothes and get in here, Edward," I smiled, pressing a soft kiss to his hand, which was lying on the tub ledge. I shifted slightly to help Edward pull his shirt off and then relaxed back to allow him to pull his own shoes and pants off.

Before I could even count to ten, I felt the smooth skin of Edward's naked body sliding in behind mine. His arms wrapped around my waist as I sank back into his chest, and I shivered slightly as he placed his hands on my shoulders, kneading my tense muscles with gentle pressure.

"I am so incredibly sorry, Bella. That was…well, let's just say that Jasper almost didn't make it out of here alive," he sighed, applying more pressure with his thumbs.

"After Jasper apologized, you still didn't believe him," I said. It was a statement, not a question. I could still feel the tension radiating off of Edward. "Why?"

Edward grumbled something against my neck before sighing loudly. "You're way too observant, Bel."

"What did you guys talk about in the car?" I pushed.

Edward groaned and took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm going to break the guy-code here because I already broke the boyfriend code and the best friend code and any other code that exists out there, but…can you try your very hardest not to be mad at me?" He paused, and when I made no attempt to interject, he continued cautiously. "Jasper was joking about how you and I kept Alice up last night, and I may have slipped what we were doing that caused Alice to stay awake…"

I stiffened in his arms, but I continued to listen. "Jasper and I used to talk about everything together, and so it was…natural that he was…curious as to what we've been…up to," Edward said, carefully stringing his explanation together. "He wasn't necessarily complaining about his own…um, activities, but he did comment that ours were far…livelier than his and Alice's."

"So you thought that Jasper followed you inside to see the evidence for himself? Jasper's not like that." I honestly believed that even if Jasper had heard about our sex life (which I was SO not pleased about), he still wouldn't come in and watch it for himself. That was just gross and inappropriate, and not how my relationship with Jasper was at all. Somewhere in the past three months, he had turned into another brother.

"He's not. No, he's definitely not. But I may have also let it slip that you used to have a crush on him, and I thought that maybe that's how he justified it in his head…I know how irrational that sounds, and please don't kill me."

Well that's an interesting turn. Yay. More embarrassment.

"When I came into the bath you continued to yell at him, didn't you?" I said, relaxing into his hands again.

"Yeah. I was one step away from fucking him up. But he assured me that he really didn't see anything, and I believe him. Jasper and I don't lie to each other...Are you okay?" he asked in a pained voice.

"I'm fine," I sighed, moving his hands from my shoulder back around my waist. "I'm utterly humiliated at the situation, and if you ever talk to Jasper about our sex life again, I WILL chop off your balls. But this is helping," I warned, leaning further against his chest.

I cooed in pleasure as Edward let his mouth take over for his hands, sucking on the wet, steamy skin of my shoulder. We sat there with gentle ease for a while just reveling in the soft touch of one another without any urgency. His tongue darted out to taste my skin over and over as he continued to lap at my shoulders. As I was melting into him, I had a stray thought. "You know, this could have all been avoided if we had our own apartment where none of our friends had copies of our keys," I smiled.

Let's see what he makes of that. Three…two…

Edward's arms tightened around my stomach as his entire body tensed. "Did you just ask me to…do you want to…" he stuttered. "Wouldn't you get sick of me?"

"Edward, I spend every night in your bed. We spend all day together. If I were going to get sick of you, I think it would have happened already," I said, extracting myself from his arms and turning around, hugging my knees to my chest. "Do you want to?" I asked nervously.

His face broke into a blinding smile as he grabbed my waist, pulling me to kneel in between his bent legs. "Really?" he asked, eyes lit up like a small child.

I pressed my lips to his forcefully before pulling back and hugging his neck tightly. Unfortunately, my grip wasn't firm enough and I slipped, almost landing straight on his cock.

Good thing you caught yourself. That thing is IMPORTANT!

"Jesus, Bel…if you wanted to say 'hi' to my dick, all you had to do was ask," Edward smirked.

"Such a fucking jackass. I don't know why I expect anything else, though," I laughed, playfully shoving his shoulder with little success.

"Thanks. So, should we get out? You're starting to get all pruny," he said, kissing my fingers one by one.

Soon enough, we were settled on the couch in front of the television. I rested my head in Edward's lap as he played with my hair. As anxious as I had been before to get Edward home and into bed, the mood was so far beyond gone that it was nice to just sit and relax for a while.

"So…are we really going to move in together?" Edward asked, turning on the television.

"It'd be better than paying double rent, which is essentially what I'm doing now. And I have a very strong feeling that Alice has wanted to move in with Jasper for a while. I think she just stayed around for fear that I'd think she was abandoning me. Oh, God," I groaned. "I'm never going to be able to look at Jasper ever again…"

"I'm just really glad he didn't see what I saw," Edward breathed, twirling a piece of my hair around his finger. "So, can we play with your new present another night?"

"Sure, bunny. It's as much for you as it is for me," I smiled, rolling to look up at him.

"Speaking of which…I wanted to tell you about another present for both of us."

I sat up, looking at him inquisitively. Present for both of us? What could that possibly be? "I talked to my dad earlier today," he began. "And he said that he'd pay the upfront cost to record our demo."

My mouth dropped. "Edward, I can't ask your family for that—"

"I already kind of did, and they agreed that this is something they want to do. Bel, they believe in us. All we have to do is come up with a kick ass demo. Now, what do you want to watch?"

I sighed, knowing that arguing with Edward about money was about as useless as arguing with Alice about shopping. Plus, I was exhausted. "Fine," I grumbled, resting my head in his lap once again. "Just check what's on demand."

Edward scrolled through movie after movie, each one looking more unappealing than the next. He continued scrolling, but something caught my attention. I smacked his thigh and wriggled around a bit to get his attention. "Wait, go back!" He scrolled up until I saw it. "Yes. That one there." He looked at me skeptically.

"Bella, I've never even heard of this movie. Made in 1992? Were you even alive when this came out?" he joked.

"Edward, I was humiliated beyond any experience in my entire life tonight, and you promised that I could do whatever I wanted. I want to watch this," I told him sternly. "So, turn it on and prepare to witness greatness. Also, you'll get to experience the beauty that is Jack Kelly," I sighed. "He was my first crush, you know."

That got Edward to jump into action. Soon enough the opening strains of the movie came on:

"That's my cigar! You'll steal another. Hey bummers we've got work to do!
Since when did you become me mother? Eh, stop your bawling.
Hey, who asked you?"

I started giggling when Christian Bale took the screen, and Edward rolled his eyes but continued to play with my hair. "Your first crush was Christian Bale? Really?"

"He's British…and he sings. That's like doubly hot."

"He's actually Welsh, and he's not a very good singer. And why didn't you tell me this was a musical when you made me turn this on?" he complained.

"I love musicals, Edward. If I could be anything in this world, I would be a movie musical star, so stop whining. We're not having sex tonight."

"That's easy for you to say…you already got off," he huffed.

Although Edward resisted the charms of Newsies for a while, after Jack sang a rousing rendition of "Santa Fe" and the newsies gathered together to sing "Seize The Day," they had stolen Edward's heart.

The next morning, I woke up on the couch, still perched on Edward's lap. He had slumped over slightly in his sleep and didn't look comfortable at all. My face was also now directly next to his morning wood.

Good morning, Edward.

Slowly, I lifted my hand towards the elastic of his sweatpants. I had almost gotten my hand all the way into his pants when he froze and grabbed my wrist. He groaned loudly in frustration and pulled my hand away.

"Bella, did you learn nothing last night? We don't have our own place yet, and we're just in the living room."

"You guys are moving in together?" Emmett called walking down the hall into the living room.

Well played, Cullen. You win this round. Embarrassment: Round 2, cut short. Thank you very much.

"And why are you guys out here? Did you break the bed?" Emmett laughed. "Actually, never mind…I don't really want to know," he frowned.

"No," I yawned. "We just fell asleep watching Newsies, which Edward had never seen by the way."

Emmett gasped loudly, over exaggerating his shock. "Never seen Newsies? How can you still be my brother and not know the joys of David and Jack 'Cowboy' Kelly? So that's what they call a family…mother, father, daughter, son…" Emmett began to sing out.

"Ah! Yes! Emmett, why aren't we going out?" I laughed, finally getting off of Edward's lap.

"Um, because you're like my sister and that'd be gross?" he laughed, pulling eggs out of the refrigerator and placing them in front of me.

"Incest is best?" I laughed and then looked pointedly at the eggs and then back to Emmett.

"Scrambled eggs, please?" Emmett asked with the signature Cullen pout.

"Me too, Bel?," Edward shouted from the couch as his phone started ringing.

"Who's calling you before noon, Edward?" I asked, peering over my shoulder.

"Ah, shit," he mumbled, picking up his phone. "Hey, Dad…" he began, holding up a finger and pointing it towards his room. I nodded, and he walked into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

Weird.

"What's that all about?" I asked Emmett.

"No clue, but it's probably important if my dad took the time to call Edward. They don't really talk on a regular basis, plus we just saw him for like four days."

Well, my curiosity was certainly piqued. What would Edward have to talk to his dad about that he would keep from having the conversation in front of both Emmett and me?

EPOV

"Hey, Dad," I sighed, taking the phone call into my bedroom. There was no way I was going to have this conversation in front of Emmett and Bella…especially since Bella and I had just agreed to move in together. I had no intention of freaking her out. Honestly, curiosity was the thing mostly plaguing my mind.

"Edward, sorry about yesterday—I really was having a busy day, and your question caught me off guard. I mean, you went straight from asking about future career stuff to marriage. Just, why would you want to know when I proposed to your mother unless…Like I said, Emmett hasn't even asked me about this so, uh, can I ask where it came from?" my dad rambled nervously. We had that trait in common. Nerves = rambling.

I didn't know how to respond. Had Emmett really never asked my dad about marriage? They were way closer than we were and Emmett and Rosalie had been together for nearly a year. I guess I just figured that it had already been discussed.

"Sorry, uh…I didn't mean to blind side you or anything, I just…I was curious," I responded. That was an okay answer, right?

"Holy fuck. You're going to propose to Bella."

"What? No…well, not yet at least. Can you just answer the damn question, Dad? How old were you when you proposed?"

"Patience never was one of your virtues, Edward," he laughed. "I was 22 when I proposed to your mother," he sighed.

"Really?" My dad was a year younger than me when he proposed to my mother. How did I not know this?

"I can't believe we've never told you kids this story. You'll be making fun of me for the rest of my life, I'm sure," he laughed. "Okay, well—your mother and I both went to University of Chicago, but I was a senior when she was a freshman…" he trailed off thinking of his college days, I'm sure. "Anyway, now please don't laugh, but I was the teaching assistant in her Biology seminar—"

"You were her TEACHER?" I gasped, thinking of yesterday evening's activities. "How did I not know this?"

"Her teaching assistant…it's not the same thing—" he clarified.

"Um, whatever you say, Mr. Cullen," I laughed, bringing my voice down in mock seduction. Like father like son.

"Edward!" he scolded. "Do you want to hear the story? You can have the rest of my life to mock me for this."

"Sure, sure—continue, please."

"So, I was the teaching assistant in her biology class, and when I saw her that first day of class, I just knew. She was gorgeous and, as I found out grading her papers, incredibly smart. Long story short, I asked her out on the down low, but she refused to go out with me while I was her teacher. She was very diplomatic about the whole thing, until the day she turned in her final exam…After that we were inseparable, but she was 18 and I was going to med school."

"That must have been tough…"

"I didn't think it was going to be—I mean, I was going to the University of Chicago's med school, not even fifteen minutes away. So, I proposed on the day of my college graduation, and she said yes. But, your mother being your mother insisted that SHE graduate from college before we actually get married. She didn't want to be married in college, apparently. So, we had a four-year engagement and got married not even a week after her college graduation."

"That's a fucking long engagement."

"It was, and it was pretty miserable for me. Her junior year she FINALLY let me put a ring on her finger. It took some coaxing, though," he laughed. I didn't want to know what the coaxing entailed. Shudder. "So, Edward. Response?"

"If I'm honest will you not freak out?" He mumbled his agreement. "I knew from the second I saw Bella that she was it. I was done with the random girls, everything…I could only see her. And if we do this and get signed by a label, I'd like to propose to her with my half of our first paycheck." The line was silent. I had rendered my inappropriate, gregarious father completely silent.

"Well," he began slowly, "if you're going to settle down this early in life, Bella's not a bad way to go. That girl definitely has a nice pair on her." Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, he's back.

"Yeah, um, if we could never talk about that again, I'd really appreciate that, Dad," I replied grimly.

"Enough said. Okay, I'm wiring through the money right now so you can get recording and get me that super hot daughter in law," he laughed. I groaned loudly.

"Dad, stop, please—"

"I know, I know," he joked, "I'm sorry, but it's the last time…I promise. "

"Okay, Dad. Thanks. I've got to go. Bella's literally outside the door."

"Later, Edward."

I hung up the phone feeling way better about my future path. I could do this. I had my family's support, and through it all…I had Bella. Now we just had to GET there. I walked back out to the kitchen where my breakfast was waiting for me.

God, I love my girlfriend.

I smiled and kissed her temple before sitting down next to her.

"So, what was that all about?" she asked curiously. …I should have known…

"Nothing, really. He just wanted to tell me that he'd wired through the money for us, so we should get to picking our songs and start rehearsing," I smiled.

"You are lying through your teeth, bunny," she smirked. She was too smart for her own good. "But, I'll let it slide for now since we actually DO need to pick out songs to record. How do we do this exactly?"

"Well, we record a five song demo. They have a producer at the studio who helps us record, mix, and master it. And, I was thinking that the demo should probably showcase everything we can do. Maybe two of my songs with me accompanying and you singing. And then one with us both singing and playing. And then one cover?"

"Oo, you should do one of the Kate Voegele songs as your cover, Bella," Emmett added. "That way you could play and sing. Plus, you love those songs."

"Sounds good," Bella said, looking thoughtful. "I haven't had the opportunity to play 'Devil In Me' yet for an audience. And it's my favorite song to sing."

We spent the rest of the day pouring through my composition notebook, picking out the four original songs we wanted to record. It was definitely a struggle to pick out four. Bella and I each picked out our top ten, and from there we cut it down to our top five. Then, we combined our top five.

We were currently stuck on our top eight songs, and the list wasn't getting any shorter.

"Bella, just eliminate two more songs, please," I begged.

"Stop pressuring me, Edward! This is hard…and I'm indecisive. You know this," she said, examining our list again.

"This is hurting my head. And we have to get to The Mansion soon. I can't believe we have another gig tonight," I groaned. I really didn't want to perform tonight.

Bella's face dropped, as if she, too, forgot that we had another job besides being awesome and focusing on our recording careers. "Oh my God, Edward! I can't believe you didn't warn me like an hour ago. I look like crap! "

I snorted loudly. "You look hot, as always, Bel. Just wear your jeans and a t-shirt. No one will care. Plus, I don't want you looking too hot for your 'socializing' anyway," I huffed. Another night of staring at Bella from across the room. Oh, goody.

"It's no better for me, Edward. Plus…oh, God. I have to see Jasper. I don't think I can go. Seriously—I thought I'd be okay with it, knowing that he didn't actually see anything, but…he knows what I was doing. And he heard! And he probably told Alice. What am I going to do?" Bella started, working herself up into a fluster.

I put a hand on each of her shoulders and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. She smiled against them and sighed as I pulled on her bottom lip slightly. She went to wrap her hands in my hair, but I stopped her. As much as I wanted to continue, I knew she'd kill me if she didn't get ready in time for our set.

"Later, Bella. I promise. It'll be fine. Jasper is probably more embarrassed about everything than you are, plus he got a verbal lashing from his best friend, and if he told Alice…then probably one from her, too. And if you behave, I'll even sing 'Bubble Toes' for you tonight," I laughed as her face broke out into a huge grin. It was Bella's happy song. She always said that she was convinced Jack Johnson wrote the song about us.

I remember when you and me, mmm how we used to be
Just good friends—wouldn't give me none, but all I wanted was some

Not the greatest love song of all time, but, hey…it fit us quite nicely. Pondering that, I stepped into my room and threw on a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt (man, I love being a guy), while Bella got herself ready.

I stepped into the bathroom while she was finishing up her makeup to brush my teeth. Picking up the toothbrush, I began to laugh at the complete domesticity of the scene. Who would have thought that Edward Cullen was capable of this? I certainly didn't. And I sure as hell didn't foresee being as happy as I was right at that moment.

"What are you laughing at?" Bella asked self-consciously.

"Nothing," I laughed. She gave me a look, and I knew that that explanation wasn't going to cut it. "It's just…look at us. We're such a couple."

She nudged me with her hip and scowled. "Edward, I'm stressed enough about facing Jasper and Lauren and looking like shit tonight and cutting down our song list for our demo…I don't need you making fun of me on top of it."

"What can I do to make up for it?" I smirked, picking her up by the waist and placing her on the counter. She squealed and blushed, dipping her chin to her chest slightly. "I think I can count the ways," I continued, placing myself in between her legs and pulling her into my arms.

"Really? I can't think of anything…" she teased, finally lifting those huge brown eyes and biting her lip. Gah. She knew what biting the lip did to me! I was suddenly conscious of being VERY aroused with very little time to do anything about it. I decided I needed to act quickly.

I allowed my hands to wander up the back of her shirt, reveling in the goose bumps that broke out all over her body and leaned in to kiss behind her ear. "This is one way," I whispered against her skin. She shivered slightly as I opened my mouth to deepen the kiss and moved it slightly down her neck. She moaned loudly, leaning her head to allow more room for me.

Ah, yes. I found the magic spot. Ten more seconds and panties will be dropping.

Fuck, yeah!

Bella moved her hand to keep my head in place as I continued my ministrations on her neck, nipping lightly in between my heavier kisses. "Edward…we don't have time for this," she whined.

I lifted her legs to wrap around my waist and placed myself more firmly in the 'magic spot.' "Yes, we do," I grunted against her neck.

Just give it three more seconds and—

"Hey, guys are you ready to…shit! Sorry," Emmett mumbled, running back out to the living room. "I'm ready to go whenever you are!" he called.

Seriously? Again, Emmett? My balls are really starting to hurt here. Throw me a fucking bone!

Yeah, get used to it. Only another four hours until you can relieve your pain, buddy.

Bella laughed as I raised my head, most likely wearing a huge pout on my face. "And this is why I can't wait until we get our own place," she laughed. "We're giving NO ONE the keys. Really. No one."

"Yes ma'am," I smiled, lifting her back off the counter and onto the floor.

The gig went smoothly, except I could tell that with each song, Bella was getting more and more anxious. Although we'd somewhat hashed it out, I knew she was feeling incredibly self-conscious about the whole situation with Jasper. We had arrived to the bar so close to our set time, she hadn't really had the opportunity to talk to him yet, and I think the prolonged waiting was just making it worse. I really needed to tell Jasper to crack a joke about it or something…anything to get Bella to lighten up.

I squeezed her hand as I caught a glimpse of Jasper hanging out backstage.

"Hey, I'll be right back, okay? Want to grab a drink?" I whispered. She nodded, looking somewhat in a daze and wandered off to the bar.

Finally approaching Jasper, I realized that he now had his tongue shoved down my sister's throat. Gross. I cleared my throat loudly, and Jasper laughed as he pulled away from Alice.

"Hey, J, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Don't yell at him again, Edward," Alice warned.

"You told Alice?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah…I told Bella I would. Plus, it REALLY wasn't a big deal. Alice thought it was hilarious."

"Well, apparently Bella thinks differently. I think she's panicking about seeing you again. She's really freaked out by it, so…if you could just crack a joke or something…I think it might help."

Jasper nodded thoughtfully as Alice wrapped her arms around his waist again. "Of course, dude. It was my fuck up. I'm all over it."

"I still can't believe what a dumbass you are, Jasper," Alice laughed. "You seriously followed Edward into his apartment at night with the lights off after he and Bella weren't allowed to touch each other in public for four hours? In what world was that even remotely a good choice?" Alice's eyes got really wide and then she smiled coolly. "Oh, hey Bella…"

I turned around to see Bella looking like a deer in headlights with a beer in her hand. I think she was probably psyching herself up to see Jasper, but Jasper and Alice together…she was not prepared. I pulled her waist towards mine and wrapped her in a tight embrace. She relaxed slightly giving a small wave to Jasper and Alice.

Just then, Alice and Jasper had some sort of small, secret conversation, and like some REALLY cheesy 80s movie, Jasper burst into spontaneous song. "Edward is a friend. Yeah, I know he's been a good friend of mine. But lately something's changed and it ain't hard to define. Edward's got himself a girl, and I wanna make her mine."

Cue Alice: "Cause she's watching him with those eyes…and she's loving him with that body, I just know it. And he's holding her in his arms late, late at night…you know I wish that I had…"

Together now: "Edward's girl..du nu nu nu nu…Edward's girl…"

I thought Bella was going to blush up a storm or laugh or SOMETHING…because, frankly, the whole display was pretty embarrassing. But, no. Bella surprised me, per usual. She stepped out of my arms and punched Jasper in the arm. Hard.

"Ow!" Jasper cried, holding his arm.

Oo, yeah. I've been there, buddy. She's got quite the arm on her. She may be little, but she's mighty.

"You're a complete dick! I can't believe you're making a joke about this," she laughed, finally cracking a smile.

"So, I guess that's a 'no' to the threesome, then?" Jasper smiled back.

"Unless it's with me and Jasper," Alice added. "Because I think I'd be okay with that."

"Alice..." Bella warned, breaking into giggles. Ah, finally. The tension is broken. Thank the lord.

Unfortunately, I spoke too soon. I heard another throat clearing behind me. I turned around to reveal a very pissed off looking Lauren.

"Hey, everyone. Marcus sent me back here to make sure that you go out and mingle with the audience now," Lauren spoke in her sickeningly sweet voice. Did she always sound so patronizing? Or did I just never actually listen to her speak before? Either way…I was ashamed that I'd ever been with her.

Choosing to ignore Lauren, I wrapped Bella in my arms again and kissed her forehead lightly. "I'm not ready to go out there without you again," Bella whined.

"I know," I sighed. "Me neither, but…I promise I'll make it all better when we get home." Her eyes fluttered closed as I brought my lips back to the magic spot of skin on her neck. Her hands automatically went to the back of my head, pulling me closer. I chuckled and began to suck on the skin a bit harder, making her whimper slightly.

"Oh for fuck's sake, Edward. Why don't you just pee on her and be done with it?" Lauren huffed from behind us.

Oops. I had forgotten she was still there.

"He would," Bella interjected, completely surprising me. "But only whores like you are actually into that," she snapped. I was mid laugh when Bella pulled my mouth to hers hastily, deepening our kiss in seconds. I couldn't help but moan loudly as she sucked my tongue into her mouth. She pulled back, looking completely flushed. I had never been prouder of her.

"Jealousy looks good on you," I laughed. "I love you so much, Bella Swan."

"Love you, too, bunny," she smirked, gliding past Lauren, who stood there dumbly with her mouth gaping open.

Ah, yes. Typical Lauren. Always with her mouth open.

"Enjoy your evening, Lauren," I called out to her, feeling on top of the world. And although I spent the rest of the night in constant angst, watching Bella smile and flirt with desperate college boys, I couldn't help but smile every time we'd catch one another's eyes.

Finally, the bar was almost emptied out completely. Bella sat at the bar chatting with one of the bartenders…Felix, I think his name was. I remember her mentioning that she thought he was nice, and after seeing the natural smile that graced her face as she talked to him, I wasn't sure how I felt about that comment. That was definitely an interesting new friendship that I was going to keep my eyes on. Felix reminded me of Jake for some reason.

Let's not freak out prematurely, Cullen. So, he's tall with short black hair. That doesn't mean that Bella's going to wise up and leave you for a Jake look-a-like.

Uh, was that supposed to be comforting? Because if so…you suck at life.

Thanks. I do what I can.

Just then, the same annoying throat clearing interrupted my inner diatribe. "Seeing the other side, Edward?" Lauren cooed.

"What?" I stuttered, turning away from staring at Felix and Bella. "No. Just staring at my beautiful girlfriend." Lauren's face faltered, but she didn't move away. "Did you need something, Lauren?

"Marcus asked to see you and Bella in his office," she smirked.

Of course he does. This day was getting too good to have it not be ruined by something, right?

I approached the bar only to hear Bella laughing at something that Felix had said. She grabbed his hand while chuckling, "Oh my God, Felix. That's absolutely hilarious!"

"What's so funny?" I asked, abruptly announcing my presence. My eyes darted to Bella's hand, which was still placed on top of Felix's. Bella, mid-laugh, didn't notice, but Felix sure as hell did. He removed his hand nonchalantly as Bella looked up at me, still chuckling, "Nothing, nothing. So are we ready to head out of here?"

"I wish," I grumbled. "Unfortunately, it seems that Marcus has requested our presence in his office."

"Did he say what he wanted?" she asked curiously.

"No. Plus, he sent Lauren as his messenger," I shuddered.

"Come on, bunny," she said cheerfully hopping off of the barstool. "Night, Felix!" she called.

"Later, Bells," he waved.

Ouch. Bells. That one REALLY hurts my stomach.

Stop freaking out, Cullen. Stop it. She's friends with him. You have no reason to be jealous. She chose you over Jake, and I'm sure she doesn't even see Felix like that. It's a coincidence that he used the same nick-name as Jake. There are only so many nick-names for Bella you can come up with. You're reading too much into this.

Of course, Bella noticed my sudden distress. "Are you okay, Edward?" she asked, squeezing my waist.

"Yeah," I said, brushing her off. No need to make a big deal out of nothing. Stupid insecurities. "Let's get this over with."

Stepping into Marcus's office, I recognized another man standing next to him, and my mouth dropped in shock. This meeting wasn't going to be what I thought at all.

Chapter End Notes:

Sorry for the second cliffie! But…it was definitely the most logical place to stop it...I'm sorry, though. Make sure to leave some love :)