Previously on Girls of Forks:

The air between us was charged with potential, like ozone before a storm. Unable to help myself, my head began to move closer to his, and he mirrored the motion. Like two magnets, we were pulled closer and closer, until finally his lips closed on mine, his hands coming up to cradle my face even as I gasped into his mouth as my heart thundered in my ears.

I was lost in his kiss, grasping him tightly to me. I maneuvered myself until I was straddling him, my legs curled up against the sides of his thighs. When he started kissing the shell of my ear and my neck, my panting was almost embarrassing, but I couldn't bring myself to care at the moment. He pulled our pelvises together, and I moaned at the sensations ripping through me, letting myself drown in Josh and in our shared passion.

Chapter 9

Through my closed eyes, I registered the light of day filtering in and bringing me up from the peace of a quiet sleep. I slowly let my eyes open, blinking as several sensations registered at once.

I was laying on my side, my arm draped across Josh's chest, my head snuggled in to him. I was warm, and felt so deliciously comfortable I wasn't quite sure I wanted to move. As I came further awake, I became aware that his arm was draped around my shoulder, holding me close to him. His musky scent filled my nostrils, and the slow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed was soothing to me.

I finally lifted my head, trying not to jostle him, looking to see what time it was. The green light from the clock on the night table said it was just after seven in the morning. Realizing there was no reason to get up yet, I lay my head back down, and sighing in contentment as the events of the previous evening came rushing back to me.

Josh had been amazing. No question about it. I was almost embarrassed at how hot I had been for him, but realized he seemed to be just as desperate for me, and we had spent the whole night getting lost in each other.

I shivered as I remembered all the delicious things he did to me. It would have been so easy to make love with him; in fact, I was pretty sure I had wanted to. But Josh had asked me if I was sure, that he didn't mind me absolutely being certain, so we decided to hold ourselves back from crossing that final line, though he certainly had not left me wanting in any way.

In the light of the morning, I couldn't say I was upset that we hadn't gone all the way, but I felt that, now, I truly was ready. Last night had been absolutely amazing, I had no idea I could feel such pleasure, or give such pleasure to someone else, and I truly trusted him.

I lifted myself up a bit and rested my head on my hand, leaning on my elbow. letting my eyes trail over my boyfriend. I couldn't help myself, he was just so hot! He was sleeping in a pair of boxers, and I was wearing one of his t shirts and my underwear. I was totally relaxed, having slept as well as I ever had before.

I thought deeply about that, and realized that I was no longer desperate for Edward; I hadn't been since the night of Josh's party, and my need for him diminished every day since. And now, I could honestly say that if he returned, I would not at all want to rekindle a relationship with him.

Amazing.

Last night, before we went to sleep, I had unburdened myself and told him as much as I could about my relationship with Edward; or, at least as much as I could without delving into the supernatural.

I had explained, in a sort of half-truth, that Edward always had one foot out the door with me, that I always felt like I couldn't measure up to him, and how, conversely, he also seemed to put me on a pedestal that I couldn't hope to live up to.

I so wanted to tell Josh the whole story, but I was too loyal a person at heart to ever do that. But I told him that when Edward left, he had been cruel to me, contradicting everything he had ever told me about his love for me, about how I was 'the one' for him, yada yada.

Josh gave me an interesting viewpoint, when he said he doubted Edward was telling me the truth; that, in fact, he was probably purposefully being cruel in an attempt to get me 'over him' quickly, and to make me hate him enough that he too, would maybe get over me.

His words shocked me, as I never considered that before. Could Edward have been lying to me? I had not even thought it possible.

But now, given what I knew of Edward - of his absolute self-loathing of what he was - could he have been trying to make me hate him so I wouldn't pine for him? Could it be true?

An epiphany hit me then, and I knew Josh was right. It would be such an Edward thing to do, to make an arbitrary decision like that in his belief that 'he was protecting me' from himself. It all made perfect sense.

The only problem was that it had unintended consequences. It made me doubt everything about our relationship, and absolutely killed my self-esteem for months.

Bastard.

I hadn't really been angry at Edward and the Cullens; after all, I couldn't blame someone for falling out of love with me, right?

But now - if what Josh had said was true - and in my heart I knew it was - I felt the first real stirring of anger in my chest. What an arrogant ass, to make such a monumental decision without my input.

Luckily, Josh had soon distracted me again, and any heavy conversation had effectively ended at that point, and we eventually fell asleep sated and happy.

I smiled as I looked down at his sleeping form. Unable to help myself, I leaned down and peppered small kisses along his chest, his shoulders, his neck, relishing the slightly salty taste of his skin and the musky scent that always made my mouth water. I pushed my hair back over my ears as it kept falling forward and tickling his face, but I could not stop kissing him, my smile so wide it was almost painful.

I noticed when his breathing changed, and I saw his eyes begin to blink, but I didn't stop my assault.

"Uuuhhhmm. Bella?" he mumbled, his voice hoarse and dry from sleep, his eyes blinking rapidly, his right hand coming up to shield his eyes from the light.

I giggled, he was so cute. "Mm, who else?" I answered, kissing up to his neck now, and breathing lightly into his ear, making him gasp. "Good morning, Joshua," I whispered playfully, my breath hot in his ear, making him shiver.

His eyes were now fully open, his pupils dilated, and I watched as his expression turned hungry. "And a very good morning to you too Isabella," he murmured, his hands gripping my upper arms, holding me steady over him, our faces inches apart. "You are absolutely delightful," he said, voice husky, and he leaned up and kissed the side of my jaw and up to my ear.

Now I was the one shivering.

I playfully puckered my lips, and then let my tongue run over my bottom lip, teasing him. "Just delightful?" I whispered, and moved my head closer and began to kiss his the end of his chin, where he had some stubble that felt scratchy on my lips. I let my kisses trail up the line of his jaw, then back down the other side moving my body so that I was astride him, pressing us together at all points. I slid down, kissing down the center of his chest, and back up, making him squirm.

I wasn't sure where my confidence was coming from, but it all felt so very easy and natural with Josh. I felt unburdened by our frank discussion last night, and I hadn't been this happy in a long long time.

I felt light, and carefree. There was no hidden dangers if I moved too quickly; there was no underlying fear that we were fighting against the odds. There was nothing to hide.

His skin didn't make me cold like Edward's, or sweaty, like Jacob's.

We were the same - just human.

And I absolutely loved it.

Josh's smile was breathtaking to me, and I smiled back coyly as I teased and kissed him for a little while. We were both charged up, but I decided to dial it back a bit, as we had the whole weekend in front of us. My kisses slowed, and I finally tucked myself up under his arm.

He took his lead from me, and we both reluctantly decided it was time for breakfast. We took turns in the shower, and when we were dressed he led me out of the beautiful master bedroom that we spent the night in. In the light of day, I admired its dark wooden furniture and blue and white fabrics and accents, with the large bay windows and deck that looked out over the expansive grounds at the edge of the sea.

After checking out what he had in his fridge, I made omelets, while he used the blender to make fresh orange juice. We chatted and laughed while we ate, telling each other silly little stories about things we hadn't discussed on the phone this week, all the while giving each other small, secretive smiles and just enjoying each other's company.

When we were cleaning up, my phone beeped with a text alert. I walked over to the countertop where my phone was charging, and was surprised at the sender. "Hey, Josh, it's from Mark. He says he's gone through all the photos and if we are free this morning he would love for us to stop by and so we can pick the ones we want to use." I looked at Josh, seeing if he was amenable.

He winked at me, wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin, and a smile tugged his lips upwards. "Tell him we are ready whenever he is. I didn't think we would hear from him so soon, but this is perfect timing so you don't need to come up during the week."

I quickly typed my reply, leaned in for a quick kiss, grabbed my coat, and a minute later we were pulling out of his garage. Today, Josh was driving a beautiful white Audi, which had belonged to his father but was left behind 'as an extra' when his parents moved. I didn't say anything to him, but I much preferred it to his big Land Rover SUV that he normally drove.

Fifteen minutes later, after stopping at a Starbucks for coffee, we were pulling into the parking lot at the studio.

The front door was locked, and we rang the bell, chatting while we waited. Josh played with my hair, kissing the sides of my neck, and I sighed happily as I leant back into his sturdy frame, relishing his comforting presence.

I looked up when I heard the door being unlocked, and Mark was standing there with a small grin on his face. "Bella, Josh, thanks for coming in on short notice. There are a couple of photos that we took that Peter wants to send to an agent in New York right away."

I was surprised. "What does that mean?" I asked in confusion.

As we walked through the lobby, Mark explained. "Well, a firm in New York that we have done bookings with for large clients had a problem with a scheduled shoot. They had a specific model in mind, but unfortunately she got hurt last week and is in a cast for the next month or so. The client is on a fairly tight deadline, as they have a catalog and media campaign all scheduled to kick off at the same time, so they need another model."

I nodded my head, and Josh gave my arm a little squeeze. "Ok, and?"

Mark looked at me as he led us up a flight of stairs to a large conference room, that had glass walls and an enormous white table with dozens of photos spread out on it. "And, Bella, you look very much like the girl they had lined up. Peter immediately sent over some of your shots, and the booking agency forwarded them to the client."

He stopped and turned to look me right in the eye. "So, in short, they are very interested, and want you to go to Seattle for a paid shoot, Bella."

I think my mouth opened and closed like a fish for a few moments. Josh snapped me out of my reverie, however, when he lifted my feet from the ground and twirled me around. He leaned forward, whispering in my ear. "Congratulations, Bella. I knew that you would be great."

After telling me a bit more about the opportunity, we settled down at the table. We spent the next two hours drinking coffee, nibbling on croissants, and looking through hundreds of my photos. I was quickly overwhelmed, having no idea which ones to include, but with Mark's help - and Peter's, who had just joined us - they created three piles.

The first pile, and clearly the largest, were the 'rejects.' Many had lighting problems, or I was blinking, or my expression wasn't right. I had never looked at photographs so critically before, but once the flaws were pointed out they became obvious.

Next, was the 'definites' pile, which only amounted to five shots after our first review of all the photos.

Finally, there was the 'maybe' pile. After our first run through had about thirty photos in it. We still had to cut the thirty 'maybe's way down, to join the five 'definites' we had already chosen.

It was pretty clear to everyone that I was essentially hopeless at choosing. I simply labeled everything a 'maybe', unable to decide, unless it was extremely racy; then I always chose 'reject.' After about ten minutes of this, I admitted to them I had no idea what to pick, and happily ceded control to the professionals, so long as I had veto power at the end.

Thus, I let Peter and Mark make almost all the decisions, with only a little input from Josh and myself.

When we had been at it for about an hour, I noticed Josh staring at a particular photo that made me curious. When I asked, he was suddenly a bit quiet, but I was insistent. With a shrug, he finally explained that the outfit I was wearing in the photo - a beanie style checkered hat, with my hair done up with pins on one side and flowing on the other, and a flowing brown coat with oversized buttons - was a style that his mother absolutely loved. 'French chic', she called it.

And then, for the first time since I'd known him, Josh actually blushed when he asked if I wouldn't mind if he could send the photo to his parents, to formally introduce his 'girlfriend' to them.

My heart was feeling suddenly very tender, and I so very badly wanted to kiss him right there! Thankfully, my wide smile and shiny eyes seemed to be an acceptable substitute.

As the 'maybe' pile got smaller, but I was still fighting them on some of the close-up shots, Peter put his coffee down and turned to me. "Bella," Peter began, clicking his mouse as he showed me a few of his favorite photos that were displayed on the big screen, "look at this photo here." It was a close-up of me, just my face, slightly upturned with a pair of sapphire blue earrings dangling from my ears. "Your eyes are perhaps what photograph best, Bella. You have stunning eyes." He clicked on another photo, and he overlay my face with some sort of gridlines that had numbers on it. "Look here, they are set wide apart, and they are overlarge for your face; people respond to that, Bella. It sells."

I looked at him quizzically, not really understanding what he was trying to say beyond admiring my eyes.

Peter noted my dubious expression and nodded. "Here, I will give you an example." He tapped his index finger on the point of his chin, thinking deeply for a moment. "Bella, I want you to think about what it is that make everyone react so warmly to a baby's face. And when I say baby - it doesn't matter if we are talking baby animals or baby humans. Kittens, puppies, baby ducks, baby penguins, human babies. Doesn't matter." He paused for a moment, and then continued making his point. "Thing is, Bella, baby's all have these big, innocent, overlarge eyes that are out of balance with the rest of their face." Again he paused, letting his remarks sink in. "Large eyes almost always bring out a primal response in just about everyone; and whether or not those eyes are on a baby - or a beautiful young woman such as yourself - it always evokes an emotional response."

My mouth opened in a wide 'O', and he saw he had made his point. With a small smile, he patted my hand which was resting on the table. "These messages are subliminal, but very, very powerful, and can make for a compelling photo."

Josh squeezed my other hand when my face flushed; I was not used to being put under such a microscope, and Mark chuckled at my discomfiture.

But the 'definite' pile was finally growing as I allowed them to pick a few close-ups.

To my chagrin, a few of the shots that everyone insisted were fantastic were a bit racy for me to be totally comfortable with. I gulped when I imagined other people - or perhaps my father(!) - seeing them; but everyone - including the girl assistant who I thought would understand - shrugged and simply answered 'sex sells.'

Just great.

At least the photos were not explicit in any way, and didn't show anything I wouldn't want shown, and were PG rated. And truthfully, they were not any worse than my September photo from the calendar, and showed no more skin than if I wore a bikini at the beach.

The photo that gained the interest of the big client in New York - and that had me blushing whenever I saw it - was jokingly referred to by Mark as 'The One.' In the picture, I was photographed against a full white background, on a white sofa leather sofa. With my already pale skin, the picture was very stark and sterile, desperate for color.

And color it had.

My only item of 'clothing' that I was wearing - if you could actually call it that - was a long, wide deep red scarf that wound sinuously around my body, strategically placed to cover just the areas that *had* to be covered. My prone figure looked very sensual; my arms were stretched lazily over my head, and my legs were slightly bent, with the bottom of one my bare feet resting on the calf of my other leg. Both of my legs extended down the couch, giving me a long and lean look, with plenty of pale skin on display. The expression on my face was pouty and sultry, and my brown eyes were lit up and looked like they were backlit with a gold light. All the lighting was so intense that everything look razor sharp. My cheeks had their customary blush, and against the white backdrops gave me a very healthy, rosy color that had an amazing contrast against my white skin. My nails were also painted red, and I had on dark red lipstick that matched the color of the scarf and my nails. Finally, my hair was curled and artfully fanned out around me like a halo, with the bright lighting making the red highlights in my hair very apparent and added a touch more color to the shot.

The scarf itself had frills on the ends, and was embossed with some fake brand name, which would be replaced by the product name that a potential client would be advertising. The only other thing in the picture was a dark green bottle of champagne, two glasses and a bucket of ice, and a red rose, sitting on a clear glass table next to the couch.

Despite the raciness of the shot, and the embarrassment I remembered when we took it, I had to admit it was certainly an amazing and eye-grabbing picture, and I could easily imagine it in a glossy magazine, or on a television commercial.

Peter said that as soon as the New York agency saw this photo, they wanted me as their model for their shoot, and when I agreed to do it, he said he would send over the contract and my payment schedule - and Peter and Mark's commission, of course - to my email later that night.

With one or two exceptions, the other photos were much tamer; there were a few pictures with me in various items of clothing, a few face shots with plush hats and my hair curled or with necklaces or dangly earrings ('to accentuate your slender neck', I was told), a few pictures with me and a beautiful golden retriever with a holiday theme, and finally three portrait shots, in profile, two-thirds, and straight on. One of them was black and white, and that was my favorite as the shadows and the contrast of my skin was very interesting and subtle.

Besides the photo he wanted to send to his mother, Josh's favorite photo happened to be one of my favorites as well. It was a close-up of my face and upper body, sitting down and wearing a men's shirt with the top few buttons unbuttoned, showing some pale cleavage. I had a large strawberry that I was holding daintily, and my lips were puckered around the fat end of the strawberry. My expression was a mix of innocence and sensuality - 'a potent combination', claimed Peter - and I was so surprised that I could even make such a face as that.

The picture itself was in 'chrome' - muting the colors to almost black and white except for the red strawberry - which was vivid and bright - and my lips, which were pale pink.

The contrasts were truly amazing, and the picture was the final one in the 'definite' pile.

In my opinion, it was sexier than the scarf picture, as I always believed that sometimes less is more and didn't need all that skin to get its message across.

So, after a few disagreements and several jugs of coffee, we had narrowed it down and were going to do one final review of the photos. We again asked one of the girls who worked as Mark's assistant to give us her opinion; and a short time later, we all agreed on the final twelve, that, according to them, best highlighted "Isabella Swan".

The assistant made a quick comment that some models changed their names, or had pseudonyms they used.

The only thing that flashed through my head - Vampire Girl - was certainly not appropriate, and I laughed at myself while I shook my head and said I was sticking with my name.

As we finished up, Mark graciously gave me a sturdy folio, with several 9x11 and a few smaller copies of the twelve photos we selected. He also gave me a disc with the other photos on it, and printed me a couple of copies of the nurse's photo for the calendar committee, as well as a few smaller copies of some of the pictures I thought my parents might love but that ultimately were not as good for a modeling portfolio as some of the others.

We very briefly discussed marketing and promotions, and I really had no clue about any of this, and delegated all the decision making to Mark. When all was said and done, I told them I would read the contract and, unless I had any questions, would sign it and send it back by the end of the weekend so Peter could arrange the photo shoot with the New York agency, who had access to a modern studio in Seattle.

When we left, we were both hungry and we grabbed some sandwiches at a deli that Josh recommended, and drove back to Josh's house to relax before dinner and my 'surprise.' I hemmed and hawed, trying to get an idea of what he had planned, but he just smiled at me indulgently, and didn't budge an inch, and I was fairly tired despite sitting in a chair all morning. Who knew looking at photographs could be so exhausting?

The weather was fairly decent - for the Olympic Peninsula, anyway - so we sat outside in the gazebo, munching our sandwiches and watching the swells and whitecaps out on the water. We listened to music and chatted about everything, talking a little more about my college plans, knowing that in the next month or so I would have heard back from just about every school I applied to.

At seven, Josh took me to an understated but elegant restaurant, where we laughed and joked as we enjoyed continental food. He somehow managed to talk me into going ice skating at the Winter Ice Village, a quaint, covered outdoor skating rink right in downtown. I begged, pleaded, and cajoled him about the dangers of me on ice skates, but he would not relent.

"Bella, your balance is so much better than it was even a month ago now that you aren't looking down all the time. And I promise," he winked at me, "I am an excellent skater and I will be right by your side."

I grumbled under my breath at him, but he finally got his way. Then, he announced my surprise, and I was happy to see that he had arranged things so that some of my friends met us there. Lauren came with Angela, and Jessica, who had been on a date with Austin, joined us later. Katie came with Mike in their own car as well.

I looked up into Josh's smiling face, wondering what brought this on.

He leaned down, kissing the side of my mouth and whispering into my ear. "I feel like I take a lot of your time away from your friends, so I thought this was something we could do together."

I pulled him down for a kiss, holding it for a moment as happiness radiated through me. "Thank you, Josh. But I feel the same - maybe soon we can go out with some of your friends?"

He looked down on me, eyes sparkling. "To Seattle? Really?"

I nodded. "Yes. I would love to."

He kissed me again, and looked up just as it was out turn to get our skate rentals.

With a lot of trepidation, I strapped on the plastic blue and white death contraptions, hoping I didn't put either myself or some unfortunate soul into the hospital that night, and unsteadily launched myself from the railing.

To my surprise, I actually had a lot of fun. Granted, I was a terrible skater, as I knew I would be; but true to his word, Josh was right there with me, and saved me from several hard spills. By the end of the first session, I was able to slowly glide around on my own, laughing and having a great time with my friends and the man I was slowly falling in love with.

During the intermission while they cleaned the ice, Josh ran into a couple of old friends of his that he had known growing up, and I waved him away to go catch up with them while I chatted with my friends.

"So how did you guys set this up?" I asked them.

Lauren smirked at me. "Josh got my number from my brother," she said. "When he first called me, I had absolutely no idea why he was calling me, and then when he explained he wanted to surprise you with a skating night, I laughed at him and told him he was courting disaster."

I mock glared at her, and crossed my arms in a huff.

She chuckled, and Angela joined her. "Come on, Bella," Lauren said. "You are, as you yourself say quite often, the world's clumsiest person. Asking you to go skating is certainly courting disaster!"

I shrugged, knowing she was right, and we spent the next ten minutes or so catching up the latest Forks gossip, which I had admittedly not paid much attention to lately. But then, Lauren surprised me. "Next weekend is the UW orientation weekend - I have a date with Rob, and he invited me to stay over his place."

I gaped at her, and then hugged her tightly. "That's great, Lauren! I'm so happy for you!"

I noticed, however, that she didn't seem as enthused as I expected. Angela too had a strange look on her face. I peeked over at Jessica, but she was rambling about something to Katie, Austin, and Mike.

"Ok," I said, "what's going on?"

Lauren looked out at the ice with a thoughtful expression, as the Zamboni machine glided over the white surface, smoothing it out and leaving little trails of steam as it passed. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I don't know, Bella. You know I really loved him, right?"

I nodded my head.

She turned to look at me, her eyes meeting mine before she looked away. "Well, I thought he was it for me, you know? No matter who I dated or how hard I tried, I was just so hung up on him. I figured that if I couldn't have him, I would never be happy."

She looked down at her right hand, pretending to inspect her fingernails, but I could see she wasn't really looking at them. "And when you and I started becoming friends, I thought, well, you were in the same boat, you know? It was like Edward or nothing." She turned back to look at me. "It made me...I don't know, feel like my feelings were validated I guess? Like you knew the same thing, that you had met the man you were meant for and no one could ever replace them, ever."

I felt myself blush, realizing the point she was trying to make.

She looked at me seriously for a moment, and for once all her walls were down, her cornflower blue eyes looking troubled and vulnerable.

I reached out to her gloved hand and gave it a squeeze. She gave me a timid smile, and spoke in a hushed whisper. "But now...now, Bella, I look at you...and I see how you are with Josh. You look so happy, like you are falling in love with him." She turned back to face the ice, her voice having an almost haunted quality to it. "You falling so hard for Josh...well, it made me think, you know? Maybe...maybe I need to finally just move on? Maybe I have been so hung up on him for so long, that I never really let myself try and be happy? Maybe I was so convinced that he was *it* for me, that I never really gave myself a chance to fall for someone else. I mean, no matter how many guys I have dated, the truth is I have been pining after him for almost two years now...and seeing you finally getting over Edward made me think I can finally move on too."

She turned to look at me again, and I saw the tears in her eyes. "Do you think I'm crazy Bella? Now that he seems to want to at least see if there could still be something there with me, I am having second thoughts?"

I had a sense that Lauren was about a minute away from a complete breakdown, and slid closer to her and gave her a hug. She hugged me back almost desperately, and I heard her sniffling in my ear. "How did you do it Bella? I don't want to feel like this anymore, I just don't know what to do."

She pulled her face back from mine, and we stared at each other from just inches away. I realized I had never been this close to Lauren before, and I saw that her eyes were bloodshot and she had on a lot of makeup covering up deep shadows under her eyes.

In a moment of clarity, I realized she looked just like I did after Edward left me. I gathered her again in my arms, and gently shushed her when she started to cry into my shoulder. I looked over at Angela who gave me a sad smile, and turned away, trying to give us privacy.

I held Lauren while she quieted, giving her all the comfort I could. I noticed that Josh had looked over, and raised an eyebrow at me. I knew he was asking me if everything was okay, and I just nodded to him, and flicked my eyes down to Lauren.

He gave me a soft smile, and began talking with his friends again.

Finally, after a couple of minutes, Lauren pulled her head off my shoulder, and sniffed. Her eyes were red, and her mascara had stained her cheeks. I used the fingertips of my gloves to wipe off the smudges, and she choked out a laugh when I did.

"Thank you, Bella. Sorry to dump this on you like this."

I took her hands, and pulled her around so she was fully facing me. I looked her straight in the eye, making sure she clearly understood me. "Don't you dare ever apologize for needing my shoulder to cry on, Lauren." I stared at her, unblinking, to make sure she believed me. When I saw her lip quiver, my voice quieted, and I let my right hand caress her cheek. "You saved me, Lauren. You really did. I was drowning, like I was lost underwater in a storm."

She gave me a watery smile despite my lame analogy, she pulled me into a strong hug. I finally pulled back after a minute, and gave her a cheeky grin, trying to lighten the mood. "Plus, I think I cried enough on your shoulder that I probably owe you big bucks for dry cleaning bills!"

She chuckled, and I squeezed her hands in support. "I mean it. Without you, I am convinced I would still be miserable and pining for Edward. You gave me the courage to get past him, Lauren," I stated, my voice firm. I wanted her to understand that I owed her, big time.

She searched my face for a moment. "Do you think I am making a mistake? Should I cancel our date?"

I considered my answer, just as I noticed the Zamboni leaving the ice. "Well, I think we have a lot to talk about tomorrow night," I answered. "But, remember, our situations are not exactly the same. After all, Rob is pretty close by in Seattle, and there is a good chance you will be there next year too." I took a breath, and continued speaking, pleased that I could help her with this, and amazed that speaking about my ex didn't hurt anymore. "With Edward - well, he is gone. He said his family moved to Los Angeles, but I expect he will go to school either in Alaska or overseas. I doubt I will ever see him again."

She nodded her head slowly, then asked me a question. "But Bella, if Edward was, say, at UW, would you have tried again with him?"

I looked out at the ice, watching as the skate attendant was placing big orange cones on the ice, readying it for the next session. I thought about her question, knowing that, with the supernatural element involved, and his last words to me, that it wouldn't matter what I tried to do. He made it very clear he wasn't interested.

And then, my eyes looked over to Josh; even though he was talking to his friends, I saw his eyes shift over to me and immediately soften. His lips tugged up a bit, a small smile that he seemed to reserve for me.

Lauren followed my eyes, and she smirked.

Turning back to her, I answered honestly. "I think it would have been much harder if I had to see him again, knowing he wasn't mine. But I do believe that, eventually, I would have moved on." I took a breath. "At least, I like to think so."

I let out my breath, smiling. "And I think I have something better, now."

She nodded thoughtfully, and I watched as a small smile lit her face. "Thank you Bella." She stood up, her mischievous Lauren smile back, and dragged me to my feet. I almost fell over in my skates, and she chuckled. "Now, go get your gorgeous hunk boyfriend over there, and get to skating!" she ordered, trying to be cheery.

I laughed, and I gave her a mock salute just as the whistle blew. People began to move out onto the ice, and Josh came and took my hand, asking me if everything was all right. I nodded, smiling at him, and he helped me navigate my way around the rink.

The skating was a lot of fun, and we called it quits around ten. The group of us, plus the two friends Josh had earlier been talking with - Stephanie and Derek - walked around town for a bit, chatting and enjoying the warm night. We all ended up having dessert together, hot chocolate and cheesecake, at the cheap arcade. We shared a picnic table, where my friends embarrassed me in front of Josh by telling them stories about me in gym class. It was all in good fun though, and everyone got along. We finally said our goodnights around 11pm, and I hugged my friends and thanked them for coming. I waved to them as they got in their cars for the hour long drive home, while I leaned against Josh, shivering lightly in the cold air.

I turned to him, leaning up and giving him a soft kiss. "Thank you, Josh. I had a great time," I whispered, kissing him again.

"You're very welcome, Bella." He kissed me very softly, our lips just touching, but still sending ripples of desire through me.

I stepped on my tippy toes, threading my hands in his hair and kissing him harder. The taste of his lips was too addictive, and I felt his arms wrap tighter around me, pulling me as close as possible.

When we stopped to breathe, he looked down at me with a heavy stare, his eyes shining a rich cobalt blue, his scent surrounding me and making me tingle.

Matching his stare, my blood singing in my veins, I decided tonight was the night I would give myself to him fully. He was amazing, he was my boyfriend, and I was falling in love with him.

Sneaking one last kiss, I looked up at him from under my lashes, giving him the best sultry look I could manage. "Josh, I'm ready. Please take us home."

Immediately understanding what I meant, his answering smile was radiant. During the ten minute ride home, we didn't speak, but our hands were clenched tightly together and there was a static charge building between us that had me almost panting. The next few moments were blurry to me, but I was dimly aware that he was locking the front door before he pulled me to him with desperation. Our mouths merged together in a frenzied kiss, and he scooped me up in his arms and carried me to bed.

My last coherent thought for quite some time was that I wanted to be closer to him, to crawl inside his skin if I could. After that, as our clothes were shed and our frenzied lust grew, I was riding a wave of pleasure that lasted well into the night.

A/N – Story arc is nearing completion. Just a few chapters to go (I did think this after chapter 2 as well, so perhaps a few more than I anticipate).

A sneak peek for future chapters : - she goes to Seattle for her first paid photo shoot and the results of it, she hears back from her colleges and makes decisions on where she goes to school, josh convinces her to visit NY with him Easter break to check out local colleges, and we have the inevitable Edward reaction.

If I can stay on target and not add anything else, the story should finish at about 70k words, much longer than the 10 to 20k that was originally planned (my stories have a tendencies to swell if the characters have a lot to say).