A/N: I have never known if this is required but I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.

Chapter 2

Bella POV

Bella looked at herself in the mirror in her bedroom trying to will the butterflies in her stomach away. Edward would be here any minute and with every second that brought Bella closer to him her heart raced faster and faster until it started to sound like a freight train was headed right to her. She rubbed her sweaty palms on her skinny jeans and attempted to swallow past the bile that was in her throat.

"Alice, I don't think I can do this," Bella said.

"Oh, yes, you can. You are just overthinking everything," Alice told her from the doorway. She smiled at Bella before she left her alone to her thoughts.

Alice had put Bella in a white shirt that showed just a small amount of cleavage with frills on the bottom, and she wore dark blue skinny jeans that truly made her ass spectacular. Alice even allowed Bella to wear her favorite boots; they were wedges but with only a small two inch heel that even Bella wouldn't trip in. She paired the outfit with a light brown jacket that Bella just loved. Alice let Bella leave her hair down in soft ringlets to the middle of her back.

Alice must have really wanted Bella to have a good time because this was the first time that Bella Barbie didn't end with Bella feeling like she was looking at a complete stranger in the mirror.

Bella took a deep breath as she tried to muster up all the courage she could and grabbed her purse off of her desk. She walked into the living room and saw both Alice and Jasper sitting on the couch waiting for her.

"You so owe me, Alice. Big time." Bella made sure that Alice knew that she was serious before she left the apartment. She would have to think of something huge to make the two of them even. Just then she heard a light knock on the front door - look at that, Edward was right on time. She growled under her breath before she opened the door and put a small smile on her face. She didn't want to be a complete bitch to this man, her parents raised her better than that, damn them.

"Hi," she said. She had to refrain from gawking at this beautiful man that was in front of her. Edward was wearing a simple black button down shirt with black jeans, his hair was the same as it always was - it always reminded her of sex hair. She really hoped that she wasn't drooling and when she met his eyes she knew that he had seen her checking him out.

"Hello, yourself. You look beautiful tonight," he murmured. He held a flower out to her that she hadn't noticed until now. She hesitated before accepting it and bringing it up to her nose for a slight sniff. It was a white rose - her favorite. "This is for you, I didn't want to get something cheesy like a red rose but something elegant. I hope you like it."

"I do. White roses are my favorite flower, thank you. Let me just find a vase to put this in and I'll be ready to go." She ushered him inside and internally rolled her eyes at the look of pure glee on Alice's face when she saw what was in her hands. Bella gave her a look that told her to keep her mouth shut and was pleasantly surprised when she listened.

It took her a moment but she finally found a small vase and had the flower sitting in the center of the dining table. She went back to Edward, who was still waiting for her by the door, with a genuine smile on her face. Maybe tonight wasn't going to be so bad after all.

~LCA~

The drive to the restaurant was pleasant enough, the two of them were silent for a majority of the car ride but the silence was comfortable - not once awkward. Edward had put on soft classical music so Bella enjoyed the sounds of the piano and let the soothing melody calm her racing heart.

When they got to the restaurant Edward made sure to get out before Bella and was by her door opening it for her before she could think twice about it.

"Thank you," she murmured. She didn't think a guy had ever opened her car door for her before - she knew for a fact that Jacob never had.

"You're welcome," he said. He placed his hand on the small of her back to lead her towards the front door - all of her effort in the car to get her heart to calm down and act relatively normal was blown out the window at the feeling of Edward touching her through her clothes.

He opened the restaurant door first and motioned for Bella to go in front of him. She smiled to herself at how much of a gentleman he was being - she almost forgot about who he was and that he had probably done this with countless girls before her.

"Reservation for two under Cullen," Edward said to the hostess. She blatantly stared at him as if she was undressing him with her eyes, it made Bella very uncomfortable but she was surprised again with the fact that Edward wasn't looking at her at all. All of his attention was on Bella, she felt a blush cover her cheeks when she met Edward's eyes and the intensity of his stare.

After a couple moments the hostess seemed to realize that Bella was next to Edward, she rolled her eyes before pasting on a fake smile and leading them to a table in the corner. Bella was secretly glad for the empty tables that were around them, she didn't want people to be questioning why Edward - a godlike human - was with a plain jane girl like Bella.

The hostess took a small sign off the table, Bella was able to look at it quickly and saw that it read 'Reserved'. She looked at Edward with questions in her eyes but he merely grinned at her and pulled out her chair. She raised her eyes at the gesture and with a small shake of her head took her seat just before Edward did.

"You're waitress will be right with you," she said quickly before leaving the two of them alone.

"Did you reserve this table?" She asked him.

"I wanted to make sure that the two of us had some privacy tonight," he told her.

Before Bella could say anything their waitress came to them. She stared openly at Edward, Bella couldn't help but notice that she was beautiful and looked just like all the other girls that Edward had been seen with. She was tall with long blonde hair that fell down to her waist and enough makeup on her face that could've covered ten girls.

"I'm Katie and I'll be your server for tonight. Is there anything I can start you out with?" Bella didn't miss that she didn't take her eyes off of Edward the entire time she spoke. She sighed, these girls were starting to get on her nerves - couldn't they see that he was with someone?

Edward motioned for Bella to answer first.

"Diet Coke?" It came out as more of a question, she winced internally. She hated that this stranger was affecting her so.

"Same for me," Edward murmured. The waitress waited a couple more seconds as if she was expecting him to say more but when he remained silent she huffed and turned around.

"Does that happen all the time?" Bella asked Edward when they were alone again.

"What?" He seemed genuinely confused at what she was talking about.

"The women gawking you wherever you go?" When he continued to stare at her, her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "Did you seriously not notice the hostess and waitress eye fucking you this whole time?"

"No, I barely looked at the hostess and I couldn't care less about the waitress. You're my date tonight, why would I need to look at any other girls when I have the most beautiful one sitting across from me?" She felt another blush grace her cheeks. At the rate she was going she was going to be as red as a tomato by the time their night ended.

"I bet you say that to all the girls you take out," she said. She couldn't think of anything else to say, she was almost speechless.

"Okay, I deserved that but, just so you know, I haven't been on a date in three years." She looked at him skeptically. "It's true, I never wanted to lead any girls on so I made sure to only go to their place. I know that's probably a dick move but I don't want to lie to you about anything," he told her. She just nodded her head and played around with her napkin.

"I just don't understand, then, what brought this on." Bella motioned between the two of them with her finger but before Edward could explain any of that to her the waitress interrupted them with their drinks.

"What can I get for you?" Katie asked Edward. Edward once again motioned to Bella - she hadn't even looked at the menu yet so it took her a couple of seconds to grab it and point at the first thing she saw.

"Mushroom Ravioli."

Edward smiled at her and looked back at the waitress politely. "I'll have the T-bone steak, medium rare, thank you." Katie sighed before taking their menus before leaving them.

"So, I ask again, what brought this on?" Bella repeated.

"Honestly?" Edward asked her, Bella hesitated but nodded anyway knowing that she might not want to hear whatever it was that Edward was going to say. "I've had a little bit of a crush on you since I met you freshman year." Bella stared at him doubtfully. "It's true, after I ran into you I couldn't stop thinking about you but at the next party I saw you talking with another guy and it looked serious. I assumed that the two of you were a couple - or close - and I stepped away. I know I don't have the best reputation but I would never go out of my way to break up a relationship."

"That must have been Mike Newton - he was my first boyfriend here but we only dated for a little over a month before...it ended," she told him. The truth was that Bella had caught Mike in bed with Jessica Stanley, he was her first broken heart.

"When I heard the two of you were over I wanted to ask you out; and one night at another party I saw you talking to Alice and I was going to finally go up to talk to you but then I heard what you and Alice were talking about and I couldn't help listening in when I heard my name."

The two of them were interrupted when the food arrived. The waitress eyed Edward for a couple seconds before she seemed to get the hint and walked away to leave them alone once again.

"What did you hear?" Bella was trying to remember the party that he was talking about but she was coming up blank but she cringed at what could have possibly come out of her mouth when talking about Edward Cullen.

"I came in towards the end of your conversation but I still heard you call me a manwhore, prick, and that you wouldn't want to be near me if I was the last man on earth," Edward muttered the last part quietly as if he was talking to himself but Bella still heard it.

"I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that." She hesitated for a second before continuing, Edward seemed to be telling the truth so she thought it would only be fair if she did the same. "Around that time I had just caught my ex in bed with another girl and I was raw for a while. I really thought he was a good guy and I got sucked into the relationship so fast that I thought he was the one. I was a little naive back then," she told him.

"He cheated on you?" He asked her, when she nodded he raised his fingers to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I always thought he was an idiot but this just proves my point." He was quiet for a couple more seconds before he continued.

"When I heard you say those things I thought that I could never convince you to go out with me. So, I let you go and tried to forget about you but then Jasper started dating Alice and I was around you more and I couldn't help what I felt for you. But you never gave me any inkling that you felt anything for me so I kept myself at a distance until this year. I couldn't live with myself if I made it all the way through college without at least trying to ask you out. I would always have the what if's in my head if I did nothing.

"When Jasper noticed that I was attracted to you he made sure to tell me to stay the hell away from you but I told him that I knew you were more than a one night stand like I was used to. He seemed to be able to tell that I was telling the truth and asked Alice to help. She is just as protective or even more than Jasper - she threatened to castrate me if I hurt you in any way." Bella laughed at that, she could picture Alice saying that to him. She was a tiny pixie but, when she wanted to be, she was very terrifying.

Bella took a few bites of her dish while she thought everything he had said through. She hated to admit it but some of it actually made sense. She didn't really bother to hide her disgust towards Edward their freshman year, it had taken her about half the year to get over Mike and his cheating ways. There was just one thing that she kept going back to.

"Why sleep with all those women if you were so hung up on me?" She asked him after she swallowed her bite of ravioli.

"I know it wasn't the right way to go about things but I was just trying to get you off my mind but every girl I was with I kept seeing bits of you in them and I could never give one more than a couple nights at best."

"What about Tanya? I thought she was your girlfriend?" Bella had heard Tanya talking a lot about her relationship with Edward - she had always suspected that Tanya was boosting their relationship to others, she had always thought that Edward could never be tied down to one woman.

"Tanya...it's hard to explain what we were doing without sounding like an asshole but she was nothing more than a friend with benefits. I needed to let off steam once in a while and if there wasn't a party I normally called her up and she helped me. At the end of last year I couldn't handle her any more, I never really realized how much of a bitch she could be and I ended it. I haven't been with her in almost five months," he said.

She nodded her head at that little bit of information and proceeded to eat the rest of her meal in silence. She couldn't figure out what was going through his head and she was trying to sort out what she wanted. It all came down to if she believed him when he said his old ways were done, she wanted to but she wasn't sure if that was her head talking or if it was her heart.

She had never given Edward much thought before but she couldn't deny the flutters in her stomach when he was near or the blush she got when he looked at her a certain way. She remembered the way that he treated her when they were together - he never gave her the impression that she was another one of his side pieces. Sometimes she even thought she saw the real Edward Cullen when the two of them were able to talk about their common love of novels.

He'd have to earn her full trust first, that was for sure.

Edward signaled for the check and Bella sighed in defeat - dinner was over and she still didn't know what she was going to do. Their waitress brought over their check and when Edward opened it up to put his credit card in he paused and she saw annoyance flash in his eyes before he scoffed and motioned for the waitress to come back.

"Katie, is it?" He asked her, and when she nodded he continued, "Well, Katie, it is extremely rude to write your phone number on the check when you can clearly see that I am on a date. You ignored her all night and I refrained from saying anything out of pure politeness but I won't let you think that you have a shot with me when I am with this beautiful woman. I am not interested. At all." Edward finished his speech while Bella gawked at him in awe.

"Yes, sir," Katie murmured before taking the checkbook and walking away.

"Did she really write her number on the check for you?" Bella asked. She couldn't wrap her head over someone being that stupid to do that.

Edward nodded his head. Bella looked into his green eyes while they waited for Katie to come back with his card - Edward may have just given Bella just what she needed to put herself out there.

A/N: I hope you liked it! I know some of you didn't want Edward to sleep with all those women but I wanted the story to go there - I like watching the characters change for the good. This story might also be a bit different because I went straight to the date instead of putting a few fluff chapters out there but I don't really like those stories that drag on and on. Yes, there will be some fluff chapters but I just wanted to get straight to the date. So, what do you think? Please review!