A/N: Thanks for all the reviews!! I hope you enjoy chapter 2. Enjoy and review, please. :) It makes me happy!

lacking the audience of a lover's ear

Bella was laughing so hard she nearly fell off the barstool. She had returned to the bar shortly after she dropped off margarita number 4, in order to get margarita number 5 for the girls. Edward was sitting there, waiting for the bartender to actually notice another customer besides the busty blonde in a low cut sequin tank at the end of the counter.

Since then, she and Edward had been talking pleasantly, though she pointedly left out the whole part about her writing a horrible article about him. But really, could it be considered an article? It was more like…a blurb on page nine of the Entertainment section. Who reads that anyways?

Right now, Edward was telling her a story about his friend Emmett, who she would love to meet because though he sounds kind of scary, he also sounds like the most harmless and funniest person ever.

"So Emmett goes up to the waitress and goes, "do you work for Cingular because you're raising my bar?" The only problem was that she didn't quite get it. So she tells him that no, she works for Clancy's Pub, not Cingular. Needless to say, Emmett went home alone that night."

"Understandably so," Bella laughed. "I can't believe he said that to her."

Edward laughed, taking a swig of his beer. "Yeah, I know. Whoever he ends up has to be able to put up with so much of his stupid shit. Especially since he thought that pick-up line was the greatest thing to ever come from his lips."

"Yikes." She swirled what was left of her margarita in the glass. She felt like a supreme bitch. Why did she have to write that article and then WHO, JUST WHO would she meet on a night out with her friends. It was typical Bella luck.

She looked back at her table where her friends were, and alas, they were gone. Edward followed her line of sight. "They must have found men." She laughed mirthlessly. She found a man. A Perfect, Funny, not to mention Gorgeous man who's life she may have well just ruined with her stupid words.

Suddenly she was being jerked off her stool by someone on her either side.

"Uh, what is going on here?" she asked Alice and Rose once her feet were firmly planted on either side. Alice was forcing Bella's arms through the sleeves her new coat, as if she were incapable of putting it on herself. They each linked an arm with one of hers, and Edward had stood up from his seat.

"We're going home, sweetie," Alice said.

"I can take her home. Really, it's no problem," Edward offered. He took a step forward but Alice stopped him with a glare.

"Thanks, Romeo, but we got it from here," Rose said, with a smile. They started walking backwards, Bella's gaze still locked on Edward's. He followed their steps.

"It was nice meeting you," he said as they pulled her out the door.

"You, too," she said, turning around as the other two girls kept walking.

They stopped in front of a cab when Bella spun on Alice. "What the hell was that?"

"Honey, any longer and you have been putty in his hands. He's a big city boy and you're just a girl from Forks."

"So he's too good for me?" she asked, her eyes flaring with anger.

"No, Bella, sweetie, that's not what I meant."

"Whatever, Alice." Bella climbed inside the taxi, staring out the window at the bustling street as Rose followed her into the cab.

She looked towards the door she just climbed through when the window was rolled down and someone was calling her name. Someone with a perfect, somewhat alcohol-affected voice.

"Bella, is there any way I can reach you?" Edward asked, his eyes boring holes into her very being.

Alice annoyingly answered before Bella could utter a word. "Don't worry, you'll see each other again very soon," she replied ominously. Bella glared. She may have been drunk, but she knew her eyes were in narrow slits directed at who was her former best friend, Alice.

Edward jumped back as the cab pulled away, nearly taking his leg with it.

What the hell does that mean, he thought, as he watched the cab pull away. He recounted her words to make sure he heard correctly. Don't worry, you'll see each other again very soon. Yeah, that is definitely what she said.

In the cab, Bella was silent, not answering either of the girls' questions as the cab began to reach their respective homes. Luckily, Bella's was close. Alice tried to apologize again to Bella, but she merely slammed the cab door behind her.

Once inside her apartment, she dropped her shoes by the door, unzipping her skirt and unbuttoning her shirt, leaving a trail of clothes as she walked to her bedroom in a trancelike state. She didn't even get his number, or email or anything.

When he finds out what you did, a little voice in her head spoke to her as she lay on her comfy down comforter and plush pillows, he won't want to talk to you anyways.

She had nightmares that night, and woke much too early how little sleep she got that night and dressed in a daze and made it to the office. She was forced to confront Alice, again, much too early for her liking.

Alice got up from her chair when she saw Bella enter the twelfth floor from the elevator. "I know you're mad, sweetie. But let me explain." She didn't pause to give Bella time to answer. "He's Edward Cullen, you know, and you just wrote that little piece on him and I don't think that you should be spending so much time with him when he has no idea that it was you."

"But, Al, he was so perfect. I don't see how he and anyone could have broken up with him." She was close to tears at the loss of the perfect guy for her. Seemingly so, at least. She really didn't know that much about him, now that she thought about it. Maybe it was a good thing she was pulled away before she ended up falling in his bed without second thoughts.

It was exhausting, she realized, how up and down, back and forth, and so goddamn fucking annoying the dating pool really was. How could you ever know who you were really seeing? It was enough to piss someone off and spur them to buy twelve cats and call it a night.

"I just wanted to do what I thought was right for you," Alice hugged her friend.

"I know; I'm sorry I got so mad. Forgive me?" Bella said, blinking tears away.

"As long as you forgive me." They laughed at the total cliché makeup that best friends always seem to have.

Alice surveyed her outfit before nodding in approval. Another pencil skirt and a silk cap-sleeve blouse in an ice blue color. Death in the form of shoes, also called stilettos. Awesome. She pulled her hair back in a bun because she didn't feel like even touching it after her shower and she didn't feel like going near her contacts in her hung-over state. Therefore, it was thin, black framed glasses for her.

"Okay, now that our fight is over, I have to tell you about the most perfectly perfect man I met last night," Alice gushed. She didn't want to hurt Bella's feelings after she all but ripped her best friend from her soul mate, but Alice had a feeling about the way her and Edward's relationship would progress, and one word came to mind: quickly. So she attempted to draw it out before Bella became completely wrapped up in it.

"Oh?" Bella said, her eyebrows rising.

"Yeah, you were at the bar and Rose was off with this massive guy because she said they were talking about some '67 Eleanor Mustang that she had found and he was close to drooling all over her with her talk about engines and V-8 and what have you."

She paused and looked at Bella knowingly. "Sex in the bathroom," they said in unison.

Alice laughed before barreling on. "His name is Jasper and he's a lawyer, just like Edward! Weird, huh? Anyways, he's tall and blonde, with these amazing blue eyes, oh and Bella, you know what that does to me. We exchanged numbers and he already called me this morning. It was so cute."

Bella smiled, biting back the little pang of jealousy and hurt. "I'm happy for you, Al, if this is really what you want."

"Oh, Bell, it is. He's just so perfect." She noticed a look of sadness in Bella's eyes. "Honey, don't worry. You're guy is coming. I know it. You know how I am about these things. I'm always right."

Bella laughed and sat down at her desk. "No Mike this morning, thank God," Bella commented. She spoke too soon, however.

Both girls froze in fear at what they saw outside their cubicles. Mike Newton, with a guitar, in his flip flops, beginning to serenade Bella. They didn't notice a particular lawyer, AKA Edward Cullen standing at the reception desk, looking on in amusement. Even though he was furious with this Marie person's article and was here to demand a retraction.

"Is Mike what you meant by my guy coming?" Bella asked, her lips barely moving in shock of what she was actually seeing.

"Most definitely not," Alice replied, in equal amounts of fear.

Bella visibly winced as Mike began to belt out the first few lines of his song.

Oh, Bella, I'm just a fella

Who wants to take you out

To eat, but no trout

Because I don't like fish

Grant me my wish

We can go to Burger King

Or Mickey D's

I'm on my knees

Would that be alright with you?

Oh, Bella, I'm just a fella

Please go out with me

Her eyes were squeezed shut so tight her cheekbones were sore, as if willing him to be gone at the end of his song.

"Is it over yet?" she whispered to Alice.

"I don't want to look. You check."

"No, he's singing about me. You look."

"So what do you say, Bella? Grant me my one wish and I'll make you the happiest woman alive." Mike's words forced her to not only open her eyes, but also swallow the bit of bile that rose in her throat at the images he was planting in her head, against her will, she might add.

She was angry. Really angry. "Seriously, Mike? You think after this display of what, idiocy, I would now suddenly decide to go out with you? After a year and a half of your efforts? I don't like you, and I don't want to go out with you, and you can never make me the happiest woman alive. Not only that, but I saw you and Lauren getting awfully cozy behind the fern downstairs on my lunch hour yesterday. So go write a song about someone else and leave me alone."

There was a round of applause at the end of her schpeel and she felt herself blushing furiously.

"Newton!" she heard Mr. Banner bellow from his office door. Mike's eyes bugged out as he threw the guitar strap back over his shoulder and ran down the nearest flight of stairs, Mr. Banner following closely behind.

Alice snickered and Bella turned back to her cubicle, muttering under her breath. "Idiot fuckhead…" was all Alice was able to decipher.

At the reception desk, Edward watched with amusement as Bella, who was clearly still hung-over, rip this guy a new one. He nearly laughed, but didn't want to draw attention to himself. Bella seemed to recover nicely from last night, looking beautiful and like every teenage boy's naughty librarian fantasy, his included.

Bella didn't notice him, however, which he was grateful for. He would talk to her after he cleared up his business with this Marie Swan character. Banner apparently wasn't coming back until he got that Mike guy fired, and the receptionist was batting her fake eyelashes his direction. Meh, what the hell? Could be a little fun to flirt harmlessly with her to get what he wants.

"So, Lauren," he said, reading her nameplate, "How long have you worked here?" He used his charming voice and could practically see her panties drop when he turned his attention to her. Too easy.

"Oh, a few months," she replied, her voice getting husky and he could feel himself mentally running away. A clinger. Gotta get out of there, buddy.

"And do you know who this Marie Swan person is?" Edward asked, making himself stay and stare at her perfectly fake, white teeth with her enhanced breasts and fried blonde hair. And the skin was practically a construction sign, the color of orange it was. Not all like Bella's perfect, fair skin.

She rolled her eyes. "Whore," she muttered. Edward's eyes narrowed in annoyance, his jaw clenching in irritation at this plastic waste of his time. "She's over there, the one who was just serenaded." She waved her hand in the general direction.

Edward looked over my shoulder only to catch Bella's eyes where she ducked and flushed. She had been watching the scene, Alice's warning only proven correct as she was forced to watch Edward flirt with Lauren.

He walked over to Bella, his eyes flaring with fury. Bella backed up against her desk, almost in fear.

"I want a retraction, now."