A/N: I do own a copy of Twilight; however, I don't own the actual rights to said book … :(

Wow, I feel like a genius – last chapter I put "maybe she didn't know Mike had a boyfriend" when OBVIOUSLY it was supposed to be girlfriend. Thanks to all those who corrected me on that :-P Thanks so much to all you reviewers … you make me so happy! Keep it up please! Enjoy…

Chapter 9: My friend, Bella

EPOV

I'd seen 1408 before a couple times, once with my old guy friends and once with Tanya back before I left for college, but I completely forgot the main characters name was Mike. I felt like such an idiot after the movie started when his name was mentioned for the first time, and felt even worse when I felt Bella stiffen from the sound of his name. Alice quickly realized this problem, however, and she paused the movie asking Bella if she wanted to watch a different movie, once Bella said she was fine, Alice started the movie again and I took a deep breath to calm myself, again mentally preparing myself for the next couple hours of sharing a bed with Bella.

It wasn't helping at all that I just wanted to reach out to her and hug her and make that frown from her face disappear. Would that be crossing the line of friendship? I thought to myself. Surely a simple hug wouldn't be taken as anything more then a friend comforting a friend, I thought as I continued my internal struggle.

Ever seen Emperor's New Groove? The part when Kronk is trying to decide whether to save Kuzco or not from the waterfall? You know the devil and angel that pop up on his shoulders and are talking to him, trying to convince him to either kill or save Kuzco? Well, that was exactly like the internal struggle I was having in my head right now, without the crazy cartoon characters, of course.

Self one: Comfort her, she needs you right now.

Self two: She's fine

Self one: And how do you know that?

Self two: She SAID she was fine.

Self one: She just said that so she wouldn't ruin our night, go comfort her!
Self two: If you comfort her, it'll make things awkward between you two.

Self one: No it wont, it would just be being a good friend. Good friends comfort each other!

Self two: Pshh…good GIRL friends…men are manly. We say "OH you're scared? BOO! Bet cha you're even more scared now!" And plus, what gives you the idea that you'll be able to resist kissing her when you are that close? Even if she didn't think the hug was awkward, I'm pretty sure she'll suspect something is up when you attack her with your lips.

I sighed, self two did have a good point, there was no way I'd be able to be that close to her, to be able to smell her up close like that, to have her in my arms, and then resist those soft, full lips of hers. I decided I'd just focus on the movie.

Not more then ten minutes in I heard Bella gasp and then felt her hand wrap around mine, squeezing it. I looked down at our hands quickly, surprised and then watched Bella out of my peripheral vision. She was clearly freaked as she was staring at the TV wide-eyed and mouth slightly open when suddenly she gasped at a scarier part of the movie.

Before I could think I squeezed her hand reassuringly and then focused my attention back on the movie and not the beautiful friend lying next to me.

When the part of the movie came where Mike's hands get stuck in the window, I felt Bella move closer to me until she was lying right next to me. I quickly took a deep breath, attempting to calm myself. Whose brilliant idea was it to watch a scary movie? I thought. Why didn't I think that watching a scary movie would frighten Bella, thereby forcing her to seek comfort in the closest thing possible, which just so happens to be me? Funny how things work out randomly like that, then it hit me like a ton of bricks… Alice!

It was Alice who suggested the movie idea; in fact it was Alice who came up with the movie. She knew how scary movies affected Bella; this was all part of her plan to get us together. To bad her plan was failing, sure this moment would be amazing if Bella liked me, however; since she just thinks of me as a friend, here I am stuck, thinking to myself how much I wish she did like me instead. Man, am I lame.

It was just after this thought when I heard Bella scream and felt the bed shift a little as she literally jumped in the air, landing well … on top of me. I froze. Here Bella was, an amazing girl, lying on top of me in a dark room, on a small bed… stop stupid hormones! It took Bella a minute to realize her current position and when she did she began to shift back to her side of the bed, before she could move though I quickly put my arm around her and whispered in her ear "It's okay."

Talk about the understatement of the year. Okay? Okay? It was more then okay, having Bella this close to me was… indescribable.

I noticed she had some hair covering her beautiful face, and my hand, having a mind of its own, pushed it back gently. As soon as my brain realized what my hand was doing it pulled it away and was on overdrive for the rest of the movie, preventing me from doing what my limbs oh so desperately wanted to do.

When the movie ended I looked down at Bella and saw she was sleeping quietly. I then looked over at Alice's bed where I saw Jasper and Alice sleeping peacefully, wrapped in each other's arms. I reached for the remote control for the TV and hit the power button, turning off the TV and also the little light that was left in the room.

I decided that since it was late, and Jasper clearly wasn't heading back to our room, that I'd stay as well. I started to get up so I could sleep on the floor when I felt Bella's arms wrap around me and pull me back towards her, sighing contently when I was next to her.

Well this sure beats sleeping on the floor I thought and made myself comfortable next to Bella.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to commit to memory every feeling, scent, touch, emotion I was having right now. If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was in heaven, with a lovely angel lying next to me. It was in that moment I decided, given the next opportunity, I would tell Bella I liked her and wanted to date her. I smiled at the thought of Bella and me dating, holding hands between classes and falling asleep together like this nightly, ah, would that be wonderful. With that thought I drifted into a peaceful sleep…

I awoke to the sound of Bella's soft voice "Alice, help me please. This will be beyond awkward if Edward wakes up and sees us this close, let alone hears us talking about him"

I suppressed a grin and listen, eyes still closed, pretending I was still asleep.

"Oh, I doubt he'd mind that much if he awoke to this." Alice said, as always being absolutely correct.

"What?" Bella's voice sounded confused.

"Come one Bella! He likes you! Get that little fact through that thick skull of yours already will you?" I could hear the frustration in her voice and stiffened a little, was I that obvious? "Oh, got to go, Jasper is meeting me for breakfast in ten minutes; we'll bring you two something back." I heard a dorm shut and felt Bella trying to squirm her way out of my arms.

Oh, no, she wasn't leaving just yet. I wanted, no needed, her to be close for a little longer, so I pulled her back closer then before to my body, enjoying what could be the last time ever we would be this close.

I felt her relax into my grasp, maybe she fell back to sleep I thought? Just as I was about to open my eyes to see, I felt her hand on my face, pushing back my messy hair. I could no longer pretend I was asleep; I smiled and then opened my eyes to be greeted by a pair of brown eyes gazing up at me.

"Good morning beautiful," I said, without thinking and then mentally hit myself. It was true she was beautiful, no doubt, but that is no way to greet a friend.

After a few awkward moments, she said she had to go shower and told me I could read a book while I waited for her return. I nodded and then walked over to her stack of books, filing through the classics, an impressive collection of Shakespeare's poetry and then… wait what is this? I picked up the small, paperback book and stared at cover. Summer in the City.I flipped to the back of the book and read the brief description. It was a love story, one of those girly romance novels, the kind that make you blush while reading. Bella reads these types of books? I was intrigued and walked over to her bed and started to read the book. I hadn't gotten more then twenty pages in when Bella walked back in the door and blushed after realizing what book I was reading.

She quickly proceeded to tell me how it was a guilty pleasure of hers to read it, thus explaining the worn in binding and tattered edges.

Before I had a chance to put the book down, Jasper and Alice burst through the door with breakfast, and Jasper made a quick remark about my choice of reading material but I, being just as fast, turned it into a joke by mocking Mike's words yesterday.

I ate my meal quickly and stopped only briefly when Jasper volunteered us to join a fraternity. Soon after clothes started flying, literally, and I took that as our cue to leave. With Jasper, I left Bella and Alice to sort through their belongings to find the perfect outfit for their meeting later that day.

"So, we are joining a fraternity?" I said skeptically to Jasper.

"Well, man, I know it is kind of random and late in the game. But I think I'd be really fun, plus we'd get automatic invites to all the big parties, the ones sorority sisters like Bella and Alice will attend. Remember Emmett? I say we go over to his dorm and talk to him about it, just see if we are interested at all."

I sighed "Okay, I guess I see your point. And who knows, maybe it'll turn out to be fun."

When we reached Emmett's I knocked on his door and stepped back waiting for him to open it.

"Come in" I heard a voice shout from inside the room. I threw Jasper a questioning glance but pushed open the door only to see none other then Emmett dancing around with his iPod in his ears.

When he saw us he pulled out the headphones and said "So you're definitely not Rosalie"

"No, sir, we aren't." Jasper said formally.

"Sir?" Emmett said, "I don't see any old men around here, call me Emmett please"

"Right, well I don't know if you remember us, we met a couple days back." Jasper said.

"Briefly remember it," he said thinking "Jasper and Edward right? What's up?"

"Well," I stepped in "Jasper here and I were just thinking about joining a fraternity and wondering how we do so."
"Were you now?" Emmett said, smiling broadly "You've come to the right man then, sit down boys." He said pointing to two chairs near the wall. We quickly obliged and he started to talk about the fraternities on campus, focusing mainly on his own.

Turns out we were late in signing up, and the fraternities had already picked their candidates. Luckily for us, Emmett said he liked us so he said he'd let us rush for his frat. We gave him our numbers, and he told us to have it with us at all times, as he might call a meeting or have some sort of task for us to do.

We then left his room and started to walk back to our dorms. On the way back my phone started to ring and I picked it up instantly after looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" I said

"Edward, hey, it's Bella" she said, stating the obvious, "What are you doing later today?"

"Um, n-nothing" I stuttered, ignoring the curious glance Jasper was giving me. "Why?"
"Well, I was thinking we could do something." She said.

"Do something?" I repeated. "Sure, that sounds great!"

"Ok, good. Well talk to you later!" She said quickly and hung up.

I grinned widely as Jasper asked me "So, take it that was Bella?"

"Yep" I said, dazed.

"And… you are doing something with her later today?"
"Yep" I said, again.

"What exactly are you doing?" Jasper asked.

That snapped me out of my daze, what were we doing? I didn't ask, she didn't ask. Opps. I looked at Jasper then the phone then Jasper again. He rolled his eyes and said "Call her back, genius. I'm going to go to the gym."

I called her back, she didn't pick up at first and I heard an automated voice say "please enjoy the music while your caller is reached" and suddenly I was listening to "Should've Said No" by Taylor Swift. Interesting choice in song, I thought.

"Hello?" a breathless Bella answered.

"Bella, nice ring back tone." I said, jokingly.

"Hu? Oh, yea Alice changed that yesterday" she laughed.

"Well, I think it's quite fitting. Anyway, I was calling to ask what exactly you had in mind for tonights um…" Date? Hanging out? Casual gathering? "…for later tonight." I edited.

"Oh, I hadn't gotten that far" Bella said quietly.

"If it's okay with you, I have an idea" I said, even though I didn't.

"Yea, that's great Edward." Bella said, sounding thankful. "Pick me up at 7?" she asked.

"Okay, see you then." I then hung up the phone.

A/N: Hey All! So I know this chapter is short … it's kinda a filler chapter! I didn't want to wait so long to update so I decided to post this and HOPEFULLY I'll be able to update again soon with the DATE! But I hope you all enjoyed hearing the movie from EPOV, the majority of you wanted to hear it! The whole book thing is actually a true story – I have a secret (well now so secret anymore!) guilty pleasure with those type of books. :D Anyways- poll for if you want Jake in the story is still up … so far not having Jake in this story at all is winning… so go vote if you feel differently! And, as always, reviews are lovely and much appreciated!