Chapter Two - He's Not A Man…He's A God

Author's Note: Hey so I left my computer for an hour or two and came back and had 12 alerts already. That's great! Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. By the way, Sunny Book Lover and idotroad, I tried to send you both messages but you disabled the ability to have private messages sent to you.

I also wanted to say that I HATE HATE HATE Jacob Black.

&

I had my alarm set for six thirty so that I would have enough time to shower, dry and do something with my hair, and pick out an outfit to wear by eight.

Sylvia worked at Campus Eatery, which was just as close to the apartment as the library was. But she didn't start work until September 8th, the same day that classes started. It was mid August. The only reason that the library stayed open was for students that took summer classes.

I took my time in the shower shaving my legs and washing my hair. After my shower I dried my hair thoroughly while the curling iron heated up. I tried to use the blow dryer quickly so I wouldn't wake Sylvia. I brushed through my long hair while I dried it to speed up the process.

After my hair was dry and I had curled it the same as the day before, I fished through my plastic case for a clip. I found a charcoal gray one shaped like an oval and used it to clip the front sections of my hair back.

I put in my contacts before I brushed my teeth. I had learned the hard way once that if you tried to do it the other way, there was a good chance you would get toothpaste in your eye. And that wasn't pleasant.

I had narrowed it down to two outfits the night before. I studied both of them as they hung in the closet. The weatherman had said that it would be in the mid seventies so I had picked out two skirts.

After a few moments of debating, I took the navy blue one off the hanger and stepped into it. It ended at the knee, giving my legs enough air but without making me uncomfortable. All the skirts I owned were long. The shortest ones I owned hit the knee.

I paired my skirt with a white tank top, which I wore with a shrug practically the same color as my hair clip.

After I was dressed I went to the bathroom mirror and looked myself over. I smoothed out my skirt a few times before I felt satisfied and confident with my appearance.

I took a yogurt out of the fridge and ate it while I wrote a note for Sylvia on the notepad. For my first day, Suzanne only had me working a half day. I would be getting home at three. I suggested that she take me to see some nearby sights.

I finished my yogurt and was out the door ten minutes to eight.

It wasn't a surprise to see that Barney and Suzanne were the only people at the library when I arrived. Barney waved me away when I reached into my purse for my wallet to show him my ID.

"Bella I'm not that old that I can't remember you." He joked.

"I know. I just didn't want to walk by you without at least making the gesture." I returned his smile and went straight to the front desk. "What can I do for you this morning?"

"Good morning Bella. Why don't you leave your purse with me and go to the lounge area? There's coffee and a box of donuts if you're interested."

"No thanks. I don't drink coffee." I said, but I did hand her my purse to keep behind the front desk. "Do you need any books that need re-shelving?"

"Actually I do. There's a rack right over there," she turned and pointed to a rack of books by the door to the lounge, "where people put the books that they used in the lounge but aren't checking out. Some of the students taking summer classes had a study session last night and their books are up there."

I went to the rack and saw the huge stacks and was trying to figure out how to lug all of them around without making trips when I heard a screeching sound. I turned to see Barney rolling a cart towards me.

"Why don't you use this? It'll be easier?" He smiled.

"Thanks." I returned his smile for the second time that day and started loading up the cart with all of the books. Most of them were about marketing and business.

I rolled the cart to the staircase and, by studying the author's name, was able to determine which books belonged on which level. I took the ones that belonged on the second level and heaved them up there.

I spent most of my time re-shelving books. After I had replaced all of the ones from the rack, I re-shelved the ones that people had checked in. I wasn't surprised by how tiring it was to go from level to level with heavy books. I had to admit that the little kid inside of me enjoyed using the ladder that rolled along the shelf.

When it was around noon, Suzanne insisted that I take a break. I rolled the cart, which was half empty, to the front desk and sat with her behind it.

"So Bella, you told me about your school background and about the job you had back in Forks, but we never got into anything personal. What's your family like?"

Suzanne offered me one of the many water bottles in the cooler behind the desk. I took one and drank nearly half of it on my first drink.

"Well, my parents got divorced when I was a baby. My mom and I lived in California for most of my life, but later we moved to Phoenix. When my mom remarried, I went to go live with my dad in Forks."

"Didn't you like the man your mom married?" Suzanne asked, slightly concerned.

"Phil was okay. I mean, I didn't look at him as a father figure or anything, but he was always kind to me and made my mom happy. But Phil plays minor league baseball and so he travels a lot. I knew it made my mom unhappy to be away from him for such long periods of time, so I decided to live with my dad so that she and Phil could travel together."

"You're a very a sweet kid Bella." Suzanne replied with a smile. "Most kids your age wouldn't have been able to be so self-sacrificing."

"It wasn't terrible with Charlie. He didn't get in my hair and I stayed out of his way. We actually have a pretty good relationship. I think it's because we're a lot alike."

"Didn't you say he was bringing your things here?"

"Yeah. He'll be here in a couple of days."

"You should bring him by one day when I'm working with you. I'd love to meet him, and I'm sure he'd like to see where you work."

"That's actually a good idea. I think I will." I hadn't thought about it, but I knew it would make Charlie happy to be included in my life here.

"So…did you ever date anyone in Forks?" Suzanne's lips pulled into an evil grin, and her eyes shined from behind her tortoiseshell glasses.

"No." I answered quickly, a blush fanning across my face.

"Spill it Bella." She said with a laugh.

"Well…I never dated anyone. But…well…it's…complicated."

"You've worked hard today. You can take a longer break to explain." Suzanne moved her swivel chair closer to me. "There's something lurking behind that blush of yours."

"Whenever I visited my dad as a kid, he would have his best friend Billy come over to the house. Billy's dad was the last leader of the Quileute Indians. He and his family live on the reservation in La Push.

But anyways, whenever Billy came over to the house, he would bring his two kids with him and we would all play together. He has two twin daughter, Rachel and Rebecca, and a son, Jacob.

When I moved to Forks, Jacob and I started hanging out a lot. I would go to the reservation for fires on the beach and to help Jacob with his cars. Mostly I would just sit and watch, but I occasionally handed him tools…which qualifies as help." I laughed.

"So you and Jacob huh?"

"Well, I always guessed that Jacob had a crush on me. But I had been friends with him as a kid and he was two years younger."

"That doesn't answer my question. And it doesn't explain why you blushed." Suzanne pointed out quickly, practically bouncing in her seat to hear the story.

"I was feeling really rebellious one year and…I found these two broken motorcycles for sale on someone's front lawn. I took them to Jacob and asked for his help to fix them. And we starting spending a lot of time together."

"Yeah and…?"

"We kissed a few times, but…nothing ever came out of it. If you asked me if I loved Jacob, I would say yes. But it isn't the right kind of love. It's the kind of love that would last forever, but it's the kind of love that two friends share. Does that make sense?"

"I suppose so."

"I told you it was complicated." I took another sip of water.

"Do you have a picture of this guy?" Suzanne asked, raising her eyebrows and another one of those evil grins spreading across her face.

"Mhmm. I have a few pictures that my mom gave me to keep in my wallet. I'm pretty sure he's in one of them."

I rummaged through my purse and located my wallet. I opened it and reached into the place where my money was. There were three pictures in there, already bent up and crinkled.

"This is one of me, my mom, and Phil. It was taken on their wedding day." I handed Suzanne the picture.

"Wow. Your mom is gorgeous." Suzanne said.

"I know. She was always getting drinks bought for her whenever she and I went out to eat. She thought it was funny but I thought it was annoying. It always interrupted our time together."

"You don't look so bad yourself Bella. You should wear this dress more often." Suzanne said, looking up at me with a smile.

"Yeah I'll come to work wearing an orange, floor length dress." I said sarcastically.

"I think more people would come into the library. Boys mostly."

"Sure." I handed her another picture. "That's Charlie and I at my high school graduation."

"Your dad is…cute." Suzanne said, a grin creeping across her face for the third time during our conversation. "Really cute. Make sure you bring him here when I'm working."

"Okay Suzanne." I snatched the two pictures she was holding. I handed her a third one. "That's me with all the guys in La Push. The one standing on my right is Jacob."

"Bella…wow." Suzanne studied the picture for a long time. "How could you have possibly only been friends with this guy?"

I had known she was going to react that way. I was well aware that Jacob Black was a good looking guy. Everything about him was a girl's dream come true: his towering stature at six foot seven, his flawless russet skin, and his kind, thoughtful personality. But even with all of those things, I had never felt that fire for him.

I had never felt that fire for anybody. Sometimes I questioned myself. I thought that since I had never been in love with anyone, maybe I wasn't aware of how you were supposed to feel. I thought that maybe what I felt for Jacob was indeed that kind of love. But something in my gut, and in my heart, told me otherwise.

"He was, is, a great friend." I took the picture from Suzanne when she handed it to me.

"Is he coming to visit?"

"I doubt it. I'll probably only see him when I visit Charlie."

"Well listen, I've got to run to a meeting at NYU. Do you think you can handle things her yourself for about an hour? Barney will be around." Suzanne stood and reached for her purse.

"Yeah I'll be alright. I've got to finish re-shelving." I stood up to, finishing off my water.

"Okay. Call my cell if there's an emergency. Otherwise, I'll see you when I get back."

I discarded my water bottle to the wastebasket behind the desk when I heard the doors open. Suzanne had already gone and so I wondered if it was a student or a faculty member.

That was the first time that I saw him.

As my eyes focused in on the man walking through the doors, I had to blink several times before I believed that I wasn't hallucinating. I had never in my life seen another living, breathing man look the way that this one did. I had seen men in paintings and in architecture that looked similar. I would have wondered if he had jumped off of a mural had I been able to think clearly.

The first thing I noticed was his unkempt hair. It was dark, but when the sun that had flittered through the windows hit it, sections of it appeared almost red. Had any other person's hair been as messy as his was, they would have looked dirty and lazy. But it was incredibly charming, even endearing, on him.

The first sensation I had when I saw him was the sudden itching in my fingertips. I realized it was because I wanted my hands in that perfect mane of hair.

Though it was fairly warm out, he was dressed in a gray, tweed coat. It was buttoned up all the way and secured around his waist. Underneath he wore a pair of jeans. It was such an ordinary outfit, but it was worn by the most unordinary person I had ever seen.

He looked like he belonged on a runway, but I was sure that any male model on the face of the earth couldn't hold a candle to him.

I couldn't tear my eyes away from him for the life of me. My mind was telling me to do so but my body wouldn't move. The only thing that seemed to reboot my system was when his eyes suddenly flickered to mine.

Embarrassed that he had seen me staring, I turned away. I could feel my face growing hotter by the second. I realized that I was gasping quietly, and then realized that I hadn't breathed the entire time I had been staring at him.

While I filled my lungs with air, I quickly grabbed the cart and moved swiftly to the staircase. Without thinking, I grabbed a stack of books and headed up to the second level. I wasn't sure if the books I had taken belonged on the shelves of the second level or not. I had just wanted to get away from the beautiful man and busy myself.

As I put a book into its place, I replayed the scene in my head. Besides his inhuman good looks, there had been something off about it. I realized that he had walked right by Barney without showing him an ID.

I wondered if the beautiful man worked at the library. But then I wondered why Suzanne hadn't told me about it. She had been so enthralled by Jacob's good looks, it didn't make sense that she wouldn't have mentioned the living Greek god working in the library.

I carried the other books through the different rows, trying to focus on doing my job and not on the man I had just seen. I hadn't been doing a good job because I suddenly ran right into someone.

The force surprised me. It was enough to send me backward. But before I could fall to the floor, and arm shot out and caught me from behind before the books had even hit the floor.

I looked up slowly into the eyes of the Greek god. I gasped audibly when my eyes met his. The hues of his eyes were unlike anything I had ever seen. The irises of his eyes were like two topaz stones. I made the connection quickly because of the ring my mom had given to me on my 16th birthday.

Almost as quickly as he had caught me, I was on my feet and he was on the ground picking up my books. When I realized what he was doing, I dropped to my knees to help him but he had already gotten back to his feet. He was holding all of the books in one arm like they each weighed the same as a feather.

"I'm…" My voice was lost for words. It was as if I no longer understood or could speak the English language.

My face reddened, but I couldn't look away to hide it. I couldn't stop staring into his beautiful eyes.

"You should be more careful." He suddenly said. His voice flowed from his perfect lips like music. It sounded like the best song I had ever heard.

"Mhmm." I managed to make a sound of agreement before I remembered that he was holding all of my books.

I reached out for them and he carefully transferred the stack into my waiting arms. When he did, my hand brushed against his for a moment. Though he was bundled up, his skin was almost colder than ice. I shivered.

But I barely had time to react to the coldness of his touch. The moment our skin made contact, he had let go of the books and taken a step back. The books fell into my arms and the sudden weight nearly brought me to my knees.

"Sorry." He murmured.

And then he was gone. It was as if he had vanished into a cloud of smoke. I turned to see that he had already made it down the stairs and was heading for the doors. It seemed impossible that he had moved so quickly.

I stared at him as he walked to the doors. He pushed them open without another glance back and disappeared.


Sylvia had gotten my note and had been delighted by the idea. While she planned out our tour, I changed out of my nice clothes. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt with short sleeves. The temperature had gone up a few degrees.

I removed the clip and swept my hair back and up into a ponytail.

"Alright I'm ready." I said, making my way into the kitchen/dining area.

"Okay. I figured we could walk through Greenwich Village. There's a place there called White Horse Tavern. A lot of students hang out there and, plus, Dylan Thomas used to go there all the time."

"That sounds great."

"Okay let's go. Maybe on our way back I can take you to see the Edward Cullen." Sylvia smiled, all of her teeth showing.

"I've never heard of that. Is it a building?" I asked with a furrowed brow.

"Oh…you'll see."

Sylvia locked up after we left the apartment. We headed down the stairs and I walked at her side.

"It's like twenty minutes." She said as we walked on the sidewalk.

I was still getting used to all of the people. I brushed past people and some of them even bumped right into me and kept walking. I tried not to let it bother me.

"So how was your first day Swan?" Sylvia asked.

"It was…good." I said, decided between the words 'was' and 'good' to leave out the man I had seen and bumped into. I didn't want her to get all excited or to make a big deal about it.

"Did anything interesting happen?"

"No. Not at all." I answered with a sigh.

I didn't like to lie. It was my belief that lies were for little kids and cowards. I had made it a point not to lie when I got to be in high school. But I felt the need to leave the beautiful man out.

"Well at least you had a good first day. I'll have to drop by sometimes and keep you company or bring you goodies." Sylvia said with a smile.

"It would be nice if you came to visit, but don't bring me anything."

"Are you one of those people that hates getting presents and when people pay for their meals?" Sylvia asked, looking over at me.

"I am." I admitted.

"Oh I'm going to have so much fun with you on your birthday."

"Well it's a good thing you don't know when it is." I answered with a smile of my own.

"I'll ask your dad when he comes."

"Darn."

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Greenwich Village. It was one of the few places I had seen in New York City with trees. Sylvia pointed out different buildings and told me what they were. She usually had scandalous stories to tell about them too. It was entertaining.

When it was around six, we headed to the tavern.

White Horse Tavern was small. There was a sign with old script painted onto it hanging above the place. If it hadn't been there, I wouldn't have known that we had reached it. Neon signs spelling out different kinds of beer hung in the windows.

Inside, it was smoky and moderately busy. Sylvia led me through the smoke and customers to an open table and we sat down.

"I'll go up to the bar and get us drinks. What do you want?" Sylvia asked as she rummaged through her purse. "I have a fake ID so if you want something with alcohol it's no problem."

"Uh…I'll just stick with Coke." I got into my purse for my wallet.

"Don't you dare. I'll get it." Sylvia said, pointing her finger threateningly at me. "And would it bother you if I had a beer?"

"As long as I can buy the next round." I said, putting my wallet on the table.

"Sure." She got up and headed up to the bar.

In almost the same moment as Sylvia had left the table to go get our drinks, a guy approached the table. He had short, blonde hair and wore very casual clothes.

"Hey there." He said, putting his hands on the table.

"Hi." I discreetly pushed my chair back more against the wall to face him completely. I didn't like how close he was.

"I haven't seen you around. Are you new to the area?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Chad." He stuck out his hand towards me.

"Bella." I shook his hand quickly.

"Are you going to NYU in the fall?"

"Yeah. Are you?"

"That's awesome. Yeah, I am too. It'll be my sophomore year there." Chad flashed me a smile. "I'm here with a friend. I noticed that you were too. Do you mind if we share a table with you?"

I didn't really want them to sit with us, but besides the fact that he had a problem with getting too close when he talked, he had been nice enough.

"Sure."

"Great. We'll be right over." He gave me another smile before he headed up to the bar too to get his friend.

Sylvia headed back with her beer and my Coke a second later.

"So who was that cutie talking to you?" She asked, setting my Coke down in front of me before taking her seat across from me.

"He said his name was Chad. He's a sophomore at NYU."

"Ooh. A sophomore huh?" Sylvia turned around and took a look at him as he headed back over. Then she turned back around to face me. "He's really cute. And so is his friend."

"I guess." I answered just as they got to the table.

"Hi. I'm Chad, and this is Troy." He shook Sylvia's hand before taking a seat next to me. Troy sat down beside Sylvia and she gave me a quick, excited look.

"So…what are you ladies going to NYU for?" Chad asked, looking from me to Sylvia. His shoulder brushed mine.

"I want to teach high school. I wouldn't mind going back to high school. Those were really good times." Sylvia laughed before she sipped her beer.

"That's true. But," Chad slowly slinked an arm around my shoulders, "there can be some really good times in college too."

I shrugged my shoulders as I reached for my Coke. Luckily, Chad removed his arm from around me as I took a sip. Otherwise I would have had to have been more direct and I wasn't good with confrontations.

"What about you? What are you going to NYU for?" He asked, putting his arm around my chair instead.

"English." I answered without looking at him.

"Small world. So am I." He replied excitedly. "Hopefully we'll be seeing more of each other."

"Maybe."

"What about you Troy?" Sylvia interjected.

I wasn't listening when he answered her. I don't think she was either. When I looked up from my lap I caught her eyes and I knew she could tell that Chad was making me uncomfortable.

"I have to excuse myself for a second. Bella, want to come with me?" Sylvia asked, nodding towards the restroom.

"Yeah sure." I got up a little too quickly and knocked my Coke off the table. It splashed out of the glass and onto Chad's pants. "Oh my god…I'm so sorry."

"It's no big deal." He answered, standing up to let me through and to take care of his pants. "Go on. I can take care of this."

I followed Sylvia into the bathroom.

"So what's up? You don't seem to like Chad too much." Sylvia said as she examined her face in the mirror.

"He's coming on a little too strongly." I explained. "I'm sorry if I'm-"

"You don't have to apologize Swan. I like when guys come onto me like that, but I'm not going to hold it against you because you don't. If he's making you uncomfortable, why don't we get out of here?"

"I'd feel bad that I ruined our night."

"You wouldn't have. We can come back anytime we want to." Sylvia assured me, turning to me. "Come on, let's go. I have something to cheer you up."

Sylvia came up with an excuse as to why we had to leave and got us out of there quickly, before Chad had the chance to ask for my number.

"Where are we going?" I asked, trying to keep up with Sylvia as she practically flew down the sidewalk.

"Hurry Swan, we don't have much time."

I managed to keep up with Sylvia. We were a few minutes from the apartment when she stopped us and pointed across the street.

"That's Stanley's. Stanley is a mechanic. He can fix pretty much everything. Once he sent someone over to fix the washer in the apartment." Sylvia explained, looking extremely excited.

"What about it?" I asked curiously.

"You have got to see Stanley's best employee. His name is Edward Cullen and he's the hottest guy I have ever seen."

"Edward Cullen is a person?" I asked, remembering that she had referred to him as if he were a building earlier.

"No. He's a god." She sighed heavily and looked away from me. When she did, her eyes widened. "Look. There he is."

I turned my head to see who she was talking about. When I did, my eyes widened too.

"Th-That's Edward Cullen?"

"Yeah. He's…oh he's…mmm."

"Sylvia we have to go." I said, walking around her and tugging on her sleeve. "We have to go right now before he sees us."

"Why? What's wrong?" Sylvia turned and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"That guy came into the library earlier today."