AN: I know, I know, my updates have been horrible. And I'm sorry. I've got a second job, finished up finals, and now I'm back! All the studying actually caused me to start up yet another story! I think it's gonna be a hit.

BPOV

After giving the limo driver the address, we rolled to a stop in front of my second most favorite place in the world; the Clearwater Bookstore.

I stepped out of the limo, and Edward followed me quietly. My nerves began to become deafening as I worried about my decision to take Edward here. Maybe this was a bad way to impress a man; I do love Disney movies, and Gaston surely judged Belle for her passion for the written word. Would Edward be Gaston and shame me for my love for reading? But that was the whole point of this? Right? Edward wants us to show him what our ideal date would be if we were in a relationship. This is my greatest love, and I would never be able to imagine a future with someone who didn't at least support it.

Whoa, whoa, Swan. My mind warned. This is a TV show, not an actual relationship in the making.

I was beginning to get annoyed with the voice in my head that seemed to constantly retract any traces of happiness that began to form, but it was necessary. I didn't want to let myself become too occupied with Edward.

I took a step off of the gravel and onto the bookstore's wooden floor, where I admired the view. The entire store looked like an old cabin, and was small. It no longer attracted many customers, because the state couldn't afford to fund it enough to continue to buy new and current books that locals want to read, but I can't imagine going anywhere else. There were so many memories attached to this quaint little shop…

I turned to face Edward, gauging his reaction, and trying to ignore the cameras that hovered around us.

"This is a very important bookstore to me. My perfect date would definitely include coming here." I announced when the silence became too much.

Edward seemed fascinated by the woodwork, and nodded in agreement. "It's quite beautiful. Like a gem found in a pile of rocks."

I smiled happily and suddenly felt eager to share more of this "gem" with him. I led him to the door. Inside, there were four walls with endless books and a couple of boxes on the floor that contained books for sale.

"Bella! Welcome back…" Sue Clearwater usually calls me 'dear' or 'sweetheart', but I could tell that she was thrown off by the handsome man to my left. Oh yeah, the cameras the flooded her store were also a surprise. When Leah Clearwater stepped down from the small balcony and met her mother behind the cash register, her dark eyebrows bunched together.

"Hey Bells." My chest panged and her confused brown eyes lit up with recognition. The excitement in her eyes looked so much like her brother's… "Oh! This is for Finding Mrs. Right, right?"

I shook my head to rid myself of the memories that would get me crying on camera and swallowed the burn that always accompanied my crying. Instead, I allowed my face to redden.

"Yeah. This is my date hour with Edward, here. And I couldn't imagine a better place to have this date."

Sue beamed and Leah rolled her eyes with that teasing shine that floods my head with my favorite times with her twin brother.

"Leave it to Bell, one hot fox on her arm," She slid next to Edward and nudged him playfully before winking at him, "a whole camera crew following her, and a chance to visit anywhere in the world- and you choose our dinky little shop."

I opened my mouth to defend the bookstore, but Edward cut me off.

"I've actually never seen any store quite as lovely as this bookstore. It's so earthy. I would love to drink some hot chocolate while reading a book or two." I watched Edward look admirably at the walls of the shelves.

It was quite nice, just being able to watch his fascination. I constantly had to remind myself that this was just an act for the cameras. It never felt like an act though.

"Let's pick out a book and do exactly that, then." I said with a cautious smile. I smiled at Leah and Sue before leading Edward to my favorite wall: the classical literature section. Due to time restraint, though, I knew I couldn't exactly read the entire thing. "This is the classical literature section. Like Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre-"

"Yes, these are a few of my favorite books." Edward said mostly to himself, as his fingers skimmed the dusty shelves.

The cameras came around the side of him to zoom in on his face. He rolled his eyes at the camera but continued to trace the books.

"You know, my mother was big on me reading these. My brother never enjoyed them, but me, I actually found that it would make time fly. I used to get so bored. So I'd read while my brother was off playing War with some of the neighbors." He shared, and I found myself smiling.

"What's your brother's name?" I found myself wanting to hear him talk more.

"Jasper." He said ironically. Did he hate his brother?

"Well, let's grab a book and then get up the Crow's Nest. There is a huge glass window. You can see the night sky fade into the trees." I grabbed a children's book, just because it would be quick to read so we could continue with our night.

He followed my example by grabbing a Dr. Suess book. We passes Sue and Leah, who watched intensely, and I asked for two cups of hot cocoa.

I could see the surprise in their eyes. I haven't been up the balcony in years. There were too many memories.

We sat on the two hand-carved wood chairs and read each other some lines from the books that we chose. We talked about some things, like what we enjoy doing in our free time. Once we finished our books and hot chocolate, we climbed back down.

This date was making it harder and harder to ignore the feelings that were clawing their way into my heart.

"We have twenty minutes until we have to leave. What now?" Edward asked once we left the bookstore. I chewed on my lip for a second, debating if I should do what I was about to do.

"We are going to have dinner." I told him. I pulled out the picnic basket from the limo that waited patiently for us, and nodded my head so he knew to follow me.

"Where?"

"My favorite place on earth. Follow my exact footsteps or you'll trip on something you can't see." I led him through the woods, where I could hear the camera men clumsily following us. They were quickly falling behind. We heard them tell us to wait up, but neither of us did. It was a silent agreement amongst us.

The way there would take us only five minutes since I knew it so well. It would take the crew maybe ten minutes if they were lucky.

We arrived. The trees opened up to a secluded meadow that shined dimly under the moonlight.

Silently, we set up our picnic in the middle of the meadow. We lied the blanket down, we lit the candles, and brought out the sandwich bread, ham, and condiments.

"How do you know about this place?" Edward broke the silence.

"I ran away from home when I was little, once. I gave up halfway into it, but I ended up getting lost. This is what I found." I said, trying not to recall the memory too strongly. I was found, of course. By him.

"So, the owners of the Clearwater Bookstore were very fond of you. Do you know them well?" Edward asked, and I felt the pain flash across my face.

I happily closed the envelope and stuck it in my bedazzled drawer. Closing that drawer always gave me a fresh breath of relief.

He was safe.

I grabbed the two books on my desk and threw on my jacket before skipping down the stairs. "I'm off to the bookstore to return these." I announced to Charlie, my father, who sat in the living room watching car chases. I rolled my eyes when all he could do was grunt a response. "I'll bring home some pizza, okay? Don't stay glued to the TV all day, Charlie."

"Yes, mom." I could practically hear his eyes roll.

"Be back in an hour." I grabbed my key to my thunderous truck, and once it roared to life, I drove off. My memory isn't exactly the best, but I'm fairly certain I could walk to this bookstore blindfolded. It was the place of so many memories.

My best friend in the whole world and I grew up here together. Seth and I—mainly Seth—would reek havoc on the people that came into his mother's store. We'd climb up to the balcony and talk over other people as if we were them, making them say things like "Dear, is my butt smelly?" "I don't know hon," Seth would reply in an overly masculine voice. "Your face is smelly. So I would imagine your butt must be so much worse."

Admittedly, it wasn't the best script ever, but we were just kids.

I pulled up to the bookstore and hopped out of my car. Here, Seth asked me to the La Push High School Prom, and where we took pictures for it. This is where he taught me how to kiss. This is where we discovered we could never be anything more than friends. Here-

"Closed?" I asked aloud, shocked. It's the middle of the day. They can't be closed.

Suddenly, I began to worry about Sue's health. She wasn't ill or anything, but maybe that's why she had to close it today.

I got back in my truck and drove down the hardly existing path to the Clearwater's house.

I opened the door rather than knocking, I'm a usual here. I found them in the kitchen, Leah's eyes filling with tears as she comforted the hunched over woman that looked like Sue Clearwater. Leah saw me and opened her mouth but had nothing to say.

Life began to slow down. I didn't know what was happening, but I knew Sue to be one of the toughest women in La Push. She was way too strong to let herself get upset over something trivial- she's been a rock since her husband died.

I lowered myself to the sobbing woman's level, to see her holding something red white and blue like it was the only thing keeping her alive.

Sue looked up at me, her eyes bloodshot and tears streaming down her reddened face. That let me get a better view of what she was cradling so fiercely. An American flag, folded into a triangle.

My knees stopped working and I felt nauseous. I collapsed onto the floor. I wasn't crying, I couldn't hear Leah's voice calling my name, asking if I was okay. All I could do was allow myself to be pulled into numbness.

My best friend was dead.

I scrambled mentally to cover it up. I knew I had been too long in the past, because Edward's eyebrows knitted together in concern

"You know, small town like this, everyone knows everyone." I said weakly.

We both knew I was lying, but he seemed willing to let it go. Maybe he just wanted to enjoy the night.

We heard the camera crew in the distance. We gave each other a disappointed look.

"Bella, in case we never get a chance for it to be just you and me again, I hope you know that I am here because I lost a bet with my brother." Is that why he seemed mad when mentioning his brother's name? "I'm not allowed to show favoritism, the producer told me, but you are my favorite. I think you're beautiful, and real. There are so many girls here that are just looking to get a couple minutes of reality tv fame, but not you. I hope that I'm right."

Before I could reply, the cameras flooded around us. I felt slightly upset that they ruined the moment, and that they were filming my favorite place to be.

My head was still reeling over what Edward had said.

Was this… real?

AN: Hope you enjoyed!