Chapter Two: Some Men Are Born With Greatness, Some Women Are Born With Stupidity. My second chapter. I hope you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it.

'I hate you, I hate you, I hate you so much Emmett!' I screamed as soon as I got home from work. Rose was with him in the longue room watching TV, but I didn't really care.

'You owe me so much! I told you I didn't want to go!' I yelled as I stomped into the lounge room, ready to kill him.

'Oh B, you've been complaining about never going to dances because you can't dance. In this one you don't even have to.'

'That's not the point. I hate work functions. People hit on you, you get dressed up, and you listen to bad music and go home. It's not worth it. I have to write an article on the Forks High Baseball game anyway. I'm not going.'

Rosalie, who was clutching Emmett's arm, looked at me and whispered into his year. 'Did she forget to take her Zanax this morning, babe?' Emmett started to laugh but with one look at me he pretended to be coughing. 'What time does it start, Em?'

'You're seriously going to go? You, queen of staying home with a tub of Ben and Jerry?' I shot daggers at Rose.

I was so sick of hearing jokes about how much of a nerd I was because I never went partying. Rose and Emmett met at a party, and just once, I wanted to prove Rose wrong and stop her making lame jokes.

'Eight. Finishes until late night, early morning, I'm guessing. Rose is coming too.'

'Great.' I muttered under my breath, I didn't really want to have a fight with Emmett over Rose.

'I don't think I'll have anything to wear though. Would jeans and a t-shirt be okay?'

'I'll help you find something,' Rose volunteered. 'Seriously? That'd be great Rose, thanks.' I replied, raising an eyebrow at Emmett. He looked as taken aback as I felt.

'Sure. Go for a shower and I'll pick out an outfit.'

In a surprised trance, I did what she said, and thought back to the events of the day.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Katy Perry song to wake up to the day. Hit it John!

How do I get closer to you
when you keep it all on mute?

I slammed my hand down on the alarm and then cried out in pain. Not a smart move.

I woke up feeling good about the day. I would do work, be a slave to the keypad on my laptop at work, and keep conversations with Edward to a bare minimum except about the Olympic articles. I already knew what sport we would be covering, Victoria had e-mailed me about fifty times about it, giving me all the details to write an efficient piece. I would tell Edward today that we were doing Baseball, and like all testosterone fuelled males, they're would be lots of fist bumping and cries of joy. Emmett just about begged me to swap with him. He was doing men's water polo. Secretly, I really wanted to be covering gymnastics. I was obsessed with gymnasts since I was a little kid.

I did my normal morning routine, but instead of getting all dolled up, I wore ripped jeans and a formal jacket.

Once I was dressed and decent, I walked out into the kitchen where I could smell food. Emmett sat on the dinner table, devouring his Weetabix like they were a survival source. I grabbed a granola bar out of a packet and watched him eat.

'Good morning, sunshine,' I said to him as he was stuffing his face. He grunted back at me, and finished eating.

'What have you got going on today, Bells?'

'Not much. I have to tell Cullen that we are covering baseball at the Olympics but I'm just going to be glued to my laptop, not talking if I can avoid it.'

'Play nice, Bella. He's actually a really nice guy.' I gave him a skeptical look.

'Is he a player?'

'Well, he gets around, yes, I suppose so.'

'Then he's not a nice guy. Remember Laurent, Emmett?'

When I was in college I met a guy named Laurent. As it goes, he was really perfect until he tried to take advantage. Everything then shot to hell and he cheated on me with a fifty-year-old woman. Emmett went and some stuff went down with him and Laurent, and Laurent was left with a black eye.

'Yeah, he was such a bastard. But Edward isn't. Please Bella. He's family.'

'He's your family, not mine, Emmett. It doesn't make a difference.'

'You're a part of my family Bella.'

'Really, so when you and Rose get married I'm going to be invited to the wedding? Be involved in your kid's lives, they're going to call me 'Aunty Bella'?

'Rose is…subjective.'

'That's a nice way of saying no, I'm not.'

'Bella…'

'Here's the rent money for this month. Sooner I pay up Rose can start making my room into a closet, right? I'll take the bus this morning, Emmett.'

I threw an envelope with the rent money inside. I grabbed my purse and stormed out. Emmett knew as well as I did that I hated the bus, but I caught a cab to the bus station and caught the bus, because a cab would have costed a lot if it drove me to work.

When I sat on the bus, I thought about how much simpler it would be if I had enough money to move out and let Emmett and Rosalie live their fairy-tale lives. If I worked at a different agency or chose a different town to live in. Emmett had no idea that I owed Princeton my college tuition. They let me have a loan because of my good grades and my potential to finish, but I needed to pay them back. I was at least five grand in debt. Charlie and Renee, my parents, they could only pay for half of the tuition, and at the rate of the job money, I wouldn't be able to move out for at least a year. That's if Emmett didn't kick me out. A body sat beside me but I refused to look at them, figuring it would be an old person.

'Miss Swan?' I heard a familiar voice so I wiped my eyes, not realising that a few tears had spilled over the edge.

'Mike? What are you doing here?' Mike Newton sat beside me, smiling sheepishly.

'I catch this bus to work. It's more environmentally friendly than taking a car and fuel costs a lot, and you'll never know who you'll bump into.' He winked at me, and I laughed.

'So is this allowed?' He asked me, and I immediately stiffened. Did he think we were together now? Oh heaven help me.

'Is what allowed?' I said shakily, preparing for the worst answer.

'Catching the bus together? You are my boss, but this is pretty cool.' He yawned and put his arm around the back of my chair.

I laughed, relaxing. 'Yeah, it's allowed.' I hoped it was, I had really no idea if this was allowed.

Mike and I chatted a bit, and it turns out he was pretty funny. He was twenty-one, hence his young looks. He grew up in Forks, just like me. He was home schooled, but his family owned the Newton Olympic Outfitters, and I worked there one summer. I faintly remembered the Newtons younger son, turned out this was him. We bonded on the way to work, and I forgot all about the fight with Emmett I had this morning. When we went into work, we walked arm in arm, enjoying a Forks joke together. Many people raised their eyebrows at us, and I saw Victoria mouthing curse words at me. I saw Emmett, and he just looked surprised. Edward wasn't here yet, and if he was, I didn't see him.

When I had to get to my office, I went straight to professional mode. Edward came in soon after, as I was working on the Forks High Baseball Championships issue, and he looked ready to kill.

I jumped up immediately, half expecting him to turn the desk over. I grabbed my baby, my laptop, and took in his appearance. His cheeks were slightly pink, hair more tousled than usual, and his fists and jaw were clenched. Eyes wide, he was looking at me.

'What's wrong? What happened?'

'Is it true that you and Newton were discussing the Olympic articles this morning and you were going to leave me and work with him?'

I snorted, and put my laptop back down.

'Please. That's rubbish. I got you as my partner yesterday. I'm not going to leave you and go work with Newton. Where did you even hear that?' I scoffed, my tone on the verge of laughter.

'Jessica told me.' I raised my eyebrows.

'Jessica told you? Don't believe everything you hear, Cullen. Rubbish like that floats around all the time, mainly from Jessica. Just ignore it.' He wasn't calming down, so I sat down and continued writing.

'What about what I saw?'

'What are you yabbering about?' I asked him, my eyes never leaving the screen.

'I'm yabbering that you and him looked pretty cosy this morning.'

'Jesus, he's an old childhood friend. I want that promotion as much as you do, Edward, I'm not going to jeopardise it for you or me.' I looked up at him again, and he had visibly calmed down. This was what he was worried about. The promotion. I understood his anger.

'Sorry.' He said after about an hour.

'It's fine. I would have reacted the same way. Just try and get a second source before you jump to conclusions. If that was in a public area, rumours would have floated.' I looked at him and he nodded, stood up from the desk and tried to move to the filing cabinet on my left.

'Give it to me, Cullen. I'll put it away.' He handed me the paper, reaching across the desk. As soon as his long slender fingers brushed against mine, I felt blood rise up to my face. His fingers lingered on the paper for a second more than necessary, and my office door opened. Emmett stood in the doorway, and immediately Edward let go of the paper and walked over to Emmett, giving each other a hug and talking happily. It was such a sweet sight, I felt all tingly in my chest.

I turned away, and put the paper in the filing cabinet, hiding my smile, when Emmett spoke my name.

'Bella?'

'Mmm?' I hummed.

'I'm sorry.'

'Me too.' My voice broke and Emmett laughed.

Edward looked between us, confusion clouding his features.

'Do you too know each other outside of work?'

'I live with Emmett.'

'Oh.'

'Yeah. Emmett and the Rose-monster.'

'Hey! She's not a monster.'

'What did she do to you when you broke her Jimmy Choo shoes?'

'You're right. She is a monster.'

I broke into a fit of giggles and then I went to my lunch break to give them some time alone to talk.

After lunch, I went back to my office to see Edward on the phone. I didn't walk in, but I started to overhear their conversation.

'Mmm, baby I miss you too. Sure, I'll come over tonight. I want you too. I want to kiss you too. And have fun with you.'

I was freaking out inside. I pushed opened the door and ahemed as loud as I could. Edward dropped the phone and scrambled to pick it up again. He hung up the phone.

'I was just saying-'

'I really don't think I want to hear what you were saying.' I was practically going to pull my hair out if he didn't shut up. Or hurl. Whichever came first.

'It's not what it looks like.'

'I don't really care, Cullen. Just keep it G rated at work, okay?'

'It's really-'

'Please don't tell me, I'm begging you. I understand that you like the lifestyle you live, but at work it's about the work.'

'What lifestyle are you referring to?'

'Look Cullen, you're a player. I get that. Just stay on task, okay?' I was beyond pulling my hair by now. This was the most awkward conversation I'd ever had.

After that, he just shut up and let me finish my work. I wrote the article on the Forks Baseball Championship and walked out of the office to give to Victoria for her to run through the system and send to the cooperate office. When I walked into her office, she took the paper.

'So what are you going to wear tonight?'

'What to?'

'The fundraiser ball. You're going. Emmett told me you were excited to come. I'll trust I'll see you there, Bella.'

'No, I think you've made a mistak-'

Her phone began to ring and she answered it. From the tone of the conversation she wasn't going to be finished soon.

I was going to kill Emmett.

'Bella? You've taken a really long time in there. Is everything okay?' Rosalie called from the bathroom door. Damn. I'll completely day-dreamed. I shut the hot water off and called back. 'Yeah, I'm finished now.'

'Okay, I've got your makeup ready and if it's okay, I'll do that too. Put your robe on and come out into the vanity table.'

I walked out to the vanity table where Rose was, and she looked genuinely happy to be dressing me up.

'Do you trust me, Bella?'

'Um, yeah.'

What kind of question was that? Was she going to cut me?

'Okay, well just relax. I'll make you look beautiful.'

An hour and a half later my hair and makeup was done. I shut my eyes through the whole thing, afraid to look into the mirror and see clown makeup.

'Okay, Isabella, you're done!' She exclaimed and I felt her take a step back to admire her handiwork. Slowly, cautiously, nervously, I opened my eyes.

I don't want to sound like I had just fallen in love with myself, but Rose did an amazing job on me. I looked like I belonged in a Forever 21 advertisement. I did something so out of character I was surprised at myself. I jumped up from my chair and hugged Rose.

'Thank you so much, Rose. I love it.'

She had done my eyes a smoky brown, making them look more shaped and bring out the color of my brown eyes. She added bright pink lipstick on my lips, making them look bigger and noticeable. I didn't need much blush, only a slight cover on my cheeks and she had made my eyelashes look twice as long with the power of mascara.

With the dress she chose for me, I'd forgotten I had it. I'd bought it so long ago with Angela, another fellow ex-Forks liver, I didn't know if I'd still fit. I breathed out as Rose helped me into the dress, relieved that it still fit. It was a light blue color, off the shoulder with transparent puffy sleeves. It was shorter than anything I would have picked, but it did look good.

Rose practically broke the windows with her scream.

'Bella. We have to go soon or we'll miss- wow.' Emmett walked in.

'Do I look okay?'

'You and Rose both look amazing. Let's go.' Emmett was dressed in a suit. Apparently it was black tie.

Rose was dressed in an electric purple dress and makeup similar to mine.

I can't remember the last time I'd felt so confident.

Victoria had really outdone herself this time, I thought as we walked into the hall. It looked like a classier not-so-loud version of a club. There was about seventy people in the huge hall, all mingling and talking about the Olympics or London. I spotted Mike in the crowd. Since I didn't really feel like talking to anyone, I walked to the bar.

'What would you like, miss?' The bartender was female and looked at me happily.

'Um, could I please have a coke?' She looked at me, her smile dimed.

'With?'

'Ice.'

As I waited for my drink, the stools beside me began to fill up. I had drunk about half of my coke when someone placed their drink down next to mine and picked mine up.

'I'm sorry that was mine.'

I was shocked to see Edward sitting beside me, inspecting the coke. 'What are we drinking?'

'I'm drinking none of your concern.'

He placed his tongue down on the rim of my glass and traced the rim of my cup. I was definitely not drinking that again.

'Tastes sweet.' I stared at him in confusion. What did he just do?

He took a sip of my drink and laughed.

'Plain coke?'

'Yeah.'

'Are you drunk, Edward?'

'Maybe a bit, Bella.'

His words weren't slurred, but his actions were just plain weird. Not the Edward from the office. His pupils were dilated. He needed sleep.

'I think you should go lie down, you need to sleep.'

'I guess so.'

He grabbed his drink. I took it from him, and he reached for it. 'Little kitten, give that back to me.'

'No. You can't handle it.'

'Fine, you drink it then. I dare you.'

I didn't want to, but he reached for it again. I couldn't let him have it. I downed it in a heartbeat.

I almost died. It set my throat on fire on the way down, and then left a fire in my throat once I'd swallowed it. My gag reflex started to activate, but I sipped some more of my coke to hold it down.

'That was cute.' Instead of me leading him, he started to lead me away. I saw some couches in the lobby. When we finally stopped, we were in a dark corner, not the lobby. Edward gently pushed me towards the wall, and then stepped close towards me. I could hear him breathing.

'Edward, what are you doing?'

'What I want to.'

He placed light kisses on my throat, and my collarbones.

'If you don't want this, tell me to stop, and I will.'

I couldn't have spoken at all, even if I wanted to. My knees were weak, I was shaking all over, and my breathing was coming out sporadically, heavily.

He was teasing me, never touching my mouth. I hadn't been kissed like this since college, and I wanted it. I made my hands unfurl from his sides, keeping my eyes locked on his emerald ones. When they made their way into his hair, he breathed sharply and took a step back, thinking I was rejecting him. I almost whimpered in protest.

I needed the warmth, the compassion, the closeness of a kiss.

I stepped closer towards him, and I tilted my face to meet his.

My lips connected with his, and it was all over. His soft, plump and surprised lips took over, dominating mine. He bit my bottom lip, but I held my own, not letting him in. He made a sound low in the back of his throat, like a moan, like a growl. I was turned into a puddle of mess. I bit his lip back, hard, and he was in. He liked me taking control, but he liked dominating. Our tongues connected, and everything became much more intense. Like a dance.

I was sure my lips would be bruised tomorrow.

His hands, once on my waist, were now running up all over my body. I held fistfuls of his hair in my hands, pulling him towards me. When I came up for air, he kissed the length of my neck, and once I was breathing normally again, I pulled him back to me.

He pushed me back against the wall, and I made a sound that was foreign to me, but he seemed to register it.

Then everything became a blur.