A/N: Sorry for the slight delay! There is a lot of drama in this one (more than usual, anyway) and parts of it were difficult to write. I think it turned out okay, though. Reviews are always sexy :)

Chapter 12

"Bella, you look ridiculous," Jacob stated in a hushed tone from his position beside me. "Seriously, you should just wear a pair of sunglasses and a big floppy hat; you'd probably be less noticeable."

The pair of us were sitting at a small, circular table in the darkest corner of Garrett's Bar and I was trying to conceal my entire body with a small, thin cocktail menu, in case Rosalie or Mike looked in our direction. Because Rose and Jacob had never met, there was no need for him to hide. In that moment, I was so pleased with myself for never introducing them. My two targets were sitting at the bar and seemed to be deep in conversation. It wasn't particularly busy but we had still managed to sneak in without detection and situated ourselves behind an already occupied table, which provided us with more cover. I was trying to be inconspicuous. Apparently, it wasn't working.

"Ssh! Just tell me what's going on," I hissed back at him, ducking my head lower, as if it would make me invisible.

"Fine," Jake exhaled, sitting back against the chair and folding his arms. I saw him discreetly study the two blondes before noticing his features mould into a look of curiosity. "Huh."

"What? What is it?" I quietly growled out with wide eyes, leaning towards him slightly, desperate for any kind of information.

"I was right…" he began, before slowly turning his head to look at me, a smirk playing on his lips. "Rosalie does have big boobs." A swift kick to the shin was enough to wipe the smirk from his tanned face. "Ouch! Okay, okay… they're talking," my friend finally conceded, reaching under the table to rub his leg.

"Do they look happy or sad?" I questioned.

"I don't know. They're just talking."

"Well, do they look like they are talking about Finance?" I asked again, starting to get frustrated. Jacob turned towards me again and raised an eyebrow.

"And how exactly does someone look when they're talking about Finance?" He asked, as if he was talking to a small child, another smirk adorning his face. Jake's smirk soon dissipated and was replaced with a combined look of pity and confusion. "Bella, what exactly are we doing here?" He finished gently. I sighed and took one hand off my cocktail menu to scratch the back of my head.

What are we doing here? What was I expecting to see when I walked through that door? Rose straddling Mike across the bar?

I stared my friend in the eye and saw that same look of confusion, now mixed with mild concern. "I need to know what's going on with her," I replied softly. Jacob assessed my answer for a moment before nodding his head and turning his attention back to my best friend and her work colleague. We sat in silence for a moment or two and somewhere along the line, my cocktail menu shield had been forgotten.

"Wait," Jake said abruptly, leaning forward slightly, making his chair give a dull groan under his weight. "He just gave her something. A piece of paper; a flyer or a brochure maybe," he tried to explain, squinting in an attempt to make it out.

A brochure?

I barely processed what my friend had said before I saw the people at the table directly in front of us stand up, their chairs making an obnoxious noise across the floor, governing the attention of everyone in the bar. My eyes widened in panic. Once they moved there would be nothing blocking Rosalie's view of me, as my trusty cocktail menu now lay useless on the table. As if watching something in slow motion, right before one's eyes, I couldn't move. My gaze was unconsciously trained on the spot where I knew Rosalie would materialise when my cover was blown. It was like one of those old black white movies where you have to wait for the smoke to clear around the steam train before the love of your life emerges. In this case, however, it was a very confused and suspicious looking blonde woman who emerged and she was staring at me with a raised eyebrow, silently asking, 'what the hell are you doing here?'

Oh, fuck.

Oh, fuck, fuck, FUCK!

I continued to stare at Rosalie as she leant in towards Mike, saying something to him discreetly before getting off her barstool and ambling her way towards me and Jacob. "Jake!" I hissed out from the corner of my mouth. "What do I say to her?" The panic in my voice was clearly evident, even to my own ears.

"I have no idea, Bella," my friend responded, sounding nowhere near as panicked as me, but I noticed that he had gone rigid in his chair. Jacob always avoided confrontations, if he could.

"Bella," Rosalie greeted pleasantly enough once she reached our table, which seemed to be getting smaller by the second. "This is a surprise."

The blonde bombshell was showing no external signs of nervousness or guilt. That wasn't much to go on, mind you; she wasn't exactly the 'wear your heart on your sleeve' type. "Uh, yeah. A surprise," I began, trying with every fibre of my being to sound surprised to see her here. "I thought you were working late tonight?" I ventured. I was almost convincing myself…

"Oh yeah, well, we had a merger deal in the works but it fell through," Rosalie explained, rolling her eyes good naturedly at the situation. "Mike and I decided to come here for a few drinks instead. You remember Mike, right?" She finished, a smile tugging at her lips.

How could I forget? "Of course," I replied with a forced smile. I leaned to one side so I was able to look past Rose at Mike. He was already looking in our direction and I gave him a half hearted wave, which he didn't return. He simply gave a small nod and a tight lipped smile before taking a swig from his drink. I frowned. Maybe I hurt him more than I thought I did when I left him in that restaurant…

"What are you doing here, Bella? This place isn't exactly close to where we live…" Rose trailed off, suspicion colouring her features once more. "And who's this?" She asked again, this time addressing Jacob directly for the first time.

This is it. This is how I'm going to die; getting clubbed to death with a beer bottle by my best friend for spying on her. I could barely remember my own name, never mind formulate a convincing lie. My head involuntarily turned towards Jake and he did the same. Neither of us seemed to know what to say, as we both searched each others eyes for answers. Eventually, it was Jacob who finally took the initiative.

"Jacob Black," he said in a gentlemanly voice, stretching out his hand to the blonde. Rosalie simply stared at the offered appendage, making him retract it again. "Bella and I are…" he began, struggling to find something convincing to say. "We're on a date."

… What did he just say?

"A date?" My blonde friend asked, looking to me for confirmation, restrained joy already dancing across her face. Jake, you idiot.

"Um…"

"Bella, that's so great!" Rose announced, not waiting for actual clarification, beaming from ear to ear. "How come you didn't tell me you were seeing someone?" She asked me, before realisation seemed to hit her. "Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?"

Oh, that's right, my bogus excuse for calling her earlier…

"Uh, y-yeah… this is what I wanted to talk to you about," I spluttered out before I could stop myself. I felt an uncomfortable heat spread throughout my body but for once it wasn't because of embarrassment; it was because of fear and uncertainty.

"In that case," Rosalie stated, before extending her hand towards Jake this time, which he took. "It's lovely to meet you, Jacob Black. I'm Rosalie Cullen and I think we're going to be seeing a lot of each other," she finished with a sincere smile.

I could feel the sweat forming on my brow and I swallowed hard. It's so hot in here. I think I'm going to faint.

"I wish I could talk more but I should get back to Mike," my blonde friend spoke again, throwing a fleeting glance over her shoulder towards the man in question, almost sad that she had to leave us.

"Oh, yeah, Bella and I were just about to leave anyway," Jake jumped in. "We're, um, going out for dinner. Right, Bells?" He prodded, elbowing me gently in the ribs.

"Dinner!" Rose blurted out before I could answer, startling both Jake and myself. "You have to come to our house for dinner! My husband will just love you!" She finished, clapping her hands somewhat victoriously. Yep, this is what I was afraid of.

"Oh, well, I don't know," Jacob began, starting to sound a bit frantic for the first time. "That's very kind of you but-"

"But nothing!" Rose cut him off, waving her hand dismissively. "A man's got to eat. Come on, Bella, tell him he has to come."

What I wouldn't give for a tornado to come and lift the roof clean off this bar, just for some kind of distraction. I wiped my sweaty hands on my jeans. "I suppose one night, maybe, we could, um…" Jesus, someone stop me…

"Perfect!" Rosalie said loudly, with a very definite air of finality. "Bella and I will discuss it and she can give you the details in a few days. Sound good?" Jacob sat in the chair beside me with his mouth slightly open and he simply nodded dumbly at the blonde. "Excellent," she acknowledged, with a nod of her own.

Rose then excused herself and began to walk back towards the bar but she suddenly stopped and strode back towards me. "Oh, and we have to make sure it's a night that Alice isn't working. I know she'd love to meet your new boyfriend," she said to me with a glint in her eye that I didn't like and my heart sank at her words.

Shit. Alice…

With a slight smirk Rose finally made it back over to Mike and gave him her full attention once more. Jacob and I both sat in complete silence, unmoving, for a few moments before he broke the tense atmosphere. "I'm sorry," was all he said.

So am I, I thought to myself. This was a total mistake. If anything, I had come out of this exercise looking worse than Rosalie and I still didn't have a clue what was going on with her. I was fairly certain she wasn't having an affair but that was hardly something to celebrate. Now, she thinks I have a boyfriend and it is only a matter of time before it gets back to Alice. Things were already strained between Alice and I and this could destroy our strange little relationship completely.

I inclined my head towards Jacob and we stared at each other for a moment. By bringing him here, I had inadvertently dragged him into my soap opera of a life, just like Rose had dragged me into hers not so long ago. What was I thinking bringing him here? I'm such an idiot. I lowered my head in shame and stood up from the table. "Come on. We need to leave," I croaked out. With that Jake and I walked out of Garrett's Bar, but not before Rose caught my eye one more time and gave me a wink. I felt tears stinging the back of my eyes, which had nothing to do with the fading daylight that assaulted my line of sight as I walked outside. I barely walked three strides before I felt a gentle hand curl itself around my wrist.

"Bella," Jake whispered. I turned my face to him and the look he gave me was enough for my tears to spill over. He pulled me to his chest and I sobbed into his shoulder, right there in the middle of the street.

"I'm sorry, Jake! I'm so s-sorry! For everything," I cried into his shirt, all my emotions from the past several weeks finally erupting. "I didn't m-mean for any of this to happen!" My words were barely intelligible because my face was still buried in his shoulder, but he seemed to understand me.

"Bells," he said softly, gently guiding my face up so he could look at me. "You need to talk to Alice."

I gazed into his dark, piercing eyes and it was like someone switched on a light in my head. He knew. He knew everything. About my feelings for Alice and about her feelings for me. He'd known right from the start. That's why he wanted to meet her so badly. If I wasn't so disgusted with myself, I would have laughed out loud at my own stupidity and obliviousness. "Promise me you will talk to her," he almost begged of me and I nodded before bowing my head. That was all he said, before letting me bury my face in his now ruined shirt again.

When did everything get so complicated?

The next morning I woke up on my couch with a splitting headache. Alice ended up having to work a double shift yesterday and my plan was to stay up and wait for her to get home so we could talk. Clearly, that plan didn't come to fruition. I sat up and rubbed the back of my neck in a vain attempt to soothe the dull ache sleeping on the couch had caused, before glancing at my watch. 10:48am. Shit. I had been asleep for over twelve hours. That wasn't like me at all.

I got to my feet gingerly and made my way upstairs to use the bathroom. When I reached the top of the stairs I paused and found my legs moving of their own accord towards my study. I slowly reached out and touched the palm of my hand to the door. "Alice," I called out quietly. "Alice, are you in there?" Receiving no answer, I moved my hand to the door knob, turned it and crept inside. I was left disappointed.

The room was empty.

I took in my surroundings bit by bit and the more I did so, the more I realised: this wasn't my study anymore… It was Alice's bedroom. It would forever feel that way to me now. I almost tip-toed over to her unmade bed and sat myself down, running my hand across the cotton sheets. I felt a small smile tug at my lips as I glanced over to the desk and saw my drawings still propped up against the wall. My mind wandered back to the day I first discovered she had put them there. I would give anything to re-live that day again. I would do so many things differently.

My gaze fell to the bed again and I noticed one of Alice's tops lying, slightly wrinkled, near her pillow. I reached forward and took the item of clothing delicately in my hands, as if I was afraid of hurting it. I raised it to my nose and inhaled that heavenly, vanilla scent that only Alice possessed. It was incredible how something so simple could make my heart flutter beneath my breast; how something so simple could make me feel happy when I didn't deserve to be.

I lowered the top again and simply stared at it for a moment as it lay creased and crumpled in my hands, before slowly placing it back, exactly where I found it. I stood from the pull-out bed and proceeded to smooth out the wrinkles caused by my weight: Hiding the evidence of my presence here.

Walking over to the door, I turned and looked around the room one more time before continuing on my original trek to the bathroom, closing Alice's door tightly behind me.

"Emmett," I greeted cheerfully at the front door, later that evening. "And Rose," I added, not quite as emphatically, when I saw my friend pop her head out from behind her burly husband. I stepped aside and ushered them both into my home, gesturing towards the living room.

"Hey, Alice, get your butt down here!" Emmett called up the stairs to his little sister when he realised she wasn't in the living room.

"Oh, Alice isn't here, Em," I informed him. "I think she's at work," I finished, sitting down in my single-seat chair.

"You think she's at work?" Emmett asked, raising an eyebrow.

For some reason, I suddenly felt nervous that I couldn't explain Alice's absence. "I overslept this morning and by the time I got up, she was already gone and I haven't heard from her," I replied, speaking slightly quicker than usual.

"Overslept, huh?" Rose said with a smirk, coming over and perching herself on the arm of my chair, nudging my shoulder. "Long night with the new boyfriend?" she continued, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"What? No! No, of course not," I barked out, only barely resisting the urge to push her onto the floor. "And he's not my boyfriend," I mumbled, fiddling with a loose thread and hanging my head as my guilt resurfaced.

"Come on, Rosie," Emmett started in a warning voice. "You promised you would leave Bells alone."

My friend made a huffing noise from her position balancing beside me and she folded her arms petulantly. "I only promised because you made me," she muttered and I smiled in spite of myself. I had almost forgotten what she was like when she was obsessed with my love life. Almost.

Just then, I heard the unmistakable noise of keys jangling outside, closely followed by the front door opening and that meant only one thing: Alice was home. Why did she have to come home while Rose and Emmett were here?

"Hey, sis," Emmett beamed, the second she set foot in the living room. Alice stopped in her tracks and took in the fully occupied room.

"Oh, hey guys," she said, sounding like her usual, joyful self, even if she did look more tired than usual. "I didn't know you'd be here." Her eyes found mine and I gave her a nervous smile, which she returned much the same way. The tiny woman dropped her purse to the floor and made herself comfortable on the couch beside her brother. "What brings you two here?" She asked our two guests, although she still hadn't acknowledged Rosalie in the slightest.

Emmett playfully pushed his tiny sister. "Does a brother need a reason to come and see his-"

"We're just here to congratulate Bella," Rose said quickly, cutting off her husband and smiling dangerously. Her outburst seemed to have the desired effect because Alice's sparkling blue orbs focused on Rosalie for the first time since she stepped into the room and I went rigid in my seat. Oh, dear God, no.

"What do you mean you're here to, 'congratulate Bella?'" Alice asked curtly, glancing towards me and frowning slightly. My eyes widened and my head whipped around towards my friend and I saw the same glint in her eye that I had seen at the bar yesterday. No, Rose, please…

"You mean she didn't tell you?" The blonde asked in a faux-innocent tone of voice. My heart was racing and I turned my attention back to Alice, shaking my head as discreetly as possible and begging, pleading for her to understand; to not believe what was about to come out of Rose's mouth.

"Tell me what?" The pixie-like woman questioned in a monotone, staring straight at me, but it was Rosalie who answered.

"Our Bella has a boyfriend," she announced, sounding like a proud parent. "Jacob somebody, I forget his last name. Isn't it great?" My friend finished rhetorically, her eyes never leaving Alice's face.

I couldn't move. I sat there staring at the tiny object of my affections, unable to tear my gaze away, and I could literally see the sparkle leave her beautiful eyes. Her hands were clasped tightly in her lap and her jaw was clenched. I wanted to scream at her that it was all a lie; that it was all just a story to cover my ass but I couldn't do it in front of Rosalie and Emmett, so I just had to endure this torture until they left.

Emmett must have noticed the pained expression on my face and he chose that moment to save us all from the intolerable silence. "See, babe, that's why I told you not to talk about it. You've embarrassed Bella in front of everyone," he scolded his wife and gave her a playfully stern look.

"But-" The blonde began, but was cut off again by her giant husband.

"Rose," he spoke again, sounding harsher and more serious. Rosalie huffed once more and resumed her earlier pose of folding her arms across her chest. By this stage I was staring at the floor, waiting for someone to say something. Anything.

"I'll be right back," I heard a quiet voice say, as the sound of flat soled shoes squeaked along the ground. I didn't need to look up to know that Alice had just left the room. After a moment, I slowly raised my head and met Emmett's sympathetic stare.

"Don't worry about Alice," he said, obviously trying to placate me. "She just doesn't like to be the last person to know anything," the burly man continued, before chuckling and offering me a small smile. "I remember one time when we were kids…"

I stopped listening. I didn't give a shit about whatever asinine story Emmett was about to tell. The only thing I cared about right now had just disappeared upstairs and I had to physically restrain myself from running after her. I wanted nothing more than to throw Emmett and Rosalie out of my house and talk things through with Alice, once and for all.

"…Dad still laughs about it," I heard Emmett say, clearly finishing his story, with a boyish chortle. I gave a smile and a polite laugh, pretending that I had actually listened to him.

Nearly ten minutes passed before Alice re-entered the living room and she had changed her clothes, so she was now wearing sweat pants and a tank top. "I don't mean to be rude," she began, addressing her brother. "I'm exhausted and I need to go to bed. I'll come and see you tomorrow, Em, okay?" She supplied, although she seemed to be ignoring both Rosalie and myself.

Emmett glanced at his watch. "I suppose it is getting kind of late," he concurred. "Come on, Rosie, let's go." He stood from the couch and hugged Alice, while Rose slide off the arm of my single-seat chair.

"I'll be in touch about dinner with Jacob, Bella," the blonde boldly stated, winking at me and choosing to ignore the very pronounced scowl on my face. She strode off after her husband, swinging her hips provocatively and didn't so much as glance at Alice as she passed her.

When the front door shut behind our two visitors, the silence that fell over the entire house was palpable. I was still sitting in my arm chair and Alice was leaning against the door frame of the living room. She was focusing all her attention on the wall adjacent to where she was standing and wouldn't look at me. "Alice," I said in a raspy voice, barely above a whisper. I was trying to implore her to look at me but she wouldn't. "Alice, please," I begged again. Still nothing.

I'm not sure how long I sat there and just watched her stare at the wall. Minutes? Hours? Did it matter?

"Goodnight, Bella," Alice said abruptly, turning on her heel and beginning her ascent of the stairs. My legs propelled my body out of that chair before I even registered what had happened.

"Alice!" I called out when I got to the bottom of the staircase, but she ignored me and continued on, as if I wasn't there. "ALICE!" I shouted, climbing the stairs clumsily after her and grasping her wrist firmly, finally getting her to turn around half way up.

"What, Bella!" she barked at me, her voice sounding furious and heart broken at the same time.

"Alice, it's not what you think," I began, speaking frantically while still holding onto her wrist. "Jacob and I… we're not-"

"Oh, please, Bella, spare me," the tiny woman cut me off in an exasperated tone. "'Jake and I have a strange kind of friendship'… those were your exact words to me when you first introduced us," she hissed at me. I gaped at her. Oh no, no, no... "I can't believe this! Why does this always happen? I really thought that we-" Alice cut herself off, as if she was afraid she was about to say something she couldn't take back. She stared at me sadly before hanging her head and I was sure my heart had just shattered.

"You thought that we, what?" I breathed out, after waiting for her to raise her head again, finally letting go of her arm. After briefly searching my eyes with her own blue orbs, Alice shook her head quickly and took advantage of the fact that I had let go of her. She spun around and resumed climbing the staircase with her usual elegance and grace, despite the situation.

"Alice, wait!" I cried out again, fumbling my way after her and catching her at the top of the stairs before she could slide into her room. "Jacob and I are not together. We never have been and we never will be."

"So, what, you're just fuck buddies then?" The raven-haired beauty sneered, crossing her arms across her chest and tilting her head to one side. My eyebrows shot up and, yet again, I stood there gaping at the tiny woman before me. Why won't she just let me explain?

"What? No!" I defended, shrilly. "If you would just listen for two seconds-"

"I don't want to hear it!" Alice choked out and I could see tears threatening to fall from her beautiful eyes and that was what finally shut me up. I could feel my own face crease in anguish, knowing that I was the cause of her pain. "You need to be with the person you want, Bella. So go and be with him," Alice's tears had spilled over and her voice was quivering, uncontrollably. Without another word she turned the knob on her bedroom door, disappeared inside and closed it tightly behind her again.

My legs felt like lead as I stared at the closed door in front of me. This isn't happening. How can this be happening? She won't listen to me. Why won't she listen to me? I lowered my head and grabbed at my long, chestnut tresses in frustration. Alice was only on the other side of that door and yet, she felt a million miles away from me. If she wouldn't listen to what I had to say, then I just had to do something else.

Storming forward, I flung her door open with such force that it banged off the wall. I could see Alice bracing herself against the desk with her back to me, but she swung around at the intrusion. "Bella, what are you-"

My furious pace didn't falter after I entered the room and before I knew it, I was standing in front of Alice with her beautiful face in my hands. I could see tear tracks marring her perfect features and I gently brushed my thumbs across her cheeks to wipe them away, before looking deep into her eyes.

"Alice, the only person I want is you."