SM owns Twilight. I own a tour guide name tag from my alma mater.

Every hyphen in this chapter is courtesy of WriteOnTime. Daisy3853 wears meanpants. They're sexy.

EPOV

Bella Swan was infuriating.

Well, infuriating was maybe too strong a word. Confounding, bewildering, captivating. Utterly perplexing.

Our dinner with Jasper and Alice raised more questions than it answered. She was comfortable with Jasper; that much was obvious. As soon as we reached the Collis Center she rushed away from me as if I had bitten her or something, looping one dainty arm through his. The look on Alice's face was hilarious, a mixture of annoyance and anger. Did Bella harbor some kind of feelings for Jasper? Did Alice know?

Alice sighed and turned to me. "So, what do you think of the new guides?"

I was still staring after Bella and Jasper, who were conversing in low whispers. Jasper laughed and Bella gave him a soft smile and rolled her eyes. She had a beautiful smile—objectively speaking, of course. I gave a noncommittal shrug.

"Oh come on," Alice continued, poking me in the side. I jumped and glared down at her. She grinned and nodded toward Bella. "What do you think?"

"How did Bella get hired?" I asked, not answering her question on purpose. "She's not exactly the classic personality type."

Alice squinted at me for a second, and then shrugged with another brilliant smile, hurrying after Jasper and Bella. "She got hired the same way everyone else did. She filled out an app and went through the interview process. And I may have told Esme how awesome she is... many, many times."

She winked and skipped ahead of me then, calling out something about Bella hitting on Jasper. I should have known. Esme Cullen was the Director of Visitor Programs, and she and Alice were extremely close. Alice spent a lot of time hanging out in Esme's office, and I'm pretty sure she had more pull with her than Rose or Leah, our other coordinator. Trust Alice to use her power to get her cute friend a job.

Her cute friend who may or may not have feelings for her boyfriend. I couldn't figure Bella out. One minute she was chatting with Jasper and Alice and looking completely normal, and the next she was stuttering and red-faced, tripping over a speck of dust as she scrambled to get away from me. I also had the distinct impression that she didn't want me to know that she had been in my study session last semester. Was it possible I had said something rude to her in class one day? I was certain I would have remembered her, but that whole tutoring gig had been so mind-numbingly dull that I blocked most of it out for my own sanity.

At least she agreed to come over to my apartment before the party. I was just going to ignore the stunned, slightly confused look on her face that led me to believe she had no idea what we were talking about when Alice informed her of our plans. I'd never met a girl so apparently reluctant to spend time with me. I always thought of myself as a nice guy, approachable, friendly. Bella had me doubting all of that.

The next morning, I showed up to training bright and early. Rosalie and Leah had scheduled a question session to help the new guides learn how to react to common questions that parents and students asked on tours. They usually liked experienced guides to sit in on those and help out, and, let's face it, the opportunity to pepper Bella with questions was too good to pass up. I hoped she'd let her guard down a little if the questions were tied into work. She was interesting, and if I couldn't get to know her in a conventional way, I was going to take advantage of my training responsibilities.

The group of them wandered in, looking hung-over and exhausted, at nine. I almost laughed at the Stooges' bloodshot eyes—I had been awake since six, an unfortunate side effect of constant studying for the last several years. Studying for my MCAT had been the worst; even six months later the memory made me shudder. I had gotten to the point where I was physically incapable of sleeping past seven unless I was hung-over or completely sleep-deprived.

The girls seemed moderately more put-together, and Bella was carrying her binder. She was the only one, but after watching her take notes through Alice's entire tour, I couldn't say I was surprised. I smiled at her, and to my delight she smiled back before ducking her head and paging furiously through her notebook. Progress. Maybe we could be friends after all.

I considered approaching her, but at that moment Leah stormed in, Jacob at her heels. She looked cranky, but then, her default facial expression these days was a surly scowl. Leah was actually the nicer of our two coordinators, but her boyfriend had dumped her during finals, and she had been on a mission to make everyone's lives miserable ever since. The worst part was that he had left her for another guide, a girl named Emily. Further proof that you shouldn't dip your pen in the company ink. I hadn't seen Emily since before finals, but she was certain to be at the party for the new guides. Alice and I had a bet going about how many drinks it would take before Leah took a swing at her.

"Listen up!" Leah barked. The new guides jumped and Bella looked up with a wild, slightly panicked look in her eyes. "All of you get up here. We're going to see how well you studied."

She pointed to a row of chairs at the front of the room, one for each of them. They shuffled up, eyes darting between me, Leah, and Jacob. Bella clung to her binder like a life preserver. Leah clamped a hand on her shoulder and she jumped.

"Leave the binder," she growled. Bella dropped it like it had burned her, pages scattering every which way. She eyed the mess for a second, as if considering whether Leah would yell at her for straightening the papers. I felt a flash of anger at Leah, taking in the wide, terrified expression on Bella's face.

"I'll get it," I offered, flashing her another smile with the hope it would calm her down. I bent over and gathered the pile of papers, bringing everything with me to a nearby seat. I started putting things away, glancing at her messy scrawls as I did so. As I slipped one sheet into a folder pocket, I saw she had filled the edge of the page with doodles. Containing my smile, I tilted the paper to get a closer look. A half-dozen pair of eyes were sketched there, and one completed face. A man? Or else a really unfortunate looking woman. It was hard to tell. Art clearly wasn't her strong suit.

A terrified little squeak pulled my attention from the page. Bella was staring at me, frozen in her chair, while Leah told them how the question-and-answer session would work. Our eyes locked, and I forgot why we were there and what I was supposed to be doing.

"Bella, is it?" Leah's harsh voice broke through my stupor and both of us jumped. I cleared my throat and tried to wipe my expression blank. It was weird how easily she seemed to be able to distract me.

"Since you seem so well-prepared," the sarcasm was unmistakable in Leah's tone, "why don't you tell us how a student can become involved in intramural sports here at Dartmouth?"

Bella stuttered out a pretty good answer, but Leah kept pressing her. Jacob and I sat back, unable to pipe up because Leah kept pressing for more details, asking more and more obscure questions.

"Cool out, Leah," Jacob muttered after about an hour. "Let 'em breathe."

She growled, honest to God growled, and walked out of the room without saying anything else. Jacob and I looked at each other for a minute, then stood up.

"Right, um... take a break guys. We'll do something a bit more fun in ten minutes."

Bella hurried directly to me. I grinned at her, but she rushed right past and grabbed her binder off the seat where I had placed it. She clutched it to her chest and then stared at me like a frightened rabbit.

"Th-thanks for picking up my stuff."

I sighed and nodded, frowning a bit when Jacob came over and her posture relaxed.

"You did great up there, Bella," he said, flashing his patented douchebag smile. "Don't let Leah get to you, she's been a huge bitch lately."

She smiled back, and I frowned some more. It shouldn't bother me that she was reserving her smiles for Jacob, or that she was totally at ease with Jasper but could barely speak to me. It shouldn't, but it did. It figured that the one time I actually wouldn't mind getting to know a girl better, I scared her to death.

I left the conference room and headed down toward the office. Alice was supposed to help out at some point today, and I was hoping Rosalie would be around and in a good mood. Emmett wanted me to bring my stereo equipment over to his apartment for the party, but I hadn't been able to touch base with him since Christmas. Even though Rose and I weren't best friends, I could always count on her to deliver a message.

Sure enough, Alice was there, laughing with Rose about something. Leah was sulking in the opposite corner, pounding down a cup of coffee and not making eye contact with anyone. The girl needed to have some rebound sex, and fast.

"Morning, Edward," Alice sang, hopping up on Rosalie's desk.

"Hey, Alice. Il Duce."

Rosalie scowled at me, but Alice just grinned. She thought the two of us were endlessly entertaining. She said she enjoyed the way we were able to take something as simple as friendship and make it as difficult as possible. We pretended we didn't know what she was talking about.

"Leah seems to think you boys didn't go over the right topics yesterday," Rose said, glancing over at Leah.

"They're completely unprepared," Leah snarled, turning to face us. "I don't know how you expect them to be ready by the end of tomorrow."

"Edward and Jacob have it under control," Alice said brightly. "In fact, Edward and I were talking about how a dry run would be a good way to spend the rest of the morning."

I did my best to look like I knew what Alice was talking about. Truthfully, Leah was right. Bella, Angela, and Carly had managed to hold their own in the question-and-answer period, but the rest of them had fumbled through a lot of the basic information.

"All they need is a little practice," I said lightly. "We'll take them out with the binders, it'll be fine. Have you seen Em today?"

"Not yet, but we're going out to dinner tonight."

"Great. I need you to tell him to bring his jeep over for the stereo equipment tonight. I can't fit it all in my Volvo."

"It always takes you forever once you start playing with electronics," Rose grumbled. "He'll get all wrapped up in that stupid stereo and talking about the party and we'll never make our reservations."

"Bella has a truck," Alice said.

I looked at her for a second, not really understanding what she meant.

"So...what?"

"So," she sighed, "you could ask her for help. That way Emmett wouldn't have to miss his date tonight and we can still get everything set up for the party. Have Emmett leave you a key to his apartment. Jasper can help you get everything moved."

"You're going to let Jasper out of your sight for a whole night?" I asked skeptically. The two were practically connected at the hip.

"Don't be silly," she laughed. "I'm going to supervise, of course."

Rose rolled her eyes and shot me a miniscule smile. "I'll get him to leave it under the mat by the door. Just call his cell when you get there, he can buzz you into the building."

"Don't I even get a say in this?" I protested. "Bella doesn't even like me, why would she let me borrow her truck?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "She'll help you because she's a good person. Ask her. I bet she'll do it."

"Right. Well, I'm heading back in there. If we're doing a dry run we're going to need you, Alice. Leah, you coming back?"

I did my best to give her a nice, friendly smile. She growled at me.

"Okay, so, that's a 'no'?"

I didn't wait for a response. She had access to a lot of sharp, pointy objects on her desk, and she still had a hell of a vendetta against men in general. I didn't want to risk it.

Alice bounced off Rose's desk and followed me out into the hall.

"Are you going to ask her?"

"You're really, really annoying."

"But you're still going to ask her."

I stopped just outside the conference room and glared down at her. She didn't flinch.

"Seriously, Edward? I'm friends with Rosalie. You really think you're going to scare me with that face?"

I sighed and started to pull the door open, but she grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"I know it seems like she doesn't like you, but you make her really nervous."

I ran my fingers through my hair and pulled a face at her. "I've noticed. Why?"

She rolled her eyes again. "Edward, you're a good-looking guy. Of course you make her nervous. She's shy. I've been trying to introduce the two of you since I met her in the fall, but she always managed to get out of it somehow."

She narrowed her eyes a little and I took a step back. Suddenly I was a little afraid of her. Alice was a planner, and she didn't like it when someone messed with the plan. I wondered briefly if Alice meant she'd been wanting to set the two of up since the fall. Out of all of my attached friends, Alice was the most verbal about wishing I'd take the time to date a little. She didn't believe me when I protested that I simply didn't have the energy and that I was waiting for the right time. It certainly wouldn't have been her first attempt at fixing me up with one of her friends. I thought of Bella and me out together in a restaurant, her looking soft and shy, me slightly nervous and grinning. A flicker of disappointment pulled at my stomach, but before I could really think about it Alice started talking again.

"So you're going to go in there and be your charming self, and sometime during this miserable tour, you're going to pluck up your courage and ask her to help you out with her truck. She's going to say yes. You can thank me later."

Then she breezed past me into the room and clapped her hands loudly, calling the group to order. It took me a couple of seconds to remember that I was supposed to be in there with her and Jacob. I slipped in behind her and snuck over to where Jacob stood in the corner.

"About time you came in," he muttered. "Where's Leah? Did you lock her in a closet somewhere?"

"She's in the office with Rose. Didn't want to come out for practice tours I guess."

He groaned a little. "Man, they aren't ready for that. It's going to take twice as long as it should."

I smiled a little and shrugged. "Guess that depends on who Alice puts you with."

He looked over at her in a panic, but it was too late. She had already divided the newbies into groups.

"Mike, Tyler, Jenna, you'll go with Jacob." I heard him grumble a little before he turned his smile back on.

"Okay, out front, grab your jackets and your binders and let's get started."

Alice took Lauren, Jessica, and Carly, which was incredibly kind of her. Lauren hadn't really stopped flirting with me, and I was pretty sure it was going to get worse before it got better. As Alice led the three girls out of the conference room, she brushed against me, rubbing her breast over my arm.

"See you later," she giggled. Then she winked and skipped after Alice.

I sighed heavily and shook my head a little before turning back to my group: Bella, Angela, and Eric.

"Ready? It's pretty cold out there, so make sure you grab some gloves and a hat. I'll show you guys as many of the indoor stops as I can, but most of the tour is supposed to be outside, so unless it's really too cold to be standing around outside, try to stick to the regular route."

They all nodded and started to grab their things. As groups went, I probably had the best one. Bella and Angela knew enough to be able to muddle through the tour, and Eric was pretty good with straight memorization. His delivery sucked, but he could spit out facts word for word from the training materials if given enough time and encouragement.

I had them alternating as we went, struggling the information and sometimes reading straight from their manuals. It didn't matter, really; at this point it was just important that they kept repeating it over and over again. Once in a while I stepped in with a factoid or a stupid joke that was guaranteed to have parents smiling (rule of thumb: most teenagers were not amused).

About halfway through, I manned up and walked over to Bella. We were trudging down a barely-shoveled sidewalk, and she seemed entirely focused on putting one foot in front of the other. I assumed it was because of her apparently substandard balance. I cleared my throat and her left foot slid a little on a patch of ice. Instinctively, I reached out for her arm and steadied her.

When she looked up at me, her face was beautifully flush.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"Of course." I offered her a bright smile and she cleared her throat uncomfortably. Before I could lose my nerve or think about it too hard, I kept talking. "Listen, I need a favor."

Her brown eyes widened. "From me?"

"No, from the Pope. Yes, from you," I laughed. "Alice says you have a truck, and I have to move some stereo equipment tonight. The speakers don't really fit in my trunk, and I was wondering if—"

"You want to borrow my truck?" she said doubtfully. "I mean, I guess, but I have to warn you, Big Red is really old and her clutch is kind of sticky."

"Big Red?" I laughed.

She frowned at me, and for once her face wasn't bright pink. She looked a little ticked off. "Are you making fun of my truck's name? After I generously agreed to let you use her?"

"Of course not."

"I thought not," she sniffed. Annoyed Bella was kind of cute. Like a two-week-old kitten hissing at a big dog.

"So, did you want to come with me right away after training tonight, or—?"

"Come with you where?" she asked blankly.

"To my apartment," I said slowly. "You know, pick up my equipment, load it into your truck. Jasper and Alice will meet us at Emmett's apartment building and help unload the speakers. Well, Jasper will help. Alice will watch and be bossy."

"I thought...I thought you just wanted to use my truck," she stuttered. "Why do you need me to come?"

"I guess you don't have to come. But it won't take long, and I'm sure we'll go out and grab a beer afterwards. Do you have plans tonight?"

Another picture formed in my head: Bella and me sitting with Alice and Jasper in a crowded pub, laughing and just hanging out. I smiled.

"No. Not exactly."

"You don't exactly have plans?" I teased, feeling much surer of myself now. "Well, here's your chance to make some. Don't disappoint Alice, she'll blame me."

She frowned a little and looked up at me. There was a tiny pucker in the skin between her eyebrows. "Why would she blame you if I was busy?"

"Well for one, Alice isn't going to believe that whole 'no plans, exactly' excuse," I said frankly. She looked back down at her feet, but I thought I saw a smile on her face. It made me braver. "And two, she's got this crazy theory that you're scared of me or something."

Her eyes got bigger and she sputtered a little. I chose to ignore her reaction and laughed lightly. "I know, crazy, right? So save me from Alice and come with us. I'll buy you a drink and everything."

When she looked up, I made my best silly puppy dog face, sticking my lower lip out as far as it would go and simultaneously lifting my eyebrows up and squishing them together. She snorted and then slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Um, Edward?"

"Yes?" I kept my face frozen in its pout, batting my eyes a few times for good measure. If I made myself completely ridiculous, she wouldn't be afraid of me. That was my new working theory, anyway. Alice liked it when I was goofy. Maybe Bella would as well. Too bad it had the added bonus of making me really unattractive. Oh, well; according to Alice, attractive was the problem.

"We're at the next stop."

"Huh?"

I turned around and saw Angela and Eric staring at us. Angela looked a little put out, and Eric was gaping. I straightened up and tucked my lip back.

"Ahem. Right. Uh, Angela, life sciences. Go."

Bella started giggling under her breath, and I ignored Angela in favor of memorizing the way she sounded when she laughed. The rest of the tour sped by as I gave up trying to be a good supervisor and instead focused on surreptitiously watching Bella. I hadn't felt so drawn to someone in a long time, and it was frustrating and intriguing all at once. I was never one to stare stupidly at a woman, but the more I looked, the more I wanted to know.

She was completely graceless as she walked, tripping and tottering across the sidewalk. She almost looked drunk. I finally had to ask her how long it was going to take her to get her sea legs. She glared and shot back a comment about her shoes not being cut out for walking on the icy sidewalks. Every time she slid even slightly out of control, though, I caught her. Angela slipped once and I was so busy watching Bella that I let her fall on her ass.

Oops.

The look on her face when she gave her tour stops was downright sweet. I had her pegged as shy and introverted, but I had a feeling she wasn't, not really. She was too natural in front of our small group, the words flowing too easily. She needed practice, sure, but she could do this job. She would be great at it eventually. And she had no idea.

We walked back to McNutt after finishing our tour. It was lunchtime, and I could see the two other groups ahead of us. The walk-through had taken twice as long as a tour was supposed to take, but we had also stopped at every indoor and outdoor spot, showing them the classrooms they could usually stop in and giving them pointers on their delivery. Admittedly, I was also a little distracted during the second half of the tour.

When we got back inside for lunch, I told Alice that Bella and I would meet her and Jasper at Emmett's after training wound up for the day. The smirk she sent my way had me biting back sarcastic comments. I almost, almost asked Bella if she just wanted to go with Alice and Jasper and let me take care of the speakers, but I wasn't annoyed enough to give up the opportunity to talk to her alone. I wasn't about to screw this up for myself, whatever this was.

A/N: Oh, Edward. What will we do with you? Thanks for your responses to the last chapter! I was a journalism and Spanish major. This weeks question: Have you ever dated a co-worker?

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