Disclaimer: I cannot stress how much I do not own these characters.

Just in case you have forgotten, Bella's thoughts are in italics.

Chapter 5

D&D and "I Never"

"Bella come on. It will be fun."

In the last few weeks Alice's definition of fun had changed drastically. "Fun" used to be nightclubs and parties. Now "fun" was…

"Dungeons and Dragons, Alice? Really? You are going to play Dungeons and Dragons?" That sounded much more like something I would do. And I didn't do it.

"Jasper says that I will pick it up really quickly. It's, like, his favorite thing, Bella. I want to be a part of that. Sure, it sounds a little weird for me, but I want to share Jasper's interests."

"Then go. Share. I have no problems with that." I waved her off. I knew what her real plan was.

"You are coming to," she insisted. I could hear the stubbornness in her voice. I wasn't going to win this one no matter how hard I tried.

"I'm not dating Jasper! I don't know how to play!" Truthfully I had always wanted to learn how to play but had never managed to find anyone who could teach me.

Alice gave me a hard look. "Bella, have you spoken to Edward once outside of class since we went to the movies?"

I didn't respond. She knew I hadn't. We had real conversations now, but they never left the classroom and everything was still a bit awkward. Edward was still really distant and at times could be a little rude. The only thing that had really changed was the frequency of our conversations.

The real reason I didn't jump at the chance to go with Alice was because this game would be taking place at Edward and Jasper's apartment. The idea of seeing Edward outside of class filled my stomach with nauseous butterflies.

"Jasper asked me to bring you," Alice tried again.

I gave into the argument that I knew I would never win. "Fine, but jeans and a t-shirt."

Alice put her hand over he heart. "Jeans and a t-shirt," she vowed.

********

Edward and Jasper lived in a nice area not to far from where Alice and I lived. We would have been able to walk if it had not been pouring rain.

Outside the apartment door, my butterflies were vomiting. Did Edward know that Jasper had asked Alice to ask me to come? What would he think about me just showing up at his apartment without any forewarning? Why couldn't I just stop over thinking things and just have let it be?

Alice knocked on the door. A girl who looked like she had crawled out of a Victoria's Secret catalogue opened it. She was perfectly proportioned and had long hair the color of gold. Aphrodite incarnate. When she answered the door she looked surprised for a moment.

"Alice?" she asked in delighted wonder.

"Rose," Alice squeaked. "What are you doing here?"

Rose moved out of the doorway so we could come inside. "I'm Jasper's older sister. And I'm assuming that you are the girl that he has been talking about nonstop for the last two weeks."

Alice grinned.

Rose smiled back and then sighed. "Well, I wish that I could tell you that I'm just here to meet you, but as much as I hate to say it, I'm here to play."

My face must have looked surprised. How many models do you know who spend their Saturday nights playing D&D?

"In high school Jasper and Edward made me play all the time," she explained. "I hated it then, but when I got here I began to miss it. When Jasper and Edward got here I made them set up a game once a month so that I could keep playing. I even got Emmett to start coming to." She motioned to a large bear of a person leaning against a bookshelf, deep in conversation with Jasper.

I recognized this Emmett as one of the varsity football players. The previous semester we had Physics together. Emmett was smart, but not good at remembering formulas. I had given him hand in studying for the final.

"Of course," Rose continued, "Emmett will play anything that involves competition." She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Rose looked at me politely for a moment before Alice realized that the two of us had no idea who the other was.

"Oh, Bella this is Rosalie. We dance together. Rose, this is Bella, my roommate."

"Of course," Rosalie shook my hand with one of her perfectly manicured ones. "Jasper and Edward told me that they finally met the famous Isabella Swan. I must admit that I was a bit jealous. I can't wait to tell mom and dad. They think you are a myth."

I flushed. I really hated being so famous, especially in a place that I didn't even live.

"Bella," Emmett said, clapping me on the shoulder. "I didn't expect to see you here tonight. What's up?"

I smiled nervously. Even though I had gotten to know Emmett as the smart and kind person that he was, his stature still intimidated me. "Hey, Emmett."

"You two know each other?" Rose asked.

"Bella saved my butt last semester in Physics," Emmett slapped me on the shoulder again, much harder than my small frame could handle. My knees buckled slightly but I managed not to fall over. "This girl is like, crazy smart."

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"Wow, Bella. You really are famous."

I turned red before I even saw him. Just hearing Edward's voice from the hallway made me want to run back out the front door. Although, I had a sneaking suspicion that my knees weren't functional. If I had tried to run I would have fallen down before I took one step towards the door.

"Yup," my voice croaked as Edward joined us. "Everybody seems to know who I am. Lucky me." I laid the sarcasm on a little thicker than was necessary.

"Well what are we doing standing around here," Emmett said. "Let's play."

********

"That's it, I give up!" After an hour and a half Alice hadn't really gotten the hang of the game. There were too many rules, too much math and not enough opportunity for normal conversation.

Jasper smiled at her. "Are you sure? You're doing pretty well for your first time."

"That's cuz you're playing for her, Jazz," Edward said.

Alice gave Jasper an apologetic look. "It's not really my thing."

"Why don't we play something else," Rosalie stood up and began to clear the table. "Let's find something that Alice and Bella actually know how to play. We'll pick this up next month."

The only other game in the house was Apples to Apples. It was one of the party sets with enough cards for about thirty people to play of they wanted to. This game moved much quicker and brought about conversation easier. It also helped that everybody was good at the game. Apples to Apples was a hard game to be bad at.

"Emmett, c'mon, those don't even make sense," Rosalie whined.

"You're just upset cuz he threw out your card," Jasper grinned at her.

Rose's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Please explain to me how a water bed can be spicy?"

Everybody laughed. Emmett didn't like to play fair. He picked what he thought was the funniest. Jasper just laughed at her like she was missing something.

"At least mine was a food," she grumbled.

"Sushi isn't spicy, love," Emmett kissed Rose on the top of the head. She swatted at him, but still smiled.

Emmett examined the two cards he was holding. "I'm going to have to give it to Bella."

"Yes!" I cheered, triumphantly taking the green adjective card from him.

"Penguins!" Rose shrieked. "How can they be spicy?"

"Depends on how you cook them," I smirked at her, passing out the new red cards to everyone.

Rose had to laugh.

"My turn," Edward sighed and pulled out a green card. "Primitive."

Five hands slapped down on the table. Edward gathered up the red cards. He read them all to himself then lay each of them face up on the table. "Amputations. Horseback riding. Hair transplants. Creamed corn. And Swiss cheese."

Everybody immediately began to argue his or her case. Some of the arguments were funny. I attempted to imply that no civilized human being would eat creamed corn, but Edward wasn't buying it.

"Do you remember Mr. Richards hair plugs?" Rosalie said casually.

Edward's eyes got big and he slid the card across the table to Rose. She chuckled and added the card her growing pile.

When six people played you only needed six green cards to win. Emmett, Alice and Edward all had five cards and it was my turn to pick.

I pulled the green card off the top and smiled to myself. This should be interesting.

"Alluring," I carefully enunciated the word.

After a moments pause five cards were slapped face down on the table. I gathered them together and turned them face up on the table one by one.

"Michael Jackson. Alice, ew. Tree huggers," I shook my head at Rosalie. "Hiccups?" I asked Jasper who shrugged. "Emmett, Bagpipes?"

"What? I'm Scottish. It reminds me of my heritage," he joked.

"It reminds me of someone trying to feed a live cat to a duck," I muttered. Rosalie snorted in agreement.

I looked at the last card. Without even saying anything I tossed the green card over to Edward, who chuckled. I blushed.

"I win," Edward proclaimed, a smug smile on his face.

"What? What did he put?" Emmett grabbed the card from me. "Vampires?" He laughed, making me go redder. "Wow, Bella. I didn't think you were that kind of girl." He waggled his eyebrows.

"Rose, smack him for me," I asked kindly.

"With pleasure." She smacked on the back of his head.

Emmett rubbed the back of his head, pouting at Rose. "Ow."

"Don't pretend like you don't deserve it," Rose smiled at him sweetly.

Emmett glared at me and I stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed.

"Alice, where did you find this girl?" Emmett pointed at me as I began to pick up the cards and put them back in the box. "Do you two dance together as well?"

I was about to respond, but Edward got there first. "Bella, dance? I don't think so," he laughed. "Bella is far too clumsy to be any kind of a dancer."

The room got quiet. Edward went on picking up cards, completely unaware in the change of atmosphere.

I stood there, staring at him for a moment. "Excuse me," I muttered and rushed out the door before anyone could even think of stopping me.

I tripped on my way down the stairs. As I caught myself on the banister my tears threatened to spill over. I was grateful that the rain had let up. It was late and rather cold outside. I had left my jacket in the apartment.

Once I had reached the bottom of the stairs I had decided that I was not leaving. I just needed to moment to collect my thoughts. True, Edward's response was almost the exact one that I had been prepared to give Emmett, but for some reason it sounded so much more hurtful coming from him.

Well, he has watched you fall a fair few times, part of me reasoned. He's caught you to. Maybe he deserves the right to be able to call you clumsy.

I wrapped my arms tighter around myself. It was just an observation, I told myself. He didn't mean anything by it. Anybody can see that you're clumsy. Why should it hurt more coming from him?

"Bella?"

I whirled around. Edward was standing on the stairs, watching me pace back and forth across the parking lot.

"Oh, hi. I'm just—," I looked around. For a wild moment I wished that I smoked just so I had a good reason to be outside in the cold.

Edward walked down the rest of the steps and over to me. He handed me my jacket. "It's kind of cold out here," he said kindly.

"Thanks," I mumbled, putting it on.

"Listen, Bella," he began. "I know at times I can be a little—" he fished for a word. He was staring at the concrete between his feet like the word he was looking for was scrawled on the sidewalk in chalk.

"Tactless?" I helped.

Edward smiled. "I guess. It's nicer than what Rose just called me anyway." He sighed and sat down on the bottom step. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," I brushed it off. "You didn't mean anything by it." It did feel better to hear him finally apologize, though.

"I'm glad you realized that Bella, but I wasn't just apologizing for what I said just now. I was apologizing for the way I've treated you since we first met." He looked up at me and gave me a sad smile.

I looked into Edward's eyes. For the first time ever I felt like he was really looking back at me. He was allowing me to see a part of him, something that he had never done before. Edward was telling me his true feelings about something.

"Anybody up there can tell you that I am not a people person." Edward shook his head. His eyes were wide and distant, but I had never felt closer to him. "I've never been very good at talking to other people. Rose and Jasper are just used to me out of habit. I don't realize it when I say something inappropriate. And I admit that I've been ruder to you than I have to most girls." He looked ashamed to admit this.

"Why?" I asked. I couldn't help but feel hurt.

"Girls are always trying to talk to me," he shrugged. "I am aware that I am attractive. Girls always want my attention. They want to talk to me and flutter their eyelashes at me. It's nauseating. It never seems to stop. But what's worse is if I talk to them, if I give them a chance to get to know me—they just leave. They don't want to talk to the nerdy guy. They don't want to date the guy who plays Dungeons and Dragons and goes to Star Wars marathons. They have no interest in a guy that has gone to Comic Con every year since he was twelve. I got sick of it, so I just started blocking those people out."

I was shocked. I had seen Edward get attention from the other girls in our class. I hadn't realized that his hostility was supposed to be some kind of warding device. Edward had been hurt by the way these girls treated him.

"Then you came along," he continued. "Smart, pretty. I hate to say it, but I figured that you were just like they were. I wanted you to be different, but I was afraid of you being the same. Every time you tried to get closer I would just put up another roadblock for you. You were willing to put with all of my crap just to get closer to me. And here you are. You are just to good to be true, you know that Bella?"

I was glad it was dark. I didn't want him to see just how badly I was blushing. He had called me pretty. No guy had ever called me pretty before. I was different than all those other girls. I was too good to be true. He had wanted me to be different. I did my best to contain a shriek.

"Bella," Edward's voice broke me out of my reverie. "I now that it wouldn't make up for the way that I've treated you, but do you think that we could drop all the pretense and just agree to be friends?"

My heart fell slightly. Friends? I had hoped that he had been working up to something else. A marriage proposal perhaps?

I sighed. No, he just wanted to be friends with me. I had read too much into his words. Edward was looking at me, but not with the insecure look of someone who had just revealed their heart. Nope, not for Bella. This perfect man just wanted to be friends. Well, I could live with that.

I smiled at him and nodded. "I think I can handle that."

Edward smiled brightly and stood up. "We'd better get back inside." He looked up at the sky. "It's going to start raining again any moment."

Edward held open the apartment door for me. When I walked in Alice gave me a hard stare. I shook my head at her. She deflated slightly. I knew that she was already attempting to come up with another plan.

"Hey you guys," Emmett called from his sitting position on the floor next to the coffee table. "Get your butts over here."

"What are we doing now?" I asked at I sat down next to him, Edward sitting on my other side.

I pondered the six shot glasses sitting on the table, my head cocked to the side.

Emmett grinned hugely at me and waved a bottle filled with amber colored liquid in my face. "We're playing 'I Never.'"

Long author's note, because I like to ramble about this chapter.

So, as you probably guessed, I know nothing about how to play D&D. I'd like to learn, but at the moment have no knowledge whatsoever, thus skipping over the finer points (or any points) of the game. Plus, even if I did, I probably wouldn't have put too much in, because well, it's kinda boring when you aren't the one playing it.

As I wrote the Apples to Apples part I actually just pulled random cards out of the deck, thus the strange answers. I actually pulled the 'vampire' card, no joke, and though 'this is perfect!' I believe that I even did a little dance because it worked so well.

So know we know about Edward's past. I know it's kind of lame reason for being a jerk, but Edward will never be good with girls. This was actually inspired by a friend of mine who is incredibly attractive (our codename for him was Adonis) and pretty geeky. Girls were always hitting on him, but could never have a conversation with him because they just didn't care about Star Wars as much as he did. In fact, his pestering was the only reason I watched it in the first place. But yeah, because of that he did develop quite an aversion to girls. Not in a jerky Edward way, but in more of a I'm going to be awkward and really quiet now way. Edward's awkward wave is also based off of him to. Yeah, geeky guys are silly.

So, sorry to end with a cliffhanger. Yeah, you're just going to have to wait and see what happens once Emmett gets some alcohol into Bella. ;)

Thanks for reading! :)