Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

BELLA

I sat in my parked car, hands still planted firmly on the steering wheel, staring up at my apartment building. I was trying to delay the inevitable. I had been sitting there for quite some time, and yet I still didn't know what to tell Jacob. I felt so emotionally drained; a huge blowup with Jake was the last thing I wanted to deal with.

Should I lie? Of course I'm going to lie! Like I could actually tell him the truth about Edward. "Hey Jake… I just spent the past ten hours baring my soul to the most gorgeous man on the planet. Don't worry, though, nothing happened. Girl Scout's honor." Yep, definitely going to have to lie. It's not like I'm ever going to see Edward again, anyway…

My stomach lurched as I thought about that fact. I couldn't believe I didn't give him my phone number. I truly was a masochist. Apparently, I would rather remain "comfortable" in a loveless relationship than actually feel something.

With a final look in the rearview mirror to assure that all evidence of crying had been erased, I mustered up all the courage I could and headed toward the building.

I quietly shut the door to my apartment and inspected the scene. Our place was very small: a living room/kitchen combination, a bathroom, and a bedroom. It's all we could afford in the city. To be honest, we couldn't even afford that. Sunlight was spilling in through the cracks in the blinds, illuminating the hardwood floors. Thankfully, Jacob wasn't awake and waiting for me.

I tiptoed to the bedroom and threw on a pair of pajama pants. Jacob was lying in bed, his back turned away from the spot where I should have been lying next to him. As I watched him sleep, I felt a pang of guilt. He looked so angelic in his slumber, his dark hair fanned around his face, reminding me of a time when he truly was my best friend. We used to have so much fun together. We used to laugh. After we moved to Chicago, things started going downhill. It was painfully obvious that he resented me for wanting to move, but I didn't force him to come with me. He had made that decision on his own.

I noiselessly slipped into bed beside him, turning my back away from his. As my head hit the pillow, I heard him stir.

"Where the hell have you been?" His voice was eerily calm, but I could tell he was trying to bite back the rage.

"I'm sorry, Jake. Angela had an awful day and I spent the night with her. She really needed a friend." I bit my lip, hoping he would buy it. Angela was the only friend I had made in the city, and I felt bad for using her as an excuse, but it was the first thing that came to my mind. "I lost my cell phone-"

"I know," he snapped. "It's in the living room. Who's Mike?"

"Mike?" I replied, confused. "He's a friend from Forks. Why?"

"Why is he texting you?"

Anger washed over me as I realized what he was implying. "You seriously went through my phone?"

"Well, if you're screwing around on me, I have the right to know!" He sprang up, angrily, and grabbed my wrist. "Bella, sit up. Look at me."

I hesitantly turned toward him. "Are you screwing around on me?" His eyes were so full of intensity, so full of anger.

"No. And if I was, it sure as hell wouldn't be with Mike Newton," I spat. I know I should have just left it at 'no,' but I was so angry about his snooping that it just slipped out.

"I swear to God, if I find out that you're cheating on me, I'm going to-"

I glared at him. "You're going to what, Jacob? Make me pay? Hit me? What?" I knew he would never actually inflict physical harm on me, but I didn't like the tone of voice he was using.

His eyes, as well as his grip on my wrist, softened a little. "You know I wouldn't, Bells. But I moved to this stupid city for you. Don't forget that."

"I know," I sighed, shaking my wrist free from his grasp. How could I forget? He reminded me of that fact at least once a week.

"Do you think I like being thousands of miles away from my family, my friends? I did it for you."

"I know." The irritation in my voice was apparent. I was not in the mood for the guilt trip. "I'm not cheating on you, Jacob. I promise. I'm very tired, though, and I could really use some sleep."

"All right." I was surprised - and relieved - at how easily he had given in. I was expecting much worse. "How tired are you?" He raised an eyebrow, quirking his head to the side.

I winced, knowing exactly what the look on his face meant. Before I could reply, his lips were on mine. I squeezed my eyes shut tight as I halfheartedly attempted to swallow the lump in my throat and kiss him back.

I kept my eyes closed the entire time Jacob made love to me. I tried to push it to the back of my mind, but something felt so wrong, so off. Afterwards, I rolled onto my side, turning my back to him. He kissed the back of my shoulder before turning away from me.

I cried myself to sleep that morning.

EDWARD

I still can't believe I let her walk away.

I stood on that sidewalk, my mind in a complete haze as I watched her rush, almost sprint, to her car. If only I would have had the sense to run after her, to call her name, or even to yell "Hey, Bella, what's your last name?"

Ugh, I didn't even know her last name. I knew her entire life story; I knew that she dreamed of becoming a writer and traveling to Europe. I knew that her parents were divorced, that she loved them both dearly, but couldn't stand to be around them. I knew that she once rode her bicycle right off of a small bridge, resulting in a crescent shaped scar on her hand where she had caught herself on the rocks below. I knew that she had worked very hard at battling her own personal demons and was determined to come out stronger. But I didn't even know her last name.

My body felt ridiculously heavy as I walked home that morning. Fatigue was setting in as a result of staying awake until 6am, but my mind was still racing with thoughts of Bella. The time I had spent with her had been exhilarating. It may sound cheesy, but it was as if she had awakened every single one of my senses. The feelings that she gave me were so foreign, so exciting. The sudden realization that Chicago has a population of almost 3 million – and that I would possibly never see her again – was enough to knock the wind out of me. This girl – this perfect, perfect girl – had been dangled in front of me, and then snatched away before I even had a chance to enjoy it. I felt like I had been gutted.

I slept for 15 hours that day, those sparkling brown eyes torturing me the entire time.

"Edward! Ground control to Edward! Are you even listening to me?" My brother Emmett's words snapped me back to the present.

"Uh, yeah. I'm here." He had called me at work, blathering on about some New Year's Eve party that I was apparently attending.

"Anyway, as I was saying, this chick is one of Rosalie's friends. The party is at her boss's place. Dude, it's supposed to be an amazing house." As he continued to drone on, I let myself slip back into my thoughts.

It had been three months since I'd met Bella, and I still thought about the damn girl every day.

I ate dinner at that stupid little diner every Friday since, in hopes that she would subconsciously (or even better, consciously) head back there. She never showed. Sometimes I would follow it up with a trip to our bar, willing her to walk through that front door while simultaneously trying to drink away her memory. Again, never showed. I Googled "Bella" and "Chicago," but all I could find were Italian restaurants and strippers. I was a man obsessed.

As the weeks passed, I had sincerely come to wonder if it had all been some elaborate, cruel dream, brought on by the paint fumes. I tried to push her out of my mind, but I occasionally caught myself looking for her as I wandered the streets of Chicago. There had been a time or two when the sight of wavy, brown hair made my heart skip a beat, but it was never her. This girl had existed in my life for ten hours, yet I let her consume my thoughts every day of my life. It was irrational. It was excruciating. I was a complete and utter mess.

"Okay, then it's settled. I'll let Rosalie know that you'll be Tanya's date for the party."

"What? Date? What date?" I replied, realizing I had been daydreaming again.

"Seriously? Edward, you've been so freaking spacey lately. Did you even hear a word I said?" My brother's voice dripped with annoyance.

"Well, I heard something about a party. But who is Tanya? And why do I have to be her date?"

Emmett sighed, clearly exasperated. He explained the situation to me again, speaking each word as if he were explaining it to a small child. "Tanya is Rosalie's friend. She moved here not too long ago. You are going to be her date because she was nice enough to invite Rose and me to her new boss's sweet house for New Year's. And, besides, you could use a little female companionship… you've been working way too hard, bro."

That much was true. I had completely immersed myself in my work as part of Operation: Forget Bella. I wasn't sure that I was quite ready for a huge blowout, though, especially one with a blind date attached to it. It's not as if I was holding onto the hope that Bella would magically reemerge into my life, it's just that… okay, that was totally it. I was pathetic.

"I don't know…"

"Sorry, bro, it's a done deal," Emmett cut me off. "No backing out. It'll be good for you, trust me. Your big brother would never steer you wrong."

I rolled my eyes at that sentiment. My big brother would absolutely steer me wrong, and he has. Numerous times. I could tell this wasn't an argument that I was going to win, though, so I didn't even bother protesting. Perhaps this blind date would be exactly what I needed to get the thoughts of Bella out of my head. The fact that she was Rosalie's friend was a bit troubling, though. Rosalie was Emmett's girlfriend, and she wasn't exactly the sweetest, purest woman on the block.

"Fine," I agreed hesitantly. "I'll take her to the party."

"Awesome! I'll let Rose know!"

"Great," I replied, unable to match Emmett's enthusiasm. "Listen, Em, I really have to get back to work."

"That's cool." I could almost hear the smirk in his voice as he added, "And don't worry about it, bro… you'll have no problem kissing this girl at midnight."

"Goodbye, Emmett." As I hung up the phone, I began mentally preparing myself for this party, this date. It was still three days away, but I had to try and remember what it was like to act like a normal human being. I had to try and remember how to interact and socialize with people. I had to try and remember how I felt before I developed this inexplicable gaping hole in my chest. I… was screwed.

BELLA

My days passed slowly, a haze of work and sleep. It had been weeks since that fateful day with Edward, but the aching in my chest had yet to subside. I occasionally visited that bench that overlooked Lake Michigan, praying that he would show up. He never did.

As I sat on that bench, I thought about our conversation that night. I couldn't help but wonder if he ever thought about me, ever wondered how I was doing. Surely, he didn't. There was no way I had affected him in the same way that he affected me. He was so beautiful, so charming; he could have any girl he wanted. Hell, I followed him to a bar, then to a desolate bench, without so much as knowing his last name. I was just a blip on his radar. That didn't make it hurt any less, though.

"Bella, you're going to be late for work!" Jake's voice boomed through the apartment, violently ripping me from my thoughts. I looked at the clock and quietly swore to myself. I was going to be late.

I flew out of bed, finger-combing my hair as I rushed to my closet. I threw on a pair of pinstripe slacks and a black button-down shirt. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?" I yelled.

"Wasn't paying attention," was Jacob's simple reply. I ran out to the living room, where he sat, already engrossed in his damn video games.

"Thanks so much." I darted to the kitchen, knocking over our tiny Christmas tree in the process. It was more pathetic than Charlie Brown's tree, but I insisted we needed something to celebrate our first Christmas in Chicago. I had visions of decorating it together while listening to holiday music and sipping hot cocoa. In reality, I decorated it myself while Jake was out at the bar. It took me all of two minutes.

"Can you clean this up for me? I don't have time," I pleaded, grabbing a banana and heading to the door. Jacob grunted some sort of response as I flew out into the hallway.

As I sped to work, I slipped back into my thoughts. I had developed a disturbing habit of overanalyzing everything Jacob did, and imagining how Edward would have acted in the same situations. It was creepy, but it got me through my days. Take the Christmas tree incident, for example. Jacob wanted nothing to do with it, opting to go out and get smashed with his buddies instead. While I trimmed the tree solo that night, I imagined that Edward would have loved to have helped me. He probably would have insisted on a bigger tree: one so tall, he'd have to place the star on top because I couldn't reach that high. He would've snuggled with me on the couch as we sipped hot chocolate and watched It's a Wonderful Life.

I was completely aware of the fact that I was idealizing Edward in my head. Hell, sometimes I wondered if the only place Edward had actually ever existed was in my head, a manifestation of my loneliness. It seemed more and more plausible each day.

As I burst into my office, I glanced at the clock. Somehow, I managed to only be three minutes late. Nobody would even notice. I settled into my desk, ready to start my work day.

"Morning, Bella!" I looked up from my desk to see the new secretary standing over me, two steaming cups of coffee in her hands. She handed one of the Styrofoam cups to me. "Black, just like you like it."

"Thanks," I replied, trying to force a smile. She was always so sweet to me, yet I couldn't bring myself to fully trust her. She had been brought in by the company to help relieve me of some of my duties, which I very much appreciated, but I didn't like the fact that I had to share my office with her.

I watched as she sauntered back over to her desk. It was painfully obvious why she had been hired in the first place. Her long, blonde hair spilled over her shoulders, framing the ridiculous cleavage that peaked out of her button-down shirt. She was the only woman in the office who perpetually wore miniskirts and high heels, even in the freezing Chicago weather. She was always perfectly made up and perfectly manicured. She was my exact opposite.

In any other situation, I'm fairly certain I would have resented her, or at least had felt threatened by her. Her presence in my particular office, though, was beneficial to me as she now took the brunt of the sexual harassment by the men in charge. A major difference between her and me, though, was the fact that she seemed to enjoy it. What felt like harassment to me, was merely flirting to her. More power to her, I guess. As long as she kept them off my back, I was content.

"Bella," she called, shimmying back into her chair.

"Hmm?"

"Are you going to Mr. Palmer's New Year's Eve party?" she asked, referring to the huge gathering our boss had invited us to.

"I'm not sure," I hesitated. "I'm just trying to focus on making it through Christmas."

She laughed. "I know what you mean. Things are so hectic around the holidays."

She didn't know what I meant, though. She was thinking of shopping, of buying her family presents, of preparing delicious Christmas hams and cookies, of all that wonderful, crazed holiday nonsense. I, on the other hand, was thinking about how lonely this holiday was making me feel, despite the fact that I had a boyfriend at home whom I saw every day of my life. I was thinking about how I was going to make it through Christmas day, through all those guilt-tripping phone calls from my parents, through all the guilt-tripping from Jacob for being away from "home" during the holidays.

"I would really like to see you at the party, though," she continued. "I would love to have a chance to hang out with you outside of work, you know? I think we could be friends." She flashed her shockingly white teeth at me in a sincere smile.

"Friends," I smiled back. "That would be nice, Tanya."

Author's note: Oooh, see what I did there? ;) I think you all know where this is going!

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read and review my first chapter! Your reviews made my heart swell with happiness, and I can only hope that you enjoyed the second chapter! I know it was a bit uneventful, but it was necessary to transition the story to where I want it to be.

The next chapter is already half done, so it should be up within a few days, if not sooner. If you have the time, let me know what you think!