Disclaimer: I own not Twilight...SM does....I own a hairdryer that allegedly blows vitamins onto my hair...pft.

Surrender

EPOV

It just slipped out of my mouth. I didn't mean to invite her to the party, to leave myself with no escape. It wasn't even a general invite, I could have said that Alice and Jasper were invited too but I didn't. I had said I would like it very much if she would come. What was I thinking? I know what I was thinking; I was thinking that I'd never meet anyone else in the world who would understand why I kept some of my favourite CD's in the fridge and not have to explain the reasoning.

It could still be fine, she hadn't said she would come yet, she might be busy, she might have plans with Charlie or she might just not want to spend time with me. I stood awaiting a reply, my stomach lurching about like I was on a rollercoaster. Why wasn't it behaving? She bit down on her lip, looking up at me through her eyelashes again, fuck, why did she do that?

"Um...yeah...ok...I mean...are Alice and Jasper going too?"

"Yes, I expect they will be, once I ask them. It was Emmett's idea so I assume he will be asking Rosalie." She smirked at that.

"I think that Rosalie would gladly accept." Bella told me, giving me a proper smile for once. "Though I'm not too sure how happy Jasper will be."

"I think I'll just have to cope." Jasper had walked through the door, catching Bella's last comment with a wry smile on his face and Alice just behind him.

"I think it's lovely." Alice said. "At least Emmett will treat her better than her last boyfriend." She was alluding to something I had no idea about and very little interest, even though it was obviously a sore point for everyone in the kitchen but me.

"What are we going to do now?" Jasper slowly ran his hand up and down Alice's back as she leaned into him. He was another one who made it look so easy to let your guard down. He had been with Alice for years, never once questioning the love that he held for her. Never once being afraid to open up to her, regardless of how easy it would be for either of them to pick up and leave.

"Why don't we play truth or dare?" Suggested Alice with a wicked glint in her eye.

BPOV

All thoughts of Cullen's invitation were vanquished when Alice suggested truth or dare. Truth or dare? No way was that going to happen. The last time we played this I had been dared by Rosalie to flirt with Newton and look where that left me, fighting off his goddam hands every time he was near me.

"No." I told her, shaking my head. "Absolutely not. Anything but that."

"Oh, come on Bells, don't be like that."

"No. The last time we played that...it was humiliating, and now Newton won't leave me alone." Alice winced with the memory.

"Rosalie and I apologised for that." She pouted.

"And now I have to have a constant guard."

"Ok, so no truth or dare." Jasper decreed, and I thanked him with a nod. "How about a movie?"

"Fine, I'll concede to that." Cullen was leaning his long body against the counter, watching us with an amused quirk of his eyebrow.

Cullen agreed with a nod of his head and walked down to the entertainment room with us following. He threw himself down with a soft thump onto the couch as Jasper sat on one of the chairs and Alice sat curled on his lap like a contented kitten. I didn't know where to sit. Wasn't quite sure if I wanted to sit that close to Edward, but I sat beside him curling my feet under my body and leaning away from him into the arm of the couch.

"What are we going to watch?"

EPOV

It took half an hour to decide on a fucking movie, we were almost at an agreement when Rosalie and Emmett came down to see what we were doing and immediately discounted the three movies we were contesting. They sat on the other couch, leaning in towards each other and not touching but aware of the heat coming from each other, aware of the slightest movement. Bella was leaning as far away from me as possible, why did she sit beside me if she didn't want to be near me? I could feel the heat radiating from her body anyway, it didn't matter that she wasn't leaning towards me, I was convinced I could hear her heart beat I was paying so much attention to her.

"Well, what do you think Edward?" Emmett was shaking two DVD's at me.

"I don't give a shit." I growled at him for breaking through my thoughts, I wouldn't be able to concentrate on a movie anyway.

"Alright, three votes for Into the Wild, two for Almost Famous and one don't give a shit."

As far as ditching school goes this wasn't what I expected to happen. I'd done it before, but never with any other people. I had been fooled by the glamour of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. We didn't take our parent's prized car, we didn't sing in a parade and I didn't get to kiss the face off the girl I was in love with in a hot tub.

No, she's only sitting right beside you. That stupid little rebellious thought came through once again sounding suspiciously like Alice. Maybe there was someone Carlisle worked with I could talk to, someone who was qualified to tell me what I already knew. That I was completely and irrevocably fucking crazy.

Bella's eyes didn't stray from the screen once, whilst mine wouldn't be drawn to the screen no matter how hard I tried. I watched everybody as they watched the movie in the glow from the screen. I noticed when Emmett pulled the classic yawn followed by the arm around Rosalie which made her face glow and left a small smile pulling at her mouth as she leaned further into his body. Emmett caught my eye and smirked smugly at me before gesturing I should do the same before my glare made him return his attention to the movie.

Alice was staring too intently at the screen as I shifted my gaze to her and Jasper, sitting entwined on the chair. She had a knowing smirk on her face and I wondered how much she had caught. Whether she was smirking at Emmett putting his arm around Rosalie or at Emmett's gesturing toward me I did not know. Jasper had a similar smirk and I didn't think that his sister being hit on would elicit that from him.

But mostly, throughout the movie and under the cover of almost complete darkness, I watched Bella. I saw her forehead frown when Chris McCandless left his family behind without much of a thought, as if she could never do such a thing, but it smoothed quickly afterwards when his adventures began. I wanted to know what she thought about McCandless. I wanted to know what she thought of his character and if she empathised in any way, wanted to know if living a nomadic lifestyle appealed to her. What I really wanted to know was if I took off to Alaska, would she come with me?

I sighed loudly and let my head thump backwards onto the couch whilst I closed my eyes. There was an almost imperceptible shift beside me, when I opened my eyes Bella was staring at me.

"Are you ok?" She whispered.

"Yes." I whispered back to her, leaning my head in towards her so that I didn't distract anyone from the movie. "What do you think of the film?"

"I've seen it about a hundred times." She smiled softly at me, leaning her head closer and her body moving closer as a consequence. "I'm still on the fence about him though. Part of me admires him, but another part doesn't understand."

"Me too. Sometimes I think it would be amazing, but then I think about how Esme and Carlisle would feel if I took off, and how bad I would feel about leaving them behind." Her hand had slipped down onto the sofa to support her weight as she leaned closer to me. I let my hand drop down, casually.

"Exactly." She smiled at me, her face brightening, before she bit her lip again.

Our heads were only inches apart and I could feel the eyes of everyone else in the room flicking from the screen to us and back again, torn between wanting to know what we were saying and wanting to give us privacy. Her hair smelled like strawberries as always, and I realised what that I other scent that always surrounded her was, freesias.

"So, you are definitely coming to the party?" I barely spoke the question, too aware of listening ears.

"So long as you want me to." She answered me, still unsure about our fragile almost friendship.

My thumb acted of its own accord. It extended and stroked the back of her small, soft, smooth hand. The sharp electricity was there again and I heard her sharp intake of breath. Pausing my gentle caress I sure she was about to rip her hand out from under my own. She didn't move, didn't flinch away, didn't call me out for touching her uninvited. What she did was turn her palm up, locking her fingers with mine and stroked across my hand with her own thumb. I resumed my light thumb stroking as my heart felt like it was about to burst.

"I really do, Bella." Smiling, she looked up at me from under those beautiful lashes again, a blush creeping across her cheeks and I knew it was no use. I couldn't stay away from this girl.

A/N: Hello peeps. Read it? Enjoyed it? Review it? Hell, even recommend it your friends and neighbours. I'm a sucker for a thought out genuine review...it makes me all misty eyed.

Party is still a couple of chapters away...one longish and one shortish...they will be up as soon as I have written them. Lots to do again this week so it may be next weekend...hopefully sooner.

I was considering maybe doing an Alice/Jasper POV...maybe an Emmett POV as well, to give an insight into Edward circa Chicago and before...am not sure so don't hold me to it...just thought I'd put it out there and see what the reaction is.

Big hugs to all you faithful as usual...be good till next time!