Chapter 3

"The reason I froze up was because that man… He's Mr. Jackbackside."

Alice and Rosalie met my eyes. Then they shared a glance and simultaneously burst out laughing.

"That's Mr. Jackbackside? Oh my God!" Rosalie choked out.

"Rose! It's not funny! Stop it!" I slapped their arms. "This isn't good!"

"Bella!"

Charlie, my dad, had spotted us. Now I had no more time to mentally prepare myself.

Charlie stood up, beckoning us to the table. I saw Mr Jackbackside look up to see who "Bella" was and I caught the shocked look on his face. He obviously recognised me. I scowled inwardly when the shock on his face morphed into a smug smirk.

Alice and Rose finally calmed down, and Alice gripped my shoulders to propel me forward.

"Come on Bella, we have to go. "

I sighed and conceded. When we got to the table, I hugged my parents.

"Hi Mom, Hi Dad."

"Hi honey, this is Dr. Jacob Black. He's your age, and he works at the hospital with Jasper. His parents go to our country club, Isn't that nice?" asked Mom. She was so eager to introduce the man to me she said it all in one breath.

"Of course it is," I replied, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. For the sake of being polite, I extended my hand to Mr. Jackbackside. "Nice to meet you, doctor. I'm Isabella."

Still wearing his smirk, he shook my hand .

"Not as nice as it is to meet you, Isabella. Call me Jacob," he hinted. Too bad, I thought, you don't get the privilege of calling me Bella.

Rosalie, Alice and I took our seats. I deliberately took the furthest seat from Mr. Jackbackside. I was seated between Rosalie and Alice. Next to Alice was an empty chair for Jasper, and then there was Jacob's seat. I pitied Jasper for having to sit next to him.

My parents and Jacob had decided to wait for us before ordering, so within five minutes of our arrival, a waiter approached our table to take our orders.

My parents both ordered some rich people dish with caviar and duck. I mentally rolled my eyes at them. Why did they feel the need to order the most expensive things just because they thought high society people did it? I would never understand that.

Rosalie and Alice both ordered soups and salads, and Alice ordered a spaghetti dish for Jasper. I decided on the fettuccine alfredo.

Mr. Jackbackside hesitated, then earned a glare from me by saying, "I think I'll have the same as Bella- what's good enough for her is good enough for me."

My mother couldn't suppress an "aww" at this, and made a comment about how cute Jacob and I would be together, to which I responded indignantly that I had just met him and it was a bit early to say something like that.

"We'll see," was her response.

I fixed a stern stare on her that plainly asked of her, " How many times do I have tell you not to set me up with anyone before it actually sinks in?"

She stared back defiantly, seeming to say, " Isabella Marie Swan, you WILL like this boy!"

I rolled my eyes at her and her expression turned disapproving at my rude display. Everyone at the table was silent, sensing the tension between me and my mother.

Luckily, at that moment, Jasper arrived. He comically tripped over his untied shoelaces, and once we were sure he was alright, everyone but Alice (who continued to fuss over him) burst out laughing. The uncomfortable silence and tense mood were instantly dispelled.

The rest of dinner went relatively smoothly. We talked about inconsequential things, like work and Project Runway. The one thing we all had in common, even Mr. Jackbackside, was that we were all annoyed at the judges for eliminating Shirin. She was our favourite.

At the end of the meal when we were all getting ready to leave, I realized I had no way to get home. Alice was leaving with Jasper and my parents lived nowhere close to my apartment. Maybe Rose could give me a lift.

"Rose," I asked as we all stood up to leave, "could you give me a ride home?"

"Of cour-" she began, but was interrupted by my mother.

"But, why doesn't Jacob drop you home? I'm sure he'd have no objections," Mom said with a smile.

"But-" I started to say, but Mr. Jackbackside interrupted me.

"No, of course I'll take Bella home," he said . I glared at him.

I tried to make an objection, but I was cut off yet again by my mother saying that it was more convenient if Jacob dropped me home since my apartment was less out of the way for him than it was for Rosalie.

I couldn't think of any other argument, so I grudgingly said goodbye to everyone and got into Mr Jackbackside's silver convertible Mercedes Benz.

"So where do you live," he asked as he started the car. In a harsh voice I barked out directions to him. I caught the taken aback look on his face at my tone as he pulled out of the parking space and I instantly felt guilty.

I realized I was treating him unfairly. After all, all he'd done was try to chat up a girl he met in Subway. He was only one out of the thousands of people who'd tried that already.

I really was overreacting . Just because I didn't want a man in my life at the moment didn't mean I had to treat the other sex in such an appalling way. By now Mr Jackbac- Jacob. By now, Jacob must think I'm a bitch, what with all the glares and attempted rejections. And calling him Mr Jackbackside. Even though he didn't know I did it, I really should stop. Eventually I'd make slip and call him that to his face. Or worse- to my mother. That would NOT be good.

Maybe Jacob Black wasn't arrogant. Maybe he just seemed that way to me at Subway because I was looking for a reason to reject him. Maybe I should give him a chance.

I was going to apologize to him. Maybe even make friends with him.

I worked up the courage to say it and spit it out before I could back down.

"Jacob, I'm sorry I'm being such a bitch to you!"

"What?" He turned to stare at me incredulously.

"Eyes on the road!"

"Oh, right, sorry!" he said as he fixed his attention on the street in front of him.

"I'm sorry for acting like a bitch, Jacob. I'm happy being alone in my life for now, so when you tried to chat me up in Subway, I got on the defensive side. I was mean to you so that you would take a hint and stop hitting on me. See, I really don't need a man in my life, a fact that my mother will never understand, so being hit on is really annoying.""Wha-" he began, but I cut him off.

"Let me finish. I've just realized how unfairly I've been treating you, so I have to say I'm sorry. About dinner too. My mother must have given you false hopes, talking about her daughter who 'really wants to meet you.' That's what she tells every guy she tries to set me up with. She doesn't get that I'm perfectly fine on my own. It's annoying. But that's no excuse for the way I've been treating you. I'm sorry for acting like this without giving you a chance. You don't deserve that."He paused for a while.

"I'm sorry too, I guess. For pushing myself on you like that when you obviously didn't want me too. I shouldn't have been so cocky. I hope you can forgive me, Isabella," he said with sincerity in his voice. He really was starting to seem like a nice guy, once I got past my prejudices.

"Call me Bella," I said with a smile that let him know he was forgiven. "D you think we can start over?"

I realized he'd just pulled up in front of my apartment building. He grinned.

"Well, hey there Bella! I'm Jacob. Think we can be friends?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*A weekend passed and Monday came. It was July 2nd. Emmett's graduation was the next day, which meant that my parents were flying out to Florida that night, and they would be back, bringing Emmett, on Wednesday the 4th. I was so excited to see him again!

He'd be back, 23 years old and with a law degree. My father had already worked everything out so that Emmett already had a job. He'd be working in the law firm owned by my parents. You'd think that a lawyer would have a grim, foreboding personality, but that would never be Emmett. He was like a friendly huggable huge bear. (But if you got on his bad side, I would pity you…)

Anyway, the weekend that had just passed was a cheerful one. On Friday, Jacob and I went out for drinks after work, AS FRIENDS. I realized I was right in thinking that he seemed arrogant to me because I was looking for a reason not to like him. He was really a nice guy.

On Saturday, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, Jacob and I went out to lunch. It turned out that Jasper didn't mean what he said before about not like Jacob. They were actually really good friends. He'd just said it because his "big brother instincts" were kicking in. But he was alright now that he was sure I like Jacob as nothing more than a friend.

Sunday was spent in my apartment all alone. Alice was with Jasper somewhere off gallivanting in New York city, so I had the day to relax. I slept late and when I got up, I was content to sit out on the balcony and read my much worn out copy of Wuthering Heights. Eventually I got restless, so I got up and baked some cupcakes. Of course, when Alice and Jasper returned home and Rose came over, those cupcakes didn't last long.

When I got up for work on Monday morning, for some reason I felt excited and energetic. I was actually awake before Alice. I had a good feeling about the day.

During the night, I'd dreamt about the green-eyed, bronze-haired guy again. It was a nice dream, though it simply consisted of me laying in his arms in the middle of a breathtaking meadow with him whispering sweet nothings in my ear. It made for a restful sleep, and I was eager to begin my day.

Alice, Rose and I went to work as usual. In between serving customers ( who, by some miracle, were NOT scarce today), we started planning a welcome home party for Emmett. We'd decided to have it on Thursday after work, so he'd have time to rest and get over his jet lag. Alice decided that we should go looking for outfits to wear during our lunch hour.

"Whatever you say, Boss," Rose and I responded simultaneously. We giggled at Alice's scowl.

The excitement from this morning had not yet worn off. For once I was looking forward to shopping with Alice.

"I have one qualification though," I said as Alice hung the 'Closed for lunch sign on the door. "Can we shop on a budget? I don't really like spending my parents money even they don't mind it."

"Fine," she responded. "We can go to TJ Maxx, and whatever we find there I'll take home and Alice-fy it so that we have totally unique, gorgeous outfits.""And there's nothing we love better than an Alice-fied outfit," Rose interjected. We all burst into a fit of giggles.

Five minutes later, we entered the closest TJ Maxx outlet. The excitement inside of me got out of hand. I was hyper. Not hyper like Alice on coke, but just bouncy and overly happy. Something good was coming, I could feel it. I just didn't know what.

We went to the section with dresses and Alice immediately began pulling some off their racks. She dumped about 6 dresses in my arms and about the same for Rose. She then gathered about the same amount. Then we dispersed into different dressing rooms to try on our clothes.

I set down the pile of dresses in my dressing room and held up the first one. Despite the bubbly feeling, I felt annoyance at Alice. The dress was red, with a plunging neckline and slits halfway up the thighs. It was gorgeous of course, but something I would never have the self esteem to wear.

Dress in hand, I marched out of my dressing room and over to the one that I thought Alice had gone into.

"Mary Alice Brandon, how dare you try to put me in something this slutty?!" I exclaimed in an annoyed, slightly angry tone. I threw the dress over the door.

I heard a soft chuckle from the other side of the door that most definitely was NOT Alice. A jittery feeling coursed through me at the sound, and I was instantly calm again.

"Um, miss? This is the men's dressing room…" came the velvety male voice from the other side of the door. My cheeks warmed. There was something about that voice- I'd heard it before, but I wasn't too sure where. But the sound of that voice made a pleasant feeling was over me, almost dispelling my embarrassment, but not quite strong enough to do that. I doubt there was anything in the world strong enough to override my embarrassment.

"Oh… I'm so sorry sir," I stuttered. "Could you pass that dress back to me? I have a pixie to go scold."With another laugh that had my brain turning into mush, he complied. In the act of passing the dress to me, his fingers brushed against mine. A jolt of electricity branched out from the area he touched to the rest of my body. I felt like I'd melted. I was lost and I stood right there for what felt like hours, but must have only been milliseconds.

I gathered my thoughts and got back to reality.

"Ahem…well… sorry again, sir," I sounded out. I hurried away back to my dressing room, forgetting about scolding Alice for the dress.

When I got back to the dressing room, I did something that I'd only seen done in movies and always wanted to do. The movie thing was partly the reason I wanted to do it, but I also did it because the emotions I felt made the actions feel natural…

I closed the door and leaned against it, clutching the red dress as if it were my lifeline. I inhaled the scent of it- I couldn't really explain why I did that. Maybe I was hoping to catch the scent of the mystery dude, I don't know.

I was in a happy daze. Just from brushing fingers with some random guy I didn't even know over a TJ Maxx dressing room door. I didn't even know his name or what he looked like. What was wrong with me?

I didn't know his name! Normally I would have felt dumb when I realized I hadn't gotten his name, but I didn't feel that was now. I was floating on a cloud of contentment. Somehow, I felt I wasn't MEANT to know his name, not yet. That was an odd feeling. Something that I'd never imagined feeling.

Strange, wasn't it, that no one could ever make me feel this way before, but the one to evoke these emotions was a complete and total stranger?

At that moment, a phone in the dressing room next to me went off. The ring tone was a Michael Jackson song.

"The way you make me feel

(the way you make me feel)

You really turn me on

(you really turn me on)

You knock me off of my feet

(you knock me off of my feet)

My lonely days are gone

(my lonely days are gone)"

I burst out laughing. How ironic.

"Oh wow," I sighed. "Oh me, Oh my…"