Author's Note: This chapter will show you all a glimpse into Bella's past with the return of someone she certainly doesn't want to see. There will be only a little drama in this story as I am aiming to make it funnier and lighter than This Time is Ours. There will definitely be no angst.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters. I just like to have a little fun with them =)

When I woke up the next morning I was still cursing the damn delivery boy and also my alarm clock. I had been having an amazing dream featuring Edward, the kind that made me blush just thinking about it, it was also the kind one would never want to end. I sighed rolling out of bed and pulling on my workout gear, there was no way I could go to work feeling as wound up as I felt right now. I made my way out to the kitchen where Alice was perched on a stool sipping a cup of green tea.

"Morning!" she chirped, "I thought I'd wait for you in case you were going for a run, turned out to be a good idea" she said smiling at me.

I attempted to smile in response which probably looked like a grimace. It wasn't something I was particularly good at on any given morning let alone one where I was feeling more agitated than normal.

"So how was your date with Jasper last night?" I asked Alice as we jogged down the front steps of our apartment. It was incredibly cold this morning; I shivered slightly hoping I would warm up soon.

"Oh forget about that!" Alice exclaimed, "How was your night in with Edward?" she asked her tone dripping with implication.

"How did you know about that?" I asked surprised.

"Bella, Bella, Bella when will you learn?" she teased, "I know everything that goes on around here, I have my sources" she added with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes, she was right but how she knew everything and saw everything was beyond me.

"It was great, we had fun" I replied shrugging my shoulders. I could play her game, it would drive her nuts. "You should know that though right? Seen as you know everything" I teased.

Alice shot me a look that would have been scary if I didn't know her so well and if there wasn't a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Smart ass" she replied, "But really Bells, some details, please?"

"I told him about Riley, well more like I randomly blurted it out in conversation" I told her, Alice and Rose both knew I broke up with Riley last night seen as I had told them before I went round to break the news. She laughed and then nodded indicating for me to continue. "Uh and then I may have insinuated I had feelings for him."

Alice squealed. "Okay you have to tell me word for word what went down" she demanded.

As we ran I gave her a full account of what happened and Alice was thrilled that I was finally taking steps towards making a move on Edward. I wasn't in a rush to make that move yet, I felt I should respect Riley by waiting for a little while before hooking up with someone else. We headed home and I showered and got ready for work, since it was so damn cold today I dressed in a simple tailored charcoal grey suit with a ruffled white dress shirt. I put on some black pumps which I instantly regretted when I pulled up at Starbucks to get my morning caffeine fix. The ground was icy and definitely not the ideal terrain for heels.

I grinned to myself as I remembered the rainy morning when I was wearing a similar pair of death trap heels and was rescued by the sexy green eyed Adonis known as Edward Cullen. I grabbed my coffee and headed for the office, bumping into Mike in the lift.

"Happy Friday Bella" he greeted me holding the lift so I could slip in.

"Morning Mike" I replied sipping my coffee.

"So office Christmas party next Friday" he said making conversation.

"Oh yeah it is too" I replied surprised, "That had actually slipped my mind." That wasn't surprising, the lead up to Christmas had been madness so far and it was the perfect time of year to get new future best sellers on the shelf.

Mike looked at me as though I was crazy, "Really? I've been looking forward to it for months" he replied. Of course he had, a night where you could let your hair down in front of your work mates and drink copious amounts of liquor since the company was picking up the tab. Plus in Mike's case it meant finally having an excuse to hit on the female staff without being served with a sexual harassment complaint.

"Anyway" he continued, "Are you bringing a date?"

Great, this was the kind of territory I always wanted to avoid when it came to Mike. "Umm I'm not sure" I replied hesitantly.

"You aren't bringing your boyfriend?" Mike questioned.

I could almost see the danger signs flashing as we got out of the lift and strolled down the hall to the board room for out weekly meeting. "Uh no we broke up."

"Oh" he said sounding pleased with my answer, "When did that happen?" he asked.

"Recently" I replied not wanting to provide any further details.

"Well in that case maybe we could go together?" he asked me.

Danger signs were definitely flashing now along with alarm bells sounding loudly. "I was thinking of bringing a friend" I blurted out, this was a part truth. While we were talking I pondered briefly about asking Edward to come with me, but wondered if that might be weird?

"Oh well I'm sure we can hang out there anyway" Mike replied not sounding fazed at all. Great there was just no deterring him, he was like an overly friendly golden retriever except for the fact that he could talk and make sexual innuendos whenever he had the chance.

I walked into the meeting room and sat down next to Angela while Mike went and made himself a coffee. "Hey Bella" she greeted me, "Mike bothering you again?"

"Morning Ange, of course he is, I think it's his mission in life" I told her.

She smirked at me, "Maybe we should set him up with someone, then he might leave you alone" she suggested.

"I wonder if that would work" I mused out loud.

"Worth a try" she muttered as Mike plonked himself down in the chair next to me.

"Yo Angela" Mike said. I rolled my eyes at Ange; Mike could be such a tool sometimes.

"Morning" she replied shooting me a look that made me almost choke on my coffee.

After the meeting I headed back to my office with Angela discussing our plans for the weekend. Angela was bringing Ben out with our group on Saturday night for dinner and drinks. It sounded tame but let me assure you, with people like Emmett joining us it would be anything but. She was also going to join us on a girls shopping day on Saturday, we all had a few more Christmas presents to pick up.

"Meet you for lunch at twelve?" Angela asked pausing outside her office door.

"Sounds great" I replied.

I immersed myself in my work, Midnight Sun was finally due for release on Monday morning I had successfully completed all the necessary work there and now had to concentrate on working my way through a giant pile of new drafts to find the next few worthy of being published.

I made quick work of dividing up the drafts into piles for each of my staff to look through. I was lucky to find that there were actually quite a few promising looking manuscripts amongst some truly crappy ones.

After a while I decided to take a break opting to check my Facebook page for the first time in a few days. I logged on and worked my way through the various notifications, Alice had tagged me in some photos from the last weekend we all went out. Thankfully she had only posted photos that made look good and not like a drunken mess.

Rose had tagged me in a few too and Renee had posted a message on my wall. I wrote her a quick comment promising to call her this weekend and went back to the newsfeed to quick everyone else's status updates.

Emmett had posted 'Finally Friday, whoop whoop. Pizza and beers tonight with Rosalie Hale, Edward Cullen, Bella Swan, Alice Brandon and Jasper Whitlock' and tagged us all in his update. I laughed liking his comment and posting the comment 'Love pizza and beer Fridays, bring on five o'clock!'

I then checked my friend requests since there was one new request. I clicked on the little icon and glared angrily at the screen when I saw who it was. Jacob Black.

Fucking Jacob! I clicked ignore and crossed my arms huffing angrily. There was no way in hell I would ever friend him on Facebook after what had happened between us even though it had been almost two years since I had last seen him. I didn't care how immature I seemed ignoring his request.

Jacob and I had been best friends growing up along with Alice and Rose we made a tight knit group, every summer when I returned home to Forks I would hang out with him, Alice, Rose and his twin sisters Rachel and Rebecca. Despite the fact that we both attended different high schools, when I made the move from Phoenix to Forks for the remaining few years of school we stayed as close as ever and sometime in our senior year those feelings of friendship grew into something more. It was a natural progression for us and our fathers were thrilled being best friends and all. Jacob was like the son Charlie never had and so the possibility of him possibly becoming just that one day pleased him to no end. Alice and Rose were happy for us too, they both loved Jacob

When we graduated high school we all moved to Seattle to study at UW. I moved into an apartment with Allie and Rose while Jacob lived in the dorms with his two partners in crime Embry and Quil.

For the first two years things were great, I loved my new found independence with my best friends and boyfriend by my side. That was until I caught Jacob cheating on me with some bitch with a thing for mechanical engineering majors. Needless to say I dumped his ass and told him to stay the hell away from me. I was crushed; I had been betrayed by my boyfriend who happened to be one of my best friends.

Charlie was livid but luckily his friendship with Jacob's dad Billy Black survived since Billy was just as disgusted by his son's behaviour. With Rose and Alice by my side I bounced back eventually with a new found confidence I thought I had lost when he took my heart and stamped all over it.

I dated here and there over the last two years but never really wanted to settle into another relationship after the whole Jacob thing. I had been fortunate during that time to never bump into Jacob; I dreaded the day I did. I was sad still that I had lost our friendship and I missed hanging out with Embry and Quil but I still didn't want to come face to face with him. There were a million things I wanted to say but shouldn't and probably wouldn't.

"Fucking Jacob" I muttered to myself logging out of my Facebook account. I glanced at the clock and was relieved to see it was time for lunch with Angela. I needed a distraction.