HAPPY EASTER!!!! Sorry for the delay, I know that you guys are probably pretty pissed with me but I just wasn't able to finish it before the end of last weekend.

I'm sooooo happy that I was able to get this chapter out this weekend for you guys. Today has just been a very good day for me because lent is finally over and I can have sweets again! (From now on, I'm only going to give up something like chocolate or ice cream because it was frickin hard to give up all kinds of sweets)This morning I had a nutritious breakfast of a giant chocolate chip cookie (in the shape of a rabbit) to celebrate.

Anyways, I hope this isn't getting to you guys too late. In Hawaii it's like 7:30 so it's probably much later for you guys (sorry!). So, without further a due, enjoy chapter 5! =) (with virtual cookies shaped like rabbits for everyone)

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Previously-

As hard as I tried, I found myself slowly succumbing to unconsciousness as my eyes fluttered closed, still in Edward's arms. That night I dreamed of a beautiful green-eyed Adonis. He always seemed to disappear as soon as I tried to reach out and touch his perfect face and then appear a hundred yards farther away from me: always out of reach like a perfectly crafted illusion meant to lure me away from everything else. Every time I thought that I could touch him, like I could make him stay, he would just disappear, leaving me alone, but only more determined to find him.

Chapter 5- WHAT AN INTERESTING DAY

Though my dreams were full of frustration and confusion, I felt oddly peaceful as I slept the day away. My forehead was pressed into something hard and warm that smelled amazing and I felt more comfortable than I ever had in my entire life. However, some part of my subconscious told me to be worried, as it picked up on the fact that I was obviously not in my own bed, if in fact I was even in a bed at all. My hands, which were lying by my side, picked up on the rough texture of carpet and the hardness of it that was pressed almost painfully into my back. How an earth had I slept on the floor all night?

My subconscious now picked up on my other senses, detecting every small difference like the sound of someone's even breathing, whispers somewhere far away and the wonderful feeling that I had of serenity and protection. I shifted a little, and then froze as I realized that a something warm and hard was draped around my waist. I jerked my eyes open – ugh! Not good – then shut them, feeling like they would get burned from the incredibly bright light coming through the window. I peeked my eyes open again, but more carefully this time and quietly gaped at what I saw.

My forehead was pressed into Edward's shoulder and his strong arm was wrapped tightly around my slender waist and I noticed how good it felt to be in Edward's arms. Despite this new, and unintentional, contact, I couldn't rip my eyes away from his breath-taking face. He had his head turned towards me: his lovely bronze hair was a mess, though still just as beautiful as it's ever been, and I wanted so badly to run my fingers through it and see if it was a soft as it looked. His sweet breath fanned across my face with every relaxed breath of his even breathing. And finally, his face: his eyelids were closed and had a purplish tinge to them, his nose was the same: straight, angular and perfect, and his soft, pink lips were slightly parted. The sight of him was so different than his usual, cocky, joking and confident self. He looked so innocent and vulnerable: it was almost heart wrenching.

My heart spluttered in my chest as I subconsciously lifted my hand stroked his incredibly soft bronze hair with my fingers. I wasn't thinking about what I was doing, I just had to touch his face: my fingers trailed down from his hairline, to the purplish bruises under his eyes and traced over his eyelids gently with my forefinger, careful not to wake him up. My finger grazed down his nose, just above his upper lip, and then rested my palm on his pale cheek.

Just as I was about to pull my hand away, his large, warm hand flashed up to mine and clamped itself over my own hand, molding it to his cheek. Oh Shit! My eyes widened and I stopped breathing: praying to god that he hadn't just caught me stroking his face. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and my heart was beating rapidly, threatening to bust through my chest and my muscles tensed, waiting for him to open his eyes. He didn't. He didn't even move. His breathing stayed the same: slow and even, and nothing about his features gave any sign that he was even conscious as to what was happening. My heart slowed immediately and a wave of exhaustion passed through me. I pressed my forehead onto his shoulder again and tried my best to fall asleep after taking one last glance at Edward's perfect face: closing my eyes as a small smile spread across my face. There was a soft click and a bright flash before I fell quickly to sleep, once again.

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I slept peacefully for what seemed like hours, just letting my mind fill with dreams of my green-eyed Adonis. Eventually someone started humming a song or something. I groaned and clutched onto something warm and rested my head on top of it. The humming stopped abruptly and the object started shaking under me and like it was . . . laughing?

"Well, good morning to you too, Bella," I'd know that velvety voice anywhere. I opened my eyes to see Edward smirking at me as I realized that my head was currently resting on his chest and I was clutching his shirt with my hand for dear life. My face immediately reverted to a color like tomato red and I quickly sat up, releasing his shirt.

"Ugh! What time is it?" I asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

"It's around 7:00 in the morning," He was smirking at me, waiting for my reaction. I glared at him.

"Edward Cullen! Why the hell would you wake me up at 7:00 on a Sunday morning? You're no better than Alice," I grabbed a pillow off the bed next to us, since we had decided to crash on the floor, and hurled it at him to get him to stop laughing at me.

"Well, you were the one who woke me up in the first place," He continued to laugh as I continued to hit him with the pillow that I was now finding was too soft an object to hit him with. I raised my eyebrows at him, questioning his reasoning.

"Did you know that you sleep talk?" He grinned mischievously, leaning toward me. I froze mid-swing and I could swear that my face would be permanently red from blushing so hard. I brought the pillow down into my lap and buried my face in it.

"What did I say?" I mumbled

"Hmm? What was that you said? I couldn't hear you," He insisted, trying to play dumb.

"What did I say?!" I demanded, hissing at him.

"Oh, nothing really," Damnit! I knew that meant that I had said something really bad.

"Oh God!" I groaned.

"Really, it wasn't so bad. At one point you were having a very vivid dream – or should I say nightmare – about calculus classes, then you started reading off the value of pi all the way to the hundredth digit, it was quite fascinating, actually," He seemed deep in thought remembering this.

"And after that . . . " I had to know what I said, even though I'm probably really going to regret it.

"Well, after that . . . you started to say my name . . . and you said that I smelled really good," He finished, looking extremely pleased with himself. I gaped at him, my eyes wide and my mouth hanging open.

"I did not!"

"Yes, you did. You even said 'Edward, you smell wonderful'" He gloated, showing me his crooked smile.

"Are you sure that that wasn't just your big fat ego, swelling up your big fat head and making you imagine all of this?"

"I'm pretty sure, I'm not that creative," Just then my phone vibrated in my jeans pocket and made me jump to my feet and give a small shriek. Edward proceeded to laugh even harder at me as I fished my phone out of my pocket.

"Hello?"

"Good, you're awake, I thought I'd have to go in there and drag you out," a pixie-like voice replied.

"Alice?" I spun around, taking in the entire room. I hadn't noticed that the others had already left, though it is a little difficult to notice when you just cruelly embarrassed yourself in front of your . . . friend.

"Forgotten us already? What have you and my brother been up to Bella?"

"What? I – nothing! Alice just tell me what you called about!"

She giggled into the phone, "Anyway, all of us are going to do something today and, yes, that includes you. Tomorrow we will have officially started our college lives and all the fun will be sucked away by exams and all-nighters, so you will come and you will have a great time with us." Well, it's not like I'm doing anything anyway. I could be fun with just the six of us hanging out together and I would do anything just to forget this morning . . . well, the embarrassing part at least.

"Sure, Alice. Where to?"

"Our favorite place: La Bella Italia, you know where it is. Me and Jasper are going to be running some erans today so just get Edward and meet us there at around 6 – ish tonight and then we'll meet up with Rose and Em also. It isn't formal or anything, so I will trust you to dress yourself pretty well without me, but please don't let me down,"

"No Bella Barbie? Oh gosh-darnit! You know how much I love it when you spend hours making me look good," My voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Haha, very funny. So I'll see you guys at six and don't be late! I already made reservations for us tonight under Cullen, in case you get there first,"

"Sure thing Alice, see you there,"

"See ya, Bells," Click

"What was my dear sister calling about this time?"

"Apparently we're all going out tonight to La Bella Italia. We are to arrive at approximately 6 o'clock p.m. under the strict demands of Mary-Alice Cullen. We're supposed to meet everyone else there later because they have some "errands" to run: what ever the hell that means,"

He scoffed, "With Alice less is always more. It doesn't take 18 years of living with her to understand that,"

I glanced at the clock again. 7:30. Damn, it's just not early enough to go back to sleep again. "I think I had better get back to my dorm, I've got a bunch more to do before school tomorrow, that includes getting all of my school supplies, actually attempting to read the information booklet and possibly trying to memorize my schedule," I turned to grab the movies I brought over, "By the way, can I catch a ride with you? I don't have a car and I don't exactly want to walk there,"

"Sure, just meet me at my dorm at 5:45 or something,"

"Thanks, well, see you later," I waved at him and walked halfway out the door.

"Goodbye Bella," I turned to see him giving me his classic crooked smile and my heart spluttered once again.

"Uh-um, bye," was my clever reply before stumbling out into the empty hallway.

The blood rushed to my cheeks again, thankfully when Edward wasn't there to witness more of my embarrassing behavior. Then I realized what I must look like if someone was standing in the hall seeing me stumble out of someone else's dorm room flushed, dazed, dreamy, wearing the same clothes as yesterday . . . um, yeah, I definitely did not want this to be what people were talking about on my first day of college. With that in mind, I ran as quickly as I could, without stumbling, back to my dorm.

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After an exciting day at Office Depot picking out just the right spiral notebooks and different colored highlighters, 5 o'clock finally rolled around I decided to at least try to put some thought into getting myself dressed. Maybe I could make Alice proud and start off the year on good terms with her and possibly, although it isn't likely, get her to skip out on Bella Barbie time for the first day of school.

I slipped on some dark-wash skinny jeans with a light cotton shirt with thick white and navy blue strips on it and a light grey cardigan that had sleeves reaching to the middle of my bicep. This was good enough, not too fancy, yet it isn't shorts and a tank top. I even applied some clear lip-gloss and a touch of mascara. Alice would be so proud of me right now. I stuffed my thin cell phone and my dorm keys into my jeans pocket before heading over to Edward's dorm.

I knocked three times on the plain, white door, realizing that it was already 5:50, "Hurry up princess, we're going to be late," Seconds later Edward emerged from his dorm wearing a navy-blue button down shirt that was rolled up past his elbows and black jeans, scowling at me. I just smiled sweetly at him and made our way down to the parking garage.

His sleek, silver Volvo was waiting in its usual space and I slipped in gracefully onto the comfy black leather seats. The car purred to life and he drove quickly away from the campus. Almost immediately he fiddled with the built-in stereo and Clair de Lune began playing softly through the built-in speakers.

"Clair de Lune is one of my favorite," I said while humming along with it.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you know Debussy too,"

We kept up light conversations about random things before we arrived at the restaurant 2 minutes late. I mashed my lips together, ready for Alice to be waiting on the other side of the doors, ready to lecture us for being late. I was surprised when I didn't come face-to-face with the pixie herself, but even more surprised when she and everyone else was nowhere to be found. One of the first things that I've learned about Alice is that she is never late, especially not when meeting friends for dinner, if anything, she would be there at least 10 minutes early. Edward and I must have been thinking the same thing because we both looked at each other like we were making sure that we were actually seeing this.

Edward walked up to the hostess and said in a velvety voice, "We have reservations under Cullen,"

"Alright, just a moment sir," she stated, smiling suggestively at Edward. My insides boiled and I decided to call Alice.

"Hello?" she picked up on the third ring.

"Alice where are you guys?"

"Oh, right, I – um, was going to call you, but – uh, we can't make it tonight,"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, yeah, Jasper needed my help for something and, well, we can't make it, but that's ok, just enjoy your dinner with Edward, Rosalie and Emmett,"

"Alice, Rose and Emmett aren't here either,"

"Oh, really? Interesting, well, sorry about that, I'll guess I'll talk to you tomorrow, bye!" She blurted out quickly, then hung up, leaving me standing there, gawking at my phone.

I finally composed myself and snapped my phone shut angrily and walked back over to Edward, "She's not coming,"

"What?"

"None of them are. Supposedly they have 'things to do.'" I was steaming right now.

Edward let out a deep sigh, then pinched the bridge of his nose while shaking his head slightly. "Alright, let's just leave, we–"

"Right this way," the hostess interrupted, grabbing some menus and walking briskly to the back of the restaurant. Not knowing what to do, we just scurried after her and were lead to a small table with two chairs, obviously meant for two people, not six.

"Um, excuse me, but I think there has been a mistake," I told her, "I mean, now we only need a small table since our friends didn't show up, but didn't we have a reservation for six?"

"Um, no ma'am. We got a reservation for two under Cullen for a Mr. Edward Cullen and a Miss Isabella Swan. That's you, right?" That fricken deviating little pixie!

"Yes, that's us," I hissed. Alice was soooo dead for this! I looked over to Edward and he looked just as pissed as I was.

He took a deep breath again, "Well, we're here, we may as well just try to have fun even after Alice's" he spoke her name like a curse, "little trick," I agreed. We were friends and could enjoy our time without the rest of them.

Soon we were able to forget about Alice's prank and the fact that everyone had conspired against us. I decided to save my anger for when I got back to my dorm so that I could yell at her personally. We both ordered the mushroom ravioli and talked some more, laughing until our stomachs hurt and we were always smiling at what the other had to say. Anyone who was watching us would have thought that we were a couple or on a first date. As always, I was stubborn about letting Edward pay the bill. He argued that he was brought up to be a gentleman and not let a lady pay the bill. Finally I just rolled my eyes at him and let him have his own damn way with it. I was a little sad when the night had actually ended, yet I just couldn't be too disappointed when I was with Edward, his crooked smile and his quiet laugh were just contagious and I found myself giving in to his charm.

We laughed and teased each other some more until we parted at my dorm and Edward gave me one last crooked grin before rushing off in the direction of his own room on the 3rd floor. I walked into my room smiling like a high school girl after just getting her first kiss (except for the fact that I was in college and Edward was just my friend not my boyfriend). I looked into my room and found Alice lying on her bed in her pj's reading a fashion magazine and looking up at me with a smirk.

"How'd it go? Are you finally going out with my brother or not?" I didn't know what to say. I just stared at her with my mouth wide open, not knowing if my lack of speech was caused more from shock or anger.

"I'm guessing that's a 'no,'" I finally regained my composure

"Of course not Alice! Did you just think that after your little stunt tonight we would exchanging vows the next day?"

"Don't be such a drama queen Bella. Admit it, you had a lot of fun and owe me a thank you for finally giving you the chance to realize how much you really like him,"

"Whatever Alice," I walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut before turning on the shower so that the hot steam fogged up the mirror and calmed me down.

EPOV (Omg! I know right!)

I was still smiling as I opened the door to my dorm and flipped on the light. I snickered at Jasper who was sprawled across his tiny bed snoring softly. Poor guy, Alice must really tire him out. I thought seriously of tossing my pillow over at him, but decided against it. On top of the little desk that I had crammed in the corner of the dorm, was a small, white envelope with the name Edward written in Alice's flawless writing. God, what was the little pixie up to now?

I tore it open and found a note from Alice:

Hey Edward,

I know that you're probably about to pop a blood vessel at what I did tonight, but just hold off for a second. Even though I know that you don't want to admit it, I know that you really like Bella as more than a friend. I'm just hoping that tonight has gotten you to finally open your damn eyes and see it for yourself. Anyway, I want you give you something that might make you see it for yourself (just in case you're really that thick-headed).

~Alice

P.S. try not to mention this to Bella, she doesn't know about this either (you're the only one who has it)

I reached inside the envelope and pulled out a picture. I immediately smiled at what I saw: it was me and Bella in Rose's dorm, asleep on the floor. My arm was around her thin waist and her creamy forehead was pressed into my shoulder. My head was turned toward her and my other hand wad holding her hand over my cheek. Sunlight was streaming through the windows, making Bella's hair look reddish – brown and if you looked closely, it looked like we were both smiling just a little bit in our sleep. How had I not remembered doing this? I got ready for bed and slipped under the covers. I looked at the picture one last time before sticking it in the small drawer in my nightstand. I turned off the light and closed my eyes with a gigantic smile still plastered onto my face.

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Yay for Edward's POV! I thought I'd give you guys an extra treat for having to wait for so long (sorry again). I know that it's late and stuff, but would it be too selfish of me to ask for a few reviews? (and btw, Edward was NOT awake when he held her hand on his cheek, that was just his subconscious controlling him)

This time I PROMISE to have the next chapter up by next weekend. There, you have it in writing, so please don't beg me to have the next chapter up any sooner, I have school and swimming, and I'm about to start paddling so my schedule is blocked for the week until Saturday when I can write some more.

I also will tell you guys that the next chapter will definitely have some drama in it and Edward's mysterious friend will make another appearance. Some people are asking me if it's Tanya or if Edward's a player or not, but I am not going to answer anything right now. I'm not yet sure what I'm going to include in the next chapter or not, but there WILL be drama and there WILL be some interesting encounters, so keep reading!

And please REVIEW!!!