Edwards POV

"How late are you going to be?" my mother, Esme asked as she leaned against the door frame.

"I'm not sure. I'll text you when I find out," I suggested.

"Okay. Is Alice going to the party too?"

"Yeah, Jasper's picking her up, I think."

"Of course he is," Esme rolled her eyes a little as she smiled. Alice and Jasper had been dating for a solid three years now. There was nothing that the two of them didn't do together. They were made for each other. "Alright. Be safe," she warned, leaning forward and gripping my chin gently and giving it a light shake. "Don't forget to text me. You know how I worry when I don't hear from you…"

"Yeah, I will," I nodded, patting her hand comfortingly before turning to exit the house.

Esme and Carlisle were great parents, really. They were strict enough, but still very trusting. They let Alice and I be teenagers, but they had rules about never coming home drunk and always letting them know where we were. It was reasonable. Maybe even a little bit more than we deserved at times…

I was never really one for getting drunk, though. Alice wasn't always as careful at parties as I was, but I never worried about her. Jasper took very good care of her and made sure that she didn't get into any trouble. Jasper and I were very similar in the way we behaved at parties. We would have one or two drinks, and we never drove if we felt we couldn't. Neither of us ever drank in quantities that had any effect on us other than just a mild buzz.

I slammed the door to my Volvo and reached into my pocket for my iPod. I never went anywhere without my music. I found that no matter what mood I was in at the time, music could often change it. Right now, I needed to have something other than the classical music I had been listening to lately. I scrolled through the numerous play lists sorted by mood until I found one that suited the present moment. I clicked play and the song "Check Yes Juliet" by We The Kings began blaring through the speakers. I smiled to myself as I put the car in gear, considering how amazing music was. I depended on it for my sanity, at times. My iTunes contained a good ten thousand songs. I never restricted myself to one genre, either. I listened to everything and anything, appreciating it all for what it was - music.

I flicked on the windshield wipers as I turned the car around and headed down the long drive way. It was almost a natural impulse, the windshield wipers. It was almost as natural as reaching for my seatbelt - just another thing to be expected when you lived in Forks. The rain here was as common as the sun in Florida. I didn't mind it too much. I was actually kind of fond of the rain. I respected it. I had become so used to it in my lifetime that the steady tapping of raindrops against my windows felt more like home to me than my actual house did.

That's not to say, of course, that there was anything wrong with my house. I had more than just a roof over my head, I had a roof, three levels, and several balconies over my head in fact. It wasn't that I didn't love my family, either, I had just always felt this big hole inside of me. There was always something that just wasn't right, here. I hadn't told my parents yet, but I planned on getting as far away from Forks as I could when I graduated. I had lived here my whole life, so obviously, whatever I was lacking, I wasn't going to find it here. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't force myself to accept Forks as my home.

My phone rang. One glance at the illuminated screen told me that it was Tanya. I hastily turned down the volume on my radio and flipped the phone open.

"Where are you?" she greeted.

"On my way."

"Where?"

"Ten minutes."

"You're late," she informed me.

I glanced quickly at the clock. "You told me to be there at 7," I reminded her.

"It's five minutes to seven. If you're here in ten minutes, you'll be five minutes late."

I was silent. Could she really be this serious about 5 minutes.

"I can't be without a date when people start arriving. It looks bad."

"I'll be there soon," I promised her, but the line already seemed to have been disconnected.

Scowling, I snapped the phone shut and tossed it in the passengers seat before turning the volume back up. I laughed a little to myself when the song had changed to "I Hate Everything About You" by Three Day's Grace. It was ironic. I really did loathe almost every aspect of Tanya. Most of the time she was a complete bitch, but for some reason I was drawn to her. I didn't want to be. God knows, I would have rather avoided her, but I couldn't help but feel obligated to like her. Maybe it was the fact that every other male in that school was head over heels for her. Maybe it was the fact that her - being the most popular, single female, and me - being the most popular, single male, were just naturally expected to be together. Maybe it was the inescapable feeling of inadequacy that I felt whenever I let myself dwell on my loneliness. Maybe it was the feeling that I had when I was around her… the feeling that there was so much more depth to this girl than she ever let on and the desire for me to be the one to be able to bring those qualities out of her. I guess it was just one of those things in life that you can't explain. For whatever reason, I liked Tanya more than I wanted to. Now that I finally had a date with her, as unofficial as it may seem, I was more nervous than anything. Not nervous because I didn't want to make a fool out of myself, but nervous because I knew what she could do to me. Tanya had the tendency to hurt everyone that she ever dated and then blame it on them. I guess I was just naïve enough to think that I would be the one that was different; stupid enough to believe that I would be the one to finally cause Tanya to part with her old ways and keep a boy around for longer than two weeks.

I was wrong.

The party had progressed as all parties do. Students piled in steadily and the beat of the music resonated in every floorboard. I mingled with different people and fulfilled my escort expectations, following Tanya around and getting her drinks whenever she so demanded. One particular occasion in which she decided that she wanted another bottle of mikes hard lemonade, I returned to find her missing. I asked the people she was with and they said she just disappeared without an explanation. I searched for several more minutes until I bumped into Jessica Stanley who was searching for her date, Mike Newton at that moment as well.

"Oh, hi Edward," she blushed, smoothing the plaits on her skirt out and fussing with her hair quickly, smiling at me the whole time.

"Hi, Jessica. Have you seen Tanya?" I asked as politely as I could.

"No.. I… I haven't," she replied in a slightly disappointed tone.

"Thanks," I mumbled before turning and walking away, not giving her time to ask me if I knew where Mike was. I decided to call Tanya's phone and ask her personally where the hell she was. She kept her phone on her at all times, so that was a sure way to contact her, I figured. I darted up the grand staircase in the middle of the main hall in order to escape some of the noise before quickly opening my recent calls menu and selecting her name. I listened to the phone ring once, twice, three times. Voicemail? Normally her phone rang 8 times before it went to voicemail, and even that was a rare occasion as her phone was practically a part of her anatomy by now.

I snapped the phone shut again, grinding my teeth in confusion as I turned back towards the staircase. I stopped short, though, as a noise resonated from a door to my left. Not just any noise, though. A giggle. Clenching my jaw with violent realization, I turned towards the door and reached for the handle. The polished silver knob turned beneath my hand with no resistance that suggested a lock. The occupants of the room remained completely unaware of the intrusion on their privacy as they continued to ravish each others bodies blindly. I didn't need to notice the bright red cocktail dress discarded on the floor to identify Tanya. I felt an angry heat wash through my body as I pushed the door open the rest of the way until it hit the wall with a noticeable bang.

"Edward!" Tanya exhaled, her eyes wide. A very shocked and disheveled looking Mike Newton turned to face me. One look at him and it was completely obvious that he was plastered, drunk. Tanya, however, had not nearly consumed enough alcohol to use intoxication as her excuse. She knew exactly what she was doing. She always did. Mike Newton turned more and freed one of his hands to wave stupidly at me while Tanya's face was still draining of color as she stared at me.

I quickly turned and stormed out of the room. I heard Tanya wildly struggling with something behind me and I was halfway down the staircase before I heard her shout from the top of the stairs- "Edward, wait!"

I ignored her. Judging by the gaping mouths of the people still partying at the bottom of the stairs, Tanya had not gotten completely dressed before following me. Jessica Stanley was among the few people standing around as I pushed through the crowd to the door. As I passed her, I turned my head slightly in her direction and spat - "I found Mike," before leaving her, like everyone else, open mouthed and staring in confusion in my wake.

Once inside my car, I didn't leave any time to find a song on my iPod. For all I knew, Tanya was still following me. No doubt she had already constructed some bullshit excuse about how she was so drunk that she mistook Mike for me. I wasn't in any mood for her lies right now. Normally she gave guys more of a chance than that before she ended up hurting them. I hadn't even made it six hours.

My Volvo roared to life, spitting gravel up as I hit the gas pedal and bolted down her winding, paved driveway and beneath the archway and onto the road. I didn't want the main roads right now. I was pissed off and some serious speeding was called for in instances like this. I needed to let off some steam. I turned my vehicle in the opposite direction from which I came and headed straight for the back roads. No one would be on the back roads this late at night. One glance at the clock told me that it was almost midnight. Usually the cops would all be lurking the main city streets at this point of the evening, so I should be in the clear there. The last thing I needed was to add a ticket to my night to make it that much worse.

Now that I was away from the party, I reached for my iPod. I scrolled through the mood-themed play lists again until I found the one titled - "Pissed". The first song to blare through my speakers after I selected the list was a song that I hadn't heard in quite a long time. It was very fitting, for my mood, though. I cranked the volume up, letting the harsh and dry rhythm of the electric guitars pulse through me. I steadied my breathing and began mouthing the words as they were sung… or, screamed, rather.

I finally remembered the name of the song. It was "When World's Collide" by Powerman 5000. I continued to listen to it as I pulled off of the main road and down a seemingly deserted back road. There were scarcely any houses in this part of town, and the density of the forest left most people without cell phone service. It was not lighted, and the speed limit was only posted once. I did not even consider obeying the 45 mile per hour limit. I was going close to 100 mph already by the time I had even approached the sign.

I couldn't believe I had been so stupid to think that it would be different this time. I couldn't understand why I had been naïve enough to believe that I would be the one that made Tanya change.

No one could make Tanya change. She would live her life going through man after man and leaving them in her wake, used and broken. That's what she was good at. And I, being the idiot that I was, had just given her the means to turn me into another tally on her scoreboard.

My knuckles were white as I gripped the steering wheel. I saw a curve in the road ahead, slightly blurred by the spatter of rain on the windshield.

When did it start raining? It hadn't been raining when I left the party..

Somewhere in between my registration of the curve ahead and my foot finding the break pedal so that my car could safely make the turn and my action to turn on the windshield wipers, the headlights appeared. They were so unexpected on this dark and abandoned road that they caught me off guard for a moment. Before I knew what had happened, I felt the tires beneath my car lose contact with the blacktop and I felt myself sliding, almost in slow motion, into the lane of oncoming traffic.

The collision could have been much worse, really. If I had been going 55 miles over the speed limit like I was just moments before, the crash might have even been fatal - but I wasn't. I was going 62 miles per hour as I clipped the passing vehicle's tail end. The impact caused the driver of the other vehicle to lose control as well and the front end of that vehicle swung around to meet the rear of my Volvo with a shriek of grating metal on metal and the squeal of tires. I lost track of what was going on around me as the drivers side window shattered and the air bag exploded into my face. I closed my eyes and waited until it was over, hoping desperately that the other driver wasn't hurt. My car rocked to a stop after the passenger side had an unpleasant interaction with the towering wall of trees on the side of the road. Fortunately, my car was still on all four wheels, though. I struggled with the airbag until I could see out the open space that used to be my window. The other vehicle sat diagonally in the middle of the road, looking beaten up and worn out… but it might have been like that before.

It was a large, red pickup truck. It was faded and rusted and had several small dents decorating it, but didn't look like it had suffered any major damage. It was still running, the headlights shining a milky glow of light onto the pavement that was littered with glass. The rain was visible, falling in thin constant sheets illuminated by the lights. The door of the truck opened with a creak and I saw two feet clad in unattractive rain boots splash onto the pavement beneath the open door.

She looked vaguely familiar as she ran through the rain towards my car, but I couldn't place where I had seen her before.

"Are you alright?" she asked, concern obviously present in her voice as she slipped on the mud and caught herself on the mangled mess that was my car.

"Yeah, I'm… I think so…" I managed, still fighting with the air bag.

"Are you hurt?"

"I don't know," I mumbled as I reached for the handle of the door. It swung open without even requiring me to pull the lever. I fought with the seatbelt, fumbling blindly with my right hand looking for the release button. After I found it, I accepted the hand that she offered to me and stumbled out of the vehicle. "Thanks," I mumbled, turning to look at the damage to my car. It was almost completely ruined. The body of the car was dented and different pieces of the bumper and other vital looking parts were dropped like bread crumbs along the road to the cars final resting place.

"Shit!" I cursed, lifting my hands to my head and tangling them into my damp hair. "Damn it! Oh, shit." I continued, knowing that Esme and Carlisle were not going to be pleased with this.

I realized with a start that I was still in the presence of someone else. I whirled quickly to find her standing awkwardly with her hands in her pockets, staring at the ground.

"Oh my God, I am so sorry!" I started. She looked up at me and then back at her truck in contemplation. "It's okay. My truck will survive." But as she said it, her truck sputtered and the headlights went out decisively.

"Shit," she muttered, turning back to face me. Her eyes widened and then she took on a pale, sick looking color.

"What?" I asked frantically. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah.. I'm… you're… I'll be right back," she stammered before taking off back to her truck. She returned a moment later with a first aid kit.

"You're bleeding," she pointed out.

"Oh!" My hand flew to my forehead in surprise where sure enough, a heavy trickle of blood was creeping down onto my cheek.

Her breathing grew heavy and labored as she pulled a sanitary cloth out of the kit and opened the package, stuffing the wrapper into her pocket and gulping as she lifted it to my forehead. I would have been much more appreciative of her gesture if she didn't look like she was about to be violently ill.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked again, feeling my brow furrow in concern.

"Yeah. I just don't like… blood," she gulped, wiping the last of the blood off and reaching for a large square band aid. Despite her obvious desperation to get the blood out of her sight, she was very slow and gentle as she pressed the band aid over the gash on my forehead.

"Sorry," she grimaced as I winced in pain.

"No, it's fine," I assured her. "Thank you."

She smiled a little in response and then turned to presumably return the first aid kit to her truck, but she slipped almost immediately and landed with a small "Oomph" in the mud.

"Whoa!" I stooped down to help her back up.

"Dang it…" she mumbled, brushing the mud off the back of her jacket. "I'm such a klutz."

"Hey, you're not the one caused an accident," I shrugged.

"You hydroplaned," she informed me, "It's not like you did it on purpose."

"I could have been more careful," I argued.

I caught her stare then and we both fell silent for a moment.

Her eyes were a beautiful deep brown. I turned my gaze away from hers almost immediately because I had suddenly had the feeling that she could somehow see right through my pretenses and know the truth. I didn't exactly know what the truth was, but she shouldn't know it before I did, at any rate.

"Umm… do you have a phone?" I asked her, feeling my pockets and realizing that I must have left my phone in the center console in my mangled car. I doubted I would find it, now.

"Yeah… but we're not going to get a signal out here," she frowned, reaching into her pocket and pulling out an out dated looking phone.

"Crap," I mumbled. "Are you sure you can't get your truck started?"

"I'll check," she shrugged.

"I'll see if I can find my phone," I offered as we turned towards our vehicles.

Neither of us had any luck. I couldn't find my phone, and as I looked I could hear the stalling noises of her truck as she tried and failed several times to start it. Mine wouldn't start, either, so there was no way we could use mine to jump hers.

"So now what?" I bit my lip sheepishly, embarrassed that I had gotten myself and a complete stranger into a mess like this.

"Well… I doubt there will be any vehicles coming down this road this late at night, and if there are, they will see my truck. It's kind of in the middle of the road… But that's a small chance, so I guess I can just walk around until I find a signal…" she suggested.

"I'll come with you," I offered. I didn't feel right letting her wander around in the dark by herself just because I had been stupid enough to cause a car crash.

She didn't argue. She nodded once, rocking back on her heels and standing awkwardly in front of me before clapping her hands together oddly and starting off down the road. I shook my head a little in confusion and sprinted to catch up with her.

She walked with her phone out in front of her face, staring at the signal bars. With nothing else to focus on but the creepy surroundings, I stared at her.

She was actually very pretty, in her own way. Her brown hair was tousled across her face gently by the wind and her cheeks were a bright pink. Her eyebrows were drawn together in concentration and her chocolate brown eyes moved between the ground in front of us to the phone in her hand. Every now and then she would catch her bottom lip between her perfect white teeth and sigh in frustration. She was so mysterious and unfamiliar to me, though I felt that I knew her from somewhere. She looked about my age, though, but I couldn't be sure.

"I can't help but feel like I've seen you before…" I finally said.

She didn't speak, instead, a small smile spread across her lips and she looked down at the ground. I stared at her for another moment until she chuckled and shook her head once before going back to looking at the signal strength displayed on her phone.

"What?" I urged, stopping.

She stopped several paces ahead of me and turned to face me, a half smile still tugging at the corner of her mouth. "I'm not surprised by that, Edward."

I frowned. She knew my name? "So I must know you, then."

She chuckled again, "I've gone to school with you for the last two years."

"No!" I denied. "I would have recognized you… You must not be in my grade…"

She nodded, "Yeah. I'm a Senior."

"Well then we must not have any classes together."

"Biology, 5th period, Mr. Banner," she said simply.

I stared at her for another moment before something she said finally registered in my head. She said she had gone to school with me for 2 years. She must have been a relatively new student, then. I searched through my memory for any new students in my grade and could recall only one…

"Isabella Swan?" I asked uncertainly.

She winced, "Bella… please."

"Oh man… I'm so sorry. I feel like such a dick," I apologized.

"Don't worry about it. The fact that you didn't know me just puts you with the majority," she shrugged, turning around and starting off in the direction we had just been going. I jogged to catch up with her again and continued talking, desperate to console myself somehow.

"We must have never really met, though… right?"

"We were lab partners once," she said indifferently, still looking at her phone.

"What?"

"Yeah. The first day this year. But you had Mr. Banner put you with Tanya instead, which was just as well for me. I'm alright with being alone…"

"I feel like such an idiot," I shook my head.

"Don't. It's not a big deal."

"It is, though!" I insisted. "You knew who I was."

"How could I go to that school and not know you?" she shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh please," she rolled her eyes. "Everyone knows Edward Cullen. You're like… the number one attraction to most girls in that school."

"Most girls?" I raised my eyebrow.

She turned her head slightly and glanced at me, "Yes. Most. I never count myself in with the majority."

I stopped talking then for a minute, feeling suddenly like I was being a pesky adolescent following her around and asking constant questions while she was trying to get something productive accomplished. It was astonishing to me how interesting this girl was… and even more astonishing that I had never noticed her before. To consider the fact that she had been there all along and I had never even bothered to look her way made me feel like a complete ass.

"You must think I'm such a self-absorbed asshole," I commented quietly.

"No. I don't judge people based on my observations… especially since I barely get to know anyone to the point where I can make any judgments."

"Why?" There I went with the pesky questions again.

She shot me a questioning glance.

"I mean…. why don't you get to know anyone?"

"I just… never have. I'm content with my own company, I guess."

"That must suck. Haven't you ever had a boyfriend or anything though?"

"No…"

I resisted the urge to ask why.

"What kind of things have you observed about me?"

She hesitated.

"If my questions are making you uncomfortable or anything, you can just tell me to shut up. I'll understand." I added sincerely.

"Shut up," she said quietly.

I hadn't expected that, but I obliged quickly, feeling very guilty.

"Can I ask you a question?" she said finally, after a long moment of silence.

"Yes."

"Do you think I'm a freak?"

"Not at all," I answered honestly. "In fact, I'm quite fascinated by you. You're so different than most girls."

"How so?"

"Well… for someone who is so… reclusive, for lack of a better term, you seem relatively friendly and easy to talk to. Maybe that's why I can't shut up.."

She glanced at me again before sighing in resignation, "There's a lot more to you than what people think. Your popularity is only an external layer. You're really intelligent, and you're not like the group of people you hang out with. You like Tanya Edington for some unknown reason, although she is completely out of your league and I don't really think she deserves you." She blushed and bit her lip momentarily before continuing, "That's what I've observed about you." she paused for a moment before adding - "and now you probably think that I'm a stalker or something."

"No. I don't. You're just very perceptive."

The rain had let up since we had started walking, so we were both almost completely dry, now. Bella still stared at her cell phone, her face contorted in frustration. I was silent for a while until another question piqued my curiosity.

"Why were you all the way out on this road, anyways? Do you live out here, somewhere?"

"No," she chuckled. "I was out here to avoid you."

I paused for a moment, completely confused. "I…. I don't understand that," I admitted.

She glanced at me again before flicking her eyes upward and blinking furiously, "Remember that whole observant thing we were just discussing?"

"Yes."

"Well my observations led me to understand that there was a party tonight. I work at the library a few blocks from Tanya's house. I decided that this back road would be much clearer of drunk-driving peers than the town route would have been… but obviously, I was wrong. If I wouldn't have forgotten my house key though, I would never have had to turn around in the first place."

"You don't keep your house key with your truck key?"

She chuckled a little, "No. My truck key is jammed in the ignition."

"That stinks," I commented.

"Not really. Who would want to steal that?" she gestured behind us at her vehicle that was no longer visible through the cover of darkness that had thickened with each step further we walked. "It's kind of a piece of crap," she grimaced. "But I'm sure you noticed that. I'm actually rather shocked that it survived the night so far."

"Oh…" I exhaled, feeling more like an ass than I had before. "Seriously, Bella, I am really sorry about this. If there is anything I can do to make it up to you…"

"There is one thing," she said indifferently, extending her arm upward as if that would help the phone achieve a signal.

"Yes?"

"Don't drink and drive anymore." Her tone was more suggestive than demanding, but I noticed her blush a little at her own assertiveness.

I was about to open my mouth and point out that I hadn't had a lot to drink, but I realized that it would do me no good. Instead I just nodded and said -"Oh, right."

I was about to apologize some more, but she jumped suddenly and gasped, "One bar."

"Oh, good! Who do we call, now?"

"My dad," she said simply, pressing a speed dial number and pressing the phone to her ear quickly. I was about to comment on how it would be more helpful if she called for a tow truck or something when I remembered that her father was the police chief.

"Dad? Yes, I'm alright. I know its late. Dad, listen…" she said hurriedly. "I got in an accident on Old Karney road. Yes I know what you always say about driving out here but that's not the point. We're about three miles south of the interstate. Okay. I can't… Dad?" She took the phone away from her ear and sighed.

"Lost the signal?" I asked.

"Yeah, but he's on his way. We should probably get back to the vehicles…" We turned and started walking back in the opposite direction. We were silent for several minutes before she broke the silence.

"Sorry… about being so rude. It's none of my business what you do… the choices you make about drinking and driving.."

"No, you were right. I was stupid. I didn't think I had had too much to drink… I just.."

"Everyone has lapses in judgment sometimes," she shrugged.

"But this has caused far more problems than I wanted it to. It's unfair for you to be dragged into this."

"Shit happens," she said quietly.

"But… I am kind of glad, in a very selfish way, that I ran into you tonight. I don't know how I could have ever overlooked you at school before."

The moonlight illuminated a vivid, scarlet blush as she looked down at the ground again.

We were quiet for a little bit longer then before I broke the silence.

"The truth is, though… I was more of a danger on the road because of my emotional state rather than my alcohol intake."

"Oh," she said softly, not pressing for anymore information if I wasn't willing to give it. For some reason, however, I just couldn't make myself shut up when I was with her. There was something about her that made me feel so comfortable and made me feel like I could tell her anything.

"I went to the party as Tanya's escort and halfway through the night she ditched me to make-out with Mike Newton," I admitted.

"Oh… that's awful." Her voice was genuinely sympathetic.

"I left in a very terrible mood and I came to this road because I expected it would be a good place to let off some steam. It's normally empty at this time of night."

"I guess we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," she shrugged.

"You could look at it that way… but to be honest, I'm kind of glad I met you."

"Why?" she frowned.

"It's nice to know that not all girls are like Tanya," I supplied honestly.

"No… Tanya is definitely one-of-a-kind," she grimaced.

"So are you, though… just without the sarcasm.."

She blushed again, harder this time, but pretended to ignore me.

Again, I found myself fascinated by her. Here I was, openly flirting with her, and she was barely even noticing my advances. She seemed open to my flattery… but still indifferent, in a way. It was almost frustrating. I was very out of practice with flirting, too. It wasn't something I normally had to do to get girls to notice me. I realized at that point that that was highly arrogant of me and I immediately felt another wave of self loathing. Why was I such an ass?

I was about to speak again when it started raining. It wasn't just a light rain, either, it was the kind of rain you saw in movies. The kind of rain where the skies seemed to just open up and release buckets full of water down onto the unsuspecting characters.

"Shit," we both muttered, breaking into a run and holding our arms above our heads in some sort of absurd attempt to keep ourselves dry. The rain poured for about five minutes before it let up, turning into a sprinkle. It eventually stopped all together as the vehicles came into view ahead of us. Bella's teeth chattered noisily and she wrapped her arms around her as we slowed to a walk.

"We can sit in my car if you would like," she suggested.

"I don't want to get your truck all wet.." I said.

"That's true. It's not like its going to be any warmer in my truck either. Its stalled so I can't get the heat running."

"And we should probably wait where we can watch for your dad," I added.

"I have a blanket in my truck," she said through a violent shiver. She crossed to the truck and wrenched open the door. She returned a moment later with a wool blanket draped over her arm.

I began to notice the cold night air too at that point and I felt a shiver ripple through my body. Observant as she was, she didn't miss it. "I only have one blanket," she grimaced.

"That's okay, I don't bite," I laughed.

She dropped the tailgate on her truck and awkwardly hoisted herself onto it. I followed suit and helped her unfold the blanket. She bit her lip uncertainly as I threw the blanket around our backs. She grabbed an edge of it and pulled it tightly around her shoulder, bouncing her foot uncomfortably.

"So… why did you move to Forks?" I questioned, desperate to relieve some of this awkward tension.

"Oh, um… my Mom remarried a guy who moved around a lot."

"I see," I nodded.

"What about you? How long have you lived in Forks?" she asked timidly.

"My whole life. My mom and dad really like it here," I informed her. She nodded once and stared down the road blankly.

"I think my car is totaled," I frowned, throwing a glance over my shoulder at the mangled heap of metal that used to be my Volvo.

"Yeah… my truck is pretty solid," she said almost apologetically.

"Well, I'd rather my car be ruined rather than yours. It was my fault after all."

She didn't speak.

"I will be happy to pay for any damages to your truck, though…" I offered.

"I'm sure its fine. It stalls sometimes even without traumatic experiences. Don't worry about it," she waved my offer away.

I bobbed my head lamely, searching for some other words to use to avoid the moment turning awkward again. "What time is it?" I finally asked. She pulled out her phone and informed me that it was ten minutes past one in the morning. "Shit," I mumbled. "I promised my mom I would call her. She's going to be worried."

"Will you be in trouble?" she asked, concern fringing her tone.

"If I can convince them that it was an accident…" I trailed off. "If they think that I was drinking, though, I'm done for. They hate that."

"Well, you can use my dads radio to call them when he gets here if you want. I'm sure they're worried." Her words were starting to become slightly slurred and the last few syllables were completely garbled by a yawn.

"Yeah," I answered quietly. We fell silent, then. I was about to start up another conversation about Mr. Banner's toupee when I felt a slight pressure on my shoulder. I turned to see Bella's eyes closed, her head slumped ungracefully onto my shoulder.

Smiling to myself, I turned my attention back to watching for headlights on the road. My unconventional attraction to this girl confused me enough as it was… but the emotions that invaded me when I realized that she had fallen asleep on my shoulder were something completely foreign to me. I was almost disappointed that she was asleep because I was enjoying our conversations much more than I should have been. I liked learning more about Bella, and I felt comfortable telling her more about me. But at the same time, I really liked that she had fallen asleep on my shoulder. It said something to me. It was significant in some way. I wasn't sure exactly what way, but I was certain that I didn't care. I was just enjoying the moment. I was enjoying something with more sincerity than I had in a very long time. For this kind of joy to come out of a situation as shitty as this one… It was confusing, but not necessarily unwelcome.

all music mentioned is available for download via a link in my profile information :)