Hello Everyone!

I'm back. For one chapter, anyway.

A couple days ago I had the urge to finish this story and now I did.

I haven't written anything in several months, so this will probably have lots of mistakes. Sorry.

R&R

BPOV

I had finished getting ready, and Edward called, saying he was on his way. I was wearing a one-piece blue bathing suit that Alice had picked out for me - as usual - with a long-sleeved shirt and jeans over it.

"Where are you guys going cliff diving?" Alice called from the kitchen.

"Someplace thirty minutes away, a Mt. Ryzyka, I think. It's the only place close enough that we could cliff jump off of. Plus, we can jump of into a hot spring, which is good considering it's December," I replied.

"Yeah, when I was planning the list, I pictured you in Europe with a hot Swedish guy, jumping off the Alps or something romantic like that. Oh well, guess this will make for an adventure too."

"A cold one at that."

Just then my cell phone beeped, and I read a text from Edward letting me know he was out front.

"Bye, Alice."

"Bye, Bella. Get home early so I can help you get ready for the New Year's Party."

Luckily, I was walking out the door, so I can say I didn't hear that last bit of information. I was looking for Edward's blue corvette, but there was only a brown Jeep sitting in the parking lot. It took me a minute before realizing that the man in the brown Jeep was Edward. I felt a little bit stupid.

"Hey," Edward greeted me.

"Hello. Where's the Corvette?" I interrogated.

"I borrowed Emmett's Jeep, since we are driving into the mountains. Mountains and Corvettes don't mix well."

"Well, you could have told me, so I could have avoided that lovely moment we just had."

"I'm sorry if I made you feel stupid," he said mockingly, jutting his lips out in a pout. "Do you forgive me?"

I tried to avoid eye contact with him, so I wouldn't laugh, but I was failing miserably. "Maybe." I started giggling a little, and Edward knew that I had forgiven him.

The rest of the drive was of us trying to make the other person laugh the most. We took a food stop for lunch, but started again when we got back in the car. I had almost won, when we parked at the mountain and Edward cheated by tickling me. "Okay, okay already. White flag," I screamed out.

"Alright, truce. But I still win!" Edward proclaimed.

"You're disqualified because of the tickling."

"Are you sure about that?" Edward questioned deviously, as we both left the car, and he started approaching me, with his fingers in tickling position.

"Um . . . as of now, no. If you tickle me again I will change my mind." I walked as far away from Edward as I could (to avoid the tickling), and walked to the edge of the cliff. The blood rushed from my head as I peered over the side of the precipice. "That is really high," I whispered, stumbling away from the edge.

"It's not that bad," Edward said, looking down. "About thirty feet."

"THIRTY FEET! That's like me . . . times six!"

"Stop being so dramatic. You're not only five feet tall. More like 5 ft. 5 in."

"But still . . ." I said worriedly.

"Bella, it'll be fine. All you have to do is jump; gravity will take care of the rest." Edward wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and I took a couple deep breaths.

"Okay. But I am going to kill Alice when I get home."

"If you want, I will dispose of the body." We both laughed and then took off our other clothes, revealing our swimsuits. I looked around me and for the first time, noticed how beautiful it was. There were high peaks rising all around us with evergreens spotting them in places. The sky was gray with clouds right now, but it cast a nice glow on the mountains. Plus, along with the clouds came a cool breeze that sent the smell of pine around us. It calmed me down significantly. Then my eyes landed on Edward, and my heart rate increased significantly. No! We can just be friends!

Edward coughed and snapped me out of my amazement. Really, he had a six pack! This was going to be hard. "Ready to go?" he asked.

"As I'll ever be."

"Good. Now take my hand." I grabbed his outreached hand and held on tightly. My head started spinning as I looked down again. "Please don't pass out. Please don't pass out," I chanted in my head.

"Don't worry." I could feel his breath right next to my heart as he whispered those reassuring words. Didn't help much with the dizziness. "On the count of three. One . . . Two . . . Thre-"

We had jumped before we could finish the count. It was a great and unusual feeling. The world seemed to stop in the second we were suspended above the earth. It was like we were flying. My heart beat flapping us high above the earth, like wings. For one perfect moment, I was flying with Edward. Then it all came crashing down. It was like we were put on pause for a moment, and then jumped to fast forward. Soon, the water was crashing up around us and we were being dragged down into the basin's depths.

Right after the water swallowed us, it forced our hands apart, and I spiraled downward even more. My hands reached out before me, searching for air. Instead my hip banged into a rock, and my swimsuit was snagged on a ridge of the rock. My hands diligently worked to free my swimsuit from the rock, with no avail. The lack of air was taking its toll on me, and I was becoming desperate. I grabbed onto my swimsuit with all my power, and pulled. My swimsuit tore completely at the seems, but I was free. I swam quickly to the surface, and gasped for air.

Edward broke the surface a second after me and was shocked, but relieved, to see me at the surface. "What happened to you?! You didn't surface after we jumped in, so I thought you were drowning."

"Sorry. My swimsuit got caught on a rock, and I couldn't get it un-snagged." Right at that moment part of my swimsuit floated up in front of me. I grabbed at it quickly and held it down against my body. "That's proof right there," I said hesitantly, trying to cover up the awkward moment.

"Uh . . . Yeah. I guess that can count as your skinny dipping resolution."

"Yep," I confirmed meekly. The water was really warm, and usually I would want to swim, but being practically naked . . . in the water . . . with Edward. "I really want to be able to stay up for New Year's Eve tonight, so do you want to get out of the water now?"

"Sure. Do you want me to get you a towel before you get out?"

"That would be great." Unfortunately, that left me with nothing to do but watch Edward's muscled body swim away. Just friends, Just friends . . .

Edward exited the side of the spring, and started running the short trek up to the car. Soon he was back, not only with a towel, but shoes for me too. I swam to the edge and Edward held up the towel for me.

"Thanks." I wrapped myself in the towel and we began walking again.

"I guess Alice was wrong on that idea. It did nothing but hurt you," Edward observed.

"I don't know. There was one great moment." I remembered the suspension over the water and smiled. "Even though I almost died, that one moment was complete bliss."

"So . . . I was right. It was fine."

"Not completely. But knowing Alice she probably planned for my suit to break apart. Luckily, we are only friends."

Edward went still for a moment and angrily said, "Yeah. Just friends."

The rest of the car ride was spent mainly in silence, and Edward had a stern look on his face. I felt uncomfortable, but I stayed in silence anyway. We pulled up to my apartment again and I got out.

"Bye, Edward. I had a good time," I addressed.

He stayed silent and stared straight ahead through the front window. "Yep" was the only response I got from him.

I climbed the steps to my apartment, thinking about it. When I entered my apartment, I was greeted by the sound of blow dryers and clicking heels. "Alice, Rosalie," I called. "I'm back."

"Come into the bathroom," Alice called back. That means they are almost ready, and it's my turn.

I walked into the bathroom, seeing make-up everywhere; Rosalie and Alice were staring in the mirror, Alice in a robe and hair curlers, while Rosalie was in pajama pants and a zip-up hoodie. After a forced shower, it was my turn in the chair. The grooming chair.

"So, how was cliff jumping?" Alice asked.

"Great. Except for the end, the end was weird," I responded.

"What happened?" Rosalie inquired.

"I don't know. That's what bothers me. One minute we were laughing, having a great time. The next, Edward is barely even speaking to me."

"Okay replay the whole trip for me. In detail," Alice requested.

"More like High-Def," Rosalie added. I told them everything that happened, from the car ride up, to jumping to the car ride home - leaving out the detail where my swimsuit floated up.

"After all that, you said that you were glad that you were just friends?" Rosalie asked, almost dumbfounded.

"Yeah. That's what we are." Rosalie and Alice shot each other glances, and went back to work.

"That is weird," Alice spoke quietly. "Well, Bella, go into your room and change, there are clothes on your bed waiting for you."

"Alright," I said and left the room.

APOV

Bella had left the room and, leaving Rosalie and I to discuss the situation. "You know what she's doing, right?" I questioned Rosalie.

"Yep, but I don't understand it at all. Edward and her are so perfect for each other. Especially after the story she told us today."

"Plus, did you see the glow she had when she walked in." I grabbed at the plastic tubes in my hair and started unraveling them, possibly yanking too hard because of the aggression I was feeling towards Bella. "The deeper she gets in with him, the more she shoves him away."

"She is going to push him right out the door. She may have already, by the way he was acting when he dropped Bella off," Rosalie pointed out.

"Not yet. I am going to talk to Jasper, and make him talk to Edward. If this doesn't work, I am never setting her up again. I will let her be a miserable, old maid." I was getting so worked up, that I slammed the blush I was using down on the counter-top, and it spread everywhere.

"Alice, you have to calm down. I agree with you, except on the old maid part. Just, let's hope this works out."

"Yeah. We can't do much else anyway."

EPOV

I was still incredibly irritated by what Bella said today. Why is she so set on being friends? I thought we were clicking, but I guess that was only me. I don't want to be the guy that pretends he is in a romance movie. That no matter what, the girl secretly likes me but is hiding her feelings and if I push hard enough, she will reveal her feelings to me. People like Mike disillusion themselves like that, not me. I have tried to woo her, try to get her to like me, but she obviously doesn't' feel the same about me. I can't do much else, so I will just give up. I get the hint, Bella. The game is over.

After I had my revelation, I turned around from the balcony and faced the party again. There was about a hundred people - if not more - here and the party hadn't even officially started yet, although, the music was blaring very loud already. It was so loud that it felt like the bass beating my heart. The party was held on a rooftop restaurant in the city, which was half covered by a roof, and half opened to the world, revealing the city and sky. The tables were all cleared out on the inside, replaced with several couches, leaving plenty of room to dance. The uncovered half was lined by a clear glass fence, which I was leaning on. A foot off the fence was a long, rectangular patch of grass, which was parallel to another rectangular patch of grass. The only difference was that one side of grass had a glass bar placed on the center. The bar was beckoning people to it by changing colors every couple seconds or so, and it was now beckoning me to it.

I approached the bar and was greeted by a bartender who was pouring a flute of champagne. He handed me one, and I was left to my own devices again. Well, that was what I thought until I felt a hardy pat on my back from Emmett. "Hey man, why the long face?"

"No reason. Just thinking."

"Yeah right," a voice from my right said. I looked, and of course it was Jasper. "He's got woman problems."

"That obvious," I responded sadly.

"Yeah, and Alice called a couple minutes ago."

"How does she know?" I asked angrily. "Did Bella say something about me?"

"No, not really, just the usual girl stuff. This usually consists of replaying your whole meeting, leaving nothing out. So Alice and Rosalie know everything."

"So you know that Bella is not interested." It hurt to say that aloud, but it was the truth.

"How could you possibly think that," Emmett said arrogantly. "It's so clear that she likes you."

"Yes, because 'let's just be friends' actually means 'let's get it on'. Come on, Emmett."

"No, Edward," Jasper said sternly. "I agree with Emmett. Bella does like you, but she is pushing you away because she is scared. She has never been a risk taker, and falling in love is one of the biggest risks you can make. If it was me, I would tell Bella how I feel. Show her that I reciprocate the feeling."

"Good thing I'm not you," I said coldly, and walked away. I knew that was a cheap shot and I should tell Bella how I feel, but my mind was already in 'let go' mode. That's all I wanted to do, forget about Bella and move on. That's always how it has been since Tanya.

God I hate that woman. Why did Tanya have to mess with me like that? It had been over five years, and just the sheer memory of her was still tormenting me. My mind was being drawn back into her vortex and I was catching glimpses of our whole relationship. The day we had first met at a museum and spotting her fiery hair from the other side of the room. Several of the intimate moments we had spent, like the time our car broke down in the forest and there was nothing we could do until morning, but watch the stars. Valentine's Day. Then the unfortunate day after Valentine's Day. We had just moved into an apartment together and everything was going smoothly. I had to go out early that day, but I thought I would make it up to her by coming home early and surprising her with a dinner out. I walked into the apartment with a big smile on my face, thinking about the look on Tanya's face when she found out what I had planned. I called out to Tanya and heard a thud coming from the bedroom. I didn't think anything of it, and started my tread down the short hallway to our bedroom. I opened the already cracked door, and saw Tanya sitting on the bed, and a man looking anywhere but at me, standing in the corner. Coward. I was so stunned, I couldn't even move my mouth. Something I regret enormously. There was so much I should have said. But this is what she said:

"Edward, this is not what it looks like." You know when someone says that, it usually is exactly what it looks like. "He was just helping me get the window unstuck." That's why her lipstick was smeared all over her face, and his. At this point, I walked over to the window and opened it with ease. "LOOK YOU FIXED IT!" Tanya said with fake enthusiasm, diverting the attention away from the real problem.

After that, we broke up, she moved out, and I later found out that she had been having an affair with him for awhile. She stayed with me for the money.

As quickly as the sucking vortex wrapped me up, it let me go and I could see Alice, Rosalie, and Bella entering the party. They all looked beautiful, but Bella looked outstanding. Her hair was absolutely straight, and her dress was a sleek black, hugging her body perfectly with one arm covered in a see-through, flowing, mesh sleeve. A modern Greek goddess.

This was going to be a long night.

BPOV

We had just arrived at the party and the crowd was already suffocating me. Alice was pulling me through the crowd, but her efforts were hindered by the shoes she put me in. They were very tall, black patent high heels with silver snakeskin accent. I had already tripped three times and my feet were rapidly turning red.

"Hurry up, Bella," Alice scolded.

"Sorry," I countered. "I should be yelling at you for putting me in these shoes."

She didn't respond because we had reached the guys, and she was already in Jasper's arms. The same goes for Rosalie. The only ones that weren't attacked at the hip were Edward and I. As a matter of fact, we were at the polar end of the others. Edward was barely making eye contact with me. From the time he dropped me off, his hatred only grew. What had I done?

"We're going to go make the rounds, find out who is here. We'll be back in a minute," Rosalie said for her, Emmett, Alice, and Jasper.

"Don't be gone too long." I was almost afraid of the arctic chill between Edward and I.

Soon after they left, Edward and I made our way to the bar. With the memory of yesterday still so fresh in my mind, I decided not to drink, but it was still something to occupy time with Edward.

After the maximum time spent at a bar had passed, I asked Edward to dance and surprising me, he accepted. We moved onto the dance floor and started swaying to the music. Thankfully, things loosened up and Edward and I started small talking. It turned out to be fun.

"Bella, I have to tell you something," Edward said seriously. "I like you. I like you a lot."

The words I was terrified of him saying, had happened. I smiled weakly trying to think of something to say that wouldn't completely devastate him. With the pass of time without a response, Edward caught on and let go of my hips.

"Edward, wait," I pleaded. "It's not that I don't like you. It's just I'm not sure." He didn't hear my message because he had already walked away and morphed into the crowd again. My mood sunk considerably. I spent about two more hours rejecting advances from random - possibly drunk - guys.

Alice and Rosalie came to see what was wrong, once they found out Alice said that I had no problems and that I was just being stupid. I was stunned by her brutality, but she was being honest. I really did have nothing to worry about. I had found a great guy that really liked me and I was sulking. I decided I would walk up to Edward and tell him what was on my mind.

I found him leaning on the fence outside, and I leaned against the spot next to him. "Hey," I greeted meekly.

"Hey," was his curt response.

"I want to tell you that my silence wasn't saying I didn't like you. I just didn't know what to think. I am still not sure how I feel, but I am not saying that I don't not like you." I was so nervous that I wasn't even sure if he understood what I was saying but, I had said it. "Does that make any sense?"

"A little," he said still keeping his controlled tone. "What I got was that you are in middle ground and want me o just sit around while you figure it out. I would be fine waiting if I knew there was a good chance for us, but I don't think you will take that risk. I want you to, but you have been pushing me away since he beginning, and I don't want to wait around for something that may not ever happen."

"Oh," was all I could say. He hit me in a soft spot and all I could o is walk away without him seeing my tears.

"Bella," Edward called from behind me. "I do want you to take this risk."

I walked over to everyone else and Alice became concerned when she saw my watery eyes. "What's wrong?" she said worriedly.

"I told Edward that I wasn't sure how I feel, but I want him to wait for me while I figure it out. He pretty much turned me down."

"This is complicated," Rosalie whinnied. "I get how Edward doesn't want to wait around for you. But he did spring it on you and should give you time to figure out how you feel."

"You do know you just sounded like Dr. Phil." Emmett said jokingly.

"Not now," Alice chided. In the midst of the commotion I heard Jasper whisper to Emmett 'Tanya' and it made me curious.

"Who is Tanya?" I asked. Jasper sighed and Emmett shifted uncomfortably.

"Tanya is Edward's ex," Jasper responded. "We think he doesn't want to wait because he wasted so much time on her, he doesn't want waste any time on anyone else."

I nodded my head in response and started thinking. After making sure I was okay, Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper left to the area where people were counting down. They asked me to join, but I didn't want to be suffocated by the mob of people again.

"Ten . . . nine . . . eight . . . " people shouted behind me, while I was leaning against the glass side. "Seven . . . six . . ." Do I really want to spend my new year like this? Alone? "Five . . . four . . ." My answer was no. My head shot up and I knew what I wanted. I wanted love. I wanted life. "Three . . . Two . . ." Even if that meant getting hurt. You won't live life if you keep yourself trapped in a bubble. "ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

I turned around to face the party again and try to spot Edward, but I couldn't see him. I raced through the crowd to find Edward, but there was no one in sight, and I kept tripping with the shoes I was in. Finally I spotted him standing by one of the couches, facing away from me. I tiptoed up to him and grabbed his shoulder. There was no turning back now. I moved in, grabbed his head and kissed him. I kissed him with passion and force. At first he didn't respond, probably in shock, but soon he warmed into it and grabbed me tighter. We were finally on the same page after missing each other so many times.

We separated after a minute, and I saw his green eyes and glorious smile. "Happy New Year," I whispered and kissed him again.

7 months later,

It has been several months now, and everyday with Edward has been an adventure. Literally. I have gone skydiving, skiing, paint-balling, and so much more. Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett, Edward, and I are actually planning a trip to Mexico now. Alice is ecstatic that she doesn't have to worry about me being an old maid. I guess I am making up for lost time. It's a good thing too, because I don't want to look back on my life when I am senile and not remember really living life. Here's to taking risks and resolutions.

THE END

A/N: That's all there is folks. I hope you enjoyed the show. It was a long time coming, and if you story alerted this back in January when it first came out, and are reading this, God bless you. Thanks for not giving up on me.

The links for Bella's dress and shoes on my profile.

To all the rest, Happy New Year. Take some risks. That's the most important thing I learned in 2009.

Love, Laugh, Live

~Bubbly722