Disclaimer- The characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, not me.

BPOV

After I had about a half hour to calm down and sip the cosmo, we went back into the main part of the apartment. Jasper was talking to a group of people from his office. "Hey, Alice, Bella! Come here!" he called. "I want you to meet some people. Where have you been?" Alice dragged me over.

"We've been in the back," Alice said.

"Everybody, this is Alice, my girlfriend, and her roommate, Bella," Jasper said. He introduced me to several people whose names I'd never remember.

I spent the evening talking to another guy from Jasper's office named Eric who was kind of nerdy, but I felt kind of safe near him. He was the IT guy and kind of annoying, but it was better than being the crying drunk girl having a panic attack, alone.

Emmett and Rosalie were the most perfect couple. He was tall, muscular, the life of the party. She was tall, blonde and perfect, looked like a supermodel.

It all just reminded me that I had never had a boyfriend. Ever. And I was close to 24, now. I was destined to die a virgin, now.

Not that I was unfortunate-looking. I was pretty, but at the same time, I was that crazy girl in school that had mental problems that everybody but nutty little Alice Cullen and the preacher's kid, Angela Weber, stayed away from when I first came to Forks to live with Charlie. Alice and Angela had been my saving grace. I might have done correspondence courses from home for high school had it not been for them.

"Hi, Bella, can you help me with making some drinks?" Edward asked, interrupting Eric's one-sided conversation with me. I wondered why he was asking me- and when he had figured out my name. "I'm a little short-handed."

"Uh, sure," I said, getting up.

I followed him into the kitchen. "You looked like you were dying over there," he said. "I don't know how Eric Yorkie got invited to this party, with all the complaining that Emmett does about him."

"Oh," I said, softly. "Is he that bad?"

"Did you ever watch Saturday Night Live when Jimmy Fallon was on?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Do you remember Nick Burns Your Company's Computer Guy?" Edward asked. I noticed his beautiful green eyes twinkled. They were a gorgeous jewel shade. "That's what Emmett makes him sound like."

"Oh, OK," I said, racking my brain, trying to remember that skit.

Edward handed me a few flutes of champagne. "Go ahead and hand these out," he said. "We're going to start toasting Emmett and Rosalie in a minute," he said.

I nodded.

After we handed out the champagne, Edward and Jasper called everyone together into the living room. The music was turned off. "To the happy couple," Jasper said, raising his glass. "To many years- may your marriage be exceptional, loving, and full of many memories."

There were shouts of here, here! And glasses clinked together.

"Emmett, take Rosalie's hands in yours," Edward said. Emmett did. "Put your hand on top of hers." Emmett did. Emmett and Rosalie looked into each other's eyes, tenderly. "This is the last time you'll ever have the upper hand." The room exploded into laughter.

"Here, here!" Jasper yelled, raising his champagne flute.

There were other toasts to the engaged couple.

I found myself relaxing when I had enough alcohol in me. I sat out on the balcony with Alice and Jasper and we started playing a game of blackjack. Several people joined us. I won a few times, but we didn't really keep count.

Everything was going well until we heard a screeching sound and a crash. We looked up and saw that a car had run a stop sign and there had been an accident. The car that had been going through the four-way stop had spun into the back quarter panel of a car that had been parallel parked… it was Jasper's car.

"Shit!" Jasper cried, standing up. "That's my car!"

"Oh, Jazz!" Alice cried. "Oh, Jazz!"

His beautiful white BMW, that he had saved up for since college, was sitting with a Toyota Camry wedged into it at a forty-five degree angle. Jasper spun around and dashed through the apartment. I saw him running across the courtyard to the street.

"Oh no!" I cried. "His car. Poor Jasper."

"They better have insurance," Alice said, shaking her head. "Come on, let's offer moral support."

We took our jackets and went out to the street to Jasper, who was attempting to calmly discuss insurance matters with the car that had run the stop sign. They had called a cop. I sat down on one the benches.

"This is going to take all night," Alice muttered. "The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus are in town, and they're all down at the stadium, directing traffic for the teenyboppers."

"Oh no," I muttered.

It did take all night. Most everybody from the party was gone by the time the cops showed up and made their report. Luckily, the car that ran the stop sign was insured, but Jasper's back lights weren't working when he checked them out. The cars were going to have to be towed.

"Shit," Jasper muttered, climbing out after checking the brake lights.

"It'll be OK," Alice said, wrapping her arms around him. "We'll get a cab, and I'll take you to a car rental in the morning before work. We'll call a tow truck."

"Alice," Jasper muttered. She kissed his shoulder. "I love you."

"I called the tow truck, already," Edward said from behind me.

"Thanks, man," Jasper said.

"That's such a beautiful car," Edward said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. Can I take the three of you home?"

"That could work," Alice said.

"Just let me say good-night to the last guest," Edward said. "I'll get my car keys."

"Thanks," I said. Edward disappeared up the stairs. "That's really nice of him."

"He seems like a nice guy," Jasper said. "Being a pediatrician in training and all."

"Oh my God," Alice said. "You're kidding!" She giggled.

"What?" Jasper asked.

"I said that he had armchair medical advice," Alice said, giggling. "I need to apologize for that."

"Yeah, I think it would be wise," he said. Edward came down with a few stragglers.

"I'm ready to go," he said. "I'm parked down here."

I got up to follow him. "Which one is yours?" I asked.

"The Aston-Martin," he said.

"I've never seen an Aston-Martin," I said.

"Aw, man, Bella," Jasper said. "They're gorgeous cars." Edward clicked the unlock button on the remote, and the lights flashed on a car. It didn't look like anything special to me. Jasper was practically drooling over it. "I saw this car when we were parking. It's great. This is yours?"

"Yeah," Edward admitted.

"You doctors get paid too much," Jasper muttered.

"No we don't," Edward said, smiling.

"Let's sit in the back," Alice said to Jasper. "Bella, you ride up front." Alice and Jasper climbed in the back. Edward actually opened the shotgun door for me. I climbed in and put on my seatbelt. I felt better putting it on- it was a habit for me. I played with the door lock until I heard it click.

Edward climbed into the passenger seat. "Sorry about your car, again, man," he said to Jasper. "They pay you architects too much."

"Ha ha," Jasper replied.

"So, where to?" Edward asked.

"We live on Spencer Street," Alice said. "The North side. Jasper can spend the night at our place."

"Thanks, baby," Jasper said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Jasper, stop doing that, there are other people in the car, y'know," Alice joked. I smiled. She loved to kid him.

"Bella, are you doing okay?" Edward asked.

"Uh, sure," I said, surprised. "I've had a couple of drinks."

"Alcohol's only going to make the symptoms worse," Edward said. "You need to get to the cause."

"I know the cause," I said, darkly. "Please don't try to diagnose me."

"Really, Edward-" Alice said. "You don't know her."

"I'm just saying," Edward said. "You'll be happier if you can manage these anxiety attacks without prescriptions. I'm saying this as a doctor. Think about that."

I had been living on Xanax for years, now. And I was still having panic attacks. I realized we were at my apartment building. "Thanks for the ride," Alice said. "Come on, Bella."

I went to reach for the door, but Edward got out, and I realized he was going to let me out. I let him. It was kind of nice for a guy to help me out of a car. Most guys kept their distance from me.

"Thanks for taking us home," I said.

"Good night," Edward said to me.

"Perfect ending to a perfect night," Jasper muttered as we got into the elevator.

"I know your car getting creamed sucks," Alice said, squeezing his hand.

"Just let me mourn it, I'll act better in the morning," Jasper said.

"OK," Alice said. They kissed.

I looked away.

"Do you think that Edward Masen was checking you out last night?" Alice asked, brushing her teeth the next morning.

"Looking at me? The crazy, fuck-up girl with anxiety attacks party crashing at his apartment?" I asked.

"Bella!" Alice cried, taking her toothbrush out of her mouth.

"I'm twenty-four and still a virgin, please," I said.

"And you'll stay that way if you keep complaining," she said. "You've got class in an hour."