JPOV

I felt compelled to go back to the library the next day, hoping Bella wouldn't think I was some crazy stalker or something. God she was breathtaking, even soaked through.

I left the library in a happy daze, grinning all the way home. Alice didn't come home until after I was asleep that night and I didn't see her the next morning, her side of the bed empty. I went through my day, taking notes like I always did during Carlisle's class. Then I went to the library again.

For the rest of the week I stopped at the library. Talking to Bella was so stimulating; it was amazing to talk about something other than clothes and shoes for once. She was insightful and witty and beautiful. Especially her expressions. When she cared deeply about something, like when I asked her about Carlisle and Esme, she would have the most wonderful look on her face of love and admiration. At times like those she took my breath away.

"Jasper." She stopped her movement of scanning books back into the system. "Why have you been here every day?" It was Friday, I wasn't surprised she had finally asked. "I like talking to you." I said simply. She looked down shyly, pushing a book over into the checked in pile. "Really?" She asked quietly, like it was such a surprise. I smiled softly at her, she was adorable. "Bella, I do enjoy reading, which is why I always check out a book. But I also enjoy talking to you." She smiled back at me, returning to her job.

She never asked me about a girlfriend and I never asked her about a boyfriend, it was mutual understanding to not get into something like that. Besides, I was on the rocks with Alice at this point, something about her mood and her lack of attention creeping into my thoughts. Something was up, but I couldn't fathom what.

Saturday was the day of Em's date with Rose.

"Man, what should I wear? Should I get her flowers? Where should I take her?"

I glanced at the clock and grumbled. "What the fuck Em, its 8 in the morning. Why haven't you thought about this three or four days ago?"

"I did! I just want your opinion." I groaned and plopped my face back into my soft pillow. "Stop acting like such a bitch man, wear something nice, bring her a lilac and take her to dinner."

"Why a lilac?"

I sighed, squinting an eye open to the bright open air. "Because. I'm sure tons of losers have brought her rose's, I mean please, how lame."

He let out a breath. "You're right, man, you're right. You, Jasper, are a genius."

"Thanks." I said dryly, staring up at my ceiling now.

"Hey, so now that that's figured out, what's been up with you? I haven't heard from ya in a while." His voice had calmed down at least, now he was more upbeat. Joy to the world.

"Eh, nothing much, been in lectures all week...the library every day..."

"Why the hell have you been to the library every day?" He asked, bemused.

"For books?" I offered, wincing as I realized my mistake.

"Yeah. Right. Now really Jazz."

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "I've been talking to Bella."

"At the library?"

"She works there." I stated, knowing I was about to get it.

"Fucking seriously? Like one of those hot librarians right out of a fuckin Playboy Magazine or somethin?" He said, excited now.

"Something like that..." I grumbled as my thoughts flitted over images of Bella. She did look hot working among those stacks of books....I shook my head. "Em stop bein a douche, you have a date tonight."

Emmett sighed heavily on the other end of the phone. "You've been holding out on me man." I scowled. "Have not, we just talk. We're friends."

"Yeah. Whatever." I didn't like the way he said that with plain disbelief coloring his words. "Anyways, I got some shopping to do. Talk to you later man."

I hung up the phone and pressed my face into my pillow. What was I doing? I kept trying to convince myself that I was just developing a friendship with this woman, men and women can be friends. But the more I got to know her... She was perfect. In every way. We liked the same things, we talked intellectually, she was funny, and sweet, and oh so adorable when she got shy. Nothing like Alice.

I grimaced. What the hell was I doing? I seemed to be asking myself that question a lot. I was in a relationship with Alice, she was my girlfriend, I couldn't betray that. That was wrong. We'd been together since the end of college, almost three years now. We lived together. Slept together, well in the same bed, we hadn't done the deed in a while. I frowned. She seemed distracted a lot lately.

I finally pulled my lazy ass from bed, debating on whether I should drop by the library today. I had no class, it was the weekend after all, and I trudged to the living room, looking around at all the books I had strewn about. I felt a wave of guilt at having neglected Alice to go spend time with a woman I had only met a week ago. That guilt pushed me to get dressed and go stop by her favorite coffee place to grab her an iced mocha and a croissant, her favorite.

I drove down to the lot, Alice was working on a big shoot this month, and parked the car. I stepped precariously over light and camera equipment and various articles of clothing and shoe's, spotting a big puff of bleached frizzy hair. "Lauren!" I called to the girl, Alice's assistant. She looked over at me, a grin spreading across her thin pale lips. I fought the urge to frown. She creeped me out, and I was pretty sure she had a crush on me.

"Lauren, you know where Alice is?" She looked me over, a sarcastic twist to her smile forming now, confusing me. "Alice? Well she isn't scheduled to work for a couple more hours, though I do think I saw her head to her trailer a while ago." She said innocently, her eyes covering something. Her voice grated on my nerve endings and I forced a polite smile. "Thanks." She smiled brightly. "No problem. At all." I walked away, shaking my head to myself at her odd behavior.

I found Alice's trailer for on set work, going up to it and tapping lightly on the door. "Aly?" I called, my lips turning down as there was no answer, though I heard a small crash from inside. Thinking something was wrong I pushed the thin metal door open and gaped. There Alice was, half naked and scrambling to get off of a fully naked Edward Cullen. The lead male model for Alice's agency.

"What. The. FUCK." I tossed my arm out, the contents of the coffee cup flying across the room, splattering everything.

"Jazz!" Alice, rushed to pull a blanket around her, Edward busily pulling on his pants. "Jazz, I can explain..."

"No." I clenched my hand, the cup crushed now. "No, you can't. This." I gestured between us. "This is officially done. I knew something was up Alice, I KNEW. But I sat back, because I loved you. Because I respected you. Because I was your fucking LAP DOG." I shook my head in disgust, tossing the cup and bag in my hands on the ground. "Fuck you Alice. Thank you for giving me what I needed to finally end it with you. "

I turned and hopped down the metal stairs leading up to her door, stalking quickly away as Alice trailed behind me, her voice calling. "Jasper!" Everyone was watching, I kept walking. "Please, Jasper I'm sorry! It was a mistake! I LOVE YOU!" I shut her out all the way to my car.

I went straight home and packed all my stuff, disgusted at everything I saw that was Alice's, which was a lot of crap. I put all my clothes in a suitcase, getting as much as I could before I left. Anything I forgot I'd come back for later.

I knew I shouldn't, but I had no where else to go.

My fist came down on Emmett's door and I sighed. The door swung open and Em stood there, eyes sliding down to the two suitcases in hand.

"The fuck happened to you?"

"Can I stay here for I bit?" I asked, shouldering past him, the door closing as he turned to watch me practically collapse on the couch.

He stared at me heavily and I sighed, finally relenting. "I found Alice cheating on me. With Edward Fucking Cullen."

His eyebrows furrowed. "The male model?"

I nodded, closing my eyes and leaning my head back.

"I thought he was gay."

I snorted.

"Do you mind if I stay here for a while?" I asked him, looking over at him.

He rolled his eyes. "You're my bro. My home boy. You can stay. Just...now I can't get any tonight." I laughed and shook my head. Oh Emmett.

BPOV

I sat, legs crossed beneath me, on the couch in the living room, watching various chick flicks Rose would have laughed at. Fortunately for me, she was out on a date, so she couldn't say a damn thing.

It was late and I glanced at the clock, feeling like a loser for sitting on the couch for five hours watching movies in the dark on a Saturday night while her friend went on a hot date. My thoughts drifted to Jasper, how he wasn't at the library today. Well of course he wasn't, it was Saturday, he was probably with his girlfriend. I sulked and stood, heading to grab the Ben & Jerry's, when I heard the door. There was a deep booming laugh, Emmett, and Rose's soft giggle and then the door was shut.

As she tiptoed in, seeing I was still awake and standing there, she grinned and tossed her heels to the side. "Hey there Bells. How was your night?"

I eyed her, giving her a sarcastic smile. "Oh just magical Rose. Want some ice cream?" I asked, waving the tub in the air.

She gladly grabbed it and the spoon and plopped her model ass right down on the loveseat. I rolled my eyes and grabbed another spoon, sitting next to her.

"So, how was your night?" I asked, licking the spoon after dropping some ice cream on my tongue.

She sighed and grinned, her eyes gleaming, and I arched my eyebrows. She was smitten. "Lovely. Did you see the lilac?" She asked, nodding to the table where she had set the flower down. "And we went out to dinner and then he took me to dance. He's such a sweetie."

I smiled and scooped up another bite of ice cream as she stared off dreamily for a bit, before seeming to snap out of it.

"Oh." She started, casting me a sideways glance. "Em told me something interesting tonight."

I looked at her curiously, but she kept her face closed off, as if it was nothing important.

"What?" I finally asked, giving in to her little game.

"Apparently." She said, waving her spoon. "Jasper found Alice cheating on him with Edward Cullen."

I gaped like a fish for a minute. "Wait. Edward Cullen? THE Edward Cullen?"

Rose nodded, smirking at her gossip goodness. "The one and only. Jasper walked in on the two of them and broke up with Alice right then and there and then walked out, he's staying at Em's house right now."

I stared in shock at Rose's face for a while, letting the information soak into my brain. My first thought was: Who the hell can cheat on someone like Jasper? That was impossible; this Alice had to be a stupid woman to do such a thing, even if she was cheating with the world's hottest male model.

"Wow." I breathed, shaking my head and staring off into space as I absentmindedly scooped some more ice cream into my mouth.

Rose seemed to know how this little bit of information would make me react and she smirked at her job well done. "Well I'm beat, goin to bed, night Bella." She stood and took the ice cream and spoons with her, depositing them to the freezer and sink respectively.

I didn't see Jasper for a few days after that, having only gone grocery shopping and lounging around the house on Sunday, working Monday, Tuesday, then Wednesday with no sign of him.

"Em says he's working on getting over it. They've been drinking a lot." Rose shrugged, telling me this as she noticed the glum expression that had worked its way onto my face during the week. Of course. I was being selfish. He was trying to get over a betrayal, I shouldn't be sitting around hoping for him to come running to me.

The rest of the week passed by uneventful, Rose went on another date on Saturday. I finally saw Jasper again on Tuesday.

I was sitting at the desk, sighing as I read The Hunger Games, my concentration strained. I didn't hear him come in, he was always so quiet, and so I startled when I heard him say my name.

"Bella."

It was soft and deep at the same time, with that twang that I loved from his accent. My eyes darted up, meeting his sapphire ones. The fire that used to be there seemed to be dimmed, but still blazing, bags under his eyes, a soft curve of his lips showing me his smile.

"Oh Jasper, look at you. Have you gotten any sleep recently?" I asked, immediately concerned as I jumped up and flitted my hands around him uselessly. He chuckled and grabbed my hands, calming their movement, but sending a rush of heat through me.

"I'm fine Bella, don't worry so much." He held my hands softly and I reveled in his touch, looking down at our joined hands.

"So...how have you been?" I asked stupidly, not knowing what else to say.

Jasper shrugged, looking at our connected hands as well, but not seeming inclined to let go any time soon. "I've been better." He said, his thumb brushing over my palm, making me jump the tiniest bit.

"I'm sorry." I said empathetically, not wanting him to be too hung up on this.

He shrugged again. "I mean. I guess as wrong as it is, I was sort of relieved that it happened. I couldn't breath right in that relationship, I knew there was no relationship anymore, but I forced it anyways because Alice didn't seem to want it to end and I had no real reason to end it either." He peeked up at me sheepishly. "I'm sorry I'm dumping this all on you, you probably don't even know what I'm babbling about." I shook my head, gripping his hands a little tighter.

"I do know." I said just as sheepishly. "Rosalie told me." I expected he would be mad that Emmett had told Rose, but he barely rolled his eyes and smiled a bit.

"I should have known."

"So are you okay now?" I asked quietly after a time of silence, Jasper staring at our hands with a concentrated furrow of brows. He looked up at me, a genuine smile lighting up his angelic face. "Yeah, I'm great now."