Disclaimer: You know. I own it not. Stephenie Meyer does. I just like to switch 'em up the way they should be :)

A/N: Thank you guys. Sorry about the delay in updating. My weekends are always crazy, and the gf was here. But here we go again, back into it head first. Chapter two coming straight up.

Bang. Bang. Bang. "What am I doing?" I whined to no one, as I was seated in front of the computer desk in my living room, thudding my forehead on the desk in a steady rhythm. Not that I was trying to give myself a concussion, or any sort of brain damage, just that I was trying to dislodge a certain smile out of my head. "God, this sucks. Why can't I just acknowledge she's fucking gorgeous and get on with my life?" My very lonely, single life. I had no friends, really. I went out with a co-worker named Jane to a bar the night before, and watched her pick up guys while I slammed beers back and glanced at the score on the Mariners game. We lost, Jane left me there when she left with Vinny (whoever the hell that was), and I drunkenly caught a cab back to my apartment to pass out on the couch fully clothed. That was my social life. It only brought me to work with a hangover today, and then- "Ah, why does it always come back to her?" I growled and banged my head once more before pushing away from the desk angrily, pacing away from the over turned chair.

I didn't even know this girl. I didn't know how old she was, where she came from, what she did for a living, what she wanted in life. I knew her name. I knew her kid was the coolest six year old on the planet. I knew she'd been hurt. It didn't take rocket science to dissect the tone Emmett took on in her defense the other day. I knew that her smile was the brightest one I had ever seen, and it engulfed my thoughts even now, much like closing your eyes after staring at a light bulb. It was there, and it wouldn't go away. How in the world did this happen?

My cell phone chimed on the desk I had just stormed away from. I shot a glare at it. It was nine-thirty at night, who would call me? Curiosity got the better of me and I snatched it up to look at the flat touch screen. It was my dad. Huh.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Bells," he said, trying to subdue his surprise at my answering. I was surprised, too.

"Hey, Dad. How are things?" I ask casually, resigning myself to the fact I was in store for at least a ten minute conversation. We would both be so quiet and awkward by the end of it that we would stutter our way over the love stuff and practically hang up on each other.

"Oh, you know," he said airily. "It's Forks. How about you? How is Seattle? You're not walking around at night and dumb shit like that, right?"

"No, Dad."

He was silent for a second, then he said what I knew was weighing on his mind the most. "Why haven't you called, Bella?"

I gave a deep sigh, not really in the mood to get into this with him right now. "I've just been busy," I replied evasively, but he scoffed.

"Don't feed me that. You can feed Jake that crap all you want, and Leah, too. You three used to be so close, and neither of them hear from you anymore, either. Are you okay? You're not depressed, are you?"

That was a pretty solid question, coming from him. This phone call must have come at Sue's insistence. Bless her heart, she loved me.

"Dad..." I tried to avoid the subject. I wasn't depressed, I was just in my own world, which I prefer to having Jacob giving me sad eyes, and Leah wanting to pull me into any nook or cranny she could find for a quickie. I preferred the solitude to the parties, the drinking, the smell of marijuana, and Mike Newton puking all over everything. I preferred this small apartment to the spacious yard and house I'd grown up in, with every memory intact. Even the memory of the day Renee left me and Dad. No, I would leave Forks in Forks, and I will stay here.

"Talk to me, Bells," he said in earnest, and I knew this request was sincere, he really wanted to know.

"I swear, I am perfectly okay. Happy, even. It's quiet, I can think. I go to work, and come home to play guitar, then listen to some tunes as I pass out. It's zen for me."

"Zen?"

I laughed, shaking my head at my father. I missed him, I really did. "Nothing, Dad. Hey, did you catch that game last night?"

And so the heavy stuff was forgotten and both us fell into a comfortable small talk about our baseball team, and how we thought the rest of the season would go. He tried to bring up Leah once more, but I shot him down again, and then he let me go. I tossed my phone aside with a sigh of relief. Thank god that was over. I couldn't handle listening to him talk about how Leah was now dating Paul, and they were so happy blah blah blah. I didn't want to think about that meathead banging the same thing I used to bang. It was just weird. Dad had no idea about me and Leah, so I couldn't hold it against him. Poor guy just wanted me to want to come home. Not a chance, buddy. Especially now that I've met her. There you go again, Swan! She's untouchable, let it go! I'd spent the rest of the day scolding myself in that manner.

I was sure by now that the wink and smirk I had thought I'd seen was merely an eyelash that got into her eye, and the smirk was really a grimace from the sting in her eye. As for the tiny wave, that probably was to me, as I am positive I looked like an idiot standing there drooling as she walked away. She was probably creeped out and that little wave was just to make sure I wouldn't attack her if she moved out of the door too quickly. Ugh, I was so smooth.

I was going to explode if I didn't do something, if I just sat in this apartment and stewed over this woman I had only met this morning and knew nothing about. This is where I wished I had at least one friend to hang out with, to go out and have a beer and a conversation with. Someone I could tell about Alice Cullen.

Screw it. I hopped up from the couch where I sat down to talk to my dad, racing over to the counter to grab the keys to my truck before I could change my mind, then thought twice and set them back down. I would call a cab.

Not my scene, I thought to myself as I stood in line to get into this place called La Lune Bleu. Loosely translating for my English-speaking tongue, I think it meant something like The Blue Moon. I could hear the Chris Brown throbbing inside the building already. Everybody put your hands in the air and say yeah yeah yeah. I shook my head. I was just here for the alcohol and the girls. I figured I might have the fuel to make a one night stand. It'd been a while, after all.

I'm a pretty girl, I hear, and it didn't take the door man a second look to wave me through without glancing at my license or taking my cover fee. Hey, whatever works, right?

The usual dark hall way littered with people glowing beneath the blacklights that lined the ceiling on both sides, the smell of sweat, sex, and booze. Yeah, I really hated these places, and it it really griped my ass that every time I wanted to go fishing I would have to come to places like this. At least Jacob's not here to cock-block the shit out of me, for once. I giggled. Jacob was just horrible in these places, too, and would ward off anyone that came near me, male or female. It was only after he confessed his feelings that I understood. He hated he wasn't the one I was flirting with.

There was a decent sized crowd for it to be only just eleven, because as I understand it, the night life really begins after midnight. Yeah, I was probably going to be going home drunk and alone again tonight, passing out around one, right when everyone my age is out having the times of their lives. The thought made me scowl. I was so back and forth. I wanted friends, but I wanted to be alone. I wanted a life, but I wanted solitude. Can't have cake and eat it, too. Start things out with a shot or two.

One of the two bartenders was a pasty skinned guy with crazy hair that looked like he had just stood in front of a shop fan on super high, then just slathered gel through it, and thought it looked hot. I thought that it would come in handy if the roof fell in; he would have plenty of protection with his stupid hair-don't. He slid up to me and gave a crooked grin that I am sure he thought was as sexy as his hair, and I puked a little in my mouth.

"What can I do for you, sweetheart?" he asked in a voice I'm sure he also thought sounded like velvet, only it sounded as gross and scratchy as the five o' clock shadow on his chin.

"Two shots of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey, if you've got it, and a bottle of Heineken." He raised his bushy eyebrows at me, and I almost asked him if wanted me to shoot around the corner to the drugstore and pick him up a pair of tweezers, but he flipped around to fill my order. Good boy. I'll call you Jimmy Neutron.

When Jimmy Neutron finally returned with what I had asked for, I handed him my debit card and requested a tab be opened. He looked at the name on the card and back up at me with that same crooked grin. "Does that mean I'll be seeing you a lot tonight... Isabella?" God, that name. I could kill Renee.

"Not for the reasons you want, Jimmy," I muttered, glaring at his stupid hair so hard that I feared the hair gel could ignite and start a blazing fire.

"What was that?" he called over the music, and he leaned forward enough for me to catch a whiff of his cologne. Curve. Not bad, I was wearing it myself.

"I said, I'm gonna get drunk and go shimmy!" I lied loudly, taking his pause and stare to take my first shot. I really liked the taste of the Tennessee Honey, maybe even more than the original No. 7. Huh, I'll bet Dad would love it. Got to get him a bottle for his birthday.

Jimmy Neutron nodded his giant head. "That's what people do! I'm sure you'll find someone to keep you company; you're gorgeous!"

I strained to keep myself from rolling my eyes. "Thanks."

I took my last shot and walked away from the bar with my beer, leaning up against a railing that looked out of the swarm of writhing bodies that made up the dance floor. I scanned the tops of their heads, trying to find a nice distraction to watch, but not seeing a single girl that could smash that perfect face out of my memory. Alice... that name rolled so easily off my tongue, I could just imagine walking up behind her and pulling her back to my front and whispering it in her ear. It gave me chills, you know, the good kind.

The world is full of ghosts... and I am alone.*

"Hey there." A voice snapped me out of my private thoughts, and I turned to see a guy with long blonde hair pulled back into a neat ponytail with a shit-eating grin plastered on his scruffy face. He and Jimmy Neutron should go in on a new razor together, was the first thought in my mind after seeing this guy.

"Hi," I answered, looking away from him. No chance, he was persistent.

"I've never seen you around here before. You new to the area?"

"Kind of," I replied vaguely, but he still didn't give up.

"You come here with your boyfriend?"

Here we go. I wish Jake was here for this one. "Nope."

"Why not? Get in a fight?"

Ugh, please just leave. "No, I don't have a boyfriend because I don't like boys. I'm here for the same reason you are. So you're wasting your time, really."

"It's your lucky day, then," he said, his grin widening. "It just so happens that I am here with a dear friend of mine, and she doesn't like boys, either." He waved his hand and like magic, a red head with a grin mirroring his appeared, her hand out stretched to me.

"Victoria," she told me her name, and when I shook her hand, I shivered. These were not the good kind. "I see you've met James," she went on, indicating ponytail guy. Now that I got a good look at him, he seemed kinda creepy. Victoria was beautiful, definitely worth at least one romp in the sheets. But there was something about her that weirded me out, and I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Yeah," I affirmed, nodding once in his direction. "I'm Bella."

"Bella," she repeated, her face unreadable. "Well, Bella, what brings you out to La Lune Bleu tonight? I know I have never seen you here before, and we're here nearly every weekend."

"Just wanted to get out of the house... maybe meet a nice girl..." I trailed off as Victoria smiled widely, and James walked off to the bar.

"Well," Victoria said, leaning forward into my ear. "I'm not exactly a nice girl, but I'm sure we could have some fun. What do you say... Bella?"

I thought about it. She was throwing herself at me. She was a very pretty girl. But her friend was creepy, and something about Victoria herself was, too. "Want to dance?" I found myself asking her, shaking off the vibe the girl exuded. I'd come here to meet someone new, so damn it, I wasn't going to brush off what could be the only chance at fucking away these thoughts of Alice.

Victoria's smiled curled at the edges, and I was forcibly reminded of the cat that caught the canary. It was strange, but at the same time made me curious. Who is this girl? What does she want with me?

James showed up with three small plastic cups, each holding a shot of liquor. "To new friendships?" he said, passing one to me and then Victoria, before raising his own in a toast. All three of us took the shots.

"HEY! DON'T DRINK THAT!" Too late, it was down the hatch. "YOU WITH THE PONYTAIL! DON'T MOVE!"

Jimmy Neutron appeared out of no where, slinging James up against the railing and getting in his face. "What did you put in her drink? I saw it!"

Put... in... whose... drink? I looked over at Victoria, only to see she had vanished, and I whipped my head around to see where she had gone, but I didn't see her red mane anywhere. Looking back at Jimmy and James, James was pushing Jimmy Neutron back, and then a huge muscled guy with a black t-shirt stretched over his broad chest appeared, grabbing James by the back of his neck.

"Is this him, Edward?" the big guy asked with a familiar voice, and it bugged me that it was too dark in here to see the guy's face.

"Yeah, Emmett," Jimmy Neutron growled. Emmett? Still familiar... "He bought three shots of tequila, and I saw him put powder in one of them and then come hand it to her." He pointed at me, and when the big guy turned around, it dawned on me who it was.

"I know you," was what I said, and he squinted at me for a second before he recognized me, too.

"Bella, the guitar chick?" he said in a dumbfounded tone. Then he looked at the guy still suspended in mid-air by the scruff of his neck, who looked terrified. "Buddy, what did you put in her drink?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" James yelled, squirming around to try to get free, but wincing when Emmett tightened his grip.

"I think you do," Emmett snarled, shaking him a bit. "Eddie, why don't we take this guy outside and teach him a lesson on how to treat ladies?"

"You should," Jimmy (Eddie?) said, looking over at me with a real concern in his eyes. "I'm going to look after her, she drank it."

"I'll take care of her," a new voice said, and this voice made tingles explode in my chest and spread through my body. The feminine tone came from behind me, and I dared not turn around to see her face. "You go with Emmett and get some fresh air."

I felt a soft touch on my left shoulder, scorching with its warmth, and before I knew it, I was facing Alice Cullen, who stepped around into my eyesight. She was just as beautiful as I remembered, and more. I could see the blue of her eyes, even in this dark building. "Bella, do you remember me?" she asked me gently, and I gasped at hearing my name from her lips; and as if it were a sledgehammer to the top of my head, whatever James had put in that shot hit me full force, and my knees gave out. Alice and Jimmy Neutron caught me before I hit the floor, but there was a scuffle, and I heard someone shout. Then all I saw was black.

A/N: Ta da! Another one up. I'll get on to 3 as soon as I can. The lyrics in the beginning are Chris Brown, it's just something I figured would fit to the scene.

The * on the italics indicates that those are not my beautiful words. They belong to Otep Shamaya.

I love you guys! Tell me what you think! Tell me what you want! Tell me any words, cuz words are my drug of choice!