Disclaimer: I own it not. Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

A/N: Sorry about the wait, guys...

Consciousness set in. I don't know how to describe it other than that. All of a sudden I was wide awake, but had yet to open my eyes. I took a deep breath, and caught the faint scent of strawberries from somewhere. "What the hell is that?" I mumbled to myself, slowly opening my eyes to see my dimly lit bedroom as usual, taking another deep breath, and that's when my other senses started kicking in.

There was an intense warmth concentrated on my back, hot air on the back of my neck, and an arm tucked around me in a fashion I could only call protectively. I touched the small forearm of the person breathing rhythmically onto the back of my neck, and it curled around my waist even tighter. Flipping around to see the intruder in my room, I wondered exactly how drunk I had gotten the night before. Her face was obscured by my dark blue comforter, but the disarrayed mop of black hair sticking out everywhere was unmistakable. "OH GOD!" I tried to scoot away from her, but forgot the edge of the bed existed and fell backwards onto the floor with a loud and distinct thud. Alice's face appeared over the edge of my bed, looking down at me in alarm as I tried to collect myself mentally and physically, all the while yelling at Alice in a high-pitched, panicked tone. "What the fuck? How- when did you- WHAT HAPPENED?"

"Bella, nothing happened," she said quickly, sitting up on her knees as I got to my feet, and I saw she was fully clothed. I almost began to relax, but then I looked down at myself and realized I was in nothing but a sports bra and my boxers. "I swear on everything I love I didn't touch you. Calm down and sit and I'll explain what happened, okay? I promise, this is not what it looks like, trust me," she went on, as I looked at her with my face turning red from embarrassment, which was resulting in a rise of my temper. I liked the girl, but really, waking up next to her like this with not even a full conversation between us? That's a bit much in the first twenty-four hours.

I snatched up a dirty shirt off the floor, thought twice because Alice was there, and discarded it instead, going to my dresser to find a shirt and pajama pants. "Talk, I'm listening," I said shortly, and I heard her sharp intake of breath from behind me as I bent to get a shirt from the bottom drawer. I whirled around to glare at her, but her face was so red and ashamed as she shyly cut her eyes away, instead I felt a smile tug at the corners of my mouth. I'm supposed to be angry right now, and I'm trying to grin at her without meaning to? What is wrong with me? Look how beautiful she is when she blushes. Look at that adorable hair she has going on right now! I want to run my fingers through it... GAH! Bella! Snap out of it!

"Do you remember going out last night?" she asked me without looking back at me until I was dressed and sitting down on the corner of my bed opposite her.

I'd taken a cab to this new club Jane had mentioned... La Lune Bleu. "Yeah, I remember," I said slowly, thinking about the wait in line. "It was busy. I'd never been there, but my co-worker told me about it, said there were pretty girls everywhere," I went on without thinking, then blushing hard as I realized I'd probably just made myself sound like a poster child for gonasyphaherpeles. "I mean, not that I was- well, I mean I was, but only because I-"

"Bella, I get why you were there," Alice said softly, but it still cut me off at mid-sentence. There was an undertone to her voice, but I couldn't put a finger on it. "Well, I own La Lune Bleu. I was working last night in my office during club hours, and my brother sent me a text saying there was some trouble on the floor, so I went down to see it fixed." She paused, and let the words sink in, and I thought hard about what had happened when I finally got inside the bar. The bartender had looked like Jimmy Neutron. I'd gotten two shots... a beer. Watched the dance floor, still thinking about Alice... she owned the club. Go fucking figure. Wait...

"There was a guy," I said, remembering his creepy grin and his long hair, tied back. ...She doesn't like boys either. "And a girl, she was with him. God, I can't remember their names..."

"James?" Alice supplied, a bitter tone in her voice. I gave a long look into her eyes. She was worried about me, and angry at the mention of this guy. What the fuck had happened?

"Yeah... Alice, what happened?"

She took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, running her fingers through her messy hair, tugging a bit at the ends. I was a little jealous: I really wanted to do that. "That guy James, he slipped something into your drink. I think he was going to rape you... but you say there was a girl with him?" she asked me skeptically, her head falling to one side and her nose scrunching cutely. Everything about this woman thrilled me.

"Yeah..." I was hypnotized my the way her hair moved when she shook her head at my affirmative response.

"We didn't see a girl close enough to him to associate her with him," Alice explained. "We thought he was alone, and trying to get lucky with someone who didn't consent."

"No, there was a girl... red head, very pretty," I said sheepishly. "She's what kept my attention. And I remember Jimmy Neutron yelling something about my drink, and then your brother showed up, and then-" I broke off with a reddened complexion.

"I was there," she finished with a nod.

"I don't really recall much after that."

"Because you passed out, and when you came to, you were so under the influence of that drug you would have humped a parking meter," Alice said dryly, and I couldn't help but to feel a slight worry come over me.

"What did I do to you?" I asked her in barely more than a whisper, cold fear being borne from the worry.

She shook her head and reached out to touch my hand. I suppressed the gasp that fought to escape my throat, as the tingles exploded again, and the butterflies in my stomach mutated into eagles. "You didn't do anything, Bella. You behaved yourself for the most part. I wiped you down when you were hot, and you told me how to get here. When you laid down, you asked me to lie with you, then to hold you because you were cold, so I did. I never meant to fall asleep, but I was exhausted and comfortable. I'm so sorry you had to wake up to the wrong idea, but I had a feeling it would happen like this." She pulled her hand back to herself and started to stand up, but paused, her face twisted in an internal battle at first, but then she looked at me. "Last night, I asked you if I could take you out for breakfast this morning, and you said yes. If I were to ask you again now that you're lucid, what would your answer be?"

"Yes," I said without hesitation, automatically feeling silly for it. I was like a child who wanted a new toy and was desperate to get it. Then I added as an afterthought, "I'd like to shower first, though."

Alice smirked, and I thought I would fall out on her again. "What makes you think you're entitled to one if I can't even have one?"

I thought about it for a second, then gave her a one-shouldered shrug. "It's my shower," I answered with a grin, and she couldn't help but to smile back; I know it, because I saw her dimples fighting against it. Another reason came to mind, but I was almost scared to say it. Alice was interested in me, I just had a feeling that this breakfast was more like... "And you won't get this first date you're trying to so smoothly ask me out on," I said, throwing all caution to the wind as her grin blew a tire and her mouth dropped open in surprise. I giggled at her. "Might catch flies if you don't close that trap."

"Fine," Alice grumbled, flinging herself back on my bed and crossing her arms over her chest with a pout. God, the things I wanted to do to that lip poking out... "But hurry up, because I'm starving," she added, and I gave her a salute as I entered my bathroom.

So, I go out to get drunk with no regards, and the one thing I was trying not to regard turns out to own the place I choose. And then I'm selected to be the unlucky candidate for some sick freaks' fantasies. I'm sure she was in on it... the way she disappeared when Jimmy Neutron showed up. I wish I could remember what happened when i came to on the drugs. What did I do? What did I say? Alice had said I'd behaved 'for the most part'. That left room for unsaid things.

AlicePOV:

I moved from Bella's bedroom to the living room with a huge sigh of relief. That went better than I could have hoped. I thought it was going to get out of control for a second, because she looked almost livid. I had a feeling that Bella was a pretty private person, and waking up next to someone with no memory of lying with them was probably quite a shock to someone who spent most of her time alone. But I did kind of hope she remembered some things from last night. I wished she remembered telling me how she felt when she first saw me. I wished she remembered, so that I could tell her that she'd been in my thoughts since I'd seen her with my son, and how it made me feel when our skin touched.

I put my face in my hands as I sat on her small sofa. What am I doing? I barely know this girl and I am asking her out on a breakfast date? On the morning after I took care of her while she was messed up on drugs that had been slipped to her in my club? I shook my head. I didn't do things like this. I'd only dated one person since Jasper. Jasper had left me in shambles, and it had only been at Emmett's insistence that I try to go out and meet people. What my big brother didn't expect was for me to meet Kate, a leggy blonde from Alaska, who was going to school at Washington State. Kate was my first girl, and in the whirlwind six months we shared together, I learned a lot from her. She wise for her years, but had a wandering eye, and an eager tongue. I caught her in bed with her suitemate, a red head named Tanya. I never spoke to Kate again. Then two years later, there was a brief time with a woman who simply liked to be called Z. She was tall, exotic with her South American features, silky dark skin that I kissed all over for three days straight, and a beautifully accented voice that casted all kinds of spells over me. Z was a wildwoman, I never could have tied her down, and I didn't try.

I'd been abstinate- do you count masturbation in abstinence?- for almost two years at this point, and seeing Bella sitting there with that guitar awakened a need I hadn't felt since Z. There was a story in her, somewhere deep in those dark brown eyes, and beneath her pale skin, a story I wanted to read over and over again, until I knew it by heart, and could recite it upon her request. I'd never wanted to know anyone the way I wanted to know Bella Swan. But I couldn't let her see too much of that, it was too soon, and I didn't want her to freak out because I am being insane. Because I felt crazy, the way I was obsessing over Bella.

I was deeep in my thoughts when she came out of her room, appearing in the living room with dark baggy jeans, and a Beatles shirt that fit tight at the top, pulling that Mariners cap down on her recently dried hair, which was hanging down past her shoulders. It looked really soft... I wanted to touch it, but I refrained as she stopped in front of me as I stood from the couch. "Ready?" I asked her, and she smiled shyly, nodding. So cute!

"Yeah, just let me grab my keys," she said, and I watched her as she walked to the kitchen counter and scooped up a key ring. I loved the way those jeans hung on her hips, and her ass looked amazing. I don't think I'd ever been so attracted to someone in my life, and I didn't know how long I could wait until I made a physical move. I could only hope she would trust me that I wasn't using her for sex... I didn't want to fuck Bella. Not at all. But god, I couldn't stop thinking about someday making love to her.

A/N: Okay... I know its not long, and I know its not my best. But I'm going through alot right now, and I wanted to give you guys something. Next chapter: Bella and Alice finally start getting to know each other! And more C.J. soon, I promise!