Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Beta'd by SunflowerFran!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I'm sorry this was late, I've had a very busy couple of weeks!

I sat on the stairs leading to the third floor.

My knuckles were white under the pressure of holding onto the bag containing his freshly washed clothes, all evidence of my scent from wearing it to bed all week gone.

I'd been sitting here for over twenty minutes, having made it halfway up the stairs before I freaked out and sank down, leaning with my back against the wall. My eyes were closed as my ears strained to listen to the music coming from the crack under the door on which I was too terrified to knock.

I opened my eyes and looked down at my watch. It was bordering on ten o'clock and I was no closer to finding the courage to move. My knuckles were white under the pressure of holding on too tightly to the bag containing his freshly washed clothes; all evidence of my scent from wearing them to bed all week, gone

I sighed softly and rubbed my eyes.

I'd had a hard time sleeping after I'd gone to bed last night, Rose's words running through my head over and over. She was right and it scared me. Edward wasn't like any of the other guys I'd ever met. I'd never been as attracted to someone as I was to him.

I felt like a moth; utterly helpless to do anything but move closer to the flame. It scared me how intensely I felt, after feeling numb for so long.

I was so deep in thought that I missed the sound of the door opening. "Bella?"

I looked up to find him his silhouette in the doorway. Light spilled into the stairwell and I closed my eyes tightly for a moment while they adjusted to the brightness.

"Yeah, it's me."

I stood slowly, trying to make it look like my knees weren't shaking uncontrollably, but they were.

"I came to give you your stuff back but … I don't know, I chickened out. I'm not really sure why, though. I probably should have given them to Emmett to give to you but I really wanted to say thank you so I came myself. But then I went to knock on your door and I-I just got really freaking nervous," I babbled, my cheeks burning by the time I finished. I forced my legs to move up the remaining steps and thrust the bag at him, being careful to avoid his gaze for fear of losing what little semblance of sanity I had left.

"Bella," he said as I began to walk away. I stopped, my heart pounding in my ears and slowly turned back to face him. My eyes widened in shock as I took in the small smile on his face. "Do you wanna come up? I'm only studying, but I wouldn't mind the company."

His question shocked me, and for a second, I remained silent.

Was he only asking me because he felt sorry for me?

Or was it because he actually wanted my company?

"Sure." The word slipped from my mouth before my inner monologue could finish. He smiled then, that same half-smile he'd graced me with the week before and I found myself letting go of my doubts and smiling back at him.

I entered his room, surprised to find it well lit, unlike the singular lamp that had been on the week before. And on the coffee table were opened textbooks and a notepad that I knew would hold page upon page of elegant handwriting.

"It's really nice up here," I told him, my eyes wide as I took in everything I'd failed to notice the week before – like the overflowing bookcase that took up an entire length of wall beside the makeshift living room.

"I like it," he replied and I turned around to find him leaning on the wall beside me, ankles crossed, hands in his pockets and a smirk that made my knees weak.

My heart stuttered.

I looked away, trying to hide the blush I knew was bright on my cheeks. Inhaling deeply, I moved around his room, my eyes memorising the names on the well-worn spines of the books flooding from his shelves. I felt his gaze on me as I ran my fingertips over the titles, but each time I looked up, he'd be looking elsewhere.

"Read many of these?" I asked after a few moments of silence.

"All of them."

My eyes widened in shock and I turned to look at him, pushing away the questions threatening to spill from my lips. "All of them?"

He smirked. "Every single one."

I whistled low, impressed … and a little aroused. Jacob's experience with literature hadn't reached any further than reading cliff notes the night before exams … And he'd even refused to read Harry Potter. That's what the movies are for Iz, he'd told me. "Wow."

"You read a lot," he said then, "I don't think I've ever seen you without a book in your hand."

I bit my lip and moved my gaze away from his, overwhelmed at the intensity.

He exhaled deeply. "That probably sounded so fucking creepy, I'm really sorry."

"I don't think it's creepy." I didn't move my gaze back to his. Instead, I kept my eyes trained on a worn copy of The Deathly Hallows, determined not to let him see the emotion I was sure was apparent on my face. "It's just … people don't usually notice me."

"I do," he said, his voice steady.

I shook my head. "I don't know why," I told him.

And it was true.

I didn't know why he'd notice me. Never in my life had I been anything but ordinary. I had never been more than average, both in looks and intelligence. I'd never lived up to the name my parents had given me – had never even been close – and it had weighed on me more than I would care to admit.

"Your favourite book is Wuthering Heights." I looked up at him, my mouth gaping open and my eyes wide. "I read it after the third time I saw you with it."

"I hated it," he said, shaking his head and smiling a little. "The characters … they frustrated me."

"That's part of the reason I like it so much," I admit. "They're so infuriating and stupid and real, but each time I read it, it gave me something."

"You said gave," he pointed out, still looking at the ground.

I gave him a wry smile and thought about why I hadn't felt the need to pick it up in a couple of months. "The last time I read it, I came to realise why I'd kept reading it, over and over. The book had been giving me something I realised I wasn't getting in my own love life."

He looked up then, his eyes met mine and I could see the questions written in emerald. "What was it?"

"Passion," I told him.

"You're staring," he said without looking up from the textbook he appeared to be immersed him.

"I am," I agreed and discarded the Harry Potter book I'd been badly pretending to read for more than an hour.

He looked up, jade eyes twinkling with amusement. "Why are you staring at me?"

"I'm trying to figure you out."

He shook his head and rolled his eyes before looking back down at his book. "There's nothing to figure out."

I huffed and looked away from him, frustrated.

My entire life I had prided myself on the fact that I could read people, that I could sit in a window of a café and tell you all about why the guy in the corner has red eyes and a busted lip. It's why I had been completely unsurprised when Jacob confessed he'd cheated on me.

"I think you're wrong."

I felt his gaze on me then and looked up to find him staring at me, an indecipherable and almost threatening look on his face. "I'm not, Bella. You shouldn't bother wasting any time realising that." His tone was emotionless and I struggled not to flinch at the coldness suddenly emanating from him.

I looked away then, frustrated and confused.

Where was the guy who had busted the skin of his knuckles open defending me? And the one who had held me, his arms keeping me from falling apart? In the past few minutes, Edward had shown me an entirely different side of him. No longer were his eyes warm and his voice welcoming …

He was just cold.

It didn't deter me though. If anything, it made me want to know him more.

Edward Cullen was a mystery that I became determined to solve.

"So let me get this straight," Rosalie said, channel surfing in front of the television as we lounged in our rattiest clothes the following morning, bowls of cereal on perched on our laps. "You went to give him his clothes back, he invited you to stay and hang out while he studied and you spent most of the time ignoring each other."

I groaned. "We didn't ignore each other Rose … we just didn't talk." We hadn't said anything after he warned me off, or whatever it was he did. He'd mumbled a goodbye to me when I'd left and I'd felt hurt as I walked out of the house and over to my car. However, when I looked up at his window before I drove away, I'd seen him standing at his window, looking down me. He'd only given me a small wave but I'd had to smother a grin in response while I waved back.

I'd driven away beaming, my heart pounding in my chest and hope blooming from my belly. I realized that even though he'd warned me away, there was no denying the fact that there was something between Edward and me.

She rolled her eyes and without any sense of lady-like manners, shovelled a spoonful of Froot Loops into her mouth. "I don't know what to tell you. There just wasn't a lot to say and he isn't exactly forthcoming about anything. And even if I wanted to ask, he's really intimidating."

She scoffed loudly. "How is he intimidating?"

"I don't know he has this strong, silent, mysterious thing going on."

"He's fucking hot Bella, you can say it."

I groaned. "Ugh, you're relentless!"

"You haven't had sex with anyone for like eight months, Bella. And even then, Jacob was a total snooze-fest. You need a good long fuck, and you have great chemistry with this guy, so why don't you give in to your lady boner and let him ravish you?"

"Ravish me? What the fuck, Rose? I barely know this guy!" I knew I would though if the opportunity came about. There was no denying my attraction to Edward Cullen. And for the first time in my life I wanted to take a risk, to be that girl that had sex with a guy because she liked the way he looked and not because she'd already been on five dates with him.

"That's the point! If the sex is bad, you won't have to worry about ever seeing him again!" She exclaimed then gave me a sly smile and wagged her eyebrows.

"You're horrible." I pushed away my soggy cereal and stole the remote from the coffee table before flicking through channels. I was determined to find something interesting enough to pull my attention away from a certain green-eyed Adonis. "This conversation is over."

"When you fuck him, expect a big fat 'I told you so'," she said.

"We aren't going to have sex!" I hissed back.

She didn't believe my words and I prayed for the sake of my battery operated boyfriend that they weren't true.

Expect an update before or on Sunday!