A New Best Friend

I do not own any of the characters in Twilight.

BPOV

Our trip back to Bader Hall was quick even though we were carrying several bags from the store. Spending all morning with Ian was quite enjoyable. I was so comfortable with him as if I'd known him several years as opposed to several hours. The ease was similar to the way I felt around Jake. The stories he told about growing up with Drake and Sam were very funny and helped me to get to know him a little more.

When we entered the house and headed to the kitchen, Anne came in and said Roxanne had arrived. I felt my heart quicken as she came up to rummage through all the bags we had carried in. "So what's all this?" she asked grinning at Ian.

He patted her on the head, "Calm down, Bella decided to teach me how to cook." He started unpacking all the grocery's we bought. "Bella, do you want me to put your laundry detergent downstairs? My motives are selfish, this way I can lure Drake into getting his butt kicked again!"

"Thanks, I'll finish putting all this away and then go meet Roxanne." I hoped my anxiety didn't show too much, but apparently it did. He smiled touching my arm, "We all went through the first days…don't worry it'll be fine." With that, he smiled at Anne and left to find Drake.

"So Bella, teaching Ian how to cook. This should be really interesting." She helped me put everything in the cabinets, turned and smiled a smile that looked like she was withholding a secret.

"Okay, I'm game. What's that grin all about? Wanna clue me in?" She just nodded her head distracting herself with emptying the bags while I stood there.

"Nothing, it's nothing." She continued grinning and shaking her head. "It's just that Ian seems taken with you. I haven't seen him act like this in a long time; it's nice. Well, everything's away. Are you ready to meet Roxanne?"

Oh no, what have I done. I can't let everyone think that Ian's feelings were reciprocated. Twenty four hours and already I'm in trouble. Just when I thought things were going so well. Deciding to delay this problem and face the next, I sighed. Not that meeting my roommate was a problem; it was just my own insecurities always made meeting people extremely uncomfortable. "Let's go. So... can you tell me anything more about her?" I really was anxious, which was completely illogical, so far everyone was great.

"Not really, she seems nervous. I'm sure you two will get along. She does seem to have quite a bit of luggage though; I'm not sure where she's going to put everything. You two will work it out." Anne pushed me towards the kitchen door leading out to the hall. "Come on, you'll never get over your nerves by standing here wondering about her."

As I walked into our room, I couldn't believe what I saw. There were suitcases and boxes all over. I stood in the doorway in shock, what happened to my beautiful space. I couldn't even see my bed. What was she thinking; didn't she understand she was sharing a room? As I looked around, I didn't see anyone, where was she?

Just then I heard a someone and turned towards the door. In walked a petite brunette with Drake. "Bella, this is your new roommate, Roxanne. I'll let you two get settled. Ian is looking for a rematch." He turned and closed the door on his way out.

Roxanne walked towards me extending her hand, "Hi, you must be Bella, it's great to meet you. Sorry about the mess, Drake helped me dump all of this and then we went to get a beer. I'll clean up in a couple of minutes, but for now how about you get a beer and we talk."

I didn't know what to say at first, so I just shrugged my shoulders, "No beer for me yet. Tonight I'm scheduled to teach Ian how to cook so I need all my senses in tact. You see, I'm a bit of a klutz and I can't take a chance of cutting off a finger. I'm sure no one would want to eat the meal if they thought there was a limb in the dish."

She laughed as she sat on the bed that would be hers and pulled her legs up under her. "Okay fair enough. So who's this Ian? Is he your boyfriend or something?" She looked into my face with curiosity etched across her features. She had a really beautiful face, nothing that the fashion magazines would ever feature, but she had really pretty green eyes and short hair that framed her face just right. Looking intently at her, I realized we would be good friends. She had a natural ease about her, something I never quite developed. It appeared meeting new people was something she relished in. Her confidence might rub off on me someday.

"Ian is one of the other residents and no, he's not my boyfriend. I met him yesterday along with Anne, Sam and Drake. They're great, so far. We went down to tour the campus and pick up some groceries."

"Oh, don't tell me you already went to the registrar's office. I was hoping we could do it together, you know…the newbies roaming around on their own." She whined slightly and laughed again. "Oh well, you'll just have to suffer through showing me around. It's probably better this way, you'll know exactly where I need to go and what to do." Shifting her position slightly she began reaching into the closest box, "Well, how about I start unpacking as we continue getting to know each other."

"Why don't I help you unpack and you can help me teach Ian how to cook? You do know how to cook don't you?"

She laughed, "Sure if it comes out of a box or a jar, I'm your man!"

"Jeez, Roxanne did you bring everything you own?" I teased while looking around and shaking my head. We looked around the room and started laughing. There wasn't a space available to put anything, how on earth were we going to unpack.

"Not everything, but just about. You never know, you need to be prepared for anything after all." I opened the box closest to me and saw there was no organization to her packing what so ever. This was not going to be an easy task.

Several hours later we had successfully unpacked a majority of her stuff and got it as organized as possible. We were perfectly suited to compliment each other, my complete organization and her lack of same made this situation one that would be one of many building our friendship and making us the closest of friends.

We headed downstairs, laughing about all of her boxes compared to my two little trunks. As we hit the bottom of the stairs, we saw a group of people in the common room sitting around enjoying the early evening. Looking at each other we walked into the room. Neither of us knew anyone other than Anne, Drake, Sam and Ian. As soon as we entered, Ian made his way over to introduce himself to Roxanne.

"Hi, you must be Roxanne. I'm Ian, Drake told me you put him to work and he's exhausted!" he said chuckling. "Thanks for that, it made it easier to kick his butt in pool."

"Nice to meet you. So what's going on here?" she said nodding her head towards everyone. "Are we supposed to 'haze' or something like that?" she asked with a grimace. She was only 5'2" but seemed to be a powerhouse. Her ability to say exactly what was on her mind impressed me. I was in the habit of editing my thoughts and saying what I knew people wanted to hear.

Anne came towards us and explained how every residence on campus held a social gathering. Giving the residents a chance to get to know each other or at least put a name with a face. "It's not like you'll remember everyone's name but you get to meet your other house mates."

Well, this shouldn't be too bad, I thought trying to convince myself. There were only 25 people in total and I already knew 5 of them. Roxanne and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and walked further into the room. The atmosphere was light and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Some people were sitting in the armchairs carrying on conversations while others were out on the deck enjoying the evening.

I looked at Roxanne and said, "Are you as nervous as I am. I'm not really good at meeting new people."

She laughed, "Don't think about it so much. They're just like you and I, we're all here for the same thing…a greater education in order to show the world how talented we are!" With that she grabbed my arm, "I know just what to do. You need a beer!"

I never really drank before, so I was going to have to be careful around Roxanne. She seemed entirely too comfortable with drinking. But I figured, 'while in Rome…' We ventured out on the deck and found the beer. Clinking bottles we took our first sips. "Here's to meeting new people and making new friends," she said.

Ian and Anne came outside to tell me our cooking class would have to be postponed until tomorrow since we had this orientation party. Fine with me considering I was subjecting myself to alcohol. Ian bent over and whispered in my ear, "Don't think you're getting off easy. Tomorrow is definitely the day you'll teach me everything you know about making chicken parmigiana." He stepped back and winked at me, Anne laughed and walked away leaving me, Ian and Roxanne to ourselves.

"So Roxanne, where are you from?" Ian asked her while gesturing to the chaise lounges for us to sit.

Roxanne and I sat on one of the lounges while he leaned casually against the rail of the deck. "I'm from NJ majoring in Marketing, I do like literature like Bella here, but there's no money in that! So besides being addicted to playing the lottery in the hopes of becoming a millionaire, I figured I'd get into a field that allows me to be creative and make some good money. How about you?"

He laughed telling her about his major and background. I watched the two of them as they easily talked and laughed wondering why it was so effortless for everyone but me.

They both noticed my silence at the same time and Roxanne attempted to get me to join in the conversation. "Bella, tell Ian how I stunned you with all my stuff."

Rolling my eyes while looking up at him, "Drake wasn't exaggerating when he told you he was exhausted. She brought so much stuff we have no place to put it all." I noticed I was pulling my label off my beer as I was talking. Ugh I was so nervous. Ian reached down and grabbed the bottle from my hand winking, "How about another or perhaps we should see if Anne has ordered the pizzas yet."

I smiled realizing he already knew I wasn't a drinker and perhaps food would be better than another beer. We walked inside and found Anne had not only ordered the pizza, but it was delivered. Heading into the kitchen we sat around the table with Anne, Drake, and Sam. I have to admit this pizza was good, better than what I was used to. I wound up eating two and a half pieces before I sat back licking my fingers.

They all started laughing. "Well I guess that our West Coast resident has discovered the wonders of east coast pizza." Drake said. I blushed, "That really was good, I've never had a pizza that good."

"Bella, it happens all the time. People come from the West Coast having no idea how good pizza is until they try one from our coast. Wait till you try the bagels." Anne said as she stood starting to clear the table. She really was a great live-in resident, she put everyone at ease and kept the house in order. I noticed her ability to keep everything running smoothly like a maternal figure of the house was natural. I'm sure she wouldn't want me to tell her that though.

When we were done cleaning up our mess we went back into the common room. People were playing chess, monopoly and cards. Everyone seemed to be getting along great. Roxanne headed back outside to get herself another beer while I went over to one of the chairs by the fireplace. Sitting down I stared off into the fire while thinking about how good this was. I couldn't wait for classes to begin so all the benefits of college life would be opened up to me. Perhaps "he" was right, perhaps living a human existence was the right thing.

Roxanne and Ian headed over just as I was yawning. It had been a long day and tomorrow we were going to take another tour of campus, get Roxanne checked in and buy our books. She looked at me, "Oh no you don't. You can't be fading yet. The night is still young, we still have to play Ian and Drake in pool."

"Ut uh. No way. Remember klutz here. There's no way I could have a great big stick in my hand with other people within poking distance." They both started laughing. "Besides, I really have to get some sleep; we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. So I'm going to get some sleep."

I stood to leave and Ian grabbed my wrist. "Hey, don't forget we have a date tomorrow in the kitchen." I smiled telling him I hadn't forgotten. Quickly heading towards the door before anyone else could stop me, I relaxed. My first evening in a room full of strangers that would soon be like family and I hadn't committed any embarrassing acts.

Entering our room I looked around and smiled. Even though Roxanne brought everything she owned, we still had plenty of living space. It was beginning to look like a real home. Grabbing my shorts and T-shirt I headed to the shower. The warm water was soothing, even though I was tired my lack of self-esteem kept me from completely relaxing. Drying myself off and getting comfortable, I pulled out my iPod, put in the ear buds to let the music take me into a deep slumber.