(BPOV)

In hindsight, I feel slightly guilty that I didn't think of Jacob once throughout the night. I was too absorbed with Edward to really think of anything. And all things considered, you can't really blame me.

Edward Masen (as I later found out his last name), was virtually perfect. Everyone stopped to say hi to him, or talk to him, or just look at him as they walked by.

At times, I felt like a lost puppy, following him around the room as he mingled, but after a few polite words, he would always turn his attention back to me.

Can you blame a girl for not being able to think of anything else?

After the embarrassing incident with the stairs, Emmett made it his mission to introduce me to everyone he knew. And surprisingly enough, Edward hardly left my side.

"Hey Laurent, this is my cousin Bella, the one I was telling you about." Emmett said, introducing me to yet another person whose name I wouldn't remember tomorrow.

"Lovely to meet you Bella." The guy said, shaking my hand. I smiled in return, mumbling a quiet "you too."

"Laurent is our newest brother." Edward whispered to me. "He's only been here for a year, and he usually tries to do everything in his power to please us."

I'm not sure I wanted to know what that would entail.

It continued in this fashion until I had met 12 brothers in the house.

"You don't really like these kinds of situations, do you?" Edward asked me as I tried to sneak away from Emmett.

"How could you tell?" I said sheepishly. I glanced over at Emmett, who had occupied himself with a gorgeous blond, and smiled.

"Looks like you're in the clear." Edward said with a laugh. "Emmett has been trying to get that girls attention for weeks."

"Thank god." I said with a sigh. "Honestly, I'm not going to remember the names of half of these people tomorrow. And quite frankly, the staring is starting to get a little old." As I said this, the same guy from earlier, the one with the pony tail, was looking at me with that same hungry look in his eye. It was making me nervous.

"Guys always stare at beautiful girls." Edward said. I felt the blood flow to my cheeks.

"If you say so." I said, shrugging.

"So tell me a little about yourself." Edward asked, leading me back up the stairs. I was grateful to get out of the basement and into a less crowded room.

"Well, I'm 19, a freshman, and I have no idea what I'm doing at a frat party." I said honestly. "Anything in particular you want to know?" It was so easy to talk to him, and I found myself wanting to know more about him.

"Are you also from Forks?" He asked as he sat down on a large oversized sofa. He motioned for me to sit next to him, and I did so without hesitation.

"I'm really from Phoenix, but I lived in Forks the last two years." I said smiling. I missed Phoenix a lot, and I still considered it my hometown; I did spend the majority of my life there, so it wasn't really a lie.

"I've never been to Phoenix, but I heard it's nice." He said casually.

"Where are you from?" I asked, leaning back into the sofa.

"I'm originally from Chicago, but I moved to Portland when I was a teenager." He sounded vague as he told me where he was from, not mentioning more then having lived in Chicago and Portland; I decided not to press further, especially since I barely knew him.

Time seemed to go by quickly as we talked about various topics ranging from the weather to movies, and even sharing a few laughs over the behavior of several drunken party-goers. But he never asked any personal questions, and I never gave any personal information.

"Maybe we should go find your friend." He said suddenly, standing up.

"Oh. Yeah, I probably should." I was confused by his abrupt behavior, but was momentarily sidetracked by the fact that I hadn't seen Alice since I first got here. "I'm sure she's fine, but who knows the trouble that girl can get into." I said with a laugh.

Edward smiled as he led me back downstairs into the basement.

It didn't take me long to find Alice. She was perched on top of the bar, surrounded by a crowd of guys. Typical Alice; she was always the center of attention no matter where she went.

"Hey Al." I called, trying to make my way through the throng that surrounded her. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Edward following close behind me.

"Bella, there you are! I've been looking everywhere for you." She cried, hopping down from the counter. "Where have you been?" She asked, putting a hand on her hip.

"I was upstairs talking with Edward." I said, looking back behind me.

"Oh really? Interesting." She said, a gleam in her eye. I knew that look, and it was usually a bad sign.

"Alice, whatever you're thinking, no." I said sternly, glaring at her. She just smiled.

"Well, it's getting late B. Are you ready to head back to the apartment?" She asked, trying to stifle a yawn. I hadn't thought to look at a clock, and was surprised to see that it was two in the morning.

"Sure, we should probably go find Emmett though and tell him we're leaving." I said, glancing around the room. It had mostly cleared out, a few of the frat brothers hanging around talking to the remaining guests.

"Oh, I'm sure Emmett is rather… occupied." Alice said, laughing. I frowned.

"Occupied how?" I asked. I immediately regretted it.

"I saw him go upstairs with a rather breathtaking blond earlier."

"Oh. I'm sure he won't miss us then." I said, trying not to think of Emmett and whatever he was doing with that girl. He was like my brother, and those thoughts were just disturbing.

"I'm going to go find Jasper and say goodbye then. You wait right here." She said, bouncing away from me.

"So, Bella, where did you cousin go?" A voice whispered in my ear. I jumped, startled by the warm breath on the side of my face. I turned around to see the guy from earlier, the one with the pony-tail.

"Oh, I'm sure he's around here somewhere." I said, backing away from the guy. He made me uncomfortable, the way he was looking at me.

"That's too bad. I'm afraid I was never properly introduced. My name is James Hunter." He said, extending his hand. I hesitated, not wanting to put mine in his.

"Nice to meet you James." I said, trying to be polite. This guy gave me a bad feeling, but I couldn't quite put a finger on what it was.

"Why don't we go upstairs and get better acquainted." He said, putting his arm around my waist.

"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea. My friend Alice is coming back to meet me, so I don't want to go anywhere." I said, trying to come up with a good excuse.

"I'm sure your friend will understand." He said, pulling me closer to him.

"James, I'm fairly sure she told you know." An angry voice said from behind me. I used the distraction to pull myself away from James, turning to look at Edward.

"I'm fairly sure you should butt out Edward." James said his voice low.

"And I'm fairly sure you should leave before I kick your ass." Edward said, standing in front of me.

"B, you ready to go?" Alice said, coming down the stairs. Her eyes widened as she looked at me, and then at Edward and James.

"Bella, you should go with Alice." Edward said, turning back to me. "I'll let Emmett know you two left alone." He said, glaring at James.

"Alright." Alice said, grabbing my arm. "I'll send Jasper a text letting him know we got home alright." Alice told him, as she pulled me up the stairs.

Edward didn't say anything else as he turned back to James, and quickly vanished from my sight as Alice led me up the stairs and out of the house.

"Well, that was interesting." Alice said as we quickly walked down the street.

"What was interesting?" I asked, my thoughts still focused on what had happened back at the party. I was confused by the look that had been on Edwards face.

"Edward barely left your side the entire night." Alice pointed out, a grin on her face.

"He was just being nice, especially since my cousin and my best friend completely ditched me. And speaking of that, where were you, dear friend?" I asked, trying to focus the attention back on her.

"Just hanging out with Jasper… He doesn't know it yet, but he totally loves me." She said happily.

And her words triggered something in my mind; something that I had neglected to think about all night.

Love.

Jacob.

The fact that I had a boyfriend and I had spent the entire evening with another guy, a guy who I wanted to know everything about.

My whole world had changed in the course of an evening, and I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to do about it.