(BPOV)
I couldn't get the party out of my mind. Or maybe it was just Edward that I couldn't stop thinking about. I could remember every detail of his face; his perfect pale skin, his messy bronze hair, his piercing green eyes. The velvety tone of his voice still sent chills down my spine.
I groaned. Why me? I had a boyfriend, a great one at that.
'A boyfriend who is mad at you for going to that party.' A voice said in my head.
Great. Now I'm going crazy too.
'Not crazy, just feeling guilty.' The voice said again.
I shouldn't feel guilty. I didn't do anything.
'But you thought about it.'
I sighed as I glanced up at the library. Now I was arguing with myself about whether or not I should feel guilty. If this is what college does to a girl, maybe I shouldn't go.
I had been entirely unable to focus on my school work earlier, especially with Alice chattering non stop about that Jasper guy from the party. She couldn't stop talking about how "dreamy" he was, and thanking me for being related to Emmett, who happened to live with Jasper.
And Edward.
I groaned again.
I shook my head, trying to clear all thoughts away from Edward as I approached the library. It was the best place to hide from Alice and her scheming ideas (most of which involved me). At least I'd get some peace and quiet.
Or so I thought.
"Bella?" A familiar voice called, breaking me from my thoughts. I turned to face a blond haired guy, who was unnaturally tan for this time of year. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't quite place him.
"Uh… Hi." I said, with a half-hearted smile. I felt like I should know who this was.
"I had heard that you had enrolled here, but I didn't know if it was true." The boy said, rushing up to me. Before I could protest, he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close.
"Yeah… I just started last week." I felt uncomfortable.
"We all did Bella. Man, you are even more beautiful then I remember." He said, pulling back and looking at me. Did I know him from Forks? From Phoenix? Something was nagging me, but I couldn't figure out what it was. He looked so familiar, but his name just wasn't popping up.
"You and Alice still friends? I remember when you first moved to Forks, and you two were inseparable." He said with a laugh. So I knew him from Forks. That narrowed down the possibilities.
"Yeah, we're actually living together in the freshman apartments."
"Well that's cool. So, do you maybe want to go out sometime? I heard of this really great restaurant downtown that I wanted to try out."
Shoot. I hated being rude to people, but I really didn't want to go out with this person.
"Oh, uh…" I started. Luckily I was interrupted before I could finish.
"Hey Bella!" Another voice called from behind me. This one I recognized; I would know that velvety voice anywhere.
But what was he doing here? Part of me was afraid to turn around, but I did anyways.
"Hey Edward." I said happily, relieved to have him here. I turned back to the guy whose name I couldn't remember, giving him a small shrug.
"Bella, there you are. I've been looking for you everywhere."
Huh?
"Oh, well, here I am, talking to…" Hopefully he would say his name.
"Mike. Mike Newton. Bella and I are friends from high school."
Did that really work? Huh.
"Edward Cullen. I'm a friend of Bella's, through her cousin Emmett."
A friend? What on earth was going on here? I looked from Edward to Mike, my mouth hanging slightly open.
"Well Bella, think about dinner. I've gotta run, but I'll see you around." Mike said, an annoyed expression on his face.
"Oh, okay. Yeah, see ya." I said, waving at him as he left.
I turned back to Edward, who had an amused smirk on his face. For a moment I was speechless. Why was Edward smirking? Why was Mike annoyed? Why was I confused?
Oh. Right. Edward, virtually a complete stranger, had told Mike that we were friends.
"I figured you could use a hand." Edward said, his green eyes flashing.
"Huh?" Was all I could say.
"Well, I saw how uncomfortable you looked when he hugged you. Unless you wanted to go to dinner with him, in which I'm terribly sorry to have disturbed you." His smile faltered a bit.
"Oh. Oh! No. Honestly, I couldn't even remember his name. I knew that I knew him from somewhere, but I couldn't place where from." I let out a nervous laugh, running a hand through my hair.
"Poor guy. He'll be devastated." Edward laughed. "So what brings you to the library on this lovely Saturday evening?"
The library. Right. For a moment I had forgotten where I was. It was frustrating how Edward had that effect on me.
"Just catching up on some homework. Alice is usually a distraction, so I figured I'd go someplace and hide from her."
"I often come here to hide from Emmett, so we have something in common."
"I could see that. Emmett can be quite… loud, at times. It would be very hard to concentrate with him in the same house."
Before I knew it, Edward was holding the door open for me and we were walking into the library.
I hadn't even realized that we had started walking.
"What are you working on?" Edward asked as we made our way up the stairs.
"Just a short paper for my English class. And I have some of those 'get to know you' note cards to do for a few of my other classes. Nothing too complicated. You?"
"I hate doing those note cards. Luckily as I got higher up in my courses, I was taking classes with the same professors and they already knew who I was. And I'm now starting to work on my capstone project. What's your major?"
"I haven't really decided on one yet. I'm leaning towards Criminal Justice though. What's yours?"
"I'm pre-med, with an emphasis in Biology."
It amazed me how easy it was talking to Edward. Before I knew it, we were seated in a private study room.
We sat in a comfortable silence as I pulled my laptop out of my backpack.
"So why Southern Oregon?" Edward asked, catching me off guard.
"Oh. I wanted to get out of Forks. See someplace new. I had heard a lot of good things about the school, and Ashland, so I figured why not. Plus, Emmett goes here, so there'd be at least one familiar face."
"You chose a school simply because it was far away from home? That doesn't seem like a very good reason." He stated.
"That's not the only reason." I defended myself.
"You're a horrible a liar." His green eyes flashed again.
"Excuse me?" How did he know I was lying?
"You're very unconvincing when you lie."
"First of all, you don't know me. Second, you don't know me." How dare he judge me.
"No, I don't know you, which is why I'm asking you questions to get to know you." He said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Oh. Why did he care so much?
"Why do you care?" Oops. Did I just say that out loud?
"I'm not really sure. Are you going to answer or not, why Southern Oregon?"
"I was miserable in Forks. I hated it there. I needed to get out. Emmett was already going here, so I figured why not. It's over 500 miles away, so it seemed acceptable."
"Why did you hate it?"
"It was so wet. And I missed my mom. Alice was amazing, and she made it a lot better, but it still wasn't the same as Phoenix. It was cold."
"Why did you leave Phoenix then? Why Forks?"
"My mom got remarried when I was 16, and for the first year, she spent all her time with me at home while Phil was traveling for baseball. I felt bad, so I decided to do something about it. My mom has made a lot of sacrifices for me in the past, so I figured it was about time for me to make one for her." My cheeks flushed a little when I finished. I couldn't believe I was sitting here with an almost complete stranger sharing my life story.
"That's amazingly unselfish." He said, flashing his crooked smile at me again. I blushed further.
"I just wanted her to be happy." I said shrugging. It seemed like the right thing to do. "And it made Charlie happy too."
"Is Charlie your father?"
"Yes. He's usually known as Police Chief Swan though. He's kind of a big deal in Forks. So by association, I was a big deal too when I first got back. Too much attention."
"You don't like attention?" He seemed shocked at my revelation.
"I hate attention. I'm naturally clumsy, and all the added spotlight just makes it more obvious."
"Oh, so you falling down the stairs wasn't a one time incident?" He asked with a laugh.
I should have known he'd bring that up.
"No. Unfortunately, it's a quite common occurrence." I laughed with him. It was true, I was the biggest klutz. I could trip while walking across a flat surface.
"Well, I'll just have to make sure to be there when you fall. Can't have you hurting yourself your first term of college."
The thought of him being around made me blush again, and sent my heart racing.
"So how are you related to Emmett? You guys are almost nothing a like."
At this I laughed. It was true. Em and I were as different as night and day.
"His mom is my dad's sister. They live in Forks too. His mom is absolutely wonderful. She stepped in to be my mother figure when I moved back to Forks. It was a lot easier then talking to Charlie. And his dad is the head surgeon at the hospital in Forks. They are an amazing family."
"I've met his parents before. They really are something. But I still can't see how you two could possibly be related. Emmett is so… Emmett. Annoying, loud. Big. And you're so…" He trailed off.
I waited.
He looked down at the book he had open on the table. I couldn't remember him opening the book, or even taking it out of his bag, but I seemed to miss a lot of things when I was with him. That was slightly disconcerting.
"I'm so what?"
I really was curious to know what I was. Especially to him.
"You're quiet. Shy. Reserved. Definitely not annoying." He said with a smile. My heart beat sped up again.
"So are we done with the 20 questions?" I asked, looking at my blank computer screen. I hadn't even started on my paper yet. I'm not sure I could concentrate on it now either, with Edward so close.
"Not even close. You said earlier that I didn't know you. I told you that I wanted to get to know you. Asking questions is the best way to do that. What's your favorite color?"
"My favorite color? I don't really have one. I guess it depends on my mood."
"What's the first one that comes to your mind? Usually that's your favorite."
"Green." Oh shit. Since when was green my favorite color?
'Since you saw his green eyes.' My inner voice said again. "What's yours?" I asked, trying to shift back to him.
"Brown." He said simply, looking intently at me. I blushed again, and ducked my head.
"Although red is making a strong case for itself right now." He said quietly.
We sat in silence for awhile after that. I would glance at him every minute or so, looking away when I noticed he was looking at me.
Part of me felt guilty; like I was doing something wrong by sitting in the library spilling my guts to a guy; a guy who wasn't Jacob. But part of me felt like a piece was missing from my life. I had never been this open with anyone but Alice (and that was because she forced the information out of me). Jake had never asked me personal questions like that. He had never cared to know why I hated Forks, or what led me to move back there in the first place. And I'm certain he had never asked me what my favorite color was.
"What are you thinking about?" Edward asked, breaking the silence.
"About Forks, actually." I said before I could stop myself. I felt horrible, but I didn't want to tell him about Jacob.
"What about Forks? Did you leave something behind?"
"Kind of. It sometimes feels like I left a part of myself behind."
"What do you mean?" His voice sounded confused.
"There's this guy. We're kind of dating." Since when were Jake and I 'kind of' dating? Last I checked we were dating. "He keeps asking me to move back home. Telling me it's where I belong. He was upset that I picked a college so far away, and sometimes tries to make me feel guilty about leaving."
"You can't let people guilt you out of things that you want to do Bella. That's not fair. It sounds like he's taking advantage of your selflessness."
"I know. Coming here was one of the first decisions I made for myself. My dad and Jake wanted me to go to Washington, but I really just wanted to get out of there. I didn't want to be that close to Forks."
"Do you regret coming here?" He asked quietly.
"No. I love it here. I've only been here for a couple weeks, but it already feels like home."
"Then don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It's okay to be selfish once in awhile Bella. Look at me; I'm being selfish right now, keeping you from your studies."
"Thanks Edward. It's nice to have someone else's perspective on this." I laughed at his selfish remark. "And I'm being selfish by enjoying it."
He laughed again, and I realized that I always wanted to hear him laugh, and see him smile. He had the most amazing smile; enough to make me go weak in the knees.
Jake had never made me feel that way.
