Ugh guys I'm being really bad to you huh?

Ok...I do have a logical explanation as to why I have not updated until now. Shortly after I typed the last chapter, my mom's laptop (which is the computer I use usually to type on) crashed permanently. Therefore limiting our household to one single computer. And trust me, at my house we are computer junkies, and that second computer was essential. So now, I'm lucky if I get a half hour computer time max, just because the demand for this computer is so high.

So that's why I haven't updated until now, and if I don't update for several weeks again, that's most likely why. Sorry again, and here's the chapter you've waited for.

Chapter 17

Once I got back to Alaska, I started enjoying my time there even more. I was constantly busy and doing something, so it was becoming easier to be apart from Dr. Cullen and my family back in Seattle. If I didn't have any school work, I would hang out with Adam and Lance, and on the rare occasions Lacey would show up...her too. We were all becoming a pretty close knit group. I could call Lacey in the middle of the night to tell her about my day, and she'd listen and even put in her own input. It was like I had found the friends I had always wanted. Only maybe the friends I had dreamed of weren't as crazy as those three...but they worked.

Adam especially was an overall amazing guy. I had to admit, if I wasn't already taken...I would have been interested in Adam myself. He was certainly the stereotypical gorgeous California guy. And his personality was great, he always had me laughing, he was kind and sincere, and he was defiantly quite the romantic. The only downfall to him would have to be that he knew how great he was, because he was certainly full of himself. But hey, I guess if I could get a girl's phone number in less than 2 minutes, I'd be full of myself too.

He sort of had that same natural charm that Dr. Cullen had, but yet in no way was it similar. There was still something about Dr. Cullen I just couldn't figure out. But I knew whatever that was, it had to be the reason he was so appealing.

Adam apparently had been (and according to Lacey), still was quite the ladies man. He wasn't exactly known for keeping a relationship going for very long. Him, his friend Ned, and a few other guys ruled their school, and now their collage campus. And needless to say, they got into some trouble every now and then. Adam loved his ladies, and the ladies loved him. Lacey told me he'd have a girlfriend one week, then a different one for a few days, then someone else...it was a never ending process. This truthfully didn't surprise me, since Adam always seemed to try to pick up a date every time we went out in public.

I got so excited for weekends, just because I got to hang out, and really let loose. Being with them made me feel like I was gaining back some of the childhood I lost in high school. I was always studying and really didn't even try to make friends. I didn't even go to my senior prom because I wanted to study for a test. But now here I was at Alaska University's Medical Program, which was all I had ever worked for, and I was having so much fun it was crazy. I was finally a teenager...a few years too late.

I was in Alaska for one certain Saturday in April, and I was very excited to get to see Lacey again after so long. That night, the four of us were going to some restaurant, other than the pizza place...which shocked me, that Adam claimed to be amazing. It was a formal restaurant...so I was trying to pick out a dress to wear. While I was doing so, I was thinking about how much fun I would have shopping with Lacey the next day. It was rare if Lacey and I could get some girl time, one just because Lance and Adam followed us everywhere, and two because Lacey was not exactly a girly girl.

While I was in the midst of sorting through my dresses, my phone rang, and I recognized it immediately as his ring tone. I dove over my bed to get to my phone in time. If anyone had been watching me, they would have laughed, I didn't look too graceful. I reminded myself of Bella.

"Hello sweetheart." He said, sending shivers down my spine.

"Hey." I replied, rolling onto my back. "How's work going?"

"Slow today actually...very slow since you're not here."

"I'll be back next weekend."

"Speaking of...would you strongly oppose of Alice throwing a birthday party for you when you come?"

I laughed. My birthday was next weekend, and tonight was my Alaska party with Adam, Lacey, and Lance...while next weekend I was going to spend it with my family and the Cullens.

"No...that's fine...let Alice do what she wants."

"Alright...I figured I would need to ask you...because Bella always did disagree with parties."

"No a party is absolutely fine."

"I'll make sure to tell her then."He paused for a moment. "What are you doing this weekend?"

"Oh Adam, Lance, and Lacey are taking me out to eat at some fancy restaurant as a way of celebrating my birthday here, and then Lacey wants to take me shopping tomorrow."

"Oh..I see." He said, with that unidentifiable tone to his voice.

"Something wrong with that?" I asked.

"No...there's nothing wrong with that at all."

"You don't exactly sound too pleased about it." I said, running my hand through my hair.

"Well you see...oh never mind."

"What?"

"Brooke I really do not feel like getting into some sort of an argument with you right now."

I was shocked. "An argument? What makes you think we'd get into some kind of an argument?"

"I don't know." He sighed. "It's nothing alright...just me being a little paranoid, that's all."

"Paranoid? About what?"

"Well...about that Adam guy."

Then it clicked for me. "Oh my gosh... you're not telling me you're jealous of him?"

"Well...darling..yes actually."

And then I burst into a loud fit of laughter. "Are you freaking kidding me!"

He seemed very confused. "No..I'm not."

I still could not stop laughing. "You are jealous of Adam? You don't even have reason to be jealous of Patrick Dempsey for gosh sakes!"

"What do you mean?"

"Hello! Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror! Trust me...you have no reason to be jealous of anyone." My laughter was a bit more under control now. "Besides, Adam's nothing more than a friend to me. I'm probably never going to see him again after all of this is over anyway."

"I guess you're right. See...I told you what I had to say was utterly absurd."

I waited for him to translate his sentence into English.

"What I had to say was incredibly crazy."

"You've got to start speaking my lingo here mister."

"I'm sorry you can't understand every word I say."

"Ah..I really don't care. It's kinda hot."

"The way I speak is hot?"

"Haven't you came to the realization by now that everything about you is hot?"

He laughed. "Yes I have."

I looked over at my closet, realizing I still had a mission at hand. "Look I gotta go so I can get ready for tonight ok?"

"Alright." He replied.

"Don't worry about Adam...ok...I could never...ever...love anyone but you."

"Oh I know that."

"Adam won't try anything funny." I said as I got up and made my way toward the closet. "We're just friends."

"Yes you're right...just be careful alright?"

"Alright I will...I love you."

"I love you too Brooke."

We issued our goodbyes before I turned back to picking out my dress. As I replayed our conversation in my head I couldn't help but laugh again.

Why in the world would he have any reason to be jealous of anyone?

After hours of searching and debating, I finally chose a long black dress, that had long sleeves, with cutouts on the shoulders. Even though it was spring, I wasn't about to step out into the Alaska weather with a tiny little sundress on. I left my hair in it's usual way...part way up...part way down. I thought I was making them wait on me, because I was running ten minutes late. But after I told Edward and Bella goodbye and stepped outside...their car was not waiting there. So I stood out in the yard for at least five minutes, before Adam pulled up in his lavish sports car. He stepped out of the drivers seat, wearing a very nice black tux, and he walked around to the passenger's side door.

"Good evening Miss Brooke Jeffers...I will be your escort to your destination." He said with a smile.

I giggled, and heard a string of profanities yelled in the backseat.

"That is Miss Lacey, protesting her hunger." He said before leaning over and whispering in my ear. "May I say you look simply stunning tonight?"

I just giggled again as he made his way back to the driver's side.

I turned around to see Lance and Lacey sitting together in the back seat. Lance, in his own black tux, sat starring out the window. Lacey was smiling like crazy at the sight of me. I was smiling at the site of her dress. It was crazy...just like her. It was a short, little black dress with gold trim along the top. Only the bottom of the dress looked like a thousand angry cats with sharp claws had gotten a hold of it. It was classic Lacey.

The restaurant wasn't too far away, and I was surprised that we hadn't made some sort of a scene yet, even after we were seated. Lacey told me that sometimes they cool their show off tendencies while they were in a fancy place. Sometimes.

"So Brooke you're turning twenty next weekend?" Lance asked, shoving a huge bite of food into his mouth. Lacey smacked him.

"Yes I am."

"You're still younger than me though." Adam declared.

"Oh come on." I said giving him a gentle shove. "You turned twenty two weeks ago, so you're two weeks older...it's not a big deal."

"I'm still older." He claimed with a smile. I just rolled my eyes.

"Gosh when you and Ned turn twenty-one that will be a recipe for disaster." Lacey said.

"How so?" Adam asked, leaning back and putting an arm around my shoulders.

"You. Ned. Alcohol. Legally. Need I say more?" Lacey said, grinning.

"Ahh...we aren't into that stuff. Dew is much better."

Lacey rolled her eyes. "Fine, I guess caffeine and sugar can be just as bad."

The rest of dinner was fairly quiet...just normal conversation was made. However Adam did declare the need to dance when some "cool song" played over the loud speakers. They had the waiters bring me some ice-cream covered brownie thing in celebration of my birthday...but I couldn't eat it all, so I gave it to Lance.

Lance and Adam went ahead and gave me their presents...Lacey said she would buy me something tomorrow when we went shopping. Lance's gift was a gift certificate to that pizza place we always went to. Lacey told me he couldn't think of anything else. Adam gave me a lot of little things, one of them being some really expensive-looking gold pen.

"To remind you of when we met." He said, grinning from ear to ear.

I simply laughed at the realization of that.

"There's one more thing I need to give you...but I'll have to give it to you later." He said.

"Alright."

Lacey suddenly jumped up, a very rare occurrence. "We should go back to the house and eat ice cream!"

"Lace...we just had ice cream." Adam said, as we got up to get ready to leave.

"Ahh correction...Lance and Brooke had ice cream...I got nothing."

"I dunno..." Adam said...before he was interrupted by Lacey screaming profanities at him.

Adam sighed. "Lacey do you want me to drop you off at home on the way to Brooke's so you can get ice cream?"

"Yes...that's what I'm implying."

"Fine...we'll do that then." Adam said looking at me and shaking his head. Lacey was pleased.

We drove to the Chandelier summer home and dropped off Lacey and Lance. It wasn't much more of a drive to get to the Cullen's house...so we sat in silence and listened to the radio.

When we finally arrived, Adam helped me carry my gifts up to the front door. It was getting a little cold outside, and I really wanted to get inside, curl up in my pajamas, and sleep until noon. However, despite the cold...it was very beautiful outside.

"Well I think that's everything you got." Adam said, eying the gift bags positioned by the front doors. "Does it look like you're missing anything?"

I peered in each bag, checking to make sure everything I had received was in them. "No...I have it all."

We stood there for a second before I spoke again. "Thanks for taking me out tonight..and for the gifts."

"Not a problem...it's what friends are for right?" He asked, sending that gorgeous smile my way for the thousandth time.

"Right." I said, before I remembered something. "Oh...you said you had something else you wanted to give me."

His face lit up as he remembered. "Oh yeah...thanks for making sure I didn't forget."

"Not a problem...that's what friends are for." I said rubbing the locket that still hung around my neck.

He smiled. "Ok...close your eyes." He instructed.

I laughed and did as I was told.

"Keep them closed...don't peek." He said.

"Ok." I said...laughing.

And then suddenly, I felt his lips gently meet mine in a kiss.

Ok! I know it's a cliffhanger. Trust me...I hate them too! But this chapter was getting a lot longer than I thought, and I still had a lot more to type if I didn't cut it off now. Besides, I've way overdone my computer time now! I'm sure someone wants the computer.

Just for some disclaimers...I do not own Patrick Dempsey or Mt. Dew.

And if you want to see what Brooke and Lacey's dresses look like...there are links in my profile.

I'll try not to leave you guys hanging too long ok!

Thanks for reading...please shoot me a review with what you think so far!

~Hazl~