Thank you so much for all the comments and reviews! I didn't reply to any this time, but from now on I'll definitely be responding to everything ya'll say.

This chapter isn't really edited. I looked through it and I really hope it makes sense and isn't rushed or missing pieces. I would really love for someone to help me with that, be my Beta-reader for this story. Hopefully they'll be able to help my writing improve by editing it. If you're interested please drop me a review or pm and we can talk about it!

Here we go. I'm not sure if I mentioned this already, but I would advise reading this story in the 1/2 screen view.

Author's note at the bottom!

Chapter O3:She swears theres no difference between lies and compliments

BPOV

Warm sheets surround my body that is currently sunken into a cozy mattress. Still half asleep, I snuggle into them, bringing the comforter up under my chin. It's been at least a couple of years, if not longer, since I've been privileged to a soft warm comfortable bed and I plan to take full advantage of it. I tuck my knees up against my chest, trying to get the most out of the plush mattress.

Slowly, I wake up, opening one eye at a time until I can see a blurry cream wall in front of me. As soon as it registers into my brain that I am in fact not in my bed or apartment, my body snaps up until I'm completely upright.

The quick movement causes a blast of blood into my head, forcing my balance to be shaken. I never had good balance or coordination, and at this point in my life, it didn't appear to be improving. As soon as I bolt up, my body sways to the side. I can tell just by the dip in the mattress that I'm close to the edge. My already fuzzy world is spinning. I begin to panic and I reach out to catch myself on the side table, hoping to prevent myself from tumbling down off the bed.

Me, being the blind bat that I am, miss the blurred table and place my hand on nothing but air. My body tangles in the sheets, rolls over the edge of the bed, and clunks down on the wooden floor.

"Uhmph," I groan; the same body that was floating into the pillow bliss seconds before now aching. There wasn't a carpet on the side of the bed and the hard cold wooden floors are anything but forgiving. Not willing to move, I lay there completely still.

Not realizing that I'm no longer inhaling toxic waste, my head begins to throb as per usual for the morning. I clinch my eyes shut, ignoring my tangled limbs and messaging my head with my fingertips. I don't know if it actually helps, but minutes later the pangs dull into a soft ache and I'm able to unwrap myself from the sheets. Before I even attempt to get up off the ground, I reach my arm back, patting around on the side table's surface until I feel my cold thick rimmed glasses.

I grip them tightly; slide them off the table and into my lap before I'm able to position them onto my face. They grip around my ears perfectly. I sigh, enjoying my newfound ability to see.

Quickly I throw the sheets up onto the bed, not bothering to make it yet, and scurry over to my bag. With a huff, I pick it up and drop it onto the bed. I'm still wearing my dirty clothes from yesterday. I know I need to change, no, have to change before I leave the guest room.

The only problem is I don't know what I'll change into.

I've already returned the nice dress I had worn, tags tucked in, to an interview I had a few days ago. All I have left were the old jeans and the university sweatshirt I had on, a pair of torn sweatpants, and a navy sweater that I had stuffed into my bag. I know I couldn't change into either one of the garments in my bag; they are dirtier than the grimy clothes I have on.

It wouldn't have bothered me, not normally at least. Sure, I don't mind wearing new clean clothes, in fact I happened to love the smell of clean linen around me, but that doesn't mean dirty clothes bothered me either. I know where I am in life and how hard I had worked to get here. I still have a long way to go, but if wearing dirty, smelly clothes and living on the streets now meant that one day I will be able to fulfill my dreams, I'll do it. Every single day until then I'll wear them, and that is exactly what I am doing.

I huff, today on the other hand is critical.

I couldn't go out into the living area of one of Jasper's trusted friends in the same clothes I was wearing last night, and I certainly couldn't change into the dirtier alternative. Despite Edward's bipolar attitudes last night, I knew he'd tell or complain to Jasper that he'd let someone with absolutely no hygiene stay with him, and I couldn't let that happen.

I absolutely refused to let him win.

I look up at the ceiling hoping for a divine intervention or anything else that would help me figure everything out. I turn my attention around the room, trying in vain to ignore the feeling that everything in the room was of great expense. I close my eyes and think.

And think.

And think.

….and think even more.

It takes a few laps of pacing around the room before an idea clicks into my head. It isn't the most fail-proof thought that's ever popped into my head, but at this point desperation takes over. I quickly strip out of my old gray sweatshirt and shimmy off my jeans. I shiver in only my white stained camisole and quickly yank out the sweatpants. Stepping into them, I feel surprisingly accomplished.

In a tank and sweatpants I can easily write them off as old comfortable pajamas. Hopefully Edward's job starts sometime soon and he'll be gone before I have to change into actual clothes. Glancing at the clock, I note the time, 7:48,and shove everything I had taken out back into my bag. Gently, I place it on the floor and begin to work on making the bed.

To be honest, in my apartment, I really hadn't ever taken the time to make up the small fold out cot. No one ever came over and it didn't bother me having it unmade all the time. I was barely in there anyways. The workers at the orphanage I had stayed at until I was eighteen and able to go to college didn't really care about made beds either, and once I moved into my dorm I was already a lost hope in that department.

After five years of never making a bed, I struggled to get the sheets to lay right. I don't want to leave his room looking like a tornado had flown through, but after minutes of my failed attempts I pat the pillows and leave the bed as nicely as I can. It wasn't like he had earned a well made bed, anyways. Besides, it didn't look like this room was used very often for anyone to tell the difference.

Hesitantly, I make my way towards the door and open it, leaving the comforts of the guest bedroom in order to brave the mysterious man that is Edward.

"No, Jasper, no way in hell am I-" I hear Edward speaking harshly. He isn't yelling, but the tone of his voice alone is enough to express his feelings. The brave me, the one not cowering in the corner, decides to make her presence known by softly stepping around the corner. I immediately spot him pacing back and forth across the floor, looking at his feet, his pale hand running through his already disheveled bronze hair. Like last night, he's wearing navy pin-striped slacks and a white button up shirt…that's completely open.

Apart from the few times my brother and I went swimming when we were younger, it's one of the few times I've seen a bare male chest. I only catch glimpses as he turns, but the way his muscles ripple when he moves his arms as he gesticulates in the air turns my insides to mush and my face a dark red.

"I don't want her. I'll find someone on my own. She hardly presents herself in a professional manner." My hearts freezes. I know, in that moment, that he's talking about me. What other girl had he picked up last night and was sleeping in his guest room would he and Jasper be referring to? I don't even know this man, but his harsh words pierce my heart, one syllable at a time. "I don't want to be made a fool of because the women working for me look like street urchins. She's your friend, man, not mine."

He yanks the phone away from his ear and presses down on it, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He throws it across the room and it flings into the back of the couch before sliding down it. I flinch away from the movement.

I make a move to take a step back and run for the room I slept in. The second my foot presses down onto the wooden panel, it creaks, and I internally roll my eyes. Of course, like any cliché movie, the one part of the floor I step on happens to be the oldest one in his surprisingly modern apartment. What happened to plush carpets?

Time stops and he whips his body in my direction, his fierce green orbs staring me down.

I'm a deer caught in the headlights on a late summer's night. I can't move, I can barely breathe. He's breathing heavily and takes a step forward, "What?" Edward snaps.

My brain is telling me to respond, but my body doesn't agree. Somehow I can't manage to move my lips and form the words. I'm frozen on the spot.

His face immediately softens; bipolar Edward is back. "Look, I'm sorry; it's been a stressful morning." He chuckles almost hysterically, running a hand through his hand and tugging at the ends. He glances down at his feet before looking back up at me. "How much did-"

"I'm not a street urchin." I interrupt him, my voice half as strong and defensive as I had wanted it to be. "My place has bugs and the terminator isn't coming until Monday." I add, lying through my teeth. It wasn't like he'd know the difference. I don't care if I had to tell him I had a piranha infestation, I refuse to look like the fool in this situation. He could think whatever he wanted, but I sure am not going to ignore what he says. I'll say whatever I have to in order to make him think I have a logical reason for last night.

At least Edward has the decency to look ashamed. "I'm sorry Bella, I know you're not some homeless street rat. It's just my PA left without any notification, quit right on the spot yesterday night, and…I'm sure you really don't care about my problems." He chuckles nervously before looking up from his feet, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Truce?"

I look at his outstretched hand for a few seconds and I can feel him growing antsy. He shuffles his weight from foot to foot, his shiny Penny Loafters squeaking beneath him. The vulnerability and complete hopelessness he shows in that one moment is so uncharacteristic and out of place that I can't help but feel uncomfortable. It's a full 360 from the prick I had experienced last night and I can't help but wonder if I was on to something with thinking he had some serious mood swing personality disorder.

There was just no way he could go from both sides of the spectrum in such short of time.

Looking at him, I know I can't stay mad at him, and even though his words did hurt me, I take his hand and shake it softly, my heart still heavy.

Just because Edward said he was sorry, only means so much. It doesn't erase the fact that he thought those things. Stressed or not, something about me triggered him to think I was an unprofessional street urchin he'd be embarrassed to be seen with. Even though I knew he probably didn't mean it all and that it came from the weight of everything that was apparently happening in his life, it didn't ease the ache. He still said it, he still thought and believed it enough to tell Jasper.

My sensitive overemotional self was still hurting.

I clear my throat, crossing my thin pale arms across my body. He speaks before I have the chance to think of anything, "Are you hungry?"

Something in his remorseful expression makes me nod. He smiles softly, grabbing the back of his neck. He's staring at me so I look back, waiting for him to make a move seeing as I have no clue as to where the kitchen is located. When he doesn't look away, I look down, wondering what has caught his undivided attention.

Blush consumes my face when I notice my ensemble. Seconds ago I was stating I wasn't homeless, and yet here I was standing in ratty sweatpants and a dirty camisole. I bring my hair over my shoulder, attempting to shield as much as my body as possible. Something in the movement breaks his attention and his head snaps up.

"Er, sorry. Nice P.J.s," Edward says his voice laced with amusement. Before I can react he points his thumb backwards, "The kitchen's over here." He mumbles, turning around and walking in the direction of his finger.

I follow him, my mind in complete jumbles. First, Edward's the gruff businessman, then he turns into the sweet hostess followed by the arrogant jerk and then into the awkward bachelor. I blink twice, hoping to clear my thoughts.

"I usually just get coffee so there really isn't much to eat." I hear Edward's muffled voice as he digs through empty cabinet after empty cabinet. "Pop-tarts?" he asks, turning around to hold up two silver packages.

My stomach growls on cue. "Sounds good to me."

I smile to show him it doesn't make a difference to me, because honestly it doesn't. I haven't eaten in at least a day, since I haven't been able to bring myself to spend money on a meal that wouldn't make me sick.

Lately for some reason unbeknownst to me, I hadn't been able to keep anything cheap and easy down long enough to digest it. It made eating on a budget incredibly difficult and annoying.

His responding grin lights up the room, "Good, good." He mumbles, grabbing two plates and glasses before juggling them over to the table. He slides a one of each over into two different spots, gesturing with a wave of his hand for me to take at seat at one as he heads towards the refrigerator.

I take the spot closer to the wall, eager to dig in. I know it'll probably upset my stomach later, but honestly, I can't bring myself to care. I'm tired of always living like someone who doesn't have anything. Even though I don't, after sleeping here and seeing how real people live, I'm tired of distinguishing my life by how much I have. I'm more than that, I'm a person, and from this moment on I vow to not let that aspect of my life affect me any longer.

"Uh, I think the milk's a bit old, chunks aren't supposed to be in there. How about some orange juice? I just bought it yesterday." He sounds proud to have fresh juice and I find myself agreeing to it.

After filling our glasses and putting the jug up, he slides into the seat next to mine, ripping open his package and taking a bite that eliminates over half the pop-tart. I stare at him, my mouth open in shock until he notices and I snap my head back down, quickly breaking off a piece and placing it into my mouth. I let it sit there, on my tongue, savoring the chocolaty goodness. I almost moan, but quickly start chewing before it comes out and I embarrass myself further.

Edward clears his throat after downing his two pop-tarts and the full glass of orange juice. He plays with his long lean fingers before beginning to tear his napkin into pieces. I try to place bigger pieces and chew quicker, not wanting him to feel obligated to sit with me when he has other things to do.

"Uh, Bella?" Edward asks the napkin piece still in his hands, twirled around his fingers. He looks at me, his eyes guarded. "I know we didn't exactly start off on the right foot, but how would you like to be my personal assistant?"

He must sense that I'm going to protest because he's quick to continue. "Now hear me out. You don't have to, but I know you want to be an editor, and Jasper's told me about how well you did in college and all the volunteer work you've done. Even if Jasper hadn't told me about you and you had applied, I'd still have given you a chance. You don't have to commit to a contract if you don't want to; we can do a say three month trial run?" He flashes me what could easily be the world's most charming smile. As he looks at me through his eyelashes there's nothing I can do but nod and say yes.

I know it's a little rough and possibly boring/rushed. I'm not trying to rush their relationship, because I won't, BUT I really did need for them to meet/talk a bit. I hope you enjoyed it!

Drop me a review telling me what you thought! I'll be sure to comment back this time. Also, if I get an amazing turn out of reviewers, I'll try to update this weekend.

-Rae

((NOTE! For those of you who have already read Beautiful Disaster and are wondering why I'm updating these chapters...I've added bits and pieces to every chapter in hopes of making the story flow better and help the characters develop more. So basically I'm cleaning everything up and improving what I can. I also feel like I've rushed the story a bit too much and this is me trying to slow it down a little bit. :) Thank you so much for you support and reviews! Don't worry, I'm almost through the re-vamping and getting into the updating! ))