AN: Here's another one. Thank you to those of you who took the time to review. It really means a lot.

Chapter 23

APOV

Lauren was giving me the stink eye at the dance. Other than Jasper I could see no rhyme or reason as to why. I didn't get the impression it was due to me being with Jasper, otherwise she would have been eyeing him off or trying to get her claws into him, but she seemed to have ignored him in class this week. She'd had something against me from day one of her arrival and I was still to figure out what it was. I was about to walk over and confront her about it (I like to tell myself that anyway), when Rose came storming towards me with a shit eating grin all over her face. She pulled Emmett and I aside, crossed her arms over her chest and smirked triumphantly at Emmett.

"Guess who I just caught sucking each other's faces off outside?"

Emmett looked around and seemed to catch on pretty quickly, or so he thought. He nodded smugly to himself and I was pretty sure he was just about to give himself a high five when he answered, "Mike you old dog. I knew she'd go for him…."

I snorted derisively. Rose nodded to her left to Mike who was currently dancing with a group of people, before turning her penetrating blue eyes back to me.

"So, pip squeak? How long has it been going on?"

"How long has what been going on? Who are you talking about Rosie?" Emmett asked, looking back and forth between the two of us.

I shook my head disbelievingly. Those two little sneaks. And here I was thinking they weren't talking to each other after I forced them into the same tent last weekend. Shit, they'd played me. I was usually so much better at reading people than this.

"Well?" Rose said tapping her toe now waiting for my answer. Emmett just kept looking around trying to figure out who the hell was currently missing. I noticed Bella make her way back into the auditorium and look around until she found Mike. I turned my attention back to Rose whose patience wasn't going to last forever.

"To be honest, in it's current form, I'm not entirely sure. But…"

"Who?" Emmett interrupted me. "Who are we talking about here?" He asked desperately.

"Bella and Edward," Rose and I both hissed in reply.

"Bella and Edward?" He looked dumbfounded. "But what about Mike?" More to the point, what about Jessica. It just went to show how little Emmett thought of her.

"Oh will you shut up about Mike. I told you they were never suited and not to push it. She was never interested in him." Rose turned her attention back to me again. "Alice?"

"OK, well it's actually a kinda long story," I replied honestly as I watched Bella walk away from Mike and walk quietly out of the auditorium again. Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky. That brother of mine had a lot of explaining to do, but I couldn't help but smirk. "But look Rose, I think it's best if we go back to Emmett's so you can get the full story."

"I'm going to grill their asses, you know that don't you?"

"Sure, sure. I'm sure they'll only be too happy to tell you the story." If they show up!

The dance wound down. Edward and Bella never resurfaced. Mike made some excuse about going home as he wasn't feeling great, and Jasper, Rose, Emmett and I climbed into Emmett's car.

Rose turned around and looked at me, then at Jasper. "So, I suppose you were in on this too?" Rose was smirking at Jasper.

"In on what?"

"Your best friend was caught this evening with his tongue down the throat of a pretty brunette in a pale blue dress that was definitely not his skanky ass, slutty faced, moron of a girlfriend."

I watched on as Jasper's lips curled slowly up into a very knowing smile.

"Son of a bitch. I knew they were at it again," he said as he turned his face towards the window looking out into the dark night and slowly nodding his head.

"So you did know about it?" Rose asked

"What? Of course I knew about it. So did she," he replied, dumping me in it with him. Jasper turned his attention to me, "so they've sorted everything out then?"

"Or, they never had a problem in the first place. Now that I think about it I'm beginning to think they weren't fighting at all this week."

"Wait, wait wait." Emmett stopped us. "Can we just woo back a few paces and can we just start at the beginning. How long has this been going on?"

Jasper and I looked at each other. "You go," he gestured, "you knew more from the beginning than I did."

"I don't know Jas, you actually saw it, well...sort of…."

"Just, please someone spit it out," Rose was sounding a little exasperated.

"OK, but given that Edward is still 'officially' seeing Jessica this has to stay in the cone of silence okay. Well, actually the first bit doesn't, but the rest does…"

"Alice."

"OK, OK. So it all started back last summer."

"Summer?" Rose and Emmett both exclaimed.

"But she wasn't here."

"Yes she was. Remember I told you the story of how Bella was there that night after our final summer party to see Jessica throw up on herself." Both Emmett and Rose nodded in remembrance. "Well, Edward and Bella met that night."

"They did more than meet," Jasper said under his breath.

We pulled up outside of Emmett's. We all shuffled into the house and got settled on the lounges before I continued. "OK, so the last summer party at our place Bella was there. And they met, and hit it off."

"Remember we couldn't find him most of the night?" Jasper asked Emmett, who just nodded in response.

"Well, he and Bella became very well acquainted with each other," I said trying not to tell them what actually happened but trying to make it obvious from the tone of my voice.

"How well acquainted?" Emmett asked suspiciously.

"About as well acquainted as two people can get Emmett," he looked at me quizzically.

"Oh, Jesus Emmett, I think she's trying to tell us that they fucked." Rose looked at Jasper and I for confirmation and we both nodded.

"Fuck me!" Was Emmett's surprised response. He turned his attention to Jasper. "But that means Bella was…..but what about that chick at that party?" Emmett just looked confused.

Jasper shook his head as if he knew exactly what Emmett was talking about. "No. Bella was his actual first." Oh that's what they were talking about.

"Shit. I had no idea. So why didn't he tell us about it. I mean, why lie about it? That shit just doesn't make sense."

"Honestly, I think it was because he really, really liked her Em. Or should I say likes her."

"Edward and I spent all the next morning driving around looking for her. He didn't know what her last name was, or who she came with. She'd been pretty secretive about it because she didn't see the point of carrying on the relationship given she was leaving for Phoenix the next day."

"Smart girl," said Rose. "Did she come with Angela?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"So that's why Edward was such a miserable prick all of those months at the start of school?" Emmett asked. Alice nodded.

Rose still looked confused. "So, he still really likes her then?"

"Oh, yeah," Jasper replied vehemently.

We wound up filling them in on the rest of the story since Bella's return, ending with what we knew of last weekend, which honestly wasn't much.

"So, all we have to do now is wait for the skank to return so he can dump her ass and then they can actually be together." Rose stated very matter of factly.

"Hate to say it Rose," Emmett replied. "But I'd say given their absence, they're very much already together."

"You know what I mean," Rose replied rolling her eyes. "Question is, what are we going to do about it?"

We all looked at Rose a little apprehensively.

"What do you mean Rose?" I asked suspiciously.

"Well, we know they're going to be at it. We could have a little fun with this."

"No Rose." I replied. "Leave them be. Just give them some time alone together. Mom and Dad aren't home and this is probably the first opportunity they've had to actually be alone."

"Oh poo, you're no fun Ali."

"I'm sure there'll be time later Rosie," Emmett soothed his girlfriend's mock disappointment.

I pretended that I was really tired so we all ended up retiring to bed earlier than usual. I'd like to think that Jasper wouldn't know what was about to hit him. But the way I'd been going on about wanting to sleep with him, and the fact that we were just about to be alone together in a bedroom with a Queen sized bed, I was pretty sure he knew what I would want. And I was pretty sure he wasn't going to be able to keep putting me off. I mean, come on! The guy was used to getting regular sex, and in irregular places. Surely this had to be it.

As we made it into the spare room at Emmett's I turned around ready to give Jasper the most seductive look I could come up with, but before I knew it his lips were on mine, his arms around my body lifting me up to his height holding me tightly.

"I want to tell you something Ali." He looked nervous as shit. Oh hell, what was it? I could feel my heart pounding in my chest in anticipation. But I didn't let my mind wander to all the possibilities it would have thought of only weeks before.

"What is it Jas?" I asked as he lifted me up onto the bed. I was standing on it, looking down on him only slightly, my arms wrapped around his neck.

"I love you Alice Cullen." He stated simply. He smiled up at me and I wanted to cry. He loved me. Jasper Whitlock loved me.

I took his face in my hands and tentatively touched my lips to his. "I love you too Jasper Whitlock. With all my heart I love you."

"Why Ali? After everything, why…how can you love me?"

"Jas, you were just scared for so long. I see that now. The way you've treated me since we've been together, you've been the perfect gentleman, you haven't looked sideways at another girl, you haven't even tried to get into my pants."

"That's because I respect you Alice."

"I know that. But you've given me no reason to doubt you."

We kissed slowly. It was kind of different with me standing slightly taller than him. I kinda liked being taller than him. Jasper pulled his head back slightly, our lips separating reluctantly.

"You know how you just said I haven't even tried to get into your pants yet?" He asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Ah huh," I nodded.

"Well baby, that's just about to change. This dress you're wearing is driving me fucking crazy and I don't think I can stand it any longer." I squealed as Jasper picked me up, easily bringing me back down onto the bed so I was lying beneath him. He pulled away from me again and looked at me dead seriously. "And Ali, just so you know, I didn't just tell you I love you so you'd let me into your pants. I knew that was a pretty done deal weeks ago if I wanted it. I said it because I just couldn't keep it in any longer. It's been a really long time for me, I finally just wanted to say it."

"How long Jas?"

"Jesus Alice, don't turn me into some pansy ass now. I don't actually know. Just…..a really long time okay?"

"Okay," I giggled before letting Jasper have his very slow and seductive way with me.

Waking up the next morning was bliss. I wasn't sure how I expected I'd feel the next morning. There was that definite feeling between my legs that indicated I'd finally had sex. I kind of wondered if this physical awareness would always be there after sex, I couldn't imagine it would, perhaps I'd have to ask one of the girls. But there was also that feeling that everything and nothing had changed all at once. In one sense I didn't feel all grown up like I'd expected. In another sense I felt just so much closer to Jasper, which was surprising in and of itself. A few weeks ago I would have been expecting to turn tail and run. But I trusted him completely now.

Everyone was up early, which was unusual, but I guess we hadn't really had much to drink so there were no hangovers to keep us in bed longer than usual. Plus, Rosalie was on a bit of a mission to bust Bella and Edward…again. And given that Emmett still hadn't seen any of it he was desperate to see them together.

We made our way over to my place pretty early, making our way up the stairs as quietly as possible. I wouldn't let any of them near Edward's bedroom door until I'd had a good listen to ascertain whether there was anything going on in there. Because to be quite honest, I just didn't want to walk in on my brother going at it with anyone. I didn't care if the girl was one of my best friends or not. It just wasn't necessary to have that shit burned onto my retinas.

I stood with my ear pressed up to Edward's door for quite some time before I figured that there probably wasn't anything going on in there other than sleeping. My next mission was to open the door just a crack just to make sure that Bella was all covered up. Because despite the fact that Jasper and Emmett were very much devoted to their girlfriend (hee, hee, he loved me!), they were still eighteen year old boys with dicks and Bella was a girl with boobs that they would be only too happy to get a look at.

The door opened noiselessly and I sighed happily at the sight before me. My brother, his body wrapped around Bella's, his arm holding her in place protectively, both of them with pea…

"OK shorty," Emmett boomed as he and the others came storming down the hallway, "'nuff's enough," he said as they all barged into the room noisily. I stood back as innocently as possible so that the least blame could be placed on me when Edward and Bella finally realised what was going on.

The sweet couple in the bed responded completely differently. Edward looked shocked and then just completely pissed, but at least made some effort to cover the girl next to him who was very clearly naked. Bella simply rolled onto her stomach and groaned before turning into Edward who had an arm wrapped around her protectively with the sheet hauled up to her chin.

"Oh, looks like someone isn't a morning person," Emmett looked down at Bella cheekily. She responded by raising her arm from under the sheet and giving him the bird.

"What the hell Emmett?" Edward all but screamed.

Emmett sat on the end of the bed bouncing up and down, its occupants being shaken annoyingly. Rosalie simply perched herself on the edge closest to Bella, disinterestedly inspecting her fingernails. I knew she was itching to know what was going on.

"So, you two little love birds. This is quite the love nest you have going on here. Or are we reading the signs all wrong?" Rose asked as she looked briefly over her shoulder at the two of them raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow at Edward and Bella.

"Will you lot just piss off out of here so Bella and I can put some clothes on."

"So you are naked under there?" Asked Emmett, pretending to pull the covers down so he could see.

Edward groaned in response knowing there was little he could do to get rid of Rose and Emmett now that the Spanish inquisition had started. Jasper and I just stood back and watched. I could wait until later to find out whether this had been going on all week or whether they'd made up last night.

"If we don't see you down stairs in five minutes I'm going to send Emmett back up here to get you in whatever form of dress you happen to be in. Got it?" Rose could be a bossy bitch when she wanted to be, but we all knew she was just taking the piss. She thought it was great that Edward and Bella were together….or whatever they were given that he still seemed to have a girlfriend. I was just dying to tell him that she cheated on him.

EPOV

I rolled over and groaned into the pillow before raising my head to look at a still sleepy looking Bella. "I'm so fucking sorry about that Bella. That was not the way I planned waking up this morning," I said as I caressed her back that was bared to me as she lay on her stomach.

"Oh, so you planned on waking up next to me this morning did you?" She asked cheekily.

I snuggled down next to her, bringing her to me to cuddle. Sue me, apparently I'm a cuddler. "Well, no. But I've got to admit I'm very fucking happy about it. Well, not the interruption, but the fact that you're here makes me happy. And the fact that you're naked this time makes it about a thousand times better than the tent." Now all I had to do was get through Jess' return tomorrow and I could move on with my life. If Bella wasn't currently wrapped around me naked the anticipation would be killing me.

We figured we'd better make our way down stairs to face the firing squad that was Rosalie and Emmett. I knew we weren't really in trouble. Rose was just playing with us, but seeing as they were two of my closest friends I did feel kind of bad for keeping them out of the loop.

Making our way downstairs we could hear their banter in the kitchen, so as we made our way into the kitchen I grabbed Bella's hand. It was definitely a possessive move, but I also wanted to own what we had done and not hide my feelings for her in front of my friends. Bella squeezed my hand and I looked down at her as she looked up at me shyly. I could tell she was somewhat apprehensive about the open display of affection, but I felt it was important to put on a brave front. And at this point, it's not like we could deny anything. We were obviously very naked in bed together this morning. You didn't have to be Einstein to figure out what we'd been doing all night.

Rounding the door into the kitchen all eyes were on us. I couldn't help the smug grin from taking over, I just couldn't have been happier with myself.

"So, Alice and Jasper have filled us in on some of it, but I'm pretty sure we're missing some of the juicier details. Sit, and spill," demanded Rosalie. Bella and I sat at the kitchen table with the others as we started asking questions. Rosalie and Emmett were mostly interested in how it all began, Alice and Jasper were mostly interested in the last week. They also wanted to know how Emmett and Rose could be so fucking clueless about the whole thing.

Everyone eventually went home. Rose and Emmett took Bella with them, but not before Alice had insisted that she come back over tonight for a "girls night". She was a fucking genius and I'd have to repay her at some point.

I went back to bed for a while to catch up on some much needed sleep. Mom and Dad returned during the day, and Mom seemed almost as excited as I was at having Bella over for the evening. Of course I couldn't reveal my excitement, but yeah, I was pretty fucking happy about it, as long as Alice didn't take the 'girls night' thing too seriously. Because that would seriously fuck up my plans for later this evening.