It was a few hours later when I arrived at the door of Nikki's apartment. I could hear the faint sound of voices from within, but that didn't mean much – she lived with two roommates, who were hardly ever without company. I knocked, not that I really needed to. I'd had a key to this place for years, but I wasn't going to intrude – if Nikki happened to want space, then that'd be what she got.

The younger of her roommates answered the door, looking a little surprised to see me. "Hey, Bella. Did you forget your key or something?" So, she clearly hadn't told Andrew that anything had gone down between us.

"Something like that. Is she here?"

"Yup. In her room. Go ahead." He stepped aside and ushered me inside, and I smiled at her other roommate, Laura, and the three others sat on the couch as I passed. I knew this apartment as well as my own, and I paused only briefly before knocking on Nikki's bedroom door, not wanting any of the others to suspect anything was up.

"It's open!" I steeled myself before I shoved the door open, unsurprised to see my friend sprawled across her bed, clothes strewn everywhere, music playing quietly through the speakers in one corner of the room. "Bella. Hey. I thought you were avoiding me." One of the things I loved the most about Nikki was her bluntness, and the fact that she'd always say what was on her mind.

Well, almost always, apparently.

"I didn't think you'd want to see me for a while." I answered, honestly, as I closed the door behind me and leaned against it. She sat up, crossing her legs, and gestured for me to sit opposite her. I did, taking comfort from being in such familiar surroundings.

"Bullshit. How long have we known each other?" I shrugged. I couldn't really tell exactly when we'd become friends – it had been after the first time we'd slept together when we'd started talking. We'd met at the same bar about a week afterwards, and she'd come and stood next to me, and struck up a random conversation. And the rest, as they say, was history. "And how many times have I not wanted to talk to you?"

"This is a little different to having an argument over who the hottest girl in the club is."

"Well, I guess. But you're still my friend, Bella. I don't want that to change. I knew you didn't feel the same way – I've always known that. That's why I didn't tell you right away. Didn't want to make things awkward. But now that it's out there – I don't want things to change. So, can we please just pretend that this never happened? Please?"

The pleading expression on her face made me think that this was affecting her more than she was letting on, and I vowed that I wouldn't make this any harder for her than it already would be. And that meant that the topic of Alice would have to be off-limits, because I didn't trust myself not to let on as to how much I was starting to care about her.

"Consider it forgotten," I replied, a smile coming easily to my lips at her grin.

"Excellent. So, want to go out?" And, just like that, I knew that things between us were going to ok.

x-x-x

"Why did I agree to this? Why, why, why? It was a stupid idea, and I'm an idi - " The sound of my doorbell cut me off mid-rant, and I swore softly at the noise. For it could only mean one thing – D day had arrived.

D meaning date, of course.

Not that Alice had said it was a date, but the inflection in her words when she'd asked me, the reassurance that we'd just be going as friends – that made me think that it kind of was. Or at least, that it'd turn out that way.

I'd been stressing over what to wear the entire day, even when I'd been at work. Alex had asked me more than once if I was feeling ok, and I'd been distracted the whole time.

Stupid, insufferable vampire.

"Hello to you, too. I'll try not to be too insufferable tonight," was what Alice greeted me with at the door. I was too stunned to speak for a moment, terrified that my worst fear had somehow come true and she could in fact read minds, before I realized that I must've spoken aloud.

"Sorry. It's been a long day." It had, too. I'd woken up at a ridiculous hour, and then the minutes had dragged by at work whilst my mind was plagued with thoughts of what tonight was going to bring.

So, in essence, I wouldn't be agreeing to go out with her again until she told me where we'd be going.

I'd been so distracted that it took me a while to notice what she was wearing, but I nearly swore again when I realized how damn perfect she looked. Well, not just perfect – hot. Smoking hot. The dress she was wearing hugged her body tightly, showing just a glimpse of cleavage, and went to mid-thigh, showing off slightly more of her legs than her skirt had the day before. And, so help me, she was definitely wearing fuck-me heels.

I gave myself about an hour before I said something stupid. And it was only that long because I'd managed to learn some self-control. Whether it'd be enough to last me the night, however… Well, that was definitely debatable.

"Are you going to invite me in, or am I just supposed to stand like an idiot in the hallway?" I saw from the slight smirk that graced her lips that she'd seen me checking her out, but she didn't comment on it.

"I… I thought we could just go straight out. If you, uh, don't mind." I doubted having her in my apartment was going to be a good idea. And, damn it, where had my anger from the other week gone? That'd be pretty useful right about now. Much more useful than the inappropriate things that were currently on my mind.

"That'll be fine." I turned to get my coat and slip on my shoes, and when I turned back around I saw that her eyes were significantly lower than they should have been if she was wanting to look me in the eye.

"Were you just staring at my ass?" I, unlike her, was blunt as anything, though I raised an eyebrow slightly to show that I was joking.

Sort of.

"Can you blame me?" She caught my eyes, just for a second or so, but I forgot how to breathe until she turned away – then it was my turn to admire the view. Which, I have to say, pretty impressive.

"Now who's staring?" She sang, leaning against the opposite wall as I locked my door behind us. I had no idea how she'd caught me, seeing as I'd averted my gaze as soon as she'd started to turn, but then again, I should've known better than to try and fool a vampire.

"Can you blame me?" I echoed, and she smiled softly in response. We started walking, her half a step in front, and I drew my coat tighter around my shoulders as we stepped into the cold air. Streetlights illuminated the streets in a bright light, the sound of people laughing and cars speeding by permeating the night. "I love the city," I murmured, mostly to myself, but of course she heard me.

"Why did you move here? I mean, you said that you got offered the job, but why not move on to a different magazine? I thought you hated miserable weather," She asked, breaking the comfortable silence that had developed between us, genuine curiosity in both her voice and her eyes.

"I used to hate miserable weather. Living in Forks… I don't know, I guess it changed my view. I still hated living in such a small town, though. Besides, it's not too bad here. There are good days, too. It's not all cloud and rain."

"Would you ever consider moving?" The question took me off-guard slightly, and I took a moment to consider it before answering. Her eyes found mine once again, and I forced myself to look away before I became too lost in their topaz depths.

"Honestly? I don't know. I don't see myself spending my whole life here, I guess, but for now, at least, I can't see myself moving. Why?"

"Just curious. It's been a while. I guess I just want to know how much you've changed."

"Who says I've changed at all?" A blatant lie – of course I'd changed. A hell of a lot, too.

"Everybody changes," she muttered, voice somber and maybe even a little bitter. I didn't ask, though curiosity burned within me – if it were anything important, she'd tell me.

Or at least, I hoped she would.

"Where are we going, anyway?"

"To a restaurant. It's only a few streets away." I generally went further into the city centre when I was going out, so it was unlikely that I'd know where we going. I hoped I didn't – I loved going to new places. Well, as long as they were nice.

"As friends?" The question came to lips without me even thinking about it, and her step faltered slightly, obviously surprised at the question.

"That depends."

"On?"

"Whether you want it to be or not." Her eyes burned into me once more, and I stumbled, cursing my clumsy nature and her hotness as the pavement loomed in-front of my eyes. Her hands caught me, however, before I could hit the ground, and my heart automatically began to race with the contact, regardless of the fact that it was through a layer of clothing. God forbid she actually touched my bare skin. I'd probably have a heart attack.

"Well, it's nice to see that some things don't change." There was a slight laugh to her voice, and I straightened up the shirt I was wearing before I turned around, only to freeze upon doing so. She'd stepped ever closer in order to stop me from falling, and there were mere inches between us now, and her hands were still gripping the tops of my arms. Our eyes locked, and there was something unidentifiable in hers, some emotion that I couldn't read – something that I would have asked her, had I been able to find my voice.

She was the first one to break the spell, stepping back and dropping her arms, after what felt like an age. She'd already managed to wreak havoc on both my body and my mind – without even meaning to. I hoped she didn't realize just how easily she was affecting me. Though I was pretty sure I didn't imagine the slight hitch in her (unnecessary) breathing during the exchange.

We continued walking in silence, a silence which I felt no need to break, my mind whirling as it was. How was it, that in just under two weeks, she'd managed to reduce me to this? I'd been livid when she'd first arrived, and now all I wanted was to kiss her.

Well, and a few other things, too.

Not that I should really be thinking about such things when I was going to spending a significant amount of the evening with her.

Alone.

She took my arm suddenly and spun to face a non-descript door that I'd been about to walk straight past, releasing her grip as soon as I'd turned. It wasn't immediately obvious that the place was a restaurant, but I was pleasantly surprised when I walked inside. It wasn't anything remarkable, but it was relatively quiet, soft music playing through speakers, and seemed exactly like the type of place I usually frequented.

I wonder if Alice had cheated when she'd wanted to find somewhere that I'd like.

A waitress led us to a table and left us alone for a few minutes while we decided what to order. She seemed only mildly surprised when Alice didn't order anything, and it took me a moment to remember that she didn't eat human food. I ordered some sort of fancy-sounding pasta before handing my menu back and catching Alice's eye across the table. She was watching me curiously, and raised an eyebrow in response to my scrutiny.

"See something you like?" She asked, teasingly, her teeth worrying her bottom lip once more. I really wished that she'd stop doing that. It was extremely distracting.

"Maybe." I glanced around the restaurant again, just buying a few seconds of relief from her intense gaze, before resting my eyes on her face once more. "Nice place."

"I'm glad you like it. I didn't have much time to pick a place."

"Really? I would've thought that you'd have this whole night planned out months in advance."

"Hardly. I only decided to ask you out yesterday. Spontaneity at its best, I suppose. I had no idea if you'd turn me down or not."

"So that's why you looked so worried." I'd been gravitating towards her unconsciously, and so, apparently had she, because we were gradually getting closer and closer together.

"You're very intimidating." Her voice was low, almost a whisper, and I had to force myself not to lean any closer forward, using the pretence that I couldn't hear her. Things were moving a little too fast, if I was being honest with myself – and that was not a sentence that I uttered often.

"Please, have you looked in the mirror lately? As far as intimidation goes, you're pretty high up there."

"Hardly." There was a brief lull in conversation when the waitress returned with my food, and I was grateful that Alice let her eyes wander around the room instead of watching me eat. It always made me feel extremely self-conscious when people did that.

"So, what else is on the agenda?" I asked when I'd finished eating, leaning back slightly in my chair to avoid the temptation to lean forward once more.

"Who says there was anything else?"

"Just a feeling."

"Well, I don't actually have anything planned. I wasn't sure if you'd want to do anything else. I don't really know what there is to do around here." I considered briefly, my fingers playing absently with a few strands of my hair while I thought, a nervous habit that I'd been unable to shake for years.

"How long has it been since you've seen a movie?"

"I actually don't know."

"Then let's go." After ignoring my protests that we should split the bill (especially seeing as she didn't actually have anything), we left the restaurant and I led her to the nearest cinema to my apartment. It was a few blocks away, taking about fifteen minutes to walk, but I always enjoyed being out in the night air.

When it was over, I could barely remember the film we saw – I was hyper-aware of Alice being so close to me in the darkened room. Somewhere along the line, our hands ended up touching on the arm of my chair, but I didn't move, and neither did she. That one small touch was enough to set my nerves alight, and every time her fingers moved, even just slightly, I felt the movement the whole way up my arm.

I felt kind of pathetic, really – I was twenty-two years old. Not twelve. I felt like I was on my first date ever, and it wasn't a particularly nice feeling, no matter the company.

Alice seemed, for her part, totally absorbed in the film, and I hoped that when it was over she wouldn't ask me what I thought – because honestly, I'd have no idea what to say.

It was late when the move let out, and there were few people out on the streets. It was even colder than it had been before, but that was the farthest thing from my mind when my hand brushed against Alice's and, on instinct, needing some more contact from her, I intertwined her fingers with my own. I thought I heard her breath catch, but I wasn't entirely sure, and her voice was steady when she spoke.

"Do you still want to know about what happened with the rest of my family? With Jasper and Edward?"

"I would." I waited for her to launch into a story, but she didn't. She kept quiet, and as my building loomed in-front of us, I doubted that I was going to get the answers I wanted tonight.

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Working. I finish early, though."

"What time?"

"Three, I think."

"Would it be awfully forward of me to invite myself over? I'd really rather not explain in public." We'd made it to the outside of my apartment door, but I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to her yet.

"No, that'll be fine." I lent back against the wall, reluctant to let her hand go, although I knew that she'd have to. As if sensing my mood, her eyes met mine for the thousand time that night, something akin to regret swimming in their depths.

"I had a good time tonight, Bella. I hope you did, too."

"I did. We could maybe… Do it again sometime?"

"That'd be nice. I'd better get going, I guess." But she made no move to leave, and I was unwilling to move. I saw indecision in her eyes, and I wondered when I'd gotten so good at reading her emotions. She raised our joined hands and, after a moment's hesitation, brushed a gentle kiss across the back of my hand, barely touching the skin, but it didn't matter – I felt it everywhere. "Goodnight, Bella," she breathed before she made to turn away, but I didn't release her hand, and in a moment of confidence – no doubt brought about by the rush of hormones that brief contact had cased, because I didn't think that I would've done it otherwise – I pulled her towards me as I took a step forward.

We ended up pressed together, the lines of her body feeling heavenly against my own and, before I could talk myself out of it, I leaned down the short distance between us to brush my lips lightly against hers.

My response was immediate, as was hers. I had intended this kiss to be chaste, being our first, but when I felt her soft moan at the contact, the thin veil of self-control I'd be clinging to for the whole evening snapped, and my hand released hers, so both of my own could clutch at her waist. She pushed me backwards so that any space between us was non-existent, her own fingers tunneling ever-so gently through my hair.

Her lips were like ice, but I barely noticed. I was too pre-occupied by the rush of heat I felt from this simple touch, the rapid beating of my heart in my ears, the fire in my veins that only burned with a brighter intensity when her tongue met the seam of my lips. I parted them immediately, shivering at the contrast of hot and cold, and was gratified to feel the same response from her when my fingers traced absently down the outside of her thigh. She pushed me back harder against the wall, her hands tightening in my hair and a groan leaving her lips when I dragged my nails along the exposed skin.

I don't know long we stayed like that, kissing as though our lives depending on it, before we heard the sound of a door banging shut, loudly, from just down the hall. It snapped the both of us out of the lust-induced haze we'd found ourselves in, and Alice leapt away from me so that her back was against the opposite wall. Her eyes were wild – but not in the scary-vampire way. More in the I-am-so-close-to-ripping-your-clothes-off-and-fucking-you-senseless kind of way.

I have to say, I really wouldn't have minded.

Which was really why we should be stopping right about now.

"I… I should go," she breathed, her voice huskier than normal, and as much as I wanted her to stay, I knew it'd be a bad idea.

"That's… probably for the best." My breathing was ragged, my head still spinning slightly, both from the intensity of our kiss and the lack of oxygen my brain had received for the duration of it.

"Then goodnight, Bella. …Again." She winked at me once, a gentle smile gracing her lips, before she disappeared from view. I stood in the hall a little while longer, unsure of what to make of the evening, only knowing that one thing was for certain – kissing Alice Cullen was a pretty damn unforgettable experience.

A/N:

Once again, I suck. I realize. And I apologize for the wait. Blame college – my excuse this time is the fact that I had two 6,000 reports to hand in recently.

But I doubt you're really too bothered about the trails and tribulations of my general life, so I'll shush now.

As always, any thoughts are appreciated. And all reviewers are awesome. Really, really awesome. :D