BPOV

"Bells! Let's go! We still have to grab snacks on the way home!" Edward yelled out his window at her, already in his car and waiting for her.

"I'm coming!" She called. Then paused. And realized what she had just yelled across the damn parking lot, at a boy that yes, was arguably more mature than his classmates, but was still a guy with a guy's sense of humour.

She looked back at him, laughing slightly at the prominent smirk on his face.

Oh yeah. He knew what she said.

Bella smiled as she walked towards Edward. It had been forever since they had hung out with just the three musketeers. They had just finished all their finals last week and had been waiting for Alice to catch up and finish hers too. They had promised each other they would get together, because they hadn't all been together since, well, since July really.

So she and Edward were heading straight home after classes today to set up his basement the same way they did every time they got together. Bella made sure that pillows and blankets covered the floor, every snack imaginable was at hand and the fridge was stocked full of beer for Edward and Moscato for her and Alice. And tequila and vodka was always a staple that rounded off their alcohol consumption.

….

"Chips or chocolate chip cookies?" Edward asked, holding up both for inspection. The glow of the grocery store lights lighting up his messy hair. Between his hair, his plaid shirt, and his striped black track pants, he was seriously reminding her of the ten-year-old version of himself.

Bella smirked, "are you asking me? Or telling me that we're getting both?"

Edwards's mouth fell open in mock indignation, "I'm asking!" He protested.

"Mhmm." Bella left it at that, watching his sheepish smile as he threw them both in the shopping cart.

"Come on!" She sang out, taking the opportunity to grab his hand, his palm warm in hers, and lead him to the ice cream aisle.

She laughed, throwing her head back at the look on Edwards' face when he was faced with the multitude of flavours.

"Come on man! Alice is already on her way! Pick your favourite and let's go!" She scolded, grinning after watching him stare blankly at the coolers for a couple minutes.

"Has anyone ever told you you're super annoying?" Edward grumbled.

"Yes, you do. Every day." She replied with a laugh.

They gathered up everything they needed, filling a couple of shopping baskets and for a brief second Bella let herself imagine this kind of life. Of grocery shopping with him, maybe for a family, or maybe just for them. And allowing herself to embrace this silliness of throwing grapes at each other across the produce aisles and Edward filling the cart with every single crappy thing in the store and her emptying it when he wasn't looking, setting up their inevitable bickering at the cashier.

It was a couple's life. A life she only let herself imagine for a brief while before remembering that this was Edward. She wasn't a stupid fool, she was under no false pretenses that he was out of her league. She was good enough for him. But he just simply didn't like her like that. They could fool around in the grocery store, and she was sure that people around them would assume they were a couple, but they weren't. And that was always very clear between the two of them.

Edward had a type, and it wasn't her. And that just had to be okay.

….

"Bella! Alice just texted that she's here." Edward yelled from upstairs, where he was gathering blankets. He always made sure to find every blanket imaginable for her, because he knew that she loved nothing more than fuzzy socks and being wrapped in a blanket.

"Alice!" Bella unfolded her legs from their crisscrossed position on the floor and got up to hug her friend, wrapping her up in the fuzzy blanket she had been sitting with.

Even though she wasn't Jasper's biggest fan, she still loved Alice. That was partially why she had such a hard time accepting Jasper. It was partly because of how he occupied Alice and partly because of his indifference to her. He never made an effort to say hi to her or acknowledge her presence. He lacked the manners and good graces that Edwards had, mainly from Esme installing them into him. Bella hadn't opened a single door in months. When she was with Edward, he always managed to get ahead of her and usher her through the door.

Speaking of, she saw Edward approaching the girls hug out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey Edward!" Alice chirped. "What's up?"

He smiled, joining them in their group hug. Squeezing the life out of them before throwing himself back down on the couch.

"Aghhh Alice." Edward sighed. "We had the longest day today." He explained.

Bella smirked, "You mean, we had a couple of classes today and you fell asleep in all of them?" She teased him.

"Yes okay, I do mean that." He explained indignantly. "And now I need a drink."

"Hear hear!" Alice chimed in, going over and grabbing bottles out of the fridge.

Bella sighed and rolled her eyes. It seemed like it was always an immediate drinking party when these two got together.

"What are we drinking to this time?" She asked with a sigh.

"To being done this semester!" Alice shouted, pouring large shots.

Bella smiled wryly, "Tequila?" She asked, pointing at the shot glasses.

"You know it babe!"

Edward wrinkled his nose and Bella laughed. "I forgot how much you hated tequila!"

"I mean seriously Alice? It had to be tequila? It couldn't have been vodka, or whiskey or gin, or hell, even beer?" He pleaded.

"Nope! Bella's favourite is tequila so tonight we shall tequila!" Alice said with a smirk.

"Suck it up Eddie!" Bella teased him, inwardly smiling at the awkward blush that stained his cheeks, pleased that she could still get under his skin.

He smiled at her, rolling his eyes and brought his shot glass up, saluting them, before downing it quickly.

She followed suit, relishing in the warm burn that followed the alcohol down her throat.

….

Hours later, with a belly full of chocolate icing and brownies, she sat with Alice in the darkened basement, the only light consisting of the flickering TV. Edward had passed out on the couch beside them and she and Alice were sitting quietly, side by side, just relishing in the first true moments of peace and quiet since the semester had started.

The semester had passed in a whirl of papers and exams and cramming sessions. The last month of school she and Edward had basically been living at each other's houses as they crammed and wrote what felt like a never-ending pile of papers. But Alice, they occasionally saw her at school studying with Jasper, but that had been it. Bella was supposed to have gone up to Alice's cabin several times through the semester, but every time it seemed to fall through.

"So what's new with you? I feel like we haven't talked in forever!" Alice asked her.

"Not much, just been so busy this semester!" Bella replied, feeling her stomach twisting. She hadn't told Alice about Embry and her summer yet. She had briefly mentioned that she was going on a date, but the lack of excitement from Alice about it had discouraged her from talking about it further. It had been almost five months since she had truly spoken to Alice about anything, and Bella couldn't believe how much of her life now didn't involve Alice.

"How did your exams go?" Alice asked, looking over at Bella in the darkened room.

"They were okay," Bella replied, with a bit of a sigh. "I wish I had studied a bit harder, but I was working so much at the pool that it got to be a bit overwhelming. How were yours?"

"They were good!" Alice replied happily. "My biology one was a bit of a shit show and the prof put an entire section on that he promised he wouldn't, but whatever. I'm just really glad they're over!"

"Me too," Bella said, with a serene smile.

They sat in silence again, the flickering TV providing the only distraction from the heavy weight of the quiet. Bella sat there, feeling her summer creeping back up to her, and she wanted to share with Alice so badly, but she honestly didn't know how Alice would react. Everyone at the pool knew about her pseudo-romance with Embry, but Alice was someone that mattered. Someone that had known her for her whole life. And by any indication of when she had told Alice about the date, she didn't have very high hopes about Alice being supportive or helpful.

Bella glanced over at the sleeping form of her best friend. Edward was passed out on the couch and seemed to be completely out of it which was good. She didn't want him to hear any of this. They didn't share much of their personal lives. Their friendship consisted of school and adventures and they had an unspoken mutual agreement to not share any of their romantic lives, not that she had much of a life but that was beside the point.

She took a deep breath.

"Alice?"

"Mhmm?"

"Remember I briefly mentioned that I was going on a date earlier this summer?"

"Oh yeah, how did that go?" Alice's tone wasn't disinterested, but she wasn't bubbling over as Bella had hoped she would.

"Well I went on the date with him and it was amazing. We went for dinner and he paid, and then we went for a walk and ice cream. And I just really liked him Alice."

"That's nice Bells." Alice's voice was distracted, almost placating.

Bella blinked. She had been expecting some level of disinterest. But this was unbelievable.

"Alice, can you focus for a second? I need advice."

Alice turned and finally looked at Bella, traces of exasperation on her face. Bella followed the contours of the stress on Alice's face curiously. They used to talk like this all the time, for hours on the phone and in person. What had happened to Alice? Why was she so distant these days?

"We went on dates all summer. Or I thought they could be dates. And then I saw him almost every week during the semester and I finally asked him if they were dates and he said yes? But then I never really heard from him again!" Bella exploded out, glad she was finally sharing with Alice.

"Well, I mean, did you kiss him? How far did it go between you guys?"

Bella blinked, "we never kissed, and that's partly why I was never sure what we were. He didn't even hold my hand Allie. It was so strange. We went out all the time, and he paid all the time but he never made any sort of move."

"Honestly Bell, it sounds like you just got ghosted," Alice said matter of factly.

Bella paused. She had considered this. But Embry was her friend, before anything else.

"But Embry? I mean, I've known him my entire life."

"Wait, it was Embry?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, I mean, I told you that, didn't I?"

"You didn't say it was Embry. He's a weirdo, honestly Bells, I wouldn't worry about it. You guys didn't even kiss. I'm sure it's nothing. Just talk to him like nothing happened."

"He's not weird!" Bella protested, starting to get pissed at Alice. Doubt and regret setting in at having brought this up. She could feel Alice's dismissive nature tinging on her memories of Embry. As if they were kept in a special box and Alice's dark smoke was creeping in, staining the edges.

"Hey Bells, did I tell you about what Jasper did for me last week?"

And that was that.

Bella felt as though she had stepped back, preparing to jump off a bridge, and she had taken the step, taken the leap. And then she blinked and was suddenly back to the beginning. It was as if she and Alice had never talked. As if it didn't matter.

It hurt. It wasn't the biggest news in the world, frankly, she and Embry hadn't even kissed. It was nothing. Bella was equal parts hurt, and equal parts pissed.

This was big for her. Bella didn't date. She was practical. Steady. She stayed behind, always content to watch, but never to participate. This had been a whole summer of something. And Alice had moved on as if it was nothing. And in the world of Alice and Jasper, she guessed it was like nothing.

But the problem was, to her it was the world. And to Alice, this was a tiny blip on the radar. And Bella didn't know how to expand it. Or if she wanted to anymore.

…..

Bella opened her eyes sleepily, confused at how dark it was and why she was moving. She didn't recognize the blanket she was wrapped in, or where she was. The last thing she remembered was talking with Alice on the couch in the basement. But she didn't seem to be in the basement anymore.

She was in someone's arms, and they were moving up a set of stairs. She breathed in, recognizing Edwards scent, but she wasn't sure why he was carrying her somewhere. He nudged a door open with his foot and through her sleepy eyes she began to see the features of the room, recognition setting in at the grey walls, and the slightly messy nature of Edwards's room. He set her down gently in his bed, making sure to tuck the fuzzy blanket around her.

Overwhelming her with the amount of care he took in his task and the enfolding scent of Edward that wrapped around her as he tucked her in. She stayed still, the drowsiness keeping her awake presence unknown. She felt a slight dip of the bed as Edward leaned over her, gently kissing her on the forehead with a tenderness that almost made her tear up.

"Goodnight Bells." He whispered softly, before turning and padding out of the room, gently closing the door.