1 THE FIRST CHAPTER OF MY STORY

'Hey, you! I am going to miss you!'

I let out a laugh, turning slightly to look at my roommate and best friend, Alice, an eyebrow raised in mirth.

'You do know that I am returning post the summer, right?'

I wasn't leaving forever!

Though, the way in which she had been behaving these past few days, it wouldn't be that far-fetched a conclusion to reach to.

I had even anticipated the tears, bucket full of them.

Alice was thoroughly capable of delivering that difficult target!

'Yes,' she rolled her eyes in acknowledgement, nodding her head briefly, 'but then you will be this whole new person; wanting to spend hours in the library- ignoring poor old me! I will keep calling and messaging you, with you offering me some lame excuse each damn time, till our friendship finally reduced to the once in a blue moon, courtesy conversation.'

'You are so full of shit!' I continued to stare at her, disbelief thick in my tone. 'Last I checked, I wasn't due for a personality transplant any time soon. And, either way, I already do spend hours in the library each day; so, not much will change in that aspect. I do want a degree, you know?'

'As if partying each night will take any you far from that prestigious degree of yours?' she quirked an eyebrow in question, her eyebrows reaching her hairline.

'Correction,' I smiled, 'A degree that I can put to use to get a decent, reasonably paying job. I know it is tough, but good grades will get me somewhere in life; if only to give me that one needed push. And we have partied a heck lot these past almost three years now!'

'Yea,' she grinned in agreement, 'And we did go out yesterday night as well.'

I gave her a pointed look, nodding my head in agreement, as I went back to packing my belongings in my tiny as hell suitcase, dumping my lucky jeans in for good measure.

I may not have to write any exams while there but, eh, you never know when I would end up needing the added luck.

'Still,' she let out a sigh, waving her hands in air. 'Can't you like, I don't know, not go home for the summer? I am going to be all alone back here.'

'Ali,' I let out a breath, slight sympathy visible in my eyes, even though I was aware that she hated the sympathy the most. 'You know that I have to go home…'

'Just, hear me out,' she put her hands up in defense, a dangerous idea swimming in her emerald green eyes, 'we can go on that road trip of a lifetime. Or, we could stay back here and just tour the city. We are both twenty-one now, and so can legally go bar hopping….'

'Ali,' I hated to do this. It was not her fault. 'My parents will be expecting me. I did not go home for spring break. My mom has made all these plans…'

'I…understand.' She let out a sigh, looking away from me. 'Of course, I was being ridiculous!' she gave out a humorless laugh, 'You have a home, so you ought to go home….'

'Ali…'

'No.' she cut me off, a forced smile accompanying her words. 'Just ignore all that bullshit that I just uttered. I will probably end up getting another job, or enrolling myself in some or the other summer course. Maybe, I will find some decent guy to have a serious relationship with…'

'Or maybe, you could come home with me?'

Why hadn't I thought of this any before?

I was such an idiot.

An exceptionally slow one at that.

'You… you sure about that?' she barely managed to push the words out, so hesitant her smile being.

'Of course,' I grinned at her, a wide smile now mirrored on my face, 'My parents will love you, and we will have so much fun together. I will show you the sights around, my old high school and all of that. We can even go on a trek from there!'

Oh Gosh.

This was so exciting!

Why hadn't I thought of this any earlier?

'Your parents won't mind? I don't want to overstay or cross any unseen boundaries. That is just plain awkward!'

'Hey,' I rolled my eyes at the sheer ridiculousness of her question, 'were they to mind, I wouldn't have offered you the invite. And trust me, I am being completely selfish here! I hardly have any friends remaining back home; the few I had have moved away for further studies, leaving me with not much contact with any of them. And I love my parents, but I would rather not spend every awake minute in their company. You still think I am asking you this question out of courtesy?'

'No. Confusion cleared,' she chuckled, pushing a thick stray strand of coal black hair behind her ear. 'But Bella, I will have to return before I get kicked out of my job for taking more leave than the actual days that I work in a month. I am already on thin ice with that old crappy widow, Mrs. Stanley. Seriously, that woman needs to get laid! She is always so frustrated and downright angsty…'

'She is seventy-five.'

'So? You think old people don't have sex?'

'Ew.' I glared at her, pretending to shut my ears in utter horror. 'I don't need to hear that! It is disgusting.'

'You will definitely not say that when you are in your seventies and have the urge to get hot and heavy!'

'And this topic is now officially closed for further discussion.' I stated in a monotone, nodding my head to myself. 'Please, for God's sake, let's just talk about something else. Anything else!'

I desperately needed the distraction, several unneeded and unwanted images swimming through my mind on repeat at the moment, all of them enough to make me cringe out in disgust.

She let out a loud laugh- the evil lady, coming to sit on her bed, her legs folded underneath in a crisscross style as her left hand came up to cup her left cheek, almost as if she was waiting for me to now begin my storytelling session, with her being the curious five-year-old in the picture.

'What?' I demanded to know. 'Why are you looking at me like that?'

It was weird, and more than unnerving!

She smiled, her smile almost terrifying and definitely not a pleasure giving one. 'You want to talk about last night?'

'What is there to talk about?' I raised an eyebrow in absolute disbelief. 'We went out- had a few drinks- danced a bit. That's it. That's all that happened. And if I remember clearly, this was really not the first time that any of this has ever occurred. So, that's why I ask again, what do we need to talk about in regards to last night?'

Seriously, I was clueless as to what she was referring to!

She rolled her eyes in amusement, a slight laugh leaving her mouth. 'What about that Jason guy?'

'Who?'

Who was Jason now?

I didn't know any Jason, or at least sober Bella did not know any Jason. I don't take responsibility for the drunk one!

'That bartender who kept flirting with you all night. Built guy with a million tattoos and that cute little goatee? You forgot him already?'

Somehow, she sounded more offended than the bartender in the question by that wayward thought!

'Jeez, Ali,' I let out a sigh, shaking my head in amusement. 'His name was Jacob.'

'Who cares what his name was?'

She really didn't.

'Point is, he was interested in you. And he was sexy enough…'

'Yea…so?' I shrugged her off. 'I am really not looking for something casual at the moment. And that man screamed casual to another whole level! It goes without saying, we have different priorities in life.'

'You sound like a forty-year-old woman.'

I waved the finger in her direction, going back to my packing, this being not the first discussion to happen between us on this never-ending subject.

I wasn't looking for one night of fun, to call a spade a spade.

I wanted something serious.

I wanted commitment.

I wanted to be with someone who I could actually envision my future with; wasn't that the very point in life?

I just wasn't interested in this casual dating business.

It was bullshit, in my opinion.

Date one guy for one week, then dump him and date his best friend like that is the most normal and acceptable thing to happen on the planet, moving on from said best friend to another member of their friend group within the span of weeks, everyone being somehow okay with that weirdness!

And don't even get me started on the open relationship business!

Commitment and loyalty went simply down the drain in that one.

It was insane, and so, so not my cup of tea!

Nope.

I wanted it simple.

I wanted it the old-fashioned way. Just how it had been for the generations before ours.

I wanted what my parents had. Beautiful in every which way that mattered.

Charlie and Renee Swan had met back in their middle school days, a unique connection formed at first sight on coincidentally Renee's first day in a new school. Charlie had helped her out in adjusting to the new environment, with him finding a permanent place in her heart on that journey. They had been together for several years post that, marrying at eighteen and going to college together- their love for one another so pure and perfect that not one problem could last in front of it. They had not wanted for a thing in life- everything finding them so very easily- not until the day when they realized that Renee was infertile. It had come as a shocker to the two, their marriage almost crumbling down in the aftermath of that realization. But they had stood stronger, surviving the tornado coming their way, knowing that a relationship like theirs was rare to find. They had continued to love and live, adopting me in their early forties from a teenager who could not afford to raise me and was more than glad to give me a better future than the one she could offer.

People- their own parents included- had not agreed with their decision to adopt this late in life. They were in their forties, too old to have a toddler running around was what was claimed, but my parents knew what they were doing. They wanted to be able to provide the best for me, and when they finally could, they had taken this major step. Sure, they were now in their sixties- the ever-present biological clock ticking by- but they still looked as young and fresh as someone in their late thirties, and even behaved the same.

Dad was a regular at the Country Club each morning, playing golf for a good few hour with his bunch of regulars, and mom kept herself busy with teaching the underprivileged children and providing knitting and sewing classes to those interested. They were now retired from their actual jobs, moving place to a small town that my mom had once visited in her childhood and had fallen in love with at first sight, deciding to spend their remaining life in the lap of nature and leisure.

It was a rather small town- Forks, Washington- population 3385, a far cry from the bustling Chicago that I had been born and raised in, having lived there for a major part of my life. I could not even imagine living in such a tiny town, so used to the big city lifestyle, but they loved it there. And so, there was not much I could crib about.

And it was not like I was ever going to live with them again, never under the same roof, not for longer than the summer at the most.

I was twenty-one, in college, and had definite plans of owning my own place post-graduation. I liked living in Portland, working for a sociology major in Portland state university, and so, I guess, seeing my parents once in a while- even if it was in that tiny ass town was tolerable.

To be honest though, I could not even think of settling down somewhere like there. I was a city girl through and through!

Then again, they had only moved base after their retirement, wanting the peace and quiet that the heavily populated Chicago could not provide them with.

'Earth to Bella,' I looked up, a frown covering Alice's heart-shaped face. 'You zoned out on me!'

I waved her off. 'Sorry, was just thinking…. you…you were saying something?'

'Yup,' she smiled, creepily, I must add. 'I was asking, didn't Dennis give you his number last night?'

'His name was Jacob.'

'Whatever! Did he or did he not?'

I rolled my eyes in annoyance, a sigh leaving my lips. What was with the unneeded interest in my personal life?

'He did….'

'Where is it? Show me?'

'Is this really necessary…'

'Yes, it is. Now, scoot.'

'Fine.' I melodramatically stated, making a whole show of picking up my clutch- the one I had carried with me last night- and searching for the offensive tissue paper that had his contact number written on it, waving it in the air once I had found it, like a prized possession I was rather proud of owning.

I have no clue of how it had come to rest in my clutch though- I was not sober enough to remember, but the tissue paper had his name written just above the phone number, and so it had to be his…. assuming so.

'Nice,' she smirked, looking down at the damn paper in question. 'You going to call?'

'No.' How could she even ask me that question? Didn't she know me at all? 'Obviously not.' I frowned in response.

She gave me a dramatic sigh, not so whispering to herself. 'You have only been best friends for three years now. She is still work in progress! It will take time, Alice.'

'You are incorrigible.' I muttered the words out, shaking my head in irritation.

'Just think about it, Bella. He seemed decent enough, if you are cool with that whole "bad boy" image and everything.' She gave out a sigh. 'I know you wanted what your parents have, but it has not happened so. And maybe, you need to accept that and move on. There are plenty fish still in the water.'

'I know,' it was my time to sigh, 'but I am not giving up until I find someone decent enough to lend my heart over to. That is literally the least I can expect from life!'

'You are born in the wrong century, girl!'

I waved her off, laughing. 'Maybe, but I have hope that I will find him one day.'

She rolled her eyes at my words, no need for a verbal response- her eyes telling me clearly that in her opinion I was being overly optimistic and a permanent resident of the dream world, as she began to pack her bag, dumping in things in a manner that made me cringe out loud. It was just so messy! That shirt was ironed…and she had just thrown it in…half crumbled in her attempt at what she called packing…

That was so not packing!

That was…that was…I don't even know what exactly to call it!

Either way, it was not something I wanted to take inspiration from. Ever.

I could never be this level of disorganized in life.

I needed my stuff to be clean and properly arranged in their designated place.

I wasn't obsessed or anything…just demanded basic level neatness…which was reasonable, I believe!

'At least,' she began to speak, her eyes wide in amusement, 'Keep the paper in your jeans pocket. Don't discard it without a second thought. You never know what your mind comes to decide on this long-ass journey! It is very easy to influence a person into doing what you want; just you should have a few tricks up your sleeve!'

'Heavily unlikely! I am not going to change my mind; try all you want!' I smirked back at her, pocketing the paper just to avoid further discussion. I would throw it in the dustbin once I reached home, pretending to be unaware the next time she asked me about it. 'You ready to leave?'

'Yup,' she bobbed her head up and down in agreement, zipping her suitcase tight. 'It will take us four hours, right?'

'Yea,' I gave her a nod, sifting through my purse for gas money. 'Almost five hours counting the traffic. I will give mom a call from the car and tell her about the change in plan.'

'You sure they won't mind?' she gave me a hesitant glance, her eyes dreading the possibility of me stating otherwise.

'Yes, now let's go,' I offered her an impatient raise of the eyes, grabbing my own suitcase and purse as I led her towards my car, the decision to drive home a very easy one to make. It was just more convenient than taking a cab to the airport and booking a flight, asking dad to come and pick me up, wasting the same number of hours in the process, and ending up exhausting myself with all this unneeded to-and-fro.

She gave me one last nod, the two of us walking towards my silver sedan in silence, completely unaware of how surprises filled journey this was going to turn out to be….