Author's Note:

Justin: another thing we write while we fail to update other stories…

Tequila: we're so bad:D

Justin: a friend of ours has twice yearly beach-house parties, and Tequila got to thinking

Tequila: what would happen if Edward and Bella ended up at one of those parties? Not at meat-boy's house, of course (even though we wuv you, meat-boy!!) but… Jessica's?

Justin: so she started scribbling away in her fanfiction notebook during Chem… obviously we've been sitting on this for a while now!

Tequila: and TA-DA!! this is what happened…

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer signed the rights to Twilight over to us… riight… NOT!

The Mutual Frustration of Two Interested Parties

BPOV

It was officially spring, being the 23rd of March, but the weather hadn't quite caught on yet. The wind howled and the cold, lashing rain outside made me quite glad to be sitting in the snug cafeteria, eating dubious meatloaf. At least it was warm, and dry—with the exception of the water we'd tracked in.

There were nine of us seated at the long lunch table in the east corner of the cafeteria, but the only one I was interested in was the one seated directly across from me. Edward Anthony Cullen.

Sadly, the answer to the questions "how long have I known Edward Cullen" and "how long have I been madly in (unrequited) love with Edward Cullen" are the same. Ever since he and his sister Alice moved to Forks, Washington towards the end of freshman year. They were fraternal twins, and about as different as day and night. Edward was tall, Alice short, Edward was near-silent, Alice never shut up, Edward was a loner, Alice never happier but when she was surrounded by people. They even looked different: Edward with their mother's bronze hair and striking green eyes all his own, Alice with jet black hair and their father's clear grey eyes. Dr. Cullen worked at the hospital, his wife Esme was an interior decorator. Alice was one of my best friends, and Edward was my first real crush. He had no idea, of course.

We weren't that close. He sat at the lunch table with Alice, Jessica, Ben, Angela, Mike, Tyler, Jasper, and I. Jasper was Jasper Hale, Alice's boyfriend and Rosalie Hale's younger brother. Rosalie was dating my best male friend, Emmett McCarty. Pretty incestuous, right? It would have been worse if I was dating Edward… which was somewhere I didn't dare go, not even in my daydreams. Edward was brilliant (and my lab partner, as if life wasn't 'perfect' enough already), funny, kind, gorgeous, and played the piano beautifully. He'd been a child prodigy, and received quite a lot of press, back when they lived in L.A. Now he just played in two school bands and spent all of his free periods in the music room. Emmett and Rosalie would have been there too, Emmett laughing and throwing food, Rosalie coolly and calmly indifferent to the world, but they were seniors and on a college tour this week.

I sat back in my seat as my friend Jessica cleared her throat, and began to make an announcement. I was reading Wuthering Heights (again) and missed whatever she was saying. I didn't miss the reaction, though. Alice began squealing, Mike and Tyler began chattering excitedly.

I looked up. "What did I miss?"

Jessica giggled. "Bella! You've got your head in the clouds, as usual. I'm having a house party—next weekend. You're all invited!"

I blinked. "All?"

"Yeah—everybody here and Lauren and Rosalie and Emmett."

I made a tiny face. Lauren was good friends with Jessica, but had disliked me ever since the boy she was crushing on in eighth grade (Tyler) had asked me to the Halloween Dance.

Mike chimed in, "Won't it be great, Bella? Three days at Jessica's beach house!"

I knew she had one—she made sure everyone knew—but I had never been to one of Jessica Stanley's infamous beach parties. She'd invited me, once in eighth grade, twice in freshman year (Charlie wouldn't let me go) and not a single time as a sophomore. That probably had something to do with the explosive fight we'd had over Mike, of all people: she'd wanted him, he'd wanted me, I'd wanted some peace and quiet. They'd dated over this past summer, and now we were back to being friends. At least, she sat at my lunch table instead of with Lauren, Jane, Collin, Felix, and Laurent. I smiled awkwardly. "Well, Jessica, that's really sweet of you, but I don't know—my dad—"

"Oh, come on, Bella!" Tyler yelled, "You're seventeen! Live a little!" I blushed. I wasn't sure I wanted to go: three days with Mike and Tyler and Lauren and no escape.

Alice leaned in and whispered in my ear, "I'm coming—and so is Edward." I blushed even deeper. Alice was the only one who knew about my ridiculous crush on her twin brother, and she never missed an opportunity to tell me I should 'go for it.' Easy for her to say. She had Jasper, who would do anything for her, who had fallen in love with her the moment he saw her. She claimed to have fallen in love before she saw him. I shook my head. Why would Edward go to one of Jessica's parties? She'd had a rather embarrassing crush on him towards the start of sophomore year (P.M., or pre-Mike).

Edward had been frowning absently at nothing, but he looked straight at me now. I swallowed as the full brilliance of his amazing emerald eyes stole my breath for a moment. This was so not healthy. "You should come, Bella. It'll be fun."

I swallowed again. Edward. Talking. To me. "Uh… yeah. Sure. I'll come—if Charlie says I can." He shot a crooked smile in my direction and I swear I melted.

That's me, Bella Swan, the pile of goop sitting across from Edward Anthony Cullen in the Forks High School Cafeteria. Yep.

EPOV

I hated lunch time. Sitting at a table with Jasper and Alice (and usually Emmett and Rosalie) was fun. Ben and Angela were perfectly pleasant. But sitting across from Isabella Marie Swan was torture. She was so beautiful—so effortlessly, eternally beautiful and kind and sweet and funny and smart and wonderful. And she would so never ever in a million years give me a second glance.

Watching Mike and Tyler blatantly flirt with her was even worse. I wanted so much to be the one smiling at her, laughing with her, asking her out; all I seemed to be able to do was write song after song about her, songs I only ever practiced at home. Songs only Alice had ever heard. Alice was the only one who knew how pathetically obsessed I was with her best friend.

My twin sister had tried numerous times to be me to admit my feelings to the angel that now sat across from me—I had resisted. As frustrating as it was now, hardly daring to speak to her and acting distant so I wouldn't embarrass myself too badly, admitting to my obsession would be infinitely worse. To be rejected, laughed at, pitied?! Intolerable. It was bad enough now, sitting with her at lunch, being her lab partner (she was so good at Biology) and having to repress everything I felt.

I tilted my head back and started blankly off at the wall. I could practically hear Alice screaming in my head to look at her, talk to her, flirt with her. Alice and I had the 'twin-speech' thing down.

Jessica took a deep breath. "So, you guys, um, I'm having another beach party, and you're all invited." My sister immediately began squealing. I'd never been to one of Jessica's infamous beach parties, although Alice had filled me in on the play-by-play every times she returned. They were…interesting...to say the least. I wasn't particularly interested in going this time, especially as Lauren was coming. That girl came after me with all the subtlety of a cat in heat. It was irritating.

Bella looked up, and even without looking at her, every muscle in my body tightened in anticipation of hearing her speak. She had the loveliest voice. "What did I miss?"

Jessica gave a high pitched giggle. "Bella! You've got your head in the clouds," She did not! "…as usual. I'm having a house party—next weekend. You're all invited!"

Bella looked rather adorably confused. "All?"

"Yeah—everybody here and Lauren and Rosalie and Emmett." I scowled slightly. Emmett would want me to come, if he was invited. And he would go, if Rosalie did. And if I knew Rosalie, she would be going.

Mike leaned forward, obscuring Bella slightly from my view. Goodbye beautiful… "Won't it be great, Bella? Three days at Jessica's beach house!" How disgusting. I could tell what he was thinking, and it was not at all something I wanted going through his head. Especially not about Bella.

The object of my unrequited desires blushed an absolutely enthralling shade of palest peach. "Well, Jessica, that's really sweet of you, but I don't know—my dad—"

She wouldn't be going, then. I sighed quietly; then there was no point whatsoever in my bothering to attend. Tyler was gabbing something at her now, but I tuned him out. My sister took this moment to lean over and whisper in my idol's ear, loud enough so I could hear it, although I doubted anyone else at the table could. "I'm coming—and so is Edward." This was news to me. Bella blushed even deeper.

I don't know what prompted me to speak, then. It was probably a combination of the irritation that poured through me at the sight of Mike leaning in towards her, as if he had exclusive rights to her attention, the death glare from Alice that told me without words that I was coming whether I liked it or not, and the mistake I made of looking into Bella's amazing eyes. I felt my mouth open without any instruction from me. "You should come, Bella. It'll be fun." And then I was back to drowning in the depths of her fathomless brown eyes. Not just brown. Hot chocolate. Mahogany. Coffee. So deep you could dive into them and never come back out. So beautiful you'd never want to.

"Uh… yeah. Sure. I'll come—if Charlie says I can." I was jolted out of my reverie by her angelic voice. I beamed, no doubt looking like an absolute idiot. Three days with Bella. The guy sitting across from Bella Swan at the Forks High School Cafeteria with the utterly pathetic goofy grin on his face—that's me. Yeah.

A/N, now out of rehab and better than ever:

Justin: REVIEW

Tequila: what he said:D