"Need some help?"

"Nope I got it thanks." I replied, not even bothering to look up.

"Are you sure, looks like you're struggling a bit?" He chuckled.

"Positive, I do this every night, I'm good." I shot back. finally finished dragging the table across the bar floor.

"Hi, I'm Edward by the way." He smiled.

"Great!" I lifted my eyebrows, trying to get the point across that I really didn't give a damn who he was.

"And you're Bella?" He pointed the my name tag.

"Ah you can read, glad to see that Ivy league education is working after all!" I started to walk away.

"And how would you know what school I'm going to?" He tilted his head, his eyes curious.

"Call it a hunch." I rolled my eyes, and reached under the bar for a rag to wipe down the bar. I couldn't stand these Harvard guys coming in here and thinking we should all fall to the floor for them.

"You look like you could use a break." He sat down on a bar stool across from me.

"It's 11:45, we close at midnight, I have 4 exams to study for, I just want to get out of here." And that would be MUCH easier if you would pick your ass back up off that stool and get the hell out so we could finish up!

"Alright Bells, I'm gonna lock up." Jake yelled from the front.

"Negative, we still have one!" I shot Edward an annoyed glance, hoping he'd take a hint.

"Is that my cue?" He smiled and stood up.

I just smiled back.

"Maybe I could hang around outside…til you're done, and walk you to your car or something." He asked hopefully.

"Nah, I don't live far, I walk home." GET OOOUUUTTTT!

"Well, I could walk you home." He quickly suggested with a grin.

I laughed, this guy just doesn't give up. "No, actually that's one of the perks of having the bouncer for a best friend, he takes care of me." I nodded at Jake in the doorway, standing 6'6", arms crossed over his huge chest glaring.

"Oh." He took in ALL of Jake before he continued. "Well, it was nice to meet you Bella, maybe I'll see you around soon." He winked before turning for the door.

"Yeah, maybe." I rolled my eyes and watched him leave.

"No one would ever guess you work for tips." A voice just like bells laughed from behind me.

"What?" I turned to look at Alice, one of my very best friends ever since I moved back to Boston.

"You're so mean, and that one was actually cute!!" She said as she started placing the stools up on the bar.

"Was he?" I honestly didn't even notice.

"Right, like he wasn't gorgeous!"

"I don't even notice anymore. What's the point, all the Harvard idiots are all the same, more money than brains. They think they're gods gift to the world and us lowly other folks should bow down to their obvious superior intellect, when in reality anyone who spends more than 2 minutes with them knows the only thing superior and the only thing that really got them into the school in the first place was their daddy's check book!"

"Bitter much Bella?" Jake laughed and leaned on the bar beside me.

"Yeah I don't think so. I could have gone to that ridiculous school if I had chosen to." I rolled my eyes.

"Ok ok, enough, it's midnight let's get the hell out of here!" Alice's pixie like body bounced to the front door.

We all piled outside, and Jake locked up the bar behind us. I shivered at the cool fall air. Well it was supposed to be fall, it was barely October, but I might as well have been living with the Eskimos, it was freezing outside!

"Wanna wear my coat too Ms. California." Jake laughed at my teeth chattering as I shivered.

"Ha ha ha, you're hilarious Jake! I swear it's all coming back to me very quickly why exactly the west coast was so appealing after high school." I wrapped myself tightly in my winter coat.

I had moved to California barely a month after high school graduation. Boston has been the only thing I had ever known, and the only thing I really wanted to forget. I've heard people say that if you live somewhere long enough, you become that place. That was the last thing I wanted. I can't tell you that I had some horrible life I was running from. I mean I had a decent family, for being a divorced couple my dad Charlie and mom Renee had always been civil and truly tried to do things in a manner that was in my best interest. I didn't have a lot of friends, but the few I did have were the best. Jake and I grew up together, he was the only one I really stayed in touch with consistently after I moved away, and the only one genuinely happy to have me back when I returned home this past summer. Boston was just so everyday to me. I wanted more, I wanted to see things and meet people. I just wanted more. So, when I received an acceptance letter from USC in Los Angeles, I threw all the rest out. I figured what better place to escape to than LA? I spent 3 years there, the school was pretty good, but I couldn't take the people anymore, they definitely weren't the type I was looking to meet. I felt like if I met one more person with a fake smile and even faker boobs I was going to scream. I had to admit I was just an east coast kinda gal. My goal was always to end up in New York City to be a journalist anyway, so I ended up back here. Back home, close to my family and finishing out my senior year of college at Emerson. Just one more year and I'd leave this place forever, I couldn't wait!