Before we get to it, I wanted to say a little something…

I'm sorry (x1000) for disappearing on everyone! My plate got pretty full fairly quickly, and I'm sorry to say that writing this just kept getting pushed further and further back. But, I did not forget about you completely, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this.

Now that things have cleared up for me, the story can go on! And now that I will be getting deeper into it, I promise I won't leave you guys hanging out there for this long ever again.

That's all from me for now, I hope you enjoy!

I had been living in my apartment for almost two weeks at this point, and I had yet to see the unbelievably beautiful tenants of apartment 23. I was beginning to think I had imagined them all together. But even with that thought growing in my head, it didn't stop me from looking around the corner hopefully whenever I came home, and even with my arms full of groceries, today was no different. And just like every other day, I let myself down again.

I had finally gotten everything unpacked and set up, and Emmett insisted he come over with his new girlfriend. And only ten times throughout the one phone conversation, he not so subtly hinted at me cooking his favorite meal for the three of us. No matter how politely he asked (and let's face it, Emmett isn't one for beating around the bush even if it made him seem rude), he was my brother and there was no way I could deny such a simple request from him as cooking him lasagna.

And that's how I got here today, juggling shopping bags while trying to unlock my door. I made it inside with very few casualties, but because I had to catch my balance on the wall in the entryway causing the apples I had bought to go flying everywhere. I was behind schedule as it was, so I only picked up the ones that had stayed near me and quickly went into the kitchen to get started.

I was taken out of the trance cooking always puts me in by a light, rapid knocking on the door. I wasn't expecting Emmett for at least another half hour and dinner would not be ready for quite some time.

"Emmett, you said…" I started to scold him as I pulled the door open, only to stop short when I saw the very tiny Alice rather than my bulky brother.

"Oh, Bella! Good, you're home! So, I locked my keys inside my apartment, and Edward won't be back for hours. Do you think I can wait in your place for him?" She spewed out her words so quickly that I was surprised I even caught most of what she said.

My voice caught in my throat, her request was so shocking that I wasn't sure how to respond.

"Um…sure?" She didn't waste much time after I agreed with her before squeezing past me into the apartment, leaving me standing at the door with my mouth hanging open in shock.

"I just knew you would say yes! So, I already left a note for Edward. Are you expecting someone?" She spoke quickly again and it was this that broke me out of my daze long enough to join her in the kitchen.

I pleaded with myself to speak, and prayed it would make me sound more coherent than I did when I found her on the other side of my door.

"Yeah, my brother and his girlfriend are coming over for dinner." Thank God. "You're welcome to join us if Edward still isn't back by then." I resumed my cooking, I was much more comfortable now that my hands were busy, even though Alice watched my every move intensely.

"Thank you! That sounds -- no, smells fabulous! My stomach started growling when I first smelled everything down the hall." She laughed at this, a purely infectious laugh with almost a musical quality to it, though not quite as boisterously as she was laughing.

She was quiet now, I could tell she was studying me. This was one of those silences that usually made me feel awkward, but I felt strangely comfortable around Alice.

"So, Bella. Tell me about yourself." Alice suddenly spoke up, waiting until I after I put the pan in the oven to do so.

"Well, I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders. "What do you want to know?" I looked at her curiously while I rinsed off my hands.

"Hmm…" She tapped her index finger against her lips as she thought, while I took her silence as an opportunity to clean up the messy counter.

"You're in school right?" She finally asked, to which I only nodded in response. She didn't waste much time before continuing her questions.

"What's your major? How old are you? When's your birthday?" It seemed as if she didn't even waste any time with taking in a breath during her questioning.

"English. 19. September 13." I answered her questions as quickly as possible, I could tell she was ready to burst with more questions for me.

"Where do you work?" She took her time now, asking only one question rather than fire off more than one, which I took to mean that she wanted at least slightly more detailed answers from me. Though, rather than answer her right away I turned around and went opened the refrigerator.

"I'm a waitress at Cora's Café. But, I sometimes help out with the baking too." I answered her while I dug around in the back of the refrigerator, emerging with two cans of Coke. I held one out to her, and she took it with a bright smile. I started toward the living room, gesturing with my hand for her to follow.

I sat down in the armchair and opened the soda while she took a seat on the couch. She opened hers soon after, staying quiet while most likely decided which question to go with next. She burst into laughter once she leaned forward to place her soda on the coffee table. She waited for her laughter to subside before reaching under the coffee table.

"Have a fight with your fruit?" She asked, her hand emerging with an apple.

I could only blush at this, and then she tossed it toward me. Even with my hand eye coordination at its best, a similar outcome would have occurred. My soda spilled down the front of my shirt and I only blushed more.

A clean shirt, numerous questions (I had lost count at fifteen), a finished pan of lasagna and forty five minutes later, I felt like I knew Alice a little better (I had managed to get a couple of questions for her in there) but I also felt like she knew everything there was to know about me. She had started to get into questions that I wasn't sure how to answer, mostly involving my nonexistent love life, when I was saved by knocking on my door. I breathed a sigh of relief as silent as I could manage it as I stood from my chair and went to the door.

This time, there was no surprise waiting for me on the other side of the door, even from Emmett's new girlfriend, though she was much prettier than all of his past girlfriends, she seemed like she would act exactly the same way.

"Bells!" Emmett pulled me into a tight hug before I could even say anything to greet them.

"Emm, need air." I pleaded with him until he let go of me, bringing in a gulp of fresh air once I was finally free.

"Hi, I'm Rosalie." She extended her hand out to me, I was sure Emmett had told her how much my opinion mattered to whatever extent of a relationship they could possibly have, though it never really bothered him in the past if I didn't like his girlfriend.

I took her hand and shook it, smiling as politely as I could at her. I took a step back in order to open the door wider for them, but I only bumped into Alice who had come up behind me.

"Oh, this is Alice from across the hall. She got locked out." Once I introduced her, she took a step out from behind me and waved at everyone.

"Come on in." I was now able to move aside so they could come inside and everyone came in, Alice leading them into the dining room where I had already set everything up. It didn't take long for Alice to start asking them nearly as many questions as she had asked me.

"Let me just get the lasagna out of the oven." I excused myself from the room, their chatter only stopping for a moment before starting back up again.

"This looks great, Bells. This is why you're my favorite baby sister." Emmett smiled his goofy grin at me across the table while I started to give everyone some of the lasagna.

"Ha ha, Emmett, I'm your only sister." I stuck my tongue out at him, reaching for the salad bowl, putting some on my plate before passing the bowl to Rosalie. She hadn't said much to me yet, so I couldn't properly make a judgment of her yet, but I knew Emmett would make sure that I had that opportunity, and he was clearing his throat now, urging me to be the first to say something.

"So…Rosalie, how did you and Emmett meet?" I asked her, though I only looked in her direction for a moment before looking down at my plate again. What was with all the new people I had been meeting lately being breathtakingly gorgeous? When she spoke, I looked up at her.

"Well…" She paused to look over at Emmett and smiled sweetly at him for a moment before continuing. "We met through my twin brother Jasper." Great, there was another exceptionally beautiful person out there, and I had never felt more average that I did right now, thinking about how beautiful her twin must be.

"How did you meet Jasper?" Alice took my moment of silence to ask Emmett a question, I was grateful that Edward had not come home yet.

"We went to school together." He shoved a rather large bite of lasagna into his mouth, but didn't wait to completely swallow it before continuing to speak. "He was in the dorm next to mine sophomore year. We kept it touch over the years, I just didn't meet Rose until two months ago." Rosalie laughed at this, to which she received odd looks from both Alice and myself.

"It took a lot of convincing to get Jasper to give him permission to ask me out." She started to explain things but she was cut off by Emmett.

"And then I had to convince her to say yes." He nudged her playfully with his elbow before returning his attention to his plate, which was nearly empty by now.

"He asked me out every day for two weeks. Finally I just said yes to get him to quit, and I'm glad I did." I couldn't remember a time when Emmett had put so much effort into getting a date, but the girls he usually asked out never really put up much of a fight and usually said yes quickly.

Up until this point, I assumed their relationship was vain at best, which very well was the initial reasoning. But, the way they looked at each other told me otherwise. Besides, I had only met five of Emmett's past girlfriends, though there were plenty more than never made it to this stage of the relationship.

The rest of the dinner went well, Alice made sure of that. She kept the conversation going when I was unable to do so.

We were pulled out of our conversation by a knock on the door, which Alice jumped up to get, knowing that it was Edward on the other side. The silence gave Emmett an opportunity to finally look at the time.

"We've got to get going. Thanks for everything, Bells. It was delicious." He stood up as he spoke, Rosalie following him.

"Oh, okay. I'm glad you could come. It was nice meeting you, Rosalie." I stood as well, with the intent to walk them to the door. We started down the hallway when Alice was finally getting to the door, opening it to find no one waiting on the other side.

"He's already gone back in." Alice said as she turned around and shrugged her shoulders. "Oh! You're leaving already?" She seemed upset by this, but it seemed that Alice just loved having numerous people around her.

"Yeah, we made some plans with Jasper, he'll be expecting us soon." Rosalie informed us.

"Well, it was very nice meeting you! Looks like I'm expected home now too." She said with a laugh, though she waited at the door with me while Rosalie and Emmett walked toward the stairs.

"Don't mind Edward, he's just been a little moody lately." She finally spoke once the others had rounded the corner. "I'll see you around, I can just tell we're going to be great friends." She smiled brightly at me before darting into her own apartment.

Overall, the night went much better than I expected, and I had Alice to thank for that. But I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed at the end of the evening as I got ready for bed. How could I possibly pine after her boyfriend if she was so nice and likeable? Well this night certainly did change everything.