Chapter One

Music that gentlier on the spirit lies,

Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes.

---Alfred Lord Tennyson

“Bella, why can't you just humour me, for once in your life?” Alice threw her hands in the air in exasperation.

I snorted at her dramatics. She knew I'd eventually cave, just as I always did. Alice was my one weakness. She knew she had a strange pull over me, and I would be lying if I said she never took advantage of that.

The two of us were standing in the middle of my bedroom, clothes strewn everywhere. Alice stood at the centre of the mess, glaring at me menacingly with her hands set stubbornly on her hips.

“I don't want to hear any more arguments,” she said, a tone of finality in her voice. “Get your purse and meet me outside in five minutes. And look happy.”

I rolled my eyes at Alice's bullying as she strode out of the room. She didn't bother to clean up the huge mess she had just made of my room. I picked some shirts up off the floor, placing them on my bed before going to grab my purse.

Alice was going to be the death of me. She knew how much I hated shopping, and I was up to my ears in assignments. I was supposed to be spending my Saturday afternoon in the lab at school, not in a shopping centre. It was a good thing that both Alice and I were fortunate enough to be going to school here in Toronto on full scholarships. These all-too-frequent shopping trips would be out of the question otherwise.

On second thought, maybe it wasn't such a good thing.

A few minutes later, Alice and I were on the subway heading towards Dundas and Queen, where the Eaton Centre was located. Normally, Alice liked to browse the boutiques along Queen Street, but even she had to restrain herself today. We were short on time, and I was short on patience. We needed to get in and get out. Quick and dirty.

“We're looking for something simple but sexy,” Alice stated as we hopped off the subway at Dundas, weaving through the crowds. “Maybe something red. You look great in red.”

“Can you please tell me why I need to look sexy for your student recital? I thought these things were a pretty low-key affair.” All the other recitals Alice had brought me to in the past had just been Alice and the other students in her studio, playing their pieces for family and friends. Afterwards, their professor would make a few comments and sometimes invite the small audience to make a few comments. It was more of an open master class than a recital.

Alice just smiled mysteriously and strode on ahead of me. I had no idea what was so special about this recital. She'd been so annoying and cryptic about it all week. It was the first recital of Alice's last year at the Glenn Gould School, but I didn't think that made it any different from all the other ones.

While I may not have known anything about the recital, I did know Alice well enough to know two things. One, she was hiding something from me and two, I shouldn't bother trying to figure out what it was. I knew that I'd find out eventually, anyway.

Alice came to a sudden halt in front of me, and I walked right into her.

“Oof!” All my breath left me. I took a step back, clutching my chest.

Alice turned around and flashed me an annoying smirk. “Watch where you're going, klutz.”

She laughed at my indignant look. “Come on now,” she relented. “You know I'm only teasing. That was my fault.”

I sighed. I was used to the jokes about my clumsiness. I'd tried ballet once as a child in an futile attempt to gain some coordination, which had ended up in a broken arm and two broken toes. The broken toes hadn't even been mine – they'd been the teacher's.

I looked up to see that we had stopped in front of Aritzia, a popular clothing store that would no doubt hold something suitable for the evening ahead. Alice always knew the best places to go for every occasion.

The second we stepped inside the store, Alice's eyes widened. She grabbed my hand, pulling me over to a rack near the front of the store. I was relieved to see that the rack had a giant yellow 'SALE' sign. My school might already have been paid for, but my part-time job hardly brought in heaps of money. I had just enough for rent and the essentials, plus a little left over for the occasional treat. This usually came in the form of clothes, reluctantly bought at Alice's insistence.

Alice pushed some hangers aside, plucking off a dress from somewhere in the middle. How she had seen that all the way from the front of the store, God only knew. The woman had an indescribable talent when it came to anything fashion-related. It surpassed even her musical talent, which was considerable. She was one of the best and brightest musicians of her class, and the Glenn Gould School hosted some of the most talented students in North America.

I was nervous. She had her back to me, and I couldn't see what she'd taken off the rack. As brilliant as she was when it came to fashion, I was more of a sweats and t-shirt kind of girl. I wasn't always comfortable in the outfits she picked out for me.

She turned around, and I could see the reason for her excited grin. She seemed to have found the perfect dress on the first try.

“What do you think?” she asked enthusiastically.

Before I could answer, a salesgirl swooped in on us, no doubt seeing the opportunity for a commission. Her shirt was just a little too tight to be called modest, and her hair was almost white, it had been bleached so blonde. It hurt my eyes a little.

“Would you like me to start a dressing room for you?” she said enthusiastically with a overly bright smile.

“Um, sure,” I mumbled. “I'm actually ready to go try it on now.”

Ignoring Alice's eager pokes to my back, I followed the girl to the fitting room.

I quickly pulled the dress over my head, not wanting to look at it myself until Alice had had her say. I exited the fitting room. I hoped it didn't look too bad now that it was actually on my body.

Alice gasped when I came into her view. Crap, was it that horrible? I hated that the most about shopping; finding something that looked amazing on the hanger or mannequin, then trying it on, only for it to look horrifying. I started to turn back to the fitting room when Alice grabbed me by the arm. I turned to face her and was surprised to see her looking even more excited than when we'd come in.

“Oh, Bella,” she breathed. “That looks fabulous on you.”

One of the guys working the fitting room paused while sorting through clothes to interject. “Your sister's right, you absolutely have to get that,” he gushed. “That color looks fabulous on you, and the cut is so flattering.”

Neither Alice nor I bothered to correct him. While we were really first cousins, we looked enough alike that we were often mistaken for sisters. The most distinguishing feature we shared was our nose, which we also happened to share with Charlie. We affectionately referred to it as the 'Swan' nose. I loved my nose – it did a funny clicking thing when you pressed on the tip of it. Alice had dubbed it 'beeping' when we were kids. Alice would still get all her new acquaintances to 'beep' her nose, and she always had a good laugh at their reactions. I wasn't quite as comfortable with virtual strangers touching my nose.

Neither was I comfortable with receiving compliments from complete strangers. I blushed at the sales boy's praise, and Alice rolled her eyes. “Oh, stop that, Bella,” she chided. “He's just being honest.”

I fidgeted uncomfortably. I didn't enjoy being put on display. The sale boy must have noticed my unease, because he beamed at us and sauntered off.

Alice had definitely always been the leader in our little duo. When we were both ten years old, her parents died in a car accident. She had moved in with my dad and me, and we'd quickly grown to be inseparable. In our last year of high school, Alice had decided that she wanted to move away to Toronto to continue her education. While I'd been content to stay in the familiarity of the East coast of the States, Alice had wanted to do something different and exciting. Toronto seemed like the perfect opportunity. It was a big city in a different country, and the Glenn Gould School had an amazing reputation. I had decided that Canada wasn't foreign enough to be totally scary and had gone with her to study at the University of Toronto. We both knew that if I hadn't wanted to go to Toronto, we both would've found somewhere else to go. I couldn't imagine my life without her, and I knew she felt the same way.

That was four years ago, and we'd become even closer since. If that was even possible.

“So,” Alice prompted, “how do you like it?”

I realized that I hadn't seen myself in the dress yet, so I turned around to look in the mirror. I was definitely pleased with the result.

The dress was a thin cotton material in a deep ruby red. It had long sleeves and a scoop neck that was just low-cut enough to look both sophisticated and sexy. There was a thick black belt that went under the bust, flattering my somewhat-petite figure, and the skirt flowed to just above the knee.

I couldn't help the smile that was forming on my face. I actually looked decent, despite my messy, dull-brown hair, pale skin and lack of makeup. I'd look pretty good, once I cleaned up a bit.

“It looks great, Alice,” I replied. “I really like it.”

Alice squealed and clapped her hands together. “I know, you're going to look like an absolute sex kitten tonight!”

I frowned at that, once again wondering why she wanted to me to sexy. However, there was no use wondering. Alice was an unstoppable force of nature. Even if I objected to whatever plan she was cooking up, which was likely, there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it. I'd long since learned that, with Alice, it was easier to just go with the flow.

Alice must have realized her error, because she cleared her throat and put off an air of calm sophistication. Not quite normal for Alice, but a good effort.

“Let's finish up, shall we?” she asked coolly, and I turned around to go change.

Forty-five minutes and seventy-five dollars later, I was sitting in front of Alice's vanity. I hated being poked and prodded by her, but at least I could eat Chinese takeout at the same time.

“So – ow! – what are you playing tonight, anyway?” I asked. I winced as she pulled a little too hard on my hair.

“Sorry, sweetie,” she replied apologetically. “Hm, let's see... Ravel's Jeux d'eau, and Ginastera's Danzas Argentinas. That's all I've got even somewhat ready to play in front of an audience.”

Even though she was only playing two pieces, I knew it would be a good program. I always loved everything Alice played: we had very similar tastes in music.

“Who else is playing?” I asked. I knew a few people in her studio, but she didn't generally have too many friends that she saw outside of school. She had oodles of acquaintances, Alice being the social butterfly that she was by nature. Outside of school, though, it was only really the two of us. We both liked it that way, we didn't need anyone else.

To my surprise, Alice looked caught off guard. If she had been anything like me, her cheeks would be stained red.

“Oh, you know, just a few people in the studio. I don't know, really...” she stuttered, tripping over her words a bit. She was very obviously lying, but I couldn't think of any reason for it.

Had she met someone in school? Was all of this over a new guy in her life, perhaps? Was all of this just because she was nervous about introducing me to a guy she was interested in? Though, I couldn't see her caring how I looked if I was going to meet a potential boyfriend of hers. She'd more likely be worried about his appearance. I was beginning to lose my patience with all the mystery and intrigue. I didn't need any more drama in my life, not after all the drama of the summer.

“Ow!”

Alice had just tugged on my hair too hard again, and I lost my patience. I wrenched her hand away from my hair and stood up.

“That's enough, Alice! My hair doesn't need anymore brushing. Let me get ready on my own, please!”

Alice didn't say anything, just gave me a hurt look and left the room. I felt horrible for treating the one constant in my life like that, especially because it was her own room I had just kicked her out of. But there was only so much one girl could take.

About thirty seconds later, the guilt was too much for me to handle. Alice had been nothing but good to me. She wasn't to blame for my impatience. Well, actually she was, but I was used to it, and I shouldn't have blown up at her like that.

“Alice,” I called out. “Will you come back in here?”

She appeared at the door of her room within seconds, a smug smile plastered on her face. She'd obviously just been waiting outside the door for me to call her back in. Stupid girl knew me too well.

She strode across the room and planted herself where she'd just been, picking up where she'd left off.

“No need to apologize,” she said airily, even though she knew I hadn't planned to.

After what seemed like forever, Alice stood up and turned me around to admire her handiwork.

“You look fantastic,” she stated in a business-like tone. “Now, go get your dress on, we've got to leave soon.”

I headed back to my own room and pulled the dress over my head. Once I'd grabbed my purse and shoes, I risked a peek in the mirror.

Wow. I actually looked almost sexy. My usually lifeless hair had loose curls that seemed to frame my face nicely enough, and Alice had done a great job with the makeup. My lips were the same shade as my dress, accentuating my pale skin and making it look a creamy colour instead of washed-out.

I gave my reflection a satisfied smile and hurried out to the front porch so as not to keep Alice waiting.

We met up outside the front door. Alice was dressed beautifully in a simple black dress with black ballet flats. As much as I knew she'd love to wear heels, she couldn't while playing, so she'd apparently settled for wearing the classiest pair of flats she owned.

After locking the door, she turned to look me up and down. She beamed, obviously impressed with her efforts.

“Let's go, sex kitten.”

The subway was crowded that evening, and I found myself feeling self-conscious. I had always felt funny about riding the subway in fancy attire. Toronto was a big enough city that not too many people would stare at us, but even one person was enough to make me uncomfortable. Of course, Alice revelled in even the most miniscule amount of attention. She loved when anyone looked at her, no matter how creepy the person. In fact, she frequently attracted attention to herself when we were out and about in Toronto, just for the fun of it. So many things about that girl boggled my mind.

We got off at St. George station, and I was thankful for the short distance to the school. It was only the middle of October, but there was a chilly wind that went right through my fall coat.

When we arrived at the recital hall, Alice left me to go warm up in a practice room. There was still half an hour before the performance began, so I was glad to have brought a book.

I headed inside and decided that since I was the only one in the hall, I could try out a couple of different seats to see which offered the best angle at which to watch Alice play. There were usually one or two people already seated by the time I got there, and I would feel like an idiot, switching seats every five seconds with people watching me.

The first few I tried had a good enough view of the piano, but I wanted an unobstructed view of the keyboard. I had always been entranced by the way a pianist's fingers glided seemingly without effort across the keys, somehow producing the most beautiful sounds.

I'd always wished that I'd played piano growing up. Neither Charlie nor Renee had thought to put me in any kind of musical activity as a child, while Alice's parents had started her in piano at the tender age of four. When she'd moved in with us, the considerable amount of money left to her by her parents had enabled her to continue studying piano. Knowing my love for the instrument, she had encouraged me to join her in taking lessons, but I'd refused. I was ten at the time, and since Alice had already been playing for six years, I felt that I was too far behind to even bother trying. Over the years, Alice had tried to give me a few lessons, but she was far too impatient to ever be a teacher. It was a good thing she planned to be a performer. That, she could do.

So, I'd settled for having a deep interest in classical music, particularly that for the piano. I listened to Alice and her fellow students play at every available chance, and loved every minute of it.

After several tries with different seats, I found what I considered to be the best view in the house. I settled in, shrugging off my jacket and opening my book.

About three sentences in, I was startled by someone plopping down in the seat next to me. I found this more than a little strange, seeing as how the hall was still virtually empty. I looked over to see that a male and female, had decided to sit on my immediate left. Neither of them could be any more than a few years older than me.

I didn't want to stare, but it was hard not to. The young man was incredibly large, but not in an overweight way. He was just a giant, and probably the most muscular-looking man I'd ever laid eyes on. One might get the impression he was a tough guy, but something in his soft features told me otherwise.

I sneaked a peek at the girl next to him and was stunned. Her ethereal beauty was marred only slightly by her small frown. It put a crease between her perfectly-shaped eyebrows, and her full lips were tense. She had long, flowing blonde hair that was definitely all natural, and she intimidated the hell out of me without having to say one word.

The two of them seemed to mesh in an indescribable way; I knew they were together. The male let out a soft chuckle, and I realized that I had been staring just a moment too long. I blushed and stared hard at my book, mortified.

“You seem to have taken the best seat in the house,” he said, the amusement evident in his voice. “We had to take the next best ones. Hope that's okay with you?”

I looked back at him, my face still flushed. “Oh, um... Of course. You can sit where you like.”

“I mean, if you don't want us to sit by you, that's fine,” he continued on as if he hadn't heard me. He was clearly teasing me, but I found myself not minding. “I'd understand if you have some kind of problem with us sitting here, invading your space.”

Blood rushed to my cheeks, colouring them a deeper red, if that was even possible. I was at a complete loss for words. My mouth just opened and closed stupidly. Great. I was not only the colour of a tomato, but I was also a moron.

“I – ”

The blonde interrupted what I was sure would have been a very eloquent statement by turning to me and rolling her eyes at her assumed boyfriend's antics. “I'm sorry about him. He didn't mean any of it. He's socially stunted.” She didn't come off as cold, but she didn't seem as openly friendly as the male did.

“Hey!” he interjected. “I am not socially stunted. There is no part of me that is stunted, as you very well know...” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at the blonde, who seemed to be fighting the temptation to grin.

He draped his arm casually over the blonde's shoulder and turned to wink at me. Oh yes, they were definitely together. I had the sudden urge to keep up the conversation with these two intriguing individuals, which was pretty out of character for me. I hadn't ever felt it necessary to make friends, as I was perfectly content with the few I had. It wasn't even really a few, as much as one. Alice was really the only constant I had in my life.

However, I didn't feel like doing what I normally would in this situation, which would be to end the conversation and dive back into my book. I stuck out my hand.

“I'm Bella.”

The male grabbed my hand and gave it a long shake. He had an unnaturally firm grip, but that didn't really surprise me.

“I'm Emmett,” he said with the same playful grin he'd been sporting since I'd first seen him. “And this-” he pointed with his thumb over his shoulder “- is my girlfriend, Rosalie.”

Rosalie gave a small smile and shook my hand as well. I was a little surprised to feel that her grip was just as firm as Emmett's. She was no less intimidating than when I'd first laid eyes on her. I got the feeling that she was a force to be reckoned with.

“So, who are you here to see?” Emmett asked. “Or, more accurately, who are you here to hear?”

He chuckled at his lame little pun, and I couldn't help but giggle along with him. His mood seemed to be contagious. Well, Rosalie didn't seem overly affected, but I was sure that he could push her buttons with very little effort when he wanted to

“My cousin, Alice,” I replied. I was glad that I was actually managing to carry on a conversation with these two intriguing strangers. A first for me. “She's in her last year here. Who are you two here for?”

“Emmett's brother, Edward, is also in his last year of his undergraduate,” Rosalie offered. “It's his first year here, though. He just transferred from the University of Illinois at Chicago.”

I didn't want to pry into the affairs of someone I had never even met, so I didn't inquire further. However, Emmett didn't seem to share my concerns.

“Alice, huh? I've heard Edward mention her. Come to think of it, she's the only name Edward's brought up when talking about school. He's not really a social being. I don't know where he gets it. I mean, look who he's related to!”

Emmett grinned and proudly puffed out his chest. Rosalie rolled her eyes, and I suppressed a giggle.

“Maybe Edward loves her,” Emmett continued, drawing out the word for effect.

I wasn't sure what to say to that. I'd thought that Alice would have told me if there'd been anything romantic going on in her life. She couldn't keep a secret to save her life. But, maybe she'd kept one from me this time, in order to surprise me? She had been strangely vague about this recital. I didn't know, though. Something was a little off.

“As far as I know,” I responded tentatively.

“Hmm,” Emmett said thoughtfully.“Anyway, what's your story?”

He seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say, which was refreshing. The number of times I'd made conversation with people who obviously had no interest in what I was saying was alarmingly high. I'd begun to wonder if I was really that dull of a person. Upon reflection, however, I'd realized that a lot of the students in my program had no interest in making friends, just on sniffing out the competition for the best grades. I was in a very cool program, obviously.

“I'm a fourth-year Biochemistry student at U of T,” I offered.

My answer didn't seem to satisfy Emmett. He frowned at me and turned in his seat to fully face me.

“That can't be everything about you. Come on now, work with me here. Where are you from? What do you want to do when you graduate? Hobbies? Interests?”

I peeked past his inquisitive face at Rosalie; she was also gazing at me with interest. I was completely taken aback by this point. Never had a complete stranger been so openly eager to get to know me, let alone two.

“Um, well, I'm from a really tiny town in the States-”

Emmett's face lit up. I blushed again, wondering why that was so exciting for him.

“Really? What a coincidence! I'm from Chicago!”

Oh, well, that was that mystery solved. It wasn't that much of a coincidence: Toronto was a huge, cosmopolitan city, and it would only make sense that there were lots of people from the States living there for a variety of reasons. He was obviously very excitable. It tried to match his enthusiasm, which wasn't difficult. His animation was infectious.

“The Windy City, that's great. What are you doing in Toronto?”

At my small prompt, Emmett launched into his entire life's story. “Well,” he started, “it's really all because of Rosie, here.”

“How many times have I told you not to call me that!” Rosalie interjected angrily.

“Whatever, you love it,” Emmett waved her off. “Anyway, it was spring break of 2006, and my buddies and I headed to Miami for the party there. Definitely the best week-long party I've ever been to...”

“Because you met me,” Rosalie added. It sounded more like a warning than anything.

Emmett snapped out of his reminiscent trance he had gone into. He blinked. “Right, of course,” he assured her. Rosalie seemed satisfied enough with this response.

“My friends and I had also gone to Miami for spring break,” Rosalie continued, taking over the story. “We were on the beach drinking one night, and one of them had the moronic idea to go for a midnight swim. I went with her, which was the most out-of-character thing I've ever done. I'm never that much of an idiot.” She shook her head, as if she was disgusted with herself.

Rosalie didn't have to try and convince me. Nothing about Rosalie seemed in the least bit idiotic.

“So, long story short, I got caught up in a current. My friend got out of the water when she realized what was happening, too shit-faced to do anything but scream wildly. Emmett heard her, and came to my rescue.”

Rosalie turned to look adoringly at Emmett, who leaned in to give her a quick kiss. I averted my gaze. I didn't want to intrude on their intimate moment.

“It couldn't have been that idiotic of a thing to do. You got me out of it, didn't you?” Emmett grinned cheekily.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. “Oh, shut up.”

“I moved to Toronto once I'd graduated, because Rosalie's from here,” Emmett finished.

“What do you do now?” I asked.

“Well, I got my degree in physical education, so I teach gym at one of the private schools in the city. I also coach their junior and senior baseball teams,” he answered.

“That sounds like a great job. Where do you teach?” I asked. I knew some of the schools around Toronto, because a lot of Jacob's family were still in grade school, and he was also a Toronto native.

“I'm at the Upper Canada College,” he answered.

I knew UCC to be one of the most prestigious all-boys schools in the city. Jacob's younger cousins both went there. They were braggy little brats, so when I was going out with Jacob I had the pleasure of hearing all about how great their school was. I was impressed that Emmett taught there, especially because he was almost fresh out of school. He must be either very good at his job, come from a prominent family, or both.

Emmett also took the liberty of telling me Rosalie's tale, for which she stopped listening. It turned out that Rosalie had been a child model up until her last year of high school, when she realized that she could do something so much more fulfilling with her love of fashion. She had enrolled in a fashion design program at Ryerson and now occupied a junior designing position at Holt Renfrew in Toronto.

Emmett continued on about himself and Rosalie until the lights dimmed to signal the beginning of the concert. Though he had talked about their lives in excruciating detail, he had failed to mention the mysterious brother Edward, or his family back in Chicago. While I was interested in both Emmett and Rosalie, I was very curious about Edward, especially since he and Alice were apparently so close.

I was slightly relieved that Emmett had talked about himself for the remainder of the conversation. He had spared me from having to talk about myself at length. I'd never been completely comfortable talking about myself; I was more content to just sit and listen.

Alice was the first to play. She confidently strode across the stage and took a deep bow. I leaned over and whispered to Emmett, “That's Alice, up there.”

“Good to know,” he answered with a wink.

Alice's performance went really well, as usual. I always got a little nervous for her, but she never did any less than fantastic. I felt a small twinge of jealousy at her talent. I wished again that I was able to do what she could do so flawlessly.

Two other students went up to perform after her, and they were fine. They weren't nearly as polished as Alice had been, and I felt that while I didn't play piano myself, I was a pretty good judge. I'd listened to enough recordings, read enough articles and heard enough of Alice and her classmates that I felt fairly knowledgeable on the subject of classical piano music.

I checked my watch, which read 8:30 PM. We weren't doing too badly for time, and there was only one performer left. There'd be plenty of time for Alice and me to go out for drinks afterwards, a tradition we had for her student recitals. We'd started doing it in our second year, when we'd take every opportunity to go out for drinks. We had relished in being the legal age to drink in Canada.

The last performer walked out on stage. I couldn't believe my eyes. My jaw dropped in disbelief, my heart thudded in my chest, and adrenaline coursed through my veins. Walking across the stage was the most delectable, god-like man I'd ever seen. Words did not do him justice. First of all, his hair was an unreal color. I would originally have described it as copper, but that seemed too plain a word to describe the unique bronze tint of his hair. It was not only the color that made his hair so incredible, but just the way it was mussed up to perfection. The ends of his hair stuck out all over the place, as though defying gravity. I wondered if it was natural, or if he used gel. Either way, it was definite sex hair, if I'd ever seen it.

As he took a bow, his hand on the piano, I checked out the rest of him. His body was long and lean, and I just knew that underneath that bright green shirt and black tie was a hard, defined chest and a muscular build. Then there was his face. It took my breath away. It was difficult to distinguish the colour of his eyes from far away, but they sparkled with an intensity and focus I couldn't help but wish was directed at me. His features weren't hard or chiselled like some men's, but they weren't soft, either. He had a strong face, which was just perfection. There was no other way to describe it.

I wanted him. I couldn't remember ever feeling a lust this strong for anyone, and I hadn't even spoken to the man. I definitely had never felt anything close to this with Jacob.

He sat down and within moments started to play his first piece. I was instantly struck by his technique and the depth of his playing. It was like nothing I had ever heard before. That even included Alice, who was the most brilliant amateur player I knew of. But this man was something more. His fingers caressed the keys lovingly, whether he was coaxing out the subject in the Bach fugue, or passionately pounding out a Liszt etude.

A particularly beautiful piece was Debussy's Clair de lune. He had a brilliant touch for the piece, and he made the hauntingly beautiful melody sound otherworldly. I was entranced by how he so beautifully rode out the wave of colour Debussy had so ingeniously created.

However, nothing held a candle to the last piece of the evening. When I heard the familiar opening to the Appassionata, my heart stopped beating in my chest. If this performer hadn't already captured my attention, playing one of the best sonatas by my favourite composer definitely did the trick. I adored Beethoven. I was almost afraid to breathe throughout the entire second movement, not wanting to break the spell that had been put over the entire audience. The chocolately harmonies were rich and warm, and they snuggled up around me as I sat, entranced, in my seat. The pianist captured the fiery 'Beethovenness' of the third movement amazingly. Not everyone could do that. His fingers danced across the keys with flawless technique and precision.

When the last chord had faded to nothing, I wiped the tears from my eyes. I don't think I'd ever gotten so worked up over a musical performance, but this gorgeous man's playing had just been so moving. I was suddenly inspired to make beautiful music myself, someday. As the performer took a bow, I stood up, clapping wildly. Emmett and Rosalie stood up alongside me, matching my enthusiasm. Soon the entire audience was on their feet.

The audience started to clear out as the lights grew brighter, but I stayed in my seat until I spotted Alice coming into the auditorium from backstage. I ran over to my cousin, enveloping her in a tight hug.

“God, Alice, you were amazing,” I told her. “How did you feel about- ”

The end of my sentence caught in my throat as I noticed who was standing behind her. The pianist from just a few seconds ago was waiting patiently behind Alice. Waiting for what, I wondered?

I glanced back to Alice, and noticed that she was smirking at me knowingly. I blushed, knowing I'd been caught staring.

“Bella, I'd like you to meet my friend, Edward,” she said. She turned to motion to the man behind her.

Edward stepped forward, and I got a far better look at him than I had gotten from the audience. His eyes sparkled a bright, emerald green. I found it hard to tear myself away from them. I moved down to his lips, which were full and luscious. I found myself wanting nothing more than to attach myself to them, lick them, push past them into his mouth. His tongue darted out to moisten those lips, and my imagination went into overdrive. I couldn't help but imagine his tongue in my mouth, licking its way down my neckline, running down my chest, caressing me sensually...

I blushed profusely at the thoughts running through my mind. This was ridiculous.

Edward stuck out his hand for me to shake. When I met his gaze, I saw that his eyes were full of curiosity, a little bit of amusement, and something else. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but there was definitely something more there. Disgust, if he had had any idea of what had just been running through my mind.

“I'm Bella, Alice's cousin,” I managed to choke out, and I grasped his hand. My skin began to tingle where it made contact with his, and the butterflies began to flutter in my stomach. I met his eyes once more and was surprised to see shock written all over his face. Yet, there was still that indescribable something that I couldn't place.

He immediately all but ripped his hand from mine, and his expression suddenly turned neutral, cool. What had I done to bring on this drastic mood swing? I looked to Alice, who looked just as confused as me.

Then, I noticed Emmett and Rosalie approach. They walked up to Edward, and Emmett stepped forward to give him what appeared to be a bone-crushing hug, slapping him affectionately on the back. Once Emmett had released him, Rosalie gave him a quick hug.

“I see you've met our new friend, Bella?” Emmett said with a grin. “And you must be the famous Alice?”

Alice smiled brightly at the mention of her name, and stuck out her hand. “In the flesh!” she said brightly.

Alice was introduced to Emmett and Rosalie, and I stole a peek at Edward. He ran his hands through his hair nervously, and he seemed determined to look anywhere but at me. His expression was still indifferent, but his eyes betrayed him. He was nervous, and obviously anxious to get out of there. I racked my brain, trying to remember what I had done to offend him.

I was brought back to the present by Emmett's booming voice. “Alice, Edward, you both sounded amazing this evening. Congratulations.”

Alice thanked him enthusiastically, and Edward gave him a stiff smile.

Alice, Emmett and Rosalie all seemed to notice the tension between Edward and me, because the three of them were looking at us curiously. My cheeks flushed again, and I decided that it would be safest to get out of there as quickly as possible.

I cleared my throat. “Well, Alice and I really must be going, we've got plans for later tonight,” I said. “It was really great to meet you all.”

“It was great to meet you too, Bella,” Emmett said, and Rosalie smiled her agreement. Edward, however, still refused to look at me. “We'll have to all do something sometime, all right?”

“Definitely,” I agreed with a smile.

Alice and I waved good bye, and as we exited the building, I felt two things I hadn't felt in a long time, if ever. One was actual excitement over getting to know new people, combined with hope that we'd come to be good friends. The second, and most overwhelming, was the intense longing for the green-eyed beauty who seemed not to want anything to do with me.