A/N: Welcome to my first little foray into Bella and Edward. Yes, I've been writing fan fic for over a year, and I've never written this pairing. No, I am not flouncing Team Jacob. Bella/Jacob is still my OTP (next to Edward/Jacob *swoon*), but this is just something I needed to get out of my system.

The story was supposed to be called Bella and Edward's Slightly Strange New Year's Eve Adventure, but sadly FFnet does not care for long titles. Thank you to Joolsy for choosing the shortened title for me before I had a melt down :)

The chapters will be short and fun, and I'll be hiding some musical surprises in each one, be it a lyric or a song title. As a reward to musical connoisseurs, if you identify the hidden lyric or song title, along with the artist, I'll add a teaser for the next chapter in my review reply. See? Fun!

Thank you to Hopeful Wager for expert beta skills, and my preview girls for assuring me this doesn't suck (blame them if it does, haha).

All copyrighted and trademarked items mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. The remaining content is all mine. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without my express written authorization.

Chapter 1: Accidental Introductions

31 December 2009

7:56 PM

Now Playing: Death - White Lies

"Motherfucking donkeyfisting shitballs!" I cried out, emphasizing each syllable by banging my head on the steering wheel. Not only was I late for my own fucking New Year's Eve party, but now Jake was going to kill me, too. And not kill me in the, "Oh-em-gee, I'm gonna kill you," cutesy kind of way. In the, "Let me take you into my workshop and show you how easily my table saw cuts into your throat," kind of way. I started to picture my own grave as I thought back on how I had to beg him to lend me the Rabbit for the evening (his car, you perv), and now it was a steaming wreck of metal wrapped around a traffic light.

I hesitantly glanced into the rear view mirror, afraid of the possibly crumpled mess of car behind me. I couldn't believe the douchebag crashed into me! Granted, I had swung over three lanes of traffic and cut in front of him, giving him less than a second to stop. But seriously, the dude drove a... silver Volvo, by the looks of it? Weren't those things supposed to have killer brakes? I unlocked the door and had to ram it open with my feet until it became unstuck, before stumbling into the street. I did a quick check for breaks and cuts, but I miraculously seemed to be fine. Thank you, seat belt.

The driver of said Volvo had already climbed out of his car and was surveying the damage... or lack thereof by the looks of it. While Jake's car had been reduced to a giant hunk of scrap metal, the old-ish Volvo station wagon seemed to be completely fine, except for a few red scratches to the bumper and a busted headlight.

"Motherfucker!" I yelled in frustration.

"E-excuse me?" the bewildered-sounding guy stammered. His bright green eyes hidden behind square, black-rimmed glasses were wide with shock and a hint of fear.

"My car is an unrecognizable fucking wreck and you're pretty silver monster is basically laughing at it. Does that seem fair to you?"

"It isn't really fair to be blaming the car, either," the guy said in a soft, matter-of-fact tone.

Strangely, his voice didn't have a hint of sarcasm or snark to it. He seemed to genuinely be taking the car's side in this, which would imply that he was silently blaming me (which would also be fair).

Who the fuck is this guy? I thought to myself as I finally took a moment to look at him properly.

He was kind of cute in an off-beat kind of way - taller than me, with wild bronzy-brown hair and the aforementioned bright green eyes. He wore unreasonably tight black skinny jeans (which I found unreasonably hot despite the increasing irritation I was feeling towards this strange boy) and a mossy green t-shirt under a black hoodie. Emblazoned on the front of the t-shirt was a picture of a blindfolded Earth reaching out towards the Sun with the words, Getting Warmer printed beneath. A geeky emo environmentalist? Thank the Lord this dude was wearing Converse instead of sandals, or I might have seriously considered beating him up.

What? He was really skinny and I wasn't exactly what you'd call "petite." One well-placed punch to the throat and he'd be down for the count.

"Are you implying that this is my fault?" I asked with narrowed eyes, trying to distract myself from his long legs which were threatening to divert me from my focused anger.

"Uh... uh..." he stammered nervously. Something about that quiet sound sparked some kind of recognition in my mind.

"Wait... you're that dude who sits in on my Great Female Writers of the 20th Century class," I accused.

"And you're that girl who's always saying that Harry Potter is one of the greatest works of literature of our time," he shot back, realization dawning in his eyes.

I glared at him venomously, my jaw clenched. I knew if I responded we would start to debate and I really didn't have an hour to defend my undying love for the magical world of Hogwarts and its students.

He mumbled something further that he should've been extremely grateful I didn't hear.

"Well, isn't this just fucking awesome!" I threw my hands up in frustration.

"I don't really understand why you're the one yelling at me," he said in his still-soft, level tone.

"Should I spell it out for you...?" I prompted his name.

He took completely too long to get what I was getting at before finally replying, "Edward."

"Edward? Really?" I asked incredulously. Who would name their child Edward? And, more importantly, what kind of a young person would continue to use it as a first name?

"You know, you're really being unnecessarily rude here," he pointed out.

I rolled my eyes and ignored him, returning to my earlier train of thought. "I just wrecked my best friend's recently rebuilt pride and joy, with no means of repaying him for the damage, much less to deal with whatever ridiculous sum of money it will probably cost to repair that beast of yours. So please excuse me if I'm not really in the mood to chit chat about my opinions on Harry fucking Potter!"

Edward didn't say anything in response to my outburst. He merely shuffled uncomfortably and pulled his mouth slightly to the side in an awkward gesture.

Before I could unleash any further crazy on him, a bright blue tow truck screeched to a halt in front of us.

"Need a tow, lady?" the fat, greasy-looking driver asked as he struggled out of the truck's cab.

"Let me call my friend first. He works at an auto body shop, so he might have some connections."

"Just make it quick," the man barked at me. "I don't got all night."

"Keep your panties on," I snapped back, pulling my cell out of the pocket of my coat.

I dialed Jake's number and waited.

And waited.

And... nothing.

"Can I use your phone?" I asked, holding an impatient hand out to Edward. "My piece of shit isn't dialing out."

He obliged without resistance and handed me his touch screen Blackberry. Of course, Shiny Volvo Boy would have a pretty toy like this. I tapped the screen and stared at it for less than a second before handing it back to him and simply demanding, "Dial."

I read the number out to him and he handed the phone to me once more.

Again, nothing.

"What the fuck is going on?" I seethed in outrage.

Clearly, stressful situations turned me into an über drama queen.

"Hey, lady, it's New Year's Eve. What did you expect?" Greasy Tow Truck Guy mocked.

"It's barely 8PM!" I whined, continuing my uncharacteristic whiny streak.

"Don't blame me, I just drive a tow truck." He shrugged in the most annoyingly get-over-it way.

I glared at him. He was unperturbed.

"So, are you gonna let me tow it or not?"

"Fine," I conceded. "Will you drop me off on the way? I need to get to a party."

"This isn't a taxi service, and it's my busiest night of the year. No can do."

"You're seriously going to leave a poor, defenseless girl alone in the middle of Seattle on New Year's Eve to fend for herself?"

"I'm sure you'll make due," he mocked sarcastically before busying himself with getting the Rabbit hooked to the back of his truck.

I tried my cell again but the futility of my actions became evident as the words Network Not Available kept flashing vindictively on the screen.

"Well, that does it," I finally said, turning to Edward, "you're just going to have to take me."

"I'm already late for my own thing... and I have people waiting for me..." he trailed off his lame excuses.

"Seriously, you too?" I guilted him with my stare.

He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "Where do you need to go?"

"East Pike and Harvard?"

"You're going to Cool Runnings?" he asked, surprised.

"No, I'm going to Camelot right next door."

"What a coincidence," he mused.

"Yeah, yeah, it's totally fate that made you crash into me so you could drive me to my party," I laughed sarcastically, rolling my eyes. He did the same, but this time the mood had seemed to silently shift between us. The urge to kill him wasn't as pressing anymore.

We watched as Greasy Tow Truck Guy, who later identified himself as Lou, wrestled the wreckage formerly known as the Rabbit free from the traffic light, and finally got it hooked onto the back of his truck. He gave me his card and took my details, after making me fork over half my drinking money as a deposit for the tow. I flinched as he disappeared around the corner with a sickly screeching sound.

I tried to push it to the back of my mind and focus rather on being nice to Edward, since he had become my immediate salvation.

"So, Sir Edward, shall we away to Camelot in your silver chariot?" I asked in my very best (but probably still horrible) fake English accent.

"Why, yes, Lady... er... Harry Potter's Mistress," he replied in his own (equally atrocious) accent.

"Otherwise known as Bella," I added.

"Well, then, Lady Bella, my chariot awaits."