Plus One
BPOV
I hesitantly put down the manuscript that I was currently reading to answer the ringing phone in my
office. The shrill noise had abruptly yanked me out of the world in which I was immersed, and I
desperately wanted to continue reading the pages, a sure sign that this author would be a success.
"Isabella Swan," I answered the phone in my most professional voice, not sure whether it would be
the dry cleaners or the CEO of the company calling.
"Bella, it's Angela Weber," I heard the soft feminine voice answer. "I hope I'm not disturbing you at
work."
"Hey Angela," I smiled as I talked to the woman who used to be my best friend in high school. "You
can disturb me anytime. How are you?"
"I'm doing pretty well. I'm just working on getting this reunion settled, which is actually why I'm
calling you," Angela explained. "Are you going to join us? I need a solid head count by the end of this
week so I can finalize everything."
"Reunion? Reunion for what?" I asked as I straightened the papers on my desk.
"Bella, you do know that our ten year high school reunion is this summer, right?" Angela asked. "And
since I was class president, I'm in charge of planning the whole shebang. I sent invitations out weeks
ago. You didn't get yours, I'm assuming."
"It's already been ten years?" I asked incredulously. It sure didn't feel like ten years since I had
graduated from Forks High School, and I certainly didn't feel like I was already twenty-eight years old.
"It sure has," she replied. "I know you're a big, successful editor in Los Angeles, but surely you could
make it up here the second weekend in June. I haven't seen you in so long, and I bet others will be
dying to see you too."
I hesitated in giving Angela an answer. There was a reason I never went back to Forks, one of the
smallest and rainiest towns in Washington State. It was so goddamn boring, and everyone knew
everyone else's business. By the time I had graduated high school, I had truly begun to despise it,
which explains why I rushed down to California to attend college. Well, that and some personal
issues that I would prefer not to revisit.
"Bella, I know you don't really like Forks, but it's only for a weekend," Angela said, obviously reading
my mind. "And I think we're going to go to Seattle for part of it, so it won't all be in Forks. Come on,
Bella. Please?" Her skills of persuasion were working effectively, and I began to fold.
"Maybe. Is it just our classmates or are others coming as well?" I asked.
"Some people are bringing their kids and most people are bringing their spouses or significant
others," Angela answered, and by my silence, she probably realized that this was the wrong answer.
"But I'm sure there will be other single people there, too."
"I assume you'll be bringing Ben?" I asked, referring to the man she had met in college when she
attended the University of Oregon.
"Yes," she replied.
"And what about Alice?" I asked again, thinking of all of my high school friends who would probably
be in attendance.
"She said she was bringing her boyfriend."
"And Caroline?" I asked, trying to make a point.
"She's bringing her kids and husband."
"And Jessica will be bringing Mike, I suppose? Unless they haven't gotten divorced by now," I
amended.
"They're still together, but yeah," Angela answered. "Just bring a date, then. Surely you know
someone whom you can bring to this thing if you don't want to go alone."
"Yeah…" I replied cautiously. Little did she know that there really wasn't anyone I could bring to this
reunion. I wasn't in a relationship, and I certainly wasn't dating anyone. All of my friends were
female, and the only men I ever talked to were either my bosses or my assistants. And there was no
way in hell I was going to take someone from the publishing company as my date.
"I told your dad about it," Angela went on. "He sounded excited."
I groaned audibly into the phone. "Now I really do have to go to this thing," I complained. "Why did
you tell him?" I hadn't seen Charlie in almost five years, and despite his yearly calls and attempts at
persuading me to visit him, I had yet to follow through. Guilt was the reason I would end up going to
Forks.
"Bella, he was going to find out sometime," Angela defended herself. "It's a small town, remember?
And he's the chief of police. He knows everything."
I looked down to my datebook and flipped from May to June. The reunion was only in two weeks,
and unfortunately, I did not have any plans for that weekend.
"So what do you say? You know deep down that you want to visit us," she continued to persuade me.
"Fine," I conceded with a huff. "Put me down as attending."
"Alone or plus one?" Angela asked triumphantly.
I sighed. I definitely did not want to attend this stupid ten year high school reunion by myself,
becoming either the odd wheel with my friends and their significant others or letting some of my
male classmates believe that, because I was single, I was up for grabs.
"Plus one," I told her gruffly.
"Great! I really can't wait to see you, Bella! I'll email you all the details soon!"
"I can't wait to see you either," I told her somewhat sincerely. I did want to see her, but I would have
preferred if she saw me down in L.A. "Well, I have work to finish. So I'll see you soon, and good luck
with planning everything."
"Thanks. Have a great day!" Angela said happily over the phone before hanging up.
I placed the phone back on the hook, bent over until my forehead was pressed against the top of my
desk, and groaned. Not only was I going back to Forks, but I needed to find a date to bring with me.
How in the hell did I get into this mess?
A cough made me sit up abruptly and realize that my assistant, Hunter, was at the door. "Bella,
should I, um, run to Starbucks or something?" he asked uncertainly. Hunter knew all too well that
when I was stressed in some form or another, lattes were my therapy. I couldn't even count how
many times he had made the run from the office down the street just for my coffee.
"Uh, you know what? I think I'll go myself," I told him. "I need the fresh air."
Hunter looked perplexed. "You mean the smoggy, L.A. air?"
"Right, whatever," I told him, standing up and packing up my purse. "I'll be back in ten." I left my
office quickly, leaving a surprised Hunter in my wake.
EPOV
Manning the cashier at Starbucks had quickly become repetitive. "What can I get for you today?" I
would ask cheerily, faking the smile that was plastered onto my face. The customer would quickly tell
me their desires, half of the words in English and the other half in Italian. Tall, grande, venti.
Frappuccino, cappuccino, latte, espresso. No milk, skim milk, extra shot.
I looked absolutely ridiculous in this green apron and black polo shirt, but the job paid the bills. As a
struggling musician, I really couldn't complain. I also ended up collecting some money whenever I
played on the streets. I didn't play for the money, more for the hopes of recognition, but it did
sometimes help with small expenses. I was doing pretty well for my situation, and I couldn't
complain.
The customers made their way through the line, and it was like watching an automated assembly line
circle through the shop. All of them the same with only a few variations - celebrities or women who
dressed as if they wanted to be celebrities, businessmen or women with their Blackberries attached
to their ear, and tourists who were on the lookout for celebrities.
I only halfway paid attention to my job that afternoon. It's not as if it takes your entire intelligence to
work at a coffee shop as a barista. The rest of my thoughts lay with the conversation that I had with
my younger brother and his wife the night before.
"And, Edward, why are you still single?" Emmett asked when I went over to his house for dinner. We
were sitting around the dinner table when my love life was, of course, brought up. "You're thirty. It's
not like that's old, but you're not even dating anyone. Are you even getting laid at all?"
I ignored the last question. "What concern is it of yours whether I'm dating anyone or not?" I asked
defensively.
"You're a good guy, Edward," Emmett's wife, Rosalie, told me. "We just want to see you as happy as
we are." She looked over at Emmett lovingly and rubbed his shoulder with her hand.
I resisted the urge to throw up or at least pretend to throw up. They did have good intentions, after
all. "I just haven't met the right one yet," I told them quickly, wanting to change the subject with all
my being. There had been quite a few hits and misses in the past few years, and I did not want to go
through all of that drama again for some chick that I wasn't really even interested in.
"I'm just afraid, Edward," Rosalie started, placing her hand on mine in what was meant to be a
comforting gesture, "that when you do meet the right girl, you're either not going to recognize it, or
you aren't going to do anything about it."
Those words echoed in my mind throughout the night, and I promised myself that when I did finally
meet that woman who was right for me, I would do anything to make something happen.
BPOV
The walk down the street to Starbucks wasn't very long. Luckily, however, it did give me some time
to think and prepare a plan of attack.
Mission – find a date.
Candidates – Hunter (but he was openly gay and I could not pull off pretending we had a
relationship), Thomas (the man I once went on two dates with before determining that he was too
egotistical), a hired male escort (I cringed at the thought), or a complete stranger.
A complete stranger seemed to be my best bet at the moment. I had two weeks, surely I could
convince someone to go up to Washington with me, all expenses paid by me. Thank God I could
afford it.
I walked into the Starbucks, the bell on the door ringing lightly as I entered. I pulled out my wallet
and waited in line, gazing up at the menu. They had so many choices nowadays. I was surprised
people could even decide what they wanted. I was so busy reading through the menu that I didn't
even notice when it was my turn to order.
"Miss?" a deep melodic voice asked aloud, and I turned to face the owner of the beautiful voice.
He was God's gift to mankind. The bronze hair atop his head, so unique in its color, stuck out lazily in
different directions. I wasn't a fan of messy looking hair, but it completely worked on this man. The
stubble on his chin suggested that he hadn't shaved this morning, but it gave him a sexy, rugged look
that made my heart skip a beat. And those eyes, green as a laser cutting through to my soul, they
made me weak at the knees.
My jaw dropped in surprise, and I was interested to see that the look on his face almost mirrored my
own. If anyone were to look at the two of us, they would have assumed that we were childhood
friends or something, seeing each other for the first time in over ten years. It looked as if we knew
each other, but we had never seen each other before in our lives.
"Um, what can I do for you?" the man asked after a few moments of silence. I looked down at his
nametag and read that his name was Edward. He looked like an Edward.
"Will you go to my high school reunion with me?" I asked, the words flowing out of my mouth before
I could even realize what I was saying. After I asked and he looked at me strangely, the realization hit
me. My face burned as blood rushed to my cheeks, turning my face to the color of a lobster,
probably.
"I- I mean-" I started stuttering, absolutely mortified.
"Yes, but can I get you something to drink?" he asked.
"I'm so sorry, I, shit," I apologized, keeping my eyes on the cash register, before I realized that he had
said yes. "Yes? You said yes?" I looked up to his face in disbelief.
"Yes," Edward replied, looking as if there were no doubt in his mind of his answer.
"Really?" I asked incredulously.
"Really," he echoed. "Can I get you something to drink now?"
"Uh, right," I replied, shaking my head nervously and looking back up at the menu. "Grande iced latte
with an extra shot of espresso, please."
"What's your name?" he asked as he grabbed the clear plastic cup and a black Sharpie marker.
"Bella," I told him. "Bella Swan."
I watched as he wrote my name on the cup and handed it back to one of the other employees. After
paying for the drink, I looked back and realized that customers were waiting in line behind me. I
couldn't keep talking to Edward as I had wished.
I grabbed one of the business cards out of my wallet and stuck it out for him to grab. "Um, it's my
card. Call me," I told him.
He took the card from my hand and placed it into the pocket of his khaki pants. "I'll look forward to
it, Bella," he told me with a crooked grin that sent a shiver down my spine.
I walked to the side to wait for my drink and watched Edward as he helped the next customer. He
was tall, I realized as I continued to stare at him openly. I was wearing three inch heels and I wasn't a
short girl, and he was still several inches taller than me. I watched as his eyes flickered to mine a few
times as he helped the woman who was behind me, and I looked down at the ground bashfully.
"Bella!" one of the employees called out as they set my drink upon the counter. Quickly, and without
another glance at Edward, I grabbed my drink, a straw, and a couple of napkins, and I exited the
Starbucks as fast as I could in my heels.
Running my free hand through my loose hair, I breathed in and out slowly, trying to ward off the
headache that I could feel coming on.
What the hell had I just done?
BPOV
As soon as I got back to my office, I popped two ibuprofen pills into my mouth and washed them
down with the water bottle that I kept on my desk. Maybe I should take something stronger, I
thought. I was obviously going crazy. But crazy people don't know they're going crazy, Bella, I
reminded myself, making me feel only marginally better.
Asking a stranger, a gorgeous stranger at that, to my high school reunion in Forks was completely out
of character for me. Hell, even asking a man I know for a date in Los Angeles was out of character.
Sure, I wasn't the shy, quiet, insecure teenage girl from Forks anymore, but I hadn't changed that
much. What got into me at that moment in Starbucks, I didn't even know.
I spent the remaining hours at work terrified that the phone would ring. The business card I had
given Edward, at least I was pretty sure his nametag said it was Edward, had both my work number
and my mobile number printed on the side. I was thus unsure as to which number he would call,
when he would call, and even if he would call.
Close to four o'clock, the phone rang on my desk, and I literally jumped out of my seat in surprise and
fright, my heart beating at a million miles per hour. Of course, once I answered, I found it was only
one of my bosses wanting to schedule a meeting later in the week. Still, after I hung up the phone, I
realized that I both wanted it to ring and was scared that it would ring.
At five thirty that evening, there was still no call from Edward. As I packed up my large purse, I stared
at the phone, willing it to ring. Even as I left my office, I glanced once more at the phone before I
eventually made myself leave the office. This was even worse than when a man I knew said he would
call me. At least in that situation I was never anxiously scared about it happening.
Unfortunately, the rest of the evening and night were just as bad. My mobile phone sat there,
continuously silent. It had never been this silent before, had it? As I sat upon the couch in my living
room and flipped on the television, the phone sat on the coffee table, and I continually glanced at it,
thinking that I saw the screen lighting up when, in fact, it was just the reflection from the television.
As I took a shower that night, I kept my ears trained, listening for the sound of my ringtone from afar.
After finally falling asleep that night, I decided in the morning that I could no longer continue in such
a state. As much as it pained me, I turned my mobile phone onto silent. Any calls could go to my
voicemail and then I could call them back. This way, I didn't need to keep listening for my ringtone to
go off, and if Edward did call, he could leave a message and I could call him back.
When I arrived back at my office, though, I realized that it only solved the mobile phone problem. My
work phone could not be silenced. I could always unplug it, but I needed it for work. It's going to be a
long day, I thought, drinking the homemade coffee from my traveling mug and glaring at the phone.
EPOV
Will you go to my high school reunion with me? Those were the words that echoed in my mind for
the rest of the day. As I helped the remaining customers of the night, I thought back to the first
moment I saw her.
As soon as she entered the room, I could tell that she was different. Different from all of the other
people who visited this place daily to prolong their perpetual caffeine fix. Her long brunette hair was
halfway pulled back with a barrette, and the pencil skirt and tailored jacket she wore showed off the
perfect amount of womanly curves. She didn't look like just another suit, though. Although she could
certainly pull off the outfit, I was able to imagine her in a more casual outfit. Work wasn't her life;
there was more to her than that.
She was immersed in reading the menu above my head that she didn't even notice it was her chance
to order. And to my surprise, instead of a coffee, she ordered a date from me. And to her high school
reunion, no less. I wasn't sure why I said yes, but something inside was telling me that it was the right
thing to do. Besides, I told myself that I wouldn't let an opportunity to meet the right girl pass me by.
This was certainly an opportunity.
Her stammering and colorful blush might have been embarrassing to her, but I found it all the more
intriguing and beautiful. Who in L.A. actually blushed anymore? And her name, Bella. I had taken
enough Italian in college to know exactly what "bella" meant. When she handed me her business
card, I realized it was short for Isabella. She looked like an Isabella, I mused silently.
I finished my extra shift at ten o'clock that night, and I fingered the business card that I had stuck in
my pocket. I knew from looking at it during one of my breaks that it had both her work and mobile
number. It was too late to call her, though. I'll call tomorrow, I told myself. That way I wouldn't be
waking her up or otherwise disturbing her.
I walked down the streets in downtown Los Angeles for a few blocks until I arrived at my piece of shit
Volvo that I'd had since high school graduation twelve years ago. First checking the trunk and making
sure that my guitar was still safely in the back, I got inside and made my way over to Venice Beach.
Thousands of people flocked to L.A. every year, each with hopes of being discovered. As much as I
hated to admit it, I was here for that exact purpose. Every night I would play my guitar on the streets,
hoping that someone influential would like what they heard. Tonight was no exception.
The next morning, I decided that I would call Bella before I started my afternoon shift after lunch.
Looking at the business card, I decided that I would call her mobile number as opposed to her work
number. After all, I was not calling for a business call, and I didn't want to interrupt her work day. She
might need that line free, for all I knew.
I took the mobile phone out of my pocket and dialed the ten digit number before pressing the call
button. I held the phone to my ear as I heard the ringing sound that went on and on and on. Finally,
her voicemail picked up.
"This is Isabella Swan," the message said in what I assumed was her own voice. "I cannot take your
call right now, but if you'll leave your name, number, and a short message, then I'll get back to you as
soon as I can. Thank you."
I took a deep breath and waited for the beeping noise, not sure what I was going to say.
BPOV
"Maybe you should go to Starbucks this afternoon," Hunter suggested after I had confessed
everything to him. He had caught me jumping at the sound of my work phone again, and I decided to
just spill all.
"I am not going to Starbucks," I replied vehemently. "I would make a fool out of myself again. For all I
know, I'd jump the counter and attack him with voracious kisses."
"He probably wouldn't be against that," mused Hunter.
"You know what I mean," I told him. "I am the crazy woman to him. If I go there again, it might be
seen as stalkerish. I don't need a restraining order against me."
Hunter rolled his eyes. "It's not that bad. You asked him on a date, that's all."
"Not just a date. A fucking high school reunion. In Washington State, at that," I replied crossly. "Shit, I
didn't even tell him that. Now he really won't come with me. Time to start looking for someone else.
Hunter, what are you doing next weekend?"
"I have plans," he replied. "Don't worry about it, though, okay? He'll call, and you'll take him up to
Washington, and you'll fall in love and live happily ever after."
"Yeah right," I told him. "Anyways, thank you. Can you go hand this to Jeanette? Tell her to get it
back to me by tomorrow afternoon." I picked up a manuscript and handed it to my assistant.
"Yes ma'am," he replied before leaving the office.
I managed to get through the rest of the work day without stressing out so much. It would all work
out, I reminded myself. If worse came to worse, then I would go up to Forks by myself. Yes, I would
be the odd wheel out in most situations, but I had handled it before and I could handle it again.
At five thirty, I was packing up my bag when I realized that I had left my mobile phone on silent all
day. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten. As I reached for it, I mentally prepared myself to see a
screen with no notifications. I pulled it out however, and I realized that I had one text message, one
missed call, and one voicemail message.
I checked the text message first, but it was just my mother texting me to say that she and Phil had
arrived in New Orleans. The missed call was a random number that I didn't know, so I dialed the
voicemail, waiting for the message.
"You have one unplayed messaged," the automatic voice told me. "At 1:37 pm."
"Hey Bella, this is Edward," I heard the melodic voice say, and I held the phone closer to my ear. "You
know, from, um, Starbucks. You gave me your card yesterday, and I said I would call. I was wondering
if you wanted to meet up sometime soon. For coffee or for a drink or something. We can discuss this,
uh, high school reunion thing that I said I would accompany you to. So give me a call back. My
number is 213-555-0346. I get off work this evening at seven, so any time after then I'll be able to
receive your call. Yeah, um, looking forward to hearing from you. See ya."
I replayed the message twice, the second time writing the number on a scrap of paper. I couldn't
believe it – not only had he called, but he wasn't completely put off by the idea of accompanying me.
At least, he wasn't yet. I still had yet to tell him that it was an out-of-town trip.
I left the office and drove home to my apartment, putting a pot of water on the stove to boil some
pasta for dinner. I waited somewhat impatiently for seven o'clock to arrive, and when the long clock
hand reached twelve, I found my heart beating rapidly in anticipation. I waited twenty minutes,
though, before calling him back.
I dialed the numbers into the phone and pushed 'call,' waiting for him to pick up. A small part of me,
however, was hoping for the voicemail message. No such luck, however.
"Hello?" Edward answered after a couple of rings.
"Hi, it's, um, Bella," I told him. "Sorry I didn't get your call earlier today. My phone was on silent."
"It's fine," he replied. "How are you doing?"
"I'm doing pretty well," I said, sitting down on the couch cross-legged. "You?"
"Pretty well," replied Edward with a laugh. "So do you have plans for later this evening?"
"Um, no," I told him. I did have plans to watch re-runs of the Golden Girls, but I could easily miss that.
"Did you want to meet up somewhere?"
"How about a drink?" Edward suggested. "In which area do you live?"
"Um, south Glendale," I replied. "Why?"
"I just don't want to make you drive out of your way. You know, so I don't suggest a place all the way
down in Long Beach," he explained.
"Oh okay."
"So how about the hotel bar at the Westin Bonaventure downtown? I can meet you there at nine.
Does that work for you?" asked Edward.
"That works," I replied. "I'll see you at nine." I ended the call and set my phone down onto the coffee
table.
I only had an hour and half to get ready and drive to downtown. Now all I had to worry about was
what I was going to wear.
BPOV
I walked from my living room into my bedroom and opened the closet doors. I obviously couldn't
wear the sweat pants that I was currently sporting, but I had no idea what to wear to this date with
Edward. Was it even a date? Maybe it was more of a business transaction; I wasn't sure. Well,
whatever the meeting would be called, surely there had to be some outfit in my closet that was
appropriate.
If only I had Alice here, I thought for a moment. Back during high school she used to come over to my
house almost every evening and pick out my clothes for school the day before. I didn't like to shop
back then, trying to find clothes to fit my awkward, teenage body, so Alice was my own personal
shopper, dragging me on shopping trips to the mall in Port Angeles that I absolutely hated. But Alice
was in New York City, working towards a career in fashion design. We tried to get together every
couple years to catch up, but neither Alice nor I had found time in the last two years for a cross-
country trip. Angela did mention that Alice would be coming to the reunion with her boyfriend,
though. I guess that was one thing to look forward to next weekend.
Thinking back to my current wardrobe dilemma, though, I reminded myself that I was the one who
picked out my clothes during the last ten years, and I thankfully no longer had a shopping phobia. I
reached into the closet and pulled out my go-to little black dress. The form-fitting, scoop neck, knee
length dress was a staple dress that I had worn numerous times since I bought it at a designer sale
last year. Looking into the full length mirror, I was glad that my hair and makeup from earlier in the
day were decent. Adding some lipstick, a spritz of perfume, and some black pumps, I grabbed my
purse and my car keys and headed out the door.
The drive into downtown L.A. didn't take as long as I had anticipated, the traffic being relatively light
for once. I found a parking spot around the corner from the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and walked
down the sidewalk towards the entrance.
Looking at my watch, I realized that I was over ten minutes early, but I decided that I would go up
and have a drink while I waited for Edward. I entered the luxurious hotel lobby and walked straight
towards the elevator that would take me to the lounge on the 34th floor. I had had a couple of dates
at this very place within the last six or so years that I had been in L.A., so I was fairly familiar with it.
I entered the spacious lounge at the top of the Westin building. Its renowned views were some of the
best of downtown Los Angeles, and if you were here long enough, you could sit in one place and
have a 360 degree view as the lounge actually revolved slowly. I walked up to the bar and found an
empty stool.
"What can I get you?" the barman asked.
"Just a glass of Chardonnay, please," I told him.
"I.D.?" he asked. I held out my driver's license and then put it back into my wallet.
I paid for the drink after I was handed the glass of chilled white wine, and I checked my watch once
more. It was still five minutes until nine. I knew that Edward had seen me before, but in this moment,
I truly hoped that he would be able to spot me.
EPOV
I noticed her the very instant I walked into the room after stepping out of the elevator. Bella was
sitting at the bar, looking off to the side. Her long, dark, wavy hair shone under the overhead lights,
and her crossed legs showed off how toned they actually were. I frowned as I saw the drink that was
already in her slender hands; I had planned to buy her a drink.
I approached the bar, and as I was walking over, her brown eyes flickered to mine and a smile played
upon her lips. "Edward, right?" she asked, extending her right hand for me to shake. "Bella Swan."
"Edward Cullen," I introduced myself. "Nice to meet you. Officially, that is."
A slight blush tinged Bella's cheeks. "Yes," she stated. "I want to apologize for yesterday. I promise
that I don't go around asking strange men to be my date to places. I really don't know what came
over me, and I ended up asking you before I even knew what I was doing."
"Don't worry about," I assured her. "I'm glad you asked." I ordered a beer from the barman and
turned back to Bella. "Would you like to move to some of those more comfortable chairs over
there?" I pointed toward a cluster of modern armchairs over by the large panoramic windows.
"Sure," she replied, picking up her glass and purse and walking toward the space that I had pointed. I
sat down across from her and watched as she set the glass of wine on the small table and crossed her
legs once more.
The black dress that she was wearing showed off her figure perfectly, and I realized that I was
completely underdressed for the occasion. Luckily I was wearing my nicer blue jeans, and my
buttoned dress shirt was tucked in, and I was wearing a belt. But you should have worn the slacks,
Cullen, I chastised myself mentally.
"So your high school reunion is coming up, huh?" I asked, trying to start a conversation. It was one of
the only things that I knew about her, and I had to start somewhere.
She pursed her lips for a moment before answering. "Yes, and you're sure you wouldn't mind
accompanying me?" Bella asked, jumping straight to business. "Before you say anything, I have to let
you know two important facts. First, it's next weekend, so if you have plans, I completely understand.
Second, it's in Washington State, so it's not in town. Don't worry, though. I'll cover the hotel room
and the plane tickets and food and whatever expenses arise. I just need you and your time."
I was thrown off for a moment. True, I didn't have plans next weekend, but I wasn't planning on
taking a trip up to Washington of all places. I had just assumed that she was from California. Maybe
not L.A. perhaps, but somewhere within a couple hours' drive. And more importantly, was I just a
cheaper version of a male escort?
"Why do you need a date?" I asked. Surely significant others weren't required for her high school
reunion.
Bella looked down at the ground for a moment before answering. "All of my friends from high school
have serious boyfriends or husbands, and I know it's silly, but it's sort of a pride issue. I don't want
my old classmates pitying me because I haven't found anyone yet. Sure, I could go there by myself
and they would be understanding and not say anything, but I know they would be thinking it. They
would try hooking me up with people they know, and I'm not really up for that right now."
"And why haven't you found anyone yet?" I asked before I could stop myself. She was a beautiful
woman, and she seemed very nice and smart. She shouldn't have had any trouble in that
department.
Bella chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment. "I would rather not discuss that at the moment,"
she said finally, taking a sip of wine from her glass and looking out the window.
It was obvious to me that there must have been some bad experience in her past that affected her
still today. I had no way of knowing what it was, but I knew that really did not want to show up at her
high school reunion alone. The very least I could do was help her. "I'll go with you," I told Bella.
"Really?" she asked hopefully, those large brown eyes looking pleasantly surprised.
"I told you I would," I replied with a grin. "So where in Washington are you from?"
"Well I'm not exactly from Washington," she told me. "I lived with my mother in Phoenix until my
junior year of high school when I went up to live with my dad. I was only in Washington until I started
college."
"Oh okay. Well where in Washington?" I asked, repeating my earlier question.
"Forks," she replied. "You probably haven't heard of it. It's in the far northwest corner of the state.
There's like nothing to do there unless you happen to love camping and hiking."
"And you don't like either?"
Bella laughed and shook her head. "No, I'm not an outdoorsy type of girl. Especially not when it rains
the entire time. If I want to go camping, I want to be dry."
"I don't think that's too much to ask," I replied. "Sounds pretty miserable otherwise."
"Exactly," she agreed with a smile. "So what about you? Where are you from?"
"I'm from here, actually. I grew up in Redondo Beach," I told her.
"Okay. That's a nice place. And you work at Starbucks?"
"Yes, but that job just pays the bills," I replied. "I'm a musician. I haven't exactly caught a break yet
though."
Bella looked interested at this revelation. "What do you play?" she asked as she leaned in towards
me slightly.
"The guitar. I can play the piano a little bit, but my guitar skills are far superior," I answered her,
hoping that that didn't sound too cocky. I really didn't need to sound like a jackass at the moment.
"Acoustic? Bass? Electric?"
"Acoustic," I told her. "Mostly." I had taken some lessons a long time ago for the bass guitar, but I
didn't enjoy it as much as the acoustic.
Bella continued to ask me about my music. When did I start playing? What inspired me? Did I write
my own songs? Could I sing as well? Maybe I should try out for "American Idol" some time. What was
my latest song?
I answered her, glad to see that she was so interested in what I did and wanted to do.
When Bella finished her glass of wine, I offered to buy her another one if she wanted.
"Oh no thank you," she declined. "I have to drive after all. Besides, I should probably be going soon."
She frowned. "I have some work to finish before tomorrow."
"Oh okay," I replied, a bit saddened that our date, if that's what it was, would be cut short. "Well can
I take you out to dinner sometime this weekend? We can, you know, figure out the details for next
weekend."
"I can't," Bella replied, grimacing. "Not that I don't want to, it's just that I'm going to be in Vegas all
weekend for a publishing conference. I leave tomorrow evening and don't return until late Sunday.
What about next week?"
It was my turn to frown. "I'm working the late shifts all next week except for Friday. But then I
assume we'll be going up to Washington on Friday evening?"
"Yeah. When do you get off work?"
"Seven," I replied.
"Okay. Well I'll make all of the plans, and I'll just give you a call to relate to you the details," Bella
decided. "Maybe I'll even stop by Starbucks one afternoon."
I grinned. "I'd like that. Have fun in Vegas this weekend."
Bella chuckled. "I'll try," she replied.
"Well can I walk you to your car or something?" I asked, standing up after she did. L.A. could be a
shady place after dark, and I wanted to make sure that she made it back safely.
"I'd like that. Thank you," she said before we started walking towards the elevator to take us back
down to the ground floor lobby.
The ride downstairs was quiet, both of us listening to the elevator music playing overhead. I followed
her through the lobby and out the revolving door, continuing down the street. The sound of her
heels on the pavement sounded loudly until we reached a fairly new black BMW sedan.
"Nice car," I remarked to her as she stopped in front of the drivers door.
"Thanks. It was my first purchase after my most recent promotion and bonus," Bella explained. She
pushed the button on her key, and I heard the doors unlock.
I grabbed the handle before she could, opening the door for her.
"Uh, thanks," she said. "Well, I guess I'll see you… soon."
"Yeah, see you soon," I replied. She was still standing there and I was wondering whether I needed to
go for the awkward hug or something else. In the end, though, Bella stuck out her hand, and I shook
it, somewhat disappointed.
"Bye," she said before climbing into her car and starting the engine. I watched her drive away into
the night before walking down the street a short way to my own vehicle.
There was no doubt in my mind that I was attracted to her. She was beautiful, smart, funny, and
kind. I had only met her twice now, and I could tell that I was already falling for her. But it was much
harder to read Bella. From the way she jumped right into the details of our arrangement, it seemed
as if she wasn't as much interested in me as she was interested in any guy who would go to this
reunion with her.
Still, I reminded myself, she asked you and not just anyone. I had hope, and that was the only reason
I was going to fly up to Washington State with this woman that I didn't really know next weekend and
pretend to be her boyfriend, fiancé, or whomever.
BPOV
"Did he ever call?" Hunter asked as he handed me some faxes that I had received the next morning.
"Yes," I replied, taking another sip of my coffee. "And we met for a drink last night."
"Oh really? How did that go?" he asked. "Were there fireworks?"
I chuckled. "I don't think so," I replied. "I don't think he's interested in me."
"How could he not be interested in you? If I were straight, I would be interested in you," Hunter
remarked as he continued to stand next to my desk.
I smiled. "You're sweet. But the first thing he asked me when we started talking was about the high
school reunion. You know, I was hoping for more of a 'What kind of work do you do?' or 'Are you
from L.A.?' You know, get to know you type stuff. But no, he asked about the reunion." I sighed. "I
think he's just going with me because he feels sorry for me."
I glanced up to see Hunter rolling his eyes. "Are you paying him to go with you?"
I shook my head. "Just covering his expenses. I'm not, like, paying him anything extra."
"Then he's not just going with you because he feels sorry for you," he explained. "I mean, if you had
asked me to go with you, I would have at least asked for a pay raise. Otherwise, what would I get out
of it? And that's only because I'm not interested in you. If I were interested, hell, I'd even pay my own
way up to Washington to spend time with you."
I laughed. "I'm glad I didn't ask you, then," I told him. "Anyways, I'm not convinced. He's just not
interested, and I guess I should try and keep things professional between us. It's an arrangement,
that's all."
"Whatever," Hunter replied before he left my office. "There's obviously no getting through to you."
BPOV
My weekend was spent in Las Vegas for a publishing conference that I was required to attend. The
accommodations were pretty nice as we were all placed in the Rio Las Vegas hotel. It was off the
strip, of which some people weren't too fond, but we were so busy with meetings and other meet-
and-greets that there really wasn't that much time to peruse the numerous attractions of the Las
Vegas strip. Not a gambler by nature, I stayed away from the casino and booked myself a couple of
treatments at the hotel spa during our free time instead.
I arrived back in Los Angeles on Sunday evening quite relaxed, but the anticipation for next weekend
was already starting to creep into my every thought. To say that I had not thought about Edward
over the weekend would be a complete lie. He drifted into my thoughts more often than I would
have liked. I hear a beautiful acoustic guitar song overhead in the elevator, I think of Edward. I drink
my coffee in the morning, I think of Edward. It was frustrating, overall. I hadn't thought about a man
this much since… yeah, never mind. Rein in the thoughts, Bella, I reminded myself as I brushed my
teeth before going to bed.
The next day during work, I logged onto the web and purchased two plane tickets for Friday from Los
Angeles to Seattle. I remembered that Edward had said that he got off of work on Friday at seven, so
I made sure that our flight would leave at nine at the earliest. It would be a late night as we wouldn't
get into Seattle until nearly midnight and then it took over three hours to drive to Forks. There were
flights that went from Seattle to Port Angeles, but we were getting in too late to fly halfway to Forks.
I also went ahead and booked two nights in a hotel. There was no way in hell I was bringing Edward
to my father's house, and I didn't want to spend too much time there anyway. Of course Charlie
would have loved it if I decided to stay over; he probably hadn't changed a single thing in my room
over these ten years. But those were memories that I wanted to avoid revisiting as best as I could.
Angela called me in the afternoon to inquire about my plans. I was certain that she just called to
make sure that I hadn't chickened out, though.
"So when are you getting in?" she asked.
"Not until early Saturday morning," I told her. "I just booked the tickets. Unfortunately we have to
leave a bit late."
"We?" Angela asked, catching onto the first person plural form that I had used. "Are you coming with
someone?" She sounded quite interested at this detail, and I wished that I had used the singular form
instead.
"Yes," I told her, resisting the urge to bite my nail nervously. "I'm coming with my boyfriend."
"Your boyfriend?" she asked, surprised. "I thought you didn't want to come to the reunion because
you were the only single one."
"No, I just didn't want to bring my boyfriend, Edward, up to Washington yet. We've only been dating
for a couple months," I lied. "I thought it was too soon, but I asked him last week and he agreed."
"Oh okay, great," she replied. "I can't wait to meet him. So you'll be there on Saturday and Sunday?"
"That's the plan," I replied, tapping my pen against the desk ledge nervously.
"Alright. Well we're all meeting at the banquet hall in the Kalaloch Lodge for lunch on Saturday at
noon," Angela told me. "So I'll see you and Edward there?"
"Yes, you will," I affirmed.
Angela continued to fill me in on the details for the rest of the weekend, and before ending the call, I
promised her that I wouldn't back out of going to Forks.
"I mean, I know you have your reasons for not wanting to come back here, but we haven't seen you
in forever. I miss you. We were best friends ten years ago, and I'm sad that we haven't been able to
stay that way," she had told me before hanging up, making me feel a bit guilty for not keeping in
touch with her more throughout the years.
Both Monday and Tuesday were very busy days at the office, and even though I had told Edward that
I might stop by Starbucks one afternoon, I hadn't found the time until Wednesday after work. I guess
I could have stopped by after work on Monday or Tuesday, but I also needed the time to mentally
prepare myself to see him again. The fact that Edward often invaded my thoughts during the day
scared me, and I really wasn't prepared for it.
Instead of heading to my car in the parking garage below the building, I exited onto the street and
walked the couple of blocks to the nearest Starbucks, the very one where Edward was employed.
Once again, the door chimed lightly as I entered, but instead of paying attention to the menu, my
eyes searched directly for Edward. He was very easy to spot as he was working the cash register
again, but he didn't notice me as I entered.
I walked to the back of the line and kept my eyes trained on him. It felt like this was one of the only
times I could really just watch him in his natural environment. Wow, I sounded like a narrator for the
Animal Planet. Nevertheless, I could tell as I waited that he was bored with his job. I thought back to
the way his eyes sparked when he spoke of his music, and looking at them now, they were glazed
over in ennui.
After the four customers in front of me placed their orders, I approached the register and smiled
when Edward's face lit up in recognition. "I told you I'd stop by eventually," I told him. "How are
you?"
"I'm doing great," he replied with a gorgeous grin on his face. "You?"
"I'm quite well, thanks," I said. "Oh, I guess I should order." There were still people waiting behind
me. I couldn't monopolize the only cashier. "I'll have a tall iced latte."
"Tall iced latte for Bella," he repeated, writing my name on the plastic cup with a Sharpie marker.
"Can I get you anything else?"
"Is there any way we can talk for a few minutes soon?" I asked.
"I can take a break in ten," Edward replied. "Do you mind waiting?"
"Not at all," I told him. "And that's all I want."
I paid Edward the money and moved away from the counter, waiting for my drink. With the cold
drink in my hand, I walked to a small empty table by the window and sat down, pulling a manuscript
out of my bag to continue reading as I waited for Edward.
"How was Vegas?" I heard his voice ask me a short while later. It certainly didn't seem like it had
been ten minutes, but I was quite engrossed in what I was reading. I looked up from the manuscript
and set it down on the table as Edward took the seat across from me.
"It was good," I replied. "It was pretty much all work, though. How was your weekend?"
"It was good," he echoed my earlier words. "Are you excited for this weekend?"
"Hardly," I replied, suppressing a groan. "But I am very thankful that you're going with me. Anyway,
that's what I wanted to talk to you about. I booked our flight, and we're leaving LAX at a quarter after
nine on Friday night. Can you meet me there at, say, eight thirty?"
"Yeah," he replied. "I should definitely be there in time. I'll just meet you before security?"
"Yes," I told him. "I'll have our boarding passes printed out, and I would prefer if we could just bring
carry-on bags so we don't have to wait for our luggage once in Seattle. That airport is pretty much
the slowest airport ever."
"It's only two days. I won't need more than just a backpack," Edward replied. "Do I need to bring
dress clothes?"
"Oh yeah, you do," I said, suddenly remembering what Angela had told me the day before. "There is
something that we sort of need to dress up for. You don't need a tux or anything, just a suit and tie.
Any other questions?"
"Yes," Edward replied. "An important question, actually. What are we pretending while we're up
there? Am I just a random man who's accompanying you to your reunion, or am I your boyfriend or
brother or what?"
I sighed, thinking back to the story that I had told Angela. "I told my friend that I'm bringing my
boyfriend of a couple months with me," I informed him. "We're not serious enough that you would
have initially gone up to Washington with me for my reunion because, unfortunately, you're going to
have to meet my father, but after being pressured into attending the reunion, I convinced you to
accompany me. It's probably an important step in our relationship."
"So I'm the semi-serious boyfriend," Edward mused jokingly. "You know, a semi-serious boyfriend
needs to know the history of the woman he's dating. I guess you're going to have to fill me in later."
"I'll fill you in on some details," I replied cautiously after a moment's hesitation. "But we're not going
to be serious enough that you know everything about me." Not even some of my better friends knew
everything that had happened. There was no way that I was going to tell all to some Starbucks
employee that I barely knew. He might be gorgeous, but that certainly did not mean that I
automatically trusted him.
Edward cleared his throat softly. "Right. Well, I should get back to work. My break is almost over," he
said, looking down at the table instead of my face. "I'll be at LAX at eight thirty on Friday. I guess I'll
see you there."
"Um, yeah," I replied, standing with him and placing the manuscript that I had been reading back into
the bag. "I'll see you then. Thanks for meeting with me."
I walked towards the door and threw my empty cup into the garbage bin, feeling a bit off center.
Something didn't feel right. In the past minute, we had gone from having a pleasant conversation to
swimming in awkwardness. I placed my hands on the door to push it open, but I stopped when I
realized that the awkwardness was my fault. Once again, it was my stupidity in making sure to not let
anyone in. It was one of the few things that I truly hated about myself sometimes.
"Edward, I'm sor-" I started to apologize, turning around to face him. But he wasn't there. He wasn't
at the cash register, and he wasn't standing by the table. I guess he had gone into the back.
Turning back to the door, I pushed it open and walked onto the sidewalk, beginning my journey back
home more than a little bit disheartened.
EPOV
"Was that the woman who asked you to go with her to her high school reunion?" Irina asked with a
laugh when I returned to the back.
"Yep," I replied shortly, grabbing a stack of boxes to restock the shelves with coffee mugs and other
expensive, worthless items that suckers were bound to purchase eventually.
"You're not really going with her, are you?" she asked, following me back out into the store. "I mean,
obviously she's attractive, but you've had your fair share of attractive women to choose from before
and you haven't even dated most of them. At least, not longer than one night."
I set the boxes down, trying to ignore Irina as best as I could.
"So what makes Edward Cullen choose that woman who's crazy enough to ask some stranger to be
her date for a high school reunion?" Irina continued.
"She's not crazy," I defended Bella. Obviously she had some issues that she didn't want to reveal to
me, but she wasn't crazy. That I could tell.
"So what then? You know Tanya has wanted you to call her back for weeks now. You two seemed to
hit it off just fine."
"Irina, your sister is beautiful, but she's seriously not my type," I explained as I straightened the travel
mugs into perfect rows. "Too aggressive," I muttered under my breath so low that Irina wouldn't
hear.
"And that woman is?"
"Yes," I told Irina matter-of-factly. "She is. And I don't know why I'm choosing her over everyone else,
but something about her just tells me that she needs me and that I need her for some reason."
Irina left without another word, leaving me in my thoughts. I shouldn't have asked her, no matter
how innocently, about her past. I wanted to kick myself after I saw the smile drop from her face and
some sort of protective shield go up over her eyes. There was no doubt that I was curious, but I
wasn't going to stick my nose into her business. We weren't a couple; we were only going to pretend
to be a couple. I only hoped that maybe something could eventually change that.
BPOV
After the workday had ended on Friday evening, I drove back to my apartment near Glendale, hoping
that traffic wouldn't be too terrible. I had to go back and pick up my suitcase that I had packed the
night before and then drive back down to LAX to meet Edward before our flight.
My nerves were on edge all day. I did not want to return to Forks. I hadn't been in five years, and the
only reason I went five years ago was because I had been required to attend a business trip in Seattle
after I had first joined the company, and I knew that if I was in the state and I didn't go see my father,
he would never let me live it down. That trip, however, had soon turned disastrous. But this will not
happen again, I reminded myself as I threw my toothbrush and toothpaste into the small suitcase,
zipping it closed.
Whispering reassurances to myself, I drove back south to the Los Angeles International Airport. I
parked my BMW within the confines of daily parking and rolled my suitcase towards the terminal,
checking my watch as I entered. It was eight twenty, only ten minutes before I was supposed to meet
Edward. I hoped that he wouldn't be late; an overall lack of punctuality was one of my greatest pet
peeves.
I barely had time to check the departures schedule, though, when I heard my name being called.
"Bella!" I turned and saw Edward walking quickly toward me. He was wearing faded jeans, an old
vintage band t-shirt, and trainers. A backpack hung off of one shoulder. I couldn't deny that he
looked great, and I obviously wasn't the only one to think so as I saw female heads turn curiously.
"You're early," I remarked as he approached me, a smile on his face.
"So are you," he pointed out. "How was the rest of your week?"
"It was busy," I replied as I fished through my purse and found our boarding passes. "Shall we?" I
handed him the printed piece of paper and motioned toward security.
We passed through security and headed towards the gate, arriving just in time to start boarding the
plane. "I want to, um, apologize for anything that I said on Wednesday," I told Edward over my
shoulder as I maneuvered down the narrow aisle with my small suitcase in my hands.
"You didn't say anything wrong," I heard him reply from behind me.
"It's just, this situation is a bit weird for me," I tried to explain as best as I could at the moment. "I'm
not used to having someone get to know me so well in such a short amount of time."
"I understand," Edward responded as I stopped near our assigned seats. I was about to lift the
suitcase above my head when I was stopped. "Here, I'll get that for you." Edward took the suitcase
from my hands and lifted it up to place in the overhead compartment, the muscles in his arm flexing
as he lifted.
"Thanks," I murmured before scooting into the window seat and sitting down, placing my purse
under the seat in front of me. I turned as Edward sat down in the seat beside me, and he looked at
me and smiled once more.
"As I was saying," he continued, "I do understand. You don't know me and yet we have to pretend as
if we've known each other for months. I assume that you're generally a more private individual, and
it can be trying to self-disclose so much in such a period of time."
I found myself nodding my head. "Exactly," I replied, realizing that this was indeed correct. I
chuckled. "You know, for a musician and barista, you sure are insightful."
"That's my degree in psych," he mused as he flipped through the safety information pamphlet. "It
can still be useful at times."
My jaw dropped slightly in surprise. "You have a degree in psychology?"
Edward smiled, still looking at the pamphlet. "What? You think that because I have a dead end job at
Starbucks and I'm looking for a break in the music business that I didn't go to college?"
"I, uh, well, no," I stuttered the lie. It was exactly what I had assumed. And that's what I get for
making assumptions; I make an ass of myself.
"It's easy to jump to," he remarked. "People think it all the time."
"So why aren't you doing something in the psychology field?" I asked curiously.
"Well I did have a job in the field for about six years," Edward replied, "but I detested it. I came to
realize that I was ridiculously unhappy and that I didn't want to live that way for the rest of my life.
Of course, I really don't enjoy my job as a barista either, but at least I have some flexibility, and
hopefully it won't last forever. Call it an early midlife crisis."
"Please don't tell me you were a shrink," I said cautiously. The last thing I wanted was someone
promoting psychoanalysis and introspection.
Edward chuckled. "I wasn't a shrink," he assured me. "Now enough about me. I need to know about
you. At least as much as a boyfriend of two months would know."
The plane started taxiing toward the runway, and I buckled the seat belt before answering. "Alright. I
hope you can retain information easily," I warned him before starting my life story. "My name is
Isabella Marie Swan. My birthday is September 13th. I was born in Forks, Washington but my
mother, Renee, left my father, Charlie, when I was only a year old, and we moved down to Phoenix. I
spent all of my childhood in Arizona. I was sort of the quiet kid, bookish and shy. But I still had
friends. When I was fourteen, Renee met my stepfather, Phil. He was a professional baseball player,
strictly minor league. They got married when I was fifteen. We still lived in Phoenix, but Phil traveled
a lot for his games, and my mother really missed him a lot. When I was seventeen and in my junior
year of high school, Phil was offered a spot in Jacksonville, and my mother was torn between
uprooting me and moving or staying in Phoenix without Phil for my sake. So I made the decision for
her. I told her that I would go live with my father and finish school up in Washington."
"Did you see your dad a lot?" Edward asked. "Growing up, I mean."
"I saw him about once every year, most often in Washington when I was younger, but then more
often in California as I grew into my teens. So I moved up to Washington during my junior year of
high school. I made friends, and I had an, um, boyfriend during those couple of years. Then I
graduated and decided that I wanted to move away. I had applied to Stanford just to see if I could get
in, which I did, and in the end, I chose to go there instead of the University of Washington in Seattle,
where I was originally planning on attending. I majored in English and Comparative Literature and
realized that I wanted to go into publishing. I graduated in four years and afterward, I started as a
reader at Smith & Brooks in L.A. From there, I made my way up to editor, where I am now. Renee still
lives in Jacksonville with Phil, although they travel quite a bit, and Charlie is still police chief in Forks."
"Have you visited him often?" Edward inquired once again.
"No," I replied, shifting uncomfortably in my seat as the plane ascended to higher altitudes. "I've
seen him in person only once since I left for college. I truly have been ridiculously busy, but our
relationship has been out of sorts for several years. I don't really want to go into too much detail
right now, but he chose a side, and it wasn't mine."
I continued chatting with Edward about different things in my life. I gave him an overview of my high
school friends that he would be meeting, and I went over some random facts in my favorites list.
After about an hour, though, my head drifted to the outer wall of the airplane, and finally finished
with talking, I dozed off. It had been a long day, and with another long drive ahead of us, it was going
to be a long night. I wanted all the sleep I could get.
EPOV
I had never been one to be able to sleep on airplanes. Something about flying thirty thousand feet
above the surface of the earth just made it impossible to relax enough to doze off. Bella, on the other
hand, didn't seem to have that problem one bit. She had been asleep for over an hour and a half
already, and the pilot had just informed us that we were beginning our final descent into Seattle.
"Hey," I whispered, nudging her shoulder gently with my hand. "Bella."
She squirmed and after a few more seconds, she finally opened her eyes, looking around,
disoriented. "Oh," she murmured. "Are we landing?"
"In about ten minutes," I replied. "I figured that you might want to wake up beforehand."
"Yeah, thanks," she said, covering her mouth with a yawn. "Did you sleep?"
I shook my head. "No, I watched the overhead movie." The movie was actually some god-awful chick
flick, but it was something to do, at least. "The flight attendants came by while you were asleep, but I
got some coffee. Do you want some?" I offered her the half filled cup that was still nice and warm.
"Thank you, but no. I'll get some coffee in Sea-Tac," Bella replied. "You can finish yours."
We were both silent as the plane descended lower and lower until the wheels finally hit the runway,
shaking the passengers in their seats. I looked at my watch. It was almost eleven thirty. Bella didn't
say a word as we taxied to the gate, fetched our bags from the overhead bins, and waited to finally
de-board the plane. I guess she had decided that she had talked enough at the beginning of the
flight. I certainly did know a lot about her now, but I couldn't help but be a bit concerned, mostly in
regards to her current relationship with her father.
"Finally. Coffee," were the first words out of Bella's mouth when we started heading to the main
terminal. A Seattle's Best was still open across from our gate, and Bella made sure that it was our
first stop.
I couldn't help but chuckle. "Are you addicted?" I asked as I followed her to the short line that was
forming in front of the counter.
"To coffee? Yes," she replied. "Hello, my name is Bella Swan. And I'm a coffee-holic."
"Hi Bella," I replied in true AA fashion. Not that I had ever attended a meeting. I certainly was not an
alcoholic.
She laughed and smiled. "I became addicted in college. Too many late nights and too much work to
accomplish. Do you want anything?"
"No, I'm fine," I replied. I waited as she ordered her coffee, and a minute later, we were walking
through the airport toward the exit.
"I rented a car with Hertz," Bella explained as we walked towards the rental car agency counters.
Numerous forms had to be filled out and driver's licenses copied, but less than twenty minutes later,
we were outside finding the car which turned out to be a blue Mazda sedan. We placed our bags in
the trunk, and Bella headed toward the driver's seat.
"I can drive," I offered. I knew Bella was exhausted. She could use the however many hours journey
to catch up on her rest.
"No," she declined. "I know the way, and considering it's very late, I would rather that we not get
lost. Not that I think you'd get us lost, but you know, just in case."
"Okay," I said with a shrug, opening the passenger door and sitting down.
Luckily it isn't raining outside, I thought as Bella pulled out of the parking spot and made her way to
the highway. Bella adjusted the radio until it fell on some soft rock station, and music drifted softly
from the speakers. If we kept on in silence, I knew that I would fall asleep. Sleeping wouldn't have
been the worst idea in the world, but Bella and I needed to get some facts straight first. Who knew if
we would be able to find time later before meeting her friends and former classmates?
I looked over and watched as she continued to drive down the highway, the white lights passing by
quickly on the other side. "So Bella, what are we as a couple?"
BPOV
"What do you mean?" I asked Edward suspiciously. 'What are we as a couple?' could be taken a
number of ways. Did he mean in our pretend relationship? Or did he mean in real life?
"Well, I mean, if we've been dating for two months, then we're obviously going to need a story,"
Edward explained. "So I guess we supposedly met in April?"
I breathed a sigh of relief. I really couldn't say what we were in real life, and it would have been a bit
presumptuous to assume that we were anything together. "How about we met in February and very
casually dated until April when you then asked me to be your girlfriend?" I suggested. "That way
we've supposedly known each other for more than two months. It makes it a bit more likely that
you'd actually come with me to my high school reunion."
"I've known you for less than two weeks and I'm going with you," Edward pointed out. "But for the
sake of the story, that sounds fine. How did we meet?"
I brainstormed for a couple of seconds before deciding. "Starbucks," I replied. "I was a customer and
you were my barista. This way, it's partly true and we don't have to worry about being caught in a lie
that we can't explain. But we'll say that over the course of my nearly daily visits to the coffee shop,
we became acquaintances and eventually you asked me out. How does that sound?"
"Fine by me," I heard Edward reply. "It's your reunion, your friends, your story."
"Alright, well you've heard my story. What about you? I don't really know anything about you besides
the fact that you're a musician, you work at Starbucks currently, and you have a psych degree," I told
him. "Can I please hear the Edward Cullen story?"
"You mean like the E! True Hollywood Story on me?" Edward asked with a chuckle. "You know it's
filled with sex, drugs, and alcohol like the rest of them." My eyebrows raised before he continued.
"Nah, I'm just kidding. What do you want to know?"
"Anything," I replied as we continued down the interstate, the white overhead lights passing by at set
intervals. "What should I know?"
"Okay," he said, shifting in his seat. "Well like I've told you, I grew up in California, in Redondo Beach.
My mom was a school teacher, and my dad was a lawyer, but he was also an alcoholic so my parents
divorced when I was ten years old. I have a brother who's a couple years younger than me. His name
is Emmett, and he's recently married. Mom kept the house in the divorce, so we stayed in the L.A.
area even though my father moved to the East Coast, and he's been kind of absent ever since. Um, I
was thirteen when I started taking guitar lessons, and I really loved it. That Christmas, my mom saved
up a lot to buy me my own guitar, and I've been playing ever since. High school was, well, high
school. I wasn't on any sports teams or in any clubs. I had friends and a couple of girlfriends, but I
really just got through school as well as I could. High school definitely was not the best years of my
life.
"When college came around, I didn't want to leave my mom or my brother alone while I went off to
school, so I went to UCLA and got my psychology degree. I didn't live at home, but I was still close
enough that if they ever needed me for anything, I could be there within the hour. I graduated in four
years, and I got a job as a counselor in a local hospice after graduation. As I've mentioned, I hated the
job. It was the most depressing thing ever. Listening to patients talk about their fears of death didn't
exactly give me the most optimistic view on life. I stuck it out for about six years until, well, about a
year and a half ago when I quit. I just couldn't take it anymore. I decided to focus more on my music.
I started writing my own songs again, and I decided to pursue a career in music. It's my passion, and
it's something that I love to do. Of course, that doesn't exactly pay the bills.
"So that's when Starbucks came into the picture. I work there in the afternoons and most evenings,
and afterward, I go around town and play the guitar, just hoping to be noticed like everyone else in
Tinseltown. There have been some leads, but so far they've all come to a dead end," Edward
explained before pausing for a few seconds and sighing. "I can't keep doing this forever, though,
working at that goddamn coffee shop and hoping for a break. If nothing happens in the next year, I
think I'm going to have to go back to some counseling job. I guess I could always go back to school
and get my Master's, but I'd rather not."
"I'm sure something will happen," I assured him. "I wouldn't give up too easily. If it's what you love,
you'll somehow find a way to make it happen."
"Thanks," Edward replied seemingly somewhat surprised at my assurances.
"So what music do you want to listen to?" I asked after a few minutes of silence, reaching for the dial.
The music station that we were currently listening to was playing music that was entirely too slow,
making me more liable to drift asleep at the wheel.
"What music do you not like?" asked Edward.
"I don't listen to rap music or country music," I told him. "I like pretty much everything else."
"Well let me find a station," he said, reaching for the knob. "You focus on driving."
The radio stations changed once every five seconds until it finally stopped as The Eagles' "Hotel
California" drifted from the speakers.
"How's classic rock?" Edward asked, settling back into his seat.
"Perfect," I replied.
We remained perfectly silent for the next couple of hours. I tried focusing on the road or on the
music, but memories eventually pervaded my thoughts.
Memories of that day during my junior year of high school when I was only seventeen, riding with
Charlie in his cruiser on highway 101 on our way to Forks, not knowing what my new life here would
bring, both excited but anxious.
Memories of another day over a year and a half later, driving the same route in the opposite
direction, wanting to get as far away from Forks, Washington as fast as possible, giving Charlie the
silent treatment as he insisted on driving me to the airport before I left for college.
I had been back to Forks since I had run away to California for school, but it had only been once
about five years ago. I had just started working for the publishing company after I had graduated
from Stanford, and I was sent to attend a conference in Seattle. It had been five years since I had
seen Charlie in person. Sure, we had spoken on the phone on numerous occasions, but the
conversations that consisted of pure small talk did nothing but erode most of what was left of our
relationship.
I was free to do whatever I wanted on that Sunday in September, and on a whim, I decided to drive
from Seattle over to Forks to see my dear old father. In hindsight, I should have called first and let
him know that I was stopping by. It could have changed the entire course of things, but I had figured
that Charlie was following the same routine as he had five years earlier; on Sundays, he fished in the
mornings and watched football on the television in the afternoons. And it was true, he followed the
same routine, but he wasn't alone when I knocked on the door that afternoon.
I pulled myself from those memories as quickly as I could manage, making my mind pay active
attention to the road ahead of us. I reached up and rubbed my temples, trying to keep my eyes from
closing. The caffeine from the coffee had worn off, and it definitely felt like it was two thirty in the
morning.
"Pull over," I heard Edward say, the first words that had been spoken in hours.
"Why?" I asked.
"I'm going to drive," he said. "You look like you're about to pass out. We can't have you falling asleep
behind the wheel."
"I'll be fine," I told him. "We're almost in Port Angeles. We'll be there in an hour and a half or so."
"Bella, pull over," he said more firmly. "Please."
I sighed. As much as I didn't want to admit it, he was right. I was about to fall asleep. I flipped on the
turn signal even though there was no other traffic on the 101, and I pulled over onto the side of the
road and parked the car. Edward and I exited the car and switched sides. I pulled the seat belt back
over my chest as Edward pulled back onto the highway.
"Now get some sleep," he told me. "You said we still have over an hour to go."
"You don't where you're going," I protested, although my eyelids were feeling heavy.
"It's called Forks, right? There will be signs pointing me to where I'm going?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's true," I replied. "And you're just going to stay on 101."
"Now where are we staying in Forks?"
"I got a room at the Olympic Suites Inn," I told him. "It's off Olympic Drive. When you get into town,
you'll have to take a left on Huckleberry Lane and then another left onto Olympic. Can you remember
that?"
"Huckleberry and then Olympic," Edward repeated. "I got it. Now get some sleep. I'll wake you up
when we get there."
I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the window. "Thanks," I murmured before allowing
myself to finally sink into unconsciousness.
"Bella," I heard my name being spoken and felt a hand on my shoulder. I jolted myself awake and felt
a crick in my neck. I squinted into the bright lights of the parking lot and saw that we were at the
hotel. I glanced at the clock. 4:13. "We're here," Edward said when I looked at him with a confused
expression upon my face. "We should have gotten here about twenty minutes ago, but I missed the
turn off and then had to find a gas station that was open so I could ask for directions. I didn't want to
wake you."
"That's fine," I mumbled, unbuckling my seat belt and opening the door. The air was damp and chilly,
but all I could think about was checking in, lying down on a bed, and turning out the lights. Edward
popped the trunk open, I grabbed my bag even though Edward offered to carry it, and I made my
way to the entrance of the hotel, fumbling in my purse for the confirmation sheet that I had printed
off.
The Olympic Suites Inn was nowhere near a five- or even four-star hotel, but this was Forks after all.
You couldn't exactly expect a Hilton to come to this area of the state. I walked to the small reception
desk where some young man was sitting in an office chair, asleep.
"Professional," Edward mumbled as he brought his hand down on the reception bell, making the kid
jump from his seat awake as the bell rang loudly.
"Sorry," the kid said after clearing his throat. "Can I help you?" He rubbed his eyes and looked back
up at us.
"Yes, I have a reservation for two nights under Swan, Isabella," I told him as I handed him the
confirmation sheet.
"Oh, Bella," he said, recognition flashing in his eyes. "You're in town for the reunion this weekend?"
"Do I know you?" I asked.
"Probably not," the kid replied, covering his mouth as he yawned. "My name's Jim. I was a freshman
when you were a senior at Forks High. I remember you. Actually, I had the biggest crush on you that
year." I guess he wasn't a kid after all, but he did look like he was still a teenager, his face still riddled
with acne.
"Oh," I replied, fiddling with the bag in my hands, unsure as to what else to say to that. "So how
about our room?"
"Right, of course," Jim replied, sitting up a bit straighter in his chair. "Can I see the credit card you put
the deposit on?" I fished the card out of my wallet and handed it to him. He typed stuff of the
computer for a minute and handed the card back. "You booked a room with two double beds, but I'm
afraid we don't have any more of those rooms. We have a room with one king bed, but I'm assuming
that should be fine since you're here with your boyfriend or husband or uh…" he stuttered as he
looked at Edward.
"You're quite right," Edward responded pleasantly. "The king bed sounds delightful, doesn't it
honey?" He placed his arm around my shoulder and rubbed my arm soothingly.
My face heated up as the blush crept onto my cheeks, and I cursed that damn tell-tale sign of
embarrassment. "That's fine," I managed to say with a smile still on my face. Edward surprised the
hell out of me, which made me somewhat angry, but at the same time, Edward talking about how
nice a king bed would be made my stomach do flips.
"Good. Then you'll be in room 203. The elevator's just down that way," Jim pointed down the hall. "A
free continental breakfast will be served tomorrow from seven until eleven over there on the other
side of the lobby."
"Thank you," I told him before taking the room key and walking down towards the elevator, Edward
following behind me.
"Sorry about that," Edward apologized as I hit the button for the elevator and the doors opened,
Edward and I walking into it. "I figured we should probably go ahead and start our coupling."
I turned to him, looking appalled. Still, the thought of coupling with him certainly sounded appealing.
"Not that type of coupling," he stammered. "You know, just pretending to be a couple. It came out
wrong before, I promise."
I sighed heavily, just ready to fall back asleep. "I believe you," I replied as we exited the elevator into
the hall. I found the correct door and opened it, entering the hotel room. As promised, one king bed
was in the center of the room.
"I can sleep on the floor," Edward offered. "It doesn't bother me."
"Don't be ridiculous," I replied tiredly, setting my bag onto the small desk. "The last thing we need is
for you to not get any sleep tonight and look like the living dead tomorrow when you meet everyone.
Besides, the bed is plenty big enough for the two of us."
I fished the pajama pants and t-shirt from my bag and walked to the bathroom to change. When I
came back out a minute later, Edward had already changed into his pajamas which seemed to consist
of boxer shorts and a white t-shirt that fit snugly against his toned torso. Damn it, I thought as I
crawled into one side of the bed. Pretending to not be attracted to him was going to be much harder
this weekend than I had originally thought. My insides were practically screaming otherwise.
"When do we have to be up tomorrow? Or later this morning, I guess," Edward amended as he got in
on the other side of the bed.
"We have to be at lunch at noon," I told him, staring at the white ceiling, not daring to look over at
him when I felt so… turned on. I grabbed my cell phone from the nightstand and set an alarm in case
I didn't wake up as early as I normally did. "So we should probably be up by ten, just in case."
"Alright," Edward replied as I reached over and switched off the lights. "Well, sweet dreams, Bella."
I turned to lie on my side, facing away from him, away from temptation. "Sweet dreams," I echoed,
closing my eyes. But although I was completely exhausted, I could not get Edward out of my thoughts
enough to immediately fall asleep. And when I did eventually fall asleep, he was still there.
BPOV
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
The alarm on my mobile phone awoke me from my dreams, and I sat up quickly, finding the phone
on the nightstand, squinting my eyes in the dark room. I pushed buttons until the sound stopped and
flopped back down onto the bed, my arms outstretched.
My heart stopped, though, when my hand hit someone. "Ow… what was that for?" I heard Edward
grumble from the space next to me and I realized that I wasn't alone in bed as I was used to.
"Shit, I'm so sorry," I apologized, turning my head to face him. He was lying on his back, rubbing his
face as he awoke. His hair was mess of bed head, but the look suited him, as did the newly formed
five o'clock shadow on his chin. "I'm, um, not used to sharing a bed." I sat up and turned so that my
legs hung off the side of the mattress. "Uh, I'm going to shower," I mumbled as I stood up and walked
from the bed to the bathroom, flipping the light switch and squinting even more as the bad
florescent lights turned on above.
I closed the door and started the shower, turning to the mirror and looking at my reflection. My hair
was tangled and in massive need of cleansing, and the remains of yesterday's mascara were smudged
on top of the bags under my eyes. I looked like shit. I was used to looking like such a wreck by myself,
but knowing that Edward actually saw me like this made me cringe. I stripped out of my pajamas and
pulled aside the shower curtain as I stepped into the bathtub, the warm water hitting my body
forcefully, aiding my ability to dispel the drowsiness.
I leaned against the wall of the shower as the water ran over me, thinking to the day that awaited
me. It was the day that had caused me so much anxiety these past two weeks. Here I was, back in the
God forsaken town of Forks, Washington, arguably where I had both my best and worst memories.
Then focus on the best, Bella, I told myself. I truly was excited to see some of my friends again.
Angela, Alice, and Caroline. Hell, I wouldn't even mind seeing Jessica and Mike again. There was only
one person I wanted to avoid seeing. But he didn't go to high school with you, I told myself once
again. He won't be at the high school reunion. He couldn't.
Ten minutes later, I finished washing up and turned off the water, pulling aside the shower curtain
and reaching for one of the white towels stacked upon a shelf above the toilet. I squeezed the excess
water from my long hair, wrapped the towel around my body, and picked up my pajama pants and t-
shirt from the floor before grimacing.
I hadn't even thought to bring a change of clothes into the bathroom with me. I guess I could have
just put the pajamas back on, but that seemed inconvenient when I was going to take them off again
in less than a minute. I would just leave the bathroom wearing the towel. Edward and I were both
adults, after all. There was no reason to make a big deal of it. The towel covered more than any
swimsuit would.
I opened the door and walked into the bedroom to see Edward sitting in bed in the dark room with
The Weather Channel playing on the television. The jazz music that played during the Local on the
Eight's sounded throughout the room.
"Excuse me," I mumbled as I crossed the room to where I had placed my small suitcase earlier this
morning, my towel still gripped tightly around my body. I unzipped the suitcase and started wading
through the clothes that I had packed. Unfortunately, I had no idea what to wear. "Shit."
"Don't worry about it," Edward remarked. "I'm going to take a shower, so you can take as much time
as you'd like getting dressed."
I turned just in time to see Edward walking away from me, my eyes trained on his toned back and
calves. I definitely could not deny that I was attracted to him. He was ridiculously handsome, and he
wasn't creepy or egotistical or boring, like many other men I had attempted dating. Basically, he was
out of my league.
I pulled out all of my clothes and either laid them out on the bed or put them on hangers in the
closet to get rid of wrinkles. Even after a couple of minutes, I couldn't decide. I was lost for only a
second before I determined the current solution for my wardrobe dilemma – Alice.
I walked back over to the nightstand and picked up the mobile phone, scrolling through the directory
until it came to Alice Brandon. I pressed the call button and held the phone up to my ear as it rang.
"Hello," Alice's cheery voice sang on the other end after only one ring. "Well if it isn't Bella Swan
finally calling her once-best-friend."
"You don't call me either, so don't even go there," I told her in defense. "And I'd say we're still best
friends. Just the kind that don't really talk to each other or see each other that often."
"I don't think it works that way, Bells," she replied. "Are you in Forks? I'm so excited to see you! I'm
glad you decided to come after all. Angela was telling me how reluctant you were to make the trip."
"I am in Forks," I answered, "and I'm excited to see you too. I'm still not sure how great of a trip this
is going to turn out to be, but that doesn't matter. The important thing is that I'm here. But first I
need your help."
"Let me guess," Alice said before pausing. "You have no idea what to wear."
"Exactly," I replied, pulling the loosening towel more tightly across my chest. "I don't know what says,
'Yes, I'm successful and doing quite well in California but I don't want to look like I'm trying too hard
to impress you people.'"
"You know I had the same problem," she told me, "but it's just lunch, so luckily you don't have to try
too hard. So tell me, what did you pack?"
I went through each article of clothing that I had on hand and listened as Alice murmured different
outfit ideas to herself.
"Okay, Bella, this is what you're going to wear. Wear the dark blue jeans, the purple silk blouse, and
the black fitted jacket. In my mind, it looks awesome and I'm sure it will look great on you as well,"
Alice explained. "It's casual without being overly casual."
"And shoes?"
"I'm sure you have some cute flats or something, right?"
"Yep," I replied, eyeing the black ballet flats in the suitcase. "You're a lifesaver, Ali."
"That's what I'm here for, Bells," she replied. "I'll see you soon, alright?"
"I can't wait," I told her before hanging up, a smile on my face. I really needed to see my best friend
more often.
I heard the water shut off in the bathroom, and I grabbed my undergarments and put them on as
quickly as I could manage. I slid the blue jeans up to my waist and pulled on a black camisole by the
time the bathroom door opened and Edward emerged. And like me, he only had a towel around his
waist. Dear God. I lowered my eyes quickly, trying to ward off the heat that I felt already rising to my
cheeks, and I turned to the mirror that hung on the wall above the desk.
"Oh good," I heard Edward remark while my back was turned. "It's blue jean attire."
"Yeah, no need to dress up yet," I told him, taking the towel to my wet hair. "Do you remember when
he said breakfast ended?"
"Eleven, I think," Edward replied. "Do you want something? I can go get some food and bring it back
up here for you if you won't be ready anytime soon."
"That would be great, actually," I replied, my stomach feeling achingly empty. "We can count on at
least thirty more minutes for this," I gestured to my hair and face, "to be ready."
"I don't know what you women do with all of that hair," he remarked with a shake of his head. I
heard Edward rustle through his bag before I heard the bathroom door close once more. Only
seconds later, he returned, wearing a pair of jeans and still no shirt. He was rubbing the towel over
his wet hair that looked oh so sexy. "So what do you eat for breakfast?" he asked, throwing on a t-
shirt. "Oh, and I'm not wearing this shirt to the reunion. Just to go downstairs."
"Yeah that's fine," I replied. "I don't know; just get me a cup of yogurt if they have it. If not, fruit or a
bagel or something will be great. And thank you so much. If they weren't closing in only ten minutes,
I would go myself."
"It's not a problem, Bella," he assured me as he stuffed his bare feet into a pair of shoes. "I'll be
back," he continued in his best Arnold Schwarzenegger/Terminator voice.
I chuckled. "See ya." I reached for my hair dryer as Edward unlocked and then opened the door to
our hotel room, and I heard it shut loudly behind him.
I was loudly drying my hair until I heard a bang on the door. I flipped off the switch and jogged to the
door to open it. "Sorry I banged," Edward apologized when I held open the door. "I don't think you
heard my knock with that hair dryer going." He held up a cup of yogurt, two apples, a bagel, and a
spoon in his two hands. "I brought sustenance."
"You're awesome," I told him as he walked into the hotel room. "Did they have a good selection?"
"They had a terrible selection," Edward remarked as he set the foods upon the desk. "But they had
what we wanted. The yogurt and apple are obviously for you, and the bagel and apple are for me.
Unless you want to switch, in which case I might demand payment of some sort."
I smirked. "I'll take the yogurt and apple. Thanks." I took a bite out of the apple before setting it back
on the desk and going back to blow drying my hair.
Half an hour later, my hair was dry and straightened, my face was made up, and my outfit was fully
on my body. I stuffed my feet into the black flats and added some earrings to the outfit before
checking out the final appearance in the mirror. I looked good. At least good enough that I definitely
didn't need to worry about people thinking, "Wow, what happened to Bella? She's gone downhill
since high school." No, they would not be thinking that at all.
"Alright, how do I look?" I turned and asked Edward who had been ready over ten minutes ago and
who was now sitting on the edge of the bed continuing to watch The Weather Channel. I didn't know
that it was that fascinating.
"Beautiful," he replied, looking at me from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. I tried not to
blush as his eyes roamed.
"Thanks," I told him quickly, looking away. "You ready?"
"Of course," he said, standing up adjusting the collar of his dark gray button down shirt.
It was my turn to give him the once over, and he sure looked good. I was proud to have him as my
fake boyfriend. "Nice shoes, by the way," I commented as I grabbed the remote and turned off the
television set.
"Do you not like them?" he said, glancing down at his black Converse high tops.
"No, I really do like them," I assured him. "They seem so… you. And they make the outfit."
Edward smiled. "Well I'll take that as a compliment."
We left the hotel and walked out into the damp, foggy air of Forks.
"Is the weather normally like this?" Edward asked as we hopped into the rental car. "It's eerie."
"Not always, but a lot of the time," I replied, starting the car and pulling out of the parking space.
"The sun just never seems to want to shine on Forks, Washington."
"No wonder you like L.A. so much," he mused. "So where are we going?"
"We are going to lunch at the Kalaloch Lodge. It's forty minutes away, so we might be ten minutes
late, but I don't think it will matter too much," I explained as I drove through Forks for the first time
in five years. Somehow I never forgot where I was going, though.
"Why is it so far?" Edward asked, confused.
I sighed. "Probably because Forks sucks and doesn't have anywhere suitable or large enough to hold
a reunion lunch."
"I can see how that would happen," he replied, looking through the car window at the small town.
"So I guess it's show time soon."
I was confused for a second until I remembered that we were in a fake relationship. "Right. Break a
leg," I joked awkwardly.
"Should I know anything about your friends?" he asked.
"Yeah, probably," I answered. "I'll give you a quick overview of almost everyone. So first there's
Angela. Angela and I were best friends while I lived here. We're pretty alike in our personalities and
our likes and dislikes, so it was easy to become friends. She was our class president during high
school, so she is the one who was in charge of planning this whole reunion. She is also the one
responsible for persuading me to come up here. She went to Oregon after graduation and she works
as a marketing representative for some firm in Portland. She is engaged to this guy named Ben. I
haven't met him yet because she met him during college and I've only seen her three times since she
met him, but I have seen pictures and Angela seems to love him a lot."
"Then there's Alice. Alice is a piece of work. Unlike Angela, she is not like me at all. She's short, hyper,
spunky, fashion-obsessed, outgoing. Almost everything that I'm not. Despite this, though, we too
were best friends in high school. She moved to Rhode Island and went to RISD for school. Now she's
in New York City trying to make it big as a fashion designer. She is going to be here with her
boyfriend. I think his name is Jasper, but I might be wrong. They've only been dating for a year or so
now, and I've only talked to her twice since then, so I don't know a lot about him."
"There's Caroline. We were good friends in high school although she wasn't as close as Angela and
Alice. She went to Seattle for school at UW, got a degree in early childhood education, and now she
teaches in Forks. She's married to some man named Tanner, and she has two kids. I think their
names are Stephanie and Mark. Or is it Mike? I don't know; something like that. I haven't seen her at
all since graduation and I've only talked to her a number of times."
"And then there's Jessica and Mike, who might as well be put together anyway. It's a bit complicated.
Jessica and I were friends, but Mike really liked me instead of her when I first started at Forks High.
So she was my friend but she was also a bit jealous of me. It all worked out though because I never
liked Mike, although I did go on one date with him. By the time we graduated, Mike and Jessica
became a couple. They went to community college and got hitched. I think Mike manages his
parent's sporting goods shop in town, and Jess works at a bank as a teller. From what I hear, and this
is just gossip, their marriage isn't so great."
"That's quite a variety of friends," Edward remarked after I had finished. "I think I can remember the
basics."
"You'll like them, I hope," I said, continuing down 101 to the coast.
We pulled into the parking lot of the resort only five minutes after noon. I think I made a record with
how fast I was driving on the way there. I exited the car with Edward and made sure to lock the doors
of the rental car. As I was putting the keys into my purse, I heard a loud squeal.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I turned and saw the petite figure of my friend Alice by another car.
She was jumping up and down despite her stiletto heels and pointing at me with a huge smile on her
face. She started running towards me, her arms flying wildly above her head, and I started jogging
towards her until we met in the middle. Her arms flew around my torso as she embraced me in a
hug. "Bells, I've missed my best friend."
"I've missed you too, Ali," I told her with a huge smile on my face, hugging her back.
"Reunited and it feels so good," she sang as she pulled away, holding me at arm's distance to look at
me. "You look great. You've lost weight."
"You've let your hair grow out some," I noticed, looking at the black hair that fell to her chin. It wasn't
her signature spiky look that I had grown to know and love. But I loved this even more.
"You also look a bit tanner than I remember," Alice continued. "I guess that's what happens when
you live in L.A. instead of Forks. So who's the hottie?"
I turned and saw that Edward had made his way over to us. "Oh, this is my boyfriend, Edward Cullen.
Alice, Edward. Edward, Alice," I introduced them.
"You never told me you had a boyfriend," Alice remarked with one eyebrow raised. I was in trouble.
"We've only been dating for a couple months. We met in February, didn't we, honey?" I asked,
adding on the pet name at the last second. It sounded… right.
"We sure did, sweetie," Edward replied.
"Cute," Alice muttered with a smirk. "Well this is my own beau, Jasper. Jasper Whitlock."
I looked up to see the tall, blonde man standing behind Alice. I hadn't noticed him before in the
excitement of seeing Alice again. "It's nice to meet you," he said in a distinct southern accent,
nodding his head to both of us. "And you are?"
"Bella, you remember, she was my best friend in high school. And this is her boyfriend, Edward,"
Alice replied.
"It's nice to meet you," Edward and I both replied.
"So when did you get in?" Alice asked as the four of us made our way from the parking lot to the
large wooden lodge that sat atop a hill that overlooked the Pacific Ocean.
"At four thirty this morning," I replied. "It takes entirely too long to drive from Seattle to here. What
about you guys?"
"We got in late last night," she answered. "Where are you staying? Not with Charlie, I imagine."
I laughed. "No, definitely not. We're staying at the Olympic Suites. You? Are you staying with your
parents?"
"Hell no," Alice replied. "I would have to sleep in the same twin bed from my childhood while Jasper
slept on the floor or on the god-awful couch in the living room. No, we're staying at the Miller Tree
Bed and Breakfast. I am sad that we had to miss the festivities last night, though."
"Oh really? What did they do?"
"They apparently went up to Seiku and then took a ferry cruise around the strait and, you know,
partied," Alice replied.
I chuckled. "I'm going to have to give Angela some grief about booking a booze cruise for this
reunion. I'm sure people enjoyed it, though."
We arrived at the door to the lodge and entered into the lobby. On a tripod was a sign that read,
"Welcome Forks High School Class of 1999." Next to the sign was a table, behind which Angela sat, a
paperback novel in her hands. It looked like things hadn't changed much these ten years.
"Angela!" Alice called out happily, and Angela looked up, excited and pleased to see us.
"You both made it!" she exclaimed, jumping out of her seat and rushing over to hug the both of us.
"Oh, I'm so glad you're here! Ooh, who are they?" She glanced back to see Edward and Jasper
standing awkwardly behind us.
The introductions and pleasantries were made before Angela got back to business.
"Sorry, Alice, but you're going to have to wear the nametag," Angela pleaded with Alice. "At least for
lunch."
"But blue doesn't match," Alice protested. "Don't you have any with a red or even yellow outline?"
"Suck it up, Ali," I told her, writing Isabella Swan onto my own nametag. "Look, they have red
Sharpies. Color over it."
"Excellent idea, Bells, as always," she replied, clearly relieved at the suggestion.
Edward came up next to me and found a blank nametag. "Should I go for Edward Cullen or should I
make something up?"
"And what would you make up?" I asked, amused.
"Anything. Jack Bauer?"
I chuckled. "Let's just stick with Edward, Jack." I peeled the sticker from its backing and stuck it to the
lapel of my jacket. Edward placed his nametag onto his shirt, and I snorted when I read it. It said
Edward Cullen, but in tiny letters below, it read, "a.k.a. Bella's bitch."
"I can cross it out," Edward said with a smirk. "I don't know. Too true, maybe?"
I recovered from my laughter. "You know what, keep it. We'll see what people think."
"So it's basically just a lunch buffet," Angela was explaining as Edward and I turned back to my
friends. "Here's the itinerary for the rest of the weekend, though." She handed us sheets of paper
with a schedule, and I read down the list.
"Prom at the Forks High gymnasium?" I asked incredulously, looking at what was planned for tonight.
"It's just cocktail attire," Angela explained. "And we all thought it would be fun to have some sort of
dance. It will be just like it was ten years ago."
"Yeah, except I hate looking back to the night of my senior prom," I wanted to say, but I decided to
keep my mouth shut. Still, Alice noticed the grimace on my face.
"Might I remind you that you had an excellent time at prom," she told me. "At the time, at least."
Alice – always the optimist.
"It will be fine, Bella. It was ten years ago," Angela whispered to me. "So if you all want to head into
the banquet hall, there's food and people and drinks. Just have a good time."
"Wait, are you not coming with us?" Alice asked. "Angela, you can't sit at a table out here alone while
everyone else has a good time. Come with us. People aren't so idiotic that they can't figure out that
they should write their name on a sticker before coming in, are they?"
"You'd be surprised," Angela murmured. "I guess you're right. Ben's in there alone anyway, and he
doesn't really know anyone."
Edward and I followed behind the others as they walked through the lobby to a set of double doors.
Behind the doors, we heard all sorts of chatter and laughter. This is it, I thought anxiously. It's going
to be fun. I've already been having a great time already. I have my friends with me, all is good, I
reassured myself.
Angela opened the doors and we entered, my eyes roaming through the small crowd of people,
some of whom I recognized, some I didn't. Some who looked exactly as they did ten years ago, some
who looked more like their parents.
"Oh shit. Um, Bella, I probably should have mentioned this earlier. I swear I didn't know until twenty
minutes ago…" Angela started worriedly, but I didn't hear a word she said after I spotted him at one
of the tables.
The short black hair, the tanned, dark skin, the dazzling white teeth, the dark brown eyes.
It was fucking Jacob Black, douche bag extraordinaire.
EPOV
We entered into the fairly large banquet hall at the lodge. As one would expect, the room was
paneled with light wood, and large floor-to-ceiling windows on the right overlooked the Pacific
Ocean below. They had obviously done a great job decorating for the reunion lunch. Round tables
with blue table clothes dotted the hall, and there was a long line of tables with catered food to one
side and drinks to the other. I had a feeling that the school colors were blue and gold, as all of the
décor were in these hues.
The crowd wasn't as large as I had expected, but considering how small the town of Forks actually
was, it wasn't surprising that her graduating class didn't even break one hundred. This was certainly
different than my own high school reunions, which usually had at least three to four hundred
attendees. There had been two reunions thus far, but I had only made it to my tenth, and only
because a friend had dragged me along.
I continued to survey the crowd, wondering which people were friends of Bella's that I would be
meeting later. "Oh shit. Um, Bella, I probably should have mentioned this earlier. I swear I didn't
know until twenty minutes ago," Bella's tall and thin friend named Angela suddenly whispered
worriedly to Bella. "I made a mental note to warn you that Jake would be here, but I completely
forgot in the excitement of seeing you and Alice again."
I turned to Bella and saw that her face was a shade of bright red. She normally blushed from
embarrassment, I knew, but from the look on her face, I could tell that she was not the least bit
embarrassed. Instead, she was shocked, surprised, hurt, and absolutely furious.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Bella's short friend named Alice asked irately. She too was glaring
at someone in the crowd. Who? I didn't know yet. Someone named Jake, apparently. I wondered if
he was the ex-boyfriend that Bella had avoided talking about.
"He came with Lauren," Angela answered. "They must be seeing each other."
Alice laughed bitterly. "That slut Lauren Mallory? God, he can't do much worse. Look at her; her skin
already looks like leather from all of that fake tanning she did in high school."
"They deserve each other," Bella cut in viciously, speaking for the first time since we entered the
room. I turned back to her and saw her taking deep breaths, obviously trying to calm herself down.
"Did he say anything to you, Ange?"
"No, he looked like he was trying to avoid me at all costs," Angela replied. "He refused to look into
my eyes, which was probably good for him since I was glaring at him."
"Who's Jake?" Alice's boyfriend Jasper asked questioningly.
"He's Bella's ex," Alice answered before Bella could stop her. She elbowed Alice with a glare. "What?"
She looked to Bella and then to me and then back to Bella. "Wait, Edward does know about Jake,
doesn't he? Bella, you had to have told him."
"She didn't," I replied for her. She had mentioned only once that she had had a boyfriend when she
lived in Forks, but she hadn't let on that she despised him for whatever reason and that there was a
chance of seeing him this weekend. At least he didn't seem like he would be any competition, the
way Bella acted toward him.
"I was going to tell you eventually," Bella turned and told me worriedly. "But I didn't think we would
see him so I figured I would just tell you about it at a later time. Please don't be mad."
I was initially unsure of how to respond. As someone who met Bella less than two weeks ago, I had
no right to be angry at all. It was obviously a painful memory, and she was under no obligation to tell
me. But as someone who had supposedly dated Bella for about four months, as the story currently
stood, I probably should have known at least a little about Jake. Still, I didn't need to make Bella's day
even worse by pretending to be mad.
"It's fine," I replied with a reassuring smile, placing my arm around her shoulders. "Will you tell me
later, though?" My curiosity was sufficiently piqued.
"Yes, later," Bella replied in relief as she leaned into my body, relying on me for support for just a
second. She then straightened back up and pulled down on her jacket, fidgeting nervously.
"Well let's get our food and sit down," Angela suggested. "Some people look like they're starting to
wonder why we're just standing here. Besides, I want all of you to meet Ben."
She led us over to the table of food and told us to help ourselves before her. Alice and Jasper picked
up blue plastic plates and napkins and headed down the buffet while I waited behind Bella. I had just
picked up my plate when I heard Alice say to Bella, "You know, he's staring at you."
"Awesome," Bella replied sarcastically, making an effort to keep her eyes on the table and not look
behind her.
I, however, turned, wanting to figure out who this damn Jake guy was. There was more than one set
of eyes staring at Bella, but thanks to these handy nametags, I was able to search and try to match a
pair of staring eyes to a nametag that read 'Jake.' After a few trial-and-errors, I found him. He had
dark skin, obviously of Native American ancestry, and black hair that was cut short. His nametag read
'Jacob Black.' After looking at him for a few seconds, his eyes turned from Bella and flickered to mine
before swiftly turning back to the table and his plate of food.
I turned back to Angela, just to be sure. "Is that him? The Native American one?" I whispered quietly,
pointing subtly to the man.
"He's from the Quileute rez, and yes," Angela whispered in response before giving me a smile that
almost seemed sympathetic in nature. I couldn't be sure, though.
I caught up with Bella, placing random portions of the different foods onto my plate as I quickly went
through the line, and I followed her to the empty table at which Alice and Jasper had sat down. Bella
picked a chair that would face directly away from her ex and sat down.
"Not hungry?" I asked, sitting down next to her and looking at the plate which barely had any food on
it whatsoever.
"I lost my appetite," she muttered but with a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine."
"Okay," I replied, trying not to sound too concerned. I began to eat, and I took one bite of my food
before realizing that we never got any drinks, Bella included. "I'm going to get something to drink.
What can I get for you?" I asked her.
"Just some water would be great, thanks," she replied gratefully.
I stood up and made my way over to the table on the other side of the room that held a wide
assortment of beverages. I grabbed two blue Solo cups and filled them with ice before finding the
pitcher of water. Just as I was about to pour the water into one of the cups, a couple of women
approached the table to get refills of their drinks.
"Did you see that Bella's actually here?" one of them asked. I immediately slowed the pouring and
listened in to their conversation. "I didn't think she would come. Have you seen her since
graduation?"
"I saw her once a few years ago," the other woman responded. "I knew that she was in L.A. so I called
her up when I was down there. We met for lunch, but that's pretty much it. She doesn't ever come
up here anymore."
"Well she looks good," the first woman continued. "But anything would be an improvement from
how she looked at the end of high school. I looked back through my pictures with Mike the other
day, and of course she was in some of them. She looked as pale as a ghost and a bit too thin for her
own good."
"Well she had broken up with her boyfriend a couple months before," the second woman pointed
out. "It was hard on her, obviously. I mean, they had been together for over a year."
"But it was her fault," the first woman continued. "I sort of feel sorry for Jacob that Bella's here. It
must be awkward for him. But it was ten years ago. They've both moved on. At least they should
have."
"Jess, I don't think we still know the whole story of what happened," the second woman defended
Bella. "Who knows whose fault it was?" And with that, I automatically liked her more than the first
woman, or Jess, apparently. "Anyway, we should probably go and say hello soon. I haven't seen Alice
in ten years either."
And with their cups sufficiently refilled, they turned and returned to the area of tables. I picked up
my and Bella's cups and also returned to our table, trying to ignore the curious looks that I received
as I passed by the others. By the time I made it to our table, Angela was there with a man whom I
presumed was her fiancé.
"Your water, miss," I told Bella, placing the cup next to her plate before taking my seat.
"Thank you," she replied appreciatively. "That took you a while."
"Yeah, it took me a while to pour the drinks," I fibbed, picking up my fork and returning to my food.
"And this is Bella' boyfriend, Edward," Angela spoke, and I looked up to see her talking to the man
sitting next to her. "Edward, this is my fiancé, Ben."
I stood up and reached my hand across the table. "It's nice to meet you," I told him as he shook my
hand firmly and then I sat back down.
"And what do you do?" Ben asked, wiping his mouth with his napkin and then placing it back on his
lap.
"I'm a musician," I replied simply.
"Oh really? Are you signed or anything?" Ben asked interestedly.
I chuckled. "Not quite. I'm trying, but until that happens, my career isn't really going anywhere," I
informed him. "I work at Starbucks, though. It's not the greatest job in the world, but I have no
regrets. I met Bella because I worked there." I reached my arm up and placed my hand on Bella's
shoulder, and I watched as Bella's cheeks colored.
"Edward, why didn't you tell us you were a musician?" Alice asked excitedly. "Well I guess I did only
meet you fifteen minutes ago, and Bella never told me anything about you." She eyed Bella
suspiciously. "But this is all too perfect! It's kismet! Jasper, tell him what you do!"
Jasper chuckled. "I only work in the Creative Department, but I work at Sire Records in New York. I
obviously don't personally sign people, but I know other people within the company. If you want to
get a demo of yours to me sometime, I'll put it on the right desk for you," he offered.
"You've got to be shitting me," was my first reaction. "Sire Records? Don't you guys have Jack's
Mannequin and Regina Spektor?"
"We do," Jasper replied with a smirk. "And no, I'm completely serious."
I couldn't keep the surprised grin off my face. This could be it; this could be the break that I had been
waiting for. "And you would really consider showing my demo to someone?"
"As long as you don't sound really awful," Jasper replied. "But I know how hard it is to try and break
into the music industry. It's a tough market, and you can use all the help you can get. And you seem
like a decent guy."
I grinned and then nearly jumped in surprise when I felt Bella's hand on my knee. "Edward, that's so
great!" she exclaimed happily, and I was pleased that a true smile had reappeared on her previously
anguished face.
Unfortunately, the smile quickly disappeared as we both heard a "Hey, Bella," behind us. I looked
over my shoulder quickly and saw that it was Jacob. Glancing back at the others at our table, I
realized that this man had to have balls of steel to approach us. Both Alice and Angela were glaring at
him like he had killed their most beloved pets, and Jasper and Ben obviously knew enough not to
smile at this visitor. It was a table of pure hatred, and yet he had to come over and say hello.
Bella stayed turned away from him for a couple of seconds, taking a deep breath. Then she turned in
her chair and faced him for the first time. "Jacob," she said flatly, her eyes narrowed slightly. "I didn't
know that I would be seeing you here."
"Lauren asked me to come with her," he replied. "In my defense, I didn't know you would be here
either."
"Well it is my high school reunion and not yours," Bella pointed out. "So you're seeing Lauren now?"
"Yeah, we've been hanging out," Jake responded with a shrug. "Who's this guy?" He pointed a thumb
towards me.
"This is Edward, my boyfriend," Bella replied, placing her hand on my thigh. "So Lauren… Huh. Last I
heard, you were engaged to someone named Vanessa," she said accusingly. "I guess that didn't work
out. Shame. So tell me, did she have the good sense to leave your ass or did you leave her without
ever calling her again?"
"You know, I came over here to say hello," Jake replied without exactly answering the question, "not
to be bitched out by you. What's the saying? Time heals all wounds. Apparently that's not true."
"No," Bella replied strongly. "You're right. It's not completely true. I don't have to be civil to you, and
I don't even have to talk to you. In fact, I would rather not talk to you at all." She stood up suddenly,
placing the napkin that was on her lap onto her plate. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find the
ladies' room." She then walked quickly away from the table and through the doors that we had
previously entered.
"Always the drama queen," Jacob remarked with a shake of his head.
I stood up quickly, knocking the table gently. I had hoped to overshadow him, but unfortunately he
was the same height as me. "I suggest you leave," I told him. "And don't bother Bella ever again."
Jacob raised his hands up in surrender. "Dude, she's not even worth it," he said before turning and
walking away. I sat back down angrily. No wonder Bella hated him. He was an asshole.
"I'm going to check on Bella," Alice said, standing up. "You boys, er, talk music or something. Come
on, Angela. Once again, Bella needs us."
BPOV
I escaped the banquet hall, successfully finding the ladies' room near the lobby and swinging open
the door to enter. Thankfully the restroom was completely empty. I walked towards the sinks and
rested my hands on the countertop, looking at my reflection through the mirror in front of me.
I couldn't believe that Jacob had the gall to come and say hello after everything he had done to me.
The hatred still boiled in my veins, and the tears that I had been holding back finally released,
streaming softly down my red cheeks.
I hated him, but what I hated even more was that he affected me in this way. I wished that I could be
indifferent to him, to be able to hold a civil conversation and not give a damn about him.
Unfortunately my emotions towards Jake were always in the extremes. At this moment, I hated him
more than anyone else in my entire life. But eleven years ago, I had loved him deeply.
"Hey Bella!" Charlie had called up the stairs that day in early October after I had just moved to Forks.
"There are some people here I want you to meet! Come on downstairs!"
"Alright, Dad!" I shouted back from my room. "I'll be down in a second."
I had only moved in the day before, and my suitcases were still thrown onto the floor, clothes strewn
about the room before I got around to putting anything in a permanent place. Needless to say, the
house in Forks was much different than the house I had lived in with Renee in Phoenix. The house
seemed to have been built in the 1940s or something, and there was only one small bathroom on the
upper level of the house that I would have to share with Charlie. Thus, it wasn't my idea of an
awesome house.
I threw the paperback novel that I was reading onto the bed, and I made my way downstairs,
wondering which new friends I would have to meet first. I would have to start school the next day,
and I was already dreading that with all of my being. I didn't know why I would have to use my last
day of peace meeting more people. Making introductions was something that I despised.
I followed the sound of voices into the kitchen, and I found my father with a Native American man in a
wheelchair and a teenager who I supposed was his son. I stood there in silence, waiting for someone
else to make an introduction. "Bella," Charlie started, "this is my good friend Billy Black, and this is his
son Jacob."
I raised my hand awkwardly in a wave. "It's nice to meet you."
"Jacob's a few months younger than you, but he's only a sophomore," Charlie continued. "You
probably don't remember, but when your mother used to bring you up here to visit when you were
little, you two played together sometimes."
I nodded my head. "You're right, I don't remember," I said with a chuckle. I turned to Jacob. "Do you
go to Forks High?" I asked him. It would be nice if I already knew someone at the school, even if it was
someone in the grade below me. But even though he was supposedly younger than me, he looked
older. He already stood at least six inches above me.
"No," he replied. "I go to the school on the rez. The Quileute reservation…"
"Oh, okay," I told him with a nod.
"Well we're going to the living room to watch the baseball game," Charlie said, standing up from the
kitchen chair and walking over to Billy. "You kids do whatever." He rolled Billy from the kitchen,
leaving me and Jacob together.
"I guess this is their way of making sure we become friends," Jacob remarked with a laugh. "So you
just moved here from Phoenix, right?" He took a seat at the kitchen table and I followed suit.
"Right. It's certainly different there than it is here. Almost complete opposites. Here it's cold and rainy.
In Arizona, it was always warm and sunny. I think I might go into shock or something," I told him.
"Why did you move up here?" he asked curiously. "I mean, your junior year of high school is a random
age to decide to suddenly switch custody."
I shrugged. "Well, my mom wanted to be with her husband, Phil, and I felt like I was tying her down
from doing what she really wanted. It was my decision to move up here. I don't regret it." That was a
bit of fib. Most of me wished that I could have taken it all back, but the choice was made, and I was
not going to change my mind.
Jacob laughed, calling my bluff. "You've only been here one day and you're already complaining about
the cold and the rain. You hate it here already."
"Like you said, I've only been here one day. I can't hate something that quickly."
Jacob smiled. "Okay, okay. I believe you. So, Bella, what are your hobbies? What do you like to do in
your free time?"
"I read," I replied, saying the first thing that popped into my head. I started racking my brain, thinking
of more hobbies to relate to him, but I fell short. I didn't play any sports as I was completely
uncoordinated. I wasn't really involved in any clubs. The only television I watched was that new Buffy
the Vampire Slayer show. There really wasn't anything else besides going to school and doing
homework. "Yeah, that's about it."
"That's it?" Jacob asked incredulously. "You read?"
"What's wrong with reading?" I asked defensively.
"There's nothing wrong with reading," he said, "but it's gotta be a bit boring if that's all you do."
"Okay, well what do you do in your free time?" I asked him challengingly.
"I fix up old cars," he started. "I go cliff diving. I listen to music… well, good music. I watch horror
movies. I also play hockey sometimes." He smiled victoriously. "Now do you want to try this again,
Bella? You're going to be asked the hobby question at least once this week, I assure you, and you
need to know how to answer it and sound like you actually have a life."
"I have a life," I protested.
"Then tell me what it is," Jacob told me.
"Fine. I like to read. I also like to listen to music, preferably alternative or rock music. When I lived in
Phoenix, my friends and I liked to hang out at this coffee shop down the street. We didn't drink coffee,
but it was a really cool place to hang out. Um, I watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I also like taking
walks," I elaborated. "How was that?"
"Much better," he replied with a smile. "So I bet you're glad that you have a car to drive to school
tomorrow."
I looked at him in confusion. "What car?" I asked. "I don't have a car."
Jacob glanced toward the living room where the baseball game was on television and then looked
back at me with an amusing grimace on his face. "Cat's out of the bag, I see," he told me. "It's not a
car, it's a truck really, and an old truck at that. It was ours before we got a new one. I put the new
engine in myself. Runs as good as new."
"You're giving me a truck?"
"Well, Charlie is. It's outside now. I thought he had already told you about it, but I guess he hasn't…"
Jacob trailed off, wondering if he had said too much.
I stood up from the kitchen table and walked through the kitchen to the hallway and then out the
front door. I was only wearing a short-sleeve t-shirt, so the chilliness in the air surprised me as I left
and skipped down the couple of steps.
I immediately saw it in the driveway, the old red Chevy truck. It looked like it hadn't seen a paint job in
about fifteen years, but it looked good otherwise. It was a lot different than the old, two-seater that I
had driven around down in Phoenix, but I loved it. It had character.
I heard footsteps behind me, and I turned to see Jacob following me outside. "What do you think?" he
asked as I ran my hand over the hood and looked into the interior.
"It's awesome," I said. "You said you put the engine in yourself?" I didn't know much about cars, but I
knew enough that I wasn't completely ignorant.
"Yeah," he replied. "You do know how to drive a stick, right?"
I nodded my head. I had hated it when Phil taught me, but it turned out being a useful skill.
Jacob opened the side door and the front hood popped up as he pushed or pulled something inside.
He lifted the hood, and I looked down at the contents, not knowing what anything was at all. Still, I
was just impressed that he knew what he was doing. He went on about the engine and a catalytic
converter or something, and I just nodded along, pretending that I knew what he was going on about.
Finally we headed back inside, and I walked towards the living room where Charlie and Billy were
watching the game, cans of beer in their hands. "Jacob showed me the truck," I told Charlie as he
turned after seeing me enter the room. "Thank you so much. It's really more than I ever could have
asked for."
Charlie muted the game. "It's not a problem," he replied. "I figure you wouldn't want to be driven
around in my cruiser or have to hitch rides to school. Now you can get to school tomorrow without
embarrassment."
"I wouldn't have been embarrassed if you took me," I lied. I would have definitely been embarrassed,
but I would never have told him that. "And thank you too, Billy."
"Thank Jacob over there," he replied, motioning to his son who was standing behind me. "It'd still be a
piece of shit rotting in the yard if he hadn't done all that work on it."
I chuckled. "Well I'll let you get back to the game," I told them before leaving the room and heading
back to the kitchen. I sat back down at the table with Jacob. "Well thank you."
"It was my pleasure, seriously," he replied. "I love tinkering around with that kind of stuff. Have you
ever done anything like that?"
I laughed. "Definitely not," I replied. "But that doesn't mean I'm against checking it out."
"Well maybe you can come over sometime," Jacob suggested. "Maybe I can add another hobby to
that list of yours."
I smiled. "That sounds like a plan," I told him.
From that moment on, we were friends. I started accompanying Charlie whenever he would head
down the La Push to watch the games or fish with Billy, and Jacob would show me around the garage.
He taught me basics that I probably did need to know – how to change a flat tire, how to tell if the oil
needed to be changed.
Eventually, I started heading down the La Push without Charlie, though. We kept tinkering around in
the garage, but we started to do other stuff as well. He showed me the cliffs along the beach, where a
lot of the Quileute teens liked to dive, and some of the tribal burial grounds. As winter arrived and the
snow began to fall, he would take me sledding and we would have snowball fights. Even though I was
making friends at school, Jacob was my best friend of them all. He was sweet, caring, innocent, and
funny. I had the best time when I was around him.
But even though we were best friends, I was always attracted to him. I mean, who wouldn't be? He
was very handsome with his sharp features, gorgeous brown eyes, and brilliant smile. He was also
ridiculously charming when he wanted to be. Soon our friendly outings began to gradually become
more serious. We would go out and see movies together. He would take me out to dinner, always
insisting on paying. We started holding hands and becoming more affectionate towards one another.
Then, on one night in late February, after we had seen this terrible monster movie, Jake drove me
back to my house, and that was the first time that he had kissed me. It was then that I knew that I
had fallen in love with him. Of course, I didn't tell him that early, but I knew deep down in my heart
that I was in love.
I was startled from my thoughts as I heard the door swing open, and I watched as Alice and Angela
made their way toward me. "Are you okay?" Alice asked concernedly, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Jake's an ass. You were perfectly right in telling him off."
"I'm fine now," I replied, wiping away the remaining tears from beneath my eyes. "Did Jacob say
anything after I left?"
"Nothing that you need to worry yourself about," Alice replied. "But I really like Edward. Anyone who
stands up for you is a winner in my book."
"He stood up to Jake?" I asked, my heart hopeful at the thought that Edward really did care. I was
beginning to appreciate his presence on this trip even more and more. "Good. I wish Jake would just
leave. I can't believe he still makes me feel so crazy," I cried. "It's frustrating. I don't want to care!"
"Honey, some wounds take longer to heal than others," Angela said, comfortingly. "Just give it some
more time."
"What were you thinking about when we came in?" Alice asked curiously. "I'm pretty sure I saw a
smile on your face. Was it about Edward?"
"Actually, I was thinking about the nice, good, innocent Jake that I fell in love with eleven years ago,"
I confessed. "I just wish I could see that side of him again sometimes. Not that I want to be back with
him. I don't. At all. But I don't get why he still acts so horrible."
"Bella, listen. Jacob doesn't have dissociative identities where one minute he's sweet and innocent
and the next he's a vile douche bag. He's not Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Angela told me somewhat
harshly. "He changed Bella. For good. You know that, and we all know that. The only time Jake is ever
pleasant is when he turns on that charm that so many people, including your father, fall for. But if
you're still yearning for the same seventeen year old you fell in love with, he's never going to show
up. Besides, you have Edward now, and I can assure you that he is a million times better than Jacob
ever was. I can already tell, and I've only known him for fifteen minutes."
"You're right," I told her. "And I do know that about Jake and about Edward. Jake's a little shit and
Edward is, well, amazing. But just because I hate him doesn't mean it's easy to be around him. It still
hurts."
"It's been ten years," Alice said with a 'you have got to be crazy' look on her face.
"Five," I mouthed to myself. Luckily, neither Alice nor Angela heard anything. I hadn't told them
about what happened with Jake five years ago, and I really didn't want to. Especially not now.
"Anyways, that doesn't matter," Alice continued. "Do you think you're going to be okay now? You still
look great. Your eyes are a bit red, but it's not that noticeable. It'll go away within five minutes."
"Yeah," I told her and Angela with a reassuring smile. I looked into the mirror and wiped under my
eyes one last time, before turning and following them out of the restroom.
But despite everything, I knew that Alice was right. I needed to move on and heal. And in my inner-
most thoughts, I hoped that maybe Edward would help me with that.
EPOV
"Absolutely not. The Rolling Stones are so much better than Pink Floyd," Jasper was disagreeing with
Ben in our discussion of which band had more of an influence on the music scene in the 1970s. I had
voiced my own particular thoughts on the subject, but Ben and Jasper had narrowed it down to these
two bands and were currently debating it thoroughly.
The debate suddenly stopped, however, as their eyes turned up to the door that was located behind
my shoulder. I turned my head back to see, wondering if Bella had returned from her escape to the
ladies' room. I saw that, indeed, she had.
Bella entered the room a little bit behind Alice and Angela. I watched as her eyes scanned the room
and as she spotted Jacob Black who was still sitting at his table, his arm wrapped around some blond
chick that looked like she wanted to be on "The Real Housewives of Orange County" television show.
Bella spotted them, and her eyes lingered for only a moment before they turned and met my gaze.
She then smiled at me, a smile that reached her eyes as she looked into my eyes, a smile that took
my breath away.
I could swear that my heart nearly stopped beating in those next few seconds. The ambient noises
from around the room were muted as I returned her smile and continued gazing into her beautiful
chocolate brown eyes. Within seconds, however, the connection was broken as Bella looked to Alice,
who was speaking to her about something. I turned my head forward, looking down at my empty
plate as I heard the three women return to the table.
Bella pulled out the chair from next to me and sat back down, taking another deep breath as she
settled in. "Are you okay?" I asked as I turned to look at her face more closely. I could just barely tell
that the rims of her eyelids were swollen and red, as if she had been crying, and I felt a renewed
surge of anger course through me, knowing that that Black character caused her unhappiness.
She nodded with a reassuring smile. "Yeah. I'm fine, thanks," Bella replied quietly. "He just makes me
so angry and I had to get away from him." I watched as she bit her bottom lip softly before releasing
it again to speak. "I heard that you stood up for me. I can't even imagine what he said, but thank
you." She reached over and took my hand into hers, stretching open my clenched fist with her
delicate fingers before interlacing them with mine.
Bella turned back to the others, but her hand was still entwined with mine, her thumb gently
caressing mine, rubbing back and forth. "So what did I miss?" she asked Jasper and Ben, who had
both turned back to eating their food since the arrival of their significant others.
Jasper smirked and wiped his mouth with his napkin before leaning back in his chair. "Bella, which
band is better? The Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd?" he asked her.
Bella laughed for a second before answering. "The Stones," she replied. "Why?"
Jasper looked back over at Ben victoriously, but Ben just shook his head. "Dude, that wasn't even the
question," he told Jasper. "It's not about which band was better. It's about the influence."
"So this is what you guys were talking about?" Bella asked me as Jasper and Ben continued their
debate, even bringing it to a vote with Alice and Angela.
I was about to answer affirmatively when I heard a "Hey guys!" from behind us. Bella and I both
turned, and I saw the two women whom I had overheard talking about Bella at the drinks table only
ten minutes before, the curly brunette who said something about Bella's breakup with Jake being her
fault and the shorter, thinner blond who had stood up for Bella. I briefly wondered if they hadn't
recognized me standing so close to them at the table or if they were just unaware of how loudly they
actually spoke.
Bella stood up with a smile on her face, and her hand regretfully pulled away from mine as she
walked a couple steps closer to them. My hand suddenly felt cold in its solitude. "Hey!" she said
happily, giving each of them a hug hello. "I can't believe I haven't seen either of you in ten years. You
both look great."
I watched as Bella pulled away from the hugs, and the blond looked at her oddly. "I saw you five
years ago, Bella," she said. "Of course, it was only for lunch. Do you remember when Tanner and I
came down to L.A. for vacation with the kids? While he took them to the zoo, I met you for lunch. We
went to some place in Hollywood, I think."
Even from this angle, I could see the red shade of embarrassment pass over Bella's face as she
realized that she had completely forgotten about meeting her friend. "Right!" Bella exclaimed after a
few moments' thought. "I forgot about that for a while. That was when we saw Jonathan Taylor
Thomas walking down the street, right?"
The woman nodded. "JTT! Oh my gosh, I was so excited!" she continued. "And then you had to
dissuade me from being an obsessed fan girl and rushing over to him. You know, I had a lot of fun. I
can't believe I haven't seen you since then, though. What's new with you?"
Bella turned and beckoned me to her. I got up from the table and stood next to Bella, awaiting the
introductions. "Well, this is my boyfriend, Edward. He's the newest thing in my life," she told both of
the women. "Edward, this is Caroline," she gestured to the blond, "and Jessica," she gestured to the
brunette who stood next to her. "I told you about them."
I watched as they both looked up at me and nodded their heads in obvious approval. "It's very nice to
meet you," Jessica said, finally breaking the awkward silence and extending her hand. "And what do
you do?"
"It's nice to meet you too. Bella's told me quite a bit about you two. As for me, I'm a musician," I told
them simply.
Jessica scoffed and then chuckled. "Leave it to Bella to find the perfect man," she said.
"You mean Mike's not the perfect man?" Bella asked, and I could hear the humor hidden in the tone
of her voice.
"Hardly," Jessica replied. Something caught her eye and she looked away for a moment. "Oh,
speaking of the devil himself…"
I turned my head and watched as a man with blond hair and a baby face approached our small group.
He wore an olive green polo shirt that clashed badly with the paleness of his skin. He looked like he
was almost sick, but I didn't know if he always looked like that or not. He came up and placed his
hand on the shoulder of his wife, but he continued to look only at Bella, smiling.
"Hey girl," he said, nodding his head at Bella. "So Bella's back, I see."
Bella smirked and nodded. "Yes Mike, Bella is back. But only for a couple of days." She bit her lip,
holding back a chuckle. "Jessica and I were actually just talking about how much you're the perfect
husband." Jessica rolled her eyes at this. "So, Mike, what are you doing these days?"
Mike stuffed his hands into the pockets of his khakis and stuck out his chest a little bit more proudly.
"I'm the CEO of Newton's Outfitters. You know we opened another branch in Seiku a few years ago,"
Mike replied, clearing proud of his accomplishments.
Jessica shook her head. "He's a manager," she corrected him. "There is no CEO position."
Mike scowled at his wife before turning back to Bella and then glancing at me. "Hi, I'm Mike," he told
me, extending his hand and then shaking mine. "You are Edward?" He looked down at the nametag
on my chest. "Or Bella's Bitch?"
I laughed. "Either one will do," I told him, remembering for the first time the alias that I had written
on the nametag. I was surprised that he was the first to bring it up, though.
"Bella's Bitch, then," Mike replied with a laugh before turning to Bella. "So Bells, what do you do?
Saving the world, maybe?"
"Well… I invented Post-Its," Bella replied with a surprisingly straight face, but as for myself, I couldn't
help the burst of laughter that escaped from my lips. Caroline and Jessica too, I could see, were also
smiling and chortling in amusement.
"Oh my God, I was obsessed with that movie when it came out in high school, remember? When it
came out on VHS I made you watch it with me how many times? Twenty?" Jessica asked Bella. "I
can't believe we're now in the same position as Romy and Michele. I feel so old."
Mike laughed along with everyone else before his smile eventually disappeared. "So did you really
invent Post-Its?" he asked Bella seriously.
I watched in amusement as Jessica rolled her eyes again and shook her head. "Oh my God. I am
married to an idiot," she said aloud to no one in particular. Then she turned to Mike. "Mike, Post-Its
have been around since before we were born, you moron. Of course Bella didn't invent them."
"Why do you always have to do this, Jess?" he asked her angrily. "Belittle me in front of people. Our
friends, strangers, it doesn't matter."
"I don't belittle you, Mike," she replied, her hands placed on her hips confrontationally. "You belittle
yourself by acting stupid. I merely point 'em out."
Mike grabbed Jessica's arm strongly, but she smacked it away. "Don't you dare touch me like that!"
she whispered back to him fiercely. She glanced back at Bella and me, who were both looking on in
horror. "Excuse us." It was her turn to grab Mike's arm as she dragged him away from the table and
towards the door.
"Um… don't worry about them," Caroline told us after a few moments of silence. "They fight like cats
and dogs and then make up a couple hours later… just in time to do it all over again."
"She can't be happy," Bella remarked, looking at the door through which Jessica and Mike had just
exited.
"I don't think so," Caroline replied concernedly. "But she's adamant about making it work. I think she
still loves him overall."
"Well please tell me your own marriage isn't that bad," Bella pleaded with Caroline. "Where is Tanner
anyway? Are your kids here?"
"We are definitely not that bad. We're quite happy, actually. And let me see, Tanner is," she turned
her head and looked into the crowd, "still sitting with Eric watching the baseball game on his phone.
That's what I get for making him go somewhere with me on a Saturday. And the kids are at my
mom's house. I figured that this environment would just bore them, and you probably wouldn't
appreciate them picking fights with each other and then crying. But we're taking them to the picnic
tomorrow. You can see them then. Stephanie is almost eight and Mark is six."
"I can't believe you have an eight year old," Bella remarked, shaking her head. "I didn't feel old until
right now."
"Tell me about it," Caroline replied. "I teach kindergarten at Forks Elementary, and you would be
surprised at the number of kids I've taught whose parents we went to school with." She looked down
at her hands and fiddled with the ring on her finger for a second before continuing. "So I saw your
dad yesterday. He came to the school for the career day they were having with the older kids. Is he
sick? He looked kind of pale and a bit thinner than when I last saw him a few months ago."
I turned to see Bella's reaction to this bit of new information. I didn't even know her father and yet
this piece of news was concerning to me. As I expected, Bella blanched, her eyes widening slightly.
"Um, I don't know," she replied shakily. "I haven't seen him or talked to him in a while. You haven't
heard otherwise, have you?"
Caroline shook her head. "It's probably nothing. I was just wondering if you knew anything…" She
looked away from Bella and down at the floor. "Well I'm going to go make sure Jessica isn't
murdering Mike right now. I'll see you later, okay? Edward, it was very nice meeting you."
Bella stayed silent, her eyes fixed at a spot on the wall in the distance. "It was nice to meet you,
Caroline," I told her before she left, in search of Jessica and Mike. I turned back to Bella who was still
standing there, shocked as if she had just seen a ghost. I took both of her hands in mine, maybe
selfishly as they now constantly yearned for her touch, but hopefully in a comforting gesture to her
as well. "Bella, it's going to be alright. Maybe he had a cold or the flu."
She finally looked away from the spot on the wall and up into my eyes so that I could see the tears
that were threatening to fall down her cheeks. "But what if he isn't alright?" she asked me quietly.
"What if… oh my God, what if he has cancer or something and I don't know about it because I've
been the worst daughter ever who doesn't even call him to check in?"
Bella quickly pulled her hands out of mine. I felt disheartened for only a moment before she leaned
forward and wrapped her arms around my torso, pressing her face into my neck as she embraced
me. I rested my hands on her back, rubbing the top of her back gently through her jacket. "It's gonna
be okay," I whispered into her ear. "I'm here for you."
"Bella, what's wrong?" I suddenly heard Alice asked concernedly. She and Jasper had left earlier to go
speak with some other couple, and they had just now returned to the table to see Bella nearly crying
into my shoulder. "If that bastard did something else, I will give him more than a piece of my mind.
He'll get a piece of my fist too. Or I will find a baseball bat and he can have a piece of that."
Bella released herself from our embrace and looked back over to Alice before taking a deep breath.
"It has nothing to do with Jacob," she told Alice, shaking her head. "But I really need to call Charlie."
She bent over to retrieve the purse that she had placed on the floor by her seat and opened it,
finding the mobile phone with shaky hands. "Excuse me for a minute," she said, starting to walk
away.
"Do you want me to come with you?" I asked her before she had a chance to leave.
She stopped and looked back at me for a moment, deciding whether or not she wanted to make the
phone call alone. "You know what? Yes. I want you with me," Bella told me, her eyes still a bit red
from the tears. "I can do this alone, but I think I'd rather not for once."
She slipped her hand into mine as we walked away from the table and back through the banquet
hall, past the tables of Bella's classmates and their families. I glanced over and saw Jacob Black catch
my eye, giving me a hateful sneer. I still didn't understand what this guy's problem was. Even though
he said that Bella wasn't worth it, he sure was caring an awful lot. Was he over her? Maybe not. Was
she over him? I wished that I could say yes, but I wasn't so sure.
BPOV
I walked as quickly as I could out of the banquet hall and into the hotel lobby, my mobile phone in
one hand and Edward's warm, comforting hand in the other. Once in the lobby, I glanced around,
wondering where I wanted to go to make this phone call to Charlie. I spotted Mike and Jessica in a far
corner and knew that I didn't want to head that way. I then saw the glass French doors that led out
onto a large porch on the back of the lodge that overlooked the Pacific Ocean, and I knew that I
wanted to go outside. Fresh air would be good.
I led Edward to the doors and he opened one of them for me, letting me go through first. It was a bit
chilly outside, the fairly strong breeze coming from the ocean, whipping my hair back and cooling me
down. It was still overcast outside, the gray clouds extending all the way to the horizon where it met
the dark blue water. To my surprise, the porch area was completely empty with no guests in sight. I
walked over to a piece of patio furniture that was the size of a loveseat and sat down, Edward sitting
next to me, still holding my hand.
Once seated, I flipped open the phone with my thumb and scrolled through the phone book until it
reached Charlie Home. I hit the call button, holding the phone up to my ear as it rang. And it rang.
And it rang. And it rang. And it rang.
"Voicemail," I whispered to Edward, hanging up only after hearing the generic woman's voice saying,
'Hello, you've reached…' I shifted in my seat. "He's probably working. I'll try his cell."
I scrolled back through the list of numbers, coming to Charlie Cell and hitting the call button once
more. This time, though, the phone only rang twice before it was answered.
"Hello?" I heard my father's voice for the first time, and I immediately felt even guiltier for not
staying in touch. For blaming him. For associating him with everything bad that had happened.
"Hi, Dad, it's Bella. How are you?" I asked, unable to figure out what else there was to say without
immediately jumping to my concerns about his health. I felt Edward squeeze my hand gently as I
began the conversation.
Charlie cleared his throat before answering. "I'm doing pretty well," he said, his voice having the
same characteristic gruffness that I had gotten so used to during my time in Forks. "How are you?"
"Pretty well," I replied. "I'm actually in Forks. I came up for the reunion that's this weekend."
"Oh right. Angela told me about that a few weeks ago," said Charlie. "Are you having fun?"
"Sort of," I told him honestly. "Listen, Dad, I wanted to know if I can drop by sometime today. I
haven't seen you in forever. I also brought someone up with me, and I want you to meet him."
"You haven't gotten married, have you?" I heard Charlie ask, catching me off my guard.
"No," I replied with a scoff. "I would have told you if I were getting married. You know I would have
wanted you to be there."
"I don't know that, Bella," Charlie replied unexpectedly. "You never stay in touch. I call your office
every few months and your assistant always tells me that you're busy and that you'll call me back,
but you never do. You changed your cell phone number years ago, and I don't have the new one.
Well I guess I do now that you've called. But I haven't talked to you in years and now you want to just
come over?"
My heart broke as I heard the hardness in his voice. I pulled my legs up onto the seat and pulled my
knees in towards my chest. The tears that I had been holding in finally released as they spilled down
my cheeks and onto my denim-covered knees. Edward let go of my hand and placed his arm around
my shoulder instead as I leaned into him.
I couldn't help the sobs that erupted from my throat, the sounds going into the receiver. "P-please," I
asked my father over the phone. "I just want to come over a-and see that you're okay." I stopped,
taking a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down. I felt Edward rub my shoulder comfortingly,
and surprisingly, I did feel better.
The other side of the line was quiet for several seconds as I waited for Charlie's reply. "Bella, I'm
sorry," he finally responded with a sigh. "I'm having a bad day at the station and I'm taking it out on
you. Sorry about that. I'm afraid today isn't good, though. After I finish up here, I'm heading over to
Billy's. Can you come over tomorrow afternoon? I'll, uh, cook up some of the fish that I catch
tonight."
I smiled at the thought and wiped the tears from under my eyes. "Since when did you learn how to
cook?" I asked. I was the one who constantly cooked for the both of us when I lived up here in Forks.
Charlie always managed to burn absolutely everything that he ever tried to cook.
"Since you left me here all alone and it was either learn how to cook or spend too much money at
the diner for every single meal," Charlie answered, and once again, I didn't miss the accusation.
"Alright. I'll stop by tomorrow afternoon," I told him. "Oh, I have one more question. Are you okay?
Like, you're not sick, are you?" I thought back to Caroline's concern. Thin and pale, she said. Well he
was always pale; I had gotten that physical attribute from him. But he was never very thin.
"Bella, go back to your friends and enjoy yourself," he replied, avoiding the question. "Don't worry
about me. I'll see you tomorrow. Now, I have to go. Bye." He hung up the phone before I had a
chance to reply, so I closed the phone, dropping it onto the seat cushion next to me.
"Well?" Edward asked as I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the feeling of being so close to Edward.
"He avoided my last question," I replied, my eyes still shut. "I guess I'll find out tomorrow." I rested
my head on Edward's shoulder, and I didn't want to move for the life of me. "Do you mind if we stay
out here for a little while longer? I don't want to go back inside just now."
"Not at all," Edward replied, readjusting his arm around my shoulder so that it wasn't pinned
between my body and the seat back. I took a deep breath and relaxed, listening to the sounds of the
waves crashing onto the small beach below, of the cawing seabirds, and of Edward's rhythmic
breathing.
I appreciated him being here. Although I thought back to the moment and always cringed in utter
embarrassment, asking Edward to go to this reunion with me might have been the single best
decision in my entire life thus far. There was no way I could have done this alone. I guess Alice and
Angela would have been here, but it wouldn't have been the same; they had Jasper and Ben to take
up their time and attention.
I would have been alone, and Jake probably would have somehow weaseled his way back into my life
again, asking me to give him yet another chance. But Jake took his second chance years ago and
fucked it up, and there was no way in hell he was ever going to get a third chance, no matter how
much charm he threw at me.
Someone deserved a third chance, though, and that was my father. He was at fault, but so was I. If I
had made more of a point of building a good father-daughter relationship with him. If I had just
sucked it up and told him the truth instead of letting him believe the lies that were being spread. If I
hadn't given up on a relationship with him and hadn't shut him out of my life. But I had already made
the decisions that brought me to my current situation, and there was no going back.
"He blames me," I told Edward, breaking the silence after a good ten minutes of just sitting there,
thinking. "He blames me for everything."
"Who?"
"My father," I answered. "Maybe 'everything' was an exaggeration, but he blames me for a lot. I
know he blames me for all of Jacob's problems."
"Why would he care about Jacob?" Edward asked curiously.
I sighed. "Jacob is basically the son that Charlie never had. Charlie has always been best friends with
Jacob's dad, Billy. They are the best of pals, those two, always fishing or watching a game together.
So after my mother left Charlie and took me away from Forks, he was alone. But Jacob and Billy were
always there. Jake basically took my place as Charlie's child. When I moved back to Forks when I was
seventeen and Jake and I got together, Charlie was thrilled. But after we broke up, and it wasn't
exactly a painless mutual break up, he didn't really know what to do. Do you take your biological
child's side, whom you've only really known for a year and a half, or do you take your practically-
adopted child's side, whom you've known for his whole life? It's a tough decision."
"It shouldn't be a tough decision," Edward disagreed.
"But it was for him," I replied with a shrug. "I can see that now, although I don't agree with his
choice. And then with some nasty rumors, the break up apparently became my entire fault, so I
became the one to blame."
"What kind of rumors?" I heard him ask curiously. "I don't want to pry. You don't have to tell me."
I groaned, thinking back to the absolute horror that I felt when Alice first told me what Jake had
spread. I had already broken up with him and wanted to keep the reason to myself, but little did I
know that my ex-boyfriend was fueling a fire of hatred towards me.
"No, it's fine. You should probably know as my fake boyfriend. It might come up this weekend," I
replied. "So I had this lab partner for Anatomy and Physiology during the last semester of my senior
year. His name was Tyler. I don't even know what he's doing now. Last I heard he joined the Peace
Corps instead of going to college and went off to Asia or something," I explained to Edward. "But we
were friends. That was all. We spent the class period together and sometimes I would go over to his
parents' house to work on school projects or study with him. I didn't think Jake was ever jealous, at
least he never said so. So after we had broken up, you can imagine my surprise when I heard that
apparently I was cheating on Jake and hooking up with Tyler in the back of his van every single day
between lunch and fifth period for a quickie. Of course that rumor, which I eventually found out did
originate with Jake, got to Lauren Mallory who decided that she needed to make sure everyone,
including my father, knew about it.
"Anyway, I decided it was best to just ignore it. There was only a month or so of school left, so I went
into school every day, trying to hold my head high, telling myself that it would all be over soon. Still, I
couldn't miss the pointed stares and whispers that I noticed while walking past or the word 'whore'
that was etched into my locker one day. I knew it was untrue, Alice and Angela knew it was untrue,
and Tyler definitely knew it was untrue. But that was it. Even Jessica and Caroline never really knew if
it was just a rumor or the truth. I was too embarrassed to share the real reason I broke up with Jake,
so I decided that it just didn't matter what people thought.
"Still, Charlie knew. He didn't automatically believe the rumor, but after he confronted me about it
and I refused to say anything, he came to the conclusion that it must have been true. I can still
remember the look of disappointment in his eyes, not only because I was supposedly 'loose' or
whatever, but because I was the one who was disloyal to his son and broke Jake's heart." I stopped
and laughed before continuing. "You know, Jake should have moved to Hollywood and become an
actor, because he sure can act. Charlie tried a few times to get us together in an attempt to reconcile
us and play mediator, and Jake sure played the victim very convincingly. He played it so well that
even my stuttered denials sounded contrived against his supposedly-heartfelt accusations."
I buried my face in my hands, feeling the oncoming signs of a headache in my sinuses. The tears had
subsided long ago, but now my eyes felt sore and dry. I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my
eyes. I then removed my hands from my face, wiped my runny nose with the side of my hand in the
absence of a tissue, and then grimaced in disgust at having a snotty hand while Edward was right
beside me.
"I bet you're glad that you said yes to the crazy woman in Starbucks," I continued sarcastically. "I'm
an emotional basket case with daddy issues and an evil ex-boyfriend."
"That's not true," I heard Edward say, and I turned my face to look at him for the first time since I had
called Charlie. He was shaking his head gently and looking at me with sad eyes. "If I hadn't said yes,
then I never would have met you, and that would have been a shame."
EPOV
"I bet you're glad that you said yes to the crazy woman in Starbucks," Bella told me, and I could
hardly believe that she thought that I would think that she was crazy. Yes, asking me here was
probably the oddest thing that had ever happened to me, but even knowing just a smidgen of what
Bella went through during high school, I could understand why she wouldn't want to be here alone.
"I'm an emotional basket case with daddy issues and an evil ex-boyfriend."
"That's not true," I disagreed, more with her first statement than her last.
She was fairly emotional with daddy issues and an evil ex-boyfriend, but that was nothing to hold
against her. I disagreed more with the fact that she thought that I regretted coming here with her. I
swallowed nervously, deciding to disclose at least some amount of what I was feeling for her. I still
had no idea what she thought of me or if I was still just a fake accessory for her to show off to her
friends, but fuck it, something needed to be said.
"If I hadn't said yes, then I never would have met you, and that would have been a shame," I
admitted, holding her gaze.
Although I initially wasn't sure what it was that had first attracted me to her and compelled me to say
yes to this strange arrangement, now that I had had time to get to know her, I knew exactly what I
liked about her. Yes, she was a beautiful woman, but it extended to more than her physical being.
She was thoughtful and kind, had a good sense of humor, and wasn't completely self-involved. I
could tell that she cared for her friends deeply. She was also intelligent and ambitious, something
that I personally found very sexy.
Bella was silent for a few seconds after my confession, but she held my gaze strongly. I couldn't help
but glance down at her pink lips, wondering what they would feel like against mine. Suddenly, the
distance between our faces began to close. In that moment, I couldn't be sure if Bella was moving
towards me, I was moving towards her, or if it was both of us. Her eyes closed as her nose touched
the side of mine and her forehead pressed against mine. I inhaled, ready to close that inch of space.
It was then that I heard the sound of the door to the patio open and Alice ask, "Bella, are you okay?"
Bella immediately pulled away and opened her eyes, turning to face her friend, while I tried not to
mentally curse Alice for such bad timing. "Oh, I'm sorry," Alice apologized when she noticed the
moment she had interrupted.
"No, it's fine," Bella told her, wringing her hands in her lap. "What's up?"
Alice walked closer to where we were seated and stood in front of Bella. "I just wanted to make sure
everything's okay. You seemed upset in there earlier, and when you hadn't returned after half an
hour, I got worried and came to find you."
"Yeah, Alice. Everything is fine," replied Bella. "I needed to call Charlie to see when I could go see
him, and then it was just so nice outside that we decided to linger. Did we miss anything?"
Alice nodded. "Yeah, you missed the whole 'Welcome to Forks High's ten year reunion… blah blah
blah'," she went on. "Angela was the one who spoke, talking about how much things have changed in
this past decade. Then last night, they apparently voted on the 'most changed' person. Eric got that
award. And then the person who traveled the farthest to be here was Jeff, who's been doing civilian
contracting in Kuwait. But that's it. It really wasn't that special. You didn't miss much."
"Oh okay," Bella said. She then turned towards me for the first time since our almost-kiss. "I guess we
should get back inside."
"Sure," I agreed with a nod, removing my arm from her shoulders, where it had been for so long.
"Actually," Alice interrupted, "the luncheon is pretty much over. But since we have free time until
seven and there is absolutely nothing to do here, Mike and Jessica invited us over to their house for a
little while. I was wondering if you would like to join us."
Bella looked over to me for my opinion on the matter, and I shrugged. She was in charge of the
whole weekend. I was just tagging along. "Yeah, that sounds good. As long as I don't end up being the
witness to domestic violence or murder," she told Alice with a chuckle. "On Jessica's part."
"I think that's why Jessica wants people at their house this afternoon," Alice replied amusingly. "Well
I think we're actually going to leave soon and follow them to wherever they live. So… meet us in the
lobby in a minute?"
"Yeah," Bella affirmed before Alice walked back across the patio and through the door into the lodge.
Bella stood up from the seat, smoothing down her jeans and pulling at the bottom of her black
jacket. She looked into my eyes for only a second before averting them, staring out into the ocean.
"So, uh, I guess we should go. Thanks for listening to me."
I stood up also, placing my hands into the pockets of my jeans. "It wasn't a problem," I told her
truthfully. "It seemed like you needed to talk about it."
She nodded absent-mindedly. "It's been forever since I've talked about any of that. In fact, some of it
I don't think I've told anyone before. Oh God, maybe I do need therapy."
I shook my head. "I don't think you need therapy, you just shouldn't keep things to yourself so much.
Bottling up your emotions is never a good idea."
"And that's what I'm best at," Bella remarked. She then turned from the ocean back to the door.
"Well, let's get going. We don't want all of them to be waiting for us."
I followed her back inside, still feeling frustrated about being interrupted and about Bella acting fairly
awkward after we had almost kissed. I sighed. This was going to be a long day.
BPOV
"And so this is our home," Jessica told us, giving us a short tour of her and Mike's small house. They
lived close to the center of town, within walking distance of Newton's Outfitters and, I noticed, the
police station. It was small, what you would normally expect for a couple who lived in Forks with no
children.
"It's nice," I remarked. The house wasn't bad, but the fact that it was located in Forks, Washington
made me realize that I could never live like this, not in a million years. What did people even do here
in their spare time? What did I do here when I was a teenager? Oh, right. I hung out with Jacob in La
Push. Well that certainly wasn't happening again.
I sat next to Edward, and as we were supposed to be a couple, I took his hand in mine. Alice, Jasper,
Caroline, and Tanner were also at Mike's and Jessica's with us. Angela and Ben couldn't make it
because Angela said that she really needed to start setting up the high school gym for tonight's prom
and Ben was going to help. Now the eight of us were sitting in the living room, everyone either
catching up or getting to know one another.
But while they all conversed, I thought back to what had happened with Edward back at the lodge. I
still felt so embarrassed. One minute Edward was merely reassuring me that he didn't regret coming
to Forks with me, and then the next minute, I'm the one moving in to kiss him. I had to admit that I
did want it. He was so far proving to be a very amazing guy, and I was definitely attracted to him. But
at the same time, I was glad that Alice had come out before I had actually kissed him. Part of me
hoped that he felt the same way about me, but then part of me thought that that would be
ridiculous. I still wasn't sure which one I should believe.
"Bella?" The sound of my name forced me from my thoughts. "What about you?" Tanner was asking.
"Do you surf?"
Alice chuckled. "Bella surfs only if she's learned in the past few years. I'm going to bet no, though."
"Surf? Me?" I laughed nervously. "No, no. Why?"
"Someone wasn't paying attention," Jessica remarked in chastisement. "The boys want to go surfing
over in La Push as it's not raining, the swells are supposed to be good today, and they're bored out of
their minds."
I turned to Edward curiously. "You surf?" I whispered.
He smiled and squeezed my hand. "You know that I surf, love."
I nodded and smiled. "Of course I do." I turned my head back to the others. "He's an excellent
surfer."
Edward chuckled. "Well I wouldn't say that, but I'm not bad."
Mike clapped his hands together. "Great. You and Jasper can borrow my extra wetsuits. Let's see, I
have an extra board one of you can use. Tanner, can one of 'em use your extra?" he asked, getting up
and then walking down a hallway.
"Yep," Tanner replied and then turned to Caroline. "Hun, I'm going to run home for a sec to grab my
stuff. I'll be back."
"Sounds good," Caroline agreed, tossing him the car keys from her purse and then watching her
husband leave the house.
"Bella, let's go with them!" Alice exclaimed. "You know I don't surf either, but it'll be fun to go to the
beach. It'll be like old times. Caroline, you and Jess can come with us too."
Jessica laughed and shook her head. "Nope. If Mike is going there, I'm staying here. But thank you for
babysitting him for me. I can finally get stuff done without him bugging me to death. Have fun
without me, though."
Half an hour later, my rental car and Tanner's and Caroline's minivan pulled into a parking lot in front
of the beach. Alice and Jasper rode with me and Edward, while Mike rode with Tanner and Caroline.
We hopped out of the vehicles, and I pulled the windbreaker that I had borrowed from Jessica
around my torso in the wind.
Edward looked out at the surf. "This is going to be different than surfing in California," he remarked.
Jasper smirked. "At least you're used to the Pacific. East Coast surfing might as well be completely
different."
"Then it'll be an experience for both of ya," Mike replied, patting them on the shoulders. "Here are
your wetsuits."
He handed two black suits to Jasper and Edward, who both then proceeded to strip down to their
underwear in between the cars. I couldn't help it; I checked Edward out, my eyes wandering from his
calf muscles to his tight ass through his boxers when he bent over to his flexing back muscles. I
couldn't tear my eyes away.
"Here," I said, reaching out for his clothes. "I'll take those."
He turned, grinned, and handed me his jeans and shirt. "Thanks."
I swear I nearly had heart palpitations. That wetsuit was just so tight and showed off everything just
perfectly. You should have kissed him, Bella, I thought. Who cares if he's into you or not, you should
have done it anyway. In fact, you should right now.
And so I did.
Throwing caution to the wind, I stepped towards him, wrapped my free arm around one side of his
torso, and pulled my lips up to meet his. I knew I surprised him, which explained why my lips were
the only ones moving for the first second of our kiss. But soon I felt his hands on the small of my back
and the nape of my neck, and his lips moved against mine, soon taking dominance.
I was in heaven. I felt fireworks. Butterflies fluttered throughout my stomach. This kiss ignited a fire
within my veins. All of the overly used clichés that I vehemently crossed out while editing authors'
novels at work, they all applied in this moment.
But the sound of a wolf whistle ended the moment too soon. "You guys can just go back to your
hotel, you know," Mike remarked jokingly. "You already have a room. You can use it."
Edward pulled his head back, the warmth of his soft lips leaving mine, but his arms still embraced
me. I opened my eyes, looking into his, and I could tell without even glancing down at his mouth that
he was smiling. "What was that for?" he whispered.
I shrugged. "Have fun out there," I told him. "Be safe."
"I will," he replied. "I'll see you in a bit."
With that, he turned back to the other guys, grabbed the surfboard that Tanner was holding out for
him, and started walking down to the beach, leaving me with Alice and Caroline.
"Bella, that was hot!" Alice exclaimed. "I can even see the chemistry between you two. Good find!
You said you found him at Starbucks?"
I bit my bottom lip and nodded, trying not to smile too goofily. "Yes, yes I did."
BPOV
After Edward and the other guys had jogged off towards the surf, Caroline suggested that we take a
walk along the beach. Alice thought that this was a wonderful idea, and I hesitantly agreed.
I had initially underestimated my apprehensions of returning to La Push, reassuring myself that it had
been ten years since I had last walked upon this beach, and it was just a beach, for God's sake. But
now that I was here, actually walking along the shore, the colorful stone pebbles crunching beneath
our shoes and the smell of saltwater invading my nose, both pleasant and not-so-pleasant memories
relating to Jacob pushed themselves to the forefront of my mind.
However, I was determined not to let him ruin my day anymore than he already had. La Push was a
nice beach, and unpleasant memories shouldn't spoil it. In fact, I now had a very nice memory to
associate with La Push, one in which Edward's lips and hands were all on me.
After I had pulled away from the kiss, I was surprised that I didn't feel mortifyingly embarrassed. No,
instead it just felt right. And I know that if Edward hadn't wanted the kiss, he could have pushed me
away earlier or at least not reciprocated. But the way his strong arms pulled me closer to him, I still
got shivers of excitement thinking about it.
I strolled along the shore next to Caroline and Alice, my hands clenched inside the pockets of the
windbreaker I wore. We walked silently until Caroline started a conversation. "Alice, Jasper seems
like a great guy," she remarked. "So tell us, how did you two meet?"
I turned to Alice, also curious as to how they had gotten together.
"It's a long story," Alice commented, kicking a loose pebble in front of her.
"We have time," Caroline replied. "Besides, you're going to have to tell us sometime."
"I agree with Caroline," I told her. "Spill."
Alice walked over to a few logs of driftwood that had been pulled farther from the shore. They were
formed in a crude semi-circle with black charred wood in the center. It was an obvious bonfire
location. Alice sat on one of the logs, Caroline sitting next to her. I walked to the one opposite them,
sitting down onto the rocky beach. I leaned against the driftwood, extending my legs in front of me
and crossing my ankles. The ocean breeze whipped my hair back as I tried tucking some of the flying
strands behind my ear.
"Well the story begins with another guy," Alice started, using her hands as she spoke. "I met this man
named Pete at a bar in New York. He was gorgeous, like could-be-an-Armani-model gorgeous. We
had a few drinks together, and before I left, he asked if he could treat me to dinner a couple days
later. Of course I said yes. He was beautiful, charming, and he said that he worked as a stock broker
on Wall Street."
"He sounds like a keeper," Caroline observed with a smirk.
"I know, right?" Alice continued. "So I give him my number, and he calls a couple days later, making
plans for dinner. Since I don't know him too well, I don't let him know where I live, saying that I'll just
meet him at the restaurant. Well it turns out to be this real swanky restaurant in downtown. I meet
him there, and we have dinner. It's very expensive and I remembered that he said he would treat me,
but I figured that if he's a stock broker, he probably can afford it. Well dinner ends, and I'm finishing
up the bottle of wine he had ordered when Pete excuses himself to use the restroom. I think nothing
of this; he seemed like a stand-up guy and we had gotten along very well so far."
I gasped. "Oh no!" I commented in horror. "I can see where this is going…"
"Yeah. I wish I had," she replied. "So the waiter arrives with the bill and places it on the table, and I'm
still waiting on Pete. It's becoming a fairly long time since he's been gone, but I chalk it up to
digestive issues perhaps. But after a full fifteen minutes, I just give up. Of course I'm embarrassed to
death. I had been living in New York for over five years, and I hadn't been scammed or ripped off
until now. So I grab the bill, holding my breath to see the amount, and cringe when I see the well
over one hundred dollar check. But, I told myself, it wasn't completely terrible. I would just put it on
my credit card, and thankfully, I had enough money that I could pay it off later that month. I reached
down into my purse that I had set on the floor next to my chair and tried to find my wallet. But it
wasn't there. I even emptied out all of the contents of my bag onto the table trying to find that thing.
"The waiter had already come by once asking if everything was okay, and I had lied and told him that
everything was perfectly fine. But now I was truly freaking out. Not only did I not have the money to
pay the bill, but I didn't have any money to get a cab or even a subway ticket back to my apartment.
And walking from downtown to the upper west side in Jimmy Choos is just not possible. So by this
time, I'm nearly at the point of tears. I look around, and I notice that there are even some other
diners looking at me in concern, making me even more mortified at my situation. So I contemplate
my options. I either dine and ditch and most likely get caught and arrested, or I call one of my friends
and get them to come down and lend me the money.
"But then rides in my knight in shining armor. This handsome man with blond wavy hair walks by my
table, notices my distress, and sits down in the empty chair across from me. He asks if there's a
problem, and by this point, I'm so upset that I tell him everything that happened. He looks concerned
and asks if I'll let him pay for the meal now and I can pay him back later. Of course I agree, reassuring
him that I will definitely pay him back. I even showed him my designer footwear and handbag as
evidence that I wasn't broke. He pulls out his wallet, sets a Visa card into the bill folder, and then
introduces himself to me as Jasper Whitlock."
Caroline turned to her, stunned. "And what happened next?"
"He wasn't on a date himself, was he?" I asked concernedly.
"No, his older brother was in town so he took him out for a nice dinner. I asked the same thing,
wondering if he was neglecting his date for a full ten minutes, but he said that it was his brother and
that he wouldn't mind waiting once he explained what had happened. Jasper asked if I had a way of
getting home and I shook my head hesitantly. He had already been kind enough, and I didn't want to
impose on him further and borrow anymore money. But he gave me some cash, and in return, I gave
him my full name and phone number, assuring him that I would even pay him back the next day if he
liked. Jasper excused himself and went back to his brother, and I left and took a cab back to my
apartment. And that's how we met."
My jaw dropped. "That's a crazy story!" I exclaimed. "Did you report this Pete guy to the cops?"
"I tried, but it turned out to be a fake name, the phone number he called me from was a pay phone,
and they couldn't find anything," Alice answered.
"Oh enough about that bastard," Caroline said, dismissing him with a wave of her hand. "Going back
to Jasper, how did you get together after that? I guess he called you?"
"He actually called me back that same night, making sure that I had arrived back safely and soundly,"
she replied. "We talked for a little while, and then we made plans to meet for coffee the next
evening. During the workday, I dealt with the credit card companies and then went to the bank and
withdrew enough money to pay him back. I met him and he accepted the money in return and paid
for my coffee with part of it. We hit it off, and the rest is history."
"What a way to meet… Where is he from exactly?" I asked curiously, thinking of his Southern accent
that stuck out like a sore thumb around here.
"North Carolina," Alice replied promptly. She then looked down at the charred wood and smiled.
"Hey, do you guys remember that bonfire we had after homecoming during senior year?"
I smirked. "How could I forget?" I asked rhetorically. "I think that was the first time you ever got me
drunk."
Caroline laughed. "And you were such an amusing drunk!"
I shook my head, embarrassed. For whatever the reason, I liked to tell jokes when I was inebriated.
Bad jokes. Jokes so bad that sober people couldn't help but laughing.
"A fire would be nice right now," Alice remarked, crossing her arms to warm them and looking out
toward the sea stacks and the lingering fog. "I always forget how cold it can be even in the summer
up here."
Caroline's eyes widened as if she had an epiphany. "I think we have a book of matches in the glove
compartment of our van," she told us. "We could try to build a fire if you're really up for it…"
Alice grinned. "Let's do it."
"Awesome," Caroline replied. "I'll be back in a minute." She stood up and took the car keys out of her
jacket pocket, making her way back towards the parking lot.
Alice and I stayed silent. I looked out into the ocean, trying to see where Edward and the rest of the
guys were surfing. I spotted them and saw a couple actually standing on their boards, but they were
too far away to determine if either of them was Edward.
It was relaxing, sitting on the shore, listening to the waves break onto the beach. I closed my eyes
and took a couple of deep breaths, savoring the moment.
The peaceful moment was disturbed when I heard someone yelling from afar. "Give it back!"
I turned my head toward the sound and saw a man and a woman running along the beach. I could
already tell that they were Quileute, with black hair and dark skin. The young man was running from
the woman, turning his head back every so often and laughing. The woman looked pissed. She had
long black hair that blew behind her as she ran, and she wore a flannel shirt, a pair of jeans, and
some brown boots.
As they approached, their features became clearer. "Is that Leah?" I heard Alice ask.
I looked closer and saw that it was indeed Leah Clearwater, chasing her younger brother. Seth darted
past us, not even noticing that we were sitting so near, and Leah continued to run behind him. With
an extra surge of energy, she finally caught up with him, tackling him onto the rocky beach only
several yards to the side of us. I cringed as I watched.
"You fucking asshole!" she yelled at him. "Give it to me now!" She straddled his waist, trying to pry
something out of his hands as Seth struggled to get away.
Finally, she got what she wanted and stood back up. She reached down and helped Seth stand, then
she punched him in the shoulder. "Jesus, Leah," Seth replied, rubbing his shoulder. "If you would just
tell us who it is then I wouldn't have to find out for myself."
"It's none of your fucking business," Leah replied. "I'll tell you when I want to tell you!"
"Fine!" Seth shouted back, pushing past her and walking back the way he came. When he passed by
Alice and me again, this time he noticed. He slowed in surprise, but then I watched his eyes narrow at
me before he moved on. He never liked me. Thankfully, he kept on walking.
A few seconds later, Leah finally turned around and spotted us. But unlike Seth, she smiled and
jogged up to us. "Well isn't this a surprise?" she asked rhetorically. "I thought I'd never see you again,
Bella." She sat down next to me on the beach. "Same for you, Alice. What brings you two here?"
"High school reunion," I replied. "Angela sort of forced me to return. But I think Alice wanted to come
back, didn't you, Alice?"
"I don't think you needed much forcing, Bella. But yes, I did want to return for my reunion," she
informed her. "How are you doing, Leah? I don't think I've seen you in ten years."
Leah sighed, crossing her legs as she sat. "I'm doing very well right now," she said. "Things are finally
looking up. Sorry if you had to witness that argument with my brother. He's a pain in my ass."
I grimaced. "What was that all about, if you don't mind my asking?"
Leah shook her head exasperatedly. "He stole my fucking phone. You see, I've been seeing this guy
that I really like, but I don't want to tell Seth or the other guys who it is because they'll somehow fuck
it up. Seth knows that I've been texting him a lot, and he wanted to figure out who it is," she
explained. "So… Forks High School reunion. Um, Jake was going to that, wasn't he? Did you see him?"
I nodded. "Yep."
"Is he being an asshole?" Leah asked knowingly.
I refused to comment, but Alice answered for me. "Of course he is," she replied bitterly, not caring
that Leah was best friends with the douche bag in question.
Leah was always best friends with Jake. She was best friends with the sweet Jacob when I had started
dating him many years ago. She didn't like me at first, thinking that I was going to steal her best
friend away from her, and I didn't like her at first, feeling threatened as I thought that she was much
more beautiful than I would ever be and that Jake would figure out that he loved her more than just
a friend. But after a few months of awkward and suspicious glares, we were able to put our
differences aside and truly become friends. I knew that Jacob thought of her as just one of the guys,
and Leah knew that I wasn't going to make him stop hanging out with her just because we had
started seeing each other romantically.
Between Leah and me, we were Jake's best friends. That is, until January of his junior year of high
school, during my senior year. That was when Jacob became partners with Paul in some science class
of his. Paul was part of the popular crowd at the reservation school, and unfortunately, popularity is
always strived for, in one way or another. Paul and Jacob became friends, Jacob started hanging
around his awful gang of friends, and that was when our relationship started to fall apart.
That was when I started to smell the cigarette smoke on his breath, on his clothes, and in his car.
That was when he started talking back to me and sometimes calling me names.
That was when he started pressuring me to go further and further with him physically.
But I loved him. I learned how to put up with the awful cigarette smell, how to stop listening when he
called me his ball and chain in front of others, and how to slowly extend those personal boundaries
that I had placed earlier in our relationship.
Leah, too, learned how to adapt to this new behavior of Jacob's. She would be his best friend, she
had said, no matter what type of person he turned out to be. But she still saw the effect that it had
on me. After Jake and I had finally broken up, she told me that she believed my side of the story and
didn't blame me at all for breaking up with him over it. She actually said that if he had done that to
her, she would have castrated him.
Nevertheless, she was his best friend, forever and always.
"I'm sorry you had to see him again. I don't know what his deal is when you are concerned, but I
know he couldn't have been pleasant toward you," Leah told me. "I'll kick his ass later if you want me
to. Just say the word."
I smirked. "Thanks. I might take you up on that offer," I replied, glad to know that, despite being best
friends with my ex-boyfriend, she still knew what an ass he could be.
EPOV
"Well what did you think?" Mike asked me as I walked back onto the beach after over an hour of
learning how to surf the very different waters of the upper Pacific. It didn't help that in the
beginning, I could barely focus on what I was doing. My thoughts went back to Bella. I was finally able
to kiss her, and it was she who initiated it to begin with. It surprised me, but it was a very, very
pleasant surprise. It took a lot of concentration to get my mind off of Bella and onto the waves, but I
was finally able to manage.
"It was great," I told him honestly. "Although I think I prefer the warmer water of where I'm from."
The wetsuit had kept my body temperature at a safe degree in the nearly freezing cold water, but I
still felt quite chilled.
"You know what I want to do someday?" Mike asked rhetorically. "I want to go to Hawaii and try
surfing those massive waves on the North Shore."
"I haven't been there, but I've seen them on television, and they look pretty intimidating," I replied.
"I know I'm not a good enough surfer to ride those, but if you are, then my hat goes off to you." I
didn't add that although he was a more experienced surfer than I was, I had still noticed that he
wasn't the greatest. But Mike seemed like a good guy and I wasn't going to burst his bubble.
I looked over to where I had last seen Bella, Alice, and Caroline, and sure enough, they were in the
same spot, but this time I was able to see bright yellow flames in the center. They must have built
themselves a bonfire, which was probably quite a feat considering how damp everything seemed to
be around here. I smiled. Warming my hands and feet near a fire sounded just about perfect at the
moment.
I continued walking up the rocky beach, glad that Mike had had some extra surf boots to wear so that
I wasn't stepping barefoot on the twigs and sharp shells that littered the shore. As I neared, I noticed
another young woman sitting with them. I guess that she must have been with the Native American
tribe that was from the area, and she was obviously friends with at least one of the ladies.
Bella caught my eye as I approached and carefully laid the surfboard down onto the ground. Despite
her hair that seemed to have a life of its own in the wind, she looked stunning, her cheeks pink from
the chilliness of the breeze. Once again, I thought of the magnificent feeling of her lips against mine,
and I wondered how much I could get away with right now. I mean, we were supposed to be in a
serious relationship, so that meant that I had the right to kiss her as much as I wanted, right? But
then again, we were only pretending. I didn't want to take too many liberties.
"Hey, I know you," I heard Mike say. I looked up to see him looking at the woman with long black
hair. "You're…" He snapped his fingers a few times, trying to remember her name.
"Leah," the woman answered. "I've met you too, but I honestly can't remember your name either."
"Mike Newton," he replied.
"Oh right," Bella said, sitting up a little. "Leah, this is Edward, my boyfriend," she gestured to me and
I smiled in return, "that's Tanner, Caroline's husband, and that's Jasper, Alice's boyfriend."
"It's nice to meet all of you," she said with a small wave. "I'm Leah."
There was an open space next to Bella, so I sat down next to her, leaning forward to stick my hands
closer to the fire to warm them.
"Edward, catch!" Caroline called out to me, throwing me a towel. "I figured you guys might want to
dry yourselves off." I thanked her, taking the towel and running it over my wet hair before pulling it
around the damp wetsuit that I still wore and letting it drape over my shoulders.
"How'd you do?" Bella asked me quietly, turning her face towards mine.
"I've done better," I replied with a smirk. "But it wasn't too bad."
"Good," she said, turning back to the fire. "I'm glad you didn't get hurt or anything."
My heart swelled in knowing that she cared about my safety, but I couldn't imply too much from
that; she wasn't the type of person who would wish harm on anyone, maybe besides Jacob. She was
probably just as glad that Mike or Jasper didn't get hurt out on the water.
But she kissed you, I reminded myself. And that definitely counted for something.
Hesitantly, I brought back my arm that was closest to Bella and wrapped it around her lower back,
letting my hand rest on her waist. I was so nervous that it felt like I was in high school again, pulling
the very awkward yawning-and-then-arm-around-the-shoulder maneuver. But I shouldn't have
worried; from the corner of my eye, I saw Bella smile as she leaned into the side of me, letting her
head fall onto my shoulder.
"Edward," I heard my name being called, and I turned my head to see Leah talking to me. "Tell me.
How did you and Bella here get together?"
It's go time, I thought. Bella and I had come up with only a short outline of how we had met and
started dating, but we had never gone through the details. I had expected her to explain everything
to her friends, but Leah was asking me. I nodded, hoping that I could make it all sound believable.
"Well, as some of you know, I work at a Starbucks in downtown Los Angeles. I've been working there
for over a year now. It's not the best job ever, but I can't complain; it could be much worse," I
explained to her. This part was easy; it was the truth. "But it wasn't until February that I noticed this
beautiful woman who frequented the shop almost daily."
Bella interrupted me. "That was because, until February, my assistant got my coffee for me. But I
went for myself one day in February, was served by the most gorgeous barista ever, and decided to
always return myself, wanting to see him over and over again. It was like a schoolgirl crush." She
looked back to me, urging me to continue.
"Right. I too had started looking forward to seeing her every single day at eleven thirty. I had guessed
that it must have been at the beginning of her lunch break when she stopped in," I informed
everyone. "She enchanted me. Her name was easy enough to learn as I had asked her the first time
in order to write her name on her cup, but I still wanted to know so much more about her."
Bella once again cut in, continuing for me. I didn't mind at all. "He started asking me little things
about myself every so often. He introduced himself as Edward, and I told him that I already knew
that as it was on his nametag. He asked if I worked in the vicinity and what I did for a living. Within a
month, we were on a first name basis with one another and he always knew exactly what type of
drink I wanted. But I was still itching for the day that he would possibly ask me out."
I chuckled. "It saddens me to say that it took me quite some time to find the courage to ask her out. I
liked her a lot, but man, she was intimidating! She's a successful publishing editor, and I'm an
unsuccessful guitarist who has to work at Starbucks to pay the bills. But finally, I manned up and
asked her out for a drink later that night. To my utmost surprise, she said yes, gave me her business
card with her phone number on it, and told me to call her when I got off work. I did, and we met up
at the bar at the Westin that night," I said, thinking of the exact same date, only under different
circumstances. "From there on, we started dating and less than a month later, she agreed to be my
girlfriend. And what can I say? I'm now the luckiest man on earth."
I looked back over to Bella, who was looking up at me with her large brown eyes. I wished that I knew
what she was thinking right now, but unfortunately, that just wasn't possible without her telling me.
It was then that she surprised me once again. This woman was full of surprises! She leaned forward
and kissed me on the lips lightly, pulling away only a second later. "Thank you," she whispered.
I was slightly disappointed that it only lasted for such a very short amount of time, but I felt
victorious anyway. The only question now was whether she was playing her role as girlfriend when
she did it. I mean, to anyone else observing our story, a small kiss was the perfect conclusion. So was
it all an act? I didn't know, but at the moment, I wasn't going to care. A kiss was a kiss.
"That's so sweet. I think I'm going to cry," Mike joked playfully, wiping away a fake tear.
Bella laughed and I saw Alice roll her eyes. "That is a cute story," she told us. "Who knew Bella's
coffee addiction would work out so well for her?"
"So you work at Starbucks, but you're a musician?" Leah asked curiously.
"I quit my job a couple years ago because I didn't enjoy it and I wanted to pursue a career in
something that I love, and that's music," I explained for what felt like the billionth time. This question
always came up whenever I met new people.
"So can you play us something?" she asked.
"If I had an instrument, yeah," I answered with a nod. But looking around and not seeing a guitar, I
figured I wouldn't be made to play something already.
"I'll be right back," Leah said. "You better start thinking of something to play for us." She got up from
her seat on the log on the other side of Bella and started jogging down the beach.
"What's she doing?" I asked curiously.
"Getting a guitar, I guess," Bella replied. "But this is perfect! Now you can show everyone how well
you play!" She leant closer to me and whispered in my ear, "And I can finally hear you for myself."
I gulped in nervous anticipation. I had been playing the guitar for almost fifteen years, and I still
thought of myself as quite decent. But there was something so much different between playing for
random strangers and playing for new friends and a new woman with whom I was becoming
enamored. Still, it was bound to happen eventually, I told myself. Just get it over and done with.
Leah returned not even five minutes later, brandishing an acoustic guitar. "Some of my friends are
doing a bit of the same thing we are around the point over there," she explained, pointing off into
the distance. "Embry brought his guitar, so I borrowed it. Thankfully they didn't ask a lot of
questions." She handed it to me, and I saw that it was a fairly inexpensive Seagull, one that was
remarkably similar to the one my mother had bought for me so many years ago.
I took the guitar from her hands, resting the body on my right thigh. Unfortunately, Bella had to
move out from under my arm to allow me to play. Still, she looked eager to hear me for the first
time.
"Oh, here's a pick," Leah continued, reaching into the pocket of her jeans, pulling one out, and
handing it to me before sitting back down.
I thanked her, and moved my left hand up to the strings on the neck of the guitar. After strumming a
few chords to see how it was tuned, I closed my eyes, remembering the chords to the song that I had
chosen to sing that I had learned a few years ago. It was a song by another artist, Damien Rice.
Although I had written a couple songs of my own, I was definitely not ready to play those in front of
so many people just yet, not without a bit more preparation.
I strummed the beginning introduction of the folk song, clearing my throat once before starting to
sing.
"Still a little bit of your taste in my mouth.
Still a little bit of you laced with my doubt.
Still a little hard to say what's going on.
"Still a little bit of your ghost, your witness.
Still a little bit of your face that I haven't kissed.
You step a little closer to me,
So close that I can't see what's going on.
"Stones taught me to fly.
Love taught me to lie.
Life taught me to die.
So it's not hard to fall,
When you float like a cannonball.
"Still a little bit of your song in my ear.
Still a little bit of your words that I long to hear.
You step a little closer each day,
So close that I can't say what's going on.
"'Cause stones taught me to fly.
Love taught me to lie.
Life taught me to die.
So it's not hard to fall,
When you float like a cannon.
"Stones taught me to fly.
Love taught me to lie.
So come on courage,
Teach me to be shy,
'Cause it's not hard to fall,
And I don't wanna scare her.
It's not hard to fall,
And I don't wanna lose.
It's not hard to grow,
When you know that you just don't know."
I finished singing and continued playing the rest of the instrumental music, realizing just how
appropriately some of those words fit to my current situation with Bella. I didn't want to scare her,
but I didn't want to lose her, and I just really wanted to know if she wanted something more out of
this unconventional relationship like I did.
The sound of polite applause greeted my ears as I finished and looked back up at Bella's friends.
"Edward, that was marvelous!" Alice told me. "How about something else?"
I smiled but shook my head modestly. "I think that's enough for now," I said before handing the
guitar back to Leah. "Thank whoever lent that to you for me," I told her. "It's a good instrument."
Leah stood, the guitar and pick in hand. "I will. I should probably head back anyway. I've spent
entirely too much time away from the group I came with. Bella, it was great seeing you again!" Bella
stood up and gave Leah a hug goodbye. "Call me if you come into town again. You too, Alice," she
said. "Everyone else, it was nice meeting you." She waved goodbye before leaving and walking back
down the shore.
Caroline stood up. "Actually, we should probably get going too. We've got to pick up the kids from
grandma's house," she said. "We'll still see you tonight though!" Tanner got up with her and Mike
accompanied.
Since the wetsuits, surfboards, and towels were theirs, we all decided to leave the beach together.
The fire was put out, the wetsuits were stripped off and clothes put back on, and soon I was getting
back in the car with Bella, with Alice and Jasper in the back seat. Their rental car was back at Jessica's
and Mike's house, so we drove back there, dropping them off.
Finally, I was alone with Bella.
"You were amazing," she told me as she drove us back through Forks to our hotel. "I mean, I believed
you when you said that you weren't bad, but you are really good! Anyone would be crazy not to want
to hear you sing. Was that song yours or someone else's? Either way, I loved it."
"It wasn't mine," I told her. "But I'm glad you loved it." I sat up in my seat, leaning my elbow against
the door. "So how did I do as far as our story goes? I wasn't sure how much detail I should put into it,
but I just went with it."
"I think you did a fantastic job," Bella replied before covering her mouth in a yawn. "It went along
with the timeline that we had set on our way here, and you did a great job at pretending that you
were captivated with me from the first moment you saw me. We sound like we're really in love."
I shook my head. Although I thought I had made it clear a couple of times that I really did like her, she
still didn't get it. Apparently I needed to be more explicit.
"Bella, I wasn't pretending that I was captivated with you from the first moment I saw you. I really
was, in real life. Why else would I agree to attend a high school reunion with a perfect stranger? It's
not something I do on a regular basis, Bella. I noticed your beauty and the way you carry yourself as
soon as you walked through that door, and when you asked if I would go somewhere with you, I
immediately agreed. It wasn't because I was bored or because I felt sorry for you."
I watched Bella frown. "Then why did you?"
"It was because, for some still-unknown reason, you instantly attracted me like a moth to a flame. I
liked you from the start."
She shook her head. "You didn't even know me then."
"No, but now that I have gotten to spend more time with you, I know that it's not only your outer
beauty but who you are as a person as well that attract me. Do I really have to keep going on?"
Bella was a silent for a couple of seconds as she drove into the parking lot of the hotel, pulled into an
open space, and turned off the engine. "I like you too," she whispered, looking over to me. "But it
honestly scares me."
She quickly turned away and immediately got out of the car, slamming the car door closed. I opened
my door and exited as well. Bella stood several feet away from me as she locked the car doors with
the key remote. She faced me, but she never looked me in the eye. Looking closely, I saw a small
amount of tears in her eyes that she was trying to hide.
"You'll probably want to shower," she remarked as we started to walk back into the hotel building.
"I'm sure the salt water is starting to feel sticky." She continued walking through the lobby and back
to the elevators, and I followed behind her in silence, wondering what to do next.
EPOV
We took the elevator back up to the second floor and walked down the dimly lit hallway in silence.
Bella foraged for the hotel key in her purse for only a second before finding it, sliding it into the slot,
waiting until the door clicked and the green light flashed. She opened the door to our room, pushing
it open some more so that I could enter after her without the door closing on me.
Bella placed her purse onto the bed and slid off her shoes before walking to the window that
overlooked the parking lot out front. I sauntered over to the duffle bag that I had placed on the floor,
bent over, and dug through the clothes I had packed for another pair of boxer shorts. The ones I was
currently wearing I had worn while surfing and they desperately needed to be changed.
"I'm going to take that shower," I told Bella, glancing up to see her still looking out the window. What
she was thinking about, I had absolutely no idea.
"Yeah, alright," I heard her reply, not even turning back to look at me.
I shrugged and strolled back across the room toward the bathroom. I flipped on the light switch,
closed the metal door behind me, and turned on the water in the shower before stripping off my
clothes. As the sound of the water from the faucet splashing against the bottom of the tub resonated
throughout the small room, I looked at myself through the mirror, realizing exactly how exhausted I
actually was. We had only gotten maybe six hours of sleep in the morning at best, and the events of
the day were already catching me up with me. It wasn't even four o'clock yet.
Once the water was pleasingly hot, I stepped into the shower and pulled up the diverter on the
faucet, welcoming the warming water as it splashed down upon my neck and body below. As I
soaped myself up, I couldn't help but think of the woman who was just beyond that bathroom door.
Jesus, I was falling fast for her. I just wished she felt the same way. Well, apparently she did, she was
just too damn scared to do anything about it. All I wanted to do was hold her in my arms and kiss
away her troubles, but I knew that would only work temporarily. I couldn't push her.
Once I had finished washing my hair and cleansing my body, I turned off the water and pulled open
the shower curtain, reaching for a clean towel that was neatly folded on a rack above the toilet. I
dried myself and ran the towel through my hair once before stepping out of the tub and onto the
mat on the tiled floor. I grabbed the boxers that sat on the counter and pulled them on before I
opened the door, letting the steam from my hot shower escape the confines of the bathroom.
I planned on talking to Bella, maybe get her to explain why she was so scared of falling for me, but as
I walked into the room, I realized that that just wasn't going to happen right now. Bella was lying on
the bed, fast asleep. She was still wearing her jeans and a camisole and hadn't even bothered to pull
down the polyester quilt. She lay on her side, somewhat curled into the fetal position with her hands
under the pillow under her head.
She looked so peaceful that I knew I couldn't wake her. She was probably just as exhausted as I was,
if not more so after dealing with both her ex and an emotional phone call to her father earlier this
afternoon. Instead of talking to her, I simply walked back over to my bag, pulled out the t-shirt that I
had worn briefly this morning to grab our breakfast, and pulled the shirt over my head before laying
down on my side of the large king-sized bed. I placed my hands behind my head as I gazed up at the
white ceiling before closing my eyes, also drifting to sleep.
"Edward." I felt something on my arm, like a hand pushing at it. "Edward, wake up." I opened my
eyes to see Bella hovering over me, kneeling on the bed beside me. "We took too long of a nap."
I rubbed at my eyes and sat up slightly, resting on my elbows and looking into the somewhat dark
room. "What time is it?"
"Six thirty," Bella replied, sitting back on her heels. "The dinner-slash-prom event doesn't start until
seven, but we still need to get ready. We'll be fashionably late."
"Oh, sorry," I apologized immediately.
Bella smiled. "Don't worry about it," she replied. "I overslept too, and I think I'd rather get there a
little bit late anyway."
She looked happier now than she had a few hours ago, and I was pleased to see it. "Are you feeling
better?" I asked curiously.
Bella got off the bed and walked to the closet where she had hung some of her clothes this morning.
"I'm feeling so much better actually," she replied, looking back at me with a smile. "That nap did me a
world of good. I feel revitalized."
"I'm glad," I replied, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and standing up.
"You can change in here," Bella informed me, pulling out a plastic-bag-covered dress from the closet.
"I'm going to use the bathroom to get ready." She grabbed what looked like a bag of makeup and a
curling iron from her bag and hurried into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
From my duffel bag, I pulled out the dark grey dress shirt and black suit that I had packed, wondering
if they needed to be ironed. I shook them out and held them out to see. Yes, they needed to be
ironed. I found an ironing board and iron in the closet, and I set up the board in the middle of the
room and plugged in the iron to warm it.
Fifteen minutes later, I had the main wrinkles ironed out of my suit and shirt, and I changed into
them, hoping that the grey would go with whatever color Bella was wearing; that was why I chose
grey, it goes with just about everything. I didn't bring a tie, but I didn't think I needed one; I kept the
top button loose instead. I put on my black leather shoes, and in the mirror above the desk, I combed
through my hair once, just so that it didn't look like I had slept on wet hair, which I had actually done.
I heard the door open and I turned my head to see Bella step out. She was dressed in a royal blue
cocktail dress that was form-fitting above the waist but looser down to above her knee. Thin straps
held the dress up and there was a matching blue sash tied around her waist. Her hair that had been
straight earlier in the day was now curled into loose waves, and I noticed that she wore a bit more
eye makeup than usual. She was still barefoot, and after she left the bathroom, she went to her bag
and pulled out a pair of simple round-toe pumps and a black pashmina. I rubbed my forehead – I
shouldn't even know what a pashmina is. I blamed my ex-girlfriends for that, taking me shopping
with them too often for my liking.
"Nice suit," Bella commented, breaking me out of my reveries. "You look quite dashing."
"You look stunning yourself," I replied honestly, and I watched as Bella's cheeks reddened.
"Thanks," she uttered softly, slipping her feet into the heels and reaching for her small black purse
that had been moved to the floor. "Are you ready?"
"Yep," I answered, rocking back onto my heels, my hands in my pockets. "Do you think I need my
nametag again?"
Bella chuckled, and I delighted in the smile that appeared on her face. "No, I don't think so. Do you
like people knowing that you're my bitch?"
"Maybe I do…" I replied jokingly.
I took my wallet from the top of the dresser and slid it into my back pocket before we left. Bella once
again insisted on driving, citing that she was the one who knew where Forks High School was located,
so I was again sitting in the passenger's seat, looking through the window as we drove through the
small town.
"So we're going to prom?" I asked, making conversation as she drove. "That'll certainly bring us back
to our high school days."
Bella nodded. "How was your prom back in high school? Being from the L.A. area, I can imagine you
probably had quite the set up. Yours probably wasn't in the school gym."
I smiled. "No, you're right. I only attended my senior prom. It was at a country club and the theme
was…" I thought back, trying to remember, "… Puttin' on the Ritz. That was it. It was all old
Hollywood glamour. I remember getting a top hat to wear."
Bella chortled. "I can see you wearing a top hat," she remarked. "Who'd you go with?"
"My girlfriend at the time," I answered. "She went as Ginger Rogers. Honestly, she couldn't dance at
all, though, which I found ironic."
"Hey, don't make fun of people who can't dance!" Bella replied defensively. "I'm not the best dancer
either. You'll probably find that out later tonight."
"All you need is a good leader," I told her. "But this girl was really bad. Even I couldn't lead her
without getting my feet stepped on."
Bella shook her head and laughed. "Poor girl."
She flipped on the turn signal and turned off the main road onto a short drive that led to the high
school. I spotted the sign welcoming me to Forks High School and then I saw the school building
itself. I expected it to be small as Forks was a small town, but man, this was small! It was probably
only a tenth of the size of my own former high school. There were a fair amount of cars in the
parking lot, and Bella pulled into an open space.
We unbuckled our seat belts and got out of the car into the chilly night. "Are you going to be warm
enough?" I asked, looking at the fairly small dress that Bella wore. At least she had the pashmina to
cover her bare arms.
"I'll be fine, thanks," she replied, locking the car. "It's not like we're going to be outside all night." I
followed her from the parking lot to the school building. "I think these doors should be unlocked,"
she mumbled to herself before pulling at the handle. She was right. It opened and I held the door ajar
as she walked through.
The inside of the high school was mostly dark with staggered florescent lights that were lighted as
emergency lights. Blue-painted lockers lined each side of the wall and Bella's heels clicked against the
linoleum tile on the floor. It smelt of cleaning products. "When was this place built?" I asked
curiously.
"In the fifties, I think," Bella replied absently, trailing her hand along the lockers. "God, I haven't been
here in so long. It's weird."
"A lot of memories?" I asked.
Bella nodded silently in response, and I continued to follow her down the hallways. She seemed to
know exactly where the gymnasium was located, and I could hear some music playing in the distance
as we walked in that direction.
We turned a corner and saw a couple who were necking against the lockers like they were sixteen
years old again. They pulled away as they heard us approach, and I saw that it was Alice and Jasper.
Alice looked sufficiently embarrassed at being caught, but Jasper looked like he could care less. I only
wished I could do that with Bella right now without freaking her out even more.
"Bella!" Alice chimed happily, approaching her high school friend. "I love the dress! You know how I
feel about you wearing blue – you always seem to wear blue for some reason – but at least it's bright
blue and not that midnight blue that you were so drawn to in high school. And it's not plain either! I
definitely approve." She reached out and felt the fabric. "Ooh, is that real silk?"
Bella laughed. "I'm glad you approve, Alice." She glanced down at her friend. "I like your dress too,"
she remarked, looking at the bright green strapless number that Alice wore. She glanced back over to
Jasper. "Well, we'll let you continue." She then looked back up at me and took my hand in hers for
the first time this evening.
"Um, we don't need to continue," Alice replied awkwardly. "We'll join you."
We walked through a set of double doors into the gymnasium. At least this building was the same
size as I had expected. The bleachers had been pulled in to allow for more floor space, and there
were circular tables and another table of catered food on the side. They must have spent a good deal
of their budget on catering, I noticed. Most people were already here, some dancing on the dance
floor and some at the tables eating.
Angela saw us enter and approached us alone, wearing a simple black dress. "I'm so glad you came,
Bella," she said, placing her hand on Bella's arm. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't show!"
"We took a nap and overslept," Bella said in reply. She looked around at the blue streamers that
hung everywhere and the blue and white balloons that had already started drifting up into the
ceiling. "Good job decorating! It looks great!"
Angela thanked her. "It's too bad we couldn't copy the decoration for the actual prom, though.
Unfortunately that was way out of our budget. You'll just have to pretend that the stars and the
moon are looking down on you this time," she told us happily.
"What was your prom theme?" I asked curiously.
"Dancing in the Moonlight," Angela replied promptly. "We had strings of white Christmas lights
strung across the gym so that it looked like they were actual stars, and then there was a disco ball
that I guess was supposed to be the moon."
"Oh my God, Angela, is that Cher?" Alice asked suddenly. I was confused for a second before I heard
the music and the words, 'Do you believe in life after love?'
"Yes! Don't you remember how popular that song was back in the day? They played it at prom. I
actually found a lot of the songs that were played. You'd be surprised how many people remember
what songs they danced to at their prom, so after asking around, I came up with quite a number,"
Angela explained. "'Truly Madly Deeply' by Savage Garden is also on the playlist that the DJ has. Now
that's a throwback to the nineties! That and 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing' by Aerosmith!"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bella's smile drop. She glanced around at the people who were
present inside the gymnasium and the smile fell even further.
"Come on, you guys can sit with us," Angela continued, gesturing for us to follow her further into the
gym. Alice and Jasper followed her inside, and I started to accompany them, but Bella stood still, her
hand still holding mine.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
She looked like she was going to have a panic attack. Her eyes were wide and her hand had turned
clammy while her chest heaved. "I don't think I can do this," she said shakily. She quickly and
suddenly pulled her hand out of mine and started walking backward.
"Wait… You can't do what?" I asked confusedly, but she had already turned around fully and escaped
through the doors.
BPOV
I escaped into the semi-dark hallway, the dance music of Cher's "Believe" echoing down the hall
softly. I staggered down the corridor until I was far enough that I could barely hear the music before I
leaned my back against the lockers and dropped down onto the floor. I extended my legs and crossed
them at the ankles, smoothing out the silk skirt of my dress so that it wouldn't get too wrinkled
before burying my head in my hands.
It was sensory overload in that gymnasium, all of it bringing me back to that prom night just over ten
years ago. I touched the same door handles to enter. I smelled the same odor of a gym mixed with
various scents of perfume, cologne, and cleaning products. I saw the same set up of tables, a dance
floor, and prom decorations. I heard the same music being played. All I needed was to taste the same
vodka-spiked punch, and the virtual time travel that I was experiencing would have been complete.
I heard the gym doors down the hallway swing open, and I turned my head to see Edward rush out,
looking both ways, presumably searching for me. He spotted me in the dark and I heard the soles of
his shoes squeak against the linoleum floor as he jogged down to where I was sitting. "Are you okay?
What's wrong?" he asked worriedly once he had approached me.
I shook my head, still trying to catch my breath and calm myself down. "It's too similar," I gasped.
"Everything. It's like I'm eighteen years old again, attending my senior prom in that goddamn silver
dress with Jacob right next to me."
Edward slid down onto the floor next to me and rested his arms on his raised knees, his hands linked
together. "You want to tell me about it?" he asked.
"Not particularly," I replied automatically. I wasn't even sure if I could explain it. The last time I had
uttered the words aloud was when I had sputtered the story to Alice and Angela right after it
happened, and that was so many years ago. I thought I had moved on, but that obviously was not the
case.
"Bella, do you remember what I told you earlier about expressing your feelings and not bottling them
inside?" Edward asked. I nodded hesitantly. "I think you need to tell me. Does it have something to
do with your ex? Because if it does and if he's inside, I'm going to need to know what happened as
your fake boyfriend. I can't be in the dark for all of this and still have your back if anything happens."
I huffed. Edward did have a point. I needed to go inside sooner or later and face my past, and that
definitely included Jacob. If I didn't return, then I would be running away scared, and I definitely
didn't want to give Jacob that satisfaction, whether he knew of it or not. Just put it out there, Bella, I
told myself, trying to make it easier. Just start from the beginning and get through it.
"Fine," I replied decidedly, trying to pull myself together. I could do this. I cleared my throat
nervously before beginning. "As you know, Jake and I were together in high school. I already told you
how close he was to my father, so that was how we met – through our fathers. We started hanging
out, then we started dating, and then we fell in love. I know I fell in love with him. He told me that he
loved me, but I'm not even sure if that was true. I'm not really sure of anything anymore." I shook my
head absently, looking down at my lap and picking at the chipped polish on my fingernails.
"Well, we had been together for over a year when he made new friends and he started acting
differently. It was frustrating for me as I still loved him, but he wasn't the same person I fell in love
with. He suddenly had a temper, and he smoked and cursed frequently. It wasn't him, or so I
thought," I explained, looking up to stare at the blue lockers across from me as I remembered that
time of my life that I always tried so hard not to think about.
"But then my senior prom came up. I had asked him to come with me a few weeks earlier since he
was my boyfriend and I wanted to go to the prom with him, and he had agreed rather easily. He
finally started acting nice again, and it was such a relief. I wasn't crying in bed at night wondering if I
was doing something wrong or if he didn't love me anymore. I was truly happy again, and Alice and
Angela had gotten me sufficiently excited for prom." I smiled, remembering how they made me
watch all of these teen prom movies, like Footloose and Pretty in Pink, to persuade me to desire to
attend the event. I was surprised that it had actually worked!
"We went shopping for dresses and I found this very pretty silver dress that almost made me feel like
a princess. It was strapless and puffed out at the bottom. Jake had rented a tuxedo and bought me
this gorgeous rose corsage. There were six of us in our prom group. Alice had asked Tyler to
accompany her as a friend since neither of them was dating anyone at the time, and Angela went
with her then-boyfriend Eric. We all rode in Tyler's van up to Port Angeles for dinner and returned
here for the prom. Like Angela described a few minutes ago, the décor was awesome."
I shrugged and re-crossed my legs, fingering the hem of my dress. "It was magical, and Jake was
acting like a sweetheart, kissing me, holding my hand, dancing with me… all that shit," I disclosed. "I
was having a wonderful time, and someone spiked the punch. I think they caught Lauren doing it,
actually, but that's beside the point. I could taste the vodka in it, but I shrugged it off. It was my prom
night, I wasn't driving, and who can resist that tipsy feeling that makes you feel so great? It was
getting towards the end of the night when my and Jake's song came on, and so he asked me dance.
He led me onto the dance floor and pulled me into his arms as we swayed back and forth to the
music."
I paused and Edward used the moment to say something. "It doesn't sound like such a bad night," he
remarked.
"It's wasn't… yet," I replied. "It was then, while we were dancing, that he told me that he had gotten
a room for us at one of the motels in town, and he asked if I wanted go there with him afterward.
The motel seems seedy talking about it now, but it really was the only place besides maybe the car
where we could have gotten more intimate. Both of our fathers were at our houses, and there was
no way we could have gotten away with anything in our own bedrooms that night.
"You have to understand that I was still a virgin and wanted to remain one until I got into college at
least, but Jake had been pushing the limits on that for months," I explained, resting my head back
against the lockers, trying not to feel embarrassed that I was talking about my former sex life with
Edward. "He kept accusing me of not loving him, and whenever I would tell him that I did love him,
he wondered why I couldn't show that to him physically. Of course I loved him, so I started
questioning it myself. In the months prior, we progressed further and further in, uh, that
department, but I still hadn't let him, you know, go all the way.
"But that night, I said yes. To hell with it, I thought. If I loved Jake, then I needed to show him that I
loved him. I actually think I was partially afraid that that was the only way I was going to keep him. So
I said goodnight to Alice and Angela, and I asked if Alice would cover for me with her parents and my
father. I was supposed to be spending the night at her house that night, so Charlie wouldn't have
needed to see me unless something went wrong, but I never knew if something would come up.
Alice agreed to cover for me if needed, seeing that I was leaving with Jacob.
"He had left his car over at the school before we left for Port Angeles that afternoon so that we could
leave the prom whenever we wanted and not have to wait for the whole group. Jake drove us over
to the motel, and I followed him up to the room, so scared that someone was going to see me, like a
cop would be in the parking lot, recognize me, and tell my father. It was stupid, but I was worried
about it."
I laughed nervously, wringing my hands in my lap. "We got the hotel, and um, you know how that
goes – one thing leads to another and suddenly I had just given away something that I can never take
back. It was… less than enjoyable. It hurt, obviously, but he really didn't make an effort for me to
enjoy any of it. Any and all foreplay was pretty much skipped, and I guess the one positive thing was
that the horrible experience lasted for only two minutes at the most. Afterward, he collapsed onto
the bed beside me and simply passed out. It definitely was not the night of 'love making' that I had
envisioned.
"I remember changing back into my underwear and curling up onto the bed, crying for what seemed
like hours. I didn't want to call Alice or Angela and definitely not Charlie. I probably could have
walked home, but it was in the early hours of the morning and all I had was my prom dress to wear,
which, despite Forks being a small town, still would have been sketchy. Besides, then my father
would have definitely known that something was wrong and that I had lied about staying the night
with Alice. So I stayed in bed, figuring that I would just wait until morning when Jake woke back up
and I'd get him to drop me off back at home."
I lolled my head against the lockers, closing my eyes as my heart broke all over again. "I felt so used
and… broken. I definitely regretted going to the motel, but there was nothing I could do to change
things. I finally fell asleep for a few hours until Jake woke me up, wanting to do it again, the horny
bastard. But I didn't want to, not after the way he had acted earlier. So I pushed him away, telling
him that I wasn't going to do it again, not that night or anytime in the near future. You can imagine
how he might have responded to this."
"Please tell me he didn't force himself on you," Edward cut in heatedly.
I shook my head. "No, no. He's not that awful. He knows when 'no' means 'no', but he was still very
angry about it. He started yelling at me about how I didn't appreciate him or understand him and
how he could do so much better than me. He said that I was acting like a child and that he needed
someone more mature, which I still find ironic considering he is younger than me and was acting very
much like a hormonal teenager at the time. He basically gave me an ultimatum. He said that if I loved
him, then I wouldn't say no to him, and that if I didn't love him, then he didn't want to waste his time
with me anymore, like he had for over a year now… Those were his exact words.
"I wish I could say that I was strong, cool, and collected, but I wasn't. I was bawling, sitting on the bed
with my knees tucked into my chest. It was a very heart-wrenching experience. But I still had a
decision to make, and watching Jacob glare at me from across the room, I finally realized that I didn't
love him. I had loved a version of him, but not the person he had become. And I knew that by putting
me in that situation, he didn't love me at all.
"So I stood up, pulled my prom dress on and zipped it partially up by myself, and told Jake to get
dressed and drive me to Alice's house. I told him that I didn't love him and that I didn't want him in
my life anymore. He was really surprised by my response. I'm pretty sure that, in his mind, he was
certain that I would give in and reassure him that I loved him like I had done so many times in the
past few months. I was afraid that he would refuse to drive me, so I also threatened that if he didn't
drive me to Alice's that I would tell Charlie about everything, including the part about him drinking
and driving earlier in the night.
"So Jake did as I said. He put on the tux and drove me to Alice's house in silence. He dropped me off,
and I told him that I didn't want to see him at my house anymore, and if Charlie ever invited him over
to make up an excuse to not be there. It didn't exactly work, but I tried. I woke Alice up by knocking
on her window, she and Angela snuck me inside the house, and I told them what I just told you, but
in less detail. And that was the last time I actually explained what happened that prom night," I
concluded. "Now you partially know why I hate seeing Jake, especially in this school with fucking
prom décor everywhere. I don't think Angela realized it, but she basically recreated my worst
nightmare by planning this prom thing."
I said nothing, waiting to see how Edward would respond. I really couldn't be sure what he was going
to do at all. He, too, was silent for a minute before he simply said, "Thank you for sharing that with
me."
I shrugged and laughed feebly. "Well, you deserved to know. I've been acting like a crazy, emotional
woman all day, and I'm sure you've been wondering why. I promise I'm not always like this," I
assured him with a small smile. "But anyway, now you understand why I can't go in there. I tried
earlier, but it's obvious that I just can't deal with it. I'm… weak."
"Bella, look at me," Edward said, taking my hand so that I could feel his warm, strong grasp. I
hesitantly turned so that I saw his face for the first time since I began my story. "You are a strong
woman. It seems like you've already survived the worst of it in high school. I think that if you were
weak, then you wouldn't be here at all – you would be in L.A. doing whatever it is that you normally
do on a Saturday night. You've already shown your strength by returning, despite bad high school
experiences and a not-so-great relationship with your father. So if you ask me, I think you're more
than capable of dealing with it. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
I nodded. As always, Edward was right. It wasn't going to make it going in there much easier though.
But I had support – Edward, Alice, Angela, and their significant others. I could still enjoy myself, and
to be honest, it already felt as though a huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders by telling
Edward about what had happened.
"So do you want to leave or do you want to go back inside?" Edward asked. "It's your decision, so I'll
go where you go, no questions asked."
I took another deep breath while making my decision. "We should probably go back inside," I told
him. "Alice and Angela would be disappointed if I skipped out on the evening."
Edward shook his head. "Forget about what other people want you to do. You need to decide for
yourself if you want to return."
"I do," I assured him. "I want to get past my anxieties about what happened that night, and I'd like to
see everyone else too. I didn't have much of a chance to say hello to some people at the luncheon
earlier."
Edward grinned. "Great," he replied. He stood up and offered me his hand. I reached for it and he
helped me back onto my feet. I linked my arm through his as we strolled down the hall, returning to
the gymnasium.
Before we entered, I stopped and reached up and kissed Edward lightly on the cheek. "Thank you
again for accompanying me this weekend. I definitely could not have made it this far without you and
your support."
"Uh, you're welcome," he replied while opening the door so that we could enter and better hear the
Ricky Martin song that was currently playing through the speakers. I looked back out onto the crowd
of my former classmates and their dates, and despite my lingering desire to leave and return into
hiding, in my heeled shoes, I took a confident step forward.
BPOV
Edward and I reentered the decorated gymnasium, and as we strode back toward the cluster of
tables, I slipped my cold hand into his warmer one. He squeezed my hand lightly in return, and I hid a
smile that played upon my lips. I spotted the circular table at which our friends sat and as we
approached, I saw that Alice had saved us two seats next to her and Jasper.
She spotted me and then looked at us suspiciously. "We were just wondering where you two went
off to. Did you need some alone time together?" she asked suggestively.
I laughed and nodded, playing along. I didn't want to ruin Alice's or Angela's night by making them
concerned about my recent panic attack. It would probably just bring up the bad memories again,
ones that I would have preferred to forget.
"You caught us," Edward also joked in reply before gesturing to the two seats. "Are these for us?"
"Yep," Alice answered, grabbing the small clutch that she had placed on the table to reserve our
seats and bringing it back to her lap. "Angela and Ben are sitting over there." She pointed to two
seats on the other side of Jasper. "They're getting their dinner."
I glanced over at the two other guests at the table and noticed Eric Yorkie and a young woman whom
I didn't recognize. She must have been Eric's date, I presumed. I met his eyes and he looked up at me
in surprise. He apparently hadn't seen me at the luncheon earlier in the day. He smiled and stood up
to say hello. "Bella! How are you doing, girl?" he asked, pulling me into a side hug.
I grinned at his enthusiasm. "Eric! It's wonderful to see you again! I'm doing great," I replied, pulling
away so that I could look at him all at once. He certainly deserved the 'most changed' award that he
had been granted earlier in the afternoon. His once lanky body had filled out thanks to probably
years of hitting the gym, and his once acne-riddled face was perfectly clear and much more attractive
than it had been in high school. I glanced back at Edward and gestured to him to make an
introduction. "Eric, this is my boyfriend, Edward. Edward, this is my friend Eric."
The two men shook hands and then Eric turned to the petite red-haired woman and smiled at her.
"Bella, Edward, this is Alex."
I smiled at her and waved. "Your girlfriend?" I asked Eric.
"Fiancée," Alex replied. I looked down at her left hand but didn't see a ring. She must have noticed
me looking for one as she proceeded to explain, "Eric hasn't given me one yet. He proposed very
spontaneously only a week ago."
"Well congratulations to the both of you!" I told them as Eric sat back down in his seat.
"Thank you," they both replied happily before returning to their meal.
I set my clutch purse onto my seat and turned to Edward. "Let's eat," I suggested quietly. Just
smelling the food was making me salivate in anticipation. I had barely eaten anything all day and now
I was ravenous. Edward nodded and took off his black suit jacket, draping it over the back of the
chair.
As we began walking toward the tables on which the catered food was set, he placed his hand upon
the small of my back and I really had to control myself so that I didn't attack him like I had at the
beach earlier in the day. Just that one singular touch had me fantasizing about how his hands would
feel on every single part of my body. If I wasn't careful, my emotions were going to start running the
show, and I did not want that.
As we approached the buffet, my stomach growled loudly and I placed a hand over my stomach in a
vain attempt to silence it. "I'm starving," I remarked to Edward.
"Well you barely ate lunch," he replied. "That doesn't surprise me."
The buffet tonight was definitely a step up from the one that was served at lunch. There were no
plastic dishes and various sandwiches. This time we had real ceramic plates and a choice between
grilled chicken breasts and grilled salmon filets for the main entrée. Both looked delicious and I
couldn't decide between the two, so I placed small portions of both onto my plate as I made my way
down the line.
I heard Edward chuckle behind me. "It's good to know that you actually have a healthy appetite," he
remarked, looking at my plate. "I think this is going to be the most I've ever seen you eat."
"You saw me eat breakfast this morning," I replied while scooping some salad onto my plate as well.
"A cup of yogurt and an apple is hardly considered eating," I heard Edward say in response.
I laughed. "Well now you know that I am not anorexic, nor will I ever be," I said, turning around to
face him. "I like food too much."
Edward grinned. "I'm so glad."
I glanced down at his plate and saw only chicken. "Do you not like fish?" I asked curiously.
He shrugged. "I like fish. I just chose between the two… like we were supposed to do," he joked,
looking at my plate pointedly. "Way to hog the food, Bella."
I scoffed playfully. "One minute I'm anorexic and the next I'm gluttonous?"
"I'm just joking," Edward told me while laughing and shaking his head.
I smiled. "I know."
We finished filling our plate of food and retrieved drinks from a make-shift bar. I wasn't sure how
Angela managed to get permission to serve alcohol on the premises of a high school. Apparently she
could get anything done. I asked for a glass of red wine and Edward received a can of Rainier when
he had asked for a beer.
As we made our way back to the table, I couldn't help but steal a glance toward where I had seen
Jacob and Lauren sitting when I had first entered the gymnasium. I was hoping my glance would go
unnoticed, but Jacob had been watching me as well and unfortunately, we made eye contact. I
quickly looked away, embarrassed to be caught looking at him. I didn't want him to think that I was
thinking about him, even if it were true. I despised him.
Thankfully, as we rejoined our friends and savored our dinner, I was able to forget about the
scoundrel sitting on the other side of the room. Eric and Alex asked how Ben and Angela had met,
which turned out to be during a business graduate school class that they had taken together in
Portland, and they proceeded to ask Edward and me the same question, so I gave them a quick, Cliff
Notes version of what Edward and I had told Alice, Jasper, Caroline, Tanner, and Leah at the bonfire
earlier.
I had a lot of fun catching up. We talked about our high school days, but they were all good
memories, like the homecoming bonfire that we had on the beach one year and the time Eric had
convinced Mike to go cliff diving in La Push but he chickened out right before he was supposed to
jump. The good memories still weren't enough to make me want to return to high school, but it did
remind me of some of the better times that I had experienced as a teenager.
We had finished eating and were listening to some of Alice's New York adventures when, from the
corner of my eye, I saw Edward turn to me. "Do you care to dance?" he asked, gesturing to the dance
floor behind us. There were already numerous couples slow-dancing to a Celine Dion song. I sort of
didn't want to dance, but I figured that dancing to a slow song would be much less awkward than
dancing to, say, Madonna's "Ray of Light." And I did want to dance with Edward.
"Sure," I agreed, pushing backward in my chair so that I could stand up. Edward and I walked past a
couple of tables and onto the dance floor. "Um, remember what I told you in the car about me not
being a good dancer," I reminded him nervously. "Your feet might hate me in a few minutes."
"And remember that I told you that all you needed was a decent leader," Edward replied.
He took one of my hands into his and placed the other on my lower back while I placed my other
hand on his shoulder. As we started to dance, I looked down at my feet, trying not to step on
Edward's. I didn't want to hurt him in any way.
I heard him chuckle and I looked up. "You don't need to worry about my feet," he said amusedly.
"We're swaying. I'm not going to start waltzing with you. Besides, I would much rather look at your
face than at the top of your head."
I smirked. "Sorry."
As we started dancing correctly, without me looking down at my feet, the song changed and Pearl
Jam's cover of "Last Kiss" played over the speakers. I absolutely loved this song, and in the moment, I
loved dancing to it with Edward.
"How are you doing?" he whispered a couple of minutes later. "No more panic attacks?"
I smiled. "I'm fine," I assured him. "No more panic attacks, I don't think."
"So I guess I should stay on my guard, just in case."
I chuckled. "Yeah, maybe," I admitted. "Sorry for the craziness of everything this weekend. And it's
not even over yet."
Edward laughed. "At this rate, I'm waiting for a smack-down or finding out that you have an
illegitimate child. Are you sure this isn't a reality show or a soap opera?" He looked around as if he
were searching for hidden cameras.
"You mean you haven't figured out that you're on a television show like 'Punk'd' yet?" I joked.
I watched Edward smirk but he said nothing in return. Instead, we simply danced in silence for the
remainder of the song.
After staring at his neck for a couple of minutes, I ventured a look at his face. His lips were pursed
and his eyebrows were slightly furrowed as if he were thinking about something.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked curiously, surprising Edward by breaking our silence.
"I've been meaning to ask you about something, but there hasn't been a good time to talk about it,
and I was deciding whether or not to bring it up right now," he explained. "And since I've told you
this, I guess I'll bring it up…"
I chuckled. "Alright. What is it?"
He pursed his lips once more before meeting my gaze. "You said that you liked me but that you were
scared," he said. Looking into his green eyes, I could see the confusion in them. "I guess you could say
that I don't understand. What are you scared of?"
I sighed and looked back down at the ground. "I don't know."
"What do you mean, you don't know?" he asked exasperatedly.
I stiffened defensively and stopped dancing, bringing my hand from his shoulder to my side. "I don't
know, Edward, alright? I can't explain it so… I don't understand what you want me to say."
Edward looked taken aback by my response. "I didn't mean for you to get all defensive about it. I'm
sorry," he told me. "I shouldn't have brought it up."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "No, it's fine," I replied, trying to relax again. I returned my
hand to his shoulder and resumed swaying to the song. "You have a right to ask about since it does
concern you." I bit my lip, figuring out something to say. "It's just not easy for me to… get into
relationships and then maintain them. I've had boyfriends since, uh, Jake, but they were casual and I
didn't have intense feelings of attraction for them… like I often do with you," I admitted. "I don't
know if that made any sense, but all I can tell you is that I do like you, I am attracted to you, but I can
only take this one day at a time."
Edward nodded, and I couldn't tell exactly what he thought about my confession. "Alright. We'll see
what happens," he said, looking hopeful. "I'll take that for now."
"Thank you," I whispered gratefully. I removed my hand from his and wrapped both of my arms
around his neck instead, stepping forward so that I could rest my head upon his shoulder. I felt both
of Edward's arms wrap around my waist, and I relaxed into his embrace.
We danced until the DJ switched from slower songs to a fast hip-hop song, and I really didn't want to
dance to it. We returned to the table, but everyone else was still on the dance floor or at other tables
catching up with former classmates. I took a seat, ready to rest my feet that were already becoming
sore, but Edward continued to stand. "I'm going to find the restroom," he informed me. "Can you
fend for yourself for a few minutes?"
I chuckled. "I think I can manage," I told him. "And the restrooms are right down the hall to your
left."
"Thanks," he replied. "I'll be back."
As he left, I reached for my purse and pulled out my cell phone. I had kept it on silent all evening as I
didn't want any distractions, but I noticed that I had a missed call and a voicemail message. I checked
it and saw that it was one of my bosses from work, wondering why I wasn't answering my phone. I
oftentimes worked over the weekend back in Los Angeles, so I wasn't surprised that I was being
contacted for work reasons. However, I chose not to call him back. I wasn't obligated to work on the
weekends and what he was inquiring about could wait until Monday.
I was just putting my phone away and sipping at wine remaining in my glass when I heard the song
"Truly, Madly, Deeply" by Savage Garden come over the speakers. I cringed. This was my and Jacob's
song when we were together, and I really hated hearing it. Whenever I was driving and it came on
the radio, I automatically changed the station, and if I was grocery shopping and it played over the
speakers, I always found someone to call on my phone.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. It was only a song, I reminded myself. I was determined to
get over my anxieties about my past with Jacob, so I thought to Edward instead. However, I was
pulled from those thoughts almost immediately. "Bella, can I have this dance?" I heard Jacob's
distinctive voice.
I opened my eyes in surprise and horror and simply stared at him. Why would he want to dance with
me unless it was to torture me? And why would he even think that I would say yes?
"I'm not going to bite," he said jokingly, flashing that white smile at me. "Come on, for old time's
sake. You can't tell me that you've forgotten that this was our song way back when." Seeing that I
wasn't going to bite the bait, he switched strategies. "I want to talk to you… about Charlie."
I remembered Caroline's remarks at lunch and Charlie's evasion on the subject of his health, and the
feeling of unease and worry in the pit of my stomach returned. "What about him?"
"Dance with me and I'll tell you," he said, holding out his hand.
I glanced at it suspiciously, but decided to take it. It was just one dance, I convinced myself. He
couldn't do much harm out there on a dance floor surrounded by everyone else, and I really needed
to hear what Jacob had to say about Charlie.
Still glaring at him, I placed my hand into his and stood up, allowing Jacob to lead me out onto the
dance floor.
BPOV
Jacob led me out onto the dance floor and took my hand into his as we stood facing each other. I
placed my hand on his shoulder to dance, but I made sure that our bodies were as far apart as I could
manage. We started swaying to that goddamn Savage Garden song and I looked up at him with
narrowed eyes. "Lauren doesn't mind you dancing with me?" I asked pointedly.
Jacob laughed. "I told you earlier – we're just hanging out."
"Hanging out," I echoed with a nod of my head. "Synonym for hooking up. I see you've still got the
same relationship priorities." I shook my head softly. "So tell me Jacob, what about Charlie? I didn't
come out here to dance with you for old time's sake."
He looked down at me seriously. "He's not well, Bella."
This, of course, would confirm my worst fears, but I still didn't know if Jacob was telling the truth. He
couldn't be trusted.
"Jacob Black, if you are lying to me, I will personally hunt you down and castrate you so that you can
never 'hang out' with Lauren or any other woman ever again," I warned him.
"Ouch." Jacob grimaced. "But I'm not lying to you," he assured me. "I went over to his house this
afternoon and saw him. He mentioned that you had called and inquired after his health but that he
didn't tell you anything."
I gasped. "Charlie was at home this afternoon? But he told me that he was working and couldn't see
me today," I confessed, hurt by what I had just learned. It never even occurred to me that Charlie
would lie to avoid seeing me. "Why would he let someone like you come over and not his own flesh-
and-blood daughter?"
"Probably because I wasn't the one who deserted him," Jacob replied immediately.
"I didn't desert him," I defended myself. "I went off to college. It's a completely normal thing to do."
"And you never returned," he continued. He then paused in thought. "Oh wait, you did return that
one time. I remember that… How could I forget?"
I glared at him. "Yeah, and Charlie and I probably could have healed our relationship that one time if
it weren't for you being there and thinking with your dick instead of your miniscule amount of
brains," I shot back heatedly.
I glanced at my former classmates dancing around us and tried to lower my voice so that it wouldn't
become one heated, dramatic brawl.
"You made my relationship with my father even worse than it already was," I hissed. "He absolutely
blames me for the dissolution of your previous engagement. And the worst part is that he's right! He
is wrong in thinking that you're perfect and blameless, though."
Jacob looked down at me and, surprisingly, nodded soberly. "You're right. It is my fault that things
didn't work out with Vanessa," he admitted. "I actually do, um, want to apologize to you about
that…"
I gasped in astonishment. "You're apologizing? I never thought I'd see the day."
Jacob rolled his eyes, but nodded. "I should have told you about her," he confessed uncomfortably.
"It was a… douchey move on my part."
I laughed shortly. "It wasn't your only one," I made sure to remind him. "But I'm glad you've realized
that it was."
EPOV
I really didn't want to leave Bella's side, but unfortunately, nature calls.
I excused myself and visited the men's room, all the while thinking of Bella.
Talk about a dramatic high school experience. I mean, sure, the drama between her and her ex
seemed tame compared to the plots of some movies and television dramas, but real life usually isn't
that bad. I know that nothing memorable had happened during my own high school career to make
me either love it or hate it.
When Bella had finally shared with me why she was so freaked out about the prom throwback, I had
to admit that I was initially angry. There were a couple of minutes that I seriously debated rushing
back into that gymnasium and punching the lights out of Jacob Black. But I knew that would only
make the situation worse for Bella. The past was the past, and she seemed to realize that it was time
to move on and let it go.
When we had returned to the dance, she started acting normal again, which was quite a relief, to be
honest. It was nice seeing how she acted when she wasn't worried or sad or angry. It made me think
that maybe this was what it would be like to spend time with her outside of this weekend.
I enjoyed listening to her tease me about my food choices and catch up with her old high school
friends. I enjoyed watching her blush in embarrassment as I tried to get her to relax while dancing,
and I definitely enjoyed feeling the slight curvature of her waist and the warmth of her body when I
wrapped my arms around her as we danced.
I was hooked. I was like an addict who had finally found the perfect hit.
I washed my hands and looked into the mirror to make sure my hair was still styled decently before I
left the restroom and walked back down the empty hallway toward the gymnasium. I entered the
large room and heard a vaguely-familiar love song playing through the speakers.
I glanced over to the table where I had left Bella, and my eyebrows furrowed when I didn't see her
there. Maybe she went to talk to some more of her friends, I thought as my eyes scanned over the
tables and the people that sat at them. But I still didn't see her.
I was halfway toward the dance floor when I spotted her – dancing with Jacob.
My first reaction was one of jealousy. I was her fake boyfriend, God damn it. I was the only one who
was supposed to dance with her tonight. As far as everyone else knew, she was taken.
But then it turned into one of confusion and bewilderment. I knew that Jacob wasn't my competition.
Bella had already vented to me on numerous occasions about how much she disliked her ex-
boyfriend, and I didn't think she was as fickle as to hate him one minute and then fall in love with him
again the next. But that still didn't explain why she would ever agree to dance with him.
I had stopped in my tracks when I noticed them, and now as I stood, I surveyed them more carefully.
Bella certainly didn't look happy to be dancing with him, but he didn't seem to be forcing her to be
there either. In fact, it looked like they were having a heated discussion about something.
I was conflicted. Should I go cut in and save Bella from whatever argument that she was having with
Jacob, or should I let her fight her own battle? In the end, I decided on the latter. She really needed
to get over what happened back in high school, and if this was how she was going to accomplish that,
then I wasn't going to get in her way.
I walked over to the makeshift bar and got another beer, turning back to face the dance floor. I
wasn't going to intercede. Bella was a grown woman and I was pretty sure she could handle herself.
Still, I was going to keep my eyes on them. Although I trusted Bella, I did not trust Jacob.
BPOV
I took a couple of deep breaths, trying to get rid of the anger that had been building inside of me. I
could have continued berating him over things that had occurred in our past, but Jacob still hadn't
fully answered my initial inquiry into my father's health. "So what's wrong with Charlie? My threat
still stands. If I find out that you're lying or even exaggerating, I will make you pay."
Jacob tilted his head to the side slightly before he answered and winced. "He doesn't want me to tell
you. But despite your differences with him, and with me, I think you have a right to know," he told
me in a seemingly-honest way. I couldn't help but remain suspicious, however. "You're going over
there tomorrow, right? Just make sure to pressure him into telling you what's going on. I would tell
you, but it's not my place. It's his."
I narrowed my eyes as my heartbeat accelerated in concern. "If nothing is wrong with him, I will kill
you," I warned him once again.
"Wow, we went from castration to murder?" he asked jokingly. "I think I'd rather take the latter, if
you don't mind."
I rolled my eyes. "You would," I muttered. "So that's all? Make sure to get Charlie to tell me what's
wrong tomorrow? Why do you even care?"
"Bella, I am as close to Charlie now as I was back when I was a kid, if not more so. He is a second
father to me, especially since my sisters left and it was just me and my dad," Jacob explained. "And I
also know that Charlie is just as stubborn as you are. He doesn't want anyone worrying about him
and being needlessly involved in his life."
I sighed and shook my head. "That sounds like Charlie."
"And it sounds like you. The apple didn't fall far from the tree," Jacob countered. "But I know that
deep down, although he doesn't show it or admit it, he does care about you. And considering you
were willing to dance with me just to get information on Charlie, I'm guessing that you care about
him more than you let on, too. He needs you to be there for him right now, and you can't do that if
you're left in the dark about what's going on."
"Way to be vague," I grumbled. "Fine. I guess I'll find out tomorrow." I sighed and stopped dancing.
"Thank you, Jacob, for informing me of this." I pulled my hands away from him and prepared to leave
the dance floor. I had my information – there was no reason to continue dancing with Jacob.
But he grabbed my hands. "Come on, Bella. The song isn't even over yet," he said with an innocent-
looking smile. "I've already proven that I'm not going to bite you. And I'm not going to seduce you
either, if that's what you're worried about. Unless you want me to…"
I scowled. "I wasn't worried about that, actually," I retorted exasperatedly. "And why is this song
taking so damn long to end? It's supposed to be a four-minute song. This DJ is trying to kill me
slowly…"
"Melodramatic much?" Jacob asked, still not letting go of my hands. Unfortunately, he had quite a
strong grip so that I couldn't pry my hands out. "Come on, Bella. I got us a motel room."
I could tell that he was just teasing me, but I didn't think it was funny… at all. "Do you get off on
torturing me?" I asked angrily. "Why can't you just stay nice? Or just stay mean? But no, you have to
be all apologetic and caring about Charlie and whatever the hell's going on with him, and then you
turn into an asshole again. You won't free my hands to let me leave and you bring up that prom night
again. Can't you at least be consistent?"
Jacob stayed silent, looking over my head and not into my eyes. I didn't know if he was ignoring me
or if he just wanted me to think that he didn't care. Either way, he wasn't responding.
"What the hell happened to you?" I continued. "You were so nice at one time. You were my best
friend, Jake. And then you changed into this person that I don't even know. I was even in a serious
relationship with you and I still didn't know who you were. You can still be that nice, charming boy
that I met – I have seen it – but I can't decipher which 'you' is the façade and which one is real."
I stopped and breathed a sigh of relief. I had wanted to tell him that for almost eleven years, and I
had never gotten the chance until now. It felt good, to be honest.
After a moment of silence, Jacob looked back down at me, but anger filled his eyes. "I am who I am,"
he stated strongly. "You're right in that I'm not the same kid you met when you first moved here,
when we first started dating. But it's only your opinion that seventeen-year-old me was a better
version of who I am right now. And that is why we didn't work out, Bella. You kept holding on to an
outdated version that frankly wasn't that great to begin with. People change – I changed – and you
couldn't handle it. Instead, you judged me for it."
"You're right in that people do change, sometimes for the better, but you changed for the worse in at
least one way. You became cruel," I explained angrily. "You lied and told everyone that I was cheating
on you with Tyler and you even let Charlie believe it. That was malicious." I heard the song end and
my patience was gone. I yanked my arm up suddenly, hoping to surprise Jacob, but his grip was still
tight. "Let me go, now, or I'll make a scene."
Jacob laughed. "Go ahead and make one," he replied.
I took a deep breath and prepared to either knee him in the crotch or shout something at him, but
suddenly his hands released mine and my arms dropped to my side. "Is there a problem here?" I
heard Edward ask from behind. I closed my eyes and sighed in relief as I felt his reassuring touch on
my shoulder.
"We were just catching up," Jacob told him quickly. He started walking away, but then he turned
back. "Bella, remember what I said about Charlie. I might be the asshole you think I am, but you have
to believe me when it comes to him. I'm being sincere."
I nodded impatiently. "Okay, okay," I told him before Jacob finally left and disappeared from my
sight.
I turned to Edward and threw my arms around him. "That was the longest song and dance of my
life," I said with only a bit of exaggeration. "Thank God you're back. I really did miss you," I admitted.
I closed my eyes and rested my head on Edward's shoulder, smelling the faint scent of laundry
detergent and hotel soap that emanated from his body.
Right here, this was where I wanted to be right now. It was the only time I felt completely
comfortable this entire weekend.
EPOV
It wasn't the easiest thing to do – watching Bella dance with that scumbag of an ex-boyfriend – but if
she needed to talk to him, I wasn't going to interfere. That's what I kept reminding myself as I sipped
at the can of beer in my hands and watched them.
All of that changed, though, when I saw her try to yank her arms away from Jacob and especially
when I noticed that he wasn't letting her leave. I mean, I already knew that he was an asshole, but
really? Not letting her go? That majorly crossed the line.
Seething with anger, I stalked onto the dance floor. A fairly large part of me just wanted to deck him,
but I was pretty sure that Bella wouldn't have appreciated it as much as I would have. Still, if he
started it, hitting him would have been in self-defense, right?
Unfortunately for me and fortunately for him, Jacob didn't put up any sort of fight. He immediately
released her upon catching sight of my approach and then muttered something vague about Charlie
to Bella before he left and disappeared back into whatever hole he came from.
But now as Bella clung to me, whispering that she "really" missed me, a small part of me was selfishly
glad that Jacob Black was malevolent. By consistently acting in such a manner, he was practically
pushing Bella into my arms, and I obviously wasn't going to complain.
I hugged her in response, my arms once again wrapped around her small waist with my face so close
to her dark hair that smelled of the hotel shampoo, hairspray, and a scent that was just uniquely
Bella. "Are you okay?" I asked concernedly.
I felt Bella nod against my shoulder before she pulled back so that I could see her face again. She
smiled up at me as she took a deep breath. "I am now," she replied. "God, he's a jerk."
"Why did you dance with him?" I asked curiously.
Bella rolled her eyes and shook her head. "He said he had information about Charlie, which really
wasn't information at all," she confessed. "But I don't regret dancing with him… I've had some
revelations."
I nodded. Apparently she wasn't going to share what those revelations were. "Well that's good."
"Yeah, so do you want to get out of here?" Bella asked, her eyes hopefully darting to the exit. "I think
I've had my fill of dancing for the night, and I'll have a chance to see everyone tomorrow before I
have to say my goodbyes."
"If you want to leave, that's fine with me," I told her. I regretfully released her from my arms as we
started to walk off the dance floor and back to our table, where my jacket and Bella's purse were still
placed.
I honestly didn't mind leaving one bit. It wasn't even ten o'clock, and with the nap we had taken in
the afternoon, neither of us were tired enough to sleep yet. This would mean that I could finally
spend some more quality time with Bella without putting up a front to the rest of the outside world.
We were walking back side by side, and we were almost to the table when I noticed Bella stop
abruptly. I turned and saw an angry-looking Alice with her hand on Bella's arm. "Bella, we need to
talk," she said quietly yet forcefully. Jasper was standing several feet behind her, looking on
confusedly. His expression probably matched my own.
Bella glanced up at me warily before turning her eyes back to Alice. "What's wrong?" she asked
curiously. But from the look on her face, I could tell that Bella knew just what Alice was talking about.
She looked like a little girl who had just been caught with her hand inside the cookie jar.
"You know exactly what's wrong," Alice countered angrily. "I hope you didn't think that what
happened between you and Jacob on the dance floor stayed between you and Jacob. More than a
few people overhead you two, but I'm the only one who actually cares."
This sounded like something that should be left between Alice and Bella, so I nodded my head back
over to Jasper. "I'll let you two talk," I remarked awkwardly. "I'll go talk to Jasper…"
But Alice apparently wasn't going to have that. "No," she demanded. "Edward, do you know what
happened between Bella and Jacob five years ago that had something to do with them hooking up?"
She looked at me curiously, and seeing the look of complete surprise on my face, she glanced back
over to Bella. "Looks like you've been keeping secrets again."
I watched Bella's face redden as she found something enthralling that was going on near her shoes.
Of course this revelation caught me completely off guard. Never had Bella mentioned getting
together with Jacob Black again, but then again, she was the secretive type. I wasn't sure what to
entirely think of it, but it did concern me. If Bella was willing to give the jerk a second chance, what
was stopping her from giving him a third chance? What hold did he still have on her?
Bella finally looked up with her eyes narrowed. "It's none of your business," she told Alice.
Alice looked at her incredulously, her jaw dropped. "Like hell it isn't! We're best friends, Bella, or at
least we were at one point in time. You had to deal with Jacob back in high school, but so did I. Who
else talked to you on the phone for hours at a time when you were crying about Jacob? Who else
comforted you for like an entire month after you two broke up? Who else had to work to dispel
those goddamn rumors that floated around afterward? Who else drove over to La Push and
threatened that scumbag within an inch of his life if he ever pulled that shit again… which I actually
hadn't told you about until now…" She glanced down at her feet uncomfortably before looking up at
Bella again. "I guess Angela would be that other person, and I'm sure if she weren't busy with so
many of her responsibilities and had heard what I overheard, then she'd be here right beside me."
Bella continued to watch her, speechless, so Alice took a deep breath to calm herself down before
continuing.
"Bella, I know you. Do you remember how long it took for you to finally open up to me so that we
could become close friends? Please don't shut me out again," Alice pleaded with her. "And I'm not
going to allow you to do that with Edward." Her eyes darted to mine for only a second. "If something
happened, you've got to tell him. As your boyfriend and someone you're obviously crazy about, he
deserves to know, even if you won't tell me."
She didn't look happy about it, but after a number of seconds, Bella looked as though she had finally
given in. "Jesus Christ, this might as well be 'Bella Is Forced to Share All of Her Secrets' Day," she
remarked with pursed lips. "I guess I don't have much of a choice, though, do I?" She gestured to the
table. "Take a seat."
I followed Alice and took a seat at the table, Bella sitting in the middle and still looking quite pissed
off. I wondered if I should tell her that she didn't have to share anything she didn't want to (it
sounded like something that I should say), but I really did want to know, and Alice obviously wasn't
going to let Bella off the hook without an explanation. And if I didn't find out what had happened, I
would probably just assume the worst, and the worst would be that, despite their differences, Bella
and Jacob were still in love with each other.
"There was an incident five years ago with Jacob," Bella started to explain, keeping her voice
surprisingly cool and collected. "I wouldn't use the term 'hooked up' as you so accused." She glanced
at Alice. "You make me sound like a floozy…"
"I didn't mean that," Alice defended herself quickly.
"I know," she assured her friend. "So… I know I already told Edward, but did you know that I visited
Forks a few months after I had graduated from Stanford?"
Alice shook her head. "I thought this was your first time back."
"No, this is my second time… I had just started working at the publishing company, I was sent to
Seattle for a conference, and I decided to drive to Forks to finally see Charlie. After four years of not
seeing him and talking to him only a handful of times, I was feeling pretty guilty. I had finally stopped
blaming him for taking Jacob's side, but I had never actually told him that. We needed to talk, I knew,
so even though I cringed at the thought of returning to Forks, I went anyway."
"And?" Alice asked anxiously.
"Patience, Alice," Bella chided her. "So I knew Charlie would be home because he's always home on
Sunday afternoons. I parked my rental car in the driveway, walked up to the front porch, and
knocked on the door. Charlie answered to door, and needless to say, he was surprised. He invited me
inside and I was starting to tell him about my new job and the Seattle conference when I noticed
Jacob in the house, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He was, as usual, eating."
Alice scowled. "He should be obese the way he eats," she muttered quietly. "I wish I had his
metabolism…"
"Tell me about it," Bella remarked before continuing. "I really wanted to leave immediately
considering how Jacob and I ended things years earlier, but Charlie begged me not to leave. Jacob
even told me that he would stay out of my way. He was spending the afternoon with Charlie to keep
him company, but he would stay in the kitchen while I was here, he said.
"I sat down with Charlie in the living room and watched the Seahawks game with him for a while in
silence. It was awkward, but I really wasn't expecting anything less. During half time, though, Charlie
muted the game and we made small talk. He hadn't been able to come down for my college
graduation months earlier, so I told him about that and how Renee and Phil were doing. He talked
about new developments in Forks, how Billy was doing, et cetera. Both of us were too chicken to dig
deeper into the issues between us, so they were never resolved.
"Eventually, I did become thirsty and I offered to get Charlie another beer, so I went into the kitchen,
where Jacob sat, pouring over some schoolwork. He was taking some classes at the community
college at the time. I was planning on simply ignoring him, but then he suddenly and seemingly-
sincerely apologized. He asked me to sit and talk with him, and caught completely off-guard by his
behavior, I did.
"He apologized for what happened at prom and for spreading those rumors, explaining that it was a
difficult time for him and that he had been going through some issues. He was acting really nice, so
nice that we continued talking for another couple of hours. But I had to drive back to Seattle to catch
my flight to L.A., so I had to leave. Before I left, he asked if he could call me, and I agreed, giving him
my new number before saying another goodbye to Charlie."
"I don't understand," Alice interjected. "You just talked? How did that break up any engagement?"
Once again, confusion clouded my face. What engagement?
Bella ignored her and continued. "He continued calling me after I got back to L.A. We talked for hours
at a time about four times a week for almost five months. I had already forgiven him for what
happened during high school, and now I was falling for him again. He seemed like a changed man.
Eventually, Jacob asked if he could come down to L.A. to visit me, and I acquiesced.
"He flew in on Saturday morning to leave on Sunday afternoon. He got a hotel room and rental car
for himself. We went to lunch, and I showed him around L.A. and gave him a corny 'Stars of
Hollywood' tour. Later that night, he picked me up at my place and took me out to a fancy dinner and
then drinks. It was honestly one of the best dates I've ever been on. So when he dropped me off, I
invited him inside and one thing led to another." Bella glanced over at me and then blushed. "You
know what I mean." Her voice then dropped to an embarrassed whisper. "And to his credit, it was
spectacular."
"T.M.I.," Alice stated with wide eyes. "You could have left that out." I had to wholeheartedly agree
with her.
Bella scowled angrily. "It was great, and when I woke up the next morning, he was gone. I checked
the rest of my apartment, I called his cell phone which was never answered, and I called the hotel
only to hear that he had checked out early. Needless to say, I was hurt, but I continued to cling onto
the hope that there was an emergency and simply a lot of miscommunication. I waited for days for a
phone call, and after those days turned into a couple of weeks, I did the only thing I could think of at
the time – I called Charlie.
"I asked him if he had heard from Jake recently, and of course he had. I asked if he had said anything
about his weekend in L.A., and that was when Charlie became angry. He started going off about
someone called Vanessa and something about a canceled wedding. I was utterly confused and thus
asked for clarification. So Charlie informed me of Jacob's fiancée of almost a year, Vanessa.
Apparently, she had been suspicious for months that Jacob was seeing someone else, and after he
completely disappeared for a weekend, she had had enough and broke off the engagement. Charlie
was smart enough to put two and two together, and I was suddenly 'the other woman.' He went off
on me for ten minutes about the importance of fidelity, and the worst part was that I couldn't say
that I hadn't done anything."
"Douche bag!" Alice cursed strongly. "Whoever Vanessa is, she should thank you for saving her."
"After I found out that I was unwittingly involved in an affair, I obviously didn't want to tell anyone,
which is why neither you nor Angela heard anything from me about it. And I wasn't going to tell you,
Edward…" Bella drifted off, looking at me embarrassedly. "You're probably thinking that I'm an awful
person… I'm not, I promise. It wasn't my fault."
She looked genuinely worried that I thought ill of her, so I looked at her in surprise. "I never thought
you were," I assured her. "The guy's a cheating asshole and you didn't know it."
"Can I please go kick him in the balls… or… punch him?" Alice asked in an odd mixture of anger and
excitement. I watched her fists clenched on top of the table.
I bit back a laugh at her enthusiasm. "If anyone gets to punch him, I think it should be me," I opined.
Maybe I'd finally get my chance…
But Bella shook her head vehemently. "Neither of you are doing any such thing," she demanded. "If
anyone deserves to do it, it's me, and I'm trying to get past it. I'm trying to just let it go."
"Fine," Alice muttered with a pout before sighing and glancing behind her. Jasper was still standing
further back, making small talk with Mike. She turned back to Bella and pushed her chair out, getting
ready to leave. "Thanks for sharing, Bella. Maybe it wasn't any of my business, but I still stand by the
belief that Edward needed to know in order for you to maintain a healthy relationship, one built on
trust and honesty, one that will last a lifetime."
Bella gave me a fleeting look, and I watched her cheeks redden beautifully at Alice's parting words.
"Well, I should leave you two alone," Alice continued, standing up from her chair. "Are you guys
planning on sticking around?"
Bella shook her head. "No, I think we're going to leave," she told her friend. "I'll still see you
tomorrow, right?"
"Of course," Alice replied, placing her hand on Bella's shoulder. "Well, you two have a good night."
She gave me a wink that Bella couldn't see.
"Thanks, you too," Bella responded, fiddling with the clasp on her clutch purse.
Alice finally left and returned to Jasper, whispering something to him and shaking her head. I took a
deep breath and pushed my chair back. "Are you ready to leave?" I asked, already knowing the
answer.
"Please get me the hell out of here," Bella answered promptly, standing from her chair and grabbing
her pashmina and purse from the table.
I took my jacket from the back of my chair and put it back on before following Bella out of the
gymnasium, down the darkened school hallway, and out into the parking lot. "Can you drive?" she
asked me when we approached the rental car. I was actually surprised that she had even asked. I had
offered to drive numerous times already, and each time, Bella was determined to be the one in
control.
"Sure," I replied.
Bella pulled the car keys out of her purse and tossed them to me before heading to the right
passenger side of the car. We got into the vehicle, I started the engine, we buckled our seat belts,
and I drove us out of the high school parking lot. I glanced over at Bella. She was leaning her head
against the glass window with her eyes peacefully closed.
"What do you want to do now?" I asked curiously, my eyes focusing back onto the dark road.
"Let's just head back to the hotel," she suggested. "We can get out of these clothes, find a movie
playing on HBO, and simply relax." She was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. "I feel like
I've been putting up a front to the entire world today. I've been a happy Bella, a strong Bella, and
even an angry Bella. But I think I'd like to take it down and just be me again…"
BPOV
I was exhausted. Not the kind of exhausted where I was about to fall asleep at any given moment,
but the kind of exhausted where I just wanted to sit down, put my feet up, and do something
mindless, like watching television, surfing the web, or reading an easy book, for a few hours.
I should have felt a multitude of emotions – annoyance at Alice, exasperation at Jacob, concern for
Charlie – but I had gotten to the point where I just didn't care anymore. Metaphorically, my arms
were raised in surrender after the tumultuous day that had just passed.
Edward drove us back to the hotel, and I accompanied him up to the room that we would share
together for one more night. So much had changed in one day. When I had entered the hotel room
with Edward at four o'clock in the morning, yes, I was a bit nervous that I was sharing a room – and a
bed – with him, but for the most part, I wasn't concerned. At that point, I was still telling myself that
this entire weekend was simply a business transaction and a very kind favor given by a coincidentally-
gorgeous stranger.
But now I was falling for him, and that changed everything.
"I'm so glad I can finally take off these heels," I remarked as we entered the room, and I kicked off
the shoes so that they landed next to the bed. I put my purse and pashmina down onto the bed
before raising my arms up into the air and stretching.
I watched as Edward walked to the other side of the room, took off his suit jacket, and pulled his
wallet and the car keys out his pocket, placing them onto the desk. Dear God, he was attractive. The
direction in which he was looking gave me the perfect view of his sharp jaw line and some of the five
o'clock shadow that had started to show. He was tall and of the perfect build. His bronze hair that he
had tried to tame earlier in the evening had gone into disarray again, and I wondered what it would
feel like to run my fingers through those strands.
Before he could catch me staring and lusting after him, I turned away to my suitcase, squatting down
to dig for my pajamas that I had packed. This morning, I had worn my pajama pants and an old t-shirt
to bed, not exactly caring what I looked like. Now, I wish that I had packed some other sort of
sleepwear. I didn't want anything risqué, but I wanted something that looked less like I was attending
a teenage sleepover. I grabbed the striped pajama bottoms – those couldn't be replaced with
anything but panties and I didn't want to go that far – but instead of the old t-shirt, I reached for a
white lace-trimmed camisole that I had packed at the last minute to wear underneath a sweater. It
would be a step up, at least.
Without saying a word to Edward, I took my clothes and walked into the bathroom, flipping on the
florescent light and closing the door behind me. I looked into the mirror to check my appearance. I
hadn't seen my reflection in hours and I was almost afraid that my hair was a mess and that my eye
makeup was completely smeared. But I shouldn't have worried; I still looked decent.
I unzipped my blue cocktail dress and shimmied out of it before hanging it on the hanger that I had
earlier left on the hook on the back of the bathroom door. I pulled on the pajama bottoms and the
camisole, and I briefly wondered if I should leave on the strapless bra that I was still wearing. I never
slept while wearing a bra, but I usually slept alone, and although the camisole had built-in support, it
wasn't exactly modest. I looked at myself in the mirror and pondered it for nearly half a minute
before I reached behind and took it off. It wasn't as though my fairly-small breasts needed the extra
support, and if Edward noticed, well, then it was all for the better, wasn't it? Not that I was trying to
seduce him or anything…
While I was still in the bathroom, I brushed my teeth and even took the time to floss. My minty fresh
breath tasted a lot better than that from the cheap wine I had sipped earlier tonight. Now I wouldn't
be so self-conscious if Edward and I happened to kiss again. I wasn't expecting anything, but, you
know, just in case…
I shook my head while watching myself in the mirror. I was being ridiculous.
I opened the door, flipped off the light, and exited the bathroom, hanging my dress on the closet rod
just outside so that I wouldn't forget to pack it tomorrow. I looked back over to the bed and saw that
Edward was already sitting down on it, his back resting against the pillows while the quilt and sheets
covered the lower part of his legs. He wore what he had worn to bed the night before – a t-shirt and
boxer shorts. He had the remote control in his hand, flipping through channels, before he turned his
head and caught my eye. As his eyes traveled down to take in my sleepwear, a thrill rushed through
me. I tried to ignore it, though.
"Anything good on TV?" I asked as I padded back over to the bed and sat down. I rotated my legs
onto the mattress and stuffed my cold feet under the covers as I situated myself and leaned back
against the pillows on my side of the bed.
"I'm looking," Edward remarked, his eyes still trained on the television set. "You'd think they'd have
interesting stuff on TV on a Saturday night, but it seems to be awful movies, mini-series, or news
programs."
I chuckled. "What movies are on?"
"Um… Bride Wars is on HBO, Titanic is on TNT," he started, obviously not thrilled with those choices.
He apparently was not the biggest fan of chick flicks. "That Van whatever movie with Ryan Reynolds
is on Comedy Central."
"Van Wilder?" I clarified.
"Yeah, that one," Edward continued. "I also noticed High School Musical on the Disney Channel if
you're interested."
I laughed. "No, thanks. Unless you want to watch it," I remarked, turning my head to look at him. "I
bet you're a big Zefron fan. You have a poster of him up in your room, don't you?"
I watched Edward smirk as he looked back at me. "You caught me," he joked before handing me the
remote control. "Here, you find something to watch."
I took the remote and began flipping through the television channels, looking for something
interesting to watch. Edward had been right – the TV grid seemed to be full of news programs, mini-
series, or bad movies. I admit, I was fond of Titanic, but that wasn't what I wanted to watch right now
with Edward.
Finally I came across the TCM channel and noticed the black-and-white scene that played on the
television set. "It's Roman Holiday! I love this movie," I gushed before I turned to Edward. "Do you
like it?"
Edward shrugged. "I haven't seen it before," he replied honestly. "But we can watch it. Is it at the
beginning?"
I nodded. "Yeah, only two minutes or so have passed. All you've found out so far is that Audrey
Hepburn's character is Princess Anne who is visiting all of the countries of Europe on a sort of
goodwill tour, and now, as you would expect, she's in Rome."
"Oh okay… cool," he muttered as I turned up the volume and then set the remote control onto the
bedside table. I pulled the sheets and polyester quilt up to cover my legs that were becoming chilly in
the air-conditioned hotel room. I relaxed back into the pillows and focused on one of my favorite
romantic comedies of all time.
At least, I wanted to focus on the film. Edward, however, was making it difficult. Not that it was his
fault at all, I just couldn't concentrate when all I was thinking about was how much I liked the sound
of his laugh and how he made the perfect amount of remarks regarding the plotline – not too many
to be annoying, but enough that I knew he was enjoying it as much as I would have, had I been
paying attention.
After a couple of hours, as the orchestral music swelled and "The End" flashed upon the screen, I
turned back to Edward. "What did you think?" I asked conversationally.
His eyebrows were slightly furrowed. "That was the ending?"
I looked at him in surprise. "You didn't like it?"
Edward shook his head. "I'm not saying that," he replied. "I guess I just expected a happy ending, one
where the two main characters end up together. I mean, Gregory Peck's character just walks away
and Audrey Hepburn's character lets him."
"Well what did you expect her to do? Abdicate her throne, discard her responsibilities to her family
and country, race after Gregory Peck, fall madly in love with him, and then live happily ever after?" I
asked rhetorically. "I can see how that would be a nice ending, but life doesn't work that way."
I watched Edward's eyebrows rise. "That seems like a cynical way to view life."
"I don't think it's cynical," I disagreed. "At my job, I go through countless stories, ranging from
autobiographies to science fiction to romantic dramas. And from time to time, I have just finished
reading a wonderful story, but the ending is so perfect that it's unrealistic. Don't get me wrong, there
is a huge market for books with romantically sappy happy endings, but not every character can have
a happy ending. It's not like that in real life, so why should it be portrayed as such in literature or
film?"
Edward tilted his head to one side. "I can understand that," he remarked, "but I still think it's cynical.
Do you believe in happy endings?"
I nodded, maintaining my eye contact with Edward. "Yes. I believe that some people get their happy
endings, but I also believe that a lot of people will not."
"And what about you?" he asked, his voice deeper – and sexier – than before. "Do you think you'll be
one of the lucky few to get a happy ending?"
The question itself wasn't exactly distinctive, but the tone of Edward's voice and the smoldering gaze
that we held caught me off guard. I gulped and tried to find the words to answer his question. "Um, I
don't know," I responded shakily. "I like to think that I still have a few more decades of life before my
ending. Will it be happy or not? I don't know…"
My stomach flipped when Edward reached over and grabbed my hand, threading his fingers with
mine. "Well, if you ask my opinion, I think you'll have your happy ending," he told me. "You deserve
it."
My heart rate sped up, and in those few seconds of silence, my brain seemed to stop working,
forcing me to act on pure instinct. All I know is that one second, Edward and I were sitting a couple of
feet apart having a moment, and the next second, we were much closer, my lips pressed against his.
My eyes were blissfully closed and I savored the feeling of Edward moving his lips sensually against
mine. I was reminded to our kiss on the beach earlier in the day, but this was so much better. Neither
of us was surprised by the kiss, and we didn't have to worry about anyone else interrupting us. To be
honest, the bed also made it that much better.
I wrapped one of my arms around Edward's neck while my other hand trailed down to Edward's
lower back as I pulled myself closer to him, enjoying the heat of his body against mine. He turned us
so that I was lying back against the pillows, not entirely sitting up but not entirely lying down either,
while Edward hovered over me, one arm supporting his weight while the other wrapped around my
waist.
The soft, wet warmth of his mouth curved around the contours of my own, and I threaded my fingers
into his tousled hair that I had daydreamed about earlier. I hooked my foot around one of his legs
and pulled his body down closer to mine, urging him to deepen the kiss. Suddenly, it was as if he read
my mind when his lips parted and I felt the warmth of his tongue playing along the center of my
bottom lip. My lips opened for him obediently at his unspoken request, and Edward's mouth curved
in a smug smile against mine. His tongue teased the sensitive spot just inside my upper lip, and I
mewled at the sensation. He hummed back in pleasure as he turned us onto our sides.
With the bed now supporting both of our bodies, Edward moved his other hand between us, slipping
under my camisole and caressing my flat stomach. As our tongues danced together, his hand
continued to slide up inch by inch until he reached my bosom that was, thankfully, bra-less, my shirt
bunching up at the top of my chest. I felt his fingers trail across the underside of one of my breasts
before he palmed me, building my arousal.
It felt good. So good. Too good…
Regretfully, I pulled my head back, breaking my and Edward's glorious kiss, and pulled my arms back
to my body. In response, Edward removed his hands and gazed at me curiously. There was no missing
the lust in his beautiful green eyes, and I was sure that if I looked further down, I'd see signs of
arousal on his side as well as mine.
I smiled reassuringly. I didn't want him to think I didn't enjoy that kiss, because I obviously did. "I
don't want to move so fast," I attempted to explain. "I only met you less than two weeks ago, and I
think if we went further, it might be…" I broke off and shook my head, unable to find the exact words
to explain my thoughts on the subject.
"I understand," Edward replied. "We've only just met, and you're not the type of woman to give
yourself away to men you don't know that well. I respect that, actually."
I smirked sheepishly and resituated myself so that I could rest my head on Edward's upper arm and
shoulder as I stared up at the white ceiling. I didn't want to say as much, but what he had said wasn't
exactly true. I had given myself away to men that I had known less than Edward. After all, going on
three or four dates wasn't the same as spending over twenty-four hours with someone, pretending
to be their serious girlfriend. I had gotten to know Edward more in the last day than I had gotten to
know other men in weeks.
So why did I stop us from potentially having a wonderful, calorie-burning night?
Self-preservation.
I probably would have fallen in love with him, and there would have been no going back.
BPOV
I woke up to feel a hand on my arm and warmth against my back. It took only a second for me to
realize that Edward and I were spooning in the hotel bed. I slowly opened my eyes, hoping to figure
out why I hadn't been awoken by my alarm clock.
It was pitch black in the room, but I knew that was on account of the very heavy curtains. I would
need to see a clock to figure out whether it was five o'clock in the morning or noon. I carefully lifted
Edward's hand off my bicep and then rolled away from him. The digital clock was on the nightstand
on his side of the bed, but I grabbed my cell phone from my nightstand and flipped it open to look at
the time. 10:28 AM, the screen read; only two minutes before the alarm would sound to wake us.
I turned off the alarm, set the phone back on the table, and then reached up to flip on the lamp. The
light illuminated the room and made me squint as my eyes adjusted from the darkness. I turned back
to Edward, wondering if the light had awoken him, but he remained still and asleep, his light snoring
sounding throughout the silent room.
I stared at him for a minute, thinking about our kiss last night. It had been spectacular, of course, but
I was afraid that the morning would change things. Perhaps Edward thought it was a mistake. No, I
reassured myself, he wouldn't think it was a mistake. He likes me, after all. Still, I didn't like the
expectations that now seemed to be set in place. Just because we made out didnot mean that we
were going to start dating and then convince ourselves that we were going to live happily ever after.
But would that be so bad?
My heart said, "No"; my head, however, said, "Yes."
I shook my head and rolled my eyes at my own actions. I didn't need to spend this long internally
combating with myself over how to handle things with Edward. I would just take it one step at a time
with no expectations. One step at a time.
I turned and stood from the bed before walking over to the window and pulling open the drapes,
letting the natural light flood the room. I looked up at the sky and was surprised to see that today
was going to be one of the rare sunny days that occurred in Forks, Washington. It was honestly the
perfect day for the family picnic Angela had planned, and I briefly wondered if she had some sort of
supernatural control over the weather.
"Is that the sun?" I heard Edward's voice behind me, and I turned to see him sitting up and squinting
at me. His hair was a complete mess, but I'm sure mine was as well. I patted it down self-consciously
before answering.
"Yeah," I replied. "Hopefully that means it will be warmer today as well. Perhaps it'll actually feel like
it's June."
I walked back across the room and into the bathroom, leaving Edward to either stay in bed for
another ten minutes or get up to get dressed, whichever he preferred. I washed my face, brushed my
teeth, applied some makeup, and brushed out my hair, taking about ten minutes to complete these
daily routines.
I was just about done when Edward entered the doorway. "Are you almost finished?" he asked. He
was already dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a blue vintage-looking t-shirt.
"Yep," I replied, popping the makeup compact closed and dropping it into the drawstring bag. Before
I left, I cleared out all of my toiletries, bringing them with me into the other room to pack into my
suitcase. Although we weren't leaving for Seattle until later this evening, we still needed to check out
of the hotel by eleven thirty.
While Edward used the bathroom, I pulled out the clothes that I had picked out to wear today – the
same straight leg jeans, a light peach-colored blouse with flutter sleeves, and brown woven leather
flats – and changed out of my pajamas. Once dressed, I finished packing everything into my small
suitcase and then checked in the small closet and under the bed to see that we weren't forgetting
anything.
Edward exited the bathroom while I was still on my knees. "I think we missed breakfast," he
remarked before noticing my position. "Is anything under the bed?" He looked rather amused.
"No," I replied, placing a hand on the bed to stand up. "And I think you're right about breakfast. But
we're eating lunch in less than an hour, so it'll be fine."
We finished packing our suitcases, and I grabbed the rental car keys from the desk where Edward
had placed them last night. We left the room and headed down to the lobby where I checked out of
our room. Once we got to the car, we placed our bags in the trunk, where they would remain until
we returned the car to the rental agency at Sea-Tac airport.
"It's a beautiful day outside," Edward remarked as we got into the car.
"Yeah, they're days like these that make Forks bearable," I agreed.
I heard him chuckle from the passenger seat. "So I take it you're not going to be heartbroken to leave
tonight?"
I smirked as I pulled out of the hotel parking lot. "Not a chance," I replied. "Spending the weekend
here hasn't changed my mind about the place."
Edward laughed. "So what's the plan for today?"
I sighed. "Well, we have this picnic. I don't feel like staying for too long, so maybe an hour or two at
the most. Then we're heading over to Charlie's which will without a doubt be the brightest spot in my
day," I said, my tone reeking with sarcasm. "And then we'll leave for Seattle at about three o'clock so
we can catch our eight o'clock flight."
"And then back to L.A.," Edward continued.
"Yes, then back to L.A.," I agreed.
I clicked on the turn signal and veered into the parking lot of Tilicum Park. The park was, in my
opinion, one of the best uses of taxpayer dollars within the municipality of Forks. It had large, open
grass fields, which, within the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, were rare to come by.
It had baseball diamonds, a soccer field, and tennis courts where the schools' teams would play on
Saturdays, and there was an immense wooden playground. During my very few childhood visits to
Forks, I remembered being astounded by that playground. Of course, as an adult, it didn't seem as
gigantic. But parents also loved the park because their kids could play and run around while not
needing to worry about getting lost within the vast forests.
There was also a rather large gazebo and a number of picnic tables, which is where Edward and I
headed once we had parked and exited the car. I took his hand into mine – after all, we were
supposed to be boyfriend and girlfriend – and surveyed the people who had already arrived. Once
again, we were a bit late to the festivities, so there were already a good amount of people present. In
number, it looked to be the same as how many were present at lunch yesterday at the lodge, but the
demographics had certainly changed. There was a fairly large quantity of children today.
My eyes immediately scanned the park for Jacob or even Lauren, but I didn't see them. I crossed my
fingers with my free hand, hoping that they wouldn't show up this morning.
"Bella! Edward!" Mike raised his hand and called us over to where he stood behind a grill. Together,
we turned in his direction and walked towards him, and I noticed that Jessica stood next to him,
helping him. They actually seemed like they were both in very good moods this morning, a nice
change from yesterday. "You guys left early last night."
"Did we miss anything important?" I asked curiously.
"Only the dance-off," Mike replied, looking back down at the hamburger patties so that he could flip
them to the other side.
Edward laughed. "There was a dance-off and I missed it? Damn."
I chuckled. "Who won?"
"Well, it came down to me and Eric," Mike explained, "and it was quite close, but then I pulled out
the big guns and won."
I watched as Jessica smirked. "He did the Worm."
I looked at him, impressed. "You still got the moves, huh?" I remembered Mike also doing the Worm
at our senior prom so long ago. He was actually a pretty good dancer as long as you weren't slow
dancing with him. Then you had to watch out for your feet.
Mike smiled. "I have to admit, it wasn't as easy as it used to be."
"We're getting old, Mike," I reminded him, glancing over to the fields where kids were running
around. "I didn't know so many of our classmates had kids now. That's a definite sign that we're
aging."
I looked back up at Mike to see a wide grin on his face. He glanced down at Jessica. "Tell them the
good news."
My eyebrows rose in surprise and curiosity.
"I thought we were going to keep it to ourselves for a while," she whispered to him.
"Come on, baby. It's Bella and Edward, and they're leaving today to go back to California," he replied,
trying to convince her to share. "And you know me; I can't keep secrets that I'm really excited about."
Jessica smiled at him lovingly. "That hasn't changed," she agreed before turning back to me and
Edward. "I'm pregnant." She looked beyond thrilled at this news with a large smile on her glowing
face.
"Wow," was my initial response. "That's, um, great, Jess. Congratulations. When did you find out?"
"Only this morning," Jessica answered.
"We've been trying for years," Mike confessed. "Hopefully this one will stay put."
I saw Jessica's smile drop and tears form in her eyes as she fumed for several seconds. "God, why
don't you just tell the whole world about our problems?" she finally asked Mike angrily before
glancing back at us. "I'll be back."
Mike grimaced as she left. "Hormones," he whispered with a shake of his head.
Edward chuckled and I nudged him in the side with my elbow. "Be nice, both of you," I admonished
them. "But really, Mike, congratulations. I hope it all works out this time."
"Hope what works out?" I heard Alice's inquiring voice behind me. I turned to see her standing with
Jasper, wearing a bright sundress and a matching cardigan. Jasper and Edward said quick hellos while
Alice continued to looked at me and Mike curiously.
I glanced at Mike before answering; it certainly wasn't my place to tell them. Mike shook his head
subtly, probably because he didn't want to share the news without Jessica present, especially after
her recent outburst. "Nothing," I replied to Alice. "I was just talking about how I hoped the burgers
turned out well."
"Oh," Alice replied happily. "I hope they turn out well too!"
Mike turned back to the burgers while Edward and I stood with Alice and Jasper. No one spoke for
several awkward seconds. Alice kept looking around with that entirely too happy grin on her face,
Jasper was quiet as usual, Edward was gazing at me curiously, and I was remembering the events of
last night, mostly the part when Alice had cornered me into sharing one of my biggest secrets with
her and Edward.
"Excuse me. I'm going to find the restroom," I finally announced, wanting to escape the situation for
at least a couple of minutes. I dropped Edward's hand and started walking toward the small concrete
building in which the restrooms were located. I didn't get even halfway there when I felt a hand on
my arm, turning me around. It was Alice.
"Are you mad at me?" she asked concernedly.
"Maybe," I replied simply.
"Because of what I did last night?"
"Yes, because of what you did last night," I clarified for her.
"Fuck," she cursed quietly. "Listen, I know it doesn't excuse what I did, but I was really angry. Not at
you, but at Jacob. I mean, he got away with breaking my best friend's heart once, and I hated hearing
that he might have done it again. I was also drinking last night, and you know me; I can't hold my
alcohol at all. So yeah, I probably jumped the gun a bit too quickly, both in forcing you to admit what
happened and in confronting Jacob about it. I just really-"
"Wait," I said quickly, cutting her off from her anxious rambling. "Confronting Jacob? I told you not to
do anything, Alice."
"No, you told me not to kick him in the balls or punch him," she corrected me. "I did neither. I simply
approached him and told him off in front of some people."
"Oh God. Alice, what did you say?" I asked worriedly. If she had mentioned anything about our affair,
I was going to murder her. Well, maybe not murder her, but I wouldn't talk to her for a very long
time.
Alice looked at me with wide eyes. "Oh, I didn't say any specifics," she assured me quickly. "I think I
told him, paraphrasing, that he was a gigantic tool. I might have said "spawn of Satan" too, but I'm
not sure about that one. I'll ask Jasper later. He said he remembers it with vivid memory. Anyway, I
then said that he shouldn't even be here because he didn't go to high school with us and that he was
stinking up the gymnasium with his wet dog smell."
I couldn't help but laugh and smile at that last comment. "Where did that come from?" I asked
incredulously. "He doesn't smell badly…"
"I think I made it up in the moment," Alice admitted with a smile. "But anyway, I convinced him not
to be here today. He and Lauren are going to spend quality time together in their own private
homes."
"How did you get them to agree to that?" I asked in disbelief.
"Well, much more quietly, I explained to Jacob that I knew about everything and that I could become
his worst nightmare if he didn't do as I said," she explained. "I honestly didn't think it was going to
work; I was just full of hot air. But miraculously, he agreed. He said goodbye to me, took Lauren's
arm, and left."
I smiled in relief. "So he won't be here today?" One of my greatest wishes for the day just came true.
"Not unless he wants a nightmare on his hands," she replied with an innocent shrug. "So… Is there
any chance you'll forgive me for what I did? I am really so sorry."
"For being entirely too curious for your own good?" I clarified. "Yes, I forgive you. For yelling
incoherent, drunken insults at Jake, there's nothing to forgive, especially since it worked."
Alice smiled. "Great. So we're friends?"
I chuckled. "We've always been friends," I reminded her.
"We need to act like it more often," she responded solemnly. "We were such good friends and then
we just kind of fell apart."
"We'll make more of an effort from now on," I promised her.
"You know, I think I might have to go out to L.A. sometime for work," Alice mentioned.
I smiled. "I think I might need to go visit the New York office at some point," I remarked in return.
Alice grinned before looking back to where Edward and Jasper were standing and talking. "So, did
you really need to go to the restroom?"
I laughed. "No, I didn't," I told her. "We can go back."
Alice linked her arm with mine as we strolled back over to our boyfriends.
Well, Alice's boyfriend was really her boyfriend.
My boyfriend was only a fake.
BPOV
The remainder of the reunion picnic was enjoyable and mercifully uneventful. I had a lot of fun
talking with my friends and former classmates, especially since we were all going to part ways so
soon. I told them that if they were ever in southern California to give me a call, and we switched
contact information in case they came down, or in the off chance that I returned to Forks sometime
in the not-so-distant future.
Before long, though, it was getting later in the early afternoon and I knew that Edward and I should
be heading over to Charlie's house for the visit. We took several minutes to say our goodbyes, to Ben
and Angela, to Caroline and Tanner, to Mike and Jessica, to Eric and Alex, and then strolled back to
the parking lot. Alice and Jasper accompanied us.
"How about you call me next Sunday afternoon," Alice suggested. "And then the week after that, I'll
call you. Maybe we can start a habit of talking once a week."
I grinned. "That sounds great, Alice."
Jasper and Edward were currently switching phone numbers and email addresses. "Seriously,
Edward," Jasper was telling him, "email me about that demo. I'd be more than happy to help you
out."
Edward nodded happily. "Thanks, man," he said, slapping Jasper on the back. "I'll take you up on that
offer. And it was nice meeting you."
Before I opened the car door, Alice gave me a tight hug goodbye. "Good luck with Charlie," she
whispered into my ear. "And have a safe trip back to L.A."
"And you have a safe trip back to New York," I said in response, pulling away from her embrace. "I'll
talk to you Sunday."
Alice smiled. "Talk to you then!" she exclaimed before she skipped over to where Jasper stood in
front of the rental car.
Edward and I got into the car, and I put the keys into the ignition.
"Well that wasn't too bad," he remarked in surprise as he fastened his seat belt.
I chuckled. "I know. I actually had a really good time!"
I waved to Alice and Jasper through the windshield before I turned my head around and backed out
of the parking space, ready to make the three or four minute drive to Charlie's house.
I soon turned onto the street on which my father lived and watched as the small two-storied house
grew larger as we approached. I pressed down on the brakes and slowed in front of the residence,
noticing Charlie's police cruiser sitting in the gravel driveway. The police department must have
recently upgraded their vehicles, because it certainly wasn't the same old Ford Crown Victoria Police
Interceptor that he had driven during my year and half in Forks.
I stopped the rental car, but I didn't turn into the driveway.
I pictured me and Edward walking to the front door and knocking, Charlie answering, and then seeing
that he was deathly ill. Or maybe he would be perfectly healthy and I would proceed to seek out
Jacob to kick his ass for needlessly worrying me. Either way, there was no happy visit scenario. If only
my father and I had the relationship where he would open the door with a huge smile on his face,
hug me hello, tell me that it's wonderful to see me, and we could catch up happily until we were
forced to leave. But that, I knew, would not happen.
I took a shaky breath and turned my eyes back to the street in front of me. I moved my right foot
from the brake pedal to that of the gas, passing the house altogether and continuing down the
street.
"Um, what's going on?" I heard Edward ask. "Wasn't that his house?"
"Yeah," I whispered, keeping my eyes on the road and on the speedometer, not wanting to go over
the slow speed limit. "I'm not ready for that just yet."
A minute later, once we left the more residential area of Forks, I pulled over onto the side of the road
and parked the car. I unbuckled my seat belt and leaned my head against the headrest, closing my
eyes. "I can do this," I reassured myself. "I can do this. I can do this. I can-"
Edward interrupted my positive affirmations. "Are you okay?"
I opened my eyes and turned to him. "Do I look like I'm okay?" I asked rhetorically. "I haven't seen
my father in five years, and you know how that visit went. The last time I spoke to him was in
December on Christmas, but it was a five minute conversation with many awkward silences and
talking about the weather. I don't know what I'm going to say."
"Well what do you want to say?"
I turned my head back to look at the road. "I want to know if anything is wrong with his health. If
there is, I want to know why he kept it from me. I also, despite how awkward it will be, want to
discuss the past," I explained. "I want to know why he places Jacob up onto a pedestal and why I'm
in, like, some metaphorical ditch. But what am I supposed to do? Jump right into it and say, 'Dad, I
want to talk about what happened when I lived here'?"
"That's not a bad start," Edward remarked.
I sighed in exasperation. "Maybe I should just see how he is, say hello, stick around for ten minutes,
and then leave our relationship the way it is. It'd be so much easier."
"Bella, look at me," Edward instructed, and I did as he said. "Can you honestly tell me that you would
rather your relationship with your father continue in this manner?"
I rolled my eyes. "No… I do want to improve things. Sometimes, I still feel so guilty about leaving…
never visiting… screening his phone calls," I admitted with a small shake of my head. "It'd be nice not
having to feel that way any longer."
"Then be honest and talk to him," he suggested. "Hopefully he'll do the same in return."
I groaned. "Yeah, I guess."
"And you know sitting in the car on the side of the road is only going to prolong the inevitable," he
continued.
I forced a nod and held onto the steering wheel with both hands. "You're right. I should just get it
over with."
I slowly inhaled and exhaled a few times in an attempt to calm my nerves, and then I re-buckled my
seat belt and checked the rearview mirror for traffic. Once the coast was clear, I put the gear into
drive and made a U-turn, returning down the road to Charlie's house.
I soon pulled the car into the driveway behind the new police cruiser, and Edward and I emerged
from the car into the warm, sunny day. "So this is where you grew up," he remarked as he looked at
the small house with light blue siding that looked in dire need of a pressure washing.
"No, I grew up in a house in Phoenix," I corrected. "This is where I lived for a year and a half during
my adolescence."
As we walked up onto the small porch, Edward surprised me by entwining his fingers with mine. He
met my eyes and gave me a reassuring smile. "You can do this, I know you can," he whispered.
"Remember, I'm here for you."
"Thanks," I replied softly before I knocked on the door with my free hand.
Several moments passed before I heard heavy footsteps behind the door and the sound of the door
knob being turned. The oak door opened and revealed my father. He wore his usual garb of blue
jeans and a flannel shirt, and he looked so much older than I had expected. Then again, I hadn't seen
him in a long time, and five years did quickly age a man in his upper fifties. His hair was much grayer
than I remembered, but what surprised me the most was how much thinner and paler he looked. I
mean, Charlie did have my same pale complexion, but a healthy glow of someone who spent time
outdoors was absent.
There was a small forced smile on his face. "Bella," he greeted me. "It's nice to see you. Come on in."
Charlie opened the door wider, and I entered the house, Edward following right behind me.
"Dad, this is Edward," I introduced him, pulling my fingers away from Edward's so that I could gesture
back and forth. "Edward, this is my dad, Charlie."
Edward and Charlie shook hands while my father mumbled, "Nice to meet you."
"You too, sir," Edward responded with that charming smile.
The three of us stood there in silence for several moments until Charlie cleared his throat. "Well, do
you want something to drink? We can go sit down in the kitchen…"
"A glass of water would be great," I replied quickly. I wasn't exactly thirsty, but a glass of water would
give me something to fidget with in my nervousness.
As Edward and I followed Charlie into the kitchen, I glanced into the living room, just checking to see
that Jacob wasn't visiting. Not that I was expecting him, but after my last visit, I just wanted to be
sure. Thankfully, I saw no sign of anyone but Charlie. The television was turned onto ESPN and there
were dirty dishes on the coffee table. It was typical.
"So the offer still stands if you want me to fry up some fish," I heard Charlie mention, and I turned
back to the kitchen where he and Edward were standing. "I don't know if you're hungry or if you had
lunch at that reunion thing."
Although I was still fond of a fish fry, I remained full from our lunch at the park. "Thank you for the
offer," I replied, "but we ate lunch not too long ago."
Charlie shrugged before reaching up into the cabinet that I remembered held his cups and coffee
mugs. "Not a problem." He poured glasses of water for all three of us from a pitcher in the
refrigerator, and after handing two to me and Edward, we sat down at the round kitchen table. "So
how was the reunion?"
"It was pretty good," I answered hesitantly. Although it certainly had its fun parts, overall, the
reunion was pretty awful. Maybe if Jacob hadn't been there, it would have been a different story. I
wasn't going to tell Charlie that, though. Although, if I did mention Jacob, we'd probably get to the
crux of the matter that much faster. "It was nice seeing Alice and Angela again. I hadn't seen them in
a long time."
Charlie looked interested at the mention of my former best friends. "Oh? How are they doing?" he
asked. "I spoke to Angela last month when she was planning everything, but I haven't heard anything
about Alice. I do know that her parents are doing well, though."
"Alice is doing great. She's still in New York, trying to get into the fashion design world. She's
currently working for some designer and then working on her own projects on her own time."
Charlie nodded and then turned to Edward. "And what about you, Edward? What do you do?"
Edward considered this for a moment before answering. "I'm a musician," he finally said. I took
notice of the fact that he hadn't admitted to working at Starbucks.
My father smirked. "Oh, really? Are you in a band? What do you play?"
"I'm not in a band," Edward replied. "And mainly I play the guitar, but I've dabbled in playing the
keyboard from time to time."
"I never thought you'd go for a musician, Bella," Charlie remarked with an amused look on his face.
"Are you two serious?"
This question caught me off guard, but Edward responded before I could even decide how to answer.
"Yes," he stated. "I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her, if she'll let me, of
course." He smiled at me, and I looked at him, dumbfounded.
Charlie didn't react to Edward's announcement, only looked across the table to me. "Well what
about you, Bella? How's your job going?"
I was still surprised by the curveball Edward had thrown, but I didn't have time to dwell on that
proclamation. "My job is going great. Same old, same old," I answered, looking back into the wrinkled
eyes of my father. "What about you? What's new with you?"
My heartbeat steadily increased after I asked this question and awaited Charlie's response. Would he
tell me if something was wrong? Was anything wrong? He certainly didn't look like he was in his most
healthy state, but he looked better than he had in the worst case scenario I envisioned earlier.
"Not much," my father replied. "There's not much going on at the station. Speeding tickets, noise
violations, high school parties to break up… that sort of thing… the usual."
My eyebrows furrowed. "Well what about you? Not the station or the town or your friends… I want
to know what's new with you."
Charlie took this time to sip at his glass of water, and I spotted the delay tactic immediately. It was
something that I would have done in the same situation. Apparently, beating around the bush wasn't
going to cut it.
"I saw Jacob," I announced, surprising my father. He definitely knew first-hand how bad the
relationship between us was. "He told me to get you to tell me what's going on. He wouldn't tell me
specifics, saying that it was your secret to share, but that I needed to know."
Charlie set his glass down on the table and shook his head. "That kid can be a pain in my ass," he
muttered.
I glanced at Edward for a moment, seeking his reassurance, before continuing. "Dad, if something is
wrong, I need you to tell me what it is. I need you to tell me the truth," I begged. "Please."
My father remained silent for almost half a minute before he spoke again. "I didn't want to worry you
because it's not that bad," he started, increasing the anticipation even more. He scratched the hair
on his head before continuing. "I, er, have cancer."
I immediately closed my eyes. It was my worst fear after Caroline had mentioned that he looked sick,
and now it turned out to be true. I felt Edward's hand on my knee under the table, and I opened my
eyes, trying not to freak out.
"You have cancer?" I calmly asked for clarification.
Charlie nodded. "Prostate cancer. They found it about three months ago. My doctor said we found it
early, though, so it's not exactly life threatening at the moment," he explained. "I'm not going to die
from it, at least not anytime soon and not if treatment works."
Well that was a relief… sort of. "Is that why you look so ill? Are you doing chemo?" I asked worriedly.
He did have his hair, but it was still in the early stages. I guessed it could be possible.
"No, radiation therapy," he answered.
I continued to stare at him, this time in confusion. "Then why are you so pale?" I certainly wasn't a
doctor, but it seemed that radiation therapy wouldn't have as bad side effects as I heard
chemotherapy had. And if he wasn't dying from the cancer, I didn't understand why he looked so
different.
"Oh that? I haven't been going out in the sun. My skin's more sensitive now."
"And why you're so thin?" I inquired again.
Charlie smiled at my persistence. "I've been on a diet for the past year," he replied. "I wanted to lose
the beer belly and get back into shape. Seems like it worked."
"Oh…" I murmured. So it wasn't as bad as I initially feared, but still, prostate cancer was definitely not
good news. "Where do you go for treatment?"
"I visit the Olympic Medical Cancer Center in Sequim a couple times a week."
I looked at him incredulously. "You drive to Sequim twice a week? That's like an hour and half trip
one way!"
"Jake takes me," Charlie answered and I resisted the inclination to growl. Once again, Jacob was here
to act like the perfect child, and I didn't even know that anything was wrong with my father.
I couldn't keep the scowl from showing on my face, though. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Charlie shrugged. "You have better things to think about than this. I don't want to be a burden."
"You're not a burden," I assured him, shaking my head. "I know I haven't acted like the greatest
daughter in the past, but I do care about you. It hurts that you just shut me out."
"Now you know how I feel…" Charlie muttered almost inaudibly, staring down at the checkered
pattern of the tablecloth. In fact, I probably wouldn't have heard it at all if I couldn't read his lips.
This was it, I thought. This was the segue that could bring us into a heart-to-heart, real conversation.
Charlie glanced up at Edward, and I realized that I probably wouldn't be able to get him to open up to
me with Edward present. Also, as much as I enjoyed relying on his presence, I needed to do this
alone.
"Dad, can Edward use your computer to print our boarding passes?" I asked suddenly, surprising
both Charlie and Edward. "It'd make things a bit easier at the airport tonight."
"Yeah, sure," my father agreed.
I fished through my purse for the folded piece of paper with our flight confirmation number and
handed it to Edward. "Go through the living room and into the study on the right. The computer's on
the desk and the printer's probably already connected… Do you mind?"
Edward shook his head. "Not at all," he replied. He stood from the chair and leaned down to the kiss
the top of my head. "I'll leave you two to talk."
And with that, he walked out of the kitchen, leaving me and Charlie together, completely alone for
the first time in probably ten years.
EPOV
I followed Bella's directions from the kitchen, through the living room where a Mariners baseball
game was muted, and then into the study. An old computer sat upon the desk, and I sat at the office
chair with the confirmation page in my hand. I moved the mouse and watched as the monitor lit up
from sleep mode and showed the desktop.
"We need to talk," I heard Bella state confidently, and I wondered if she was aware that sound
carried easily from the kitchen into the home office.
There was a moment of silence before Charlie responded. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Everything." Bella's voice shook slightly, but she remained strong. I was proud of her for that. Now I
just prayed that that strength would last. "This needs to end… this thing between us."
Charlie was silent so Bella continued on.
"I feel as though you wish I weren't your daughter," she confessed.
This time, Charlie spoke up. "Bella, that's not true."
"It feels like it's true," she countered. "You didn't tell me about your cancer diagnosis and you didn't
come down when I graduated from Stanford… I bet you went to Jacob's college graduation."
"Jacob has nothing to do with this," Charlie replied. "Leave him out of the conversation."
"Jacob has everything to do with this!" Bella exclaimed angrily. "Look, you're even standing up for
him right now! You didn't stand up for me, not when he was accusing me of cheating on him. You
just believed him immediately."
"I asked you if it was true, and you didn't refute it while Jacob was adamant," I heard Charlie reply so
softly that I could just barely hear him. "What was I supposed to believe?"
"You're a cop! Aren't you supposed to be innocent until proven guilty?" Bella, at least, was speaking
loudly enough to hear clearly. "And I am innocent, by the way."
"I know that."
Bella's voice dropped again. "You know?"
"Jake told me," said Charlie.
"Jake told you?" Bella asked incredulously. "When?"
"About a month or so after you left for California. He told me that he had lied and that you were
innocent of his accusations," her father explained.
"Well, did he tell you the real reason we broke up?"
"Yes… You broke up with him because you didn't want to… yeah… I was furious with him after that,"
Charlie admitted. "I wish you would have just told me, Bella."
"I didn't think you would have believed me over Jacob. And why didn't you tell me that he came
clean? I've spent the last ten years thinking that you've believed him all this time!"
Charlie didn't answer immediately, and I took the time to pull up the Internet browser and head to
the United Airlines website. I couldn't spend the entire time only eavesdropping, after all.
"I was embarrassed by my actions," Charlie confided. "And you were still fuming. I thought it would
be better to leave you alone and let you get over it."
"But I didn't get over it. It has plagued me for ten years!" Her voice shook and she was silent for
several seconds to regroup. "Is that why you didn't come to my graduation? Because you were
embarrassed?"
"I thought you hated me. I didn't want to ruin your day by showing up."
"I have never hated you. I was angry with you," Bella conceded, "but I still wanted you there. I
wanted you to make an effort. I know that I could have helped, but you're the parent. You should
have taken the initiative, and you didn't."
"I know," Charlie whispered solemnly.
"And it all goes back to the fact that you think the sun shines out of Jacob's ass," she continued. "You
love him more than you love me. I know that. But you didn't have to make it so blatant…"
"Bella, I do love you… just as much as I love Jake."
"You have a hell of a way of showing it," she bit back. "What about five years ago? He was a lying,
cheating son of a bitch, and yet you yelled at me when you found out."
"I didn't yell at you," Charlie defended himself. "I admit, I was upset with you and I admonished you
for your behavior, but I never raised my voice."
"But it wasn't even my fault! I had no idea about that Vanessa girl!"
"I know that!" her father responded impatiently. "You seem to think that I have no idea what's going
on, but I do, Bella." Both were silent for several moments before Charlie continued. "Listen to me, I
did initially place some of the blame onto you, and for that I am sorry. Maybe you should know that I
actually did yell at Jacob after I found out about that affair."
"You yelled at him?" Bella asked softly.
"Of course! He cheated on his fiancée, and then he lied to you and left you without a word," Charlie
growled. "He didn't get off scot-free, neither for that nor for the shit he pulled when you were
together. If I had legal grounds, I would've arrested him if I could."
"Then how is it that you two are still so close, and we're… not?" she asked heartbreakingly.
"We just got past it," he explained simply. "I guess it helped that I saw him a lot and that we had a
solid foundation for our relationship. Bella, you know that our relationship has never been easy. Your
mom took you away when you were only five months old and I didn't even see you again until you
were almost four, and after that I saw you maybe one weekend every other year at best. I missed so
much of your childhood…"
"I know," Bella whispered sadly. "I wish I could've changed that."
"I should've fought for joint custody in the divorce," Charlie admitted. "You could have, I don't know,
lived and gone to school wherever your mom was living, and you could have stayed with me during
the summers… I've always regretted not doing that."
Bella didn't respond.
"And then when you were seventeen, you spontaneously decided to move to Forks. I was thrilled and
yet terrified. I was afraid that you weren't going to like me. I mean, we got along alright during our
visits, but those weekends definitely weren't the same as living with me. I was afraid that you'd
figure out exactly why your mother left me all those years ago. I'm… dull and boring."
"No, you're not," his daughter disagreed. "That's not why she left."
"Oh, yeah?" Charlie asked warily, but Bella said nothing in return. "That's what I thought. I put forth
an effort to form a close relationship you, and maybe I didn't try hard enough, but it didn't seem to
work. When I tried to ask about your friends, you never said much; when I asked about school, all
you said was that it was 'fine'; when I tried to talk to you about moving from Phoenix, you
immediately closed the topic for discussion…"
"I didn't want to bother you with my worries. I didn't want you to think that I disliked moving here,
and honestly, I did dislike it at first," Bella confided. "As for school, every teenager answers that it's
'fine', and as for my friends, I don't know, I guess I wasn't used to talking about them. Renee never
asked me about that kind of stuff when I grew up with her. She just… let me be."
To me, it sounded as though Renee were almost a worse parent than Charlie – keeping Bella away
from her father for such long periods of time, not taking an active interest in her daughter's life – but
I was never going to make that opinion known to Bella.
"Huh," Charlie grunted in disapproval. "Figures."
"Please, let's not talk about Mom," Bella begged. "She raised me the best way she knew how. I think I
had a good childhood. That's all that matters."
"Okay, we won't talk about Renee. But please know that I tried to do my best by you, Bella, to raise
you to the best of my abilities," he spoke in a tone just above that of a whisper. "I feel like a failure."
"Dad, you're not a failure," she disagreed. "Everyone makes mistakes. I've made mistakes, and you've
made mistakes. It just happens." One of the kitchen chairs scraped against the linoleum floor, soon
followed by another. "I stopped blaming you long ago… But will you forgive me? I shouldn't be
avoiding your phone calls and making up excuses to stay in L.A. You probably have been putting forth
an effort to reconnect, and I've been unresponsive. I'm sorry."
"Of course I forgive you," Charlie whispered. "But can you forgive me?"
Bella didn't answer, at least not audibly. Their conversation ended and all I could hear was a faint
sniffling noise. At least one of them was crying, and I was putting my bet on Bella. A part of me
longed to return to the kitchen and comfort her, but I reminded myself that this was Charlie's time
with his daughter. I'd spend the next six hours with her, anyway.
In the silence, I finally remembered that I was sent into the study for a reason, and I turned my eyes
back to the computer monitor. A screensaver had popped up onto the computer, and before I moved
the mouse to return to the United website, I noticed that pictures flashed across the screen every
five seconds or so. I wouldn't have cared if they were pictures of Charlie or of that degenerate Jacob,
but they were all pictures of Bella.
There was an old, worn photograph, obviously scanned, of a newborn Bella with whom I assumed to
be her mother in a hospital bed. She looked, well, like most newborns looked when they first entered
into the world.
Then, a family picture appeared that was taken when she was still an infant, before the family
disintegrated. Bella was dressed in a pink jumper with a purple bow in her short dark hair, while her
parents wore their early 1980s' hairstyles and sweaters proudly.
The photo quickly faded to reveal a four-year-old Bella wearing a yellow Care Bears sweatshirt and
playing in a sand box with a slightly-younger-looking Native American boy. Considering what Bella
had told me earlier about how close Charlie was with Jacob, I assumed that this was him. It was hard
to hate such a cute-looking kid, though.
There weren't too many pictures from Bella's childhood and they quickly progressed to her teenage
years, after she had moved to Forks. There were a couple of pictures of her and Jacob together,
which weren't exactly pleasing to see. I noticed a pubescent Alice in one picture, and Angela and
Mike were in another. There were so few pictures, in fact, that the slideshow restarted less than a
minute later.
Still, I wondered if Bella even knew that Charlie had all of them on his computer, as his screensaver,
no less.
Almost regretfully, I moved the mouse so that the pictures quickly disappeared.
On the United Airlines website, I typed in the long confirmation number that Bella had given me,
found our reservation, and printed off the boarding passes. The printer was very loud as it
functioned, startling me after so many minutes entrenched in pure silence, and I realized that if I
could hear Bella so well, she could probably hear that I waited so long to print these pages.
In fact, just as I took the two sheets of paper out of the tray, Bella entered into the study. She gave
me a quick smile as our eyes met. Her eyes were swollen and pink, but she looked relieved. "Thank
you for, uh, taking your time," she whispered as she leaned against the doorframe.
"You're welcome," I replied with a reassuring smile. I then held up the boarding passes. "I got 'em."
Bella grinned. "Yeah, so I heard," she remarked softly.
"How'd things go?" I asked, feigning curiosity. I wasn't exactly sure how she'd feel if she knew that I
intentionally overheard every single word of their conversation.
She nodded slowly. "It went well," she answered slowly. "It definitely could've been worse."
I smirked. "Good."
"Yeah." She readjusted her stance on the doorframe. "Well, it's getting late. It's almost three o'clock,
and we still have to drive to Seattle…"
"Okay," I said before closing the Internet browser and standing from the office chair.
I followed her back into the living room where Charlie was standing, the remote control in his hand.
He un-muted the baseball game, checked the score, and then looked over from the television when
Bella and I entered.
"I am sorry that we can't stay longer," she apologized to her father. "I honestly wish we could stick
around for even another hour."
"Don't worry about it," Charlie responded, tossing the remote control onto the worn couch behind
him. "I understand. I'm just happy that you stopped by at all, especially after how I behaved on the
phone yesterday. I'm afraid I'm becoming a grumpy old man."
"Maybe you are," Bella joked, "but I'll try not to hold that against you." She then approached and
wrapped her arms around him in a hug. From the look on Charlie's face, it was obviously a welcome
surprise. "Thank you… for talking to me… for being honest with me," I heard her mumble into his
shoulder.
Charlie closed his eyes as he lightly rubbed his daughter's back. "Thank you for being able to forgive
me. It's more than I deserve," he whispered back to her. "And please know that I do love you. I
always have, from the second you were born to when you stepped through the front door an hour
ago and every second in between."
"I love you too," she sighed before pulling out of her father's arms.
Charlie's lips twitched into a small smile before he spoke up. "Come on, I'll walk you out to your car."
I followed Charlie and Bella out of the house and stood by as they said their final goodbyes in the
driveway outside.
"I'm going to start calling you every weekend," Bella promised. "I want to hear about how your
cancer treatments are progressing, and we need to start talking more often anyway."
Charlie smiled. "I'd like that. I'll look forward to your calls."
He pulled Bella into another hug, and they stayed there for nearly a minute, embracing each other
tightly. They eventually broke apart and I saw Bella smile at the gesture.
Charlie then turned to me and stuck out his hand. "It was nice meeting you, Edward. I hope to see
you again one day. Take care of her."
"You too, sir," I echoed his sentiments as I briefly took his hand in mine. "And I certainly will. Thank
you for having us over."
Charlie then returned his hands to the pockets of his jeans. "Well, have a safe drive and flight."
"Thanks, Dad. I'll call you soon," Bella responded before she started to make her way to the driver's
side of the car.
I stopped her, though. "Why don't I drive?" I offered. After that conversation, I was sure that she
would rather sit back and relax than worry about driving and making it to the airport in time for our
flight to Los Angeles.
She considered it for a moment, handed me the car keys without protest, and spun around to head
to the other side. She waved goodbye to her father before entering the vehicle and closing the door
behind her. Charlie raised his hand and then turned, heading back into the house.
Before back out of the driveway, I glanced over at Bella, who had her head lolled against the
headrest, her eyes closed peacefully. As much as I knew how important the time with her father was,
I was looking forward to spending the next few hours with Bella, alone.
EPOV
I began the drive from Forks to Seattle, and although I wanted to talk to Bella, I also wanted to give
her some time to herself, if that was what she preferred. To my pleasant surprise, however, she
spoke almost immediately. "You heard everything, didn't you?" Bella asked as I turned off the street
on which Charlie lived. "I know how the sound carries in that house. Believe me, it made sneaking in
or out of the house impossible as a teenager."
I nodded as I kept my eyes on the road. "Yeah, I heard everything."
"I kind of figured that you'd listen," she replied. "But I don't mind. I wouldn't have minded if you sat
next to me the entire time, but I figured Charlie would've minded your presence since he doesn't
really know you that well…" She was silent for a moment before she turned her body towards me
abruptly. "I have a question."
"Okay… Shoot."
"You said you were a counselor in a hospice for a number of years," she recalled. "Do you remember
if any of the patients were dying from prostate cancer?" She used a professional voice, but it cracked
at the end, revealing her worries for her father's health.
I wasn't expecting her to ask a question so personal from my past, but I thought back to those years –
those unhappy years – for her. "I don't think so," I replied unsurely. "I remember that a large number
of them were dying from cancer, but it was usually because it spread throughout their body and
treatment stopped working. I think Charlie's going to be fine, Bella. I'm not a doctor or anything, but
it sounds localized, he said they caught it early, and he's getting treatment."
Through my peripheral vision, I saw Bella nod her head. "Okay," she said in relief. "I'm sure you're
right." She leant forward and turned up the radio slightly before sitting back and gazing out the
window, and I took this as a sign that she didn't want to talk for a while.
I had quickly become familiar with my bearings in the small town, so I didn't need Bella's directions,
and it wasn't long before we had left Forks behind us, driving up 101.
It was nearly ten minutes before I heard Bella speak up again. "I didn't tell him the truth," she
admitted. "Charlie…"
I was confused. "When?"
"When he brought up the reason my mother left. He thinks it was because he was 'dull' and 'boring',
but that's not the reason she left," she told me. "I didn't know this until I was about twenty-five, but
she left him because of someone else. It wasn't her current husband, but some lawyer that she had
been seeing."
"Why didn't you tell him?" I asked.
"I was about to, and then I thought that, I don't know, it'd make him feel worse," Bella confessed. "If
it were me, I think I would rather believe that someone left me because I wasn't their type, rather
than knowing that they left me for someone else, you know? It'd hurt less. I couldn't even imagine
what it'd be like to find out that your spouse cheated on you…"
"You should never have to," I replied automatically. "And whoever is lucky enough to marry you
would be a complete idiot to cheat on you."
Bella looked at me warily. "Thanks," she said hesitantly. "Hey, Edward, I've been meaning to ask you
something else… Um, when we were talking to Charlie and he asked if we were serious, you said that
you loved me and wanted to spend the rest of your life with me?"
I breathed deeply and took a few seconds before answering. "What was I supposed to say? 'No, I
don't see a future with your daughter, but I'm still dating her, meeting her family and high school
friends, and attending out-of-state reunions with her'?" I chuckled. "Don't worry; I played the role of
the loving boyfriend."
"Oh, okay," she sighed as she relaxed into the seat.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I continued along the highway. It was correct that I chose to
say those words only because I figured that it was what Charlie would have wanted to hear. But the
minute that the words left my mouth, they felt truer than I had originally thought. I certainly didn't
think I truly loved Bella – not yet, at least – but I certainly felt as though it were heading in that
direction rapidly.
I couldn't tell Bella that yet, though. She wasn't even completely on board with dating me in real life,
let alone falling in love with me. I had to continue taking baby steps, not large leaps, in whatever
relationship we did have together.
"I hope you don't mind my inquisitions," Bella pulled me from my reveries. "I have another
question."
I laughed again. It was starting to feel like a job interview. "Ask away," I told her.
"Well, I just feel like this entire weekend has been about me, and I feel really bad about that. I
promise that I'm not so self-absorbed. I mean, I know you've told me about yourself, but it seems like
you know every single thing about me after this weekend, and I don't really know all that much about
you."
"So where's the question?"
Bella shrugged. "Tell me more about yourself? I don't know…"
"Alright… I can't guarantee that my life is very interesting. If your past is a soap opera, mine is a
documentary." She laughed but I continued. "You know the overview, so I guess I'll throw out
random facts?"
"That'd be great," Bella agreed with a smile.
"Well, I was a big comic book reader as a kid. DC, not Marvel. Aquaman was my favorite character.
When my parents would take us to the beach, I'd make my younger brother be Ocean Master, my
archenemy, and this girl who sometimes played with us was Mera, Aquaman's wife. Those comics
sort of defined my childhood. I stopped reading when I was about ten, which is actually the same age
my father left…" I trailed off. I had strangely never noticed that correlation until this very moment.
"Was it because he left?"
"I don't know… maybe?" I offered. "I just wasn't interested anymore for some reason. I guess that
was when I had to grow up, though. Mom was a mess for a while. I was still young, but I had to take
on more responsibilities."
"How'd your brother take it?"
I shrugged. "About the same, I guess, but he still enjoyed the rest of his childhood. He didn't worry
about Mom constantly. He continued to play little league soccer and football. Everything was fine;
Dad just wasn't there."
"Is that why you're so understanding?"
"I'm understanding?"
Bella nodded. "Unbelievably so," she answered. "You care a lot about how other people feel, and I
don't think that comes from being a psych major. It's part of your personality. I like that about you."
I almost felt like blushing, so I quickly changed the subject. "And then, when I was fourteen, I broke
my arm when I fell from a tree. I was spying on my neighbor. We had just read To Kill a Mockingbird
in school, and I was convinced we had our own Boo Radley in the neighborhood," I admitted,
continuing on with Bella's request to learn more random facts about myself.
BPOV
As we headed back to Seattle, I realized how much I didn't know about Edward, and he spent almost
the entire drive filling me in on small details of his childhood and of his past. Some of the stories
were kind of sad, but some were endearing and absolutely adorable. By the time Edward pulled our
Mazda into the rental car parking lot, I was so glad that I had asked.
We took a shuttle to the airport, waited in line to go through security, and walked towards the gate,
all the while making small talk. We discussed our hopes for the weather in Los Angeles, some of our
plans for the remainder of the summer, and even recent political news. I was simply glad that Edward
wasn't making anymore declarations.
His profession of love in Charlie's house had mystified me. I knew that he liked me – he had made
that clear the day earlier – but love? I wasn't even sure what I wanted his answer to be when I asked
him about it after we had left Forks. I did feel relief when Edward said that he said it only because
Charlie probably expected it, but a small part of me cringed when he said that he was merely playing
his role.
We boarded the airplane, and during the flight, I watched the movie that was shown on the
television screens while Edward worked on the crossword and sudoku puzzles in one of the
magazines in our seat pockets. The flight eventually landed at LAX, and after we waited nearly ten
minutes to de-board the plane, Edward and I continued from the gate toward the main terminal, our
carry-on luggage in our hands.
"Back in L.A.," I remarked before covering my mouth as I yawned. I was beat, and I couldn't wait to
drive back to my apartment and crash onto my bed to pass out. This weekend was exhausting.
We walked to one of the airport exits that would take me in the direction of the parking deck in
which I had parked my BMW, and we stopped in front of the doors. "Did you drive?" Edward asked,
pointing to the exit.
"Yeah, I parked in the daily parking deck. Did you?"
He shook his head. "Yeah, but I'm out in economy parking. I've got to take the park-and-ride shuttle."
He pointed in the opposite direction in which I was planning on heading.
"Then I guess this is goodbye? Edward, thank you so much for doing this for me. You have no idea
how much it means to me that you were present. Not only were you the best fake boyfriend a girl
could ask for, but you were also there as my friend when I really needed one. I truly appreciate it," I
gushed.
Edward smiled. "It was my pleasure. I'm serious. I had a good time," he said as he hitched the strap of
his bag further up onto his shoulder before stuffing his hands into his jean pockets. "So… I don't know
what your plans are later this week, but maybe I could take you out to dinner sometime?"
I was torn. It was true that I liked Edward very much, but I still had my reservations. I grimaced and
Edward's smile dropped. "I don't know…"
"It's just dinner," he interjected.
I shook my head. "You and I both know that it's not just dinner," I disagreed. "I know that you like
me. It wouldn't be dinner, it would be a date, which would lead to another date and then maybe
even another."
"I'm confused," he readily confessed. "I know you feel something for me. I could feel it in that kiss
last night. So I don't see a problem."
I suppressed a groan. I knew that kiss was going to come back to bite me. "Therein lays the problem,
Edward. I do like you right now. If I start dating you, I'll fall for you even more, and then what will
happen? We'll both end up with broken hearts," I pointed out. "I just… don't want to waste my time."
He looked angry at the last statement. "So I'd be a waste of your time?"
"You know I didn't exactly mean it like that," I retorted. "You're a great guy, and you don't deserve to
waste your time on someone who's just going to screw things up."
His eyes widened. "Oh my God, are you listening to yourself?" he wondered in a raised voice. "You're
not even going to give me a chance because you've already decided that we wouldn't work out. We
haven't even been on a real date, and you've decided this. What are you going to do?"
I was momentarily bewildered by his question. "What do you mean?"
"What are you going to do for the rest of your life? Push everyone away because you're afraid to let
anyone in? If you won't date me despite having feelings for me, I doubt that you're ever going to be
in a relationship again, because you're going to view every single man the exact same way," he
continued so strongly that I was forced to remain silent. "Bella, you're going to end up alone, and do
you know what?"
He waited for a response, so I asked, "What?"
"I'm not going to wait around to realize that you've made a mistake. There's obviously nothing that I
can say or do that is going to change your mind. You've decided this for yourself, and until you
change your mind, you're going nowhere in life. I mean, sure, you'll probably continue to do well in
your career and other aspects of your life, but when you're on your death bed, do you want to look
back and think, 'Wow, I've never had a successful relationship'? I doubt it," Edward rambled on
angrily. "So this is what I'm going to do. I won't be your waste of time."
He turned away from me quickly, marched through the automatic sliding doors into the warm, night
weather outside, and headed towards the shuttle, disappearing from my sight.
I was left speechless with tears in my eyes. I straightened my posture and exited the airport to find
my car, rolling my small suitcase behind me. I made a point not to glance back in Edward's direction,
but I continued on towards daily parking.
It had hurt, what he had said, and I had to admit that a lot of it was true.
But it's for the best, I reminded myself.
Edward was free to live his own life, and I was free to live mine.
BPOV
I couldn't sleep that night. Although it was comforting to be back in my own apartment and in my
own bed, my mind continued to mull over everything that Edward had said. Was he right? Have I
alienated everyone by being realistic and assuming that they were going to let me down or that I
would let them down? Even when I awoke the next morning to my six o'clock alarm after maybe a
couple of hours of sleep at the most, the thoughts still plagued me, and I had this nagging feeling in
the pit of my stomach that I had done the wrong thing.
Maybe I should have taken the plunge with Edward, I mused.
I got ready for work in a daze and headed into my morning commute, turning up the volume on the
radio to drown out my thoughts. It was much easier to listen to morning traffic reports than to think
of how I might have completely screwed things up with Edward.
I arrived to the office five minutes late thanks to a fender bender on Highway 5, and my assistant,
Hunter, greeted me with a stack of manuscripts and a note about needing to attend a staff meeting
later in the morning. "How was the weekend?" he asked conversationally, leaning against the edge of
my desk and probably hoping that I would disclose some juicy details of my apparently-exciting high
school reunion.
"I don't want to talk about it," I told him rather harshly, taking the first bound manuscript off the top
of the stack and flipping back the cover page, immersing myself directly into my work.
"Alrighty then," Hunter replied, surprised at my less-than-pleasant mood. "Do you need coffee?"
I nodded, keeping my eyes on the first sentence. The taste of a nice French roast sounded just about
perfect, much better than the regular Maxwell House that I had earlier this morning in my
apartment.
"Starbucks? What do you want me to get?" he asked.
I looked up with a deep intake of breath. "Do not go to Starbucks. What's that place off of West 2nd
street? Go there and get me a French roast, black… Please," I added, trying not to sound as hostile as
I had earlier.
Hunter looked at me curiously but didn't say a word as he nodded his head in acquiescence and left
my office, closing the door firmly behind him.
I threw myself back into my work. I usually did at least a little bit of work over the weekend, but as I
was out of town this past weekend, I hadn't had a chance, and now I was further behind than usual.
It was refreshing, settling back into my routine. Things were normal here… simple… easy. It was
exactly how I preferred my days.
Half an hour later, Hunter returned, brandishing a hot cup of coffee. "Groundwork Coffee was a bit
further away, but it was cheaper," he remarked as he set the cup of coffee onto my desk. "May I ask
why your coffee tastes have suddenly changed? It's always been Starbucks for as long as I've been
fetching your coffee. I thought you were a loyal consumer."
I ignored his question, instead smiling in thanks and bringing the steaming to-go cup up to my lips.
"Did something happen with Edward this weekend?" he continued, not dropping the subject.
My face dropped at the mention of his name, and the unsettling feeling reemerged in my gut. The
façade that I was so desperately trying to hide behind crumbled into a thousand pieces. Tears stung
my eyes and my heart rate increased. "Close the door," I whispered, glancing through the door into
the office beyond.
Hunter walked over and shut the door before returning. "What happened?"
"I think I screwed everything up," I confessed, resting my elbows on the desk and cradling my head in
my hands. "He was perfect, he was interested in me, and I blew it."
"Forgive me for prying, but what happened?" he asked curiously, taking a seat across from my desk.
"The weekend was hell. It was absolutely awful. I ran into my ex-boyfriend who's been a pain in my
ass for the past ten years and I had an emotional confrontation with my father that was just so
dramatic," I spilled. "It was ridiculous, really. I haven't had that much drama in my life for years. But
through all of that, Edward was a complete sweetheart. You were right in the beginning; he liked me.
And now I like him. But it's just too… difficult. It's not worth getting emotionally involved when it's
just going to end badly anyway."
Hunter furrowed his dark eyebrows. "Who says it would end badly?"
I shrugged. "It always does. All of my past relationships have ended badly. The only one that lasted
for a long amount of time was Jacob, and he's a complete douche bag. And all of the others never
lasted more than a couple of months."
"Why was that?" Hunter asked. Jesus, did he ever stop asking questions? I was beginning to get
annoyed.
"It just didn't work," I told him impatiently, raising my hands up in exasperation.
"Why?"
"Oh my God!" I exclaimed heatedly, losing my patience and any composure that I had left. "It didn't
work because it became too serious, okay? Relationships bring questions and full disclosure and
trust. I'm not comfortable with that! Sharing, reliance on another individual… it just sets you up to be
let down."
Hunter looked at me sadly. "May I be frank? I'm probably going to overstep my boundaries of the
workplace, so I would like to know that you're not going to fire me out of anger."
I closed my eyes and nodded my head. "I won't fire you," I promised. "Go on."
"When you see yourself in the future, when you're old, what do you think of? Be honest."
I sighed and kept my eyes shut, trying to envision my future, wrinkled self. "I see myself retired," I
replied as I pictured myself at some beach house or on some sort of seniors' cruise, playing bingo or
shuffleboard. But it wasn't just me in the vision; there was an old man next to me. To my chagrin, he
looked very much like a wrinkled and gray Edward. "And I see an old man with me." I opened my
eyes, wondering where he was going with this illustration.
"Bella, do you watch The Golden Girls?" Hunter asked, surprising me by asking such an odd,
unrelated question.
"It's one of my favorite shows," I confessed, eyeing him suspiciously. "Why?"
"Do you want to end up living alone with three other old women in a badly decorated house in
Miami?" he asked. "Don't get me wrong, I love the characters. Betty White was fabulous. But do you
want to be them?"
"They were all married, happily or not, at one point in time," I defended the fictional characters.
"And there's nothing wrong with living in Miami…"
Hunter looked confused. He obviously didn't follow the show very well. "Fine," he said, continuing to
make his point. "Then you'll turn out even worse than the Golden Girls because you are never going
to be married for as long as you live. You're going to be alone, probably collecting cats to keep you
company so that you'll have something else to think about than your pathetic life. And when you die,
I bet they won't even find your body until the cats claw their way through the windows to escape
from the odor of festering flesh."
I was taken aback. "That's both disgusting and way harsh," I told him. "How do you know that I'm
going to be alone? Maybe I just haven't met the right person yet." I didn't think this was exactly true,
but I couldn't yet accept Hunter's vision of my future. Lonely cat lady? Please.
"Maybe you haven't," Hunter said with a shrug. "But maybe you have and you're just too damn
scared to admit it." He shifted in his seat so that he was leaning closer to me. "Who did you picture in
your vision? The old man? Who was he?"
I frowned. I knew exactly who it was, but admitting it to Hunter would just mean that he was right all
along. But since when was I so stubborn that I couldn't even admit when I was wrong? "I saw
Edward," I confessed. "He was old and wearing an atrocious Hawaiian-patterned shirt as we took a
seniors' cruise." I smirked at the thought.
Hunter looked at me in sympathy. "Do you like him?"
I nodded. "Yes," I admitted.
"Does he like you?"
"Well, he did. I don't know if that's changed in the past twelve hours," I worried aloud. "But, yes, I
think so."
"Then it seems to me that the only thing stopping you two from being together is your fear," Hunter
continued. "Do you remember that children's book that you edited last week? It was about a duck."
I thought back to the dozens of stories that I had read through last week. The children's story came
to my mind immediately, though. "Yes. The duck was named Pete, if I remember correctly."
"Right," said Hunter. "So the story was about a duck who was too afraid to get into the pond with his
friends, and because he was too afraid, he missed out on a lot of fun and games. Remember how the
story ended?"
"He faced his fears and got into the pond."
"Exactly. The moral of the story was that you have to take risks. Surely you're smart enough to figure
out that, in this situation, you're the duck who won't get into the pond to play with Edward."
I pursed my lips. I had known where he was going with this illustration all along, but I allowed him to
explain it to me anyway. "Taking a risk goes both ways, though," I eventually replied after a
moment's thought. "It could end up going very well, but it could also end disastrously."
Hunter shook his head. "You have nothing to lose, Bella, and all to gain, in my personal opinion."
Nothing to lose. Surely that wasn't true. If things ended badly, there would be heartache and regrets.
That had to count for something.
But what if things did work out? What a relationship with Edward did, in the end, succeed and we fell
in love? There would be much more joy and happiness in my life, and I wouldn't be as lonely. No
more eating Chinese take-out by myself and feeling as though everyone else in the world was out
having a good time while I watched television. No more late hours at the office just because I had
nothing better to do with my time. Maybe I would finally feel as though I had a purpose in my life…
to love someone, and be loved in return.
In that instance, I realized that the pros heavily outweighed the cons.
I hastily closed the manuscript and placed it back onto the pile. I grabbed my purse from the floor
and stood from my desk.
"What are you doing?" Hunter asked curiously.
"Taking that risk," I answered with an exhilarated smile.
"You have a mandatory staff meeting in an hour," he reminded me, standing from the chair. "I want
you to take that risk, but why not wait until the day is over?"
I shrugged. "Tell them a family emergency arose."
Hunter stared at me in alarm. "You've never missed a meeting before."
"I have to do this, Hunter," I said, "especially now before I lose my nerve." I grabbed my coffee and
strode to my office door. "I'll be back later in the day."
"Uh… well, good luck!" he called out as I opened my door to leave.
"Thanks! I'll need it!" I quickly responded.
As I speed-walked through the office, a couple of my co-workers tried to intercept me, but I ignored
them. I was a woman on a mission. I was going to find Edward and nothing was going to get in my
way.
BPOV
While I rode the elevator down to the lobby of the office building, I found Edward's number on my
cell phone, and once I emerged into the lobby, I pushed the button to dial the number. I held the
phone to my ear and listened as it rang. To my vexation, it went straight to voicemail. In the end, I
chose not to leave a message.
He'd be at work, I figured, so once outside, I began walking the couple of blocks to the nearest
Starbucks as quickly as my high heeled shoes would carry me.
I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to say to Edward when I saw him, but I'd figure it out.
I finally made it to the store entrance and pulled the door open to enter. My eyes scanned the room
for Edward, but I didn't see him, not at the register, not making the coffee. That didn't mean he
wasn't there, however.
I waited behind one customer until the teenage girl at the register greeted me. "What can I get for
you?" she asked pleasantly. Her nametag read "Amy."
"Actually, I'm wondering if Edward is here," I confessed.
Amy looked unsure. "Edward? There are two Edwards who work here…"
"Edward Cullen," I clarified.
"Sorry, I'm new. I don't know last names yet."
"This one is about thirty, bronze hair, tall," I tried.
A light bulb seemed to illuminate above Amy's head. "Oh! The hot one," she replied knowingly. "I
don't think he's working today. Sorry."
The patient smile that I had worn dropped. I had an idea to head back to the office and take this as a
sign that we were never meant to be, but I knew that I couldn't quit now. This certainly was a
problem, but every problem has a solution.
"Do you think I could talk to your manager?" I inquired hesitantly.
"Um, sure," Amy commented before turning her head and raising her voice. "Irina?"
I waited a few seconds before a woman emerged from the back. She wore a black Starbucks apron
and her silvery blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail. "Yes, Amy?" Amy pointed to me, and Irina
came out from behind the counter and took me over to the side so that the customers behind me
could order at the register. "How can I help you?"
I took a deep breath, reminding myself that I couldn't chicken out. "This is very unorthodox, but I was
wondering if I could get an address of an employee who works here. It's very important that I find
him, and I know you'll have his address on file."
Irina looked at me as if I were crazy. "I'm not allowed to disclose that information."
"Do you know Edward Cullen?" I asked desperately. "I really need to speak with him, but he's not
answering his phone and he's not working today, and I don't know where else to look."
"Oh… you're that woman he went to Washington with this weekend," she said with a knowing smile,
"the one who needed a date to her high school reunion."
I didn't like her condescending tone one bit, but I had to remain polite if I were to acquire this
information. "Yes. I would really appreciate it if you'd make an exception. If you know about me,
then you must be at least friends with him. Please?"
Irina considered my request for almost a full minute before she spoke again. "Alright. But not
because you asked me to," she clarified. "I'm doing it because Edward is my friend, and he deserves
to find happiness. If that's you, then I don't want to get in the way of that." She began to turn. "I'll be
back in a minute or two."
"Thank you!" I cried out gratefully as she continued into the back.
It was a couple of minutes later when she returned with a slip of paper in her hand. "Good luck," she
wished as she handed it to me.
I almost hugged her out of appreciation, but I resisted. "Thank you so much," I whispered before I
hurried out of the store and back onto the street.
I returned to the office building, but instead of taking the elevator up to the Smith & Brooks offices, I
took the elevator down to the parking garage. Once inside my car, I pulled up the Internet browser
on my cell phone and looked up the directions to Edward's address which was probably a fifteen
minute drive west of downtown Los Angeles.
The drive took longer than I expected and my impatience manifested itself in my road rage, but I
finally found Edward's apartment building. I didn't know where I could park, so I stopped in the fire
lane right in front of the building. If I ended up with a fine, I would pay it without a care. Finding
Edward was more important.
I hopped out of my sedan and jogged to the entrance of the building. No one was coming in or out,
so I looked over at the call box and scrolled down the list until I saw "E Cullen" written in one of the
slots. I hastily pressed the button next to his name, hoping for a reply.
After five seconds without a response, I tried again… and again… and again. "Goddamn it, Edward!" I
vented aloud, resisting the overwhelming urge to hit the box. If Edward wasn't at home, then it truly
was hopeless. I had no clue where else he could be in this large city. Maybe this was the sign that we
really weren't meant to be…
"Can I help you?" I heard a man's voice behind me. I turned to see a man who looked to be about my
age. He had dark hair, a large, muscular build, and a dimpled grin. He looked vaguely familiar, but I
knew that I would have remembered if I had met him before.
"Uh, no," I muttered, embarrassed that he saw my frustration earlier. I stepped out of the way of the
call box, seeing that he was looking to use it after me. "You can go ahead."
"You weren't looking for Edward Cullen, were you?" the man asked.
My eyes widened in surprise. "Yes, I was. He wasn't answering," I replied. "Do you know him?"
The man smirked. "I should know him. I'm his brother," he said. "I borrowed some CDs to burn last
week and I was going to drop them off." He held up a brown plastic grocery bag with CD cases inside.
"He wasn't answering his phone, so I figured I'd just stop by. How do you know him?"
"Um, it's complicated," I confessed. "It's really important that I talk to him though."
"Huh, well let's see if he's simply screening you," the man responded, walking up to the call box and
pushing the button to Edward's apartment. "Eddie. Bro. It's Emmett. Open the fucking door if you're
there." After fifteen seconds had passed and there was still no response, Emmett shrugged. "Guess
he's not there. I'll get these to him some other time…"
The hope that I had felt at Emmett's arrival quickly vanished.
"You know, if you're really desperate to find him, you should head over to Dockweiler State Beach in
Playa del Ray," Emmett suggested, and my hope immediately returned. "I know he sometimes heads
over there to run or surf. Whenever I go with him, we park in the northern lot, and I'm sure that
hasn't changed. Edward's a creature of habit. I'm not saying you'll definitely find him there, but it's
worth a shot."
I grinned. "Thank you!" I gushed.
"Yeah, no problem. It was nice to meet you…" he trailed off as he had yet to know my name.
"Bella," I replied. "And it was nice to meet you too…"
"Emmett," he finished with a smirk. "If you find him, tell him I stopped by."
"I will," I promised before rushing back to my car. I pulled out of the fire line and into traffic,
continuing west toward Playa del Ray.
Traffic was mercifully better in this part of the county, and I made it to the beach in good time,
pulling into the most northern lot as Emmett has suggested. There were a good number of cars
parked in the lot, but I didn't even know what sort of car Edward drove. He had never mentioned it.
I parked and headed down onto the beach, taking off my high heels before I walked on the sand. The
sand was hot against my feet, but I knew it would be impossible to walk on the beach while wearing
those shoes.
It was a beautiful day in the middle of June in Los Angeles, which meant that the beach was crowded
with tourists and kids on their summer vacation. I noticed some of them stare at me curiously as I
walked toward the surf wearing a black business skirt and a blue short-sleeved dress shirt.
I kept my eyes peeled for Edward, but I didn't see him. There was a group of about five surfers out in
the water, but even from the shore, I could tell that Edward wasn't one of them. I was beyond
frustrated. I overcame so many obstacles in just getting here, but he probably wasn't even here at all.
Just to make sure, I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and tried calling him again, but as before, it
went straight to voicemail.
"Ahhh!" I wailed momentarily, overcome with vexation. A nearby couple looked at me in alarm, and I
threw my cell phone into the water. I regretted it the moment it left my finger tips.
I covered my face with my hands and stepped back before collapsing onto the dry sand. I lay back,
not caring that sand would now be in my clothing and in my loose hair. I breathed heavily, trying not
to break down.
I skipped a mandatory staff meeting.
I embarrassed myself in front of a multitude of strangers.
I destroyed my cell phone.
And all of it was for nothing.
EPOV
I was determined to get over her.
Over the weekend, I had fallen for Bella, but unfortunately, she didn't return those feelings. I thought
she did, and maybe that was true, but if it was, she was never going to do anything about it.
I wasn't scheduled to work today, and the initial plan was to stay in my apartment and work on some
songs. But when I sat down and tried to write, all I could think of was Bella. Her smile, her blush, the
smell of her hair, the feeling of her lips on mine. And all it did was make me even more frustrated.
So instead, I decided to head to the beach for a run.
Now, I was jogging down the beach as sweat poured from my body. The music on my iPod was
turned up as loud as possible to block any outside thoughts. Right, left, right, left, I chanted internally
as one foot hit the sand after another.
I was on the final leg of my run, almost to my invisible finish line, when an oddity caught my eye and
pulled my thoughts away from my rhythmic jog. A woman in business attire was lying on the beach,
her arms spread out as she looked up into the blue sky. I was still too far away to see her features,
but I was quickly approaching.
I thought of Bella but shook my head. She wouldn't be here. Even if she were looking for me, which
wasn't going to happen, she had no way of knowing that I would even be here.
I focused back on the path in front of me, reminding myself not to fall victim to false hope. I didn't
want to even look at the woman, fearing the disappointment I would feel when I realized it was
someone else entirely.
I was about to pass right by her, but something made me slow down and stop.
Hesitantly, I turned and placed my hands onto my knees, trying to catch my breath. I looked over at
the woman, and I had to admit that she looked very much like Bella, but I couldn't fully see her face
from here. She could be a look-alike for all I knew.
I approached her hesitantly, preparing myself for disappointment. I got so close that I was nearly
standing over her, and I was shocked to discover that it truly was Bella. If it wasn't her, then it was
her doppelganger.
"Bella?"
BPOV
I was in the midst of lamenting my life without Edward, my eyes closed in the bright sunlight, when I
noticed that the rays were blocked from my face, as though someone were standing over me.
"Bella?" I heard his voice, and my eyes opened immediately.
Edward looked down upon me, and I noticed that he wore sneakers and long running shorts but no
shirt. Sweat glistened from his chest and his forehead, and he was currently pulling headphones from
his ears. He looked very surprised to see me lying here on the beach.
I sat up and gently shook the sand from my hair. "Hi," I greeted him nervously, and I could feel the
heat on my cheeks as I no doubt blushed like a crimson rose. I had been so determined to find
Edward and talk to him, but now that we were together, I remembered how unprepared I actually
was.
"Hey," he said in response as he took a seat next to me on the sand. "What are you doing here?" He
didn't look unhappy to see me, but he didn't look thrilled either. I guess he was more wary, but I
completely understood why. After what I had said last night, I'm sure he didn't know what else I
wanted to say to him.
"I came to find you," I replied, thankful that I had an answer to that simple question. I had a feeling
they weren't all going to be that straightforward, though. "I ran into your brother outside your
apartment, and he told me you might be here."
Edward nodded slowly as he processed that information. "How'd you know where I live?"
I grimaced. Why did I go to such great lengths to find him? It sounded a bit stalker-ish now that I was
relating it to him. "I got your address from the manager at Starbucks," I confessed. "You weren't
working or answering your phone, and I needed to talk to you."
"Oh, okay," Edward said monotonously with a nod of his head. He then pointed his thumb back at
the parking lot behind us. "My phone's in my car."
"That makes sense," I remarked. I wish I had realized that before I impulsively threw my phone into
the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
"What'd you want to talk to me about?" he asked, his eyebrows raised with curiosity.
Now it was time for the tough questions. "Umm…" For the life of me, I didn't know how to start this
conversation, so I started with the obvious. "You were right, and I was wrong," I began shakily. "I've
been guarding my heart for far too long, so long that I don't even know if I can take down that shield.
But I want to… for you."
Although I longed to look away from his piercing stare, I kept my eyes on his.
"Maybe it's too late and maybe you're still angry about what I said in the airport last night, but I'm
holding onto the hope that you still want to date me, because… I want to date you. It scares the hell
out of me, but I fell for you this past weekend. You're an amazing man. I want to spend my time with
you, I want to kiss you, and I just want to be with you."
Edward hesitated before he responded. "What brought on this change of heart so quickly? It wasn't
much longer than twelve hours ago that you said you didn't want to waste your time with me."
I winced at my own words. "First of all, that phrase just came out without me thinking about it last
night, and I didn't mean it like that. I wish I could take it back with all my might. In fact, I wish I could
take back the entire conversation. I wish I would've agreed to go out to dinner with you, but I
unfortunately can't go back in time to change things… which leads me to my second point.
"You're right that I did change my mind relatively quickly, but that's because I've been on the fence
the entire time. I've always liked you; I just could never decide whether or not I wanted to anything
to happen between us. Last night, when you made it clear that you did want something to happen
between us, I panicked and did the best thing I know how to do – I pulled away. It's what I've been
doing for years." Edward's hand lay on the sand, and I hesitantly reached out to cover it with mine.
"But do you know what?"
"What?" he asked, glancing down at my hand before meeting my eyes again.
He didn't move his hand, and a small smile played upon my lips. "I came to a realization today, with
some help from a friend," I added, silently thanking Hunter for being so forthcoming and brutally
honest with me. "I'm never going to be happy if I continue on like this. You said it last night when you
told me that I was going nowhere in life. Even the heartache that I would feel if we did ever break up,
it would probably feel better than how I normally feel – numb. So, to answer your question, I've
decided to take the risk, and I want to take it with you."
I wasn't sure how Edward was going to respond, although in the silence that followed, scenarios
played out in my mind. In one scenario (the one I preferred), he didn't say anything; he merely
leaned forward and kissed me passionately, and I knew that everything was going to be okay. In the
other scenario, however, he shook his head, stood, and made some excuse to leave, saying that it
was too late. I knew that I would be devastated if it the latter occurred.
Instead, neither of the scenarios played out.
After thinking over my explanation for almost half a minute, he finally spoke. "How do I know that
you won't shut me out again? How do I know you won't change your mind in a week, a month, a
year… ten years?"
There was another tough question. I shrugged uncertainly before answering. "I would say to trust
me, but I don't think I've earned your trust yet… and I want to."
His lips opened to speak, but I stopped him.
"All I can give you right now is my best effort. I can't do better than that. I know that I have baggage
and issues, and I want to get those sorted out. I actually think I'm going to start talking to someone
about it. After making such a horrid mistake last night, it's obvious that I need help." I chuckled
despite the sad truth behind it. "Listen, Edward, I'm not saying that we're going to live happily ever
after, but there is a chance, and I want to try for it, even if it's difficult. But… do you? Want to try for
it, I mean…"
I looked into Edward's eyes for something, any clues into what he was thinking, but I couldn't
comprehend anything. After another couple of seconds, I finally broke our eye contact and looked
back out onto the surf that crashed onto the shore only several feet in front of us.
He was going to say no, I knew it. That was why it was taking him so long to answer me. He was
probably trying to find some way to let me down gently… although he certainly wasn't gentle when
he yelled at me last night.
I breathed deeply, shook my head sadly, and stood to my feet, my high heels and purse in hand. "I
really am sorry, Edward," I whispered to him before walking forward as quickly as I could in the sand.
It wasn't even three seconds later when I felt a hand on my arm. Edward whirled me around so that I
faced him. He wore a smile on his face, although I wasn't sure why. "Where are you going?"
I groaned and closed my eyes. I couldn't bear to see him if he didn't want me. "Back to the office to
face the inquisition on why I skipped the staff meeting," I responded dejectedly.
He placed his other hand on the deltoid of my upper arm, holding me in his hands. "Bella, open your
eyes and look at me," he instructed, and I obeyed. "Why are you leaving?"
"Because you took forever to answer me, and it was obvious that you were going to say no."
"It was like five seconds," Edward countered in amusement.
"Yeah, well it felt like a lot longer than that to me," I defended myself.
He shook his head. "If I knew you were going to jump up and run away so quickly, I would've
answered immediately," he explained. "I was… thinking."
I was scared of the answer, but I asked regardless. "What were you thinking?"
Edward moved his hands from my upper arms and instead grasped my hands.
"Bella, when I came to the beach this morning, I had every intention of getting over you as soon as
possible. The thing is, that would have been nearly impossible. I mean, if you hadn't found me, which
still amazes me, I probably would've gotten over you eventually, but right now, I still have feelings for
you. Even though I raised my voice – I apologize for that, by the way – and was angry with you last
night, that hasn't changed the way I feel about you."
I was so entranced by his words that I was rendered speechless, and he continued.
"I can sort of understand why you're so hesitant to form relationships. But Bella, I'm not going to be
like everyone else," he vowed. "I'm not Jacob, I'm not your father, I'm not your mother, and I'm not
any of the other men you've dated in the past. You were wrong a few minutes ago; I do trust you,
and I'm asking you to trust me in return. I won't let you down."
"But what if I let you down?" I piped in, my eyes beginning to water at the thought.
"Well… I trust you, and it's a risk that I'm willing to take."
I looked at him hopefully. "So is that a yes?"
"What?" he asked in confusion.
"Yes, you want to date me?"
Edward chuckled, grinned, and pulled me closer to him so that I had to tilt my chin at a higher angle
to look at him. "Yes, I want to date you. I want to spend my time with you, I want to kiss you, and I
just want to be with you," he said, repeating my earlier words.
His hands trailed to my back, and he was about to draw me even closer when he stopped abruptly.
"I'm kind of gross and sweaty. I wouldn't want to ruin your clothes," he explained when he noticed
my disappointment.
"I don't care," I insisted, shaking my head and stepping forward so that my chest was pressed against
his. I ran one of my fingers down his arm before continuing. "You're not gross; you could never be
gross. And as for being sweaty, that isn't necessarily a bad thing…" I didn't want to say as much, but it
just made me think of other scenarios in which we might get hot and sweaty together.
Edward smirked before he dipped his chin down and hesitantly pressed his lips against mine. I could
just taste the sweetness of his breathe, and I closed my eyes and smiled before slightly deepening
the kiss, our lips dancing together in harmony. Our kiss wasn't hurried or lustful; instead, it was
sweet, tender, and with just enough passion to make me tremble with delight. It was perfect.
But our kiss was broken entirely too soon by Edward. "Do you have to go back to work?" he
whispered, his hand trailing up and down my back lightly.
I shook my head deliriously. "I don't have to." My family emergency could last all day if it needed to.
"Do you want to go out for lunch?" he inquired. "I have a t-shirt in my car, if you're concerned about
my attire. Or I could stop by the apartment and change, if you'd rather."
"I couldn't care less what you wear," I replied with a grin, entwining my hands with his. "And… it's a
date."
BPOV
Epilogue
The sunlight streamed through the slats of the plantation shutters on the bedroom window and
roused me from my sleep. I buried my face into the pillow, wishing that I hadn't woken up. I wasn't
sure what time it was on this Saturday morning in late May, but I knew that it was earlier than I
wanted it to be. Would sleeping in be too much to ask?
I reached out to feel the empty space next to me, the space in bed that Edward was supposed to fill.
My eyes opened and I frowned when I noticed his absence. The only thing I loved more than waking
up in Edward's arms was Edward, himself.
I heard the clang of a pan in the kitchen and my lips curled into a smile. He was making breakfast.
I extended my arms out to the side and stretched momentarily before I sat up. The clock on the
bedside table revealed that it was just after ten o'clock. Maybe it wasn't so early, after all.
Getting out of bed, I pulled the light sage green sheet from the mattress and wrapped it around my
nude body, much too lazy to put on actual clothes.
As I walked from the bedside to the dresser, I stepped over the piece of black lace lingerie that lay
discarded on the carpeted floor and giggled to myself. The new outfit was arguably a waste of
money, considering that it stayed on my body for such a short amount of time the night before.
I stopped in front of the dresser mirror and checked my appearance. I smoothed down my hair and
tucked a few pieces behind my ear. I also licked my fingers and swiped underneath my eyes to
remove some of the eye makeup that I hadn't washed away last night. Satisfied that I looked decent
enough, I padded out of the bedroom and into the living room of our apartment.
Edward spotted me from the kitchen. "Did I wake you, honey?" he asked in concern. His chest was
bare, and the kitchen bar made it impossible for me to yet determine whether we wore his
underwear or nothing at all.
"No, I was awake before I heard you," I answered while I approached him.
As I rounded the bar, I spotted the light blue boxer shorts that he wore. Edward opened his arms and
I walked into them, resting my head against his chest momentarily. He kissed the top of my head and
then looked back to the stove top. I stepped away to let him continue his cooking and sat at one of
the bar stools. I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the counter as I watched him place bacon
strips into one pan and crack a few eggs into another.
I was in love with this man. He was perfect in so many ways, and I even loved his imperfections.
He had been so patient with me over the past couple of years, and there was no way that I could
ever repay him for that. Our relationship had gone through some rough patches. There were once
times that I wanted to pull away, fearing the increased emotional depth of our connection, but
Edward was my magnet – he always drew me back in when I had my doubts.
Of course, it helped that I had started seeing a therapist at the start of our relationship. Talking
through my fears and insecurities made them seem less significant and less worrisome. Even now, I
still couldn't believe that I almost let Edward slip through my fingers, and all because of the trust
issues that had formed after everything that happened with Jacob and Charlie.
I hadn't spoken to Jacob since Forks High School's ten year reunion, but I had heard about him
through Charlie and my limited communication with Jessica and Leah. I wasn't sure if he was still
seeing Lauren or not, but he hadn't settled down, which wasn't surprising to me. But despite my
enmity towards Jacob, I was thankful that he had supported Charlie through these past couple of
years.
Since my visit to Forks, the relationship with my father had improved. We certainly weren't going to
be up for any Father-Daughter of the Year awards anytime soon, but at least we conversed over the
telephone on a regular basis. Charlie's radiation treatments mercifully worked, and it was nearly six
months ago when I received his phone call that the cancer had gone into remission.
"Your breakfast, my love." Edward's voice brought me back to the present. He set the plate of eggs
and bacon in front of me before turning and pouring me a cup of coffee.
"I love that you can cook," I gushed after swallowing my first bite of bacon.
He just smiled in acknowledgement as he ate from his own plate, standing directly across the bar
from me.
Edward still worked at Starbucks, but only for a handful of shifts a week. He liked to work whenever
he had the time so we'd have a little extra as far as finances were concerned, although, in my
opinion, it wasn't needed. I was doing very well at my job at the publishing company, and Edward
had signed a record deal. But I understood why he wanted to remain a coffee barista. He wasn't yet
sure how successful he would be as a musician. By continuing to work, he was hedging his risks.
"Do you know what today is?" he asked once we had finished eating. He took my empty plate from in
front of me and placed it into the sink.
"Saturday, May thirtieth, 2011," I answered before sipping at my coffee.
Edward's amused expression suddenly turned serious. "It was two years ago that you strolled into
Starbucks and changed my life forever," he declared. "You have made me such a lucky man. I am
madly in love with you, and I always will be."
I grinned. "I am madly in love with you, too," I repeated.
Edward stood there, gazing at me, for several seconds until he smiled widely. "Stay here, will you? I'll
be right back." He strode past me, through the living room and into our bedroom, and I swiveled on
the stool to watch him.
"What are you doing?" I asked loudly after several seconds had passed.
It was a couple of seconds later when he emerged, hands behind his back. He advanced until he
stood right before me. He reached out with one hand and lovingly ran his fingers along my hairline,
down my neck, and onto my shoulder.
Then, Edward kneeled down onto the floor.
"Will you marry me?" he asked simply, exhilaration shining through his emerald eyes. He pulled his
other hand from behind his back and held out an open black ring box with a diamond ring inside.
I stopped breathing. We had discussed the possibility of marriage in the past, so I shouldn't have
been so surprised, but I didn't expect his proposal right now, not at this very moment.
Still, I knew my answer, no matter when he asked.
"Yes," I whispered, nodding my head excitedly.
I hopped off the stool, Edward stood onto his feet, and I crashed my lips into his.
"Yes… I want to… marry you… so much," I breathed in between my kisses. "I… love… you."
Edward pulled away and laughed. "I love you too." The look on his face was one of ecstasy, and I'm
sure my expression matched his.
He reached for my left hand, withdrew the ring from its box, and slid it down my finger. He released
my hand and I held it in front of my face, finally getting a look at my engagement ring. There were
three round diamonds and a platinum band. It was gorgeous, and it must've cost him a ridiculous
amount of money, but I knew not to bring that up with Edward.
"It's beautiful, sweetie. How long have you had this?" I wondered aloud.
"A few months now," he confessed. "I've been waiting for the right time, and well, I'm sick of
waiting."
I ran my hand along his jaw. "It's perfect timing," I assured him. "Oh, we need to tell people! Let's call
your mom, or Emmett and Rose."
"Let's tell them tonight when we see them," Edward suggested. "You can call Charlie and tell him the
good news."
"I'll call him on my way to work," I decided. "Now I wish even more that I didn't have to go into the
office today. I'd much rather spend my entire day with you."
Some reality show celebrity was flying into L.A. this weekend and could only meet this afternoon to
work out the conditions of her book deal. I never liked this woman to begin with, but now I despised
her that much more for keeping me away from my fiancé.
Edward grinned slyly. "In bed?"
I giggled. "Yes, in bed would be preferable."
His hands reached around my body and began rubbing my back through the bedsheet before
venturing lower. "Mmm… when do you have to leave?" he whispered as I melted into his body.
"In an hour and a half or so," I breathed into his neck. "I need to shower… You can join me, and we
can, um, multitask."
"Then I don't know what we're waiting for," Edward said before he grabbed my hand and whisked
me off towards our bathroom.
I heard the phone ring through my wireless headset as I drove on the interstate.
I was going to be a little bit late – Edward and I lost track of the time at one point – but Miss I Have
Way Too Many Children could wait ten minutes for me to arrive.
"Hello?" Charlie finally picked up his cell phone. I had tried the house phone previously, but I didn't
get an answer. He was either running an errand or working.
"Hey Dad, it's Bella," I greeted him. "Is now a good time to talk?"
"Sure. I have a few more minutes before my lunch break ends," he replied. "What's going on?"
I smiled as I prepared to break the news to Charlie. "Well, I have good news. Edward and I are getting
married!"
He responded only a couple seconds later. "Honey, that's great," he congratulated me. "How long
have you been planning this?"
"He just proposed this morning, so not very long at all. You're the first person I've told," I defended.
"Anyway, we haven't had time to set a date or anything. I have no idea when we'll actually get
married, although, I don't want a very long engagement."
"Well you've been living together for, what, a year now? You'll adjust just fine."
"It's been ten months since we got an apartment together," I corrected, "but you're right. Still, I can't
wait!"
"Well, listen, I need to go," Charlie cut our conversation unusually short. "There's been a crime spree
in Forks. We're actually very busy for once."
I chuckled. "A crime spree in Forks? A spree of what? Shoplifting? Illegal hunting?"
"Burglaries," he answered. "There've been about ten or so reported in the last month."
Now that was surprising. "Oh, that's serious for Forks. Then I'll let you go. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Okay. I love you, Bella."
I smirked. I had just gotten used to hearing those words from his mouth in the past year and a half.
"Love you too," I said before ending the call.
Next on my call list was Alice.
Although she and Jasper lived on the other side of the country, still in New York City, they were some
of my and Edward's closest friends. In fact, only last month we had flown to the Big Apple to attend
their wedding. It was a lovely afternoon wedding held in the Conservatory Garden in Central Park.
She and Jasper had been blessed with beautiful weather on that Saturday in April.
Just thinking about it made me excited to start planning my own wedding.
Alice picked up her phone almost immediately. "Alice Whitlock."
I laughed. "Do you answer all personal calls in such a professional manner, or do you just like saying
your married name aloud?"
"Why, both, of course," she joked. "It never gets old. Jasper makes fun of me for it, though. I even
answer his calls in that fashion!" She giggled. "So how are you, Bella?"
"I'm doing wonderfully," I responded before deciding to go ahead and cut to the chase. "Edward
proposed this morning!"
"Finally!" she squealed into the phone. "Congratulations, Bella! I'm so happy for you!" Then she
sighed. "Oh… now I really wish we could've come down for tonight."
"You're both busy; we understand," I assured her.
"But it's Edward's album release party! I could just kill this client of mine for keeping me here," she
seethed.
I laughed. "You know, I was thinking the same thing about mine. I have to work this afternoon. In
fact, I'm on my way right now."
"That sucks," Alice remarked. "You should've blown 'em off."
"Just like you should've blown off your client," I countered. "But, she's important…"
Alice huffed. "I know what you mean. Getting ahead isn't about doing your job well anymore; it's all
about kissing the right ass."
"Exactly," I agreed. I took the exit off the interstate and merged into traffic as I made my way into
downtown Los Angeles. "Alice, I'm going to have to go soon."
"That's okay. I should probably go anyway," she replied.
"It was great talking to you. Tell Jasper that Edward and I say hello."
"Of course! Give Edward a hug and a kiss from me tonight, and tell him congratulations and that I
wish we could've made it," she instructed. "Also, I want a signed copy of his album."
I chuckled. "I'll get you one," I promised. "I'll talk to you soon, Ali."
"Bye! And congrats again!" she exclaimed before she hung up, and I turned to enter the parking
garage below my office building.
Only five hours or so until I can leave, I reminded myself. I can do this.
I flew out of the office at a quarter after five o'clock, but traffic stopped me from getting back to the
apartment at a decent time. By the time I made it home, Edward had already left to meet with his
manager before the release party tonight. It had always been the plan that I would meet him there
later, but I had hoped to catch him before he left.
Oh well. I'd see him in a couple of hours.
I made myself a salad and grilled a chicken breast on the George Foreman for dinner. They would
have hors d'oeuvres at the party, but canapés would not fill me tonight, and I would rather not drink
on an empty stomach. Tonight was a night that I would like to remember.
After eating, I headed into the bedroom, stripped off my work clothes, and strolled into the
bathroom to begin getting ready. A yellow Post-It note was stuck onto the mirror. It read, "I'm sorry
we couldn't head to the party together. I love you. Love, your fiancé," in Edward's script. I smiled and
left it on the mirror as I turned on my curling iron and took my makeup bag out from the cabinet.
Forty five minutes later, I was on my way to Edward's party. I had decided to wear a dress that I had
bought with Alice on one of my trips to New York last year. It was strapless with a black, white, blue,
and red pattern, and I wore matching red heels. Alice would be proud.
The release party was held at a small restaurant that was privately booked for the night. There were
exposed red brick walls, wooden floors, dim lighting, and a full bar. I arrived about fifteen minutes
before the party was scheduled to begin, but already there were numerous people inside. I saw
Carlisle, Edward's manager, and his wife talking with the restaurant manager near the entrance, and
restaurant employees rushed around, trying to make sure that everything was perfect.
"Bella!" someone called to me, and I noticed Edward's mother, Elizabeth, standing beside the bar, a
glass of wine in her hands.
I approached her and gave her a small hug. "How long have you been here?"
"Not longer than ten minutes," she assured. "I spoke with Edward a few minutes ago. I hear a
congratulations is in order."
I smiled. "He told you already."
Elizabeth laughed. "He was so excited that I was surprised he kept it to himself until tonight. Bella,
I'm looking forward to gaining you as another daughter in my family. You two are lucky to have found
each other. You fit together perfectly."
Tears gathered in my eyes but I was determined not to let them fall and ruin my makeup. "Thank
you," I said, hugging her again. "I'm looking forward to gaining you as a mother."
She smiled and then looked over toward the sound equipment. "Edward's over there if you'd like to
say hello."
"I don't want to leave you here by yourself," I said, although I desperately wanted to see my fiancé.
"Nonsense. I'm perfectly capable of being on my own and making conversation with people I don't
know," she countered before shooing me away. "Go see Edward."
"Okay. I'll be back," I promised before making my way toward the sound equipment, where Edward
was discussing something with a man I had never seen before. I approached from behind and tapped
him on his shoulder. "I got your note."
When he turned, the widest smile formed on his face. He pulled me into his arms and kissed me
hello. "I'm so happy to see you," he whispered.
"That's obvious," I teased. "I'm happy to see you too. I found out that you told your mom already."
"She got here and wondered why I was 'glowing.' That was the exact word she used. So I told her,"
he explained. "I found out that you told Alice already."
"How'd you know?"
"She told Jasper, who called me about it."
I chuckled and shook my head. "I should've known. She's our own personal phone tree."
He laughed. "So how was work?" Edward asked.
I rolled my eyes. "Tolerable, I suppose," I answered. "What did you do?"
"I went to the gym and then worked on something special for you… and no, I'm not telling you what
it is," he answered the question that I was just about to ask. "You'll find out tonight."
"More surprises, huh?"
"I like surprising you," he responded with a shrug.
I was about to say something more, but I noticed Carlisle making his way toward us. He held two
flutes of champagne in his hands. "Now what's this about an engagement ring on your finger?" he
asked as he handed one glass to me and another to Edward. "I didn't even notice. Esme had to point
it out." He looked to Edward. "And you didn't tell me?"
"I was going to," Edward replied. "We haven't told that many people yet."
Carlisle laughed and patted both of us on the back. "Congratulations." He then grabbed his own flute
of champagne from the tray of a passing waiter and held it up. "To the both of you. May your
marriage be long and pleasurable."
"Cheers!" I exclaimed, hoping for that very thing. I clinked my glass with Edward's and Carlisle's and
then took a long sip.
"Edward, I was wondering if I could steal you away from your fiancée for a few minutes," Carlisle
continued. "I want you to meet someone. He's a great networking opportunity. He worked with John
Mayer when he was starting out."
Edward glanced at me, not wanting to leave, but I made the decision for him. "Go on," I prodded. "I
have the rest of my life to spend talking with you."
He grinned. "Well when you put it that way… okay," he agreed to Carlisle's request. He leaned
forward and kissed my cheek. "I'll see you later. I love you."
After Edward followed Carlisle toward one corner of the room, I returned to the bar where Elizabeth
sat upon one of the chairs. But this time, Emmett and Rosalie were with her. I gave both of them a
hug as I said hello, but I couldn't even finish asking about when they arrived before Rosalie
exclaimed, "You're engaged!"
I was surprised. I didn't think Elizabeth would've said anything, and Edward never mentioned telling
them. "I am," I confirmed.
Rosalie must've seen the confusion written on my face. "Bella, I've been looking at your left hand
every single time I've seen you for the past year, wondering when Edward was going to get around to
proposing. Finally, there's something on that finger worth noting!"
"Eddie's finally taking the plunge," Emmett remarked. "It's about fucking time."
Elizabeth swatted her son's arm. "Language," she warned.
"Well congratulations, Bella," Emmett continued. "I'm happy for the both of you."
I conversed with them and some other friends who showed up to the party, but I hadn't had a
chance to be with Edward again. He was busy meeting and greeting other professionals in the music
industry, and I didn't want to keep him to myself.
Finally, about half an hour into the party, the music went silent and I watched Edward tap at the
microphone on the slightly raised stage in the corner of the room. "Good evening," he greeted as
everyone halted their conversations and turned to pay him their attention. "I'd like to thank
everyone who came out tonight, my family, my friends, my fans, and everyone else." He found me in
the audience and grinned. "I have an announcement to make. Some of you might not know Bella."
I blushed at the attention that I was about to receive, and Emmett laughed at me.
"She's the most beautiful person in this room, but for those who might be otherwise biased, honey,
why don't give everyone a wave?" I smirked and raised my hand above my head for a couple of
seconds, noticing that all eyes were on me. Edward would pay for this later.
"Well, this stunning creature has recently agreed to become my wife. We're getting married!" he
exclaimed excitedly.
Emmett wolf whistled and everyone else applauded.
"Bella, honey, I love you so much, and I wrote this song for you," he said, looking me straight in the
eye the entire time. "Everyone else, this isn't on the EP or anywhere else. It's something new."
Edward grabbed his acoustic guitar from its stand and secured the strap over his shoulder before he
began playing the instrument, the music from the chords floating throughout the room.
"Is it my fault I can't speak, or that my body becomes weak, or that I can hardly move at the very
thought of you?" he sang into the microphone and right into my heart. "Nothing every really got to
me. I could always turn the other cheek. Could it be those days are gone? Could've sworn that I was
strong… At least stronger than these emotions that are taking over me. I swear I'm stronger than
these emotions, but they're taking over me."
He continued the song with a couple of more verses and even a bridge, and by the time he finished, I
truly was in tears. He had written songs for me before, but there was something special about this
one. I could tell that he must have put a lot of time and energy into this song. Everyone applauded,
and Elizabeth handed me a tissue from her purse. I wiped underneath my eyes and Rosalie helped to
make sure that I cleaned up all the stray makeup. I should've known to wear waterproof makeup
tonight.
Edward said a few more things to his guests, descended the stage, and headed straight to me. When
he saw my red eyes, he looked concerned. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything is perfect," I assured him. "That was beautiful. How long have you been working on
that?"
He looked embarrassed before he answered. "About six months," he admitted. "It took a long time to
perfect. I wanted it to be good enough for you."
I was speechless, so instead of a verbal response, I reached out for his tie and pulled him toward me,
my lips meeting his.
I briefly remembered a conversation that I had with Edward back in a hotel room in Forks,
Washington, before we were ever in a real relationship. "Do you believe in happy endings?" Edward
had asked after we finished watching Roman Holiday.
"Yes," I had replied. "I believe that some people get their happy endings, but I also believe that a lot
of people will not."
At that point in time, I thought, without a doubt, that I would be one without a happy ending.
Edward, though, proved me wrong.
He was my happy ending.
Outtake Groupie
BPOV
As I washed my hands, I caught sight of myself in the bathroom mirror, and for a moment, I saw the
younger version of myself. I had longer hair that was naturally brunette, not dyed on a regular basis
to cover up my gray roots. My skin was a lot smoother, and my lips had more color.
But that vision lasted for only a moment. Now, as I gazed at my reflection, I was different – and yet,
still the same. It wasn't as though I had aged badly. I still looked pretty damn good for being in my
mid-forties and not resorting to plastic surgery like so many of my friends down here in L.A. I just
required more upkeep than I had in my twenties.
I hadn't aged as well as Edward, though. I swear that man became more dashingly handsome with
each passing birthday. His hair was stroked with gray, but unlike me, he embraced it. My friends liked
to joke that he was becoming the next George Clooney.
He wasn't quite as famous as George Clooney, however. He did indeed make a name for himself
about fifteen years ago and he still performed from time to time, but Edward Cullen's stardom had
dimmed in the past decade as music tastes changed and boy bands resurged in popularity. They
weren't even the good boy bands like New Kids on the Block. No, these were boy bands whose
posters littered my daughter's bedroom walls along with their autographed paraphernalia that she
collected from the numerous concerts Edward or one of her friends' parents took her to.
I took her and one of her friends to a concert once, and it was terrible. When I told Edward that he'd
have to do it from then onward, he teased me and called me a music snob, but I truly couldn't handle
it. It was already bad enough that our daughter blasted the music from her room. But a live concert,
with thousands of screaming preteen girls, was even worse.
The chime of the doorbell interrupted my daydreams. I hastily smoothed down my green knit dress,
exited the half-bathroom near the kitchen, and strode down the hallway toward the foyer. Through
the frosted glass in the front door, I could make out the figures of our guests, and I unlocked and
opened the door to greet them.
Leah Clearwater and her husband, Shane, stood on the other side of the threshold. Leah looked
happy to see me, whereas Shane looked to be in awe of his surroundings, his mouth agape and his
eyes wide. "Bella, it's so good to see you," Leah gushed, hugging me hello. "Thank you so much for
inviting us over. It's been such a long time since I've seen you. It's been at least five years."
"Thank you for calling and telling me that you were going to be in Los Angeles this weekend," I
returned. "It's wonderful to see you. I think I saw you when we went up to Forks one Christmas,
which was probably about five years ago."
Leah smiled and then turned toward her husband, a handsome man with dark blonde hair and blue
eyes. "Bella, I'd like you to meet Shane, my husband," she introduced us. "Shane, this is Bella."
Shane stuck his hand out. "It's a pleasure," he said sincerely. "You have no idea."
I smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too." I stepped back and opened the door wider. "Please come
in."
Leah and Shane entered the house and marveled at their surroundings. It held three stories, if you
included the full, finished basement, and was newly remodeled. Our house was certainly a far cry
from those found in La Push, Washington.
Footsteps sounded down the hallway before my husband entered the foyer, dressed in khaki
trousers, a white dress shirt, and brown leather shoes. I angled myself toward him immediately.
"Edward, you remember Leah," I started, "and this is her husband, Shane."
Edward smiled at Leah and extended his hand. "Leah, it's great to see you again. Bella's been excited
about having guests from Forks, even if it's just for dinner."
"It's great to see you again, too, Edward," Leah said, trying to show an appropriately normal amount
of enthusiasm. I could tell by her smile, though, that she was having a difficult time. "This is Shane."
Shane looked like his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets. He took Edward's hand and shook
it eagerly. "It's such an honor, Mr. Cullen. I'm a huge fan," he gushed. "I went to one of your concerts
back in twenty-sixteen, and it was by far one of the best concerts I've ever attended."
Edward nodded and chuckled. "I'm glad to hear it. And please call me Edward."
"You should've seen my face when Leah mentioned that she was friends with your wife when she
was a teenager," Shane commented. "I thought she was pulling my leg."
Leah giggled. "You should've seen his face when I told him we were coming over for dinner."
"Well, I'm glad you could make it," Edward replied. "Would you like a drink? I think dinner will be
ready pretty soon…" He glanced over at me for confirmation.
"It should be ready in about five minutes," I told them. "Get a drink and I'll finish up in the kitchen."
After they followed Edward into the living room, I returned to the kitchen. There were about three
minutes left on the oven timer, but the microwave timer, which timed the pots on the stove, was
about to go off.
The meat had just been removed from the oven when Leah walked into the kitchen. "I hope I'm not
disturbing you," she worried as she placed her glass on the counter. "Shane's talking Edward's ear off
about music and stuff. I'm sorry about that. He's more than a bit enthusiastic."
"He's fine," I assured her. "Edward plays the humility card quite well, but I know that he secretly
enjoys talking about the glory days."
Leah nodded and then sipped from her glass. "Don't you have kids?" She glanced around, looking for
signs of them, and then saw the picture frame on the wall which held a family photograph that was
taken last year. She walked up to it to get a closer look. "They're beautiful. What are their names?"
"Elizabeth – but we call her Liz – and Jackson," I answered. "They'll be down for dinner."
"I can't wait to meet them," Leah replied, turning away from the picture frame. "Can I help you with
anything?"
I reached under the counter into one of the cabinets and pulled out a ceramic bowl. "Can you put the
rice in this bowl?" She nodded, and I handed it to her gratefully.
Leah helped me set the food onto the dining room table, and after Edward and Shane had arrived, I
walked down the hallway to the staircase and stood at the bottom.
"Liz? Jackson? Come down for dinner!" I yelled up the stairs.
For the first ten seconds, there was no response, and then I saw my five-year-old son turn the corner.
He had dark brown hair and green eyes. He wore an orange striped polo shirt, but he wore no pants
and no underwear.
"Jackson, where are your pants?"
He shrugged and started down the stairs. I didn't know why, but for some reason, my son loved to
take his pants off. I closed my eyes and shook my head momentarily before I started up the stairs,
grabbed him into my arms, and started down the hallway.
On the way, I stopped at my daughter's room. Her door was closed and I could hear the music a little
too loudly than I liked. I knocked a couple of times before I opened it. She was sitting at her desk,
instant messaging one of her friends on her laptop. She closed the window before she thought I
could see.
"Go downstairs for dinner," I instructed her, "and leave the cell phone upstairs. We have guests."
"Fine," she huffed, standing from her hot pink desk chair. Her long bronze hair flowed down her back
in loose curls, she sported a way-too-short jean mini-skirt, and her makeup was too heavy for her
fourteen-year-old face. I quickly learned not to say anything about it unless I wanted her to give me
the silent treatment for a full three days. Sometimes it just wasn't worth it.
My son in my arms, I continued to his room and sat him upon the bed while I found his shorts. "I
don't like those pants," he pouted while I tugged them up to his waist.
"You don't like any pants," I remarked, "but you have to wear them. Big boys wear pants all the
time."
Jackson didn't look convinced, but he didn't put up a fight this time around, which was a relief.
Now that my son's genitalia weren't on display, he held my hand and followed me downstairs and
into the dining room. Edward was still talking to Leah and Shane as they waited for me, and Liz was
texting covertly – or so she thought – underneath the table.
While Jackson climbed up into his booster seat, I reached into Liz's lap from behind and snatched the
phone. She rolled her eyes but said nothing. She knew not to talk back to me when her father was
present.
Leah and Shane were introduced to our children, and soon afterward, we began eating.
"So how are things up on the rez?" I asked eventually.
Leah nodded. "Things are good. My mom got re-married to a man from Tacoma, but I like him. He's
good for her. Seth is married with a couple of kids," she informed us. She paused and looked at me
hesitantly. "Do you hear about Jake?"
I glanced at Edward once before I returned my eyes to her. We hadn't talked about him in quite a
number of years. "Sometimes, when my dad calls," I admitted.
"Then you know that he settled down," Leah continued. "Who would have thought, ya know?"
I chuckled hesitantly before returning to my plate. My dad had mentioned that he had gotten
married a few years ago, but that was the extent of my knowledge. Charlie knew not to bring Jacob
into our phone conversations, but sometimes things slipped in my father's old age.
"Mom?" Liz asked, taking advantage of the break in conversation. "Jacinda told me yesterday that
you were Dad's groupie and you threw yourself at him, which is how you two got together. Is that
true?"
I saw Edward's eyebrow arch in surprise. "I thought you said that you weren't friends with Jacinda
anymore."
"Dad, you don't understand. You can't not be friends with Jacinda Jones."
Leah looked on curiously. "Who's Jacinda Jones?"
Liz rolled her eyes. "Her dad is Damon Jones. Duh."
"Watch the attitude," I warned her.
It was the attitude that she developed when she became friends with Jacinda Jones, spawn of Damon
Jones, the action movie star of today. The 1990s had Tom Cruise; the 2000s had Matt Damon; the
2010s had Shia LaBoeuf; and we had Damon Jones.
It was our misfortune that his daughter and our daughter attended the same school. A couple of
years ago they became best friends, and during a sleepover, Jacinda attempted to sneak out of our
house. Despite her pleas, we called her father, and she had been a pain in my ass ever since.
"Where did Jacinda hear that?" Edward asked in amusement.
"She said she read it in an old Us Weekly," Liz answered.
Edward smirked and then laughed. "Yet again, Jacinda doesn't know what she's talking about," he
informed our daughter. "I like to think that your mother was my groupie, but I met her before I
started my musical career."
My daughter looked at me with her dark brown eyes. "Then how did you meet?"
I instantly reddened.
This shouldn't have been an issue.
Of course there's a story to how Mom and Dad met, but the problem was, Edward and I had two
stories.
One was the true story: Mom was too scared to go to a high school reunion by herself so she asked
some random Starbucks employee, Dad, to go with her. There, they fell in love and lived happily ever
after.
Then there was the other story: Mom was a Starbucks addict, Dad was a Starbucks barista, and
numerous run-ins led to their first date, which led to more dates, which led to them falling in love
and living happily ever after.
Our close friends knew the first story. I still remembered how embarrassing it was to finally admit to
Alice, Angela, their significant others, and finally Charlie that Edward really hadn't been my boyfriend
for a few months prior to our weekend trip to Forks, that he had been my fake boyfriend. "But, don't
worry, we're together now, for real this time," they had been assured.
Our acquaintances, however, knew the latter story, and that included Leah and Shane. Was I going to
lie to my daughter about how we met, or was I going to admit, after sixteen years, that everything I
told Leah on that beach in La Push was complete bullshit?
Instead of deciding, I turned to my husband. "Honey, why don't you tell her the story?"
Edward laughed aloud and took a sip of his wine. "Oh, but you tell it so well."
I glared at him momentarily and took another gulp of my wine. "Alright. Well, it all began with a
phone call. You remember Aunt Angela?" Liz nodded. "She called to invite me to my ten-year high
school reunion. The problem was, I didn't have a date and I didn't want to go by myself, so I told her
that I was going to bring someone, even though I had no idea who. I was stressed out, so I took a
break from work to go to Starbucks, which is where I met your father."
"So he was getting coffee too?" Liz wondered.
"No, he was working there," I corrected her.
Her eyes widened in horror. "Oh my God, Dad, you worked at Starbucks?"
"I did," Edward said with a nod. "I can't say I miss it one bit."
"Anyway, I don't know what happened, but I ended up asking your father to be my fake boyfriend for
the weekend. Surprisingly, he agreed. So we went up to Forks and attended the reunion. We
pretended that we were in love, and by the end of the weekend, we actually were. That is how we
met."
"Are you serious?" Leah asked a few moments after I had finished the story. "You guys weren't really
together?"
I blushed and then shook my head. "No, we weren't."
"Holy f-" she began to curse and then, remembering the kids, stopped herself in time, "… moly. I
remember meeting Edward on La Push beach. You two seemed so in love. Your charade was very
convincing."
"I wasn't pretending," Edward interjected. "Bella already had a hold on my heart that very weekend."
He glanced back at our daughter. "Unfortunately, your mother didn't immediately feel the same
way."
"I so did!" I exclaimed. "I just didn't want to admit it to myself. I quickly came to my senses. That's all
that matters."
"You're right," my husband agreed with a nod of his head. "That's all that matters." He reached
across the corner of the table and took my hand into his, squeezing it once.
Liz groaned. "That story is even worse than you being a groupie, Mom. I mean, no offense, but it
sounds kind of pathetic. And Dad, you worked at Starbucks."
I shrugged. "It's the truth," I replied. "But if you'd like, you can go ahead and believe Jacinda's story.
According to her timeline, your father and I conceived you before I even attended one of his
concerts, became his groupie, and met him."
"Oh my God, I don't need to hear this," Liz whispered as she picked up her fork and knife and
returned to staring at her dinner plate. "I'm sorry that I even asked."
Edward chuckled and then released my hand. "Okay. Consider the subject changed," he told her
before turning toward Leah and Shane who sat across from me. "How have you enjoyed Los Angeles
so far?"
We finished dinner and made Liz clean up the dishes. I put Jackson to bed, and Leah and Shane
stayed for another hour or two before they made a move to leave. There were promises of future
dinner dates should they return to L.A. or should we return to Forks, and then they said goodbye and
left in their rental car to return to their hotel.
Edward closed the front door, locked it, and armed the security system. We were now alone in the
foyer. Jackson was asleep upstairs and Liz was locked inside her bedroom for the remainder of the
night. He pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead. "Did you have a good time this evening?"
I nodded. "I did. It was nice seeing Leah again, and Shane's pretty funny. I liked him."
"I liked him too," he replied.
I giggled. "You like him because he's still a huge fan after all these years."
"I do like him for that," Edward admitted, "but I'd like him even if he hated my music." He ran his
hands up and down my arms for a couple of seconds. "You handled Liz's question well."
"No thanks to you," I grumbled. "You left me to answer that question all alone."
"She asked you," he argued with an amused tone. "And you know I love it when you blush."
"Are you putting me in embarrassing situations for your own pleasure?" I challenged. "That's not a
very loving thing to do, you know."
"No, but as I recall, there are other situations that make you flush scarlet," he breathed into my ear.
"And it's not just for my pleasure, but for yours as well."
I tried to breathe steadily, but it didn't work. My respiration became shallow, and my heart raced in
anticipated. We had an active sex life, but it certainly wasn't anything close to that in the days before
children, and Edward still knew exactly how to turn me on.
I grinned and took Edward's hand in my own, leading him toward the staircase.
"No," he said, pulling me in the opposite direction. "Guest bedroom in the basement. I don't want us
to worry about the kids overhearing for once."
"We haven't done this in a while," I noted, running my hands along his smooth jaw line.
"It's long overdue," he breathed before he drew my lips to his, embracing me sensually and
passionately.
I giggled and broke the kiss for a second. "Do you want me to pretend to be your groupie? You spot
me in the front row of the crowd, and I sneak backstage after the show, and you ravish me in your
dressing room."
"You were always my groupie," Edward noted, "but there's no harm in role playing."
Wyszukiwarka
Podobne podstrony:
One Plus One
Selena Kitt [Baumgartners 01] The Baumgartners Plus One
RJ Scott Two Plus One
One Plus One Equals Eleven G C Edmondson
WiccaLesson ONE Plus
HTC One X plus QSG PLK
woda plus oplaty
00090100101 medium plus, 00090100101 solution
Gram plus, Ratownicto Medyczne, MIKROBIOLOGIA
embriologia test 2007 2008 plus odpowiedzi, Medycyna CMUJ, Embriologia
7 plus 6, Szkoła, Biologia
leach ll in one 246
instrukcja obs ugi do ekspresu do kawy JURA Impressa XS90 One Touch black PL (videotesty pl)
granica funkcji zadania 1 plus 2
podstawy teorii part one bzz v1 07 02 06
audi vw chlodziwo g12 plus odbarwienie
Pearson Longman Portfolio Guide 16 plus
więcej podobnych podstron