The characters are property of Stephanie Meyer

Song is from Breaking Benjamin, Give me a Sign

She was walking on the dirt path, the wind blowing in her face, leaves crunching beneath her feet. She thought about the conversation she'd had with Alice not too long before. Alice, her best friend, had reminded her how lonely she was, and how she should put herself out there, Bella and Alice are sophomores at the University of Texas (UT) and are roommates in an apartment off campus. Alice is a very energetic pixie, whereas Bella is shy, relaxed person that tends to keep to herself.

But Alice's claims were in no way false. Bella felt lonely thinking about her love life. The last time she had any type of relationship was her senior year of high school with Mike Newton. Things had been going great, until he started getting angry at her for no reason. They barely talked for a few weeks and scarcely saw each other. She amounted it to stress, considering he was the captain of the basketball team, and she was the head stage manager in the schools current play. But as time passed and the stress went away, they didn't revert back to their old ways, so they fought more and more, and eventually their relationship was official called over, and they still don't talk. He blamed her, and accused her of not trying hard enough, she didn't want to argue with him and just left things where they were. He went east to New York for college, she went south to Texas; both different places from their home in Forks, Washington. So she felt like a failure, like she couldn't hold a relationship with anyone, even after multiple of Alice's set-up blind dates, she felt worthless, and Alice's words were not helpful.

Flashback

"Bella! Will you just listen to me this last time. He's a great guy, you'll love him I'm sure." Alice whined.

"No Alice, I already told you, I won't go on another blind date. Remember how all the last ones ended?" Bella responded, growing angry with her friend.

"They weren't all bad…okay I accept one or two of them might have been. But they were way different with me so how was I supposed to know. And think about the rest of them, huh? What about Tyler and Ben? They were great to you!"

"Yeah too bad they met Clara and Angela while I was with them, and they left me for them!. Besides Alice, I already said no. I'm not going."

"You know Bella," Alice started very much frustrated at this point, "I'm doing this for you, because I see the sad look that flashes across your face when you see me with Jasper. I see the longing in your eyes and your heart; you want someone you can spend time with, someone that will love you, that you love in return."

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm perfectly happy." Bella responded as she turned around to hide the tears that were threatening to fall.

"No you're not Bella! Don't lie to me, I'm your best friend, I know you better than you know yourself." She responded exasperated. "But if you want to be miserable, then go ahead, but don't come crying to me about being lonely. Because at least I'm trying for you."

Bella felt horrible, she had lied to her best friend, and gotten her upset, but she couldn't stay there anymore, not while she knew that Alice was right. So she left, she walked out of the apartment, and walked to the nearby park.

End flashback

How could she have stayed really, it's not like she could tell Alice that she was secretly fooling around with her brother behind not only her, but also all of their friends backs. She couldn't admit to her how it had just begun as them meeting up to relieve some stress, and now she had fallen for him, but couldn't say or do anything about it.

Edward, a tall bronze-haired, green eyed god, and Bella met in her freshman year, when Edward decided to visit Alice and Jasper for Thanksgiving since none of them were going to be home for the holiday. Bella decided to stay at school as well to catch up on some work she had been neglecting. According to Alice, Edward was also studying at UT, and at that time had been a sophomore studying biology to then become a doctor; he rarely went out as he was always cooped up somewhere studying. During his visit, one night when Alice and Jasper went out on a date, the two of them stayed up late talking and watching a movie. One thing led to another and their agreement began. It's been almost a year since then, and she knew that her initial feelings for him had changed. She was in love with him, and knew that he didn't reciprocate the feelings, because in her mind how could someone as good-looking, and as smart as him possibly like someone as plain as her.

She had walked around the entire park and had even gone halfway around by the time she realized where she was. Ironically enough, Edward happened to live on the opposite side of the park from where she and Alice lived, and precisely a few feet from where she was standing. She didn't realize how she had gotten there, she hadn't thought about where she was going. But she knew why she was here. She needed someone to hold her, to make her feel safe and someone to talk to. Throughout the time of their agreement they had grown closer and we're now practically best friends, though Alice did not know this. Bella knew that Edward would hear her out, he had been there for her before and now it wouldn't be any different. But now she knew that he wouldn't and couldn't understand why she was making a big deal, because she couldn't tell him that she was in love with him.

She looked up at three story apartment building. She could see his window on the second floor, and the balcony that jutted out from the back door. She couldn't see him from where she was, but she knew he was there. Edward's voice drifted out of his open window, being December didn't mean it was cold in Texas. He voice carried the words of a song she knew well.

No longer the lost, no longer the same

And I can see you starting to break

I'll keep you alive, If you show me the way

Forever- and ever the scars will remain

This had been stuck in his head since he heard it in the car over a month ago and couldn't stop singing it. Not that she minded, she loved to hear his voice.

Bella sat on the steps on the side of the building that lead to the apartments of the second and third floors pondering whether to go up and bother him with her stupid problem, which she wouldn't be able to tell him about in its entirety; or go back to the park and walk the trail a few more times to let time pass so that she could go back to her apartment without having to worry about Alice being there. She sat and thought for minutes, some minutes passed she couldn't make up her mind. She was so focused on thinking and zoned out, that she didn't hear the footsteps that came up behind her, or the person that sat next to her on the steps. It wasn't until that person pulled her close to him with his arm around her waist that she realized what was going on. Edward was leaning on the brick wall, and had puller her close so that she was leaning on him. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to, he knew that she would tell him what was wrong when she was ready. She leaned closer to him, and breathed in his scent, and that's when she lost it. She started sobbing into his chest, she couldn't stop it, it had gotten to her, she couldn't keep things bottled in anymore. He held her tighter and rubbed his hands up and down her back in a comforting manner. After letting her cry for some time, he picked her up and carried her to his apartment. He sat on the couch with her on his lap and she continued to cry.

They sat like that for almost an hour, by which time Bella had fallen asleep in Edwards arms. He slowly picker her up again, walked to his room and set her on his bed. He knelt by the side of the bed to look at her, he couldn't fathom how beautiful she was, even though her eyes red and puffy from crying. He wished he could do something to ease her pain he hated to see her cry. After watching her for some time he got up and closed the door just enough so that he could hear if she woke up. He walked to the kitchen and pulled out a lime flavored seltzer bottle, opened it and started to drink it. He'd had a love for lemon flavored seltzer ever since Alice had picked one up by accident thinking it was lime flavored water. Now he kept a stock of them in his fridge.

He walked to his couch and thought back to the events of the afternoon. He had been singing again, thinking about her, Bella, his Bella. He had been doing some cleaning and had decided to take a break and walked out to his balcony. Looking down he saw the figure of a young woman looking at the ground defeated, he recognized her immediately as his Bella, but he knew something was wrong. He saw her move to towards the steps, and assumed that she was going to come up. He waited out by the balcony for the knocking he was sure was to come. But after waiting for a few minutes and no sounds coming, he walked over to the door and opened it to see what was wrong. He looked over the railing and saw her sitting there on the bottommost step. He knew something was wrong; otherwise she would have walked up. He went down, and when she made no move to show that she knew he was there he sat next to her. After she still didn't acknowledge him he looked and her and saw her look of concentration. He put his arm around her waist and puller her to him as he leaned on the wall. After a bit she started crying and he knew she needed him. He brought them up his apartment and sat with her on the couch. He relished this time with her because he got to hold her in his arms, but was heart-broken to see his girl crying without knowing why. He wanted to know so that he could make things right again for her. He sat on his couch frustrated about what was so wrong. He laid himself down and drifted off to sleep with Bella in his mind.