Bella's POV

I'm sat at the kitchen table, writing a poem. Poetry is the only way I can express myself without making it too blatant that it is about me. This particular one is about a girl whose heart is about to be given away by the boy she gave it to, to another girl. It sounds confusing, I know, but what about love isn't? Especially when it's your best friend, and it's even worse when he doesn't have a clue.

Edward Cullen is my best friend. I was drawn to him that first day of elementary, his lonely face, those beautiful green eyes… We made friends quickly, and his big brother, Emmett. And I don't mean big as in older – this guy is HUGE. We've always been the best of friends. It was only 2 years ago, though when I noticed something in my chest aching every time I look at him.

I've now become used to that ache, acknowledged the fact that I see him as more than a friend. And I've now got another pain, more of a stabbing sensation to get used to. He's got a girlfriend. Tanya. Every time I see them together, I try to get my head around why they are to distract me from the minor heart attack I experience each time.

My hand goes limp and my pen rolls to the floor. Its only then I realise I'm crying. I quickly dab the tears off my cheeks and pick up the pen, but I can't stop the waterworks. Thank God Charlie isn't home. He never knows what to do when I'm like this. There's only one person who does. This makes me cry harder. I move my notebook away from me to stop the ink smudging when the salty droplets hit it.

I bite my lip and clench my fists, concentrating hard on composing myself. I take one last deep breath and I've stopped. I bring the book back and carry on where I left off.

'Keep it, but don't give it to her, I say,

I don't want it back.

He hands it to me anyway,

And to my touch it turns hard, cold and black.'

I'm so lost in my poem; I leap with fear as my cell phone vibrates on the table next to me. I shake my head when I pick it up. Edward. This brings a lump to my throat and my eyes blur. No. I can't cry. I have to get on with it. I answer,

"Hello?" I say, my voice shaky.

"Hey Bells, do you want to come out with me and Em- wait. Say something." He answers, his voice silky smooth and cheerful. Bells is my nickname, he's always called me it. Nobody else does.

I clear my throat, "Hi Edward." I hear him tut on the other end of the line.

"I'm coming right over." He puts his hand over the mouthpiece, but I can still hear him say, "Emmett, park's off, Bells is upset. Sorry." Back to me again, "See you in a few." I go to protest but he has already hung up.

I drop the phone and run upstairs, trying to make myself look remotely respectable. I brush my hair, put it up and before I have any time to do anything about my smudged makeup, the doorbell rings. I wipe my cheeks with my sleeve as I walk down the stairs. Edward's face is pressed up against the glass when I get to the bottom. I laugh and I hear his heavenly chuckle as he straightens up, "Let me in!"

I open the door, and seeing the state of me, he scoops me straight into his arms, "Oh Bells!" His big arms wrapped around me feels so nice, so like it's supposed to be. He suddenly picks me up bridal style and carries me into the sitting room, plopping me down onto the big sofa. In an attempt to cheer me up he says, "My you're getting too big for me to do that!" When I don't smile, he frowns. "Fine. I know just the thing." Then he walks out of the room.

I sit myself up and sniff. Edward re-enters the room with a tub of ice cream and a spoon in hand. He gives them to me. "Now talk." I put the ice cream aside.

" I don't think that'll be needed this time." I sigh, "I'm just gonna talk, ok? You don't have to answer or give advice. You don't even have to really listen if you don't want to. Just be there."

"Of course I'll listen, I'm here for you Bells, always have been and you know that. I'm gonna do my best not to laugh too, you know how I am with this mushy stuff." He grins and wrinkles his nose, making us both laugh.

"Thank you."

"Any time," He smiles, patting my leg, "Now shoot. No wait, please don't, I'd like to live to help you out." He covers his head to protect himself then straightens out. "Sorry, I should really stop cracking jokes and let you talk."

I smile, "Yeah, you should. Don't worry, it helps me get through times like this."

"This isn't this first?" He asks, sitting next to me. I shake my head. I take a deep breath and Edward motions for me to talk. "Right. Well to put it simply, there are too many sides of me to deal with. There's the me I let my family see: Happy, chirpy, without a care In the world. There's the me I let my friends see: Happy, Chirpy but does have many a care in the world. Then there's the daring me, remember when we'd prank call people and such, that was her. She's the me that wants to go skydiving, to drive a car at 200mph. Then there's the me who wants to go skydiving and not release the parachute," His emerald eyes grow slightly wider and more worried, "the me who wants to drive at 200mph into a wall."

Edward pulls me into a tight hug, "Bells…"

I shake my head and continue, "I'm not done. There's one more, the final me; she's the only one that hasn't been revealed yet. The me that wants to be able to sit and watch a sunset with the one she loves, for him to hold her close, tell her how special she is." My voice cracks and I break down again.

"Bellsy, no! Don't cry!" He rubs my back while I cry into his shoulder, "Look, your time will come, it will. You hold onto your heart until it does, look after it and whatever you do, do NOT go skydiving without me, ok?" I take no notice of his joke.

"But I don't have it! That's the thing. It's gone off of it's own accord, It's shadowing his every move, waiting to be noticed, but it never is. It may not be broken yet, but I'll tell you, my heart is so bruised, it's just constantly rejected." I lose the power to talk and just sob again. It doesn't help that the 'him' I am talking about is Edward, who just happens to be the one who is here comforting me.

"Look, let me go put this ice cream back before it melts." So he gets up, taking the tub and spoon with him. Without him there it is easier for me to recover. He comes back in, holding my notebook. I jump up, take it from him and sit on it in a second.

"Sorry, that book is out of bounds." I say, ashamed. Edward is still standing, arms poised as though he was still holding the book.

"Erm… Ok." His arms flop to his sides, "But Bella, that poem is so beautiful. Well, what I've read of it. Please can I just read to the end? No more?" He does his puppy-dog eyes thing on me. I sigh.

"I'm not officially giving you permission, but I am going to go and wash this makeup off before I die of embarrassment and If you've read it while I'm gone, there's nothing I can do about it." He smiles as I leave the room. I run up the stairs and into the bathroom, getting out the wipes and cleaning up. I take my time to ensure he's had time enough to read the whole poem. I do worry as to which one it is; some of them are extremely morbid. Hopefully he doesn't look into it enough to know it's about me.

I splash my face with cold water and hop back down the stairs. Edward is on the couch, facing the wall absently. As I walk in he looks up. He's crying. "Oh Edward!" I rush to him and hug him, " I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry!" He wipes his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Bella, I-. That poem… I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me you felt like that?" I pull back nervously.

"Which one did you read? There are quite a few in there." I ask.

"The girl finds her heart being given away." He bites his lip. "Bella?"

"Mmm?" His eyes catch mine.

" Is that… Is the boy who has your heart… me?" He looks away, ashamed to be asking. I nod. "And the girl? She's Tanya?" I nod again.

"I'm so sorry. Your heart is a mere shadow no more, I promise. I've noticed it. And I'm gonna keep it."

He looks at me, with something in his eye, like a sparkle. He leans forward, and suddenly he kisses me. I'm shocked.

"That's it. I'm calling Tanya. It's over between us. I knew it wasn't right-" I snatch the phone from his hand before he could dial. He looked at me incredulously. I gazed back at him.

"Look, Edward, I love you, as a best friend and maybe more but I don't want you to split up with Tanya, she's a lovely girl. She seems very fond of you, too. If we are meant to be, she'll dump you."

Edward looks at me and smiles, taking me into his arms. The sun was just disappearing over the line of the trees. "You, Bella are one special girl."

FIN