Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, although that would be my ultimate dream.

Should've Said No

The sun streamed in through the windows and the birds were chirping. This kind of weather was very uncharacteristic of the usually rainy town of Forks, Washington. Unfortunately, the girl, whose room was being dominated by the sun, was feeling the opposite of happy. She wanted to just sit in her room and mope and listen to the rain like she had last night.

Bella Swan considered herself one of the most average girls in Forks. Sure, she was a cheerleader, despite her clumsiness. But she was not the prettiest. That title belonged to one of her best friends, Rosalie Hale, who had long blonde hair that fell in curls and big, bright blue eyes. Bella, on the other hand, was stuck with wavy, dull brown hair that reached her mid-back and brown eyes. She still had her fair share of guys lusting after her though. Even though she was a cheerleader, she did not enjoy the attention that came with it and kept to herself. She would probably be described as the shyest member of the squad, or even the quietest, yet at the same time, the most stubborn and head strong.

Bella didn't need much to be happy. Just her best friends. She had five of them and she couldn't imagine spending another day in her life without them. Her friends… they had probably all heard the news by now and were probably on their way over to cheer her up… Not that she minded, of course, but at this point, she just wanted to be left alone.

Up until the night before, Bella thought she had the perfect life ever. She, the average, clumsy, cheerleading, teenage girl, was dating Jacob Black, the gorgeous football star and captain. They had been going out for nearly six months. It had started out slow with a bit of flirting and hanging out. Then, Jacob asked to the Homecoming Dance, where, after a night of dancing and having fun, she became the official, exclusive girlfriend of Jacob Black.

Their relationship was perfect at first. He was sweet and caring. Jacob constantly left little notes in her locker to let her know how special she was. He went to her practices and waited for her. He would call her every night to talk on the phone. But everything seemed to change one night when she made plans with Edward Cullen, one of her best friends, who was also the wide receiver on the football team. Jacob felt threatened by Edward and forbade Bella from seeing him ever again.

Flashback

"I don't want you seeing him!" Jacob shouted.

"Why? Is it because you don't trust me?" Bella asked, trying to stay calm.

"Yes, I mean, NO! I do trust you! I just don't trust him!" Jacob seemed flustered and even more angered. How could she think that he didn't trust her?

"He's been my best friend since first grade, Jacob. I'm not going to just push him away because we're going out." Bella told him.

"Why? Is it because you've been screwing him behind my back and you just don't want that to end?" Jacob sneered.

"What the hell are you talking about, Jake? I would never cheat on you and we both know it. Have a little faith." Bella cried, feeling exasperated. She then turned on her heel and stormed down the small path that led from Jacob's porch to her car.

End Flashback

Jacob claimed to have forgiven her for "being rude" the next day and they were back to their normal life. Well, as normal as it could be after an argument about trust. Jacob became distant but seemed to stay in the relation for sake of appearances.

This was all two months ago. Two months of short phone calls, cold shoulders, and minimal physical contact. And then this incident happened. One of the football players threw a party and Bella hadn't been feeling well, so she opted out. Instead, she spent the night curled up in bed, reading her favorite book, Wuthering Heights. It wasn't like she really cared about missing the party. They were all the same. The cheerleaders, the football players, and probably about fifty other people got together at some poor soul's house and got wasted.

It was at this party that Jacob was discovered cheating on Bella with none other than Lauren Mallory. Lauren was another cheerleader, well… ex-cheerleader. During try-outs, it was down to her and Bella for the final varsity spot and it went to Bella. Lauren accused Bella trying to steal her life. It was only made worse when Lauren realized that Bella was best friends with Edward. Lauren had lusted after Edward since the 7th grade and she never gave up on him. She was pretty sure that Edward would go out with her if Bella was out of the picture.

It was 11:30 P.M. when Bella received a phone call from her friend, Angela Weber. She didn't believe her -- no, she didn't want to believe her. But after receiving a picture, Bella knew that Angela wasn't lying, though, deep down inside, she knew it anyway.

Bella left an angry message on Jacob's cell phone, telling him that it was over and that she never wanted to see his face again. Jacob most likely heard her message. He called her all night, leaving messages like, "I'd take it all back if I could. Just give me one chance. It was a moment of weakness. I was drunk and I said yes. Please forgive me, Bella. Answer your phone and forgive me. I love you."

Noon rolled around and Bella was soon greeted with rapid knocking at her door.

"Bella! It's us! Open up!" Alice Brandon's usual cheery voice sounded worried. Bella rolled over in bed and tried to block out the sounds but she had no luck. Finally, she decided to drag herself out of bed and answer the door. Alice launched herself at Bella and pulled her into a hug the instant the door was open.

"Oh, Bella! We heard from Angela! How could he ever do such a thing?! How could he be so stupid?" Alice shouted.

"Don't worry, Bells, we'll go beat him up for you." Emmett McCarty's deep voice reassured her.

"No. I don't want you guys beating him up. You'll get kicked off the team for that. Or worse, you could be suspended or expelled. He will not be the reason why your future is ruined. I will not be the reason why your future is ruined." Bella said in a firm voice. Looking around, she saw the faces of Jasper Hale, Rosalie's twin brother, Rosalie herself, and Edward.

"But, Bella! He cheated on you! You're just going to let him off so easily?!" Rosalie asked incredulously.

"I broke up with him last night, Rose! I don't want anything else to do with him." Bella said.

"Well… since you're free now, why don't you hang out with us for the day?" Alice suddenly appeared chipper. Probably thinking that if I go out with them, she'll get to do my hair and make-up and pick out my clothes. Bella thought as she inwardly rolled her eyes.

"Alice, really. I'm not up for it. You guys go and have fun… doing whatever you were planning on doing…" Bella said.

"But Bell! It would be so awkward for Eddie! He'd be the fifth wheel without you!" Alice tried reasoning with her. Alice and Jasper had been dating since 8th grade and Rosalie and Emmett had been dating since freshman year of high school.

"Please, Bella! Don't make me look at their love-sick faces for however many hours we'll be out." Edward pleaded with a smile on his face.

Bella sighed. "Fine. What are we doing anyway?"

"We, my friend, are going to Port Angeles!" Alice squealed. "Now, let's go get you freshened up!" Alice and Rosalie dragged her back upstairs to her room while the boys just laughed, shut the door and proceeded to the living room to wait.

Upstairs, Bella was being tortured in the worst way imaginable. Okay, well, it wasn't exactly torture but it was close enough. Rosalie picked out her clothes while Alice did her hair and make-up.

"Close your eyes, Bella." Alice commanded. Bella obliged and Alice proceeded to apply eye shadow. "So, Bella, when are you and Edward going to get together?" Alice asked casually.

"Al, what are you talking about?"

"Well, you know. Now that you're single and he's been single, you guys can finally get together! It'd be so much fun! We can triple date and it wouldn't be awkward because you guys would finally be going out!" Alice gushed.

"I don't know… I mean, I just got out of a relationship… and I don't know how I feel about him. And I don't know how he feels about me. I mean, the whole thing just seems so rushed."

"I think you guys should go out!" Rosalie's voice came from the closet.

"We'll see where it goes." Bella said, shrugging.

The three girls stumbled down the stairs twenty minutes later, after much fussing from Alice. Bella was dressed in a cotton navy blue, low cut shirt with small flower patterns, layered with a white tank top, and skinny jeans with silver flats. Her hair was straightened and split into two low pig tails. Her make-up was subtle and natural. She had to admit, she looked a lot better than she did the night before.

"Finally! We were beginning to think that you girls had killed Bella and were thinking up ways to hide her body." Jasper joked.

"Eddie here wouldn't have appreciated that." Emmett laughed. Bella glanced at Edward and noticed he was blushing and looking anywhere but at her. She started to wonder if they would make a good couple together. She had feelings for Edward before Jacob and maybe, with Jacob out of the picture, those feelings would resurface and they could be together.

"Let's go, guys!" Alice shouted, pushing everyone out the door. Bella locked up and turned around.

"Bells, you're riding with Edward!" Rosalie shouted as she hopped into Emmett's black Lamborghini Mucielago. It was then that she noticed there were three cars parked in her parking lot, not including her loud, clunky red 1953 Chevy Pick-Up Truck. Alice climbed into Jasper's white Mazda RX-7. Edward stood by his sleek silver Volvo, holding the passenger door open for her.

"Thank you." Bella said, as she climbed in, putting on her seatbelt. Edward got into the car and pulled on his seatbelt as well. The drive was quick, twenty minutes at most. But only because Edward was speeding the whole time. Well, so was Jasper and Emmett. They were all a bunch of speed demons. It was quiet the whole time. Bella stared out the window while Edward fumbled with the radio.

… the flowers, everything, is gone.

Yesterday I found out about you

Even now just looking at you feels wrong.

You said…

Taylor Swift's "Should've Said No" came on for about ten seconds before Edward decided that the music on the radio was crap and turned on his iPod. Edward didn't really know what to say to her. He was happy that her and Jacob had broken up. Edward had been in love with Bella for as long as he could remember. This was the year he was going to tell her but it seemed as if Jacob beat him to the punch. But now, he would finally have his chance.

They got out of the car and met the rest of the group in front of an Italian restaurant.

"We are going to eat!" Alice announced. "You need food, Bella."

"Alice… I'm not really hungry." Bella said.

"Nonsense. We're eating. And that's that!" Alice could be just as stubborn as Bella and she knew it. Bella didn't even try arguing with her. She followed them into the restaurant.

"Table for six, please." Rosalie told the hostess.

When they were seated, the waitress came to take their orders.

"Hi. I'm Tanya. Can I get you anything to drink? Or anything at all?" She asked in a sultry voice, staring at Edward with a seductive smile on her face.

"What do you want to drink, Bella?" Edward asked. Bella looked at him curiously. Did he know that Tanya was flirting with him? Was he trying to make it seem like they were on a date? Did he want it to be a date? Did she want it to be a date? She must've been out of it for a bit because the next thing she heard was Edward's smooth voice saying her name.

"Oh, um, I'll have a Sprite, please."

"Make that two." Edward told Tanya. She huffed and moved on to take the rest of the drink orders. Edward leaned in close to Bella and whispered, "Are you alright?" in her ear. She nodded and gave him a small smile.

Two more flirting attempts from Tanya and a meal later, the group split the bill and went on their merry way. "The best thing to do when you're upset is shop." Alice said matter-of-factly. She dragged the group into shop after shop, throwing things in Bella's arms to try on, criticizing other things.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that Alice was upset and was channeling her anger into trying on clothing." Edward whispered to Bella. She laughed and went to try on the stack of clothing Alice gave her. After picking up a few items and ringing them up, the six left the store and continued walking down the street, only to encounter none other than Jacob.

"Bella—" He began. But he was cut off by her cold voice.

"What do you want, Jake?"

"I— can we talk?"

"There's nothing to talk about! You cheated on me. I broke up with you. It's over." Bella's voice was filled with anger.

"It was a mistake!" Jacob shouted.

"No! Us going out was a mistake! I can't believe I wasted so many months with you! What we had was a lie. How long were you doing Lauren anyway, hmm?"

"It's not like that! We were just drunk and stupid." Bella heard Emmett whisper to Jasper, "Stupid is right."

"Please, just give me one chance. Please! I'll make it up to you." Jacob pleaded.

"No! Jacob. You ruined any possibility of a second chance the moment you said 'yes' to her. First of all, you know how much I loathe her. You should've said no. You knew you were getting too drunk. You should've just gone home or thought twice about what you were doing. I'm a cheerleader, Jake! You should've known that I would've heard about what you did sooner or later anyway. And why, when you were drunk, why didn't I even cross your mind? Why wasn't I there in the back of your mind? Do you know what I did last night? I spent all night asking myself why. I made a list of all my flaws. Heck, I even made up flaws for myself to justify why what you did was right. But I'm tired of making myself look like the bad guy. If you had just said 'no,' you wouldn't be here, begging for my forgiveness. You would've still had me. But it's over. I've moved on." Bella ranted angrily. Jacob stood there, speechless while Bella took off in the opposite direction. Jacob tried to follow but was stopped by Edward.

"Don't you think you've done enough already?" He sneered. And with that, he turned to chase after Bella. Being a football player himself, it wasn't so hard to catch up with her.

"Bella—" Edward began. Her sobs cut him off. He felt the sudden urge to just take her into his arms and kiss away all her tears.

"Edward, I'm not a bad person, am I?" Bella asked.

"No, Bella. You're not! You are the best person I know. You have this amazing personality. You're so easy to get along with and you have a great sense of humor. When you smile, you light up the room. Not to mention, you're easy on the eyes." Edward joked lightly. She smiled sadly at him.

"Then why do bad things always happen to me?" She asked.

"Bells, it's life. It's supposed to be complicated. But that's what friends are for. That's what I'm here for. I'm here to help you get through this." He took a breath. Oh, no. What am I doing? He thought. She's going to find out how I feel about her. It's too soon. She can't find out yet.

"Edward, you're so good to me." Bella said, turning to fully face him. She took in his appearance, his messy bronze colored hair, his deep, emerald green eyes, his soft smile, his navy blue dress shirt and khakis. Right now, standing in front of her, he looked perfect; like a God. "I haven't been such a great friend, Edward. In the last month or so, I've barely seen you. We've barely spoken two words to each other."

"Actually, if I remember correctly, we spoke three words to each other." He smiled at her.

"I'm sorry." She said, embracing him in a hug.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. Never be sorry. And promise me you'll never think that there's anything wrong with you. You are pretty much perfect. Lauren Mallory's got nothing on you." He wrapped his arms around her petite waist, smelling the scent of strawberries in her hair. Pulling back to see her face, he wiped her tears away. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared into his eyes. She subconsciously leaned in towards him. He did the same and their lips met in a soft, gentle, sweet kiss. The kiss that would determine their future relationship.

Edward was the first to pull back. "Oh, God, Bella. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that. What was I thinking? You just got out of a relationship and now I'm rushing things. I'm so, so sorry, Bella." Edward let go of her and mentally beat himself up for his stupidity. Bella took his hands in hers and whispered, "Don't be sorry, Edward. Never be sorry. I know exactly what I'm doing."

Bella leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him once more. His eyes widened in surprise but then fluttered shut as he held her close once more.

"Bella, I've loved you for longer than you could ever imagine." He whispered in her ear once they parted.

"Edward." She pulled away to look at him. "I think I've always loved you, too. But can we take this really slow? I'm still hurting."

Edward clenched his fist. Just the thought of Bella being hurt was enough to make him angry. "Don't beat him up, Edward. You don't want to be kicked off the football team." Bella reminded him softly. His facial expression softened as he looked at her.

"We can go as slow as you want." He told her. She smiled at him and for a moment, it seemed as if they were the only two people in the world until, of course, they heard the ringing of Bella's cell phone.

"Alice! Hi. What's going on?" Bella answered the phone.

"Bella! Where did you guys go? Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that we're leaving Port Angeles. And by we, I mean, me, Jazz, Rose and Emmie. You and Edward have his car so you guys can get back whenever. We'll see you lovebirds later!" Alice's voice rang through the phone and with that, she hung up. Edward looked at Bella with amusement in his eyes.

"Umm… that was Alice… they're leaving and they just wanted to let us know." Bella said.

"Okay, well, do you want to leave, too? You can come over and watch movies at my house, like we used to." Edward asked.

"Of course!" Bella took his hand and they walked to his car. On the way back to Forks, Edward held Bella's hand and they both wore smiles on their faces. Bella thought back to the whole Jacob situation. I really should thank Jacob for cheating on me. If he never cheated on me, we wouldn't have broken up and me and Edward wouldn't be together right now. She laughed out loud and Edward looked at her curiously.

"What are you laughing about?"

"Oh, nothing. Just wondering what life would be like without you." Bella answered.

"And what would it be like?"

"Well, I'd probably be sitting at home right now, reading Wuthering Heights and having the time of my life." Bella joked. Edward pretended to be hurt.

"I'm only kidding." Bella said. "My life would be terrible without you."

Edward kissed the back of her hand as he continued driving. "I'm here as long as you want me."

"Then you'll be here forever." Bella said.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take."

A/N: Thoughts? Review! Please?