Summary: Bella is a struggling freelance photographer just going through life. A chance meeting brings Edward, Bella's high school best friend and secret crush, back into her life. New opportunities and challenges have Bella questioning her decisions.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Ch.1-We Meet Again
BPOV
'Crap,' Bella thought as she scrambled around her Denver apartment, searching for her keys. As she searched she asked herself how it was possible to lose them within ten minutes of walking in the door. She had gotten out of her portrait session late and had to change and switch her memory cards and batteries in her camera. Since she was already running late her frantic search was not helping matters. Finally, after what felt like an hour but was probably only five minutes, she found her keys in the most obvious place: under her couch.
Glancing around her apartment she let out a heavy sigh at the newly formed mess in front of her. With one last glance at the mirror in which she accepted her mundane appearance she grabbed her briefly discarded camera bag and headed for the door. After grabbing a bite to eat she would be making the 90 minute drive to Ft. Collins to her favorite low paying job/ obsession, as a photographer for the Colorado Blizzards minor league hockey club.
As she approached the door she couldn't help but glance at the collection of photos hanging from the wall. Photos of her family, her friends, favorite places...She momentarily stopped as she looked at one familiar photo. It was of her and her former high school friend and crush, Edward. Reliving the memories of their relationship hit her like a storm and she silently let a tear slip from her eye before she roughly wiped it away and continued on her way out.
She hurried to her car and hoped she wouldn't hit traffic on her short drive to the neighborhood cafe her and her best friend frequented.
'Why do I keep those photos?' she asked herself, hitting the steering wheel.
Pulling into the first spot she found, she hurried inside and began apologizing as soon as she saw Rosalie.
"I'm so sorry. I managed to kick my keys under the couch and thought it would help to tear my apartment apart. I hope that you weren't waiting too long," Bella said to her best friend with an apologetic smile.
"It's no problem. I was enjoying flirting with the waiter without you," Rose replied with a sly wink.
Bella and Rosalie had been best friends since elementary school. Rose was a new to town in the middle of the second grade. Bella immediately befriended the new girl and their enduring friendship was cemented later that day when a group of boys were making fun of Bella's black converse, which according to the boys were meant for boys and not girls; Rose told the boys off, told Bella she liked her shoes and that she could wear whatever shoes she wanted. To this day, nearly twenty years later, the girls are still fiercely protective of each other.
To Bella, the women are complete opposites, which may be the reason they compliment each other so well. Whereas Bella in unremarkable with dull, straight, brown hair and nondescript brown eyes, Rosalie is a curvaceous beauty with long, wavy, blonde hair and remarkable blue eyes. Bella is the creative force of the two. Growing up music drove her life but due to an unfortunate turn of events Bella had to give up her dream of being a concert violinist. In an attempt to fill the void in her life created by the loss of her music, Bella picked up an SLR camera and never looked back. Now, six years later, she is a struggling freelance photographer. Rose, on the other hand, has the business sense for the two. Whereas Bella dreams, Rose figures out the practicality of those dreams. Rose has been happily employed at a Denver area corporation as an executive assistant since her and Bella graduated from college two years before.
Conversation flowed easily between the two women as they relayed the recent happenings in each others lives. Too soon the girls were waiting for their bill when Bella noticed her ex-boyfriend Mike walk into the cafe.
"Shit," she exclaimed upon seeing him, which drew Rose's attention.
"Bella, go. You're going to be running late to work if you wait much longer anyway and neither of us want to deal with a Mike encounter," Rose said, looking at her best friend with a kind smile.
"No, it's ok. We'll just ignore him and hope he doesn't notice us. I would feel awful if I left without notice and then he cornered you."
"Ha," Rose laughed humorlessly, "he can not be dumb enough to think that approaching me could in any way be a good idea. It'll be fine. I was going to pay today anyway so you can't use that as an excuse either. Just go, have fun tonight, and text me when you get home."
"Ok, I'll go. I'll talk to you later. Thanks for everything, you're awesome," Bella told her friend while standing to give her a hug goodbye.
"I know, but it's always nice to hear," Rose replied and returned the hug.
As Bella hurried to the door she didn't see the man walking directly towards her and ran right into him. Luckily, a pair of strong hands reached out and steadied her before she was able to do any damage to herself, either physically or emotionally, by falling on her ass in the crowded cafe. As soon as the man touched her she felt a tingle move through her body that she hadn't felt in quite some time. Hesitantly looking up she was momentarily stunned looking into the familiar emerald eyes.
"Edward..."
"Bella..."
They spoke at the same time.
"I...what are you doing here," Edward asked with a puzzled expression on his face and a look in his eye that Bella couldn't place.
"Um...I could ask you the same thing. I thought that you were still in Chicago."
"I just moved back a couple of months ago actually, in August. My cousin moved and opened a bar here last spring and I followed him out..."
"Oh, well it's great to see you again but I really have to run. I'm running late for work, Rose is right over there if you would like to catch up with her..." Bella was saying before she was interrupted.
"Bella, is that you? I've been calling you for weeks. Why don't you return my calls? Who's this guy? Why do you have your hands on my girl?" Mike asked in his annoying voice.
"Mike, I'm not your girl. I've got to go," at which point she removed herself from Edward's grip and ran out of the cafe and to her car without another look at either of them.