EPOV

"Edward, it's me or her. You have to pick one right now!" screamed Tanya

I ground my teeth together "Tanya, I've already given you your answer – I pick Bella...B.E.L.L.A...Bella"

"But why!" she said shaking her head at me," look at the package stood right in front of you – I am AMAZING, you will never get the choice of having anything nearly as good as me ever again." She gestured up and down pointing at herself.

"Tanya, It's Bella" I said firmly

Her face scrunched up into ugly angry mess as she shouted at me "It's Bella, It's Bella – It's always fucking well Bella" then she spun on her heel and stomped out of my house slamming the door behind her.

I cringed at the noise and sat down on the stairs massaging my temples. I felt Bella slide down next to me and rest her head against my shoulder.

"Are you angry with me Edward?" she asked

My head snapped up to see my poor Bella looking up at me with big watery eyes, "Bella baby of course I'm not angry with you, why would I be honey?"

"I don't know" she looked down and began playing with the bottom of my t-shirt

"because I made Tanya leave" she sniffled

I wrapped my arm around her and pulled some tissue out of my pocket and handed it to her.

"Bella, Tanya left because she wanted to, We've been best friends since you were 5 and I was 8 – You didn't tell anyone when I got wasted at yours that time... and I knocked out Eric Flint after he tried to feel you up at prom. Now I'm not gonna lose all that for some loser like Tanya! Anyways I'll never be able to knock out someone again, so I need to keep you around so I have someone to verify my story!"

Bella's laugh filled the hallway and I pulled her up onto my knee so I could hug her properly. Being 5ft 10 was fine but trying to get a sufficient hug from someone who is 5ft 1 (and a half if you ask Bella – I'm not convinced) is a difficult thing, so I spent most of the time picking her up to hug her.

She burrowed into my neck "Edward your 26, we can't live together forever you know"

She looked up at me curiously when I didn't say anything and began laughing again at the sad pout I had put on my face.

"But Bella I can't live without you, who would do the washing machine thing – you know I don't understand all the different buttons!" I whined.

Chuckling she slid of my lap and pulled me to my feet "you're adorable little wife of course!"

BPOV

I pulled Edward into the living room and pressed play on the Christmas CD I had paused when Tanya had turned up and caught us hanging decorations around the house. Apparently Edward deciding to spend Christmas with me meant that he didn't love her after the massive 3 weeks they had been dating...Big surprise there!

"It's time Edward" I called as I grabbed the lob sided angel from the Christmas box.

"oh really..." I heard Edward growl, but before I could turn around he had already swept me up in his arms and was holding me up high enough for me to put the Angel on the Christmas tree. Giggling I put the Angel on top and Edward let me fall bridal style into his arms as he continued to spin me around the room laughing and singing along to Rudolph the red nose reindeer until we both collapsed dizzy onto the sofa.

Lying on Edwards chest I felt my heart flip and I soon righted myself, climbed of him and straightened my skirt and one of the ever so festive jumpers my mum sent me and Edward every year. As soon as I was crinkle free, Edward's arms enveloped me and he pulled me back to his chest and began laughing as I frowned at him for wrinkling me.

"Oh Bells, the same thing happens every year! We've spent every Christmas together since you were 9, you should know wearing a skirt is a bad idea!" he said to me chuckling.

I let out a half hearted laugh and looked down at my knees.

"We haven't spent every Christmas together Edward – don't you remember 3 years ago?"

Edward looked at me confused at first, and then suddenly realisation dawned...

"Maria!" he exclaimed

"I'd forgotten about that – it was a shame we missed that Christmas together, her mother's turkey dinner was nowhere near as good as yours and she made Brussels...icky!" he said... missing the sadness pouring over me.

I'd loved Edward my whole life, we had been through everything together. All the family rows, bad break-ups and knock backs had been fixed together with a tub of ice cream, Oreos and Mario kart. It had been like that for as long as I can remember and I don't know what I did before he came along. He was my perfect big brother protector until Maria came along 6 years ago.

Rewind 6 years

Edward had been 22 and I was 19 when he started dating her, a year later they were still going strong and Edward decided to spend Christmas over at her parents. I knew he was happy with Maria even though she was a bit clingy for my liking. On Christmas eve I received a call from Maria's sister saying that Edward had proposed to Maria and it was time to get over my little crush and then she hung up on me. I was furious, first because he hadn't told me – and I told him everything, and second because she had said I had a crush on him.

I unplugged the phone and spent Christmas alone in the flat I rented when I moved to Uni, I took down all the decorations on boxing day and completely isolated myself from the world. I couldn't stand the idea of losing Edward to come stupid bimbo that didn't even understand how to turn the shower on in Edwards flat even though she had been practically living there for a year! On December 27th I was sat on the sofa flicking through the music channels when the doorbell rang and Edward was stood there holding a stick of rock and a crooked grin plastered on his face.

I congratulated him on his engagement and watched as his grin dropped into a look of horror, he didn't have a clue about anything and he had never proposed. After a few angry phone calls it turned out Maria's sister was deeply into Edward and thought by dropping such a massive bombshell it would shatter his relationship with me and Maria leaving her to comfort him. She really hadn't thought it through though! Maria and Edwards relationship ended within 2 weeks after that and as I sat there surrounded by empty ice cream tubs, Oreos , the Mario kart theme music playing on the TV and a sleeping Edward rested on my knee. I realised I loved him. Not just as a brother but I wanted him to be mine forever, he carried on dating girl after girl though and I was never willing to risk our friendship over it.

EPOV

I watched her looking down, chewing on her lip and slowly her brow furrowed in a look of concentration. She really was beautiful; I could never get over how soft she was and how good she smelled. Most girls just smell of that crappy body spray that they think smells good. But not my Bella, she has her own smell that no perfume could ever recreate. I'd dated a lot of girls after I broke up with Maria trying to fill the void of emptiness inside me. When I moved in with Bella I stopped dating as many girls because "I wasn't as lonely anymore". The truth of the matter was I'd fallen for Bella big style a long time ago, and I used all those girls in an attempt to be happy without her and not ruin our friendship. But I knew I could never be happy without her. The world just shines a little bit brighter when she was around. I love her.

"Edward, snap out of it...hellllllo message to Edward, are you still in there?" Bella waved her hand in front of me smiling.

"Alice and Jasper are here!" she said bouncing off my knee

To be continued...

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