A/N: All character names belong to Stephenie Meyer. The Cheech is not my creation, it's Tre Cool's. Don't be offended by any universities I've picked...I just picked them.
"Please," I begged again. "Please don't do this."
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
I walked over to him, grabbing his face between my hands. "Please. Just look at me." I begged, tears rolling down my cheeks.
He pushed my hands off of him roughly. "I don't want to look at you Bella!" he yelled, tugging at his hair.
"I can't even look at you."
"Jake, please! I was drunk!" I sobbed.
He chuckled darkly. "You think that matters? You kissed Paul!" He walked towards the door, then turned to face me.
"You know what? You're pathetic Bella. I don't even know why I stayed with you for this long." He laughed bitterly. "Have you seen yourself? You're disgusting- fat and ugly. You're an annoying whore. You're nothing."
He turned back around, slamming the door behind him. I stood there, stunned. I sank down to the floor, crying. Pathetic.
Disgusting. Fat. Ugly. Everything I had assumed about myself had been confirmed. I didn't mean anything to him; if I did,
he wouldn't have flung all my insecurities back in my face. He knew how they would eat me alive. He knew.
As my sobbing ceased, I got up off the floor and made my way into my bathroom. I leaned in towards the mirror and looked at myself. My eyes were red and puffy, I had snot dripping down my face, and my mascara had smeared. The longer I stared into the mirror, the more hollow I felt. A giant piece of me had just left, and I was aching. And then...nothing. I felt nothing.
3 months later...
"Gimme two Cheeches!" My bestfriend, Alice, demanded from the bartender whose back was towards us. No matter how hard I tried to get Alice to let me stay home tonight, she wouldn't budge. Now here we were, at the grand opening of some bar called Saddle. It was now July, and college kids were EVERYWHERE.
"In case you don't know, it's lemon juice wi-" she went on, talking to the man's back.
"With silver tequila." He turned around, handing us both a shot glass. "Here you are."
"Thanks," I said, tossing it back. I put my glass down and really looked at him for the first time, and boy did I look.
This guy was pretty good looking. He was tall, but not lanky, with a mop of blonde locks on his head, and gleaming blue eyes. I realized Alice hadn't said anything since he finished her sentence and I turned to face her. Her hazel eyes were wide as she ogled him openly. Not to my surprise, he was doing the same.
Alice and I had been friends for maybe eleven years now? Growing up, she had always been the gorgeous one out of the two of us. She was short, and had a tiny frame due to all her running. She had nice cheek bones and full lips that were only accentuated by her short, spiky brown hair. I was always the "thick" one to say the least. I have wide hips, which now aren't as wide due to all of the running I've done in the past three months. My face was okay? I mean aside from the constant blushing, I thought I was fine. Prettier now than I've ever been though.
"So, Miss..." the bartender trailed off, scooting her glass a little closer to her. I settled myself onto a barstool, spinning my empty shot glass around.
Alice just stood there blinking. Was she... oh my god she was. Alice was being shy. Holy crap. I coughed, to get her attention. Nothing. I coughed a little louder. Still nothing. Well, here goes...something.
"Ow! You bitch!" she hissed at me, checking her leg for a bruise from where I kicked her. She turned back to the bartender, grinning, all signs of shyness gone. "I'm Al-"
"Hey buttender- oh I mean BARtender!" a drunk girl wearing an FSU shirt shouted from the other end of the bar. "Lemme holla at a round of tequila!" she laughed, her words slurring together.
Mr. Bartender sighed, and pulled out a coffee mug. "Hold on, Gorgeous." He grabbed a coffee pot from under the counter and poured FSU a cup, then walked over to her.
Alice turned to me, bouncing on her toes. "Oh my god Bells!" she squealed, doing some kind of cabbage-patch dance. "I can't believe he's flirting with me!" she continued bouncing.
I snorted. "I can- have you seen those shorts you're wearing?" I laughed.
She stopped bouncing, flipping me off. "Bitch, you're wearing the same pair!" she resumed the bouncing.
I tugged on the short bastards. "You MADE me!"
She laughed, tossing back her Cheech. "Stop complaining- your ass looks fantastic, you need to show it off!"
I laughed. "As if. If it was, why aren't I getting hit on by cute guys? Hmm?"
She gave me a look. "You aren't getting hit on because all of them are pretty much Saddle-faced wasted."
Mr. Bartender came back before I could question her phrase, looking more annoyed than before.
"So where were we Gorgeous?" he asked, grinning at Alice.
She giggled. "I was going to say my name's Alice."
He stuck his hand out towards her. "Jasper Whitlock. Can I get you guys anything else to drink?" His eyes flicking to me, then back to Alice.
"Dirty martini?" She asked me. I nodded, tuning the two of them out while I looked around the bar. Just as I turned around in my stool, I saw FSU girl. Two of her friends were holding her up but she was still stumbling.
"You guys," she whined. "I think, I'm gonna h-" Then she lost it. All of it. Her drinks, her dinner, her dignity. Gone.
I quickly covered my nose and mouth with my hands and made my way to the exit. I couldn't stand the smell. I'm one of those people, where if they see someone puking or puke, they puke too. Hell no, I wasn't doing that here. Once I got to the door, I took a deep breath, inhaling the cool summer air in Chicago. I walked to the curb of the sidewalk and plopped myself down, pulling out my phone telling her I'd be staying outside til they cleaned up that chick's mess. I shoved my phone back in my pocket, covering my eyes and trying to steady my breathing.
"U of I, huh?" deep voice next to me asked.
I uncovered my eyes and glanced down at my shirt. Oh yeah. I then turned to face the stranger. Holy hell. This guy was hot. Like, cracking-eggs-and-frying-them-on-him-hot... okay, not literally, but yeah. He had five-o'clock shadow along his strong jaw line,a perfect nose, emerald eyes, and bronze hair. I smiled at him widely, silently hoping my ogling wasn't that obvious.
"Alumni actually," I felt my cheeks get warm. "I graduated last year."
He grinned. "I'd say awesome, but I hate U of I."
My jaw dropped, then I closed it, realizing something. "Michigan?"
"Hell yeah." he laughed. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Aw, c'mon beautiful, don't be bitter cause we kick your guys' ass in football."
"Yeah?" I asked him. "How's Notre Dame looking?"
He stopped laughing. "We don't speak of such things..." he trailed off.
I laughed at him now, stretching my legs out in front of me. I looked back at him and noticed his eyes lingering on my legs.I brought them in towards my chest. Maybe I had a bruise or something. Or worse...holy crap, maybe he noticed the stripe of hair on my leg that I missed this morning. Fuuuuuuuuccccc-
"Bella?" Alice called from the doorway of Saddle.
I turned around and waved my arm around so she'd notice me. She skipped over to the spot where Mystery Man and I were.
"Wanna head home?" She asked, biting her lip. She knew how sensitive I was to puke and blood.
"Nah, stay and have fun with Jasper." I said, waving her off.
She grinned and waved her iPhone 4G in my face, Jasper Whitlock being a new contact. Damn she moved fast. She turned and face Mystery Man, sticking her tiny hand out to him.
"Alice." she stated simply.
Mystery Man took hold of her hand and shook it gently, a smile on his face too. "Edward." He released her hand and turned it towards me. "We never really introduced ourselves Illini," He gave my hand a squeeze. "Nice to meet you though Bella," he said with a wink.
I felt my cheeks get warm again. "You too Edward." I stood up from my postion on the curb, and he followed.
"So, I'll see you around?" he asked, grinning.
"Hopefully- I mean shit. Fuck. Yeah..." I stuttered over my words. I was 98% sure I was beet red at this point. I grabbed Alice by the elbow and started tugging her in the direction of our apartment, which fourtunately was within walking distance.
"Bye Edward!" she called over her shoulder, waving back at him with the arm I wasn't holding hostage. She looked back at me and chuckled. "You're such a nerd Bells."
"Hey Alice?" I asked.
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
*Reviews and just comments in general would be greatly apprciated. It's my first story so...not really sure if I'm going about it the right way. Haha. Thanks!*