Disclaimer:: Everything belongs to the wondrous Stephenie Meyer!
"You shouldn't be here." She watched through the reflection of the vanity mirror as his head dropped, looking as though the carpet had become the most interesting thing in his world.
It was true, he shouldn't have been there. He really didn't know why he was. He had received the invitation three months ago; hand delivered by the woman in the white gown sitting in front of him.
His heart cracked a little as she stood in his doorway and handed him an envelope with his name in elegant script typed across the front. He knew what was inside. He knew from the day they met that she was engaged to be married.
He tried as hard as he could to quell the feelings he had developed from the first moment their eyes met in that little bookstore next to his sister's shop. He had learned early on about her long standing relationship with Jacob Black. Try as he did, he couldn't help but become a little more enamored with her every time they came in contact.
There is something to that saying "you want what you can't have." While it rang true, this thing between them was something more than that. She was hard to read and he was the best reader around. He spent the better part of his whole life picking every person he had ever met apart until he found the flaws.
To him, Bella Swan had no flaws.
Which all led to this one moment. Him, Edward Cullen, standing in her wedding chamber - a place he never imagined he would be - about to fight for her; something he was to cowardly to do before. Because seeing her in the wedding dress had made it real. If he didn't do it now he may never have the chance; and it was obvious that without her, he couldn't exist.
They had never touched besides the few friendly hugs and one glorious kiss on the cheek from her. She had always been spoken for, but in spite of it all, they had forged a bond; one he thought was unbreakable. Standing in her room now, watching as she nervously played with the brush in her hands, he wondered if maybe it wasn't enough.
In four short months, he had been the one she came running too, he had been the shoulder she cried on, and he had been the one she laughed with. They had shared secrets, dreams, stories. While they tried to keep their feelings for eachother hidden, no one could deny the spark that could always be felt when they were together.
It took nine months before it became too much. She had tripped down the stairs – in true Bella fashion - and he caught her. The tension between the two had intensified tenfold, there lips landing centimeters apart, both stuck in a staring contest that spoke volumes between them. She forgot everything in that moment as they both stood so close to what they both wanted. Only to be pulled back to reality as Alice burst through the door, yelling things about invitations and table cloth colors. That was the last time Bella saw Edward, aside from the day she gave him his invitation. She had to remove herself from temptation, but thought about him everyday.
She felt guilty for everything she had done to Jacob. For an engaged couple, Jacob and Bella rarely spent time together. They fought all the time and in a way she felt trapped in this life and sometimes she took it out on him. While they had there problems, there relationship was built on comfort and stability. Both of them knew that that was all it would ever be. But sometimes knowing that the other person would never stray is enough to keep her there.
"I had to come." He said forcefully, finally gathering the courage he so desperately needed for this conversation.
"Why now? On the day of my wedding... you wait until now."
Neither of them had ever spoken of their true feelings for eachother until today. Really, what is the point in hiding it anymore. Today was the end of it anyway. They were both determined to walk away from this room with no regrets. So they were finally going to be honest.
He studied her face through the mirror. Noticed the slight downward curve to her lips, the worry lines formed on her forehead. "You don't really want to marry him Bella."
His statement irritated her. How he could just know something that she hadn't even fully admitted to herself. There was nothing she could do now, it was out of her hands.
"Two years ago Jacob asked me to marry him and I said yes. I made a promise that day and I wont back out of it now."
She made a promise, that was always her excuse. Because she said yes along time ago. He remembered a previous conversation they had on one of the rare days where Alice wasn't around when Bella stopped by. She had told him she bought the bookshop because it was always her father's dream that she would take over her mother's work, but secretly she wanted to be a writer. She confessed to him that she would never get that chance since the bookstore took all of her time. She told him how she wanted to move to the big city, but her father had bought her a house here in Forks and she couldn't turn him down. She told him how her father and Jake's father were best friends and had been pushing the two together since they were kids. Nothing ever seemed to be her choice. Someone was always making the decisions for her.
"Why did you say yes? Huh? Was it because you really loved him? Or was it because it was what everyone expected of you?" He was being callous, but he wanted to hurt her. He wanted her to react; to recognize the truth for what it was.
"Oh, that's rich Edward. You think you have me all figured out don't you? I couldn't possibly want to marry Jacob. I have been secretly waiting for you to barge in and save me this whole time." She snapped sarcastically. She was standing now, fists balled at her sides, as she felt her face redden with the heat of her anger.
His eyes snapped to hers and he was sure she could see the disbelief in his eyes.
"You think I don't know you? What about moving to Seattle so you can be close to the literary scene? What about those notebooks you keep in that box in your closet? When are you going to do something you want to do? When is it going to be your choice?"
They had never fought before. He had always been kind and understanding towards her. When she fought with Jacob, he would hold her while she cried; listened as she swore that it was the final straw; never judged when she inevitably went back.
"I haven't deluded myself enough to think that you don't actually love him Bella. But you love me too and you know it." He was pacing now, suddenly to scared to look at her face, just in case everything he believed was wrong. "You would be happier with me. You could write all those books you want to. You have a brilliant mind and I know you could make it if you would just give yourself the chance. We could move to Seattle. I would pack my stuff up today and we could go live your dream. I would be more than happy just being by your side."
Tears streamed down her face as she listened to the dream she desperately wanted to live. She believed everything he said. She knew from the bottom of her heart that every single word was honest.
"And I would be completely happy just to follow you around. Because I want to see you smile everyday, I want to be there when you wake up every morning with sleep in your eyes and your hair all a mess. You would complain about morning breath because you always worry about the most insignificant things, and I would tell you I don't care. It would be nothing but the truth because you could be covered in crap and I would still want to be near you." Two sets of tears were now flowing freely. Edward was moving closer to her with every word he spoke until he was close enough to feel her labored breathing and he swore he could hear the faint sound of her hammering heart beat. " I never want to be anywhere but by your side."
Edward kissed her then. He put everything he had into that one kiss; trying to make her see the life they could have together; trying to change her mind. And Bella saw it all in that moment; big city lights, days spent in an office surrounded in books as she furiously typed away, nights spent wrapped in his arms, copper-haired children running in the back yard. She threw herself into the kiss, trying to make him see that she needed him just as much as he needed her.
She wept for this piece of heaven that would be so short lived. Nothing could change what was already set in motion. She desperately wanted to run away with him, leave this planned out life behind, but she couldn't turn her back on the people waiting for her in that chapel. Bella had never been one to disappoint and there were two hundred or so people counting on her now.
She ended the kiss. She left him standing in front of her with his eyes clamped shut, awaiting the inevitable. After all, Edward knew Bella best, and he knew nothing had changed.
"You're right Edward, I am in love with you...but I think you should go now." She kissed the top of his head and opened the door keeping her eyes glued to the carpet as he walked out of her life.
AN: Well, this is not how the story ends in my head. So! I may or may not continue this. Let me know what you think! Please review! New writer and I need to know if all this is pointless XP!