So this is actually my own personal story of my life 2 years ago. I began it without knowing how it was going to end. And now that I know to be honest I was ever surprised myself.
Summary: Bella Swan is still stuck on her ex boyfriend and their 4 year long relationship. After rekindling it for what seems to her and their friends, the hundreth time, she realizes maybe he really is never going to change. But first love just doesn't go away. Which she soon learns. Then an old friend comes back into her life and flips her world upside down into something she didn't even know was going to happen. Changing her life forever. This story is about love, about hurt, friendship, and learning when to let go and when to hold on.
So please let me know if you would be interested in seeing more of this story. I have about 5 chapters already finished. Please review!
After All This Time
Bella Swan
Snow fell to the ground in pure white sheets as I walked down the beautifully lit street, arm and arm with my best friend. We were hudled together for warmth but refused to drive, we didn't want to miss the gorgeous scene around us.
We were on our way to our new apartment, a penthouse above a little pizzeria downtown, which was stunning this time of year. As the sun fell behind the mountains the christmas lights wrapped around the trees and across the road lit up the dark sky.
All bundled up in our scarfs and hats we walked through the white blanket to our building with a sense of accomplishment. We did it, we made it on our own. We are 22 fresh out of college, with great jobs, and amazing friends. Now with the perfect apartment we couldn't help but feel proud with our lives.
"Should we get a pizza before going up?" I suggested as we reached our building.
"Yeah and I really need to pee." She sang pulling me into the resturant.
I laughed and followed her in. The warmth hit us immediatly making us both sigh in contentment. It felt wonderful. The Pizza shop called Joe's Pizzeria was quaint and just small enough to make it fell warm and homey. I already knew I loved it.
"I'm going to the restroom. Order whatever you want and I suggest you get like 3. Emmet's coming over." She rolled her eyes dramatically at her overly large boyfriend, before walking off towards the bathroom.
Rosalie Hale was one of the most gorgeous, amazing, sweetest people i've ever met. I have known her since 2nd grade and we have been attached at the hip since. She was my partner in crime, pea in a pod, other half, any way you sliced it she was my best friend who I can't imagine living without.
I was next to order and I looked up to see a young boy about my age working at the counter. He smiled warmly and I automatically smiled back.
"Um hi, I would like 3 large pepperoni pizza's please."
He smiled and nodded. "Alright that will be 27.54$"
I took out my wallet and handed him over the amount of bills he needed. As I waited for my change I couldn't help but notice that he was actually cute. He was dark skinned with almost gray eyes, but they had warmth in them that didn't make them seem harsh.
"Here is your change ma'm. Your order will be out in a minute." He smiled and I took the money from him.
"Thank you." I said before walking to sit at one of the unoccupied tables.
"Bella? Hey Bella." I turned around at the sound of my name and looked up to meet the beautiful eyes of. . . my ex.
He smiled his breath taking crooked grin and my heart fluttered in automatic reaction.
"Edward." I whispered mostly to myself. I hadn't seen him in probably about 2 years.
"Hi." I said standing up to give him a hug.
He laughed and hugged me back tightly. "Ah Bella. How are you?" His velvety voice asked, wow I forgot how perfect it was.
I smiled widely and nodded. "I'm great. How about you?"
He nodded. "Good, good. So I hear you and Rose got an apartment?" It didn't surprise me at all that he knew. His younger sister Alice Cullen was one of my best friends, of course she would tell him. She would always keep us up to date with eachother's lives.
"Yeah it's actually just upstairs." I pointed towards the ceiling. He looked up surprised and smiled.
"Really? Very nice." He complimented.
I smiled not taking my eyes off of him, I couldn't get used to the fact that he is here in front of me. I haven't heard from him in about 6 months and then it was only so he could console me about my uncle who passed away from cancer. We haven't had a real conversation in over a year.
"Yeah. Your sister and everyone is actually coming over tonight for pizza and stuff, you should come?" I invited him purely on impulse, because if I was actually thinking I would not have.
He nodded. "Yeah maybe I will." He smirked knowing it would be slightly awkward.
Edward and I had a . . . complicated relationship to say the least. We dated for four years in highschool and part of college, on and off, but on for the most part, and were completely in love. Well I with him at least. After 2 months of constant fighting he finally ended things with us and moved away for the remaining years of college.
But for a year after we broke up neither of us could seem to let go completely. We hung on to eachother to the point where it only hurt eachother more. I finally backed away and stopped returning his calls in fear of getting hurt again. Which was a year ago and now here he is, right in front of my eyes.
"So stranger I haven't heard from you in forever." He teased lightly but I could see the seriousness in his eyes.
I laughed and he smiled at the sound. "Actually i'm pretty sure you changed your number and didn't give it to me." I challenged.
I remember when I found that out very clearly, it was only about 4 months ago, Alice was looking through my phone for whatever reason and seen I had Edward as a contact. She had asked if he gave me his new number and I knew he hadn't, I would have remembered, I remember everything that happens with him, but I lied and said I didn't know.
Well she checked and told me I had his old one. I acted unconcerned and she offered to give it to me but denied her offer, saying I didn't really care because I don't need it, we don't talk anymore. But in all honestly I was slightly hurt by the fact that he had forgotten about me to the point that he didn't even care to give me his number, so I didn't want it.
He made a confused face. "Are you sure. I'm almost positive that I gave it to you."
I shook my head. "Nope. You didn't."
He still looked at me skeptically, like I was lieing to him. He was ridiculously impossible. "Okay, I will just have to-" Rose interrupted us coming out of the bathroom.
"What did you- Edward? Hi!" She said confused throwing her arms around his neck. He chuckled but hugged her back.
"Rosalie, I should have known you wouldn't be far." He teased.
She laughed but gave me a sly glance over his shoulder, which I rolled my eyes to.
"What are you doing here?" She asked once they pulled away.
"Well I'm home for break and I was walking down the road when I seen Bella sitting in here so I thought I would come in and say hi." He explained, I didn't know that. Hm. . .
She smiled widely and nodded. "So did Bella tell you everyone is coming to our new place tonight?"
"She did, and she invited me to join you guys." He said so polietly. I forgot how completely old school he is.
She raised her eyebrow and smirked at me. "Oh she did, did she. Well you should come, it's going to be great. Plus Em and Jas would love to see you." She said hitting his arm playfully.
He nodded. "Sounds good. I just might have to come now." He looked at me and winked, making me blush immediatly. Even after all these years he still has the same effect on me.
"Bella Swan 3 Large Pepperoni's" They young guy called out.
"Oh that's us." I said going over to grab our pizza's.
"I got them." Rose said quickly pulling me back and leaving Edward and I alone once again. Very sneaky Rose.
"So we have to go but um text me if you wanna come tonight or if you just want to talk or something. I would text you but I don't have your number." I shrugged lightly, teasing him.
He laughed, and I forgot how much I loved that sound. "Alright. I'll see you later Bells."
He gave me a hug and my heart swelled at the way he casually used my nickname.
"Bye Rose." He called over my head waving at her, where she was grabbing the pizza's at the counter.
She waved back and walked over to my side.
"Ready?" I asked.
She nodded and we walked outside, and towards the corner ally, where the stairs are located to get to the top of the bulding where the apartment's are located.
"So Edward." She started out.
I rolled my eyes. "You know I'm over him Rose." I said like I automatically did when it came to the Edward subject.
"Sure Bells." She rolled her eyes too because she knew better than anyone that I was lieing. I always did.
Just then my phone viberated in my pocket, I took it out to see I had a text from an unknown number. I opened it and it read.
Hey Bella. You said I could text you if I wanted to talk.
I didn't even need to ask who it was because I knew. I smiled and texted him back quickly.
"Edward." Rose asked in a knowing way.
"I don't wanna hear it." I warned as I pulled out my key to unlock the door to our apartment.
She laughed and followed me into our empty home.
"You both so totally love each other." She said while setting the pizza's on our counter.
I rolled my eyes but faced her knowing she won't quit. "You have 30 seconds." I said crossing my arms over my chest.
"Okay so I know it's been like forever but the way you two still look at eachother, and you guys have always had feelings for each other no matter what. We all know you are going to end up together because you two are meant to be. Plus-" I held my hand up, cutting her off.
"Times up. Okay yes we will always have something but that doesn't mean we have to act on it. To much has happened in the last two years, it can't just be fixed that easily. He screwed with me for a long time Rose, you know that. I don't know if I can ever just go back to how we were anymore." She smiled sympathetically, knowing exactly how much he hurt me because well, she was there.
"Okay Bell. I was just saying." She said quietly, I smiled smally and I nodded.
"I know Ro, thank you, Okay can we move on now?" I asked and she nodded.
"Okay because we are home!" I said excitedly.
She smiled widely and we both started jumping up and down screaming before throwing our arms around eachother. God I love that, home.
Alice, Jasper, and Emmet were now here and we are all currently sitting in the middle of our empty living room, on the floor eating pizza.
"I think you guys need a pool table." Emmet said.
Me and Rose scoffed. "Uh no."
"I'm so excited to paint tomorrow." Alice smiled widely. She has an amazing sense of style so she was going to help us decorate, starting with picking out paint tomorrow.
"Wanna help boys." I smiled widely hoping they would agree.
They both grimaced. "Do you really want Emmet painting Bell." Jasper warned me.
I thought about it and pictured Emmet and half of us along with the floor covered in paint. "Good point Jas."
He smiled about succesfully getting out of painting duty but before I could scold him my phone viberated again saying I had a text from Edward.
Hey so I was thinking about heading over there if that's okay with you?
I took a deep breath knowing tonight is going to be an inevitabley awkward night. But I did invite him so I couldn't just take it back now right?
yeah of course =)
I answered back realizing that I really do miss him and I would love to be able to just hang out with him for a night, with no pressure, just to have fun again. And plus i'm sure Alice will be thrilled.
All right I will be there shortly.
He answered back and I put my phone away. "So Edward's on his way." I announced as nonchalantly as possible, it didn't work.
"Huh? Who's on his where? " Was Emmet's brilliant response.
"What? When? How?" Was Alice's.
"Wait how did this happen?" Jasper was the only one who had something I could actually answer.
"We ran into him downstairs earlyer and invited him, he just texted me saying he is coming." They all stared at me in silence, well except Rose who was beaming about the whole situation.
"Wow um are you okay with this?" Jas asked snapping back into reality.
I nodded and shrugged. "Yeah i'm over all that stuff so I mean maybe we can finally, actually be friends."
They all nodded. "Alright as long as your okay with all this Bell." Emmet said sincerely.
I nodded. "I'm fine guys. Really."
They all smiled and just then there was a knock on the door.
Everyone's eyes shot to me and I smiled tightly before standing up and walking towards the door.
My hands shook as I reached to open it, I was insanley nervous for no reason i'm sure. I finally took a deep breath and opened it to find Edward standing there with his hands in his pockets, he looked nervous too.
I smiled. "Hey."
He smiled back and we walked into the apartment.
"So welcome to our very roomy home." I teased about our lack of furniture.
He smiled. "No it looks great. Can't wait to see what you two do with the place."
We walked further in and everyone smiled and greeted him. "Hey Edward." They all said in different forms.
Ali stood up and gave her brother a big hug. I guess they hadn't seen each other since he has been home.
I took my seat back on the floor and he followed suit. "So what are you guys doing?" He asked once we were all settled.
"Just got finished eating. Oh are you hungry?" Rose asked suddenly realizing we were the hostess.
"No thanks I ate." He said polietly.
She nodded and relaxed.
"So I brought over some board games." Alice announced before standing up and leaving the room.
We all looked at Jas figuring he would know but he just shrugged.
She came back holding a ton of board games. We all laughed as she set them down in front of us.
We all began rummaging through them and voicing our excitment for the ones we wanted to play.
"What kind of clue is this?" Emmet asked confused pulling out the clue box. It was like a new spy version or something.
We all ignored him as he examined the box and looked through the rest.
"Sweet!" Emmet boomed getting all our attention. "You get to be spy's and get texts sent to your phone!" He read out.
"Seriously?" Edward asked taking the box from him. "That's so sick."
"Dude let's play it." Jasper said sounding just as excited as the other two. Boys. Are. Wiered. I swear they don't mature past the age of 12.
We set out the game and couldn't figure out what in the world we had to do. We all stared at in silence for a few moments before deciding we needed directions.
"Al read the directions and figure out what we have to do." I told her.
She nodded and began going through them. After 5 minutes she huffed and handed them over to Rose and I.
We handed out all the things we thought we needed and tried to play step by step with the instructions but it wasn't working.
I was starting to get a headache. "My head hurts. I give up." I whined throwing the directions down making Rose laugh. She rubbed my arm comfortingly.
"Ugh I'll do it. Since I'm the only smart one around here." Edward took them and winked at me.
After another 5 minutes Mr. Doctor to be over there couldn't figure it out either.
"This game is impossible." Was his excuse.
We eventually gave up and moved on to Scattegories instead since we knew how to play that game.
We played for a while, laughing and teasing eachother about the things we would right down. After about 8 rounds Edward took the victory which helped with his ego problem tremendously.
We all eventually broke off to seperate parts of the apartment. Rose went to show Emmet her room, I really don't want to know what they are doing in there, and Jasper and Alice took off somewhere, I'm not even sure where, which convienently left Edward and I alone.
"So what have you been up to the last few years Bella Swan?" He asked playfully smirking.
I shrugged. "I don't know. A lot." I said laughing lightly.
He rolled his eyes and slid to lie on his elbow.
"I went to disneyland last month." I said suddenly.
He raised his eyebrows. "Really? I've never been."
"Seriously? I loved it. I wanna go back it was so much fun." I gushed.
He smiled. "I'm sure."
"Yeah we went to this one show there and it was amazing. . . " I went on and on about my trip and I couldn't help but notice the way he watched me and smiled and laughed at all the right parts.
We continued to talk about our lives and smiling and laughing and teasing like we have always been before.
He reached out his hand for mine and I set my own in his gently giving it a slight squeeze before letting go. Just at his touch my heartbeat went erratic. I couldn't handle any more than that right now.
"How is medical school?" I asked curiously.
He shrugged. "Alright. I mean I love being a doctor but I just miss having a normal life you know. Once I'm a doctor that's going to be my life, and being here with you all again I realize that I don't really want that." He confessed.
I was surprised by his openess. Edward was always very closed off with his feelings, especially to me, so him throwing all that out there took me off gaurd.
"Then why don't you do something else." I suggested.
He made a face and shrugged. "I could but I don't know. I love my job you know. It actually matters, I save lives everyday day, I make things possible for people that shouldn't be. I can't just walk away from saving people."
I smiled at his passion, I always loved how passionate he got about things, it was usually only about things that wern't important though. But now he seemed grown up and actually cared about something that mattered.
"I get it. You love your job but you miss being a 22 year old." I smiled sympathetically at him.
He nodded. "Yeah I guess so. And I miss you." He added on quietly.
I snapped my head up, kind of shocked by the sudden subject change.
"Well I miss you too Edward." I said almost in reaction.
"No I do Bell. So much, you were my best friend." He said truthfully.
I smirked at the memory of a much simpler time, when it was me and him all the time together, happy.
"I know, I really do miss you too." I said more sincerly because in all honestly I do. I always have.
He smiled and once again reached for my hand, I again set my hand gently in his but this time I didn't pull away.
"Seriously this is what this is about. Your ridiculous Bella." Edward said angrily running a hand through his hair.
"What are you talking about. You are the one who showed up here, with another girl, after you told me you weren't coming!" I shouted back.
We were at our state fair basically having a yelling match right in the middle of the huge crowd.
We were all supposed to come tonight and ride the rides or whatever but Edward said he couldn't make it. Which is fine I wasnt upset or anything. Then he shows up here with his friends, I still said nothing, but now he comes over to me acusing me of being a bitch because I was slighly upset when he walked right past us without a glance.
I'm sorry but i'm just not in the mood to be ignored by my boyfriend tonight.
"Bella I said I would try." He argued.
"Okay so you couldn't have called me? Then you text Em to see if i'm mad at you, you couldn't even ask me yourself?" I asked extremely annoyed at this point.
"I didn't know, I didn't want this to happen." He gestured between us roughly. "I was going to see you when-"
"Edward have you seen. . ." I tuned out the girl who was beside him as she talked to him.
Tanya Denali, he showed up here with her. Well not exactly with her but her sister Irina was dating his friend Garrett who he was here with, but still it was just fantastic.
"Yeah okay. I'll be right there." He said to her before turning back to me. She smiled and nodded walking back a few feet.
"I've gotta go." He said.
I raised my eyebrows, clearly not happy about this. "Excuse me." I asked.
"We need to find someone." Was his brillant explaination.
"I'll see you later bye." He said before reaching his hand out to her. She gently set her's in his and he pulled her in the direction they needed to go.
I was furious, fuming. As I watched him and her walk away together laughing and talking I couldn't even believe it.
He left me with another girl, after argueing with me when I was the one totally justified in this fight.
I could feel it, feel him slipping away from me. I knew it was coming, the end. But I refused to believe it because if I believed it, then it was real. And losing him wasn't something I could handle. Ever
I gently pulled my hand out of his and coughed nervously. The pain of that night still hit me like a ton of bricks.
"Uh maybe we should find the others." I said standing up quickly.
His eyes held rejection in them but he agreed and stood up beside me.
Rose and I were staying at Alice's because well, we had no furniture. After the boys left, successfully roping them into painting duty tomorrow, we headed to her apartment.
The entire car ride there they talked about me and Edward, which I just ignored and sat in silence in the back.
"Seriously B, how was it? Hanging out with him?" Rose turned around and asked.
I smiled lightly. "Good actually. It wasn't that awkward."
She smiled and turned back to the front.
"Honestly Bell he has never gotten over you." Alice said staring out at the road, which I was grateful for. The snow wasn't making it easy to drive in and with her speed, to say I was nervous was an understatment.
I just sat quietly not really knowing what to make of that comment.
She took my silence as skepticism. "Really Bella, everytime I talk to him he asks about you, he has never dated anybody else, and plus he just came over your house, that couldn't have been easy for him."
Rose 'mhmmed' in the background. I still stood silent, I really didn't want to think like that. Because If I thought like that I may began to think again about how we can actually have a future together and when it doesn't work I will get crushed again and I don't think my heart can take another break.
She sighed in disapproval. "Just think about it Bell." Was the last thing she said before her and Rose started discussing paint shades.
Being with Edward tonight seemed so right, it was fun and exciting, but that's what scares me. I can't fall for him again, I just can't. Maybe what Alice said is true about him but it doesn't change the fact that i'm so broken that I can't even care about him anymore.
When people tell me things about him, when they lecture me about him still caring, I lie. I have to. I pretend I don't care because I can't care.
I did the caring, I fought and fought for us to salvage some type of relationship but it never worked out. I can only try so much before I get exahausted. So I stopped trying, I stopped caring, because then I could be happy. I could pretend he didn't matter anymore and move on.
So now with him back for however long, I can't get wrapped back up in all of that again, I can't think about the fact that the way he looks at me still makes me melt, or the fact that he still cares enough to ask about me, or the fact that if he was truly serious about wanting me back I would go in an instant.
So I sat in silence and listened to the girls talk about paint shades, and furniture. That's all I can care about right now.
So let me know what you think!
