Not mine.

Edward

"Coach."

I could hear someone talking but my entire focus was on the small screen of my telephone. With just five small words my entire day, maybe even life, had changed. Bella, my Bella, was coming to Seattle.

"Coach Cullen?"

Blinking, I finally tore my eyes away from the phone and stared at the kid standing in front of me. He nervously cleared his throat before sliding a piece of paper onto my desk.

"I was just turning in the extra credit you asked for…"

I nodded and tried not to act like I was on the verge of screaming like a little girl. "Great, Anderson." Taking the paper, I slid it into the rest of the stack of shit I had to grade and tried to pull myself together. "I'll see you at practice."

The kid gave me another nervous glance and then quickly shuffled out of the room. After making sure the classroom door was shut, I frantically picked up my cellphone and dialed Bella's phone number. We normally agreed not to call each other during the work day but I was pretty positive that this warranted a change from the normal. Unfortunately, Bella was too busy working and the call went straight to voice mail.

"Please, please, tell me that the text message you sent me wasn't a joke. I've got practice in thirty minutes but call me when you get this."

This was big. Huge. I'd known Isabella Swan for nearly ten years but hadn't ever actually met her. Sure I'd seen picture of her from Facebook and MySpace; she'd even mailed a couple of pictures for me to keep, but this would be the first time that I'd actually see her. I'd get to see the smile that matched her laughter. I'd know what it felt like to physically touch her. The two of us would finally know if we were meant to be more than just two long distance friends.

I'll be the first to admit that meeting someone from an AOL chat room was not something I was exactly bragging about. I didn't really consider myself the type of guy that needed help finding a woman, but there was something about Bella that was just different. It had started out innocently enough, just two kids bored on a school night and avoiding homework. But then it had grown into a flirtatious friendship that had morphed into something addictive.

Throughout college, and even after, I'd always tried to convince myself that Bella was just Bella and that she was nothing more than a friend. But she was always there, in the back of my mind, making me ask myself, what if? What if she was really the one? What if I was just wasting my time on all these other girls? What if I was meant to fall in love with someone that lived thousands of miles away?

So slowly, over time, I began to compare other girls I'd dated to Bella. Somehow, they never really measured up. I needed someone that would understand that with teaching and coaching, I'd be away from home a lot. I needed someone to call me on my bullshit and tell me when I was being an arrogant asshole. I wanted a girl that would be totally fine with sitting home on a Saturday and waste the day away watching college sports and playing video games. And then the realization had hit me. Bella was every one of those things and more. Hell, she'd kicked my ass playing Call of Duty and had a subscription to the DirecTV football channels. Isabella Swan was perfect for me. The only problem was that she lived in Arizona and I lived in Washington.

I'd thought about going down and there and surprising her but the one time I'd seriously considered doing it, Bella had called me the next day and wanted my opinion on a guy that had asked her out on a date. I was jealous, and I freely admit that, but I couldn't ruin an opportunity for her to be happy. Bella had a life in Arizona, I had one in Seattle, and we both had to accept that. She'd dated that idiot Tyler and then I'd had that whole fiasco with Victoria… the timing wasn't ever right for us. Until now.

"Hello, Captain Dumbass!"

For the second time in the last hour someone had been talking to me and I hadn't even noticed. It wasn't until a balled up piece of paper hit the side of my head that I even realized Emmett standing in front of me.

"Huh?"

My brother-in-law and fellow coach just smiled. "Morning, Sunshine!"

"Sorry, I was… just thinking." I started shoving all of the paperwork covering my desk into my bag. "What were you saying?"

"Well, originally I asked if you were ready for practice. When you didn't answer me, I asked what you were thinking about. When I saw the look in your eyes, I asked who you were thinking about." Emmett stole one of the protein bars out of my desk drawer and after taking a huge bite out of it, started talking again. "Having sexy daydreams at school, huh? That's cool. I do it all the time. In fact this morning before we left for work Rosalie-"

"Over share, Em!" I stood up and shook my head. "I don't need to know about what happens between you and my sister. Ever."

The big oaf shrugged his shoulders and then shoved the rest of the protein bar into his mouth. Once he'd swallowed he said, "Then tell me who you were thinking about when I walked in."

I regretted telling him before the words even left my mouth. "Bella."

"Bella again? When will you ever learn to move past that and start taking the opportunities that are right in front of you and not a million miles away? Rosie wanted to set you up with that nurse from the hospital. And what about Kate? I thought the two of you had been pretty friendly lately."

I ignored the whole idea of Rosalie hooking me up with someone and the conversation about Kate. Instead, I pulled the strap to my bag over my shoulder and started walking about of the room. Before the door shut behind me, I turned around and smiled at my brother-in-law. "For your information, Bella is coming to Seattle."

I laughed at the surprised look on his face and made my way to the baseball field house.

xXxXxXx

"So, our flights should get in around five-thirty. Alice said the hotel is pretty close to downtown so I'll probably have to get you to give me directions to your house."

Staring up at the ceiling of my bed room, a week after originally hearing the news that Bella was visiting, it was still hard to believe that it was true. "You're not kidding me, are you?" I smiled at the sound of Bella laughing and threw an arm behind my head. "I might not ever forgive you if you are."

Bella gave me an exasperated sigh. "I'm coming to Seattle, Edward. When will you finally believe me?"

"When you're actually standing in front of me."

I could hear the breath catch in her throat and both of us became silent. It was a few seconds before Bella spoke again. "It's going to be weird, isn't it? Finally meeting."

"No," I lied. The truth was that I was scared to death that us meeting would be the end of everything.

Bella, being Bella, called me on my shit. "You're lying."

I nodded even though she couldn't see me. "I'm just… scared you won't like me." The second the words came out I wanted to stab myself with a dull knife. Could I sound any more pathetic?

"I'm scared you won't like me either. So I guess that makes us even. Doesn't it?"

"But… what if?" My question kick started our old familiar game.

Bella asked, "What if I come up there and you think my eyes are set too close together?"

I rolled my eyes at her ridiculousness. "What if you hate the way that I sing along with the radio?"

That made her laugh and I smiled.

"What if I'm not everything you expected?"

She tried to make her question seem sarcastic but I knew her well enough to know that there was a serious edge behind it.

"What if you are everything I expected and more?"

Neither one of us had really talked about what would happen if this did end up being exactly what we both wanted. Would I move to Arizona? Would she move to Seattle? Everyone said that long distance relationships never worked but maybe Bella and I could make it.

"Edward?"

The hesitation in her voice made me close my eyes. "Yeah?"

"What if we never tried to see if this was meant to be more?"

I answered her truthfully. "That's a chance I'm not willing to take."

"Me either."

Bella's answer erased any doubt that I had about us meeting. I would be nervous, probably the entire time she was here, but I knew that this was something we had to do. We had to know.

AN: I love that yall are so excited about this story because I am too! Thanks for all the favs, alerts and reviews. Also, for everyone asking, I haven't given up on any of my other stories. I'm working on updates for all of them.