Here goes chapter two! I think this is my quickest update so far. Anyways, enjoy. :)

…

"Dare you," Emmett taunts with a smirk pulling up one side of his mouth.

I glare at the hand above his head, the one holding Mr. Blues, my favorite (and creatively named) childhood teddy bear. Em had taken it to challenge me. He expects me to try and jump up to snatch it from him. Instead, I launch myself at him, digging my fingers into his sensitive sides. I know I've found his weak spot when he starts squirming and laughing. His giggle makes me laugh in return, and I tickle herder until he bends forwards, bringing Mr. Blues conveniently within my reach. I take him from Em's grip and quickly bolt to the other side of my bedroom, holding the bear to my chest protectively.

"Damn," Em says breathlessly. "You don't mess around with your stuffed animals, do you?" He laughs a little, then winces, holding his side.

"No, sir, I do not. Mr. Blues is my best friend, and I won't have you bullying him," I chuckle, and return the bear to it's shelf.

"So if I was your best friend, would you tickle a person to death to defend me?" His grin is huge, taking over the majority of his face, and it's the cutest thing ever.

"You bet I would. My loyalty is rock solid."

"Wanna be my best friend, Bells? I promise I give better hugs thank Mr. Blues."

I laugh again and pull him into a hug. "You will always be my favorite human, Em."

. .

I wake up slowly, not wanting to let go of the dream, or forget the memory. It was the summer after eighth grade, the first time that Emmett was allowed in my bedroom. I smile at the thought, and get out of bed in a wonderful mood.

As I make my way through the house, I can't help but whistle.

"Someone's in a good mood," Grandma remarks, smiling sweetly at me.

"Yup!" I grin, placing a kill on her cheek, and steal a waffle as it pops out of the toaster. I narrowly dodge her playful swipe and hurry outside into the beautiful morning sunshine.

As I make my way down the street, my mood only grows higher. I'm home. No matter what the complications are, that is matters. I'm reunited with my grandmother, Emmett, and Ally. My spirits are higher than they've ever been, and I'm confident that everything will work out just fine. I turn into a small gas station, and head directly to the candy aisle. I dig a handful of change out of my pocket and place it on the counter beside my favorite chocolate bar.

"Hold on a sec, I'll be right there," the cashier says. My head whips up at the voice, her voice. I stare at the back of her head. Blond. High pony-tail, perfect as ever. Tanned neck. Perfectly painted nails holding a phone to her ear.

Jessica Stanley.

"Never mind," I mumble. I pick up my change and head for the door.

Apparently she recognized my voice as well, because just as I'm pushing the door open, she calls after me. "Isabella, is that you?" My grandmother taught me it's rude to walk away when people are talking, but I don't stop, don't turn around. I can't escape fast enough.

I keep going, faster and faster, until I'm running. Each pound of my feet on the concrete jolts through my body, almost painfully, but it keeps the tears at bay so I keep running. I make it the blocks to the old elementary school before I can't breathe. Finally, I can't hold the tears back, and they spill over. I make my way to the top of my favorite slide and pull my knees up to my chest, grateful that the kids are all on summer break.

"So stupid," I mutter. Seeing her had caught me completely off-guard. How could I be so dumb? I should've known she hadn't left town, or at least asked someone.

I love her, Bells.

The most terrifying four words Emmett Cullen ever said to me. The most painful. The words lick painfully at my heart like tendrils of fire as they replay over and over in my hear.

I love her, Bells.

The tears slide off my jaw and into my lap, staining my jeans.

Her.

He loved her.

…

I chewed my lip as I stared at me best friend, trying to convince my mind that that's all he was. But as I looked into his bright blue eyes, and noticed the freckle on the side of his nose, and how his shoulders filled out his graduation gown, and how he pressed his thumbnail into his first finger nervously, I knew it was pointless.

"I know I should say this, but I'm going to anyways," I begin, taking his big hand in mine and holding it tightly to steady myself. "I'm in love with you. I've loved you since freshman year. I love your disastrous curls, and your beautiful eyes. I love that your smile is too big for your face, and that your ears are too small. I love the way you purse your lips when you concentrate, and that you turn off your phone when you listen to music because "it is a gift that should be appreciated without interruption.' I love that you're always warms, and that I feel safe in your arms. I'm in love with everything about you, and I know I'm more than just your best friend, and I think we deserve a chance."

I knew I shouldn't have said it. He was dating her. Jessica. She was technically my friend. She had never done anything mean to me, and actually stuck up for me to her other friends on more than one occasion. But for almost six months, since she had stated dating Em, I'd grown increasingly annoyed with her. Every time she touched him I wanted her to catch fire, and her laugh went from beautiful to annoying, and even her kindness could not make up for the fact that she could get close to him in ways I couldn't. I told myself that it was just because I was used to having him all to myself, but I knew that wasn't true. Especially the day in the field, when he kissed me under the stars. He had been with her then, but he wanted me. But after that he had told me it couldn't happen, he couldn't do that to Jessica.

In the silence that followed, I watched so many emotions cross his face. First, happiness. Then elation. The deep thought. Then realization. And finally, devastation. He placed his other hand in mine, as his eyes welled up with tears.

"Say something?" I whispered.

"I love her, Bells." He said, his voice breaking on my name. "And I can't-"

"I understand," I interrupted before he could hurt me more. The tears were now in my eyes, but I held them back, not wanting him to see how bad it hurt me, not wanting to show him that he was my weakness. I pulled my hands out of his and turned away.

"No, Bella,let me explain." I felt him try to move closer, and felt the brush of his fingertips on my shoulder.

"Don't worry, you don't have to," I said over my shoulder as I walked away, the first tear rolling quickly down my face.

…

By the time I make it home, Grandma is gone, probably out shopping or at bingo with her friends. I curl up on the couch, tears still running down my face, pain still threatening to crush me to pieces, and oxygen still somehow avoiding my lungs.

Grandma came home nearly two hours later.

"Isabella?" she called from the back door. I couldn't breathe enough to answer her. "Honey, are you home?" She finally tuns the corner into the living room, and I hear her sharp gasp. My eyes move towards her as she sits on the couch next to me, stroking my hair soothingly.

"What's wrong, Isabella?" she asks quietly, bringing a whole new round of sobs and tears. She waits patiently until I calm down, and then repeats her question.

"I saw Jessica today," I start, a few more tears wetting the blanket that I've pulled up under my head. Grandma doesn't say anything, just waits. "I couldn't bear to look at her. I messed up, Grandma. I messed up so bad. I shouldn't have tried to mess with her and Emmett's relationship. I should've just left and not said anything. Or I should've talked to em before I left. He told me yesterday how bad he was when I left. He told me I was the reason he lost her. I messed up, Grandma. I really, really–" I'm forced to stop as another sob erupts out of me.

"You're wrong, Isabella." I shake my head, disagreeing, but she continues anyways. "You were right to tell that boy how you felt. He deserved to know, even if it was bad timing. And honestly when he lost Jessica, he barely noticed. She wasn't as important to him as it may have seemed to you. He loved her, yes, but mostly he was just being a gentleman. He didn't want o hurt her my leaving her for some body she counted as a friend. You did not ruin their relationship, he did by not tell her the truth. That boy loved you as well."

I stare, disbelieving. "Why didn't he tell me?"

"You were leaving for college. He couldn't just tell you he loved you, and then lose you a week later."

"I would've stayed for him. I was accepted at the community college, too." She is shaking her head before I finish, and I know why.

"He would never ask you to leave your dream behind for him. That's proof he loved you."

I sigh, knowing she's right. "So what do I do, Grandma?"

"Well, what do you want?" she asks, studying my face.

"I want him to be happy," I say immediately, without even thinking.

"Then you need to get that boy to trust you again. Do what you do best. Be that boy's best friend."

I smile a little. "You know, Grandma, that boy has a name."

She laughs and pats my leg. "Old habits die hard, Isabella."

"I love you, Grandma."

"I love you too, Isabella."

…

The next day, I knock on Emmett's door tentatively.

"One second!" I hear him yell through the door. As I wait, one hand taps against my leg nervously and the other clutches a shopping bag tightly.

When he opens the door, he is gorgeous. He is wearing a loose fitting pair of sweat pants and a black tank top, and he has flower everywhere. I can't help but giggle, my nervousness forgotten.

"Bella?" he asks, surprised.

I hold up the bag. "I brought lunch. I mean, pieces of lunch. It used to be your favorite, so I mean, I figured you would still like it." I shrug, still smiling.

"Well, c'mon in." He opens the door further, and gestures to the kitchen. I stare at the room. Glass bowls are stacked precariously on the counter, and flower is spread across a small table in the corner. Drying racks are balanced across the double sink, piled high with cookies. Right then, a timer dings. "Sorry about the mess, Ally is throwing a graduation party for her friend, and you know how she is. Never does things halfway. Or herself." He mutters that last part, but he is smiling as he rushes to pull the freshest batch out of the oven.

I set the bag down on the counter and pick up a chocolate chip cookie. I pop it into my mouth, and can't help the moan that escapes my mouth at the taste. It's perfect. Squishy, but not gooey. Chocolaty, but not too much.

"Good?" Em asks, an eyebrow raised.

My face heats quickly with a blush, and I nod. "Delicious."

He finishes with the cookies and moves to lean on the counter in front of me. "So, what'd you bring?" He peeks into the bag, and his eyes widen. "I haven't had these in forever!" He scoops me into a hug, his big arms fitting easily around my waist as if there wasn't four years of distance between us.

My arms automatically close around his neck and I laugh into his shoulder. "You're welcome."

Soon after, we're sitting on the couch–close but not too close–eating the sandwiches with the delightful crunch of our childhood. "I can't believe you remember this," Em says, his mouth full of creamy deliciousness.

"I remember a lot of things," I say, laughing.

He glances at me mischievously as if I've just issued a challenge. "Blue suit?"

"Your first date, it was hideous. I told you not to wear it, it was too formal and she would hate it. You did it anyways, and the date was miserable."

"Never ignored your fashion hints again. Joey?"

"You found an injured bird in the yard, and nursed him back to health. When we let him go, I decided he needed a name. You decided to name him Joey after my first boyfriend, because they were equally as stupid."

He laughs loudly, and finishes his sandwich. "Okay, okay. Truce for now. But I will get you, I promise. There's no way you remember everything."

"If you say so," I shoot back, grinning. He takes my plate and returns them to the kitchen. While he's gone, I stand to wander around the room.

On top of the fireplace are four pictures. The first is from his high school graduation. The next is him and Ally at seven years old, swinging on the poor old tire swing that used to hang in their mothers back yard. Third is a photo from his parents wedding photo.

Looking at them, it was easy to tell where Emmett got each of his looks from. The curls that he wore so short now were from his father, and his eyes were from his mother. He got his jaw from his dad, and his nose from his mom. I never met his dad – he had dies before Emmett and I had met – but I know he got his kindness and his loud laugh from his mother as well.

The fourth picture was of me and Ally in his mothers living room, Christmas of my junior year. I can't help but stare at myself in this picture. I look genuinely happy. My eyes are sparkling and my smile is huge. My hands are clutching a small black box in my lap. I still remember what it was–the very last origami swan Em ever made me. In that moment, I looked beautiful, and care-free. I want that back like I have never wanted anything in my life.

…

When I get home, it's well past midnight. Emmett and I spent the whole day in his house, talking and laughing and remembering. We finished Alice's cookies, and tended the petunia's for a bit, but mostly we just sat on the couch, close but never touching.

I find and envelope sitting on my desk in my bedroom. I turn it over, and immediately freeze. I don't even have to read the return address to know who it's from. The handwriting is familiar enough. I open it up, my hands shaking.

My dearest Bella,
God, I miss you. This apartment is so empty without you. I miss your cluttered books and the smell of your perfume. I just got a promotion at work, so now saving money to come see you will be easier than expected. I hope to come see you within the month.

Angela and Ben had another fight. I guess he's been out at the casino again. I don't think they'll last much longer, and I'm worried about her. Give her a call? She hasn't been eating lately. I took her out to lunch and she got a salad. I think that's code red.

I hope all is well with your family. How is your grandmother? How are you settling into the house? I can imagine it might be difficult after so long away. But I hope you get used to I s again soon. Though it was hard for me to let you go, I understand why you did, and I hope you are happier where you are.

Also I hope things are well with your friends. Have you seen them yet? How do they feel about your return? I understand you left in quite a hurry, and I know you haven't had much contact with them over the years. I hope they are happy to see you.

Write soon, or let me know when you get your phone set up so I can call you – I miss your voice. I miss you. And I love you. I hope this long distance thing works out between us, and I hope I can join you soon.

Much love,
Edward

…

There it is! I hope that this ending surprised you guys. I wanted to keep it a secret a little longer, but I think this was a good place to reveal it. Can't wait to hear what you guys think. Review, please! And also, I'm going to ask again if anyone could draw my a picture of Emmett and Bella? I couldn't find a good one online that wasn't of them arm wrestling. I would give you credit and only use it as the image cover of this chapter. Also if you would like to beta read this story please PM me. I understand I'm not a hugely great writer, and I do make mistakes, so it would be nice to have somebody to correct them before the chapter was posted. Anyways, thanks for reading. Please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter, the one before, and what you think might happen in the future (The future part is my favorite kind of review). Love you guys! :)