3.

There was never a moment in Isabella "Bella" Swan's life when her plans didn't work out. Whenever she set a goal for herself, it was always achieved at her greatest of standards. Her accomplishments always made her feel secure about herself and her life. From grade school to middle school, Bella's academics weren't important to her because she didn't think that they mattered at such a young age. High intelligence wasn't anything that a Swan seemed to carry with them. That all changed for her when she entered high school because she finally figured out that her lack of care was going to promise her an unknowing future. She became much more studious and focused less on getting into bad behaviors, like her old friends did. The newly inspired student went on to became much more studious her senior year and graduated as valedictorian. Bella went onto college and it all began to slip away from her again.

Independence was something that Bella was looking forward to having. She went on to college stuck with what she wanted to do with her life. Her roommate often kept to herself and only socialized with her own set of friends. Bella met her, now, ex-boyfriend, Collin, and began spending more time with him and his friends. At first, Bella was mesmerized by how Collin treated her. As time went on, Collin told her that he was bored of their relationship. She later learned that it was Collin's friends that weren't so fond of her. They wanted Collin to remain single and just enjoy his life without having to deal with a relationship. Bella went on to try and pursue her educational career. With pulling an extra two years of studying she was able to graduate.

Right out of college, Bella was overloaded with student loans and trying to figuring out where she was going to end up. Finding a place to live was her first worry. She was so stressed out about not having much money to afford anything that she wasn't in the mood to look for a job. Somehow she had lost herself and was stuck in this bad situation. This time her decisions didn't turn her life around like they did in the past.

While walking down the cracked sidewalk Bella ran into Collin. She was surprised that she was standing in front of him. He looked so different than she remembered and it wasn't a better different. His brunette hair was buzzed and she noticed a scar near his eye that ran threw his brow. Maybe he wasn't as lucky as she was either.

Collin had gone to school to study business and management. He told Bella that he was going to be opening his own restaurant and if she needed a job, then she was guaranteed a spot. Desperate, Bella took the job. At that point she wasn't that skeptical about Collin because she needed a job so she could get her life back on the track that she started building in high school.

Many people hated their jobs and Bella was just another one of those people. Collin wasn't going to just hand over Bella the job and he definitely didn't. He also wanted another chance. Looking back, she wished that she had said no.

Bella stood in the kitchen on her break. Collin had ordered her to start washing some of the dishes in his diner, which actually looked decent. As her hands scrubbed off dried food, she felt a pair of arms snake around her waist. Her body still tensed up even though she knew exactly who was so close behind her. The next thing she felt was his scratchy stubble on her neck. It caused her shoulders to hunch as she felt his lips on her skin.

"Not now, Collin," Bella tried to push him away.

"The place is empty." He muttered against her skin.

Bella dropped the dish in the water and let out a harsh sigh. She dried her hands with the dirty towel and turned to face him. "I told you that I'm not going to be your little toy anymore." She managed to get out of his grasp freely. She stood up straight and crossed her arms over her chest.

He let out a deep chuckle. "Listen here, missy, I can easily take your job away and you'll have no money to pay for your rent and whatever other shit you buy. I don't want you to be homeless, now." He stepped forward to place his hands on her hips.

"Like you give a damn about where I end up." She said to him coldly. She tried to take his hands off her again, but Collin added more pressure to her hips.

Hearing the bell in the door ring out, his hands instantly dropped from her. "Go take care of our customer."

Bella walked around him. She cringed when she felt his hand slap her on her butt. Her life could have been so much more. There was a part of her that was becoming happier and that was only when she wasn't around the diner or Collin. When she was on her own, Bella was fine. The only person that had control of her was herself and she would gladly serve that person.

"I didn't think I'd be seeing you until tomorrow. Do I even need to get you a menu, Ed?" She asked politely, hiding her emotions about what had just gone on.

The old man shook his head and smiled. "Just my usual slice of pecan pie and coffee."

"One of these days I hope you surprise me with a different answer." She joked as she jotted down his order. "Or I'm going to have to lie to you and say we're out of pecan pie."

"Now, why would a sweet young lady lie about something like that?" He pretended to be shocked.

She sent him a smile. Bella loved when her regular customer, Ed, came into the diner. Ed first starting coming to the diner shortly after it had opened. He always liked talking to her about everything. There wasn't anything rude about this man and she appreciated that. Bella looked to Ed like he was family and right now, he was pretty much the only family she had.

She walked over to the desert display and pulled out the full pecan pie. She served the pre sliced triangle on a plate and then went to take care of his coffee.

"Let me guess, Ed?" Janice, another waitress, asked Bella.

"That would be correct." She smiled as she poured the coffee. "I've never met a man that could eat so much pecan pie in my life."

Janice laughed. "At least he's a good tipper, though."

Bella let out a sigh. "Yeah, but he's also good company."

Janice walked closer to Bella and leaned again the wooden countertop. "Collin still giving you a hard time? I'm telling you, Bella, all it takes for a man to listen to you is a good swift kick in the balls. How do you think I got my husband into letting me get a job?"

A laugh escaped from her. She covered her mouth when she watched Collin come in from the back. "I tried being strong this time." She said in a low tone.

"You can only try for so long. Now, I'll let you get back to work." She gave Bella a pat on the arm.

Bella nodded. "Are you still going to be able to drive me home after work? I know you're busy with the two kids. I just don't like walking home at night by myself."

"Sure, thing." Janice sent her a wink before walking over to a new customer.

Bella picked up the plate and mug and returned over to Ed. "Here you go. Pecan pie and coffee." She told him as she set in down in front of him.

"Are you sure you won't take my invitation this time and sit down? You look like you could use some rest?" Ed offered by pointing to the chair across from him.

"I actually just took my break and I don't think it would be a good idea. You'd make all the others jealous."

"An old man can try."

"Enjoy your pie and take care, Ed." Bella patted him on the shoulder as she walked away from him.


The rest of the afternoon was pretty slow for the diner. That was typical for a weekday. Collin usually had Bella work until close because he liked keeping an eye on her. Luckily, Janice was working the same hours as she was. Bella always feared that Collin would switch her to mornings and she would have to be with him by herself.

"All the tables are clean, Collin." Janice called out as she finished wiping down the last table.

Bella took her money earned from tips out of her front pocket. She never counted it until she was at home. Then she would put it in an envelope in her dresser drawer. She untied her apron and hung it up on the wooden peg by the door. She walked over to the register, where Janice was now standing.

"All right let's see if we got any tips from people who can afford credit cards." Janice said happily as she rummaged through the receipts. With a pen she circled the amount and put it aside before taking the next one.

When all the receipts were sorted through, the girls had to wait for Collin to open up the cash register and give them their money. Sometimes he would pretend to take a long time so Bella would become fed up with waiting. Then she would have to walk into his small messy office and deal with her harassing boss.

"Okay, ladies, how well did you please my customers?" He picked up Janice's pile first. He said nothing as he unlocked the register and pulled out her small pile. "Better luck tomorrow."

"Just hand it over before I snatch it out of your hand." Janice laid out her palm waiting for her earnings. Collin slapped it into her hand.

As he looked over Bella's, he raised his brow. "Looks like you've got a few admirers. Are you flirting for cash?" He asked her.

"Maybe I'm just a nice person." Bella said as she went to take her money from him, but he held it back.

"Perhaps too nice. How come you're never nice to me? If you want me to pay you for things, I'd be more that happy to." He asked her as he counted her money again. A smirk appeared on his lips.

"You're such a pig." Bella became annoyed with him so easily. She forgot all about what even attracted her to him in college. All he was now was a scumbag that just liked getting under her skin.

"Give her the money, Collin. We've got to get heading out of here." Janice buttoned her coat and wrapped her scarf around her neck.

"I can drive you home, you know." Collin offered.

Bella turned to him. "Like hell you will. You really think I want to be alone with you in that thing you call a truck?"

"Don't get snippy with me. You know that it turns me on." Collin leaned forward. His lips were so close to hers that she could feel his hot breath on her face. She could also smell the liquor on his breath. Starting early, Collin?

"Yeah," she said softly as she reached around his neck, "I know." When she drew her hands back and backed away from him, she waved her money at him.

Janice handed her coat to her. "Nicely done," she whispered.

Bella put the money in her pocket with a smug smile on her face. After putting her coat on, she followed Janice out to the empty parking lot.

"I can't believe he didn't smack you across the face for that." Janice told her with a loud laugh. "For a sweet girl, you sure have guts."

Bella didn't say anything as she got in the car. She felt disgusted and knew that she would be ripping off her clothes and taking a long shower to get any remains of Collin off of her. While waiting for Janice to get the car started, she could see Collin staring at her from out the front window. Most of the lights in the diner were off, but she could still see his figure in the window.


"Thanks again, Janice." Bella told her when they were in front of her small house. After closing the door, she walked up the gravel path to the front door. She hurriedly unlocked the door with her key to get inside. Bella was also worried that Collin would follow them home, so she locked the door as soon as she got inside.

She took off her coat and threw it over the couch as she walked passed it. Then she took a few steps into the kitchen and opened her small refrigerator. Taking out a beer, Bella stopped herself from opening it. She set it down on the counter beside her and finally let her tears that she held all day slip down her cheeks.

Everyday shouldn't be like this yet, there didn't seem like an escape for her. Whenever she felt the power to just walk away from it all, she froze and thought about what she was going to do after. Would she fall further into debt? Would she lose her home? The truth was scary and having to rely on Collin was horrific.

She brushed her tears away with her fingers and let out a sigh. With a deep breath in, she sniffled. Her body felt drained from the mix of work, stress, and Collin. All she wanted to do was get a good rest. She hadn't been able to do that since she was a teenager.

Bella closed the refrigerator and ignored the beer bottle on the counter. Instead, she walked into her room and stripped out of her uniform and headed towards her bathroom. She turned the water all the way up because she barely had any hot water. She knew that she shouldn't waste it, but the water felt like a warm embrace that she wished belonged to somebody who truly loved her.

Stepping in she let the water hit her. As she washed her body and hair, she could feel the warmth slip away and turn into a frigid cold. To punish herself, she stood under the freezing spray for a few more minutes before turning the water off.

After drying herself with a towel and throwing on sweats and a t-shirt, Bella walked back to her bedroom. She crawled onto her bed, which creaked whenever there was any kind of movement, and wrapped herself in her blanket. Closing her eyes, she hoped that there was going to be some kind of good dream that she would be able to remember for more that a spilt second.


AN: Thank you to sandy4321, Rebecca Styles, snowiewolf, bellaedward-love, and MexicanCupcake for taking the time to leave a review on the previous chapter. I would also like to thank all of the readers who are subscribing and adding this story to their favorites!