A/N: Yes, I still hate Edward and I'm sure some of you are as well. Will I ever give him a break? Eventually, I suppose. Let's see what Bella is up to these days though. Reviews, critiques are always welcome, good, bad or indifferent. :o) I love you guys!!!

As always, I do not own Twilight or the characters, just a full belly from eating too much Moroccan food.


Chapter 2 – Another Time, Another Place

One Year Later - 2005

BPOV

"Have you spoken to him?"

"Is there a reason for me to do so?"

"He's still devastated you know."

"And that's my problem because…"

"Bella, he's hurting."

"As he should be…"

"Bells…"

"You know, I'm surprised that you, my own father, would try to defend him. Are you forgetting what he did to me? On our wedding day? In front of everyone?"

"Just…"

"No, dad, I won't and thanks for making this a shitty day for me."

"I'm sorry."

"I'll talk to you later, I have class now."

I hung up the phone, leaning my head into my hands. I just couldn't believe that my father would stir up those memories again. I wanted to move past the heart break. I wanted to get as far away from him as possible. Him…I couldn't even say his name.

There was a knock on the door.

"Professor Swan?"

"Yes," I answered, composing myself.

"Sorry, am I interrupting?"

"Not at all, Luis. How can I help you?"

"I had a question regarding the assignment you gave us. I'm having some difficulty imagining how Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy don't end up together in the end."

"Well, that's the whole point of the assignment. It's all hypothetical and I want to see how well you guys can keep them apart. What issues could transpire between them? It could be cheating, it could be children, or it could even be a death – one of theirs perhaps. Use your imagination."

"I see. I guess that helps somewhat. Thanks."

"Sure. See you in class tomorrow."

I gathered my papers and headed down to my classroom when I was stopped.

"Miss Swan?" I turned to the voice.

"Hello, Professor Crowley," I said hurriedly.

"How many times do I have to tell you, just call me Tyler?"

"Right. Tyler. I'm in a bit of a hurry. Can I help you with something?"

"I was wondering if you would have dinner with me tonight," he asked looking down to the floor.

I huffed. "Tyler, you've asked me a dozen times and each time my answer is no. When are you going to stop?"

"I'll stop when you say yes." I rolled my eyes. "Look. I'm not asking for the world, just a simple dinner to get know each other better."

"Fine," I said in resignation. "Pick me up at 7."

"Great! I need your address." He is not coming to my place.

"You know, I'm going to be here late grading papers, so you can just pick me up in front of the building."

He clapped his hands in excitement. "Sounds good. I'll see you then." He walked off with an added bounce to his step.

I really had nothing against Tyler. He was handsome, average height with dark wavy height, but I was not ready to deal with men yet. I did realize I had to move on though, so I might as well start now. I knew I would never fall in love again. As much as I hated to admit it, my broken heart still belonged to him.

"Alright class, as noted in your syllabus, we will begin the tragedy that is Romeo and Juliet today." I heard some groans in the room.

"I thought that would be covered in Shakespeare's Romances," one student smarted.

"Cute, did you forget that the main characters die in the end? I don't see anything romantic in that, therefore, it's a tragedy. So we will be focusing on their death and all factors leading up to their demise, and not their love."

Another student raised her hand. "But wasn't it their love that led them to their death? How can we not talk about love when it was so integral to their end?"

"I didn't say we weren't going to talk about it, I said it wasn't going to be the main focus. We had the family rivalry to consider and of course the other man, Paris. So let's begin…"

I split the class into groups, each one discussing factors to the untimely death of our tragic characters. In all honesty, I didn't want to talk about love, it was completely overrated. Today, of all days especially, I did not want to talk about it. October 18…I would have been celebrating my one year anniversary, instead I am across the country teaching and he's doing god knows what…or who.

As the students worked, I thought back to my last encounter with him.

Edward stood in the doorway waiting for me to let him in.

"Please let me in."

"I tried that already. It didn't go so well."

"Bella, I love you, please don't do this to me," he pleaded.

"Do this to you?" I asked incredulously. "Are you kidding me?"

"Come on, you couldn't even tell me that you were leaving? I had to find out when I see my brother and best friend packing up all of your things? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Really? I have to tell you everything? Bit of a double standard don't you think? I thought we did pretty well keeping secrets from each other, why stop now?"

He sighed. "It's not the same. You're moving away. You're moving three thousand miles away from me. You can't do this to me," he continued with his pleas.

"You're right, Edward. It's not the same. I never lied to you. I never cheated on you. I never said I loved you to your face and then go fuck someone else," I seethed.

"It was just once…"

"It was twice, with two different women. Well, at least I think it was only twice, you did have a lot of double shifts," I scoffed.

"It didn't mean anything," he whispered.

"Obviously it did or else you wouldn't have left me out to dry on our wedding day."

"I didn't leave you to dry, you ran away, just like you're running away now instead of trying to make us right again."

I glared at him trying not to rip his head off. "You have some fucking nerve trying to put our break up on me. Get. Out. I never, ever want to see your face again," I yelled stifling the tears that were about to betray me.

I slammed the door in his face and slid down, crying again for the man that I wanted to love with all my heart.

The next day I headed to the airport. Alice, Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett were all there to bid me farewell. I walked through security and turned to wave goodbye to my friends one more time. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a figure running. Edward. I locked eyes with him. The tears started flowing again.

"I love you," I mouthed to him and then turned my back on my past.

"Professor Swan?" I was snapped back to the present. "Are you okay?" I realized tears were flowing down my face. I wiped them off.

"Yes. Everything's fine." I looked up at the clock and saw that class was almost finished. "Class, we'll finish this discussion next meeting. Have a good weekend." I gathered my books and briefcase and headed back to my office.

For the next few hours, I buried myself in my work, grading papers and going over lesson plans for my classes. I hadn't noticed the time until there was a knock on my door. I looked up to see Tyler waiting for me.

"Oh, Tyler, I'm sorry. I lost track of time," I said a little flustered.

"No worries. I had a feeling, you would be here, so I came up to rescue you from the dungeons of Bennett Hall," he joked.

I chuckled. "Thanks, much appreciated."

"So, do you want to take my car or yours?" he asked as we walked out of the building.

"Why don't we take our own cars? I'll follow you and then this way you won't be inconvenienced with driving me here or vice versa."

"Ummm…sure," he said with a flash of disappointment in his eyes. "We can do that. In case I lose you though, we're going to Cuba Libre down by Penn's Landing."

"Cool. I like Cuban food." I proceeded to my car which was parked a few spaces from Tyler's. I knew he was disappointed about not going in the same car, but I was not ready to be in such tight, close proximity to another man. I admit that I still didn't trust men. How could I after what happened to me? At the same time, what better way to celebrate what could have been by going on a date? I need to move on some time, right? That's my new mantra…Move on.

We arrived at the restaurant fairly quickly. When we were at the door, I was in front so I opened it and Tyler walked in. Okay, not much of a gentleman. Edwa…He always held the door open for me.

Tyler approached the hostess and asked for a table for two.

"Anything for you," she replied obviously taken in by Tyler's looks. Gross. She led us to the table and winked at him. Tyler actually winked back! I shook my head in disbelief.

The waitress came by for our order. I knew Tyler was good-looking, but nothing like him, yet these women were baiting him and he was biting. I rolled my eyes at every innuendo that passed between Tyler and the waitress. I was completely ignored.

Once the food was placed in front of us, Tyler finally noticed me again.

"So, did you come out on a date with me or did you come to flirt with other women?" I asked him showing no emotion.

"Oh, babe, are you getting jealous?" he snickered.

"Not remotely," I stated taking a bite of my dinner.

He reached over and put his hand on top of mine, rubbing circles on it. "Look, I'm sorry. It's just some mindless flirting. It doesn't mean anything."

"I've heard that before," I murmured under my breath, pulling my hand back. "Let's finish and head home. I'm getting tired anyway."

"Sure thing, whatever you want to do."

We finished eating and Tyler paid the bill. We walked back to our cars and before I could put the key in the door, Tyler pushed me against my door and roughly kissed me.

"Oh, Isabella…I've wanted to do this since I first met you."

I did the first thing that came to mind. I kneed him in his balls.

"What the fuck?" he screamed doubled over in pain.

"Seriously, Tyler? What made you think I would want to kiss you?"

"I thought you wanted it. Come on, you were getting jealous and everything inside," he continued through clenched teeth, still clutching at his family jewels.

"I told you I was not jealous. I don't care about you or even like you in that way. This is exactly why I haven't dated. You men are all dogs, humping the first thing you see. Can any of you keep it in your pants?"

I only heard grunts and pants in return.

"Look, I won't say anything at school, just do me a favor and don't bother me anymore. I'm done with you and the entire male species."

I opened my car door and climbed in, starting the ignition. I slammed down on the steering wheel in frustration, jumping in my seat as the car horn blared out loudly. I drove off leaving Tyler behind.

"Happy Anniversary..."

A/N: Go figure that as I write the last line, Tony! Toni! Toné!'s "Anniversary" begins to play on my iTunes. Freaky. Next chapter will be up probably tomorrow. I'm almost done with it. It'll be Eddie's POV. I'll also update Due To a Stalled Train soon as well.