I woke up with a start, the prickling sensation of not being alone in the house. It felt somewhat comforting. I looked at the maliciously red numbers of the alarm clock on my bedside cabinet. 6:58am. I winced a little, most weekends I stayed in bed until around 1pm, or at least until Emmett called me trying to rouse me from the darkened bedroom I found myself in most of the time.

I hopped out of bed quickly, trying to avoid the self-indulgent slob routine I had become accustomed to. I had someone to look after now. I put on some lounge pants and a grey t-shirt and made me way, bleary-eyed, to the kitchen to make breakfast. I looked through the cupboards, found some eggs that may or may not have been in date and a loaf of bread that hadn't been opened yet. I really needed to get some groceries in.. Especially if two people were going to be living here. Would Bella stay? Why did I want her to? She didn't seem the type to rely on someone else's charity, and that would explain the dire situation I found her in yesterday.

I heard some faint footsteps from her bedroom and after having unknowingly announced herself awake I started to get to work on the scrambled eggs.

When I started getting the cutlery out of the drawer I heard the door handle of her room being tentatively opened. She stepped out, her hair a voluminous riot of bed rumpled waves and she was sporting my college sweatpants, the hems being dragged along the floor despite her attempts to roll up the waistband to get a better fit. I couldn't help but smile to myself she looked younger again, more healthy already. I gestured for her to sit at the dining table and I placed her breakfast in front of her.

She looked up at me and whispered a 'thank you' before picking up her fork and knife. I nodded, and began to eat. We fell into a somewhat comfortable silence, the only thing to be heard from either of us was the odd occasional sigh of appreciation and the scrape of out cutlery against the plates. I knew I had to talk to her sooner rather than later, lest she leave before I had the chance. I had to let her know that this was okay.

I waited until her plate was clear before I opened my mouth to speak, trying to formulate the words in my head to sound the least offensive. More persuasive. What combination of my meaningless sounds would get her to stay, to thrive?

"So, Bella, how old are you?" I was trying out different tactics. Nothing too hard at first so I didn't scare her away.

"I'm 19." She said quietly, looking at me and waiting for a reaction. When I failed to let my shock and anger register on my face she did something surprising... She asked, "How old are you?"

"I'll be 28 in exactly one month", I smiled, though less than happy about that fact and more pleased that she had asked me a question. She looked concentrated, and I realized she didn't know what the date was. "November 24th, I'll be another year closer to 30", I fake shuddered at my admission. She smiled.

"Brothers or sisters?" I asked in order to keep the momentum going.

"No. You?" Her smile had dropped.

"A brother, Emmett and my sister, Alice. Older brother, younger sister so I'm the dreaded middle child".

She looked at me and gave a half smile to indicate that she'd heard me but lifted up her knife and started swirling it round in intricate patterns.

"Look, Bella I know this feels like a really temporary thing for you. But it doesn't have to be. Would you like to.. I don't know. Be my flatmate?" I smiled encouragingly, trying to make this as lighthearted as possible. Her head snapped up quickly, her eyes flashing with suspicion.

"Why?"

"Why not? You need a place to stay and I need someone to eat with in the evenings or I'll bankrupt myself by buying takeout all the time."

Her eyes narrowed. "What do you want me to do to stay here?"

"Nothing, just don't run."

She gasped. "I can't stay here rent free Edward, I'm not some kind of blood-sucking leech! Why do you even care?!"

Wow. A whole sentence. I smiled minutely.

"You won't be here rent free. You can run the hoover round once a week if you want to earn your keep. Whatever you want. I needed a roommate anyway, and we've already met twice which means I know you better than any creep that would reply to me on craigslist. What do you think?"

Silence.

"And I'll be... Okay here?" She looked defeated. I hadn't expected that.

"Completely safe. Scout's honour."

She nodded a little. "For a little while? If you're 100% sure."

"Of course, else I wouldn't have offered. I must say, I thought that would be a lot more difficult. You were a lot more argumentative last time I tried to help you."

Her chest heaved with the force of her sigh. "It's warm in here. Not much else to think about".

The pressure in my ribcage felt like I would explode. It was warm, that was it. She didn't care what else would happen here. I felt like such an ungrateful brat. I seemed to spend most of my life actively hating every day of it. But I had a roof over my head, good family, more than enough money to get by. I suppose you get lessons in life from everyone you meet. I had a sneaking suspicion that Bella would teach me more than I could ever hope to repay her with in return.


AN. Thank you for reading, please review if you can:) x