A/N:

Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out to you. It was a struggle to get the right words out, but once they were there, the rest fell into place.

Thanks to those of you who reviewed. Much appreciated. The best reviews will be posted in the author's note in the next chapter!

EPOV

After my less than stellar telephone conversation with Bella, I was so confused and frustrated with myself that I decided to take a drive. I left the house, telling my parents I was going to meet Jasper at the local coffee shop. In reality, I drove to the site of Bella and my first date.

The Meadow looked just as eerie as it did that night, except that the eeriness was no longer offset by the presence of the brunette that I absolutely loved spending time with. I was sitting in my Volvo, alone, in the dark, on a gravel road leading to the Meadow.

My mind was abuzz with so many different thoughts that it was definitely a welcome change to be alone; I would be able to collect my thoughts, or so I imagined.

As I turned the ignition off, the voice of that sweet girl whose heart I just broke echoed in my ears.

"I can't believe I'm kissing Edward Cullen..."

"I want you..."

"I love you..."

"Fuck," I said aloud, thumping the steering wheel once in frustration at myself. Honestly, she had done nothing wrong—at ALL. I was excited when she had confessed she loved me. I enjoyed spending time with her, I loved kissing her, I missed her already. So WHY did I feel the need to end things over the phone only a few hours ago?

I leaned my head back against the leather headrest and closed my eyes in an attempt to block any distraction.

My head pressed against the headrest and I had to admit it was about as comfortable as a headrest could ever be. At that moment, my mind drifted to how Carlisle had been right about ordering this car with the leather interior. I hated that because it cost a lot more to get the leather interior, and at the time, I was still in school and couldn't really afford it.

But damnit, Carlisle was right. I hated when he was right. He was always so smug about it, and it pissed me off to no end...

Fuck.

The realization sunk in. He had told me that I would be wise to date Bella, that she would be good for me. He had been right.

Not only was I a coward for running from Bella's feelings, but I was a proud coward for hating that Carlisle was right about her.

What a fucking walking contradiction.

At least I had been right when I told Bella that I was no good for her. She needed someone who actually deserved the love she bestowed upon them. I was already running from it. There were better guys out there for her. She just needed to stop wasting her time with me.

I sighed and looked down at the time. Somehow, I had managed to be in this car in a secluded woodland area for nearly two hours. I turned the key in the ignition and drove back towards my house. I needed a shower and a warm bed upon which to plop myself down and try to forget about what an asshole I was.

***

The next afternoon, I was lying on my bed, watching a DVD when I heard the front door slam from downstairs. I knew that slam from anywhere: Alice.

I could hear my sister's footfalls storming up the hardwood stairs and towards my bedroom. They stopped abruptly in front of my bedroom door. She knocked loudly and didn't wait for my consent to enter. She threw open the door angrily and moved swiftly to stand in front of me. I instantly sat up to glare at her weakly for barging into my bedroom without an invitation. I knew why she was there, though. It was inevitable, after all.

Here it comes.

"What the hell, Edward!" Alice yelled. "You act all stupid with Bella for almost a month now, and then out of the blue, you break up with her? Honestly, what gives? I thought you liked her!"

"Whatever happened to keeping your nose out of other people's lives, huh?" I replied, my voice not nearly as loud as hers, but still holding an annoyed tone.

"I'm not sticking my nose in anything. She never talks to me about your relationship, if that's what you're worried about," she said with her arms raised above her head with her palms out, "But," she continued, adding a venomous look in her eye as she spoke to me about her best friend, "I called Bella this morning, and I heard it in her voice, Edward. She wasn't going to tell me anything, so I drove over to her house and got her to talk to me. She's really upset about this," she sighed, the venomous look replaced by a look of defeat. I pursed my lips, preparing for my rebuttal, which I knew held no real substance. I wasn't going to confess that I was a chicken shit about Bella's feelings, or anything about Carlisle. After all, Alice had grown up with him, too. She was well aware of how pompous and arrogant he could be.

"I know, but we just can't..." I couldn't even continue. A feeling of disgust began brewing within me. Alice shook her head exasperatedly, realizing she wasn't going to get anything out of me. She let out a long breath, and then rolled her eyes at me.

"Well, I just wanted to tell you what a loser I have for a brother. That's all."

With that, she turned and left my bedroom, slamming the door behind her as she went.

I was glad that she hadn't lectured me on what to do with Bella, or that I should fix this. She had once told Bella and me that she was going to stay out of our business, and that she never wanted to be placed in the middle of the two of us. For that, I was thankful. She was true to her word. She wasn't a stranger to voicing her opinion, but never presumed to hand out advice, especially to Bella.

Something bright and flashing caught my attention on the television screen across from my bed, and I brought my gaze back to it. I had been staring at the door that Alice had slammed behind her.

I took in a lungful of air and let it out, trying to regain my composure. I returned my full attention to the screen and decided to try to get through the day without hating myself.

It didn't work, but I could pretend.

***

BPOV

That weekend went by in a haze. Alice came by on the Saturday to get me to open up to her. I felt extremely embarrassed to be telling her about how Edward had broken up with me. I had been careful not to tell Alice about a lot of different things about Edward that I would have confided in her about any other guy. So, when Edward just let me go, I had planned to just tell Alice the bare minimum and not delve into details with her. But, as she sat with me, everything came flooding out of me and I couldn't very well lie to her. She was completely understanding, listening and nodding at the right intervals. I had the feeling that during her visit, she separated the man who broke up with me last night from the brother who lived in the room next to hers. I nearly forgot that I was talking about her brother sometimes, because she certainly didn't remind me of that fact too often during our conversation. I was grateful for that—it would have just added to my embarrassment.

I made it a point to make Alice promise not to talk to her brother about this, since I knew they were close, and this situation would just drive a wedge between them that was unnecessary. She assured me that she would not try to get involved. Again, I was grateful at that moment to have a best friend like Alice. She knew when to speak and when to keep her mouth shut.

On Sunday, Alice took me out for a well-deserved shopping trip. Normally, I would hate these trips, but Alice made sure that it would take my mind off of Edward. It did, indeed. We had a great girl's day out at the mall, and ended the evening at our favourite Starbucks with a couple of tall vanilla lattés.

By Monday, as I awoke to get ready for class, I had convinced myself that the events of that past weekend were a long time coming, and that the best thing to do was to forget Alice's brother—because I couldn't even say his name without cringing—and I had even dated. As hard as it was, I knew I had to try.

***

I walked off of the elevator later that evening to begin my shift at work and was greeted by my supervisor, Jacob. The ponytail his hair was in today seemed neater than usual. Even though he let his hair grow slightly past his shoulders, he never allowed himself to look unprofessional at work and made sure his hair—and the rest of his appearance—looked presentable for an office environment. He never wore ties, but instead, opted for freshly-pressed dress shirts and sharp-looking trousers. I couldn't help but giggle internally at how he looked outside of work. If the higher-ups could see him during his off time...

He was almost a foot and a half taller than me, so I had to look up to return his gaze. I smiled half-heartedly at him.

"Hey, Bella. Are you ok? You look a bit distracted," he questioned. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Jacob. Thanks for asking."

"Good to hear, Hell-a," he laughed, using the nickname he created for me after I received a call from an irate customer who swore and cursed like a sailor at me, demanding a refund for services he claimed he never requested. The name came because of my handling of the situation. I personally made sure that all the T's were crossed and the I's were dotted, and that he was definitely not entitled to a refund. Jacob had asked why I was being so vigilant in making sure everything was done correctly, and I had simply replied that he didn't deserve a refund after the rude things he said to me. Higher management had agreed with me after I had done all the research to back it up, and Jacob was stuck with calling the customer back and telling him no refund would be issued. Jacob decided on the nickname after he commented that I was hell-bent on proving my point.

"And by the way, you can call me Jake, you know," he commented as we walked towards my desk. "Just because I'm your supervisor, it doesn't mean we aren't cool. Hell, I'm a year younger than you for Christ's sake."

I smiled genuinely at Jacob—I mean, Jake.

"Yeah, yeah, I know Jake. It's not my fault I've been programmed to respect my superiors," I giggled. It felt good to giggle like that. Jake was a relaxing presence to me. Over the last two and a half months that I worked there, we had grown to become friends, joking, sharing common interests, and helping each other out at work. He didn't share that sort of relationship with anyone else in the department, mainly because he was so young and most of the others in the department had been there for years and were harbouring incredible jealousy towards him. He was getting paid more than they were, and he was young enough to be their son. He let it roll of off his back, however. He once confided in me that he didn't let their attitude towards him bother him much because his hard work had paid off; he was a fast learner, and that had helped him land him the job he had now.

"It's just a job title. I'm definitely not your superior, Bella," he said with a quiet chuckle. I laughed, unsure as to what exactly to reply to that.

I continued walking to my desk, Jake trailing behind me slowly, making small talk with the co-workers we passed along the way. Once I arrived at my desk, I logged into my computer and mentally prepared myself for my shift.

***

"Mr. Viveiros, I understand your frustration, however—" I was cut off by this customer, complaining that we charged him too much. I listened silently to his rebuttal, which made complete sense. Unfortunately, my hands were tied to help him. He then stated he would take his claims to the newspapers—a course of action many of the people who called mentioned they would do when they were upset—as we were ripping him off.

I sighed, preparing for my response. "Mr. Viveiros, if that's how you wish to persue this matter, I invite you to do so. However, I cannot do anything for you beyond what I have suggested."

I listened to his demanding to speak to someone higher than me. Jake was the only supervisor available, and I hated to dump customers on him like that, but the situation called for it.

"Certainly, Mr. Viveiros, just a moment please."

I pressed the hold button and walked over to Jake's desk. He greeted me with bright sparkling brown eyes and a big smile.

"Hey Bella."

"Sorry, Jake. I've got a live one for ya," I said apologetically. He smiled again.

"Sure, sure. You love giving me the screaming customers, don't you?" he laughed, grabbing a headset from his desk and placing it over his head. "Transfer him over." I smiled back at him, relieved that I would no longer have to deal with this particular customer. While I was handling the customer properly, following all the right procedures, I didn't feel up to being yelled at for the remainder of my shift. The events of the weekend had left me feeling less than enthusiastic about everything, and being yelled at certainly wasn't on the top of my want list.

I transferred the call and watched from across the room as Jake handled the call flawlessly. He was a natural at diffusing a situation such as this. No wonder they moved him up the ranks quickly.

Within five minutes, he was walking over to my desk.

"Wow, that was fast," I commented. He shrugged.

"You warmed him up for me. I basically said the exact same thing you did to him, and once I did, he stopped yelling and listened to me. He asked me to apologise to you for being rude before. He said he realized you were just doing your job."

I looked up at him in shock. That was a first.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, he said he thought you sounded a bit sad, and knew that he wasn't making things better with his attitude." Wow, customers actually had consciences, after all. Who knew?

Jake took a breath and pulled a chair beside me.

"What's wrong, Bella? You put on a good show, but you really don't seem like yourself today. I mean, even the customers are taking notice..."

I shook my head and looked down at my hands in my lap. "I don't feel like myself today."

"Want to talk about it?" Jake asked, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. I inhaled a breath and let it out.

"You know how I was dating my best friend's brother, right?" Jake nodded and then he realized that I had used the past tense...

"You guys...oh shit. I'm sorry, Bella. Did he say why? I thought he liked you a lot..."

"I thought so, too," I said, feeling the familiar prickle of tears threatening to fall from my eyes. Jake shook his head and tsked.

"What an idiot that guy is." His fists were balled at his sides. It was nice to know that someone else thought that.

"Thanks, Jake. I'll be ok, though."

He patted my back soothingly. "You sure? You can go home now, if you want. I'll tell 'em you were sick. Don't worry about this place, Bella. Take care of yourself."

"No, no. I don't want to go home. I only have another few hours tonight anyway. It'll take my mind off of things."

He cocked his head to the side in disbelief. "Hmm. How about this? Go on your 15 minute break now. Clear your head," he said, sensing that his supervisory duty to make sure I was ok was done.

"Ok. Thanks, Jake."

"No problem, Bella. I hate seeing you sad. I would kick his ass if I knew him."

I had to smirk at Jake's comment.

"But what if the break-up was my fault?" I asked coyly to get a reaction out of Jake. His forehead creased lightly, as if he were confused, and then smoothed out.

"I'm nearly 100% confident it wasn't you, Bella. Guys are dickheads, you know that."

Again, I smiled I could get used to this.

"So go take that break. Get a coffee or something. Then come back prepared to listen to some more annoying customers!" He chuckled, patting my back again and turning to get back to his desk.

"Thanks for being so understanding, Jake," I called to him. He turned to face me, smiled, and nodded.

***

I fell asleep that night with a stinging pain in my heart. This was now the third night that I would have to withstand falling asleep without hearing his voice, and it physically hurt. I had been broken up with before, but it wasn't the same. Somehow, nothing I had been subjected to up until that point in my life was the same as the agony I felt. He hadn't ended things because I did anything wrong—at least, that's what he had said. He hadn't ended things because he hated me. Things had just...ended. There was no explanation, no reasoning, no anything.

I still loved him, regardless of the circumstances. I hadn't dreamt up the last two months—both the good and the bad. I didn't imagine that we had fun together, that we shared similar interests, that he had confessed that he was falling for me, too. Things just didn't deteriorate out of the blue. Maybe he had finally realized that he was wasting his time with someone as mediocre as me. Maybe he had found an older woman to fulfill his fantasies in ways that he felt I couldn't. I pictured him going after a 35 year old blonde with big tits, maybe in the beginning stages of an addiction to plastic surgery...

No.

I had to stop thinking like this.

He ended things, and I needed to get over it. He wouldn't call me. He wouldn't attempt to rekindle things.

I needed to stop wasting my time. I would mourn for him, for the loss of our love—or the makings of our love—for a while, and I would eventually move on.

I had to.

Before sleep took me, I vowed to myself that I was going to move on from this soon.

For my own sanity.