A/N: Um...Sorry? I really am apologetic, but I just couldn't write this story anymore, for whatever reason that may be. But, I finished it. It's done – albeit far faster than I had anticipated. It was supposed to be much longer, but I'm just done with this story. So, I finished it, and I'm so sorry it fails so massively that it should be slapped off of fanfiction forever, but it's mine, and it finishes the story, so I have to post it.

There might be an epilogue, but I'm not sure, so don't mark me on it. I might write it after I post this, but I'm iffy on it.

I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you aren't murderously angry at me, but I understand if you are.

Happy reading.

Chapter 6: Unexpected

We walked hand in hand along the cold coast line of the beach. The tide washed gently over the sand as our breaths fogged in front of our faces. He squeezed my hand in affection and I looked up at his face, trying to hide the guilt in mine. He was so wonderful, so trusting, and I was about to shatter that trust into a million tiny pieces. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe I was throwing the whole thing out of proportion. We hadn't been going out for too long, maybe he didn't feel as much as I thought he did.

But when I looked into his gorgeous eyes, that thought was eradicated. He loved me. And I didn't love him back.

"Bella, is something wrong?" He asked softly, lifting his hand to stroke my cheek. It was then that I knew I was doing the right thing. I could feel his hand, but the spark was gone.

"I-" the words died in my throat and his eyes tightened with worry.

"Bella?" He asked expectantly. The usually homey feel of First Beach felt uncomfortable. I shouldn't have brought us here. I shouldn't have brought him with me to visit Charlie. I shouldn't have listened to his persuasive argument.

"My feelings for you have changed." I said slowly, over thinking every word that left my lips. His face scrunched up in confusion, his brilliant green eyes hurt.

"I…don't understand." He said, tilting his head to one side.

"I-" frustrated sigh, "I thought I felt something for you that I don't."

"Oh."

"God, Edward, I am so sorry. But I just – I don't -" another frustrated sigh, "like you that way."

Heartbroken. Crushed. Despair. A combination of tragic expressions crossed over his lovely face, which resulted in a very painful pang in my chest, like a piece of my heart was detaching itself from the main unit and offering it to him as consolation. He would always hold that piece. Three months sure had a way of affecting a person. The months of dating, and now he would forever hold a piece of me, whether either of us liked it or not.

He opened his mouth a couple times, as though to say something, but nothing came forth from his lips, and a pressure was building up in my chest – like my body was trying to compensate for that missing piece – and it blocked the words that hid on my tongue. Maybe that was for the best. Maybe this should be a moment of silence – to mourn the loss of our relationship.

I don't know how long we stood there – time seemed to stop, letting us revel in the pain – but I do know it started to rain. I was suddenly thankful that I had remembered to come here separately from him, letting us part ways here.

"I should-" I started, but the look in his eyes stopped the words.

"Goodbye, Bella." He said, his voice quiet and monotone. He turned and left, leaving me alone in the rain. Alone, to wallow in the pain.

"Bye, Edward." I said softly, and even though I knew it was the right decision, it hurt too much to bear. So I sat down, in the sticky, wet sand and cried, letting the rain water wash the tears away.

-x-o-

I jolted upright, tears streaming down my face as I struggled for consciousness. My breath came in stilted, halting sobs as I tried to calm down, but the dream was straight from my memories. It was hard enough to live it once, but to relive it, and to have the most important person replaced with someone else, someone I couldn't even being to imagine hurting.

I had just relived my breakup with Jacob, but my mind had replaced him with Edward.

Alice – somehow, miraculously – was in my room in a flash. She launched her petite frame at me and enveloped me in a large, comforting bear hug.

"Shh, just cry it out," She advised, and I took her advice without question or complaint. I felt sorry, somehow my sobs had woken her up from across the hall, but I couldn't find a way to articulate an apology.

Some unknown amount of time later, the tears stopped and Alice released me from her comforting grip to stare at me with worry.

"Are you alright?" She asked and I nodded pitifully.

"Sorry I woke you." I sniffled, but she waved it away.

"I wasn't asleep." I took a better look at her and found her in fancy pajamas, not the regular cotton ones she usually wore. I leaped at the opportunity to shift the subject to something that didn't revolve around me.

"Why weren't you sleeping at," I checked the clock, "three in the morning? And why are you in fancy pajamas?"

She blushed lightly – nothing compared to mine, but she never blushed – and ducked her head.

"It's nothing," She mumbled, but it was most certainly something. Something big.

"So if I were to, I don't know, wander over into your dorm, I wouldn't find a certain blonde man in your room?" Her blush multiplied into something you might see on my face, indicating that I had hit the mark. I scrubbed my hands absently over my cheeks, removing the last remnants of my horrible nightmare.

"What was the dream about?" Alice asked quietly.

"It was me breaking up with Jacob, word for word, each expression identical to the real thing, except instead of Jake, it was Edward." Alice flinched and rubbed my arm soothingly.

"So, you and Jasper alone in your dorm at three in the morning?" The blush returned, making me grin in spite of my horrible mood.

"We weren't doing what you're thinking, I swear!"

"Uh huh, then what were you doing?" I teased.

"I had my own nightmare. You know I'm afraid of the dark, and I didn't want to bother you, so I went to Rosalie's door, but I think Emmett was in there," she shuddered, "so then I went to the only person I had left. Jasper.

"He was awake too, reading, I think and he offered to stay with me 'till I fell asleep. Thank goodness I was wearing my pretty pj's!"

"So Jasper's in your room, all alone?"

"Pretty much. I knew you needed me, so I ran over."

That struck a chord, "How did you know; was I crying that hard that you heard me across the hall?"

She shook her head, "No, it's like a sixth sense. I just knew you needed me. I'm handy like that."

Another quick hug, a reassurance that I was fine and a request that she say hi to Jasper for me, Alice left my dorm and I was alone again to mull over my thoughts.

After breaking up with Jacob, I had been too wracked with guilt to even look at another man with any intention besides friendship, which meant I had been avoiding Edward thoroughly. Maybe the dream meant I needed to get over myself and tell him how I felt? I was pretty sure that the rush I got when I pictured him in my head meant it was more then a crush.

I groaned with frustration and threw myself back onto my pillow. I would deal with it when it was a more suitable hour. I didn't have any classes tomorrow, which meant I had a whole day to wallow in my dilemma.

-x-o-

The alarm buzzed me awake and the shock of the noise set a jolt all the way down to my toes. Hitting the snooze button and cursing myself for forgetting to turn the alarm off, I got up and trudged into my kitchenette to cheer myself up with some coffee.

Surprisingly, Alice and Jasper were crammed into the kitchenette already, him leaning on my tiny fridge while Alice muttered under her breath, trying to figure out the coffee maker.

"I can help you know…" He offered, but one glare from Alice shut him up.

"How do you keep getting in here?" I asked, marking my arrival. She jumped and dropped the coffee pot, but Jasper and his reflexes caught it before it could smash.

"You need to learn to install more then one lock on your door, Bella." Alice advised as she reluctantly nodded to Jasper, who began making coffee for three. "Why did your alarm go off? I thought you would have slept in."

"Forgot to turn it off," I muttered sleepily.

Jasper – bless his soul – handed me a large mug of caffeine, which I sipped at eagerly.

"So what are you going to do about Edward?" Alice asked nonchalantly, causing me to choke.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, throwing her a significant glance and stealthily gesturing towards Jasper, who happened to be one of Edward's best friends.

"He misses you – he can't figure out what he did to make you mad at him." Jasper said, obviously catching my attempts to end the conversation.

"He didn't do anything," I sighed.

"How was he supposed to know that?" Alice questioned, and I didn't have an answer. I had been terrible to him and just assumed that he would understand that I wasn't mad at him. Apparently it is true: when you assume you make an ass out of you and me.

"Then what can I do to make it up to him?" I felt terrible, and I needed to fix the relationship. But I didn't know how, or if we would end up being as close as I dreamed and dreaded of being.

"Just talk to him, for God's sakes. Tell him why you ignored him so fixatedly. He was the only one you stopped talking to after you broke up with Jacob."

Jasper looked at his watch, "I have to go, Alice. See you at lunch?"

"Of course," She said, giving him a light kiss goodbye.

"Thanks for the coffee, Bella." He said, ducking out of the room. The door clicked shut quietly behind him.

Alice and I sat in the silence as we sipped our coffee. She had a starry eyed expression plastered onto her face as she gently fingered the handle of her mug.

"You and Jasper, huh?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she sighed dreamily. I wanted that, I realized with a sharp twinge shooting through my heart. I wanted to be as happy as she was. I wanted to feel loved by a significant other, and there was only one person I wanted to experience that with.

-x-o-

I wandered around the campus, trying to remember what I knew about Edward. I needed to find him, to apologize, to tell him the truth. But I had no idea where to find him on a Friday morning. The sky had just begun to unleash a wickedly cold sheet of rain that turned the world an unflattering shade of gray.

For reprise, I ducked into the first building I managed to spot through the downpour, and luckily enough, it was a store that I had been in before.

It was Notes. The place Edward adored.

Stan, the shopkeeper, came shuffling out from the back room, bringing with him the lovely aroma of freshly made tea.

"Hello, Bella, long time no see." Besides us two, the front of the store was empty. But Stan wouldn't be making tea for just himself, would he? He usually saved that for company…

"Hello. Am I interrupting something?" I squinted at the curtained door frame. Let Edward come out. Please, let Edward be in there.

"No, my guest just left, actually. But there is some leftover tea, if you want some."

I sighed internally and accepted. Tea seemed like a nice consolation.

"You seem to be searching for something." Stan said absently while pouring out two cups of Earl Gray.

"I needed to tell Edward something, but I can't seem to find him." I said, gratefully accepting the mug and holding it between my frigid hands.

"I remember him saying something about spending his free day with Emmett, who had requested some kind of tournament. I believe the word was Halo, and some kind of number after it."

"Thank you very much."

"You're very welcome. So, how are your classes?"

-x-o-

One pleasant chat with Stan later, I was standing outside Emmett's dorm, shivering as the rainwater continued its journey through my clothes and into my prune-like skin. I hate the rain. I'm moving back to Arizona after this.

I could hear the yelling and war chants of serious gaming going on, and I almost didn't knock.

Almost.

"Why, hola, Bella!" Emmett boomed when he opened the door and took in my water-soaked appearance. I must have looked like a drowned rat with a sunburn.

True to his word, Edward and Emmett had been sitting on the small futon, hunched over the gaming controls as their little people on the screen darted around, attempting to kill one another. What an odd way to spend a Friday.

"Hey, Emmett. Am In interrupting anything?" It seemed to be my catch phrase of the day, but he shook his head and beckoned me to come inside. Edward stiffened slightly on the couch, but his eyes never moved from the frozen television screen.

"Want to play? I'm kicking Edward's ass, so you can play him next." Emmett declared, flopping down on the futon and retrieving his controller.

"Actually, I came to see Edward."

Finally, the subject of our conversation turned around and fixed me in his gorgeous, green eyed stare.

"What's up?" His brow furrowed, clearly confused. I motioned from him to follow me outside, and he did. Telling Emmett he would be right back, he joined me out in the hallway, shutting Emmett's door behind him.

"What's wrong?" He asked, crossing his arms while my blush deepened. Maybe I shouldn't do it. Maybe I should quit toying with the idea and move on.

"I just wanted to…apologize…for kind of being distant after I broke up with Jacob."

He looked taken aback, "Oh, it's no problem. You were upset."

"But that doesn't mean I should completely ignore, which only made everything worse!"

"Made what–" But I cut him off. The dam I had carefully constructed was shattering with the weight of my confession.

"And I kept having these nightmares, and I thought that maybe if I ignored you more, they would get better. You know, minimize contact and maybe my mind would let it go, but it didn't! They just kept getting worse, and finally last night, I woke up in tears, and I realized, this won't go away until I get everything the way my heart seems to think it should be."

"And what does that have to do with m-"

"It has everything to do with you, Edward. Because that nightmare I had last night, it came from my memories. I relived my breakup with Jacob, but instead of him, it was you. And the idea of that being you hurt so much that I could hardly breathe. It was like a steamroller had flattened me inside my bed."

His face was quiet, but his eyes held something else. Something I wasn't quite sure about.

"What does that mean?" He asked quietly.

"It means, it made me realize something."

"And that is?" He asked warily.

"I um…like you. A lot."

A skeptical look passed over his face. "How much is a lot?"

"A lot is enough to make me glad I broke up with Jacob. A lot is enough that just looking at you makes my heart swell up. A lot is enough that when I touch you, sparks shoot up my arm."

Silence.

This was, by far, the worst moment of my life.

I closed my eyes, letting the silent dejection wash over me. I had to say that I did deserve it. Karma, right?

But then I felt it. A tingle in my left hand – a searing burn that didn't hurt. And then he kissed me.

"It's about time." Edward whispered when he pulled back. Brown met green, and the world clicked into place around us. "I've been waiting to do that for ever."

Our lips connected again, and finally, everything felt right.

A/N: Awe, together at last! How cute.

I would love it if you reviewed. Like, it would really make my day.

I want to kind of re-write this, if any of you out there are interested. It's an all human, and hopefully it won't fail as much the second time around. It will be called The Ties That Bind, and it will feature the Twilight cast in high school this time. Maybe it'll be easier to write about something I'm more experienced in. Because honestly, having someone explain university for an hour doesn't make you a pro. Maybe next semester I'll be able to write it better. -sighs-

So, yes, please review, and thank you so much for being so great and so patient.

Thank you!

-Maggie