A/N: I apologieze for not having updated this in forever, real life and writers block got in the way. Anyway, here it is. As usual I don't own the twilight characters and my eternal gratitude to Dahlia Black for betaing this

As I walked towards the apartment I started to comprehend the events that had just occurred. Had I really just had sex with Edward Cullen? On his car? In a parking lot where we could very easily have been caught? I seriously hoped none of my neighbours had witnessed this little scene, I would never be able to live thorugh the humiliation if it was the case. And on top of everything, had he really just driven away? It sure seemed like it, and I didn't really know what to make of any of it at all.

It was a good thing my feet knew the way to the apartment because I sure wasn't paying attention to where I was going - not even when I got to the apartment and almost crashed into Alice and Rosalie in the hallway.

"What are you doing here? Why aren't you out with-" Alice asked.

"What are you doing here?" I interrupted in surprise, not expecting to see any of them.

"I live here. We're roommates, remember?"

"No I mean - wait what are you doing here?" I demanded, looking pointedly at Rosalie. "I thought you had car trouble? What's going on?"

"What are you talking about? My car is fine," Rosalie replied. By the way she was looking at me I could tell that she thought I had finally lost it. I might as well have, I had no idea what was going on anymore, so I just continued to stare at them in hopes of someone might explain it all to me soon. Neither of them offered any explanation so I just continued to ask.

"But Edward said you had car trouble and that's why you guys couldn't meet us at that bar? And now you're here and I don't get it. You need to explain this to me because my brain seriously can't handle any more guessing." I could hear the slight edge of panic in my voice as I sank to the floor because my legs just couldn't hold me up any longer.

"Bella, relax, no need to freak out here. I don't know what Edward told you, but my car is perfectly fine. I never said anything about meeting you at Victoria's though," Rosalie explained.

"Yes, you did. You called me and asked if I wanted to meet you guys later and I said yes and then none of you showed up," I insisted.

"No, I didn't." Rosalie's voice was completely calm and I was beginning to think that maybe I was imagining all of this. It was probably for the better if it really was just my imagination, it might make me insane but I was starting to think it was worth it.

"Yes you-"

"No. I didn't. I called you and asked if you wanted to go out tonight. You just assumed that we would be meeting you there and I didn't correct you. It's not like you were alone or anything. Edward was there, right? I'll kick his ass if he screwed this up!" Rosalie's voice had a hard edge to it and I could tell she was starting to get irritated.

"No, he was there-"

"Which leads me back to my original question," Alice interrupted. "What are you doing here and why aren't you out with my brother?"

"I was but... I don't know Alice..." I sighed, not really sure what to tell her.

"He didn't tell you, did he?" Rosalie asked. I shook my head although I wasn't sure what she was referring to. "You need to tell her, Alice. At least the short version. He had his chance and didn't take it. She deserves to know." She sounded determined and Alice nodded to her in agreement. Rosalie started to gather her stuff and Alice tried to pull me off the floor.

"Come on, Bella, let's talk. I'll make us some tea." Rosalie left quietly and I followed Alice and sank down on our couch completely exhausted while she prepared the tea.

She came back with two big mugs and I took mine gratefully. At least it was something steady to hold on to. Right now I barely knew what was up or down anymore.

"So," she began. "I take it Edward didn't explain it to you?"

"Explained what to me exactly? Could you please just tell me what's going on, I'm to exhausted from guessing and trying to figure out who said what and who didn't."

"Well, as you noticed Edward has been... um... a little tense around you," she began and I rolled my eyes in response. Tense was probably the understatement of the year. "My brother is usually a really sweet guy but he has his reasons for his recent behavior. I'm not going to go all into details here, because I really do feel he should tell you all this himself but he had his chance tonight and he didn't take it and you deserve to know what's going on." She paused and took a sip of her tea before she continued.

"Shortly after Edward arrived in Paris he met this French girl, Marie, in one of his classes. They hit it off instantly and fell in love. Things seemed to be going really well between them and Edward actually talked about staying in France and finishing his degree over there, but because of some administrative university reasons Edward would have to come back as he had originally planned, to finish up some classes here, and then he could go back to France the next semester. They both seemed fine with it, and according to Edward they were both really committed to make the relationship work. Two weeks before he came home he called and told us that he was coming home for good and that he wouldn't be going back to France after all, but he didn't want to tell us the reason why. When he finally came back he told us that he had caught Marie cheating on him, and apparently she had been for a while when he found out. Not only did she cheat on him, but right after Edward found out, Marie suddenly clamed she was pregnant and that it was Edward's baby. I'm not sure of all the details here, but it turned out she was lying about it to make Edward stay with her. Needless to say he was pretty freaked out about the whole thing. " She paused to take drink some more of her tea and I felt like I had to fill the silence.

"Well that's really awful, but I fail to see how this has anything to do with me?" I hesitated. I did feel for him but I didn't see how that in any way could have anything to do with his behaviour towards me. Afterall, I wasn't the one who had cheated on him and faked a pregnancy.

"I'm getting to that part. Now you have to know that none of us never actually met Marie. When mom and dad went to visit Edward around Christmas she was visiting her family as well, we've only seen some random pictures of her occasionally, but none of us really thought about it before Edward mentioned it." She hesitated and looked over at me nervously, clearly not sure how to proceed. I still had no idea how to react to this and I still couldn't see the connection, so I just waited for her to go on.

"The thing is Bella... She kind of looks like you."

"So?" I asked. "Lots of girls have long brown hair or brown eyes, I don't really think thats uncommon in France. Lots of girls have that here as well, I don't think this justifies his behavior."

"It's not just the hair or the eyes although that's certainly similar. It's... Well it's everything really. She's taller than you are and she has higher cheekbones, but other than that. You two look exactly the same. So everytime Edward sees you, he's reminded of her and what she did to him. I'm not saying that this allows him to be a jerk around you, but he needs some time to get used to this. He was so in love with this girl and she really hurt him. He likes you, it's just hard for him to be around you. I know it's hard not to take this personal, but try not to."

"How can I not take this personal, Alice? I remind him of some cheating whore who broke his heart. I can't deal with this right now, it's just too much."

"Bella..." she began but trailed of.

"I just need to be alone," I announced as I got up. "And the next time you spring something like this on me, I need alcohol -not tea." I added the last part with a smile. I wasn't mad at her, I wasn't even sure I was mad at Edward, I was just tired and my brain was about to explode. Alice just nodded. She was my best friend and she knew me well enough to give me space when I needed it.

I went to my room and practically collapsed on my bed. I was mentally exhausted but my brain was too busy to rest. I located my iPod and cranked up the volume in hopes of tuning out my thoughts. When I finally fell asleep that night I dreamt of Edward Cullen.

xxxxx

I woke up way too early the next morning. I tried to go back to sleep, but everything that had happend last night started to replay in my brain and I knew it was a lost cause. I got up and dressed quietly, trying not to wake Alice. I skipped breakfast and even coffee; I just needed to get away for a bit and I could always pick coffee up somewhere along the way. I got into my car and decided to just drive off to somewhere. It really didn't matter where to as long as it was away.

I had only been driving for about half an hour when my car started to act out. I just barely managed to pull over before it completely died on me. I got out the car and noticed smoke coming out of the engine.

"Stupid piece of crap!" I yelled and kicked the tire so hard I manged to hurt my foot.

"Do you need some help?" I tuned around and stared into a pair of unfamiliar brown eyes.

end note: So, there you have it. You now know what's been up with Edward. Thoughts?

Also, if you want you can come chat with me on twitter, I'm jools_dk there. You can also yell at me for writing so slow if you prefer ;)