A/N: So, I wrote this on like 5 hours of sleep and I'm too tired to check it over a million times, so I'm sorry if it sucks ahah. Anyways, yeah, this is double the length of last chapter, so I'm quite happy with that! And thank you to everyone who reviews, you guys are awesome.
-
"Was it you who spoke the words
that things would happen but not to me?
Oh, things are gonna happen naturally."
-
Oatmeal...or Cheerios?
Now that was the question.
I grabbed both, not sure which either of the boys preferred.
It had become apparent in the weeks that I'd been living with Edward and Emmett that they weren't the best at grocery shopping on a regular basis and that if I wanted to have something in the fridge other than beer and eggs, I was going to have to put matters into my own hands.
I continued to push the shopping cart down each aisle, grabbing items at random. I grabbed a list out of my back pocket that I'd scribbled down before I'd left and checked it. Hmm, it seemed that I'd gotten everything.
I made my way to the check-out counter where there was a small line and got behind a tall, dark haired man. I squinted at him. For some reason, he seemed familiar, but it was a bit difficult to tell with his back facing me. I pushed the cart forward, staring at his shirt, which had a huge smiley face on the back of it.
There were still a few people in front of me and I found myself drifting off into my own thoughts.
"Hey, you wanna move it before next year? I think I'm growing a beard," some person behind me barked at the guy right in front of me, who had apparently been daydreaming too and hadn't noticed that he was next on line.
Smiley shirt guy turned around, as if to snap back at the contentious man behind me, but he froze when he looked at me, his mouth dropping open.
My mouth dropped right back.
Smiley shirt guy was Jacob. My Jacob.
"Bella," he whispered.
"Any day now!" The guy continued to shout until Jake moved up in line and began placing his items on the counter.
"Hey," I answered.
He swallowed. "How are you?"
"I'm good. What are you doing here?" I couldn't help but be confused, since Jake's apartment wasn't even close to this store.
"Oh, right. I'm here with my-" His reply was cut off short by a squeal from behind me.
"Jake!"
I turned around to see a beautiful girl gliding towards us. She had coppery skin and shimmering black hair that swayed as she walked. When she reached us, I could also see that she was tall enough to make me feel like a dwarf. My self esteem went into a serious decline.
"I almost forgot these. You love them right?" She placed a box of chocolate chip cookies on the moving belt and kissed Jake on the cheek.
Oh, no she did not.
Jake cleared his throat awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, Bella," He gestured to the girl beside him. "This is Leah. Leah, this is Bella."
Leah nodded slowly, giving me the classic once-over. "Ah, right. I've heard all about you." She pursed her lips disapprovingly. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
"All good things, I'm sure," I joked. No one laughed.
Jake reached into his pocket for his wallet and handed money over to the cashier.
"So, uh," I started, straining to make conversation. "You guys are friends, or something?"
Honestly, I was more curious about if they were more than friends.
Please say she's not his girlfriend. Please tell me this exotically gorgeous creature is not his girlfriend.
"No, actually, I'm his fiancee," Leah replied, smirking a little as she placed her hand on Jake's back. He shot her an aggravated look and frowned.
What. The. Eff.
Fiancee? His fiancee? He was getting married? My eyes flew to the diamond on her left finger. I was so furious that I could feel my hands begin to shake. I quickly tried to compose myself.
"Well, that was quick," I blurted, my angerness overcoming me. Jake and Evil Bitch looked at each other.
He sighed. "I didn't mean for you to find out this way. I'm sorry."
"I'll start getting this stuff in the car. Meet you there?" Evil Bitch interrupted. He nodded and she turned to me. "It was nice meeting you, Bella." I snorted, but shook her hand anyways. She smiled at Jake and squeezed his arm before heading out of the automatic doors.
The cashier began ringing up my items.
"Bella." He stared at me.
"What?"
"Are you okay?"
I crossed my arms over myself. "I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"Yup."
He didn't seem fooled.
"It's just," I searched for the right words. "Isn't this a little, um, soon?
He sighed again, running his hands through his hair.
"I love her. Leah, she's..." He trailed off, staring ahead dreamily. I tried not to gag. "She's just so amazing. I've never met anyone like her. After everything that happened with us, she helped me so much. Getting over you was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but being with Leah, I was...okay. I'm just so, so happy, Bella, for the first time in a while. I know for a fact that I'm going to spend the rest of my life with her, so, why wait?"
I handed my credit card over, completely speechless.
I swallowed. "That's great, Jake. I'm really happy for you." To my surprise, I wasn't even lying. For months, it'd been killing me inside, the thought of Jake being so torn up because of what I'd done. But now, he had Leah. Yes, it hurt. A lot, even, but, I mean, I had been in love with him for years. I'd never even seen him with another girl. It was a strange feeling.
His eyes widened in surprise at my reaction. "Really? You're not mad?"
I shook my head. "I can't be mad at you for being happy." I loaded the plastic bags into my cart and we headed outside.
When we reached the sidewalk, he turned to me. "Bella, you don't know how much that means to me. Thank you." To my surprise, he pulled me towards him, hugging me gently. I was too taken aback to respond.
He pulled back. "Maybe, we could, catch up some time soon, get some coffee?"
I nodded. "That would be great."
We smiled at each other, both knowing that these plans would never happen.
"Well, bye, Bells." He waved, walking towards a car across the street.
"Bye, Jake," I whispered, grabbing my cart and heading home.
-
You know things are getting pretty bad when you can't think of anything better to do than sit around, watching corny, romantic comedies and eating unhealthy amounts of ice cream...on a Saturday night.
Yeah, I know. Pathetic.
I sighed, sticking my spoon forcefully into the rock hard ice cream. I was a miserable excuse for a twenty-three year old single woman living in the city.
Stupid Jake. Ugh.
I was still grumbling to myself when a voice interrupted my pity party.
"No hot date?" Edward asked, striding into the living room. He was only wearing sweatpants and a hoodie...yet he still looked like the sexiest man alive. God. Life was just not fair. I could only imagine what I looked like in my ratty PJs and hair thrown up into a messy bun.
Stupid Edward.
"I have two actually," I quipped. "Meet Ben...and Jerry." I held up my pint of Chunky Monkey.
Edward laughed and headed into the kitchen.
"Care to join the pity party?" I asked, except it was pointless, because Edward had already grabbed a spoon and plopped down next to me on the couch.
"Sure," he grinned, digging into the dessert in my lap. "May I ask why, exactly, we are having pity parties for ourselves?"
"Well, I'm not sure why you are. But I am, because I have come to the conclusion that my life, well, sucks." I scooped some more ice cream onto my spoon.
Edward looked amused. "And why is that?"
"For many reasons. My ex-fiancee is already engaged to someone else, I've had two of the most horrible dates in all of dating history, and I'm living with someone that I slept with only a few months ago." My eyes widened as I realized what I'd said. I had definitely not meant to say that last part.
I turned towards him, hoping he wouldn't make this awkward, but I was surprised to see a look of...disappointment on his face. "You slept with Emmett?" he asked softly.
"What? No!"
"Then..what?..." His brow furrowed.
"I was talking about you." I stated in a matter-of-fact way. It took everyting in me not to say "duh" at the end.
"Um, Bella...I've never slept with you..." He spoke slowly, as if to a first grader.
"Yes...you...did." I replied, also dragging out my words.
"Bella, I am 99.9% sure that we have never had sex."
"Well, you're wrong." I frowned. I couldn't believe this. He didn't even remember! I couldn't help but feel a bit of a blow to my self-esteem. Was I really that unmemorable? "Are you forgetting our little night together on my wedding day?"
"We didn't sleep together that night."
"I woke up naked!" I cried.
"Well, if my memory is correct, we attempted to, er, do it...but you fell asleep and so did I. And then, you left the next morning without even leaving your number." I couldn't help but hear the hurt tone in his voice, but I ignored it.
"Oh..." I looked down at my hands, completely humiliated. How could this be? I had been so sure.
To my utter disbelief, Edward began to laugh. No, actually, not just laugh, but almost keel over from cracking up so much. I glared at him.
"Stop laughing," I growled. He ignored me.
Finally, the laughter ceased. "Bella, you are so silly. I can't believe you've been going around thinking that this whole time. No wonder you almost had a coronary when you saw me that first day you moved in."
"I did not!" I argued, frowning at him. He grinned at me.
"You know," Edward began. "I thought that when you wanted to keep all those secrets, it was because you had a thing going on with Emmett, that you liked him, or something."
I made a gagging noise. "Ew. He's, like, my brother." Edward chuckled.
"Hey, for all I knew, you went for the whole incest thing."
I gasped and threw a pillow at his head as hard as I could. "You are so gross."
He laughed, throwing it back. We continued to battle and Edward used his worst weapon.
"Oh, no! Please, stop!" I rasped, as he leaned above me, tickling me senseless. "I forfeit, I forfeit!" Thankfully, his evil hands stopped and I was about to sit up, until I saw that Edward hadn't moved from hovering above me.
He was only inches away and his breath tickled my face. I gulped hard.
"You don't know what you do to me, Bella," he murmured, brushing his fingers through my hair. "I've thought all along that you weren't interested in me because you were too hooked on Emmett. That first night we had together was one of the best nights of my life and I'll never forget it. I've never been around someone who makes me feel the way you do, even when we're just talking. It drives me crazy."
The next thing I knew, Edward's lips were pressed to mine and all I felt was complete bliss. His lips were soft and warm and delicious. I couldn't get enough of his sweet taste and I accepted him gratefully when he licked my lower lip. I wanted to stay this way forever.
Of course, forever isn't exactly an option when you've got another roommate.
Especially when they're turning the lock on the doorknob.
I literally jumped, reluctantly unlocking my lips from Edward's. I quickly moved to the opposite side of the couch, as far away from Edward as possible, and tried to smooth out my hair, which was undoubtedly a mess.
Emmett was through the door a second later and he came into the livingroom.
"Hey, guys." He grinned before jumping over the couch and sitting right in between us. "What are we watching?"
I told him the name of the movie, which I'd hardly been paying any attention to up until this point.
"This is cool," He threw an arm around each of us. "We're like, 'Three's Company', except, you know, opposite."
I nodded, forcing a smile at him, but his comment gave me a reality check. We were three people living together. There was no way that anyhting could happen between Edward and I. It would complicate everything unbelievably.
-
I stared up at the ceiling, completely frustrated. I'd been tossing and turning for hours, trying to fall asleep, but nothing, nada, zilch. I groaned.
I decided to get up and get a drink of water from the sink but when I reached the hallway, I was distracted by a light underneath Edward's door.
I hadn't spoken to Edward for the entire night, despite the fact that he kept throwing me confused glances behind Emmett's back. I ignored him.
I didn't know what to do. The truth was, I liked Edward. A lot. I liked talking to him and laughing with him and kissing him. Oh, yes, I liked that very much.
But there were so many reasons why we shouldn't be together.
So, I wasn't sure why I found myself padding down the hall towards his room and turning the knob. I peeked in and Edward looked up in surprise.
Neither of us spoke as I crawled in next to him under the comforter.
"I'm sorry I'm acting so weirdly." I sighed. "You probably think I'm crazy."
"No, I think you're beautiful." He shot me a lopsided grin as he caressed my face.
"We shouldn't do this. We really shouldn't. I should go back to my room." I stared at him.
"Then go," he replied firmly.
Instead, I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him hard. He responded immediately, crushing me even closer to his body.
Yes, like a stupid teenager, I was following my heart and not my head.
But all I could think about was that I was in this amazing man's arms and for now, that was perfectly fine with me.
-
"Oh, taking your advice
and I'm looking on the bright side.
And balancing out the whole thing."
-
A/N: Song is "You and I Both" - Jason Mraz
