Hi everyone!
First and foremost, and big THANK YOU to all of you reviewers and story followers. I get a little more excited than I like to admit every time I get an email notifying me of a new review or follower. ; )
Second, I don't know why this chapter is so short...I'm telling you, I am horrible at judging when chapters should start and end! Oh well.
And third, I won't be able to post another chapter for at least another week, since I'll be away next week. Please bear with me! I have a bunch more written, but I'd like to get in a couple more edits before posting. There's something about this story that I really love, and I want to be sure I do it justice.
Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see you all again with the next post! oxox
CHAPTER 8
Right before everyone left to go home for the holidays, they all met at Quinn's for a post-finals night out. It also marked the day that, after much pestering from Jasper, Bella would introduce Jacob to her friends.
Bella, Rosalie and Emmett were the first to arrive, and secured a large enough table to accompany the rest of them, who would be joining them later.
Edward was the next to show up, and Bella was pleased to see that he was alone, given that Kate was supposed to be in attendance.
"No Kate tonight?" she asked him.
"She'll be coming by later. She wanted to have a nap after her last exam."
Bella nodded, and the two quickly became enthralled in their own little bubble.
"Of course I've read Jane Austen's books. I'm an English major, remember?" she teased. "But I have to say, I'm surprised that you have."
"I was curious," he laughed and took another sip of his drink. "And after I found I liked the first one, I just kept going."
They were interrupted by Kate, who neither had even seen approaching.
"Oh. Hey, Kate," Edward greeted awkwardly and stood up to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. Kate smiled politely at the two.
Edward held out a chair for her, but she declined. "Um, I'm just going to grab a drink from the bar. I'll be back."
And with that, Bella and Edward were left to their conversation.
"So what did you think?" Bella asked, taking off from where they left.
"I loved them!"
"You did?"
"Yeah, she was an incredible writer. Why do you sound so surprised?"
"I don't know. Just never figured you for an Austen fan, I guess."
"Well doesn't everyone like Jane Austen?"
"Not me."
"What? But you're an English major!"
His reaction had made her laugh. "I know, but I was just so bored while I was reading them."
They both roared with laughter at the irony of the conversation, completely oblivious that the rest of their party had arrived, save for Jacob.
Jacob had arrived just a short while after that, excited to see Bella and meet all of her friends. He shook their hands eagerly and made a point to remember who was who. Right after his introduction to Rosalie, she locked eyes with Bella and raised her eyebrows in obvious approval. Bella smiled.
See? I can be friends with Edward, she thought to herself smugly.
Edward's mood took a nosedive after that, and Bella refused to accept the possibility that it could be due to jealousy. After all, it would be more than she could ask for to have him return her feelings, and what's more, he had someone too. It's not as though he was sitting around pining over her.
Edward became a little more quiet, a little more reserved, and was definitely caught by Alice a few times as he watched the interactions between Bella and Jacob a little too closely.
While their significant others were in attendance, Bella and Edward didn't get to spend much time together, though it was clear that they both wanted to. The tension was blatantly obvious to Jasper, though, and he made a very genuine effort to get to know Jacob and engage him in the group as much as possible. Did he not see that his girlfriend was infatuated with someone else?
In one particularly awkward conversation between Bella, Edward, Kate and Jacob, Kate suddenly grabbed Bella's hand and pulled her away. Edward and Jacob stood dumbfounded as they watched Kate drag Bella towards the bar.
"What's going on?" Bella asked wearily.
"I'm freaking out, Bella. I can't keep lying to him like this."
"Well, what do you want me to do? Are you going to tell him?"
"I don't know, I don't know. I can't tell him now, right before the holidays. We're going home, and our families like, spend the holidays together and stuff. God, this is just so weird. Help me! What should I do?" Kate had grabbed Bella's hands and was desperate for some guidance.
"Oh, Kate, please stop. You can't be asking me about this," Bella whined, pulling her hands away from Kate's.
"Why not?"
"Just…because. Edward's my friend. And I don't want to get in the middle." Wrong. More like, "because I have the hots for him and I want you to break up so badly."
"I screwed up, Bella." Kate leaned on the bar, putting her head down on her crossed arms.
Bella took a deep, shaky breath and quickly decided to be the bigger person before she changed her mind.
"Well, Edward loves you." She shook her head as she spoke, hating every word that was coming out of her mouth. "If you told him the truth, I'm sure you could work it out. Why don't you just try? It was just the one time, right?"
Kate lifted her head slowly, looking at Bella. "Yeah, it was just the one time." But still, Kate sounded dejected.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know. Something's different between Edward and me now. I can't quite put my finger on it, but…something has definitely changed."
Bella suddenly became nervous, and she could feel her palms getting very hot.
"What's changed?" she asked hesitantly.
"I don't know. We're just…different. And it's not just me, it's him too. Like we're growing apart, kind of."
"So what are you saying? You don't want to fix things?"
Kate paused, looking down at her hands.
"We haven't slept together since September. I have a single room, Bella. You can imagine the plans that we had for coming to college."
Bella cringed, not wanting to think about any of that, but also very relieved to hear that he hadn't been with her that way in so long.
"That's not too bad. I mean, college is a big change, right? Maybe you guys will get back into your groove."
"Maybe. Maybe not. Honestly though, Bella? I'm not sure I want to anymore."
"Kate…"
"And I don't even think Edward wants to either."
Bella took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Was this the end of them? Were they really breaking up?
"I've never had to break up with anyone before," Kate said, barely more than a whisper. "I don't know how."
"I can't help you there," Bella told her, mirroring her crestfallen demeanor.
"Not until after the holidays," Kate resolved. "Definitely not until after the holidays. Come on, we should go back."
And with that, Kate made her way back to Edward, snaking her arm around his waist and plastering a smile across her face. Edward looked surprised to see her sudden mood change.
Bella stood motionless, completely shocked for a brief moment.
"You okay, Bella?" a familiar voice asked. She looked up and saw Jacob's smiling face looking back at her.
"Yeah," she sighed. "Just…are you done with that?" she asked, turning to the guy next to her who was just about to drink the shot he ordered. She promptly took it out of his hand without waiting for his answer, shot it back, and slammed the glass on the counter.
"Another one for him, please," she waved at the bartender before swiftly walking back to the group.
Jacob was left behind, paralyzed by what just happened for a brief second before taking some money out of his wallet to pay for the guy's new drink.
As the evening progressed, Bella and Edward still kept a safe distance, but Bella noticed that Kate was much more at ease with Edward than she had been before they talked. She supposed it was Kate's uncertainty that had made her jittery around Edward. Now she was being kind and sweet to him again, almost as though she was trying to make their last days as a couple count.
As Bella was chatting with Rosalie and Emmett, she felt an arm worked its way around her waist from behind her and she stiffened. This was not a touch she recognized to be Jacob's.
"Hey there," the voice crooned.
Bella jumped and whipped her head in the direction of the culprit, only to find that it was Jasper, who immediately started laughing. Bella smacked him hard on the chest.
"Ow!"
"You totally freaked me out!"
"I know, that was hilarious!" He laughed heartily as Rosalie and Emmett chuckled at the exchange. "But seriously, can I talk to you for a sec?"
Bella huffed as she glared at him. "You could have asked normally," she grumbled.
They moved away from the group to a far corner of the bar.
"What the hell is going on?" he asked her eagerly.
"What are you talking about?"
"With Kate! What was that? Why did she pull you away like that?"
"You saw that?"
"Everyone saw that."
"I'm not telling you. You said you didn't want to be involved."
Jasper rolled his eyes. "That was before you volunteered me to be involved by telling me what she did when I asked you not to."
Bella sighed, looking him right in the eyes before deciding to just tell him. "She wants to break up with Edward."
"What? Are you serious?"
Bella nodded. "She said they're growing apart."
"Shit."
"I know. She said she thinks Edward wants to break up too."
"She said that?"
"Yeah," Bella sighed. "I guess they're just…not the same as they used to be."
"Why do you sound so sad?"
Bella shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just never expected them to break up. And now I'm with Jacob, and they are breaking up, and I kind of feel responsible…"
"Bella, she kissed another guy. She's the one who ended that relationship, right there."
She nodded.
"Would you dump Jacob if Edward wanted to be with you?"
Bella paused, a pained look on her face. "I don't want to be Edward's second choice."
"Jasper!" a voice boomed across the crowd. They both looked over to find Emmett waving them over. "Pool?"
Jasper nodded and gave a thumbs-up. "Come on, we'll talk about this later."
He wrapped his arm around Bella's shoulder and they joined the group once again.
As Jasper delivered Bella to Alice and Rosalie, giving Alice a sweet kiss before heading off to play pool, Bella caught Edward's eye. His expression was clearly asking her what was going on between her and Kate. He had to be wondering why they had been so secretive lately, but she was certainly not going to be the one to tell him.
