Suddenly everything, being in the car, the conversation we'd been having, felt awkward. Edward ran his hand through the mess of bronze hair and turned away from me. "Uh, yeah, sure. I'll see you."

I did feel a little hurt that he wouldn't look at me. Without thinking, my hand found its way to his on the steering wheel. "I'll see you in Bio tomorrow." He gave me a sideways glance and finally cracked a smile, turning his hand over so our fingers locked. His hand squeezed mine briefly and then he leaned over.

My heart went into overdrive, though in the back of my mind I knew it shouldn't have. Is he going to kiss me? Oh god, I hope so. No, stop it, Bella!

Luckily, and much to my disappointment, he leaned past me and smirked. "Who's on your porch?"

What?

I shoved his face back playfully, earning a muffled "Ow!" "Oh. It's Angela. I wonder what she's doing here?"

"Go find out. See ya."

I laughed and opened the car door. "See ya."

OOOO

I'd laughed when I stepped out of his car, but I could feel my heart ready to explode out of my chest. What was Angela doing here? She definitely saw me with Edward, there was no question about it. But did she see how…close he was? Oh God.

"Hey, Angela!" I greeted, immediately noticing and regretting how forcibly cheerful my voice sounded.

Angela stood from where she sat on my front steps. "Hi Bella." She looked past me, smirked and I knew she wanted to know, but didn't make a move to ask. I in turn did not turn to see if Edward's car was gone yet.

I swallowed, and after another awkward silence I gave in. "Okay," I sighed, "what do you want to know?"

She hopped down the few steps and grabbed my shoulders. "First, who was that? Second, why were you in his car?" Her eyes were bright with curiosity, but I didn't see any resentment against me for ditching Mike, so either she didn't know or didn't care. I was reminded again of how much I love Angela and how I could trust her with so much, even though I haven't been doing so lately.

"Okay, I'll tell you, but can we go inside? I'm thirsty." I dragged her into the house and sat her in the kitchen while I grabbed a glass of water.

"Bella, c'mon, I have to know everything!"

I laughed nervously. "So," I started, sitting across from her, "the boy in the car is Edward Cullen."

"Wait. The Edward Cullen? As in, cutie from sixth grade Edward Cullen? He's back?" I nodded and Angela's jaw dropped. "He's…definitely matured." She smiled slyly and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah," I agreed. I took another sip…gulp, of water, for lack of anything to say.

She leaned forward. "So. You like him."

I choked on the water I'd been swallowing, managing to spit all over my jeans. "What!"

Angela threw her head back and laughed loudly, unusual for Angela Weber. "Don't act like it's surprising that I'd know, Bells. You two have been in for it since you met."

Still, I kept up with my poor charade. "I don't know what you're talking about, Ang, he was my stepbrother, for goodness' sake."

"Your very cute, very sweet, very cool stepbrother who is now your very sexy, very mysterious, very cool non-stepbrother."

I shook my head in denial, though I'd already admitted the truth to myself before. "I can't like him anyway, I'm with Mike."

She sighed in mock exasperation, wringing her hands; this subject was very quick to bring out the excited girl side of her. "There's no law of nature that says you can't be attracted to more than one person at a time." She smiled with her statement and didn't let go of my gaze for a moment and then sat back again, a very un-Angela-ish smirk on her lips.

"Fine! Fine, I like him. But so what? He doesn't like me anymore, so it doesn't matter, and I'm dating Mike." No need to mention the fact that Edward had kissed me the other day and I'd realized I didn't want to date Mike anymore.

As if reading my mind, Angela narrowed her eyes knowingly. "He kissed you."

Whoa.

"What? Mike?"

"Oh, stop with the façade, Bella. I know Edward kissed you. You're not good at hiding things, you know."

I pouted for a second but gave up quickly. "Okay. Yes, he kissed me, last week. It was…not like kissing a stepbrother." I smiled at the memory. It was definitely not like kissing a stepbrother. "But I feel so bad, Ang. What am I supposed to do? I like Mike but Edward just jumped back into my life and I really want him to stay in it."

"Well," Angela said thoughtfully, "you'll have to decide quickly who it is you want to be with. You can't drag them both along…"

"I want to be with Edward," I blurted. Damn. I do suck at hiding things.

Angie smiled. "That was quick."

"I'd…I'd decided a while ago."

"You have to break up with Mike." There it was, blunt and beautiful and terrible. Heard from someone else, this—Edward moving back, remembering me, kissing me, making me realize my life was becoming so confusing—was so real.

My gaze fell from her face. "I know, Ang, I know. How…how can I do that to Mike though?"

I knew this would be harder than I thought when I didn't get a response.

OOOO

As I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, I ran through the different scenarios of The Breakup of Forks High history.

First scenario:

Bella—Mike, I don't love you. I can't date you anymore.

Mike—So what time do you need me to pick you up on Saturday?

Bella—No, Mike. We're not going anywhere Saturday. I need to be alone.

Mike—Right.

Bella—Alone. By myself.

Mike—Yeah.

Bella—Without you.

Mike—Awesome.

Okay, not a good scenario. Though Mike wasn't really that dense, he seemed pretty close to oblivious about how I'd been treating him lately, ditching every opportunity to be with him for a mere chance with Edward. This was my mind's idea of mocking my situation.

Bella—Mike, I don't love you. I can't date you anymore.

Mike—What?

Bella—I'm sorry, I just can't lie to both of us.

Mike—Why? Is it someone else?

Bella—Umm…

Mike—Oh my god, it is someone else! Cue bawling/sobbing

Well, this is going well. But I knew I couldn't avoid it anymore. I can't. I'd end up lying to Mike, sweet loving Mike who had never done anything wrong and had never hurt me. He didn't deserve this. And I'd be lying to myself.

OOOO

"Edward, we can't do this," I argued feebly, much too excited to feel his hands on either side of my neck and the rest of his body pressing me up against the passenger door of his Volvo. I looked around nervously, finding only an empty street in front of my house. "What if…if Charlie…Mike."

"Just relax, Bella," he whispered, delicious breath fanning over my hot cheek. "I can take care of you." My eyes slid shut and I felt his lips ghost softly over mine. "Bella, I've missed you."
"I've missed you, too. Edward…" I started, but his lips were leaving wet kisses up the column of my neck and my body decided to respond without my permission. Edward's hips bucked back against mine in response. I felt the fabric of his shirt rub on the small piece of skin exposed on my stomach where my own shirt had ridden up and I held back a moan.

He chuckled softly. "Yes, Bells?" When did he become so sexy? Was this really the rebellious sixth-grader who'd left me? I'd been asking myself that a lot lately.

"Edward, I think I—"

"Bella?"

Shit. Mike.

"Bella? Are you awake?"

What?

I groaned and turned over, grabbing my alarm clock off my nightstand. "Dad, it's only six in the morning."

"I know, Bella. Just wanted to tell you I have to go to Seattle today on an emergency, so I probably won't be back until after you've gone to bed tonight." He looked a little sheepish and didn't look at me. I glanced down and found my legs tangled in my bed sheets. Luckily no part of my boy shorts peeked out from anywhere. Had I voiced aloud my lust-induced words? Had I said Edward's name?

Embarrassed, I sat up straighter and pretended to yawn, readjusting the bed sheets carefully. "Have fun."

Charlie laughed nervously. "Sure will. Sorry to wake you up."

"Eh. As long as I'm awake, might as well get up. See you later then."

As Charlie left I swung my legs over the side of the bed and thought about what I was going to have to do today. I considered going back to sleep and forgetting about the whole thing. Another groan escaped me and I got up to go through my morning routine.

Forty-five minutes later I sat in the living room, flipping through TV channels; any way to distract myself from the things I'd have to face today. I was startled out of my thoughts with a loud knock at the front door. I sighed and wondered if Charlie had forgotten something. It'd be just like him.

I swung the door open and gasped. "Edward, what are you doing here? It's hardly seven o'clock."

"I know," he said casually. "I woke up early today and figured I'd drive over early. Can I come in?"

My mind froze for a second, still getting over his arrival. "Oh, sorry, come in. I was just…watching TV." I pushed him through the hall into the kitchen and he stood against the counter. "So…" I began and was unable to finish.

"So," he mimicked playfully. It was only now that I could take in his appearance, so normal and yet so…tempting: a light grey long-sleeve shirt hugged his torso in a way I found myself becoming quickly jealous of, and emphasized just how bright the color of his eyes and hair were. As I found myself producing excess saliva at the mere sight of a shirt, I refused to let my eyes continue their journey down the rest of him.

I swallowed thickly, realizing I'd have to discuss things with him, and now was my chance. "We have to talk, Edward."

The playful glint in his eyes burned out quickly and was replaced with something else I couldn't recognize clearly. All I knew was it made his flawless face look somehow worried. "Yeah," he answered more quietly. "Look, Bella, I—"

The irritating ring of the house phone interrupted him and I muttered a curse under my breath before excusing myself and picking up the phone. "Hello?"

"Bella?"

My heart stopped for a moment. "Mike. Hey."

"Hey, how are you this morning?" Mike sounded a bit strange but he sounded as happy as he usually seemed to be when he talked to me.

"Fine," I answered, wary of his question this early in the morning. "You?"

"Actually, I'm a little sick today but otherwise I'm okay. I'm just wondering if you could pick up my assignments today? We have most of our classes together, so I was hoping it'd be okay."

"Of course I can do that, it's no problem at all. What's wrong?" I couldn't help the protectiveness I felt over him; after all, he's been my boyfriend for a pretty long time. When we first started dating, though I always felt undeserving of him, I still had the slight possessive instinct to keep him close.

"Just a little stomach flu, I think. I'll be fine."

My eyebrows furrowed in worry. "I hope you feel better, Mike. I'll get your assignments over."

"Thanks, Bells. See you later. Love you."

"Lo—" my words died on my tongue. "Get some rest. Bye, Mike." I hung up the phone and sighed. Well, there went my mission for today. A light cough brought me back to the present situation: Edward in my kitchen, about to tell me something.

I quickly turned to find him staring at me, some kind of desperation and indecision in his eyes. "I'm sorry about that," I said quietly.

"It's okay," he replied, and then remained silent.

After a brief pause, I had to know. "What were you going to say?"

Edward turned away from me and looked out the kitchen window, in a manner that reminded me of a soap opera; if I wasn't so curious about what he'd say I would have laughed.

"Bella, I…" he hesitated again. He cleared his throat and started over. "Bella, I know that Mom and I didn't leave on…the best of terms. And I know we didn't get along all the time and I was about as much of a prick as a twelve-year-old can be sometimes. You have to know that I didn't mean any of it."

"I know," I whispered, sensing this conversation might take an awkward turn. "It's okay. I did the same."

"No, it's not okay." He sighed tiredly and ran a nervous hand through his hair. "I can only apologize. But that's not what I needed to tell you."

I looked up in surprise and found his eyes flickering from me to elsewhere in hesitation. "What is it?" I prompted.

Before I could register what was happening, I felt my fingers tugging at the silky locks of his hair, my lips firmly attached to his, and the edge of the countertop roughly scraping my hip through my shirt. What am I doing? God, does it matter…I told myself to let him go, but my body said differently, pushing back against him with equal force. And just as suddenly as it happened, it stopped. Edward pushed himself away, letting me go and leaning against the counter beside me. An unnecessary yet familiar feeling of rejection washed over me and I looked away from his panting form.

"I'm sorry, Bella, I shouldn't have…I don't…" he continued stumbling through his words and I couldn't help the small smile on my face.

I sighed, absently touching my lips where his mouth had been. "I encouraged it. Don't worry. Are there any words you wanted to share though?"

His hesitation to tell me whatever it was returned and I wondered if it was that important. "Maybe now's not a good time to tell you."

I glanced at the clock: 7:15. We'd have to leave soon if we weren't going to be late. Still, I wanted to hear what he needed to say. "Right now is perfectly fine. Go."

Another sigh fell from his slightly kiss-swollen lips and he turned his face up to the ceiling. "I'm tired of trying to stay away from you."

Unexpected and not-very-familiar heat rushed to the core between my legs at his words. I shouldn't have reacted like that, but coming from Edward, they felt all too welcome. My hand reached out and took his of its own volition while I mentally cursed at it to stop. "So don't." Great, my tongue was betraying me also.

He turned to face me and I almost could have cried at the emotions in his emerald eyes. "I can't let myself do that." He looked at the clock above the sink. "Get your stuff. I'll wait outside." With that he walked quickly and silently down the hall and out the front door.

I stood, confused at his words and at my own. Well, I wanted him physically, that was obvious. I did want him in my life. In a sense, he'd said he wanted to be around me, and I was welcoming it. Why couldn't he let himself be with me? As Igrabbed my bag from next to the door, I thought back through what happened in the last twenty minutes. Mike.

All right, readers, I'm back from the Dominican Republic, where my husband took me for our surprise honeymoon. It was magnificent and all I can say is my hubby definitely got some LOL :) I won't bore you with the details. I've been working pretty hard on this chapter, but I'm not very happy with it or the writing or where the plot's going. I wanted to bring in Angela because I like her. I don't know what other characters will be in this story. Ben, probably, and Jessica. Esme will actually come in sometime too. We'll see. I'm also considering an EPOV chapter. I'm a little intimidated by Edward's crowded mind but if I can't fit the answers to the questions Bella has about Edward, I might just have Edward explaing them. So yes, I did know that Edward is a little mysterious and we don't know a whole lot about him right now.

I had something I did want to comment on. When I was reading someone's story (time to whore it out: Boy In The Red Sweater by Starryntex, it's really good, go read it! So is Elove) she mentioned something I've thought about for a while. I notice a lot of people favorite my story or put it on alert, but there are only some people who review. I'm not withholding chapters or anything like that, but I would like to say that reviews are really appreciated, and if you're going to favorite or alert this story, I'd like to know why you're doing so. Reviewing can take five seconds, literally. Just saying. ;) But to add, I love all of you faithful readers for sticking by the story and it's great to see that so many people do enjoy reading it, so thanks to all the faves and alerts I received.

This is a very long AN and I'll probably stop writing so much, but I just want to whore out some music too :D

For this chapter, I got more writing done listening to

"Need" by Hana Pestle (if you haven't, look her up on myspace or iTunes. Beautiful voice, and this song is being considered for the New Moon soundtrack, so help her out!)

"Love Song Requiem" by Trading Yesterday

"Electric Feel" by MGMT

"Walking Away" by Kina Grannis (an artist I found on youtube. She's got music on iTunes and youtube, so look her up. She's very talented)

Mucho amor!