Author's Note: I added a bit of content to this chapter. Hopefully, it does what I intend. I want to make Edward's recovery from "Assholiness" (yes, that's a new word) to be marked with ups and downs. It isn't an easy journey for him, and he will stumble many times before he completely changes. Some of his stumbles are more profound than this chapter, but please keep in mind that he does want to be better, and eventually he will get there even if he does some deplorable things before he reaches the point where he defeats his inner monster.

Chapter 10 – Thirst

"Let me take you home, Bella." Edward offered after I had spent most of the day at the Cullen residence.

"I'm not so sure…" Carlisle worried.

"I promise I just need to talk to her for a little bit." He seemed genuine.

I looked at Carlisle's face and I could tell that he was nervous about me being alone with Edward. I knew Edward wanted to make his case for going with me tomorrow, and I thought I owed him a gentle letdown. I in no way intended to let him come to choose an agent with me, but I thought it would be less humiliating for him to be let down in private.

"I don't think so…" I hedged, glancing at Carlisle to make sure he wasn't upset with me.

"You don't need my permission, Bella." Carlisle assured me. "If you want to speak with Edward, I trust you."

"I promise to be good." Edward mimicked swearing on the Bible.

"I'll watch and make sure." Alice eyed him suspiciously and then rounded on Edward who was obviously not happy with her. "Don't even think about asking me to not watch, Edward. I won't fall for that again. You're lucky that I'm not insisting on camping outside Bella's door while you talk to her."

"I don't think that's necessary." I told her. "Just watching should be fine."

"Will you speak with me?" Edward nervously asked me.

"Okay, Edward." I consented.

"Call us if you need something." Carlisle told me as he pulled me quickly toward himself and kissed the back of my hand.

Edward was quiet the whole ride to my house. He must have been trying to figure out exactly what he was going to say. Once we were sitting in my living room, Edward started to talk.

"I was working up the courage to ask you for another chance, but I can see that I'm too late for that." He finally managed to say.

I winced slightly at that, knowing that I probably wouldn't have taken him back even if Carlisle hadn't asked me to start a relationship with him.

"Edward… I…" I stammered. I had no idea what to say to him.

"I figured it would be like that." He told me sadly. "I didn't think you'd go for it anyway, but I was planning on wearing you down slowly with my charm."

"That's the problem, Edward." I told him, exasperated. "I don't want to be charmed."

"Don't be ridiculous, Bella. All women want to be swept off their feet." Edward smirked.

"You are a seriously arrogant son of a bitch." I snapped at him. "Who are you to presume you know what all women want?"

"Bella, Bella, Bella," he sighed condescendingly, "I'm Edward Cullen. I hear…"

There was a tense silence before Edward came to his senses.

"Shit." He swore. "I really didn't bring you home to pick a fight with you."

"You just have a hard time breaking the cycle?" I asked.

"I've been like this for so long." He explained, very dejected. "I want to be better, but I just keep failing. It's very hard for a vampire to change, even more so than a human."

"Please don't give up. I'll help you. I'm sure Carlisle will help you." I told him. "I'll try to find a more subtle way to tell you that you're being an ass."

"I don't know how to change." He confessed. "The only thing I've ever successfully changed about myself is suppressing the urge to kill humans, and that was only because Carlisle physically stayed with me for years until he was sure that I wouldn't do anything I would regret. Besides that, I've never had much discipline, even when I was human."

"Really?" I found this hard to believe. "I thought that your era was all about preparing young men to be the unquestioned head of household. I would have thought that your father would have made sure you were disciplined."

"He did… when he was there," Edward said very slowly, like he was remembering a fuzzy memory, "but he was often gone on business, and my mother couldn't bear to punish me. Mostly, I got away with anything when my father was gone… and my mother would try to cover for me when he was at home. Basically, he had to physically catch me doing something, or I wouldn't get any consequences for my behavior."

"Your mother didn't want you to be hurt. I'm sure she thought she was doing you a favor." I tried to empathize with her.

"Yes, I'm sure that was her reasoning." He sighed.

"I'm sure that your mother loved you." I told him.

"She did, and so did my father," he conceded, "though he would have had my hide if he had seen the way I treated you."

"Had your hide?" I didn't quite understand what that meant.

"You know… taken me to the metaphorical woodshed, made it so I wasn't able to sit comfortably for a month…" He didn't actually want to say the word. He was clearly embarrassed by the idea of being spanked even rarely as a child.

"He would have spanked you?" I don't know why, but I felt that the word needed to be said out loud. We couldn't dance around it.

"That's how it was done when I was human." He nodded his head, clearly not of the same opinion that I was regarding saying spank out loud. "But my mother didn't see it that way. After I was born, she was unable to have any more children. Since I was her only child, she gave me everything I wanted."

"It sounds like they both loved you very much." I told him. "She just didn't know how to tell you no."

"And it had emotionally handicapped me for eternity." He blamed her.

"And I had to be grown up when I was five, Edward." I told him rather exasperated by his readiness to push the blame for his behavior on someone else. "Everyone has to overcome things that other people have done to them. Parents, siblings, boyfriends, all do things to us that have the potential to change the way we see the world. We can't use the whole nature/nurture debate as an excuse for our behavior. We have to realize that our choices define us, not the mistakes of others."

"You're right; Bella, but I don't know how to change. I've made some terrible choices. I don't want to be like that anymore." Edward dry sobbed.

"Make new choices, Edward." I told him. "Grow up."

"What if I'm too far gone?" He whimpered. "What if there's no hope for me?"

"There's always hope, Edward." I reached up and touched his face to comfort him.

He did try to stop me, but accidentally touched my wrist in the attempt and I still felt some of the pain of his emotions before he detached himself from me.

I heard music coming from Edward's phone. Someone was obviously calling him, but I didn't recognize the tune, probably because I was in pain again. It wasn't as much as before, but I was worn out from all of the pain I had absorbed today.

"I'm sorry. I tried to stop her." He said very quietly as he stroked my back to get me to calm down. "Okay, I will."

He put the phone up to my ear, and once again I heard Carlisle's voice telling me to breathe in and out. It really helped with the pain management. I calmed down quickly.

"Thank you, Carlisle." I whispered once I was pain-free.

"Anytime." He told me as he hung up the phone.

I was both physically and emotionally worn out from all of the pain today. I didn't know how much more drama I could take today, but still, Edward had something on his mind.

"Bella, the real reason I wanted to bring you home was because I would like to fully confess all of the hell I put you through, but I didn't want to do so without your permission. Some of it, though it was completely my fault, might not be information you want everyone to know." Edward looked very sad as he spoke to me.

I cried again, and this time because of my own pain, not someone else's. I couldn't handle what he was asking of me, and I felt awful that I couldn't let him admit all that he had done to me as he had asked. I tried to think of a way to allow him the release that confession would offer him, but I came up empty.

"I understand that it's not fair of me to ask you this." He told me, sadly. "I just don't think that I can ever fully move past my horrible mistakes until I can own them."

"I'm not ready to share that information, Edward. I don't know if I will ever be." I told him honestly. "I wish there were some way to let you confess without…" completely letting everyone know how pathetic I am. I added silently. "Maybe you can just tell them that you were awful…"

"I'm not sure that awful will cover it." He chuckled mirthlessly. "They already know that I controlled you and dazzled you into doing what I wanted. They just don't know how far I went, how shamefully I behaved. I think they need to understand before they can truly forgive me."

"But I don't want them to know…" I mumbled, unwilling to trust them, or anyone, with this information at this time.

"Maybe if I told them I was more awful than they could possibly imagine." He offered.

"I'm sorry, Edward." I felt awful for being this weak.

"No, Bella. Don't beat yourself up about this. Like I said, it isn't fair for me to ask this of you. I will not force you to be in more pain so that I can feel better. I promise not to tell them about it." He vowed. "Just please, if it should ever come up, let them know that I wanted to confess."

"Of course, Edward, I really appreciate you respecting my privacy on this matter." I agreed, hugging him.

"You really do forgive me?" He asked slightly shocked.

"Of course, I told you that I did." I reminded him.

"Thank you very much." He hugged me more tightly than he ever had before. It was slightly painful, but his emotions needed a release, so I allowed him to hold me for awhile. And that lasted… until he decided to smell my hair.

"No, Edward." I tried to push away from him, but he held me in place.

"Edward, please let me go!" I started to panic, but he released me before I hyperventilated.

I backed far away from him and took out my cell phone to call Carlisle. There was no way I wanted to be alone with Edward right now. I knew that he was trying to change, but it wouldn't be easy for him. He would have setbacks as well as successes. This moment just happened to be a setback.

"I'm leaving." He threw his hands up in surrender, correctly interpreting my actions, but continued very heatedly, "You don't need to call him."

I really wanted to call Carlisle. If only to ensure that Edward would indeed leave my house tonight. I was really afraid that he would come back and watch me sleep again. My heart was beating wildly with nervousness.

"I'm sorry, Edward." My voice shook as I whispered, "I think I should call him."

"Is this what forgiven means to you?" He questioned me angrily.

I stared at him for a moment, shaking when Alice called me. I brought the phone up to my ear to listen to her while still watching Edward.

"I saw what happened, Bella." She told me.

"Thank you for watching." I answered.

"Jasper and I are on the way. We'll bring him home." She assured me.

I was still in this defensive position when Charlie came home.

"Hey Bells, how was the mu…" Charlie stopped mid-word when he saw Edward. I'm sure the slightly worried, exhausted look I had on my face didn't help Charlie's mood any. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Dad, Edward just drove me home." I tried to explain. "He and I…" I didn't quite know how to explain it to him, and right now, my explanation wouldn't do Edward any favors.

"I know how close she is to the rest of my family, and I would like to be friends with her again, if that's possible." Edward answered for me. "It's taken me awhile to see the error of my ways, but I have asked her to forgive me."

"You broke her heart." Charlie growled. "Don't expect my forgiveness any time soon."

"Dad, really." I told him worriedly. I really didn't want to do anything to push Edward right now. "Please be nice."

"No, he's right Bella. I understand." Edward lowered his head remorsefully. He looked like he truly regretted holding me for too long. I was hopeful that this was the case. "I'll be going."

I followed Edward to the door to tell him goodbye, and to wait for Alice and Jasper.

"Do you want to take my car to meet agents tomorrow?" Edward asked, completely forgetting that I should get a choice in whether he goes at all.

"Edward, I think that you shouldn't come with me. Esme and Jasper will be there." I told him as gently, but firmly as I could.

"Bella, Jasper is okay at reading people, but he doesn't have my ability." He told me rather arrogantly.

"Jasper will be just fine." I insisted.

"But Jasper doesn't have the control I have. What if he tries to bite you?" He argued. "Do you think Esme will be strong enough to keep him from killing you?"

"Edward." I snapped. "I trust Jasper. Right now, I don't trust you."

Just then, Alice and Jasper walked up, and they were both smiling.

"Thank you, ma'am." Jasper said shyly. "I appreciate your trust."

"You don't know how much that means to him, Bella." Alice quickly kissed my cheek.

Edward looked pained and a bit like he was trying to come up with an argument that would get him what he wanted, but eventually, he just nodded tersely and said, "If that's what you want."

"Thank you, Edward." I smiled at him. "I know that's hard for you, but I really appreciate it."

"I had better go. Your father believes that we're making out, and he's coming to make sure I leave." Edward smiled and walked away.

"And your father is kind of upset that you didn't let her go when Bella told you no and tried to pull away from you." Alice told him pointedly.

"And Bella is worried, probably that you will come back and watch her sleep tonight." Jasper added.

I nodded to him, glad that he understood. He smiled back at me, silently assuring me that they would watch Edward tonight.

"Again, I'm sorry, Bella." Edward apologized. "I will try to respect your boundaries."

"I forgive you, Edward." I told him, but kept my hands well away from him, not wanting to accidentally absorb his pain.

After Edward had left, I found Charlie hovering behind me, looking like he had something on his mind.

"So…" Charlie sighed. "You and Edward again?"

"No." I told him, shaking my head a little. "He wants to be friends."

"Don't kid yourself, Bella." Charlie laughed humorlessly. "That boy wants to be more than friends."

"Well," I exhaled, "even if he does want to be more than friends, I don't."

"Then what was that at the doorway?" Charlie asked with a hint of accusation in his voice.

"He was offering to drive me to Seattle to hire an art agent." I explained. "But I told him that Esme was taking me."

"You're getting an agent?" He asked, not really expecting an answer. "And you're not letting him go with you?" If Charlie was trying to keep the hopefulness out of his voice, he had failed. "Just you and Esme?"

"No, just me, Esme, and Jasper. He's a good judge of character." I answered.

"That's good news." Charlie grinned. That was actually an understatement. He looked like he was going to dance around the living room.

"Dad, seriously, Edward is just my friend, but he is my friend." I told him with as much warning in my voice as I could.

"Okay, I'll let it go, but I reserve the right to kill him if he hurts you again." Charlie told me seriously.

Though the day of my appointments with the agents was New Year's Eve, Alice still managed to get them for me. She was amazing. I think that even if I were a vampire, I wouldn't get half as much done as Alice does.

Esme and Jasper picked me up in Esme's car, an off-white 1956 Cadillac Coupe de Ville with brown leather seats. It had a personalized license plate with her name. I fell in love with this car the first time I saw it, and was rather excited to be riding in it since I had never gotten to before.

The trip to Seattle was quick, and our first appointment was with Remi Quentin.

We waited in his reception area for twenty minutes before he ever graced us with his presence.

"He's not doing anything in there. He just wants us to think he's incredibly busy." Jasper told me.

"His décor is tasteless." Esme scrunched her nose, looking at all of the avant-garde décor in the room. "He's trying too hard to show us that he knows about art."

The couch was literally a stuffed nude mermaid with rather large breasts. I wish that was the worst of it, but he also had a coat tree with rather large… um… phalluses as the hooks. I was embarrassed just to be in the same room with it. His pictures were pornographic, and not in a way that made me blush, but in a I wish I could erase that image from my head way. There was literally nowhere I could look without being assaulted by at least very naughty images. The worst of them were offensive and disturbing.

"Bonjour." He barely stuck his head out of his office and absently motioned for us to follow him. "We must make this quick." His French accent was thick.

"And why is that?" Jasper snapped at him. "Because you made us wait even though we had an appointment?"

We all sat on an uncomfortably narrow couch in front of his desk.

"I had a very important client call." He told us very arrogantly. "You must understand how busy I am."

"No, Ed…" Jasper started and I suppressed a smile. "I mean Mr. Quentin, you had an appointment with us, but blew us off."

"I have no inclination to justify my schedule to you." He turned his nose up at Jasper. "Show me your work, girl."

"Yes, Edward." Jasper muttered so that only Esme and I could hear.

Again, I held in a giggle.

"I'd rather not." I regained my composure and stood. "I want an agent who actually has time for me."

The second agent wasn't very far from the first. It was so close that we walked there. We should have known from the first that she was not for us because her name was Sabine, no last name.

"Bonjour, bonjour." She greeted us as soon as we walked in with false warmness in their voice, shaking Jasper's hand longer than she should.

"Welcome to my agency." She smiled, batting her eyes at him. She had a very fake sounding French accent. "Let me tell you about my many satisfied clients…"

She droned on and on for awhile about how important her other clients were and how she'd been able to successfully promote them. She never asked what I was looking for in an agent. She was kind of the opposite of what I wanted actually.

At the end of our appointment, she hadn't asked a single question about me or my work, and she'd told many name-dropping stories about her wonderful clientele.

"Thank you." I told her politely though I had no intention of calling her.

We had to drive to get to the third appointment, Jonathan Franks.

"A pleasure to meet you, miss." He eyed me up and down, holding my hand and upper arm while he did.

He guided me into the agency with him and led me to a couch where he sat very close to me.

"Tell me all about your work." He told me grazing my knee with his hand.

I tried to scoot away from him, but he followed me to the edge of the couch.

"Excuse me." Jasper practically growled at him, looking like he was ready to rip this man's arms off. "If you'll quit trying to get into my friend's pants, maybe she could tell you about her work."

"Of course," Mr. Franks seemed embarrassed at having been caught, "please go on."

He stopped pursuing me across the couch, but he didn't back off either.

"Well… I'd like an agent because I'm relatively… new…" I was having a hard time completing my sentence because Mr. Franks was staring at my breasts. "You know what?" I stood abruptly. "This place isn't for me. I can't handle this."

As we headed out of the office, I was becoming weary at the thought of going to two more agencies.

"Why don't we have Alice look for someone?" I suggested. "I seem to attract the losers of the art world."

"I'm not sure she would…" Jasper laughed. "You did make it pretty clear that you wanted to do this on your own."

"I know." I said resignedly. "I still do. This is just harder than I thought."

Finally, we met with our fourth possible agent, and her name was Glenna Malcolm. Her agency was small, but tasteful.

"I like her décor." Esme commented when we first walked in. "It actually reflects a personality rather than her desire to seem artsy."

"She seems to be from Scotland or at least of Scottish heritage." I commented off hand, but remembered Esme's Christmas gift from Alice.

"I wonder what that's about." Jasper caught my eye and smiled wickedly.

Yes, he had the same thought I had. I was nearly reduced to a fit of giggles, but Jasper sent me a wave of calmness.

Even Esme seemed to think her decorating scheme was nice and definitely reflected a Scottish heritage. The other three, she said, seemed to be trying too hard to show us that they were artistic.

"I'm very glad to meet with you, Bella." She smiled and shook my hand warmly as she led us into her office.

Glenna had auburn hair that fell straight to her shoulders. She had beautiful clear green eyes and wore very little makeup. She also had a very cute Scottish accent. She dressed neatly, but not overly fashionable. For some reason (note the sarcasm) she didn't look at Jasper much, only me and Esme. "Tell me a little about yourself and what you're looking for in an agent."

Though Glenna was definitely interested in Esme, she wasn't ogling her the way the last agent was ogling me. She was friendly and polite. When I spoke, she listened to me like I was the only one in the room.

"I'm a sculptor, and I just got accepted into Yale, but I would like an agent to help keep me and my work anonymous." I blushed. "I already have sort of a pseudonym that I am using, but I would really like to keep a buffer between me and any institution I choose to use. My work has already gotten a bit of fame, and I would like that to be separate from my private life."

"What is your pseudonym?" She asked.

"Elsabet Marali."

"You're on display here in Seattle." Her jaw dropped in shock. She had obviously seen my work and didn't expect me to be the one who had done it. "Your work is simply breath-taking."

"Thank you." I blushed harder.

"I would very much be honored if you would choose me to be your agent. I don't handle many artists as talented as you, but I can definitely guarantee your anonymity." Glenna smiled warmly.

I liked this woman. She had no aspirations to use me to further her business. She was interested in representing me and my interests they way I wished them to be represented.

"And who have you brought with you?" She wondered.

"This is Jasper." I motioned to him. "He's a friend, and a very good judge of character."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance ma'am." He shook her hand.

"Likewise." She smiled politely at him.

"And this is Esme." I squeezed Esme's hand in mine. "She's my second mother. She came because my mom lives in Jacksonville, and my dad is a police chief who had to work today because of the increased drinking around New Year's Eve."

"Very nice to meet you." Glenna shook Esme's hand and checked her out. Esme did the same. Jasper and I exchanged a knowing look. Glenna and Esme were definitely attracted to each other. I guess we were right about her orientation.

It took her a moment to regain her composure and get back into agent mode, but I was happy to let her and Esme have a moment.

"Okay, so the first thing I'd want to do is get you a list of schools with good art programs, and I'd want you to narrow down to a handful, and I will contact them with your requests. After that, you can give me your final choice." She went into full business mode. "If you wish to have a show at some point in the future, I will take care of that for you as well."

"I like the sound of that." I looked at Jasper to see if he was on the same page as I was. He nodded in agreement. I continued, wishing to be honest with her. "We have one more appointment today, but right now, you are the clear leader. The other three we met today aren't really for me."

"Thank you, but yes, you should go meet the last agent. You definitely want to make an informed decision and choose the one who is right for you." She smiled at me.

Her openness was refreshing. I thought briefly about signing with her right now, but she was right. I should at least meet with the other agent.

"Like I said, I'll meet with the other agent, but I hope you hold no hard feelings if I choose to go with her." I told her grinning, evilly. "But I'd never forgive myself if we left without at least telling you that Esme is single and very interested in you. This is her personal number."

Glenna's face lighted up immediately, and I handed her my phone and showed her Esme's number. She punched in the information hastily. Esme would have been blushing if she could have.

Our last appointment, at the office of Lisa Jordan, was by far the most interesting of the day.

"Good afternoon, Bella." Lisa greeted us, shaking all of our hands. "I'm Lisa. Who are your friends?"

"Jasper and Esme." I motioned to each of them.

Esme shook her hand first and exchanged pleasantries, then Jasper shook her hand as well, but unfortunately for Lisa, Jasper had to take a breath to speak.

"A plea…" Jasper choked. I had never heard a vampire choke before. I looked up in surprise. Jasper's eyes were flat black and his expression was murderous. I recognized that look. He was thirsty. On instinct, I reached over and grabbed Jasper's arm. Yes, it was stupid, but I really didn't think about it. My hand just sort of touched him of its own volition.

More sudden than emotional pain, but less so than the physical pain, the back of my throat started hurting, and I was very thirsty, very thirsty. I lunged forward, but was grabbed and held firmly by both vampires. When I couldn't get what I wanted, I started shaking violently. Jasper released my hand from his arm, but I still wanted to taste her blood, badly. I vaguely recalled that Alice's ringtone was playing on Jasper's phone, but it kept going, so he must have ignored it.

"I'll call an ambulance." Lisa announced, scared that I was having an epileptic seizure.

"No, her medication is in the car." Esme stopped her.

I was still shaking as Jasper carried me out to the car to calm me down. I have no idea how long I had been shaking when Esme brought me a bottle of water.

"That was awful." I whimpered. "How do you stand it?"

"Years and years of practice." Esme told me.

"It's usually not that bad." Jasper shuddered. "I think that she smells as good to me as you do to Edward."

"How did he ever kiss me without killing me?" I asked.

"I have no idea. I don't think I could even handle talking to her for more than one breath. It kind of makes me hate Edward a little less." Jasper laughed. "I really hope you don't pick her because I probably won't cope with life very well if I have to hang around her every day."

"If you hadn't restrained me, I would have jumped the desk and bit her." I told them, very ashamed.

"Trust me, better you than me." Jasper smirked. "I was a hair breadth away from draining her, and Esme wouldn't have been able to stop me the way we could stop you."

Just as Esme had left to give our apologies to Lisa, Jasper's phone rang, again. Alice was probably going out of her mind with worry about Jasper.

"Yes, Alice, I'm alright." He sighed. I heard Alice screaming heatedly into the phone. She was obviously very stressed about Jasper. "No, the agent's okay too, even though Bella tried to bite her."

Jasper laughed at something Alice said.

"You didn't see that." He laughed harder. "Bella touched me and she became thirsty instead of me. Esme and I had to hold her back."

Alice was left speechless for a moment and then laughed loudly into the phone.

"Yes, it is incredible, and yes, Bella's going to be trouble when she's changed. By the way, I'm thinking about forgiving Edward." He told her and then smiled. "Yes, I know we still need to be cautious, but I can see where some of his madness came from after today."

"Did you see Esme with the other agent?" I asked her out loud though I couldn't hear her answer.

Alice squealed.

"You see them together? Of course you do, you meddling little pixie." Jasper cheered. I smiled as well. "It's about time she was interested in someone."

"Love you too, darlin'." He hung up.

"Jasper," I told him smiling, "I'm very proud of the way you restrained yourself."

"I nearly killed her, Bella." He looked a little ashamed.

"But you didn't." I reminded him. "Just three and a half months ago, you would have killed her before I could have blinked."

"True." He conceded.

"You have amazing control." I tried to let him feel exactly how I felt about him, sending him all the admiration I could muster. "You feel all of their thirst every day, and I only know of one person you tried to kill in that whole time frame."

"But that was you." He laughed.

"Yes, and since you seemed to know just how Edward felt about being around me, I assume that you were feeling his thirst as well as your own when I got that paper cut." I explained.

"Yes," he admitted reluctantly.

"So why on earth would you ever let Edward make you feel like you were inferior to him?" I asked incredulously. "You have so much more control than they realize. Do any of them know how much you struggle so that you can help them curb their own thirst?"

"Alice and Carlisle know." Jasper admitted. "She's always known, and Carlisle figured it out after I tried to kill you."

"You'd think Edward would know." I told him, pointing out the obvious.

"He might know, but I don't think he wants to admit it." Jasper told me.

"Because he likes thinking that you're weaker than he is?" I guessed.

"Probably." Jasper confirmed.

"Don't let him treat you that way. You are amazing, Jasper." I told him and patted him on the arm, and he looked away rather embarrassed.

My phone beeped with a text from Alice. I've been telling him that for years.

Esme was on the phone when she got back to the car. Jasper was giving me a look that told me that she was on the phone with Glenna, and it wasn't about me. I giggled.

"They have a date next week." He wagged his eyebrows at me, and then turned towards Esme. "And Alice wants to meet her."

Esme groaned. "I should have known."

"Maybe we could double date sometime." I suggested.

Author's Ending Note: Let me know if you have any ideas about how to show Edward's struggle. I will try to include some of them if I can.