A/N: So what do you do when you have a shit-tastic day at work? Well come home and write mindless fluff of course! Eh yeah this chapter is definitely a filler, but once again a necessary evil to gear up for the next chapter (which I must say is already beginning to be one of my favs!).

As always, a shout out to my awesome friends who read and review! Also those of you who have added me as a favorite author and/or my stories. It really means a lot that you all like my stuff that well.

Without further delay.................

Moving On

"Where do you think she is?" Emmett asked.

I could hear them talking as they walked towards Jasper's truck. I'm not really sure how long I was sitting on the tailgate waiting on them but it felt like hours. I was well aware of the fact that I had been crying and I knew that everyone would assume they were tears of sadness, but they were simply tears of anger. I hoped that no one on the field had noticed my waterworks; appearing weak in front of all the people I hated was not on my list of things to do – especially over a stupid boy.

"You don't think she walked home do you? That would be one heck of…" Jasper said.

Why the hell would I walk home? Do they really think I'm that torn up over this?

"She's sitting on your tailgate." Edward interrupted.

"Oh thank god." Alice said and I heard her footsteps pick up in pace. I assumed Rose was close behind her. I was happy that they cared, but I only wanted Edward. I looked up from my lap and gazed past them to Edward who was staring at me.

"Hey Ali, Rose." I said still not looking at them.

"Hey pixie, let's get home. Let's let these boys take her." Rose suggested before Alice could get another word in. Rose, god bless her, she always somehow knew what I was thinking.

"But…"

"You'll see her at work tomorrow, because you know she won't call in for this shit." Rose said turning Alice around and towards their car while winking at me. I gave her a half smile before turning my attention back to the boys. All three of them were half dressed, hair still wet and in major disarray, more so than normal. I just shook my head and laughed. That got looks from them, causing me to shake my head again.

Edward walked up to me, standing between my legs and wiped my tears away and pushed my hair behind my ears. I couldn't look away from his eyes. I vaguely remember hearing the truck doors shut indicating that Jasper and Emmett were no longer standing next to us, but I couldn't tell you when they left.

"I'll kick his ass if you want me to." Edward whispered. I laughed a little but shook my head because if anyone was going to be kicking his ass it was going to be me and Edward knew that too.

"Can we just go home?"

"Anything you want, sweetie." He said. I stood up and walked to the back of the truck and sat down again. Edward closed the tailgate and then jumped in the back sitting down next to me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders allowing me to rest my head on him.

The next thing I was aware of, we were stopping in front of our building. I realized I had long since stopped crying and had lost my ability to form any emotion towards the situation. I knew I was blocking and not allowing myself to feel but for the time being I was all right with that.

"See you guys tomorrow at work." Edward said as we walked by the cab of the truck.

"See ya." They said then pulled away.

"Do you want to talk about…?" Edward asked as we walked up the stairs, his arm still around me.

"Not tonight. Can we just hang out and pretend it didn't happen right now?" I asked, almost pleaded really. He didn't say anything he just nodded. "At your place." I added when I realized he was steering me towards my apartment.

"Sure." He said then turned us around and went to open his door. "Before we start ignoring this…do you want me to pick you up for work tomorrow or are you taking a sick…"

"I can't leave you hanging on a Saturday. I'd like a ride to work, please." I said.

"Edward? Is that you?" A female voice I didn't recognize came from the kitchen. Edward's eyes widened and brightened. I looked from him to the kitchen entrance. Standing in the doorway was a beautiful woman. She didn't stand much taller than Alice and it didn't take me long to realize who she was. She had the same color hair as Edward and even though their eyes were different colors, they were the same in shape and depth. It was Esme.

"Mom?" Edward said in disbelief. "I thought you…hi." He finally said chuckling.

"I finished up work and came on down. I know its a few months earlier than expected but now we won't miss the holidays together and…oh my, excuse my manners, you must be Bella." She said smiling at me.

"Yes ma'am." I said extending my hand.

"Psh…Esme dear. Oh…have you been crying? Is everything all right dear?" She asked me then gave a disapproving look towards her son. "Edward?"

I had to laugh at her tone.

"Edward didn't do anything…it's just…I broke up with my boyfriend tonight." I said and for some reason felt the lump in my throat. "It was nice to meet you Esme, but I think I'll be going home now. I don't want to interfere with your coming home celebration."

"Bells…you don't have…" Edward said.

"I want to Edward. It's fine. I'll see you tomorrow morning for work." I said then stood on my tip toes to kiss his cheek. "Thank you." I finished then walked out closing the door behind me. Before I opened my door I took a deep breath, hoping Renee was out for the evening.

"What the heck is going on?" Renee asked her hands on her hips. I hadn't even shut the door yet and she was all over me. I wasn't surprised she knew something was wrong. Not only had I ignored the countless phone calls I received from Mike but I was sure someone at the game had told her what happened.

"What?" I asked innocently, trying to play it off.

"What? A very upset Mike called her looking for you. Said you weren't answering your phone. He's mad about something and what have you been doing to not answer your phone?"

"He's mad?! What a jackass! Of course I wasn't answering my phone. I'm never answering again when he calls. I no longer have to. He is no longer my boyfriend. He and Jessica will be very happy together." I said bitter.

"Oh. I see." She said finally calming down. I didn't say another word to her.

Surprisingly, sleep came quickly and I was more than ready for work when Edward knocked on my door. I had my makeup on, hair done, a cute new outfit, and a smile on my face.

"You ready" He asked skeptically.

"Yep let's go." I said cheerfully as I grabbed his arm and shut the door. He just looked at me, almost like he was waiting on me to do a trick or something. "What?"

"You know it's not good to suppress your feelings." He said with a raised eyebrow.

"Eh…I guess when you're prepared for it, it makes it easier. I'm mad, don't get me wrong, but I'm not going to lose sleep over the ass. He's totally not worth it." I said smudging the truth just slightly. I didn't feel the need to get into detail about how I was suppressing my feelings but that it was just because I wasn't ready to feel them yet. I knew they would hit me, and probably at the most inopportune time but until then I was going to be happy. He didn't say anything more and we drove to the mall in silence.

We were all still working at the same place, The Buckle, and it had its benefits. The discount was great, we got first dibs on the new clothes, and since it was the six of us on the weekends we had fun. But it also had its downfalls – mainly everyone from school came in constantly.

"Has she lost it?" Jasper asked Edward when we walked in. I just flipped him off before going to the back room to clock in.

"I don't think so." He said laughing. Alice and Rose were glad to see me and even happier to see that I didn't look run down and beaten. Rose starting spouting off her female power speech and I just tuned her out.

I was looking forward to the day and to be my normal self, unfortunately everyone besides my friends thought I should be broken to pieces and crying my heart out. Eventually the gossip of me being happy traveled all the way to Mike's ears and he showed up at the store. I didn't notice him at first because I was with Alice helping a customer, but since I'm so tuned into Edward's movements I noticed the second he moved swiftly towards the door.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave this store." Edwards said to Mike standing directly between him and me. I was only about fifty feet away from them so I could hear and see everything. I was trying desperately to ignore the confrontation but when the person you're helping stops talking to you to pay attention you lose your only distraction.

"You can't make me leave." Mike said then took a step in my direction. Edward placed his hand firmly on Mike's chest to stop him. "Get your damn hand off me!" Mike shouted.

"As manager of this store, I'm requesting you leave before something happens that you'll regret. And I do have the right to do that."

"Remove your hand." Mike said again, this time through his clenched jaw. Edward didn't move in the slightest.

I was in the beginning motion of my first step towards them when Mike drew his arm back. My sprint was instant but I didn't get to him before he hit Edward. Jasper and Emmett were in motion as well. I got to Mike and Edward but instead of stopping, I threw all my force into Mike pushing him away from Edward as Jasper and Emmett grabbed Edward to keep him from retaliating.

"I'm not going to hit him, guys. You can let go. Bella's got him." I heard Edward say almost like he was laughing. Mike gathered his balance only to have me shove him again. This time I got him out of the store and into the mall. People who were in the store followed us out and some of the people wandering around outside the store stopped to see what was going as well.

"You really should have left when Edward asked you to." I said knowing that the mall cops were on their way already. I pushed him up against a wall and as he hit it with a thud he looked surprised.

"What the hell is your prob…" he yelled in my face.

"How dare you come down here, to my job, poised to get up in my face!"

"You embarrassed me last night! You broke up with me in front of the whole school and now you're not even upset about it!"

"I embarrassed you? You cheated on me, remember asshole? That's pretty damn embarrassing." I yelled back. I heard wind chime chuckles and a snort from behind me making me aware that Alice and Rose had joined me. "Look around. You thought last night was bad? This is worse. Everyone here is looking at you. Everyone here now knows you were a jerk and are vain enough to think I would be crying over you. Why would I waste tears on a cheating, idiotic prick?"

"But…"

"Oh just shut up! No one wants to hear what you have to say. I put up with your shit for two years. Two years – just to have you cheat on me with a cheerleader. You're such a stereotypical asshole it's comical, really. That's worse than just being an asshole – you can't even be original with your cheating. You're beyond pathetic. Truly sad. I almost feel sorry for you. Almost." I said as I turned to walk away. When I turned I realized every one of my friends except Edward were standing behind me.

"Bella…"

"Shove it up your ass and go home." I said without looking at him. "Where's Edward?"

"In the back doctoring his lip." Jasper answered. I nodded then headed that direction.

When I entered the break room Edward had his back to me standing at the sink. I stood at the door for just a second longer than necessary staring at him. Even from the back he was good looking – more so than anyone our age, heck more so than anyone I had ever seen. He didn't seem to notice I had entered so when I finally spoke he jumped just slightly making me chuckle.

"You okay?" I asked as I walked up to the side of him.

"Oh yeah, this is nothing." He laughed as he held ice to his lip. I jumped up on the counter next to the sink to take a look at it. "He hits like a chick." He added as I pulled the ice off.

"Here let me get some of this off." I mumbled as I wet the washcloth and started dabbing at the blood around his lip. He moved his body so he was standing between my legs letting me get closer so I didn't have to stretch.

"Thanks." He murmured. I nodded my response before looking around for a place to throw the dirty washcloth. When I looked back up, I found myself staring directly into Edward's blazing green eyes. My breathing hitched and my heart thumped rapidly in my chest. I was trying desperately to calm myself so he wouldn't think I was a freak but as soon as his hand touched my cheek, I gave up trying. I took a deep shaky breath, trying to prepare for what I thought was coming. I knew I should stop it. I knew I shouldn't let him get this close to me. It wasn't healthy, emotionally anyways. He had hurt me once…

"Hey!" Emmett yelled as he barged into the room. Edward's hand dropped instantly and he stepped away from me.

"What?" We both asked irritated. He raised his eyebrow at us but let our response and position slide without comment.

"Well, the rent-a-cops wanna talk to you guys before they leave. Wanna know if charges are gonna be pressed and all that bull."

"Okay, be there in a second." Edward answered then turned back to me as Emmett walked out. He looked at me for a second, grinned his crooked grin, and then walked out leaving me sitting on the counter.

What. The. Hell?!

I growled to myself before jumping down and joining everyone else. Edward decided not to press charges, which didn't surprise me at all. He said it was because he didn't feel it was right to press them against someone so feminine. That got a booming laugh out of the boys and a snarky remark from Rose about sexism and women being stronger.

I was clearly distracted for the rest of day. I kept thinking back to what almost happened…or rather what I thought almost happened. Edward hadn't mentioned it, hadn't even eluded that something almost happened. After ending our shifts for the day, I decided to head out with Alice and Rose for some much needed girl time.

I'll get their input on the situation.

That crazy frustrating boy! What hell is he thinking now?!? :-) Hope you enjoyed this. I was back and forth about whether or not Bella would get up in Mike's face but after writing two versions of this chapter I liked this one better.