Disclaimer: I own nothing…

AN: SORRY this is so late!

Chapter 10

"Bells over here!" A voice shouted into the air as I entered the empty McDonalds in Port Angeles. I turned my head and saw Seth sitting across from a pretty girl in a booth. Seth and I had become really good friends over the last week, and he reminded me a lot of Jacob which is probably why I feel so comfortable around him.

"Hi Seth... so you must be Kim," I smiled at them as I entered the booth next to Seth.

"Hi," Kim gave me a nervous smile. She was very pretty; she had large brown eyes and dark curly hair with tan skin.

"I appreciate your understanding in our… situation," I told her honestly. Seth and I had gone on three 'dates' this past week, but really I had gone to different places with a stack of papers to grade while Seth took Kim out.

"It's no problem… I'm in no rush to meet Seth's family yet either," Kim joked smiling at Seth.

"Anyways… we brought you something. Don't get too mad…" Seth grinned slyly at me. Kim pulled out a small cardboard box like one from a bakery and lifted the lid so that I still couldn't see what was inside. She pulled something from her purse and I could hear the flick of a cigarette lighter.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Bella, happy birthday to you!" Kim turned the box around showing three cupcakes with a candle in one of them as Seth sang loudly causing the few people in the restaurant to look our way.

"Who told you?" I asked embarrassed.

"A little fairy… now come on. Make a wish," Seth smiled at me.

"I'm going to kill Alice," I said before blowing out my little candle. "Thank you; you guys didn't have to that," I grumbled at them.

"We know it's not for two days, but according to Alice it would be rude if I hadn't done something for you," Seth laughed. "But Kim makes great desserts anyway."

We enjoyed the cupcakes and had a good time. Kim and Seth were perfect together. He was loud and funny, and she was smart and quiet but witty. My inner girl awed at them as they flirted with playful banter.

"She's perfect," I told Seth as we watched her drive away.

"I know… I think I might ask her to my cousin's wedding. It's in a couple of weeks, but I love her too much to let her get away," Seth said watching her car disappear around the bend.

"The things you say Seth Clearwater… you make my inner girl squeal sometimes," I joked as I nudged his side.

"Stop that Bells, you're making me blush…Speak of the devil!" Seth laughed as his phone rang. "Sorry it'll be a sec," he told me before answering as I lifted my foot to tie my shoot awkwardly in the air. "Jacob Black, you dog! What's up?"

"What…?" I toppled over stunned.

"Bella you okay?" Seth asked laughing.

"Jacob? Jacob Black?" I said with wide eyes.

"Yeah Bella Swan… you know her?" Seth was talking into the phone and watching me with wide eyes. "Here... he wants to talk to you," he said softly handing me his phone.

"Jake?" I murmured into the phone scared.

--

Will you have lunch

in my room today?

Check [x] yes or [] no

I stared at Edward's handwriting with amazement. It's always so neat and elegant while mine is just scrappy. But I felt more relieved that he was talking to me than giving me the depressed looks like he did last week. Even though we had ten minutes until lunch, I still sent my note with a decent kid and thanked god that Jasper and Emmett wouldn't being joining us for lunch today. Also none of them had said anything yet about tomorrow so I was just waiting for it to happen all at once like the perfect storm... I've always hated my birthday.

I paused in the doorway of Edward's classroom to see him at his desk hovering over a stack of papers with a red pen. I watched as he ran his hand through his hair and chuckle before writing a lengthy note on one of the papers. It amazed me how gorgeous he was and that he was totally humble, kind, smart, and funny… it was also completely unfair.

"Hey..." I flustered when I realized he caught me starring at him.

"Hey there," he smiled at me as he got up to stretch. I sat down with my brown-bagged lunch at a lab table in the second row. He joined me by grabbing the stool from the table in front of me and pulled it up to mine.

"Did Emmett leave again?" he asked opening his lunch.

"No, he's having lunch with her over the phone," I said laughing at the idea. Rose was three days late, and she was ready to rip the baby out of her. Emmett had left yesterday during lunch to be with her, but today he decided to just 'phone' it. I don't think it went to well yesterday…

"Dad said that he might have to induce labor if she keeps calling him while he's sleeping," he laughed taking a large bite out of his sandwich.

"He doesn't have to worry about that for a couple of weeks right?" I asked suddenly worried for Rosie and the baby.

"No we shouldn't be worrying about it. He's very confident that it'll happen soon enough," Edward assured me calming my nerves.

"Oh… oh guess what I did last night?" I said excitedly remembering why I was glad we'd be alone for lunch.

"What?" he asked after hesitating for a moment.

"I talked to Jake… he called Seth last night while we were out. They're cousins…" I paused as I saw him frown.

"Wow, so did you talk talk?" he asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah, um he's getting married soon to a girl named Vanessa. He's really happy," I smiled feeling relieved that I finally got closure.

"I'm glad you got a chance to talk to him," he said seriously. At that moment, the way he was looking at me made me want to grab him and have my way with him.

"Me too… so how bad is the damage?" I asked referring to tomorrow and clearing my mind.

"Not too bad… very low key – even for us," he smirked.

"Yeah we'll see… at least I'm not Jasper. I hate doing lunch duty," I joked seriously.

--

"It's time! Bella it's time!" Emmett yelled bursting into my classroom. "Oh God… it's time. I'm going to be a father…" he whispered falling into my desk chair.

"Okay Emmett, stay calm. Just breath and I'll be right back so we can go," I told him slowly before rushing out into the hallway. I sent Emmett's class to the library and hurried toward Edward's room.

"Mr. Cullen… baby… Emmett… now," I panted trying to get the message across. Edward apparently understood and grabbed his things and running out into the hallway with me. He went off to Principal Meyer's office while I went to the library to make sure Mrs. Prince was there and hung a left to see Jasper.

"Baby… coming," was all that I managed when I got to his doorway. I received strange looks from the students, but Jasper waved me goodbye with a smile on his face.

I finally returned to my room to find my students watching Emmett hyperventilate. I sent them to the library as well and tried to get Emmett up on his feet. We met Edward in the hallway on our way to the parking lot and climbed into Edward's Volvo making our way to the hospital.

"Where are they?" Esme approached us with excitement. Edward and I had been sitting in the waiting room for three hours.

"Emmett's in a room with her. We were in there for a while but then Rose had a contraction and got a little…" I said trying to find a nicer way to put Rose's yelling. I can't imagine what she'll be like when she has to start pushing.

"Loud…angry… scary. We decided to wait for you," Edward yawned.

"Oh sorry it took so long, but her water broke while we we're in the kitchen. She made a little mess so I had to go to the store it get some bleach to clean it up," Esme told us nonchalantly like it was an everyday activity. "I'm just going to pop my head in and say hello."

"She said that way too casually," he said to me in a serious voice that made me laugh.

"At least she cleaned it up now; imagine how gross it would have been when she got home tonight," I joked grossing myself out.

"That's disgusting." Our heads turned to see Alice tapping her foot.

"Where's Jasper?" Edward asked looking behind her.

"Parking the car… so Bella how is Seth?" Alice asked me with a sly smile. I glanced at Edward and cringed at the sight; he was pinching the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed.

"He's okay," I said trying to say as little as possible.

"What does he do again?" she asked. I sighed knowing that she already knew this.

"He bartends at Clearwater's, but he's getting a degree in Psychology at UW," I told her quickly as I watched Edward's leg bounce in agitation.

"Oh right, how old is he again?" she asked opening her purse pretending like she was looking for something. I wasn't sure why she was doing this to us.

"Twenty-one," I said unsure why she wanted to know. Suddenly the whole room was quiet and the only noise was Oprah's voice coming from the old television in the corner.

"I'll be right back," Edward coughed as he jumped from his chair. I watched him storm down the hallway towards the elevator bumping into Jasper; I turned to Alice who just shrugged her shoulders with a smug smile.

"That boy needs to learn…" Alice said jumping up to kiss Jasper on the cheek.

"Alice…" I said in my firm teacher voice. "You didn't have to rub it in his face," I scolded her for upsetting Edward.

"What?" she mumbled nervously.

"He already asked me out, and I turned him down," I told her with tears building up in frustration. I stomped away down the hall towards Rose's room trying to calm myself down. I dodged Carlisle and Emmett who were talking outside of the door and plopped myself in a chair next to Rose's bed.

"Are you okay Bella?" Rose asked me wearily. I looked up and saw Rose holding Esme's hand with her knees propped up.

"Are you okay?" I snorted at her.

"Yeah I'm fine… is it Edward?" she asked softly.

"…Sort of…" I hesitated when I looked up at Esme.

"Oh Bella, love is really tricky. When I met Carlisle, I fell so hard for him. But when I found out that he was so much younger than me I was furious. I was mad about the age difference, and then I was mad that he lied to me. But I loved him too much for something as silly as age to get in the way," Esme told me strongly.

"The age difference really bothered me, and I practically watched him grow up. I'm just really confused… I'm not so sure that it's about the age difference anymore," I told them honestly.

"You need to talk to him. I know he's outside right now; I can see him pacing in the parking lot," Esme laughed stretching to see out the window.

"Okay I'll be right back," I squeezed Rose's hand before leaving the room. I ignored the apologetic looks from Alice and nervously made my way down to the parking lot.

"I don't understand you Bella – at all. I don't know how you think or why you're even with Seth," Edward babbled running his hands through his hair.

"I like Seth," I shot at him.

"I always thought it was the age difference that threw you off, but that's total bull. He's twenty-one - two years younger than me. But I know you feel this – what we have. I don't know how you can ignore it because I know you want me to." Edward continued his pacing in front of me.

"I-" I tried to but in.

"I remember. I remember the kiss because I wasn't that drunk, and for a split second it was the best moment of my entire life until I remembered you were. But I know you remember because I saw that look of terror on your face! And then …you started to avoid me. Half my life I had been avoiding you because I didn't want you to see me as your little brother. I figured that I'd at least have a shot if you didn't know me. Why won't you give me a chance Bella?" He rambled on as he stopped and stared at me.

"We want different things, and we don't fit. You're too gorgeous, too smart, too perfect; you're too much for me. You deserve a lot more than just me. I'm the worst girl ever… I'm clumsy and messy. I don't know how to put on my makeup correctly. I'm really crabby in the morning. I'd probably bite your head off for doing nothing wrong… I can't make Esme Brownies right. We'd never work," I told myself letting the tears go.

"Bella, I like that you get crabby, I like making brownies for you. You're perfect; and I'm glad you're not good at being a girl. Girls usually terrify me. But you're the realest, most beautiful, dumbest smart person I've ever known…" Edward took a step closer and wiped away the tears on my cheek with his thumb.

"You want marriage, and I've never even thought about it," I cried thinking if the time came I would break his heart.

"It doesn't matter," he mumbled.

"Yes it does matter; I don't want you to give things up for me," I fought back.

"Bella please just stop fighting this…" he whispered as I watched him leaning in towards me. I couldn't move… I wanted him to hurry up and kiss me before I ran away.

"I'm sorry I just can't," I gasped turning away and running back inside.

OoOoO

Bella sighed as she said good-bye to Jake and hung up the phone. She changed into her pajamas and started to brush her teeth when she heard a loud banging on her door. With a quick peek through her peephole, she opened the door to find a very upset Emmett.

"She broke up with me," Emmett whispered roughly. Bella pulled him to the couch and ran to the kitchen sink to spit out her toothpaste.

"What?!" She yelled with her head in the sink.

"We we're talking about where we would be now if we had never met…. And then she said she wants to see other people so we'll know that we're right for each other," he grumbled.

"So she wants to see if there's someone else there for her?" Bella asked trying to figure it all out.

"Yep because we've only been with each other but there's been no one else for me… what if she meets someone else? What if she leaves me for good?" Emmett panicked as Bella joined him on the couch.

"Emmett did you talk to Rose about this?" Bella asked unsure of what to say.

"No I was too shocked to and she closed herself in the bedroom," he said rubbing his eyes to keep the tears away.

"Emmett everything's going to be okay, I think you should go back and talk to her. Tell her what you told me. Maybe she's just being hormonal or maybe she just wants you to fight for her. I don't know but you know how she can get," she reassured him.

"You're right. I'll going to talk to her and make her listen. I'll tell her she's being stupid. Thanks Bella!" Emmett stormed out of her apartment leaving Bella dazed. After a moment Bella finished getting ready for bed and finally got comfortable… until her phone rang.

"Hello?" she picked up groggily.

"Thank you Bella," Emmett whispered. "I think she was just being hormonal… I owe you one though."

"No problem, you can name one of kids after me when you guys start having babies," she joked.

"Will do, good night," Emmett laughed.

"Night," Bella said before falling back into her pillows ready for sleep.


AN: 1. so you know that's it for Jacob. I didn't really want to bring him into the story anyways so that's why I left it out completely.

2. sorry for the jumpiness - it makes me cringe to look at it but I had to put it all in there… sorry for the lateness as well. Two people were fired where I work so now there's only 6 people working all the shifts and we really need like 10.

3. new moon trailer: so excited - my favorite book out of the 4 so hopefully my favorite movie. : ) what'd you think?

4. Important: would it really bother you if I didn't have a flashback for every chapter? Because Edward and Bella honestly didn't interact that much when they were younger…. Please let me know… cause I only have one more flashback.

THANKS FOR READING!