Disclaimer: All rights of Twi are Stephenie Meyers.
Once again I would like to thank my fabulous reviewers for helping me continue, I really appreciate it ;] keep it up!!!!
Tuesday pretty much flew by since I ignored James at school and Rose and Alice kept me busy after school by taking me to a new coffee shop that opened up. We sat there for a couple hours just talking while Aaron sat nearby on his laptop. I couldn't help but love them; they were making such an effort to help me heal over their brother. I tried to act better than I felt when I was in front of them but it was hard to not think about Edward. The most I had ever felt about any other guys were just that they were cute but with Edward, I had felt so intense about him. A lot of the time I would drift off and reminisce about how Edward's lips always gave me a shot of electricity and how dancing with him had made me want him so badly, it wouldn't take long for Alice to bring me back to reality though.
So when Wednesday came Alice and Rose kept bugging me all day at school to let them take me shopping in Port Angeles. By the end of the day, I gave in just so they would stop bugging.
Aaron had decided he would just wait outside the stores while we shopped as he played on his blackberry. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when Alice went crazy in the first store adding to a pile of clothes for me to try on.
"Winter's going to come soon so we need to prepare you." Alice smiled to herself as she added a couple of what looked like very tight skinny jeans. She let me choose a couple items of clothing but mostly it was her and Rose choosing.
"We're trying to change your look a little bit. A little bit of change will help you move on easier." Rose said as she gave me a reassuring smile. I nodded knowing that it would just be less exhausting to argue against her and Alice and just do what they wanted.
After trying on 8 pairs of jeans, 5 jackets, 9 shirts and 6 sweaters I saw Alice slip the lady her American Express card.
"Alice no this is too much." I protested.
"Bella it's a gift and I would be terribly hurt if you refused it. Besides if you don't let me spend money on you then I'll just spend it on something useless so you're helping me." She grinned pleased with her explanation.
"Okay but let me buy dinner or something then." I suggested.
"Alright but that's all cause we're the ones taking you out!" Alice piped.
In the next store Rose and Alice started another pile for me. It included about 10 scarves, beige uggs, black uggs, four cute blazers, a couple long sleeves and more shirts. This time Rose handed over one of her credit cards. I looked at her and opened my mouth but she spoke first.
"If Alice gets to buy you gifts it should only be fair that I get to too. I never get to spend money on anything anyways, Emmett always insists on buying me everything. All you need to say is a nice thank you and when winter comes, you'll have to wear the stuff."
"Thanks and I'm not gonna make any promises." I narrowed my eyes playfully.
When we left the second store I had a total of twelve bags, Aaron surprisingly offered to carry half of them while us girls split carrying the rest. It was already 6:30 so I insisted that we stop at a nearby restaurant to grab some dinner. Alice and Rose agreed but vowed that this wasn't the last of our shopping trip, we would continue another day.
We ended up eating at a restaurant called Bella Italia, which wasn't too crowded so we were seated quickly.
As the hostess sat us and handed us menus we saw Aaron head off to the bar seats so Rose spoke up.
"Come on Aaron, don't be a stranger, come and sit with us." Rose invited him as he walked to the bar alone. He turned to look at us and even though he hesitated, I knew he wanted too; he had made it pretty clear that he thought Rose and Alice were pretty hot and my friends seemed to think he was a good guy.
"We won't take no for an answer." Alice added making Aaron smile as he turned over to join us.
"If you guys insist." Aaron grinned.
"It's not like we bite…" Alice giggled.
"Hard." Rose added then gave a friendly smile. They were acting so friendly towards Aaron I knew they wanted something, I mean they were nice to the boys at school, well the boys who didn't try to molest them, but they weren't this nice to someone they barely knew unless they wanted something.
"Tell us about the academy Aaron." Alice piped confirming my suspicion.
"What are Emmett and Jasper like at the academy? Do they behave?" Rose joked.
"I'm a third year so I don't really have any classes with them but from what I know they work hard. I met them at orientation and they seemed like cool guys." Aaron answered smiling. He clearly liked the attention.
"Who do they spend time with then? Are there a lot of girls attending the academy?" Alice pushed.
"Well the girls at the academy aren't really attractive so you have nothing to worry about. Most of them are pretty manly since they have to be a bodyguard and do missions sand stuff. None of them look like Angelina Jolie sadly." He laughed and Rose and Alice joined him.
"We just wanted to make sure since the boys spend a lot of their time there." Rose said as she finally looked at the menu.
"Rose you would be the last person I would think who needs to worry or be jealous, I mean you have Emmett wrapped around your…" Alice stopped and her eyes widened as she looked towards the entrance of the restaurant. We all followed her gaze.
"Holy shit." Rose muttered.
I looked over to see a strawberry blond wearing a jean skirt and a pink sweater as she took off her big white coat. Weren't her legs freezing, was she crazy? I had to admit she was pretty though, her eyes seemed to glow as they looked almost gold. Her long wavy hair continued until her lower back, she wasn't as beautiful as Rosalie but she could pass for a model too. She was standing next to a tall big guy in a suit, he was probably her bodyguard. She smiled at the hostess and her white perfect teeth seemed to be blinding.
"Wait isn't that the Denali girl?" Aaron asked looking confused.
"Just act natural and maybe she won't notice us." Alice whispered.
"Alice that's Tanya?" I asked still uncertain. Aaron had said that was the Denali girl and Denali was Tanya's last name. If that was Tanya I had no idea why Edward had liked me because I was the opposite of her. She looked like she would be the head cheerleader type while I was… me. Before Alice could answer I heard someone gasp then followed by a "no way!"
"Alice Cullen? Wow, what are the odds! Rose, is that you?" Tanya made her way over to our table with a bright smile on her face. Rose grimaced but then composed her face into a polite smile before turning around.
"Tanya what a surprise! What are you doing in Port Angeles?" Rose got up to hug Tanya even though it was clear she wanted to avoid her.
"I wanted to get out of Alaska so I decided to do some traveling. My flight landed a little bit ago and I was hungry so here I am. Where are the boys?" She asked most likely only curious about Edward's whereabouts.
"They're off training in Seattle; they haven't been home in a couple of days." Rose lied.
"That's too bad I didn't get to see all of you. Who are your friends?" She asked looking at me and Aaron. She seemed nice and friendly but since she was Edward's ex I couldn't help but want to slap her. She was most of the reason why me and Edward couldn't be together because of how she acted after he was taken off the assignment, she had to go get herself kidnapped. In my opinion she looked just fine, she didn't look traumatized but then again I didn't really know her.
"This is Bella and Aaron." Alice introduced us and Tanya stuck her hand out at Aaron and then me.
"Pleasure to meet you guys, I'm Tanya." She smiled again and I felt like she was showing off her beauty but it was probably just because I felt a little intimidated by her looks. She was the competition I had known about but never took seriously.
"Well I should go to my table before the waitress comes; maybe we'll see each other again." Tanya smiled. "Tell the family I said hi."
"We will." Alice fake smiled back while Tanya walked to a table where her bodyguard was sitting. "Does she think we're stupid, she's obviously not traveling around, I mean who travels to here?" Alice asked with a bit of annoyance in her voice.
"One guess why." Rose paused obviously referring to Edward. "I just hope she doesn't try to push herself back into his life."
"I thought she was still in therapy and stuff since everything that happened, how would they just let her travel around so soon? Supposedly she's not in the best state of mind after what happened." Alice murmured.
"You mean when Edward broke up with her?" I asked.
"I meant with her kidnapping but that too I guess." Alice said as the waitress finally approached us.
"What can I get you guys?" The waitress piped giving an extra grin to Aaron. I wasn't paying attention much to the dinner after that, I couldn't help but think of how Edward was once with Tanya. How her fake French tip nails had probably ran through his hair, it made me feel sick to my stomach and I didn't feel like eating anymore. Did he touch her the same way he touched me? Jasper had said Edward felt deeper about me but how could that be when I was so plain? What were Tanya and Edward like when they were together?
Meanwhile (Edward's POV)
Choosing whether I had wanted to be with Bella or stay at the academy was one of the hardest decisions I had ever had to make. I had been such a jerk before we were together and then after only being with her for a short time I break it off. She probably hated me now. Hopefully she wasn't that into me, it would be easy for her no matter how hard it was for me. I couldn't seem to get Bella out of my mind. Every little thing around me reminded me of her it was like I could find some way to connect it back to Bella. I had never felt that way with a girl before, not even Tanya, who I had thought to be my first love. Clearly I was wrong.
Besides Tanya I had never really had a long relationship with any girl. I had never really thought about saying the L word to any girl, except Tanya but that was because she had had she me she loved me and asked if I loved her back. I thought I owed it to her so I had said it. The Bella came along, and I don't know what she did but ever since I had first saw her when I opened the door for her, I felt an automatic pull and yearn to be close to her. I hadn't known her for too long but there was something about her that always made me smile until now. Now every second I thought about Bella, it hurt.
After Bella left that Sunday, I stayed in my room for a couple more hours. I had tried to clear my head by listening to Debussy but I couldn't help but feel sad. Who was I kidding when I told her we would see each other from time to time? She would most likely not want anything to do with me. Alice and Rose were the lucky ones they would still get to see her and spend time with her.
Over the next couple days I was secretly and desperately hoping Alice and Rose would invite Bella over for dinner so I could see her. Maybe seeing her would finally stop my constant thinking of her if I saw that she was doing well and forgetting about me, I would be able to move on since she was happy.
I hadn't told anyone in my family what had exactly been said between me and Bella and I didn't have to. I could tell they had already figured what had happened and although they loved Bella, they respected with my wise decision to put my career first.
Wednesday night we had dinner without Alice and Rose who had said something about taking Bella shopping so it was just Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Jasper and me. After dinner I helped Esme with the dishes. Emmett and Jasper could call me a mama's boy all they want but I always felt at peace in her presence.
I opened my mouth to talk but I couldn't find the words. The only thing I could think about was Bella but I couldn't talk about her it would hurt too much.
"Edward you don't have to talk about it." Esme murmured while she handed me plates to dry.
"I feel pathetic. A breakup has never been this hard on me, especially when I'm the one to end it." I sighed. Not that I would ever admit it but besides Alice, Esme was the only one who I would ever tell anything else to. Even though Esme was our adopted mother, she treated us like we were her own and sometimes even better. I was closer to her than Emmett and Jasper but of course, she never showed any favoritism.
"Edward honey, you really liked her, I get it and we all knew it. Give yourself time, you'll move on, you can't expect to lose your feelings for her overnight. You made a very hard choice and I am proud of you for that." She gave me an approved smile as she handed me some silverware to dry.
"I don't know though something doesn't feel right." I paused. "If I had made the right choice I would feel somewhat happy or relieved or something positive at least right? Now I all feel is something pulling on my heart and I can't get Bella off my mind. I've never felt that way for a girl before. Do you think she hates me? Do you think she thinks I made the right decision for myself?"
"I am positive she doesn't hate you. In fact, with what I was informed by Alice, Bella is feeling just the same way you do. When you two were together, Alice explained how you and Bella had goo goo eyes over each other, it's quite entertaining." Esme chuckled making me smile as I remembered Bella's radiant smile when she would look at me.
"What I just want you to know is that you are the only person that can determine what the right choice was for what you did. If you want to focus on your career and what the academy has going for you, you can't blame yourself, you have your whole life ahead on you, but if you think Bella can be a part of it then you shouldn't let the academy stop you, we can always figure out how to deal with that later." Esme explained while handing me the last dishes.
"You don't care about what I choose?" I asked.
"Of course we care about the decisions you make. That's why as your family we will always be here to support you. It's never too late to make the right decision for yourself." Esme said as she tried her hands and placed her hand on my back. "I just want you to be happy." And with that she turned to leave the room. As she passed by the doorway leading out of the kitchen she must have spotted Emmett listening to our conversation.
"Emmett eavesdropping is not very polite." She murmured before going upstairs. Emmett looked at me and I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Rose texted me and you won't believe who was at the same resturant as them." Emmett muttered. He wasn't smiling so I knew he was serious about something.
"Who?"
"Tanya." Emmett mumbled and I almost lost my balance. Had I heard him wrong?
A/N: Hmmm with Tanya back will there be drama? Edward seems to be having second thoughts. I would like to get about fifteen more reviews before i update again :] Hoped you guys liked it, thanks.