A/N: Thanks again for the reviews. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to get back to everyone. With the fourth of July vacation in there we were frantically posting and then working out the next chapters.

TwirlGrrl, my absolutely awesome beta pushed it out for me once again!

Now a quick note: Several people have mentioned that they are getting a little impatient to get to the here and now – the present time story. Please understand, that while each chapter will flash back to the present time, this story is based on the ten year history they had in the past. I am, in fact already planning a sequel that will address the present tense of the relationship, but it will be a while yet. After all, how can we understand the weight of her decision if we don't know the history?

However, based on your feedback, I'm taking it under consideration to add a little extra present-time character interaction, so look for it soon. And thank you for the feedback, it is greatly appreciated!

PRESENT TIME

I took a break to use the bathroom. It was mid-afternoon by now.

"Hey Alice, Rose, we should make some lunch. What sounds good to you guys?"

Alice's voice came from the kitchen. "I've got it covered. I just got a text from Jasper. He's bringing some Chinese takeout in a while. Emmett's coming with; I think he wants to check on you."

"But no Edward, right?"

"Um, no. He wanted to, but I told him no. I think they've been doing much the same thing over there. Sounds like Edward's rehashing everything for Jasper."

"Huh. Sure would be interesting to compare notes on our versions of the story."

Alice came out of the bedroom and looked at me sadly. "It would, wouldn't it? I think you should, but not with me and Jasper. You should talk to Edward."

Rose interrupted. "Not before she's done telling me. It'll help her to go through it all once first, refresh her memory."

Rose couldn't possibly know how painfully fresh every memory of Edward was for me.

We all plopped back into our spots in the living room. Rose looked at me expectantly. "Okay, summer '92, Edward just pulled a dodge when you ran into Tyler at the General Store, but like an idiot, you did nothing. What's next?"

I arched my eyebrows. "Thanks for being so subtle."

"Sorry, but you were being an idiot. I wouldn't have put up with that shit."

I looked at her pointedly. "Really Rose. You wouldn't have let yourself get treated badly even when you were a stupid, silly, naïve teenager?"

She shot a nasty look and nodded curtly. "Point taken."

Rose was sixteen when she first met Royce King. It didn't get much worse than how Royce treated her.

FLASHBACK TO SUMMER 1992

We spent the Fourth of July curled up on Kalaloch beach together on a blanket watching fireworks. There were bonfires and parties we could have attended, but Edward said he'd prefer to keep me all to himself.

A couple of weeks later we took Emmett and Maggie up to Hurricane Ridge so that Maggie could take pictures. She'd taken up an interest in photography that summer, and kept going on about the amazing photos. We'd been planning a trip to the Sol Duc Falls and hot springs, so we invited them along. We spent the day splashing in the river, angering fishermen, and wading in the hot springs. Edward and I hid behind trees to make out while Maggie distracted Emmett for an extra long time.

We'd just gotten hungry and decided to stop at a local sandwich shop for a late lunch. Edward came around to open the door for me and we walked to the front entrance holding hands. Emmett was still glowering at Edward for tripping him and making him fall in the river, nowhere near the hot springs. He tried to get back at him, but he was really fast, too fast for Emmett.

Emmett was throwing fake punches at Edward, but Edward tugged my arm to swing me around in front of him, using me as a human shield. I yelped about how uncool it was to use a tiny, petite little thing like me as a shield. In all honestly, I was enjoying the feeling of Edward holding me against him that way.

Emmett was still carrying on about how cold the water was. "Dude, that shit is cold, like really cold! My nipples could still cut glass! "

"We could tell, by how fast you came flying out of that water! Probably have some serious shrinkage huh?"

"Shrinkage nothing; it's like I'm prepubescent again. I don't know if my balls are ever going to drop again. Good thing you're quick man or you'd be singing soprano too."

Maggie and I exchanged a look at the thought of Emmett's balls dropping. Sometimes he had no filter at all.

Edward was laughing. "Dude, there's ladies here. And no one wants to think about your balls. And yeah, you'd better start running. We leave for football camp next Saturday and coach is gonna kick your ass when he sees how slow you've gotten."

"Dude don't remind me. Do you realize that means we only have four more weeks of summer left?"

What? Had the summer really gone by that fast? "Seriously?"

Emmett and Edward both looked at me and nodded. Edward explained, "Camp is always three weeks before the start of the year; then we come back and have two weeks of practice. The first game is actually three days before school starts."

Emmett held the door open for us, and Edward allowed me to lead the way inside, still holding hands. We placed our orders and were waiting for the food when we heard a familiar high pitched voice.

"Bella! Maggie! Edward! Emmett! Hey you guys!" Jessica was squealing her hello to us from a table in the corner where we'd failed to notice her and Lauren. "Come pull up a table and sit with us!"

There was really no way to avoid it at this point, so we acquiesced. Edward and Emmett helped to pull a table up and then went to get our sandwiches while we sat with Jessica and Lauren. There were exaggerated hugs shared all around, like we hadn't seen them in years rather than weeks. I was distracted once again, by the fact that Edward had casually dropped my hand the second he saw Jessica and Lauren.

It was impossible to miss the silent communication passing between Jessica and Lauren. They were not happy to see us come in with their two favorite guys.

Jessica leaned in close trying to get the scoop. "So, what are you guys doing?"

I decided not to play along, and went casual. I shrugged, "Not much, we hiked down to the hot springs. I'd never been there before and Maggie wanted to take pictures."

"With the Cullens?"

"Uh huh. Edward's really good with a compass; I'd get lost in the woods."

Maggie decided to add to the casual banter. "Or break a leg; you should never hike alone."

I shot her a look. "Thanks for that, but I'm not that clumsy."

She laughed. "Yes you are."

Emmett and Edward were walking over to join us. Emmett asked. "Are what?"

Maggie looked at him. "Would you say Bella's clumsy?"

Both guys answered at the same time with a resounding "Yes."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, a little, but I'm sure I could manage hiking to the river by myself without breaking my leg."

Emmett looked at me and coughed. "Bella, I witnessed at least twice today that Edward stopped you from falling in the river."

Edward looked at me with a crooked grin. "Maybe you could make it to the river in one peace, but I doubt you could make it back too. You require supervision."

Lauren was looking at me and Edward closely. "So Edward, is that what you do? Play tour guide and …supervise?"

The door is open.

He never looked up from his sandwich and just shrugged one shoulder. "Somebody has to."

The door is closed. The Bella is pissed.

I shot him daggers before I turned to Jessica and Lauren anxious to change the subject. I would not have this argument in front of everyone. "So what have you guys been up to?"

Lauren tossed her hair. "My parents bought some property on the Sol Duc River. We're working on plans to build right now, but are going to start building in a month or two. Hey! We're having a bonfire on the property on Saturday, you guys should come."

Lauren wrote out directions and gave them to Edward. Emmett asked if they ever see Mike or Tyler and Lauren shot a smirk at Jessica. "Jess sees Mike occasionally, don't you Jess?"

She squinted at Lauren. "Not as often as you see Tyler."

Lauren was unfazed by her comment. "Whatever, we were actually just heading out so we'll see you guys on Friday night – around six or seven, okay? Oh, and BYOB."

Maggie turned to us. "Okay, two questions. Are Lauren and Tyler dating? And what does BYOB mean?"

Emmett coughed again. "BYOB means bring your own beer. And Lauren and Tyler dating? I don't know if I'd call it dating exactly, but they 'get together' on a regular basis." He used air quotes on get together.

Maggie and I exchanged a wide-eyed look. "Oh! So they are…?" She didn't finish her question, just waved her hand in the air.

Emmett used the same hand wave to answer. "Yes, they are…for about six months now. That's why she was so pissed that he had another date for the dance."

"But she was trying to get you to ask her."

Emmett nodded slowly and turned a shade of pink. "Yes, and she's been trying to 'get together' with both of us too." He waved a hand between him and Edward.

I looked at Edward. He shook his head at me, understanding my unspoken question. "Never happened."

Maggie looked at Emmett, the unfortunate shade of pink he'd turned when explaining that Lauren had been trying to get with them also had cast him in a rather guilty looking hue. But he was too busy eating his sandwich and didn't notice. She cleared her throat, but he still didn't notice. Maggie looked at me and then back at Emmett, she was starting to panic. Edward finally kicked him under the table.

"Ow, fuck dude! What was that for?" Edward shot a pointed look back and forth between Maggie and him. Emmett was still clueless. He looked at each of us, staring at him. "What? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

I finally cleared my throat and spoke slowly using the same finger quotes. "Emmett, did you and Lauren ever 'get together'?"

He coughed a bunch of times. "Oh! Fuck no! No! God No! Give me some credit, I might be slow sometimes, but I'm not stupid!"

Edward, Maggie, and I all shook our heads. They laughed, but I was still thinking about Edward's answer to Lauren's question about playing tour guide with me. He actually shrugged and said 'somebody has to.' What the fuck is that all about. I was starting to feel like the joke was on me.

I made an excuse that I needed to get home early that night to spend some time with Charlie. Edward kept looking at me; I knew he could pick up on my change in mood. When he dropped me off that night I just said a quick goodbye to everyone and hopped out of the car.

I was halfway up the walk when Edward caught up to me. "Bella wait."

I turned back to him. "What Edward?"

"What's wrong? Did I do something?"

"Nope, nothing at all. I just need to go, Charlie's going to be home soon and I need to take care of some things."

"So you're not mad at me about anything?"

"Of course not; why would I be mad at my favorite tour guide and babysitter?" My tone was icy.

"Oh, so that's what this is about; the fact that I didn't define everything for those two skanks. Bella, do you like spending time with me?"

"Yes, of course"

"Do you like kissing me?"'

I nodded.

"When it comes to me and you, do I treat you okay? Am I rude? Abrasive? Insulting?"

"No, you treat me great. It's just that…"

"You would really prefer that I talk about you to all of our friends like Mike does Jessica? Do you really need me to broadcast everything about us?"

"No, I don't want you to talk about me like that. I don't know. Maybe I'm over reacting."

Edward walked up to me and took my face in his hands. He looked me right in the eyes. "Bella I want to be with you. I'm just a private person. I don't like having everyone in my business. It's not that I'm ashamed of you, or us, it's important to me. For now, I would really prefer to keep it private."

I smiled. Somehow, the feel of him this close to me, just took the wind right out of my sails. "Okay, I know, I'm sorry I overreacted."

"Don't be sorry; just tell me if something's bothering you."

"Okay."

"Okay." He kissed me chastely but sweetly then leaned his forehead on mine. "I'll call you tomorrow okay?"

"Sure."

"Sweet dreams."

I jogged the rest of the way up the front walk like I was floating. I danced my way through my chores and had a pleasant evening with Charlie.

But when I went to bed that night, the fears came back to me like a sore that wouldn't heal.

The seed had been planted, now it was watered. My fears were growing.

Saturday night Emmett and Edward picked up me and Maggie from Maggie's house where we'd been getting ready together. Maggie's parents were a bit more lenient on curfew; and it was her father's high school reunion. The party was an hour away at a hotel in Port Angeles, and he still had a lot of friends that he kept in touch with. So we knew they were going to be home really late at the least, and there was a chance that they might stay over in Port Angeles if they had too much to drink. Maggie was guessing that they would probably call around twelve thirty to make sure she was home by curfew and then tell her they were staying over. So we decided to spend the night at her house.

Maggie clung to the blanket she'd thought of to bring when Edward's Volvo pulled in the driveway. As we ran out to green them, we could hear them arguing.

"Fine, but if you get caught, I'm not going down with you. I know nothing. And if you puke in my car, you clean it, with a toothbrush."

"Okay. Don't you trust me?"

Edward grumbled "Not even a little bit."

Maggie and I shared a curious glance and then she leaned forward between the front seats. "Okay, you guys, what's going on?"

Edward looked at me in the review mirror before glancing at Maggie over his shoulder. "This moron thought it would be a good idea to pinch a case of beer from Carlisle and Esme's leftovers from the Fourth of July party."

I rolled my eyes at Edward in the mirror; he looked exceptionally pissed. Emmett couldn't stay out of trouble if it killed him. But I'd seen tipsy Emmett a few months back at a party before school let out. He's funny as shit; I was secretly looking forward to the entertainment.

Maggie surprised me though. "Emmett, you mind if I have a couple of them?"

I hissed at her. "Maggie? Are you kidding me?"

She turned back to me with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "Why not? My mom and Dad won't be home until really late, if they even come home at all. It's the perfect opportunity."

Edward and I exchanged a look in the mirror as Emmett turned to me. "Bella, have you ever drank before?"

"Just a couple of glasses of champagne at a wedding last summer. My mom allowed one, but Phil slipped me a second one. I never finished the second one because I got too dizzy."

Emmett grinned at me. "Champagne's a lot stronger than beer, but if two glasses of champagne made you dizzy, you should be good with three or four beers. You in?"

I glanced back at Edward in the mirror while I chewed on my cheek. "I don't know." I held out two palms, facing up. "Police Chief's daughter… Underage drinking …." I bobbed the two hands up and down in the age-old sign of balancing weights. "Probably not a good idea to be seen walking around with a can of beer."

Emmett grinned at me and held up a small stack of red plastic cups. "Problem solved."

I looked at Edward again; he let out a long sigh. "Bella, it's up to you. I'll stay sober and make sure you and Maggie don't get into trouble and get you home on time. Emmett, you're on your own. If you're not in this car when I pull out; I'll leave your ass."

Hah! If this is what it takes to get you to pay attention to me in public, I'm in.

Emmett and Maggie both looked at me with glee. I rolled my eyes, playing it cool. "Fine, corrupt the innocent Police Chief's daughter."

When we pulled up to the property I was surprised to see the entry to the vacant lot and the sides of the street lined with cars. Fortunately, there weren't many people living out there and the houses were pretty spread out. The chances were pretty small that a neighbor would complain. It was a heavily wooded lot with only a narrow break in the trees for a rough entrance drive to the undeveloped property. As long as we stayed on the path it was easy enough to traverse the woods. From the woods you couldn't even make out the clearing several hundred feet up the drive where a large bonfire was blazing.

Everyone, and I do mean everyone, from Forks High class of '92, '93 and '94 was there. I'd forgotten that Lauren had an older brother that graduated this year. Apparently word of the get-together had spread like wild-fire to every underage person in town. It was still light out so we were immediately spotted and greeted by most of our friends from school. Emmett selected a tree stump as our 'base camp' and claimed it as his seat, setting our beer between his feet. The fortunate thing about Emmett is that everyone loved him, so he could sit and let the party come to him. He poured two cans of beer into two cups on the ground and handed one to each me and Maggie. "When you need more, I'll be here."

I made a deliberate decision to stick with Maggie instead of following Edward around. I was tired of feeling like the needy and clingy one in the relationship. Edward was still standing next to Emmett, scanning the crowd and offering a few hello nods to people when I let Maggie drag me over to a small group from our class including Eric Yorkie, Mike Newton, Jessica, Molly, and Kelly. Molly and Kelly were two girls that Maggie and I were friendly with in a couple of classes; they were usually more timid than the rest of us, but tonight they were both wearing shorter shorts than I would have expected and were passing a bottle with some kind of liquor back and forth.

I took note that Edward had made his way over to where Tyler, Eric Reed, somebody with the last name of Armstrong, and a few other guys I didn't recognize were playing a small game of soccer. Several of them were upperclassmen but they must be from the same soccer league, because they clearly knew each other fairly well. We stood around and chatted for a while until Molly and Kelly had drifted off to another group; they were clearly inebriated. Apparently that liquor was easier to take than the taste of this awful warm beer. Mike had moved to stand next to me; Jessica on his other side; and I decided to ask him about the soccer league.

"Hey Mike, are those guys over there from the league you and Edward play with?"

He looked their direction and his face lit up like he'd just seen them for the first time. There were some girls including Lauren sitting on blankets alongside where they were playing. "Yeah, they are, come on, let's go over there."

Maggie and I collected Emmett, the beer and the blanket. We laid out the blanket next to a tree, where Emmett set down the case of beer, and then leaned up against it. The rest of the group all sat down around Emmett on the blanket. Maggie was wedged between Emmett and Eric, who was chatting animatedly in her ear. I took a seat next to Molly and Kelly in the hopes of getting to know them better.

Mike went off to join the game and I sat and chatted with everyone until the game broke up. Most of the guys that I didn't know drifted off in another direction, but a couple of them wandered over to our group with Mike, Edward, Tyler, Reed and Armstrong.

Mike made a point of coming to sit next to me and introducing me to the guys on the team, including refreshing my memory of the guys from our class. I said hi and shook hands with many of them and watched as Edward took a seat next to Maggie and Eric. There really wasn't much room left near me, but he showed no outward signs that it mattered to him that Mike had taken the only available space next to me. In fact, from an outside perspective it probably looked like I was with Mike. The fact that Edward made no effort to remedy the misunderstanding bothered me to no end. Maggie caught my eye, obviously noticing the awkward seating arrangements as well, so I offered her a small scowl.

I had just finished my second beer and was starting my third when everyone decided to move closer to the fire. It was getting dark and chilly outside; I was feeling slightly buzzed and severely annoyed. Mike had been sitting next to me for over an hour while I pretended to be unaware of his blatant attempts at flirting. Edward hadn't made a move to talk to me since we'd arrived. As everyone stood to move to the fire Mike hopped to his feet and offered me a hand to help me up; I took it and pretended not to notice his hand lingering longer than necessary on the back of my arm.

I'd been watching Lauren flitting around Edward and Emmett. The longer we were there, the more she drank, and the more preposterous her flirting had grown. I glanced at Tyler at one point and noticed he was watching her antics as well; he saw me and rolled his eyes her direction before shaking his head and walking away. I glanced at Edward who was talking with that guy Armstrong again. Lauren and Jessica were standing near them, both sipping from a cup and whispering between them. Lauren whispered something to Jessica causing her to glance my direction. I didn't know if she was looking at me or Mike, standing next to me, but I stopped worrying about it when she threw her head back in laughter just as Lauren knocked her with her hip, sending her colliding with Edward. Edward caught her with an arm around her waist and made to prop her upright again, but Jessica suddenly became too intoxicated to find her legs and allowed him to hold her upright. She was literally hanging from my Edward.

I snapped my head to Mike. "Hey Mike, isn't she supposed to be your problem."

Mike followed my line of sight to where Edward was now dealing with an intoxicated Jessica and Lauren fawning all over him. He didn't look nearly annoyed enough to me, but we made eye contact and he knew I was watching. Mike laughed at the twosome and shook his head. "Nope, that's definitely not my problem; besides, Masen seems to have it under control."

I looked at him and frowned. "But I heard you two have been seeing each other?"

He shrugged. "Casually sometimes, but we didn't come here together. For all intents and purposes, I'm available, if that's what you're asking."

"No Mike, that's not what I was asking; I was suggesting you go get your casual, sometimes-slutty girl off of him." I didn't realize that I had raised my voice, or if everyone else just stopped talking, but suddenly everyone was looking at me, including Edward, Lauren and Jessica.

And then like a blessing from the Gods, Emmett's booming laughter broke the palpable tension of everyone standing around the fire and everyone looked to him. "Nice Swan, nice."

But I hadn't meant to be funny; I was just done. I looked around the fire in search of Maggie, but couldn't find her. "Emmett, where's Maggie?"

"Huh? Um, I don't know, she was around here. She was talking to Yorkie." Emmett was clearly pretty drunk. I shot one last dirty look in the direction of Edward, Lauren and Jessica and stomped away from the fire. I didn't really know where to go from there, so I started heading towards the car and taking big angry gulps from my beer. I decided I welcomed the alcohol induced haze at this point.

I stumbled my way back to the car; it was much more difficult after three beers and in the dark. Nothing could have prepared me for what I found when I got there. Maggie and Eric Yorkie were leaning against the trunk of the car, heavily making out.

I blurted "Oh Shit." and Maggie and Eric jumped apart.

Maggie gasped. "Bella, um Hi. Sorry. I didn't hear you coming."

I waved a hand at them. "Don't worry about it. I'll just go back to the fire. You two…carry on." I giggled at the end and turned to head back to the fire.

My amusement quickly dissipated though when I found myself stumbling in the darkness and frustrated that everyone seemed to be hooking up but me, who was supposed to actually have a boyfriend. Or at least I thought of him as my boyfriend even if we hadn't actually defined things.

My foot slipped down into a groove in the ground and I rolled my ankle, stumbling to my knees. "Ow! Fuck!"

"Bella, is that you?" I heard Edward's voice coming from the direction of the bonfire. "Where are you? Are you okay?" He sounded a little panicked.

I stood up again and kept moving in his direction, trying to keep him from stumbling across Maggie and Eric. I may be pissed, but I'm still a friend.

"I'm right here, I'm fine. You can go back to ignoring me." I grumbled at him.

"I wasn't ignoring you. You seemed to be enjoying yourself; I didn't want to interfere."

"Interfere with what Edward? What exactly would you be interfering with by acknowledging my existence? Other than your chances with Lauren or Jessica, of course."

"Oh come on! You know those two annoy the shit out of me. And don't think I didn't notice Mike trying to get with you all night. I trust you; why don't you trust me?"

"I would trust you, if you didn't act like you were dodging a bullet every time we ran into someone we know. Didn't that bother you that Mike was blatantly flirting with me?"

"Yeah, I guess it did, but I trust you."

"Edward, you might trust me, but I'm sorry, it's starting to feel like you are afraid to be seen with me."

"Bella what are you talking about? We've been everywhere!"

"Yes, we've been everywhere. To all the national parks, and the mountains and the beach, but every time we are faced with one of our friends besides Maggie and Emmett you look like you want to duck and run."

"I told you that I don't like PDA, I don't feel like broadcasting everything either. But it doesn't change how I feel about you. I want to be with you. Have I given you any indication that I'm interested in being with anyone else?

"No."

"Then isn't that enough?"

"I don't know. I don't even know what we are to each other. I'm not interested in being 'casual' like Jessica and Mike or Tyler and Lauren."

"Bella I would never treat you that way."

"Well, like it or not, but you have been. You treat me like your little secret. It's the same thing. You are either with me or you're not. If it bothers you so much to have other people know that we are together, then we just won't be. I can't keep doing this."

"Why not? What's so wrong with it? We spend all of our time together, we kiss, we do all of those things. Why do we have to make a public spectacle of ourselves?"

"Edward I'm not asking for a spectacle, but I do need the Jessicas and the Laurens to know that we are together. That shit, that was going on back there, is not okay with me. I'm not going to stand by and watch other girls flirting with you and hanging on you. And it shouldn't be okay with you that Mike thinks he can do it either." By the end of my words tears were streaming down my face.

I swallowed the thickness in my throat. "Look, you decide. It's all or nothing. We are together, as an honest-to-goodness couple or we're not. You can't have it both ways anymore."

Edward stood there speechless in the dark as I turned to make my way back to the party. I stomped up to Emmett and handed him my cup. "Another one."

He looked up at me with a smile on his face but it faded when he saw mine. "You okay?"

"Yup."

"Edward?"

"Yup."

"Wanna talk?"

"Nope."

"Seen Maggie?"

"Um, uh uh?"

"She with Yorkie?"

Crickets chirping

"Remind me never to tell you a secret. You suck at lying."

"I know."

I sat next to Emmett and drank my beer. Pretty soon, he had me laughing again and I'd almost managed to forget about Edward, not enough to not notice him sitting on the ground across the fire from me looking pretty glum while he doodled in the dirt with a stick, but almost. Maggie eventually wandered back to the party, separate from Eric. I noticed Tyler Crowley leaning against a tree a ways over, he looked glum too. I followed his line of sight and he was watching Lauren where she was draped over some upperclassmen who was reclining in a lawn chair.

I told Emmett I'd be right back and wandered over to Tyler. "Hey."

"Hey." He smiled at me, but his eyes were still looking pretty down.

"You okay?"

He sighed. "I've had better nights. You?"

"I've had better ones too. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You and Lauren? I heard through the grapevine that you were kind of seeing each other." I nodded in the direction of the lawn chair exhibition. "But that makes me think it was pretty casual."

"Huh, casual, that's one way of putting it."

"Tyler, you don't look very casual right now. If that's bothering you, why don't you just tell her."

His head popped up. "You think I want to be casual? That's all Lauren; not me."

"Oh!" Oops, bad assumption; foot in mouth.

"But I'm not doing this anymore; she can't have it both ways."

I barked a cynical laugh and threw an arm over his shoulders. "Ah Tyler, we should talk more often."

He looked at me. "So, you and Masen. Are you two…"

I coughed. "Um no, I don't think it's quite the same. We're not – " Tyler cut me off by waving his hands.

"Don't need details, seriously. I was just wondering if that's why you were looking like someone pooped in your oatmeal earlier."

"Yeah, it's kind of confusing."

"You know, I've seen his car at your house a bunch this summer. Then that day at the General Store it was so awkward. Don't let him pull a Lauren on you, okay?"

"Don't worry, it's not like that, really; it's more like he wants to…keep things private."

"Bella there's a difference between private, and trying to leave the door open."

Thank you! That's exactly what I should have said.

"Where were you an hour ago? That's exactly what I was trying to say."

Tyler and I hung out for a while and I realized talking to him had given me confidence in my position with Edward. We started kicking the soccer ball around in the dark. Maggie, Eric, Emmett, and several others came to join us. It wasn't long before we were having fun playing a very unofficial game of soccer, considering most of us were drunk and it was dark and there weren't really any defined goals. At one point I was running with the ball and Tyler came to steal it. But instead of fancy footwork he just grabbed me around the waist and threw me over his shoulders, taking control of the ball. He called a goal and then set me back down. We were all laughing and having fun.

Next thing I knew, another set of arms picked me up and started walking off the field with me. An upside-down look at the shoes told me it was Edward. "Hey! Edward put me down. What's wrong with you!"

He walked over by the fire where a bunch more people were still sitting in a circle. He walked right into the center of it and set me on the ground. He grabbed me by the shoulders to hold me in place. "I thought about it. You're right. If it's all or nothing, then it's definitely all. I'm sorry; I should have looked at it from your perspective."

Then he kissed me soundly right there in front of everyone. It wasn't a chaste lip to lip one either. It was with tongue and firm. It was a serious kiss that sent a message to everyone who was watching that we were officially together.

______________________________________________________________________

PRESENT TIME

"It took most of the summer, but he finally got there. A week later the guys left for training camp and then the summer was over. When the school year started Edward and I started it together as a couple with boyfriend and girlfriend titles and everything."

Alice looked kind of sad. "What happened with Emmett and Maggie?"

"They almost made it. Well sort of. It almost ended that night, then Emmett did something that knocked her socks off. Then he went off to camp and met some girl, and that was that."

Rosalie's head snapped up. "Where was the camp?"

"Um, I can't remember? Why?"

She shrugged. "Just curious. So, okay, Junior year; you two were together? What happened next?"

"Everything started out fine. He even threw me a birthday party. But then all of a sudden it all went to shit."

As always, please review. It really means so much to me to know that you are reading and to hear your thoughts. Also, your feelings toward my characters help me paint the picture, so please, please tell me what you think.

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