Chapter 12: One Step Backwards

Two weeks later, Edward was sitting in his room, reading when Bree ran into the room, jumping on his bed. "Bella's here!" she announced smiling.

"Thanks sis," he answered chuckling.

He purposely messed up her hair before going downstairs.

Downstairs, Bella was sitting in the living room while Alice was rambling on about prom. "So, what kind of dress are you getting?" Alice asked anxiously.

"What?" the other girl asked, surprised.

"Oh come on Bella! You can't miss prom," Alice insisted.

"Alice, I can't dance. I can't even walk on flat surfaces without falling on my face," Bella answered.

Alice pouted. "You're no fun Bella, you know that? I'm sure Edward like to go to prom," she commented when her brother came in.

"What?" he asked, having not heard what she said.

"Prom, don't you want to go to prom?" Alice asked, sitting up on her knees.

Edward looked over at Bella to see that she was uncomfortable with the idea. He did want to go to prom, he wanted to ask Bella to be his date. Except, by the way she was acting, he could see that she wasn't all that interested in prom. "It's an okay idea," he replied with a shrug.

"Oh please he's being nice. Edward's been talking about going to prom for the last week," Bree answered as she walked down the stairs.

Edward gave his sister a look. "Bree, you're not helping me," he hissed softly. Bella cleared her throat, pushing her hair from her face.

"I heard Lauren Mallory is going to ask you," Bree commented.

"And I would rather dance with a chimp," Edward answered as he sat down on the couch.

"I can have that arranged," Emmett quipped as he slid down the rail.

"Emmett Dale!" Esme scolded, having caught her son.

Emmett flushed a little. "Sorry ma…" he answered before sitting down to turn on a basketball game.

"And why wouldn't you want to go to prom sweetie?" Esme asked as she sat down.
"I know why," Bree said with a smile.

Edward shot his sister another look, making her stop. Bella cleared her throat awkwardly. "I was just never really interested in prom," she told Esme.

"I'm just not really interested in taking any of the girls at school," he replied.

"I'm sure there's at least one girl you like," Esme insisted.

"Mom, please?" he asked.

Esme nodded her head slowly. "Alright, I just hope you don't look back on this and regret not going," she told him. She kissed the top of his head before she went back into the kitchen to finish making dinner.

"Well, you're of course taking Rosalie to the dance?" Alice asked.

"Of course, there's no prom without my girl," Emmett replied with a grin.

"great! Then Rosalie and I can go to Port Angeles and look at dresses! Oh Bella please say you'll come," Alice insisted.

Bella sighed as she twisted her bracelet around on her wrist. "Fine, okay," she answered with a sigh.

"Ee! Great," Alice said excitedly.

Edward chuckled lightly at his sister's excitement, shaking his head slowly. "Hey, Edward, want to head out?" Bella asked, just hoping that he'll agree so she could get away from Alice's begging.

"Yeah," he replied standing up.

They left the house to go for their usual stroll on their usual trail.

As they were walking, Bella stuffed her hands in her pockets. The weather was actually pretty nice outside. The sun was out, giving them that rare moment of nice weather. Edward glanced at Bella, dragging his fingers through his hair. "Have you had anymore memories?" she asked, curiously.

"Not form what I've already told you," he replied.

He suddenly stopped and Bella looked over as he walked over to a tree. "Edward…" she started. Jumping up, he grabbed a hold of a tree branch, climbing it. "What are you doing?" she asked as she looked up at him. Edward grinned as he lied down on his stomach on the branch, holding out his hand.

"Come on," he told her.

"You are out of your mind," she answered.

He rolled his eyes. "Come on Bella," he told her. Bella reached up, placing her hand in his. Edward grinned as he got her into the tree with him.

"I'm going to fall out of this thing just like I did when I was five," she commented.

"You're not going to fall out of the tree, not with me here," he answered.

Bella rolled her eyes as she gripped the tree. She reached up, gently tracing the scar on his temple. "Do you have any idea where this came from?" she asked softly. He reached up, gently holding her hand to his cheek.

"I wish I did," he replied.

Bella bit her lower lip as he continued to gently caress her wrist with his fingertips. She bit her lower lip, letting out a deep breath. "Edward, why won't you want to go to prom?" she asked, catching him off guard.

"What?" he asked.

"Prom, why don't you want to go?" she asked.

He shrugged a little. "Come on, there has to be someone you want to ask," she commented, teasing him lightly. He chuckled lightly before lifting his head to lock his eyes with hers.

"There is one girl I'd like to ask, but I don't think she'd be interested," he answered.

"Well…who?" she asked.

Moving a little closer on the branch to tell her. Bella was stunned when he leaned his head closer to hers. Bella reached up to place her hand on the side of his neck, closing her eyes when she felt his hot breath on her face, sending chills up her spine. Edward rested his hands on her knees, moving in for the kiss when his phone went off again. "Dammit," he muttered, pulling back.

Bella was blushing like crazy while she watched Edward pull back to answer his ringing his phone. "Yeah," he answered.

"Edward, you need to come home," Bree told him.

"Why? Is something wrong?" he asked.

"There might be, come home," Bree replied before hanging up.

Furrowing his eyebrow, he turned off his phone. "We'll have to continue this later," he said, disappointed. Bella bit her lower lip as she watched Edward jump down from the tree.

Turning around, he held his arms up to her so she could jump down. "Trust me?" he asked.

"Always," she replied.

Letting out a deep breath, she dropped and let Edward catch her in his arms. She let out a shriek, gripping him around his neck. Edward chuckled lightly. "See? There's nothing to worry about," he told her smiling. She smiled back before he set her back down on the ground. They were silent for a little while, until Edward cleared his throat.

"We should go," he murmured.

Nodding she followed him back up the hill toward the house.

Opening the door for her, Edward smiled at her as she walked in first before following in behind her. Closing the door behind him, he stopped when he saw the family staring at him. "What?" he asked.

"Edward…there's someone outside that's waiting to see you," Esme informed.

Raising an eyebrow in confusion, he walked by them as he went to the front door with Bella following behind him. Opening the door, something or someone crashed into Edward, making him fall back into the wall. It happened so fast, Bella almost didn't have time to move. "ANTHONY! I FOUND YOU!" a girl shouted excitedly.

Edward's world spun, unsure of who was on him or what was going on. The person finally pulled back and he stared into a pair of bright blue eyes. "Tanya?" he asked, stunned.

"Oh Anthony! I had been so worried! No one would tell me where you were! But I found you!" Tanya said excitedly before she started squeezing Edward in a hug.

Bella just stood there stunned, unsure of what to say or do. "Um…who are you?" she finally asked after a minute. Tanya stood up, grinning at Bella.

"I'm Tanya Denali, Anthony's girlfriend," she informed, grinning from ear to ear.

Edward slowly stood up from the floor while Bella just stood there, silent. She felt her world crash around her when Tanya grabbed Edward by the front of his shirt, kissing him. "Um…I'm going to go," she murmured.

Edward wasn't able to move as Tanya was bombarding him with kisses and hugs. She had him practically pinned against the wall when he saw Bella leave out of the corner of his eye. "Bella! Bella wait!" he called, pulling away from Tanya and going after her.

Bella hurried over to her truck, pulling out her keys. "Stupid, just stupid," she muttered, going to unlock the door to her truck.

"Bella!" Edward called going after her.

She stopped and looked at him. "What?" she asked.

"Bella, let me explain," he insisted.

"What is there to explain? You had a life back in Chicago. It's not surprising a guy like you has a girlfriend," she answered.

He shook his head. "Bella…" he started. She gave him a small smile.

"I'll see you later, you should go see your girlfriend," she answered before getting in the truck.

Edward suddenly felt like someone had reached into his chest and was squeezing his lungs as she drove off. "BELLA!" he shouted as he tried to run after her. Unable to catch up with her, he just stood on the dirt road as he watched her disappear down the road. "Bella…" he whispered.