DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS FROM TWILIGHT. THEY ALL BELONG TO STEPHENIE MEYER.
A/N Sorry this took so long, was torn on which direction to go.
A few of you have asked how it is that Bella's attacker is walking around free. Unfortunately, you have to remember that you are, innocent until proven guilty, so if this is the first offense on a relatively young offender they are most likely going to be set free on their own recognizance or bail. Bail would probably be set pretty high depending on the accused money situation, but nothing someone going to Dartmouth parent's can't afford.
Also, some have asked for longer chapters. I will work on that.
Again thanks for the reviews, and keep them coming:)
EPOV
The next few days flew by. I wanted to know everything about Bella, and it seemed she was just as curious about me. I'd never met anyone like her, she was amazing.
We started going to that diner I had found when we wanted to be alone. Nobody else knew we went there so we could count on not being interrupted. Today was one of those days. I felt like my family and our friends were watching everything we did. I now knew how Bella felt those few days after " the incident".
That was what we were calling it now. "The incident", like if we didn't say what happened out loud, it would all just go away.
" So when are we actually going to start on our music project? And what are we going to do it on?" Bella asked me with a mouthful of her club sandwich.
" Well, what do you want to do it on? I say we discuss the fact that classical music has been pushed to the back burner for one hit wonders and teenagers dancing around half naked."
" Wow! Boooring. And don't for one second think that I don't know every guy on the planet had the hots for Britney Spears, you know, before the whole head shaving, crazy thing. Including you. I'm not stupid. That and I can name all the members of N' SYNC and the Backstreet Boys. It's a phase, a writ of passage so to speak. You need a wall full of teenage hormones before you can really progress into adulthood."
" So you say boring yet it sounds like this is something you thought of. And I was more of a Christina Aguilara guy."
" I did a paper on it in high school. Did not go over well with most of the student body. I was " grandma" for awhile. I guess the only people that listen to decent music is old people."
" Well maybe we are just two old souls in younger bodies." I looked her in the eyes only to catch her ducking down to hide the color in her cheeks.
We sat in silence for awhile. It was weird, this should make me feel uncomfortable, but it didn't. I felt oddly at ease.
Bella's phone ringing interrupted the silence.
She looked down at her phone and stuffed it in her pocket.
" You're not going to answer that?" She'd been avoiding calls all week. I was beginning to wonder what was going on.
"I'll call back later. It's no big deal." I could tell she was lying, but I wouldn't press her for now.
We left the diner and headed back to campus. We both had homework we were avoiding.
" Can I see you later tonight?" I asked. Knowing she wouldn't say no.
" Yes, but give me a few hours of actual home work time. I can't concentrate if you're in the vicinity of me. Well truth be told, I can't concentrate when you're away either but I get more done with you away."
Her phone rang again. Again she ignored it.
" Bella, if you need some privacy I can walk over there for awhile. No big deal, promise"
" No, it's not that." She looked down at the ground gathering her words. " It's the police department. They keep calling me, wanting me to come down and finish up the paperwork. It's not something I want to do right now." She looked up at me through her lashed, almost like she was embarrassed.
" I thought you had already done that. Bells, the sooner you get it out of the way the better. Then it will be all behind you and..." I was interrupted.
" What if I don't want to? What if I just want life to go on like nothing happened? Did anyone ask me what I wanted? No! You all just stepped up and did what you thought was best, and don't think I didn't appreciate it, but I don't want this."
" So you would rather let this guy walk around campus? Having to see him everyday? You can't want this. I know I don't. What will you do if next year you have a class with him, huh?" I was starting to get mad, I couldn't believe such a smart girl would be so stupid.
" What I don't want Edward, is to have to get up in front of a jury and tell them what I was wearing. What I don't want it to have to explain, that the only reason I went upstairs with him was to prove a point to some guy I barely even knew. I don't exactly come off as a saint in the situation if you haven't noticed."
" What could you possibly have to prove to him? You had just met him"
"Not him, YOU! You made me feel like I was nothing but some country hick. I was going to prove you wrong. How well do you think that will go over to a jury of my peers." I didn't know what to say. " That's what I thought. I'm going to do my homework now." She started to walk away but then turned around. " I changed my mind about tonight. I have too much homework. So just go back to your cave Batman, and wait for the next damsel in distress."
I stood there, speechless. She was right, none of us had asked her what she wanted. Just pushed her in the direction we wanted her to go.
I went up to my room. I thought about following her, but she needed space right now.
Emmett and Jasper were in there playing some video game that involved killing as many people as possible. I was never much into games, they seemed trivial.
" Dude, you look like you've been ran over by a bus. What's up?" Emmett asked never tearing his eyes away from the game.
" It's all my fault" I sat on the edge of my bed and ran my hands through my hair.
Jasper paused the game and walked over to me.
"What the fuck man, I can listen and play. It's one of my many talents. Ask Rose" He winked at both of us.
" What's your fault?" I don't know how Jasper did it but I felt calmer already.
" The reason she was attacked. It was my fault." I still couldn't wrap my head around it.
" No, you helped her. Why would you think it's your fault?"
" The only reason she went with him is to prove to me she wasn't some naive hick. If I hadn't been so mean. Or if I just kept my mouth shut...."
" It would have still happened" Jasper interrupted.
" What?" I wan confused. I'm pretty sure I explained it rather well.
" It would have still happened. Guys like him, they get what they want. He might have had to work harder, but he still would have gotten her to go upstairs. What brought this up?"
" She won't go down and finish up the paperwork. If she doesn't, they have no choice but to drop charges. This is what she wants! She says she just wants things to go back to normal."
"Ok, this is where big bro comes in to give some advise, move over Jas. Listen Edward, I took some psychology in high school. " I gave him a look of confusion. " Hey, it was an easy class and every Friday we got to take a nap in class. Well technically we meditated, but that's not the point. I did manage to learn something from this. Most rape victims can't help but fell it's their fault. Did you ask her why she didn't want to? And not in a way that made her feel like a child, but actually ask her to want an answer. Bella feels this is her fault, that she could have prevented it. Similar to how you just felt. She's embarrassed, she feels like a whore to put it bluntly."
" What he's trying to get at and I agree is she needs to be told it's not her fault. She feels guilty, for putting us and her family through this. Put yourself in her shoes. How would you feel?"
" Oh god. I'm sure I didn't help the situation by yelling at her just now. I got to go talk to her." I started to get up but both of them pushed me back down.
" Leave her alone for awhile. She needs to wrap her head around this as much as you do. Let her be mad, it will help her see she's mad at the wrong person."
"Come play a game with us" Emmett was already back at the TV and had unpaused it. It's safe to say Jasper had lost.
I just laid back down on my bed. I needed to think.
About what had just happened.
About how I was going to talk to Bella without pushing her away.
BPOV
Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
I was so mad at Edward. I was mad at myself for even letting him get to me.
" Alice!! I hate your brother"
" In Emmett's defense he doesn't have that filter in his brain to weed out the things most people don't say out loud. You'll get use to it." She said as she bounced out of the closet.
" Wrong brother"
" Edward? I thought you guys were all in lurve and can't get enough of each other?"
" Yeah, well that ship has sailed. He is so uhhhhhh! I can't even think, that is how frustrated he has me"
" You know there's this saying ' there's a thin line between love and hate'. You can't get this mad at someone unless there is some passion behind it. Now what did he do?"
" I have been avoiding the calls from the police department and while I was out with him today they called twice. I'm just not ready to talk to them yet, you understand right?
" Honestly Bella I thought you had already handled all of this, you shouldn't wait. The longer you wait..."
" Stop, you sound just like him!" I threw my hands in my hair and started to pace the room.
" Ok, I'm listening, sorry."
" He just wouldn't let it go. He talked to me like I was three. Like I don't know what I'm doing."
" What are you doing?"
" What?" Her question caught me off guard.
" What are you doing Bella? Who are you really mad at? You are my best friend, I hope you know that. But this is my brother and I love him and I know he is just trying to help you. Put yourself in his shoes. If you just let this slide and that prick just goes on with his life, what do you think that would do to him, what it would do to you. Do you really think he could control himself if he saw him around campus, or worse have a class with him. I think you need to take a step back and think about who you're really mad at. It's not my brother."
With that she walked away. My mouth was on the floor. Was everyone against me today. I felt like they all forgot who this had happened to. It was my choice.
I tried to get some homework done, but it was impossible. Alice had my mind going a million miles an hour.
Who else would I be mad at? Nobody else talked down to me like he did.
Alice spent the rest of the evening dancing around the room and rearranging it, again. She wouldn't look at me and I felt awful for this. I should have gone to Rosalie with this. I wasn't as close to her, but she could have given me her impartial opinion.
" Alice?" She looked at me surprised. " I'm sorry. I shouldn't' have come to you with this. He's your brother and I put you in a tough spot."
" Bella, it has nothing to do with him being my brother. If he had done something to warrant your rant then I would have stood behind you one hundred percent. But sweety, he just cares about you. Can I tell you something?" I nodded. " Edward has had alot of relationships, he's a good looking guy with a family with money. Who wouldn't be interested. But it felt like he was always just going through the motions, like we wanted it for him so bad he put on a show for us to make us feel happy. His heart was never in the relationship. But with you, his eyes light up with just the mention of your name. I've never seen him so happy and it's because of you. I just wanted you to know that. Everything he does, it's out of love, nothing else."
I felt like the biggest bitch.
Just then somebody tapped at the door.
" I'll get it" With that Alice skipped over to the door. Did this girl do anything with out a hop in her step?
She shut the door, turned back around and looked at me with tears in her eyes. Of course I was no better.
" I'm going to go see Jasper for awhile, k? There is someone here to see you when you're ready" She wiped her cheeks dry and I did the same.
" Let him in when you leave" she just nodded and headed for the door.
I took a deep breath.
I didn't know what I was going to say. Sorry just didn't seem to cut it.
I heard him walk him but couldn't pull my face away from the floor.
Then I felt his arms wrap around me and I couldn't hold back any longer. I cried. I cried like I'd never cried before. I cried for what I said to him. For what he said to me. For everything we didn't say but should have.
" I'm sorry" He muttered.
" No" I shook my head into his chest. " I'm sorry. You were just trying to help and I completely overreacted."
" Don't be silly, I should have been more sensitive toward you. I had no idea you felt that way"
I started to laugh and Edward pulled me away from him and just looked at me.
" We're getting no where with this. We're both sorry, how's that"
" It's a start" He smiled and kissed the top of my head. " Can I ask you a question without you getting mad"
" I promise to stay open minded."
" You are so brave and confident around me" He stopped and looked up at me with sadness in his eyes. " Why can't you just be that brave and put this guy away?"
I inhaled and thought about it for a moment.
" I'm not as brave as you think I am. I have my moments when I get a burst of confidence, but it's not me. At the end of the day I take my confidence back to the store and get my deposit back. I can't afford to buy it permanently."
" What if we found a size that fit you better? Would you consider it?"
" I might, but I'm not making an promises. "
" I'll help you" He leaned in and hugged me again. I felt better already.
" Can I ask you another question?"
" Sure" I waited for the worst.
" Why Batman?"
" What?"
" You called me Batman and told me to go back to my cave."
I laughed.
" Because he's real"
" I hate tell you love, but he's a comic book super hero."
" I know that" I pushed him away and punched him in the arm. " What I meant was that he not fake."
" Oh now I get it" and rolled his eyes
" Shut up, let me finish. Superman was from a different planet and Spiderman was bitten by a radioactive spider for example. Batman is just an ordinary guy with cool toys. He's my super hero of choice"
" Oh" He thought about that for a moment. " And you called me Batman so that must mean..."
" I choose you. You're my superhero"
He leaned down and kissed me then and I felt like I was in heaven.
How had a gotten this lucky?
He then leaned over and whispered in my ear.
" It's not your fault"
A/N I tried to make this a little longer than I normally do, hope you like it.