I am so SO sorry for the delay in posting. Truth is, I got caught up in a fic (Dusty by YellowBella) that had me completely captivated. And it's completely unlike anything I write, so I was having a hard time getting back in the fluffy headspace that is The Freshmen, and I just Couldn't. Stop. Reading.

If you'd like to check it out, go for it. It's fabulous! Much more hard core than any of my stories, and very well written. Brings out a lot of emotions for the reader, whether or not you've been through something like it. Loved it!

CHAPTER 12

"What will you do now?" Jasper asked her as they walked.

"I have to talk to Jacob, I guess."

"And this is what you want?"

"Definitely."

"Okay. Good luck," he said, squeezing her hand.

"Thanks. I'm gonna need it," she replied, and began heading into Jacob's dorm building.

"Wait," Jasper said, stopping her. His tone caught her off guard.

Bella looked at him with concern. "Yeah?"

"I'm going to tell Alice I love her. I love her. Is that weird?"

Bella's wide eyes and bright smile comforted him. "Of course that's not weird. Jasper, that's amazing. It's wonderful!" She pulled him into a tight hug.

"Think she'll say it back?" she asked him with a smirk, knowing for sure that Alice would definitely be saying it back.

He shrugged. "I hope so. But even if she doesn't, I still do."

Bella grinned at him. Jasper wouldn't be disappointed.

"She's pretty amazing, Jasper," Bella told him, matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, she definitely is."

"Wow, did you ever think you'd meet someone and fall in love in your first semester of college?"

Jasper belted out a laugh. "No! It totally messed up my big college bachelor plans."

Bella sighed. "I am so happy Alice showed up in your life. There's this whole new side of you that I've never gotten to see before! I love Jasper-in-love!"

"Shut up. Jasper-in-love is still cool. Right?"

"Oh, sure. Still cool, but a little mushier and fuzzier." She poked him in his side. "Jeez, I'm the worst friend. I didn't even ask you about Alice," she said, hitting his arm.

"Don't do that, Bella. I understand where your head's been. And Alice and I have been great. What would there be to ask about?"

"I guess. I'm still sorry. I promise to stop being so selfish."

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Really, don't worry about it. Come on, get upstairs. Get this over with."

"'Kay. Going to meet up with Alice?"

"Of course," he grinned. "Where else would I be going?"

They parted ways and Bella trudged up the stairs to Jacob's room, not having a clue what she would say to him.

How do you break up with someone? What do I say? Surely there was no easy way to do this.

She knocked hesitantly on the door, half-hoping he wasn't there.

He was.

And when he swung the door open and grinned excitedly when he saw it was her, she had never felt like a more horrible person.

It was awkward and difficult, but she managed. She told him everything. Even about the kiss. Especially about that. He was obviously upset. Bella felt horrible for deliberately hurting someone like that.

She replayed bit of their conversation in her head as she left, feeling undeniably relieved, but horrible at the same time.

"So he kissed you, so what? We can get past that."

He had all but begged her to stay with him.

"I thought we had something pretty amazing here, Bella. I don't understand."

"Where is this coming from? Edward? Why him?"

"What did I do, Bella? Did I do something wrong? I can fix it, whatever it is."

It was the hardest conversation she'd ever had in her entire life, and it made her feel horrible. She tried fervently to reassure him that he did absolutely nothing wrong. That what happened really had nothing to do with him, but with things that were happening before she had even met him.

Breaking up sucked, plain and simple.

And just as she was starting to relax her shoulders and revel in the fact that it was over and done with, she heard her name being called behind her.

She turned around.

"Jacob," she said in disbelief. He was outside in the freezing cold without so much as a jacket, his breath visible in the air as he jogged towards her. "What are you doing? You'll freeze."

"I can't let you go, Bella," he said, effectively cutting her off.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking into his eyes before she spoke. "You have to, Jake."

"Can't we figure this out? I mean, don't you want to?"

The million dollar question. Did he want her to tell him the truth? Because, no, she did not want to figure this out.

"Jacob. Please. I'm sorry. I just...I can't be with you." Her voice trailed off into a whisper. Did he have to keep dragging this out? She felt horrible enough as it was.

He just nodded.

"I had to try one last time," he said sullenly.

"You're an amazing guy, Jake," she began. And it was the truth. He really was. "You will make a great girl very happy one day. And that's why this is so hard for me. You're too good of a person. I should never have dragged this on like I did. I just thought…I just thought…you'd be able to detach me from him."

"But I couldn't."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." He made no move to leave, but instead looked her in the eyes as he seemed to be thinking about something. "So that's it?"

Bella nodded sadly "Yeah, Jake. That's it."

He nodded back at her and began taking a few steps backwards before saying, "See you around, Bella."

He ran back inside as she watched, feeling even worse than before, if that was even possible. But she couldn't think about it long, because now it was time to go the one she was hoping would have her.

He was waiting…hopefully.

She stood in the hallway for a minute before knocking, trying to get herself ready for the rejection that might be facing her on the other side. She may have very well ruined things completely, and she had to be ready for that.

She knocked softly, biting her thumb nail while she waited for Edward to open the door. She didn't have to wait long at all, before he was right in front of her, wearing flannel pyjama pants, a t-shirt, and barefoot. His hair was its usual mess, and of course there were the glasses. She was momentarily paralyzed with the sight in front of her before she remembered why she was there.

"I broke up with Jacob," she breathed.

His eyes widened briefly before narrowing. "Oh."

"Yeah. Um…"

"Do you want to come in?" he asked, moving aside so that she could step in.

She nodded, smiling in relief. He was letting her in. That was good, right?

He shut the door behind her and there they were, standing at the door like they had the night before, when everything changed.

"Want to sit?" he asked, motioning to Jasper's bed, her usual spot.

She nodded, and Edward sat down opposite her on his own bed.

"I'm sorry," she began.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," he said simply.

"I do. I shouldn't have reacted like that."

"I understand why you did. I should never have put you in that position."

"I put myself in that position."

"I kissed you, Bella. I hardly think that was appropriate."

"I kissed you, too. I didn't have to."

A pause.

"Then why did you?" His voice was low. That one question officially opened the doors to an honest conversation about what this was. What they were. "Why ruin what you had with Jacob?"

"I wanted to." Her voice was equally quiet.

"You did?" he looked up at her.

She nodded.

"Since the first time I saw you," she admitted.

He smiled, though he looked down in an attempt to conceal it. Now wasn't the time for that.

"Same. Since the first time I saw you," he told her seriously.

And then he ran his hand through his hair and she just about lost her mind.

"It was really hard for me. You being with Kate. I hated myself for wanting to be with you."

"I know. I'm sorry I didn't break up with her sooner, I just…"

"I know. You couldn't. I was a stranger, and she was…."

"Yeah."

Another pause.

"So, anyways, I just thought you should know. About Jacob."

"Thanks for coming over. And sorry that I…complicated things."

"You didn't. You simplified them."

He looked into her eyes then, surprised at that statement, and she smiled. He smiled back.

And then they just started talking.

They talked and talked about their childhoods, their families, their favourite things, their lives back home.

They talked until they were both comfortably lying down on the beds they had been sitting on, talking more through their yawns.

The next thing they knew, there were being awoken by the sunlight streaming through the window. When had they fallen asleep? Did they even say goodnight?

They looked at one another groggily across the room.

"Morning," Edward said in his sleep-voice.

"Morning," she smiled. "We totally fell asleep."

"Yeah."

"I should probably, um, go."

"Okay." But it wasn't okay. He really wanted her to stay and never leave.

She sat up and stretched, finding her shoes on the floor by the bed with her feet.

"I guess Jasper stayed at Alice's last night," Bella noted.

Edward picked up his phone and noticed a missed text from Jasper, "Yup," he confirmed, holding up the phone.

"Mind if I use the washroom quickly?"

"Nope, all yours."

Bella hastily made her way to the washroom, checking herself out and being completely disgusted with what she saw. She scowled at herself in the mirror before attempting to do something with her hair and giving her face a quick wash.

When she emerged, with impeccable timing, Jasper was walking through the door. He raised an eyebrow at her when he saw her there, still in the same clothes as last night.

Bella rolled her eyes at him, knowing exactly what his conclusion would be. "I slept on your bed, I hope that's okay," she told him by way of explanation.

"No problem, Bells," he told her in a lighthearted – and relieved – tone.

"How was Alice's?" Bella asked him with a grin.

"Awesome," he grinned back. They would discuss later, but she took his answer as a sign that Alice had said it back.

As Bella slipped on her coat, she noticed Edward doing the same. She eyed him quizzically.

"I'm walking you home," he said simply. She smiled.

They walked mostly in silence, and Edward finally worked up the nerve to say what he was going to say as they approached Bella's door.

"Um, Bella. I, um…"

He closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, before once again running his hands through his hair and sliding his glasses up on his nose.

She waited patiently, though she was growing more nervous by the second the more he fidgeted.

He cleared his throat.

"I thought that, maybe, we should just hang out together, like with our friends. For a while. Just because, well, I don't want to rush into anything just yet and I want to do this right, and I'm just not sure I can…"

"Sure," she said, cutting him off of his rambling.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It's a good idea. We'll just, you know, hang out. No big deal."

But Bella was smiling, because they both knew that going forward, they would be exclusively hanging out.

And Edward smiled back, relieved that Bella wasn't into rushing into things with him.

"We need to just…start over. From the beginning," she reassured him.

"Right. The beginning," he repeated, liking the term she used. The beginning of this, the beginning of them.

Edward said goodbye with a kiss to her cheek, and she entered her dorm with a silly grin on her face as she shut the door.

"Where the hell were you last night?" Rosalie demanded from her desk. She wasn't studying, wasn't reading. She was just sitting.

"Um. I was with Edward actually. Not in the way that you're thinking," she tagged on as Rosalie opened her mouth to squeal.

"Well, a text would have been nice," she huffed. "I was going to give you," she paused, looking at the time on her phone, "twenty-six more minutes before calling out a search party."

Bella smiled. "Sorry. You're right, I should have texted."

"So what's going on?" Rosalie asked, switching gears completely. She shifted to her bed, leaning eagerly towards Bella to get the full story.

Bella sat down on her bed opposite Rosalie, and smiled. "Well, nothing, right now. We're going to hang out."

Rosalie's eyes were imploring her to continue, and when she didn't, Rosalie spoke.

"I don't get it."

"There's not much to get. We're just going to, like, hang out and stuff. Take things slow."

"Well what about Jacob?"

Bella sighed, remembering that awful conversation.

"I broke up with him."

"Oh, Bella. I'm sorry. How did he take it?" Rosalie's voice was full of concern, knowing Bella was very much not a breaker-upper.

"Not great. But, I mean, what else could I have expected?"

"I guess. But you did it. And now it's done."

"Now it's done. And I'm thinking we should call Alice to get together for lunch, because I think she has something to tell us, too." Bella grinned, knowing she'd get way more details from Alice than Jasper, and desperately wanting to know all about his big confession.

Rosalie grinned. "I'm on it."

I'm sorry! I know, I know. I was going to make them just jump right in with a really passionate kiss and a perfect little relationship, but I couldn't! I just didn't think that was very realistic. They've been after each other for months, but now they each have some baggage that they need to get over. If we want them to last forever, we'll need to take things slow ; )

But I'm really happy for Jasper, I must say. : P