A/N:

I am beyond happy that you guys can see an improvement in Bella and that you don't think she's a lost cause :)

Conflict is naturally ahead and this would be the buildup!

Title: Love is Strange

Author: MarieCarro

Beta: Alice's White Rabbit

Pre-reader: LunaEclipse

Genre: Friendship/Romance/Drama

Rating: NC-17

Summary: Bella Swan and Edward Cullen live in the small town of Ligonier in Pennsylvania. They've been best friends since they were six years old, and not much can keep them apart. Bella wants to leave small-town life behind, while Edward is fine with whatever, but that's not the only complication in their relationship. What happens when they fall in love … with each other?

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

CHAPTER 21

PARTIES & DOUBTS

"I'm having a sort of housewarming party tomorrow night. Nothing special, really, just a few colleagues from the firm, and naturally, Alice will be there, but I'd like it if you could come," Edward said, and Bella was relieved they were talking on the phone. It meant he couldn't see her expression.

George was upset, and he was well in his right to be. She hadn't lied to him, but he was disappointed she hadn't told him about Edward before. Their relationship had barely passed the two-month mark, but they'd known each other for over three years.

His trust in her had taken a hit, and she was certain he wouldn't want her to go to Edward's party now that he knew about their past.

"Are you still in love with him?" he had boldly asked her, and to Bella's despair, she'd been unable to give him a real answer.

"George, it's been eight years—"

"Just say yes or no."

"I—" She didn't think she was in love with Edward, but a large enough part of her hesitated, and therefore, she couldn't say no. "I don't know," she had admitted quietly, ashamed with herself.

With a tight jaw, George nodded. "Okay, then. Then that's how it is." He'd stood up from the bench, but before he walked off, he turned to Bella. "I know we haven't said it to each other yet, but I love you, Bella. And I'm not giving up on us because of a small bump in the road. But I will need a few days to think, and I think it's best we, in the meanwhile, don't contact each other."

That conversation had taken place a week ago, and George had yet to reach out.

She'd been shocked at hearing the L-word from George since they'd been dating for such a short period of time, but at the same time, he'd been infatuated with her since Emmett's wedding, so she wasn't too surprised his feelings were more advanced than her own.

Since hurting him wasn't an option, Bella had opted to stay quiet instead of telling him the truth that her feelings didn't run as deep.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, Edward," she said even though she really wanted to go. She hadn't seen him since their brief encounter at the restaurant, and while it had taken her a few days to recognize the empty feeling in her stomach, she soon understood she was missing him.

"Why not?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"Because of George."

"Who?"

She didn't blame Edward for not committing George's name to memory. She hadn't explicitly told him George was her boyfriend, and their introduction had only been in passing.

"The guy I'm seeing." She didn't know why she didn't want to call him her boyfriend in front of Edward. It was as if something stopped her from doing so. "You met him at the restaurant."

"Oh. Sorry, but I don't remember that."

"It's okay. But I told him our story, and he's not exactly keen on me spending time with you." Bella instantly regretted her words because she made George sound like a controlling bastard when he was anything but that. He hadn't even told her he didn't want her seeing Edward, but she thought it was best for their continued relationship if she didn't. At least, until George had processed it all.

"Why? What does he think would happen? Doesn't he trust you?" There was reservation in Edward's voice and maybe even a hint of concern.

"No, Edward, it's nothing like that," she hurried to say. "But imagine if the roles were reversed. Would you want your girlfriend to hang out with an ex?"

"If they're friends, I'd be okay with it, but I see your point." There was a pause, and then Edward sighed. "All right, well, the invitation still stands. And if it reassures him in any way, George can come to. I'll text you the address in case you change your mind."

They hung up, and just a moment later, Bella's phone dinged with the incoming text.

Under the address, he'd written a short message.

"I miss you. I hope you'll come."

She put her phone down and buried her face in her hands, groaning in frustration.

~~LiS~~

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Bella asked for the fiftieth time as she and George exited the cab. "We don't have to go."

George gave her an amused but reassuring smile. "Yes, Bella, I've told you I'm fine." He grabbed her hand in his. "I know I acted a bit immature when you first told me about him, but it's okay. We all have a past, and I know you dated others before me. And he sounds honest with the way you talked about him, so I'd like to get to know him. I can see your friendship is important to you."

Bella leaned her head on his shoulder. "Thank you. That's really sweet of you."

As they closed in on the address Bella had been given, they soon realized they weren't heading for an apartment building but rather a townhouse. When they reached the correct number, both of them looked at the exterior with wide eyes.

"You didn't tell me he was rich," George said, and Bella was momentarily confused by the jealous tone in his voice. George had, after all, been raised with money, and his books were selling really well, so he wasn't exactly lacking in that department.

"I wouldn't use the word rich," she said. "His parents are well-off, I guess, but he's a lawyer, so who knows, he might have saved up to invest in a good home."

George hummed but otherwise said nothing as they climbed the steps toward the front door and rang the bell.

It took a moment, but eventually, Edward opened the door, and when he saw Bella outside, his smile grew into a grin.

"Bella, you're here!" he exclaimed happily, but then quickly reeled it in and turned to George with his hand held out in offer. "And you must be George. I'm sorry, but our encounter at the restaurant was so brief, I don't remember seeing you there."

"It's okay," George replied and accepted the handshake. "I can understand you were distracted."

Bella's heart jumped up into her throat. She hadn't anticipated George would take this opportunity to make it clear to Edward whose girlfriend she was, and she hoped he would at least be civil. She wasn't interested in witnessing a pissing contest.

Edward's smile tightened, but otherwise he ignored George's remark. "Right. Well, c'mon on in." He stepped to the side, and they walked in, George's hand possessively on Bella's lower back.

As they were being led to the living room where the rest of the guests were, Bella leaned closer to his ear and hissed. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What?" he asked innocently.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't you dare cause any awkward tension around Edward's colleagues tonight, or I swear to God you'll regret it," she gritted out, showcasing exactly how much she disapproved of his behavior. "We're all adults here, so act like it."

They entered the living room, and Bella stepped away from George to greet Alice.

"I'm surprised your parents aren't here," she said with a smile.

Alice shrugged. "They'll most likely make a visit as soon as Edward has properly settled in." She held out her hand to George. "We never got the chance to properly say hello last time we met. I'm Alice Cullen, Edward's twin sister."

"Nice to meet you. I'm George Hale. Bella's boyfriend."

Edward came over with glasses of wine, and Bella accepted it gratefully. She was tenser than a guitar string as she watched George like a hawk, making sure he didn't step out of line. She didn't like that she felt the need to keep an eye on him, but with the way he had greeted Edward at the door, she wasn't certain whether he would make a scene or not.

But why would he?

It was a normal housewarming party with only adults attending. Most of whom she didn't know at all. There shouldn't have been a reason for George to act the way he did because Bella had been in Edward's proximity all of three times since he came to New York and on neither of those occasions had anything inappropriate happened.

"It's a really nice house, Edward," she complimented and took a sip of the rich red wine.

"Thanks. It'll take me ages to pay off the mortgage, but at least I can see myself building my life here. Makes me almost forget I have the busy Manhattan streets right outside my front door." He chuckled, and Bella and Alice joined him.

"You don't like Manhattan?" George asked in a tone that was a little bit too confrontational, and Bella immediately reached out and pinched his thigh hard. "Ow," he complained and glared at her, but she acted as if she hadn't done anything.

"There's nothing wrong with Manhattan or New York," Edward answered anyway. "I just envisioned a different sort of life for myself."

"So how did you end up here?"

"That would be my fault." An older man in a suit and an award-winning smile joined their little circle. "The big guys in Boston kept bragging about this newly licensed lawyer they hired. It took me a couple of years to get him here, but I finally convinced him to jump aboard the New York team."

"And I thank you, Mr. Eleazar," Alice said. "Without you, I wouldn't have my brother around the corner from my office."

Mr. Eleazar smiled at Alice, and then turned to Edward. "Sorry for stealing you away from your guests, Edward, but I have something I'd like to go over with you."

"No problem, Mr. Eleazar."

The two walked off, and Bella wanted to encourage George to walk around and meet some new people, but she also knew he was shy in social gatherings. At the same time, she didn't want to feel like the two of them were attached at the hip for the entire night.

"I know Edward will be very busy, so why don't I give you the grand tour?" Alice suggested. "I've almost spent more time here than he has since I helped him decorate." She leaned closer to Bella's ear to whisper. "You'd think a man who's less than a year from his thirtieth birthday would know how to coordinate colors, but he's absolutely hopeless."

"I'd love to see the rest of it," Bella said. "George, do you want to come with us?"

He shook his head. "I'm good here."

She looked at him cautiously. "Okay then. If you're sure."

"Mh-hm."

Sensing there was quite a lot simmering under the surface within, Bella place a hand on his cheek. "Please," she said softly. "Don't be upset. I'm with you and you know that."

Her stomach clenched uncomfortably because while she reassured him of their relationship, she did have conflicting feelings. There was still an obvious spark between her and Edward, and it was getting harder to fight it with each meeting.

Maybe George detected that. It wouldn't surprise her because when it came to Edward, she was a lousy actress.

Alice decided they would start at the top and work their way down as the house had three floors, four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a terrace, and a basement.

"Why exactly did he decide to buy so much space?" Bella asked as they slowly descended back downstairs. "Isn't he gonna live here alone?"

"Yeah, but one of the bedrooms is his office, and a second one is a guest room for whenever Mom and Dad visit. He doesn't know what to do with the fourth one yet, but I mean, we're all closing in on thirty, so I'm not surprised if he's keeping an eventual family in mind. You know he's always wanted kids someday."

"That's true," Bella agreed, and suddenly, she could envision Edward living here with a family, but bustling noise from the living room popped the bubble, and she quickly shook the thought out of her head before she placed herself in the role of a loving wife and doting mother. "But isn't it going to be lonely for him to have all this to himself?"

Alice laughed as if the notion was preposterous. "As if I'm not going to visit all the time. I haven't lived in the same town as my brother since we were nineteen, and you know how close we were growing up."

"Oh, I bet he's gonna love that," Bella said sarcastically because the Edward she used to know valued his privacy a lot.

"Of course, he will." Alice winked toward Edward when they re-entered the living room. "I'm going to be a total nuisance and annoy him on the regular." She said it just loud enough for him to hear, and it caused him to roll his eyes.

Then, as if flipping a switch, Alice's mood changed, and she became almost shy, which caused Bella to give her a questioning glance.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, but I wanted to ask you something."

"Okay, shoot."

Alice started to bite her well-manicured nail nervously. "Are you close to your boss? To Mr. Whitlock?"

"Jasper?" The corners of Bella's mouth twitched as she fought a smile. "We're good friends. Why do you ask?"

A blush colored Alice's cheeks, and it made Bella realize this was serious to her. Alice wasn't one to blush when she talked about guys, so she really had to like Jasper. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about him since my launch. I don't know what it is, but it felt like we had a connection. Even at the restaurant." She looked at Bella sideways. "Has he mentioned anything or am I completely out of my mind?"

Bella contemplated it for a second before she took out her phone and texted Jasper's contact info to her. "Jasper's a very private person. He rarely shares intimate stuff about himself, and not once in the three years that I've known him has he so much as mentioned a love life." She gave Alice a conspiring glance. "But a person would have to be blind not to see that he's quite taken with you."

"Really?" Alice's eyes glittered with hope and anticipation.

"Yes."

Alice gave Bella a small, halfway hug and thanked her before she excused herself to get another drink, and Bella looked around the room to search for George. She was relieved to see that he had relaxed and was talking quite animatedly with one of Edward's colleagues, and they were both sporting big grins. She couldn't hear what they were talking about, but she was happy to see the tension was gone from his shoulders.

"It looks like you've made Alice's entire year," Edward said as he came up behind her. "What did you do?"

Bella gave him a secretive smile. "I played the role of Cupid."

Edward looked adorably confused, so she explained it to him, but when she was done, he looked concerned and not particularly pleased. When she asked what the matter was, he sighed.

"I'm just afraid she'll get her heart broken again. She hasn't had the most fortunate love life, and too many guys have used her in the past."

"Jasper's not like that," she reassured in a serious tone. She understood Edward's worries. As Alice's brother, he was expected to be protective. He'd always been. When they were teenagers, he'd threatened more than one of Alice's boyfriends when they hurt her. "I'd vouch for him any day without even hesitating." She placed a hand on Edward's arm. "He's a good guy, and I know that if you ever get the chance to meet and talk to him, you'd approve of him."

"It's a good thing I trust your judgment, then," he said, and both of them turned to exchange a look, but once their eyes met, it was difficult to look at anything else.

Even as their smiles fell, they continued to look at each other. It was almost as if they were silently communicating with each other because Bella could see the longing in his eyes, and she felt the same feeling building inside of her.

The moment that passed could have lasted forever. Neither of them would have noticed either way. All Bella knew was that she was royally screwed because where she previously thought she could be just friends with Edward, she was now having her doubts if that was at all possible.

A/N:

Bella's matching up Alice and Jasper. George is acting like a possessive dickhead who had his candy stolen. And Edward's there trying to piece everything together and finding his own place in New York!

Thoughts?

Shout-out to all of you just because you are such an awesome bunch of readers :)

Until next week,

Stay Awesome!