Assumptions Chapter 15

Please…

EPOV:

I stood in the doorway that led up to my apartment, staring off into the darkness. She was gone. She'd been standing right here and something made her run off. I stepped out of the doorway and sat on the bench in front of my store. I sat here often when I wanted some fresh air to clear my head. My mind kept replaying everything that Emmett had been saying to me over the last few days about Bella leaving. He was right. I had to decide if keeping my pride was worth watching her walk away without hearing a clue about how I felt about her.

I have no idea how long I sat there lost in my thoughts before I made my decision. I was up and running for Charlie's before I even realized what I was doing. I stood outside the house for the longest time trying to convince myself to knock on the door. I turned and sat down on the top step to the porch. My heart was pounding in my ears and I didn't think it had anything to do with running all the way here. From where I was sitting I could see the For Sale sign clearly. I struggled to maintain every ounce of self-control that I had left not to go over there and kick the stupid thing down and set it on fire.

I knocked a couple of times without her answering. I turned to leave, and then paused. I had already chased her this far, I might as well become a full fledged stalker. I went into the house and silently made my way to the couch where I knew that she'd be sleeping. I was surprised to see an empty bottle of wine on the floor in front of her. She was holding a second empty bottle tightly to her chest. It reminded me of the way that Bree clutched onto her teddy bear when she slept.

I sat down on the coffee table and watched Bella sleep. It wasn't a peaceful sleep. Her face was scrunched up and she was moaning and whimpering. She was upset and I knew that I was part of the cause of it. After the way I had been treating her, how could I not be? I was tempted to brush her hair out of her face, mainly just so that I could touch her. I held myself back, knowing that I would end up waking her, and I was still a major chicken shit when I thought about asking her to stay. I don't think my heart would ever recover if it didn't make a difference to her and she left anyway.

I stood up and started to walk around. It broke my heart to see that everything was packed and ready to go. Everything was in boxes down to the plates and glasses. The cabinets were so bare it was depressing. I leaned back against the wall and slunk down to the ground. I buried my head in my arms and tried to force myself not to cry. It didn't work.

I don't know how long I sat there before I heard Bella mumbling and I returned to my spot in front of her on the coffee table. I knocked over the empty wine bottle that was on the floor and it made a loud clunking noise as it hit the bottom of the coffee table. Bella's eyes fluttered open and she looked at me for a moment before closing them again.

This time I did reach out and push the hair out of her face, which startled her and made her jump up to a sitting position. We sat there in silence watching each other and waiting. I don't know exactly what was going through her head but I was positive she was going to tell me to get the hell out of her house. I'd deserve that after the way that I had behaved. She closed her eyes again and I saw her swaying a little bit. Then she laid back down without opening her eyes again.

"Bella? How much of this wine did you drink tonight?" I asked her after I really started comprehending that there were two empty bottles by the couch. She just shrugged and curled herself into a ball. I moved to kneel before her and put my hand back on her face and attempted to get her attention again. "Bella, wake up."

"No. I'm tired and you're an asshole."

I sighed and had no choice but to agree with her on that, "Yes. I am."

She stretched out again and rolled over so that her back was to me, "Why….you…hmph?" She said into the back cushion of the couch.

I took the chance on reaching out to her again, "What was that?" I pulled her back until she was lying on her back.

"Why are you here?"

"I wanted to talk to you." That got her attention.

She sat up again, this time with a fire in her eyes. "You wanted to talk to me? You wanted to fucking talk to me? NOW? You ignored me all this time and treated me like I was nothing and now you want to talk to me? It's the middle of the night! How did you get in here anyway? I should call your brother and have him come over and arrest you!" She stood up and walked away from me. I thought that she was going to leave the room but she just went to stand against the wall by the fireplace. She wrapped her arms around herself like she was trying to hold herself together.

"I know you're angry with me and you have every right to be, but—"

"Damn straight I have a right to be angry! I didn't deserve to be treated like that and I won't put up with being treated like that."

"You're right. You didn't deserve to be treated so badly and I'm sorry."

"You're sorry. I thought we were friends. I guess you don't feel the same way about me."

"I do feel the same Bella, I swear that I do. In the short time that I've known you, you've managed to become one of my best friends and such an important part of my life." She snorted and rolled her eyes. I stood up and walked over to her and stood directly in front of her so that I could look her directly in the eyes, "I was scared and hurt and I took it out on you and I shouldn't have. It was wrong. I was wrong."

BPOV:

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My head was still a little fuzzy from the wine and just waking up. I was also still contemplating the possibility that I was still sleeping and dreaming that he was here. With as much wine as I had downed it was a good possibility that I was still actually passed out on the couch.

"Bella please," he reached out and touched me again and I swear that it felt like he was here and touched me.

"Are you actually here or am I dreaming again. If I'm dreaming, than this is the strangest dream I've had with you in it so far because my dreams about you always include us having sex. Lots of sex." I moved around him and started to make my way back to the couch. I was getting dizzy and I wanted to sit down. I grabbed the bottles of wine off the floor and realized that they were empty. "Damn. What happened to all the wine? Did you drink my wine?" I accused him.

"No, I didn't. It was gone when I got here. How about I go make you a cup of hot coffee?"

"Yeah, coffee sounds good, go ahead. You know where the kitchen is." I laid back down and closed my eyes.

When I opened my eyes again Edward was sitting in the chair watching TV with the volume turned down. I must have fallen asleep and been out for a while because the sun was now up. "Are you really here?"

"Yes. Are you really awake now?"

"I'm talking to you, aren't I."

"You've been talking to me for the majority of the morning. We had an interesting conversation about evil shoes. You really hate wearing heels, don't you?"

"Oh, God!" I covered my face with my hands. I'd been told that I tend to talk and hold conversations in my sleep when I drink. There is no telling what could come out of my mouth. "What else did I say?"

"Nothing much…really." He was looking down at the ground at not at me which told me that he was straight out lying to me.

"HA! I don't buy that for a second."

He started rubbing the back of his neck which I knew was a nervous tick of his, "Uh…how about that coffee I promised you earlier." He blurted out as he tried to make a quick escape to the kitchen.

"When did you promise me coffee? And I don't have any left here. Rose is going to bring some when she comes over later this morning." I followed him into the kitchen. I had no idea why he was here. Not after the way he had cut me out of his life.

I sat down at the kitchen table and waited for him to answer my question. "I went over there as soon as I knew that she would be awake and borrowed some. Do you remember anything of our conversation earlier this morning?"

I struggled to try to recall anything but I only had vague impressions and brief snippets of things he'd said to me. "It's a bit fuzzy but a little, I guess," I sat down at the table. "I want the truth, Edward. Why are you here right now? And what did I do to make you suddenly hate me?"

"Bella, I'm sorry I hurt you like that. I…let myself get attached you. I don't want to lose you."

"That doesn't even make sense. You were afraid of losing me so you pushed me out of your life?"

"I know. I can be irrational and pigheaded sometimes…ok…a lot of the time. Just ask anyone in my family."

"Yeah, they all mentioned that to me already. You still haven't told me why you showed up here. Why now?"

"I…uh…I came to beg you not to leave."

"What?" I closed my eyes and tried to get a grip on my emotions and quell the hope that was rising in me.

"Please don't go back to Phoenix, Bella. Please! Keep the house and stay here in Forks with me."

"With you?"

He moved to me and knelt in front of me, "Yes, I don't want you to leave me."

I remembered something that he said before that I didn't understand, "Earlier this morning you said that you were scared. I don't understand, what are you scared of?"

"Bella, I loved Tanya for most of my life and she up and walked away with my daughter, even after I begged her to stay. I am so scared of... I don't think that you understand how much power you have in your answer to my pleas to stay. You have the power in that one answer to completely destroy me."

"Oh, no pressure there though. Right?"

He hung his head and closed his eyes, "You don't want to stay."

"I didn't say that. Don't put words in my mouth."

"Look. It's just that I know that Forks can't even come close to comparing to Phoenix."

"Actually, I've been thinking that Phoenix doesn't come close to comparing to Forks. At least, not for me. Not anymore."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I'd already decided not to stay in Phoenix. I decided that I was going to go back and sell my condo and move on. I have nothing keeping me there anymore."

"Where were you planning to live then?"

"I hadn't quite decided. I've actually come to love being here but I didn't want to stay here if I wasn't wanted."

He reached up and pulled me off the chair and down into his lap and wrapped his arms around me, "You're wanted here, Bella. You're really, really wanted here. Please believe me on that. And not just by me. My whole family is crazy about you and they want you to stay, too. Please stay."

"I'll have to call Mrs. Cope then." He pulled back a little to look me in the eyes, "I have to tell her that the house is no longer for sale."

A/N:

Happy Saturday! Have you guys seen BD2 yet? I'm seeing it tomorrow afternoon. I've being avoiding twitter to keep from getting spoiled. You guys have been so great about the delay in updating that I just wanted to thank you. You guys are the best. Also, thank you to Sweetpea123 for being an awesome beta and friend. There were more new 'faces' in the reviews this time. I love hearing from everyone. If I haven't replied to a review I will get to it. It just may take some time. I am leaving for vacation on Tuesday right after work. That means that the next update of this story won't be until December 1st. Finally, reviews will get a teaser. Have a great Thanksgiving if you are American and celebrate it.