Chapter 15
BPOV
—
Days after I saw Edward and Rose, Tanya walked into my kitchen. She said nothing but slapped a newspaper down on the counter beside me. Glancing over at it, my eyes widened. There on the cover of some tabloid was a picture of Edward and me walking out of the hotel. There was a second picture where his hand rested on my lower back. But what shocked me even more was the headline:
Edward Cullen & Isabella Swan: High School Romance Rekindled?
We never had a romance in high school. Sure, I'd had a crush on him, but back then it was hard for me to believe he'd had feelings for me as well. To be honest, it was still kind of hard to believe he'd want me now.
That wasn't really the part that concerned me, though. It was more the fact that they'd somehow figured out that we'd known each other back then.
I flipped to the page where the full article was and groaned loudly. Of course fucking Jessica Stanley would be the one to run her mouth. That girl loved to gossip and to make my life a living hell, along with Mike. Apparently, much hadn't changed over the years. She would have told any reporter what they wanted to hear as long as it got her name in the paper. It didn't matter if it was true or not.
I let out a rough breath, turning to Tanya. "Well, shit."
She raised an eyebrow. "Is there any truth to it?"
I narrowed my eyes. "What the actual fuck, Tan? How could you ask me that? I love Seth. I'd never do something like that to him. Fuck, I wonder if he's seen this."
"Doesn't he know you hung out with Edward and his sister?"
I hesitated for a moment. "He's had so much going on with Harry in the hospital, I didn't want to bother him with all the details. But trust isn't an issue for us, I'll tell him tonight."
She stared at me for a while, causing me to fidget. "But you do like Edward, don't you?."
I rolled my eyes. "I've always liked Edward. He's a good guy."
She raised her eyebrows, her gaze unwavering. "There's more to it than that, though."
"Tanya, I'm friends with his sister. He always just sort of...tagged along. Yes, I had a crush on him, and maybe he thought he had one on me as well, but it's all in the past. That's all, we were eighteen." I swallowed thickly. I knew it wasn't the whole truth. There was no way I could forget how he'd looked at me. And while I may have been drunk, I remembered the things Edward said to me that night. It didn't matter, though; Seth was amazing, and I loved him.
"You know, it's okay to admit that you have feelings for Edward, right? You obviously had a connection back then, and...Seth is the first and only guy you've ever been with. It's okay to be curious."
I took a deep breath, closing my eyes tightly. "I don't know how many times I have to say it. I love Seth, I'm happy with Seth." It was almost feeling as if I was trying to convince myself—as well as Tanya—that I had no genuine feelings for Edward. I knew it wasn't true, though. If it was, why did my pulse race and butterflies erupt in my belly when I thought about him?
Tanya sighed, leaning her elbows on the counter beside me. "I'm not trying to tell you to break up with Seth, it's just…" She glanced down at the paper, staring at it. I followed her gaze. The picture was grainy, but not so grainy that you couldn't see how Edward was looking at me. I audibly gulped. Anyone who saw that picture would see it.
—DC—
I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as I waited for Seth to pick up his phone. I had done nothing wrong, and I knew Seth wouldn't believe any rumors that were put out there. He trusted me—a fact that made me sick to my stomach.
Not that I'd ever do anything to hurt him, but I had to admit it to myself—I had feelings for Edward. And it was clear that he had feelings for me.
Over and over I attempted to convince myself that I'd made everything up in my drunken stupor. But his words were too clear.
"I've always thought you were beautiful, inside and out. And that hasn't changed after all of these years. If any of those people outside of this building assumed that we were together, I'd have a hard time setting them straight. A man would be a fool not to be proud to have you on his arm."
Tanya hadn't helped, either. Once she pointed out the fact Seth had been my first everything...now the "what if's" were swirling around in my brain. If I could be so easily affected by someone else's presence...was what Seth and I had true? I wanted to scream. I was so frustrated that Tanya had put these thoughts in my mind.
"Hey, honey," he finally answered on the fifth ring.
He sounded exhausted, but that was to be expected. The past few days he'd spent most of his time at the hospital with his dad.
"Hey, how's your dad? How are you? Are you getting any sleep?"
He chuckled quietly before sighing. "One question at a time, babe. Dad is doing better, staying awake for longer periods of time. I'm okay, just exhausted from all of this. I'm trying to get as much sleep as I can. How are you?"
I swallowed, trying to find my nerve to tell him everything that had gone on. "I'm okay. I wanted to talk to you about something that happened, though."
"Is everything okay? You aren't hurt or anything, are you?"
I closed my eyes tightly, knowing that I needed to get it out quickly so he wouldn't worry. "No, I'm okay. Nothing like that. I guess you haven't seen it yet...there are pictures in the tabloids of me and Edward Cullen from the other night."
He went quiet for a moment, and I panicked that he'd hung up. "Seth? Are you still there?"
"Uh, yeah, I'm still here...what sort of pictures?"
"He was just helping me into a car. I was friends with his sister in high school, and he told me she was in town with him—"
"Wait, you mean to tell me you know Edward Cullen personally? You told me everything that happened during the auditions the other day and didn't think that was an important detail to include? What the hell?"
"Saying that I know him personally is kind of stretching it. It's been a long time since I've spoken to anyone I knew back home, aside from my mom every few months. It's not like I kept in touch with him. I haven't seen him or his sister in almost seven years."
He pushed out a rough breath, and I could picture him running his fingers through his hair. "I'm not trying to be a dick… I'm sorry, but all of this is a shock. I'm just surprised you kept something like this from me. I mean, there's no way anything would have happened between you two. I know that for a fact."
Now it was my turn to be quiet. What did he mean there was "no way anything would have happened"? Was he saying I wasn't attractive enough for Edward to look my way? Did he feel as if didn't need to worry about other men sniffing around, because who else would want me but him? I knew I was probably overreacting, and that I was most likely misconstruing his words. But regardless of what he'd meant to convey, they'd still stung.
"Bella?"
"Sorry, I'm here, but I'm suddenly pretty tired. I think my long days are just now catching up with me."
"Yeah, um, I should probably try to get some sleep as well. I love you."
For the first time in a long while, I struggled to say the words back to him. "I love you, too," I nearly choked out.
What was wrong with me? How was it possible that we'd been together for all these years, but within a matter of days, so much had begun to change?
—-
A/N: The end of Seth is near…how are we feeling about that?! Let me know your thoughts!
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