Chapter 8: Just a Girl

Last season on WTF is My Life, young Isabella had just decided to venture into a new relationship with Paul, her devilishly handsome soulmate, only to be confronted with perpetually tortured soul, Edward… her ex.

***Dramatic music from mysteriously appearing soundtrack***

And now, back to our irregularly scheduled drama.

"Edward. Hey."

Bella doesn't really know what to say to him.

She doesn't think there's anything to say. She doesn't think there's a protocol for when the guy you thought you'd spend your (un)life with shows up to your house unexpectedly and sees the guy you (kinda) dumped him for leaving your house.

If someone had an edition of Supernaturally Unique Breakups For Dummies, she'd be grateful if they sent it her way, thanks.

Edward had been perfectly still, taking an unpleasant likening to the statue he occasionally compared himself to. His eyes stayed on Paul, with a fleeting glance at her every few moments, and his jaw was clenched as if he were holding back so many things he wanted to say.

It occurred to her that he was most likely reading Paul's thoughts and, though she knew that they'd had a perfectly innocent evening and she was under no obligation to Edward, she felt her cheeks warm and cursed her easily flustered nature.

Edward still hadn't said anything, Paul was just gazing back with an amused tilt to his mouth, and Bella…

Bella was just a girl.

Standing in front of two guys.

Waiting for them both to go away, because she'd had enough awkwardness to last the rest of her life and still cringe from beyond the grave.

"Edward? Did you need something, 'cause if not, Paul was leaving, and I'm just gonna go back inside," Bella hedged, unsure what he was doing here if all he was gonna do was stare.

She couldn't imagine that he just loved to torture himself that much. Then again, the guy did enter into a committed relationship with not just any human, but one with blood that "sang" for specifically him.

So yeah, masochist extraordinaire.

Her approaching departure seemed to shake him out of whatever haze he was in, and he visibly gathered himself.

"Bella, you're looking well. As lovely as always," he begins, a melancholy smile appearing as he gazes at her. A smile that quickly turns strained when his eyes again stray to Paul.

"Paul. Lahote, is it? I don't believe we've met before these unforeseen circumstances." It sounded as if he was attempting to be polite, as difficult as it looked for him, which she couldn't really fault him for.

In response, that spark of amusement grew into a smirk, which, though she didn't know him all too well, she should've saw coming.

"Unforeseen but not undesired," he simply stated, like that explained his whole stance on the subject, which it kinda fucking did, the asshole.

Edward got a pained grimace on his face, once again reading Paul's thoughts if she'd had to guess, and seemed to steel himself further. "Ah yes, that is actually what I came to speak to Bella about, though the fact that you're here isn't completely unexpected, however undesirable it is. I wanted to see if I could change your mind about what you think has to happen here, Bella, before you get forced into something that you think you have to be. We can make this work, Bella. Even if I have to spend time with a dog to do it."

And this is why she didn't wanna have this conversation with him. Hell, she didn't wanna have any conversation with him because, even after figuring out that he'd been manipulating her throughout the majority of their relationship, she still felt bad for him. He had to have cared for her at least a little, in his own way, to be so desperate to keep her around and in his life. And now here he was, practically pleading with her not to leave him, to stay even if she had Paul with her at all times, and she couldn't do it because she knew that she didn't want him.

Not the way she'd wanted him with a now concerning single-mindedness that she'd exhibited since they got together. Not the way she'd wanted him that told her to push everyone but him to the back of her mind so she could focus on him, on them. Not the way that made her hurt her father, shun her new friends, and unthinkingly throw herself into danger's way, like her well being was unimportant if it didn't aid him in some way.

No, she didn't want him in that way anymore, but it still didn't erase the fact that they'd been together, and this whole situation did come out of nowhere, blindsiding all involved. For her to just be unfeeling and not give a shit how he was dealing with the separation would've just been cruel.

She was brought back to the situation at hand by a wall of heat at her back, and she glanced behind her to see that Paul had moved to stand squarely in the doorway, hands gripping the frame, a step away from being plastered to her, gaze trained steadily on Edward.

Smug smile still on his face, he drawled out, "Sorry Bloodsucker, she's kinda involved with someone, kind of a lifelong commitment. Almost like marriage, ya know?"

With that killing blow, he put his hands on her waist to shift her to one side as he slid from behind her, brushing up against her more than he honestly needed to. He ended up standing slightly to her side, a hand on her hip and the other playing with a lock of her hair.

"You can't just abandon the family; they love you," Edward threw out in a last ditch effort, eyeing Paul's hands on her with revulsion.

Oh, like they abandoned me?

"Just because we're not together anymore, doesn't mean that I'm just not gonna talk to them, you know that."

Neither of them had anything to say after that; she couldn't love him, and he wouldn't accept it.

So in silence they stood, him stoic yet melancholy, her uncomfortable and unsure of what happened next.

Until Paul cut through it, of course.

"As much as I'd like to continue this awkward little whatever-it-is, I gotta go. You can talk to us about our relationship when she calls you to do so. I'll call you later, alright Sweetheart?"

And with that, he was gone, fingers trailing across the small of her back and her hair falling down over her shoulder. She watched as he made his way into the woods, part of her reaching out for him the farther he went.

Damn, the guy knew how to make an exit.

Turning back around to tell Edward that Paul was right (he deserved to be part of any conversation regarding the imprint, seeing as he was the… imprinter, I guess would be the word?), she realized that the vampire was gone, likely disappearing as the wolf did.

The whole interaction couldn't have been easy for him, but it was kind of good that it was maybe finally getting through to him that their relationship had been officially and effectively ended.

Yeah, there's a chance that she and Paul might not work out in a romantic sense (though she doesn't think that's the case), but even then, they'll be friends, or he'll be like a brother. He'd always be there in some way, shape or form, and seeing as Edward couldn't respect the imprint now, as tentative and new as it was, she didn't have much hope for the future.

**LR**

Bella had been laying in bed, reading with her two fave British YouTuber's videos playing in the background, when she heard a noise at the front door. Knowing her dad was home, she began to make her way downstairs.

"Hey Dad, rough day?"

She walked over to him, giving him a side hug as she walks him into the kitchen and sits him down at the table. She gets started warming the food as he gets settled.

"Luckily, paperwork just piled up, so it was just a day at my desk. Thanks, kid," he said as she set the plate down, and went to get him a drink. She set that beside his plate and then took a seat next to him.

"So Dad," she started, "I've had a lot going on the past couple days. Like, a lot. I can't really explain some of it, but I just wanted to let you know, because I know you're gonna be ecstatic about it, that Edward and I aren't together anymore. I broke up with him, and we're not getting back together."

Charlie had paused with his fork in midair the second she said that she'd broken up with Edward, and he put it down, giving her a contemplating look after.

He cleared his throat, asking her if she was okay.

"Yeah, I'm great. I just don't feel the way I thought I did, and I wanna see what's out there without him constantly there and judging. I promise, I'm fine," she told him, reaching out to grasp his hand on the table. "Thanks for caring, Dad."

His cheeks gained a faint pink hue, showing her exactly where she got it from.

He gave her hand a squeeze, then picked his fork back up with the other one.

"You were too good for that boy anyway, Bells. I knew it, and he did too."

She sat with him while he finished eating, and then they watched TV together for a while longer.

She would've lost this.

If she'd stayed with him, and she'd become a vampire, then she wouldn't have been able to see him again. She would've had to leave after finally getting to be with him after so many years away, and he wouldn't have ever known why.

As she sat there on the couch with her father, this man who had always loved her, even from afar when her mother took her away, who had always held out hope that she'd come back.

Who'd been so happy when she decided to come live with him.

Bella cried a few tears for the version of her father who'd been abandoned, and then she hugged the arm of the one she lay on, hoping she managed to do right by him.

And also hoping he didn't try and shoot her new maybe boyfriend when she told him who he was.