*edited as of 9/2017

Chapter 11

"Everyone says that love hurts, but that's not true. Loneliness hurts. Rejection hurts. Losing someone hurts. Everyone confuses these things with love, but in reality, love is the only thing in the world that covers up the pain and makes us feel wonderful again.

-unknown

Edward's POV

"Oh is that the girl your father was talking about? I thought it was just a one-time thing. At least she's pretty." My mother chimes in happily. I could see her mentally visualizing her grandchildren all ready.

"Jess said the girl gave him a huge hickey!" Jane blurts out of nowhere. She rubs her stomach while also stuffing her face. Couldn't she see that she was making it worse?

"Jane shut up, it's an inappropriate." Leave it to Angela to be the voice of reason.

I swear this shit happened like it was out a movie.

My family and their big fucking mouths.

Secrecy my ass.

Everyone's looking at us now and Bella's face is turning a unhealthy shade of red. Tears begin to fill her eyes and I watch like a idiot as she stumbles from the table and runs out the door.

It takes a few seconds for my brain to catch up with what was going on. Suddenly before I can realize what's happening, I'm calling her name and running behind her.

I feel a hand on my shoulder pull me back slightly. I jerk away angrily and turn to scream at whoever was trying to hold me back. It's Benjamin. He gives me an apologetic glance and reaches out his hand.

It's her purse.

Bella must have left it in her haste to get out of here.

I didn't blame her either. I'd run away too if it was screamed that you slept with their brother. I quickly grab it from him.

"Go, I'll do damage control." Benjamin urges. I nod and run out the front door nearly busting my ass in my haste.

Luckily, it was a one-way street and there was only one direction Bella could have gone. Unfortunately, there were about twelve other shops and restaurants situated on this side of the street alone. She could easily be in any of them and heaven forbid she ran past this street and towards the main one, I'd never find her if that was the case.

Since I had her purse and the temperature was dropping along with the sun in the sky, I knew her options were few. I held onto the hope that she wouldn't be that far and began my search.

Isabella's POV

"Fucking a…stupid Bree for putting me in these stupid flats that look cute but hurt. Stupid freaking cold weather in the middle of spring and not having a coat ugh…" I grumble under my breath as I descend down the street.

The whole trek down the street I fight the urge to break out in tears. A few tears slip down but I hastily wipe them away. I was gathering a few stares from my constant muttering and hobbling but at the moment I didn't give a fuck. The chill in the air was becoming more apparent and I berated myself for not only leaving my coat but my purse as well.

I was lucky to reach 120 sopping wet and even with the thick material of my dress, tights and shoes, I was freezing my ass off . Plus these damned flats were killing the back of my ankles where they rubbed against the tender skin..

I knew I had to eventually return to gather my things but right now, I couldn't go back.

I couldn't face Jessica, her family and friends and especially him.

My pride was already down the drain and I didn't want to make any more attempts to scrape what was left with all of them watching and judging me.

I couldn't go far without my purse but I had to get out the cold soon before I froze my ass off.

I actually liked my ass. It wasn't too big or too small… I needed it intact.

The street was mainly filled with boutiques that were beginning to close so those places were out of the question. Luckily there's a small diner at the very edge of it and decide to head towards there.

The diner isn't as packed as I thought it would be considering it was reaching the usual dinner hour. The servers were busing around with a few stragglers and didn't notice me entering. I quietly crept over to one of the booths in the back away from the windows and chill of the air. It was warm in here, toasty almost, with the smells of French fries, burgers and meatloaf permeating the air.

It made my stomach growl. I hadn't eaten much that morning, citing my nerves of Jess's impending shower. I wanted to order something, but then realized I was without my purse and my money so therefore starving it was going to be. I rest my head against the table and finally let some of my tears fall.

Tonight has just been added to my list of Bella Swan's top ten worst moments; coming in at number two.

I was so embarrassed. Not only did I run into my one night stand and make a spectacle of myself, but the woman who I thought was his wife and mother of his child was actually his sister in law. Needless to say, I read too much into the relationship between the two of them and was keeping him at arms length because I thought he was a manwhore/cheater.

It was official. My ASSumptions had finally got the best of me.

But let us not forget the icing on top of the cake….It was now a known fact that Edward and I had slept together. This little tidbit of information being revealed to the entirety of Jessica's friends and family.

Jessica…..

Had she set me up?

I mean she wouldn't have done that to me… right?

We were friends.

She wasn't like the other Jessica skank that ruined my life. But then again, how had she known that I slept with Edward?

The entire situation was confusing and there were missing periods of information. Reality television couldn't come up with something this good.

This was mortification to an all-new level.

I could just imagine the women back at the bridal shower labeling me as a little strumpet of a girl who just opens her legs for the entire world to see. I should have at least stayed and defended myself but like a coward ran away.

Man… I needed a drink.

But no purse equals no money, no alcohol and no reprieve from this entire shit storm of an hour.

"Sweetie are you okay?" A soft voice asks. I pull my face from the table and look up into the warm brown eyes of the waitress. Dressed in a pink button down dress and apron, the woman appeared to be in her early sixties and of native American descent. She greets me with a warm smile and brushes a few strands of greying black hair from her face. Her nametag reads Sue.

"Yeah I'm okay." I clear my throat and begin wiping my face hastily of any remaining tears. My mascara smudges against my fingers.

Great….now I look like a deranged raccoon.

"Well you sure don't look okay. Can I get you anything? You look like you need something." I continue to shake my head.

"No you need something in that body. How about some coffee and a slice of our apple pie? I made it myself from scratch." Sue suggests eying me closely. She looks like she's debating if she should call 911 or not.

"I promise I'm fine. Besides, I don't have my purse with me and I don't have any money and…" suddenly I was blubbering all over again. I feel her rest a reassuring hand on my shoulder until my tears subside and I'm surprised by the amount of warmth I feel from her touch.

"Sweetie it looks like you need it. I'm going to see if we have anything ready in the back. It's on me." Sue grins pouring me a small cup of coffee. I try to refuse but she walks away.

I wrap my hands around the warm cup and take a sip. Moments later, Sue returns bringing with a plate loaded with a burger and fries along with a slice of pie.

"I couldn't possibly…"

"Yes you do. You look too skinny, you need the calories sweetheart."

"Thank you." My stomach growls ravenously at the sight. Sue smiles at me knowingly.

"Do you mind if I sit with you for a bit? I'm on my break for thirty minutes and my feet need a little relief from being on them all day." I nod in agreement and dig into my burger and fries. I guess I'm hungrier than I thought because I barely came up for air. By the time I'm finished there's nothing but the pie left. I sheepishly smile up at Sue.

"It's okay dear." She pushes the pie in my direction. I honestly didn't think I could eat another bite but the smell of the cinnamon and crust wafts itself over and I'm hooked.

"So you don't have to explain, but if you're up to it, want to tell me why a pretty thing like you is in here crying? Is a guy?" she asks.

Was I that obvious?

Oh what the hell… I'd already been through a night of hell. What difference did it make if I told it to a complete stranger? I had nothing to lose. So I told Sue everything, all whilst stuffing my face with pie. By the time I finished retelling my story, I had crumbs all over my mouth and Sue's break was over.

"No wonder child, you've been the ringer. Now I have one question. What does this guy look like?" She asks. My eyebrows furrow in confusion.

Where was she going with this? I decide to placate her by answering.

"Um, tall, kind of pale. Very strong jawline and nose, green eyes…"

"And does he have copper colored hair; that looks brown but is actually red?" Sue adds.

"Yeah how do you know that?" I thought aloud. Was she a psychic or something?

"Do you own a dark brown purse with a hole in the material?" she continues to ask. Okay she was really beginning to freak me out. How did she know all of this? The purse she described was accurate right down to the hole from Pattinson's bite marks.

"Sue how do you know all this?"

"Because Edward or Mystery guy or whoever you want to call it is in here and he's headed this way."

….

Edward's POV

"Bella can I talk to you for a few minutes?" She doesn't meet my eyes but nods her head. The stocky waitress pats her hand and leaves but not before giving me the stink eye.

Well she wasn't getting a tip from me if I ordered anything…

I take my seat across from her in the booth and push her purse across the table.

"You left this. I promise I didn't go through it or anything." I ramble. I notice the side her mouth slowly rise.

Progress.

We sit in silence for a couple of minutes; the chatter and movement of the waitresses and customers becoming background noise.

"So…."

"So…" she mimics.

"Do you think we can have that long awaited talk right now?" I request.

"I guess we should since it's been put off long enough." Bella reasons and looks at me. I notice that her eyes are a little puffy and had smudges of mascara underneath.

She had been crying.

I felt like shit. I had inadvertently contributed to her sadness but she had never looked more beautiful. It was distracting.

"Do you mind if I go first?" She doesn't say anything so I take that as my cue to start.

"First off, I want to apologize for the stuff that went down tonight. I also want to apologize on my sister's behalf. She shouldn't have blurted my business out that way. I mean… I don't even know how she found out. My family's nosy as hell and in everyone's business. I swear I didn't know you were going to be there and tonight or that you even knew Jess…" I rush out.

"Did I overdo it?"

"Well I can tell you two are related. You and Jess both suffer from verbal diarrhea. Hell, I didn't even know you and Jessica were related until today. I guess I was so caught up in my head that I didn't pay attention. I met Jessica at a coffee shop and I guess our friendship just progressed from there."

"That's my sister for you." I emphasize.

"I just hope that this wasn't all a set up from to make me look silly." Bella replied and I could detect the underlying anger in her tone.

"I assure you it wasn't like that." I plead. Bella stares at me in silence and lets out a deep breath.

" I believe you." I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

"Can I ask a question now?"

"Why show up on my doorstep like that? I mean I get why you did, but do you know how crazy that is? My dad's a cop. Stuff like that usually doesn't go unwarranted without some repercussions." she glares.

"I just had to see you. By any means necessary. I know that's not a good enough answer but I guess I should ask the same in return. Why avoid me for so long? I mean I pursued you for weeks Bella…weeks. Since that night all those months ago you've been on my mind and I decided to take a chance. I want to know why string me along?" I counter angrily. Bella crosses her arms defensively at me.

"Oh no you don't, You can't get mad at me for that. Was it wrong going on this long without giving you a direct answer… yes. But I had every right to have my reservations about you. It took me forever to muster up the courage to call you and when I did I didn't get a call back." Bella acknowledges.

"I was occupied with my nieces. I just couldn't drop everything and I had left my phone at home. You could have called me back the next day or the day after that too you know."

"Uh uh buddy, don't put that on me, You could have called me back yourself. Phones work both ways." Bella challenges.

"I told you I wouldn't bother you. Things were going to happen once you made the first move." She opens her mouth to say something back but I cut her off, raising my hands in mock surrender.

" Let us just agree to disagree. We both had the chances to call the other back." I resign. I really wasn't up for all of this arguing when it wasn't going to lead us anywhere. Bella tries to lead the conversation elsewhere but I stop her.

"You're deflecting. I'm curious. What did I do to make you dislike me so much?"

"I didn't say I didn't like you. Obviously I slept with you so that meant something."

"I mean afterwards. Granted you had every right to react that way when I showed up on your doorstep like a deranged stalker." Bella gives me a pointed look. Ignoring her I continue, "I wanted a simple yes or no from you; a chance to explain myself and you avoided me like the plague. You could have easily called the cops on me but you didn't and it gave me hop. I want to know why."

"I said I had my reservations about you. There are certain attributes I don't want to deal with when it comes to the opposite sex and I thought you had a few of those qualities." Bella answers distractedly. She begins tracing her fingers along the edge of the table. I struggle to bite back the memory of sucking on those little morsels and try to get her attention so that she could continue.

"I'm not the type to sleep around; especially with a stranger. It's uncharted territory for me and I was mad at myself for that. That was the initial reason why I left. If it makes you feel any better, I thought about you too. I tried to ignore the feelings that emerged but everything around me reminded me of you. I thought I was going to run myself crazy and that's when I saw you again."

"You saw me again? When?"

"In the park. I was walking my dog and I saw you with this woman and her kid and just assumed…"

"You assumed what…who is this woman…"

"Angela and her son. From the distance, all I could see was that crazy hair on Joham and I thought..."

"That I was in some sort of relationship and had a kid." I finish for her and she nods sheepishly.

"I guess I can see how that looks." I wasn't going to tell her that Angela and I had been in a relationship at one point. I would save that bit of information for later. "My brother and I share similar features including our hair, so I could see how you would assume that he was mine." I point out.

"I know I jumped to conclusions. I just don't do the whole other woman routine. I thought you were some cheating husband and that it was best to stay away from you." Bella continued and I did not say anything. The husband part no, the womanizing part, well she he didn't need to know about that part of my life…yet.

" I can respect that. I won't lie to you Bella and say that I'm perfect because I'm not. We all have our pasts and I rather not get into that tonight. From the look on your face, I can tell you're feeling the same way. I'm always upfront with my intentions and I'm about to do that by telling you what's going on in my head. You fascinate me. I never met a woman like you and it enthralls me enough that I've resorting into doing things that I normally wouldn't do."

"So now I'm a science experiment?"

"Geez Bella, stop looking for negatives. Listen for once."

"And there's the cockiness I remember." Bella growls.

"And I do recall you liked it. Especially that night." I tease and mentally pat myself as she smirks.

It was working!

"I want you to give me a chance. A chance to prove to you that I am just Edward and this misconceived image you have of me in your head is false. No catches or quirks, just three nights to take you out. You can agree or disagree if you like but I want an answer… tonight. I'm tired of waiting. A watched point doesn't boil, so what do you say?" I finish and she suddenly bursts out laughing.

Well…that was unexpected.

"So…sorry but you really just dated yourself by saying that." Bella stops laughing. "Oh my god, I don't even know how old you are."

"My point exactly. Simple trivial things that we can learn about one another. Just one night a week for three weeks and if it works it works. If it doesn't, it just means that it wasn't meant to be. At least we cant say we didn't try.

"I'm not trying for a relationship right now." Bella stutters.

"That's perfectly fine. Friendship will do…." For now…. "Now can I please get an answer? I've waited long enough."

Please say yes, please yes.

I really didn't want to run home with my tail between my legs.

Maybe I am getting old.

"I can't believe I'm doing this but I agree to your conditions. You got three weeks to show me who Edward Cullen is."

"So that's a yes." The smile on my face is so wide that my cheeks begin to hurt.

"Get that smile off your face." Bella narrows her eyes at me. I smooth my express into one of indifference.

"So it's a date."
"You got a date."

I fight the urge to jump up and down and scream like a little girl.

Maybe my sisters were rubbing off on me...

"Um how about this Friday? I'll be done with work and…" Bella cuts me off.

"I work that night until 7."

"I can work with that. We can have a late dinner and maybe browse the city a bit; there's always something to do." I reach for her phone that was now on the table to put my number in addition to my home phone.

" There…now there's no excuse." Bella bites back another smile.

"That sounds great. Will you give me time to go home and change or…"

"You'll look beautiful either way." Bella raises an eyebrow at me in disbelief."

"Laying it on too thick?" I wince, feeling her foot come down on mine a little.

"Just a little bit but that's fine. I'll just add it to list of qualities I'm learning about you. A case of foot in mouth and cheesy pick-up lines." She giggles.

"Hey I'll take what I can get." I shrug.

Something was better than nothing.

"Do you want me to pick you up or ..."

" I'm sure we'll figure out the details later.

Besides, you don't need directions or anything considering you showed up on my doorstep eh?"

Touché, my beautiful girl.

Touché.

That's all folks for this chapter.

Good news we have their first date next chapter and a juicy lemon or two because let's face it we need to put that M rating back into action!

Until again, share your thoughts and review,

Xoxo Sylvia Cullen