A/N:

We're heading back to Seattle for this one, and we're officially closing in on part 2 of this story, so be prepared for some time jumps soon :-D

Title: The Perfect Partner Program

Author: MarieCarro

Beta: EdwardsFirstKiss

Pre-reader: brwneyedgrl01

Genre: Angst/Hurt&Comfort/Romance

Rating: NC-17

Summary: The summer of 2005 was the summer that changed Bella Swan's life forever. Sent to Ohio by her mother to attend a school for debutante girls not quite up to par, she meets Edward Masen, an apprentice. But is that really all he is? AH

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 Word Count: 2, 761

CHAPTER 15 GOING BACK HOME

"Doll, are you okay?" Dad asked and studied me in the rearview mirror. "You've been awfully quiet since we left. Is something wrong?"

My reaction was minuscule. I continued to look out the window and gave a small shrug. "I'm fine," I replied monotonously. I think I was in shock from having my heart destroyed and my world turned on its head.

I couldn't make sense of what had just happened or that it even had. I knew guys could be jerks and use girls. I'd had several friends who'd been subjected to pure asshole-ry, but somehow I'd always thought it would never happen to me because I thought I was a good judge of character.

How was it possible that I didn't suspect a thing? Was it really as simple as he had put it? Had he faked his way through the entire summer?

Faster than I had expected, we arrived at the airport, and we made our way to the first class lounge to wait for our flight. Renée never traveled anywhere unless it was first class.

"Charles, I need to visit the ladies' room. Could you order me a Negroni in the bar? That would be wonderful," Renée said and disappeared before Dad could respond.

"You want anything to drink, doll?" he asked me.

"Just coffee," I said, and his eyes widened.

"Since when do you drink coffee?"

The laugh that escaped me was involuntary, but his expression was so comical, not even my lingering numbness could hold it back. "I guess I grew up this summer, Dad."

He cracked a smile of his own. "Yeah, I guess."

He went to the bar, and I took the opportunity to call Becca. I really needed to talk to her about everything. I doubted anyone else could understand what I was going through right now, and also, her voice was the only one that could offer any comfort at that moment.

"Heeeeeey babe! What's up? You're on your way home, yet?"

"Yeah, I'm at the airport, waiting for the flight."

"What's wrong?" she asked, immediately detecting the tone of my voice. What I wasn't expecting was that my emotional bubble would pop in the middle of the lounge, and I had to flee into a corner where not too many people would stare at me.

"He said that it was all fake," I hiccupped.

"Who did? What was fake? Are you talking about Edward?"

Hearing his name made me cry harder. "He never loved me, sis! He said it was all for the sex."

"But you never had sex with him, right?" I sniffled, and couldn't get an answer out. "Right?"

"No, but that's what he said he wanted. That it was all he wanted and that he regretted the entire summer because he chose the wrong girl!"

"Are you serious? Babe, that doesn't sound right. I mean, why would he go through all of that trouble of taking you out and acting so disgustingly sweet if that was all he wanted? Did you confront him about it?" It was relieving that Becca didn't understand it a whole lot more than I did. I didn't feel as alone anymore after hearing that.

"Yeah, I confronted him … after catching him playing tonsil tennis with another girl."

"Shut up!" she exclaimed. "You're kidding me? He was smooching a different girl your last day at the school? That's just … No! Just no! That's not okay, honey!"

"I know, and I was hoping I could spend the night at your place tonight? I don't want Dad to see what a mess I am just yet. He doesn't even know about Edward. I need to warm him up to the thought that I was even seeing a guy in the first place, you know?"

"Oh, yeah! Totally! Come over whenever, no matter how late. I'll be up, and I'll have snacks and drinks ready, alright?"

"Thank you so much! I love you, sis!"

"I love you, too, sweet-cheeks! See you tonight!"

Before Dad could find me with the drinks, I took out a small mirror from my purse and saw that my makeup was completely smeared, my mascara made me look like a raccoon and my eyeshadow and lipstick were wiped off and faded which just made me look like a clown, and I couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up.

Suddenly, everything appeared very comical. My life could have been the most dramatic and clichéd movie of all time at that moment, but thinking of movies just made me think of Edward and our movie nights in my room.

I frowned at my reflection and then quickly grabbed a few paper napkins to wipe away the Picasso that had used my face as a canvas.

My comedic despair was immediately replaced with frustration, and I did the only thing I could think of that would make me feel better. I deleted everything that was associated with Edward from my phone. His number, pictures, texts. Everything.

It didn't make what had happened magically disappear, but at least I felt a bit better, and when Dad came back with my coffee and Renée's drink, I was able to give him a smile with my thanks.

I would tell him about Edward when I felt I wouldn't become an instant mess every time he was brought up. He deserved to know what had happened to me at the Academy. Even though I couldn't say for sure how this would affect me just yet, I knew it would, and I also knew I had changed over the summer. He would notice that, and he would wonder why.

But until we were in the comfort of our own home, I would stay strong. I didn't want to embarrass him by causing a scene in the first class lounge. Renée would freak out if I did, and I didn't need any more crap from her.

{=A=}

"You girls need anything else?" Becca's mom, Rachel, asked from the doorway.

"No, thanks, Mom, we have everything we need," Becca said and smiled widely. She and her mom were really close since it had always been just the two of them. Ever since Becca's dad had left them when she was only four, they'd managed by themselves and it had resulted in them having the kind of relationship I envied.

"Thank you so much," I told her as I pulled the cozy duvet tighter around me.

"Okay, I'm gonna go to bed, then. Goodnight and sleep well." She blew the both of us a kiss, and I felt my eyes tear up as she closed the door behind her.

"Seriously, your mom is like the best mom ever. I'm so jealous of you," I said with a pout.

"I'm guessing a summer apart didn't make anything better between you and Renée, huh?" Becca asked and crossed her legs to sit more comfortably in front of me on my borrowed mattress.

"No," I sighed. "Somehow it feels as if it made it worse. I don't know, but I had this weird feeling on the way home that she expected something every time she looked at me."

"Like what?"

"Who knows? Maybe that I would suddenly transform into a younger version of herself? I've never understood how her brain works."

"Well, I have to say that I am so stoked that you are still yourself even after spending your entire summer at that place," she said and dug into the bowl of chips between us.

I gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I guess meeting Edward was one good thing, at least."

"I'd like to say more than one," Becca said with her mouth stuffed with chips, and I laughed at how ridiculous she looked. "What? Do I have something stuck in my teeth?" She opened her mouth to show the mush on her tongue, and I threw a candy worm at her.

"You're disgusting!" I complained while still laughing. It felt so good to laugh like that. It was the way I could only ever laugh with Becca.

"What else is new?" she said with a shrug and took a swig from her soda bottle. "But seriously," she continued when her mouth wasn't filled with food anymore. "I could tell by your phone calls over the summer that you have experienced things you wouldn't have if you'd stayed here. As much as I've missed you for these past two months; I'm still happy you had a chance to see a bit more of the world than our quaint little town."

"You're calling Seattle quaint?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "No matter what I call it, before the summer, you'd never been anywhere else. You were stuck in a bubble, and to be frank, you had a tight hold on your rose-colored glasses."

I looked down at my hands and started to remove the non-existent dirt from under my nails. "Because things didn't hurt as much as long as I had them on."

"True," Becca agreed and placed a gentle hand on my knee. "But now you're ready to take on the world, and possibly even Renée."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Doesn't she still expect you to get back together with George and have your ball and all of that crap? Are you really going to allow her to keep pushing you around?"

"Maybe that wouldn't be so bad," I said with a shrug. "George was a stick in the mud, but at least he was always honest about it. I always knew he was shallow and wanted things in a certain way, and honestly, I wasn't that surprised when he broke up with me. I think I subconsciously provoked him to get a reaction. It wasn't really his fault."

Becca narrowed her eyes at me. "What are you saying?"

"That maybe he deserves a second chance?"

"Shut your face!" Becca said and this time she was the one throwing things at me. "You can't be serious. What the hell did this Edward do to you to screw up your head this badly?"

I swallowed hard and took a bite of a worm to give myself some time before answering her. "He made me love him," I mumbled.

"What?" Becca said, not hearing my words through my mouth-full of candy.

"He made me fall in love with him, okay?" I clarified.

"Yeah, I already knew that, but we have both fallen in love before," she pointed out.

I shook my head. "No, this was different. It wasn't just a crush, sis. I have never felt like that before. Everything with him just felt right. I would never have done the things I did with him if it hadn't."

"Which was what, exactly?"

I would have laughed and called her a pervert if it wasn't for the serious expression on her face. I knew the reason she was asking was that she wanted to know how serious I'd become with Edward.

"I guess you could call it third base?" I said, but it sounded more like a question.

"You don't sound so sure?"

"We only used our hands, and we kissed … a lot. And he showed me his dick," I finished, and Becca's serious expression morphed into a mischievous smile.

"Really? Oh, please, please, please, tell me it was tiny. It would be so much easier to make fun of him if it were!" She clasped her hands together and held them in front of me as if she was begging me to confirm it to her.

"Yeah, but sadly, it wasn't," I sighed. "I didn't make a habit of looking at guys' dicks before the summer, so I don't have anything to compare with, but I'd say it was at least average."

"That's too bad. We could totally have worked with that otherwise."

I scooted over to her side and wrapped my arms around her gratefully. "Yeah, we could have. The weird thing is that I wouldn't have wanted to."

"Why not?"

"It's weird, but even though it feels like he crushed my heart into smithereens, I can't forget the guy he was, up until today. Just yesterday, he was the most wonderful guy ever, and I still love that guy. I still love him."

Becca wrapped her arms around me as well. "I don't know what that feels like 'cause I've never been that in love with a guy, but I want you to know that when you feel ready to ugly-cry it out, my shoulder has a reserved spot for you."

"You're the best, sis! I don't know how I would survive without you."

"That's easy," she said. "You wouldn't."

{=A=}

The next day after I'd gotten back home from Becca's, I was eating lunch in front of the TV when the doorbell rang.

I wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone, but I didn't want to be rude and act as if no one was at home either, so I turned off the TV and went to answer.

The last person I expected outside was George. The last time I had seen him was at school before summer, and I hadn't talked to him since he had broken up with me. A part of me wanted to be angry with him. His breakup had been the catalyst that had caused Renée to send me to the Academy and therefore into Edward's path, but I also remembered what I'd told Becca the night before.

It wasn't his fault. He wasn't responsible for Edward's or Renée's actions. Still, it didn't mean I was particularly happy to see him.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him tiredly. I was mentally drained, and I didn't have the energy to give my usual sass.

"I heard you were back, and I just wanted to see how you were," he said with a smile, and suddenly, I couldn't understand why I had portrayed him as the bad guy the entire summer. He wasn't even close to being a bad guy compared to Edward because when it came down to it, George hadn't deliberately broken my heart.

As I'd told Becca, there had never been any illusions of who George was because he had always been upfront with me, and maybe he wasn't as bad as I had first thought. Maybe my bitterness over the breakup had clouded my view of him. Maybe he really did deserve a second chance.

I opened the door wider and stepped to the side and against everything Becca would have wanted, I invited him inside.

"Do you want anything to eat?"

"No, thank you, I'm good."

I nodded and tried to come up with something to talk about. "So how was your summer?"

He smiled again. "It was good. My parents and I went to California again. It was nice, but I missed you."

I sighed and shook my head. "George, you broke up with me, remember?" It didn't matter that it wasn't his fault. I wasn't ready to have that talk just yet. Edward was still too fresh of a memory.

"Yes, but that was a mistake, Bella," he said and walked closer. "It was a dumb reaction to what you told me that afternoon. You shocked me with your admission. I didn't know what to say."

"So your first reaction toward my telling you my dreams was to break up with me? Don't you see how that just proves we shouldn't be together?"

"No, I don't because I don't believe that. Bella, from the moment I saw you at the auction benefit almost four years ago, I knew you were everything I would ever want, and since then, I have only become more convinced that I want to call you my wife one day."

"George—"

"No, please listen to me. I know we don't always agree on things. I know we have different views and different dreams. I get that, and it was stupid of me to not consider your feelings when you told me what you wanted to do after high school. What I'm trying to say is that in the future, you will always have my support, no matter what."

A/N:

When I wrote that scene with Becca, I couldn't stop smiling. I could literally see it all in front of me, and I wanted to write her as the best friend you could ever have. She's there to make you laugh, to deliver sass, but also when it's time for serious talk. Becca is by far my favorite character in this story!

So George moving in on Bella. She's shown reluctance, but she's also uncertain. Why, you might ask. Well, you see, when the spirit has been broken, not much matters anymore.

Bella contemplates (key word contemplates) giving George a second chance because she knows that there won't be any surprises with him. She knows him and how he works. In a way, that feels safe, even though he is an idiot.

It's a huge reason why people stay in relationships with domestic abuse.

Give me your thoughts and I promise I will give you an extra chapter this weekend, just because I'm so nice xD