A/n: So this is Mike's POV of when Bella lets him in and tells him everything.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight series or the characters. I can only wish.
"They never said goodbye, you know." She plops down next to me on her couch.
"What?" I looked up from my book confused. We were at her house enjoying the peace that reading together brought us.
"The Cullens. They all left without saying goodbye, like thieves in the night. I had always thought that I meant more to them than that. But I guess not."
Hope blossomed. Was she finally letting me in? I kept my expression neutral, "That's just plain rude. It's common courtesy to say goodbye to someone you are acquainted with. Even I know that. Do you know why they didn't?" I prodded her, hoping I wasn't pushing too much.
She shakes her head, "No. I only no what Edward told me a couple days later when he left too. It was a year ago today."
I closed my book and sat up, "Do you want to talk about it?"
She is silent for a moment, eyeing me as if she was debating on whether or not to trust me with the information. Coming to a decision, she replied, "I guess I should. It might help."
"You don't have to, not if you aren't ready Bella. But I am here if you want to talk. You can tell me whatever you are comfortable with. I'm not going to make you talk about anything you don't want to."
She nodded slightly, bringing her feet to rest on the edge of the couch cushion and her chin resting on her knees, wrapping her arms around her legs. I recognized this position; she was feeling at her most vulnerable.
"I suppose I should start from the beginning. Edward and I…. didn't get on very well at first. He was very mercurial as to how he felt about me. But I kept on pursuing him and he finally gave in…and I met his family when we started dating. I idolized his parents. They provided the structure I always craved growing up. My mother was really scatterbrained and not very responsible. I had to start doing the cooking, cleaning, and making sure that the bills were paid when I was eight. Charlie…bless the man's soul Mike but he really doesn't know what to do with a teenage daughter…"
She paused to gather her thoughts before continuing, "Emmett and Jasper, were like brothers to me. Alice was like a sister. So was Rosalie, even though she hated me for some reason. In short, the Cullens were the family I always wanted. But they left. They abandoned me like I was nothing. And Edward…was everything I always wanted. I really thought that I had found my future with them."
"But that wasn't the case right?" Stupid bastards. I hope they never run in to her. Any of them. She not only lost her boyfriend, but an entire family. They don't deserve her.
She nods slowly, "Right. When Edward broke up with me, he said a lot of things. He took me for a walk into the woods, and told me that he didn't want me anymore. That I was just a toy, nothing but a mere distraction to him. That he was bored and tired of pretending. Tired of me. That I wasn't worth it."
She looked up at me, tears rolling down her cheeks, "And then he left me in the woods by myself. I couldn't find my way back out, and started trying to chase after him. I had to be rescued by trackers on the reservation in the middle of the night."
I tried not to let my jaw drop, "He did what? And he called himself a gentleman?"
She laughed bitterly, "Oh, he was a gentleman in other respects. Did you know he barely wanted to kiss me? And when he did, all the kisses were chaste and when I tried to take it further, he shoved me away?"
I stared at her blankly, who in their right mind would refuse her advances? She was gorgeous. "Bella…are you sure he wasn't secretly gay?"
She snorted, "You know, that might explain some things. Anyway, after that you saw what happened. I shut down completely. But then in January, I started hanging out with Jake on the res. He fixed up a couple of motorbikes for us, and taught me to ride one. When I was around Jake, I started feeling better. That awkward night at the movie theater, after we dropped you off, he asked me for a chance. Told me he loved me. Promised he would never hurt me. Agreed to wait for me, to wait until I was ready."
I nodded, "Yeah, I remember for a couple months there you looked like you were getting better. But then suddenly you reverted back to your withdrawn state. What happened?"
She started crying again, so I hugged her to me, like I usually do when she cries like this. After a few minutes she settled down enough to tell me, "He didn't call for weeks. And he wouldn't return my calls. So I went up to see him. And he told me he never wanted to see me again. He didn't want to be my friend. Jake told me that I wasn't worth the trouble. That I wasn't worth it. And he's right. I'm not worth it, Mike. I'm really not."
I sat stunned for a moment. They seriously said that to her? How could they say that stuff to her after claiming that they loved her? They didn't love her; if they did, they wouldn't have told her that she wasn't worth it. But she was, she really was. I slowly lifted her chin so that she could face me while I chose my words carefully.
"Bella, if they really think that of you, then they need to get their sanity checked. What they did to you, what they said, it was wrong. You are beautiful, kind, and completely selfless. I am attracted to you physically, that's no secret, but your soul is absolutely breathtakingly good and beautiful, I plan to prove to you that you are worth it. You are worthy of being loved, Arizona."
"But why? Why go through all the trouble for me?"
I smiled, "Simple. Isabella Marie Swan, I am in love with you. I will fight to win your heart, your trust. I will wait for you to give me a chance to make you happy, and if you decide you want someone else, then I will gladly still be your friend."
She was so close. I wanted to kiss her. But that would ruin the point I was trying to make. I would wait for her. Patiently. So I settled for kissing her forehead instead.
Eventually she smiled at me and leaned her head against my shoulder. We sat in a content silence until I had to go home for the night. I stayed up planning, making it my mission to get her to one day see that she was beautiful and perfect. I would do whatever I could to make her see that she is worth it.
Maybe one day she will see herself the way I see her.
