A/N: Thanks for waiting! I'm on a plane to El Paso. How are you?

Edward was...buoyant.

It wasn't as though he'd been wallowing since Kate left him. Well, okay. There'd been a little wallowing, but that was only to be expected. He had loved the woman, after all. He'd been serious. It had only been a few weeks. He wasn't dying of a broken heart, but they hadn't been the best three weeks of his life.

Today, though, he might have believed he was walking on air. He was a walking cliche with a bounce in his step and a smile on his lips.

Another good day with Bella. She was in front of him now, walking beside his sister. They had their heads bent together and were whispering conspiratorially, both of them cackling at whatever had been said. Edward loved his family, but he and Alice had a special relationship. That should have been his first sign that Kate was trouble; she and Alice had never gotten along. Alice and Bella, however, had hit it off right away.

When they reached the parking lot, Bella paused. She stared out at the ocean and then stretched, arching her arms and tilting her head up to the sky. She had the tiniest smile on her face.

After a moment, she loosened back into a normal stance and turned. "Thank you so much for lunch," she said, stepping forward to give Alice a hug. "That was swanky."

"Swanky?" Alice laughed, rocking her in that way women did sometimes before letting her go. "You mean my leftover banquet lunch extraordinaire? All the best banquet leftovers you can shake a stick at? You're easy."

"Hey, there's a rumor about that on the internet."

Earlier today, Edward would have winced and hissed at Alice for saying that. But over the course of lunch, Alice and Bella had told every joke in human existence about the whole situation they'd woken up to that morning. As a result, some of the sting had been erased, so Edward wasn't surprised when Bella snickered at her own humor.

"Don't think coz I'm easy, I'm naive," Alice sang in what Edward knew now to be an Ani DiFranco song. It was one of the things Alice had recommended to Bella. Apparently, there was an album in the singer's repertoire that was perfect for a break up. Every other song on the album was a 'these boots are made for walking and I'm going to shove them right up your ass' kind of song. The ones in between were of the 'fuck, this sucks, you suck, everyone sucks, I'll never love again, and I want to die,' variety of grieving.

"That's the key to a successful breakup," Alice had told Bella. "At first, you gotta have equal parts grief and ass-kicking. Anger and sadness. You gotta let them both have their say. Then, you move on."

Bella gave Alice's hands one last squeeze before she turned to Edward. She went to him, wrapping him in a hug that lingered as he put his arms around her. She felt good in his arms, and the way she rested her head on his shoulder, so trusting, made his heart ache in that good way.

"You're good at this," she said, squeezing him tightly before she pulled back.

"Good at what?" he asked.

"Turning days that should really suck into good days."

"Hey, you're no slouch yourself," he said, winking at her.

Her lips turned up again with the slightest flash of teeth for just a heartbeat before she sighed. "Thanks again," she said to both of them. "For everything."

Edward felt a tug as he watched her pull out. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

And then, Alice smacked his arm. Not hard, but still, his head snapped to the side and he glared down at her. "What was that for?"

She'd narrowed her eyes at him and pointed a finger in his face. "Don't start."

"What are you talking about? Start what?"

"That thing you do. Where you fall for a woman in two minutes flat."

Edward grimaced. "I'm not—"

"You are. No good can come of it, Edward. Not now."

"Weren't you the one encouraging me this morning?"

"Encouraging you to engage in a little rebound sex." Alice snorted. "Both of you could use it, but that's the point. You're getting over a woman you wanted to marry. Her boyfriend of nearly a decade broke up with her, what, five days ago? Six? Her heart is broken even if yours is only cracked. Falling for a woman like that can't end well. Not today."

Edward was taken aback, silent as they headed back to the hotel. "What do you mean that thing I do?" he asked quietly.

She sighed. "I didn't mean to say that. Twice isn't really a pattern."

"But what did you mean?"

"Kate, and that girl before her. When you were a Freshman? You've never been the type to fall for every woman you see. I know it takes a lot to catch your eye, but when someone does, every time someone does—and again, I get that this makes three times, which isn't that much—you go from zero to a hundred overnight. It's a romantic notion that makes for some great movies, but look what's happened."

Edward was quiet again, chafing but also considering his sister's words.

The day after Kate had gotten back from the cruise, she'd come by his place to pick up her things. "I wasn't unhappy," she'd said, her look wistful and almost pitying as she spoke, her eyes open and honest. "I was never unhappy. Just...you were a whirlwind. It was exciting at first. Being loved by you was intense, and I got caught up in it. I never saw forever, but you made me want to. You really made me want to. I tried, because our day-to-day was great. A lot of couples have a lot of good years on much less. But it didn't take, Edward. That's all."

And there was Alice's remark, so flippant she probably hadn't even realized it stung quite as badly as it had.

"Her heart is broken even if yours is only cracked."

In hindsight, and after a few weeks of soul-searching, he'd come to the realization that Kate's loss didn't ache as much as it should have. His elder brother Emmett had said that was good. "After what she did, she doesn't deserve to be missed, bro."

But that wasn't the whole point. No, what Kate had done hadn't been good or nice, but it didn't mean Edward didn't have to acknowledge his role. Especially because, now that he thought of it, his first relationship had ended on a similar note.

"Edward, we're not even twenty years old. You have our whole lives planned out, and I like you. I may even love you, but the rest of my life is a long time, man."

Beside him, Alice sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to bring you down. It was nice to see you smile again, and Bella's great. She really is. I like her. I don't want either of you to get hurt."

He fixed her with a narrowed eye. "So, to recap, you think the idea of me asking her out on a thirddate is the epitome of stupidity, but I should definitely try to fuck her."

"It was a good idea. Breakups suck. Right now, Bella feels lonely and undesirable and ugly and unworthy. And so do you. There's nothing wrong with rebound sex, and you two obviously have the chemistry."

"But?"

"Haven't you been paying attention?" She gave him a playful poke in the ribs. "You can't even be trusted to get some simple ass, Edward Cullen. If you tried to sleep with her, you and I know damn well you'd fall in love with her." She put her arm through his, grinning at him. "No sex for you, possibly ever again."

"Damn," Edward deadpanned. "Good thing I have you, my sister, to dictate my love life."

"Someone has to."

Edward draped an arm over Alice's shoulder as they walked on. "So, even if I gave it a little time…"

"Edward." She said his name with a sharp warning. "If you're only nice to her, pretending to be her friend because you want something more, you're just one of those assholes who whines about being put in the friendzone. Like the only way a woman is interesting to you is if you can have her. She needs a friend, and telling her you can be a friend when you really want something more is just deceptive. Who knows what will happen in the future, but it's not a good idea to make it an aim." She rubbed his back comfortingly. "And don't you think you can stand a little distance?"

He bristled. "Don't make it sound like I'm one of those people who can't stand not being in a relationship. You know that's not me."

"No, it's not. But you are the guy who gets distracted by the romance of a situation. You wander into a meet-cute and you start talking about fate and destiny."

"The heart wants what it wants," Edward said. "We don't chose who we fall for, and that means we don't just get to choose when. Yeah, the timing sucks, but—"

"But who cares?" She folded her arms across her chest looking at him. "That's the idea, right? True love is supposed to be the thing that you listen to above everything else? That's bullshit, and it's destructive. Some matches are just plain bad no matter what you feel. A married man falls for the woman in his yoga class. You think he should just go for it? Because of love? An eighteen-year-old girl falls in love with a guy who she finds out is planning a string of bank heists. No problem? You're saying if Bella's ex walked in here, and turned out to be my soulmate, I should just ignore every social rule and go after him because the heart wants what the heart wants?"

Edward tensed, not liking the idea of that bastard anywhere near his sister or Bella. "You made your point. I wasn't going to do anything anyway." He knew all those things, of course. He knew Bella needed space to grieve, and he needed to figure out his part in the demise of his relationship. "Mom and Dad always made it look easy. Effortless."

To his surprise, Alice snorted. She patted his shoulder. "You like your pretty stories, don't you? You still think they fell in love at first sight?"

He arched an eyebrow. "I know you grew up hearing the same stories I did…"

"And then some." She pressed onto her tiptoes to ruffle his hair. "They fell in love at first sight—when you know, you know, right?" She shook her head. "They were sixteen when she fell out of a tree at his feet, breaking her leg so he had to carry her to the nurse. She looked into his eyes, and he into hers, and they 'just knew.'" Alice actually used air-quotes. "Luckily for our existence, they were ripped apart before they could do anything about it." Grandfather Cullen had uprooted his family in the middle of Carlisle's junior year in high school. "And fate brought them together ten years later, where, by chance, their eyes meeting across a crowded room."

Alice rolled her eyes, but she smiled. "But that story is missing the context. They didn't fall in love at first sight when they were sixteen. They were attracted to each other. It was luck that they met again when they were older—after they'd had a chance to figure a few things out for themselves, and after they were more developed as adults. You know what I mean. And even then, it's not like they fell into each other's arms instantly. Did you know that Mom couldn't decide between a second date with Dad and a third date with this guy named Alistair?"

"Jeez, you wet blanket. I can't help that I like the idea of a good 'how I met your mother' story."

"If that was true, you'd never be interested in this woman."

"How do you figure?"

Alice smirked and cleared her throat. "How did I meet your mother, kids? Well, about twenty-five minutes before we met, she would have told you she was totally and completely in love with this other guy. You all could have been part Texan. Imagine that. But, luckily for you, he was an ass and broke your mother's heart. She wandered straight into me, the guy who thought it was a good idea to go on the romantic date alone, since my girlfriend was probably already half naked when she called me to break up with me."

Edward stopped short. He blinked. Then, he barked out a laugh. "That's a terrible love story."

"Exactly."

~0~

That evening, Edward's Facebook feed was full of carnage. It looked like a battle had been waged in the post he was tagged in from that morning. His friends had tagged him multiple times, trying to figure out what the hell was going on and who this Bella person was. There was a lot of confusion amongst Bella and Jasper's mutual friends, and it seemed to have gotten ugly while she was out on the beach with him.

Ah, that awkward post-breakup phase where, try though they might, friends ended up choosing sides. He pulled up messenger and tapped out a quick message to Bella.

Edward: How are you holding up?

She responded with two gifs—one from Lilo and Stitch from the beginning when Stitch wouldn't stop trying to destroy everything in sight and the other of a character seeming to collapse forward onto his face.

He clucked his tongue, wishing he could give her a hug. Instead, he sent back a Gif of a man comforting a bereft woman by patting her on the back with a broom in a 'there, there' motion.

Edward: All the friend drama will calm down. They'll figure out how to be friends with both of you.

Bella: I don't want some of them back. Not after today.

Edward: Yeah?

She sent him screen grabs of a nasty messenger conversation she'd been subjected to by a woman named Maria. Apparently, Maria had never thought she deserved Jasper, and she was nothing but glad he'd finally kicked her to the curb.

Bella: Good riddance to bad baggage. I always thought she had a thing for Jasper. I won't miss her. I only regret that I'd already bought the Maritime Museum tickets. She wanted to go because she was supposed to visit next week.

Edward: Have you ever been?

Bella: Isn't it funny? I've lived out here for years, but there's so much of the tourist stuff I haven't done. I've always thought it would be cool to be inside a submarine.

Edward tapped his fingers on the arm of his couch, making himself consider what he was doing. Was he acting as a friend?

Deciding he was, he sent the next message.

Edward: You don't have to waste the ticket. I'll buy one off you, if you want. I love the place.

There was a pause. Then, those dots at the bottom of the screen.

Bella: Only if you tell me about the ghost on the Star of India. I know you know it.

He did, but only because Alice knew every ghost story in San Diego.

Edward: You'll make fun of me again.

Bella: Well, yeah, but why would that stop you?

Edward: I guess I am a glutton for punishment. Okay, you're on.

A/N: See you soon, ducks!