Title: Wait for You
By: Liz
Rating: M
Chapter: 8
Disclaimers: The characters are not mine, any and all music is not mine, only the plot and my words belong to me.
Notes: A million and a half thanks to goo82 for being so awesome and always being there for me (especially when I got whiny!) and being the best sounding board and evil angst fairy ever! This would be impossible if not for her. Also a huge thank you to lakers0604 for being there and just being awesome. A very big thank you to all who have reviewed. You have all been so kind and it really means a lot. I'm so sorry it took me forever to update. January was a lot crazier than I was expecting.
Special Note: I know some people had issues with the last chapter and I apologize for that. A lot of this is based on my own experience from the first and only time I fell in love. The guy and I had only been together a short time when the guy's co-worker decided to tell me all sorts of lies about him, such as that he was sleeping with another co-worker. I knew I had strong feelings for him at that point, but I also realized there was so much about him I didn't know. My first reaction was tears and general freaking out and then I just shut down and refused to talk to him for a few days. So if Bella's reaction seems off, I'm sorry, I'm just going with what I have experienced here (don't know what that says about me, but it's what I know ;). Also, there were questions as to why Bella wouldn't just confront Edward. I'm going with book Bella here – in Twilight there is a line where she says she makes the Cowardly Lion look like the Terminator. So she's a bit non-confrontational. And why was she so ready to believe this bad stuff about Edward? Well, her self-confidence is not the best. Even in the books, it took her 'til the very end of the second book to actually admit and accept that Edward did love her even after he had told her, saved her life, etc.
A lot of you are going to be upset with me for this chapter, I imagine. I would just like you to all keep in mind that there is one chapter left after this one and I am a happily ever after girl at heart. Now, on with Chapter 8!
Chapter 8
Edward slid out of her, rolling onto his side and pulling Bella against him. "I love you, Bella," Edward said softly.
Bella smiled, feeling tears well up in her eyes. "I love you, too, Edward. So much."
Edward smiled back before turning away from her and sitting up. "You all heard her," he said loudly. "She said 'I love you.' I get a perfect 10 on this one!"
Bella gasped, sitting up and pulling the sheets up to cover herself as she saw Lauren Mallory approached the bed she and Edward were currently occupying.
"Wow, Edward," Lauren purred. "You've really outdone yourself this time." She smirked. "You always did like to be the best at everything."
"Edward, what?" Bella managed to choke out.
Lauren looked over at Bella. "Bella, really, do you still not get it?" she asked, shaking her head, a mock sympathetic look on her face. "He never really wanted you. It was all just a game." She spoke clearly, enunciating each word carefully as if she were speaking to a small child. "Really, it's just pathetic now. And you're only making an even bigger fool out of yourself this time," she told her, gesturing behind her.
Bella looked past Lauren, a strangled cry escaping her throat. She, Edward, and Lauren were in the center of the gymnasium and the bleachers were packed with what looked like the entire student body of Forks High School. Many students were whispering among themselves while others pointed at Bella and laughed. Still others only stared, shaking their heads at her foolishness, expressions of pity on their faces.
Lauren turned her attention back to Edward. "Shall we show Bella how it's really done?"
Edward rose from the bed, stark naked, and stood before Lauren. "I think that sounds like an excellent idea. She could stand a few pointers."
Lauren reached down between them and encircled Edward's erection with her hand. Bella felt bile rise in her throat as Edward dropped his head back and moaned, his eyes closing in ecstasy. "Watch closely, Bella," Lauren said, directing a nasty smile at Bella. "I'll show you how Edward really likes it."
"God, yeah, just like that, Lauren," Edward groaned. He opened his eyes and looked at Lauren again, lust shining in his eyes. "You may not have been worth the most points, but you were always the best I've ever had," Edward said. "And now that this is over." He gestured vaguely behind him at Bella. "I can stop pretending that I don't want you anymore."
Bella felt her stomach clench painfully and she glanced past Edward and Lauren to where other students sat, trying to find at least one supportive face. On the very bottom bleacher, Alice and Jasper sat watching, holding hands and wearing identical smiles on their faces. Next to Jasper, Rose was watching with a satisfied smirk. On her other side, Emmett sat tossing pieces of popcorn into the air and catching them in his mouth. Rose elbowed him in the ribs.
"Would you pay attention?" she hissed. "Edward's finally going to get back with a girl who is actually worthy of him." Emmett immediately stopped playing with his food and leaned forward with an expectant look on his face.
"You need to move, Bella," Edward said, his eyes never leaving Lauren as he began undressing her. "We're finished here and Lauren and I need the bed now."
Bella stared at Edward in horror, unable to move. "You heard him, Bella," Lauren said, smiling triumphantly at Bella. "You two are through. Get out of the way already."
Still without looking at her, Edward reached behind him and roughly shoved Bella from the bed. Bella closed her eyes, clutching the sheet around her as she waited to hit the hard linoleum of the gym floor.
With a gasp, Bella sat straight up in her bed. Her hands were clutching her bedsheets so tightly that her knuckles had turned white and her hair was stuck to her face with sweat. "Just a dream, it was just a dream," she chanted to herself as she tried to get her racing heart under control.
It had seemed so real, though. She had been blissfully happy for a moment, safely back in Edward's arms, until it had all come crashing down around her. And then Edward and Lauren. Oh God. She choked back a sob, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them as the tears began to fall. She closed her eyes tightly against the images of Edward and Lauren together, but the image danced behind her eyelids, seared into her brain. Her tears increased in intensity until she was sobbing quietly, trying to muffle the sound so as not to wake Charlie and make the situation even worse.
Bella lost track of time as she sobbed, letting out the anguish and anger she felt at Edward's betrayal, his manipulations. Why had he done this to her? What could she have possibly done to deserve being treated like that, to deserve having her heart ripped out and shredded before her eyes? There was anger at herself in these tears as well. Why had she been so ready to believe that the gorgeous quarterback had feelings for someone like her? She should have been more careful, she knew that now.
Eventually, the tears began to slow until only a few stray drops slipped down her face. She let out a ragged breath. It was bad enough that Edward occupied her every waking thought, did he have to invade her unconscious mind as well? After a few moments of taking deep breaths, Bella felt her heartbeat return to a normal rate and the tears stopped entirely. A quick glance down told her that she was still in her clothes from the day before and she sighed, looking over at her bedside clock. The dimly glowing numbers read 2:30 and Bella groaned to herself. Now what?
Sleep was out of the question: every time she closed her eyes, images from her nightmare played clearly in her mind making her fear returning to sleep and her dreams. She tried to distract herself with one of her many books, but that, too, turned out to be futile. Pride and Prejudice was the book she had fallen asleep reading while Edward was showering that first day at her house. When she picked up Wuthering Heights, she was reminded of an in-depth conversation she and Edward had had that day in the meadow about the main characters' lack of redeeming characteristics. She picked up To Kill a Mockingbird and had only read the first paragraph before her mind was filled with the image of Edward sitting on her bed reading this very copy of the book. With a frustrated groan, Bella tossed the book on top of her previous rejected readings and dropped her head back into her hands.
As a last resort, she dragged her book bag onto the bed and fished out her Trigonometry book. The problems would require all of her attention and maybe they would be boring enough to actually put her to sleep.
After spending fifteen minutes on the first problem and getting nowhere, however, Bella realized that this distraction was not going to do the trick, either. With a sigh, she shoved the Trig book back into her book bag and set it on the floor, dropping her head into her hands. It was only 3am, far too early to be up, and she struggled to think of something that would help her at least temporarily forget her nightmare and the events of the past few days.
Going downstairs to watch television ran the risk of waking Charlie and Bella really wasn't up to facing him just yet, not while the pain of Edward's deception was still so fresh. In the past, music had always helped her mood, but she hesitated as she leaned over to switch on her radio. Did she really want to risk hearing another song that would remind her of Edward? She shook her head, disgusted with herself. Was she really going to forego music just because Edward Cullen had broken her heart? There had to be music out there that reflected her current situation.
Rising from her bed, she turned on her computer, changing into her pajamas while she waited for it to boot up. When the system was finally up and running, Bella decided to do a search for songs to fit her mood. Interestingly enough, she found several different webpages with lists of so-called "breakup songs." One list was titled "Songs for the Dumped" and Bella scrolled through the list, clicking links to look at the lyrics for songs she didn't recognize. Pulling up limewire, she began to search for some of the songs, downloading the ones that really seemed to capture her feelings.
After nearly an hour of scanning through pages and songs, Bella's eyelids began to feel heavy. Leaving several songs still downloading, she returned to her bed and crawled beneath the covers. Maybe that finally did the trick, she thought to herself drowsily, sleep overtaking her moments later.
By the time Bella awoke the next day, it was already close to noon. She stretched lazily a moment, allowing her mind to drift. Unfortunately, it immediately drifted to Edward and the fact that at this time last week, they had been taking a nap together in Bella's bed. She could clearly remember how safe and happy she had felt lying there in his arms and she shook her head to clear it, sitting up abruptly. That's not going to help anything, she told herself. It was all a lie, remember? She quickly climbed out of bed, determined not to spend any more time thinking about Edward Cullen.
Though it was practically lunchtime, Bella went downstairs to the kitchen to have a bowl of cereal before figuring out how to distract herself for the rest of the day. There was a note from Charlie reminding Bella that he was spending the weekend out at the reservation with his friend Billy to help him make some renovations to his home and, naturally, to fish. At the very bottom of the note, there was also a message that Edward had called the night before while she had been sleeping. Bella crumpled the note up in her hand, balling it tightly in her fist for a moment before shoving it into the garbage.
Bella fixed her cereal, flipping idly through the paper while she ate. Upon finishing, she decided a shower was in order and headed back upstairs. Turning the hot water up high, she stepped into the shower, allowing the soothing spray of the warm water to relax her tense muscles.
When she was finished, Bella stepped up to the mirror, dragging a comb through her wet hair. She paused, putting the comb down on the sink, and looked directly at her reflection. She examined herself in the mirror and a frown settled on her face. Brown hair, brown eyes, average height, average weight. Average. That pretty much summed her up. What on earth had possessed her to think that someone like Edward Cullen, a man who looked more like a god than any mere mortal had a right to, would actually want her?
Stop it, she told herself sternly. No more of that. You know he's certainly not at home crying over you. You should be angry at the way he treated you. Harness that anger and go with it. It's certainly easier than being sad, she added silently.
Nodding resolutely, Bella dressed and returned to her bedroom. She went over to her computer to find that all of the songs from the night before had finished downloading and she quickly constructed a playlist labeled "Dumped." Hitting play, she dropped back onto her bed, thankful that Charlie was gone for the weekend. As far as Bella was concerned, the longer she could go without having to discuss Edward with Charlie, the better.
She smiled grimly to herself as a familiar song began. The phone next to her bed began ringing but Bella ignored it in favor of belting out the lyrics to the Damien Rice song with a vengeance.
"So fuck you, fuck you, fuck you
And all we've been through
I said leave it, leave it, leave it
It's nothing to you
And if you hate me, hate me, hate me
Then hate me so good that you can let me out
Let me out of this hell when you're around"
Halfway through the song, the phone began to ring again. Bella leaned over and turned the ringer off before turning up the volume on her computer. Aside from Angela, there really wasn't anyone she wanted to talk to anyway.
"And fuck you, fuck you, I love you
And all we've been through
I said leave it
It's nothing to you"
Dammit. She had forgotten how this song ended. She continued singing along, her voice only slightly marred by the tears streaming down her face as the song got right to the heart of the matter. She clutched her pillow to her, her chest aching as sobs began wracking her body. She tightened her grip on the pillow, wondering bleakly if it was always going to hurt this badly.
When Angela showed up at Bella's house late Sunday afternoon, she let herself in using the hidden spare key on the front steps. She called for Bella as she walked in and was a little surprised to find her lying on the couch watching a House marathon on USA.
Bella had found that with the mood she was in, she really wasn't up for any of her regular TV shows or movies with their characters' love lives and relationships and happily ever afters. Dr. House's cynical, sarcastic nature, however, seemed to perfectly mirror Bella's own bitter feelings and she had spent the better part of the day letting the show distract her from her own thoughts. Her goal for the day, especially after the previous day, was to not shed any tears over Edward. So far, Dr. House's obnoxiously amusing antics had helped her achieve that goal.
After dropping her bag on Charlie's chair, Angela sprawled out on the floor, a pillow from the couch under her head, and the two girls spent the next 45 minutes engrossed in House's latest medical mystery.
"Am I an idiot, Ang?"
The question came out of nowhere, startling Angela. "I, what?" She sat up and clicked off the TV, turning to give Bella her full attention. "No, you're not an idiot. Why?"
Bella sighed. "I mean, just the way I handled this whole situation. I was so ready to believe that his parents and siblings accepting me meant something. I believed all of the sweet things he said and did without really thinking it through. I trusted him so blindly, so quickly. For someone who's supposed to be smart, I feel incredibly stupid."
"You weren't stupid, Bella," Angela said. "You were in lo-"
"Ang!" Bella jerked forward, one hand out as if to silence her friend even as she cut her off.
"Sorry," Angela said, looking down. She composed her thoughts and looked up at Bella again. "You were happy when you were with him," she said gently. "It's not a crime to want to feel like that."
"I was happy," Bella agreed sadly. Then she caught herself. "I mean, I thought I was happy," she corrected. "But none of that was real, so I guess it doesn't really matter anyway.
"Besides, it's not like it would have worked out even if it was for real," Bella continued, almost unaware she was speaking her thoughts out loud. "We're too different and something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. We were both just asking to get hurt. I guess it's better that it happened now before we got too involved. If it hadn't been a lie in the first place," she added hastily.
Angela remained silent, letting Bella ramble on as if trying to convince herself that what had happened was really a good thing.
Bella frowned. "Maybe I'm just a bad judge of character. I mean, why was I so ready to trust him? And how am I going to be able to trust anyone in the future?"
Angela had no answer for her friend and the two girls lapsed back into silence, each lost in her own thoughts.
"I'd like life to go back to being boring," Bella said eventually.
"Hey!" Angela said in mock protest, throwing a pillow at Bella.
Bella smiled. "You know what I mean, Ang. I want to go back to things the way they were a few weeks ago. You know, when we were going to movies and hanging out and worrying about college and normal stuff like that. None of the drama. No getting involved with someone so ridiculously out of my league. No getting my heart broken," she finished in a whisper.
"Oh, Bella," Angela said softly.
Bella shook her head. "It was partly my fault. All of those rumors were true. I was just too stupid to see it."
"What rumors?"
"The ones about Edward," Bella replied with a grimace. "About how he had slept with half the school and is a total slut."
Angela hesitated a moment before speaking. "Bella, I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I have to ask. What brought all of this on? The last time I saw you and Edward together, you seemed so happy. The next thing I know, you're in pieces because of him. What happened?"
Bella sighed. "Someone opened my eyes to the kind of person he really is. I knew I should have listened to my instincts on this," she added, mostly to herself.
Angela sat silently, waiting for Bella to continue when she was ready. Bella took a deep breath and repeated the conversation she had had with Lauren the previous Thursday. When she finished, she looked to Angela for her reaction.
Angela looked at Bella, her expression doubtful. "Lauren Mallory?" she said skeptically.
Bella sighed. "I know, Ang. But she knew things. She knew details that no one outside of the seven of us knew. How could she have possibly known that stuff if Edward hadn't told her? If at least some of what she was saying is true?"
Angela was quiet for a moment before she spoke, choosing her words carefully. "I know you don't want to hear this, Bella, but I think you really do need to talk to him," she said softly. "If only for your own peace of mind."
Bella shook her head. "Absolutely not!"
Angela sighed at her friend's characteristic stubbornness. "Can you think of any other way to verify or disprove Lauren's story?" Angela asked practically.
Bella snorted, smiling slightly in spite of herself. "You mean like going up to a bunch of girls at school and saying, 'Excuse me. You know Edward Cullen? The guy I was dating? Have you ever slept with him? And did he get points for that? Or are you not part of that game?'"
"Exactly," Angela responded. "So don't you think you should go to the source?"
Bella sighed. "No, Ang. I am not wasting any more time on him."
Angela could feel herself beginning to get frustrated. She knew her best friend was non-confrontational to a fault, but if there was ever a situation that deserved a confrontation, this was it. "Don't you think you should at least hear Edward's side of it? Don't you think you at least owe that to yourself?"
Bella closed her eyes briefly, a pained expression on her face. "Ang, can we not talk about this anymore? Please?" she begged. "It's going to be hard enough when we go back to school next week. I'd like to at least try to enjoy a week of not having to face any of them."
Angela shook her head but all she said was, "Fine, Bella, if that's what you want."
Bella settled back against the arm of the couch with a sigh. Angela might have a point, but it wasn't something she wanted to think about at the moment. The two girls sat in comfortable silence for a few moments before Bella suddenly broke the silence.
"Oh, God!" She sat up straight as something terrifying occurred to her. "Ang, I need to get tested!" Her voice was soft but held a slightly hysterical edge.
"Bella," Angela began calmly.
"No, Ang, you don't understand! We didn't use anything! I'm on the pill and he told me he had never had sex before. I'm so stupid! He's slept with half the girls at school – who knows how many times, if ever, he used protection? Oh, my God." She looked at Angela, her eyes wild. "What am I going to do? I can't exactly go to a local clinic. I can just hear the gossip now – Chief Swan's good little girl getting tested for STDs." She groaned, dropping her face into her hands. "Charlie would kill me. He'd probably send me back to Renee."
Angela rose from her spot on the floor and sat next to Bella on the couch. "Bella." She touched Bella's shoulder gently. "If you want, we can go to the free clinic in Port Angeles, okay?"
Bella looked up. "Ang, you don't have to come with me," she protested, secretly relieved by her friend's offer.
Angela ignored her. "We'll go tomorrow while Charlie's at work. I'll pick you up around 1, okay?"
Bella smiled weakly. "Okay. Thanks, Ang."
"You're welcome. Now, I need to get home for dinner. Are you going to be okay?"
"Of course," Bella lied bravely, knowing she'd probably be a nervous wreck until at least the following afternoon.
Angela knew Bella was not being entirely honest but also knew how much her friend disliked being taken care of so she didn't push the issue. "Charlie's home tonight, right?" she asked instead.
Bella nodded. "He should be home any minute, actually, with his fresh catch all cleaned and ready to be made into dinner."
Angela smiled. "Okay. I'll call you tomorrow morning before I come, but let's plan on 1."
"Okay. See you tomorrow, Ang."
"Night, Bella," Angela said.
As Angela let herself out of Bella's house and climbed into her car, her mind was in overdrive. What Bella had told her regarding Lauren's little expose on Edward's sexual pastimes had seemed sketchy at best. Unfortunately, Bella was stubbornly refusing to speak to any of the Cullens in order to find out the whole story.
She sighed as she began the drive home. If Bella didn't want to talk to them, then Angela should respect her friend's wishes, she knew that. Still, she couldn't shake the unsettled feeling in her stomach. They were talking about Lauren Mallory after all. Angela trusted her about as far as she could throw her overly made up, designer-clad ass.
Every bit of her brain was screaming at her to go talk to the Cullens and get to the bottom of this mess once and for all. She loathed the idea of going behind her friend's back, but was it really betrayal if she was doing it to help Bella?
Less than a week ago, Bella had been happier than Angela had ever seen her. Now, even when she tried to hide it behind anger, Angela could see how miserable her friend was. Angela shook her head. She couldn't just let Bella continue to suffer like this. Though she knew her friend would kill her if she knew, Angela decided that tomorrow morning before she and Bella went to the clinic, she would stop off and have a chat with the Cullen siblings and see if they couldn't all figure out what was really going on.
Angela let out a deep sigh as she pulled into her driveway, one thought running repeatedly through her mind. I hope I'm doing the right thing.
"I don't like this," Emmett said, looking up toward the third floor. "I don't think I've seen him since mom and dad left on Friday."
Carlisle had surprised Esme with a 10-day vacation in Hawaii and the two had left on Friday evening amid their children's reassurances that they would be fine alone during their spring break. Without his parents there, Edward didn't have to bother hiding his depression over the situation with Bella, and he had barely left his room since their parents' departure.
Alice sighed. "Neither have I. But he doesn't seem to want to talk to anyone and we can't really make him talk to us."
Emmett looked thoughtful a moment. "No," Rose said before Emmett could open his mouth.
"What?"
Rose shook her head. "I know that look. You have some crazy ass idea about how to force Edward to talk to us. It's not gonna happen."
Emmett grumbled but didn't argue. "Has anyone tried to talk to him recently?" Jasper intervened calmly.
"I think I heard him wandering around the house really late last night," Rose said. "But I kinda got the feeling that he wanted to be alone. Plus, I really didn't know what to say to him. I'm not good at that stuff," she admitted.
"Me, neither," Emmett said. "Plus, the music he's been listening to could make you slit your own wrists."
"What about you, Al?" Jasper asked.
Alice shook her head. "I haven't tried since right after mom and dad left."
"I think it's time to try again," Jasper said. "And if anyone can get him to talk, it's you, Alice."
Alice sighed again but didn't disagree. "Okay. I'll go try to draw him out while you guys order dinner. Maybe the lure of Chinese food will get him to leave his room."
The others agreed and Alice made her way up to the third floor, pausing outside of Edward's door. She could hear music coming from Edward's room and she crossed her fingers before knocking tentatively on the door. Receiving no answer, she eased the door open and entered his room. "Edward?"
The room was dark with the curtains drawn tightly and no lamps turned on and it took Alice's eyes a few moments to adjust. Edward was lying on his back on the bed, motionless, and Alice could not tell if his eyes were open or not.
Music came from the speakers on the walls. This song was a bit louder and faster than the other music they had all heard coming from Edward's room at various points over the weekend, but Alice still blanched at the raw emotion coming from it.
"Take this broken heart and make it right.
I feel like I've lost everything when you're gone
Left remembering what it's like
To have you here with me
I thought you should know
You're not making this easy"
"Edward?" Alice said again, her voice gentle.
"What is it, Alice?" Edward asked, not turning to look at her.
"It's time for dinner. We're all feeling kind of lazy, so we just decided to order some Chinese."
"I'm not hungry," Edward said flatly, still not looking at his sister.
"But we got your favorite," Alice said. "And of course, without mom and dad here to stop him, Emmett went overboard with all the eggrolls and-"
"I said I'm not hungry, Alice," Edward repeated, cutting her off in mid-ramble.
Alice hesitated a moment. "Edward, do you want to talk about it?"
Edward rolled over so that his back was to her. "Go eat dinner, Alice," he told her, his voice still devoid of any emotion.
"But Edward-"
"And please close the door behind you."
Alice sighed, knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere with Edward at the moment. "Fine. I'll be downstairs if you want to talk. At any time of day or night," she added. Edward gave no indication that he had heard her and Alice finally left, shutting the door quietly behind her.
When Alice returned to the living room, Rose, Emmett, and Jasper looked at her expectantly but she only shook her head. "He wouldn't even look at me," she said wearily, sinking down onto the couch next to Jasper.
"God, what are we going to do?" she asked, dropping her head heavily onto Jasper's shoulder. "He's just so miserable and I have no idea how to help him."
"Of course he's miserable," Emmett said. I mean, think about it. He's been crazy about Bella from the moment he first saw her. No more of that "I don't see the point of dating in high school" bullshit. Instead, he started drooling over her. This went on for over a year before these two miraculously get trapped in a closet together, have sex, and become this freakishly happy couple. His brothers and sisters love her, his parents love her, everybody's so happy, it's practically a freaking Disney movie.
"Then, all of a sudden, she turns on him. She tells him to leave her the fuck alone and then refuses to tell him why. He's devastated, can't figure out what the hell he did wrong so he goes all emo and locks himself in his room listening to whiny music and trying to figure out what went wrong.
"Basically, he was completely blindsided by it all. He was deliriously happy one second, and the next thing he knows, his whole world has fallen apart and he doesn't even know why. I can't tell you what it would do to me if Rose did that," Emmett said honestly.
The room was quiet a moment following Emmett's summary of the events of the previous week before Rose spoke up. "Don't worry, Em," she said, smiling sweetly. "I promise to always tell you what you've done wrong when you screw up."
She, Jasper, and Alice laughed, breaking the serious mood, but Emmett just smiled and threw his arm around Rose's shoulder. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
He kissed Rose's cheek before turning his attention to the others, his expression serious once more. "Truth of the matter is, there's nothing any of us can do or say," he said matter-of-factly.
"Yes there is," Alice argued. "We can't just let our brother suffer."
Emmett shook his head. "What Edward wants, hell, what Edward needs right now is Bella. Nothing and no one else is going to do a damn bit of good."
The following morning, Alice had just finished putting her cereal bowl in the dishwasher when she heard a hesitant knock at the front door. Wondering who on earth could be visiting so early on a Monday morning, she pulled open the door, blinking in surprise at the person who stood on her front steps. "Angela."
"Hi, Alice," Angela said. "Um, can I come in? I need to talk to you – it's important."
"Sure, of course," Alice said, stepping back to let Angela enter the house.
Alice closed the door behind her and turned to look at Angela expectantly. "It's, um, it's about Bella. And Edward," Angela said hesitantly."Bella finally told me the whole story about what happened on Thursday. And it seems a bit, well, off to me. I wanted to run it by you, if, uh, if that's okay with you. I mean, if you still want my help with the situation…"
She trailed off and Alice spoke up. "I would love any help you can give," Alice responded honestly. "It never made any sense – they were crazy about each other one minute, and the next, Bella won't talk to him or any of us. I want to fix this if I can. I hate seeing my brother so miserable and I miss Bella."
Angela bit her lip. "Well, I think you should definitely hear this, then."
"Do you mind if I grab Emmett, Rose, and Jasper? I think they'll probably want to hear it, too."
Angela nodded. "Of course."
"Great. Here, you can just sit down in the living room. I'll be right back with everybody."
Alice darted off up the stairs, excitement coursing through her body. They were finally going to figure this out and everything was going to go back to the way it had been between Bella and Edward. She hugged herself excitedly, bouncing from one foot to the other as she knocked on Emmett's door. "Emmett? Rose?"
Moments later, Emmett opened the door. Over his shoulder, Alice could see Rose sitting cross-legged on Emmett's bed where they'd been watching TV together. "What's up, Al?"
"Angela Weber is downstairs," she said excitedly.
Emmett looked confused. "Bella's friend?"
"Yep."
"But why-?"
"Because she wants to help," Rose said, appearing at his side. "That is why she's here, right, Alice?"
Alice nodded excitedly. "She said Bella told her something that we would all probably want to hear. I'm gonna go get Jazz and then she's gonna tell all of us what she knows."
"Should we get Edward?" Rose asked, glancing down the hall toward the stairway that led up to the third floor and Edward's solitary bedroom.
Alice hesitated a second and Emmett spoke up. "No. At least not until we know what Angela's going to tell us." The girls looked at him in surprise. "What? I'm just saying that there's no reason to drag him out of there and get his hopes up if he's only gonna get wrecked again by what she tells us."
Alice nodded, still a little startled by Emmett's uncharacteristic reasonableness. "No, you're right. Let me get Jazz and-"
"Right here," Jasper said, coming up behind Alice, putting a calming hand on her shoulder. "What's going on?"
Alice smiled. Somehow, Jasper always knew when she needed him and just how to calm her down before she could get too ahead of herself. "Angela Weber, Bella's friend, is downstairs," Alice told him, attempting to keep her excitement in check. "She says Bella told her something and we should know. It's about what happened between Bella and Edward."
"All right, enough talking," Rose said impatiently. "We're never going to find out what she has to say by standing around in the hallway." She exited Emmett's room and made her way to the stairs. "You guys coming or what?"
Alice smiled. Rose was trying to appear gruff, but Alice knew that she was just as excited as she was about the possibility of being able to fix whatever had gone wrong between Edward and Bella. The four teenagers quickly made their way down the stairs and to the living room where Angela sat waiting for them.
Alice and Jasper dropped onto the couch opposite Angela while Emmett perched on the arm of the couch next to Alice and Rose sat in the armchair next to Angela's.
"Hi, guys," Angela said.
"Alice says you know something about why Bella and Edward broke up," Rose said without preamble.
Angela blinked in surprise at the abruptness of Rose's statement. "Well, yes. At least, I think it's important," she said cautiously.
"Please tell me you know something that will get Edward to change all the sad crap he's been listening to. I swear to God, if I have to hear that whiny "Blower's Daughter" song one more time," Emmett grumbled.
Alice swatted Emmett's arm. "Quiet."
At Angela's puzzled look, Emmett explained. "Ever since Bella told him to fuck off, all he's done is sit in his room and listen to all this sad, whiny, depressing music. He's gone totally emo without her."
Angela looked to Alice who shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't put it quite like Emmett did, but he's not wrong. He's barely come out of his room since Friday and I haven't heard him listening to anything but Damien Rice, Ryan Adams, and Snow Patrol in days."
Angela winced slightly. Maybe she had been a little too quick to question Edward's feelings for Bella.
"That aside," Rose began impatiently.
"Right. Well, Bella finally told me the whole story about what happened on Thursday," Angela said. "Between the last time she saw Edward in the morning and the beginning of lunch period." She paused a moment and looked at the others in turn. "None of you are, um, close with Lauren Mallory, are you?"
Emmett snorted. "Are you kidding me? That girl is a serious bitch." Rose shook her head, an expression of distaste on her face. Angela turned to Alice and Jasper.
Alice, too, shook her head. "Not in the least," she promised Angela. "None of us are. She's been chasing after Edward for ages, but he has no interest in her, either."
Angela took a deep breath. "Yeah, that's kind of what I thought." She launched into the story Bella had told her, including all of Lauren's nasty words to Bella as well as the insinuations that the rest of the Cullen siblings were also involved in this so-called game. She finished up by telling them that she would be taking Bella to a clinic that afternoon to be tested for STDs. When she stopped speaking, the others stared at her in shock for a moment.
"I, she, what?" Alice finally managed to gasp. "We would never…And Edward most certainly would never treat anyone that way, especially not Bella."
Emmett nodded. "He's been drooling over her since she moved here. And tested?" The look on his face was somewhere between outrage and amusement. "Edward's like a freaking priest! I'm not even sure that he's even kissed a girl before Bella."
Angela sighed. "She's scared. The way Lauren tells it, Edward's slept with half the school."
Emmett shook his head. "What I really don't get is why Bella would ever believe Lauren in the first place."
Angela sighed. "Well, that's the thing. First of all, Lauren somehow knew things that no one outside of this room, excluding Bella and Edward, knew. And you all swear you didn't tell her?"
The others shook their heads solemnly. "Never," Alice said vehemently. "We swear."
"Well, somehow, Lauren knew stuff," Angela said. "Details. I have no idea how, but Bella figured that the only way Lauren would know what she does is if Edward or one of us had told her, so naturally Bella was freaked out. Plus," Angela stopped and sighed again. "Well, plus, you have to understand Bella. She's not exactly the most confident person in the world. She cared about Edward very much but I know that at the same time, she had her doubts. She even said the other night that it didn't make sense why someone as wonderful as Edward would want to be with someone like her. She just doesn't think she measures up."
"But that's crazy," Alice protested. "She's smart and pretty and sweet and Edward has never wanted anyone else."
"I agree," Angela said. "But that's unfortunately how Bella sees herself."
"As misguided as all of this is," Rose broke in, "we still have to figure out what we're going to do about it. I mean, how are we going to get Bella to believe that Edward didn't do any of that? It's not like she's going to listen to any of us."
Alice sank back on the couch and was silent for a moment. Jasper could practically see the wheels turning in her head and eventually a small smile crept across her face. "I have an idea," she said.
"How to fix this or how to get back at Lauren?" Angela asked.
"Both."
"Excellent." Emmett grinned, patting Alice on the shoulder. "So spill. What's your evil plan, little sis?"
While his siblings and Angela were plotting downstairs, Edward remained in his bedroom, unaware of the latest development in his apparent falling out with Bella. And while Bella was focusing a lot of her energy on not thinking about Edward, Edward thought only of Bella.
Since Friday night, Edward had spent the majority of his time in his bedroom. He wasn't hungry and he wasn't interested in talking to anybody or doing anything. As far as he saw it, without Bella, what was the point of any of that? What was the point of anything, really? Instead, he kept to his bedroom, not bothering to turn on the television or even the lights, his mp3 player playing a continuous loop of what he knew Emmett would have called his "emo music."
And as much as he loved his parents, he was relieved that they were on vacation until the following Monday. He didn't think he could have handled their questions about Bella and why she wasn't coming around the house anymore. Also, without them there, he didn't have to expend any energy on pretending everything was all right and could instead just give himself over fully to his pain.
Bella hated him, he thought despondently. She had all but said that to him. And he still had no idea why.
The fact that she wouldn't talk to him, no matter how many times he called her, just made the whole situation even harder. He had called her repeatedly on Friday afternoon but no one had picked up. As afternoon turned to evening, Charlie had answered the phone. Praying he wasn't about to invoke the wrath of Forks' chief of police or his gun, he'd identified himself and asked for Bella.
Charlie had told him that Bella was sleeping but said he let her know Edward had called. Charlie hadn't sounded angry or like he was lying, just matter-of-fact, and Edward realized that Bella had not filled Charlie in on whatever it was that Edward had done to make her so upset. He had spent a good portion of Saturday calling her as well, still with no answer, before finally giving up.
Glancing at his bedside clock, Edward realized with a pang that at this time last week, he and Bella had been sitting down to their first lunch period together. He smiled sadly remembering the way Bella had fit in so seamlessly with the rest of his family. There had been laughing and talking and kissing and the nervous excitement of Bella meeting his parents that evening. How had it all gone so wrong so quickly?
Edward was vaguely aware of the sound of activity in the next room and could faintly hear the voices of his siblings, but he found he really didn't care what was going on. With a deep sigh, he pulled his mp3 player from its stereo dock by his bed and attached headphones to it, shutting out the rest of the world as he turned up the volume on the Ryan Adams song currently playing.
"And I'm nothing now without you
Yeah, I'm less than nothing now.
I am the one between the bars and lost forever now.
'Cause honey, it's over
It's harder now that it's over
It's harder now that it's over
Now that the cuffs are off
And you're free
You're free
You're free
Free with a history"
When Bella and Angela returned from Port Angeles late that afternoon, Bella was exhausted. Her blood and urine tests had come back clean, for which she was extremely grateful, but the entire process and emotional strain that had accompanied it had left her completely drained of energy.
Checking the clock, she realized that Charlie would be home from work soon and hastily threw together a lasagna before retreating to the living room. She turned on the TV and settled into her favorite corner of the couch, not really paying attention to the news program playing.
The next thing she knew, Charlie was gently shaking her shoulder. "Bella?"
"Hi, Dad," she said, rubbing her eyes.
"You okay, Bells?" Charlie asked, worry showing in his eyes.
"I'm fine," she reassured him. "Just a little tired. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night," she hastily improvised. "Oh, crap!" She leapt to her feet and rushed past a confused Charlie into the kitchen. Throwing on the oven mitts on the counter, she yanked open the door to the oven, sighing in relief when she saw that the lasagna still looked completely edible.
She removed the dish from the oven and set about serving up pieces of it for Charlie and herself. Dinner was a quiet affair, which was not unusual, and Bella ate hurriedly, more than ready to go upstairs and go to bed.
When they were both finished, Bella picked up the plates and utensils and took them over to the sink. She could feel Charlie's eyes on her as she washed the dishes but she didn't turn to look at him, continuing with the chore and letting him decide whether or not he wanted to tell her what was on his mind.
Charlie cleared his throat. "You seem a little down. That because of Edward?"
Bella's stomach dropped at the sound of Edward's name. She really didn't want to get into this with Charlie right now. She was afraid she'd start crying if she tried to explain and that would just make both of them uncomfortable. "What do you mean?" she asked, trying to avoid the question.
"Andrea Barron came by the station today to drop off lunch for her brother Tommy," Charlie said. "She works over at the hospital and she was all disappointed because Dr. Cullen's out this week. Something about a family trip to Mexico." He shook his head. "The way those women moon over him. I don't know how his wife puts up with them all."
He rolled his eyes and looked back at Bella. "So, I'm guessing you're missing Edward while he's down having fun in the sun in Mexico." He smiled. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I've seen the way that boy looks at you. He's smart enough to know what he has here. And if he doesn't, well, I happen to be very tight with the police in this town," he teased, winking at her.
Bella's stomach twisted painfully at Charlie's words. Even he had been fooled by Edward's act, it appeared. She forced a weak smile for Charlie's benefit. "Yeah, dad, it does kind of seem like a long week without him," she said honestly.
Charlie smiled understandingly. "Don't worry, week'll be over before you know it and he'll be back."
Bella's stomach turned again. She knew Charlie meant well but he had no idea how much pain he was causing her right now. "I know, dad, you're right. Um, I'm just gonna go upstairs and read for a little while, okay?"
"Okay," Charlie said. "I'm gonna go watch the game if you want to join me."
"Thanks, Dad," Bella said, forcing herself not to run as she made her way out of the kitchen and upstairs to her bedroom. The day had been trying enough as it was without having to listen to Charlie talk about her relationship with Edward. At this point, all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep for a few days.
Bella had just reached the top of the stairs when she heard the phone ring. Tensing, she waited as she heard Charlie answer and then ask the caller to hold on a second. "Bella!" Charlie called, stopping when he saw her at the top of the stairs. "Oh, hey, Bells. Angela's on the phone."
Bella let out a silent sigh of relief. "Okay, thanks, Dad. I'll get it up here." Bella entered her bedroom, shutting the door behind her and picking up the extension next to her bed. "Got it, Dad," she said. A moment later, she heard a click as Charlie hung up.
"Hey, Ang," Bella said. "What's up?"
"Hey Bella," Angela replied. "So, I was thinking. You were looking for things to go back to normal, boring Forks life, right?"
"That would be nice," Bella said wistfully.
"Okay, well how about we do an incredibly normal, run of the mill, high school thing tomorrow night?"
"And that would be?"
"Tyler's parents are out of town for the break," Angela told her. "So he's doing the 'responsible' thing and having a couple of people over tomorrow night. I think we should go."
"A party? Ang, you know that's not really my thing."
"I know," Angela replied. "It's not really mine, either, but Tyler's our friend. And Mike, Eric, and Ben will be there, too. I'm sure if we all hang out together, we can get life back to boring again," she teased.
Bella snorted. "Way to sell it, Ang. 'This party will be boring, we should definitely go.'"
Angela giggled. "I try. Come on, it'll be good to see everyone again."
Bella hesitated a moment. According to Charlie, the Cullens were away on vacation, so she wouldn't have to worry about running into any of them. And Angela was right, it would be nice to get back to life as normal and hang out with her friends again. Besides, if she didn't get out of the house soon, she was going to end up with a severe case of cabin fever.
"Okay, you twisted my arm," Bella said. "I'll go."
"Great. I'll pick you up at 8."
Edward lay in his bed, his thoughts as ever consumed by Bella while his music continued to play softly in the background. It was, what, Tuesday? He found that he didn't much care what day it was – without Bella, they all seemed to bleed together anyway.
Bella. His stomach clenched painfully as he pictured her in his mind once more. The only girl he had ever loved and he had never told her. Why had he waited? He had wanted the moment to be perfect, of course – Bella deserved only the best as far as he was concerned. But maybe he should have just come out and told her, he thought to himself. Because as things stood now, she didn't know how he truly felt, how strong his feelings for her were.
I should have said something, he thought despairingly. But it was too late. He would never get to tell her he loved her, never get to kiss her again, never make love to her and hold her close to him again.
A sharp knock at Edward's door pulled him from his melancholy thoughts. Before he had a chance to respond, Alice flung the door open and walked in. "Go take a shower and get dressed," she instructed her brother.
"Alice, please go away," Edward mumbled from the bed.
"Nope," Alice replied simply, turning on the overhead light.
Edward closed his eyes against the sudden brightness. "Alice," he groaned. "Turn the light off and go away. Please."
"Nope," Alice repeated. "You are going to get your ass up, take a shower, and get dressed for a party."
Edward groaned again. "Alice, there's no way in hell I'm going to some stupid party."
Alice dropped onto the bed next to Edward. "Yes, you are," she replied. "Because Bella's going to be there and we're going to fix this mess."
Edward's eyes flew open and he looked up at Alice. "What are you talking about, Alice?" He tried to keep his voice neutral but Alice could hear the hopeful undertone to his words.
"Trust me," Alice said. "I have a plan. Now get up and get yourself ready. I'll fill you in in the car."
"But what-"
"I found out why Bella was so upset. Angela told me. And now that I know what caused it, I know how to fix it." Alice jumped up from the bed and headed for the door. "Now get moving," she instructed.
"Alice?" Alice paused, her hand on the doorknob, and turned to face Edward. "You know what caused all of this?" Alice nodded. "Was it," Edward hesitated a moment. "Was it me? Did I screw up?"
His expression was absolutely tormented and Alice had to swallow past a sudden lump in her throat. Lauren Mallory was going to pay for the pain she had caused, that much Alice was sure of. "No, Edward," she said gently. "You didn't do anything wrong." Her eyes narrowed and her expression hardened. "It was that bitch Lauren Mallory and by the end of tonight, she's going to be sorry she ever messed with our family."
Before Edward could ask Alice to explain further, she had left the room, calling over her shoulder, "We're leaving soon so hurry up!"
Twenty minutes later, Edward had showered and dressed and came down to the living room where he found Alice waiting for him. She took in Edward's dark jeans and hunter green t-shirt with a critical eye. "Didn't you see the clothes I left on your bed?" she asked.
Edward just looked at his sister as he pulled on his jacket. While he had been in the shower, the excitement from Alice that had rubbed off on him had dulled somewhat, forcing him back to the reality of the situation at hand. He didn't know if Bella would really be at the party and he didn't know if Alice's plan would really work. He refused to get his hopes up too high and almost to avoid jinxing the whole thing, he had thrown on old clothes instead of Alice's carefully selected outfit.
Alice pursed her lips but didn't say anything further about his clothing, for which Edward was grateful.
"What's with all the boxes outside the guest room upstairs?" he asked, hoping to keep Alice's thoughts firmly away from his clothing choice.
"You'll see soon enough," Alice said with a grin. "Come on, let's go!" She grabbed Edward's arm and dragged him outside to where the rest of their siblings were already waiting.
They took two separate cars to the party – Alice had insisted this would be necessary in case Edward and Bella wanted to go somewhere after they left the party. However, Alice had not allowed Edward to take his Volvo, saying that Bella would recognize it and it would ruin the plan. Instead, Alice, Emmett, and Edward had ridden in Emmett's jeep while Rosalie and Jasper had taken Rose's car. They also parked a block away, again at Alice's direction, in order to avoid Bella possibly recognizing Emmett or Rose's vehicles.
They entered the house in two separate groups in order to avoid drawing attention to themselves by arriving with a large crowd. Emmett, Rose, and Jasper entered first, followed shortly thereafter by Edward and Alice. Alice stuck close to a larger group of people that had just arrived until the two could get safely into the hallway in the back that Angela had told them led to a back flight of stairs.
Emmett and Jasper were already there waiting for them and Alice ducked into the hallway, pulling Edward behind her. Without conscious thought, Edward's eyes immediately began searching for Bella. He found her almost immediately and his fists clenched at his sides as he watched her talking to Aaron Hurley. She smiled at something Aaron said and Edward took a step toward the pair.
"Dammit, Edward, she's going to see you!" Alice hissed, yanking Edward down the hall. She glared at Edward as she dragged him behind her. Her brother was going to ruin her perfect plan before it even got a chance to work just because he was jealous. "Now go with Emmett," she commanded. "And for God's sake, don't let Bella see you!"
"Come on," Emmett said, taking Edward by the arm. "Just trust Rose, okay? In a little while, this will all be fixed and you won't have to worry about Hurley or any other guys sniffing around Bella."
Edward did not look entirely convinced but he followed Emmett down the hallway and up the stairs. Alice pulled out her cell phone and sent a quick text to Angela. Angela felt the phone vibrating in her pocket and glanced around quickly until she saw Alice. Alice nodded to her and then she and Jasper followed after Emmett and Edward.
Two minutes later, Angela walked over to where Bella was still talking to Aaron. "Hey guys. Um, sorry to do this, Aaron, but do you mind if I borrow Bella for a minute?"
Aaron smiled easily. "Not at all. Just as long as you bring her back."
Angela smiled weakly at him before grabbing Bella's arm. "Can I talk to you?" she whispered.
"Sure, what's up, Ang?"
Angela shook her head. "Not here. It's, um, it's kind of private. It's about Ben," she said.
Bella smiled. She had always known Angela had a crush on the sweet, quiet boy, though she had repeatedly denied it.
"Let's go upstairs, okay?" Bella agreed and the two made their way over to the main staircase. Over Bella's shoulder, Angela caught Rose's eye and nodded before she disappeared upstairs with Bella.
Upon receiving the signal from Angela, Rosalie casually sauntered over to Lauren who was pouring herself a drink at the makeshift bar.
"Hey, Lauren," Rose said with a cool smile. "Having fun?"
"Uh, hi, Rosalie," Lauren said, surprised that the gorgeous blonde was addressing her.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure," Lauren replied, her expression slightly confused.
Rose turned, gesturing for Lauren to follow her, and made her way over to the stairs. Without bothering to turn around to make sure Lauren was still following her, Rose quickly made her way to the second floor. At the end of the hallway, she walked into a large, empty guest bedroom and waited for Lauren to join her, motioning for the other girl to shut the door behind her after she entered the room.
"So, what's up, Rosalie?" Lauren asked, striving for a cool, collected demeanor.
"I've just been doing some thinking lately," Rose replied. "And I've realized something very important. People tend to judge you by the company you keep. And not just by the people you date and hang out with, but by the people who your friends date, too. And when it's your boyfriend's brother, well…" Rose trailed off, scowling.
"I can't even tell you how I felt when Emmett told me Edward was dating Bella Swan," she continued, practically spitting out Bella's name. "And while the others might have been okay with it, I knew how wrong it was and just how badly it reflected on the rest of us." She rolled her eyes dramatically. "But I couldn't do anything about it. They were all so happy about it and he was so happy, they would have killed me if I'd done something to remedy the situation." She smiled at Lauren. "Which is where you came in and I want to thank you for that."
"Well, I'd say you're welcome, Rose, but I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about," Lauren replied, trying to look innocent.
Rose shook her head. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell. Hell, like I said, I'm happy those two broke up. Makes my life a lot easier. But I know it was you. I overheard Bella sniveling to some friend of hers about how Lauren had told her the truth about what a jerk Edward is. I figured you were the only Lauren with enough brains to figure out how to end that train wreck."
She paused, taking a sip of her drink before she continued. "What I'm dying to know, though, is how you did it. I mean, those two were disgustingly googly eyed at each other. Even I couldn't figure out how to separate them." She smiled at Lauren. "So come on, spill."
This time, Lauren didn't hesitate, eager to finally be able to share her scheme with someone. "It was actually incredibly easy," she said with a nasty smile. "Last Wednesday, I was at school late because I'd forgotten my notebook in Bio and I had to go back to school and get it. While I was in the classroom, who should I hear but little Miss Bella and that geeky friend of hers. Now normally, I could care less what people like that have to say. However, they were talking about Edward and of course I just had to listen in."
She smiled again. "They were walking down the hall talking about Bella and Edward, going on about how his parents loved her and she was so freaking great and all that. And then I heard the one thing that made it all worth it. Bella told her little friend that she and Edward had had sex in the Biology closet the week before! It was just too good an opportunity to pass up and I knew I could have some fun with that. I mean, really, who does she think she is? Like she's good enough for Edward? Please. She's so lame. Like you said, you really don't want someone so embarrassing hanging around with your group. So I fixed it."
Emmett heard Edward growl softly and he quickly grabbed his younger brother, pinning his arms to his sides with one arm while covering his mouth with his other hand. "Dude, shut up!" he hissed. "Just give Rosie a few more minutes. Remember, Bella's watching, too – you need her to hear all of this."
"After that, it was just too easy," Lauren continued. "I got Bella alone the next day after class and told her that I knew all about what was going on because Edward had told me and it was all a part of a game a bunch of us played. I told her he was sleeping with her for points and he was using her to keep his parents off his back about dating."
She smirked. "I may have implied that you all were involved, too, and that Edward and I had slept together in the past. Her face was priceless! I thought she was going to cry or pass out or something but she just ran out of the room. Next thing I know, everyone's talking about how they've broken up. Mission accomplished."
Lauren held up her plastic cup in a toast but Rosalie just stared at her. "You stupid bitch," she said, shaking her head slightly. Then, in a slightly louder voice, "That enough, Al?"
The closet on the left side of the room opened and Lauren's mouth dropped open as Jasper and Alice stepped out. "Oh, so much more than enough," Alice said, glaring at Lauren, her petite frame shaking with fury. "Guys?"
The door to the attached bathroom opened and Emmett and Edward stepped into the room. At the same time, the closet on the other side of the room opened and Angela and a very red-faced Bella joined the group.
"You set me up!" Lauren whined, turning to Rose.
Rose snorted. "Hardly. You were so anxious to brag about what you'd done to fuck with my brother and Bella's lives – all I did was give you an audience."
Alice glared at Lauren. "What the hell is wrong with you? Who does things like this? What, you just couldn't stand to see two people so happy together when your life is so crappy? Couldn't stand the fact that Bella had what you never could, no matter how hard you tried?" She shook her head. "Get over it, Lauren. Edward wants to be with Bella and they're happy together. So why don't you just go crawl back under your rock and leave them alone?"
Lauren stared back at Alice challengingly. "Hey, it's not my fault she was so ready to believe Edward had told people about what happened or that he was sleeping with half the school. Clearly, they have their own trust issues." She smirked. "Hardly sounds like the stable, fairytale relationship you seem to imagine it is."
Alice opened her mouth to speak again, but Bella stepped forward, placing a hand on Alice's shoulder. She looked at Lauren and shook her head. "You are such a poor excuse for a human being," she told the blonde girl coldly.
Lauren scoffed. "Like it matters what you think, Bella. Everyone else knows I'm right. And most importantly, Edward knows I'm right."
Edward stared at Lauren in disgust. "You're pathetic," he said in a low voice. He moved to stand at Bella's shoulder. "Bella is the only one I want and there's nothing you or anyone else can say or do to ever change that."
Lauren's face fell at Edward's words and Alice smiled victoriously, crossing her arms over her chest. "I promise you, you do not want to mess with my family again, Lauren," she said calmly.
Lauren raised an eyebrow at the smaller girl. "And if I do?"
Emmett, Jasper, and Rose stepped up next to Alice. "Then you'll have to deal with all of us," Rose said icily. "And we're not all as nice as Alice here."
"I'm not afraid of you, Rosalie Hale," Lauren said haughtily.
"Oh, yes, you are," Rose said with a smile. "And believe me, you should be."
Lauren gulped at the expression on Rose's face. "Whatever," she said, her shaky voice betraying her feigned calm.
She opened the door to leave the room but Rose spoke again, stopping her. "Oh, and Lauren?" Lauren turned to look at Rose. "One more thing. This is so far from over."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Rosalie smiled sweetly. "Don't worry," she promised. "You'll find out soon enough."
"Whatever," Lauren sniffed. "It's not like those two will last anyway." And without looking at any of them again, Lauren turned on her heel and beat a hasty retreat.
"What a bitch," Emmett murmured. Alice released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and nodded her agreement.
"What are you going to do to her?" Bella asked when Lauren was out of earshot.
Emmett grinned. "Absolutely nothing!" he said gleefully.
"Nothing?"
Now it was Rosalie's turn to smile. "Nothing," she confirmed. "But Lauren doesn't know that. She's gonna spend the next few months, at least, looking over her shoulder. And I'm willing to bet the stuff her imagination comes up with will be far worse than anything we could legally do to her."
Emmett laughed loudly, throwing an arm around Rose's shoulder. "This part was all her idea. Don't mess with my Rosie," he said, grinning broadly.
"A little mind fuck goes a long way," Rose said. "Especially if your mind is as little as Lauren's." She didn't add that she had also not wanted to put Bella through the pain or embarrassment that would have come with the attention the very public humiliation Lauren had really deserved would have caused.
She let out a breath and then turned to Bella with an apologetic look on her face. "Bella, I'm so sorry about what I said to Lauren. I didn't mean a word of it. I just had to get that bitch to admit what she had done."
She looked absolutely agonized and Bella smiled wanly. "I know, Rose," she said truthfully. "Thank you for doing all of this, for clearing everything up."
Rose smiled. "You're very welcome," she said honestly. "But really, this was all Alice's idea."
Bella turned to the smaller girl. "Thank you, Alice."
Alice threw her arms around Bella. "Anything for you guys," she told her. "Oh, sweetie, I missed you!"
Emmett joined them, picking up both girls in a crushing bear hug. "Same here. Welcome back, Bella Marie!"
"Thanks, Emmett," Bella said breathlessly when Emmett finally released her.
Edward looked at Rose. "Thank you," he said sincerely. I'm sorry for doubting you went unsaid, but Rose understood.
She nodded briefly, a smile on her face, before grabbing Emmett's arm. "You promised me a party," she reminded him.
Emmett took Rose's hand. "See you losers later," he said with a grin as he and Rose left the room.
Angela turned to Edward, shamefaced. "I'm sorry I was so mean to you," she told him.
He smiled. "You don't need to apologize, Angela. I'm glad Bella has a friend like you to look out for her."
Angela smiled as Alice came up and grabbed her hand. "Come on, you guys, Rose is right," she said, reaching over to grab Jasper's arm with her other hand. "This is a party – let's go party! We'll see you guys later," she added over her shoulder to Bella and Edward as the group of three left the room, leaving the pair alone in the room.
Bella had been observing Edward covertly since he had stepped out of the bathroom and was startled at how tired and worn he looked – his face was thinner and there were dark circles under his eyes. He was smiling when he turned to look at her, though, his eyes softly sparkling at her.
"Edward, I'm sorry," Bella said softly. "I shouldn't have believed Lauren, I should have known better. I-"
"Bella, please don't apologize," Edward said. "This wasn't your fault."
Bella shook her head. "I should have come to you about it rather than just getting upset. I was stupid to ever listen to Lauren and I'm so sorry that I hurt you."
Edward stepped closer and reached out to gently brush her cheek with the back of his hand, wishing he could take away the sadness and self-recrimination in her eyes. "Don't be sorry. None of this is your fault," he assured her. "I'm sorry you were so hurt by what she did and what she said. I hate to think that I had any part in hurting you."
Bella shook her head. "Don't," she whispered. "It wasn't your fault."
Edward drew her into his arms and held her close. "Bella," he murmured, burying his face in her neck. "My Bella."
Bella rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him and letting her fingers trail lightly through his hair. She closed her eyes, trying to commit to memory his scent and the feeling of his hair between her fingers.
"I'm just glad it's all been sorted out," Edward told her after a moment, pulling back to look into her eyes. "You don't know how much I've missed you."
Bella smiled weakly. "I think I have an idea," she replied.
Edward cupped her face in his hands. "My beautiful Bella," he murmured. His hands slid back to tangle in her hair as he pulled her to him again, his lips meeting hers in a tender kiss. Bella melted against him, kissing him back with everything she felt for him, knowing this would be the last chance she would have to do so.
When they separated, Edward rested his forehead against Bella's. "Do you want to go over to my house?" Edward asked. "We can watch a movie or something. I mean, we can stay here if you'd prefer, but right now, I'd really rather be alone with you."
Bella shook her head and stepped out of Edward's arms, bracing herself. "I can't," she whispered.
"Do you have to get home?"
"No, I mean I can't do this," Bella said. "Us."
Edward's blood turned to ice in his veins. "What?" His voice was strangled.
"Lauren was right," she told him. "There was obviously something wrong here, even without her. I mean, why else would I have been so ready to believe you'd told people? That this was nothing more than a joke to you?"
"It's just because it was all so new," Edward told her desperately. "You had your doubts or your fears. Everyone does, that's totally normal. And everyone was talking about us, which didn't help your nerves any. But that's died down now, we can get on with our lives without everyone pointing and whispering." His voice came out in a rush – he had to make her see he was right.
But Bella shook her head. "I'm sorry, Edward," she said softly. "Look at how much I've already hurt you. I don't want either one of us being hurt like this again. Trust me, it's for the best. Things like what Lauren did are only going to continue happening; we'd never have a chance to be really happy together. It's best to walk away now before we're both hurt so much more."
"Bella, please don't do this."
Bella finally dared to look up at Edward and instantly wished she hadn't. He looked…shattered. There was no better word for it. She needed to get out of there before she lost her resolve. "I'm sorry," she repeated.
"But, Bella, I-"
She shook her head. "Goodbye, Edward." She walked out of the bedroom and back downstairs to where the party was still in full swing.
Edward stood, unable to move as he watched Bella walk away from him once again. "But I love you, Bella," he whispered brokenly, knowing she was too far away by then to hear him.
Moments later, Edward was pulled from his daze by the sound of familiar voices. Alice and Emmett had seen Bella return to the party alone and had immediately gone in search of their brother. "Edward? What's going on? We just saw Bella leave with Angela." Alice was confused. What was going on here? She had fixed this terrible situation and Lauren had been exposed for the lying bitch that she was. Bella and Edward should be smiling and kissing and holding onto each other right now. Why, then, was her brother standing alone in the guest bedroom looking like he'd just lost his best friend?
Edward focused on his brother and sister and Alice saw the tears standing in his eyes. "She doesn't want me," he whispered. "She said it's for the best." He closed his eyes and the tears spilled over, unnoticed.
Alice and Emmett exchanged a look before they both moved to his side. "Come on, little bro," Emmett said, forcing a cheery tone as he slung an arm around Edward's shoulder. "Let's go home. Bella just needs a little time. She'll call you tomorrow and the two of you will be back to making the rest of us sick with how happy you are."
Alice gave Emmett a look to tell him he was pushing it. She stood on the opposite side of Edward and took his hand in hers. "Come on, Edward," she said softly. "Let's get home. We'll figure this out, don't worry. Everything's going to be okay."
Edward allowed his siblings to lead him out of the party and to where the jeep was parked. He didn't say a word to Alice or Emmett as he climbed into the backseat and they exchanged worried looks as Emmett climbed into the driver's seat and they headed home. Bits of the conversation with Bella kept running through his head. "There was obviously something wrong here. It's for the best. We'd never have a chance to be really happy together. Goodbye, Edward. Goodbye."
And then Alice's words. "Everything's going to be okay." How? The center of his life, the girl he loved more than anything in the world, didn't want to be with him. How was that possibly going to be okay? Tears slid down Edward's face but he ignored them. Bella was gone. Despite what Alice had said, he knew nothing would ever be okay again.