Wow, guys! The love for this story is just outstanding! Some readers are worried that Bella is just being a doormat. I assure you she's a lot stronger than she seems right now. Anyhoo... let's boogie.

BPOV:

"So, what really happened that night, Bella?" Rose asked me as I stare like a bitch in heat out to the back patio. I knew what night she meant.

"He took my virginity and I took his. Instead of fire works and hearts I got pain and a few words. It is what it is." I tell her and shrug. Turning and looking at her she has a look of disbelief on her face.

"That's not it, and you know it. Bella, that one night completely changed our group dynamic til this very day. We can't really understand until you talk about it. I'm not saying spill your guts to the entire group but we were extremely close at one point, and I still consider you my best friend." She says with sympathy and I suck in a big breath.

I knew that I was unfair to the group. I let what had happened between Edward and I to separate us. It more or less divided the group into the guys vs the girls, with the exception of Emmett. He was always neutral territory.

"Rose, Edward didn't want people to know we had sex. He was pissed when Emmett came to let us out of the closet and he started cussing and got worried about Emmett telling people." I told her.

"And?" She prods.

"And nothing. He didn't want people to know so I got mad and I left." Was it not obvious why this should be a big deal?

"I mean, did you want everyone to know that you two had sex or what?" I snorted and she continued. "Seriously. Maybe Edward was more concerned about the fact that you guys were both new at this and he knew how easily embarrassed you got. It was a big deal for him, too, you know? You weren't the only person who lost their virginity."

I looked at her kind of shocked. I didn't think about it that way. "Ugh. Fuck me."

"Not my type." Came a southern drawl behind me and I turned around to smack Jasper in his well-defined chest. "What are you two in here yammering about anyway?" He asks as he snatches a cookie off of a plate and avoids Rose's smack to the head.

"She's explaining why she was so bitter about The Night That Shall Never Be Mentioned." Rose snorts and Jasper swallows his cookie before looking me dead in the face.

"Look, I won't pretend to know what happened between you two, because believe it or not, Edward never said a word and neither did Emmett, for that matter. Alice is the one who told me that you two got close and I can only assume it meant you guys got close." I start to protest in anger over Alice opening her big damn mouth and he put his hand up and stopped my tirade.

"Alice didn't tell me any details, so you know. I can just put two and two together." He winks. "But, Edward has never had a bad thing to say about you. Hell, that kid was in love with you since he ever laid eyes on you. Man, Edward was over the moon for you. So, if I'm correct, and judging by your face I am, that you two got it on, it probably meant everything in the world to him. Then, you just up and disappear from the party and never talk to him again. That's also hard to do, by the way, Forks isn't exactly booming in population."

"Why are you even bothering with this now?" I ask him. "You guys have had years to say something, anything, to me about this but you guys choose the week that we are stuck together?"

"Bells, I love ya like a sister. But, you're being melodramatic. When we would try to bring up Edward you would change the subject." Rose tells me and I looked at her like I was some sort of petulant child.

"Well, he never invited me to any of his shows! He invited you guys. He claims I didn't even know he had a gallery!" I whisper/yell to them.

"I told him not to send them to you, if you want me to be honest." Jasper shrugs and I have half a mind to punch him. "Don't look at me like that. You obviously knew, you could've invited yourself. You could've made an effort to go talk to him. The man lives literally two block away from you. How you've never managed to run into each other is like a cosmic mystery." He shakes his head and goes to grab a beer.

"Why would you tell him not to look me up? That's just insane!" I yell at him.

"I didn't tell him NOT to look you up, Bella. I told him not to bother inviting you. Are you going to tell me you'd actually have went?" I shrug. "No you wouldn't have. You would've thought it was some mean trick he was playing on you and that he couldn't possibly have any decent intentions." He shakes his head and goes to walk outside. "Excuse me, but I've made my own mistakes and I intend to fix them." He winks at me and goes outside to stand with Alice.

"He's right and you know it." Rose sighs and I look back out the window. Was I really that hard-headed that I wasn't seeing anything clearly? I never questioned that night and my feelings about it. It just is what it is, or was what it was, rather.

EPOV

While Jasper and Rose were inside catching up with Bella I caught up with Alice and Emmett. "Didn't know you smoked, dude." Emmett wrinkled his nose and looked at my cigarette.

I shrug and inhale. "Yeah, nasty habit, but it's a tension reliever. Picked it up right after high school."

"So, you gonna' be able to make this visit with Bella work out or what?" He asks. Alice cocks an eyebrow at me and I cock one back at her.

"Alice, how much do you actually know about what happened that night? Aside from whatever Bella told you and then you and Rose ambushing me, what do you know?"

She looks into the kitchen and looks back at me. "I know that I think she was really excited that what had happened was with you, but whatever you said or did behind closed doors hurt her feelings. She didn't give me details. She just said that she shouldn't have wasted her time." She shrugs and I look at Emmett who shakes his head.

"Alice, Emmett walked in like, right after and I was cursing him thinking he was going to open his mouth. Not that I didn't want people to know, but I wanted that to be something just between me and her. She ran out and hasn't looked back." I explain and take another drag from my cigarette.

Alice opens and closes her mouth a few times and starts to turn red and looks between the kitchen and me and starts to turn toward the kitchen when I stop her. "Whoa, Tink. What are you so mad about?"

"She is such a damn stubborn ass. She pretty much broke up our group of friends because she just flew off of the handle and then held a damn grudge for 10 years about it! Not once did she try to figure out if what you said was a good or bad thing. She just assumed."

I hold up my hand to stop her. "Well-"

"You don't get it, Edward, you haven't been there with her for the last 10 years. Not through any fault of your own, mind you, but I've had to put up with her bullshit man-hating persona for this long. I have to force her to do anything that involves fun. She's dated all of zero people since high school. She wouldn't even let us attempt to talk about you, by the way."

"Why the hell not? There weren't always bad memories, I'm sure of it." I bark out and shake my head.

"Cause she was in love with you, dude." Emmett laughs. "She had the hots for you since day one, even though you annoyed the shit out of her. You made everything into a competition. Maybe she thought you guys doing the deed was another contest for you, too."

Well, fuck me.