Sorry this took a while to get out! School has been crazy! I tried to send a preview to all of you who reviewed, and if I didn't I'm REALLY sorry! I appreciate every single review, and I love you all for reading! Thanks to caww for her review, because of it I completely reworked this chapter and changed where I was going with the story a bit.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Twilight...sigh...

EPOV

The drive to my apartment was a long one. I was barely concentrating on the road, my thoughts on Bella every second. How did things end up like this? Weren't we perfectly fine a week ago?

I thought back to the recital on Monday, how well she and I played together and the way she had looked at me after I surprised her with the piece I learned. How we stole kisses in the classroom, hiding from the parents who were sticking around after the recital. How adorable she was when I caught her peeking in on my lesson.

Did all of this happen because of Tanya? Does Bella really not see herself that clearly?

There was no competition in my mind. Bella had the type of beauty that was so simple it took your breath away. She didn't need to try to be stunning—she could walk around in a pair of sweats every day and I would still think she was the most beautiful person in the world. Why was it so hard for her to see that?

Tanya was attractive, yes. And I'm sure there are plenty of men out there who would love to run their fingers through her too-long strawberry blond hair and stare in to her overly-shadowed eyes. I'm not one of them. Makeup never really impressed me, and I loved that Bella barely wore any. She didn't need it.

What would Jasper and Emmett say about my behavior tonight? Was that another test that Alice and Rosalie had given them before? I could almost hear Emmett in my head now, "You LEFT? No man, no no NO."

I slammed on the brakes, turning into the closest gas station and turning back out, going the opposite direction than which I needed to go back home. I pulled out my cell phone and saw that I had a missed call. My heart skipped at beat, hoping it was Bella who had called me. No such luck. It was Emmett. He probably wanted a report on how everything went perfect tonight and all problems were solved. I shook my head, clearing the call and dialing Bella's number.

"Hello?" I could tell she had been crying, but she sounded hopeful when she answered.

"Bella," I said, desperate to make her feel better. That was two nights in a row I had made her cry. This has got to come to an end! "I am so sorry. I shouldn't have left tonight, that doesn't solve anything. I don't know what I was thinking. I love you, I don't want to leave with you upset tonight."

I heard her sigh over the phone and I wasn't sure whether she was relieved or even more upset with me.

"Can I come over? Please?"

"Of course, Edward. You never have to ask." She sounded tired and I knew she was just as worn out from all of this as I was. I told her I loved her and sped up, wanting to reach her apartment as soon as possible.

When she opened her door I was met with tear stained cheeks and red eyes. Her tears had dried up, but the evidence was still there and I could have kicked myself. I walked in and closed the door behind me quickly before pulling her to me. I took her face in my hands and kissed her cheeks, tracing the tracks that her tears had fallen down. "Bella," I pulled her close to me, "I didn't mean to make you cry. I swore last night that I wouldn't do it again, and I didn't even make it twenty-four hours."

Bella didn't say anything, she just took my hands and pulled me back to the couch. I laid myself down across it and she tucked herself tightly into my side. We were silent for a long while, just holding each other and trying to mend the sudden hurt that had taken over the last few days. As much as I loved simply holding her, I wanted to try and fix things...to make sure that this wouldn't happen again.

"I know I overreacted tonight," I started softly, running my fingers through her loose curls. "I just felt so awful with those guys smiling at you and touching you. It seemed no matter what I did they wouldn't leave. And then when you brought up how you felt about Tanya last night, I didn't want to admit that the situations were similar."

I felt Bella tense when I brought up our previous night. I started running my hands soothingly down her back, trying to calm her muscles down and have her relax once more. "They are though," I continued, and I felt her mold comfortably against me again, sure that I understood. "And what upset me so much was that I knew I caused how you felt last night by inviting Tanya to sit with us, and letting her dance with me."

I sat up, pulling Bella into my lap and looking into her eyes, "But you have to tell me next time, Bella. You can't expect me to know this code that you have, when you mean some things and don't mean others. I'm new at all of this..."

Bella silenced me by placing a hand over my lips. She nodded, "I know. I should have just told you instead of trying to play games. I'm sorry about tonight, too. I wanted you to feel what I felt last night, and it was selfish of me to do that instead of just talking to you."

"I understand," I began, pulling her hand away from my mouth and lacing our fingers together, "But you have to promise. No more games."

"No more. I promise." She sighed, "I don't know why Tanya makes me so uncomfortable. She's intimidating and confident and she just seems so sure about flirting with you."

It was my turn to silence her, "Don't let her intimidate you. I'm not going anywhere, no matter what happens. Tanya can't hold a candle to you, my Bella. Please, just try. The center is so new, so young...we can't turn students away this early. We can't afford to lose students just because they get off to a bad start. Let's just give it a few weeks."

Bella was quiet for a moment, thinking. It was driving me crazy. "Please say something."

"I will try," she agreed, "As long as you leave your classroom door open during your lessons with her."

"You know you won't be able to spy on me if the door is open," I joked with her.

"I'm hoping she won't try anything funny if the door is open and everyone can hear her."

I laughed and leaned to kiss her softly, enjoying the feel of our lips moving together slowly. It isn't long before we fall into a comfortable silence again and fall asleep together on her couch.

BPOV

Sunday was spent being lazy with Edward, laying around my apartment watching movies and enjoying each other's company. I was so thankful that he had come back on Saturday, not willing to go to bed while we were both upset. It surely would have made the rest of the weekend hard to deal with. And work would be awkward.

We arrived at the center Monday morning a little rushed. Edward had a lesson to get to and he quickly kissed me on the lips and told me he loved me before rushing down the hall to his classroom to set up before his student arrived.

It had been a while since I had time to practice so I headed to my classroom to get an hour or so in before I had to work in the office. It was nice release to practice, allowing myself to get completely lost in the music I was creating. Edward poked his head in after I finished playing one of his favorites and I scolded him jokingly for spying on me. I knew I had no room to talk.

When I returned to my office I had a few e-mails waiting on me inquiring about more piano recitals coming up. We didn't have any planned at the center for a few months and I wondered if it would be possible for me to do a recital sometime soon. It would be more great publicity for the center and I would get to perform the few pieces I had been working on. I sent Edward a quick e-mail about the idea, knowing I would forget unless I mentioned it to him now.

My first lesson of the day didn't go as well as I had hoped. We struggled through the first piece that the student hadn't practiced before I had him sight read a few pieces. I ended up telling him to go home early, not willing to waste my time or his if he hadn't prepared. The lesson had given me a headache and I was digging around in my desk for an Advil when Alice came up.

"Some girl showed up asking for a practice room. I've never seen her here before. She wasn't very nice, but she insisted she has a lesson this afternoon."

I had a feeling I knew who had been so rude to Alice. "What did she look like?"

"Strawberry blond hair—"

"Tanya."

"Oh—that's Tanya?" Alice was surprised. She started walking towards the practice rooms and I followed her.

"I don't know who else it would be. Sounds like her to me."

We stopped in front of a room where someone was playing a difficult Bach piece. I looked at Alice curiously, wondering why we had stopped.

"This is the room I sent her to."

"That can't be Tanya, she told Edward she's never had lessons before."

Just as I mentioned his name, I felt Edward's arms wrap around my waist from behind. He kissed my neck and I could feel myself blush while he asked, "What are we talking about?"

I turned to look at him over my shoulder, "Alice said she gave Tanya this practice room."

Edward listened for a moment before shaking his head, "That can't be Tanya. She just signed up for lessons on Friday."

Alice glanced back to the door, "She doesn't sound like she needs piano lessons."

Edward released his arms from around my waist and glanced at his watch, "Well we will find out in about ten minutes. Her lesson starts at four."

Just as I had stepped away from Edward and was going to ask Alice about her lessons for the day, the music in the room before us stopped and the door opened. Tanya stepped out and looked surprised to see all of us at first before turning and smiling widely at Edward.

"Hi, Edward!"

"Hello, Tanya," Edward answered professionally, "We were just listening to you play."

Her smile faltered just a bit, "Oh...okay."

"I thought you hadn't taken piano lessons before."

"Oh...well," Tanya was spluttering, "When you asked I thought you meant had I taken them here before."

I rolled my eyes, just what was she trying to pull? She was busted and I couldn't wait to talk to Edward about this when our day was finished. I sighed, realizing that we couldn't just tell her to leave because she wasn't a beginner student. Advanced pianists took lessons all the time.

Edward and Tanya began to walk towards his classroom so Alice and I followed.

"I was really excited about taking lessons today, so I started working on this piece this weekend," Tanya was trying to cover her tracks.

Alice turned to me and mouthed, "This weekend?" I shrugged, doubting she began that piece this weekend and continued to follow them down the hallway.

"Well, Tanya, I haven't had very many advanced students before," Edward began as they entered the classroom. I saw Tanya take a seat at the piano and beam up at Edward as he took his standard place by the keyboard.

"Why don't you begin the piece you were just working on?" Edward asked.

"Aren't you going to shut the door?" Tanya asked. Her face fell when Edward shook his head.

"No, I'd like to leave it open so everyone can hear what you've been working on." He looked up and winked at me as I smiled and blew him a kiss, making my way back to my office.

Edward's voice carried down the hallway as he spoke of having a short lesson because he needed to rework her lesson plans. He was clearly not pleased with this new development and I couldn't blame him. Taking on students who already had piano lessons was a challenge just because you had to figure out how much they knew, what they had played before. It took a lot more preparation than a weekend, and Edward was not looking forward to completely reworking his plan for Tanya.

Poor Tanya, I thought. She'll be heartbroken that her attempt to impress Edward had only frustrated him. I couldn't help but smile as I headed to my classroom and greeted my next student.

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