Hey you.

I'm baaaack. With a new chappie. Enjoy, loves.

Disclaimer - Twilight ain't mine. If it was, I'd be rich and preferably on a yacht. Not dealing with school. Sipping champagne. Looking at cute lifeguards. Because my yacht would have cute lifeguards.

It's silent. Deathly silent. Like someone just revealed their deepest, darkest secret kind of silent.

Like someone like me.

I don't know how Edward is reacting to the words I just said, the words that I want to grab, if they were tangible, and stuff back into my mouth to make sure they never leave in the first place.

I'm staring at my hands when I hear him.

"What about...what about Riley?" His voice is lilted, almost like he doesn't want to know what I'm going to say.

I tell him I love him and that's his reaction?

"What does Riley have to do with anything?"

I finally look at him and see that Edward has an odd look on his face. Almost like…anger. Nostrils flared, lips pursed and fists clenched.

He's angry at me.

The realization startles me. Out of all the emotions…I guess I never thought anger as a possibility. Incredulity maybe, but not anger.

"Maybe I'm the only one thinking about your fucking boyfriend and how he must be feeling right now."

"You mean ex-boyfriend."

"Ex?" The anger fades and it's replaced with an odder look.

"I broke up with him almost two years ago…Right around when you and Rosalie started dating."

My quiet confession feels anything but quiet. Edward's faces changes even further when I mention Rosalie.

Rosalie.

Rosalie.

Fuck.

I don't realize I say it out loud until an odd sound comes out of him. The murmured expletive makes him look right at me. Edward's eyes tell me he's thinking the same thing.

I take in a deep breath and stand.

"I should go. I'm so sorry. Oh my goodness. Can we please just pretend this never happened? I'm sorry."

I don't wait for a response from him as I walk away from him, my footsteps rushed. Regret overwhelms me and I know. I know I'll never talk to Edward again if I can help it.

I'm in my room, tears falling silently into my pillow later that night when my phone blares it's ringtone. I'm nervous, wondering if it's Edward calling. I check and it's not.

It's Rose.

I let out a string of expletives before picking up the phone. "Rose?" is my greeting.

"Bells? Did I wake you up?" Her voice is heavy.

"No. I couldn't go to sleep…Are you okay?" I ask, even though I'm scared of the answer. My heart thumps unevenly.

Rose lets out a sob and my heart free falls into the depths of my stomach.

"He called it off, Bells."

All the air in my lungs leave in a solitary whoosh. My head hangs as the tears roll silently down my cheeks. I rub at the traitorous streaks on my face and try to stop crying.

"Why?" I sound genuinely confused and that's because I am.

"I don't know, dammit. I asked him the same thing myself many times but he won't say anything!" She exclaims, her breath hitching at the end of her sentence.

"Where is this coming from?"

"I don't know…I don't know." And she's crying harder.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know, Bella."

"Do you need me to come over? Or do you want to come over? Anything you want, Rose."

"I guess I just...wanted someone else to know what was happening. It just…doesn't seem real. I mean, we weren't all rainbows and unicorns but who the hell is? We were content! I thought we were happy. I thought…fuck, I thought I made him happy. You should've seen him, Bells. He looked so…not happy. I feel so blindsided. I spent the last two hours begging him to tell him what was going on…and..he…" she trails off.

"He what?"

"He just sat there. Looking defeated. I think…"

"Yeah?" My voice is a whisper.

"I think there's someone else, B."

The guilt overwhelms me and I feel like I can't speak. Her words melt into more tears as one thing spins through my head.

What have I done?

I don't go to work the next day. I stay in bed for the most part until I hear someone knocking at my door. Assuming it was one of my neighbors, I make my way to the front door only to find out I'm wrong.

It's Edward.

His hair is disheveled and dark purple has bloomed under his eyes. His clothes are wrinkled and he looks tired.

"Edward," I breathe.

He swallows and stares.

When he finally dismantles the silence, he's quiet. "You can't say something like that and then just walk away."

I cross my arms across my chest as I lean against my door, knowing the reliable wood of my door is the only thing keeping me up on my feet right now.

"I shouldn't have said it."

"No, you shouldn't have."

I can't help it. Hurt crosses my face and I feel crushed. It doesn't matter that he's right. It just hurts me. I don't know what I expected him to say.

"Thanks, Bella, for confessing shit at the most inconvenient time possible. You make life easier."

"Why did you call off the wedding?"

"Because I realized a few things."

"Like what?"

"Like you're very rude sometimes. What, do you plan on making me stand outside forever?"

My lips quirk up despite the tense atmosphere.

Edward always makes me smile.

I turn sideways to let him in and he walks past me into my living room. He sits down and waits for me to do the same.

"So. Why?"

"Because I realized I wasn't in love with Rosalie. I love her. But I'm not in love with her."

"And you realized that only after I told you…what I told you."

I'm hesitant to repeat my reckless words.

"No, I always knew it. But I was okay with that. Until you said…what you said."

Turns out, he's hesitant too.

"Why did I change things?"

He scoffs and it's a bitter sound.

"For someone so smart, you're awfully fucking dumb sometimes."

"Okay, I'm not in the mood to banter, Edward. This isn't uni anymore and there is a lot more at stake. There are people involved, so I'd appreciate it if you ease up on the fucking puzzles."

He looks intently at me, his brow arched. "You didn't seem so aware of the people involved at Highman Park. God, you're a fucking hypocrite, Bella."

"Yeah, and you're an asshole. And you're still avoiding my question. Why the hell do you do that? Do you know how ridiculously hard it is to have a conversation with someone who refuses answer my questions?"

"I don't answer your questions because answering them would change…so much."

"Newsflash, Edward. Everything has already changed."

He sighs, and his whole body sags with that release of air. I see now what Rose meant when she said he looked defeated. Because he did.

"You weren't crazy."

"What are you talking about?" I'm playing innocent and it's lie. I just want to hear him say it.

"When you thought it was something more the night we met. I did too."

My incredulity must be incredibly prominent on my face because Ed lets out a bitter chuckle.

"No." It's a whisper of a word.

"Yes," he whispers back. "And then I found out about Riley."

"I wasn't dating him then!" I exclaim.

"You guys were on and off and well. Rose told me you guys would eventually end up together."

Rose?

But Rose…Rose knew.

A memory floats to my mind. A hazy memory of me coming back to my dorm from that party and lounging on my bed with my phone glued to my ear. Drunken giggles and slurred stories filling the air.

Me on the phone with Rose.

"I'm glad you finally got out. Between school and Riley, you haven't had any chance to just be."

"Me too, Rose. It was nice to get totally trashed for once." My words are affected by the alcohol still in my bloodstream.

"Tell me you finally got laid."

"Jesus, Rose."

"No sex Bella is no fun Bella. You get cranky when your horny and tensed."

"Shut up." But I'm giggling like the schoolgirl I still kind of am, because it's true. Partly.

"So…" Rose drawls out the word. "Seen any action?" She's giggling too.

"No. Yes. No. Well…"

"Sounds complicated. I'm interested."

"O-kay, gossip queen, chill the fuck out. Nothing happened."

"Nothing and?"

"Nothing and a really nice conversation with a really nice guy."

"What? What a fucking nerd. You made it sound like tongue was involved."

"Last I checked, tongues are needed for speaking." Speaking comes out as 'sh-peeking' and I giggle.

"I meant in a tongues exchanging bodily fluids kind of way, but I guess. Who's the virginal boy?"

"I resent that," I say. More giggling. "He's far from virginal. He looks like sex."

"Sex boys. My favorite type of boy." She sighs but I know she's kidding. Mostly. I giggle. (Sense a pattern?)

"He's soooo hot. Hotty hot."

"Sounds hot. You're gonna date him or what?"

I bristle. I don't know if a relationship would be the right thing right now for me. A fling, however…

"I don't think so. He's nice…but no."

I lied. Completely. He looked like everything good and I wanted him. I didn't say it. I don't know why. Maybe, in that moment, I meant what I said but looking back, I think I wasn't ready to admit the fact that I really liked him to myself, let alone Rose.

Especially Rose.

Rose.

"I don't know why Rose told you that but it wasn't true."

"Wasn't it?" he questions me, skeptically. "You dated him again before I met Rose."

"That was because I thought you weren't interested."

"Seriously? Are you fucking kidding me?" He's angry again. This time, he's off my couch and he's pacing. "I was so fucking obvious, Bella."

"No, you weren't. After the day we met, yeah, we flirted for a bit and all of that stopped real quick. I thought I'd imagined it and we never really had anything."

He lets out a short huff and turns to face. His face is drawn and sad. His eyes seemingly seeing things that weren't there. The past. Memories.

Feelings.

"That has never been true."

Okay, I know what you're thinking. You had more than enough time to edit, so why the fuck are there so many mistakes? My answer - I did edit and I hope there are no mistakes but they always pop up so. I tried, okay? Next chapter, hopefully much sooner.

Kisses and hugs.

- Sher