I probably should have found out the plot of the movie before agreeing to see this, in Bella's current, obviously, depressed state this possibly was not the best choice of film. They were laying Marley to rest and I glanced over at Bella and was shocked to see tears rolling rapidly down her face. I squeezed her hand but she didn't move her eyes from the screen. I continued to watch her face until she let out a choked sob.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the cinema. She didn't protest until we reached my car. "No, we can't leave. You wanted to see a movie." Her voice was raspy from crying.

"No, I wanted to cheer you up. Great job I did at that." I whispered the last part to myself. I unlocked the truck and opened the door for her. She slid in and I shut the door. As I walked around to my side I ran my hands through my hair and wondered what I could do to turn this night around. I jumped into the driver's seat and an idea ran through my head.

"Hey Bella-a," I crooned, leaning my body toward her with a huge grin on my face.

She looked at my suspiciously. "Hey Jaspe-er," she mimicked. I chuckled at the apathy in her voice.

"I have an idea," she looked even more cautious now. "What's something that brings a smile to everyone's face?"

"Um... chocolate?" She wasn't playing along.

"No. Live music!" I grinned at her look of confusion. She seemed about to ask what I was on about but I just shook my head at her and turned on the car. I drove across town to a seedy little cafe.

"What's this?" She asked as I opened the door for her.

"An open mic place. Everyone's pretty shit, but I want to play something for you." She looked over at me with her mouth hanging open as we entered the place. I signed my name for the lady on the door. She glared at Bella and winked at me. I just rolled my eyes.

We sat at a table near the back and got a couple of sodas. I told her to wait while I went out the back and organised to borrow someone's acoustic guitar. As soon as I returned and sat down the mc introduced me as the next act. I smiled as Bella wished me luck.

As I walked on stage I grabbed the stool and took a seat. I smiled at the small crowd. "I'll sing you two songs tonight, I hope you like 'em." Some people perked up as they recognised the first song.

"All the clever things I should say to you

They got stuck somewhere

Stuck between me and you

Oh, I'm nervous

I don't know what to do

Light a cigarette

I only smoke when with you

What the hell do I do that for?

You're just another guy

Ok you're kind of sexy

But you're not really special

But I won't mind if you take me home

Come on take me home

I won't mind if you take off all your clothes

Come on take em off

Coz I like you so much better when you're naked

I like me so much better when you're naked..."

I could see Bella giggling, finally I did something right. As I ended the song there was a spattering of applause. "Thanks; this one's a little slower." As I began a really shitty version of 'I Miss You' by Incubus I glanced around the room, Bella was staring intently at me.

"You do something to me

That I can't explain

So would I be out of line

If I said I miss you

I see your picture

I smell your skin

On the empty pillow

Next to mine

You have only been gone ten days

But already I'm wasting away

I know I'll see you again

Whether far or soon

But I need you to know

That I care and I miss you"

As I ended it and stepped off the stage I glanced over at Bella again, she was gone. A frown creased my brow as I searched the room. She was seriously gone; I almost started running as I headed out the door. My eyes scanned the street as soon as I was out the door. Bella was sitting beside my truck with her knees bent up and her head in her hands, I rushed over, "Bella? What's wrong?"

"Why, Jasper? Why did she have to die?" She lifted her face and I saw those tears streaking her face again.

"What happened baby? Who?" I knelt down and pulled her into my arms. She fell apart; I got goose bumps as soon as our skin touched. She sobbed harder and I had no idea what to do, so I picked her up bridal style and put her in the truck.

By the time I got into the driver's seat Bella had calmed down. I turned to her but she wouldn't meet my eyes. "Wanna talk about it? Was my singing that bad?" She gave a half-hearted giggle. She smiled at me sadly, it broke my heart.

"My mum, she was in a car accident." She shook her head, as if she was trying to shake the memory from her mind.

I grabbed her hand and held it tightly. "Baby, I had no idea." No wonder she was so miserable all the time. Fucking Edward. I looked into Bella's eyes and her gaze never wavered.

"I know, Charlie didn't want people to know. It's hard enough to move to a new place, and having people look at me with pity in their eyes would have made it ten times worse." She hung her head and whispered, "I just miss her so much. Sometimes I don't know what to do."

My chest tightened and it became a little harder to breathe as tears pricked my eyes. I couldn't imagine how much pain this tiny girl had been through. She'd lost someone so close to her, been uprooted and bullied mercilessly. No wonder she'd been desperate enough to turn to self-harm. I probably would have become a raging alcoholic.

I really didn't know what to say. "I'm really sorry that your mum died and that my best friend has been tormenting the hell out of you?" I felt like the biggest jerk as I just sat there holding her hand and staring out the car window.

"Thanks for bringing me out here Jasper. All things considered, it was a pretty good night." I looked at her disbelievingly. She had cried so many times, how could she have had a good time?

"Right. Well, I better take you home before your dad kills me." Now I seemed like an even bigger jerk. I didn't know what the hell to say to her. I just wanted to hug her and kick the shit out of Edward. "Did you wanna talk about it, darlin'?" I glanced over at her as we pulled away from the curb.

"I talk to Mrs Peters about it." She sounded like this was reason enough to never speak of this again. This must have been what Charlie was talking about. I had promised the man, but more importantly, I wanted to be friends with Bella.

"Yeah but she has a psych degree, whereas I, am just a good listener," I smiled and turned to her. She was just staring at me with the familiar look of confusion on her face. "I want to be your friend Bella, can we be friends?"

"Friends? Ok." She seemed to relax a little bit. Then she began to speak. "About a month before I came to this hell hole it happened. My mum and stepdad, they were coming back from some minor league game. I dunno. A drunk driver hit them. It was instantaneous. I was supposed to go with them, but mum and I fought before they left." She sighed and dropped her head. For the second time tonight I could feel my chest tightening. "I keep thinking I could have been there and done something, I could have seen the other car coming." Her voice was beginning to shake. "I feel so helpless all the time." Her gaze lifted to the road ahead of us again, I knew what was coming and I gripped the steering wheel tighter. "Then I came here and met someone I would rather have lived my entire life without knowing." Edward."If this had happened before the... before... well, before, he wouldn't have bothered me half as much." She shook her head again. "You said you thought I was strong, I'm not. Sometimes I feel as if it's only air pressure that's keeping me from flying apart."

"You're much stronger than me; I would never be able to suffer in silence as you do. I wouldn't be able to get out of bed each morning, let alone know that I had to walk into a place where the biggest dick alive wanted to torment me all day long." I shook my head and reached for her hand. "You are strong, Bella."

I glanced over at her; she was staring at me with an odd look on her face. "You want to be my friend?"

"Of course I do, darlin'" I smiled at her.

"Even though Edward will probably kill you for it?" She seemed genuinely worried that I would lose my friendship with that dirt bag. He was lucky to have the sympathy of this amazing woman.

"Not if I kill him first," I whispered to myself. I wasn't sure if she heard it or not. "I don't care; I would choose you over him any day of the week." I smiled at her again and this time she returned it.