A/N:I thought I would have had this up sooner! I'm sorry I didn't. Between school and mental disorders, it was very difficult for me to focus on just one thing at a time, which means I couldn't force myself to sit down and write the way I needed to. But alas, the next chapter is here! The next chapter after this is already written and with my beta. It actually shouldn't take that one lone to come :). Thank you to all who are still here, all who just came, and all who will continue to come.

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or anything dealing with the series. That all belongs to SM.

Note: This one is definitely a favorite chapter of mine so far. The drama is truly starting to unfold now! Slowly, though.

RECAP:

"I've always believed in people deserving second chances."

Edward grinned. "This mean you're staying?"

"I will, but you can't talk to me any kind of way you want, and you can't talk about my family, understand?" I told him firmly.

"You got it."

He began to eat then, and I allowed myself a grin as well. It looked as if we were finally getting somewhere.

Chapter Seven: Nineteen

The days that followed our truce were fine for lack of a better word. Edward…well, he was trying. We weren't suddenly best friends, but we argued less. Sort of. At least, he wasn't blaming me for every little thing that went wrong, and I wasn't threatening to leave every second anymore. It was progress, and I was happy with it. However, along with this new set-up came feelings I didn't want to have for him. Whenever we were having an especially good day, I remembered our first kiss that really shouldn't have happened, and I got so lost in it. Edward knew it, too; I was convinced. He was always smirking at me every time I'd come back down to earth. Cocky son-of-a-bitch that man was. Soon, a month had passed, and things were still going really well. I was extremely hopeful for the rest of our days to come.

Fingers snapping in front of my face brought me out of my thoughts, and I scowled at said man and pushed his hand away. "What?"

He smirked, and his eyes were sparkling with mischief; I knew today was a good one for us. "Where were you just now?"

"Jail. For murdering you," I answered. "I was trying to decide if it would be worth it."

"And?"

I shrugged. "It was." He rolled his eyes and sat across from me with the breakfast I'd made him on the table in front of him. I chuckled. "No, I was just thinking about how nice these past few days have been. I'm glad—well, not glad, per se; I'm still not especially happy about our situation—but fine, I guess, with the fact that we could make things work," I explained. Even with everything going so well, I still couldn't bring myself to be okay with this whole thing. No one in their right mind would be. My dad sold me, and my mother didn't care enough to see me off—to talk to me. I wasn't sure I could ever get over that.

"Me too," Edward replied. He grinned suddenly and stood up, grabbed a Target bag off the top of the refrigerator, and handed it to me when he sat back down. "Happy Birthday, Bella."

I groaned and shook my head, not wanting to think about that. Ever. Birthdays were never happy events growing up. "I told you not to remind me. I told you to not even say that to me."

Edward laughed and grinned wider. I scowled. "Birthdays are important to my family and me, Bella. Especially to me. I was never sure if the next one was going to be my last," he explained, and my scowl deepened.

We hadn't properly discussed his past yet, but he seemed happy to bring it up whenever it benefited him, using it to guilt trip me. "First, stop doing that. You know I hate it. You can't just…do that," I said seriously. "Second…fine. You win, again. Thank you, Edward." I gave him the fakest smile known to man and took my gift.

"You're welcome, Bella. It's not every day a person turns nineteen, you know."

"Technically, it is."

"You know what I meant."

I shrugged. "Sure." I looked through my bag, finding my favorite candy of the moment—Skittles—and a cute card. "I'm touched…what was that?" I asked. He'd mumbled something that sounded a lot like "not yet," but I was sure I was wrong. Even still, I blushed and looked away. I shouldn't have, though. I was a bit used to it by now; a nice Edward was a flirtatious Edward.

"Nothing. I have to get to work. You just relax and have a good day," he said softly with a smile, being uncharacteristically sweet at that moment, even for our new arrangement. "When I get home, we're going out to dinner. We're going to celebrate properly."

"Edward," I replied warningly, suspicious of this "dinner." He'd been trying to get me to agree to a party for the longest. The way he just let it go after countless times of nagging didn't sit well with me.

"Bella," was his response, giving me a nod of acknowledgement before walking out.

"You better not have done what I think you've done, Edward Cullen!" I yelled after him.

I finished my breakfast and then cleaned up the kitchen, smiling the whole time. If I were going to be honest with myself, I'd admit that I was actually excited for tonight. The last time I had a party, I was turning four years old and still wanted to be a princess—Daddy's little girl.

"Come on, Bella. Stop being such a Debbie Downer! You're turning nineteen, for Heaven's sake!" Rosalie said, shaking me slightly as if proving a point.

I gave her the best smile I could muster, but it wasn't much. I doubt I even smiled. It was more of a grimace, really. After Edward left and I finished cleaning the kitchen, things seemed to have really caught up with me. Memory after memory of past birthdays kept playing over and over in my head until I found myself crouched in the corner, hyperventilating and trying to calm myself down from a panic attack. I eventually managed to get myself under control, but I couldn't get back the happiness I'd been feeling earlier in the kitchen with Edward.

Rosalie, Cynthia, and Emmett came over a few hours later. I was doing my hardest to grin, be happy, and appear in the mood to celebrate, but as the time went on, it got harder and harder.

"Sorry, Rose. Everybody. I'm just…really tired," I finished lamely, shrugging. I shook my head slightly to clear itand circled my shoulders to loosen up before smiling at them. "Yeah, just tired. Thank you all, though."

Cynthia and Rosalie grinned at me and continued to tell me about all the things they had planned for the day. I listened, somewhat—too distracted by the overly concerned look Emmett was giving me. As he continued to stare at me, I could feel myself slowly starting to become annoyed. He knew something. He knew something because Edward knew something. At least, I was sure he knew something because he'd been looking at me the same way lately. In fact, I knew he knew something because Alice told me he'd told her more things than I would think he would have.

And then I wasn't annoyed; I was angry. I was angry because a past that I didn't even talk about—didn't even think about—was being discussed amongst people I hardly knew.

With that thought, everything caught up with me. I mean, absolutely everything. I realized I liked these people, some of them, anyway, but I didn't know these people. I didn't know them at all, and yet I was celebrating my nineteenth birthday with them. I was married to one of them. I was hated by one of them, and I didn't even know them.

They all sensed the change in me almost immediately. "Bella, what's wrong?" Cynthia asked me as I began to walk away from them.

I turned back around to stare at them in disbelief, unable to understand why they were the ones confused. "What's wrong? What do you mean what's wrong? Everything is wrong. Every. Single. Fucking. Thing is completely wrong. It's my birthday!" I yelled, a hysterical laugh escaping me. "It's my birthday, and I'm celebrating with people I don't know! I don't know you people! That's what's wrong. Nothing could ever be possibly right with this whole entire picture. How can you all not see that?"

A loud, horrifying sob bubbled out of me, and I walked away from them before I lost myself completely, making it to my room right as my control slipped away.

I fell to the ground with a soft thud and just lay there, weeping for hours on end. I thought it would never stop.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that I was sold. It wasn't fair that all the birthday memories I had were bad ones. It wasn't fair that I was here instead of back in Forks with my family where I belonged, where I suddenly wanted to be.

None of it was fair.

~MOB~

"You're drunk."

A snort was my smart reply.

"Bella, this isn't funny."

He was upset. This wasn't surprising.

He was always upset with me.

"Isabella!"

He was concerned now.

A small squeak of surprise left me as I suddenly fell off the bar stool I was sitting on, having leaned back too far. I hit the floor with a soft "oomph" and frowned, slightly in pain. The frown didn't last long, though. One look at Edward, and I was cracking up, covering my mouth with both hands to keep quiet so he wouldn't find out.

"This isn't funny," he repeated.

I don't think it was working.

"…Not even a little bit?" I questioned, another fit of giggles leaving me. "I think it is. Just a little, Eddie."

Edward scowled. "Don't call me that."

"Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, Edd—"

I gasped as I was suddenly lifted off the ground quickly and roughly, but that gasp quickly turned into a sigh of amazement as it felt like I was flying for a moment. I wasn't. Edward placed me back on the stool, but then he took me to the couch instead, figuring I couldn't fall off of that, I guessed.

I giggled. "Eddie."

"What happened?" he asked me, ignoring my name-calling and leveling me with a serious look. Play time was over.

Honestly, I couldn't remember. Everything was lost to me. I could remember wanting to forget, though. I could remember breaking into Edward's liquor cabinet, too. I cut my finger on the glass trying to pick it up.

"Well, um…wow, your eyes are pretty," I mumbled, distracted.

He was so close, and I was drunk; it was a match made in Heaven.

Edward sighed. "Emmett called me and told me some of what happened. Can you tell me what caused it?"

Caused what? I'd wanted to ask.

"Do you think I'm pretty?" I asked instead.

He frowned. "Bella…"

"Well, do you?" I asked again, becoming impatient. I didn't wait for an answer. Instead, I slipped off the couch and sat on the floor with him. "I find you very handsome, Edward. More handsome than, say, Robert Pattinson," I told him. He opened his mouth to say something, but I pulled him in for a kiss before he could.

He sucked in a deep breath of surprise, and I could feel him trying to push me away, but I stayed firm and kept kissing him until he eventually kissed back. I guessed he found me pretty. After a while, when we needed to breathe, I pulled away and pushed on his shoulders until he fell on his back, and then I straddled his hips.

"Have sex with me, Eddie," I murmured, being as seductive as possible.

I smirked and leaned in to kiss him, but suddenly I was on my back, and Edward was between my legs, kissing me hard and rubbing himself against me. I groaned into our kiss, wrapped my legs around his hips loosely, and tangled my fingers into his hair, pulling him closer to me.

"We can't do this," he said unexpectedly, abruptly pulling away from me.

I sat up to look at him, panting heavily and pouting, probably trying too hard to be cute. "Why not?"

"Because we can't," he said.

"But it's my birthday," I whined. "This is what I get for my birthday."

Edward nodded. His face had gradually been growing serious by the second, and now I was becoming confused. "I know what you get for your birthday, Bella," he commented somberly.

I shook my head vigorously. The way he was starting to look at me, the way he answered me. I didn't like where this was going.

"I need to know what's happened," he said.

He was being a hypocrite, and I was going to be sick.

"I think we should talk about your dad." The words came out in a whisper, and the look on his face gave me the impression that he knew much more than I would have liked-that I didn't have to talk about him because Edward already knew everything. "I know you're drunk, but now is as good as time as any to..."

I shook my head vehemently in protest, completely against that idea, and then I threw up.

~MOB~

Waking up the next morning wasn't pleasant. At all. My head hurt, my throat hurt, my mouth was dry, and my hair looked worse than a bird's nest. I couldn't even describe the taste in my mouth, but it made me want to die.

"Good, you're up," were the first words out of Cynthia's mouth when she walked into my room.

"No I'm not," I replied, nearly gagging. My mouth tasted really bad. Cynthia chuckled quietly and sat at the edge of my bed, holding salvation in her hands—a glass of water and two aspirins. "How did I get here, anyway?" I asked. Last night was such a blur. From the look on Cynthia's face, I wasn't sure I actually wanted an answer.

"Edward brought you here after you passed out," she explained.

I frowned in confusion, trying to ignore the throbbing in my head as I struggled to recall all of the events from the previous night. I remembered drinking. A lot. Yes, there was a lot of drinking, and there was a lot of crying. I remembered Cynthia, Rosalie, and Emmett coming over.

"Oh, God," I groaned, letting my head fall into my hands. Everything was coming back in quick succession, then. How I completely lost my shit and freaked out on everybody. My dad calling…I groaned again. "I'm so sorry. What I said yesterday, I…"

Cynthia shook her head and waved her hands in the air, clearing it. "It's all water under the bridge now, dear. Honestly, I expected something like this to happen. I mean, I would have done the same thing. I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. And really, it made all of us realize just how wrong we were handling this—how utterly wrong this whole situation is, really. We're all going to try our hardest to make this work right."

I nodded. I appreciated that greatly. I was still sorry, though; I'd gotten to know them all well enough to not need to blow up like that.

After taking my aspirin, I talked with Cynthia for a little while longer before excusing myself to use the bathroom; it—my breath—was starting to become unbearable. I also just needed a long, hot shower.

When I got downstairs, I wasn't all too surprised to find Edward in the kitchen, dressed up and ready to head out the door for work at any minute. He was waiting for me. "Good morning, Bella."

I nodded in acknowledgement and headed over to the microwave where Cynthia had put my plate for me, unable to look at him. "Edward."

To say I was embarrassed by what I'd done the night before would be an understatement—I was mortified.

"Can we talk about last night?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Look, Edward, I appreciate you taking care of me last night when I got sick, but let's not bring it up anymore, okay? Let's just...let it go."

He didn't let it go, though. Instead, he continued to push me on it until I snapped.

"Tell me about Edward Sr.," I demanded, turning around to face him then so I could glare at him. "Tell me about Elizabeth, too, while you're at it. Tell me all about how he hit you and your mother. Let me hear it, Edward."

He opened and closed his mouth a few times before glaring back at me and saying, "I'm only trying to help."

"If I wanted or needed your help, I would have asked," I retorted.

He glared harder. "Fine."

"Fine."

He walked out of the kitchen then without another word, slamming the door in his wake as he left for work.

So far, nineteen wasn't that great.

"Get dressed," Edward commanded.

After Edward left, I finished eating and then spent the rest of the day with Cynthia, helping her run her errands and just hanging out. It was actually pretty fun. I tried calling Rosalie and Emmett, but they didn't answer, and I was worried, convinced they were upset with me, though Cynthia tried to tell me otherwise. "They're just busy," she had said. I spent a lot of time thinking about Edward, too. Our little "fight" that morning in the kitchen was ridiculous and shouldn't have happened. We both behaved liked scolded children. I had been planning on apologizing and explaining to him that I didn't want to relive the day before until he came barging into my room like he owned the place—which he did, truthfully.

"Why?"

"Just get dressed," he barked before walking out of the room, slamming the door pretty hard behind him.

I huffed in annoyance and looked down at the pajamas I had climbed back in to. After a short while of contemplating, I decided to get dressed. However, I didn't dress to impress. I changed into my The Doors t-shirt, red jean shorts, and my black Converse, pulling my hair up into a ponytail as I couldn't be bothered to do it.

When I got downstairs, Edward looked me over once before nodding. "That works," he approved. He'd changed into a red, plaid button up and some dark jeans. I scowled, and he chuckled, all signs of his bad mood from just two minutes ago gone. "Careful, your immaturity is showing." My scowl deepened, and he chuckled again. "Come on, we're going to be late. All you need is your phone and some cash."

"I'm an adult, Edward. You can't just tell me what to do and expect me to do it. You can't just take me somewhere and not tell me where."

"You weren't acting like an adult the other day," he commented.

"You were sure treating me like one," I snapped. I covered my mouth in shock as soon as it was out and blushed scarlet. I wasn't going to mention anything about that, but I didn't want to let him get away with calling me a child once again. It was getting tiresome.

We didn't say anything for the longest moment, just stared at each other for a while before he cleared his throat and said, "I'm just making up for last night."

"Meaning?" I inquired impatiently, not knowing where he was going with this. I shook my head. "No, you know what, never mind. I don't really want to know. I'm not going anywhere with you."

He sighed. "I'm just trying to give you the party you missed out on yesterday, Bella."

"What party? I thought I told you not to throw me a party, Edward Cullen. Anyway, I'm still not going anywhere with you. I don't want to. And after last night, I realized that this just isn't going to work out at all. I can't stay here. I don't want to. I need to go home. Now. Today."

And back to square one we went.

"Look, I could have easily been a dick about this whole situation…"

"I'll bake you a cookie," I replied sarcastically. "Because you're obviously looking for an award with that comment."

He continued as if I hadn't said anything. "But I wasn't, and I'm still not. I'm just trying to get you to the birthday party you should have had yesterday, okay?"

"No, not okay. I need…"

Edward rolled his eyes and huffed, a vein on the side of his forehead popping out in his irritation, nostrils flaring slightly. "Grab the things I mentioned and get in the fucking car. Jesus, stop making things so goddamned difficult, will you?"

"Fine," was my great response.

"Fine!"

The car ride was silent. It wasn't awkward, but it definitely wasn't friendly, either. There was also a hint of tension, but that was easily ignored by turning the radio on.

"I'd rented out Kiss, an upscale club known for its great party hosting, but this is all you get since you decided to skip out," Edward said as we pulled up to a nice park…in the neighborhood we lived in.

"This is fine," I mumbled, stepping out of the car.

As we began to walk toward the sitting area, I smiled when I spotted everyone I'd met and made friends with so far: Emmett, Rosalie, Cynthia, Sam, Paul, Emily, Rachel, Embry, Carlisle, Esme, and even Alice. Emmett pulled me in for a big bear hug, and I laughed and hugged him back. I was passed on to Rosalie and then Cynthia, and all seemed to be forgotten, the others none the wiser to what had happened.

"Happy Birthday, Bella!" they all, save for Alice, yelled together.

"Thank you!" I laughed and grinned from ear to ear, not minding this set up one bit.

After that, Rosalie turned up the music, and the party really got started. We played all the board games that were brought and then possibly every other outside-appropriate game known to man before we all got a bit carried away, running toward the playground and pushing past kids to play on it and on the swings. In that moment, I wouldn't have minded if Edward called me a child; we were all just kids who grew up way too fast, I guessed, and we were going to make the best of this party at the park. Alice even managed to stop sulking in the corner and joined everyone.

Things calmed down some when Paul, who had been managing the grill, called us over for lunch; the music was turned down and everyone broke off into their own little groups, talking quietly amongst themselves, the atmosphere still vibrant, though.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but have either of you seen Edward?" I asked Carlisle and Esme, walking up to them after I had finished eating. They were in their picnic chairs, leaning in closely to each other and speaking quietly. "It's just that I haven't seen him in a while."

Esme smiled up at me, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, dear, but I haven't. I'm sure he hasn't wandered off too far, though."

I nodded. "Thank you. I'm gonna go look for him." I gave them a smile and turned to leave so they could continue on with their conversation.

"Oh, Bella," Carlisle called before I could walk too far. I turned back to face him. "Edward told us you were going through a hard time yesterday, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay." I nodded. "Good. Just know you can come to me—Esme, too—if you need to talk. We're good listeners."

"That's right. You're family now, sweetheart. Don't think you can't come to us, or that we'll judge you, or anything like that. We care about you as if you were our own," Esme jumped in, smiling.

I hadn't seen much of them since the dinner at their house, so busy trying to get things with Edward settled, but I definitely liked them, and their words touched me. I grinned. "Thank you. That means a lot to me."

We said our goodbyes, and I walked off to find Edward, eventually finding him a little ways away from the sitting area, slouched comfortably on a park bench, legs spread, arm thrown over the back of it, and sipping on a beer. I stopped for a moment to take him all in, sighing quietly as I looked him over. There was no denying the man was attractive—more attractive than any other man I'd ever met—and it was a little sad that I would never be able to bring myself to feel more for him. I couldn't.

When he spotted me, he grinned his crooked smile and beckoned me forward. I chuckled and walked the rest of the way toward him, folding my legs under me as I sat down next to him. His hand reached out and grabbed hold of my knee, and he squeezed it softly—a quiet, little greeting. We stayed like that for a while, this silence comfortable and relaxing.

"Weather's perfect for a barbeque," I muttered. Edward looked over at me with an eyebrow raised, as if asking if that was all I could come up with. I nodded. That was horrible. "Edward, about last night…"

He shook his head. "Don't mention it, Bella. Really, it's over with."

"But…"

"Honestly, I think I—we—should just mind our own business. Going over old things is just completely unnecessary. It's not why we're here, and it's not going to help our situation any, right?" he said, turning those piercing green eyes on me in full force.

I understood his words, what he meant, but I couldn't understand what spurred them on—what was bringing us back to this "business only" aspect of our relationship. And then I remembered I threatened to leave again earlier today.

I groaned. "Ugh, I'm sorry. I did it again. I honestly…"

"It wasn't that," Edward assured me. "I'm just realizing that we can still keep our personal lives personal."

I nodded. "Fine."

"Fine." After only a few seconds, we burst out laughing, our antics beyond ridiculous now.

I chuckled. "We have to stop doing that, I think." Edward nodded in agreement. "But, yeah, okay. We can do that. Keep our personal lives personal. Shouldn't be too hard."

Edward looked at me with a peculiar expression on his face for a second before nodding as well. "Good."

"Great."

He leveled me with a look. "Bella."

"Friends?" I asked, holding my hand out for him to shake.

"Friends," he answered, chuckling and taking my hand. "We shouldn't have to make up like this every day, you know."

I shrugged. "If you stopped arguing with me, we wouldn't have to."

Edward opened his mouth to say something, but he seemed to think better of it as he just shook his head and snickered. "Happy Birthday, Bella," he murmured, handing over his beer to me. "Enjoy."

I took a sip, smirked, and replied, "I shall."

In all honesty, nineteen wasn't looking so bad.