Bella

Edward looks equal parts earnest and apprehensive as he begins to chronicle his relationship with Kate. They started dating their senior year in high school and went to the same college, staying together as they went. But Kate wasn't exactly the most faithful girlfriend. Edward refused to use the term "serial cheater", but that's clearly what she was.

"Realistically, I know I'm a chump. I should've just dumped her and been done with it after the first time, but I thought we were just young, and she'd gotten it out of her system." Edward shakes his head when I snort. "I know. I was stupid."

"Not stupid, just a little naïve?" I offer, and he smiles wistfully.

"Well, Kate needed a lot of time to get it out of her system, and I let her. She wasn't doing it constantly, not that I'm aware of, and she never brought anything back to me." He shrugs, sitting back in his chair. "Otherwise, we were really happy … I thought we were happy."

We sit in silence for a moment, and I bite my tongue. I want to ask him a million questions, but I promised I'd let him tell his story. His expression is neutral, but his eyes are stormy. I can't imagine how it must feel to dredge this up to a virtual stranger after all these years.

But as we sit here with Edward spilling his guts to me, we aren't strangers anymore, not really. When we were talking the other night, I realized that Edward and I had so much in common, and I could see myself being really great friends with him.

For now, I'll just ignore the fact that he said he'd probably hit on me in different circumstances, and I'd probably let him.

"I don't know why I thought proposing marriage was the answer, but for almost the entire duration of our engagement, she was faithful to me. She was dedicated to building our future and planning the wedding. But when she went off for her bachelorette party, that's when it fell apart again." Edward crosses his arms over his chest.

"I didn't find out until the day of the wedding. With just hours to decide if I could live with Kate acting like this for the remainder of our married lives, I bolted. I really thought she'd finally stopped, moved on from all the philandering, and was ready to make an honest commitment to me, but when I found out about the bachelorette party, I couldn't handle it."

He stands abruptly, as if sitting makes him weak in light of his confession. "The problem was I didn't try to do any damage control. I just told my family, and we left as quietly as possible. Kate used the situation to her advantage and made me out to be the bad guy, which, to a certain degree, I was."

"No, you really weren't," I say gently, but Edward just shakes his head.

"It doesn't really matter. Kate took the opportunity to turn our friends against us—"

I cut him off. "If they were your friends, they would have known all about her. How disgusting and manipulative she was." I'm pointing out the obvious, but Edward just shrugs.

"Well, all of those 'friends'' were really her friends; they were never mine. Once I felt a little more in control of my emotions, I went on a bit of a rampage, posting the receipts of every time she admitted to cheating. There were pictures of her with other guys and, sadly, proof that she tried to hock the engagement ring." Edward is standing behind his chair, gripping the back of it, knuckles white.

"She lost a lot of support after that, from her family and from those friends. I wish I could say I felt bad about that, but I didn't, and I still don't. But, if you're going to be friends with Jess and close to my family, as it's apparent they all like you … you need to know that I did the exact same thing that Garrett did." Edward takes a step back, looking directly at me.

I take a deep breath, collecting my thoughts. "Edward, you and Garrett are nothing alike. You did what was necessary to save your own life, metaphorically speaking of course. Kate spent years degrading you by cheating on you at every opportunity." I shake my head, willing myself not to cry. "You're not a bad guy, Edward. You're just a victim like me. I can admit that my life with Garrett wasn't perfect. It wasn't even good a lot of the time. But I know I did all that I could to make the best of it."

"I wanted more than just to make the best of it, Bella, and I don't want to be a victim any more than I think you do." Edward moves to sit back down, leaning his elbows on his knees.

"Then don't be. I know I don't want to be one, so why are you still beating yourself up? How long ago was this?" I ask as he scrubs his palms over his face.

"Three years ago." His muffled voice is clear enough for me to hear.

"Then get over it." He drops his hands, staring at me. "Look, I'm not going to just wake up tomorrow and feel fine, but you've had three years. Have you recovered? Do you still think about Kate every day?"

"I don't think about her anymore, except when someone brings it up. I haven't had a relationship since then either, but I like to imagine it isn't related." He smirks.

"Then buck up, buckaroo. You did it out of self-preservation; I can't judge you for that. Come see me when you get left by someone you thought was the love of your life." I'm suddenly feeling bitter and angry. I understand what Edward was trying to do—open up and be honest about who he is. But he tried to compare our situations, and they are vastly different.

"It's not the same; you're right." Edward exhales sharply, and we both sit in silence for a few minutes. "You wanna go get drunk?"

"Absolutely." I nod, slipping back into my sandals I had discarded and walking straight back through the bushes, waiting for Edward to follow.

"Hey, Bella?" Edward calls to me as he climbs over his patio and joins me in the yard area.

"What's up?" I turn, smiling. Nothing is resolved between me and my new friend. With me and Garrett. Possibly not between Kate and Edward.

"I promise not to hit on you while we're friends, but you should know that you're the first person, in a long time, to really catch my attention." Edward ducks his head.

"I'll bear that in mind. Let's go get some shots." I walk off toward the closest bar that's still open at this time of night with Edward following behind.