A/N: Gasp! An update on a Sunday afternoon. Who's shocked? I know, I am too. I had written this last night, but was too tired to post it, so here it is today. I promise not to leave it here before the move. There will be one more chapter posted before my flight on Tuesday morning, I promise.

I don't own twilight, but I did do some research into the world's largest fiddle and the cereal capital of the world. *wink wink*

BPOV

"Alice, you're too fricking early," I called out as I wandered to the front door to answer it after there was a few soft knocks while I was in the bedroom getting dressed for our girls night out. I had decided to wear the red dress I picked up for Valentine's Day with Edward a few weeks ago. I paid too much for that dress for it not to get used again, I reminded myself as I was picking my outfit out earlier in the evening. When I opened the door, I was surprised to find Edward instead of Alice.

"I'm sorry I'm not Alice," he said remorsefully as he gripped a small bouquet of pink tulips in his hands. His knuckles were white both from nervousness and from clutching the flowers so tightly. He looked sickly, which made the evil part of me smile. His eyes looked tired and he had big black bags under them and Edward didn't even seem as confident as he had been back in Wyoming.

"Yeah me too. Can I help you with something?" I asked curiously, deciding not to invite him into the apartment. He stood still and opened his mouth for a moment before shutting it again. He did this three more times before I finally got exasperated. "If you aren't going to say anything, I really have to get ready to go out tonight."

"These are for you," said Edward nervously as he finally handed the flowers over to me after being at my door for almost two minutes. "I know you are busy tonight, but I was wondering if you were free on Sunday?" Yeah, I was free on Sunday, but he didn't need to know this I rationalized to myself as I stared at his deep green eyes, which were filled with sadness.

"I'm not sure. Can I let you know tomorrow?" I asked, curious to his reaction. I was actually hoping to spend some time with Rosalie and Logan, but I wasn't sure of their plans for the weekend yet. I had planned to discuss it with her when we got to the bar that night.

"Um… yeah, that would be fine. I just wanted to talk to you about everything and apologize," said Edward with a sigh as I glared at him in frustration.

"Can I be honest?" I asked as Edward simply nodded his head. "I think that you heard I was going out for a girls night and wanted to apologize before I got drunk and hooked up with someone else, which even though sounds like a good idea right now, I would never do."

"I never said that Bella," he stammered angrily as I glared at him again and he shut up.

"Did you know I was going out tonight?"

"Well, yeah. Emmett mentioned it earlier today. He's babysitting Logan tonight," said Edward after he had shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

"It's not called babysitting Edward. He's Logan's father, so they call it parenting. Would you have come here tonight if you didn't know I was going out?" Edward didn't say anything, proving my point. He wouldn't have come if he didn't think I was going out tonight. If he knew I was home alone tonight, wallowing in a pint of Haagen Dazs, he would have left me alone. "That's what I thought. If I get a chance, I'll call you and let you know about Sunday. Don't hold your breath," I said angrily as I closed the door behind him, locking it tightly and throwing his flowers into the garbage. I strolled into the bathroom, wiping tears from my eyes and continued to get ready for what was surely going to be a shitty evening.

"What happened to you?" Rosalie asked when Alice and I showed up at the club an hour and a half later. She was sitting at a table near the dance floor, already sipping on a beer when we walked in and saw her. One of Alice's biggest clients was the owner of the new club, Tonic, and she had managed to finagled us onto the guest list in exchange for a ten percent discount each time they were in the store. When we had pulled up in front of the bar in our cab, we were relieved to not have to wait because the line was clear down the block and it was only nine thirty.

"Edward," said Alice with a sigh as we sat down in our seats and waited patiently for a waitress to come and take our order.

"Oh, what the hell did he do now?" laughed Rose as Alice decided to retell my story for me. When Alice showed up at my apartment earlier and found the flowers in the garbage, she instantly questioned what had happened, and I explained everything in great detail. Thankfully, she had agreed with my reaction wholeheartedly. "So, he showed up because he knew you were going out and didn't want to take a chance that you might meet someone else? Sounds like a challenge to me," laughed Rosalie again as she began to scope out the room for eligible guys for me to meet.

"Thanks for thinking of me Rose, but I'm here to spend time with you girls. Remember, single girls night, right?" I said with a grin as the waitress came by and I quickly ordered a rum and coke before I looked over at the girls and they both looked anxious.

"Emmett asked me out today and we're going out on Sunday night," said Rosalie with a small smile as she began to explain her lunch meeting with Emmett today. "It was actually very sweet and he was clearly nervous. I will admit to having had some of my old feelings come back to life recently as we spent time together, but I never in a million years thought he felt the same way."

"I'm happy for you Rosie," exclaimed Alice as she began to tell us how Jasper was taking her out to dinner tomorrow night as well. "He's calling it a new start. I guess he talked to Edward and Emmett at the bar last week and sort of came to his senses." I felt my heart fall for a moment, realizing that this girls night was originally to celebrate being single and now I was the only single girl. Well, neither of them was in solid relationships, but they were a lot closer than me.

We spent the next hour talking about anything that came to mind, and as per usual, Alice and Rosalie had more to talk about than me. Rosalie started out by telling us almost every single detail of the meeting with Esme and Carlisle the week before, and Alice continually expressed her regret for being unable to join them. Rose also told us about how well Emmett and Logan seemed to be adjusting to one another, which was one of the main reasons she had decided to agree to the date with Emmett in the first place. Alice then explained to us how Jasper had been more attentive lately and that even though their plans last weekend involved dinner with his family, he seemed more interested in her than he had been in a long time. I was glad things were going well for both of them romantically, I told myself with a laugh as I headed up to the bar to order myself another drink as they headed off to the bathroom.

I didn't have to wait long because apparently I caught the eye of yet another bartender, who quickly came over to me while keeping his eyes trained on my breasts, not my face. "What can I get for you?" he asked with a smirk as I eyed him up for a moment involuntarily. He was cute enough, but definitely not my type with long blonde hair and a devious smile.

"Just a rum and coke," I said confidently as he quickly poured the drink and slid it on the bar towards me.

"That will be four fifty and your phone number," he said with a grin as I threw my five dollar bill on the bar and walked back to the table, completely ignoring his second request. When I glanced back over at the bar a little while later, sure enough, he was watching me out of the corner of his eye with a smile as wide as his face.

"So, didn't we come here to dance?" laughed Alice she finished her margarita and slammed the glass a little too forcefully against the table. She then grabbed both Rosalie and I by the hand and dragged us onto the floor as 'Blame It' by Jamie Foxx came through the speakers, causing the entire crowd to dance eagerly to the beat. As I stood out onto the dance floor, moving in time to my friends, I realized this was the last place I wanted to be right now. I really wanted to be back in Jackson Hole with Edward. Even the early days of us fighting were better than what we had right now, which was nothing.

I was about to lie to Alice that I wasn't feeling well after only ten minutes of dancing, when I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned around to look right in the face of someone from my past. "Nikolas, what in the hell are you doing here?" I asked eagerly, my voice brimming with excitement. I wrapped my arms around his neck while he pulled me into a big hug, his arms around my waist tightly. I glanced over and Alice and Rosalie were both giving me looks of approval for finding a man on my own.

"I'm in town on a conference, I'm a guest speaker. The life of an author is always a busy one," he said with a laugh as I pulled him from the dance floor and back to the table to find out what he had been up to recently. Nikolas had been one of the first authors I had approved of when I started editing two years ago. I was so excited when his book landed on the New York Times Bestseller's list that I went out and bought myself a new pair of heels. It became a ritual for me over the years, and I now had six pairs of ridiculously overpriced shoes in my closet that Alice borrowed more than I actually wore.

We ended up chatting for the next hour about his new book that he was writing and how he was so excited for me to read it first. His last book tour had left him exhausted and he ended up taking a yearlong break before even typing anything of significance again. When Rosalie and Alice wandered over and found us deep in conversation, it was almost two in the morning and they were both sweating booze from their all night dance-a-thon. "Call me tomorrow Bella," he said happily as he scribbled his cell number on the back of a napkin. "I'm staying at the Olympic, and I'm in town till Monday night. My last appointment is at five on Monday and I'm taking the red eye back to New York."

"Well then, expect a call from me tomorrow or later today," I said with a grin as I folded the napkin up neatly and shoved it into my purse before I helped Alice and Rosalie out of the bar and towards the nearest cab. Rosie and Alice were staying at Alice's place and I gave the cab driver their address first, as I shimmied into the back of the cab beside them.

"So… who's Nikolas?" asked Alice with a huge drunken smile. Rosalie and Alice high fived each other, apparently pleased that I had been talking to a guy all night.

"He was the author of the first book I ever approved," I said, sounding very pleased with myself.

"You were talking about work all night that that hot piece of ass?" asked Rosalie as she giggled loudly, causing both Alice and our cab driver to laugh along with her. I had never really thought of Nikolas as hot until Rosalie mentioned it. He certainly had a strong jaw and dark brown eyes, which worked well with his short dark brown hair, but he wasn't hot to me. He was just Nikolas Morgan, the first major step forward in my career.

"You could bounce quarters off his ass," laughed Alice a few moments later as I began to blush.

"For your reference, he's gay," I said with a chuckle as Alice and Rosalie hung their heads in disappointment.

"You're just saying that to stop us from encouraging this," said Rosalie with a huff as she crossed her arms across her chest in frustration. I now wished I had been paying more attention to her drinking tonight because she was at least five drinks over her limit as I watched her pull of her shoes and throw them at Alice with a giggle.

"Sorry ladies. He's definitely not into me, well not romantically or sexually. His first book had five guy on guy scenes in it and I've met his boyfriend, Lionel, on several different occasions." I laughed as they both looked at me a bit shocked as I mentioned his book and what it entailed. They should just be glad I didn't go into the great detail that Nikolas had in his book.

"Why are all the good ones usually gay or married?" sighed Alice as the driver pulled up in front of her building. The two girls got out as I gave him instructions to my place, which thankfully was only five minutes away. When we finally arrived and I paid for both trips, I quickly stepped out of the cab and looked up at Edward's window. The light in his bedroom was on, but his curtains were still closed. I could see some light through the edges of his curtains, but I immediately began to wonder why he was awake this late at night. He was probably working again I laughed to myself as I shook my head from all further thoughts of him and stumbled into my building, eager to get into my apartment and pass out.

EPOV

After Bella had closed the door in my face, I stood there for a moment, simply staring at it, wondering yet again where I had gone wrong. I knew damn well that I wouldn't have gotten up the nerve to come over and talk to her if she hadn't had plans for the evening, but I couldn't bring myself to lie to her about it. As I headed back to my apartment, I ran my hands through my hair in frustration before I sat down on her stoop and contemplated what the hell I needed to do to get her back. Emmett had been a great sounding board lately for my issues, so I called him up.

"I know you are watching Logan tonight, but can I come over?" I asked nervously as I offered to bring pizza and movies.

"Sure, you can come over, but don't bring anything with you. I'm trying to make us a home cooked meal. Rosalie is supposed to drop him off in about half an hour, so you can probably help me before she gets here," laughed Emmett as I heard a timer go off in the background. I agreed to his requests and headed back to my building, heading straight into the underground parking and hopping into the Volvo to head across town.

When I got to his door, I could already smell something awful coming from the apartment. In fact, it smelt a bit like burnt tire. When Emmett finally opened the door, I was relieved to see that Logan hadn't arrived yet. "What the hell are you cooking?" I asked with a laugh as I crossed the room and opened the window to get some fresh air into the apartment.

"The recipe said pepper steak, but I think I used too much pepper and lemon. I don't know. I forgot you had the measuring cups and spoons, so I made educated guesses," said Emmett with a sad grin as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Emmett, I have never seen you boil water yet alone make pepper steak. How the hell can you make an educated guess?" I said with a laugh as Emmett turned off the stove and picked up the phone to call the local Pizza Hut. When Rosalie showed up with Logan a little bit later, I was able to close the window because the horrid smell had almost completely disappeared, unfortunately it was also pretty cold in the apartment now.

"Is it always like an ice box in here?" asked Rosalie after Emmett had opened the door and let her and Logan in. Logan was clutching a small Spiderman backpack and was looking around the apartment in awe. I think he was most impressed by the TV Emmett had, which seemed to take up almost an entire wall. Whereas I barely felt the need for one, Emmett's had to be larger than life. The TV's were almost representative of our personalities it seemed. I got comfortable on the couch as Emmett showed Rosalie and Logan the bedroom he had set up earlier in the day, and Rosalie actually seemed impressed.

"We can get more stuff for the room eventually, but I thought this was a decent start," laughed Emmett as he began to explain how he and Alice had gone shopping for everything only yesterday. His story was getting very long winded when Rosalie interrupted him, because she was now running a bit late.

"Okay honey, you have a good time with Dad and Uncle Edward. I'll be back tomorrow morning around ten to pick you up. We have to head to Ethan's birthday party in the afternoon." Logan simply nodded his head and gave her a small hug as we all watched Rosalie leave, excited to have a night out.

"So, what's for dinner? I hope it's not whatever smells bad in here," said Logan honestly as Emmett and I both laughed at him heavily. We continued to laugh for a few more moments when there was suddenly a knock on the door, our pizza had arrived, and Logan's eyes lit up. "I love Pizza Hut," he screamed happily as he ran over to the dining room table and took a seat, eagerly anticipating his dinner.

"We can eat in the living room buddy," said Emmett with amusement as he put a piece of pizza onto a plate and brought it over to the coffee table. Logan looked a little hesitant to move from the dining room table, but the pizza was definitely calling to him.

"Let me guess, your mom doesn't let you eat in the living room huh?" I asked as I grabbed a few pieces of the supreme and headed to sit on the love seat, with the beer I had just opened. Logan shook his head from side to side and I smiled as I glanced over at Emmett. "Well, your Dad isn't one for formality. He'd probably let you eat it in your underwear if you wanted." Logan simply laughed as he finally sat down on the floor in front of the coffee table and greedily bit into his pizza.

"So, what's going on with you little brother?" asked Emmett as he glanced over at me curiously. For almost half an hour, I had completely forgotten why I had come here to begin with, because it certainly wasn't for pizza and Batman cartoons with my brother and nephew. "Bella again huh?" he asked as he sensed my mood.

"I went over and saw her tonight. To say I was brutally rebuffed would be the understatement of the year," I said with a sigh as Logan turned back towards me and smiled.

"She likes it when you bring her cookies. Have Grandma Esme make more and bring them to her and me too." Emmett ruffled his hair for a moment as they both turned back to the dinner for a moment.

"I brought her flowers," I said confidently, even though I was pretty sure they were in her garbage or trash compactor by now.

"What did you guys talk about?" asked Emmett as he reached over and grabbed his Heineken, taking a quick sip before glancing back at me for my response.

"I told her that I wanted to talk to her and that even though she was going out tonight, I was hoping she would get together with me on Sunday," I said ruefully as tentatively took a bite of my pizza. My appetite disappeared when I explained to Emmett how Bella had accused me of only coming to see her because I knew she was going out and I wanted to stop her from hooking up with other guys.

"Was that the reason you went?" he asked as he looked at me angrily. "Please tell me that was not the reason you went to see her Edward." Unfortunately, just like back at Bella's apartment, I couldn't discount what he was saying. "You are a complete fucking idiot."

"That's a bad word Daddy," sighed Logan from the floor as Emmett patted his head to placate him.

"Sorry buddy. What I meant to say was 'you are a complete fucking douchebag'" laughed Emmett as both Logan and I glared at him. "Okay, no more swearing. Don't tell your mom and you can have ice cream before bed," suggested Emmett as Logan pretended to close his mouth like a zipper and we both laughed at his sense of humor.

"She called me out on it and I said nothing in return. Before she slammed the door in my face, she told me not to hold my breath for her to call me about Sunday," I admitted sadly as I finally put my plate off to the side and took a big swig of my beer. "I know I screwed up, but I can't help it sometimes. You of all people know that I have a horrible track record with women. I have never loved anyone as much as I love Bella, and when she's not with me I think about her. When she's out with other people, I get jealous that they get to spend time with her and I don't."

"Edward, for the last fricking time, you do realize that you not spending time with her is your own damned fault right?" I nodded my head remorsefully as Emmett continued his rant. "The office is doing well, so take some time to enjoy it. You are part owner of a successful advertising firm, but you bust your ass like a first year employee desperate to impress the boss. You need to set limits and follow them."

As we continued our dinner in silence, I let Emmett's words sink in and I realized he was right. We discussed my new schedule for almost twenty minutes as Logan busied himself playing with a few of the new toys Emmett had picked up earlier in the day. We agreed that I could work as early as seven in the morning, but come five thirty at night, I had to be out of the office. Emmett justified that there was no way I would need to focus my attention that late at night, unless there was a big deadline looming, but all the employees would face the same deadline as us. When I finally left that night, I felt somewhat at ease about everything, but this was just the first step to getting Bella back.

The next afternoon, I was busy tidying up the apartment when I glanced out my bedroom window to notice Bella's curtains were wide open. I couldn't see her in the bedroom at all, but I took it as a positive sign and grabbed my shoes and coat and decided to head across the street to talk to her. As I stepped towards the front door of my building, my heart sank as I noticed Bella walk out of her building, arm in arm, with some short haired Greek looking god. He was handsome I supposed, but she was smiling easily at him as they walked down the street together, going god knows where. It took all of my effort to not follow them to find out what was going on. As I heard her laugh genuinely with him, I also noticed her look back towards my building, as though she was checking out my apartment for signs of life.

I wandered back upstairs and quickly closed the curtains again before glancing down at her own bedroom and realized that sometimes curtains were just curtains and nothing more. I slumped down in my chair beside the window and tossed my head into my hands as I started to finally grasp the severity of what I had done. Bella wasn't mine anymore.