No Matter What

X— Chapter 14 —X

Bella Swan

"Wow." Jessica cringed, looking down at her coffee mug. "That was … wow."

Sighing, Bella slumped back in her chair and nodded. "Yeah, and ever since then—I mean, did I mess up that bad?"

"You didn't mess up, at all." Jessica tried comforting her friend, but the grimace said it all. She thought Bella had fucked up bad, though not intentionally. "You just … well, I don't know what to say. What did you think was going to happen when you introduced your old boyfriend to your new boyfriend? Not that they'd become instant best friends, right?"

"Well, not exactly," Bella said, but her disappointment said otherwise.

She was disappointed in everything that had happened weeks ago at her 'birthday party'. Not just in Laurent and Mr. Revin, but in Edward and herself as well. Edward wasn't the kindest to them—not the kind Edward she knew he could be. And she realized the fault in herself that she put too much energy in keeping him and Laurent apart all day instead of just leaving when she realized things weren't going well. If she had, maybe things wouldn't have escalated to the point they did and there wouldn't currently be tension between her and everyone she loved. Everyone accept Ms. Senna.

While Mr. Revin did try to apologize for his behavior, it sounded more like an explanation of why he'd asked his questions, not in the way he asked them. Therefore, Bella kindly chose not to accept the apology.

As for Laurent, they had barely muttered hello to one another when picking up or dropping off Briella. All talk between them had been stilted and they only spoke in regards to their daughter. He'd called more, though—asked for Briella to spend more time with him. An act Bella believed was a desperate attempt to prove wrong the comments she'd made about Edward being the one to help her raise Briella. Though, in hindsight what she said was true, she knew it was wrong to say it out loud and in a fit of anger.

"Okay, let me ask you this." Jessica leaned forward to get Bella's attention back. "What did you tell them about Edward before you brought him over? Were they expecting him?"

"They've known about him since the beginning—since the day I got his number. Actually, no, Briella's been talking about him since the first day we met him at the bus stop. I thought they'd be happy to meet him."

"You thought they'd be happy?" Jessica said the words slowly, repeating them as if she couldn't believe the absurdity she was hearing. "Can I just be honest here for a second?"

"Of course."

"And you promise you won't get mad?"

"Uh ..." Bella hesitated. This didn't sound good. But she wanted to hear it anyway—wanted the advice. "I promise I won't stay mad."

"Fair enough." Jessica nodded, blowing out a breath. She didn't want to hurt Bella's feelings, but after watching her mope around for weeks, and now after having to practically force her to talk about what's been bothering her, Jessica wasn't going to miss the opportunity to say everything she was thinking at once. "If you want me to be honest, I think all of you handled the situation pretty badly. But to be fair it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't brought Edward there in the first place."

"But I never thought it would be—"

"I'm not saying it's your fault," Jessica's words were rushed as she quickly caught on to Bella's thoughts. "It's no one's fault, really. It was just a weird situation that no one handled well. But you brought everyone together, and if you feel bonds are broken then it's up to you to fix it."

"I don't think bonds are broken." Bella frowned. Broken sounded so final. Things were just … tense, that's all. But why? What had she done so wrong? "I just wanted Edward to meet my family. I met his, and I wanted to return the favor."

"But, sweetie, the Revins are not your family."

"Ouch." Bella knew that of course, but hearing it out loud knocked some of the wind out of her.

Jessica's face softened, as did her voice. She didn't know how to be anything but brutally honest, sometimes to a fault. But she realized she needed to handle this situation a little more delicately than normal. She took a breath as she thought about what to say next.

"They sound like good people," she said slowly, lolling her head from side to side. "Well, most recent events aside. And I'm sure they love you, and they love Briella. But … they don't owe you anything. They don't have to like your boyfriend. But who cares if they do or not, anyway? The only person that really needed to meet him was Laurent, and that's only because Edward's around his daughter so much. Trying to bring Edward into this—" Jessica brought her palms together and shook them in a strange gesture "—This … fold you guys have. It's admirable, I guess. But it's also naïve. And now, I don't know why you guys are all holding onto this grudge. They met; they don't like him. It sucks, but move on. Who cares?"

Bella didn't say anything in response, but the truth was she cared a lot.

Jessica was right, though; Bella realized. Her hope that everyone would have gotten along—that both her past and present would have meshed together seamlessly—was wishful thinking as well as naïve. But things had gone so well with Edward's family, other than her initial meeting with Jasper. All she wanted was to return the favor—to show Edward and the Revins every side of her, wanted them to accept all of her.

"I just felt like I was happy." But now, her shoulders were slumped, her voice soft and pained. "I wanted them to see that. That's all."

"And they probably did see that—and have heard how happy you are with someone who isn't their son." Jessica shrugged and stood up. Bella followed suit, as break time was over, but kept quiet as she listened on. "I can see all, like what … all five sides of it? The only way for you to get over it is for you to look at all angles, too."

That's not something she had thought about.

She wasn't trying to rub Edward in their faces.

In her mind, she wasn't introducing an old boyfriend to a new one. She was introducing the two most important men in her life. One she considered a best friend, and one—so help her, God—she would eventually consider her lover.

But if that's what they were thinking, then she at least understood some of where the hostility had come from.

That didn't explain Edward's issues, though. That was still a mystery to her.

"So …" Jessica trailed off into her own conversation as they continued walking. Bella barely listened, deep in her own thoughts as she tried to figure out what might be the biggest problem Edward had. Surely it wasn't the same thing.

"So what do you think?" Jessica asked.

At the same time Bella stopped walking and asked, "Do you think Edward was thinking the same thing?" That I was just bringing him around to rub him in Laurent's face?

"What are you talking about?"

"Wait … what are you talking about? What do I think about what?"

"About all of us going out together." Jessica frowned, realizing Bella hadn't been listening to a thing she'd said.

"What about Edward?"

"What about him?" Jessica's frown deepened. "Bring him if you want—it's not like it's just a girl's night out."

"A girl's night out?"

"Oh, forget it." Jessica groaned but laughed a little as she pulled Bella along by her arm. "We'll talk about it later—when you've settled things with your man and can focus."

Settle things with my man.

Bella hoped that would happen soon. She wasn't sure how much of the distance, how much more of this tension, how much more of him being physical present, yet emotionally detached from her, she could take.

No Matter What

X—Edward Masen—X

"You and Bella still fighting?" Jasper asked Edward, leaning over his pool table and making a shot. "I feel like you haven't talked about her much since you met the in-laws."

"They are not her in-laws." He clenched his jaw; the words felt like a slap in the face. "They're her ex's parents."

"Who she's unnaturally close to, and it pisses you off." Jasper nodded, sinking another ball in the hole.

"It doesn't piss me off that she's close to them. It annoys the shit out of me that she's mad I'm not trying to be close to them, too."

"Well, she's young. That type of naïve shit is par for the course."

"Bella's not young." Not in the way Jasper was saying it, at least. Six years younger than Edward, yes. But she wasn't immature. "She's twenty-one and a mom."

"She just turned twenty-one. And yeah, she has a kid, but kids don't necessarily make you mature. They just make you responsible. It's not the same thing."

Edward leaned back against the wall and gripped his pool stick, watching as Jasper pretty much played pool by himself. "So you think I've been acting like an asshole? Not cutting her enough slack or something?"

Jasper shrugged. "You're asking the wrong person."

Edward sighed and looked at the time. He needed to pick up Bella from work soon. Tonight would be one of the first times they would be alone since the 'birthday party' without Briella there as buffer, and it was time they had a talk.

He didn't like how things had been between them, but he wasn't sure how he was supposed to act now.

When she had been preparing to meet his family, he had all kinds of thoughts about what would happen if she didn't like them. He knew she'd had the same thoughts and vice versa about what if they didn't like her.

He hadn't thought meeting her ex's family was going to have as big as an impact as it did—he hadn't really given it much thought at all. But now it was clear it mattered to Bella more than he realized. And he wished he'd been more receptive to the idea from the beginning.

"I should go." Edward pushed himself off the wall. "I guess I'll catch you later?"

"Call Mom," Jasper called out as Edward made his way toward the door.

Edward stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder. "She all right?"

"She is fine. She's just psychic and knows something's up since you didn't come through the barbeque yesterday or last week. Call her. Let her know you guys are okay."

"Okay." Edward nodded both to himself and Jasper. A part of him wondered if his brother was keeping something from him. His tone … something was off. "I'll call her, but Bella and I won't miss next week. We'll talk tonight."

"Good luck."

Edward huffed, but yeah, he felt like he needed it.

"Briella says goodnight," Bella whispered from the doorway of her room, hanging up the phone. "She sounded excited. I think she knows you have a surprise waiting for her when she gets home."

"I might have hinted at it." Edward smiled, ignoring the protest of his sore arm as he continued painting her wall.

Bella walked further into the room, keeping her steps light as she took it all in. "It looks good. Wow!"

"Do you think she'll like it?"

"I told you …" Bella's voice was still low, now barely a whisper and her head was down. "She'll love it. She loves you for everything you do for her. I do, too. Do you still love me?"

"Really, Bella?"

"Too dramatic?" Bella groaned and dropped herself down on Briella's bed, shifting to get comfortable on the temporary plastic cover. "I hate how things have been lately," she said at the same time Edward blurted out, "We need to talk."

Bella's heart stopped for a beat. Those were words no one wanted to hear. And if it hadn't been for him being in her daughter's room, speckles of paint adorning his skin with the promise of him being there at least tomorrow, she would have been preparing for the worst.

Still she said, "Okay," as calmly as possible. "Right now? Or …"

"I'm pretty much done for the night." He dropped his brush and turned to fully face her. "So, yeah. Right now."

"What do you want to talk about?"

Edward took a moment—needing to actually think about what he wanted to talk about first. They needed to discuss so much. Too many things had gone unsaid. Too many things were still hanging in the air.

I want to tell you more about Alice.

I want to explain why the whole idea of you being around Laurent both scares and angers me.

I want to tell you about the accident—the kind of person I used to be.

He didn't know how to voice all this at once; he didn't know where to start. Taking a deep breath, he said the first thing that came to his mind. What did he want to talk about?

"Everything."

Thanks for reading, and thank you so much for all your reviews!

Until Next Time :-)

~Lo