EPOV
To say that her asking if she could stay the night with me surprised me would be the biggest fucking understatement in the history of the world. My breathing stopped and I had to force myself to remember how to breathe.
While at dinner we learned so much about each other. I told her all about school and my hobbies and unfortunately I mentioned Nicole a lot. She told me all about the ladies she considered her friends back at the brothel and more about the better times in her life. She was an only child but never felt like she was because she had her friend Jacob.
I could tell she cared for him even now. I laughed when she told me about him beating up a kid twice his size because he knocked Bella into a mud puddle. She said she was terrified because the kid was huge but it was like Jacob was a super hero and he just attacked him without thinking about it. The bully was forced to apologize but not before Jacob made him eat the same mud Bella had fallen in.
Every time she mentioned his name a look of sadness spread across her face but then she would look at me and it would quickly wash away. I made a mental note of his name, Jacob Black; I would try to locate him if it would make her happy. I admit I was insanely jealous that another guy had that much control over her emotions but seeing that I had the same affect on her quickly erased that.
Knowing that I would be spending the whole night with Bella laying next to me in my bed I took a quick ice cold shower hoping that would keep my body in check. I meant it when I told her this didn't have to lead to sex and I would rather die than make her feel pressured in any way.
I was thankful that she wasn't waiting for me when I got out of the shower. Normally I either sleep in my boxers or my birthday suit but considering my company tonight I decided I would wear the one pair of flannel pajama pants. I had just pulled them on when there was I soft knock on the door.
"I'll be right there!"
I walked to the door and stopped once I was in front of it. I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair one last time before I reached out and opened the door. When it was open I saw my angel standing there wearing a black wife beater and a pair of short flannel shorts. I chuckled but stopped quickly when I saw panic spread across her face.
"We match."
She looked at what we both were wearing and bit her bottom lip trying to keep from smiling too much. I wanted to scream at her to stop because her biting her lip was driving me crazy, but I'm man enough to admit that I am a masochist and I secretly enjoyed it.
We stood in the doorway for a few moments in an awkward silence before she quirked her eyebrow at me and I immediately jumped to the side knowing she was waiting for me to invite her in.
This wasn't her first time in my room but I stood at the now closed door watching her look at everything that was in my room. Every time she came across a picture of me she would smile and you could feel the happiness radiate off of her. She finally stopped and settled for looking out the French doors that led to the patio.
"The sky is so beautiful tonight."
I crossed my room as quickly as possible and wrapped my arms around her waist and placed my chin on her shoulder while looking out the window. "Yeah, but it pales in comparison to you." I saw her blush spread across her face out of the corner of my eye as she leaned back against my chest.
I pulled my arms from her waist as I kissed the side of her neck and lifted her up bridal style and sat us both down on the couch so that we could continue to look out the window. We sat there for several minutes with me holding Bella and her clinging to me like a life preserver. I couldn't keep the smile from my face as we sat there together.
"Edward, can I ask you question and you promise not to get mad at me?"
I twirled a piece of her hair around my finger and hummed my reply. She rubbed her hand up and down my thigh but I could tell that she was calculating the best way to ask me her question. "Who's Nicole?"
I immediately stopped playing with her hair and subconsciously stopped breathing. The only people who I had ever told about Nicole were my family. It's not that I am ashamed of Nicole or anything like that but I don't like to talk about her. Whenever I am forced to even think about her I slip into a dark place where I do nothing but mope for days at a time.
Bella turned her head to look at me and smiled but it didn't reach her eyes, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I was just curious because you mentioned her so much." I sighed and leaned my head back so it rested on the arm of the couch and closed my eyes not wanting to look at anything.
"Nicole was my fiancé and the last woman I ever let in my heart." I wanted to say until you walked in but I didn't want to freak her out. "She broke my heart. We were together for years. We were friends for several years before we started dating in our junior year in high school and stayed together until our third year in college. I thought she was the one and that we would be together forever. We did everything together, we were each other's first everything. When we were kids we practice kissing on each other, then we were each other's first real relationship, we lost our virginity to each other, and I thought we were meant to be. When I proposed I so scared that she would say no to me but when she agreed to be with me I was ecstatic. I was so happy and I thought my life would be the perfect white picked fence. However, things spiraled out of control before I could even wrap my mind around her saying yes. When we got home after dinner where I proposed she threw the ring at me and ran away. It turned out the Nicole had been cheating on me and she couldn't keep lying anymore about it because she had gotten pregnant and since I can't have kids she was gonna have to tell me.
"I was a mess when she left. I was so bad I had to take a semester off from college and I isolated myself from everyone I knew. During that time I cut myself off from my parents and I was just a college kid so I didn't have anything. I got a job working at McDonalds to pay my bills but other than that I did nothing but drink. I wasn't really living I was just there."
When I opened my eyes to look at Bella there wasn't the look of pity in her eyes like many other people had shown for me. Instead I saw a hint of anger burning in her eyes.
"What made you wake up and go back to school?"
I laughed and ran a hand through my hair, "I'll tell you but you can't repeat it because she would kill me." She quickly nodded, "It was Alice. During that time I had received their wedding invitation but I marked it return to sender and acted like I never got it. She drove here and banged on my door demanding I talk to her. When I refused to open it she called a lock smith and they opened it for her. When she came in and saw me lying on my bed with Jack Daniels bottles all over my floor she literally kicked my ass. I ended up needed six stitches."
Bella's eyes almost bugged out of her head when she turned around to look at me. I chuckled and turned my head and pulled my ear down so she could see the scar that's above my ear but below my hairline. She hissed as she ran he soft finger tips over it. "That looks like it really hurt." I closed my eyes and my face into Bella's touch as she ran it from behind my ear down to my jaw.
"Yeah it hurt like a bitch but I deserved it. I was drunk and said really awful things to her and she got mad and threw a lamp at me. It was the wake up call I really needed. When we got back from the hospital we got rid of all my alcohol and she got me ready to start school again. Alice saved my life and she won't let me tell anyone about. Jasper doesn't even know about it. He thinks she went on a shopping trip for a week, which isn't really a lie."
We sat in silence until I noticed her breathing slowed and I scooped her up and walked us to the bed. After I had her tucked in I settled in the bed next to her but not so close that she would feel uncomfortable. I rolled over on my side to look at Bella whose eyes opened just barely but enough that I noticed it. "Thank you Edward."
I raised my eyebrows at her, "For what Bella?" She slid across the bed and snuggled against me, "For everything." I felt her eyelashes close against my chest and I wrapped my arms around her before saying a silent thank you for sending me Bella to what ever deity would listen.
I know it is short but that's just how it is. Thanks to all of you who voted on my poll, I love you all. Please review and tell me what you think, and don't get too comfortable I am foreseeing my drama for Eward and Bella so send me any ideas you might have. My plans are not set in stone.
~SAM~
