Chapter 10 One For Sorrow

A/N: All recognizable characters belong to Stephenie Meyer!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday Night

EPOV

My heart thumped erratically as I crumpled over; shoulders turned down, forehead resting on the smooth lid. As the finished melody still clung to the air around me, I encouraged my scattered mind to replay the events of this afternoon.

She hadn't seen me as I'd trailed behind, slowly, keeping her in full view. Black leather, buckled boots that stopped just above her calf muscle created a stark contrast to the remaining length of her bare, creamy legs. The worn boots were so tough, harsh even. But Bella was the epitome of silk and satin; her shiny hair, warm eyes, pure skin were the definition of delicate. She is a delicacy. But those boots, they were almost biker-esk. And so damn hot. No other Fremont female would ever be caught wearing them. Shit, that only makes them that much hotter.

With each step her pleated skirt would shift and rise, exposing an extra inch, or so, of thigh. Bella's white collared shirt was askew, and mostly hidden beneath her long hair, while her tie remained undone, the ends hanging loosely over each breast. I made a mental note to teach her how to properly tie it later, not bothering to pretend I was above fumbling through that lesson to manage even one strategically placed thumb graze. Only adding to the exposure, she hadn't quite managed to loop all of her buttons, so her soft collarbone was left uncovered and waiting. I'd touch there too. I'd touch there first.

Of her face I could only see the profile, but I'd waited all day to see more of her, so the simple side shot before me was not fucking enough.

Bella stopped just outside our classroom, looking in but continuing no further. From the angle of her face the universe was unfairly limiting me to, her features appeared drawn and conflicted. I wanted so desperately to see her eyes, read them, to continue my ardent unraveling of her secrets.

Fed up with my limited viewpoint and the vast distance separating us – uh, yeah okay, maybe eight feet wasn't vast per say – I brought myself up beside her and reached out, finding purchase in the hollow of her elbow.

She was a little cold to the touch, I assumed from being outside braving the Washington fall without a jacket, but the skin-to-skin contact warmed me instantly.

God.

I felt lighter just being near her, like all the stress of this ordeal just melted off and all that was left was me needing to be closer. Her draw was more intrinsic than foolish desire.

Even her sent called to me, and although I'd held on to it from our Refectory encounter, I now felt I'd cheated myself thinking it was possible to remember such intoxication. Before a single thought crossed my mind I was dipping down closer, drinking her in, and found her name falling from my lips. Too deep, too husky. And I barely remembered to tag on a greeting to my guttural, worshipping utterance.

There was nothing that could convince me to pull myself away from her at that moment, especially not the burden of socially acceptable personal space rules. So when Bella turned I didn't move, and her eyelashes made contact with my face, proceeding to flutter, essentially bring me to my knees.

Yes, she'd held on when I dove to break her fall yesterday, and yes that touch might have been just as involuntary as this eyelash brush. But dammit, if my mind didn't explode at the tickle of those lashes and the feel of her warm breath indicating her mouth was only a centimeter from my neck.

And her lips, fuck.

They were parted and then she bit down, pulling her bottom red one between her teeth. And all of this, all at once was an overload. I had to hold myself up. I had to hold myself back. Every cell in my organism cursed me for not splaying her up against the nearest wall and indulging; whispering all of my adoration and pulling myself flush with her, if only to feel her curves pressing against me for a second.

She'd sucked in a breath then and swayed on her feet. My hand went to her back for support and then her eyes were gone, hidden behind clenched lids – though a half a second before I would have sworn they'd been unfocused and drunk. "Hello, Edward." She sounded out of breath and I realized if this was how she sounded in response to a back graze … oh, the wondrous ways of encouraging such panting again crowded my mind. Coaxing my name from her lips, having it uttered, shouted, screamed by her will be my life's triumph.

But I didn't really know if she'd been responding to me. She had only greeted me, after all. And then she'd walked away, found her desk and refused to look my way the entire session. But I couldn't keep from looking at her. The blush that joined her on the walk to her seat had spread slowly, and most alluringly, down her neck, hinting at what else could be touched by a blush as it disappeared under her shirt and buttons.

Bella. Beautiful, tempting, fleeing Bella.

After Monday's "pivotal moment" of sorts I'd spent the remainder of my night, sectioned off in my room, churning over the whys of this instant consummation. Why did I react this way to her? How could she fill me up like this? I don't even know her. Whoa dude, you never needed to know anything about a girl before this – why the hell are you starting now?

But I had known a girl before this.

Alice is a girl. You've never fucked Alice.

Alice just wasn't that girl to me.

There had really only ever been two categories of women with me, Alice and conquests. Fine, there was my mom too, but that's family shit. Anyone who wasn't Alice - damn there's been a lot of those – was automatically in the second category. But Bella didn't fit into either. Obviously I wanted to conquer Bella, but not hastily. And the idea of playing my usual game with her made be remember how much of an ass I truly was. Honestly, I desperately wanted to be someone Bella could trust. Fuck, I didn't even know how to be someone I could trust. What was trust anyway? And who the hell said I could trust her?

Word on the street remained that she was still having Jasper, and fuck if that didn't piss me off to no end. I didn't know this girl at all, but I couldn't believe that was legitimate. No, you don't want to believe that shit's level because Emmett isn't always reliable and she just doesn't seem the type. In my hay day – which apparently ended yesterday when I royally mind fucked myself, well more like Bella was the mind fucker, whatever – I was fucked – I'd reigned supreme at spotting a burgeoning virgin a continent away.

Virgins … and what the hell happened to my previously enticing freshman harvesting plan? Fuck me. That doesn't even appeal anymore.

I was a stranger to myself.

And so now there was a girl, who couldn't be confined to the title of best friend or tension relief, infiltrating my senses, ensnaring my thoughts, monopolizing even my bodily predilections. And she was always walking away.

Footsteps resonated on the orchestra stairs just beyond the stage tapestry - the only thing separating the unwelcome intruder from me and my space cadet tendencies - and brought me rushing back to the present.

Not feeling like leaving, and really not seeing the logic in it being as I was here first, minding my own business, simply attempting to log some independent study hours – shut the hell up dude, your composition book hasn't moved from the bag you stuffed it into in London. Really, I just detested being interrupted.

Head still resting, I found no energy in me to move or even tell who ever it was out there to fuck off; so instead I listened. Perhaps it's another desperate couple attempting to find a place to screw where their house attendants won't intrude. Maybe she'll be vocal. That wouldn't be so bad. The idea of sex made my fingers twitch as I held out from indulging in a sensual and inspiring melody.

Cut the shit man, you don't inspire. My mind hardly registered the fact that my arrogant anger had dissipated so quickly that I'd even thought to encourage whatever cheeky scene was unfolding on the stage's outermost parts. I'm not a helpful guy. I'm a dick, was all my mind could process before soft humming began to penetrate the curtain barrier. A sweet voice was breathing out the song I'd just been playing; well I'd been more like butchering it actually, but she hummed the notes never the less. An intermittent tapping and sigh threw off the metronome and I was getting bored, itching to play some more but feeling confined to my silence. Trapped. I wonder how fucking long I'll have to wait to get some apparently impossible alone time?

And then her voice halted my bitching.

"Dammit, Bella."

I nearly fell off the stool.

Bella. My mind was flooded with images of the smile on her face and the sashay of her body; her collarbone remained at the forefront of my visual. Was she alone? Did Bella come in here with Jasper and now I'd have to wait out their interlude - listening, avoiding, imagining … envisioning how it would feel to have my hands around Jasper Hale's throat?! I strained to hear every breath and motion from the girl of my most striking torment.

But it seemed like she was talking to herself. And then came a "no," and then another, and then she cried out her most definitive "no" yet, so much sorrow resonating in such a simple command. She was on her feet now, her steps colliding with the wooden floor as she paced, only repeating the same heart breaking word as if trying to convince herself, as if to eventually discover belief in an already arbitrary notion. We so often say no when we actually mean yes. I thought someone famous must have said that once. Or maybe I read it in Men's Health.

I knew it was wrong of me to be here, listening to this private personal exchange. And it crippled me to hear so much distress in her voice and I didn't think I could take one more "no" so my fingers found the keys. I had to let her know she wasn't alone. She wasn't meaning to share this confidential moment and she deserved to be let off the hook.

I guess I'd hoped she'd run from the concert hall, embarrassed or stunned at being unintentionally interrupted. But I heard no responding action. The slow melody drowned out any subtle noise, and nothing of hearable significance was reaching my eardrums.

So, I kept playing. And then, somehow, I knew she was behind me. There had been no physical indication, but I knew.

And immediately I was the music, finding myself and filling the notes with my own sorrow and confusion and hope. I poured every moment of the last two days out and then the expression continued on to include my past, my ever-tainted history. I had nothing to offer her except truth. So I held out my own privacy for her to unwillingly intrude upon. She could see it clearly, I was sure, because I myself heard every unforgivable choice I'd made replayed. I was nothing, the blackest of black.

But Bella was behind me, so this foreign melody inadvertently found happiness; even if it did remind me of something small, fragile and childlike. Was that me?

I'd essentially bared my soul, when I'd only initially desired to ease any humiliation on her part. When what I had inside was expressed completely, the music faded away, and was followed closely by silence.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BPOV

There were seriously no words. So I said nothing.

He is everything you never knew he was but somehow suspected.

Edward had turned my world upside down. He'd swaggered in and found my eyes, grinned that cocky bitch half smile of his and made a choice. Ever since, his attentions followed me.

He'd continued to play knowing who it was that stood only feet from his musical dichotomy; half pain, half joy. He'd had to have heard my tantrum. It seemed, though, that Edward was now indulging in one of his own. But unlike my invaded moments, he'd invited me along, ushered me in for a front row view. Actually, he seems to have taken me backstage. That had to be monumental. That had to mean something more than 'I want to spread our legs.' This was a gift for only me, alone with him in this narrow passage of the concert stage.

But it was too much. I felt as though I knew nothing for certain and everything was all swirly around me. I'd understand better of he only did want sex.

Edward chose that disoriented moment to swing around and face me, legs leading the way, elbows resting on knees, his disheveled hair falling into my view of his eyes.

So crushingly beautiful, so downcast. He refused to look up, but I was desperate to know what was in his head because what filled mine were my excessively loud heartbeats, and my warnings, and my floundering sense. But he was my own personal magnet – mine plus a million other girls' – and before I realized I'd even moved my hand was at his brow, and I watched myself brush the bronze mess away to find his eyes. Edward's eyes. They were tired, but quite confidant and incandescently alive. My hand found his jaw line, fingers dancing at his neck. I should touch his lips while I have the chance. But his eyes redirected me.

What I saw reflected in all that green was the power of whatever choice he'd made. His certainty. He is a smug bastard. But Edward also seemed broken or open … something completely new to him seeing as he looked so assured while also so nervous.

And then a pleading smile found his perfect lips; while his fingers wrapped gently around my wrist, caressing a trail up to my elbow and back. I was no longer aware of the room around me or the ground beneath my feet. All I knew of were the eyes in front of me. And all they said was that he wanted this - me.

But it was too much. And honestly, not nearly enough.

My next words shocked me, seeing as they were the depths of my concern, my inward speculations coming to life. I hadn't known I was possible of saying these words, without a hint of ire or challenge, and mean them seriously. Although underneath this was a challenge. And I couldn't believe I left myself so vulnerable as to speak them out loud. But my heart never asked my brain for permission and just went ahead anyway.

"You're not ready for me." My breaths were slow and long, my eyes refused to blink.

He stood immediately and brought both hands to cup my chin, thumbs grazing back and forth. His brow held such worry, such care. One staggered breath later and Edward blew me away.

"I am." Everything was a blurry haze now, nothing felt tangible or possible. One word became my reality's foundation.

Proof.

"You'll have to show me."

I only saw him nod. And I turned and stumbled away.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JPOV

Fuck, Bella. Text me back.

I was waiting outside of the Creative Arts Tower because I was done with being avoided. It was obvious that Bella was raging at me, along with anyone else, seeing as she was steering clear and sulking. The rumor didn't spread that far, hardly anyone found out. She just couldn't be that mad. Well, maybe at Rosalie. That thought made me grin.

I could see their fight now and I couldn't help but laugh. When they got going no feeling was spared, no ammunition went unfired. I think we could all use the stress release of a knock down drag out verbal war.

Bella's class had ended fifteen minutes ago and I'd already surpassed impatient last night when she'd refused to come out of her room.

Rosalie had been standing at her door when I'd barged into their suite. She should be the one who has to tell her, I'd thought. It only seemed fair. Scheming, manipulative she-devil.

I'd inched by her to try and coax Bella out only to hear Rose's door slamming the next second. Why'd I have to get the bitch for a sister? Us being born twins had been an enormous waste of a built-in cosmic connection.

Having to wait to make things better was killing me. It was nine-twenty now, and the other independent study students had left at nine. But just then the doors swung open, and who I'd expected to be Bella turned out to be Edward.

"Hey man, you seen my cousin? She's brunette, about yey tall," my hand demonstrated her height, "and wearing boots you've never seen on any Fremont chick?"

Edward was his normal pissed off, brooding self. "No." He connected with my shoulder as he passed by, a little harder than necessary.

I don't think there's a response designed for such non-interaction.

"Alright." It was all I could think of and by the time I said it the night was empty again.

Finally, finally, FINALLY Bella stepped through the door and walked to me. She looked a little sheepish.

She hesitantly met my eyes. "Sorry I've been MIA. I just needed some time."

"So, you're not upset?" She didn't really look upset. In fact, she had a little, sweet smile on her face.

"It's not too bad anymore. I feel like my life got a little simpler in the last hour." She shrugged – freaking shrugged. I didn't know what could have simplified things, but I was certainly glad she wasn't angry. Especially at me. Bella was no fun to fight with. She played dirty when left scorned and bitter.

"Oookay. Well, I'm sorry anyway. Rosalie's a bitch, you know that. And fuck - that people actually believed her. God, how desperate do all these rich a-holes have to be to latch onto such an outlandish idea." I didn't shrug, but instead shuddered at the picture of Bella and me in my head. Get out. I think a grossed out noise escaped and Bella's confusion became apparent on her face.

"Wait, what's Rosalie involvement here? And what are you so disgusted by?"

This didn't freak her out? And obviously Rosalie's involvement was news to her. I wonder if she thinks it's my fault? That wouldn't be good.

"Yeah, Rose told Alice first. And then it went from Alice to Emmett. I don't know who Emmett told, he never said. It wouldn't surprise me if he said something to Edward, though. They're brothers after all. But that should be it."

She just stared.

"I told Emmett to fuck himself when he asked me about it. Sick bastard. But it only made too much sense when, at the end of the line of Gossiping Gabby's, there stood Rosalie, holding the 'I'm a terrible, conniving, supremest bitch' sign." This all came out in a rush as I was trying to hurriedly assume no responsibility. The less I was involved the less I'd suffer.

"Jasper, what the hell are you talking about?" Bella looked a little panicked, her confusion taking on a new light. That's when I realized we weren't having the same conversation.

Fuck. I knew this was going too well. She hasn't yelled once yet. Should I hand over my balls now or wait for her to lash out all on her own. But what the hell, what did she need to simplify? What wasn't 'too bad' anymore? Bella had been here for about three days. What takes my low maintenance Bella and spins her out of herself in less than a week? Shutting me out. Needing to take time.

"Bella, why have you been avoiding me if you don't have a clue what I'm talking about?" Her evasion now made no sense whatsoever.

"No, Jasper, what's going on? What did Rosalie do? What does everyone know?" She said everyone much more quietly than the rest of the sentence. What the hell? Bella doesn't care about people … arg … what is she keeping from me?

But I had a story to tell – explaining to get to. Currently, however, I was freezing my ass off, just standing here outside. Mike would be at my suite, so Bella's room it was.

"Let's get inside, so I don't break a tooth."

Bella huffed because now she was pissed.

As we walked down Bella's hallway, I thought for sure I'd heard Alice's voice coming from behind the doorway. Bella was anxious and fuming and barely contained. So the minute we walked through the door it ceased to matter that Rose and Alice were hugging by the couch; Bella just went ahead and dove right in.

"What the fuck, Jasper? Dammit, just tell me what is so bad that you thought I was upset with you and with Rosalie," she turned and jabbed a finger in Rose's direction, "for more than the normal reasons? And why the hell is everyone talking about it? And Emmett, a sick bastard for believing it ... what does that mean?" Her hands flew from her hips wildly up into the air.

Bella was bright red, and stopped pacing the moment her final question was delivered looking pointedly at me for a comprehensive answer.

My face and hands felt tingly from jumping straight from freezing air into a heated room. I let that distract me. But I knew she wouldn't be patient much longer, and I didn't know where to start. Maybe the beginning? I was quickly trying to decide which part would be less unfortunate, so I could start there.

"Well, we'll leave you two to straighten this out." Rosalie had Alice by the hand and was pulling her away.

"You." Bella spun to face the girls, but zeroed in on Rosalie. "How about you tell me what your involvement in all of this is. You seemed to start it, which makes sense since you are the root of everything that is evil." Bella began the stare down and Rosalie didn't disappoint.

"Yes, Isabella," Her voice could only be regarded as a sneer, "it was my fabulous imagination that began this lie. And what harm does it really do you? No one's the wiser - outside of what, six people? It isn't as if you have a tarnishable reputation or a chance of ever fitting in? Honestly, if this hadn't hurt Jas or" her eyes broke their severe eye line to find Alice's, "…anyone other than you I wouldn't be sorry in the slightest. I bet you wish you were having an incestuous relationship with Jasper. Then at least you'd have a real claim on him instead of exhausting the 'cousin' title. Everyone knows cousins are at the bottom of the familial totem pole."

Rosalie smiled; Bella began to understand.

"I pity you Rosalie. But that isn't new." And then Bella shocked the hell out of me by turning away from Rose and flashing me a scandalous smile.

"So, we're lovers, huh?" And then, she laughed. Thank God. I think I might have heart failure from this girl's mood swings. And right on schedule, Bella sobered and turned to Alice.

"Who did you tell and who did they tell?" Bella did a fine job of pretending to be cavalier, but every player involved in this exchange of hearsay was concerning her when they normally wouldn't. I'd been worried she'd be hoping mad at Rosalie and then me, by extension, but not at the gossip mill.

Ali rushed to Bella and grabbed her hands, "I'm so sorry." And she did look quite apologetic about the whole thing as she bowed her head in surrender.

"It's okay Alice. I'd just like to know. Go on." Bella squeezed Alice's hands back as her reassuring nature showed itself. I bet they could be friends. That idea had me wanting to do somersaults. Luckily, I somehow managed to keep all the flipping on the inside.

"I only spoke to Emmett about it, and he only told his brother Edward. Emmett isn't going to say anything about any of it and Edward doesn't really care about other people. It is probably off his radar by now since he doesn't even know you."

Pretences still in place she followed up anxiously with, "And have they been straightened out?"

"Jasper told Emmett himself, but I haven't seen Edward yet and Emmett promised not to talk about it anymore. Edward won't say anything though, like I said."

Bella pursed her lips and swallowed audibly, eventually forcing a fake smile.

"Great." What a liar. But I wouldn't call her out in front of Rosalie, who was still thrown off by Bella's almost immediate and uncharacteristic withdraw from their normal waltz – more like slam dance – ritual of communication.

"So Jasper," Alice was speaking to me then and I was all-ears, "Rose and I are throwing a party for the entire Water Polo team here, Friday night, to pump everyone up before the match on Saturday."

"Oh, and Bella, you can ride with Rosalie and me to Puyallup if you want. We aren't allowed on the team bus." That last sentence seemed to be directed more at Rose than Bella. We all could guess why.

"Humph. Like I'd really fuck someone in a cubby-hole bed." Rose was speaking to herself but we all heard and raised our eyebrows. "Just because Lauren did doesn't mean I would. Thank you very much."

"They do say you are a reflection of the company you keep, Rosalie."

"God Jas, then I feel horrible for you, toting little miss I'm a Rebel over there around in front of everyone that matters."

"And Jessica, Lauren and what's her name represent everyone who matters in your world, right Rose? Sad. Cling on wannabes."

Alice cut in before our sibling bickering could get everyone riled up again. "I am Rosalie's company now. I've taken it upon myself to rescue her. No offense Rose, but those skanks were annoying."

I had to laugh at that, and couldn't believe my eyes or ears when Rose joined in. It was apparent that Alice was just the balance Rosalie needed.

"Alice, where have you been all my life?" I was grinning like an idiot, because I'd meant it literally, but like the pussy I was I could mask this declaration as merely a thankfulness revolving around my tamed sister.

"I've been here. The question is, what the hell took you all so long?"

Bella was only half listening, and although her and Rosalie's lifetime of issues were long past being resolved in the immediate future, it was refreshing to be around this beautiful little sprite as she brought us together. She wasn't only Rose's new tether weight, she held onto us all it seemed. She was the kid at the carnival, and if I had a choice I'd like to be the string touching her hand rather than a faraway balloon.

"So, a party huh?" We were all reclining around the sitting room now, the tension dissipated for the time being. Rose and Alice took up the settee, Bella laid prostrate on the carpet and I'd spoken up from my collapsed position in the button back chair.

"And a carpool to the match?" Bella added, looking skeptical.

"You certainly don't have to come." I'd been around Rose for less than thirty minutes and already I needed a vacation.

"Rosalie, of course Bella is coming. Hush." And Rose only shook her head, no retort, no verbal lashing.

Alice is more than I could have ever imagined. I was a cliché uttering idiot.

"I'm glad you girls will be there. We're going to kill 'em. Sorry to ruin our victory surprise now, but that's just the facts."

Three beautiful girls ignored me.

"So, Alice, tell us about your friends." Bella was sitting up now, finally engaging, but looking positively twitchy.

"Oh, well, the people I love the most who aren't in this room are obviously Edward - he's my best friend - and his brother Emmett; though Em and I are newer to friendship even though I've known him just as long as I've been connected to E."

"And 'E' is Edward?" I couldn't help but notice how Bells leaned forward as she questioned, though I seemed to be alone in my observation. And it made no sense to me, so I disregarded it.

"Yep. He is a very misunderstood guy. Well, not completely. He's got a 'special way' with women, which is to say he's horrible with them. He hasn't gotten past the idea that getting major ass is all there is to life. Well, that and piano. He doesn't play for anyone though."

"Alice, you must know a side of Edward Cullen no one is privy to, because in all of my interaction with him he's only come across as an arrogant jackass." I know first hand he's the worst sort.

"Oh," Ali was laughing, "he IS an arrogant ass. That's his charm." She said this with a knowing wink at the girls. I'd never seen Alice look uncomfortable, but she was remarkably at ease in this room, surrounded by us, talking about her world.

"And Emmett?" It was Rose's turn to be interested.

I knew that tone. Poor Emmett. Well, sort of. He would obviously be Rose's new pet before he knew what hit him.

"Oh, well, like I said … we're new. But you'll have a better chance to get to know him yourselves at the party. Emmett and Edward, actually."

"You all forget they're my teammates, I know them well enough." I threw the reminder out there with absolute indifference.

"If you don't like them, well then, you don't know them." Of this Alice was certain as she bore her gaze into my relaxed eyes. Why have I been such a chump and kept my distance from this girl?

"Bella, did you send the dry cleaning with Clara?" Rose had apparently remembered something previously forgotten and it pulled her in a different direction.

"I have no idea who Clara is."

They continued with mundane questions and answers and I was one hundred percent focused on Alice. She looked up from the magazine she'd been flipping through throughout our conversation. Slowly she placed the magazine on the ottoman and broke the silence.

"Why did the rumor make you so mad?" I was surprised by such a personal question and looked around me to see if the others were as caught off guard as I was, but they weren't in the room anymore. I felt nervous to be on the spot, because there were two truthful answers to Alice's question but only both together made up the whole truth behind my frustration.

"It is only Bella's first few days, she doesn't need to start out living something down. Well, anything more than she's already fighting against. And I'm not really one to put myself out there, so most people know nothing about me. That type of rumor is believable when someone doesn't know me and then they look at Bella." First truth.

"I believed it. I didn't want to, though." She looked so disappointed, in herself, maybe in me too. It sucks to realize you leave nothing behind for people to hang on to, for others to know beyond a shadow of a doubt. But I really never cared about what I put out there until now, realizing I'd been holding back from the one thing worth going out on a limb for in this god forsaken school.

"I never gave you a reason not to, don't worry about it. But, if you don't mind my asking, why did you tell Emmett?"

"Well, I didn't actually say your name, but he figured it out without me even realizing it. I take full responsibility for it getting out regardless."

"But why go to him?" This point seemed important to me for a reason I couldn't put my finger on. Maybe the private swimming excursions?

Now she was on the spot and her eyes darted nervously.

"Edward was gone and I needed someone to talk to. The only person left for me was Emmett. And that sounds mean, like a last resort, but when you only have one person to begin with you are still the most pathetic thing about the circumstance."

Everything about those words, and her as she formed them, made me feel as though there were more layers here. From personal experience, I knew that you only had multifaceted opinions or emotions on things when there was value attached. Something has to matter to be worthy of such attention and effort.

We sat in comfortable silence until I was done with half-truths.

"I didn't finish answering your question."

"I didn't really finish answering yours."

"The second reason this foul lie pissed me off was because I didn't want to be thought of like that, that I was capable of doing that to Bella, or to myself. I didn't want to be thought of as taken. I didn't want you to think I was spoken for." Second truth. Whole truth.

The shy bastard in me wanted to drop our stare, but the fucker who just confessed his sorry ass to the woman he'd loved for a year but never spoken to held on tight.

"I need to show you something." She whispered this and then, taking my hand, led me through the door.

I was outside of my body when I realized I was stepping on an envelope that had been propped up on the sill.

It was addressed to Bella, so I set in on the entry table.

"Bells, you have a letter. We're out of here."

The door swung closed behind us.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BPOV

Bella,

I will show you.

Undeniably yours,

E.C.

And it continued to promise the same unbelievable thing no matter how many times I read it.

What was I kidding, if he was a ten, then he was my fate. But he would have to show me.

As well as forgive me for a lie I did not tell, and actions I would never perform.

But I hoped beyond anything else that he didn't believe it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: I feel like we're finally wrapping up some of what we began with and now we're moving into new story territory. I can't really believe we've only covered five days. How much fun there is still to have! Thank you so much for reading diligently and if you have a second, please share your thoughts and even your desires for coming chapters! You're amazing, RAE

P.S. Check out Bella's boots on my profile!

P.P.S. I'm not sure if you've figured out what links all of the chapter titles, but it would help you to understand each chapter even better if you determined their origins. Just a clue. And I'd love to hear any speculation.