Disclaimer – Though the ideas are my own, I own nothing related to Twilight.

Chapter 2 – Bleeding Hearts

BPOV

When I finally woke up, it was already late afternoon. I'd exhausted my body with my emotional outburst the night before, and my eyes felt swollen and tired, even with the twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep I'd gotten. But despite how awful I felt, I couldn't bring myself to regret the night. I'd finally allowed myself to cry – really cry; letting go of every negative emotion I'd been bottling up – for the first time in a year and half. When things had gone from bad to worse.

At the time, I hadn't even been sure what I was crying about. It seemed odd that the loneliness that had plagued me my entire life would choose now to overwhelm me. In the end, I chalked it up to the stress of the move and of my new job, and decided to pretend I wasn't feeling completely out of place in my new home.

Thankfully, I didn't have much time to dwell. I showered and changed and headed out for my second day of work. It started out much like the first. I was self-conscious and uncomfortable, but I was pretty sure that wasn't going to go away no matter how long I stayed here. Alice greeted me at the door again; just as chipper as she had been the day before.

"Hi, Bella!" She literally bounced toward me, her arm raised as if to hug me. Though I tried to hide it, she saw me slightly cringe away, and dropped her arm. Her smile barely faltered as she settled for giving my arm a friendly squeeze. "We're working with Jessica Stanley today. She's dying to meet you, but I should warn you – she's a bit of a chatterbox."

The thought of Alice referring to someone else a chatterbox freaked me out, and I wondered if it would be considered rude if I requested not to meet the rest of the staff. Unfortunately, it was too late to come up with an escape plan, as a really pretty brunette was coming at us full-speed.

"You must be Isabella!" she exclaimed, holding out her hand.

"Just Bella," I mumbled, giving her a weak shake.

"I'm Jessica. Or Jess. Or if you really wanted, you could just call me J. I pretty much answer to anything."

I nodded slowly. "Right."

"I've been dying to meet you since Kate mentioned there'd be a new girl joining our little establishment. This town is just begging for some fresh young blood, and oh my God, you are so pretty."

"Um, thanks," I replied, glancing out of the corner of my eye to Alice, who was trying not to laugh.

Jessica didn't seem to notice, and continued her one-sided conversation. "I'm dying to know all about you, so thank God it's completely dead in here today. I swear I haven't had a new table in over an hour."

"Speaking of, I need to check on my table," Alice cut in. "I'll let you know if anyone new comes in, Bella. Are you going to be okay?"

"Uh –"

"Oh, we're fine. It'll give us a chance to get acquainted, right Bella?" She didn't wait for a response, grabbing my wrist and pulling me with her behind the counter.

My eyes were wide and pleading as I silently begged Alice not to leave me alone with this girl, but she just shrugged and smiled sadly at me before walking away. Great.

Not wanting to stand around and do nothing, Jessica pulled out a tub of forks and spoons and a pile of napkins, and we began wrapping silverware as she talked.

"You moved here from California, didn't you? Ugh, I'm so jealous. What's it like to live there?"

"Arizona," I corrected. "Phoenix. It was…" Awful, torturous, traumatizing. "Hot," I settled on.

"Our parents used to work together, you know? Er, well, I suppose maybe you wouldn't know. But yeah, my mom answers phones at the police station."

"That's nice," I managed, wondering how I ever made it this far in life with such horrible small-talk skills. I literally could not think of more than two words to say to this girl at a time. Of course, Jessica didn't seem to mind.

"Yeah, she was always super curious about Chief Swan. I mean, everyone knew he was a great guy and all, but he was always so quiet that nobody ever found out much about him. Kind of like you," she added.

"Hmm," I hummed, disinterested.

At least now I knew her angle. I'm sure Mrs. Stanley was tickled pink at the prospect of her daughter working with the mysterious Charlie Swan's daughter. I'm sure it was like hitting the gossip motherload, though she was sure to be disappointed when Jessica came home with nothing to report.

"It's funny; he never really talked to anyone about you. If people in town hadn't met your mother during the couple months they were married, I doubt anyone would even know you exist."

"We weren't close," I understated. I hoped the hard edge in my voice would deter her from probing farther, but that thought was in vain.

"I suppose it's hard to keep in contact when you live in a completely different state. But most kids of divorced parents at least spend the summer with their dads, right?"

"I suppose some do."

"So you never saw him at all?" she asked, and I could tell she was growing tired of my evasive answers.

"Jessica," a deep voice came from the other side of the order window behind us. Apparently Edward Cullen had been eavesdropping on our conversation. "Let's not scare our new waitress away on her second day, alright?"

"Scare her away? I'm just trying to learn about her, Edward. I'm pretty sure that's what normal people do when they meet someone new." She turned to me. "I'm not being too intrusive, am I, Bella?"

"Well, actually –"

I was interrupted by an irritating tinkling of bells that signaled a customer. An older couple entered the diner and went straight for a booth in the corner.

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Back to work. That's my table."

I sighed in relief as she walked away, glad that I didn't have to resort to being blunt. I might not be looking to make friends in this town, but I certainly didn't want any enemies either. Edward didn't bother acknowledging me further, not that'd he'd been talking tome before as much as he'd been chastising Jessica. He finished whatever it was he was doing back there and disappeared to the back of the kitchen. It seemed kind of rude to come to my rescue and then pointedly ignore me, but who was I to question anyone's manners? Besides, I liked being ignored. It meant I was reaching my goal of flying under everybody's radar.

Jessica finished taking her order, and after taking it to Mike, who was now manning the grill, she reclaimed her spot next to me at the counter. I steeled myself, ready for round two of the Stanley Inquisition, but she surprised me.

"So, that was weird, right?"

"What was weird?" I frowned.

"That," she said, gesturing to the window where Edward had been standing before. "Edward Cullen was being nice to you."

"I don't know if I'd really call that nice," I mumbled.

"Trust me, for him, it was. It's a rare day when that man cares about anyone's discomfort unless it's his own. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's never happened before." She pushed her curls behind her ears with a huff. "He can have any female in town with a snap of his fingers because of his looks – and, trust me, he's taken advantage of that – but he's a certifiable asshole."

"So I've heard," I mused. Even his twin sister had attested to that.

"It's sad because he wasn't always like that. I mean, the Cullen family is ridiculously wealthy, what with Dr. Cullen being chief-of-staff at the hospital, so you'd think he would be conceited after living a life of luxury. But up until a couple of years ago, he used to be really sweet." She shook her head sadly. "If he's making any progress, it's probably because of Lauren."

"Lauren?" I asked, interested despite myself. I had to hand it to Jessica. She may be a gossip, but at least she's a good one.

She nodded. "His girlfriend. She works here, too. You probably haven't met her yet."

"That's right." I remembered Alice mentioning a Lauren the day before. "They're together?"

"It's pretty new, I guess. Not a lot of people know about it yet." She stood a little taller, and I could practically feel the waves of satisfaction rolling off of her as she got to break the news. It didn't really make sense, seeing how I didn't know these two people enough to care about their love lives. "Anyway, maybe Lauren's redeeming qualities are rubbing off on him."

"As if she has any," Alice scoffed, coming to stand at the cash register beside us. "Have a great day!" she called to the family that had been seated at her table as they walked out the door. "Well, that was my only table."

"And the way today is going, it will probably be your last," Jessica complained. "Guess I'll go dust something."

"We do random cleaning and prep work when it gets really slow," Alice explained. "Completely boring, I know, but it makes the time go by faster than sitting here staring at the clock."

"Got it."

She gave me a tour of the storage room and coolers, pointing out where to find everything I would ever possibly need while serving. That took all of ten minutes, and then I was armed with a knife and a cutting board and instructed to cut up lemons for the iced tea. Busy work, but at least it allowed me to pretend I was being useful.

My mind wandered while I sliced, and I couldn't help but think of the mysterious Edward Cullen. Why had he saved me from Jessica's prying earlier? I'd never spoken to him, and I could tell that coming to anyone's defense was out-of-character for him. And why did everybody say he was such a first-class jerk, anyway? Alice, despite being loud and a little overbearing, was nice enough.

It was true that his wealth probably explained away a lot of his personality flaws to most people, though I wasn't of the belief that having money gives you permission to be a horrible person. Their father being a doctor certainly explained how they managed to stay so fashionably dressed in such a drab, rundown town. There had never been a point in my life where I hadn't had to worry about money, and I could just imagine the things I would do if it were no object…

Unfortunately for me, I'm not good at multitasking. While I was lost in my head, I wasn't paying close enough attention to what I was supposed to be doing – cutting lemons. I had no sooner thought that I should watch what I was doing when my hand slipped, and the blade of the knife sliced the center of my palm open.

Blood poured out of the wound and onto the lemons, and I was too shocked to think of anything except how annoyed I was to be wasting food. It wasn't until Alice came around the counter and snapped me out of my daze that I processed what had happened.

"Oh my God, Bella, are you all right? What happened?"

"Ow," I mumbled, for lack of anything better to say, and let the knife fall to the floor. My ears were starting to ring.

"Whoa, Bella," Alice said, putting her arm around my waist to help keep me balanced. I hadn't even noticed I was swaying. "That's a lot of blood. Do you want to go to the restroom and clean up a bit?"

I shook my head. "I can't…I mean…I don't do blood." My stomach churned at the word. "I'm gonna be sick."

"Um, okay, just relax." She grabbed an old bar towel from under the counter and quickly wrapped my hand. She was frowning, and I wanted to reassure her that I would be fine, but fear of throwing up on her made me keep my mouth shut.

Shallow breaths. Don't look at it, I kept telling myself.

"Come on," she said, keeping her arm steady around me. Instead of leading me to the bathroom, she pulled me through the kitchen. By the time we reached the back door and I realized her intentions, it was already too late to stop her.

This was not going to be good.

EPOV

Outside the back door of the diner was where the smokers – which consisted of Jasper and myself – disappeared to when things were slow. Two folding chairs sat permanently opened beside the dumpsters, an old coffee can between them. On rare sunny days like this one, you were nauseated with the mix of summer air and rotting garbage. It was disgusting, but we never thought of moving somewhere else. We liked it here.

"Big party at Ben Cheney's tonight," Jasper commented. "You in?"

"I don't know, man. I don't think I'm feeling it tonight."

He nodded, accepting the words even if they made no sense coming from my mouth. Edward Cullen was never one to turn down free booze and the prospect of women. Unfortunately, Edward Cullen was growing bored. We did the same thing night after night, with the same people, in the same lame-ass town. Jasper was content with this. I was restless.

"Well, if you change your mind, I'll be there," he drawled. "I could use a drink or five."

"I'm sure," I mused. "Hey, how is your mom doing, anyway?"

He shrugged. "'Bout the same, I'd guess."

He didn't elaborate, and I didn't ask, just as he hadn't pushed me before. This was the foundation of our friendship. We didn't need to have girly heart-to-hearts and talk about our feelings. If I knew Jasper was having a tough week, I'd find him a party. And he'd do the same for me. Maybe we were helping each other self destruct, but at least we had the best intentions.

I flicked my cigarette butt into the coffee can, and stood up to stretch. It was too nice of a day to be stuck in this greasy diner. Apparently, even the customers agreed, because the place was empty. I was plotting ways to duck out early when the door slammed open and a frantic Alice was yelling my name.

"Edward, you need to come quick!"

I sprinted to the door, expecting a grease fire, or maybe to find that Newton had fallen head first into the deep fryer. What I saw was a swaying, pale new girl, looking like she was about to hit the floor.

"She cut her hand while slicing lemons," Alice explained, taking a firm grasp on her arm. "I need to clean up the front, and she needs someone to help her, and I don't know what to do!"

"Alright, alright, let me take a look at it. And calm the fuck down, you scared the hell out of me."

Bella had her eyes screwed shut, her hand held in front of her as far as it could go without physically detaching it. She looked ridiculous. Alice passed her off to me, and I took her elbow to lead her, though I'd never gotten the memo that said getting a cut on your hand rendered you disabled.

I pulled her to the back corner of the kitchen by the sink and sat her on an upside down crate. I slowly peeled away the rag wrapped haphazardly around her wound, and she gasped when it hit the open air. It was a nice looking cut, but far less dramatic than either of the girls had made it seem.

"We need to wash this," I murmured, checking to make sure she didn't need stitches.

She opened one eye slowly, glancing first at me and then at her hand.

"Oh, God," she muttered, closing her eyes again tightly and starting to breathe through her mouth.

"Are you going to tell me what the hell the issue is, or do you want me to guess?"

"I—I'm sort of queasy when it comes to blood. A lot queasy, actually. And I really don't want to puke on your ridiculously expensive shoes, so I'm keeping my eyes closed."

I smirked. "My ridiculously expensive shoes thank you."

As I held her hand under the stream of water, I figured I better distract her with questions before she keeled over. I had no idea what to do with a fainting woman.

I cleared my throat. "So, do you like it so far?" I frowned, realizing how fucking weird that sounded. "The job, I mean. Waitressing."

"I haven't really done any actual waitressing yet."

"I'm sure you'll be fine."

"I don't know about that. Stuff like this," she said, gesturing to her hand, "happens to me all the time."

"Well, this is Fork's Diner, not exactly the Hard Rock Café. There isn't much you can screw up."

"We'll see," she replied, sounding unsure. Then she added, almost as if she thought she needed to, "Everyone's been really…polite."

I scoffed.

"What?"

"Surely you aren't referring to me in that statement?" I asked in mock horror. "Hasn't Alice informed you of her obnoxious, trouble-making, devil-incarnate twin brother?"

She smiled; the first I'd ever seen from her. "She didn't use those exact words."

"Hmm, she must have been being kind, then."

I patted her cut dry, pulling some antiseptic, gauze, and a hand wrap out of the first-aid kit beside the sink. She finally opened her eyes.

"Well, you've saved me twice today, so you can't be that bad, right?" she asked.

I knew she was talking about getting Stanley off her case earlier. I wasn't sure why I had felt the need to step in, but I think it had to do with her irritating chatter grating on my nerves. Bella was obviously not interested in talking to her, and I was not interested in hearing Jessica speak. Therefore, I felt it was my duty to shut her up.

Bella watched me closely as I finished wrapping the bandage around her hand.

"You're really good at this. You should become a doctor."

I chuckled darkly. "Have you been talking to my father?"

She looked confused and I shook my head at her. "Never mind. You're good to go. You'll have to change the bandage if it, uh, bleeds through."

She winced.

"I don't think it will," I added quickly. "The bleeding should stop soon, probably, but you should go home for the rest of the day anyway. There isn't a whole lot you can do one-handed. Besides, you're still a little pale."

Her eyes looked conflicted, like leaving work early was a punishment instead of something to celebrate. Finally, she sighed.

"I suppose you're right." We both stood, and she shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. Never making eye contact, she said, "Thank you. For cleaning me up, I mean. You're much more thorough than me."

It was a strange compliment, and her discomfort with the situation was obvious. I had a feeling she rarely ever asked for help. In a way, she sort of reminded me of myself.

Bella walked back to the front, and I took over my place at the grill. She stopped short when she saw Alice scrubbing down the countertop with bleach and an old dishtowel.

"All fixed?" Alice asked cheerily, throwing the used rag into the trash.

"Er, yes," Bella replied, clutching her bandaged hand to her chest. "You didn't have to clean up after me. I would have done it."

Alice grinned. "Don't worry about it. It wasn't a big deal."

"Well…Thank you. I'm heading out, if that's okay? I don't think I'll do anyone any good here today."

"Of course you should go. Hopefully you'll feel better tomorrow." My sister was laying the charm on thick, and I wondered what she was up to.

Bella took off her apron and already had one hand on the door before Alice called out to her.

"Hey, Bella?"

"Yes?"

"My shift is done in two hours. I was thinking about making the drive to Port Angeles tonight and going to this great Italian place I know of. You should join me."

And there it was. My pushy sister wanted to worm her way into new girl's life and find out what made her tick. Unfortunately for her, Bella would have none of it.

"I can't," she replied, looking everywhere but at Alice, and doing that nervous foot-hopping thing again.

"Oh," Alice said, looking disappointed but not at all defeated. "Do you have other plans?"

"I need to work on Charlie's house," Bella replied, though what she was planning to do with an injured hand, I wasn't sure. "My house. It needs a lot of repairs, so that's kind of how I spend my free time."

Alice nodded sympathetically. "Wow, that sounds like a lot of hard work all by yourself. You know, I could just skip Port Angeles and come help you, if you wanted. It wouldn't be any trouble at all."

"No, no," Bella shook her head. "Really. You should definitely keep the plans you have, and I'd kind of rather do it myself. I'm kind of picky, you know?" She opened the door, saying, "I'll see you later, okay?" before abruptly walking out.

"Okay…" Alice replied too late.

I could understand why Alice would want to get in her head. It was really weird for someone to be so reclusive in a town like Forks, where everyone knows everything about everyone else. And this girl had secrets. Ones even Jessica Stanley couldn't get out of her, though she'd tried hard.

I had to admit that even I was curious about what the hell was up with her whole anti-social act. She was a mystery, and hadn't I just said that I was bored? Of course, she already had my sister and Jessica hounding her for information she wasn't willing to give. And, besides, I had enough of my own troubles without getting caught up in someone else's screwed up life.

I didn't notice Alice standing beside me until she snapped at me. "What are you thinking?"

I frowned. "Nothing in particular."

"I know that look, Edward. You're interested in her, aren't you?"

"Will you keep your voice down?" I hissed, looking over my shoulder for any sign of Jasper or Newton. Luckily, we were alone. "No, I'm not interested in her, okay? I don't even know the girl, for God's sake."

"I don't believe you."

"I don't care if you do."

"Edward, I'm serious," she glowered, hands on her hips. "Something bad happened to that girl before she moved here; I can tell. And the last thing she needs is you trying to get in her pants."

"Who says I would try to get in her pants?"

"Because that's what you always do!" she cried. "Love them and leave them, right, brother?"

"Minus the 'love' part," I grumbled, feeling a flicker of annoyance at her accusations. Even if they were true.

"Exactly. Look, Edward, you can live your life however you want to. I'm way past trying to stop you. But whatever's going on with Bella, the last thing she needs is more pain then she probably already has."

I sighed. "Will you quit worrying? I told you, I have no interest in her. She's just the new girl, and I have no intention of even getting to know her, let alone ruining her life."

"Good. Besides," she smirked, "I'm sure your hands are full enough, what with your new girlfriend and all."

"My what?"

"Why, Lauren, of course." She giggled. "Sorry, have you not been told yet? Don't worry; I'm sure Jessica will make her way back here once she's done informing the rest of the townsfolk."

"You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"Yes. Yes, I am."

"Fuck," I mumbled, pulling at the roots of my hair in aggravation. "Why do females always pull this shit?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "The price we pay when we're irresistible. Of course, not being a man-whore would probably eliminate this problem."

I glared at her. "Don't you have work to do?"

"No, not really," she shrugged. "But I'll leave you alone anyway. I'm sure you have a lot of thinking to do if you're going to get out of this one. I'd tell you to let her down easy, but…Well, I might as well not waste my breath, right?"

She skipped away, completely fucking happy with herself. I pulled my cell out of my pocket, debating on calling Lauren right then and there and setting her straight. But in my annoyance, I was bound to be a complete dick, and parties at the Mallory residence were always some of the best. If I didn't want to get blacklisted forever, I needed time to cool off. We were both working the opening shift the next day.

Tomorrow. I would deal with Lauren then.

Notes-

*No, updates won't always be this fast.

*Sorry for any minor errors, I'm running beta-less.

*I appreciate your feedback.