This is a little on the short side.

Chapter 24

Esme POV

I surreptitiously glanced at my son, seated like the rose between two thorns on the lounge across from us. I suspect he thought that Carlisle and I were oblivious to what was going on under the blankets that were draped across the three of them. His body sitting inappropriately closer to Bella than Alice, his face gazing over at the pretty brunette seated next to him every so often. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what was going on underneath that blanket, but I could see the looks on their faces as they gazed adoringly at each other. And it couldn't be good.

Carlisle walked into the lounge room and handed the three of them their bowls of ice cream before departing again to collect mine and his. Handing me my bowl he was just about to sit when there was an unexpected knock on the front door. He looked at me briefly with a slightly puzzled look on his face before walking to the door to greet our caller, bowl of ice cream still in hand. A few moments later he returned with that whiny voice that just grated on my nerves whenever she was near. Dear God I had no idea what my boy saw in that girl…well, aside from the obvious. I'd always given him more credit than to go for the vapid, bitchy, obvious pretty ones. At least now she's back so he and Bella can finally be together. Sigh, they were going to make such a lovely couple. But I couldn't help but feel nervous for what Edward was about to go through. I knew he didn't want to hurt Jess and he'd be feeling nervous about it all.

I glanced up at Edward and Bella before turning around to the intruder into my home. They both looked a wee bit uncomfortable, but in entirely different ways. Bella's breathing had picked up and she looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here right now. Edward looked a little like a dear caught in headlights as he was unexpectedly confronted with his silly twit of a girlfriend whilst secretly fondling the girl he really wanted under the blankets in front of his parents.

I swiveled around on the lounge to be polite and greet Jessica who was standing behind me. On seeing her my eyes almost popped out of my head. I wasn't quite sure whether to look at my husband, who remained almost entirely speechless as he desperately tried not to ogle the eighteen year girl who stood in all of her glory before him. Or whether to look at the girl who had become a woman overnight, her now very well endowed chest heaving as she struggled to remove her jacket. Carlisle just stood there like a mute, unsure as to whether he should help the poor girl with her jacket or not.

It took me a little while to get past the very obviously brand spanking new, surgically enhanced breasts to look at the triumphant look on Jessica's face, which looked slightly different to the way it used to. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but there was something different about her face as well. Had she not very obviously had a breast enlargement I might have written it off as not having seen her in a while and her face maturing, but I'd put money on the fact that our little Jess had had a little rhinoplasty as well.

I looked back towards Edward who had now risen from his seat but still seemed a little unsure of himself.

Finally the awkward giggling that was coming out of Jessica's mouth as she basked in the attention she was getting ceased as Edward stood and made his way over to her, his hands very firmly, and wisely, given present company, planted in his back pockets.

"Jess", he mumbled, "you're back early?"

She grinned triumphantly and threw her arms around his neck before kissing him on the lips. I winced and discreetly glanced over at Bella to see her looking down into her hands, biting her lip. Hopefully she missed that little display of affection.

Alice stood abruptly and smiled begrudgingly at Jess. "Hi Jess. You look…well. So how's your grandmother doing?" A note of unpleasantness definitely there in my Alice's usually sweet lilting voice.

"Oh, she's much better thanks," replied Jess, oblivious to the undertones.

"I'm sure." Alice replied with the undercurrent of sarcasm a little more obvious, before turning to Bella and grabbing her hand. "Come on Bell, Carlisle forgot the chocolate topping."

The girls made a fast exit. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation. Bella, the poor sweetheart.

"Jessica, are you staying? Here, have a bowl of ice cream I'll get some more." Stupid, clueless Carlisle.

"Um of course, I haven't seen Edward in ages." She took the bowl from him, "thanks Carlisle," she purred whilst batting her eyelashes at my husband. Little slut.

Jesus Christ I loved my husband. God knows he worshipped the ground I walked on, he was handsome, sweet, smart as hell when it came to most things, but I think Jessica's newly grown mammary glands were blinding him.

She walked into the living room and sat herself on the lounge where Bella had been sitting. Edward perched nervously next to her as she tried to pull him back into sitting closely by her.

Alice and Bella appeared, both of them stopping as they surveyed the scene in front of them. Poor Bella just bit her lip before looking down. I couldn't quite tell whether she wanted to yell or cry, but in that moment I just wanted to take her into my arms and let her know that everything would be okay. Edward would do the right thing by her and would make everything right soon.

Carlisle sat next to me and smiled warmly in my direction. His face dropped upon seeing my glare. He looked at me quizzically before looking around the room at the train wreck that had unfolded. Jessica was babbling on quietly to Edward who was subtly trying to ignore her whilst pleading with his eyes to Bella who had returned with Alice to the living room. Alice flitted around trying to draw attention away from Edward and Jess on the lounge. Bella just stood there having completely lost interest in her ice cream looking like she was going to vomit.

EPOV

I was pleading with my eyes to Bella not to be upset, all I had to do was get through this bowl of ice cream, and then I'd take Jess somewhere and break up with her. But Bella turned and walked with her head bowed and her shoulders slumped back into the kitchen. Before I had a chance to get up and follow her Jessica had put her bowl on the coffee table and now had her body turned to me, her boobs, Jesus… what's going on there? I looked down briefly only to be met with the top of her cleavage that was pressed into the side of my arm. What the fuck happened there? They weren't there before, were they? I shook my head briefly, trying to draw my eyes away from Jessica's breasts only to see Bella who had returned from the kitchen watching us. She still stood awkwardly.

"Um….I'm just going to….go. I'll see you guys later". My heart broke as I listened to her voice and watched the look on her face. She looked heartbroken, but I couldn't figure out why she would feel that way. Not after last night.

"But the movie hasn't finished," replied Dad.

Mom shot him some sort of odd look and then looked up at Bella with a softened, motherly look on her face.

"That's okay sweetheart, we'll see you soon okay. Come for dinner during the week."

Bella simply nodded and then waved halfheartedly at the rest of us as Alice quickly got up and followed her to the front door. I tried with all my heart to give her a reassuring look that told her I loved her, and that I'd be thinking only of her tonight.

"Your mom's never invited me for dinner." Jess mumbled under her breath. She then looked at me innocently as if she hadn't said anything disparaging about my mother. "So, do you think we could maybe…" she nodded towards the door, "have some alone time without your family breathing down our necks."

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea." I rose from the lounge and motioned for her to follow me, trying to keep my hands to myself as I went so she wouldn't grab on to one of them. We went past the kitchen so I could drop my ice cream bowl in the dishwasher before leading her away. I just wanted to go outside to do this but it was too cold. My bedroom was definitely not an option, the piano room was out, so I lead her back to Dad's study where there was a comfortable sofa to sit on. It had the added benefit of being right near the front door so she wouldn't be able to make a dramatic exit.

We sat down and Jess looked at me expectantly. I wasn't sure what she was expecting, but she kind of heaved her chest out a bit. I naturally looked down at it….them…..how could I not when she was pushing it, them, into my face like that? Don't judge me!

"So, what do you think?" Jess purred seductively as she looked down at them. I looked back up at her quizzically, she could clearly see I had no idea what she was asking?

"I had them done. You know surgically enhanced," she smiled proudly.

I knew my eyebrows shot up as I realized what she was saying. "You had a boob job?" I asked incredulously.

Shit, I just thought it was a really fucking good bra!

"Yep," she nodded. "I thought you'd really like it."

My mind started reeling as I thought about what she'd actually been doing for the last four weeks. Did she lie about her grandmother? She'd sounded so upset on the phone.

"Was your grandmother really sick?" I didn't know how I was going to respond if she told me she wasn't.

"Well, yeah, she's sick. But it's not life or death. I stayed with her while I was in Portland getting the work done."

"But…I don't understand." I was livid. I'd done the right thing, well, actually no, I'd done completely the wrong thing by cheating on her, but I thought I'd done the right thing by not breaking up with her while her dear old grandmother was on her death bed.

She moved a little closer to me, pulling one of my hands into hers and the other went up around my neck. I was too dumbfounded to move.

"Look silly, I'd always been planning on having a little improvement made to my nose," she turned her face to the side so I could see her profile. Now that I looked I could see it was a little finer and straighter looking, not that I ever thought there was anything wrong with it before. "I just figured while I was there I may as well kill two birds with one stone."

"But you had a lovely nose Jess. And you didn't need a boob job."

"You liked them just the way they were did you?" She asked in a cheeky voice as she caressed the back of my neck.

"Jess, you're only eighteen."

"Look Edward what's the problem here?"

"I don't know," I replied still a little dumbfounded.

"Look, I haven't seen or kissed you in weeks and I want to spend a bit of private time with my boyfriend, although why you bought us into your father's den for that I'll never know."

I still had so many questions about why she'd used such a heinous excuse to explain her absence and lied her head off about it, but I was beyond caring now, here was my opportunity.

"Well, actually there is a reason for that." She looked up at me sweetly, expectantly, like I wasn't just about to break her heart. I slowly extricated my hand from the grip she had on it and ran it through my hair nervously.

"Things haven't been the same with us for a while."

"I know that silly, it's because I haven't been here. But I'm back now and I can't wait to get through the end of senior year, and just think about how good prom and all the grad parties are going to be together and all the….."

"Jess." I had to cut her off, she was clearly avoiding the conversation. "Stop, I need you to listen to me for a minute okay?" I said as softly as I could. "It's been longer than that, we haven't been good since before your birthday, and this time apart has really made me realize that you and I….you and I aren't working….as a couple, anymore." There. Shit, that wasn't so hard. What was hard was having to deal with that look on her face.

"Edward. No. don't say that. We're great together. I wanted you for so long and then you finally let me in. We were going to have so much fun this year. It's not fair, we haven't been together for long enough, I don't understand."

Her statement seemed rather odd to me. Surely if she wanted to be with me she would have said something about how much she liked me, or even loved me, and was sad because she was losing that. Instead it kind of sounded like she wanted me as an accessory or something. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Jess, why? Why me?"

"What kind of a question is that? Because we're great together, we have fun when we're out. You're really good looking. I wanted to spend the rest of senior year with you so we'd have some great memories."

"Yeah, but that's not really about me Jess." She looked at me blankly with tears streaming down her face like she just didn't understand. The thing was, all of a sudden I did. "You and I don't really know each other. We…..I mean us, it's only ever been superficial. It's just about how much fun you can have when you're with me, about how pretty I make you feel, about making sure you have a boyfriend in your prom photos. But you don't really know who I am Jess, and you've never really tried."

"Well, no-one said we were getting married Edward, we're young and have the rest of our lives to discover all of that other serious stuff."

"But that's just it Jess. We're almost out of school. We're starting to make decisions that are going to impact the rest of our lives, like where we're going to go to college and stuff. We are adults, and I have adult feelings. And part of that is being with someone because of the way they make you feel, but the other side of that is being with them because of the way you know you make them feel. And I just don't get the sense with us that you're really at that place with me. I'm not the right person for you Jess."

"You're an asshole you know that. I did this for you," she said motioning towards her chest. "I did this so you could feel good. And now you're dumping me." She still didn't get it. Yet another sign that we were definitely not meant to be. "Well I've got news for you. You're mistaken if you think your high and mighty attitude is going to get you anywhere with any girls. They'll see through your little act that you're just too scared to commit. You've been single all through school and it's because you're just too afraid of being with someone." What the fuck was she on about now? Jess wasn't always the brightest girl, but I wasn't going to keep arguing with her. If that's what she needed to believe then I'd let her.

"I'm sorry Jess. Look, I'll see you out."

I didn't call Bella that night. Alice suggested that I needed to give her a little bit of space. She also suggested running straight from one girl into the arms of another was disrespectful, and that in the long run my relationship with Bella would be better for it.

So I waited. But only until Sunday morning.

It was actually a beautiful sunny morning when I eventually got out of bed. I slept late after a late night talking to Alice about my break up with Jess and about everything with Bella. I was so happy to be free from the tangled web I'd weaved for myself over the last few months. So at eleven a.m. I found myself in front of Bella's house. Her truck was there but Charlie's cruiser wasn't – at least we'd get some alone time.

There was no answer when I knocked, and Bella's phone was going straight to message bank. I didn't think much of it and decided to head into town and grab something to eat and a coffee at the diner. I sat for a while flipping through ancient magazines, the boredom balancing out the sheer excitement of going to claim the girl I was in love with.

I noticed Charlie's cruiser drive down the main street in the direction of their house. It didn't mean he was going home, but I took it as a sign and decided to leave and head back to their place.

As I pulled up I saw the cruiser. Charlie must have made it inside already so I walked up to the front door and knocked. Please answer Bella, please answer.

The door swung open and Charlie stood there with a blank expression on his face.

"What can I do for you son?" He asked, with an extremely gruff voice, defeat written all over his face like he'd had a long, long night.

"I was looking for Bella….Sir."

"You've just missed her."

My brow wrinkled in confusion, I was sure she hadn't been here before. "Um, do you know where she is or when she'll be back?"

"Yep, she's gone to Phoenix. And, nope, I'm not sure if she'll be back."

AN: Oh, that's just a bit mean of me isn't it!

Anyone want to know whether Jess was actually cheating or not?

Review and I'll send you an outtake in Jess' POV. THIS WILL BE YOUR ONLY WAY TO FIND OUT FOR SURE! (I'm not above bribery at this stage to get me some love)