A/N: I'm back! Yay! Real life caught up with me, and then PTB took a much needed break, so this story has been on hold forever. I really hope I can finish posting it now.
Thanks a million to my PTB betas Bella_Barbaric and remylebeauishot. I run out of words to thank PTB for their amazing and selfless work, and my betas for helping me make my stories flow better and improve my writing in general.
"Alright, I can say what you want me to,
Alright, I can do all the things you do,
Alright, I'll make it all up for you,
I'm still in love with you,
I'm still in love with you,
The hard luck god
You never had a chance you know
Incurable romantics never do
He held the flame I wasn't born to carry."
- Stars, "Heart".
The shadows under her eyes were creepy. And she was so skinny and colorless, like my dad's old TV when the signal faded out. She was sorta … translucent. It scared me to think that one of these days I might turn around and find she'd disappeared.
The worst part was the way she hugged her chest sometimes, like she was terrified she'd fall to pieces like a dry flower or something. She seemed so vulnerable, so … breakable. Like if I hugged her too hard, her bones would snap.
I really wanted to know what had messed her up so bad. I had a slight idea, and I was dying to hit the bastard I suspected was behind it. Beat him up real bad. Dude, what kind of jerk dumped a girl like Bella, so warm, so soft; screwed her up so bad, and then ran away?
But at least she seemed to be in slightly better shape lately, something I badly wanted to believe I had to do with. She even smiled and laughed when she was with me. Sometimes I thought Charlie was about to break into a touchdown dance when he saw her like that.
I loved the way her face lit up when she smiled. And how warm her brown eyes could be.
I wanted to run my hand through her chocolate hair that smelled like strawberries, take her in my arms and make her forget, be there for her when she needed me. I wished I could warm up her heart, make her okay so she could feel happy again.
I'd give her whatever she'd take from me. I'd be patient. I'd be obnoxiously persistent. Someday, I knew, that stubborn brain of hers would see daylight, and she'd realize how much she loved me.
In the meantime, I'd be there for her. I'd do my best to fix her. Heck, I was sure things would work out in the end, somehow. Fixing things was something I was good at, and Bella was going to be the most important challenge of my entire life.
Today's date hadn't gone so bad, in spite of that marshmallow Newton. Bella was opening up to me. I wanted to drive her home and kiss her on her porch, but right now I wasn't feeling so hot. Or rather yes, my skin was in flames, and my stomach was queasy.
As I pulled out of her driveway, I promised myself I'd make it up to her tomorrow.