**This is not beta'd. I write these outtakes for fun and to dive deeper into the heads of my other characters. *wink*
NGES OUTTAKE
CHAPTER 3
...BEN…
Just before I walk out the door for lunch, I hear Ri talking with Heidi in the kitchen.
There's something about the urgency in our little sister's voice.
It causes me to pause in the doorway and lean against its frame, "What's up, Drama Queens?"
They both turn around and Heidi shares her devious signature smirk with me.
Instantly, I know this is probably a conversation I don't want to be a part of.
Just as I start to walk away Ri shouts out for me to wait.
I slow down, but I don't stop moving.
"Edward has a girlfriend this summer and it's NOT Bella!"
Now, I've stopped moving.
Heidi is so excited she looks as though she's about to shoot her entire body straight through the ceiling, "Tell me everything! Like now! Does Bella know?!" She questions, sounding like a rabid dog looking for more table scraps.
"Yeah. She knows, but she didn't know until they got here. Alice said Edward stopped writing to her and wouldn't take her calls after he met some girl at one of Rose's tennis matches just before spring break."
"Wait! He ghosted her?! Are you serious?! For some random tennis skank? Shut up right now!"
Ri shrugs and lets out a sigh, "It's so weird, right? I mean it's definitely going to make things weird… they're like… Bella and Edward. They're meant to be together. It's always been that way."
"I seriously cannot even believe he came here with an actual girlfriend waiting for him back home! Bella must be suicidal! Her spell is finally broken!"
Heidi is way too excited about this.
It's almost embarrassing.
On impulse, I clear my throat, "Bella wasn't exactly single last summer. That didn't seem to change much between the two of them."
Heidi smirks. She seems impressed I'm actually following along.
I need to leave and not seem so interested.
Even though I am… interested.
No one else needs to know this.
Especially, my sister.
"No," Ri speaks up, "I think it's different this year. Alice said Bella took off when they finally talked this morning. Jasper also told Alice that Bella broke up with her boyfriend back in Vegas right before they'd left town just so she could be with Edward this summer, without feeling guilty about it."
Heidi scoffs and shakes her head, "Pft, right. I'll believe that when I see it. She certainly didn't seem to feel guilty last year."
While Heidi has a point, Irina is right.
If this is true, it's going to make things weird.
Bella and Edward have always been a thing.
From as far back as I can remember they've been running around this island holding hands, and whispering together as if they're the only two people around, even when we're all together in a quiet room.
In a way, this entire situation is actually really messed up.
Bella has to be hurting.
She worships the ground Edward Cullen walks on.
It's odd that this is even bothering me, but truthfully things had begun to change for me last summer.
I'd started to notice Bella Swan in an entirely different way.
She'd captured my attention, and in doing so, she became my crush as well as my biggest secret.
A secret I haven't shared with anyone.
Not even with her.