A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed/favorited/followed! All mistakes are mine. I hope ya'll like this chapter! Disclaimer: I don't own anything. You guys are freaking amazing! Just thought I'd let you guys know. (:

"If you don't want to take it slow and you just want to take me home, baby say yeah, yeah and let me kiss you." – One Direction

Chapter 16

EPOV

January 2009

As I am about to get out of my car and walk to the locker room, I stop to admire my bracelet. It's nothing fancy or extravagant. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she made it herself. She did say that she didn't really have any money. But, none of those things matter to me. Bella clearly went out of her way to get this or make this for me. Her gift came from her heart, not her pocketbook. I can't remember the last time someone did something like that to me. Her gift is so thoughtful and meaningful. I am suddenly overwhelmed by my feelings for this girl.

I've seen her change so much in only five, almost six, months. She's becoming such an amazing girl. She's breaking out of her shell. She's talking, not only to me, but to Emmett as well. She kissed me. She fucking kissed me and it was on her own free will! She did it because she wanted to do it, not because it's what I wanted. The sad little girl who didn't have any friends is no more. She has changed for the better. I can't be more proud on the fact that I was a part of that. I helped her become this amazingly wonderful girl who keeps getting more incredible by the day.

I can't help but think that she is changing me too. She makes me feel alive again, which is something I haven't felt since Alice's accident. She makes me feel whole again. I knew a part of me was missing when Alice died. I just never knew that someone could ever come and fix me up again, and yet, here I am. I never knew I could feel so strongly about a girl I've only kissed a handful of times. I know I could easily feel something more than just liking her, but I don't want to scare her. I don't want her to feel like she is being forced into anything.

I wish Alice was here. She would know what to do. She always knew what to do. I finally found a girl that I am completely intoxicated by and I don't even have my baby sister to help me sort out my feelings for her.

My thoughts are interrupted by my phone ringing. It's Emmett.

"Hey, Em. What's up?"

"What's up? Where the hell are you, Cullen? We have practice you know!" Emmett is using his 'serious football player' voice.

Oh shit. I was so caught up in thinking about Bella and Alice that I forgot to actually get out of my car and go to the football field. "Sorry, man. I just got a little caught up in some things. I'll be at the field in ten minutes."

"You better hurry, man. Coach is going to be even more pissed when he finds you late."

"Even more pissed? What's he pissed off about in the first place? Did he break the scale in his house?" I joke.

"Ha ha very funny, Cullen." He pauses. "He's going to be pissed when he sees you in that boot."

"Then I'll just take the boot off, Em. No big deal."

"No big deal? You have a fucking cast on! You can't play!"

I start to snicker at his tone. He sounds like a little girl who didn't get to eat her ice cream because her little brother stole it from her. "Relax Emmett. The doctor on the cruise ship said that I only needed to wear the boot until the end of the cruise. I can take it off anytime I want."

"Then why the hell did you wear it to school today?" He sounds really pissed. I didn't think he'd be so mad about this.

"I only wore it to piss my dad off. I'm fine, really."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am sure." I say as soothingly as I can. "Why are you getting all worked up about this, Em? It was only a stress fracture. "

"Sorry man. I didn't realize that I was doing it. It's just that this is my last year playing football and I really want to be able to win this year. We kind of need you to be able to do that."

I sigh. Once again, the only thing I am useful for is football. "Don't worry, Em. I can play. We'll win this year, just for you."

"Just get your ass to the locker room, Cullen."

I chuckle. "Yes sir, McCarty." I mock.

He chuckles and then we hang up. I start the short walk from my car to the football locker room. When I walk in, I am immediately bombarded with questions.

"What happened, dude?" One guy says.

"Can you still play?" Another one says.

"Does it hurt?"

"How long are you going to be out for?"

"Does Coach know about your foot?"

"How are we going to be able to win without you?"

I ignore all of the questions and head straight to my locker. Emmett is there waiting for me.

"You sure did take your damn time getting over here."

I roll my eyes and start to change into my practice clothes. When I take off my boot, I gasp at what I see. My ankle is completely blue. It's swollen up to the size of a tennis ball and it's numb. Shit this doesn't look good.

"That doesn't look good." Emmett says quietly.

I roll my eyes. "I know that. It's fine." I quickly pull my black Nike Elite socks over my ankle so no one else can see how bad it looks and continue getting dressed.

"Dude, maybe the trainer should look at your ankle. You know, just so we know for sure that you can play. I would rather you miss a couple practices as to you missing a game."

"I'm not going to have to miss any games or practices! I said its fine." I all but growl out.

"Chill man. I just don't want you to really hurt yourself. No football game is worth that."

I sigh. "I appreciate your concern, but don't bother. I'm fine. I won't miss a game or a practice or anything. I'll see you out on the field." I sigh and I grab at my hair.

I finish getting dressed and head to the field. I'm not terribly late – we are just now stretching. I take my place on the field and wince as I put more pressure on my ankle. Maybe if I just ignore it, the pain will go away.

I go through a couple of plays until Coach stops us in the middle of one. "What is wrong with you today, Cullen? You're slower than normal. You're passes suck and you're favoring your right foot. Did something happened over the break?"

"No, it's nothing. I'm sorry. My head is just in another world today." It's not a complete lie.

"Well, get it together. We need you if we're going to win Friday night."

Of course. No one is actually concerned about me. They just want to make sure I can play.

I get through the rest of the practice without incident. That is until my blockers screw up and I get tackled to the ground. I groan in pain. Getting knocked on my ass hurts enough, but adding to that the fact that one guy landed on my left ankle, makes the pain almost unbearable. When the guys finally get off, I expect the pain to go away, but it doesn't. The pain in my ankle radiates throughout my entire foot now.

"You okay, Cullen?" One of the guys who knocked me down asked.

I take a deep breath and pull myself together. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just not used to getting knocked on my ass, I guess."

He chuckles and helps me to my feet. As soon as I put my weight back on my ankle, it buckles. My face comes in contact with the turf for the second time in one practice. It's a damn record.

"Edward! What's wrong?" It's Emmett.

I groan. "My ankle. It hurts like hell. I – I can't put pressure on it." I try to get up once more, only to be shoved back down.

"Well then don't try to get back up! Just stay down. Coach already left to go get the trainer."

"Ugh."

"Yeah, yeah. Keep doing this 'tough guy' act. You're lucky that this was just practice and not a game! You just barely got tackled and now you can't get up. Do you really think that you would be so lucky in a game?"

"You can stop lecturing me, Emmett. You were right. I was wrong. I should've gone to see the trainer to make sure it was okay before practice. You don't have to say 'I told you so.'"

He snickers. "I wasn't going to say 'I told you so.'"

"Yeah right."

The trainer gets here two seconds later. He and Emmett help me to my feet and help me limp my way to the locker room. When the trainer, Steve, starts to look at my ankle, his face scrunches up in confusion. "Why would you even try to play on this, son? It looks terrible and you don't need a medical license to see that."

I roll my eyes. "Yes, I know. It was stupid. What's the verdict?"

"Stay off of it for two weeks and then let me look at it again."

I sigh. He walks off and I just stay in the locker room until the team gets out of practice. When everyone starts to trickle in, I make my way to my locker ad change back into my clothes. Emmett walks up beside me and says, "You know you're not supposed to wear stuff like that to practice." He points to my bracelet.

"Bella gave it to me for Christmas. I told her I wouldn't take it off and I meant it."

"So that's what that was." He says casually.

"What?"

"The bracelet. Bella got you the bracelet for Christmas."

"She told you about it?" I ask confused.

"No, I, uh, found her walking home from the grocery store a couple days before Christmas. It was raining – almost snowing, so I drove her home. She didn't have much food in her bags, just stuff for sandwiches. She had this little thing wrapped in a separate bag inside a big bag. I meant to ask her what it was, but I forgot. I guess I know now."

"She was walking home in the rain?" I ask incredulously.

"Seriously dude, that's all you got out of that?"

I roll my eyes. "Just answer the question, Emmett."

He frowns. "Yeah, man she was walking home."

I sigh in frustration. "I told her to call you for anything, and yet, she still walks everywhere. I just don't get her sometimes." I bring my hand up to the back of my neck to play with the little hairs there.

Emmett sighs. "I think it's better if you don't know everything about people, man."

I stare at him unbelievingly. "Did she say something to you? I mean I have my theories, but she won't tell me anything like that."

He shakes his head. "Ed, man, there is just some stuff that you don't want to hear. She has a shitty life, man. Just remember that."

"Gee, way to be vague, Em. That helps me so much."

He laughs and slaps me on the back. "You're welcome, buddy. I do my best to keep people on their toes." He winks at me and walks back to his car. "Oh, and I forgot to tell you something." He yells as he gets to his jeep.

"What?"

"I fucking told you so, man!"

I roll my eyes. He gets in his car and I flip him off as he drives away.

When I get home, my mom bombards me with questions. "Hey sweetie. How was your first day back at school? Do you like your new classes?" This is why I love my mom. She always loves to hear about me.

"It was fine, boring as hell, but still fine. I have every class but one with Bella now." I can feel the heat rising to my cheeks. I really have to work on controlling this whole blushing when I talk about Bella.

"That's amazing, baby. How was practice today? Did you go see the trainer like I said?" Worry laces her tone.

"Uh, yeah about that." I say nervously. How am is supposed to tell my mom that I practiced on my ankle instead of seeing the trainer first?

I am interrupted out of my thoughts when my dad walks in to the room. "Yeah, son. How did it go with Steve?" I gulp. I can't lie to them. I don't want to tell them the truth though either.

"You see, well…" I'm at a loss for words. Dad looks at me expectantly, his face getting angrier by the second.

"Well what? What did he say?" Shit. He sounds mad!

"I can't practice or play for two weeks minimum." I mumble out. Dad still seems to hear it because the next second he's yelling.

"What do you mean you can't practice or play for two weeks? You have a small stress fracture, that's it! It's not that bad of an injury and you've been off of it for two weeks already. You shouldn't have to sit out anymore!" He yells angrily. "Unless…" He trails off.

"Unless what, Carlisle?" Mom asks quietly.

"Nothing." He mutters. Mom doesn't look convinced. "It's nothing. He's not that stupid."

For some reason, this pisses me off. "Not that stupid? You mean, I'm not stupid enough to try and practice on my hurt ankle without seeing the trainer because I know that he'll make me sit out? Because I know that my dad would be pissed if I couldn't play for a while? Because he's so concerned about his son and not the football player? I'm not stupid enough to try and please my dad because I know that's what he wants. He wants me to play and be the big football hero. That's all he fucking cares about anymore!" I know I shouldn't say this, but I can't take it back now.

He huffs. In an annoyed tone, he says, "Are you done with your little tantrum now? I want to take a look at your ankle for myself."

"Oh, so you are actually concerned about my ankle now? Now that I can't play football for two weeks? Now you decided to show some compassion? You're a fucking doctor for goodness sake! You should've had my well-being in mind from the moment I slipped and fell on the ship! Not just now, now that you know I can't play your precious game of football for a little while!" I am seething. How can he be so fucking heartless? How can he not care about me?

"Calm down, Edward. I always have your well-being in mind. You are just over reacting." His calmness is pissing me off even more. How can he be like this?

"Over reacting? Seriously? Some Dad you are." And with that, I go to my room. I purposely stomp up the stairs and slam my door shut to emphasize how pissed off I actually am.

I stay in my room for about an hour before I get too restless. Not wanting to stay in this house any longer, I grab my coat and walk back down stairs. "I'm heading out. I don't know when I'll be home." I say as I make my way to the door.

"Edward wait. We need to talk." Dad says quietly.

"We have nothing to talk about."

"I'll be the judge of that. Edward wait." He grabs my arm. He looks down and see the bracelet that Bella gave me. "What is this?"

I jerk my arm away from him. "It was a Christmas present."

"From who? Your mother and I didn't get you anything like this."

"I never said it was from you." I say, slightly annoyed. Why can't he just let me leave in peace?

He stares at me for a long time. "Bella gave you this, didn't she?" The way he says her name makes it sounds as if she were a monster instead of the girl I liked.

"Yes, she did. If you have a problem with that, then feel free to keep it to yourself. I'm done trying to please you."

He sighs deeply. "Look son, you know I only want what is best for you, right?"

I snort. "If you knew anything about me, then you would know that Bella is what is best for me. She's the best thing in my life right now. She's the only thing that is helping make it through right now during this time of the year. She's the reason I have any joy in my life right now! Why can't you just accept that she is a part of my life?"

I don't give him a chance to respond before I rush out the door and I run to my car. I don't even know where I'm going, I just know I can't be with them right now, but I don't want to be alone either.

Bella.

Not wanting to overthink it, I start making my way to Bella's house. When I get there, I notice a police cruiser parked in the driveway. Guess I get to meet her foster dad today.

I walk up to the front porch and knock on the door. Bella answers it a few seconds later. When she sees me, her eyes go wide. She quickly looks behind her before turning back to me. "What are you doing here? Are you crazy?" She whisper yells.

"I just needed to see you. I'm sorry if it's a bad time. I'll just go now." Dread and disappointment wash over me. I thought at least she would have been happy to see me, but I guess not.

Before she has the chance to answer, Renee comes to the door with who I am assuming is her husband, trailing behind her. I speak before she gets the chance to.

"Um, hi Renee. I was wondering if I could steal Bella for a few hours tonight. We have finals at the end of this week and I could really use the extra help." I lie, hoping that they don't know that the new semester just started today.

I see Renee and her husband exchange looks before she sighs. "Have her home by 11 and not a moment later."

I try to contain my grin. "Of course. She'll be back by then."

Renee all but shoves Bella out the front door and into me and slams the door behind her. I notice her clutch her ribs and her face contorts in pain. "You okay?" I ask, worried.

She looks up to me and nods.

"We don't have to go anywhere if you don't want to. You can just go back inside if you don't want to be with me right now or if you were busy or something…" I can feel disappointment spread through my entire body as I wait for her rejection.

She looks back to her house nervously before answering. "No, it's not that. I always want to be with you, Edward. It's just that…"

"Just what? What's wrong?"

She sighs before continuing. "Nothing is wrong, per say. Phil is just in a really bad mood tonight and I just thought that seeing you would put him over the edge."

"So you weren't mad that I came over?"

"No! I would never be mad at that." She says hurriedly.

I chuckle, all the disappointment leaving my body in hat one sentence. I can feel myself relax. "Would you like to go with me to our meadow?"

She smiles. "I would love to."

We sit in a comfortable silence as I drive over to our meadow. It's just barely dark outside when we finally get to it.

"So, what happened?"

"Something has to have happened? I can't just come see my girlfriend?" I say, trying to lighten the mood up a little bit.

"So I'm your girlfriend, am I?" She asks sheepishly.

I smile at her shyness. "If you want to be, then yes."

She smiles and puts her hand on my face. She cups my cheek and says, "What's wrong, Edward?"

I sigh. Part of me loves that she can see right through me, but the other part hates it. "My dad and I kind of got into it… He just doesn't get me. All he cares about is football. I just wish for once that he would care about me."

"He does care about you, Edward. Maybe he just has a different way of showing it."

I snort. "You sound like my mom."

She giggles.

"I love that sound."

She blushes and looks away. "I'm sorry you and your dad got in to a fight. Why don't you just try and forget about it? At least for right now. Just be here, with me. Nothing else matters. It's just you and me."

"I can do that."

We stare at each other for what feels like forever. Eventually, my gaze falls to her lips.

I seem to be staring at her lips for forever before she notices. "What?" She asks sheepishly.

I smile. "All I can think about is kissing you right now." It's all I can do not to tackle her right now. It's been too long since I've felt her lips on mine

"Then why aren't you?"

Surprised at her newfound confidence, I raise an eyebrow at her. She laughs. I love the sound of her laughter. Everything in the world just fades away when I hear her laugh. It's my favorite sound.

"Are you going to kiss me or what?" She asks again.

I don't respond verbally. Instead, I crush my lips to hers and give into my instincts. I drown all my worries and bad thoughts from today in this kiss. I feel complete when my lips are attached to hers.

A/N: I know this one is shorter than the previous ones, but they will start getting longer in a couple of chapters again.