I don't own twilight. What I own is my character's behavior, personality, background, and the plot of my story.
Edward clutches the stand near him tightly that his knuckles turn white as his Bella climbs up the stairs of the stage to give a speech.
Dressed in a black figure-hugging strapless gown with a thigh-high slit and black gloves reaching two inches above her elbow, she is as eloquent, elegant, and funny as ever before.
Just like a guest on a late-night show.
She cracks a couple of jokes about the differences between living in Chicago and Europe. She casually lists all of her accomplishments over the last couple of years without coming off as pretentious or egotistical. She makes a couple of jokes about Eleazar before she turns serious and talks about her plans for the landscaping departments.
Did he hear everything she said?
Definitely.
Did anything register in his head?
Not really.
It's minutes after that, that his parents, Emmett, and Rosalie, close on him to see if he is okay.
"I didn't know she would be here. If I did, I would have told you." He looks up at Rosalie who just said that.
"How would you know?" he asks his voice hollow.
"We spoke a couple of days ago on the phone and she told me she was back in Chicago but that was it."
It makes sense. Rosalie and Bella were always close. None of them know how he and Bella broke up. They know that he found it difficult to move on from her, but they know nothing else.
They probably think it's his fault. That he did something stupid one too many times and she got tired of him and dumped his ass. God knows they had the front seat of enough ones to think so.
Maybe he did, and she got tired of fighting and decided that he was not worth fighting for anymore.
Maybe Rosalie knows more about why they broke up than he did but respected his privacy too much to talk to him about it. They were never close enough, to begin with.
He doesn't know what to do. A part of him wants to talk to her. Another part of him wants to bury his head in the sand and pretend that they were never a thing.
What if she has a boyfriend?
Or God forbid, a husband?
Am I supposed to act normal?
Am I supposed to be happy for her?
Is he supposed to think at least she has someone better? Cause as much as he wants to hate on whoever she is dating, he can not tolerate her being with someone that treats her worse than him.
One, because he truly put her through it when they were dating.
Two, he would rather have her be happy without him than be miserable.
He always wants her to be happy, even without him.
Between Emmett and Rosalie's heads, he spots her talking to Tanya. An ice bucket just gets spilled on him. He needs to make sure that no one says the wrong thing in front of Tanya. He also needs to make sure, she doesn't tell Tanya a thing.
He would like to believe that she would not do that to him. But he also didn't want to believe that she would dump him the way she did. For all he knows, she has become vindictive.
"I ran into her a couple of days ago while with Tanya. She said that we are college friends. Keep that in mind around Tanya."
He says that as he watches them chatting lively with each other. Just like everyone, Tanya is absolutely enthralled by Bella. That is the thing about her. She can make everyone like her with very little effort. It was her charm that got the partners at the law firm he is working for to offer him a permanent position when he was an intern.
He looks away from them and feels himself smile as he spots Cece dancing toward them.
Literally.
He listens closely but he doesn't understand how is the elevator music being played on the speaker, making her dance a mixture of ballet moves, and is that break dance?
She is a, march to the beat of your own drum, kind of kid. Kudos to her parents for giving her this self-confidence. Cause most parents beat their kids into normality.
Of course, not literally.
He waves at her once she sees him. She waves back and sprints towards them. He picks her up and introduces her to his family, "Everyone this is Cece. She helped me find balloons in the mall for Luna and Sam's birthday. Cece, this is my mum, dad, brother, and his wife Rosalie."
She looks at them for five seconds, then turns towards Edward looking deep in thought, and says, "You look like them."
"Yeah, kid. Everyone looks like their parents."
"Not always. if you are adopted, you don't look like them," she replies smartly.
"You are right. How are you so smart?" Esma states, eager to join the conversation and officially meet the girl.
"My mummy makes me eat all of my veggies. Maybe you should have made him eat them too."
Emmett barks a laugh that alerts everyone in the room to his presence. Everyone else follows suit and laughs at Cece's comment. Edward on the other hand looks offended, "What is that supposed to mean?"
"You could not find the balloons. You obviously didn't eat all of your veggies," she replies like it is common sense.
He laughs at that. "I guess I didn't eat all of my veggies."
"Can we get ice cream now?" Cece asks bored with the adults around her.
"Excuse me, everyone. I promised this lady ice cream for her help and I need to deliver," He tells them then drops Cece to the ground.
"Lead the way, malady," he tells her bowing and gesturing for her to go before him.
She giggles and then sprints in front of him.
"Don't say anything in front of Tanya," he mutters then follows her to the ice cream both. Weird, but given that children can attend it, the ice cream booth is not the weirdest thing at this gala.
He picks her off the ground and holds her as she picks a flavor. She has him read her every single flavor then settles on the first one he read; chocolate.
"Why did you make me read them all then?" He asks her as they watch the ice cream get scooped.
"I wanted to try a new one. When I don't like a flavor mummy takes it. But it might melt before I find her so I pick chocolate."
He nods his head in understanding. He hands the ice cream to Cece as he thanks the vendor. He turns around as Cece licks the ice cream and spots Bella who is standing with Tanya. Tanya is talking animatedly but Bella is almost ignoring her.
She stares at him with a look he can't decipher.
Is it envy?
Is it pain?
Is it anger?
Is it longing?
Before he can contemplate what it is, the look is gone and Bella starts to stride toward them with a determined look on her face. Tanya trails behind her looking slightly confused, but for some reason following her.
Tanya long forgotten, Edward looks around for Marco. He can not have Bella say the wrong thing in front of Cece. But he doesn't find him.
Then the worst thing that could ever happen, happens.
"Cece, what did I say about eating ice cream?"
Bella takes her from him. With one hand, she holds it up and with the other, she wipes the chocolate on her nose with a wet wipe she just took out of her clutch.
Looking sheepishly, Cece mutters, "Sorry mummy."
To the person that commented that they want to hear Bella's side of thing, you will in the near future.
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Until my next update,
Stay Safe