I don't own twilight. What I own is my character's behavior, personality, background, and plot of my story.
Author's Note at the end.
Bella walks to the door as she hears the doorbell ring. "Who is it?" she asks.
"Bella, it's me Rosalie," she hears from the other side of the door. She opens the door and without a word, goes back to the living room and leaves Rosalie to close the door for her.
Once Rosalie sits opposite of Bella they sit in uncomfortable silence for five minutes until finally Rosalie asks her, sounding hopeful, "So will you hear me speak?"
Bella nods her head which prompts Rosalie to shake her head and ask her, "Will you actually listen, or will do this thing where you pretend you do, and then continue as if nothing was said?"
Bella stares at Rosalie in silence studying her. To say that Bella is angry at her is an understatement. Bella is furious. Rosalie had no problem laying it on Edward whenever he did something wrong. She never had any problem dragging her through the mud whenever she forgave him for his shit. Now, all of a sudden, she has nothing to say? So things are not okay unless the Cullens think they are? She has no problem going toe to toe with her and Edward but she draws a line at going toe to toe with Alice?
Bella sighs before replying, "I will listen even though I don't like you at the moment."
Twisting her ring around, Rosalie tells her, "I wanted to speak. I really did. I just didn't feel like it was my place to do, or my business."
"What do you mean it's not your business to speak? I am your friend. You should have supported me like I would have done for you," Bella exclaims angrily.
"I know," Rosalie whispers, looking at her hands.
"Then why didn't you speak?" Bella demands.
"Emmett and I," Rosalie whispers a tear rolling down her cheek before she speaks louder, "Emmett and I are having problems. We are seeing a counselor. The counselor isn't very hopeful. How can I take part in any of the discussions the Cullens have when my days as one are numbered?"
Bella silently watches Rosalie who is crying into her hands for a minute. She doesn't want to console her. She is too angry at her to console her, but she can't stand watching her friend cry in front of her, so she decides to make herself useful by making tea for both of them.
A slight thud makes Rosalie look up to find a mug and a packet of tissues in front of her. "Thanks," Rosalie tells her before taking a tissue paper and blowing her nose with it.
The look Bella makes at Rosalie blowing her nose prompts Rosalie to roll her eyes at Bella and tell her, "Fucking grow up. You are a mum for heaven's sake."
Bella's eloquent reply is to stick her tongue at her which prompts both of them to laugh. They drink their drinks silently for a minute. Rosalie takes the time to calm down herself and collect her thoughts. Bella takes the time to observe Rosalie. She is wearing a bright yellow dress which is beautiful, if not for the fact that it completely washes her out. Yellow isn't Rosalie's color. She is also wearing Uggs, which isn't a terrible thing, except for the fact that it's the middle of summer.
"Are you feeling better?" Bella asks her as she places her mug back on the table.
Rosalie nods her head and smiles telling her, "Yes, thanks."
"Don't get too happy. I am still angry at you. The fact that I can't handle seeing you cry doesn't change that," Bella tells her.
Rosalie frowns at Bella's words before telling her, "I know that I should have handled things better,", "Yes you should have. You should have defended me. I am your friend and I should have been supported at that moment. I shouldn't have felt alone. Your problems with Emmett shouldn't have changed that."
Rosalie nods her head and then opens her mouth before abruptly closing it, then opening it again, and then closing it a couple of times. This happens a couple of times before Rosalie finally says, "But what if Emmett had told me to shut it in front of all of them then?"
Bella raises an eyebrow at that before telling her, "That's not something Emmett would do and you know that. He isn't Edward."
"But what if he did? What if he decides that the counseling is not changing anything and tells me in front of everyone that it's none of my business?" Rosalie asks anxiously.
Bella takes a minute to think of her question. The time Emmett dropped over Edward's letter, him and her didn't spend a lot of time together. Thus, she can't truly try to gauge how he was feeling, and even if she could, it could always be over Edward and not his personal problem. That said, there is a key difference between the Rosalie in front of her and the Emmett that dropped by; while she is an anxious ball of nerves, he was cool as a cucumber. It could mean that he thinks that he and Rosalie aren't ending, or it could mean that he made a decision to end things and is at peace with it.
After much thought and realizing that nothing she can say will swing Rosalie's opinion, she decides to go at it from a different angle, "Maybe you are right? Maybe he would have told you that it's none of your business, but at the very least, he would have put you out of your misery. You would know where you stand in his life."
Rosalie twists her ring around a couple of times while looking at it, before telling Bella, "You like certainty. You would rather have things cut and dry. I am not like that. If my ignorance means that I get to be happy for a couple of extra months, then so be it."
"What?" Bella asks Marco as she sits in front of her vanity and applies the under-eye cream.
"I said I wanna talk to you about what you and Rosalie talked about," he tells her.
"Emmett and Rosalie are having problems and Rosalie is worried that they will divorce," she tells him nonchalantly. It's not something Bella thinks Marco will go around telling everyone, so she isn't looking to keep it a secret from him.
"That's not what I wanted to talk about though," he replies as she spots in the reflection of the mirror Marco's serious expression.
She puts down the guasha and turns away from the mirror to face him then tells him, "What do you want to talk about?"
"You told Rosalie that you are returning to Italy," he tells her calmly.
"And?" she asks not sure why that is something he is bringing up.
"I told you that I would prefer to continue living in the states," he replies.
"And?" she asks again.
He finds her nonchalance frustrating which makes him demand, "Don't you think there is a problem with you telling Rosalie you want to move to Italy when I explicitly told you that I don't want to?"
"You think it's your decision to make alone?" she asks him in a controlled tone that barely conceals her anger. She doesn't appreciate his tone of voice, and can do without his anger.
"No, but when I told you I don't want Italy, I thought that you wouldn't completely dismiss my want and do what you want," he tells her accusingly.
Do what she wants? It's not like she packed their bags behind his back and then sprang it on him in the airport. He is being irrational.
She crosses her arms and tells him, "I am not dismissing your want. When we came to the states it was with the assumption that we will stay here for a year. You know that. Personally speaking, I didn't give two fucks about Eleazar. I was fine with never returning to the states. You were the one who wanted revenge. I supported you in that and came with you despite my own apprehension. Then suddenly, out of the blue you decided that you want to live here permanently. We have only talked about this once and I still don't know if I want that, that's why I told Rosalie that we are going back to Italy."
"Bullshit!" he exclaims loudly, throwing his hands up in the air.
"Excuse me?" she demands in an offended tone.
"You heard what I said. I call bullshit. You don't want to stay and this is you forcing me to comply with what you want," he says glaring at her.
"Have I ever done that?" She asks, sounding more than just offended. Where is this coming from? Where is all of this distrust coming from? She has never forced his hand in anything. She has never needed to. That's the great thing about them: they have always wanted the same things because they share the same values. The biggest thing they ever disagreed on is coming back, and even then she secretly wanted what he wanted too, and was all too happy to get involved once they talked about it.
Marco stutters for a moment before he tells her, "Well, no, but you are strong headed and stubborn. I wouldn't put it past you to do that."
She laughs at him and then to try to lighten the mood tells him, "Thank you for the compliment."
To her displeasure, it doesn't work as the serious expression doesn't leave Marco's face and he tells her, "Staying here is non-negotiable."
Sometime down the line she will realize that it was a mistake. She will see this moment as when she should have kept her mouth shut. Once she is off the high of her anger, she will recognize this moment as it is: a test of time.
She will understand with retrospect that she should have conceded. She will know that what Marco was looking for then was reassurance from her, that he was scared of losing her and she should have eased his fear instead of taking the offense.
But she is good at the offense. She knows the offense better than anything. She spent years in a relationship that made taking the offense second nature for her. After all, she is better at emptying a loaded gun than dropping it.
She sits back in front of her mirror and picks up her guasha as she tells him while staring into his eyes through the reflection of the mirror, "Leaving here is non-negotiable."
With a resigned look on his face, he drops onto the bed behind her and tells her, "Darling, we have got a problem."
Hello lovely people,
So I have some news. This is the last chapter of this story. There is only an epilogue and an outtake left which takes me to my next point. This story will have a sequel.
As I was writing this story, I kept going back and forth between making it a canon pairing or having Bella and Marco stay together. On one level, I wanted to stay true to my original goal of making Edward and Bella reconcile, but on the other hand, as I gradually started writing a more problematic Edward I realized that making them end up together might not be the best thing. I also fell in love with Marco everyday and wanted him to be with Bella cause he is so good for her.
But something I realized slowly is that Bella is in no way in the right mindset to be in a relationship with anyone to begin with and that made me realize that I was thinking in the wrong direction. It's not a matter of who deserves Bella more? It's a matter of is Bella ready to date?
This brings me to the sequel and the outtake. Both of them take place two years after the epilogue with each one being an alternative ending to this story. In the outtake, Bella and Marco reconnect. In the sequel, Bella and Edward do.
I want to stay honest to the people who aren't comfortable with Bella and Edward reconciling, hence why their reconciliation will happen in a sequel/ alternative end rather than in this story. This way you can read to the end of this story with no worries. Plus, you will get a Marco/Bella reconciliation in the outtake that will bring so much of who they are as a couple in retrospect and make them stronger as a couple than they would be if they don't separate for a while and work on their separate issues.
One of the things that made me interested in writing a character arc in which Edward matures and becomes a better person that is worthy of Bella is that I have recently become fascinated by what makes people change for the better. Sure, there are people who choose to do good despite having the option of doing bad, but what about the people who walk in the footsteps of the devil but then decide to back peddle? How do they persist against their wants? When you know how the high feels like, what stops you from returning to it? How do you reconcile your identity with your abusive past? How do you move on in a way that compensates your victims and validates their experience while looking toward a future that is free from self-contempt?
In addition to the things mentioned above, the sequel will explore Bella's recovery from abuse. It will also discuss the impact of abuse on her life, choices, and relationship with her daughter.
I promise that Bella's forgiveness won't come easily. There will be a lot of groveling on Edward's side and he will be dragged through hell and back before she lets go of what he did. I don't believe in romanticizing abuse and I won't start doing that any time soon.
If any of you guys are interested in pre-reading the sequel or being a beta, please let me know. I always look forward to hearing your thoughts. Leave me a review letting me know that you are interested and I will PM you and we can continue this conversation there.
The new story will be published right after the epilogue and outtake of this story is published, so once you are done with reading the epilogue and outtake go and read it. I can't decide between calling it Looking Forward, or Letting Go. Tell me which name you prefer in the review section and I will pick the one with the most votes.
Until my next update,
Stay Safe