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.
She applies lipstick on. Her friend from work set her up with one of her boyfriend's co-workers. Since she separated from Marco, Bella has refused to date anyone holding on to the hope that some miracle would get them through and they will get back together, but today their divorce was finalized. There is no more hope to keep holding on to, and no more reason for Jess to leave her alone.
She walks into the restaurant and gives the name Stanley. She doesn't know this guy, no looks or even first name. All she knows is that Jess and her boyfriend booked the table under Jess's name. That is how they will find each other.
She is replying to a work message she received when she feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand. She looks up and to her shock finds Marco walking into the door. He looks well. Time has been really good to him. He looks paler than she is used to, but then Chicago has never been known for it's sunny disposition the way Italy is.
She knows the moment his eyes land on her, not by the look on his face, she doesn't have the guts to look at his face, but by the shudder of his shoulder. She decided to look at his face, and smiles weakly at him, but the indecipherable look in his eyes makes her look away. She picks up her menu and pretends read it, but she is only using it to hide behind it.
This date has gone to shit. She doesn't want it anymore. She isn't sure that she will be able to function properly after he entered her sphere. She knows that she won't function properly. All she can do now is message Jess and apologize for it.
"Man, a lot of time has passed if this is how you great people now," she hears a voice state.
She looks up to find Marco sitting down on the chair opposite of her. "What do you think you are doing?" she demands.
"Sitting down," he tells her in a duh tone.
She rolls her eyes at him and replies, "No you aren't. You are getting up and leaving. I have a date coming. He can't come to find you sitting here."
"I am your date."
"Excuse me," she demands loudly garnering the attention of some of the nearby table which prompts her to lower her voice and tell him, "No way! You aren't."
"Knock it off Bella. I am pretty sure that this is what you wanted and you are the one who orchestrated it. So what do you want to tell me? What do you want to gloat about?" he tells her leaning back into the chair.
Bella opens his mouth to demand to know what he means, but she gets interrupted by the waiter that asks them for their drink choices.
After the waiter leaves Bella asks, "What do you mean?"
Marco raises an eyebrow then he lazily tells her, "We get set up by mutual friends on a date. I don't know your name. It happens on the day we finalize our divorce, and if it's not enough you show up wearing my favorite color on you."
At that moment Bella could have told him many thing. She could have told him that his accusation can go both ways. She could have said that she didn't refuse to attend their divorce hearing only to pull such a stunt. She could have told him that if she wanted to, she would have made it happen in another way, or sooner. She could have even told him that blue is her best color and makes her feel confident. That is why she wore it, but she doesn't say any of that instead. They are beyond rational talks.
"You are insufferable. Why have I never seen that before?" she retorts loudly instead.
He barks a laugh then tells her, "Here is the Bella I know. She shows her claws the moment she feels threatened."
"I hope you drop the attitude with the next girl you date cause it won't take you far," she tells him then she pauses to stand up and lean down to till her breath tickles Marco's ear as she tells him, "Darling I am an architect. If I wanted to orchestrate a meet up between us and make it look like a chance encounter, you wouldn't even question it. I am more bothered by what your insinuation suggest about my brains than my character."
With that said, Bella straightens up and throws him a wink before she walks to the door, but a hand stops her from walking away. "You are right. I am sorry. Please stay. The table is already booked and I have heard great things about this restaurant."
She looks down at him to glare and snap back, but is meet by eyes that showed remorse and honestly, and that prompts her to return to her seat. She vows to herself to give him the cold shoulder and be as short with him as possible. Had he been nicer, he might have received better treatment. She is only staying for the food.
She busies herself with her phone, as she waits for the waiter to come with their drinks. Once he comes back with their drink order, he takes their meal order. As usual, Bella orders a fish dish.
She is sipping on her wine while scrolling through her emails when he asks her, "So, when are you going back to Italy?"
She looks up to meet his eyes before she returns them to her iPhone screen and replies, "I am not going to."
Unable to hid his surprise, Marco states, "What? I thought you couldn't wait to leave."
"I never said that," she replies not looking up from her phone's screen.
"You said that staying was a deal breaker for you," he tells her in disbelief.
"I told you that we should discuss it and wait for a year before we make any permanent decision, but when you said that leaving was a deal breaker for you, I realized that losing me was no longer a deal breaker for you and their was no point in being the bigger person then, so I said what was needed to end a connection that wasn't a priority." There, she said it. She said the one thing she has been dying to tell him since he left her.
He is quite for a minute before he finally demands, "Why are you telling me this now? Why not a month ago? Why not a week before? Why not before our divorce?"
She looks up and sees the hurt and pained look on his face, and while a part of her hurts for him, another part knows that he needs to be faced with honesty.
"Because the moment you made leaving a deal breaker, I knew that you were giving me an ultimatum, and I once read that when someone gives an ultimatum what they really want is an excuse to leave. How was I going give you a reason to stay, when at our first dispute you wanted out?"
Marco stays quit for a moment and then he tells her with a resigned look on his face, "So it was all my fault?" His question is more directed at himself than her.
Bella laughs a humorless laugh and tells him, "Of course not. It takes two to tango. When I am put in the defense, I tend to shot first and ask questions later even if it means shooting my own foot." She doesn't want to lie. She doesn't want to lie by omission either. She is tired of dishonesty. At least when this date is over, she can put the what ifs and almosts to peace by knowing that she gave it her everything including honestly.
He nods his head and then the waiter arrives and places their dishes in front of them. Both of them smile at the waiter and thank him. Moments like this remind her why they worked well together. It was because they were like each other in all of the ways that count. Maybe too similar, as they were so unused to disagreeing to the point that at their first major disagreement, they separated.
Ten minutes into them eating the main dish, Marco drops his spoon and fork on his plate and then asks her, "Do you wish you never shot yourself in the foot?"
Not taking her eyes off her plate, she asks him instead, "Do you wish that you never gave me an ultimatum?"
Not missing a heart beat, he replies, "All the time."
She looks up tom meet his gaze and answers him, "More than I care to count."
He nods his head and then they resume eating with the silence being occasionally broken by the people around them. Once they finish eating, they stand up together silently and walk toward their separate cars.
"Bella," he calls from his spot by the driver's door.
She looks up in acknowledgment which prompts him to ask, "If I called, would you pick up the phone?"
After a moment of silence, she smiles and replies, "As if my life depended on it."
Hello lovely people,
We are done. After 10 months and two days, we finished this story, and when I say we, I mean it cause if it wasn't for your support I wouldn't have finished this story.
When I started writing fanfiction, I was like a drowning person grasping onto straws. I have loved writing since fifth grade, but up until three years ago I believed that I wouldn't be good enough at it to make a living which is how I ended up joining a clinical pharmacology program fresh out of high school with the aim of going to medicine school after that. Except that things didn't go as planned and after a lot of mental health issues and a bunch of failed classes, I decided that people's lives won't be safe with me. Initially I was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder, but recently a review on my other story is making me wonder if I have ADHD. When I decided that becoming a doctor was no longer in the cards for me, I decided to take writing more seriously. I spent over a year trying to write something, but for the life of me, I couldn't produce a full story. I would lose motivation, the lack of feedback would make me lose interest, or a more interesting idea would take over my head.
That's when I decided to write my original work in the form of twilight fanfiction. I have been reading twilight fanfic on and off for years, and the fanbase is wide enough that I knew I will find people that will like my writing. Since then my life has never been better. I initially started another story that since then I removed and started rewriting as Risk it All, but that is another story for another time. Since then I have started writing poetry, essays and short stories, and I have plans to start publishing them on Substack in May and publish Left behind and Risk it all as original works on there sometime down the line.
I want to thank everyone who has been a part of my journey as a writer. Just knowing that there are a 105 people invested in my writing enough to follow this story is crazy. If you can't stomach reading this Bella and Edward being together, please go and read my other story. My Edward there is a sweetheart. Also put me on Author alert cause I have my next story already planned and I will post it after I am done with the sequel which I am going to try and finish in two months, three at most.
Since the overwhelming majority voted for the story to be called Moving Forward, that's what I am calling it. The first chapter is already up. Go ahead and read it, but not before you tell me what you think of this chapter.
Stay Safe