Chapter 16

She was waiting at the airport nervously. She would see him in person for the first time in 4 years. They had graduated from high school just a month prior and he had surprised her with a plant to visit her with Rosalie.

Over the past few years, they had confessed so many feelings and hopes for the future. She had been in love with him since she was 13 and knew he felt the same way. This would be the first time sharing those feelings while being together.

When she saw him, she felt her heart stop only restart and beat even harder. She had thought about that scenario many times: what she would say, what he would say, what they would do. Everything left her mind and she ran until she reached his arms. He spun her around, drawing her closer to his body and kissed her.

He kissed her like he had never kissed anyone. Everything they felt was said in that kiss where they communicated what they had wanted to express with words for so many years.

"For God's sake, promise me that's not how you were planning to greet me too," Rosalie said.

The game of truth or dare lost momentum after that. No one could get over the fact that I had sung something after so many years. Damn Edward taking me out of my comfort zone. In the end, there was only one person left who had not had a turn.

"Edward, truth or dare?" Jake asked for the last time.

"Dare," he responded with a mocking smile.

Jake thought for a moment before giving Edward a calculating look. Something I had never seen in him. It was his lawyer side for sure.

"I dare you to call the most beautiful woman you have ever met, and say 'Hello beautiful.'"

Oof. That was a tough one but at least it had nothing to do with me. In a way, I felt bad for Edward because it wouldn't be a comfortable experience. On the other hand, the idea of who she would be irritated me. Having not spoken for so long, I had no idea how many women he had been with or dated.

Edward shrugged and took out his phone. We all look at him expectantly. After a minute he said "Hello, beautiful" and hung up. I felt a handful of jealousy that I tried to push away from my chest. At that moment I think I preferred the hole.

"She didn't answer, but left a message."

And so the game ended and I still had my dignity intact.

Alice and Rosalie were very emotional after everything that happened. They were happy and kept trying to suggest that we go to karaoke one of these days. I promised to go, but I didn't promise to sing again. I got distracted talking to Jake for a moment in which he tried to broach the topic of the kiss. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see how Alice was chatting animatedly with Edward, something that was really not seen every day.

"I'm just saying that if you kissed me, you would know for sure I'm perfect for you," he said as matter of factly. I rolled my eyes.

"I think you overestimate your abilities," I joked.

"I think you underestimate them," he countered. "What do you say we go out tomorrow and see how things turn out?"

I considered it for a moment. Edward was definitely out of limits, and not just because of Jake. Did I really need to kiss him to forget all about Edward? Well I'd be damned but I would try it.

"Alright. But I'll have pepper spray on hand in case you get out of control."

Jake laughed.

"You always know how to make a man's heart race, Bella. I have to go now, but see you tomorrow?"

"Sure," I answered. He kissed me on the cheek before saying goodbye to the others and leaving.

I checked the time and realized that I had to go too. I said goodbye to everyone and ran away from Edward because I didn't want to talk about the kiss again. Especially now that Jake and I were going out tomorrow and a kiss was likely to happen. I just wanted to get rid of the word "kiss" altogether.

I was at the door when I heard Sam call my name.

"Aunt Bella!"

"Sam, what's wrong?"

"Emma had your phone. She was watching videos."

Give it to Emma to know how to operate a smartphone like it was nothing at two years old. I hadn't even felt her take it. I took the phone from Sam's hand and gave him another hug.

"Thanks, bud. See you."

I got into my car and drove thinking about Jake and Edward. I was excited for our date although my nerves were also eating away at me. I thought about Edward and his question, about how I would have kissed him very effusively, but I wondered if it was just because of the high emotions. And there was one more thing.

Dimitri had been the love of my life, not someone I had settled for because I didn't have Edward. I was heartbroken when I met him and he helped me put it back together but deep down I knew that a piece of my heart would belong to Edward forever. It didn't matter how much I loved my husband, there was always the memory of another great love. I didn't love them the same, because two loves are never the same and I loved Dimitri like I had never loved anyone else.

Now that Edward was back in my life, and without Dimitri in it, trying something with Edward seemed like an admission that I waited for Edward even though I was married to someone else. It wasn't like that, was it? No, Edward could only be memory, a beautiful and painful memory. The kind that clouds your mind and makes your heart hurt, and that's how it needed to stay.

The hole in my chest threatened to attack me but my brain kept it out of it as I thought about Dimitri and Edward, and Edward and Jake. Two months ago I hadn't had any of this. I was still mired in my depression and then Edward Cullen appeared and my life still didn't make sense again.

I came home tired and checked my phone as usual.

The screen reflected a few notifications and a missed call. Had I forgotten something? Edward had called me but my phone was in Drive mode so the notifications didn't reach me, and neither did the calls. After the accident, I was very serious about driving responsibly, I would never want to be the reason someone else lost their family.

I got out of the car while accessing my voicemails. I had the phone in one hand while I opened the door with the other.

"Hello, beautiful."