Adventures in an alternate dimension

Chapter 25 - Love's Unwritten Rules

Bella's POV

Rain lashed against the windows of the cozy Forks library, drumming a rhythmic counterpoint to the nervous flutter in my chest. Across the worn oak table, Edward sat stiff as a marble statue, his golden eyes a stormy reflection of the weather outside. And nestled between us, with the air of a furry peacemaker, was Sky.

Sky, with his sun-kissed skin and wolfish grin, felt like a burst of summer in this perpetually overcast town. A constant reminder of everything I'd almost surrendered - my humanity, my mortality, my own heart. His arrival, mere days ago, had thrown our fragile equilibrium into disarray. Not just Edward's, mine too.

Silence stretched taut, thick with unspoken anxieties. Finally, Sky chuckled, a husky sound that seemed to scrape across my raw emotions.

"Well, this is awkward," he drawled, tilting his head towards Edward. "Didn't see this love triangle in the Forks weather forecast."

Edward's jaw clenched, but he remained silent. My gaze darted between them, two powerful beings whose paths I, mortal moth, had somehow tangled.

"Love triangle?" I choked out, the word sounding alien on my tongue.

Sky's grin widened. "Come on, Bella, even a shape-shifter with one working nostril can see the tension here. You, Edward, brooding like a teenage vampire poet. And here's me, the inconvenient third wheel, just trying to see my best friend."

Best friend. The word twisted in my gut. Sky had been my everything before Forks, before Edward. My childhood confidante, my teenage rebel partner-in-crime, the boy who understood my awkward stumbles, my quiet longings. But Edward, he was another world. A symphony of moonlight and danger, a forbidden fruit that had poisoned my soul with its exquisite sweetness.

"Sky," I said, my voice a plea, "don't make this harder than it is."

His smile softened, his golden eyes meeting mine with a familiar warmth. "Bella, I'm not here to make it harder. Just easier, maybe. To remind you of... who you were, before all this."

He gestured towards Edward, a silent accusation. And for a terrifying moment, I saw everything through Sky's eyes. The pale, brooding vampire who kept me perpetually in the shadow of his immortality. The one who demanded my life while offering only eternity in return.

Edward's breath hitched, like a predator sensing a threat. "Don't you dare twist this, Sloane," he growled, his voice a low rumble.

Sky raised an eyebrow, unfazed. "Twist what, Cullen? Your undying devotion that suffocates her like a silk scarf? Your promises of forever that come at the cost of her every sunrise?"

His words were barbs, piercing a wound I hadn't even acknowledged. Tears stung my eyes, threatening to spill. Was this truly my life? A choice between forever with a shadow, or an existence ripped short by my own yearning for warmth and light?

The rain beat a frantic tattoo against the glass. Inside, silence reigned, pregnant with the weight of our unspoken truths. My gaze landed on Edward, his face a mask of conflicting emotions. His love, I knew, was fierce, possessive, an inferno that threatened to consume me whole. But Sky... Sky offered a hand outstretched, a familiar path back to the girl I'd almost forgotten.

The choice, I realized with a cold dread, was mine. And choosing meant breaking something, maybe even myself. Taking a deep breath, I pushed back the tide of tears. My voice, when it came, was raw but steady.

"It's not that simple," I said, looking at Sky, then Edward. "Neither of you. My heart... it's... divided."

The truth hung heavy in the air, an accusation against everything I thought I knew. And as I met their gazes, two halves of my fractured soul, I knew the hardest part had just begun.