Emerging Swan

Chapter 15 - Till There Was You

There were bells on a hill
But I never heard them ringing
No, I never heard them at all
Till there was you

There were birds in the sky
But I never saw them winging
No, I never saw them at all
Till there was you

Then there was music and wonderful roses
They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew

There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No, I never heard it at all
Till there was you

Til There Was You ~ The Beatles

***

Edward Cullen, 2020

Events: 2014

Oh, fuck, I thought as I heard Lauren's voice. Something told me that this was not going to be pretty. Bella wasn't exactly in a brilliant emotional state, and I had a feeling that she wouldn't stand for any of Lauren's shit today. It had all been relatively quiet on that front, save for those vile messages and letters, but neither of us had actually seen my bitch of an ex for some time. Apparently even Tanya had calmed down at Bella's workplace.

Sighing, I stood up and made my way to the front door, where I saw Bella with her hands fisted on her hips as she stared down Lauren and my sister, who were standing next to each other on Bella's porch, both smirking. I hesitated for a moment, wondering if my presence would make the situation worse, but decided that I couldn't leave Bella to deal with those nut-cases on her own.

"Eddie!" Lauren screeched when she saw me. She pushed past Bella, nearly knocking her over, and threw her arms around my neck, pushing me backwards so that I was trapped against the wall. Before I could move to push her away, Lauren's lips were covering mine as she thrust her tongue in my mouth. I raised both hands and shoved her shoulders, hard, breaking the contact between us. I wiped my mouth, disgusted.

"Stay away from me," I spat. "I have had enough of your shit. You break into my house, have your freaky friends break into Bella's house, and get my sister on your side? What the fuck is wrong with you? Just leave us alone."

Lauren sneered. "James is not my friend. Asshole. They were only trying to show you the evidence that your fucking girlfriend has been cheating on you. Make it more...obvious."

Oh, good god, was she for fucking real? Planting evidence of Bella's cheating? Really? Whatever Tanya and James had planted, I hadn't even noticed it. These crazy-ass bitches clearly weren't very good at scheming. They were just insane.

"And you went along with breaking into my girlfriend's house?" I demanded of Alice, whirling round to face her.

"Oh, please," Alice said, laughing. "Like Lauren coerced me into this. I offered to help get you two back together."

"Well, you're doing a fucking amazing job," Bella hissed. "Do you see any love between them? No. Why do you want your own brother to be unhappy?"

"Because Lauren would be so much better for him! You need to break up with him, for his own good. You're not the same. You're a city girl that dates the boring, nerdy guys. Edward will just get bored of you, and have to bother with you pining after him."

"Bother with Bella pining after me?" I choked out, laughing. "Look at you two. I think you're doing the pining."

"You've got a broken girl, Eddie," Lauren whined. "I'm so much better. I'm whole. I can do things she can't even dream of. Let me remind you of what a real woman can do."