Heroes, and Their Heroine

I stood in front of my mirror in the same clothes I've been in all day. It was now ten at night and I had an hour before Emmett gets off at the diner and goes home for another sleepless night. I let out a puff of hair and smoothed out the crinkles in my shirt, and walked away from the mirror only to casually (or at least attempt to) walk towards the same mirror again. I smiled brightly at my reflection, "Hey Emmett," I mouthed. I didn't dare to say anything because there were people with superb hearing down the street. Do I really want to make myself seem like a lunatic?

Nope.

"Look," I mouthed again. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. For being such a bitch."

Oh really? I imagined him say smugly. In a matter of seconds my collected persona had dipped back into an annoyed teenager with boy problems. I groaned and tossed my head back, moving to lay on my bed, face down.

I've been standing in front of that stupid mirror for hours, trying to find the right words to say. I never thought apologizing would be this hard, espeically since I've been rude to someone who hasn't really don't anything to deserve such a treatment. I shifted in my bed and turned over to lay on my back, arms spread around me.

Slowly, I turned to look at the clock across the room on the vanity that glowed a bright red, 10:15. I heaved another sigh and pushed myself up, moving to my closet to get a coat that hung limply on a hanger. After slipping that on, I put on some Converse and headed out. I had to get this done and over with because I am losing whatever is left of my sanity.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and looked at the ground, watching my feet as I walked the memorized path to the diner. He was sweet, funny, cute, charming; everything I wanted and never wanted. He made my heart beat faster with a simple look and made me die repeatedly with that gorgeous smile.

Being friends seemed like messing up a fate we had no idea of, but I couldn't end up like my father as much as I loved him; I didn't want to trust someone so entirely only to have them pulled away from me. I didn't want to be tossed aside.

Edward cleared his throat from behind me and I gasped, clutching the fabric over my chest. I turned and glared at him, "What is wrong with you?" I frowned. "You really want me to die, don't you?"

He laughed at the pun. "You're to die soon anyway. Your birthday isn't that far off."

"Mm," I hummed. "I guess. What do you want Edward? Shouldn't you be with Bella?"

He shrugged and fell into step beside me. We were minutes away from the diner and my feet had conciously slowed to a very turtle-like pace. He shoved his hands into his pocket. "Bella's at her friends sleepover thing. I couldn't very well see her today at all. Besides, bothering you is fun."

I glared at him, "Oh, ha, ha. Seriously."

His golden eyes gazed over at me and twinkled. "Your thoughts ran through my head again. Die repeatedly?"

I scowled at the quote and pushed him, making him laugh. "Stay out of my head."

"If I could, I would, but I can't. So too bad," he grinned. However, his grin turned into a frown as he remembered the other things I had thought of. "You should really give him more credit, Maria."

I breathed out through my nose and shuffled my way to the diner. "What?"

"He wouldn't do anything to hurt you; not intentionally at least. He's a really caring person, despite his, outter appearance."

I shrugged, "I'm afraid to Edward, you know that. You also know as well as I do, that you can't force yourself to do anything that you're uncomfortable with. You don't want to change Bells do you?"

He let the comment slide and continued to berate me, "But he's not stupid. He has stupid moments, yes, but he's not stupid. I'm telling you the truth. He would not hurt you. I mean, how do you know he'd hurt you like the way your --"

Edward stopped himself and stared down apologetically at me. I nodded.

"You're right, I don't know. But I don't really want to find out if he would either. Friends, Edward," I reminded him. "You said I could just stick to friends."

Sighing in defeat, Edward and I fell into a stop in front of the diner, Emmett serving an elderly couple that sat in a booth towards the back before heading back to the kitchen to give the cook the order. Giving me an encouraging smile he nodded towards the diner, "You can stick to friends," he whispered to himself. I walked through the door and shut it behind me, barely catching his last few words as he left swiftly. "But I highly doubt that is what you two will be for long."

I took a deep breath and sat down at the counter. Familiar footsteps that I knew could only belong to Emmett bounded across the floor and I looked up, smiling a little as he turned the corner, returning back to the counter. His jaw dropped and he slowly walked towards me.

"What are you doing here?" he asked curiously.

"I came to, uh," my voice had dropped to a soft volume but I knew with his hearing, he could hear me perfectly. "I came to talk to you."