Heartbroken

AN: New moon, AU, book world so Angela dates Ben (not Eric, like in the movie) but I let her keep her photography hobby from the movie.

Prompt 17 from the anon twi fic contest of 2012. The prompts are now stored here

sparklyredpen ?gallery=ficspiration

The picture prompt was of a girl tearing apart a crayon drawn heart. I looked for female characters I hadn't written for yet, and chose Angela.

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and pre-reading.

Angela Weber was heartbroken. She had always thought it was a figure of speech. It was too ridiculous to think that an emotional hurt could possibly cause actual, physical pain. But it did. Her heart ached in her chest as if it was bruised and damaged. She was surprised that a few small words could cause such pain.

I think we should break up for a while.

What did that even mean? Did it imply that they could get back together again, later? She had felt the hurt as if a javelin had thudded into her chest. It was that painful.

And it was so unexpected.

Ben Cheney.

She had been so wary of dating. For most guys, her height was a negative. Angela was just over six feet tall. Ben was of Asian descent and was only five feet seven. A whole lot shorter than Angela, but neither of them had cared. She had an image of him with his black hair, golden brown skin, and dark brown eyes.

Just thinking his name made her feel ill; that queasy, awful, stomach churning feeling. She couldn't eat. She couldn't go out. She spent all her time huddled under her bed covers sleeping and dreaming of happier times. She had got through the endless crying stage, but occasionally something set her off; a sad song, or a remembered memory. She had been like this for days.

She had never had a broken heart before.

The thought occurred to her that she should call Bella Swan and apologise. She had been as unsympathetic as the others when Bella had lost Edward. Well, she hadn't technically lost him. Edward and his whole family had left without a word of explanation to anyone. That did seem worse, somehow. Or was it worse to know that Ben was still living in the same town in the same house? Still going to the same places. The same school? Oh, crap. Thinking of the same places, they had organised to go to Seattle Uni together. Should she change? Did she have time to apply somewhere else?

Ugh. Was she going to have to change her whole life because of him?

She threw herself back on her bed with a loud groan.

There was a knock at her door. "Honey? You okay?"

"Come in, Mom."

Her mother's worried face appeared around the door. "I have a cup of tea for you… if you wanted it… I understand if you don't-"

"I'd love a cup of tea. Thanks, Mom." She knew her mother was worried about her.

Her mother passed her the mug and sat on the edge of her bed and brushed Angela's hair back from her forehead. "Boys," said her mother with disgust.

She sipped her tea. "I know, right?" She had never really discussed dating with her mother before. "Did you ever get dumped?"

"I did. I spent my days listening to sad songs and writing dramatic poetry in multi-coloured inks." She gave a small smile. "These days… you'd what? Search YouTube for sad songs?"

"And tumblr. Get with it, Mom." She typed in 'broken heart' and got a picture of a girl tearing apart a piece of paper with a crayon drawn red heart on it.

She turned the laptop so that her mother could see the image. "Stuff like this."

Her mother wrinkled her nose. "That girl is too thin," she declared, a common complaint from Angela's mother. "And it doesn't make sense, starts with a broken love? Surely the love needs to come first, and they have two dots instead of three in the ellipses."

Angela chuckled. Her father was a Lutheran minister and her mother was an English teacher.

Her mother smiled. "I am glad to hear that laugh."

"You got over it; I'll get over it."

"I got over it when I met your father. I remember thinking he was the nicest, sweetest boy."

"Really?"

"He still is."

Angela looked suddenly sad. "I thought Ben was nice and sweet."

Her mother hugged her. "I know, Honey. It will just take time."

"I thought I might call Bella Swan."

"Of course, she'd understand."

"If she wants to go out, can I do that?"

"Certainly. I will look after the twins. You always do so much for me; it's time to repay that."

"I don't mind. I love the boys."

"I know. But you need space and time, now."

She hugged her mother. "Thank you." She blinked quickly.

"I hate seeing you like this," her mother said. "Call Bella."

"I will."

She huddled up under her comforter, sipped her tea and looked at gifs of rain on windows on tumblr for a while. She texted Bella.

She got a message back within fifteen minutes. Bella said she was going out to visit her mechanic tomorrow if she wanted to join her. It was in La Push and it would take her a few hours.

Angela thought La Push was far enough out of town to avoid Ben without being too far away to come back if her mother needed her.

She dreamed that night, of happier times. Laughing in the cafeteria with all her friends, as well as Ben. She woke up crying.

Then she showered and dressed and felt better just for doing that. She drove herself to Bella's house and arrived just as Charlie was leaving. "Good morning, sir."

"Morning, Angela."

"You gonna spend the day with Bells?"

"That's the plan."

Bella came out just as Charlie was driving away. "Let's go," she cheerily said.

Angela noticed that the truck seemed to be running fine, if fine was idling at eighty decibels. "Why are we going out to La Push?" she asked carefully.

Bella glanced at her. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Sure."

"I found some motorbikes outside the Marks' place. Jake is helping me fix them up. You know the Marks' place?"

Of course she did. They were neighbours to Ben. Right opposite his place.

Ben.

She sniffed.

Bella looked at her. "Are you okay, Angela?"

"I-I…" She just started to cry.

Bella pulled over to the side of the road. "Holy Crow, Ang. What's wrong?"

"Ben… d-dumped me!" she wailed. "Last week!"

Bella threw her arms around her and hugged her. "The … dumbass," she said. It wasn't like Bella to swear. "I am so sorry. I didn't know. We can go back to the house. I can do this on another day."

Angela found a tissue in her bag and wiped her eyes. "No. It's okay. I need to get out of the house."

"You're sure?"

She nodded emphatically. "I'm sure."

Bella started the motor and continued driving. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you and with the school break..." her voice trailed off.

Bella got it. "Lucky it is the holidays. It's so awkward; isn't it? Seeing him around."

"I knew you would understand. Everything reminds me of him." She took a breath. "But nothing at La Push should. Oh, we are not going near the beach, are we?"

"No." Bella smiled at her. "I just hang around in Jake's garage. He won't mind you joining us."

"Jacob Black? I remember him. He came to the prom."

Bella chuckled. "He did, too. You won't recognise him; he's grown a foot since then."

"Literally?"

"Yep. He's huge and really strong."

"Strong? How do you mean?"

Bella bit her lip. "I noticed… when I brought the bikes out, he lifted one out of the back of the truck by himself."

"Goodness. Just lifted it?" She made a gesture with her hands.

"Yes."

"And it took me and the Marks boy ages to get them into the truck."

"How old is he now?"

"Sixteen."

"Hmmm."

They were both silent as they thought about it.

"Did you bring your camera?" Bella asked, as she passed the sign marking the edge of the tribal land.

"Of course."

"Great. There are some beautiful things out there. Should be able to take some great pictures. I don't have the photographer gene."

Angela chuckled. "I think you mean eye."

"That's it."

Jake jogged out of the shed as the truck pulled up; his long hair swinging free. Angela understood completely what Bella meant. Jake had more than grown. He was nearly six feet five or taller and his arms had filled out with long rounded muscles. He clearly got his physique from his father. She knew Billy was a big man and Jake was growing up to look just like him.

The way he picked up Bella and swung her around showed that he was growing up in more ways than one. Angela thought it was so obvious that the crush he had on Bella when she was dating Edward, had crystallised into love. He beamed at her as if she lit up his world. And she smiled back at him; but in a way that showed she didn't quite feel the same way. Angela was willing to bet it was a 'yet'. Bella hugged Jake just as hard as he held her. And her hands stroked down his skin as if she didn't want to let him go. No wonder. Angela would have done it herself if he gave her the chance. Jacob Black was beautiful.

Bella's version of helping Jake fix the bikes seemed to be sitting around, passing him the wrong tools and touching him all the time.

It made Angela smile to watch, but she got antsy about it. It was too much; too affectionate, too much a reminder of the love she had lost.

She waved the camera. "I might go take some shots."

"Okay." Bella smiled at her. "Did you want me to come with you?"

"No. It's okay."

Jake studied her with serious eyes. "Be careful."

"Always am."

She was hurrying out the door with her head down; away from the love blossoming behind her and ran straight into the warmest wall she had ever run into.

"Ouf," it said.

The camera strap wasn't around her neck and it dropped from her hand.

He caught it before it hit the ground. That was impressive enough, but then as he straightened up he just kept unfolding in front of her until his head was above hers.

She blinked. He had to be almost four inches taller than her.

She looked up into the nicest brown eyes she had seen in ages. He had a dimple in the centre of his chin and he was smiling at her. His hair wasn't as long as Jake's but it was shoulder length and tucked behind one ear. He was just as beautiful as Jake but slimmer. "Hi."

"Hello," she said.

The eyes changed to worried. "Are you okay? Did I hit you too hard?" His hand lifted as if to touch her cheek.

She thought she was going to burst into tears. She was already unsettled and close to crying and his sympathy would be her undoing.

She muttered something completely unintelligible, put her head down and ran.

"Jeez Em, you scared her away!" she heard.

"Wait!" he called after her, but she ran.

She could hear other voices; Bella obviously explaining who she was and what her problem was. How embarrassing.

She went to the beach, even though she had sworn that she wouldn't. She huddled down behind a dead tree trunk and had a good cry. She remembered that day when they had all come here to surf, when Bella was new and she and Bella had sat in the van and talked. Now she thought about it, Jake and some friends had shown up that day.

Bella found her. Angela suspected that she had some help.

"Ang? You okay?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry. This might have been too much for you."

"It's okay… really. I can't stay in bed for weeks." She heard the unsaid comment that Bella did exactly that, and for months. "Oh, my God. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that as a comment about you."

"Don't worry about it. I lost it big time. I know that. You were the only person who kept trying to speak to me. You kept trying to reach me."

"You were so sad."

"It hurt so much."

"I know that, now."

"But every day you keep going. And one day you realise you are okay. Not one hundred percent, but you are out and trying to smile… that's the start."

"Jake is easy to smile at."

"Yes, he is."

Angela looked at Bella. "He likes you."

"I know. He's like my best friend."

"That's tricky."

"Yes. If I date him and it doesn't work out, I could lose my best friend, too."

Angela wasn't sure what to say to that.

Bella picked up a stick and fiddled with it. "It catches me off guard sometimes. How much he likes me. What he will do for me. He's sort of beautiful."

"Sort of? He's definitely beautiful."

Bella chuckled. "You should see him with his shirt off."

"Gah. I can imagine."

"He's my sun," Bella said.

Angela thought she knew what she meant; Jake kept her alive right now and brought light into her darkness. "He's worth trying to date."

"But he's so young."

"He doesn't seem it. He seems very set on what he wants."

"Me."

"Yeah."

They sat there in silence for a minute.

"Embry is worried about you."

Angela thought that Embry was a very unusual name. "Why? He just met me."

"And you cried."

"It wasn't his fault." She glanced at Bella. "Honestly it was you and Jake. You are so sweet together."

Bella blushed. "Oh." She stood and brushed sand from her butt. "Gah. What a mess."

"It's not your fault."

"I know right? It's Ben's."

Angela stood. "Clearly."

Bella hugged her. "Please come back to the house and have a hot drink or something to eat and then I can take you home," Bella offered.

Angela nodded.

Back at the house, the kitchen was filled by three enormous boys. One was a bit shorter than the other two but made up for it in width. Jake introduced him as Quil.

"And you met Embry," Jake said.

Embry stayed away from her and waved before shoving his hands back in his pockets. "We've met," he said.

"Yes, sorry I ran into you."

"No, not at the garage, I meant ages ago… when you guys came out here to surf."

"That was you?"

"And Sam."

"Sam?" checked Bella. She remembered someone making the statement that the Cullens didn't come to La Push. Goodness, he had changed just as much as Embry and Jake had; she barely recognised him.

"You remember me?" Angela asked.

Embry smiled at her. "Of course."

"Oh."

"I remember that day," said Bella with an odd look in her eye. She tugged at Jake's arm. "I need to talk to you. Just give me a sec?" she pleaded with Angela.

She nodded and Bella dragged Jake outside.

Quil winked obviously at his friend. "I've got some stuff to do," he said before leaving them alone.

Now it was just Angela and Embry on opposite sides of the kitchen.

He held up her camera.

"Thank you."

"Are you okay?"

Angela thought she might scream if one more person asked her that, but she owed him an explanation. "I just broke up with my boyfriend."

"Oh. I am sorry to hear that."

"I don't even know why I am telling you this."

"It explains the tears."

"Yes, I suppose it does."

He looked so sympathetic.

"Have you? Ever broken up with someone?" She wasn't sure why she was asking him.

"Me? No. Never had a girlfriend." He added, "Too shy."

"Me too. But you don't seem shy. I know shy when I see it because I am." She made a nervous hand gesture. "And now I'm babbling."

"You seem very confident to me."

"You are just easy to talk to."

"Any time," he offered.

She stepped across the room and picked up her camera from the kitchen counter.

"Did you take any photos?" he asked.

"No."

"Another day." He took a breath. "I …I could show you some good spots… for photos… if you wanted."

"Another day," she copied him. "Without the tears," she added.

"Shake on it," he said as he held his hand out to her.

She took his hand and he felt incredibly warm to the touch. Bella had said that Jake was her sun, and just for an instant Angela wished that she had a sun of her own, too. One that hugged her, the way Jake hugged Bella and that looked at her as if she was his whole world the way Jake did.

She was still holding his hand. He was studying her with his big dark eyes.

"I'm okay," she said hurriedly before he asked her again. He let her hand go.

He nodded but he didn't look convinced.

"I need to go home, but I will take you up on the scenery offer."

"We shook on it and it's not really scenery, more like places with potential. Sometimes it's the little things that are important." He brushed her cheek with his fingers. "You're important," he repeated.

She blinked quickly. She felt like crying. "But not so little," she joked.

He smiled at her and it was blinding. There was the sun; beaming at her.

"You're little to me," he said.

She waited two days to go back. Bella texted her Embry's number and they made arrangements to meet.

Angela told her mother, "I met the nicest, sweetest boy."