What If by twihart21

Official Description:

Edward is a successful defense attorney living in LA. He lives a lonely, predictable life. But one day, he wakes up in an unfamiliar house, in an unfamiliar room with Bella laying next to him. Will he ever want to wake up from this dream? AH EPOV

I stumbled upon What If by twihart21 because I read a rec. Based on the concept of the story (it’s a spin off idea based on the movie “The Family Man”) I suspected it would feed my angst craving and boy was I right! Although the story is not labeled “angst” and it’s not overly done it is one of those stories that if you let it, you feel the ache from the first chapter. And once I stop trying to compare the story to the movie and let go of the fact that other than the actual concept there isn’t much similarity, I fell in love!

The story starts out with a driven hard working Lawyerward. In the case of this Edward the saying “all work and no play makes you a dull boy” certainly applies. Emmett and Jasper are his older brothers who while visiting LA for a weekend with their fiancées, Rose and Alice, convince Edward to leave work behind for a few hours and come meet the special women in their lives. It is then that he meets Bella.

Bella is good friends with the brothers Cullen, Rose and Alice. Of course she and Edward hit it off right away (it is an E/B story after all!). They share some great conversation and he is so taken with her, his verbal filter frequently slips. Strong lawyerward even blushes! Several times!

The next morning he wakes up to discover a new room and a new life where he’s dating Bella. He finds out in this life he’s not a lawyer but a music teacher, he has stayed close to his family in Seattle and seems very happy. He’s got a best friend named Blake and has spent the last 4 years loving Bella. But he doesn’t accept this alternative life as real, expecting each morning when he wakes up to be back in LA.

The story progresses while Edward tries to learn his new life, friends and his relationship with Bella. When after a few months of this he is still here he finally gives in and really lives this new life to its full extent.

And even though you know it’s coming when he finally admits he loves her and gives into this being real ….yep! He goes to bed and wakes up back in LA!

After having loved Bella and been so happy he can’t go back to his old life. He quits his job and moves back to Seattle but quickly realizes that Bella in this life has a boyfriend…his bff from his “dream life”. He tries to be the bigger man and not disrupt her life because even though he wants to hate him, he’s still a great guy who is turning into a best friend even now.

The story is 27 chapters in and the last couple have my angst meter off the charts. Will things work out for Edward? Read to find out!

Ya’ll might remember how much I love Do Over by TKegl, even though I’ve never seen The Family Man. A couple of weeks ago, I came across What If on an LJ community and started reading. I. Could. Not. Stop.

I love this story because it’s totally gripping. CullenCrazy01 told you what it’s about–Edward has a “dream” that has him insanely crazy in love with Bella, a girl he just met in real life. The dream lasts seven months, and the whole time, he’s worried that he will wake up. I really love Edward’s character here, because he’s worried about doing right by Bella (and everyone else). He doesn’t want to kiss her or fuck her, because he knows that it’s not really him that she loves, and that is causing a strain on their relationship. Finally, he seeks counsel from his brother, Jasper, and this is one of my favorite parts of the story:

[dcs_p]“She thinks I’m cheating on her.”

[dcs_p]Jasper nodded, standing to clean his plate and put it away. “Alice told me. But I told her that was stupid. You’d never do that no matter what was really going on.” He dried the plate and put it away in the cabinets before turning to face me while leaning against the marble countertop. [/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“Do you know how long you have?”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“No.”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“Maybe it’s permanent.”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]I shrugged. “Maybe.”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“Why don’t you just tell her?”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“If it was Alice would you tell her?”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]He looked at his feet, moving the soles of his shoes along the grout in between the tiles. Then after pondering my question, he lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know.”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“I’m afraid she would look at me differently. She might would see me as someone else entirely, and I…I don’t want that. I like that she sees me as the same guy from four years ago. I like…god, I like that she sees me as someone she loves and not as a stranger. How pathetic is that?”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“How pathetic is what?”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“That I want her to tell me she loves me even though I can’t say it back? How fucking pathetic is it that I won’t make love to her even though she begs me, but I…I don’t want her to stop begging. Fuck!” I tugged at the roots of my hair, loving the pain it caused me. “I just…I woke up one day, and there she was. I woke up, and everything was different. And…and I had a plan! Jazz, I had a fucking plan! I didn’t ask for any of this!”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]I could hear my shouting, but for some reason, it didn’t sound like me. Had my voice changed?[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“You know, at first…I think I was just trying to get by. I was pretending, sort of. But now…now…” my voice had changed. I felt my throat close up, and my saliva running thick through my mouth. My stomach tightened, and suddenly I felt like I might be sick. “Now…all I know is that leaving her would kill me. Now, suddenly, this life feels like the right one.”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]Jasper was looking at me with so much remorse and so much…pity. With him looking at me like that and with my stomach churning the way it was, I really felt sick. I was rapidly feeling dizzy and hot so I sat on the stool again but kept talking. I don’t know why. Maybe it was making my body feel worse, but maybe it was also making my heart feel lighter.[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“I’m so scared, Jazz,” I said to him in a whisper.[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]But ‘scared’ didn’t suffice. Scared, helpless, desperate, overwhelmed, unprepared, sad, plagued, miserable, self-loathing: all of these were mixed in my sea of apprehension and the unknown.[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“Edward? Do you want to know what I would do if I were you?” he asked.[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]I rested my head inside my hands but still spoke, sounding muffled and almost inaudible, “What?”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“You need to make the best of it. You’ve obviously been put here for a reason. So, make the most of it. Love her, fuck her, do whatever you need to do. Hell, marry her while you can. Either way, you’re going to lose her.”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]The thought crushed me. Hearing it, crushed me.[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“You’re right.” But it still hurt to think about. “I just don’t know how ‘he’ acted, you know? I don’t know how to be that guy for her.”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]Jasper chuckled and began to walk out the kitchen but stopped before he completely left, turning towards me one last time. “You know you’re talking about you, right? Just be yourself, man. That’s all you can do.” He looked at the ground once more then back at me. “She fell in love with you. Not someone else.”[/dcs_p]

He finally lets himself go and just…love her, though he can’t shake the feeling that it can all end at any point. When it does, he’s devastated and goes a little crazy. Intent on getting his “dream” life back, he moves to Seattle and changes everything. But when he finds out that Bella has a boyfriend, he all but gives up.

[dcs_p]“They’re so happy,” I said out loud. I don’t know if I was really speaking to Alice, but she replied anyway.[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“They seem so happy,” she corrected.[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]I ignored it. “How could I do that? How could I ever come between two people that I care so much about?”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“You’re only human, Edward. You deserve happiness too.”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“I am happy. Why does no one believe that? I have a wonderful family and wonderful friends. I have a great job that I’m sure I’ll love. And I’m on the right path to getting everything I never even knew I wanted.”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“Not everything.”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“If it was you, Alice….” I started, never looking over at her, just staring straight ahead at the couple in front of me. “If you were me, and if the person you loved fell asleep beside you each night, and you woke up, and they were there; and then you went to work, and they were there; and you came home, and they were there; and you hung around your family, and they were there. Each and every day. For seven months. And you fell in love so hard, so fast. And then, you wake up one day, and suddenly, they don’t know who you are. You’re a stranger. You’re no one to them. And when you finally get the courage to tell them how you feel and what you went through, they don’t even believe you. You try and try and try to explain, but there’s no use. They love someone else. And not only do they love someone else, but they love your best friend. What if Jasper fell in love with Bella? The love of your life now loves your best friend. And now there’s nothing you can do. How would you feel?”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“I would know they weren’t really meant to be together,” she replied softly.[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]“But what would you do? What could you do?”[/dcs_p]

[dcs_p]She laid her hand on my shoulder until I turned my head to look at her. “I’d fight,” she said strongly with courage and assurance. “I’d fight till the death.” She looked me right in the eye. “And I’d never give up.”[/dcs_p]

*sigh* I really love this story. There’s drama and friendship and fuckhot lemons and so much emotion. I hope you’ll check it out!

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