So I wanted to write a more mature Bella... this is her story! :o)

See you guys at the bottom...

A Life Less Ordinary

Summary: Bella is a single mom not really looking for anything. But once it's sitting right in front of her, will she be able to make her move and realize she deserves it? BxE; M for l BPOV

1.

You know the great old saying "When life gives you lemons; make lemonade"? Well, my entire life, up until I moved back home, has been a giant lemon.

Let me start from the beginning.

See, it wasn't that bad when I was really little. I mean I grew up with two loving parents and an older sister. We lived in a nice house, on a private street, in a small town. We even had a white picket fence and a dog.

No, the lemons didn't start out back then.

After high school, I decided to move to California to pursue my education.

Let me tell you, there are plenty of lemons to be had there my friend.

Coming from a small town located in the rainiest place in the continental United States, meant that I was probably the whitest kid anyone had ever seen. And yes, even at eighteen, they saw me as a kid. My five foot stature and barely there curves didn't exactly make any of them think of me as grown up.

So for three years, I immersed myself into my studies and ended up graduating with honors.

I was quiet and mousy, and didn't see the potential in my looks. I didn't have a fairy god-mother, or even a best friend to take me under their wing. My sister was pretty much the same as me, only in a blonde version. Oh, and she was also about eight inches taller and had perky boobs.

But I digress.

Back to my lemons.

After graduating college, I started working in a prestigious firm where all I did all day was sit behind a computer screen and make web pages look pretty. Day in, day out. No need to be attractive for that job. So, I didn't try.

When Alec, one of my co-workers, asked me out on a date, I said yes.

He was a busy bee like me. We were equals and got along very well.

I turned my lemons into lemonade, and ended up marrying him.

We lived our little lives and eventually got married. Overall, we were happy.

We eventually had a daughter, Elisabeth. Life was good.

We worked, we raised our daughter and we had a nice enough life together until Ellie was about four.

I came home after work and found Alec in bed with one of our neighbors.

Again, I took the lemon and turned it into lemonade. He moved out and I kept custody of Ellie. He was a good father to her and life went on.

There was never any real reason for me to hate him. He paid his dues and told me he wasn't happy with me anymore. No matter how I wished for things to be different, they weren't. Moving on was my only option.

We remained friends even after the divorce. And when he remarried, I went to his wedding.

Again, in spite of everything, life was good. Ellie and I lived alone in our big house. She still grew up with two loving parents, we just didn't live together.

And of course, she had the extra love of a step mother.

Kate was actually a good step mom, and loved my daughter. There was never any pretense of bad blood between us as she came along after the divorce, and she wasn't the cause of it.

See, lemonade all around.

That is, unless you're thinking of the lemons in FanFiction, 'cause then no, there were none of those lemons in my life.

My vag had dried up before the divorce and had pretty much gone on strike. But that was okay, it wasn't like I was this big sex fiend in the first place, so I moved on.

Last spring while at work, I received a phone call from Alec telling me that he needed to see me as soon as possible.

This phone call changed everything for us.

Alec and I had always been able to talk about everything. It was what had made us great friends. It was also what had started our relationship in the first place. Talking, communicating, had never been our problem. Which, in hindsight, was probably why we had always remained friends.

He always had a way of making me understand how he felt. His cheating on me, though unwelcomed, was the one and only thing he'd acted upon without talking to me first. After that, he'd promised to always tell me everything, no matter how hurtful it would be. If not for my sake, for Ellie's. She deserved two parents who could trust each other, no matter what.

After Alec's call, we met for coffee over my lunch break and he told me about his move. Kate had gotten the opportunity of a lifetime with a dream job in New York. Needless to say, she had accepted and they were moving.

It took a few days before we could tell Ellie. She was devastated.

Alec promised to do some video chats with her, and that seemed calmed her down.

I was saddened by the news. Not because Kate was getting her dream job or any of that, but because Kate and Alec were my best friends, my only friends, and I was going to miss them dearly.

I know it sounds weird to be friends with your ex and his new wife, but it worked for us. It was the best situation for Ellie, and we avoided a lot of needless fighting and stress.

So, making lemonade after that news wasn't so easy.

Alec kept in contact with Ellie, but there was really no reason to have as much contact with me. Understandable, of course, but it still hurt. A lot.

I fell into a depression, and ended up selling the house and moving back home to Forks.

My sister, Rose, and her husband, Emmett, let us live with them over the summer.

I ended up finding a job at Newton's Sporting Goods as their website designer. They had an online store that needed constant updating and preening. The job was less than ideal for me, but it paid well considering we were in Forks and I needed the money.

When I got back on my feet, Ellie and I moved into a small two bedroom apartment not too far from the local high school.

Teenagers are an expensive breed, and Ellie was starting to prove that theory.

In the short time that I lived with Rose, she had put me through a rigorous make-over; she said I needed to start fresh and what better way to do that than to change the way you look.

She was right.

Away went the baggy jeans and frumpy sweaters; in came the nice fitting boot-cut, designer-looking, special-washed jeans and haltered, polyester, scratchy-looking tops.

Out went the chucks; in came the heels.

Out went the unruly ponytail; in came the bangs and layered, feathered hair.

I had to admit, as my daughter put it, I looked hot.

Never in my life had I ever imagined myself this way.

It was like it had awakened something inside of me. Even my vag now wanted things. I couldn't explain it. All the changes in my life had made me who I was, and I liked the person I was on the inside, but the outside changes brought along the feeling of completion somehow.

At thirty five, I finally felt like a woman.

It's sad that it took that long, but I could never regret my life. I had a beautiful daughter, and now my outside matched my inside. Or at least, that's how Rose had put it.

So there you go. This was Bella's life, do you think she'll be able to let someone in? Let's hope so.

I have a bunch of chapters written, but I plan on updating once a week. For those used to reading my longer fics, you know I'm good with this, lol.

I've been working on some one shots and another fic. Maybe you'll get a few stories throughout this one...who knows!

A huge thank you to my beta, BellaEdwardlover1991, and to my pre-readers, WitchyVampireGirl and Scrimmy, for shinning this thing up! :o)

Join me on FB, Missy Melissa Cullen, or join our group, Sweetward's Mistresses.

See ya there!

xox

Missy