A/N: So this was originally an assignment for a creative writing class a few years ago but I had Bella and Edward in my head the whole time so I decided I'd share this with you guys. Let me know what you think.
"Are you sure about this?" Edward asked me for the millionth time.
"Yes, this is something I need to do. If I don't at least try to make it, I will spend the rest of my life wondering what could have been. Even if I end up right back here on this porch swing with you in two months, at least I know I tried."
We sat there in silence for a while, just staring out onto the street. It was such a strange feeling, the silence, for years we would sit here on my father's front porch and never in all of those years have we been silent for any longer than it took for one of us to take a breath.
This time was different, though. When we parted this time, it would actually be a sort of goodbye instead of a see you later. Although, even if my dreams of becoming a journalist in New York City came true, I knew that I would come back one day. No matter how much I had hated this place when i originally moved here, I had somehow come to love it. Places are only as important as the people in them. I couldn't quite place where I'd heard that, but I knew that it was true. I wouldn't come back if the people I loved weren't there to welcome me home.
"My flight leaves at 6:15 tomorrow morning. Will you be there to see me off?" I asked, a hint of hope leaking into my voice.
"I've got work at 5, Bells, otherwise I'd be there."
I knew that Tuesdays were actually his day off, but I chose not to comment as we stood up from the bench and he turned to leave.
"Goodbye, Edward." I said, still slightly hurt that not only would my best friend not be there to say a final goodbye to me before my flight, but that he didn't want to be there.
"See you later, Isabella." He said as he turned and walked away.
I thought about that moment now as I made my return to the town from which I had so willingly fled several years ago. I had come down to visit Charlie when I could, but with my career on the fast track, it was difficult to find some extra time. Many of the people I had grown up with in that town had left in search of greener pastures, including Edward. The only thing I had left to tie me to this place was Charlie and even he was moving away. He said that the cold weather was really taking a toll on his joints and so he was going to move to California to be close to his sister.
When the moving truck and my car were fully packed up and ready to go and the house was as empty as the day we moved in, I decided to let the movers go ahead of me while I said goodbye. I sat down on the front porch swing and thought of all of the times I had spent hours and hours there talking with my best friend. Nothing about the town had really changed, but it didn't feel like home anymore. It was just a place that held some far away memories of the people that I had cared about. As I turned to leave, I noticed that it was much easier to leave this place for good than I had thought it would be. There was nothing here for me anymore.
"Bells?" called a familiar voice. "Is that you?"
"Edward!" I exclaimed, running to give him a hug. "What are you doing here? I thought you moved to Colorado years ago."
"I had, but when I heard that your dad was moving away I was so shocked that I needed to come see it for myself. Plus, I figured I could offer a helping hand, though it looks like you've got everything wrapped up here." He said, gesturing to the empty house.
"Yeah, I told Charlie to stay with his sister in California while I got everything organized. He's much too old to be doing any sort of heavy lifting." We stood there in an awkward silence for a moment before Edward broke the silence but not the tension.
"I'm sorry I didn't go to see you off that day when you left. I didn't think I could stand seeing the girl that meant the most to me in the world just walk away from me. Part of me wanted you to call me out when I lied about going to work, but the other part was thankful that you let me walk away with a little bit of my dignity."
"I figured if you didn't want to be there, I wasn't going to force you. I couldn't make you care. But the past is the past I guess. I'm just glad that we got to see each other."
"You thought I didn't care? Of course I cared! I cared too much, which is what I was worried about. I was afraid that I'd let slip that i was in love with you and that you would still walk away, only never to return to me."
"You loved me?" I asked, still in shock that he had said those words.
"I still do." He said, looking down at his feet, waiting for the rejection. I pushed his shoulders, and he stumbled slightly, looking up at me in shock.
"Why didn't you tell me?! I could have saved years of trying to forget about you!" This time he caught my hands when I went to push him and pulled me forward into a kiss.
"I love you," he said.
"I've been waiting forever to hear you say that." I smiled. As we left that house and that town behind us that day, I knew I wouldn't miss it because I had everything I had loved about that place right here beside me. Without him, it was just another place in the world, and now I finally know where I belong: with him.