Tons have asked, and I now I can deliver! I donated this piece originally to the Fandom for Mental Health Awareness compilation. Thank you to the organizers and those of you who donated (money, pieces, beta work, pre-reading). This Fandom is awesome when it comes to causes and I was thankful to them for having me.
Thank you to my pre-readers, Kenny, Missy and Annie and my beta Mid (for without whom this would really suck!)
Thank you also to those of you who begged for this POV. It means so much that a little experiment (Love Hurts) grew so big and was loved by so many!
July
I approached the driver's side of my car, unlocked it with the fob, sending a text with my other hand. Forks wasn't well-known for its sunny days, so my friends and I were heading to the beach at La Push to hang out. Ang was working, though; hence the text.
We're down at the beach when you get off work. - E
Ang and I met our Junior year, when she'd literally run into me in the cafeteria. We'd been inseparable since. That was about to change, though, because college was fast approaching. I was going to Harvard, and all our friends were going to be relatively close to me, too. Ang was staying behind, but I didn't want to think about that now.
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"So, how pissed were you at Ang?" Rose asked, while the others were in the water.
I looked at her. "I'm not sure I get what you mean."
She opened her mouth then closed it, only to huff out a breath. "She didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what, Rose?"
"I'm sorry." She shook her head. "I... Edward, I can't. She promised me she was going to tell you. If she doesn't tell you tonight, you come see me tomorrow." She got up and joined the others in the water, leaving me sitting there, wondering what the fuck just happened.
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Later that night, after the others had left and the sun had set, Ang and I sat cuddled in my blanket. She'd joined us after work, and we had a cookout before everyone else had to leave. It was silent, and normally I could handle it, but for the rest of the day, I'd been stewing over what Rose had asked me.
"So," I said, clearing my throat, "Rose told me something interesting today."
I could feel her stiffen in my arms before she turned her head toward me. "What did she say?"
"What do you think she said?" I asked. While it should have been beneath me to play games, I needed to know what was up.
She sighed. "I don't know what you're talking about, Edward. There isn't anything Rose knows that you don't."
I didn't know what to say; she was denying it, whatever it was, but Rose wasn't one to lie either. If Rose said she knew something, then she did.
I vowed that after tonight, I would get to the bottom of it.
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The next day, I went over to Ang's house. We were going to Port Angeles to hang out for the day, just the two of us. I arrived early on purpose, knowing she was hiding something, so when she met me at the front door she wasn't ready. She told me to have a seat in the living room while she went to shower. I waited until I heard the shower come on to make my move. I crept up the stairs as quietly as I could. Pushing open her bedroom door, I tiptoed in the room.
I went over to her desk and started shifting around papers, and that was when I saw it. I couldn't understand why Angela hadn't told me right away, but it didn't matter now. I barely stopped myself from doing a little dance.
"Edward, what are you doing in my room?" Ang asked, coming up behind me.
I turned to face her. "I'm sorry for snooping, but I knew you weren't telling me the whole story yesterday, and it was driving me crazy not knowing what Rose must have known. Oh, but maybe you wanted it to be a surprise. I'm sorry. I can pretend not to know."
"What are you talking about?"
I hugged her tighter to me with one arm, showing her the acceptance letter in the other. "This! You got in, babe! This is awesome! We can go together! Maybe next year we can get an apartment off campus. This is amazing news." I was so excited I didn't notice that she'd gone stiff in my arms.
"I'm not going," she whispered.
"What?"
"I'm turning them down, Edward. I can't go."
"But… Are you insane? It's a full scholarship, Ang! Do you know how rare that is? Why would you turn them down?"
"I can't leave my dad."
I barked out a laugh. "That is the most… ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Your dad will be fine!"
She pulled out of my arms. "I'm not going, Edward! And you can't change my mind!"
She stormed back to the bathroom, slamming the door, leaving me in her room stunned and confused.
What the fuck had just happened?
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.
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The last couple weeks had been very strained between Angela and me. I couldn't believe, not only had she kept it from me that she had been accepted to Harvard and turned them down, but she was also choosing to stay behind for something as silly as her dad. I knew her dad, and she must not have told him about it, because if so, he would've told her to go. What the hell was she thinking? Clearly, she wasn't. I aimed to try to change her mind. The closer it got to the time I left, the more desperate we both seemed to become.
"I'm going to get a job and save up. Go to Community College and apply for UDub next year. Why don't you do the same thing? We could stay together," she said to me one night in the meadow.
"Are you… are you out of your mind?" She flinched at my tone. "I sure as hell am not going to give up the opportunity I was given. Ang, listen, I love you, but I'm not going to do that. Why don't you see if you can still accept that scholarship? I was talking to my dad, and he said that usually there are timelines and yours probably hasn't passed."
"You did what? Why would you tell him that, Edward? That was my personal business! You had no right! I told you, I can't leave my dad!"
I snorted. "Yeah, we're back to this argument. Does your dad even know? Does he know you're about to piss away your future in his name?"
She glared at me. "No, and you're not going to say anything, either. What I do with my life is not your business, Edward."
I was in shock. Who was this person? This was not the person I had fallen in love with. I hardly recognized her.
"I think… I think I need some time, Ang. Some time to think about things. Obviously, you and I have very different opinions of what a relationship is, if your life isn't my business."
I walked out of the meadow, leaving her behind.