A/N: So here it is. I'm running out of pre-written stuff for this, I'll have to work on that...


2 Years Later

Hell. Hell was my life, and my thoughts, and the general mood I had been living in. Not your fault, not your fault, not your fault was all I had heard, and I had gotten so fucking sick of it, sick of all the pitying glances, the accusatory stares. I couldn't take it anymore, and obviously neither could my mother, since she kicked me out the first chance she got.

That was a year ago, and when he died, all hopes anyone had about me going to college were shot. I knew he would have liked it, but I just couldn't fucking do it.

I moved around a lot, never staying long enough to get to know anyone. Seattle, Sacramento, Kansas City, Boise. Eventually I had made my way through North Dakota and across Minnesota to grand ol' Minneapolis. This city appealed to my artistic side, and since that had been a side I had spoiled during my wanderlust, it was perfect. For now.

I was wandering around again, walking down a street to my car, maybe to take a nap, when I saw it.

Brown hair, with reddish tints in the sunlight.

I knew whose head that hair belonged to.

I stopped and stared. It was her. It had to be. I tapped on the glass, and she jumped and spun around. I could feel the grin on my face, but I couldn't subdue it even a little. It was her. I walked briskly into the shop and sat in the chair facing her.

"Hi!" I said, still unable to mask my happiness.

"Um… hi?" She asked, obviously baffled by my random appearance.

"'Sup?" I asked, just to see if she still remembered.

"Nothin'," She said, and I did a little happy dance inside my head- she still remembered, and she didn't totally hate me, or I wouldn't be sitting here. "Umm…" She started tentatively, gathering my attention. "Why are you here?"

Why was I here, as opposed to Forks? I couldn't tell her that. Not so soon. I just got her- maybe. I couldn't scare her off. I couldn't risk seeing the pity face again. Especially on her. I had to protect her from that part of me. "Ahm… I, er, needed a change of pace. No particular reason." That was a bullshit answer, and I knew it, and so did she. She waited for me to say something else, but I couldn't.

"Okay… how about, why are you here, like, in this shop?"

This I could answer. "Oh! I saw you, and I really hoped it was you, 'cause otherwise it would have been really awkward, and I haven't seen you in… two years? So I wanted to say hi." I finished weakly. I was rambling. Fuck. She looked at me intently, and she looked concerned, but not pitying. Not yet. I grinned a little wider, hoping that maybe I'd hide a little of the hell that showed through on my face. There was a long, awkward silence.

"So…" She said. "How have you been? Long time no see."

Ugh. More talk about the past. But what else could she do, I guess? I avoided the question. "Um. Well. Good. I guess. Not really. You?"

"Fine. Lots of family stuff to deal with. But it's okay." She paused, and frowned a little. "Lonely." She blushed and my heart soared. I didn't realize I was hoping until now. Then I realized how sad and dejected she sounded, and I studied her like she had done to me. She looked down and messed with her hands. I put my hands on top of hers, needing to show her.

She stood up and pushed her chair back. "I… I can't do this. Sorry." She grabbed her stuff and ran out the door, away from me. I couldn't let her get away again. This time would be different.

So I followed her out the door.

"Wait!" I shouted. She hadn't gotten very far.

She stopped on the sidewalk, still facing away from me. I walked up to her, right behind her. I put a hand on her shoulder, but she tensed up, so I snatched it back, a little fucking nervous now. "Sorry." I tried not to sound too dejected. How was I going to prolong my time with her?

"Listen, ah, I was wondering if…" I gulped. "If you want to go to lunch." I rushed through it, barely able to fucking breathe. I needed to spend time with her. I couldn't explain the urge.

She turned around, and I could see that she was surprised I had asked. "Lunch? Really?" She asked, all skeptical and shit. I didn't know why she was asking. How much clearer could I get? I was so close to breaking a rule. She had to see how I acted around her. And I had already broken my third rule. I hadn't protected her from any sort of loneliness, which would have been so fucking easy. So now I had to start, for both my and her sake. I realized she was still waiting for me to answer her skepticism.

"Ah… yes?" I said, shifting my weight to the other foot, nervous as hell.

"One condition," she told me. "Tell me why you're really here."

Well, hell, she was a mind reader. I smiled a little. "You always have been able to see right through me. Not much has changed there, huh?" I ran a hand through my hair, debating. I could tell her parts. Not the whole truth. Just enough to satisfy her, and to keep her around a little longer. As long as I could get. "Fine," I conceded. "I'll tell you. At lunch. Where should I pick you up?"

"I'll meet you here at 1," she said.

"It's a date," I said, completely on purpose. She blushed and turned away, and I felt a sinking in my stomach as she walked away. A really fucking hardcore sinking, too. I just couldn't let her go. I started to walk towards her, not really sure what I was going to do, just knowing that I couldn't let her leave, not yet. She whirled around, all annoyed and shit, and I acted on what my gut was telling me to do.

I wrapped my arms around her carefully, but firmly. She stiffened, but I didn't let go, because after a second she relaxed again, and hugged me back, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me close. My heart soared- no, it took a fucking running jump off a cliff and flew. I whispered the truth into her ear: "I missed you." I squeezed her a little one last time, and then I turned around, wanting that to be the memory to tide me over until our lunch. I walked away without another word.


A/N: Review?