Mrs. Bella Marie Cullen1901: Yeah, I worried about it a lot.

Emma Fried: I gave it a look. Why do you format the chapters like that?

CullenLove678: Feelings like what? Like an instantaneous trust that makes me love sleeping with my arms around her? I mean, the way I acted in the previous chapter was only different from the rest of the story in that Bella didn't agree to stay with me.

Lady Dragona: But can we wait for that? Not just with her, with anyone?

Orangemonkey36: While we're wishing things about Tanya's family, I wish I had a Presidential pardon and some spare time.

"So what's Jake like?" I wasn't very good at peacefully lying on the quads, soaking up the sun. I had to start talking, or play cards, or just get up and move around.

Bells was better at it. She certainly looked like a natural, with her hair fanned out over her bag. Maybe it was something that came more naturally to people from warmer climates. Laying out like that in Forks would have been asking for trouble. "He's a nice guy. But he lets people influence him too much."

"What's that mean?" Really, I just think of him as a pretty typical college guy. Maybe a little more studious, honestly.

"He just acts so differently based on who's around." She messed with her sunglasses for a moment. For some reason I found her hilarious looking with sunglasses on. Black on pale, untanned skin. "And he and his friends have that stupid 'guy code' that they all follow."

Ah, the guy code. I've never had much truck with it. Mostly because I despise guys. I mean, call me sexist, but why the hell would I want the presence or opinions of a bunch of men when I could have kinder, more visually appealing people around? "We never act like we're together when we're around people."

That was just unfathomable to me. If Bella were mine, people would know. There is little that I value in the world, but the things that I do I guard jealously. People have been threatened for asking me about Tanya, because I worry about them trying anything. "What's the point of making it official if you then keep it a secret?"

"We still know." I doubt she rolled her eyes like I might have right then. But those ridiculous glasses kept me from seeing.

Summer went too fast. Only little bits of time with Bells, and classes that usually take eleven weeks being crammed down your throat in three.

I loved the class schedule, and hated the social schedule. The Olympics provided a momentary distraction from having to explain, over and over again to the girl I loved that we were dating, how we met, who I was. But nothing really takes your mind off that. It would randomly pop up, and I would find myself on the phone with a terrified stranger as I walked down the street with people who considered me something of a friend, but who never got to hear any of my problems, never got an explanation about why I had to explain who I was, who I was talking to, or what was going on.

I wonder how many caught on anyway.

The end of class found my source of food and housing somewhat cut off. But it's easy to steal food around a college campus. Dining halls are huge and staffed with people who don't really care who is eating the food.

Still, at least once I was back visiting Tanya I could eat more.

"So how do you think you did?" That, of course, is my mother's first concern. Should I be offended? Her first worry is not, where are you staying, do you have enough food, are you healthy? No, she knows I always manage to land on my feet in those areas. Her question is if I've kept up my end of the bargain grade wise this time.

"I think I did fine. But I've thought that before." Honestly, I hate these phone calls. There was nothing good that could come out of them for me. Either I would meet expectations, for a moment, or, more likely, I would fail to meet expectations.

She sighed at my answer. "I hope you did better this time. What are you doing now that classes ended?"

"Not a whole lot. I'm mostly trying to get a hold of the syllabus from my classes for next month to start reading for them." This was a lie. What I actually did was start planning a trip back to see Tanya, but I needed some cover so that she wouldn't be trying to get in touch with me a bunch. If my family did not believe me to be working, there would be consequences.

"And where are you staying?"

"At Tyler's. I emailed you the address." In fact, I was on Tyler's phone right now. He was pretty understanding about the phone that did not exist, and was willing to let me use his to talk to my family.

"I just hope you're making good choices, Ed." Good choices was the current mantra. If I just would make good choices, everything would be fine. Apparently I have quite the knack for bad choices.

"I will, Mom." We just won't agree about what they are.

"Love you, Ed. Call us, ok?" Another theme.

"I will. And I love you too." I just don't respect you. "Bye."

I wandered back to where Tyler was, in the living room of his apartment.

"Here." He caught the tossed phone easily enough.

"Anything interesting?"

"Nah, you know. The usual." He nodded, as if that meant anything. "You wanna play some Left 4 Dead?"

Bella had been gone for a while. Gone without a real good bye either. We sucked at those. Her absence didn't eliminate all the charm of Chicago, but it got rid of a lot. So when I was flying back to Forks, it wasn't that bad.

Ha, flying to Forks. What a joke. I was flying back to Seattle, and Tanya was picking me up from there.

This whole thing was a dumb plan. Forks wasn't big enough. There was no way I could manage to avoid my family for two weeks. Was there? Maybe we could find some other place to hide out. There was no way that Tanya could just get off work like that, but god I wish she lived somewhere else. I was trying to keep this from my family and I was flying right back to their lair.

Also, I hated Frontier Airline, but their student standby program beat everything else price wise. As long as you were between 18 and 24, you could fly anywhere they went for $69 and the random waiting you would be forced into doing.

"Hi, how can help you?" Having been a cashier, I always felt bad for the people at the counter at the airport. No one is surlier than dissatisfied idiots who just invested a bunch of money in things they don't understand.

"Can I get a standby flight to Seatac?" It was too early for anything, but if you wanted to get a standby flight, you had to be willing to put in the time. And that time started at 5:30.

"Sure, can I see an ID?" I slapped it on the counter, and focused on keeping myself upright when I had just dragged myself out of bed, well, couch, at three in the morning to get to O'Hare on time.

"Ed!" I don't think most people find sweat pants and a t shirt appealing, but it was ten at night, and it was on Tanya. They actually probably would have on her. Especially if they knew some of the stuff we had done in outfits like that.

I dropped my bag, and quickly found myself involved in one of those PDA's that my family always frowned upon so heavily.

I didn't even care that she tasted a little like those damn clove cigarettes she liked so much. For this one moment, it was great to be home.

Story Recommendations:

The Realization of a Lifetime by LoVefan4ever

The Devil You Know by Cesca Marie

Also, sorry about the story that just utterly disappeared in the previous rec's. Teach me not to read to the end before telling you all about them.