I do not own Twilight.

It's been a week since we visited Charlie in the hospital; a week since I have told Mike about Alice; a week since I have last seen Alice.

Mike has been relatively quite the past few days and I am not sure whether it has to do with his impending finals, his low-scoring hockey team, or the explanation I gave for the bizarre meetup in the elevator.

I am willing to bet it's a mix of all three.

It's late in the night and I am lying in bed, my back to Mike's chest when he sighs from behind me and nuzzles my hair gently. A small smile spreads to the corners of my lips; we have barely had any intimate contact since the trip and it had begun to worry me.

"Bella?" he whispers, as though checking to see if I am awake. We've only just turned out the lights; he should know it takes me more than a couple of seconds to fall asleep.

"Yeah?" I whisper back, and the stretch of time before he continues has my stomach knotting uncomfortably. I can already tell what this is about.

I want to turn over to look at him, but I can't make myself do it. I am too cowardly.

"What did…" He pauses, clearing his throat, "What did Jasper say to him?"

And it's so strange because since Edward and I had basically brushed the fight under the rug, and Alice had brushed our friendship under the rug, the topic had never come up. It was as though we had all gone our separate ways.

Edward never told me what Jasper had said because, to him, the words didn't matter; they never do in Edward's case.

I turn at the waist just enough to glance over at him. His eyes are on me, his darker brows furrow slightly in what looks like a mix between anxiety and curiosity. He wants to know, but he is afraid to know at the same time.

It's funny that the feeling is mutual.

I close my eyes, sighing and rest my forehead against his. It's an odd angle, and I'm more so resting on his temple, but at the moment, it is comforting.

"Honestly?" I breath, not daring to open my eyes, "I don't know. I never asked, and Alice never told me."

"But he," he inflicts the term like its poison and I open my eyes, dropping my head back to the pillow; Edward and I had become so inseparable towards the end that any mark on him feels like a burn to me, "never said anything about it? Wasn't he friends with Jasper?"

I nod and let out a breath through my nose, really not wanting to hash this out right now, but knowing it's what I owe to Mike.

"Practically best friends before that," I answer and then contemplate that weekend a bit more. I chew on the inside of my cheek. "All he said was that Jasper was right, and that's what made him so angry."

"Right about what?" Mike presses and I can hear in his tone that he thinks I'm hiding something and I wish I was because then this past situation would no longer keep me up at night.

I shrug against the blankets and turn back around, feigning exhaustion so that, hopefully, this conversation ends faster than it started.

"I don't know," I yawn. "Maybe you should ask Alice."

I know he can hear the smile in my voice.

"Hell no," he laughs. "That girl seems crazy."

"She's not," I say immediately, defending her without a second thought. "I hurt her really badly. She should have called me worse names. She should have pushed me down the elevator chute."

Mike snickers behind me and I know all is well between us.

Simple.

He is simple; our entire relationship is simple.

His questions end and I'm halfway asleep by the time he speaks again, his finger drawing over the hair that has fallen beside my ear, his voice so low that I almost miss his question, "You'd tell me if you were still in love with him, right?"

I don't answer, my limbs freezing up beneath the blankets and I pray that he doesn't notice.

"Bella?" he tries again, his whisper even softer and then he sighs, assuming I've fallen asleep, and presses a kiss to the tip of my ear before falling deeper into the blankets.

I am wide awake now, more grateful than ever that he has forgotten it takes me a few minutes to fall asleep because I don't know what my answer to him would be.

I'm afraid it would be a lie.