I do not own Twilight.

He opens the door before I even have a chance to knock, glances quickly inside, then steps out and shuts the door. He doesn't want me inside.

"Is she in there?" I ask.

"Yeah."

I wait for further explanation. "…Is she back for good?"

Edward shakes his head. "Not with my dad. She has a place in Oregon. Met some guy there."

I stare at him because I don't know what else to do. "Did she bring him here?"

Again, he shakes his head but I can see something burn behind his green eyes. I soften. "How do you feel?"

"It's cool she got out, I guess," he shrugs. I can tell he doesn't really want a full on discussion about this, but I'm not about to let the bombshell that his mother just reappeared in his life fade into nothing.

"Yeah, but she," I look behind him and lower my voice, "…she left you and Em to fend for yourselves against your dad."

"She didn't do anything when she was there, anyways," he says. I don't understand why he's being so nonchalant about this. I'd always known he doesn't expression many emotions easily, other than anger, of course, and I start to wonder what he's hiding behind.

I cross my arms. "Are you going with her? To Oregon?"

"I can't leave Washington," he says cryptically.

I scoff and smile lightly. "Your parole is up in a month, Edward."

It's the subtle side-eye that he gives me; the slight change to the control of the muscle in his jaw and I can see everything laid out before me as though he wrote his feelings and thoughts on the mat in front of the door. The fear, the unwillingness, the uncertainty….

I shake my head and stare up into his cautious eyes. "This can't be about me," I say; demand.

"You're starting work in Port Angeles in a month," he says through gritted teeth. "I'm not going to another fucking state."

I take a breath, knowing that if this is going to work, if I'm going to be able to convince him that he needs to do this—to be with his mom, to get away from his dad—then I'm going to need to sound convincing. And tearing up is not going to help anything, nor will focusing on the idea of living so far from him—again. "We'll make it, Edward. We've made it through all of this already."

He ignores me. "She wants to pay for the rest of my college."

"In Montana?" I remembered Emmett telling me that Edward had lost his scholarship at MSU, but if his mother is willing to foot the rest of the tuition and fees….

He shakes his head and leans back against the door, letting his head fall back. "In Portland."

It's automatic, the breath I pull in, because I know now that he really does have to go. He can't turn down an opportunity like this. As I look at the ground, holding my arms tight across my chest, I hear him quietly say, "I'm not doing it."

I can't stop the tears that form now, but they don't fall just because I'll miss him. They fall because I know he still doesn't trust me enough. "You have to," I whisper eventually, looking back up at him. "This is your future."

"What about our future?" His jaw ticks in rhythm to his anger, his hurt.

"I'll be there for you through it all, Edward," I promise solemnly. "I'm not…we're not breaking up, okay?"

He doesn't have a chance to answer because the door opens and Esme is standing there, her once distant gaze now happier. "Bella," she smiles and moves to hug me, but Edward blocks her from where he's standing.

"We'll be in, in a second, okay?"

Her smile is a little more forced now, saddened, and she nods before going back inside. I stare at him and he stares at me. I can see we're at an impasse and I don't know how else to move forward other than stepping up and wrapping my arms around his waist. It takes a few seconds, but he hugs me back.

"I promise," I whisper into his shirt. "I promise we'll be okay."