DISClaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer. I make no profit from this.

Hope you enjoy this.

-x-

No, I wanted to say, No, I can't love you.

But I knew that would be cruel. I looked over at her and closed my eyes.

"No." I murmured. "Not yet."

-x-

Leah's POV

I closed my hand around his tighter and closed my eyes, walking blindly as he led me back towards home. Something inside me was breaking with every step I took, until I just got sick of following him.

I stopped but he carried on, yanking on my arm as he took another step, but springing back towards me. I looked at him, firmly rooting myself to the spot.

"Leah, would you get a move on?" He said in his soft English accent. I held my breath for a second and tugged him back towards me. He shuddered and stumbled against me.

"You… you just don't see, do you?"

"What?" He murmured, closing his gorgeous eyes. "I don't see what?"

"That I'm in love with you." He closed his eyes and shook his head, a large smile flashing across his face. "Don't, Evan, I-I'm serious."

"Look… maybe… you need to talk to someone." He closed his eyes again and I dropped his hand. "Thank you." another pause, "Listen… can we go back now?" He turned away and kept walking down the street. I watched him go for a few seconds, then realised that my stomach felt like it was collapsing in on itself, as though I was going to die as he walked away from me.

"Evan!" I yelled after him, he stopped and looked at me. I ran after him, catching up to him easily, "Listen, I'm sorry." I lifted my hand and placed it carefully on his bicep, smiled at him and looked away. He caught my hand and pulled it away from his body, but looked at me closely, intensely, and kindly.

"It's alright." He half smiled, "I suppose you were just trying to make me feel better-"

"No…" I repeated, and he smiled softly, "Well…" I smiled at him, "Maybe." And he relaxed. For the first time he had been here, I'd seen him drop his shoulders, let out a long sigh and shudder slightly from the cold.

"Maybe." He murmured slowly, looking down at the floor for a second. I let out a sigh and he looked up at me, smiling widely and gesturing that we should start walking again.

I kept pace beside him as he dug his hands further into his pockets and put his head down, shielding himself from the rain. It took me a long time to notice that he wasn't just doing it to protect himself from the drizzle. There were tears dripping down his face.

"Evan, are you alright?" He didn't reply immediately, but looked at the floor for a second longer.

"Yeah." He looked up at me, nodded quickly and sped up a bit; I had to jog to keep up with him. When we got inside, he excused himself quickly, disappearing into the bathroom and sitting in there for about fifteen, twenty minutes, maybe.

I was sitting at the table when he reappeared, a fresh t-shirt on and a pair of dry jeans. I still had his top on but had found some sweatpants to throw on quickly. He looked at me quickly, shaking his head minutely and sitting down in the chair beside me.

"Evan…" Max looked in from the living room and smiled at me. I shook my head and she closed her mouth simply. "You alright mate?" His head snapped up to look at her and he held her gaze for half a minute. She nodded and sat down opposite him, looked over at me, and I knew exactly what she meant.

Without a word, I looked over at him, dared to touch his shoulder, squeeze it gently, and walk away. As I stepped from the room, I looked back at the pair of them, he still had his head down, she had reached across the table to take his hands between hers and hold them tight. She wasn't saying a word, just holding his hands, very gently, very cautiously.

I knew then, exactly why he was so in love with her.

Max's POV

I sat down opposite him and watched Leah leave, her movements reluctant, her footsteps hesitant, and entwined my hands with his, holding them tight like I had done so many times before. I took a deep breath and looked up, expecting to see him looking at me, grinning like usual. He still had his head bowed, staring into his lap, looking through himself at the floor. I swallowed nervously and looked away, concentrating on his hands.

His fingers were absolutely freezing, and I resolved to hold them until they warmed up before I made a sound. When he was looking at me as if I was utterly mental, I pulled away and smiled. His expression remained the same - hurt, confused, and lonely, and I was desperate to hold him tight.

He looked up at me a few minutes later, staring into my eyes.

"Well?" He muttered, breaking our silence with a hammer blow. I shrugged and sniffed deeply, questioning where my tears had sprung from. "You want me to go, don't you?"

"No!" I yelled, he looked at me with a half smile. "Please don't go back home. I need you here."

"You don't." He said softly, and I think my heart broke. "You've got Seth." He looked away. "I told you once before that we could never go back to just being friends." He whispered, "And you promised me we would never have to." I looked at him, remembering the night it all changed, and the morning that I'd promised him everything.

"Everything's changed." I heard myself whisper, taking his hands and pulling them up so I could look at them instead of the glare I was getting from my now and newly ex-boyfriend. He smiled to himself and pulled one hand from my grip, touched my cheek with it and slid his thumb up and down it slowly. I breathed slowly and closed my eyes, sniffing again. "You need to understand."

"Can I just ask something?" He interrupted me before I could start any explanation. I nodded mutely. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to run?" His tone wasn't accusatory, he didn't sound curious. It was pure hurt in his voice, and it broke me inside. "Was it because… you thought I'd try and stop you?"

"No." I breathed out, "I know you'd never stop me from doing something I wanted to." And I had him over a barrel. He closed his eyes and breathed out. "Because you loved me with everything." He opened his eyes again.

"Why past tense?" He was curious now.

"Because you're not… you're not stupid, Evan." Tears were flickering from my eyes now, and as I looked up at him, I realised there were tears in his eyes too. "You're putting things into boxes in that brain of yours, you know exactly what's going on and it's only because you refuse to let go that you can't see it."

"I don't want to let go, Mac." He breathed, leaning forward. "There was so much I had planned for us." He bowed his head again and looked back at the table. "I guess…" And he ground to a halt. I waited for him to start talking again, but when he remained silent, I sighed and went to get up.

His hand curled around my wrist with lightning reactions and he pulled me back to the chair.

"Mac?" His fingers relaxed slightly and he looked at me. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't coming back?"

"Because I was scared I'd lose you." I blurted.

"You know you'll never lose me."

"I thought…" I bowed my head, knowing the truth was the best thing to go with. "I thought if I left, for a while, I'd be able to get over Ben. And then I'd be able to be happy with you." Another long pause, "Because I knew I'd never be happy if… if we'd grieved together."

"What?!" He looked at me and stared for the longest time. Tears were freely falling from his eyes and he made no attempt to wipe them away. "Mac-"

"Listen to me, Ev'." He closed his eyes and nodded, "If I had stayed and listened to you playing sad songs on your guitar all day, I would have gone mad. You were his best friend; you'd grieve your way. I had to get out of that house and get away, Evan. I had to leave. I couldn't… I couldn't be there any more. It got too much."

"I didn't actually play sad songs all day," He murmured defiantly. "I wrote. I wrote letters to everyone. I wrote letters because it made me realise that life is for living, and I could die tomorrow. I guess you had to get that out of your system too." He paused again, "I just wanna know why you ended up here."

"On the Road." I muttered.

"The gap year thing." He smiled genuinely for the first time in hours. "I should have known!" He slammed his hand into the table, frustrated, "Why didn't I fucking guess, Maxxie?" And I shuddered, and sobbed. Because that reminded me of Ben.

His arms wrapped around me before I could blink, and he was murmuring apologies into my ear. I hugged him back and he held me, I buried himself into his T-shirt and sobbed out all the sadness I'd tried to put behind me. He pulled away and kissed the top of my head gently, hugged me tighter and I was home again. I felt so stupid for thinking I could ever survive without him, but I needed to remember he wasn't my lover any longer.

His hands grazed my shoulders as he pulled away, smiling softly.

"This is a figurative goodbye, isn't it?" He said, a soft chuckle in his voice, wiping his eyes and looking away. I nodded and sniffed loudly, looked up into the doorway and frowned madly.

Seth was standing there with a face like thunder.

"You made her cry," He growled at Evan. My London boy looked up at my wolf-boy and frowned.

"Not intentionally mate." He said with a small smile. "I wouldn't ever want her to-"

"Shut up!" Seth barked, and Evan rose, wary and hesitant. "I don't want you coming anywhere near her if you're going to break her heart-"

"I…" Evan looked between Seth and I, then down at his hands. They were shaking violently and he ran them through his hair - his usual technique to disguise it. "You think I… would hurt her? You think I would even think about hurting her, when for the past three years, she's been everything to me?" He shot me a look which said and still is, and I smiled weakly at him.

Seth took a step forward, he looked determined and furious, before I knew it, I had let out an involuntary squeak. Evan stepped back, unaware he was inadvertently cornering himself, and drew Seth away from me.

"How dare you…" Seth started, raising his fists and looking at Evan menacingly. As he paced back again, Evan hit the wall and spread his hands out, looking for somewhere he could hide. There was nowhere for him to go.

Evan took a deep breath and closed his eyes, swallowed loudly and looked over at me.

"If you want a fight…" He stopped and closed his eyes.

"Evan, don't-"

"Come and have a go." He breathed, and Seth launched at him.

-x-

A/N: Please review and let me know how I did... :P

Inspired by "Please don't Stop the Rain" By James Morrison, "Gives You Hell" By The All American Rejects (Thanks again Lilia), and "Handle This" By Chris Townsend.

Again, once more, Evan has asked for it, and got it. I'm really starting to like him.

My Day was luvverly today. Make it even better and push that little review button!!!

I'm really glad you all like it... so i'd appreciate more feedback...

And i'm really, really happy that you keep reading :)

Love you guys

xxx