We're gonna keep it short sweet. You get two updates today, who else is excited? Big thanks to MaggieMay14 and smmiskimen for their amazing help with this story.

We don't own Twilight; Risbee is about to own 'Toots Magic Ride'. Inside joke LOL

Chapter Song: Alone by Heart (and only EVER the original. no remakes.)

BPOV

Sunday.

Bye beautiful girl. Ily ~E

I thought it hurt when I broke my ankle playing soccer in high school.

I thought it hurt when I fell down the stairs moving into Hinton James residence in my freshman year.

I thought it hurt when I took my finals last semester.

I was wrong. Nothing had ever hurt as much as watching the boys drive past exit 73-A. It was all I could do to not unbuckle my seatbelt and fling myself out the window to pull Edward back to me. That would have required super human strength and speed, neither of which l had, unfortunately.

So I just texted him back.

Be safe. Ily2 ~B

Then closed my eyes and tried to remember how to breathe. Just so you know, closed eyelids don't prevent tears.

Most years, I couldn't wait to get back to Chapel Hill; there was a reason they called it the 'Southern part of Heaven' after all, because it was. There was just something about it, the campus, the energy, the people and the spirit that just sang to me. It was my happy place, but now, for the first time since I arrived from Forks three years ago, I felt like it was missing something.

Or specifically, someone.

Or even more specifically, Edward.

Not even driving past He's Not Here helped. Though I knew that a Blue Cup or three would at least numb me a bit. We were so going there later.

"We're here." Kate's chipper words annoyed me, but I knew she was just trying to lighten the moment and Charlotte's mumbled 'shut the fuck up' was classic, though the thought of an emo Charlotte was not something that I relished. She tended to get a bit fanatical about her cause du jour when she was out of sorts, so I felt pretty confident that we'd all end up with a ration on toilet paper or new bed sheets made of hemp or something. I was definitely going to have to stash some junk food in my room somewhere… who knew what she'd make us eat on the nights where it was her turn to cook.

Great, now I was missing Food Lion.

We're sitting still on 40/85 and a chicken just walked past the car ~E

He always knew how to make me smile.

Ask him why he did it ~B

Funny girl. Holy shit, we're moving. Call you later. ~E

Can't wait. ~B

"You guys disgust me," Kate chimed in from behind me and I just shrugged. It was what it was, and it made me smile. I didn't feel at all guilty.

Soon enough the emptiness returned and as soon as we had unpacked the car, I needed to get away. We lived in a little group of freestanding apartments appropriately known as Smurf Village and the cuteness factor usually sent me into happiness overload. Not anymore.

I ditched my bags and dirty clothes just inside the door of my bedroom in our apartment and told the girls I was going to go buy new art supplies before classes started in a couple of days. Which I realized made no sense considering I didn't yet know what I was going to need for each class, but whatever. Kate and Charlotte looked at me with knowing eyes, but they didn't know, they couldn't know.

To get them off my case, I told them I'd call then when I was done with my errands and we could meet on Franklin Street later since I was suddenly craving a Vanilla Coke from Suttons. Oh my God those things were good. Okay, maybe I was still a little bit glad to be home, but only just a little bit.

The idea of getting back in a car absolutely repulsed me, so I decided to walk. It wasn't oppressively hot considering it was August, and it was actually kind of fun watching the new freshmen walking around with their parents looking all goofy and uncertain. It was kind of precious, actually. The sidewalks were crowded and there were cars parked all over campus with people moving in. I kept thinking I saw wonky hair and more than a few times, I stopped breathing thinking I saw what I knew I didn't really see.

Great, now I was hallucinating.

I'd never been one of those girls to pine away for a boy, not that any boy from Forks had ever affected me like Edward had. That idea, in and of itself, was just ridiculous. I'd always been frustrated at female characters that lived and breathed for a boy, it was fucking maddening. So this whole concept of missing somebody so much that it physically hurt was new to me.

I didn't know what to do with it. I felt a little bit like I was outside of my body. Physically, I was standing in Chapel Hill, mentally I was in Winston-Salem, and emotionally I was in uncharted territory. Basically, I was about two seconds away from throwing an epic temper tantrum because I didn't want to be here, but I did want to be here, but I also wanted to be with Edward. This was a bit terrifying because after two months, I was trying to figure out how to alter my life to fit with his, and that desire was going against everything I believed in, so I needed to figure out how to make our lives work together. My mind, my thoughts were going eight bazillion miles a second and the only thing I was certain of was that I had officially lost my mind.

I wondered what Edward was doing, if he was as discombobulated as I was, but didn't want to text him again, yet. They were probably back in Winston-Salem by this point and I didn't want him to think that I wasn't able to handle this distance thing, because I knew I, we, could do it, but oh my god it sucked and we'd only been apart a few hours.

I miss you. ~B

Obviously my self-control was lacking but when I didn't hear back from him right away, I put my phone back in my bag, figuring he was probably busy unpacking and I silently prayed that he'd go ahead and start doing his laundry. I'd heard rumors about the living conditions of college aged boys, and while Peter and Edward weren't exactly stereotypical, I was still worried and possibly a little bit frightened of the possibilities. I figured it could be worse though, and there was probably a good reason that Garrett lived on his own.

Poor Kate. Though the thought of her having to live with that, even if it didn't ever happen in real life, amused me beyond what was probably appropriate. I mean, the girl had a cleaning service for her dorm room. No lie.

I loved her anyway and suddenly found myself missing my girls and since misery loved company, I called them to tell them I'd be waiting at the counter in Suttons. My errands could wait.

Thirty minutes later, the three of us were sitting at the counter with our drinks and not saying a word. I only raised an eyebrow when I saw that Charlotte had Kleenexes stuffed in her hand, but the look on her face let me know that verbally commenting on it would be pushing the limit. I felt like the three of us were sitting there with little dark storm clouds perched over our heads.

Almost simultaneously, our phones chirped and we all had text messages. No need to guess who they were from and suddenly all the dark clouds disappeared.

The sun will come out…tomorrow…

Annie? Really?

As much as I wanted to talk to him now, I knew it would be best if I got home first. Besides, learning how to wait, even just five minutes, would be good practice, right? Might as well get used to it.

Looking at Kate and Charlotte, I knew we were all on the same page, so back to Smurf Village, we went.

Alone in the quiet and comfort of my bedroom, I cuddled against my pillows…tucked inside the pillow cases I 'borrowed' from the beach. I'd return them eventually, but I couldn't help myself. Edward's pillow still smelled like him and I had the t-shirt I confiscated wrapped around my pillow. I knew it wouldn't last forever, but maybe until he was able to visit. Whenever that would be.

I knew that he would start student teaching this semester and add that to both of our class schedules, it made more sense to leave things unscheduled. Still, I had fall break in my sights, even if I had to sit in his apartment while he was in class, school or whatever. At least my artwork was portable. Making plans 'later' would be much easier than making plans and then having to break them.

I immersed myself in my artwork, taking my sketchbook with me to campus and trying to come up with something, anything, to take up my free time. I loved the campus - the tradition, the history, the atmosphere - but I loved Edward more and I missed him more than I ever thought possible. I was also way more pathetic than I should be considering he was only an hour away and it wasn't like we would have to go months or years without seeing each other. Once the fall semester got underway, and our schedules weren't so crazy, I'd be there or he'd be here or we'd be somewhere in between. It didn't matter where, as long as we were together.

I couldn't wait any longer and I don't think I'd ever dialed a phone as fast. I had magic fingers. While the phone was ringing, I got up and made sure my bedroom door was locked. You know, just in case…

"Hi."

One word and suddenly all was right in my world. I knew we could make this work; that the distance would be an inconvenience at worst, that the only thing that mattered was that we loved each other. All my insecurities and questions melted away with that one simple word.

"Hi."

I could feel him beside me, his words wrapped around me like a blanket and it was like we were in the same place. Forget crazy…I had moved on to sappy and completely cheesy. I didn't care at all, because I felt so much better.

We talked about how much we had to do before classes started, and how his apartment smelled like feet because Peter left some dirty clothes in the living room by accident. We talked about how he was nervous to teach and how I couldn't wait to get back in the studio and get my hands dirty.

Speaking of dirty, there was some of that too. It was a good thing I locked my door.

Yeah. That.

Twice.

When I eventually emerged from my bliss bubble, Kate and Charlotte were wearing similar expressions. We just grinned sheepishly at each other and I swear Kate blushed.

"Blue Cups?" I suggested, because it was tradition after all and they were little containers of awesomeness.

"You know what, Bella…I think that's exactly what we need." Charlotte agreed and Kate nodded, still looking rather pleased with herself.

He's Not was perfect. We got a table, met up with some friends, and like I had figured, the Blue Cups did the trick.

I made it home, or stumbled rather, just in time to call Edward one last time and profess my undying, slightly inebriated love. It was probably for the best that my computer and webcam weren't set up - that could have been embarrassing - and just hearing his sleepy, groggy voice whisper goodnight was enough.

I fell asleep with hiccups and a smile on my face.