Disclaimer: Twilight and its characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. The rest is my doing. Please do not repost the story without authorization.

Word prompts: Charge, barge, large.

Choose one word and write what your imagination dictates. For an added challenge, include all three words in your entry.

Not beta'd.

I want to ask him how I could know him better than his classmates of several years, but I doubt he'll open up to me. If he wanted me to know more, he would have offered an explanation. There's a significant chance that his murmured reflection wasn't even meant for my ears. Nevertheless, I heard it, and I'd like to take a stab at making him feel better. Forcing him to focus on what's getting him down isn't likely going to accomplish that. My first thought is to hug him, but considering he didn't want to come over for dinner, a hug is probably a really bad idea. With him, just patting his hand might be crossing the line. My faith is the only thing left to give

"It's true; we click, but I bet you can find other people you can talk to."

"I'm kind of a loner." He admits this reluctantly, as though he's not proud of this fact, and isn't capable of changing it if he chose to. It baffles me.

"Oh, I see now. You joined the rideshare program to force someone to talk to you."

"You really are a brat, you know?" His smile makes me feel victorious.

"But I'm your brat. And I'm going to be late if I don't get a move on. I'd hate to have to barge into the middle of my first lecture."

"I'm not done until 6:30. You're sure that's not too late for you?"

"If I have extra time, I'll just explore the campus. It's large enough to keep me distracted for hours."

"Ok. I'll pick you up right here, I guess." He looks undecided. Unfortunately, I don't have time ask what his deal is. I've got to find my classroom. At this point, I'll be lucky to locate it before the professor begins, seeing how my sense of direction is more or less nonexistent. I should have looked into hiring a student in the faculty to walk me around the first week or two. I have no idea if that sort of service even exists, or how much they'd charge, but it would have made my life easier. No matter, it's too late now. Truth be told, I'm kind of excited to find my way around. My life needs a little more adventure.

"Sounds good. Thanks again for the ride, and the Internet." I hand him his iPhone before I slip out of the car. Just as my feet hit the pavement, I feel his fingers curl gently around my wrist to stop me.

"Is everything okay?" I ask, looking over my shoulder at his anxious face.

"Just… be safe. I know this is a nice place with a lot of well-to-do people wandering around, but you still need to be careful."

"I promise to steer clear of auburn-haired upperclassmen with silver cars and killer smiles. They're all a little shifty."

"You think I'm the most dangerous thing out there?"

From my point of view? Absolutely. And I can't even protect myself from him because my heart is in control.

"We've already established you could be a vampire. Until I run into the werewolves and zombies, you're at the top of my list."

Instead of laughing, he looks even more intense, almost irascible. It makes me wonder what's going on in his head. A similar joke made him laugh a half hour ago.

"I'm serious."

"Stop worrying. I'm not that fragile, remember? I'll be fine."

"Then call it a protective instinct. I can't help it if you seem… breakable."

I pull myself free of his grip, rolling my eyes as I get out of the car. It's pointless to waste more time arguing with him when he's being a highhanded know-it-all. "Bye, Eddie. I'll see you at 6:30."

He grunts, annoyed with me. The feeling is mutual, buddy. He drives off as soon as the passenger door closes. He's halfway down North Main Street when I realize I didn't ask where I could find him, or what faculty he was in. Eventually the Volvo turns right and completely disappears from view. There's nothing at that end of the campus but the medical school.

Now I have another name to call him by.

A/N: Review replies are caught up. Thanks for your patience. The next review pushes me over 100, which is so amazing. Thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing.

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