Hello all! I have been crafting this story since the beginning of the year and have most outlined, if not completed. Updates will be regular and story will be completed. I won't leave you hanging.

Thank you to Project Team Beta, poo235 and suzyq for all your assistance with keeping me in line :)

Twilight or its characters don't belong to me, I just get to play with them. (oooh, did that sound as dirty to you, as it did to me?)

Bella Swan

"Jacob, we'll see each other most weekends." I watched him furrow his brow as he contemplated the separation. "I'll come home as much as I can. Charlie offered to pick me up and bring me home for the holidays. Besides, as quickly as you run…."

"Bella, I feel like I'm being left behind, like some child." There was a hint of anger in his eyes.

How could I make him understand? Being apart would be difficult for both of us, but I needed to find my independence. Going to college is a natural progression for most people after high school. I had hoped that he would adjust to the idea as fall approached, but he hadn't.

"But you're not. Jake listen, we talked about this—"

He didn't even let me finish before he broke in. "Yeah, I know we talked about it, but I guess I was hoping that you would change your mind. The community college isn't so bad here…" He fumbled with the remote control as he spoke quietly.

"Jake, I need to make the best choices for me. I have a scholarship. I can't throw that away. Charlie was so proud of me when I got the letter."

Why did he have to make this so difficult? Didn't he realize that this was hard for me as well? Jacob had provided me with a sense of security and comfort since…I couldn't even bring myself to utter his name. Since he left and took my heart with him, Jacob was the only thing that held me together.

I didn't want to leave things this way with Jacob. I was leaving in the morning for my freshman year of college at the University of Washington-Seattle and Jake was starting his junior year in high school at La Push. We each had our own lives to lead, regardless of our relationship.

"Jake, please don't make my last night here into a fight. I want to enjoy the time that we do have," I pleaded with him, giving him my best puppy dog eyes and pushed my bottom lip out into a pout.

I moved from my position next to him on the sofa and straddled myself on his lap. He still didn't look at me. He was too damn cute when he pouted and I couldn't help myself. I leaned up to his mouth and placed a soft kiss on his lips. I could feel a slight upturn on his lips. So, he was going to play hard to get. I smiled mischievously and set my sights on his earlobe. I could always count on a reaction here. I teased his lobe gently with my tongue and tenderly took it between my teeth, biting down with gentle pressure until I heard a soft moan from him. Ah, sweet victory…

"Bella…" He sighed. "You don't play fair."

He wrapped his arms around me and touched his warm, soft lips to mine. The intensity of the embrace grew as Jacob's hands moved down my back slowly. I slid my hands under his shirt, exploring the muscles of his sculpted chest and washboard abs.

Jake and I could be so much freer with physical affection than my previous relationship had allowed and I would miss these intimate moments with him the most. As August approached, the boundaries drawn by me had been diminishing. Jacob and his persistent teenage hormones made the past month almost unbearable.

Glancing at the clock, I realized that Charlie would be home soon. I knew that we should stop, but couldn't pull myself away from him.

Jacob's hands slipped under my shirt and caressed my back in a circular motion. I started to feel him fumble with my bra strap. "You are pushing it tonight aren't you?" I asked in playful tone.

"I can't help myself Bella. You… are…so…sexy," he whispered in my ear, a weakness of mine, which he exploited every chance he got. I swear my body went up in flames every time.

He stopped suddenly, lifted me off his lap and sat me on the sofa next to him. Before I could ask him what he was doing, I heard Charlie's car door outside.

"Damn," I cursed under my breath.

I knew that my face was flushed and my hair rumpled. I tried to smooth my shirt out as best as I could and Jake was doing the same. It was so embarrassing to have my Dad realize what he interrupted. He was a teenager at one time and he knew what we had been up to. This wasn't the first time that he had interrupted us making out. Jacob liked to refer to it as his ongoing quest to steal third base. I smiled as I remembered all the times that he uttered that phrase.

"Hi kids," Charlie spoke as he came through the door and hung up his belt. He eyed the two of us and smirked, "Get your packing all done?" He knew very well that we hadn't been upstairs packing.

I replied, trying to hide the awkwardness, "Hi Dad, I still have some packing to do, but there are a couple of boxes that are ready to go upstairs though." I felt my face flush at the uncomfortable situation, but Jacob didn't seemed bothered at all.

"I can help you bring the heavy stuff down Charlie," Jacob offered.

"Thanks Jake, that'd be great. I'm not getting any younger," Charlie mused as he faked walking with a cane into the kitchen. "What's for dinner Bells?"

Oh, crap. I hadn't even thought about it. Jake had been so moody this afternoon. "Well, there's always fish." I grumbled sarcastically. I wouldn't miss that at all. Charlie and Billy always caught so many fish that we could eat it every night for a year and not run out.

***

The trip to Seattle was long and so many emotions were going through my mind. I was excited, nervous, but also sad. Charlie had rented a van to move my things to my dorm. Jacob and I sat in the first row of seats while Charlie drove. Jacob kept his arm around me the entire three-hour plus trip. We tried to talk about anything besides the impending goodbyes we would have to say.

"So Bells, when is your roommate coming into town?" Charlie asked.

"Mandy is supposed to already be there." My roommate was coming from Spokane and her parents brought her to campus yesterday. "I can't wait to meet her."

Jacob laughed, "You've talked so much to her in the past two weeks. I don't think you'll have anything left to talk about."

I punched him in the arm playfully, "Jake, we're both excited. We had to coordinate who was bringing what."

We pulled off the interstate and slowly made our way to my dorm. As we approached Mercer Hall, butterflies began swimming around in my stomach. The dark brick building loomed large.

As if the university had a sense of humor, they assigned me to a room on the fourth floor. Flights of stairs and I weren't a good pair. This could prove to be an interesting year. Of course, Charlie and Jacob made sure I knew where the closest emergency room was, just in case.

Jacob drew me closer as we pulled up to the front of the building. He knew as well as I did what was coming. As Charlie put the van in park, Jacob leaned over and gave me a soft kiss. His eyes seemed to hold such sadness.

"Well, here we are Bells," Charlie said as he turned off the engine. "Guess we need to start lifting, Jake."

"That's what I'm here for," Jacob laughed. "I'm just the muscles."

I leaned over to his ear and whispered, "Yes and what muscles they are."

"You are so bad," he groaned under his breath at me.

I leaned over to him and planted a big kiss on his mouth.

"Okay break it up," Charlie mumbled. "Let's get going, plenty of time for that later."

I gathered up some small boxes that I was "allowed" to carry and began the walk to the front door of Mercer Hall. Charlie and Jacob made a point to tell me that I wasn't going to be doing any heavy lifting.

"It's hard enough for you to walk upstairs without carrying anything heavy Bells." Jacob chuckled at my expense.

"Ha-ha. You are sooooo funny Jake," I smarted off to him.

We lugged our first load up the stairs and at the end of the long hallway was my room. "Home sweet home," I mumbled under my breath.

As soon as I entered the room, I recognized Mandy's face from her MySpace page. "Mandy!" I shuffled in to the room and we both met in the middle and hugged.

"I'm so glad to finally meet you Bella," Mandy said with delight in her voice. Mandy was average height and had chin length blonde hair cut into a bob. She was pretty, but not stuck on herself either.

Mandy eyed Jacob and then looked back at me. I realized I was being rude.

"Mandy, this is my boyfriend Jacob and my dad, Charlie." I could see that she was sizing Jacob up right away. His tight-fitting t-shirt showed off his physique and I couldn't help but be a little full of myself.

She managed a small wave toward Charlie, "Hi! Don't worry about a thing. We'll take care of each other."

She seemed to know what Charlie needed to hear—reassurance. Jacob, on the other hand, was preoccupied with the male voices he heard roaming the floor. I had already tried to appease him by telling him that he was the guy for me, but he seemed unconvinced. Jacob continued to look around at the other perceived threats that were moving through the halls. When any of the other guys would look into the room and see Jacob's towering presence, they seemed to shudder and move quickly past the door. The first couple of times that Jacob came to pick me up from school, everyone seemed to react in a similar fashion. I realized then, that they were intimidated and seemingly frightened of him. It seemed ridiculous to me.

"Bells, we're going to bring some more stuff up. You need to figure out where you want us to put it all," Charlie said as he and Jacob headed back down to the van.

Mandy watched them leave and then grinned at me. "W-o-w. How old did you say he was?"

"He's seventeen, but the height is deceiving." Jacob hadn't looked his age since before the change his body went through earlier this year.

"Very. He's way hotter than you let on. Does he have any brothers?"

"Sorry, only two older sisters." Mandy was reacting much in the same way that Jessica and Angela always did. Jake was very handsome and muscular. The deep contrast from the dark russet-colored skin and black hair made him look more like twenty-five. "He's pretty upset about my being this far away. I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye." I looked over at her sadly.

While the guys were making the multiple trips necessary to move my things into my room, I took in my new surroundings. The room was painted a cream color with an end wall with exposed brick and two long windows. The brick wall was where our desks were and the two narrow beds (you could barely call them twin-size) were along the length of the walls on either side. Both beds were raised up to allow for more storage. Mandy's mini fridge was under her bed. The lack of storage made me glad that I didn't have a large wardrobe.

Mandy introduced me to several of the other girls on our floor. All seemed to be very nice except for one girl named Taylor. She reminded me of Lauren from Forks High. I definitely was not part of her social circle.

We were still outside our door when Jacob came around the corner from the stairwell with another load of boxes. Taylor's mouth seemed to drop open as she laid her eyes on my Jacob. I couldn't help but feel smug.

"Who is he?" she whispered to Mandy.

Mandy seemed to enjoy being the one to break the news to Taylor, "Oh, that's Bella's boyfriend Jacob." Taylor's face was suddenly green with envy.

I knew that she couldn't believe that I could possibly go with Jacob. I couldn't help myself as I rubbed it in a bit. As soon as Jacob put the boxes down, I walked over to him and gave him a big kiss on his lips. He wasn't exactly expecting it, but went with the flow. As soon as I broke the kiss, I looked to see Taylor turning to go back across the hall to her room. Mandy just smiled at me.

"What did I do to deserve that?" Jacob asked with a goofy grin on his face. "Let me know, so that I can make sure to do it again."

"Do I need a reason?"

"Nope," he answered while giving me a bear hug.

"Where's Charlie?"

"He's bringing up the last suitcase," Jacob said with a sad note in his voice. It was almost 6p.m., and I knew that Charlie and Jacob needed to get back on the road soon. This was the moment that I had been dreading most of the summer.

Our attention was drawn toward the door as Charlie entered again. "Last one Bells. I didn't know you had this much stuff." Charlie put the suitcase on the empty bed and turned to me. "Well, I guess this is it," he said as he came over to give me a big hug. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Billy and Jacob won't let me starve."

"That's good to know." I hesitated a bit, but I said, "Dad, thank you so much for everything."

I had gotten to know Charlie so much in the past year and a half. I was so glad that I made the decision to come to Forks. I would've never known how great he was, if I hadn't made the choice. "Love you Dad," I said as my eyes threatened to tear up.

I was still in Charlie's arms as he said, "Love you Bells. I'm going to miss you." He kissed the top of my head and started to leave the room, but he stopped and turned to look at Jacob, "I'm going to go down to the van. Take as long as you need." He patted Jacob on the shoulder and was gone.

I scooted myself up onto the mattress of my bed and looked over at Jacob. He looked over toward me, took a big deep breath, and exhaled slowly.

"Bella, I'm going to go out to the lounge to watch TV and hang out." Mandy left the room and I was glad for the privacy.

I didn't even answer her; I just looked into Jacob's eyes as he came across the room to me. He pulled himself up onto the bed and put his arms around my waist. His lips found mine as my arms wound around his neck. There was more than passion in his kiss tonight. I could also sense desperation. He seemed so afraid that I would find someone else more interesting than him, someone older. He was my best friend and I couldn't see that happening. I tried to reassure him, but the difference in our ages seemed to bother him for the first time.

Tears slowly began to run down my cheeks. "Jake, I'm going to miss you."

"I know Bells. It's going to be so boring without you. I'll be back this weekend to see you and you can call me anytime you want. Promise you will?" he asked me.

I nodded my head as I spoke. "Of course. My classes don't start until Tuesday, so I've got a day to settle in. It's only…a…few…days…right?" I kissed him in between each word.

"Yep," he answered and gave me another long deep kiss. Jacob's tongue flicked at mine with such enthusiasm, he had to know that he was driving me crazy.

"Mmmmm, Jake. If you keep doing that I'm not going to be able to let you leave," I moaned quietly.

His lips moved from my mouth seemingly on a journey. He moved gradually, inch by inch, placing warm wet kisses on my cheek. He continued to move slowly toward my ear and the whispered breathlessly, "That's the whole point."

***

I decided that it would be best if I didn't accompany Jacob back down to the van. Something about seeing him drive away would be too difficult for me. We said our final goodbyes and he was gone. Suddenly, I was all alone and beginning to doubt the decision that I had made. I underestimated how painful it would be to let him go, knowing it would be several days before I would set eyes on him again.

Looking for a distraction, I began to put away my clothes. Mandy came back into our room after several minutes passed.

"Jacob and your Dad left?"

I nodded my head as I wiped tears from my face.

"Mandy, did you feel really sad when your parents left yesterday?"

"Yeah, I was one of the first ones here on the floor. I felt so alone. But now you're here." She sounded excited at the last part, at my being here. "How did Jacob handle saying goodbye?" she asked hesitantly.

"I think it was hard for both of us. We've been basically inseparable since early spring."

"Let's get you unpacked and then let's go do something fun. We need to take your mind off everything. Deal?" Mandy was going to make sure that I didn't get too depressed, I could tell, which was exactly what I needed.

"Sure. I'm almost done here. The rest I can do in the morning. Let's go."

We left the dorm and met up with some new friends that Mandy had made earlier this weekend. We hung out and talked for several hours. It made me feel more at ease to have new friends already.

***

Monday went by without much fanfare. By Tuesday, I had settled in and was ready to start classes. My classes weren't anything that I couldn't handle and the week went by quickly. I had been so busy with homework and new student activities that it made the separation a little easier to deal with. I had talked to Jacob briefly on the phone a couple of times through the week and he was coming up after school on Friday.

On Friday, my last class seemed to take so long. Finally, we were dismissed and I couldn't get back to Mercer Hall quick enough. The walk across campus almost became a run. I sprinted up the stairs as fast as my two left feet would allow. Running down the hallway, I stopped at my door and opened it to find Jacob sitting on my bed waiting for me.

"How did you get in here?" I asked as I hurried over to greet him. Jacob lifted me up on the bed beside him and gave me a long overdue hug and kiss.

"Mandy let me in. She had another class to go to, but told me I could wait here." He was smiling so wide, I thought it must hurt his cheeks. "Man, I've missed you."

"Oh Jake, I've been so busy this week," I mumbled as I leaned against him. "It's so good to see you. How was your week?"

"Boring. School doesn't start for another week. Embry and I have three classes together though." Jacob gently pressed one of my hands between his as he talked.

"Wow, remind me to warn those teachers," I snickered. Jacob's mouth curved up into a mischievous smile.

"Do you want me to show you around? They've got a great flat panel TV in the lounge and they usually have sports on."

"Sure," he said as he hopped off the bed. Jacob turned to me and helped me down.

I headed out the door, taking Jacob by the hand as we walked down the hallway. Other students were giving us a wide berth as we walked by. They seemed to be unsettled by all six foot seven of Jacob. Jacob appeared to be uneasy as well. We sat down on one of the sofas in the lounge.

I leaned over to Jacob and asked him quietly, "Jake, what's wrong? You aren't acting like yourself."

He frowned as he looked around the room, "I just don't feel like I belong here. This isn't exactly my cup of tea you know." He watched as a couple of students were gathered around a table having a heated discussion about one of their professors. "I feel like everyone knows that I don't belong here."

"How could they possibly know Jake? You look like you're older than most of them."

He didn't look convinced, but he let the subject drop and seemed to try to relax a bit. I snuggled up beside him and rested my head on his chest while we watched ESPN with the other students who were in the lounge.

I wasn't sure why he would be so uncomfortable here. As far as any other student knew, he was in college as well. He certainly could pass for it. His reaction shouldn't bother me as much as it did. I was insecure enough for both of us. I needed him to be my strong and confident Jacob right now.

After Jacob saw all the scores he had been waiting for, we headed out to get something for dinner. We grabbed a bite to eat at a local deli and proceeded back to the dorm. I took Jacob on a small tour of the campus as we returned from the deli. It felt so nice to have someone to walk with. My schedule was so different from Mandy's that the majority of the time I walked by myself.

"Bella, please tell me that you don't walk around after dark alone like this."

"I try not to. If the girls go out to eat, we all walk together or Tiffany has her car here and we make her drive." My social life was pretty limited, just like it had been in Forks. I spent most of my time hanging out with new friends in one of our dorm rooms or studying.

"Tiffany, which one is that? Have I met her yet?" Jacob inquired casually.

"No, she's friends with Mandy. We'll probably run into her this weekend though."

"Don't worry Jake, I'm very careful. Charlie gave me strict instructions several times before I left Forks. And he also gave me this…" I smiled as I waved a new bottle of pepper spray in the air.

"Good girl." That seemed to mollify him.

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