"I think the bedroom is clean enough." Hardin says as I put his shoes in the closet.

"If you weren't so messy I wouldn't be cleaning so much." I arch my brow.

"Sure. You would still be cleaning." He smiles and holds his hands out to me.

"What you said about moving back to England.. you meant that?" I ask and he pulls me onto his lap.

"Yea?" He answers like it shouldn't surprise me.

"When were you going to tell me?"

"I don't know.. I didn't think about it I guess." He shrugs.

"Okay.. well you only have two years left of college and I have three."

"Okay?" He obviously doesn't get where I am going with this.

"So you are just going to go to England and I will stay here? Then what?"

"I don't know.. I haven't really thought that far ahead."

"Oh." I guess I am the only one thinking of our future together.

"You will just come with me."

"I don't want to move."

"Ever?"

"Only to Seattle, I have a plan. I have always planned to live in Seattle."

"Plans change."

"Not mine."

"I wasn't part of your plan." He points out.

"I know.. but I am not moving to England."

"Yes you are." He says and I stand up from his lap.

"No, I am serious. I am not moving across the world. I will be moving to Seattle. I am not going to uproot my entire life to move somewhere that I have never been."

"What life? You don't have anything or anyone here anyway. Only me."

"My mother is here and my.. well Noah is here."

"Noah?" He scoffs.

"Yea.. he's the closest thing I have to family besides my mother."

"You and your mum don't get along and you aren't going to be seeing him anyway." He threatens. I choose not to argue over Noah at the moment.

"That doesn't mean that I am going to just move away.. I don't want to move. Why do you just assume that I would be the one to move, and so easily?"

"Because I am not American, I am not going to stay here forever."

"Well I am American and I don't want to leave here for no reason."

"No reason? Being with me isn't a reason?" He stands with me, his voice louder than before.

"Not a reason to leave everything that I know. I don't like that you just assume I will be the one to move when you won't even consider staying here."

"You're right."

"Thank you!" I run my fingers through my hair.

"Let me finish.. I was saying you are right because I am not going to consider staying here."

"Wow." I somehow knew the conversation would go this way, I knew he would try to call the shots but I am not the same girl I was when he met me.

"Even if I was going to move with you, I still have a year longer than you before I graduate."

"Do we really need to discuss this right now? Today has been shit and I don't want to fight with you." He says.

"We don't have to fight, we can discuss this like adults."

"Well can we please discuss it tomorrow, jesus it's not like we are talking marriage here."

I agree with him but I can't ignore the small sting from his dismissal.

"I know that." I snap.

"Hardin! Tessa!" Anne calls.

"Thank god." He sighs and walks out of the room.

We spend the remainder of the Christmas from hell watching television with Anne. I fall asleep on the couch and wake to Hardin shaking my shoulder before picking me up and carrying me into the room.

"I set my alarm." I tell him before rolling over to face opposite of him, scooting at least two feet away and closing my eyes again.

He ignores my attitude and hooks his arm around my waist to pull me to his chest.

"You won't be away from me. Ever." I think I hear him say. I can't decide if I should feel threatened or safe.

As he softly presses his lips against the back of my neck, I decide to go with safe.

My eyes burn from lack of sleep when my alarm goes off at four -thirty. I wake Hardin up and force myself out of bed to get dressed.

"You should just stay home, I can take her." He says, his voice thick.

"No, I can go. I'm fine." I say.

"Babe, you just took your sweats off and put them back on twice." He laughs.

"Oh." I look down and notice he is right. I had meant to put jeans on.

"Stay, I won't be gone long." He assures me.

"Okay, I am going to say goodbye to your mother."

"You can say mom, you know."

"I know.."

"Why don't you?"

"Because my mother finds it disrespectful." I explain and he nods.

"We have to leave soon so go say goodbye to her." He says.

I leave the bedroom to find Anne to say goodbye. I have only known her for a few days but it seems like much longer.

"I am sorry that this week has been this way, it was supposed to be better." She says and pulls me into a hug.

"We were in the middle of a mess anyway, you actually made it better." I tell her.

"I doubt that, but I am so glad that I got to meet you and I can not wait until you two come visit. Please make it soon." When she pulls away she has tears in her eyes.

"We will, I will make sure it is soon." I tell her, unsure if I am telling the truth.

She looks behind me and then back into my eyes.

"He told me he loved me, you know? Because of you, it's all because of you."

"He did?" My chest throbs and I can't help the tears that fall immediately down my cheeks.

Hardin did not mention this to me.

"It means so much to me to hear him say that after all this time." She cries with me.

"What the hell?" Hardin groans at the sight of Anne and I crying in one another's arms.

"Nothing, we are just being women." Anne says, wiping her eyes and pulling away.

"I will see you again soon." She smiles and Hardin rolls his eyes as he lifts her bags from the floor and heads towards the front door.

"Go back to bed, I will be home soon." He says and they leave the apartment.

I go back into the room and lay down but sleep doesn't seem to come. All I can think about is Hardin telling Anne that he loves her. It sounds so simple but I know the weight that those words hold for him.

Hardin's POV.

"You just missed the turn." My mum complains.

"I know, I am about to turn around." I try not to be annoyed since she is leaving and I don't know when I will see her again.

"Tessa didn't know that you were planning on moving back home did she?" She asks when we reach the airport.

I had been waiting on her to bring this up since Tessa did last night.

"No, we hadn't talked about it before."

"You're going to stay here in America aren't you?"

"No, I am not." I state.

"You're not?" Disbelief is clear in her voice.

"No, I just said that didn't I?" I am getting annoyed.

"So then she is going to come to England? I would love to have both of you close."

"She doesn't want to come to England mum."

"One of you has to compromise Hardin."

"We are talking years from now anyway, who knows what will happen before then." I groan and park in the drop off lane and turn the heat up.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means we may not even be together."

"I thought you wanted to spend your life with her? You don't see yourself with her?"

"Yes, of course I do. But I don't know if she.. never mind. It's fucking stupid, I don't want to talk about this shit." I groan. My head is throbbing, it is too early to be having a conversation like this, especially with my mum.

"She what?"

"Nothing, fuck." My mum frowns and I sigh.

"Fine, she may not want me then that's all." I look out the window.

"She loves you Hardin."

"Yea now.. but that doesn't mean she will always. What if this is a phase of hers? Rebelling against her mum." That thought has been haunting me and it feels like shit to actually say it aloud,

"I don't believe that. She is still here after all of the things you have done to her. I wouldn't be with you if I were her."

"Thanks mum." She really isn't helping. Personal conversation is not our thing.

"I am just saying. If this was a phase she wouldn't have put up with all of your...baggage. You need to allow yourself to be happy. Stop doubting her love for you." My mum says. It sounds good in theory but it isn't that easy.

"Okay." I simply answer. I don't want to say anything else.

Tessa and I are so different. We only have a few things in common. Yea, it works for us now, but barely. When she brought up the future last night it honestly scared the shit out of me. I don't think that I can give her a future, not the one she wants anyway. I don't want to be married, never have and never will. I don't want children, I don't even like children. I don't want to live in America, I want to go back to England. The problem will all of this is, I don't want to lose her either. I can't lose her so I have no fucking idea what I am supposed to do.

"I have to go or I will miss my flight. Promise me you will do your best to treat her right. She is good for you." My mum says and we both get out of the car.

I walk over to her side and rock back and forth on the heels of my boots.

"I love you Hardin." She says, crying and hugs me tight.

"I.. I love you too mum." I say back and hug her back. I almost correct myself and take back the "too" but that is a special thing only for Tess and I.

"I will call you when I land." She promises me and I wave her off before climbing back into the car.  My chest feels one hundred pounds heavier as I drive home thinking about what type of future I could possibly provide the girl I love.

(Please vote and comment like crazy again:) I appreciate all the wonderful comments on the last chapter, I love you! )