Fanfiction Based On Characters From Stephenie Meyers Twilight Series

Rated M for Mature Content. Strong Language, and Sexual Situations.

Four Summers
By Bratty_Vamp

Summary: Sun, surf and sand. Best friends, and
best kisses. Broken hearts, broken ties, and
dreams that can never be broken. A bounce
through time. Every road we travel leads us to
exactly where we are meant to be.
~*~
Once youve read and enjoyed this story, why not review.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6710060/1/
~*~




Chapter One
Hut Hut Hike
-Summer, 1998-
I sat with my knees bracing my notebook, writing and
doodling across the faded blue lines. My free hand held
the pages down, even as the flirty wind tried to tease
them open to reveal my secrets. I wrote everything in my
notebook. Poems short stories random thoughts and
sketchy pictures. It was the world as I knew it, in my
thirteen year old mind and imagination.
And right then, as I sat alone with the hem of my skirt
anchored firmly down under my heels in the sand, that
notebook was my best friend. My only friend.
My mother had recently married for the third time. Her
new husband, Lonnie, owned a private beach house on
Hatteras Island, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
He brought my mother and I to spend our summer here,
in what he insisted would be our new yearly tradition.
I wondered how long it would last.
I could hear the laughter of other children on the beach.
A few kids who looked at least close to my age stayed in
homes up and down this stretch of ocean-side property.
Traditions of their own brought them back every
summer. And apparently they all knew each other.
Lonnie said I'd make friends in no time. I kinda hoped
that he was right. Otherwise it would be a very long
summer.
It wasn't that I was particularly shy or antisocial, but I
was used to moving a lot. I was born in Washington
State. My mother divorced my father, her first husband,
and took me away from there when I was just three years
old.
Then she married a banker in Arizona. That lasted for
five years.
We lived in Tennessee for three years. Mom was engaged
to a doctor, but that didn't pan out.
She met Lonnie after we moved up to Michigan. He was
the Muffler King of Detroit. I always thought that title
was funny. He owned a chain of auto-body shops. My
mother was convinced that he was 'the one.' I hoped she
was right. I liked Lonnie.
I had already lived in four different states by the time I
was thirteen years old. I guess you could say that it had
made me a little jaded. I didn't really see the point in
going out of my way to make friends, when it was likely
that we'd just be moving along again sometime soon. But
still
I looked up and pushed my wind-swept hair away from
my face. A group of boys nearby threw a football back
and forth across the section of the beach. They ran and
jumped and stretched their gangly bodies while they
laughed and played in the sun. A little further down, a
couple of girls laid out on blankets while they tried to get
tan. I was envious of the relaxed comfort they all seemed
to share with one another.
I looked down and frowned.
Alone, I wrote on my notebook page. My pen sketched
upward, turning the top of the 'l' into branches that
formed a tree. The rest of the letters huddled under its
shade, and I smiled, imagining sitting there too. It was
easy to get lost in fantasy when I wrote, and very easy to
ignore the rest of the world around me. So easy in fact,
that I didn't even hear the loud trampling of feet as they
ran toward me. I was shocked and had the air knocked
out of me when a long body fell over me, knocking me to
the sand. I blinked up in surprise and was blinded by the
sun only for a second before a giant tennis shoe obscured
the light and came crashing down directly across my
face.
"Ooomph," I grunted as I saw stars twinkle-twinkle-
dancing behind my eyelids.
"Christ, Cullen! I think you killed the girl!"
"Shut up, dick!" a voice said beside me. It must have
been the owner of the shoe, because I could feel him
scrambling to get off of me while he spoke. "It's your
fault you threw such a lousy pass. I was running
backward. I didn't even see her."
"Is she breathing?"
"Of course she's breathing, dumbass!"
My eyes were still closed, but I struggled to sit up.
"Shit. She's bleeding."
"Where's your house?" someone asked near my ear. I
squinted my eyes open, and tried to point behind me,
while someone shoved a damp t-shirt over my face and
squeezed my nose beneath the material. I could taste
blood that had dripped down from my nose and tried not
to gag.
"Get her up." Another pair of hands gripped me under
my arms and hauled me up to my feet. My balance was
thrown off and I couldn't see anything over the cotton
that was bunched up over my face. I staggered a little,
and the boy beside me put his arm around my shoulder
to steady me.
"Easy there, girl. We'll get you to your place."
I nodded and let the group of boys walk me up the beach
to the house. I was thankful for the t-shirt that covered
my face, feeling mortified by the situation. I was sure
that I looked a mess, and I was horribly embarrassed by
all of the attention. I couldn't exactly see how many boys
surrounded me, but by the sound of their feet on the
stairs that led to my back porch, I guessed that every
single one of them had given up their game to usher me
inside. And then I was in my kitchen, and I could hear
my mother's voice.
"Isabella? What in the world is going on in here?" she
asked, sounding way more annoyed than alarmed.
I cringed and moved toward the sink to turn on the water
and clean myself up.
"Uh we were playing football and she was in the way"
someone began to explain.
"Of course, of course" my mother told the boys. "I'm
sure it was just an accident. Now you all get back
outside. You've tracked sand in all over my floor."
I heard their retreating footsteps, and someone yelled
out "Sorry!" before the screen door closed with a bang
and the room was silent except for the sound of the
running water. I used the t-shirt that was left behind to
wipe my nose and chin. And then I cupped cool water in
my hands and began to wash the rest of the blood away.
"Well let's look at you," my mother said, handing me a
clean towel to dry my face. I turned off the water and
spun to rest my back against the counter. "Ugh," she
tsked as her eyes studied my appearance. "You've
completely ruined your dress."
I looked down then, and saw blood had dripped down in
a few places on the front of the white sundress I was
wearing.
"You always have been so clumsy," my mother frowned. I
lowered my brows, and winced at the tenderness of the
skin across my cheek.
"I was just sitting there," I argued. "He was the one who
tripped over me."
"Well, I'll have to see if I can get those stains out before
they set. Here. I'll wash that shirt too." I handed over the
sweaty t-shirt, and she gingerly pinched the material
between two of her fingers with a grimace. "Thank God, I
don't think your nose is broken. But you look a fright."
"Yeah," I said. "My head hurts."
"Go get out of that dress so I can wash it," my mother
said then, dismissing me. "Take a couple ibuprofen and
maybe lay down for a while."
I nodded and slowly made my way to the stairs to go to
my room.
"Did you happen to find out any of the names of those
boys that brought you home?" my mother called up to
me, standing at the bottom of the stairs. My feet paused
on the steps, and I shook my head.
"The one who landed on me was Cullen," I told her.
"They called him Cullen, I think."
"Oh. Well the Cullens have the house right next door.
He must be their son. We'll have to thank them later."
I shook my head as I continued up the stairs. Thank
them? The boy had kicked me in the face. But I guess I
should have been happy that she didn't suggest that I
apologize for ruining their football game or something.
That would have been like her. I stripped out of my dress
and left it in the laundry basket in the bathroom before
climbing under the cool sheets of my bed. My head was
pounding, and I just wanted to be left alone for a while.
I didn't feel like I had been sleeping long at all, when my
mother knocked on my door to wake me.
"Isabella?" she said. "Get up. I want you to come next
door with me." I groaned and rolled over.
"Do I have to?" I asked, groggily.
"Yes. You have to. Put on something pretty and come
downstairs."
I made a face at my closed door before rolling off my
bed. Put on something pretty. I rolled my eyes and
obstinately dressed in a pair of shorts and comfortable t-
shirt. My mother was always insisting that I look 'pretty.'
My closet was full of dresses and skirts that she thought
a young lady should wear to 'look her best.' Well I
didn't look my best. I cringed as I looked at myself in the
mirror and ran a brush through my long brown hair. My
nose was still swollen and I had a purplish bruise
shadowing the skin under my left eye. I looked like I'd
been in a fight. Surely she couldn't complain if I didn't
throw on a party dress just to walk next door.
She frowned at me when I got downstairs, obviously
displeased with my clothes. She stood there in a pencil-
skirt and sleeveless blouse, holding a wrapped plate of
cookies that she'd baked to take next door. Cookies? Iwas
the one that nearly had her nose broken, and she didn't
offer me any cookies. At least Lonnie offered me a smile.
"Nice shiner," he said, playfully cuffing me under the
chin.
"Thanks," I mumbled, returning his grin with a small
one of my own.
"The boys can be a little rough when they're out there
playing. You be careful now, okay?" he suggested. I
nodded. At least he seemed to be on my side.
I followed the two of them up the sand trail that led from
our front door to the next, and listened as Lonnie told
my mother about the family that lived next door. They
bought their house a year before Lonnie had purchased
his, and they were supposedly very friendly. Still, I tried
to hide behind the two of them as my mother rang the
doorbell. I peeked between my mother and Lonnie's
shoulders to see the woman who answered their
summons at her door. She wore her wavy, caramel
colored hair pulled back in a bright blue silk scarf, and
had a clean white dress shirt tucked into a pair of khaki
Capri-pants. She was beautiful, and seemed to step right
off the pages of a tourism-guide for perfect vacations.
"Lonnie? Hello! It's nice to see you again!"
"Hello Esme," my step-father grinned. "This is my wife,
Renee, and her daughter Isabella."
"I heard you got married," the woman smiled.
"Congratulations. Renee? Isabella? Very nice to meet
you."
I listened as my mother returned her greeting, and
mumbled a "hi" from my place behind them.
"Carlisle will be upset he missed you. He's been out on
the links all day. But will you be having dinner at the
clubhouse later? I'm sure he'd love to catch up"
"Of course," Lonnie smiled and nodded. "But we really
came over to see Edward" Edward? I'd only heard him
called by his last name right after he'd landed on top of
me.
"Edward? Oh Lord," Esme sighed with a smile. "What
has he done now?"
"Oh nothing!" my mother hurried to reassure her.
"There was an accident on the beach earlier, and it
seemed Isabella got caught up in one of the boy's football
games. We just wanted to come over, and thank him for
seeing her back home."
"Oh! Well hold on. Edward?" she called over her
shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"Could you come to the door for a minute?"
"I'm playing a game!"
"Edward Anthony come here!" she said with a sterner
tone.
I heard his footsteps approach, and dropped my head. It
was bad enough that I didn't know anyone around here.
This was not exactly the way I'd want to have to be
forced into an introduction.
"You remember Lonnie Bradford from next door? This is
his wife, Renee, and their daughter, Isabella."
"Oh yeah. Hi."
I peeked up from under my hair to look at the boy past
Lonnie's shoulder, and kinda wished I hadn't. He was
cute. Like really, really cute. His hair was a strange
reddish color, and it stuck up from his head, tangled by
the sea wind and his rowdy playing outside. He was
shirtless, wearing only a pair of long, cut-off denim
shorts and some flip-flops. And he craned his head to the
side to try to see me around Lonnie's large frame.
"I think this must be yours," Renee said, pushing
forward the folded and washed t-shirt that she held in
her hands. "And I made you cookies."
"Thanks?" Edward said. He took the gifts my mother
offered, and looked up at his mother questioningly.
"They told me there was an accident on the beach
today?"
I tried to hide behind Lonnie again.
"Oh, right. Yeah. Sorry about your face," Edward spoke
to me. I nodded from my hiding place.
"We just wanted to thank you and the boys for bringing
Isabella home. Can you share the cookies with your
friends?"
"Yeah. Sure," he said. "Mom?"
"Yes," Esme sighed. "Go back to your game."
Edward turned and loped away, back into the recesses of
their house. I breathed easier once he was gone.
"Kids," she shrugged. "Can't seem to tear him away from
his video games."
"Boys will be boys," Lonnie told her.
"Speaking of are you alright dear?" Edward's mother
addressed me now, and I raised my chin to give her a
little smile.
"Yeah. I'm fine," I told her.
"Oh Good. I'm glad." I nodded and crammed my hands
into my front pockets. "Well don't be a stranger now,
you hear? The kids are always running in and out around
here. I hope we'll see you again."
"Oh, I'm sure you will," my mother answered for me. The
two women continued to chat a while, and I nudged
Lonnie's arm. He looked over his shoulder with his
eyebrow raised, and I tipped my head toward the beach
asking silent permission to leave. He nodded with a grin,
and I walked between our two houses, down toward the
water's edge. The beach was deserted now, and the cool
wind felt nice, blowing away the stress I had felt while
standing there at the Cullen's front door.
"Hey! Isabella right?"
Surprised, I turned and saw that Edward was jogging
from the back of his house toward where I stood. Feeling
nervous again, I bit my lip and shoved my hands in my
pockets.
"Yeah?" I asked, tentatively. He stopped when he got a
couple of feet away and grinned. I was struck again by
how cute he was. I hadn't even noticed before, but his
eyes were like the color of a seven-up bottle.
"I was just coming to find you."
"Well. Here I am," I told him, waiting to see what he
wanted. My stomach fluttered nervously as he stood
studying me with his grass-green, smiling eyes.
"Wow. You've got a black eye."
"Yeah," I said again, looking down and feeling
embarrassed all over again.
"I really am sorry about that. Didn't even see you there."
"No big deal," I shrugged.
"Hey. I found this on the beach. Thought it was probably
yours."
I looked up to see him pulling my folded notebook from
his back pocket before he held it out in my direction. I
reached for it eagerly, and held it with both hands
against my chest.
"You write a lot of interesting stuff."
"You read my journal?" I asked, indignantly. He just
shrugged and didn't offer any sort of apology.
"I was curious."
"That's incredibly rude," I said with a frown. He just
tipped back his messy hair and laughed.
"Did anyone else read it?"
"What? The other guys?" Edward asked, then shook his
head. "Nah. I just brought it home. Figured I'd hold it
hostage until I got my shirt back or whatever."
"Oh yeah. Well my mom washed that. Thanks for
letting me use it."
"Had to. You were bleeding all over the place."
"Right."
"It was kinda gross," he teased me. "But I'm glad you're
okay."
"Yeah. Alright," I said, feeling my cheeks turn pink.
"Well I guess I'll see you at dinner?" Edward asked. I
let my eyes travel up the beach to the distant clubhouse I
could see there. Even though we owned private houses,
we were still offered the amenities of the beach resort
that was the hub of this little vacationing community.
"I guess" I said.
"Okay. Well, see ya."
Edward turned then and ran back through the sand in
the direction he had come to presumably go finish his
video game. I squeezed my folded notebook in my hands,
grateful that I hadn't filled the pages with any
embarrassing hearts and flowers and poetry written
about boys that I had crushes on. Because there hadn't
been any boys that I had crushes on yet.
But when I thought about Edward's clear green eyes, and
the way that they sparkled when he teased me I kinda
wondered if this summer might be the one to change all
of that.
~..~..~..~

Chapter Two
Top Draft Pick
-Summer, 1998-
That night I sat on the closed lid of the toilet and
frowned while my mother tugged the top of my hair back
into a barrette, lecturing that a girl shouldn't 'hide her
face.' I wanted to hide my face. I looked ridiculous
dressed up like a doll in a full-skirted pink dress,
sporting a black eye. She used a fat-barreled curling iron
to put big bouncy banana-curls in the bottom of my hair,
and the style made me feel like I was twelve again
instead of nearly fourteen. My mother was prattling on
about all the people we'd meet at the clubhouse, and how
important it was for me to remember to sit up straight
like a lady, and use my best manners.
I knew what my mother was doing. She was priming me
for the life she thought I should lead. Turning me into a
mini version of herself, hoping to equip me with all the
tools I would one day need to snag myself a rich husband
and live the good life. In her eyes, she was being a great
mother. But most of the time I just felt like some froofy
little poodle that she was grooming for a dog show.
"Quit frowning," she told me. "It will give you wrinkles."
"I'm only thirteen," I reminded her.
"It's never too early to worry about these things," she
said. "Your Grandmother Swan looked like a shrunken
head by the time she was fifty. You don't want that, do
you?" I shrugged. I didn't even know my Grandmother
Swan. Maybe she lived a life to earn a well-weathered
face. Maybe she worked hard. Maybe she smiled a lot.
What would be so wrong with that?
As I sat for dinner with my mother and Lonnie, I looked
around the bustle of the busy dining room at the
clubhouse. Everyone was dressed up for dining, talking
quietly over their tables and to those who sat nearby. It
was a comfortable and friendly sort of environment
despite the formality of it all. I was already dragged
around and introduced to Lonnie's friends before our
dinner started. Now, at the conclusion of the meal, most
of the adults were making their way over to socialize by
the bar. That left me at our large round table, trying hard
to be invisible and wondering how long I had to stay
before my mother would let me steal away to go back to
our house. It was less than a mile away, a short walk
down the dark beach. I could already feel the sand under
my toes, and curled my feet in the pinching low-heeled
shoes that my mother had insisted I wear. I couldn't wait
to take them off, and would as soon as I could escape
polite company.
"Hello. Are you Isabella?" I looked up quickly when a
tiny little girl with black hair bounced down to sit in the
chair behind me. She looked to be around my age, and
grinned over at me with a wide, welcoming smile.
"Uh Yeah?" I said, surprised by her sudden presence.
"I'm Alice. Hi." I recognized her as one of the girls I had
seen sunbathing earlier on the beach.
"Hi."
"You're Lonnie's new step-daughter, right?" she asked,
quirking her head to the side as she studied me with
curiosity. She didn't give me time to answer. "Lonnie and
my Dad have been friends for years. I'm glad he married
your mom. We needed another girl around here, to even
things up a little. There are entirely too many boys, and
they're stupid most of the time."
"Oh." Yeah. I was a brilliant conversationalist.
"So anyway. Anything you need to know? I'm your girl.
All you gotta do is ask. Have you met any of the others
yet?"
"I don't" I shook my head, not really wanting to
mention my earlier conversation with Edward on the
beach. For some reason, it felt private and I didn't want
to share it. "I don't really know anyone"
"Well, now you know me," she said, flashing a deep set of
dimples in her cheeks. "It's a really easy set-up. We're all
here for the summer every year. Some people rent rooms
here at the clubhouse. Some of us have homes. But we're
all pretty much one big happy family. Well aside from
the renters. But they tend to only stick around for a
couple of weeks at most. The families with houses are
here for the long-haul."
"Okay"
"There's you then the Cullens. The McCarty's have the
house next to them, and our place is right next to the
clubhouse. Lauren stays in a house on the other side"
My head was spinning with the names, even as I tried to
pay attention to the way that she lined napkins across
the table to indicate the places of houses along the beach.
"Lauren?" I asked. Alice nodded.
"She's one of my best friends. See? She's the one sitting
over there by Edward."
I glanced up and looked in the direction that she pointed
out. Sure enough, the blonde girl that I had seen on the
beach earlier with Alice was sitting beside Edward at a
table. A couple of other boys had joined them as well.
"And that's Emmett and Jasper. He and his sister,
Rosalie, live here at the clubhouse. She's around here
somewhere."
"Wait. I thought you said that people rented rooms
here?"
"They do. But Jasper and Rosalie's parents run this
place, so they live here year round. Even in the off-
season. I guess you could call them locals, but we hang
out with them every year. It's cool too, because Rosalie
has like an entire guest suite that's actually just her
bedroom. Can you imagine? It's fun when she has sleep-
overs."
"Yeah?" I shook my head again. "I guess"
"Come on. I'll introduce you."
I would have balked at the suggestion, but the girl was
already standing and had grabbed my hand in hers to
pull me from my chair.
Every set of eyes at the table looked up at us when we
approached. Alice let go of my hand, and I smoothed my
palms over the front of my skirt nervously while she
addressed them.
"Guys? This is Isabella."
"Oh. Hey there Elway. I was wondering when you'd get
your ass over here," a large boy with curly brown hair
smiled up at me.
"Elway?" I asked, in confusion.
"A football player," Alice said, making a face at him.
"Don't mind Emmett. He's always like this."
"Figured it would be a good name for you, after Cullen
sacked you on the beach earlier."
I felt my cheeks get hot, and looked down.
"That's only because you threw such a shitty pass,"
Edward said, throwing a balled-up napkin at his friend.
"This is Lauren and Jasper"
"Hi," I mumbled. Alice's friend Lauren barely even
smiled. She just scooted her chair over a little closer to
Edward, like she was staking her claim or something.
"You don't look so bad," the boy named Jasper said. "By
the way you were bleeding all over the place, I was
betting that you wouldn't even be here tonight."
"Oh." I touched the tender skin under my eye with my
fingertip, feeling self-conscious, but also anxious to
dispel the idea that I was some sort of weak little girl.
"Well don't let the pink dress fool you," I offered. "I'm
tougher than I look."
Emmett laughed loudly at that, and Lauren just frowned.
"I like her!" Emmett said, leaning back in his chair.
"Well this is lame," Lauren said then with a huff. "I'm
going home."
"Yeah. Let's get out of here," Edward supplied while the
others stood as well.
"You ready to go?" Alice asked me. I was actually glad
that I was being included, and not simply dismissed.
"I should probably tell my Mom that I'm leaving," I said,
turning toward the bar area. Alice offered to walk with
me, and the other kids made their way out to the beach.
"Don't worry," Alice spoke, as we walked through the
crowded bar area. "Lonnie will know what's up. This is
what we do. We all come to dinner, and then the kids
take off while the grown-ups stand around and drink
until God knows when. Everyone knows everyone
around here. It's totally safe."
Alice was right. My mother barely glanced up from her
cosmopolitan while Lonnie sent me off with a "Good
night, honey. We'll be home later." I think they were
pleased to see that I had already started to make friends.
My mother would have more time to be a social butterfly,
if she didn't have to spend her time trying to entertain
me.
I was a little surprised to see that the other kids were
loitering just outside, waiting for us. Jasper, Emmett,
and Edward were discussing plans to windsurf the next
day.
"Lauren and I are going to use the pool, here" Alice
smiled. "You should hang out with us."
I glanced over at Lauren to see if she seemed amenable
to the idea of sharing Alice's company. She didn't say a
word. She just picked at her fingernails like she was
bored.
"Yeah. Okay," I said.
"I'm outta here," Lauren told us, after our tentative plans
seemed to be made. "Walk me home, Edward?"
"What? Oh alright," he said, being pulled away from
his conversation with the boys. "Catch you guys
tomorrow," he told the group, before Lauren and he
started walking down the dark beach in the direction
that Alice had told me Lauren lived. Jasper said good
night and went back inside the clubhouse. Emmett and
Alice and I began walking toward our homes, down the
other side of the beach.
"Are you sure Lauren doesn't mind if I hang out with you
guys tomorrow?" I asked Alice, as I bent to take off my
shoes. She did the same, and Emmett nudged my arm
with the side of his, nearly knocking me off balance.
"Don't pay any attention to her," he told me. "She just
likes being the Queen Bitch around here."
"Shut up," Alice scolded him. "Lauren is really nice. She
just doesn't know you yet. She's fine with it. I promise."
"If you're sure."
"I'm sure," Alice grinned, throwing her arm over my
shoulder. "You're one of us, now."
I smiled in the darkness, glad to have been pulled into
the group so easily.
Alice stopped at the first house that we came to and
reminded me to meet at the clubhouse pool by noon
before she left Emmett and I to continue walking.
"Catcha later, Elway," Emmett told me, when we reached
the back of his house. "Try not to get tackled on your way
home."
"I'll do my best, " I muttered jokingly. And then I
continued on my own. But a short while later when I
heard running feet on the sand behind me, I wondered if
the teasing way that we'd parted might actually be an
issue.
"Isabella! Hey wait up."
I paused in my steps and turned to see Edward's
shadowy form running to catching up with me on the
beach.
"Oh. Hey," I told him, holding my shoes up in front of
me in a mock blocking-position. "You're not planning to
trip over me again, are you?"
"It is dark out here," he chuckled. "But no. I can see you
just fine."
I nodded and dropped my arms to swing my shoes on
either side of me by the straps. He was right. The nearly-
full moon offered plenty of light. Edward fell into step
beside me, as we made our way back down to our houses.
"So did you have fun tonight?" he asked, making casual
conversation.
"It was alright," I shrugged. "I don't really like to get all
dressed up"
"None of us do," Edward laughed. "But it keeps our
parents off our backs."
"Yeah." He was speaking the universal language of teens,
everywhere. We continued walking in silence, and I
noticed that Edward passed up his own house, not
stopping until we'd reached a half-way point between his
and mine.
"I guess I'll see you around, huh?" Edward asked then.
"Yeah, sure. I guess," I told him.
"Tell your Mom thanks again, for the cookies" he
grinned and walked backwards with his hands in his
pockets. "They were really good."
"Okay."
"You should be warned," he said then. The teasing look
on his face matched the mock-severity of his words.
"Jasper is planning our next attack, hoping she'll make
us some brownies or something when we have to call in
the stretcher."
"Funny," I narrowed my eyes at him, but couldn't
suppress the grin that his teasing pulled out of me.
"Good night, Edward."
"Night, Isabella."
The next day at noon, I walked into the swimming pool
area with a towel tied around my waist, covering the
bottom of my one-piece navy-blue swimsuit. Alice was
already there, and pushed her wet hair away from her
face as she stepped out of the pool to come meet me
wearing a red racer-back suit that was similar to mine.
"We have chairs over here," she smiled and led me to the
side of the pool. Lauren was already laid out, glistening
with oil in the sun, wearing a bikini.
"Hi, Lauren," I offered, trying to be nice, as I took up the
chair beside her.
"Hey," she mumbled, with her eyes closed. At least she'd
somewhat acknowledged my presence. She looked like
she took her tanning seriously, and was already a warm,
brown color. I looked pale and sickly lying next to her.
But I also noticed that she was hairy. Like really hairy.
She was one of those people with super light-blonde hair,
and the thick white-ish hair on her arms looked almost
furry against her tanned skin. Her legs were hairy too. I
don't know why, but it made me smile a little. I imagined
that the sun would continue to bleach her hair while it
darkened her skin. By the end of the summer, she'd look
like an albino Wookie. It made me feel a little better as I
stretched out beside her.
"Hey Rosalie! This is Isabella."
I lifted my sunglasses to look at another blonde who had
come over to join us. If lying beside Lauren made me feel
better about myself this girl rapidly made me feel self-
conscious once again. She was absolutely beautiful, and
already had all the right curves to fill out the triangle-cut
top that she wore.
"Hi Isabella," she smiled at me warmly. "Jasper told me
all about you. Watch out for flying Frisbees. I think he's
putting in an order for cupcakes."
"Brownies," I corrected, smiling up at her. She might
have looked like a model, but her friendly greeting made
me like her immediately.
Lauren remained mostly quiet, but Alice and Rosalie
made up for her lack of conversation while they amused
me with stories of the past several summers that they'd
all spent together. From the sound of things, Rosalie and
Emmett were the oldest two kids of the group, both
already sixteen, and they were sort of a couple. The idea
of that match made me grin. I thought they'd be cute
together. Alice harbored some secret crush on Rosalie's
brother, Jasper, though apparently he was the only one
who didn't know about it.
"That's so gross," Rosalie muttered, rolling onto her
stomach so the sun's rays could reach her back.
"What?" Alice asked. "He's cute."
"I'm barfing," Rosalie warned. I laughed.
"Hey girls. Need someone to help you with your
sunscreen?" a boy's voice asked. I lifted my head from
my arms to see a sandy haired boy with bright blue eyes
looking down at me.
"Ugh. Go away, Mikey," Lauren told him from her lounge
chair. Alice just giggled and introduced us.
"Isabella? Mike."
"We met yesterday," the boy smiled. "Kinda." I closed my
eyes in embarrassment, wondering exactly how many
people had been witness to the Cullen-tackle.
"The boys are windsurfing," Rosalie told him.
"Okay. Well, see ya later then," he said, smiling at me
once more before turning to walk away.
"Mike lives in town," Alice told me.
"Locals are lame," Lauren added.
"I'm a local," Rosalie reminded her. Lauren didn't retract
her statement. If I'd learned anything at all from
Lauren's infrequent additions to our conversation, it was
that she thought everything was 'lame.' I think it was her
favorite word.
"I think Mike likes you," Alice whispered. "He was totally
checking you out."
I cringed while I rolled over and sat up. I couldn't
imagine anyone checking me out when Rosalie laid out
in all of her glory, just a few feet away. I looked like a
stick-figure by comparison.
"I'm hot," I said, shifting the conversation to something I
felt more comfortable with. "I'm getting in the water."
Alice jumped in to join me. Rosalie dove in soon too. I'm
guessing that Lauren thought that swimming was lame.
She stayed on her chair. We swam for a while, and had
fun anyway. Lauren baked in the sun while we passed
time hitting an over-inflated beach ball back and forth to
each other in the chlorinated water.
"Heads up!" a loud voice called later, disturbing our
game. Before I could see what was coming, a giant body
canon-balled next to me. I sputtered on water and
pushed my drenched hair out of my face.
"Emmett! You are such an idiot!" Rosalie laughed. The
boy she spoke to was standing beside her, shaking water
out of his curly hair like a dog. And then splashes
surrounded us when the rest of the boys followed his
lead and threw their bodies into the pool too.
"Should have known we couldn't spend one day in
peace," Alice complained, though she was smiling over at
Jasper when he pulled his head from beneath the water
nearby. Edward and Mike were with them, and were
already throwing water by the handfuls up at Lauren,
who shrieked about not wanting to get her hair wet.
Emmett suggested a game of chicken, right away, and
those of us in the pool started dividing up in pairs. I sent
a nervous look over toward Alice, when Jasper claimed
me as his partner. She just grinned and shook her head
over at me.
"You aren't going to try to drown me, for baked goods?" I
asked worriedly, as he grabbed my arms to help pull me
onto his shoulders. Jasper just laughed.
"Not today," he joked. "I take this game very seriously.
And I know you can take a hit."
Edward sweet-talked Lauren into the water, and we
waited for her to get done making a production of getting
into the pool and situated up on his shoulders before we
all squared off. Rosalie and Emmett came at us first.
Jasper had no qualms at all about knocking his sister
forcefully into the pool. Lauren and Alice squealed and
pulled at each other's arms while Edward and Mike
laughed beneath them. We were all a tangle of limbs and
laughter, as we joked around and took turns shoving at
each other and trying to split apart the couples. As
Jasper predicted, I did take a couple of good hits. And
I'm pretty sure that Lauren pulled my hair once, trying to
get me off Jasper's shoulders. But I held tight, even
though she played dirty. In the end, Jasper and I were
victorious.
"Dang it, Alice," Lauren complained, hauling herself
back out of the pool. "You know chlorine is bad for my
hair!" I wanted to give Alice a high-five for the way that
she had wrapped her arms around Lauren from behind,
and pulled the girl under-water. At least I didn't have to
face the girl's wrath, for having been the one to do it.
"Aww come on," Alice tried to cajole her friend. "We're
just playing."
"Well, I'm done," Lauren huffed, retreating to her lounge
chair once more. With uneven teams, we all decided to
play Marco Polo instead. I dodged Mike's extended
hands, and tried to not be distracted by how cute Edward
looked, with his wet hair sticking up in every which
direction. I blushed, and averted my eyes when I caught
myself staring at the sliver of white skin and noticeable
tan-line that was exposed at the back of his shorts when
he pulled himself out of the side of the pool. I was pretty
sure that Lauren would scratch my eyes out, if she
caught me looking at her boyfriend like that. And while I
felt too weird to ask Alice about it, I was pretty sure
that's what Edward was. Or at least, Lauren wanted him
to be.
When the sun started to go down, we all parted ways and
agreed to meet back up behind Emmett's house for a
bonfire later. And so began our typical days and nights
spent on Hatteras Island.
We played on the beach, at the clubhouse, or in the surf.
When the weather kept us indoors, we hung out at the
Cullen's house and watched the boys play video games
on their giant television screen. Sometimes we played
cards or board games, instead. The girls had a couple of
sleep-overs in Rosalie's room at the clubhouse. That was
just as much fun as Alice had promised. In no time at all,
I felt like a part of their oddly constructed summer
family.
At the end of June, we helped Edward celebrate his
fifteenth birthday in the basement of his parents' beach
house. In July, we shot fireworks off from the back of
Alice's deck. By August, we were all browned,
windswept, and relaxed from our lazy days spent in the
sun. I was already dreading the end of our stay, when we
would all pack our things and go back to our normal lives
in various cities and towns away from North Carolina.
Emmett was the first of our group to leave. Lauren and
Alice left just a few days later. I wasn't exactly sad to see
Lauren go. She never had warmed up to me. But I cried
when I hugged Alice, and we promised to stay in touch.
On the day that the Cullens were heading out, I sat
outside with my toes in the sand, writing in my journal
yet again, reflecting on the summer I'd just spent with
my new friends. I was surprised when Edward lowered
his lanky frame to sit beside me on the dunes.
"Writing again?" he asked.
"Always," I smiled over at him. The wind blew piece of
my hair across my face, and Edward was the one who
reached out to tuck it behind my ear. It was an
uncharacteristically tender gesture from a boy that I was
used to seeing rowdy and loud, and always in motion.
"I'm gonna remember meeting you this way," he said
softly. His hushed words made my heart do a quick little
flip-flutter inside my chest.
"Yeah. Well, I'm going to remember your foot smashing
my nose," I teased. Edward laughed. We both turned our
heads to look over our shoulders when his mother called
him from the back porch.
"I guess it's time to go," he said.
"Sounds like it," I said, feeling sad. Edward was
technically the first person I'd met when I arrived. And
while we hadn't ever spent a lot of time alone, he was
always very nice to me. I was going to miss him.
"You'll be here next summer, right?" he asked.
"Hope so," I shrugged.
"Okay. Well see you then, Isabella."
"Bye, Edward."
~..~..~..~

Chapter Three
Kick Off
-Fall, 2009-
I stretched over the bar, wiping the shiny polished
surface clean of alcohol and food that had been dropped.
"Hey sweetheart," the kind old man on a stool at the end
called down to me. He was a regular customer. Regular
enough, that after only a couple months of working part-
time I already knew his sweet old face, and most of his
amusing old stories.
"Name's not 'Sweetheart'," I snarked down toward him.
"It's 'Baby'. What do you need, Earl?"
"Slide me another beer," he told me. I quickly tilted a
glass and pulled back the lever to produce a stream of
the amber-colored lager he preferred. "Gotta love the
quick service in here," Earl said, when I smiled and put
his fresh beverage on a coaster in front of him.
"Gonna have to forgive me when I can't be at your beck
and call," I warned him. "We're going to start getting
really busy in a while. There's a game on today."
"I'll be home before then," he grinned. "Rather watch on
the t.v. in my own place anyway. Gets too loud in here,
for my taste." I nodded. I knew I'd see him again the
following day by noon. He always came in for lunch.
A couple other co-workers hustled around the tables out
front, refilling napkins and cleaning ketchup bottles. I
worked in a sports bar out near the airport. It was a great
location for regulars like Earl, as well as travelers to stop
in. I knew it would be the perfect place to earn a little
cash while satisfying my love for people watching. I loved
to guess and make up stories about the customers who
came and went. I enjoyed imagining the roads that they
traveled, and the lives that they led the places they
were going and the people they'd met on the way. I
knew that all of the roads I had traveled myself, had led
me right to this place and time. They'd help shape the
person that I'd become. My story was still being written,
unfolding a little more each day.
Earl finished his drink and slipped a few bills into my tip
jar, before leaving an empty space at the bar for some
rowdy sports enthusiast to occupy.
"Get us some help yet?" I asked over my shoulder to the
bar manager who had stepped into the area behind me to
make sure things were stocked for the rush.
"Yep. New girl. You'll help train her tomorrow."
Awesome,I thought. It was another story to become
acquainted with, and some help behind the bar. That
would be a welcome relief to everyone on the schedule.
I didn't have more time to wonder about the new
addition to the payroll. People began to fill the place up,
and the large televisions were tuned in so that customers
could cheer the local football team to victory.
"Hurry up with that order for table thirteen," a waiter
named Eric called to the busy cook in back. "Kick-off's in
five minutes!"
~..~..~..~

-Summer,1999-
"Yo! Elway!" A booming voice yelled from below my
window. I laughed and ran to the open space, leaning out
past the frame to look down at the ground below.
Emmett stood, cupping his hands around his mouth.
"Kick-off's in five minutes. Get down here, or I'm coming
up!"
My window had been thrown wide open in my bedroom,
letting the sea-air chase away the closed-in smell of our
summer home while I hung my clothes in my closet.
Happy to be back, I had gone to see Rosalie at the
clubhouse before I'd even begun unpacking. She was as
gorgeous as ever, and just as welcoming as she'd always
been. We had flopped across her bed, and quickly filled
each other in on the school year that had just passed.
It had been nine months filled, for me, with getting used
to being a high school student. That meant a lot of
homework, and after-school study sessions. It meant
finally needing to wear a bra, and the first boy who
wanted to be my boyfriend after he'd noticed. No thank
you.
Of course, Alice already knew about all of that. She and I
had become faithful pen pals during the time that we'd
spent apart. She was going to arrive at the beach a day
after I would. I wasn't sure about when anyone else
would get there, but I couldn't wait.
I ran down the stairs, past my mother who reminded me
to slow down in the house. My back door was flung open,
and my feet no sooner hit the sand than they left again.
Emmett had grabbed me in a giant bear hug, and
effortlessly swung my feet off the ground.
"Ugh," I groaned, feeling the breath nearly knocked out
of me. "How is it possible, that you're bigger than you
were last summer?"
"So are you!" Emmett grinned, putting me back on my
feet to stand. "Lemme look at ya. Aww yeah. Would
you look at that? Little Elway's growin' up nicely. Lookin'
good, honey. Lookin' real good."
"Shut up!" I laughingly swatted at his barrel of a chest. I
noticed then that he wasn't alone. Edward was standing
a few feet away, smiling over at me. My face warmed
instantly when I saw him there.
"Hi, Edward," I said, smiling back at him.
"Isabella." He tipped his chin up, in that way that cool
boys do. I might have been surprised by Emmett's
bulked up figure. But I was even more surprised at the
growth-spurt that had seemed to have grabbed hold of
Edward over the school year. He was easily as tall as
Emmett now, but still lanky and lean. His wild hair and
sparkling green eyes were just the same. And I didn't
know how it was possible, but he was even cuter than I
remembered.
"I was just coming to find you."
"Well here I am," I grinned, as the butterflies in my
tummy woke up after hibernation, and began tumbling
all over each other once more.
"Just got back from seeing Ro," Emmett told me,
bringing my attention back his way. "She told me that
you got here this morning."
"Alice should be here tomorrow," I told him.
"I think Lauren gets here next week," Edward offered,
scratching at his scruffy looking cheek. That was a new
development, too. He actually had facial hair. And
maybe he did before but it wasn't enough to notice. I
definitely noticed now.
"We were going to throw the football back and forth,"
Emmett told me. "But we decided to make sure that you
were out of the danger-zone first."
"Very funny," I gave him a teasing, dirty look while I
crossed my arms over my chest.
"It's no laughing matter, Missy," Emmett said, wagging
his finger at me before pointing down at Edward's feet in
the sand. "This guy could kill a person, with those size
elevens he's wearing this year!"
"Isabella," my mother said, stepping out to our back
porch. "I don't want to have to iron all your clothes.
Please finish unpacking before they become an
unsuitable mess."
"Gotta go, boys," I said, rolling my eyes. "See you later?"
"Absolutely," Emmett grinned. "Hey Mrs. Bradford.
Gonna bake us some cookies?" he yelled over my head to
my mother.
"I just might," she said. "But not if you keep Isabella
away from her chores. You two get out of here."
Edward offered my mother a little wave and a smile
before they both ran further out onto the beach to play
catch as they'd planned.
I finished unpacking and organizing my things in my
room as quickly as I could, but the beach was deserted
when I returned. I was a little sad that Edward and
Emmett had already disappeared, but I decided to use
the time alone to write. I knew that once Alice got to the
beach, I'd be sorely pressed for the quiet time to do so. I
was really excited to see her.
"Did you get to see your friends?" Lonnie asked, when I
stepped back inside later and washed my hands to start
helping my mother fix dinner. He sat at the table,
reading through a local newspaper. I grabbed salad items
from the refrigerator, and began tearing lettuce to put in
a bowl.
"A little, earlier," I said. "I was just writing."
"Your head is always in the clouds," my mother said
then, chopping vegetables. "And are they feeding the
children growth-hormones around here? Those boys are
hardly recognizable."
"Kids grow up, honey," Lonnie said, standing and
sneaking a piece of cucumber from the cutting board.
"All the same," she chided, "you watch yourself around
those boys, Isabella."
"It's not those boys she has to worry about," Lonnie
grinned over at me. "It's the renters at the clubhouse
who are always the trouble makers."
"And how would you know that?" my mother asked, with
her eyebrow raised.
"Because my family used to rent," he grinned, leaning
down to kiss her loudly on the neck. I rolled my eyes and
walked away to put our salad bowl on the table. As happy
as I was that my mother's marriage seemed to be
working out this time, I really didn't need to see their
constant displays of affection. It was a little gross.
I did the dishes after dinner, and escaped to my room
while my mother and Lonnie cuddled on the couch in
front of a movie. The long drive from Michigan had
taken its toll, and I was exhausted.
I was up early, probably because I was so excited about
seeing Alice again. The letters we'd mailed back and
forth had cemented a friendship that had begun last
summer. I was anxious to help her with operation
"finally get Jasper to pull his head out of his ass." She
was determined she'd have him as a boyfriend this year.
I was happy to help with her mission. It would be fun.
The house was still silent as I pulled a large hooded
sweatshirt over my t-shirt and shorts. I snuck out to the
beach, anxious to soak up the fresh, salty air, even
though the morning temperature and wind made it very
chilly outside. Lost in thought, I didn't see Edward out
on his back deck until he called my name over the gulls
wake-up cries. I looked up at the sound, and saw him
give me a wave before he jumped down onto the sand
and started jogging in my direction. I raised my own
hand, gripping the sleeve of my sweatshirt in my palm,
and waved from my spot near the surf.
"You're up early," he smiled when he stepped up beside
me.
"So are you," I shrugged, resuming my walk.
"I was running," Edward said. "I started cross-country at
school this year. Thought it would be good to stay in
shape over vacation."
"It's a nice morning for it," I said, nodding ahead at the
quiet beach in front of us.
"What about you? Do you run?"
"Only if I'm being chased by a man with a chainsaw," I
laughed. "I'm sure I'd fall down a lot."
"Ah. Then you should run with someone who's willing to
help you up."
"Maybe," I smiled. The morning sun made his eyes look
dappled and dreamy. I sighed, and turned my attention
to the waves beside us. It was a safer place to look.
"Did you have a good school year?" Edward asked,
continuing our conversation.
"Not bad. High school takes a little getting used to."
"How old are you, again?" Edward asked, turning to walk
backward in front of me.
"I'll be fifteen in September," I told him.
"Ah. That's right. You're the same age as Alice."
I nodded.
"And you'll be sixteen soon," I said, remembering his
birthday party from last summer.
"Sixteen and never been kissed," Edward said, sticking
his lower lip out in a playful pout.
"Really?" I asked, surprised. A wide smile pulled up the
corners of his mouth and he laughed.
"No. Not really," he grinned and turned to face forward
again, letting the wind push his hair back.
"You're such a liar," I told him, feeling embarrassed that
I'd even considered the possibility that he was as
inexperienced as I. Edward just grinned over at me and
shrugged his shoulders with his hands in his pockets.
We seemed to silently agree to turn back, once we'd
reached the clubhouse. Side by side, we started our
journey up the short distance back to our summer
homes.
"It's so nice out here," I said, closing my eyes and pulling
my hoodie a little closer around the back of my neck.
"It's pretty in the mornings," Edward said. "Nice and
quiet. It's not as peaceful when the crew is around."
"The crew?" I asked.
"You know. The guys," Edward shrugged again. "Don't
get me wrong. I have a lot of fun with them. But
sometimes it's nice to just enjoy the quiet. You know?"
"Yeah, I know." I nodded and bit my bottom lip. I
remembered Edward as being very rambunctious and
loud, himself. It seemed that the months spent away
from the beach had calmed him a little.
"I plan to run, most mornings," Edward told me,
stopping once we reached the back of his house. "You
know, in case you ever want to join me."
"You don't know what you're asking," I laughed, shaking
my head at the mental image of me tripping up the
beach, trying to keep up with him.
"Maybe I do," he said quietly. I looked up at him from
under my lashes, and tried to hold down the happy little
butterflies that had taken up residence in my chest. I felt
special that Edward seemed to be willing to spend time
alone with me, like this.
"We could walk again, sometime" I suggested.
"Yeah. Maybe," he said with a little nod. He reached out
and tugged my ponytail playfully before we parted ways.
Alice arrived right on schedule. Our reunion was
punctuated by us squealing, and jumping, and hugging
each other on the beach, and with Alice's loud
exclamation of "Oh My God, Isabella! You really ARE
getting boobs!" that made me blush and look over at the
boys, praying to God that they hadn't over-heard her.
"Mike won't be able to keep his hands off you," Alice
dimpled good-naturedly. "Wait. Has he seen you yet?"
"Ugh. Don't start," I rolled my eyes. Mike was flirty
enough last summer. I didn't really look forward to
ducking his attention again.
We all got dressed up, and ate dinner with our parents at
the clubhouse. And as soon as the adults moved to the
bar, us kids snuck out the back. The boys rolled up the
legs of their dress pants, and us girls were quick to take
off our shoes while we ran into the edge of the dark surf
and laughingly kicked water up at each other.
"It's good to be back," Alice said, breathless and giggling,
while putting her arm around me. Edward came up on
the other side, and threw his arm over my opposite
shoulder, easily sandwiching me between the two of
them.
"Yeah. It really is," I said.
I was amazed at the way that we all slipped into our
familiar routine. Well the rest of the group had been
doing it for years. But it felt like I had been doing it, just
as long. We all hung out on the beach or at the pool
during the day. We spent our evenings having bonfires,
or goofing around at the clubhouse. The only addition
for me, this year, were the quiet walks that I had begun
to take with Edward in the mornings. After that first day,
he was waiting for me after his run. And just like the first
time, we walked together down toward the clubhouse
before turning back and making our way back home.
Sometimes we talked about our lives, away from
Hatteras Island. Sometimes, we just enjoyed the quiet
sounds of the morning. They were quickly becoming my
favorite part of each day, and I had begun to learn a lot
about Edward and the complexities that made him so
much more than just a cute boy. And so I was
disappointed when one morning, around a week after
we'd started walking together, Edward didn't show up
like he usually did. He didn't show up the following day
either. I had a feeling that his absence had a lot to do
with the fact that Lauren had finally arrived at the beach.
And one day, while laying out with the girls by the pool,
my suspicions were confirmed.
"Ugh. I'm exhausted," Lauren groaned as she threw a
skinny arm over her face dramatically.
"Oh yeah?" Rosalie asked, hardly sounding interested.
"Edward made me get up at seven in the morning, just to
go running with him," the girl complained. I scrunched
up my face and stuck my tongue out, facing away from
her. At least then I knew why he hadn't been walking
with me. It stung a little, to be replaced so easily.
I was still harboring that bit of resentment when I went
to bed that night. But with as much as I'd like to have
held a grudge, I couldn't. Not when I was woken up in
the early morning near dawn, by the sound of Edward's
voice calling my name from below my bedroom window.
"Isabella!" he whispered loudly. "Isa shit." I pushed
back my hair as I stepped to the window, and barely had
time to flinch to the side and avoid being hit by a small
piece of drift-wood that he had thrown to try to wake me.
"What are you doing?" I whisper-yelled down to him. He
stood in the murky-morning light, with his hand pulled
back as he got ready to launch another missle at the side
of my house. The stick in his hands dropped when he
saw me standing there.
"Sorry!" Edward grinned. "You awake?"
"I am now," I said, rubbing my hands up and down my
bare arms. "Do you know what time it is?"
"No. Come outside."
"It's five in the morning," I grumbled, frowning down at
him.
"So? Come outside," he told me again. I shook my head
as I stepped back into my room, already reaching for a
hoodie to zipper up over the tank-top I'd worn to bed. I
snuck down the stairs quietly, and slipped my feet into
my flip-flops before walking down my porch steps to the
beach. Edward was already back there, waiting for me.
"Ever heard of this thing called sleep?" I yawned. "Some
people do it. You should try it, some time."
"And waste the best part of the day?" Edward shrugged.
"Come on. I need your help."
"With what?" I asked, following behind him as he started
walking down toward the surf. The pre-dawn hour cast
everything in calm grey. Edward stopped at a dark hill of
wet sand that was piled near the surf. "You brought me
out here to look at a pile of sand," I said, lowering my
eyes with confusion at the mass in front of me.
"Aww come on. You're a writer," Edward smiled and
pushed at my shoulder playfully. "Use your
imagination."
"My imagination is still asleep," I grumbled. Edward
dropped to his knees in front of me, and started packing
some of the sand into a red bucket that he'd pulled from
the pile He flipped the bucket upside down, and
shimmied it loose until a cone shape was left standing
behind. "A sandcastle?" I asked, guessing at his
intention. Edward smiled up at me.
"It will be. If you'd help." I looked up at the empty beach
that stretched in front of us, and at the grey-turning-pink
sky over the water. Then I looked back at the boy that
grinned up at me with such an open, friendly expression
that it made my arguments crumble.
"Yeah. Okay," I nodded.
The cold sand made the knees of my pajama pants wet as
I worked silently beside him. Edward lined up buckets of
sand to form a base, while I packed wet sand in the
cracks between them to help make the bottom of our
castle. As the sun rose, we created an elaborate and large
structure. I was lying on my stomach, using a stick to
scratch windows and tiny details into one side of the
drying creation, while Edward smoothed his hands up a
cylindrical turret he'd created on the opposite side. My
attention was drawn upward when a man ran by us on
the beach, his feet making wet thwack-thwacking sounds
as he jogged past.
"Morning," he said as he ran by. I wiped my cheek with
the back of my hand, and returned his greeting before
looking over to where Edward was thoroughly engaged
with his project.
"Isn't it time for your run?" I asked him. Edward's eyes
darted over to mine, and he shrugged before
concentrating on the pointy roof that he smoothed under
his fingers.
"I don't feel like it, today."
"Lauren will be so disappointed," I mumbled before I
thought better of it. Edward's hands dropped down to
rest on his legs for a moment while he looked back over
at me.
"Why would you think that?" he asked. I shrugged one
shoulder, and tried to concentrate on the window I was
designing, feeling stupid for having said anything.
"It's just" I frowned and refused to look up at him. "She
told us that you've been running together in the
mornings."
Edward was silent for a moment, and started working
again.
"You sound jealous," he said lightly. I blinked up at him,
but he wasn't looking at me.
"What?" I snorted. "Psh. I'm not. I don't"
"Sure," he smiled down at his turret, teasing me.
"That's crazy," I told him. "I just don't want you to get in
trouble, or anything. Why should I care if you run with
Lauren?" But I did care. And it bothered me that he'd
seemed to guess that.
"Lauren is on her track team, back home," Edward said,
offering me an explanation even though we both knew
that he didn't have to. "We race. It's good practice.
Makes me faster."
"Sounds fun," I mumbled again, not meaning it.
"You know the best part about running with Lauren?"
Edward said, looking up at me from under his long
eyelashes. I tried to look like I didn't care, as I raised one
eyebrow in his direction.
"Hadn't given it much thought," I lied. His smile grew
wider.
"If I run fast enough, I don't have to listen to her talk."
My heart did a happy little flutter back-flip at his words,
but I tried to ignore it.
"For a guy who doesn't like too much talking, you seem
to be doing an awful lot of it," I said snidely, looking back
down at the side of the sand-castle in front of me.
Edward laughed.
"Never said I didn't like talking," Edward finally said.
"Just said that I didn't like talking with Lauren. She's a
little annoying sometimes."
I tried to hide my grin as I dug my stick a little deeper
into the sand.
"Well what do we have here?" A loud voice boomed
from a few yards away. Edward and I both looked up to
see Emmett lumbering toward us. His hands were
wrapped around a cereal bowl, and he ate as he walked
our direction. "Nice pajamas, Elway," Emmett said,
lowering himself to sit in the sand at Edward's side. I
shrugged and turned to sit on my bottom, wiping at the
sand on my knees.
"You're up early," Edward said to him. Emmett looked
up at him like he was crazy.
"Dude it's like ten. We're going body-surfing today.
You in?"
"Yeah," Edward nodded, looking back at our sandcastle
as though reluctant to give up our building venture. I
couldn't believe we'd been out working on it so long. "I'm
in."
"This is pretty awesome," Emmett said, turning his
attention to our castle. "You should work for my dad."
Emmett's father owned some huge construction
company. "You're good at building stuff."
"It's not so much the building," Edward said, finishing
off the tower with a far away look on his face. "It's just
creating something. Out of nothing. You know?"
"Kinda like your music?" Emmett asked. "You always
were good at that creative shit."
"You play music?" I asked. Edward looked like he might
have been blushing, and Emmett continued speaking.
"You haven't heard mini-Mozart here play, yet?" he
asked. "Edward can play just about any instrument he
gets his hands on."
"Not really," Edward shrugged, looking embarrassed. "I
play a little."
"That's really cool," I offered, surprised by the new bit of
information. Edward hadn't mentioned it. But he really
didn't seem the bragging sort.
"Anyway," Edward said, dusting his hands on his legs. "If
we're body-surfing, I should get changed."
"You coming with?" Emmett asked me while the boys
stood.
"Not this time," I shook my head. "I think I might work
on this for a while longer."
"Okay then. Hurry your ass up, Cullen," Emmett
ordered. "Rosalie and Jasper are getting the boards from
the clubhouse. Everyone's gonna meet up in about thirty
minutes."
"Thanks for the help, Isabella," Edward said, giving me
one last grin before they turned to leave.
I got back on my knees, and etched a few more details
into the sand after they'd gone. But the kingdom we'd
created seemed to have lost some of its magic as I
worked on it alone. With a sigh, I dropped my drawing
stick, and stood to go inside for a shower.
An hour later, I made my way back out to the beach with
a book in hand. I frowned to see that someone had
kicked in the side of the sandcastle that Edward and I
had built. It was ruined.
And I wondered if maybe Lauren had gone body-surfing
with them.
~..~..~..~

Chapter Four
Interference
-Summer, 1999-
The summer flew by like the one before it, punctuated
with inside jokes and sun-burnt noses, sleep-overs and
unrequited crushes. And yes- I was finally able to add
myself to that not-so-fun part of it all. But at least Alice
and I were able to commiserate together. I never
admitted the feelings that I had developed for Edward,
but she knew. She continued to try to make Jasper see
her as anything but the little girl that he knew her as.
And I continued to cherish the quiet times that Edward
seemed to set aside for only me.
Sometimes we went for walks. Sometimes we sat quietly
on the beach, and he'd read while I'd write. For whatever
reason, that softer side of Edward seemed to enjoy the
quiet comfort that filtered between us in those early
morning hours, when everyone else was asleep and
oblivious to the friendship that was nurtured by the
sunrise and hush-hush lull of the waves on the beach.
"I think Jasper likes one of the renters," Alice said,
plopping miserably into the empty chair beside me at the
clubhouse where we'd all had dinner.
"She'll be gone in no time," I offered as consolation. Boys
and girls came and went. They flirted at the edges of our
group while they were around, and then disappeared just
as quickly as they'd come. All of the boys had noticed a
particularly cute girl who'd been staying at the beach for
the past week, but Jasper had been following her around
like a puppy.
"But why her and not me?" Alice pouted.
"Who knows why boys act the way they do?" I asked,
stealing a glance over toward Edward's table. We never
really talked about it, but I still couldn't figure out why
he spent so darn much time with Lauren. He had
admitted to me, that he was annoyed by her sometimes.
And yet, she was always there. I saw that Edward seemed
tense, sitting with his back toward me. His legs were
spread wide, and his feet bounced beneath him in
irritation. I smirked to see that his pants had ridden up
at the cuffs, showing that he hadn't bothered to wear
socks with his dress-shoes. His father sat across from
him, with a scowl on his face, obviously lecturing his son
about something, while Edward ran both of his hands
behind his head and tugged at his hair.
"I'm calling it a night," Alice said then. "I can't take
another five minutes of watching him chase that girl
around."
"Yeah. I think I'll head home early, too," I told her.
"Wanna stay over?"
"No. I'd be miserable company," Alice said, smiling a
little at my offer. "But maybe we could get Rosalie to
drive us into town tomorrow? We could shop a little."
"That sounds good," I smiled. I noticed that Alice hadn't
mentioned inviting Lauren, but wasn't really shocked by
it. She and I had become closer friends, each seeking out
the comfort of a gentle heart that shared the same
misery.
I looked back over at Edward's table. It didn't seem that
he'd be escaping the clubhouse too soon. Emmett and
Rosalie were nowhere in sight. I slipped away on my
own, and walked the strip of beach back to my house.
Enjoying having the place to myself for a while, I didn't
even bother to change out of the dress I'd worn to
dinner. I just dropped my shoes by the door and flopped
down on the couch in the living room with a book. And
like I usually did when engrossed in a good story, I lost
time while I lost myself in the fantasy world that poured
out of the pages under my hands. It was almost midnight
when my attention was drawn up to the sound of my
mother and Lonnie, returning from their evening out.
"Oh," my mother hiccupped-giggled when she saw me
there, peering at them from my spot on the sofa. "You're
home early," she said. Lonnie held her close to his side,
keeping her upright.
"It's not that early," I said, glancing over toward the
clock on the wall.
"Aren't you usually out with your friends?" she asked out
loud, lowering her eyebrows.
"Not tonight," I shrugged.
"Well lock up before bed," Lonnie told me, ushering
my mother up the stairs. I promised I would, and went
back to my reading.
For a while.
Until the squeaking bedsprings and quiet moans from
upstairs distracted me from my book.
"Sick," I whispered to myself with a frown. No one wants
to listen to their parents having sex. I was getting sleepy,
but knew that there was no way in hell I'd be going
upstairs anytime soon.
With a groan, I rolled off the couch and pulled the
blanket on the back with me. I wrapped it around my
shoulders, and made my way barefoot outside to the
beach, where I could hopefully escape the sounds that
my mother and Lonnie made. I shuddered with the
mental image, and stood still with surprise when I came
close enough to recognize a shadowy form on the beach.
"Edward?" I asked tentatively. The full moon in the sky
lit the ends of his hair, and I frowned as I saw him hastily
wipe at his face when he heard my voice.
"Yeah?" he asked, with his voice sounding scratchy. My
heart did a painful lump-bump in my chest when I
realized that he was crying.
"What are you doing out here?" I asked, moving to sit
down in the sand beside him.
"Nothing," he said, still not looking at me. "What are you
doing out here?"
"Running away," I said simply. Edward sniffled a little,
and wiped his nose on his shirt sleeve.
"Great. I'll come with you."
I tucked my skirt under my heels, and rocked back on my
bottom with my blanket wrapped around me.
"Cold out here," I said.
"Summer's almost gone," Edward replied. I nodded
sadly. "Share that blanket?"
I pulled one edge of the blanket away from my body, and
Edward scooted closer to me on the beach, wrapping it
around his opposite shoulder. We sat with the sides of
our bodies touching, huddled together under the stars.
"What are you running away from?" Edward asked
quietly, turning his face to look at me.
"The disturbing sounds of my mom and Lonnie doing it,"
I said, feeling my cheeks warm as I said the words out
loud. Edward chuckled. "Don't laugh," I scolded. "I'm
scarred."
"Go Lonnie," Edward said, sniffling again. I could hear
the smile behind his words, and was happy that my
discomfort seemed to cheer him a little. "Your mom is
kinda hot."
"Disgusting!" I said, knocking his arm with my elbow.
"What? She is," Edward smiled then, and shook his head
while he stared out over the ocean. "You look a little like
her, you know."
I tucked my head down toward my chest, and rubbed my
cheek against the nubby edge of the blanket to hide my
grin.
"Well she'd be happier if I looked more like her," I said
softly. "Or if I acted more like her. If I liked the same
things"
"Shit. Story of my life," Edward muttered lowly. I peeked
over at him, and saw that his expression had darkened
again.
"So what are you running away from?" I asked quietly.
"Same old thing," Edward said with a long sigh. "My dad
and I don't always see things the same way."
"Things looked a little intense at dinner," I told him.
Edward shrugged under our blanket.
"It's always nice to hear that I'm turning into such a big
damn disappointment to him."
I cringed and bit my lip over the raspy delivery of
Edward's words.
"I'm sure you're wrong," I said, trying to sooth him.
"And I'm sure I don't want to talk about it," Edward said.
I nodded and wiggled my toes into the cold sand.
"I'm sorry."
"No. Don't be. I'm sorry. It's not your fault," Edward
shook his head and looked over at me. His eyes were
wide and sparkling in the moonlight, apologetic and
exposed. "We're just different. And I know that bothers
him."
"My mother made me take etiquette classes this year," I
said then. I don't know why. Edward's eyebrows lowered,
and it made me want to continue. "Every Wednesday
night I had to get all dressed up and go to this ridiculous
class with a bunch of other girls. And Mrs. Cheney taught
us how to sit properly, and speak properly showed us
how to set a proper table."
"Sounds very proper," Edward smirked then.
"Sometimes I feel like my mother is just priming me for
becoming some sort of a creepy Stepford Wife," I
admitted, looking away. "I I don't even know if I want
to get married some day. I mean there's stuff I want to
do. Places I'd like to visit. My mother calls me a
'dreamer' like it's a bad thing." I shrugged. "I'm just not
sure that I want her life."
"Wow," Edward said then. I felt his breath on my cheek,
we were sitting so close. Shyly, I turned my face to look
at him. I was worried that maybe I'd said too much, and
that I'd annoyed him with my silly rambling. But he
looked at me, almost tenderly. "I think you and me, are
probably a lot more alike than I knew," Edward said
then.
I couldn't help it. I felt completely wrapped up in the
moment. Wrapped up in the blanket, and wrapped up in
the stars and totally and completely wrapped up in
Edward. My eyes darted down to his soft, blushed lips,
and I felt my breath catch in my throat. Edward lowered
his eyes, to look at the way that I had pulled my bottom
lip between my teeth.
"Isabella" he whispered, leaning forward.
"Edward?" We both jumped guilty apart at the sound of
his mother's voice, as she called out from the back of
their house. "Edward? It's time to come in!"
"I'll be there in a minute, Ma," Edward called out, in
reply. I blinked rapidly, and tried to control the nervous
tingles that raced up and down my arms and legs. I felt
shaky, and strange, and light all over. Edward lifted
himself to stand, and then offered his hand to help me
up. I let his fingers wrap around mine, and tried to
smooth my dress down as I stood up on weak legs.
Edward reached down to retrieve my blanket from the
sand with his free-hand. I noticed that he didn't let go of
my other.
Our fingers stayed tangled between us, as we both
walked side-by-side toward our homes. When we got to
the half-way point, Edward was the one who gently slid
his hand away from mine first. And then he handed me
my blanket. I took it in my hands, and hugged it against
my chest, as I looked up at him.
"Isabella?" Edward asked, turning to face me. "Don't let
her change you. Alright?"
"Hmm?" I asked, distracted by his nearness and the
sweet whisper of his words.
"Your mom," Edward told me. "Don't let her change you.
I think you're pretty terrific, just the way you are."
"I think you're terrific too," I breathed. Edward's smile lit
the darkness. And I knew that his parting words would
stay with me, even when I had to leave my summer
friends behind me once more.
~..~..~..~

Chapter Five
Touch Not Tackle
-Fall, 2009-
I clicked my laptop closed and stretched my arms above
my head, groaning as my spine snapped and popped into
alignment. I'd spent my entire afternoon hunched over,
writing. It felt good. But now I only had a short time to
get dressed before my shift started at the bar.
I hummed as I made my way around my tidy efficiency
apartment. Yeah, it was small. But I was the only one in
it, so it was more than enough room for anything I
needed. I had a small kitchen and one bedroom. The
living room doubled as my office. Not like I did much
entertaining, anyway. I wasn't really here to entertain.
One year.
I'd given myself one year to really make a go of trying to
become a serious writer.
After high school, I spent four years attending a
community college. After which, I'd worked for two years
writing for a small-town newspaper. The editorial work
was hardly suited to the type of writing that I actually
wanted to be doing. But at least it was good, practical
experience.
I worked hard and saved every penny so that I could
afford to take this year off to live in the city. My part-
time job at the bar made sure that my meager savings
account would get me by, while I tried to write my first
actual novel.
I was still a dreamer. But at least I was willing to chase
after my dreams.
"Running a little late?" my boss asked as I hung my coat
in the storage room behind the bar. I glanced over at the
time clock.
"I don't start until four," I pointed out.
"Yeah. Well, you're usually here earlier."
He was right. I usually came in at least a half-hour early.
I liked to eat a quick meal and study the people around
me. Their stories wove through the one I was creating in
my mind. With no time for that now, I hastily pulled my
long hair into a ponytail and tied a short apron around
my waist. I would work the front of the house before
resuming my place behind the bar, later.
"How's it going, Earl?" I asked, spinning past his table to
deliver a Reuben sandwich and steak fries. I pulled a
bottle of ketchup out of my apron pocket for him, before
he could ask.
"Not bad, honey," he smiled up at me. "Better if I could
get a refill, too."
"Be right back," I told him, moving to check on another
table of customers. College boys. And from the look of it,
they'd had quite a lot to drink already. Their table was
littered with empty bottles that the waitress before me
had neglected to clear away before her shift ended.
"Can I bring you guys another round?" I asked, carefully
lining the glass bottles on the tray I held.
"Sure thing, gorgeous," one of the guys answered,
placing an over-eager hand a little low against my back. I
moved away too quickly, in an effort to dislodge his
unwelcome advance, and cursed under my breath when
one of the precariously stacked bottles fell from my tray
toward the floor. I cringed, expecting the sound of
breaking glass. Instead of shattering, it thumped
hollowly against the linoleum and began to spin by my
feet. I stood there, transfixed, just watching it spin.

-Summer, 2000-
"This is lame," Lauren huffed, pouring sand out of her
tennis shoe. I rolled my eyes over at Alice who giggled
behind her hand. We were all playing touch football, and
Lauren sucked. She might have been fast, which is why
Mike and Jasper had chosen her for their team. But she
couldn't catch for shit.
I brushed my hands off on my shorts and went over to
join Alice, Edward, and Emmett in our huddle.
"Pass the ball to Elway," Emmett told Edward. "Then you
hand the ball off to Alice here. She'll run her little ass
into the end zone while we block."
"Okay," I nodded, concentrating on the part I would
play. We all split into our formation, and I started
running when Emmett yelled for me to 'go!'
Laughing, I'd made it quite a ways down the beach
before I turned to see Edward snap the ball forward in
my direction. I'd caught it, just as I'd been instructed.
But I'd no more than handed the ball off to Alice before
Mike wrapped his arms around my waist and threw us
both down onto the sand.
"Ooomph," I landed with a thud, with Mike on top of me.
"Hey!" Emmett complained. "It's touch not tackle,
Mikey!"
"I think he's trying to 'touch!'" Lauren laughed nearby.
She was right.
"Get off," I groaned, pushing at his shoulders.
"Quit trying to feel up my teammate," Emmett growled,
shoving Mike playfully. I shook the sand out of my hair
and let Edward pull me back up to my feet.
"You okay?" he asked softly.
"I've taken harder hits," I grinned up at him.
Easy. Everything was easy. Our return to the beach was
easy. Our familiar fall into our roles within the group had
been easy. Avoiding Mike's not-so-subtle attempts at
showing interest in me? Not so easy. Ignoring my own
huge-ass crush on the boy who helped me up from the
sand? Not easy at all.
But everything else felt easy.
"She's not made of china," Lauren pointed out, obviously
annoyed by the attention I was receiving. I frowned and
pulled my hand away from Edward's. He had returned to
the beach, and while he treated me the same as he
always had, that seemed to aggravate Lauren even more
than it usually did. She was positively mean at times. It
had been a long couple of months, ignoring her thinly
veiled insults and barbed comments. I was getting sick of
it.
"What is her problem, anyway?" I asked moodily while
Alice and I packed up the blankets we'd brought down to
the beach for us all to sit on to eat lunch before our
game.
"She's just pissed off at Edward," Alice whispered. We
both looked over our shoulders to be sure that they were
far enough away to not over-hear our conversation. "She
thought that Edward would ask her to go with him to his
prom this year. But he went with some other girl
instead."
I frowned and concentrated on helping Alice fold the
blanket as it snapped and waved in the ocean breeze.
"I didn't even think they lived very close to each other," I
muttered, trying to map out the distance in my head.
Edward was from Chicago, and Lauren lived somewhere
in Indiana.
"About five hours away," Alice shrugged. "But Lauren
would have driven. He just didn't ask her to."
"Oh."
It seemed like a stupid reason to be mad. But I guess that
Lauren felt more entitled than I would have guessed. I'd
learned that Emmett had driven up from Georgia a few
times, to visit Rosalie. Other than that, none of us got
together during the off-season.
"Well, Lauren cancelled," Rosalie said, flipping her
phone closed later and tossing it onto her bed. I sat on
the floor with my foot in Alice's lap, while she painted
my toenails a bright blue color that was sure to make my
mother angry.
"Did she say why?" Alice asked, not looking up.
"Let me guess," I said wryly. "Sleep-overs are 'lame?'"
Rosalie laughed and crawled over to lay her head against
my thigh. She picked up the remote for her stereo, and
started skipping through songs while I put my unpainted
foot forward for Alice's brush.
"That girl is a piece of work," Rosalie huffed. "I don't
really care if she's here anyway. I don't want her
shedding all over my room."
I snorted loudly, and covered my face with my hands. I'd
accidentally let it slip once, that I thought Lauren looked
like a blonde Chewbacca. Rosalie had run with the
wookie-references ever since.
"You know why she's in such a bad mood, lately," Alice
said mildly, reminding us not to get too catty. "It's
because of the whole Edward-thing."
"What is up with those two, anyway?" Rosalie asked,
moving to sit up beside Alice. "It's not like she owns him.
She's not his girlfriend or anything."
"I don't know" Alice shrugged. "I think maybe he used
to be interested. You know. She told me that they used to
do stuff."
"Stuff?" Rosalie asked, raising her arched eyebrow.
"Stuff, stuff." Alice bit her lip and nodded.
"Like it?" Rosalie asked, sounding incredulous. My
eyes opened wide. Of course, I hadn't even considered
that they might have done it. I mean Lauren and
Edward were both seventeen now. And I knew plenty of
people from back home that had already been having sex
by that age. Earlier, even.
"No way," Alice shook her head, and I breathed a large
sigh of relief. "I mean I'm pretty sure they didn't," Alice
amended. "I think Lauren would have bragged about it,
if they had."
"Have you guys ever done it?" Rosalie asked, smiling
mischievously between Alice and me. I blushed and
looked down.
"Why have you?" Alice countered, not answering the
question either.
"Sure," Rosalie shrugged. My mouth fell open, and she
giggled. "Emmett stayed the whole weekend after prom,"
she smiled. Alice and I remained silent. I guess I can't
say I was shocked. It was just the first time that the
subject had even been broached between us girls. And it
wasn't like I had a damn thing to add to the
conversation. My experience in anything of a romantic
nature was sadly lacking.
"If you could you know with anyone who would you
do it with?" Rosalie asked.
"Brad Pitt," Alice and I both answered in unison. Then
the three of us laughed.
"I meant in real life!"
"Alice is saving herself for Jasper!" I blurted out. "Ow!" I
shrieked when Alice pinched my pinky-toe hard.
"Well I'll bet Mike wouldn't mind having a chance with
you," she said then. "He was practically dry-humping
you on the beach!"
"Ugh," I groaned, falling backward and pulling a pillow
over my face.
"You're gonna have to do something about him," Rosalie
said, stealing the pillow away so she could look down at
me. "If you aren't interested in Mike like that, maybe you
could give him a hint by flirting with one of the renters at
the party tomorrow night, or something."
I frowned. The party. I knew that the girls were looking
forward it, but I really wasn't. Rosalie had invited tons of
people our entire crowd as well as a bunch of renters
and a few locals. It was meant to be a sort of graduation
party for Rosalie and Emmett, since they'd just finished
high school. Honestly, I'd get out of it, if I could. I liked
things smaller, more quiet, and simple. I also didn't like
the way that Mike had been looking at me this summer.
Rosalie was always with Emmett. Alice was going to use
the party as her first real opportunity to let Jasper know
she liked him. I knew that Lauren would probably do her
best super-glue imitation with Edward. That meant that
I would be forced to try to avoid Mike all evening. And he
was nice boy. I genuinely didn't want to hurt him. I just
didn't like him, like that. The butterflies in my stomach
seemed to be particularly attached to only one boy,
whether I liked it or not.
As predicted, my mother had a complete hissy fit over
my blue-toenails, and made me remove the color while
she sat and watched and lectured me on the difference
between looking like a young lady and 'a walking-corpse.'
I appeased her by dressing in a pretty cardigan and a
pleated short-skirt that was really dressier than I would
have liked to have worn to the party. I even let her curl
my hair. Satisfied that I looked like a 'respectable young
lady' once more, she let me leave with the girls after only
a few reminders to 'behave' and to call if I was going to
be out too late.
I held the back of my skirt against my thighs as I crawled
into Jasper's back seat. Edward was already there, and
Lauren gave me the evil-eye as she took in my
appearance from her place between us.
"I thought we were going to a party on the beach,"
Lauren sniffed. "Not for tea at my mother's Bridge Club."
"Shut up, Lauren," Mike chided, turning to look at me
over the front seat. Alice sat happily nestled between him
and Jasper. "I think you look really nice."
"Thanks, Mike," I muttered, looking out the side
window. I felt like an idiot, and the night had only just
begun.
Things only went downhill from there. Rosalie and
Emmett pulled up in her father's car, and someone
played music loudly from one of the other vehicles that
parked on the beach. Coolers were brought out, and
beers were passed around. A few of the local kids who
got there earlier, were already well on their way to being
buzzed and acting obnoxious. It wasn't a bad set-up, I
just wasn't in the mood for it. And I felt completely
awkward.
"Here. Brought you girls a couple drinks," Jasper said,
pulling two wine coolers from his jacket pockets before
handing one to each Alice and me. I had never had
alcohol before, and knew my mother would probably lose
her mind if she ever found out. But I twisted the lid off
the innocent looking pink beverage, and took a long
drink, anyway. When in Rome
"I don't like the way those guys are checking you out,"
Jasper said, taking a swig from his beer and looking over
at a group of boys who stood nearby. Alice had taken pity
on me, and had dressed up just a little too. I knew that
her efforts were mostly for Jasper, though. We'd
definitely already garnered our share of attention from
the boys Jasper stared down. "Hope I don't have to get in
a fight, tonight," he said. I smiled. Jasper was a
protective guy like that. All of our boys were. They
wouldn't hesitate to throw a punch, if they thought that
someone was really bothering one of us girls.
"Maybe they'll take the hint, if they think we are already
here with our boyfriends," Alice said, smoothly sliding
her arm around Jasper's. I bit my lip, and tried not to
smile when Jasper stiffened for a moment as if he was
shocked. Then he tilted his head down to look at her, and
a slow, easy smile pulled at his lips.
"Yeah. Yeah. That might do the trick," he nodded. I did
an internal fist-pump for my bold little friend. She had
gone out with the intention of getting Jasper's attention.
It looked like she had just gotten it, in spades. And from
the goofy grin on Jasper's face, it didn't look like he
minded one little bit.
"I'm going to go see what Rosalie is up to," I muttered,
stealing away to leave Jasper and Alice alone. It was a
lousy excuse. Rosalie and Emmett had been sucking each
other's faces off all night. I was pretty sure that was still
the case. And I really didn't want to have to guess at what
Edward and Lauren were up to. I was still bothered,
imagining the 'stuff' they might have done before. By the
way that Lauren had been throwing herself at him all
night, I could imagine that she wanted to get things back
to the way that they used to be, between them. I really
had no desire to see that. The idea of those two together
made me feel sick to my stomach.
"Where ya going?" Mike called out, as I walked down the
sandy beach on the outskirts of the party. The nearby
bonfire provided a warm glow against the rapidly-
darkening sky.
"Just walking," I told him. I had hoped for a few minutes
of peace and quiet.
"Aww come back to the party," Mike said, slurring a
little. He reached for my hand and started tugging me in
the direction of the other kids. "Everyone's gonna play a
game. You gotta play too."
I noticed that he sounded like he'd had a little too much
to drink, and decided it was probably better to re-join
the rest of the kids rather than stay so far away from the
group, alone with Mike. The beer seemed to be making
him brave, as he held my hand and grinned. I smiled a
little, and reluctantly let him drag me back over to where
the kids were making a circle in the sand. I looked down
at the smooth plywood board that someone had placed
on the ground, as everyone began sitting around it.
"Oh look," Lauren said, smirking up at me. "The love-
birds have decided to join us. Aren't they such a cute
couple, Edward?"
Edward looked up, and seemed to stare a minute at the
way that Mike still clutched my hand possessively. He
shrugged his head away from Lauren as she pushed her
fingers through the side of his hair above his ear, and I
indelicately pulled my hand away from Mike's. I didn't
want to give anyone, least of all Mike, the wrong
impression.
"What are we playing?" I asked, gingerly lowering myself
to sit on my knees in the circle.
"Spin the bottle," someone in the group answered. I
lowered my brows, and looked up at Alice. She was
grinning like a loon, and not-so-subtly gesturing to
Jasper sitting beside her.
"I don't know how to play," I mumbled.
"Hell, it's real easy, Elway," Emmett said, standing at the
head of the game. "We take turns spinning this bottle on
the board. And when it's your turn, you gotta plant a big
ol' kiss on whoever the bottle is pointing to."
"Of the opposite sex," Jasper was quick to interject. "You
know if it points to someone of the same sex then you
have to kiss the person to their left, instead."
"Unless you girls want to kiss each other," a local boy
guffawed loudly. "I'd be down for that." A couple 'hell-
yeahs' and high fives were issued among them while I
cringed. I'd really honestly rather make-out with Rosalie
or Alice than ever have to kiss one of those losers.
"Sounds stupid," I said, shaking my head. "I don't want
to play."
"You have to play," Lauren said loudly. "We can't play if
it's not an even number of boys and girls around the
circle."
"I don't have to do anything," I leveled her with a stare
that fully illustrated the way that she'd gotten on my
nerves all night.
"Fine. If you want to be a baby" she sneered up at me.
"Go ahead and ruin the whole game for everyone,
Isabella."
"Please play?" Alice asked from across the circle. Her
eyes darted to Jasper again, and I knew that she was
hoping for the opportunity to kiss him. I sighed and
closed my eyes, resting my bottom heavily on my heels
behind me. She knew I'd do anything for her. I just had a
really, really bad feeling about all of this.
"Isabella's right," Rosalie said then. "This game is
stupid."
"This stupid game is the same one we played, when I got
to kiss you for the first time, three summers ago,"
Emmett grinned down at her.
"Fine," she huffed. "Just don't be mad when I have to
kiss someone else, Emmett McCarty!"
"You fuckers better keep your tongues in your mouths,"
Emmett warned the boys who sat around the board,
pointing the mouth of the bottle at each of them
menacingly. I was pretty sure they were all hoping that
the bottle wouldn't point in Rosalie's direction during
their turns, even with as pretty as she was. Emmett was
not someone they wanted to mess around with.
Alice winked at me over the board, happy anticipation
dancing in her eyes. I knew what she was hoping, and
crossed my fingers inside my pocket that fate would be
kind. The need to support my friend was part of what
kept me sitting there, despite the nervous dread that
made my own heart thump painfully behind my ribs.
There were eight girls playing. The odds were good that
the bottle wouldn't even point to me.
I sat there wishing, watching other kids take their turns.
I wished for Alice, that the bottle would point just right.
When it was her turn, I watched her quickly mask a look
of disappointment when the bottle pointed to a cute
freckled boy to my left. She was a good sport about it
though, and leaned over to kiss him lightly on the lips.
Then another boy went and made a show of kissing one
of the renters in attendance. I bit my lip when Rosalie
took her turn. We all laughed when Emmett stopped the
bottle before it could spin past him.
"Cheater," Rosalie grinned, and sat on his lap before
giving him the kiss he'd arranged.
When Emmett spun the bottle, it landed on Alice. He
blew a big wet raspberry on her cheek while she shrieked
and wiped her face with the cuff of her jacket.
I held my breath when Edward spun the bottle. Around
and around and around it went, until it finally pointed to
a pretty red-headed girl across from him.
"Get over here, Red," he said playfully, leaning across the
board. I stared, and smiled to see that his kiss landed
just at the corner of her mouth. It made me happy to see
that Edward wasn't exactly trying to lay a big kiss on her.
But Lauren didn't seem to care that it was innocent. She
glared at the other girl and Edward before reaching out
to take the bottle for her turn.
And when it landed on Jasper, I knew before she even
reached for him, exactly what she would do.
Lauren fisted his t-shirt in her hands and tugged him
forward, very obviously giving him an open-mouthed
kiss. I even saw her tongue as she pushed it against
Jasper's mouth. And Alice saw it too. Lauren was
obviously trying to make Edward jealous with her
disgusting display, at the expense of one of her very best
friends. Alice bit her lip, and looked mad enough to cry.
The game had turned ugly, and I just wanted to take my
friend and go home.
"This is ridiculous," I said loudly, directing my harshest
glare over toward Lauren. "I don't want to play. I'm
done."
"Aww you can't go yet," another boy called out. "Look!
Mike spun one for you!"
I had been so busy being upset with Lauren, that I hadn't
even seen Mike reach out to take his turn. And sure
enough, the open mouth of the bottle was pointing right
toward me. My mouth fell open in surprise, and I looked
up to see Mike eagerly shifting on the sand to his knees,
ready to claim his prize.
"I don't" I looked up at Alice, and saw that she was
blinking angry tears away, with her cheek turned to the
game. My eyes darted over to Edward, who was looking
at me with curiosity. My pulse pounded in my temples,
and my mouth went dry. And suddenly the wine cooler
in my stomach bubbled angrily with the desire to get out
of there. "No!" I said, more sharply than I intended.
"This game is stupid. It's just stupid!"
I stood up and hurried away from the game, walking
angrily down the dark beach. I knew it was too far to
walk home, but I'd give it my best shot. I just wanted to
get out of there. I was pissed. Completely, pissed. Lauren
had ruined everything for Alice, and my heart broke for
my friend. And I couldn't. I just couldn't kiss Mike. I
was angry at myself for making such a scene, and I had
to fight to keep myself from crying over the injustice of
the whole situation. Maybe I was acting like a baby, but I
didn't care.
"Hey would you wait up? Shit," I heard Edward's voice
behind me. I kept walking, not wanting to deal with his
teasing at the moment. "Isabella? Stop just stop!"
I finally had to stop when his hand tightened around my
arm and spun me in front of him.
"Just leave me alone, Edward," I said, wiping at my
face with the sleeve of my sweater. "I don't want to play
that stupid game. Just go back to Lauren and let me
go."
"Lauren?" Edward asked. "Look I know she's acting
like a bitch. Okay? But you were right. You don't have to
play the game if you don't want to."
"She's so mean. God! Poor Alice," I moaned. I wanted
to go and tear Lauren's dumb-blonde hair out by the
roots. "She knew she knew that Alice likes Jasper
she God!" I stood there huffing, and trying to get
control of myself. But I was angry, and it was all
bubbling out of me. "I swear if I have to be anywhere
near her right now, I'm going to hit her," I warned.
"Just let me go home. Okay?"
"Well shit," Edward said, rubbing his hands over his
face. "Yeah. Okay. Just let me get Jasper's keys and I'll
give you a ride home. Alright?"
"Fine," I mumbled, standing where I was and rubbing
my own hands up and down my arms. I continued to
mutter under my own breath even after he'd gone.
A few minutes later, Jasper's car pulled up along beside
me on the beach. I got in the front seat, and saw that
Alice was already sitting in the middle looking absolutely
miserable.
"You okay, Ali?" I asked, putting my arm around her.
Alice sniffled once and then put her head against my
shoulder as she softly began to cry. Edward pressed his
lips together, but wisely didn't say a word as he drove us
back down the road to where our houses were.
He pulled up into the parking space beside Alice's house,
and kept the engine running while I helped Alice from
the car.
"Want me to come in for a while?" I asked, rubbing my
hand up and down the middle of Alice's back.
"No," she said, wiping at her face again and offering a
watery-smile. "But thanks. I just want to take a hot bath
and get in bed."
"Okay," I told her, giving her a last hug before she
walked into her house. "Call me later if you want to talk
or anything." I leaned into the open passenger-side
window of Jasper's car then, and gave Edward a weary
smile.
"Thanks for the ride home," I told him. "I'm just gonna
walk from here."
"Oh. Alright," he said. I patted the car door with my
palm once, before walking down to the dark beach
behind Alice's house. I hadn't gone far, when the
headlights of the car dimmed, and I heard the car-door
shut. "Isabella?" Edward called out. I kept walking,
listening as he hurried to catch up.
"You don't have to walk me home, Edward. It's not far."
"I just wanted to talk to you for a minute."
"It's late," I said tiredly. "And I know you probably want
to get back to the party."
"Why is it that I always seem to be chasing you down the
beach?" Edward asked then, falling into step beside me.
"I don't know. Why do you?" I asked, turning on my heel
to face him. He stumbled a little, when I stopped so
suddenly.
"What's up with you and Mike?" Edward asked then.
"Really?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. "You
followed me down here to ask about me and Mike?"
"Well yeah," Edward said, running his hand over the
back of his neck. I frowned at him.
"Nothing is up with me and Mike," I said, turning to
walk once more. "I thought I made that a little obvious,
when I ran away screaming instead of kissing him during
that stupid damn game."
"That was pretty funny," Edward chuckled, hurrying to
catch up with me once more. But I spun around and
threw him off balance again.
"I'm glad you find my utter embarrassment so funny!" I
glared at Edward, taking the brunt of my anger out on
him.
"I don't mean you" Edward hurried to reassure me. "I
wasn't laughing at you, Isabella. I just meant the poor
guy looked like you kneed him in the balls or something.
You devastated him."
"Well I didn't mean to," I said, feeling suddenly
contrite. "I didn't mean to make him feel bad."
"I just wanna know why it was such a big deal," Edward
shrugged. "I mean it was only a little kiss, Isabella. He
likes you."
"I don't like him. Not like that."
"You don't have to like someone, to kiss them."
"Explains a lot about you and Lauren," I said waspishly.
"Hey!" Edward frowned and sounded defensive. "This
doesn't have anything to do with me."
"You're right. It doesn't. I'm sorry I said anything," I
said, turning to go once more. "I should have known that
you wouldn't understand."
"I'm trying to," Edward said, walking up beside me
again. "If you'd give me a chance. I'd really love to know
what's going through that head of yours."
"You want to know?" I asked, stopping again. "Really?"
"I'm out here, aren't I?"
"You'll laugh."
"I swear I won't."
"Fine," I said with a huff. "But if you laugh someone
really will get a knee to the balls tonight."
"I'll do my best," Edward said, fighting to get the smile
off his face while cupping himself over the front of his
shorts. I snorted, tempted to laugh, too.
"Okay," I finally said, looking up at the sky. I closed my
eyes, and took a deep breath. "I really didn't want my
very first kiss to be with Mike Newton. Alright? There. I
said it."
Edward didn't say anything, and I lowered my head to
look over at him. I fully expected to see an amused look
on his face. But he mostly just looked shocked.
"You're shitting me, right?" he asked then.
"No," I shook my head. "That's why I didn't even want to
play that game." I shuddered, just imagining having to
have kissed any of the boys in that circle.
"You've really never kissed anyone before?"
"You sound shocked," I told him, continuing on our
walk.
"Well yeah. That's because I am," Edward admitted.
"Well now the cat's outta the bag," I told him, finally
turning when I reached the bottom of my porch steps.
"Isabella the loser is almost sixteen, and never been
kissed. Full story at eleven."
"Quit making a joke of it," Edward frowned, leaning
against the bottom of my porch rail. "I think it's"
"Pathetic?"
"Sweet," he said, correcting me with a small smile.
"Whatever, Edward," I said, shaking my head and
starting up the steps. Edward stopped me with a hand on
my arm, and pulled me to step back down toward him.
"What?" I asked.
"I just want to know something," Edward said, dropping
his voice so that it wouldn't carry indoors to where my
parents were probably waiting up for me.
"What?" I asked again. Edward licked his lips, and
stepped up closer to me.
"What would you have done," he asked, "if I was the one
to spin for you?"
I frowned and looked up at his face. His features were
softened by the glow of the moon, and I didn't see a trace
of teasing where I expected it to be.
"You didn't," I whispered. "So it doesn't matter."
"I wanted to," Edward said then, stepping even closer. "I
wanted the bottle to point at you." My heart thump-
thumped under my cardigan at his softly disclosed
secret.
"You're just saying that becau"
I didn't get to finish my sentence, because Edward
leaned down and silenced my words by pressing his
warm mouth against mine. I was so shocked, that I let
my arms fall limply down by my sides, and didn't even
consider that I should be kissing him back.
It was nothing like I'd expected or imagined. Edward
reminded me of the sweet little kissing fish that my last
home-room teacher kept in a bowl on her desk. His
mouth opened and closed over my top lip, and then my
bottom, with the barest of sucking pressure that
somehow made even the tips of my toes tingle where I
stood frozen, and rooted in the sand.
"There," Edward breathed against my mouth before
pulling away. I stared at his moist, dark lips while he
smiled softly down at me.
"You You" I stammered.
"Kissed you," Edward nodded a little.
"Kissed me," I replied, dumbly. Edward chuckled and
shook his head a little.
"You let me," he whispered, still smiling.
"I have to go inside," I said, feeling tingly, and happy,
and stupid and drugged. I considered for a minute that I
might have been slightly drunk from the one wine-cooler
that I'd managed to drink at the party. But I knew better.
I was drunk off the boy in front of me.
"Go on, then," Edward said.
"I'm going," I repeated.
"Alright," he grinned.
"Okay," I said, still not moving. Edward laughed a little,
and it was a throaty, quiet, happy sound that made me
want to throw my arms around him and do it all over
again. But he'd made the decision to help me on my way,
and stepped back away from my porch.
I floated up the stairs, and barely mumbled a goodnight
to my mother before making my way to my room. When
I landed on my back across my bed, my thoughts still
spun dizzily around me.
Spinning, spinning, spinning just like a bottle on a
sheet of plywood.
~..~..~..~

Chapter Six
Rookie Of The Year
-Fall, 2009-
"Yo. Bella," my boss called for me. I finished busing my
last table, and wiped my hands on a towel while I walked
over to where my boss stood beside a tall, thin brunette
wearing glasses. "This is Angela," he told me, pointing to
the girl. "Show her the ropes back here, alright?"
"Sure thing," I said, saluting him smartly before grinning
at the new help. "Hi," I told her.
"Hi," she said, sounding shy.
"Ever work in a bar before?" I asked. The girl blushed a
little, and looked down. "Well, don't worry," I told her. "I
didn't, before I started working here. It's really easy.
Here I'll show you."
I spent the next couple of hours letting Angela shadow
me behind the bar. Earl offered his unwavering support
and complimented her tentative efforts from his regular
stool in front of us.
"Good job, Honey. Real good job," he told her.
"It's not Honey. It's Sweetheart," Angela replied saucily,
giving him a wink. Earl laughed.
"She's a fast learner!"
"That she is," I grinned. And I was glad for it. The crowd
was beginning to pick up, and I was going to need Angela
to help me keep up with the new drink orders.
I stayed busy, working my side of the bar, while she
worked hers. People shouted orders above the din and
passed money by the fistfuls over the bar, while Angela
and I worked fast to serve them all the drinks they asked
for, in good time.
I was so busy, in fact, that it barely registered when I tall
woman with strawberry blonde hair asked Angela to
make her banana daiquiri.
Shit. Shit.
I knew that our blender was a temperamental beast. You
had to twist the lid on just right, or disaster would ensue.
I hadn't had a chance to explain that to Angela yet, as no
one had ordered a frozen drink since she'd been there.
My hands were full of the whiskey sours I'd just mixed,
and I hurried to place them down on the bar and get over
to the side where Angela was dumping the ingredients
for the woman's daiquiri. Rum. Triple Sec. Lime Juice.
Bananas. Ice.
"Angela no!" I cried out, too late. Angela pressed the
button to mix the concoction and I quickly threw my
body between her and the demonically possessed
machine, immediately being sprayed with a shower of
icy, sticky, banana goo. A yellow clump of the stuff
actually hung off the end of my bangs, and dripped
heavily down my nose before plopping to a large splatter
near my shoe after I'd collected myself enough to reach
forward and press the 'off' button.
Angela looked like a deer in headlights, and stared with a
horrified expression at the way that I was ridiculously
covered from head to toe with the frothy, fruity mess. I
couldn't help myself. I started laughing. And then she
started laughing. And a few customers who had
witnessed the entire incident, started laughing too.
The woman who ordered the drink was not laughing.
"I'm sorry Miss," I told her, trying to recover what was
left of my dignity as I slipped on the floor and tried to
make my way back to the bar. "If you just give us a
minute, we'll get this cleaned right up, and I'll be happy
to make you a new one."
"I don't have time for a new one," the woman snarled,
hitting her hand on the bar. "My flight leaves in an
hour."
"I'm really sorry," I said again, breathlessly, trying to
remain upright, while swiping at the dripping mess that
ran down my face.
"What's the hold up?" a man asked, walking through the
crowd to look at the woman.
And I was frozen.
Not just stuck frozen by the ice-cold daiquiri blend that I
was drenched in.
Frozen as in I couldn't blink. I couldn't breathe. I
couldn't move at all. Because the man who addressed the
disgruntled customer at the bar was a man I'd never
thought I'd see again. And even though I hadn't laid eyes
on him in years, I knew exactly who he was.
You never forget your first kiss. You never forget your
first love. And you never ever forget the first guy to ever
break your heart.
Edward Cullen stood in the crowd in front of the bar,
with his hand on the woman's arm.
"What's taking so long?" he asked her, not looking over
at me. His voice. God. Even if I hadn't seen him, I would
have known that voice anywhere.
"You know how nervous I get about flying, Edward," the
woman whined then. "I just wanted a daiquiri. But the
staff here is obviously incompetent"
"Incompetent?" I squeaked, without intending to. I
threw my hand over my face, and the motion was the last
one to test my precarious balance on the wet, daiquiri
covered floor beneath my feet. My tennis shoes went out
from under me, and I fell onto my ass with a big, wet,
thump.
"I can get you another drink," Angela said to the woman,
skating through the puddle to stand above me. I stayed
where I was, afraid to try to get up. "Maybe a beer?"
"If I wanted a beer, I would have asked for one," the
woman said nastily. "Never mind. Edward? Let's just
go."
From the corner of my eye, I could see the reflection of
his face on the mirror behind the bar, as he leaned
slightly over the counter, trying to peer down at me. I
turned my head, and buried it in the crook of my arm
that rested across my knees.
"Are you okay down there?" he asked. I swallowed
hard, and nodded. Like a trooper, I raised my arm above
my head and gave him a thumbs-up. Damn. I groaned at
my own stupidity. Satisfied that I wasn't dead or dying,
he let the woman at his side drag him through the crowd,
and back out the door.
I stayed where I was on the floor for a while, just trying
to get control of my nerves.
"Hey Bella?" My boss asked, finally coming over to check
on me.
"Yeah?" I asked, looking up at him while pushing my wet
hair away from my flaming cheeks.
"You okay?"
"Just thought I'd uh stock the napkins," I said,
mentioning the first supply I saw on the shelf beside me.
"Why don't you head on home for the night, huh?" he
asked. "Maybe take a shower? I can take over here."
"Thanks," I exhaled shakily. I stood to my feet, and
rubbed one hand across my sore backside with a wince.
"See you on Monday," he told me then. I assured Angela
that I was fine, and not angry at all about the accident,
before I pulled my coat on and made my way out the
back door to get in my car and go home.
"Isabella Swan," a voice called out from the night,
making my hand pause on my car door handle and my
entire body tingle with awareness. It was the last voice
I'd expected to hear again, but for some reason, I wasn't
really surprised to hear it. I shook my head with a
chuckle, before slowly turning to face him.
"Edward Cullen," I said, crossing my arms over my chest
and leaning back against my car door.
"I knew that was you," he smiled, stepping from the side
of the building toward where I stood. "I knew it."
"Don't see how," I said, raising an eyebrow and sweeping
my hand over my sticky, wet clothing. I looked like a
drowned rat. While he looked absolutely,
breathtakingly, just-as-I-always-remembered-him
gorgeous. Only better. Older. More mature. And he was
dressed in an immaculate suit that made his shoulders
look wide and his hips look narrow. I realized I was
staring, and so I dropped my eyes in embarrassment.
"Your hand," Edward said, finally getting close enough to
touch me. I shivered at the familiar way that his fingers
felt, as they wrapped around my wrist, warm like
sunshine in June. He held my hand up toward his face,
and examined the pink line that made a crescent shape
near the base of my thumb. "I wasn't sure til' I saw
this" Edward said, and I could feel his soft breath on
my skin. "But when I saw it I knew. I was there when
you got that scar, Isabella."

-Summer, 2001-
"I don't care!" My mother shrieked. "Just do whatever
you want, Isabella!"
"Just because you're mad at me, doesn't mean you have
to raise your voice to her," Lonnie said angrily.
"You spoil her rotten," my mother complained loudly,
giving me an excuse to leave through the backdoor. "You
let her do anything she wants down here. Running
around with those beach kids. It's not suitable for a
young lady to spend so much time"
I didn't hear the rest. I stomped angrily down the beach
and sat with a huff in the sand. I wasn't alone long.
Edward joined me, and bumped my arm with his elbow.
"Hey. I was just coming to find you."
"Well here I am," I muttered.
"Those two are always fucking or fighting," Edward said,
looking over his shoulder toward my house. I cringed.
"I think I prefer the former," I groaned. "At least then it's
over in fifteen minutes, and it's safe for me to go back
inside."
Edward snickered, and I couldn't help but laugh a little
too, even though I felt miserable.
"So do you get to go?" he asked. Edward turned his
face to look at me, and I was momentarily lost in his
clear bottle green gaze.
"Uh. Yeah. I guess so," I nodded. It was the newest
reason that Lonnie and my mother were arguing, though
it didn't take much these days to set them off. Jasper and
Rosalie had invited our whole gang to go up to Corolla to
stay the weekend at their grandparent's house. And it
wasn't like we'd be alone up there or anything. Their
relatives would be around the whole time. I had been
intrigued when Alice told me about the wild horses that
could sometimes be seen on the beach up there, just less
than a two-hour drive away. And the boys were all
looking forward to racing on four-wheelers, an activity
we couldn't enjoy down here on our somewhat crowded
beach.
"It's perfectly acceptable," Lonnie had argued on my
behalf when my mother refused to let me go. "I know the
Hales. I'll give them a call. If the kids are going to be
chaperoned"
"By a couple of old codgers who don't know any better"
my mother argued. She wasn't as dumb as her dresses.
"And the girls will be sleeping on the floor in sleeping-
bags!" she shuddered delicately. "It's just not fitting for a
young woman"
"Sleeping on the ground for a couple of nights won't kill
Isabella," Lonnie said, sounding exasperated. "She's a
goddamned kid, Renee! Let the girl breathe. The entire
monarchy won't crumble if she puts down the tiara for a
night."
I knew that his words weren't meant as a slight against
me, but were directed toward my mother's ceaseless
struggle to turn me into some sort of pretty-pretty-
princess. I buried my toes in the sand and wrapped my
arms tight around my stomach, trying to ward off the
unease I felt, as well as the chilly ocean wind that blew
around us. Edward frowned over at me for a moment,
studying the way I sat, before he sighed and put his arm
across my shoulders and pulled me into his side.
It was the first time he'd touched me, since I'd been back
for the summer.
Neither of us had mentioned the kiss we had shared, that
fateful night that we all played spin the bottle. It was as if
it had never even happened. Though, I knew that
Edward remembered. It was there, in the unguarded
looks he sometimes gave me when he thought I wasn't
looking. But then he'd catch me spying, and shutters
would close over those eyes, before he looked the other
way and went right on back to pretending.
I pretended too.
I pretended I wasn't dying inside, just a little each time
he moved past me like he didn't care. He was still very
friendly. Don't get me wrong. He was just also very, very
cautious around me. I could practically tape off the
invisible lines that he used, to keep an exact distance
between us whenever he was in my general vicinity.
Smiles that didn't reach his eyes. Looks that didn't move
his lips. Laughs that sometimes felt hollow and fell short
in the wind. Something was definitely missing.
At least I didn't have to pretend to be happy about seeing
him with Lauren anymore. He hardly even spoke to her.
The few words they shared around me, were terse at
best.
Lauren had shown up in her usual flurry of "this is so
lame" and "that is so lame." The only thing I thought was
'lame' was her over-use of the word. Oh and also her
new pixie-short hair-cut. She bragged about some
modeling job she got, for a hairstyle magazine. I laughed
snidely in my own mind about how the hair on her arms
was longer than the tresses on her head. It made me feel
better, even though it was sort of bitchy. I still hadn't
forgiven her for that stunt she'd pulled with Jasper, the
summer before.
Though, at least, all was well as far as Alice and Jasper
stood. I had been packing my bags readying myself for
the summer to come when Alice called. I smiled at the
familiar number on my cell phone screen.
"What do you want?" I answered with a grin on my face.
"Oh My God, Jasper has called me four times this week!"
Alice announced without preamble. She and I had stayed
in touch through our long school year. Apparently, she
and Jasper had been staying in touch too. "He says he
can't wait to see me," she gushed. "And and he's
getting his grandparents to let us come have Edward's
birthday party in Corolla this year. It's going to be so
much better than the stupid parties we always have in
his parents' basement. Say you'll be there, Isabella. Start
working on your mom, now! It's going to be like, the best
weekend ever!"
"I'll try" I offered, already rubbing the sore spot above
my eyebrow that her suggestion had created. I knew my
mom would never go for it. Lonnie. Lonnie was my best
bet. And so I started slyly making hints during our long
road trip from Michigan.
"You know" I'd said, staring out my window. "There is
a lot of North Carolina that I've never seen. A lot of
culture. History," I said, making my request seem loftier
than what it actually was. "Alice says that there are wild
horses, that can be seen up north of where we stay"
"Oh yeah," Lonnie grinned. "You should definitely get up
that way, if you get a chance."
I smiled at the passing scenery, knowing that my path
was at least paved for now.
"Just so you know, I absolutely loathe this idea," my
mother said, standing in the door way of my bedroom at
the summer house while I packed a bag. I made a show
of packing a dress that I knew I wouldn't need, just to
make her think that the weekend held possibilities that it
did not. I told my mother that the girls planned to shop,
and eat dinner at a fancy little bistro that we searched for
on the internet. In reality, I imagined that we'd all just
sneak beers down by a campfire while at least half of our
group hoped to sneak off for some unsupervised alone-
time in the nearby dunes.
Alice was totally planning on losing her virginity to
Jasper. I just hoped they picked an appropriate time and
place so I wouldn't accidentally have to see his bare ass,
in the process.
"I want you to call, at least before bedtime, Isabella," my
mother frowned and crossed her arms over the front of
her floral-printed chest. "And those boys better stay in
their own rooms."
"They will, mother," I said, rolling my eyes. Grandma
and Grandpa Hale weren't going to allow anything
inappropriate to occur under their roof. When they knew
what was going on, that is.
"Don't use that tone of voice with me, young lady," my
mother narrowed her eyes. "You are almost seventeen
years old. I remember quite well what children your age
get up to, when parents aren't around."
"And I'm not you," I said, perhaps more vehemently
than I should have. She glared at me, and I sighed and
forced myself to adopt a lighter tone. "Mom? Seriously? I
don't even have a boyfriend. I promise you, I'm not going
to go away for a weekend and come back knocked up.
Okay?"
"Just be sure you don't," she snipped, before turning and
storming away with a quick click click click of her heels
on the hardwood floor.
I sighed and carried my bag downstairs. Lonnie stood
just off the kitchen, closing a box on the counter.
"I packed you kids some provisions," he told me.
"Sandwich meat. Snack foods stuff to get you by. You
know. Just in case the old folks are only stocked with
old-people food."
"What. Like cottage cheese and prunes?" I grinned,
trying to look down in the box. Lonnie finished closing it
with a snap.
"I also packed a bottle of wine in the bottom," he
whispered. "I seem to remember what it's like to be your
age, too."
He grinned widely when I stood on tiptoes to kiss his
cheek.
"Don't get in trouble now, you hear?" He asked lightly,
pretending to not be embarrassed by my show of
affection. "And you owe me big time for this."
"I know," I whispered back. "And thanks Lonnie."
Soon Jasper came in with Edward, and they picked up
my bag and the box Lonnie had packed for us, before
promising to drive us all safely, and ushering me out the
door. Good thing they didn't ask my mother for cookies.
She might have killed them, if they had.
We drove in two cars. Rosalie, Alice, Lauren and I took
the lead, and the boys all followed. I was grateful for the
chance to listen to "chick music" as we drove down the
highway, with the windows rolled down to blow our hair
into a summer-time riot. I was also grateful that I didn't
have to spend two hours in a cramped car with Edward,
trying my best to pretend not to notice him pretending
not to notice me.
It was an uncomfortable impasse, but I was getting used
to it.
We had to leave the road, and drive two miles on sandy
terrain to get to the Hale's private beach house. I wasn't
sure how the old couple managed it, being so far off the
beaten track. But it seemed that they had everything the
needed, delivered weekly to their door. And they adored
the private get-away that they called home.
Grandma Hale was amazing. She was an artist. She
showed us her studio, surrounded by windows that faced
the beach. Gorgeous water-color landscapes perched on
precarious wooden easels. The girls would share the
room adjacent, on the lower level of the house.
The boys were all sequestered to the attic space, that was
mostly used for storage. They didn't seem to mind
though, and they all stomped heavily upstairs to set up
their sleeping bags.
"It's beautiful here," I said, looking out over the beach.
We weren't far away from our summer homes, but I
somehow felt freer, and more able to breathe from this
stretch of shoreline. It felt like a whole different
universe.
"I know," Alice said. "I told you this weekend is going
to be amazing."
"Let's get in our suits," Rosalie suggested. We all eagerly
complied, and then ran out to the beach with a bright
yellow Frisbee in hand.
We started throwing it back and forth across the sand.
Soon, we were ankle deep in the cold Atlantic surf. By
the time the boys joined us, we were laughing and waist-
deep in the water while we jumped and threw the cheery
little disc between us.
"Go long, Elway," Emmett said, pulling his arm back. I
had to jump to catch the Frisbee, and gasped for air
when I surfaced with my trophy held tight in my hands.
"MVP, bitch," I yelled victoriously, holding the Frisbee
up high.
"Holy shit!" Mike yelled out. "MVP is right! I think I see
nip!"
I looked down, horrified to see that the top of my suit
had slid sideways. I wasn't exactly showing nipple, as
Mike had announced, but it was pretty close. I yelped
and dove back under the water, adjusting my suit to
cover me completely. When I resurfaced, the guys were
still laughing. Edward's cheeks were ruddy red, and he
tried to pretend not to stare at the top of my suit. Guess
he wasn't as oblivious as he would have me believe.
Jasper tackled him, and knocked them both underwater
before I could dwell too much over the hungry look on
his face. I was still smiling through the rest of the game.
That night, we all pulled on thick sweatshirts over our
shorts and t-shirts, and sat outside around a small
campfire. The grandparents liked to go to bed early, a
fact I'm sure that Rosalie and Jasper were already well
aware of, and so we took our small party just down the
beach so as not to disturb them with our noise. Everyone
cheered when I was able to produce the bottle of wine
that I had brought along.
Rosalie was already aware of what was up, and had
snuck a corkscrew from the house. Emmett popped the
top, and we all took turns passing the bottle around,
drinking directly from the top.
My mother would have been mortified.
I was delighted when Edward returned from a trip to the
car, to see that he'd brought a guitar along. For as much
as Emmett liked to tease him about being musical, I'd yet
to have evidence of that with my own eyes and ears.
Edward sat on a piece of driftwood across the fire from
me, and quietly began strumming gentle chords. My
heart swelled at the sound, and I closed my eyes to listen.
It was an old Beatles tune that was familiar. Then one
song changed to another, and I was surprised to hear
Jasper start singing. He had a really nice voice, and the
combination of the wine, the music, and the surf made
us all feel relaxed and happy.
"You may say I'm a dreamer" Jasper sang. My heart
jumped up in my throat, and I looked over the tiny
sparks that danced above the campfire to see Edward's
eyes were trained on me while he played.
"But I'm not the only one" Emmett joined him, just a
little drunk and a little off-key.
"I hope someday you will join us" the rest of us started
in. "And the world will be as one"
Jasper's arm was around Alice. Rosalie sat across
Emmett's lap, lightly pushing her fingertips up and down
his arm. Mike sat nearby, next to a scowling Lauren.
Everything felt just about perfect.
"This kumbaya bullshit is lame," Lauren suddenly
exclaimed, ruining the happy mood around us. "I might
be more impressed if you could actually play a song from
this century."
"I might be more impressed, if you could shut your
fucking mouth," Edward retorted rudely.
"Bite me," Lauren nearly yelled.
"You wish," Edward returned, with a roll of his eyes.
"Hey guys" I said, hearing my voice come out just a
little sluggish. The wine was doing its work. But I kinda
wanted more. I rose up on my knees, and reached for the
bottle near Emmett's leg. "Keep it down. Okay? We don't
want to wake the grandparents."
"Shut up!" Lauren screeched at me. She must have
thought that I was reaching for her or something,
because she moved forward and shoved my shoulders
back, hard. I was thrown off balance, and landed heavily
on my hip in the sand.
"Ow," I mumbled, feeling a sharp sting on my hand.
Sharp. Sharper. "Ow!" I said more loudly. I raised my
hand up, only to see the end of the corkscrew that I'd
landed on, sunk deep into the skin beneath my thumb.
"Oh. Oh sick," Jasper turned and immediately barfed
on the sand behind him. I looked at the shiny metal that
dangled from my palm, almost as though I couldn't
understand that it was actually stuck in my skin. Then I
pulled it out, and watched, mesmerized, as a shiny
crimson ribbon made its way down my arm toward my
elbow. That started Jasper wretching again, and Alice
held him by the shoulders.
"It's alright. Shhh shh it's just a little blood," she
tried to calm her queasy boyfriend.
"Fuck. Are you alright?" Edward was by my side, hoisting
me to my feet. "I think you're gonna need stitches."
"No," I said, shaking my head. "Just get me to the
house. Alright? I'll get a bandaid or something. If you
guys have to take me to the hospital, my mom is going to
flip."
"Okay. Okay. Let's just go get you cleaned up, alright? I'll
look at it," Edward said, holding his arm tight around me
as he led me up the dark path back to Rosalie and
Jasper's grandparent's house.
"The bathroom's that way," I pointed, directing him
through the lower level of the house, to the bathroom I
knew was attached to our room. Edward walked me
inside, and held my hand under a stream of water at the
sink.
"Ow," I wimpered while he turned my hand under the
spray. I was suddenly glad for all of the wine that I'd had
to drink. I had a feeling this would hurt like, ten
thousand times more without the antiseptic quality of
the alcohol in my system.
"Its deep," Edward said, holding my palm close to his
face. "But it's not too long. You might be okay with just a
bandage."
"Thank you," I breathed, a little more unnerved by his
nearness than by the cut on my hand. Edward found
some gauze in the medicine cabinet, and laid a thick
square over the wound before wrapping the roll around
and around my hand. I giggled at his efforts.
"I'd make a hot mummy," I smiled goofily, holding my
padded hand up for his inspection.
"Shut up," he grinned around the piece of tape that he
tore in his front teeth, and smoothed it over my
ridiculous looking bandage. "If this gets infected we
really will have to take you to the hospital. No more
going into the water for you, young lady."
"I think I've already given quite enough of a peep show
for one weekend anyway," I said, laughing and still tipsy
from the wine. Edward didn't laugh though. His face had
become serious. And that same flash of hunger that I
swore I saw on his expression earlier in the day, had
stolen over his features once again. His eyes looked dark,
and stormy. He looked positively torn. With a ragged
breath, he raised one hand and pushed my bangs away
from my face.
"Are you okay?" he asked, sounding serious and
concerned.
"Are you?" I asked, boldly putting my own hand out to lie
on the center of his chest. Edward swallowed hard and
stared into my eyes, before shaking his head just a little.
"It's so damn exhausting," he said in a near whisper. His
voice was gravelly and rough, and made me shiver.
"What is?" I asked quietly.
"Trying to keep away from you."
~..~..~..~





Chapter Seven
Time Out
-Fall, 2009-
Edward released my hand and stepped back, noticing
quickly how closely we had been standing. He pushed his
hands into his pockets like the boy I remembered from
the beach, though only a shadow of that child lurked
behind the eyes of the man who stood in front of me
now.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him.
"I could ask you the same," he smiled, polite and distant
once again.
"Well I work here," I said, stating the obvious. "I
meant I thought I heard you had a plane to catch?"
"No. That was my that was Kate. She left. She took a
cab to the airport."
"You've been back here waiting for me?" I asked, cocking
my head to the side.
"I wanted to be sure it was you," Edward said. "I figured
you'd have to come out, sooner or later."
"Still chasing me around?" I asked, unable to hide the
little smile that tugged at the corner of my mouth.
"It would appear so," he grinned too, looking down. I
watched a familiar pass of his hand on the back of his
head. His hair was shorter now, but the same unusual
color I recalled with perfect clarity each time I wrote a
piece of my memory into the pages of my book.
"So you didn't answer my question," I said then. "What
brings you to Seattle?"
"Uh I'm working here too," he said. "For the past
month. My dad wants me to get the staff settled in his
new office."
"Oh?" I asked, raising my eyebrow. "So you went to work
for your dad, after all," I said.
"And you're a bartender?" Edward asked, sounding a
bit defensive.
"Part-time," I told him, straightening my spine. He
sounded judgmental, and if anyone had the right to be, it
wasn't him. "I'm giving myself a year to write."
"You're still writing?" he asked quietly, looking almost
awed.
"Always," I smiled, again. "I'll never know unless I try.
Right?"
"Yeah," Edward nodded, looking down. We stood there
in silence for a minute, before it all became just a little
too surreal to be comfortable.
"I should get going," I said, turning back toward my car.
Edward nodded again.
"Can I come see you tomorrow?" he asked then, stunning
me with his request. I hesitated for a minute, wondering
if I'd ever actually have the will-power to resist him. The
years hadn't afforded me strength in that task.
"I don't work tomorrow," I said quietly.
"Oh."
"But maybe" I said, biting my lip. "Maybe we could
meet up for coffee, or something?"
"That would be great," he said. "Or lunch?"
"Anything that isn't remotely related to bananas," I said,
flipping my soggy ponytail over my shoulder.
His laughter stayed with me, even as I drove away.

-Summer, 2001-
I didn't question Edward about the statement that he'd
made in the bathroom. But I didn't feel like I necessarily
needed to. He remained close by my side as we made our
way back out to the beach. The invisible walls that he'd
put between us previously, seemed to have been knocked
down like the walls of the sandcastle we'd built, years
before. I grinned over at Lauren because I was pretty
sure that she was responsible for both.
Edward lowered himself to sit beside me by the fire, and
the others all looked at me with concern on their faces
while I held up my wrapped hand.
"All is well," I told them. "I can't believe you're so
squeamish over just a little blood." Jasper still looked
weak, as he laid on the sand with his head on Alice's bent
leg. She brushed her fingers through his hair while he
tried to get some of the color back in his face.
"Yeah, dude," Mike razzed him. "Aren't you supposed to
be going to med school or some shit like that? I never
met a doctor so freaked out by the sight of blood."
"I'm going to be a chiropractor, you dipshit," Jasper
mumbled.
"Sorry about your hand," Lauren said, sounding
anything but.
"You're forgiven," I said, meaning it just as much as she
did.
"Maybe we should all call it a night," Emmett said.
Rosalie looked like she had already passed out across his
lap. "Gonna get an early start up the beach," he
reminded us. We all nodded, and stood up to douse the
fire before making our ways to our respective rooms. I
didn't imagine the warm brush of Edwards knuckles
against my hand, as he passed me to go upstairs.
"Night," I whispered.
"Good night, Isabella."
I woke with a groan, and stretched my body across the
hard floor beneath me. Sunlight filtered in through the
open windows at the side of the room, and my hand
throbbed, reminding me of the night before. I brushed
my teeth, and took a couple ibuprofen that I found in the
bathroom before tiptoeing past the girls to go upstairs. I
was stopped by the sound of quiet talking in the room
across from ours though, and peeked my head around
the corner to see Edward standing in front of an easel,
with Rosalie's grandmother giving him pointers on brush
strokes.
I should have known he'd be awake before the rest of us.
That boy never slept. I also should have known that he'd
end up in this studio. The space seemed designed for
him, and his creative tendencies.
"There's juice and pancakes upstairs," Grandma Hale
said, noticing me standing there. I nodded, and smiled
my thanks before leaving them to their early morning art
session.
It wasn't long before the sweet older lady came upstairs
to join me. I sat at her breakfast bar, nibbling on a
pancake that I held in my hands.
"Oh dear," she told me, making a clucking noise. "We
have syrup for those."
"No need," I smiled. "The chocolate chips make them
sweet enough." Indeed, they tasted almost like dessert,
they were so good.
"Mmm. Chocolate chip pancakes?" Edward asked,
sliding silently onto the stool beside me. "I might never
go home."
"Don't flirt with an old lady," Grandma Hale batted at his
arm. "I'm not sure my poor heart can take it."
Edward grinned at both of us with his mouth full of food.
I sipped my juice, and tried not to stare at how this
relaxed environment seemed to bring out the best of
him. He seemed comfortable, less brooding than he'd
been so far this summer, and absolutely irresistible.
"Considering running away, again?" I asked quietly, once
the old woman left us alone.
"You have no fucking idea," Edward said, with a roll of
his eyes. But my statement caused a shift, again. His
shoulders slumped a little while he ate, and I bit my lip,
sorry to have said anything at all to chase some of the
sunshine from his pretty green eyes.
"I smell food!" Emmett thundered into the room, and we
were soon joined by all of our bleary-eyed companions as
they made their way toward the kitchen for breakfast. I
stole away, to pack a bag to take with me up the beach.
Grandma Hale said that the wild horses weren't always
reliable about showing up, but I wanted to be ready, just
in case.
I put my camera, my notebook, and a paper-back book
into my bag, and had just finished with my shower when
the other girls returned to take their turns in the
bathroom. And then we were all ready, and headed
outside for our trip up the beach.
I wasn't sure where they got them from. I couldn't
imagine that Jasper's grandfather actually owned all four
of the large four-wheelers that were parked out on the
beach. I nervously looked at the well-seasoned vehicles,
imaging the terrified look on my mother's face if she
knew I'd be riding astride one of them.
"Ride with me," Edward said, walking up beside me. I
grinned over at him, but didn't miss the shitty look that
Lauren gave me before having to jump up to sit behind
Mike.
"Will you go fast?" I asked, worriedly. I put my bag over
my shoulder so that the strap was pulled securely across
my chest.
"You better believe it," Edward smirked. "Here better
tie your hair back." I fussed with it for a moment, before
Edward slapped my hands away and took the hair tie
from my fingers. I was having a horrible time of trying,
with the bulky bandage that was still taped around my
hand. "Let me," he said. I winced a little as he pulled it
into a ponytail, and then smiled crookedly up at him
when he finished.
"How's it look?" I asked.
"Like shit," Edward frowned and patted at a bulging
place he'd left near the crown of my head. "I guess my
talents don't extend to hair-dressing."
"Can't be good at everything," I shrugged.
"Nice 'do," Lauren offered with a mean smile.
"At least I don't look like a boy," I replied. She didn't
have a chance to say another word though, because with
that, Edward turned a key and made a few adjustments,
and we shot off like a rocket down the beach.
I laughed with exuberance, feeling the wind tear at my
hair and cheeks as we bounced and bounded down the
sandy dunes. My arms must have been near to squeezing
the life out of Edward, but he didn't complain at the way
I wrapped myself around his back. The ride was
terrifying, and exhilarating, and my heart beat so
rapidly, I wondered for a moment if he might feel it
through the thin t-shirt he wore across his back. I could
feel life, coursing deliciously through my veins. I felt like
we were flying.
After what seemed like a very short while, I saw Emmett
gesture to a bend up ahead. And then we all slowed and
eventually stopped to park the four-wheelers near an
ancient-looking twisted up tree that rested heavily across
the beach.
"Are we far enough out?" Jasper asked. Alice sat up, and
tried to straighten her hair behind him.
"Should be," Emmett grinned, spinning in his seat to lift
Rosalie off of hers. Lauren climbed down from her perch
behind Mike, fingering through her short hair-style and
complaining, as usual.
"Have fun?" Edward asked, turning to look at me over
his shoulder.
"Oh yeah," I smiled widely and nodded. His eyes turned
serious for a moment, and he pulled one finger down my
flushed cheek.
"Hmm," Edward murmured, pursing his lips. "I think
that maybe a little bit of freedom suits you."
"You too," I whispered, loving the way he looked at me,
carefree and warm and teased by the wind.
"We'll have to hike for a while," Mike pointed out. We all
grabbed our things, and followed his lead up the beach.
It was easy to pretend that day, that we were the only
people left on earth. No distracting noises of cars on
nearby roadways, or the clatter of excited tourists
interrupted the push-pull come-to-me sounds of the
ocean at our backs. We strolled through the long dune
grass, letting it tickle our bare legs while the soft sand
beneath us made our feet heavy and our hearts light.
And when we found a smooth area on a sandy hill, we all
lowered ourselves to sit, and wait.
Lauren wasted no time, stripping out of her clothes to lay
out in her barely-there bikini. I worried that any horses
in the vicinity would be chased away by the obnoxious
smell of her banana-scented tanning oil.
I couldn't help but snicker when Emmett rolled over
onto his stomach, and made a noise that sounded
suspiciously like a wookie-growl, while hiding his face in
his arms. The sound I tried to stifle turned into a full-
blown laugh when he peeked up at me from between his
beefy forearms and winked. I guess Rosalie must have let
him in on that little joke.
Lauren's pathetic ploy to get attention didn't work at all.
Edward laid on his back, reading a book he'd brought
along, without even looking her direction. I smiled with
satisfaction, and rested my messy head on the sand to do
the same.
Because of the energetic nature teens, it wasn't long
before Jasper and Mike decided they'd sat still long
enough. They walked a little ways away, and began
throwing a football back and forth. Emmett jumped up
quickly, and joined them.
I think Lauren fell asleep. I maliciously wished that she'd
burn into a cinder.
Alice and Rosalie headed back to the beach to look for
shells.
"Hey Edward?" I asked quietly, rolling over to grab my
bag.
"Hmm?" he asked, not looking up. It didn't surprise me
that he, alone, seemed content in lying still.
"I'm gonna head that way for a while," I said, pointing in
a direction over the dunes. "I might try to write. These
guys are just a bit too noisy."
"Yeah. Okay," Edward nodded with his eyes on the page.
I silently began to walk away from the group.
When the sounds of the boys laughter faded away behind
me, I figured I'd walked far enough. I laid down on my
belly, all but obscured by the patchy, long grass around
me, and opened my notebook.
For a while I became lost on the pages. My imagination
created a world in which I was peacefully trapped inside
a sea-side water-colored landscape, and I was happy
there, because I was in love with the boy who had
painted me.
The words poured out of my pen effortlessly, and the
sound of the scratching nub against the paper musically
spurred me on. That was, until, a rustle to my left
brought my eyes over my shoulder.
I lowered my eyebrows when I saw Edward, crawling on
his hands and knees toward me. I was confused to see
him creeping up as he was, and opened my mouth to ask
him what in the hell he was doing. He held his index
finger over his pursed lips though, and raised one hand
to point beyond me. I turned my head then, and held my
breath.
On a sandy ridge, just a little ways away, stood a
beautiful, untamed, wild horse.
He nickered and nudged the grass under his whiskered
lips, while his tail twitched behind him in the salty
breeze. I held myself as silent as a statue, afraid that any
movement might scare the amazing creature off. Edward
was stealthy as he made his way to my side though.
Soon, he lay on his stomach beside me. My hand reached
for his, and our fingers tangled together between us,
while we both watched another horse, smaller and
lighter in color, stamp-stamp his way over to join the
first.
They circled each other, and skipped from side to side,
rubbing their flanks together lightly and whinnying while
they tossed their heads in a playful fashion. And then
just as fast as they'd come they turned and ran away.
"Wow" I said in awe, finally expelling the breath it
seemed I'd been holding forever.
"Amazing, right?" Edward whispered. We had no need to
still be silent, but it just seemed right.
"I've never seen anything like it," I said, still looking the
direction they'd gone in. "Do you think they'll be back?" I
was a little sad that I hadn't had my camera in hand to
capture their image.
"I doubt it," Edward said. "I've never seen them so
close."
"Guess we just got lucky," I said, rolling to my hip to
smile at him.
"Guess we did," Edward smiled back. His thumb brushed
lazily against the side of my hand, and I was glad that he
hadn't let go.
"How did you know they were here?" I asked, lowering
my brows in confusion.
"I was sitting over there, watching you for a while,"
Edward explained unapologetically. "I love watching you
write. I find it very fascinating."
I blushed, and looked away. Edward dropped my hand
then, and sat up beside me. I mimicked his pose, and
closed my notebook before shoving it into my bag.
"Gonna show me what you were writing?" Edward asked.
"Not a chance in hell," I grinned, shaking my head.
"Why? Was it about me?"
"Maybe. Maybe not," I shrugged noncommittally.
"Would you?" Edward asked, reaching over to tug my
ponytail. "Someday? Write a story about us?"
"What makes you think that you're so special?" I asked,
playfully.
"I'm not," he shrugged. "But this place is. It would be
cool to be able to read it someday, and remember it all."
I nodded, seriously thinking about the suggestion. Even
without the lines recorded on paper, I doubt I'd ever
forget this moment.
I leaned back to rest on my outstretched hands behind
me, and wondered out loud about the horses again.
Edward tore a few blades of grass out of the sand, and
bent forward, braiding them together.
"Can you imagine?" I asked wistfully. "Being so free
and un-caged?"
"Yeah, like that's even a possibility," Edward said wryly.
Clouds had settled over him again. I could tell by the
sound of his voice.
"You're so different this year," I sighed, shaking my
head. That statement brought his eyes back up to mine,
and Edward frowned.
"What do you mean?" Edward asked.
"You just" I licked my lips and concentrated on the
sand beneath my feet so I wouldn't have to look at him.
"You're very serious. Darker. More weighted down?"
"I never wanted to bring you down," Edward said,
sounding sad and tired.
"I care about you," I said softly, putting my hand on his
arm. His fingers had resumed their twisting motions,
tying knots into the blades of grass to bind them
together. "I used to think that you felt like you could
talk to me."
"Well you're pretty much the last person on the planet
that I want to talk to about this stuff," Edward said
darkly. I snatched my hand back, burned by his words,
and Edward looked up at me, instantly contrite.
"Shit. I'm sorry Isabella," he said, hanging his head. "I
didn't mean it like that."
"What did you mean then?" I asked, trying to keep the
pain from my voice.
"It's just that" Edward sighed and focused on the grass
again. "Here is pretty much the only place I can get
away from it for a while. Everything is good here. You
are good here. And I like to be able to not think about it
all for a while."
"Okay," I said simply. I didn't know any other way to
appropriately reply. Edward tied the ends of his braided
grass string, and measured it around his arm before
biting the excess off and spitting it to the ground. I
stared at the circle it made around his wrist as he tied it
into another knot to secure it.
"My dad is coming down on me hard, lately," Edward
finally explained. I sat there beside him, willing to listen
to as much as he wanted to reveal. If I could help
shoulder some of the burdens that seemed to be stifling
him, I wanted to. In any way that I could. "I graduated
this year. And he's just pressuring me about everything.
He wants me to go to Columbia. Because he went to
Columbia. He wants me to work for his business do
you even know what my father does for a living,
Isabella?"
"No." I shook my head, saddened by the rough and
desperate sound of his voice.
"He buys companies, and fucking tears them apart,"
Edward said harshly then. "Tears them into little bitty
pieces, so they can be sold to the highest fucking bidder
and made into whatever. Now I ask you does that
even remotely sound like anything I'd want to fucking
do, with my life?"
"No," I said, shaking my head again, more vehemently
this time. Edward was an artist. He was a musician. His
soul was nurtured by creating things not breaking
them down. Even I knew that about him.
"No," he repeated my word sadly, and hung his head.
"You don't have to do that," I said, whispering across the
space between us. I felt his shoulder against mine, but it
felt like we were miles apart. "You told me once do you
remember? You told me not to let my mother change me,
into something I'm not."
"It's a lot easier to dish out advice, than to take it,"
Edward said, turning his face toward me, and giving me
a sad, sad smile. "We all have ties that hold us down.
Right?"
"Some ties are meant to be broken," I said, firmly
believing the statement. Edward laced the fingers of my
hand with his again, and rose to stand in front of me.
Our joined hands pulled until our arms formed a straight
line between us. I watched as Edward shook his arm a
little, and his braided, knotted grass bracelet spun down
his sun kissed arm, over our connected fingers, and
stopped when it finally nestled against my own forearm.
"And some," Edward said, "you hope to God will always
be there to anchor you where you need to be."
I swallowed hard at the weight of his words, and we were
both pulled out of the spell we were under by the sound
of Rosalie's voice calling to us, from over the dunes.
"Come on, you guys!" Rosalie yelled, cupping her hands
around her mouth to make her voice reach us. "Emmett
is threatening to start hunting if we don't get him back to
the house to eat soon!"
"You ready?" Edward asked, helping me stand to my
feet.
"Yeah. I'm ready," I told him.
"Let's go before Emmett mistakes Lauren for a bear, and
clubs her over the head," Edward said, leveling me with a
mischievous grin.
I laughed out loud. Apparently Edward was in on the
joke, too. And then I quietly amused myself with the
thought of Lauren, roasting over a spit.
~..~..~..~
Chapter Eight
Forward Pass
-Fall, 2009-
I wasn't sure what time to expect Edward, and so I went
to the bar around noon. I wasn't surprised in the
slightest, to see that Edward was already there, waiting
for me. He sat at the corner of the bar, listening intently
as Earl favored him with his charming brand of
conversation. I stood for a minute in the doorway,
appreciating the sight of the warm, cable-knit sweater
that pulled over the new definition of Edward's back. His
hair was messier today less styled more casual. When
not wearing a business suit, it was easier to see him as
the boy I once knew.
"Ah. I see you've met Earl," I said, walking up to join
both men. One young, and one old, grinned up at me
from their huddle at the bar.
"Earl was just telling me all about how the two of you
met," Edward smiled.
"Not much of a story," I shook my head.
"Anything can make a good story," Edward reminded me
of words I'd once spoken. I wondered if it was
coincidence, or if he really did remember. We had been
separated for so long and yet somehow, seeing him
right there in front of me, it felt like we'd never been
apart. The thrumming of butterfly wings in my chest
seemed to agree.
"We could have lunch here?" I suggested, looking up
toward the open window of the kitchen. Edward drew
my attention back to him by placing his hand on my arm.
"Maybe somewhere else?" he asked. I licked my lips
and nodded. Yeah. Maybe it would be nice for us both to
step away to someplace new and different where we
could be alone.
I pulled my coat tighter around my frame, and Edward
retrieved his from the stool beside him. He pulled it on
quickly, when we stepped into the cold, November wind.
"I have my car over here" he pointed down the street.
"I can drive," I said. "Maybe someplace near the
waterfront?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "That sounds good."
Together we chose a casual seafood place, and we both
ordered warm bowls of chowder to chase away the chill
outside.
"So" Edward asked, placing his spoon beside his empty
bowl. "Ever plan to tell me exactly how you ended up in
Seattle?"
"I'm originally from Washington," I told him. "A few
hours from here." Edward lowered his brows.
"Did I ever know that?" he wondered.
"Doubtful," I said. "I moved away when I was three."
"Then how?"
"I came back to live with my father, when I turned
seventeen," I explained then. Edward nodded and looked
back down at the piece of bread that he tore beneath his
fingers.
"Well I have to admit, you were the very last person I
ever thought I'd run in to out here," he said. "We used to
play that game, you remember?" he smiled. "Where we'd
all predict where each other would end up later in life?"
"And you didn't predict you'd find me behind a bar," I
laughed, filling in the rest of his thought.
"I think I just always imagined you in a warmer place,"
he insisted, with a shake of his head. "Someplace sunny."
"Really?"
"Don't laugh," Edward implored. "I think that in my
head I just always imagined you as I don't know.
Some mystical sort of creature that only existed in the
summer time. Like you washed up on the beach in
June and brought the sun with you. Then you
disappeared with the tide in September."
"And I'm the one who wants to be a writer?" I snorted,
amused by his fanciful thoughts. Edward just shrugged,
looking a little embarrassed.
"I'm not sure where I imagined you to be" I said after a
pause to think about it. "But I always knew you'd go far."
"I hope you enjoy disappointment," Edward said then,
with a lower voice. "I stayed exactly where I was."

-Summer, 2001-
We laid out under the stars that night. We didn't even
bother with a bonfire. We all stretched out on our backs
under the stars, like driftwood strewn on the beach after
a storm. We'd all come from various places, and ended
up tumbled here, together. And somehow, we all just fit.
"Twenty years from now," Mike said, "we'll all have our
own homes on the beach. And we'll bring our kids here
for the summers."
"And they'll probably sneak around, and do exactly what
Alice and Jasper are doing right now," Lauren muttered.
Rosalie giggled. Jasper and Alice had left the group a
while ago. Until now, none of us had spoken about their
silent departure.
"Emmett will have taken over his father's construction
company, by that time," Edward threw his offering up to
the dark sky.
"And Rosie here will be fat, with baby number four on
the way," Emmett chuckled. I giggled then too
imagining my friends as an older, happy married couple.
"I'll never be fat," Rosalie insisted. "But you'll probably
lose your hair."
We all agreed about that one.
"Edward here is going to own his own place," Emmett
said then. "A coffee shop or something. Where dead
beats and artists can hang out and read crappy poetry on
Wednesday nights, while Edward plays jazz piano. He'll
name it like'E's Place', or something chill like that."
"This is fucking stupid," Edward snorted, and rolled to
sit up, sufficiently ending his participation in our game.
"Bella will write the next great, American novel," Rosalie
threw out, trying to lighten the mood. "And we'll all want
her autograph."
"You'll want my autograph," Lauren added then. "I'm
going to be an actress."
We all absorbed her statement in silence, until Emmett's
voice broke across the dark beach.
"Hey, Edward?" he asked.
"Yeah?"
"Aren't they still filming the next Star Wars movie?"
We all started laughing then. The sound bounced over
our heads, like fireflies dancing in the night. When we
calmed, Lauren spoke up once more.
"I don't get it."
And we all started laughing again.
In our room, the girls pulled our sleeping bags close
together and whispered far into the night. Jasper and
Alice really had "done it," and I held her hand in mine
while she whispered and giggled and told us about the
romantic way that he had propositioned her on a blanket
up the beach. I was happy for my friend, and even more
happy that she kept the most private details of the event
to herself.
"It's not that big a deal," Lauren grumbled, unhappy to
be out of the center of attention. "I've already done it like
three times back home."
"It is a big deal," I whispered to Alice, and squeezed her
hand tightly in my own. "It's a big deal when you are in
love."
"I know," she whispered and smiled at me in the dark.
I was awake longer than the rest of them, and silently
slipped my legs out of the comforting warmth of my
sleeping bag to make my way upstairs for a glass of
water. I stopped in the hall though, when I heard a quiet
scuff-shuffle coming from Grandma Hale's studio across
the hall. When I looked around the corner, I was
surprised to see Edward in there, standing alone by the
windows. He had lit a small candle near his sleeping bag
on the floor, and the warm golden glow around it was a
contrast to the blue-white light that poured through the
windows from the moon outside.
"What are you doing down here?" I asked quietly.
Edward jerk-turned, surprised by the sound of my voice,
and smiled sheepishly at me over his bare shoulder. He
was standing near the open window, bare-chested, and
beautiful.
"I like it in this room," he told me. "And Mike snores like
a goddamned freight train."
I giggled and walked up to where he stood, silently
contemplating the beach beyond the window frame. The
glass was pushed up, and the chilly ocean air made me
rub my hands up and down my arms. I looked up at
Edward, staring at his features, quiet and serene.
"What?" he asked, feeling my stare but not looking
down.
"I just wish I knew what was in your head, sometimes,"
I told him. Edward chuckled, and ducked his chin toward
his chest.
"I could say the same."
"Really?" I asked. I always thought that I was pretty-
much an open book.
"Yeah," he said then. "Sometimes you get a really far
away look on your face. And I always wonder where you
go."
"I usually just day-dream," I shrugged. "Mostly, I think
my mind is always making up stories, when I get like
that."
"What about?"
"Everything," I said again, looking out at the silver-
crested waves. "Anything can make a good story."
"I feel like I should know you better," Edward said then,
making my heart twist and flip in my chest.
"So ask me anything," I told him. "I don't mind. I'll be
honest."
"Sometimes honesty hurts," Edward said quietly.
"I'd still prefer it," I told him.
"Okay. Honest" Edward reminded me. "What were you
writing about, today on the beach?"
I laughed quietly then, and moved away from the
window.
"If we're playing this game, you have to let me ask you
questions too," I said.
"Fine," he shrugged, moving over to sit cross-legged on
his sleeping bag. He patted the space beside him in
invitation, and I lowered myself to sit too.
"And you'll answer honestly?"
"Sure," he said.
"Okay. Fine. Today, on the beach, I was writing a story
about a girl who was created in a water-color painting."
Edward looked up at the rickety easel behind us,
obviously finding truth in the evidence of my inspiration.
"Would you ever let me read it?" he asked.
"Honestly?" I grinned. "Probably not."
"Why not?"
"Maybe I'll show you. Sometimes it's better to share,
after it's finished," I shrugged. Edward nodded.
"I'm gonna hold you to that."
"It's my turn to ask a question now," I teased, shoving at
his bare shoulder. Edward grinned and looked down.
"Okay. Hit me with it."
"Tell me which instruments you really can play. And
don't act all shy about it."
Edward smirked.
"Honestly?" he said. "I only ever took piano lessons. But
I can play guitar alright. I'm decent with a harmonica.
The violin isn't bad. DrumsI've never really gotten into
brass instruments, though."
"Cool," I smiled up at him. "Your turn."
"Honestly" Edward said, reaching down and touching
the hem of my shorts with his finger tip. "Was I really the
first guy who ever kissed you?" The tickle of his finger
brushing the soft skin of my leg made me tingly all over.
I swallowed hard and bit my lip.
"Why is that so hard for you to believe?" I asked. "I was
already honest about that one. You know the answer. Ask
something else."
"Okay then. Who got your second kiss?"
I looked up at him then. The small flicker of the candle
brightened the ends of his hair and danced in his eyes.
The secluded, private little world that we shared,
surrounded by the moonlight, the ocean breeze, and by
art inspired me to be brave.
"You did," I told him, with a whisper. Edward lowered
his eyebrows, clearly confused.
"I think I would have remembered, Isabella," he chided
me, and I giggled.
"It just hasn't happened yet," I smiled, reaching up to
push his hair away from his forehead. His features
softened then, and he licked his lips as his eyes dropped
to mine.
"Are you sure?"
"Definitely."
"Honestly?"
"Honestly."
Edward lowered his head then, and captured my lips
soft, soft, softly under his. I let my fingers tarry at the
back of his head, and pushed my fingertips against his
scalp, urging him closer. He moaned deep in his chest,
and leaned over me.
And then, somehow, my back was to his sleeping bag on
the floor, and Edward was pressed above me. Hard and
soft, rough and gentle. I wiggled beneath him, and he
held my face still with both of his palms against my
cheeks while he kissed me over and over and over again
until I felt like I couldn't breathe.
"Open your mouth," he whispered against my lips. And
so I did.
"Let me touch you" he pleaded. I did that too, but only
a little. Not because I wouldn't have given him
everything he wanted, but because, somehow, he kept his
hands very respectfully controlled. His fingers skimmed
up and down my sides, just under my shirt, tickling
across my ribcage but never taking advantage, while my
own hands played a happy song up and down the skin of
his back.
"You saved your second kiss for me" Edward moaned,
sounding breathless and awed. I reached up, and sucked
his lower lip between mine.
"I'd save all of my kisses for you. If you wanted me to."
His body stilled then, and he lifted his chest away from
mine. His hair hung over his eyes, and his shoulders
glinted like gold, blocking the candle-light above me.
"Don't," he said then, with a raspy, broken breath. "Don't
do that."
"Don't do what?"
"Don't give me promises that I can't give you back."
He rolled away from me then, and sat up. I propped
myself up on my elbows and frowned at the long curve of
his back, as he bent away from me like a reed in the wind
on the beach.
"I'm sorry," I said, suddenly feeling very pathetic, and
foolish. I was cold once more, and drew my knees up
under my chin. Edward reached for the candle jar and
blew the tiny flame out, casting us once again in blue-
grey shadows.
"See?" he asked, with a harsh whisper, still facing away.
"I told you that this honesty shit hurts, sometimes."
"I don't care," I muttered pathetically into my knees. "I'd
still rather have it."
"Isabella," Edward said, and finally turned with a sigh. "I
wish things could be different. I do."
"Honestly?" I asked.
"Honestly," he nodded. "But shit. We both live
different lives when we aren't here at the beach. You're
going to be seventeen this September. I can't I just
can't expect you to like stop living your life when you
get back home. It's not realistic."
"You don't want me to save all my kisses for you."
"If I asked you to do that, it would be the most selfish
thing I've ever done," he finally explained, looking sad
and much older than he really was. What he said made
perfect sense. I didn't have to like it. It didn't seem like
he liked it much, either.
Making a decision to keep whatever it was that we had,
and enjoy it in the fullest for the small amount of time
that we had left together, while we still could, I sat up on
my knees in front of him and ran my hands up his chest
to rest against his broad shoulders.
"Then let me save the best ones for you," I said.
"The best ones?" his shoulders relaxed under my palms,
and he smiled a little once more.
"The best ones," I nodded. "The summer ones. The beach
ones. The water-colored ones, and the first ones"
"Damn it, Isabella." He pushed forward until I was lying
beneath him again.
"Is that a promise you can make?" I whispered against
his mouth, when he began to kiss me again.
"Yes," he said, gripping my hips tightly with his fingers.
"I can save you the best ones, Isabella. Always the very
best ones."
"Honestly?"
"Honestly."
I snuck my way back to my sleeping bag before dawn,
with bee-stung lips and sleepy eyes. Edward tucked
himself into his sleeping bag on the floor of the art
studio, surrounded by all of the things I wished for him
in my dreams.
"Happy Birthday, Edward," I whispered. I was glad that I
was the first person to tell him so.
~..~..~..~

Chapter Nine
Blitz
-Fall, 2009-
Edward and I strolled along the wooden-planked pier,
with the collars flipped up on our coats. Spit-spatters of
mist fell around us in the air, a little too lazy to form
actual rain. It clung to our hair, and chilled us to the
bone. But neither of us were willing to part ways, just
yet.
"Your cheeks are red," Edward murmured. "Almost like I
remember them."
"It's cold," I grinned, rubbing the tip of my chilly nose
against the wool of my collar to warm it. "Not quite the
sunburn you recollect."
"A lot of things have changed," Edward nodded, looking
ahead of us while we walked. We'd spent hours chatting
at lunch. Now the halogen bulbs on the light posts
overhead, began to splutter and pop with a hum as they
lit the path that we strolled down together. Something on
the ground caught his eyes, and he bent to pick it up. It
looked like a little silver charm, broken from a child's
piece of jewelry. I couldn't see exactly what it was as he
turned it under his fingers and looked at it with a sweet,
youthful smile on his face. Before I could ask him to
show it to me, he tucked it into his coat pocket like one of
the many treasures he had found, washed up on the
shore. Yes. A lot of things had changed. But so many
things felt exactly the same.
"So" Edward said, pressing his hands deep in his
pockets. "Any special guys in your life?"
"Not right now," I said, hiding my chin in my coat, giving
only a moment of thought to the relationship that had
ended months before. "Dodged that bullet." Edward
laughed.
"I'm sure your mother is freaking out, that she hasn't
gotten you married off, by now."
"Ugh," I rolled my eyes. "My mother is currently married
to husband number five, and running a flower-shop in
Missouri."
"Shame," he muttered. "I always liked Lonnie."
"Me too," I sighed.
"Is that when you moved back here?" Edward asked,
turning to walk backward in front of me. It was a classic-
Edward move, and it reminded me of the morning walks
we used to share on the beach.
"Yes," I nodded. "They got a divorce right after I turned
seventeen. She started dating some baseball player and
I decided to come live with my dad. I'd just had
enough. You know?"
"I can imagine," Edward said. "So you finally just ran
away."
"I guess I did," I said.
"What about you?" I asked, turning the tables. "Married,
three kids?" Edward held up his left hand, and wiggled
his fingers to illustrate the absence of a ring. "Well
what about that woman I saw you with earlier?"
"Kate?"
"Kate?" My feet stalled beneath me, and Edward paused
in his steps too. "Kate? As in the Kate?" I asked. "I can't
believe that I didn't make that connection before. Is she
the same one?"
"Yeah," Edward said, with a serious expression on his
face. He turned again and began walking, and I hurried
to fall into step behind him.
"You've been together a long time." My words sounded
hollow in my own ears, while I tried to process that.
"More time spent off-again, than on," Edward said. He
scowled down at the boards under our feet, lost in some
somber thoughts. "I broke things off with her before I
left for school But we sorta started back up again, after
I graduated and started working for my dad. She was
here for the weekend. We well" he pulled his hand
harshly over his hair, making it stick up like I
remembered it so well. "We're supposed to get married
next fall."
"Oh." It was stupid for his statement to cause the pain
that it did. My chest felt tight, and my throat constricted.
After all of this time I was amazed at how much I still
cared. But if I had given it any real thought at all, I would
have had to admit that I had never really stopped.
"It's complicated," Edward told me then, shoving his
hand back inside the shelter of his coat pocket. "Her
father is one of the largest share-holders in my dad's
company. And well they've all been planning this for
quite some time."
"Shit," I frowned. "Are you talking about a marriage, or a
business merger?"
Edward turned to look at me, studying my face for a
moment, and scowling.
"Both, I guess."

-Summer, 2001-
When we got back to our summer homes and our
familiar stretch of sand, no one even said a word about
the change between Edward and me. We were a couple,
but it seemed as though we always had been. Everyone
else had just been waiting for the two of us to catch up to
what they already knew and accepted.
He held my hand at our bonfires. I was always his
partner when we played chicken. Mike didn't even think
of trying to tackle me on the beach anymore.
And our days and nights were filled with the very best
kisses.
Fourth of July kisses, and we -snuck-some-beers-from-
the-clubhouse kisses. Morning sunrise kisses, and
sunset-I-want-you-so-much kisses. Laughing kisses, and
lets-not-talk-about-the-school-year kisses. Sunny kisses,
and rainy-day-board-game-kisses. And the most
powerful of all the I-really-want-to-but-I'm-not-quite-
ready kisses.
"Next summer," Edward panted above me, thrusting his
hips gently against mine and making me sore and
wanting, under our blanket on the beach.
"Next summer," I promised, wrapping my legs tightly
around him until he shuddered and groaned into my
neck.
I loved him.
He never said it, but my heart knew that he loved me too.
With the end of summer looming over us, we all had
dinner at the clubhouse. Edward ate at the table with my
mother, Lonnie and me. I twisted my fingers beneath his
under the linen tablecloth, glad that he gave me someone
to talk to, while my Mother and Lonnie stubbornly
remained silent with each other.
"Ready to take off?" Edward whispered near my ear. I
nodded, happy that he wanted to rescue me from the
uncomfortable stand-off between my mother and step-
father.
"Just" Edward looked up to where his parents were
dining and sighed. "I my dad wants to talk to me first.
Wait by the door?" I nodded, and walked over to the side
of the dining room as requested.
"Stay over with Rosalie, tonight?" Alice asked, sliding up
next to me. It had become her favorite sport. She claimed
to be having a sleep-over with the girls, but always
somehow ended up in Jasper's room, just down the hall.
"I sure," I shrugged, looking worriedly over at Edward
and his father. It was obvious by the set of their
shoulders and animated hands that neither of the men
were happy. Edward's father wasn't quite loud enough to
be heard above the dinner-time music and chatter of the
diners. But I could hear the harsh timbre of his voice. He
looked up at me then, and caught me watching. The man
practically glowered at me, and gestured his hand with
an aggravated motion toward where I stood. Edward
cringed, and his head lowered, before he began pulling at
the hair on the back of his head.
"I'm going to get out of here," I told Alice, walking
toward the door. It looked like Edward might be a while.
And by the nasty look on his father's face when he had
indicated toward me, I had a horrible feeling that I was
the source of the discord between them. "I'll see you
later, okay?" I asked.
"Alright," Alice told me, hugging me once before I stole
away out the side door.
Edward didn't catch up with me before I made it home.
Still in my sundress from dinner, I replaced my heeled
shoes with flip-flops and packed an over-night duffel bag
for my stay down at the clubhouse.
I made it as far as the back of Emmett's place, when a
boy's voice called out for my attention over the dark
beach.
"Where you going, Princess?" he yelled out. I made a face
and frowned. I hated the nickname, and resented the boy
for thinking he was familiar enough to label me with it.
"Back to the clubhouse," I said, keeping on my steady
walk.
"Why don't you stay out here with me, for a while?" he
asked, running up beside me on the beach. I glanced
over at him. He was one of the renters. I recognized him
from the dining hall.
"No thank you," I replied, quickening my steps. "My
friends are waiting for me."
"I could be your friend," he said, grabbing my arm. "I
could be a real good friend." Alarmed, I stumbled back
against him and dropped my bag.
"Let go," I warned loudly, shoving his chest with my free
hand.
"You heard her," a familiar voice growled from just
ahead of us. "Get your fucking hands off her."
I was pushed aside roughly as Edward's dark shape
lunged at the boy who had grabbed my arm. He shoved
the boy backwards, and lost his footing in the sand when
the boy swung his arm in a wild arc and punched him in
the jaw.
"Edward!" I shouted.
Edward went sprawling in the sand, but was back on his
feet in no time. He tackled the other boy, and started
pummeling him with his fists. Over and over again, he
hit the boy, until I finally found my bearings and went to
try to pull him off.
"Stop!" I cried, worried about the damage that Edward
was doing in his rage. "Edward stop!"
The shrill sound of my voice finally brought his attention
to me, and he rose to stand shakily above the boy who
moaned on the sand.
"Stupid tourist trash," Edward said, kicking sand in the
boys face. "Come near her again, and I'll fucking kill
you."
"I didn't mean anything by it," the boy complained,
hurrying to his own feet, and lumbering away. Edward
stood glaring at his retreating form, breathing heavily. I
put my hand on his shoulder, and tried to calm him.
"What the hell were you doing out here all alone,
anyway?" Edward asked, turning his ire toward me. "I
told you to wait for me!"
"Don't you yell at me, Edward Cullen," I frowned,
moving away. "I walk out here all the time, and it's just
fine."
"Well you can't you can't"
Edward slumped down to the sand on his knees, and
wearily dropped his head. I sank to the sand beside him,
concerned about his defeated pose.
"I'm okay," I whispered. "Edward? Look at me, please."
"I just don't know what I would have done if anything
happened to you," Edward said then, turning to pull me
in his arms. I hugged his shuddering form to my chest,
doing my best to reassure him that I was just fine.
"It's okay," I hummed into his hair. "It's okay." His arms
wrapped around my waist, and he held me tightly
against him.
"You're the best thing in my life," Edward said then.
"The only thing"
"I know," I murmured. "Shhh I know." I kissed the top
of his head, and held him tight. His nose turned and
skimmed across my collar bone. And then his lips were
there, hungry and seeking. Up my neck, across my ear,
capturing my mouth with his.
His kisses tasted like desperation. These were laced with
all sorts of feelings that I wasn't quite used to with
Edward. I tried to pull the ugly away with my mouth, and
my arms, as I shifted to lay in the sand and kept him
above me.
"Oh God," Edward moaned, shaking. "Just let me"
His hand slipped the strap of my dress down my arm,
and his mouth found his way to my breast. I shuddered
at the new sensation, with the sand scratchy under my
back and my bare legs.
"Sorry," he whispered and bit at my skin. But he didn't
stop. And I didn't stop him.
"I just want to" Edward said, kissing my mouth again
while dragging his fingers up my thighs. The material of
my skirt hid his hand while his fingers sought out my
most sensitive, private parts. "Please" Edward begged
against my teeth, while his fingers fluttered and rubbed
against my panties. He'd never touched me like that
before. No one had. But I didn't want him to stop.
"Yes," I swallowed hard and nodded, with my eyes
squeezed shut tight. "No one's ever no one's ever"
"Shhh," he whispered sucking at the skin on my neck. "I
know. Just"
And then his beach-cool fingers pushed aside the fabric
and touched my warm, warm body. I bucked my hips
upward at the first touch, and my moan mixed with the
surfy-sighs of the ocean.
"You're so beautiful," Edward told me. And I felt
beautiful.
"I want to be with you so fucking much," he moaned.
And I moaned again too.
"You are perfect amazing" And the way he touched
me made everything perfect and amazing. And amazing
and perfect. Perfectandamazing, amazingandperfect,
until it all tangled up and became the same sentiment
and then just sort of exploded outward in a flash that left
my toes curling in the sand with my back arched off the
beach.
"Shhh" Edward placed small, satisfied kisses against
the top of my dress while I came back to earth. He pulled
his hand away, and smoothed my skirt down across my
legs. I was still struggling for breath, when he laid down
heavily beside me, with his head nestled into the crook of
my neck.
"Your father doesn't like me," I said. I put one hand over
my face, shocked that after what had just occurred, those
had been the first words out of my mouth.
"You're wrong," Edward shook his head against me. "He
just he thinks you're a nice girl, Bella. He doesn't want
me to hurt you."
"You wouldn't."
"I probably will," Edward argued. He kissed my shoulder
once more, before rolling up to sit on the sand beside
me. I fixed the straps of my dress, and then lifted up to
sit the same way with my knees tucked to my chest.
"You're a distraction," Edward said, looking out at the
water. "A beautiful, intense, summer distraction. And my
father doesn't want me to be distracted, right now."
"Distracted from what?"
"From all of his plans for me," Edward said, sadly.
"Oh. Right."
"He's just afraid I dunno."
"Go on."
"He's afraid that if I spend time with you I'll stray from
the path he has laid out for me. Things are different back
home, and my father wants me to remember that."
"You start Columbia in the fall," I said.
"And yeah. Well then. There's also"
"What?"
"Kate," Edward said softly. He wasn't looking at me, but
I could hear the hard edge of his voice, and it made me
draw my knees tighter to my chest.
"Who's Kate?" I asked, nervously.
"She's just"
"Edward? Who's Kate?" My tone offered him no luxury
of beating around the bush. He'd introduced this new bit
of information. Now I wanted to know it all.
"She's this girl, back home," Edward said, with his
shoulders slumping sadly. "And I guess she's kinda
my girlfriend. Or whatever."
"Or whatever?" I asked sharply. The title he'd given the
girl caused the remainders of the warmth in my body to
leech away from my feet and be pulled off in the receding
tide. I felt as though he'd poured a bucket of ice water
over me. "You have a girlfriend?"
"I told you" Edward shook his head and turned to face
me. "I told you that I had obligations at home. Things
that tied me down. You knew that there were other
girls"
"Other girls, Edward!" I said then, rising to my feet to
stand, angrily. "I thought that meant you'd be dating
girls. Not like not like you had a steady girlfriend. Oh
God. And I let you you justwhat? Cheated on your
girlfriend? With me?"
I felt sick and humiliated when I stomped over to pick
my bag up from the sand. After what I had just shared
with him this was a very hard lump of reality to
swallow.
"Please, Isabella," Edward said, hurrying to stop me with
his hands on my shoulders. "It's not like that. I mean it. I
don't love her. I don't. Not like I" he stopped then. I
looked up at him, but I knew he wouldn't finish the
sentence. He wouldn't say anything that would make me
feel more tied to him, than I already did.
"Let me go, Edward," I told him.
I angrily made my way up the beach, wiping at the traitor
tears that fell down my cheeks.
"I'll break up with her!" Edward yelled behind me. I
didn't turn to look at him. I didn't want him to bring me
back. "I mean it! I'll tell my father! I'll tell them all!"
Alice didn't go to Jasper's room that night. Rosalie and
she shared ice cream with me and let me cry on their
shoulders.
"I thought you knew," Alice told me. "I mean she's the
same girl that went to his prom with him last year. You
know the one that Lauren was so pissed off about."
"I didn't know that she was his girlfriend," I sobbed. "I
mean she's still his girlfriend."
"Emmett said that she's just a girl that his family has
known forever," Rosalie tried to console me. "They're
always thrown together for family functions. Edward
doesn't even talk about her. He loves you Isabella he
loves you."
He had a really funny way of showing it.
The next two weeks were awkward at best. Edward and I
were around each other, still part of the same group. But
we weren't a couple anymore. I just couldn't do that.
Lauren was obviously smug, when she noticed the
difference.
"Guess you learned the hard way, too," she said snidely,
straightening her hair while looking in a small compact
mirror. Who carried a mirror with them to the beach? I
mean seriously.
"Lauren," I sighed loudly. "The best part of the summer
is when you leave."
"Bitchy much?" Lauren asked, closing her compact with
a loud snap. "Sorry if you can't handle the truth."
"No. Guess I can't handle the truth," I said, wiping my
sandy palms on my shorts while I glared at her. "Not
when it comes from a spiteful, vindictive bitch who has a
big black lump of tar where her heart should be. You are
a mean, nasty person, Lauren. And that's all you are ever
going to be!"
Rosalie and Alice watched with surprised looks of shock
on their faces. Lauren had it coming, for a long damn
time.
"You'll be writing for a two-bit gossip rag, sniffing at my
heels for a story once I make it big," Lauren called down
toward me as I walked away. "You'll be dying to write all
about me!"
"Yep," I nodded, still walking the other direction. I
probably would be writing about her some day. Every
story needs a villain.
We left that summer, before the others. My mother and
Lonnie weren't getting along at all, and so it came as no
surprise when I was told we'd be leaving a week earlier
than we'd originally planned. I was tossing my last bag in
the trunk of our car, when Edward jogged up beside me,
and asked if we could have a few minutes to talk before I
left. My mother nodded stonily, and I retreated with him
toward the side of my house.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were leaving early?"
Edward asked, with sad looking eyes. I shrugged.
"I wasn't trying to keep a secret," I told him. "I wasn't
sure you'd care"
"Of course I care," Edward said, frowning at me. "I was
just coming to find you."
"Well here I am." I smiled sadly. They were the same
words we'd offered each other, so many times before.
"Look, I" Edward pushed his hands into his back
pockets and rocked on his heels, looking out over the
beach. "I'm really sorry about how everything went
down," he told me. "I never expected this summer, to
end up like this."
"Yeah. I know," I mumbled. My heart hurt every time I
had to leave him. Even though he had broken it, I still
hurt to have to go.
"Will you be back next summer?" he asked, reaching
forward to tug my ponytail. I shrugged his hand away.
He was making it harder than I wanted it to be.
"I hope so," I said. "What about you?" I asked then.
"You'll already be away at college."
"I'll be here," Edward told me. "And things will be
different. You'll see."
"I don't even know what you mean by that," I said,
shaking my head sadly.
"Some ties are meant to be broken," he said, letting his
fingers skim down my arm to touch the leathery grass
bracelet that I still wore. My throat constricted at his
words, and I couldn't bring myself to pull away as he
wrapped me in a warm hug.
"I never wanted to hurt you," Edward said then, against
my hair where he gave me a soft kiss. "I'm gonna fix it.
Honestly."
"I'll miss you," I said, hating the way that my heart
already clung to the hope he offered. "I really will miss
you, Edward."
"Save the best kisses for me," he said. Even though it felt
wrong for him to ask I knew that I would.
And then my mother called my name, and we left.
~..~..~..~

Chapter Ten
Rain Delay
-Fall, 2009-
We continued walking, even though it was getting dark
and we were freezing. We talked about safer things, like
college.
"Graduated from Columbia?" I asked.
"With honors," Edward smirked wryly. "Then grad
school. Got my MBA. I was still pretty set against
working for my dad. But he was paying for school. So,
you know I went. And then I graduated. And I sorta fell
into it all anyway."
I told him about my four years of school, and the
newspaper that I worked for after. I told him about living
with my father in Forks, and the culture shock of being
in the Pacific Northwest.
"I don't mind fishing," I told him. "But I never could get
talked into going on any hunting trips."
"Yeah, I can't see you with a gun," Edward teased.
"Though you always were a saucy little thing."
"Saucy?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at the funny
description.
"You never let us guys give you any shit," he told me.
"You were tough. Emmett called you Elway for a reason."
"And my nose hasn't been straight since," I laughed.
Edward turned toward me, and raised a cold hand to cup
my cheek. His thumb dragged down the center of my
nose, while he studied my face thoughtfully. I was
warmed by his touch, despite the chilly temperatures.
"There's not a thing wrong with your nose," he said with
a husky voice, standing closer to me than he should have
been. "You always were so pretty."
"Were?" I laughed, pulling away.
"Were," he nodded, grinning again. "You're positively
gorgeous now. The years have been good to you,
Isabella."
"They've been good to you, too," I admitted, feeling my
cheeks warm. I tried to hide the telltale blush in my
collar.
"Yeah well," Edward told me. "I actually did get a broken
nose."
"Really?"
"Rugby," he told me. "I played a little in college."
"Any other hobbies?" I asked him, looking over at his
handsome profile that belied his claim of a broken nose.
"I don't really have time for hobbies," he frowned.
"Come on," I groaned. "Please please tell me that you
at least still play music. Or that you have some
fantastic room set aside in a house somewhere, where
you paint or make sculptures or something."
"Nope. Just a very cold, very sterile, high-rise apartment
in Chicago," Edward shook his head. "Lots of glass and
chrome."
"You're breaking my heart here," I said, only half-
jokingly, clutching at my coat over the center of my
chest. "How have you even lived?"
"I'm not really sure I have been," Edward said seriously
then. We had stopped in front of the boarded up
windows of a storefront facing the bay. I looked up at
him sadly, realizing the truth of the moment. It was there
in his eyes. He was exactly what he was meant to be, and
nothing that he should have been.
"It's not fair," I told him then, with a whisper. "You said
things were going to be different I hoped, that things
would be different."
"You didn't come back," Edward told me. "I was there.
The next summer. I broke up with Kate. And I thought
that maybe we'd that you'd " He shook his head. "But
you never came back."
"I wrote to you," I said. "I guess maybe your father didn't
give you the letter?"
The rain chose that exact moment to show the nasty side
of its personality, pouring over us in a sudden sheet that
didn't even afford us enough time to duck for cover
under the awning of the abandoned storefront beside us.
"Fuck!" Edward yelled, looking up. I wasn't sure if his
exclamation was in response to what I'd just asked, or for
the cruel weather. His hair was plastered to his head,
and water ran in torrents down his face. If I didn't know
any better, I'd swear that the rainwater looked like tears.

-Summer, 2002-

Dear Edward-
I don't have your home address, and
so I'm mailing this to the beach, and I
hope that you will get it.
Things got bad when we got back
home to Michigan. My mother and
Lonnie have separated, and they are
getting a divorce.
I wish I could be with you, and all of
our friends on the beach.
But I'm moving back home to
Washington.
My mother said something about
wanting to send me to an all-girls
school. She thinks it would be the best
way for me to learn to conduct myself
as a 'proper lady.'
Fuck that.
How's that for proper?
Some ties are meant to be broken. I
guess my time for breaking them, is
now.
I wish you luck, dealing with your
own ties.
Get my number from Alice, if you'd
like to stay in touch.
I'll miss you.
And I'm still saving you the best
kisses.
I love you. Honestly.
-Isabella
--

-Fall, 2009-
We held hands while we raced back to my car down the
street- freezing cold, wet, and breathless.
"My apartment?" I asked with my teeth chattering as I
turned the key in the ignition and cranked the heat as
high as it would go. "It's nearby."
"Yes," he nodded, with his teeth chattering too.
We had to get out in the rain again before we could make
our way indoors and up the stairs to my apartment. We
should have been miserable, but we laughed while we
dripped puddles onto the floor and slosh-sloshed our
way up the stairs with wet shoes.
"Oh my God, I'm cold," Edward groaned, when I shut my
door behind us.
"Do you want a shower? Or?"
"Dry clothes?" Edward asked. "Do you have anything
that will fit me?"
"I might," I nodded, leaving him by the door while I ran
into my bedroom. I grabbed the largest sweatshirt I
could find, and my warmest flannel pajama pants, before
I returned to give him the items I'd procured.
"The uh pants were my dad's," I told him. "They're
really comfortable, so I stole them. They should be big
enough."
"Thanks. Bathroom?" I pointed to the doorway just on
the opposite side of the room, and Edward smiled his
appreciation while he went inside.
"Want something to drink?" I called.
"Coffee?" he suggested through the door. Coffee. I
slipped and slid around the kitchen, starting a fresh pot
of bubbling brew to warm us.
"What do you want me to do with these wet clothes?"
Edward asked, with his voice muffled while he changed.
"Drop them in the basket," I said, trying not to imagine
him naked and wet on the other side of the thin
bathroom door. If I found him attractive as a boy it
didn't hold a candle to the feelings that churned deep
inside when I looked at him now, as a man. "I'll throw
them in the dryer when you're done."
He returned to the kitchen, with a thankful smile on his
face as he closed his eyes and inhaled the aroma of the
coffee I'd made. The sweatshirt was a little too snug, and
it only barely reached the draw-string waist-line of the
pajama pants that were just a little too short. His hair
stood up in a spiky mess on top of his head. But he
looked comfortable, dry, and arrestingly beautiful. My
apartment was a lot smaller, with him in it.
I took a deep breath, and dodged around him to go to the
other room.
"I'm just going to take a quick shower," I said. "Make
yourself at home. The mugs are in the cabinet next to the
sink."
"Mind if I look around?" he asked. I told him to feel free,
and hastily closed myself into the bathroom to try to
chase away the icy sting on my skin, while trying to
gather my wits.
Edward Cullen was standing in my living room.
Edward Cullen, was standing in my living room.
The only boy I'd ever really loved, and never thought I'd
see again, was standing in my living room. Wearing my
father's too-short pajama pants.
I giggled while I stood under the shower, and didn't even
try to suppress the happy flutter of butterflies that
settled in my chest. They'd been asleep for a long time.
That's the way I had always felt when I was with him,
when we were young. I guess that's the way I always
would.
I re-entered the room a short while later, with my hair
brushed straight over my shoulders.
"You kept your hair long," Edward said, smiling over
from where he stood beside my bookcase with a coffee
mug in his hands.
"I always liked it, like this," I said, shrugging.
"Yeah, me too," he smiled. I turned toward the door with
the laundry basket in my hands. "I'm just going to take
these across the hall to the laundry room," I said.
"Okay."
It was only a short trip, and I returned right away to see
Edward looking up and down the spines of my books.
His fingers trailed across them reverently, as he read the
titles that had enthralled me through the years.
"You've quite a collection," Edward murmured. "You
always did like to read."
"Yes," I said, nervously shifting my feet from side to side.
It felt almost too intimate, seeing the way he delicately
touched my personal things.
"And what's this, I found over here?" He grinned,
moving past my bookshelf to a small picture frame that I
kept on my desk. I closed my eyes. I had forgotten for the
moment that it was even there. It had served as
inspiration to me, as I wrote. It was a picture that my
mother had taken of all of us kids, sitting on my back
porch steps at the beach. Tucked under the matting in
the corner, was the faded and brittle grass bracelet that
Edward had woven and slid onto my wrist in Corolla. "I
made that for you. Didn't I?"
"Did you?" I asked. I always assumed he'd just idly
woven it while we talked.
"Of course I did," Edward scoffed. "You have to admit
my delivery was pretty smooth."
I grinned, remembering the way the circle had twisted
and slid from his arm to mine.
"It uh" Edward cleared his throat and ran his fingers
over the back of his head in a motion that was dear to
me. "It makes me happy to know that you kept it."
"It always sort of reminded me that things come around,
full circle. You know?" I asked, walking up behind him
and letting my fingers trail down the glass that covered
the picture.
"I'm beginning to see that," he smiled at me. And he was
close, close, too close for a smile like that. I took a deep
breath and moved away.
"Did you stay in touch with any of them?" Edward asked,
looking at the young faces of the children we once knew.
"No," I said, shaking my head. "Alice and I tried for a
while"
"Yeah. Me either," he said. "It was just too hard."
I nodded in silent agreement, and Edward moved to sit
on my sofa. He placed his empty coffee mug on my side
table, before leaning forward and pressing his elbows to
his knees, and his face in his hands.
"This is so damn strange," Edward groaned, rubbing
his hands over his face. "When I woke up this morning, I
never would have imagined that I would be sitting where
I am having this conversation with you."
"Me either," I said, quietly sitting beside him.
"How can you be so cool about it, then?" Edward asked.
"Cool?" I asked, laughing lightly. "I'm a nervous wreck
here." I held up my shaky hand to show him the evidence
of my jumbled nerves, and Edward reached for it,
pressing it warmly between his two palms. I calmed,
almost instantly.
"Feel that?" Edward whispered. He stared down at our
hands, while his fingers traced around the edges of mine.
"It's like," I said, swallowing hard. "I know I haven't seen
you in eight years. But"
"It feels like we're just coming back for the summer,"
Edward finished for me. "Right where we left off. With
only a school year between us."
"Easy," I said, swallowing hard.
"Too easy," Edward frowned. He slowly released my
hand, and I tucked it under the side of my leg to try to
save the warmth of his touch that still lingered.
"How long are you here?" I asked, staring down at the
floor, already dreading his answer. I knew it wouldn't be
long enough.
"Until the end of the week," Edward said, clearing his
throat. "My work is here is almost done."
"The summers always did pass by too quickly," I
muttered, standing up. Space. I needed some space
between us. We were saying goodbye already, and it felt
exactly the same.
"What are you thinking about right now?" Edward asked
quickly. I walked across the room, and leaned my back
against the wall near my bedroom doorway.
"Honestly?" I asked. The side of Edward's mouth pulled
up in a crooked grin.
"Honestly." He told me.
"I'm thinking that this hurts," I told him. "It hurts to feel
the same when nothing is the same."
"I'm sorry," Edward said, dropping his head to look
down at his folded hands between his knees.
"Tell me what you are thinking about," I told him, trying
to keep my voice even.
"Are we still being honest?" Edward asked.
"I prefer it."
"I'm thinking that my father was right about you,"
Edward said, looking up at me with a soft, amused smile.
"How so?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest.
Edward stood up, and walked over to where I stood.
Close, closer too close. He didn't stop until the tips of
his bare toes touched mine, and I had to crane my neck
to look up at him.
"He said you were a distraction," Edward said quietly. "A
dangerous distraction."
"I haven't even seen you in eight years," I argued, putting
my fingertips to his chest, and gently pushing him a step
away. I couldn't breathe with him standing so close. I
couldn't focus on anything present, when all I could
think about was the sun-kissed color of the dune grass in
his green eyes, and the soft tickle of the June wind that
he expelled with each breath that ruffled the top of my
hair.
"I know," Edward told me, undeterred by my efforts.
"And yet after only being with you for eight hours, I'm
already dreaming of running away, all over again."
~..~..~..~

Chapter Eleven
Replay
-Fall, 2009-
I sucked in a deep, painful breath of air. His words
wrapped around my heart, and choked it into the
familiar staccato rhythm that it always adopted when I
was young and nave and so in love with the boy who
stood in front of me.
"Dreams," I murmured. "I've always been a dreamer."
"I used to like thinking that you dreamed of me."
I stepped to the side, dragging my back against the wall
in an effort to break away from him. Edward let me
scuttle away like a crab in the sand, and pushed his
hands up over his head through his hair when he
chuckled.
"Sorry," he muttered with a shaky laugh.
"I should see if our clothes are dry," I offered as I
escaped from the net he'd dropped around us. I hurried
quickly across the hall and pressed my hands to the top
of the silent dryer while I dropped my head and took
deep breaths. Once I felt the edges of panic start to
recede, I opened the door and retrieved our warm
clothing. Edward's sweater his pants. In another world,
I'd be familiar with pulling these items from our joined
laundry. But in this one I held the material to my face,
breathing deeply, and just tried to calm myself.
Once I felt that I'd adequately controlled my feelings
once more, I turned and went back to my apartment.
Edward was sitting on my couch again, and looked up at
me apologetically.
"I freaked you out," he said simply.
"No"I shook my head.
"Honestly?" he raised his eyebrow in my direction.
"Okay. Then yes," I said. "This is just difficult."
"Agreed."
"You should probably get dressed," I said, holding his
folded clothes out on my arms in front of me. Edward
nodded slowly, and stood up to walk toward me. His
hands paused on the material. Though he gripped it in
his hands, he didn't pull it away. He just stared down at
his sweater with a frown marring his handsome features.
"But I don't want to," he said then, quietly.
"Why not?" I asked, biting the corner of my mouth.
"Because then I'll have no excuse to stay."
"You shouldn't stay"
"I want to."
"But you shouldn't. Want to."
"But I do."
I closed my eyes, and released the items I held, forcing
him to take them.
"Why?" I let the pain I felt carry the word out of my
mouth. It was almost a groan, but I couldn't hold it back.
"Because every single thing that I've ever really wanted,
and was told I couldn't have, is right here in this room,"
Edward said then, sounding as pained as I felt. "Those
summers I spent knowing you? They were damn it
they were the best summers of my life. And I'm so
fucking afraid that if I walk out that door right now, I'm
never going to feel that way again. Don't make me leave.
Please"
"Edward" I don't know if I whispered his name, or
merely thought it. I don't know if it was meant to
dissuade him, or encourage him. But I felt his dry clothes
fall against my bare feet just a second before he pushed
his long long fingers into my hair and turned my mouth
up to his.
It was one of the best kisses. A we've-been-away-for-too-
long kiss. A your-mouth-was-made-for-mine kiss. A
holy-hell-nothing-has-ever-felt-this-way kiss. And it was
an I-never-once-stopped-loving-you kiss.
The rest of the world disappeared when he groaned into
my mouth and pulled me against his hard body. I
wrapped my arms around him, eager to ignore
everything else but the way he felt, consuming me as he
was. New ties lashed around us, and held us together.
And it didn't matter that he lived in Chicago. And damn
it, it didn't matter that he was engaged to someone else.
It didn't matter that he'd called me a distraction, because
I wanted the distraction too. I wanted to be lost in him
again, and I was.
We trip-stumbled into my bedroom. And with hands that
shook like the adolescence that we left behind, we pulled
at each other's clothing until we laid our naked adult
bodies in a tangle on my bed. It was always going to
come to this. Our roads were always going to lead us to
this moment. And that sense of fate and rightness helped
me ignore all the conflicting messages that sent warnings
to my brain that this would all hurt so much when, like
at the ends of every summer that we shared, he would
have to go.
But I wanted this moment, if it was all that we had. And
so I grabbed onto it with both hands, and I wrapped my
legs around it, and I pulled it to me like the surf to the
shore. I tasted salt from my tears, instead of from the
ocean. But Edward kissed them away and used his hands
to warm my body like the sun on my skin.
"Am I dreaming?" Edward asked, holding my shoulders
beneath him while he held his trembling torso above me.
"If you are, then I am too," I whispered.
"I don't want to wake up," he said, leaning to kiss me
again. His lips traveled across my face, and down my
neck. I twisted my hands in his messy hair as he made
his way down my body, reacquainting himself with every
way I had grown since we'd last seen one another.
"Do you have protection?" he asked into my stomach.
"I do."
The children that lingered in our wants didn't question
the adult responsibilities we still adhered to. I rolled
away long enough to get a condom from my side table,
and Edward tore the wrapper hastily between his teeth,
like a piece of grass.
And then it was on him. And he was on me. And we both
kept our eyes wide open when Edward slid inside. We
were finally home.
"I always wanted you." Edward pushed, and pulled. He
sucked at the tender skin on my chest, and ground his
hips against mine where we needed the physical
connection to match the emotional one that had brought
us here.
"I always wanted you too." I pulled, and I pushed. I suck-
swallowed the salty taste of his skin beneath his jaw and
pulled my fingers roughly down his strong, masculine
back. We lost ourselves in the arch and the thrust and
the touch and the kiss. In the sighs, and the moans, and
the crash of the wave that eventually swept over us, until
we laid sweaty and spent, and struggling for breath in
the aftermath of what we'd just done.
"I always loved you," I whispered, staring at my ceiling,
brushing my fingers through his hair. I didn't feel
nervous about saying the words. I was sure he could hear
my heart telling him the same, as he rested the side of
his face against my damp chest.
"I still do" Edward said quietly there, speaking back to
the lub-dub under his ear.
We talked into the night, wrapped in my sheets. He laid
on his side facing me, with his hands tucked under the
pillow beneath his head.
"I always wanted to be your first," Edward told me.
"I wanted that too," I promised, a little sad that it wasn't
to be.
"This isn't something I ever do," he vowed. "Kate I'm
not in love with her. But I don't"
"Me either," I insisted, pushing my fingertips against his
lips.
He asked me to tell him a story, and so I did. I made up a
tale of two children who ran away together. I wove colors
and sounds, tastes and smells into my words until my
imagination ran dry and the story drifted away with no
conclusion.
"We make a great story," Edward whispered across the
night.
"We do."
"But how will it end?" he asked me, with confusion and
maybe a little fear in his eyes. I lifted my hand to run it
tenderly down the side of his face. He lowered his heavy
lashes to his cheek, absorbing the comfort of my touch.
"I don't know," I admitted. I was afraid to try to guess.
Sometime later, we both fell asleep with our fingers
tangled together between us. And when I woke in the
soft-lit morning before dawn, I wasn't surprised at all to
find that I was alone. Though I expected it, I still ached. I
pressed my face into the pillow that still smelled like
him, and cried until I couldn't cry anymore.
When I finally pulled my head away and moved to get
out of bed, my eyes landed on a piece of my own
stationary that rested on my bedside table. With
trepidation, I reached for it, and held it up in front of my
face to read the scrawling slant of the letter that Edward
had left behind.
Isabella-
Thank you for reminding me that some ties
are meant to be broken.
Don't write our final chapter just yet.
I'll be back next summer.
All my heart-
Edward.
Through teary eyes, I caught the glint of silver on my
table that had been hidden beneath the page he'd written
upon. It was the charm that Edward had found during
our walk. He'd left it behind with his letter. I smiled as I
held the tiny silver horse in my hand.
Edward didn't stay around to say goodbye. And maybe it
was easier that he hadn't. The pain that his absence left
behind, dulled a little more with each day that passed.
Just like the school years between the summers of my
youth. Still, I kept the charm as a reminder of the
amazing way that we had found one another again. I tied
it to a piece of green ribbon that reminded me of
Edward's eyes. And I wore it beneath my clothing every
day, nestled against my heart.
I wore it while Earl teased me at the bar. I wore it while I
decorated the small Christmas tree I'd brought to
brighten up my apartment. I wore it while I worked at
my desk, with the window thrown open to catch the
breeze and outside sounds of spring. And I wore it when
the warm June sun tempted and teased me into
following it outside to window-shop near the waterfront.
Without giving it conscious thought, I found myself
wandering down the same pier that Edward and I had
walked together, before the rain forced us both to seek
shelter at my apartment.
I smiled when my feet stalled, to see that the once-
boarded-up windows where we had stopped before, were
now thrumming with life and color from within. A new
chapter, for a new business owner. The word "EASE" was
etched upon the glass, framed by musical instruments
that were being sold inside. A music shop. It was
perfectly appropriate.
The tinkle-chime of a small bell rang in my ears when I
opened the shop door and stepped inside. Long rows of
guitars hung along the wall, encouraging music lovers to
take one home and create wonderful songs. Comfortable
pods of chairs and sofas were arranged near the front
perfect for artists to come together to write and work on
melodies. I browsed for a moment, letting my fingers
trail across the shiny drum sets that were on display
closer to the counter.
"Be right with you," a voice called from the office area in
back. My heart tugged in response. It was a voice I'd
know anywhere.
Edward stepped from behind the wall, and paused only a
moment when he saw me standing there. His face
immediately broke into a happy, sheepish smile, and he
ran the back of his hand across his neck.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked by way of greeting. I
wanted to run to him, but my cautious feet held me
firmly where I stood.
"I wanted to surprise you," Edward told me. "I needed
time. To figure everything out. To get this off the ground.
I didn't want to show you, until it was finished."
"Should I go?" I asked, tilting my head toward the door.
"Never again," Edward shook his head quickly. He
walked with fast steps around the counter then, and
wasted no time reaching for me. Our lips met, and the
butterflies in my chest danced happily in the way that
only Edward ever inspired.
"I was just coming to find you," he told me, just like he
had so many years ago.
"Well here I am," I told him, smiling against his lips.
Funny how we always seemed to find each other.
~..~..~..~

Chapter Twelve
Fantasy Football
-Summer, 2018-
"Tell me a story, Mommy." Emma tugged my hand to
lead me to the beach behind the clubhouse, with her
favorite picture book tucked under her little arm.
"Alright," I told her, settling onto the sand beside her.
Edward raced up and down the beach in front of us, with
our son, Masen, on his back.
Who knew that Mike Newton would be right all those
years ago?
Edward's music store didn't afford him the time or salary
to be able to leave for months at a time. And while I did
eventually get a couple stories published, I wasn't
famous by any means. We lived modestly. We never
bought a house on Hatteras Island, but we did enjoy
renting space in the clubhouse for two weeks every
summer.
Jasper Hale turned out to be even too squeamish to
finish school to become a chiropractor. He was now the
manager and part-owner of the vacation resort where we
stayed. I was sad to learn that he and Alice didn't make
it. But Jasper lived there year-round with his pretty wife,
Maria, a local girl he'd met after he dropped out of
college. He helped us reconnect with his sister and
Emmett, after our first return trip to the beach.
Rosalie and Emmett were married. And while she never
was able to have children, they did adopt two
rambunctious boys who currently chased behind Edward
and our son at the shoreline, throwing a football back
and forth. Emmett took two weeks away from his
construction company each year, so that their vacation
could coincide with ours. Edward consistently gave him
a hard time about his receding hairline.
"Hey! Watch out," Emma yelled as she ducked away
from the ball that came just inches from hitting her in
the head. She picked it up, and threw it back toward
Rosalie and Emmett's youngest son, who blushed and
apologized for missing his brother's pass.
"Sorry," he called out. "Didn't see you there."
"Watch out for that one," Edward muttered, kissing his
daughter on the cheek before lowering himself to sit at
the sand beside us. His eyes were bright-bright-green as
he looked out at his son, playing ball with the other boys.
Mike Newton owned a sporting goods store in town, and
rented beach equipment to tourists.
Rosalie heard that Alice was happy and very successful,
working for a large cosmetics company in New York City.
No one really heard whatever became of Lauren. But you
know every year there are tales of Big Foot sightings in
the remote forest regions of the Pacific Northwest.
~..~..~..~
The End