SWAN

"Stop, stop, stop," I panted as I halted my hurried pace and raised my hands over my head. I clasped my fingers together and rested them on top of my head as I tried to regulate my breathing. My chest pounded and my ears rang. I tried to catch my breath, but the humidity lingering in the air made it seem like I was drowning. "Please, just stop," I begged through my gasps. My heart was still racing from my activities from last night.

Jasper smirked and stopped about a yard ahead of me. He gave me a look that pretty much said you've got to be kidding me. I glared at him as he casually drank from his water bottle and chuckled at my demeanor. "You're gettin' old, Bells. You used to be able to keep up with me."

I stuck my tongue out at him as I leaned over, just now being relieved of the pain throbbing in my side. "Don't even start. Your wife made me drink Patron last night. Lots of it. Don't tell me how to run two miles the next morning. I'm so not feeling it today."

Like she heard what was going on, Alice finally managed to catch up with us. Her face was beautiful, as always. Her mid-neck-length hair was pulled into a low, tiny ponytail with wisps falling out everywhere and not a bead of sweat dripped down her naturally gorgeous face. She giggled at me as she passed and jogged in place next to her husband, her icy blue eyes shining with amusement.

"You need to come up with a better excuse, B. It's not my fault you didn't drink enough water last night. It's all in the pace. Stop trying to race him."

I huffed and glared out over the ocean. The sunrise was finally starting to rise over the horizon and the sky began to fill with brighter shades of oranges, pinks, and yellows. "I can't ever let him win. You know that."

I could tell Alice was rolling her eyes as she bounced from foot to foot without even looking at her. How she had so much energy every morning, especially after nights of heavy binge drinking, was still a mystery to me. It was like going to bed half-blacked out at two in the morning and waking up at five, ready for the daily jog, was as easy as riding a damn bike. However, glancing at her tiny, four-foot eleven-inch frame, her lack of body fat, and decent amount of muscle, it was no surprise that her body rid itself of poison before mine could even start.

"You two seriously need to get a grip. Ya'll act like it's a sort of competition when, in fact, we're all in this together," she scoffed as she continued to jog around us in circles. I noticed her accent break through a little in that last sentence.

Even after several years of living in Virginia and California, and other various regions of the country well before that, Alice still let her Mississippi accent run wild sometimes. Before leaving to move onto bigger things, Alice grew up in Biloxi, Mississippi, with her father, stepmother, and younger sister. She claims to hate her accent so much, but every once in a while I'll catch her using it around her husband. I have yet to determine if it was intentional or not, given the fact that Jasper had a permanent southern drawl. He was originally from Houston. He, however, has no qualms of keeping up with the accent he was born with and will flaunt it whenever the opportunity sees fit.

I snorted and planted myself on the wet sands of the Atlantic shore and played with grains of sand in my hands. Jasper sat down next to me while Alice meandered and jogged in circles around us, careful not to stop the flow of her adrenaline. I glanced at my best friend from the corner of my eye and laughed wholeheartedly. Jasper followed my line of vision and shrugged.

"I'll never understand her energy," he drawled out lazily and rested his arms on his bent knees. "She's happier than a two peckered dog."

I gave him a look as he threw out one of his weird southern phrases. "There something in the Mississippi water that makes her like that?"

Jasper snorted. "If there is, then it's drastically different than the water in Texas."

I turned my head back to look over the ocean. This was my favorite time of the day. Being able to take a run along the beach with my best friends early enough to watch the sunrise every morning was something I would never take for granted. But there was something missing.

"I could use a blunt," I declared.

Alice giggled. "I hate to break it to you, Swan, but..."

"Don't remind me," I grumbled.

"Oh, you love it." Alice yanked Jasper off of the ground and slapped me on the shoulder. "Let's finish this run before work. Only a half more mile and we can sit at our desks crying for a couple hours. It's Friday. Calypso tonight, remember?"

I huffed and stood back up, balancing carefully on my black and white Nikes. "How could I forget?" I asked rhetorically. I took one more look at the ocean before starting my jog back up next to Jasper and Alice. A couple minutes later, we finished the rest of our run and we left the shoreline. We walked back on the boardwalk and shook ourselves clean of the sand.

"Bella!"

I cringed as I heard my name being called from behind me. I heard Alice cackle as she stomped her sandy feet on the wooden boardwalk. I turned around slowly and plastered an insincere smile on my face. It's way too early to deal with this. And I'm way too hungover to try and be nice. "Crowley," I greeted swiftly as I stretched out my calf muscles.

"Didn't know you ran along this beach," he laughed, his white teeth shining in the early morning light.

I turned around and followed Jasper and Alice down the boardwalk when I noticed they started to leave without me. I could hear him following behind me like a lost dog. I sighed. "It's a pretty popular place to do it. Been doing it for pretty much a year now."

Alice snorted. I kicked her butt with the side of my shoe. Jasper pinched my arm teasingly as Tyler continued to stalk behind us.

"So, I'm leaving in a couple days. I won't be back for at least seven months…" he trailed off.

I groaned. I could hear the insinuation in his voice from a mile away. We drunkenly hooked up twice, so now he thinks he can come to me for a farewell fuck any time he leaves. I decided to play it cool. "That's awesome. I figured you would be heading out soon; I think I heard about it. You excited?"

As I finished my sentence, we approached our cars. Jasper immediately unlocked his black Challenger and got in without a look back. I remembered Crowley and Jasper had a little scuffle a couple years ago, and he's not really one to get over grudges. He can hold one better than anyone I know.

Alice lingered by the passenger door with her tiny hand on the handle. "I'll talk to you later, B. We'll grab lunch at work?" she questioned. She threw a side-eyed glance at Tyler before pointedly looking back at me. I nodded tightly and kissed her on the cheek before she got in the car. Jasper smirked at me once more before speeding away. I decided that was a good time to try to book it to my cherry red Mustang on the other side of the parking lot next to the boardwalk. Tyler also decided that was a good time to continue our conversation.

"I am excited. It'll be interesting to see a different part of the world," he replied easily as I approached my car. I made an attempt to open my door but he stopped me by pressing his arm against the door. I pursed my lips in annoyance. "You should come out tonight. A bunch of the guys are getting together for a last hurrah of sorts," he grinned down at me.

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, that's exactly what I wanted. To get drunk with a bunch of alpha dudes thinking they're going to automatically get some.

It's not like Tyler was a bad looking guy. I could definitely understand where he gets his cocky, I-can-bone-any-chick-I-want attitude. He's muscular, but not obscenely ripped. He's got these gorgeous light brown eyes and dark cropped hair that stands out well against his dark skin. He's…relatively polite. Compared to the other men that I'm constantly around. And from the last drunken escapade we had a couple months ago, I know he definitely knows how to please a girl. So it's not his looks that throw me off. Or even his cocky personality, to be honest.

But see, I have this rule. No dating men within my own profession. And sometimes as much as my horny, lonely self wants to, I can't break that rule for anyone. Especially Tyler Crowley.

And I don't trust myself around attractive men while I'm drinking. I tend to take my clothes off.

I hope to God Alice doesn't throw tequila in the mix tonight. Then I'll for sure lose my clothes.

"I have plans with Alice and Jasper," I brought up casually as I leaned back against my car door. Considering he wouldn't let me open it yet, this was as far away from him as I could get without being a complete bitch. I still had some respect. "We go out every Friday to Calypso. Where are you guys going?"

"Bar hopping down the boardwalk," he smiled and threw his arms out to his sides like he was showing me the world. "We'll be everywhere, babe."

I felt my lip twitch in an almost-sneer before I could stop it. I bit my lip and forced a smile on my face. "So then I'll probably see you if you stumble into the bar I'm at." I tried to reach for the door to open it again. "Listen, Crowley, I really have to go. I'm assuming you're not going into work today, but I still have to."

He shrugged and set his arms back down, finally picking up on the hint I've been throwing in his face since he first called my name. "I better see you tonight, Swan! I'll miss you!" he shouted playfully (I think) as I slinked my way out of his awkward attempt to hug me and into my car.

I smiled a little and nodded my head once. "I'm sure you will."

With that last little retort, I shut the door in his face. As he waved, I got the hell out of there.

. /

The rest of the day was spent with my face looking at a computer screen and going over plans and reports. I listened to my usual playlist throughout the day: a couple Led Zeppelin songs, a couple podcasts, and a couple Disney songs just to spice it up a bit. I wasn't bothered a lot at work today—it was a Friday and Independence Day was coming up. People around me just kind of minded their own business and got work done so we could get the hell out of there faster. I met up with Alice at lunch in a courtyard. We giggled like dumb fourteen year olds over Crowley's annoying advances and discussed the latest NASA developments. Alice's eyes immediately lit up when talking about the latest pictures to surface from the probe that zoomed past Pluto. I rolled my eyes. That girl would not die happy until she was working for NASA.

We went our own ways after our lunch and finished up the next couple hours of work. It was similar to the earlier part of the day—boring. When it was finally time to clock out for the day, I shot Alice a quick text telling her I was going to head to my apartment to grab my clothes before I head to her house. I would just shower there and get ready. Jasper would be at work until at least six so I had a couple hours to kill with my best friend.

She had a glass of wine ready for me when I entered the door. "If you want a shower beer, you're gonna have to deal with the shitty PBR Jasper has in the fridge. We ran out of the good shit a while ago and I haven't made it to the store."

I laughed and took the glass of Franzia White Zinfandel out of her hands. As much as Alice desperately wanted to be a classy June Cleaver-housewife kind of person, she constantly failed. And it's not like I care. I live for shitty beer and boxed wine. I like to pretend that I'm still a freshman in college sometimes.

"Ali, you're not supposed to drink nice beer in the shower. Shower beer is strictly Keystone, Natty, or PBR. It's a written rule somewhere in the New Testament."

She giggled and shook her head at me. She followed me up the stairs of her quaint townhouse. I could hear the light tap of her feet enter the bathroom with me. "I figured you'd want to start pre-gaming early after your encounter with Crowley and a typical shit day at work. Work off your previous hangover yet?"

"You know the best cure for a hangover is more alcohol."

She squealed and danced around in her little dress. "I know. I'm already two glasses in so you have some catching up to do!"

As she bolted out of the bathroom, I closed the door and stripped. After a quick shower, I walked into their guest bedroom, which pretty much became my bedroom because I stayed over so often, and applied a limited supply of makeup and slipped on a dress similar to Alice's. It's not every day that I get to wear dresses like this, so when I'm able to, I tend to go all out. We both do. I decided to let my hair air dry. That is the one thing that I never really care much about because it looks good enough when I let it dry by itself.

As I'm walking down the stairs to reunite with Alice, I finished my glass of wine and Jasper strolled in the door. I glanced at his blue uniform and grinned as I made it off the stairs. "How was work?"

He shrugged his shoulders and kissed Alice on the forehead. He dropped his bag on the couch and brushed past me on his way up the stairs, not saying a word. I furrowed my eyebrows as he stomped upstairs and closed the bathroom door loudly behind him. I glanced back at Alice and she shrugged.

"Someone probably told him the Cowboys were going to do better without Romo or something," she smirked and took a big gulp of her wine and then held the cup out towards me. "Come on, you gotta catch up."

. /

Calypso was strangely lively tonight. It's not like it's a dead, hole in the wall bar at all, but it's usually not this popular amongst the younger crowds. But I guess I had to take in the fact that it was July and it was summer. Virginia Beach was more of a tourism hotspot than anything else, especially this time of year. It's only natural for the median age in the city to drop during the summer months. I reveled in the opportunity to fall into the background and just absorb the crazy around me.

Alice was pretty buzzed by the time we managed to leave her townhouse. She decided to sneak in shots of tequila with her Franzia. I know she'll regret that tomorrow. Jasper was still on the weird side, but after a couple drinks at Calypso, he loosened up and finally started to act like the guy I've known for almost two years now. Meanwhile, Alice and I decided tonight's theme would be Stepford Wives. Every Friday that we get to go out, we think of a theme to go along with and drink according to that. Since we started with wine tonight (even though it was cheap boxed wine), we had to continue on with the rich, cookie-cutter neighborhood housewives' mentality. So that meant lots of clear liquor. And that drink of choice meant dirty martinis. And this bar really did know how to make them.

Two martinis in and I'm ready for the night to begin.

Jasper and Alice are chatting it up at our table with some guy Jasper knows from work. I don't know him, and his crooked teeth are making it hard for my drunken mind to keep a straight face with him and keep my sarcastic mouth shut, so I got up and slowly walked to the bar. I sat down at a stool and rested my forearms on the smooth wood with a grunt.

"Rough night?" Seth asked as he sauntered over. He was mixing some kind of shot in the shaker as he grinned down at me. "It's only ten."

"Oh, Sethy, I think I'm still drunk from what Alice made me do last night," I replied and shook my head at our friend. We had come here so much that we befriended the bartender. Seth was an awesome guy. He would make us free shots and sometimes he'd come to our houses for the various parties we'd throw.

Seth threw his head back and barked out a laugh while he nodded understandingly. "I feel your pain, Bells." He knew almost as much as I did how much Alice can party and how no one is safe when they're around her and alcohol.

I nodded my chin up at the shot he was creating. "What's that? It looks fruity and yummy."

"Red Headed Slut," he smirked as he poured the drink into a shot glass.

I gagged. "That better not be my free shot for the night. You know I hate Jäger, Seth!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Who said I'm making your skinny ass any shots tonight? This is for the redhead down at the end of the bar," he said and jabbed a finger to his left.

I turned my head and saw a handsome man with some Sheamus-looking red hair. He caught Seth's eye and smiled a little bit at him. I turned my gaze back to my friend and chuckled. "Oh, you're going all in tonight, aren't you?"

He laughed at my slurred words and sighed. "You could say I'm… feeling lucky."

"Ah!" I giggled behind my hand and slapped his forearm. "Hopefully you don't give him the wrong impression by handing him a shot that literally says slut."

He gave me a look. "Do you not know how I work my magic by now, babe? Just watch."

I rolled my eyes and shooed him away to go give his shot to his latest conquest. I stared down at my drink, noticing it was getting a little empty, and frowned.

I heard a click from my right. It bared resemblance to a shutter going off on a camera.

I glanced over to find the source of the sound and smirked at the man holding a large camera from the stool next to me. I was feeling pretty confident and talkative after joking around with Seth, so I shifted in my seat to face the man. "You know, normally I would be suspicious of strange men who take my picture at a bar."

He gently lowered the professional camera and chuckled at my statement. I know I was probably slurring my words around this extremely handsome man, but I couldn't find it in me to care. He set the camera down on the sticky bar and took a sip of his Great Lakes beer. "Normally I wouldn't take pictures of drunk women in bars, but I couldn't resist."

I licked my lips to ease the chapped skin and took a sip of my martini. He watched my every movement. Not in a creepy way, but calculating. Almost like he was documenting every action I made and stashed it in a file somewhere in his mind. I raised an eyebrow. "I guess it's nice to know that you're not usually a creeper, only in small doses."

He laughed, more heartily this time, and held out his hand that wasn't attached to the IPA. I noticed his teeth were white and straight. Checkmate. "Edward, Edward Cullen."

I smiled at his introduction and placed my hand in his. "Bond, Bella Bond." I tried to do a British accent, but I'm pretty sure I failed miserably.

The smile on his face only grew larger at my own lame introduction. I giggled at how beautiful it was and shook his hand once. "Okay, so maybe the way I introduced myself sounded too lame," he chuckled and removed his hand from mine. I almost frowned at the lost contact. He ran that same hand through his auburn hair and sighed. "But at least I got a real name from you. Unless James suddenly changed his name to Bella."

I smiled and shook my head. I raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure if you'll ever know. Bella could just be a name I made up to throw off creepy guys in bars."

He stared at me for a moment with a smile dancing on his lips and I caught myself staring right back. I traced the rim of my martini glass with my pinky finger as I scanned his face. His green eyes shined with happiness as he nursed his beer. His jaw was strong and had just a hint of stubble on it. The hair that previously had his calloused hand stuck in was wild and untamed, but it worked with his facial structure. I found myself in awe of just how magnificent this guy looked. Did he fall out of the GQ magazine on my desk at work or something?

I decided it was time to end our staring contest and I chugged the rest of my martini. I watched as his eyes fell to my throat when some of the vodka and vermouth concoction dribbled down my chin. I giggled and wiped it off, causing his eyes to drag themselves back up to my face. "So tell me Edward, Edward Cullen. Why were you taking my picture?"

He leaned back in his stool and took another sip of his beer. I watched as his Adam's apple bobbed with the motion of his esophagus. "Have you ever come across something so beautiful that you wish you could capture it mentally? Like a sunset? Or an incoming storm? Sometimes things so beautiful only last for such a fleeting moment. Luckily, when the camera was invented, we didn't have to worry so much about missing the moment."

I gawked at him for a moment, trying to process his words. I grabbed the toothpick that held two green olives together and stuck it in my mouth. I ate both of the alcohol-soaked olives as I narrowed my eyes at him. "Is this your runaround attempt at calling me beautiful?"

His smile set in this crooked way that made my heart stop for a moment, I swear. "Your face is the purest thing I've seen since I've been in Virginia Beach." He said this while staring at my mouth.

Okay, so maybe I was working it a little too hard. I was well aware of how my lips must have looked when I was taking the olives off of the toothpick. Too bad Alice wasn't witnessing this. She'd be so proud.

I felt a traitorous blush creep its way to my cheeks with his words. I prayed it would stop at a cute blush and not turn into a hideous red mess. But with the way this guy was looking at me and talking, that hideous mess was bound to happen. I cleared my throat and sent a silent thank you to Seth when he automatically brought me another martini. He snuck a look at Edward and gave me an approving nod before slipping away.

"Are you from around here? I've never noticed you before…" And I would have, trust me.

He was shaking his head before I even finished my question. "Not originally. I moved here about three months ago looking for a change in scenery. My parents moved here a couple years ago and have been raving about it, so I decided to give it a shot."

I nodded absentmindedly. For some reason, I wanted to know more about this cameraman. "Then where are you originally from?" I fired off questions like I was interviewing him. Turns out alcohol makes me inquisitive.

He laughed and flagged down Seth and asked for another beer. I noticed he stuck with this Great Lakes stuff. As he took the first sip of his cold beer, I watched eagerly. "Originally, I'm from Chicago. I, uh, moved around a bit when I turned eighteen and then decided to get my degree. I went to Ohio for college when I got accepted into one of their journalism school. It's one of the best in the country, so I couldn't pass it up."

"Journalism? Do a lot of partying in the middle of nowhere? I hear Ohio is boring," I grinned.

He laughed and shook his head. "That's for a whole other conversation, my dear."

I felt my heart soar with this words. I sipped at my martini and scanned the bar, keeping a close eye on the door as usual. My eyes moved past casual bar-goers before landing on my friends in the corner table across the bar. Alice was still sitting next to Jasper as he talked with Snaggletooth. He was talking animatedly with the guy. He actually looked really angry—I wonder what his weird friend said to set him off. Alice, right next to him, had her head in her hands with an utterly bored expression on her face as she stirred her martini with her index finger. Like she could sense someone was watching her, she looked up and caught me looking at her and rolled her eyes, pointing to Jasper and plastering a fake dead expression on her face. She glanced next to me and her eyebrows shot to her hairline. Then she grinned and whispered in Jasper's ear. Shit, busted.

I turned back to Edward to see he was scrolling through the pictures in his camera. I could see his mouth lift up into a gorgeous smile every time he looked at a new one.

I crossed my leg over my knee and fixed my dress, making sure I wasn't showing too much. "So then what kind of journalism did you study in college, habibi?"

His head shot up at my term and I smiled. I tried to make it as alluring as I could. I probably looked like I was trying to pass gas.

"Photojournalism," he responded simply. My ears perked up at the different occupation. But I wasn't shocked. "What do you do?"

Seth strolled over with another martini and I immediately took a sip. He knows me so well. I set it down and fiddled with my fingers before looking back up at an expectant Edward.

I let a small smile play on my face. I wasn't going to be truthful right yet. "I'm a linguist actually," I answered. I glanced up at him from under my eyelashes as I continued to play with the glass in front of me.

Okay, I won't be completely truthful.

Edward's eyebrows rose. He looked skeptical. "Academics?"

"I teach sometimes, yes," I supplied. Still not totally lying.

He was silent for a moment. He had some cocky, crooked grin on his face that made my stomach flip flop. "I call bullshit."

This time my eyebrows were the ones that shot up to my hairline. "I'm sorry?"

"No way in hell you are a linguistics professor. It doesn't fit."

For some reason, I felt offended. Even though he was right. "Hey, I said I teach sometimes."

He took a long sip of his beer. "Why don't you like talking about what you do?" He paused for a moment. "Oh, I get it. You'd have to kill me."

I snorted unattractively into my glass and nodded. "Bella Bond, remember?"

He smirked. "There is definitely something more complex about yourself you're hiding; I just have to figure it out."

I waved him on, curious to see where he goes with this.

He took one more swig of his beer before waving down Seth for another round and turning back to face me. "Linguistics isn't just something you hear every day, so I do feel like you actually do work with it in some capacity," he started. I kept my mouth quiet. He narrowed his eyes and I squirmed under his scrutiny. "You're poised and neat, but not in an upper class, snotty way. You haven't once brought up a thesis you're working on, so I doubt you teach college courses."

I laughed a little at that, but I let him continue.

"You're well-spoken and look pretty fit…" he trailed off. I watched as his eyes flickered over my body.

Fuck off, red mess…

"See, for some reason I picture you working for the government, but I can't imagine you in a pantsuit."

I didn't let anything show on my face. "I thought the name Bella Bond already gave it away that I'm a secret agent."

He ignored me, continuing on like I never even said anything. I gulped down some martini. "Every time your drink spills, you clean it up. You have incredible posture. Every couple of seconds your eyes around, almost like you're taking in your surroundings subconsciously."

My eyes narrowed on their own accord as I listened to this stranger point out my characteristics, or flaws, I'm not sure.

Edward then glanced around him. He must have found what he needed because he slowly nodded and then turned back to me. "I'm going to guess Army?"

Military bearing? Gone. My mouth dropped open and I shook my head. "Um…Air Force, actually."

Edward leaned back from the bar and took a sip of his beer. He looked incredibly satisfied with himself. "Am I good or what?"

I pursed my lips. "It was kind of impressive, but technically you did guess wrong. What was it that gave it away?"

Edward shrugged his athletic shoulders. "Journalist, remember?" he smirked. I gave him a look and he laughed at me. "I don't give my techniques away."

I glared at him.

He took it with stride. His mouth twisted into that damn grin again. "So Bella Bond's in the mighty U.S. Air Force, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. I held out my hand, officially introducing myself. "Captain Isabella Swan, airborne cryptologic language analyst—nice to meet you."

Edward's mouth dropped open—only a little bit though. He stared at my hand for a moment before letting a smile creep up onto his face and he placed his hand in mind for the second time tonight. I smiled like a lunatic as he gently shook my hand. He whistled. "An officer? Even more impressive. What language do you work with?"

"Arabic," I answered immediately with a smile. "Love the culture—love the area."

"I bet you had a great time in California studying."

I sighed. "It's gorgeous out there, but I love it here."

"I'm starting to see why this place is so nice," he commented lightly, staring straight at me.

I felt my face start to burn. I quickly diverted attention back to him. "What about you? What do you do?"

His eyes froze and he looked contemplative for a moment. "What do I do now?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Well, yeah."

He jutted his chin out to his camera on the table. "I'm a photojournalist. Freelancer right now. I work to capture stories of conflict and suffering, both military and civilian fronts, mainly in the Middle East, I work domestically as well."

"Wow," I murmured. "What made you get into that?"

Edward's mood shifted dramatically. He played with the sleeve of his shirt that was rolled up to his forearm. "Both sides of the story deserve to be heard, right?"

He seemed upset as he stared down at his beer and fingered his sleeve. My eyes caught the flash of colors on his forearm for a moment before he covered it up. It was an extremely intricate tattoo, but it wasn't hard to pinpoint the eagle, globe, and anchor.

"You're a Marine?" I questioned, kind of shocked. It's not that he didn't look the part, he just didn't act like the majority of Marines that I've met. But it makes sense. I didn't even realize that he asked me how I enjoyed California when it's not really general public knowledge that military personnel go there to study their language for their field.

He laughed dryly and shook his head. "In a former life. I was only in for four years. Infantry out of Jacksonville."

I nodded slowly, absorbing the new information. I wanted to ask more, but something told me not to. He didn't really seem forthcoming about information from his past life as a Marine. With a stroke of confidence, I rested my hand on his jean-covered thigh. He raised an eyebrow as he stared at me. I sort of changed the subject. "So then what are you—"

Alice must have decided that that moment was the perfect opportunity to present herself.

"Hi!" she shrieked happily and threw her arms around my body. I had to let go of Edward in order to control Alice. I laughed and held onto her as she stumbled around a bit on her four inch heels. "Bobbie, thank god I found you. You have to help me. You left me all alone over there and Walter won't stop talking to this weird guy he knows from work about the Civil War. We're at a fucking bar for crying out loud and they're being fuckin' nerds. And his breath stinks. Seth should slip some breath mints into his next drink. Speaking of drinks, I need another martini. Oh, hi!" she giggled and stuck her hand out for Edward to take, pretending like she just now noticed him. "I'm Joanna."

I rolled my eyes. "Nope, no way. Her name is definitely not Joanna, it's Alice," I sent her a look and glanced back at Edward. "Tonight's theme is Stepford Wives," I explained simply.

He furrowed his eyebrows. I don't think he understood exactly what I was trying to explain. However, he did shake Alice's hand and gave her a bright smile. "Alice, it's great to meet you. I'm Edward."

Alice contemplated that for a minute. "Edward is old fashion-y sounding, like a stuck up white man, right Bobbie? Close to Roger?"

My eyes widened at her description of his name. "Ali, stop!" I felt my face flush again and she noticed.

Her smile widened. She dragged a stool over to place in front of us. "So, Edward. Why is a man like yourself bringing a professional camera to bar alone? Are you some undercover? A fed? Or just a creeper?"

I drowned myself in my drink.

Edward laughed. "If I was a fed, I'd be doing a pretty shitty job of hiding it." Alice smirked. He continued. "If only. I'm just a boring photojournalist who decided to hit the town for a night."

"That's unfortunate," she replied. Alice then leaned in and whispered in his ear conspiratorially. "I don't really like the media."

I smacked myself on the forehead and glared at her. She studiously ignored me and Edward continued on like my best friend didn't just insult his profession. "Good thing I'm not the media," he said in an equally conspiratorial tone as he flashed her a smile.

I saw her visibly jolt as he gave her his retort. "Woah," she muttered and leaned over to me. I held onto her arm as she almost toppled off of the stool. "It's too bad that I'm already married. That smile…" she trailed off and waggled her eyebrows at me. If this was her idea of being my wingman, she needed some serious training.

"Speaking of being married," I hissed and nodded my head towards Jasper. "It looks like your husband got rid of Snaggletooth and he's on his way over."

Alice snickered behind her hand at my nickname before waving it enthusiastically towards her husband. "Walter, come here!"

Jasper stopped in front of Seth before heading over to us. He shook his hand and ordered another Jack and Coke. As he approached us, he gave me his usual smirk and positioned himself behind Alice. He wrapped his left arm around her and sipped at his drink with the other. Alice leaned back into his chest. "Howdy, ya'll."

"Jasper, this is Edward. Edward, this is Jasper, Alice's husband," I made the necessary introductions and continued drinking my martini. I decided to cut right to the chase. "Edward, Jasper is a lieutenant in the Navy while Alice holds the same rank I do in the Air Force."

Edward's eyebrows shot up as he chuckled. "Looks like I'm an outlier in this bar. Is this an officer hangout?"

I shrugged my shoulders and rolled my eyes. "Normally this bar is full of laid back folks. Tonight's super packed for some reason. And it just so happens that the only people you're talking to in here are officers. So no, you're not an outlier."

"Enough talk about outliers," Alice whine and chugged the rest of her martini. "I hear that mathematic shit too much."

Jasper laughed and rubbed her back. "Poor little space cadet Whitlock."

Edward looked confused. I explained. "Alice works in space operations. She works with satellites and shit and she's constantly surrounded by math. She usually likes to introduce herself as 'Future NASA Astronaut Brandon Whitlock'." I rolled my eyes as I said this.

"Wow," Edward murmured around the brim of his beer bottle. "That's pretty impressive, Joanna."

Jasper outwardly groaned. "Don't do it, man. Don't let their weird themes get to you."

Alice, on the other hand, looked extremely thrilled. "See! At least he gets it!" She elbowed Jasper in the gut and placed her hand on top of Edward's. "I think I already like you."

I mumbled something unintelligible around my martini glass. I decided to just hide my face in my drink as long as possible as Alice continued to flap her large mouth.

Edward continued on, cool as a cucumber. "That sounds like a pretty tough job."

Alice shrugged like it was no big deal. "I've always loved math and physics and astronomy. It comes easy to me. Outer space is my favorite."

Jasper rolled up the sleeves to his button down shirt up to his elbows. I noticed Edward was in a similar outfit. He glanced at Jasper after Alice was finished talking. "What about you, Jasper? Navy officer, huh? Trying to be Maverick?" he asked and laughed at his own cliché joke.

I snorted unattractively into my drink while Alice laughed her ass off. I braced for the shit storm that was about to be released. For some reason, Jasper always threw a little bitch fit when people assumed that he had a Top Gun-esque job, like being a Navy fighter pilot. He had some serious issues with the pilots at Norfolk, where he is stationed. He was a little more easygoing around those pilots at Langley, where Alice and I are stationed, but as mentioned earlier with Crowley, he still has that certain issue. I have no idea what created that issue with him, but it's been going strong since I've known him.

Jasper narrowed his eyes. "Those damn flyboys wish I was a part of their weird ass posse. But I actually have the important job."

"Oh, come on, Jasper. You know we're all in this together and have equally important jobs," Alice asserted and rubbed her husband's forearms. She seems to always be the one to remind us that we're in it together. She's not into the whole branch rivalry thing.

"You would defend them after you nailed one right when you got to Langley from Vandenberg," Jasper muttered quietly. We all still heard it.

Alice's face twisted into a scowl as she ripped herself away from his grasp. I punched Jasper in the arm as I gasped out loud. He winced a bit and rubbed it. "Shut the fuck up, Whitlock. I thought we agreed to leave everything that happened back then all the way in the past." He knew we didn't bring up that incident, or any other of them, anymore. That was almost four years ago. Things like that need to be let go.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Alice groaned. I noticed Edward's head kept snapping back and forth during our exchange. "Get your head out of your ass today and talk to us like a normal human being. I don't know what happened to you at work today, but we come here to get away from it all, remember? So continue drinking your Jack and shut the fuck up."

"I'm just havin' a normal conversation. It's you that's havin' a problem with everything I'm sayin' tonight," Jasper protested.

"This is not normal conversation. You're throwing me under the bus!"

I pressed my lips together and glanced at Edward across from me. I could tell he was feeling awkward—he wasn't used to these Whitlock newlywed fights. I decided to step away from the firing zone and drag Edward away as well. As we stumbled across the crowded bar, I heard Jasper and Alice continue to fight. Their voices got farther and farther away as Edward and I found a secluded booth at the far end of the bar and sat down. He set his camera down cautiously and stared at his hands around his beer.

"I, uh, didn't mean to start a fight between them."

I waved it off with a flick of my wrist. "Don't worry about it. They passionately love each other and so when they have a fight, the passion turns into red-hot anger. It's never anything bad. They'll be over it and under each other in no time."

Edward cracked a smile at that but it didn't really reach his eyes. I immediately recognized the change in atmosphere around us. He didn't have that happiness in his green eyes from before. His mouth was twitching as he held a tiny smile on his face, almost like he was keeping himself from frowning. His knuckles were white as he gripped his beer bottle hard. I noticed his breathing picked up as well.

"Hey," I whispered and put my hand on his tense one on his beer. "Seriously, you didn't do anything. It's just their warped love. One time, a couple weeks after they got back from their honeymoon, Jasper left some fast food wrappers in Alice's new Porsche and she flipped her shit. They screamed at each other and I hid upstairs and only came back down when I heard crashing like ten minutes later. Turns out there wasn't any violence, it was just them fucking on the table and letting the dishes fall to the ground. Walking in on Jasper's naked ass was pretty interesting."

He released a long breath and loosened his hold on the beer. He shook his head, almost like he was trying to rid his brain of some kind of thought.

"Some first impression, huh?" I joked and leaned back in the booth. "They're normally the happiest people I'm surrounded by, but something must have happened to Jasper at work today. That's not an excuse to act like an ass though, I know. It doesn't help that they're both stubborn as hell."

Edward watched me as I tried to excuse my best friends' behavior. "Does it take a toll on you guys? Your jobs, I mean."

I lifted one shoulder and crossed my legs once again, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. I was curious as to why he was asking me. Being a former Marine, I could only imagine what he went through. "I mean…yeah, to an extent. But I love what I do and I love the region I work in, so…" I trailed off with a shrug.

He smiled coolly. "I studied political science as well as photojournalism when I was in college, you know." I raised an eyebrow at that information. "Hence why I chose this path for my projects. Looks like we both like to spend time in the Middle East."

I liked the way he appreciated what he did for work. "I like a man who can appreciate world travel with me."

I snapped my mouth shut and felt my face turn into flames when I accidentally said the words out loud. Edward guffawed and tried to ease my embarrassment. "And I like that in a woman."

I quickly changed the subject. "Alice is a space and missile operations officer, like I said earlier. She works with satellites and intelligence and imaging and lots of monitoring. I don't even know. She's so fucking smart, it's ridiculous. She studied astrophysics in college and she tries to explain it all to me but I just blank. She spends most of her days dreaming about space and NASA," I giggled and sipped at my drink.

I love Alice Brandon Whitlock with everything in me. She's been my best friend since day one at Langley. She comes from Mississippi, where she went to Ole Miss before leaving for OTS and joining the Air Force. She had to go to Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama for training in her field before being stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. A couple years later, she changed her permanent duty station to Langley in Virginia. I arrived a couple months later after finishing my two-year long schooling in California, Washington, and Texas. We've been attached by the hip ever since.

I continued on aloud. "Jasper is at Norfolk. He's an EOD technician. He loves it though. His whole life has been military. He grew up in Texas with a former Ranger for a father," I stopped and licked my lips. I felt a sense of hesitation wash over me and I took a drink. Edward watched on. "He left Texas after high school 'cause he got accepted into the Naval Academy up in Annapolis. He's the most badass dude I know. He's been in a couple years longer than us and he's pretty damn close to becoming Lieutenant Commander Whitlock."

Edward listened on with full attention. He never once broke eye contact or looked bored out of his mind while I rambled on and on about things he probably didn't care about. His hand twitched towards his camera and he licked his lips. "I'm sorry, it's just…" he paused and I suddenly felt hyperaware of his intense gaze. I shifted a little. "I've never seen someone with so much…excitement while talking about their friends." I blushed and he grinned. "You're beautiful."

I felt my heartrate speed up and my hands got clammy around my glass. My voice came out breathy when I was finally able to speak. "Do you want to…?" I trailed off and jerked my head to the side towards the door.

He was already up and out of his seat with his camera in his hand. "Let's go," he whispered and dragged my giggly, stumbling ass out of the bar.

Less than a half hour later, I'm in bed with the man.

Hello. I'm new to this and I appreciate any feedback :)