Okay, this story has been rattling around in my head for months. I'm not used to writing ExB so be gentle. If this crashes and burns I'll delete it but it's worth a try I suppose.

Flaws and Fetishes

Chapter 1 - Wet sheets and full coolers

Edward stared at the boxes sitting on the other side of his new room. He'd already studied it for hours, memorizing the place that was to become his safe haven, his sanctuary. The empty bookshelves that spanned every inch of clear wall space, the folding door that led to a comically large bathroom and the huge floor to ceiling window on his left hand side felt like a ridiculous representation of the phrase 'more money than sense' and he almost rolled his eyes at himself – how many sixteen year olds lived like this?

He sighed and ran a hand down his face, pushing the open book on his chest onto his bedspread and uncrossing his legs. He sat up and stretched, a long shower was what he needed before he got everything ready for tomorrow and fell into an anxious, fitful sleep reserved only for the night before your first day at a new school.

He contemplated relieving his stress in the shower but just didn't have the energy. He rested his forehead against the bright white tiles and watched as water droplets flew off his top lip and hit the floor. When the water ran cold he reveled in the feeling of gooseflesh exploding on his body and flicked off the spray.

Alice had left him a pile of neatly folded clothes on his ottoman and he smiled to himself. He peeled back the comforter on his bed, ignored the irritating stickiness of naked wet skin on his sheets when he slid between them and hoped he'd get pneumonia from his wet hair as he slipped away to dream of dark eyes and honeysuckle, the way he had for as long as he remembered.

:::

The fireflies flashed around her and she closed her eyes, a small smile slid across her face and she leant back, careful not to tug on Emmett's dark curls as she settled down next to him. They each lay there, their feet hanging off opposite sides of the pier, ear to ear.

"B, I'm super tired. Can we go?"

"No. C'mon E, it's tradition, we lay on the pier on the last night of vacation until the fireflies go to bed. Then we spend the entire ride home irritable and exhausted."

"… Why do we do this?"

"I don't know, it's tradition. Granted, not a very good one, but tradition is tradition is tradition."

Emmett snorted at her and closed his own eyes, maybe he could get a little sleep without her noticing.

"Open your eyes, Emmett. I mean it."

Bella watched the willow boughs swaying above her and lamented the passing of time, she missed Jasper and Rose and the smell of honeysuckle but she adored this spot. The sound of waves lapping at the posts of the pier was so soothing, the sound of crickets and Hollywood frogs made her feel peaceful and nostalgic.

When the light around her swung from blue-grey into pink and then orange, she couldn't deny it any longer; they had to get up. They had a long drive home, and then just two days until the start of her junior year.

Emmett started loading all their bags into the truck without having to be asked. Charlie was fixing sandwiches in the kitchen of the cabin and the cooler sat by his feet, open and loaded with more food than they could possibly eat on the 9 hour drive home. Bella was struck, once again, by how well taken care of she was. She slid her arms around Charlie and pressed her face to his chest, feeling his prickly mustache as he pecked the crown of her head.

"Thank you Daddy."

"You're welcome Bells." He all but whispered. Charlie Swan was the kindest, most humble and sweet man Bella had ever known. He was quiet, calm and stoic but adored and protected his children with an unapologetic fierceness.

"Locked and loaded Dad. Shotgun." Came a booming voice from the doorway, too loud for their emotional moment.

Bella stamped her foot and flew out the door to the front seat of the truck, yanking the door open and trying to clamber in before she felt Emmett's ridiculously large arms close around her waist. She was too slow.

"I'm sorry, I am certain that I just said the word shotgun." He chuckled as he pulled the back door open and threw Bella on the backseat unceremoniously before sliding into the front. "Seat belt. Now." He glared back at her as he clicked his own in place. Her habit of foregoing her seat belt disturbed Emmett and Charlie and was the most common cause of very rare family arguments.

She huffed, clicked her own seat belt into place and watched as Charlie and the cooler appeared in the doorway of the cabin. Charlie locked up and opened the truck's back door to push the cooler in alongside Bella.

They pulled away and Bella leaned against the window, watching her breath fog her view of the cabin intermittently before closing her eyes and resigning herself to sleep for at least a small part of the journey back home.

"Bye mama." She whispered to herself, but she felt Emmett's fingers reach back and squeeze hers as she succumbed to sleep.

Review if you're intrigued. I'll pull it if it's no good.