Rating: M
Word Count: 11,068
Genre One-Shot, Lemons, Drama, AU, AH
Characters/Pairings: Edward/Bella, Rosalie/Emmett, Alice (Canon Pairings)
Short summary: A very unexpected "run in" with Bella and Edward turns into an amazing afternoon of hot hot hot summer lovin'.
Any warnings: LEMONNNNNNNNNNNNY. :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing; Steph Meyers created the world, I just put sand in their pants.
Author's Note: Okay, I do NOT surf, and I really know nothing about surfing… so for those of you who DO surf, or know anything about surfing, please excuse my completely failed attempt at using "surf lingo". Thank you google. Anyhow, ENJOY!
"Aaaaaalice!" I whined over the sounds of the blow dryer. My patience was starting to run thin, and Alice was taking her sweet old time drying my hair. Even though she's my best friend in the entire world, I made sure to create a mental note not to ask her to cut my hair again for quite a long while, unless I felt like playing beauty shop for another four hour excursion.
"Oh, would you stop! I'm almost done!" She huffed as she turned the blow dryer off, and spun me in her professional grade salon chair to face the mirror. I stared at myself in total shock. It was a one-hundred and eighty degree change from the haircuts I usually get.
"Bangs?" I said, running my fingers underneath the feathered strands hanging in my face, "BANGS? Alice… I haven't had bangs since second grade!"
"Bella, these are not your second grade bangs. These are your 'I'm fuckhot, and I want to find a guy this summer' bangs. It's a necessary change dear." She smiled, and pulled my hand out of my hair.
"Besides, now you look like the Betty you really are!" A new voice entered the conversation and I looked into the mirror realizing it was my step-sister, Rosalie. I rolled my eyes at the both of them via the mirror, and stuck my hands back into my bangs, pulling the hair between my fingers. Not only had Alice given me bangs, but she had died my usually boring brunette head into a stereotypical bottle shade of blonde. It was definitely going to take some getting used to.
"Stop worrying, they're so long, it's not like she gave you fish bowl bangs or something. You can always leave them hanging out for that 'just had sex look'." Rosalie wagged her finger at my reflection in the mirror, "And as for the blonde, it's hot. It's all hot. You're hot, I'm hot, Alice is hot. And speaking of hotness, I need to be in the ocean before my scales shrivel up! Now let's go to the beach women!" Rosalie finished and walked back out of the room. I shot a glance at Alice who was pouting.
"Do you hate them?" Her bottom lip jutting out just a tad, the kind of look kids give their parents when they've done something wrong- they know they should get in trouble for it- yet the look makes whatever punishment was coming magically disappear.
"No, Alice, I don't hate them… It's just different. That's all." I smiled and ran my fingers through the wisps again. "Are you going to kill me if I put my hair up?"
"I can't believe you're going surfing after I just blow dried and styled your tangled mess!" She huffed again.
"Well, I guess… if we happen to catch some fuckawesome waves, I will let you do it again before we go out tonight." I grumbled through my teeth
"Yay!" Alice squealed, in only a pitch I had heard small animals make in the wilderness, and I made a bee line for the door.
"I'll meet you in the car." I yelled as I jogged down the stairs. I waved goodbye to Alice's mother, as I headed out the front door. Rosalie was sitting on the roof of my fire engine red Jeep Liberty, her long perfect California tanned legs dangling over the windshield, and her Teva clad feet tapping on the hood, "People still wear Tevas, Rosalie?" I asked sarcastically.
"Listen, I like my damn sandals so leave me alone!" She huffed, sliding down the glass to sit on the hood of my car.
"You're making an ass dent in my car!" I poked her through her shorts in the side of the butt and ran to the drivers' side. Flinging the door open, I locked myself inside. I knew I was going to get it as soon as she got in the car, but I didn't care. I was too riled up and ready for the beach. Too much beauty-salon day and not enough beach was definitely taking its toll on me.
I quickly fixed my hair using the mirror on the backside of my sun visor. I pulled it up into a messy ponytail, and let me new bangs fall down on the sides of my face. I smiled at myself in the mirror. As much as I hated to admit it, Alice really did know how to make one look amazing, and Rosalie was right… my bangs did kind of scream, "fuck me." I laughed at myself before I closed the mirror and let a screeching Rosalie enter the car.
"You're dead meat Bella Swan." She threatened and pointed her finger menacingly at me.
"My mother will kick you out of the house if you murder me Rosalie Hale." I said with a smirk.
When Alice finally joined us outside, we took off; I drove, Rosalie sat shot gun, and Alice sat in the back seat. The windows were ceremoniously rolled down by me, as the music was ritualistically cranked up by Rosalie. Alice played DJ in the back seat via the iPod hookup, and she decided on playing my favorite playlist titled: "Girls of Summer." The first track of course, was Aerosmith's Girls of Summer. We sang along to our favorite song of the season, at the top of our lungs as I pulled onto the freeway.
*~&~*
"Finally!" Rosalie yelled as she jumped out the window, in true NASCAR fashion, the second we parked at the beach.
"Rosalie Hale, you and your Tevas need to cool it!" I yelled after her, "Dale Earnhardt Jr. is not impressed!" Alice and I laughed as Rosalie gave us the death glare from outside the car. I popped the trunk of the Jeep open before locking the doors, and walked around to the back to pull out Rose and I's surf gear. Alice ducked under my arms as I pulled out my long board as well as my other stuff and grabbed her beach bag, being a land lover she only needed a few beach going things.
"Hey Bells," She asked pulling her head back out from under my arm, "do you have any hair ties?" For a second, I was instantly taken aback; it was such a weird question coming from Alice, since her hair is generally cut generously short and spiky in a pixie like cut. This summer however, she decided to try something new, and grow it out.
"I never thought I'd hear that coming from your mouth, Pixie Dust!" I quipped as I handed her one of the many hair ties that constantly adorn my wrist.
"I know, it's weird to ask it; never mind the actually 'having hair' part. Ha!" She laughed at herself as she dropped her air quotes.
We continued unpacking the car, and got ready to hit the beach. I was honestly stoked. The water was where I belonged. When I was younger, I had a habit of being extraordinarily clumsy on land, my eccentric mother, Renee, decided that I should give movement in water a chance and try out surfing lessons with her. Her real goal was to woo the surf instructor, my now step-mother, Brooklynn.
The lessons were extremely beneficial; for me- I learned how to surf, which is now what I live to do, and for Renee- because she found the love and light of her life, and for me again, because I got a sister out of the deal. Even though Rosalie and I haven't always been the best of friends- I wouldn't trade her for anyone in the world (well. . . maybe Alice).
The three of us walked to the beach passing through the weeds and bushes along the perimeter of the parking lot, and onto the beach. We playfully threw the occasional hunk of sand at one another as we screamed and giggled our way around the shoreline, trying to spot the perfect spot.
"Oh. My. GOD!" Rosalie screeched, turning her body to face us she threw her thumb over her left shoulder and pointed, "Hot boys! We're so sitting over there!" With that, we high tailed it to an empty space adjacent to the where they boys in question had set up camp.
Rosalie and I ceremoniously stuck our boards into the sand, then the three of us got to work on laying out our stuff. Alice set her blanket out to the far left, her beach bag stuffed with what I liked to call "the practical stuff": sunglasses for all of us, sunscreen, Aloe Vera for surprise attack sunburns, some crazy ointment meant for jellyfish stings, as well as her iPod and other random things to do on the beach while she scoped out the men and worked on her tan. Alice was also the "mom" and had lunches packed and ready in our cooler. Rosalie set her blanket out to the far right, and plopped her bag onto the ground, letting some of the contents spill out onto the beach. Her bag was full of many of the same things as Alice's minus our glasses, and adding a few alcoholic beverages that I would refuse to drink later in the day. Aside from the fact that I drove; honestly, who likes hot vodka? Not me, that's for damn sure.
My bag was referred to as the "Barney Bag". Alice may have had all the sensible materials for beach going, I had all the necessary materials for surfing. My favorite being my collection of "sex wax". It was quite the ongoing joke at my house to buy Rosalie and I wax for our surf boards, but since Rosalie was often paying more attention to the boys than to the wax, she always manages to get sand in her bars. Therefore, I have become queen of the sex wax. I open my bag and look down at my variety, Mr. Zog's, Mrs. Palmers, and Sticky Bumps, just to name a few, sat waiting for me to take my pick.
"Sticky Bumps. It's your favorite." Alice said nonchalantly looking over the rims of her sunglasses. She was sprawled across her beach blanket putting the finishing touches of tanning lotion around her calves. How she got set up and settled so fast, I will never understand.
"The pixie has spoken!" I laughed, pulling two bars of the same brand out of my bag. I handed the second bar to Rosalie whose hand was extended and waiting. We got to work on our boards, and before long we had our leashes strapped to our legs and we were ready to surf.
"Have fun!" Alice yelped after us, "I'll just be here all lonesome on this here beach towel, soaking in the sun, all alone!" She smirked at us and quickly nodded towards the boys whose camp was next to ours in a gesture that could have been missed should I have blinked in that moment. I winked and waved back at my best friend and walked into the water. One last glance over my shoulder let me see that those boys certainly did not want Alice to feel like an ace.
*~&~*
To say that the surf was amazing on this particular trip to the beach would have been the understatement of the summer. I hadn't hit waves this spectacular since Mom and Brooklynn took Rosalie and I to Hawaii several summers ago. It killed me to say so, but I was getting tired, and needed a break after a good two hours of surfing. As I paddled back towards the beach, and Alice, I could see Rosalie was thinking the same thing as I. Anyone who surfs could tell that we just had an "Alchemy Hour", simply based off the shit-eating grins sprawled across both of our faces.
Slowly, and a little bit sadly, we made our way back up the beach to Alice- and lunch. She was not alone. The boys from earlier had certainly been keeping her entertained, that much was clear immediately. She was laughing and giggling, and I could tell by the hint of red starting to develop across her cheeks and shoulders that she hadn't even been to the water yet.
"Bella! Rosalie!" She squealed in her infamous pixie pitch, and waved us back over to our towels and blankets. Rosalie and I stuck our boards into the sand at the end of our blankets allowing us to sit in faux shade for a little while as we cooled off and ate lunch, "Rosalie, Bella, I would like you to meet Jasper and Emmett!" She pointed to each boy as she said their name aloud. Jasper was average guy height. He couldn't be more than a senior in high school as we were, from what I could tell from his sitting position, he was pretty well built, very skinny, but in a hot way that showed off his muscles and not in a creepy "emo boy" way. His hair was a shade of dirty blonde only achieved by being born into the hair color, and it was shaggy and curly. The one Alice had pointed out as Emmett, was also tall looking, but bigger than his friend. He looked to be built like a quarterback, big and built all around. His hair was cut shorter to his head, but almost the same color as Jaspers.
Rosalie and I sat down on our blankets across from Alice and the boys and waved hello. I extended my hand to Emmett first, and then Jasper with a, "Hi, I'm Bella!" Rosalie did the same, replacing my name with her own. We ate lunch as we chatted with the boys and Alice and mostly discussed the weather and where we were from. Jasper and Emmett were cousins; Emmett being the Californian, and Jasper being the visitor from Tennessee. Even if he hadn't told us where he was from, I could have guessed he was from the South East, solely based on his accent. I hadn't even realized we hadn't said one thing about surfing until Jasper asked me a question about what I had done out on the waves.
"So was that an aerial with re-entry I saw you do out there?" Jasper questioned. I stared at him open mouthed, these boys didn't say one thing about surfing, leading me to assume they weren't surfers and here he is spitting out professional grade mumbo jumbo at me.
"You saw that?" I ask astonished that he had even noticed, never mind knew any terms about surfing, He nodded yes excitedly, but I continued before he could say anything else. "No, sadly, I'm not that good! I didn't leave the water so it doesn't count as an aerial. Just a fancy put on to trick you land lovers into thinking I'm cooler than I am." I laughed at the end, unsure of how he would react to being called a land lover if he actually was a surfer.
"Land lover!? Ha!" Emmett's booming laugh shook my chest bones, "Jasper here is an excellent surfer! But, we're just here scopin' out the ladies today." His cocky grin widened at the end of his statement.
"Oh is that so?" Rosalie spat playfully.
"Yes, that is so." Jasper and Emmett responded at the same time.
"Well, too bad there aren't three of you!" An unusually quiet Alice piped up finally, "We three are not very good at sharing men." I was almost taken aback at Alice's pure gall, but in the same instance I remembered our pact for the summer, Find a man or BUST! Or F.M.B. as we liked to call it. Several weeks prior, we had even had the letters temporarily tattooed on our ankles during one of the annual carnivals in the city.
"Oh, touché- but there are three of us!" Emmett boomed again
"Do you not know how to count?" Rosalie poked, "One," she pointed at Emmett himself, "and two." She pointed to Jasper.
"Three." Jasper said, pointing out into the ocean, "Edward decided not to come on our woman hunt today. He's on his Alchemy." Rosalie and I looked each other right in the eyes and started to laugh. We knew exactly how that felt. On days like today, I would much rather be in the water than here on the beach. After that the conversation pretty much went down to a dull roar, a lot of small talk of who-is-who, and a surprising amount of , "Oh you know so-and-so?! What a small world!" I finished my Tofurkey sandwich, as well as downing an entire two-liter bottle of water and decided it was time for me to go back out onto the waves.
"I'm going back out. You comin' Rosie?" I asked, to which I immediately received a roll of the eyes, most likely for my use of her nick-name more than anything else.
"Maybe in a few. I'm still hungry." She looked me dead in the eye, and I could tell that the words coming out of her mouth were not the words running through her head. Her eyes were screaming, "YEAH! Hungry for some of this man meat!" I tried to look back at her and make mine say, "You're disgusting Rosalie Hale." Jumping in the sack with someone she just meant was not generally Rosalie's forte, but I could tell there was some kind of chemistry of sorts between her and Emmett, as well as between Alice and Jasper. How did I always end up odd girl out?
I huffed, and stood taking my board with me. I would go out alone if that's how it was going to be, I needed to experience these waves. Besides, it's not like there was anyone to flirt with me on the beach blankets anyhow. Maybe this Edward guy would hang out with me later and we could discuss the amazingness that was the waves today.
As I strapped my leash back onto my leg, I realized that I was developing quite the sunburn. Had I forgot to put on sunscreen this morning? Probably. I shrugged, and let the leash hang a little looser than usual so that my poor leg didn't fall off from the pure pain it was sure to experience when I took the abrasive material off later on. With that I got back into the ocean.
The waves were once again amazing, and I could feel the awesomeness radiating off the water like an aura. I paddled out a little farther than I was into the water, just as a wave was starting to approach. I used my arms to paddle and turn my board around so it was facing the beach again, just before I laid down on the board, I spotted the whole gang standing near the edge of the water smiling and waving at me. I gave a little wave back before I started paddling. As I felt the wave lift my board, I readied myself to stand. As my board entered the flat part of the wave, I popped my body up into standing position. The pull of the wave was perfect, I looked up to see my friends still standing at the shoreline of the beach. Alice was waving frantically, and pointing to my left, but I was too late to turn my head and assess what she was freaking out about. Something hard and fast collided hard with my body and I slipped off my board too easily.
In that moment I cursed myself for not re-applying wax before coming back out, but none of that mattered. The undertow was taking me with it, wherever it was headed, and I was struggling to remember what I had been told countless times before- swim toward the beach. Everything was spinning so fast though, I couldn't tell which direction the beach was in. When it hit me: my surf board that is. I swift knock in the top of the head sent my body plunging deeper into the ocean. I struggled to get back to the top of the water. Panicking in every way they tell you not to panic when you're in surf school. I must have been tumbling around with my board, because that's when it hit me again: this time knocking me swiftly unconscious. Everything was suddenly a terrifying shade of black.
*~&~*
I awoke to the sounds of my name being screeched over and over again, and someone pressing quite firmly down on my chest and stomach. Slowly my vision returned, and I could see a large crowd was hovering above me. Water came spewing out of my mouth and nose, leaving a trail of fire in my lungs, throat, and sinuses. I sputtered and coughed, and looked frantically around the circle of faces for the frantic voice of Alice.
I tried to sit up, but was immediately pushed back down, gently but firmly, "Ma'am why don't you just lay down. Everything is okay. We're here to help you." A strange man's voice said from above me. I looked at his face. If I hadn't been in such a compromising situation, I might have thought he was cute in a young kind of way: long-ish shaggy hair, a baby face of sorts, and very pretty blue eyes. If he wasn't going to let me sit up, I at least needed to know what the hell had happened to me.
"What…" I started, my voice fueled the already raging fire in my throat, but before I could finish, Alice and Rosalie were all over me.
"Oh my God, Bella, you scared the fucking shit out of us!" Rosalie sobbed grabbing onto my hand. Alice looked longingly at me and hovering her hand near my cheek, but changed her mind and held onto my other hand.
"Bella," The man's voice came back, Rosalie and Alice dropped my hands, "My name is Mike, and I'm a paramedic. You've been in an accident. We're going to take you to the Emergency Room. Is that okay?" My eyes shot all the way open in surprise, and I could feel my face attempting to screw up in confusion, but everything was just too painful, a tear escaped my eye from the sheer pain. I must have had some kind of sand rash on my cheek. I could feel the salt of the tear burning away at my skin.
I simply tried to nod my head yes, obviously something was quite serious if they wanted to take me in to a hospital, but I quickly realized I had been strapped down. Neck in a neck brace and all, part of me growled, about how this better be serious for all the embarrassment this was causing, while the other part of me was scared stiff about the seriousness the was nearly palpable in the air, especially after the looks of fear that came straight from Rosalie and Alice.
A short ambulance ride, and an excruciating four hour ER visit later all was revealed to me. Apparently, just as I was catching the wave of my life, another surfer was trying to avoid hitting someone else and cut directly into my path, smashing right into me and my board. The other surfer walked away fine, and my apparent injuries came from the fact that I was pulled under and "rag dolled" just as the wave crashed. Because my leash hadn't been properly tightened around my leg, it dangled around my ankle, allowing my board to fly around in the undertow with me.
I suffered from a fractured collar bone, a severely fractured right cheekbone, and an extremely nasty sand facial. My entire body was sore, and as the shock from the whole event started to wear off, I was definitely feeling the pain.
"Isabella Swan?" The nurse came into the room, almost whispering my name. It hadn't occurred to me until now that I wasn't the only patient in the room. I slowly turned my sore neck, and looked to my left, behind the chair that Rosalie and Alice were sharing, was a bed hosting an older woman with an IV drip. Turning back the other way, to where my mother and Brooklynn shared a chair, the bed behind them was filled by a young girl, maybe about six, or seven-years-old, who had just been fitted with a cast around her entire leg.
"That's me." I replied in a small voice. She smiled and walked over to the bed, and handed me a bag.
"Inside are some pills prescribed by Dr. Cullen. You can take three Ibuprofen at a time up to twice in the day, or you can spread it out, and take two pills three times in the day."
"Seriously? That's all she gets? The girl is clearly in pain. She was just dragged across the ocean floor for Pete's sake!" My mother huffed, I was taken aback by her sudden "mother mode."
"I'm sorry Mrs. Hale, but Dr. Cullen thinks it would be best not to prescribe the typical 'pain killers' because it's believed they may prevent healing bones."
"Oh." Was all Renee answered, clearly dumbfounded.
"With that, you are free to go Miss Swan." The nurse smiled, and exited the room. I motioned to stand up off the bed, when I suddenly realized I was wearing one of those God-awful Johnny coats where your ass is flapping around in the wind for the whole world to see. I didn't exactly want to get arrested for indecent exposure to a minor, or a senior citizen so I quickly slammed myself back onto the bed.
"Uh, Alice, Rosalie? Where are my clothes?" I looked to my friend and sister waiting for an answer.
"Oh, they are…" Alice stuttered, but Renee finished her sentence for her.
"Brookie and I brought some for you, don't worry." She said, and handed me a plastic bag. I realized quickly that order to get changed, I was going to have to make a choice. Kick my family out and close my curtain so I didn't flash my roommates, or flash my roommates and lock myself in the bathroom so I could assess the damage that was my face and shoulders. I decided on a combination of the two.
"I'll be right back…." I said, standing from the bed, I held the bag Renee had just handed me behind me as well as using both hands to grip the back of the hospital gown closed. The bathroom was on the far right side of the room, nearest the little girl in the cast. I slowly inched my way across the room. My back up against the wall, always facing towards the cast of people all over. As I passed by the little girl's bed she giggled. I giggled back.
"These gowns are silly. Why do they need to see everybody's butts anyway!" She laughed. Her laugh was clearly infectious, everyone in the room, including my family who had been ridiculously somber the entire time.
"I agree!" I replied before I locked myself into the bathroom for a few minutes of sad solitude. I turned to face myself in the mirror. What I saw was brutal. The entire right side of my face was totally torn up. The redness was quite a scary sight, and I was honestly surprised that the small child in the room wasn't frightened by it. It frightened me and it was my own face. Honestly, what could I do about it now though? Makeup would surely make the wound infected, and I was no stranger to having the annual bump, bruise, and knick here and there. I shrugged. Then I realized how bad of an idea shrugging was. Pain surged through my collar bone and I let out a shrill cry. My mother was immediately knocking on the bathroom door.
"Isabella? Are you alright?"
"Yes Mom, I shrugged. That's all!" I hollered in response. She seemed to believe I was okay, and stopped jiggling the handle to bust into the small space. I dumped the contents of the bag my moms had brought onto the closed toilet seat. Thank God for small miracles. They had picked out a zip up shirt, which meant I wouldn't have to life my shoulders or arms above my head. Carefully, I slipped the sling off from around my neck, and I pulled on the new shirt, stepped into the panties, and pulled up the jeans that were also in the bag gingerly making sure to bend my entire upper body, and not just my shoulders to avoid any more unnecessary pain. I silently hoped I got to meet whoever knocked me off my board, so I could give him a swift kick in the nuts. I was in some serious pain, and I was seriously not liking it one bit. I slid my arm back into the sling meant to hold my collar bone still, and exited the bathroom.
When I finally made it out of the hospital, and back to my own house, in my own room, in my own bed- I popped two of the Ibuprofen and immediately attempted to sleep. Rosalie and Alice sat with me for a while, but left to busy themselves with other things when I finally felt drowsy enough to fall into sleepy oblivion.
*~&~*
The next few days were spent in the house, moping around in pain, and spending an irrational amount of time talking to my over reactive father via video chat. At times I regretted buying the web camera for my younger half-sister Leah, since she never got the chance to use it because my father was always hogging it to talk to me. It took me nearly an entire hour to calm him down enough to explain that it was an accident. He mumbled something about crazed Californians and how the surf just like they drive. I laughed and told him I was feeling much better than after the initial incident, but he would be happy to hear surfing was out of the question for at least 6 weeks.
"That doesn't leave you with much summer then does it, Bells?" He stroked his mustache in the computer screen, seemingly pondering something- although I couldn't fathom what.
"Yeah, maybe the last week or two before school, and that's that for me." To say I was bummed, would be an understatement. I was epically devastated.
"But I bet Alice is a teensy bit happy, now you've got to stay docked on the beach with her and be a 'land lubber'. Ha!" My dad flashed his air quotes at me, and I had to laugh. His use of "surf lingo" was extraordinarily limited, but 'land lubber' was a term he knew well.
"Yes, I guess you're right dad." I smiled. I couldn't even be upset when my police-chief father was making an attempt to speak like a teenager again. Suddenly my father was pushed out of the view of the screen and taking up the entire screen was the face of my eight-year-old half-brother Seth.
"Hi, Seth!" I smiled, I loved when he took my father out just to talk to me. They often had play fights on screen just to make me laugh.
"Hey, Bella… your face looks pretty bad. It's all red and stuff… Does it hurt, I mean, does your face hurt?"
"Oh yeah, it's pretty painful." I stated matter-of-factly
"Well that makes sense, since it's killing me!" He hollered and bust into fits of laughter. My father's laugh joined in as well.
"Oh! Very funny Seth! You wait until I come up there and get you."
"Alright, Bells, your step-mom number two is calling me for lunch. And, speaking of coming to get your brother, I bet you wish you were here! She's cooking your favorite meal for dinner tonight!" He laughed heartily as I made a face and stuck my tongue out at him. My father's wife, Sue, was an amazing cook, and my favorite dish to eat when I visited them in Washington was Eggplant Lasagna. Sue and I often joked that the only way I could ever make my father a vegetarian was to put everything in lasagna.
"Okay, Dad, tell her I said hello!" I shut my laptop and pushed it to the side of the bed. I laid back and rested my head on the headboard sighing pensively. Maybe this was a sign that I should stay away from the ocean and go visit my father, step-mom and half-brother and sister. I would have to talk to Renee and Brooklynn about it, but until then, I was going to go outside and soak up as much sun as possible. I picked up my cell phone and started typing out a text to Alice asking if she wanted to hang out, when the phone was ringing.
"I knew you were texting me!" She yipped before even saying hello, "And yes, we're going out. We can't go to the beach though, since your face cream will give you sunburn, but we're going to spend time outside. What if we go shopping on the boardwalk?"
I growled internally, Alice knew how much I hated shopping, but at the same time, she was right, I couldn't be out in the direct sunlight with the anti-biotic cream I had to put on my face. I sighed and agreed. After I hung up the phone with Alice, I crossed the hall into Rosalie's room where she was sprawled across the bed on the phone. It was quite a sight, if I do say so. Her blond hair was dangling over the side of the bed, as her head was on the very edge. One of her hands was holding the phone to her ear, and the other outstretched twirling the phone cord around her fingers and wrist. Her legs were separated, one was resting atop the headboard, tapping the wall with her bare feet, and the other was dangling off the opposite side of the bed from her head. The remainder of the phone cord wrapped around her leg and ankle like some kind of ball and chain system. I laughed out loud, which startled Rosalie who jumped and screamed.
"Jesus Christmas, Bella, what the hell? Ever heard of knocking?" She screamed at me, but she too was smiling.
"Don't mean to er- interrupt- but Alice and I are going to the boardwalk. You want in?" I nodded my head suggestively, to which she responded positively.
"You don't have to beg me to go shopping, Bella," She stated, and then covered the mouth piece of the phone, "Hey, why don't we invite the boys?" She nodded her head just as I had and I shrugged. A shot of pain surged through me, as I kept forgetting that shrugging was painful.
"Sure, why not?" I hadn't seen the "boys" since the accident at the beach, but Rosalie and Alice had been out with them twice already, in just the few days I had been out of commission.
"Yay!" She squealed in very Alice-like fashion, and went back to talking on the phone.
Rosalie and I packed up a small bag for the day, full of things like sunglasses, our iPods, and of course my face cream and make-shift pain killers.
"Bella," Renee called me from in the kitchen as I tried to sneak past her through the living room and into the garage, "Don't you dare sneak past me. Put on a hat for God's sake, I'm not taking you back to the hospital so you can get your skin grafted when you get sunburn. Your co-pays are ridiculous!" She joked, throwing me a baseball cap. I grunted, put the hat on and stomped to the garage. It wasn't that I didn't like hats, I just didn't like to be mandatory that I wear one.
It was hard for me to relinquish driving privileges to Rosalie, but if I couldn't shrug without being in intense pain, there was no way I was going to be able to drive. I huffed as we got into Rosalie's gun metal silver BMW. A present she had received from her father as some kind of bribery for her to get her mother to come back to him. It was clearly a fruitless effort, but Rosalie got her brand new dream car out of it, so neither she nor Brooklyn complained.
I sat back in the cloth covered seats. The true upholstery was leather, but being the animal loving- vegetarian I am, I insisted on buying her a very expensive set of animal friendly seat covers or I was never riding in her car again. They were black, with images of Jessica Rabbit on the backs of them, Rosalie's cartoon idol. I thought her choice in cartoon obsessions was appropriate, and so I bought her the seat covers as a birthday gift last year. We headed across town to pick up Alice, and then hit the freeway towards the beach.
"So! I can't wait for you to meet Edward!" Alice said, she had been jabbering non-stop about him for the last couple of days, she was always the one to play match-maker, and today was no exception. "He's super sweet, and godly attractive. He's got hair the color of…. Well, I don't know really, he's just beautiful."
"Okay, Alice, Okay!" I responded. It was going to be a long day if she was going to attempt to play cupid all afternoon.
"I just want you to er- give him a chance is all." I shrugged nervously. I pondered what she meant by that statement for a minute and gave up. Rosalie weaved her way in and out of traffic as the three of us bopped and sang along to the stereo, and it felt like no time at all when we arrived at the boardwalk.
"Where are we meeting the boys?" I asked Rosalie, who was in charge of making those arrangements.
"At the Raven Café. It's just around the other side of this plaza." She pointed in the direction of the actual boardwalk, and we set off in search of our new found friends.
"There!" Alice shouted, and skipped towards a table at the back of the shop, three men sat around a circular table, their backs to us as they faced the ocean view of the café, "Jasper!" She yelped and waved, upon seeing Alice, Jasper abruptly stood up and pulled out the chair next to him.
"Alice!" He said back cheerfully. Rosalie and Emmett greeted each other as well, before all eyes turned to look at me, as if I wasn't feeling awkward enough already. I could feel my cheeks start to heat up in an embarrassing blush, which just made the embarrassment that much greater. Luckily, Jasper broke the ice, "So, how are your bones doing? That was quite a take out." His eyes then shifted to the third boy standing next to the table, who must have stood while I was too busy feeling embarrassed. "Oh so he must be Edward. Alice was certainly right about something- he is insanely attractive. I could cuddle and kiss him all night. Who am I kidding, I'd do more than cuddle and kiss him, God I would…" My internal rambling monologue was disrupted by the Godly creature standing before me.
"Hi, Bella, I'm… um… I'm Edward." He stuck out his hand to shake my good arm, and used the other hand to run his fingers through his tousled copper colored hair which reflected the light just perfectly.
"Hi Edward." I couldn't tell if I had said the words out loud or not, but I must have, since he continued.
"I just want to let you know I'm really sorry about all of this." He gestured to my sling
"Oh, Edward, don't worry about it… it's not like it was your fault." I smiled at him. He was heavenly. I could swim in the deep green pools of his eyes for the rest of time and never find a complaint. Seemingly stunned at my answer, he looked back and forth between Jasper/Alice and Rosalie/Emmett.
"Well, actually- it kind of is. I was the guy trying to avoid hitting the child… and instead I hit you. Bella, I'm really sorry." The end of his statement was nearly whispered. And although every ounce of human nature was telling me to scream and yell at him for being so reckless, and blame him for the loss of my summer, another part of me was just dying to believe he was sorry, he seemed so genuinely apologetic. That same part of me wanted to accept his apology and take him home to bed. I wasn't sure exactly where this part of me had even come from, as I wasn't one who just hooked up with the first guy I saw when desperate… this was something more. I couldn't explain it, I couldn't tell if it was something good for the long run, but in this moment it didn't matter. There was just something about Edward that made me want to comfort him.
"It was an accident. And better me a big tough gal, than in innocent little kid right?" I tried to laugh it off as nothing, but it came out stiffer than I had intended.
"Well," Barked Emmett, "Now that today's awkwardness is off the table, can we order some food? I'm starving!" Rosalie and Alice both laughed nervously, Jasper elbowed Emmett in the side of the ribs, and Edward and I continued to make exceptionally uncomfortable eye contact.
I let out an audible sigh at the terrible luck I've experienced. Only I would get knocked off my board by the same guy Alice was trying to fix me up with. "Wait….that must be why Alice was so hell bent on my "giving him a chance." Makes sense now. . . It was an accident." I told myself internally, "And he is really good-looking." We all sat down at the table, Rosalie sat next to Emmett, who was sitting to the right of Alice, who sat to the right of Jasper, who sat to my right, and Edward sat to my left which put him on the other side of Rosalie.
"So, Edward, tell Bella about yourself. What do you do? Where do you go to school? Blah, blah, blah…" Alice questioned the beautiful boy sitting next to me. I glanced at him nervously, yet anticipating his answers.
"Well, let's see. . . Where do I go to school? I go to school at James Monroe High, I'm going to be a senior this year. What do I do? I surf, and bum around. When I'm not surfing, I like to play piano. Kinda weird right?" He smiled at me then, and I lost my ability to see anything else but him. His crooked grin was completely mesmerizing. His lips were the perfect shade of pink, his eyes were this amazingly emerald color, and his jaw… oh his jaw… it was so defined, and completely wonderful. And when he spoke, his teeth were revealed, and I nearly melted right onto the floor of the restaurant. I was such a sucker for nice teeth.
"Bella?" Edward asked, his lips forming around my name like it was something delicate. If I wanted to take him home to bed before he started talking, one can only imagine how much I wanted to do just that right now.
"Yeah?" I answered my voice betraying me, and giving away my state of bedazzlement.
"Edward asked you what you do, and blah, blah, blah." Rosalie interjected, "Weren't you paying attention?"
"Oh… sorry, Edward," I smiled weakly, "I go to Strawberry Park High School, with Rosalie and Alice. I surf and I'm on the swim team at school, and other than that my time is generally consumed with babysitting these two over here." I pointed my index finger on each hand, one at Alice and the other at Rosalie. Edward and the boys laughed, but Alice and Rosalie just stuck their tongues out at me. We finally ordered food, and decided to head out towards, the actual boardwalk to do some shopping. I felt sorry for the poor un expecting men in this group.
As we walked along the wooden boardwalk, Alice and Rosalie spotted a lingerie store and started freaking out. "Omigod! We have to go in there!" Alice yipped and bounced around, grabbing Rosalie and Jasper by the hands and dragging them into the store. Emmett followed as well, a big smile splashed across his face.
"I'm not going in there." I said turning to Edward who was walking behind me.
"Yeah, me either." He smiled at me, and my brains turned to mush as I tried to make myself smile at him.
"Honestly, I hate shopping, but with a best friend like Alice, and a step-sister like Rosalie, there's really no getting out of it." I shrugged my shoulders and winced, "God, that hurts." Edward's face changed from smiling, to sympathetic.
"I'm really sorry." He said, sadness filled his beautiful green eyes. I couldn't bear to see him upset, so I reached my good arm out to touch his shoulder.
"It's really okay Edward, it's not like you did it on purpose."
"But still…" he started, and then looked pensively at me and gestured with his hand to my healing cheek, "That's got to hurt as well."
"Yeah, sand facials aren't nearly as cool as they sound." I laughed and he laughed as well, breaking the tension that started filling the space between us.
"Sandy Cheeks."
"What?" I raised my brow at him
"Sandy Cheeks, that's you."
"Like the SpongeBob character?"
"Yeah…" He looked down at the ground, as if he was suddenly very interested in his shoe laces.
"You watch SpongeBob?" I was completely surprised, I know I didn't know him long, but he just did not seem like the type to watch children's cartoons.
"Not intentionally…" He looked back up at me, "I'm not that much of a weirdo! I've got an eight-year-old brother, Jacob, who is obsessed."
"Okay, that I can accept. I was worried your potential was going to go down the drain there Edward."
"My potential?" He smiled that crooked smile of his, and I had to tell my brain to keep focus and answer his question.
"You know, your fuckability rating…" I blurted out before I could stop myself. As much as I considered myself "outgoing," I have never been one to tell a guy I've just met about the girls and I's "fuckability scale". He gave me a contemplative look before speaking again.
"Wow, I don't want to sound too judgmental, but I just didn't see you as a first date fuck kind of gal." He smiled coyly, and his eyes twinkled suspiciously.
I smiled in return, and reached out and grabbed his wrist, patting the top of his hand with mine, "There are a lot of things you don't know about me yet, Mister –er-… Edward, what is your last name?"
"Ah, and there are still plenty of things you have yet to learn about me, Bella!" He laughed heartily, and continued, "Well, let's start this the right way, where I don't run you over with my surf board. I'm erasing your memory…" He waved his hand in front of my face, and
"Who are you, and why are you waving your hand in my face." I stated seriously, but let out a giggle in the end.
"Oh, well, my name is Edward Masen." He stuck his left hand out to me.
"Hello, Edward, my name is Isabella Swan, but I'm really just Bella." I stuck my left hand out to him, and we shook.
"Well, 'Just Bella,' can I take you out for an ice cream sometime?" He smiled that body melting smile of his, and I was completely awestruck for a moment.
"That sound fabulous, when were you thinking?"
"How about right now?" I nodded excitedly, and grabbed my cell phone out of my back pocket. I sent Alice a quick text message to let her know that Edward and I were leaving them, and we were on our way.
Edward and I walked further down the boardwalk, past familiar stores that I had been to hundreds of times before with Rosalie and Alice. He took a little turn down a short alley way, and I was lost in the thought of boardwalks having alley ways, when suddenly he stopped. I stopped beside him, and looked at the shop we stood in front of. Nenna's Ice Parlor, the sign read. All the letters were made out of scoops of ice cream, and all the furniture outside was painted like ice cream flavors. The only way I could describe it was, adorable.
"This place is completely cute!" I squealed in very Alice-like fashion, "How have I never been here?" Edward smiled, and took my hand, pulling me inside.
"Hello, Uncle Edward!" A very young girl behind the counter shrieked, running to us, my guess was that she was about eight or nine.
"Hello Katie," He smiled at her, and nodded towards me, "I brought a friend with me today, she's never been here before, so do you think you could help her decide what kind of ice cream she wants?" Katie smiled hugely, and ran back to the opposite side of the counter, and quickly rattled off several exotic flavors of ice cream. I decided on the daily special called Katie's Choice. It was a delicious mix of very vanilla ice cream and perfect tasting cherries. Edward told Katie to scoop us a double, and we could share.
We chose to sit in a seat close to the back that looked out onto the ocean. The surfers and beach-goers were clearly visible, and I was lost in thought for a moment, wishing I was out on the water. "Edward, isn't Katie kind of young to work here?" I asked.
"Oh, she doesn't really work here, she just insists on hanging out here every weekend, so my sister lets her scoop ice cream for customers she knows."
"Oh." I stated. Edward and I chit chatted about this and that, picking up on forgotten conversation from earlier in the day at the Raven Café. We were completely engrossed in a whispered conversation about the "fuckability scale" and how the merit system works. I was in the middle of explaining that it's not necessarily how great the person looks (with the exception of men on Rosalie's list), it's about how good we perceive they might be in bed, versus what they actually performed like in bed, when he looked animatedly into the bowl of ice cream and threw up his hands.
"What? What's the matter?" I asked concered.
"We can't finish this." He declared.
"Uh, why not?" I was totally confused.
"Because, I want to get an A on the fuckability scale." He whispered almost too softly for me to hear.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, come on, let's go somewhere." He grabbed my hand, and pulled me back out onto the boardwalk. We travelled back the way we came from, passing the lingerie shop and the Raven Café, rounded the end and walked onto the sand. The sun was just starting to set, and many people were packing up and heading away from the beach. Edward pulled me away from the side of the boardwalk that was mainly occupied by beach-going families and surfers, and toward the more secluded side. We followed the shoreline until we came to a second little board walk. This one more vacant than the one we had just abandoned, and closer to the cove of the beach.
Edward held my hand in his left hand, and held the bowl of leftover ice cream in his right hand. We walked for a few more minutes, until we passed under the second boardwalk, and were closing in upon the part of the beach with rocks that form little cave like formations, which make good hide-away spaces for when it rains.
"Are we going in one of these?" I said, my excitement peeking. I had quite an inkling of what Edward would like to do with me and that ice cream. One part of me was insanely excited, and the second part of me wanted to slap the first part of me for being so outgoing with a boy I hardly knew.
"Oh yeah," He turned his head to smile down at me, and I lost the ability to think straight- or crooked for that matter. I smiled back, and hurried my pace to keep up with his long legs.
Finally, after yet another few minutes of walking, he came to a halt, "I think this is a good spot." He said, pulling me into a little hut made by boulders and hidden by a small thicket of trees. The butterflies in my stomach immediately went crazy. The feelings I was feeling were completely indescribable. Even though I had only known him for a few hours, I felt some kind of never before felt trust, and sincere emotions towards him. You're crazy Bella, you hardly even know him! I thought, but followed him into the cave nonetheless. As we walked in, Edward sat down on a large flat rock that was in the middle of the "room," and pulled me down next to him. I looked into his eyes, and I knew then I wasn't crazy. There was something about this boy, something I had never seen or felt in anyone else.
I couldn't help myself, I leaned in and kissed his lips. They were soft, like perfect velvet, and he tasted like mint and boy, and a hint of maraschino cherries. He kissed me back, placing the bowl of ice cream down on the rock next to us. Then, he reached his hands out pulled my hat off my head, and my pony tail holder out of its place and dug his fingers into my hair, holding me tightly to him. His kisses were insanely passionate, and full of that same feeling I couldn't put my finger on. Our kiss deepened, and I leaned back onto the rock behind me. Edward followed, and soon his body was placed perfectly over mine. I could feel his heart racing through my chest, and I knew he could probably feel mine through his.
I wrapped my good arm that had been previously propping my body up at a small angle, around his neck, pulling his body closer to mine. My sling arm lay folded awkwardly at my side. I could feel his arousal through his shorts and my jeans. He was incredibly hard. Thoughts of his erection surged through my mind in an electric wave, sending pleasure chills down my spine, and causing me to thrust against his body. In the next moment, I thanked my crazy bodily reactions because he thrust back. In no time at all, we were thrusting back and forth into one another's bodies, and I was in compete ecstasy, when he slowed, "No, Edward, don't stop." I whimpered softly, breaking apart our amazing kisses
"I'm not," He smiled down at me again, but sat backwards onto his knees. He unbuttoned his shirt, and slipped it over his shoulders. I nearly gasped at the sight, his body was absolutely perfect. His arms and torso were chiseled, not in a creepy muscle builder way, but in the strong sweep me off my feet way. He pulled me into the upright position, and put his fingers onto the zipper of my shirt. I nodded to him, and he pulled the zipper down revealing my new Victoria's Secret bra. It was green satin, and I had received it as a very early birthday present from Alice. His smile turned into a smirk, as he leaned down and kissed the top of each of my breasts. I let out a small moan. He continued to carefully pull my zip up top off over my good and bad shoulders and unclasped my bra.
"It's a damn shame, I really like this bra and I really would like to look at you in it longer… BUT, for that same reason I must take it off." Before I could question him, he brought forward the bowl of cherry ice cream. He placed the bowl in my lap as he pulled the straps gently down my shoulders, making sure to trail his soft fingers over my overly sensitive skin. When it was off, he reached and picked the bowl up again, collecting a good amount of cold and melting ice cream into his spoon. With his free hand, he gently pushed me back so I was once again laying on the rock, and he dripped the gooey mess onto my suddenly very pert nipples.
"Oh my god." I breathed out, the sensation was incredible. What was more incredible than that though was when he placed his hot mouth over the nipple-ice cream concoction, "Oh. My. Fucking. God!" He laughed through his mouthful, and I melted, like ice cream in his capable lips. He lapped up his mess on both of my breasts, and trailed another spoonful from the valley between my breasts down to my belly button. My back arched at the sensation of his hot tongue and cool breathe on my skin, and I could feel myself getting soaked in places that ached to me touched and given his attention. "Edward, please."
"Please what?" He said, a smirk spreading across his lips, and he looked at me through hooded eyes.
"You're already getting an A, please. Please."
"Please what, Bella? Please take my ice cream and go back to the boardwalk?"
"Please fuck me Edward!" I half screamed, remembering we weren't nearly far enough from the main section of the beach to scream. He chuckled, and leaned back down to lick the remaining ice cream off my belly button. Slowly, he unbuttoned my jeans, kissing his way down to the places on my body that were begging out loud for his touch. As he reached the spot between my legs that was calling out the loudest he shot his head up at me.
"My, my, my, Bella, I most certainly have an A don't I?" He quipped cockily, and I shot my tongue out at him. After he had pulled my jean shorts down and off my ankles, his fingers trailed their way up my legs and pulled my panties aside so he had better access to my awaiting and soaked sex.
"Fuck!" I shouted, covering my mouth with the hand on my good arm, "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" He swirled his index finger and thumb around my rock hard clit as I screamed. His lips pressed kisses in the crease between my leg and my sex on both sides before he plunged his tongue into my deepest crevices. "Fuck. Holy… fuck. ..Edward, oh my god." He looked up at me, his eyes smiling, and I couldn't help but smile back. He lifted his head from my nether regions, and trailed kisses back up my belly, kissing my breasts and finally kissing my lips. I was sad for the loss, but also excited for what was going to come next.
Holding himself up with one hand, he rubbed his hard cock against my completely soaked slit. To say the sensation was amazing would be a total understatement. I whimpered, and he knowingly complied. Pushing himself deeply inside of me. We moaned in unison at the ecstasy of it all. He braced himself above my body, with his hands on either side of me, giving him extra power to make his thrusts hard and fast. My body was in heaven, he and I fit perfectly together, like pieces of a sexually needy puzzle.
"Oh, Jesus Christ, Bella. You're so fucking wet, and you're so fucking tight. Holy shit." He mumbled and if I had been any farther gone into my own enjoyment, I might have missed it.
"Don't ever stop." I whispered as my body started to shake. I could feel myself coming to a climax. My insides were quivering, my heart was pounding out of my chest, my breathing was uncontrollable, and I couldn't stop the noises of pleasure escaping my lips, "Oh GOD, Edward!" He looked down at my face and kissed me hard. The kind of kiss with so much passion you have no idea what you should do with it. I kissed him back greedily, our kisses turning to the kind that suck the soul out of the other person and allow you to swim inside one another's body. His body rocked into mine as waves of high ecstasy crashed down over me. I pulled out of his kiss, allowing my back to arch up above the rock, ignoring the shooting pains in my collarbone.
"FUCK!" I screamed. Every muscled in my body spasmed and my skin became even more sensitive, which made every touch of Edward's send my reeling back into my tremendous orgasm. His body soon began to shake, his breathing heavy, and his kisses stronger and deeper as he came just as my high was ending. He fell over, and pulled me to be on top of him, pulling himself out. Our chests heaved in an attempt to catch some oxygen after our escapade, and then we lay in silence.
"Shit, Bella… I think you're the one who gets an A". He whispered after a few minutes of our silent breathing.
"I hardly did anything, Edward," I realized and I felt selfish for doing so much receiving without giving.
"You didn't have to." He smiled at me, "Your body, is just…. I can't even describe it. Amazing doesn't even begin to…"
"Yeah, I know what you mean," I smiled back at him, and he wrapped his arms around me. We lay still for a few more minutes, before he helped me to put my clothes back on. I winced at the sand that was now occupying my panties with me, and made an attempt to nonchalantly shake them out when he was turned around.
"I've got to say, sand in the crotch is not my favorite way to end such an amazing afternoon." He turned around after pulling up his shorts.
"You too?"
"Yeah." He nodded, and reached out for my hand, we started to walk out of our little hiding spot, "Shall we go find our friends?"
"If you promise me one thing?" I stopped walking and looked into his eyes, he raised his brow in a gesture for me to go on, "We meet up again?"
"Obviously, Bella," He laughed, and pulled me tight to his chest. I laughed too, and snuggled into his rock hard chest. I looked up at him from his tight hug and smiled. I couldn't believe I had just met him, it was like our poles of gravity just attracted one another, and the fit was clearly perfect.
"Let's go find our friends before Alice has a heart attack." I said only halfway kidding.
"Oh, alright," he sighed heavily, "I wish I could have you to myself for longer." I bit my lip as I looked up at him. His eyes were twinkling in the setting sunlight, and they seemed as if they were a deeper –more rich- shade of green, if that was even possible.
"I've got an idea." Breaking from his embrace, I pulled him back towards the rest of the beach population. He raised his eyebrow at me but followed along as we walked back towards the ice cream and lingerie shops, "Do you have a car?"
"Yes, but it's kind of small… I don't think it would be good for…." He started and gestured towards my sling, but I cut him off.
"No, Edward… I didn't mean for that- although that might be fun…. I meant so we could leave here without them."
"Oh! Yes, I drove myself actually…"
"Awesome." Smiled into my words.
"Where do you want to go?" He said, wrapping the arm I was holding hands with around my back and waist.
"Wherever you want to take me."
"Well, you're probably starving since I nabbed your 'lunch'." He laughed
"Yeah, you did… but it was worth it. Completely." I laughed back, and we continued down the boardwalk.
"Holy fucking shit! Isabella Marie!" At the sound of the screech I stopped dead in my tracks. Alice. I turned to where her voice was coming from, and waited for the pounce. It was almost comical the way she stamped her small self down the boardwalk and to my side, "Where the fuck have you been?"
"You knew I was with Edward!"
"Yeah, two hours ago! You could have both been drowned somewhere!" She was making a total scene, and people were starting to stare.
"Alice, calm down. You're acting like a total Tinkerbelle." She scrunched her nose at my term for 'totally obnoxious brat' and I could see I got my point across, "Why didn't you call?"
"I did, about fifty thousand times! Check your phone." I looked at the screen on my phone, sure enough the little flashing icon that indicated missed calls was going off, selecting VIEW CALLS with my finger, it was revealed that in fact Alice had attempted to call 23 times.
"My bad." I said, deep down I really was sorry, but I'm sure the "just had amazing sex" smile on my face indicated otherwise. Alice rolled her eyes at me, and turned back towards the end of the boardwalk turning suddenly into a small pizzeria.
Turning to look at me one last time she yelled, "We'll be waiting for you in here!" I turned my attention back to Edward.
"Again soon?" He said smiling.
"Soon." I agreed with a nod. He took my face in his hands and placed a kiss on my lips, deepening it ever so gently. He sucked my bottom lip in between his teeth and nibbled softly, as I moaned quietly into his mouth.
"Or how about now?" I said smiling, he took my hand and pulled me back in the opposite direction of the pizzeria, and towards our little hiding spot.