Couldn't stay away too long!

J/B

Rated M

Set during Eclipse (the movie) where Bella goes to Florida to visit her mom, except Edward can't go with her. NOT word for word, but you get the gist of it. It will be a multi chapter, not too long but long enough to get the story out in a gradual manner. Slow (but not too slow, burn) very different, I feel, than my other stories.

"Bella, my parents would like to remind you of those airlines tickets you got for your birthday."

I couldn't believe Edward was bringing this up now. I glanced at Charlie's confused face.

"Airline tickets? What airline tickets?"

"Just a roundtrip ticket to see Mom.

"Well... that's nice. You should go. Get some... distance." He says not so subtle-y looking at Edward.

"Sure," I say, "As long as you use the companion ticket." I say to Edward.

Charlie narrows his eyes at me. "Wait, there's two tickets?"

"Actually, Chief Swan, I won't be able to make it. I have to help my family with some home cleaning and renovating. My mother wants to get a head start on it before summer."

That's the first I've ever heard Edward mentioning that so I remind myself to ask him later. Charlie on the other hand looks gleeful.

"Well that's a damn shame Edwin. I suppose Bella could always take a friend to keep her company."

Edward never corrected my dad's supposed mistake but graciously smiled and told him that he needed to take off. I smile and wave as he gets in his car and takes off.

"Hope you don't mind Bells, I invited Billy and Jake for dinner. We could always pick up some food on the way if you don't want to cook." he says, opening the car door for me.

I get in the cruiser and sigh. So much for wanting to talk to Edward when I got home.

Billy and Jacob were parked next to the Monster as Charlie and I pulled in. The rain was steady and blanketed the earth into mush.

I couldn't wait to go to Florida. I thought.

I looked at Jake who lifted Billy's chair from the back of the truck with ease and then picked up Billy from the passenger seat.

Jeeze, has Jake always been that strong?

We manage to get inside without getting soaked and shuffle into the living room with our food. Jacob sits next to me on the couch and I can feel the heat radiating from his body. The TV is on and there is a steady flow of talk as we dig in. I glance sideways to Jake and see him licking the pizza sauce off of his finger. My eyes zero in as his plump lips circle his thumb and sucks the sauce off. I can feel my heartbeat race and my lips get dry.

What the fuck am I doing?

I panic and jump up from my seat as awkwardly as possible.

"I just- I'm gonna- Kitchen- get a drink." I bump into the door frame as I run into the kitchen. I brace myself on the counter as I try to catch my breath.

Alright Bella, what the fuck are you doing? Just calm down. It's Jake. Little, muddy, dirty...buff, not-so-little-anymore Jake.

I get myself a water bottle and walk back into the living room.

"...wouldn't mind going? I know it's a long way from home, but I'd feel better if Bella had someone with her."

"Dad! I'm sure Jacob has other things he'd rather do than babysit me--"

"Actually Bells, I already agreed."

"And I'm sure Billy would need him more than I would. Wait, what?" Jake smiled that perfectly white toothy grin, "Billy already agreed that he would stay here with Charlie while I go with you to Florida. It's perfect actually. Plus, hey, I get to wear my new swimsuit." He says cheekily with a wink and trots back into the kitchen.

Being hunted by ravenous vampires- no big deal.

Spending two weeks in Florida with Jacob- I think I can already smell trouble.

It's 2:30 am and I can't sleep. I planned on texting Edward but I'm assuming Alice saw and told him to come over.

2:32 am and he's in my room.

"Alice told me that she can't see you in Florida so I'm assuming you found another travel companion."

His words bite in a way that it makes me uncomfortable that he's here.

"I didn't even plan on asking him. I wanted to ask Angela but she was busy and I couldn't get a hold of her. Charlie actually asked him to go."

"Of course. I should have known. And you just couldn't say 'no' I suppose?" It was hard to ignore the snarkiness in his voice.

"He just worries. You know how he is." I say, trying to convince him, maybe even convince myself.

Edward stands next to my half-packed suitcase and gingerly touches the newly purchased bikini I bought for myself the last time I was with my mom.

"Have a great time, Bella. Please tell Renee I said 'hello' and I'm sorry I couldn't make it." He makes a move to my window but I catch him by his arm. "Please don't worry about me. I'll be okay. I'll call and text when I can." I try to turn him towards me to kiss him goodbye but he pulls out of my embrace and jumps out into the darkness. With a heavy sigh I close my window and lock it and return to my packing.

My alarm wakes me a few hours later and I feel beat. I rub the grogginess out of my eyes as I hear commotion in the kitchen. I tip toe down the stairs and hear Jacob talking and laughing with Charlie. They're both sitting at the kitchen table, coffee in hand, stopping mid-laugh when they see me.

"Hey sleepyhead. We were wondering when you were going to wake up." Charlie folds his newspaper as Jake gets up to hand me a cup of coffee.

"I had a long night packing; couldn't sleep." I sip my drink carefully and no surprise, it's delicious.

Jacob looks at me out of the corner of his eyes at my response.

I wonder if he knows Edward stopped by.

"Well, Bells, I know you two have a long day ahead of ya'll and I gotta head into work in a bit. Just wanted to see ya'll off."

I hugged him tightly and promised I would call when we landed. He hugged Jake and whispered something in his ear, but I couldn't make it out.

"Our flight leaves at 10:25 and we need to make the 3 hour drive to Seattle so we gotta go soon." I remind Jacob.

"I already got our bags in the rental. All we need to do is get there." he tells me. I go upstairs and get dressed in jeans with a t-shirt and a hoodie. I know it's going to be hot when we land so I made sure to pack shorts and a tank top in my carry on.

We hit the road and it's pleasant. There is constant music on and what seems to be unlimited amount of snacks for Jacob. He makes me laugh constantly with his horrible jokes and even more horrible singing and I can't see why I didn't think to invite him before. Two hours into our drive, my cheeks are so sore from smiling and laughing so much I can't seem to stop.

My phone rings and I answer laughing and out of breath without looking at the caller id.

"Shh Jake!," I giggle, "Hello?"

"I'm sorry, love, should I call later?"

My face dropped and the atmosphere immediately changed.

"Edward. Hi. Yeah, sorry I couldn't sleep last night and well, you know that--I mean, we just didn't want to run late and we wanted to beat traffic." At this point I was rambling and I could tell Edward knew. He sighed heavily before continuing.

"Do you think it's possible to lower that horrendous music down?" My hand slams on the power button and Jacob looks at me before turning his eyes back to the road.

"I'm sorry, is that better? We're almost in Seattle. It'll be almost a six hour flight to Chicago and then about a hour layover until we take off for Jacksonville." I internally smack my forehead,I'm sure he knew all of this already. "I'm sorry I didn't call before..."

"Have a safe trip, Bella."

And he hung up.

"Bells? Can I be honest?"

"Umm.. sure?"

"You really don't need to apologize for anything. If he wanted to say bye, he could have asked Charlie. Or the future seeing leech. He could have asked her what time your future disappeared."

The more I thought about it, the more he was right. He definitely would have known what time I was leaving? Why was he making me feel so bad about not calling?

We arrive at the airport and Jacob absolutely insists of holding all of the bags. We get seated and comfortable and I feel like someone is watching me. I look over to see several ladies gawking at Jake. I look to Jake and he's currently devouring a crappy airport burger. Gahh, even when he's stuffing his face, all the ladies want him. Too bad for them, that'll never happen. Without turning away from my book I whisper under my breath, "You've got quite the lady crowd drooling over you."

He looks over to me with a full mouth and I can't help but laugh at how silly he looks and how utterly adorable he looked as his already darkened face turned red. He swallowed his bite and tilted his head towards me.

"We both know it's not their attention I want."

Now it was my turn for my face to turn red.

Touche, Jake, touche...

Our plane ride was for the most part uneventful. We both decided to try to stay up so we could stay on the right sleep schedule. We listened to music on my phone, a earbud placed in both our ears as we took turns playing our favorite songs and playlists. By the time we knew it, we had promised to exchange the songs we liked most when we got back home. When we arrived in Jacksonville, it was 9:30 and we were beat. My mom and Phil were waiting for us when we got there and we made it back to their house pretty quick. My mom took one look at Jacob and her eyes grew wide. She glanced over at me and expressed her surprise that she couldn't believe little Jake was so big now. He was grabbing our luggage from Renee's car when--

"Oh my god Bella, that's Jacob? Little mud pie Jacob?? Oh honey he's a HUNK!"

I cringe because I know that Jacob can hear every word she's saying.

"Mom! Not now! Yes, that's Jake. Edward couldn't make it."

"Oh Bella it's not like he can hear me. But seriously, how is Edward okay with Jacob coming here with you instead of himself? Because if I was Edward I would be super jealous, baby, because he is all man."

I never cringed so hard, especially when I saw Jacob grinning like a maniac. He passed by us and nodded his head.

"Ladies."

We walked inside and I was in love with the house already. All the walls were white and were adorned with art, probably made by my mother. There were soft cream couches and arm chairs with colorful throws and pillows scattered throughout. My mom had a thing for Turquoise stones, something she got into back home in Arizona, so there were small mirrors bordered with the stones all around the art. Vases of different shapes and sizes were on the fake fireplace mantle and on the couches side tables.

"Alright honey, we're going to bed. We'll be going to work in the morning so help yourselves to whatever is here. There are clean sheets on the bed and there are fresh towels in the en suite." With a kiss on the cheek and a wink, her and Phil laughed and went upstairs to bed.

Wait... clean sheets on the bed. Singular... Oh shit.

Jacob and I walked to the room. I was hoping there was a couch in the room but with my luck, or maybe consciously I was hoping there wasn't a couch, there was only a bed. Much to Jacob's liking, it was a queen sized bed. His feet would barely dangle off the edge but it wouldn't be too bad.

"Well, Bells, you wanna take a shower first? I'm gonna call my dad and let him know we got here okay."

"Sure, that sounds good." I grabbed my toiletries bag and headed for the en suite. I was surprised to find a large garden tub that sat in the corner with a pretty stained glass window above it. There was a simple vanity with a large sink and pretty mirror that had turquoise colored pieces of stones glued around it. The water was nice and cool and a welcome change to the hot water I've since gotten used to. I quickly clean up and get dressed in my pajamas. I stare at myself in the mirror and laugh at the stark difference between Forks and Florida. In Forks, I'd be wrapped up in my long flannel pants and a thermal top; here in Florida I feel so naked. The black tank top is a little loose on me and the white shorts were a gift from Renee before I moved to Forks. I don't know why she thought I'd wear such short shorts in Washington but I'm glad I have them here. With a sigh I head out to find Jacob leaning against the open window on the phone.

"…just wanted to check in on you, Dad. Yes we're okay. Renee is very nice." Helaughs at something Billy says and he leans his head against the window pane. "Uhh... I don't know dad... She seems okay. Alright dad... I'll do my best to call you and check up on you. I'm gonna give Charlie a call too. Night dad, love you."

He ends the call and I can't help but take a good look at him. My big, sometimes dorky but definitely handsome best friend... He makes the call to my dad, for what reason, I don't know.

"Hey Charlie. Yeah, everything is fine, just wanted to check in with you and let you know we got settled in." He laughed again. "My dad asked the same thing, yes she's been very nice. Okay Charlie. Yes I'll let her know." I don't know what my dad said but it had Jacob turning a particular shade of red. A blush? "You too, Charlie. Good night." He hung up the phone and put his cell in his back pocket. A heavy sigh brought me forward out of my eavesdropping and into the room.

"Hey. Everything okay?" Jacob looks at me and smiles.

"Yeah, everything is great. I was just letting our dads know that we got settled in good. They both seem to know how... hospitable your mom can be." he says with a laugh. "I'm gonna go take shower."

He grabbed his bag and closed the door. I stood there just wondering how the hell I was gonna get through the next two weeks with my best friend.

A/N: Okay so this is going to be a multi-chapter story. It'll get going soon enough!! I'm thinking maybe a chapter for each day they're there? Or maybe a long chapter that covers a week at a time. :)