Bed of Lies

BPOV

Beth sat with her feet dangling over the edge of the low cliff she sat on, her hair whipping maddeningly around her face in the wind. Annoyed, she shoved it harshly behind her ears every time she went to take a drink from the bottle of merlot in her hand. Other than that she didn't tie back or do anything stop the flailing hair from obstructing her view of the stunning outlook of the ocean before her. The sun was setting; the sky was a spectacular array of colors seamlessly flowing together, the ocean reflected light as though it had chips of silver and amber floating in it. Although Beth's thoughts were far and she wasn't paying as much attention to the beautiful scenery as it deserved, it still comforted her somehow, to be surrounded by such grace.

Because of its natural beauty, Beth decided it was her favorite so far, out of the dozens upon dozens of places she had lived. The fact that her harsh, depraved, ugly father was born here was baffling to her. It wasn't that her father was physically unattractive, quite the opposite really, he was handsome but ugly to her none the less.

It began to rain, softly but Beth was still saturated from just five minutes of sitting in it. Her mascara was probably running and she was shivering but she was not ready to go home to her new house just yet. Whether her father had calmed down from earlier or not; she wasn't ready to face him. Even if he wasn't angry anymore his cold demeanor towards her chilled her more than the rain ever could.

Because of this, her only reaction to the change in weather was to tighten her loose grip on the bottle of wine. Wet and slippery, she didn't want to loose her grip on the bottleneck and send it tumbling down the cliff face where the alcohol would do her no good. Beth knew it was a lot of alcohol for one person, particularly such a small person being 5'6" and weighing 115, but the more she used alcohol to distance herself from her painful realities, the less it affected her and she needed more to get the same effect she used to get from so little. She justified it to herself by usually always drinking it slowly, maintaining a pleasant buzz throughout her night without getting blasted. Enough to distract her, not waste her.

After another half hour or so, Beth slowly scooted back from the edge before standing up and wiping her hands on her wet jeans. Her legs tingling from lack of movement and her toes were numb, unwilling to deal with pneumonia on top of dealing her dad she decided it was time to go home when she could no longer withhold the chattering of her teeth.

Before she was fully done brushing herself off, boisterous laughing shifted her attention to the higher cliff faces above her. The cool wind nipped at her chilled nose and ears as she squinted up at a group of boys, around her age she assumed, nineteen to twenty. Holding her wet hair back out of her eyes she watched them. Why would anyone other than me be out in the rain? Admittedly the sunset was stellar, but she didn't really feel the boys were stopping to watch it. They were stripping down to their boxers, laughing and pushing each other closer to the edge. Finally, she watched in admiration and interest as one of the boys broke from the group at a run. She could barely hear his quickly shouted insult, almost completely carried away in the wind "I'll see you girls at the bottom!" before he leaped of the side of the cliff and plummeted into the evenly crashing waves below, screaming and laughing in elation the whole way down.

A smile she couldn't contain, even if she wanted to, broke across her face. She wanted that moment of freedom, the exhilaration, that distraction… and as she watched the boy swim to shore, ready follow the path back up to the top, she decided she was going to take it.

Thank you all for reading, hope everyone liked it. Any comments and critiques are appreciated : )

I was listening to "Bed of Lies" by Matchbox 20 when I thought of this story, hence the title.

Disclaimer: Lyrics from this song and others may be used throughout the story; I do not own them (obviously). The songs and lyrics belong to the artists who write and sing them. Also, the story takes place in the Twilight world, with a few changes of course. The 'world' and any recognizable characters belong to Stephanie.