Disclaimer: The characters as well as any other reference to the Twilight series belong to their respective owner, Stephenie Meyer. Everything else belongs to the author of this work, Forever 17/Foreverx17.
Chapter Two: Barely Too Much
BELLA
The waves crashing against the shore are completely serene. I'm sitting in the sand just outside the house, watching the water build up then break from a distance. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, reveling in the fact that I will be here for the entire summer.
"It's perfect," I whisper.
Charlie is inside fixing dinner and when I had offered to help, he had shooed me away to relax. After much persistence on both parts, I finally agreed and poured myself a glass of white wine before grabbing a wrap jacket and going outside.
The kitchen has two large glass French double doors that open straight onto a wooden porch that is ground level and always covered with sand because it leads directly onto the beach. Foregoing one of the comfy lounge chairs that surround a fire pit on the porch, I had decided I wanted to sit on the soft sand and truly enjoy what the ocean had to offer me.
I had been sitting there for what had to be thirty minutes when I hear my father speaking inside the kitchen. I look over my shoulder, but cannot see anyone. I look back at the ocean and take a sip of my wine.
"Bella!" I hear my father call.
I look over my shoulder and see my father walking out onto the sand. Shortly after, a tall figure is following behind him. On closer inspection, I see it's a man who is around my age. I slowly get up as they approach me.
"Bella, this is Edward," Charlie says, moving aside and gesturing to the man following him.
Edward looks at me and smiles slightly. "It's nice to finally meet you." He extends his hand to me and I mechanically take it, too captivated by his gorgeous green eyes. His hair is a beautiful shade of light brown with hints of red. It's cut short, but still manages to be wildly messy atop his head. His jawline, perfectly sculpted, makes him an Adonis of a man. And his tall, lean figure does nothing but add to his handsomeness. He's thin, but obviously muscular and I take in the way his bicep flexes under his white t-shirt.
I realize I am still holding his hand.
And shaking it absentmindedly.
Completely mortified, I let go and tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, clearing my throat and looking Edward in the eye. "H-Hi," I manage. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Charlie talks about you all the time," Edward adds. "Congratulations on just graduating."
"Th-thanks," I respond, looking at Charlie.
"Well, kids, dinner will be ready in about half an hour. Edward, you want a beer?"
"Oh, no," he says, shaking his head. "I was going to head out actually. I don't want to impose. It's Bella's first night back, I'm sure you wanna spend time with her."
Charlie shakes his head. "Trust me, we'll spend plenty of time together this summer. She'll probably get sick of me, won't you, Bella?" he chuckles.
I smile slightly and try to laugh at his joke, but end up blushing when Edward looks at me again. "Um yea," I say, meeting his gaze. "Stay."
He stares at me for a moment longer before nodding once. "Okay."
...
Dinner is spent with my father asking me more about school and about the internship I recently had. Edward is quiet and doesn't say anything unless someone talks to him directly. Because I don't know him at all, I don't say much of anything to him throughout dinner expect for asking him general questions like how he likes working for my dad and where he's from.
When dinner is finished, I convince Charlie to let me clean up since he cooked, and after a while he finally relents and grabs a beer, inviting Edward to watch the football game with him in the living room.
"I'll help Bella," he says quietly, surprising me.
"Jeez, I'll cook dinner every night if it gets me out of doing the dishes," my dad jokes, chuckling as he walks to the living room that is right next to the kitchen.
I turn on the sink and hear the sound of the game coming from the living room. Edward begins clearing plates behind me and I glance over my shoulder as I wash one of the cooking pots.
"It's okay, you don't have to help clean up," I say. "I'm sure you'd rather be watching the game with Charlie anyways."
Edward shrugs as he brings a stack of dishes over. "I'm not that into sports," he says quietly.
I watch as he places the dishes and glasses on the counter beside me. He begins taking the washed dishes from me and drying them before putting them in a stack to be put away at once. We begin a steady system and work in comfortable silence for a while.
"So," he says, breaking the silence. "You studied English in school?"
I nod, watching the dish I am washing. "Yea, I got my Masters in Creative Writing."
"So what do you plan to do now?"
I shrug, handing him another dish. "Just write," I chuckle, because honestly I have no idea. "I was working at a magazine for a long time, but I'm not really into journalism. I'm hoping to start interning at a publishing house after the summer."
"So you want to be a book publisher?"
"No. Hopefully an editor. I mean, just to get my foot in the door before I can get my own work published."
I hand him a glass and watch him nod.
"What about you?"
"What about me?" he murmurs conversationally, drying some silverware.
"Well, did you go to school?"
"I went to community college for about half a semester before I dropped out."
"Why'd you drop out?" I ask, before realizing that it's none of my business. Before I can back track, he responds.
"School isn't for everyone."
I nod. "That's true."
We work in silence for a little bit longer. When I am washing the last dish, I decide to see if I can find out a little bit more about Charlie's houseguest.
"So, what made you move to North Carolina anyway?"
"Lots of stuff," he replies evasively.
"You didn't like Seattle?" I ask, since he had told me during dinner that he used to live there.
"Seattle's fine."
I hand him the last dish and turn off the faucet as he dries it.
"I'm sure Charlie already told you we lived in Forks. I always liked it there. It's rainy and foggy more than I'd like, but Washington's a really nice state."
"It is," he murmurs. After drying off the final dish, he begins putting them away. Instead of helping, I lean against the counter and watch him.
"Did you grow up in Seattle?" I ask.
He pauses as he is putting plates away in a cupboard. "Um…no." He closes the cabinet's door and walks over to grab the pots and pants, bending down and placing them in their correct spot before straightening up and busying himself with wiping down the counter beside me.
"Where did you grow up?" I try again.
Edward begins to scrub the counter much harder than he needs to. "Chicago," he replies curtly.
"Why did you move?"
He throws the towel on the counter so hard that the smack of it hitting the granite resonates through the room, causing me to jump slightly as he looks at me with his jaw clenched.
"Is this an interview?" he grits through his teeth.
My mouth falls open slightly and my eyes widen as I slowly shake my head. "I'm sorry…I don't mean to be so nosy. I was just curious." I look over at Charlie, but the television is too loud for him to hear our conversation.
Edward breaths in through his nose before placing both of his hands on the granite counter, letting his head fall between his shoulders as he leans on it, as if collecting himself.
"I'm sorry," I say softly before quickly walking past him and out the kitchen. I round the stairs, jogging up to the second floor and swiftly making my way to my room, shutting the door behind me and leaning against it heavily.
I place a hand over my heart as I take in deep breaths to calm myself. It's beating erratically. I know I probably shouldn't have been asking so many questions. I had been trying to find out more about him, just to see what had drawn Charlie to him, but had been unsuccessful in my attempts at being subtle.
Still, his sudden anger is inexplicable and I find myself wondering what could have possibly made him so angry.
…..
I spend the remainder of the night up in my room, too afraid to go back downstairs and run into Edward. Instead, I sit in the middle of my bed and try to concentrate on reading The Great Gatsby, but I find myself unable to focus on the tribulations of Gatsby and Daisy when I am haunted by piercing green eyes that had been glaring daggers at me downstairs.
A few hours later, Charlie knocks on my door to say goodnight. He kisses my cheek and I tell him I will see him tomorrow. I glance at the clock on my nightstand when he is gone and see it is just past eleven o'clock. I am way too wound up to fall asleep, but far too frightened to leave my room for fear of seeing Edward. And since he is staying in the guestroom downstairs, the chances of bumping into him if I go to the kitchen for water is highly likely.
I let out a deep sigh and decide it is safer for me if I stay where I am and continue reading. So I sit in my room, intermittently looking under the crease of the door, waiting to see if footsteps will ever emerge from a person with piercing green eyes and an explanation.
That person never comes.
I finally fall asleep around two in the morning with a heavy heart and a million questions running through my mind.
A / N: Hi, everyone. I just want to thank you for the positive response to the first chapter. And it really touches me that there are some of you who read "Let's Love Hate" and are once again supporting a story of mine. I don't know how to thank you properly. As for new readers, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to give my little story here a read. It's been almost three years since I've written Fan Fiction, and I am really happy that I made the decision to come back. You guys make it worthwhile. Thank you from the depths of my heart.
