GOMH Chapter 3

I walked up to her and sat down next to her on the steps without saying a word. I have no idea how long we sat there in silence before she spoke up, "The sun is setting." She let out a sigh, "Twilight was always 'our time'. I've never forgotten that."

"Same here." It was the honest truth. Most of my favorite memories of us being together took place at twilight.

It was Tuesday and Bella had her court-ordered community service tonight so she headed to First Beach as soon as school let out. I spent a few minutes talking to Emmett and Jasper before I left so she would see me following her up there. I had the perfect excuse for being there. Jacob Black. He was my brother for awhile a couple of years ago. Well, foster brother if you want to get technical about it. His mother had died in a car accident and his father wasn't able to care for him right afterward while he healed, so the state intervened and placed Jacob with us. He was a good guy and we remained friends after he went home to his father. I knew that Jacob and his friends from the rez would be surfing today since it was a pretty decent day for once.

I slowed down as I approached the beach and spotted Bella's old truck in the parking lot. Looking out by the water I spotted a small group of people already down at the beach putting on reflective vests, ones that screamed that the person wearing it was doing court ordered community service. I found Bella's pink hair among them but headed on to Jacob's house as quickly as I could. I parked in front of the house and ran up to the door, letting myself in, "Hey, Billy?" I called into the house as I opened the door.

"Edward! I haven't seen you around here lately."

"Yeah, I've been busy with school. Is Jake around?"

"He hasn't made it home from school yet. I assume you came up to do some surfing with the guys. It's a good day for it."

"It's the perfect day for it. Great swells are coming in," a deep voice spoke up from the doorway. I looked over to where Jacob was standing, "Dude! Are you ever going to stop growing! Seriously, man!" He was younger than me but was now taller than I was.

"Tell me about it," Billy laughed, "You boys go have fun. Edward, I expect to see you at dinner tonight."

"Thank you, Billy, but Mom is expecting me home for dinner."

"Don't worry about that. I'll call her and let her know."

Jacob and I walked back out of the front door and headed around to his garage where he kept our surfing gear.

"So, I hear that there is a new hottie in your school. SO, is she single?"

"Her name is Bella and you'll see her today. She's down at the beach right now. And she's not single. She and I are kind of seeing each other."

"Ok. There are so many parts to what you just said that have some major issues. First, you left her alone on the beach? Are you crazy?"

"No, I didn't. She's…uh…she's with a group of people. I don't think that she knows that I'm even here, yet."

"You really need to explain all of that. I mean, how can you be 'kind of' seeing someone, and what the hell happened to Angela?" I explained everything to him. From cheating on Angela to how intriguing I found Bella. Jacob was the only person that I could talk to and could trust in the fact that he would take anything that I confided in him with to the grave.

"Ok. Wow. I'm not even going to touch the Angela thing. You already know my opinions on her. But I still don't see that you are even "kind of" seeing each other. You haven't taken her on a single date. You just screwed around with her once and showed up at her house once-and uninvited at that. And now you are here-uninvited again- to watch her do community service. Don't think I don't know about that. We hear the Forks gossip on the rez too. Besides, our dads are best friends. I figure it's only a matter of time before Charlie drags her up here with him. But Edward, you really need some professional help because what you are doing? That is not dating. That is stalking. Maybe I should warn her to keep mace on her or maybe I should tell Charlie to get a restraining order against you."

I looked up at him in a panic, "Dude you can't tell the chief anything. She's totally grounded and would get in so much trouble if he knew that she came to that party or that I was hanging at her house."

He laughed at me, "I was kidding you idiot. But seriously, Edward. What are you planning to do.. skulk around with her and keep her a secret? I have to tell you that this has disaster written all over it. Someone is going to end up hurt."

"Skulk? Really? Who says that?"

"My dad says it all the time and don't change the subject."

"We just have to keep it from her dad until she's not grounded anymore. Hopefully, it won't be too long."

"And she agrees with this plan of yours?" I looked down at my feet and shuffled them, "EDWARD! Jesus man, you haven't even talked to her about this, have you? When exactly did you lose your mind? Talk to her!" His rant was, thankfully, interrupted by Quil, Jared, and Sam coming into the garage. I took the opportunity to drop the subject as we gathered our stuff and made our way down to the beach.

Bella wasn't in sight when we got there so I got on my suit and followed the guys out into the water. From the moment that I hit the water, I became so engrossed and focused on the waves that I wasn't paying attention to Bella, and didn't notice that she was watching me until Quil mentioned her.

I smiled as I looked over at where she was sitting on a log watching me. I set my board down and walked over to her, "Hey there, enjoying the view?"

She laughed, "Yeah I am. The ocean is beautiful."

I was just about to call her out on the fact that I'd caught her staring at me when I was interrupted, "Hey, Edward? Who's your friend?" Sam spoke up from behind me.

"Yeah, Edward, introduce us to your new 'friend'," Jacob chimed into. I turned to glare at him and found him smirking at me.

After introducing Bella to the idiots behind me, Quil spoke up, "You surf Bella? You are more than welcome to join us. I think you're about the same size as my sister, Leah. I could run home and get her spare suit and my extra board."

"Dude!" Jacob rolled his eyes at him, "He just told you that she just moved her from Arizona. They have deserts, not oceans." That got us all laughing at him.

"Keep laughing, Jake, and I won't give you that blow job you're begging for after dinner."

"Like you'd ever deny yourself your favorite dessert," Jacob said, grabbing Quil by the back of the head and kissing him. Their exchange had the rest of us groaning. Emmett and Rose tended to drop TMI bombs all the time too. I didn't really want to hear about the sexual activities of either couple. Their escapades have been known to cause nightmares in those who are unfortunate enough to be in earshot when they start oversharing.

"I would love to learn to surf," Bella told Quil, "but not today. I have to get back to work before I get caught sitting down." She walked away from us without another word. I watched her get back to work while the guys ran back into the water to catch more waves. I reluctantly turned and followed them.

It was almost an hour later that I decided that I was getting cold and the sun would be going down soon so I was done for the day and came out of the water. I was surprised to see Bella sitting on her log again watching us. I was quite concerned, however, with the fact that Paul was sitting with her, talking to her. I knew that I didn't have anything to worry about with Jacob and Quil, they were a happy little couple. And Sam was completely devoted to his Emily. Jared also had a girlfriend, but I didn't know much about her or their relationship, but I did know that Bella wasn't his type. Paul, however, was a huge player and he had a nasty temper. I didn't want Bella to be near him too much. Girls ended up hurt when they got too close to him, in more ways than one.

I walked up to them and started taking my gear off, "You stuck around?" I asked Bella, pointedly ignoring Paul.

"Yeah. I wanted to talk to you again. Paul just stopped by with a message from Billy."

I looked over at Paul, he had a smug look on his face that I just wanted to smack off and was standing too close to Bella for my liking, "You delivered the message, so you can go."

"Maybe Beautiful Bella doesn't want me to go? I'm sure not ready to leave this beautiful woman's side. I think it's up to her whether I stay or go." He smiled at me like he was daring me to make a scene.

I'd make any scene I had to to protect any girl from this asshole, "Maybe it is her call, but I bet she doesn't know that the last girl you went out with ended up needing to have her jaw wired shut after you broke it".

"And he broke her arm plus three of her ribs," Sam jumped in, "Leave her alone Paul. She's definitely not interested." Sam was a big guy. Bigger than even Jacob was. Most of the guys on the rez were afraid of Sam and Paul was not an exception. Sam beat the crap out of Paul after Kim, the girl I just told Bella about, was found unconscious on the beach. Thankfully, Paul never filed assault charges against Sam.

Paul looked over at Sam and scowled, "Whatever," then he looked back at Bella, "Lovely Bella, I can guarantee that you and I will meet again. Until next time."

"He beat up his girlfriend? I mean he was a cocky jerk when he was talking to me, but, wow!"

"Yeah. Paul is nothing but trouble Bella. He dated Kim for two years and cheated on her the whole time."

"He was beating Kim the whole time, too. That's why she didn't drop his ass. She knew all about the other girls but she was scared of him and his temper," Quil added as he walked up to us. "

"Why isn't he in jail?" Bella asked us.

"Plea bargain. He agreed to never contact her or be within 1000 feet of her and take an anger management course instead of going to juvie. It's totally like he got away with it. Really, Bella, the guy is dangerous. It's better if you stay as far away from him as possible. Be very careful when it comes to him." Jacob warned her. "What did he want, anyways?"

"He came to tell me that my dad called yours and he has to work late tonight. So, since, I'm on my own for dinner, your dad invited me to eat with you guys," she answered Jacob. He nodded and we walked back to Jacob's house to eat. I grabbed Bella's hand in mine and smiled when she tightened her grip on my hand as we walked.

Sam, Quil, and Jared joined us for dinner and Billy made us a simple meal of hamburgers, fries, and salad. It made him smile to see all of us at his table. I know that it bugs him that he is pretty much trapped in the house all the time. The accident left him permanently paralyzed and he couldn't afford a special van that would allow him to drive so he had to rely on others to take him where he needed to go. Or he had to take a cab which could get expensive. So there were days on end that he spent at home. Most of the time he was alone because Jacob was at school or out with his friends. Billy was adamant that Jacob have a life and not become his babysitter. Billy wasn't happy about sending Paul with the message but he was the only person that he was able to get ahold of at the time. We all spent the meal discussing a protection detail of sorts for Bella for the times that she came up to First Beach for her community service. Between Jacob, Sam, and I one of us would be present where she was on the beach at all times. Bella was really thrilled about it but understood that Paul was dangerous and unfortunately had set his sights on her.

It was two days later that she was back at the rez and I was there watching over her. I saw Paul pull into the parking lot and get out of his car but he never came down to the beach. I turned my attention back to Bella and when I finally looked back where Paul had parked his car, he was gone. It made me a little nervous but I figured that Paul must have seen me and gave up.

It was twilight when Bella was finally released for the night and I walked her back to her truck. She and I had taken separate cars so we wouldn't raise anyone's suspicions. I walked back to my car but waited while Bella attempted, in vain, to start her truck. It kept clicking but never turned over so I went back over to her.

"I don't know what's wrong. It was fine when I drove here," she said sounding frustrated.

"Things like this happen. I'll call Jake. He's a natural at fixing up cars. I'm sure he can get on it. But not until tomorrow," I pointed up to the dark clouds that had moved in quickly.

"But how am I supposed to get home? Dad's on the night shift for the rest of the week. At least."

"I'll drive you home. My parents know that I was coming up here to visit Jake so it would make sense that I would offer to drive you home."

"Okay, I guess."

I called Jacob and told him about the truck. He said that he and the guys would get it over to his garage after school the next day. I was just about to hang up when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, "Jake, there's someone here. From the size of him, I'm sure its Paul."

"Fucker. Get her out of there and we'll come get the truck right now so he can't do any more damage."

I hung up the phone and turned to Bella, "Quickly and calmly get everything that you need out of the truck. We need to get out of here."

"What's wrong?"

"Paul's standing over in the tree line watching us."

"You think he messed with my truck?"

"Yeah, I do. I think he was setting you up to be stranded and then would come swooping in to be your savior and then he'd have you in his car and at his mercy. He just didn't consider that I would be here. But don't worry. I'm getting you out of here and the guys are on their way for your truck right now. Jake will lock it in his garage and keep it safe while he fixes it."

Bella shivered. I know that she was fighting the urge to look for Paul but didn't want to let on that she knew that he was there. She walked to the truck and started pulling things out and handing them to me. It started pouring before we were safely in my car and we were completely drenched.

It was still pouring when we made it back to Forks and I helped her carry her stuff inside. She started a tea kettle of water heating up on the stove while she ran upstairs to change her clothes. When she came back down a few minutes later she was carry a towel and some sweats on one arm while trying to towel dry her hair with her free arm. She handed me the clothes, which had to be Chief Swans, and told me that I could change in the bathroom.

I found her in the living room with two mugs of steaming hot tea when I came back down.

"I haven't had tea in a long time. I only drink it when I have a sore throat and that is only because my mother makes me drink it."

She smiled over her mug, "I love tea. I drink at least two cups of it a day. Dad about freaked when he saw all the different varieties and flavors I keep in the cupboard. You just never know what you'll be in the mood for on a particular day and I like to keep my bases covered."

"So, what kind is this?"

"Lavender and chamomile. It's my favorite and it will help us relax and calm down. I ordered a pizza for us to eat. You are staying for dinner, right?" She looked me right in the eye.

"There is nowhere that I would rather be tonight," I said holding her gaze.

Little did I realize that Bella would pass her tea addiction onto to me. To this day I keep a dozen different varieties in my cupboard at all times. It has come in quite handy with my parishioners many times. But mainly, just like Bella, I always had a cup for breakfast and a cup before bed. And oftentimes a third cup somewhere in the middle of my day.

"You want to come in for a cup of hot lavender and chamomile tea?" I asked her.

"You remembered."

"I'd never forget."

"No, thank you. I want you to come with me. I have something that I want to show you. Please? Will you come with me?" she asked me as she stood up and offered me her hand to help me up. I took her hand and stood up without question as I always did when it came to Bella. I would follow her anywhere that she wanted to lead me. And I knew that I wasn't the only one that had ever felt that way.

A/N:

This should be labeled Chapter 3 edition 3 because that is how many tries it took for me to get it the way that I wanted it. I finally found a part time job. I'm going to be a cashier at Walmart. I am aiming at getting another chapter out before Christmas. That is my goal, but again, no promises.

My amazing beta and friend, Sweetpea123 posed two questions from this chapter. I thought I'd add those questions and answers here in others are wondering the same things.

If Charlie and Billy are good friends then why doesn't Jacob know more about Bella?

The answer is that Bella rarely visited Charlie in Forks and then there were the couple of years that Jacob lived with the Cullens. Charlie know them but isn't friends with them. So there was little occasion for Bella and Jacob to interact. As for him not knowing it was Bella. He knew it was Charlie's daughter that moved here, but again doesn't know much about her. His father hasn't come out and told him because he's not a gossip and Jacob is usually out with friends and Quil. He has little interest in things that adults talk about and doesn't concern him.

Why would Charlie object to Bella dating Edward?

He wouldn't under normal circumstances. But Bella is still grounded for the things that happened in Phoenix. Charlie is really, really angry that Bella was out getting drunk as a minor and then got arrested for vandalism. It may be on the immature side, but he is embarrassed that as a Police Chief his daughter got into trouble like that.

Please if you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask. I'll answer them if I can, but a girl can't give away all her secrets. Happy Thanksgiving to all that celebrate.